Bengaluru, Friday October 28, 2016Pages 38 Vol 69 No 299 ~ 5.00 B www.deccanherald.com

Cutting Edge P6

Nation P8

Xi elevated as China’spowerful ‘core’ leader P16

Humanitydecimatingplanetarywildlife

MinisteraddressesKiwi PM as‘McCullum’

NEW DELHI, DHNS: India onThursday expelled an offi-cial of the Pakistan HighCommission after policesaid they had found himspying for his country’s mili-tary intelligence agency.

Delhi declared MehmoodAkhtar, assistant to the tradecounsellor at the high commis-sion, persona non-grata, a dayafter the police caughthim at the Delhi zoo, wheretheysaidhewasreceiving“sen-sitive documents” from twoIndians.

Both his Indian accompliceswere arrested, but Akhtar, whoenjoys immunity inaccordancewith the 1961 Vienna Conven-tion on Diplomatic Relations,was handed over to the highcommission. He was asked toleave India with his family bySaturday.

Foreign Secretary S Jais-hankar summoned Abdul Ba-sit, Islamabad’s envoy to Delhi,to his office in South Block and

told him that diplomatic offi-cials “should not indulge in ac-tivities inimical to India”.

Vikas Swarup, officialspokesperson of the Ministryof External Affairs, told jour-nalists Akhtar had been inter-cepted by crime branch police-men who had been working on‘intelligence inputs’suggestingsnooping on “vital installationsof (the) army and paramilitary

forces”. Akhtar was receivingdocuments from MaulanaRamzan and Subhash Jangir,both residents of Rajasthan.

Akhtar initiallyclaimedtobea citizen of India and intro-duced himself as Mehboob Ra-jput from Chandni Chowk areaof Delhi, and also showed thepolice a fake Aadhaar card.» Pak spy, Page 12Related reports, Page 12

Pak embassy stafferexpelled for spyingAkhtar asked to leave India by Oct 29

Copy of Mehmood Akhtar’sforged Aadhaar card. PTI

Mistry deviatedfrom companyethos, say TatasMUMBAI, DHNS: Tata Sonson Thursday said Cyrus Mis-try, the chairman it sackedearlier this week, had re-peatedly flouted the compa-ny’s ‘culture and ethos’.

The charge came aday after Mistry criti-cised projects dear tohis predecessor,Ratan Tata, who hasreturned from retire-ment to take over asinterim chairman.

The salt-to-soft-ware conglomeratealso spoke about agrowing ‘trust deficit’as the reason for its decision topart ways with Mistry.

On Tuesday, a day after the48-year-old Mistry was re-placed, he fired his first salvo,saying he had resisted beingmade a ‘lame-duck chairman’.

Representing the Shapoorji

Pallonji Group — the singlelargest shareholder in TataSons — Mistry targeted Tata(78)onmultiplecounts, includ-ing the Nano car and Air Asiaventures.

Tata Sons hit backas the battle intensi-fied.

Vehemently ques-tioning Mistry’s accu-sations, contained inan email he wrote tothe board of directorsand trustees of theTata family trusts,Tata Sons, said: “TheTata Sons board gives

its chairman complete auton-omy to manage opportunitiesand challenges. However, thetenure of the former chairmanwasmarkedbyrepeateddepar-tures from the culture andethos of the group.”» Mistry, Page 8

Stocks lose groundTata group stocks lost ground for the third day on Thursdayamid concerns about a purported disclosure made by oustedgroup chairman Cyrus Mistry about huge write-down risksat some firms, taking the total market value erosion to overRs 26,000 crore this week, reports DHNS from Mumbai.Related reports, Page 15

Ratan Tata

ISLAMABAD, PTI: In a tit-for-tat action, Pakistan on Thurs-day declared an Indian HighCommission official as per-sona non-grata and asked himto leave the country within 48hours.

The Foreign Office said in astatement that the decisionwas conveyed to Indian HighCommissioner Gautam Bam-bawale, who was summonedto the foreign ministry.

“The foreign secretary(Aizaz Chaudhry) summonedthe Indian High Commission-er today and conveyed the de-cision of the Government ofPakistan to declare SurjeetSingh, an official of the IndianHigh Commission, as personanon-grata,”the statement said.

