Biocon Foundation gives Rs 65 crore to Bengaluru Metro to build station

Infrastructure

The CSR wing of the Biocon group of companies signed an MoU to contribute Rs 65 crore towards the construction of the station.

TNM Staff

Bengaluru-based Biocon Foundation announced on Thursday that it had entered a partnership with the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to build the proposed metro station at Hebbagodi on Hosur Road. The foundation, which is the CSR wing of the Biocon group of companies, signed an MoU to contribute Rs 65 crore towards the construction of the station.  The MoU was signed by Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and BMRCL Managing Director Ajay Seth. Biocon Foundation announced that it will approach the Karnataka government to name the station 'Biocon Hebbagodi Metro Station'. The press release regarding the same said, "As a recognition of Biocon Foundation’s contribution to society, BMRCL will approach the Government of Karnataka jointly with Biocon Foundation for naming the Hebbagodi Metro Station as ‘Biocon Hebbagodi Metro Station’." Kiran Mazumdar Shaw said that the metro station will help ease traffic congestion on Hosur Road. “We are pleased to partner with BMRCL for the construction of the Metro station at Hebbagodi on Hosur Road. Through our contribution of Rs 65 crore, we are fulfilling our responsibility towards environmental sustainability by providing an alternate means of mobility for the citizens of Bengaluru. This project will help in easing traffic congestion by enabling greater use of public transportation," she said. Ajay Seth also welcomed the partnership with Biocon and said that BMRCL was looking to add 128 km of new metro networks in the next five years. “We are extremely happy to have Biocon Foundation for coming forth with their support for Sustainable Urban Development and Urban Transport. BMRCL is committed to and is working actively to add 128 km of new metro network in the coming five years,” he added. The Hebbagodi Metro station is part of the new 18.82 km-long metro line from RV Road to Bommasandra (Reach 5), being constructed under Phase II of the Bangalore Metro Rail Project at a cost of Rs 5,744 Crore. A foot bridge is also planned to be built on Hosur Road close to the station.  The development comes two years after the Infosys Foundation similarly came forward to provide funds for a metro station in Electronic City. Biocon had announced then that it would contribute for the station coming up at Hebbagodi. 

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Amazon India opens its largest specialised fulfilment centre in Karnataka

E-commerce

This comes ahead of Amazon India’s Great Indian Festival sale from October 17, which will go on for a month.

TNM Staff

Ahead of its month-long Great Indian Festival sale, Amazon India has announced that it is opening its largest specialized fulfilment centre in India at Kolar in Karnataka. With the storage capacity of more than 1.2 million cubic feet, Amazon said that the new fulfilment centre is specialised to store and manage customer orders from the large appliances and furniture category. With this infrastructure expansion, Amazon.in will now offer storage capacity of more than 4 million cubic feet across 4 fulfilment centres to its close to 35,000 sellers in Karnataka. The fulfilment centre was virtually inaugurated by Karnataka Chief Minister B.S Yediyurappa, along with Amit Agarwal, Senior Vice President, Amazon India and Akhil Saxena, VP, Customer Fulfilment Operations, APAC, MENA & LATAM, Amazon India and other members of Amazon India Leadership.  “The expanded fulfilment network will create thousands of work opportunities and further boost ancillary businesses in the State. At Amazon, we continue to invent on behalf of our customers and this festive season our priority is to ensure health and safety of our associates, partners and customers” said Akhil. Amazon India is set to host its Great Indian Festival sale from October 17, which will go on for a month. Prime members get early access on October 16. “The fresh investment by Amazon in India will create more job opportunities for local youth and also enable these MSMEs to sell their “Made-in-Karnataka” products all over India and the world,” CM Yediyurappa added. With this new centre, Amazon India has four fulfilment centres with more than 4 million cubic feet of storage space and three Sort Centres with more than 3 lakh square feet of sortation area in the state. The expansion in Karnataka is a part of the company’s plans announced in July 2020 to add 10 new Fulfilment Centres and expand 7 existing sites, across India.

