It will be months before results of the test can be concluded.
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Monday, July 27, 2020
Soon, travel from Bengaluru city to airport within an hour
South Western Railways has said the station for the Bengaluru airport will be ready by August end.
Bengalureans may soon be able to travel from the city centre to Kempegowda International Airport within an hour, sans the traffic jams. The railway station coming up near the Kempegowda International Airport is almost in the final stages of completion, authorities confirmed. As earlier reported the station is at a distance of less than five km from the airport terminal and will be connected by a shuttle bus service by the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), the company managing the airport. AK Singh, General Manager, South Western Railways, said, “By August-end all construction work will be over and once the Ministry gives approval we can function from the next day itself.” While the station was first scheduled to be completed by the end of 2019, delays in construction, purported change in design and later the pandemic have resulted in the current delays. The service is slated to help hundreds of workers employed at the airport and also passengers who would want to spend less than Rs 30 on their way to the airport. Currently, government-run airport buses cost a minimum of Rs 150 from Hebbal, and Rs 320 from Chandapura in Electronic City. Private cab rides from the city can cost more than Rs 900. Train services at present are not operating in the Yelahanka-Devanahalli section under which this station falls since the COVID-19 induced lockdown in mid-March. There are usually three trains running on this route everyday and increasing capacity will be a challenge given the entire stretch is on a single line. This would mean trains in one direction cannot run more than once in 30 minutes. A look at the new railway station that's in the final stages of completion. Speaking to TNM, Rajkumar Dugar, convenor of Citizens for Citizens (C4C) said services on this route can be expanded only if the Doddajala Railway Station is upgraded to a crossing station. “We had met the state Chief Secretary on this issue and when we discussed the cost for the same, he had expressed willingness to take on the project from the state government side but so far we are yet to hear anything,” he said. While the station can be made ready for passenger usage by as early as September, TNM has learnt that BIAL which is also financing the station wants to start operations only after all the beautification work and ancillary amenities are ready.. As part of the airport’s multi-crore expansion plan, a suburban rail station within the airport compound has also been planned and will be made ready in another five years’ time. Incidentally, the metro rail connectivity to the airport from the city is still in the making with the plan yet to be approved by the Union government.
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Bengaluru’s largest COVID Care Centre at BIEC inaugurated
While the facility will house a total of 10,100 beds, the centre opened on Monday with 6,500 beds.
Bengaluru’s biggest COVID Care Centre at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) was inaugurated on Monday by a delegation led by Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan and senior bureaucrats. The COVID-Care Centre at BIEC was mooted over a month ago but after a delay in arranging materials for the centre, it was inaugurated on Monday. While the facility will house 10,100 beds, it opened on Monday with 6,500 beds in the first phase. 5,000 beds are reserved for COVID-19 patients while 1,500 beds are for healthcare workers who test positive for coronavirus. It is by far the largest government-run COVID Care Centre in the city. The dining room at the COVID-Care Centre accommodates 350 people while an entertainment section has television and sofas. The COVID-Care Centre was mired in controversy after opposition leaders levelled charges of corruption against the Karnataka government for attempting to lease materials at high prices. Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa told the Opposition that he had intervened and directed officials to procure the items needed for the centre instead of leasing them on a rental basis. The plan by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to lease the materials was expected to cost Rs 24 crore per month, but the decision to buy the material saw the state government spend an amount of Rs 4.23 crore per month, to procure beds as well as other items like mattresses, fans, buckets, mugs, and dustbins at Rs 7,500 per set. In addition, the state government spent an initial Rs 7.32 crore in arranging beds and cots. The state government announced that separate staff was appointed to manage the COVID- Care Centre. Opposition leader Eshwar Khandre told TNM that the state government had focused on publicising the size of the COVID Care Centre but failed to arrange doctors and nurses for it.
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Defer Karnataka CET: NSUI moves High Court
NSUI's National Secretary Eric Stephen questioned the need to hold exams in Karnataka at a time COVID-19 cases are rising rapidly in the state.
