bangalore patrol coverage, nov 9 - dec 2, 2010

THE TIMES OF INDIA, BANGALORE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2010

MIDDLING CIVIC SERVICESGoI standards as benchmark Asha Rai | TNN

f The Times of India had held a quiz in whichit asked the seven million residents of Ban-galore to name their best ward, there isn'tthe faintest doubt that the city's biggest news-paper would have got to keep the prize. No-body would have guessed the right answer:Ganesh Mandir. Or for that matter, the worstward: DoddaBidarakallu.

These surprise answers are just one smallelement of Bangalore Patrol, an ambitious,one can even say audacious, attempt by thecountry's largest English newspaper to meas-ure in quantifiable terms the quality of in-frastructure and civic services that the lo-cal government delivers to the city's resi-dents.

How often do you find your conversationlittered with lines like, "the water supply'spathetic, the traffic is horrendous, and thefootpaths are such a mess?" More often thanyou care to know. But how bad or good ex-actly is it? With Bangalore Patrol people fi-nally have an answer that's been arrived atempirically. For the first time in the coun-try, an effort has been made to gather pri-mary data for five services that affect the cit-

izens of a city: Mobility (roads & transportrelated services), water, health & sanitation,public amenities and environment. Only for`crime' which shows how safe the city is, hassecondary data been used.

Bangalore Patrol, is a path breaking ini-tiative of The Times of India which hasbeen conceptualized and executed by Janaa-graha, the Bangalore based non-profit or-ganization that works with people and gov-ernments to change the quality of urban lifein India.

All the 198 wards of Bangalore have beenmapped for delivery against these serviceson a score of 1 to 10 (in which one is the low-est and ten, the best). The highest scoringward got a mark of 7.16 and the lowest, 3.19.That roughly means that the best ward inthe city gets 70% marks, i.e. first class alrightbut not distinction while the lowest is failclass at just 30%.

This is very surprising as the resultsstand on their head conventional wisdomabout the city. If you were to ask most Ban-galoreans to name the posh areas, the onesthey think have the best civic amenities, theywould automatically name Sadashivanagar,Raj Mahal Vilas, Malleswaram, Basa-vanagudi, Koramangala, Indiranagar,Jayanagar etc.

None of these actually figure in the topten wards. Many who are the top 10 or 20 are

rather unfamiliar names. One reason couldsimply be that with the renaming of most ofthe wards, parts of these old areas now fallunder these wards sporting new names. Vas-anth Nagar which ranks 5th overall has un-der it sections of Sadashivanagar, SankeyRaod and the Bangalore Palace area. Also,very few know that the posh MG Road areacomes under Shantala Nagar ( which inci-dentally comes in at a poor 74) . Top rankingGanesh Mandir is in Banashankari 2ndstage, home to former prime minister DeveGowda and family. The second best ward Sri-ramandir is in Rajajingar.

In trying to measure each of the param-eters, Bangalore Patrol has used standardsthat would stand the test of scrutiny. Hencethe measures are those prescribed by the gov-ernment of India's various agencies.

In the US, for example, the school dis-tricts, to a large extent determine where peo-ple want to live. Those with good schools aremuch sought after while those without, areshunned. Bangalore Patrol, might over time,have similar such consequence. Instead ofgoing by the hype, people might vote withtheir feet for those areas which deliver qual-ity public services to the citizens, areaswhich are seen to have proactive, responsive

local governments, and a constabulary thatdiscourages crime while also infusingenough confidence in the people to walk upto the police station and register their com-plaint.

Very importantly it has to be borne inmind that Bangalore Patrol's scores do notmean that Bangalore is a terrible place tolive in. Most obviously it isn't. That's whythe city's population has swelled to sevenmillion and thousands move into Bangaloreevery month in search of a better life.

The main focus of this study is to em-power Bangaloreans by putting in theirhands data with which they can hold theirgovernment and elected representatives ac-countable and demand of them solutions totheir daily problems of water, roads, buses,drainage etc.

But the point this study makes is thatthings can be better. That Bangaloreshould not settle for second best. Banga-lore, that is invoked by US President Oba-ma in the same breath as Boston should-n't be one where walking on footpaths isat a risk to your ankles, where there is-n't a single bicycle lane, where one-thirdhave no access to public toilets, where al-most the whole city has no provision forstorm water drain.

We need to change this, here and now forwe deserve better.

I

All the 198 wards of Bangalore have beenmapped for delivery against these serviceson a score of 1 to 10 (in which one is thelowest and ten, the best). The highestscoring ward got a mark of 7.16 and thelowest, 3.19. That roughly means that thebest ward in the city gets 70% marks, i.e.first class alright but not distinction whilethe lowest is fail class at just 30%.

STARTING TODAY, EVERY WEEK, WE WILL BRINGTHREE PAGES DEDICATED TO ANALYZING THE STATEOF BANGALORE’S INFRASTRUCTURE AND SERVICES.OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS. WE WILL TELL YOUWHICH ARE THE BEST WARDS IN THE CITY ANDWHICH ARE THE WORST AND WHY THEY ARE SO.

WATER SANITATION PUBLIC AMENITIES ENVIRONMENT CRIMEMOBILITY

The standards used in Bangalore Patrol are those of theGovernment of India. Thesource of the standards variesfrom indicator to indicator, asoften each indicator has adifferent department settingthe standards. Primaryorganizations for standards areCentral Public Health andEnvironmental EngineeringOrganization (CPHEEO), Bureauof Indian Standards (BIS),Ministry of Urban Development(MoUD), Indian Roads Congress(IRC) and Town and CountryPlanning Organization (TCPO).However, some of thesestandards are now up for

revision. For example, the MoUD defines a case of floodingas a situation where water is standing for 4 hours for adepth of 6 inches or more. This precludes flash floods, andfast moving water that doesn’t drain. While this water isnot stagnant it is just as capable of causing damage.

Crime dataThe decision to include `Crime’ in this study resulted from

a rhetorical but very seriousquery raised by an eminentperson. “How late will you letyour daughter stay out in theevenings in your city?”Implication being that later agirl is allowed to return in thenight, the safer theneighbourhood is. However,collecting crime data inBangalore proved to be tougherthan thought as the police wasnot willing to share data onstation-wise break-up of crime.

Hence, crime data was procured at a divisional level withapproximations used to allocate crime data to specificwards.

L IGHTSSide

The study The entire study took a period of six and half months tocomplete starting January 2010.At Janaagraha, a team of 75people worked on the projectincluding the field team, thetechnology team and officemanagement. AC Nielsen studywas done over two months. ACNielsen collected quantitativedata on cost indicators (waterand transportation), flooding,and household collection ofgarbage. These data points are best collected directly fromcitizens, which was the case here. They were then used tocompute scores for these indicators.

TEN BEST WARDSNAME RANK SCORE*

FOR A DETAILED ASSESSMENT OF EACH WARD, LOG ON TO www.bangalorepatrol.com

NEXT TOPIC TOP 20 WARDS ON THURSDAY

MAIL US @ [email protected] or SMS TOIBP <your option> to 58888MOST OF BANGALORE ENJOYS A LEVEL OF CIVICSERVICE THAT CAN BE DESCRIBED AS AVERAGE

Transport is improving in the city though the roadsurface is pathetic especially after rains.

Bangalore scores poorly in sanitation standard asthis garbage dumped on BVK Iyengar road testifies

GANESH MANDIR 1 7.16

SRIRAMAMANDIR 2 7.12

J P NAGAR 3 7.04

NAGAPURA 4 6.94

VASANTH NAGAR 5 6.92

BASAVESHWARA NAGAR 6 6.90

KAMAKSHIPALYA 7 6.88

HAMPI NAGAR 8 6.84

SUBRAMANYA NAGAR 9 6.81

JAYANAGAR EAST 10 6.81

TEN WORST WARDSNAME RANK SCORE*

DODDA BIDARAKALLU 198 3.19

BEGUR 197 3.39

GARUDACHAR PALYA 196 3.39

GOTTIGERE 195 3.61

HORAMAVU 194 3.76

HONGASANDRA 193 3.77

HAGADUR 192 3.84

CHOWDESWARI 191 3.92

SINGASANDRA 190 3.95

HEMMIGEPURA 189 3.97

TUNE INTO RADIO MIRCHI FROM 7 AM - 11 AM TO DISCUSS

AND DEBATE BANGALORE’S INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES

Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM

68.5%

30%

1.5%

WARDS THAT HAVE SCORES BETWEEN 5 & 7

WARDS THAT HAVE SCORES OF ABOVE 7

WARDS THAT HAVE SCORES BETWEEN 3 & 5

SYED ASIF

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR BANGALORE?

* Scores are on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest and 10 is the highest

How the city fares

What is the purpose of doing thisstudy? What impact will it have? We,at The Times of India, believe that thisinitiative will be transformational. That, it will, over time:

�Mobilize the people of Bangalore tocompare where they stand vis-a-vis otherwards and demand better services fromtheir elected representatives.

�Make people hold their government andelected representatives accountable - notfor empty promises, but for measurablechange.

� The residents of even the better wards willdemand a higher quality of delivery aseven the best is not good enough.

� People might make decisions on wherethey live based on these scores.

TOI

TOI

Also see page 4 for scores on water, sanitation, mobility,

environment, public amenities & crime

(A) THE CM (B) THE MAYOR (C) BBMP COMMISSIONER (D) NONE

ON

L IGHTS

PARAMETER TOP WARD SCORES* BOTTOM WARD SCORES* RANGE**

MOBILITY J P PARK 6.66 DODDABIDARAKALLU 2.38 4.28

WATER SRIRAM MANDIR 9.81 BEGUR 1.43 8.38

SANITATION KAMAKSHIPALYA 8.51 HORAMAVU 3.32 5.19

PUBLIC AMENITIES NAGAPURA 5.54 BEGUR 0.00 5.54

ENVIRONMENT ARAMANE NAGARA 8.35 GOTTIGERE 3.35 5.00

CRIME HEROHALLI 7.61 DODDABIDARAKALLU 0.00 7.61


A DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE QUALITY OF KEY CIVICSERVICES LIKE WATER, MOBILITY, SANITATION, PUBLICAMENITIES, ENVIRONMENT AND CRIME WILL EMPOWER THECITIZENS OF BANGALORE BY PUTTING IN THEIR HANDS THEDATA REQUIRED TO DEMAND BETTER QUALITY OF SERVICEFROM THE CITY ADMINISTRATION.


Side

* Scores are on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest & 10 is the highest | **Shows the wide difference in quality of service

WAsha Rai | TNN

hat makes a city livable? What attractspeople to one part of the city even as someother areas repel? Unfortunately, after sixdecades of independence it remains bijli,sadak and pani. It's the simple things oflife; good water connectivity, regular andquality supply of power, decent roads,speedy, timely transport connections, niceparks and playgrounds to stroll and playin, good air to breathe and of course, safeneighbourhoods where people, especiallywomen, can move around without fear thatdefine quality of life.

Simple as they may seem, these serv-ices are difficult to deliver on the ground.Bangalore Patrol's study of the city's 198wards reveals that shockingly, on severalparameters, substantial parts of the cityscore zero implying pathetic quality in thedelivery of the very basic of services.

Bangalore Patrol has studied six pa-rameters: water, mobility (roads, trans-port), sanitation, public amenities, envi-ronment, and crime. Power, is the only im-portant service that has not been includ-ed in this study, mainly for technical rea-sons. Of those measured, the city has thehighest score for water and the lowest forpublic amenities. Given the water woes ofthe city, that Bangalore has the best scoresfor this parameter is a pleasant surprise.This is on account of the city having a verygood pipeline coverage.

That Bangalore lags badly in publicamenities shouldn't surprise anybody.When you walk down the city's main street,M G Road, how many litterbins have youfound? Do you know of any woman whohas dared used a public toilet when outshopping? How many in the city have theluxury of taking their morning walk in aneighbourhood garden? How many chil-dren are forced to play cricket on thestreets rather than in their nearby publicplayground? How often do the street lightsin your area work?

The ward-wise scores for each of theparameters have been decided based on adetailed survey on a total 28 indicators.Research and accumulated experience indealing with citizen issues in the past hashelped Janaagraha in arriving at thesemain parameters. Everything in a wardcounts on this index, right from the qual-ity and exact quantity of water suppliedto a house to the streetlights, roads andpublic transport in the areas.

Quality of civic infrastructure andservices is very poor in areas that havebeen freshly added to the city. Bangalorewent from Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike(BMP) to BBMP with it becoming `Bruhat,'a few years ago. Most of the new areas ofBBMP suffer from haphazard growthwithout any central planning. Hence, herethere are rarely any provisions for pub-lic amenities. Even water, on which thecity as a whole scores highly, the story, isaltogether different in the newer areas.While there is piped water supply, it isnot from Cauvery river but from the borewells dug near-by!

Environment scores highly in Banga-lore. Saved mainly by the huge lung spacesBangalore still has in the two big gardens(Lalbagh and Cubbon Park), the Banga-lore Palace grounds, Indian Institute ofScience campus, the Race Course and thehuge army cantonment. Hence, as treesare being cut on a daily basis to make wayfor bigger roads and other infrastructurework, it is imperative that the citizens fightto retain the much needed lung cover thecity desperately needs.

Both in sanitation and crime the low-est score is zero, which means in parts ofthe city hygiene levels, garbage collectionare unacceptably low and in some otherparts of Bangalore, crime rate unac-ceptably high. To those tracking the soar-ing crime rate in the city, this shouldn'tcome as a surprise at all.

The wide range in scores, especially incategories where some wards have scoredthe lowest possible ̀ zero,' is worrisome. Awide range implies that the differences inthe quality of services citizens enjoy arelarge which isn't a good thing. Lower range

suggests a consistency in the delivery im-plying quality differences to be low. As acity grows, the range should narrow andnot rise.

A few might be surprised on why someareas which are seen as bad or a standardthought to be of low quality get decentscores. That's because the norms are a bitdated and need some serious upward re-vision like the flooding norms (explainedin the earlier page). For example, accord-ing to government norms, footpaths in In-dia need to be a minimum of 1.2 m wide(enough for two people to walk side byside), well paved and free of any obstruc-

tions. In one of the poshest stretches inBangalore, on Sankey Road, just round thecorner from the chief minister's officialresidence, below the Windsor Manor Ho-tel bridge, have you tried walking on thefootpath? Forget two, even one can't walkproperly on the narrow ledge. But thisarea scores high on other parameters likeenvironment, pushing up its overall rank.

Due to constraints of space, it is notpossible for us to analyse the scores for allthe 198 wards individually on each of theparameters as we would have liked to ortackle each of the parameter in greatdepth. All this information however willbe available on the website.

Over the next few weeks, we will builda number of interactive elements into thiscampaign so that these scores don't be-come another bunch of numbers whichhave little impact on the ground. Banga-lore Patrol is a new way to identify andchange the problem areas across each andevery ward of Bangalore. We will mobi-lize the residents of different wards, theResident Welfare Associations (RWAs), thecorporators, the MLAs and hold town hallmeetings to get people's grievances ad-dressed. A complaint management systemwill also be launched by Janaagraha sothat people's individual complaints can berecorded and forwarded to the relevant au-thorities.

We at The Times of India have broughtto you many innovative and highly pop-ular initiatives that have made a differ-ence to your life. Lead India Campaignhelped identify the potential leaders ofthe country. Teach India Campaign gotcitizens involved with the task of teach-ing children. Bangalore Patrol takes thecitizen-centric mandate that TOI has setfor itself forward.

Over the next few weeks, we willbuild a number of interactiveelements into this campaign so thatthese scores don't become anotherbunch of numbers which have littleimpact on the ground. BangalorePatrol is a new way to identify andchange the problem areas across eachand every ward of Bangalore.

Water & EnvironmentBangalore may be thirsty for `more' water, but it has good

water pipeline coverage. Ofthe 198 wards, nearly 132wards have scored above 8 on10 on this indicator. 11 wardsincluding `Kaveripura' scorea perfect ten. But the irony isthat while most of the cityhas access to a drinkingwater connection, almost twolakh people don't have accessto water. While Bangalore is celebratedfor its green cover, it is acover that is under threat .Only 11% of Bangalore hasaccess to good parks. A citylauded for its gardens has 14wards where there isn't a

single patch of green. This includes a ward named afterthe city's founder, Kempegowda! However, hearteningly,23 wards have scored a perfect ten for close accessibilityto parks.

Roads & SanitationThe quality of road surface in the city is rather pitiable. Not

a single ward gets aperfect score on thisindicator. Not allwards are safe forpedestrians either.Pedestrian safety atjunctions is best in 63wards while 77 wardsdrop down the cardwith a big zero. Ofcourse, there isn't asingle bicycle lane inBangalore. Public

transport coverage is extremely poor in the exterior wards,where people have to walk more than a kilometer to get totheir bus stops. Availability of information on publictransport such as route maps and timings is poor acrossthe city. Only K R Puram, K R Market and Chalavadipalyascore above one for presence of litterbins on streets!Remaining 195 wards have scored less than one with amajority of them at zero. When it comes to door-to-doorgarbage collection, even Gandhinagar, the pilot ward thatexperimented on zero-waste management scored only 7.73

Public AmenitiesBangalore’s public amenities are in a poor state. No ward

has a score of perfectten on this measure.Attur stands out forbeing the only ward toscore a zero forcleanliness on roads.Over 70 wards have azero score on qualityof its toilets. Another71 wards score belowone on this indicator.The state of publicplaygrounds is equallypathetic. Only nineout of the 198 wardshave a score above

one on this indicator. The remaining 189 wards have,obviously, scored below one and of these at least 114 wardsscore an absolute zero

A littered park best exemplifies the poor state ofparks and sanitation in Bangalore

TOI

TOI

TOI

HIGH ON WATERHIGH ON WATER

LOW ON PUBLIC AMENITIES

2

Sunitha Rao R | TNN

ven a cursory look at the names that makeit to list of the Top 20 wards of Bangalorereveals a simple truth: all of them fall un-der areas which can be best described asold Bangalore. The city offers a clear cutdivision. The older, core areas of Banga-lore which have benefited from better plan-ning, resources and have long come underthe Bangalore Municipal Corporation farefar better than the new additions to the city.What’s of concern, however, is that thereisn’t a single model ward in Bangalore, onethat scores a perfect ten. The best wardscores a hum ho 70% marks. Another factthat hits the eye as you run through theranks is that the even among the Top 20,the scores vary dramatically across pa-rameters. This means that the top rankingwards do not score equally well on all civicservices. For example, the number sevenranked Kamakshipalya is ranked a poor113 in mobility (roads & transport) but isnumber one in sanitation in the city. Vas-

antha Nagar, ranked fifth overall, has verygood ranking for environment (3) and pub-lic amenities (4) and pathetic ones for crime(121) and mobility (109). Hence, all the top20 wards have very good rankings on somestandards and equally poor ones for a fewothers which show that the delivery of serv-ice even for the best wards in Bangalore iserratic.The Bangalore Patrol study which assessthe civic amenities provided to citizens hasfound ward number 165, Ganesh Mandir,in Banashankari second stage, coming inat the top scoring 7.16 out of 10. The wardthat falls in the Padmanabh Nagar as-sembly constituency is spread across 1.63km and houses educational institutionslike Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sci-ences (KIMS) and BNM College. Its hometo folk singer Shimoga Subanna and notedKannada writer N S LakshminarayanaBhatta.That Ganesh Mandir has emerged as thebest ward in Bangalore is a surprise onlyto those who live in Sadashivanagar or Ko-

ramanagala. The pleasantly surprised res-idents of Ganesh Mandir aren’t so startledbecause they have been witness to thesteady climb of their ward to the top.Residents of Ganesh Mandir ward attrib-ute the success largely to the efforts of theirformer corporator, A H Basavaraju. It wasduring his term that the ward got eightparks. The indoor stadium and swimmingpool that were sanctioned during his termare now on the verge of completion. Manyof the ward’s older residents recall the timeit had muddy roads leading even to formerprime minister Deve Gowda’s house. Ofcourse, that’s history now.What has propelled Ganesh Mandir to thetop of the charts? As per the Bangalore Pa-trol survey, a high water (4th) and mobili-ty (9th) rank has more than compensatedfor the not so great scores on sanitation(51st) and public amenities (45). Secondranking Sriram Mandir ward in Rajajina-gar —which lost the top slot with the slen-derest of margins — is the only ward amongthe top 20 that scores ten out of ten for con-

tinuity of water supply. Good water rank-ing (3rd) and a decent ranking for publicamenities (16th) has helped it leapfrog tothe second slot.

