March 2008

South Western Railway - please wake up and listen to us!

24 March 2008 - 9:28am — admin

Thank you Business-standard for striking the right notes (See "Karnataka ignores ..."). So many of us see the potential of SW Railway's assets around our city and wish they woke up and listened to us.

"... experts feel that the Indian Railways’ network in and around the city can be utilised to ferry passengers at a fraction of the cost ..."

The point in the article that disappoints us most is:

Arkavathy Serious. Arrive Soon.

23 March 2008 - 8:37pm — tsubba

Arkavathi had origins in the Nandi Hills. After a journey of 190 kms around Bangalore it joined the Cauvery at the Sangama in Kanakapura district. Vrushbhavathi was a tributary of the Arkavathi. Arkvathi had a catchment area of 4351 sq. kms from where it collected water.

Both Doddaballapura and Ramanagara depend on Arkavathi, not to mention numerous villages. In 1894 Bangalore first ran out of water from within its boundaries. Then they built two reservoirs on the Arkavathi - the Hesaraghatta reservoir(1894) and the Thippagondanahalli reservoir(1933). Even to this day Arkavathy supplies 20% of Bangalore's water supply.

Like the rest of the peninsular rivers, Arkavathy was never a Brahmaputra. During summers, Arkavathy would reduce to a trickle. Yet was a time when, even in summers, you could get water at 4 meters below ground in any of the 30000 wells in its basin. Now there is no river even in the rainy season. But now, Arkavathy is dead. Maybe not, but Arkavathi is atleast in coma.

Transport Challenged People of Bangalore

22 March 2008 - 9:20am — sudhir

originally posted at the cityfix_

Krishnappa is a security guard for a multinational software firm in Bangalore who, for the past thirty years, has walked and cycled to work. For Krishnappa, the trip, which often took around 15 to 30 minutes, was one of life’s small pleasures as he made his way along Bangalore’s tree-shaded streets, often meeting friends and acquaintances, discussing politics and family matters, before continuing on his way. However, in recent years he has been unable to walk or cycle to work. And it’s not because of age or injury.

All pictures by Sudhir G.

Site Maintenance

21 March 2008 - 3:15pm — admin

Update!! We are done with the site maintenance. Do let us know if you notice any problems on the site. ----0----0----0----0---- The site will be down for maintenance for a brief period tonight. We are starting routine backing up and other minor tasks and the site would be down for the following period. Start: 10:00 PM IST on 21st March End : 11:59 PM IST on 21st March.

Workshop on Budgeting

20 March 2008 - 7:09pm — murali772

Citizen's Action Forum (CAF), in association with Centre for Public Policy, IIM [B], KKNSS & Bangalore Chamber of Industry & Commerce (BCIC), is holding a one-day workshop on

Citizen's Participation, Transparency, and Accountability in Budgeting

on Saturday, Mar 22, at 9.30 AM at Senate Hall, Central College.

You are all cordially invited to attend and participate and contribute your valuable inputs for this program.