International drug peddling racket busted in Belgaum

The Karnataka police have busted an international drug peddling racket by arresting four persons in the border town of Belgaum and recovering from them 22 kilograms of marijuana, worth more than Rs 200 million in the international market.

Superintendent of Belgaum district police Hemant Nimbalkar told reporters that contraband was meant to be shipped overseas through courier, cleverly concealed in laminated photo frames with images of saints and bollywood stars.

Since April 15 this year, the gang had already dispatched 30 to 35 consignments through courier to various destinations in Scotland, United Kingdom, Zambia, Seychelles, United States of America, Costa Rice, United Arab Emirates and South Africa.

“The authorities in these countries are being contacted to trace the recipients of these consignments, which had been sent from fake self addresses in Belgaum”, Nimbalkar added.

The recovery of marijuana, a psychoactive drug derived from Cannabis plant, commonly known as hashish, in such a large quantity comes close on the heels of seizure of more than a kg of the narcotic substance from a couriered consignment by the Narcotics Control Bureau. The officials of the Bureau had intercepted a consignment from Belgaum, meant to be shipped to Finland, and found pouches containing marijuana tucked away in the photo frames.

The seizure of such a huge amount of marijuana in Belgaum came about after the police, acting on a tip-off, intercepted a car that was on the way to Goa from Belgaum. A search on the occupants of the car – Akash Desai and Asif Budanwale – yielded 7.5 kgs of marijuana. Besides, the contraband, the duo had a cash of Rs 255,000 with them. “Though Akash, who is the king-pin of the racket, was carrying a fully loaded revolver, he did not open fire on the police”, Nimbalkar said.

Later, a raid was carried out on their rented house in Chennammanagar, where another 15 kg of marijuana was recovered. The police also managed to arrest their two other accomplices Sajjan Herwalkar and Mohammed Ali. Another gang member Vishnu is said to be at large.

During the police interrogation, the accused confessed that drug had been brought from Delhi to Belgaum via Goa. It was later dispatched to clients abroad through courier, concealed in large sized photo frames. “The packing of the drugs in the frames was so meticulous that it could not be detected even by X-ray machines. And that may the reason why drugs had not been recovered at airports in foreign countries”, he said.

The police also recovered from the accused a high-end luxury car worth Rs 4.5 million, besides a Rs 1.8 million worth imported bike Gold Wing, which has large carrier and go run at a speed of 240 kms per hour.

Kumaraswamy does not rule out continuing in power

The BJP in Karnataka, which is looking forward to assuming the mantle of Chief Minister during October this year, sufferred another jolt with Kumaraswamy not ruling out the possibility of his continuation at the helm for another term of 20 months.

Though Kumaraswamy said he was committed to handing over power to BJP as per the power-sharing understanding arrived at before the JD (S)-BJP coalition came to power in Karnataka during February 2006, the Chief Minister said he would continue in power if he had the blessings of the people.

Kumaraswamy’s statement, which has sent the BJP into a tizzy, came when he was addressing a public gathering after his jinx-breaking visit to Chamarajanagar on Monday.

“I came to Chamarajanagar to prove the jinx about Chief Ministers losing power after the visit wrong. My visit to Chamarajanagar will have nothing to do with my continuation in power or not. I may continue to be the Chief Minister even after the term ends”, he said.

Speaking to reporters later, Kumaraswamy reiterated his commitment to hand over power to BJP as per the agreement. “I never aspired to become the Chief Minister, but circumstances forced me to take over the post. I cannot say if the some unexpected turn of events take place in politics and force me to continue in power”, he said.

The Chief Minister’s statement on continuation in power in front of a mammoth gathering in Chamarajanagar came after local legislator Vatal Nagaraj wondered aloud whether Kumaraswamy’s visit to the town would break the jinx or strengthen it in view of the scheduled transfer of power to the BJP.

Vatal Nagaraj said the jinx surrounding Chamarajanagar is that the man at the helm would lose power within months. “If Kumaraswamy hands over power to BJP as scheduled, will the jinx not be strengthened?”, he said looking at the Chief Minister seated on the dais.

Meanwhile, JD (S) Minister Iqbal Ansari, who had ruled out transfer of power to the BJP in October, fired another missile by claiming that Kumaraswamy enjoyed the support of 30 BJP MLAs.

“Kumaraswamy will continue to be the Chief Minister as there are about 25 to 30 BJP MLAs including Ministers, who are supporting him”, Ansari said. He further added that BJP’s state unit President Sadananda Gowda was aware of the support Kumaraswamy enjoyed from the BJP MLAs.

Bangalore girl tops CBSE X exam with 99 per cent

A Kendriya Vidyalaya student from Bangalore Aparna Muralidhar has become the toast of the town for topping the southern region in CBSE Class X examinations, securing an amazing 99 per cent.

Aparna’s dream marks card, showing a 100 out of 100 in Mathematics, Social Studies and Sanskrit, besides 99 in General Science and 96 in English, catapulted her to instant fame with newspapers splashing her photograph and media channels making a beeline to her house in Banakashankari in Bangalore.

Aparna has scored a whopping 495 out of 500 to top the southern region comprising Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andam and Nicobar Islands, besides Daman and Diu.

As soon as she saw the results on the Internet on Monday, an exhilarated Aparna shared her achievement with her father B R Muralidhar, an engineering consultant, and her mother Jyothi, a mathematics teacher.

Next, she went to her school – Kendriya Vidyalaya at ASC Centre – to confirm her feat. The Principal of the School E Ananthan is also elated with Aparna’s achievement. “We expected 96-97 per cent from her. But, she has surprised us by securing 99 per cent”, he said.

Aparna’s father Muralidhar’s joy also knew no bounds. “We did expect her to do well, but that this well. She worked hard, but never cut herself off from television or anything like that. I am very happy and proud”, Muralidhar said.

Speaking her reporters, Aparna wants to complete her Class XII before she decides whether she should become a doctor or an engineer.

Ominous start to jinx-breaking visit, Kumaraswamy’s chopper forcelands

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s visit to “jinxed” border district of Chamarajanagar began on an ominous note as the helicopter carrying him was forced to make an emergency landing on a slushy lakebed nearly one km away from the makeshift helipad set up on the outskirts of Yelandur town in the district on Sunday evening.

The pilot of the Chief Minister’s helicopter was unable to spot to the helipad in view of the poor visibility on account of the heavy rains accompanied by strong gales in the area. Though the ground staff preparing to receive the Chief Minister at the helipad fired the flares to indicate the landing spot, the bad weather condition forced the pilot to make an abrupt landing on the bed of a lake.

The Chief Minister, who was accompanied by party legislators Puttaraju and Anil Lad, besides the officials, spent more than half an hour chatting inside the landed chopper. They stepped out of the aircraft only after the rains subsided.

Officials said a few villagers, who were working in the agricultural fields, rushed towards the helicopter and were surprised to find the Chief Minister inside. Soon a crowd gathered near the helicopter and the farmers and labourers exchanged greetings with the Chief Minister.

Meanwhile, the district administration officials and party workers, who had gathered at the helipad, grew anxious over the undue delay in the arrival of the Chief Minister. They began a frantic search for the Chief Minister’s chopper in the region after the police received a wireless message about the emergency landing.

Finally, a message was conveyed to the district administration about the exact location of the Chief Minister. The Minister in charge of the district Mahadev Prasad accompanied by officials rushed to the spot, which did not have a motorable road. However, the villagers and the officials helped the Chief Minister and his entourage to clear the slush and get into a car.

Kumaraswamy proceeded to complete his engagements in the district, which has long been neglected by a superstitious belief that Chief Ministers visiting Chamarajanagar would lose power within months.

After staying overnight in the house of a farmer at Badagalmole in the district, Kumaraswamy entered Chamarajanagar town yesterday morning to become the first Chief Minister of the State to visit the town in almost 17 years.

The Chief Minister first offered special prayers at the Chamarajeshwara Temple in Chamarajanagar town and launched developmental works worth Rs 3.7 billion that included setting up an engineering college and drinking water facility to more than a 100 villages of the region. Later, he held a progress review meeting with officials and addressed a public meeting.

Speaking to reporters, Kumaraswamy said he stood by the promise he had made to the people of the State by visiting Chamarajanagar, which is regarded as a jinxed town. “I am here on a mission to dispel the myth that Chief Ministers visiting the town lose power. I hope my visit puts an end to this jinx”, he said.

Though a lot of people, including my family members, advised me against visiting Chamarajanagar, Kumaraswamy said his visit also proves that he was not working under the influence of family and friends. “I am working for the development of the people”, Kumaraswamy said.

17 killed in road mishap near Udupi in Karnataka

In a ghastly road accident, at least seventeen people were killed and more than 20 others were injured when a maxi-cab carrying them collided with a speeding private bus on the national highway at Muloor near Udupi in coastal Karnataka yesterday.

Police said the ill-fated maxi-cab was packed to capacity, carrying a marriage party, and was proceeding towards Muloor when a private bus speeding towards Mangalore on Monday morning collided with it.

The dead included seven children, nine women and a man. “Almost all the passengers of the maxi-cab were women and children belonging to Muslim community”, police said. The impact of the collision was so intense that the bodies and belongings of the passengers had been scattered all around the mangled remains of the maxi-cab.

Senior police officers rushed to the accident spot, which is about 20 kms from Udupi, to supervise the rescue operation. While the injured were admitted to a hi-tech hospital at Udupi, the dead bodies were sent to the Government hospital for a post-mortem.

Police officials fear that the death toll could mount as many among the 20 persons injured were in a critical condition. The authorities are also finding it difficult to identify the deceased as well as the injured as the maxi-cab was a private vehicle with no log records available.

Traffic on the highway was blocked for several hours after the accident on Monday morning. Police said the mishap had taken place at a time when it was drizzling and the road had become slippery.

Meanwhile, locals protested against the authorities for their failure to pay attention to the slippery stretch of national highway 17 near Muloor that had become a death-trap. For, it was only a few days ago seven people had died near Hejamadi on the same highway in a collision between a bus and a tanker.

Ten labourers washed away in canal

Ten labourers were washed away in the flash floods in a canal in Karnataka’s Bagalkot district on Sunday evening.

