Articles by Supriya Khandekar

When we talk of garbage not being disposed off well, we do not think about garbage other than the regular kitchen waste and plastic. One major type of waste that we hardly talk about is radioactive waste, produced at cancer hospitals. While our kitchen waste may not be so harmful, radioactive waste can be hazardous. On a casual inquiry, I found out that the cancer hospitals in Bengaluru were apparently disposing residual radioactive waste into the public sewerage and garbage. This sounds alarming, but this is what they are supposed when the radioactive material (used for treatment) is 'fully used'.…

Bengaluru made international headlines with the successful Chandrayaan operation, the first unmanned mission to moon by India. And the institution responsible for Chandrayaan's initiation and monitoring is none other Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). In the same league as ISRO are the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Jawaharlal Nehru Pl anetarium (JNP) and so on. Indeed, among the many feathers in the city's cap are some ofthese renowned science institutions. But how many of us, especially students and scientifically-inclined citizens are aware of the opportunities for the local public at these major institutions? Not many,…

Power cuts are again the talk of the town since Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) declared a minimum two hour cut in all the residential areas in the city. “Is it really only two hours?” is what my colleague Gayathri S asks me. She gets a power cut of six to eight hours every day since the declaration of power cut was done by BESCOM. My colleague lives in Venkatapura, Koramangala. She complains of untimely power cut of more than six hours a day disturbing routines. When we checked, we found that she is not the only one suffering from…

In a Lok Adalat hearing on 19th November 2008, at the High Court of Karnataka, Justice K L Manjunath pointedly asked Yellapa Reddy, chairman of the committee overseeing Bengaluru’s road widening project to listen to the petitioners' complaints on widespread tree cutting. The Adalat took exception to Reddy’s standpoint which appeared to one of merely representing local government officials’ views instead of striking a balance between citizens and officials. As reported earlier in Citizen Matters, a writ petition was filed by NGOs Environment Support Group and CIVIC a few months ago against the tree cutting undertaken by the Bruhat Bangalore…

It’s just a few months since the Bangalore International Airport began functioning, and already a race is on among various service providers to transport air travellers to the airport. Initial apprehensions about the airport being not approachable has led to the sprouting of various businesses to resolve the problem. A Vayu Vajra Bus (Volvo) waiting to start its journey on the BIAL route. Pic: Supriya Khandekar. The services available to reach the airport are in a range to fit all pockets. On one hand is the BMTC’s BIAL Volvo bus service that claims to offer the cheapest ride. On the…

The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday, 4th November directed the Lake Development Authority (LDA) not to enter into fresh agreements enabling private parties to own lakes. A division of the HC bench, comprising Chief Justice PD Dinakaran and Justice VG Sabhapathi, took the State government to task, observing that the government was trying to commercialise lakes by handing them over to the private parties.The Court directed the government and the LDA to take a decision regarding steps to be taken to protect lakes and gardens, to preserve the beauty of cities and maintain ecological balance. It has given two…

"There is no conflict in the city," was the opening statement by M Narasimha, one of the panelists in a discussion on ‘Conflict and the Future of Bangalore’ organised by Meta-Culture Dialogics (MCD is an organisation working on conflict resolution through dialogue) and hosted by Citizen Matters on 19th October, at Alliance Franchise de Bangalore, in Vasant Nagar. (16th October was World Conflict Resolution day and MCD has organised a week-long film festival on the topic during Oct 13-19. Preceding the discussion was the Anand Patwardhan film ‘Bombay, our city’ and following it was ‘Fishers of men’ by Ranjan Kamath.)Fortunately…

When it comes to buying, renting or selling property, people often take help from estate agents. But who are these real estate agents? Where to find them? The usual answer with most of us is the our typical neighbourhood ‘smart man’, who sits in his one room office with a tin sheet banner proclaiming his real estate agents profile. He will have some helpers (not always) running around on their motorbikes showing the best property available in the neighbourhood. If you do rent the place, he'll (it’s usually a ‘he’) charge you a month's rent as fee, and, if the…

The Bangalore Traffic Police finally seems to be taking steps to solving one of the most acute pain-points of the city - its traffic. The city’s traffic police appear to be going head over heels in plans to apprehend traffic violators and control traffic.This concern was evident when the Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa inaugurated a new Traffic Management Centre (TMC) on Monday, 6th October. The city’s current TMC has been running from the Ashoknagar Police Station, since April. The new TMC will act as the the nerve centre of all traffic related activities in the city and will function…

In response to a public interest litigation, the High Court of Karnataka had directed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) three months ago to constitute a special committee to monitor its road widening projects and the Metro works. But, the court's intervention has not impacted the 'free' uprooting of trees.  Trees impacted Kanakapura RoadBellary RoadRace Course RoadPalace RoadSarjapur RoadBBMP note constituting the committee The BBMP constituted the nine-member 'Sustainable Development Empowered Technical Advisory Committee' in July 2008, under the chairmanship of Yellapa Reddy, a retired officer of the Indian Forest Service (IFS. According to the court's order, the committee has…