Karnataka news live: Three wannabe cops held for hiring imposters to clear physical exam

The prospect of Satish Jarkiholi becoming the Congress candidate in the Belagavi Lok Sabha bypoll has made BJP change its strategy. According to party functionaries, the saffron camp is considering fielding a member from the family of late Union minister Suresh Angadi, whose death in October last year necessitated the bypoll. Read full story

A tree ministry on the lines of agriculture should be formed at the national level and the posts of tree evaluators can be created at the state level, said Jaggi Vasudev, founder of Isha Foundation, on Sunday. He was speaking at an event organised to mark World Forest Day at Palace Grounds. Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar, chief minister BS Yediyurappa and health minister Dr K Sudhakar were present.

Namma Metro’s Mysuru Road-Kengeri (7.5km) section which is slated to open for commercial operations in June is expected to cater to 75,000 passengers per day. Trial run of the western extension of Purple Line is likely to begin by the month-end. “Ridership on this section is expected to be 75,000 a day as per the DPR,” said BMRCL managing director Ajay Seth. But the number may be less due to Covid-19 and the work-fromhome arrangement. In fact, Metro’s daily ridership has reduced from 5 lakh to around 1.9 lakh.

Three persons eyeing constables’ jobs in Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) have been arrested for allegedly getting others to impersonate them during their physical fitness test. The fraud came to light when the suspects appeared for document verification. The videograph of the physical fitness test helped officials notice the persons who had cleared it were different from those who had turned up for verification. Read full story

Fund-starved Karnataka government has set its eyes on encroached parcels of land to replenish its cash reserves. Till date, the government has cleared encroachments and reclaimed land to the extent of 2.7 lakh acres. Eviction process is on for another 1.3 lakh acres of land. Read full story

Tourist footfall has dipped in the past week in Mysuru due to rising cases of Covid-19 and a fear of a second wave of infections. Tourism fuels Mysuru’s economy and stakeholders are worried since the sector suffered huge losses when Covid-19 first hit. Now, they fear a re-run and it comes at a time when businesses were just recovering. On Thursday (March 18), only 1,964 tourists visited Mysuru Palace, while the number of visitors stood at 2,198 the next day. This is a huge drop from the average 5,000 visitors a day.

With the state government clamping down on fairs and temple car festivals due to a rise in Covid-19 cases, the question is whether Holi celebrations (March 28) would be allowed. Nitesh Patil, Dharwad deputy commissioner, had said stern measures will be taken to prevent people from gathering in large numbers at weddings, religious and political programmes. This suggests there could be a ban on public celebration of Holi this year. Last year, Holi fell on March 10, just before the lockdown was announced.

A 68-year-old woman from Chikkaballapura, constituency of the state health minister, died on Sunday, a week after she took the Covid-19 vaccine. The woman visited at least six hospitals before breathing her last in Chikkaballapura district hospital. Read full story

Home minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday night said the government will conduct a thorough investigation into the death threats received by a few prominent people in the state. Bommai was responding to a specific media query on former minister BT Lalitha Naik receiving a letter on March 20 threatening to kill her and a few more people, including an incumbent minister of the BJP government. Read full story

A report on the implementation of Right to Education (RTE) shows that children availing RTE benefits perform as well as other students in the same class in Karnataka. The report — Evaluation of infrastructure facilities and eligibility conditions of private schools as per RTE Act-2009 in Karnataka — released by Karnataka Evaluation Authority in January said a learning-attainment test used by the education department of class 4 level was administered on 1,440 RTE and 720 non-RTE children. Read full story

Covid-19 cases in Karnataka have been northbound for the past two weeks, with the state reporting 1,715 fresh infections on Sunday. Some 1,039 — or 60% — of the new cases were from Bengaluru city. The active Covid cases in the state have increased from 12,432 on Saturday to 13,494 on Sunday. Bengaluru alone has 9,300 active cases. Read full story