Dakshina Kannada goes online to rein in illegal sand mining and transportation

Sand Mining

The app-based and online portal, SandBazaar, launched about a month ago and has listed over 100 licensed sand miners alongside the tariff chart and their modes of operation.

Harsha Raj Gatty

Image for representation

In an attempt to curb illegal sand mining in Dakshina Kannada, authorities in the coastal district have set up an online sand booking and monitoring system for delivering sand. The website, SandBazaar (http://bit.ly/2Ka7qPX about a month ago and has listed over 100 licensed sand miners alongside the tariff chart and their modes of operation. With the message, 'From shore to every door', buyers can book, track and get the sand delivered. The portal, which can also be accessed through an app, is operated by the District Sand Monitoring Committee (DSMC) and the sand is transported either from Mangaluru or Bantwal in Dakshina Kannada district. To get sand delivered, buyers have to visit the website, secure the login credentials with Aadhaar, which in turn will generate a six-digit OTP. Subsequently, the buyer has to specify the quantity, quality and the address where the sand has to be delivered. Speaking to reporters, Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil said that the portal will help maintain and provide facilities to genuine dealers and procurers of sand. "It will also disable arbitrary pricing of sand by the intermediaries and other kind of irregularities, and enable smooth operation of civil and commercial construction of work,” he said Meanwhile, intimation is generated both to the permit holder and the transporter of the respective area. The transporter who has 'accepted' to pick up the order will show the order to the concerned 'permit holder' to authenticate the loading of the sand. According to the officials, the sand transportation trucks are required to be GPS enabled. It will now be using the internet-based app, which will be directed to the delivery point of the sand. The DSMC can issue warnings to the truck drivers for delay in delivery, for repeated delays or poor coordination. It can even suspend or blacklist their services. At the time of writing, the website had received about 62 orders out of which 43 were in process. Nineteen orders had already completed their delivery trips. At present the cost per tonne of sand is pegged at Rs 3700, which is not inclusive of transportation charge (Rs 2000 for first 20 kilometers) and additional cost of Rs 50 per kilometre and other miscellaneous charges. While at present Google play store hosts PermitHolder-SandBazaar and VehicleOwner-SandBazaar, two separate platforms for stakeholders, officials say there is a plan to integrate the two on the same platform, along with a separate panel for ‘buyers’.   At its pilot stage, this has been implemented in the Mangaluru CRZ limits. The service will be expanded across the district soon. Story by Story Infinity (Subs and Scribes Media Ventures LLP)

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Fire breaks out at Bengaluru Airport, in-depth audit to probe cause

Accident

There was no harm to life or disruption to flight operations.

Soumya Chatterjee

Screengrab

A major fire broke out in the early hours of Wednesday at the Kempegowda International Airport premises in Bengaluru, triggering panic among passengers and staff. Fortunately, there was no loss of life or major injuries as a result of this mishap. The incident occurred at 6 am on Wednesday morning. Airport officials confirmed that there was no disruption to flight operations because of the fire. A spokesperson for Bangalore International Airport Limited (the company which runs the airport) said, "There was a fire-related incident at a food and beverage outlet, away from the terminal, at the Bengaluru airport campus in the early hours of Wednesday, May 29. Trained personnel on the scene extinguished the fire using fire fighting equipment.” “No one was injured in the incident and it had no impact on airport operations. An in-depth fire-safety audit is being carried out. The affected area has been cordoned off and temporarily closed,” they added. Officials refused to divulge further details on the cause or effect of the fire. In a video uploaded by a YouTube user, a section of the airport can be seen in flames with smoke billowing into the air. Security staff can be seen grappling with the fire and attempting to douse the blaze with in-situ water hoses. The blaze was finally put out after a few minutes, the video shows. The Kempegowda international airport in Bengaluru was built as a private-public partnership. Private promoters hold 74% (Fairfax 48% and Siemens Projects Ventures 26%) stake in BIAL, while the government holds the remaining 26% – through Karnataka State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited – 13%, Airport Authority of India – 13%. Kempegowda International Airport is currently the busiest airport in south India and the third largest in the country. Meanwhile, the airport has announced that its domestic and international lounges will be partially shut temporarily from the start of June for renovation purposes. Currently, the airport has four lounges – two at International Security Hold Area (SHA) and two at Domestic SHA. The refurbishment project would be executed in two phases spanning 18-20 months. Starting June 1, 2019, parts of the domestic and international lounges and transit hotel would be closed. The new lounge operator – a JV between Gate Group and Travel and Food Service (TFS), India – will take over operations.  

