More passenger trains from Bengaluru after Baiyappanahalli terminal opens: MoS Railways

Railway

The terminal in Baiyappanahalli is expected to be completed within three months after missing several previous deadlines.

IANS

With the opening of the third railway terminal in Baiyappanahalli soon, more long-distance passenger trains would be introduced from Bengaluru, Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi said on Thursday. "I have directed the South Western Railways (SWR) to run more train services to and from Bengaluru once the third terminal in the city at Byappanahalli (in the eastern suburb) commences with 7 platforms," Angadi told reporters in Bengaluru. With 10 platforms at the Bengaluru city terminal and 6 platforms at the Yeshvantpur terminal in the northern suburbs congested due to heavy traffic, the SWR will soon convert the Cantonment station in the city centre into the fourth terminal. "The two new terminals at Byappanahalli and Cantonment will enable us to decongest the Bengaluru city (Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna station) and Yeshvantpur terminals through which 80 per cent of the traffic passes through daily," an official said. The terminal in Baiyappanahalli is expected to be completed within three months. The railways has set a deadline of May 2020 after missing several previous deadlines to complete work on the terminal.  As the Bengaluru metro rail stations are located adjacent to Bengaluru city, Yeshvantpur and Byappanahalli railway stations, long-distance train passengers will be able to commute to their destinations conveniently and faster. "The proposed suburban passenger train service around the city will offer integrated transport service to the 11 million people of Bengaluru, which is the fastest growing metropolitan city in the country," said the official. Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa assured the railways of providing adequate funds in the budget for 2020-21 to speed up the pending rail projects across the state. "The state government will jointly work with the railways to increase the rail network density in the state to provide safer and economical transport service to the people," he said after flagging off, by remote control, the by-weekly Shivamogga-Chennai Tatkal Express, connecting his hometown in the Malnad region to Chennai via Bengaluru. Angadi asked the state government to speed up land acquisition for extending train services, doubling lines and laying new tracks for running more passenger and freight services.  

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After nudge by SC, Centre issues notification on Mahadayi water dispute

Water

The notification sought to implement the Mahadayi water disputes tribunal's Aug 2018 judgment which allocated 13.42 tmcft of water to Karnataka.

TNM Staff

In a welcome birthday gift to Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, the central government issued a notification on sharing waters of the inter-state Mahadayi river among Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra. The notification sought to implement the Mahadayi water disputes tribunal's August 2018 judgement which allocated 13.42 tmcft of water from the river to Karnataka. It comes after the Supreme Court directed the central government to issue the notification on February 21.  The tribunal was set up to resolve the dispute among the three states which has been going on for four decades.  This paves the way for Karnataka to implement the Kalasa Banduri project which will use water for irrigation purposes. The Goa government is against the construction of canals on the Kalasa and Banduri tributaries of the Malaprabha river, which is a major demand in Karnataka. Of the 13.42 tmcft allocated, 5.5 tmcft is set aside for use within the river basin and for diversion to the Malaprabha reservoir while 7.9 tmc is for generating power. The notification allows water resource development projects to be taken up in the basin.  The Mahadayi river basin drains an area of 2032 sq km, out of which an area of 375 sq km lies in Karnataka, 77 sq km lies in Maharashtra and the rest in Goa. Following the tribunal's decision in August 2018, the Goa and Maharashtra state governments approached the Supreme Court with a petition challenging the decision while Karnataka filed a petition seeking directions to the central government to issue notification. A delegation of ministers from Karnataka including Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahalad Joshi, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi met Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Shigh Shekhwat earlier this week to request the notification to be issued. 

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Whistleblower says HHS didn't give quarantine staff protective gear, training

At least one lawmaker called on Azar to resign after the complaint was disclosed.

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Coronavirus threat gives strapped state health agencies a new crisis

The fragile state of public health defenses became clear this week.

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House tobacco bill revives talk of nicotine limits

Manufacturers and skeptics have long argued that low-nicotine cigarettes would just lead users to smoke more.

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After HC order, Hubballi bar assoc changes decision on not representing Kashmiri students

Court

The Karnataka High Court had earlier observed that barring advocates from appearing for the accused gives the judiciary a bad name.

