Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday mooted the idea of building four new Bengalurus around Bengaluru' and six integrated towns in Karnataka.
Foreseeing that Bengaluru's population will go up to around three to four crores in 2040 from the existing 1.3 crores, Bommai opined that the city should be developed like a planet surrounded by satellites.
Bengaluru should be, according to me, like a planet where there will be satellite towns along with the best of connectivity with rail, road, hi-tech travel systems and easy mode of transportation for the passengers, Bommai said during the Bengaluru 2040 Summit, which was organised by Deccan Herald.
Elaborating further, he said there was a need to create infrastructure for connecting Bengaluru and develop a new Bengaluru'.
At least four new Bengalurus have to be built around Bengaluru and in between these four, we can have different types of activities such as health city and integrated industrial township, including those related to aerospace and defence related industry, the Chief Minister said.
According to him, these satellite towns will have all the amenities. Bommai opined that the time was ripe for Bengaluru to go vertical as the city has grown horizontally enough and added new localities.
Introducing a new slogan Nava Karnataka Dinda Nava Bharata' (New India through New Karnataka), Bommai said he is planning six new integrated cites in the state.
Noting that he has introduced many novel proposals and schemes in the state budget that were missing in the previous budgets, the Chief Minister said: "One of the new things is I am planning to build six new cities in the state. These will be integrated townships. They will be the models for building cities in a planned manner.
The Chief Minister told the gathering that his government will create six Karnataka Institutes of Technology on the lines of the Indian Institutes of Technology for those students who cannot make it to these premier institutions.
Bommai also apprised the audience that he is planning to 'unlock' land for the poor people to have their own houses.
With regard to Mekedatu balancing reservoir project across Cauvery river, which the lower riparian state Tamil Nadu is opposed to, Bommai said his government is working on it.
We will shortly get the DPR ready and the process of the environmental clearance will be started. That's why I have kept money (Rs 1,000 crore in the 2022-23 budget). I am confident that we will start the Mekedatu project this year. Once that is done, a long term plan for Bengaluru can be done, he said.
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Claim: The video shows people thrashing a Muslim man for urinating on a Kumbh Mela poster in Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh.
Fact: The claim is false. Raebareli's Bachhrawan Police Station SHO OP Tiwari confirmed to NewsMeter that the accused’s name is Vinod and he belongs to the Hindu community.
Hyderabad: In the context of the ongoing Maha Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradesh, a video has surfaced showing a group of people assaulting a man while using abusive language against him. Those sharing the video claim the man being assaulted is a Muslim man who was allegedly caught by the locals for urinating on photos of Maha Kumbh and Hindu deities displayed on a wall.
An X user, Baba Banaras, who has been caught several times indulging in misinformation, shared the video and wrote, “Rae Bareilly, UP: Abdul Urinates on Photos of Mahakumbh and Hindu Deities on Wall, Caught by Locals. (sic)” (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. While the video is from Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh, our investigation revealed that the man accused of urinating belongs to the Hindu community.
We conducted a keyword search and found reports by Amar Ujala and India Daily published on January 11. Both reports mentioned the viral video which captured the assault.
According to these reports, the incident allegedly occurred on the evening of January 10, 2025, at the main intersection of Bachhrawan town in Raebareli. Locals caught the accused and assaulted him, while someone at the scene recorded the incident and shared the video on social media.
Neither report named the accused nor specified his community. However, mentioned that inspector OP Tiwari stated an investigation into the viral video is ongoing.
We also found another X user sharing the video with the same communal claim. However, the X handle of Raebareli police replying to the post clarified that the man being assaulted in the video is Vinod, a hawker from Kannauj district, who, in an intoxicated state, urinated near the wall, unaware of the presence of the Kumbh poster. The reply also clarified that the claim that Vinod belongs to a different community is false and baseless.
— Raebareli Police (@raebarelipolice) January 13, 2025
NewsMeter reached out to Bachhrawan SHO OP Tiwari, who refuted the claim that the accused belongs to the Muslim community. He clarified, “The accused’s name is Vinod, also known as Dinesh, son of Bharat, and he belongs to the Hindu community.”
Tiwari also shared a press release about the incident issued by the Bachhrawan Police Station. The statement confirmed that the accused, Vinod alias Dinesh, was arrested in accordance with the law and presented before the court.
Therefore, we conclude that the claim of a Muslim man urinating on a Kumbh Mela poster in Raebareli, UP, is false.