The foreign secretary ex-pressed deep concern over theactivities of the Indian officialthat were in violation of the Vi-enna Convention and the es-tablished diplomatic norms, itsaid. The Indian High Com-mission has been asked tomake urgent necessaryarrangements for Singh toleave Pakistan by October 29.

PakdeclaresIndianofficialpersonanon-grata

nAkhtar is at Delhi zoo,receiving sensitivedocuments from twoIndian accomplices

nWhen police accost him,he claims he is an Indian,and shows them a fakeAadhaar card

nHe discloses diplomaticidentity only after he isgrilled at a police station

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

How it unfolded

NEW DELHI, DHNS: The Fed-eration of Indian Airlines (FIA)on Thursday approached theSupreme Court, seeking a stayon the operational clearancegranted to AirAsia India.

A three-judge benchpresided over by Justice Anil RDaveagreedtoconsiderthepe-tition on the reopening of thecourt after the Deepavalibreak.

Senior advocate DushyantDave, appearing for FIA, saidthe matter is to be listed beforea special bench, which had di-rected the Delhi High Court in2014toexpeditiouslydecideonit. “The Delhi High Court hasgranted17adjournments inthematter. Therefore, some direc-tion be passed for either stay-ing the clearance granted toAirAsia (India) or some direc-tion be passed for expeditioushearing of the matter by thehigh court,” he said.

Davesuggestedthatthemat-ter be listed for November 7,as it was coming up for hearingbefore the high court on No-vember 11.

The FIA has opposed the go-ahead given to the airline to be-gin its flight operations inIndia.» AirAsia, Page 8

SCmovedagainstclearancetoAirAsia

4 held for RSSactivist’s murderThe Bengaluru City Police onThursday arrested four peoplein connection with RSS ac-tivist R Rudresh’s murder. Pre-liminary investigations hintedat a political rivalry. Two bikesand the weapon used for theoffence have been seized, po-lice said.Details on Page 3C

Centre approves 2%DA before festivalIn a Deepavali gift to over onecrore central government em-ployees and pensioners, theCentre on Thursday approved2% dearness allowance tobe paid to them with retro-spective effect from July thisyear.Details on Page 8

In brief

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

‘Sir is busy’DH called K J George re-peatedly for his responseto this story, but he did nottake our calls. Around4 pm, his assistant said hewas busy having lunch.

Bosky Khanna

BENGALURU: Contrary toBengaluru Development Min-ister K J George’s claims, thegovernment had not consultedany experts before finalising itscontroversial steel flyover plan.

On Wednesday, George hadtold reporters the governmentand the Bangalore Develop-ment Authority (BDA) had tak-en the opinion of the Indian In-

stitute of Science, Bangalore,and Indian Institute of Tech-nology, Madras before initiat-ing work on the project.

That’s just hogwash, it nowemerges. He had also said acommittee comprising expertsfrom the two premier institu-tions would examine theprogress and give feedback tothe government. The expertsare flummoxed, since no onefrom the government has

IISc, IIT-M deny being in loop over flyover

cared to call them.Sudhakar Rao, professor

and chairman of the Depart-

mentofCivilEngineering, IISc,said his section had not beenconsulted. “No paper came tome, and I have not handled anypaper from the state govern-ment,” he said.

The other professors of thedepartment — Ashish Verma,T G Sitharam and T V Ra-machandra — echoed histhoughts.» Flyover, Page 2Related reports, Page 2

NEW DELHI, DHNS: TheUnion Public Service Com-mission (UPSC) has ad-vanced the civil services pre-liminary exams to June in-stead of August from nextyear. The prelims for 2017 isscheduled to be held on June18, according to the commis-sion’s calendar for theexamination.

The UPSC is conductingthe examination in Junerather than August after agap of three years.

Sources said the advance-ment of the examination isto ensure that the entireprocess is completed in time.

CivilservicesprelimsinJune

CUPERTINO (CALIFORNIA),REUTERS: Apple Inc unveileda revamped MacBook Pro onThursday, adding a finger-print reader, replacing func-tion keys with a small touchscreen and slimming downthe ageing workhorse of itscomputer notebook line.

