murali772's blog

What purpose does BMTF serve?

11 October 2013 - 11:13am — murali772

Holding that the power of the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) is restricted to protecting public property and detecting unauthorized construction/encroachment on such land, the Karnataka high court on Thursday quashed the chargesheets and FIRs filed by BMTF against BBMP engineers for not stopping illegal construction on private properties.

Blatant violations of rule of law

1 October 2013 - 5:38pm — murali772

Now, even as I had just finished publishing the post titled "re-assertion of the rule of law?", pertaining to the government clearing encroachments onto the Kaggadaspura lake (check this), I was hit by this bombshell of a post (full text below) on "SaveKoramangala Ya

Re-assertion of rule of law?

1 October 2013 - 5:04pm — murali772

Illegal apartment complexes, temples, coconut plantations, temporary sheds, buildings and compounds around Kaggadasapura lake in Varthur hobli will be brought down on Saturday, as the Bangalore Urban district officials will undertake a major eviction drive to clear the encroachments around the lake.

BMTC's Trunk & Feeder services

16 September 2013 - 1:42pm — murali772

BMTC has at long last announced commencement of the Trunk & Feeder Services (check here), which was what was envisaged when the Big-10 services were started.

Land Acquisition, R & R Bill - last nail on industrialisation coffin?

28 August 2013 - 5:43pm — murali772

The Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Resettlement Bill introduced in Parliament is a terrible piece of work. It is a Luddite proposal that threatens all economic development.

The '108 service' conundrum

31 July 2013 - 9:02pm — murali772

Duty calls, but they decided to hold the state on ransom to make their woes heard, by evading duty calls. Hundreds of drivers and paramedical staff of Arogya Kavacha (108 ambulance services) gathered at Freedom Park to press for their demands for job security and wage hikes on Sunday.

Need for change in work culture

18 July 2013 - 1:46pm — murali772

The picture below of a switch box at the 4th cross junction, RMV extn, Sadashivanagar (near Sri Mallikarjun Kharge's house), possibly of the high-mast lamp installation adjacent to it, was taken yesterday. It is right on the footpath, and at a level where even school children can readily access the open wires. And, that is a potential hazard, particularly in the current monsoon season.

Signal-free corridors for arterial city roads - advisable?

8 July 2013 - 5:04pm — murali772

What would be better is to complete the ongoing strategy of BBMP to make the Big10 roads and the Outer Ring Road signal free. This will create a preferred mobility corridor for movement in and out of the city, and also around the city.

Bangalore future with no landfills

12 June 2013 - 6:37pm — murali772

Came upon this ad in the ToI today.

Thereafter, I browsed through

Whither green activism?

31 May 2013 - 7:10pm — murali772

Green activists and local villagers have taken serious exception to proposals from defence and research institutions to build sensitive projects on the 10,000 acres of Amrit Mahal Kaval land allotted to them in Challakere taluk of Chitradurga district. Among the sensitive projects are a Defence Research Development Organization proposal to start an aeronaut

A strong case for legalising betting

28 May 2013 - 2:05pm — murali772

Nobody knows exactly how big illegal betting is in India. The police estimate that betting on just the IPL — which lasts only six weeks — is Rs 20,000 crore. Betting on all sports and elections is perhaps 10 times higher. If such betting is legalized, and subject to a tax of say 20 per cent, it will generate anything up to Rs 40,000 crore per year in tax revenue.

Contractor-neta raaj

26 May 2013 - 1:31pm — murali772

A day after 198 corporators condemned the BBMP's decision to freeze 1,970 civic works worth Rs 530 crore based on the report given by the vigilance team, the man behind the investigation tendered his registration and opted for VRS.

Mis-carriage of criminal justice

18 May 2013 - 10:36am — murali772

In the midst of the recent Karnataka assembly election campaigning, a member of a certain popular yahoo-group suddenly came up with a posting that Dr Ashwin Mahesh, the LokSatta candidate from Bommanahalli constituency, has a criminal record.

"revenue pockets" - pocket-boroughs of politico's?

3 May 2013 - 7:46pm — murali772

Following are the excerpts from an interview (published in Citizen Matters, for the full text, click here) of the incumbent Congress MLA from BTM layout constituency, who is now seeking re-election from the same constituency:

B-PAC, the mantra for all of city's problems?

30 April 2013 - 1:15pm — murali772

B-PAC (Bangalore Political Action Committee) is all over town, the latest being for backing 14 select candidates for the May 5th Assembly elections.

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