No entry to scooters and cards on Nandi Hills on weekends?

Civic issues

Officials have come up with an alternative to traffic jams and rush for parking. They propose that vehicles park at the foothills, and then make the rest of the journey by bus.

TNM Staff

Harsha K R on flickr

Nandi hills, a popular weekend destination for Bengalureans, may ban the entry of private vehicles on weekends, taking into account the long traffic jams on slopes and lack of parking space. Nandi hills is one of the few green spaces close to the city. But its popularity with people of all ages, as well its extreme popularity on social media as one of the most 'Instagrammed destinations in India, means that the infrastructure has not been able to withstand the large number of road users. Hence local authorities in Chikkaballapur have met with the horticultural department as well as with the MD of KSRTC to make alternate arrangements to get to the top. The authorities had earlier tried to curb the level of vehicles on the hill by attempting to ban the entry of single persons last year, but the ban didn’t stick. This was allegedly to prevent accidents and the possibility of people going to the hilltop to attempt suicide. The Chikkaballapur district officials have come up with an alternative to traffic jams and rush for parking. They propose that vehicles park at the foothills, and then make the rest of the journey up, by hopping onto one of the KSRTC buses that will be allotted for the purpose. Officials said that they will wait for the Chikkaballapur district administration to allot proper space for parking at the foothills, after which they would commence the scheme. State Tourism Minister CT Ravi also recently announced the intention to make a ropeway to Nandi hills. He tweeted recently and paid tribute the late Kannada actor and director Shankar Nag. He had dreamt of a rope way to Nandi hills, and CT Ravi had tweeted “As Tourism Minister, I am fully committed to fulfill His dream of building a Ropeway to Nandi Hills."   Offer floral tributes to the great Actor & Director Shankar Nag on His Jayanti. Shankar Anna dreamt of Namma Metro and many more projects in 1980s. As Tourism Minister, I am fully committed to fulfill His dream of building a Ropeway to Nandi Hills. pic.twitter.com/Dbi96Igu4V — C T Ravi ಸಿ ಟಿ ರವಿ (@CTRavi_BJP) November 9, 2019   “As soon as the by-elections get over, we will start the planning process for the rope-bridge. We are hoping to have private investment in this initiative. We are yet to get clearances from the forest department," State Tourism Minister CT Ravi told TNM on Thursday.

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No entry to scooters and cards on Nandi Hills on weekends?

Civic issues

Officials have come up with an alternative to traffic jams and rush for parking. They propose that vehicles park at the foothills, and then make the rest of the journey by bus.

TNM Staff

Harsha K R on flickr

Nandi hills, a popular weekend destination for Bengalureans, may ban the entry of private vehicles on weekends, taking into account the long traffic jams on slopes and lack of parking space. Nandi hills is one of the few green spaces close to the city. But its popularity with people of all ages, as well its extreme popularity on social media as one of the most 'Instagrammed destinations in India, means that the infrastructure has not been able to withstand the large number of road users. Hence local authorities in Chikkaballapur have met with the horticultural department as well as with the MD of KSRTC to make alternate arrangements to get to the top. The authorities had earlier tried to curb the level of vehicles on the hill by attempting to ban the entry of single persons last year, but the ban didn’t stick. This was allegedly to prevent accidents and the possibility of people going to the hilltop to attempt suicide. The Chikkaballapur district officials have come up with an alternative to traffic jams and rush for parking. They propose that vehicles park at the foothills, and then make the rest of the journey up, by hopping onto one of the KSRTC buses that will be allotted for the purpose. Officials said that they will wait for the Chikkaballapur district administration to allot proper space for parking at the foothills, after which they would commence the scheme. State Tourism Minister CT Ravi also recently announced the intention to make a ropeway to Nandi hills. He tweeted recently and paid tribute the late Kannada actor and director Shankar Nag. He had dreamt of a rope way to Nandi hills, and CT Ravi had tweeted “As Tourism Minister, I am fully committed to fulfill His dream of building a Ropeway to Nandi Hills." “As soon as the by-elections get over, we will start the planning process for the rope-bridge. We are hoping to have private investment in this initiative. We are yet to get clearances from the forest department," State Tourism Minister CT Ravi told TNM on Thursday.

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Bengaluru man alleges assault after tiff with contract worker of Traffic police

Crime

Joint commissioner of Police (Traffic) BR Ravikante Gowda said a departmental enquiry will be undertaken.