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Man accused of murdering BJP Kodagu President shot dead outside his house

Crime

Sampath Kumar, who was accused of contracting the murder of BJP Kodagu district President balachandra Kalagi, was shot outside his residence.

TNM Staff

The prime accused in the murder of BJP Kodagu district President Balachandra Kalagi was shot dead outside his residence in Dakshina Kannada district's Sullia on Thursday. At around 7.30 am, unidentified assailants, who were waiting for the prime accused Sampath Kumar outside his residence in Shantinagar in Sullia, attacked him with machetes. The assailants fired two shots at point blank range before speeding away, the Sullia Police told TNM.  Dakshina Kannada SP BM Laxmi Prasad said that the shots were fired from a long-barrel weapon. Sampath Kumar aged 35 years, was going out of his when he was attacked with machetes. Police said that the machete had scored his torso, neck, left arm and head. Sampath's neighbours alerted the police when they rushed outside to find him in a pool of blood. The Sullia Police arrived and rushed him to the Sullia Government hospital, where he was declared brought dead.  Police said that prima facie, the wound to Sampath Kumar's head and the two shots proved fatal. "He was still alive when he was being taken to the hospital. He died on the way," the police said.  Sampath Kumar was accused of allegedly contracting the murder of BJP district President Balachandra Kalagi in March 2019. Sampath Kumar allegedly hired two other accused Hariprasad, a resident of Sampaje and a truck driver named Jagan from Madikeri to kill the BJP leader. The truck rammed into Balachandra's car on March 19. However, upon interrogation, the Madikeri Police found that it was allegedly a murder and not an accident. Police had found that Sampath Kumar and Hariprasad wanted to open a recreational centre and a bar in Sampaje in 2018. However, Balachandra Kalagi, who was the gram panchayat president of Sampaje, had not given them necessary permissions. The police had said in the chargesheet that this was allegedly the motive for Balachandra's murder.  Sampath Kumar was in prison for six months before the Karnataka High Court granted him conditional bail on September 9, 2019. Dakshina Kannada police say that they suspect Sampath Kumar's killers to be his acquaintances. "We suspect that the assailants knew Sampath Kumar's routine. Either they were his acquaintances or the assailants had surveilled his movements. We have learned that they were waiting for him to step outside," the police said. 

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Bengaluru records 5,000 new COVID-19 cases, active cases at 58,624

Coronavirus

According to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, 35,183 tests were carried out in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Bengaluru reported 5,000 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the cumulative active cases in the capital city to 58,624. The city continued to have 18 containment zones, a figure that has been unchanged in the last few days. A total of 2,057 recovered and 55 people succumbed to the novel coronavirus on Wednesday. Cumulatively, the city has had 2,62,241 COVID-19 cases, 2,00,426 recoveries and 3,191 deaths. According to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), 35,183 tests were carried out in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Karnataka on Wednesday reported its highest single-day spike of over 10,900 COVID-19 cases and 113 fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 6,68,652 and the toll to 9,574. The day also saw 9,832 patients getting discharged after recovery and the active cases stood at 1,16,153, the health department said. The number of samples tested in the state crossed the 55 lakh mark. On Wednesday a total of 1,04,348 tests were done, taking the cumulative to 55,24,302. Out of the 10,947 cases reported on Wednesday, 5,000 were from Bengaluru Urban alone. The previous biggest single-day spike was recorded on September 29 with 10,453 cases. Cumulatively 6,68,652 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 9,574 deaths and 5,42,906 discharges, the department said in its bulletin. Of the active cases, 1,15,312 patients are stable in isolation at designated hospitals, while 841 are in Intensive Care Units. Amid a spike in cases, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Thursday will chair a meeting with Deputy Commissioners, Zilla Panchayat CEOs, Police Superintendents and District Health officers of 10 districts that have high positive cases. Bengaluru Urban recorded 55 of the total of 113 deaths, followed by Mysuru (9), Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada (7), Hassan and Tumakuru (5), Kolar (4), Bagalkote and Ramanagara (3), Bengaluru Rural, Dharwad, Haveri and Udupi (2), and Belagavi, Bidar, Chamarajanagara, Chikkamagaluru, Kalaburagi, Kodagu and Vijayapura (1). Most of the deceased were either with a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) or Influenza-like illness (ILI), the bulletin said. Among the districts where new cases were reported, Bengaluru Urban accounted for 5,000 followed by Mysuru (979), Hassan (471), Uttara Kannada (462), Dakshina Kannada (447), Ballari (258), Tumakuru (250), Chitradurga (217), Udupi (209), Mandya (207), followed by others.] Bengaluru Urban topped districts in both positive cases and discharges — 2,62,241 and 2,00,426. Mysuru has 39,590 positive cases and Ballari has 33,515. In recoveries, Mysuru was second at 31,694, followed by Ballari at 30,153. As many as 48,658 samples were tested on Wednesday, using rapid antigen kits.

