Bengaluru metro ridership sees growth, but hasn’t yet touched 10% of pre-pandemic days

Transport

While the ridership on September 9 was 14,438, the ridership on September 30 was 48,041.

Soumya Chatterjee

File image/PTI

After a lukewarm reception by users in the opening days, ridership is steadily increasing in Bengaluru Metro since services restarted close to six months after they were shut owing to COVID-19 restrictions. However, the average ridership is yet to surpass the 10% of what it was pre-pandemic. It may be recalled the first metro, after services resumed, ran on September 7 on the purple line and on September 9 on the green line. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited then restarted its trains in a phased manner, for the first time since closure in March. While the ridership on September 9 was 14,438, the ridership on September 30 was 48,041, which is more than thrice that of September 9. In the coming days, the metro authority expects the ridership to surpass the 50,000 mark. Incidentally, till the end of September, 48,041 is the highest ridership for the metro since the reopening of metro post-March. Compared to this figure, the average daily ridership for the two existing lines (purple and green) combined was around 4.5 lakh per day.   The average ridership of the last 15 days ending September (Sept 16-30) was 36,343 which is a little over 8% of the average ridership of the pre-COVID-19 times. Enforcing COVID-19 norms had meant that the metro trains can only run at 20% of their capacity at a time, BMRCL MD Ajay Seth had told TNM earlier. Moreover, considering low passenger footfall, trains are currently running only between 7 am and 9 pm (as opposed to 5 am to 11pm pre-COVID-19) with a peak hour frequency at five minutes and non-peak hour frequency at 10 minutes. In this period, there were two days (September 27 and 28) when the metro services had partially been curtailed between Nagasandra and RV Road Stations from 7 am to 9 pm.

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Community of parents to hold virtual expo on schools in Bengaluru

Education

The Bengaluru Schools' Education Initiatives (BSEI) event will have parents, students and educators aiding those looking for schools during the pandemic.

Abhinaya Kannan

Representative

Schools across the country have been shut for over five months while the coronavirus pandemic rages on. During these difficult times, making decisions about which schools are best for their children has not been an easy task for parents. As a solution to this, the Bengaluru Schools' Education Initiatives (BSEI) will be organising a unique online education exposition to offer respite to parents looking for schooling options during this time. The virtual event is scheduled to be held on October 16, 17 and 18.  The Bangalore Online Education Expo will bring together parents, students and educational institutions under the same virtual umbrella. The organisers say that this is probably India’s first-ever virtual education expo that is led and organised by parents. BSEI is an offshoot of Bangalore Schools, a Facebook community that was formed to offer support to parents, students and educators regarding subjects related to education. It was formed by Shweta Sharan in 2012 and has over 49,000 members.  They had also previously conducted an expo in January 2020 in Bengaluru, which was attended by more than 2,000 parents and had stalls put up by over 25 schools. Speaking to TNM, Shweta Sharan, who is one of the Directors of BSEI, said, “The feedback we got from parents is that it is better to organise it in October because that is when admissions typically open up in schools and people are on the lookout for schools.”    “Another reason is that we really wanted parents to come under one virtual roof and discuss many things that they are not able to discuss otherwise. For instance, the NEP (National Education Policy) 2020. The NEP is a huge deal for parents and where they can find information about it. We will have panellists talking about it and what it means for them,” she said.   The expo will allow parents and children to virtually visit the stalls set up by the schools and interact with them. It will also have competitions such as a family quiz, Let’s Jam (a one-minute talent show for children) and Inspire Talks (an event for children between 6-15 years where they can share their stories and inspire others). The expo will conduct a paper presentation contest for educators on the topic “Exploring the New Normal in teaching". “While admissions are definitely one of the reasons we wanted to have the expo, we also wanted it to be a space for the entire parent community to come together,” said Shweta. 

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Karnataka increases fines for not wearing masks in public places up to Rs 1000

Coronavirus

The fine is Rs 500 in rural areas and Rs 1000 in urban areas.