NO FLOODING HEREGanesh Mandir ward, Dr Raj Kumar ward,Sriramamandir, Jayanagara east, JP Na-gar, Radhakrishna temple ward, Subra-manya Nagar and Nagapura wards havescored ten out of ten in flooding, implyingzero flooding. The survey defines flooding

(as per the ministry of urban developmentnorms) as a situation where water standsfor four hours for a depth of 6 inches ormore.

OLD AND BESTJayanagar East, which is one of the oldestresidential areas in the city, scores the 10thrank. The locality, believed to be designedby the maker of modern Karnataka, theformer diwan of Mysore, Sir M Visves-varaya, is one of the best planned layoutsin Asia.

CLEAN AND CLEARWhen it comes to sanitation, it is Kamak-shipalya in Rajajinagar constituency thatscores the best and tops the list. Kamak-shipalya which houses areas such as BEMLLayout, West of Chord Road I Stage,Meenakshi Nagar, Cauvery Nagar, KHBColony, AK Colony, Ashtagrama, Karekalluhas fabulous scores for indicators like ac-cess to sewerage network, coverage ofstorm water drains, cleanliness on roads.

THE TIMES OF INDIA, BANGALORE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2010

GODS SMILE ON OLD WARDS

Woes of the exterior

What has propelled Ganesh Mandir to thetop of the charts? As per the BangalorePatrol survey, a high water (4th) andmobility (9th) rank have more thancompensated for the not-so-great scores onsanitation (51st) and public amenities (45th).Second-ranked Sriram Mandir’s the onlyone among the Top 20 to score ten out often for continuity of water supply.

TODAY, WE BRING TO YOU THE BEST WARDS TO LIVEIN, IN BANGALORE. WARDS WHICH HAVE THE BESTCIVIC AMENITIES. THE LIST HAS SOLID MIDDLE-CLASS AREAS THAT HAVE QUIETLYCLIMBED THE LADDER TO EMERGE ON TOP,DISPLACING BETTER-KNOWN CITY AREAS.


Though Bangalore isextending herself to theoutskirts of the city, thebest areas to put downroots are in the core areasof the city, reveals thesurvey. That none of thewards from the exteriors ofBangalore urbanagglomeration have made itto Top 20 shows the lack ofcivic amenities among thenewly added 110 villages.The areas, which wereearlier not included within

BBMP limits are still suffering from poor civic amenities;right from poor roads to the water they are supplied with.Though Bangaloreans across the city pay uniform propertytax, all are not privileged to get the best of services thatreminds one of the George Orwell who said, “All are equal,but some are more equal!”

IISc’s green cover scores highlyBangalore Patrol hasdiscovered that the garden cityhas its green treasure inAramane Nagar, which bags thefirst rank in Environment. Butenvironment score alone doesnot make the ward score bestas the ward suffers on accountof other civic amenities. It is itsneighbouring wardVasanthnagar that scores the

third place in environment score. Even among the top 20wards, areas like, Mahalakshmipuram, Maruthi Mandir andNandini layout score 100th rank in green cover.

L IGHTSSide

Mayor’s ward at 93City Mayor S K Nataraj’sSarakki ward ranks 93rd ,whereas opposition partyleader (Congress) M Nagaraj’sward bags the 16th place,thanks to constant pleas anduproar in the council to getmore borewells for his ward.Though there were protestsheld by public in front ofCauvery Bhavan by residents ofNandini Layout headed by theircorporator, the ward scores24th rank in water and 6th

place in public amenities. Nandini layout surpasses numberone ward Ganesh Mandir when it comes to publicamenities, as the latter comes in at number 45.

Grandma enjoys a good outing with her grandsonon a good footpath in Ganesh Mandir.

WARD WARD WARD WARD MOBILITY WATER SANITATION PUBLIC AMENITIES ENVIRONMENT CRIMENO. NAME RANK SCORE* RANK RANK RANK RANK RANK RANK

PICS : CHETAN SHIVAKUMAR

2

FOR A DETAILED ASSESSMENT OF EACH WARD,LOG ON TO www.bangalorepatrol.com

NEXT TOPIC WORST 20WARDS ON SATURDAY

MAIL US @[email protected] orSMS TOIBP <your option> to 58888

YOUR DECISION TO LIVE IN ANAREA IS INFLUENCED BY

(A) TRANSPORT (B) WATER

(C) COST (D) SAFETY


AND DEBATE BANGALORE’S INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES


ON

N SHAKUNTHALA

CORPORATOR, MARENAHALLI

Mine is the only ward where no flooding takes place whenBangalore witnesses heavy downpour. It’s because of theextensive de-silting of drains that we have been carrying

out. But there’s much that needs to be improved in my ward. Thesewerage lines were laid about thirty years ago, they must bechanged. Shortly, sewerage pipeline replacement work will beinitiated at Saraswathi Layout and Binni Layout. Also, garbage isanother issue in my ward.

N K SREEKANTAIAH | PRESIDENT, BANASHANKARI SECOND

STAGE, GANESH MANDIR RESIDENTS’ WELFARE ASSOCIATION

It is encouraging to know that our ward is thebest. This is largely due to the co operation wereceive from officials of different departments.

When ever we find a problem, we approach theofficials with evidence and urge them to fix theproblem immediately. However, there are certain issuesthat need to be tackled. We want our parks to be likemini Lalbaghs.”

L GOVINDARAJU

CORPORATOR, GANESH MANDIR WARD

It is an encouraging survey report. But as acorporator I look up to the works taken up at theHanumanthnagar ward. The officials working in

this ward are very co operative and they address the publicgrievances immediately. At present this ward is numberone, but I want make this true even after six months. It is ahuge responsibility to maintain the status quo of civicamenities in the ward.”

165 GANESH MANDIR 1 7.16 9 4 51 45 26 49108 SRIRAMAMANDIR 2 7.12 42 3 35 16 49 60177 J P NAGAR 3 7.04 1 3 1 15 75 11467 NAGAPURA 4 6.94 17 47 5 1 14 10393 VASANTH NAGAR 5 6.92 109 2 98 4 3 121100 BASAVESHWARA NAGAR 6 6.90 16 21 45 26 26 25101 KAMAKSHIPALYA 7 6.88 113 22 1 27 26 16133 HAMPI NAGAR 8 6.84 25 23 21 40 26 4566 SUBRAMANYA NAGAR 9 6.81 51 9 40 29 26 98170 JAYANAGAR EAST 10 6.81 30 6 28 67 75 12368 MAHALAKSHIMPURAM 11 6.72 88 11 10 7 100 10818 RADHAKRISHNA TEMPLE 12 6.70 6 40 13 68 49 28104 GOVINDARAJA NAGAR 13 6.69 68 42 23 3 26 17107 SHIVANAGARA 14 6.66 5 28 85 63 14 90126 MARUTHI MANDIR 15 6.63 70 7 83 73 100 643 NANDINI LAYOUT 16 6.63 48 24 54 6 100 88124 HOSAHALLI 17 6.62 117 10 9 55 75 50144 SIDDAPURA 18 6.61 114 5 41 61 49 131106 DR. RAJ KUMAR 19 6.58 22 39 50 38 75 11125 MARENAHALLI 20 6.57 103 34 12 24 75 2

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Aarthi R | TNN

an anything be more ironic than this? Kem-pegowda ward, the very first ward of nam-ma Bengaluru, named after the Yelahankachieftain who founded the city way back in1537, ranks among the 20 worst wards ofthe city.

Bangalore Patrol has found that thisnewly added ward has extremely poor civicamenities. Ranked 179 out of 198 overall, ithas poor rankings for all the parametersof study. It scores particularly badly onsanitary conditions and in public ameni-ties. Detailed field surveys by the Banga-lore Patrol team revealed that many partsof this ward have no proper sewage lines.Unsurprisingly, it comes in at 190th rankon this measure. The availability and qual-ity of drinking water is another issue. Evenon environmental front, there's nothinggreen about Kempegowda ward (near Yela-hanka) as it ranks a lowly 185 on this pa-rameter.

While Kemegowda ward is 20th from thebottom in the ranking, Dodda Bidarakallu,near Yeshwantpur, has the dubious dis-

tinction of the being the city's worst wardoverall. Bottom scraping scores for mobil-ity and water (rank 198 and 197 respectively)are the main reasons why. A quick glanceat the ward report card on the six param-eters clearly indicates that it's a tough lifeout here. That the best rank it has managedis a poor 177 (for sanitation), says it all.

A closer scrutiny of the bottom 20 wardsreveals that barring Nilasandra (Rank 185),all the other wards on list are from the new-ly added areas of BBMP. A majority of themare located on the extreme fringes of thefast expanding city. Nilsandra, that falls under the Shantinagar assembly constituency, fares so low mainly on ac-count of the poor condition of its slums which have their footprints acrossmuch of this ward.

It’s a shame for Bangalore that the areathat houses its university has abominablecivic facilities. Jnanabharathi ward has alowly rank of 187. The wild green campusof Bangalore University might have given

it a fairly decent rank of 49 on the envi-ronment measure but it's among the worstwards, mainly on account of its poor wa-ter and sanitation conditions where it ranks196 and 169. Its ranking on other parame-ters like public amenities (148) and mobil-ity (159) are nothing to write home abouteither.

Proximity to the rapidly growing busi-ness hub of Whitefield with its toweringglass towers hasn't had much impact in im-proving the conditions at the neighboringDoddanekundi ward (rank 188). This vil-lage side of Whitefield still needs loads ofdevelopment. With a rank as low as 196 formobility, people here can't even boast of de-cent roads and footpaths, forget bus stops.

THE SETTING STANDARDSThe composite factors that let down almostall these 20 wards are poor scores on almostall parameters. Being new wards, added toBBMP from the village areas, majority ofthe road infrastructure here needs serious

re-work. However mobility is an issue evenwith the better wards in the city becauseeven there the available roads are notenough to take on the increasing traffic.

Water, is a parameter on which Banga-lore as whole has done relatively well. Butnot here. All the bottom 20 wards havescores in the low 2s and 3s. None has scoredabove 5. These wards have strayed from theminimum promise given to residents of

municipal corporations; supply of `pipeddrinking water.' Even if people here getpiped water, the question that begs an an-swer is its quality and availability. It's aknown truth these new areas are yet to getCauvery water. But, what stops authoritiesfrom making best use of available borewells? Even areas that have bore wells suf-fer from the fact that there is no proper two-inch pipeline connectivity to bring waterto homes.

Public amenities are non-existent inthese wards. Only three wards have scoredabove one showing the pathetic conditionof public toilets, playgrounds, parks etc.Contamination and poor sanitation is an-other issue. Almost all these new wardsstill thrive on the age-old soak pits. Eventhe basic sewage lines are yet to enter theseone-time village zones. This holds true forparts of HAL II and III stage which are con-sidered as part of the core city now. On theenvironment parameter, just two wardsscore above five.

THE TIMES OF INDIA, BANGALORE SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2010

HELL HOLES OF THE CITY

Some good news for the worst

C

Public amenities are non-existent in thesewards. Only three wards have scored aboveone showing the pathetic condition ofpublic toilets, playgrounds, parks, etc.Contamination and poor sanitation areother issues. Almost all these new wardsstill thrive on the age-old soak pits. Evenbasic sewage lines are yet to enter theseone-time village zones.

THE COMMON THREAD RUNNING THROUGHBANGALORE'S 20 WORST WARDS IS THAT THEY ARE ALL0N THE PERIPHERY OF THE CITY; VILLAGES THAT WEREAPPENDED TO THE CITY AS IT GREW OUTWARDS. BASICCIVIC AMENITIES ARE MISSING. BEAUTIFUL PARKS ORGREAT BUS CONNECTIONS ARE A DREAM HERE.


A small relief isseeing some of theworst wards scoredecent two-digitrank on someparameters. Begurthat ranks 197overall, surprisinglyhas scored well onmobility where itranks 65. So does

Varthuru at 97th rank. Jnanabharathi and Devasandrawards that also rank low on most parameters share the49th rank for environmental conditions. HSR Layout thatfares a little better than the rest (rank 180), does so mainlydue to its public amenities where it ranks 96 followed byHerohalli at 98.

Where are the representatives?These wards don't just lack in civic amenities. They alsolack in people who can fight for their rights. Most don'thave decent resident welfare associations (RWAs) to takeup cudgels on their behalf. Many areas in Bangalore todayhave multiple RWAs in one area. Worst ranked DoddaBidarakallu has not one.

Corporator switched off?Will Doddabidarakallu, which occupies the pride of place atthe bottom, ever improve? Perhaps. It all depends on whenits corporator T A Gayithree decides to switch on hermobile phone to at least take the calls from herconstituents. Her contact number listed on the BBMPwebsite was perennially switched off when TOI tried toreach her to find some answers to the pathetic condition of her ward.

L IGHTSSide

Is it or is it not crime-free?Crime data for these wardsmakes for interesting reading.Two of the wards score veryhigh ranks in crime. Herohalli isat number 1 andDoddabidarakallu at 3 whichshould mean that these wardsare crime free. But is that reallythe case? Crime statistics workin weird ways. Large number ofcrime recorded at a local policestation doesn't necessarilymean crime is high in that area.It might simply talk of the

efficiency of the local sub-inspector and to the confidencehe/she’s generated in the local community which makespeople empowered enough to walk up to the doors of thepolice station to register their complaint. Herohalli tops,not because the ward witnesses no crimes, but because itdoesn't have a police station where crimes can berecorded!

Stinking garbage piled on the road next to the SlumBoard quarters near Infant Jesus Church in Nilasandra

S A N I T A T I O N

WARD WARD WARD WARD MOBILITY WATER SANITATION PUBLIC AMENITIES ENVIRONMENT CRIMENO. NAME SCORE* RANK RANK RANK RANK RANK RANK RANK

PICS : CHETAN SHIVAKUMAR

2


NEXT TOPIC RANKING 0F198 WARDS ON TUESDAY


YOUR DECISION TO LIVE IN ANAREA IS INFLUENCED BY

(A) TRANSPORT (B) WATER

(C) COST (D) SAFETY

Y N ASHWATH

CORPROATOR, KEMPEGOWDA WARD

True, we are now nowhere close toKempegowda's dreams. There's no

sanitary line at all here. But our BJPgovernment has been doing a lot of work.There should be some change next year.We'll surely then top the other wards ''

M SRINIVAS |

CORPORATOR, BEGUR WARD

Yes. I know the ward needs to developa lot. It's still a village and a big ward.

The problems have been explained to themayor and BBMP commissioner. I need aminimum of Rs 10 crore. The Rs 4 crore I nowget will hardly get patchwork done here.''

G S KRISHNAMURTHY | PRESIDENT,LAYOUT RESIDENT WELFARE ASSOCIATION

We are convinced, this BangalorePatrol report is nearer to truth. We are

finding it really difficult to live in somepockets. Our new corporator has also donenothing in the past six months. We havesubmitted a memorandum recently.''

40 Dodda Bidarakallu 3.19 198 198 197 177 187 185 3192 Begur 3.39 197 65 197 194 193 185 16482 Garudachar Playa 3.39 196 192 195 168 190 100 168194 Gottigere 3.61 195 186 186 183 178 185 17225 Horamavu 3.76 194 150 161 198 184 185 76189 Hongasandra 3.77 193 183 184 173 185 158 18384 Hagadur 3.84 192 110 193 164 159 100 1902 Chowdeswari 3.92 191 190 185 174 162 185 57191 Singasandra 3.95 190 157 179 170 182 185 171198 Hemmigepura 3.97 189 181 189 167 168 158 6285 Dodda Nekkundi 4.00 188 196 148 160 146 126 175129 Jnana Bharathi ward 4.01 187 159 196 169 148 49 1855 Devasandra 4.04 186 126 191 193 109 49 94116 Nilasandra 4.04 185 134 187 147 193 158 18181 Vijnana Nagar 4.07 184 123 151 188 175 126 187149 Varthuru 4.17 183 97 144 182 193 158 189175 Bommanahalli 4.24 182 131 168 146 154 158 18572 Herohalli 4.24 181 148 176 197 98 126 1174 HSR Layout 4.24 180 124 173 153 96 185 1861 Kempegowda 4.26 179 118 159 190 164 185 97

2020WORST

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NUMBERS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES. THE WORST WARDS OF BANGALORE HAVE UNIFORMLY

POOR SCORES ACROSS THE PARAMETERS, PULLING DOWN THEIR OVERALL RANKING

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IS THIS NILASANDRA’SPLAYGROUND?

CMYK

*TOIB311007/ /02/K/1*

*TOIB311007/ /02/K/1*TOIB311007/MR1/02/K/1

*TOIB311007/ /02/Y/1*

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Sunitha Rao R | TNN

ou should be in the core area or on the ex-treme borders of Bangalore. If you chose tolive in-between, be prepared to suffer froma lack of civic amenities." This is one sug-gestion that field associates of Janaagraha-- who pounded the streets and knocked oninnumerable doors to conduct the Banga-lore Patrol survey -- have for Bangaloreans.

Bangalore Patrol's rankings have the cityabuzz. Everybody wants to know where theirward stands in the pecking order. Giving into popular demand, today we are runningthe ranking for all the 198 wards of Banga-lore. Due to constraints of space it isn't pos-sible to give individual scores and rankingson the individual parameters. These detailsare available on the website

Coming to the nitty-gritty of the survey,wonder who were the foot soldiers behindthis mammoth task? A group of 18 field as-sociates and 50 surveyors who conducted theground level survey measuring everythingfrom the intensity of light from street lightsto the water pressure in each of 198 wards.A bunch of dedicated people -- including lots

of youngsters -- these are people who are tru-ly interested in urban affairs and want tobring about visible change in Bangalore'surban infrastructure. Mainly in the agegroup 22-28 they joined Janaagraha to be apart of the survey like Nandan G, a me-chanical engineer, Rakesh N, an MA in Eco-nomics and Bharath who has a master's de-gree in finance & accounts. The group usedto work from 10 am to 8 pm everyday meas-uring and confirming the data.

The survey, initially scheduled for sixmonths was extended by two months due tounavailability of data from civic agenciesduring the BBMP elections. The survey thatstarted on December 27, 2009 wound up onAugust 15, 2010.

The surveyors have interesting stories totell from the field. Of officials who were rudeand refused to help and of those who wentout of their way to help the Janaagraha teamand even accompanied them on their fieldtrips.

Hostile officials were par for course. Somesurveyors were even abused by the officials.

"Many BBMP, BWSSB, police officials werenot co-operative about giving us the infor-mation, though we had authorization letterfrom heads of each of these departments,"say the now seasoned surveyors.

A typical response would be: "You want de-tails? We want money." One particular policeofficial threw the permission letter from hissenior officer into the air when approachedfor crime details registered with his policestation. " I do not consider this letter. You wantdetails and the department would ask you topay money. Get a demand draft of Rs 85 andthen ask for details," being the response of theunresponsive police inspector. Said a survey-or: "Most of these officials are not just rudebut they do not even have basic manners oflistening. If this is the way they react to uswho are into urban research activities, I won-der how would they treat the public?" How, in-deed? But additional commissioner (Traffic)Pravin Sood's letter spelt magic in northernand southern parts of the city, as per their ex-perience.