Customers will be able toopen up the new notebookwith Touch ID, the fingerprintreader also on iPhones.» Apple, Page 8

MacBookProgetsnewlook

Apple CEO Tim Cook launchesMacBook Pro in Cupertino,California, on Thursday. AFP

2 DECCAN HERALD BB Friday, October 28, 2016

Metro

BENGALURU: A few delegatesfrom Africa visited the city’sSarvagna Health Care Insti-tute’s (SHCI) dialysis centreand Primary Chronic CareCentre to understand howdialysis care could be made af-fordable under public privatepartnership (PPP).

The delegates were policymakers, researchers and rep-resentatives from African De-velopment Bank and Ministryof Health from four Africancountries -- Malawi, BurkinaFaso, Zimbabwe and SouthAfrica.

The Sarvagnanagar DialysisCentre is set up by the govern-ment, but managed by SHCIwhich takes care of all expens-es and day-to-day activities.

Organised as part of theAfrican Development Bankproject on ‘Developing Public-Private Partnerships for Fi-

nancing Health in Africa’, thevisit was conducted under theguidance of PPP Cell, Depart-ment of Economic Affairs,Ministry of Finance, Govern-ment of India and coordinatedby Health Systems ResearchIndia Initiative Trust.

Dr Hein D Alain from Burk-ina Faso said, “This model hasproven that if private and pub-lic organisations can work to-gether, quality dialysis carecan be provided.”

Dr Thriveni B S, faculty, In-stitute of Public Health said,“If the government plans toexpand such a model, it canbe a huge challenge for NGOsto manage without supportfrom the government. Thegovernment should considerincluding dialysis under healthinsurance schemes like Vaj-payee Arogyashree.”DH News Service

Lakkasandrabypoll on Nov 20

»The by-election to theLakkasandra ward will

be held on November 20and counting of votes onNovember 23.

A decision to hold theby-poll was taken followingthe untimely death of BJPcorporator Mahesh Babu.He was among the threekilled in a grisly accident inMysuru Road on July 16. Anotification to this regardwill be issued on Novem-ber 2 and the last day to re-ceive nomination papershas been fixed for Novem-ber 9.

BJP is likely to field Ma-hesh Babu’s wife Bhavyawhile Adugodi Mohan maycontest from the Congress.JD(S) is yet to decide on itscandidate.

List of alternativesites released

»The Bangalore Devel-opment Authority

(BDA) on Thursday re-leased the list of alterna-tive sites allotted and to beallotted in Arkavathy lay-out falling under the redocase.

The list, put out on theBDA website, has names ofregistered and unregis-tered allottees for sitesmeasuring 20x30, 30x40,40x60 and 50x80 sq feet.

Passport Adalaton November 2

»The Regional PassportOffice, Bengaluru, will

organise a ‘Passport Adalat’on November 2 at its Re-gional Passport Office, 80Ft Road, 8th Block, Kora-mangala, reports DHNSfrom Bengaluru.

Applicants, who have anygrievances related to pass-port applications submittedon or before April 30, areeligible to attend this Pass-port Adalat between 9.30am and 12.30 pm. Appli-cants must carry all rele-vant documents in original,according to a press re-lease.

For further details, con-tact the office at: 80 FtRoad, 8th Block, Koraman-gala, Bengaluru - 560 095Tel : 25706100 - 102. email :rpo.bangalore@mea.gov.inWebsite : www.passportin-dia.gov.in

In brief

African team in cityto study affordabledialysis care

Meghana Choukkar

BENGALURU: With the ongo-ing St+Art Festival, manydefaced and drab wallsacross the city have beentransformed with brightmurals. But these paintingsare more than just visualtreats. Many of them con-vey strong social messagesand the mural of the Ara-vani Art Project is one such.

Bengaluru-based artistPoornima Sukumar and herteam has painted the wall un-der a railway bridge on Dhan-wantri Road. ‘Naavu Iddeve’or ‘We too exist’ the captionreads, next to the brightlypainted face of a transpersonwhich the viewer can interpretas male or female. Fiery redhibiscus flowers, which arehermaphrodite, are paintedaround this image to suggestthat identity can be beyondmale or female.

