1. Kumaraswamy Retains 11 Portfolios; Appeals Congress to Pacify MLAs
With his government facing birth pangs of coalition politics, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Friday, 8 June, stepped in to check the disquiet among newly elected Congress lawmakers who were left out during the Cabinet expansion, but they remained defiant.
After being sworn in as chief minister on 23 May and proving his majority in the Assembly on 25 May, Kumaraswamy, who was not been able to distribute portfolios to ministers two days after the cabinet expansion largely due to the tumult among Congress MLAs, tonight allotted portfolios to them.
Kumaraswamy retained the key Finance department, and also Energy, with himself, while giving Home (sans Intelligence) to his deputy G Parameshwara of the Congress.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
2. Karnataka: It’s Coming Down Hard
The southwest monsoon has now wrapped the whole of Karnataka. The Indian Meteorological Department has confirmed this development in the weather patterns and predicted heavy-to-very heavy rainfall in most parts of the state.
During April-May when the mercury levels keep rising, the whole state waits for monsoon, hoping for some respite from the heat. Though this year, the state received sufficient pre-monsoon showers, generally May-end means a desperate wait for the monsoons to enter Kerala. While weather experts predict a normal monsoon, the season brings in a mixed feeling.
Those living in the low-lying areas panic, but the first pre- monsoon showers bring cheers to farmers. It is also celebration time especially in parts of North Karnataka and Hyderabad Karnataka.
(Source: Bangalore Mirror)
3. Property Tax Collection in Bengaluru for April More Than Doubles
Despite the property tax filing period coinciding with the election season reaching fever pitch, the collection for April 2018 more than doubled compared to the same period last year.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has seen around Rs 1,360 crore being collected in April, almost halfway to the approximately Rs 2,700 crore target (without cess) it has set for itself for the financial year 2018-19. By last April-end, the amount collected was around Rs 533 crore, officials said.
The main reason being attributed to the sudden surge in the amount is simple: no extension of the time period for the 5% rebate, which ended on April 30 this time though there were complaints from sections of citizens who cited difficulties in the payment procedure.
(Source: The Hindu)
4. Bureaucrats Transferred During Polls to be Repatriated
Bureaucrats transferred during the state Assembly elections are set to return to their original postings. A government note dated 2 June 2018 from the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms states that the transferred officers are repatriated.
“The state Assembly elections are over. As the model code of conduct has ended, officers who were transferred because of elections are repatriated to their original postings till further orders,” says the note, a copy of which is with TOI.
However, the transferred bureaucrats are yet to receive individual transfer letters which are under process, said senior officers. Most of the transfers took place during March and April.
“Based on the conditions laid out by the Election Commission of India, certain transfer orders were made. It included conditions like the officers shouldn’t have worked in the same district in the previous election, they shouldn’t have been in the post for the last three years and they should not have enquiries pending against them,” said sources in the office of the state election commission.
(Source: The Times of India)
5. Hoax Bomb Call Creates Panic at Embassy TechVillage
Panic prevailed at Embassy TechVillage on Outer Ring Road near Devarabeesanahalli, east Bengaluru on Friday after an unknown caller rang the office of Cisco and claimed a bomb was planted on the premises of the IT major and would go off in 10 minutes. The call turned out to be hoax.
Taking no chances, Cisco evacuated all its employees on the premises and alerted the jurisdictional Marathahalli police. Police and a bomb disposal and defuse squad (BDDS) quickly arrived at the park and took control. Officers ordered all the firms in the tech village to evacuate their employees – some 700 of them – so that the premises could be sanitised.
The fear and panic, however, was palpable. A Cisco employee said: “Immediately the call came through, people from two of our units in the park were evacuated. It was extremely frightening to imagine something like could happen in our office.”
(Source: The Times of India)
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