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TEAM TOI

n Monday, Bangalore’s seven million resi-dents got to know the identity of the 198corporators who will preside over their des-tiny over the next five years. The BJP haswon the mandate to deliver good gover-nance to the citizens.

The successful holding of civic elec-tions, in one sense, was the culmination ofa political process. In the other, it marksthe beginning of a journey in which thecorporators chosen by Bangaloreans get towork on delivering a better quality of lifefor the people.

To ensure that the BBMP poll makes adifference to the city, to make sure thatthere’s accountability in the system, to sen-sitise coporators to the needs of Banga-loreans, The Times of India is today launch-ing a unique initiative, Bangalore Patrol,managed and conceived by Janaagraha, aninstitution that works to improve people’squality of life in cities and towns.

The primary aim of Bangalore Patrolis to deliver a better quality of life, in a tan-gible, measurable form to the people. Thecampaign will present the corporators withconcrete data on five important measuresthat touch people’s lives on a daily basis:water, health and sanitation, mobility, pub-lic amenities and environment. This willbe captured by the Ward Infrastructure andServices Assessment (WISA) Index devel-oped by Janaagraha. While electricity isalso a very critical measure, we haven’t in-cluded it in this campaign due to certaintechnical issues. We might include that inthe next phase of the campaign.

Bangalore Patrol will provide all stake-holders with data for all the five measuresfor each of the 198 wards of Bangalore interms of say, availability of water, busstands, bus shelters, public toilets, drainageetc. This in-built provision for comparison

will unleash the competitive spirits of thecitizens, corporators and administrationleading to the overall betterment in thequality of people’s lives.

A lot of thought, effort and hard workhas gone into collating this information.To ensure that the data stands upto rigor-ous scrutiny, Government of India’s bench-marks have been used to assess each of theparameters.

An exercise of this kind hasn’t ever been

attempted in India by a non-governmentalagency. In fact, it would be fair to say thatthe kind of data Bangalore Patrol will pres-ent is perhaps not even available with thelocal governmental bodies. Even as youread this, Janaagraha’s ground staff thathas fanned out across the city will be col-lating data.The data collected under Ban-galore Patrol will be taken to every citizenof Bangalore. ToI and Janaagraha will holdcity wide events. The aim is to highlight

the data, mobilise opinion and put pres-sure on the system: corporators, local gov-ernmental bodies to improve the qualityof life of the people of Bangalore.

In the coming weeks, watch this space,as we bring you all the data that you need-ed to know about your ward. The aim Ban-galore Patrol is to make the impact ofengagement high resulting in measur-ableimprovements in the life of the people of Bangalore.

TOWARDS A

BETTER LIFE

O

A TEAM TOI

he Times of India, Bangalore, has been interfacingwith you, the citizen, in the improving public servic-es by launching several initiatives. We have regular-ly devoted space to ways and means of improving lifein Bangalore as also leading campaigns on specific is-sues like traffic snarls and quality of roads. In all theseexercises, we have got city planners, stakeholders andcitizens’ groups to engage in debates.

But Sunday, December 1, 2002, marked a uniquedate with civic concern. We had an invited audienceof about 200 citizens’ representatives armed with loadsof grievances. We pit them against a dozen publicagency honchos and local corporators on a canopiedlawn. And give them the green signal to debate issuesof civic concern. That could have been recipe for dis-cord and uproar. On the contrary, the inaugural ses-

sion of Times Connect, an ini-tiative to bring citizens face toface with the authorities, heldin the cool environs of the Ko-ramangala Club, saw a spiriteddialogue — although vehementand impassioned at times. Overthe years, we organised abouthalf a dozen more such sessionsin various localities in Banga-lore and one meeting in Mysore.

What was strikingly evidentwas Bangalore’s growing civicconsciousness and public en-gagement, induced by the un-precedented expansion of thecity in the last two decades.

The citizens brought underscrutiny a wide range of com-plaints: from piling up ofgarbage to rude official dispo-sition; traffic bottlenecks to en-croachment of public proper-ty and overflowing sewage tonon-availability of public trans-port. Encouraging the officials— accompanied by their sub-ordinates — to provide affir-mative replies and hand outpromises with specific dead-lines was our reporting team.

For sessions that spannedjust over two hours, taking upthe slew of complaints specif-ically was next to impossible.But copies of hundreds ofgrievances were submitted tothe agencies concerned for re-dressal. Thankfully, the assur-

ances came. “I’ll put my men on the job this afternoon”;“The flyover should be ready in 10 months”; “We’ll at-tend to that in three days flat...’’

The debates weren’t without some show of inten-sity and sentiment. An Ejipura resident thought thecondition of roads in his locality wasn’t any betterthan that of war-torn Afghanistan. A corporator did-n’t agree to the demand that roadside hawkers block-ing traffic had to be evicted; he sought to know whatbecame of the city corporation’s move to provide foodcourts in specific areas. The officials didn’t acceptevery complaint with a ready smile and a prompt re-ply. They reminded the citizens too of their responsi-bilities.All in all, Times Connect was an extension ofToI’s proactivity. It was indeed an effort to keep an earto the ground on the quality of life in our cities and towns.

