And the winners are…

Die-hard resident activists of HSR Layout

By ZAHID H JAVALI

Activism isn’t easy to come by. Perhaps because it demands decisiveness, bravery, persistence, selflessness and a never-say-die attitude. Thankfully, there are quite a few of them in HSR Layout. All the residents we profile in this feature have these qualities in abundance. Activism knows no age. We have them ranging here from 41 to 75 years. Importantly, four among the six happen to be 41 years old. Quite a coincidence, but it also says a lot. Desperate situations demand desperate measures.

And one has to start young to fix the mess. Therefore, the resident activists of today are no longer just senior citizens, social workers and politicians. They also include young working professionals who have no affiliation to any NGO or political party.
Without further ado, we profile people, from the senior-most to the junior-most, who have made HSR Layout, a better neighbourhood. Their work is far from over. They need you. Interested? Join our Telegram Super Group. Email us with your details (residentswatchmag@gmail.com), and we will be glad to add you.

RS MURTHY (75)
The former brigadier of the Indian army is also the co-founder of the 15-year-old Sector 2 Residents Welfare Association (RWA). He might not be the RWA’s president anymore, but he still makes his voice heard on critical issues that concern the neighbourhood. Such a gutsy person is required at a time when autocracy rules and people shy away from sticking their neck out on issues of public interest. Born in Bangalore and having spent the first few years of his life in Malleswaram, Murthy worked for the army for 34 years, and even took part in two wars with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971. Later, he worked for the Tatas for nearly eight years as Head (infrastructure and administration) and as a Consultant for their organisational development initiatives. A mechanical engineer, he holds a Master’s Degree in Defence and Strategic studies, and a Management certificate in Human Resource Development and Personal Productivity. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers and an accredited management teacher.

An HSR resident since 2002, and as president of the Sector 2 RWA, he has had several success stories under his leadership. One of the big three includes the handing over of army land at the end of 27th Main Road towards Somasundrapalya. Partnering with the local authorities, politicians and residents, particularly Rear Admiral (retired) Narayanan, who represented the apartment owners of Somasundrapalya, the issue was finally resolved between the BDA and the Indian Army. “On the request of the local BDA officials, I personally followed up on this issue with the concerned army authorities. After three years, I was able to expedite the issue through Ministry of Defence’s approval pertaining to exchange of land between Army and BDA. In 2006, I called for and coordinated a meeting between BDA officials and concerned Army officers of ASC–Centre North at the Iblur Military camp. After detailed deliberations, the long-pending issue was resolved at this meeting.”

The BBMP Grounds in Sector 2 opposite Nandini Cooljoint would not have happened if not for the vociferous activism exhibited by Sector 2 RWA and supported by HSR residents led by Shivakumar, a resident of Sector 5. Designated as a public playground in the original BDA masterplan, it became a huge issue a decade ago. “Since 2004, HSR Layout Sector 2 RWA had been stressing on the Government of Karnataka and civic agencies that this playground was a much-needed lung space for the residents of the fast growing HSR Layout,” says Murthy. “In Oct 2007, the residents of HSR Layout Sector 2 and adjoining areas were appalled and shocked to see that this land was allotted for the formation of a judges colony by the state government. This showed a lack of transparency by the government and BDA, particularly since we as an RWA, had been in dialogue in the previous years with BDA and other government officials for the proper use of this land. In November 2007, our RWA filed a petition to Karnataka Governor and sought an appointment to explain the petition and seek intervention for allotment of this land for a playground to meet the aspirations of residents of this area. We were also supported by many committed individuals from other sectors when we met the Governor. On our petition, the advisors to the state government mentioned that residents of HSR Layout have been deprived of a lung space and playground. It was at this stage that other sector associations joined the struggle to recover the playground from the judges.”

