The Vape, the rooftop restaurant on 27th Main Road in HSR Layout had a freak fire in the wee hours of today. The fire force officials took more than half an hour to extinguish it. No casualties were reported.
A fire force official from the Sarjapur Road station said that they received a call at around 4am about the fire on the fifth floor of Rio Arcade where The Vape is located. “It was due to an electrical short circuit,” he said.
The restaurant staffers clarified that it was due to a short circuit in the generators. The restaurant is shut for five days due to this.
Here is the video of the fire that took place last night.
The restaurant is on the 4th floor of Rio Arcade on 27th Main Road, Sector 1
41-year-old Swaroop Mothidath, a software engineer and resident of Confident Phoenix apartment in Kasavanahalli, died in front of ICICI Bank on 27th Main Road in Sector 1 yesterday (November 22) when a water tanker ran over him at around 1.10pm. He is survived by wife and three year old twins – a daughter and son.
Here is how it happened. Praveena (37 years) decided to step out for lunch with friend Srinivas. While they were both standing in front of ICICI Bank to cross the road, a two wheeler rider was coming from NIFT college and proceeding towards the HSR Police station on 27th Main. At around the same time, a water tanker (Reg No KA03-HA423) coming from the opposite side was being driven at high speed and rashly on the wrong side of the road. It resulted in a head-on collision with the bike with the rear wheel of the tanker going over the rider.
Praveena and Srinivas rushed towards the victim and realised that he was not able to speak and had incurred severe injuries. They took him to the nearest NH Narayana hospital in an auto. However, the doctors declared that the victim had died on the way to the hospital at 1.36pm.
The driver of the water tanker pretended to stop the vehicle while talking to somebody on the phone. Later, he drove away with the tanker. A case has been lodged against the driver under four sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The Organic World is the newest entrant in HSR Layout offering organic produce. What we loved most is the way they have these educational counters on how to check for nitrate content in vegetables and fruits with a tester, to pamphlets on the various doshas in our bodies.
Look at the pictures and answer the questions to know which ‘dosha’ you belong to and accordingly adjust your dietary requirements, according to Ayurveda. Your health is everything. This is for your information only and not a prescription for any ailments.
Yesterday, Additional Commissioner of Traffic P Harishekaran visited Silk Board and the surrounding areas of Hosur Road, Madiwala, Bommanahalli and Mangammanapalya. Bommanahalli MLA Satish Reddy apprised the top cop about the traffic situation on Begur Road, Bommanahalli Main Road and Silk Board junction.
A number of measures were discussed, including the exploration of any government land available near Silk Board junction that can be used to park the buses and ease the congestion. There is a lorry stand behind the existing service road near Silk Board where the buses are parked. The top cop wanted to check if that is government land, so it can be used to make a bus station out there.
In addition, asphalting interior roads off Hosur Road and Outer Ring Road (ORR) are planned since much of the ORR traffic on Bannerghatta Road was using internal roads to reach their destinations due to the ongoing Metro work near Jayadeva junction. The other ways to expedite the widening of Begur Road was also discussed during the visit. The residents can hope to see better traffic management around the area from Silk Board junction to Jayadeva flyover in the coming days.
In the last 10-12 days, the Madiwala traffic police has been doing a commendable job of easing congestion near Silk Board with a number of junction improvements. By shifting the Madiwala market, much of the road over there is decongested. Some more junction improvements are planned at Total mall side of Madiwala after the intersections of Bommanahalli and Begur Road are fixed.
Removal of Madiwala market vendors
Madiwala market road where hawkers were removed from the central median
After the Silk Board measures, the Madiwala cops now say that many of their fixes have met with success. Earlier, you had to wait for four signals before it was your turn to cross the Silk Board junction from HSR Layout. “Today, it’s possible to go past it after the second signal itself,” says a senior traffic cop. And this has been made possible through a number of remedial measures taken by the traffic police outlined below:
1. At Silk Board junctions, the waiting time for pedestrians will be a lot less as they will now be able to cross the road at every signal change unlike earlier. In addition, there is a barricade erected when vehicles use the free left turn at silk board from Bommanahalli. This way, the pedestrians are able to cross the road without much hassle as the traffic will be orderly.
2. The bus stop towards HSR Layout near Silk Board has been moved further away from the junction to avoid people clogging the area.
3. The timers that were under disrepair have been fixed at the junction to further ease movement.
The HSR traffic cops removed several footpath encroachments on 27th Main Road from flyover junction to the HSR police station. The rest of the stretch will be carried out in the next few days, according to HSR traffic police.
