Residents watch helplessly as Bengaluru hutments razed due to pvt land dispute

Eviction

The residents have been fearful ever since the Varthur Police Inspector allegedly warned them of eviction last week.

Theja Ram

Fear gripped the residents of Bengaluru’s Munekolala slum located near Marathahalli on Thursday morning. The residents of the settlement stood helplessly as earthmovers demolished their hutments. The residents of the settlement located near Vagdevi School have been fearful of eviction ever since Varthur Police Inspector Obala Reddy allegedly warned them of eviction last week. However, police say that the demolition did not take place on any order from either the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) or the city police and that it occurred due to a private land dispute. Around 20 hutments were demolished before the police intervened and stopped the process. Why residents fear eviction “There was one earthmover and a man who called himself the manager of the landowner’s affairs. He said that he had been instructed to raze the structure by the landowner. Since the Varthur Police Inspector had threatened to demolish the settlement last week, and had accused the residents of being illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, we thought that we were being evicted just like the settlement in Whitefield last month,” said 65-year-old Lakshmi Shutar, a daily wage worker from Odisha, who lives in the settlement. The residents immediately called activist Khaleem of Swaraj India Party and informed him about the demolition. “I called the police at around 10 am and informed them that someone was demolishing the hutments. Initially, the residents told us that it was the police who were demolishing the hutments. Hence, we were concerned as it is against the recent High Court order,” Khaleem said. Read: Who demolished migrant huts claiming Bangladeshi infiltration? BBMP says it didn't Earlier in January, around 300 hutments at a settlement in Whitefield were demolished after a BBMP Assistant Engineer issued an order for the eviction of the residents there, claiming that they were Bangladeshi nationals. The Karnataka High Court had taken the BBMP to task and had, on February 10, issued an order that those who were evicted must be resettled. On February 5, residents of the Munekolala settlement had said that the Varthur Police Inspector had threatened to evict all settlements, and had allegedly called them illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. When activists approached the police, they had assured them that no demolition would take place. Read: 'Cop called us Bangladeshi, asked us to vacate': Settlement in Bengaluru fears eviction The land dispute Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Whitefield subdivision, MN Anucheth, tasked the Marathahalli Police to stop the demolition immediately. The Marathahalli Police, who went to the spot, stopped the earthmover from demolishing more houses.  “There is a half-acre plot opposite Vagdevi School where the settlement is located. The land belongs to a woman named Jayamma, who holds the required documents to prove ownership of the agricultural land. However, a local builder named Narayana Reddy has been fighting for the plot and he hired people and the earthmover to raze the settlements,” DCP Anucheth said. Marathahalli Police said that Sandeep, the manager who was on site, was arrested. Police say that Narayana Reddy wanted to usurp Jayamma’s property and that in order to do so, he planned to evict the settlement dwellers and then take over the property. “We arrested Sandeep, seized the earthmover and questioned him. He said he was only carrying out orders and did not know what was happening. We are tracking down Narayana Reddy,” the police added. An FIR has been registered at the Marathahalli Police Station against Narayana Reddy and Sandeep under Sections 427 (mischief causing damage to property), 441 (trespassing) and 425 (wrongful loss to individual or individuals’ property) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.

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Not paid for 11 months, Karnataka medical interns and PG students go on protest

Protest

This is a recurring issue since the government has maintained that since students study in private colleges, the hospital where they are working, should pay their stipends.