TNM Staff

In a tiff with a worker contracted by the Bangalore Traffic Police for towing vehicles in restricted zones, Kiran Murthy, a city-based professional, was left with injuries on his face. The issue started when one of the contract workers took out a fine collection machine used by the police. He enquired as to how towing boys had the machine when it is supposed to be carried by the traffic police only. According to Deccan Chronicle, Murthy’s bike was towed away from a spot near Baptist Hospital near RT Nagar. When Murthy went to collect his towed bike, he was asked by one of these men to pay a fine of Rs 1,600. It was at this point that he raised objections on how a non-police person was issuing challans. Murthy claimed he was hit in the face and punched in the ear before other workers also started attacking him and tore his shirt.  He also shared a video on social media where he made these allegations and asked senior policemen to take action against his attackers. The video went viral and prompted sharp criticism from the public. Responding to the video, assistant sub-inspector Prakash was slapped a memo for dereliction of duty as he handed the e-challan machine to a private individual, reported The Times of India. While Sanjay Nagar Police had reportedly refused to accept a complaint from Murthy, DCP traffic (north) Sarah Fatima said she will write to the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) to see that the accused men are not employed in service anymore. Joint commissioner of police (traffic) BR Ravikante Gowda told reporters that he had ordered a departmental enquiry.

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The health care system isn't ready to replace aging caregivers

With whispers of a possible recession on the horizon, many families and advocates fear what will befall this already fragile population.

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After denying BJP role in their defection, all Karnataka rebel MLAs to join ruling party

Politics

Ramesh Jarkiholi, who openly rebelled against the coalition government, announced that the 17 disqualified MLAs had made a unanimous decision.

TNM Staff

On the heels of the Supreme Court order, which upheld the disqualification of the Karnataka MLAs but allowed them to contest elections, Ramesh Jarkiholi, the former legislator from Gokak, told the media that all 17 rebels would join the BJP on Thursday. “All 17 disgruntled leaders have just had a meeting with the BJP leaders. We have all unanimously decided to join the BJP tomorrow (Thursday) at 10.30 am,” Ramesh Jarkiholi said, while adding, “Dacoits have gone on to become MLAs, can’t disgruntled leaders get re-elected? We will contest the elections and are confident of winning.” The political upheaval began in Karnataka in October 2018 when Ramesh Jarkiholi convinced two other leaders from Belagavi to rebel against the Congress. Ramesh Jarkiholi was unhappy about being dropped from the cabinet as the Municipalities Minister. In addition, Jarkiholi was bitter about DK Shivakumar’s extending his reach into the politics of Belagavi and ensuring that his rival, Belagavi rural MLA Lakshmi Hebbalkar was elected as the President of the PLD Bank. Jarkiholi openly rebelled and had said on multiple occasions that he would join the BJP. In January this year, Jarkiholi began reaching out to disgruntled MLAs in the Congress and whipped up support for his cause. By the end of June, he had ensured that 14 leaders from the Congress were ready to defect and bring down the coalition government. However, several of the other rebel leaders had insisted that their dissent had nothing to do with the BJP and that the party had not approached them with an offer to defect. BJP leaders too, had maintained this stance. However, soon after the verdict, the BJP began talking about inducting the rebels into the party. In addition, three leaders from the JD(S) were also poached. By July 6, Ramesh Jarkiholi’s eight-month-long campaign to bring down the coalition government, was finally coming true. In July this year, 17 MLAs from the coalition had resigned en masse. These included ST Somashekhar (Yeshwanthpura), BC Patil (Hirekerur), Shivaram Hebbar (Yellapur), Prathapgouda Patil (Maski), Munirathna Naidu (RR Nagar), Roshan Baig (Shivajinagar), Byrathi Basavaraj (KR Puram), MTB Nagaraj (Hoskote), K Sudhakar (Chikkaballapura), Shrimant Patil (Kagwad), Anand Singh (Vijayanagara), Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak), Mahesh Kumathall (Athani) and R Shankar (Ranebennur) from the Congress, and K Gopalaiah (Mahalakshmi Layout), AH Vishwanath (Hunasuru) and Narayana Gowda (Krishanarajapete) from the JD(S). The rebels were cooped up at a hotel in Mumbai for over a fortnight until former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy failed the confidence motion, that brought down the coalition. By joining the BJP, the rebels now hope to become politically powerful. Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s cabinet has several vacant spots, which the rebels are hoping to occupy if they contest and win the bye-elections on December 5.    

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British-era drain delays roadwork on Cottonpet Main Road in Bengaluru

The surprise discovery of the British-era drains, and the extra work cost the exchequer an additional Rs 1.18 crore, a BBMP officials said.

