Issue 8 volume 16

Volume 16 Issue 8

An IIJNM Publication

Thursday, 6 October 2016

Vehicle numbers gone up by 45% in

past decade, say Bengaluru Police Shannon Court Shannon.c@iijnm.org BENGALURU: It has become common for Bengaluru citizens to wait for hours in traffic each morning to reach their destinations. A steep rise in population and infrastructural expansion of the city has led to the problem of road connectivity in Bengaluru.

IT and other associated industries have aided Bengaluru’s vehicular population to climb to 1.5 million, with an annual growth rate of 710%. In addition, Bengaluru’s population density has jumped over 45% in the past decade as job opportunities and economic growth has lured people to India’s Silicon Valley. Use of private transport has grown at a tremendous rate and two wheelers along with cars comprise 90% of the total registered vehicular population in the city. Two wheelers constitute more than 70% of the total volume, while cars comprise 15%, autos 4% and the remaining 8% includes other vehicles such as buses, tempos and vans, says the Bengaluru Traffic Police website.

A study, titled 'Volume-Capacity Study on Flyovers of Bengaluru' completed in March 2015 was conducted on Sirsi Circle flyover (Mysuru Road), Richmond Circle flyover, ITC flyover and Hebbal flyover reveals there has been a 7-10% growth in traffic and reduction of

Source: www.bangaloretrafficpolice.gov.in vehicular speed to 5-20 kmph. This reflects a need for longer flyovers, instead of the existing short ones.

The study shows traffic volume on Mysuru Road to K.R. Market is 2,800 passenger car units (PCU) against the 2,200 PCU capacities, on the two-lane road during morning hours. Traffic volume from City Market to Mysuru Road circle during evening hours is 3,150 PCU against the capacity of 2,200 PCU. On Richmond Circle flyover from

Double Road to Residency Road the traffic volume during morning hours on the two-lane road is 1,850 PCU against the capacity of 2,200 PCU. During evening hours, from Richmond Road to Double Road, the traffic volume is 2,150 PCU against the capacity of 2,200 PCU. The study found that not only are the existing flyovers overburdened, but they haven’t been able to solve the congestion problem either.

“The flyovers complicate traffic

rather than create seamless movement. The bottlenecks end up pushing the traffic onto the next junction.” said commuter Ninad Samaddar.

There has been a dip in travel speeds to about 15kmph during peak hours, the study reported, as there are no dedicated parking complexes as a consequence of which thousands of vehicles are parked on the roadside, thereby reducing the space for vehicular movement. “The

Namma Metro is behind schedule by two years while the Bus Rapid Transit System with dedicated lanes to facilitate quicker movement has not taken off” said B.G. Raghavendra Prasad, Executive Engineer, Road Infrastructure. “Residential townships on the outskirts have also failed to transform into developed localities. Without lending a supporting hand, these townships don’t take carry any of the burden caused by traffic in the centre of the city” he added.

“Priority must be given to road bypasses and freight terminals in the outer limits of the city. Major roads have four lanes or less and therefore the scope of the roads being widened is reduced. Junctions in core areas are with five legs which lead to more traffic circulation. The road network capacity is a major issue that needs attention by the BDA” said HAL Traffic Police inspector S.R. Chandradhar.

Raghavendra Prasad also mentioned that the price put forth in creating Phase I and II of the metro line has cost the Bangalore Metropolitan Rail Corp. Ltd 40,000 crores which is a factor in understanding why other mediums of public transportation may seem like it has been sidelined. By the end of the second phase, the 72 km stretch of the metro will connect around 10 to 15 percent of the city.

High rental rates lead to shut down of petrol bunks

The numbers of petrol bunks are reducing in the city gradually, -staff photo due to increase in the rental rates of the land.

Konica Kamra konica.k@iijnm.org Bengaluru: The Urban District is suffering from loss of petrol stations due to the high demand of rent from land owners, according to Indian Oil Corporation Limited.

“Land owners demand between 80,000 to 1,00,000 rupees per month,” said Gaurav Kundra, a Corporate Officer at Indian Oil Corporation Limited. He mentioned, “In the last two years, the business has

been affected due to an exponential rise in property and rental rates.

