New Rajdhani train to Delhi

03/27/10 03:41 - Sanjeev

Source: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/60377/special-trains-clear-extra-rush.html

A new tri-weekly Rajdhani Express commenced its maiden run between Bangalore City and Hazrat Nizammudin on Friday (March 26). ... from Bangalore City at 8.20 p.m. will reach Hazrat Nizammudin at 5.50 a.m ... run on Fridays, Saturdays and Tuesdays and reach Hazrat Nizammudin on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays ... run via Shri Satya Sai Prasanthi Nilayam, Gooty, Dhone, Kurnool Town, Mahbubnagar, Secunderabad, Kazipet, Nagpur, Bhopal and Jhansi to reach Hazrat Nizammuddin ... leave at 8.50 p.m. and arrive at Bangalore City at 6.40 a.m. on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays

Its good for Bangalore, as Summer vacation has started &  now citizens can travell comfortably to Delhi. It was long pending demand of Karnataka.

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spaces under flyovers

03/26/10 13:05 - varsh

action: numerous elevated corridors that have filled the city

reason : construction for metro rail, flyovers

induced reaction : enormous spaces below the flyovers

elaborated: the metro corridors that have filled bangalore and felled trees have GIANT columns that span a distance of 80 ft from each other and have a diameter ranging from 15 to 30ft ( some whic we measured for a case study for educational purposes) . these spaces are sooo huge and big that it could be made multifunctional starting from landscaping them to actually making them commercial spaces or just using them for parking. Also they be made into cafes or makeshift bookstores.

question: what exactly can be done with these spaces?

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Whats really ahead after BBMP election

03/26/10 06:12 - vmenon

dear all,

Its time to start redefining in our own minds, on who is responsible for what after the BBMP elections.

In the vacuum these last few years, MLAs’ filed the space for citizen grieviences.The BBMP engineers started to come directly under them. Task forces were set up to almost run the city. The parstatals (BDA, BWSSB etc) became more a law unto themselves. (The elections themselves will not change the parastals; a governance bill is required for that) .And citizen direct invovelement, even thro a badly run and set up ward committee disappeared (Again a governance reform issue).

First thing, is to realize that a MLA’s job is to provide and monitor the laws and rules of the State. He should have nothing to do with how or where a road is built in a ward.

The councilor is responsible for ward priorities and resource allocations, through direct interaction with citizens or ward committees. He has nothing to do with the engineering aspects or the actual commercial tendering decisions.

Some of them have moral and positional oversight over others, but not direct interference in the others jurisdiction.

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The Bangalore Water Index

03/26/10 06:09 - Neha_Dar

What is the Bangalore Water Index?

The Bangalore Water Index project aims to develop a means of quantifying the 'water health' of the city. This published index will track a judiciously selected set of parameters relevant to the water domain, using data released by government bodies like the BWSSB, technical information provided by NGOs and research institutions, information extracted through RTIs, as well as crowdsourced feedback from citizens.

Over a period of time, the index will draw a comparative picture of the quality, quantity, accessibility and reliability of water supply across various demographics and parts of the city, as well the responsiveness and effectiveness of government bodies in charge.


Why do we need a Water Index?

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Adaptation to Climate Change: Policy, Economics and Governance

03/26/10 05:48 - Ravi_D

Received this via another email subscription. Venue: IISc.

IISC-RCUK Lecture Series

The British Deputy High Commission and the Indian Institute of Science,
           Bangalore Invites you to the Centenary Lecture

                                 On
     Adaptation to Climate Change: Policy, Economics and Governance

By

                            Prof. Judith Rees
                        London School of Economics

                           Prof.P.P.Mujumdar
                           Will be the Chair

Time : 4.00pm
Date : 26th March, 2010
Venue: Faculty Hall, Main Building
Tea  : 5.00pm, Reception Hall

ALL ARE CORDIALLY INVITED

 http://www.serc.iisc.ernet.in/broadcast_messages/msg16102.html

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Save Karnataka's forests from the mining mafia - Petitions

03/26/10 05:29 - indian

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-karnataka-forests-mining-mafia

http://www.petitiononline.com/miningmf/

Twitter Tweet (105 characters)

Save Karnataka's forests from the mining mafia - Petitions http://bit.ly/cDyrHe http://petol.org/miningmf

Tigers pushed out for mines in Karnataka - Mail Today Sun, Feb 28

K'taka:Tigers pushed out for mines Mail Today Sun, Feb 28, 2010

http://m.indiatoday.in/itwapsite/story?sid=86089&secid=4 

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The BBMP Elections 2010

03/26/10 05:12 - psaram42

 "Electioneering for the BBMP polls virtually concluded on Thursday late night with the 66.19 lakh Bangalore electorate getting set to vote on Sunday. Technically the candidates had time till Friday 7 am to end their campaign, but with the ban on using the public address system after 10 pm, the candidates had to close shop on Thursday night."  See the TOI article here.  

The campaign has been very vigorous. The door to door campaign has been very good with distribution of election ID of each voter in a house hold. I have got this info from both BJP and the congress. 

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Collate Online Info

03/26/10 03:46 - Ravi_D

 Let us collect information available online.

Next Task: Meet with relevant authorities to get their say.

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RTI with SWR to get official position on commuter rail

03/26/10 03:40 - silkboard

We are definitely hearing more about commuter rail in news media these days. But the state government, and Raily Ministry may be working on different things. Circular Rail may only be for connecting peripheral areas (may be even part of Peripheral Ring Road, as I remember the specs of PRR talked of leaving space of rail tracks on the side or median, you never know). When we say Commuter Rail, we are talking of a system that will support BMRC and BMTC by adding more trunk routes for going in/out of the city.

Saneev, with lot of talk about costs, but no clear statements on what the plans are, we need to file some RTIs to get official and on-record positions of various parties on the matter.

Let us start with South Western Railway. If you haven't filed an RTI earlier, please leave a comment, and one of us who have the details will leave a detailed note on how to go about it.

I will take care of filing one with Karnataka Government post our meeting with Mr Madhu. I am hoping that we will get the needed information (current official position) from Mr Madhu himself, and wont require to file an RTI.

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Walkability & electricity

03/26/10 03:01 - idontspam

“Overhead electrical cabling is a hazard to human life and property and poses an obstacle to road widening.The danger is even greater during the rainy and windy seasons. Also, a lot of power is stolen by miscreants,”  - A Bangalorean is determined to convince the government to go in for underground electrical cabling in the city

 I think the KPTCL & Bescom need to take this up on priority. This is an investment worth making. I know the linemen will lose gimbla as it will become harder to enable people to steal electricity. More than road widening 90% of obstructions on sidewalks/footpaths are related to electrical poles and transformers.

Let us take this up with our new corporators who will be at work soon.

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