A public interest litigation was filed in the Karnataka High Court on Monday by a representative of the National Student Union of India (NSUI) challenging the upcoming Karnataka Common Entrance Test (K-CET) exams – conducted for admissions to engineering and medical professional courses in the state – at a time a high number of COVID-19 cases are being reported. "Conducting the exams during these testing times will create widespread panic and put the lives of students, teachers, parents and staff at risk," the PIL stated. The K-CET exams are scheduled for July 30 and 31. NSUI's National Secretary Eric Stephen’s PIL in the High Court has asked for the exams to be deferred to a later date. Over 1.94 lakh have registered for the entrance examination. "A similar examination happened in Kerala and there were students and parents who were found to be positive for coronavirus. NEET exams were postponed to September. If a national examination was deferred, what is stopping the state government from deferring the exams?" Eric Stephen, the petitioner who is also NSUI in-charge for Karnataka and Goa, told TNM. The petitioner argued that 2,000 students will be travelling to Karnataka from other states and 30 others will be travelling from abroad to write the examinations. The students will be exempted from quarantine and will be allowed to stay in the state for a period of 96 hours to write the examinations. Currently, Karnataka mandates a 14-day home quarantine for travellers coming in from all other states. However, there are exceptions for business travellers, transit travellers, and special category travellers. The petitioner also pointed out that asymptomatic patients of coronavirus are also being allowed to appear for the examinations in a separate room. Eric questioned the decision to hold the examinations when the number of COVID-19 cases in Karnataka is rising rapidly. Karnataka reported 5,199 COVID-19 cases on Sunday taking the total active cases in the state to 58,417. Bengaluru has 33,156 active COVID-19 cases as on Sunday as well as 12,459 containment zones. NSUI activists held a protest outside the Karnataka Governor's residence last week questioning the decision to conduct K-CET exams and allowing COVID-19 patients to appear for it.
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Karnataka CM Yediyurappa wants cinemas open, but producers and theatre owners aren't keen
Opening theatres with 25% capacity will be a financial disaster with far-reaching repercussions for the film and the industry.
Image Credit: Picxy.com/tanmoythebong
With unlock 3.0 in the offing, the Centre is expected to announce relaxations for sectors like theatres and gymnasiums. Highly placed sources in Karnataka Chief Minister’s office tell TNM that BS Yediyurappa is keen on allowing reopening of theatres, if the Centre leaves the decision to the states. But with restrictions that are reported to come with it, most producers, distributors and theatre owners seem reluctant in resuming exhibition of movies in the state. The Chief Minister, in his discussions on unlock 3.0, as per sources, has maintained that he would give opening theatres and gyms a green signal, subject to clearance from the Centre while he has reservations about opening swimming pools and schools. Since most other sectors are already functional in the state, he is reportedly of the opinion that life should get back to normal, as much as possible so that people get used to the ‘new normal’. But when TNM spoke to stakeholders in the Kannada film industry, it looked like the move will not have many takers. With the string of restrictions that the relaxation will likely come with, including alternate row seating, mandatory sanitisation of seats after each screening and capping hall capacity to 25%, it might not be financially feasible to start theatre operations. In addition, most in the industry are highly sceptical about how many people will risk coming to theatres given the increasing number of COVID-19 cases. Speaking to TNM, president of Karnataka Film Chamber Of Commerce (KFCC), DR Jairaj said, “For at least another 15 days to a month, states like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu do not plan to resume operation of theatres. In such a situation, when other language movies will not be released in Karnataka, it will not make any business sense to operate theatres in Karnataka. It only makes financial sense for us if all language movies are being released.” Producers in the state too, while acknowledging they have already incurred huge losses, do not seem thrilled at the prospect of releasing movies in the current situation. Commenting on the same, Jairam said, “The producers too believe it is not financially viable for them to release their movies at this time because they need to recover the money they have spent on making the movie. If theatres were being allowed to open at least with 70% occupancy it might have made sense but with 25% it will not work out for anybody”. Industry experts also believe that if theatres are opened now and in case of producers running into huge losses, close down again, then it will take a very long time to get people back to the theatres again. They believe that the audience will further lose confidence to come to theatres to watch movies and that will have a long-term bearing on audiences’ movie-watching habits. Chairman of the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy, Suneel Puranik too echoed similar sentiments. "While it is good news that theatres might open, it is very difficult for us to get people to come to theatres now despite permission to open. The rent of theatres are fixed on a weekly basis and if people do not come, the producer will be under immense loss. Irrespective of how much business a movie does. The producer will not be able to recover any money. It is a huge dilemma for all of us and for the entire industry as well.” Suneel further added, “The situation is so bad that there are no beds and patients can be seen lying in the corridors of many hospitals. In Bengaluru alone, over 2,000 cases are being