Land owners wish to switch business in order to earn more money.”

“There are a total of 474 petrol stations in the city, which belong to different owners of petrol manufactures such as Indian Oil Corporation (200), Hindustan Petroleum (115), Bharat Petroleum (122), Shell (27) and Essar (10). More than 55 petrol pumps have been shut down in the last two years,” said Suneel, an authorized person at Bharat Petroleum

Petroleum Office, MG Road.

Despite an increase in the number of vehicles, number of functioning petrol bunks have decreased. Station operators in the city are citing litigation over leasing issues of land for which the standard period of the lease is 20 years. “Over the past few years, landlords have been demanding rent at the market rate when renewing the lease, and those franchisees who fail to pay are being served eviction notices.” said Gopalakrishnan, another corporate officer at Indian Oil Corporation Limited. He added, “Shutting down of petrol station and increase in consumption of petroleum results in inflation of petrol prices.”

Dealers and officers from oil companies have confirm that a number of petrol bunks shutting down. The reason being is because land owners are seeking lucrative options. Kundra said, “Once the leases expire, the landlords will not renew them but prefer to sell the land or develop it for huge profits.”

The growing number of vehicle owners will be hard hit if such a large number of petrol pumps are forced to shut down all over the city.

Rejuvenation of Arekere Lake has been delayed since 2013 leading to further

encroachment of the lake by builders.

Arekere Lake, the ‘Orphan Lake’ of Bengaluru

Anushree Madappa anushree.m@iijnm.org AREKERE:Try the next counter please’ - this seems to be the sentiment harboured by the development authorities in Bangalore on the Rejuvenation of Arekere Lake.

“The project to develop the lake designed in 2013 has been abandoned and the land has beenencroached by builders who refuse to vacate,” says Veena Hegde, the founder of Are-kere Neighbourhood Improvement Trust.

The founder of the trust Veena Hegde said, "The Trust was implemented to restore the lake to its former glory. Initially, the response

from the authorities was good.

There was feeble progress. They fenced up the area around the lake and began to rid the place of encroach-ers. But a couple of months later all work ceased.”

The law states that the buildings shouldn’t exist within 70 meters of the lake bed. But the lake bed in Arekere is encroached by buildings.

“The building has been the fixture in the lake for over 15 years," said Mr. Azuruddin, a resident in Arekere.

Veena Hegde said, "We tried approaching all the members of BDA and BWSSB but none ac-quiesced to give the information that should be made available to the public.

BENGALURU

THE OBSERVER THURSDAY, 6 OCTOBER 2016

Caste haste: Venkateshwara nagar residents still awaiting change Cathline Chen cathline.c@iijnm.org The slums in Venkateshwara Nagar near Deepanjali Nagar go days without clean water, clogged un-cleared drainage. The people are in great distress over these issues.

Most of the people who reside in this area are common labourers, rag-pickers, drivers and painters.

Earning a daily wage of Rs 300-500 per day. Vasantwaamma, 40 who has been staying in Venkateshwara Nagar for 26 years now complains that “Everything that can go wrong with the world happens to our locality. We neither get excess to clean water on a daily basis, nor do we get proper grains from the ration stores.

BBMP corroborators visits once in three months for a regular check, take pictures and say they will solve their problems but do nothing about it.”

According to the Census Report (2015), in Karnataka there are 1.04 crore SC and ST population. The Scheduled Caste population consists of 17.5 percent of the population in Karnataka state. They are known by different names in different parts of the state and comprise many sub-castes and communities.

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“Everyday they wake up to no water and find themselves to avail the basic water only three days a week”.

Under the Financial Assistance to SC/ST/BC Minorities Cooperative Societies in Karnataka, who do not have sufficient funds to undertake economic activities for the benefit of their members.

Hence with a view to assist Slums of Venkateshwara Nagar these societies to create infrastructure and assets, fiAt present, about 101 sub-castes nancial assistance is provided under have been recognised as Scheduled this scheme. A sum of Rs. 11.00 Castes who are the largest single lakh has been provided for this progroup in the state. However, they gramme in the Annual Plan 2015are also the weakest in terms of po- 16. litical, economic, social and cultural Enrolmentof BPL.SC,ST,Backresources. ward Class/Minority,Women,DisA sum of Rs. 586 lakh has been abled persons as members of all provided for the schemes for the types of Co-operatives schemes.

