Commute

For the past few years, development works executed by civic agencies including BWSSB, BDA, BBMP and KPTCL have been going on in HSR Layout. This has resulted in frequent traffic diversions into HSR Layout, from Ring Road - Sarjapur Road, that cause major inconvenience for us all. HSR RWA members called the officials for a public meeting. Pic: Meera K Residents and shopkeepers along 27th main road of HSR Layout continue to live with the pain caused by BWSSB water pipeline work. The peace of this layout has been disturbed with attendant noise and pollution over months. Will the authorities…

Is it OK to "decorate" one's car in this fashion?  It's all very well to decorate one's car with the symbols of one's faith: But this seems to leave, quite literally, a very small window of vision for the driver, and almost none at all for the passenger in front.Are such "windshield decorations" legal? More important, are they safe? ⊕

About a month ago, I was waiting at the bus stop opposite Cubbon Park to catch a bus home to JP Nagar. Since the frequency of buses to JP Nagar is low, I waited for a bus to Jayanagar from where I could change over. I avoided the 13 series buses that were terribly crowded. Within minutes came an empty bus with the board T4 (Nagavara to Jagajeevanram Nagar via Corporation). Seeing the name Corporation, I boarded the bus. I alighted in front of the BBMP office and walked down to Mission Road stop, where within minutes the ever frequent…

Someone famous once said, “Life is what you make out of it.” How true is this adage, considering the death of a 17-year-old boy from JP Nagar 7th Phase who was mercilessly mowed down by a car? The incident was reported in local newspapers, and it makes us wonder if your life is in fact what others make for you. What is needed is road discipline by people behind the wheel. If one steps into the four-road junction in front of Brigade Millennium apartment complex in JP Nagar, one can observe that:•Despite traffic signals in place, two wheelers whizz past…

The Karnataka government's negligence toward health schemes for migrants working on Namma Metro construction sites can be blamed for a 55 percent rise in respiratory problems among them since 2009. Worse, a metro contractor at one site is using child labour openly. Migrant workers at the metro construction work in dangerous conditions without safety equipment. Pic: Rupsa Chakraborty. Every month the Victoria Hospital at KR Market registers a minimum of 30 to 45 cases of migrant metro workers complaining of respiratory problems.Madhusudan Das, a medical information officer at the hospital, said this is mainly due to their constant exposure to…

Traffic police at the prepaid auto center on Residency Road charge Rs. 1 from passengers in the name of "maintenance", although the center is maintained by a private firm free of cost. Some of the prepaid auto centers in the city are now managed by IIHT, a private firm that provides computers, printing machines and printed tickets for the centers.They also repair any hardware or software damage to the computers or printers free of cost and have their institute's name painted on the counter and on the back of the tickets as advertisements.However, the Bangalore City Traffic Police places their…

It's interesting to observe... Our pavements and footpaths are full of people who are trying to eke a living in a city that they have moved into. Amongst these are the immigrants from Rajasthan, who make these ceramic artefacts:Several of these patterns seem to be the most popular, including square containers for Tulsi plants, vases, and Shirdi Sai Baba statuettes. They certainly add colour to our footpaths, even as they block them for pedestrians! ⊕

"Its high time they start the flyover project. The main bottleneck is at the Advaith petrol bunk junction; we have to wait for so long to pass that signal." says Viswanath Seetharam, who travels daily through the BTM main road. Udupi garden junction Pic: Deepthi M S The BTM main road leading to Silk Board, has heavy inflow of traffic as it connects to Electronic City, Koramangala and Outer Ring Road.Auto rickshaw driver, Manjunath P M who drives every day in and around BTM layout, says, "I waste most of the time in ferrying just one passenger, it's too difficult…

The Kolaveri phenomenon still rages. Literally translated, the word means 'murderous rage', as is widely known by now. The video spawned off Kolaveri derivatives in several languages, some comical, some serious. On December 5th, BBMP was put at receiving end of at least one of them. An upset citizen and Youtube user, Debashish Ghosh shot off a video asking 'Why this Kolaveri?' of BBMP. The city corporation recently won a High Court case on it's massive tree cutting plan along Sankey Road to widen the corridor to Yeshwantpur. The video is a drive with the lush canopy of trees on…

Dear Sir or Madam,I am a daily office commuter on Metro Reach one between Baiyappanahalli to MG road. I would like to bring to your attention the following issues:Security The work of the private contract guards when checking bags is inconsistent. The guard assigned to body check does not wave the handheld scanner properly for all passengers. Those assigned to bag check does not use the scanner inside the bags always and sometimes lets off commuters by simply taking a glance half half-heartedly inside the bag. Security guards should follow standard procedures for all passengers. Please implement recommendations of the…