“I discussed with Nisha Gu-dalur, a member of the com-

munity, and we decided thatthe message shouldn’t be tooforceful and we did not wantto portray transgenders as vic-tims seeking sympathy. Final-ly, we decided to address their

basic right to be acknowl-edged and accepted,”Suku-mar explained.

Taking the message beyondjust drawing on the wall,Sukumar involved people

from the transgender commu-nity in the process of concep-tualising and painting thewall. They loved that theywere not just subjects. Most ofthe painting was done by

them. A wall painting in K RMarket, the first one of theproject, also had participationfrom the community.

The painting was making astir even while in progress.“Several passers-by wouldstop and ask us about ourwork. Some of them askedquestions which initiated adiscussion about transgen-ders, a topic not usually talkedabout,”Sukumar said.

The Aravani Art Project isall about increasing such in-teractions between the main-stream society and transgen-der community andSukumar’s efforts have creat-ed ripples. “Many of myfriends had never spoken totranspeople and they knewnothing about them. Throughthis project, they got to inter-act and now they have becomegood friends who meet up andget together like any othergroup of friends,”Sukumarexplained.DH News Service

Wallart thatmakespeoplestop,andthink

Bengaluru-based artist Poornima Sukumar and her team painted a wall art, ‘Navu Iddeve’with a message, under a railway bridge in Majestic area. DH PHOTO

Making a point

BENGALURU: The KarnatakaState Pollution Control Board(KSPCB) has directed all mu-nicipalities to manage their sol-idwasteaspertherulesframedby the Ministry of Environ-ment, Forests and ClimateChange. The Board has issuedseven-point instructions afterexamining the solid wastemanagement (SWM) in mostdistricts.

KSPCB chairman Laksh-man said that the officials hadvisited most of the city munici-palities and found that SWMwas not up to the mark. Afterthis, a meeting with all localbodies and the director of mu-nicipal administration (DMA)was called on October 25 anddirections were issued.

TheDMA should takeactionto formulate a state policy andSWM strategy, giving empha-sis on waste reduction, reuse,recycle and recovery of wastefor the entire state, in consul-tation with all stakeholderswithin six months, as per thedirections. The DMA shouldconstituteastate-leveladvisory

body for SWM rules.TheDMAshall have discussions with theDirectorate of Town Planningand ensure that the masterplan for every city or town hasprovisions for scientific SWMprocessing and disposal facili-ties. Landfill sites should beidentified in the 57 newlyformed local bodies within oneyear.

At present only four city cor-porations - Mysuru, Mangalu-ru, Belagavi and Shivamogga -have developed waste process-ing facilities. The remainingcorporations are just dumpingthe mixed solid waste at iden-tified sites.

The DMA shall develop in-frastructure in the remainingcity corporations for scientificmanagement of waste. Bio-mining should be undertakenat all old dump sites to clearthem for development of sci-entific landfill sites. Immediateaction should betaken tomain-tain buffer zones around wasteprocessing and disposal facili-ties, the KSPCB has said.DH News Service

Manage solid wasteas perMoEFrules, civic bodies told

Rainfall Nil

Humidity 39 pc

Sunrise 6.12 am

Sunset 5.55 pm

Moonrise 4.13 am

Moonset 4.31 pm(Relevant data recorded at 5.30 pm.Source: IMD)

City weather

FORECAST: Partly cloudy sky.TEMPERATURES

Maximum 31.0 C

Minimum 19.4 C

Rasheed Kappan

BENGALURU: TheBasaveshwara Circle-Heb-bal steel flyover can actual-ly be built using concrete ata cost of Rs 957 crore, al-most half the amount quot-ed by the project contrac-tor.

This is the finding of an In-dian Roads Congress (IRC)technical committee member,who based his calculations onthe detailed project report(DPR) uploaded on the web-site by the Bangalore Devel-opment Authority.

The structural analysis,which questioned the hefty Rs1,791-crore price tag for theinitial 6.7-km structure, alsofound the proposed projecttime span of 549 days too long.The entire work, the member

concluded, can be completedin less than 300 days.

Here’s how the cost wasworked out if the flyover wereto be made of concrete.

