City: Bengaluru

Fishermen of Iblur Lake faced a loss of Rs.1.8 lakh from a total income due to the death of fish caused by the inflow of sewage into the lake water. "We lease the lake out for fishing and sell these fish with the help of fishermen. Because of the death of the fishes, we are facing a loss of 80 percent,"said Narayanappa K, contractor of Iblur Lake. The five varieties of fish bred in the lake are Common Turf, Virijallu, Katla, Rohu and Jilebi. "The loss is beyond imagination. This is the second time the fishes have died.  The same…

12 Bus Days till date. Officials say the initiative has been successful and it will begin the second year of Bus Day on Friday. It's been a year since the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) initiated the Bus Day programme. Started on February 4, 2010, BMTC introduced extra buses along twelve corridors of the city on the 4th of every month. Studies indicated that at least 5,000 cars were off roads on this day, bringing down pollution levels considerably. (Source: Times of India)But is Bus Day really a success. Did it encourage commuters to use BMTC for one day or…

With Patiala House, director Nikhil Advani, who debuted with Kal Ho Na ho, returns once again to the familiar background of the Indian Diaspora in the UK. The cast of Patiala House The film tells the story of a young cricket loving British Indian of Sikh origin Parghat Singh Kahlon (Akshay Kumar), whose passion for cricket falls in conflict with his father's desire that he should never represent England. As he settles into the life of being the shopkeeper Gattu, he is reminded of the dreams he left behind by the woman he loves Simran (Anushka Sharma). While the Indian…

Citizens of Sagayapuram (Ward 60) of Bangalore recently prepared their own programme of works for their ward.  They had wanted - among other wishes - community toilets, nursery school renovation and footpaths for 24 lakh rupees, but the BBMP sanctioned 27 lakhs just for street name-boards. This shows the stark lack of community participation in decision-making even 18 years after the passage of the 74th Constitutional  Amendment (74th CAA) or Nagarapalika Act, which  mandated "Power to the People" in urban areas.  Karnataka's Community Participation Bill Amendments that do nothing to strengthen community participation The 74th CAA was to bring in decentralisation, proximity, transparency, accountability…

The contractor who built the recently inaugurated JP Nagar underpass is now in the dock for poor quality of work. BBMP is planning to withhold Rs.2 crores of payments to pressurise the contractor to finish the work. JP Nagar's 15th Cross underpass. Incomplete and riddled with issues. Pic: Yogaraj S Mudalgi Poor quality of asphalting and water stagnation along drains of service roads have been among the many issues, along with a whole host of unfinished work. BBMP's technical vigilance committee (TVC) gave a report to Commissioner Siddiah in January. On Feb 2, BBMP's Executive Engineer inspected the site and…

If a new road in your neighbourhood is desperately needed or the local BBMP contractor is burning waste locally instead of transporting it, or if you want to use your ward's BBMP funds to spruce up a rundown local playground, what will you do? Where will you start? You'll likely talk to your residents association office bearers and then one of them or you directly will try to reach your BBMP ward councillor. But let's face it. There are roughly 25000-50000 residents in a ward. How many such requests will your councillor be able to handle? Besides, councillors have their…

Social worker Padma Shri Awardee Ms.Anita Reddy, working in the area of housing, education, livelihoods for the poor, rights of people living in slums for over 28 years, Jayanagar MLA B.N.Vijay Kumar, BBMP Commissioner H.Siddaiah, Vasudeva Adiga the pioneer of Darshini  hotels that serves delicious food at affordable prices and T. Raja ( Auto Raja) who has devoted his life to rescue and rebuild the lives of  destitute and dying people of the streets among the 10 proud winners of Namma Bengaluru Awards, 2010. Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde and Member of Parliament Rajeev Chandrasekhar give away the Namma Bengalorean of…

On this Saturday, February 13, if you happen to be travelling to Mysore don't be surprised to see more than 50-70 cyclists who will take to this route for the Bangalore Brevets 300 km ride. This is part of a series of ongoing brevet rides in the city, held as qualifiers to the prestigious Paris-Brest-Paris event, an approximately 1200 km ride that happens once in four years. This year, the Paris ride will take place in August and a few lucky riders will travel from India to participate in the event.   A brevet is a self supported ride where a cyclist…

Yeh Saali Zindagi (Hindi) Any film that gets director Sudhir Mishra to the lens again, with the immensely talented Irrfan Khan and Chitrangda Singh as part of the cast that brings the film to life, automatically finds its way on to your ‘must watch’ list. But Yeh Saali Zindagi fails to live up to our high expectations. Even when unpredictable, the film still leaves you dissatisfied. While it’s a departure from Mishra’s previous work like Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and Khoya Khoya Chand, there are commonalities with the treatment and thematic focus of his earlier films like Chameli and Iss Raat…

From February 7, infotech companies along Outer Ring Road are using a city-provided Common Bus System (CBS) to transport their employees to and from work. The system, initiated by Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) - which comprises 24 companies including Cisco, Intel, AOL etc - is expected to get more IT employees to use buses instead of private vehicles. BMTC Managing Director Syed Pasha dressed in white shirt towards the back of the bus, and Seetharam Vishwanath, ORRCA General Secretary at the flagging off ceremony of CBS on February 4. Pic courtesy: ORRCA. ORRCA reached an agreement with the…