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Pollution Control Board - the government's cash cow

Governance

Even as BWSSB, KPCL, KPTCL, BESCOM, etc are desperately strapped for cash, there is another government agency that's just rolling in money, viz the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB). A cursory glance at the financial statements, provided on its web-site ( http://www.kspcb.gov.in/ - though not quite in a reader friendly way as one would have liked it, which but is quite the norm with most government agency web-sites), shows the revenues at Rs 190 cr for total expenses of just Rs 23.54 cr, a mere 12% of the revenues, with the direct costs being just 5%. And, it's not as if they are being very frugal in their practices or anything like that.

BWSSB - story of unclaimed dues

Though fund-starved, BWSSB is doing little to claim dues running into crores of rupees from Govt agencies. Says Board chairman P B Ramamurthy: "Since bill collection is the main source of revenue for BWSSB, we have been continuously pressing both the government and semi-government bodies to pay their bills.''

Corporate Social Irresponsibility

Economy

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has long been a hot topic globally. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has lectured companies on it. Some corporations have won acclaim and awards for CSR. Two of them were BP, the oil giant, and Goldman Sachs, the big investment bank. Every year, the World Economic Forum lists the "Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations". BP has made the list many times. So has Goldman Sachs, for its work on climate change and carbon trading.

Atal Sarige buses

BusPublic Transport

Last week  I waited at Kanakapura road for a bus to Banashankari. There came a AS1(Atal sarige 1) and I boarded it. This bus had some advantages:

1. The fare charged between Jaraganahalli and Banashankari, a distance of about 2 1/2 kms was just Rs.2/- in a situation where all other buses charge Rs.4/-

Is Bangalore a city with a soul?

 “Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her”. He said “Love must be encrypted into the DNA of urban planning… and transmitted into the artifices, buildings, road systems and hardware, which then tells the people that this is a city that you can love, and one that loves you back.”

BMTC to add 4000 more new buses after Bus Day success

BusPublic Transport

The transport department was planning to strengthen its existing fleet of 6,000 buses to cater to the increasing demand for public transport in the wake of initiatives like the Bus Day, transport minister R Ashoka said on Monday.

Road Lanes - Will it work in India?

EnforcementTraffic

 In a good piece called Why is lane discipline so indisciplined here? Praveen Sood Addl CP, Traffic, Bangalore raises the important question of

Bengaluru Green Belt

Environment

 Browsing through all the posts under the topic of living->environment, I was surprised to find no material around green belt or plan for urban forests etc. Discovered that the so called green topics on this site, are reflex reactions to posts on the traffic & road widening threads. Thought of digging into this concept of green belt which existed in Ramakrishna Hegde's time.

BDA - Multi - Story Housing

Urban DevelopmentGovernance

Just came back from another week long Singapore trip. Every time you look at those high rise apartments, can't help wonder how Bangalore would benefit if it had its share. It would have been impossible for Singapore to be that green without them. 

No to crime and corruption in Karnataka politics - Petitions

Politics

In the 2008 Karnataka assembly there're
a) 42-43 MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly) with criminal records - BJP (25), INC (08), JD[S] (07) and Independents (02).
b) 08 MLAs with murder or attempt to murder cases against them - BJP (03), INC (03) and JD[S] (02).
c) 18.75% of MLAs with criminal cases against them.



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