Five dead as Bengaluru-bound bus catches fire in in Karnataka’s Chitradurga

Accident

Three children are also reported to have died in the mishap took place at KR Halli in Hiriyur taluk on National Highway 4.

Soumya Chatterjee

Chennai Official/Twitter

Five passengers, including three children, were charred to death in Karnataka’s Chitradurga district after a Bengaluru-bound bus starting from Vijayapura caught fire in the wee hours of Wednesday. According to officials on the ground, the bus had a total of 32 passengers onboard, excluding the driver and the helper. Chitradurga Superintendent of Police G Radhika confirmed the incident and said that the identification of the deceased was yet to be done as the bodies had been completely charred. “We are yet to ascertain why the fire broke out. We have given the vehicle to RTO (Regional Transport Office) and they will inspect and ascertain what caused the fire. We suspect that the engine may have overheated. The bus had started at 9 pm and the driver had only taken a break of 10 minutes until the mishap took place,” she told TNM. Officials said that the mishap took place at KR Halli in Hiriyur taluk on National Highway 4. All the injured have been shifted to the nearby district government hospital. According to preliminary information, the bus was run by a private operator named ‘Kukke Sri Travels’. According to fire and emergency services personnel, the fire had started due to a technical snag in the engine. However, official confirmation is awaited. The Hiriyur police have registered a case and a probe is underway.   This is not the first time that such an incident has come to light. Recently, 50 passengers had a close shave with death after the bus that they were travelling in, caught fire following a road accident in Andhra Pradesh's Srikakulam district in January this year. A private bus plying towards Bengaluru caught fire on NH4 at Tumakuru in September 2019. In that fire, which took place in Tumakuru district, as the bus was travelling towards Bengaluru from Yadgir, at least eight people were injured. A woman had suffered 50% burns due to the fire. In another incident in June 2019, a private bus travelling to Bengaluru from Hyderabad caught fire at around 3.45 am in the morning. However, fortunately, there were no injuries reported in that incident as an alert crew evacuated the bus after spotting smoke emitting from the vehicle. Moments later, the vehicle was gutted and the bus was charred, before the first fire engine arrived to tend to the fire.

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Bengaluru now has 13281 active containment zones as total cases rise to 77038

Coronavirus

Bengaluru South continued to top the list with 2,726 active zones, remaining unchanged from the figures in Monday's bulletin.

TNM Staff

Image for representation: PTI

There was a dip in the number of containment zones in Bengaluru on Tuesday as the state government pegged the figure at 13,281; down from Monday's figure of 13,908. In its daily bulletin on COVID-19, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said that 16,097 containment zones had returned to normal in the city so far. Bengaluru South continued to top the list with 2,726 zones, remaining unchanged from the figures in Monday's bulletin. This was followed by Bengaluru East at 2,440. In Monday's bulletin, the East zone had reported 2,619 active containment zones. Meanwhile, Bengaluru West reported 2,349 active containment zones, followed by Bommanahalli at 1,636, Mahadevapura at 1,378, RR Nagara 1,205, Dasarahalli at 785 and Yelahanka at 752. However, there seemed to be some discrepancies in the bulletin as the state government claimed that there were 36,670 containment zones in total that were reported in Bengaluru so far, but only gave the breakdown for 29,378 containment zones. It is unclear as to how many of the remaining 7,292 containment zones are active and how many have returned to normal. Meanwhile, coronavirus recoveries in Karnataka crossed the 1 lakh mark on Tuesday, while 6,257 fresh cases were registered, taking the state's tally to 1.88 lakh, an official said on Tuesday. "Today (Tuesday), 6,257 new positive cases are reported and 6,473 people have been discharged," Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey said. With the new discharges, the total recoveries in the state rose to 1,05,599. Of the new cases, Bengaluru continued to report the highest number at 1,610, taking the city's tally to 77,038, out of which 33,070 are active. Ballari district accounted for 738 new cases, followed by the districts of Belagavi (575), Dharwad (276), Dakshina Kannada (243), Mysuru (238), Udupi (219), Raichur (201) and Shivamogga (189). Meanwhile, 86 more patients succumbed to the virus, increasing the state's death toll to 3,398. Of the 1.88 lakh cases, 79,606 are active and 699 are in the ICU. IANS inputs

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Three dead, over 100 arrested in East Bengaluru violence, attack on MLA’s home

Violence

Curfew has been imposed within Banaswadi police sub-division.

