Over 20,000 trees to be cut for proposed Bengaluru-Chennai expressway

Environment

The removal of trees will be in Kolar and Bengaluru Rural districts, according to the project’s EIA report.

TNM Staff

PTI : Image for representation

20,748 trees in Karnataka will be cut down for the proposed Bengaluru-Chennai eight-lane expressway in the first phase of the project, the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report of the project has stated. This phase covers 71 km of the total 330 km length of the expressway, stretching from the edge of Bengaluru to Bethamangala near Mulbagal in Kolar district. The biggest loss of trees is in the dry region of Kolar, where 16,049 trees, including 9,805 horticulture trees, are located in the 'right of way' (ROW) of the road. Neighbouring Bengaluru Rural district is set to lose 4,699 trees, including 2,837 horticultural trees. The contents of the EIA report were published by Deccan Herald. In an earlier version of the EIA published in 2019, it was estimated that 22,505 trees in Kolar and 4,699 trees in Bengaluru Rural district would be culled to make way for the expressway. This included tree species like Ashoka, neem, silver oak, hebbevu, teak, gobbali, honge, acasia, nelli and more. The EIA also mentioned that the primary tree species to be cut will be eucalyptus trees. Phase 1 of the project also covers 72 villages, and over 5,000 families will be affected by the acquisition of the 1,890 acres of land needed for the construction of the expressway. The National Highway Authority of India had earlier sought clearance from the Environment Ministry in 2018 for the project. Apart from the first phase of the project focused in the Karnataka limits of the expressway, it will also see further trees cut in Tamil Nadu. The project will also build a route to Kolar Gold Fields in Kolar district. The development comes months after it was revealed in a draft EIA report that the peripheral ring road project in Bengaluru will lead to the removal of over 33,000 trees. This number is much higher than the Bangalore Development Authority's (BDA) repeated assertions that the project needed the removal of only 200-500 trees. The BDA had argued erroneously for over four years that the environmental damage due to the project was minimal.   

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Bengaluru drugs case: Son of former Congress minister arrested from Goa

Bengaluru drugs case

Darshan Lamani is the son of ex-Minister Rudrappa Lamani who was part of the Siddaramiah cabinet.

TNM Staff

The Central Crime Branch of police in Bengaluru on Monday arrested the son of a former Karnataka Minister in connection with a drug case from Goa. The accused has been identified as Darshan Lamani who is the son of ex-Minister Rudrappa Lamani of the Congress. According to police, Darshan was sheltering two other accused Hemant and Suneesh who were purchasing drugs online through the darknet and supplying them to other drug users. All the three have now been taken in police custody. Police said that they had unearthed the drug trafficking network by November 5 and had managed to arrest another drug trafficker who was connected to them with 500 gm of hydroganja which was shipped to him from a foreign country. It was only probing that case that the police found links to Hemant and Suneesh and subsequently Darshan. Sandeep Patil, Bengaluru Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) who heads the CCB said that they are trying to get the finer details of the racket’s operations and find out Darshan’s exact role.  Rudrappa, a leader from Haveri district was a minister in the erstwhile Congress government in the state led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. He was the Minister of the Muzrai (Religious Endowment) and Textiles before serving as a Minister of State for the same department. Monday’s arrests come as police in Bengaluru have been making multiple arrests related to drug trafficking (under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act.) including those involving high profile celebrities. Notably, two well-known actors of the Kannada film industry Sanjana Galrani and Ragini Dwivedi who were arrested in September are still in jail. They were arrested on allegations of consuming and supplying drugs at parties. In connection with the same case, police are behind businessman Aditya Alva, the brother-in-law of Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi who has so far evaded arrest.

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Pandemic on course to overwhelm U.S. health system before Biden takes office

The country’s health care system is already buckling under the load of the resurgent outbreak that’s approaching 10 million cases nationwide.

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Bengaluru reports 1,579 new COVID-19 cases, most from Yelahanka and west zone

Coronavirus

Bengaluru has a positivity rate of 10.25%, a recovery rate of 93.61%, and a death rate of 1.13%.

