Auto drivers allegedly assault Bengaluru cop after argument over high fare

Crime

According to reports, the auto driver demanded Rs 200 from assistant sub-inspector Kariyanna for a six-kilometre ride.

TNM Staff

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An assistant sub-inspector (ASI) in Bengaluru was attacked by two autorickshaw drivers near the Cantonment Railway Station after he reportedly argued with them about the high fares being charged for his ride. The incident took place on Wednesday. As the argument turned physical, passers-by soon came to the rescue of 58-year-old Kariyanna, who is attached to the State Crime Record Bureau. He sustained injuries and was taken to a hospital nearby. Kariyanna later filed a complaint with the High Grounds police. Per his complaint to the police, Kariyanna was on his way home after attending a meeting near the railway station. He wanted to take an auto to Lingarajapura to take his daughter-in-law to hospital. According to reports, Kariyanna asked the driver to run the meter and that he would pay him Rs 10 extra. The auto driver, however, refused this and demanded Rs 200 for the six-kilometre ride. This resulted in a quarrel between the two, following which, the auto driver reportedly forced Kariyanna out of the auto. Kariyanna then proceeded to note the number of the autorickshaw, which supposedly irked the driver. The driver, along with another driver reportedly started attacking him. When people in the vicinity intervened, the autorickshaw drivers left the scene. Kariyanna had sustained multiple injuries and was bleeding. The High Grounds police, according to The Hindu, have taken up a case of assault, wrongful restraint and provoking breach of peace. The two drivers are absconding and the police are tracking them down. In another incident in January, an auto driver was beaten to death by other drivers at an auto stand in Yemalur, Bengaluru. The victim, YM Narayana, had started driving an auto rickshaw after retiring from his job as a driver for the tax department. He was known to offer rides for low fares, which irked Babu, another auto driver in the area. Babu assaulted Narayana, following which he collapsed and was taken to the hospital by other drivers who intervened. Doctors declared him dead upon arrival.

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600 all-women polling booths to be set up in Karnataka for Lok Sabha polls

Elections

These booths will have women as polling staff, police and security personnel.

IANS

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A total of 600 polling booths out of the 58,186 voting stations to be set up for the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka on April 18 and 23 will be managed by women personnel, an election official said on Monday. "As part of ensuring gender equality and constructive participation of women in the electoral process, the Commission has directed to set up 'all-women managed polling stations'," said a statement from the state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sanjiv Kumar's office. These booths will have women as polling staff, police and security personnel. The state will have 58,186 voting stations for election to the 28 Lok Sabha seats in two phases -- on April 18 for 14 seats and on April 23 for another 14 seats. Vote count will be held on May 23. The southern state has a total of 5.03 crore registered voters. The number of voting stations to be set up has been increased by 7%, from 54,265 polling booths in 2014 general elections, the statement said. While this initiative has been taken to ensure participation of women in the electoral process, it should be noted that not many have been actively engaged in politics. Seeking reforms to the way political parties distribute seats, women from the state had taken to protests at Freedom Park on Friday demanding that political parties be mandated to reserve 50% of seats for women candidates. The protest was organised by ‘Shakti’ a non-partisan political collective, created to empower and enable more women to foray into politics. The women took to sitting on one knee during the protest to highlight the lack of female representation in parliament, with several noting that women do not have 50% representation.   

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Trump's budget would steer $20M to Jack Nicklaus-backed hospital project

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Bengaluru FC reaches second ISL final, fans rejoice

Sports

This comes after the Blues overturned a first leg deficit against North East United.

TNM Staff

To the joy of its fans, Bengaluru FC reached the finals in the Indian Super League on Monday thanks to a patient and professional performance in its home turf against North East United FC. This is the second time that the team is reaching the finals. The team will play the final on March 17 against the winners of the other semi final between Mumbai and Goa. Currently the balance is hugely in favour of Goa with them leading 5-1 over their neighbours.  The second leg of the semi-finals were crucial with BFC trailing by a margin of 2-1 in the game held in Guwahati. Goals by captain Sunil Chhetri, Dimas Degado and Miku on Monday night in front of a 21,000 odd crowd resulted in a cake walk in the end for the Blues.  However, things were not as easy as the scoreline suggests with the game ending 0-0 at half time with striker Miku scrambling two good chances. With time running out and BFC needing a goal, tricky winger Udanta broke free on the right and crossed in for Miku to slide a smart finish in to the net. At 1-0 and with BFC defending a corner, it was Udanta who raced clear once again and when his chip hit the post, Dimas followed with the finish to make it 2-0, giving the home side the much needed insurance. NEUFC still needed only one goal to make it 2-1 and get back in the contest but when skipper Chhetri rounded the keeper and  finished to make it 3-0. Last season, Bengaluru FC had to settle as the second best team in the ISL after losing the finals to Chennai FC 2-3 in a closely contested match.

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CET in Karnataka postponed: Exams to be held from Apr 29

Education

The exams were pushed to a further date as it clashed with the Lok Sabha polling dates in Karnataka.

Theja Ram

The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) on Monday announced that the Common Entrance Test (CET) in the state has been postponed as the old dates clashed with the Lok Sabha elections. According to a notification issued by the KEA, the CET exams will now be held on April 29 and April 30 and the Kannada exam for students in Bengaluru would be held on May 1. The Biology and Mathematics papers will be held on April 29 while the Physics and Chemistry papers will be held on April 30. The Kannada paper (Bengaluru) will be held on May 1. The Election Commission of India on Sunday announced that Karnataka would go to polls on April 18 and April 23. The Biology and Mathematics papers for CET were scheduled on April 23, the Physics and Chemistry papers on April 24 and the Kannada paper was scheduled on April 25. “Teachers will be deployed for election duty. April 23 is polling day and also a holiday. Students who are of voting age will need the day to vote. There would be staff shortage due to election duty and availability of exam halls would have become a problem if the dates are not postponed,” said Girish, Executive Director of KEA. The KEA held a meeting with officials of the PU Board on Monday morning, where the decision was taken to push the exam dates. “We could have not changed exam dates for April 24 and 25 but even the teachers need a break after pulling in over 20 hours of election duty at a stretch,” an official with the KEA said. CET is the entrance exam which Class 12 and PUC II students must write to qualify for engineering, pharmacology and technical education courses in Karnataka. The IIT-JEE exam will be held on April 7 and April 20 according to the dates prescribed.  

