'We had no choice but to run' : Dalits in Mysuru village allege attack by caste Hindus

Crime

Dalit residents in the village accused SR Ravish, brother of KR Nagar JD(S) MLA SR Mahesh of inciting riots in Ambedkar Colony.

Prajwal Bhat

A road altercation between a biker and a pedestrian set off a series of violent incidents in Mysuru's Saligrama village on Thursday. According to police officials at Saligrama police station, the clashes that gripped the village was rooted to caste bias after Chandru, a Dalit, was accused of brushing Srinivas, a Vokkaliga, on his bike late on Wednesday.  "Srinivas was angered by Chandru and blamed him for causing an accident on his bike. This led to Srinivas and a few others confronting Chandru about the incident," says a police official at Saligrama.  Srinivas filed a complaint accusing Chandru and a group of men of assaulting him. Police registered an FIR against Chandru charging him for assault and attempt to murder.  In Saligrama village located in KR Nagar taluk, the majority of the population are Vokkaligas while there are a sizable number of Dalit residents. In the past, the village has been in the news for caste-based oppression, particularly depriving Dalit residents of jobs. SR Mahesh, JD(S) MLA of KR Nagar and a former Minister, is from Saligrama village.  Following the incident between Srinivas and Chandru on Wednesday, a group of men entered Ambedkar colony in Saligrama, an area mostly inhabited by Dalits. Instead of resolving the tension in the village, the group of men began throwing stones at houses in the colony and broke open doors and windows. Later, videos of men burning tyres and forcibly shuttind down shops in the area also emerged. Among the persons charged in the incident is SR Ravish, alias Raghu, brother of MLA SR Mahesh. The complainants accused Ravish of inciting the riot by leading a group of men to Ambedkar Colony and asking them to "charge" the area.  "There were hundreds of people led by Ravish who began vandalising houses and shops in our area. There was nothing we could do but run away from there. We want justice to be done and those who were involved in this incident should be arrested," Lokesh told TNM. "There were two persons injured in the incident but the most significant damage was done to houses in the area. The group of men, who were large in number, took up clubs and stones and began vandalising the houses in sight," a police official added.  A complaint was filed by Lokesh, a resident of Ambedkar Colony, at the Saligrama Police Station, accusing 17 people under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapons), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly), 427 (causing damage), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (causing hurt with dangerous weapons),  504 (provoking breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation), and under sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Police officials said that the situation in the village was brought under control after Mysuru SP CB Ryshynath camped at the village and additional police security was deployed. Six persons were arrested in connection with the incident of rioting in Ambedkar colony although Ravish, who is named as the first accused in the case, was not arrested by the police.  Police officials working in Saligrama said that tension between the two caste groups was on edge ever since a disagreement arose over the naming of a traffic junction on the road to Somwarpet. Lokesh says that on November 26, Dalit groups had decided to formally name the junction after BR Ambedkar and had taken relevant permissions from civic officials for it. But when they reached the junction, they found that a board had been installed naming the junction after former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda. This led to a clash between the groups.  "Ever since this incident, Vokkaligas have kept it in the back of their minds that Dalits, who are minority in number had named a junction in this area after Ambedkar," Lokesh added.   

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Caught in boundary row, Kerala couple arrested by K’taka Forest Dept for felling trees

Controversy

The couple were arrested by the police on Tuesday and were kept in custody for four days without bail.