After finishing their day’s work at the Malaprabha Left Bank canal near Guledgudda village of Bagalkot, the labourers had entered the swollen canal to wash themselves before returning home. But, the flash floods in the canal swept them away, police said.

Several parts of Bagalkot received heavy rainfall on Sunday, which led to overflowing of the canals.

Bodies of two women labourers, who were washed away, had been recovered, police said. Efforts were underway to trace the bodies of the remaining victims, according to Deputy Commissioner of Bagalkot G N Naik.

Meanwhile, Minister in charge of Bagalkot district Govind Karjol, who is in Bangalore, announced a compensation of Rs 50,000 to the next of kin of each of the deceased.

Infosys chief asked to appear in court over anthem remarks

A court in Bangalore has ordered registering of a criminal case against Infosys chief N.R. Narayana Murthy in connection with his alleged insult to the national anthem and summoned him to appear before it on June 21.

On the basis of a private complaint filed by a pro-Kannada outfit, the Second Additional City and Chief Metropolitan magistrate M. Mujahidulla ordered registering of a criminal case against Narayana Murthy under Section 3 of the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act 1971. The magistrate also ordered issue of summons returnable on June 21.

The Bangalore court’s orders comes after a private complaint was filed by Kannada Rakshana Vakilara Vedike, a forum of advocates fighting for implementation of Kannada in courts.

Infosys chairman and chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy had landed in a controversy for his remarks on the national anthem during President APJ Abdul Kalam’s visit to the Infosys campus in Mysore near here on April 8. Narayana Murthy reportedly told reporters that the company chose against organising live singing of the national anthem and instead played its instrumental version to avoid “embarrassment” to the foreigners in the campus.

Murthy’s remarks triggered a furore in Karnataka with even the State Assembly discussing the matter and condemning it. The Infosys chairman has also apologised by saying that he was sorry if his comments had hurt the sentiments of the people and he had no intention to insult the national anthem. “If the media statements had hurt anybody, I deeply apologise”, Narayana Murthy had said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Kannada Rakshana Vakilara Vedike lodged a complaint in Tilak Nagar police station in Bangalore on April 16, seeking action against Narayana Murthy for his reported remarks on the national anthem. When the police failed to act, the Vedike filed a private complaint in the court on May 3, said Vedike’s General Secretary H.N. Raghavendra.

Infosys did not have any comments to offer on the Bangalore court’s order. According to an Infosys spokesperson, Narayana Murthy was abroad and the company had no comments to offer on the summons issued by the court.

Kumaraswamy to continue as Karnataka CM for 20 more months – JD (S) Minister

Fresh doubts have been raised over BJP assuming power in Karnataka in the wake of JD (S) Minister Iqbal Ansari’s claim that Kumaraswamy will continue as the Chief Minister of the State for 20 more months after his term at the helm ends in October this year.

Addressing an election meeting at Ullal, where by-elections to the Assembly are scheduled for June 2, Ansari told the gathering that power will not be handed over to the BJP after Kumaraswamy’s 20-month tenure ends. “He will continue as the Chief Minister even for the remaining 20 months”, Ansari said.

Significantly, Ansari made the statement in the presence of Kumaraswamy, who is heading a JD (S)-BJP coalition Government in the State. He was addressing a predominantly Muslim gathering in Ullal, which is part of communally sensitive Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka.

Seeking votes for JD (S) candidate Abubakr, the Labour Minister said the JD (S) is committed to ensuring communal peace in the region. “Power will not be handed over the BJP at any cost. Kumaraswamy will continue as the Chief Minister of the State”, Ansari said.

Endorsing Ansari’s statement, another JD (S) Minister D T Jayakumar, who holds the Housing portfolio, said the partymen were in favour of Kumaraswamy continuing for the remaining 20 months. “But, a final decision in the matter will be taken by the leaders”, he said.

Though the JD (S) Ministers’ clamour for continuation of Kumaraswamy as the Chief Minister has caused concern among the BJP leaders, the party’s state unit President Sadananda Gowda chose against attaching much importance to the Labour Minister’s statement.

“The JD (S) Minister has made the statement in the heat of the election campaign. The BJP would see it as an election gimmick. There is no doubt about JD (S) transferring power to BJP at the end of Kumaraswamy’s term in October”, Sadananda Gowda said.

BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who is tipped to take over as Chief Minister, refused to react to the JD (S) leaders’ claim on transfer of power. “I have decided not to speak anything about transfer of power”, he said in reply to queries from reporters.

Meanwhile, Kumaraswamy said he was not aware of the intention behind Ansari’s statement. “I don’t know whether it was an electoral strategy. I will speak to Ansari and find out”, he said.

Contraband found in courier consignment

The Narcotics Control Bureau has seized more than a kg of hashish concealed in a consignment meant to be shipped to a European country.

A consignment from Belgaum sent to Bangalore for onward shipping to Finland aroused the suspicion of the courier firm on Friday. When the courier firm personnel opened the consignment, they found four photo frames. On probing further, they found hashish packed in pouches and neatly tucked inside the frames.

Immediately, the courier firm alerted the Narcotics Control Bureau, South Zone, headquartered in Chennai. A team of personnel from the Bureau arrived in Bangalore and confirmed that the material found in the consignment was hashish.

According to Director of Narcotics Control Bureau, South Zone, Davidson Devashirvadam, the material seized by their personnel in Bangalore was hashish. Each of the four photo frames in the consignment contained around 350 gms of hashish. The total quantity of seized contraband was one kg and 180 grams.

“The contraband is worth around Rs 65,000 in the grey market in India. But, its value increases when it goes overseas”, Davidson said.

Meanwhile, the Narcotics Control Bureau has begun verifying the names of the sender and the addressee. “Generally, the names given in such incidents are not genuine. They give fake names and it takes time to verify them”, he said.

The Bureau has also expressed concern over the increasing incidence of trafficking of narcotics globally through courier agencies. “There have been similar seizures in other parts of the country also”, he said.

Davidson recalled an instance in which the narcotic had already left the country by a courier from Chennai by the time the Bureau got the wind of it. “We alerted the recipient country and they seized the contraband at their end”, he said.

The Narcotics Control Bureau also seized more than 10 kgs of heroin from two persons in Bommanahalli in Bangalore. “The contraband was meant to be sent to Sri Lanka”, said Davidson. The two persons from whose possession the heroin was recovered told the authorities that they received the contraband from Bhopal.

A kg of heroin is worth almost half a million in India. “The price shoots up dramatically to Rs 3.5 million in Sri Lanka. There is a huge demand for Indian heroin in Colombo”, Davidson added.

Kumaraswamy to visit jinxed town on May 27

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy is all set to shatter the myth surrounding Chamarajanagar town by becoming the first Chief Minister of the State in the last 17 years to visit the jinxed town situated at the southern tip of the state.

Ever since the late Chief Minister Veerendra Patil lost power after visiting Chamarajanagar town in 1990, all his successors have consciously and deliberately steered clear of the place, which known in political circles as the “graveyard of chief ministers”.

But, Kumaraswamy, who has received accolades for staying overnight in the houses of HIV-afflicted patient, Dalits and other poor and underprivileged families, is determined the break the political jinx by staying overnight at Badagalmole village in Chamarajanagar on May 27.

According to Minister in charge of Chamarajanagar H S Mahadev Prasad, the Chief Minister will arrive in Chamarajanagar around 4.30 pm on May 27 and proceed to Badagalmole village, about 20 kms from the town, for his overnight stay. During his visit to Chamarajanagar, Kumaraswamy is scheduled to launch developmental works worth Rs 3 billion.

Though the Chief Minister’s much-publicised visit to Chamarajanagar assumes significance in view of the jinx surrounding the town, which is also the headquarters of the Chamarajanagar district situated on Karnataka’s border with Tamil Nadu, it is also worth mentioning here that Kumaraswamy is scheduled to demit office in about four months time on October 3 as part of the power-sharing arrangement between the JD (S) and BJP.

But, for the people of Chamarajanagar, they will be receiving a Chief Minister for the first time in the last 17 years.

Chamarajanagar came to be regarded as a jinxed town after three Chief Ministers lost power within months of their visit to the town. It began with Karnataka’s longest serving Chief Minister D Devaraj Urs losing power after visiting Chamarajanagar. His Government was toppled by late Chief Minister R Gundu Rao.

Next, it was the turn of late Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde, who had resign from the post after being entangled in a scam in 1988. Later, Chief Minister Veerendra Patil was unceremoniously removed from the post by the Congress High Command weeks after he paid a visit to Chamarajanagar in 1990.
Since 1990, no Chief Minister had dared to tread upon the soil of Chamarajanagar. None of Veerendra Patil’s successors or Kumaraswamy’s predecessors, who held the reins of power in Karnataka, have visited Chamarajanagar

Bizarre festival of abuses celebrated in Kodagu

Hundreds of tribals, attired in weird clothes and holding skulls, sang vulgar songs and shouted abuses at fellow tribals at Devarapura village in Karnataka’s Kodagu district as part of a bizarre festival.

The festival called Kunde Habba, which in local language means “abusing god”, attracted hundreds of tribals to the Aiyappa Temple at Devarapura. An annual feature in the village the festival of abuses saw the tribals revel in the ritualistic shouting of abuses and singing of vulgar songs as part of the tradition that has been passed down to them from generations.

Men belonging to the Jenu Kuruba, Yerava and other tribes began pouring into Devarapura village from neighbouring Gonikoppa, Titimathi, Ponnampet and Polibetta early in the day on Thursday. They applied grease all over them, wore women’s clothes and torn gunny bags, held skulls and began dancing.

Apart from shouting abuses at fellow tribals, the revelers also beg for alms as part of the festival.

Legend has it that a deity called “Betegara Aiyappa” went out hunting with the tribals once. He came across a beautiful young lady by name Bhadrakali. On seeing her, Betegara Aiyappa left the tribals behind and eloped with her. The tribals, who were abandoned in the forests, believe that their own god cheated them.

To commemorate the event, they gather once a year and abuse the god for his act of treachery.

Another version around which the festival is fashioned is that it is payback time for the tribals, most of whom are labourers, to abuse their employers. Having been at the receiving end of the employers’ abuse for the whole year, the tribals wish to give vent to their pent up frustration against the employers.

