bda

In what may come as small relief to disgruntled Bangaloreans, BDA says it has issued notice to the contractor building the Kadubessanahalli underpass on the Outer Ring Road (ORR). The completed section of the underpass (south going) flooded due to overnight rains on Tuesday May 1st, throwing Wednesday morning's commute into a gridlock. The flooded Kadubeesanahalli underpass on May 2nd morning. This picture, taken by an as yet unnamed photographer made the rounds yesterday both on Facebook as well on email. R K Misra, ABIDe member and urban reforms campaigner posted on Facebook about the gridlock deploring the state of…

An under-construction underpass near Kaadubeesanahalli junction on Outer Ring Road (ORR) caved in a portion of road on Wednesday, Apr 11, resulting in huge traffic jam on outer ring Road for hours. Though there were no injuries sustained by anybody, the vehicular movement on the road beside the underpass was stopped. Sudden entry of cars and motorcycles from the barred first part of the under construction underpass. Pic: Abhishek Angad Earlier, traffic was not hit because a narrow passage beside the under-construction site was open for traffic in addition to the already functioning two-way underpass on the other side. Soon,…

On March 20th, BDA filed its objections in High Court on the Agara-Sirsi Circle signal free corridor PIL. Koramangala 3rd block RWA and others had filed the case last month, specifically asking for work in four Koramangala junctions to be stopped, and HC had ordered a stay on the works. At several places in its objections filing, BDA has gone so far as to say that residents' concerns are imaginary. Sarjapur road dug up for construction of grade separator. File Pic: Deepthi M S BDA has presented copies of approvals for the project given by Technical Advisory Committees (TACs) of…

BDA can no longer work on the five grade separator projects planned in Koramangala. On February 27th, High Court ordered a stay based on a PIL filed by Koramangala residents. Pic: Deepthi M S Residents had been in discussions with BDA for over six months to re-consider flyover and underpass projects at Koramangala water tank, Krupanidhi college, 80-feet road - Sarjapur road intersection and Jakkasandra junctions. These works alone cost Rs 120 cr. This is part of the larger signal-free corridor project from Agara to Sirsi Circle, planned by BBMP in 2009. The project is implemented by BDA.Residents had filed…

In a major ruling, the High Court has ordered that commercial buildings not be allowed in residential zones in Bangalore from now on. The court passed the interim order on January 25th in a case filed by Citizens' Action Forum (CAF), Sadashivnagar RWA and 12 individuals in 2008. Petitioners had challenged BDA's Revised Master Plan (RMP 2005-2015), based on which land use zones are demarcated. A division bench of the court lead by Chief Justice Vikramjit Sen asked the government to go back the city's master plan of 1995-2005 for limits on commercial activity in residential areas. News of this…

BDA started work on Agara-Sirsi Circle signal-free corridor project last year. Work for grade separators was initiated in four Koramangala junctions - Jakkasandra, Koramangala 80 feet road, Krupanidhi College and Koramangala Water Tank. But residents in the area pointed out flaws in the project and managed to get the work stopped temporarily. Nitin Seshadri, a resident, writes... We were first informed in early September about the massive projects planned along Sarjapur road. Citizens' initial reaction was stoic. The typical reaction is exemplified by an email which declared: "let us do what we can to be as patient as possible". In mid-September, we…

In a startling land grab case filed by BTM Layout's Bank Officers' Co- Operative Housing Society against the BDA for illegal land transfer, the Karnataka High Court has ordered the BDA on January 6th to restore the land and maintain it as a park. View of the disputed land from across the street. Pic:Deepthi M S The bank officers cooperative was allotted 30 acres of land in bulk in 1982, at the time of the formation of BTM layout. The land was given to the society on a lease agreement. Most of the land was used for construction except for…

On 19 December Members of the Karnataka Raithara Mathu Vyaparigala Okoota (Karnataka Farmers and Traders Federation) staged a protest the government's plan to build a commercial building in the santhe maidana (market) at KR Puram. The santhe maidana has a been a market place for years now. More than 3000 traders and farmers do their regular business in this market area. Farmers and Traders take out padayatra. Pic: Subramaniam Vincent The members who were on a padayatra, were seen wearing outfits made of gunny bags. "This is something we sit on, use it as a blanket and even to pack…

Around 100 people gathered at Bhashyam Circle early on 4 December, Sunday morning to walk down the Sankey road towards Maramma Circle. Young and old bid their farewell. Pic: Vani Murthy It was a walk to symbolise the voice of people who fought to save the trees from the road-widening project. The court has given a go ahead for the project and people are left wondering as to what can be done to save trees that are so vital to the environment. There were around 50 cyclists from the Go Green Club, who strongly believe that conserving the environment is…

In the Sankey road widening case, the High Court ruled in favour of BBMP on Wednesday, November 30th. BBMP's contention that it had the authority to cut off scores of old growth trees on Sankey Road was upheld.The petitioners - five individuals and residents' associationMalleswaram Swabhimana Initiative - had argued that BDA had not indicated widening of the road in its draft Revised Master Plan 2015 (RMP) and hence public had no chance to object to the widening. BDA's lawyers however argued that widening of the road to 30 metres was indicated in the 1984 and 1995 master plans and…