Bangalore's Boomtown Blues

By Steve Schifferes
Economics reporter, BBC News, Bangalore

Nitesh Shetty may be Bangalore's youngest property billionaire.

Aged 30, he has 4,000 apartments under construction in the city, with plans to expand his operations into Calcutta, Mumbai and New Delhi.

And he has just sealed a $100m deal with Citigroup to build Bangalore's latest luxury hotel, the Ritz Carlton.

Having dropped out of university to pursue a career as a tennis pro, he began his career by selling billboard space in Bangalore, after getting a 10,000 rupee ($226, £115) loan from his mother.

At 23, he borrowed 500,000 rupees ($11,000) to turn a house in central Bangalore into an office block.

The home was owned by an old widow, and he gave her a 50% stake in the venture.

He then persuaded the bank to rent the ground floor - which covered his interest payments - and he never looked back.

Mr Shetty told the BBC there was no shortage of foreign investors eager to take a stake in India's real estate boom.

He has named all his luxury apartment complexes after famous US locations, such as Times Square, Key Biscayne, and Forest Hills (the US Wimbledon), and has hired the Australian cricketing legend Shane Warne to promote his properties.

Hi-tech boom

In the 1990s, when the Indian government decided to liberalise the economy and encourage the IT services industry, Bangalore established special zones such as Electronic City - a hub of hi-tech firms.

But its highly educated, literate workforce prompted the government to locate its defence and space research here in the 1960s.

Today the Bangalore boom is based on its attractiveness as the centre of India's IT industry, which is enjoying unprecedented growth as foreign multinationals rush to outsource their back-office functions to India.

The city's population has grown from 1.6m in 1970 to 2.8m in 1990 and 6.5m today, making it India's fastest growing city, and planners expect it to reach 10m by 2015.

India's IT sector employs 1.3 million people directly, and 3 million indirectly - and 40% of the IT sector is concentrated in Bangalore.

Bangalore also has the highest average income in India, and the jobs are plentiful, with Infosys expected to hire thousands this year.

Out on the town

The spirit of affluence pervades Bangalore.

Civil servants... are not good at managing big projects on time and on budget says K Jairaj
City commissioner

There are six new shopping malls, and luxury car showrooms like BMW are springing up everywhere.

The young, well-paid worker likes to go out on the town, and restaurants and bars are doing a roaring trade, with 500 new bars in the city alone and dozens of cafes.

With a new bar opening every week, owners cannot get enough staff.

That's good news for the head barman at the newly opened Le Rock pub, who has been hired at double his previous salary.

And there has been a boom for taxi firms as the IT companies all pay them to transport their workers to and from their offices, given the hopeless inadequacy of the public transport system.

Not that the new-found wealth always filters through.

Raj Singh came from Tamil Nadu 15 years ago to work as a taxi driver.

He still sends half his salary to his mother back home, and visits her two weekends a month, travelling for 15 hours on three buses.

But if his wages are higher, so is his rent. He cannot afford to live in Bangalore, and it costs half his salary even to rent a room in a village 30 miles away.

And many of the thousands of construction workers who have to build the new apartments and offices live in squalor in makeshift roadside tents that sit uneasily among the city's glamour.

Weekend breaks

The hi-tech industry has also introduced a new phenomenon in Indian life for those who are on-the-up - the weekend break.

Affluent IT workers like to get away from the city.

Previously, everyone spent six days a week in the office, but the high-paid IT workers only do five.

With their high-stress jobs, they are increasingly interested in getting away from it all.

And into the breach has stepped Santosh, a trekking guide.

His web-based travel agency, Getoffurass.com, specialises in finding weekend hideaways in the jungle, and is doing a roaring trade.

Santosh told the BBC that the biggest change was that now he was leading Indians, not Westerners, in treks across the Himalayas.

Infrastructure woes

Bangalore's public infrastructure has lagged woefully behind the pace of private sector investment.

Every Bangalore IT company has to have a private generator and uninterruptible power supply to cope with the daily power failures of the grid.

Despite 15 years of lobbying, the 5km stretch of road linking Electronic City to the city centre is still crammed with bullock carts, trucks, cars and two-wheelers despite a private-public partnership to fund a new expressway.

