Using GPS to catch tampered rickshaw meters (Updated)

tejvan - 20-MAY-2010

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

indian - 20-MAY-2010

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.

Minutes of the meeting with Arghyam

deepakar - 20-MAY-2010

Some notes from our freewheeling discussion with folks at Arghyam

Participants: Vijay, Deepak and Mrinalini from Arghyam. Manjari, Deepak and Neha

On Water Index

•  The feedback was that we should focus on a narrower scope (say, just collecting data on rainwater harvesting)
• If we are not able to get data from BWSSB directly are we going to take the RTI route? And if we do get data from BWSSB, will we be able to cross-verify it some way?
• Apart from collecting all the data, having an interface for smart queries might be a useful feature to build on Praja.

On Crowdsourcing

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

srinidhi - 19-MAY-2010

 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.

RTI to SW Railways regardig CRS

silkboard - 17-MAY-2010

Am attaching the RTI to be mailed to South Western Railways regarding Commuter Rail proposals. It is based on our discussions on http://praja.in/en/projects/3110/tasks/rti-with-swr-get-official-position-commuter-rail. I couldn't think of a good way of asking questions regarding scope for track doubling. I am also not sure how they would respond to "track utilization" questions. But anwyay, good to shoot a letter to know their current position on CRS.

Since we will be meeting Mr Madhu this week, let us hold off on RTI to state govt/IDD. It may not be needed at all.

Meeting with Mr V Madhu, Infrastructure Development Dept

silkboard - 17-MAY-2010

On the subject of commuter rail plans, finally, we have a meeting comfirmed with Mr V Madhu. got this from Mr Madhu's office. Thursday 20th May, 3 PM, Vikasa Soudha.

You are invited for the Meeting with Shri V.Madhu, Principal Secretary to Government,  Infrastructure Development Department on 20th May 2010  at 15:00hrs  in Room no-28, Ground Floor, Vikasa Soudha, Bangalore-560009   You are requested to carry a copy of this mail to allow yourself inside Vikasa Soudha.

Right to response in English

murali772 - 17-MAY-2010

From over a year now, the responses from GoK officials to queries under RTI, are being made out only in Kannada, even when raised in English, and even when specifically requested to respond in English.

Now, though I can speak Kannada fairly fluently; I can't read or write the language (Questions as to why people like me haven't bothered to learn to read and write the language can be the subject of another blog; but, please do not bring it up here). However, even true-blue Kannadiga's, to whom I have been referring these official responses, have been having difficulty figuring out the specific nuances pertaining to the issues involved.

As such, I feel this is a strategy being adopted by the babu's largely to obfuscate and prevaricate on issues. And, it is certainly having its effects - like from over a year, I have not filed a single query, though I used to be quite a regular before.

In the light of all these, on the 1st of this year, I filed a query as under:

Neta, Babu foreign jaunts

murali772 - 17-MAY-2010

Information obtained through RTI reveals that 157 legislators and 48 officials who visited foreign countries in 2009 (costing a whopping Rs 4.3 cr) haven't bothered to prepare a study report.

Metro Rail too much to handle - Can we leapfrog...

cvikash - 5-SEP-2007

Where as the need of a high capacity transit system for our cities is beyond any doubt,at a cost of Rs. 16000 crores for about 33 kms., as it stands on this day and further escalation anticipated, Bangalore Metro looks pretty expensive. Can Bangalore leapfrog into a next generation public transport system ? The answer today is a resounding "YES".

Traffic cop with a heart

shas3n - 20-JUL-2007

Several times I have been harrassed by traffic police. I have even been fined on a one-way inspite of going in the correct direction. I kept arguing and the cop kept threatening me with words like warrant, summons etc. Finally I ended up paying 100 Rs fine inspite of following all the rules. That had left a bitter taste in my mouth about traffic police.