City: Bengaluru

The illuminated Mysore Palace during Dasara. Pic: Muhammad Mahdi Karim, Wikimedia Commons A press note from KSRTC details the special arrangements that have been made by the transport corporation to deal with the additional demand for buses during Dasara. In addition to the existing services, an additional 1,500 buses are being deployed between October 21st and October 23rd. This is to ensure that those looking to attend the Mysuru Dasara, or make use of the long weekend, are catered to.  Additional buses 1500 extra buses will be exclusively operated from Kempegowda bus station, Mysuru Road bus station, Shanthi Nagar TTMC…

BESCOM has published the schedule of load shedding. This is available on www.bescom.org for the convenience of consumers. The schedule has been given sub-division wise. According to the schedule, some areas could see power cuts of four hours even. However, comments on social media point out that some areas withness some unscheduled power cuts as well. Also read: Why is Bengaluru facing power cuts? To know when there will be a power cut in your area, look for the sub-division number on your electricity bill, and follow the link for the same. The areas which are fed by BESCOM feeder…

Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike released a manifesto on Saturday, October 17th. Here goes the text of the manifesto: Next to their workplace and home, Benglureans spend most of their time on the road, travelling. Bangaloreans spend a lot of time and money in order to travel for education, work and leisure due to the lack of an effective transport system. Our transport system is so costly that some people cannot afford even the bus and choose to walk, even long distances. A reliable, affordable and comfortable bus system will ensure that the 58 lakh bus commuters in Bangalore will travel…

The Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike (BBPV) organised a conference to highlight the problems faced by commuters in Bengaluru, to work out suggestions for improvement of Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). The problems related to public transport are always paired with other issues of building a sustainable transport and urban development, the BBPV decided to invite, besides BMTC, other agencies like Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP) and the State Government to respond to the concerns of bus commuters in the city. Unfortunately, the officials of BBMP, DULT, State Government and the…

“Wish you a wonderful weekend”, screams the RJ through the radio as my car labours through the serpentine traffic. For the happy weekend to begin, I must get first home, and so must the lakhs of office-goers. Friday evenings in Bengaluru are not like any other day. I am now at the nerve centre of the city, Majestic, which seems to be bursting at its seams. Throngs of travellers scramble towards the KSRTC bus stand for their weekend trip to their ‘native’ or some holiday destination. Private buses are parked haphazardly along the roadside, and travellers have no other option…

KCDC plant located on the banks of Somasundarapalya lake in HSR Layout, is causing pollution much to the discomfort of residents. Pic: Anis Pandela A Facebook page created by a group of HSR Layout residents reads “Right to Breathe - Control KCDC from becoming life threatening.” This page aims at garnering public support for a protest that the residents have planned to stage in front of Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC) unit at Somasundarapalya on October 31st. Protests are not new for the residents of Somasundarapalya, Mangammanapalya and HSR Layout. They had staged at least three protests last year alone,…

Anything in plenty loses its value. Anything–even human life! That’s why when we read of treacherous genocide of thousands of innocent people somewhere away from our vicinity, the intensity of the sorrow that we feel is short-lived—we are able to carry on with our lives quite normally. We know, as individuals we can do jolly little to change anything on this planet.  Is that wholly true? I went to Calgary in Canada recently to spend time with my son and daughter-in-law. The wonderful roads, neat and even footpaths and walking trails and the marvelous traffic sense of the drivers of…

  Bengaluru this week October 15th 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     In this edition, read the second story in our new series, Insights into Bengaluru: Why bank loans aren't meant for the poor. Following the two sexual assault cases last week we have a feature on what companies need to do to keep their night-shift employees safe, and an open letter to working women in the city from the CEO of ELCITA. We also have several guides: how you can retrieve stolen items from the police after a theft, how…

Jewellery stolen from Davanam Jewellers recovered by Bengaluru police. Pic: Bengaluru City Police A woman in Bengaluru lost her golden ‘Vanki’ (armlet) and she lodged a police complaint. Police caught the thief and recovered the armlet. The cop who was in-charge of that station developed a secret desire to retain the valuable Vanki. Next day when the complainant (theft victim) arrived at the station to collect her Vanki, she was shown a pestle instead of the armlet. The policeman cleverly played with homophones and replaced ‘Vanki’ with a ‘Onake’ (rice pounder / pestle). He convinced the complainant that the item…

DWCC at RR Nagar managed by RISE Foundation is defunct now after some individuals forcefully closed its doors claiming ownership of the land. Pic: Veena Rajappa Nine months ago when the second dry waste collection centre (DWCC) was opened at Rajarajeshwari Nagar ward in Bengaluru, people of this ward had all reasons to cheer. For, it was the only ward which boasted of having two functional dry waste collection centres in BBMP limits. Establishing this centre took a lot of hardships. After fighting several hurdles and suffering inordinate delays, the centre was finally established in a full-fledged manner. It became…