And its international airport has an antiquated terminal far too small for the hordes of international businessmen flooding into the city - and the frenzied search for luggage as people gather five-deep around the single luggage carousel sometimes prompts emotional - and occasionally physical - outbursts.

Bangalore's city commissioner, K Jairaj, told the BBC that untrammelled growth could not go on indefinitely, with five million vehicles already clogging the roads and property prices going through the roof.

The government's policy is to decentralise development - building new towns on green field sites surrounding the city.

Mr Jairaj also said that, in order to generate more jobs, the government wanted to encourage more labour-intensive sectors like car manufacturing to locate in Bangalore, and would not resist plans to disperse IT jobs to more cities in India.

But he said his greatest problem was the weakness of his own civil servants, who were not good at managing big projects "on time and on budget."

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Terror suspect visited Infosys, Wipro

January 06, 2007, Rediff.com

The suspected Pakistan-trained militant, who was arrested from Bangalore outskirts, had visited Infosys and Wipro to find out the security arrangements there for a possible terror strike as per instructions of top insurgents in Pakistan with alleged Lashkar-e-Tayiba links, his questioning revealed.

Police recovered 1 AK-56 rifle, 200 rounds of ammunition, 5 hand grenades, 2 magazines of AK-56 and 1 charger for satellite phone from his rented house at Ranipet in Bellary district, City Police Commissioner Neelam Achyut Rao said.

Rao said the 34-year-old terrorist Bilal Ahmed Kota alias Imran Jalal alias Salim, was asked by his "bosses" (top insurgents in Pakistan with alleged LeT links) to visit the offices of Wipro and Infosys and Bangalore airport to find out the security arragements at these places, and to report back.

Bangalore brokers turn developers in real estate explosion

Ranju Sarkar, HT

In the twists and turns of the nation’s real estate boom, bigger city builders are going national, while local brokers are turning into developers.

Bangalore broker Feroze Estate & Properties has become a developer. ‘‘Every builder today was once upon a time a trader or a real estate broker. I am developing my own property and will retain it,’’ says Feroze Abdulla, who has just leased 150,000 square feet to the Reliance group at Prestige Feroze in the technology capital’s plush Cunningham Road, where property prices have risen three-fold in three years.

Delhi-based Parsvnath also started as a real estate broker, and is an idol for many agents. ‘‘Broking is more of liaison. There is no great value addition except bringing the two parties together. In real estate, you need a lot of technical knowhow, say, on how you provide noise installation on floors or tackle the leakage problem,” says an industry expert. Hospitality player Panoramic Universal is now a real estate aspirant. ‘‘These are two different sectors. I can understand when a real estate guy gets into retail – there’s synergy. But moving from hospitality to real estate could be dicey,’’ said Susil Dungarwal of Bangalore-based Prestige group. But such comment from entrenched players does not deter firms like Panoramic, which is planning to raise $12 million through a global depository receipt (GDR) issue, after announcing its foray into real estate and getting listed on the National Stock Exchange in addition to BSE.

"We are not in the valuation game. The money is being raised for the hospitality business. The announcement on real estate was made to inform the stock exchange. We need to get the board approval and amend the MoU, before we get into real estate," says Panoramic’s chief financial officer (CFO) Utpal Parekh.

Not everyone is worried about such furious expansion. ‘‘This is not similar to the IT/dotcom story, where the valuation method was unreal. Real estate is an asset-based business, where the promoter puts in his money to grow the business. It is a mixed bag. You have to examine each case individually,’’ said Jaidev Mody, director, Peninsula Land, a Ashok Piramal Group firm, which recently raised Rs 160 crore for local investors.

Techie Adhip Lahiri’s murder cracked; 2 held

Times News Network
Picture: Md Asad

Culprits Wanted To Lead Lavish Life; Police Discount Professional Rivalry

Bangalore:
Motive: Murder for gain
Victim: Adhip Lahiri, a software professional
Accused: J Raju and Venkatesh, former employees of IT companies
Clue: Killers used Lahiri’s credit card to buy a cellphone and SIM card

The Adhip Lahiri murder case has been solved and two former employees of ITPB have been arrested. Adhip Lahiri was found murdered on December 22. He was killed the previous night in his car and the killers had dumped the body near a water tank in Garudacharpalya.

