City: Bengaluru

Since the time Chennai has been ravaged by the floods in early-December, we have been hearing stories of how Bengaluru has pulled through for the people of Chennai. This is one such story.  Over 10 lakhs raised Members of the Facebook groups Drive Without Borders and Wake Up Bengaluru came together to raise funds to support the relief work in Chennai. In less than 10 days, funds in excess of 10 lakhs were generated by members of the two groups.  We delivered the relief material in two phases. In the first phase, volunteers from the groups visited a few places…

Pic: Mayur Channagere Over 2,000 people formed a sea of red, under the Ibblur Flyover this Friday noon. They braved the sun, dust and traffic taking time off work and chores to protest against poor quality roads, daily jams, and smog filled air. Residents of Sarjapur Road and ORR neighbourhoods were upset that though Bellandur ward is one of the highest tax paying wards in Bengaluru, the state of civic infrastructure is extremely poor. People were waving placards and shouting slogans demanding the government fix the problems.  Roads have not been properly laid in years, and there are no footpaths…

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…

Arundathi Rao is a 50-year-old woman who works with the social impact team in a technology firm. Last year, she made a deal with her colleague Ashwin, who was participating in a running event. For every kilometre he ran, she would contribute Rs 200 to the non-profit that the run was supporting. Over the course of 13 days in December 2014, Ashwin ran 175 km. True to her word, Arundathi ensured that she shelled out the amount. This year, Arundathi is taking it up a notch by participating in the second edition of the very same event. The event named…

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…

A fortnight back I had to go to M G Road in Bengaluru for some urgent work in the middle of a week day. As anyone living in the Whitefield suburbs will testify, it can take anywhere between one to two hours to do so, maybe even more! However this is not a rant about the situation of our roads or traffic. I decided to shorten my commute time by taking the Metro from Baiyappanahalli Metro station to M G Road. Upon arriving at the Baiyappanahalli Metro station, much to my horror I found that all the parking slots were…

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…

Look at this video. Rain water—rather more of a cesspool—greenish, smelly water—collected in an open abandoned granite mine, being filled in a "Drinking Water" tanker. The location is right next to RBD Stillwaters (next to Lakedew Lake/ Puravankara Skywoods), in Harlur near Parappana Agrahara Main Road and Kudlu Road, on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Such tankers also deliver drinking water to many residential projects including apartments. They also deliver water for upcoming constructions in the nearby areas. Banibrata Dutta, a concerned resident who lives in an apartment near Sarjapur Road, shot this video. He says: “Who knows, it could even…

Which street in Bengaluru do you like the most? Does the street that you like the most have all the facilities that make it better than the rest? Well, the latest Street Quality Score by Janaagraha has come out with the top four and bottom four streets in Bengaluru which is the result of a survey conducted in the last three months. The survey has measured the quality of roads in Bengaluru based on five criteria namely, walkable footpaths, pedestrian crossing, street lighting, bus stops and air pollution. The report has picked up following four roads of being better off…

I answered the doorbell a few weeks ago to a blue inland letter. Selvaraj thatha, the resident guardian of my building smiled gummily at my furrowed brow as he handed it over. Late night online impulse purchases ensure a steady stream of parcels that thatha receives on my behalf, but an inland letter was a novelty and he was curious to know what had occasioned it. I gingerly eased open the letter and found that it was from my library. Among other things, the letter said that the good folks at Eloor library, Bangalore were looking forward to seeing me…