Representative picture
Regarding the 24th Main Road encroachment, the cops said that the measures are temporary in nature. “We do it today but the next day, the vendors are back,” said one senior cop. Regarding shops encroaching the footpath, the cop said, “That’s the job of the BBMP officials. They know the law and we are ready to do a joint encroachment removal drive if they agree.” In addition, the traffic police are unsure about removal of footpath vendors. “They have no designated spot where we can shift them,” they said. When we told them about 18th Cross off 24th Main Road near Bescom office to be used as an alternative market road, they said they will look into it. This was proposed by Brig (Retd) RS Murthy, the former president of Sector 2 Residents Welfare Association a long time ago, but nothing came of it.
When we asked BBMP assistant engineer Ananth Raju about it, he said, “We will fix a date and send a letter to the traffic police to help us with the eviction. We also need the presence of residents and the media when the removal is happening to avoid the backlash from shopkeepers and vendors.” We will keep you posted, dear reader, so you can watch the removal while it’s in progress.
The last time HSR Habba was held at BBMP Grounds in Sector 2, the residents were mighty upset because the organisers had visually polluted HSR Layout with flex banners and posters across the neighbourhood. Importantly, they had even nailed scores of posters on trees, which is the worst way to propagate anything. In addition, they were also guilty of noise pollution as their cultural programmes went on beyond midnight.
This time around, they have created a flutter among citizens by putting out on social media that they will put up over 1000 “eco-friendly” banners and 1 lakh pamphlets. Even if it’s a cloth banner, it’s visual pollution of the highest kind. Imagine staring at the banner at every cross section of HSR Layout. We have no idea how BBMP or the traffic police can give permission for that kind of atrocity. But we do know that it has the blessings of local MLA Satish Reddy.
The HSR Habba guys defended themselves by saying, “We also have sporting activities like running race, throw ball, volleyball, tug of war, slow cycling, lemon & spoon, in addition to the flea market,” said one official of HSR Habba. However, that comprised only half a day’s worth of sporting events while the other two-and-a-half-days are geared towards shopping and entertainment. But the organisers have assured us that there won’t be posters being nailed to the trees like they did the last time around. If you do spot them, take a picture and mail us, dear reader. The organisers have also assured us that they will finish the musical performances by 11pm.
Therefore, the HSR residents are urging the MLA to understand the citizen’s concerns and ensure that he does not aid and abet visual pollution of this magnitude. In addition, the last time around, the cultural functions went on till 1am causing much noise pollution as well. They hope that the function ends by 11pm and the decibel levels are curtailed after 9pm. The Sector 2 Residents Welfare Association has written to the BBMP a number of times in the last three years about not commercialising the grounds, but to no avail. They have insisted that the open grounds should only be given for sporting events and no permanent structures be erected.
The residents have tweeted to the BBMP Commissioner, BBMP mayor and Deputy Chief Minister regarding the misuse of the playgrounds as well. Going by the handle of @WeAreHSRLayout, they tweeted that “BBMP Grounds are getting misused for commercial activities, fully promoted by MLA Bommanahalli! This ground was saved from building a judges colony only to be misused by people in power! This is a misuse of law!”
We scan all things HSR Layout on social media and we came across yet another sales call by pimps. In October, we had reported about how prostitution had gone bold and brazen and how the HSR cops had trapped them. We have informed the HSR cops to take action on them. They are publicising their services using the Twitter handle: @ovimaniz84. When you click on their message, it takes you to a ‘Locanto’ website that has more details like the one below.
This shows two websites that they are operating from. Please note that not only is prostitution prohibited, it is also quite risky to your health and life. There have been many cases where people have blackmailed clients by recording their sleazy footage, while some have robbed them at knife-point.
Therefore, it pays to remain faithful to your partner rather than resort to these adventures that could ruin you and your family. The cops can only police whenever they get wind of this by posing as prospective clients. However, you can prevent this prostitution by not being part of it. No clients, no business.
COPTALK
The local cops have informed us that any resident who feels suspicious of people movements in their neighbourhood can call up 100 and report about suspected prostitution in their areas. “Although they say HSR Layout because it’s a high tech area, the pimps identify an area in HSR but take them elsewhere for the actual act which might not be in HSR,” said one police official. “Also, there are 10-15 pimps involved. The moment you become a decoy and pose as a prospective client, these people follow you to check if you are a cop. If they get even a slight doubt, they will escape.”
After the residents went to court asking the BBMP to set up a ward committee, the civic body followed the court orders. They sought refuge in the local corporator who inducted his own contacts. When the citizens protested against this nepotism, the BBMP Commissioner said the residents can send in their applications and he will personally see to it that they get a berth.
