murali772's blog

Water supply PPP

13 August 2008 - 11:28am — murali772

Nagpur Municipal Corporation has invited for 'Expression of Interest' for pre-qualification for bidding for its 24x7 City Water Supply Project, on PPP basis. Should Bangalore follow suit?

Through its ad on page 15 Sunday TOI (dt 10/08/08, click on right-side bottom corner at

where's the level playing field?

12 August 2008 - 5:24pm — murali772

BSNL has prime real estate, access to the best spectrum, has been guaranteed priority spectrum for 3G, and by virtue of its state-owned status, will always have a line of sight into spectrum.

Apparently, you can never possibly have a level playing field as long as government player is also in the picture. Is that a satisfactory scenario?

Reproducing the text of the article by Shalini Singh, which appeared in the TOI on 9th Aug, under the caption "BSNL unions question IPO valuation"

50 MW to be restored - but, why was it cut?

6 August 2008 - 4:41pm — murali772

The power situation in the state may improve with the Centre promising to restore supply of 50 MW power, which was earlier reduced from the state's unallocated share and transferred to Andhra Pradesh. Read more at:
http://timesofindia.india...

Sandalwood helpline

5 August 2008 - 7:34am — murali772

State Forest Department on Saturday launched the awaited 24/7 ‘Sandalwood Helpline Service’. Launching the service, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Forest Resource Management) M Muni Reddy said, "This helpline service has been launched as a pilot project in Bangalore and will be extended soon to other vulnerable areas in a phased manner".

Coincidentally, sandalwood came up for discussions on PRAJA just last week at
http://praja.in/bangalore...

in place of Race Course, what?

4 August 2008 - 1:14pm — murali772

What's coming up in the place supposedly being vacated by the Race Course? According to a TOI piece sometime back, underground parking lots will be constructed. However, no mention has been made about the ground level: public space? shops and malls?

Shastri had brought this up in the passing in this comment where he had stated that:

According to this hindu story, there is no mention of an integrated transport hub. Apparently they want to keep the space as a open green space with an underground parking lot

The matter came up for discussion recently in a Yahoogroup, which I thought fit to migrate here

land auction to raise funds for infrastructure development - the right way to go?

4 August 2008 - 11:13am — murali772

The Revenue department is set to begin auctioning valuable government land in and around Bangalore to fulfil Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappas promises in budget 2008-09.

The department officials have already identified 61 acres of government land of various survey numbers spread across all five taluks of the district, for auction as the first installment. "The date of auction will be finalised shortly, and it is expected to fetch around Rs 90 crore," official sources said.

50:50::man:god

31 July 2008 - 1:51pm — murali772

There's a local saying that if you do your 50%, God will do the remaining 50%.

Our CM quoted in today's TOI: "I have implicit faith in God. I went to Tirupati temple and cried before the Lord around 4.30 am. I asked him why 5.5 crore people in the state are being punished for no fault of theirs. Our prayers have been answered with good rain’’.

God is doing his bit faithfully year after year. Is man's bit only to pray to God?

Muralidhar Rao

Just how to regulate wisely - remains the question today

30 July 2008 - 10:41am — murali772

In the West, the Left tries to conserve the welfare state. The liberal, economic right wants to dismantle it. Beyond that, the distinctions are blurred. The Right has accepted transfers to the poor but it wants them to be efficient. The Left no longer wants government to run businesses. Few oppose the market - the debate is on how to regulate it wisely. Read more in this TOI column.

Welcome development in the power sector

24 July 2008 - 11:19am — murali772

The report in the papers about Karnataka's plan to set up a 2000 MW power plant in Chhattisgarh (vide report captioned 'Chhattisgarh plant to ease power woes' on page 7, TOI of 23rd July - the text is reproduced below, since, apparently because of a goof up by TOI, the 'link' is taking it to a diffrent text) denotes a refreshing change in the mind-set of the powers that be heading the state power sector.

Tree vandalisation, suspect - Lifestyle

21 July 2008 - 5:48pm — murali772

Malls are a reality in today's world, whether one is prepared to accept them or not. While the main grouse against them is that they cause severe congestion, particularly when located at already busy traffic junctions without sufficient attention having been paid to channelise the increased traffic flow, there would, on the other hand, certainly be a fairly large section of the local population who welcome their presence in such close proximity. The Oasis mall in Koramangala is one such, about which debates on similar lines can go on endlessly.

CAF's Position on Capital Value System

13 July 2008 - 8:17pm — murali772

CAF (Citizen's Action Forum)'s position on CVS being presented at the meeting with RWA's convened by the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Tuesday, the 15th July, '08 (9AM to 1.30PM) at the Ravindra Kalakshetra, J C Road, Bengaluru.

CAF's position on CVS

12 July 2008 - 8:11pm — murali772

test

Noise Pollution

9 July 2008 - 3:45pm — murali772

Noise the silent killer and stress booster should be controlled. The awareness about honking/ horning and its effect on us should be made to our urban masses. Can we start a campaign that one day in a week say Wednesday is a silent day? Recently there was 'a' silent day in Mumbai and they have not pursued it further. We can make bumper stickers stating ' I don't honk on Wednesday'. I am adding my friend's views about this issue.

Why retain Kannada numerals?

4 July 2008 - 5:26pm — murali772

While the use of the Kannada script (but not on number-plates) does certainly contribute to the propagation of the language and thereby the culture, the numerals do not serve any such purpose at all. The regular 1,2,3 can as well be read ondu, eradu, mooru, so on, without in any way diluting the purity of the language, but in many ways simplifying life, particularly for the non-Kannadiga's who then have only to grapple with the jalebi's, the prospect of which is less intimidating.

Stake-less stake-holders

2 July 2008 - 7:30am — murali772

One significant drop out from the list of 'stake-holders', compared to the BATF days is Bangalore Telephones.

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