silkboard's blog

Mr Farook vs MLA Sampangi @ Kolar - story trail

29 October 2011 - 11:21am — silkboard

This is an interesting one from Lokayukta's list. Not sure if all of you remember the case of Kolar MLA caught taking bribe. The story here is different from Land conversions or bloated tenders. read the trail

The Hindu, Jan 30, 2009 - KGF MLA caught after 'accepting' bribe (link)

Bengaluru Ministers & Corruption - in numbers

27 October 2011 - 9:36am — silkboard

With so many high profile guys in jail, or at the door steps, one good thing that I see is that Media is becoming more and more comfortable carrying numbers in their reports on corruption. What we knew and heard through the 'grapevine', now has concrete numbers. But this is probably because of well documented and researched Lokayukta reports.

Pre-announcing upcoming projects - contact us if interested

23 October 2011 - 1:04pm — silkboard

On behalf of Praja RAAG, wanted to pre-announce a few projects in the area of public transportation (most popular subject here) that are on the anvil. We will take a couple of these forward depending on interest levels and availability of enthusiastic individuals who have been driving such projects.

The real cost of building Metro - elevated?

21 October 2011 - 8:22am — silkboard

It is Metro time, and papers are full of statements from babus and netas of our city that say that "we didn't go underground because the cost was very high". But then, some citizens say - what about the cost we pay due to inconvenience? Wouldn't that 'hidden cost' tilt the balance in favour of underground? How about putting some numbers to these arguments?

Sustainable Mobility Award 2011 - Praja get special recognition from Volvo

15 October 2011 - 10:09am — silkboard

Praja got special recognition from Volvo at Sustainable Mobility Award 2011. Several Praja projects were nominated for the award, and all of them were appreciated together through the special recognition for Praja (the concept!) itself.

Mobility planning for Whitefield area - lets make it happen

28 August 2011 - 9:01am — silkboard

This is for the residents/commuters of Whitefield / Mahadevapura area. We have discussed connectivity problems of the area in detail. Through few Praja-RAAG projects and initiatives from more readers, we have also detailed solution concepts that can be applied around Bengaluru (Cycling, Last Mile, Bus Priority System, Commuter Rail System, more).

Jharkhand set to get Right to Service, Karnataka next?

25 August 2011 - 1:20am — silkboard

Jharkhand is the latest state all set to pass a Right to Service Bill. Quoting from Jagran Post:

An FAQ - Anna's movement, democracy, revolution and blackmail

21 August 2011 - 11:33pm — silkboard

Bangalore is buzzing with it. Friends, colleagues at work, close Praja friends, everyone wants to either discuss it, or go visit Freedom Park. Watched a lot of TV, and read almost all major newspaper editorials last week.

Taxes & Corruption - comparative figures/estimate for Karnataka?

15 August 2011 - 9:13am — silkboard

Last week, GoI released some data on Direct Tax collections. I thought why not compare them against estimates of "alleged size" of corruption in Karnataka. Why should we compare only Direct Tax? Because to me, this corruption thing we hear about is like corporates and individuals paying additional direct tax.

New Bangalore coming up at Bidadi - how and when?

9 August 2011 - 9:04am — silkboard

Back in Mr Sudhir Krishna's days, there used to be a buzz about BMRDA. Remember the talk of satellite towns, satellite town ring roads, and the 7 'proposed' satellite townships. Part of the buzz is back with Bidadi integrated township project. Mind you, its a PPP to develop a 9000+ acre township.

Some handy tourism stats - entry count at Hampi etc

8 August 2011 - 10:14am — silkboard

Its generally pretty hard to get stats on domestic tourism. The subject needs to be of high interest to us as many believe that domestic tourism is one of the things that can help close the urban rural, or big city-hinterland gap. And we are talking Karnataka, with solid tourism potential, and huge base of Bangalore to tap into.

Choked connectivity to Whitefield - solutions?

14 July 2011 - 9:25am — silkboard

If you look back, or go ask city agencies, they would say that a lot has been done to improve connectivity to Whitefield. A six-lane railway overbridge at Marathahalli, 2006. A prominent Big-10 service (G-1), 2010. A once-every-5-minutes air conditioned bus service (335E), 2009. Road improvements (Varthur Road, Mahadevapura main road), since 2003.

Will BIAL (New Blr Airport) return the UDF to us?

6 July 2011 - 9:23am — silkboard

Except for sporadic reports on progress of some "reopen HAL airport" related appeals in the courts, BIAL is rarely in the news these days. After some allegations of misdeeds in the way land was acquired around, and perhaps even for the airport, dust has settled there as well.

Bangalore's hall of shame - 3rd class treatment for Bus commuters @ Marathahalli

20 June 2011 - 10:33am — silkboard

Sometime ago, we discussed Bangalore hall of shame locations, and Marathahalli Outer Ring Road junction. After one round of work to 'improve' pavements where in they basically widened the roads connecting Outer Ring road and Varthur Road, and installed barricades to prevent pedestrian spill over, this junction has been left as it is.

Solid waste to energy - BBMP's first plant ready?

19 June 2011 - 11:06pm — silkboard

Noticed an interesting tender from BBMP last week. It calls for:

Request for proposal (RFP) for Development and Operation of facility for conversion of mixed Municipal Waste Plastics to Fuel – 10TPD Capacity on (BOT) basis.

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