Translocating trees and a runway surrounded by nature: Bengaluru airport goes green

Environment

Some of the tree species which have shown high survivability rate ipost translocation are coconut, silver oak, palms, cycads, and rain tree.

Soumya Chatterjee

Authorities at Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport have begun the process of translocating 7,095 trees over the next three years — one of India’s largest such programmes — as part of a Rs 13,000 crore airport expansion project. The overhaul process will include a new terminal, widening of access roads as well as a new multi-modal transport hub. So far, the thousand-odd trees that have been transplanted since March have seen a survivability rate of upwards of 85%. For this initiative, the Bangalore International Airport Limited has tied up with the government-run Indian Institute of Science and automobile major Volvo, which is providing hardware, including its special tree transplanter truck. Some of the tree species which have shown high success rate are coconut, silver oak, palms, cycads, and rain trees. The first phase, which started in March, will continue till August and cover a stretch of 4 kilometres. Prasannamurti Desai, vice-president of landscaping at the airport said, “We are able to translocate as many as 18 trees in a single day starting from 8.30 am to 6.30 pm using the mechanised translocator. All these trees are either translocated to a pre-identified suitable spot or otherwise preserved in the nursery until a suitable spot is made ready.” He added, “We have to follow traditional methods for trees with a girth of above 45 inches and less than 6 inches. Using the conventional method, the process takes about three months as it requires adequate care and protection.” The new terminal is expected to be operational from October 1 onwards and will have a three-story “forest belt.” This is designed to create an immersive, calming outdoor experience for both arrival and departure passengers. Trees, small gardens, and ponds featuring local and exotic species of plants will line the interior. Airport authorities also note that the land surrounding the new runway will be carpeted with lush greenery, making it the first in India and only the third in the world to have green corridors around the runway. “The objective is to avoid felling of trees and, instead, relocate them to a place where they can further improve the aesthetics of the airport. All this is to ensure that the landscape is in sync with our garden-themed Terminal 2,” Tom Shimmin, chief projects officer for Bangalore International Airport Limited told reporters. “Some of the existing tree are unique species and not available in India. Our aim is to ensure that we don’t lose out on the existing ones. In keeping with Bengaluru’s image as the Garden City of India, BIAL has tried to reflect this image at the airport by creating world-class landscapes,” he added.

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Trump administration imposes new restrictions on fetal tissue research

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'Vacant positions to be filled first': Siddaramaiah plays down talk of cabinet reshuffle

Politics

Siddaramaiah said that veteran Congress leader Ramalinga Reddy will get a ministerial berth when the cabinet expansion takes place.

TNM Staff

Amid reports that a cabinet reshuffle is being planned in the Karnataka government, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday stated that the vacant ministerial positions will be filled first. Siddaramaiah, who is also the head of the coalition coordination committee set up to ensure the smooth running of the coalition government, added that miffed Congress leader Ramalinga Reddy will be given a ministerial position. "We will fill the vacant positions first. I had told him that when the re-shuffle of the cabinet happens, he (Ramalinga Reddy) will get a chance to be a minister", Siddaramaiah told reporters in Bengaluru on Wednesday. CS Shivalli was the Minister of Municipal Administration and Local Bodies before he passed away in March this year. The position has remained vacant since then. The position of Primary and Secondary Education Minister is also vacant after N Mahesh, the lone BSP MLA in the Karnataka Assembly resigned from his position.  Earlier in the week, Ramalinga Reddy had criticised the Congress for ignoring senior leaders.  "The party should also ensure that seniors don't quit the party. If this continues, it's difficult for senior party leaders to continue in the party. The party should concentrate on getting rid of the imbalance in the party and the government. Ministers who didn't do well in the election should be given party work and seniors should be taken into the cabinet,"  he said in a Facebook post. This comes at a time Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy held discussions with Congress President Rahul Gandhi about the coalition government's future in the state.   

