Blogs

Eating up the lake?

24 March 2008 - 12:28am — silkboard

Javascript is required to view this map.

Arkavathy Serious. Arrive Soon.

23 March 2008 - 8:37pm — tsubba

Arkavathi had origins in the Nandi Hills. After a journey of 190 kms around Bangalore it joined the Cauvery at the Sangama in Kanakapura district. Vrushbhavathi was a tributary of the Arkavathi. Arkvathi had a catchment area of 4351 sq. kms from where it collected water.

Both Doddaballapura and Ramanagara depend on Arkavathi, not to mention numerous villages. In 1894 Bangalore first ran out of water from within its boundaries. Then they built two reservoirs on the Arkavathi - the Hesaraghatta reservoir(1894) and the Thippagondanahalli reservoir(1933). Even to this day Arkavathy supplies 20% of Bangalore's water supply.

Like the rest of the peninsular rivers, Arkavathy was never a Brahmaputra. During summers, Arkavathy would reduce to a trickle. Yet was a time when, even in summers, you could get water at 4 meters below ground in any of the 30000 wells in its basin. Now there is no river even in the rainy season. But now, Arkavathy is dead. Maybe not, but Arkavathi is atleast in coma.

tsubba's blog
Login or register to post comments
Read more

Transport Challenged People of Bangalore

22 March 2008 - 9:20am — sudhir

originally posted at the cityfix_

Krishnappa is a security guard for a multinational software firm in Bangalore who, for the past thirty years, has walked and cycled to work. For Krishnappa, the trip, which often took around 15 to 30 minutes, was one of life’s small pleasures as he made his way along Bangalore’s tree-shaded streets, often meeting friends and acquaintances, discussing politics and family matters, before continuing on his way. However, in recent years he has been unable to walk or cycle to work. And it’s not because of age or injury.

All pictures by Sudhir G.

Site Maintenance

21 March 2008 - 3:15pm — admin

Update!! We are done with the site maintenance. Do let us know if you notice any problems on the site. ----0----0----0----0---- The site will be down for maintenance for a brief period tonight. We are starting routine backing up and other minor tasks and the site would be down for the following period. Start: 10:00 PM IST on 21st March End : 11:59 PM IST on 21st March.

RTI application to AAI about HIAL

20 March 2008 - 9:46pm — kbsyed61

Guys,

Below is the content of an RTI application which I would be submitting to AAI for the information on process / facts on ATC operationalization at HIAL. That would give an idea whether BIAL lived upto the requirements or not. Also I would be submitting a separate application for BIAL.

Please feel free to use as is.

------------------------------------------------------

Workshop on Budgeting

20 March 2008 - 7:09pm — murali772

Citizen's Action Forum (CAF), in association with Centre for Public Policy, IIM [B], KKNSS & Bangalore Chamber of Industry & Commerce (BCIC), is holding a one-day workshop on

Citizen's Participation, Transparency, and Accountability in Budgeting

on Saturday, Mar 22, at 9.30 AM at Senate Hall, Central College.

You are all cordially invited to attend and participate and contribute your valuable inputs for this program.

Opportunity for public service fellowships

17 March 2008 - 8:15pm — silkboard

Here is a note on an opportunity from Indicorps, a non-profit organization that offers opportunities for aspiring young leaders of Indian-origin to engage in intense grassroots development projects through one or two-year public service fellowships. They are looking to get the word out about this opportunity to those who are interested in dedicating a year of their lives to India's development and to their own personal development as leaders of the Indian diaspora. More details ....

Kasturirangan Committee

17 March 2008 - 8:43am — tsubba

November, 2007
Panel will chisel out city’s growth strategy
ToI via bangalorebuzz

Noted space scientist and Rajya Sabha member K Kasturirangan will head the expert committee constituted by the Karnataka government to suggest strategies to ensure planned growth of the city under Greater Bangalore. The committee will work on a new comprehensive law that will deal with the development and regulation of the Bangalore Metropolitan Region (BMR) that has been witnessing rapid economic and demographic growth.

Members of the Kasturirangan committee
K Kasturirangan, scientist and Rajya Sabha member
A Ravindra former chief secretary and deputy chairman of the State Planning Board ,
Samuel Paul Public Affairs Centre chairman,

Cauvery junction underpass - maintenance?

