Koramangala

All the news about Koramangala, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.

HSR Layout police release video to promote women safety app for emergencies

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suraksha women safety app
HSR Layout police release video to promote women safety app for emergencies 1

If you understand Kannada, go ahead and watch this video shot by the HSR Layout police. If not, just download the ‘Suraksha’ phone app from Google Play store or Apple’s App Store, register with your phone number and address, assign two emergency contacts and you are good to go.

In an emergency, just open the app and press the red button for five times. If you don’t respond to the police call, the phone will automatically capture a ten-second video and send it to the cops. An alert with your geographical address will go out to the cops and your two emergency contacts. The police promise to reach you within nine minutes. It is a safety app that is particularly helpful to women.

Several latest reviews on Google Play complained that the app did not allow them to register. However, when we tried it today, it did, and quite smoothly with no hiccups. One user has also benefitted from this app.

Says Akila Venkat on Google Play: “I read about the app in an online news portal and immediately downloaded it. I had to use it to report a case of stalking. Within seconds of pressing the help button, I got a call from the police to know the details. Within minutes, two police officers came from nowhere and handled the stalker by taking him to the station. Long story short, the app works in cae of emergencies!”

We would love to hear it from you. Let us know if this app helped you. Just WhatsApp us at this number: +919880585748.

Parents of Bangalore’s first Bicycle Mayor injured in ‘city of cars, not people’

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sathya sankaran's father
Parents of Bangalore's first Bicycle Mayor injured in 'city of cars, not people' 2
Parents of Bangalore's first Bicycle Mayor injured in 'city of cars, not people' 3
Pictures courtesy: Sathya Sankaran

By Qamar ZJ

Despite cries for pedestrian-friendly roads and city infrastructure, Bengaluru continues to be mismanaged by an apathetic corporation and an even-more disoriented state government, irrespective of which party occupies the highest seat. The latest diatribe against such a bad road infrastructure came from the city’s first Bicycle Mayor Sathya Sankaran. Calling it the ‘city of cars, not people’, Sathya gave the examples of his parents who fell victims to Bengaluru’s appalling road infrastructure only recently. 

Tweeting to the city police and BBMP Commissioner, Sathya wrote: “After the bad fall my father had on Sanjaynagar Main Road, it was my mother’s turn near New BEL Road bus stand. (She) Tripped over construction material left all over the place. This is a city for cars not people.”

The twitterrati was quick to react to this latest development by wishing his parents speedy recovery. In addition, they shared their thoughts on the city’s civic woes.

Citizen activist Srinivas Alavilli, the co-founder of Citizens for Bangalore, said, “We have become a city of machines and people have no place left. We shall take it back.”

The proactive Whitefield Rising resident group agreed with Srinivas by stating, “Our streets are strewn with debris, garbage, potholes and missing slabs.”

Vinay Kamble wanted to know if the government can be sued for this terrible incident. If you have the same question, yes, you can, if the injury happened due to a pothole, an open manhole or drain. In a recent case, the Karnataka High Court ordered the BBMP to compensate one such victim.

Vinay Sreenivasa had a similar story to share. “My mum in law also hurt her knee on a badly-laid footpath on Malleswaram 15th Cross. Unless we fix our pavements, we fail all the elderly and differently-abled in our city, and all of ourselves.”

Rajkumar Dugar recommended one measure that could rectify this issue. “This problem will reduce the day we have names of BBMP engineers and contractors displayed at every road with penalty clause for any damage to road. Citizens are made to cough up for the slightest mistake. Why not these people too?

Reacting to the incident, a representative of Save Harlur campaign made a stark statement: “This city is not even made for cars”. Another resident asked chief minister YS Yeddiyurappa to “transfer all inefficient officers”.

Only Balaji had an ironic twist to the controversy by questioning Sathya’s mission of sustainable mobility by saying, “And you have been misleading gullible people to cycle on such dangerous roads.”

 

 

 

 

Pot ‘hole’ in Koramangala!

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Pot'hole'
Pot 'hole' in Koramangala! 4

Kev_in_traffic, a “traffic management enthusiast”, tweeted this illuminating picture of a section of Koramangala. Aptly title “Definition of a “pot” hole! @blrcitytraffic has this to deal with in ST Bed, Koramangala”. It’s irreverent, and symbolic of the times we live in today.

Agara Lake jogging track restored; finishing is yet to happen!

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agara lake jogging track
agara lake jogging track
Agara Lake jogging track restored; finishing is yet to happen! 5

The sewege pipeline underneath a stretch of the Agara Lake jogging track is now restored by the Bangalore Water Supply & Sewerage Board (BWSSB). The track had collapsed recently due to incessant rains for the second time. The first occurrence was in September 2018.

However, the finishing work is yet to be taken up. BWSSB officials told Residents Watch that the levelling of mud, curb stones and pavers is now the job of the Waste Water Management firm.

“Our job got over a few days ago, however, the finishing work did not happen immediately as you need time for the mud to settle down properly, before you can begin the work,” said a BWSSB official. “There is a chance that the track might collapse again if we start the finishing work too early.”

