GENRE: In Focus

For years now, Bangaloreans have gotten accustomed to seeing dug up roads across the city. Furthermore, one doesn’t know who has dug it up or why and when it is likely to be closed. And then traffic suffers. The traffic police are clueless about the roadwork and are then forced to divert traffic."Sometimes we don't even know who has dug up the road", points out Praveen Sood, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic).  Nothing new in namma Bengaluru. Coordination, or the lack of it has always been a challenge for many local authorities - BBMP, BTP, BWSSB, BDA, BMTC, and so…

At a testy hearing in the High Court of Karnataka, the University of Agricultural Sciences reversed its position on the BBMP's link road through its GKVK campus in north Bengaluru. Before a two-judge bench on December 16th, the university's counsel Nithin Ramesh said the Vice-Chancellor, P G Chengappa, was willing to convene a fresh meeting of the Board of Regents to strike down its earlier approval for the link road, and added that the board's earlier decision was taken under ‘duress'. As BBMP claims 70 per cent of the work is completed the High Court orders an expert committee be…

Bengaluru is a city that’s learning to stay fit. Running the marathon or biking to work or hitting the gym with increasing regularity, most Bangaloreans are up, about and active. The health and fitness market is India is estimated at around Rs 2,900 crores, according to a Technopak report in Business Standard. It pegs the average annual spend on health and fitness by individuals at approximately Rs 2,600. The statistics are not specific to Bangalore but do give you a general idea of the average citizen’s interest in fitness. Is fitness as an industry seeing satisfied consumers? And who’s rushing…

When D T Thyagaraj (50) of Padmanabhanagar, suffered a heart attack 10 years ago, he was wheeled into one of the prestigious hospitals in Bengaluru. Once he survived the attack and was out of the ICU, Thyagaraj sensed that the world around him had changed so completely in so short a time. First he was isolated from the general ward and then supplied food in plastic plates. The doctors and nurses armed themselves with double gloves each time they came to check on him. Their hush-hush talk, suspicious glances, and curt answers left him and his family shocked. Launch of…

“We don’t want to see piles of garbage on the road when we grow up. It is our future we are looking at”, says Anugraha Anand, all of 12. Anugraha and her friends at her apartment complex Renaissance Regalia on 6th main Malleshwaram are spearheading a campaign on waste segregation and solid waste management. “We do not want piles of garbage on the road when we grow up”, say the young children of Renaissance Regalia in Malleshwaram. Seen here from L to R - Sowmya Panyan, Srishti, Malaika Vijay, Prerna Mohan, Tanvi Kaushik, Anugraha Anand. Pic courtesy: Vani Murthy Leading…

It isn’t everyday that a state’s draft transport policy is discussed in humour. Well, but that is exactly what happened at ‘Mobilicity – an unconference on sustainable transport’ on November 21st at the Indian Institute of Science. Organised by online community Praja.in and Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP), the event was held to discuss issues on sustainable mobility for Bengaluru. (From left) Gaurav Gupta, Shankarlinge Gowda, Krishna Byregowda, Praveen Sood. Byataranapura MLA Krishna Byregowda says, "People ask me about BPL cards, drains and street lights. Nobody asks me about transport". The unconference, a participant-driven discussion with…

Sixty-one-year-old Jagadhamba is almost in tears. Property that her late husband Vishwanath built in 1994 is now being razed down, all for the sake of road widening by BBMP. Jagadhamba lives on Karkere Main Road in Jayanthi Nagar (North Bengaluru) with her family of two sons and two daughters. “What justice is this? This is our property. We don’t know what to do”, says Jagadhamba, as her voice drowns in the noise of the bull dozer at work. Sixty-one-year-old Jagadhamba. 195 feet x 17 feet of her property, built in 1994, is being taken away for road widening. BBMP will…

If you overhear a group of middle class parents talking, you are likely to hear the topic of schools – especially so around the time of admissions. The emotions vary from excitement to speculation to worry to concern to resignation. Many parents consider choosing a school among well established private schools as one of the big decisions they will be taking for their child. Parents talk about the criteria for selecting schools and discuss schools' approach to teaching, wondering if a certain methodology will work best for their child. Parents queueing up at at National Public School, Koramangala for admission…

The long-delayed bridge over the railway line at the Whitefield Railway Station in Kadugodi, northeastern Bengaluru, has received a ‘second-life’ of sorts, with the Hyderabad based-contractor Soham Engineering Constructions, restarting work last week. Soham had stopped work on the project for almost four  weeks, citing reasons of acute cash shortage. Steel girder sections lie covered in tarapaulin sheets, awaiting long overdue welding approval. Pic: Subramaniam Vincent. In a second and related development that could give a further fillip to the project, citizens living on the northern side of the tracks have offered to mobilise funds for Soham to help them…

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of the BBMP will soon begin to decide and approve all major road projects in Bengaluru’s limits. This is confirmed by the Technical Advisor to the BBMP Commissioner and Member of TAC, H Raja Simha. So far, the TAC was approving grade separator and road widening works for the BBMP along the 12-arterial corridors (major roads going out of the city) only. For grade separator projects outside the corridors, TAC was not involved. But now, Simha says a decision has been taken for all such projects to be sent to TAC for approval. Additional Commissioner…