I was sitting in my car at a traffic light the other day and happened to look upwards. What a beautiful sight I thought to myself. The branches of the tree grew outward, with its leaves covering nearly the whole road extending till the other side providing shade from the sun to me and other commuters on 2 wheelers, cycles and other forms of transport. For a moment, I just stared upwards at the cover of leaves feeling lucky that we still have that in Bangalore.

But for how long? We’ve all seen how many trees are getting felled. How the Metro has destroyed some of our best roads. But we’ve got to make efforts, we have to do everything possible to retain our green cover, plant more trees, start thinking in a more eco-friendly manner.

It’s heart-warming to see people cycle to work nowadays – all geared up with their helmets and face masks – what a great step it is towards de-clogging our roads. It’s one less person in a car. Imagine, if even a few thousand of us got onto bikes and cycled to work, what a change this city can see! I tried cycling to office myself one day to see if I could manage the traffic. And yes – it was bad – but I made a start. Now, at least I know I can do it.

And I don’t think it’s that big a deal once you start. Yes, there’s traffic. But you’re being a part of the solution, not the problem when you start looking at eco-friendly ways of commuting instead of the fuel guzzling alternatives. Try it out sometime – maybe once or twice a week. It’s worth it. You’ll realise that a 10km distance on a cycle is actually not much at all.

And besides you’ll have the intense satisfaction that you’re doing your bit towards making Bangalore traffic more bearable. Many people say they “can’t” do it, that they can’t handle the traffic. But I don’t believe this is true – anything is possible – you just need to start. Even in our vehicles we have to battle traffic. It’s the same thing on a cycle, except that you’re on 2 wheels and it’s actually sometimes easier! I went from not knowing how to cycle (last year) to slowly making my way around on cycle in Bangalore and hopefully will be more confident in traffic in a couple of months. It’s an effort but it’s definitely worth taking!

Here’s an initiative that believes in “Doing good while doing well“. Net Impact is an international nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire, educate, and equip individuals to use the power of business to create a more socially and environmentally sustainable world.

When : July 17, 2009
Where : Bangalore – From home to office/college and back home
Who : You, me and every Bengaluru resident.

And not just the 17th, let’s sustain this everyday!

More details here:
http://gogreen4netimpactbangalore.eventbrite.com/

Facts we should worry about:
1. Bengaluru’s population is about 8 million.
2. Bengaluru is considered to have the highest density of traffic in the world.
3. Traffic population is doubling every 5 years.4. Road space used by a person in a bus is 3% of a person in a car and 5% of a person in 2 wheeler.
5. Air Quality Index (AQI) is between 150-300 in different areas of Bengaluru. AQI>100 is severe air pollution.
6. Bengaluru has the highest number of 2-wheelers in the world.
7. About 40 lakh ltrs of petrol and 80 lakh ltrs of diesel is consumed each day in Karnataka alone

”SHRADDHA CEREMONY”

The people of Bangalore deeply mourn the sad demise of our life giving trees, which lost their lives due to our callousness. We will be performing a , ”Shraddha” ceremony for them, on Sunday 24th May at 11am. Please join us to pray for the departed souls.

This condolence meet will be followed by a meeting on the next course of action to be taken to save LAL BAGH and our other PARKS

Venue

Park at 32nd Cross and Nanda Road Junction Jayanagar

Organized by

“Sanmathi” and “Hasiru Usiru”

Preferred dress : White dhotis sarees /dress

Earlier this week(April 13 and 14), the Bangalore Metro Rail corporation (BMRCL) has demolished over 500 feet of Lalbagh’s wall and cut down 5 eucalyptus trees inside Lalbagh. BMRCL proposes to have a Metro station inside Lalbagh itself – Bangalore’s distinctive botanical garden!

Lalbagh is protected by a separate, stringent law. In a highly undemocratic move, the Karnataka Government changed the law by moving an ordinance to acquire Lalbagh land for the Metro, rather than prefer a debate over the changed law, in the Assembly. The opposition has also failed to protest this undemocratic move.

Lalbagh and Lakshman Rao Park on R.V.Road, (also called the AC Road, Nanda Road ), both major landmarks and heritage of Bangalore are being destroyed for the Metro. This when the High Court is hearing PIL over alternatives in Metro alignment.

