City: Bengaluru

Radha lives in R T Nagar. With her office located in Koramangala, she has to travel around 15 kilometres every day. Without convenient bus connectivity, she had had to resort to autos or cabs. When her neighbour who also commutes to Koramangala everyday, offered a shared ride, Radha was only too happy. Pic courtesy: paloaltobridge.com A small solution to the enormous traffic on road during peak hours, the concept of cab sharing has picked up in Bangalore. There are also many mobile apps and websites to help people find like-minded travellers on the same route. “I remember going to Goa…

Bus submerged in the S C Road underpass. Pic courtesy: The Hindu Whenever it rains in the city, the drains in the city choke. It is a common sight to see the railway underpass near Anand Rao Circle on Subedar Chatram Road holding loads of water, not letting any vehicle pass through. Normal life in the surrounding areas goes out of gear. Now, as per the instructions of Ramalinga Reddy, Bangalore District In charge Minister, Mayor Shantakumari and BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana, BBMP officials have prepared a plan to construct a new side drain, within four months. The Palike plans…

Respected Sir, Sub: Imperatives for Smart Power for Smart Bengaluru BESCOM, as also all the other ESCOMs, have been claiming improved performances over the past few years. Even as that may be true, Sir, you'll appreciate that if Bengaluru, and the other Karnataka cities, have to be identified as "smart cities" of the future, the performances of these service providers have a very long way to go. And, it is totally doubtful if they can measure up to the task, given the constraints they are operating under, largely because of government ownership. The biggest problem they are facing today is…

Editor's note: Citizen Matters had published an article regarding the controversy amongst residents of Prestige Shantiniketan apartment, regarding managing the trees planted on the podium in right way. This is a clarification issed by the Prestige Shantiniketan Management Committee president, in which the concerns and possible way forward has been detailed.  Roots of trees protruding from the soil on the podium. Pic: Prof K B Reddy The discussion on removing the trees growing on the podium had been on, within the Prestige Shantiniketan residents group, for the last year and a half. The decision if any is not going to…

Traffic that needs to take a right turn at Windsor Manors causes roadblocks for airport traffic. Pic: Google Earth. Namma Bengaluru used to be a very beautiful city. There were beautiful circles, tree-lined avenues and lots of greenery to complement the wonderful weather. However, in the last few years a lot of the beauty has been destroyed in the name of development. First the circles were removed - owing to the misplaced notion that its better for traffic to have a four or five way intersection. Then the trees were removed - owing to the misplaced notion that widening roads…

Editor’s note: This article is published in response to an earlier article published on October 1st 2014 - Red Bull’s flight competition leaves Sankey lake premises garbage-ridden. 300 Feet Eco Solutions, the firm in charge of waste management at the Red Bull event, got in touch with Citizen Matters. They clarified that they had cleared out the waste from the Sankey Lake premises. Aditya Seshnath and Preetham Murthy, co-founders of 300 Feet Eco Solutions share the details. Like most large events, the “Red Bull Flugtag” event that took place over the past weekend generated a considerable amount of litter. 300…

There are several issues - short term, medium term and long term, that I see with the RedBull FlugTag event held at Sankey Tank premises in Malleshwaram, Bangalore. 1. Short term From the photographs I have seen of the aftermath, the areas around Sankey Tank appear littered with rubbish, with trash all around the lake and in the lake as well, including non-biodegradables like thermocol. The impact on the fish, birds and other lake wildlife that ingest this thermocol can only be imagined. During events like this, the noise and bright lights also add to the disturbance to urban wildlife.…

India's 1st #RedBullFlugtag. 28th September, 2014. Sankey Tank, Bangalore. Done. Red Bull, the beverage company, put this message out with a photo on their Facebook page, just after the end of India’s first Flugtag event, held at the Sankey Tank premises in Malleshwaram, Bangalore. The event that was meant to be a competition for innovative flying equipment, was presumed to be over by the organisers; but it was not so, especially when one considers the aftermath of the event. Regular walkers who entered the premises on Monday morning were in for a shock - there was garbage strewn all over the usually…

BBMP Council meeting held on September 29, 2014. Pic: BBMP The recent rains and the damage caused because of floods in the city was the topic of hot discussion in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council meeting, on Monday, September 2014. Peoples' representatives used the opportunity to put the blame on officials and to demand compensation for the 'victims.' Floods are a perennial problem in Bangalore in the centre of the city. The railway underpass near Anand Rao Circle that connects Gandhinagar, Freedom Park, Majestic, Race Course Road and other places. Jayamahal ward Corporator M K Gunashekar questioned the…

Every rain leaves the city battered, with no space for water to flow, showing lack of urban planning. The colloqium discussed possible solutions. Pic: Ishaan Raghunandan Following  the  downpour  in  Bangalore last week that left the City ravaged, Public Affairs Center (PAC) organised a colloquium on ‘Urban Resilience,’ on September 27, 2014. The event held at Hotel Capitol with the support of the International Development Research Center, Canada saw many concerned experts from various fields sharing their knowledge and advocating solutions on how to improve the resilience factor of the city. Addressing the conference, R Suresh, Director, Public Affairs Center,…