Bengaluru Airport to open its second runway on Thursday: Five things to know

Aviation

The second runway is part of Kempegowda International Airport’s Rs 13,000 crore expansion plan.

Soumya Chatterjee

Starting Thursday, the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru will commence the operations for its second runway, along with its existing runway. The second runway, which is termed the ‘new south parallel runway’, is located south of the existing runway and will see simultaneous operations.  However, the new south parallel runway will begin functioning only at a limited capacity as not all the taxiways are operationally ready yet.  The Bangalore International Airport Limited’s (BIAL), which operates the airport, has neither revealed further details nor issued a statement regarding the development. Earlier, at a press meet, the Managing Director and CEO of BIAL had suggested that the second runway will be operational from as early as October. This second runway is part of the airport’s Rs 13,000 crore expansion plan, which involves a new terminal, widening of access roads as well as a new multi-modal transport hub. This also includes setting up of two metro stations inside the 4,000-acre airport campus and also a suburban railway station. The validation (test) flight operations — the procedure wherein a flight lands and takes off as a test, to check if the runway is capable — were successfully carried out in late August. Here are five things to know about the new runway This new runway makes the Kempegowda International Airport the only Indian facility to have two parallel independent runways Once fully functional, the new runway will facilitate flight operations at close to zero visibility (50m) conditions owing to its Cat-III-B ILS (Category 3 Instrument Landing Systems). This will also eliminate the possibility of fog-induced delays and diversion in the airport, which is a common feature during the winter months The new runway will also be able to allow the landing of Airbus A380 or any other advanced aircraft being 4,000 metres long and 45 metres wide Once the new runway is fully functional, the existing runway will be closed down for repairs for close to a year, as it has been operational for over a decade. When the existing runway is also ready for operation, the airport authority will use both the runways as per requirement.   All these integrated advancements will allow the airport, which is now considered the second fastest growing airport in the world, to carry out 90 take-offs and touch-down in one hour.

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Voting begins in Karnataka's 15 Assembly segments

Elections

As many as 165 candidates, including 126 Independents and 9 women are in the fray in the 15 Assembly seats.

IANS

Image for representation

Voting began in 15 Assembly segments in Karnataka where by-elections are being held to fill the vacancies caused by the resignation and disqualification of the 14 Congress and 3 JD-S rebels in July, an official said. "Polling began at 7:00 a.m. in all the 15 Assembly constituencies amid tight security to elect the new legislators. Voting will be allowed till 6:00 p.m.," an Election Commission official told IANS here. By-elections are being held inAAthani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapura, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijaynagara, Chickballapura, K.R. Pura, Yeshwanthpura, Mahalakshmi Layout, Shivajinagara, Hosakote, K.R. Pete and Hunsur Assembly seats. The 15 constituencies have nearly 38-lakh eligible voters, including 19.25-lakh men and 18.52-lakh women. "The Election Commission has declared paid leave for the voters working in public or private offices to exercise franchise in their polling stations," asserted the official. As many as 165 candidates, including 126 Independents and 9 women are in the fray in the 15 Assembly seats. The BJP and the opposition Congress are contesting in all the 15 assembly seats, while the JD-S only in 12 seats. The 3,185 polling stations have a total of 8,326 ballot units and 8,186 controlling units and 7,876 VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) for casting the ballots. The vote count is on December 9.

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Imagine Dragons lead singer praises Bengaluru school choir's rendition of 'Believer'

A video of the choir singing has been viewed over 960,000 times on Facebook.

