Bengaluru woman demands cab drivers should stop using alternative route to airport

Transport

The woman stated in her police complaint that an Ola driver refused to switch to the main road via NH 44 when he was dropping her home from the airport early on Monday morning.

Prajwal Bhat

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At around 3:20 am on Monday morning, Shikha*, a working professional in Bengaluru, travelled in an Ola cab from the Bengaluru International Airport at 3 am. Around 10 mins into her journey, she realised that the cab driver had taken an alternative route to reach the city — the route via BK Halli-Bagalur instead of the traditional NH 44. "I immediately asked the driver to turn around and take the main road, NH 44, but he (the driver) dismissed my request saying that this was the correct route," recalls Shikha. Shikha had to force the driver to stop the car by pressing the emergency button. She was in an isolated area at the time and she asked the driver to call his supervisor. Eventually, she managed to call a friend who was also leaving from the airport around that time and hitched a ride. She claimed that despite pressing the emergency button, there was no help forthcoming from Ola.  Shikha filed a complaint at the Bengaluru Airport police station. However, an FIR was not registered. "Since there was no offence, in this case, we have not registered an FIR," a police official told TNM. Why drivers choose the alternate route The incident once again raises questions about the safety of women travelling alone to and from the airport at night, particularly on the alternative route sometimes used by cab drivers.  Often, cab drivers choose to take the alternate route not only because it is faster to reach the airport from areas like Whitefield, but it also helps drivers avoid paying the toll on NH44.  Two months ago, a woman was murdered by a cab driver who tried to rob her on the way to the airport. Police officials said that the cab driver Nagesh had deviated from the main road and demanded money from Pooja Singh De, a model and event manager who was visiting the city. The cab driver attacked and murdered her before leaving her remains near the airport in Kaadayarappanahalli village. Read: Murder of Kolkata model in Bengaluru: Ola driver arrested for crime Police officials confirmed that they have received multiple complaints from women about cab drivers taking the alternative route to the Bengaluru airport. The complainants have cited a lack of street lights on the route and also pointed out that the route is mostly isolated and unused.  Speaking to TNM, Shikha said that she had read about the murder incident in July in the newspaper and believes that the alternative roads to the airport should not be allowed to be used by cab aggregators. She decided to file a complaint at the Bengaluru Airport police station to stress the need for measures to be taken to improve the safety of commuters in this stretch. "If my friend had not been there, I don't know what would have happened. I don't think that the road is safe for either men or women. It needs to be blocked, especially at night. So many people have reached out to me saying that drivers were occasionally taking the alternative route to the airport and that only on request, the drivers would switch to the main road," added Shikha.  Ola’s stand Reacting to the incident, an Ola spokesperson said, "Safety of customers is the top priority for us and we have taken several proactive measures in this regard. These include issuing regular advisories to driver-partners and customers, 24/7 helpline, Emergency Button and our unique Ola Guardian feature. We continue to add product updates that enhance safety measures on the platform and look forward to collaborating with the authorities to enable a safe and reliable mobility experience in our cities." However, the cab aggregator declined to comment on whether drivers will be blocked from taking the alternative route. TNM has reached out to Uber for comment. This article will be updated once a response is received.  *Name changed

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Bengaluru residents allege construction work in Cooke Town was putting them at risk

Civic

The builder however claimed that he was not doing anything illegal and was trying to build a basement.

Soumya Chatterjee

It was on July 10 that two buildings in Bengaluru’s Pulikeshi Nagar, a prime area in the city, collapsed, resulting in the death of at least four persons. The building collapse was blamed on illegal construction process in blatant violation of rules. Now, residents of nearby Macpherson Road in Cooke Town fear that their houses might suffer the same fate due to heavy drilling work done by a private builder in their neighbourhood. They allege the drilling and stone cutting is causing vibration in their buildings. Residents of the area complain that the heavy drilling work done by the landowner for the past one year has exposed them to stone dust and smoke from diesel engines, in their otherwise peaceful neighbourhood. One resident said, “We have been complaining to the BBMP officials but there is no reaction. We are worried about our own safety as this kind of heavy digging can affect our building as well. Will the authorities wake up only when a calamity strikes?” Unhappy with the reluctance of BBMP officials to probe the matter, the residents have approached central minister and Bengaluru North MP Sadananda Gowda seeking remedy. Upon receiving the complaint, the Union Minister has written to the City Police Commissioner and other authorities, asking them to resolve the matter. On the Minister’s suggestion, the residents also met Mining and Geology Department officials who have issued a notice to the land owner. Moreover, the residents are planning to approach the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board over the noise pollution. Recordings made by the residents using a mobile app indicate that the drilling work has caused noise levels to rise to as much as 78 decibels which is way above the permissible limit of 55 decibels. Another resident said, “We have been suffering for the past one year. The BBMP officials failed to turn up even when the Mining Department came for the investigation. We had earlier managed to stop the land owner from using gelatine sticks by approaching the police. But they have been continuing work with heavy machinery.” BBMP Commissioner BH Anil Kumar told TNM on Tuesday said that he will instruct officials to promptly carry out a spot check. On Wednesday, officials attached to Pulikeshi Nagar Police Station inspected the spot and stopped the work. However, the builder, Rafeeq denied the allegations and said there was never any plan to ue gelatin sticks. “We are not doing anything illegal and have all the necessary sanctions from the BBMP. We are digging to build a basement. There is no issue with the Mining Department as well. They have said that we have to pay royalty if we find precious stone or granite,” he said. 

