Bengaluru (PTI): India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for Bengaluru and a yellow alert at various places across Karnataka on Tuesday.

An orange alert means very heavy rain of 11 cm to 20 cm, and a yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 6 cm and 11 cm.

IMD Bengaluru Centre Director N Puviarasu said they have issued an orange alert for Bengaluru for the impact 8 cm to 10 cm that will likely affect the big city.

"The amount of rainfall we are receiving is nothing for rural areas. But because cities like Bengaluru are concretised mostly, and thus blocking the outlets for water drainage, we have issued an orange alert so that authorities can prepare accordingly," he said.

According to the IMD statement, areas likely to be affected today are Bagalkot, Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, Belgaum, Chikkaballapura, Dharwad, Gadag, Kolar, Koppal, Vijayanagara districts.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said flooding issues have been resolved in 70 per cent of the identified areas in Bengaluru.

Shivakumar, who visited the affected areas in Bengaluru, including Sai Layout, Manyata Tech Park and Silk Board Junction, on Monday told reporters that they had identified 210 areas as flood prone in city.

"Ever since I took over as the Bengaluru Development Minister, we have fixed flooding issues in 166 (70 per cent) of those localities. Flood prevention work is currently going on in 24 areas while work would soon be taken up in the remaining 20 areas. We have built 197 km of storm water drains," he said.

Taking to his 'X' account, Shivakumar said rain is controlled by nature and they are trying to "control the controllables".

"We are rectifying flood-prone areas and are trying to help the common people. Quantum of rainfall has been very high in Silk Board junction, Hebbal and Yelahanka area. Underpass works are underway in a couple of places in these areas and they have been flooded. We will work with those departments to resolve these issues," he added.

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New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Culture allegedly spent Rs 76.13 lakh on print advertisements marking the 100-year celebrations of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), according to a Right to Information (RTI) reply.

The information was sought by RTI activist Ajay Basudev Bose, who filed an application seeking details on expenditure incurred by the ministry for advertisements commemorating the RSS centenary.

Bose shared a picture of the reply from the ministry on his official ‘X’ handle.

“It is informed that an amount of Rs 76,13,129 has been spent on advertisement given in various print media by the Ministry of Culture on the occasion of the completion of 100 years of RSS,” the government’s reply stated.

Bose questioned the expenditure in the post X, “when Everyone knows RSS is Not Registered & Does not Pay any Tax is it justified to spend Tax Payers Money on such Private event??”

Reacting to the development, Karnataka’s IT-BT and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge also criticised the spending.

In a post on X, he asked why public money was being used for what he described as a “private ideological project.”

"Modi Sarkar spent Rs 76,13,129 of public money on newspaper advertisements to celebrate 100 years of the RSS. Why is Government spending taxpayers money on an unregistered, non-tax-paying organisation to celebrate their centenary?," he added. 

According to reports, the RSS describes itself as a volunteer-based organisation and has stated that it functions as a body of individuals rather than a registered entity.

Founded by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in 1925, the organisation is marking its centenary year beginning from Vijaydashami in 2025, with the milestone observed on October 2.