





Dancer Salman Yusuff Khan aka Mohammad Ghause who won the dance reality show Dance India Dance has opened the Smally’s restocafe on 27th Main Road in Sector 1 of HSR Layout. It is close to Corner House outlet. According to him, Smally’s is “India’s smallest restaurant chain, 6 outlets & Winner of “The World on a plate 2016”.
He opened the outlet on October 2 with a bumper offer by Uber Eats. Anybody could order a burger for just Rs 6. The offer was valid only for a day. In his Instagram statement, the celebrity dancer, choreographer and actor says, “Another successful opening of @smallysrestocafe at #HSR LAYOUT … #shukranAllah … thank you mom and dad, sadia and Nahiyan for gracing the opening and cutting the ribbon for me.. you are my biggest earning in life, my most precious possession… thank u @nikhilhegde247 for being my best buddy all the way through thick and thin.. and last but not the least @aamiryusufkhan… can’t believe u’ve grown so fast, so mature and responsible… thank you for flourishing the business so well … and my @smallysrestocafe cast and crew, my biggest stars who have made dine in and delivery so much fun and tasteful … special thanks to our chefs … #ramesh and #vijay …. last but not the least, my big bhaiya @saudkhan83 for always being my strength and muscle… #iloveyou#mysmallysfamily Ps: thank u Allah for faiza and hamdan, my biggest source of barakah. Thank u to all the happy customers who have made @smallysrestocafe what it is today.”
In 2015, Smallys resto-cafe bagged the Limca Book of Records for being the smallest restaurant in the country. The six-outlet chain in Bangalore is also popular for it’s not-so-small portions. As Salman says: “Space can never be a constraint to success”.
If you want to know about the complete menu that Smally’s offers, you can visit here.
Unlike 20 minutes earlier, it took Mrs Biju Chacko, a resident of Sector 6, almost two hours to reach Ecospace in Bellandur just now.
Google Maps is telling us that the distance of around 9 kilometres can now be reached in 44 minutes because “fastest route now due to traffic conditions, and it’s getting better”.
Having just reached the office, Mrs Chacko was asking us, “Is there a problem on Outer Ring Road? Left HSR two hours ago and just reached Ecospace. There is bumper to bumper traffic.”
To all those people who are planning to use ORR, this will serve as a forewarning, so you can either postpone your travel plans or defer them.
UPDATEAt 1210pm, Google Maps is showing a 28-minute delay from Sector 6 to Ecospace, and this traffic congestion was first reported as early as 8am. Similarly, there is a 18-minute delay if you are taking the stretch from Jakkasandra to Ecospace.
The problem of illegally parking trucks along 5th Main in Sector 7 continues unabated despite complaints from residents for the last several months. The menace is particularly critical near 24th Cross, according to residents.
“The trucks are parked near three vacant sites, adjacent to Imperial Solitaire apartments,” says resident Ratnakar B. “Huge garbage dumping is happening on the footpath in the cover of trucks at night and in the early morning.” The residents complain that pedestrians are forced to walk in the centre of the heavy traffic, fraught with danger. “Many accidents have happened in the past,” says Ratnakar. “The dumped garbage emits foul smell and is unbearable for residents. Although the BBMP contractor is clearing the garbage regularly, the stench is not coming down.”
The residents have complained to not only the BBMP, but also the traffic police and MLA Satish Reddy about this, but no concrete action has been taken so far. What is making the matters worse is that the trucks are owned by operators having offices close by.
The residents of Jakkasandra ward 173, including residents of Sector 5 and Sector 6, can expect their streets to be better lit in the coming days.
On Saturday, MLA Ramalinga Reddy and corporator Saraswathamma attended a pooja programme to provide 65 LED lights for the entire ward. And these also include automatic sensor switches that will automatically turn on during sundown, saving precious electricity.
Many might not know this but the Jakkasandra ward includes areas of Sector 6 (the area behind the Silk Board bus stand right up to Teacher’s Colony) and Sector 5 (the area between Teacher’s Colony and 14th Main Road near Greenview Hospital).
“Our area got about four automatic sensors,” says Mohan Govindiah, secretary, Namma Teacher’s Colony Residents Welfare Association. “The LED street light fittings and control switches in Jakkasandra Ward are being given under the MLA Special Grants scheme, and are worth Rs 25 lakh.”
The pooja was held at 10am on September 29 at the BBMP Park in Sector 5, near Arogya Ahaara restaurant.
After the news broke that the neighbouring BTM Layout constituency MLA has given control switches to Ward 173 that automatically switch off the streetlights at dusk, the residents of HSR Layout are demanding similar facility in Ward 174.
For a long time now, the residents have been manually operating the lights. Sometimes, the lights stay on all day if the resident in charge of doing it is out of town. Many residents have suggested in the past that automatic sensors would be a great way to save electricity. When they read about our report that Ramalinga Reddy had used his MLA funds and spent Rs 25 lakh to install LED lights and control switches, the residents are asking MLA Satish Reddy and corporator Gurumurthy Reddy to do the same. When we asked BESCOM officials (Bangalore Electricity Supply Company) about it, they said that their job is to only supply electricity while the BBMP has to provide the control switches.
