Dakshina Kannada: Zilla Panchayat along with the Department of Information and Public Relations launched an awareness campaign on sanitation and water conservation on wheels here on Tuesday.

The vehicle of the Information Department would tour 20 gram panchayats comprising all five taluks in the district. Vice-President of the panchayat Satish Kumpala flagged off the vehicle.

A team of artistes from Hassan would stage ‘Togalu Gombeyata’ to create awareness.

Pamphlets would be distributed to people in places wherever the vehicle halts, an official said.

The main focus of the campaign is to create awareness on rainwater conservation, have clean drinking water, build toilets and not to have open defecation and manage the waste effectively without dumping them on roadsides and open places.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Kumpala said that though Dakshina Kannada received abundant rainfall, some villages faced water scarcity in the summer. It showed that there is a need to harvest rainwater to recharge ground water. People should use water judiciously, he said.

Chief Executive Officer of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat P.I .Sreevidya said that if solid waste was not managed effectively and people did not have clean drinking water, it would give scope for public health issues.

BENGALURU: About 150 persons from Karnataka, who were stranded in Nepal after Saturday's massive earthquake, returned from Kathmandu to New Delhi on a special Air India flight.

"They returned by road or IAF flights. We offered them free train tickets to reach Bengaluru," Karnataka chief secretary Kaushik Mukherjee told TOI. Around 300 persons from Mandya, Mysuru, Belagavi and other parts of Karnataka are reportedly stuck in Nepal.

One batch of 82 persons from Karnataka reached New Delhi in an IAF aircraft. Their return home is facilitated by Karnataka Bhavan in the national capital.

Sources said 35 persons from Haralahalli in Mandya district are on their way to Gorakhpur. Another batch of 30 persons from Belagavi is on its way to the Indian border.

Nine tourists from Dakshina Kannada, on a visit to Pokhara in Nepal, were reported safe. The travel agency which arranged the trip said on Sunday the guide accompanying them had informed them that they'd return to New Delhi within two days. The group had left Mangaluru a few days ago.

Kinnigoli: By Karavali Development Authority, near Kadapu of Kilenjoor a hanging bridge will be constructed. President of KDA, Nivedit Alva, inspected the site of the construction.

He spoke to press persons later and said that the authority has received a request letter from the Mennabettu Panchayat, and he has come to inspect the place. Past there was scarcity of funds to make the bridge but this year 10 crores aid is available out of which hanging bridges will be made in D.K, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts.

The expenditure blue print will be prepared. In 2011 engineer Girish Bharadhwaj has visited the site and estimated that it will cost about 27 lacks. But now it will cost around 48 lacks he estimated.

Secretary of the authority, Pradeep D’Souza, adviser Bhaskar Shetty, Mennabettu gram panchayt president Janardhan Kilenjoor were present.

Mangaluru: The previous budget announcement to construct a memorial for Dalit reformer Kudmal Ranga Rao is becoming a reality with the State government releasing the amount allocated.

Dakshina Kannada District Social Welfare Officer Santhosh Kumar told  on Thursday that a two-storeyed building housing a community hall cum auditorium in the ground and a library-cum-museum showcasing the reform's life and achievement in the first floor will come up on the premises of Government pre-primary school at Attavara-Babudugge.

The Amir Khan Hindi film ‘PK’ that found a roaring success and ‘DK’ Kannada film that is roaring for success are now subject for a group of youngsters to give a funny short film ‘PK meets DK’.

The You Tube culture coming of very help to this team of youngster has already gathered 48000 viewers in the internet media for ‘PK meets DK’.
 
The 10 minutes short film purpose is to give entertainment with Mandya Kannada language diction. The youths of ‘PK meets DK’ are aiming for online channel from this funny short film.
 
Software guy from Mysooru Shreyas Arya, Raghu Shastri (lyricist of Lucia film ‘Nee Toreda Galigeyali….) Hasin Khan and Ishan Khan are in technical team. The team banner is ‘Jump Cuts’.
 
