The Hindu : Karnataka News : Briefly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 29, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Briefly

By Our Staff Correspondent

Rice scam: Remand extended

MANGALORE JUNE 28. The First Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM), S.R. Tulasiram, on Monday extended till July 12 the judicial custody of 29 persons arrested by the Corps of Detectives (CoD) in the rice scam. Those arrested include Mahadevan, Managing Director of S.S. Maritime; nine officials of the Food and Civil Supplies Department, Hassan; and 19 officials of zilla and taluk panchayat and Dry-land Development Board of Hassan. Of the 19 officials arrested, seven have moved the court for bail and their application will come up for hearing on Tuesday. The application of nine officials whose bail was rejected by the First ACJM on Thursday last will come up for hearing before the Third Additional District Sessions Court on Wednesday. The court is expected to pass its orders on a bail plea by Mahadevan on that day.

Dharam Singh leaves for Delhi

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore June 28. The Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, will be away in New Delhi on Tuesday and Wednesday to attend a conference of Chief Ministers on drinking water supply and sanitation. The conference, to be inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, will be attended by the Ministers for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj of various States.

Bangalore boy for Olympiad

By Our Staff Reporter

Bangalore June 28. R. Shreevatsa of Bangalore is part of a four-member team selected to represent India at the International Informatics Olympiad to be held in Athens this year. Shreevatsa's teammates are N.S. Rahul from Chennai and Kshitij Bansal and Harpreet Singh from Noida. All the four were selected after a countrywide Indian National Olympiad for Informatics organised by the Indian Association of Research and Computing Science (IARCS) and the Central Board for Secondary Education here. The event was supported by Sasken Communications, International School, Bangalore (TISB), and NASSCOM. The school trained 20 students, but only four were selected. The International Olympiad for Informatics is one of the six Science Olympiads held annually. The other five Olympiads are held in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Astronomy.

PG course in visual arts

BANGALORE JUNE 28. Bangalore University is starting postgraduate courses in visual arts with specialisation in the fields of Painting, Graphic Art-printmaking and Sculpture from 2004-05. Details of the courses and the date of admissions will be notified soon, according to a university press release.

Four perish as boat capsizes

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE June 28. Four engineers were drowned when a country boat overturned in the Obichudanahalli Tank in the Talaghattapura Police Station limits on the outskirts of the city on Saturday. The dead were identified by the Talaghattapura Police as Tejaswi (22), Ananda (22), both residents of Rajajinagar in the city, Sriram (22) and Manjunath (22) of Wodeyarahalli. Their friend, Bharath, however, managed to swim to safety. Sriram, a mechanical engineer working in a private factory, had invited his friends for a get-together at the tank, the police said. Sriram had also obtained a fishing contract at the lake. The five friends gathered at about 11 p.m. at the tank bed and set out on the boat, which had a capacity to carry only three persons. They had to reach the centre of the tank, where Sriram had put up a shed. They had planned to have a party at the shed and spend the night there, the police said. But once afloat, the boat could not bear the weight of the five persons and overturned, according to the police. Only Bharath escaped, the police said. The victims shouted for help but to no avail. There were hardly any passers-by as the tank was in a remote location. Alerted by the police, the Fire Force personnel rushed to the spot.Till Sunday evening, they could retrieve only one body. The police said it was the body of Ananda. After post-mortem at the Konankunte Government Hospital, the body was handed over the Ananda's relatives in Rajajinagar.The Talaghattapura Police have registered a case. Efforts are on to retrieve the bodies of Sriram, Manjunath and Tejaswi.

Dental camp held

Mysore June 28. Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement celebrated its 20th anniversary by organising dental treatment and awareness generation camp in different villages of H.D.Kote taluk recently. The camps were conducted by renowned dentists from Singapore International Foundation, Singapore, assisted by the dentists of Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement and Faroquia Dental College, Mysore. The Government health network of the taluk also extended support to the programme. More than 1,000 people were treated during the nine-day programme. More than 4,000 children benefited from the dental examination and dental health education sessions.

DSS-KRRS meet

Mysore June 28. The Dalit Sangharsh Samithi (DSS) and the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) will organise a meeting in August to float a new political outfit to provide an alternative to the existing political parties. This was decided during the three-day convention on alternative politics and Dalits held in the city. The new outfit will strive to protect the interest of the Dalits.

Traffic hit

HASSAN JUNE 28. The traffic on the road between Mangalore and Bangalore on National Highway-48 came to stand still on Monday, near Donigal in Sakleshpur taluk, when a tanker carrying Liquefied Petroleum Gas over-turned.

