Infrastructure

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…

Early this century, Whitefield caught the attention of the world with the setting up of IT Parks and world-class gated ­­­communities. It became a symbol of modern India, a hub of smartness. Whitefielders, including techies and farmers, immigrants and locals, rich and poor, bicyclists and water tanker drivers, are still working hard to stay in the limelight. It’s hard to stay in the limelight by creating a few startups and a couple of fancy homes, Whitefielders have found. It’s easier to gain attention by extraordinary egregious behaviour as a community – lessons learned from the reality TV shows. Famous lake…

This article and related guide articles on property matters are also available in the Citizen Matters e-book ‘Buying, Investing and Renting Property in Bengaluru’, published by Oorvani Media Pvt. Ltd. Copying this in any form will attract litigation. The e-book is available here. While properties are an evergreen area of investment, there are people who seek to buy property for the sake of living too. Whichever the case is, it is only prudent to check and ensure that the property is completely legal, given the amount of Akrama Sakrama and GPA scams that have been reported in the city. Here…

The National Green Tribunal has lashed out at the eight-member Expert Committee on the quality of its report on Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project by two private companies in Agara-Bellandur catchment area. The NGT has taken exception to the report and criticised the Committee for non-compliance with the directions of the Tribunal. The Tribunal chaired by Justice Swatanter Kumar in its order on Thursday observed that the High Power Committee did not file the report within stipulated time. “And now when the report has been filed before the Tribunal, we have no hesitation in observing that the report does not…