bangalore journal

READERS PLEASE NOTE: Deadline extended till February 19th Feb 5th, 2011: Citizen Matters has published a simple guide to upload your compliance information directly at the Food and Civil Supplies Department website: Start here and proceed. A notice issued by Karnataka's Department of Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs on has confused citizens, media and LPG gas agencies. Karnataka's Department of Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs issued a notice on January 18, saying that Above Poverty Line (APL) ration card holders should submit a photocopy of their card, with the electricity meter number written on it, along with a…

Nishanth Repello, 15- years-old, idolises Nadal and pursues tennis full time at the Bangalore Tennis Academy (BTA) in JP Nagar. He is currently ranked 28 in the under-16 at the national level. Playing tennis since he was nine, Nishanth is being schooled through National Institute of Open Schooling. He says it gives him the flexibility to travel widely for tournaments and still not miss out on education. "I will be travelling to Mysore and Chandigarh to play in National Level tennis tournaments soon but my studies won't be affected", says Nishanth. Nishanth Repello, 15, aims to follow in the footsteps…

BDA is considering building a new public road on the periphery of L&T South City apartment complex instead of opening up the road within the complex. Apartment residents are breathing a sigh of relief. Map showing the existing road within the complex and the proposed new road on the periphery The internal 60-feet road was part of the area that the builder (L&T) and the owner of the land had previously relinquished to the BDA. Residents are contesting the relinquishment in the court, saying that it was done without their knowledge. Read our original story on this here.  After continued…

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…