City: Bengaluru

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,…

Trees cut on Kanakpura Road (Pic: Environment support group) If you are a person who worries when the city starts flooding during rains as there is no room left for water to go, with storm water drains and lakes continuously being encroached, or one who worries about the environmental degradation happening in the city of Bangalore, this is your chance to stand up and say what you want. The Karnataka Department of Forests, Ecology and Environment has issued a circular, inviting the public to participate in the public consultation organised in Bangalore on September 27, 2014, by the High Level…

Four road safety entrepreneurs have been selected as winners in the innovation challenge “Safer Roads, Safer India: Game Changing Innovations that Save Lives.” Their projects were evaluated by an expert panel of judges and chosen as the top solutions from a pool of more than 80 entries that activate citizenship, improve governance to be more responsive, update infrastructure, and use technology to protect drivers, passengers, and bystanders. The four winning entrepreneurs, who were selected for meeting criteria for innovation, social impact, and sustainability, will each receive INR 300,000 as prize money funding to support their road safety innovations. They are…

  Bengaluru this week September 25th 2014     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!   City news that matters The past week has been a special one for Indians across the globe. Mangalyaan, India’s low-cost Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft, entered the Mars orbit on September 23rd, making it the first spacecraft to achieve this in its maiden attempt. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi was here in Bangalore to witness the spacecraft enter the Martian orbit at ISRO's mission control centre. As a Facebook post put it, “Total distance covered by Mangalyaan - 68 crore km…

In an effort to address the challenges of rapid urbanisation and resulting ground water table depletion in hte city, citizen groups, NGOs and other organizations, active in the area of lake and water security for Bangalore, have come together to form One Bengaluru for Lakes (OBL). The group aims to raise 'One Bengaluru, One voice, One Demand' by reaching out to people to increase their awareness and involve them in the protection of lakes in their neighborhood. As part of this campaign, OBL organised a seminar on September 21 at Senate hall of Central College, Palace Road. The session opened…

In view of Mysore Dasara-2014, KSRTC has made elaborate arrangements for operating extra buses as mentioned below in addition to the existing Express, Karnataka Vaibhav, Rajahamsa, Volvo and Volvo Multi-Axle services to provide transport facility to the travelling public coming from various places of the State and Country to attend the World Famous Dasara Festival being held at Mysore. From September 25, 400 special busses will be operated in a phased manner. 170 special buses are operated exclusively from Mysore Road Bus Station to Mysore. Apart from this, special buses will also be operated to Dharmastala, Kukke Subramanya, Sringeri, Horanadu,…