Saturday, January 17, 2015 MM DECCAN HERALD 3

MetroAt a glance

Call to check atrocities onwomen

»State Women Commis-sion President Manjula

Manasa has said stringent ac-tion would be initiated againstatrocities on women.

Briefing reporters, on Fri-day, she said “as chairpersonof Women Commission, she isnot belong to one particularparty. It is not right to dividesociety in the name of religion.Women from all religions un-dergo atrocities. There is a

need to check atrocitiesagainst women. The commis-sion will not keep quiet if thewomen are exploited in thename of religion, moral polic-ing. The commission has al-ready filed 76 suo motu casesand the investigation is inprogress,”she added. TheWomen & Child Welfare De-partment has been directed tocreate awareness on welfareprogrammes for women.

Lecture on Gandhi

»Dr Akeel Bilgrami, SidneyMorgenbesser Professor

of Philosophy, Columbia Uni-versity, New York, will give apublic lecture at Manipal Cen-tre for Philosophy and Hu-manities (MCPH) on Saturday17th January, at 4:30pm.

The lecture titled, ‘Mentali-ties of the Non-West as asource of Swaraj: Lessonsfrom Gandhi’ is part of theproceedings of the three dayconference, ‘RethinkingSvaraj’, being held at MCPH.The conference is being sup-ported by the Indian Councilfor Philosophical Researchand the Dr TMA Pai Chair onDharma. Through the course

of the lecture Dr Bilgramiseeks to interpret Gandhi’s no-tion of swaraj as a mentalitywhich is not only independentof the mentalities of the Euro-pean West, but also a critiqueof it.

The conference, ‘Rethink-ing Svaraj’, takes its themefrom an influential essay byIndian philosopher, K.C. Bhat-tacharyya, titled, ‘Svaraj inIdeas’.

A driving force behind theconference is to give an ac-count of what ‘cultural subjec-tion’under colonialism couldmean, especially the residuesof such subjugation on con-ceptual thinking today.

Helpline for students set up

»Block Education Officer GS Shashidhar has said un-

der Vision 95+ programme,aimed at improving the SSLCresults in Puttur Taluk, a“Manoprerane helpline,”hasbeen set up to help childrenovercome examination fearand other stress related toexam.

He said SSLC students whoundergo stress can dial thehelpline to get professionalhelp. Students can contactpsychologist Gangadhar Bel-lare ( 9448911885), SulekaVaradaraj (08251-233784)every Thursday between 6 amto 7 am and Ganesh Mudraje(9448624924) on every Fri-day at 7 am to 8 am.

A total of 6,002 studentsare appearing for SSLC exam-inations in the taluk this Put-tur Taluk Head Teachers As-sociation PresidentVenkatramana Bhat saidteachers in 73 high schools inPuttur Taluk are making ef-fort to implement Vision 95+effectively. The parents meet-ings are held every month inthe school.

High School Teachers Asso-ciation President Abrahamsaid the programme has beenchalked out to bring inchanges in children throughlove. The teachers have takenthe programme as a challengeand working hard for improv-ing the SSLC result.

Geriatric care at government hospitals

»Health Minister U TKhader has said the de-

partment is contemplating tostart geriatric care centres inall district hospitals. The spe-ciality of the department isthat speciality doctors wouldvisit the patients in the centre,instead of the patients goingto a particular doctor. Plansare on the anvil to start the pi-lot project in Kolar, he said.

However, the same would beopened in all district hospitalsincluding Chikmagalur andDakshina Kannada, he in-formed.

WHO consultant DrSatishchandra and DAPCU of-ficer Dr Kishore, DistrictSurvellience Officer Dr RajeshDistrict Surgeon Dr H S Ra-jeshwari Devi and RCH Offi-cer Dr Rukmini were present.

Kissan Sangh protestspower tariff hikeUDUPI: Udupi DistrictBharatiya Kissan Sangh haslaunched a campaign con-demning the proposed hike of80paisa perunitofpowerhereon Thursday.

