BENGALURU BUZZ

MLC polls Polling for two Legislative Council seats - one each from Bengaluru Urban and Bengaluru Rural districts - was held on Friday. Overall, the biennial elections are being held in 25 seats across the state, with 90 candidates in the fray. Results will be declared on December 14. With declared assets of Rs 1,744 crore, Yousuf Sharief, Congress candidate from Bengaluru Urban, is the richest candidate in the state. There is no expenditure limit for candidates in this election, unlike in case of assembly and Lok Sabha polls. Source: The Times of India, India.com, The New Indian Express Vegetable…

Two cases of Omicron found A 66-year-old South African national who flew from the city last month and a 46-year-old doctor with no travel history are the first two cases of Omicron in India, detected in Bengaluru. Both were fully vaccinated and showed only mild symptoms. The South African national had tested negative before leaving on November 27, and had not waited for his genome sequencing results to be confirmed. But none of his 24 primary and 240 secondary contacts have tested positive. Whereas the doctor's lack of travel history has raised worries over the possible presence of the new variant…

Concrete walls around drains to fight floods Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai approved a proposal by the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) to build concrete retaining walls around 88.5 km of stormwater drains (SWD) in the city. The project, costing Rs 962 crore, or as much as Rs 10.86 crore per km, is expected to free 58 low-lying areas from flood vulnerability. However, ecologists countered that concretisation would lead to fast surface runoff and also hinder the percolation of water into the ground, leading to flooding. The need of the hour is a more integrated and holistic approach to water management, they…

BDA to call global tenders for fresh Master Plan The BDA (Bangalore Development Authority) will begin to call global tenders for a fresh Master Plan for the city in a week. The new plan is expected to be ready by mid-2023. The previously drafted RMP (Revised Master Plan) 2031 was supposed to guide the city's development until 2031, but was scrapped by the BDA last year following objections from the public. A focus area for the new Master Plan 2031 would be to boost TOD (Transit-Oriented Development) along the city's transit corridors, especially along the Metro rail and the upcoming…

High COVID count in four wards Four BBMP wards - Koramangala, Hagadur, Bellandur and Begur - have high COVID counts, reporting around 25 cases a day. The reason is said to be the increased influx of migrants, who had not been tested properly at railway and bus stations, said a civic health official. BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said they are monitoring the situation in the four wards and are continuing surveillance and genome sequencing to check for any new strain. Of 286 cases reported in the state on Thursday, 169 were from Bengaluru Urban district. However, active case count in…

Door delivery of govt services launched State government has launched two initiatives - ‘Janasevaka’ (peoples’ servant), and ‘Janaspandana’, an IPGRS (Integrated Public Grievance Redressal System) - to deliver government services at the doorsteps of citizens. These services are modelled after the Delhi government’s doorstep service delivery scheme. Janasevaka can help citizens avail of 56 government services at their doorsteps. These include home delivery of ration at subsidised rates, of Aadhaar card, caste certificate, income certificate, senior citizen card, BBMP khatha transfer and health card. Source: Indian Express Markets crowded, cracker sales brisk for Deepavali Though heavy rains played spoilsport on Deepavali, shoppers…

BMTC app to be relaunched in four months The BMTC (Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation) app to track buses will be relaunched on February 26, 2022, with a new ITS (Intelligence Transport System). The project, funded by the Nirbhaya scheme, had been delayed due to COVID, said BMTC MD V Anbukumar. The app would give a range of information, from vehicle tracking to driver behaviour, seat occupancy and CCTV footage. Meanwhile, a study by the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP) showed that, assuming 30% electric vehicle (EV) penetration within BBMP limits, there will be a demand for…

BBMP schools to reopen primary sections BBMP schools will resume classes for grades I to V from Monday, October 25. No online classes were held for these students in the past one-and-half years; teachers only interacted with the students who accompanied their parents to collect rations from school, said an education department official. The teachers and non-teaching staff have been fully vaccinated, the official added. The 16 civic-run primary schools will be sanitised over the weekend. The strength of students in classes I to V will be ascertained once physical classes resume. Source: The Hindu Read more: The reality of…

Houses, airport flooded The overnight rain of 18 cm between Monday night and Tuesday morning is the highest ever that the Met observatory at KIA (Kempegowda International Airport) recorded since it was set up in 2011. The roads leading to KIA were waterlogged due to the heavy rains on Monday night. Hence cabs and private vehicles were stranded, forcing some to depend on alternative modes of transport, even a tractor. BIAL (Bangalore International Airport Limited) sources said that 20 departing flights between 5.30 pm and 11.59 pm were delayed due to weather conditions. Heavy rains also flooded scores of houses…

50% fully vaccinated, over 10,000 refused jabs The BBMP crossed a milestone on October 5 by covering 50% its population with both doses of COVID vaccine. In Bengaluru Urban district, 58% have been fully vaccinated. But it is among the few districts in Karnataka to have covered half the population with both doses. Meanwhile, the BBMP learnt through a block-and-lane-level vaccination survey that about 10,000 people from 4,437 households have refused to get jabbed. They were identified from a survey of 76,373 households. Many from lower-income groups seemed to be afraid of side effects. The most number of unvaccinated households…