However, when the ward committees were finalised, none of the 500 applicants from across Bangalore found their names on the list. Such is the state of affairs in Bangalore. Thankfully, HSR Layout is slightly better off. One can spot civic activists like Padmashree, Chitra and Dr Shanthi Tummala on the 12-member list and we know the work they have done towards garbage segregation, plastic ban, composting and so on. But the rest of the list appears to be bogus at first glance.
FAKE DESIGNATIONS
Lets begin with the representatives from resident welfare associations (RWAs). The names on the list are complete unknowns and their designations don’t even exist. You only have presidents not chairmans at RWAs. The president of Sector 6 RWA was Raje Urs last year and not Venugopal Reddy. In fact, there has been no such name holding any core committee level position in the history of Sector 6 RWA. We have got this confirmed from both the past president of Sector 6 RWA Raje Urs and the current secretary Deshmukh.
Such is the level of misrepresentation in this list cooked up by the BBMP under the misguidance of corporator Gurumurthy Reddy. Similarly, in Sector 1, the president has been Jayaram Reddy, but the list shows Govindaswamy as its chairman when there is no such position in the first place. Similarly Jayaram Reddy has confirmed that Govindaswamy was never the president or secretary of the association. “The committee met only once to send this list to the BBMP, it’s all bogus,” said Jayaram Reddy to Residents Watch. “The list was made only to follow the court’s orders. There’s no other purpose to it. I will talk to the Federation about this misrepresentation.”
Corporator Gurumurthy Reddy claimed that he had conducted “2-3” meetings in the last one year. Even if this were true, it clearly highlights the sham. “We will call you for the next meeting,” he told us. When pressed on the charge that there are bogus names on the list, he only said, “Is it so?”
When we spoke to BNR Reddy, the chairman of the Federation of HSR Layout Residents Welfare Association, he was even more categorical: “The corporator did not consult the associations while drafting people into the committee. This is all his handiwork.”
BOGUS LOT?
Both civic activists and resident association members are not even aware of the other names on the list. We can only conclude that they are just dummy candidates to abide by the court order. When there are so many civic activists in HSR Layout, why pick complete unknowns? Or do these people even exist? Do we have their Aadhaar IDs, so we can cross check? We urge BBMP Commissioner Manjunatha Prasad to take cognisance of this and weed out the falsehood reflected in this list not just in HSR but across Bangalore.
Without further ado, here is the list of people who are part of the Ward Committee for HSR Layout. No real meetings have happened so far. And most of the names don’t even ring a bell. Such is the sham in the ward committee list. Should the courts intervene again to whet the lists now and ensure regular meetings are held? In all likelihood, it appears to look that way!
We had reported earlier that there are 13 cybercrime cases being registered at the Cybercrime police station of Bangalore every day. Among the many such cases, OTP (online transaction password) scams appears to be the most convenient and common types of fraud. Therefore, it pays to read this news story and also share it among all your friends on social networks, irrespective of jurisdiction.
Take the recent case of Lt. Gen (retired) Raghunath D. The 81-year-old resident of Jayanagar 7th Block received a call from one Raj Kumar Verma on October 4. Claiming to be a Citibank employee, he sent Raghunath into a panic by saying that his bank account had suffered a virus attack. To clear his account of the virus, he asked him for his debit card details. Not knowing what he was upto, he not only gave the details but also the OTP he received from the bank after the criminal had initiated an online money transfer. Within no time, Raghunath’s account lost Rs 1.08 lakh through this wire transfer. The incident occurred between 11pm and 12am.
HDFC BANK
Lets take a much more recent case that occurred on the midnight of November 13, 2018. Sixty-year-old Velayutham, a resident of JC Nagar, held an account with HDFC Bank. On the fateful night, one person claiming to be calling from his bank, asked for his bank details and OTP in just a similar manner as the previous case of Raghunath. The result was that Velayutham lost Rs 17,000 in an illegal online transaction that was made on his behalf. In cases like these, the banks don’t refund your money because it was the fault of the account holder for having given the OTP that is the only firewall preventing any illegal transactions.
ICICI BANK
This fraud occurred on the midnight of November 9, 2018. The innocent victim happened to be Guruprasad S, a 45-year-old resident of Yelahanka. Claiming to be calling from ICICI Bank, he was made to give his debit card details and later the OTP to defraud him with an online transaction worth Rs 25,800.
In all the three cases, the cybercrime cops have registered a case under the Information Technology Act 2000. In another previous story, we had written about how the cops had issued advisories on how to prevent yourself from all sorts of cybercrimes. It pays to read them too.
Call it the Diwali effect or after effect, but the pollution in Bangalore and HSR Layout that was largely borderline has gone up by three times… from 65 to over 160. That’s an oscillation of pollution levels from moderate to poor. And these are the readings at the Silk Board monitor, the closest to HSR Layout.