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Karnataka mulls installing sleep detectors in govt-run buses as safety measure

Transport

The devices will put emergency brakes if the driver does not respond to the alert system.

TNM Staff

File image

The Karnataka government on Wednesday said that it was looking at installing high-tech security equipment, in a phased manner, in all its state-run buses to reduce the number of road accidents. Speaking to reporters after chairing the high-level meeting of the state run transport corporations officers in Bengaluru, Deputy Chief Minister Lakshman Savadi, who holds charge of the Transport department, said that the device equipped with special sensors will initially warn the driver with a beep sound and red light in the event of him getting sleepy during driving and later slow down the vehicle and put emergency brakes to stop it altogether. He added that cars and other high end vehicles already come equipped with these devices in the market. "State run transport corporations are incurring additional expenditure of whopping Rs 100 crore due to accidents on various routes. As we know, most of these accidents take place due to drivers dozing off," he said. According to him, this was not just a problem existing in Karnataka but it is a worldwide phenomenon. "That is why several tech companies have come up with special sensor-based devices to alert the drivers who doze off. By deploying such devices, the state-run corporations not only save a lot of additional expenses but also make travelling safer for both staff and passengers," the Deputy CM explained. Karnataka operates its inter-state buses through Karnataka State Road Transport Corporations, North-East Karnataka Road Transport Corporation and North-West Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation while Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation operates local buses in the Bengaluru Metropolitan area. In one of the major accidents earlier this year, falling asleep on the wheel was attributed to the mishap where a total of 19 persons died when a Kerala-government bus travelling from Bengaluru towards Ernakulam collided with a container truck in Tirupur. 

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Woman delivers baby boy on board Indigo flight from Delhi to Bengaluru

Birth

On Wednesday evening, at around 7.40 pm, the baby was delivered prematurely on flight 6E 122.

