Bengaluru, Dec 24: Karnataka Transport and Muzrai Minister Ramalingareddy on Tuesday inaugurated 20 Ambaari Utsav sleeper buses of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC).

He also distributed temporary deputation orders for Driver-cum-Conductors to 82 candidates with highest scores in the driving test conducted at the Humnabad Training Centre.

Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, MLA Gubbi, chairman of KSRTC S R Srinivas and vice-chairman Mohammed Rizwan Nawab were also present.

Ambaari Utsav sleeper buses will operate between Bengaluru and Kundapura, Mangaluru, Nellore, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Kozhikode, Thrissur and Ernakulam.

According to KSRTC, 35.43 lakh passengers daily make use of its service through 8,896 vehicles.

It also stated that the Karnataka government has approved addition of 5,800 new buses to the state transport corporations, of which 4,301 buses have been added across four corporations – KSRTC, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation, North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation and Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation -- in the past one year.

The government has also granted permission for the recruitment of 9,000 posts across four corporations and 2,144 drivers, conductors, and technical staff have been recruited till now. The recruitment process for 6,856 positions will be completed soon.

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Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 27 paise to 90.95 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday, weighed down by a strong American currency and higher crude oil prices due to the escalated geopolitical tension.

A selling rush in domestic equities further pressured the Indian currency, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.94 and slipped further to trade at 90.95 against the greenback in early deals, losing 27 paise from its previous closing level.

The rupee rose 4 paise to settle at 90.68 against the US dollar on Wednesday. The currency exchange markets were closed on Thursday on account of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent higher at 97.89.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.14 per cent higher at USD 71.77 per barrel in futures trade.

Analysts attributed the strengthening dollar and crude prices to heightened tension between the US and Iran, with both countries signalling they are prepared for war if talks on Tehran's nuclear programme fizzle out.

On the domestic equity market front, Sensex fell 150.35 points to 82,347.79 in early trade while the Nifty declined 35.15 points to 25,419.20.

On Thursday, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 880.49 crore, according to exchange data.