From Friday, get ready to pay hefty fines for traffic offences in Bengaluru

Crime

For instance, till date, Rs 100 was the flat fine for using mobile phones while driving or riding, now first-time offenders will be penalised Rs 1,000.

TNM Staff

Representational image

Starting from Friday, commuters in Bengaluru will have to pay much steeper fines for traffic rules violation as opposed to earlier for many offences which have been classified as common causes for road accidents, a state government notification said on Thursday. “The highest fines are still low considering that the Act is old. Even when it was amended to include offences like mobile phone use while driving, the fines were fixed based on old parameters. These common offences have been identified as causes for a majority of accidents and curbing them is important in view of the society’s well being,” a senior official from the Transport Department told the Deccan Herald. For example, till now Rs 100 was the flat fine for using mobile phones while driving or riding, now Rs 1,000 will be the first penalty of such an offence while offenders have to pay Rs 2,000 for subsequent violations. In addition to increasing the fine, the Transport Department notification also said that it has completely done away with different fine amounts depending upon the class of vehicles involved. The new notification states that driving without the fitness certificate of the vehicle will now amount to Rs 2,000 for the first time and for subsequent offences it will be fined Rs 5,000.  Similarly, driving without vehicular insurance will now attract a fine of Rs 1,000 which was previously Rs 500, while parking violation will cost users Rs 1,000 for the first offence and Rs 2,000 for future offences. However, this does not mean vehicles which will be towed away by the traffic police will be exempted from the transportation charges. This means effectively two-wheelers will pay Rs 1,650 and four-wheelers will pay Rs 2,000 for their first traffic violation. To make the public aware of the new traffic fines, DCP (East) KV Jagadeesh said the police will conduct special drives.  “Many in Bengaluru violate traffic rules with impunity as they know the fines are not that high. But now, we hope to see some positive changes in motorists’ behaviour,” a traffic cop told The Times of India.

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Bengalureans urge CM not to transfer out city buses until new fleet is added

Transport

The appeal by citizen activists in Bengaluru comes after reports suggesting that AC buses run by BMTC will be transferred to other parts of the state.

Soumya Chatterjee

Citizen-activists in Bengaluru on Thursday asked Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy not to transfer out any buses to other parts of the state. Instead, they urged the government to redeploy the current fleet after scientific route rationalization to more useful routes if not add more buses.    This comes amidst media reports suggesting that AC buses run by the Bangalore Metro Transport Corporation (BMTC) will be transferred to other state-run coorprations like the North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC), the North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) and the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). Activists also insisted that buses should not be seen from the lens of profit and loss but as a social welfare measure. Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike (BBPV) said they welcome the move to re-think the presence of Volvo AC buses and replace it with ordinary buses as it will greatly help the urban poor commuters and the corporation itself.  “We, however, would like to emphasise that no buses should be taken off the roads till new buses are added to the fleet.”    While the city population has grown exponentially over the years, BMTC has failed to add any buses to its fleet in the last five years. Unscientific routes, and schedules have contributed to a decline in ridership and revenue, say activists.   According to its own report, BMTC ridership dropped from 51.3 lakh in 2014-15 fiscal to 44.37 lakh in 17-18. Incidentally, a period of average discount of 29% in tickets resulted in the ridership shooting up by 43% within 15 days’ time for its AC buses. Reports have highlighted that BMTC fares are the highest in the country.   At the same time, a total number of 6,19,745 vehicles (a majority of two-wheelers) were added on the city’s roads between November 2017 and November 2018 which meant an addition of 1697 vehicles per day on average.   BBPV further said, “Providing the differentiated quality of services for different classes of commuters is neither socially desirable nor economically viable as BMTC has found out through years of running these services. BMTC's experience on Hosur Road showed AC bus ridership dropped after the introduction of high-frequency KBS-3 routes. What this indicates is that even for commuters using the AC services, high-frequency services are a more determining factor than AC services or not.”    Similarly, Citizens for Bengaluru, a pan-city civic group that has been fighting for public transport with campaigns such as ChukuBukuBeku and BusBhagya Beku, said, “When it is clear that numerous routes are underserved, or unserved, this is an extremely regressive move and will be a major setback for public transport. Bengaluru is already under-invested and under-prioritized by successive governments, leading to unlivable conditions of traffic congestion and pollution. A fraction of the budget allocated for elevated corridor will more than cover for the losses - which are not ‘losses’ - if you consider the enormous benefits of BMTC service handling 45 lakh passengers daily and reducing congestion and pollution,”  Speaking in the sidelines of his village stay program, the CM on Wednesday had said, “There are over 1,000 air-conditioned Volvo buses being operated in Bengaluru city. They are incurring losses. It is profitable only when each bus runs 150–200 km a day. But that is not practically possible in Bengaluru. We are, therefore, thinking of handing them over to other Corporations.”  Elaborating further, Tara Krishnaswamy, co-founder of CfB, said surveys carried out by them and other such organisations, show that many garment workers, domestic workers and security guards barely earning minimum wage have no access toaffordable public transport. She said, “They are forced to use illegal and unsafe tempos, walk several kilometres daily back and forth or live far away from family and close to work, meeting family only on weekends. This causes them to lose earning opportunities and makes the state derelict of the basic duty of enabling the right to livelihood.”    When asked for a comment, BMTC Chairman and senior Congress MLA NA Haris said, “There is no plan to move AC buses away from Bengaluru. Yes, there are losses, we will asses and rationalise journeys on these routes but there are profitable routes as well.” Sources in the BMTC said a meeting will be held in the coming weeks between the MDs, Chairmen of these bus corporations along with the Transport Minister to arrive at a decision on the reallocation of resources. 

