Commercial Street, the favourite haunt of a huge number of Bengaluru shoppers, is soon going to sport a new look, with plans afoot to cobblestone it on the lines of Church Street.

Commercial Street, the favourite haunt of a huge number of Bengaluru shoppers, is soon going to sport a new look, with plans afoot to cobblestone it on the lines of Church Street. Parking will be prohibited on this road to make it a pedestrian-friendly zone. Entry of vehicles may also be banned once the road is completely cobblestoned.   

The BBMP has planned to undertake works in late February or early March so that enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct ahead of the parliamentary elections does not delay commencement of the project.

Basavaraj Kabade, Executive Engineer, Project Central, BBMP, said, “The tender has been finalized and sent to the board for approval. We will start the work soon after approval is given. We have identified this road as pedestrian-friendly zone, and parking of vehicles will be allowed on Kamaraja Road.”

Walk to your heart’s content on high street 

SHOPPING enthusiasts will soon be able to indulge in retail therapy in peace at Commercial Street, with the local civic agency planning to develop the stretch into a pedestrian-friendly zone.   

According to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Package-1 of developing Smart Roads in the area is estimated to cost Rs31.5 crore, of which the laying of cobblestones on the 700-metre road between Jumma Masjid and Kamaraja Road is estimated to cost around Rs8 crore.

A BBMP official told , “We have sent the finalized tender to the board committee of Smart City project. We want to take up the works as soon as the approval is given. We expect the work to start in late February or early March to avoid general election’s Model Code of Conduct affecting the commencement of works. We believe that the approval from board committee will be issued soon and the work order will be given by early February.”

The BBMP wants the road in the historical commercial hub to have with footpaths under the TenderSure model. With the addition of footpaths after the cobblestone-laying, on-street parking of vehicles will be prohibited along the road. The agency had proposed the project in October 2018, after which it called for tenders in November. The tender has been finalized and the tender has been sent to Board Committee of Smart City Project for approval. 

The BBMP has already implemented the concept of laying cobblestones on a 750-metre stretch of Church Street at a cost of Rs14 crore. It was completed in February 2018. The work involved laying of 5 lakh hand-made cobblestones.  

However, BBMP officials said a cobblestoned Commercial Street will be stronger than Church Street due to the narrower road not allowing speeding of vehicles, which can damage the cobblestones. 

The BBMP, as part of the smart city initiative, had called tenders for development of 20 roads as Smart Roads under TenderSure guidelines at the cost of Rs 230 crore in November 2018, in which this project has been included. 

Agencies

Nasheman News : Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman to serve in the US Congress, is set to give her Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives lessons on how to use Twitter in a more effective way.

Ocasio-Cortez, 29, will be leading the discussion along with fellow Democrat, Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, on Thursday to “discuss how they use Twitter as an effective and authentic messaging tool to connect with their constituents” and “the importance of digital storytelling”, CNN quoted a notice sent to Democratic House members, as saying on Wednesday. 

The young Congresswoman, who represents New York’s 14th District, has 2.4 million followers on her campaign Twitter handle, surpassing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s 2 million followers on her official account. 

She frequently hits back at critics on the platform which goes viral. 

Earlier this month a video of Ocasio-Cortez gleefully dancing when she was in college surfaced on Twitter, where the poster of the clip described the Congresswoman as a “clueless nitwit”.

Ocasio-Cortez shot back at critics by posting a video on Twitter of her dancing in front of her congressional office with the caption, “I hear the GOP (Republicans) thinks women dancing are scandalous. Wait till they find out Congresswomen dance too!” 

The video has garnered 20.5 million views.

She also uses social media to speak directly to constituents and viewers in a way members of Congress have rarely done before, CNN said. 

Ocasio-Cortez frequently hosts “Instagram Live” sessions where she answers questions submitted by viewers on the platform. One of her Instagram accounts has amassed 1.8 million followers.

The freshman Democrat took office in January after running an efficient grassroots campaign in the party primary where she unseated former Representative Joe Crowley, who was the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House and a 10-term congressman in New York.

Indian and Pakistani troops traded gunfire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Thursday, defence sources said.

Pakistan troopers used small arms and automatics to target Indian positions in Khari Karmara area.

“Our troops effectively retaliated to the unprovoked ceasefire violation. Firing exchanges started at around 4.30 a.m. and continued till 6.30 a.m. No casualty or damage was reported from our side,” the sources said.

Ceasefire violations by Pakistan Army have been intermittently continuing on the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts since earlier this month.

Nasheman News : BJP President Amit Shah on Wednesday got admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) owing to swine flu infection, the authorities said.

According to AIIMS sources, Shah (54) arrived at AIIMS later in the evening and is under the observation of the institute’s Director Randeep Guleria.

Shah also took Twitter to inform about his health condition where he wrote that he is being taken under observation.

“I am infected with Swine Flu for which treatment is going on. With God’s grace and people’s love and good wishes, I hope to recover soon,” Shah said.

Nasheman News : The NIA on Thursday raided seven places in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab in connection with its ongoing probe into a new Islamic State (IS)-inspired module Harkat-ul-Harb-e-Islam, officials said.

The National Investigation Agency teams launched simultaneous searches at seven locations, including Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Hapur and Amroha and Punjab’s Ludhiana, early in the day, a senior NIA official told media.

The fresh searches came five days after counter-terror probe agency arrested a suspect from Hapur for being affiliated with the global terror outfit. 