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K’taka police investigate suspected rape and murder of minor girl near Manipal

Crime

The victim's body was discovered in a wooded area close to a railway track in Moodu Sagri village

Prajwal Bhat

Udupi police is investigating the gruesome death of a suspected minor girl who was found dead in a forest area near Manipal on Sunday.  Her body was discovered by Sumitra, a resident of Moodu Sagri village near Doddanagudde, in a wooded area close to a railway track on Sunday evening at 5 pm. She immediately informed the police about the incident.  Police officials arrived on the spot along with officials from the Forensic Medicine Department of Kasturba Hospital in Manipal to investigate the incident.  Nisha James, Superintendent of Police (SP), Udupi confirmed to TNM that it appears to be a case of rape and murder. "It appears to be a case of rape combined with murder but we are waiting for the forensic team to confirm the same. Our investigation is underway and four police inspectors are looking into the matter. We have also collected documents to verify her age," she said speaking to TNM.  Sources in the police department also confirmed that the clothes of the girl had been removed. "When the body was found, it was naked from the bottom half and her underwear was also removed which suggests that there was sexual intercourse. There were no defensive injuries found on her body", the source said. The source also added that the victim was not a local resident and had been working in Udupi. Officials of the Forensic Medicine Department of Kasturba Hospital conducted preliminary analysis of the body on Monday. "We have conducted preliminary tests and we will be informing the police  about our analysis later today," confirmed an official from the department.  The victim had gone missing on Saturday afternoon and the discovery of her body has come as a shock to residents of the area. A case of murder has been registered based on the complaint of Padmanatha, husband of Sumitra, who discovered the body, however, the police confirmed that they will add sections under the POCSO Act and charges of rape if the forensic tests confirm that the victim was raped.     

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B’luru water shortage pushing private tankers to drill in rural areas: Activists

Water shortage

Recently an activist alleged that more than 10 illegal borewells have been dug over the last week on the Muthanallur lakebed alone, which sustains a whole village.

Soumya Chatterjee

As parts of Bengaluru face an acute water crisis and private water suppliers continue to take advantage of residents’ dependence on them, another problem has surfaced. Activists are claiming that the increasing demand on these water tank operators has lead to illegal borewells being dug in rural areas, sapping an important water source for surrounding villages. In areas along the IT corridor, such as Whitefield, Marathalli and Bellandur, the Cauvery Water supply has been scant and irregular in recent days. But activists pointed out on Monday that more than 10 illegal borewells have been dug in the past week in a lakebed in Anekal off Sarjapur Road. “In Muthanallur village in Anekal, we have a huge lake. And next to the lake, a lot of people are digging borewells in the buffer zone of the lake itself. They are even taking power connections under the non-commercial category but using it for commercial supply of water,” said Major Santosh, a former Army officer and an activist. According to Santosh, permission is required from the Deputy Commissioner (Bangalore) Urban, and the local panchayat is responsible for stopping illegal activities. “With this, the whole lake water will be pumped out through these tankers. A lot of villagers are dependent on the lake for agricultural and domestic use. They will be soon left without water if this continues. We have approached the local government offices but have not received any response. Tomorrow we will go to the tahsildar’s office asking him to visit the spot.” An official at the Bengaluru Urban’s DC office told TNM that the Anekal taluk tahsildar Mahadevapaiah is the concerned authority. Mahadevaiah or Manjunath, the Special Tahsildar, could not be reached for comment. Problem and the solution While there are specific laws and regulations put in place to check on borewell drilling in times of depleting groundwater tables, residents and activists allege there is hardly any coercive action against offenders aggravating the problem. A notification in December 2012, under the Karnataka Groundwater (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) Act, 2011 had made it mandatory for every borewell to be registered in the city. The same notification said that non-compliance will lead to a penalty of Rs 10,000 and/or imprisonment of three years. Official studies by the state Mines and Geology Department in 2015 estimated that the withdrawal of groundwater (341 millions liters per day or MLD) in the city is four times more than what is recharged (90 MLD). “Drilling water from a lakebed is nothing short of insane. This will reduce the water table in an area which is a prime recharge zone and it’s going to take that much extra amount of time to recharge and replenish the water table,” said Veena Srinivasan, programme leader for water, land and society at Centre for Environment and Development at ATREE Bengaluru. “Water tankers, to begin with, are not a smart way of dealing with water supply. Drilling at the bottom of the lakebed is problematic and illegal. How are these people doing it? In private land, the issue is less problematic as there is a limit to how much water can be extracted.” Veena suggested three ways of dealing with the present water crisis. “In our city, water efficiency is very bad. Lately, I visited many institutional campuses, there is a lot of artificial lawn spaces which require garden hoses. So increasing tree cover rather than ornamental plants can solve this problem. With indoor water usage, there has to be better efficiency and all the wastewater has to be dealt with. Right now, wastewater is going through the city and stinking up everything before foaming and frothing in Bellandur. With this scale of urbanisation and decreasing water tables, there has to be a sensible use of wastewater. The third step has to be moving to the culture of open wells given Bengaluru has an underlying hard rock aquifer, so groundwater storage is very small compared to gangetic plains.”

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