Bengaluru Buzz: Ward delimitation report | 50 e-buses by July | Nod for white-topping Phase 3 … and more

Ward delimitation report to be out in a week, e-bus fleet set to increase, CM's approval for more white-topping of roads - read more of the week's news in our roundup.

BBMP ward delimitation report to be out in a week

BBMP has submitted the ward delimitation report to the State’s Urban Development Department. With delimitation, the number of wards in BBMP has been increased from 198 to 243. The report, which specifies the boundaries of the new wards, will be made public in a week.

There are now more wards in the Assembly Constituencies in outer areas. Constituencies that have got the most number of wards are Bengaluru South (up from five to 13 wards), Bommanahalli (from six to 14), Byatarayanapura (from four to 11), RR Nagar (from four to 13) and Mahadevapura (from four to 12 wards). Constituencies such as Yelahanka, Vijayanagar, Padmanabhanagar, BTM Layout and Basavanagudi will have an extra ward each.

Ward numbers remain the same in Chamarajpet, Chickpet, Gandhinagar, Govindarajanagar, Jayanagar, Hebbal, Pulakeshinagar, Rajajinagar and Shanthinagar constituencies. Shivajinagar is the only constituency where ward numbers have been reduced. Constituencies represented mostly by the Congress have lost wards. Based on the 2011 census, each ward has a population of around 34,750 now.

Source: Deccan Herald

Textbook revision: Education Minister to submit report

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that Primary and Secondary Education Minister B C Nagesh would submit a comprehensive report on the textbook review process, after which a decision would be taken on the review.

Many Kannada writers want to withdraw their work from textbooks to protest the inclusion of a speech by RSS founder K B Hedgewar as well as the exclusion of work referring to social reformers like Narayana Guru. Academicians and writers including Roopa Hassan, G Ramakrishna and Devanur Mahadeva have revoked permission to use their works and asked the state government to dismiss the textbook committee. Roopa Hassan also pointed out that the committee had no representation of women.

Chairman of the committee, Rohith Chakrathirtha, said that the controversy over textbook revision was a “political witch-hunt”.

Source: The Hindu, Indian Express


Read More: Private schools have come up with widely differing plans to bridge the learning gap


Reshuffle in BBMP’s Town Planning Dept

As there were many complaints about BBMP’s Town Planning Department being overstaffed, Chief Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath has said that the department will be reshuffled after a review meeting. He said that need-based transfers would be made, since several departments are overstaffed and many engineers have been holding the same post for years.

Source: Deccan Herald

Cantt railway station to be revamped

South Western Railway (SWR) has floated tenders to redevelop the Cantonment Railway Station at the cost of Rs 442 crore. It has decided to retain colonial era structures and to integrate these with the new infrastructure.

The new station building is expected to come up on the main entry on the Vasanthnagar side, while the second entry will be on Millers Road. The revamped station would have centralised air-conditioning, multi-level car parking, sewerage treatment plant, rain water harvesting and solar power generation. Enhanced infrastructure is expected to increase footfall from 75,000 to 1 lakh per day. The station will also be integrated with the proposed suburban rail network and Metro underground station in future.

Source: The Hindu

CM okays white-topping Phase III

Chief Minister Bommai has approved the third phase of the white-topping project. This might expedite formalities, including the consent of the Finance Department.

White-topping of a road
White-topping. File image: Seema Prasad

Phase 3, which involves the development of around 121 km along 89 roads, is estimated to cost Rs 1,154 crore. The project has been in cold storage for more than two years.

Source: Deccan Herald


Read More: “I welcome state govt’s move to investigate white-topping”: Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun


BESCOM’s new Whatsapp helpline gets 736 complaints in first week

Within a week of its launch, BESCOM’s WhatsApp helplines have received 736 complaints from consumers across eight districts. The complaints were mostly about power lines touching trees and residential buildings, and transformer failures. BESCOM says 628 complaints have already been resolved, and the process was easier as consumers had shared pictures and videos. BESCOM has also appointed nodal officers for every district to monitor complaints.

Source: Deccan Herald

BMTC plan to deploy 50 e-buses by July

BMTC (Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation) hopes to deploy at least 50 out of 300 e-buses by July. It also plans to set up charging stations in three depots at Yelahanka, Bidadi and Attible, each of which will shelter 100 buses.

BMTC had awarded the contract to supply and operate 300 non-AC buses to the Ashok Leyland subsidiary Switch Mobility Ltd, last November. Officials said they received the e-bus prototype ‘Astra’ earlier this week and that they would look into its operations and suggest any change required. They hope to finalise details in the the next few days, following which the contractor will deliver at least 50 vehicles every month till October.

BMTC is expected to spend Rs 62/km, including the lease charge and conductor salary, on each of the 12-metre-long buses. Officials hope that increase in ridership would bolster earnings to make e-buses viable.

Source: Deccan Herald

New spacecraft manufacturing unit

Dr S Somanath, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), on Wednesday inaugurated ANANTH Technologies spacecraft manufacturing unit at Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) Aerospace Park. The unit can conduct assembly integration and testing of four large spacecrafts simultaneously.

Eight years after striking a deal with the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is ready with the payload integration of the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission. NISAR is a joint earth-observing mission between NASA and ISRO. The payload integration, completed in the US, will be shipped to India later this year, a top NASA official told researchers at IISc.

Source: Indian Express, Deccan Herald

[Compiled by Revathi Siva Kumar]

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