The accused are J Raju, who worked as a transport supervisor and Venkatesh, a security guard. Both of them worked at ITPB premises, Whitefield, in the past. The police have discounted the theory of professional jealousy as alleged by Lahiri’s family. Police commissioner Achutha Rao on Saturday said Lahiri’s killers were working for two different IT companies. Thirty-two-year-old Lahiri, worked for i-2G software and as an outsourced project person for Infeneon at ITPB.

The killers were caught based on the transactions they had made on a credit card belonging to Lahiri. They had snatched credit and debit cards along with a laptop and a cellphone from Lahiri before killing him. The killers used the credit card to buy a cellphone and SIM card. This helped the police to trap them.

The police, who had kept a close watch on the transactions made on Lahiri’s cards, learnt about this purchase. Acting swiftly, they monitored the calls made and received on the cellphone. The police team, led by joint commissioner Gopal B Hosur, laid the trap. Achuta Rao said: “After work on December 21, Lahiri, a native of Kolkata, left ITPB at around 9 pm in his car. The killers followed him in another car from the ITPB gate. Lahiri was not their specific target and he was picked up randomly. Initially, they wanted to rob him and they had no intention of killing him. The duo wanted to lead a luxurious life by targeting techies.”

“After following him up to some distance, the killers created a scene of accident near Sri Sathya Sai general hospital on Varthur road and forced Lahiri to stop his car and get down in an isolated place. They sprayed pepper powder on Lahiri’s face and shoved him on the back seat. They overpowered him, tied his hands and legs and gaged him using a scotch tape. The killers left their car near the hospital and drove Lahiri’s car after robbing credit cards, cellphone and other valuables. They forced Lahiri to reveal the PIN numbers of the cards.”

“When the car reached Whitefield railway level-crossing, Lahiri tried to shout for help. The killers smothered him to death and took his body to Garudacharpalya through narrow lanes, avoiding police picket points on the main road. The duo threw Lahiri’s body near a water tank and sped away.”

“Later, they planned to sell the car outside Bangalore and drove towards Tumkur. However, on seeing heavy police presence on the roads, they abandoned the car near Yeshwantpur and took an autorickshaw to reach Varthur road near their car which they had borrowed from a friend. The killers used the stolen debit cards to withdraw cash from ATM counters and make some purchases in Bangalore and Kolar.”

In the early hours of December 22, Lahiri’s wife Aparna went to Airport road police station and lodged a complaint that her husband had not come home. Later, an unidentified body was found at a water tank near Garudacharpalya and Aparna identified the body as Lahiri’s. Though Aparna had tried to block the card transactions, the cards remained active for some reason and the killers made purchases worth Rs 1 lakh.

According to the police, Venkatesh, who worked as a guard at an IT firm, was removed from his job recently due to misbehaviour. The police have recovered the laptop robbed from Lahiri and also the items which they had purchased using credit cards.

Companies go on a recruitment spree at IIT Bangalore

Times News Network

Bangalore: As many as 25 companies hit the International Institute of Technology, Bangalore, to recruit the seventh batch of students this year. Despite lucrative offers, nine students declined offers, opting to pursue higher studies.

Another 64 students are pursuing the research option in industrial research laboratories like ABB Corporate Research, HP IMS, IBM Software Labs, Motorola Research, Microsoft Research, Nokia and Siemens Research.

IT majors like Amex, SAP, EMC, GE, Novell, BEA, Web Methods and Intel who have been the major recruiters continued their drive at IIIT-B recruiting 52 students.

Another interesting feature of the placement this year is that 26 students joined startup companies like Ziva, Tyfone and niche firms like Techvoyant, Kodiak Networks Fiberlink and Allgo.

Three students will spend their internship of six months at University of Kaiserslautern in Germany and one student, Megha Saini, is going to University of Trento at Italy.

Another student, Abhishek S, will be spending six months in UK working with a company and Kingston University.

Family suspects sinister motive in Techi's Murder

Times News Network

Bangalore: The Lahiris and Mukherjees are still in a state of shock following the robbery and murder of 32-year-old software engineer Adhip Lahiri.

The family feels it was not murder for gain and suspects a sinister motive as Adhip was gagged and bound with ropes and scotch tape. Adhip’s father Arun Chandra Lahiri, a retired deputy chief engineer with LIC, says his son was not the kind of person who was foolish to stop his car while driving through lonely stretches. His office was in ITBP and he lived near Manipal Hospital. He was to leave for Germany on Monday from Kolkata.

