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BIAL to City train - proposal on table

Commuter RailPublic Transport

Building on the good vibes about Commuter Rail Service, hear this out now. Devesh mentioned that at a recent meeting where BCIC was taking up the cause of those who commute to BIAL for work, Mr. Arvind Jadhav indicated that a proposal to introduce train service between the BIAL and Bangalore city (via Yeshwanthapur) is being finalized. The service would be operational once the formalities are completed. Quick details:

Scrutinizing environmental clerances

Environment

Last month, I spotted two notices from Prestige Group announcing environmental clearances for their projects (Dynasty, Exora). What caught my attention was that document numbers and a website were mentioned, I assume for us, the public, to see the documents for ourselves.

Commuter rail to E-City may happen soon!

Commuter RailPublic Transport

I was at a BCIC meeting this week wherein Devesh had invited Mr Arvind Jadhav (GoK's principal secretary for infrastructure development) over for a talk. Mr Jadhav mentioned some exciting plans, we should hear them soon in mainstream media. Commuter Rail Service was one of them, looks like things are moving, and we may get one or two services pretty soon! Here is a summary of CRS stuff that Mr Jadhav mentioned:

Karnataka's Accountant General - dead or alive?

Governance

Ever been to the CAG website? Its of interest because it provides useful data on how select government departments are doing with tax payer's money. Look at this report on NAL (National Aero Lab) for example, and see how CAG details NAL's failure to meet its targets. Or see this report on allotment of housing by DDA. Don't we wish Karnataka too had a CAG like body to audit the likes of BDA and BBMP?

BTRAC and the road signs scam

Traffic

sign 2Tune your mind to observe traffic signs in the city, and you'd notice a few things. One, BTRAC project is busy putting up a lot of new ones. Two, perhaps they needn't have spent taxpayer's money on putting them up. Three, sorry Mr Sood, BTRAC may not be doing the best that it can.

The crooked signs

Traffic

Crooked Signs 2I think its a challenge, a real one. How do you convey, via simple road signs, the so modern concept of looping road interchanges!? Try describing an interchange when giving out directions - is that a left, or a right that you take from Inner Ring Road to get on to airport road towards HAL? The road signs around such interchanges convey this confusion really well. Some samples for you:

Tata arm bags Mysore water supply project

Water

This piece of news must be noted, its significant. Mysore city corporation (MCC) is inviting a Tata arm to form the largest water supply PPP project in the country. Read the press release directly on Tata group's website. Here are some key points worth your time:

Urban development - the skill gap

Urban Development

Time for a boring post. A habitual visitor to MoUD website, I was waiting to put up a small summary of a policy paper that showed up recently. Its called "Capacity building scheme for urban ...". If that was all greek and latin to you, jump to section 3 (page 9) on that pdf, and under "specific capacity gaps", find things that you and me complain about everyday - they don't know how to plan, how to run projects, how to handle public relations etc etc etc.

Brand IIT the only way, or Karnataka Inst. of Tech possible?

This is a reaction to "Demand for IIT rejected again". It seems the main reason KA's request was turned down was because the state already has IISc and IIM here. Is getting a central govt sponsored, IIT branded institute the best way of setting up a premier education institution in the state?

Mumbai - is it time?

Who is not stunned? Writing more about the incident from terrorism angle will lead to needless rambling. I have only one question to ask, from the angle of law and order. Isn't it time for Police Reforms, and overhaul of our internal security systems?

Entropy example: Kilometer long jam for no real reason

TrafficTraffic jams

Marathahalli JamOne Wednesday afternoon, I noticed a kilometer long jam around a tiny intersection on Varthur Road at Marathahalli. The photo doesn't tell you much, but watch the video (below) and guess the reason for the chaos I captured:

Monthly Praja meetings at Bangalore?

A lot of activity goes on behind the scenes here that doesn't show in blogs and forums. Not that members want to keep things private, but things tend to start via emails or conversations between island groups of members, and there is just no time to post everything in detail.

Jayanagar Constituency Grievance center!

Mr N Mukund informs us that Jayanagar now has a Grievance Center. So if you are a resident of that constituency, and have complaints or suggestions, all you have to do is pick up a phone and call the helpline!

Competition without regulation, like this

BusPublic Transport

BMTC and privatization

I see this every other day on my commute, and to many who back competition and liberalization in public transport as a possible solution, this picture represents the fear keeping them from being vocal supporters of the idea. On one side, you have a 3-4 year old nice big bus. Pushing it out of the stand though is a 15 year old vehicle which would be worth a lot less than the bribes it'd take to get operating licenses from RTO.

Lakes - BBMP/BDA spending

Lakes

After govt handed upkeep of some lakes from LDA to BWSSB, and in the midst of courts asking LDA to stop privatizing lakes (See Hindu news report, a victory for ESG and Leo, great show!), last week saw BBMP and BDA floating tenders for works on some lakes

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