TNM Staff

Three people were killed after violence broke out in East Bengaluru over a derogatory social media post on Prophet Muhammad on Tuesday night. Police resorted to the use of force and opened fire in a bid to contain the situation after protests broke out on the post uploaded by the nephew of Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy. The riot-like situation within KG Halli and DJ Halli police station limits, which began around 8.30 pm on Tuesday, was contained around 1 am on Wednesday. Curfew has been imposed within Banaswadi police sub-division. More than 100 people have been arrested from the area. In the violence, around 60 police personnel were injured, more than 25 vehicles and 200 bikes torched.  Many including Deputy Commissioner of Police North East Bhimashankar Guled were injured as the police clashed with rioters, this even as Muslim community leaders appealed for peace and urged the members of the community not to take law into their own hands. The incident led to Home Minister Basavraj Bommai speaking to the Chief MInister BS Yediyurappa on Tuesday night itself. Several among the mob were taken in custody by police for violence and destruction of property. Many among the police who were deployed to contain the violence were injured. Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Kamal Pant confirmed that a total of 110 people have been arrested for arson, stone pelting and attacking the police. The Commissioner also confirmed that Naveen, the accused who put up the derogatory post, was arrested.  Early visuals showed vehicles being burnt and stones being pelted at the KG police station and MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy’s house being partially torched. Reportedly, Naveen, a relative of the MLA had put out the derogatory post. However, he has claimed that his Facebook account was hacked. DCP East Guled’s official car was also attacked with stones and sticks. He had to be admitted to the hospital. Fire and media personnel who were trying to enter the areas were also attacked.  Revenue Minister R Ashoka confirmed that road blockades had been put in place to stop outsiders from entering the place. He said, “By morning, we will announce who all is behind this.” Incidentally, journalists were attacked, both by the mob and the police. An India Today journalist and TNM reporter were also attacked by the police. Speaking to TNM, Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad, who visited the spot said, that the situation was brought under control. “A lot of people gathered here and we (Chamrajpet MLA and former minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan) got a call from the local DCP to reach the spot and pacify the crowd. We came here to control the crowd but few people took law into their own hands, which is unfortunate,” he told TNM. He added, “In all this confusion, we don’t know what action has been taken against the person who put up the post but I got to know that the person has been arrested. We want the strictest punishment, not because he has posted a derogatory message but he has tried to deliberately create a law and order issue and enmity between two communities. First of all the country is facing a tough time as we are facing an unseen enemy called COVID-19, we don’t want all this. Right now things are calm now and under control.” The MLA also condemned the attack on journalists, saying that the media is also one of the pillars of democracy. “The police cannot indulge in any highhandedness against the media, I will myself speak to the police authorities to ensure that there is no attack on the media when they come out to do their work. In fact, they should be given protection.”

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‘It is India’: Railway official’s response to lack of Kannada signage sparks row

Controversy

The newly-inaugurated hand-washing kiosk at the KSR Bengaluru railway station only had Hindi and English signage.

