Infrastructure

What started as a happy celebration ended in a terrible tragedy at ‘1 above’ restaurant located in the reputed Kamala Mills Complex, Mumbai on December 29, 2017. The fire that broke out at the resto-bar claimed the lives of 14 people and left several others injured. Since then, a spate of other fire accidents have been reported from Mumbai and cities across India, highlighting more often than not the alarming and abysmal state of fire safety preparedness in our cities. Fire accidents can happen anytime, anywhere. It was not too long ago that Chennaites witnessed the seven-storeyed building of The…

Chennai airport has been in the news for quite some time now. For those of us who regularly come through its portals, some of the news sounds almost comic. One of the articles in the dailies says Chennai airport is soon going to see Phase II of expansion, after which it will be like Singapore's Changi airport. Another said that there will be a tunnel to connect the passenger and cargo terminals that are proposed in Phase II.  The third report said that the airport is attempting a 10-day trial of operating the cross runway in order to increase the…

The Mayor of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike recently announced a scheme to crush the waste and flush it to sewage drains. Activists and solid waste management enthusiasts are opposing it and petitions are floating around. Why? Not without solid reason. Here is a list of all that is wrong with 'crush-and-flush' approach. 1. It will waste a lot of fresh water for flushing. Each kitchen will need between 10-20 litres of extra fresh water every day to flush down the pulverized food. This is like having four extra full flushes in your toilet, on daily basis! Already Bengaluru has acute…

Srinivas (52), Mahadev Gowda (42), Narayana Swamy (35) died while they were cleaning the Collection Tank of the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in ND Sepal Apartments in HSR Layout. The apartment management association RWA of the 80-unit complex, largely occupied by software engineers, now finds itself charged with a crime under IPC section 304A. STP issue was in news recently because of a tussle between the government and the apartment owners. Following a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order, the Government made it mandatory for even older apartment complexes to have STPs in their premises and added a penalty for failing…

Lane-wise composting pilot was flagged off in HSR Layout on December 12th by MLA M Sathish Reddy who donated 12 lane composters to mark his birthday. The elected representative has previously donated puja flower composting rinks to 12 temples and 100 home-composting kits. All wet waste of the houses in one lane will be composted in a composter installed in that lane near the house of the lane-volunteer. The composter will be locked, so that no passerby can drop any litter in it and the BBMP supervisor who holds the key will be held accountable for the quality of segregated…

I moved to Bengaluru six months ago to start a fellowship programme. This was my first visit to Asia. I was fortunate my housing was sorted by my host organisation. Most expatriates and students who come to Bengaluru are not as lucky as they have to look for accommodation on their own. For first timers finding reasonable, quality accommodation in a good neighbourhood can be quite a challenge. Ideally, the area should be friendly, the neighbours should be good, it should be free from noise and bare necessities should be accessible. Most expats posted to Bengaluru will have a relocation…

The standard of roads in Chennai city is something that the common citizen is all too familiar with. Newly laid roads last a year at the most, after which some patch work has to be undertaken. Otherwise, a total relay is called for within 2 to 3 years, by which time the whole road surface is battered badly. Thus the lifecycle of a road in Chennai usually stretches from one monsoon to the next. World standards indicate asphalt roads last anywhere around seven years; why, then, are roads in Chennai of significantly lower quality, needing constant repair and frequent relay?…

The water bodies in Chennai, which recently ran bone dry, are almost up to the brim today, thanks to an excellent start to the northeast monsoon. But has the city made optimal use of this opportunity, to ensure that it does not face the kind of water crisis that it saw earlier this year? Probably not. The state of our roads, which begin to resemble water bodies after even a brief spell of intense rain, is just one indicator of the poor state of water harvesting and storage in the city. Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) structures in Chennai date back to…

Dear Railway Minister, Bengaluru doesn't need elevated railway tracks. There is a 2012 RITES report on Suburban Rail System gathering dust in your offices that talks about what is needed for Namma Bengaluru. Please take some moments and see what this reports says. I am sure after reading this document you will hang your head in shame. The current state of railways is not of your making but a result of decades of not doing the hard work of upgrading and bringing in required efficiencies. It is reported in news that you have suggested to have elevated tracks to decongest…

This petition will be handed over to the Railways officially by the Hosur Payanigal Meambattu Sangham, on October 26, 2017, at 7.30 am, in Hosur Railway Station. To, Honorable Shri Piyush Goyal, The Honorable Minister of Indian Railways, Government of India. From, The Daily Rail Commuters between Hosur and Bengaluru Hosur Tamilnadu. Respected Sir, Sub: Requesting to approve the doubling of track between Hosur and Bengaluru; and stoppage of Express trains in a few stations. We are the proud passengers who commute up and down from Hosur to Bengaluru on daily basis to earn our livelihood. Most of us are…