The Hindu : Karnataka News : Briefly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 21, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Briefly

Hooch tragedy toll five

BANGALORE AUG. 20. The toll in Thursday's arrack poisoning at Kollur Mallasandra in Hoskote taluk of Bangalore Rural district rose to five. Two of the four persons who had taken ill after drinking arrack died in the hospital early today, the police said. The dead were identified as Yellappa (40) and Narayanamma, alias Yellamma (40). Three persons, Gowramma (45), Yellamma (45), and Mariappa (55), died on Thursday. The police said the bodies were handed over to the families after autopsy at Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences at Whitefield. The condition of two others in the hospital was said to be stable. Seven persons had consumed arrack on Thursday from sachets bearing the emblem of the State Government. They had bought the sachets from different shops in the village. The police suspect some bootleggers could have faked the sachets and filled them with illicit arrack and supplied them to the vendors. Only two of the seven arrack shops in the village were licensed to sell arrack. The former Union Minister C.M. Ibrahim and the former Hoskote MLA B.N. Bachche Gowda called on the families of the victims on Friday.

`BJP exploiting rift in coalition'

Bangalore Aug. 20. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of capitalising on the failures of the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition Government on various fronts. G.N. Nagaraj, CPI(M) State unit secretary, said that the BJP leaders were trying to emerge as heroes in the situation created by the coalition Government. The Sangh Parivar was trying to create anarchy and its leaders were threatening to take over the Bababudangiri shrine in Chikmagalur district. He urged the people not to fall prey to the machinations of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar, which planned to create a Gujarat-like situation in the State. The Government had failed to resolve the CET imbroglio. It was unmoved by the suicide by a poor girl, Pratibha, who had dreams of joining the MBBS course. The solution lay in the Centre enacting a law on admissions to professional colleges. Mr. Nagaraj said the coalition Government was pursuing the World Bank-dictated economic policies. The two coalition parties had betrayed the people, he said.

Assurance on railway line

By Our Special Correspondent

HUBLI Aug. 20. The Union Minister for Environment and Forests, K. Raja, has assured a team of MPs to re-examine the question of giving environmental clearance for the land required for the Hubli-Ankola railway line. Mr Prahlad Joshi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Dharwad North, said the Union Minister gave this assurance when a delegation of party MPs from the State met him in New Delhi expressing concern over the action of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests in rejecting the plea for the release of forest land for the railway line. H.N. Ananth Kumar, BJP State unit President and Bangalore South MP, led the delegation.

Revision of voters' list soon

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE Aug. 20. The Chief Election Commissioner, T.S. Krishnamurthy, has directed the Deputy Commissioner, G. Kumar Naik, to begin preparations for revision of electoral rolls in the district. The revision of voters' list is expected to continue till January 2005. Persons whose names were missing from the voters' list and who are aged 18 as on January 1, 2005, can visit their respective polling stations or the nearby post offices for inclusion of their names. Mr. Krishnamurthy, who arrived here on Thursday, was received by Mr. Naik at the Government Guesthouse. Mr. Krishnamurthy left for Hassan in the afternoon. Mr. Krishnamurthy said in Hassan that the Election Commission had received nearly 1,000 complaints of malpractice in the General Elections from the State. He told presspersons, on his way to Chikmagalur, that steps would be taken to reduce such incidents in future elections.

860 slaughterhouses in State

New Delhi Aug. 20. Karnataka has the highest number of animal slaughterhouses in the country with 860 out of 4,030 licensed abattoirs in the country, the Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Kanti Lal Bhuria, told the Rajya Sabha on Friday. He said there were 5,891 unregistered slaughterhouses in the country. In a written reply to the House, he said meat production in India had risen from 5.03 million tonnes in 1999 to 6.04 million tonnes in 2003. — PTI

Dharam Singh leaves for Delhi

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore Aug. 20. The Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, today left for New Delhi to attend meetings of the Congress Working Committee and the All-India Congress Committee on Saturday. The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President, B. Janardhana Poojary, will not be attending the meeting as he has been injured on the leg. The party President, Sonia Gandhi, has permitted him to skip the meeting, according to a press release. The Chief Minister is expected to discuss with the AICC leaders the question of Cabinet expansion. Various caste groups are mounting pressure on him to accommodate their legislators in the Ministry. The Lingayat leaders in the party have demanded adequate representation in the coalition Ministry.

Dacoits raid farmhouse

MYSORE AUG. 20. A gang of dacoits attacked a farmhouse on the outskirts of the city in the early hours of Friday and took away articles worth Rs. 1 lakh. The police said that the Telugu-speaking dacoits raided the house of Jacob, owner of a rubber factory at Mandakalli, near here, around 3.30 a.m. The dacoits, who were wearing masks and T-shirts broke open the door and gained entry to the house. Dacoits also attacked another house on the same farm belonging to the supervisor of the rubber factory. The police said the dacoits gained entry by breaking open the front door. A dog squad and a team of fingerprint experts were pressed into the service. The Superintendent of Police, Vipul Kumar, visited the spot.

Reservoir almost full

HASSAN AUG. 20. With the southwest monsoon still active in the catchment areas, the water level in the Hemavathi reservoir has increased considerably. The storage in the reservoir was 33.27 tmcft as against the maximum of 37.50 tmcft on Thursday, according to the officials of the Hemavathi Dam Division.

The inflow was 6,800 cusecs and the outflow around 4,780 cusecs. According to the officials, the reservoir has filled up from 1996 to 2001. The reservoir did not reach its full level in the last two years owing to failure of the monsoon.

Free camp

CHITRADURGA AUG. 20. The Rotary Club and Margadarshi Rotary Trust for the disabled have jointly organised a free check-up camp for people with cleft lip and cleft palate on August 22 at the Rotary Bal Bhavan here.

Experts from the Face Foundation, Mangalore, would conduct the check-up. Those in need of an operation would be identified and free surgery and treatment would be given at the Unity Health Centre in Mangalore, a release from the Rotary Club said.

For details, contact N.B. Prahlad, secretary of the Rotary Club.

Demonstration

HASSAN AUG. 20. Members of the Karnataka State Government Employees' Association's district unit staged a demonstration in front of all the taluk offices in Hassan district, demanding the constitution of the Fifth Pay Commission in response to the call given by the State unit.

While the office-bearers of the district unit staged a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner's Office in Hassan city, the office-bearers of the taluk units staged a dharna in front of the taluk offices.

The demonstrators urged the Government to bring about parity between the pay scales of State and Union Government employees.

One killed

HASSAN AUG. 20. One person was killed and another injured when the motorcycle on which they were travelling hit an autorickshaw near Hirisave on Friday.

The police have identified the deceased as Narayanappa (55).

Hirisave police have registered a case.

Dharna

BELLARY Aug. 20. In response to the call given by the Central Committee, members of the State Government Employees Association's district unit staged a token dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office here today and demanded the set up of a wage commission for revision of pay scales.

The other demands include ensuring parity in the pay scales, continuation of pension scheme, not to bring the junior health assistants under the purview of the gram panchayat, and not to surrender the posts as proposed.

K. Chandrashekar, president of the district unit; R.K. Jagannath Rao, honorary president; K. Gajanna, secretary; C. Lingappa, M.V. Yerakulaswamy, M. Gopal, K. Hanumanthappa, Kotresh, Yellappa, Tayanna, B.K. Rudrappa, office bearers, participated.

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