Commute

I wish to bring to your notice and hopefully the notice of all Bangaloreans the problems being faced by 10 families in Dodda Bommasandra, Vidyaranyapura Post that comes under Byatarayanapura CMC. About 50 days (9th March 2009) ago CMC workers came to lay concrete slabs on our drains and for that purpose they dug up our drains, removed the stone slabs that were covering them and filled the approach road to our houses with all the debris from this work.  Unusable Road in Dodda Bommasandra (pic: author) They promised that the work will be completed in two days. It has been…

Over the last week, hundreds of people have been vociferously protesting against the plans of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to build a Metro station in Lalbagh and to cut trees along the verdant Lakshman Rao Boulevard, popularly known as Nanda Road. On Sunday evening, 19th April, 250 people gathered along the tree lined road. They sang songs, shouted slogans (“Ulisi ulisi, Nanda Road ulisi”) and held a candle light vigil to protest against the proposed cutting of trees in Lakshman Rao Park. Earlier, on Friday, 17th April, about 220 people formed a human chain along RV Road…

r All,Earlier this week(April 13 and 14), the Bangalore Metro Rail corporation(BMRCL) has demolished over 500 feet of Lalbagh's wall and cut down 5 eucalyptus trees inside Lalbagh. BMRCL proposes to have a Metro station inside Lalbagh itself!Lalbagh is protected by a separate, stringent law. In a highly undemocratic move, the Karnataka Government changed the law by moving an ordinance to acquire LalbaGh land for the Metro, rather than prefer a debate over the changed law, in the Assembly. The opposition has also failed to protest this undemocratic move.Lalbagh and Lakshman Rao Park on R.V.Road, (also called the AC Road,…

11th May 2008. Heaps of mud, broken dividers with mud all over, main road dug up, traffic badly hit and people anxiously waiting to see things change. This was the intersection of J P Nagar's 15th Cross Ring Road, a critical artery in south Bangalore, and the 24th Main Road, and the scene of a magic underpass construction. The notice board put up by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) mentioned that the construction will finish by February 2009. Eight months later, the scene looks exactly the same. 15th cross-ring road intersection dug up (Pic: Supriya Khandekar) The magic seems to…

For the past several weeks I have been interacting with a BDA official for a story I am working on. I must add that he has been very patient with the number of phone calls I make to him during various times of the day and the few times I have met him. He has obligingly answered all my queries, shown me some documents and so on. As my story required to get a photograph of the model of the project, I continued hounding him to for this photo-op. His dilly-dallying continued for a couple of days. One fine morning…

Ajit Prakash drives from Iblur junction to his office in Koramangala everyday. The three kilometre drive generally takes him about 20 minutes. But on 12th February, Prakash took nearly two hours to get to his office; thanks to a traffic jam that extended from beyond Sarjapur Road all the way up to Agara junction and further. Manjunath R, also on his way to Koramangala, was caught in the jam for almost two and a half hours. B Lokesh, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Adugodi, says the reason for the hold up was because of incomplete work by the Bangalore Development…

J P Nagar 3rd Phase is a residential locality where the roads have suffered really badly because of the construction of the Jayadeva Flyover. Last week, however, residents were happy to see the tar wagons and road rollers arriving. At last, we all felt, before the elections, we will get smooth roads for at least some time...Oh, no! Of all the main and cross roads of this community, only the second Main Road was tarred. And that, too, not for its full stretch. What could the logic of this action be? None or the residents have a clue.it is, of course,…

Between 9th and 11th February 2009, the Karnataka High Court dismissed 11 cases against land acquisition, filed by individuals regarding their residential and commercial properties, on Chinmaya Mission Hospital (CMH) Road. The court’s position was the acquisition were made for “public position” and hence cannot be challenged. This means that some of the tenant traders on CMH Road, who were part of the CMH Road Traders Association and had filed a PIL challenging the validity of the project, have also been asked to surrender their tenancy claims. The traders have time until 31st March this year to vacate their premises.…

Our ring roads have been functioning for quite a while. Why can't the service roads be made motorable too. A few places where it can be used is in a bad shape. I think our city fathers and authorities should ride these roads and see the inconvenience it causes to the public. The city buses are the terrorists of our city - why do the police not check them and book them for the offences which happen right in front of them. Are they scared of the bus drivers? Unless these public bus drivers follow the traffic rules, the chaos…

All footpath slabs uprooted. Sewage water over flowing on the road. Dozens of school children and IT employees have to wait beside this health and acident trap every morning. This is NH209! There is a tussle between the BBMP and the Highways department ever since the Kanakapura road has scaled up as NH209.My photograph of the problematic area was published in the Times of India on 18th December, 2008, followed by a mail to the chief minister, the commissioner of BBMP and the Director of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in Delhi. If you would like to volunteer to…