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The bright side: Meet Bengaluru residents who are turning to solar power

Environment

Even contributing partially to green energy measures goes a long way towards sustainability, experts say.

Soumya Chatterjee

Apartment complexes in Bengaluru are embracing solar energy by installing solar roof panels to not only bring down their spending on power bills but also to reduce their carbon footprint.  In one of the largest such initiatives not only in the city but also the country, ARK Serene County in Bengaluru went for a 106 kW roof plant costing the apartment dwellers a total of Rs 57 lakh approximately. Amit Kumar, a resident of the complex in Channasandra, Electronic City, said, “We gifted ourselves, the city and country an 80-acre greenspace by reducing our carbon footprint by going the solar way.” “Being a large community of 280 flats our power consumption needs are quite high. There was always a thought in mind if we can do something using solar power. Since it’s a clean source of energy, it will reduce our carbon footprint. As per well-accepted statistics, with 100KW power generation, it is helping the environment as much as having two Lalbagh-sized (40x2+80 acres) greenery,” he added. Amit said that few enthusiasts like him proposed the idea in the apartments general body meeting and were successful in convincing all the resident members to support the cause despite the high upfront cost. “Based on calculations, we hope to break even our investment in four and a half years and reap benefits of solar energy for next 20 years without any significant maintenance cost, as most of the equipment is covered under warranty,” he explained. To elucidate, Amit explained that usually the electricity bill for the common area of their complex usually comes to Rs 1.6 lakh per month.   “Till now the BESCOM bill we received for a 68-day period from March 22 March to June 1 is Rs 1,13,007. This means a savings of approx 70% per month. The plant is generating power more than our target savings of Rs 1 lakh per month. We will use these savings to replenish the corpus fund,” he said. Further with BESCOM likely to continue increasing the price of solar power exported to its grid, the breakeven period can be even shorter. Currently, BESCOM pays Rs 3.5 per unit for solar power generators contributing to their grid.  Inspired by their success story, many other apartment complexes too are replicating this model. Mantri Astra in Hennur has installed a 10 KW plant while Chartered Coronet Apartments located in Arakere has started with a 20 KW plant. Many other apartments like Brigade Petunia in Banashankari, Brigade Metropolis in Mahadevpura are also trying out solar power on a pilot basis.   Srikanth Narasimhan, General Secretary of Bangalore Apartment Federation which has 250 members, said, “So far close to 10 of our member apartment complexes are using solar energy and all of them are all happy with the experience. Many of us are at the process of evaluation. Currently, we have members who have installed 20 KW to 100 KW plants. The general feeling is that within four years or less they will break even the initial capital expenditure costs. We are also closely interacting with BESCOM closely to remove all bottlenecks.” Push from authorities A top BESCOM official on condition of anonymity said, “There is push from our side and the government to encourage customers to utilise their free roof space for power generation even though it is bad for business. For every customer, we draw an agreement that in coordination with the regulatory authority (KERC). At present we are giving Rs 3.50 on average to the customer for every unit they contribute to the grid. This means as we are losing out on the number of units we could have sold otherwise at the market rate.” The source added, "Currently, we are running a pilot in Malleshwaram area where we are helping residents understand what and how can they start generating their own power depending on their financial capability. We will slowly expand this to other parts of the city." Pujarini Sen, a senior campaigner with Greenpeace India, said, “Countless residents have already seen a huge reduction in the amount, and in some cases, completely doing away with electricity bills – depending on the amount of solar power they have installed. Not only does this help the individuals and make the country less dependent on pollution-causing fossil fuel generated energy, but also helps create employment in India. The residential solar rooftop sector has the highest job creation potential as compared to any other solar installations – even ultra mega solar power projects.”  “This will help the nation meet its Paris Agreement targets and create green jobs in the country. Most Indian cities and towns have a massive untapped solar rooftop potential,” she added.  