CONNECTING WITH

THE CITYAND HOW...

TimesConnect,LaunchedAlmost 8Years Ago,Was ABlockbusterInitiative

ow do you measure quality of urban life ina systematic, objective and scientific wayso that it actually improves over time? TheTimes-Janaagraha initiatives Ward Infra-structure and Services Assessment (WISA)score/Index is one among many ways inwhich this can be done.

WISA score/index is basically a numer-ical assessment and rating of the quality oflife in each ward on a scale of 10. The scorewill tell you whether the ward is doing wellin terms of good water supply, mobility, goodtransport, good sanitation, good garbagecollection and disposal, health and law andorder. For instance, if a ward scores 4 on 10on water supply, then citizens will want thatto improve to 10 on 10 and can therefore seekmeasures from the local government bodyto improve water supply conditions. Thisway the WISA score/index will help citi-zens track the progress of their ward overtime whether facilities, infrastructure andservices from water supply to transport of-fered in the ward enable a comfortable life.

If a ward gets a high overall score it may

mean the infrastructure and services in thatward are good and if it gets a low score, itwould mean infrastructure and services arebad, thus necessitating improvement inquality of life.The score and the informa-tion on the quality of infrastructure andservices on which the score is based can beused by citizens of every ward to comparetheir wards with other wards and see wheretheir ward needs to progress. Citizens canpresent this score to the authorities to ef-fect change. They can act on the score anddata by persuading the BBMP or civicagency in question to introduce relevantmeasures where they are needed most. Es-sentially the WISA score brings systemat-ic localised information to citizens, em-powering them with very specific action-able data.

Authorities, administrators, corporatorscan use the WISA index and information toimprove and fine tune civic initiatives. TheWISA score is a good way of incentivisingauthorities. A good score might mean recog-nition for hardworking officials.

MEASURES THAT MATTERTEAM TOI

total five parameters that mattermost to you as local residents;scores tracked on a scale of 0 to 10with a final score that will help youdetermine the quality of infra-structure and services that’s pro-vided to your ward by the local gov-ernment; ability to compare howyour ward fares vis a vis a neigh-bouring one in concrete measures.In short, this is the new TOI-Janaa-graha WISA (Ward Infrastructureand Services Assessement) initi-atie to change the way you look atcivic issues. A way to engage, mo-bilise and put pressure on the sys-tem to deliver quantifiable im-provements to the quality of life ineach and every ward of Bangalore.

The ground survey has alreadystarted. It has been going on a warfooting for three months now. Whatyou will get soon are the reliableand authentic scores for the fivemain parameters that are beingtracked on this unique WISA in-dex.

The paramaers being mobility,water, health & sanitation, public

amenities (parks, playgrounds andpublic toilets) and the environ-ment.

The ward-wise scores for eachof these parameters will be decid-ed based on a detailed survey on atotal 28 indicators. “Research andaccumulated experience in deal-ing with citizen issues in the pasthas helped us in arriving at thesemain parameters,” said Janaa-graha executives.

Everything in your ward countson this index—right from the qual-ity and exact quantity of watersupplied to your house to the street-lights, roads and public transportin your areas. (See box for the de-tails). More than 50 people havebeen already deployed to check oneach of these parameters onground for each and every ward.

The human effort on theground is being supplementedwith adequate technology andequipment like the GIS maps andspecial water pressure monitors.The five categories will be assessedunder the following four aspects:Access, Quality, Reliability and Risks.

WHY BANGALORE PATROL

The Times of India sees its role as anactivist member of society, not apassive reporter of news.Our earlier

campaigns like Lead India, Teach India andUnlock Bangalore have all tried to addressissues critical to our nation and cities weserve. Bangalore Patrol is a vital, newcampaign in this series. It tries to address thecentral lacuna in the way our cities aremanaged; the absence of a monitoringsystem with the resulting lack ofaccountability of our civic bodies.

– Rahul Kansal | DIRECTOR,

THE TIMES OF INDIA BRAND

The genesis of the idea is about five yearsold. Working in the civic space,we realisedthat while budgets are presented at the citylevel, not much information is available onthe quality of life at the ward level. We alsolearnt that data on the quality of life at theward level is largely anecdotal. The questionthen was how to measure in a systematic,objective and scientific way the quality of lifeat the ward level? Thats how we came upwith the idea of assessing and rating eachward on a scale of 10 after collecting data onthe civic status of the ward.