Recently, former chief justice Santosh Hegde, the head of lake development plan had visited Agara Lake and was shocked to hear that the BWSSB’s sewage treatment plant was letting sewage into the stormwater drain abutting the water body. The officials told him that there was no provision to let only treated water enter the drains and the lake. Calling off their bluff, the Agara Lake Protection & Management Society members petitioned the former Lok Ayukta with a list of complaints that had to be redressed by the utility agencies.

Managing water bodies is crucial to ensuring that stormwater drains are free from sewage. Similarly, the groundwater contamination can be minimal if the sewage finds its way into the many STPs across the city. However, the government is finding it difficult to procure land and later run an STP efficiently and at optimum capacity.

That is the reason why the residents don’t want it in their neighbourhoods as past records of BWSSB running a successful STP are too few and far between. To reduce the burden on the BWSSB, the government has mandated that bulk producers of sewage like apartments of certain sizes must have their own STPs in place.

 

Youngster tweets, resolves a problem and makes Rs 500!

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Arun Bothra

Dipika Bajpai, the award-winning and dynamic former Deputy Conservator of Forests in Bangalore, praised a middleman the other day. Actually, it was a boy. She was reacting to an impressive story shared by Bhubaneshwar IPS officer Arun Bothra who summed up the tale by saying, “We are a nation of middlemen.” And Dipika responded with: “What a novel and nobel way of employment.”

Why are these civil servants so impressed with the boy, you ask? According to Bothra, this youngster apparently helped a senior citizen’s legal issue by tweeting about it to the cops. After looking at the grouse on Twitter, Bothra apparently invited the harassed citizen to his office, and resolved the issue. But what surprised him most was the passing remark by the elderly gentleman. “While leaving he told that a young boy in his area tweets for others. Charges Rs. 500/- for every resolved issue,” tweeted Bothra.

Clearly, where there is an opportunity, there is money to be made. The tweet received over 238 comments, was retweeted over 600 times and registered over 2500 likes.

However, Bothra did clarify that only 5-10% of complaints are resolved through Twitter. The rest is through the respective police stations.

Here are some of the best comments on Twitter about this boy’s side venture:

Aishwarya P: On a positive side, we can appreciate the boy for using his skill and time to earn money and also enabling others to solve their issues. After all, what he is rendering is also a service. I believe he is much better than those who depend on parents or govt for money.

Sitanshu Mahapatra: The Boy is the Entrepreneur of the Year👋🏾👋🏾👋🏾

Sandip: Is he mentioned anywhere that he is doing social service? If not, then he is doing nothing wrong. You must have heard the dialogue “if you are good at something never do it for free”.

Arun Chopra: He’s making money out of his education while doing social service, better than selling pakoras.

C J Karira: He saw a business opportunity! Fifty years ago, letter writers sitting outside GPOs did a similar job… only difference is that paper sheet has become smartphone and pen the finger.

Syeda Sabaun Noor: Wow!!! This thing is making us less of a community… Everyone is doing a side business.. sad.

Jay Jagdev: These jobs carry more respectable names like Advisor, Consultants…

No footpaths for foot soldiers! Only CCTVs can check traffic violations!

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MG Road footpath

TenderSure footpaths in central Bangalore are the toast of the city for their neatly-designed spaces for pedestrians. However, on MG Road, this has helped two-wheeler riders more than the walkers as this video proves. Clearly, where there is a way, there is a vehicle!

The only way to remove illegalities on roads and footpaths is to equip all the high density roads with high-end CCTVs for automatic traffic violations like speeding, footpath riding, overtaking, cutting signals and so on. This will bring order where none exist. Importantly, three such violations should result in automatic cancellation of driving licences for a year. No human involved means no corruption either. Will the central ministry of transport implement this immediately please?

The video above by Anantha Subramanyam says the story of footpath encroachment in just 30 seconds. A must-watch.

 

BBMP launches ‘Free The Tree’ initiative; will remove hundreds of treeguards across the city

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#freethetree

By Zahid H Javali

It is a travesty of the times. Activists, and non-profit organisations team up with civic agencies to plant saplings and erect tree guards with much fanfare. Later, the sapling grows into a tree, and the metal barricade is still there, stifling its growth. In addition, the trees planted on footpaths touch the live wires above them, posing a danger to everyone around.

Thankfully, the BBMP seems to have realised this as Commissioner BH Anil Kumar, who appears to be making the right noises ever since he took over, began a citywide ‘Free The Tree’ campaign today in Malleswaram. Hundreds of tree guards will go under the cutter in the next few days. However, we urge him to ensure that this is made a mandatory exercise at every ward where one person is only in charge of ensuring that the trees are looked after. Importantly, they should chop the trees that had taken over the footpaths and the roads and also touching the live wires. In addition, a heavy penalty needs to be levied on those who park on footpaths meant for pedestrians. This has become rampant across the city.

