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The great Indian passport farce

Everything else

 My sister visited Passport Service Kendra in Devarabeesanahalli on the 25th for the reissue of passport of her minor child. Needed to travel for a family emergency so she checked the option for tatkal.

First WTF moment. The officer checking the application scratches out her tatkal mark and ticks normal, reason given, another inspecting officer will make the determination after hearing your case and not you.  

Second WTF moment. She waits patiently for the interview where the officer says oh you marked normal on your application so you wont get tatkal. He didnt accept the argument that his own officer, who was nowhere to be seen at that time, had changed it. As a solace she is told the passport will arrive in 3 days flat.

So all arrangements to handle the family emergency and postponement of  tickets on penalty is arranged. Now comes the whammy its 2nd june and no trace of the passport. Status as of 2nd June is

"Passport will be dispatched within 3 working days excluding the date of submission."

A web query to check the status met with the following response

Praja Commuter Rail ride in the press

Commuter RailPublic Transport

That’s what a group of Bangaloreans, most of them IT professionals, discovered as part of an initiative by Praja.in, an internet community that addresses issues affecting the city. 

Five of its members – Muralidhar Rao, Pranav, Manjari, Naveen and Satya – travelled on local trains within the city to experience firsthand the feasibility of the Commuter Rail System (CRS)

Read more at Praja Suburban train ride report covered here by Bangalore Mirror.

Signal Free Corridor projects - need scrutiny (updated)

Infrastructure

Vinay S, an active member at Hasiru Usiru has obtained detailed information from BBMP on upcoming signal free corridor projects. Many people think that the project(s) need some serious scrutiny for the returns they promise on investments. Its one thing to make a relatively new road like Outer ring road into a signal free corridor, and another to talk about turning more than half dozen radial roads signal free without a clear plan for each and every interesction that lies on the way, or more important, without commensurate or alternate investments on public transport (like priority lanes for Big10 routes). Many feel that without such clarity, these corridor projects may end up being "bottleneck shifting" or "more parking space for free" projects.

Vinay has promised to mail over all documents he has obtained (will upload them here as soon as I get hold of them). We may need to scan and upload some sketches as well.

Metro - MG Road Boulevard

InfrastructurePedestrian Infrastructure

 BMRC has uploaded an artists impression of the proposed MG Road Boulevard. Large 10MB file full of graphics.
MG Road Boulevard  

Proposal is for a two level boulevard,  spread along a 400m corridor next to the metro pillars that ends at Anil Kumble Jn. 

Should be a nice place to go to if the reality turns out as good.... Couldn't help think why cramp so many different activities in just a half a km stretch. Personally I'd prefer a single theme to a place, and many such places along the Metro lines. Why only MG Road? Why not landscape and use area under the pillars along many such places in the city?

Wanted - park/lung space in whitefield area

Environment

Amidst the barrage of not to this and no to that posts, here is an "I need this" instead. Whitefield has seen relentless concretization in last 4-5 years. Nice roads, the best pavements, tech parks, and housing complexes. But life is not all about living, commuting and working. We need to play, mingle around and relax as well. For that, need some serious public space, or a large new park.

Center of the city has plenty of these, but it takes too much time to go to Cubbon Park or Lalbagh or Freedom Park now. Whitefield area has a few lakes, and new recreational amenities can be developed around a few of those. We know that a large park will not bring any white or black money to BBMP or BDA, and that is probably why concrete is the flavor of the decade in Bangalore. If you live around Whitefield, leave your comment with words of support, and we will figure how to take this request forward with local corporators or MLA or BBMP/BDA.

No to musical fountain & laser shows at Lalbagh - petitions

EnvironmentPollution

Lalbagh will be losing trees for a 'Sentosa' look. It/This is a perfect case of the fence eating the crop.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/71424/lalbagh-lose-trees-sentosa-look.html 

The Horticulture Dept, which shoulders the responsibility of protecting and preserving Lalbagh Gardens, is set to axe the precious green cover in the State's only botanical gardens. In its zeal to emulate Singapore's famous Sentosa Island, the dept will chop off nearly 10 full-grown trees to make way for a musical fountain and a laser show.