Bangalore police directed to provide security to nurse Jayalakshmi

The National Commission for Women and Karnataka State Women’s Commission has directed the Bangalore City police to provide security to nurse Jayalakshmi, who kicked up a political furore in Karnataka by releasing photographs of BJP MLA Renukacharya kissing her.

The National Commission for Women has written a letter to Bangalore City Police Commissioner N Achuta Rao to provide security to Jayalakshmi, 36, who has complained that she has been receiving threatening calls ever since she accused the married BJP MLA of sexually harassing her.

The National Commission for Women Chairperson Girija Vyas has also urged Karnataka Assembly Speaker Krishna to conduct an inquiry into the allegations made by Jayalakshmi against the BJP MLA.

Citing lack of confidence in the State Women’s Commission headed by BJP leader Pramila Nesargi, the nurse had approached the National Women’s Commission. She claimed that she received a threatening call on her mobile even while she was in the office of National Women’s Commission in New Delhi and she made Girija Vyas and Commission member Nirmala Venkatesh listen to the threats.

Meanwhile, Pramila Nesargi has also dispatched a letter to Bangalore City Police Commissioner to provide protection to Jayalakshmi with immediate effect. In the letter, Nesargi said it was the responsibility of the police commissioner to provide her security. “I have also written that if there is any untoward incident involving Jayalakshmi, the City Police will be held responsible”, Nesargi said.

The Jayalakshmi-Renukacharya sexual harassment episode has come as a major embarrassment to the BJP ahead of the crucial by-polls to Ullal Assembly constituency in Dakshina Kannada district, where its candidate Chandrashekar Uchil is facing a stiff electoral battle against Congress candidate U T Khader, who is the son of late MLA U T Farid.

Three crushed under train near Bangalore

Three persons including a 12-year-old girl were crushed under the wheels of Chennai-bound Sanghamitra Express at Mahadevapura on the outskirts of Bangalore early yesterday morning.

Police said a man, a woman and the girl had committed suicide by jumping in front of the speeding train around 6 am on Thursday. Though the dead man has been identified as Ramaiah, a 50-year-old construction worker residing in Narayanapura village on the outskirts of Bangalore, his relationship with the dead woman Gayathri has not been established.

“It appears to be a suicide pact”, a senior police official said adding that the trio had laid across the tracks to end their lives.

Police said Ramaiah, who stays with his wife in his house in Narayanapura, had not returned home for the last seven days. The police is suspecting domestic turmoil to be reason behind Ramaiah taking the extreme step with Gayathri and the 12-year-old girl.

Use of a biodiversity-rich island for target practice by Navy kicks up row

The pounding of an island, off the Karnataka coast, with bombs and shells as part of the target practicing by Indian Navy personnel has raised the hackles of environmentalists as well as Karnataka Government.

The Netrani island, situated 19 kms off the Murdeshwar coast in the Arabian Sea, hosts not only rare colonies of birds in its forest patch, but also corals and various species of coral fish that feed on them in its waters.

With the Navy personnel using the island for target practice, the environmentalists and the Karnataka State Biodiversity Board have expressed concern over the threat posed to bio-diversity in the bustling eco-sensitive island.

With a view to protecting the island, Karnataka State Biodiversity Board is planning to send a documentary film on the island to the Federal Government with a request to declare the island as protected area in view of its rich bio-diversity and eco-sensitive nature.

According to Executive Officer of the Board Gangadhara V Maddikery, a documentary on Netrani island has already been shot and it is in the editing phase. A CD of the documentary will be sent to the Federal Government soon. “We will also write to the Navy to help us in protecting the island”, he said.

An expert team comprising marine biologists, ornithologists, botanists, environmentalists and scuba divers carried out a two-day expedition in the forest patch on the island and the waters at the Netrani island last week.

The island’s waters features five varieties of corals and 47 species of coral fish that feed on them. Citing the provisions of Biodiversity Act 2002, marine biologist V N Nayak, who is from the Department of Marine Biology, Karnataka University, said any place, where corals and coral dependent fish are found, should be protected.

“It is an eco-sensitive island, which is bustling with rare flora and fauna. Nearly nine varieties of shark fish, including the endangered whale shark are found around the island. On land, we have discovered plants, which are not recorded anywhere in the coastal districts of Karnataka. The island needs to be protected to save its rich bio diversity”, Nayak said.

Also, the experts have recorded the presence of rare edible-nest swiftlets, which are found only on Andaman and Nicobar islands, on the Netrani island. “More than 400 white-billed sea eagles were recorded during the expedition along with a few Egyptian vultures. We also noticed mongoose, jungle cats and pellets of black-naped hare during the expedition” said biodiversity expert Harish Bhat.

Karnataka may restrict Bangalore families from buying more than one car

With the roads in Bangalore choked to capacity, Karnataka Government is considering a proposal to restrict families from purchasing more than one car.

The burgeoning vehicular population in congested cities like Bangalore and Mysore has forced Karnataka’s Transport Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy to think aloud about applying brakes on registration of new vehicles to check the worsening traffic scenario.

“We are thinking of restricting one car per family atleast in congested cities like Bangalore and Mysore. I know there will be opposition to this and it needs strong political will. But, we think this might be a feasible option”, Cheluvarayaswamy told reporters.

He also proposed to ban movement of certain types of vehicles on select roads. The collection of congestion fee on certain roads of the City is also among the steps mooted by the Government.

The Transport Minister contended that there are several countries that restrict the number of cars per family in a bid to reduce sound and air pollution. However, he made it clear that the discussions were still in the preliminary stage. “The discussions are still in the initial stage. There is a need to conduct a survey and analyze vehicular ownership pattern before any concrete step is taken in the direction”, he said.

Presently, Bangalore has close to three million vehicles, but 75 per cent of them are two-wheelers. The vehicular population in Bangalore had risen dramatically since the year 2000 when the City had just 1.3 million vehicles. With the vehicular population more than doubling during the last seven years, the authorities are clearly worried about the scenario going out of hand.

Karnataka BJP distances itself from MLA facing sexual harassment charges

Even as BJP legislator Renukacharya, who is at the centre of the sexual harassment controversy, dismissed the photographs showing him kissing a nurse as “computer graphic technology”, the BJP leadership decided to keep the scandalized MLA away from all party activities till he comes clean.

BJP’s Karnataka unit President D V Sadananda Gowda said the party has decided not to involve its MLA in any of the party activities till the probe into the sexual harassment charges he is facing is completed.

Sadanand Gowda also pointed out that Renukacharya has already submitted his resignation not only as an MLA, but also as the Chairman of state-run Karnataka Electronics Development Corporation.

Meanwhile, Renukacharya accused nurse Jayalakshmi of technologically manipulating the photographs to project him in poor light.

Speaking to reporters, Renukacharya denied having spent time with the nurse. “She is only trying to tarnish my image and politically finish me by using technology”, he said.

The BJP MLA even recalled that the nurse had given a written statement to Chandra Layout police, which is already investigating the harassment charges, that she is not in possession of any photographs or CD to prove her allegations. “It is upto her to reveal where she got these photographs from. It is a political game plan”, he said.

Renukacharya also denied that he had been threatening the nurse. “Let, he show the proof to substantiate her charges that I have been threatening her”, the BJP MLA said.

Meanwhile, nurse Jayalakshmi’s decision to release the photographs has taken the Bangalore City police by surprise.

When reporters asked Additional Commissioner of Police Bipin Gopalakrishna whether the police can take any action against the nurse for releasing sleazy photographs, he wondered what the police can do when a woman is tarnishing her own image by releasing pictures of her in intimate positions with the MLA.
“The pictures themselves speak and show that she was not forced into it. If there was force and if she can prove that the MLA had advanced further despite her innocence, then the police will book a case against him”, Bipin Gopalakrishna said

Man’s body arrives 100 days after murder in Riyadh

The body of a 48-year-old man, who was murdered in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia three and a half months ago, arrived in his native of Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) in Karnataka on Sunday.

Ameer Khan, a resident of Andersonpet in Kolar Gold Fields was working with a private hotel in Riyadh when he was murdered in February 2007. As the cause of the murder was not known and culprits were not traced, the authorities in Riyadh did not hand over the body to the bereaved family.

Ameer Khan’s wife Yasmin had appealed to the President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take steps to find out the cause of her husband’s murder and hand over the body.

The External Affairs Ministry corresponded through diplomatic channels on the matter to facilitate the handing over the deceased’s dead body to his relatives. The body of Ameer Khan arrived at his residence in Kolar Gold Fields on Sunday, exactly 100 days after the murder, amidst heart-rending scenes.

Karnataka lawmaker caught on camera smooching nurse

Karnataka BJP MLA Renukacharya’s embarrassment over the sexual harassment charges levelled against him by a nurse turned worse yesterday when she released photographs of the legislator smooching her to the media.

The nurse Jayalakshmi, who has already lodged a complaint with the National Women’s Commission against the Renukacharya, convened a press conference in Bangalore on Monday and publicly released photographs showing the legislator kissing her.

With television news channels beaming the photographs, the sexual harassment charges against the BJP MLA have come under sharp focus once again. The nurse has also accused Renukacharya of pestering her to marry him for the last several months.

Jayalakshmi’s disclosure comes after Renukacharya denied the charges of sexual harassment levelled against him by the nurse, who is also the Secretary of Green City Charitable and Education Trust in Bangalore.

“I have been receiving threatening calls. The callers had threatened to release my nude photographs. So, I released the photographs in my possession”, she told reporters.

The nurse, who had also attempted suicide about a month ago over the matter, said she was forced to approach the National Women’s Commission in New Delhi, as she does not trust the State Women’s Commission, which is headed by a BJP woman. “The State Women’s Commission is headed by Pramila Nesargi, who is also a BJP leader. When the accused also belongs to the same party, I don’t think I will secure justice here. So, I went to New Delhi”, he said.

Jayalakshmi claimed that she had brought the matter to the notice of BJP leaders in Karnataka, including Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, but to no avail. “Now it is the party and the Government to take note of the matter and initiate appropriate action against the MLA”, the nurse said.

Jayalakshmi further said that there was a threat to her life. “But, I have not been given any security”, she claimed.