Luke Koshi

The Karnataka Forest Department, recently arrested a couple at Palayam in Koottupuzha, a hilly town in Kerala’s Kannur district that shares its boundary with Karnataka, after the couple — Babu and Soumini had cut down a few trees in their compound for domestic purposes. The region is disputed, with the Karnataka Forest Department claiming that the area is forest area while Kerala maintains that it is poramboke (govt land not assigned to anybody) area.   The couple were arrested by the police on Tuesday and were kept in custody for four days without bail, before being released on Saturday.  "Last Tuesday, they had cut down a few trees here. Later, the Karnataka Wildlife officials visited the spot and arrested them. So, we decided to block the interstate highway. Tehsildar, MLA and other officials visited the spot. We later approached the court, however the couple was not produced in front of the magistrate," Anto, a resident of the area told TNM. “The couple has been residing there for 60 years, and the area is under our state's boundary limits. Around eight families are residing there. During the last floods, three houses were completely destroyed and in that, even their house was partially damaged. However, the panchayat had agreed to help reconstruct their house. They also have a house number,” adds Anto.  Locals in the area have already voiced their concerns against the alleged high-handedness of the Karnataka officials. They were framed and arrested under false charges, claims Anto. Now, what is the guarantee that they won't arrest people living in the same vicinity for such reasons again, he asks.  District Forest Officer, Kannur, Kurra Srinivas told TNM, “There is a boundary issue between Kerala and Karnataka in that region and Karnataka claims that the trees which were cut come under Karnataka forest area. It is a disputed territory as on our side, it doesn’t come under forest area but it is revenue land, poramboke area. This is the reason the couple were arrested but they have been released today on bail.” Residents say that the Kerala Forest officials have clearly demarcated the area with iron rods and wooden planks. However, there are development projects such as the construction of a bridge, which have been stalled due to the inter-state boundary issue. “The work of the bridge is still incomplete. The Karnataka officials claim that the land belongs to them and the Wildlife officials’ intention is to somehow evict the people from there. Their next agenda is to stall the Barapole project,” says Anto.  The Barapole project is a hydroelectric project that has been developed by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) in the Ayyankunnu panchayat.

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Bengaluru to soon get digital parking metres, app for finding spots

Infrastructure

Drivers will be available to pay in advance for a predetermined number of hours at a particular spot.

TNM Staff

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is launching digital parking metres in Bengaluru through which drivers can pay for parking in advance for a predetermined number of hours. There will also be a mobile app that will allow users to get information regarding available parking spaces. The civic body hopes that the new initiative will reduce congestion in the city through specific spaces and having fewer vehicles parked on the side of the road. A trial period for the initiative will begin next week on Kasturba Road. “We are trying the initiative out from Monday, December 15 onwards for a period of one month. There will be designated spaces for parking on the streets and people using the spaces will be able to park their vehicles in these spaces. They can select how many hours they want to park and will be charged accordingly,” stated BBMP Commissioner Anil Kumar to TNM. Trial run for the 'Smart Parking' system has kick-started today at Kasturba Road. This project is one among our several projects we have taken up to reduce the notorious traffic gridlock and also a finest example of how technology can solve our everyday problems! @CMofKarnataka pic.twitter.com/S6fFMVTsoE — M Goutham Kumar (@BBMP_MAYOR) December 14, 2019 A digital display set-up near the parking spaces will allow individuals using the spaces to decide how many hours they want to park for and pay accordingly. “Different parts of the city will be divided into zones and each zone will have a certain price range,” added Anil Kumar. The parking charges are slated to be priced between Rs 10 to Rs 30 per hour.  Officials hope that this initiative will discourage individuals from parking on roads for long periods of time. The goal is to ultimately reduce traffic by having fewer vehicles clogging the streets. Payment at the spaces will be cashless and can be made at the digital kiosks set up next to the parking bay. Each parking bay will have a number and sensor. The parking facilities will accommodate over 13,000 vehicles, which can be left parked for 24 hours. The parking bays will be under CCTV surveillance for safety measures.   

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Install solar unit on rooftops, earn rent: BESCOM's plan for Bengalureans

Energy

BESCOM hopes to incentivise building owners to allow third parties to set up rooftop solar plants in the city.

