Shivakumar and Jarkiholi have a history of bad blood. Congress leadership is concerned that BJP may try to blame Shivakumar for the whole CD controversy.
BENGALURU: The Congress high command has reportedly asked party functionaries in Karnataka to exercise restraint while commenting on the sex CD controversy involving Ramesh Jarkiholi, fearing that personal attacks may backfire and benefit BJP. It is concerned about the chatter in political circles that Jarkiholi’s supporters are trying to blame state Congress president DK Shivakumar for the controversy.
Shivakumar and Jarkiholi, who was earlier in Congress, have a history of bad blood. Their rivalry in Congress worsened after Belagavi Rural MLA Lakshmi Hebbalkar moved from Jarkiholi’s camp to Shivakumar’s. Jarkiholi then demanded that he be made the water resources minister, a role Shivakumar was handling in the Congress-JD(S) government. Later, Jarkiholi engineered a rebellion, which destabilised the coalition government a
National Highway toll gate at Hejmadi
MANGALURU: Private bus owners, who are operating bus services via the national highway toll gate at Hejmady, have decided to suspend services from March 15 opposing toll collection.
Bus owners in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts have been complaining against the ‘hefty’ toll for all buses, including those plying on village roads. Soon after making FASTag mandatory, the toll authorities at Hejmady have stopped the concession given for such buses.
Canara Bus Operators’ Association vice-president Durgaprasad Hegde told TOI that bus service will remain suspended till the toll authorities restore concession.
“All shuttle service buses, including those on Mangaluru -Udupi route, that cross the Hejmady toll gate will remain suspended. We are given a concession rate of Rs 6,500 per month for each bus at the Surathkal toll gate. We are paying only about 40% of the actual toll charge at Surathkal. The toll gate authorities at Talapady ha
RT-PCR negative certificates have been made mandatory for all travellers from Kerala and Maharashtra.
MANGALURU: With Kasaragod and northern parts of Kerala recording a spike in fresh cases, the Dakshina Kannada district administration has decided to ramp up testing from 2,000 to 4,000 a day.
Swab samples will be collected from those arriving from Kerala at all interstate border checkpoints. Border vigilance will be tightened to check the spread of the virus. Dr KV Rajendra, district deputy commissioner, said there will be no restrictions on travel, but insisted preventive measures will be in place.
“A task force has been set up at each entry point and they will monitor all commuters arriving in Dakshina Kannada from Kerala,” he said. “Daily commuters will have to produce RT-PCR negative certificates every 15 days. A report has been submitted to the government to approve additional requirements to ramp up testing, including appointment of lab technicians and data entry ope