LOCAL

One of the three stone cutting units ordered to shut down in April is still functioning. While KSPCB says BESCOM has been asked to cut power supply, BESCOM officials say they haven’t received any written order in this regard. This stone cutting unit is located in the Bank of Baroda colony in JP Nagar 7th Phase. KSPCB had earlier ordered all the units to shut down by 30th April. Stone cutting unit. Pic: Yograj S Mudalgi Sadiq Ahmed, Senior Environmental Officer, KSPCB reiterates that the action has been taken. He says, “We have ordered the BESCOM officials to cut the…

Two years ago, a direct selling company, RMP Infotech got its website redesigned adding new marketing initiatives, that subsequently increased company’s visibility to new customers. Likewise there are businesses, mostly Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with minimal online presence or totally offline and there is a dire need to bring them online for their growth, says Sangeeta Dilip who was instrumental in redesigning the website.  Sangeeta Dilip. Pic courtesy: Sangeeta Dilip Bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, Bangalore based Sangeeta, 27,  saw opportunity in this segment and found startupfreak.com to help offline SMEs go online. She left Wipro Technologies in 2009…

Shridevi Mahadevan quit her well paying software professional job and started a performing and fine arts enterprise-‘Navarasa’ in Koramangala in 2009. 34-year-old Shridevi, dancing since her childhood; she learned Bharatnatyam, and later Kathak. She also had passion for theatre and worked with Bangalore based Script Peoples Theatre for several years. Shridevi Mahadevan. Pic courtesy: Shridevi Mahadevan It was in  the year 2009 when she was doing one-year Executive Management course at IIM, that she decided to channel her love for performing arts into an entrepreneurial venture Predominantly focused on dance, Navarasa also imparts developmental theatre training, experimental workshops in pottery,…

Most of the lakes in Bangalore have vanished due to encroachment or construction activity. Arakere lake, one of Bengaluru’s biggest lakes may become a thing of past which has almost dried up due to negligence and is totally overrun by weed. Arakere lake's current state. Pic: Anuradha Janga Arekere lake may disappear if nothing is done immediately. Hence four residents in the vicinity have formed a trust - ‘Arakere Neighbourhood Improvement Trust’ (ANIT) to spread awareness and engage the residents in rejuvenating Arakere lake. The trust was registered on June 30th, 2012. “We formed the group keeping in mind two…

On June 24th, the Bannerghatta Road Neighbourhood Association (BANA) organised "Connect", a knowledge sharing seminar at Purva Panorama Apartments at Bannerghata Road.  BANA is a federation formed by a group of RWAs of apartments and layouts in and around on Bannerghatta Road. The forum will be used to resolve common issues and create a strong local community. The founding members include resident associations of L&T South City, Purva Panorama, South Avenue Layout, Pride Regalia, Ajmera Green Acres, Vithola Apartments, Nandi Park, Mantri Woodlands, Esteem Enclave etc. BANA office bearers at the meeting. Prem Sarkar, Shankar Bharadwaj, Kedar Nayak, Vivek Baliga.…

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…

At the busy Sarakki junction, early morning traffic jams come with an additional problem - garbage piled up by the informal market set up by vendors. The vehicles coming from JP Road, Kanakapura, Banashankari go through this junction.This informal market has been operational at this junction for thirty years now. It is set up every morning at around 6am and is shut down by around 9am. It has survived despite the fact that Sarakki has two other designated market areas. Garbage piled up in Sarakki junction. Pic: Sankar C G When the vendors wind up for the day, they leave…

Residents Welfare Association of Padmanabha Nagar, under the aegis of Abhyudaya, arranged a platform for citizens to interact with Mayor  D Venkatesh Murthy and Deputy Mayor L Sreenivas at Carmel School, Banashankari, on June 2. Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy and Deputy mayor L Sreenivas, with residents of Padmanabha Nagar. Pic: Sankar C G BBMP corporators H Suresh (Kumaraswamy Layout), A H Basavaraju (Banashankari Temple ward), V R Sharma- President Abhyudaya, N S Mukunda- Secretary Abhyudaya, V V Ramakrishna-Joint Secretary Abhyudaya and activist N S Ramakantha were also present.Abhyudaya wanted to congratulate the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor on being elected…

MLA Satish Reddy (Bommanahalli Constituency) presided over a meeting of all office bearers of Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) and the Federation of HSR Layout on June 4, Monday, to discuss infrastructural and other issues. Concerned Engineers responded to questions from the RWAs, closely monitored by the MLA. Perhaps for the first time, we were happy to see the elected representatives, all the concerned engineers and staff of BBMP, BDA and officials from Police Department, present under one roof in such a review meeting alongside representatives of RWAs. The meeting lasted over two hours and was conducted with utmost seriousness. The…

A group of people protested in front of the Prestige Monte Carlo (PMC) apartment on June 11th along Doddaballapur road, Yelahanka. The protestors demanded relinquishing PMC land for widening of Ananthapura village road. This internal road starts from Doddballapur road and goes perpendicular to it, all the way up to Ramagondanahalli village, about 3 kms away. A half kilometre stretch of the road has been widened already. The protestors started arriving at 7.30 am. The police had arrived at 7 am; G Ramesh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North East), and the local area police inspector were present. At 8 am, all…