Doing bike stunts in Bengaluru? Cops to slap Rs 2 lakh fine on repeat offenders

Crime

Similarly, persons who tamper with their bike silencers will be penalised with a fine of Rs 50,000 for a second offence.

TNM Staff

Representational image

In an attempt to rein in illegal stunts performed by bikers in Bengaluru, the city traffic police have increased the penalty to Rs 2 lakh if anybody is caught doing stunts for the second time. Similarly, offenders who are caught for the first time will submit an undertaking before the jurisdictional Deputy Commissioners of Police under Section 107 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure), reported The Hindu. Earlier, offenders were fined Rs 2000 which they had to pay in court and the police would recommend suspension of their driving licence and their vehicles would be seized. Similarly, persons who tamper with their bike silencers will be penalised with a fine of Rs 50,000 for a second offence. Even garage owners who modify these silencers will be penalised, police said. The Times of India reported that for the first time in the city’s history, police booked 28 such illegal stunt performers and made them sign a bond of Rs 2 lakh each. The report said that four garage owners too, were booked under section 110 of CrPC for abetment. The same report quoted Joint Commissioner of Traffic Police, Ravikanthe Gowda as saying that a special drive by the police caught 48 stunt riders and booked them under IPC (Indian Penal Code) section 279 (rash and negligent driving) for wheelies and drag racing. Among them, 28 were also booked under Section 107 of the CrPC for risking others lives by performing stunts in crowded places. These decisions to levy steep fines came after Police Commissioner Kamal Pant chaired a meeting over the issue of rising accidents due to these stunt riders. Earlier too, traffic police had carried out drives against modified silencers which create loud noises. According to the Motor Vehicles Act, if a vehicle's silencer produces over 80 decibels noise, it is considered to be causing noise pollution.

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Parts of Bengaluru to see no sale of liquor till Wednesday due to MLC elections

Prohibition

he areas include HSR Layout, Koramangala, Electronic City, Jayanagar, RR Nagar, Devanahalli, Malleshwaram, Hebbal and KR Puram among others.

TNM Staff

Representational image/PTI

Sale and consumption of liquor has been prohibited in parts of Bengaluru city from Monday to Wednesday for the biennial MLC elections in the Graduates' and Teachers' constituencies on October 28, police said. With this, all liquor vendors, pubs and bars will remain closed till midnight of Tuesday in designated areas. All these establishments will start functioning only from Wednesday. The areas include HSR Layout, Koramangala, Electronic City, Jayanagar, Hanumanthangar, VV Puram, RR Nagar, Vijayanagara, Devanahalli, Amruthahalli, Yelahanka, Malleshwaram, Subramanya Nagara,Hebbal, KR Puram and Kengeri among others. "Sale, consumption and procurement of all types of liquor are prohibited from October 26 evening to October 28 midnight in the Bangalore Graduates' and Teachers' constituencies where bye-elections are due on Wednesday for the state Legislative Council," ordered city police commissioner Kamal Pant. The bye-elections are being held in two Graduates' and two Teachers' segments in Karnataka to fill vacancies after the term of the incumbent members lapsed in June. The vacancies are in the state's South East Graduates and West Graduates' segments and Bangalore Teachers' and the state's North East Teachers' constituencies. "The ban on liquor is to prevent anti-social elements taking advantage of the situation after consuming it and indulging in acts of violence that will disrupt free and fair polling," said the order. In all, 40 candidates, including Independents and members of the ruling BJP and opposition Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) are in the fray. The counting of votes will take place on November 2. In the 75-member Council, the BJP presently has 28 seats, followed by Congress with 27, JD-S with 14, one Independent and one chairman, while four are vacant. Bye-elections to two Assembly segments in the city's Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Sira in Tumakuru district are also being held on November 3 to fill vacancies. Vote count for the Assembly bye-polls is on November 10.

Body 2: 

(inputs from IANS)

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If all goes well, Bengaluru will have a suburban train to airport within 3 years

Transport

The three-year deadline given by the Union government is significant as many activists were fearing delay.

