Articles by Shilpi Sahu

Bellandur Buzz…Issue # 19September 26th 2014 Shared fortnightly by: bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com   Bhoomi Utsav at Prakriya School Like every year, 2nd october, Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated by Bhoomi network as a day long festival of organic food and produce, folk art and craft, music, dance and talk… Come connect with nature and hang out with friends amidst lovely trees and gardens! The festival features Stalls selling mouth watering organic eats and produce. Pollinated seeds and saplings for your kitchen garden. Talk sessions on composting, gardening and more. Crafts, music, dance and storytelling for kids. Venue: Prakriya Green Wisdom School campus, No:70, Chikkanayakana Halli Road,…

Bellandur Buzz…Issue # 18September 12th 2014 Shared fortnightly by: bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com Mandur Landfill closes on December 1st With barely three months to go for the closure of Mandur landfill, pressure is building up on BBMP to manage city's waste responsibly. Special Commissioner (Municipal Solid Waste) Darpan Jain is banking on citizen's co-operation and the top Palike officials’ efforts. BBMP has taken up segregation drive in Bellandur ward on pilot basis. Kasa Muktha Bellandur, citizen volunteer group is proactively working with the BBMP officials in this respect. He hopes this model can be replicated in the other 198 wards with time. A new…

Bellandur Buzz…Issue # 17August 28th 2014 Shared fortnightly by: bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com   Can we celebrate an eco-friendly Ganesha Festival? Photo Courtesy: Saahas. Every year, during Vinayaka Chaturthi, a huge number of Ganesha idols are immersed in Bangalore lakes. Most of these idols are made of Plaster of Paris, colored with toxic paints and adorned with thermocol and plastic, none of which are bio-degradable. These toxic chemicals leach into the lake eco-system polluting the waterbodies. Instead, one could use clay Ganesha idols and decorate them with homemade colours and flowers and leaves. Photo Courtesy: TMAD selling clay idols.   TMAD (To Make…

Bellandur Buzz…August 14th, 2014, Issue #16 Shared fortnightly by the Citizen group bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com   Independence Day events: Green Glen Layout Independence day CelebrationsVenue: Football Ground near the Park.Time: 9 amChief guest: MLA Arvind Limbavalli Tree plantation at Saul KereVenue: Saul kereTime: 9amThis event at the lake is managed by MAPSAS and funded by Genpact. For details, please contact rajitha.myneni@genpact.com. Entry points to Saul Kere Participative Aquifer Mapping Program   BIOME , WIPRO, ACWADAM (from Pune) and MAPUNITY (from Bangalore) are jointly undertaking a study Participative Aquifer Mapping Program around the Sarjapura - Bellandur area. This study intends to be a participatory exercise involving…

Bellandur Buzz…July 31st 2014 Shared fortnightly by the Citizen group bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com Awareness Programs for Children's safety Teju Nageshwari of NSmiles has organised a’ Safety at Surroundings workshop’ for children aged 3-7 years and 8-12 years this sunday. To enroll your child, contact tejuvijay at gmail dot comTeju Nageshwari has a certificate on child psychology, life skills and relationships from Banjara Academy. nSmiles.in is a firm focusing on emotional health and wellbeing. ~~ ConfidentLiving Learning conducted more than 10 workshops for children on “Safe touch-Unsafe touch" from 25th July to 29th July in Green Glen Layout. The workshop was open for…

  Bellandur Buzz… Issue #14July 17th 2014 Shared fortnightly by the citizen group bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com To get this newsletter directly in your inbox every fortnight, click here.    Ibblur Lake - Buffer zone violation Earlier in March this year, a demolition drive by the Tehsildaar cleared away encroachments around Ibblur lake. One of the encroachers was operating a commercial borewell which was stopped. But after a few days it resumed operations. Now it has run dry and in blatant and continuing violation of the buffer zone surrounding the lake, a new borewell is being dug at the same location. This is…

Bellandur Buzz… Issue #13 July 2nd 2014  Shared fortnightly by the Citizen group bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com   SF Spotfix Residents of Springfields, working with the BBMP decided to take charge of the black spot outside their second exit gate which always gets dumped with garbage from across the street and used as a urinal too. This area is a no man's land as its is Springfields private land maintained by them till the road widening comes about. Finally the dumping got so bad that the citizens decided to take charge. About ten to fifteen residents, assisted by BBMP's workers and some of…

Bellandur Buzz…June 20th 2014 Shared fortnightly by the Citizen group bellandur-forum@googlegroups.comKasa Muktha Bellandur on 97.5 FMThis week, Kasa Muktha Bellandur initiative got some air time on 97.5 FM. The RJ called the Environment Engineer of the ward to ask details about 2-bin-1-bag process and congratulated her on the success of the initiative. When the city is dealing with the Mandur crisis all over again, and the waste situation in the city does not seem any better than what it was two years ago, the success of the SWM experiment in our own ward brings some hope. Read more about the initiative…

Bellandur Buzz… Issue #11June 5th 2014 Shared fortnightly by the citizen group bellandur-forum@googlegroups.comKaikondrahalli Lake apporach road spotfix with The Ugly IndianThe main entrance of Kaikondrahalli lake used to be a mess of stagnating water, trash and construction debris dumped on the footpath and at the corner of the street. But no more! A bunch of residents with their kids descended quietly at the lake on a bright saturday morning. Greater part of the morning was spent in clearing trash, levelling mounds of dirt and painting the sidewalk. Monsieur dirt was vanqushed and Madame filth was cleared, leaving the volunteers drained…

The past 4 days (from Saturday onward) have seen a disruption in the services of HasiruDala, owing to another protest at Karnataka Composting Development Corporation, KCDC (our destination for wet waste). The city is in strife, with the order to close the Mandur landfill site, and internal challenges at KCDC. The KCDC muddle has resulted in the waste smelling in the wee hours of morning and night, and is causing hassles for the peripheral residents. However, the only possible way out is in improving the systems at KCDC, and this is being pushed for in every possible manner. In the…