The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday ordered issue of notices to the Central and State governments in connection with a petition seeking allocation of a gas agency to the coastal pilgrimage and tourist town of Gokarna.

The petitioners, Shankar J Markhande and two others, had moved the High Court seeking directions to the Union government to allocate a gas agency so that the scarcity of cooking gas in the temple town is overcome.

The Karnataka government has informed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) that it has prepared a proposal for upgrading the infrastructure facilities in villages close to the Kaiga Atomic Power Plant in Uttar Kannada district.

The NDMA, an unit under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, had carried out mock exercises in association with different state governments at all nuclear installations to assess the preparedness of various agencies in the event of nuclear disaster.

Karwar: Until now, endosulfan was the scourge of Dakshina Kannada. Now, even as a debate rages over a ban on this chemical pesticide, fresh cases are surfacing in Uttara Kannada district.

At least 10 cases have emerged in Bhatkal.

A smoke alarm in the Kaiga Nuclear Power Generating Station located in coastal district of Uttara Kannada in Karnataka has forced authorities to shut down the third unit of the plant. According to officials in the nuclear plant, after a smoke alarm in a pump house on Saturday evening made officials to shut of the unit as a precautionary measure.

After Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assurance in the Parliament on the safety audit of all atomic plants in the country in the aftermath of Japan's nuclear crisis, multilevel safety measures have been put in place at the Kaiga atomic power plant in Karnataka on the west coast near Karwar in Uttara Kannada district.

Mangalore: The tritium poisoning episode at Kaiga Generating Station (KGS), which exposed about 50 employees to increased levels of radiation 16 months ago, remains unsolved though police claim investigation is still on.

Uttara Kannada superintendent of police Raman Gupta told TOI:

Karnataka has banned cultivation of eucalyptus in malnad (hill area) and semi-malnad areas.