NICE comparison!

srinidhi - 3-MAY-2010

 There was a recent comparison of the UP state Yamuna expressway and BMIC by the editor of Vijaya Karnataka news paper..

This by-far looks a neutral review/comparison of the projects. The salient points are as below:

BMIC

Yamuna Expressway

Location

Bangalore-Mysore

Noida-Agra

Should'nt city editors have critical eye ?

vinay_sreenivasa - 2-MAY-2010

Here is what the editor of a city news paper says about metro and mono etc -

Another piece of good news. Apart from Metro rail, work on which has picked up speed, Bangalore will soon have a mono rail, acting as feeder service to the Metro, and a high speed rail to link the city to international airport. A global city like Bangalore needs such rapid transport systems. Its narrow roads can’t handle the increasing vehicular traffic. The number of twowheelers and autorickshaws will come down drastically once the Metro rail starts functioning. Many may stop using personal cars. You can reach your destination in no time, that too in the cozy comforts of air-conditioned coaches. No dust, no noise, no sweat. Mono rail will help you reach Metro stations in similar comfort. And you can say goodbye to parking problems.

I have pasted the link to the article in the epaper at the end of the mail. Read the times of india bangalore city edition - may 2, pg 5.

RWH compliance in BBMP ward # 58

psaram42 - 2-MAY-2010

 Smt Sumitra Vijaykumar is our corporater for Ward # 58. The newly formed ward # 58 has the old ward 74 area including 9^th main HAL III stage, where our house # 1669 is situated. Smt Sumitra is proactively working for the designated ward. She has organized a regular monthly meeting with the ward residents to take forward the well being of the ward as a whole. 

Mr. Vijay Kumar the corporater’s husband kindly accepted my request for a discussion on compliance of RWH by residents in ward 58. I found Sri Vijaykumar genuinely receptive to problems faced by us residents. 

I apprised Mr. Vijaykumar of what I have implemented at my house towards using the entire rainfall received at my 60x40 site for ground water charging, using a pre existing well. He inspected my premises in detail along with his gang. All were appraised in detail of what was done at my place. 

My actual agenda was in fact extending the RWH clause to BBMP. Mr. Vijaykumar was quick to see my point. Here is what I tried to explain:- 

Government medical colleges hood-winking MCI

murali772 - 1-MAY-2010

If private medical colleges hire house surgeons to hoodwink Medical Council of India inspectors, it’s malpractice. But what if the government itself pushes through ‘standby transfers’ during MCI inspections and submits a report that new government medical colleges meet the governing body’s guidelines?
    
Medical education minister Ramachandra Gowda first termed this a ‘sensitive issue’ but then said the government was trying to save students who had got admission. Later, he insisted he didn’t want to comment on the issue.
    
The fact is the government issued 15 transfer orders of senior residents, lecturers, assistant professors and professors between January 16 and March 6 this year. In each transfer order, seven to nine faculty members were transferred from established medical institutions like Bangalore Medical College and KIMS, Hubli to new colleges in Hassan, Mandya, Shimoga and other places.
    

RTI Club - 2010

silkboard - 30-APR-2010

This is an attempt to "assembly line" the RTI filing process (expressed back here). Idea is to do a few things

1. Provide support to projects and campaigns hosted on Praja in a cause-agnostic way. Projects can create an "RTI request", and the club will help file them.
2. Provide a relatively easy avenue to those who want to "do things" beyond discussions, but don't have easy outlets for their enthusiasm. An "assembly-lined" RTI filing process will create a few easily-doable roles, some of them may be 100% online as well
3. File RTIs as a group, which cold be helpful when individuals may be "afraid" to file the applications in individual capacity

The Club will put some measures in place to prevent misuse of the convenience on offer here. Rules will be built as we go, though be sure that RTI requests from projects & campaigns hosted on Praja will be preferred over individual requests without enough context.

Public Awareness on Lead Safe Bangalore

bikram satpathi - 30-APR-2010

From:

Dear Sir,

Mr Praveen Sood, can we do a Monthly Enforcement Day?

silkboard - 30-APR-2010

On the lines of Bus Day, where citizen groups and volunteers support BMTC in executing a real on-ground event, will Bengaluru Traffic Police be game to lead us for a "Traffic Enforcement Day"?

In theory, BMTC should treat every day as Bus Day, and traffic police every day as enforcement day. But we know the realities. But then, what could be special in this once a month event? Some possibilities would be:

RTI Workshop

Rithesh - 30-APR-2010

From Loksatta Karnataka Blog:

Paint, your way!

vinod_shankar - 29-APR-2010

By Centre for Social Initiative and Management

in association with Builders’ NGV Club

Come, participate, and Win attractive prizes!

in 3 categories.

Age 4 -10

Age 10-16

Open category for ALL 

At

Builders’ NGV Club, Koramangala

3 PM on Sunday 2^nd May 2010 

Please get your preferred medium of colors, we will provide you with paper to color your dreams!

Every 10th of the month as 'No honking day'

murali772 - 29-APR-2010

In a unique initiative to curb noise pollution in the city, Mission Peace, an NGO, has decided to observe ‘No Honking Day’ on 10th of every month. This drive against the increasing noise level has been supported by Karnataka police.

The initiative was unveiled by Justice Manjula Chellur, Justice K Sreedhar Rao, retired Justice A M Farooque and former Justice M F Saldahna along with DG & IGP Ajay Kumar Singh.

The mission of starting ‘No Honking Day’ is to create awareness about unnecessary use of horn and the ill-effects of noise caused by the autos. We will also try to convince the government to bring in laws to control noise pollution,’’ said Sunitha De Sousa, president of Mission Peace.

For the full text of the report in the TOI, click here

A most welcome initiative. I am sure it will have the fullest support of PRAJAGALU.

Muralidhar Rao