bangalore journal

This month, new contractors will start garbage clearance work in 168 wards in the city. These wards are covered in 77 packages. Fifty of the 77 packages have gone to a single company, named BVG India Pvt Ltd. This company has also bid for extremely low amounts in most packages. In one case, its bid amount was 50% lesser than BBMP's estimated amount. The corporate office of BVG India in Vasanth Nagar. This company won the highest number of garbage tenders in the city. Pic: Navya P K But there is another story behind these low amounts - BVG seems…

At Sobha Althea & Azalea, we are a motley group of women coming from various backgrounds. We were thinking of putting a waste management system in place even before the BBMP legislation came into force. But for some reasons, it didn't take off.The legislation was just the kind of nudge we needed to get going and start thinking about the HOWs and WHYs. How to startNon-negotiablesNegotiablesTraining A string of meetings helped us frame certain guidelines for our own residential community while keeping in mind the larger picture: A waste-free zone. Housekeeping staff are key to the success of any waste…

The festive season is on and boarding a train towards your destination seems almost impossible. Almost all the trains have lengthy waiting list and if anyone has not planned in advance, it could be a nightmare.Deepavali is around the corner, and celebrated in almost all north Indian places. This is also the season for the annual pilgrimage to Sabarimala. Trains to Delhi, Howrah, Patna etc., show long waiting lists. The situation seems painful to an extent that people are willing to pay hefty amounts to touts for a ticket confirmation. File photo of the passengers waiting to board the train.…

Last year he called it Holiween. I didn't make any attempts to correct him and he didn't remember it beyond that point either. Why bother when it isn't a festival that belongs to us? Pic: wikimedia commons This year, he is close to seven and the Halloween monster has struck us hard. We now know the correct pronunciation and the fact that it's an American festival that has "something to do with ghosts". We also know somewhat hazily about pumpkins and trick or treat. The problem is we live in an apartment complex that isn't as Halloween friendly as the…

A PIL, questioning the deletion of lakhs of entries from the current voter rolls has come up for hearing at the Karnataka High Court. The court heard the case on November 6th.The PIL has been filed by Commander P G Bhat of Daksh, a Bangalore based organisation working towards accountability in politics and governance, Ashwin Mahesh of Loksatta party and Smart Vote, a campaign that encourages people to vote. The petitioners have named the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Chief Electoral officer (CEO), Karnataka as their main respondents, along with four other Electoral officers from Bangalore zone. It…

With rapidly growing vehicular numbers, traffic congestion in Bangalore seems unmanageable. Pedestrians, particularly senior citizens and physically challenged persons, are facing grave problems. Walking on the footpaths has become hazardous and an almost impossible task, due to narrow, uneven footpaths, footpaths littered with debris, garbage, vendors and in several cases non-existent! The only alternative is to walk on the roads, risking one's life. And, crossing the roads, especially with heavy traffic, is an adventure, few would dare attempt. To address the problem of increasing vehicular traffic, BDA, BBMP etc., understandably, focuses on widening roads, constructing flyovers and underpasses etc. This…

This past weekend, around 50 youngsters from diverse backgrounds including designers, entrepreneurs, web developers, photographers and farmers amongst others, brainstormed the ideas for sustainable living. This was the Bangalore edition of the Global Sustainability Jam.The event started on 2nd November, Friday evening, and ended on 4th, at the ThoughtWorks office, Koramangala. Seven teams proposed designs for sustainable solutions for any problem around the theme ‘heartbeats'.Sustainability Jam is conducted world-wide to propagate sustainability enabling the people to learn and find design based approaches to problems in any field - environment, financial or social. Participants slog over a weekend for 48 hours…

For over a month, there have been reports about power shortage in the city. Early October, BESCOM had contemplated power cuts for industries, but later changed the plan when rains started.Currently, the city has shortage of around 100 MW daily, which is only less than 5% of its total requirement, says P Manivannan, MD of BESCOM [1]. The shortage for entire BESCOM area is upto 600 MW. Manivannan says, "The shortage cannot be quantified, but varies from 0-600 MW through the day depending on wind and other sources. We are able to handle it, and are not contemplating any load…

For the last few months, ever since the muck literally hit the ceiling, and yes, I am referring to Bengaluru's garbage crisis, a new English word has sunk into the city. It's 'segregation', referring to segregation of waste. 'Segregate' is all over the media now, on radio, newspapers, magazine, TV, blogs, and the social media. It is also in all of the city government's (BBMP) recent communications on getting the city out of the mess. Mind you, in a totally different social context, 'segregate' is a bad word for a progressing, modern society. And yet for waste management, it is…

She has traveled a long way since being found as a little black and white bundle in the middle of 100 Foot Road in Indiranagar. She could have easily been run over as the traffic was typical. She was alone - with no sign of a mum or other pups - just her - very afraid, and a dirty mess. I jumped out of my car and put her into a paper bag. She was little - less than 1kg.I called Amit to tell him that I was "bringing someone home for lunch" and he knew immediately that I was…