Prajwal Bhat

A day after the Hubballi Bar Association was rapped by the Karnataka High Court for its resolution stating that its members would not represent three Kashmiri students charged with sedition, the bar association members stated that they had modified the resolution. While the modification of the resolution was not shared with the media, the Karnataka High Court bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Oka accepted the modification but directed the association to issue a fresh resolution and cancel the earlier resolution passed on February 15. The High Court also directed that police protection should be provided for lawyers seeking to file a bail application for the three students.  The Karnataka High Court was hearing a petition filed by advocate BT Venkatesh questioning the Hubballi Bar Association's resolution stating that it is against the rights of the accused for a defence counsel.  "Barring advocates from appearing for the accused gives a bad name for the judiciary. A lawyer not allowed to approach the filing counter to apply for bail should not happen in this state," Chief Justice Abhay Oka said while hearing the case on Wednesday. Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi informed the court on Thursday that the  resolution passed on February 15 was modified. In addition, AG Navadgi stated that a fresh resolution would be passed by the bar association in Hubballi overruling the earlier resolution.  Chief Justice Abhay Oka asked the lawyers willing to appear for the accused persons to file a bail application in the magistrate court in Hubballi. He further directed the Dharwad Police Commissioner to collect names and details of advocates who protest or come in the way of lawyers filing bail application for the accused persons. He stated that the court would initiate criminal contempt proceedings against any advocates who shout slogans or prevent their colleagues from filing a bail application for the three students in Hubballi charged with sedition.  On February 15, the Hubballi Bar Association passed the resolution barring its members from appearing for three Kashmiri students from KLE Institute of Technology. The students were charged with sedition  after a video of them allegedly saying 'Pakistan Zindabad' went viral earlier in the month. However, to file a bail application, lawyers are required to approach the Dharwad Principal Sessions Court after which the case will be allocated to the magistrate court in Hubballi.  When three lawyers from Bengaluru approached the registration counter at the Dharwad court on Monday, hundreds of lawyers agitated against them.  "They said that they would not let us go in one piece. Such was the abuse, threats and intimidation issued to us before the court...Given the vitiated atmosphere which was worsening by the moment, we could not go to the registration/filing counter and were taken back to our vehicle. Someone threw stones from behind when the three of us and the driver were inside the car, breaking the back window, and the stones came inside the car," one of the lawyers from Bengaluru submitted in an affidavit in the High Court. Read: Karnataka HC raps Dharwad lawyers for heckling colleagues, calls it 'sheer militancy'

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With over 2000 cases every year, how Karnataka is tackling drug-resistant tuberculosis

Health

Access to new drugs remains a problem to tackle drug-resistant tuberculosis, say experts.

Dr Nimeshika Jayachandran

Representative Image

Visits to Bengaluru’s Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases have become a frequent part of 60-year-old Krishnappa’s* routine. The Mysuru native had been diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis not once but twice in the past decade, with Krishnappa contracting a particularly aggressive and drug-resistant form of the disease the second time around. “He was being treated for a strain of tuberculosis which was not responsive to the primary choice of drugs usually given to treat the disease. In the past five to ten years or so, we are seeing a drastic rise in the number of resistant cases of TB,” states Dr Nagaraj, director of the institute. According to the National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP), Karnataka diagnoses around 2000 cases of drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis each year. A combination of first-line drugs such as rifampicin and isoniazid are initially preferred to treat a resistant case of tuberculosis.However, when an individual presents with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB), ‘last resort’ drugs such as bedaquiline or delamanid are preferred. Access to either of the two drugs remains limited, with less than 400 people in the last year having been started on either one. With India targeting the complete eradication of tuberculosis by the year 2025, where does Karnataka stand with regards to tackling drug-resistant cases? “If you look at the presence of MDR TB throughout the country, you will see maybe 3% of new cases being resistant forms. However, there are about 10% of cases which are comprised of individuals who have already been diagnosed and treated previously for TB (like Krishnappa),” states one official from the state health department. As per NTEP, there are evaluation and admission facilities called Drug Resistant TB (DRTB) Centres available across the state and several districts particularly for individuals with resistant forms of tuberculosis. However, with only 20 such DRTB centres, experts say that lack of access or “conditional access” to newer drugs such as bedaquiline and delamanid, remains a large problem. According to recent data from the NTEP, 290 patients have been started on bedaquiline and another 48 on delamanid in the state, though the total number of individuals with MDR TB amounts to around 2000. “We will work to expand the number of the DR TB centers to cover each district and ensure that all necessary facilities to treat these cases are made available,” said Union Joint Secretary Vikash Sheel, in charge of the National Tuberculosis Elimination Program (NTEP). At present state health officials do three rounds of case finding, wherein health teams are sent to the field to screen through populations and find how many active cases of TB there are. These screenings are done in January, July and December over a period of two weeks. All the districts in the state are covered during this time. “The importance of this active case finding is that it ensures that people living in even the most remote areas are traced and screened. The state enlists the help of medical colleges to conduct these NTEP activities,” said Vikash Sheel. In addition, officials plan to introduce more campaigns and measures to tackle the issue. “We are emphasising prevention of resistant TB. Several of these resistant cases are known to be individuals who have been non-compliant in following treatment when they initially developed the disease which might be strongly linked to the development of resistance now. By ensuring that people understand the harm of not taking their medications, we hope to send the message across better,” adds the Joint Secretary. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in March 2018 that India would eliminate tuberculosis by the year 2025, five years before the Sustainable Development Goals target deadline for eradication of the disease. Tuberculosis is an infectious disease which is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is transmitted via air droplets from an infected individual to others. The initial symptoms of tuberculosis are fever, cough, cold, loss of weight and appetite, chest pain, as well as chills. *Name changed 

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