GENRE: In Focus

Z A Khan, an engineer living in a Cantonment neighbourhood, does not travel by bus, car or two-wheeler to his office in Electronic City. He takes the Salem Passenger. “I take the train from Bangalore East at about 7:42 AM and get off at Heelalige (close to Chandapura) which is about 7 km from Electronic city. My company van picks me up at the station,” he says. Khan catches the same train back home in the evening at about 5:30 PM. “This is a much more convenient way to travel compared to enduring the ride through the city and traffic…

Anuya (name changed) had just finished her 10th standard and was not sure what subjects she should take up. Being a class topper, her parents’ first choice was science and mathematics but she did not like these subjects. She went to a career counselor, her aptitude and personality test results showed her creative side was very strong. However, her parents asked her to take up the science stream. She did very well in her PUC; later when she did not want to become an engineer her parents forced her to take up medicine. nuya was not really interested in medicine…

“I never got any benefits from my contractors when I was working on my own but from the time I am working for LabourNet, I have my health insurance and was even paid when an accident happened a few months back. All my friends here are benefiting from LabourNet,” explains Suresh who is working all day at a construction site near the Tin Factory, KR Puram. He rests on a boulder to talk, wiping sweat off his forehead with his hands full of cement dust. Bengaluru-based LabourNet provides access to information about jobs and labour to construction workers and clients,…

Gautam B Pandit and his family were very excited last Wednesday after the heavy downpour in the city. The rain filled up the 5000 litre barrel they have set up in their house for rainwater harvesting (RWH). “We could have filled another two barrels that night. The barrel just overflowed”, Gautam says. The Pandits have just installed RWH at their home on Hayes Road in Richmond Town. The 40 houses in Sherwood Apartments, located on Kaggadasapura Main Road in CV Raman Nagar, have not faced any water problem for the past four months. All thanks to RWH says the residents.…

Almost a year after Bengaluru got its first centrally controlled traffic management system the traffic police claims to have achieved smoother traffic and caught more violators. The traffic police have collected Rs 5.8 crores in fine amounts in 2008 after the new systems were put in place mid year, and Rs 3.14 crores in 2009 till date. "All these fines were possible because of (our) enforcement management system," claims Praveen Sood, Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic and Security. Praveen Sood, Shankar Bidri, Ashwin Mahesh in the Traffic Management Centre (pic: Supriya Khandekar) At a recent press meet at the Traffic…

After battling a delay of almost two years, much to the chagrin of hassled commuters, work on the 42-metre-long railway over bridge (ROB) at the Kadugodi railway level crossing in Whitefield is nearing completion. The office of Commissioner of Railway safety in Bangalore, headed by K J S Naidu, says the (pending and necessary) approvals were accorded to the South Western Railways on June 8th. "The ball is now in the court of the railway authorities to oversee the timely execution and commissioning of the railway overbridge," said an official at the railway safety department, who did not want to…

Cycle tracks, parking space for bicycles, racks to lock your bike; all this may well become a reality soon in Bengaluru. Members of the cycling community are working towards developing this infrastructure in the city by working with the Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) and other organisations. The BMLTA has been set up by the government of Karnataka under the Urban Development Department as an umbrella organisation to land transport matters in the Bangalore metropolitan area. Cycling route (Pic and graphic courtesy: Vijay Narnapatti) RideACycle Foundation (RAC-F), a Bengaluru-based non-profit organisation that encourages and promotes sustainable transport through cycling,…

A toxic landfill project, which started operating from February 2009, at the outskirts of the city after facing stiff political and local opposition for five years, could be potentially hazardous for residents and villagers living in that area, warn environmental activists. Toxic Landfill at Dobbaspet (pic courtesy: GTZ) The Rs. 55 crore project, a joint venture of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KPSCB) and Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), a German engineering firm, is located almost 50 kilometres away from Bangalore in Dobbaspet near Tumkur Road (NH4) and aims to provide a long-term solution to the state's garbage disposal problem. Pollution…

N Sivasailam, BMRCL chief, explained Metro's position to a group of citizens waiting to hear him out, while those against the tree felling and metro's way of functioning voiced their protest. However, on the question of the Metro using the Lalbagh and R V Road, the Metro's own Detailed Project Report and Sivasailam’s explanations do not sit well together. The morning of Saturday, 9th May, saw a motley crowd of hundreds assemble along RV Road (popularly called Nanda Road) in Jayanagar. Two events were being held simultaneously. The first had been called by Jayanagar MLA Vijaykumar, who at the behest…

Umesh V and his colleagues at The Mobile Store on 24th Main Road, JP Nagar 2nd phase shell out around Rs. 1200 to Rs. 1500 a month, from their own pockets. The reason? Hijras come to their shop every day, demanding money, forcing them to pay anywhere between Rs. 10 and Rs. 50 per day. “In a day, they come around four to five times. In a group there are around three or four of them. If you do not give them money, they use bad words or attack us and pull our clothes,” says Umesh who has been facing…