When the gas began to leak from the tanker, the Sakleshpur (Rural) Police stopped the traffic. Technicians from Mangalore Refineries and Petro-Chemicals Ltd. (MRPL) visited the spot and tried to control the leakage. Fire tenders were also summoned. The vehicles were lined up on both directions. However, according to the police, few smaller vehicles were diverted.

Dharna

RAICHUR JUNE 28. Members of the Associated Cement Company Fly-ash Handling Employees' Union will stage a dharna on Thursday to protest against the management for its indifferent attitude in regularising the services of the daily-wage workers in the fly-ash disposal unit at the thermal power plant in Shakthinagar.

In a press release, Purushotham Kalalbandi, the working president, and Abdul Hameed, president of the union, said that the workers at its fly-ash disposal unit were forced to work without any safety measures and legitimate allowances. They were also paid low wages, they claimed.

Electrocuted

RAICHUR JUNE 28. Amarappa (22) was elecrocuted when he tried to save a girl from getting an electric shock in Maski village of Lingsugur taluk on Sunday.

The police said that Tejeshwani received an electric shock when she held on to the iron bars of a window at an anganwadi school. Police said that a live wire was touching the window. But, Amarappa, who rushed towards the window and saved her, was electrocuted.

The Maski Police have registered a case.

Suicides

RAICHUR JUNE 28. Two persons, including a woman, committed suicide by consuming pesticide in seperate incidents in Sindhanoor and Sirwar taluks on Sunday.

The police said that Manjunath committed suicide in Gorebal village of Sindhanoor taluk , while Hanumanthi died of poisoning in Donmardi village of Manvi taluk.

Plea to Govt.

Call for ban on areca imports

PUTTUR JUNE 28. The Mangalore MP, D.V. Sadananda Gowda, has urged the Union Commerce Minister, Kamal Nath, to ban the import of areca nut till the price of the crop stabilises in areas where it is grown and farmers get remunerative price. Failure to stop imports, especially from Indonesia, would further reduce its prices in the local markets, he said. The MP in a letter to the Minister stated that areca nut from Indonesia, which was priced at Rs. 30 a kg, was flooding Indian markets via Nepal. This had resulted in lack of demand for areca nut from Karnataka and Kerala, especially the "challi" variety grown in Mangalore and adjoining areas, in the areca nut markets of North India, leading to a slump in prices. Mr. Gowda quoted results of a survey carried out by the Central Areca nut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative (CAMPCO) Ltd. to substantiate his argument. The MP warned that failure to restrict imports would have far-reaching consequences on the local economy and it would be detrimental to farmers' interests.

Four hurt in clash

HASSAN JUNE 28. Four persons were injured in a clash among Janata Dal (Secular) workers at Arsikere on Monday. According to reports reaching here, the taluk unit of the Janata Dal (S) met to discuss the reasons for the defeat of the party candidate in the Legislative Assembly elections. An argument between K.P. Prabhukumar, who was defeated in the elections, and the former zilla panchayat president Gurusiddappa later led to a scuffle and, in the melee, a few party workers were injured. The police intervened and brought the situation under control.

Villagers spot tiger

By Our Correspondent

SIRSI JUNE 28. A tiger was spotted near a tank at Malalgaon village, 18 km from Sirsi on Hubli Road. According to sources, the tiger attacked the Sirsi Taluk Panchayat vice-president, Siddamagouder, who was on his away to Benagi via Malalgaon on Friday, but Mr. Siddamagouder escaped with bruises.

Mobile hospital inaugurated

Udupi June 28. Vishwapriya Tirtha Swamiji of Paryaya Admar Math inaugurated the Sri Krishna Mukhyaprana Mobile Hospital here on Sunday. Speaking on the occasion, Vidyadheesha Tirtha Swamiji of Palimar Math hoped that the Sanjeevini Trust, which had taken up the work of providing free healthcare in rural areas, would succeed in its endeavour. Presiding over the function, the MLC, V.S. Acharya, said the maths were sensitive to the problems in society. The Sri Krishna Math had undertaken the "Chinnara Santharpane" programme, which was providing free midday meals to students in aided schools. Now, the trust formed with the blessings of the Palimar Math Swamiji would provide free healthcare in the villages, he said. Chittaranjandas Hegde, President of the Udupi City Municipal Council, Ramachandra Rao, Ravichandra Uchila, Vijay Ballal, and Vedavyasa Tantri, were present.

