RW December Wrap: HSR Habba, tree pruning, ewaste, walkathon, seed balls & more

School buses choke roads
The management of National Public School needs to get its act together. Streamline its buses to ensure it doesn’t crowd the residential road next to it. Last month, the residents were greeted with NPS buses blocking the entire road in Sector 4 without any space for vehicle movement. “I parked my car in front of the buses and did not budge until the cops came in,” says resident Kavitha Reddy. “Finally, they agreed to park five buses at a time without choking the road. To teach a lesson, sometimes one needs to take these arrogant people head on.” Another resident Kamesh Rastogi says this is the problem with many schools that have come up in residential areas. “They enrol more students every year and require more buses without providing for adequate space on their campus. They end up parking on the lanes and sometimes on the narrow residential roads. This is the irony. I have had altercations with Cambridge and Lawrence buses. The school management must handle this and work with their transport agencies.”

Tree pruning is a problem
Sector 4 resident Suresh Bhaskaran is against tree cutting. But the real problem is about their maintenance, especially when they grow taller and wider. “Even for pruning, I must go to the forest department, which is an impossible mission. The other day, one huge tree fell and missed my car narrowly. We had to clear the debris ourselves.”

Car break-ins galore
HSR is now becoming a den of bike thieves and car break-ins. The other day, a car parked opposite Rashtrakutas restaurant on 19th Main was broken into. The CCTV footage clearly showed four people operating in tandem to execute the theft. First, one passerby inspects the belongings in the car. The car owner had left behind his fitness backpack with nothing inside it. The theft mistook it for a laptop bag. One person goes inside the restaurant to check if there was anyone seated at the glass window watching over his car. The man comes out of the restaurant and gives the green signal. The other thief goes near the side window, and uses a sharp tool to break open the window in seconds and steals the bag. There is a man on a bike waiting right behind the car. This thief hops on to the passenger seat of the bike and gets away with the bag. The upshot? Don’t leave any precious belongings in your bag, not even an empty laptop bag, because you might have to spend precious money to fix the window panes.

Kids hit the bottle
Sector 4 residents which is home to many colleges are worried with the gay abandon in which PG tenants are misbehaving. “The other day, I spotted four boys from Christ College staying in Manjunatha PG, sitting in front of my mom’s house on National Public School compound, and drinking whiskey at about 7pm,” says Kavitha Reddy. “It’s shocking. Our locality is becoming

Seed balls, anyone?
Recently, the Ganesha temple park in Sector 1 and the Tree park on 24th Main played host to two Seed Ball events. The idea was for residents to come together and learn the easy art of making a seed ball. Pray how? Using just compost, seeds, clay and water, you could roll up a seed ball and create a forest. In addition, there was Vijay Nishat and Neeraj from Uttishta Bharatha talking about the various trees and the concept of seed balls. Essentially, seed balls are nothing but clay balls with seeds inside. They are insulated from the sun, birds and animals in areas where there is unpredictable rains. Only when it rains will the water enter the ball and the seeds will sprout. The normal practice is to carry these seed balls with you and throw them along highways and parched lands that are devoid of any vegetation.

Walkathon on World Disability Day
December 3 was a special day for the differently-abled students of EDventure Academy. Several residents, parents and children teamed up for a silent walkathon on World Disability Day. There were close to 100 people who had come together from all parts of HSR Layout and beyond. “Our message was loud that we need not always see disability and identify that every person has an ability through #ThisAbility campaign,” says campaign lead Santhi Karamcheti. The walk happened between 9am and 940am and then, they all gathered at the school in Sector 2 where the kids showcased their dance, yoga and musical skills from 10am-1030am. The walk began at the HSR BDA complex and proceeded towards Star Bazaar in Sector 7 and back to BDA. #ThisAbility is an initiative from #supporticon that has launched an animation film that showcases the variety of talents and abilities a disabled person possesses. Watch the film at this link:​ https://tinyurl.com/thisability123

Footpath under 14th Main flyover
The Sector 5 Residents Welfare Association president Riyaz Ahmed has urged the authorities to create a footpath under the 14th main flyover. “It is a long-pending demand of Sector 5 residents,” he said. MLA Satish Reddy responded by saying he will take it up as soon as possible. This was back in June. But even after six months, there is no sign of it. Such is the official and political apathy in HSR.

MLA gets proactive
When Residents Watch called the MLA about rampant road digging complaints in HSR, the MLA immediately got on the phone with the BBMP officials. The road digging in the whole of Garden Layout Road near Sector 2 was stopped by the BBMP. Across HSR, Airtel was making a mess by digging potholes and not filling them. “The roads are death traps for pedestrians and drivers,” screamed resident Sridhar Ramu. “Something needs to be done ASAP regarding this.” In some cases, the road digging was happening after midnight. The MLA took action again. He got the cops involved to stop them. The residents joined in too by filling up the potholes created by Airtel for fear that they could fall into them at night. “One Airtel cemetery was closed by ourselves,” quipped Suresh Bhaskaran.