Spearheaded by Shivkumar, the residents filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in November 2008 in the Karnataka High Court for violating zonal laws. “I was the principal petitioner and all other Sectors represented by their presidents and secretaries were petitioners,” says Murthy. The first hearing came up on December 25, 2008 and the case continued for five years through 34 hearings. “Along with me, committed individuals like Mr Shiva Kumar, Mr HM Javali, Mr Channakeshava, Mr Ponnappa, Mr Chandrasekhar, Mr Hiremath, members of the Executive Committee of Sector 2 RWA, and a few likeminded individuals from other Sector RWAs attended these court hearings patiently since December 2008.” Murthy himself attended 32 of the 35 court hearings and on one occasion became a pleader during a hearing when the High Court advocates went on strike.” On December 20, 2013, the residents won the case as the High Court directed the PWD, Government of Karnataka, to hand the land back to BDA. “Since then, Sector 2 RWA has been continuing the interaction with BBMP officials and elected representatives on the issue of the playground development,” says Murthy. “The residents of HSR Layout do not want any concrete structures to come up in this lung space of HSR Layout and BBMP must not permit any other activity, other than sports and sports-related activities. Also, a lot of trees and greenery around the periphery of the ground with proper security arrangements must come up.”

Murthy has lent his wholehearted support towards the ‘Right to Breathe’ campaign against the Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC) near HSR Layout. Murthy was also a petitioner in the PIL of Koramangala-Bellandur-HSR Layout group on mutilation and encroachment of wet lands by Mantri Developers and the others in the Bellandur Lake/Lake-bed area. He is also an active member of the Agara Lake rejuvenation committee.

In his spare time, Murthy enjoys playing golf, reading books, listening to classical Indian music, travelling to different countries and meeting interesting people. He loves spending time with his family and importantly, his grand-children who give him “maximum bliss”.

HM JAVALI (72)
He is the reason Residents Watch exists in HSR Layout for the last five years. Without his undying, selfless work towards the betterment of residents for the last 11 years, the magazine would not have been born. He was the general secretary of Sector 3 Residents Welfare Association for nine years and the Secretary General of the Federation of HSR Layout Residents Welfare Associations for two years. He served with the Indian Air Force for 15 years and fought two wars in 1965 and 1971. Later, Javali worked with the Karnataka government secretariat (Vidhana Soudha) and retired as a section officer. During this tenure, he has been a Personal Assistant to two ministers at different points in time.

After retirement, he was a consultant for the Reliance Group and has been a resident of HSR since 2004. Javali was vociferous in his opposition towards the authorities and the local politicians on several civic issues, including encroachment of public spaces, illegal buildings, the pig mafia, commercialisation of residential areas, indiscriminate labour camps and many more. Among the highlights under his tenure as secretary of Sector 3 RWA was the twin park development. Much of the lighting and tree planting happened with his active involvement. Another playground on 18th Main in Sector 3 given to the Department of Youth Services & Sports was put to good use because of his interaction with the authorities. With their approval, money was collected by the residents to prune and level the land to conduct a sports meet in 2011. With further followup with the authorities by Javali, the government department spent a few lakhs to fence and landscape the park in 2014 to conduct another sports meet. There is now a proposal to build a sports complex by the Sports Authority of India for Rs 5 crore. It is awaiting clearance from the central government. Javali was also instrumental in lending his physical presence to several court hearings that happened to eventually recover the playground allotted to the judges in Sector 2.

Streetlights is another issue close to his heart. He has single-handedly been in charge of streetlights in Sector 3 for the last decade and counting. Most times, he has personally accompanied the streetlight vehicle to places where the lights needed to be changed across Sector 3. He has spent his own money in sending out innumerable SMS-es and phone calls to the authorities on issues of public interest. A practice he does till today. “Now I would like the young turks to take it over from me and carry on the good work,” he says. May his story inspire them to come forward and do more.

