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Every 10th of the month as 'No honking day'

EnvironmentPollution

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
    
 

Minutes of a SCEP Meeting on “Global warming”

Environment

 We have a weekly SCEP (Senior Citizen Enrichment Program) meeting on every Wednesday at 4:30 PM at Mother Tree a beautiful place provided by one of our SCEP members We were about 20 senior citizens at this meeting to day. It was a very hot evening and the welcome rain was the saving grace. 

The speaker of the day was Ms Arun Shivasaran a young and upcoming Architect of repute. 

The speaker started the talk on a poignant note of alluding to the commonly used greeting when we meet viz “how are you” meaning how is your health. Now it is high time we talk about global warming instead. For Architects it is now common to grade Silver gold and platinum standards based on Global warming compliance. 

Building bye laws

Urban DevelopmentGovernance

 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. 

"Water and a City" - discussions following the screening

Water

The movie brought out the scenario fairly well, but which most on Praja are quite aware of.

During the discussions that followed, I brought up the matter of the reported 40% odd losses, largely on account of the inefficiencies/ mismanagement in distribution (compared to less than 10% in an efficient system), and followed it up with a suggestion "if the kind of contract entered into between Mysore City Corporation and JUSCO, was not the way to address the issue?".

Prof Mohan Kumar (Civil Engg Dept, IISc) responded saying a study/ survey had been conducted by L&T and Anglian Waters (or, one of the other foreign players - I am not quite sure which) a few years back covering some parts of Bangalore (I thought I heard the name Fraser Town mentioned) at a cost of Rs 32 crores - did he mention World Bank funded?. He did not mention if any work was actually undertaken. But, went on to add that it raised all kinds of technical issues, like "how do you replace the pipes in an area like Avenue road, etc?"

Raison d'être for continuance of the Public Sector

Economy

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

HSR Flyover - overhead power lines a problem?

Infrastructure

While the work at a flyover on Outer Ring Road near HSR Layout is in full swing, I don't see anything that indicates that the overhead power transmission lines will be raised to accomodate the new flyover. Took some pictures ...

Axe trees, says forest department

Environment

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 ....

Electricity distribution and Pruning of road side trees

Environment

 During rainy season the road side trees are usually in the news. The whirlwinds are the culprits in up rooting of many trees.  The pruning of the road side trees is another chore that the BBMP has to do due to the over head domestic electricity distribution system currently being followed in the city.

Whitefield - ORR Bus Routes

BusPublic Transport

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.

 

Reporting encroachment by temple on road - how?

Infrastructure

If I wanted to report an encroachment on to a public road, can I do so on Spandana - BBMP's website?

If yes, should I be selecting "Engineering" or "Legal" as the department?

There is a temple near my locality that has encroached on the main road; they have put up a "temporary" shelter for some pooja/festival which is yet to be removed even after a month! Because of this shelter, only half the lane is left. So everyday there is a jam at that point because vehicles cannot pass.

How does one report this? Also, how does one do it without being targeted or harassed by "religious" people?

Prajagale, please advise.

BBMP's Good work

Governance

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.

Roof top Solar for domestic needs @ Bangalore - can I do it today?

Power

A chance conversation with an acquaintance who works at a Solar Energy firm gave me a picture of the possibilities that await us. Now, I do read Solar Power/Panel Blogs/Forums etc once in a while, and have some idea of developments in the area.

The adieu to the Majestic bus stand!

BusPublic Transport

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

How about an RTI Club on Praja?

Praja related

Wanted to float a suggestion, just to check on feasibility and response from other users on this e-community. Many discussions, as well as projects here get into a situation where we need official records or status from local government or public agencies. In few cases, we get such information by just asking for it (email to BMTC, BMRCL etc). But in many cases, we end up with needs for RTI (Right to Information) applications. Almost every project here on Praja too needs support in terms of RTI filings.

How about we create an RTI Club here on Praja? Members of this club would basically "assembly line" the RTI filing process in domain neutral way. Let me list the mechanics:

IPL Matches at Night - Who cares for ENERGY conservation?

Power
Me At IPL Match
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?

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