Commute

The Puttenahalli Main Road at the Brigade Millennium arch is chaotic during the peak morning and evening hours. Now a traffic signal at Brigade Millennium arch on Puttenahalli Main Road has been approved! The chaotic junction at night. Pic: O P Ramaswamy. PNLIT representatives had discussed the feasibility of getting a signal, with our Puttenahalli Corporator L Ramesh, but we were not sure if the junction would satisfy the requirements of the Traffic Police, that justify the investment. What better way to find out than by putting the Traffic Police on the job! Our message to the Traffic Police Commissioner,…

Twenty one families of Jayabheema Nagar slum in Malleswaram were displaced when their houses were demolished on Tuesday morning. A park or a playground will be built in that area. The slum, located behind Mantri Sqaure, was close to the upcoming Metro station here. It falls next to the alignment of BBMP's proposed 20 m road which would connect the Metro station to the main road. Demolition of Jayabheema Nagar slum in Malleswaram started at 4 am on Tuesday morning. Pic: Navya P K The slum does not come in the way of the road alignment, but would create a…

The Sankey Road trees might have survived longer had the Mayor Sharadamma Ramanjaneya initiated a meeting of the Tree Authority of which she is the convener. But Shardamma is not aware of the Tree Authority for Bangalore. The authority is supposed to hear the public's complaints on tree felling. Citizens and organisations can appeal decisions by forest department officials such as the BBMP Tree Officer, permitting or disallowing cutting of trees in the city. One of the trees BBMP cut during the midnight operation on June 30th-July 1st. Pic: Yogaraj Mudalgi. The top forest official in BBMP limits, Deputy Conservator…

While BMTC has started some good initiatives like introducing new routes and Bus Day, there was a huge blow to the corporation - rise in diesel rates by Rs 3 per litre. Immediately BMTC announced a bus fare increase - was this hike seriously necessary? Bus tickets. File pic. The diesel fares rose by Rs 3. An average BMTC bus gives about 4 km/litre and some new ones go up to  5 km/litre. That means an average increase of about 75 paise per kilometre. The number of passengers travelling in a bus averages 40-45, meaning there is absolutely just less…

A 63-year old former BBMP official M B Krishnamurthy, is one of over dozen people arrested so far at the Sankey Road protests. Krishnamurthy, a diabetic patient and self-confessed tree lover, spoke to Citizen Matters from Vyalikaval Police Station where he was detained along with green activists. Ironically, Krishnamurthy is from the same BBMP engineering department that is currently felling the trees for roadwidening.  Sankey Road tree felling ongoing on July 1st. Pic: Lakshmi Sharath. For the past two days Malleswaram citizens have expressed fury against the BBMP for pushing forward with its roadwidening plan along a section of Sankey…

As is widely experienced by Bangaloreans, malls, high rises and tech parks are now congestion hotspots around the city. A recent update at the Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP)'s Facebook page talks about traffic congestion at Nagavara junction in north Bangalore. Traffic at the junction is four times the capacity during peak hours; BTP attributes this to the nearly 10,000 vehicles that go to and from Manyata Tech Park for two hours every morning and evening.Citizen Matters has found out that the city's sanction process for malls and similar complexes is at the root of the rapidly worsening problem. Traffic management…

It was a tense few hours for residents of Malleshwaram on 29th June.   Some 25 residents including activist Meenakshi Bharath had gathered near Sankey Tank at 11 am to prevent the auction of trees that were to be felled by the BBMP for widening of Sankey Road.  Tree officer and Assistant Conservator of Forests, Venkateshappa had come with other BBMP officials to initiate the auction. Protestors in a heated argument with Tree Officer Venkateshappa. Pic: Yogaraj Mudalgi. Anticipating trouble, personnel from Karnataka State Police (KSP) were present at the venue. Vinay Sreenivasa of the city's green network Hasiru Usiru requested…

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will introduce feeder services under the name of 'Big Connect'. The service is based on the directive issued by the High Court of Karnataka and will be effective on 19 routes across Bengaluru from 26th June 2011. Services for two more routes will be announced after BWSSB has finished laying of pipelines. The service hopes to improve bus connectivity in outer areas of Bangalore. 'Big Connect' Feeder routes. Source: BMTC. (Click to enlarge) The press release issued by BMTC says that the department will assess the performance of all the routes for a period…

Two months after Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP) started its page in Facebook, it has about 3,800 'likes'. In this interview with Citizen Matters, Praveen Sood, ACP, Bangalore Traffic, talks about the idea behind the initiative, how it has turned out and further expectations.What was the original idea behind starting the BTP page?Our main intention is to educate and sensitise public about traffic rules and create a forum for discussion. We also get lot of feedback which we would not get otherwise - like, when a signal is not working. This forum is not just a shoulder to cry on or…

God's own country, from where I hail from had glorified the three wheeler and the men at its helm in a blockbuster movie by the title "Aye Auto". Not that the auto-wallahs out there went out of the way to hail the glorified status adorned to them. But they were far more endearing than the auto-drivers who rule the Bangalore roads.My angst against the steerers of the three wheel wonder was lying like a dormant volcano ready to errupt at the slightest disturbance. The volcano had a verbal breakout last weekend during my weekend trip to the Total Mall adjoining…