1. Amid BBMP, Fire and Emergency Services squabble, rooftop establishments thrive despite lax fire safety norms
Following a fire at a rooftop hookah bar on October 19, the Karnataka government ordered an audit of all rooftop bars and the closure of those without clearance. While the audit identified 243 such rooftop bars and restaurants, none have been closed so far. Instead, they continue to thrive even as the Fire and Emergency Services and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) are quarrelling over who should shut them.
A senior fire official says the fire department does not have power to close these establishments as the BBMP is the licensing authority, meanwhile BBMP officials argue that only the Fire and Emergency Services can shut an establishment over violations of fire safety norms. This back and forth has lead to an impasse.
2. KSRTC to deploy 1,000 additional buses for Christmas
The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is set to deploy an additional 1,000 buses starting from December 22 for the Christmas festival. Special buses will operate routes connecting Kempegowda bus station, Mysuru Road bus station as well as Shanthinagar BMTC bus station to several districts and taluks within Karnataka as well as to places in neighbouring States like Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
KSRTC said a discount of 5% on the fare will be extended if four or more passengers book in a single ticket and a discount of 10% will be offered on the return journey if onward and return tickets are booked simultaneously.
3. DRI catches Nigerian smuggling cocaine worth ₹20 crore in stomach in Bengaluru airport
Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials found 99 capsules containing cocaine worth ₹20 crore in the stomach of a Nigerian. Terming it one of the biggest catches of 2023, they said the accused was caught on December 11 by alert officials as soon as he landed at Kempegowda international airport in Bengaluru from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The accused, aged around 40 years, had a Nigerian passport and came to India on a medical visa. He was booked under the NDPS Act and remanded to judicial custody.
4. IISc Bengaluru faculty selected as EMBO global investigator for 2023
Dr. Debasis Das, Assistant Professor, Department of Inorganic and Physical Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) has been selected as one of the 10 European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Global Investigators in 2023 for his project on enzymatic dispersion of biofilms to combat biofilm-mediated microbial infections.
The EMBO Global Investigator Network is an initiative that enables excellent early-stage group leaders based in Chile, India, Singapore and Taiwan, to access a wide range of collaboration, networking, and training activities.