Internet blackmailer nabbed

A software professional from Hyderabad was arrested by a special team of policemen from Mysore near here on charges of blackmailing women after eliciting personal information from them through online chats.

Describing his modus operandi, the police commissioner of Mysore City Pravin Sood told reporters that the thirty-year-old Neeraj Vaidya used to make friends with women on internet chat rooms and would extract personal information from them.

After obtaining the details, he would call or send messages through his mobile phone, threatening them that he would upload their photographs and personal details on pornographic websites if they failed to pay up.

A woman from Mysore, who was among the several victims of Neeraj Vaidya, lodged a complaint to the Mysore City police. The woman, whose identity the police refused to reveal, complained that she had already paid Rs 350,000 to Internet conman. But, the accused pestered her for an additional Rs 600,000.

Unable to bear to meet the extortion demands, the woman brought the matter to the notice of the Mysore City police, which constituted a special team. After obtaining all the information about Neeraj, the police advised the woman to continue the chat sessions with the accused.

“We traced him in Hyderabad with the help of the mobile phone number he was using to send the messages”, Sood told reporters.

Neeraj Vaidya was picked up from Hyderabad within three days of registering the complaint. The police also recovered Rs 165,000, a mobile phone and a laptop from the accused, who had worked in various software companies in Hyderabad. He was brought to Mysore, produced before the court and remanded in police custody.

“We have recovered a portion of the money paid by the victim. She had deposited the amount demanded by him in a bank account as directed by accused and he had already withdrawn the money. We are trying to recover the remaining amount”, Sood said.

Karnataka setting up IT finishing schools

With less than 35 per cent of engineering graduates found “employable” by the Information Technology (IT) companies, Karnataka Government has taken the initiative to start IT finishing schools that provide graduates training in communication skills, corporate culture as well as technical skills.

Speaking to reporters here, Secretary to Karnataka Government’s Department of Information Technology (IT) and Bio Technology (BT) M N Vidyashankar said the Government had tied up with the private sector and academic institutions to start IT finishing schools in Bangalore and Mysore near here.

While the IT finishing school in the Mysore, which will be first of its kind in India, will start functioning from next month, the IT finishing school in Bangalore will be thrown open to interested graduates by August this year.

The IT finishing school in Mysore will recruit 5,000 candidates during the first year and gradually increase the intake. The intake of Bangalore institute will double that of Mysore’s school. “The intake will be increased to 25,000 next year and doubled to 50,000 in the next two years”, Vidyashankar said.

The Government’s initiative to start IT finishing schools comes in the wake of a consultancy firm coming out with report on the employability of engineering graduates. “Only 35 per cent of the graduates are found employable by the IT companies at present. We want to take the figure to 75 per cent”, he said and added that the IT finishing schools were “an answer to the requirements of the IT industry”.

With four to five IT companies being set up in Bangalore every week, adding to the existing 1,790 companies, the demand for manpower in the IT sector was expected to shoot further up. “There is a demand for 110,000 IT graduates in Karnataka alone during 2007-08”, Vidyashankar said.

Though Karnataka produces engineering graduates in big numbers, there is a huge gap between demand and supply with companies looking for skilled and specialized manpower, he said.

Fate of Shakereh’s killer uncertain

Though the Supreme Court found the self-proclaimed godman Swami Shraddhananda guilty of murdering Shakereh, the grand daughter of late Dewan of Mysore Sir Mirza Ismail, in Bangalore during 1991, the fate of the 71-year-old killer remained uncertain as the Court has given a split verdict on the death sentence awarded to him by the Karnataka High Court.

According to information reaching here, a division bench of the Supreme Court comprising S B Sinha and Markandey Katju found little difficulty in convicting Swami Shraddhananda alias Manohar Mishra of killing Shakereh by lacing her tea with sedatives and later burying her alive in the courtyard of her sprawling bungalow on Richmond Road in Bangalore. But, when it came to the question of punishment, the judges differed.

While Justice Katju confirmed the death penalty, Justice Sinha ruled that Shraddhananda deserved life imprisonment instead of death. Though the judges concurred on the guilt of the convict, they differed if the case fell into the “rarest of the rare” category.

The division bench has now referred the matter to a larger bench. Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan will now constitute a larger bench, which would decide on the quantum of punishment to be awarded to Shraddhananda, who has already served 13 years in prison.

The deceased Shakereh Namazi had married Akbar Khaleeli, ex envoy of India to Iran, in 1964. Later, she came into contact with the self-styled godman and divorced Khaleeli in 1985. Shakereh married Shraddhananda in 1986 and subsequently a general power of attorney and a will in favour of him, according to the prosecution.

Shakereh was murdered in 1991 and Shraddhananda continued to live in her bungalow even after her death. When Shakereh’s daughter from her first marriage Sabah Khaleeli questioned him about her mother in 1992, Shraddhananda lied that she had gone abroad.

But, Sabah Khaleeli lodged missing complaint with the Bangalore police in 1992. After one of Shraddhananda’s servants spilt the beans, the police exhumed the skeletal remains of Shakereh from the backyard of the house in March 1994 and arrested Shraddhananda. The skull and DNA tests had confirmed the identity of her skeletal remains.

The sensational murder of Shakereh, the grand daughter of the late dewan of erstwhile Mysore state Sir Mirza Ismail, had sent shock waves across Karnataka and different parts of the country.

The trail court in Bangalore had imposed death sentence on Shraddhananda for the crime. The death sentence had been upheld by the Karnataka High Court during September 2005.

Oxford Press apologizes for howlers in dictionary, suspends its sale

Apologizing for its faux pas, the Oxford University Press (OUP) suspended the sale of its latest edition of Concise Dictionary of World Place Names, which had raised the hackles of historians in Karnataka and the State Government over erroneous references to Bangalore.

“We have frozen the stock of the book and stopped selling the same from our warehouses, and will be pulping the remaining copies. We sincerely apologize for the offence that this error has caused and we would like to assure all concerned that we will be putting this right as a matter of extreme urgency”, the publishers said in a statement.

The apology from Oxford University Press came within hours after an angry Karnataka Government wrote to the publishers, taking serious exception to the howlers in the dictionary’s 2005 edition.

The dictionary, edited by John Everett Heath, had referred to Bangalore as a City as a land of people speaking Bengali, who derived the name from a local chief called Banga. In fact, Bengali is spoken in Bangladesh and West Bengal, while Kannada happens to be the principal language of Karnataka of which Bangalore is the capital. A chronological error had also crept into the venerable dictionary, which had erroneously identified Kempe Gowda, who founded Bangalore, with the Hoysala dynasty.

The glaring errors in the dictionary did not leave Karnataka’s historians and the State Government amused. “We cannot tolerate the scant respect for Karnataka’s history. We had written a letter to them asking them to rectify the mistake and to withdraw the copies carrying wrong information”, said Secretary to Karnataka Government’s Department of Kannada and Culture I M Vittal Murthy.

After apologizing and withdrawing the dictionary, Oxford University Press has scheduled a meeting with officials from the Department of Kannada and Culture in Bangalore. During the meeting, Murthy said, the Government will give the corrections that have to be carried out. “The Government is also interested in knowing their (OUP’s) next course of action”, he said.

It has also been reliably learnt that Governor of Karnataka T N Chaturvedi had spotted the errors much before it was reported in the local media. The Government had sent a letter, dated May 11, to the State Government on the matter and expressed his strong displeasure at the errors in the dictionary. The letter addressed to the Chief Secretary P B Mahishi had urged the Government to take immediate steps to rectify the mistake.

Meanwhile, a host of Kannada organizations in Bangalore, including Kannada Gelayara Balaga, KSRTC Kannada Kriya Samithi and Kannada Jana Shakti have threatened to stage a protest in front of the local office of Oxford Press Union on Monday and burn copies of the dictionary.

Linguistic survey of India to begin from August 15

The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) will be embarking upon an ambitious Linguistic Survey of India from August 15 this year to map the languages and dialects spoken by Indians in various parts of the country.

Announcing at a press conference in Mysore near here, CIIL Director Udaya Narayan Singh said the comprehensive survey would begin from the mountainous terrains of North east India, where languages and dialects were on the brink of obscurity.

Later, the teams will move to South and other parts of India. Close to 12,000 personnel will be involved in the gigantic exercise that is expected to stretch to over ten years and cost the country about Rs 5.88 billion.

The comprehensive linguistic survey of India is being carried out nearly 80 years after the first such survey was carried out in the country by Irish philologist Sir George Abraham Grierson in pre-independent India.

Describing Grierson’s survey as a “baseline” study, Singh said many languages spoken in North east India and southern parts of India like the erstwhile Madras Presidency, Hyderabad and princely state of Mysore had not been included in the survey. “We will try to fill up the gap and correct the truncated linguistic picture given by Grierson” he added.

The objective of the comprehensive linguistic survey is to ascertain the total number of Indian languages not represented appropriately in previous surveys. Though the survey will last for ten years, interim reports will start flowing in from the second year, thanks to the advantage of Information Technology, which allows survey and documentation at the same time, he said.

Landscape camera onboard flights

Kingfisher Airlines will shortly introduce landscape camera system onboard its domestic flights across India to facilitate passengers to view the scenery on ground.

Though landscape camera is a unique service available internationally with some airlines, Kingfisher Airlines will be first to offer the facility on the domestic circuit, according to an official release.

The landscape camera system will enable passengers to view scenic views on the ground on their personalized screens. The modification involves installation of two cameras near the nose landing gear on its fleet of airbus aircraft. The cameras weighing 4.5 kgs each will offer panoramic views on its in-flight entertainment systems.

“India is a country with a beautiful landscape and I am confident that our guests will find this service of great interest and will get a bird’s eye view of the ground the aircraft flies over”, said Executive President of the airlines Hitesh Patel in the press release

Nineteen passengers on board a truck killed in road mishap

In a tragic mishap, 19 members of a marriage party including the bride were killed and 22 others were injured when the truck carrying them collided with a state-run bus in Bellary in Karnataka yesterday.

Police said the dead included six children and eight women, besides the driver of the ill-fated truck that was carrying a marriage party from Talikote to Bangalore. The injured persons were rushed to hospitals in Bellary and Kudligi. The condition of four of them is said to be serious.

