Bronze statue of Kempegowda will be unveiled soon at Bengaluru airport: CM Bommai
Bengaluru, Jun 24: A mammoth 108-feet bronze statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, the architect of Bengaluru city, weighing 220 tonnes, will be unveiled soon at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Friday.
The Chief Minister was speaking to mediapersons after inspecting the progress of the works for installation of the statue at KIA on his return from Delhi.
"The statue of Kempegowda is in its final stages of completion... It is the tallest statue of Kempegowda and it would be unveiled at the earliest. The area around the statue would be beautified," Bommai said.
The government intends to unveil the statue along with the inauguration of the Terminal-2 of the international airport, he said while remembering Kempegowda as a great visionary who built Bengaluru.
When Bengaluru is growing at a rapid pace, the Kempegowda statue will be an inspiration for all the development works undertaken by the government, he added.
Bommai said he was in Delhi to sign as one of the proposers along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders for the nomination papers of the NDA's candidate in the Presidential poll Droupadi Murmu.
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SC asks states to treat rising child trafficking cases as grave; seeks coordinated action
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court has voiced grave concern over rising cases of child trafficking, saying gangs are operating across the country and if States and Union territories do not take immediate action, thing will go beyond control.
The court said only the state government and its home department can act vigilantly in this regard.
“As a court we can monitor, but ultimately the action has to be on the part of the state government, the police, and other agencies. Therefore, this is our humble request”, a bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan said during the hearing of a plea on Wednesday.
The bench was irked over the "lackadaisical" approach of several states and UTs in implementing a 2025 judgment aimed at dismantling organised trafficking networks.
Justice Viswanathan said the retrieval of children in some cases proves the problem can be tackled, but it requires a level of political and administrative will which is lacking at present.
The verdict, delivered on April 15, 2025, had mandated several institutional reforms, including completion of trials in trafficking cases within six months on a day-to-day basis.
It had also directed strengthening of Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) and improving investigation standards.
Besides asking for setting up of state-level committees to monitor vulnerable trafficking hotspots, it had asked the authorities to treat missing children cases as trafficking unless proven otherwise.
Earlier, the bench had termed the compliance reports filed by a few states as "nothing but an eye wash."
On Wednesday, the bench noted that Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Haryana, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Odisha, and Punjab had still failed to file reports in the prescribed format.
When the home secretary of Madhya Pradesh offered an apology for the lapse, the bench granted a "final opportunity" but warned that continued failure would lead to states being officially branded as "defaulting".
The bench noted that at least 15 states are yet to constitute review committees mandated to identify and monitor trafficking-prone areas.
The matter will now be heard on April 29.
