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Deccan Herald
19 hours ago
- Climate
- Deccan Herald
Heavy rain resumes in pockets of North Karnataka; 196 students stranded in Navalgund school rescued
Bengaluru: As many as 196 students of school on the outskirts of Navalgund town, Dharwad district were rescued after being stranded for over four hours following the flooding triggered by heavy rain and overflowing of a stream on students of Hurakadli Ajja School remained in school with the Ambali Halla stream flowing in full steam. The taluk administration arranged for buses and other vehicles to ferry the students back home, after the floodwater receded after 8 pm, Navalgund Tahsildar Sudheer Sahukar told downpour lashed Navalgund and parts of taluk including Gudisagar, Naganuru, Alagawadi and Amargol, on Monday afternoon. Overflowing streams had cut-off traffic on Ibrahimpur road and the road linking Ron. Two-hour long rain, coupled with gusty winds, flooded vast tracts of farmland and brought down several trees and electricity poles in the a week-long break, rains resumed in many parts of north and central Karnataka on Monday. Two people died and several injured in rain-related incidents in north Karnataka region. Sangeeta Balasaheb Patil (30) died after a portion of her house ceiling collapsed at Baba Nagar in Tikota taluk of Vijayapura district in the wee hours of Monday. Sangeeta's husband and their children have escaped unhurt in the incident. Several parts of Vijayapura district, including Tikota, experienced heavy showers on the intervening night of Sunday and SELCO poised for a hat-trick of Green Vijayanagara district, a 25-year-old farmer was struck dead by lightning at his farm at Dashamapur village in Hagaribommanahalli taluk late Sunday night. Chandrashekar had gone to the farm on Sunday night to protect the sown maize seeds from wild boar elderly woman, Hanumakka, suffered injuries in a wall collapse at Badeladaku village in Kudligi taluk. She is admitted in a hospital in Ballari. Crops on vast tracts of agricultural land in Kottur taluk have been damaged due to flash floods triggered by heavy overnight rain. Four houses in the taluk were completely damaged. Road link to several villages, including Chiribi, Alaburu and Kogali Kannihalli, has been cut off due to overflowing rivulets and Hagari river. The copious rain in the taluk has set in motion the farming rain that lashed Hosapete for over half-an-hour has left the roads and low-lying areas flooded. Sharp rain had turned the playgrounds in the town into lakes. Ballari district, including the district headquarter, received good overnight of Bidar, Kalaburagi and Koppal received intermittent spells of rain on town and parts of taluk recorded moderate to heavy rain on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday. Kodagu district is expected to receive heavy rain for June 12 and 13. The IMD has declared red alert for the hilly district on Thursday and Friday. The NDRF team on Monday visited Harangi reservoir and Kushalnagar and inspected the flood-prone areas.
Deccan Herald
5 days ago
- General
- Deccan Herald
85 leopards thriving in Bengaluru's shrinking backyard: Study
Bengaluru: Areas on the outskirts of Bengaluru are home to 80-85 leopards, which not only coexist with a rising population but also with four endangered animals -- tiger, dhol, elephant and pangolin, says a year-long long study by Holemathi Nature by conservation biologist Sanjay Gubbi, a team of researchers from the foundation set up over 250 camera traps across 282 sq km of mixed habitat of agricultural lands, private fields and findings gave several insights on the key measures required for long-term conservation of the animal classified as near the 80-85 leopards in Bengaluru's backyard, 54 were inside BNP while the remaining 30 roamed the reserved and deemed forests besides private lands in the periphery. "The study covered all parts of Bengaluru including Hesaraghatta and adjoining areas, west Bengaluru (Sulikere and adjoining areas) east (Marasandra, Mandur and adjoining areas)," Gubbi told spotted just 3 km from Thalaghattapura is key.A total of 34 mammal species were photo captured during the study. Leopards coexisted with four endangered animals -- tiger, dhole, elephant and Indian Pangolin -- and three near threatened - rusty-spotted cat, Indian chevrotain (mouse deer), painted wooly bat. Four vulnerable species of sloth bear, sambhar, four-horned antelope and smooth-coated otter were also recorded.."Twenty two species fall under Schedule I and five under Schedule II of Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, underscoring the national and global importance of safeguarding Bengaluru's remaining natural habitat," it said, noting that bats and small rodents were outside the study noted that the leopard abundance inside the BNP has climbed steadily — from 40 in 2019 and 47 in 2020 to 54 in 2025 — primarily due to stricter protection that has improved prey availability while past translocation of conflict leopards from other districts may also have contributed to the numbers.."I think Bannerghatta has reached its carrying capacity. Bengaluru is also ensconcing the northern part of Bannerghatta and is now left with no buffer as buildings and layouts have come up to the edge of the national park. The silver lining to Bannerghatta is that it is connected to Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary in the south (we have identified some leopards that use both Bannerghatta and CWS) and some reserved forests in Tamil Nadu," he remaining study stressed the need to notify BM Kaval, UM Kaval, Roerich Estate and Gollahali Gudda as a conservation recommended the addition of Durga Dhakal reserved forest, Block B of Bettahalliwade reserved forest and deemed forests of JI Bachahalli and M Maniyambal to BNP. It said there was a need to safeguard the Muneshwara-Bannerghatta wildlife corridor while increasing community outreach efforts for noted that there were already signs of conflict as Bengaluru expands into the surrounding rocky outcrops, dry deciduous and scrub forests, thus depriving leopards of their natural habitat and prey.."Due to their relatively small body size and lower caloric needs, leopards can survive on smaller prey such as black-naped hare, porcupine, wild pig and even domestic animals. However, when natural prey numbers decline, leopards increasingly turn to livestock, leading to higher levels of conflict," he about the methodology, Gubbi said each leopard has a unique rosette pattern on its body and the team was able to identify individual leopards from the images captured.."Once all individuals were identified, the data were analysed using the Spatially Explicit Capture-Recapture (SECR) statistical methodology to estimate absolute abundance and density," he said, adding that the camera traps were active for a standard duration and checked every 2–3 days to ensure proper functionality.
