City: Bengaluru

Bengaluru’s pristine environment of the 60s and 70s has, in the past half a century, deteriorated significantly. People who have lived here for the past few decades would have a clear perception of this environmental degradation. Left to itself, the environment in the city’s gated communities too would be much the same as that exists on the outside. When it comes to air pollution, gated communities experience the same pollution as other city residents. Although every individual living in Bengaluru has the duty to work towards reducing pollution, let us look at initiatives gated communities can consciously take, to reduce…

Poor living and work conditions. Poor nutrition. The inevitable outcome — is poor health. Bangalore’s migrant workers, many of whom are from far-off states like Bihar, seem to be permanently mired in this cycle. With little hope of any relief from the state. Health is a particular worry for many, given their poor working conditions. The contractors who employ the workers rarely help when they fall ill. Neither are the workers able to access any of the central and state government schemes that offer them free, or cheap, health care. Mohammad Amar, 22, from Purnia in Bihar came to Bangalore…

The Ejipura to Kendriya Sadan Flyover has been in the works for more than five years now. Over a period of time, many parties have been involved in this, namely, the BBMP, the Karnataka State Government, the Honourable Karnataka High Court, the contractor and the hapless citizens of Bengaluru. This article is just a way of venting for one such citizen of Bengaluru. No interviews were conducted and no specific research was undertaken for the writing of this article.  Even without research or study, the piteous condition of the road underneath is enough evidence for everyone to see. Barricades have…

If all goes well, the bulk of Bangalore’s Public Transport commuters will be moving in trains over rail tracks rather than on roads by around 2032. Plans that have been pending for long are finally being implemented to expand Metro and add Suburban Rail to cover large parts of the city with a combined urban rail network totalling over 400 km. Bengaluru’s quest for rail-based solutions began close to 40 years ago in 1983 when a Commuter Rail system was first proposed. Since then, road traffic has grown by leaps and bounds as street-based transport has remained the only option,…

Do you know: If you are living in Embassy Golf Links on Inner Ring Road, you are living in an area that is 1300 years old. If you are living in Peenya 2nd stage, you are living in an area that is 1300 years old.If you are living in Indiranagar you are living in an area that is 800 years old.If you are living in Rajajinagar, you are living in an area that is 700 years. Surprised? But they are all facts. Srinivagilu, behind Embassy Golf Links, is mentioned in a 750 CE stone inscription; Juganahalli, in Rajajinagar 2nd block,…

A 2019 Tom Tom Index, a report about traffic congestion across 417 cities in 57 countries, found Bengaluru to be the most congested city in the world. And while the number of vehicles on Bengaluru’s roads keeps rising every year, there seems to be little attention paid to managing such numbers – by prioritising public transport, improvements in the road network and relevant infrastructure. The lack of attention being paid to public transport, primarily bus services by the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), is reflected in BMTC's Performance Indicators which says 558 new vehicles were added in 2021-22 (up to Feb 2022)…

Bengaluru ranked India's least liveable city Bengaluru was ranked the lowest among the five Indian cities featured in the EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit) Global Liveability Index 2022, released on June 24th. Bengaluru had a global ranking of 146, and fell behind Delhi (ranked 112nd), Mumbai (117), Chennai (142) and Ahmedabad (143). The index ranked 173 global cities based on liveability, as determined by stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. In terms of infrastructure, Bengaluru scored 46.4 out of 100, worse than Karachi - among the world's five least-livable cities - and as bad as Lagos, the third least-liveable city.…

A new government portal is all set to ease the process of getting notary services for various documentation purposes including agreements and contracts. e-UDBHAVAM is the online portal from the new National E-Governance Services Ltd (NeSL) administrative office in Bengaluru. NeSL is India’s first Information Utility and is registered with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC). R Ashoka, Minister, Revenue Department, Government of Karnataka, launched the portal on April 25th, 2022. One needs notary services for various documents, which can be a hassle to obtain considering only certain entities are…

I was born and brought up in Mumbai but am currently based in Bengaluru. So traffic jams do not deter me from reaching my destination. But Bengaluru’s traffic issues seem to be different in some respects. To understand better why it happens and what it is like to be stuck in Bengaluru’s traffic jam, I decided to travel through Iblur Junction at the peak-morning-office hours by two different modes of commute: a two-wheeler and a BMTC bus. The Iblur Junction is the main connecting point between the Ambalipura-Sarjapur Road and the Outer Ring Road. Hence sees dense traffic and not…

The Karnataka High Court recently told BBMP officials that poor roads are giving a very bad name to Bengaluru. The court was hearing a PIL related to potholes. The issue of poor road maintenance has dominated the local news space for years now. But what is the root cause of this frustrating situation? In earlier articles, we explored how some areas of Bengaluru manage to have good roads without potholes, and how it was about maintaining proper drains and ensuring regular maintenance. We then explored what BBMP’s own guidelines say about maintaining drains and how much the guidelines are followed…