Blogs

In a unique initiative to curb noise pollution in the city, Mission Peace, an NGO, has decided to observe ‘No Honking Day’ on 10th of every month. This drive against the increasing noise level has been supported by Karnataka police.

The initiative was unveiled by Justice Manjula Chellur, Justice K Sreedhar Rao, retired Justice A M Farooque and former Justice M F Saldahna along with DG & IGP Ajay Kumar Singh.

The mission of starting ‘No Honking Day’ is to create awareness about unnecessary use of horn and the ill-effects of noise caused by the autos. We will also try to convince the government to bring in laws to control noise pollution,’’ said Sunitha De Sousa, president of Mission Peace.

For the full text of the report in the TOI, click here

A most welcome initiative. I am sure it will have the fullest support of PRAJAGALU.

Muralidhar Rao
    
 

 The comprehensive Building bye laws of 2003 available as a pdf document  is impressive which tries to set the rules in a professional way for preserving heritage Bangalore. However the BJP government thought in its wisdom that it is very stringent and some minor deviations are in the public interest. I built my house in 1986 fully complaint to the set backs specified, and some thing more than specified and built a duplex building exclusively for one family. However I built a toilet at a corner outside which was not as per the rule book. However such akramas are now Sakrama. This according to me is a step in the forward direction. 

Is this why they won’t disinvest Air India, kept afloat at massive expense to the taxpayer? In a violation of DGCA rules, an AI aircraft was pulled out of a scheduled flight from Delhi to Coimbatore in order to ferry IPL players, apparently at the behest of aviation minister Praful Patel’s daughter Poorna. It appears the public sector airline fulfils the private and nepotistic purposes of public servants.

For the full report in the TOI, click here.

Isn't this also why the government persists with BMTC/ KSRTC (check this), BESCOM, etc, so that they can further the interests of the Poorna Patels of this world? - all in the name of Socialism; the tax payer be damned.

Muralidhar Rao

Axe trees, says forest department, by Imran Khan.

BANGALORE: In what could lead to wide-spread and indiscriminate felling of trees, the state forest department has recommended an amendment to the Karnataka Trees Preservation Act of 1976.The civic authorities in Bangalore especially have been crying hoarse for not being able to cut trees for “developmental” activities because of the Act. According to the recommended amendment, one need not seek permission from the forest department before axing trees.The Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976, mandates that no person shall fell any tree or cause any tree to be felled in any land, whether it was in his ownership or otherwise, unless a permission was granted by the tree officer.The proposed amendment, which grants permission of felling of 42 species of trees in the state, has been pending with the state government for ....

Hello,

A few thoughts and suggestions on the BMTC Bus services in the Whitefield-KR Puram- ORR areas.

1. Whitefield Saarige (WFS) service - At the outset, this is an excellent idea and it should be promoted more. But the current WFS routes are duplication of existing 500/335/333 routes. That is, the buses start from Marathahalli and go towards ITPL via either of the two routes.

Suggestion - Change route of WFS-2 to : KR Puram --> Hoody Circle --> right turn --> Graphite India --> Brookefields --> Left turn at Kundalahalli gate --> Till Forum value mall on Varthur Road.

Advantages - Varthur Road to KR Puram Tin factory connection; No duplication with any existing routes.

This is regarding one of the complaint I tried with BBMP. The idea was to both address my problem and to observe for the complaint management.

Here is the timeline : 

19-Apr-2010 Monday @14:20:02: Filed Complaint via Spandana , BBMP's complaint portal.

19-Apr-2010 @14.20.20 Received Complaint Number and Acknowledgement via SMS

19-Apr-2010 @16.34 I enquired status via SMS

19-Apr-2010 @16.34 Received status via SMS stating complaint has been forwarded to local staff and the ticket was assigned to specific department (Health) and it said "Informed to S.H.I phine number ending with 83956"

20-Apr-2010 @ 10.14  received a call from actual contract worker (Number ending with 87356) for part-1 of complaint. He could not not locate address.

20-Apr-2010 @ 11.00 contract worker arrives

20-Apr-2010 @12.15 part 1 complete. As I was away, he got "completed" signature from neighboring lady and informed me.

"Kempe Gowda or Majestic bus station may soon become history as the government has initiated the process of decentralization of the bus terminals.

This photo's source is TravelPod page:

Thanks to current IPL controversies, now many questions are being raised including ethical, moral and social aspects. In all of these, I am trying to ask myself a question, even though I am also a cricket lover as millions others. The question I am asking myself is should the sports be played in night which compels to use flood lights?

Given the IPL context in which most of the matches are played at night, It is no secret that these matches need lighting arrangements consuming hundreds of kilowatts of power.

This in turn has many issues that we all need to look into. First issue is a social question. Should the matches be played at Night? When the cities are struggling with power shortages, is it right for sports managements to conduct matches at night which make use of large amount of energy resources?