TNM Staff

The official in charge of the foremost railway station in Bengaluru city, the Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna station (KSR), found himself in the middle of a language row shortly after a new facility was announced at the railway station. A new kiosk for washing hands via a foot-operated switch was introduced at the station. However, the equipment only had English and Hindi stickers on it. The South Western Railways’ Twitter handle introduced the ‘hands-free’ wash kiosk intended towards “enhancing passenger convenience and safety” with a video. Enhancing passenger convinence and safety! Foot operated KIOSK funded by Hindustan Lever commissioned today at KSR #Bengaluru station.@drmsbc#India #IndianRailways #Karnataka #IndiaFightsCoronavirus #cautionyespanicno pic.twitter.com/CmyUEiSMkh — SouthWestern Railway (@SWRRLY) August 7, 2020 However, social media users were quick to notice that the kiosk, located in a public place in Bengaluru and accessed by all people, did not have any Kannada signage, but found space for Hindi. “Why Hindi in South India?” one user asked in response to the video. To this, the Twitter handle of the Divisional Railway Manager, Bengaluru, promptly replied, “Because it is India.” Why Hindi in South India? — Atticus Balgit Finch (@malayaliatticus) August 8, 2020 One user then replied, “You know what we are asking. But you are linking hindi with national identity. We are Indians but Hindi is not my language and I have right to ask information in my mother tongue.” In response, the official account defended its view by calling the user ‘anti Hindi’. “All efforts are made to provide important info in local language as well. Making issue of language every time even if it is a small sticker on the item donated by an outsider agency is not correct. Instead of appreciating the effort you bring anti-Hindi views every time,” the tweet read. You know what we are asking. But you are linking hindi with national identity. We are Indians but Hindi is not my language and I have right to ask information in my mother tongue — VINAYAK TELI (@VINAYAKTELI) August 9, 2020 The tweet triggered pushback from social media users as nearly 300 responses to the officer’s tweet showed. Many of the responses pointed out that the official language in Karnataka is Kannada. @drmsbc india means not only Hindi alone. You people adopt #2langpolicy. Kannada is the administrative language of karnataka. And bengaluru is located in karnataka#serveinkannadalanguage ಅಷ್ಟೇ — ಸಂಜಯ್.ಜಿ.ಡಿ/‌Sanjay.G.D❤️ (@Sanjaysanju83) August 9, 2020 Hindi is not India. Kannada must be first in Bengaluru. — ವಿನಯ್. ಜಿ(Vinay. G) (@Vinayg721) August 9, 2020 Then why is Kannada not used in Uttar Pradesh? — ಅಮೋಘವರ್ಷ (@nripatunga) August 8, 2020 The person running the DRM Bengaluru handle is described in the account’s Twitter bio as railway officer Ashok Kumar Verma. Many used this information to target the official directly, with some posting abusive responses. The row comes close on the heels of the renewed debate on Hindi imposition in non-Hindi speaking states. On Sunday, DMK MP Kanimozhi from Tamil Nadu tweeted that she had been asked by an airport security officer whether she was Indian when she said that she did not speak Hindi.  In recent weeks, the newly-released New Education Policy (NEP) of the central government has been flayed for giving more importance to learning in local languages, rather than using a medium of instruction like English and Hindi.   Read: ‘Are you Indian?’: MP Kanimozhi says CISF officer asked her for not knowing Hindi The Railways row subsided when Congress party spokesperson Lavanya Bhallal tweeted asking for Kannada stickers in addition to the ones in Hindi. “So if it is donated by outside agency is it for the consumption of Kannadigas or non Kannada speakers? If it’s not such a big issue then why the resistance to put small stickers in Kannada? Have Kannada stickers along with Hindi stickers, why so much of resistance for that?” she tweeted. The DRM finally accepted that he would do so. So if it is donated by outside agency is it for the consumption of Kannadigas or non Kannada speakers? If it’s not such a big issue then why the resistance to put small stickers in Kannada? Have Kannada stickers along with Hindi stickers, why so much of resistance for that? — Lavanya Ballal | ಲಾವಣ್ಯ ಬಲ್ಲಾಳ್ (@LavanyaBallal) August 9, 2020 Also read: Can you be Indian if you don't speak Hindi? All FAQs answered

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Violence breaks out in East Bengaluru, Cong MLA's house attacked over derogatory post

Violence

According to police, a crowd of almost a thousand people gathered in front of the KG Halli police station demanding that a Congress MLA's relative named Naveen be arrested.