ST/SC in the Annual Plan 2015-16. Economically weaker sections of Nirosha, 25 who lives with her the people belonging to BPL, SC, handicapped mother, recently ST, BC, Minorities, women, physimoved into the neighbourhood. Her cally disabled will be able to get the household only earns Rs 300 per facilities made available by the reday and despite the fact that she has spective co-operative societies a ration card. She cannot chew her which will uplift them socially /firice without finding stones in them. nancially.

Whereas, Jagdish 31, said that

Contd from page 1.

He was optimistic about the construction of the Monorail and Light Rail Transit (LRT) transportation systems which will provide higher capacity and speed and thus will compliment the Comprehensive Traffic and Transportation Plan that Bengaluru needs to adopt. When LRT intersects with the Metro corridor, it will lead to better connectivity, he added. He also said “The BMRCL must work towards increasing its frequency with regard to timings between stations, especially on the 18km long Purple Line which will support more passengers taking the metro.” High density LAKE. Continued from page 1 We filed an RTI to avail the information but it went unanswered. We also filed an RTI to know what had been done with the funds allocated to develop the lakes, but to no avail.”

The sewage water has seeped into the Arekere Lake and has contaminated the water.The chief Engineer Officer Shivshankar at BDA said, “The BWSSB needs to redirect the sewage from the lake for the development work to resume. Until then our hands are tied. They said they need a monthHe declined to comment about the encroachment.

The officials of BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board) said, “ We’ve been working on a plan to divert the sewage. We are contriving towards clearing the

areas like Koramangala, HSR layout, BTM layout, Yelahanka, Kengeri and Whitefield, among other localities misses the metro where population has gained momentum.

“Passengers should use more public transport as private transport will lead to congestion and parking issues. IT companies should look into making their employees work from home, at least two days a week to cut down on traffic on roads” said Prasad. He added “Bengaluru needs more elevated expressways, interconnectivity at junctions and must adopt a mark point transportation system for seamless flow of traffic.” lake of se-wage in a month.”

The engineer at the lake development authority, Honneyya, said, “We have done our job by creating a DPA for the BDA to work within 2012. It was their responsibility to see the work through but they are lying in wait for the BWSSB to clear the sewage water and the BWSSB are waiting for the BBMP to tackle the encroachers. We can’t comment on why the work has ceased it seems like no one wants to make the first move, so yes as of now the lake sits abandoned”.

“We want to have complete power over the fates of the lakes but this isn’t possible until the government implements the order.Issues get con-voluted and confusion ensues because there are too many cooks in the Kitchen,” said Mr. Honneyya.

IISc turns waste water potable,awaits ISO clearance Research to make wastewater potable and curb water wastage in the city.

Ilona Dam ilona.d@iijnm.org BENGALURU: IISC researchers developed a wastewater filtration technique which is supposed to make the water potable. The team of researches is now waiting for ISO clearances after which the water will be released to the public.

The technique, initially conceived in 2013, requires an electric field to polarise the impurities, bringing them together in chunks which can later be removed. Dr. Sanjeev Sambandhan of the Department of Instrumentation and Applied Physics, heading the team of researchers involved in the project, said,” the best part about the innovation is that it requires very little power usage.”

On asking about the history of the innovation, Dr. Sambandhan said

“The innovation can curb wastage of water which is rampant in the city. If the water can be recycled, the farmers in Bangalore will not face a water crunch.”

Picture Courtesy: http://www.thebetterindia.com/30591/iisc-researchers-win-google-pitch-fest-for-theirinnovative-water-purification-technology/ that it took them approximately two years to upgrade the system from purifying one micro litre of water per minute to a thousand micro litres a minute.

Currently the team is working on several field projects to test the

technique. One of the projects is in Mavallipura village. The village is notorious for being the garbage dumb of the entire city since the past 20 years. The waste, in all forms, be it organic or inorganic, has contaminated the ground water.

As a result, the bore wells in the village are polluted and drinking water is scarce. IAP researchers took the water as a sample and using the filtration technique, converted it into portable water. Other such field projects include the sample of

IISC’S sewage plant, wherein 100 litres of water was converted to portable water.

