Bengaluru's garbage mess persists as civic body delays awarding waste collection tenders

Civic Issues

In April this year, the Palike had mooted the idea of floating separate tenders for collecting wet waste and dry waste.

Soumya Chatterjee

PTI / File image

It looks like Bengaluru’s garbage mess is here to stay for longer, as the city's civic body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has not found the best way to deal with waste management. Despite multiple warnings from the Karnataka High Court over the waste management issue the city is facing, there have been delays one after another, in awarding new tenders for doorstep waste collection.  On Thursday, Mayor Gautham Kumar proposed to follow the waste collection model being implemented by Indore (Madhya Pradesh), where wet waste and dry waste are collected in two separate compartments of the same vehicle. Incidentally, Indore topped the Swachh Bharat rankings for two consecutive years.  In Bengaluru, as per the current system, wet and dry waste are collected together from households. This mixed waste is then dumped in landfills, which is in contravention of the Solid Waste Management Guidelines. The rule mandates segregation of waste at source.  In April this year, in order to eliminate the problem of mixed waste ending up in landfills, the Palike had mooted the idea of floating separate tenders for dry waste and wet waste collection from households every day for all the 198 wards in the city. This means, two companies will collect dry and wet waste separately. The idea was also supported by activists and experts alike, a rarity for the BBMP.  Besides, top officials had earlier said that conditions for separate tenders were finalised in accordance with certain legal aspects, including all National Green Tribunal (NGT) rulings, High Court orders and solid waste management guidelines.  However, in May, the then Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun and other corporators in the city opposed the proposal, demanding one tender for all types of waste. This had caused a huge delay in issuing the tender and meant that the current system of collecting wet waste and dry waste together continues. Later, litigations at the Karnataka High Court over some tender clauses also deferred the process. When asked about the Indore model, BBMP Commissioner Anil Kumar said the civic body is still mulling over it, but whatever the decision is, it will be implemented swiftly.  “We are yet to decide which option is better. We are not sure if we should go ahead with the existing tender (floated in April) or float another new tender (based on the current Mayor’s suggestion),” Anil Kumar told TNM. If April’s proposal (separate tenders) were to be implemented, the BBMP Commissioner said, there is also a policy issue. The officials want wet waste to be picked by contractors and dry waste by waste pickers. Adding dry waste collection to the contract will prove costly. The system will cost the Palike much more. In the BBMP’s proposed plan, dry waste is to be collected free of cost by independent waste pickers.  A Solid Waste Management official said, “One agency alone should not be given the task of collecting both types of waste. It will inadvertently lead to mixing of waste. If there is a separate waste collection, then half of the garbage problem is solved. But the call has to be taken by the Commissioner.”  Read: 10 spiny-tailed lizards being sold as ‘aphrodisiacs’ rescued by Bengaluru cops

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12 people rescued from bonded labour on sugarcane farm in Karnataka

Crime

Shantha Jeeva Jyothi received the information after one of the bonded labourers reached out to the NGO for help.

TNM Staff

A harrowing case of bonded labour has come to light in Karnataka’s Hassan district, where 12 people have been rescued from a sugarcane farm in connection with the case. On December 9, a local NGO Shantha Jeeva Jyothi (SJJ) had received information that bonded labourers were kept captive at a sugarcane farm. SJJ received the information after one of the bonded labourers reached out to the NGO for help. Around 3.30 pm on December 10, social workers with SJJ, along with the tahsildar of Shirastedar Ravi BS, the Holenarsipura Rural Police and officials with the Labour Department went to a sugarcane farm located in Holenarsipura’s Mundanahalli and rescued 12 people from bonded labour. According to the Holenarsipura Rural Police, Nagamma (20), Mutthu (23), Rani (45), Subbanna (50), Roopa (15), Parashurama (24), Manoj (18), Nagaraju (22), Sharavana (13), Bhandari (12), Praveena (8) and Prajwal Kumara (13) were rescued from the farm. Police say that the supervisors of the sugarcane farm, Bhadyanayaka and Somashekarappa, approached these 12 members of three different families with the promise of Rs 1,500 advance to each family. They were brought to Holenarsipura by the two supervisors four years ago. The victims were in abject poverty and needed the money to survive and allegedly obtained the loan from Bhadyanayaka and Somashekarappa. Originally from Bhadravati in Shivamogga district, the victims were allegedly promised jobs and good pay along with a home.  Bhadyanayaka and Somashekarappa allegedly sent the victims to various sugarcane farms in Channarayapatna, Holenarasipura, Hospet, Ranebennur, Harihar and Hirekerur taluks for work, where they were made to cut the sugarcane in the fields and later transport it to sugarcane factories. “They were paid Rs 500 for 15 days of work and a tarpaulin sheet was given to them. They used this as a roof for makeshift hutments in the sugarcane farm in Mundanahalli. They were not given holidays and not allowed to go back to their hometown,” the police said. The officials also said that one of the victims, Mutthu, had escaped from the farm and gone back to Bhadravathi. However, he was brought back by Bhadyanayaka, who allegedly told him that he had to repay the loan of Rs 1,500 along with the interest that had accumulated for four years. Mutthu managed to get in touch with a social worker from SJJ, who later informed the district administration about the victims, who were forced into bonded labour.  “One of the supervisors would always monitor them and go with them to the local market. They would get one day off in a month and were given Rs 4,000 during festivals. This money, too, was counted as debt and they were not paid properly. Even the minors and children were made to work in sugarcane cutting units,” the police added. Bhadyanayaka and Somashekarappa have been booked under section 370 (human trafficking) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act and Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act. The duo have been arrested and remanded to police custody, where they are being questioned. The victims have been issued Release Certificates by the Hassan Deputy Commissioner’s officer. However, the district administration officials say that there has been a delay in issuing compensation to the victims as they do not have proper identification documents.  “They neither have Aadhaar cards or any ID cards nor bank accounts. We are helping them get these documents and then Rs 20,000 will be transferred to each of their accounts. They have returned to Bhadravati,” said Babu, the case worker.     