The six-lane, 24.2-metre-wide and 6,687-metre-longmain structure will cover a to-tal area of 1,61,825.4 sq me-tres. Add another 41,973 sqmetres of ramp area and thetotal plan area will be2,03,798.4 sq metres. The fly-over cost at Rs 35,000 per sqmetre of plan area will workout to Rs 713.30 crore. The ad-dition of underpasses as men-tioned in the DPR takes the to-tal cost to Rs 956.44 crore.

Excess pillarsThe analysis found anotherglaring factor driving up thecost of the steel structure. Thenumber of pillars are 40% inexcess of the requirement.

The DPR estimates that a pil-lar is required for every 25-metre span of the steel flyover.So, for the 11,625 metres of theflyover and ramps, 466 pillarswill have to be erected.

However, the IRC expert, RK Jaigopal, contends that thenumber of pillars can be re-duced to 333 if 35-metre spansare considered. In effect, theproject plan has 133 pillars inexcess, due to which the costfor pile foundations has alsogone up.

“Spans of 20-metre/25-me-tre cannot be called optimal.The agency should haveworked out optimum spanswhich can be about 35-metre.This way, the number of piers(pillars) can be reduced andenvironmental damage due tomore digging for piles min-imised,” he says.

Questioning the rationale

that steel piers require lessspace than concrete, the ex-pert reasons, “More than fourto five times of pier area is re-quired for piling and pile cap,

which needs to be barricaded.Then, where is the area savingby steel?”

The contention that steelpillars require less time toerect is also challenged.“Nowadays, an entire concretepier is cast in one pour withina few hours. Then, why spendmore money on steel? Allthese details should have beencompared and discussed in theDPR.”

The DPR shows that eightsteel girders for the main spanand three girders for theramps will be manufacturedin the workshops.

“Suppose all the girders areconverted to concrete, thesame can be manufactured inthe casting yard. It will thenmake no difference and thecost can be reduced to half,”explains the expert.DH News Service

Cost of concrete flyover just halfthat of steel bridge, says expertIRC tech panel member says alternative takes less space, time too

‘Steel bridgetoll Rs 150’BJP leader and formerdeputy chief minister RAshoka on Thursday saidthe state was planning toimpose a minimum toll ofRs 150 per trip for usingthe steel flyover proposedbetween BasaveshwaraCircle and Hebbal.He was speaking on thesidelines of a BJP event inBengaluru. Ashoka, how-ever, did not reveal thesource of his informationbut stated it was authentic.

GENERALM S Ramaiah Institute of Manage-ment: 20th annual convocation of MS Ramaiah Institute of Management,Bengaluru, Rostow Ravanan, CEO andManaging Director, Mindtree Limited,to take part, Hi-Tech Auditorium, 6thFloor, Apex Block, MSRIT, 10 am.

CULTURALBharathakalakshetra: “Nrutya Vaib-hava - 4,” Anantha Raman, ManagingTrustee, Chowdeshwari Temple andDr C N Ashwath Narayan, Mallesw-aram MLA to participate, Seva SadhanAuditorium, 14th Cross, opposite MLACollege, Malleswaram, 5.30 pm.Arunodaya Kalasangha: Staging ofthe play - “Necklace,” directed by H SShivakumar, Ravindra Kalakshetra,JC Road, 4 pm.Parivarthana and Mahatma GandhiCharitable Trust: “SugamaSangeetha” by R Nilambike and team,Nayana Auditorium, JC Road, 2 pm.Bangalore Lalithakala Parishath:Staging of the Manipuri play - “AthhaDari, Ithha Puli” directed by HaisnamTomba, H N Kalakshetra, Jayanagar,6.30 pm.Ranga Parampare Trust: Closing cer-emony of five-day state-level dramafestival, MLA S T Somashekhar to par-ticipate, Central Library, Hampinagar,RPC Layout, 6 pm.IIMB: 43rd Foundation Day Lectureon “Social Inclusiveness and OurEducation System” by Dr H HarishHande, Managing Director, SELCO So-lar Light Private Limited, IIMB Audito-rium, Bannerghatta Road, 5.30 pm.Magnitude Gallery: “Samutsava”, anexhibition of original paintings, No140/13, 27th Cross, 13th Main, 3rdBlock, Jayanagar, 10 am.Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath:Release of the book ‘Rhythm in Art,’penned by L S N Achar, by Director ofDepartment of Kannada and Culture,K A Dayanand, exhibition inaugura-tion by Karnataka Lalithakala Acade-my Chairman Dr M S Murthy, Karnata-

