Commute

BBMP had initiated the road work, and volunteers started monitoring it, but the work has stopped now. File pic. Citizen Matters had reported about the BWRCA-led road repair initiation in Kadugodi-Hosakote road. Even as the residents were euphoric about their small victory, everything has gone for a toss again. The work that took off two weeks ago has not been moving forward. The reason: potholes are not small enough to fit the ward level budget. On persistent pressure by members of Bruhat Whitefield Residents Community Association, repair work of potholes took off at the Kadugodi ward level. But hardly after…

Bengaluru kicked off the Cycle Day campaign with its first event, Feel Bengaluru Cycle Day today morning at Cubbon Park. With close to 1200 cyclists in attendance, the Mayor of our city opened the event by ceremonial inauguration of a new cycle stand at Cubbon Park. He then led all the cyclists off on a 1-km ceremonial kick off ride till the Central Library. After this, all the cyclists rode together on a 5-km rally around Cubbon Park touching several heritage spots along the way. It was a great sight as 1200 cyclists went around Cubbon Park, on Kasturba road,…

When the clocks hit 10 on the Saturday, October 26, 2013, residents of Thubarahalli near Whitefield  in Bengaluru left their chores and stepped out in the hot sun. No slogans, no banners or hoardings. It was a sheer, peaceful Satyagraha - the Gandhian way of protesting, to draw the attention of the government towards the much-needed, but never sanctioned road at Thubarahalli. Residents of Thubarahalli Vibgyor School area protesting peacefully by forming a human chain. Pic: Nikita Malusare The buildings along the road wore the same mud which the road is made up of.  Tough the recent rains have washed…

The mud road battered by rains makes it dangerous to commute on this stretch. Pic: Javed Ahmad Citizens of the Thubarahalli area near Varthur in Bengaluru, frustrated by the slippery mud road and traffic jams, will hold a peaceful protest on October 26, 2013, to draw attention to the terrible state of affairs. Cars, trucks, buses, two-wheelers and cyclists get stuck in a chaotic frenzy here during their daily commute. Two international schools are located on this road. There are around 12 big apartments in this area, and a 13th one is getting ready. Over 150 school buses and over…

Construction activities continue to encroach the drain that goes to Bellandur lake. Pic: Nikita Malusare The High Court of Karnataka on Monday, October 21, 2013, accepted the Public Interest Litigation against the Mantri developers and Coremind Software and Services along with other nine government departments. A bench comprising Justice K L Manjunath and Justice H S Kempanna directed that the defendants be served notices. Namma Bengaluru Foundation and Citizen Action Forum along with many resident welfare associations in and around Agara lake in south Bengaluru had filed a Public Interest Litigation (Writ Petition 36574/ 2013) on the Special Economic Zone…

BMRCL Managing Director Pradeep Kharola has responded to the concerns of citizens on predicted traffic problems on Bannerghatta Road in Bengaluru once the Phase-II work takes off, by promising to look into the issues listed by them. Urban mobility expert Ashwin Mahesh, along with a group of residents, had listed out the pain points on Bannerghatta Road that need to be resolved before the commencement of Phase-II Metro work. Here is the list of the bottlenecks to be solved, listed by the residents. a) During construction, it would be extremely helpful if the foot-overpasses of the stations can be constructed…

With the Namma Railu project to connect Bengaluru to the surrounding towns moving forward, there is talk of 'land value capture' to finance it. I.e, can we find the money for this project (and others like it) by either giving additional FSI at a price to land-owners in the area, or by higher property taxes after the completion of the project? This is a standard financing technique that is used by many countries. But in Bangalore we have a dubious record on this front. We have arbitrarily increased FSI in some areas (e.g. near Metro stations) in violation of the…

Dear all,    After doing a series of pedestrian events called "Come, Cross the Road" to observe and highlight the issues faced by pedestrians on Bangalore roads, Hasiru Usiru is  now ready to release the final draft of the report with our findings and observations.   As part of this event, we would like to showcase photographs emphasising the different problems faced by pedestrians on a daily basis. The problems could be any of the below or ANYTHING you perceive to be a problem for pedestrians in the city.    Difficulty in crossing the roads Bad footpaths Dimly lit subways,…

Annually, many countries observe International Car Free Day on 22nd September to encourage people to leave their cars or reduce their use. Since 2011, ESAF, a city based non-profit that works on making Bangalore more inclusive, has been reminding Bangaloreans to lower or eliminate dependence on cars. As per Senior Programme Officer Manju George, the campaign which started on September 21st this year, will last until the 30th. This is being done through flyers, posters and discussions in offices, residential neighbourhoods, street corners, eateries, stores, colleges, et al. The message is to consider walking, cycling, taking public transport or at…

Have you ever travelled from Dr Rajkumar Road underpass via Okalipuram to reach City Central Railway station in Bangalore? If you have, you will agree that it takes nothing less than 45 minutes to one hour to cross the 1.5 kms road. You have to beat heavy traffic jams on the uphill road burning precious fuel, avoid jaywalking people, vehicles criss-crossing at intersections, potholed roads and the heavy traffic load on the road. The long-awaited project of creating an underpass, rail over-bridge at the two Okalipuram railway tracks and the 8-lane corridor is proposed to take off in December 2013.…