What seems like a minor portion of Lalbagh gone today will surely lead to greater portion of the park being taken away to create parking zones and malls that the Metro plans at its stations.

When they sought clearance, Metro authorities claimed trees on Nanda Road will be pruned, and not felled. Now they want to cut 323 trees on Nanda Road(R.V.Road) alone.

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The central business district is encircled b y these new HOHO (Hop on Hop off) bus routes, I manage to stand in front of one HOHO point near UB city and took this map for all….haven’t’ you tried hopping on one!!

The ABIDe (Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure & Development) Task Force, with the Chief Minister as Chairman, Mr. Ananth Kumar (MP-Bangalore South) as Vice Chairman and Mr. Rajeev Chandrashekar (MP – Rajya Sabha) as Convener, has been constituted to revive and rebuild Bengaluru through a combination of Comprehensive planning, improved municipal services and new investments into infrastructure. ABIDe also owns the task of providing a blue-print for sustainable and orderly development of Bangalore under Bengaluru Vision 2020.

ABIDe has formulated several draft reports and action plans and blueprints in the areas of Governance, Road Traffic Management & Transportation, Urban Poor, and Public Security. These reports are available here. Citizen inputs to help develop these further is welcome.
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This is one word which can only bring a sense of detest to one’s mind, primarily to those in Bangalore. A sheer size of seventy-five thousand and above, that’s the number of these three-wheeler vehicles which swarm the whole of Bangalore. Every person who lands in Bangalore, except for a few firangis, would have definitely traveled in this victorious vehicle. During their initial days in the city this simple three wheeler would be the sole mode of transport until they try out either the Bus Service or go for a private vehicle, which is decided more by earnings point of view rather than choice.

Whatever be the case, love them, hate them but just can’t ignore them. We need them sometime or the other. The drivers are a pure menace [Though I must say I did find one good soul, and there are such exceptions] on the road. No road sense, no traffic sense , faulty meters, 1.5 rate during rains and when it turns to get darker , double fare during morning or late at night, and refusing to come for no given reason. These are some of the complaints that we see from everyone using this princely vehicle.
Though I am not much of user of this means of transport, I have my own set of problems from these miscreants when I am driving the car. From stopping in suddenly in the middle of the road, going slow to block an entire lane on an already congested road, parking their vehicles at the most inconvenient location on the road and corners so as to create maximum problem to other drivers on the road their stories have no end.
So what do we do as our bit from this. The drivers are like Dogs tail, which can never be straightened either by shouting at them or honking.
Here are some of then things that I do. The reasons behind these actions are different though.

[1] Never honk at them. Just a small beep in case they are in your path. If they don’t move try to find an alternative lane. Honking at them doesn’t make any difference towards them , it only increases your blood pressure.
[2] If an auto comes in the opposite direction in your lane, don’t honk . Just stop there and don’t do anything. Leave it to him to find his own way out. Don’t even give him dirty looks. Give him sympathetic looks, feeling pity on him as to where he could go.
[3] If a auto driver refuses to come to your destination, just see the Identity card board on his auto. And that wouldn’t make any difference to them, and most likely they would say , “note down the number and complain”. Don’t say or write down anything, just read his name [90% its the name of some God ] , and then say, “You have such a nice God’s name, I thought that your actions also would be helpful like this God“, and then walk off. Quite a chance that he would come to you.
[4] Try and give drop to someone who normally uses auto for daily commute. That will reduce one user of auto. Else help someone to find a Volvo bus service for his route and encourage him to use Volvo. I have done it to two of my friends. So two less people using auto service. if everyone does their little bit, it could mean a lot less of demand of auto’s, and can translate into a lesser number of them on the roads.

Try out some of these and see if it helps you. If you have any ideas, please feel free to share.

In Jan 2008, Bangalore’s running group – Runners for Life – had organized a run on the upcoming airport tarmac. It was a memorable experience – the airport didn’t look anything like the way it does today!

So that was actually my only visit to the new airport. We had climbed up the ATC tower with permissions and gotten a great view of the area around. I still remember thinking then that the airport didn’t seem as big as it should be!