BENGALURU: A team of offi-cials from the Karnataka StatePollution Control Board andBruhatBengaluruMahanagaraPalikeinspectedshopsonCom-mercialStreetandinCoxTownto check for use of plastic bags.

Viji Karthikeyan, environ-mental officer, KSPCB, Ben-galuru(East),saidthattheteamseized 300 kg of plastic atAnand Sweets and slapped afine of Rs 3.5 lakh on the estab-lishment.

“This shop was warnedagainstplasticuseearlieralso,”

she said.On the other hand, the

BBMP raided118shopsineast-ern Bengaluru and seized 858kgs of plastic material. It alsoimposed a penalty of Rs 4.71lakh.

The team of health officialsfromthePalikeinspectedshopsand commercial establish-ments inShivajianagar,CVRa-managar, Pulakeshinagar andSarvagnanagardivisions.Afineof Rs 1 lakh was imposed onShobha Super Market.DH News Service

ka Chitrakala Parishat, Kumara KrupaRoad, 6 pm.

RELIGIOUSRaghavendra Swamy BrindavanSannidhi Trust: Discourse on “Harib-haktisara” by Gulbarga Gururaj Dasa,Raghavendra Swamy Mutt, 11th MainRoad, 6th Cross, Prakashnagar, 7 pm.Sringeri Shankar Mutt: Discourse on“Bhagavad Gita” by Satyavathi Ra-manath, Mutt premises, Shankarapu-ram, 6 pm.Sai Gitanjali: Bhajans at Sai Gitanjali,Shri Sathya Sai Seva Kshethra, No 36,21st Main, 8th Cross, JP Nagar 2ndPhase, 6.15 pm.Vedanta Satsanga Kendra: Dis-course by Dr K G Subraya Sharma on“Bruhadaranyaka Upanishad”, Vedan-ta Nilaya, Sakamma Gardens, Basa-vanagudi, 9 am.Paramartha Vichara Sangha Trust:Discourse on “BrahmasutraBhashyam,” by Dr K G Subraya Shar-ma, Adhyatma Mandira, VV Puram,7.45 am.Sharada Tutorials: Discourse on“Transcendental Meditation” by RishiSeshadri, No 50, 4th Cross,Malleswaram, 6 pm.

Palike, KSPCB seize1,100 kg of plastic

NEW DELHI, DHNS: Spendinga minute next to a burninggarbage dump will expose aBengalurean to 1,000 timesmore toxins than the daily safelimit, an Indo-US team of re-searchers has found.

The team analysed 24garbage dumps in and aroundthe famed garden city.

“As you walk down the streetin India, there are just piles oftrashgrowinglargerandlargeruntil somebody decides to takea match to it,” said Heidi Vree-land,adoctoralstudentofDukeUniversity,USAandleadauthorofthestudy.“Eveninlargecitiessuch as Bengaluru, and even inmoreaffluentneighbourhoods,this is the norm.”

ResearchersfromfourUSin-stitutions, Indian Institute ofTechnology, Kanpur and Na-tionalInstituteforEnvironmen-tal Studies in Japan collectedemission samples from 24garbage burning sites in Ben-

galuru and Hoskote for thestudy.Whiletheresultsshowedhighconcentrationsofparticlesnear the fires, one aspect of theexperiment was eye-popping.Thankstovariousorganiccom-poundsburningineachfire,thetest filters turned into differentcolours, making a rainbow oftoxins.

“When you take samples ofambient air either here in theUnited States or in (many partsof) India, you just get differentshadesofgrey.Butthesesmoul-dering fires turned our filtersinto such different colours thatone of my lab-mates actuallythoughtIwaslookingatapanelof eye shadows,”said Vreeland.