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‘Not moving operations from Karwar’: Indian Navy on media reports

Navy

There were reports that the acute water crisis in coastal Karnataka has forced the Indian Navy to consider shifting some of its operations away from its Karwar base

Soumya Chatterjee

Facebook/IndianNavy

The Indian Navy has rubbished media reports claiming that the acute water crisis in coastal Karnataka has forced the Indian Navy to consider shifting some of its operations away from its Karwar base. Speaking to TNM, Indian Navy Spokesperson, Captain DK Sharma said, “That is absolutely wrong reporting. We will face the crunch as everybody else will.” He added, “Yes, there is a water crisis and the river has dried up but so what? We are managing it with water from borewells and bowsers. Status quo will be maintained and we hope that the first shower will bring reprieve.” The Karwar facility, which is India’s third largest naval base, houses India’s only aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and other sophisticated war machinery, including submarines. It also hosts ship lift facility, harbour and anchorage, jetties, berthing facilities and the naval ship repair yard. Rain in the coastal Karnataka has been sparse this year in the pre-monsoon period leading all streams, rivers and other natural sources of water to dry up. According to the latest data compiled by the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, the Uttara Kannada district, where the base is located, has had 76% deficient rainfall. Rainfall in surrounding districts has also been very deficient – Udupi (86%), Shivamogga (78%), Haveri (63%), and Belagavi (71%). The groundwater situation in the district is also bad with more than 10 taluks in the district having water 33 m below ground level, according to April 2019 figures. The groundwater level in the area has also been depleting 2m every year over the last decade, according to data by the Ground Water Directorate in  Bengaluru. Water for the base is sourced from Ganagvali river originating from the Western Ghats and flows into the Arabian Sea. According to The New Indian Express report on the same, the base is now getting only 1 MLD of water compared to its requirement of 6 MLD. Weathermen have forecast that monsoon will arrive on the Karnataka coast on June 12.

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As BBMP plans more shelters for homeless ahead of monsoon, how do existing ones fare?

Infrastructure

While BBMP says 10 new shelters will be set up by the end of this month, a visit to a few of the existing BBMP-run shelters highlights the reality.

Anisha Reddy

Nived Uthaiah

Beds at a homeless shelter

As the city gets ready to tackle the upcoming monsoon, the impoverished and the homeless in Bengaluru have it even worse during the season. These are usually migrants to the city in search of job opportunities and primarily hail from a poor background. Desperate to improve their quality of life, they tend to take up manual labour and rag-picking jobs, often leaving them unable to afford a house for rent and rendering them homeless. Apart from the lack of a roof over their heads, the rains cast a bleak shadow over their lives. The monsoon season also sees an increase in mosquitoes, making the homeless more prone to diseases. Consuming food in such unhygienic conditions can also contribute to ill-health. In order to deal with the situation, the BBMP has taken up an initiative to conduct a survey to identify places that are heavily populated by the homeless, according to Nagendra Naik, Assistant Commissioner of BBMP’s Welfare department. These include areas around the city bus stand, railway station and KR Market. BBMP has also identified vacant buildings which it owns, in and around the Majestic area, which can be converted into temporary shelters. Nagendra also said, “Especially for the monsoon season, 10 new homeless shelters will be set up with a deadline of June 30. These shelters will accommodate 800 to 1,000 people.” The shelters will be established in the vicinity of Indira Canteens and primary health centres run by the BBMP. This will give the homeless easy access to food and health services. Meanwhile, a visit to a few of the existing BBMP-run shelters highlights the reality. At the shelter on Goods Shed Road, Gandhinagar, the garbage dump and the area where the homeless wash their clothes and bathe are in close proximity, thereby creating an unsanitary environment. The caretaker of this shelter, S Yogesh, said that they have two rooms with bed and blankets that can accommodate up to 100 people. Indira Canteen coupons are provided every evening for dinner. However, lack of adequate number of toilets creates problems like long queues, he added. At the destitute night shelter at Murphy Town, which is run by NGO Sparsha Trust, the funding is sufficient, but according to shelter in-charge Narayanaswamy, the roof of the eating area in the premises is damaged. He added, “During the monsoon season, rain water can seep in through the damaged roof and stagnate, which can lead to unhealthy eating conditions. The windows also lack mosquito mesh, which creates further problems.” He also said that there was a shortage of good quality blankets. According to a TOI report earlier this year, the Murphy Town shelter gets 40 people every day while the one on Goods Shed Road sees 20-25 people walk in. Currently there are six operational shelters in the city, said Nagendra Naik, but according to the SC order, cities should have permanent 24/7 working shelters for the homeless under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM). There should be at least one shelter for every lakh of urban population. So hypothetically Bengaluru needs 120 homeless shelters. The current working protocol of the shelters is to go out and look for homeless people and bring them to the shelters. But a vast majority of the homeless are unaware of the existence of these shelters. When contacted, the BBMP control room seemed unclear about the location of the shelters. However, the BBMP does have plans of setting up more shelters at Bommanahalli, Yelahanka, and Dasarahalli. They are also awaiting response from the state committee regarding 10 proposals for refurbishment of buildings that will be converted into shelters.