"Give us your map.We don't have one!""During my constant interactions with Jayana-gar BWSSB officials, I could find out how keenthey were on improving the quality of life inthe urban scenario. Not just that, they alsoasked me to share a copy of the map that wehad prepared about pipelines, storm waterdrains, sewage line networks across each of

the wards," said Rajesh N, a field associate.A similar encouraging behaviour was wit-

nessed by the surveyors when they visitedBBMP officials of HAL ward. "The AssistantExecutive Engineer of Vibhuthipura, calledfor a meeting of the staff and we could dis-cuss the public amenities in the ward," ex-plained Rajesh. At some places, the officialseven accompanied the field associates whilesurveying the network of the storm waterdrains. "For many officials it was their firstvisit to the drains!" another field associatetold TOI.

Some officials who were not knowledge-able about their ward preferred to avoid theJanaagraha team."An official in Malleswaramused to run away whenever he saw me in hisoffice. Finally, I got the details from a work in-spector," says Bhanuprakash G V, a field as-sociate.

Survey based on dataAccording to Ranjana Krishna, the surveyconducted by Janaagraha, is based on thetests conducted on each of the areas withregard to each of the parameters."This data is not based on anyone's opin-ion. We will be updating the ratings afterone year or so and all the indicators willbe measured once again. Residents Wel-fare associations were not involved in thissurvey because the survey is not based onanyone's perception.Perception cannot be measured whereasthe data collected through scientific testscan be re-tested," says Krishna. For PremaB R, who worked on the compilation of thedata created, there are remarkable differ-ences between the government data pro-cured by Janaagraha during the surveyand the data collected by the surveyors dur-ing their ground work.

No logic in delimitationAccording to the surveyors, the delimita-tion of the wards is nothing but unscientific."For instance, Jayanagar ward stretchesfrom Krishna Rao park to NIMHANS! Mostof the ward officials themselves are notaware of the length and breadth of thewards. Their observations include the ab-sence of police stations and BBMP officesin some of the wards.


FOOT SOLDIERS’ STORIES

Pipelines on paper

‘Y

According to the surveyors, the delimitationof the wards is nothing but unscientific. Forinstance, Jayanagar ward stretches fromKrishna Rao park to Nimhans! Most of theward officials themselves are not aware ofthe length and breadth of the wards.Surveyors observations include the absenceof police stations and BBMP offices in someof the wards.

SURVEYORS WHO FANNED OUT INTO THE REMOTECORNERS OF THE CITY HAVE AMAZING STORIESTO TELL OF THEIR FIELD EXPERIENCES. FROMNON-COOPERATIVE AUTHORITIES TO THOSE WHOWENT OUT OF THEIR WAY TO HELP THEMAGGREGATE THE CIVIC DATA.


The surveyors also realizedhow some of maps and datagiven to them by civicagencies were not justinaccurate, but misleadingtoo. Karishma Hills inVasanthpura ward has nowater pipeline network atall. But the BWSSB’s mapgiven to us has all thepipelines. Finally, it is thecitizens who suffer becauseof such faulty data. Acallous BWSSB official even

today a surveyor, "Dig up the road and find pipeline, donnot ask for maps!," when asked for pipeline network map.

L I G H T SSi d e

No takers for garbage @ B’sandra

Bhoopasandra is the only slum pocket in the up-marketlocality of Sanjay Nagar. There's no door-to-door garbagecollection at this slum, as per the survey. But the slum isadjacent to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's residence,whose surroundings are absolutely filth free.

WARD WARD WARD WARDNO. NAME RANK SCORE*





PIC : K SUNIL PRASAD

2


NEXT TOPIC WATERON THURSDAY


WHICH GRIEVANCE CELL IS THEMOST RESPONSIVE?

(A) BBMP (B) BESCOM (C)BWSSB (D) BEST

165 Ganesh Mandir ward 1 7.16108 Sriramamandir 2 7.12177 J P Nagar 3 7.0467 Nagapura 4 6.9493 Vasanth Nagar 5 6.92100 Basaveshwara Nagar 6 6.90101 Kamakshipalya 7 6.88133 Hampi Nagar 8 6.8466 Subramanya Nagar 9 6.81170 Jayanagar East 10 6.8168 Mahalakshimpuram 11 6.7218 Radhakrishna Temple Ward 12 6.70104 Govindaraja Nagar 13 6.69107 Shivanagara 14 6.66126 Maruthi Mandir ward 15 6.6343 Nandini Layout 16 6.63124 Hosahalli 17 6.62144 Siddapura 18 6.61106 Dr. Raj Kumar Ward 19 6.58125 Marenahalli 20 6.57179 Shakambari Nagar 21 6.53105 Agrahara Dasarahalli 22 6.52164 Vidyapeeta ward 23 6.4999 Rajaji Nagar 24 6.48163 Katriguppe 25 6.4644 Marappana Palya 26 6.45123 Vijayanagar 27 6.4078 Pulikeshinagar 28 6.39168 Pattabhiram Nagar 29 6.38172 Madivala 30 6.3664 Rajamahal Guttahalli 31 6.3646 Jayachamarajendra 32 6.34142 Sunkenahalli 33 6.34162 Girinagar 34 6.3380 Hoysala Nagar 35 6.33169 Byrasandra 36 6.3298 Prakash Nagar 37 6.25140 Chamrajapet 38 6.2197 Dayananda Nagar 39 6.2161 S K Garden 40 6.20

128 Nagarabhavi 41 6.1994 Gandhinagar 42 6.18157 Gali Anjenaya Temple 43 6.1738 HMT Ward 44 6.17145 Hombegowda Nagara 45 6.1765 Kadu Malleshwar 46 6.1620 Ganga Nagar 47 6.13158 Deepanjali Nagar 48 6.13181 Kumaraswamy Layout 49 6.12146 Lakkasandra 50 6.1175 Shankar Matt 51 6.0959 Maruthi Seva Nagar 52 6.0876 Gayithri Nagar 53 6.074 Yelahanka Satellite Town 54 6.07143 Vishveshwara Puram 55 6.06160 Rajarajeshwari Nagar 56 6.06180 Banashankari Temple 57 6.0474 Shakthi Ganapathi Nagar 58 6.0445 Malleswaram 59 6.03127 Mudalapalya 60 6.0262 Ramaswamy Palya 61 6.0135 Aramane Nagara 62 6.00132 Attiguppe 63 5.99117 Shanthi Nagar 64 5.9829 Kacharkanahalli 65 5.9763 Jayamahal 66 5.96161 Hosakerehalli 67 5.9691 Bharathi Nagar 68 5.95138 Chalavadipalya 69 5.9595 Subhash Nagar 70 5.9017 J P Park 71 5.8836 Mattikere 72 5.87137 Rayapuram 73 5.86111 Shantala Nagar 74 5.8537 Yeshwanthpura 75 5.85183 Chikkalsandra 76 5.8490 Halsoor 77 5.8488 Jeevanbhima Nagar 78 5.84136 Jagajivanaramnagar 79 5.83135 Padarayanapura 80 5.82

19 Sanjaya Nagar 81 5.80154 Basavanagudi 82 5.7860 Sagayarapuram 83 5.74122 Kempapura Agrahara 84 5.7434 Gangenahalli 85 5.73153 Jayanagar 86 5.7331 Kushal Nagar 87 5.72120 Cottonpete 88 5.71166 Karisandra 89 5.7132 Kaval Bairasandra 90 5.69188 Bilekhalli 91 5.69151 Koramangala 92 5.68178 Sarakki 93 5.6789 Jogupalya 94 5.67167 Yediyur 95 5.67102 Vrisabhavathi Nagar 96 5.63103 Kaveripura 97 5.62156 Srinagar 98 5.61141 Azad Nagar 99 5.6147 Devara Jeevanahalli 100 5.61110 Sampangiram Nagar 101 5.61109 Chickpete 102 5.60119 Dharmaraya Swamy Temple 103 5.5927 Banasavadi 104 5.58134 Bapuji Nagar 105 5.58147 Adugodi 106 5.5630 Kadugondanahalli 107 5.56113 Konena Agrahara 108 5.53139 K R Market 109 5.50176 BTM Layout 110 5.4977 Dattatreya Temple 111 5.4739 Chokkasandra 112 5.47155 Hanumanth Nagar 113 5.44121 Binnipete 114 5.4357 C V Raman Nagar 115 5.4250 Benniganahalli 116 5.4249 Lingarajapura 117 5.41131 Nayandahalli 118 5.399 Vidyaranyapura 119 5.38118 Sudham Nagara 120 5.36

96 Okalipuram 121 5.3548 Muneshwara Nagar 122 5.3579 Sarvagna Nagar 123 5.347 Byatarayanapura 124 5.3215 T Dasarahalli 125 5.30195 Konankunte 126 5.298 Kodigehalli 127 5.26112 Domlur 128 5.25182 Padmanabha Nagar 129 5.2421 Hebbala 130 5.19171 Gurappanapalya 131 5.17173 Jakkasandra 132 5.15152 Suddagunte Palya 133 5.1416 Jalahalli 134 5.1351 Vijnanapura 135 5.09187 Puttenahalli 136 5.0842 Lakshmi Devi Nagar 137 5.0541 Peenya Industrial Area 138 5.0114 Bagalakunte 139 5.00159 Kengeri 140 4.95197 Vasanthpura 141 4.9323 Nagavara 142 4.9233 Manorayanapalya 143 4.9070 Rajagopal Nagar 144 4.9010 Dodda Bommasandra 145 4.8869 Laggere 146 4.8611 Kuvempu Nagar 147 4.8522 Vishwanath Nagenahalli 148 4.85114 Agaram 149 4.81115 Vannarpet 150 4.7992 Shivaji Nagar 151 4.76184 Uttarahalli 152 4.7587 HAL Airport 153 4.7158 New Tippasandara 154 4.6973 Kottegepalya 155 4.68190 Mangammanapalya 156 4.6512 Shettihalli 157 4.5783 Kadugodi 158 4.5628 Kammanahalli 159 4.546 Thanisandra 160 4.54

148 Ejipura 161 4.5324 HBR Layout 162 4.5326 Ramamurthy Nagar 163 4.4871 Hegganahalli 164 4.48186 Jaraganahalli 165 4.4552 K R Puram 166 4.4456 A Narayanapura 167 4.43196 Anjanapura 168 4.4154 Hudi 169 4.38150 Bellanduru 170 4.385 Jakkuru 171 4.363 Atturu 172 4.3653 Basavanapura 173 4.3613 Mallasandra 174 4.35193 Arakere 175 4.3486 Marathahalli 176 4.33185 Yelchenahalli 177 4.32130 Ullalu 178 4.291 Kempegowda 179 4.26174 HSR Layout 180 4.2472 Herohalli 181 4.24175 Bommanahalli 182 4.24149 Varthuru 183 4.1781 Vijnana Nagar 184 4.07116 Nilasandra 185 4.0455 Devasandra 186 4.04129 Jnana Bharathi ward 187 4.0185 Dodda Nekkundi 188 4.00198 Hemmigepura 189 3.97191 Singasandra 190 3.952 Chowdeswari 191 3.9284 Hagadur 192 3.84189 Hongasandra 193 3.7725 Horamavu 194 3.76194 Gottigere 195 3.6182 Garudachar Playa 196 3.39192 Begur 197 3.3940 Dodda Bidarakallu 198 3.19

198RANKING OF ALL THE RANKINGS FOR THE CITY'S 198 WARDS SHOW ONLY THREE WARDS SCORING ABOVE 7 ( ON A TOTAL OF 10).MAJORITY ARE IN THE MIDDLE,SCORING BETWEEN 5 & 7 WHILE 30% OF THE WARDS HAVE SCORES BETWEEN 3 & 5.

* Scores are on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest and 10 is the highestSOURCE : JANAAGRAHA

Bangalore Patrol volunteersfrom Janaagraha show the

Bangalore map which formedthe basis of their field work

198

Glitz road on which CM’s house is located close toBhoopasandra slum

96 Okalipuram 4.70 14348 Muneshwara Nagar 6.89 8579 Sarvagna Nagar 7.35 567 Byatarayanapura 7.07 7515 T Dasarahalli 6.10 114195 Konankunte 6.43 1038 Kodigehalli 4.04 163112 Domlur 5.11 133182 Padmanabha Nagar 3.92 16921 Hebbala 4.26 154171 Gurappanapalya 6.31 106173 Jakkasandra 6.57 99152 Suddagunte Palya 6.53 10016 Jalahalli 4.96 13751 Vijnanapura 7.11 74187 Puttenahalli 4.93 13842 Lakshmi Devi Nagar 3.44 18341 Peenya Industrial Area 6.47 10114 Bagalakunte 3.89 172159 Kengeri 6.26 109197 Vasanthpura 3.89 17123 Nagavara 6.16 11333 Manorayanapalya 3.45 18270 Rajagopal Nagar 4.28 15210 Dodda Bommasandra 3.86 17569 Laggere 6.10 11511 Kuvempu Nagar 3.98 16722 Vishwanath Nagenahalli 6.67 96114 Agaram 6.02 116115 Vannarpet 5.17 13192 Shivaji Nagar 4.83 141184 Uttarahalli 4.36 14787 HAL Airport 5.17 12958 New Tippasandara 3.86 17473 Kottegepalya 4.84 140190 Mangammanapalya 5.84 11912 Shettihalli 4.29 14883 Kadugodi 3.71 17728 Kammanahalli 3.50 1816 Thanisandra 4.13 160

19 Sanjaya Nagar 6.45 102154 Basavanagudi 5.18 12860 Sagayarapuram 6.72 94122 Kempapura Agrahara 7.25 6134 Gangenahalli 5.40 125153 Jayanagar 5.74 12031 Kushal Nagar 7.45 53120 Cottonpete 7.15 70166 Karisandra 5.01 13632 Kaval Bairasandra 7.12 73188 Bilekhalli 8.83 12151 Koramangala 8.08 32178 Sarakki 5.07 13589 Jogupalya 6.92 83167 Yediyur 5.32 127102 Vrisabhavathi Nagar 6.63 97103 Kaveripura 7.38 55156 Srinagar 5.86 118141 Azad Nagar 6.69 9547 Devara Jeevanahalli 6.24 110110 Sampangiram Nagar 6.60 98109 Chickpete 6.34 104119 Dharmaraya Swamy Temple 5.34 12627 Banasavadi 6.87 87134 Bapuji Nagar 6.92 82147 Adugodi 7.16 6930 Kadugondanahalli 7.13 72113 Konena Agrahara 6.89 86139 K R Market 5.17 130176 BTM Layout 8.39 2577 Dattatreya Temple 4.00 16639 Chokkasandra 5.50 124155 Hanumanth Nagar 4.80 142121 Binnipete 6.87 8957 C V Raman Nagar 6.23 11150 Benniganahalli 6.26 10849 Lingarajapura 6.01 117131 Nayandahalli 6.29 1079 Vidyaranyapura 5.11 134118 Sudham Nagara 5.59 123

148 Ejipura 5.14 13224 HBR Layout 4.21 15726 Ramamurthy Nagar 4.09 16271 Hegganahalli 3.61 178186 Jaraganahalli 5.63 12152 K R Puram 3.52 18056 A Narayanapura 2.53 192196 Anjanapura 2.58 19054 Hudi 3.14 188150 Bellanduru 4.19 1585 Jakkuru 4.00 1653 Atturu 4.89 13953 Basavanapura 4.25 15513 Mallasandra 3.90 170193 Arakere 4.01 16486 Marathahalli 4.29 148185 Yelchenahalli 4.22 156130 Ullalu 2.37 1941 Kempegowda 4.16 159174 HSR Layout 3.87 17372 Herohalli 3.78 176175 Bommanahalli 3.94 168149 Varthuru 4.62 14481 Vijnana Nagar 4.29 151116 Nilasandra 3.18 18755 Devasandra 2.55 191129 Jnana Bharathi ward 1.56 19685 Dodda Nekkundi 4.29 148198 Hemmigepura 2.83 189191 Singasandra 3.57 1792 Chowdeswari 3.24 18584 Hagadur 2.43 193189 Hongasandra 3.37 18425 Horamavu 4.10 161194 Gottigere 3.24 18682 Garudachar Playa 1.84 195192 Begur 1.43 19740 Dodda Bidarakallu 1.43 197

165 Ganeshmandir 9.81 4108 Sriramamandir 9.81 3177 J P Nagar 9.97 167 Nagapura 7.60 4793 Vasanth Nagar 9.90 2100 Basaveshwara Nagar 8.46 21101 Kamakshipalya 8.46 22133 Hampi Nagar 8.42 2366 Subramanya Nagar 8.93 9170 Jayanagar East 9.42 668 Mahalakshimpuram 8.87 1118 Radhakrishna Temple Ward 7.64 40104 Govindaraja Nagar 7.63 42107 Shivanagara 8.23 28126 Maruthi Mandir ward 9.21 743 Nandini Layout 8.41 24124 Hosahalli 8.90 10144 Siddapura 9.52 5106 Dr. Raj Kumar Ward 7.65 39125 Marenahalli 7.91 34179 Shakambari Nagar 7.90 35105 Agrahara Dasarahalli 7.64 41164 Vidyapeeta ward 7.14 7199 Rajaji Nagar 6.17 112163 Katriguppe 8.61 1844 Marappana Palya 8.68 16123 Vijayanagar 8.78 1378 Pulikeshinagar 6.77 91168 Pattabhiram Nagar 7.47 52172 Madivala 8.71 1464 Rajamahal Guttahalli 8.19 2946 Jayachamarajendra 7.56 50142 Sunkenahalli 7.89 36162 Girinagar 8.10 3180 Hoysala Nagar 7.41 54169 Byrasandra 7.57 4998 Prakash Nagar 5.63 122140 Chamrajapet 8.14 3097 Dayananda Nagar 8.67 1761 S K Garden 6.76 93

128 Nagarabhavi 8.56 2094 Gandhinagar 6.32 105157 Gali Anjenaya Temple 8.71 1538 HMT Ward 9.09 8145 Hombegowda Nagara 7.62 4565 Kadu Malleshwar 7.23 6320 Ganga Nagar 7.62 44158 Deepanjali Nagar 7.18 68181 Kumaraswamy Layout 6.91 84146 Lakkasandra 8.23 2775 Shankar Matt 8.06 3359 Maruthi Seva Nagar 6.83 9076 Gayithri Nagar 7.35 574 Yelahanka Satellite Town 6.94 80143 Vishveshwara Puram 7.22 66160 Rajarajeshwari Nagar 7.06 76180 Banashankari Temple 7.31 5974 Shakthi Ganapathi Nagar 7.59 4845 Malleswaram 7.20 67127 Mudalapalya 7.63 4362 Ramaswamy Palya 7.55 5135 Aramane Nagara 7.22 65132 Attiguppe 7.33 58117 Shanthi Nagar 8.57 1929 Kacharkanahalli 6.76 9263 Jayamahal 7.01 78161 Hosakerehalli 7.61 4691 Bharathi Nagar 7.80 38138 Chalavadipalya 7.82 3795 Subhash Nagar 4.28 15317 J P Park 4.40 14636 Mattikere 6.87 88137 Rayapuram 7.05 77111 Shantala Nagar 6.93 8137 Yeshwanthpura 7.01 79183 Chikkalsandra 4.57 14590 Halsoor 8.25 2688 Jeevanbhima Nagar 7.24 62136 Jagajivanaramnagar 7.29 60135 Padarayanapura 7.23 64

Aarthi R | TNN

s the water supplied to Bangalore enoughto quench its thirst? Yes and No. Parts ofthe city get very good supply while someother parts get no piped water at all.Though the city scores the highest in thiscivic parameter, it is matter of concern thatthere's huge disparity in the delivery of thiscritical civic service to the people of thecity.