The aim is to to improve the quality ofurban life from the grassroots, the smallestpolitical unit of the ward.Ramesh Ramanathan | CO-FOUNDER,

JANAAGRAHA

A unique initiative of The Times of India to monitor the performance of the corporators and hold them accountable to the people

WHAT WILL BE MEASURED?� WATER: Deals with municipal water supply

� MOBILITY: Includes motorised (public and

private) and non-motorised (pedestrian and bicycle)

transport

� HEALTH & SANITATION: Includes sewerage,

storm water drainage and solid waste management.

� ENVIRONMENT: Air pollution and green cover

� PUBLIC AMENITIES: includes parks,

playgrounds and public toilets.

� MOBILITY – Coverage of publictransport network, access to information,frequency, speed of travel, crowding inpublic transport, avg. cost of travel/km,presence of footpaths with appropriatewidth and surface condition, of dedicatedbicycle lanes, streetlighting conditions,pedestrian safety at junctions, presence offunctional signals/ road markings, qualityof road surface, speed of travel and

injuries and deaths due to accidents

� WATER SUPPLY – % ofestablishments with water connections,continuity of supply (no. of hrs/day),quality of water supplied and the avg. costper capita.

� HEALTH & SANITATION – Access tosewerage network, % of households withdaily door-to-door garbage collection,presence of litter bins on street,

cleanliness of roads, % of road networkwith storm water drains, instances offlooding, access to public toilets andquality of public toilets

� PUBLIC AMENITIES – Distance tothe closest park, sq.m. of park area per1000 people, distance to the closestplayground, sq.m. of playground area per1000 people

� ENVIRONMENT – No. of days whenair polluted beyond recommended limitsand the % of green cover

FIVE PARAMETERS AND 28 INDICATORS

THE DELIVERABLES

H

T

THE TIMES OF INDIA | BANGALORE | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2010

A TIMES OF INDIA INITIATIVEMANAGED AND CONCEIVED BY JANAAGRAHA

THE TIMES OF INDIA | BANGALORE | THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010

A TIMES OF INDIA INITIATIVEMANAGED AND CONCEIVED BY JANAAGRAHA

TEAM TOI

What should we understand by quality of life in an urbansetting and how do we measure it?Quality of life in an urban setting is the quality of in-frastructure and services that people enjoy and experi-ence beginning from the bottom the ward. For instancedo people enjoy good water supply, roads, good trans-portation, good sanitation and garbage disposal? Wemeasure the urban quality of life by measuring the qual-ity of these infrastructure and services. And we meas-ure it by what we call the Ward Infrastructure and Ser-vices Assessment (WISA).

How and why did the idea of Ward Infrastructure and Ser-vices Assessment (WISA) of measuring the civic progressat the ward level come up?The genesis of the idea is about five years old. Workingin the civic space,we realised that while budgets are pre-sented at the city level, not much information is avail-able on the quality of life at the ward level. We also learntthat data on the quality of life at the ward level is large-ly anecdotal. The question then was how to measure ina systematic, objective and scientific way the quality oflife at the ward level? Thats how we came up with theidea of assessing and rating each ward on a scale of 10after collecting data on the civic status (water, mobili-ty/transport, sanitation, solid waste management) ofthe ward using rigorous, objective methods. We decidedto give a score to each ward on a scale of 10 - what wecall the WISA Index after assessing its civic status. Award might score 5, 6, 8 or even 9 on 10 depending on thequality of infrastructure and service it is offering to cit-izens. By the score, citizens will be easily able to makeout where their ward stands in terms of facilities offeredand how the ward compares with other wards. WISA insimple terms is a score on a scale of 10 for the quality oflife in a ward. The score is an index, an objective meas-urement of the quality of life at the ward level. We haveworked systematically over the last three years and invery rigorous ways to arrive at the score/index.

What is the vision of Bangalore Patrol? What is it aimingto achieve?

Bangalore Patrol in broad terms aims to improvethe quality of urban life from the grassroots, the small-est political unit of the ward. In specific terms, the WISAscore/index will help people track the progress of theirward over time in terms of facilities, infrastructure andservices available in the ward. If a ward scores 5 on 10on water supply, then people will want that to improveto 8 or even 10 and will therefore seek measures fromthe local government body to improve water supply con-ditions. Each ward can compare itself with other wardsand see where it needs to progress depending on thescore it gets for infrastructure and services. WISA aimsto be a systematic metric by which people assess theirwards and they can do many things with this - presentthis score or metric to the authorities to effect change,and also working as community groups to improve theirareas. Ultimately we are looking at the transformationof each ward in the quality of life it offers to people ,and thereby transformation in the quality of life in theoverall city.

How do you see the WISA score/Index changing Banga-lore over time?The score will fundamentally help us understand thegaps in the ward what is missing and what needs pri-ority. Once citizens have the score and the correspon-

ding data in their hands, they can do many things withthis - present this to the authorities and seek relevantallocations.. For example, if a certain ward has goodroads, but bad water supply, the score will help citizensas well as BBMP to focus on water supply. Communitygroups and leaders can mobilise opinion and authori-ties to go in for targeted solutions to problems in a ward.We can also take the ward-level scores to get the over-all picture about quality of life in Bangalore and thiscan then be compared with that of Chennai for instance,thereby comparing quality of life not just across wards,but across cities as well.