Soumya Chatterjee

Representational image/Pixcy.com

To the satisfaction of those who have been advocating for sustainable transport in Bengaluru, the union government has asked for the dedicated suburban rail connection between the city to the airport to be completed ready within three years. The Railway Board and Ministry of Railways has issued a sanction letter to the K-RIDE (Karnataka Rail Infrastructure Development Company, implementing rail department) and state Chief Secretary to this effect earlier this month. This means that if all goes according to plan, as per the original timeline of the project, one can hop on a train from the city to the airport by end of October 2023, Amit Garg, Managing Director of K-RIDE, confirmed to TNM. Notably, the Bengaluru City (Majestic/KSR)-Devanahalli (Airport) line is connected with the metro at Yeshwantpur and Majestic. Sources said that the work would not be delayed much given there is very less land to be acquired for the project. Currently the airport can be reached only through the existing road networks and BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) being the only mode of public transport for people, other than taxis. Once this suburban rail corridor is ready, it will be the cheapest and the fastest mode of transport to the airport, especially during peak traffic hours. This corridor is also touted to free up Bengaluru’s escalating vehicular traffic. The three year deadline is significant as many activists were fearing that vested interests would want to delay work on this corridor. Rajkumar Dugar, convenor of Citizens for Citizens (C4C), explained, “Out of all the four corridors, the one from City to Devanahalli (including Airport) must be taken up on a war-footing because it is the most-needed corridor and will have a significant impact on Bengaluru's traffic congestion. This corridor has the least private land acquisition, which obviously means it can be completed faster.” He added, “The peak hour demand on this corridor will be the highest of the four corridors, mainly because footfalls at airport are set to double in a year when Terminal 2 becomes functional.” Rajkumar Dugar, convenor of Citizens for Citizens (C4C), explained, “Out of all four corridors, the one from City to Devanahalli (including Airport) must be taken up on a war-footing because it is the most-needed Corridor and will have a significant impact on Bengaluru's  traffic congestion and all its consequences. This corridor has the least private land acquisition, which obviously means it can be completed faster.” He added, “The peak hour demand on this corridor will be the highest of the four corridors, mainly because footfalls at Airport are set to double in a year when Terminal 2 becomes functional.”  He argued that even if metro to Airport work starts now, it will take at least six years to complete the 60 km from Silk Board Junction to K R Puram to Hebbal to Airport Terminal. “Bengaluru cannot afford to wait so long,” he said. The rest of the three corridors of the dedicated suburban rail project namely a) Byappanahalli-Yeshwantpur- Chikkabanavara b)Kengeri-Cantonment-Whitefield c) Heelalige-Byappanahalli- Rajanukunte should be made ready within six years, the same sanction order said. It may be recalled that the union government earlier in October did not officially announce the approval of the much delayed suburban rail project, due to the model code of conduct put in place due to the November 4 byepolls. A rail connection using the existing rail infrastructure of South Western Railway has been recently made ready as a stop-gap measure by the Kempegowda International Airport authorities by setting up a halt station. The station which is 5 km away from the airport terminal will be serviced by shuttle buses. This rail connection will primarily benefit the hundreds of staff working in the airport round the clock. While the station is ready, train operations from the city to the airport halt station did not start operating awaiting a nod from the Railway Board.

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SC dismisses UB group's plea against winding up to pay Kingfisher airlines dues

Crime

The consortium of banks led by the SBI have so far recovered Rs 3,600 crore, and are yet to recover Rs 11,000 crore from Mallya and United Breweries Holdings Limited.

IANS

PTI File image

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by liquor baron Vijay Mallya's United Breweries Holdings Limited (UBHL) to challenge a Karnataka High Court order to uphold the winding up of the company for recovery of dues payable by Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. A bench headed by Justice UU Lalit declined to entertain the appeal filed by UBHL. The top court thus affirmed the winding up of the 102-year-old parent company of the UB Group. Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the consortium of banks led by the SBI, informed the top court that so far around Rs 3,600 crore have been recovered but Rs 11,000 crore is still needed to be recovered from Mallya and UBHL. Rohatgi contended that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) should not have attached the properties of the company as these were encumbered assets and thus banks had the first claim over the assets. The total dues of UBHL to its creditors, as per the Karnataka High Court order in February 2018, are around Rs 7,000 crore. On September 30, the United Breweries Holding Ltd had told the Supreme Court that it had offered over Rs 14,000 crore to various banks to settle its dues and that the company's assets exceeded its total debt. Senior Advocate CS Vaidyanathan, appearing for United Breweries, had submitted before the top court that since the company's assets exceeded the total debt, it was not the case wherein the company should be directed to wind up. Vaidyanathan insisted that the ED had attached many assets of the company, as a result of which none was available to the banks. This development comes after earlier this month, the union government said that  a "secret" extradition process is in place to bring fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya to the country

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Bengaluru family has been living in public toilet for 2 weeks after losing home in rains

Floods

71-year-old Rashmiamma, a Dalit woman, who was living in the public toilet died on October 23.