Bangalore, however, is nowhere close tothe 24x7 pipeline water to all', promise madeby the government. This, despite the stategovernment's huge investment in the city'swater infrastructure over the past fewyears. Even our humble neighbours, Hubli-Dharwad now have a regular 24x7 waterset-up that's being extended to other dis-tricts across the state. How long before thecapital city of Bangalore can boast of thesame?

The survey conducted by Bangalore Pa-trol reveals that a whopping 30% of thewards -- 55 out of 198 wards -- still do notget pipeline water. Majority of these wardsare in the outskirts. These newly added ar-

eas of BBMP are anxiously awaiting thecompletion of Cauvery water supplyscheme (CWSS) stage IV phase-2 to see wa-ter flow through their taps.

THE WATER SCOREThere's no ward with a perfect water scorein Bangalore. J P Nagar which tops the listcomes closest with a water score of 9.97 fol-lowed by Vasanthnagar (9.9). Srirammandirand Ganesh mandir wards share the thirdslot with a score of 9.81. A majority of thewards (132) have an average score of above6. At the other end of the spectrum areDoddabidarakallu and Begur with a pif-fling score of just 1.43 demonstrating thehuge differences in accessible water to res-idents of Bangalore.

Water scores have been derived on thebasis of four main indicators - pipeline cov-erage, water quality, continuity of supplyand average cost per capita. While the cityslips in continuity of supply it scores high-ly in pipeline coverage and in the pricingof water which makes it affordable to all.

PROBLEM AREAS Even if the water situation isn't as bad asis normally thought, the current statusmakes it clear that there's definitely a needfor better water management in the city.The sticking points being the quality andcontinuity of water supply. As for quali-

ty, all wards have scored only a 0 or 10 onthe ward-level scorecard because watercomes from one source and is eitherpotable or not, there's no in-between forthis measure.

Most of the poor scorers are wards lo-cated on the city outskirts. Reason being

that these wards depend heavily on bore-well water that's highly susceptible to con-tamination. But there are some horrorstories among the old wards as well. Eventhe water sample taken from the Banga-lore mayor's ward, Sarakki, was contam-inated and scored an absolute 0! Shock-ingly, the list also includes the good-oldJayanagar, Hanumanthnagar and Basa-vanagudi areas.

AFFORDABLE WATERParts of the city might be waiting for wa-ter but the good news is that when it ar-rives it will be affordable. The low cost ofwater in Bangalore is a huge plus. Banga-lore meets the benchmark set by Asian De-velopment bank (ADB) for affordability ofwater that's determined by the average costof water per household. A constant scoreof 10 under this indicator for all 198 wardsshows that all wards of Bangalore have wa-ter priced at affordable rates.

However, there are variations in ex-penditure that also matter. For example, afamily in Ramamurthy Nagar may spendRs 3,000 per month on water tankers andmineral water bottles while for anotherfamily in Konena Agrahara might be spend-ing a fraction of it at Rs 400 per month forthe same.

MEASURING WATER STANDARDSA lot of technology and testing has goneinto measuring the final water score foreach and every ward across the city. Forinstance, special pressure meters wereused to test the water pressure in the taps.The standards followed are as per the IS:10500 set by Bureau of Indian Standards(BIS).

The water testing activities of Banga-lore Patrol -- an initiative conceived andmanaged by Janaagraha -- were in fullswing during May-June. A team of 40 fieldassociates were on the ground collectingwater samples from households in dif-ferent areas to test quality. This includeda 100 ml for bacteriological tests (for col-iform and e-coli bacteria) and a separateone litre sample for the physical and chem-ical tests. The greatest challenge was en-suring that testing was done within three-four days of collecting the sample. Thetests were conducted by Aqua Diagnosis,a unit of Eureka Forbes.


POCKETS OF THIRST REMAIN

Truly pressure meters

I

The low cost of water in Bangalore is ahuge plus. Bangalore meets thebenchmark set by Asian DevelopmentBank for affordability of water that'sdetermined by the average cost of waterper household. A constant score of 10under this indicator for all 198 wardsshows that all wards of Bangalore havewater priced at affordable rates.

STARTING TODAY, WE WILL ANALYSE THE INDIVIDUALPARAMETERS WHICH HAVE HELPED DEFINE THE OVERALL SCORE FOR A WARD. WE START WITH THE MOSTCRITICAL OF CIVIC AMENITIES: WATER. BANGALORE HASDONE THE BEST ON THIS MEASURE. HOWEVER, CAUVERYWATER IS NOT AVAILABLE THROUGHOUT THE CITY.


Using the pressure transmittershelped unearth many hidden waterlessons and challenges. In somewards, it was impossible to get anyproper reading on the meters. Atsome wards like Banaswadi, thereadings and the quality tests hadto be repeated as these areas didnot have water supply for 15 days!Worse, at a house in Byatara-

yanapura, a house owner who allowed the pressuretransmitter to be plugged to the water pipeline, later evensuspected it of blocking the water connection to the housewhen actually there was no water supply!

L IGHTSSide

Sample shockHow did the water samples taken from different wards ofthe city fare? The good news is there was no black waterstock from any ward. However, even a bottle of 100 mlwater from Rajagopalanagar (ward No 70) was enough tomake you want to keep away from the area for good. Paleyellow, it resembled a urine sample from the ward.Shockingly, this was the regular stock available for thepeople living here.

Mr Mayor, where art thou?Perhaps, one is better off being in the BWSSB minister’sson’s ward than in the mayor of the city’s, when it comes towater. Bangalore mayor's ward, Sarakki, ranks 134 with ascore of 5.11 with a 0 for quality! Way behind Vasanthnagar,led by corporator Katta Jagadish, son of BWSSB ministerKatta Subramanya Naidu. The ward ranks 2 overall with awater score of 9.9 and a perfect 10 for continuity of watersupply though quality is a problem. Numbers reveal thateven municipal opposition leader M Nagaraj -- known for hisprotests inside and outside the well of the council hall for`more water' -- is far better off as his ward Nandini Layoutstands within the Top 25 in the overall list!

WARD WARD WATER WATERNO. NAME SCORE* RANK






2


NEXT TOPIC SANITATIONON SATURDAY



(A) BBMP (B) BESCOM (C)BWSSB (D) BMTC


AND DEBATE ISSUES WITH BANGALORE’S WATER SUPPLY


ON

198RANKING OF ALL NINE WARDS OF BANGALORE GET ALMOST NEAR-PERFECT WATER SUPPLY WITH SCORES OF ABOVE 9. A FEW AT THE

BOTTOM FARE VERY BADLY ON THE AVAILABILITY OF THIS VERY IMPORTANT AND BASIC CIVIC SERVICE


A boy drinks from a leakage in BWSSB water

pipe near a slaughter house on Tannery Road

198

W A T E R




165 Ganesh Mandir ward 7.44 51108 Sriramamandir 7.60 35177 J P Nagar 7.63 3167 Nagapura 8.16 593 Vasanth Nagar 6.85 98100 Basaveshwara Nagar 7.51 45101 Kamakshipalya 8.51 1133 Hampi Nagar 7.70 2166 Subramanya Nagar 7.57 40170 Jayanagar East 7.64 2868 Mahalakshimpuram 7.87 1018 Radhakrishna Temple Ward 7.83 13104 Govindaraja Nagar 7.67 23107 Shivanagara 7.04 85126 Maruthi Mandir ward 7.05 8343 Nandini Layout 7.37 54124 Hosahalli 7.89 9144 Siddapura 7.57 41106 Dr. Raj Kumar Ward 7.45 50125 Marenahalli 7.83 12179 Shakambari Nagar 7.29 62105 Agrahara Dasarahalli 7.02 86164 Vidyapeeta ward 7.82 1499 Rajaji Nagar 7.64 27163 Katriguppe 7.17 7044 Marappana Palya 7.62 34123 Vijayanagar 6.81 10378 Pulikeshinagar 7.94 8168 Pattabhiram Nagar 7.29 64172 Madivala 7.65 2664 Rajamahal Guttahalli 7.86 1146 Jayachamarajendra 6.86 97142 Sunkenahalli 7.63 30162 Girinagar 7.12 7580 Hoysala Nagar 7.52 43169 Byrasandra 6.76 10598 Prakash Nagar 7.62 32140 Chamrajapet 7.19 6797 Dayananda Nagar 7.15 7261 S K Garden 7.73 18


Sunitha Rao R | TNN

angalore, as a city, is much cleaner than manyothers in the country. But the truth is, it couldbe so much better. While no ward scores azero on this standard, it's a matter of con-cern that a majority of the wards have tomake do with average sanitation serviceswith the situation going downhill dramati-cally in the newer additions to the city.

Throughout the city, one can see uncleanroads, lack of public toilets, poor garbage col-lection, lack of sewerage network in newlyadded areas of BBMP and an almost com-plete absence of litter bins on the streets.

Zero garbage zone takes credit!MLA Dinesh Gundoo Rao's initiative to makeGandhi Nagar a litter free zone through zero-waste management has been a success as ev-idenced by less filth on the roads and also byhigh scores on Bangalore Patrol's survey.Ward number 84, Gandhi Nagar scores thesecond rank in sanitation (8.44), second onlyto the top scoring Kamakshipalya (8.51).

No public loosIn providing a service common man des-perately seeks - public toilets - Bangalorefares very poorly indeed. 70 wards out of 198score zero, implying an almost complete ab-sence of toilets here. Even in the areas wherethere are toilets, most tend to be poorly main-tained. Interestingly, when City Mayor S KNataraj's ward Sarakki scores eight out often in public toilets, Deputy Mayor NDayanand's ward, Benniganahalli, is oneamong the 70 wards which scores a zero.

The study also rings an alarm bell on theneed to improve sanitation facilities in semi-rural pockets of the city like Benniganahalli,Begur, Horamavu, Mallsandra, Bagalakunte,Konanakunte, Anjanapura, Vasanthpura,Bellandur, Suddugunte palya, Mallasandra,Vishwanath Nagenahalli, DoddaBidarakallu, A Narayanapura, Hongasan-dra and other villages which have recentlyattained the status of BBMP wards. The wardat the very bottom is Horamavu, which scores3.32 and is begging for attention and re-sources to help it improve on this amenity.Ward numbered 1, which doesn't scores too

well on any other public amenity, has toppedthe list when it comes to quality of publictoilets. Wards such as Kempegowda ward,Jakkur (where Bangalore International Air-port is situated), Kodigehalli, Jalahalli, Rad-hakrishna temple ward, Mattikere, Hudi,Kadu Malleshwara, Pulakeshi Nagar, Vij-nana Nagar, HAL Airport, Vasanth Nagar,Dharmaraya swamy temple, Jnana Bharathiward and Koramangala have scored nine out

of ten on this count.

Jayanagar is divided into two wards: Jayanagar and Jayanagar East. But as perthe Bangalore Patrol survey it should ideal-ly be termed as Jayanagar-Bad and Jayana-gar-Good for that's how stark the contrast isbetween the two areas. As per the surveydata, Jayanagar scores an absolute zero inproviding public toilets whereas the eastern

part of the area has secured seven! Byrasan-dra ward which is situated just beside Jayana-gar east also has a zero in public toilets' qual-ity. The survey conducted on the access tothe public toilets reveals that there are 30wards which have no such 'basic amenity'!

According to Bangalore Patrol survey-ors, there are a minimum of two slums ineach of the 198 wards, though it does notmatch the skeletal number of slums iden-tified by Slum Clearance Board. BBMP hasneglected the sanitation in slums which con-tribute to the overall ward score data, theysaid. Though, ward number 165, GaneshMandir ward, is the number one ward asper the survey, it scores zero on the presenceof litter bins. Not just the best ward, but to-tally 162 wards have scored zero for litterbins.

Dirtiest roads at AtturAttur is the ward with the dirtiest roads inBangalore with a score of 'zero' for cleanli-ness of roads. City Chieftain of yore, Kem-pegowda's soul must be laughing and cryingat the same time looking at the ward namedafter him. The ward that scores tops in pub-lic toilets has absolutely no sanitary linesthanks to BWSSB. Situated at the fringes ofYelahanka constituency it is at the end of thelist on cleanliness score too.

They are still villages37 wards from 112 villages newly added toBBMP have no access to sewerage network!"We have been telling this in the council forthe past six months. But no one takes it se-riously. Despite giving a lengthy budget pro-posal, the Mayor hasn't been consideringthe works that need be done here. Thoughthe budget has allotted over Rs 3.5-crore toeach of the new wards, no work has begunanywhere. Urban studies like Bangalore Pa-trol must pressurise the government to re-lease the monies required for our wards,"said a corporator from KR Puram con-stituency who wished to remain anonymous.

According to DJ Halli corporator R Sam-pathraj, though his ward has a seweragenetwork of score of 7.21, the pipelines areold and that has resulted in over flowing."Sewerage water gushes into the houses inlow laying areas in my ward. Though thereis sewerage network, that is of hardly anyuse. BWSSB is the most irresponsible de-partment," he said.


INSANIT(AR)Y CITY

Slums? Not bad

B

According to Bangalore Patrolsurveyors, there are a minimum oftwo slums in each of the 198 wards,though it does not match theskeletal number of slums identifiedby Slum Clearance Board. BBMPhas neglected sanitation in theslums which contribute to theoverall ward score data, they said.

SANITATION STANDARDS VARY DRAMATICALLY ACROSSTHE CITY. THERE ARE PARTS OF BANGALORE WHICH DONOT HAVE SEWERAGE LINES AT ALL. THE STATE OFPUBLIC TOILETS IS ALSO PATHETIC IN MANY PARTS OFBANGALORE. ROAD CLEANLINESS IS ALSO AN ISSUE INMANY WARDS. LITTER BINS. WHAT ARE THEY?


Slums, which had bad scores for water, have scored wellon sewage network. Actually, in the city, it is the slumsthat have good access to sewerage network with SudhamNagar scoring 9.25 and Neelasandra- 8.95. As per thesurvey, 29 wards have complete coverage of storm waterdrains.

L IGHTSSide

No sewerage though valley next doorHere’s a new definition forirony. Jnanabharathi wardthat is situated just besideVrushabhavathi valley has0.54% access to thesewerage network!Vrishabhavathy valley isone of the four valleys thatcarries the city’s sewagewater. Hebbal, theconstituency representedby BWSSB minister KattaSubramanya Naidu has

scored 5.47 in access to sewerage network. Horamavuward scores the least in sanitation with 3.32 points out often. Even in industrial hubs like Peenya, poor sanitaryconditions prevail as seen by the poor 4.12 score. Whilenone of the wards have secured zero, 185 wards havescored above 5 on 10.

3 cheers for garbage collectionThough BBMP claims that door to door garbage collection isstream-lined across the wards, only three wards --Vasanthnagar, Siddapur and Arakere -- score a grand 10 ondaily door- to-door garbage collection. Wards such asJakkasandra, Shettihalli, Agaram, and Horamavu scorebelow one point on the same and crave for solid wastemanagement.

S A N I T A T I O N

WARD WARD SANITATIONNO. NAME SCORE* RANK






2


NEXT TOPIC MOBILITYON TUESDAY





AND DEBATE ISSUES WITH BANGALORE’S HEALTH & SANITATION


ON

198RANKING OF ALL THE STATE OF BANGALORE’S PUBLIC TOILETS, DOOR-TO-DOOR GARBAGE COLLECTION, SEWERAGE LINES,

ROAD CLEANLINESS AND LITTER BINS IN PUBLIC PLACES WENT INTO THE SANITATION SCORES FOR THE CITY.


Is he swimming or bathing? Neither. It is actually a contract BBMP workercleaning a blocked drain at Cox Town

198

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

ave a water problem? Justdial 22238888 for ‘immedi-ate’ help. Bangalore WaterSupply and SewerageBoard (BWSSB) is all set toroll out this service short-

ly — which is currently in a test phase —said the utility’s chairman P B Rama-murthy, who was the chief guest at thefirst public meeting held under the aegisof Bangalore Patrol on Sunday at theBethany High school in Koramangala.

This new 24x7 help-line — said to beunique in the country in the sense of acall centre which not only takes com-plaints but also follows up till the issue isresolved to the satisfaction of the con-sumer — has been in the beta phase forthe last two months. “All calls will be re-sponded to within 10 minutes. The actionhowever will depend on the intensity ofthe issue. The helpline is now being test-ed and will be launched soon and remaina single point contact until we get a sim-ple three digit helpline from the BSNL,’’

he assured the gathering.Water auditing to reduce water leak-

age/wastage will also be taken up. Onrough estimates, at least 40% of the wa-ter that comes into the city is lost at var-ious points of transit due to varying rea-sons. “There’s no city in the world with0% loss but our overall target is to at leastreduce the loss to 16%. We will begin withthe South division as the water from Cau-very enters the city from here. It’s a bigproject worth Rs 1,200 crore for the cityand needs to be carried out in phases dueto financial concerns and procedures’’ Ra-

mamurthy added. He said that while it isunrealistic to expect leakages to fall dra-matically in a year, BWSSB’s target is toreduce wastage to 16% in three years time.

Another crucial concern was findingways to end the rampant water theftsacross the city. Unfortunately, even the re-cent amendment to the BWSSB Act hasnot helped much. “We have been able tobook cases against 70 of them directly incourt without any FIR,” he said. But hepointed out to the audience that whilethey complain incessantly, not too manypeople are willing to be witnesses and signthe mahajar report. If people fail to comeforward and be witnesses in court in theftcases, all efforts made by BWSSB to bringthe culprits to book will fall flat, he point-ed out. “We assure action in all such (theft)cases, but with public support that alsoincludes the corporators’’ he added.

Elaborating on the plans ahead, he saidthe wait for more water in Bangalore willend in March 2012 with the completion ofCauvery water supply scheme stage IV,phase-2. But bigger concerns raise theirhead post that. “Even that 500 MLD extra

water from Cauvery will be sufficient onlyfor a short while.’’ Conservation and bet-ter management will play a critical rolethen.”There are many suggestions. Weare unable to zero down on any as it needsdetailed analysis. I have asked the gov-ernment to form an expert committee tolook into this and am hopeful of a wayout,’’ he said.

Ramamurthy pointed out that Banga-lore’s undulating topography makes lay-ing water, sewerage lines a challenge.”Wehave not sat with our hands crossed. Wa-ter is not like laying roads or buildinghouses. Water cannot be manufactured.BWSSB is aware of all issues and alsoworking on it. What it needs is patienceand people support,” he said.

CALL CENTRE FOR COMPLAINTS

H

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

ater for self and good san-itation for all,’ was themotto that got them allunder one roof for the

first town hall meeting to discuss Ban-galore Patrol’s scores for water andsanitation on Sunday morning. Ban-galore Patrol is a ward assessmentsurvey in which the civic amenitiesin the city have been measured.ThisTOI initiative is conceptualised andmanaged by Janaagraha.

The event drew a truly mixedcrowd — from a second year PU stu-dent,senior citizens, vocal repre-sentatives of resident welfare asso-ciations (RWAs), elected corporatorsto housewives — all passionate andserious about solving the issues thatirk them and their community. Andwanting concrete assurances fromBWSSB that their problems wouldbe attended to.

Right from open manholes to se-rious water crisis and heavy bills fu-elled by air, people voiced their con-cerns directly to the big boss.

Sometimes emotional, and attimes frustrated they waited impa-tiently for the answers. The DJ Hal-li corporator also managed to bringa chart full of photos of the pathet-ic sewage facilities in his ward.

Even while the seniors in thecrowd — veterans of events likethese — tried to monopolise the air-time, the GenY present in the audi-ence made its presence felt throughvalid points and suggestions, whichat times drew a warm applause fromthe audience. A 17-year old, theyoungest in the crowd, had a seriouspoint to make: “What we want is a

clean supervision with effective menwho work without bribes. Misman-agement should be stopped.”