Adhip’s credit cards were also robbed at the time of the murder. On Sunday, when the family called the bank to block his credit cards they found that his HSBC card was already blocked. The bank said an attempt was made to use the card around 3 pm on Sunday. After a few unsuccessful attempts at guessing the PIN it may have got automatically blocked, they suspect.

On the fateful night, Adhip’s wife Aparna called him at 11.30 pm. The cell rang for some time. When she tried again later it was switched off. It was then that she panicked and called the police.
Picture 1: File photo of Adhip Lahiri and his wife Aparna
Picture 2: The car in which Adhip was driving back home on Thursday night

Chidambaram fractures toe in Bangalore incident

S. Rajendran, The Hindu

BANGALORE: Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram fractured a toe after he tripped and fell off a granite step leading to Koshy's, a restaurant on St. Marks Road here, on Saturday. This followed an incident involving a photographer of The Times of India.

An official press release said Mr. Chidambaram and some members of his family (wife, son, daughter - in - law and grand-daughter) were dining out with some friends when the photographer of a newspaper approached them repeatedly and asked for permission to take photographs. Each time, his request was turned down as the family was on a private visit.

Police sources said there was a scuffle when the photographer of The Times of India attempted to take pictures as the family came out of the restaurant. An attempt was made to snatch his camera and in the melee the Minister tripped and fell.

The press release said that when the family came out, the photographer began clicking away. "Mr Chidambaram's son and his friend objected. In order to avoid the photographer, Mr. Chidambaram moved to the right, but missed a step, tripped and fell down. He suffered a fracture of the toe and a plaster cast has been put on the right foot."

The release said the photographer, and subsequently the Resident Editor of the newspaper apologised to Mr. Chidambaram and his family.

The Minister and his family members arrived here on a private visit two days ago and they were said to have planned a visit to Melkote in Mandya district.

Police sources said that being on a private outing, Mr. Chidambaram was in an attire different from his usual white dhoti and white shirt.

The family was perturbed on noticing the photographer waiting outside and there was a scuffle.

The Minister was thereafter taken to the Manipal Hospital on Airport Road. He has been advised rest for a fortnight.

After long wait, Archbishop tells CM not to come for Xmas party

Times news Network

Bangalore: Politicians religiously come late to functions, whether they are related to religion or not. Archbishop Bernard Moras, who had organised a Christmas get-together for important personalities of Bangalore on Friday, got tired of waiting for the chief minister and told his office that Kumaraswamy need not come.

The Christmas party was to start at 5 pm on Friday. After waiting for the CM, the Archbishop got it started around 5.30 pm, but still waited for him. The CM’s office told the Archbishop that Kumaraswamy was stuck in Sira, Tumkur district, and would join the party after landing at Jakkur by a helicopter. Political leaders, the Chief Justice, bureaucrats, the police commissioner and others were already there. Though the governor could not make it as he is in Hyderabad undergoing an eye surgery, he sent two representatives from Raj Bhavan with bouquets to greet the Archbishop.

But no such courtesies from the CM, and the wait continued. The CM’s office kept saying Kumaraswamy was coming by road and would reach the party around 8.30 pm. It was revised to 10.30 pm. By then, it was time for the Archbishop and other priests to leave the venue to attend to their prayers.

On Saturday morning, the Archbishop called the CM’s office at 8.30 am to check if the CM could come over for the occasion. The CM’s office confirmed he would be there at 9.30 am, and revised it to 10.30 am. Again, there was no sign of him till noon, the Archbishop’s office said.

Around 12.30 pm, a frustrated Archbishop started moving out his chambers, when a couple of policemen came running to inform him that the CM was on his way.

It was again the same story. When the Archbishop’s office checked with the CM’s staff, they said Kumaraswamy was attending some function at the Vidhana Soudha Banquet Hall and would be with the religious head in a little while.

The Archbishop, whose patience had already been tested to the limit, conveyed to the CM’s office that he need not come.

“The CM should not always look to capture votes, but also participate in social and cultural gettogethers. He has been late to arrive in virtually every function and he has never apologised. His father H D Deve Gowda too used to come late, but at least he used to apologise,’’ the Archbishop’s office said.