Speaking about the future usage of the water, Dr. Sambandhan said that the water can be used at both community and individual levels. At a community level, he further said, the system can be used by apartments and restaurants to reuse the water that they conveniently throw away. Moreover, since the system doesn’t require high level maintenance, it can be used in rural areas.

At an individual level, the technique can be used in washing machines to remove the hardness of the water.

On asking about when the team is planning to release the water to the public, Dr. Sambandhan said, “the technique has to get the required certifications before it can be introduced to the public.” One of the required certifications, he further said, is the NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) certification, which checks on water quality. Another certification, which checks the product itself, is required.

Looking at the acute shortage of water in Bangalore and the raging fights over it between states, Kartik, the student heading the research, said, “The innovation can curb wastage of water which is rampant in the city. If the water can be recycled, the farmers in Bangalore will not face a water crunch.”

BENGALURU

THE OBSERVER THRUSDAY, 6 OCTOBER 2016

Wells aren’t doing well in Indiranagar

Aishwarya Iyer aishwarya.i@iijnm.org Residents of Indiranagar woke up to a filthy, pungent smell greeting them 'good morning'. Their wells got contaminated overnight with sewage water.

Three houses in HAL second stage, Indiranagar had their own wells to draw water for household consumption. These wells helped during the days of water shortage.

The area has around 11 wells in total.

Mamatha R, a resident who has been using the well since 1990s had to close it up due to contamination. " Six months back one morning, we could smell a very bad and unpleasant odour. We thought some rat must have died in the backyard and kept searching for the source of smell," she said. She added," A day later we figured out that the smell was from the well."

Her neighbour's well was fine. But the one next to the neighbour's faced a similar problem. \ The odour was so unbearable that we got scared we might receive complaints from our neighbours," said Mani S, who stays in the same lane of Mamatha's. He said got the water tested from BWSSB only to find it mixed with the drainage water. He came up with quick solu-

The locomotive of the Indiranagar wells are rolling with pungent smells and wastage of potable water due to leakage of drains

tions which went in vain. " I dug the well 5 feet deeper so that the pure water would come up and the source of leakage of the sewage pipeline will be blocked. I spent around 25,000 doing this."

The water continued to get darker in colour with contamination as day passed. Finally the two wells were covered and stopped from being used.

"The water started releasing poisonous gases. The BWSSB officials who tested the water said this was very dangerous and told us to close the well soon," said Swathi, another resident from the same area who had to close her well last year.

The leakages still persist and the

BWSSB said there is no way they can mend the leakage coming in contact with water in wells.

"Complaints will be paid attention.

The residents need to file complaints with BWSSB and we will fix the problems as soon as the procedures are done," said B.Srinivasan, engineer at BWSSB, Indiranagar.

Experts say the pipeline maintenance is weak and BWSSB lags behind in water supply infrastructure.

Rainwater-harvesting expert Vishwanath S says, “Lot of water gets wasted due to carelessness of the government. In a crisis like Cauvery water-sharing dispute, every drop has to be valued and no wastage of potable water can be afforded."

More than 1.5 lakhs people booked for using mobile while driving Bhakti Tambe bhakti.t@iijnm.org Bengaluru: In last eight months, Bengaluru City Traffic Police have booked 1,51,662 people for using mobile phones while driving in the city, according to BCTP website.

According to the Motor Vehicle Act177, use of mobile phone while driving is an offence and an individual has to pay the fine of Rs 100 for the same. Also, under the Karnataka State Motor Vehicles Act 1988 and Central Motor Vehicles Act 1989, Driving licence of an individual can be suspended if found guilty violating the traffic rule for the 2nd time.

“Traffic police department doesn’t conduct special drives for checking the use of mobile phone while driving. Traffic police at different signals and cameras in the city find people and then book them for the offence,” said Mr Ramakrishna, Head Constable at Cubbon Park Traffic Police Station.

Section 19 (F) of Indian Motor Vehicle Act and Rule (21) of Central Motor Vehicle Rules empowers us to recommend cancellation of licence even if it a first-time offender but only RTO had the power to cancel licences, he added.