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'Making comments without proper information': K'taka CM slams Union minister's remarks

Politics

Union Minister DV Sadananda Gowda had blamed the state government for delays in two projects involving the Central government.

Soumya Chatterjee

A war of words has broken out between the Centre and the Karnataka government just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office for the second term. In a series of tweets, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday rebutted statements given by Union Minister DV Sadananda Gowda blaming the state government for slowing down two projects involving the Centre. The two projects are the Mekedatu water project and the long-awaited suburban rail project. “We are here to give it a push. We do not want to indulge in politics on any issue -- be it Mekedatu or the suburban rail project. We are willing to work with the state government for the implementation of these projects. But when there are allegations against us, we have to respond,” Sadananda Gowda told reporters on Monday. He added, “The state government is yet to submit a plan of action for the suburban rail project despite Centre assuring all cooperation… From the Central government, we have done everything, but the project is still not moving forward.” In his retort on Tuesday, the CM tweeted, “Union Minister DV Sadanada Gowda making comments about projects involving the state without proper information is not ideal. The Mekedatu plan had already been submitted to the Centre. Not only the DPR (detailed project report) but also the feasibility report has been sent.” In the next tweet, Kumaraswamy said, “In February, we had discussed the issue with Piyush Goyal (the Railway Minister) and following that meeting we passed a resolution in the state cabinet to that effect.” He added, “According to the letter dated 28 may, we are taking measures to implement SPV. Those who say ‘no politics in development’, should support us by providing assistance.” Suburban rail The long-elusive suburban rail service like that of Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata for Bengaluru has been put on the back burner for decades by successive state and Central governments. While public pressure has restarted the conversation, little has moved in reality. One major advancements took place on February 22 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, with a meeting being held between Rail Minister Piyush Goyal and Kumaraswamy. Following the meeting, the duo held a joint press conference endorsing the detailed project report prepared by Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES). Read: Suburban rail project for Bengaluru costing Rs 23,000 cr finally approved by Centre and state However, in a major development in April, the PMO backtracked on the conditions assured by Piyush Goyal which included free railway land for the project. The PMO also suggested that the entire project be broken into smaller projects in a Public-Private Partnership. Mekedatu The controversial project involves building a multi-purpose balancing reservoir, the Mekedatu gorge, located about 100 km from Bengaluru, at the Kanakapura taluk in Karnataka’s Ramanagara district. Apart from the stiff opposition from lower riparian neighbour Tamil Nadu, the project has seen opposition on environmental grounds as it involves encroachment of forest land, including an elephant corridor. Despite the objections from Tamil Nadu, the Central government has given its preliminary nod to the controversial Mekedatu project's detail project report and pre-feasibility report. However, in the midst of the Lok Sabha elections, the Centre did not respond to Karnataka’s demands. Meanwhile, the Cauvery Water Management Authority recorded Tamil Nadu's objections to the project in December 2018.

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Bengaluru police shoot at rowdy-sheeter accused of abducting, robbing techie

Crime

The rowdy sheeter Sushank is a resident of Banashankari in the city and he has multiple cases filed against him including two for murder, two attempts to murder, and two robberies.

TNM Staff

Bengaluru police opened fire on a 24-year-old rowdy sheeter after he assaulted a constable with a razor in an attempt to evade arrest on TVS Road on the outskirts of Attibele late on Monday night. As per Deccan Herald, Anekal police sub-inspector Balaji fired in the air and asked Sushank to surrender. Sushank however assaulted a constable by slashing a razor,  prompting Balaji to shoot at his leg and immobilise him.  The rowdy sheeter Sushank is a resident of Banashankari in the city, and he has multiple cases filed against him including two for murder, two attempts to murder, and two robberies. Sushank along with his associates Raki, Revanth and Salman abducted software engineer Kinkar Kumar Thakur, stabbed him and fled with his wallet, gold and an ATM card on May 13. Kiran alleged that he was left bleeding profusely by the accused after attempts to make him withdraw money from his ATM card did not go as planned due to lack of money in the ATM kiosk.  Police in Attibele were searching for Sushank when they received a tip-off about him. Police put up barricades on TVS Road to catch him.   Police officials are now looking for three of Sushank's associates. “Shashank is an accused in two murder cases - one in Hulimavu and another in Bannerghatta - and three robbery cases. His three associates in the Thakur robbery case are still at large and efforts are on to nab them", said VJ Sajeeth, additional superintendent of police, Bengaluru Rural speaking to the Times of India.   

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