Bengaluru airport sees steady increase in passengers, long queues expected

Travel

Although the increase in passenger traffic at the airport is minimal, KIAL said it is confident of recovering as the norms have been relaxed.

TNM Staff

Although the increase in passenger traffic at the airport is minimal, KIAL said it is confident of recovering as the norms have been relaxed.  The coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing travel restrictions have severely affected airports worldwide, and Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport was no exception, as its passenger count decreased drastically. However, the airport now reports that passenger count is slowly increasing. However, KIAL officials said that the increase in the number of passengers also means that there will be longer queues outside the airport. The wait time has also increased, as each passenger has to undergo thermal screening and sanitisation process before being allowed inside.  Prior to the pandemic and the lockdown, the daily passenger count was between 95,000 to 100,000 passengers per day. When travel restrictions were put in place in April and May, the ridership had stopped completely. In the last few months since domestic flights were allowed to operate, the daily passenger traffic is only 31.5% of what it used to be prior to the lockdown.  “Over the past six months, traffic has been severely impacted at all airports globally, and BLR Airport isn’t any different. In the pre-COVID-19 period, BLR Airport used to handle approximately 95,000-100,000 passengers daily. Over the past few months, as operations have recommenced and flights have increased, our daily passenger traffic has increased from approximately 10,000 daily passengers to about 30,000 daily passengers,” Kempegowda International Airport said in a statement.  Officials said that passengers have to arrive at least 2.5 hours ahead of schedule in order to go through the necessary checks. “The queues may seem longer because we have strict protocols to follow,” the official said.  In its statement, the airport, also said that it has recovered on the cargo shipment front. “We are hopeful that the traffic will slowly stabilise over the coming months as passenger confidence returns, and people begin to fly again. We strongly believe that flying is the safest mode of public travel and that our passengers will return. On the cargo front, we have steadily recovered to pre-COVID-19 levels at BLR Airport,” the statement added.

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Four arrested for IPL betting in Bengaluru as CCB raids three locations

Rs 5 lakh cash and six mobile phones have also been seized.

TNM Staff

The Central Crime Branch is conducting raids at three locations in Bengaluru and arrested four persons for betting on the Indian Premier League (IPL), reports said. Sandeep Patil, Bengaluru Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), tweeted on Tuesday that three cases have been detected. He said that four accused have been arrested and close to Rs 5 lakh was seized. “The betting was done through online apps,” he said.  In a brief statement, Patil said that betting was done using applications such as Lotusbook, Cric365day and Falcon. Raids were carried out at Puttenahalli, Konanakunte and Byatarayanapura police station limits and four people involved in it were arrested and Rs 4.91 lakh cash was seized and six mobiles phones were confiscated. Sports betting is illegal in Karnataka, as it is in most parts of India. The CCB reportedly raided the house of the sons of former Bengaluru underworld don-turned-activist Muthappa Rai's son Ricky in Sadashiv Nagar and Ramanagara. On September 23, the Central Crime Branch had said that six people had been arrested for allegedly betting on IPL matches and Rs 6 lakh was seized from them.  In a statement, the CCB said that the six were arrested from Banaswadi and Malleswaram areas in the city and two cases were registered against them. The punters were accepting bets from several people in Bengaluru on the basis of each ball, over, runs and on the victory and defeat of teams in the league.  On September 28, Deccan Herald reported that three stock brokers had been arrested by the CCB and Rs 9.5 lakh in cash and three mobile phones had been seized. They had reportedly been carrying out sports betting for many years.  These arrests come after the CCB formed a special team to keep an eye on illegal betting since the IPL began.

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Bengaluru records 2189 new COVID-19 cases, active cases at 54,112

Coronavirus

There are 18 containment zones in Bengaluru.