According to Mr Surendran, 29,

founder of the Volunteer for a Cause NGO, “Use of mobile phones while driving can lead to fatal accidents.

It is important to create road safety awareness among people. People think that they don’t have enough time to stop and talk. But, they don’t realise the severity of an offence until they face the situation or meet with an accident.”

He further added that strict laws and payment of the fine is the there but it is not working as a deterrent.

Provision of hefty fines for breaking traffic rule can make people follow the rules.

Volunteer for a Cause is an NGO aims to create awareness about traffic rules among people. “ I always used to break traffic rules by jumping signal or using headphones while driving. But one day, my friend met with an accident

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because the other person violated the traffic rule riding a bike from the wrong side. I lost my friend which made me think seriously about the traffic rules. Now, I follow traffic rules and also volunteer to create awareness about traffic rules among people,” said Mr Sai Krishna, 26, IT consultant.

With the advent of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which has been approved by the Union Cabinet recently, Bangalore, like other cities, can see a lot of changes in traffic penalties. According to the new Bill, heftier fines will be collected from, and severe punishments will be meted out to, violators of traffic rules.

Mr C. K. Baba,Deputy Commissioner of Police East Division (Traffic) refused to comment.

Repo rate cut to its lowest point, lifts markets’ spirit the economy. Since January 2015, the RBI has cut the repo rate six times.

The Reserve Bank of India’s Mon- Why does it matter? etary Policy Committee has cut the A decrease in the repo rate can rerepo rate – or interest rate - to its sult in a cut in interest rates by lowest point in six years in an effort commercial banks and potentially to control inflation. What does that bring down the borrowing costs of mean for consumers? Potentially home loans and make for lower lower borrowing rates for home and equated monthly installments (EMI), or the inauto loans. Here is a The Reserve Bank of terest on primer on what it all India’s Monetary Policy monthly home means.

Committee has cut the loan repayments What is repo rate? repo rate – or interest from borrowers.

Repo rate is the interrate - to its lowest In addition, est rate at which the point in six years in an companies that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lends effort to control in- are highly levermoney to commer- flation. What does that aged can benefit cial banks in case of mean for consumers? from the fall of any shortfall of Potentially lower bor- interest rates. funds. It is a tool rowing rates for home Ahead of Diused by RBI to con- and auto loans. Here is a wali, banks are trol the money sup- primer on what it all likely to cut their interest ply in an economy. means. rates to boost When the inflation is consumption high, banks increase the repo rate and when inflation is which will further lead to economic growth and investment. low, the rate is decreased.

The rate cut could also boost deWhat’s new?

The new RBI governor, Urjit Patel, mand in the auto sector, ahead of along with the bank’s Monetary festival season.

Policy Committee (MPC) an- Why now? nounced the six-year low repo rate Governor Patel clarified that the this week. The rate was cut to 6.25 RBI aims to achieve the 4 per cent per cent from 6.50 per cent. The rate inflation target within a range of +/cut decision was made in an effort 2 per cent as the medium-term obto ease the inflationary pressure of jective, that is, by 2021.

Bhakit Tambe bhakti.t@iijnm.org

Toodle Woodle

BENGALURU

THE OBSERVER THURSDAY, 06 OCTOBER 2016

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Dasara, an auspicious and zestful festival -Team Observer (Pictured left)

The imperial Dasara parade called Jumboo Savari is takes place on the tenth day of the celebration. The parade which begins from the Mysore Palace incorporates jeweled elephants, music bandsand artists.

Tableaux are another fascination. The parade stops at a spot called Banni mantap to worship the Banni tree there.

Photo courtesy: goMowgli.com

(Pictured right)

Known for magnificent palaces and majestic buildings, Dasara in Mysore is celebrated with great pomp and gaiety which attracts huge audience from all over the world. The whole of Mysore is embellished beautifully with street lighted and the trees decorated, especially Mysore Palace is brightly illuminated and the entire city is a sight to behold.

Bangalore Mirror @Bangaloremirror Bhopal, India. #BuildingCollapse | 3 die, 6 hurt as building collapses in #Bellandur; illegally added floor, substandard material led to the mishap CNN 7@CNN Hurricane Matthew strengthening near NW Bahamas with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, @NWSNHC says. #TnT @TeqTrader 14h14 hours ago GSAT-18, India's communication satellite launch is a SUCCESS.. launched from French Guiana..