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Bus priority lanes to be introduced in Bengaluru, but will it ease the traffic mess?

Transport

Deputy CM Laxman Savadi inspected the first such route, along with officials from various departments, on Wednesday.

Soumya Chatterjee

Picxy.com/sandeepm

In what could be the first proactive step by authorities in Bengaluru to solve the traffic problem, bus-priority lanes will be introduced in the city from November 1.  BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) Commissioner BH Anil Kumar said that a plan is being drawn up by the BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation), BBMP, Traffic Police and DULT (Directorate of Urban Land Transport) officials for several routes. A formal announcement by Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa is expected in the coming week.  Bus lanes are planned in the hope that buses which act as a mass transport system, get priority access over private transport especially two-wheelers and in the process motivate people to ditch their own vehicles. This in turn is expected to reduce overall congestion in the city.  An officer in the BMTC said that the first such lane(s) will be introduced on an 18.5km stretch between Tin Factory in KR Puram and Silk Board Junction.  For the same purpose, Deputy CM and Transport Minister Laxman Savadi inspected the route on Wednesday along with officials in a Volvo bus. Following the drive, he asked BBMP officials to prepare necessary bus shelters.  “We are ready to start the project as we have finalised how many buses we are going to run and will be ready to add more buses depending on the demand. BBMP officials are deciding on specifics related to stoppages and demarcations. We want two lanes in the entire stretch and we have also given BBMP, DULT officials details of how many buses we want to run and at what speed on this stretch. We want to see how the public responds but we are expecting more people to use buses as travel times will drastically decrease,” the official said. The move for bus priority lanes also comes at a time when the daily ridership of BMTC has steadily fallen over the years, from 51.3 lakh in 2014-15 to 36 lakh in 2018-19. At the same time, the length of cancelled routes increased almost 200% over 4 years, from 241.6 lakh km in 2013-14 to 717.9 lakh km in 2017-18. Sources in the Traffic Police Department told TNM that only vehicles with more than three passengers will be allowed in these lanes and violators will be penalised for violating lane discipline.  Not a new concept Incidentally, a decade ago, a similar plan was proposed by authorities between Central Silk Board and Hebbal, but the project never took off. Since then, citizen groups have demanded that these bus-only lanes be created wherever practically feasible along with other incentives for public transport. One city-based organisation, the Bangalore Bus Prayaanikara Vedike (BBPV), welcomed the decision but urged the authorities to examine the experiences of other cities. They said, “BBPV welcomes this initiative as it is an essential measure towards sustainable and equitable mobility in Bengaluru. Road space is a limited public resource. Bus-based public transport makes the most efficient use of road space for transporting people. BMTC still caters to 36 lakh trips in the city. However, a disproportionate share of the road space is occupied by lakhs of private vehicles, especially cars and two-wheelers on the road, which serves a much smaller share of trips.”  Experts want holistic planning While bus priority lanes can be a game-changer for the good, experts have warned that unless implemented through comprehensive planning, it might turn into a failure. Ashish Verma, a professor of Sustainable Transportation at the Indian Institute of Science, said, “This is a good idea but then again, it has to be designed properly. Otherwise, this would be like Delhi BRTS where it was done for a 7 km stretch and then taken off subsequently. The mistake most Indian cities have done is that they have seen this as an engineering intervention and have introduced it wherever there is availability of space. This will just be like shooting in the air.” Explaining that bus priority lanes are a system-level intervention, he said, “If there is one lane demarcated for buses which already has high bus volumes, then in actuality it might benefit the passing of other vehicles. Instead, there is a need to think about traffic flow patterns, how much impact this will have on travel times and also how this will induce more people to shift from their personal cars / two-wheeler usage.” Similarly, Pawan Mulukutla, an urban mobility expert based in Bengaluru, said, “Bus priority lanes should be planned keeping three prime factors in mind. First, it is to be checked if this helps in improvement of buses. Secondly, there are talks of an increase in speed but the question we have to ask is, does it ensure that this increases the capacity. Otherwise, there can be instances of having bus queues. So there is a necessity to put in place a system which not only increases the capacity of individual buses, but also the entire system.” He added, “Globally, the practice has been that it has to be carried out from the operational perspective in terms of servicing of the bus. So if we see this as an infrastructural project, then we will have many operational challenges.There are also issues of design that have to be kept in mind. Not all buses will go for the entire length of the corridor and buses also need to enter the corridor. There are also issues with alignment of bus stops as generally stops are on the left but at the beginning and end of flyovers, they are at the centre.”

