HSR Layout

Last week, 28-year-old Sunanda Barki, a resident of RV Layout was hit by a water tanker on Sarjapur Road. The bride-to-be was injured grievously.

The incident occurred on June 4 at around 8.40am. Sunanda was riding her TVS scooter towards Iblur when a water tanker (KA14B1924) allegedly driven rashly by a male driver hit her vehicle from behind at SLV Ceramics junction near Doddakannelli. The impact was such that her bike skidded about 10 feet on the stretch, breaking her left thigh and right shoulder bone. In addition, there were scratches on her legs. The driver drove away without attending to the victim.

The passersby rushed her to the nearby Columbia Asia Hospital in an auto. The doctors operated on her thigh and inserted a rod. The tragedy is such that Sunanda’s wedding was fixed on June 14 and she was involved in an accident ten days earlier.

The cops have registered a case against the driver for rash driving (IPC 279), causing grievous hurt (IPC 338), shirking duty to rush the victims to the hospital (Indian Motor Vehicles Act 134), an offence that is punishable with imprisonment of three months or a fine of Rs 500 (IMV 187).

On May 26, at around 10.30am, 23-year-old Naveen Kumar, a resident of KR Puram was travelling in a cab along with his elder brother Kiran (25) and cousin Manikantha (25) after arriving in Bangalore from Chennai. After getting down from the bus at Silk Board junction, they had boarded an Ola cab (KA03AA5625) to go towards KR Puram.

Anjappa M was the 37-year-old driver who allegedly drove rashly and overspeeding on Outer Ring Road. When he reached 14th Main Road near the BDA flyover in HSR Layout, he hit the flyover wall in front of JSS College. The result was that Naveen hurt his knee from the impact with the front seat, Manikantha’s left leg was injured while Kiran’s face had hit the windshield due to the impact, hurting his left eye, face, forehead and head.

The vehicle wasn’t spared either. The front portion of the Tata Indica was completely damaged. The cab driver left the car and ran away after the incident. The passersby rushed the victims to St John’s Hospital in an autorickshaw.

The cops have registered a case of rash driving (IPC 279), endangering life (IPC 337), shirking his duty to rush the victims to the hospital (Indian Motor Vehicles Act 134), and punishable with imprisonment of three months or a fine of Rs 500 (IMV 187).

The Bangalore Electric Supply Company (BESCOM) has now announced a Rs 5300 crore multi-phased project for different neighbourhoods of Bangalore, including HSR Layout. What this means is that all the high tension cables running above the ground will go below the surface to avoid electrocution, short-circuits and power tripping. Even more fascinating is that the roads will not be dug up incessantly; only holes will be made every few metres in what is called a ‘high definition digging mechanism’. The three-phased project has HSR in the first phase. If all goes well, the project slated to begin from July 2019 should be completed in 18 months.

Last year, the Bangalore Electric Supply Company (BESCOM) initiated a project across HSR Layout to install low tension aerial bunched cables across HSR Layout. These are the wires that are drawn to all the residential lanes. This project is about 70-80% complete. The remaining work is yet to be done as the work awaits further funds for it. 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.

According to Bescom officials, about 20% work is yet to be done on the low tension lines, the major part of the pending work being in Sector 1. Once the funds come in, it will only take a few months to complete the project.

It sure seems like the thieves of two wheelers appear to be quite busy on weekends in HSR Layout. Take the last fortnight for example. In the space of three days, three different bike thefts occurred across HSR Layout. In an earlier incident that occurred in Sector 3, the thief (only his back is towards the CCTV) was seen pushing the bike away from the parked area in front of Subramanya temple on 18th Cross. The bike happened to be that of the priest. This could well be the modus operandi of all the thefts that happened last fortnight as well.

INCIDENT 1
Friday, May 17, 2019
Time: 10am-5pm
Location: 647, 13th Cross, 27th Main, Sector 1, HSR Layout

Twenty-six-year-old Darshan, a resident of Electronic City, works at the Idea store as a manager in Sector 1, HSR Layout. On May 17, at around 10am, he had parked his Hero Glamour (KA51EW2878) in front of the store. However, at 5pm, the bike was nowhere to be seen.

INCIDENT 2
Saturday, May 18-19, 2019
Time: 11.30pm-1am
Location: 5th Main, 17th Cross, HSR Layout

Thirty-year-old PR Harish, a resident of Sector 6, parked his Royal Enfield Classic 350 (TS08FW2998) in front of his house at around 11.30pm. At around 1am, when he woke up, he realised that the bike was missing from its designated spot. Strangely, the FIR on the theft was registered three days later on May 22.

INCIDENT 3
Sunday, MAY 19, 2019
Time of theft: 5pm-8.30pm
Location: In front of Third Wave Coffee Roasters, 14th Main, Sector 7, HSR Layout

Twenty-five-year-old engineer Sharath Oommen parked his Honda Activa (KA51ED5995) at 5pm in front of the Coffee Roaster outlet at 5pm only to find it missing at 8.30pm when he returned. After a frantic search and asking around for its whereabouts, this resident of Hosapalya in HSR extension realised that it was stolen. The very next day, a police complaint of theft was registered by the HSR cops.

In a damning case of abject negligence, a restaurant in HSR Layout was fined Rs 50,000 for dumping wet waste into the stormwater drain.

The promoters of the The Paratha Company were made to cough up the hefty fine as it was also a repeat offence, according to the civic officials. However, this time they had the proof to nail them. The restaurant was found guilty of dumping the waste in the stormwater drain behind the Indian Oil petrol bunk and near the Swachagraha Kalika Kendra.

