Articles by Akshatha M

GAIL has begun the pipeline laying work for its PNG project in HSR Layout. Pic: Akshatha M Within months of the GAIL Gas Ltd initiating work on its ambitious City Gas Distribution Project in Bengaluru, it has attracted the wrath of residents of HSR Layout. A few days ago one of our readers had written about how HSR Sector 7 residents are caught between GAIL and BBMP. The author had complained against the contractors for doing a shoddy job and not restoring the trenches properly. Now it is the turn of HSR Sector 2 residents. HSR Layout is the second…

On the first day of implementing the helmet rule for pillion riders, not many pillion riders were seen wearing the helmet in Bengaluru. Pic: Akshatha M Finally helmets have become mandatory for two-wheeler pillion riders in Bengaluru. For all those who have been cribbing about the rule of helmet for pillion riders, there is no other go but to follow it, or face the music. The Transport department has decided to implement the new rule from today: January 12th. However the enforcement may be a bit slower in order to give time for people to buy new helmets and get…

How clean do you think Bengaluru is? Would you like to rate the city in terms of its hygiene and sanitation? If yes, then here is an opportunity for you to participate in the Swachh Bharath Mission survey and rank your city. The Central government has taken up a new cleanliness survey of 75 major cities across the country under its ambitious Swachh Bharath Mission. With Bengaluru being one of the 75 cities, city-dwellers who are happy or unhappy about the city's solid waste management and sanitation scenario can voluntarily be a part of the survey. For this, all you…

A fortnight ago, a kitten belonging to Aditi Surendra, a city-based graphic designer, passed away. Unsure of how to dispose of the body, Aditi sought help from her friends on how to dispose of the dead body. With no satisfying inputs forthcoming, she had to bury the kitten near the railway tracks, so that some other animal could feed on it. There is a BBMP animal crematorium in Magadi Road. When asked whether she knew about it, Aditi said she was not aware of the facility. “Plus, the kitten died early morning and we couldn’t drive until the next day.…

November 30. Sindhu Naik, a resident of North Bengaluru, got a notice from her apartment community: “A drive being conducted this Saturday (5th Dec) & Sun (6th Dec) from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. for the verification of the Aadhar card. Ms. Kumari S. from the Registrar General of Citizen Registration will be visiting our complex for this purpose. Please keep your Aadhar cards handy at this time.” She asked her friends and others, but did not get any clarity on what the issue was about. Citizen Matters tried asking Unique Identity Authority of India, but the officials in the…

With 6,500 buses in its fleet, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) carries 50 lakh people per day in Bengaluru. BMTC is one service, that whether you like it or hate it, you cannot ignore it. While BMTC bus service is appreciated as well as criticised by public, its Managing Director Ekroop Caur talks to Citizen Matters about the future plans for BMTC, challenges ahead and ways of meeting people’s demand. BMTC Managing Director Ekroop Caur At a time when private bus aggregators have made it to the bus service sector in Bengaluru, what initiative has BMTC taken to improve its…

Such dumps will be a thing of past if the city starts segregating waste at source. Pic: Bhavna Anegundi Divide your trash, to conquer it. Segregate your garbage it into three categories, to make life easy for everyone! Put in simple terms, this is what the High Court of Karnataka ordered in the hearing of the Public Interest Litigation on garbage problem in the city, on December 17, 2015. Two bins and one bag, brought to the High Court of Karnataka by solid waste management activist Sandya Narayan captured the attention of the judges, who agreed with the way they…

Flooding that took place at PES campus in Electronic City during August 2014. Pic: Sent by a reader. While Chennai is recuperating from the torrential rains that wreaked havoc in the city last week, a question that stands before Bengalureans is: to what extent is our city prepared to handle such a situation? Considering that Bengaluru is not immune to floods and 1,077 areas are flood-prone according to BBMP, we tried to know from various government agencies about their preparedness to handle a situation like that of Chennai flood. Here’s what came out of it. Coordination is the key Whenever…

In Part I of the series, the viewpoint of plastic manufacturing industry was captured. Part II of the series explored what could be done with plastic. Part III explored the green job options that will get created because of plastic ban. Here is part IV. Every time a city inundates in deluge, the primary reason seems to be the drains getting choked with plastic. Low weight plastic carry bags that are of low recycling value end up on roadsides or garbage dumps, causing water logs during unexpected rains. The health impacts of plastic are numerous. All this together prompted the…

The Bengaluru City Police don’t have authority to regulate traffic, drunk driving and speed on this private toll road. As a result of unchecked speed and not following regulations, there are deadly accidents every year on this road. When asked to take action, the company asks the government to disapprove any kind of inspection from police, and removes speed limits set for the road. And we are talking about NICE road, built by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE). Citizen Matters had published an article Top 10 acciden-prone places in Bengaluru based on the data collected from Bangalore Traffic Police. Electronic…