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10 spiny-tailed lizards being sold as ‘aphrodisiacs’ rescued by Bengaluru cops

Crime

Activists said that people were willing to pay as high as Rs 50,000 for the lizard meat.

Soumya Chatterjee

Police in Bengaluru’s Koramangala arrested six persons in connection with smuggling ten Indian spiny-tailed lizards from Rajasthan. The spiny-tailed lizards, which live in their colonies and are common to deserts, are a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act. It is an easy reptile to smuggle as it can survive without food and water for a long period of time, activists said. Based on a tip-off from a wildlife activist, the police posed as potential buyers and caught the accused red-handed with the live reptiles, which were rescued. The six accused have been identified as Karuna, Shakti, Arivarta Reddy, Ramesh, Gopi, and Malairaj. Koramangala Police Station Inspector told TNM that Ramesh is in police custody, while the rest are in judicial custody. All of them are residents of Bengaluru outskirts near the Hosur interstate border, and majority of them belong to the Hakki Pikki tribal community. Sources said the accused had gone to Rajasthan and were selling plastic flowers, and smuggling reptiles was only a job by the side. Police suspect they are part of a nationwide smuggling racket run by the tribal community residing in various parts of the country. According to police, the 10 lizards were to be delivered to various clients. Police said lizard meat is considered to be an aphrodisiac. Other than that, the meat is thought to have medicinal properties and can cure sexual dysfunctions, muscle and joint pain. Police sources said the clientele comprised IT employees and real estate developers. While the meat was supposed to be consumed as part of a meal, the accused told police that the blood of the reptile was also meant to be consumed with alcohol for similar medicinal values. But there is no scientific endorsement to these claims. Wildlife activist Sharat Babu, who works closely with the police and forest department, said as these animals can survive without food and water for long, they are marketed for their meat as giving high stamina and that their blood will be like viagra if mixed with alcohol. “There are many who are fooled by this. There are some IT professionals who shell out up to Rs 50,000 for a meal,” the activist said. He added, “While incidents of monitor lizards being poached are common and there are many people who are nabbed by the authorities, this is the first time in recent history that these reptiles (spiny-tailed lizards) were found to be smuggled.”

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Puneeth Rajkumar to promote public transport, becomes BMTC ambassador

Transport

Officials said the actor will support the cause of public transport on a pro-bono basis.

Soumya Chatterjee

In a bid to popularise the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), the state government-run transport agency on Friday announced that Kannada film star Puneeth Rajkumar will be its brand ambassador. To mark the occasion, the actor was visited by BMTC top brass at his Sadashivnagar residence. According to BMTC officials, NS Nandiesha Reddy, who is the chairman of BMTC had floated the idea. Based on that, the BMTC MD C Sikha, and Director of Vigilance and Security Anupam Agarwal along with Reddy approached the star who readily agreed. Officials said the actor will support the cause of public transport on a pro-bono basis.  This move by the BMTC comes amidst proactive steps surrounding the city’s bus system. On Wednesday, the BMTC along with the traffic police and BBMP had held a bus yatra to promote the ‘Nimbus’ which runs on the bus priority lane (BPL) on the Outer RIng Road between KR Puram and Silk Board. Under this BPL system, the left lane of this entire stretch is reserved only for BMTC Nimbus buses. Nimbus is short for Nimma Bus, meaning ‘your bus’ in Kannada. This is done to ensure that BMTC buses travel faster, and people are motivated to ditch private vehicles in favour of the bus. This is aimed at ultimately reducing congestion and pollution. Vehicles, other than ambulances and fire engines, are liable to be fined if they stray onto this road, as per a notification issued by the Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao on November 15.   At present, with low awareness and lack of sufficient enforcement, the priority bus lane system has run into some issues, like instances of non-BMTC vehicles in the bus lane.   While efforts are on to sensitise people about the initiative, traffic police are expected to start levying fines on those violating the bus priority lane rules from next year. They will have to pay Rs 500 for the first offence, and Rs 1000 for subsequent offences. Read: Bus priority lanes to be introduced in Bengaluru, but will it ease the traffic mess? The move for bus priority lanes also comes at a time when the daily ridership of BMTC was steadily falling 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 four years -- from 241.6 lakh km in 2013-14 to 717.9 lakh km in 2017-18.

