Resident complains against neighbour for causing pollution!

January 12, 2021November 14, 2018 by RW News Network

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.”

Resident complains against neighbour for causing pollution! 2

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?

Resident complains against neighbour for causing pollution! 3 — The wrong declaration that it’s a vacant site

Resident complains against neighbour for causing pollution! 4 — 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.

The heartwarming story of an HSR pet that was lost and found during Diwali!

January 12, 2021November 12, 2018 by RW News Network

On Wednesday, November 7, Dr Sumana Kaushik lost Angel, a female golden retriever due to a negligent caretaker in Mangammanapalya. On Saturday, November 10, she was reunited with her six-year-old pet, thanks to four dog lovers of HSR Layout.

The heartwarming story of an HSR pet that was lost and found during Diwali! 6 — The message that did the rounds of social media

Dr Sumana had given her female dog to a pet trainer who had in turn given it to a woman in Mangammanapalya. During Diwali, with all the firecrachers going off simultaneously, the dog got scared and ran away. Thankfully for her, dog lovers Prashanth, Bindu and Sindhu Gowda, who had lost their dog a year ago, sheltered and fed this dog for three days when they found her strolling on Hosa Road. They also put up her photo on Facebook’s ‘HSR Canine Club’ group.

The heartwarming story of an HSR pet that was lost and found during Diwali! 7 — The ‘Found dog’ message that went viral on social media

The heartwarming story of an HSR pet that was lost and found during Diwali! 8 — Sumana after being reunited with her pet

The dog was reunited with Dr Sumana when Anshu Vyas, another HSR resident and a member of the pet club, saw a ‘lost dog’ message on Facebook by Dr Sumana’s sister in law. “After seeing both the ‘lost’ and ‘found’ posts, Anshu put the puzzle together and asked us to contact the Gowdas,” Dr Sumana told Residents Watch. “The rescuers have a nursery on Hosapalya where they took care of her for three days. Even now, my dog is scared after going through all the trauma. I thank Anshu, Prashant, Bindu and Sindhu who looked after our Angel. It showed us that God’s miracles are personified through such warm-hearted good souls.”

Stray dog attacks and what you can do!

January 12, 2021November 12, 2018 by RW News Network

In the last six weeks, much has changed in the location of stray dogs in HSR Layout. The saga began when Member of Parliament Kupendra Reddy, a resident of Sector 1, was attacked by stray dogs in Sector 1 on October 11. Seven dogs were impounded. Later, the dog lovers of HSR complained that 60 … Read more

Regulate traffic near Gayathri and Saibaba temple during festivals

January 12, 2021November 10, 2018 by RW News Network

When it’s festival season, both the Sai Baba temple on 19th Main and the Gayathri temple on 17th Cross congest the major thoroughfares.

Tweeting to the traffic police, resident Tribhuvan Krishnamurthy says, “Dear BTP, can you please regulate the vehicular movement and parking in HSR Layout?” He uploads a picture of a recent such jam on 17th Cross and says, “This was the situation yesterday at Basaveshwara Gayatri temple located in 17th Cross, 24th main, sector 1, HSR. Public park their vehicles at their will due to lack of regulations.”

Regulate traffic near Gayathri and Saibaba temple during festivals 11 — 17th Cross, Gayathri temple

Well, the regulations are there. No one is supposed to double park and triple park. And when they do,the tiger patrol should come calling and tow them away. Some residents have even suggested to the temple authorities to organise poojas during non-peak hours to contain the congestion.

Food trucks that were quite popular in HSR Layout have lost out because of this very problem. When they take over the footpaths, their patrons take over the roads too. And this leads to major congestion, upsetting both residents and the traffic police.

Man steals bike in the guise of ‘test drive’

January 12, 2021November 10, 2018 by RW News Network

Twenty-nine-year-old Aditya Kumar, a marketing executive, was conned in Sector 7 on October 31. However, he filed the FIR only a week later on November 8.

Aditya had put up his 2017-model KTM Duke 200 bike (KA01-HY3145) for sale on Quikr. At around 3.20pm, a person came to his apartment complex on 21st Cross after looking at his advertisement online.

Man steals bike in the guise of 'test drive' 13 — Representative image

On the pretext of taking his bike for a test drive, the person took all the vehicle documents from Aditya and never returned. Citing the value of his vehicle at Rs 1.96 lakh, Aditya has filed a police complaint and the cops have registered a case of cheating and are investigating.

Bikers cut signals routinely at BDA flyover junction

January 12, 2021November 9, 2018 by RW News Network

Car drivers, but most frequently, two wheeler riders are routinely seen violating the signal rule at BDA Complex flyover junction. Recording this act and sending it to the traffic police, car driver Sharan says, “Unity in Diversity. Gumpalli Govinda from 0.20. All bikers break the rules with impunity here.”

