The sweltering summer heat has aggravated the problem of drinking water supply in most parts of the State, prompting the State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RD&PR) to seek the permission of Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (OCEO), Karnataka, to implement approved action plans related to drinking water at the panchayat-level.

Besides, the Revenue department has recently issued a circular stating that water in major reservoirs should be used only for drinking purpose.

The High Court on Wednesday stayed work on the Upper Bhadra project taken up in the forested areas of the Bhadra tiger reserve without obtaining clearance from the Union government.

Hearing a petition filed by the State unit of Bharatiya Kissan Sangha and others, the Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice K Sreedhar Rao and Justice Abdul Nazeer has granted an interim stay on the construction within the forest area till necessary clearance can be obtained from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Only 50 of the 1.72 lakh borewells in City registered with KGA

Two months have passed since the State government issued a notification, making registration of all borewells and permission for sinking of new borewells mandatory in the State. However, so far only 25 drilling agencies in the State and just over 80 households in the City have registered with the Karnataka Groundwater Authority (KGA). The government notification called for compulsory registration under the Karnataka Groundwater (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) Act, 2011, wherein every existing user of groundwater in the notified area has to register within a period of 120 days from December 3, 2012.

Residents of villages near Khaparkheda and Koradi power plants, under the aegis of Kisan Manch, have lodged one more police complaint against officials of the two plants of Mahagenco for excessive

Study states that 20,000 MW can be generated by using a minimum 5 pc of wind-rich land

Wastelands in Karnataka can generate at least 50,000 MW of wind energy with turbines fitted at a height of 80 metres, according to a study by the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP). The study report released on Wednesday also identified Haveri, Chikkaballapur, Hassan, Bijapur and Kolar districts, apart from Bellary, Chamarajnagar and Chitradurga, for having the potential for generation of wind energy.

Street lamps in the villages of the taluk will be lit using solar power, said M S Srinivas Reddy, former vice-president of the Taluk Panchayat.

Inaugurating work on installation of the solar power lamps at Dommasandra on Monday, Reddy said the measure was taken to solve the problem of regular power cuts in rural areas of the taluk. The project is being undertaken using money from the Constituency Development fund. “Solar lamps are being installed at Dommasandra, Basavarajapura, Vajranagenahalli and other villages using Rs 5.75 lakh from the fund,” said Reddy.

Allaying the apprehensions of the people of Kolar in Karnataka, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd.

The Centre on Tuesday sought to quell protests by locals in Kolar, Karnataka, against reports of earmarking abandoned gold mines of the district for dumping nuclear waste.

Huge quantities of plastic covers, cups seized

Officials led by Kolar City Municipal Council Commissioner Mahendra Kumar on Thursday conducted surprise raids on shops in prominent commercial areas of the city and seized plastic covers and cups of less than 40 micron thickness. Raids were conducted on shops, bakeries, restaurants, godowns and other business establishments situated in Doddapet, Kalamma Temple Street and in front of the new bus stand. Officials seized two tractor-trailer loads of plastic material, which were of less than 40 micron thickness. The officials levied a fine of over Rs 15,000 on eight restaurants and 25 shops for violating the norm.

Several organisations and political outfits in Kolar have strongly opposed the Centre’s decision to dump the spent fuel from the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu in the now-defunct Kola