Always keep your doors and windows shut, particularly if you live on the ground floor. Twenty-seven-year-old Somil Jhavar realised this harsh truth when he kept his door open and allowed thieves to steal his valuables.
Dell Inspiron
Samsung Galaxy Note 9
The incident occurred on December 3 between 8am and 8.20am. Staying on 18th A Main, 23rd Cross, Somil had left the door open and gone inside his house to cook. In those 20 minutes, some strangers have entered his house and stole his Dell Inspiron laptop and Samsung Galaxy Note 9.
Both are expensive gadgets to own. A note 9 costs anywhere between 62000 and 70000. A Dell Inspiron, depending on the configuration can cost from Rs 40,000 to Rs 70,000.
When the 2014 cycle track plan was proposed for HSR Layout, the cycle track width was more. But over the years, the roads in HSR also had as much more vehicular traffic. Therefore, the width of the cycle tracks are now reduced to provision more space for movement of vehicles.
Since road users are far more than those using cycles, the BBMP is now forced to ensure that the road width isn’t reduced to accommodate the cycle track. “Today, we cannot dedicate 2.5 metres to the cycle track,” said one senior official. “Therefore, we are now working out a compromise formula where we will be using half the footpath and about 1-1.8 metre of the road for the cycle track.”
Being a dream project for Bangalore, there have been many hurdles that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Department of Urban Land Transport (DULT) have faced in the last few years. “Many people are opposed to the cycle track because they feel that the roads are used more,” said one official, privy to the controversy surrounding it. The revised plan is awaiting approval from the Commissioner of DULT. Once approved, the cycle track will be functional in a month’s time, say BBMP officials.
One bill of the BBMP contractor who had done much of the drainage and tiling work for footpaths in HSR Layout is already cleared, and the other one will be cleared soon, according to another highly placed official in the BBMP.
Did you know that a graveyard encroaches half the road on 26th Cross, 17th Main in Sector 3? Well, here are some interesting facts about it. According to one BDA official who served his previous term before being transferred, this was a wasteland belonging to the government when HSR was just a village. However, once the BDA took over the land, it left the graveyard as it is and did the rest of the road, according to him.
Another BDA official said that the area around Ellukunte where this graveyard is located is rife with litigations. “There are so many questionable land deals out there and many are embroiled in litigations,” he said. “This graveyard land could also be involved in such a court case. “The new BDA officials in HSR should do a spot inspection and find out if it’s unauthorised or notified land.” Another BDA official said that it cannot be private land as all wasteland is government land.
To put an end to this speculation, we asked the new BDA official about it. After going through the land records, M Prabhu, the new BDA assistant executive engineer confirmed that according to the new map of BDA, 875 is a site. And what about the land next to 875? “It doesn’t show anything here.”
Clearly, this is some contentious territory that the previous BDA officials chose to ignore and only did half the road, keeping the graveyard intact on the rest of the road. However, this needs to be sorted out as it’s government land. “If the residents write a letter to us why they want the graveyard to go away, we could initiate an enquiry and submit our findings to the higher-ups for further action,” said Prabhu.
The fact that it’s appeared as a media report should be reason enough for the BDA to initiate action. After all, what’s a graveyard doing on a residential road? Residents complain that it’s a health hazard, and others say that it’s a traffic bottleneck around this area. In addition, all kinds of people are parking their autos, tempos and cars alongside the encroached road. Creating an opportunity for outsiders to park their vehicles here is also a security issue. Therefore, we urge the BDA officials to initiate action based on this report and clear the road of the graveyard. It’s better late than never.
Resident Prakher Singhal was mighty upset yesterday when Zomato delivered a pizza that was all scrunched up (see pic). It was like delivering a smashed up cake. Although Zomato refunded the money, the damage was done. And Prakher went public with this pathetic delivery style of Zomato.
Tweeting to Zomato, he said 14 hours ago, “Is this how pizza is delivered? Orderid# 1188351487. I saw the delivery boy. He carried the pizza like a laptop in backpack. All slices were on top of each other. I have got the refund but is this an excuse for pathetic delivery?”
To be fair to Zomato, this does not happen often. But when it does due to the incompetence of its staff, the company does get its share of brickbats. However, it’s a good thing. That’s how the company and its staff will always be on their toes. And when they come under the media glare, they become even more so.
