Meeting to decide on location for Bengaluru's second airport soon: Minister MB Patil
Bengaluru: A meeting will be convened soon to decide the location for the proposed second airport for the city, Karnataka Minister for Infrastructure M B Patil said on Sunday.
Before making a final decision, the government would consider two main aspects: passenger load and connectivity to the existing Kempegowda International Airport , he said.
"If we prioritise passenger load, areas such as Sarjapura and Kanakapura Road are strong contenders. On the other hand, if connectivity to the existing airport becomes a priority, places like Tumkur and Dabaspete will be in the lead," Patil said.
"These considerations will be discussed in the next departmental meeting and further reviewed with the chief minister. The matter will also be taken up in the cabinet meeting," he told reporters.
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The exclusivity clause with the KIA's operator Bengaluru International Airport Limited which restricts the establishment of another airport within a 150-kilometer radius, ends in 2032, allowing the potential development of a new airport by 2033.
Considering the time required for land acquisition and compensation for landowners, the government has initiated the planning process, the minister said.
Highlighting that major cities like New York and London have multiple airports in close proximity, he said, "In Mumbai, the distance between the two airports is 36 kilometers."
Regarding the Tamil Nadu government's decision to build an airport in Hosur, Patil mentioned that it needs to be examined whether the exclusivity clause with BIAL applies to this situation.
Noting that KIA is the third busiest airport in the country, following Delhi and Mumbai, the minister's office had recently said, last year the airport handled 37.5 million passengers and over 4,00,000 tonne of cargo.
The current airport is projected to reach its peak passenger handling capacity by 2033 and its maximum cargo handling capacity by 2040, it has said.
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'Low-quality' catheters supplied to West Bengal govt hospitals at high price, probe ordered
Kolkata (PTI): The West Bengal health department has launched a probe into the supplies of allegedly low-quality and locally made catheters at a high price to several government hospitals, posing a risk to the lives of patients undergoing treatment in these facilities, officials said.
Such central venous catheters (CVCs) were allegedly supplied to at least five medical colleges and hospitals in the state, defying allocation of international standard-compliant CVCs, they said.
The distribution company, which has been accused of supplying these catheters to government hospitals, admitted to the fault but placed the blame on its employees.
"We started checking stocks some time back and found these locally made CVCs in my hospital store. These catheters are of low quality as compared to those allocated by the state. We have informed the state health department," a senior official of the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital told PTI.
Low-quality catheters were also found in the stores of other hospitals, which indicates "possible involvement of insiders in the scam", a health department official said.
The low-quality CVCs were supplied by a distributor in the Hatibagan area in the northern part of Kolkata for the last three to four months, he said.
"Such kinds of local CVCs are priced around Rs 1,500 but the distributor took Rs 4,177 for each device," the official said.
A CVC is a thin and flexible tube that is inserted into a vein to allow for the administration of fluids, blood, and other treatment. It's also clinically called a central line catheter.
"An initial probe revealed that the distribution company Prakash Surgical had supplied the low-quality and locally manufactured catheters to several government hospitals instead of the CVCs of the government-designated international company.
"All the units will be tested and a proper investigation is on to find out who benefited from these supplies," the health department official said.
The distribution company blamed its employees for the supply of inferior quality catheters.
"I was sick for a few months. Some employees of the organisation made this mistake. We are taking back all those units that have gone to the hospitals. It's all about misunderstanding," an official of the distribution company told PTI.
According to another state health department official, a complaint was lodged with the police in this connection.
Asked about how many patients were affected by the usage of such low-quality CVCs, the official said, "The probe would also try to find that out".
According to sources in the health department, some of the staff of the hospitals' equipment receiving departments and some local officials of international organisations might be involved in the alleged irregularities.
