Blogs

A peak into what the some of the authorities think about an issue that we have been discussing here at praja. We have been discussing a hypothetical test case to see how metro would work - say you come to MG road by metro then how do you move around the area then. say to commercial street, magrath road etc etc... So I thought it was exciting that some officials were discussing the same problem and with the same area as a test case.

Even as working mothers at EC complain of not being able to spend time with their new borns, KA Govt's incessant, relentless attack on BMIC, gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "its a shrinking world".

If last week it was Global Infrastructure Consortium and its monorail, this week its, I'm kidding you not, Asian Infrastructure Consortium, headed by a Malaysian monorail company! Even before you can say Swiss Challenge, within one week, HDK's KA govt has come up with a whole new proposal and a whole new petition.

Looks like DLF is all set to translate BMRDA's satellite town vision into reality. As per today's newspapers, BMRDA is going to award the contract for building a Knowledge City at Bidadi to DLF. The project involves an investment of Rs 60000 crores!! Here are some interesting snippets pulled out from the media reports this morning:

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.

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.

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’.

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.

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.