TNM Staff

Violence has broken out in East Bengaluru, especially KG Halli, DJ Halli and Pulakeshi Nagar, after a Facebook post by a relative of Congress legislator Akhanda Srinivas Murthy reportedly insulting Prophet Mohammed created outrage. According to police, a crowd of almost a thousand people gathered in front of the KG Halli police station demanding that the relative named Naveen be arrested. Hundreds also gathered outside the MLA's house and protested. Vehicles parked outside the MLA's house were torched. According to reports, the protesters did not allow fire engines to enter the street and to douse the fire. Meanwhile, another group arrived at KG Halli police station to file a complaint but alleged that the police refused to file a complaint immediately. The situation quickly escalated after an under-construction house of the MLA adjoining to current residence was damaged around 8.30 pm. Around 25 minutes later, a much larger mob gathered outside the KG Halli police station and started raising slogans, pelting stones and even torching vehicles. DCP East Bhimashankar Guled’s official car too was attacked with stones and sticks. At DJ Halli, a police vehicle was set ablaze. By 10.30 pm, reinforcement of police personnel from adjoining police stations arrived in two buses. Shots are being fired by the police in an attempt to disperse the crowd. The police force outside the police station have been unable to make their way through the crowd and enter the station. Eyewitnesses claim that for at least initial 10 minutes, the police either remained mute spectators or used very little force to handle the crowd even as the violence escalated. Even post midnight, the police force has been largely outnumbered, cornered outside the KG Halli police station. Along with police in riot gear who were deployed to contain the violence, senior police officers including Commissioner Kamal Pant visited the spot. An official police car too was attacked and damaged, as per eyewitnesses.  Reportedly, the MLA’s relative who was detained by the police for questioning claimed that his Facebook account was hacked and it was not he who actually posted the offensive message. Media persons from Kannada news channel Suvarna News too were allegedly attacked by an angry mob while reporting live on the violence. Reporters Ravi and Pradeep have sustained injuries and are receiving treatment at the time of writing. Their cameras were reportedly smashed to stop them from covering the incident. Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai released a video with an appeal for peace. “Whatever the issue is, we will investigate it, but vandalism is not the solution. We have deployed additional forces. I have given cops a free hand to  handle the situation. However powerful the guilty are, we will take action. But people must not take the law into their hands." Meanwhile, MLA Srinivas Murthy has sent out a video message appealing for calm. "Hello, this is Srinivas Murthy from Pulikeshi Nagar. I request our Muslim friends, for the mistake of some miscreants, let's not fight. Whatever the fight, we're brothers. Whoever has made a mistake, let's teach them a lesson through legal means. We will also stand with you. Whoever has made the mistake, we will take steps to teach them a lesson. I request our Muslim kin to please remain peaceful. I will also stand with you. Cong MLA appeals for peace. #EastBengaluruViolence pic.twitter.com/JL7BTpf4uS — Dhanya Rajendran (@dhanyarajendran) August 11, 2020 The Week reported that Congress Chamrajpet MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan arrived at the DJ Halli police station and wanted the MLA's kin arrested.  "The community is furious and the situation is going out of control. I am at the police station along with religious leaders of our community to file the complaint. We will stage a protest tomorrow," said Zameer Ahmed. Horrible situation in Pulakeshinagar after the attack on our MLA @AkhandaSrinivas house and the Kaval Byrsandra Polcie satiation. Whatever the provocation nobody can take law into their own hands and destroy public property. First priority is to bring things under control. — Dinesh Gundu Rao/ದಿನೇಶ್ ಗುಂಡೂರಾವ್ (@dineshgrao) August 11, 2020 Mufti PM Muzammil Sab of Jamiat Ulema I Hind appeals for peace after violence erupted over a controversial SM post pic.twitter.com/FqVf7Xu8bx — Soumya Chatterjee (@Csoumya21) August 11, 2020 This is a developing story.

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BBMP to start 2 more COVID Care Centres instead of adding beds to BIEC

Coronavirus

The Bangalore International Exhibition Centre is the largest such facility in the country with a potential capacity of more than 10,000 beds. Currently, it has 1,500 beds.