CM clarifies
Kumaraswamy said, “There was some communication gap and I will meet the Archbishop on Sunday morning.”

Of Late...

• Kumaraswamy was to inaugurate a water tank at Ramnagaram at 10.30 am last week. When he landed, it was 6.15 pm.
• For signing an MoU at Oracle for networking 100 polytechnics, he came so late that four corporate honchos finished speaking and then asked the audience to sing to pass time. He came two hours late.
• At the Rajyotsava function where top honchos like Infosys chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy, Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Toyota Kirloskar Motors chairman Vikram Kirloskar among others were present, the CM arrived late.

Techie Adhip’s kin in Bengal shocked by the murder

Times News Network

Kolkata: Relatives and neighbours of slain Bangalore-based IT employee Adhip Lahiri’s family in Salt Lake’s Laboni Abasan are shocked. To neighbours, the murder of the ‘amiable, polite and humble’ young man is unbelievable.

Adhip’s father Arun Chandra Lahiri flew to Bangalore on Friday on hearing of his son’s death. The rest of the family, including Adhip’s mother, brother Ayanand and an uncle left for Bangalore in the wee hours of Saturday.

Adhip’s father is a retired employee of an insurance company. He was also president of Laboni Abasik Samiti a few years ago. Adhip’s mother Aparna is an assistant headmistress at Dum Dum Motijheel Girls’ High School. Ayan is a second year mechanical engineering student at Jadavpur university.

Adhip’s aunt Sanjukta Maitra, who lives at Skyline Apartment near Bidhan Sishu Udyan, said Adhip was supposed to arrive in Kolkata on Sunday and fly to Germany on December 26 on an official assignment. “Adhip was a brilliant student. He passed out of IIT Kharagpur and first joined American Express. He did his MBA in New Delhi and got married in November 2000. We cannot even imagine that somebody could kill such a boy,” she said.

The relatives are clueless about the motive behind the murder. “We learnt that Adhip’s laptop as well as his cellphone was lost,” said Sanjukta. “We have heard that there was a deep injury mark on the right side of Adhip’s face,” said a relative.

Known persons may have killed engineer

Police Rule Out Murder-For-Gain Theory

Times News Network

Bangalore: The police suspect some known persons were involved in the murder of software engineer Adhip Lahiri, who was smothered between ITPB and his house on Airport Road on Thursday night.

The police had earlier said it could be murder for gain, but are now ruling it out. The crucial clue is that Adhip’s hands and feet were tied. If the attackers were interested only in money, they would not waste time finding a rope to bind his hands and feet which would take up precious time. The murderers had also placed the body beside the Mahadevapura tank and not thrown it into a ditch or into the tank, the police say.

They are also working on the theory that Adhip was smothered by some known persons at a place known to him, because there were no “major signs” of struggle, except a small injury on his head. Joint commissioner of police (crime) Gopal B Hosur said the victim was bound using cloth, ropes and adhesive tape. The cloth was part of an old dupatta used to clean his car, but the ropes and tapes were possibly carried by the attackers.

“The attackers, possibly three of them, could have stopped him, gained entry into the car and murdered him. The post-mortem report indicates death due to asphyxiation. It also states that there were signs of struggle as his shirt button was torn,’’ Hosur says.

The autopsy was conducted at the Bowring Hospital on Saturday morning. Details of the report were not available. The body was cremated at the Kalhalli crematorium in Cox Town.

Adhip’s wife Aparna, who works for TCS in the city, preferred not to speak to the media and refused to part with her husband’s photo, saying: “That will not be necessary.’’

Other family members, including her father Rear Admiral S S Mukherjee, were present at their residence behind Manipal Hospital.

BSNL broadband goes high speed, to offer 2mbps at Rs.250 a month

Times News Network & Agencies

New Delhi: State-run BSNL will invest up to Rs 2,000 crore to augment its broadband infrastructure in urban and rural areas to aggressively capture subscribers.

"We’ll invest Rs 1,200-1,500 crore for expanding our broadband network in urban areas, while about Rs 500 crore would be invested in rural areas,” BSNL CMD A K Sinha said here, adding that BSNL is already in the process of launching triple play services over broadband in Pune and subsequently in Chennai and Bangalore.