TNM Staff

Image for representation. PTI

Bengaluru reported 1,579 new COVID-19 cases, along with 1,165 recoveries and 11 deaths, per the November 8 official bulletin. This marks the eighth day in a row that the city has recorded less than 2,000 new coronavirus cases. A majority of the positive cases were from Yelahanka and West Zone (16% each), followed by East zone (15%), South zone (14%), Bomannahalli (13%), RR Nagara (11%), Mahadevapura (11%) and Dasarahlli (4%). Bengaluru has a positivity rate of 10.25%, a recovery rate of 93.61%, a death rate of 1.13% and an active case rate of 5.26%. A total of 34,06,922 tests have been done, with 55,416 being done on November 7 alone. Karnataka, meanwhile, reported 2,740 new cases of COVID-19 and 22 related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 8,46,887 and the death toll to 11,391, the Health Department said late on Sunday night. The day also saw 2,360 patients getting discharged after recovery. As on Sunday, cumulatively 8,46,887 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which include 11,391 deaths and 8,01,799 discharges, the Health Department said in its bulletin. It said that out of 33,678 active cases, 32,794 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 884 are in Intensive Care Units (ICU). According to the Health Department officials, the COVID-19 media bulletin was delayed on Sunday due to technical issues. Out of the 22 deaths reported on Sunday, Bengaluru had the highest (11), followed by Ballari (three), Belagavi, Dharwad and Mysuru (two each), and Dakshina Kannada and Haveri (one each). Most of the COVID-19 victims either had a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) or Influenza-like illness (ILI). Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Mysuru accounted for 135, Mandya 111, Chitradurga 106, Hassan 95, Dakshina Kannada 78, Dharwad 60, followed by others. The Bengaluru urban district tops the list of total positive cases, with a total of 3,49,327 infections, followed by Mysuru (48,755) and Ballari (37,673). Among the discharges as well, Bengaluru urban topped the list as a total of 3,26,989 patients were discharged following recovery. This is followed by Mysuru (46,712) and Ballari (36,514). A total of 87,38,226 samples have been tested in Karnataka so far, out of which 1,17,345 were tested on Sunday alone, and 26,811 among them were rapid antigen tests. (With PTI inputs)

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Three female cops in Mangaluru booked for allegedly assaulting minor girl

Crime

The girl, a first-year pre-university student, had filed a complaint against a man who was allegedly harassing her and asking her to marry him.

TNM Staff

A first information report (FIR) has been registered against three female police personnel in Karnataka’s Mangaluru for allegedly assaulting a minor girl who sought action against a man for allegedly harassing her, the police said on Sunday. The FIR was registered against the personnel attached to the Bajpe police station on November 5 based on a complaint by the girl’s parents. The girl, a first-year pre-university student, had filed a complaint against a porter, whom she had befriended on a social media platform. In the complaint, she alleged that the man was stalking her and forcing her to marry him. He had also threatened to create problems at her residence with the support of certain outfits after her parents told him to stay away from her.  The girl and her parents filed a complaint with the Bajpe police station on November 3. However, the police did not register a complaint and the girl was allegedly assaulted by the police officers. Rakshita and two other women constables allegedly hit the girl on her legs, hands and waist at the police station. They also verbally abused her, the girl alleged as per The Hindu.  Her parents later filed a complaint with the city police commissioner about the assault, after which the FIR was registered. The girl was admitted to the Wenlock Hospital where she is undergoing treatment while an FIR was registered against the police personnel under sections 323 (causing voluntary hurt), 324 (causing hurt with weapons or means) and 504 (insult) of the Indian Penal Code.   Dakshina Kannada Child Welfare Committee chairman Renni D'Souza has sought details on the case from the police on the issue, official sources said. A few Congress leaders, including MLC Ivan D'Souza, urged the Mangaluru Commissioner to take action against the police personnel.   

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New record high for U.S. coronavirus cases Saturday

It marked the fourth day in a row that new cases topped more than 100,000.

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'Don't make statements over CM candidate': K’taka Congress warns members

Politics

The tenure of the current BJP government is till 2023.

PTI

The disciplinary committee of Karnataka Congress has urged its leaders and workers to desist from making public statements about the party's future state leadership after some of them aired divergent views on who would head the government if the party comes to power. Expressing concern over such discussions in public, the committee felt it would be advisable to leave this matter to the time when the question of leadership would arise, a party release said here on Sunday. Recently, a few leaders had issued statements proposing names of party's state unit president DK Shivakumar and legislature party leader Siddaramaiah as their Chief Ministerial candidates on coming to power. The tenure of the current BJP government is till 2023. "In a meeting held on November 5, the KPCC Disciplinary Action Committee noted with concern the differing views being expressed by leaders of the party on the question of future leadership of the legislature party," Committee Chairman K Rahman Khan said in the release. He said that the committee requested all the elected representatives, leaders, office-bearers and workers of the party to desist from such public statements in the interest of party unity. "It would be better if party leaders and workers engage themselves in organising the party and work with an aim to bring the party to power in the interest of our state," Khan added. Former minister and MLA BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan had recently said Siddaramaiah will be the Chief Minister once again while a few of his party colleagues, including Rajya Sabha Member GC Chandrashekhar, MLA Sowmya Reddy, and Hanumantharayappa had reportedly claimed that Shivakumar will occupy the top post on Congress coming to power. Declining to comment on him being projected as the next chief minister by some party colleagues, Shivakumar had said "first, our party should come to power. Then, the high command and legislators will decide who the CM should be...." 

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