TNM Staff

PTI : Image for representation

The Karnataka government on Friday issued orders to increase the fine for not wearing masks in public places up to Rs 1000 in urban areas and Rs 500 in rural areas. The order was issued by state Chief Secretary Vijay Bhaskar along with the orders for Unlock 5.0 in the state and comes after the Medical Education Minister had announced the decision on Wednesday.  The fine for not wearing a mask in public was Rs 200 previously. According to the state government, urban areas are those areas governed by a municipal corporation. Karnataka has reported an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases recently. On October 1, Karnataka reported 10070 COVID-19 cases on Thursday which included 4853 cases in Bengaluru.  Lockdowns will remain in place in containment zones till October 31. The state government however specified that there are no lockdowns imposed outside of containment zones in the state. There is also no restriction on intra-state or inter-state movement and no registration or e-passes needed for the same.  The Karnataka government also allowed cinema halls in the state to be opened from October 15 with 50% capacity. Schools in the state will remain closed until October 15 following which a decision will be taken.  Swimming pools can be used for training purposes by sportspersons from October 15 while entertainment parks and other similar places can also open from the same day with SOPs in place. The state government order also states that the rules of maintaining six-feet physical distance in public will continue and also asks residents to work from home as much as possible.  Karnataka is currently grappling with 1,10,412 active COVID-19 cases which includes 49475 cases in Bengaluru. 

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Two critically injured after accident and fire at Bengaluru KPTCL plant

Incident

According to the DCP, the incident occurred in the early hours of Friday morning and 15 officials are currently receiving treatment in a nearby hospital.

TNM Staff

As many as 15 officials working at the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) plant in Yelahanka in Bengaluru were injured after a fire following a gas leak in the plant on Friday. Two of the officials at the plant were critically injured in the incident. Visuals showed injured workers from the plant seeking treatment in a nearby hospital following the fire. The incident occurred in the early hours of Friday morning in Yelahanka.  "It was a gas leakage which caused a fire at the plant. It was extinguished soon after when seven fire tenders rushed to the spot" said CK Baba, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru Northeast.  According to the DCP, the incident occurred in the early hours of Friday morning and 15 officials are currently receiving treatment in a nearby private hospital.  Two persons are critically injured and others suffered minor injuries including burn injuries, CK Baba added. DCP CK Baba and ACP Jayaram Gowda refuted reports that a blast occurred at the plant on Friday. Reports had earlier suggested that the gas leak had led to a blast on Friday morning, prompting a response from fire department officials.  The 350 MW gas-based power plant was built in Yelahanka near Puttenahalli lake area. 

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Is Bengaluru’s high COVID-19 caseload an apt measure of how the city is faring?

COVID-19

Experts say the number of positive cases is not a good marker to gauge the COVID-19 situation.

Soumya Chatterjee

Representational image/PTI

With the continuing rise in daily COVID-19 cases in Karnataka, the state crossed the six-lakh mark for cumulative positive cases on Wednesday. At the end of Wednesday, the number of cases in Karnataka and Bengaluru were 6,01,767 and 2,32,663 respectively. With this Bengaluru also has the second highest number of cases among Indian metros after Delhi while Karnataka has the third highest number of cases among states after Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. These unenviable milestones came after Tuesday, when both Bengaluru and Karnataka saw the highest ever daily increase of COVID-19 cases since the onset of pandemic on March 8. While statewide the number of cases rose by 10,453 for the day, in Bengaluru the cases rose by 4,868.  But experts say that while the situation is far from ideal, comparing the number of positive cases in isolation will paint a false picture of the situation. This is because higher positive cases may be a result of higher testing. Instead, epidemiologists say that the two metrics that should be compared are the positivity rate and the case fatality rate (CFR). While WHO recommends keeping the positivity rate to below 5%, the Union Government has aimed to bring CFR to below 1%.  Speaking with TNM, Dr Giridhar Babu, part of the Union government’s COVID-19 research task force on Epidemiology and Surveillance and also part of Karnataka’s Technical Committee, said no state or city should claim credit for recording a low number of cases. “Instead the testing strategy should be questioned if there are a low number of cases, as it is highly likely cases are being missed and this would lead to deaths. Now with restrictions mostly eased, it would be difficult to stop the rise in cases, so we should focus on saving lives and that can happen only when cases are detected early,” he said. He added India became a world leader in polio eradication following this strategy where surveillance measures were strengthened when districts did not report an expected minimum number of infections per unit population. Positivity rate of 1%  means 1 out of every 100 people tested is positive for the virus. Lower the positivity rate means lower the spread of the infection, experts consider. CFR on the other hand is the measure of the number of deaths per 100 positive cases.  Positivity, fatality  rate among cities (As of end of September) When it comes to the three top cities with high number of cases, Delhi even though it has the highest number of cases, the national capital has a lower positivity rate than Mumbai and Bengaluru. When it comes to mortality, Bengaluru fares best with the lowest CFR of 1.26% followed by Delhi’s 1.92%. Mumbai fares much worse at 4.35%.  Positivity, the fatality  rate among states (As of end of September) Among states, Karnataka and Andhra have a positivity rate of 12% as against Maharashtra, which is 20%. Andhra Pradesh has the lowest fatality rate with less than 1 death per 100 positive patients, while Maharashtra has a high fatality rate of 2.65%.