However, the department has kept this fact under wraps, fearing protests. Even the Chief Minister / CM has not been informed about the need for cutting the trees for the project. This place is presently covered by nearly 20 trees, and at least 10 of them are planned to be cleared.

Investigate & publicize Mangalore air crash - petitions

AviationEverything else

Short, narrow and faulty table-top runway. No flat terrain. Pilot/Pilots' fatigue. Quick turn-around (QTA) flights at night raises pilots' stress and fatigue levels. Compromising safety vs commercial interests. No rest between outbound and inbound journeys for the pilots and the cabin crew.

The Karnataka state government wants to establish an airport in every tier-II city across the state. Also a new concept called helitourism is also being introduced even in Madikeri, Kodagu (Western Ghats).

The presence of the Chamundi Hills has rendered the present Mysore airport potentially unsafe especially under foggy / rainy conditions for the flights that are likely to go/depart and come/arrive from Bangalore, Chennai etc.

There seems to be a veil / cloak of secrecy regarding/surrounding the exact cause of YSR's chopper / helicopter accident.

The Airbus 320s or A-320s were grounded for 07 months immediately after the 1990 air crash at the HAL Airport Bangalore by blaming the aircraft and the fly-by-wire technology for the crash. We learnt only after the Mangalore Air crash that it was a pilot error in the case of A-320 crash.

Using GPS to catch tampered rickshaw meters (Updated)

Private transport

I always carry my trusty GPS whenever I head to places I haven't been to. It helps me to quickly locate a place and I don't have to ask for directions. I dont have a vehicle and so I invariably take rickshaws for trips within the city. The infuriating thing about rickshaws is that their meters are frequently tampered with. Yes, even the digital ones.

Yesterday I was heading out to Vasant Nagar in an autorickshaw and carried my GPS with me. The GPS has an odometer which measures distance covered to a very high accuracy. The rickshaw had a "PERFECT" digital meter (model A-786). I quickly realized that it had been tampered since it indicated 2 kms when the actual distance covered was only 1.5 km. I watched as the gap between the GPS reading and the rickshaw meter reading gradually widened. Towards the end of the trip, the rickshaw meter was off by more than 2 kms and still growing.  

Say no to Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act Amendment - Petitions

Environment

Unless tree felling is restricted, our green cover may disappear through greed and ignorance. The GoK enacted the KPTA, 1976, which made permission from the Forest Dept mandatory for felling trees.

According to the Trees Act, trees may only be felled with prior permission of the Forest Dept which has the duty and liability to preserve and protect trees. Anyone (including officials of govt/civic bodies) is subject to criminal prosecution for felling a tree without the required permission.

This requirement of official permission has prevented large scale felling of trees, and has also restrained people and officials from unnecessarily felling trees owing to fear of criminal prosecution. Thus the KPTA thus put a brake on tree felling and helped protect our green cover.

Almost all the 30 species (many major fruit trees) now included for exemption in addition to the earlier 11 constitute the major tree wealth of both rural and urban Karnataka. It'll/It'd devastate bird life and spread pests.

Delhi/Mumbai get wider spans...not Blr why?

Metro RailPublic Transport

 To expedite the process and make it more cost effective, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is making use of gigantic 25 metre-long girders to join spans on elevated stretch of the section.

‘‘The cost of construction with the existing 3-meter spans works out to Rs 24 crore per km, while the 25-meter ones cost Rs 19 crore per km. So using the bigger spans will result in a saving of nearly Rs 5 crore per km,’’ said a DMRC official.

It  looks like this..


The bigger spans work out to be more economical and also speed up pace of the construction. Officials said it takes about a week to join the space between two pillars using segmental construction while the bigger spans can be put in place in just one day.



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