This weekend, for the first time, I had a flight to catch from there and was excited that I was finally getting to visit. It is really far and that I guess goes beyond saying. But I think that it’s probably the only road in Bangalore right now that is actually relatively smooth. While the terminal is rather big and swanky compared to the earlier one, you still have a feeling that it’s small. For an international airport, at least. But loads of check in counters, self check-in, helpful staff and all kinds of stores to browse around – makes it closer to an international experience.

Then I flew to Hyderabad into their new(ish) airport and I immediately changed loyalties. It definitely scored over ours in terms of size, user friendliness and sheer glam value!  They look slightly similar too, but Bangalore looks much more box-like in comparison. The one similarity was that both the airports are around 40-50 kms away from the main city.

But for now, this will do! The cab ride cost me Rs 700 as opposed a 150 Rs bus ride. I think the Vayu Vajra ac buses make so much sense, except if it’s late night. They’re comfortable and cost-effective and less than what a cab would cost to take me to the old airport. The one way trip on the way cost us Rs 150 each.

Now I hear they’re planning the second terminal and another runway. That might take a few more years though, I’m sure.

Hasiru Usiru, a network of community organisations, residents associations, project affected communities, voluntary organisations and individuals concerned about protecting equitable access to public spaces such as roads and parks in Bengaluru, invite you to participate in a Walk to Reclaim Bengaluru on November 9th 2008, at 11 am at Lalbagh West Gate. The key purpose is to highlight the extensive damage that road-widening and Metro projects are causing to the city, destroying in the process lives, livelihoods and thousands of trees. This walk is also to demand an inclusive planning process in shaping our city and ensuring that short-sighted, elite induced, infrastructure development, does not cause irreversible damage to the city and ruin the lives of thousands.

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Seems like a Deewali gift to Bangaloreans, and shows someone is awake upthere, remains realistic to the infra-starved India, the Parliamentary Standing Committee report (42nd report functioning private airports and related issues) show the signs of practicality and even seem to think along in the interest of passengers in both the cities…

The report highlights issues and concerns in and around HAL airport at Bangalore and Begumpet in Hyderabad, here are some important observations / highlights of this report…

• Charging of ADF or UDF for financing of the airport is not advisable in the context of policy objective of making the air travel more affordable. The committee has recommended that the UDF imposed on passengers may be withdrawn immediately and no more UDF may be imposed on passengers in any airport.
• Closures of existing airports had caused a revenue loss of Rs 610 crore in 2007-08 for the Airports Authority of India and hundreds of crore spent on developing this airports were lying unutilised because of closure of this infrastructure although these were used for VIP flights, general aviation and helicopter taxi services.
• These airports may be used for short haul flights as is the practice existing in major cities of the world which had more than one airport.
• Committee was informed that the Notice Inviting Tender did not have any mention about the closure of HAL airport at Bangalore but was brought in at the later stage of concessionary agreement. As regarding the violation of the norm that no new airport should come up within 150 km of existing airport and the permitting the Greenfield airports in the two southern cities seemed to violate the policy of the Government.
• Both Greenfield airports were far away from the cities compelled the passengers to use other means of transport such as road and trains for short distance destinations. UDF charges have made the travel from these airports costlier both in terms of time and money.
• Committee had found that the equity contributions of these two Greenfield airports were Rs 240 crore in Bangalore and Rs 330 crore in Hyderabad and the land was given at a concessionary rate. Rest of the finance had come from Government agencies by way of debt from financial institutions. If such resources were to be given to AAI itself, they could have easily developed the infrastructure
• The panel had observed that the Bangalore and Hyderabad airports were making the passengers pay ”exorbitant prices’ for the food items in the airports, while those waiting outside had not access to affordable canteen facilities, toilets and bathrooms. excessive commercialisation had taken a toll of the passenger amenities

Read the full coverage here and here

Here’s Bannerghatta Road, at the Jayadeva flyover; four years ago, all the trees that had been planted on this road were cut down and the road widened, and the flyover built.

Can you see even a blade of grass in the picture?

What has the effect of the tree-felling, road-widening, and flyover-building been on traffic?

The traffic is as choked as ever, and all that has happened is that we have lost a lot of greenery and tree cover; the area has become much more polluted and noisy.

Can we stop further unnecessary felling of trees and widening of roads, which result in the same traffic congestion + lack of trees, just a few years down the line, and think of more long-term and people-friendly solutions to our traffic problems?