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Karnataka cabinet to re-promulgate controversial land, labour ordinances

Politics

The ordinances could not be passed in the legislative council as the ruling party does not have a majority.

PTI

File image

The Karnataka cabinet on Thursday decided to re-promulgate three controversial ordinances after the bills introduced to replace them could not get passed in the state legislative council during the recently concluded session of the Legislature, sources said. While the Industrial Disputes and Certain Other Laws (Karnataka Amendment) Bill 2020 that tweaks labour laws, was passed in the legislative assembly, it got defeated in the council by the united opposition of Congress and JD(S), as they enjoy a majority in the Upper House. The Karnataka Land Reforms (Second) Amendment Bill, 2020 and the Karnataka Agriculture Produce Marketing (Regulation and Development) (Amendment) Bill, 2020, also passed by the assembly, were not adopted by the Upper House as it was adjourned sine die on the intervening night of September 26 and 27. Official sources said as the ordinance promulgated earlier will lapse in six weeks after the legislature session, if a replacement bill to it is not passed by both the Houses, it has now been decided to re-promulgate the ordinances. While the amendments to Land Reform Act liberalises farmland ownership, the APMC amendment bill curtails the powers of local Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMC) and allows private individuals to start agricultural trading, if they hold a permanent account number (PAN). The bill that tweaks labour laws is aimed at making only those establishments that employ 300 or more people to seek the government's permission for closure, retrenchment or layoff. It also proposed to increase the overtime work of employees in any quarter from 75 to 125 hours. Farmer and labour organisations, also opposition parties, especially the Congress, had vehemently opposed the three bills calling them "anti-people" and had even called for a statewide bandh on September 28 opposing it. Incidentally, the Supreme Court earlier this week had passed an order in which the apex court quashed a Gujarat government notification which allowed factories to not pay overtime wages to workers amid the COVID-19 crisis.

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Congress not a party worthy of alliance: Ex-Karnataka CM Kumaraswamy

Politics

This statement by Kumaraswamy comes with the state going to bye-polls in two seats on November 3.

IANS

File image

aking a swipe at Karnataka Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah's recent remarks, former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said on Thursday that Congress is not a party worthy of an alliance as it has scant respect for coalition dharma. This statement by HDK comes with the state going to bye-polls in two seats on November 3 with Siddaramaiah clearing the air about the possibility of a Congress-JD(S) coalition. The HDK-ruled coalition government was dislodged from power within 13-months at the helm. The statement from HDK comes in the wake of Siddaramaiah on Wednesday openly opposing the idea of joining hands with the JD(S) again for the November 3 polls. Incidentally, both the seats are known to be Vokkaliga belts which is the core voter base of the JD(S). In fact in Sira, the bye-poll is being held as a result of the death of sitting JD(S) MLA B Sathyanarayana who passed away on August 4 at the age of 69 after prolonged illness. Taking to Twitter, Kumaraswamy said that those who had come to former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda's house to form an alliance in 2018 should not talk about joining hands during elections. "At least as far as I remember, JD(S) has not gone to anybody's house with its palms open asking for an alliance prior to elections or otherwise. It is always others who have come to our house asking for our help and I proudly assert that we did help them within our limits," he said without naming Siddaramaiah, who had been a vocal opponent of Congress having an alliance with the JD(S) since the beginning. Kumaraswamy had been cut-up with Siddaramaiah ever since the coalition government headed by him lost majority on the floor of the House last year, with as many as 17 legislators from both parties deciding to resign and cross over to the BJP.  Of these 17 legislators, belonging both to the JD(S) and the Congress, more than dozen were reportedly close aides of Siddaramaiah.

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