Javali played an active role in the development of the Tree Park in Sector 3 next to Subramanya temple. At a time when land sharks were trying to take it over by hook or crook, he was steadfast and did his best to ward off such elements as a Sector 3 RWA member. With Javali’s citizen activism of the last decade acting as the best endorsement for the park, MLC VS Ugrappa had it easy in getting the BDA to develop the park and even get the chief minister’s attention for funds. Even before the park came up, this vacant land had turned into an open air lavatory, labour camp and debris dumping haven. Once, Javali had a close encounter with the area’s alleged landlord who threatened him with dire consequences if Javali prevented him from dumping debris. A police case was filed and the landlord was booked for criminal intimidation and illegally dumping the debris. His other plans of opening a garage and a showroom on the disputed land was successfully stopped again by Javali. Many times, Javali would wake up in the middle of the night and stop lorries dumping debris along the road adjoining this disputed site. Eventually, the BDA won the case and the district magistrate asked the BDA to develop it into a park.

Javali’s activism does not end there. For the last two years, though not the secretary of the Sector 3 RWA, he set up a Whatsapp Group for the residents and has been addressing complaints in real time. While the actual RWA office bearers remained silent in the group, he has been playing an active role till date. He is a man without a title. And many even call him, a ‘one man army’. With his experience in the defence services, being selfless comes easily to him. That is his only passion. Meeting people and trying to solve their problems. It’s a rare quality that only a few possess. Even rarer is the zealousness with which he pursues civic issues at this age.

ANIS PADELA (41)
He defies convention. His passion knows no bounds. And he is fearless. Anis has knocked on the doors of the chief minister and even the High Court to remove the polluting government composting plant near his house. Eventually, he succeeded, with the help of the residents, to bring down the intake from 500 tonnes of mixed waste per day to 150 tonnes. This magazine teamed up with Anis to organise a massive three-hour protest against the state government in October 2015. Just the announcement of the protest in the media brought the chief minister to the doorstep of the KCDC, something that had not happened in the 40-year history of KCDC. What is supposed to be a 60-tonne composting plant was enhanced to take up to 500 tonnes and the BBMP was planning to increase it to 1000 tonnes with odour-control technology that has never taken off even after two years. Promises are made and are always broken, prompting the residents led by him, to protest repeatedly through press releases, online signature campaigns, postcard campaigns, blood donation camps, and even day-and-night protests. In addition, Anis has fought the issue in the courts, but with the administration throwing up its hands for not having an alternative solution, the court was forced to maintain the status quo. Now, the government has promised to shift the plant the moment they find an alternative site. However, Anis is not leaving it to chance. He’s going to fight it out to the very end, even going right up to the National Green Tribunal if need be. Not only is the KCDC stench from unscientific garbage composting reaching up to 3 kilometre radius, it has also encroached the neighbouring Somasundrapalya Lake and even polluted it by letting in the filthy discharge.

Anis holds a bachelor’s science degree in microbiology with an additional MBA degree in marketing. He works as a SAP professional with Wipro Technologies and has been living in HSR for the last seven years. He turned into a civic activist three years ago when the KCDC stench became unbearable. As he puts it: “The circumstances, and an attitude of not giving up at any point and gross violation of basic human rights and freedom to breathe, prompted me to become a citizen activist.”
Anis is credited for single-handedly fighting against the Govt of Karnataka and BBMP in court. Later, with the support of many like-minded citizens, he has converted the fight into a ‘right to breathe’ movement. The fight is still on and far from over. “The system in our country is not perfect. But we as citizens will have to work to make it perfect. Individuals can become a force to reckon with if they stand for their freedom and protect their fundamental rights. The system can be forced to take action without resorting to violence through democratic means.”

In his spare time, Anis loves to spend time with his family and watch football. And there’s nothing like good food to keep him going. He is a die-hard foodie.

