India - Dirtiest of All !

03/18/10 05:23 - Naveen

54% of India or 638 million people do not have access to toilets & defecate in the open !

This is over 55% of the total for all such people in the world - we certainly hold the dubious distinction of outranking all others by a huge margin :) - In second place is Indonesia, with a paltry 58 million.

The report also states that 18% of urban India indulge in this practice (Mumbai, Kolkata & Chennai might account for a large part of this). The percentage for rural India is as high as 69%.

Figures for some 'top' countries are as follows:

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Protecting trees - Indiranagar

03/17/10 11:55 - murali772

Knowing me to be a tree lover, members of the local coomunity keep calling asking to know as to what is to be done when they notice trees being felled in their neighborhood, the latest being the above massacre of 4 full-grown trees (very similar to the one that has been spared - seen at the extreme right of the picture) on the 100 ft road in Indiranagar (just North of the pedestrian over-bridge at the end of the fly-over).

Now, if the process is still under way when you come upon it, what you need to do is detailed in the ESG web-site, which may be accessed here. I have myself followed this a couple of times, and succeeded in limiting the damage considerably.

But, if the damage has already occured, like in the above instance, you could perhaps file a query under the RTI Act, on the lines of the one I am going to be filing pertaining to the instant case, as below, and forward a copy to ESG.

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BMLTA sub committee 6th meeting on 14th Dec'2009

03/17/10 11:52 - Sanjeev

BMLTA Sub Committtee minutes of meeting held on 14th Dec'2009,  Principal Secretary, Infrastructure Development Department.

Here things are clear on starting of services between Yesvanthpur to Anekal and DRM of SWR has agreed finally to start the services between Yesvanthpur to Anekal once they get the Amount for two Rakes.

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Effect of Metro stations on adjacent roads

03/16/10 15:49 - muthusubs

The metro work is underway on main roads in most part of Bangalore. The metro stations that are to be constructed are significantly wider than the main track. Will this not create bottlenecks on adjacent roads? For example, there is a metro station being constructed on Old Madras Road near the 80ft road junction. The Old Madras road which is wider on either side of the station suddenly becomes very narrow leading to frequent traffic jams here. Even after the construction of the station, the road width isn't going to change and this can be a serious problem later on. 

Consider the Vijaynagar main road. If the Metro station is constructed near the Bunts Sangha, it will almost be as wide as the road today. How can  the width of the roads be made uniform throughout?

Is this something that BMRCL is thinking of? In addition, the presence of a station will require rickshaw stands and bus stops nearby which means the roads have to be wider in these places. On the contrary, the station makes the road narrower. This is definitely a double whammy. 

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Tourism, Recreation and Karnataka

03/16/10 13:16 - silkboard

Talking about 'quality of life', tourism and recreation is another area where we all expect certain standards of amenities and infrastructure. Further, tourism is known to be an excellent way of boosting internal economy. Across states of India, Karnataka today ranks 4th on domestic tourism, and 5th on international tourist arrivals.

Even though a lot of work has been done by sate government over last 5-6 years (roads to destinations, information, visit Karnataka campaign etc), things can always be better. A good ranking relative to other states of India should not mean much, the standards could be better when judged on absolute terms. Also, there does not seem to be much active citizen involvement, feedback and participation in development and planning of tourism infrastructure and campaigns.

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Rainwater Harvesting Mela on Saturday, March 20, 2010 at Cubbon Park

03/16/10 09:30 - murali772

To mark World Water Day this year, a "Rainwater Harvesting Mela" is being organized at Jawahar Bal Bhavan, Cubbon Park on Saturday, March 20, 2010, from 10:00 am to 5 p.m. There will be stalls set up by BWSSB and several rainwater harvesting service providers. You can use this opportunity to clarify the procedures of the new Amendment, and meet the rainwater harvesting service providers, consultants and plumbers. They would be in a position to explain how you could implement rainwater harvesting for your house or building and give you an idea of the cost. We are also expecting some more organisations involved with water management like Central Groundwater Board to have their stalls at the event.

BWSSB is also organising an 'open house' at the nearby Cubbon Park Wastewater treatment plant as part of the event. Citizens can get a tour of the plant to see how the wastewater in the city is made available for reuse, by using advanced treatment technologies.

Schedule:

10:00am - 11:00 am : Inaguration of event by Chairman, BWSSB

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Mysore road expansion - how can you remove the bottleneck?

03/16/10 06:39 - muthusubs

Do planners in Bangalore realize that bottlenecks are the main source of traffic problems? It doesn't matter if you have a 5km long 8 lane road at the end of which has a bottleneck which reduces to 2 lanes. 

It looks like that the Mysore road is going to be widened. The govt will end up spending crores of money and cause inconvenience to lot of riders during this widening spree. We'll also lose all the trees which so far have kept the Mysore road a complete canopy. But the Bapujinagar bridge is a huge bottleneck. If nothing is done to widen at this point, the whole effort is meaningless. Given that we have the Masjid and the GhaaLi Anjaneya temple on either side, we can imagine that this part of the road can never be widened. 

Do the officials even think about this before going about doing their job of road widening? 

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Transport Hub at Mangalore

03/16/10 06:24 - Naveen

The plan to build a large, formal bus stand for Mangalore had been conceived some years ago. Mangalore's original bus stand at Hampankatta had been too small with no scope for any expansion as it had been sandwiched right in the heart of town (CBD). Hence, KSRTC had shifted out to a newer facility of it's own long ago, however private buses continued to use the same bus-stand. With efflux of time, increased number of buses & severe congestion, the inter-city bus stand was moved to Statebank, close to the fishing harbour, which had long been the terminus for intra-city buses (The Hampankatta bus stand is now a convenient parking facility). Within a few years, due to increasing growth rate/s, much higher number of buses & space constraints, the need for a much larger facility was becoming more & more acute.

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alternate usage of currency notes

03/16/10 05:22 - hemaraj

Today the habba day has a very first page  in times of india, scene of mayawathi getting garlanded with 1000 rupee notes, amounting to 5 crores.

I read an article sometime back that RBI has mentioned that  a rule is being brought in,where currency cannot be used for alteranate purpose other than for transaction as money.

anybody using other than the specific  purpose will be severly punished as it is damaging the notes and cost of printing is very high, and has to  be maintained. this article was published when one of the ministers in Tamilnadu was garlanded.

will this stand good for all . or is it for commom man. or has the rule  been abolished.

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DCE- DTU Controversy - An Alumnus' Perspective

03/15/10 15:57 - shekhar_mittal

It has turned into a fortress. From the looks of it more than 300 cops have been deployed. In its almost 60 year history, that too in the middle of the internal examinations, for the first time  Delhi College of Engineering is witnessing a student strike!

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