Lawlessness in the enforcers

Police – the word generally evokes a sense of caution to say the least in an average human mind. Most often, it brings about  a fear given the way they actually behave with an average joe. Since they form part of the Law enforcement body, they are supposed to be walking talking law. In Bangalore, the Khaki colored {a mix of Black, Yellow & Red} policemen are the law & those that wear a white shirt and khaki trousers are the traffic

Most bangaloreans would agree with me that these folks no longer bring that sense of caution to mind, instead they are probably mocked at . Why are they mocked at, simply because they don’t stand for any of the morality that they are supposed to guard & enforce.

Today, i was at Shivajinagar -  a commercial center in bangalore – the chaos that i witnessed along with a traffic policeman was maddening. Those from this city will know that Shivajinagar is an utter mess and i would say thanks to this policemen the mess is just getting worse by the day. Its appalling that this has been allowed to happen without any check. Hazrat Kambal Posh Road or the Broadway Rd near the market is a pretty broad one in that area. However, its a lane that has huge number of commercial establishments, its always crowded to say the least

Coming back to today, as i was entering this road from the Russell market side this road was already jammed by a mini truck unloading some stuff into one of the shops. Few minutes into the drama, a traffic policeman rides nearby on a Pulsar bike and is now witness to this jam. He stands by for couple of seconds and then shows some actions at the truck driver… nudges his way into the jam and then rides away. As a commoner, i was happy at the sight of this cop thinking that he will act and clear up the road that never happened. It took me another 20 minutes to clear out of it. As i drove ahead i saw this same constable standing by the side of a road and again chatting around, probably trying to make another roll-call and then turn a blind eye. The department’s boss says, no vehicle should be stopped for checking, unless the vehicle has violated some law, however the constabulary of the Bangalore traffic police and their Senior offices, still hide behind trees and lay wait for people to  ‘make-up’ a cause and fine the gullible

Would the esteem of this department go up in my sight or lower…. ! ?

Bangalore needs planning

Its the Silicon valley of India – Bangalore. Silicon valley, generally is flush with planning of major things, but our poor Bangalore is flush with NO planning

Before my city was christened Silicon valley, it was adoringly called the Pensioners paradise. The ever cool weather, lethargic atmosphere, always adjust maadi culture perfectly matched the needs of a person who wanted to relax after having toiled all their life. However, the IT and the following ITES boom or bubble, has taken the wind out of this paradise and now the winds of change has left Bangalore gasping for breath. The gasp is seriously getting too strained and its sure to cause a burst of the wind pipe

Our city fathers who are entrusted with the task of planning for this city has actually been busy with what i am not sure. The Corporator’s are still to be elected by the city dwellers and the Govt of Karnataka is yet to get this election happen. An order by the High Court is also not enough as is evident

Lakes

Bangalore once was a land mass which had huge number of lakes, these lakes i am sure helped in containing the temperature rise, collected all rain water, helped to ensure that the water table beneath is not depleted above all i guess the most important aspect is that flooding was kept in control because all water flowed into these natural reservoirs. Man however, realised the importance of what is land and land could only come up by filling these water bodies so the greedy men filled the lakes up to build mighty buildings that are now causing all natures fury of Heat & Flood !!! The city’s polity has only become richer by these builders and they are crying hoarse when small kids are getting washed away in these snap floods.

I stay near Mahadevpura and i have been witnessing the death of  Narayanpura kere [ kere – lake in Kannada ], Mahadevpura Kere…. these both huge lakes have gone beneath the mud filling to make Ring Roads and now buildings'. The Mahadevpura lake still has some part of it left but hardly water fills in there and soon another building of a huge construction is to form up there

Roads

We all know that Roads are a most important aspect to connect areas and people who stay there. Roads are also a cause for Growth… be it traffic or Inhabitations. When roads are built they need to consider this growth, however if you ride, drive or walk across Bangalore roads, you will see that these roads are all choked because the people who planned it never thought that these black surfaces would bring with them such massive burst

The Outer Ring Road was planned in early 80’s and was to have been completed by late 80’s. However it saw completion only a decade later than what was planned. This road is supposed to be a continuous connector, but at most places it breaks continuity and becomes narrow stretches. This is because the makers didn't bother to acquire the required space. The City has now concentrated around the stretches of this ORR and interestingly most commercial places in Bangalore are turning out to be the Ring Rd surroundings.  With this spurt of commercialisation and Residential activity the traffic that the RR carries is high.  That the RR would have helped with faster movement of traffic has been dealt a blow with numerous traffic signal stops necessitated by the ever growing intersections. Had the planners thought about these and had constructed some interchanges then, all this could have been avoided. Interchanges is something that ceases on all our roads

Other than the RR, most of the other roads are built as narrow stretches with hardly a concern for drivers, these are not even lit properly, No medians, Side drains not covered. No road is complete without Asphalting. Roads in Bangalore get the most shabby quality of Asphalt again thanks to the no care attitude of the rulers who are tied in with the Contractors.