Udupi District BharatiyaKissan Sangh General Secre-tary Sathyanarayana Udupasaid MESCOM has submittedthe proposal on January 1 de-mandingpermissionfromKar-nataka Power Commission forhiking the price of power to 80paisa per unit and asked publicto submit their grievances byJanuary 30.

MESCOM covering four dis-tricts comprises of 19.9 lakhconsumers and 4037.56 unitsof power have been deliveredtill date.

Therevenuetarget isaroundRs 2,003.88 crore and hasreached the target of Rs1,957.27 crore.

MESCOM has been out-standing power distributor inState.

It has reduced distributingloss of 11.93 per cent. The com-pany has the credit of havingminimal loss. In spite of these,MESCOM has misguided Pow-er Commission and demandedhiking the power tariff. He al-leged the balance sheet pro-

duced by MESCOM beforePower Commission shows thatthe company in 2014 incurredloss of Rs 50.99 crore. The ex-pected loss for 2015 fiscal year,would reach Rs 159.81 croreand during 2016 around Rs357.30 crore.

The balance sheet alsoshows the company had profitof Rs 12.59 crore in 2013 fiscalyear and Rs 20.17 lakh profitfor 2014 fiscal year. The hike of32paisasinceApril2014wouldensure additional profit to thecompany.

Other power utilities in theState have to pay nearly Rs744.61 crore to MESCOM. Be-sides MESCOM owes Rs147.53 crore to these compa-nies.

He alleged that althoughmeters are attached to most offarmers pump set, prices arecharged based on estimation.There are 47,208 transform-ers, of which meters are at-tached to 18,282 transformers.

He said UPCL charged Rs4.79 per unit in 2014, while itis receiving tariff of Rs 6.40 perunit in 2015 and Rs 4.29 perunit in 2016.

This amount would burdenthe public, he alleged.DH News Service

VARAHI: Minor Irrigationminister M B Patil, on Fri-day, said water from VarahiIrrigation project would belet to as many as 3,000hectare of farm land onApril 1.

Speaking at a meeting heldto elaborate on the progress ofthe ongoing irrigation project,he said the irrigation projectwould be able to provide waterfrom Right Bank Canal to the3,000 hectares of agricultureland.

As many as 18.2 km of workis done in Right Bank Canal.Talks would be held with thegovernment to initiate the in-quiry into the project on thedelayedaspectsfromtheincep-tion date of the project. It isnecessary to initiate inquiry inorder to dig out the loopholesthat delayed the project.

Besides coordination com-mittee would be set up com-prisingofDeputy Commission-er, Deputy Conservator ofForest and Assistant Commis-sioner in order to look into theprogress of the ongoing works.

Theprojectwashanded overtominorirrigationdepartmentonly in 2003 and all official for-malities were done on March15, 2004.

The actual project workstarted on this particular day.It is ridiculous to blame the ir-rigation department. The ear-lier 20 years were spent on de-bating over the structure of theproject. Initially theprojectwasenvisioned to be purely irriga-tion project in 1980s.

Later the proposal was con-verted into multi purpose andfinally it is now designed to bethe only irrigation project.

He said it is only after theCongress government tookover, the Varahi irrigation proj-ect has turned out being a re-

ality. As many as 18.2 kilome-ters of work is completed inRight Bank Canal, while eightkilometers of work is over inLeft Bank Canal. As many as24 kilometers of work is cov-ered in the distributor canal.As many as 191 crore is spenton the project in 18 to 20months. He said the projectwasnotabletomeettheearlierdeadline of December 2014,because of the seepage in thesome areas, which is proposedfor taking up the constructionworks of the canal, he added.

Natural disturbancesThe minister said governmentwas committed to finish off thework covering 32 km in theLeft Bank Canal by December2015. However, there are any

foreseen misfortunes and nat-ural disturbances, then thework in the Left Bank wouldbe over by April 2016 and theproject would be able to pro-vide water to another 5600acres of farmland. He saidthere would be no problem ofconsent and social impactstudy in connection with Irri-gationDepartment,assuggest-ed in the proposed new LandAcquisitionAct.Hence, thedis-trict administration can goahead with the land acquisi-tion.