Soumya Chatterjee

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has decided to open up two more COVID Care Centres in light of daily increase in COVID-19 cases being recorded in the city. This means that BBMP will not increase the capacity of the existing COVID Care Centre set up at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre for the time being. BIEC is the largest such facility in the country with a potential capacity of more than 10,000 beds. Currently, it has 1,500 beds. Rajendra Kataria, senior IAS officer in-charge of these facilities, told TNM that the idea behind not expanding BIEC or at other non-medical venues is to allow businesses to open up as quickly as possible when they can. “Today only we have added one 300-bed facility at the Bangalore University Jnana Bharathi campus and we can expand it further if needed. This building was not being used even prior to the pandemic so we can continue functioning without disrupting any other work. Another such facility will be added tomorrow. Other facilities at medical and paramedical institutions can be increased, though we may have to discontinue some facilities as colleges and universities might soon open up,” he told TNM. He added, “Right now, at the COVID Care Centres, 25% of the daily cases we are getting are the new patients, but at the same time we are seeing almost a similar or a slightly lesser number of discharges. So, when we feel that there is a situation where we need to expand BIEC, we will take a call.”  “There are not many empty beds other than the COVID Care Centre at BIEC, so there is no question of shutting down these facilities. BIEC is one of the biggest facilities, and there are more than 700 more beds available there. So, we are trying to fill all the other facilities before sending any patient there. Based on the trend, we will decide if there is a need to arrange more beds at BIEC,” Sarfaraz Khan, BBMP Joint Commissioner and member of the CCC Task Force told TNM. As of date, Bengaluru has 33,070 active coronavirus cases. At present more than 80% of the city’s caseload are asymptomatic patients who can either opt for home isolation or get admitted in government or private COVID Care Centres. Other than that, there are COVID Care Centres set up by many resident welfare associations and apartment complexes. According to the real-time database, 3,346 out of 4,276 beds at these government-run facilities are occupied.  However, officials claimed that they have identified venues where ad-hoc facilities can be set up swiftly across the eight zones in the city in case of an emergency situation.

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Meet Gombe Mane, the group of sculptors behind the viral statue of Karnataka woman

Human Interest

A businessman from Koppal commissioned the statue of his late wife from Sridhar Murthy’s Gombe Mane in Bengaluru.