BSNL will provide broadband up to 2 mbps at Rs 250 a month. The speed has been increased eight times, whereas the download has been increased by 2.5 times at almost half the cost. Under the new plan, all the existing 8.2 lakh customers are also being upgraded for the speed up to 2 mbps, depending upon technical feasibility.

With 2007 being declared the Year of Broadband, BSNL will add the 5 million port capacity to existing network of 1 million ports. BSNL at present has a market share of 44% in this segment. BSNL also holds the prime position as the largest internet service provider of the country. More than 1,000 cities and towns and 20,000 villages will come under the broadband map. Nearly 10,000 exchanges in urban areas and 20,000 exchanges in rural areas would be broadband enabled.

The telecom major would start an online gaming service very shortly under two categories — standard and premium packages with monthly fixed charges of Rs 100 and Rs 200, respectively.

IT engineer robbed, killed

Body Found Off Mahadevapura Tank; Murder For Gain Suspected
23 Dec 2006, Times News Network

Bangalore: In yet another crime against IT professionals, a software engineer, Adhit Lahiri (32), was waylaid, abducted and smothered to death on Thursday night. His body was found at an isolated stretch near Mahadevapura tank in Bangalore’a eastern suburbs early on Friday.

The police said software engineer’s wife Aparna Lahiri (in her late twenties), who was waiting for her husband, started getting anxious when he did not return even by midnight. He normally came home around 10 or 10.30 pm.

Aparna rushed to the nearby Airport police station and lodged a complaint about her missing husband. She told the police that her husband was wearing a checked yellow shirt, a ‘sacred’ thread and red ‘sacred’ band around his wrist. Immediately, the police wireless sets started crackling across the city with the description of the missing man.

The police found the body dumped near Mahadevapura tank early on Friday. Adhit had been smothered — prevented from breathing by pressing a cloth or some other object against his mouth and nose. His hands and legs were bound and the police are wondering why the attackers went to such lengths, when they could have just dumped the body.

The police suspect that Adhit, who was commuting by car, may have been waylaid somewhere between ITPB and his house by at least three attackers. There was no sign of struggle at the spot. Initial suspicion was that it could be a murder for gain; Adhit’s car, ring, watch, cash and mobile phone have been robbed. After examination by sleuths and forensic experts, the body was taken to the Bowring Hospital mortuary. The post-mortem will be conducted on Saturday.

Additional commissioner of police Bipin Gopalkrishna, joint commissioner of police Gopal Hosur and deputy commissioner of police P Muniswamy visited the spot where the body was found.

Aparna has been inconsolable and her father, Rear Admiral S S Mukherjee, flew down in the evening to be with his daughter at their residence near Manipal Hospital.

Dental student glitters with seven medals

Swati Anand | Times News Network

Bangalore: When you ask Sharanya Ajit Kumar how she managed to get seven gold medals from the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), she smiles modestly. “I’ve always focussed on doing my best. Ranks and medals are just a byproduct,” she says.

By the looks of it, this student of Government Dental College (GDC) has quite a few ‘by-products’ to accommodate. She has been topping her college through the four years and secured first ranks in at least two subjects every year, making it a tally of 13. Sharanya has stood first on two occasions in RGUHS through the four years.

And while she dominated the awards ceremony at her college convocation on Wednesday, at the university convocation to be held in early 2007, she will walk away with medals for oral anatomy, oral pathology, dental materials, community dentistry and conservative dentistry, apart from overall merit for third and final year.

That’s not all. The Indian Association of Periodontics recently commemorated her at Pune for academic excellence in the subject.

“She’s been a firstranker all through school,” says her proud father Ajit Kumar, an ISRO employee. Sharanya graduated from Kendriya Vidyalaya, NAL, with an impressive score of 93 per cent.

Her mother, insurance agent Shakina, doesn’t recall a single day of prodding their daughter to study. “I think it was an inborn trait in her to be organised,” she says.

It’s this trait that has been Sharanya’s key to success. “I study bit by bit every day. So I’m never tensed or overworked when it’s exam time,” she says.

Focus is evidently another strong point. “I began weighing my career options seriously after my 10th and zeroed in on dentistry because I thought it was an upcoming field,” she says. So while she could opt for a medical seat with a CET rank of 1,100, she went ahead with dentistry. “At least half the people in my class are here because they did not get a medical seat. But the step-sisterly treatment towards BDS is changing.”

