GENRE: In Focus

It is an important day in Kiran's life - he has an interview scheduled in Delhi. He has booked the 7 am flight from Bengaluru, and a cab to the airport at 5 am. He gets ready by 4.30 am and calls the assigned cab driver's number. There's no answer. He calls twice, thrice, four times - still no answer. It is 4.45 am when he calls the cab helpline. The sleepy voice that picks the call, after listening to him, gives him the number of another driver. This driver refuses to serve Kiran’s request claiming that he is far…

  Pashmina Waterfront as seen on a Google map. Investing in real estate in Bangalore is a dream of any investor. However, is the growth of this sector in tune with the infrastructure that the city can handle? A close look by Citizen Matters at 26 constructions coming up in Whitefield - KR Puram area in East Bengaluru shows some alarming observations. When the 8,000 flats are fully occupied, new residents will need 10,662.87 KL of water a day (equivalent of 1780 water tankers of 6000 Litres). More than 19,697 cars will add to Whitefield traffic. Ministry of Environment and…

Residents at the Nightingales Centre for Ageing and Alzheimer's gather around on the lawn for a support session, in their Bangalore Centre. File pic. The first time Divya Sreedharan's father wandered off was when he and her mother were travelling on a train going back to Kerala from Bangalore. He simply got off the train unnoticed by his wife. The family already knew he had dementia-related symptoms at that time. The police were called, and Divya’s husband set off to search for him. "The worst thing was wondering if we would ever find him," Divya says. "The worry of never…

A water tanker collects water from a borewell next to Bellandur lake, whose water is contaminated according to tests by the Pollution Control Board. Pic: Meera K. The terms ‘water tankers’ and ‘water mafia’ are not new to an average Bangalorean. Neither is the knowledge that a vast part of the namma Bengaluru depends on the water they supply. Some of us like to believe the public authorities when they try to deny the existence of ‘mafia’ in managing water or garbage but their existence is a reality. Have you ever tried to understand how water mafias exercise a form…

Flooding that took place in PES campus recently. Pic: Sent by a reader. Bangalore, with its burgeoning population, faces the challenge of providing decent housing for all. Sensing the opportunity, many builders have forayed into the field, with various real estate projects all over the city and the outskirts. LIST OF PROJECTS OR ACTIVITIES REQUIRING PRIOR ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE        1     Mining, extraction of natural resources and power generation (for a specified production capacity) Mining of minerals Offshore and onshore oil and gas exploration and development and production River Valley projects Thermal Power plants Nuclear power projects and processing of…

With most school managements in Bengaluru reluctant to adhere to some of the child safety guidelines issued by the Police Department, there is uncertainty in the air. While the Police Department is unsure about taking action against schools that do not comply with the rules after August 31, school managements have not decided on their course of action yet. Bangalore Police Commissioner M N Reddi is aware of the concerns raised by the private school associations. However he admitted that taking action against schools that don’t follow the norms is not easy. "We just cannot take action immediately, there are…

Angry parents protesting outside the school seeking justice. Pic: Nikita Malusare It is almost a month after the Bengaluru's Vibgyor rape case hit the headlines. There were four arrests so far, and the fourth arrested, the Chairman of the school Rustum Kerawalla has managed to get a bail. The police say that he was in Mumbai when the incident occurred, hence he was not aware of the issue. Now this is the question that haunts everyone: Will other staff in the school go scot-free, even after the reports of the kid allegedly being treated in school itself and teachers not…

Although almost all the consumers in Bengaluru who purchase flats and apartments are concerned about A or B khata, they do not bother to verify whether the property purchased by them has a valid Completion certificate / Occupancy certificate. In simple terms, the absence of a valid Completion certificate / Occupancy certificate, means that the building may not have been built as per approved plan, and the threat of demolition of unauthorised structure looms large. Further, if you want to sell or hypothecate the property after a lapse of say 10 years, you will not be able to do so,…

In Bengaluru, vehicular pollution and dust are the major contributors to air pollution, and as listed earlier in this series, they cause several health and environmental problems. While the dust is mostly from construction activities, the air currents and constant vehicular motion keep the pollutants in circulation all the time. There is no single solution to mitigate air pollution given the number of government agencies involved and the heterogenous mix of vehicle users and commuters. In this article, we look at the role individual road users play. On an average, 6734 BMTC buses ferry 49,50,000 passengers in 79677 bus trips…

Lack of occupancy certifcate might mean your dreamhome might have certain violations too. File pic. “We are happy to inform you that your dream home is ready for possession and registration. Handover & registration process will be initiated on receipt of the balance payment. We wish you a comfortable stay in your new apartment.”  This is the news you have been waiting for! Ever since the day that you booked the apartment, three years ago, you have been saving and planning to fulfil the dream of your very own home. This email is soon followed by the Final Payment Request Letter…