A model bus terminal planned in Kalasipalyam

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will soon introduce a bus with a passenger capacity of 110, Transport minister R Ashoka said on Thursday. The new bus will be 14.5 mt in length as opposed to the existing city buses which are 12 mt in length. The new bus would hit the road within a month and the idea is to provide more space for passengers, Ashoka said.

Seeking a report on the mushrooming of resorts and other activities in the reserve forests in five districts of the State, the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) issued notice to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) in Bangalore on Thursday.

The CEC has instructed the PCCF to provide details about the resorts (including Jungle Lodges), restaurants and other activities in the reserve forest regions of Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Madikeri and Hassan districts.

The CBI is unlikely to book the 15 lease holders whose mines were taken over by an alleged mafia operated by former Karnataka minister G Janardhan Reddy between 2008 and 2010 in an illegal mining s

Projects to improve infrastructure discussed at Vision-2020

With an eye on improving waste management in the city, the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) is planning to install a computer controlled chip in each house, which would indicate if garbage has been collected. Think tank: Alert Citizens Team president Prof Shivaram Malavalli shares a point with district in-charge minister S A Ramdas in Mysore on Wednesday. Deputy commissioner P S Vastrad and police commissioner K L Sudheer are seen.

Protection of five river valley basins tops its agenda

The Western Ghats Task Force has submitted a proposal to recruit 1,000 forest personnel required to protect the natural forests of the Western Ghats. This was announced by Ananth Hegde Ashisara, chairperson of the Task Force, at a meeting on the protection of environment, forests and bio-diversity and pollution control at the Deputy Commissioner’s office in the city on Wednesday.

This is the pitiful state of the residents of the locality on the HMT Watch Factory-Jalahalli Road. What may seem like sheer incivility of the people is a situation they have been pushed into. Rajesh, a resident, said: “Most of us earn a living by working as construction labourers and hardly earn money for two meals a day. With great difficulty, we have been able to build these concrete houses, but, due to the lack of drainage facilities, no toilets were built.”

For Bangaloreans perennially at the mercy of power disruptions, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) could come out with a solar solution.

The Karnataka government is actively considering the possibility of changing the location for a proposed steel plant of Posco in north-central Gadag district; instead offer the South Korean major an alternative land elsewhere in the state. The move comes after the farmers of Halligudi village stiffly opposed plans to acquire their “fertile” land ahead of starting work on the project.

The Rajya Sabha discussed the severe drought situation in Karnataka and in States such as Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has sought a response from the Karnataka government to the demand for a CBI probe into the entire gamut of mining activities that took place in the State since 2002.

Following a petition filed by T J Abraham, a resident of Bangalore, the CEC has written to the Karnataka chief secretary seeking a reply to the petitioner’s allegations. Abraham had pleaded before the CEC that mining activities, including dereserving of forests and granting of permission for mining by past governments headed by former chief ministers S M Krishna, Dharam Singh and H D Kumaraswamy, should be probed.