When not studying, Sharanya’s a regular mallrat, who loves watching movies. “I saw Umrao Jaan recently — it was so slow and weepy,” she frowns. A trained Bharatanatyam dancer, she’s been dabbling with salsa recently. At college, she was the cultural secretary and general secretary of the student body council. And she usually curls up in bed with a racy novel by John Grisham.

Next on cards is a post-graduate degree. “I would like to get into any government college, hopefully back to GDC.” And while she plans to work in a multi-speciality hospital and then, in a private clinic, she eventually wants to teach. “It would be great if I could be a faculty member in a dental college by the day and run my practise in the evening."

Land worth crores gobbled

S Kushala | Times News Network

Bangalore: It cannot be more timely. The ordinance bringing land grabbers and erring officials under the ambit of law has come at a time when government has identified thousands of acres of its land that has been encroached upon.

Sample this: Of the 1.18 lakh government lands in Bangalore Urban, 13,614 acres have been encroached upon. The value of these lands, taking into consideration the guidance value of stamps and registration department, has been estimated at Rs 27,377.75 crore.

The legislature committee for land encroachment survey has identified largescale encroachment of government lands under the purview of 15 departments. Departments occupying top slots are revenue, BDA, forest and wakf, says an interim report prepared by the committee, headed by MLA A T Ramaswamy, which will be released on Thursday.

According to the report, a copy of which has been made available to TOI, information on government lands was obtained from 28 departments and a survey done. Bangalore Urban deputy commissioner M A Sadiq carried out the exercise with 250 surveyors.

The revenue department tops in both murky deals and the quantum of land encroached upon. The committee found that over 3 lakh bogus possession certificates were issued to encroachers of government lands in connivance with revenue department officials.

Housing societies have played a major role too. A large number of societies violated all norms and went ahead with layout formation. Some of these are Shantinagar Housing Society, Vishwa Bharati Housebuilding Co-operative Society and Aircraft Employees Society.

The Pollution Control Board has also come under the scanner. It has been pulled up for renewing licences for stone-crushing units around TG Halli reservoir which has been declared environmentally sensitive. While the government has banned stone crushing activities around 1,493 sq km area of TG Halli, the authorities have still been renewing licences.

In a Nutshell:

• Since stringent action has been initiated in other states to prevent encroachment, land grabbers are migrating to Bangalore who find it easy to lay their hands on government properties.
• Prime temple properties are being grabbed; Muzrai and endowments department has not acted.
• 3.5 acres of NIMHANS property grabbed by a private developer who has constructed an apartment for which BMP has given khata

Top 3 departments:

• Revenue: 9,294 acres valued at Rs 18,588 crore
• BDA: 2,878.2 acres, Rs 5,236.25 crore
• Forest and lakes: 938.54 acres, at Rs 1,877.08 crore

Principal arrested for harassment, released on bail

Times News Network

Bangalore: St Claret’s School principal, Fr Mathew, was arrested and released on bail late on Wednesday night.

The principal has been under the scanner for his alleged misbehaviour with two schoolgirls as reported in city newspapers.

According to the police, their officers were sent to apprehend the principal.

The Archbishop of Bangalore, Bernard Moras, said the principal will not return to the school. “I have contacted Fr Mathew’s superiors and they have assured me that he will be transferred. He will not come back to the school as principal,” he assured.

According to the police complaint, which was filed on Sunday, Fr Mathew had used “suggestive language” and had “thrown his arms around their shoulders” at a school excursion three months ago. It’s reported that the girls spoke about the incident at a private party recently.

School responds
School authorities responded on Wednesday: “Principal Fr Mathew was never alone with the students during this school trip. He was accompanied by other students and teachers and nothing could have gone unnoticed. “We are surprised that such a complaint was made after three months. We have enquired with the staff and other students and they all claim that nothing happened. He has been principal for six years and no such case has been registered against him.

“We suspect that the principal’s uncompromising stand on discipline and admonishing students for immoral behaviour could have led to this.’’

Related post:
Tension over harassment of schoolgirls

Doctor held for obscene e-mails

Times News Network

Bangalore: A woman received an obscene e-mail on November 19: “Hello Preeti (name changed) u r so beautiful, met u 1st time 3 days back, u r so sexy I don’t know whether u r married? Lovely eyes, lovely **, lovely **, u r sexy.”