The similar funny and cajoling online you tube on the works of Huchcha Venkat especially after he opened up tasting failure for the film that is found as ‘Venkat in Sankata’ gathered 70000 hits.

Udupi: Youth in Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and other districts of southern Karnataka state are unenthusiastic to join the Indian Army, said Army Recruitment Director of Mangalore zone Colonel Vishwanath sadly.

He was addressing the press conference held after completing the recruitment rally for the Army from 4th to 8th February in Mahatma Gandhi stadium in Ajjarkad, Udupi. ‘People of northern Karnataka are keen to join the army’ said Col Vishwanath.

The recruitment rally held at Belagavi, got 10,000 candidates from 6 districts on the first day. But here for five days, only 7,500 candidates arrived from 13 districts.

In fact the district administration in Chickmagalur did not take interest to hold the recruitment there and hence we had to shift it to here in Udupi. The Udupi district administration has responded well. In future awareness workshops for joining the army will be conducted here, said colonel Vishwanath.

Among the 750 candidates who came for the recruitment, there are chances that about 450 – 500 will be selected. Already 350 of them have been directly selected and they will be appearing for the common entrance examination in Mangaluru, Bengaluru, and Belagavi on 01st March 2015.

more than 350 candidates have been selected and recommended for the physical test at the commando hospital in Bangalore. Out of them another 50 – 100 will be selected, he said.

Deputy Commissioner Dr. R. Vishal spoke on this occasion and said that, the awareness is lacking here in the southern districts regarding Indian Army. Those who join the army will be given Rs 15,000 salary in the beginning plus additional Rs 15,000 as allowance.

After retirement, there are job opportunities, pension and they will have concessions and along with serving the country it is also a good job, he added.

In the press conference Belagavi Recruitment Director Colonel Rajendra Chawhan, Bangalore zone Recruitment Director Colonel Dushyant and Colonel Jaideep Sharma were present.

Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada district would have achieved a milestone, if the concerned authorities worked on time to implement the erstwhile Central Government’s Nirmal Bharath Abhiyan (NBA) scheme – which provides toilet for every household in the district.

In 2012, the Baseline survey, which was conducted under NBA scheme, identified a little over 6,000 households in the district without toilets. Hence, the government sanctioned funds for the construction of toilets in every identified household. Out of the 6,000 households, as many as 5,785 households have received the facility, while the scheme is yet to reach 519 households.

The issue came to the fore during the discussion, which was chaired by Asha Thimmappa, president of Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayath. She expressed resentment over the slow work undertaken by the officials and warned them to complete the work by February end.

Besides, Asha Thimmappa also expressed unhappiness when the officials at the meeting failed to ensure proper mechanism to supply drinking water to the schools. The officers said 57 schools out of the 132 identified schools have proper supply of water. “Shortage of water in schools may affect the provision of mid-day meals”, she said and demanded a report in a week.

Moodbidri: 7th synthetic tract (400 meters) in the state and third in the district was consecrated to the public on Thursday in Swaraj Maidan of Moodbidri.

Unveiling the track Minister B.Ramanath Rai said that the state government is pro athletics and giving prominence to athletes. Many athletes from the district have been sent to state. This track will benefit the state level achievers.

The place known for harmony is developing rapidly. Sports and cultural activities are prominent in here. And in coming days teams would be selected in forest department too he said.

Minister Abhayachandra Jain acknowledged M.Mohan Alva and said its because of his sportiveness this track came into reality. Not only students from Alva’s but sports persons of this locality must make use of the track.

MLC Osckar Fernandez addressed that like Hariyana and Punjab, the athletes of the state must be given support. Then only one can achieve success equal to them.

Vinaya Kumar Sorake, Mrs. Blossom Fernandez, Dr.M.Mohan Alva, Capt.Ganesh Karnik, Ivan D’Souza, Amarnath Shetty and various other prominent persons were at hand.