How will the Bangalore Patrol involve citizens and BBMPcivic authorities?As I said, once citizens have the score for a ward andthe related data, they can then act on the data they canpersuade the BBMP or civic agency in question to in-troduce relevant measures where they are needed most.Residents can compare the score of their ward withscores of other wards and get to know what they lackand what they benefit from. Essentially the WISA scorebrings systematic localised information to citizens, em-powering them with very specific actionable data. Thedata is no longer hearsay or anecdotal or incidental. Au-thorities on their part can embrace the idea of WISA,evaluate it and if they find that it is an honest, objec-tive assessment of the health of ward, they can then al-locate resources accordingly.

Can there be a direct participation of the people in gener-ating the WISA index/score? Or even that of the authori-ties?At this stage we have envisaged a Wikipedia like mod-el for citizens who can give their own, personal scoresfor their wards. We will have a website from which theycan download forms and give their assessment of theconditions in their wards based on the infrastructureand services we have marked for assessment. This scorecan almost be a weekly citizen score on the status of theward but this will be informal and based on the datasubmitted by people. So their participation is direct interms of generating personal, informal scores for theirspecific neighbourhoods. But the WISA score that the

Initiative brings out will be certified, formal WISAscores that will be published and made public period-ically, say every six months. It is a certified WISA scorebecause it is based on systematic, objective assessmentof scientifically and objectively generated data. Thewikipedia model we understand requires greater ac-curacy and so the citizen score will not be a certifiedone until we achieve that accuracy. But it enables somesort of direct participation of the people in generatingan informal score. And as for their role in generatingthe certified WISA score, people will give us informa-tion about their wards in addition to our independentexamination of data on each ward. Such systematic col-lection of data from people means that people are in-volved in the WISA generation. As for authorities, theycan be of great help in giving us access to data on wardshow wards have been performing. Infact we have hadvery good co-operation from authorities and theyvebeen open to our idea of an assessment. They haveshared information with us on civic status. In all WISAwill be a participative venture of people and govern-ment.

How will WISA index directly benefit citizens and author-ities on an overall level?The WISA score/index is a mirror to each ward citi-

zens can look at the score and say what does my wardlook like, what needs to change in my ward and howmuch has my ward changed over time. It can be a veryuseful ward report card that citizens can look into tojudge the quality of their life in their immediate vicin-ity the ward. Once you measure something, you canmanage it better. That classical principle of manage-ment applies to the ward measure your ward and youcan manage it better. Authorities, administrators, cor-porators can use the WISA index and information toimprove and fine tune civic initiatives. The WISA scoreis also a great incentive to authorities if a ward is do-ing very well on many counts, water, roads, mobility,then it means the officials in that ward are doing a goodjob. A good score might mean recognition of the effortsof honest, hardworking officials. There are a lot manypeople like that but they go unrecognised lost in the bigsystem as they are. The score will bring them into thepublic domain. WISA will incentivise officials, ad-ministrators and corporators.

How would you describe the role of this entire initiativein transforming urban quality of life?No one initiative can be a complete solution. In thatsense, Bangalore Patrol is a piece of a puzzle. We hopethat it can be a catalyst of better urban life, first in Ban-galore and then other cities in India.

Will you be taking this initiative to other cities in due course?We are planning to do so. We have now launched it inBangalore and will begin to extend the same to majorcities in the country.

Your thoughts on the Toi-Janaagraha allianceWhile there is certainly need for a good and well de-signed civic programme that measures the quality oflife through good content/indicators, there is also thevital need for distribution and outreach. We may havethe model to change quality of life but we have to touchthe people. The Times of India is not just the biggestmedia house, but a long-standing votary of better civiclife. The Times commitment to the civic is one of themost enduring. In that sense, the partnership is an in-evitable one.

Bangalore Patrol, a Times of India initiative is managed and conceived by Janaagraha. Theinitiative envisions an improvement in the quality of life for Bangalore’s citizens. How would one measurethe quality of life? How would one understand quality of life itself? Janaagraha co-founder and civicstrategist Ramesh Ramanathan explains the concept of quality of life in an urban setting, its attributes andhow it can be measured and improved through an actionable index or programme called the WardInfrastructure and Services Assessment (WISA). Ramesh explains how the Bangalore Patrol will be at theheart of urban Bangalore’s transformation. EXCERPTS FROM AN INTERVIEW

A CATALYST FOR BETTER

URBAN LIFE

Bangalore Patrol gets a HUGE WELCOMETEAM TOI

he Times of India’s initiative managed and conceived byJanaagraha Centre to monitor the coporators’ performancehas met with an overwhelming response. From citizens toresident welfare associations (RWAs), the kudos came inthick and fast with hope expressed that it would positivelyimpact the quality of life for the people of Bangalore.