The culprits were caught as they found the company’s address in the discards with the help of active residents. When the BBMP health inspector Vinodh GM visited the restaurant, he found more violations that attracted the hefty penalty.

“There were cockroaches everywhere, including the grinder, and the disposables were in a pathetic condition,” says resident activist Dr Shanthi Tummala. “Such unhygienic conditions should make any person stop ordering food online. In addition, they had no licence to operate the restaurant and also had their outlet filled with banned disposable items.”

Some months ago, we came across a shed that was coming up in Sector 3 on 17th Main-19th Cross. When we enquired, the workers said a call centre was coming up. We were aghast. How can an office exist on a narrow road in a residential area? Later, we were told that a car washing shed was coming up, and it did come up despite our complaints to everyone at BBMP.

However, when the time for permissions came, the BBMP officials rejected the commercial proposition of having a car washing shed. “We clearly said that no commercial activity was possible, despite them getting letters from many people. In the meanwhile, the landlord changed and he had the shed demolished.”

The self-demolition happened around Karnataka election time. This clearly shows that when residents and the press highlight the irregularities, the authorities are duty bound to abide by the protests. However, we do request the authorities to ensure that they just follow the rulebook to save themselves a major penalty and embarassment in the future.

Whenever you spot such sheds coming up in residential areas, immediately alert the BBMP officials and the cops. Either of them can take action. Calling 100 is best. Don’t be afraid of the cops. They are supposed to guard us against the lawbreakers. Don’t hesitate. Each one of us can make a difference. If you think the other person will complain and you can rest easy, imagine what will happen if everyone thinks the same way? Utter chaos.

For five years, Aruna and Rajesh had a free run snatching necklaces of women across Bangalore. But last week, they were apprehended by the HSR cops who recovered 20 necklaces from them. What’s more, Dr Isha Pant, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East), gave away chains to six people who had lost them to these thieves. 

“They had committed 20 chain snatching incidents, including four in HSR Layout police limits, one in Koramangala, 1 in Begur, 3 in Tilaknagar and 4 in Rammurthy Nagar, among others,” said one police official. The star of this investigation was head constable Manjunatha Swamy, who was declared ‘Hero of April’ by the HSR cops.

The thieves were produced before the court on May 8. The other recovered necklaces will be handed over to the rightful owners after a court order ascertaining their ownership. Both the apprehended thieves were residents of Banaswadi and Kammanahalli respectively.

By Gopika Suresh

Recently, I came across something that I had never heard of before: a chance to lighten my day over a session of salt therapy at Salt World in HSR Layout. Upon entering, I sat on one of the chairs for a while, wondering what they would do. I saw a few packs of Himalayan salts on display and I thought: Will I get drenched while getting this done? If I did, how would I get back to the office? Are they going to scrub me with this salt? Will it hurt?

A pamphlet on the coffee table caught my eyes; I went through it and laughed to myself. Does this even work? What’s the point of having thirty sessions and going right back into all the dust and pollution? By the time these questions took over my head, a few more people arrived and I stopped myself and decided to experience it first.

Chamber of salts

Before the workshop began, we were given scrubs to wear over our hair and feet for hygiene reasons. Dr. Poornima Shetty, our advisor for the day led us to a room made of salt. It looked like Snow World at first glance with salty walls and floors. Honestly, I felt I had killed the vibe of the room a bit as I was the only one wearing green and not white. The room smelt like nothing, but I have to tell you I had a sick urge to taste the salt. However, I quickly told myself to focus and forget the urge. There were a few chairs but I picked the floor since it felt cooler. Dr. Shetty began her session about yoga and essential salts. I was familiar with yoga but Salt Therapy was something I was completely intrigued by. I was intrigued when she said they use “pharmaceutical grade” salt that is 100% pure Nacl (sodium chloride) that is used in saline sprays for nasal congestion since ages.

Dr Shetty spoke about how it is important to regulate and be aware of our breathing, and how most of us have forgotten to breathe the right way. Being a professional dancer, I knew how much difference just breathing right could do on stage. The doctor stressed on the importance of holding your back straight and how it is linked to various other bodily aspects. My dance teacher had also said that the way you hold your back can tell if you are a good dancer at first glance. Obviously breathing and posture made so much sense to yogis, musicians and dancers, but it’s often neglected by the others.

We had a small practice of five minutes where we were made to observe our breathing pattern and were asked to control it by inhaling deeply and exhaling even more deeply. We were then directed to a room where the therapy actually began. Salt particles were injected into the atmosphere by using a device called the halogenerator. And just seconds into the treatment, I knew I was starting to doze off. It felt even cooler than the previous room and made me feel as though I was in meditation almost instantly. I was aware of the minute salt particles hitting my skin and the smell of it was building up. I looked around and saw it wasn’t just me who was in a trance, but everyone else too. At that point, I didn’t know if this healed anything at all, but it just felt surreal. I fell asleep imagining what it would be like had our bedrooms and classrooms been like this. I remember waking up after about half-an-hour and feeling as though I was under a waterfall.

Time was up. I reluctantly got out of the room, removed the scrubs, put on my footwear and was ready to go. I knew I was coming back though; less salt in just food is not the only thing that I was going to complain about from now on. I want regular salt room sessions too!

Salt World
No 1, Sri Chakra, 2nd Floor, 18th main, Behind Sai Baba Temple Phone: 99863-88677, 98801-03741.
Website