reported every single day. In the last 10 days, 20,000 cases have been reported in Bengaluru. Now with the number of tests being conducted increasing, we can expect the number of positive cases also to increase. In the last ten days we have seen a huge change in the mindset of people here in Bengaluru nobody wants to take a chance anymore.” The repercussions of a movie not doing well also has ramifications beyond the box office collections, Suneel said. “When films produced are unsuccessful in the box office then it will impact other aspects of revenue generation also. For example, OTT platforms, satellite channels and dubbing rights too get impacted if a movie is deemed as a failure.” While it is difficult to assess the exact loss incurred by the Kannada film industry during the pandemic, some insiders believe it is approximately Rs 700 crore. A total of at least 15,000 families have been financially impacted as those working in the industry, including those working in projector rooms and as security guards in theatres, have been rendered jobless or salaries cut because of shutting down of theatres. Despite the dreary situation, several single screen theatre owners are not eager to start operations despite getting permission to do so. And many of them, on the condition of anonymity, told TNM that a pan-India multiplex giant is flexing its muscles, lobbying hard to get permission from centre to open theatres. Image Credit: Picxy.com/tanmoythebong
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HD Kumaraswamy questions BJP and Congress over COVID-19 corruption row
Kumaraswamy questioned the BJP over the corruption charges and the opposition Congress for not filing a complaint before an investigating agency.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy questioned the BJP-ruled Karnataka government over corruption charges in procuring equipment to manage the COVID-19 crisis in the state. He also questioned the opposition Congress for not filing a complaint before an investigating agency despite having documents to prove their charges. "Congress which has levelled charges against the ruling BJP has not so far filed a complaint against any investigating agency. Instead, the Congress has limited itself to get just publicity. On the other hand, the ruling BJP instead of coming clean by ordering a probe into the big charges is indirectly admitting the scam," Kumaraswamy said. It has been just over a year since the coalition government led by HD Kumaraswamy collapsed and the BJP took power in the state. Kumaraswamy asked whether the Congress has lost faith in the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) which replaced the Lokayukta in Karnataka. "The Congress government swallowed the Lokayukta institution by taking away all its powers to create Anti Corruption Bureau. At least they could have filed a case against the government before the ACB. Have they lost confidence in the ACB?," Kumaraswamy asked. Congress leaders led by former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had alleged that the BJP government in the state was spending disproportionate funds to procure equipment for COVID-19 treatment including test kits, ventilators and beds. Read: 'PPE, ventilators bought at high prices': Cong accuses BJP of misusing funds in K'taka Kumaraswamy also questioned why no action was taken on officials in charge of the COVID-19 crisis over the charges. Despite his claims, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has shuffled the official in charge of Bengaluru's COVID-19 crisis by replacing former Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner BH Anil Kumar with his predecessor Manjunath Prasad.
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Bengaluru has 12,459 active containment zones, with over 3000 in south zone
South Bengaluru has the most number of active containment zones at 3,935, followed by Bengaluru East at 2,537 and Bengaluru West at 1,770.
Image for representation: PTI
Bengaluru reported 679 new active containment zones on Sunday, as cases of COVID-19 continued to surge in the city. With this, Bengaluru has now reported a total of 15,411 containment zones — 804 more than Saturday's total count of 14,608, of which 12,459 are active. Among this, South Bengaluru has the most number of active containment zones at 3,935, followed by Bengaluru East at 2,537, and Bengaluru West at 1,770. The War Room report of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on July 26 said that while Bommanahalli has 1,548 active containment zones, RR Nagara reported 977, followed by Mahadevapura (937), Yelahanka (437) and Dasarahalli (318). The number of containment zones that have returned to normal is highest in Bengaluru West at 751, followed by Bengaluru East at 645 and South Bengaluru at 435. On Sunday, Karnataka reported 5,199 new COVID-19 cases even as 82 people succumbed to the virus, increasing the state's death toll to 1,878, Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar said. The state capital continues to be a hotspot of the coronavirus, recording the highest number of cases every day. On Sunday, the city reported 1,950 cases, raising the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 45,453. Of this, 33,156 are active. However, the city's share of active cases in the state has fallen to 57%, gradually declining from 62% a week ago. Among the new cases, excluding Bengaluru Urban, Ballari accounted for 579 patients, followed by Mysuru (230), Bengaluru Rural (213), Dakshina Kannada (199) and Udupi (169). Meanwhile, 2,088 patients have been discharged across Karnataka, raising the number of discharges to 35,838. Of the total cases, 58,417 are active and 632 are in ICUs. A total of 33,565 tests were conducted in Karnataka in a 24-hour period ending on Sunday, of which 21,034 were tested through RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction) and 12,531 were antigen testing. In Bengaluru alone, the state government has conducted 2,73,651 tests so far. The city has a positivity rate of 16.6%. IANS inputs
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