� Bangalore Patrol is a great initiative. I will behappy to support it not just as an individual but

also as part of the ABIDe team.

R K Misra | ABIDE (AGENDA FOR BENGALURU

INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT) MEMBER

� It’s a good initiative and it is perfectly timed. It comes at atime when we finally have a new council. In fact, we hadbenefited immensely from the previous Times Connect initiativeas well.

Sumati Rao | MEMBER OF MALLESWARAM SWABHIMANA INITIATIVE

� It’s good and very motivating initiative that has been taken upby TOI. We as RWAs are ready to support the initiative in everypossible way. Such steps should be encouraged by allBangaloreans.

N Mukund | CAF (CITIZEN’S ACTION FORUM) MEMBER

� It is truly laudable that TOI-Janagraha has launched BangalorePatrol. People should whole heartedly cooperate and join handswith this new campaign. They should unite and form groups intheir wards and collectively monitor the working of BBMP. RWAshave an important role to play. There has to be a massmovement, a revolution of sort, if we want to arrest furtherdecay and deterioration of this once beautiful city. The sloganfor the public should be: Be on your toe and keep the corporatoron his. And a word of warning to the elected representatives: you

deliver, we monitor. We the citizens should remind the corporatorsthat winning the election is only half the battle won. The realchallenge begins now not only for them but for us too. Electing acorporator is not enough, we have to make sure he fulfils hispromises too. Thus, both of us have equally challenging roles to play.

Usha G Rao | TOIREADER

� I think it is a good initiative. TOI has been spearheading a lot ofpeopleinitiatives. We RWAs will definitely support it with all that wecan. But, in this context, it requires a total involvement of all thecivic authorities as well. Ultimately, they have the power to execute.We have the exact figures now.

Brigadier Murthy | HSR SECTOR-2 RWA

� It is a good initiative. We welcome it. TOI and Janaagraha havebeen working on these issues at the grassroot level for quitesometime. I am confident that there will be absolute transparencyand accountability in all the areas and all aspects of developmentthat happens in the city. The involvement of the two bigorganisations and people participation can enable a concrete visionfor development. We as RWA members would like to co-operate andinvolve ourselves in the development of the city. Likewise the newcouncil should also involve the people at all levels.

Pradeep Kumar Reddy | FEDERATION OF FRAZER TOWN RWAS

� My God. It’s a fantastic initiative. WISA is a very good way to goahead. Especially at a time when the government almost cheated uswith continuous power cuts post the elections. The collaboration ofTOI and Janaagraha makes the WISA index more reliable, reachableand useful. There should be power parameter as well. The use ofmanpower and technology is laudable. We will also betalking to the our people and work out on wayshow we can also contribute to make suchinitiatives successful.

T Vidyadhar | MEMBER OF TRI-WARD FEDERATION OF

ASSOCIATIONS IN RT NAGAR

T

TIMES CITY4THE TIMES OF INDIA, BANGALORE

MONDAY, MAY 3, 2010

Try rainwaterharvesting During rain, parts of BannerghattaRoad look like a river in spate. Justhalf-an-hour of downpour is enough.BBMP and IIMB (located on BG Road)should join hands to harvest thisrainwater which will help theotherwise water-starved Garden City.

— Uma Kannan, Bangalore

Vacant plot turns dumpyard: Avacant plot on 16th Main, 1st Cross,HAL Second Stage, has been used as agarbage dumpyard for the past 30years. The plot provides a safe havenfor mischief mongers to carry out anti-social activities. Are the authoritiesconcerned listening?

— Lilly Bhaskaran, Bangalore

Modify bus routes: The Big10initiative has done wonders forpeople commuting to Electronic City.Also, plenty of G2 buses ply on theElectronic City-Brigade Road route.While these cater to commuters toCentral Bangalore, the connectivity toNorth Bangalore remains poor.Though there are B2 buses towardsPeenya, they ply only on hourly basis.Some G2 bus routes can be modifiedinto B2 to increase frequency.

— Manju, Bangalore

WRITE TO US

Write to (with photographs, if avail-

able): CIVIC PROBLEMS, The Editor,

II Floor, S&B Towers, 40\1, M G

Road, Bangalore, 560001. E-mail:

mytimesmyvoice@timesgroup.com,

with ‘Civic Problems: Bangalore’ as

the subject line. This column is ONLY

for complaints

about civic problems

CIVIC PROBLEMS

MY TIMES, MY VOICE

READER REPORTER: A BURNING MENACE

This is a regular sight at the civic amenity area of RBI Colony, Anandnagar.Heaps of garbage are burned very often. The fumes that engulf are turninghazardous for the residents. Also, a transformer stands dangerously closeto this site

—Ganesh A, Anandnagar

3rd Year Remembrance

ALPHONSE XAVIER

03/05/2010

You will always live inour Hearts andMemories, Guiding andInspiring us at all times.Wife, Children and

Relatives. Mob: 9448852267.

