Volume 16 Issue 5
An IIJNM Publication
THE WEEK THAT WAS NATIONAL PM postpones government’s participation in Indus Water Treaty meetings Prime Minister Narendra Modi had directed his government to step up exploitation of India’s share of water in the Indus Water Treaty, and called off India’s participation in meetings of Indus water commissioners. He said “Blood and water cannot flow together” at the meeting on sharing of Indus river water
Source: Livemint
REGIONAL State moves apex court to modify order on release of Cauvery The Karnataka government had moved to Supreme Court seeking modification of the September 20 order to release 6,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to Tamil Nadu till September 27, on the ground that its reservoirs do not have sufficient water.
Source:The Hindu
INTERNATIONAL Isolate Pakistan, Swaraj at UNGA
Sushma
Courtesy: The Hindu External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday at the United Nations, asks the world community to hold countries that “nurture, peddle and export” terrorism to account. India took its campaign to diplomatically isolate Pakistan at UNGA (United Nations General Assembly). She added saying “Any nation refusing the unified global strategy of defeating terrorism, must be isolated”, in Hindi.
Source: The Hindu
SPORTS Ashwin’s day out at Green Park Ravichandran Ashwin, off-spinner , who played his 37th test in Green Park on Sunday, took New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson’s wicket and became the second fastest to reach milestone of 200 wickets after Australian leg-spinner Clarrie Grimmett (36).
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Water Supply & Sewage staff lack training and don’t deem it necessary Rishiraj Bhagawati rishiraj.b@iijnm.org BENGALURU : A vast majority88 percent- of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board staff have not undergone any training in the last three years, and 83 percent of them felt that they did not need any training. This finding emerged in a seven-month study conducted by Public Affairs Centre, a non profit organisation hired by BWSSB to assess its work culture and water and sanitation facilities. This survey was conducted among 502 BWSSB staff members at various levels, from meter readers to executive engineers. The fields of training that workshops are organised for are related to human resource development, technical skills, personality development, management skills, soft skills and safety measures.
The table reveals that apart from the 22 percent that were personally uninterested, the rest were likely to attend a training programme if presented with an appropriate opportunity. The most popular reason quoted by the staff members- 33 percentfor not undergoing training was the lack of opportunity to attend such programmes. Other reasons varied from not being aware to not being selected by a senior officer for such
programmes. “A citizen-catering civic body like the BWSSB which caters to over 1.2 million Bangaloreans needs continuous training programmes in order to operate at high and reliable standards,” said Sridhar
Facing lack of maintenance, HMT quarters now in ruins Ayushee Choudary ayushee.c@iijnm.org BENGALURU: The Hindustan Machines Tools quarters for government officials faces problems ranging from drainage to security. “There exists no drainage system in these quarters and during rains, there is water all over the place,” said Sharda, a 15-year resident of the quarters and a junior assistant in the transport department at Vidhan Soudha. She has been at the company for 20 years. “Apart from the drainage, garbage is another issue due to irregular visits of the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) lorries, which many a times leave the trash lying down for two months leading to diseases,” said Sharda. “The renovation of the quarters is on the residents themselves.” The people of Hindustan Machines Tools (HMT) do not have adequate water supply though the small houses have constant electric supply. “We receive water on alter-
native days and even that water is accessible only for an hour in the morning between 6 to 7 a.m.,” said Shiv Kumar a resident. “We have a water supply network where we have a water reservoir and tank from where we get the water pumped. Majority water issue is handled through bore well and if there is a shortage, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) are contacted,” said an HMT Welfare Association official. Another resident, Amulya, said, “There are no street lights in the lanes of the quarters and as it grows dark, it gets too difficult and risky to step out, especially for women and children.” She added that there is neither a proper entrance gate nor any security to safeguard residents. “These things have led to various thefts and robberies in the area and the people do not feel safe,” said Amulya. Recently, a burglar entered a home and stole 3 lakh rupees, said residents. Mr. Umesh, deputy chief engi-
neer of human resources and equal opportunity at HMT Ltd., said HMT is responsible for maintenance and repairing of the quarters. “Complaints which are registered with the common service division are solved as and when there is availability of finances,” he said. On a daily basis eight to 10 complaints are reported. All the problems are prioritized and accordingly attended to said Umesh. Jalahalli Police Constable Anand said police received complaints “once in awhile. “The HMT residents do not report many complaints to us but we are still enhancing the patrol through the area,” Anand said. “We post our complaints at the HMT office but the follow up is not always assured,” said Amulya. There are four sectors at HMT that include a total of 1,547 quarters; only 658 are occupied by HMT workers and government employees.
Source: The Hindu
SCIENCE PSLV places eight satellites in two orbits Indian space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched the SCATSAT-1, an advanced weather satellite, and seven other payloads of 675kg weight on board the 44.4 metre tall Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on Monday. IIT Bombay students launch two academic satellites- PRATHAM, to estimate the total electron count.
Source: Live Mint
Pabbisetty, Cheif executive of Namma Bengaluru. “Although training doesn’t solve all problems, you can’t expect an efficient running of a civic body without organising adequate and frequent training programmes for its staff,” he added. “I do not question the merit of the report but I also do not think it reflects the reality very accurately,” said Narasimha Murthy, Chief Engineer Projects, BWSSB. He added that most of the staff members have been in service for a long time and hence do not require regular training workshops. “For the new recruits, we do require them to go through training” he said. The survey undertaken by the PAC which commenced on 13th January 2016 is a project aimed at improving the work culture in BWSSB and the service extended to the public.
Absense of street lights and lack of security at HMT quarters
Courtesy: Staff Photo
NH-275 experiences heavy traffic
Negligence increases yearly death toll on National Highway-275
Cherry Agarwal cherry.a@iijnm.org
BENGALURU: From January 1 to September 1, 2016, Kumbalagudu saw 25 fatal traffic accidents compared to a total of 27 for all of 2015. Meanwhile, non-fatal accidents are set to surpass the 201s record of 102 with 94 accidents so far this year. The number of traffic accidents in Kumbalagudu this year could surpass that of last year, according to police statistics for the first eight months of 2016. “The delay in the highway’s development, absence of street lights or the on-going metro construction is not amongst the reasons for the accidents,” says Suresh Kumar HK, investigation writer, police constable, Kengeri Police Station. “Accidents only happen due to the negligence of the driver,” said Kumar adding, “Negligence includes rash driving, over-speeding and drunken driving.” Officials said that, most of the accidents occur on NH-275, also known as the Bangalore-Mysore highway. Construction to upgrade the highway from a four-lane to six lanes due to increasing traffic was to begin in 2015, but has not been done till date.