Mangaluru: The Dakshina Kannada District Rajyotsava Awards for 2024 will honor 62 individuals and 20 organizations for their contributions to society.

Among the individual awardees are Vartha Bharati’s Mangalore Bureau Chief Pushparaj B.N., non-resident Kannadiga Abdullah Monu Moideen, and social workers Hanif Haji Goltamajalu, Suhail Kandak, and Babu Pilar.

The list of honored organizations includes The Voice of Blood Donors and Munsuru Yuvaka Mandal, which have been recognized for their service to the community. The awards will be presented by Dinesh Gundu Rao, D.K. District In-charge Minister, with Speaker UT Khader attending as a special guest. The ceremony is scheduled for November 1 at 9 a.m. at Nehru Maidan in Mangalore, as part of the Kannada Rajyotsava celebrations.

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Bengaluru (PTI): The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is set to roll out a major biogas initiative to extract compressed biogas from sewage sludge, aiming to generate over Rs 120 crore in additional revenue over the next two decades.

The project approved by the state cabinet is expected to be the largest of its kind in the country, utilising about 550 MLD of sewage across five major sewage treatment plants, according to an official release.

"This brilliantly structured PPP model allows us to generate over Rs 120 crore in fresh revenue without investing a single rupee in capital or operations," BWSSB Chairman Ram Prasath Manohar said in the statement.

Under the project, raw biogas currently used for in-house power generation or flared will be upgraded to CBG meeting national standards for injection into the city gas distribution network or use as a clean transport fuel, the release said.

The initiative will be executed on a public-private partnership model, with the private concessionaire bearing the entire Rs 85 crore capital expenditure and operational costs, while BWSSB will provide land within treatment plant premises.

Describing it as a step towards energy security and the circular economy, officials said the project could serve as a national model for similar urban initiatives.