The mishap took place when the truck joined the national highway - 13 from a by-pass road at Alur Cross near Bellary, about 300 kms from Bangalore. A Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus, also bound for Bangalore from Bilgi, collided with the truck as soon as it entered the national highway early on Friday morning.

Police said 18 persons died on the spot and one died on the way to the hospital. Most of the victims belonged to Bangalore.

Karnataka on high alert after Hyderabad blast

Karnataka went into a state of high alert in the wake of the bomb explosion in a mosque in Hyderabad.

Karnataka’s Director General of Police K R Srinivasan told reporters that police has been directed to mount a vigil at places of worship at sensitive places in Bangalore, Mangalore, Hubli, Bidar and other communally sensitive towns in the State.

Police security has been beefed up at airport and other communally sensitive localities of Bangalore.

The district of Bidar in Karnataka, which is along Andhra Pradesh border and situated close to Hyderabad, has also been put on a state of high alert, police said.

Impact of Metro track on Tipu’s palace under scrutiny - ASI

With underground track of Metro rail running barely 65 metres away from the eighteenth century warrior king Tipu Sultan’s palace in Bangalore, the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) is studying the impact of the project on the two-century old protected monument.

Tipu Sultan’s palace built in 1791 comprises of architecture that is dominated by woodwork including carved pillars and cusped arches. The palace situated in Kalasipalya in Bangalore, which had become the headquarters of the British administration after Tipu’s fall, attracts more than 500 visitors including foreign tourists every day.

Superintendent of Archeology S V P Halakatti said ASI had enlisted the help of Hyderabad-based National Geo-physical Research Institute (NGRI) to study the impact of vibrations caused by heavy equipment to build the underground Metro track.

NGRI would also help find whether buildings of archeological importance exist underground near Tipu’s palace. “It is not possible to excavate the area around Tipu’s palace to uncover monuments of archeological importance. Hence, NGRI would use ground-penetrating radar, which would show underground images. It is like physicians examining the body without cutting it open”, he said.

The ASI may have to seek a change in the alignment of Metro rail track if any underground structure is found near Tipu’s palace, he said. The NGRI personnel had already visited the site and a report in the regard is expected soon, Halakatti said.

Karnataka Minister seeks resignation of his own Ministerial colleagues

Karnataka’s Forest Minister C Chennigappa stunned the coalition Government in the State by seeking the resignation of his two of his ministerial colleagues for their reported opposition to provide free saplings to a Trust engaged in forest conservation activities.

Much to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s discomfiture, Chennigappa convened a press conference and lashed out at his Ministerial colleagues Alangur Srinivas and H S Mahadev Prasad, both belonging to JD (S), for not only opposing the forest conservation scheme during the cabinet meeting, but also leaking the cabinet deliberations to the media.

“Their continuation in the cabinet is detrimental to the entire Government. I appeal to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to drop them from the Ministry”, Chennigappa said.

Apparently, the cabinet took up the issue of Forest Department providing 10 million saplings free of cost to the Karnataka Vana Samvardhana Trust, which is engaged in forest conservation activities. The Trust headed by Pontiff of Adi Chunchanagiri Math Sri Balagangadhar Swamiji comprises representatives of 39 religious institutions in Karnataka.

According to media reports, Minister for Municipal Administration Alangur Srinivas and Minister for Kannada and Culture H S Mahadev Prasad had an argument with Chennigappa over the issue. However, the Cabinet approved the scheme and decided in favour of the Forest Minister.

Chennigappa, who referred to media reports about the matter, accused the two Ministers of spilling the beans to the media. “They should go because they have failed to observe the oath of office and secrecy administered to Ministers by the Governor at the time of swearing in. They should also apologize to the religious leaders”, Chennigappa said.

But, Chennigappa’s outbursts against his own ministerial colleagues did not go down well with the Chief Minister. “Who gave him the authority to seek the resignation of these Ministers?”, Kumaraswamy sought to know when Chennigappa’s demand was brought to his notice.

Ripley’s to entertain in Bangalore

A wax museum featuring Indian as well as international stars will soon be part of three main attractions Ripley Entertainment Inc is planning to bring to Bangalore.

To be established at a 50-acre film city at Bidadi on the outskirts of Bangalore, the wax museum will be alongside Ripley’s Believe It Or Not and Guinness Book of World Record museums.

While the wax museum will display authentic wax models of around 100 Indian and international figures, the Believe It Or Not museum will showcase a mind-boggling array of weird, but true stories from across the world. The Guinness Book of World Record Museum will bring to the visitors the world’s amazing feats.

Speaking to reporters, President of Ripley Entertainment Inc Robert E Masterson said the wax museum coming up at the Innovative Film City complex on the outskirts of Bangalore will be called Louis Tussaud’s.

Louis Tussaud’s was not the same as the Madame Tussaud’s in London, which also features wax statues of world famous personalities, Masterson sought to clarify. But, Ripley’s Louis Tussaud’s will also depict amazingly realistic models, he said. Ripley’s Louis Tussaud’s in Copenhagen, Denmark, which was opened in 1974, attracts large crowds.

The Innovative Film City complex, a Rs 1.5 billion project, will be ready by the end of this year. “We are aiming to attract a large number of visitors by keeping the a low entry fee of $ 1. We want India to be the biggest market”, Materson said.

The Bangalore museum of Ripley Entertainment Inc will be its first foray into South East Asia. “India was the first choice among the South East Asian countries due to its increasing popularity among global audience and we see a huge potential for our industry”, Materson said.

Though Ripley first considered Mumbai, but eventually settled on Bangalore for reasons of climate and space constraints.

CBI to probe former Minister’s death in Veerappan’s custody

The Karnataka Government has decided to seek a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the mysterious death of former Minister H Nagappa in forest bandit Veerappan’s captivity five years ago.

The Karnataka Government’s decision to refer the case to the CBI, which comes more than two years after Veerappan’s death in an encounter with the police, follows a recommendation to the effect by the R G Vaidyanathan Commission of Inquiry constituted to look into Nagappa’s death.

The Commission, in its report to the State Government, has recommended a CBI inquiry into the matter as the issue concerned two states – Karnataka and neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

Nagappa, who was kidnapped from his farmhouse at Kamagere on Karnataka’s border with Tamil Nadu by Veerappan and his gang during August 2002, was found dead in the forests of M M Hills on December 8, 2002. His dead body was riddled with bullet injuries.

The then S M Krishna Government had instituted a Commission of Inquiry headed by R G Vaidyanathan after Veerappan, in an audio cassette, accused the Tamil Nadu security personnel of shooting down Nagappa.

Meanwhile, Karnataka’s Home Minister M P Prakash told reporters that the Commission, apart from recommending a CBI probe, had sought action against a Karnataka police inspector for his failure to act after Nagappa was abducted from his farmhouse. “The pointed out that the inspector had failed to intercept a private bus into which the bandit had bundled Nagappa despite seeing the vehicle pass by”, Prakash said.

R G Vaidyanathan’s report also suggested that the Government pay compensation to the family of Nagappa, but did not indicate the amount. However, Prakash said the State Cabinet, which discussed the report during its last meeting, decided to authorize Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to take a decision on the amount of compensation to be paid to Parimala Nagappa, the widow of Nagappa. Parimala Nagappa is now MLA of the ruling JD (S).

Nagappa’s family members have made it clear that they would co-operate with the CBI in its inquiry and expressed hope that they would secure justice.

“We will hand over to the CBI all the six cassettes sent by Veerappan and a photocopy of the diary maintained by Nagappa during his captivity”, Nagappa’s brother in law Suresh has told reporters.

Karnataka legislator now owns a railway line

After owning helicopters, miners-turned-politicians of Karnataka have begun having their own railway tracks.

Suspended BJP MLC G Janardhan Reddy, who almost derailed the JD (S)-BJP coalition Government a couple of months ago by accusing Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy of accepting a bribe of Rs 1.5 billion, has become the first miner-turned-politician in Karnataka to own a railway track.

On Sunday, Reddy himself inaugurated a seven-kilometer railway track from his iron ore mining site near Bellary to Obalapuram railway station in Andhra Pradesh. The railway track laid at a cost of Rs 120 million will help Reddy transport iron ore in much shorter time and at a more economical rate.

Karnataka’s Tourism Minister B Sriramulu, Bellary MP G Karunakar Reddy and a couple of Railway officials were present when a train made its maiden journey on the private railway track laid by the BJP MLC.

Janaradhran Reddy, who has mining contracts on vast tracts of land in Bellary, along the Andhra Pradesh border, will hire trains from the Indian Railways to transport iron ore. Reddy’s firm - Obalapuram Mining Company - will require at least 112 wagons with a capacity of 45 tonnes each, daily to transport the iron ore, according to officials.

Till now, the iron ore was being transported from his mining site to Bellary railway station by road. About 600 lorries used to play between the mining site to Bellary railway railway station daily. The new railway track is expected to considerably reduce the burden on the vehicular traffic along the route.

Reddy now joins the league of two other private miners in Karnataka, who already have their own railway tracks.

Reddy’s acquisition comes after a fellow legislator from Bellary Anil Lad, a first-time MLA from BJP, became the youngest owner of Bell helicopter in India. Anil Lad, who also runs a flourishing mining business, had paid a whopping Rs 115 million for the chopper and employed a pilot by paying him Rs 150,000 to fly him around.

Cop decorated for gunning down Maoist sent to jail for beating wife

Inspector of Police in Bangalore N Srinidhi, who was conferred the gallantry medal by President last year for gunning down naxal leader Saketh Rajan, has now been sent to jail for beating his wife.

Srinidhi, who has been serving as Inspector of Frazer Town police station in Bangalore, was arrested by the Vijaynagar police and sent to jail after his wife Jyothi Shree, 28, lodged a complaint of assault and dowry harassment against him.

Confirming the arrest of Srinidhi by the police on Monday, Bangalore City Police Commissioner N Achuta Rao said the police officer will be suspended from duty.

According to a senior police officer handling the case, Srinidhi preferred going to jail rather than apologizing and making up with his wife.

Srinidhi’s wife Jyothi Shree, accompanied by her father, lodged a complaint with the Karnataka State Women’s Commission that the police officer, his brother Srinivas and mother Jayalakshmamma were harassing her for dowry. The Commission directed the Vijaynagar police to register a case and investigate the matter.