BCC to BMP to BBMP

The City Corporation was once called Bangalore City Corporation. Due to the language sensitivity it was christened as Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. After a long haul, more areas were added to this corporation to make it Bruhat [ Greater ]… so now we have BBMP. By becoming bruhat, the problems have also become bruhat. The erstwhile Municipal Corporations [CMC] were en-masse added in without any proper planning or even proper thought. BBMP still runs in the old BMP areas and the newly added areas are now left with not knowing who to go for what. However, one thing that ensured swiftly was the BBMP started collecting taxes as per the BMP norms from the newly added areas. Of-course rulers need money and that should be collected or snatched from people BUT as always services for the citizens can wait

When we were with CMC, there used to be some drain cleaning, water used to be supplied from the Bore wells, street lights were regularly repaired or replace and above all taxation was at the lesser rate. None of these now happen which would make the citizen think they are now in  a Corporation area – which for most of them was a dream come true.

All in all there seems to be no time spend for planning… its all farce tip of the finger stupid solutions which does not even last the initial few months ! As a citizen of this dying metropolis, i just wonder when will the government agencies do some planning

eeeks… we missed him

RTO’s across the country should get the aspiring drivers to pass the driving test on the roads of Secunderabad. Either he will clear it and be an excellent driver or that would be the end of his aspiration

Its heart to mouth situation, while you are in an auto, taxi or any vehicle which is moving on these roads. Maddening to the core, people just turn left or right without bothering if there is a vehicle at their backs. Traffic signals for such a huge city is literally non existent unless otherwise its some important junction. For those that are there, people hardly care to stand till the laal bathi becomes hara bathi… thats Red to Green !

On our journey back to Kacheguda railway station from the Secunderabad clock tower area, our auto driver literally was scraping everyone on the road, apparently the people there seems to have got used to this and they don't care much

While on our way back from RR Dist into Secunderabad on the highway a carrier Auto rickshaw went zooop from the left of our Yellow taxi to the right side and at a fast pace… it knocked our car to the right, which hit the median and came to the left side, while we screamed inside the driver realised that a bolt struck him and little did he realise that it wasn't the Truck at our back instead the drunk fella who was driving the carrier. Our car was halted and found to our dismay that the front bumpers had fallen off !!!! Something that i was left wondering here is that there was no immediate fisticuffs … instead it went to talking and shouting a quick comparison to Bangalore, well the Auto fellow would've been bleeding by then !

All in all… while you are in Rome be a Roman and when you are in Secunderabad or Hyderabad be someone like them !

Bangalore's scourge, Vehicles

Bangalore is one such city, where traffic has become very intolerable. In the past half decade, vehicles have increased manifold, creating more smoke and excessive pile-up of vehicles on every road.

Increase in vehicle numbers means the carrying capacity of the roads, which once were designed to cater to the pensioners, have lost their ability to withstand the load. These roads cant take them anymore. The riders of bikes now drive on footpaths also.

Our city has a road factor, which is all cross roads, bring you to a Main Road. This architecture has now ensured that our vehicle owners have lots of options to skip traffic, drive to reach the main road through each of these cross roads, but sadly it causes jam spreading into all nook and corners. The usage of these cross roads, are endangering the happless residents.

Roads need to be broadened is the often heard salvo. But, how would you do this when buildings and trees stand so tall on the close sides. In this melee of road broadening, trees which are natures' gift to bangaloreans are losing their lives. Most of the beautifuly tree lined roads do not exist now. For eg Bellary road, once had so much tree cover which meant that sunlight rarely touched the roads. This is now history, trees have made way for the new Airport, which is a broader Bellary Road. Reducing tree line have blessed Bangalore with hotter climes, people who hated to have fan's are running to get cover with Air-Conditioners, be it in a car, office or home!

Its time that the Govt freezes newer registeration of vehicles and subsequently have more and better planned public transportation. The BMTC buses should be more organized to run at proper times, bus stops planned at places so that they dont stop traffic, better facilities to customer viz smarter buses, seats, ticketing system, courteous & well trained staff.

Well let me shorten it here... our roads of Bangalore arent capable of handing this huge vehicular capacity. Isnt it time that the policy makers do something about it... wonder what will make them to think of thing