15 March 2008 - 12:00pm — silkboard

Now that the underpass is ready, its time to maintain it. So BBMP is asking for private parties to undertake maintenance of Cauvery junction underpass on BOT basis (tender here). Private parties keeping the underpass clean and painted etc while they make money displaying advertisements, that is fine. But after reading the document, I was confused as to what is the "build" part of BOT (build, operate transfer) here. I thought the underpass was ready. BBMP has mentioned a penalty clause for delay in construction:

Silent ritual

15 March 2008 - 11:57am — blrsri

True, BIA is a very hot topic of the day and we want to endlessly discuss that. But amidst all this there is another silent ritual underway. This is about the trees of Bangalore. [pic: On OMR road next to I.Nagar BDA cplx]

Request you to look around to see the celebrations..its a beautiful treat. It started off with the mellow pinks blooms and now the purples are filling up.

Ugadi, our new year starts when the trees are in full bloom. It is probably this link between people and nature that was identified by our ancestors and it was decided that we have our new year start with natures best time.

I will try to put more pictures here, thanks to the high res cameras on phones now. Request you all to enjoy nature’s generous display and share it too.

Anand Nagar MagicBox

14 March 2008 - 5:05pm — Photoyogi

Yesterday while I drove down RT Nagar - Anandnagar I noticed that the service road is almost complete and the magic boxes are in place too. However I did find the boxes much narrow. Does any one have the sketch / model of this junction with dimentions? It looks to me like a bottle neck for Anandnagar residents.

Bangalore's Water: 38% is not "accounted" for!

14 March 2008 - 12:48pm — silkboard

Some newspaper reports (Hindu, ToI) this week mentioned that:

"... water supply to Bangalore is ... 694 million litres a day ... consumption which is actually billed ... around 429 million litres a day. The unaccounted for water comes to an alarming 38.2 per cent"

Wow, 38.2 percent (quoted from Hindu)! This would include two types of losses, 1) distribution loss: damages, leakages etc, and 2) water that is not getting billed. There is no clear mention or estimates of split between the two categories. Assuming distribution loss (leaks) to be 20% (double the 10% developed world aims for, google "Water Management Act US"), 18% of water could be going unbilled. That guesswork tells us that 1 in 6 of us, Bangalore citizens, isn't paying for his/her water.

Its official, its 11th May

13 March 2008 - 9:13pm — shas3n

It is official. The new opening date for the Bangalore International Airport is 11th May. Below is the message from BIAL:

New Airport Opening Date for Bengaluru International Airport is May 11, 2008

Bangalore, March 13, 2008

We have received communication from the Ministry of Civil Aviation seeking a consideration of a suitable airport opening date after May 10, 2008 due to delays on the Air Traffic Control (ATC) services. BIAL has decided the new date of Airport Opening as May 11, 2008.

We are clearly disappointed with this delay especially as our employees and all our partners have been working tirelessly to launch Bengaluru International Airport on schedule on March 30, 2008. This delay is beyond the control of BIAL. To mark the successful readiness of the airport infrastructure, BIAL will hold an event to showcase the new airport on March 28th 2008.

Terminal to Tarmac tour of BIAL - interested!?

13 March 2008 - 10:36am — admin

We heard from BIAL recently, they said they have been following our blog and posts, and appreciate our interest and views on the project. Praja should now be getting regular updates from BIAL, and they have offered to help if we have any specific queries or request for pictures or information. Also, we can have some Praja members go on a "Terminal to Tarmac" tour that BIAL will organize! They have to plan this in advance due to security reasons. So if you are interested, leave a comment here indicating # of folks your will bring along (can get family). We will update this post soon with the date (asked for a sunday), and size of group they will take. In case there are more folks interested than allowed, we will do first-come-first-served.

Urban Transport in India : Beyond the Nano and Metro… and back to basics

12 March 2008 - 4:49pm — murali772

Bangalore International Centre is happy to announce that it has arranged a Talk on "Urban Transport in India : Beyond the Nano and Metro… and back to the Basics" on Friday, the 14th March, 2008 at 6.30 PM at our Auditorium.

Prof. Madhav Badami, who is a Professor in the School of Urban Planning and McGill School of Environment, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, will deliver the talk on the subject.

Praja.in comment guidelines

Posting Guidelines apply for comments as well. No foul language, hate mongering or personal attacks. If criticizing third person or an authority, you must be fact based, as constructive as possible, and use gentle words. Avoid going off-topic no matter how nice your comment is. Moderators reserve the right to either edit or simply delete comments that don't meet these guidelines. If you are nice enough to realize you violated the guidelines, please save Moderators some time by editing and fixing yourself. Thanks!

Blogs

Praja.in comment guidelines

Upcoming events