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CBI suspects phones of Karnataka politicians were tapped under false pretexts

Crime

CBI is investigating whether the phones were tapped as part of routine local crime investigations.

TNM Staff

The Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) probe into the phone tapping case in Karnataka has taken a new turn. The probe team is now looking at whether the phones of Congress, JD(S) and BJP legislators were tapped under the pretext of local crime investigations based on criminal cases registered across police stations in Bengaluru city. CBI sources say that disqualified Yeshwanthpur MLA ST Somashekar’s phone was allegedly tapped by police officers who were investigating a case registered in the Bagalakunte Police Station in January this year. On the night of January 2, six men led by gangster Tattoo Jagga had been accused of attempting to kill one of their rivals Gangadhara P at a hotel room in Bagalakunte. Tattoo Jagga and the other accused had absconded and the police had allegedly ordered a tap on their phones in order to track them down. “At the time, ST Somashekar’s phone was also tapped though he had nothing to do with the case. The phone numbers are given to the centre at Adugodi, where the tapping is done. When a list was given in this case (0003/2019) ST Somashekar’s phone number was one among them. ST Somashekar’s phone was tapped for over 100 hours,” the CBI source said. CBI sleuths also suspect that the phone numbers of 17 politicians and their associates were tapped allegedly on the pretext of investigating hawala networks. “The Bengaluru Central Crime Branch was investigating several cases in which people were accused of setting up hawala networks to convert black money to white. Phones belonging to BS Yediyurappa’s PA Santhosh, Hoskote MLA MTB Nagaraj and Chikkaballapura MLA Sudhakar (both disqualified MLAs) were also tapped. The probe is looking into who ordered these wire taps,” the CBI source added. The CBI had raided the house of former Bengaluru Police Commissioner Alok Kumar on September 26 in connection with the phone tapping case. Alok Kumar was the head of the Central Crime Branch when the alleged wire tap was ordered on ST Somashekar and the two other disqualified MLAs- MTB Nagaraj and Sudhakar. The BJP and the rebel MLAs had accused former CM HD Kumaraswamy of ordering the police to tap the phones of 300 politicians, their relatives and associates. The probe was handed over to the CBI by the Karnataka High Court earlier in August.  

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Should Ballari be bifurcated? Bandh in district shows opinion is divided

Educational institutions, shops and businesses including petrol stations, remained shut in Ballari city and few other areas of the district while agitations supporting the bifurcation was held in places like Hosapete.

TNM Staff

The bandh opposing the bifurcation of Ballari district into Ballari and Vijayanagara districts received a mixed response on Tuesday. While educational institutions, shops and businesses, including petrol stations, remained shut in Ballari city and few other areas of the district, agitations supporting the bifurcation were held in places like Hosapete.  "Ballari is a district with historical significance and there was no necessity to bifurcate it. We will continue our agitation against this decision taken to serve the interests of one disqualified MLA," said Ballari City MLA Somashekara Reddy of the BJP. In September, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had agreed to the demand of disqualified MLA Anand B Singh to bifurcate Ballari district and carve out a new district called Vijayanagar district, which included the constituency Anand represented. Pending cabinet approval, it will become the 31st district of Karnataka.  Of the 11 taluks, five taluks — Ballari, Kurugodu, Siraguppa, Sandur and Kudligi — will be part of Ballari while six taluks — Hosapete, Kampli, Hagaribommanahalli, Kottur, Hadagali and Harappanahalli — will constitute Vijayanagara district.  The bifurcation of the district has divided the opinion in Ballari. The bifurcation has found support in the western areas of the erstwhile Ballari district where people believe that it could lead to development in newer areas. In Hosapete, there were agitations in support of the bifurcation. Anand Singh had contended that the bifurcation will also help promote tourism since the world heritage site Hampi will now fall under the newly formed Vijayanagara district.  But in Ballari City, the bifurcation was opposed by lawyer groups, farmer associations, pro-Kannada groups and by BJP leaders, mainly Somashekara Reddy and Karunakara Reddy. They are the brothers of Gali Janardhana Reddy, who is a former Union Minister and the prime accused in the 2011 Ballari mining scam.  This comes at a time Anand Singh is said to be preparing for the Vijayanagara assembly constituency bye-polls, where he plans to re-contest on a BJP ticket if the Supreme Court gives interim relief for the disqualified MLAs. 