Prajwal Bhat

Medical interns and post-graduate doctors in Karnataka are protesting once again to demand the payment of 11 months worth of stipend. "Our batch of students expected that we would be paid by the Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Department but we have not received payments for the last 11 months," says Dr. Siddarth Shankar, who works at Wenlock District Hospital in Mangaluru. In all, 54 Medical interns serving in Wenlock District Hospital and Lady Goschen Hospital in Mangaluru held a protest on Tuesday near the OPD block of Wenlock Hospital. 97 Interns and 133 PG doctors serving in Chigateri District Hospital and Women and Child Hospital in Davangere too are protesting over the same issue. The interns and post-graduate students are from Kasturba Medical College in Mangaluru and JJM Medical College in Davangere. Though they are studying in private colleges, they are attached to government hospitals. Receiving stipend on time is a recurring issue for interns and post-graduate doctors in these hospitals. In 2018, interns and doctors in Mangaluru and Davangere took to the streets to demand the payment of their stipends after it was delayed by over 8 months. The students were eventually paid by the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) under the Karnataka government.  Read: Unpaid for 8 months, K'taka medical interns and PG students stop work in protest The issue came to a head once again this month. This is because the DME has repeatedly maintained that since the students are studying in a private college, the hospital where students are working, should bear the expenses of their stipend. The students, however, qualified for private colleges through the Common Entrance Test (CET), a competitive exam for admission in medical, dental and engineering courses conducted by the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA). Following the delay in paying wages in 2018, the Department of Health and Family Welfare in the Karnataka government wrote a letter to the DME. In the letter dated October 30 2018, it was stated that the "payment of stipend for ongoing batches will be done by the respective hospitals through their Arogya Raksha Samiti (ARS) account". The Department of Health and Family Welfare urged hospitals to free up space in their budgets by "enhancing clinical charges to cover payment of stipends" and "increase the number of procedures conducted so as to make maximum utilisation of Arogya Karnataka Scheme". However, the protesting medical students say that the hospitals haven't taken up the responsibility of paying their stipends citing lack of funds.  "The Health Department, the hospital administrations and the colleges have juggled the responsibility to pay stipend to interns and PG doctors for the past year. But none of them have come forward to pay the stipend" says Dr. Akash, a post-graduate student at JJM Hospital in Davangere. This is despite an RTI response documented in August 2019 confirming that more than Rs 4.8 crore was available under the ARS at Wenlock District Hospital in Mangaluru. However, hospital authorities stated that the remaining funds under the ARS were for procuring drugs in emergency situations and not for paying stipends of interns. Medical interns are paid Rs. 20,000 in monthly wages, while post-graduate students are paid Rs. 30,000, Rs. 35,000 and Rs. 40,000 in their first, second and third years respectively. The amount needed for the payment of all interns at Wenlock Hospital was quoted around Rs. 2.4 crore. In a letter written on Wednesday, Dr. Rajeshwari Devi, Medical Superintendent of Wenlock District Hospital, once again requested the officials in the Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Department to release funds to pay interns stipends for up to 11 months.  "Our term is ending in March. We don't want oral assurances or tweets over the issue. We want a written assurance to clear up who pays the stipend and that the stipends will be paid before we graduate," says Dr. Siddarth. 

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Bellandur lake cleaning: Experts divided over desilting, diverting polluted water

Environment

The Bangalore Environment Trust, a pro-environmental NGO, has questioned the merit and practicality of desilting the lakes by spending crores of rupees, without stopping sewage entering the lake.