DR SHANTHI TUMMALA (41)
A dentist for many years comes to HSR Layout, gives up her practice and becomes a resident activist. That’s Dr Shanthi for you. Practising dentistry in Vijayawada before marriage and continuing her practice after moving to Bangalore, Shanthi shifted to HSR in 2008. The ground floor of her house was built to be a clinic where she continued her dental practice. But soon, her roots began to have a mind of their own. “I am a farmer’s daughter. I have grown up feeding cows, composting waste and growing food,” she recalls. “When I visited the landfills and spoke to the villagers, I did not want the city residents to be the cause for their suffering. I began by experimenting on composting food waste of my lane in the nearby park. I found a few supportive neighbours and started shredding and composting waste in the park. Since it required only organic waste, I started educating residents on segregation. I connected with Solid Waste Management expert committee member Almitra Patel who in turn connected me to the ladies of Kasa Muktha Bellandur. They were working on the 2bin1bag method of segregation. I loved the concept, invested personal money in procuring 1000 sets and started distributing them to spread awareness in HSR. I was invited to be a part of the Solid Waste Management Round Table and there was no turning back.”

Streamlining waste segregation in HSR is one of her biggest success stories, and it’s a work in progress. Take that to mean, diverting 20,000 kilos of wet waste every day for composting, and an average of 2000 kilos of recyclables to the Dry Waste Collection Centre and 500 kilos per day of sanitary waste for scientific incineration. “Keeping this much waste away from landfills makes me so happy,” she says. “It involved a continuous effort by my team in building awareness, connecting destinations, monitoring and getting the BBMP to penalise the defaulters.”

Her next milestone was the implementation of plastic ban in HSR “even before the state government passed a ruling”. It involved working with elected representatives, BBMP officials, resident welfare associations, traders, citizens and even school children. “I feel proud when I see shoppers walking into supermarkets with cloth bags, and when they bring their containers to get their packed food.”

Shanthi has also started a green gifting trend. “The politicians often give sarees and sweets on their birthdays. Last birthday, we persuaded Bommanahalli MLA (Satish Reddy) to gift 100 composting kits to households and 12 leaf composters to temples to compost puja flowers.”

The lessons she has learnt as a citizen activist are precious. “I have learnt to follow up any task I take up till the very end,” she says. “If I give shape to the idea and leave implementation to others, it either doesn’t get done or is of unacceptable standards.” Her most remarkable attribute is her dogged persistence. “I have learnt to not let criticism get in the way of my work. I have chosen to help people who do not want to be helped. Snide remarks and unsolicited criticism only makes my resolve stronger.” To keep the engines of her social system well-oiled, she surrounds herself with positivity. “I choose to work with a positive team. Wherever I go, I find problems to solve and people wanting to solve them with me.”

She rarely gets time for herself. But when she does, it’s gardening and watching movies for her. She has just one request: “I request more and more citizens to be a part of the change they would love to see.”

RAMAKRISHNA REDDY V (41)
Soft spoken Ramakrishna isn’t as malleable when it comes to issues of public interest. He and his team of passionate residents are so impactful that more than 3000 residents turned up for a three-hour protest in front of Sobha Daffodil last year. The reason? To get Sobha builders to give back the encroached road (of over a decade) back to the residents so they could transit much more smoothly from one side of HSR to the other.

An engineering graduate, Ramakrishna works for a leading IT firm. Before this, he dabbled in various businesses, including the film industry. He has been a resident of HSR extension area for over four years and has been staying in Bangalore for about a dozen years. When he moved to HSR, as the apartment association president, he began looking at issues in his area. He noticed that a major road is blocked by Sobha Daffodil apartment builders and turned into a private road, preventing access to HSR Layout from Harlur and vice versa. This has put a lot of kids, women, elders and schools into a lot of hardship while commuting. “They are taking small roads to travel and suffering from bad road conditions and spending hours in traffic jams,” says Ramakrishna. “I started meeting neighbourhood associations and conducted various sports and festival activities to unite the people. Eventually, we covered a majority of apartments in the vicinity of Sobha Daffodils and formed the Haraluru-Somasundrapalya Residents Association. As its president, Ramakrishna not only staged the biggest protest this neighbourhood has seen in recent times but also went to court as the BBMP and the state government failed to deliver. “The single bench of the Karnataka High Court declared it as a public road too,” says Ramakrishna. “But the issue is still in court as the divisional bench decided to have one more hearing in the High Court before the final judgement.”