Theja Ram

Theja Ram

The stench of a week-old garbage surrounds the public toilet in Bengaluru's Lakkasandra. Its narrow passageway is dimly lit, and towards the tail end of the passage are a bed, a cupboard and household items owned by 71-year-old Dalit woman – Rashmiamma – who lived there since her house collapsed due to heavy rains. On October 23, Rashmiamma died – of a heart attack according to her family. She was narrating her ordeal to an activist, when she collapsed. Rashmiamma's house in Bengaluru's Lakkasandra after rains On the night of October 10, when heavy rains lashed several parts of Bengaluru, the houses in the Lakkasandra slum, located off Bannerghatta Road in Bengaluru, were flooded entirely. Rashmiamma was living with her 44-year-old daughter Geeta, her daughter-in-law Palaniamma and four grandchildren in a 10 ft x 10 ft structure. At night, the roof of her house collapsed. Rashmiamma and her family were compelled to move to a public toilet located next to the Ray Centre in Wilson Garden to take shelter.  The family's belongings in the public toilet At dawn on October 11, Geeta, who went to look for their belongings, found that all that remained of the house they had lived in for 15 years was rubble. She and Rashmiamma, fished out their meagre belongings from under the rubble and moved it to the public toilet. Despite multiple trips to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) ward office in Laljinagar, Rashmiamma was unable to get the civic body's officials to help her find shelter. On October 23, Rashmiamma, who was employed as a cleaner in the same toilet she was living in, was visited by a local activist. Recounting the tragic incidents that occurred after the rain, she broke down, and then collapsed. She was immediately rushed to the Venkateshwara Nursing Home, where she was allegedly refused treatment and later taken to a local clinic. "When we took her to the clinic, the doctors said she was dead. They said it was a heart attack," Geeta said.  Geeta, her four children and Palaniamma have been living in the same public toilet. And with no response from the BBMP, she fears that her children, aged between four and 11 years, may fall sick because of their living conditions. "My mother was a strong person. She worked at several marriage halls as a cleaner. After the pandemic, she lost those jobs. So she began cleaning public toilets to support the family," said Geeta, who is a domestic worker.  Geeta and her family members live inside one of the toilet rooms, while a bed is laid out in the corridor opposite the toilet area. "People use these toilets a lot and by living here, the water leaks a lot. I am scared something will happen to my children. I am begging BBMP to help us," Geeta said. The public toilet near Ray Centre, where the family lives After multiple failed attempts at gathering the Palike's attention, Geeta's neighbour Vannila, who is a member of Ambedkar Sangha, contacted the local MLA Uday Garudachar. The MLA and his associates visited the spot on October 17, and Geeta said that she was assured that they would help her relocate immediately after informing the BBMP. However, nine days since his visit, the family's condition is the same.   When TNM contacted the Bengaluru South Zone Deputy Commissioner Lakshmi Devi, she said that she had never heard of the incident pertaining to Rashmiamma or her family and that the MLA had not informed her of such an incident. "I have already informed my Assistant Revenue Officer to go and inspect the spot. We will work to relocate the family immediately,” she said.  Speaking to TNM, Uday Garudachar said that he had proposed to the residents of the slum that he would get apartments constructed for its residents. "They were opposed to it and they wanted individual houses. The houses constructed there are not planned properly and we were only trying to help.  I am meeting the BBMP officials tomorrow (Tuesday) to direct them to help out the family. We will ensure that the woman and her children find shelter soon," he added.  MLA Uday said that he held talks with Housing Minister V Somanna and discussed construction of permanent homes for the residents of the slum. “The problem is that we have to construct better houses in a different area. We have to hold talks with the people in this area before taking it forward,” he said.  Arun Prasad, an activist working with the community in Lakkasandra, said that the BBMP was offering the coronavirus pandemic as an “excuse” to not release funds for reconstruction of the houses collapsed in various slums in the city due to rains.  “The BBMP and the slum board must coordinate with each other and release the funds for construction of houses on priority. Especially those that were destroyed in the recent rains. They cannot hold COVID-19 as an excuse and withhold the fund release as this will lead to the poor people living without a roof in streets during the monsoon posing grave threat to their health during the pandemic,” he said. 

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Complaint filed against web series makers, accused of defaming Sudha Murty

Controversy

Nandini Layout Police said that no first information report (FIR) has yet been filed in connection with the complaint.

TNM Staff

FIle image | BYRAJA GOPAL VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

A pro-Kannada outfit in Bengaluru approached the police on Monday to file a complaint against a web series maker. Namma Karnataka Rakshana Vedike leader Lion Jayaraj Naidu in his complaint with Nandini Layout Police Station alleged that a web series called 'The Old Town Criminals', had made disgraceful remarks against Karnataka’s 'proud daughter' and Infosys Foundation Chairperson Sudha Murthy. In his complaint, Naidu sought legal action against Amar, the director of the show and Mohan, the producer. The web series which is on YouTube was released only on Tuesday. “Action should be taken against the filmmaker. In the series, Sudha Murty has been shown in poor light and has been portrayed as a person who does fake charity with her husband’s money. This is why there should be police action against the accused,” the summary of the complaint readss. Nandini Layout Police said that no first information report (FIR) has yet been filed in connection with the complaint as of now. Speaking to reporters, Naidu said, “He is speaking about a woman like Sudha Murty who has helped so many people, this is not right. That is why we filed a complaint against director Amar and producer Mohan.” He said that they have not informed Sudha Murty about the complaint. Other than serving as the chairman of the Infosys Foundation, Murthy is a successful author of popular Kannada novels like "Three Thousand Stitches", "House of Cards", "Dollar Bahu" and "How I Taught my Grandmother to Read". Her book "Dollar Bahu" was translated into English with the same title and made into a television soap in 2001. In 2017, she made a guest appearance in a Kannada film "Uppu Huli Khara" (Salt Sour Spicy), in which she played the role of a judge.

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Staffers flee HHS amid growing fears of a post-election exodus

If Trump loses, more political appointees could quit before January, leaving the health department understaffed in the midst of a pandemic.

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