Bikers cut signals routinely at BDA flyover junction 15

Bikers cut signals routinely at BDA flyover junction 16

Bikers cut signals routinely at BDA flyover junction 17

The remedy is CCTV that catch such offenders and fine them automatically. More than three such violations and their licence for the whole year should be cancelled. What else do you think can stop these violations, dear reader?

CEO accused of defrauding his own company in HSR!

January 12, 2021November 9, 2018 by RW News Network

Eshwar Reddy who owns Praneet Mobile LLP in HSR Layout has accused his CEO of cheating the company worth Rs 20.04 lakh.

CEO accused of defrauding his own company in HSR! 19

According to the FIR lodged at the HSR police station, the company based on 11th Main Road in Sector 7, had sold 254 mobile phones worth Rs 43.15 lakh. Harish Appanna, the 42-year-old CEO was supposed to have deposited this amount into the company bank account.

However, he allegedly deposited only Rs 24.05 lakh. In addition, he failed to deposit the company’s Konanakunte branch’s cash reserves of Rs 53,000. Also, Rs 41990 that was allegedly paid to the CEO through Paytm was not transferred to the company account. In all, the CEO is alleged to have defrauded the company of Rs 20.04 lakh. Curiously, though this financial transaction happened between July 18, 2018 and September 1, 2018, the FIR was only lodged on November 6, 2018.

The cops have filed three cases against the accused under IPC 1860 (U/s-406,408,420).

Two bus bays but hardly any buses!

January 12, 2021November 8, 2018 by RW News Network

HSR Layout can be a study in contrasts. If the footpaths are good, the encroachments take away their beauty. If the roads are wider, triple parking narrows them down anyway. If the roads are well tarred, the lorries use them as parking lots. If the footpaths are cleaner, the errands and passerbys dump garbage and uglify them. In such a scenario, another interesting story has reared its disconcerting head.

The state government recently announced many more bus bays in the city next year. In HSR Layout, there are two of them in Sector 2 at KPTCL junction on 27th Main Road opposite Rockview bar and restaurant. None of the buses have a stop there. It appears like two white elephants being put to no use. Says resident Lalithamba BV: “There is not a single bus on this route. Who is accountable? It’s a waste of public money! Atleast can BMTC should extend their feeder services up till here?”

So what have these bus stands become? Well, they have become a place to people watch and have food as this picture suggests. It’s the problem of plenty in HSR Layout, where there are many bus shelters but not many buses.

That’s not all. At the 14th Main bus stand opposite BDA Complex, buses do come, but the bus shelter has no seats. We had reported it earlier, but no action is taken by the BBMP yet.

BBMP says these roads are pothole-free. Tell us if they are lying!

January 12, 2021November 8, 2018 by RW News Network

Here is a comprehensive list of roads in HSR Layout which the BBMP says are ‘pothole free’. Please pour through the 32 pages of the PDF whose link is given below and let us know if potholed roads are being declared as ‘pothole free’, with the latest photographic evidence to prove it. This can only be crowd-sourced as HSR is quite a big ward. Help us to help you. Be part of this pothole-free drive.

BBMP says these roads are pothole-free. Tell us if they are lying! 26

Spare a few minutes to go through the PDF and look at the areas around where you live. If they are wrongly declared as ‘pothole free’, here is what you should do. Cite the pdf page number and road/cross name, and send us the dispute with a photograph to prove your point. We will submit this to the authorities concerned.

Just CLICK HERE to download the PDF on to your desktop/laptop/smartphone. Not sure what the street ID is since the sectors are not mentioned? Perhaps, this LINK might help.

Mechanised sweeping of major roads by March; smaller stretches will have to wait

January 12, 2021November 6, 2018 by RW News Network

Mechanised sweeping of major roads by March; smaller stretches will have to wait 28

In February 2018, the BBMP called for tenders on mechanised sweeping of bigger arterial roads and awarded the contracts only last month. The work order could be issued anytime this month for the Bommanahalli zone. Every zone (there are 8 in Bangalore) will get two big machines by Feb-March 2018. Once that happens, atleast the Outer Ring Road should be largely dust-free. However, the service roads and the arterial roads within HSR Layout will take a longer time as you need smaller battery-operated machines for that. While the BBMP has announced this proposal, the tenders are yet to be called. “They could be called now or might take a year, we don’t really know,” says Bommanahalli garbage contractor Roopesh Reddy. “The bigger machines can only operate on roads that have a road divider in the middle. For all other roads, only the smaller machines will help.”

Although the suspended particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution levels aren’t much, we did notice recently that it spiked above the normal values at 7am. This clearly means that the early morning joggers and walkers will be most affected. And residents believe that the ‘sweep and forget’ mechanism of the BBMP is adding to the pollution levels. The solution is mechanised sweeping.