Alithea Stephanie Mounika

The discovery of a British-era drainage system on Bengaluru’s Cottonpet Main Road has significantly delayed roadworks which are underway on the thoroughfare. Construction work began in February this year, and the deadline for completion was September. However, two months later, the work continues.  Cottonpet Main Road, a stone’s throw away from the main bus station, metro and railway stations, is typically bustling with traffic. Yet earlier this week, the road wore a deserted look in the middle of the day, devoid of travellers or customers.  Prahlad BS, who works in the BBMP’s road infrastructure division, told TNM that the work was severely delayed due to the discovery of the British-era drain. “While we were undertaking the work, the British drain collapsed suddenly, and we didn’t even know about its existence. It is made of red brick in an arch-shape tunnel system and was not able to hold up. We had to replace everything and that took a lot of time.” View of the British pipeline which BBMP officials encountered “We were able to complete the work for about 300 metres, and have handed over the same to the TenderSure officials. The rest of the underground drainage work should be completed in 3-4 days,” he said.  The surprise discovery of the British era drains, and the extra work cost the exchequer an additional Rs 1.18 crore, according to the official. The Cottonpet road work comes under the city-wide TenderSure scheme, which is developing and improving roads around the KR Market and Majestic area at an estimated cost of Rs 9 crore. The 1.3 kilometre-long road was supposed to be concreted and paved within the September deadline, but the deadline has been extended to next year. However, only a small part of the road has been concretised so far. On a recent Tuesday, electrical equipment was seen laying on the sides of the road, and a JCB earthmover was also seen digging up the site. “We are waiting for the BWSSB and stormwater drain work to be completed before we go ahead with the white-topping and paving work. We have put white topping already on about 180 metres of the road. We expect to complete it by February 2020,” Chandrashekar N, a BBMP official said.  This isn't the first time that the legacy British sewers have stumped our engineers. The TenderSure roadwork on Church Street was similarly delayed by British pipelines. The changing governments in the past two years have also been one of the causes of delays.   Read: 3 deadlines missed: Why Bengaluru's Church Street construction is delayed   Small connecting roads, which residents use to get around without the main road, are also in bad shape. A local road parallel to the Uttarapet police station leading towards Cottonpet has been dug up. While the severely uneven stretch has been concreted on one end, the other end is still covered in gravel. Cottonpet main road is usually considered a busy business area for lodges and small eateries, due to its proximity to the railway station and Bengaluru’s main bus station. The work left incomplete has affected the quality of life in the area - dust, potholes, mosquitoes and flies have become common. “My son got dengue last month, and I spent so much money on treatment. We have no other place to go, our house and business are all here,” said Sheela, a resident. A lodge owner said that business is also slow. “Out of the 120 rooms in our lodge, there are about 70 vacant ones. Business has never been this bad before.” Other lodging establishments were affected even worse, looking empty and bereft of customers.  

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Opinion: With SC verdict, rebel MLAs have to contest elections with tar on their reputation

Politics

“The Speaker has smeared tar on the disqualified MLAs. The Supreme Court has upheld that,” Congress leader Brijesh Kalappa writes.

Brijesh Kalappa

The 17 rebel MLAs (PTI file image)

The infamous Operation Kamala which has now spread its tentacles across the length and breadth of the country began in Karnataka in 2008. Over 20 MLAs of the Congress party and JD(S) were weaned away while cocking a snook at the 52nd Amendment and the 10th Schedule of the Constitution. Rajiv Gandhi had introduced the 52nd Amendment of the Constitution of India in order to arrest the 'aaya Ram gaya Ram' (Ram came, Ram went) culture prevalent in politics at that time, wherein he mandated that only if one-third members of a political party who change the party were to move, only then such defections were possible. This law was strengthened by Arun Jaitley as the Union Law Minister under Mr Vajpayee because they too believed that the democratic principles enshrined in constitution required to be strengthened.  However, in 2008, the BJP government thought of 'Operation Kamala,' by means of which opposition MLAs from political parties, upon receiving lucre, first resigned their seats, crossed the aisle, assumed office as ministers in the government and then contested elections as ministers. Now, since they were contesting as ministers, it became difficult for the electorate to reject them, considering that a minister can do a world of good for his constituency. When this was re-enacted, when Operation Kamala 2.0 began in 2018, and there were several MLAs from day one, who kept saying that they were being approached by the then opposition party (BJP) at the time, one MLA’s son (Sharanagouda Patil) held a press conference with the then Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy in which he released the audio of BS Yediyurappa making an open offer to give them Rs 10 crore for switching sides. This was followed up by yet another damning video of Chief Minister Yediyurappa recently which was also presented to the Supreme Court.  It is in this background that the disqualification issue, which has been decided by the Supreme Court, has to be seen. The Supreme Court knew the fact that the Election Commission, based on developments in Tamil Nadu, had stated that disqualified MLAs were allowed to contest the immediate next elections. However, the Supreme Court has proceeded to disqualify all 17 MLAs while upholding the decision of the Speaker.  Under 10th Schedule, which is of the year 1985, there couldn't have been a manner of dealing with the nefarious act of buying MLAs and persuading them to resign from their seats. So it was for persons operating the Constitution like the Speaker and the Supreme Court to evolve a means of making sure that more such incidents do not recur.  Given the electoral mandate in Maharashtra, wherein there is a hopelessly fractured mandate, and MLAs may be poached upon, this judgement has extraordinary significance. As a political personality, I’d be failing in not mentioning that party hoppers like Alpesh Thakore and Dhavalsinh Zala in Gujarat and Udayan Raje Bhosale in Satara, who switched parties, were rejected by the people. The Speaker has smeared tar on the disqualified MLAs. The Supreme Court has upheld that. It is in this tarred condition that these 17 MLAs have to go back to their constituencies and seek a fresh mandate from the electorate. The jury is out.  Brijesh Kalappa is a spokesperson of the Indian National Congress and a practising advocate in the Supreme Court. (Views expressed here are the author's own)

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