HAL airport reopening - Connectivity and Access first, reopen later.

kbsyed61 - 16-SEP-2008

If powers that be are determined to reopen HAL airport for commercial operations, whether for full fledged operations or limited, connectivity and access issues must be fixed first. I am voting here for a "Connectivity and Access First, Airport Later" campaign. Here are some high level items that should get addressed before the airport resumes its commercial operations.

Connectivity:

Humanised streets - a Beijing initiative!

murali772 - 16-SEP-2008

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development's initiation of a national car-free day on Sept. 22 is of significance to both the country's urban development and environmental protection.

The theme, "humanized street", points to the trend in city renovations, of city roads in particular, in recent years.

3-day experiment reveals a lot

mcadambi - 16-SEP-2008

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2008/09/16/stories/2008091659250300.htm Some positives, some negatives, IMO:

Positives:

Whitefield to Airport, max 1 hr, anytime

silkboard - 16-SEP-2008

Its an open secret for us in Whitefield area by now. There is this scenic route that skirts around city's mad traffic and takes you to BIA in an hour, any time of the day! The drive is just under 60 km, point to point. However, listen to this, last 18 kilometers are spent circling around BIA only because there is no entry to the airport from the East side. Some pictures for you, and the route map as well. Basically, you go from Hope Farm junction to Hoskote, on to Budigere, and then to the airport via a village just north of it, or via Devanahalli itself which is much further north of the airport.

Politics over principles characterises India: Shashi Tharoor

mcadambi - 15-SEP-2008

Indian politics is essentially debate over principles unlike developed country politics:

"The French political scientist Maurice Duverger once explained that politics in India involves conflict over basic principles and in Britain, conflict over subsidiary principles, whereas in the US, party politics amounts to a conflict without principles. For both parties agree on most things: liberal democracy, free-enterprise capitalism, low taxes and superpower status abroad."

Mahadevapura/Whitefield Development Task Force - Update and Next Meeting

Rithesh - 15-SEP-2008

(See this related Post) Mr R.K. Mishra is actively working on solving the issues related to Whitefield and Mahadevepura region. Accordingly a task force has been setup with the help of the local MLA Mr Arvind Limbavali (Hon. Minister for Higher education). Following are the minutes of the 2nd meeting that the task force had recently (7th September).

Effective use of RTI

murali772 - 15-SEP-2008

When Ravindranath first saw the irregularities, he started investigating and found that the buildings did not have occupancy certificates . "But the trade licences were given by the BBMP's health department. When I informed the authorities, they were not bothered. So I took up the issue through RTI and approached the KIC. Following the KIC order in May 2007, the three commercial complexes have been closed down and sealed," he explains. For more

The Cheap Volvo ride coincidence

murali772 - 15-SEP-2008

The travel in the BMTC’s prestigious Volvo air-conditioned buses for just Re 1 from one point to another point in the city for four days is seen as a gesture by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government to celebrate its completion of 100 days in office. But not many people know that it was a gimmick. It is believed that the gesture was intended to benefit the participants of the three-day national executive meet of the ruling party in the State. The Re 1 travel did help many commuters, who find the rates otherwise unaffordable.

Probing public transport stats for Bangalore

silkboard - 15-SEP-2008

Last we heard (Mr Sharif may have told TOI), BMTC said that public transport accounts for 48% of trips in the city. Another stat from Ministry of Urban Development had put public transport's share in Bangalore to about 35%. So, there we have, a range of 35% to 48%, and we know that in Bangalore, public transport virtually equals BMTC.

Metro shoddy too?

idontspam - 13-SEP-2008

They have dumbed down the metro stations originally to make it look straight out of a village. Maybe BMRC is also taking us for a ride. (see the two images)