She ignored the e-mail in disgust. However, the mails didn’t stop.

On November 21, she received another obscene e-mail. Though she was angry, she decided to ignore it again.

When the e-mails didn’t stop, she approached the cyber crime sleuths on November 23.

Once the complaint was lodged, the sleuths managed to track down the e-mails to raaj-sv@yahoo.co.in. They then hunted down the sender, who was surreptitiously sending these mails from a dingy e-mail parlour in J P Nagar.

The Cyber Crime sleuths registered a case against the sender, Dr Saravanan E. Initials investigations revealed that he sent five anonymous obscene e-mail messages from the cyber cafes to this woman.

Additional director general of police S Mahapatra said a case has been registered against Dr Saravanan E under Section 67 of Information Technology Act 2000.

Dacoits strike at petrol bunk

Times News Network

Bangalore: Five armed hoodlums attacked the Shell petrol bunk on Hosur Road and decamped with Rs 17.5 lakh and seven cell phones on Monday morning. The gang threatened the 11 employees with an air pistol and choppers and locked them inside the office.

South east DCP Soumendu Mukherjee said, “These men escaped in their twowheelers.” Police suggested the gang could be novices, who lived nearby. Although they carried out the operation in 15 minutes flat, they dropped two bundles of currency notes in their hurry to escape. They stuffed the money in their pockets and a small cloth bag.

This dacoity comes 24 hours after three armed men abducted a jeweller on Airport Road and forced him to open his own jewellery store for them to loot. They escaped with 2.5 kg of gold jewellery. Later, the owner was blindfolded, sedated and abandoned.

Tension over harassment of schoolgirls

Times News Network

Bangalore: An angry mob gathered outside St Claret High School, Jalahalli village, on Monday to protest school principal Fr Mathew’s alleged misbehaviour with two girl students.

It is reported that the principal of St Claret High School allegedly used “suggestive language and even put his hands around the shoulders” of two students.

According to the police, parents of the students lodged a complaint with the Jalahalli police on Sunday evening. Around 11.15 pm the same day, a mob attacked the church and school.

Fr Mathew, who has been part of the school for the last six years, was unavailable for comment on Monday.

The archbishop of Bangalore, Bernard Moras, who visited the school at about 8.15 am on Monday in a private car, bore the brunt of the mob’s ire. The mob smashed the car’s windshield.

Later, the archbishop met the protesters and heard their grievances. Health minister R Ashok rushed to the spot and pacified the crowd.

DCP North Malini Krishnamurthy will probe the case.

Exams have been put forward by a week because of the incident. Christmas vacation starts from Thursday.

Picture: Archbishop Bernard Moras hears out protesters outside St Claret School in Jalahalli village on Monday

Related post:
Principal arrested for harassment, released on bail

Salary cut for late pizza delivery illegal: Labour dept

Times News Network

Bangalore: Labour commissioner has warned the pizza outlet managements of penal action if they are found deducting wages of pizza boys for late delivery.

Reacting to a report in The Times of India “Delivery boys pay for our free pizzas,” labour commissioner has stated: “Deduction in the salary of pizza boys for not delivering pizza on time to consumers is illegal.

The management’s doing so is liable for penal action under labour laws. The aggrieved delivery boys may approach the department for redressal of grievances if any.”

Contact commissioner of labour, Karmika Bhavan, Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore.

'Neelakanta' starring Ravichandran and Namitha

Kannada Movie Neelakanta, scheduled to release on December 22, stars Ravichandran and Namitha

Neelankanta's director Sai Prakash already has hugely successful films like Anna Thangi, Tavarige Baa Thangi and Rama Krishna to his credit.

Neelankanta, apparently, is inspired from Aranmanai Kili, a Tamil film featuring Raj Kiran and Meena. It was also remade in Telugu as Mansunna Maaraaju, with Arjun in the lead.

Neelakanta stars Tamil glamour doll Namitha, who is making her first foray into Kannada cinema. It also stars Malayalam actress Sree Devika.

Namitha says that, though glamour is her USP, she wants to expand her repertoire. That's when she got the offer to act in Neelakanta where, she says, she portrays a woman of substance.