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BESCOM - Customers' day - Sat, 15th March

I N V I T A T I O N

Dear Friends,

Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM), Public Affairs Centre, Swabhimana and Consumer Advocacy, KERC are pleased to invite you for a workshop on Customer Care to commemorate World Customers' Day.

Towards Planning and Public Transport

BMTC under Upendra Tripathy can be accused of a zillion things but lack of vision, lethargy and trying - lack of kaLakali, muthuvarji, kaaLaji it can be accused of not. Anybody who has followed BMTC for a while would recognize that he seems to get to the bottom of Bangalore's real troubles. As far as i can recall, he is the tallest amongst the movers and shakers of Bangalore who has zoned in on town planning as the real cause of Bangalore's problems AND done something about it.

BIAL opening delayed - why announce that now?

Yeah, we said so, a month ago (Feb 6), right here, about possible delay around ATC equipment. Newspapers are reporting this morning that BIAL will open 2-4 weeks late due to delay in geting ATC facility ready. The delay is either around installation of equipment or staff-training, depending on which newspaper you trust more (Hindu, Biz-Standard).

BIAL connectivity - train to Chikkaballapur?

Bangalore TOI, Mar 6, page 2:

"... Planners have, therefore, suggested making use of the existing railway corridor ... the proposed train between Chikballapur and Bangalore city will be taken up as a priority. Two trains run between the city and Chikkaballapur and these trains can be utilized if there is a demand,’’ divisional manager of Southwestern Railway, Mahesh Mangal, told TOI."

Good to see someone wake up to this possibility that Vasanth/others have suggested here a few times already. This would be the track in question:

Sakrama and regularization

So the state government extended the deadline, and also reduced 'regularization' fees. The BJP wants the scheme to be put on hold, and I think we will soon hear more from the courts via some pending PILs.

Sakrama may not be a perfect scheme, but it is the only step government has taken towards solving the mother of all ills that plague our city - plan violations. I don't like the one time fee concept (why not make violators pay a fee every year, that way you will make them think of altering constructions). I don't see clarity on what will happen to the buildings with 'unacceptable' level of violations - demolitions or not? I don't see any talk of punishing the 'officials' who may have been involved in letting things come to such a state where 70-80% of buildings have violations. I don't see creation of new fund or special task-force (regularization fees can be used for this) to improve policing of building norms so that we don't require a Sakrama every five years. But, but, but.

How do magic boxes work?


How do these magic boxes work?

They dug the road up, about 2 feet praveen says, and laid a concrete base. Just as it started drying, they started placing the elements. Neighbouring elements are supposed to be held by mates. But from the pics I've seen, there are only one type of mates. Apparently end elements have these pre-tensioning hooks, around which 40T compressive pressure will be applied so that the elements are snug.

How are these elements fastened to the floor? What prevents the elements from moving in the X and Y directions? Any guesses?

those were the days, my friend!

If you want things as in the golden days of yore, leave them be in the hands of the government - that is, subscribe to ‘Socialism’.

One may further argue as to why complicate life even to the extent it was during the golden era - why not go back to the caves? Yes, indeed, how romantic an idea!

Land acquisition in North Bangalore for infrastructure development - interaction session - Sat, 1st March

CIVIC Bangalore

&

North Bangalore Citizens' Association(NBCA)

have great pleasure in inviting you to an interactive session on



"Land acquisition in North Bangalore for infrastructure development"


Mr. V. Balasubramaniam, IAS (Retd.),
Advisor, A. T. Ramaswamy Committee

Dumping Grounds

Heres something thats totally counterproductive.

For all of you who have travelled on the Bangalore/Mysore road, the Vrishabhavathi canal on the outskirts of Bangalore is a familiar sight. Theres also a water treatment plant that was set up at great cost just before Kengeri.

Marathahalli Bridge - update

Marathahalli bridge update, here it is, as of this morning. The actual bridge seems to be done. They are levelling (rather 'connecting') the road with the bridge, and putting tar on top of the bridge.

CRS Bangalore: A project that never gets the green

The railway budget 08-09 is out. The fares are down. Plea for Bangalore-Arsikere-Mangalore is left un-answered, but we have been blessed with a handful of other trains instead. Also featured in the new budget are more half hearted promises on the same old projects that have been on simmer since more than a decade now (be done with the Gulbarga Bidar line already). As far as Bangalore, in and by itself is concerned, the CRS finds no mention in the 08-09 budget. With this two years would have passed in the Comprehensive Traffic and Transport Plan's Phase I(07-12) with no action on the 204 km CRS project.

5-day week can save govt Rs 960 cr pa

Rs 960 crore per annum. That's the estimated savings if state government offices across Karnataka switch over to a five-day week. And that savings could be used to construct 30 flyovers, each estimated at Rs 32 crore.

vote our man to Lead India

An analysis of the public voting (through SMS) pattern, after each of the rounds, shows that whereas the competitor (Mr Nanavati from Ahmedabad) has always had over 80% support from his home state, our very own Mr R K Misra has had consistently less than 50% support from his home state. As such, folks, if there's one factor that's working against our man, it's the apathy of his own people.

BIAL tidbits - possible ATC delay, user fee, first flight etc.

Delay in ATC equipment? - [Disclaimer first - I learnt this back on Jan 13, and is second hand info] Someone who visited BIAL mentioned that there may be a delay in installing air traffic control equipment. BIAL asked HAL for help (to use their ATC equipment I assume, don't understand this stuff well), but apparently they can't. So BIAL may be settling for help from nearby Yelahanka airport in case ATC equipment isn't ready in time.

First flight - Its all set though, and 12:05 am Indian Airlines flight to Singapore would be the first one out of BIAL on March 30!

Pay more to use BIAL? - Hope you guys have been following news reports about BIAL asking for a "user development fee". Rs 675 for domestic and 955  international for each departing passenger, source here.

greening of Paris

As Asian cities demonstrate their development through an extensive network of expressways and flyovers, Paris, recipient of the World Sustainable Transportation Award, shows the way forward to making our cities more livable… http://www.thehindu.com/t...
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