silkboard's blog

BMIC - Why so high toll on NICE road?

21 January 2013 - 10:16pm — silkboard

Kind of tired now of reading once-in-a-while-news-updates on NICE vs State of Karnataka case in Supreme Court. Also tired of seeing blatant self-promotion (misuse? illegal?) by Mr Ashok Kheny on his state-given PPP land. But more than that, why are the tolls so high on the NICE peripheral road?

IDD's railway projects in Karnataka - details and progress

19 January 2013 - 10:27am — silkboard

Wanted to put out IDD's budget allocation for Railway projects. Sourced from IDD website (here), just in case it goes away or is edited. For everyone to see, react or read between the lines :)

Indian Railways and the federal shackles - time for a break up

14 January 2013 - 7:58pm — silkboard

There are state highways, and national highways, who builds and maintains what is pretty clear. Viability analysis and rate of return on investment is not the top consinderation when state, such as Karnataka decides to upgrade a state highway, or just build a new road to connect a new district.

Pictures of rooftop Solar system

22 December 2012 - 8:59am — silkboard

Continuing over from this other discussion (Rooftop solar for domestic needs), here are the pictures of the Solar system we put up at a remote rural location.

Batteries and charge controller, or "Solar power conditioning unit" as they call it

Extortion - the three way squeeze on street vendors & hawkers

12 December 2012 - 8:22am — silkboard

Hope you all read about the BBMP councillor extorting Rs 15000 / month from an eatery at Kalasipalya. Here is the news report in DH. I cross checked to find same version in Hindu also, so its not a one off tabloid type story:

Right to Services - Sakala doing well? Numbers for you

5 December 2012 - 9:31am — silkboard

Sakala launched in April this year, and the system should now have more than 6 months worth data for us to see. Thankfully, Sakala system makes a lot of data public. Just go to Sakala website, and then, on the right hand side, find links to "public reports", and report of last month, right now November.

Koramangala - new mall on Agara Lake to choke Sarjapur Road?

26 November 2012 - 11:01pm — silkboard

Remember this accusation made seven months ago? refer DH article from May:

You could be jailed if you comment on this post

25 November 2012 - 5:16pm — silkboard

Well, its possible. You could go to jail if your comment is not in compliance with the dreaded IT Act. If you have been watching the news lately, you know what this means. Here is the Information technology act of 2000, amended in 2008, in full, sourced from a government site (Meghalaya police site!).

Like BTP's Public-Eye, why not BBMP as well?

22 November 2012 - 8:26am — silkboard

Traffic Police just launched "Public Eye" (discuss that on Rithesh's old post here). I was wondering why BBMP too can't have similar system where one can take pictures of byelaw or public space violations and upload to BBMP.

BMRDA - dead, defunct, or dormant?

18 October 2012 - 8:44am — silkboard

No news is good news is how some say it. Hope it applies to BMRDA as well. Do a news search on BMRDA, you see nothing. The only thing new on their website recently is a list of "un-authorized approved" layouts. Wonder what that means, approved, but not authorized, hmm.

Money for BBMP from Cable/Fibre operators

16 October 2012 - 8:45am — silkboard

On some forums etc, I am surprised to see people object to BBMP looking to charge Fibre/Cable operators for using trees, poles, sewrage lines, road side trenches etc. Why not? Leave the part about these guys (esp the cable operators) weaving an ugly tangled web around us (look up anywhere in the city, and you will see).

High petrol prices in Karnataka - why, and where does it go?

9 October 2012 - 9:05am — silkboard

Petrol prices were reduced this week to adjust for rupee dollar exchange rate softening. However, back in May, our CM had promised to look into cut in cess on petrol prices, here:

Paying your domestic help, BMTC strike, and the minimum wage scandal

8 October 2012 - 9:10am — silkboard

A question for you. Did you give your domestic help(s) a day off on Gandhi Jayanti? If not, then did you give them (domestic help, apartment security, etc) double the usual pay for working on a National Holiday?

Pushing Solar Power usage - ideas to take to KREDL, BESCOM

17 May 2012 - 1:04am — silkboard

Through our personal experiences here, and after hearing from a few professionals and tech guys in the field, we have some understanding of hurdles and possibilities here, on increasing adoption of Solar Power. Are govt agencies doing enough to 1) promote this as "green" power, 2) use Solar as a way to fill the supply shortage? We don't know.

500c crowds thinning due to new flyovers?

6 April 2012 - 12:54am — silkboard

This is more of a hunch, based on observation during last two weeks. But as I commute into the city from Whitefield everyday, and get to see crowded 500c buses (Vajra) at around the same time everyday at Marathalli, I get this feeling that the 500c crowds have thinned a bit.

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