15th Year Remembrance

K PRASANNAN

3rd May

Your Fragrance lingersalways. Thank you for your grace. Omana, Manju, Sanju, Maya, Sujit, Harish,Neil, Aniket, Shiv

DEATH ANNIVERSARYDEATH

Obituary, Condolence, Cer-emony and In memoriammessages will be publishedat a cost of Rs.505/- for fivelines extra line Rs. 128/-(without photo) andRs.280/- per sq. cm (withphoto). Messages accom-panied with Death Certifi-cate should be sent toTimes Classifieds (duringoffice hours) or to the NightCo-ordinator (after officehours till 9pm) at 40/1,M.G.Road, Bangalore - 560001. For details contact Ph :25582527/25069571.

Wing CommanderA.R. HINDLEYO.B.E., D.F.C., A.F.C.,

R.AF. (Retired)passed awaypeacefully on

April 30th 2010.Beloved Husband ofLylah, Father of SonsChristopher, Nicholas,Anthony (Deceased) of

Daughter Frances.Deeply mourned &

Greatly missed.Memorial service will be

held at St. Patrick’sCatholic Cemetary, HosurRoad, Monday, May 3rd

at 12 Noon.

OBITUARY

Eye Hospital opens new unit in HSR LayoutBangalore-based Devi Eye Hospitals opened itssecond unit in HSR Layout on Sunday. The hospitalwas inaugurated by actor-director RameshAravind. Also present on the occasion were Dr DeviShetty, chairman, Narayana Hrudayalaya, AshwiniNachappa, athlete and Dr Balakrishna Shetty,chairman, Devi Eye Hospitals. A day-long eye campwas also organized at HSR Club.

Talk on BIA: A talk will be delivered by BIA CEO,Marcel Hungerbuehler on ‘Bangalore InternationalAirport - Today & Tomorrow’. The programme willbegin on Monday, 7 pm, at Rotary house offriendship, Lavelle Road.

Botanical society: The inaugural function of theBotanical Society will be held on Monday, 11 am, atthe Senate Hall, Jnana Bharathi Campus. 22961311

Puttenahalli underpass in three months: Thedeadline for the completion of the underpass atPuttenahalli has been extended by three months.State transport minister R Ashoka announced yetanother extension, while inaugurating the roadstretch above this underpass. This road connectsPuttenahalli and Jayanagar. According to BBMPsources, contractors had sought an extension intheir reply to the final notice from the BBMP.

Mesha Masa 19 - Sri Vikriti Nama Samvatsara– Uttarayana– Vasantha Ritu – Tithi: AdhikaVaishakha Krishna Panchami Hr:16-27 Nak:

Mula Hr:5-36 Yoga: Siddha Hr:20-26. 18 Jumadu’lawwal. Kali Day 1866854

Rahu Kalam: 7.30 am to 9 amBirthday of Dada Chellaram (Sindhi)

— Daivajna K N Somayaji

ALMANAC (3.5.2010)

METRO DIGEST

B SOMASHEKHAR (BJP)SHAKHAMBARINAGAR, WARD NO. 179

� AssemblyConstituency:Shakhambarinagar

� Area: 1.85 sqkm

� Localities: Jayanagar

8th Block, Jayanagar

5th Block, TMC

Layout, JP Nagar 1st

Phase, and

Shakambarinagar

WA

RD

PR

OFI

LE

CONTACTPOINTAre you a resident ofShakhambarinagarward? Have aproblem? Voice it toyour corporator:

Call: 9845155479 /42068646.

POPULATION

A T Subrahmanya | TNN

Bangalore: This ward is among theaffluent and old residential areas ofBangalore. Shakhambarinagar, anew ward comprising Jayanagar 5thBlock and 8th Block and JP Nagar1st Phase, has educated residents,with almost an equal male and fe-male population.

Some areas are exceptions to therule, like the 350 houses in Rajara-jeshwari slum. For B Somashekhar,a second-term corporator from BJP,the responsibility is as huge as thatof a corporator from an area whichis lagging in basic amenities.

Somashekhar, who is enthusias-tic about providing all comforts tothe citizens of the area, was also acontender for the mayoral post. “Wedon’t have many problems, but thereare minor issues, including drink-ing water problem at ITI Layout andother areas,’’ he says.

He has already distributed near-ly 3,000 copies of a unique calender,where each page of the 12-page cal-ender consists of numbers of all gov-ernment departments. Each page ofthe calender contains differenthelpline numbers and his number.“If they don’t get any help, they couldcontact me,’’ he says. Communica-tion with residents is the most im-portant thing for Somashekhar. Hehas a register in which he documentsall the residents’ problems.