In her complaint, Jyothi Shree said Srinidhi constantly harassed and ill-treated her. According to the complaint, Srinidhi asked his wife to polish his shows as usual on Sunday. “He gave me a couple of blows when I took some time to polish the shoes. His mother and brother encouraged him to hit me harder though my eight-year-old son pleaded with him to stop beating. I fell unconscious soon after”, Jyothi Shree told the Women’s Commission and the police.

Before registering the case, the police asked Srinidhi to apologize to his wife and make a fresh start. “But, he remained adamant and did not express any regret. He admitted that he assaulted his wife as she ill-treated his aged mother and other family members”, the senior police officer handling the case told reporters.

Though the police arrested Srinidhi’s brother Srinivas and mother Jayalakshmamma too, the latter was released on bail by the magistrate. Srinidhi and his brother Srinivas remained in jail.

Much-transferred IAS officer appointed to closed PSU

An IAS officer in Karnataka, who had been transferred six times in the last six months, has now been made the Managing Director of a public sector undertaking (PSU) that has been closed for more than three years now.

Principal Secretary Grade IAS officer M N Vijaykumar, who is now posted to an office covered with a thick carpet of dust, claims he is being hounded for exposing corruption in high places.

Just what is his brief in a closed company? “I don’t know. I asked the Chief Secretary in writing about my brief. He has not replied”, Vijaykumar told reporters.

During his previous posting as the Bangalore Regional Commissioner, Vijaykumar had made Government files accessible to public scrutiny. Two days before the launch of the public inspection of the files, Vijaykumar was transferred out. His tenure as Bangalore Regional Commissioner lasted barely 20 days.

But, he remains unrepentant. “Just give me one week with the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR), I will expose at least 20 corrupt officers with disproportionate assets worth more than Rs 200 million each”, Vijaykumar claims to have told the Chief Secretary.

Apart from honesty and integrity, Vijaykumar even has a passion for Information Technology (IT). Almost a decade ago, he had developed a voice-recognition software that converted Kannada speech to text and demonstrated it at the Computer Society of India, Bangalore, in 1998. “I was approached by multinational companies to sell it to them. But, I declined as it would have led to unemployment of typists”, Vijaykumar said.

Even as Vijaykumar is bearing the ordeal with clenched teeth, his wife J N Jayashree has taken up the cause of her husband through a weblog http://fightcorruption.freespaces.com. As for Vijaykumar, he is reportedly planning to approach the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) for justice at an appropriate time.

Karnataka revokes ban on night shift for women

In the wake of a public outcry, the Karnataka Government yesterday decided to revoke its controversial rule to ban night shifts for women.

The Karnataka Cabinet, which met in Bangalore on Monday, decided to promulgate an ordinance to stall the implementation of the provisions of the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishment Act 2007 that prohibited women from working beyond 8 pm.

Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Karnataka’s Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Basavaraj Horatti said an ordinance seeking to withdraw the ban on night shifts for women will be issued in a day or two. “We are issuing the ordinance as the ban on night shifts triggerred a tremendous opposition from women and industries”, Horatti told reporters.

Karnataka’s Labour Minister Iqbal Ansari, who is the architect of the controversial legislation, told reporters that the Government will allow night shifts, but enforce conditions on the employers to provide a safe work environment and transport for women employees.

He said the Government had decided to ban night shifts for women in the wake of rising crime against working women.

The Karnataka Government’s turnaround comes not only after stiff resistance from women’s organizations, but also Governor T N Chaturvedi’s suggestion to drop the controversial piece of legislation. In a letter to the Government, the Governor pointed that than a ban on night shifts for women was violative of “constitutional equality and social policy” of the Federal Government.

Though the controversial legislation, which was passed in the recent legislature session, had excluded women working in Information Technology, Bio-technology, hospitals and other essential services, ladies employed in hotels, hospitality sector and malls were up in arms against the Government’s decision.

The Karnataka State Women’s Commission too had cried foul against the Government’s decision with Commission Chairperson Pramila Nesargi appealing to the Labour Minister to withdraw the “retrograde” move.

Monday’s Cabinet decision has come as a major relief to thousands of working women, who were apprehensive of losing their jobs on account of the Government’s decision to ban night shifts.

Liquor being smuggled out of duty free shops at Bangalore airport – Excise Department

The Excise Intelligence Bureau in Karnataka has reason to suspect that that expensive liquor bottles are being routinely smuggled out of the duty free shops at Bangalore airport.

For, the purchase records at these duty free shops show that not just religious leaders, but also Haj pilgrims have been buying liquor bottles.

According to a report in The New Indian Express, an organized foreign liquor sale racket is thriving in Bangalore and causing a huge loss to the state exchequer. The duty free shopkeepers at the airport manage to smuggle out expensive Scotch bottles on the names of international passengers. The passenger lists are obtained from international airline operators.

Several brands of expensive liquor are available at less than half the price in duty free shops.

“Why would anyone buy a Black Label whisky bottle from Karnataka State Beverage Corporation Limited paying Rs 4,150 when the same is available for Rs 1,700 in duty free shops? But, that does not mean that the smuggled out liquor is sold at a cheaper price. It is sold just a few hundred rupees less than the Government’s price”, the Excise Intelligence Bureau officer is quoted as saying.

With an average of twelve international flights landing and taking off from Bangalore airport everyday, the two duty free shops operating round the clock at the airport manage to smuggle out several bottles of liquor after carefully picking passengers. Though the shopkeepers are careful enough not choose passengers, who are too famous, the names of religious leaders and Haj pilgrims are also mentioned sometimes.

The clubs and malls of Bangalore are reported to be the major customers of liquor smuggled out of duty free shops at Bangalore airport.

The officer recalled that tour operators would organize trips to Dubai and Singapore in the early nineties offering passengers attractive rates. “In turn, the tour operators would purchase foreign items on the passengers’ names and bring to Bangalore. But, this has stopped after duty free shops were set-up here”, he said.

India to launch OCEANSAT – 2 soon

A new satellite OCEANSAT- 2 to study oceans will be launched by India before the end of the ensuing financial year, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair said.

OCEANSAT – 2 will replace the OCEANSAT – 1 which is nearing the end of its lifespan, Nair told reporters in Bangalore on the concluding day of a workshop on “Communication strategies and delivery systems to promote science and technology among rural people”.

OCEANSAT – 2 will be a powerful satellite equipped with scatterometer to study the sea surface. The applications of this satellite will include identifying fishing zones and weather forecasting, he said.

Nair also revealed that ASTROSAT, a satellite that will serve as a “space observation system” will be launched during 2008-08. “It will have the capability to observe and study various celestial phenomena like supernova and black holes through the use of multiple wavelengths such as ultraviolet, x-rays and gamma rays”, he said.

Fielding queries on future commercial launches, Nair said ISRO will be taking up three more commercial launches in the next two years after the success of its recent launch of Agile missile. “Three contracts are much in their final stages and we hope they come they come through soon”.

Nair said ISRO’s Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark II will be operationalised by 2009. While the existing GSLV could launch a payload capacity of 2.5 tonnes into geosynchronous transfer orbit, the proposed GSLV Mark II will have a capacity of four to five tonnes. He said ISRO was in the cryogenic stage of GSLV Mark II and its test launch would take place in the next few months.

Earlier, delivering the valedictory address at the workshop, Nair said the country was facing pressing problems ranging from access to food and water to inefficiency in healthcare and education.

He emphasized the need for shifting the focus of technologies to reach out to the millions of people in rural areas. “We do not need such sophisticated technology so as to serve only the population in metros and urban areas”, he remarked.

Nair cited the example of desalinization mechanism developed by Council for Scientific and Industrial Research that had a capacity to provide a litre of drinking water for just 5 paise.
“The dramatic changes taking place in our metros are not enough to realize the dream of reaching our development to the 70 per cent of India’s population that lives in villages by 2020”.

China’s proposal to legalize trade in tiger parts sends alarm bells ringing in Karnataka

The possibility of China lifting its 14-year-old ban on trade in tiger parts has sent alarm bells ringing in Karnataka, where wildlife enforcement agencies and conservationists are apprehending a threat to the declining tiger population in its forests.

Home to 350-400 tigers, Karnataka’s forests have long been targeted by poachers, who hunt down the big cats not only for their striped skin, but also for the medicinal properties of their bones.

A worried Karnataka Government is planning to knock on the Federal Government’s door to bring pressure on China to drop its proposal to legalize trade in tiger parts, lest it takes a heavy toll on the animal in the state’s forests.

“It is an issue of grave concern. If the demand for tiger parts from China increases, wildlife criminals’ network here would grow stronger and the Central India-based organized criminal gangs may start hunting here”, Karnataka’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) A K Varma said.

Inspector General of Police CID (Forest Cell) K S N Chikkerur is equally concerned. “Legalizing trade in tiger parts in China is like extending an open invitation to wipe out the tiger population here”, he said.

During the last three years, a total of 28 tiger skins had been seized in Karnataka, a majority of which was destined for China. According to Forest Department officials, notorious poachers, who are major suppliers to China, have been trying to poach tigers in the forests of Karnataka.

With environmentalists and wildlife conservationists even in North Indian states sharing Karnataka’s concern over the threat to tiger population, Varma has made out a case for Indian Government along with other tiger-populated countries to prevail upon China to protest the tigers as envisaged in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

The Government of India’s Tiger Task Force report 2005 has estimated at about 500 to 1,000 tigers have been killed in India during the last 25 years.
Though more than 5000 tigers are being bred in farms across China, the huge costs incurred in the rearing of tigers in captivity is understood to be main reason behind China considering a proposal to lift the ban on trade in tiger parts. Also, wild tigers are regarded as more potent sources of medicine that the farm-bred ones.

Four-year-old mauled by stray dogs near Bangalore

After two children fell prey to stay dog menace Bangalore, it was the turn of a four-year-old boy in Ramanagaram, about 50 kms from here, to be mauled to death by a pack of stray dogs yesterday.

Police said a pack of street dogs pounced on four-year-old Yasin when he was answering his nature’s call just outside his house in Ramanagaram’s Yarab Nagar around 6 am on Friday morning.