However, while the BBMP has announced smaller machines to take care of the internal roads of neighbourhoods, mechanised machines on bigger thoroughfares like Outer Ring Road, Bannerghatta Road and Hosur Road are already operational but on a smaller scale. One such machine is stationed in HSR Layout for that purpose and it’s owned by the BBMP. Since it operates only at night (because of the traffic), you might not have seen it. It begins work at 10pm and is operational all night. Here’s a video of that in action on one of the neighbouring roads.

Until the smaller machines are tendered and put to work, which could take atleast another year, the walkers and joggers will have to put up with the dust pollution. Says resident Shashidhara K: “Morning walks are a challenge for many with so much dust in the air. The PM2.5 pollution increases due to much dust on the roads. The daily sweeping by BBMP increases this dust, since they just sweep and park it along the road side. What we need is a mechanism to sweep and pickup the dust at the same time. At least twice a week if they do mechanised, then all the dust will be removed.”

In HSR Layout, the residents complain that there is just too much dust on 27th Main, 22nd Cross, 19th Main, 17th Cross and 14th Main. “The places where large trees are present, the dust is a little less,” says Shashidhara, citing 24th main and 16th Cross. At 5 kms per hour driving speed for these machines, we can easily cleanup two sectors in a day, including the inner roads.”

Right now, the bigger machines have to operate 65 kmph/night and sweep the roads twice a week. Earlier, the BBMP used to dump the dust cleaned from the bigger roads in the vacant site opposite Rasaganga behind BDA Complex. When the site owner objected and fenced the entire area, the BBMP has begun dumping the road debris on a closed thoroughfare of Outer Ring Road. This is also ad-hoc because they are supposed to shift this garbage once every month to the landfills. With private garbage contractors coming on to the scene from early next year, this situation is expected to improve because these rules are specified to them. One big machines can sweep and collect the dust at the same time. In one night, it can collect all the dust on 65 kilometres of roads and unload it on to an empty site rented for the purpose by the contractor. Once every month, that road debris is supposed to be transferred to the landfill.

Why are traffic lights at Agara flyover and 19th Main not operational?

January 12, 2021November 5, 2018 by RW News Network

When the traffic lights are not operational, why put them there? That’s the question the residents are asking the authorities. This has happened at Nandini Cooljoint junction (which we have reported earlier) and also under the Agara flyover. Residents have seen that these lights have been non functional for the last many months.

But the traffic cops contend that the 19th Main junction doesn’t need traffic lights because of the rerouting of traffic at the 17th Cross and 22nd Cross junction. “It will be a mistake if they install or make the traffic lights operational here,” says former HSR traffic inspector Rao Ganesh Janardhan who had masterminded this traffic management idea. That the vehicle users are violating the one-way rule should not make us give up this idea, say the traffic cops.

But what about the non-operational traffic lights under the Agara flyover? “I had got them installed when I was around, but before I could complete the project, I was transferred,” says Rao Ganesh. “These traffic lights will work only after the Agara Service Road (the road opposite Agara village) is made one-way, but the apartments along that road opposed as they have to go ahead, take a U-turn and come back on to the Outer Ring Road if they were headed towards HSR or Silk Board. But we have to do this to ease traffic at this junction.”

Why are traffic lights at Agara flyover and 19th Main not operational? 30

Why are traffic lights at Agara flyover and 19th Main not operational? 31

Agara Govt School broken into during holidays

January 12, 2021November 5, 2018 by RW News Network

The government school building in Agara near Sector 1 has suffered damages worth about Rs 1.5 lakh. In the FIR, the school principal has alleged that some miscreants took advantage of the two-week Dussehra vacation and wrecked havoc in school. The result is that they have had to shift three classes and the office elsewhere in the building.

Agara Govt School broken into during holidays 33

Speaking to Residents Watch, 59-year-old principal Mary Angela said that these kind of incidents have been happening in the school for the last five years. “But this time, the damage is too much,” she said. “They have damaged water tanks, pipes and torn the sheet that covers three classrooms and one office room.” In addition, they have damaged the windows, doors and other school equipment.

Agara Govt School broken into during holidays 34

Agara Govt School broken into during holidays 35

Agara Govt School broken into during holidays 36

Agara Govt School broken into during holidays 37

“Every time, something like this happened at a smaller scale, we would ignore it and fix the things ourselves with donations from our well wishers, but this time the situation has got out of hand, so we decided to file an FIR to bring the offenders to book,” said Angela. “The loss we have incurred will come to about Rs 1.5 lakh. We cannot understand why some people are doing this?”

However, the principal has been seeking funds and permission from the education department to enhance the height of the compound wall from the present 3 feet to 10 feet. “If the department does this, we would be able to better protect our building and equipment,” she said. The school is also seeking donations for the repairs. If you want to do your bit, you could contact Mary at 93427-31840.