The great Indian passport farce

idontspam - 2-JUN-2010

 My sister visited Passport Service Kendra in Devarabeesanahalli on the 25th for the reissue of passport of her minor child. Needed to travel for a family emergency so she checked the option for tatkal.

First WTF moment. The officer checking the application scratches out her tatkal mark and ticks normal, reason given, another inspecting officer will make the determination after hearing your case and not you.  

Second WTF moment. She waits patiently for the interview where the officer says oh you marked normal on your application so you wont get tatkal. He didnt accept the argument that his own officer, who was nowhere to be seen at that time, had changed it. As a solace she is told the passport will arrive in 3 days flat.

So all arrangements to handle the family emergency and postponement of  tickets on penalty is arranged. Now comes the whammy its 2nd june and no trace of the passport. Status as of 2nd June is

"Passport will be dispatched within 3 working days excluding the date of submission."

A web query to check the status met with the following response

Real Facts about GIM

vinay_sreenivasa - 2-JUN-2010

OPPOSE AUCTION OF KARNATAKA

Demand People Friendly & Environment Friendly Development

The Chief Minister of Karnataka has announced that the 2 day Global Investors Meet in Bangalore will bring 3 lakh crores of investment as well as around 3 lakh new jobs. The promise of 3 lakh jobs to be created by the GIM and the prosperity it will bring to Karnataka does not appear to be true. Read below to find out the real costs and real facts of the GIM.

False Promise of Investment and Job Creation

Praja Commuter Rail ride in the press

idontspam - 2-JUN-2010

That’s what a group of Bangaloreans, most of them IT professionals, discovered as part of an initiative by Praja.in, an internet community that addresses issues affecting the city. 

Five of its members – Muralidhar Rao, Pranav, Manjari, Naveen and Satya – travelled on local trains within the city to experience firsthand the feasibility of the Commuter Rail System (CRS)

Read more at Praja Suburban train ride report covered here by Bangalore Mirror.

Police Insanity

idontspam - 2-JUN-2010

Traffic inspector creates jam

On her part, Inspector Susheela seemed unperturbed by the chaos she had created. “Yes, I parked my jeep on the road as there was no space around. It was important for me to attend to the traffic jam on the adjoining road in the interest of the public. Why don’t you understand that I did not go there for my personal work,” she retorted.

Prima facie a case of insanity? These kind of people need to be removed immediately. I call on Addl.CP Traffic, Praveen Sood to suspend her immediately for deriliction of duty and conduct unbecoming of a police officer.

RTI - Commuter Rail project

silkboard - 1-JUN-2010

RTI request for CRS project. A document with questions for south western railway is available there. Please suggest if it is good as it is. Can break it up into 2-3 separate RTIs if you think that will increase the chances of getting better and faster reply.

Signal Free Corridor projects - need scrutiny (updated)

silkboard - 1-JUN-2010

Vinay S, an active member at Hasiru Usiru has obtained detailed information from BBMP on upcoming signal free corridor projects. Many people think that the project(s) need some serious scrutiny for the returns they promise on investments. Its one thing to make a relatively new road like Outer ring road into a signal free corridor, and another to talk about turning more than half dozen radial roads signal free without a clear plan for each and every interesction that lies on the way, or more important, without commensurate or alternate investments on public transport (like priority lanes for Big10 routes). Many feel that without such clarity, these corridor projects may end up being "bottleneck shifting" or "more parking space for free" projects.

Vinay has promised to mail over all documents he has obtained (will upload them here as soon as I get hold of them). We may need to scan and upload some sketches as well.

CRS Project discussion

idontspam - 31-MAY-2010

 This is a meeting to discuss planning & data collection for the report. Project members mandatory. Others interested welcome. RSVP with comments.

When: Saturday June 5th @ 6:30 PM IST

Where: TBD (Possibly on Skype also)

Global Investors Meet - Tier2 cities to get some love?

silkboard - 29-MAY-2010

A friend called from UK recently to tell me that he spotted an ad from Karnataka government about Global Investors Meet 2010 in a prominent daily there. Thats how serious GoK has been about marketing this event taking place next week.

Need - More of Tier 2

Bengaluru has had enough of love. Those Tier-2 cities need all the attention now. No, not talking Hoskote, Bidadi or Devenahalli, talk real tier2, far up central, and further north. More initiatives like Suvarna Karnataka Development Corridor (SKDC - click here) are it.

USTDA & BWSSB - how to track their agreement?

Public Agenda - 28-MAY-2010

How do we track this MoA ? Is it available on Web? What is the locus standi of USTDA to sign this? seems like 20 crores of objectives with which the US TDA will squeeze MUCH more out of Bangalore, despite all the backlash USAID, DFID, cioties Alliance, WB and Janaagraha have got already (see opposition to the GBWASP MoU)

Seems like a major health hazard like Radon gas in Borewell  water also squeezed past all the research till now, while the Palike is still sinking more borewells since the BWSSB is not able to supply enough water.

This kind of unhindered growth is unsustainable and must stop, but we shd slow it down first. The problem started with the 270 mld which came in 2002 Suddenly all felt there was enough water and a boom in construction and that caused the major mismatch in the common resources drawn or available

PA

BWSSB inks pact with USTDA
Bangalore, Sep 26, 2009 DH News Service:

Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) on Friday signed an agreement with United State Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) to undertake Integrated Water Management in the City.

BMTC New 35th & 36th Bus Depots

Sunil Kumar - 27-MAY-2010

Hi,

I was browsing thru BMTC website & notices they have put Depot No. 35 & 36.  Would anyone know if these depots are operational. I have not heard about the ingauration in newspapers also.

If it is true that the new depots are operation then our Bangalore commuters can breathe in ease for a more comfortable travel. I guess Bangalore will be having the highest inter-city public transport service.