Soumya Chatterjee

The National Green Tribunal (NGT)-monitored rejuvenation process for the infamous Bellandur and Varthur lakes in Bengaluru has faced fresh opposition. The Bangalore Environment Trust (BET), a noted pro-environmental NGO in the city, has questioned the merit and practicality of desilting the lakes by spending crores of rupees, without stopping sewage entering the lake at first.  In a detailed letter submitted to the government and relevant authorities, Yellapa Reddy, a former IFS officer and Chairman of BET, has raised concerns over how the government will extract and use 20 million tonnes of silt, which may be toxic. The letter has been signed by many experts in lake rejuvenation and environmental governance, including Harini Nagendra, Professor of Sustainability at the Azim Premji University. Incidentally, this move by BET has made another section of activists unhappy as they feel all the work done over the last year, as per the current plan, will be undone if it is delayed and if the desilting work is not finished by the monsoon. One-time cleaning plan Bellandur lake is the largest lake in Bengaluru, and receives water from three upstream lakes. Bellandur lake flows into Varthur lake, then to Dakshina Pinakini river as part of the connected tank systems of Bengaluru. Pinakini continues to flow towards Tamil Nadu. As part of the lake rejuvenation, the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA), the custodian of the lake, has emptied or de-watered the lake, as advised by the NGT-appointed panel. Additional temporary channels have been created to directly divert the water entering the Bellandur lake to Varthur lake.  Meanwhile, tenders for desilting the Bellandur lake have also been floated. Desilting is expected to be completed before the onset of monsoon. Once the desilting process is complete, treated sewage will be let into the lake once again.  However, according to NGT’s plan, this will be a one-time clean-up process. By September, another sewage treatment plant is set to be ready to ensure only treated water enters the lake. Once Bellandur lake is cleaned, Varthur lake will be de-watered and desilted.   Once the clean-up of lakes is complete, clean water will flow into the river, the NGT argues. Are we translocating pollution? BET has questioned NGT’s rejuvenation plan, calling it ‘translocation of pollution’. Rejuvenation of one waterbody “should not spell a death knell to other water bodies”, it said.   “If the objective is pollution abatement, then diversion work is in contradiction to that objective, as it allows the toxic wastewater to travel long distances and thus increase the pollution load of the water bodies downstream,” the BET said in its letter.  According to the NGO, the activity is, in fact, in contravention to Section 24 in The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. This section prohibits a person from knowingly causing or permitting any poisonous, noxious or polluting matter — per standards laid down by the State Board — to enter, directly or indirectly, into any stream or well or sewer or on land.  “According to our Constitution, people downstream of Bellandur Tank also have the right to a clean and healthy environment. Bellandur Tank wastewater has already been diverted to Varthur Lake. Varthur Lake diversion is in the works. We request the government to pause, validate the approach via an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and make the necessary course correction,” BET said.  The BET also highlighted the thumb rule to prevent pollution — stop pollution at source. “Any enforcement programme to prevent pollution is a continuous activity and is cheaper than clean-up later,” the letter read Speaking to TNM, Sharatchandra Lele, a lake expert who was part of the panel of Bellandur lake in the past, said that desilting is a hazardous, extensive and a resource-intensive process and it is fruitless if sewage keeps entering the lake.  “Desilting should be an option only after all pollution sources have been eliminated. In some cases, it may not be required at all, because once clean water starts flowing in, pollutants might get gradually washed away on its own,” added Lele, who is a signatory of the letter. The BET further argued that to desilt the Bellandur lake at a rate of 1000 tonnes per day will take a total of 53 years, and 20 years to desilt Varthur lakebed.  Another independent activist Nagesh Aras also echoed similar views. More so he invoked the NK Patil report which had detailed on the lacunas of lake management and said the current plan of selectively solving the problem of these two lakes before fixing the other lakes upstream was unwise. He also questioned the authorities preparedness over the logistics of how to transport or use the huge amount of silt in a time bound manner. NGT team confident about plan Experts on the NGT-appointed panel, on the other hand, believe that the current rejuvenation plan will prove effective.  According to TV Ramachandra, a veteran scientist at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) who is part of the rejuvenation process, the Pollution Control Board and IISc have collected samples and sent for testing to prevent possible toxicity of the lake. “Based on the results, a plan will be drawn to scientifically deal with different types of silt. Besides, authorities have been asked to remain vigilant to stop effluents from flowing into the lake,” he insisted. Regarding the concerns of pollution downstream, he pointed out that the polluted water has been flowing for the last 30 years. “If the decontamination is carried out at least now, clean water will flow, the water holding capacity of the lake will improve and subsequently, the water table in the area will be rejuvenated. The same model was followed for redeveloping the Jakkur lake. It has been 10 years now and it is still full of life,” he told TNM. ‘NGT-monitored plan backed by scientific study’ In a joint statement, citizen groups — Whitefield Rising, Varthur/Bellandur lake citizen volunteers — opposed the move by the BET. They said Environmental Impact Assessment should be done for Orange and Red categories of industry. They pointed out that the current plan is backed up by scientific data of over 22 years, including a bathymetric study (of underwater depth of lake and ocean floors) of lakes by IISc and supported by Defence Personnel. “The Bellandur/Varthur rejuvenation is eco-friendly. This is being closely monitored by the National Green Tribunal and vigilant resident citizens around the lakes,” they said. “These lakes have accumulated silt for over 50 years. Desilting is the need of the hour as waterborne diseases continue to affect the health of the residents living around the lake. We also believe the government agencies will dispose of the silt as per the applicable environmental laws and the norms set by the central and state Pollution Control Board.”

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Karnataka bandh: Normal life unaffected in Bengaluru, rest of state

Protests

In one incident, a Tirupati-Mangaluru bus in Farangipet in Mangaluru city was pelted with stones.