Deccan Herald
24-05-2025
- Deccan Herald
Before plane takes off, potholes take over in Bengaluru
Earlier this month, a resident of Hanumanthappa Layout left for the airport at 2.30 am for an early morning flight. However, despite leaving three hours ahead of time, he missed his flight — thanks to the road he took. The Hennur-Bagalur main road landed him in two potholes, leaving him with a bent tyre rim..'It was a blind spot, right at a turn where there were no streetlights. The pothole was like a crater and the right tyre fell right into the middle of the pothole. The rim of the tyre got bent, leading to a flat tyre,' Debashish Panda told DH..'What's surprising is that the potholes weren't at that spot when I had taken the same road to the airport two weeks prior.' he Hennur-Bagalur Road, touted as an alternate road to Kempegowda International Airport, has remained a commuter's nightmare for almost a decade now. From periodic flooding to pothole menace, the road is the least efficient route to commute to the airport, say residents from around the locality. 'Apart from saving on paying the toll charges, there is no other benefit the road provides. A faint spell of rain, and there is about 2 feet of water accumulated at multiple spots on the route. Because of this, the potholes become invisible and driving here becomes more dangerous. I'd much rather take the Hebbal route. It might take 15 minutes longer, but it's much safer,' says Subramanian K, a Hennur resident. .Cab drivers also agree, with many refusing to take the route to get to the airport..'Early on, we would prefer the route as it would allow us to save some money. Plus, with the better roads, it was much quicker. But now the roads are so bad that it ends up damaging the car. With most of us buying our cars on EMI, we can't afford to keep paying for such damages,' said Tausif Pasha, a 36-year-old cab driver. .However, exploring options beyond Hebbal is a necessity, he said..'Last week, after it rained, it took almost three hours to get to RR Nagar from the airport. Getting to the airport hasn't been smooth ride either. Because of a large number of people constantly travelling to the airport, the toll queues are getting longer by the day. Some evenings, the toll queue is over 15 minutes long,' he added..'Not a single stretch free of potholes': Tejasvi Surya after TCS World 10K run in drivers specifically complain about longer queues at the toll booths between 4 pm and 8 pm. .What's the solution?.Alternate routes to the airport are the need of the hour, according to Srinivas Alavilli, Fellow, WRI a short-term solution, he suggests a shuttle service between Hebbal and the airport..'Currently, most of the airport trips are through Hebbal, and that's causing a chokehold in that area. While we develop alternate routes, we can look at the possibility of organising frequent BMTC AC shuttles from Hebbal. Shared transport can help reduce the traffic blocks and improve safety on the flyover,' he said. .Architect and urban designer Naresh Narasimhan opined that the government must promote existing alternate routes, such as the Satellite Town Ring Road, whilst improving the Nagawara access road. If the aim is to improve the traffic congestion on the Hebbal flyover, he suggests an additional bridge..'A 1.2 km long suspension bridge from the Esteem Mall up to Bangalore Baptist Hospital can help ease the congestion. Other than this, the possibility of expanding the Hebbal flyover is limited due to the lakes on either side,' he according to Ashish Verma, professor, IISc, Sustainable Transportation Lab, any intervention done to the flyover to improve congestion will only have a short-term effect..'Making more roads is not the solution. It won't help manage the traffic if the number of vehicles on the road keeps increasing. Instead, the authorities must focus on getting the Metro and Suburban Railway up and running,' he - BMTC takes the back gate Of the 17 existing Vayu Vajra routes only two are directed to the back entrance of Kempegowda International Airport — KIA-8E (from Electronic City) and KIA 15 (from Whitefield). The rest pass through Hebbal and get to the airport through the main entrance. The BMTC soon plans to divert more buses to the back entrance.'The plan is to divert some of the buses coming from Electronic City to the Hennur-Bagalur road towards the back gate of KIA to avoid crowding on the Hebbal flyover. With growing residential development on the Hennur-Bagalur stretch there is demand for more services and also the route will be much quicker' said G T Prabhakar Reddy Chief Traffic Manager. .Temporary solutionWhile Hebbal flyover's new ramp which provides extra carriageway for vehicles coming from KR Puram towards Mekhri Circle can ease the traffic congestion in the area it is not a permanent solution for the traffic bottleneck according to Siri Gowri Deputy Commissioner of Police Traffic (north). 'People prefer Hebbal because they're comfortable with the route. It's up to the government to make the alternate routes that already exist just as comfortable and accessible' she proposes elevated road Former minister and KR Puram MLA Byrati Basavaraj stresses the need for road improvement in his jurisdiction. 'The Hennur-Bagalur Road is an important route but much of the white-topping and other road work is yet to be executed. I've spoken to the authorities concerned about this' he tells DH. A 12-15 km elevated road starting from the Hennur bridge can help divert traffic from the Hebbal flyover and also improve the condition of the alternate route he proposes. Speaking on the lack of street lights on the Hennur-Bagalur stretch he said 'Up until my jurisdiction the roads are well-lit. No has taken responsibility for the rest of the route.'
