1. High political drama as five Congress legislators threaten to resign from Assembly and Council
High political drama prevailed in the State Secretariat on March 27 in Karnataka as five Congress legislators, including three MLAs and two MLCs from Kolar district, threatened to tender their resignations to the membership of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, respectively, opposing the candidature of Food and Civil Supplies Minister K.H. Muniyappa’s son-in-law Chikka Peddanna in the Kolar (SC) Lok Sabha constituency. The Congress has not yet announced its candidate from Kolar.
The five legislators reached the Vidhana Soudha on Wednesday noon to tender their resignations. However, all of them put their resignations on hold following assurance from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who were not in Bengaluru at the time, that they would come to the city to discuss and resolve the issue by fielding a consensus candidate in the Kolar constituency.
2. Karnataka makes in-situ STP mandatory for residential complexes in Bengaluru with over 120 apartments
Karnataka government has provided relief to apartment communities in areas with Under Ground Drainage (UGD) lines, essentially the core city, by amending rules for in-situ Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs). Henceforth, only those apartment complexes with over 120 units and producing over 80 Kilo Litres per Day (KLD) of sewage have to install an in-situ STP.
At present, an STP is mandatory for projects above 50 units. But, smaller STPs are capital intensive and inefficient. The Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF) has lobbied hard for this amendment .However, in areas that are yet to be serviced by UGD lines, in-situ STP is mandatory for all projects with over 20 units.
3. Namma Metro calls tender to implement rainwater harvesting for Purple and Green lines in Bengaluru
Amidst a severe water crises, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has called a tender to implement Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) projects in Bengaluru to ensure that the rain falling on Namma Metro’s elevated concrete tracks is used to recharge the groundwater table.
BMRCL officials said that the tender has been called to dig RWH pits below the viaduct along the metro alignment of Line 1 (Purple Line) and Line 2 (Green Line), and stations. At present, the metro spans 73.75 km and includes 65 stations in Bengaluru, of which 65.01 km is an elevated structure with the potential to harvest rain water.
4. Teachers given under a week to evaluate 1.66 crore answer sheets of classes 5, 8 and 9 board exams
Teachers are up in arms against an order issued by the Karnataka State Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB), which has allotted less than a week for the evaluation of around 1.66 crore answer sheets of classes 5, 8 and 9 board examination (Summative Assessment-2).
The examinations for class 5 was completed on March 26, and the examinations for class 8 and 9 will end on March 28. KSEAB issued an order to complete the evaluation of answer sheets of class 5 students by March 31, and the rest by April 2. This means, a teacher evaluate an average of 40 to 80 answer sheets every day.
5. NIA searching multiple locations in Tirthahalli in connection with The Rameshwaram Cafe blast
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) searched multiple locations in Tirthahalli in Shivamogga district in connection with the blast at The Rameshwaram Cafe in Bengaluru.
The preliminary investigation into the blast suggested similarities with the 2022 cooker blast in Mangaluru, in which Mohamed Shariq, a native of Tirthahalli, and his associates were arrested.