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Karnataka teen succumbs to Japanese encephalitis, district officials on high alert

Health

Much like dengue and malaria, Japanese encephalitis is also a disease whose primary vectors are mosquitoes.

Dr Nimeshika Jayachandran

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After a 13-year-old girl from Karnataka’s Vijayapura district succumbed to Japanese encephalitis, health officials in the district are on high alert and are taking the necessary measures to prevent further spread of the disease.  Dhanamma Hugar, a resident of Shikarakane Layout in Vijayapura was admitted to BLDE Hospital (also called B M Patil Medical College Hospital & Research Centre) for one week after which she succumbed to her illness. The teenager had been brought to the hospital after she developed encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, usually caused by an infection. She allegedly had seizures caused by the infection and was being treated at the hospital. However, since there was extensive inflammation, she could not be revived and she succumbed to her symptoms. “The doctors at the hospital had confirmed that the girl was diagnosed with japanese encephalitis and had been treating her accordingly. Unfortunately, she couldn’t be saved.,” said Dr Mahendra Kapse Vijayapura District Health Officer (DHO) to TNM.  "Cerebrospinal fluid from the patient was collected and sent to Manipal where the presence of the virus was confirmed," added Dr Mahendra. Dr Mahendra also said that they have increased the effort to control mosquito population in the district “We are encouraging all mosquito population control methods such as fumigation and ensuring that no drain water is clogging houses or water remains stagnant in the vicinity of houses. Furthermore, we are telling people to take preventive measures against mosquitoes, whether that means they use repellants or mosquito coils and nets. We are reminding people to take the accurate measures against mosquito bites,” adds the DHO.  This is the second death due to Japanese encephalitis to be reported from the district, with the previous death due to the disease having been recorded in 2006. Much like dengue and malaria, Japanese encephalitis is also a disease whose primary vectors are mosquitoes. The disease is caused by a virus from the flaviviruses family. Other viruses belonging to this group include the ones which cause dengue fever, yellow fever, and West Nile fever.  It takes anywhere between 4 days and 14 days after being bitten by a mosquito carrying the virus for an individual to start showing symptoms of the disease. Fever and headache are the most commonly seen symptoms. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) children often suddenly develop a high-grade fever which may also be associated with a headache and stiff neck. It further adds that upto 30% of individuals who develop Japanese encephalitis succumb to the disease. In those who do make a recovery, oftentimes, severe and permanent neurological impairments, such as a change in behaviour, recurrent seizures or paralysis have all been noted in those who survive.  While there is no known cure for the disease, treatment is based on supportive measures which offer clinical and symptomatic relief.  There are four vaccines currently available against the vaccine, but these are not incorporated into the national immunisation schedule and are largely used only in endemic areas where the virus is known to manifest. 

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K'taka HC issues notice on plea seeking inquiry into fire at Aero India 2019

Fire

Around 300 cars were gutted in a fire that had broken out in the parking area of the Aero India Show held in Bengaluru in February.

TNM Staff

The Karnataka High Court issued notices to the state and union government over a petition seeking an inquiry into the fire that broke out in the parking area during Aero India 2019 at the Yelahanka Air Force station on February 23 this year. Around 300 cars were gutted in a fire that had broken out in the parking area. However, there was no loss of life reported and the event continued without an interruption. A vacation bench comprising Justice HT Narendra Prasad and Justice Ashok Kinagi issued notices based on a petition filed by Wg Cdr GB Athri (retd) and social activist Geetha Mishra. The petitioners contended that in a huge event like Aero India, organisers and government authorities do not appear to have taken precautions as per guidelines on managing crowds and venues of mass gatherings as issued by the National Disaster Management Authority. The petitioners claimed that the State’s Emergency Services did not reply to the communications sent by the petitioners, reported The Hindu. They further claimed that HAL had confirmed that no fee was levied from any of the exhibitors or visitors who parked their cars in the parking area where the fire took place. They stated that their response too was 'mechanical' and that the organisers should have set up CCTV cameras and a control room to disseminate information, reported Deccan Herald. The fire occurred in the P4 parking area near gate 5 during the biennial Aero India show in Bengaluru in February.  Several cars were unrecognisable after they were charred in the fire which started around 12 pm. The fire came to light after smoke billowed out of the parking area and it had occurred in area where there was vast spaces of dried grass. The fire was doused by fire and emergency officials.   

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