“I am not here to complainthough I have some grievances. WhatI want to know is, is there any dif-ference between a panchayat andBBMP? Has the brandname madeany change to people living underthem? I come from an area that wasmade a part of the BBMP from a pan-chayat. I do not see any improvementin the facilities, except for the in-crease in taxes’’ the sudden questionfrom Lakshmi (from Bannerghattaroad) had BWSSB chairman admit-ting that BWSSB will not be able toprovide water to all areas till 2012.

Overall concerns apart, therewere also individual, interesting cas-es that were brought to the notice ofthe chairman by the Bangaloreans.A resident near Chalaghatta had aspecific point to make, of how theyhave stopped receiving water billsfor over two years despite asking forthem! And how when the bill final-ly arrived, they found to their cha-grin that they were saddled with aheavy fine of Rs 6,000 for the delay.“Is this our fault?’’ he asked.

Speaking for the common man,Ramesh Ramanathan from Janaa-graha —who was one of the panelists— highlighted a few remedial meas-ures. “There are issues that have tobe settled like allegations of valvetampering, jurisdictional issues andmeter problems. But the major com-mitments of BWSSB should be inthree areas — augmenting the wa-ter supply, managing available wa-ter effectively and also decide on atime frame in which these projectswould be implemented.”

TIMES CITY2THE TIMES OF INDIA, BANGALORE

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2010

No rate hikeInflation is a fact of modern life. In Bangalore,the prices have risen for everything,especially food and land. But there’s oneservice for which there has been no rate hikefor the past nine years: water. Of course,people crib that when there’s no good waterconnectivity why should one pay more? But

that logic hasn’t been extended to other services whosequality has deteriorated while the cost has escalated.

Whose lake is it anyway?Anjanapurakere is a beautiful lake in NandiGardens, Anjanapura. The residents who hadissues with the rapid deterioration of it wantedto check with authorities. First, they went tothe Lake Development Authority which saidthat the lake was now under the purview of theBBMP. The municipal body said that it’s

actually the BDA that’s responsible for it. BDA said it had got nosuch letter. So who’s in charge of it?

Mercedes vs FiatA corporator dubbed the chairman ofBWSSB to a Mercedes Benz and the lowerlevel officialdom at the utility to deadbeat, old Fiats, to much laughter from theaudience. The point he was making wasthat while senior officials exude empathyand want to do good, the red tape below

them continues to move at a snail’s pace, is lethargic andmost times downright unresponsive.

Neighbour’s envyPeople covet not just the neighbour’s betterhome, furniture, car or TV, they also positivelyenvy their water connection. Many complaintscentered around just one query: when I don’tget any water, how is that it flows from thetaps of my neighbour’s continually? Fingerswere being pointed at local valvemen, who

they alleged had the ability to decide who would and wouldn’thave water gushing out of their taps.

Sid

eL

IG

HT

S

Citizens’ grouses weremainly about poorresponse from BWSSBemployees to complaints,mismanagement andwastage of water as well as corruptionleading to cynicismamong the public HEAR ME, HEAR ME

T Venkatraju, BWSSB engineer-in-chief; P B Ramamurthy, BWSSBchairman, and Ramesh Ramanathan, co-founder, Janaagraha

‘W

Laxmi from Bannerghatta has aquestion for Ramamurthy

Tusker found deadin mango orchardBangalore: A 40-year-oldtusker was found dead by for-est department staff at a pri-vate mango orchard in thePeriyapatna range on Sundaymorning. On closer investiga-tion, it was found that thetusker was shot thrice in theabdomen and once in the fore-head from a close range. Thetusks were intact but the in-juries were severe.

The elephant was so hugethat another forest camppachyderm from Murkul wasbrought in to turn its body. “Itcould be due to conflict withestate owners. The jumbomight have destroyed somecrops in the area,” principalchief conservator of forestsB K Singh told TOI. TNN

30-year-old driverstabbed to deathBangalore: Raghu, an autodriver, was stabbed to death inBasaveshwaranagar policelimits late on Saturday.

The 30-year-old was founddead on Service Road at Prem-nagar on Outer Ring Road at11.30pm. Police said Raghu wasstabbed on the back.

“We have no clues about theassailants. The victim’s fami-ly claims they have no idea ifRaghu had any rivalry withsomebody,” police said. TNN

While innumerable trees have fallen victim to development work across the city, many moreare waiting to face the axe. On Sunday, students and residents of Jayamahal formed ahuman chain to voice dissent against the felling of 856 trees for road-widening work

TOITHE GREEN SPOKESPERSONS

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

On Sunday morning, as manyas 3,500 Bangaloreans puttheir best foot forward tospread a loud message abouta silent killer — diabetes. The

‘Beat Diabetes’ walkathon, organized byThe Times of India and Lifestyle, sawthousands gather as early as 6am to par-ticipate in the march.

With the walkathon, the free blood glu-cose camps organized across 11 Land-mark group stores in the city (since No-vember 14, the World Diabetes Day) con-cluded. The 5-km walk that started at Kan-teerava Stadium saw participants fromall age groups.

The excitement was palpable as peo-ple in blue ‘Beat Diabetes’ T-shirts someregular walkers and first-timers chose tocrawl out of their blankets early in theday to ring in the message about the dead-ly disease.

Among the participants were many adiabetic who vouched for walking as asure shot means to curb the disease. Infact, senior citizens, all bubbling with en-

thusiasm, constituted a major chunk ofthe crowd.For instance, 74-year-old retiredwing commander CAV Murty said he hasdiabetes for 50 years and has been walk-ing every day to beat it. According to 78-year-old L N Vaidyanath, a walkathon isa platform to tell youngsters the benefitsof walking. “I don’t have diabetes, yet Iwalk 2 km every morning and evening.Today, I have accompanied my son andfamily to spread the message,” he said.

Like the Vaidyanaths, several fami-lies came together to enjoy the walk andspend time with each other. Youngsterswere equally gung-ho, matching everystep with the biggies. Shilpa Agarwala,Divya Katty and Sampa Das, all studentsof Bishop Cotton’s College, came acrossthe walkathon announcement and test-ing kiosk at Mantri Mall. “We have comebecause anyone can get diabetes. Wethought of joining hands for the cause,”they said.

The walkathon ended on a vibrant notewith a performance by Bangalore-basedfolk fusion band Swarathma.

Sandalwood stars and celebrities from

various walks of life added glitz to theshow. Among the big names present wereOlympiad hockey player Ashish Ballal,transport commissioner Bhaskar Rao,actors Priyanka Upendra, Ragini Dwive-di, Ramya Barna, Priyanka, Sanchita,Upendra, Raghu Mukherjee and Tarun.Socialites Rohit Giri, Manjul, Swathi,

Shreen Malani, Anita Khoday and AjitHande also joined in.

Those present from among the organ-izers were vice-chairman, LandmarkGroup, Renuka Jagtiani; vice-president,The Times of India, C G Varughese; MD,Lifestyle, Kabir Lumba and CMO, Land-mark Group, Shankar Suryanarayana.

Beat diabetes on foot

3,500 enthusiastic

Bangaloreans hit

the road on Sunday

morning to spread

word on diabetes

Landmark Group vice-president RenukaJagtiani joined hundreds of

Bangaloreans who hit the road to spreadawareness about diabetes. She is one ofthe key organizers of The Times of Indiaand Lifestyle ‘Beat Diabetes’ walkathonand has organized similar walkathons inWest Asia as well. Renuka shared herideas about why Landmark Group choseto focus on the issue.

Excerpts from an interview� Do you think walking can controldiabetes?Yes it can. We have checked with doctorsand realized that medicine alone cannotcontrol it. One has to exercise regularly.Simple activities like walking andswimming help keep metabolism rate high

and control diabetes.

� Why did you choose diabetes foryour corporate social responsibility(CSR) campaign?Both India and West Asia have very high

incidence of diabetics. India, with 70

million affected, is the diabetes capital of

the world.

� How was your campaign in West Asia?In Dubai, where we organized the event

for the second time this year, around 7,000

people took part, many of whom were

children. Cricketer Wasim Akram, a

diabetic himself, also participated. We

want more kids to walk. I am thrilled to

see so many Bangaloreans taking part in

the walkathon.

‘MEDICINE ALONE IS NOT THE REMEDY’

Participants

volunteer for

blood sugar

level test at

a mobile

kiosk

during the

Diabetes

Walkathon

on Sunday.

(Left)

‘Real Star’

Upendra

and his

actress wife

Priyanka at

the walk

Kids back in action onImperial Court terrace

Rajiv Kalkod | TNN

Bangalore: It’s five daysnow since Barraza, 12, fellto death from the terraceof Imperial Court apartments on Cunning-ham Road. But no lessonsappear to have been learnt,as the doors have beenopened again and childrenare visiting the terrace aswell as the recreation cen-tre there, playing table ten-nis and carrom.

Alleging negligence bythe building management,a resident on condition ofanonymity said not a singlerepresentative had “evencalled a meeting to discussthe precautionary meas-ures to be taken in future”.

“The terrace doors arebeing kept open once again.

Each occupant has said thatthe parapet of the terraceshould be raised to avoidany untoward incident infuture,” he said.

But the committee andmanagement reportedly didnot show any interest inholding a meeting or send-ing advisory notices to res-idents, asking them to becautious on the roof. “Buta notice, asking residentsto be careful, has been past-ed on the wall. Is this is theway the committee actswhen a tragedy has takenplace in the building?”

The Times of India onSunday tried to contact acommittee member whorefused to divulge more onthe matter.

Management Indifferent, Allege Residents

FATAL FALL

Chethan ShivakumarHDK’s attack againstYeddyurappa ironicalIt is amusing to read how H DKumaraswamy is talking about chiefminister B S Yeddyurappa’s land dealswhen he and his entire family aremasters in corruption. He shouldn’tforget that popular perceptionprevailing among people is that hisfamily is the top land owner inKarnataka, which was possible due tohis chief ministership for 20-oddmonths. Such being the reality, it is anirony that Kumaraswamy is in theforefront of expose againstYeddyurappa’s land dealings.

V S Ganeshan, VIA EMAIL

We want your views and comments. Please write tous at My Times, My Voice, c/o Editor, Times City- Bangalore, The Times of India, 40/1, S&BTowers, M G Road, Bangalore — 560001. Email:[email protected] with TimesCity, Bangalore as subject line please mentionyour complete address and contact telephone number; or SMS MYVOICE <space> your com-ments and name to 58888. * Charges applicable.Rs 3 per SMS

MY TIMES, MY VOICE

CITY MAILBOX

Pics: Md Asad





Aarthi R | TNN

angaloreans' biggest crib is with trans-port. There isn't anybody who steps outof the house in the morning and returnshome in the evening without once hav-ing cursed something related to his so-journ back and forth. The biggest peeveis with the potholes and craters on theroads. This is followed closely by the traf-fic on the road, which is slow moving andpunctuated by frequent jams, renderinga 10-minute easy ride into a 30-minutenightmare.

Bangalore Patrol survey confirms theanecdotal angst of residents with all as-pects related to mobility. Under thisscore, a total of 14 indicators were meas-ured, the highest studied for any civicparameter under this study. Data for cov-erage of public transport network, ac-cess to information, frequency, speed oftravel (end-to-end), crowding in publictransport, average cost of travel/km,presence of footpaths with appropriate

width and surface condition, of dedi-cated bicycle lanes, street lighting con-ditions, pedestrian safety at junctions,presence of functional signals/ roadmarkings, quality of road surface, speedof travel and injuries and deaths due toaccidents, was collated by Bangalore Pa-trol for this city as whole.

Unsurprisingly, Bangalore scores low-ly on this standard, only just ahead ofthe city's even worse public amenities.Obviously, then, no ward in Bangalorehas a perfect 10 score for mobility. Thetopper is J P Park (Ward No 17) that witha score of 6.66, is followed by Gangena-halli (Ward No 34) with 6.43 score. How-ever a spot visit to key areas even in thesetop wards shows that there's nothingmuch to cheer about the standards of mo-bility even here.

If you are among those worried aboutthe lack of dedicated bicycle lanes in thecity, your peeve might seem trivial giv-en basic infrastructure's still missing onthe mobility front in Bangalore. Key ob-

servations of Bangalore Patrol, an ini-tiative of TOI's conceived and managedby Janaagraha, reveals that at least 45wards ( 23% of the whole city) have noproper footpaths to walk on.

Going deeper into their width and sur-

face conditions, it was revealed that only11 wards score full points on this score.At least four wards had a 0 score. Eventhe Jnanabharati ward that's dotted witheducational institutions scores just 0.45!

When it comes to pedestrian safety at

junctions, 140 wards out of 198 havescored a 0 or 10. Of these, 77 wards havescored a 0. Simply put, roughly 39% ofBangalore offers no safety for pedestri-ans at junctions. This also includes ma-jority of the wards under Hebbal con-stituency that includes the road to theBengaluru International Airport (BIA).

As for the quality of road surface,there are no wards with a 0 score. Whichmeans that there are no wards with noroads. But overall, there are also nowards with 'all perfect' roads.Malleswaram and Kadu Malleshwarwards top with scores of 9.29. Roads inmost newly added areas fare low in qual-ity and they form majority of the worst20 wards under this category with a scorebelow 2.

According to the field experts of thestudyl, even the speed of both public andprivate transport is slower than it shouldbe. The average speed varies between 20and 35 km/hr.

Only Hongasandra scores a 10 for av-erage speed of private transport. Ma-jority of ward scores vary between 2 and7 under this category. As for the speed ofpublic transport, only three wards - Ken-geri, Hongasandra and Mangammana-palya score 10 overall. Dodda Bidarakalluand Mallasandra rank bottom most witha score 0.

A FEW GOOD THINGS TO CHEER ABOUTThe good parts of mobility are linkedwith the public transport in the city. All198 wards have a score of 10 when itcomes to average cost of travel/km us-ing public transport. This means that itis affordable across all wards. However,when it comes to coverage of publictransport, only Sri Ram Mandir wardscores a 10 and Rajmahal Guttahalli at9.99 and Jayanagar East at 9.91 do well.Begur and Dodda Bidarakallu again rankamong the worst with scores of less thaneven 0.5!

As for the streetlight coverage acrossthe city, there's again no zero score. Thisindicates that there are no wards in citywith less than 40% streetlight coverage.About 139 wards also have a score of 10on 10, proving that they have adequatestreetlights. Even Varthur that ranks thelowest has a score of 4.29.


SLOW RIDE ON BUMPY LANES

HOW SAFE ARE WE ON ROADS?

B

According to field experts of thestudy, even the speed of both publicand private transport is slower thanit should be. The average speedvaries between 20 and 35 km/hr.Only Hongasandra scores a 10 foraverage speed of private transport.majority of wards’ scores varybetween 2 and 7 under this category

NOTHING IRRITATES BANGALOREANS AS MUCH AS THESTATE OF CITY ROADS AND THE HORRENDOUS TRAFFIC.MANY OTHER ELEMENTS THAT GO INTO MOBILITY AREEQUALLY BAD. FOOTPATHS ARE IN A PATHETICCONDITION AND TRAFFIC LIGHT JUNCTIONS ARE UNSAFEIN MANY PLACES.


Difficult to estimate based on the number of injuries. Butthe vast majority of fatal accidents captured by the policestations helped track the relative road safety across all198 wards in the last one year. A total of 56 wards have ascore of 10, which means there were no fatalities in thosewards. The 35 wards with a 0 score include both wards inrural areas like Hemmigepura and those in core city areaslike Vasanthnagar!

L IGHTSSide

WHERE ARE THE BUS STOPS?

Among the major challenges that confronted the surveyorsof Bangalore Patrol was spotting bus stops andstreetlights. In many places they were almost invisible andwhen present, were being used for something elsealtogether. While bus stops were missing at manyfrequent stops, at some places, they were warded off andused as garbage dumps and sometimes hidden by fallentrees. The best bus stop was at ESI, Rajajinagar while theworst was the one at Devaiah park where the bus literallystops on the footpaths most often!

WARD WARD MOBILITYNO. NAME SCORE* RANK





PIC : MD ASAD

2

M O B I L I T Y


NEXT TOPIC ENVIRONMENT

ON THURSDAY





AND DEBATE ISSUES WITH BANGALORE’S TRAFFIC


ON

198RANKING OF ALL MOBILITY COVERS MANY INDICATORS LIKE QUALITY OF ROAD SURFACE, COST OF TRAVEL, STREETLIGHTS, BUS

STOPS, FOOTPATHS, PUBLIC TRANSPORT NETWORK, SPEED OF TRAVEL, ETC.,


Is the governor expected to walk on this footpath? A huge uncovered manholeon a footpath on Raj Bhavan Road

198165 Ganesh Mandir ward 6.20 9108 Sriramamandir 5.70 42177 J P Nagar 5.54 5467 Nagapura 6.05 1793 Vasanth Nagar 4.97 109100 Basaveshwara Nagar 6.07 16101 Kamakshipalya 4.95 113133 Hampi Nagar 5.94 2566 Subramanya Nagar 5.57 51170 Jayanagar East 5.87 3068 Mahalakshimpuram 5.10 8818 Radhakrishna Temple Ward 6.27 6104 Govindaraja Nagar 5.33 68107 Shivanagara 6.28 5126 Maruthi Mandir ward 5.32 7043 Nandini Layout 5.59 48124 Hosahalli 4.92 117144 Siddapura 4.94 114106 Dr. Raj Kumar Ward 6.00 22125 Marenahalli 5.00 103179 Shakambari Nagar 5.42 62105 Agrahara Dasarahalli 6.04 19164 Vidyapeeta ward 6.24 799 Rajaji Nagar 6.16 11163 Katriguppe 5.55 5344 Marappana Palya 4.86 122123 Vijayanagar 4.83 13078 Pulikeshinagar 5.35 66168 Pattabhiram Nagar 5.49 57172 Madivala 6.38 464 Rajamahal Guttahalli 5.18 8246 Jayachamarajendra 6.19 10142 Sunkenahalli 5.25 77162 Girinagar 5.91 2980 Hoysala Nagar 5.27 76169 Byrasandra 6.09 1498 Prakash Nagar 6.11 12140 Chamrajapet 5.38 6397 Dayananda Nagar 4.23 17661 S K Garden 6.05 18

A lovely, old bus stop near Vidhana Soudha

152 Suddagunte Palya 4.85 121158 Deepanjali Nagar 4.85 122161 Hosakerehalli 4.85 123172 Madivala 4.85 124185 Yelchenahalli 4.85 1257 Byatarayanapura 4.35 1268 Kodigehalli 4.35 1279 Vidyaranyapura 4.35 12815 T Dasarahalli 4.35 12917 J P Park 4.35 13022 Vishwanath Nagenahalli 4.35 13124 HBR Layout 4.35 13228 Kammanahalli 4.35 13337 Yeshwanthpura 4.35 13449 Lingarajapura 4.35 13551 Vijnanapura 4.35 13656 A Narayanapura 4.35 13771 Hegganahalli 4.35 13872 Herohalli 4.35 13973 Kottegepalya 4.35 14075 Shankar Matt 4.35 14181 Vijnana Nagar 4.35 14285 Dodda Nekkundi 4.35 14386 Marathahalli 4.35 144103 Kaveripura 4.35 145109 Chickpete 4.35 146118 Sudham Nagara 4.35 147119 Dharmaraya Swamy Temple 4.35 148121 Binnipete 4.35 149130 Ullalu 4.35 150132 Attiguppe 4.35 151160 Rajarajeshwari Nagar 4.35 152171 Gurappanapalya 4.35 153173 Jakkasandra 4.35 154180 Banashankari Temple 4.35 155187 Puttenahalli 4.35 156196 Anjanapura 4.35 15712 Shettihalli 3.85 15813 Mallasandra 3.85 15914 Bagalakunte 3.85 160