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Karnataka cop turns 'lathi' into flute to play folk songs

Award

The constable's skill and artistic talent earned him recognition from the state police department and a special cash award

IANS

A head constable in Karnataka's Hubli rural police station turned his fibre-made lathi (cane) into a flute to play folk songs as a hobby. "Making musical instruments and playing them have been my hobby for long. I turned the fibre lathi, given to me for policing, into a flute to play folk songs when free from work, Chandrakant Hutgi told IANS. The 52-year-old Hutgi's skill and artistic talent earned him recognition from the state police department and a special cash award (inam) from Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Bhaskar Rao in Bengaluru. "Rao called me to Bengaluru on Monday with the musical lathi and play for him in his office after he heard from his colleagues at Hubli that I converted it into a flute. He also rewarded me," said Hutgi. Using local tools, Hutgi skillfully drilled eight holes into the lathi, including one for blowing air, six for playing his fingers and another smaller outlet to let out the air. "Chandrakant Hutgi, head constable from Hubli Rural police station has converted his deadly fibre lathi into a musical instrument... we are proud of him," tweeted Rao after recording video of a folk song Hutgi played in his office here. Soon after Rao posted the video clip on the social media -- his Facebook and Twitter handle, Hutgi's skill and musical talent went viral. The video was also circulated on Whatsapp by his colleagues. "Since the video clip went viral earlier in the day, I have been getting calls from colleagues, friends and relatives and congratulatory messages," chuckled Hutgi. When Hutgi was posted on security duty at Dattapeetha shrine in Chikmagalur's Baba Budangiri hills for a week in December 2017, he converted the lathi into a flute in free time and fine-tuned it to play folk songs and Kannada film songs some times. "To kill boredom or break monotony, I play the flute and entertain my colleagues after duty hours. My seniors asked me to play the flute on May 23 after vote count at the Dharwad counting centre," recalled Hutgi.

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Shocking video from K'taka: Woman writhing in labour made to wait 4 hrs, loses baby

Medical Negligence

Sameena was shifted to a private hospital after she was not attended to by doctors at the KGF Government Hospital.

TNM Staff

A pregnant woman is seen sitting on the floor of the empty hospital, writhing in pain. She mumbles and tosses around, visibly grimacing in pain. This video was taken at Kolar’s KGF Government Hospital where a pregnant woman experiencing contractions was allegedly made to wait for four hours. When she was not attended to by a doctor, the woman was eventually taken to a private hospital for the delivery. Her baby, however, did not survive. 22-year-old Sameena, a resident of Kolar, was taken to KGF Government Hospital on Tuesday noon after she began experiencing contractions. She was accompanied by her husband Riyaz and two other female relatives. In a case of gross medical negligence, the pregnant woman allegedly received no medical attention. It was then her relatives shifted her to a private hospital. Sameena was tended to at RL Jalappa Hospital where she is currently admitted. Doctors at the hospital confirmed that while they were able to save her life, they could not save the baby who succumbed. Dr Shivakumar, the surgeon who was on call at the time at KGF has since been suspended by officials. Kolar BJP MP Muniswamy went to Jalappa hospital to enquire about Sameena’s condition. Sameena’s relatives are yet to lodge an official complaint with the police, but plan on doing so, according to reports. They have also demanded that action be taken against the hospital authorities as well as the district health officer (DHO). Last June, in another instance of medical negligence, a five-month pregnant woman from Bagalkote had to undergo an emergency amputation after a botched blood transfusion led to the onset of a gangrenous infection in her arm. The family alleged that a botched blood transfusion resulted in the woman contracting an infection, and that the unhygienic conditions of the hospital aggravated her condition.

