Environment

God knows Whitefield needs help. Therefore it may have been a wise move to have the next spot fix outside the historic Memorial Church. Dell brought an enthusiastic team out while Brigade sponsored the civil work. BESCOM ensured folks were safe and powered down the transformer(sorry if you were affected) while BBMP and BTP did their bit. Whitefield Club opened their gates for the transit area and the team got cracking. As always, magic happens when the atmosphere is charged with such positivity and energy. People get creative, work hard in a team and get the job done. Of special…

  Construction work on Bellandur wetlands continues unabated. Pic: Nikita Malusare Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike issued an order to M/s Manipal ETA Infotech Ltd. (Mantri Techzone Private Limited) directing the latter to stop the construction of the 72-acre project coming up on the wetland between Agara and Bellandur lakes in Bengaluru. This order comes after the Karnataka Upa Lokayukta rapped BBMP on the continuance of construction activities in spite of the lack of proper approvals from BBMP. The order, from the BBMP Commissioner Lakshminarayan, a copy of which with Citizen Matters, directed the Bommanahalli Zonal Joint Commissioner to act immediately to…

About six months ago, the Chief Minister announced, with the usual fanfare and ribbon cutting, that the city would be 'garbage-free in 6 months'. Since then, regularly on this wall, I have been counting down the clock to this deadline. Now he's about to give us the Christmas gift we've all been waiting for - one more promise to do something, probably in 6 more months. It was always clear that this would not happen on time. But rather than be a skeptic from the beginning, I decided to wait. I even offered to help some BBMP corporators in South…

Upalokayukta Subhash Adi had visited Kaikondrahalli lake in October 2013, to study the work done by citizens and BBMP in restoring the lake. Pic: Meera K Upa Lokayukta seems to be emerging as a new saviour for Bengaluru’s lakes. Subhash Adi, the Upa Lokayukta of Karnataka Lokayukta, has set a deadline of three months for BBMP to clear the encroachment of lakes by slums, with proper rehabilitation. Upa Lokayukta came up with this order after reading the inspection reports on 183 lakes done by BBMP, BDA and other civic agencies that look into the lakes of Bengaluru. The report by…

A waste dump in Kadu Malleshwara ward continues as ever, even after the pilot project came into being. Pic: Shree D N One thing religiously practised by every citizen when it comes to failure of any project: Blame the government. But this time citizens too have equal blame to take. The citizens of Bangalore seem to have forgotten the garbage crisis which erupted last year distorting the sight and smell of the garden city. The target was to achieve 80 percent waste segregation at the source within eight weeks. But a status report on Kasa Mukta project projects a low success…

Wonder why the Mayor of San Francisco visited Namma Bengaluru recently? What is common factor between Bangalore and San Francisco? Both cities are IT hubs, have pleasant weather and good educational institutions. But the similarities don't end here - they are 'Sister Cities' too. The concept of sister cities came into being as a means of fostering cultural ties between two towns, cities, even countries from geographically different areas. Bangalore is twinned with four cities – San Francisco and Cleveland in North America, Minsk in Belarus (there is apparently a Bangalore Square in Minsk) and most recently, Chengdu in China.…

I am staying in a complex called Purva Panorama on B G Road Bangalore where we have 650 apartments. The time when no one was bothered or thought of doing segregation, we, Purva Panoramites, were way ahead in the process of segregation. We took our first baby step of Solid Waste Management in June 2011, right after a beautiful presentation by N S Ramakanth in our complex. Although there were not too many people present in the meeting as usual, we didn't waste time. We started  the project with just a few people in our team. Me, S.Venkatesh Kini,  Alok…

Two originally 40-odd acre lakes, with two concerned citizens’ groups. Two Lal Bahadur Shastri Nagars, near two airports. Two citizen events: Vibhutipura Lake – Saturday 14th Dec 2013, 9 a.m. onwards; Walkathon to increase awareness about the lake and garner support for the completion of its rejuvenation. More details here. Allalasandra Lake – Sunday 15th Dec 2013, 6 a.m. to 8 a.m.; Shramadhaana involving cleaning the periphery of the lake of all physical garbage and planting trees next to the pathway; Hon'ble Justice Sri Hulavadi G. Ramesh, Judge, High Court of Karnataka who has a keen interest in environmental issues…

Some call him an advisor, while some others call him a gentleman who has solutions for all waste-related worries. At the age of 76, N S Ramakanth goes from house to house in Bengaluru, teaching not only residents and pourakarmikas but also the BBMP officials how to segregate waste and maintain it till it reaches recycling centres. N S Ramakanth interacting with Anjum Parvez, KSRTC MD, during the installation of dust bins in Majestic. Pic courtesy: Soild Waste Management Round Table Facebook page He is known for his infectious ways of talking to people and giving them ideas on zero…