23 Nagavara 3.85 16126 Ramamurthy Nagar 3.85 16230 Kadugondanahalli 3.85 16331 Kushal Nagar 3.85 16448 Muneshwara Nagar 3.85 16553 Basavanapura 3.85 16654 Hudi 3.85 16769 Laggere 3.85 16870 Rajagopal Nagar 3.85 16992 Shivaji Nagar 3.85 170116 Nilasandra 3.85 171122 Kempapura Agrahara 3.85 172135 Padarayanapura 3.85 173148 Ejipura 3.85 174149 Varthuru 3.85 175150 Bellanduru 3.85 176175 Bommanahalli 3.85 177184 Uttarahalli 3.85 178186 Jaraganahalli 3.85 179188 Bilekhalli 3.85 180189 Hongasandra 3.85 181193 Arakere 3.85 182195 Konankunte 3.85 183198 Hemmigepura 3.85 1841 Kempegowda 3.35 1852 Chowdeswari 3.35 1863 Atturu 3.35 1874 Yelahanka Satellite Town 3.35 1885 Jakkuru 3.35 1896 Thanisandra 3.35 19025 Horamavu 3.35 19140 Dodda Bidarakallu 3.35 192159 Kengeri 3.35 193174 HSR Layout 3.35 194190 Mangammanapalya 3.35 195191 Singasandra 3.35 196192 Begur 3.35 197194 Gottigere 3.35 198

143 Vishveshwara Puram 6.35 41154 Basavanagudi 6.35 42155 Hanumanth Nagar 6.35 43156 Srinagar 6.35 44164 Vidyapeeta ward 6.35 45165 Ganesh Mandir ward 6.35 46168 Pattabhiram Nagar 6.35 47169 Byrasandra 6.35 4816 Jalahalli 5.85 4918 Radhakrishna Temple Ward 5.85 5038 HMT Ward 5.85 5155 Devasandra 5.85 5259 Maruthi Seva Nagar 5.85 5362 Ramaswamy Palya 5.85 5491 Bharathi Nagar 5.85 5596 Okalipuram 5.85 56105 Agrahara Dasarahalli 5.85 57108 Sriramamandir 5.85 58117 Shanthi Nagar 5.85 59129 Jnana Bharathi ward 5.85 60136 Jagajivanaramnagar 5.85 61138 Chalavadipalya 5.85 62141 Azad Nagar 5.85 63144 Siddapura 5.85 64146 Lakkasandra 5.85 65151 Koramangala 5.85 66153 Jayanagar 5.85 67157 Gali Anjenaya Temple 5.85 68162 Girinagar 5.85 69163 Katriguppe 5.85 70167 Yediyur 5.85 71179 Shakambari Nagar 5.85 72181 Kumaraswamy Layout 5.85 73183 Chikkalsandra 5.85 7419 Sanjaya Nagar 5.35 7521 Hebbala 5.35 7629 Kacharkanahalli 5.35 7733 Manorayanapalya 5.35 7842 Lakshmi Devi Nagar 5.35 7944 Marappana Palya 5.35 80

Asha Rai | TNN

uch before Bangalore became the IT cap-ital of the country, it was the Garden City;home to two of the most beautiful gardensin the country: Cubbon Park and Lalbagh.Bangalore was also the city, where youwore mufflers and woolens in the winter.Where an A/C was for the nouveau riche.

Today, the dramatic change in the ur-ban landscape of the city has resulted inan even more dramatic change in the en-vironment. The Bangalore Patrol surveywhich measured two indicators under en-vironment: air pollution and the greencover of the city, reveals the true extent ofdeterioration.

The city has some good green pockets.Aramane Nagara and Sampangiram Na-gar are the joint environmental leaders inthe city with a score of 8.35. Of the city

198 wards, 50% have scores between 5 & 9.But the story at the bottom is of great con-cern. Fourteen wards score a mere 3.35.

Air pollution in the city has risen dra-matically, which should surprise nobody.Actually, one doesn't need hard data to ver-ify it. Just breathe the air around you toknow how bad the situation is. The scorefor all the wards is 6.69. That's because dueto technical reasons ward level monitor-ing of air pollution couldn't be done. TheCentral Pollution Control Board has onlysix stations in the city. The data from onestation cannot be used for wards aroundit because air moves constantly. At best itcan be said that at a particular location theair pollution is so much. Hence, Janaa-graha - which collected and interpreted thedata -- did an average of all the six stationsand came up with the ward score of 6.69.

Equally alarming is the state of Ban-galore's green cover. The green cover scorehas been calculated using the presence oftree canopy from the base map of the city.It refers to tree cover, i.e, canopies only.14wards of the city have scored a zero asthey have no green cover at all. There arejust two wards which score a perfect tenon this indicator: Aramane Nagara and

Sampangiram Nagar. Areas adjoining thelarge, green tracts of Bangalore Palacelike Jayamahal, and Malleswaram alsoscore high on this indicator with a scoreof nine out of ten. Vasanth Nagar is savedby the golf course in its jurisdiction whileSantala Nagar (home to the CBD areas likeMG Road and vicinity) obviously has Cub-bon Park and the huge army cantonmentaround it to thank for its decent score (8)for green cover. The ward named after thecity's founder, Kempe Gowda and otherslike Jakkur, Begur, and Gottigere score azero on this parameter.

That in `environment' there's no wardthat has a perfect score points to the un-happy state of affairs in Bangalore. Theair pollution has risen dramatically be-cause while the number of vehicles on theroads has gone up multi-fold, the greencover of the city has dwindled around thesame time. The soaring glass and steeltowers that dot the city now are also eco-unfriendly as they use artificial light andair-conditioning throughout the day.

The newer parts of Bangalore - the out-lying villages that have been added to thecity - grew without much thought to plan-ning. They rarely have neighbourhood

parks or gardens. That's one reason why,while Kempegowda wards scores zero forgreen cover.

It doesn't help that in the name of streetwidening; the city has lost thousands oftrees. While authorities tell you that mul-tiples of the trees felled are being plantedaround the city, one is yet to see them insignificant numbers. Urban planners inBangalore need to look for transport so-lutions which involve something morefundamental than just chopping trees.

It is also a matter of great concern thatthe huge existing lung spaces in the cityare under threat. The two biggest carbonsinks of Bangalore - Cubbon Park and Lal-

bagh - are diminishing in size for reasonsranging from Metro work to Vikas Soud-ha. The next target seems to be the Ban-galore Turf Club's previous acres on RaceCourse road. The government has can-celled the lease of the club and is forcingit to move out. The issue is what happensto the land then? The government haspromised that most of it will be convert-ed into a park. The question is `what isthe definition of most?' Even if parts ofit are used for commercial purposes - a 100storey building is being bandied about --then the environmental degradation itwould cause to the heart of Bangalore isunimaginable.

Getting more people to use public trans-port would help in reducing the sound pol-lution. Hopefully, with the metro expectedto be up and running by early Jan, the num-ber of cars and bikes on the road will fall.In recent months, there's a noticeable uptick in the number of people opting to usebuses. The introduction of comfortable,air-conditioned buses has given commut-ing public a viable alternate to using pri-vate cars, autos and two wheelers. Car pool-ing, cycling would also help ameliorate thecity's rapidly degrading environment.


BROWNING OF BANGALORE

Local parks

M

It doesn’t help that in the name of roadwidening, the city has lost thousands oftrees. While authorities tell you thatmultiples of the trees felled are beingplanted around the city, one is yet tosee them in significant numbers. Urbanplanners in Bangalore need to look fortransport solutions which involvesomething more fundamental than justchopping trees

TODAY'S TOPIC IS ENVIRONMENT. BANGALORE'SWEATHER IS STILL THE ENVY OF NEIGHBOURS. BUTTHE FACT IS, IT ISN'T WHAT IT WAS EVEN A DECADEAGO. RAPID GROWTH HAS TAKEN ITS TOLL ON THEENVIRONMENT AS NOT MANY CHECKS AND BALANCESWERE PUT IN PLACE TO PROTECT IT


There are 23 wards in Bangalore that have a park withinwalking distance from any point in the ward. Parks act ascarbon sinks and clean up the environment around them.In contrast, there are 14 wards of Bangalore that have nogreen cover or tree canopies at all.

L IGHTSSide

Pollution: No ward-level scores Bangalore Patrol surveyors approached the KarnatakaState Pollution Control Board and asked if their mobilemonitoring vans could be used to monitor pollution atvarious spots in the city. Citing man power and resourceissues -- as they would have to station the vehicle for 24hours in one spot etc - they declined. Isn't the entirepurpose of providing the KSPCB with a mobile monitoringvan is to be able to station it at various spots in the city toconstantly monitor air quality? How fabulous it would beif the KSPCB used their air pollution monitoring vehicles togenerate ward level score by stationing it at a particularspot for 2 days each.

WARD WARD ENVIRONMENTNO. NAME SCORE* RANK






2

E N V I R O N M E N T


NEXT TOPIC PUBLICAMENITIES ON SATURDAY




198RANKING OF ALL TO ARRIVE AT THE ENVIRONMENT SCORE, BANGALORE PATROL HAS MEASURED TWO INDICATORS: AIR POLLUTION AND

THE PERCENTAGE OF GREEN COVER IN THE CITY.WARDWISE AIR POLLUTION SCORES PROVED ELUSIVE DUE TO RED TAPE.


19835 Aramane Nagara 8.35 1110 Sampangiram Nagar 8.35 245 Malleswaram 7.85 363 Jayamahal 7.85 479 Sarvagna Nagar 7.85 593 Vasanth Nagar 7.85 6111 Shantala Nagar 7.85 765 Kadu Malleshwar 7.35 878 Pulikeshinagar 7.35 980 Hoysala Nagar 7.35 1090 Halsoor 7.35 1198 Prakash Nagar 7.35 1299 Rajaji Nagar 7.35 1334 Gangenahalli 6.85 1446 Jayachamarajendra 6.85 1550 Benniganahalli 6.85 1657 C V Raman Nagar 6.85 1758 New Tippasandara 6.85 1860 Sagayarapuram 6.85 1964 Rajamahal Guttahalli 6.85 2067 Nagapura 6.85 2177 Dattatreya Temple 6.85 2294 Gandhinagar 6.85 2395 Subhash Nagar 6.85 24107 Shivanagara 6.85 2510 Dodda Bommasandra 6.35 2611 Kuvempu Nagar 6.35 2720 Ganga Nagar 6.35 2847 Devara Jeevanahalli 6.35 2966 Subramanya Nagar 6.35 3088 Jeevanbhima Nagar 6.35 31100 Basaveshwara Nagar 6.35 32101 Kamakshipalya 6.35 33104 Govindaraja Nagar 6.35 34112 Domlur 6.35 35120 Cottonpete 6.35 36133 Hampi Nagar 6.35 37137 Rayapuram 6.35 38140 Chamrajapet 6.35 39142 Sunkenahalli 6.35 40

76 Gayithri Nagar 5.35 8187 HAL Airport 5.35 8289 Jogupalya 5.35 83106 Dr. Raj Kumar Ward 5.35 84113 Konena Agrahara 5.35 85123 Vijayanagar 5.35 86124 Hosahalli 5.35 87125 Marenahalli 5.35 88128 Nagarabhavi 5.35 89131 Nayandahalli 5.35 90139 K R Market 5.35 91145 Hombegowda Nagara 5.35 92166 Karisandra 5.35 93170 Jayanagar East 5.35 94176 BTM Layout 5.35 95177 J P Nagar 5.35 96178 Sarakki 5.35 97182 Padmanabha Nagar 5.35 98197 Vasanthpura 5.35 9927 Banasavadi 4.85 10032 Kaval Bairasandra 4.85 10136 Mattikere 4.85 10239 Chokkasandra 4.85 10341 Peenya Industrial Area 4.85 10443 Nandini Layout 4.85 10552 K R Puram 4.85 10661 S K Garden 4.85 10768 Mahalakshimpuram 4.85 10874 Shakthi Ganapathi Nagar 4.85 10982 Garudachar Playa 4.85 11083 Kadugodi 4.85 11184 Hagadur 4.85 11297 Dayananda Nagar 4.85 113102 Vrisabhavathi Nagar 4.85 114114 Agaram 4.85 115115 Vannarpet 4.85 116126 Maruthi Mandir ward 4.85 117127 Mudalapalya 4.85 118134 Bapuji Nagar 4.85 119147 Adugodi 4.85 120

BBMP park in Koramangala 3rd block

159 Kengeri 1.40 12158 New Tippasandara 1.40 1223 Atturu 1.39 12346 Jayachamarajendra 1.35 12445 Malleswaram 1.31 12534 Gangenahalli 1.28 12627 Banasavadi 1.26 127146 Lakkasandra 1.25 12835 Aramane Nagara 1.22 12947 Devara Jeevanahalli 1.18 130188 Bilekhalli 1.15 131120 Cottonpete 1.14 132131 Nayandahalli 1.11 13370 Rajagopal Nagar 1.05 13424 HBR Layout 1.02 135113 Konena Agrahara 0.95 13650 Benniganahalli 0.94 13748 Muneshwara Nagar 0.94 138128 Nagarabhavi 0.90 13971 Hegganahalli 0.89 140139 K R Market 0.86 14115 T Dasarahalli 0.76 14212 Shettihalli 0.76 143197 Vasanthpura 0.72 144195 Konankunte 0.71 14585 Dodda Nekkundi 0.70 146147 Adugodi 0.69 147129 Jnana Bharathi ward 0.68 14828 Kammanahalli 0.64 149158 Deepanjali Nagar 0.62 15026 Ramamurthy Nagar 0.62 151114 Agaram 0.62 15249 Lingarajapura 0.61 153175 Bommanahalli 0.60 15452 K R Puram 0.58 15510 Dodda Bommasandra 0.57 156109 Chickpete 0.51 1575 Jakkuru 0.51 15884 Hagadur 0.49 159148 Ejipura 0.48 160

185 Yelchenahalli 0.45 1612 Chowdeswari 0.43 162187 Puttenahalli 0.42 1631 Kempegowda 0.42 164186 Jaraganahalli 0.36 16522 Vishwanath Nagenahalli 0.34 166193 Arakere 0.33 167198 Hemmigepura 0.33 16851 Vijnanapura 0.31 169173 Jakkasandra 0.29 170184 Uttarahalli 0.28 17173 Kottegepalya 0.27 17257 C V Raman Nagar 0.27 17387 HAL Airport 0.18 17481 Vijnana Nagar 0.18 1756 Thanisandra 0.15 17623 Nagavara 0.15 177194 Gottigere 0.14 178196 Anjanapura 0.14 17969 Laggere 0.14 18056 A Narayanapura 0.13 181191 Singasandra 0.13 18253 Basavanapura 0.13 18325 Horamavu 0.08 18483 Kadugodi 0.05 185189 Hongasandra 0.05 18640 Dodda Bidarakallu 0.05 187190 Mangammanapalya 0.01 18854 Hudi 0.01 18982 Garudachar Playa 0.01 190137 Rayapuram 0.00 19186 Marathahalli 0.00 192115 Vannarpet 0.00 193116 Nilasandra 0.00 194138 Chalavadipalya 0.00 195149 Varthuru 0.00 196150 Bellanduru 0.00 197192 Begur 0.00 198

76 Gayithri Nagar 3.22 41153 Jayanagar 3.20 42176 BTM Layout 3.18 43121 Binnipete 3.09 44165 Ganesh Mandir ward 3.09 45122 Kempapura Agrahara 3.03 46102 Vrisabhavathi Nagar 3.02 4763 Jayamahal 3.02 48182 Padmanabha Nagar 2.96 49181 Kumaraswamy Layout 2.96 50166 Karisandra 2.96 5194 Gandhinagar 2.94 52160 Rajarajeshwari Nagar 2.93 53143 Vishveshwara Puram 2.92 54124 Hosahalli 2.92 5575 Shankar Matt 2.87 5644 Marappana Palya 2.87 57145 Hombegowda Nagara 2.84 58171 Gurappanapalya 2.83 5996 Okalipuram 2.83 60144 Siddapura 2.81 61152 Suddagunte Palya 2.81 62107 Shivanagara 2.81 63151 Koramangala 2.80 6491 Bharathi Nagar 2.79 65156 Srinagar 2.76 66170 Jayanagar East 2.76 6718 Radhakrishna Temple Ward 2.73 6813 Mallasandra 2.70 69132 Attiguppe 2.70 7030 Kadugondanahalli 2.67 7121 Hebbala 2.67 72126 Maruthi Mandir ward 2.65 73119 Dharmaraya Swamy Temple 2.65 74162 Girinagar 2.65 7529 Kacharkanahalli 2.63 7664 Rajamahal Guttahalli 2.54 7719 Sanjaya Nagar 2.52 78112 Domlur 2.48 79110 Sampangiram Nagar 2.35 80

Aarthi R | TNN

laying ̀ galli' cricket in congested lanes andgoing for morning walks along busy roadsis fun no more. The common man's every-day experience has been borne out of thescientific study done by Bangalore Patrol.Even as the city expanded to 198 wards andrepeated stress was placed on allocatingmore funds for parks and playgrounds inthe BBMP budgets, Bangalore sadly lackssufficient play and park spaces. Many placesin old, central city areas now have more tu-torial centres for kids than play areas.

Naturally, Bangalore has fared the worstin this parameter among those studied byBangalore Patrol with the highest score be-ing a 50%ish 5.54. That the city best knownfor its parks, earning it the sobriquet of`garden' city is alarmingly behind on thisparameter is a matter of grave concern.

It's all about adequacy and access to

parks and playgrounds in the one-time gar-den city. The result of the survey come asno surprise to Bangaloreans used to con-stantly seeing roads outside their housesconverted into crude badminton courts andterraces atop huge apartments turning intohotspots for hide-and-seek and even foot-ball practices, sometimes leading to tragicconsequences as in the recent case of Baraz-za, who fell from the terrace while playing.

Even Nagapura (Ward 67) that tops theoverall ranking for Bangalore's publicamenities has scored just 5.54, that's just av-erage. Close behind are Yelahanka satellitetown and Govindrajnagar wards with scoresof 5.26 and 5.12 respectively. City mayor'sward, Sarakki, ranks fifth overall with 5.04- Just a few decimal points above Nandinilayout, lead by the opposition leader M Na-garaj and below Vasanthnagar ward underKatta Jagadish, son of BWSSB ministerKatta Subramanya Naidu.

Overall, 45% of the wards have scoredbetween 2 and 5. Total 63 wards, out of the198 have scored below one. This also includesthe Jnana Bharathi and Kempegowdawards. While the top five wards score be-tween 5 and 6, eight wards right down be-

low on the report card have a disappoint-ing zero-score. This includes Vannarpet, Ni-lasandra, Chalavadipalya, Varthuru, Raya-puram, Marathalli, Bellanduru, Chalavadi-palya and Begur.

WHERE ARE THE PARKS?Moving on to the specifics, only 23 wardshave a park within walking distance fromany point in the ward. Simply put, you canaccess a park at 1 km distance from any-where across the ward. Not just comfortzones like Jayanagar East and Vijaynagar,the list of perfect 10 scores under this pa-rameter also includes wards with congest-ed roads like Sanjaynagar, Ganganagar andRajajinagar.

However, in places like Vannarpet, Ni-lasandra and Begur among others, it's al-most difficult to trace a decent park or evena crude playground even after long search-es. The zero score for these wards comes asno surprise.

