Environment

A decisive action was taken to restore encroached land by the officials of the Bengaluru Urban district. Dayananda, Tahsildar (Bangalore South taluk) must be commended for braving all obstacles in doing the job and restoring the encroached land on Ibblur lake bed. These officials must be given due credit that they stood the ground, followed the procedures and rescued illegally encroached land, sometimes bringing grave danger to their lives. Ibblur lake has 18 acres and 6 guntas per the certified survey records. Of that, a good chunk went to Outer Ring Road during the early 2000s. With real estate booming…

"Kasa Muktha Bellandur" campaign (earlier called Clean Bell and renamed to align with city level initiative) has taken off to a very positive start. This campaign aims to achieve responsible, end-to-end solid waste management in the Bellandur ward. The main objectives of phase-1 of Kasa Muktha Bellandur are as follows: Standardise waste segregation process for all residential communities (using colour coded bins) in the ward. Accomplish 100% segregation and eliminate usage of plastic bags for garbage disposal.  Segregation pamphlet outlining the waste categorisation followed by Kasa Muktha Bellandur. Key accomplishments in last four weeks: Around 30 apartments adopted and implemented this…

In recent times, two newspapers (Deccan Chronicle and Times of India) have featured the Dry Waste Collection Centres of Bengaluru, in the guise of an 'expose,' leaving tan ignorant reader with a distasteful feeling with the use of dramatic phrases - to name a few, ‘Misuse by waste-pickers’, ‘Waste of public money by allowing the centers to become money spinners for private enterprises,’ ’Dark side of the DWCC underbelly.’ One of the articles has quoted the source as a study / report done by two citizens.  As an SWM practitioner working closely with the BBMP and with the several NGOs /private…

The Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) of India, in its report, has indicted the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) of not clearing the encroachment of Doddabidarakallu lake, before taking up restoration works, and not being able to complete the work as per the specifications. The CAG report on General and Social Sector for Karnataka for the year ending at March 2013, says that the BDA had accorded administrative approval for the work of restoration and development of the Doddabidarakallu lake at a cost of Rs 8.25 crore, in May 2010. The Lake Development Authority (LDA) approved the technical sanction to the work…

Under the light of a pen-torch, they peer closely at the photograph of the same spot they took that morning. Ugh! This is the corner of Church Street and Rest House Road, right outside the entrance to the offices of Wipro & Times of India. Church Street is Bengaluru’s most happening street, packed with pubs, restaurants, cafes and bookstores, and always full of people having a good time. If you had to pick one street that symbolized Bangalore, it would have to be Church Street on a weekend. But there is a dark side to Church Street - ugly spots…

There comes a time in your life when it doesn’t matter what comfort zone you are in, you just want to move on and do something in life — something for the society; something to better the lives of others; something that everyone cannot do. This doesn’t happen to all, but Kalpana Kar saw it happen to her. Once she left her corporate comforts behind, incorporating professionalism in local governance became her new passion in life. Kalpana began her corporate career in TATA administrative services. She worked in Tata Unisys and Titan Industries. She also helped her husband in the…

Going to the lake at least once every day, we are apt to overlook or take for granted, the birds at the lake. Those in the water may still get a glance but we often miss the ones flying overhead, hiding in the foliage or even sitting still on a branch. Participating in the Bangalore Bird Count on Sunday, 16th February changed all this - at least for a couple of hours!  Our team consisted of Gopinath Subbarao, Harish Mahendrakar (the two experts), Indrajit Chatterjee (photographer), Vishnu and Siddharth, 9th std. students and me, from PNLIT. We began the exercise…

Press release from Save Bangalore Lakes Trust The Save Bangalore Lakes Trust (SBLT) along with residents of the Horamavu area (organised as the Save Horamavu Lakes group) held a walkathon on the morning of Sunday, February 16, 2014, to spread awareness about the status of lakes in the Horamavu area. The two lakes in Horamavu, i.e., Horamavu Agara Keré (50.34 acres) and Horamavu Keré (37.14 acres) are both under the jurisdiction of the BDA. Over the years both have suffered from massive encroachments, destruction of the raja kaluves flowing into and from them, dumping of waste and other debris, and…

Great (Global) Backyard Bird Count this weekend! Bangaloreans, put your plans for this weekend on hold and participate in the Great Global Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)! Or maybe, you could carry on with your plans, so long as you participate in the Great Global Backyard Bird Count! The Great Global Backyard Bird Count is an annual census of sorts, tracking species and number of birds across the world. Launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, it was the first online citizen-science project to collect data on wild birds. In the past 14 years, tens…

Chapter 2: The Hit! Friday, 1145pm. Two shadowy figures walk furtively along Bangalore’s fabled  Mahatma Gandhi Road – the pubs are closing, the autorickshaw drivers are haggling with late night customers, the night shift call centre employees are going in to work, as the heart of the city of 9 million people is winding down after a busy Friday night. They rush past the popular 13th Floor lounge bar (where they earlier had dinner and plotted the night’s ‘hit’), past the paanwala and KFC outlet, and pause briefly.  A 5-floor building looms above them – it houses the offices of…