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Factory dust puts schoolchildren at risk, say parents
BRIEFS Blood banks running on empty as city hospitals face shortage Despite an increase in the number of donors over the past decade, blood banks face a shortage of units. One reason for people being unable to donate blood is low haemoglobin level. Page 2 Job seekers duped with fake job offers
Gangasandra Primary School pupils in front of a concrete mixer from the factory Apurva Prabhakar
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hildren are developing chest and breathing problems because of dust coming from a factory near their school, say parents. The playground of the government school can no longer be used because of the dust. "The dust that comes from the lorries carrying cement to the factory is so much that the children are not able to use the playground any more," said Mamata, a teacher in the Gangasandra Primary School. So far, more than 20 children have been affected, she said. Parents of the affected chil dren say that the factory is the
cause of their children's ill health. According to Pushpa, a resident, her threemonth-old son had to be rushed to the hospital, as he developed breathing complications because of the dust. “My son cannot even sleep. He keeps coughing,” she says. Dr Adarsh.E, paediatrician, Rajarajeshwari Hospital, said that children are prone to cough, chest congestion and fever due to exposure to dust. Veeresh, manager of the factory said that the factory was set up with a valid license and that there was no violation from their side. Since its construction in the year 2013 in Gangasandra, the KNS factory has been the source of a lot of problems, say residents. Apart from health,
dust from the factory has also affected farming. "Since the time the factory was constructed, I have not been able to grow any crops," says Krishnappa, a farmer. The cement dust settles on the crops, burns them and ultimately destroys them,” he said. Their problems do not end there. “We cannot drink water that comes from the taps as it has some white residue in it,” s a i d Jayamma, a resident of Gangasandra. Though the
Picture By: Parvathi Benu school and the residents complained to the factory owner, Vinod Kumar, about their problems, no action has been taken by the factory to solve the problems. Owing to this, the health and livelihood of the residents continue to suffer, says Krishnappa.
At least 100 engineering professionals seeking jobs have been cheated via fake job offers purpoting to be from existing IT companies in the city. Page 2 Taxi drivers claim businessman cheated them A group of taxi drivers outside Cubbon Park police station alleged that a “fake” company has duped them out of lakhs. Page 3 NGO cries foul over beggars’ colony Despite having a capacity to accommodate 800 people, the Beggars’ Colony has only 514 beggars.
Children of Gangasandra Government Primary School
Farmer Krishnappa showing the contaminated water
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Blood banks running on empty as city hospitals face shortage Parvathi Benu
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espite an increase in the number of voluntary blood donors over the past decade, blood banks in the city face a shortage of units. One reason for people being unable to donate blood is low Haemoglobin levels. Dr Akshay Batra, Post Doctoral Fellow, NIMHANS said, “Finding donors here is much easier than any other city in the country. But many are unable to donate blood because of the low haemoglobin level in their blood.” He said that 20 percent of the blood donors from the last month’s blood donation camp were rejected because of low Hb level. Another issue that Dr Batra pointed out is that many youngsters are reluctant to donate blood for the second time. “After you donate blood for the first time, it is quite common to face a few irritations. But most of the people do not realise this and give up donation. Many people are unaware of the steps they should follow prior to donation,” said Dr Batra. The Social Welfare Officer at the blood bank of Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Madhavi, said “Since ours is a
cancer hospital, people require several units of blood a day. There isn’t enough blood in our blood bank. Our key blood donors mostly are college students.” The shortage is not limited to rare blood groups. There is a scarcity of common blood groups as well. Ashwini, whose father is undergoing treatment for blood cancer at Kidwai hospital said that the blood bank could not provide her father with A+ve blood and had to arrange it from another blood bank. G Krishnamoorthy, senior lab technician at Kidwai hospital said that the blood bank there faces a shortage of blood units as they require around 40 units of blood per day. He noticed that cases of blood samples getting rejected due to low Hb level is increasing. More than 30 percent of the donors in NIMHANS are women. But again, anaemia and low Hb level prevents more women from donating blood. Being underweight is another issue seen among the donors. NGOs which conduct blood donation camps have a similar
story to share. Sukumar Pyda, who works for an NGO, To Make A Difference (TMAD), talked about the number of people being unable to donate because of low Hb level. “Each camp, around 20 percent of the people are sent
back because of low Hb level,” he said. One fourth of the donors were rejected during their camp on 13th June because of the same reason. The key reason for low Hb level is the change in diet pattern of people. Dr Vasundhara
Agarwal, a dietician said “In today’s busy schedule, people prefer tasty over nutritious food. Even though people are aware of the importance to consume healthy food, they ignore it, owing to busy life.”