TNM Staff

The 12-hour Karnataka bandh called by a coalition of pro-Kannada organisations demanding the implementation of the Sarojini Mahishi report on job reservations for Kannadigas in the state did not majorly impact life in the state on Thursday. Normal life in Bengaluru and other cities, towns went uninterrupted with isolated incidents of minor violence. There was increased police preparedness near major rail and bus stations to prevent untowards incidents. In one incident, a Tirupati-Mangaluru bus in Farangipet in Mangaluru city was pelted with stones. Schools, other educational institutions, shops, offices and other establishments opened as usual in most parts of Bengaluru. However, exams were postponed by the Bangalore University to avoid inconvenience to students. All public bus services within Bengaluru and the rest of the state ran as per normal schedule. As expected, train services and metro rail also ran uninterrupted. According to the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) spokesperson, all morning schedules ran as planned. Similarly, the Karnataka State Transport Corporation said more than 90% of their scheduled operations ran as per normal.  Even app-hailed cab services ran as per normal despite multiple auto and taxi associations claiming their support to the strike. A protest rally is set to be held in the city's Maurya Circle and Freedom Park area on Thursday. The protesters demanded implementation of the Sarojini Mahishi report which guarantees reservation of jobs in the state for Kannadigas in the state in both the private and government sectors. Police also kept a close watch on some leaders of the movement. However, not all pro-Kannada outfits came in support of the bandh.  “Some people are doing this bandh for publicity. The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike is committed to implementation of recommendations in the Sarojini Mahishi report but we don't support any bandh today. There will be no protests or bandh by the Vedike,” Praveen Shetty, chief of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, a major outfit told TNM. Earlier Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa appealed to the organisations not to cause any inconvenience to the general public as he asserted his government was always pro-Kannada. The Karnataka government under Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde had in 1983 appointed a committee led by four-time MP Sarojini Mahishi to look into reservation for Kannadigas in the state. The Sarojini Mahishi report was prepared in 1986 and it recommended job reservations for Kannadigas in government jobs, public sector units and even in the private sector. Many of the 58 recommendations made in the report have been implemented by successive state governments in power in the state. Many pro-Kannada organisations have pointed to the recommendations made in the report asking for a greater share of jobs in Karnataka for Kannadigas.

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Bidar sedition case: Single judge bench of K’taka HC to hear PIL on quashing of FIR

Controversy

The mother of a 11-year-old student, Nazbunissa and the head-teacher Fareeda Begum, were arrested on January 30 and continue to remain in jail.

TNM Staff

Representational image

A single judge bench of the Karnataka High Court will hear a public interest litigation (PIL) which seeks quashing of the FIR in the contentious sedition case in Bidar.  The Times of India reported that the HC division bench led by Chief Justice AS Oka declined to hear the petition stating it can only be heard by a single-judge bench of the HC.  The mother of a 11-year-old student, Nazbunissa and the head-teacher Fareeda Begum had courted arrest and will continue to remain in jail till February 14, which is when the district court will pronounce the order on their bail plea. The two women were arrested on January 30 over charges of sedition after a school play held on January 21 allegedly voiced dissent against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The arrests were made  after a police complaint by Nilesh Rakshala, an activist from the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), seeking an investigation into the school play.  In his complaint, Nilesh accused the school management of sedition and 'insulting' the Prime Minister through the play. Nazbunissa's daughter Ayesha* (name changed) is alleged to have delivered the dialogues which 'insulted' Prime Minister Modi. Basaveshwara Hira, the Deputy Superintendent of Police of Bidar district, led the investigation into the play. He visited the school five times including once when he was accompanied by police officers in uniform. The police's actions at the school were heavily criticised after a photograph of the police questioning students in uniform was shared widely. Bidar police defended the repeated questioning of students in the school stating that they were interviewing students in batches and that they were "collecting information about the play".  Students in the school, however, had earlier told TNM that they were intimidated by the police's repeated questioning. Incidentally, the public prosecutor opposed bail to the two women despite the fact that Pravin Sood, Karnataka Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP), had reportedly promised a delegation of lawyers recently that the state will not oppose the bail.

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Three school boys including one from Bengaluru drown in Tumakuru lake

Accident

Police said that all the three boys had bunked school on Wednesday and gone for a swim.

