bangalore news times

Hyderabad: The Telangana government will press the Centre to widen the Hyderabad-Vijayawada (NH-65) and Hyderabad-Bengaluru (NH-44) national highways to eight lanes each, scaling up an earlier demand for six-lane expansion amid rising traffic on both corridors. According to an ABN report, State Roads and Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy is expected to travel to Delhi in the third week of August to meet Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari. He is likely to present a report on current and projected traffic volumes to justify the wider carriageways. The push comes months after Komatireddy urged the National Highways Authority of India to take NH-65 to eight lanes and had proposed a double-decker elevated corridor between LB Nagar and Hayathnagar to ease congestion on the stretch. Gadkari had earlier told the minister that a decision on widening NH-65 would be taken up at an NHAI Finance Committee meeting. During the Delhi visit, the minister i...

Karnataka: A 23-year-old Muslim migrant worker was arrested in Karnataka’s Kalaburagi district for his alleged “anti-national” activities on social media, police said on Thursday, August 13. Mohammad Sameer from Sitapur’s Sadarpur village, Uttar Pradesh, is a daily wage labourer in Kalaburagi. He was detained following a police raid conducted the previous day following information through its technical social media monitoring, information-sharing and information-portal mechanisms. Kalaburagi Police Commissioner Sharanappa SD told PTI that the man was found to be following multiple Instagram accounts allegedly engaged in anti-national and radical activities. A case was registered at University Police Station under Sections 113(3) (terrorist act) and 197 (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Addressing a press conference, the Commissioner said Mohammed Sameer was taken into custody and...

Bengaluru: The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has proposed a new parking policy aimed at ending free roadside parking and bringing a structured, paid parking system across the city. A draft notification issued on Wednesday, August 12, proposes classifying roads into three categories and fixing parking charges accordingly. Under the proposed system, motorists will have access to three parking options — on-street parking, off-street parking and monthly parking passes. The charges will vary depending on the category of road and type of vehicle. Roads will be classified as A, B and C categories. On-street parking on A-category roads will cost Rs 40 per hour for two-wheelers and Rs 80 for light motor vehicles. On B-category roads, the charges will be Rs 30 and Rs 60, respectively. For C-category roads, two-wheelers will be charged Rs 20, while light vehicles will pay between Rs 40 and Rs 60. Off-street parking will be cheaper On A-category roads, two-wheelers ...

Bengaluru : A surprise raid by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) at Parappana Agrahara Central Prison has led to the recovery of a mobile phone, charger and pen drive from former MP Prajwal Revanna, who is serving a life sentence in a rape case. According to the information available, prison officials found a blue Redmi 5G mobile phone , a charger, a blue pocket notebook and a black SanDisk pen drive in Revanna’s cell. The seized electronic devices were subsequently examined as part of the investigation. The material provided states that pornographic videos and clippings of obscene photographs of women were found on the mobile phone and pen drive. However, details about the origin of the material and how the electronic devices reached Revanna remain under investigation. The recovery has raised questions about how a mobile phone and storage device entered the prison despite security checks. Revanna has reportedly not disclosed who provided the devices or how they came i...

Bengaluru : The Karnataka Transport Department has issued show-cause notices on Tuesday, August 11 to major ride-hailing aggregators Ola, Uber, Rapido and Namma Yatri for allegedly violating government-prescribed fare regulations. The action follows complaints from taxi and driver associations that passengers were being charged fares higher than those notified by the government in its February 3, 2024 order. The associations alleged that some aggregators were calculating fares based on factors such as travel duration instead of strictly following the notified fare structure. Driver organisations had raised the issue during a meeting with the Transport Department on August 4 and demanded stringent action against the companies. They urged the department to direct aggregators to collect fares strictly according to the rates prescribed by the government. The Kempegowda International Airport Taxi Owners and Drivers Welfare Association had also sought legal action against Ol...

Bengaluru: A Special Court for MPs and MLAs has ordered a preliminary inquiry into a private complaint alleging irregularities involving the Siddhartha Vihar Trust, in which AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge, MP Radhakrishna and others have been named as respondents. The complaint was filed by the Lanchamukta Karnataka Nirmana Vedike, which alleged irregularities in the allotment of an industrial site to the trust and sought an investigation into its other transactions. The complainant had sought action under Section 175(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). Mallikarjun Kharge, his wife Radhabai, Radhakrishna, Rahul M Kharge, Priyank Kharge, Industries Minister MB Patil and officials of the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board were named in the complaints. Court declines police investigation The court, in an order issued on August 11, directed that the allegations be examined. However, it declined to dir...

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has imposed a one-year statewide ban on the manufacture, storage, transportation, distribution and sale of gutka and pan masala products containing tobacco and nicotine, citing the need to protect public health and promote a tobacco-free society. The decision comes amid intensified enforcement by the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department against substandard food products and businesses violating safety regulations. The department has been conducting inspections and raids across the state as part of its efforts to strengthen public health safeguards. The ban came into effect on August 10, following an official notification issued by the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department. The order has been issued under Section 30(2)(a) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, read with Regulation 2.3.4 of the Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011. The prohibition covers tobacco and nicotine-containing gutka and pan masala...