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Residents irked as Karnataka Dy CM pushes for elevated corridor on steel bridge route

Civic Issues

Citizen activists in Bengaluru suggested that they are going to oppose the move vehemently.

Soumya Chatterjee

Just days after the Karnataka government told the High Court that it has scrapped the controversial steel flyover project between Bengaluru’s Hebbal to Chalukya Circle, Deputy CM G Parameshwara on Thursday said a concrete elevated corridor will be built on the same stretch. The elevated corridor between these two points is part of the state government’s plan to build a 102-km network of such elevated roads across the city in four separate corridors connected to the grade by multiple up and down ramps. The entire project too has been currently stayed by the HC.  These elevated roads, he said, will be a measure to counter the vehicular congestion issue plaguing Bengaluru and said the government decided to drop the steel bridge project to do away with the perception of corruption associated with it.  Speaking to reporters, Parameshwara, who also holds the Bengaluru Development portfolio, said, “We have already dropped the steel flyover project and we had also informed the High Court about it. But we need to solve the vehicular congestion issue. Hence, we proposed the elevated corridor project. The steel flyover project was opposed because there was public opinion that there was rampant corruption in relation to the project.”  “There are no such allegations regarding the elevated corridor project. I have asked the officials concerned to prepare a DPR (detailed project report) for the elevated corridor. The DPR will be for the stretch between Esteem Mall to Chalukya Circle. Once DPR is out, we will hold a public consultation and then proceed,” he added. Srinivas Alavalli, the co-founder of Citizens for Bengaluru, a citizens group consolidated since the mega protests against the steel bridge, said, “If steel flyover had stiff opposition, imagine how much stiffer opposition elevated corridor would have. We request the Honourable Deputy CM to drop the idea and focus on public transport first. We really appreciate the fact that Deputy CM is talking about seeking public opinion.” From the time the proposal to build the flyover was announced, residents have been staging protests.  In February 2016, 8,000 people had formed a human chain along the route of the proposed flyover from Chalukya Circle to Esteem Mall in protest. Those opposed to the project had argued that the elevated corridor would be futile and will not solve Bengaluru’s never-ending traffic problem. A study by urban mobility expert and IISc professor Ashish Verma has predicted that at the current rate of private vehicle ownership, the steel flyover would likely end up getting congested on the first day itself.   Moreover, 2,000 trees were planned to be axed to make space for the project, at a time when the green cover of the city is already fading. Suresh NR of Namma Bengaluru Foundation, one of the petitioners in HC said, “The government did not drop the plan but rather it was forced to. Why is the government again going on the same route? We all know that trees are important not only to provide shade and absorb C02. By not going through simple, inexpensive measures suggested by the public and experts, the government is just wasting money on DPR and other efforts. In this process, it is unnecessarily putting us in hardship and forcing us to go to courts to meet the same fate.”   

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To stop daughter’s wedding, Bengaluru woman allegedly hires killers to murder brother

Crime

Rajashekar had introduced Gowramma’s daughter to one of his friends and the two had fallen in love.

