Bengaluru Buzz: Vellara Jn-Pottery Town Metro work starts | Hike in power tariff | Majestic bus stand turns 50

Electricity tariff hiked, work on the Vellara Junction-Pottery Town Metro line starts, traffic police gets prepared to tackle eventualities during monsoon - read more on what happened in Bengaluru this week

Work begins on Vellara Jn-Pottery Town Metro line

Work on the 5.63-km underground Metro stretch from Vellara Junction to Pottery Town began on May 30th. L&T had been awarded the project, worth Rs 2628 crore, to build the tunnel and stations along this stretch. The company has 42 months to complete the project.

The stretch is part of the Gottigere-Nagavara line of Metro. The iconic Fatima Bakery and Hotel Tom’s, as well as a portion of the All Saints Church, will be demolished for the project in spite of protests by citizens. Work on the stretch is expected to worsen traffic congestion in the Central Business District (CBD) area.

Source: The Times of India | The News Minute

Hike in power tariff

Soon, you can expect to see a hike in your electricity bills. The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) has sanctioned an increase of 33 paise per unit of electricity. The tariff hike has been effected uniformly for all electricity supply companies (ESCOMs) including BESCOM. The five ESCOMs had asked for tariff hike ranging from Rs 1 to Rs 1.67 per unit for various types of consumers.

KERC Chairperson Shambhu Dayal Meena explained that the hike was necessitated due to 16 percent increase in power purchase cost, 20 percent increase in operation and management costs, 12 percent increase in interest and finance charges, and 22 percent increase in depreciation and deficit for 2017-18 fiscal.

Sudhakar S Shetty, President of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) opined that the tariff hike would pose a heavy burden to all categories of consumers. Due to rising unemployment and falling industrial growth, it was not advisable to hike tariffs, especially for the industrial and commercial category, he said.

Source: The Hindu | BusinessLine

Traffic police forms 44 teams to tackle monsoon trouble

Forty four special teams of traffic police personnel have been formed at each police station to ease traffic movement during any monsoon-related eventuality. The decision was announced at a meeting conducted by P Harishekaran, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), on Wednesday.

The teams will be equipped with motorised saw, ropes, choppers, buckets, and heavy-duty torchlights that can help them clear fallen trees and attend to flooding. Police officials have also been asked to buy motors to pump out water in some regions, to ease traffic. Twelve places, including Silk Board junction, Nagawara Road, Mysuru Road and parts of CBD, have been identified as flood-prone.

The teams will also form WhatsApp groups with officials from civic agencies like BBMP, BESCOM, BWSSB, Forest Department and the State disaster management cell, for better management of the situation.

Source: The Hindu

Govt distributes 200 cars under self-employment scheme

About 200 cars under Airavata, a unique self-employment scheme, were distributed by the Social Welfare Department at Vidhana Soudha. The scheme aims to offer employment to SC/ST youth. For this scheme, the state government has partnered with service providers and aggregators, to provide ownership of cabs to unemployed youth.

Source: The Times of India

Majestic bus stand turns 50

This June, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation’s (KSRTC) Majestic bus stand is turning 50. To commemorate the golden jubilee, KSRTC has come up with various initiatives including a museum at the bus stand in the lines of museums run by Railways. KSRTC also plans to rope in the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath to exhibit art work made of scrap items at its depots or workshops, and also get a postal stamp released.

Source: The Hindu

[Compiled by Revathi Siva Kumar]

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