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The government will provide all support to government medical and

dental colleges, says S.A.Ramdas

FRIDAY 14 | SEPTEMBER 2012BENGALURU

BBrriieeffssELDERLY COUPLEASSAULTED, ROBBEDBBeellllaarryy:: An elderly couplewas assaulted in broad day-light by two unidentifiedpeople at Autonagar inBellary city on Thursday androbbed of gold ornamentsweighing about 130 gm. Around 12.30 pm, two peo-ple, aged about 25 years,barged into the house ofVenkat Naidu and assaultedhim and his wife Jayammawith sticks and iron rod. Theythen snatched the gold chainand bangles on Jayammaand fled from the scene. Jayamma’s daughter Radha,an eyewitness to the attack,locked herself up inside thekitchen. Jayamma, who sus-tained grievous injured,raised alarm and some neigh-bours, who were alerted, sawtwo people running away butcould not nab them. MrNaidu and Mrs Jayammawere admitted to VijaynagarInstitute of Medical Sciencesin Bellary. Superintendent ofPolice Chandragupta andsenior police officials visitedthe spot. Rural police haveregistered a case.

We will present a report to theCM on protectionof women andgirl children

–––– CC.. MMaannjjuullaaState Women’s

Commission president

QUOTE OF THE DAY

OOtthheerr ssttoorriieess

DDCC CCOORRRREESSPPOONNDDEENNTTBELGAUM, SEPT. 13

The State Women’sCommission will submit areport to Chief MinisterJagadish Shettar on themeasures to be taken bythe government to preventthe rising cases of womenand girl going missingfrom their homes.

According to Commis-sion president C. Manjula,the rise in number of suchcases has become a causefor concern. The commis-sion is in the process of drawing up a reporthighlighting the measuresto be initiated by the gov-ernment to stem the trend,she said.

At a press conference inBelgaum, Mrs Manjulasaid the Mysore Universityhas submitted a report tothe Commission on thestudies it carried out aboutmissing of women andgirls in the state. Thereport also focuses on howsuch cases can be prevent-ed, she said, adding that,based on the university’sreport, the commissionwill submit a comprehen-sive report.

The government andother agencies shouldwork towards preventingsuch cases, she added.Karnataka is ahead ofother states in terms of giv-ing compensation to acid-attack victims.

PANEL TO GIVEREPORT TO CM ONWOMEN’S SAFETY

AAKKAANNKKSSHHAA MMEEHHRROOTTRRAA || DDCCBENGALURU, SEPT. 13

The commuter rail projectin Bengaluru may nevertake off, going by theresponse of the authoritiesconcerned. The Union gov-ernment, in 2009, hadrequested the SouthWestern Railway (SWR) tointroduce trains on ninelocal corridors for a com-muter rail. But, SWR hasfailed to introduce thetrains citing infrastruc-ture woes.

In a letter to the Ministryof Railways, Parliamentmember Rajeev Chand-rasekhar had soughtanswers to a few questionssubmitted by him on thecommuter rail system in

Bengaluru. He had askedthe railway ministry if thegovernment has receivedany proposal to introducea Commuter Rail Systemin Bengaluru to easetransportation within the

city and surroundingtowns. He had also soughtto know by when govern-ment proposed to completethis project.

Replying to MrChandrasekhar’s queries

on September 7, Ministerof State for RailwaysBharatsinh Solanki stat-ed: “The government hasreceived a proposal tointroduce Commuter RailSystem in Bengaluru. M/sRail India Technical andEconomics Services(RITES) had submitted areport on commuter trainsin Bengaluru in 2009.Based on the report, theState government request-ed South Western Railwayto operate trains in ninecorridors. South WesternRailway (SWR) has intro-duced two commuter spe-cial trains in 2010.However, the SWR couldnot meet the full require-ments as given in theRITES report due tosevere bottleneck of infra-

structure facilities andpaths. The completiondate of this project has notbeen fixed yet”.In Julythis year, several groupsand the railways reiterat-ed steps to introduce aCommuter Rail System.The RITES had madechanges in the report sub-mitted in 2009 and thereport was presentedagain. The RITES, in itsreport, stated that BinnyMills land should be usedfor expansion of the rail-way station at Majestic. Itwas proposed that the pro-posed Commuter RailService for Bengaluruwould run on existing rail-way lines, but the talkshave made no furtherheadway, leaving the pro-ject in a limbo.

Commuter rail hits dead end

Models walk the ramp for the ‘Max Miss Bangalore’, fashion showin Bengaluru on Thursday —SHASHIDHAR B.FASHION

FRENZY

SSHHIILLPPAA PP.. || DDCCMYSORE, SEPT. 13

Forty-five-year-old year oldMohan (name changed) liesabandoned at K.R. Hospitalafter being tested positivefor HIV. His family hasrefused to take him back,and, with no governmentcare centre for HIV infectedadults or NGOs to take careof him in the long run, hisfuture remains uncertain.

A native of Srirangapatnataluk, Mohan is a farmer ismarried and the couple hastwo daughters. Mohan, whohad got admitted to K.R.Hospital with complaints ofweakness and deteriorat-ing health, was tested posi-tive for HIV.

Blood samples of his wifeand daughters too weretested for HIV, but theycame back negative, hisfriend Shivshankar (namechanged) said. Fearing thatthe stigma of HIV wouldaffect the weddingprospects of the daughters,Mohan’s family has refusedto take him home,Shivshankar added.

