Blogs

One may not know Lalbagh or Cubbon Park. They may not have heard of Malleswaram or Basavanagudi. Bull temple, Commercial Street, City Market alien words. You can be sure they never heard 'pete', 'kote' and 'kere' But we can be pretty sure everyone heard about the burning, frothing lake - "Bellandur" is as famous as our traffic. I can safely bet you did not know there is also a Railway Station at Bellandur. Yes, Bellandur Road (BLRR) station is a functional railway station with single platform. As the picture indicates, it is quite a sight and photographer's delight. Bellandur Road…

Why should you demand trains in Bengaluru? 1. Building the Suburban train network is the least disruptive on Bengaluru. It won't affect the existing roads with diversions and bottlenecks while tracks are expanded, more trains run & stations fixed. Ride to demand the suburban train network! 2. It is most beneficial for Bengaluru. Like Chennai, up to 20 lakh people per day can commute if commissioned properly. Not 5-10 lakh like the Metro or a fraction of that by roads but upto 20 lakh daily! Banni! Jothege Hogona! 3. It is the lowest hanging mass transit for Bengaluru. Since ~180…

I got this useful post , i am reproducing it here with the grammatical errors rectified. ******************* Have you applied for your driving license (DL), but don’t know the status? Waiting to get a copy of you DL can be a time consuming process. Instead of waiting for the DL to arrive by post, you can visit the respective Regional Transport Office(RTO) with your token number to check your driving license status. You can also go online to the Sarathi website of the MInistry of Road Transport and Highways. How to Make a Driving License Status Enquiry *Please visit the official website…

A few days ago I was passing through Perambur Barracks Road (Chennai 600007) near the Sub Registrar's Office, when I happened to notice several manhole chambers (part of the storm water drain) encroaching upon the pavement on one side of the road. These were constructed in a way that caused obstructions to pedestrians at regular intervals. Because of this  the pedestrians had to either walk over the obstacles or in the middle of the road and it was a case of being stuck between the devil and the deep sea. Strange as it would seem, further chambers were being newly…

Subject: Our objections to the redevelopment plan of the BDA Complex, Indiranagar, Bengaluru It has come to our notice through media reports that the BDA Complex in Indiranagar will soon undergo demolition and redevelopment. Tenders to this effect have been floated by BDA and that Maverick Holdings & Embassy Group have been identified as the private partners at a cost of Rs. 657crores. The redeveloped structure would apparently have two huge blocks, housing over 1000 car parks, 6,50,000 sqft. of retail and mall space and 3,50,000 sqft. of commercial office space with a total built up area of 14.95 lakh sq.…

From Davanagere to Denmark, they discuss namma traffic. From Shivamogga to Sunnyvale, silk board has a reputation. But how did we get here? Could it have been avoided? We believe so. Unlike any other metro, Bengaluru did not get the benefits of a mass public transport system in all these years. Bus is our only lifeline carrying nearly 45 lakh passengers every day - with hardly 6500 buses and no attention given to it. We have the highest bus fares in the country! Metro is being built now and it will take another six years before it connects most of…

Here are my responses to the most frequently asked six questions from people who watched our videos on elevated corridors. Please feel free to add your points so we can strengthen the argument and keep it to the merits of the case without getting personal, no matter what the others say. You can catch the video here if you missed it : https://www.facebook.com/tara.krishnaswamy.7/videos/10216165669396468 Q1: What is the problem with elevated roads? Why do you oppose it? A: The problem with elevated roads is that they are built for private vehicles. Bikes & cars carry people very inefficiently. When a city…

Opportunity cost' is defined as "cost of a missed opportunity". We may never know the opportunity cost of missing out on suburban train in Bengaluru. The amazing video about Mumbai local aka suburban train is now going viral. People heard about Mumbai local and many experienced it, but the video shows what a powerful system they have built over decades. I remember watching those old Hindi movies where the actors are seen cutting vegetables on their briefcases while commuting! Our campaign #ModaluTrainBeku #ElevatedCorridorBeda this past weekend and that viral video resulted in renewed interest in suburban trains - what Citizens…

The easiest way to work with government is to solve some of their problems. We often think that the government should solve our problems, but in practice, they have many of their own!! And unless those are sorted first, there's no chance of anything we want being tackled well. There are some standard problems in government that citizens can help solve. Once we understand this, it's only a matter of finding things to get started with. After that, it's quite easy to build a good working relationship with officials to pursue solutions to public problems. Broadly, there are two categories…

“Why don't you leave the government alone? Let them do what they want. Why interfere?" Engaging with public sentiment on the proposed elevated corridors in Bangalore recently, some people asked such questions. Let *them* do what *they* want? Why *interfere?* *Leave them alone?* This reveals an elementary misunderstanding with who we are and what India is. The elected are supposed to execute what *we* want, not what they want. 1. How do they know what we want? Due process. India and it's states have established processes for input & feedback gathering from the public for planning, decision making on large…