City: Bengaluru

BBMP contractors in charge of disposing garbage are dumping and burning waste in an abandoned quarry near Bengaluru's Begur Lake at Singasandra despite repeated complaints.  Prateek, 34 (name changed on request), a resident of Arattukulam Lake Point Tower  an apartment complex situated nearby, says  that close to 10 trucks dump and burn garbage at the abandoned quarry every day. Children playing amidst the burning rubble not realizing the health hazards. Pic: Lakepoint Tower apartment residents. A network engineer at Yahoo, Prateek says that about 65 families living in the apartment complex wake up to suffocating smoke of garbage burning not…

Five private layouts that were approved by the BDA in Bangalore East, Sheegehalli panchayat near Whitefield, are in a quandary on whom to collect Khatas from. The layouts do not fall under BBMP limits and both panchayat and BDA insist that they have the right to collect taxes from the residents. BDA's go-ahead The authorisation letter says that BDA had transferred all its layouts to BBMP in October 2007 as per a Government Order on May 5, 2007; but since some layouts did not come under BBMP, BDA will collect taxes from these property owners, for the owners' convenience. It…

If you are living in gated community - be it apartments or a layout with independent homes- did you know that your builder would have had to relinquish the parks (you paid for) to get the layout plan sanctioned?  Bengaluru's townplanning rulebook says apartment complexes with an area more that 20,000 square metres must relinquish parks to public. Likewise layouts - whether ‘gated' or not - have to relinquish parks to the public too. While some layouts have relinquished albeit reluctantly, some have sued the BDA for it and some are clueless about a rule like this. Authorities on the…

They persisted with what is right and have saved scores of Bengaluru's apartment associations lakhs of rupees in 2011. Arathi Manay Yajaman, 40, and O P Ramaswamy, 64, of JP Nagar challenged BESCOM's levy of penalties on their apartment complex and, despite being pushed around initially, won their case. BESCOM had penalised their apartment complex in August last year for not taking into account the building's fire safety equipment (pumps) as part of sanctioned electrical load. On January 12th, the Brigade Millennium Mayflower block residents association, represented by Arathi, received a letter from BESCOM, which in effect said BESCOM was…

No One Killed Jessica It was a murder and a trial that transfixed India. Now the story returns to celluloid in director Raj Kumar Gupta's account of the murder of model Jessica Lall and the subsequent trial of Manu Sharma. It remains an important film of our times, yet it is not always landmark cinema. The film narrates in dramatised documentary style the events surrounding Jessica's murder and the subsequent investigation and trial. Certain movies will also be remembered for the manner in which they caricature a city. No one killed Jessica is a film that also puts Delhi on…

Metro fares for the first reach between Baiyappanahalli and M G Road are to the decided in a week, says BMRCL's PRO Yeshwanth Chavan. Trains will start running from March along the much-delayed first metro line for Bengaluru. Construction work from Swastik to Peenya Depot will be completed by December, adds Chavan. BMTC bus feeder routes are to be decided in two weeks. The Baiyappanhalli-MG Road stretch through Indiranagar and Ulsoor is awaiting launch in March. Map: BMRCL. After the Metro's Baiyyappanahalli-MG Road reach missed its December 2010 deadline, officials at BMRCL say it will open this quarter. A half-way…

I have heard of plugged in electrical  gadgets and equipment, but it is now "plugged in humans" - wherever on goes, one sees men and women, girls and boys, all with wires dangling from their ears  and fiddling with buttons on a mobile, and oblivious to the world around them. Listening to music presumably, while riding on a bus, which is okay I guess.  Or while driving a two or four wheeler - not okay at all - studies have shown that being on the cell phone or listening to music through an ear phone causes distraction from the road…

18-year old Aaron D'Souza, based in Bangalore, is Karnataka's fastest swimmer. He is currently in an intensive training programme in preparation for the London Olympics next year. D'Souza won 2 gold medals at the South Asian games in 2009 (Dhaka) and was a finalist in the 4x100 medley relay at the 2010 Asian Games (Guangzhou, China). Rani Rampal is India's unheralded hockey wondergirl. At 15, Rani has proved to be one of the best hockey players in India. She was the top goal scorer of the Women's Hockey World Cup in 2010. Few know that Rani was so impressive that…

The Namma Bengaluru Awards, set up by the Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF), in its second edition has recieved a massive 10,463 nominations, says a release by the foundation on Tuesday, January 11th. This is an increase of more than 150% since last year.   One of the nominations was sent in by Narasingh, visually challenged by birth. He sent it in Braille format for Dr V Ashok Kumar, an Ayurvedic doctor. Nomination forms had been made available at more than 133 retail outlets of Food World, Bangalore One, Coffee Day, and CUPPA across the city. Jury members. From right to…

When most citizens of Bangalore were wrapped up under blankets on a cold Saturday morning, 43 adventure lovers set out to cycle, kayak and go bouldering. Bangalore Adventure Race or BAR 101 kicked off from Turahalli, off Kanakapura Road, Southern Bangalore at 4.50 am. The participants cycled 50 kms to the Manchanbele reservoir to face more tasks to test their endurance. Cycling part of the race. Pic courtesy: Bangalore Adventure Race. The 15 teams made it to Manchanbele in about two hours. And plunged straight into trail biking, bouldering or Kayaking, depending on the tasks they felt most confident of.…