In a year, at least two tothree such patients arefound abandoned by rela-tives, according to DrSwamy of AashakiranaCommunity Care Centre inMysore. Citing examples,he said that an 18-year-oldHIV positive patient, whowas brought for treatmentfrom Mandya a few daysago by his family, was final-ly abandoned.

“It is mandatory for anattendant to stay with thepatient in the hospital dur-ing night. “But, when wechecked, all his relativeshad left and they did noteven receive telephonecalls. We finally had totrace them and counselthem before handing over

the patient to them”, DrSwamy said.

He informed that thereare a few NGOs which takecare of HIV infected, butnot permanently. Someothers take care ofpatients for longer dura-tions, like NGO NirmalaTerminal Care Centre inMysore, but this is forpatients who are in termi-nal stages, he said.

The GovernmentDestitute Home has fiveHIV patients, who are beinghoused temporarily,according to District HIVnodal officer DrRaghukumar. He said thereis no government carehome for either adults norchildren affected by HIV.

LITTLE HOPE

HIV infected abandonedat Mysore hospital

SSHHRRIINNIIVVAASSAA MM.. || DDCCBENGALURU, SEPT. 13

This could happen onlyin Namma Bengaluru. Atthe on-going centralisedcounselling for admis-sion to various post-grad-uate courses of BangaloreUniversity, students whohad completed post-grad-uate courses some yearsago, also participated andgot seats! They did this toavail of the free hosteland other facilities andmonetary incentivesoffered by the university.

According to universityofficials, some studentshave become permanentresidents of the universi-ty hostel, joining up forsome course or otheronce every two years.

University officialscoordinating the ongoingcentralised counsellingprocess came across sev-eral students who havecompleted two or threepost-graduate courses inBU and were seekingfresh admission to othersubject courses claimingto be interested in thesubject. Most of these

cases are in the humani-ties department.

A senior officer told thisnewspaper on conditionof anonymity that recent-ly, freshers who hadapplied for seats in theeconomics and psycholo-gy departments could notget admission becausemost of the seats werefilled by those who hadalready completed theirpost-graduation in othersubjects.

“We were stunned bythis development. Somestudents have been livingin the university hostelsfor several years claim-ing that they are students

of one or other depart-ment. They were alsoenjoying the lion’s shareof the welfare schemesoffered by various gov-ernment agencies, includ-ing the university.Unfortunately, if anyoneraises a voice they startprotests. So we are help-less,” the officer said. MrD.S. Krishna, a syndicatemember of the universi-ty, says the issue is verysensitive and there is noimmediate solution for it.“We came to know aboutthis problem a few yearsago. Some students wantto do two-three post-grad-uate degrees saying theyare not getting jobs.Others join new coursessaying the old one wasnot their choice and it istheir right to pursue thecourse of their choice,”he said. “My suggestionto the university officialsis that students shouldnot be allowed to do twoPGs from the university.Instead they can beoffered a seat in affiliatedprivate colleges. This willensure social justice,” MrKrishna said.

For free hostel, benefitspass-outs rejoin BU courses

KK..NN.. RREEDDDDYY || DDCCGULBARGA, SEPT. 13

The death of 18 peopleover the last one monthat Bhopal Teganur vil-lage near here hassparked of an exodus offear-stricken villagers.

While villagers ascribethe deaths to the denguefever, the Health andFamily Welfare Depart-ment officials say that ofthose dead, only two weresuspected to have dieddue to dengue fever.

District Health andFamily Welfare OfficerDr Sajjan Shetty admitsthere had been a sharprise in the number ofdengue and malariacases this year as com-pared to the last year. Nodeaths due to denguewere reported last year.

An eerie silence engulfsBhopal Teganur village,about 8 kms from here, asdeaths are being reportedalmost every other day inthe village. Eleven morepeople have been admit-ted to various hospitalshere for treatment.

Jagadevappa BaburaoKattimani (23) had tiedthe nuptial knot onlythree months ago. A taxidriver at Bengaluru,Kattimani had retuned tohis village for his wife’streatment, who com-plained of stomach pain.But within a couple ofdays, he died of fever.

Almost all families inthe village, which havelost one or more mem-bers, share similar sto-ries. Surprisinglly, desp-ite so many deaths, thedistrict authorities hadnot bothered to visit thevillage to ascertain thecauses till the Deputy CMK.S. Eshwarappa, whovisited Gulbarga onSeptember 10, issuedinstruction after MLCK.B. Shanappa broughtthe issue to his notice. Asthe roads have been dug upall over Gulbarga City, thedrainage lines are hardlycleaned, the stagnant watercollected in them havebecome major breedinggrounds for mosquitoes.

FEAR OF DEATHHAUNTS THIS VILLAGE

According to statistics from District health departmentoffice, as many as 16,455 people have been tested posi-tive for HIV, including 901 pregnant women and 692newborns since 2002 in Mysore district. As manyas7,508 adult males, 5,564 adult females, 22 transgen-ders, 346 male children and 258 female children areunder ART (Anti Retro Viral Therapy) treatment since2004.

16,455 people tested positive

Based on the report, theState government requ-ested South WesternRailway to operate trainsin nine corridors. SWRhas introduced two com-muter special trains in2010. However, the SWRcould not meet the fullrequirements due tosevere bottleneck ofinfrastructure facilitiesand paths

INFRASTRUCTURE PROBLEM

Some studentshave becomepermanentresidents of theuniversity hostel,joining up forsome course orother once every2 years