On December 3, at around 5am, 22-year-old cab driver Nagendra was driving in front of Microsoft office near Iblur junction on Outer Ring Road (ORR). He was ferrying passenger Ravikumar (40 years) towards Bellandur not realising that a little ahead, an ambulance driver (KA04 A3559) had stopped his vehicle in the middle of the road and stepped out.
Representative image.
The bus driver in front of Nagendra’s cab expertly manoeuvred the bus at the last minute to the left, but since the cab driver wasn’t aware of the ambulance’s presence, he tried to apply the breaks at the last minute to avoid a collision. But it was too little, too late. The car lost its balance and hit the ambulance, which severely mutilated the cab and also injured the driver.
Nagendra’s hands, posterior, chest and other areas bled because of the impact while passenger Ravikumar escaped with minor injuries. With the help of the passersby, both were taken to the nearby Sakra Hospital for immediate treatment. A major case is filed against the ambulance driver for parking his vehicle in the middle of the road.
The HSR cops have registered two cases under the Indian Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (section 134A& 134B). The accused could be imprisoned anywhere between 3 months and three years under the act. The cops have also booked cases under the Indian Penal Code (279 – rash driving, 283 – no parking, 337 – causing hurt).
A BTM Layout resident has allegedly been conned of Rs 1 crore by four landlords staying in HSR Layout. The cops have registered a case of ‘criminal breach of trust’ in addition to cheating and dishonesty.
Forty-four-year-old PK Chacko, is the managing director of Oceanus Dwellings Private Limited whose office is in PN Plaza building on 18th Cross, Sector 3, HSR Layout. The accused are Muninanjamma (93), N Nagaraja Reddy (72), B Govindamma (66) and N Vasudev Babu (47) who claimed to own 3 acres 9 gunta land in Singasandra.
On January 31, 2006, Chacko entered into a joint venture deal with them and paid them an advance of Rs 1 crore. Later, Chacko realised that the land was under litigation. When he asked for a refund, the accused asked him to give a No Objection Certificate (NOC), so they could sell the land to some other developer and pay back Chacko’s money.
On August 7, 2006, Chacko claimed to have given an NOC to the accused, but till date, the accused are alleged to have not returned his money. Instead, Chacko claims that the accused have allegedly sold off their joint venture land to a developer and cheated him out of the deal and the money he gave them. Incidentally, all the four accused stay in one house in Sector 6, HSR Layout.
On November 19, we wrote about a prostitution racket being publicised on a website and Twitter handle. The HSR cops got back to us saying that the pimps simply name posh areas in Bangalore as part of their marketing tactic although the place of their operations could be outside HSR.
While the Twitter handle did not update HSR for a while, it is back up again. Just 11 hours ago, it has posted that offers “Body to Body massage, Oil massage, Female to male full body massage in Bangalore, Independent girls personal services in RR Nagar, Nagarbhavi, JP Nagar, Koramangala, HSR Layout, Hebbal, Banaswadi, Electronic city.” While this news was relayed to the cops, in addition to their website (Sanjanaspa.com), nothing much has been done to atleast shutdown the Twitter handle and the website. The HSR cops could clearly assign this job to the cybercrime police station and act immediately.
The Twitter handle of the pimp
The contentious website that is still not shut despite reporting about it more than a month ago
The amphitheatre work is about to be completed in a week at the Swabhimaana Tree Park in Sector 3. The sprawling lung space in HSR Layout on 19th Cross, 15th B Main will play host to Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwar when the open air stadium work is completed.
According to BDA officials, the park work is going along swimmingly and will be completed in a week or two. It is HSR resident and Bellary MP, VS Ugrappa’s idea to call Parameshwar who is also the city development minister. Sources tell us that even chief minister Kuramaraswamy might also make it for the inauguration of the amphitheatre. “All the tiling, painting and drainage work will be complete by then,” said one BDA official. “All the debris lying around the park will be cleared for the inauguration.”
UPDATE
The Belgaum legislature session prevented the inauguration from happening in December. As of March 2019, it was yet to be inaugurated, but the amphitheatre is already being used by the general public in storytelling, dance and other sessions for the kids. Just remember that the use of loudspeakers is restricted as the residents around the area are inconvenienced by the high decibels.
The presence of Oxford College and National Public School (NPS) is causing much heartburn among residents of 17th B Main in Sector 4. Adding to their problems is the lackadaisical attitude of school authorities, bus drivers and civic agencies in finding a permanent solution to the problem of rash driving, blaring loud speakers and traffic jams on this thoroughfare. In addition, two residential buildings have turned commercial and host Paying Guest accommodations, two xerox shops and a tailoring unit. The result is that there is queuing up of people, haphazard parking, constant noise and a lot of latenight pickup and drops of men and women staying in PGs.
NATIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOL
The residents of this road complain that the National Public School in HSR Layout is high-handed about its functioning. Whether it’s playing blaring music all day a month before the recent annual day function or the haphazard parking of vehicles by parents in front of people’s houses on 17th B Main, or the high-handedness of school bus drivers, the residents have had enough of the school. That it has pupils of IAS officers and politicians makes it get away with many of these issues, claim residents.
The problems don’t just end there. “The school authorities are arrogant and don’t respond to complaints from the residents,” says resident activist Kavitha Reddy. “The Sector 4 Residents Welfare Association has written 55 letters to the school regarding the traffic, noise and road congestion issues in the last 4-5 years, but the school chooses to keep mum about them all. We call for a meeting and they don’t come.”
The most recent was the day-long blaring music that went on in the school campus to prepare for a recently-concluded school fest. The issue is that such festivities happen on school grounds on a regular basis. With several senior citizens living on 17th B Main, the noise norms are getting violated and the day-long music is hurting everyone. “The school is like a fort… they don’t want to talk to anybody outside,” said Kavitha. “Let them issue instructions to the parents not to park in front of people’s homes. They can also use their security personnel to resolve the parking problems. For functions, they can request Freedom School to lend their grounds.”
There are other noise pollution sources as well. “They keep big generators in front of our houses, and they go on and on,” says another resident Panduranga CR. “They stink too. Why can’t they place the generators inside? They have a big campus.”
RESIDENTS’ CARS UNDER HOUSE ARREST
“We can’t bring out our cars from houses as the buses are parked on the school side and the parents park in front of our house,” says Panduranga. “We cannot handle the parents, only the school management can police them by issuing an instruction that parking on 17th B Main will not be allowed.”
The residents understand that certain issues need a compromise. But all they are asking for is to be consulted when certain issues cannot be resolved. “They should respect the neighbours,” says Kavitha. “That coexistence formula is not there which is what is agitating people as they are doing their own thuggery.”
Two years ago, the issue with bus drivers reached a flashpoint when a bus driver hit a resident for objecting to haphazard parking of school buses on the public road. “We filed a case against the drivers, and today, the drivers are begging us to withdraw the complaint,” said Kavitha. “The school authorities say that they have outsourced the bus service and are therefore not responsible for the bus driver’s actions. Playing ‘chamma chamma’ and other dance numbers with full-on speakers is not positive energy, it’s disgusting! Cops have been called thrice already due to the noise from speakers at NPS School!”
THE OXFORD COLLEGE OF SCIENCE
The students from Oxford College are another problem. “There is public display of affection by them all along the road,” said Kavitha. Another resident Shamanna Reddy echoes her feelings and says, “The school students drive rashly and make too much on 17th B Main where I stay. This road is a nuisance for the last 8-10 years and no amount of complaints to BBMP to install speed humps has worked. Similarly, the traffic cops are not finding a permanent solution to the rash driving issue here.”
Resident V Anand Kumar says they have no problems with other schools like Freedom International and Shakuntala Devi as they are not on 17th B Main. “The problem is only with NPS and Oxford college,” he says. “The cops are also helpless. I have seen them doing nothing even when four students are on a bike and indulging in PDA. The cops tell us if the parents are not bothered about their kids, why should we?”
COMMERCIALISATION
A bakery was stopped from coming up on the road, but the two PGs on the road are not hosting a new xerox shop in addition to the existing xerox shop and a tailoring unit. “All these facilities lead to a crowd of students parking their two wheelers haphazardly,” says Kumar. “Every other day, I am fighting with the college authorities as I am not able to take out my car. The college security only works when I scream at them. On other days, they go lax again. Because of PGs, women stand out at night, creating further nuisance as guys pick up and drop them. The college authorities organise birthday parties and throw the garbage on the road.”
We asked NPS principal Shefali Tyagi to get back to us on the complaints from residents. But she never did, even months later. That shows the arrogance with which the school management operates in a residential locality. Who will bring these offenders to book, ask hapless residents.
There is no electricity since 11am in Sector 3 today. The Bangalore Electric Supply Company (BESCOM) officials informed Residents Watch that two transformer cables are being replaced. “The work is time-consuming and takes 6-7 hours,” said one official. “The power should be restored in Sector 3 by 6pm.”