Jaiiiii Hind Times of India @timesofindia #Surgicalstrikes: PM Modi will decide whether the footage should be made public or not, MoS Hansraj Ahi

Photocourtesy:sangamastl.com

Regional language films on environment conservation create a bridge of understanding for local audiences

Kalyan Varma is a Bengalurubased wildlife photographer, filmmaker and environmentalist. He freelances with international magazines and TV channels like BBC and National Geographic. His writings have been published on the BBC wildlife magazine- DiscoverWildlife, The Guardian, National Geographic (India), Lonely Planet and other leading magazines. He actively works with Nature Conservation Foundation and environmental NGOs. Varma spoke to Aishwarya Iyer from The Observer on why amazing conservation movies are not more mainstream, how journalists can make a difference, and elephants.

Twitter This Week

Do films on nature and ecology conservation bring a positive impact to the environment?

What matters is the reach. Films in regional language reach strongly to the local audience than the English one. For instance, the leading wildlife conservation filmmaker Shekar Dattari made a film called Mindless Mining, which was shot and screened to stop the government-run iron-ore mining activity at Kudremukh, located at the heart of a rainforest ecosystem in South India’s Western Ghats mountain range. The short film played a pivotal role in stopping the mining activity in that region. Other movies like the Oscar-winning Black Fish (2014) and many more have created

a major impact in environmental policy making and conservation strategies. On the other hand, there are amazing movies with good content which haven’t been viewed by mass audiences due to language barriers. Language plays an important role in such areas.

Seldom do we see movies on environmental protection on national TV channels. Why aren’t they being screened frequently on television?

Like you have the bad ‘F’ word, mainstream media has a bad ‘C’ word: Conservation. The moment you make any documentary or short film on conservation, channels like BBC, National Geographic do not accept and broadcast it. If the film is highlighting some conflict or crisis, then it is fine. But the moment you start promoting the conservation angle, be ready for it to get rejected. This is the major reason for many good movies to not be aired on TV channels.

Under such circumstances, what is the role of young budding journalists?

Create a platform for your work.

Don’t wait for the mainstream distribution channels to accept your stories, and showcase it to the masses. Today you have social media which has quick and farreaching effects. I forward many of my short films on Youtube and WhatsApp. Do not wait for your ar-

ticle to get published on mainstream websites or [in] newspapers. Start putting them up on your blog and circulate via social media. Message matters more than the medium.

What were some of the challenges you faced while shooting your films?

I work a lot on elephant capturing issues and problems farmers face due to this. I went to the village Hassan to shoot a movie. After the first few days, when we shot what we saw, my co-colleague and I realised that it’s turning out to be negative. We hadn’t explored all the sides of the problem. So we took more time and spoke to the villagers, forest department officers trying to understand the problem. I understood the entire conflict at the end of the movie. Till now we were focusing on the protection of the wildlife. The challenge arose when the angle of ‘social injustice’ got highlighted. Many farmers suffered because of elephants destroying the farm. A villager’s daughter was killed by an elephant. And I got trapped in the conundrum of ecology conservation and social injustice.

Which side would you like to take as a solution to this conundrum?

Neither. I hope conservation was as easy as being right or wrong.

Here lies the skill of policy makers to strike a balance.

The Nobel Prize @NobelPrize Oct 5Stockholm, Sweden BREAKING NEWS 2016 #NobelPrize in Chemistry to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa THE WEEKLY OBSERVER TEAM EDITOR- IN - CHIEF Aishwarya Iyer ASSISTANT EDITORS Shannon Ridge Court COPY EDITORS Konica Kamra, Azmia, Mrigakshi LAYOUT EDITORS Ilona Dam and Prabhakar Thakur PHOTO EDITOR Sonal Agarwal and Bhakti Tambe SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Chhavi Nagpal and Cathline Chen STAFF Abhishek Mitra, Pallabi Sutar, Manasvini Paul, Anushree Madappa, Surya Tej, Romita Majumdar, Ashima Choudhary.