CITIZEN JOURNALISM

One of the first things which greets the traveller while passing through Museum Road in Bengaluru is the dug up pavements. The digging has now been extended to the mouth of Church Street, where it meets St. Marks Road. The delay in finishing the work has been apparently on account of delay in payments to the contractors by BBMP. The above situation makes me wonder if there can be a market-based solution to avoid such delays. The stretches of roads where the pavement stretches are being widened represent the central part of the city which witnesses record number of footfalls—tourists,…

TenderSURE work in progress on St Marks Road. Pic: Josephine Joseph The criticism against Tendersure projects is misplaced. All these days we were shouting from house top that we should have wide, safe and seamless footpaths and when it is provided the same groups are crying hoarse that the width of roads have shrunk. Obviously it will shrink. It is common sense when you are not or cannot widen the roads. It is not about the design which does seem to be faulty considering what happened on St Mark's Road after the recent deluge. There are other far more serious issues…

RMV Clusters residents participating in a spot fix. Pic: Renuka Mani This is a story of how active residential complexes are basically left to fend for themselves in light of the gross mismanagement of garbage by BBMP, and sometimes callous attitude of the officials, leading to utter failure of the entire GMS (Garbage Management System). RMV Clusters Phase 2, Lottegollahalli, Ward-8, Kodigehalli, comprises about 240 residential units/ flats. We, the residents have taken an active interest in garbage management and have been trying to find solutions to their issues for the last 2.5 years. We, as active and concerned citizenry,…

On April 24th, 40 children from the Sarjapur road area, along with volunteers from Kasa Mukta Bellandur (KMB), took to the streets to educate eatery joint owners about the hazards of serving food in disposable plates, encouraging them to adopt eco-friendly alternatives instead.  Pic: SujathaPic: SujathaPic: Sujatha‹ › $(document).ready(function(){ $('.carousel .carousel-inner .item').first().attr('class', 'active item');}); Everyone is aware about the impact of the usage of plastic and the kind of imbalance it is causes. Indeed, pollution of the environment by chemicals leached from plastics into air and water is an emerging area of concern. The convenience of using plastics and disposable items…

Commuters awaiting their train at the Carmelaram station. Pic: Shinoy Prahladan Carmelaram station is a small station on the Bengaluru-Hosur line just off Sarjapur road. Several long distance trains to Tamil Nadu and Kerala, as well as few passenger trains, run on this line. Many of these trains stop at Carmelaram. A huge crowd boards and alights at the station due to the sheer convenience resulting from the location. Recently, the railway authorities have done some work in the station, by lengthening, raising and concreting Platform 1 and providing a little better shelter and lighting. However, there are still many…

On hearing a commotion outside the house a little while ago I looked out of my office window and, to my horror, saw a car apparently driving straight into an auto - a policeman who was between the two vehicles managed to save himself by jumping aside in the nick of time. A huge crowd gathered immediately and many irate individuals were shouting at the driver and trying to get him to get out of the car. Afraid of what might happen if they did manage to get hold of him, I went out and appealed to the few policemen…

Pic: Meena ArtwaniPic: Meena ArtwaniPic: Meena ArtwaniPic: Meena ArtwaniPic: Meena ArtwaniPic: Meena Artwani‹ › $(document).ready(function(){ $('.carousel .carousel-inner .item').first().attr('class', 'active item');});  Respectful Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Officials, I am Meena, a resident of 6th Cross, Manjunatha Layout, Thanisandra Main road near Elements Mall, Ramaiah North City. I would like to bring to your urgent attention that this area is becoming inhabitable, day after day. The area is plagued with many issues like the ones below: The area has open drains (gutters) and the individual sanitary connections are not connected to main underground drain (UGD) system. These drains overflow during the rains.…

Illustration: Narasimha Vedala On April 10th the Jayanagar police station in association with  Bengaluru  traffic police held an awareness programme called Pehle Aap (after you), to emphasise the need for vehicle drivers to heed the safety of others on the road, especially pedestrians, especially elderly pedestrians. Ironically, less than 24 hours later, I had occasion to visit the Jayanagar police station to file a complaint. I and another elderly pedestrian (male), were waiting  to cross the road at the busy intersection facing the shopping complex at 4th block, at 11 am  on Saturday April 11th.The signal turned  red for traffic flowing …

We stood around quietly, my brother and me, as Amma and Maami negotiated with the guys in the shop. The shop had bales and bales of cotton strewn all over the 10ftx10ft area, and housed three or four guys, in various stages of labour. After much bargaining from our side and patronising from theirs, we took home a pillow. It was grey with golden-yellow lines crisscrossing each other at right angles and turning black where they met. That night, my brother and I fought for rights to use the new pillow. Mysore Bedding and Furnishing. Pic: Vaidya R The place, Mysore…

Pic source: myprivatetutor.com Katerina Milkova, a working mother in Bangalore, wanted a personal tutor for her son who is in 5th grade. She tried a couple of home tutoring service providers, and her search ended when she found EON Education. They met her at her convenience and explained the process very professionally. They provided a demo class for her and arranged for a passionate teacher to come home. “The tutor writes what has been taught in a logbook, with the date and duration of the class. My son is also given tests by her and his scores are recorded. It…