Alithea Stephanie Mounika

The video of children at a Bengaluru school's choir, singing Believer by Imagine Dragons has gone viral on social media. So much so that the band's Twitter handle has also retweeted the video expressing appreciation. In the video, girls of St Charles Girls High School in Bengaluru can be seen rehearsing the song in perfect harmony. The choir teacher’s mother shared the video of the students practicing their song on Facebook, and the video has been over 9,60,000 times at the time of writing. In the video, you can see about 80 students standing on pews of different heights, vocalising in harmony to different parts of the song. Posts on social media show that the choir students were practicing the song Believer, as one of the songs in their repertoire for a program commemorating the 75th year anniversary of the school, which was held on December 2. Twitter user @HaramiParindey tagged the Imagine Dragons twitter account in a tweet that noted: “in India, students are singing the song Believer in school!” However, he incorrectly stated that the song was being sung at assembly. Visuals clearly show a choir during practice.   Hey @Imaginedragons - schools in India are singing Believer in morning assembly. pic.twitter.com/g0Vp0xMeWy — Pakchikpak Raja Babu (@HaramiParindey) December 2, 2019   Dan Reynolds, the lead singer, replied to the tweet, saying “so beautiful, thanks for sharing”. This tweet was liked by thousands of twitter users, and left Indian twitter in a tizzy.   so beautiful. thank you for sharing this. — Dan Reynolds (@DanReynolds) December 3, 2019   Donnah George, the choir director and alumnus of St Charles High School, said that she never expected the attention the video received. “I do this on the side, part time to keep in touch with my choir roots. There’s a misconception that a choir is supposed to stand still and sing holy songs, and I wanted to change that. That’s what this is all about! A choir can be fun.” Dennis George, the violinist for the event and the brother of the choir director Donnah George said, “Though we’re really happy about the success of the video my mum posted, I still feel that, as a musician, we should always be humble.”

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'Gauri Lankesh murder reinforced threat to women journos': Journalist Nupur Basu

Film

'Velvet Revolution' is a documentary produced by journalist and filmmaker Nupur Basu.

Dr Nimeshika Jayachandran

Velvet Revolution/IAWRT

Threats faced by women journalists are very real and this is the message that was highlighted in journalist Nupur Basu’s documentary Velvet Revolution. Speaking at the screening at Bangalore Club on Tuesday evening, Nupur said that the murder of Gauri Lankesh only reinforced the threat to women journalists in the country was real. On the night of September 5, 2017 journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead right outside her house in Bengaluru. “It wasn’t something that happened in a remote place or unknown area. It was right here in our city,” said Nupur Basu. "The statistics are alarming, yet the issue of violence faced by women was still not getting as much attention as it warranted. Until it happened in our own backyard, we did not realize the magnitude of the risks faced by women in journalism,” she said. Velvet Revolution has been a collaborative effort of 17 journalists across the world which was produced jointly by the International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT). The costs incurred by the women in the documentary are numerous, but despite such threats and risks, Nupur Basu stressed the importance of getting women to come forward in the field of journalism. Among several stories in the documentary is that of Bangladeshi-American blogger Rafida Bonya Ahmed. Rafida decided to go to Dhaka in February 2015 to attend a book fair along with her husband Avijit Roy, she had no idea what the trip would cost her. Avijit, a US-based Bangladeshi blogger, who wrote extensively against religious extremism, was hacked to death near Dhaka University. Rafida too sustained severe injuries, but survived and was forced to go into hiding in the United States under the protection of the FBI. Rafida's story is one of the six shown in the documentary Velvet Revolution by senior journalist and filmmaker Nupur Basu, which was screened on Tuesday evening at Bangalore Club. Avijit’s murder was one of five attacks in 2015 in which bloggers, who were so outspoken about religious extremism, were targeted. Following the attack on Avijit, Rafida’s life was under threat from several religious extremists, including the Islamic State, as a result of which she had gone into hiding. Today she is relatively safer, but living with the risk of such threats has become almost the norm for women bloggers and journalists and this issue is addressed in the documentary. Similar to Rafida, but a lot closer to home, journalist Malini Subramaniam was forced to uproot herself from her hometown in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district and move because of the threats she faced for reporting human rights violations faced by Adivasis at the hands of the armed forces. Malini wrote extensively of the horrors the Adivasis faced. She has reported on a number of human rights violations including sexual violence against Adivasi women, jailing of minors, threats against journalists and abuse by police and armed forces that members of this community faced. She won the International Press Freedom Award by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and continues to be an active member of the media today. “Journalism is truth telling, to pretend to be neutral and blind to what is happening around you, I think that is unnatural,” states Phillipino journalist Inday Espina Varona in the documentary who works out of one of the most unsafe countries for women and men in the profession alike. Other prominent journalists whose stories are shared in the documentary include Cameroonian radio journalist Moussa Marandata who speaks about the conflict with the Boko Haram and the kidnapping of young girls by the rebels. Journalist Najibu Ayoubi from Afghanistan shares that most of the women she works with don’t know if they will make it to the office on a regular basis because of the constant threats they face. However, even so the women continue to report. Zaina Erhaim, a Syrian journalist was forced to move from her hometown in Aleppo in Syria to take shelter in south Turkey after she began to report about the civil war.

