Bengaluru:

Customs officials at Kempegowda International Airport on Monday said that a passenger was arrested for his alleged attempt to smuggle yellow anacondas concealed in his check-in baggage.

Posting on social media platform X, Bengaluru Customs said they intercepted an attempt to smuggle 10 yellow anacondas concealed in the check-in bag of a passenger arriving from Bangkok.

“Passenger arrested and investigation is underway. Wildlife trafficking will not be tolerated,” it added.

It is illegal to trade in wildlife as per Indian laws, and the Customs Act of 1962 has many sections on combatting wildlife trafficking.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bengaluru:

A 23-year-old Youtuber was arrested for allegedly entering the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, recording a video and later falsely claiming that he spent an entire day there, police said today.

Vikas Gowda, a resident of Yelahanka in Bengaluru, entered the airport with a ticket of Chennai-bound Air India flight on April 7 at around 12 pm, they said.

According to the police, he did not board the flight “deliberately” and, instead, was roaming around the airport recording a video on his mobile phone.

On April 12, he uploaded the alleged video on his YouTube channel, which has nearly 1.13 lakh subscribers, falsely claiming that he had spent an entire day at the airport and had ventured into many areas of the airport premises hoodwinking security.

The alleged video was later on deleted by him.

“He entered the airport and cleared the security check at Terminal-2 of the Kempegowda International Airport and headed towards the boarding lounge. But instead of boarding the plane, he was roaming around in the airport premises and spent nearly six hours at the airport,” a senior police officer said.

After recording the video, he left the airport claiming to the security personnel that he had missed his flight. Since he had a valid ticket and boarding pass, the security personnel did not suspect him, he said.

Preliminary investigation said he did it for publicity and also his claims in the alleged video were an exaggeration, he added.

The matter came to the notice of the airport security personnel on April 15 and, based on the complaint of a Central Industrial Security Force official, a case was registered against Mr Gowda under Sections 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief) and 448 (house trespass) of the Indian Penal Code, and he was arrested, the officer said.

Mr Gowda was later released on bail, police said.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

View of Kempegowda International Airport Halt railway station in Bengaluru.
| Photo Credit: Sudhakar Jain

The Union government, when approving the suburban rail project, mandated that K-RIDE, the implementing agency, prioritise the KSR Bengaluru (Majestic)–Devanahalli line connecting Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). Despite this, K-RIDE has not yet issued the tender, causing dissatisfaction among railway activists advocating for a strong rail network linking the airport, which would benefit numerous air passengers and airport workers.

In June 2021, K-RIDE decided to deprioritise the project as the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) had already initiated the tender process for its airport line. Consequently, K-RIDE opted to focus on developing other unconnected routes instead, according to sources in K-RIDE.

In 2021, BMRCL commenced the construction of a 58-km Outer Ring Road–Airport link stretching from the Central Silk Board to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA). The project, slated for completion by 2025–26, aims to benefit commuters from the southern and eastern parts of the city. Additionally, BMRCL is concurrently developing a new metro line connecting Kalena Agrahara to Nagawara, which will be seamlessly integrated with the ORR–airport line at Nagawara.

The airport line of the suburban rail project is called Sampige Line, which has a length of 41.4 km and will have 16 stations.

Rajkumar Dugar, the convener of Citizens for Citizens (C4C), said, “The suburban rail connecting the city centre to the airport has not been prioritised. With Terminal-2 already operational at KIA and a significant increase in airport footfall, we are on the brink of a crisis due to the lack of a robust mass transit system linking the airport. While the metro project aims to serve the southern and eastern parts of the city, the suburban rail would cover essential areas like Majestic and Yeshwantpur, both of which are already integrated into the metro network. If you see, only 20% of the middle of the city area is covered in the metro to airport route.”

Also read | Navigating the airport commute challenge in Bengaluru 

“Despite instructions from the Prime Minister and the Railway Minister to expedite the project, both the railways and K-RIDE are moving at a sluggish pace in terms of progress. Though K-RIDE has committed to ensure loans for this corridor will be closed and tender will be called before the end of 2023. There is no indication of this happening soon. K-RIDE needs to hurry up and close loan and tender matters. Also, South Western Railway (SWR) must hasten approvals for alignments and give full cooperation to BSRP, their child. In fact, SWR will also be benefitted by this Project in several ways. All in all, everybody needs to buckle up and act on war-footing,” he added.

In 2021, the South Western Railway (SWR) introduced MEMU (Mainline Electric Multiple Unit) trains along the existing railway line from Yelahanka to Devanahalli, aiming to facilitate air travelers. However, the service struggled to gain traction. A halt station constructed near the KIA campus has not been utilised efficiently, mainly because of low passenger demand.

Ranked as the third busiest airport in the country, Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru managed 31.91 million passengers during the fiscal year 2022-2023. Despite its significant traffic, reaching the airport, situated 30-40 km away from the city, is a difficult journey due to traffic congestion.

Currently, travellers have two public transport options to reach the airport: the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation’s (BMTC) airport AC bus service (Vayu Vajra) and the railways’ MEMU (Mainline Electric Multiple Unit) trains.

Bengaluru:

Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru commenced international operations at Terminal 2 (T2) on Tuesday at 10:15 AM, with the arrival of Saudi Airlines’ flight SV866 from Jeddah.

The first International flight arrives at Terminal 2, BLR Airport.@Saudi_Airlines

For assistance, please contact our customer engagement centre on +91-8884998888 (WhatsApp only) and 080-22012001/080-66785555.

Click here for Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)… pic.twitter.com/qNOnb807Oj

— BLR Airport (@BLRAirport) September 12, 2023

IndiGo was the first Indian carrier to start international operations from T2 with its flight 6E1167 to Colombo.

Now, Terminal 1 will serve as the operational hub for domestic flights of IndiGo, Akasa Air, Alliance Air, and SpiceJet. Terminal 2 will be dedicated exclusively to all international flights along with domestic flights of AirAsia, Air India, Star Air and Vistara, a Bangalore International Airport Ltd statement said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)