HSR Layout

N S Ramakanth  and Dr Ashwin Mahesh interacted with residents of HSR Layout  on June 24 and a wide range of topics were discussed at length including Khata, solar power, solid waste management and reviving lakes. Balasubramanian Thirunavukkarasu, active citizen and resident of HSR Layout, was instrumental in organising the One Bengaluru meeting.  One Bangalore meeting. Pic: Balasubramanian Thirunavukkarasu One Bengaluru The meeting is the first such one as part of the One Bengaluru initiative. One Bengaluru is a platform to bring together people interested in public problem solving. Thirunavukkarasu said, "There are lot of well meaning citizens in our…

On June 9th, HSR Layout 19th Main was bustling with a group of people who got together for a green drive. This was not the first such drive in Bangalore. Balbir Bora, an environmentalist and an engineer along with Kapil Sharma and several others formed an organisation called ‘Say Trees’ in 2009 and have been organizing such tree planting drives around Bangalore. Children volunteering in the event. Pic: Say Trees What was interesting about this event in HSR Layout was the huge number of young volunteers that turned up. The children helped us in digging, securing the tree guards and…

Sanjiv Balgopal, on behalf of the association, had sent a complaint to the HSR layout police station on April 8th, 2012. He asked the police to investigate and take action. The letter contained number plate details of the truck and dumping, along with a CD containing pictures. In return, a month later, on May 7, Balgopal received a summon notice from the sub-inspector of police, HSR police station! Not satisfied with the citizens’ letter, Srinivas Reddy, Inspector, asked Balgopal to go to the spot, investigate and submit a first hand report instead. Speaking to Citizen Matters,  Reddy would only say…

Vijayan Menon, member of Citizens’ Action Forum and a Koramangala resident, Brigadier R S Murthy of HSR RWA Federation, RTI activist Chandra Shekhar, Muralidhar Rao, member of  Koramangala Initiative, Ramesh Sivaram of Forward150 (Bellandur RWA), Ganesan M of Save Agara group, and Citizen Matters co-founder Meera K, gathered in the evening. With the High Court cancelling Agara lake’s PPP contract recently, the LDA is open to citizens involvement to save the lake. The residents agreed that the 42-acres lake would be a big challenge to revive. Menon pointed out that without healthy water bodies to revive the groundwater table, future…

It's time for summer vacations. Outings and travel are at its peak. People prefer coloured and textured bags making the military fatigue suitcase covers a passe. No more heavy luggages either. With more people opting to travel by air, baggage weight limits have also become a factor for the change in trend.April - July seems to the peak time for luggage dealers. Summer vacations is when the people flock to buy suitcases and bags.People prefer suitcases made of polycarbonate plastic, as they are lightweight, durable and trendy. These bags come with a choice of two and four wheels. They are…

In what may come as small relief to disgruntled Bangaloreans, BDA says it has issued notice to the contractor building the Kadubessanahalli underpass on the Outer Ring Road (ORR). The completed section of the underpass (south going) flooded due to overnight rains on Tuesday May 1st, throwing Wednesday morning's commute into a gridlock. The flooded Kadubeesanahalli underpass on May 2nd morning. This picture, taken by an as yet unnamed photographer made the rounds yesterday both on Facebook as well on email. R K Misra, ABIDe member and urban reforms campaigner posted on Facebook about the gridlock deploring the state of…

The Karnataka High Court cancelled the lease of Agara lake in HSR Layout given to Biota Natural Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd on February 29, 2012. Biota had filed a petition against the termination of lease of Agara lake by Lake Development (LDA) in 2009. Following the High Court judgment, the lake has been handed back to the LDA, Bangalore. The under-maintained Agara lake, adjacent to HSR Layout, off the outer ring road. Pic: Anisha NairThe judgement from high courtBiota contested LDA's termination of its contract in its petition. Biota claims that they could not take up any development work on…

High Court issued a notice to Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on a PIL about his plot in HSR Layout, on January 10th. The case filed by journalist and activist K G Nagalakshmi Bai last August had pointed out that Gowda's usage of the plot was illegal. The plot Sadananda Gowda owns in HSR Layout. Pic: Vijayalakshmi P Gowda was allotted site No. 2B, a 50x80 ft plot in Sector 3 of HSR layout, for residential use in 2006. Another 50x80 ft site adjacent at the back (site no. 13B) is owned by Sringeri MLA D N Jeevaraj. The…

What if our children could cycle safely around the neighbourhood going to schools, classes and doing errands freely?What if we had at least 25% of our office-going crowd ride comfortably from residence to offices thus reducing traffic, pollution and stress?What if we could begin to get in touch with our neighbours, our neighbourhood, our city and its great weather.. and have fun while at it?How would it be if we proved this concept here and then extended this to Bangalore and then India?We have taken on a project to make this a reality starting with our layout and offices close…

Yet another accident at the junction of 24 th Main  and 22 nd Cross in HSR Layout Sector 2 , Parangipalaya area on Wednesday, 19 October.This  time a pregnant woman, Chandrakala was killed  by a reckless speeding car. In this accident, an auto rickshaw driver and a couple of other pedestrians, it is learnt, were also injured. Hawkers on footpath and haphazard parking a bane to pedestrians. Pic: Brig R S Murthy Two years ago a senior Army Officer  was hit and died at around the same spot. Every day pedestrians are at a risk of being hit by chaotic…