Using RTI, Ramakrishna’s team extracted all the ammunition needed to fight it out in court. All this while, the Sobha folks were contesting all their claims by saying that the road belonged to them. However, documents procured by his team revealed that Sobha builders had not only encroached the ‘B’ kharab land village roads but had also built illegal building blocks on them. His ‘Right 4 Road’ campaign was followed by a blood donation camp aptly titled ‘Blood 4 Road’. BBMP Commissioner Manjunatha Prasad himself came down to demolish the Sobha Road but was prevented by the residents from doing so. By the time, he could come back again, they had obtained a stay from the court. But truth will triumph. Sooner or later. And people like Ramakrishna will make sure of that.

Activism is not new to Ramakrishna. He was a student union president in his collage days and a youth leader in a political party. “Social work is unconditional and sometimes, results take time. We have to unite the people, keep fighting for our rights and never give up.”

When he’s not hitting the streets as an activist, Ramakrishna plays badminton, hangs out with friends and reads books on philosophy. “Books make me understand life better. When you understand life better, you live better.”

KAMESH RASTOGI (41)
The youngest activist of them all in HSR is Kamesh. Not that he hasn’t done activism before he came to HSR. From Uttar Pradesh, he is the best example of a person who feels for the place he lives in and does everything in his capacity to make things right. Be it stopping in the middle of the night to find people digging up the roads and following up with people until the activity is either stopped or fixed the very next day to highlighting every issue he faces in and around his neighbourhood.

For his undying follow-ups, Kamesh has earned the respect of many in HSR. His real-time updates in social media groups puts pressure on the officials and local politicians and the work gets done, sooner or later. Sometimes, work doesn’t get done immediately for want of equipment or funds. But he’s steadfast and keeps following up with the officials until they do what is required. He has had his fair share of disappointments and failures. But that is what makes him a success story. He never loses hope and continues to wear the hat of a citizen activist. It is this selfless, never-say-die attitude of his that gets him our vote. We want more residents in HSR to be inspired by him and follow in his footsteps.

Working at Oracle as a senior manager, Kamesh holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering (Computer Science) from Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi. Previous to Oracle, he has worked for over two decades in various companies in different roles. He became an activist the moment he moved to HSR in 2007. “The same year, I was part of the Banao Sunder Jagah campaign. We planted many trees and revamped the BBMP nursery near KCDC and also did a hygiene and cleanliness awareness drive around the area. It was a volunteer group of many folks from nearby apartments.” There was a lull after 2009 due to professional commitments, but his activism was back by the end of 2013. Kamesh is known for his regular follow-ups with various government officials (right up to Chief Engineer, BBMP) and local politicians to get the roads asphalted from 24th Main to Somsundrapalya Circle.

Two years ago, he co-founded Hasiru Mithra, a socio-civic volunteer group of residents from HSR and HSR Extension. “We did the first two-way waste segregation workshops and multiple awareness drives across the neighbourhood,” he says. His popularity grew when he presided over potholes as the Pothole Pujari. This innovative move by Hasiru Mithra members to highlight the sad state of roads invited national media attention. The authorities fixed the roads after the media lavished its attention on such neighbourly pursuits.

The greatest lesson he has learnt? “Don’t stop with one assurance. Keep trying to resolve the issue from every direction until the job gets done.”

Kamesh sings, gyms, swims and even plays table tennis. He also goes on regular walks and calls himself a ‘fitness beast’ — yoga ranks high up there for him. He has also sung at several venues and get-togethers – he is a big fan of legendary singers, the late Kishore Kumar and the late Mohd Rafi.

(Full disclosure: HM Javali is also the Chief Advisor of Residents Watch)