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K’taka govt to install air purifiers on Bengaluru's proposed elevated corridor

Civic

The Karnataka government’s move is intended to pacify the opposition to the project after it emerged that more than 3700 trees will be cut.

TNM Staff

The Karnataka government plans to pacify the opposition to the proposed elevated corridor by installing open-air purifiers and carbon absorbent machines along the 102-km long network.  “These are not the regular air purifiers or carbon-absorbing machines, but they are of high capacity and advanced machines that will absorb SPM and other major pollutants present in the air. These machines will be much stronger and advanced than what has already been installed in the city as part of a pilot project,”, KS Krishna Reddy, Secretary, PWD, told Deccan Chronicle.  Authorities plan to install 30 air purifiers in the North-South corridor and have already piloted one in Hudson Circle in the city.   The Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL), which is implementing the project, came under criticism in March this year when it emerged that more than 3700 trees will be cut for the project including in the iconic Cubbon Park area. Activists and residents held a protest against the project following which Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy promised to hold a public consultation meeting.  However, activists in the city are questioning the logic of installing air purifiers after cutting trees. “It is not fair to cut trees and then install air purifiers. They are saying the elevated corridor project will reduce traffic, but if the same investment is made on public transport, most of the problem will be solved,” Vinay Sreenivasa, a Bengaluru-based activist told The New Indian Express.  The Karnataka High Court has currently stayed construction work on the project till  the hearing over a case related to the Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) is completed. The next hearing in the case is on June 3.   

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Karnataka Congress MLAs to meet to 'save' coalition government

Politics

CLP leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has directed all the 78 legislators to attend the meeting and participate in the deliberations through party's state unit chief Dinesh Gundu Rao.

IANS

Nearly a week after facing rout in the Lok Sabha elections, the Karnataka Congress legislators (MLAs) are meeting here on Wednesday to ensure the continuation of their year-old coalition government with the Janata Dal (Secular) as its ally, a party official said on Tuesday. "The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) is meeting at a star hotel in the city on Wednesday in the presence of our senior leader Ghulab Nabi Azad and party's state unit in-charge K.V. Venugopal to review the poll results and stay united to sustain the government with the JD-S as our partner," party spokesman K.E. Radhakrishna told IANS here. CLP leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has directed all the 78 legislators to attend the meeting and participate in the deliberations through party's state unit chief Dinesh Gundu Rao. "The party will take a serious view if any legislator abstains from the meeting without prior intimation or reason for skipping it," said the official. Contesting with the JD-S under a pre-poll seat-sharing tie-up in all the 28 parliamentary seats in the ratio of 21:7, the beleaguered Congress won only one to retain Bangalore Rural and lost 20 seats, including 9 where the outgoing members re-contested. Ally JD-S also won only one, retaining Hassan and losing 6 seats. Polling was held in two phases on April 18 and April 23 in 14 seats each and votes were counted on May 23. A resurgent BJP won a record 25 seats across the state for the first time in parliamentary election in the southern state. "Though there is no survival threat to the government, as all our MLAs are united, the party high command and the party's state leaders are not taking chances, as a handful of them have been dissenting against the leadership and the functioning of the coalition government," admitted the spokesman. A fractured verdict in the May 2018 state assembly elections threw up a hung house, with the BJP winning 104, Congress 79, excluding speaker, and JD-S 37 and one each by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), a regional party and an independent To keep the BJP out of power though it is 8 seats short of the halfway mark (113) for a simple majority in the 225-member assembly, including one nominated, the ruling allies forged a post-poll alliance to form the fledgling coalition government on May 23, 2018, sharing the cabinet posts in the ratio of 22 for the Congress and 12 for the JD-S in the 34-member ministry. "As the allies are committed to follow the coalition dharma, we hope there won't be revolt by the so-called rebels who have been threatening to resign from the party and their assembly seats to join the BJP and bring down our government," added Radhakrishna.

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Supreme Court won't review abortion law signed by Pence

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