Good morning, Bengaluru!
⛈️ Today’s weather: Expect cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms today.
🧐 Did you know? Narayan Rao, the owner of the popular ice cream chain Corner House, initially started with a joint that served Goan and Chinese food before his ice cream business took off.
⌛ Delayed BBMP polls
Elections for the 243-seat Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) have been due since September 2020. However, the state government seems preoccupied with the upcoming Karnataka Assembly polls.
Story so far: The Karnataka High Court instructed the state government to redo the reservations for the BBMP polls in a scientific manner and gave the BJP-led government time till December 31 to complete the same. However, former Bengaluru councillors have expressed the belief that the polls cannot be conducted before the state Assembly elections scheduled for May 2023.
- With only eight months for the state assembly polls, politicians are not interested to conduct local body polls despite the orders of the HC.
- Polls for the Zilla Panchayat as well as the Taluk Panchayat are also yet to be conducted.
Government’s response: The state government expressed that the delay in the BBMP elections is due to the need for delimitation of constituencies and adopting a new reservation matrix. This, however, was addressed by the HC early last month.
- Additionally, the SC in January of this year made it clear that “election to any local body cannot be postponed beyond the statutory period.”
🚄 Train from Mumbai to arrive two hours early
Indian Railways has announced that the Bengaluru-Mumbai Udyan Express will arrive at KSR Bengaluru at 6 am instead of 7.50 am without any change in the departure time.
Story so far: The Udyan Express is the only dedicated train that travels between Bengaluru and Mumbai. Effective from October 1, the train will now arrive at Bengaluru two hours early. However, the train will still leave at 8.40 pm from KSR Bengaluru and reach Mumbai at 8.15 pm the next day.
- A Railways official stated that the reduction of time is due to the increased speed of some trains.
- Four pairs of express trains have been converted into superfast ones.
Time saved: The South Western Railway chief public relations officer Aneesh Hegde stated that 54 trains have been sped up and this has led to 1,453 minutes saved in the new timetable.
- For the first time in four decades, the speed of Udyan Express has been increased.
📈 Highest appreciation in housing prices
The Bengaluru property market has witnessed the highest growth in average housing prices and average office rent in the third quarter of 2022.
Story so far: According to Knight Frank India, the Bengaluru property market saw the highest growth in average housing prices compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. The average housing price increased by 3 to 10% across eight cities while office rent increased by 13%.
- The average price in Bengaluru rose by 10% to ₹5,428 per square foot in the July-September quarter from ₹4,928 per square foot in the previous year.
- Meanwhile, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad witnessed an increase of 6% in the average housing prices.
Revival of demand: Post the second wave of the Covid pandemic, the housing sector has witnessed a revival of demand. Real estate developers have been increasing their housing prices every quarter to match increasing rates of crucial construction materials.
🔌 Bengaluru mall gets EV charging points
Nexus Shantiniketan mall in Whitefield has installed 46 new electric vehicle charging points including both AC chargers and Combines Charging System (CSS) chargers.
Story so far: Fortum, a Finland-based energy firm, has commissioned all the latest charging points. After witnessing happy users, the company added 46 more points at Nexus Shantiniketan mall to the already existing 50 points that they commissioned previously at Nexus Whitefield mall.
- With both AC and CSS chargers, four-wheeler as well as two-wheeler electric vehicles can be charged in the basement of the mall.
- Many customers took to Twitter to laud the implementation of more EV charging points in the mall.
Growing EV: Even Shell, a giant in the energy sector, announced earlier that it would enter into the EV charging business in the country, starting from Bengaluru. The company opened five new EV charging stations in September at Yeshwanthpur, Marathahalli, Old Madras Road, Brookefield and Kanakapura Road in the city.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Have you eaten ice cream at Corner House?
- Yes, I have eaten ice cream at Corner House.
- No, I have not eaten ice cream at Corner House.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
What are the best things that money can’t buy?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- A Bengaluru startup, Acviss Technologies has started providing digital signatures for pesticides to avoid the purchase of fake crop protection chemicals.
- Seeking to develop Bengaluru Cantonment station, South Western Railway has written to forest authorities to remove 385 trees to construct new buildings.
- Two Karnataka agencies, DULT and BMRCL have bagged awards in the second edition of Urban Infra Awards in five categories.
- The government recently rolled out the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) in Bengaluru which allows small retailers to pose as alternatives to dominant giants like Amazon and Flipkart.
- In order to bring awareness about plastic waste management, the South Western Railways made a sculpture made of plastic bottles.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll Results:
- I prefer summer: 36.4%
- I prefer winter: 63.6% 🏆
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
What is your favourite cuisine and why?
Datta: “No favorite cuisine. Will devour anything vegetarian”
Rustam: “Italian”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!