Though the formal launch was today, the BBMP’s forest department and citizens, including those going by the monicker The Ugly Indians began the campaign a few days earlier. They freed 17 trees each in Indiranagar and HSR Layout. More will follow like it happened today in Malleswaram.

Resident Uday Chopda has some words of caution and constructive feedback about this issue. “They should not cement the pavement as trees don’t get water, nor does the ground water get re-charged,” he says. “Every tree should have at least one box of 2ft by 2ft for the water to seep in. They should sow saplings at places where trees are cut for development like Indiranagar 100 Ft Road. All shops and houses have either removed the tree in front of the property or they cut; please make it mandatory to grow in such areas.”

Dear BBMP, let #freethetree campaign not remain an adhoc measure, but a consistent effort by you.

 

City musician won over by auto driver’s sincerity in Koramangala!

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auto driver with harish Iyengaar
City musician won over by auto driver's sincerity in Koramangala! 6
The auto driver who brought back Harish’s dropped phone from Koramangala to Ulsoor. Picture courtesy: Harish

Harish Iyengaar is many things rolled into one. The ‘scaryhairyman’ as he calls himself on Twitter is a writer, guitarist, gamer, and singer. What made him sing all the way on his social media platform the other day was the good samaritan act by an auto driver he met in Koramangala.

The podcaster gave a shout-out with a selfie of him with the Bangalore auto driver. Apparently, Harish’s phone fell out of his trouser pocket in the auto recently. This happened in the evening, during peak hours. “This man promptly brought it to Ulsoor from Koramangala, a bare couple of hours before I had to leave for the airport,” says a much-thankful Harish.

Having only read more bad news about rude, non-obliging auto drivers, it is gratifying to hear that there are some auto drivers who stand out for their humane gestures. May their tribe increase.

Hurry! Take part in the B.PAC survey on first and last-mile connectivity in Bangalore!

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B.PAC
Hurry! Take part in the B.PAC survey on first and last-mile connectivity in Bangalore! 7
The B.PAC team. Image courtesy: B.PAC

The Vasantnagar-headquartered Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) is inviting all Bengalureans to take part in a survey that we would share with city planners on how best to offer first and last mile connectivity to public transport. Will they have to be monorails, a plan mooted earlier? Or mini buses run by BMTC? Or increasing the bike and cycle rentals around bus and train stations? The alternatives are many.

Go ahead, take part in this survey. It will take a few minutes of your time, but by doing this, you will not only be helping yourself but also the future generation. Because what we ideate today gets done much later. The future is now. Take charge of it now. Click this B.PAC survey link and answer the questionnaire.

Remember, B.PAC is a non-governmental organisation patronised by city luminaries like Kiran Mazumdar, Charu Sharma, Prasad Bidapa, Prakash Belawadi, Nisha Millet, Harish Bijoor, RK Misra, and K Jairaj, among others.

Koramangala-Ejipura flyover work resumes; BBMP clears bill of contractor

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koramangala-ejipura flyover
Koramangala-Ejipura flyover work resumes; BBMP clears bill of contractor 8
Photo courtesy: BBMP

Much to everyone’s relief, work on the Koramangala-Ejipura flyover has resumed after BBMP cleared the contractor’s bills.

The work on the flyover had stoped for a few months as the bill was not paid by the civic agency. However, with the new government and new BBMP commissioner BH Anil Kumar, all pending works are being expedited. One such project was this flyover.

Announcing this move, BBMP Commissioner BH Anil Kumar also tweeted that “a strict directive has been issued to complete work by engaging more workers. Hon’ble MLA @RLR_BTM has acknowledged for resolving the same”. We do hope that MLA Ramalinga Reddy does his bit to expedite this.

Koramangala: Startup hub or a garbage dumpyard?

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koramangala slum

Yes, Monica, one Twitter user, has shamed the civic agencies by ironically captioning the headline to her video that shows the ugly side of Koramangala. Calling herself a bullshit slayer, Monica says she’s “working this social media thing, being social, not so much. Politically incorrect but Right, dog mum, BS slayer”. We agree with you, Monica. Will the BBMP alleviate the distress caused to Koramangala residents, please?

Residents turn around a garbage dump into a tea corner in Koramangala

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koramangala garbage dump
Residents turn around a garbage dump into a tea corner in Koramangala 9
Picture courtesy: Saahas

By Qamar HJ

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. The best example of this was the remarkable transformation brought about by residents, an NGO, and the BBMP.

On November 6, 2019, the three groups came together to convert a garbage dump site into a tea point. “The wall was beautified with whitewash, and hand-painted by the team,” said a member of Saahas. “Plants/pots are kept in order to discourage waste dumping.”

We need more such stories to not only bring cheer to the residents and passersby in Bengaluru, but also wake up the BBMP to do its job, and the careless resident who is throwing trash all over the place.

Segregate the waste into wet and dry. Better still, use a composter to create manure out of your kitchen waste. You will be doing your bit to reduce the mountains of garbage piling up in landfills that contaminate the groundwater. Save yourself.