Blood bank at the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology
Job seekers duped with fake job letters Laxmi Narayani
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round 100 engineering professionals seeking jobs have been cheated via fake call letters in the names of existing IT companies in the city, over the past four years. The job seekers received an email saying that they have been selected as a software engineer and were asked to pay an amount ranging from Rs 3000 to Rs 18000 for attending the interview .The bank account details were stated in the email and were told that the amount can be paid at any branch and the pay slips have to be mailed to the given address. The victims realize that it was a fake letter only after paying. “More than 100 job seekers have received such fake call letters, leading them to pay the initial deposit for their jobs to be confirmed,” said Sankar, who runs an online forum to address similar problems. “The local police deny taking complaints saying it is not their ju-
risdiction,” he adds. The victims were asked by the local police to address the complaint to the city police, but were unable to do that, since they stayed far from Bangalore. Therefore, these complaints were never registered. The IT companies have mentioned about the fake let-
ters in their social networking sites. Sankar has made attempts to register a complaint with the Bangalore Police online, but in vain. The CCRB is yet to filter such complaints. Cyber crime officer, Siddhilingappa says no such cases have been registered with them. One of the victims,
Bank challans showing payment made by victim
Nitish Kumar Mishra from Warangal, has paid Rs.6300 for the job.“I transferred money to their account thinking that it was a genuine letter”, says Romil Daga from Indore. Varsha Verma from Raipur
also stated the same and paidRs.3200 to that bank account. Another victim, who doesn’t want to reveal his name, has paid Rs.6000 in State Bank of India.
Taxi drivers cry fraud Maqsood Ahmed Maniyar A group of taxi drivers outside Cubbon Park police station alleged that a “fake” company has duped them promising jobs. They alleged that Finesse Transports, the company that promised them jobs paying Rs.48,000 per month, does not exist. Ajmal Pasha, 31, said they came across pamphlets with
the advertisement at the Bangalore International Airport. “Word gets out quickly amongst taxi drivers,” he said. “Soon a few hundred people knew and they all contacted the given number.” The pamphlets with th advertisement promised jobs paying Rs.48,000 per month. He said that a person called Fareed got in touch with them and asked them to give him their identification and address proofs.
“Two people showed up and collected Rs.300 each, claiming it was registration fees,” he said. Pasha said they got suspicious when the office addresses they were given turned out to be fake. Fareed was found to be operating out of a building on St. Mark’s Road. Rizwan Pasha, 33, held up his smartphone showing us the Google results for Finesse
Eligibility for donating blood
• Body temperature and oral temperature should not exceed 37.5 degree Celsius.
•Any donor, who is healthy, fit and not suffering from any transmittable disease can donate blood.
Post-Donation Care
• Donor must be 18-60 years of age and must have a minimum weight of 50 kg to donate blood. • Donor’s Haemoglobin level should be at least 12.5%. • After donating blood once, one can again donate only after three months. • Pulse rate must be between 50 -100mm without any irregularities. • BP Diastolic 50 to 100 mm Hg and Systolic 100 to 180 mm Hg.
• Have some rest 5 to 20 minutes after donation. Do not drive after donating blood. • Have some snacks and juice with high sugar content which will help to rejuvenate the blood sugar back up. • Have a good meal with high protein content such as chicken, beef etc. • Do not consume alcohol for eight hours after donation of blood. • Avoid going for a heavy body workout such as gymming, dancing, running etc at least for next one day.
imate business and I have over 1,500 applicants,” he said. He also claimed it is a joint business venture that he has undertaken with a person by the name Michael. He claimed he does not know his associate’s surname and does not have his phone number or contact details. Police refused to comment on whether the alleged fraudster would be charged at a llater date with any offence
Victims at Cubbon Park Police Station
Alleged fraudster Fareed at Cubbon Park Police Station
FACT BOX
Transports. “No such company exists,” he said. The Cubbon Park police station is not willing to comment regarding the case. “If found guilty, he shall be charged under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code,” said sub-inspector Katyayani. The alleged fraudster Fareed remains adamant. “I just need to prepare the registration certificates, it’s a completely legit-
BBMP Elections 2015 For the first time, 50 percent of seats were reserved for women Winners from prominent wards Yeshwantpur Ward no. 37 G.K Venkatesh (INC) Shivajinagar Ward no. 92 Fareeda (INC) Chikpete Ward no.109 Leela Shivakumar (BJP) K R Market Ward no.139 Nazima Khanam (JD(S)) Bapujinagar Ward no.134 Azmal Beig (INC) J P Nagar Ward no. 177 Lakshmi Nataraj (BJP) Ulsoor Ward no. 90 Mamatha Saravana (Ind) Kempegowda Ward no. 1
Chandramma (BJP) Peenya Industrial Area Ward no. 41 Lalitha Thinanjaiah (INC) Jayanagar (East) Ward no. 170 R. Govinda Naidu (BJP)
Shantinagar Ward no. 117 P. Sowmya (INC) C V Raman Nagar Ward no. 57 Aruna Ravi (BJP)
Rajarajeshwari Nagar Ward no. 160 Nalini Manjunath (BJP) Azad Nagar Ward no. 141 M. Sujatha (INC) Koramangala Ward no. 151 M. Chandrappa (INC) Kumaraswamy Layout Ward no. 181 L. Srinivas (BJP) Hosahalli Ward no. 124 R. Mahalakshmi (BJP) Cottonpet Ward no. 120 D. Pramod (INC)
The elections saw less than 50 percent voter turnout.