Pooja Prasanna

A woman passenger delivered a baby boy on board an IndiGo flight that was travelling from Delhi to Bengaluru. On Wednesday evening, at around 7.40 pm, the baby was delivered prematurely on flight 6E 122. The airlines confirmed that both the baby and the mother are healthy.  “We just got information that a baby boy was born in our flight enroute 6E 122 Delhi - BLR. Flight landing at 19:40. All operations normal. Mother and child are healthy. Congratulations to all. Kudos to your training Team First Aid,” read an official statement from IndiGo airlines.  “We confirm that a baby boy was delivered prematurely on flight 6E 122 from Delhi to Bangalore. There are no further details available.” Sources however say that the woman was not yet 32 weeks into her pregnancy which is why the airlines allowed her to fly. When she went into premature labour, a senior gynecologist who was on the flight immediately helped her. Passengers on the flight have tweeted about how helpful and calm the crew over through the entire delivery. The baby and the mother were given a warm welcome by the airline crew and ground staff after they landed at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. Visuals showed the mother being taken to an ambulance in a wheelchair as the crew held posters reading ‘Welcome to namma Bengaluru’ and applauding.  Other photographs showed the baby boy, wrapped in a blanket, being held by several members of the crew including a pilot and a doctor inside the aircraft. Meanwhile, social media users are already speculating if the baby boy will get a lifetime free ticket on IndiGo flights. There have been two instances in the past of airlines giving lifetime tickets to a baby delivered onboard an aircraft. Back in 2017, Jet Airways had given free flight tickets for life to a boy born on one of its flights between Saudi Arabia and India. Budget carrier AirAsia, in 2009, offered the same to a Malaysian mother and her newborn. The Bengaluru airport meanwhile is just starting to recover from the pandemic lockdown. Airport authorities had recently told TNM that the passenger traffic has been steadily increasing, but it is still only 30% of what the traffic used to be pre-pandemic. Amazing scenes. Baby born mid-air on @IndiGo6E Delhi - Bangalore flight today, helped by the airline's crew.  Future IndiGo pilot perhaps. #aviation #avgeek #india ✈ pic.twitter.com/0rJm7B5suQ — Tarun Shukla (@shukla_tarun) October 7, 2020 Was on @indigo6E 122flight to BLR,woman gives birth to a baby boy mid-air,amazing team work of Indigo flight attdnts.Cabin crew is not just there to pour teacoffee in ur cups.Thy r well trained 2 handl any kind of situations on board wich includes child birth as well.@forever.6e pic.twitter.com/lcmfMZnc30 — Moses Marton (@MosesMarton) October 7, 2020

Body 2: 

Was on @indigo6E 122flight to BLR,woman gives birth to a baby boy mid-air,amazing team work of Indigo flight attdnts.Cabin crew is not just there to pour teacoffee in ur cups.Thy r well trained 2 handl any kind of situations on board wich includes child birth as well.@forever.6e pic.twitter.com/lcmfMZnc30

— Moses Marton (@MosesMarton) October 7, 2020

Proud Moments -

Woman gives birth to baby boy aboard IndiGo flight travelling from Delhi to Bengaluru

Kudos to our 6ecrew who can be anything @IndiGo6E  pic.twitter.com/tFosA0zoh1

— Chaithu_beardguy✈ (@6eChaithu) October 7, 2020

Indigo should give lifetime free domestic travel pass to the baby boy! https://t.co/tTLU8724lr

— Ronak Gohil (@RonakGohil19) October 7, 2020

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COVID-19 negative report mandatory for devotees at Tula Sankramana festival in Kodagu

COVID-19

The Tourism Department is yet to issue an SOP for tourists across the state.

TNM Staff

Representational image/PTI

The Karnataka Tourism Department on Wednesday said that it is yet to decide on whether all tourists visiting various places in the state would have to get a COVID-19 test report showing that they tested negative. However, Raghavendra, Additional Director of Tourism in Kodagu district, confirmed that the district administration has only made it mandatory for devotees attending the Tula Sankramana festival in Kodagu, which is slated to be held on October 17.  On Tuesday, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar held a meeting with the district administrative officials in Kodagu and suggested that tourists entering Kodagu and staying at hotels and homestays obtain a COVID-19 test 72 hours before arrival to show that they have not contracted the infection. While the government is yet to make the guidelines around it, it has decided that devotees at the festival will have to get the certificate. The festival is held at Talacauvery, the birthplace of River Cauvery. The Kodavas celebrate Tula Sankramana every year to pay respects to the river, which they believe is goddess Cauvery. Thousands of devotees visit the place on this day to witness the rise of the water in the form of a fountain. The district administration will have checkpoints 8 km away from the venue, where devotees would be screened for temperature and symptoms. They would also have to show their COVID-19 negative test reports before entering the venue. “Once the state government issues the SOP (standard operating procedure) for tourists, only then can we decide how to implement it,” Raghavendra said. He said that if COVID-19 test reports need to be submitted before entering hotels and homestays, the district administration would ask establishments to ensure that they comply with the directions. “We would then have to conduct inspection to see if these regulations are being followed,” he added. Officials with the Tourism Department told TNM that a meeting with stakeholders would be held and based on guidelines provided by the Union government, an SOP would be released shortly. 

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