This power interruption is part of the months-long work going on by BESCOM to install low tension aerial bunched cables across HSR Layout. Once installed, the cables will not be hazardous to trees or people even if you touch them as they will be heavily insulated from the elements. They will be electrocution-free. Which means, the power won’t be shutdown even when it rains.
BESCOM officials told Residents Watch that so far, 60% of work in yet to be done in Sector 3. Only Sector 6 work is complete, so the VVIPs, particularly IAS officials will be the least inconvenienced. Sector 7 will be next – 80% of this work is complete. The rest of the sectors have to still play catch up as they are only 30-40% complete.
Powercuts, anyone?
Call 1912 and complain anyway. Don’t assume that it could be because of this project. In some cases, the reason could be something else. Prompt reporting is a must to rectify other issues. If that doesn’t help, you can call the executive engineer at 9449844825 or the office landline at 08022584382. Email: eehsrlayout@bescom.co.in, aeeohsrlayout@bescom.co.in.
December 1 will be a historic day in the history of HSR Layout as the first ward committee meeting was conducted today for both Ward 174 (HSR) and Ward 190 at the BBMP office on 9th Main Road in Sector 6, as the officials for both wards are largely the same, barring a few exceptions. This is also historic because now the monthly meetings are mandated by the Karnataka High Court and ordered by the BBMP Commissioner.
It does not end there. Every first Saturday, after the meeting is conducted, the minutes of the meeting are recorded by the Assistant Revenue Officer and the citizen complaints are forwarded to the relevant government departments for action. At the next meeting, a progress report ought to be submitted by these agencies, so that it can be shared to the general public.
Today’s meeting began with Ward 190 at around 1030am followed by HSR Ward 174 that ended at 2pm. The top highlights were the issue of potholes, streetlights, stray dogs and park maintenance. Barring one ward committee member, the remaining 11 were present at today’s historic session. Many residents of HSR also joined in with their list of complaints that were duly recorded by the civic officials.
For both the wards, Assistant Revenue Officer Lakshmi is designated to send the report of the proceedings to the BBMP headquarters, which will in turn forward it to the Karnataka High Court.
“We divided the responsibilities amongst us and noted down the complaints,” said HSR health inspector Vinodh GM. “If it’s an emergency issue, we get the address of the person and try to resolve the issue immediately.”
Although there were issues regarding BWSSB, BESCOM, traffic and crime, only BBMP officials were present. However, the BBMP officials will forward the complaints from the residents to the relevant departments for immediate redressal. The letters to other departments will be sent out on Monday.
Regarding the shabby composition of the ward committee for which we have done a separate story, BNR Reddy, the chairman of the Federation of HSR Layout Residents Welfare Association, told Residents Watch: “We have spoken to the MLA about this and he has assured us that he will reconstitute the committee to our satisfaction.”
Nineteeen-year-old KM Vishall Somaiya, a resident of Teacher’s Colony that is adjacent to HSR Sector 5, is a mechanical engineering student of New Horizon College of Engineering in Marathahalli. He and his friends from different disciplines like automobile and electrical engineering have built an energy-efficient solar vehicle for an international contest by Shell. They are one among the four participants from Bangalore who are shortlisted for the competition in the second week of December called Shell Eco-Marathon in Chennai.
Vishall is in the front row and third from right
Not only will Vishall’s work be displayed but also tested for its real-world capability at this contest whose goal is to reward energy-efficient vehicles that are indigenously made. His Team Akruth is one of the 18 taking part from across India.
So what is the USP of the vehicle designed by Vishall and Co.? “It’s eco-friendly and a highly economical three-wheeled electric car,” Vishall tells Residents Watch. “Our first priority is safety and efficiency, which is why we have a steel structure with impact resistant material and yet the vehicle is light-weight.”
The other highlights of the team’s vehicle include a tear drop shape for least air resistance while driving, sensors for fault detections, solar panels for additional battery life and performance, and regenerative breaking for low power consumption, among others.
“We focussed on efficiency on road and achieving more mileage than speed,” says Vishall. It’s a single seater that is highly economical and comfortable. The others in Vishall’s team include Faisal, Shashank, San, Nishant, Tejas, Anmol, Aashish, Pranav, Sudarshan and Rakesh (lecturer & team lead). “We custom designed our own battery controller and battery management system,” says Vishall. “The prototype cost us nearly Rs 1 lakh to make. if it were to be mass produced with high carbon fibre, it would cost around Rs 6-7 lakh.”