Ramanath Rai said thedeemed forest clearance for asmany as 129 hectare of land inthe proposed Varahi irrigationproject is cleared against thedeemed forest issue. There isthe demand for another 30

hectares of land for the projectwhich is earmarked underdeemed forest. He added thatthe required formalities wouldbe furnished in another 4-5months. He added that if addi-tional amount of land is re-quired the concerned depart-ment should go for onlinesubmission, following whichthe permission would beprocessed, headded. He addedthat there are also many otherissues pertaining to the landencroachment in State. Headded a survey would taken upin the State to know theamountofdeemedforest intheState in order to protect theforestnature.Elaborating overthe recent development in theproposed implementation ofthe Kasturirangan report, the

minister said the governmentis committed to the welfare ofthe people in the area, which isidentified in the report.

He added the notification isissued to as many as six States,coming under Western Ghatarea. However Kerala has sentthe report concerning the in-terests of the people in the pro-posed area. He added the Cab-inet sub committee set up forthe project has sent a report tothe central government, whichisstronger, thenthereportsub-mitted by Kerala in terms ofthe interest of the people in thearea.

He said the finally the deci-sion is taken up by the centralgovernment after pooling upall the suggestions, he added.DH News Service

Varahi waters to irrigate 3,000hectare agriculture land: Patil

Forest Minister B Ramanath Rai addressing a gathering at Varahi in Udupi district on Friday. Ministers M B Patil, SrinivasPrasad, Vinaykumar Sorake and MP Oscar Fernandes among others look on. DH PHOTO

VARAHI: Revenue MinisterSrinivas Prasad said a spe-cial officer would be consti-tuted to look into the landacquisition issue in Varahiproject.

Addressing a meeting to dis-cus the ongoing works inVarahi irrigation project, hesaid nearly 60 per cent of landacquisition process is pendingto be carried out.

Hesaidtherearecomplaintsthat many land losers have notreceived the compensation.There are also problems withland documents and compen-sation can be guaranteed onlywith proper documents, headded.

Measures would be taken upto compensate the land losersadequately. He said initially theestimated cost of the projectwas around Rs 10 crore, how-ever the amount has crossednearly Rs 550 crore, he added.

Urban Development Minis-ter Vinay Kumar Sorake said anodal officer would be appoint-ed and review meet would beheld every month to monitorthe progress of the work. Hesaid inquiry should be done toknow the obstacles that has de-

layed the project. He calledupon the farmers to stop theirindefinite protest for the 16 theday.

District Raitha Sangha pres-ident and MLC PrathpchandraShetty alleged that the deemedforest issue cannot be taken upas the cause of the delay in theexecution of the project. Thedeemed forest issue croppeduponly in 2013. Heallegedthatthe public were misguided ineveryphaseregardingtheproj-ect.Thereisalsoconfusionpre-vailingovertheRightBankandLeft Bank Canal.

Minor Irrigation minister MB Patil said that a meetingshould be held in Bangalurucomprising the ministers andofficials in forest, minor irriga-tion and revenue department.There shouldbe clear ideaoverthe proposed project to take upphasebyphaseexecutionoftheproject. The Forest MinisterRamanath Rai said that the of-ficialshouldarrangeforthedis-trict level meet at least threetimes and come to the overallconclusion of the problemsthat impedes the execution ofthe project.

This would help the higherauthorities to come to an earlyconclusion. The blame gamewould not yield any result. In-stead, the work should be has-tened.Re-verificationwould bedone for the land acquisition,he said Deputy CommissionerR Vishal said as many as 11 pro-posals concerning the projectis notified. He added the newordinance on Land AcquisitionAct has toughened the land ac-quisition process.

The Kundapur taluk pan-chayat president alleged thatmany houses are damaged ow-ing to the blast taking place inthe area. The Minor IrrigationMinister said that henceforththe officials would be strictlydirected to go for controllingblasting which would avoid thedamages, he said.

