| Praja

The middle-class slums?

30 September 2007 - 11:59pm — silkboard

Literally no peace or silence. Hear it all loud and clear when any of your neighbors talk. So called 'individual' houses, most of them joined with one another at hips. No air or space between them. 8 to 10 feet wide roads (practically speaking), dotted with cars, and cobwebbed with cables of all sorts - tv, telephone and electricity in that order.

BMIC - Supreme Court questions notification inviting global bids

28 September 2007 - 8:40am — silkboard

So, as was expected by most, Supreme Court questions BMIC notification inviting global bids:

"The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the Karnataka Government for issuing a notification inviting global bids for the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project when there was a specific direction issued in April 2006 to the State and to Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) to complete the project expeditiously."

New airport - more aerial shots

26 September 2007 - 11:55am — silkboard

For whatever it is worth, recently when a flight presented an opportunity, I tried some photos of the upcoming Bangalore Airport (BIAL). The results? Nothing too good, but here they are. And sorry, couldn't manage to shoot the approach roads. Next time and more aerial pics soon.

PRR Phase I

23 September 2007 - 8:25pm — tsubba

Work on the first phase of the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR), aimed to decongest Bangalore, would start in mid-October after STUP Consultants, the agency chosen to chalk out the design, submitted the detailed project report, said M.K. Shankaralinge Gowda, Commissioner, Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), here on Saturday.

BMIC Fresh Global Tenders

23 September 2007 - 5:40pm — tsubba

The ongoing tussle between the State Government and Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE), promoters of the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project, has taken a new turn with the Government floating global tenders to take over the controversial project under the ‘Swiss challenge’.

Choked Bangalore - Heart of the matter?

23 September 2007 - 4:08pm — silkboard

The best piece of news I have heard this month came last week. It goes "BBMP to book crook engineers". Its something we all know and suspect to be true for ever now, and the plan to break the so called 'nexus' is ambitious:

"BBMP will book the engineers of the erstwhile CMCs and TMC who have sanctioned projects on storm water drains, valleys, in agricultural lands etc. ... Taking a serious note of rampant violation of zoning regulations and building bylaws, the BBMP ... will trace these officials ... and recommend action against them ... In the wake of demolitions being carried out across the city, the BBMP has stumbled on several cases where engineers have encouraged encroachments in exchange for kickbacks running into lakhs of rupees."

Not that we haven't heard similar language before, but there is an interesting twist to BBMP's threat this time.

CDP: Anticipating Growth

21 September 2007 - 8:32pm — tsubba

With the new Comprehensive Development Plan - Master Plan 2015 - allowing commercial development in residential areas depending on road width, an area of 55 sqkm across the city has been earmarked for mixed land use. Residential areas with roads more than 60 feet wide will see commercial establishments emerging. While commercial space in some of these roads has already been developed, other connecting roads too will see hectic development shortly.

Major roads of more than 60 ft width in various localities in the city:

Banashankari: Kathriguppa Main Road, Puttana Chetty Road, Uttarahalli Main Road, Puttenahalli Main Road, Ittamadu Main Road, Pipeline Road, and Bugle Rock Road.

Benson Town: Millers Road, St John's Road, Mosque Road, and Coles Road.

Jayanagar: R V Road, Pattalamma Street, K R Road, Kanakapura Road, B P Wadia Road, Lalbagh Fort Road, and South End Road.

Questions about MRTS Bangalore

21 September 2007 - 8:10pm — Naveen

Hi! My letter to be sent to BMRCL is as follows - please review & advise your comments, thanks.
Pertaining to the Metro & Mono-Rail for Bangalore, I request you to please advise me on the following queries that I have under the RTI Act.

Don't just be the change, mass-produce it...

20 September 2007 - 1:37pm — cvikash

What does it mean to : "Be the Change, we want to see." Many of us grapple with this advice, so did Pranav (Silkboard) and I, when we recently met. Alex Steffen at worldchanging.com goes a step further and applies it to our present context: "If our world is really looking down the barrel of environmental catastrophe, how do I live my life right now?” asked an email I got recently.

What's so awfully wrong with Bangalore Metro design ?

19 September 2007 - 5:47pm — cvikash

The basic problem with Bangalore Metro Rail design, which is a "carbon copy" of the Delhi Metro Rail design is: i. its failure to define a catchment area and ii. design for seamless integration of feeder services and metro rail system (with seamless ticketing and intermodal synchronization) - RIGHT AT THE INCEPTION.

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