The wide variability found inthefumesmostlikelystemfromthetrashpilescontainingmanydifferent organic and plasticmaterials. It is also a result ofsmouldering, incomplete com-bustion, which offers at leastone insight into how the prac-

tice might be improved.“From our tests, we found

that somebody standing nearone of these fires is getting adose of toxins 1,000 timesgreater than they would fromambient air. To put it anotherway, a person would only need

to breathe these particles for aminute to get an entire day'sworth of hazardous particulatematter,” said Michael Bergin,professor at Duke, who led theteam. “Roadside trash burningis largely un-examined as a fac-tor that influences air quality,

radiative forcing, and humanhealth even though it is ubiqui-touslypractisedthroughoutIn-dia. Our results indicate thatneartrash-burningsources,ex-posuretotoxicparticulatemat-ter can be extremely high,” theresearchers reported in thejournal Atmospheric Environ-ment.

Every year, India generatesabout 62 million tonnes of mu-nicipalsolidwaste,outofwhich5.6 million tonnes are plasticwaste, 0.17 million tonnes bio-medical waste, 7.90 milliontonnes hazardous waste and 15lakh tonnes e-waste. The wastegeneration is estimated to risefrom62milliontonnestoabout165 million tonnes by 2030.However,manymunicipalbod-ies,includingBruhatBengaluruMahanagara Palike, wererapped by the Comptroller andAuditor General in the past fortheir failure to scientifically dis-pose off waste.

A minute’s exposure to burning garbage fumesin Namma Bengaluru increases toxicity 1,000 times

Roadside trash burning is largely un-examined as a factorthat influences air quality, radiative forcing, and humanhealth even though it is ubiquitously practised throughoutIndia. DH FILE PHOTO

BENGALURU, DHNS: BJP LokSabha member from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituen-cy, Shobha Karandlaje, hassaid that the proposed Heb-bal steel flyover would de-stroy the greenery in thecity.

“The flyover is sheeer wasteof public money. Nobody wantsit. Initially, the project cost wasputatRs1,350crorewhichwasenhanced to Rs 1,800 crore.Now, we hear the cost may es-calate to Rs 2,200 crore. Is itright to spend such a huge sumon a flyover for six-and-a-halfkilometres,” Shobha wanted toknow.

Shewasaddressingthemem-bers of BJP women’s wing whostaged a protest at Anand RaoCircle, against the proposedsteel flyover, here on Thursday.Theprotestershuggedtreesex-pressing their opposition tofellingover800treesforthefly-over.

Flyover will destroy greenery, says Shobha

BJP Mahila Morcha workers led by MP Shobha Karandlaje hug a tree as part of the protest against the proposed steel flyover,near Maurya Circle, on Thursday. DH PHOTO

In city today

IISc,IIT-MdenybeinginloopoverflyoverFlyover, from Page 1

Had they been consulted,they said, they would havediscouragedthesteel flyoveridea as it calls for the fellingof 812 trees.

Chandra Kishen J M, pro-fessorandheadoftheCentrefor Infrastructure, Sustain-able Transportation and Ur-ban Planning, IISc, said hehad received no communi-cation either. “The govern-ment has not sought any ad-vicefromus.Andeveniftheyhad, we would have had toconduct an environmentaland feasibility study beforegiving any opinion,”he said.

Dr S Arul JayachandranfromtheDepartmentofCivilEngineering, IIT-Madras,has not heard from the au-thorities either. “I have readabout the steel flyover innewspapers,butwewerenotconsulted as claimed by theKarnataka government,” hetold DH.

Jayachandran also servesas Deputy Director of SteelLab, CSIR-Structural Engi-neering Research Centre.

Minister exposedThis is not the first timeGeorge has been caughtmaking false statements.

HehadearlierclaimedtheextensionoftheflyoverfromHebbal till Esteem Mall wasaCabinetdecision,butChiefMinister Siddaramaiah can-didly admitted it was an af-ter-thought.

George had claimed hehad held meetings with de-fence personnel to seek landfor the flyover. The IndianAirForcesaidnothingof thesort had happened.

Georgethenpatcheditup,saying Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar hadagreed in principle to pro-videlandforstateinfrastruc-ture projects.DH News Service