Commute

A swanky, new, maroon coloured car drove down from Madhavan Park towards the Jayanagar shopping complex in south Bangalore one recent morning, as I was walking along that stretch. This car had a set of large, cute-looking, black-and-white puppies painted on its side. A man who was driving past in another car, pointed to the  puppies painted on the maroon car and  exclaimed to his wife sitting beside him, as I stood waiting to cross the road,  "Look at that -" and while he was pointing he failed to notice the cyclist who was riding past on his right, and…

On September 1st 2010, local daily newspapers reported that BBMP Commissioner H Siddaiah had issued a circular to zonal joint commissioners to fill all potholes in the city within a fortnight. Each ward was given Rs 1 lakh for this purpose. On September 15th, the deadline came. And went. But potholes continue to remain. In south Bangalore's Kengeri (Ward 159), Corporator R Anjanappa (BJP) says they have completed work only to an extent. "Rs 1 lakh is too little money for us to fill all potholes...there are still many potholes to be filled", he says. Suresh Devathraj, an engineer in…

The construction of a subway at the busy KR Market has been delayed by almost two years now. Local officials in the BBMP, BWSSB and the contractors carrying out the work, are passing the buck, blaming one another. Currently, work on the site has been held up due to a massive sewage pipe that needs to be removed. The subway construction near KR Market started way back in September 2006. Pic: Prabhu Mallikarjunan The Rs 6 crores project started in September 2006 and was scheduled to be completed in January 2009. Seventeen months have passed since, without much progress. The…

For over two hours on Saturday August 14, beginning at 9.30 am, I carried out this experiment, around the intersection near Jayanagar’s fourth block bus terminus. In that duration, out of 48 car drivers and passengers who stopped along the kerb and opened the car door on the right, 35 did not bother to watch out for oncoming traffic. That’s around 80 per cent. File pic: Raghavendra G. Remember the accident reported in the papers a few days ago, where a car driver opening his vehicle’s door caused the death of a two wheeler rider who rammed into the open…

Roadwidening. Who thought that such a term would come into being and cause such a brouhaha here in Bengaluru. Anyways - the protests, the government and BBMP going back and forth on suspending roadwidening, TDR (Transfer of Development Rights) notices being slapped, red marks on the wall - all this has been talked about over and over. Now here's something new to swallow. Sources in the BBMP recently told Citizen Matters about 23 roads that are being widened. This is not part of the list of roads that are stuck in a High Court case. These are roads of newly-added…

Bangalore is famous for addresses that go, Door no. abc, X Cross, Y Main, Bangalore.But recently I spotted an address that gives two main roads as co-ordinates...Logic says that if one of the co-ordinates is a main road, the other one must be a cross road...so how is this possible? ⊕

While unrest continues over roadwidening in the city, including a pending court case, the BBMP is widening 23 roads that are former BDA layouts. Work has already begun and is expected to finish in a year. The BBMP is widening, strengthening and asphalting 23 roads in Bengaluru, under grants given by the Government of Karnataka. Sources in the BBMP say that work on these roads began six months ago and is expected to be completed in the next one year. These 23 roads are not part of the 100-odd roads that are stuck in the Karnataka High Court, due to…

Nearly two and a half years after work began, there may finally be light at the tunnel, or in this case, an underpass. Construction on the JP Nagar 15th cross Ring Road in south Bengaluru is scheduled to be completed by the third week of September. Signs of completion have emerged as work entered the 30th month. Pic: Venkatesan Perumal. Highly placed sources in the BBMP have confirmed this to Citizen Matters but refused to comment on when the underpass itself will be inaugurated thereafter. The BBMP official says that work left to be completed includes painting, lighting, laying of…

The state government is doing a rethink on the Transfer of Development rights (TDR) scheme and announced a panel last week to be led by ABIDE-member Dr A Ravindra, according to the DNA. A public workshop is also going to held soon. This follows much citizen angst and resentment about roadwidening and BBMP's offering of TDR as compensation. (ABIDE is the chief minister's task force - Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure Development) This is a welcome move. Citizens will hopefully find their voices heard at this meeting. But the real issue is not TDR, as much as the state government may…

Over the last few weeks the state government, BBMP and city officials have been dilly-dallying over roadwidening in Bengaluru. The project itself has spurred a number of protests across the city and has also resulted in the forming of several associations and groups to jointly fight this. Former Mayor P R Ramesh filed a petition in the High Court in December 2009. File photo. But if you thought it was only public outrage that was stopping the city administration from carrying out roadwidening work, here's the real story. Over 100 roads, notified for roadwidening, are actually stonewalled because of an…