`Recruitment of vets soon'

Bidar June 28. Over 4,000 vacancies in the Department of Animal Husbandry, including those of 250 veterinary doctors will be filled shortly, the Minister for Animal Husbandry, Mirajuddin Patel, said on Sunday. Inaugurating a community hall at Humnabad, the Minister said though there were 16,000 sanctioned vacancies, recruitment would be done in phases. A package for the development of Basavakalyan and effective steps to overcome drinking water scarcity were announced by Mr. Patel. Earlier, the Minister took officials of the Education Department to task for not constructing hostels of the Morarji Desai Residential School at Basavakalyan on time.

Traffic paralysed

Dharna

They urged the site manager, V.S. Ram Rao, to make the daily-wage workers permanent employees of the company and pay them according to the Minimum Wages Act. Mr. Rao had served notices to all such employees threatening that they would be removed from service by July 1.

Mr. Kalalbandi said that the employees unions of Raichur Thermal Power Station and Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd. had extended their support to the proposed dharna.

Electrocuted

RAICHUR JUNE 28. Amarappa (22) was elecrocuted when he tried to save a girl from getting an electric shock in Maski village of Lingsugur taluk on Sunday.

The Maski Police have registered a case.

Suicides

RAICHUR JUNE 28. Two persons, including a woman, committed suicide by consuming pesticide in seperate incidents in Sindhanoor and Sirwar taluks on Sunday.

The police said that Manjunath committed suicide in Gorebal village of Sindhanoor taluk , while Hanumanthi died of poisoning in Donmardi village of Manvi taluk.

Cases have been filed in Sindhanoor and Sirwar police stations.

Slide show

A press release from Rajeev Salian, general secretary of the okkoota, here said the Vice-President of the Udupi Zilla Panchayat, H. Prasanna Ballal, would inaugurate the programme. Sree Padre, water conservation expert from Kasaragod, would conduct the programme. Mr. Padre would focus on success stories on the water conservation in India and abroad and water harvesting techniques.

Plea to Govt.

Precautions

SHIMOGA June 28. In view of the spread of cholera in the city and taluk and neighbouring districts, the Municipal Commissioner, S.P. Mudhol, has requested public to take measures to prevent the disease. He stated in a press release that a few people affected by cholera had been admitted to hospital.

Mr. Mudhol instructed the owners of hotels, bars, canteens and juice centres to serve boiled water. He urged the public not to eat food and sliced fruits sold on the roadside. Sale of eatables on the roadside had been banned. The public should inform the municipality if they came across leaks in drinking water pipelines.

Meat should not be kept in the open. Water in open wells should be chlorinated and cleanliness must be maintained around houses, hotels and lodges. Stagnant water should be drained and waste should not be thrown on roads and drainages.

Bank profit

SIRSI JUNE 28. Uttara Kannada District Central Cooperative Bank has gained a net profit of Rs. 118.02 lakh during the previous financial year. This is Rs. 93.21 lakh less than the profit earned during 2003-03, according to a press release by the bank president, Srikant. L. Gotenekar.

The decrease in the net profit is owing to the 3 per cent fall in the rate of interest on bank loans.

As much as 39.75 per cent of the agricultural loan had been recovered. Recovery was less owing to the shortfall in production of paddy in Sirsi, Yellapur, Haliyal and Mundgod taluks last year. Recovery of non-agricultural loans was 93.64 per cent, he added.

Plea to Govt.

KARWAR JUNE 28. The district unit of the State Anganwadi Workers' Association has urged the Government to withdraw its order on handing over anganwadis to the gram panchayats. In a statement, the association said if the order was implemented, the anganwadi workers would face job insecurity. There were instances of anganwadi workers being humiliated by the panchayat members in the past. They were also subjected to physical assault and sexual exploitation. Such instances would increase if the order was implemented, the unit said.

Slide show

MANGALORE JUNE 28. The Kundapur Taluk Samiti of Dakshina Kannada Parisarasakta Okkoota has organised a slide show on water percolation and a lecture as part of World Environment Day at Kundapur, on Wednesday. A press release from Rajeev Salian, general secretary of the okkoota, here said the Vice-President of the Udupi Zilla Panchayat, H. Prasanna Ballal, would inaugurate the programme.

Sree Padre, water conservation expert from Kasaragod, would conduct the programme. Mr. Padre would focus on success stories on the water conservation in India and abroad and water harvesting techniques.

Blood donation

MANGALORE JUNE 28. A blood donation camp was organised by the Amway Opportunity Foundation, in association with Father Muller's Medical College and Hospital, here recently.

According to a press release issued here, the foundation has conducted more than 150 blood donation camps across the country since 2002.

Electrocuted

RAICHUR JUNE 28. Amarappa (22) was elecrocuted when he tried to save a girl from getting an electric shock in Maski village of Lingsugur taluk on Sunday.

The Maski Police have registered a case.

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