TNM Staff

The Bengaluru Police arrested a 45-year-old woman for allegedly contracting her brother’s murder in order stop her daughter’s wedding. The Kengeri Police on Thursday arrested Gowramma, a resident of Kalyani Layout for allegedly contracting the murder of her brother Rajashekar. On June 22, the Kengeri Police had received a call from locals of Kalyani Layout when they discovered Rajashekar’s body in an abandoned house. Rajashekar had been brutally stabbed to death. Upon investigation, the police found that Gowramma had allegedly contracted the killing to her neighbor Mumtaz. “Gowramma has a 23-year-old daughter. Rajashekar had introduced her to one of his friends four months ago and the two fell in love. Rajashekar also supported them when they decided to get married. They were also engaged for three months. But Gowramma did not want her daughter to marry for love. She wanted her to marry a man she chose,” Arasu, the investigating officer in the case said. Gowramma had allegedly tried to separate the couple on multiple occasions in the past and had failed because of Rajashekar’s intervention. On June 20, Gowramma allegedly approached her neighbor Mumtaz and is said to have asked her to hire men to kill Rajashekar. “She knew she could not stop the wedding. So, she informed Mumtaz that the only way to stop the wedding would be to ensure that there is a death in her immediate family. The family members would then have to go into mourning for a year and hence the wedding would have to called off. She paid Mumtaz Rs 3 lakh and asked her to kill Rajashekar,” Sub-Inspector Arasu added. On June 21, Mumtaz allegedly hired Munna, Arju and Sakeeb to kill Rajashekar. Rajashekar, who was a painter by profession, was allegedly lured by the trio to an abandoned building near Kalyani Layout on the pretext of a project to paint the inner walls of the house. “When Rajashekar reached the abandoned house, he was attacked by Munna, Arju and Sakeeb. They stabbed him on his stomach, neck, chest and legs multiple times,” SI Arasu added. Rajashekar’s body was discovered by the locals on the morning of January 22. “We questioned the family members and also Gowramma’s daughter. When we found that she was the only one opposed to the wedding there was suspicion. We detained Gowramma and questioned her after which she confessed to the crime,” the Kengeri police said. Gowramma, Mumtaz, Munna, Arju and Sakeeb have been booked for murder. The accused are currently in police custody and will be produced before the magistrate on Friday.     

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Battling rheumatoid arthritis, how one woman channelled her pain into art

Art

Seema Sood’s paintings will be exhibited for the first time at an art exhibition in Bengaluru on June 29 and 30.

Nikhita Venugopal

Seema Sood, with her BITS Pilani batchmates.

Seema Sood, 50, remembers the day she became bedridden. “3rd May, 1993,” she said. For five years, she was confined to her bed, but the pain had started when she was 18 years old, beginning in her toes and slowly creeping to her joints and limbs until her entire body ached.  As a student at BITS Pilani, she took painkillers and steroids just to be able to attend classes. She spent decades being shunted from hospital to hospital seeking treatment, but nothing seemed to be working effectively.  It would be years before Seema was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis — a painful autoimmune disorder that mostly affects a person’s joints — and even longer before she would be able to manage her pain and channel it into art.   The pain was so bad that she considered ending her own life. “I was in such a miserable condition that I had appealed for mercy killing,” she said, describing a letter she had written to the President of India in 2007. She ultimately received Rs 10 lakh from Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal’s relief fund and underwent multiple surgeries in 2008. But not long after that, the pain crept back into her body. Finally, in 2014, her fortunes turned. For one, she began treatment free of cost at Fortis Hospital in Mohali, where Seema was correctly diagnosed. She also reconnected with her old 1985 batchmates from BITS Pilani, where Seema graduated with two degrees — an MSc in Engineering Technology and a Masters in Engineering. Her friends wasted no time in coming to her assistance.  Up until that point, she hadn’t told any of her classmates about her condition. But after receiving a phone call from an old friend, she had a change of heart. With treatment that eased the severe pain in her joints, Seema has been able to turn to a long-time passion for art. From a young age, she had been interested in painting and drawing, even making greeting cards for New Years and Diwali. When she started painting as an adult, she began with small pictures of flowers and eventually progressed to depictions of Rajasthan, where she was born, and scenes of nature from Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, where she now lives.  “Once I get engrossed in my paintings, my pain, my troubles, everything gets lost,” she said.  Paintings by Seema Sood For the first time, Seema’s work will be exhibited at Silver Oak Resorts in Bengaluru on June 29 and 30, with prices ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 35,000. And after struggling financially for years, Seema has finally been able to make her own money by selling her paintings. “I want to live with dignity. I want to earn something on my own,” she said.  The art show, organised by Seema’s old batchmates from BITS Pilani, is a way to help her financially. Though she is able to paint on her own, she still needs assistance in arranging supplies or handing her tools, and she is looking for someone to hire. “There is tremendous physical pain she goes through every single minute of every single day,” Mridula Sankhyayan, one of Seema’s batchmates who helped organise the exhibition, said. “Painting really gives her self-fulfillment.”

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