silkboard's blog

Noticed some new data on Traffic Police website - enforcement statistics for these new things called the interceptors (see bottom of

Saw this metro tender in newspapers last week that read: "Construction of Elevated Structures (Via Duct) from RV Road station (excluding Viaduct portion) up to Puttenahalli cross (including) and Construction of 3 Nos of Elevated Metro Stations in Reach-4 extension on South Side".

So now, elections over, pressure on BJP to perform etc etc, its time for city's local government to deliver more on the Big10 promise. While we can criticise the mish mash that city's local government is (BBMP, BDA, BMTC etc, and then ABIDe, two ministers assigned to the city), good work or unplanned work, bit it does seem like there is work happening on the ground inside the city.

Who is actually responsible for upkeep of Bangalore's lakes? Answer may go like this - some lakes LDA, rest of them BWSSB. Refer late last year's news articles - lakes were transferred from LDA to BWSSB. But this was done only for some (17 or 18) lakes. To remind us all that they are around, LDA has floated work for rejuvenating 3 lakes.

No new post this, just a rehash of  year old "Eating up Varthur Lake". Inspired by Rithesh's recent note on Hebbal/Nagavara Lake, I wanted to remind us about possible encorachments on the area/stream between Varthur and Belandur lakes.

Thank you, thank you very much Times of India, and journalists Jayashree Nandi & Aarthi R for highlighting the water woes of Bengaluru right atop your Sunday frontpage, bang next to that thing called IPL. Water shortage and quality issues came up high in Jaagore-Praja-SmartVote election issue survey here, which was a bit surprising (yeah, we know and care!). But no candidate has shown serious interest or understanding - forget solutions - for the looming water shortage faced by Namma Bengaluru.

Interested members who want to take this further, please sign up for this BWSSB tracking project which is running slow for lack of volunteers (just leave a comment there to say you want to help). We must track and understand BWSSB's projects and constraints, the understanding and impact of their initiatives (or delays) has to be taken beyond just some dedicated NGOs working in this space.

It grew out of an idea from Pradip, a public transport enthusiast. He suggested that we stand at Kundalahalli junction one weekday morning and hand out roses and BMTC route maps to all the car commuters. The thought has grown into a  "Big10/Volvo to work day" for Whitefield.

In this close to a month old BBMP tender, find mention of RCC precast technology. Yes, thats our magic boxes. 6 of these are mentioned, one each for Ward #s 58, 61,62,63,64 and 65!. 65 lakhs each. Description: "Construction of Underpass / Pedestran Convenience Using RCC precast Technology in".