Yasin reportedly bled to death on the spot as the canines had tore open the flesh at several places on his body. The dogs had apparently held the boy in their jaws and dragged him all over the place.

Since it was early in the day and nobody had come out of their houses yet, the helpless boy’s cries went unheard. By the time the family members came out, Yasin had breathed his last, police said.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, who represents Ramanagaram assembly constituency, called up the Yasin’s inconsolable father on the phone and expressed his condolences. Yasin’s mother and father were devastated over losing their only son.

The local administration officials have promised a compensation of Rs 100,000 to the family of the victim.

Meanwhile, officials said Yarab Nagar in Ramanagaram, a Muslim-dominated locality, had a lot of meat shops that attract a large number of dogs, which had turned ferocious by feeding on the waste thrown by the shops.

Though the civic administration deployed dog-catchers in the locality about a month ago, the locals had chased away the team. A case of assault by a few locals on the dog-catchers had been registered in the Ramanagaram town police station, officials added.
The ghastly killing of Yasin at Ramanagaram has once again brought the issue of stray dog menace in Karnataka under sharp focus. The mauling to death of nine-year-old Sridevi on January 5 and Manjunath on February 28 in Bangalore had triggerred a huge public outcry against the stray dog menace

Row over Karnataka CM’s “ill-treatment” of lady vice chancellor

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has incurred the wrath of women’s organizations in the State for publicly pulling up the lady vice chancellor of Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) K Sudha Rao during his recent visit to Mysore

The murmurs of protest against the “ill-treatment” meted out to KSOU vice chancellor Sudha Rao by the Chief Minister have begun to snowball into a major controversy with women’s organizations taking to the streets over the issue and opposition parties mounting a fresh offensive against the Government.

Kumaraswamy, who made an unscheduled stop at KSOU campus in Mysore last Sunday, summoned the vice chancellor from home, and gave her a piece of his mind for holding up the regularization of more than 200 temporary employees of the University. Though the vice chancellor expressed her helplessness in the regard, Kumaraswamy was unwilling to buy the argument and directed the employees to report to work.

To top it, Kumaraswamy also asked the temporary employees to lock up the office of the vice chancellor if they were prevented from entering the KSOU premises. Before leaving the venue, the Chief Minister is understood to have issued a fiat to the police to withdraw security to the vice chancellor.

Taking serious exception to Kumaraswamy’s “boorish” behaviour, several women gathered in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Mysore under the banner of Samata Vedike and condemned the Chief Minister for his “intemperate” behaviour with a lady vice chancellor.

A host of other organizations including Karnataka State Backward Classes Welfare Forum, Dalith Sangharsha Samithi and Karnataka State Vishwakarma Welfare Forum too have lent their support to the lady vice chancellor. The organizations have cried foul over the Chief Minister’s “brazen” attempt to regularize “backdoor” appointments, which had been declared as “illegal” by the Karnataka High Court.

Meanwhile, women’s self help groups in Hebbal have called upon women MLAs to raise their voice against the Chief Minister for showing “disrespect” to a lady vice chancellor with impeccable academic record.

The episode has come in handy for the Opposition Congress leaders to pin down the Government on its perceived gender discrimination. Kumaraswamy, who does not have a single women representative in the coalition JD (S)-BJP Ministry, had to take a mouthful from the Leader of the Opposition in Legislative Council H K Patil.

On her part, Sudha Rao submitted a report on the episode to Governor T N Chaturvedi, who is also the Chancellor of the University. Speaking to reporters, Sudha Rao said the Governor found the development as “unfortunate”.

Karnataka’s Minister for Higher Education D H Shankarmurthy told reporters that he would speak to the Chief Minister and resolve the matter.

Chikmagalur Lok Sabha seat to vanish from electoral map

The historic Chickmagalur Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka, which gave late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi a “political re-birth”, is all set to disappear from the electoral map of the country.

After losing to Raj Narian in Rae Bareli in 1977, Indira Gandhi won the by-election from this picturesque Lok Sabha constituency set amidst coffee and tea plantations during 1978. Her victory against the then Janata Party candidate Veerendra Patil by a margin of 77,333 votes had not marked her political re-birth, but also believed to have changed the course of national politics.

But, the Delimitation Commission, which is redrawing the contours of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies in Karnataka, has proposed to disband the Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituency and distribute its Assembly constituencies to neighbouring Lok Sabha segments of Shimoga, Hassan and Udupi.

Though an all-party delegation has submitted a memorandum to the Chairman of the Delimitation Commission Kuldip Singh to retain the constituency, the politicians are skeptical about the Commission accommodating its request.

Unlike the Congressmen, who are sentimental about the Lok Sabha constituency, the voters of Chikmagalur are apathetic about the Delimitation Commission’s move to disband the constituency and merge its parts with neighbouring Lok Sabha constituencies. For, they ignored an all-party call for a shut-down of Chikmagalur district to protest the disbanding of the Lok Sabha constituency.

It may also be noteworthy to mention here that Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituency did not exist during the first three general elections held India. The voters of the region were either part of neighbouring Hassan or Shimoga. Chikmagalur district became an independent Lok Sabha constituency only in 1967.

Southwest monsoon to set in early in Kerala and Karnataka

The southwest monsoon that normally arrives in June is anticipated to set in a week earlier this year with rains predicted to hit Kerala coast on May 23 and Karnataka coast two or three days later.

According to the forecast of Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation (CMMAS), more than normal amount of rainfall is predicted for West and Central India, excess rainfall in South and Northeast and deficit rainfall on the east coast and northwest.

Speaking at a meeting on “Monsoon 2007 – A preview” organized by Indian Meteorological Society in Bangalore, P Goswami of CMMAS said the forecast is based on a global circulation model, deduced from research initiatives. “It is different from the statistical model that Indian Meteorological Department general uses”, he said.

Claiming that the general countrywide forecasts were misleading, Goswami said India must invest in technologies and models that look at local conditions and specific climatic anomalies.

“Our accuracy is not good enough. For instance, during the rains of Mumbai on July 26, 2005, while most Indian institutes including CMMAS predicted no more than 400 mm of rainfall for the day, the actual amount that fell was 1,000 mm, causing so much damage”, he said.

When India could spend Rs 5 billion for a telescope to see farthest reaches of the solar system, Goswami sought to know why the country could not spend Rs 500 million for good computing facility that the developing world benefited from.

He also spoke about the need for higher temporal and spatial resolutions. “A farmer would need at least 150 days to make decisions about what crop to cultivate, depending on the rains”, he said.

Work on Bangalore International airport ahead of schedule

With the construction of Bangalore International airport being ahead of schedule, the trial operations are planned to commence as early as January 2008 and commercial operations on April 2 next year.

Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who is also the Finance Minister, told reporters that the civil works of the airport are ahead of schedule by at least seven weeks. “All civil works would be completed by December this year and the trial run of the aircraft should start by January next year”, he said.

The Government has fixed April 2, 2008, as the tentative date for inaugurating the airport, which is located at Devanahalli, about 35 kms from Bangalore.

Yediyurappa made the announcement after reviewing the progress of various infrastructure projects in the State. He said the focus of the Government was on completion of the link roads to the Bangalore International airport. The airport, which will be the country’s first Greenfield airport, would be linked to Bangalore by a six-lane highway.

Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Secretary P B Mahishi participated in a ceremonial event organized at the airport site to place the last of the 234 roof elements of the terminal building.

Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) authorities said the construction activity of the upcoming airport had reached a significant milestone with the placing of the last roof element for the terminal building.

Along with Mahishi, Principal Secretary to Karnataka Government’s Department of Infrastructure V P Baligar and BIAL’s Chief Executive Officer Albert Brunner were present.

According to April progress card of the construction, released by BIAL, the runway paving is now entirely complete and work has commenced on fixing lights along the runway. Work was also underway on water-proofing and thermal insulation of the terminal building.

Karnataka High Court upholds ban on lottery

The Karnataka High Court has upheld the State Government’s decision to ban sale of lottery in the State.

The High Court’s ruling came as a major disappointment to the thousands of lottery sellers across the State, who had managed to secure a temporary stay on the Karnataka Government’s decision to ban conduct and sale of lottery tickets in Karnataka.

Government counsel Venugopala Rao told reporters outside the High Court complex in Bangalore on Tuesday that the Court had found as legally tenable the Karnataka Government’s policy decision to ban sale of lotteries as announced in the recent State Budget.

The lottery dealers, who had resumed sale of lottery tickets after the High Court reprieve on April 17, will have to stop their business again, Rao added. “All lotteries whether they are from Karnataka or outside the State will have to stop their sales in Karnataka. Even online lotteries stand banned”, he said. “Karnataka is once again a lottery free state”, he added.

The High Court’s ruling on Tuesday came as a victory to the Karnataka Government, which declared the State a lottery free state with effect from April 1. After the ban on lottery, the Karnataka State Lottery Dealers’ Association and All India Federation of Gaming and Allied Industries had successfully moved the High Court and secured a stay on the ban on the grounds that no alternative arrangements had been made for the more than 150,000 lottery dealers engaged in the business of selling lotteries.

But, the State Government went in appeal against the stay granted by the High Court. The Government’s efforts paid off as the High Court upheld the ban.

Meanwhile, the dejected lottery sellers are planning to move the Supreme Court against Tuesday’s ruling. Apart from the Karnataka State Lottery Dealers’ Association and All India Federation of Gaming and Allied Industries, even the Governments of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, whose lotteries had a huge market in Karnataka, were also planning to the move the Apex court.

Karnataka relieved as Apex court admits Cauvery petition

The Karnataka Government breathed a sigh of relief as the Supreme Court admitted its special leave petition challenging the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal.

According to information reaching here, a division bench of the Supreme Court admitted Karnataka’s petition and posted it before a larger bench, which will also hear the special leave petitions filed by Tamil Nadu and Kerala. A larger bench to look into the petitions filed by the three South Indian states over the Cauvery dispute will be constituted by Chief Justice.

After admitting Karnataka’s petition, the Apex court has issued notices to the Federal Government, besides the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry.