Somashekhar had contestedagainst Congress and JD(S) candi-dates, but had won by a considerablemargin. After assuming charge, So-mashekhar’s first goal was to set upa helpline for property tax collection,as per the order. The helpline, situat-ed in the ward office, aims to help cit-izens wade through the complex pro-cedure of payment of property taxand also the receipt of cash discount.

Laying of footpaths in the entireward has been his immediate prior-ity. “The old sanitation lines in ITILayout are old, 6-inch pipes, we willneed to replace them with 9 or 12-

inch lines,’’ he says.Rajarajeshwari slum, the only

one in the ward, is getting a faceliftwith the Slum Board building 350houses for the slum-dwellers, andbiometric cards were distributed afew days earlier. “With the im-provement of the slum, our wardwill become completely developed,’’says Somashekhar.

What are your main observationsabout your ward?We have no major problem. Thereare some minor issues and wewant to iron out all of them in theBDA pockets which are well-developed, and provide all basicamenities in the new revenuelayouts.

What can residents ofShakhambarinagar ward expectfrom you?They can expect me to beaccessible to them all the time. Ihave distributed my number tothe residents and will beavailable to solve their problemsall the time.

What’s your main action plan andhow will you go about it?We have a lot of plans for ourward and under the guidance ofour MLA, I will soon have aproper action plan to tackle allthe major issues. As of now,there is a niggling trafficsituation near Banashankaritemple, and I will ensure theconstruction of houses at theslum.

Vision for Shakhambarinagar ward

Our ward is already a betterward and I want to make it amodel ward in all senses.

RESIDENTS SPEAKThe corporator should consult thepublic before taking any decisionand also allow the public to monitorthe projects. There are somespecific issues: we don’t have aproper playground in our locality,and the existing one is being usedfor several functions, which needsto be stopped.

— Mukund N | RESIDENT

The major issue is property taxpayment. But compared to ourexperience over the past two orthree years, this year, the processhas been much more organized.Sometimes, people at the centrehelp residents fill up the forms. Ithink they should look atimplementing online payment ofproperty tax, like in the case ofincome-tax, by assigning propertyIDs. They could also increase thenumber of cash counters.

— V Murali | RESIDENT

Our area is well-developed and wedon’t have many problems whichothers face. The corporator visits usregularly to ask about ourproblems. Footpath work is gettingdone, which is appreciable.

— Kannada Ramu | RESIDENT

Has the corporator of your wardgot down to brass tacks? Is healready in touch with ResidentsWelfare Associations (RWAs)and, in fact, got some grievancesredressed? If you or your RWAhas spotted such activecorporators, please give us thedetails. Team TOI will reach therefor a spot inspection andcoverage of the good work. Thisexercise will help recognize thehands-on corporators and,hopefully, shame the laggardsinto action.

Write to us at:mytimesmyvoice@timesgroup.

com with ‘Warding The Ward’

mentioned in the subject line

2nd Floor, S&B Towers, 40/1, M G

Road, Bangalore 560001

LET US KNOW

Enthusiastic Second-Timer B Somashekhar, Who Was Also OneOf The Contenders For The Mayoral Post, Is A 24/7 Corporator.His Immediate Priority: Laying Of Footpaths In The Entire Ward

WARDING THE WARD—6

I’M ACCESSIBLEALL THE TIME

PROBLEM AREAS� Drinking water scarcity in few

areas � Old sanitation lines � Traffic chaos due to ongoing

Metro work

KNOWING HIMB Somashekhar, 40, hails from JPNagar 2nd Phase. Has been anactive BJP worker for more adecade now, and won thecorporation election on a BJP ticketfrom Jayanagar old ward 58. This ishis second term as corporator.

He Is Keen On Providing All Possible Comforts To Residents Of His Ward

Photos: Syed Asif

A NEW IDEA FOR THE WARDOur ward consists of mainly educated people who are looking forsomething beyond civic amenities. So along with our Jayanagar MLA

B N Vijayakumar, I am planning to have an e-library in our ward. It will havethe usual books along with computers, and also serve as a BangaloreOnekind of centre.

Old area with few woes

MALE

FEMALE

11,506

11,733

Total: 23,239

A more stable life for cops

N D Shiva Kumar | TNN

Bangalore: The Police Es-tablishment Board (PEB) hascome as good news to offi-cers who are tired of beingshuttled from city to city onpolitical whims. The PEB’sinfluence is restricted notonly to officers of and belowthe rank of DySP, it can rec-ommend postings and trans-fers of officers of and aboveadditional SPs. In these cas-es, as per rules, the govern-ment should give due weigh-tage to the recommendation.

A major apprehensionamong officers was the un-certainty of their tenure ina particular posting. Thereare several instances of mul-tiple transfers within aweek. One of the PEB’s mainfunctions is to ensure thatsub-inspectors, circle in-spectors and DySPs workundisturbed for at least twoyears, as directed by theSupreme Court (SC).