TNM Staff

Bengaluru recorded 2,189 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking the active cases in the city to 54,112. The most number of cases continued to be reported from Yelahanka and Bengaluru West at 16% each of all. The bulletin by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) showed that the city had 18 containment zones, up from 16 that it has been reporting for the last few days. Bengaluru East reported 15% of all cases, Bengaluru South at 14%, Bommanahalli at 13%, RR Nagara and Mahadevapura at 11% each, and Dasarahalli at 4%. On Monday, 2,972 persons were reported to have recovered, and 34 people died due to the novel coronavirus in the city. Bengaluru has a positivity rate of 13.88%. Cumulatively, the city has had 2,52,229 cases of COVID-19 so far while 1,95,015 have recovered, and 3,102 have passed away. The COVID-19 tally in Karnataka almost reached the 6.5 lakh mark on Monday with the addition of 7,051 fresh cases while the death toll due to the disease rose to 9,370 after 84 more people succumbed to the virus. The day also saw 7,064 patients getting discharged in the state after recovery and the active cases stood at 1,15,477. Cumulatively, 6,47,712 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 9,370 deaths and 5,22,846 discharges, the health department said in a bulletin. Of the active cases, 1,14,636 patients are in isolation and stable at designated hospitals, while 841 are in the intensive care units. Bengaluru Urban accounted for 34 of the 84 deaths followed by Mysuru (8), Dakshina Kannada (6), Ballari (5), Hassan and Tumakuru (4) and others. Most of those who succumbed to the virus had a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) or Influenza-like illness (ILI). On Monday, Mysuru clocked 910 cases, Hassan 537, Tumakuru 294, Chitradurga 276 while the remaining were scattered over other districts. Bengaluru Urban with 2,52,229 cases tops the districts followed by Mysuru 38,238 and Ballari 33,004. Among discharges too, Bengaluru urban tops the list with total 1,95,015 discharges, followed by Ballari 29,676 and Mysuru 29,208. A total of 53,27,463 samples have been tested so far, out of which 67,303 on Monday alone. Of them, 25,770 were rapid antigen tests.

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Manipal engineering student arrested with Rs 15 lakh worth of MDMA

Crime

According to police, he had ordered the drugs through the dark web and was in the process of selling the contraband to fellow students.

TNM Staff

Representational image

A final-year engineering student studying in Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) was arrested by Udupi police on Sunday after he was caught with possession of 488 MDMA tablets worth Rs 15 lakh. According to police, he had ordered the drugs through the dark web and was in the process of selling the contraband to fellow students.  The accused has been identified as 20-year-old Himanshu Joshi who was staying in a rented facility in Manipal and hails from Noida. He was caught red-handed when he was attempting to sell some of the contraband near Sheembra bridge. Along with the drugs, police have seized his mobile phone and two-wheeler.  Daijiworld reported that the arrest was made by a team led by Udupi Superintendent of Police Vishnuvardhan; additional police superintendent Kumarchandra; Internal Security Division police inspector Jai Shankar; DCP (Deputy Commissioner of Police) Udupi, Manjunath M Gowda; and personnel of Manipal station. SP Vishnuvardhan said they are probing the involvement of an entire drug racket and how the drugs were procured on the dark web. He said the police were unsure why students from outside were coming to the town even though colleges have not officially reopened. Following the arrest, the student has been suspended by the institution. Speaking with The Times of India, Srikant Rao said that Himanshu had come to college on his own. This development comes after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Bengaluru had recently arrested four members of a drug syndicate following detailed analysis of a parcel which was sent to India from the Netherlands in July this year. NCB had said this group was also selling drugs to students in Udupi. The four were arrested after the NCB in July had intercepted a parcel and seized 750 MDMA tablets. 

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Chain snatching suspect lynched near Bengaluru, four arrested

Crime

Two other accused are yet to be nabbed by the police.