“It is our first victory against the Tribunal’s order”, Karnataka’s Irrigation Minister K S Eshwarappa said reacting to the admission of its special leave petition by the Supreme Court. “We will fight the case before the Supreme Court as well as the Tribunal”, he said.

Legal experts point out that the admission of the special leave petition by the Supreme Court was a source of major relief for Karnataka, which is not too hopeful of finding any respite from the Tribunal before which it has also filed a clarificatory petition.

Legal experts also point out focus of Cauvery dispute will now shift to the Supreme Court, which can modify the order if it is convinced about Karnataka’s case.
Admitting Karnataka’s petition, Justice Markandeya Katju observed that the Cauvery dispute was a not a legal problem, but a scientific problem. With such a large coastline in Tamil Nadu, the Government with the help of scientists and technologists should evolve methods to use sea water by desalinating it and making it potable

Moneylender ends life after tearing currency notes worth Rs 80,000

In a bizarre incident, an elderly moneylender committed suicide by consuming poison at Shantigrama village in Karnataka’s Hassan district after tearing currency notes worth Rs 80,000 he had drawn from the bank.

Police said Chikke Gowda, a 75-year-old moneylender, could have resorted to the extreme step as he frustrated that people in the village had stopped borrowing money from him.

Chikke Gowda had drawn Rs 80,000 from the bank on Friday. On Saturday, he began tearing the currency notes, which were in denominations of Rs 1,000 and Rs 100. Next, he consumed poison and committed suicide in his house.

According to preliminary investigation by Hassan Police, which is investigating the case, Chikke Gowda was a known miser in the village and harassed borrowers rarely approached him the second time for a loan.

Chikke Gowda’s family members said he was frustrated that many of his borrowers had stopped borrowing money from him. The moneylender leaves behind his wife and four sons.

Meanwhile, the police said the family members can exchange the torn notes for good ones from the bank under the RBI Currency Note Refund Act if they paste the torn pieces of the notes properly.

Four from Karnataka feared dead in Kenya air crash

Four persons were Karnataka are reported to have been on the ill-fated Kenyan Airways flight that had crashed on Saturday minutes after it took off from Cameroon.

Madhusudan, 42, a chartered accountant with a pharmaceutical company based in Cameroon, his wife Bhagya, 34, and their ten-year-old daughter, were to take a connecting flight from Nairobi to Mumbai before the Kenyan Airways flight taking them to Nairobi had crashed.

Similiarly, Ruby Paul, 32, a native of Mangalore in Karnataka, who had been to Cameroon on a two-month official assignment as part of her job with a multinational company at Chennai, too had taken the ill-fated flight.

The names of the four persons from Karnataka figured among the fifteen Indians, whose names had been released by the External Affairs Ministry.

Madhusudan’s mother Shanta Satyanarayana was spending anxious moments at his residence in J P Nagar seventh phase in Bangalore. Though shattered by the news, Shanta Satyanarayana has been glued to the television set in hope that some good news will emanate.

Madhusudan’s brother Murali told reporters that his brother, who had been in Cameroon for the last two years, was coming for a vacation with his family. “He wanted to leave his wife and daughter behind. Bhagya did not want to return and was planning to settle down in Bangalore with Poojitha”, he said.

Meanwhile, Ruby Paul’s brother Roy Paul said her company had sent Ruby to Cameroon on an official assignment. “She had finished her two-month stay and was returning”, Roy Paul told reporters.

Death toll in Gokak blast goes upto 4

The death toll in the devastating blast that took place at a starch and glucose manufacturing plant at Gokak in Karnataka late on Friday night went upto four with two more injured persons succumbing to the burns yesterday.

The powerful blast that ripped through the Ridhi Sidhi Gluco Boils factory at Gokak, about 60 kms from Belgaum, had not only claimed two lives on Friday night, but also left 33 persons battling for their lives. “Two persons have died, taking the toll to four”, officials said on Sunday.

Doctors at KLE Hospital and Medical Research Centre in Belgaum, where the injured were undergoing treatment, said the condition of fifteen more injured persons was critical. “The casualty figures will mount further as at least fifteen of them had sustained 60 per cent second degree deep thermal burns with inhalation injuries”, according to a doctor.

The impact of the blast was such that the roof of the roof of the factory had blown off and fallen more than 100 metres away. In the absence of an ambulance, the injured persons had to be shifted in a truck to the nearest hospital at Belgaum, which was about 60 kms away.

Meanwhile, a team of experts, which inquired into the accident, submitted a preliminary report to the police yesterday stating that the explosion had not taken place on account of the blast of a boiler. The team has sought a couple of more days’ time to ascertain the exact cause of the explosion.

Additional Director General of Karnataka Police Shankar Bidri visited the hospital in Belgaum and enquired about the condition of the injured persons, most of whom were daily wager employees at the factory.

He said the police will investigate the matter and initiate exemplary action against the persons, whose negligence had led to the disaster. Meanwhile, the management of the factory has agreed to pay compensation to the next of kin of the persons killed and injured in the mishap.

Beedi industry grinds to a halt in Karnataka

The beedi industry in Karnataka has come to a grinding halt with beedi rollers joining the protest launched by manufacturers against the Federal Government’s directive to compulsorily print prominent pictorial health warnings on beedi packets.

More than a million beedi workers in Karnataka concentrated in Mysore, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts have stopped rolling beedis in response to the manufacturers’ call to close down production for a week from May 5 to 11 in a bid to bring pressure on the Federal Government to withdraw its “draconian” measure.

The Federal Government has made it mandatory for beedi manufacturers to print prominently a skull, a human corpse, cross bones and a text message in bold letters on all beedi packets.

The beedi manufacturers and the workers, who have formed a joint front to wage a struggle against the Government ruling, have planned a series of protests including demonstrations and road-blockades to force the Government to withdraw its order.

President of the Beedi Manufacturers and Workers Association from Dakshina Kannada Chandappa Anchan said the Government’s directive to print the pictorial warnings was a “ploy” to finish off the beedi industry and make way for mini-cigarettes to enter the market.

If the Government does not withdraw its order by May 11, Anchan threatened that beedi workers will block every main road in Mangalore.

Meanwhile, hundreds of beedi workers took out a march through the main thoroughfares of Mysore to register their protest against the Government’s directive on the pictorial health warnings.

The protestors, who took out a march under the aegis of Mysore Beedi Mazdoor Association led by former Minister Tanvir Sait, staged a road blockade at K R Circle for about half an hour.

Sait said an appeal will be made to the Members of the Parliament from Karnataka to take up the issue with the Federal Government as the directive will sound the death knell of the beedi industry, which provides employment to more than a million beedi workers in the State.

Karnataka bans night shift for women

The Karnataka Government’s decision to bannight shifts for women has kicked up a row with thewomen’s groups planning to oppose the Government’s“retrograde” move.

Karnataka’s Minister for Labour Iqbal Ansari’sannouncement to ban night shifts for women in shops,commercial establishments and hotels from July thisyear has not only triggered waves of panic among thethousands of women, who fear losing their lobs, butalso among the employers in the hotel industry,shopping malls and recreation centres.

“Women employees will not be allowed to work after 8pm. The aim is to check the rising crime againstwomen”, Ansari said at a function late on Fridayevening. The Government had suitably amended the Shopsand Commercial Establishments Act in view of theincreasing number of complaints about harassment ofwomen during night shifts, he said.

“I am sure the legislation will come to the aid ofhelpless working women and will be treated as ameasure to protect them”, he said.Ansari also made it clear that the ban excludes womenemployees in the Information Technology (IT) andBio-Technology (BT), besides hospitals and otheressential services, the Labour Minister clarified.

But, the Government’s decision has not been takenkindly by either by the women’s groups or thehospitality sector, which is a 24x7 industry.Karnataka Women’s Commission has taken the lead inopposing the Government move to ban night shift forwomen.

Commission Chairperson Pramila Nesargi said “Itis not a progressive legislation. The ban isunscientific and it denies women the right to work ona par with men”, she said.Nesargi said the Karnataka Women’s Commission willhold a meeting next week to chart out their futurecourse of action on the Government’s move to ban nightshifts for women.

Janavadi Mahila Sanghatane, a women’s organization,opposed the ban on the grounds that it would thousandsof women losing their jobs.

Joining the chorus against the ban on night shift arethe management of the hospitality sector. GeneralManager of Taj West End in Bangalore P K Mohan Kumarsaid fifty per cent of the hotel industry’s frontlinestaff are women. “They constituted a large portion ofguest relations, front desk and housekeeping. It isactually an industry, where women can build careers”,he said.

The ban is unlikely to be welcomed even by the womenemployees and the managements in shopping malls andshowrooms across the State.

Indiapost to deploy aircraft to deliver posts speedily

Indiapost, the country’s venerable postal service, will soon press into service a dedicated aircraft that will ferry mails, parcels and other consignment to their respective destinations in the country faster.

The dedicated freighter aircraft, bearing the logo of Indiapost, is expected to take to the skies in the next three months time and give the private courier agencies a run for their money.

The Department of Posts has tied up with Indian Airlines, which has now been renamed as Indian, to launch the dedicated aircraft. “Indian Airlines will be converting one its Boeing passenger aircraft into a freighter. We don’t have the expertise to run the aircraft. Indian Airlines will be operating the aircraft for us”, said General Manager of Department of Posts, New Delhi, John Samuel, who was in Mysore near here to attend a national workshop.

The Indiapost aircraft will primarily cover destinations in north-eastern parts of the country and also major metropolitan cities in India. “The aircraft will carry mails and parcels between the four metros during night as not many flights are available during night on these routes. During daytime, the aircraft will operate in north east”, John Samuel said.

Though freighter service will start with one aircraft, Indiapost will be expanding its fleet of cargo aircraft in due course of time.

The freighter service is expected give a fillip to Speed Post, Indiapost’s premium mail service that reaches 1,100 destinations across India, besides 97 countries abroad. Plans are afoot to expand the network of Speed Post to 2,000 stations across the country, John Samuel said. “All the district headquarters are presently covered. We plan to expand even to level three towns and cities across the country”, he said.

Speed Post, John Samuel said, was a market leader with annual revenue of Rs 4.5 billion. “Speed Post handles a whopping 11 million articles every day and our nearest competitor accounts for less than half of this in terms of volume”, he added.