LOCAL

BBMP Contract Pourakarmika Workers Association staged a protest today at BBMP head office about the pending salaries for the past two months. Around 1,000 workers participated in the protest. They demanded that the system of paying salaries through contractors should be done away with and be paid directly by BBMP. The pourakarmikas say that the contractor usually pays only half the salary, that too as cash and not via cheques. They also demanded for minimum wage and proper identity cards. Pourakarmikas protesting at BBMP head office. Pic: Sankar C G “We are not getting minimum wage on time as mentioned…

Residents of Jayanagar and JP Nagar have a reason to smile. Karnataka’s Home and Transport minister R Ashoka inaugurated the renovated Chandragupta Maurya Playground on Saturday, May 19th, 2012. This playground is in Jayanagar 5th Block in 10th main. This playground, popular as Shalini ground after an old hotel which is demolished now, has a skating rink, net practice space, auditorium, and concrete gallery steps around the playground. This playground will be used for outdoor activities like cricket, football and volleyball among others. Children practicing cricket at newly inaugurated Chandragupta Maurya playground. Pic: Anisha Nair This 6.5 acre playground is…

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…

Drive across the roads of Bangalore today and see mounds of filth, mud, plastic and stones removed from across the city’s drains and just left in heaps along the drains. It happens day in and day out. Men are hired to manually scavenge and clean the drains which get blocked through the year with dirt and debris either deliberately thrown in by the surrounding houses or swept into them by the sweepers, keeping the area clean. Instead of immediately sending in trucks to cart away the dirt, the mounds are left alongside, to slide right back, from where they initially…

In the land grab case filed by BTM Layout's Bank Officers' Co- Operative Housing Society(BOCOH) the High Court has ordered civic bodies for taking action against erring officials. The dispute over the ownership of a civic amenity site in BTM layout 1st Stage, measuring 2 acres 31 guntas seems to be fixed for now. At a hearing on April 20th, HC confirmed in an order that this land was earmarked to be developed as a park by the BDA, or later by BBMP. The court criticised BBMP for the khata transfer of the civic amenity site, and BDA for giving…

The layout has 23 wells with an average holding capacity of 4000 litres each. We have been recharging 4.5 million litres into the ground with rainwater harvesting, with about 50 rainy days in a year. Ferns Paradise is a 48 acre layout, in Whitefield, consisting of around 300 residential plots. The residents are completely dependent on groundwater. Realizing the importance of having a sustainable water resource, the WMC, constituted by the Layout’s Resident Welfare Association (RWA) comprising people passionate about water conservation - Babita Saxena, Radhica Kanniganti and Rajesh Thakkar. The WMC has made it mandatory for all the new…

An illegal and unauthorised construction of a temple in a civic amenities (CA) site in JP Nagar has started.The CA site is located between 30th A Main Road and 17th A cross road. The Supreme Court mandates that no temple construction should be allowed on a CA site and this is a clear violation of Supreme Court rule.This has been brought to the notice of  MLA B Vijaya Kumar and the Joint Commissioner (South), BBMP Hemachandra. They have promised to look into the matter at the earliest. A glimpse at CA site in JP Nagar where the temple construction has…

The only large playground on 19th Main, BTM layout, 1st stage has become dumping yard, for construction debris, owing to the broken fence all around. This playground comes under BBMP ward 176 and is a major open lung space for the neighbourhood.The residents feel that if the fencing is not done, the entire playground will soon become a dumping yard. Some contractors have started to illegally dump construction debris at night. Subramaniyam Sheshadari, a resident who stays opposite the playground says that at the least, the fence should be repaired to avoid the situation from getting worse. Debris in the…

The Ecofreaks are at it again, this time doing a cleanup in Ejipura, Koramangala 6th Block, on a bridge over a drain that was dotted with garbage.This particular cleanup was on an incredibly busy stretch in Koramangala, surrounded by Paying Guest houses and it seemed like nobody cared about the combined stench of the sewage river below and the garbage heap above. Perhaps this indifferent attitude inspired Vasudha Kaul and Ashutosh Garg to clean the area up, and make the place easier on the eyes as well as on the nose. Before clean up. Pic Gaana Srinivas  The cleanup began…

The 18-year-old landmark restaurant Udupi Garden on 2nd cross, 16th main, BTM II stage,  has been demolished for renovation. People who did not know about the renovation work were surprised and wondered if their favourite restaurant is closing down. Since the restaurant had water leakage issues during rains, it is being renovated on customers' request. Rs 2.5 crores is cost of the complete renovation. The renewed restaurant will include a party hall on the upper floor, an AC hall and seating arrangements on the ground floor. Facilities like lunch delivery service will also be included. Udupi garden under renovation. Pic:…