Prajwal Bhat

Solar panels on the roof of an apartment in Whitefield, Bengaluru

Soon, Bengaluru residents can rent out their rooftop space to a third party to set up a solar plant and get paid a monthly rent for their troubles. That is, if a proposal by Bangalore Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (BESCOM) to the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on using vacant rooftops to generate solar energy and incentivise the owner, is accepted.  A report with several models to encourage the installation of solar panels on rooftops in the city was drawn up by the BESCOM earlier this week. The report which is titled 'Decision on Various Models and Guidelines for Solar Rooftop Photovoltaic Plants allowed to be installed on rooftops of the consumers’ buildings'  was made public by BESCOM on December 9.  In the report, BESCOM recognises a consumer-owned model, utility-owned model, and a third-party owned model.  While the first two models were in place earlier, BESCOM is hoping to introduce a third-party owned model to encourage more rooftop solar plants in the city. In the third-party owned model, a developer/investor can install, own and operate solar plants on the rooftop by paying a monthly rent for the space used.  In this case, the consumer is not the owner of the solar unit installed on the rooftop of a building. The consumer simply buys energy from a developer who installs and operates the rooftop solar unit for a fixed period.  "The developer of the solar plant will pay rent to the owner of the space on the rooftop of the building to allow the plant to be set up," explains Rajesh Gowda, the Managing Director of BESCOM.  This is in contrast to the consumer-owned model and utility-owned model. In the consumer-owned model, a consumer sets up a solar plant on the rooftop of their building and generates solar power. In the utility-owned model, BESCOM will install solar panels on the rooftop of a consumer after taking loans from banks. BESCOM will maintain the solar plant and pay rent to the owner of the space. But according to BESCOM officials, these two models did not incentivise large-scale solar power generation on rooftops. This is partly due to the fact that the capacity of solar rooftop projects cannot be more than the load sanctioned to the consumer. BESCOM earlier stated that despite 1,892 solar rooftop projects sanctioned in the city since 2015, only 126.04 MW of power is being generated. This is in stark contrast to the target set in Karnataka’s Solar Policy 2014–21. It has set a target of 6,000-MW solar projects, among which rooftop solar projects will contribute 2,400 MW to the grid. "We want to achieve the target set for us and we believe incentivising third party developers to install solar plants will allow us to do that," Rajesh added. Officials added that a net-metering system will be followed for residential customers while a gross metering system will be followed for non-residential customers. According to BESCOM, in net-metering system, the energy generated by the solar rooftop plant is first allowed for self-consumption and the excess energy is injected to the grid. In gross metering system, the total energy generated by the solar rooftop plant is to be injected into the grid without allowing the generated solar energy to be consumed directly by the consumer.  The Karnataka government has also developed a solar park in Pavagada in Tumakuru district by leasing 13,000-acres. The solar park aims to generate 2000 MW of power by 2020 but solar experts say that a solar park is dependant on finding suitable land and needs water resources to clean the panels regularly, a cost that is likely to be too high. Instead, experts have urged the government to decentralise solar power generation and encourage rooftop installation of solar panels.   

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Proposed airport city near Bengaluru airport awaits clearance

Infrastructure

The airport city will include three business parks which will be built over 40 acres, according to officials at the Bangalore International Airport Limited.

TNM Staff

The proposed airport city at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru will include three business parks which will be built over 40 acres, according to officials at the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), the operator of KIA. The city complex is planned as part of the airport's Phase 2 expansion project and is currently awaiting regulatory approvals.  The entire project will be spread out over 530 acres and will have a mall, a retail dining entertainment village, live entertainment centre, luxury and business hotels, serviced apartments and 10-acre multi-level car parking facilities. The city is proposed to be located near terminal 1 of the airport, Times of India reported. A rail link from central Bengaluru is also proposed to the airport city. The plan to build a hub of commercial establishments near the airport has been in the pipeline for over 10 years.  On its website, KIA states that the proposed city will have a business district which will house the headquarters of corporations. "This is envisaged as a high density development integrated with green building and energy-efficiency concept. The development is envisaged as a semi enclosed areas comprising walkways with plazas on ground connecting pedestrian walkway into the Central area. The development is also envisaged to have a roof canopy with continuous membrane, energy conservation, utilise photovoltaic panels to supplement electricity and thus reduce energy consumption", KIA states. The city will be built along the lines of Aero City in New Delhi which has several high-end commercial establishments including around 2,000 hotels.  Earlier this month, the KIA became the first airport in the country to operate two parallel runways that enable simultaneous take-offs. A delay in regulatory paperwork led to airport officials pushing the timeline on the operations of the runway from the scheduled start in October. 

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Protests erupt across Karnataka against Citizenship Amendment Act

Protest

Scores of protesters took to the streets in Bengaluru, Raichur and Kalaburagi, among others.