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‘Odeya’ review: Darshan’s entertainer is a faithful remake of ‘Veeram’

Review

A remake of the Tamil ‘Veeram’, which had Ajith in the lead, director MD Sridhar’s ‘Odeya’ offers plenty for Darshan fans.

Aravind Shwetha

A do-gooder with grey shades who takes pride in being a son of the soil, a couple of villains for the dishoom dishoom, a namesake female lead, and a few sidekicks to keep the story going. That’s your typical mass masala entertainer. Now insert Darshan and a few well-known faces, and it all adds up to the commercial potboiler Odeya. Director MD Sridhar has 10 movies to his credit, of which five are remakes, and of these, three has Darshan in the lead roles – Porki, Bulbul, and now Odeya. In a bid to remain faithful to the original film (the Tamil Veeram, which had Ajith in the lead), the director seems to have forgotten to hit the delete button even for a few redundant scenes. Gajendra (Darshan) is a vegetable dealer whose life revolves around his brothers Nagendra, Surendra, Rajendra and Vijayendra (Yashas Surya, Pankaj, Niranjan and Samarth). Gajendra helps farmers by standing up against mediators, and that pits him against the antagonist Bettappa (Sharath Lohitashwa). Gajendra makes roaring statements about farmers and farmlands, steadily climbing up the ladder to be the chief of the farmers society. A few fights later, the film and the audience settle down. Gajendra vows to stay single, as he believes that marriage will ruin his relationship with his brothers. But his brothers, who are already in relationships, decide to set him up with a girl so that their path to marriage will be cleared. Gajendra’s childhood friend Krishnamurthy (Ravishankar Gowda) tells the brothers about Gajendra’s ‘soul connection’ with their schoolmate Shakambari Devi aka Sakku. Instead of trying to find the classmate, the brothers just bring a random girl with the name Shakambari Devi. Enter the peace-loving Sakku (Sana), whose life revolves around making Gajendra fall in love with her. After she succeeds, she takes him to meet her father Krishna Wodeyar (Devaraj), a landlord and an ardent follower of non-violence. As the movie progresses, Wodeyar gets to know about Gajendra’s violent past and breaks up his daughter’s relationship with Gajendra. What follows is a tried-and-tested formulaic story. Action cinema is Darshan’s forte and Gajendra’s part is tailor-made for the actor. But the only problem is, the movie is at least four years late. Odeya offers plenty for Darshan fans – mass entry scenes every 20 minutes, lengthy punch dialogues to hoot at, dance numbers, and a lot of fight scenes that defy the laws of physics. But for commercial moviegoers, it all seems outdated. The star’s fans have hit a jackpot this year as three movies made it to the theatres. But it must be noted that both Yajamana and Odeya run on almost the same lines. A few close-up shots reveal that Darshan is ageing; maybe it is time for him to try taking up different roles like he did at the very beginning of his career. Devaraj, Sharath Lohitashwa and Ravishankar excel in their roles. Sana has a lot to catch up in terms of acting. Chikkanna and Sadhu Kokila are part of the usual comedy club. Apart from ensuring that Gajendra and his brothers don’t go to jail for creating chaos in the village by getting into fights, lawyer Ramachari’s (Chikkanna) job is to crack sexist one-liners which follow the original script. The brothers’ characters carry no value and they are reduced to just fillers. With Veeram having released five years ago, the director could have brought in some changes to the script to give it a ‘renewed touch’, but it is disappointing that he did not. A few scenes, jokes and fights look very outdated. Romantic scenes too are a tad bit longer and if trimmed at the right places could have made a difference. Veeram played straight to the gallery and so does Odeya. The first half is all dialogues and fights. But with the family sentiment chunk in the second half, it does manage to bring in the entertainer bit into the picture. Another noticeable element is how Darshan wears only black and shades of grey in the first half, and in the second half it is all white and mellow colours. Arjun Janya’s music is average. Romantic number Kaaneyaagiruve Naanu in Sonu Nigam’s voice, shot in snow-clad locations, is a treat to the eyes and ears. Malavalli Maavana Magane is a forgettable fast number while what disappoints most is the title track, Hey Odeya. If you haven’t watched the original film and are up for a mass family entertainer, Odeya might be a good choice, provided you leave logic at home and watch it only for the sake of entertainment. Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the series/film. TNM Editorial is independent of any business relationship the organisation may have with producers or any other members of its cast or crew.