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Karnataka HC issues notice to state govt over appointment of Upa Lokayukta

Politics

The petitioners had claimed that Karnataka Chief Justice AS Oka was never made part of the consultation process even though it is mandated in the Karnataka Lokayukta Act.

TNM Staff

In an embarrassment to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, the Karnataka High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the state government over the issue of appointing Justice (retired) BS Patil as the Upa Lokayukta of the state. The HC was hearing a public interest litigation claiming Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had bypassed protocol over the matter. The petitioners had claimed that Karnataka Chief Justice AS Oka was never made part of the consultation process even though it is mandated in the Karnataka Lokayukta Act. The law mandates the CM shall advise the Governor following a consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court, the Chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council, the Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, the Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Council, and the Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. The petitioners Samaj Parivartana Samudaya, an NGO has claimed while former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy in July had asked an opinion from the former Acting Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, the latter had said retired Justice AN Venugopala Gowda is the most suitable candidate. Even when Justice Oka took charge, then CM Kumaraswamy had asked for his opinion. Justice Oka had endorsed the choice of his predecessor. Justice Patil was appointed as the Upa Lokayukta based on an order issued by Governor Vajubhai Vala. However, the petitioners noted that CM Yediyurappa after assuming office wrote to CJ Oka that after consulting all other stakeholders, it has been decided to appoint Justice Patil. This the NGO has termed as sheer fraud on power. The NGO wants the HC to quash Justice Patil’s appointment. Incidentally, Yediyurappa whose party, the BJP (like the Congress) had promised to restore the power of the Lokayukta ahead of the elections in 2018 has not walked the talk yet. It may be recalled that it was the indictment by then Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde in an illegal mining case that forced Yediyurappa to step down from the Chief Minister’s chair in 2011. The powers of the Lokayukta to probe corruption cases on its own has been diluted with former CM Siddaramaiah forming an Anti-Corruption Bureau which reports to the CM’s office. Under the present circumstances, the Lokayukta can probe only once a complaint is made and senior government staff can be questioned only once cleared by the government.

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Bengaluru cops pose as passengers, collect Rs 8 lakh in fines from errant auto drivers

Law and order

Bengaluru autorickshaw drivers were fined for refusing to ply to certain destinations, demanding more fare and also not having valid or improper documents.