The ongoing protest waswithdrawn on the 16th day bythe farmers. However, thefarmer B V Poojary said thatthe protest is withdrawn onlyfor short period. If the govern-ment fails to release the waterin the month of April, theprotest would be reassumed,he added.DH News Service

Special officer to look into landacquisition for Varahi project

MANGALURU: Officers of Cus-toms at Mangaluru Interna-tional Airport have seized10.60 kg of saffron worth Rs12.72 lakh. The passenger Mo-hammadRiyaz,residentofMo-gral Puttur in Kasargod of Ker-ala. Mohammad arrived atMIA by AirIndiaExpress flightIX 814 from Dubai at 8 am.There were 424 packets ofIranian saffron weighing 25grams each. It was concealedin the baggage of the passen-ger.The operation was conductedunder the supervision of NUdayashankaran, AssistantCommissioner of Customers,MIA. Further investigation isunder progress.DH News Service

SaffronseizedatMangaluruairport

Minor Irrigation Minister M B Patil addressing a gathering atVarahi in Udupi district on Friday. DH PHOTO

MANGALURU: There was pan-icandconfusionfollowingami-nor fire that broke out in themain building of District Wen-lock Hospital in Mangaluru onFriday.

Short circuit caused the firein the C T scan room locatedon the ground floor of thebuilding at around 11.30 am.Thestaffmemberswereappre-hensiveof firespreadingtooth-er rooms and tried to douse thefire by splashing water initially.Later, a few security personneldoused the fire using fire ex-tinguishers available. Thicksmoke from the room forcedthe staff to shift a few patientsadmitted in the general wardnearby. No casualties were re-ported.

District Surgeon Dr Rajesh-wari Devi said that she will askthe concerned to conduct aninquiry into the fire mishap.

DH News Service

FireatWenlockHospital spreadspanic

Fish merchantrobbed

»A fish merchant wasrobbed of Rs 7 lakh here

at Kadekar reports DHNSfrom Mangaluru.

According to police, the fishmerchant Loknath, who is aresident of Kadekar, was onhis way to Malpe port to pur-chase fish.

Meanwhile, three personswho came in motorbikestopped him, threatened himand took away the money.

A case is registered inMalpe police station.

Districts Dakshina Kannada & Udupi

MANGALURU: As psychother-apist and music therapist fromBerlin Dr Cordula Dietrichplayed the perfectly tuned‘BodyThumbura,’terminally illpatients at the palliative carecentre of geriatrics ward atKMC(Attavar)slid intoasooth-ing sleep. Geriatric PalliativeCare Course, first of its kind inIndia,organisedbythehospitalin association with MediAcion,Germany, witnessed its thirdsession at KMC, Attavar.

Dr Cordula Dietrich con-ducted a brilliant mind alteringmusic therapy using the instru-ment ‘Body Thambura’.

KMCGeriatricsDepartmentHead Dr Prabha Adhikari saidterminally ill people can’t beput at ease even with medica-tion while this therapy was tru-ly a mind opener. She addedthat she the hospital will get a

body thambura for use in theICU.Mangalore Alzheimer'sAssociation (MAA) FounderDirector Jerardin D'souza saidit was truly a 'seeing is believ-ing' experience to see patientscalm down magically.

'Body Tambura', was first in-vented by Mr Deutz on Berlin-Germany in 2004, as the me-dia of music therapy.

The body tambura is in-spired by the classical IndianTambura.

The instrument resemblesSwaramandal and Santoorused in Indian classical music.The base of the wooden instru-ment isdesigned tobeconcave,so it can be neatly placed onthe abdomen of the lying downpatients to make them feel thevibrations produced from theinstrument, when its 28 stringsare being plucked.

‘Bodytambura’enhancespossibilitiesofmusic therapy

German remedy

Psychotherapist and music therapist from Berlin Dr Cordula Dietrich plays ‘Body Tambura’ toheal a patient in Mangaluru. DH PHOTO