Articles by N Mukund

Metro Phase-I has not completed, but the plans for Phase-II have already begun. File Pic. The new alignment near Jayadeva Hospital has caused panic among residents that many residential properties and commercial buildings on Bannerghatta Road would be demolished. Here are some thoughts on this. Why public consultation with residents, experts,users ,metro officials and elected representatives is not being held on pros and cons, alternative routes etc, like the public consultation held by Additional Chief Secretary regarding Signal-free corridor of Koramangala? The project was scrapped unanimously by all stakeholders on direction of the High Court, based on the PIL filed…

It looks that our BBMP act only after being pulled up by the High Court Appointment of Ward Committees, Garbage Segregation at Source, Scrapping of Signal free corridor from Koramangala to Sirsi Circle, not allowing commercial buildings in residential areas, banning construction activities from 6PM to 8 AM and handling stray dogs are some of the examples.One cannot understand why our elected BBMP cannot understand the civic sense, plan and act, instead of forcing citizens to file PIL. If this is the situation do we need BBMP?⊕

Bangalore has been facing a serious problem in getting garbage cleared on a daily basis, especially since the past few months, with the result that garbage dumps are seen all over the city. BBMP is trying to solve the problem but not much result is seen on the streets of Bangalore.Any scheme that the BBMP adopts will have to take into consideration the following issues.1. The waste generated has to be segregated at source. There is no alternative to this in spite of the various objections raised by some groups, elected representatives, BBMP officials and the garbage contractors. Some citizens have…

Dear Sri Ananth Kumarji Greetings You have been pursuing to name BIAL as Kempe Gowda International Airport for his contribution to the city, which is a good move. It is unfortunate that the central government is delaying.We are all aware of contribution of Sir M Visvesvaraya's to the development of industry and infrastructure in Bangalore. He was responsible for designing Jayanagar and many other localities which are very planned by his vision and innovation.Since the Bangalore Metro was conceived during Atalji's government under your leadership as Union Urban Development Minister, as voters of Bangalore South Parliamentary constituency we request you…

BBMP unlike BDA is not a development authority, it can be termed as a maintenance authority and provides services, hence it should focus on -Capacity building - Administrative restructuring of BBMP - Roles and responsibilities of departments/officers  to be defined.Computerisation of all BBMP offices, establishment of  citizen help centers in each ward.Adequate and skilled professionals should be hired as required in BBMP.Services of Private consultants/professionals /outsourcing can be utilised as required on a contract basis instead of utilizing engineers from the public works department.Involve registered Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) and civic organizations to monitor projects of the ward and conduct…

Shut since 2004 with a pledge by the then Bangalore Mahanagara Palike that a refurbished theatre with state-of-the-art facilities in place would be re-opened, the theatre today lies decrepit.During the visit of then Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa  to the damaged site, revival of the theatre in 36 months was promised, but unfortunately the situation remains unchanged and is causing a huge loss to the state exchequer.  The project has been handed over to BDA by BBMP. Concerned authorities must look into the matter at the earliest and accelerate the reconstruction.⊕

The long pending request of Jayanagar residents to remove transformers on footpaths has materialised. BESCOM is converting multi-pole transformers here to single pole transformers. (Single pole transformers occupy lesser space on footpaths.) Work started on the transformer on the busy 7th Main road, 36th Cross in Jayanagar 4th block, on February 13th. The old transformer used to obstruct traffic on the road, and the footpath was unusable. This transformer in Jayanagar 4th block is being replaced by a single pole transformer now. Pic: Keshava Kumar N Persuation by Jayanagar MLA B N Vijaya Kumar and the team work by BESCOM…

I had written an email to BMTC Managing Director, K R Srinivasa, IAS, regarding various issues related to BMTC buses on June 29th. On July 8th, I got a reply from CTM Operations for the same. He replied, "BMTC appreciates your concern about the matters related to its operations and thanks for your valuable suggestions". He provided a point by point reply  with details of action taken. 1.   General lack of punctuality with unreliable services: Bus timings are rarely maintained. Drivers are forced to follow the old time sheets in spite of the worsening traffic conditions and hence many drivers…

Citizen Action Forum, a federation of RWAs met S Suresh Kumar, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs and BWSSB and P S Ramamurthy, Chairman, BWSSB along with team of chief engineers.The meeting held in BWSSB central office Cauvery Bhavan, and we discussed rain water harvesting (RWH) and water supply problems.CAF President N S Mukunda explained practical solutions to water problems. RWH in houses can yield only 2% of water requirement of Bangalore. So RWH should be done in all public (government buildings and 1400 parks in Bangalore. He requested the government not to make RWH mandatory for all, because some…

Auto rickshaws are a key option for private transport in Bangalore. * There are more than 1 lakh registered autos in the city. * Number of Auto rickshaw's = 100,000 * Min turnover per auto/per day = Rs.600 * Total turnover per day 100000*600 = Rs 6 crores * Total turnover per year = Rs.2160 crores Going by this, the minimum turn over is Rs.2160 crores per year. At a profit margin of 30-40%, it is amounting to nearly Rs.700 crores. This is a big business, and there are more than 20 unions but it does not have a users forum…