Tree avenue on 27th Main?
Resident Gangatharan has one idea to green the busy 27th Main Road in Sector 1. “I would like to make a stretch of road where the trees grow as tall as they can alongside CPWD quarters,” he says. “We can do this by removing the electric poles and taking the lines underground.” Any takers?

Illegal buildings and the BBMP
When residents raised the issue of illegal floors being built in residential areas and rampant commercialisation, MLA Satish Reddy responded by saying that the BBMP has issued showcause notices to several commercial buildings in Bommanahalli and that they have been forwarded to the BBMP Commissioner. “Informed BBMP commissioner seriously. They will demolish,” he said. This was six months ago. But nothing has happened so far. It was just an eyewash.

Sandalwood trees in public park?
The other day, when some residents decided to plant 200 sandalwood tree saplings in the new tree park in Sector 3, it was met with resistance. “It will become another beehive of thieves trying to chop them off,” said resident Suresh Bhaskaran. The best example was that the police commissioner’s office on Infantry Road had sandalwood trees that thieves stole with impunity. “When citizens cannot prevent the cutting of normal trees, how can they protect these?” chimed in another resident S Sankar.

E-waste pickup point in Sector 1
HSR Citizen Forum (HCF) is at it again. From conducting eco-friendly festivals and festival waste management to home composting and terrace/organic gardening, water conservation, tree plantations and awareness on sustainable menstrual options, it now has another feather on its cap. Creating an e-waste pickup point in HSR. “After working on a solution for the sanitary waste for HSR by coordinating with BBMP and sanitary waste dealers, we were looking for solutions to dispose off e-waste as it contains harmful toxins like arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead,” says member Smita Kulkarni. “It cannot be given to dry waste collectors as they are not equipped to handle the toxins and recycle the waste.”

For the pilot project, HCF approached the Sector 1 Residents Welfare Association since they have worked with them before. Sector 1 RWA, ENSYDE and HCF have now arranged for e-waste pickup at the Sector 1 Ganesha park off 27th Main Road. You can go there every first Saturday of the month between 10.30am and 11.30am. The RWA is arranging for more pick up points and planning to keep bins in other locations around sector 1. “As the process gets streamlined, the pickup schedule will extend to the other sectors,” says Smita. To dispose off bulky e-waste, the residents can call hotline numbers to schedule a home pickup: 73497-37586, 080-41689889. The items that can be given include CFL bulbs, tube lights, batteries, CD, mobiles, computers, radio, gaming consoles, any other electronic gadgets and toys. Bulky items include TVs, fridges and washing machines. The next pick up will be on January 6 and February 3. Make the most of it.

No AEE means no work by BBMP?
Complain to the health inspector or BBMP Joint Commissioner about desilting drains and removing encroachments, and they give a convenient: ‘No AEE for HSR yet’. When asked why, the JC quips, “No one wants to come there as AEE. They say that they would much rather sit at home for six months doing nothing.” This goes to show the heavy political influence and money power prevalent in HSR. Lawlessness is rampant in HSR, be it illegal buildings or encroachments. Any AEE might not want his arm to be twisted by upright residents on the one hand and venal violators on the other.

HSR Habba: A mega nuisance
Residents complained from across sectors about the rampant misuse of public space by HSR Habba organisers. Clearly, the powers-that-be were behind all of this. On the night of December 24, the big bang festivities went on till midnight at the BBMP Grounds in Sector 2. The worse part of it was that the sound pollution was such that it reached Sector 3 and 4. When Residents Watch enquired with the police control room, the person said, “The MLA, MP and DCP are all at the venue, sir. You can go there and check it out yourself.” When we called the jurisdictional DCP Boralingaiah at midnight, he said he was not at the venue and promised to look into it. Within minutes, the party had gotten over and cars of the dignitaries were making their way out of HSR.

A day earlier, the habba organisers had taken up precious real estate on 27th Main Road, affecting businesses and inconveniencing commuters on a busy Saturday. When enquired, the record-breaking midnight noise mayhem was the handiwork of Kishore Reddy of the BJP Yuva Morcha. Clearly, the BJP and MLA Satish Reddy backed this noisy mess! I request him and every politician in HSR to stay away from creating noise pollution. It is quite an irony that all the sector residents had pooled in monies to fight the High Court judges in court to prevent the vacant land from becoming a housing colony for the judiciary. They won the fight after a five-year legal tussle. And what do we get? The BBMP and the cops giving permissions for activities that are far removed from sports. There are more cultural and religious activities happening at this ground than sporting events. And this is despite repeated written petitions by the Sector 2 Residents Welfare Association. It is time the BBMP, BJP corporator Gurumurthy Reddy, BJP MLA Satish Reddy, JD (S) MP Kupendra Reddy and Congress MLC VC Ugrappa agree to collectively keep the public space only for sporting events. Together, they can.