City: Bengaluru

On 24 February, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) called for a hearing on the basis of the complaints given by the residents of the Brigade Palm Springs, JP Nagar 7th phase, against the noise caused by granite cutting and polishing units functioning in their neighbourhood. Residents of Brigade Palm Springs at KSPCB office. Pic: Deepthi M S. The residents had given a written complaint to Environment officer, South one on 6 February. JP Nagar, where these factories are situated comes under the jurisdiction of South One department.The complaint was against Ashwini Granites, Alankar Granites and Vijaya Granites, which…

He is leading a retired life but spends most of his time and energy in bringing necessary improvement to the community. He is affable, determined, disgruntled with the official apathy yet hopeful. He is the 'military man' of HSR Layout, meet Brigadier R S Murthy, 68, Vice President, Federation of Residents Welfare Associations in HSR layout. Brig Murthy with his wife Lalitha. Pic: Deepthi M S He lives with his wife Lalitha Murthy, 61, who is a teacher. Learning to use the Internet seems to be their latest pursuit. With Brigadier's transfers to various parts of the country, Lalitha says…

Pawan Kumar the director of the successful film Lifeu Ishtene might just show ‘Gandhinagar' that pedigree and stars don't matter. He plans to produce his second film Lucia using crowd funding. He had earlier expressed his frustration about no takers for his second film. His fans and friends on Facebook and reacted to it and many suggestions started coming his way. In his own words "was bombarded with emails, smses, pings, chat posts etc etc. Everyone coming together to pour in ideas and solutions. Majority of them have suggested to open a public funding and produce the film with the…

For most of us, the first thoughts on Japan would be fast cars, sushi and karate. These facets are complemented by the elaborate culture of the country. The Japan Habba 2012 showcased many such cultural and popular features of Japan. Over one thousand visitors attended the Indo- Japan cultural exchange programme at the  Jnana Jyoti Auditorium, Central College. Aptly named "Kizuna" which means camaraderie, this festival aims for Japanese in Bangalore to learn about India and similarly for Bangaloreans to get a better glimpse of Japanese culture.Toward late afternoon, the auditorium reverberated with popular Indian songs, only difference was that…

Everybody has been talking about Ms. Meena. Every time the play comes to Bangalore, somebody is always telling someone else why they should not miss Ms. Meena (pun unintended). Why, even Citizen Matters has already reviewed the play! At long last, I stood in line, and a long line it was, to watch our darling Ms. Meena. A scene from the play. Pic courtesy: Perch CDs of the play were being sold, and anywhere you looked, all that you could see was a Tamil Maami straight out of a 70s edition of Ananda Vikatan (a magazine). The poster also said…

Apartment Complexes broadly face two major issues when it comes to Water Management. One, sustainable water supply to individual flats - entirely driven by borewells or tankers. And two, cost effective waste water treatment - under-capacity Sewage treatment plants and unclear regulations of Pollution Control Board stress out the Management Committee. Where do you get your water from? How many tankers does your apartment complex have to buy everyday? Fill this Water Survey! The survey results and learnings will be discussed in a session during the water workshop. On 25th February, ApartmentAdda is organising a Water Workshop for apartment communities…

By writing this post, I am going to make loads of enemies! I did contemplate for a long time whether I should write this or not, and now I have made up my mind to say this publicly, so that I can move on and find a solution!At least five times a day, I have someone asking me - What happened to Lucia? When is it starting? Who is it starring? I feel like I am being stabbed whenever someone asks this question. The update is that Lucia is a completed script. It has come out beautifully and I don't…

Third Saturday of the month is the time to talk traffic trouble with BTP. People from Koramangala, Silk Board, BTM layout, HSR Layout, Bommanahalli, Bellandur and Sarjapur turn up at the Madivala police station to discuss the various problems dogging pedestrians, motorists and road users in general. Madiwala traffic police public meeting. Pic: Meera K On February 18, members of Spandana Nagarika Vedike from BTM layout and a few other residents brought the list of their problems. Bommanahalli auto stand should be removed. It is causing more nuisance than helping.Request for a road hump on Gandhi Road.Usage of the flyover…

The long pending request of Jayanagar residents to remove transformers on footpaths has materialised. BESCOM is converting multi-pole transformers here to single pole transformers. (Single pole transformers occupy lesser space on footpaths.) Work started on the transformer on the busy 7th Main road, 36th Cross in Jayanagar 4th block, on February 13th. The old transformer used to obstruct traffic on the road, and the footpath was unusable. This transformer in Jayanagar 4th block is being replaced by a single pole transformer now. Pic: Keshava Kumar N Persuation by Jayanagar MLA B N Vijaya Kumar and the team work by BESCOM…

The Concerned for Working Children (CWC), a Bangalore-based NGO, has been nominated for this year's Nobel Peace prize by Norwegian Parliamentarians. Nandana Reddy, founder and Director of Development at CWC. Pic: CWC video still. CWC is known for its pioneering efforts that led to the Karnataka state government making children's grama sabhas mandatory in rural local governments. The nomination is for CWC's work in promoting child rights, emphasising on children's right to participate in decision-making.CWC was nominated by three members of Norwegian parliament - Linda Hofstad Helleland, Gunn Karin Gjul and Andre Oktay Dahlt. They have also nominated two other…