When it comes to adequacy of parks, thelower ranks exceed the toppers. 49 wardshave a zero score clearly indicating inade-quate number of parks in their areas. Yela-hanka Satellite town, that's among the new-

ly added areas of BBMP, is the only wardwith a perfect 10 score. A shame for gardencity is seeing a majority of its wards scorebetween 0 and 1. Wards like Lingarajapu-ram, Horamavu and Kempapura Agraharascore just 0.1 making them just better thanthose with zero. Even Herohalli and Gand-hinagar wards that rank in top 10 underthis category have a score just above 3.

WHO CAN PLAY HERE?Less said the better about the plight of play-grounds across the city. They lack both innumbers and accessibility. The size andavailable space within the playground is

another concern. Nagapura is the only wardout of the total 198 that offers a playgroundto its people within walking distance fromany point across the ward. A total 61 wardshave scored a 0 in this category. Unfortu-nately, this also includes Jnanabharathiward that's the main hub of university ed-ucation for students in the city.

Yet another interesting observation ofthe survey is about the private playgroundsin the city. Almost all of them in the cen-tral city areas are well maintained andavailable in good numbers. But then, withmajority of them owned and managed byschools and colleges, they are strictly openonly to their students and staff. A classicexample is the wards of East Bangalorethat's dotted with educational institutions.Yet, the common child living in these areashas no proper space to play and will haveto choose the busy roads instead.

As for the numbers, there are 114 wardswith a zero score that clearly indicates in-adequacy. Even Yelahanka Satellite townthat tops the rank-list has scored just 4.06.Jayanagar that follows drops down to a scoreof 2.36. Majority of the other wards havescored between 0 and 1.


NO PARKS, NO PLAYGROUNDS

Parks yes. But are there enough?

P

When it comes to adequacy of parks,49 wards have a zero score clearlyindicating inadequate number ofparks in those areas. YelahankaSatellite Town, that's among thenewly added areas of BBMP, is theonly ward with a perfect score of 10.A shame for the Garden City isseeing a majority of its wards scorebetween 0 and 1.

PUBLIC AMENITIES IS BANGALORE'S WEAKEST POINT.THE EXTRAORDINARY GROWTH OF THE CITY INRECENT YEARS HAS TAKEN A HEAVY TOLL ON ITSPLAYGROUNDS AND PARKS. GIVEN THAT MOST NEWLAYOUTS HARDLY HAVE ANY CIVIC AMENITY SPACE, ITIS HARDLY A SURPRISE


Raja Rajeshwariward is dotted withparks. But then, it'snowhere among thetop 10 in any of thefour indicatorssurveyed on thisparameter. Themain reason beingthe insufficientnumbers, comparedto the overall ward

size. It's a large ward and what it needs is better planningon the accessibility front. In stark contrast isVasanthnagar. The congested ward is among the top few,both in terms of number and accessibility to its parks andplaygrounds. But the low scores surely indicate that it'sstill a work in progress. In fact, at many points, even asmall narrow fenced area along a busy road bears a bigboard saying `Aatada Maidana' (Playground)!

L IGHTSSide

Expect the unexpectedThe overall ranking holds many surprises. While Ward No17, J P `Park' ranks eighth overall with a score of just 4.8,Jayanagar, one of the oldest areas of South Bangalore,long known for its green spaces ranks further down at 42with a score of just 3.2. Even Jayamahal ward that stillpreserves some of the oldest trees in the city ranks 48 witha score of 3.2. Jayanagar East ranks way below at 67th slotwith a meagre score of 2.76.

Tech talesParks and playgrounds form the key areas for thisextensive survey on the city's public amenities. There's alot of technology that's gone into confirming the layman'sobservations. The key area of focus was the list of parksand playgrounds available with both the BBMP and BDA.All these properties were then physically located and itsexact dimensions and related parameters were confirmedusing satellite imagery.

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WARD WARD PUBLIC AMENITIESNO. NAME SCORE* RANK






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198RANKING OF ALL UNDER PUBLIC AMENITIES, DISTANCE TO THE CLOSEST PARK, SQ MT. OF PARK AREA PER 1000 PEOPLE, DISTANCE

TO THE CLOSEST PLAYGROUND, SQ MT OF PLAYGROUND AREA PER 1000 PEOPLE WERE SURVEYED.


19867 Nagapura 5.54 14 Yelahanka Satellite Town 5.26 2104 Govindaraja Nagar 5.12 393 Vasanth Nagar 5.11 4178 Sarakki 5.04 543 Nandini Layout 4.95 668 Mahalakshimpuram 4.82 717 J P Park 4.80 899 Rajaji Nagar 4.79 9179 Shakambari Nagar 4.68 10168 Pattabhiram Nagar 4.67 1189 Jogupalya 4.66 12123 Vijayanagar 4.64 13154 Basavanagudi 4.60 14177 J P Nagar 4.57 15108 Sriramamandir 4.33 1698 Prakash Nagar 4.08 1797 Dayananda Nagar 3.95 18167 Yediyur 3.89 1980 Hoysala Nagar 3.80 2020 Ganga Nagar 3.79 21164 Vidyapeeta ward 3.73 22163 Katriguppe 3.69 23125 Marenahalli 3.68 2478 Pulikeshinagar 3.68 25100 Basaveshwara Nagar 3.66 26101 Kamakshipalya 3.65 2765 Kadu Malleshwar 3.64 2866 Subramanya Nagar 3.63 29105 Agrahara Dasarahalli 3.58 3090 Halsoor 3.51 31183 Chikkalsandra 3.49 32169 Byrasandra 3.46 33142 Sunkenahalli 3.44 3477 Dattatreya Temple 3.40 3595 Subhash Nagar 3.39 36155 Hanumanth Nagar 3.37 37106 Dr. Raj Kumar Ward 3.31 38172 Madivala 3.30 39133 Hampi Nagar 3.28 40

61 S K Garden 2.29 81103 Kaveripura 2.24 82157 Gali Anjenaya Temple 2.21 8336 Mattikere 2.16 8460 Sagayarapuram 2.15 8574 Shakthi Ganapathi Nagar 2.09 86141 Azad Nagar 2.09 87111 Shantala Nagar 2.07 8839 Chokkasandra 2.02 8937 Yeshwanthpura 2.02 9092 Shivaji Nagar 2.02 9138 HMT Ward 1.96 9233 Manorayanapalya 1.89 938 Kodigehalli 1.83 94161 Hosakerehalli 1.81 95174 HSR Layout 1.81 9662 Ramaswamy Palya 1.81 9772 Herohalli 1.78 98136 Jagajivanaramnagar 1.78 9959 Maruthi Seva Nagar 1.77 100117 Shanthi Nagar 1.76 101130 Ullalu 1.75 102127 Mudalapalya 1.75 103180 Banashankari Temple 1.73 1047 Byatarayanapura 1.71 105140 Chamrajapet 1.70 10642 Lakshmi Devi Nagar 1.69 10711 Kuvempu Nagar 1.69 10855 Devasandra 1.66 10941 Peenya Industrial Area 1.65 11016 Jalahalli 1.63 11131 Kushal Nagar 1.62 11279 Sarvagna Nagar 1.58 113135 Padarayanapura 1.56 11414 Bagalakunte 1.54 115134 Bapuji Nagar 1.53 11632 Kaval Bairasandra 1.53 117118 Sudham Nagara 1.53 11888 Jeevanbhima Nagar 1.48 1199 Vidyaranyapura 1.45 120

CAN YOU PLAY HERE?

A BBMP playground inVasanthanagar has ahuge signboard and

little else

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

iss goodbye to tickets, buspasses and such other rou-tine transactions that addtime to your daily com-mute. Like many big met-ros across the world, Ban-

galore starting April 2011 will introducea single card that can be used acrosspublic transport.

The common mobility card system en-visioned by GoI, in early stages of intro-duction, will cover the Bangalore Metro-politan Transport Corporation (BMTC)and Bangalore Metro services across city.Shortly thereafter, these cards will alsoinclude access to public transport serv-ices ‘anywhere across the country’.

“It will be a comprehensive packagebased on GPS-based passenger informa-tion system, electronic ticketing machinesfor conductors, validators and an effec-tive GPRS tracking system to monitor allvehicles,’’ explained BMTC MD Syed Za-meer Pasha while speaking at The Timesof India’s ‘Bangalore Patrol’ public meetheld at Shree Bhagwan Mahaveer Jaincollege on J C Road on Sunday morning.

BMTC has also entered into an agree-ment with UTI Technology Services Lltd,to implement the common mobility card.“Presently, there are some clearancesawaited from the state government. Oncecleared, the system should be in place byApril 1, 2011. All 6,000 buses will be cov-

ered within eight months to one year,’’Pasha added.

Meanwhile, BMTC hopes to add an-other 4,000 buses to its fleet within thenext five years to cater to an increasedcommuter target of 5 million per day fromthe present 4.2 million.

Suggestions made by the public at themeeting will also be taken for serious con-sideration by the BMTC MD. Topping thelist was introduction of mini-bus servic-es to cater to commuters in congested ar-eas along narrow roads who largely de-pend on autos for accessibility.

Yet another suggestion was intro-ducion of late night and early morningbus services to the railway station (Be-tween 11 pm and 5 am).

The meeting also saw speakers touchupon issues that are well known but rarelypublicly articulated. Bhaskar Rao, com-missioner for transport and road safe-ty,readily admitted,”The transport de-

partment at the lower levels is very cor-rupt. Supervision and manpower are ourmain challenge areas. My departmentneeds 300 motor vehicle inspectors ofwhich I have only 40. Institutionally, weare also poor in road safety. Drivingschools also contribute to road safety con-cerns. They teach the ABC (accelerator,break, clutch) rule, get you a license onpaying Rs 1,000 that also turns adds a killeron the road.’’

H Ravindra, chairman, BBMP majorworks committee, said, “When it comes

to mobility, all fingers are pointed atBBMP. No doubt we have had some criti-cal lapses. But there is always a time tocorrect. En route, we have also been los-ing out considerable revenue and roadspace through the irregular parking bypeople in residential lanes.’’

While making a pitch for the intro-duction of mini buses into the city publictransport service, Swati Ramanathan, co-founder Janaagraha, was of the opinion,“Access and connectivity are the two cru-cial issues in planning any public trans-port mechanism. The scores on BangalorePatrol are very important in bring aboutthe much needed change in the system.’’

Saying stop-gap technical solutions arenot the route to solve serious transporta-tion problems, Ashwin Mahesh, urban ex-pert and ABIDe member said, “Trafficproblem in the city is not a problem of ve-hicles on the road or of parking on theroads. It’s a housing problem. Mobilitysimply means travel from home to workor school or to business. We haven’t builtadequate social infrastructure likeschools, hospitals across the city. So peo-ple make inefficient choices that leads totraffic jams and other related issues.Hence an integrated approach is requiredand not piece meal technical solutions.”

SINGLE CARD FOR PUBLIC

TRANSPORT BY APRIL 2011

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

iscussing Bangalore’straffic cannot happenwithout constant inter-ruptions. Ditto with thediscussion at the public

meeting organised by ToI underthe aegis of Bangalore Patrol. Theinnumerable one-ways and park-ing woes dominated the interac-tion on mobility.

Vexed about the frequent trafficjams, the public also suggested a wayout through a possible ‘congestionfee’ across the city. “This is a com-plex issue. It will sure work but wehave to introduce a parking fee first.When parking is paid, people willthink 10 times before taking theirvehicles out. But people are unwill-ing to pay even Rs 10 for parkingtheir vehicle the whole day even inareas like MG Road.

Only after the parking fee be-comes a reality can be think of acongestion fee for it makes no senseto charge one for bringing a vehicleonto the road if you then are not go-ing to charge for parking it on theroad,” explained Praveen Sood, ad-ditional commissioner of police(traffic & security).

There’s also a perception thatBangalore is becoming a city of ‘one-ways.’ ‘Not so,’ clarified the city traf-fic chief. “There’s not been a singlenew one-way in last two and a halfyears. On the contrary, I can men-tion at least 10 roads that have beenmade two-way in the same period.’’

Traders of CMH road were alsoat the meeting to discuss their park-ing woes. “There’s no space to parkat all. Is this what we get after lastthree years of adjustment for theMetro? What’s the use of wideningit and making it two way with no

parking? Parking is critical consid-ering the road is a commercial area,’’they asked. Sood’s reply was simple,“You cannot have everything: foot-paths, two way traffic with busesand parking.” However, he askedCMH road residents to submit a de-tailed proposal with a feasible solu-tion, that could be considered.

Sood believes that Bangalore’straffic is not about jams as much asparking. As he memorably said atthe meeting,”Sometimes I feel Ban-galore really has no traffic problems.It has only parking problems. Traf-fic in a city is not a function of thetraffic department alone. There aremultiple agencies involved. A lackof co-ordination among the con-cerned agencies is a concern, as itaggravates the problem.’’

He was all for more buses on theroad. “Public transport is alwayswelcome. One bus takes 50 privatevehicles off the road.” He admit-ted that the issue of poor pedes-trian infrastructure in the city isa matter of serious concern. Buthe also pointed out that people areloathe to use the infrastructurethat’s available. The pelican linesare rarely used by the people. Ze-bra crossings meet the same fate.

Asked about people of residen-tial areas taking charge of park-ing in their locations — a sugges-tion of Swati Ramanathan’s — hewas more than willing to let localarea people issue tickets for park-ing and regulate it themselves af-ter following due procedures. “Butit’s not possible for the traffic de-partment to provide them with se-curity,” he cautioned. He felt thatif the Brigade Road Traders’ as-sociation could take charge ofparking on that road, there’s noreason others couldn’t.

TIMES CITY2THE TIMES OF INDIA, BANGALORE

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2010

Seven lakh people, two taxi standsBangalore has just two taxi stands, one atthe airport and another at the KSRTC busstand. For a city of seventy lakh people, isthat enough? Obviously not. There areradio taxis but no taxis you can hail on theroad and hop on. Introduction of moretaxis would go a long way in solvingBangalore’s commuter problems.

Here comes Big 12After the success of Big 10 bus service,there are plans to introduce Big 12 intwo additional corridors. BMTC whichhas the youngest fleet of buses in thecountry plans to take its fleet strengthto 10,000 in another five years. Thecompany has turned the corner andstopped making losses in May this year.

Road goes, markings goBangloreans crib about poor roadmarkings. But as the city trafficchief pointed out in the last twoand half years, all junctions havezebra crossings painted with thebest paint available in the market.But as he said, “road markings willstay if the road stays.”

Mobile residentsBangalore has 70 lakh peopleof whom 65 lakh are willing tomove around everyday. Of this42 lakh people use buses.Another 21 lakh use autos. Of the total 35 lakh privatevehicles, 74% are two-wheelers.

Sid

eLIGHTS

BMTC hopes to addanother 4,000 busesto its fleet within thenext five years to cater to an increasedcommuter target of 5million per day from the present 4.2 million

PARKING BEFORECONGESTION FEE

People check out Bangalore Patrol maps & access data showinghow their ward has fared in the delivery of civic services

Members of the audience crowd around Praveen Sood, city traffic chief,wanting solutions to their traffic problems

PANELISTS AT THE BANGALORE PATROL ‘MOBILITY’ PUBLIC MEETING : (Left to right) Swati Ramanathan, co-founder,Janaagraha; Praveen Sood, additional commissioner of police (traffic & security); Syed Zamer Pasha, managing director, BMTC; and Bhaskar Rao, commissioner for transport & road safety

D

K

Tornadoes breaksrecord yet again

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: They rewrote historyby breaking two world records. TheMotor Cycle Display team of ArmyService Corps — Tornadoes — onSunday became the only team inthe world to travel a distance of1,100 metres with 54 persons on asingle moving 500 CC Royal Enfieldmotorcycle.

They also made another recordby carrying 55 persons on a singlemoving 500 CC Enfield motorcyclefor a distance of 925 metres. Theybroke the record of Corps of Mil-itary Police who recently carried48 persons on a single moving 500CC motorcycle in Bangalore.

The ASC team performed thisbreathtaking feat at the runway ofAir Force Station, Yelahanka. TheTornadoes was raised in 1982 aftershowcasing its daredevilry skillsduring the 1982 Asian Games.

Vrischika Masa 13- Sri VikritiNama Samvatsara –

Dakshinayana – Sharad Ritu –Tithi: Kartika Krishna Ashtami Hr:13-03 Nak: Purva Phalguni Hr: 26-04 Yoga: Vaidhriti Hr: 10-03. 22

Zulhijja. Kali Day 1867064 Rahu Kalam: 7.30 am to 9 am

Mars sets in the west Hr: 28-06,Prathamashtami (Orissa),Vaikkatashtami (Kerala)

ALMANAC (29.11.2010)

— Daivajna K N Somayaji

FLYING HIGH: The Tornadoes

Syed Asif

Pics: Md Asad

93 Vasanth Nagar 4.89 121169 Byrasandra 4.84 122170 Jayanagar East 4.83 12350 Benniganahalli 4.81 12427 Banasavadi 4.81 12524 HBR Layout 4.79 1264 Yelahanka Satellite Town 4.78 127168 Pattabhiram Nagar 4.78 12849 Lingarajapura 4.77 12991 Bharathi Nagar 4.71 130144 Siddapura 4.57 13131 Kushal Nagar 4.48 13258 New Tippasandara 4.39 13389 Jogupalya 4.39 134140 Chamrajapet 4.37 13528 Kammanahalli 4.35 13660 Sagayarapuram 4.35 13730 Kadugondanahalli 4.35 13879 Sarvagna Nagar 4.33 13951 Vijnanapura 4.31 14023 Nagavara 4.28 141180 Banashankari Temple 4.27 14292 Shivaji Nagar 4.20 143148 Ejipura 4.20 14459 Maruthi Seva Nagar 4.19 14580 Hoysala Nagar 4.18 14690 Halsoor 4.18 147164 Vidyapeeta ward 4.18 148167 Yediyur 4.17 14988 Jeevanbhima Nagar 4.14 150162 Girinagar 4.12 151155 Hanumanth Nagar 4.09 152181 Kumaraswamy Layout 4.04 153163 Katriguppe 3.98 154111 Shantala Nagar 3.98 155141 Azad Nagar 3.98 15635 Aramane Nagara 3.94 157153 Jayanagar 3.94 158154 Basavanagudi 3.93 159156 Srinagar 3.92 160

143 Vishveshwara Puram 3.92 161142 Sunkenahalli 3.91 162145 Hombegowda Nagara 3.86 163192 Begur 3.81 1647 Byatarayanapura 3.64 165150 Bellanduru 3.41 166110 Sampangiram Nagar 3.40 16782 Garudachar Playa 3.29 16864 Rajamahal Guttahalli 3.23 16977 Dattatreya Temple 3.18 170191 Singasandra 3.13 171194 Gottigere 3.09 172112 Domlur 3.08 17376 Gayithri Nagar 2.95 17485 Dodda Nekkundi 2.93 175114 Agaram 2.90 176115 Vannarpet 2.90 17783 Kadugodi 2.87 17886 Marathahalli 2.78 179188 Bilekhalli 2.78 180116 Nilasandra 2.77 181117 Shanthi Nagar 2.74 182189 Hongasandra 2.60 183173 Jakkasandra 2.27 184175 Bommanahalli 2.20 185174 HSR Layout 2.06 18681 Vijnana Nagar 2.06 187193 Arakere 1.98 188149 Varthuru 1.95 18984 Hagadur 1.68 190190 Mangammanapalya 1.21 191113 Konena Agrahara 0.58 192171 Gurappanapalya 0.11 19387 HAL Airport 0.00 194151 Koramangala 0.00 195152 Suddagunte Palya 0.00 196172 Madivala 0.00 197176 BTM Layout 0.00 198

161 Hosakerehalli 6.43 4114 Bagalakunte 6.41 4212 Shettihalli 6.39 4316 Jalahalli 6.31 44133 Hampi Nagar 6.31 45158 Deepanjali Nagar 6.24 4638 HMT Ward 6.22 4739 Chokkasandra 6.18 48165 Ganesh Mandir ward 6.11 49124 Hosahalli 6.10 5046 Jayachamarajendra 6.10 51118 Sudham Nagara 6.09 52179 Shakambari Nagar 6.08 5371 Hegganahalli 6.08 54160 Rajarajeshwari Nagar 6.08 55186 Jaraganahalli 6.07 562 Chowdeswari 6.03 57137 Rayapuram 6.00 58119 Dharmaraya Swamy Temple 5.97 59108 Sriramamandir 5.92 60109 Chickpete 5.91 61198 Hemmigepura 5.90 62122 Kempapura Agrahara 5.90 63136 Jagajivanaramnagar 5.90 6462 Ramaswamy Palya 5.89 65121 Binnipete 5.87 666 Thanisandra 5.87 6752 K R Puram 5.87 68197 Vasanthpura 5.87 69183 Chikkalsandra 5.84 7022 Vishwanath Nagenahalli 5.83 71102 Vrisabhavathi Nagar 5.83 72184 Uttarahalli 5.81 7374 Shakthi Ganapathi Nagar 5.80 7499 Rajaji Nagar 5.78 7525 Horamavu 5.77 765 Jakkuru 5.75 7747 Devara Jeevanahalli 5.75 78135 Padarayanapura 5.72 79103 Kaveripura 5.72 80

Sunitha Rao R | TNN

rhetorical question, "Until what timewould you let your daughter stay out inthe evenings?" led Bangalore Patrol to lookat safety of neighbourhoods. Implicit inthe question is the answer that later a girlcan stay out, the safer is the neighbour-hood and vice versa.

