Karnataka govt spending over Rs 1 lakh cr to improve infrastructure in Bengaluru city: Shivakumar
Bengaluru (PTI): Pitching Bengaluru as an "ever-evolving engine of transformation", Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Tuesday said that the state government is improving the infrastructure by spending over Rs 1 lakh crore on the city.
Shivakumar, who is also the Minister incharge of Bengaluru Development, was speaking at the inaugural of the 28th edition of Bengaluru Tech Summit 2025.
Touted to be Asia's largest technology event, it is being organised by the Department of Electronics, IT & Bt, Government of Karnataka and Software Technology Parks of India (STPI).
"We recognise that technology, innovation, and investment flourish only when the foundations are strong. That's why our government is accelerating infrastructure at unprecedented speed," Shivakumar said.
Addressing the gathering, he highlighted that the government has launched mega infrastructure projects in Bengaluru -- twin tunnel project of 40 KMs at Rs 42,500 crore, double Decker Metro 41 KMs at Rs 18,000 crore, elevated corridor 110 KMs at Rs 15,000 crore, buffer roads 320 KMs at Rs 5,000 crore, SkyDeck at Rs 500 crore, and Bangalore Business Corridor of 74 KMs at Rs 27,000 crore.
"We are spending over 1 lakh crore on Bengaluru city to improve infrastructure," he added.
Pointing out that a second airport is being planned for Bengaluru, the Deputy CM said, in order to help and co-ordinate the NRI's, the Government of Karnataka is starting a separate Secretariat for NRIs.
"We are developing residential layouts for NRI's; a world class city near Bidadi in 9,000 acres - AI City. We are building an international complex to house all international business houses," he said, adding that no other cities match Bengaluru weather and culture.
Asserting that technology and talent are Bengaluru's twin pillars, Shivakumar said, Bengaluru's strength lies not just in its infrastructure or policy incentives--it lies in its people.
Appealing industry captains to help the government in making rural education strong with CSR, while stating that necessary policies are being brought in this regard, the Deputy CM said, together, let us build a future where technology, creativity, and enterprise create opportunities not only for our state or our country, but for the entire world.
"I assure you on behalf of Karnataka that we will co-operate and extend all possible support for mutual growth," he said.
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NEET-UG: 2 more held, role of several NTA officers under scanner; CBI focussing on source of leak
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has arrested two more persons in connection with the NEET (UG) paper-leak case, with the role of several officers of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and other organisations, who had access to the printing press where the papers were printed, coming under the scanner, officials said on Thursday.
The agency has arrested Dhananjay Lokhanda from Ahilyanagar and Manisha Waghmare from Pune and conducted searches at 14 locations across the country in the last 24 hours, they said.
The CBI is focussing on identifying the source of the leak that has caused massive disappointment to lakhs of aspirants eyeing a seat in undergraduate medical courses, which are allotted after the highly-competitive examination, the officials said.
According to the CBI probe so far, the involvement of public servants in the leak cannot be ruled out.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested three individuals from Jaipur -- Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal -- along with Yash Yadav from Gurugram and Shubham Khairnar from Nashik.
Khairnar was in touch with Yadav and informed him in April that Mangilal Biwal was ready to pay Rs 10-12 lakh for arranging leaked NEET (UG) 2026 questions for his younger son.
Khairnar allegedly provided 500 to 600 questions from the leaked paper to Yadav, the officials said, adding that the questions could have helped score enough marks to get a seat in a reputed medical college.
Mangilal Biwal allegedly procured the paper from Yadav, who was known to his elder son Vikas Biwal from an NEET coaching in Rajasthan's Sikar. The deal between Mangilal Biwal and Yadav was for Rs 10 lakh, if 150 questions from the question bank matched with those in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) paper, the officials said.
Mangilal Biwal shared the paper with his son and further distributed it among relatives.
Yadav also told Vikas Biwal to find additional candidates for the questions to recover some of the money that he had spent on getting those, the officials said.
An analysis of digital devices has given the agency incriminating chats, leaked question papers and other digital evidence. The CBI will subject the devices to a forensic examination to get the deleted data, the officials said.
The federal agency has registered an FIR and formed teams to probe the alleged NEET (UG) paper leak that resulted in the cancellation of the exam held on May 3.
The NEET (UG) 2026 was conducted across 551 Indian cities and at 14 overseas centres. Nearly 23 lakh candidates had registered for the test, which was administered by the NTA at centres across the country.
According to the NTA, information regarding alleged malpractice was received on the evening of May 7, four days after the examination was held. The NTA said the inputs were escalated to central agencies the following morning for "independent verification and necessary action".
The Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) has claimed that a "guess paper" for chemistry, allegedly circulated among students ahead of the examination, had approximately 410 questions, including roughly 120 that appeared in the test.
