'Release water for irrigation': Mandya farmers protest, try to lock down KRS Dam

Agriculture

Farmers warned Chief Minister Kumaraswamy that if their demands were not met they would not allow him too step foot into Mandya.

TNM Staff

The farmers of Mandya, who are on an indefinite strike demanding that water be released, tried to barge into the premises of Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) Dam and lock it down. Led by Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha President Darshan Puttanaiah, hundreds of farmers marched from the Cauvery Neeravari Nigama Limited office in Mandya to the KRS Dam. Security was heightened at the dam and the police officials stopped the protesters from locking down the dam’s gates. The security personnel deployed outside the dam spoke to the protestors and demanded that they leave the area. Darshan Puttanaiah and farmer leaders Badagalapura Nagendra and Suresh tried to lock down the dam and were detained by the police. The farmers began their protest seven days ago were camped outside the Cauvery Neeravari Nigama Limited office demanding water for irrigation canals to save the crops they have already planted. “Right before the elections, the state government had released water in the irrigation canals and we had reason to plant our crops. Now farmers of Mandya have taken loans to sow crops, which need water to sustain. If the government does not release water, the crops will fail. Now the government is saying that the Cauvery Water Management Authority must decide. Did the government not release water during elections when it suited them? Did they ask the authority’s permission back then?” Darsha Puttanaiah questioned. The farmers challenged Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and said that they would not allow him to step foot into Mandya. “Chief Minister Kumaraswamy, you were walking around in Mandya very frequently. If you do not meet our demands, we will see how you’ll step foot into Mandya again. When we come to you with our problems, you ask us to go to Delhi to protest. We elected you so you can solve our problems. You should be the one taking up our issues in New Delhi. Why are you not doing your job?” Badagalapura Nagendra said. The farmers shouted slogans against the Mandya district-in-charge minister and JD(S) leader CS Puttaraju for not resolving their issues. On Thursday, CS Puttaraju had called on former MP and Ritha Hitharakshana Samithi Chairman G Made Gowda to seek his advice on the matter. However, Made Gowda insisted that the government must write to Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) apprising it on the situation of the farmers Speaking to the media Water Resource Minister DK Shivakumar said that the decision is not in the hands of the state government and that the CWMA must take a call on the matter. Shivakumar said that the Karnataka government had written to the CWMA multiple times apprising the authority of the farmers’ plight. “The days where the government could make such decisions are over. Now Cauvery Water Management Authority must decide. Currently the inflow of water stands at 1 TMC water. Tamil Nadu too has requested the release of water. We must wait till the CWMA decides. Our government is also beginning initiatives to educate farmers about the kind of cash crops that can be grown based on the availability of water. The days where sugarcane cultivation could take place twice a year are gone because there is shortage of water. Our government is trying to educate the farmers in this regard too,” DK Shivakumar said. 

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RTE activist in Karnataka accused of raping woman, arrested

Crime

The woman claimed that the accused, identified as 45-year-old Anand, raped her under the promise of providing a school seat for her son.

TNM Staff

The police in Karnataka on Thursday arrested 45-year-old Anand, an RTE activist and president of a pro-Kannada organisation Kannada Siri Sene, for allegedly raping a woman for five days. The accused is currently in judicial custody. The police said that a medical test has been conducted to establish the crime. According to reports, Anand, a resident of Harohalli in Ramanagara near Bengaluru had befriended the woman (28) when she approached him for his help to find a seat for her son at a private school. Anand had then sexually harassed her and photographed the entire incident. To keep it under wraps, Anand threatened the woman not to approach the police and said that he would upload those images on social media. He also threatened to kill her if she spoke about this to anyone or if she filed a complaint. Despite the threats, as soon as she left his house, the survivor approached the Byadarahalli Police Station and lodged a complaint. Based on this, the perpetrator was arrested and later produced in court. In her complaint, the woman said, “He told me to do his household chores, including cooking and washing utensils. Since he had promised me the school seat, I followed his instructions. It was late by the time I finished and he asked me to spend the night there. I slept in the hall. Around midnight, Anand forcibly took me to his room and raped me. He locked me inside the house till June 15 and repeatedly raped me every day. He threatened to kill me and my daughter if I told anyone or filed a police complaint.”  According to the latest statistics from state police, there were 44 rapes committed in the month of May, eight more than May 2018 and six more than April 2019.

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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

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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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Legal experts: Court's new Obamacare inquiry likely won't doom law

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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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