TNM Staff

In a tragic incident on Wednesday afternoon, three school boys drowned to death after they went for a swim in a lake in Gubbi, Tumakuru district, less than 100 km away from Bengaluru. The deceased have been identified as Nandan A, a native of Kallenahalli village, Srinivasa A who hailed from Bengaluru, and Darshan B from N Ramapura area. While Darshan and Srinivasa were studying in the ninth standard, Nandan was studying in the eighth standard. The Times of India reported that while Nandan and Srinivas were students of Seva Sadan School, Darshan was studying in GJC School in Gubbi. All the three boys were residing in the state run SC/ST hostel in Gubbi. According to reports, all three were children of daily wage labourers. Police said that the three had bunked school on Wednesday and gone to a nearby temple with two of their other friends. While the other boys— Ashok and Megharaj stayed back in the temple, the three deceased went for a swim. The three boys apparently got caught in the current which led them to drown as they went deep inside the lake, police said. The bodies were recovered by police from the tank and sent for post-mortem. A case has been registered by police for further investigation. This tragedy involving school students coes after on December 31, a school trip in Karnataka's Kalaburagi district to the Belkota dam for a Vijayapura district-based school saw three students drowning. That time, three students of the Satyasai Premniketan Residential School of Vijayapura district went for a dip in the Gandori Nala waters in the vicinity of the dam. Prior to this, in October 2018, three students drowned when they were taking a selfie, as they slipped and fell into a lake. The incident happened in a lake in Nijagallu near Dobbspet, rural Bengaluru. The three boys, along with 51 other students and seven teachers were from Tumakuru and were part of the National Service Scheme (NSS) team who were visiting the area.

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Bids invited for route design on Mysuru-Bengaluru-Chennai high speed rail corridor

Railways

This, even though Bengaluru awaits the central cabinet approval of having a full fledged suburban rail system.

TNM Staff

Representational image

The National High Speed Rail Corporation of India (NHSRCL) has invited bids for carrying out stage-1 preliminary route development (alignment and aerial design) for new high speed rail corridors for Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru route.  Trains can run at a maximum speed of over 300 km/hr on a high-speed corridor. This, even though Bengaluru awaits the central cabinet approval of having a full fledged suburban rail system like what is present in other big cities in the country despite decades of delay. In fact, the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) which met on Wednesday did not take up the issue even though it was again mentioned in the Union Budget presented on February 1, and has suffered inordinate delays in the past. The omission of the Bengaluru suburban rail issue in Wednesday’s CCEA meeting has prompted unhappy responses among activists in Bengaluru on social media. Srinivas Alavilli, co-founder of Citizens for Bangalore, said, “Are we on the CCEA agenda today? If not, why not? Similarly, Rajkumar Dugar, convenor of the NGO Citizens 4 Citizens and another suburban rail activist tweeted, “another opportunity lost-union budget "approved" bluru's subrly project.however,real work cannot start without ccea approval.finministry sent file2cab a week ago.this subject was not taken up in today's cab mtg. extremely painful wait4entire bengaluru&surroundings. 19 feb 2020 ?” Meanwhile, the Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru route is among five routes for which the tenders for route development have been called.   Earlier, a German expert delegation had carried out a technical feasibility study for running trains at high speeds of 300 km/hr. Recently in June, 2019, Rail Minister Piyush Goyal had told the parliament that although the feasibility study was done, there was no cabinet note done at that point. The other routes are Delhi-Jaipur-Udaipur-Ahmedabad (886 km), Mumbai-Nasik-Nagpur (753 km), Delhi-Chandigarh-Ludhiana-Jalandhar-Amritsar (459 km), and Mumbai-Pune-Hyderabad (711 km). The Mumbai-Pune-Hyderabad (711 km) route will also feature Kalaburagi as an intermediate station. This announcement by the NHSRCL comes just after in January-end, the Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav said the detailed project report (DPR) on the six lines will be ready within a year’s time. However, the already approved Mumbai-Ahmedabad rail corridor has been progressing at a slow pace with the Maharashtra government not keen on the project and the Supreme Court set to hear disputes related to land acquisition. Even experts have opined that rather than spending on high speed rail corridor infrastructure, the Railways should utilise existing resources far more efficiently. “Bengaluru-Chennai already is on a semi-high speed route. But the Mysuru-Bengaluru route does not match the semi-high speed standards. But it also does not make sense to invest in high speed infrastructure in a suburban setup as you have to provide stoppages in between,” said Chitresh Srivastava, a railway policy columnist.  “High speed rail is not a viable idea compared to Train18 or Tejas Express as they can run on the existing tracks,” he added.

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