TNM Staff

Protest in Bengaluru

Thousands of people belonging to various organisations took to the streets in cities across Karnataka on Friday to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. In Bengaluru, scores belonging to Muslim organisations held silent protests in the city against the law, which was enacted this week.  The protests were led by organisations including the Jamaat-e-Ulema, and community members from around 600 mosques from across Bengaluru took part in the protest held near Wilson Garden in the city. Syed Shafiulla Saheb, chief adviser of Masjid-Ateeq in Tank Garden, Jayanagar told the Times of India that the Indian government is misleading the public by saying the law is only against illegal immigrants and not a threat to Indian Muslims.  The protesters said that it was now important to have all the required documents and papers in place to prove their citizenship and those with issues like spelling mistakes or change in address will be helped by the community.  The Citizenship (Amendment) Act seeks to give a pathway for Indian citizenship to immigrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It seeks to reduce the requirement of residence in India for citizenship by naturalisation from 11 years to 5 years for these immigrants. The Act excludes immigrants who are Muslims.  Protests were also held in Raichur in Karnataka after it emerged that the citizenship law will grant citizenship to around 5,000 Bangladeshi immigrants staying at a camp in Sindhanur in the district.  Peaceful protest against #CAB in my home town Raichur City, Karnataka after Juma Prayer. #naukarshah#CitizenshipAmmendmentBill2019 #IndiaAgainstCAB pic.twitter.com/v8WB3vL55F — Abdul Khader (@AKhader36) December 13, 2019 The immigrants are Bengali Hindus who are part of around 20,000 immigrants who came to India from Khulna, Jessore, Dhaka, Barisal and Faridpur areas in Bangladesh around the time of the 1971 Indo-Pak war, The Hindu reported.  Celebrations were held at the camp hailing the decision by the Union government. There are similar settlements in as many as 18 states in India.   Section 144 was imposed in Kalaburagi in northern Karnataka except in mosques where Friday prayers were held. A protest was held in Kalaburagi in front of the Police Commissioner's office against the decision to impose prohibitory orders. Protests were also held in Shivamogga, Udupi, Kodagu and Bidar, in protest against the citizenship law.   

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Lokayukta pulls up city officials over state of Bengaluru lakes

Civic

Citizen’s group ‘United Bengaluru’ filed a case with the Lokayukta in 2017 regarding the state of Bengaluru’s lakes and their rejuvenation.

Alithea Stephanie Mounika

Hulimavu lake

The Karnataka Lokayukta has expressed displeasure at the city authorities’ lackadaisical attitude when it comes to lakes, and has directed two government bodies to take immediate action regarding two lakes in the city, at the Lokayukta hearings in Bengaluru on Thursday. A citizen’s group ‘United Bengaluru’, which is led by HS Doreswamy, an activist and journalist, filed a case with the Lokayukta in 2017 regarding the state of Bengaluru’s lakes and their rejuvenation. United Bengaluru comes under the Namma Bengaluru Foundation. The group had independently undertaken several surveys and found irregularities in many prominent lakes in the city, which prompted legal action. Subsequently, the suit was split into several cases to deal with each lake’s issue individually. The Subramanyapura lake in South Bengaluru was one of the lakes which came under the notice of United Bengaluru. The lake, which is situated close to JP Nagar, had several encroachments by the urban poor, who had set up shanties all over the lakebed and encroached the lake, activists say. The Karnataka Slum Development authority was directed to give them housing and clear the encroachments. Ninety-nine apartments were built for the encroachers in 2017, but they are yet to be occupied, despite an order to this effect having been passed on September 27 this year. However, the residents complain that the electricity and water connections have not been made. The Lokayukta took strong exception to this, and directed the Karnataka Slum Development Authority to clear the encroachments within the week, or face criminal action. Another lake, Talghattapura, also situated in South Bengaluru after the Turahalli forest, has been encroached by the local real estate mafia, according to the survey done by United Bengaluru. The Lokayukta directed the Tahsildar of the area to evict the offending parties, based on a report filed by the DDLR (Deputy Director of Land Records) Ms Kusumalatha G, under the Revenue department. However, during the hearing, United Bengaluru noticed that the survey, which was submitted by the Revenue Department, was actually excerpts from an older survey, the 2017 Koliwada Committee report, a lake committee constituted by the Karnataka Assembly to assess lakes in Bengaluru. The Lokayukta has ordered that the DDLR submit a fresh report on February 15, next year, while responding to all the objections raised by United Bengaluru. Harish Kumar, General Manager, Namma Bengaluru Foundation responded to these proceedings, saying that “…this raises the question of the accountability of officers to their duties, and the transparency in how they operate. The government needs to fix these two things immediately by making amendments to the Karnataka State Civil Service Act and its Rules”. Meanwhile, several other lakes in Bangalore are waiting for justice, with 21 other lake’s cases pending with the Lokayukta, filed by United Bengaluru.

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