“We will decide about the control switches after our BBMP Council meeting on October 10,” corporator Gurumurthy Reddy told Residents Watch. “With the mayor just getting elected, there are a lot of development works to be done for HSR Layout. No matter how much we ask, they will only give Rs 3 crore.”
However, the corporator said that he will request for more money because it is required for laying nearly 3000 culverts in HSR ward, changing the sanitary lines, developing the parks and fixing the street upkeep issue. “The sweeping is spotty at best in HSR,” he told Residents Watch. “Under the previous Congress government, the system of payment to garbage contractors was changed. Now BBMP is paying the sweepers (pourakarmikas) and labourers themselves.”
We spoke to HSR garbage contractor Roopesh Reddy, and he admitted to the dismal scenario. “Under the new scheme of the previous government, the labourers who were aged over 60 years or had only one year experience were removed but no new people were hired to replace them,” he told Residents Watch. “There is a labour shortage of almost 50%. The result is that while the door to door garbage collection is going on like before, the sweeping is not being done properly.”
That is not all. The BBMP still owes the garbage contractors money. According to Roopesh, the corporation still has to pay him for the last four months (June to September). “We are hopeful, lets see what happens,” he said.
Within 24 hours of writing about the sad state of the service road under the flyover that was neglected for over two years, the BBMP has fixed the road with a fresh coat of tar.
They have not just filled the pothole, but the entire portion of the problematic stretch to ensure that water does not stagnate. We thank the BBMP for keeping their word with Residents Watch and coming good on their promise.
Once the state government grants the money for the road development works for the city, we could see the entire stretch from Silk Board to Iblur being relaid. But until then, this is a good stop-gap arrangement.
This stretch of the road next to the flyover near BDA Complex in HSR Layout is treacherous. No matter how much you fill it up, the potholes are formed yet again due to stagnant rainwater caused by bad planning of the BDA. When the water isn’t getting drained into the nearby stormwater drains, potholes are always likely. And many vehicle users have had harrowing experiences out here, particularly when it rains and they have no clue that there are potholes underneath the water waiting to surprise them.
Despite bringing this sorry state to the attention of the Major Roads department of the BBMP, nothing has been done to fix the waterlogging issue on this thoroughfare. This is particularly dangerous as it’s a major portion of the Outer Ring Road and any mishap will make the BBMP officials directly responsible for it.
Says resident Kavitha Reddy, “It’s been in a bad shape for many years. The key problem is that there is no gradient and when it rains the water, it stagnates upto 2ft, and the road develops killer potholes. All that the BBMP has to do is give a gradient while aspalting the road, so that the rain water reaches the Agara Lake through the stormwater drain.”
Senior BBMP officials informed Residents Watch that the proposal to fix all the major roads in Bangalore have been given to the state government In March 2018, and are awaiting approval. More than Rs 5 crore has been requested for the stretch between Silk Board and Agara flyover.
According to them, the stretch was handed over to the BBMP by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) in 2016, but besides cleaning, they admit that no development work has taken place here under the BBMP regime. “Once the government grants the money for the major roads, all the service roads and flyover roads would be fixed,” the official said.
What about the immediate step of fixing the potholes? “This September 14th, a tender has already been granted to fix the roads in Bommanahalli and this road will also be taken up,” he said.
Ramesh Dev, Assistant engineer, BBMP (Major Roads) told Residents Watch that last night, the BBMP fixed the underpass stretch of Agara flyover from the temple end, and tonight, they will fix the BDA flyover service road as well. “We will maintain the slope, so the water does not stagnate,” he said.
On September 18, 2018, at around 11.20pm, two people on a bike robbed petrol bunk owner Satyanarayana on 24th Main, 15th B Cross, Sector 1. According to HSR police, the robbers pushed him away, and snatched his bag from the car containing Rs 5.71 lakh in cash and other important documents. Within a week after the case was filed at the HSR police station, inspector DR Nagaraj’s team has impressed everyone with their swift action by apprehending the alleged robbers.
The finger of suspicion rested on the petrol bunk owner’s 32-year-old driver P Dinesh, a native of Mysore. When the cops interrogated him, the truth was out and he admitted to the crime, according to the cops. Dinesh has allegedly said that he brought his accomplices KC Sachin (26 years) and Shreyas (22 years) from Mysore to commit the robbery. The cops have seized Rs 3.1 lakh cash, three mobile phones, one watch and one Bajaj Pulsar bike (KA55-X7888).
The cops involved in this investigation who need to be lauded for their good work include Sub Inspectors Paul Priyakumar and GK Ravi; Assistant Sub Inspector Shivanna, and Head Constables Nagabhushan Gowda, Mallappa Valaki, and constables Umesh, Lakshman Pawar, Bojhraj and Shivanand. We congratulate all the cops for acting swiftly on the case.