Infrastructure

Look at this video. Rain water—rather more of a cesspool—greenish, smelly water—collected in an open abandoned granite mine, being filled in a "Drinking Water" tanker. The location is right next to RBD Stillwaters (next to Lakedew Lake/ Puravankara Skywoods), in Harlur near Parappana Agrahara Main Road and Kudlu Road, on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Such tankers also deliver drinking water to many residential projects including apartments. They also deliver water for upcoming constructions in the nearby areas. Banibrata Dutta, a concerned resident who lives in an apartment near Sarjapur Road, shot this video. He says: “Who knows, it could even…

Kasa - Rasa center. Pic: Pinky Chandran "There was a time when I didn't have enough food to eat. Now I am so busy that I don't have enough time for food," says Krishna, once a waste picker, now runs  Domlur Dry Waste Collection Center Ward no 112, and employs six people. Krishna is one of the many informal waste sector workers that run the Dry Waste Collection Centers (DWCC) in Bengaluru. DWCCs were set up following a Lok Adalat’s intervention directing the Municipality to set up these centers to enable ward level recycling in 2010. The Karnataka High Court…

What a day! It was a treat to see people pouring out of streets and alleys to join the human chain, merge in seamlessly, bringing their own posters, chanting their own slogans, and through small acts of kindness, reinforcing each others' faith in the compassion that is at the core of all of us. One protestor brought biscuits and drinks for the rest of the gang. Another stepped off the bus unaware of the protest, but joined in spontaneously and started coordinating the walk towards Vydehi. Buses gave free rides to the protestors gathered at Marathahalli and Kundanahalli. Men, women…

Dear Industry Captains in Bengaluru, Greetings from a Whitefield citizen. Without beating around the bush, I’ll straight away get into the topic. I’m going down the memory lane. In May 2008, when the news of the new BIAL airport opening and shutting down of HAL had surfaced, there was a lot of noise from industries. The highlight was that all of you, the Bengaluru-based IT-BT industry captains, had come out in full force and protested the closure of HAL airport according to this report. The distance to the new airport and the time taken to commute to the airport was…

Residents of Whitefield who are tired of the poor infrastructure facilities in the area, will take to streets on Monday, November 30th, 2015. They have launched Save Whitefield campaign to protest against the government authorities’ apathy over improving infrastructure in the area and make it livable. A Facebook Page Save Whitefield says: “On 30th November, we all march out of our homes and workplaces to be part of a peaceful protest from 10 am to 1 pm, to bring the city, media and authorities’ attention to the civic and infrastructure woes of Whitefield and neighbouring areas in East Bangalore.” The…

Ramakrishnaiah H N owns a medium scale industry in Kamakshipalya that supplies electronic items to government agencies as well as to MNCs. In the last three months, his industry’s production has gone down by 30 per cent, courtesy, the load shedding. A visibly upset Ramakrishnaiah, who is also the President of Kamakshipalya Industrial Association, forecasts the shutdown of small and medium scale industries if the situation continues for another two months. While the industries located in industrial estates have heaved a sigh of relief with the BESCOM’s staggered power holiday announcement (no power for one industrial area for a day…

HSR Layout residents participate in the protest against stench emanating from KCDC. Pic: Akshatha M ‘Garbage-free? Garbage is free here!’ ‘Allow us to breathe clean air,’ ‘KCDC, shut down or behave,’ ‘Process! Don’t pollute,’ ‘I want to go for fishing and boating at Somasundarapalya lake,’ read some of the placards. From children to senior citizens, majority of the crowd were holding placards that conveyed their demand to the Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC). About 500 residents of HSR Layout and nearby areas had assembled on the banks of Somasundarapalya lake, a few metres away from KCDC unit on Saturday morning,…

  To: Smt. Vandita Sharma, IAS , Principal Secretary, Infrastructure Development Department, GOK Dear Madam, Greetings! Wishing you and your family, a happy Vijayadashmi. I hope your near and dear ones are also celebrating the festival with same fervor and spirits as done in past years. On this very auspicious day and occasion, there are families like parents of Poornima Sundaram, age 17, who died in the accident recently in Majestic Area knocked down by a BMTC bus, who are not celebrating. They are mourning the demise of their loved ones when we are celebrating the victory of good over the…

Anything in plenty loses its value. Anything–even human life! That’s why when we read of treacherous genocide of thousands of innocent people somewhere away from our vicinity, the intensity of the sorrow that we feel is short-lived—we are able to carry on with our lives quite normally. We know, as individuals we can do jolly little to change anything on this planet.  Is that wholly true? I went to Calgary in Canada recently to spend time with my son and daughter-in-law. The wonderful roads, neat and even footpaths and walking trails and the marvelous traffic sense of the drivers of…

DWCC at RR Nagar managed by RISE Foundation is defunct now after some individuals forcefully closed its doors claiming ownership of the land. Pic: Veena Rajappa Nine months ago when the second dry waste collection centre (DWCC) was opened at Rajarajeshwari Nagar ward in Bengaluru, people of this ward had all reasons to cheer. For, it was the only ward which boasted of having two functional dry waste collection centres in BBMP limits. Establishing this centre took a lot of hardships. After fighting several hurdles and suffering inordinate delays, the centre was finally established in a full-fledged manner. It became…