Theja Ram

Just a day ago, visuals of the life-like statue of a woman sitting on an ornate white sofa went viral on social media. The statue was installed by 57-year-old Srinivas Murthy from Koppal, in memory of his late wife MVK Madhavi after her unfortunate demise three years ago. The striking semblance of the statue to a living human being left people speechless. The intricate craftsmanship was from the artisans at Bengaluru’s famous Gombe Mane. Read: Unable to bear a housewarming without his late wife, Karnataka man installs her statue Run by renowned sculptor M Sridhar Murthy, Gombe Mane was started only in 2017. Sridhar, who hails from a lineage of sculptors, talks animatedly about his ancestors, many of whom he claims were artisans in courts of Mysuru kings. “We’ve been in this business for over 200 years now. My grandfather used to tell us stories about our family history and how our ancestors were sculptors in Hampi during the Vijayanagara empire,” Sridhar recounts. Picture courtesy: Sridhar Murthy Picture courtesy: Sridhar Murthy Sridhar claims that his great grandfather, Thippaji, was a noted artist in the court of Tipu Sultan. “When Tipu Sultan visited Shikaripur in the late 1700s, my great grandfather was just 12 years old. He painted the king’s procession and sent it to him. My grandfather told us that Tipu was so impressed that he commissioned his portrait from my great grandfather, who painted two identical ones. One was given to Tipu and one was kept at home. We still have that painting with us. After Tipu’s death, my great grandfather went on to become an artist in Mummudi Krishnaraj Wodeyar’s court,” Sridhar adds. Picture courtesy: Sridhar Murthy From civil engineer to sculptor A civil engineering graduate, Sridhar remembers feeling listless after college. His true passion was in art and he decided to apprentice under his father Kashinath. Native to Shivamogga district’s Shikaripur, Sridhar studied fine arts in Bengaluru’s Chitrakala Parishad in the late 80s whilst simultaneously apprenticing under his father, who was then popularly known as Shilpi Kashinath. “My father was a very renowned sculptor. He was the one who did most of the work on the Shiva statue in Murudeshwar. My father received the Janakachari Award and the Rajyotsava Award for his work. He was trained by my grandfather while my grandfather himself learnt the art from his father Parashuramappa, who was also a celebrated sculptor of his time. We come from a family of painters and sculptors,” Sridhar Murthy tells TNM. Sridhar’s attention to detail and dedication to researching every element has gained him a reputation of being a perfectionist. “I was sculpting along with my father, but in 2000 he died of a heart attack. Before that, I was just a sculptor in his factory. Suddenly I had to take up all the responsibility and live up to my father’s reputation,” Sridhar recalls. Sridhar says that after his father’s demise, he continued sculpting the statue of Shiva and completed the work in late 2000. It was installed at Murudeshwar in 2004. Word of his exceptional work spread and soon he was commissioner to sculpt many statues by the Karnataka Tourism Department. He is also noted for his work along with his father on the statue of Shiva at the temple located behind Kemp Fort in Bengaluru. “People began recognising my art and I began receiving a lot of orders to sculpt huge statues,” Sridhar says. Among the many sculptures that he has carved include the Basaveshwara statue in Gadag. The statue sits in the middle of a lake and is one of Sridhar’s proudest achievements. With his success, he began receiving commissions from across the country. He sculpted the 85 ft statue of Shiva in Sikkim’s Solophok Centre and the 85 ft Hanuman statue in Chaitanya City in Madhya Pradesh. The Central government commissioned his services to install the bronze statue of Basaveshwara in London. Passing on the knowledge Sridhar and his family moved to Bengaluru in 2010 and rented a house in JP Nagar. At the time, Sridhar was scouting for plots of land to set up a factory and found the perfect site in Peenya. He constructed a home and also a factory adjacent to it, where all the sculpting work is carried out. “We have apprenticeship programmes where we train around 1,000 artisans every year. It is a one or two year apprenticeship programme. We are more than happy if they decide to work for us after the training, but the reason for starting the school is so that others can also start their own business and make a name for themselves,” Sridhar says. While the factory was kickstarted in late 2011, Sridhar says that the area surrounding his house was popularly known as Gombe (doll) factory. Christened by the locals, he decided to market his business better and Gombe Mane was thus formed in 2017. “Since the locals already knew it as Gombe factory, we decided to name the company Gombe Mane. The biggest challenge for us is to keep up with new forms of sculpting, using new materials and experimenting with it,” he says. In 2018, on a trip to Singapore Sridhar visited the Madame Tussauds wax museum. Impressed by the life-like statues, he decided to experiment with wax statues. However, he was stuck with a conundrum – how to make a statue that is more durable and requires lesser maintenance? “Wax statues need to be installed in temperature controlled environments. The maintenance costs are too high. The first one I did was of Siddalingeshwara Swami of Tontadarya Mutt in Gadag. That’s when my friend and sculptor Anand suggested we begin research and development into making statues with different materials. Hailing from Belagavi, Anand studied at the Davangere School of Arts,” Sridhar adds. It was then that the two friends decided to use silicone, which can withstand high temperatures. However, the material is extremely flexible and could not be used on its own. “We decided to use fiberglass as a skeleton for the silicone. First a mould is made with clay or plaster of paris and then the fiberglass is poured over the mould to set. We use this as the skeleton and add the sculpted silicone on top of the fiberglass. That’s what we did for Srinivas in Koppal,” Sridhar says. With the challenges of using new materials and constantly evolving sculpting techniques, Sridhar hopes to chisel out “realistic art”. “Change is constant and as an artist, adopting new technologies and materials for sculpting is challenging but it pays off when we create something beautiful,” he adds.

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