Top actors Rajinikanth, Jr NTR will grace award ceremony to honour late Puneeth Rajkumar: R Ashoka
Bengaluru, Oct 29: Tamil superstar Rajinikanth and renowned Telugu actor Junior NTR will participate in the function where the 'Karnataka Rathna' award will be conferred posthumously on late Kannada film actor Puneeth Rajkumar on November 1, state Revenue Minister R Ashoka said on Saturday.
Addressing reporters, Ashoka said Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai wanted to make the Karnataka Rathna award show this year a memorable one. Accordingly, efforts were over the past 10 days, he said, adding that Rajinikanth has agreed to participate in the event.
"Earlier, Rajinikanth was not willing (to attend the event) but two days ago, he gave his consent. He is from Karnataka. He was born and grew up here and worked as the Bangalore Transport Service bus conductor here. Today, he is recognised worldwide as a great actor," Ashoka said.
"Similarly, Junior NTR has also agreed to participate. He too talks Kannada because his mother is a Kannadiga," he explained.
He added that the Karnataka Rathna award will be bestowed on Puneeth Rajkumar on November 1 at 4 pm.
The event will take place on the steps of Vidhana Soudha where noted playback singer Vijay Prakash and his team will organise a musical event, Ashoka said adding that nearly 5,000 passes will be issued.
According to him, Puneeth Rajkumar was an extraordinary artiste who was also recognised as a philanthropist.
Puneeth Rajkumar followed in the footsteps of his legendary father Dr Rajkumar and made a name in the Kannada film industry. The actor who made an entry into tinsel town at a very young age, died exactly a year ago on October 29, 2021 at the age of 46.
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11 more bodies retrieved from Arunachal accident site
Itanagar (PTI): Eleven more bodies were retrieved on Saturday from the deep gorge in Arunachal Pradesh's Anjaw district, where a mini-truck on which 22 labourers from Assam were travelling fell, an official said.
With this, 17 bodies have been recovered from the accident site, Anjaw's deputy commissioner Milo Kojin said.
He said three more bodies will be brought out on Sunday.
The operation, being conducted by a joint team of the NDRF and Army, resumed at 6 am.
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"The retrieval process was extremely difficult because of the treacherous terrain, and the gorge is very deep," Kojin said.
The operation was suspended around 4 pm due to low visibility and will be resumed on Sunday morning, he said.
"One person is still missing, and a search operation will be carried out tomorrow," he added.
The accident happened on the evening of December 8, around 40 km from Hayuliang towards Chaglagam in the district. On the evening of December 10, one survivor managed to climb out of the gorge and reach a nearby Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) labour camp, following which the authorities were alerted.
Six bodies were recovered from the gorge on Friday and handed over to their families on Saturday.