The highest reading in the last 24 hours came at 11pm yesterday at 162 (ug/m3) when the safety limit is to be below 60. Anything between 60 and 120 is considered moderate to poor, according to the Central Pollution Control Board. And these readings are taken from them. The next highest reading occurred at 8am yesterday at 128 and again at 12am today: 119.69. What is even worse is that even the 24-hour average was 86.62, 40% above the safety limit.
The 24-hour average is still above the safety limit of 60, which is just as bad
The fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) is the most harmful pollutant as it not only affects visibility but also travels deep inside our lungs and cause cancer, strokes and so on. Despite the Supreme Court order, firecrackers went off regularly in HSR Layout, and the cops did not act on them. This was the case across the city as well, and this is the pollution that we all have to suffer.
Tell us, dear reader, what do you think can be done to arrest the air pollution? Should there be an odd-even rule here as well? Should only car pool taxies be allowed except the ones that go to the railway station and airport? Will air purifiers at home help? If you are an expert or have done your own experiments in air pollution that have reduced the contaminants in your house, share your story with us, so we can share it with the world. WhatsApp us (98805-85748).
Two years ago, the Government Pre University College on 29th B Main in Sector 1, HSR Layout, was just barren land. Today, it sports 30 trees that provide shade and cut the pollution from the surroundings with their green cover.
The story began in 2016 when Kaagaz Foundation, an HSR-based NGO, was planning to plant 3000 saplings in different parts of the neighbourhood. That’s when the volunteers zeroed in on this college. They approached the principal who readily agreed and the 30 saplings were planted and the college students joined in too. It was team effort all the way.
Recalls the NGO’s founder, Kavitha Reddy: “Led by the Principal, the college students who were also part of College NSS supported by the teaching staff kept over 30 pits ready for planting the saplings. The students had meticulously dug the pits by maintaining a proper distance between each pit. They were lined up in a neat row.”
Some of the saplings included Honge, Tori Matti, Mahogany, and Indian Badam, among others. What was even more heartwarming was that the students took an oath to maintain the saplings, nurture them and take care of them till they were on their own. “Re-enforce the commitment to environment, cleaner and greener surroundings among minds is very important, being environment-conscious can lead to a more sustainable living,” says Reddy, post incident.
And the latest news is that another NGO in HSR, Mythri Mahila Koota, has donated 59 flower saplings to this college. Clearly a vibrant picture ahead for the students and faculty in the years to come.
MC Sunanda is a fiesty 65-year-old woman who is a resident activist of sorts in Sector 1. She has successfully fought against polluters and illegal occupants in her neighbourhood in the past and her latest is against a tenant in front of her house. “The occupants of site number 1879 on 21st A Main have no water facility or drainage. They wash, cook and dirty the place. They use firewood and pollute the area. They urinate in the site itself. It is causing nuisance and is an ugly sight in the morning.”
She has not only informed the landlord of this site but also complained to the BBMP way back in August, but no action has been taken so far. “I have also spoken to the site owner’s husband on the phone. They are aware of it. I have sent the pictures,” says Sunanda. “They wash the clothes, there’s no drainage, mosquitoes breed there, please ensure that they vacate the place. A family of four are staying there and they cook openly with firewood.”
To make matters worse, the site owner K Kavitha has it on record that it’s a vacant site when there is a room with people living in it. “The site is let out for ironing of clothes and a cart is parked and thereby made commercial,” says Sunanda. Can a citizen give wrong declaration to the authorities and get away with it by troubling the honest tax payers?
The wrong declaration that it’s a vacant site
The site owner is paying tax for a vacant site when she has a shed with people living in it
We reached out to site owner’s husband Gopinath K and this is what he had to say: “I had visited the spot last month. Let me take a look at the issue again and then respond. I definitely understand the issues concerning the neighbours and will get back to you.”
Sunanda has this to all the site owners erecting temporary sheds to house people. “These site owners declare to BBMP as vacant site, but construct a shed and let it out without any plan sanction and sanitary connection,” says Sunanda.
She is just as angry with the BBMP for inaction. “Inspite of me giving all the details such as phone number and address of the owner, BBMP has utterly failed in discharging their duties. BBMP does not respect people who follow the law, instead it encourages people who violate it Is BBMP set up to protect law offenders?”
HER PAST SUCCESSES
A similar case had stared her in the face when a woman was staying in a shed diagonally opposite her house. It was yet another hygiene issue and when she gave a police complaint, the owner of the site where the shed was built got the maid to vacate it.
Two years ago, there were huts where about 10 people were staying and creating a health and hygiene issue. She called the police and got them removed too. “The owners want to preserve their site at the cost of our hygiene,” says Sunanda.
