Articles by Chetan Boray

Venkata Subba Rao, a resident of RBI Colony in Jayanagar is a happy man. In 2005 he spotted the auction of the now dry Byrasandra tank (near Jayanagar Swimming Pool) by Indian Overseas Bank and initiated legal action. Five years later, this month, BBMP is fencing the lake land to protect it and remove encroachments. From left Ramalinga Reddy, Gangambika and Hema Chandra. Venkatasubba Rao pouring the milk. Pic: Chetan Boray. The fencing program was inaugurated on 23rd by Gangambika, (INC) Corporator of Jayanagar (Ward 153). “First of all we have to make a border to improve, we are going…

As a response to water shortage, four bore wells were sanctioned under the councillors quota for every ward. Unfortunately in BTM layout, the program resulted in two tragic deaths, on 16th Main Road, in II Stage. On June 15th, one of the crew members of the borewell firm that got the contract, took the first step to raise the bore motor to start drilling. While raising it, the equipment touched the electricity line above. Power was not shut down in these lines leading to the operator’s death within a fraction of a second. One co-worker tried to save him but…

The parking lot with space for 60 cars on the terrace of Jayanagar's Traffic and Transit Management Centre (TTMC), opposite the 4th block shopping complex is lying unused. At 3.30 pm on a weekday afternoon the lot was empty. Empty parking lot on a weekday in Jayanagar one of the busiest areas in the city. Pic: Subramaniam Vincent. Jayanagar is one of the busiest commercial areas in the city. There is space for around 60 cars and 20 bikes in this facility, says the BMTC, which runs the centre. For a car, the charges are Rs 20 for 4 hours.…

Ring Road Property Owners Association (RRPOA) conducted a meeting to discuss BBMP’s road widening  plans along the stretch of road from Central Silk Board to Mysore Road which is about 14.5 kms.The meet was held at Sri Krishna Kalyana Mantapa, near Jayanagar 9th block on 8th June. RRPOA is an umbrella organisation formed by Residents Welfare Associations (RWA’s) of BTM, JP Nagar, Eliyas Nagar and Rajajinagar.Vidya Shankar, who is a President of the RRPOA, says the asociation’s next move is to approach the chief minister as well as the transport minister of the state regarding the issue. "We will bring…

Adarsh S Vansay, 38, a resident of JP Nagar has been saving more than 50% of the his monthly BESCOM bills from the past two years. He had installed solar cell plates and a windmill at his house in JP Nagar, 7th Phase. The windmill installed in his house can produce one unit of power and the solar cells can produce around two units of power in a day. 1 unit can light a bulb of 100 watts for 10 hours. He invested around Rs 3.5 lakhs and saves around Rs 600 every month on electricity bills. "Even though it…

Water purifier in JP Nagar ParkA water purifier attached to a 300 litre water tank has been installed in JP Nagar Dhanvantari Park on May 27th. This was an initiative of Canara Bank, JP Nagar Branch, in association with JP Nagar Citizens Association. Children drinking water at the park. Pic: Chetan Boray. BBMP South Zone Horticulture Superintendent, Nagappa Atturkar says “Even though we have water facility in all the parks there is no water purifier. It is costly to invest on water purifiers, so we so encourage such initiatives.” He also confirmed that this is the first time, a water…

R B Shivakumar, 36, a resident of Rajajinagar has been collecting surplus vegetarian foods from social and private functions in and around his residence for the past three years and distributing it to around 150 low income families in his locality. He employs six people to assist him. On May 22nd, Shivakumar says he distributed lunch to more than 20,000 people. The food was collected from five different kalyana mantapas located in and around Rajajinagar. And the food was distributed to slum dwellers of Gopalpura and Chamundi Nagar. Babu, one of the recipient from Chamundi Nagar says, “It is a…

Someshekar says “We want to stop this work with our generation, our children should go to school and get an education". Pic: Chetan BorayThe bamboo materials are bought from Belgaum. Pic: Chetan BorayThe bamboo stick is made into ladders, baskets of different sizes and so on. Pic: Chetan Boray‹ › $(document).ready(function(){ $('.carousel .carousel-inner .item').first().attr('class', 'active item');}); Around 40 families originally from Mysore, who have been weaving and selling bamboo products on the footpaths of Bangalore Gayanasamaja, KR Road for the past 28 years will now have to find another place to continue their business. BBMP has served them a notice…

On the busy Ring Road in Kuvempu Nagar (BTM Layout) near the BTM bus terminus, unnoticed by many of us, there is a small temple, dedicated to Karumariamman Amma -a well known goddess in Thiruverkadu, Tamil Nadu, now is in midst of a busy neighbourhood. Temple dedicated to Karumariamman Amma. Pic: Chetan Boray. Before the temple was built, there was an ant hill and a serpent, claim the residents of Someshwar Colony. Muniswamy, Ramchandra, Nagaraj and P Shanmugam, all residents of the area took the initiative of constructing the temple. It was completed in the year 1994. Every year, a…

Muniyamma (56) who was awarded the Kuvempu Vidyamaana Prashasti  by Kuvempu Kalanikethan Trust in February does not sound very elated.  "Memento will not fill our stomach, but a government job can feed our family," she says. She is a resident of Konanakunte.She is the milk-seller who helped police capture the LTTE members who took part in the conspiracy to assassinate former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.She says, the Government of Karnataka promised to reward her with Rs 10 lakhs in the year 1991, but she got only Rs 60000 since then. Her son also never got his promised job. She complains,…