Soumya Chatterjee

Traffic police in Bengaluru on Tuesday went on a crackdown against errant autorickshaw drivers who refused to ply on metered fares or denied rides in three out of the seven zones of the city. To catch offenders in the act, police officials posed as regular commuters in prime junctions under these zones and asked to be dropped at various locations in the city. In total more than 5,200 drivers were slapped with fines by the police across the city. The violations included refusing to ply to certain destinations, demanding more fare and also not having valid or improper documents. The number of auto drivers refusing rides were 797 in the East zone, 697 in the West zone and 81 in the North zone. Similarly, those demanding extra fare were 682 in the East, 604 in the West and 60 in the North zone. Another 212 autos from the East zone and 280 from West zone were seized by the police for having no or improper documents carried by the drivers. In these three zones, another 2,000-odd auto drivers were fined for minor offences like not wearing uniform and other violations. All these violations resulted in the traffic police collecting Rs 8,06,200 in fines. One traffic constable working in Chickpet Police Station in the West Zone said, “Only two out of 10 auto drivers will agree to go to a distance of more than 4-5 km on metre. This is the complaint we keep on getting from the public as well.” Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) BR Ravikant Gowda said that similar drives will be carried out in other zones of the city as well in light of multiple complaints against auto drivers. This drive from the traffic police comes after a similar initiative in July when more than 9,000 auto drivers were fined. Narayan Swamy, President of Adarsh Auto Driver Union in Bengaluru said, “These drives are important. Because of some auto drivers who over charge, all auto drivers get a bad name and people prefer Uber/ Ola cabs instead of autos. This results in less business for us”  

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Karnataka State Cricket Assoc member Sudhindra Shinde arrested in KPL betting scam

Crime

The Central Crime Branch (CCB), which is probing the case, conducted a search operation at Shinde’s home in Bengaluru at around 11 am on Tuesday.

TNM Staff

The Bengaluru Police on Wednesday arrested Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) management committee member Sudhindra Shinde in connection with the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) match-fixing case. The Central Crime Branch (CCB), which is probing the case, conducted a search operation at Shinde’s home in Bengaluru’s Domlur at around 11 am on Tuesday. The search operation went on till 3 pm. "We took him in for questioning and he was arrested on Wednesday," the police said.  CCB Chief and Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Sandeep Patil, said that 39-year-old Shinde was allegedly involved in recruiting players and fixing matches. “Sudhindra Shinde is the director of the Karnataka Under-19 team and also a former coach of the Belagavi Panthers cricket team. He is also a member of the KSCA’s managing committee in Raichur,” the police said. The Karnataka Premier League (KPL) was hit by the multi-crore match-fixing scam in September. The tournament, which concluded on August 31, was mired in controversy in September when police officials arrested the owner of Belagavi Panthers franchise Asfaq Ali over charges of match-fixing. It was alleged that players accepted money to fix matches in the league, including the final, in which two players have been accused of “slow batting”. Further investigation revealed a wide web of match-fixing in the Twenty20 cricket league, where players were allegedly blackmailed through honey-trapping tactics by bookies.  Sandeep Patil said that Shinde was running a cricket club in Jayanagar when he met Ashfaq Ali, the prime accused in the match-fixing case in 2016. “Ashfaq Ali was a travel agent and in 2016, he offered to sponsor players who were a part of Shinde’s cricket club. Ashfaq Ali went on to form the Belagavi Panthers team in the KPL and he offered sponsorships for players in Shinde’s club to be a part of various KPL teams. These players were involved in match fixing,” Sandeep Patil said. Bengaluru Commissioner Bhaskar Rao revealed that players were filmed during expensive trips abroad to Dubai and the Caribbean after they were 'honey-trapped'. The videos were used to blackmail them into fixing games.  Earlier, the police issued a lookout circular against former Bellary Tuskers' owner Arvind Venkatesha Reddy, who is suspected to have fled overseas for his involvement in the KPL betting scam. Since the investigation began after Belagavi Panthers' owner Asfaq Ali Thara was arrested on September 25, six persons have been taken into custody — Bengaluru Blasters players Gautam, Kazi, Nishant Singh Shekawat and Vishwanathan, their bowling coach Vinu Prasad and Bellary Tuskers drummer Bhavesh Bafna. The police also arrested Haryana-based bookie Sayyam for his role in the KPL betting scam. CM Gautam and Abrar Kazi are former Karnataka Ranji players.   Started in 2008, and functioning as a feeder tournament for the IPL, KPL has emerged as a leading local franchise-based league with BCCI's approval. KPL also provides a platform to tap cricket talent from the Karnataka hinterland. As many as 16 KPL players have featured in the IPL.    

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