Congress candidate claims EVMs rigged Sanskriti Talwar Congress candidate S Srinath, contesting from Ward 133, Hampinagar alleges that the electronic voting machines (EVM) have been tampered with. “The EVM machines has
BEL system that is controlled by the BJP. They have manipulated the entire system to get majority. Every EVM machine must be seized.” he said. Bharatiya Electronics Limited (BEL), the company that manufactures these machines is a
public sector undertaking,controlled by the Central Government under the Ministry of Defence. When contacted BEL said, “It is impossible for anyone to tamper with the machines.”
NGO cries foul over Beggars’ Colony Tweets of the day
Oindrila Sarkar
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espite having a capacity for 800 people, the Nirashrithara Parihara Kendra, Bangalore, also known as Beggars’ Colony, has only 514 beggars. The 3052-acre colony, meant to provide rehabilitation to beggars in the state, received fresh funding from BBMP last week. “They can do more, rescue more as they have too much money,” said T. Raja, who runs the Home of Hope under New Ark Mission of India in Bangalore. “I am just an autorickshaw driver and dependent on donation, yet I have 500 people in my Home.” Raja has previously been a board member of the Central Relief Committee (CRC). “It was only last week that the CRC got Rs.12.67 crore from the BBMP for the Beggars’ Colony,” said Nataraj, Secretary in Social Welfare Department. A three-percent beggary cess is collected on property tax by BBMP, which forms a part of the Central Relief Fund for beggars col-
@narendramodi Thank you Bengaluru! My gratitude to people & congratulations to Karnataka BJP leaders & workers for the great BBMP election results.
A beggar waiting for food in Beggars’ Colony lected by the CRC. The Karnataka Prohibition of Beggary Act 1975 makes beggary punishable and requires the state to provide relief and rehabilitation of beggars. To put this into effect, the CRC appoints relief officers to arrest people found begging for alms in the city.
The 2012 CRC survey shows a beggar population of 7869 in Bangalore. In the last 12 years, the New Ark Mission of India has rescued 6000 beggars. “When beggars in our Home of Hope fall ill, we take them to private hospitals, not the government,” said Raja. “We
have a pact with the Beggars’ Colony officials that when beggars fall sick there and need treatment they can send them to our Home. Despite the money, authority and manpower which they have, they are unable to do simple things and are misusing the money.”
@EconomicTime I congratulate party workers for victory in #Bengaluru civic polls & thank people of #Bengaluru for showing faith in BJP: .@AmitShahOffice @tinucherian Post S M Krishna, Cong party and state govt. tried to look pro-rural and less #Bengaluru centric. Especially Siddaramaiah #BBMPResult @IndianExpress Vyapam Scam: ‘Absent’ for * months, UP govt doctor found lodged in MP jail iexp.in/OnU183480 @EconomicTimesMarket ALERT:#rupeesbelow 66/$; trades at 65.97 against #dollar; 10-year Gol2025 bond yield drops to 7.81% @RajeevNagpal Pin drop silence in TV studio as @BJP4 India is heading towards victory #BBMPResults @BangaloreBuzz Congrats @bjpkarnataka on your victory! People of Bengaluru have shown faith in you. Strive hard to stand true to this belief. #BBMPResults @narendramodi After MP & Rajasthan, BBMP poll results complete a hat-trick of wins for BJP. This is a win for politics of development & good governance. @zeenews #OROP stir: Another veteran’s health deteriorates.
Residents in conversation at Beggars’ Colony
Picture by: Abhinav Capoor
Observer Team: Editor: Akshaya N.A.; News Editor: Parvathi Benu; Chief Sub-Editor: Aparajita Khandelwal Sub-Editors: Apurva Prabhakar, Irien Joseph, Mouli Shree; Picture Editor: Ankita Sil Reporters: Oindrila Sarkar, Laxmi Narayani, Maqsood Ahmed Maniyar; Design and Layout: Mathew Joy Mathew, Aditi Mallick