Quality of life is not only a function ofwater, power, roads, trees, parks, and en-vironment but also of safety. Hence, thedecision to include crime in survey. Thisis the only parameter where secondarydata has been used.

8 pm deadline for daughtersThe qualitative study done by BangalorePatrol saw a 100 persons being interviewedwith a specific safety related question:"Time at night till which you are com-fortable if your daughter is outside alone?"When majority of the parents said 8 pm,three parents set 9 pm as the deadline forthe young women to reach home. Sur-prisingly, it was in the newly added wardslike Kempegowda which encompasses vil-

lages and lies on the outskirts of Banga-lore that parents felt that 10 pm-11 pm isalright for their daughters to return home.

As per the survey, the posh areas suchas Koramangala, HAL airport, BTM Lay-out, Madivala where techies live in, asthey are close to IT hubs, report absolutezero in crime. But that does not mean thatthe crime occurrence is zero, but the num-ber of cases registered in the respectivepolice station during the time of the sur-vey was relatively high. Again, this doesnot mean that these areas are infestedwith crime for it could be that the edu-cated people who live in these areas areless intimidated at the prospect of goingto police stations, and so might lodge com-plaints with the police for things rangingfrom petty theft, neighbours playing mu-sic loudly to theft and dacoity.

Many wards have no cops!As per the survey, there are no police sta-tions in many of the wards and each po-lice station is in charge of not less thanthree wards. This is one of the factors thatplay a key role in complaint registration.For example, Yelahanka police station

alone takes care of Kempegowda ward,Chowdeshwari Nagar and Attur. In con-trast, wards like Shanthala Nagar comeunder three police stations! People ofShanthala Nagar that scores 3.98 as crimescores fall under the jurisdiction of Shiv-aji Nagar, Commercial street and AshokNagar police station.

Herohalli tops the listWhich is the safer area in the city? As perthe survey, it is Herohalli in Yeshwanth-pura which tops the list with a score of7.61. However, according to the surveyorsthere is no police station in this ward."The public in this ward will have to goYeshwanthpura police station to reportany safety threat that they face in theirward. Thus even if the the crime rate ishigh they might not be registering it, mak-ing the ward sound safe," the surveyorsfelt.

Ganesh Mandir ward which is the bestward as per the survey is pretty safe witha score of 6.11.

Unlike for other parameters, for thesurvey on crime, the results were basedon the statistics procured from the policestations in the city, which is completelycomplaint driven. The survey is based onthe data collected from all the police sta-tions in the city from January to March2010. As per the Bangalore Patrol sur-veyors, safety of the wards was not takeninto consideration when the delimitationof the wards was done. "Most of the wardsespecially the newly added ones, do not

have police stations. The crime rate inthese will be lesser due to the lack of po-lice station.

This is one of the reasons for newlyadded ward Herohalli in Yeshwanthpurscores 7.61 and stand tall. But there arepossibilities of crime going unnoticed,"says Anjana Krishna of Janaagraha, whowas a part of the survey team.

Wards like Shankara Puram, Basa-vanagudi which are safer than most oth-er areas according police sources havescored average rank in crime. Shankarmatt 5.47 and Basavanagudi scores 3.93.

Divisionwise crime statisticsAs per the division wise crime statistics,North division recorded a total of 22 mur-ders, where as central division had onlytwo murders that had taken place duringthe three months of the survey. The datareveals that there were 425 motor vehicletheft cases that registered. Though Southeast division records only two dacoity cas-es, it has got 187 house thefts.


Is Bidari's neighbourhood safe?

A

There are no police stations in many ofthe wards and each police station is incharge of not less than three wards.This is one of the factors that play akey role in complaint registration. Forexample, Yelahanka police stationalone takes care of Kempegowda ward,Chowdeshwari Nagar and Attur. Incontrast, wards like Shanthala Nagarcome under three police stations!

CRIME IS A TOPIC THAT IS TOUGH TO CAPTURE IN DATA,ESPECIALLY IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT WHERE MUCHMORE THAN THE CRIME COMMITTED GOES INTO THERECORDING OF IT. AN EFFICIENT POLICE OFFICER MIGHTHAVE MORE CRIME REPORTED IN HIS POLICE STATIONAND VICE VERSA


Bangalore Patrol survey reveals that Police CommissionerShankar Bidari's neighourhood is rather unsafe. Thecommissioner's house falls under Sampangiram Nagarwhich scores 3.40 score on crime, as against the safestward Herohalli that scores 7.61.

L IGHTSSide

Take care of your vehicle & chains Beware when you parkyour vehicle in SouthBangalore. Southdivision can probablybe called the hub ofvehicle thieves, with425 motor vehicle theftcomplaints lodged inthis division. Southdivision also recordshighest number ofchain snatchingincidences with 26

complaints lodged. The least number of crime thefts havebeen found in North east with 66 cases registered.

Beware, if you live hereWards such as HALairport, Koramangala,Suddagunte Palya,Madivala, BTM layoutscore an absolute zeroin crime score, whichreveals that the areasare relatively unsafe.When a large portion ofundertrials andconvicts at ParappanaAgrahara are from

unsafe wards like Devarajeevanahalli andPadarayanapura wards, they score rather well at 5.75 and5.72 respectively.

C R I M E

WARD WARD CRIMENO. NAME SCORE* RANK





2



CRIME IN BANGALORE IS

(A) VERY HIGH (B) HIGH(C)AVERAGE (D) NONE OF THE

ABOVE

198RANKING OF ALL THE CRIME DATA WAS COLLECTED FROM THE POLICE, AND WAS PROCURED AT A DIVISIONAL LEVEL.

AS A RESULT, APPROXIMATIONS HAVE BEEN USED TO ALLOCATE CRIME DATA TO SPECIFIC WARDS.


19872 Herohalli 7.61 1125 Marenahalli 7.56 240 Dodda Bidarakallu 7.54 3128 Nagarabhavi 7.54 4130 Ullalu 7.53 5126 Maruthi Mandir ward 7.35 610 Dodda Bommasandra 7.25 7131 Nayandahalli 7.22 89 Vidyaranyapura 7.06 9127 Mudalapalya 7.02 10106 Dr. Raj Kumar Ward 6.99 11159 Kengeri 6.98 1221 Hebbala 6.93 1319 Sanjaya Nagar 6.93 14138 Chalavadipalya 6.92 15101 Kamakshipalya 6.87 16104 Govindaraja Nagar 6.87 17129 Jnana Bharathi ward 6.85 1834 Gangenahalli 6.83 1911 Kuvempu Nagar 6.79 2069 Laggere 6.78 2142 Lakshmi Devi Nagar 6.75 22132 Attiguppe 6.74 23105 Agrahara Dasarahalli 6.74 24100 Basaveshwara Nagar 6.72 2515 T Dasarahalli 6.69 26157 Gali Anjenaya Temple 6.69 2718 Radhakrishna Temple Ward 6.67 2813 Mallasandra 6.67 2920 Ganga Nagar 6.67 3054 Hudi 6.64 3170 Rajagopal Nagar 6.62 32195 Konankunte 6.60 33187 Puttenahalli 6.54 34139 K R Market 6.54 3541 Peenya Industrial Area 6.51 3673 Kottegepalya 6.46 37196 Anjanapura 6.45 3826 Ramamurthy Nagar 6.43 3953 Basavanapura 6.43 40

182 Padmanabha Nagar 5.71 8194 Gandhinagar 5.71 8295 Subhash Nagar 5.69 8332 Kaval Bairasandra 5.69 8461 S K Garden 5.69 8544 Marappana Palya 5.68 8665 Kadu Malleshwar 5.68 8743 Nandini Layout 5.64 8896 Okalipuram 5.64 89107 Shivanagara 5.63 908 Kodigehalli 5.62 91123 Vijayanagar 5.62 9297 Dayananda Nagar 5.61 9355 Devasandra 5.60 94134 Bapuji Nagar 5.60 9533 Manorayanapalya 5.58 961 Kempegowda 5.57 9766 Subramanya Nagar 5.57 98120 Cottonpete 5.55 9917 J P Park 5.53 100178 Sarakki 5.50 10198 Prakash Nagar 5.50 10267 Nagapura 5.49 10375 Shankar Matt 5.47 10436 Mattikere 5.44 10578 Pulikeshinagar 5.44 10637 Yeshwanthpura 5.43 10768 Mahalakshimpuram 5.43 10829 Kacharkanahalli 5.29 109185 Yelchenahalli 5.28 110146 Lakkasandra 5.23 11156 A Narayanapura 5.23 11263 Jayamahal 5.20 113177 J P Nagar 5.20 11457 C V Raman Nagar 5.17 1153 Atturu 5.14 11645 Malleswaram 5.13 11748 Muneshwara Nagar 5.05 118147 Adugodi 4.95 119166 Karisandra 4.91 120

Prisoners at Parappana Agrahara

in Bangalore

& THE CITYCRIME


NEXT TOPIC WHY THE POSHAREAS ARE NOT SO POSH

ON THURSDAY

Aarthi R | TNN

he biggest surprise that the BangalorePatrol survey threw up was in the rank-ing of the best wards to live in, in Ban-galore. Commonly accepted wisdom hasthe central business district — MG Road,St Marks Road, Lavelle Road — Indi-ranagar, Koramangala, Sadashivanagar,RajMahal Vilas, Jayanagar, Malleswaramas the posh areas of the city. Related tothis is the assumption that poshness de-notes good civic amenities. Otherwise,why would the rich and famous want tolive there?

But a ground level survey done by Ban-galore Patrol has demolished many of themyths. While these areas are indeed dot-ted with swanky commercial establish-ments and beautiful villas and bunga-lows, the civic life of the residents isn’tmuch to write home about. It can also bethat while parts of these areas are indeedvery upscale with the best of facilities,other areas adjacent to them might nothave the same delivery of services. It is-

n’t atypical to see a slum or revenue areain close proximity to a posh area. Whenboth areas are combined the scores comedown.

Bangalore Patrol, which assess thecivic services in a ward, an initiative ofthe Times of India’s that’s been concep-tualised and managed by Janaagraha,has found that overall many wards inSouth and East Bangalore have fared well,particularly those in core city areas, fea-turing in the Top 25 in most categories.Ganesh Mandir ward at rank 1 and J Pnagar at No 3 are some pleasant sur-prises. Ironically, the Begur ward thatranks among the worst in Bangalore isalso from South.

It’s hard to imagine that Jayanagar —the pride of South Bangalore —has aranking as poor as 86, just one rank above

Kushalnagar! ‘Middle-class’ Mallesh-waram checks in at 59. A real shock isseeing Koramangala — where most of thecity tech millionaires and billionaireslive — at 92, which makes it worse thanthe congested Cottonpet. Koramangalais good only for its roads with the poorwater supply, traffic congestion, the stateof its parks and playgrounds are area ofconcern. Even the one-time royal Ra-jmahal Guttahalli now ranks 31 while Ka-makshipalya is among top 10.

The area-wise field surveys reveal alot more. Indiranagar & Defence colonyare still coveted addresses in town, buttoday many of its residents suffer fromirregular garbage collection. In fact the7th main road here is now a perennialparking spot for garbage vehicles. Mo-bility is another issue. The list of ob-

servations by our field surveyors in-clude bad roads and bus shelters withno proper shelter above! Even the broadfootpaths along the 100 feet road havenow been taken up for parking whilepedestrians walk on the busy road. TheMetro work on CMH road has alsochanged the bus services here over thelast few years.

As for Sadashivanagar and RajmahalGuttahalli areas, the roads are good andsewage line network decent. But, there’snothing to be happy about the footpathconditions here. When they exist theyhave been completely taken over as ex-tensions for the VIP homes. The prox-imity to the K G tower has ensured goodwater supply but civic crisis in somepockets like Devasandra and adjoiningslum areas has these wards fall away fromthe Top 25.

Ranked Top 5, Vasanthnagar is stillposh when it comes to location and wa-ter. The high ground division here hasensured it has very good water sup-ply.Maybe the fact that many ministerslive in this neighbourhood has somethingto do with it. However, mobility’s a con-cern. There’s also a lot of congestion onthe road.

Going by ranks, another upcomingsuburb, BTM Layout (rank 110), is worsethan K R Market. The roads here aregood, so is water condition. But the traf-fic congestion makes it unbearable to live.Marathahalli, is another example.

It houses many leading establish-ments, but even an affluent retiredcolonel who’s been living here for longin a posh house, is helpless and harassedby the unhygienic conditions at the threeempty plots around his house. Evenknowing top bureaucrats has helped himlittle.

Sanjaynagar is good, the CM’s resi-

dence at RMV II stage makes it posh. Butthe traffic and garbage woes in somepockets make matters worse for the com-mon man. Long-time residents at anapartment complex at D’Souza road inRichmond Town—that’s part of East Ban-galore — have seen the water qualitychange at least two times in less than ayear! The HAL airport area, that oncewas the crucial lifeline to the city due tothe airport, is now at rank 153. This ismainly due to the conditions of sur-rounding areas.

So, if the posh areas aren’t really goodin the quality of civic services they en-joy, why are they in demand? One reasoncould be is that the residents of these ar-eas to a large extent by-pass the poor qual-ity of services provided to them and ex-pend their own resources to get higherquality of life.

For example, when the transport serv-ices, bus connectivity is poor, they in-creasingly might rely on their own ve-hicles to stay mobile. If the power out-ages are a common recurrence, theymight invest in generators and invertors.When the water connection is poor, theymight just drill a bore well in their homesto get water.

The cost of doing these things is high,but the residents of the posher areasmight feel it is worth the effort and crit-ically, are in a position to spend to availthemselves of these more expensive al-ternatives.

Also having poorer areas within aneighbourhood might actually add to thequality of life of the richer people livingin it as they have easy access to a pool ofmaid servants, malis, drivers, cooks andayahs from this catchment area.

Another factor that emerges from thisis that while the posher neighbourhoodsbypass the poor quality of civic servicesby making alternate arrangements, theyalso tend to bypass the civic bodies andcorporators.

They,perhaps, then engage less withthem leading in turn to the local bodiespaying less attention to them. In contrastsold middle class areas, where peopleneed good quality of civic services —goodgarbage collection, good bus service —will engage better with their corproatorsand municipal officers to ensure that these services are delivered to them in a consistent manner and of agood quality.

THE TIMES OF INDIA, BANGALORE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2010

T

As for Sadashivanagar and RajmahalGuttahalli areas, the roads are good andsewage line network decent. But, there’snothing to be happy about the footpathconditions here. When they exist they havebeen completely taken over as extensionsfor the VIP homes. The proximity to the KG tower has ensured good water supplybut civic crisis in some pockets likeDevasandra and adjoining slum areas hasthese wards fall away from the Top 25.

THE SURVEY TURNED CONVENTIONAL WISDOMUPSIDE DOWN ON WHICH ARE THE BEST AREAS TOLIVE IN THE CITY. THE SUPPOSEDLY POSH AREASSCORED POORLY WHILE WARDS EXPECTED TO DO NOTSO WELL EMERGED ON TOP. CIVIC SERVICES WERELAGGING IN MANY OF THE POSH CITY AREAS


Quote

2


NEXT TOPICTHE SURPRISE ENTRIES

ON SATURDAY


CRIME IN BANGALORE IS

(A) VERY HIGH (B) HIGH(C)AVERAGE (D) NONE OF THE

ABOVE

Huge number of vehiclesparked on the footpathat Jayanagar 3rd Block

WHY POSH IS NOT REALLY POSHTOI

SWATHI RAMANATHAN | URBAN EXPERT AND CO-FOUNDER, JANAAGRAHA

VO

ICE

S

The condition and scores are a stark realisation of the fact that we need to work with the government. There’s nothing posh

when it comes to civic conditions in most areas. With the issuesremaining unaddressed, an increasing number of people living in theseareas have stopped depending on the government, making their owninterim arrangements. Many of them also don’t go out and vote! Thishas to change. Urban planning is two-way. People must also work withthe government’’

A RAVINDRA | ADVISER TO CM ON URBAN AFFAIRS

Having been a long-time resident of Indiranagar, I feel it has both goodand bad sides. On the civic front, things have definitely changed post the

Metro construction, particularly along the CMH Road stretch as this was themain commercial area. But now, with the works getting closer to completion,perhaps things will improve post complete restoration of CMH Road. As fortraffic congestion, the flyover on Old Airport Road gives relief but addingworry is the many crossroads at 100 Feet Road. Commercialisation of purelyresidential hubs along inner roads is also a concern.’’

G N R BABU | CORPORATOR, BTM LAYOUT

Where ever MLAs have workedwell, the wards have got better

rankings. Delimitation of wards hasplayed a major roll the status of eachward. The only problem with my wardis the haphazard garbage collection, forwhich the solution is to recall thetenders. This survey has given us anidea of what we lack and where thescope for development lies. ThoughBTM layout is one of the posh areas, ithas scored 110th rank, but in the daysahead, a lot of improvement can beseen.”

N MUKUNDA | JAYANAGAR RESIDENT

Jayanagar’s among the wellplanned, upper-middle class

localities. But maintenance has beeninadequate. The rapidcommercialisation here has also notbeen complemented with enoughparking space. Unplanned projects andpoor execution like at Tagore circleunderpass, incomplete ones like theTTMC and a shopping complex stillwaiting renovation, are some of theconcerns of South Bangaloreans’’

GEETHA SRINIVAS REDDY | CORPORATOR, DOMLUR WARD

The survey report came as ashocker as the civic amenities in

my ward have improved a lot afterbecame the corporator. The survey musthave been done even before the BBMPelections. The rankings given aredisappointing. But older Bangalore’swards like Jayanagar, Ganesh Mandirward, Basavanagudi have scored wellbecause they were the core areas of thecity earlier. Areas like Domlur are newlyadded ones where planning of the layouthas not been done scientifically. BBMPhas still not given a single rupee for thedevelopment of the ward, but I am ableto attend to the public grievances. Myward has been given 128th rank, but ifyou do the survey now, it would not bethe same.

TOI

At the Indiranagarbus stop, there isno shelter and it isin badly maintained

CITIZENSPEAK

CORPORATORSPEAK

HANGER

bangalore patrol coverage, nov 9 - dec 2, 2010

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