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Bengaluru woman ends life after alleged dowry harassment by husband, in-laws

Crime

The woman's father has filed a complaint with the Mahadevapura Police alleging dowry harassment.

TNM Staff

A Bengaluru woman ended her life on Thursday night allegedly due to dowry harassment by her husband and in-laws. A resident of Mahadevapura, 27-year-old Shilpa was found dead in her house in Hoodi on Thursday night. At around 9 pm on Thursday, Muniyamma, Shilpa’s mother-in-law, allegedly found her dead in her bedroom. Muniyamma immediately informed her son Nagesh about the death. The family then called Shilpa’s parents Ramappa and Devamma, residents of Hoskote’s Hindignala and informed them about their daughter’s death. Ramappa and Devamma, along with their relatives rushed to Bengaluru and an argument broke out between Shilpa’s relatives and her husband Nagesh. Shilpa’s parents accused Nagesh and Muniyamma of repeatedly torturing their daughter for dowry. The argument escalated and the two families began fighting on the road. Ramappa, meanwhile, called the police control room and accused Nagesh and Muniyamma of driving his daughter to end her life. In his complaint, Ramappa said that Shilpa was married to Nagesh a year ago, after which she moved to Bengaluru. The first two months into her wedding, Muniyamma and Nagesh allegedly began demanding dowry. Ramappa says in his complaint that he suspects foul play in his daughter’s death as she had allegedly told them several times about the harassment she had faced by her in-laws. “The victim’s father says that they had given her enough gold and silver during the wedding and had borne all the expenses. Two months after the wedding, the dowry harassment began according to her father. He says that Shilpa would complain to them about the harassment,” Mahadevapura Police said. Police say that Shilpa had returned to her parents’ home four months ago as she was unable to bear the dowry harassment. However, Nagesh and Muniyamma allegedly called their relatives to Hoskote, where the two families met to discuss the issue. “The families reached a compromise and Nagesh is said to have promised to take care of her and stop the harassment, after which Shilpa allegedly agreed to go back,” the Mahadevapura Police said. Police say that Nagesh allegedly demanded money and a car from his wife and that she had communicated it to her parents recently. “There were many fights between the husband and wife. Her parents say that her mother-in-law would also harass her a lot and that she took the drastic step because of this,” the police added. The Mahadevapura Police have booked Nagesh and Muniyamma under section 304B (dowry death), 498A (dowry harassment) of the IPC. Shilpa's body has been sent for an autopsy and the police have not yet made any arrests.     

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Karnataka CM Yediyurappa visits Siddaramaiah in hospital, wishes him speedy recovery

Health

The 71-year-old former Karnataka Chief Minister is recuperating from angioplasty conducted on him on Wednesday.

IANS

Twitter / @CMofKarnataka

Setting aside their political rivalry, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa called on senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah and wished him speedy recovery from illness, an official said on Thursday. "Yediyurappa met Siddaramaiah at a private hospital in the city's northwest suburb where he is recovering from a heart treatment (angioplasty) and wished him to recover soon and become well," the official from the CM's office told IANS in Bengaluru. The 71-year-old former Karnataka Chief Minister is recuperating from angioplasty conducted on him on Wednesday at the Narayana super-speciality hospital after he complained of uneasiness and breathing problem. "Thanks to chief minister #BSYediyurappa and Ministers #KS Eshwarappa and #BasavarajaBommai who came to inquire about my health. I am one who believes that political differences should not interfere with personal friendship," Siddaramaiah tweeted after their meeting. Asserting that he was healthy and there was no cause for worry, Siddaramaiah said he would rest in the hospital for two more days before returning home. "I am grateful to those who care about my health and are looking for a speedy recovery," he said in another tweet. Clarifying that he was alright and healthy, Siddaramaiah cautioned the people against speculating his health. The doctors placed a stent as Siddaramaiah's two blood vessels in the heart as they were blocked three years ago. Taking moral responsibility for the party's humiliating defeat in the December 5 Assembly by-elections in which the Congress won only 2 out of 15 seats, Siddaramaiah resigned as the opposition leader in the Assembly on December 9, hours after the ruling BJP wrested 12 seats, including 10 from the Congress and two from the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S). JD(S) drew a blank at the hustings.

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