TNM Staff

Police have arrested four persons for lynching a suspected chain snatcher off Magadi Road in the Ramanagara district just outside Bengaluru limits. The incident occured on September 28. Times of India reported that the chain snatching suspect, 44-year-old Rajesh who is a resident of Kumbalgodu was attacked by the four men near Moriodeyarapalya village which falls within Tavarekere Police Station limits.  After highway patrol police took him to a hospital in Tavarekere, he succumbed to his injuries on the same day, S Girish, Superintendent of Police Ramanagara, said. “There are two others who are presently absconding who also took part in the lynching,” Girish told TNM.   Girish said that the remaining accused will also be nabbed in the coming days as there are videos recorded by bystander of Rajesh getting thrashed in public. The four accused men along with others had chased Rajesh down after he was found speeding away on his bike. The accused suspected that he had snatched a chain from a woman named Sumalatha. He was caught by the locals at Chandrappa Circle and was beaten. They, however, did not recover the chain after assaulting him. He was then brought back to Moriodeyarapalya and was left lying on the road.   Police are trying to verify the details of what led to the assault. Girish confirmed that the chain is yet to be recovered. Police said that they have been told that Rajesh used to frequent the village to meet a woman. According to police, Rajesh has no criminal cases against him and was earning his living by doing odd jobs.  In a complaint to the police following the lynching, Sumalatha identified Rajesh as the one who snatched her gold chain.

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Karnataka prohibits strike by doctors, health staff amid rise in COVID-19 cases

COVID-19

The notification signed by Karnataka Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar said that it was issued in the interest of public health

TNM Staff

File image

The Karnataka government on Monday issued a notification prohibiting strikes, non-cooperation, disobeying or refusal of work related to health services in the state. The notification signed by Karnataka Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar said that it was issued in the interest of public health "...as Chairman of the State Executive Committee, I hereby prohibit strikes, non-cooperation, disobeying or refusal to work related to health services; non-submission of reports, non-compliance to the orders issued by the higher authorities by any public servant, health personnel..." Noting that the state government has declared COVID-19 as a pandemic, the order said. "Disobeying or refusal of the work... will amount to contravention of the provisions of the said Acts, Rules or Orders," the order said. Karnataka has witnessed multiple strikes out by doctors, paramedics and health workers on government jobs or hired on contractual basis, though treatment of patients never completely stopped. Contract health workers in Karnataka held a protest last week asking for pay parity. This came after a strike by ASHA workers in Karnataka which was mediated by Health Minister B Sriramulu with the promise of increasing the monthly wages to Rs 12000. National Health Mission (NHM) staff have also held a strike in the state in the past month. The decision also comes at a time Karnataka is reporting over 10,000 COVID-19 cases on a daily basis. The state is currently grappling with 1,15,574 active COVID-19 cases.  The capital city of Bengaluru is also regularly reporting over 4000 COVID-19 cases in a day Recently in mid-September, even medical officers and other officials had held strikes for a few days, which led to underreporting of daily number of cases, recoveries and COVID-19 deaths. The Karnataka Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA) was demanding that they be paid on par with the Union government health scheme.

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CBI, ED and I-T seem to love my son: DKS’ mother Gowramma on CBI raids

Controversy

Gowramma maintained that her sons Shivakumar and Suresh are innocent and have nothing to hide.

Theja Ram

PTI

DK Shivakumar’s mother Gowramma lashes out against the Central Bureau of Investigation, on Monday, after sleuths began search operations at 14 properties belonging to Shivakumar and his brother DK Suresh.  Speaking to TNM, Shivakumar’s mother said that her son is “innocent” and that she welcomes the CBI to probe “whatever they want”.  “The CBI, ED, I-T and others who investigate seem to love my son a lot. Let them take my son to their home and keep him there if they love him so much. Let them take me to their home too. As long as they give me food and water, it will be fine,” Gowramma said. She said that the investigating agencies have targeted her sons and that they would not find anything incriminating as her sons had “done nothing wrong”.  “For the last few years, these agencies have been following my sons. They (her sons) have nothing to hide. My sons have not done anything wrong. Let them interrogate. They didn’t issue any notice to me for this investigation,” Gowramma added.  The Enforcement Directorate, which was probing the money laundering case against DK Shivakumar had accused him of using his relatives including his mother and daughter as benamis to allegedly launder black money.  In October last year, Gowramma Kempe Gowda had recorded her statement to the ED in connection with the case. On Monday the CBI conducted a search operation at Shivakumar’s residence in Doddalahalli, his home constituency.  Sources said that the CBI is questioning Shivakumar about alleged disproportionate assets he possesses and how he funded the procurement of these assets. 

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