Articles by Manasi Paresh Kumar

Did you know that apartments are at higher risk of fire hazard than factories producing combustible materials like firecrackers? Twenty nine percent higher risk, to be precise. And most of us live in apartment complexes. The fire tragedy at Carlton Towers nine years ago, brought to the forefront the perils of fire in high rise buildings dotting the Bengaluru skyline. To mark the ninth anniversary, Beyond Carlton, a group of citizens working towards fire safety in Bangalore, has partnered with the Bangalore Apartments Federation (BAF) to do a fire risk assessment of registered apartments in the city absolutely free. Cheryl…

This January, BBMP  floated a new tender to deal with the city's perennial garbage problem. D Randeep, Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management and Health), BBMP, sat down for a chat with 'Citizens Live' to answer niggling doubts about the controversial tender. "The central issue is still segregation. The new policy is that wet and sanitary waste will be picked up by BBMP everyday. Dry waste will be picked up by NGOs, waste collectors," he said. He stressed that it was therefore imperative that we, the general public, segregate our waste. "If you don't, we do have provisions to penalise people;…

After a month long discussion on everything about Bangalore’s traffic through the prism of the steel flyover and the elevated corridor, we wanted a break. We couldn’t think of a better way to destress than with music. We headed to the Indian Music Experience at JP Nagar to chat with its founders, Dr Suma Sudhindra (who was recently awarded Sangeeth Natak Academy Puraskar for 2017) and Manasi Prasad. Many of us grew up humming along with Julie Andrews that Do come from a deer, Re meant a drop of golden sun... But if you want to know the origins of…

In an interview with Citizen Matters done in 2016, Rajendra Kumar Mishra, popularly known as R K Mishra, had said that the proposed elevated corridor project would encourage public transport. This was at the height of the public opposition to the proposed Steel flyover where the pros and cons of flyovers were being hotly debated. In the last part of our four part series on the Steel Flyover/ elevated corridor projects, we spoke to Misra, who as a member of the Chief Minister's Vision Group, had batted for the Elevated Corridor Project. Right at the outset, Mishra denied ever being…

The third part of this series on Steel flyover took us to the office of Naresh Narasimhan who was one of the principal architects of the Steel Flyover Beda movement which saw people from the city form a human chain from Chalukya Circle to Mehkri Circle on October 16 in 2016. A noted architect from the city, Narasimhan was quick to point out to me as we set up the camera: “I am not against flyovers, but against long ones which exceed a kilometre.” As the camera rolled, he got down to the nuts and bolts of this argument. “We…

Our first conversation with Vijayan Menon from Citizen Action Forum about the proposed steel flyover had raised a very valid point about the context of the project. Why was it only about getting to the airport? What about the people who live in the vicinity of the major choke points - Hebbal, Mekhri Circle etc? What did they want? So we sat down with the President of Hebbal Sarovar Layout Resident Welfare Association, Vijay Kumar Saya to find out about the local sentiment. A resident of North Bengaluru, the elderly man has lived and worked in the area for the…

In 2016, the Government of Karnataka cancelled the proposed Steel Flyover starting from Basaveshwara Circle to Hebbal. The project was touted as a measure to ease traffic to the International Airport. However following citizen protests and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order, the government shelved those plans. Come 2019, the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, G Parameshwara reopened the debate, when he said the government was reconsidering the project. The steel flyover project brought forward the citizen activism in the city which many credit for the scrapping of the project by the government. While a large part of the public…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship Travel. The word conjures a myriad of images. Glorious sunsets, exotic locations, fascinating culture... Similarly “travel in Bengaluru” also has many images associated with it, though none of them are terribly complimentary - in fact they sound quite nightmarish. The vehicle population has grown faster than in any other city. Recent reports mentioned how Bengaluru has breached the 77 lakh mark - with 54 lakh two wheelers and 15 lakh cars. Graph Source: WRI Bengaluru is the fifth largest metropolitan city in India in terms of population but just second…

Through a flurry of tweets recently, senior IPS officer Bhaskar Rao, affirmed that e-autos were the way forward to combat pollution and address the issue of last mile connectivity. Rao, who previously held the post of Transport Commissioner and Director, Security, Vigilance and Operations at the KSRTC  (Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation) says that a lack of imagination, coupled with a centralised approach, is what stops the administration from finding effective solutions to the transport nightmare of Bengalureans. Excerpts from his interview with Citizen Matters. How do you see electric technology working in the context of public transport? I have been…

In an earlier article on electric autos, we had explored how electric rickshaws could serve as a panacea both for the growing air pollution in Bengaluru, as well as the last mile connectivity issues that plague commuters in the city. We had even outlined the policy that exists with regard to introduction of such vehicles. But the transition from paper to practical use has its own challenges. Continuing that focus, we sat down for a chat with Omkareshwari, Joint Director, E-Governance and Environment, Department of Transport to discuss more about the official policy and get an idea of when e-autos…