NIA officials also rounded up 50-year-old Mohammad Habib, a resident of Kaloli village in Bulandshahr district. The general store owner has spent over 25 years in Saudi Arabia and can be brought to NIA office in Delhi for questioning, according to an NIA source. 

The raids that were still underway, kicked off after the NIA got leads from those arrested during their interrogation. The agency is looking into the role of a foreign mastermind behind the new module. 

The action comes in the wake of a case it registered on December 20 under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Explosive Substances Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

On January 11, it had arrested a suspect named Muhammad Absar from Hapur district. Earlier on January 4, Naeem, the alleged arms supplier of the Harkat-ul-Harb-e-Islam, was arrested from Meerut. 

The initial arrests though had come late last year on December 26, when 10 members, including mastermind Mufti Mohammad Suhail of the new IS module, were arrested from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh after carrying out searches at 17 places. 

The arrested men were allegedly planning to attack some political personalities, security establishments as well as crowded places in Delhi and the National Capital Region. 

The NIA also seized 25 kg of explosive material, including potassium nitrate, ammonium nitrate, sulphur, sugar material paste, mobile phone circuits, batteries, 51 pipes, remote control car triggering switch, wireless digital doorbell for remote switch, steel containers, electric wires, knife, sword, IS-related literature and Rs 7.5 lakh in cash.

The agency had also seized a country-made rocket launcher, 12 pistols, 112 alarm clocks, 100 mobile phones, 135 SIM cards, several laptops and various electronic gadgets, besides 150 rounds of ammunition .

The NIA had ever since been carrying out follow-up searches in Uttar Pradesh to identify more suspects of the new IS module.

Nasheman News : Punjab Congress legislator Kulbir Singh Zira was on Wednesday suspended from the party’s membership on charges of indiscipline, Punjab Congress President and Member of Parliament Sunil Kumar Jakhar said.

Zira, who is the sitting Congress legislator from the Zira Assembly seat in Ferozepur district, had recently left the stage at an official event where panchayat members were being sworn-in in the presence of the state Congress chief.

He was served a notice by the party for his action.

The suspended MLA had recently raised the issue of drugs in Punjab and levelled serious allegations against senior police officers, accusing them of corruption and patronising the drug trade.

“The party has suspended him for indiscipline. We got his reply for the notice served on him which was not found satisfactory. He should have raised the matter at the party level first,” Jakhar said.

Reacting to the decision, Zira said he welcomes the decision and added that he will continue to raise his voice against drugs.

The Congress government in Punjab under Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had claimed that it has largely wiped out the drugs menace in the state after coming to power in Punjab in March 2017.

Nasheman News :  Bharatiya Janata Party is involved in horse trading. But the Congress and JDS alliance government is secure in the state. The BJP’s Operation Lama has responded to Congress senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge as a complete failure.

Speaking of the ongoing growth in state politics, he said the BJP’s national president, Amit Shah, is doing the job of buying legislators. He said the people of the country are watching all the developments of the BJP.

MLAs are being threatened by IT, CBI and ED. The BJP is hijacking the elected legislators. The BJP does not believe in its legislators. Asked why BJP MLAs had gathered in the hotel, he said,

Nasheman News :  Congress MLA Bheema Naik, who is said to be among the sulking party legislators in Karnataka, on Wednesday said he was very much in the Congress and no one from the BJP has contacted him with any offers in the context of allegations that the Kumaraswamy government was under threat.

“I am in Congress. No offer has been made to me. Nobody has approached me. I am in touch with my party (Congress) leaders,” he told the media.

Naik, elected from Hagaribommanahalli in Bellary district, is among the five-six Congress MLAs who are said to be unhappy at not being made ministers in the recent reshuffle of the Congress-JD(S) coalition ministry. 

The Chief Minister and Congress leaders have alleged that the BJP was attempting to destabilise their government and as part of those plans they have taken nearly 100 MLAs to Gurugram where they have been put up in a luxury hotel. 

BSP supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav during a joint press c

BSP supremo Mayawati, who has allied with her once arch-rival Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, on Tuesday hinted at nurturing prime ministerial ambition.

Mayawati, who celebrated her 63rd birth day on Tuesday, sought a special birthday gift from her supporters— victory in Uttar Pradesh.

She appealed to the SP and the BSP workers to sink their differences and unitedly fight the Lok Sabha polls to ensure the alliance’s victory.

”UP will decide who forms the next government and who becomes the next prime minister, ” she said while addressing a press conference in Lucknow.

Mayawati said that a victory in UP would be her birthday ”gift”.  BSP leaders in Lucknow also soug…

”UP has given many prime ministers to the country… I will be happy if the next prime minister is from UP,” Akhilesh had remarked,

when queried if he would support Mayawati as a prime ministerial candidate.

”You (media) know who will I support, the SP president, who was accompanied by Mayawati, had said evading a direct reply.

Incidentally, Congress president Rahul Gandhi was also an MP from Uttar Pradesh.

Mayawati again attacked the BJP and the Congress and said that both the parties had done precious little for the country during their regimes. 

She took a swipe at the Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh saying that the grand-old party seemed to be backtracking on its promise of waiver of farmers’ loans.

Mayawati also referred to the Bofors and Rafale controversy and stressed the need for a ”long term policy” to prevent scams in defence deals. Earlier, Akhilesh visited Mayawati at her residence and greeted her on her birthday.

Maywati, in turn, had a cake sent to Akhilesh’s wife Dimple Yadav, who too celebrates her birthday on Wednesday.

Agencies