Confined MLAs walk to freedom

DHNS

May 26, 2018

Bengaluru, May 26: After 10 days of confinement, Congress and JD(S) legislators walked free on Friday when the alliance proved its majority in the Legislative Assembly.

The legislators were holed up together since the night of May 16, a day after the Congress and the JD(S) announced their post-poll alliance, to keep them from being poached by the BJP.

Now, however, some legislators are expected to remain camped in Bengaluru or head to Delhi to lobby for ministerial berths.

On May 16, the Congress herded its legislators to a resort in Bidadi, about 40 km from Bengaluru. When the threat of defection loomed large, the party moved the legislators out of Karnataka. Late on May 17 night, a plan was chalked out to take the MLAs to Hyderabad by road.

The legislators were brought back for the BJP’s floor test on May 19 and were lodged in a luxury hotel ever since. Congress leader D K Shivakumar was tasked with ensuring that no MLA was poached.

JD(S) MLAs’ journey

JD(S) MLAs stayed mostly in another luxury hotel in the city, then in Hyderabad along with Congress MLAs, then back in the hotel and were then moved to a resort in Devanahalli till Friday’s floor test.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

Comments