The board’s role is sig-nificant, considering how

politicos meddle with trans-fers. When a new govern-ment assumes power, thefirst thing it usually does istransfer officers, particu-larly the police.

To reduce conflict andconfrontation, ruling partymembers lobby and get menof their choice posted totheir constituencies.

SC OBSERVATION While dealing with a PIL,the SC on September 22,2006, had observed that po-lice reforms had not beeninitiated, despite the rec-ommendations of severalpanels, including the Na-tional Police Commission.The court issued six direc-tions to state governmentsfor compliance, pendingframing of appropriate leg-islations. One was about set-ting up the PEB, headed bythe DG&IGP.

On February 19, 2009, theDG&IGP sent a proposal forsetting up the PEB. The gov-ernment issued sanction onAugust 24, 2009.

However, the board does-n’t have the last word. Thegovernment can modify itsdecision in exceptional cas-es, but only after recordingthe reasons.

shiva.kumar@timesgroup.com

Tenure Fixed At 2Years; Apex CourtDirective Led ToSetting Up Of PEB

BOARD’S FUNCTIONS� To decide on transfers, postings,

promotions and other service-related

matters of officers of and below rank

of DySP

� To ensure that station house officer

in-charge of a police station, circle

inspector and sub-divisional officers

have minimum tenure of two years

� To make recommendations to

government regarding posting and

transfer of officers of and above rank

of additional SPs

� Review functioning of police

� Consider representations from

officers of rank of SP and above,

regarding promotion, transfer or being

subjected to illegal or irregular orders

� Authorize SPs and IGPs to transfer

Group C & D officials within their

jurisdiction

Meters are ticking to

measure water supply Aarthi | TNN

Bangalore: One of the core ob-jectives of Bangalore Patrol, aninitiative of The Times of India,managed and conceived byJanaagraha, is to find out thestate of water supply in Banga-lore. Given that the summer hasset in, in earnest and the watersituation in the city is rather pa-thetic, this exercise couldn’thave come at a better time.

In an attempt to give Ban-galoreans an accurate pictureof water supply in individualhouses and wards, water pres-sure meters have been in-stalled and readings are beingtaken. The scores obtained willgo towards arriving at theWard Infrastructure & Ser-vices Assessment (WISA) in-dex which will tell you aboutthe quantity and quality of in-frastructure in Bangalore.

The target is to get the datafor all 198 wards by June firstweek. But, interesting obser-vations surface within just amonth of active groundworkwith the water pressure mon-itors installed at 10-11 wardsin the city, by measuring justone house per ward for onecomplete week.

Sample this: The recentbreach at Handihalla syphonhad the entire city in water cri-sis for almost a week in April.But, Jayanagar and Rajajina-gar were the only wards to getwater! While houses in Rajaji-nagar received water with low

pressure, good old Jayanagarmore or less got its regular wa-ter stock with an average 10-13metre head pressure (that’s rat-ed as good). Many houses heregot regular water supply forfive days (April 21-28). At theother end, Banaswadi had nowater for almost a week (April14-22). The pipes more activewith peaking air pressure thanwater. A point to be noted isthat, the readings are for a spe-cific period in time and cannotbe generalised.

Perhaps its time we dealtwith accurate answers and fig-ures. Given the huge cost in-curred on the water infra-structure in the city, it is crit-ical to monitor this indicatoron a city-wide basis and movetowards the benchmark. TOI-Janaagraha’s Bangalore Patrolinitiative does just that.

For long, we’ve been hear-ing about a total 900 MLD sup-plied to our houses at an aver-

age distribution of 18,450litre/connection across the sixdivisions of Bangalore WaterSupply and Sewerage Board(BWSSB). But, how much wa-ter do we really get and withwhat pressure? Wondered whya resident of Muneswaranagarpays just Rs 170-180 per monthfor water while those in C V Ra-man Nagar, Ramamurthyna-gar or even Banaswadi coughout a whopping Rs 2,000 for thesame amount of water? Thisinitiative aims to get you thereplies through the following:

THE STANDARDSThe benchmark for pressurized

water supply is7 m head of wa-ter supply pro-vided on a 24x7basis. (See

Box). But, very few Indiancities have a continuous (24 x7) water supply system. In Kar-nataka, Hubli-Dharwad beingthe only ones. Unfortunately,water utilities in most Indiancities, including Namma Ben-galuru provide intermittentand limited number of hoursof supply, as a means to man-age inadequate supply. This de-spite, a number of studies hav-ing demonstrated the negativefallouts of designing and op-erating such a system.

RULEBOOKAs per standards set by theCentre for Public Health & En-vironment Engineering, thecontinuity of water supply ismeasured as - Average numberof hours of pressurized watersupply per day. Water pressureshould be equal to or more thana head of 7 meters at the fer-rule point / meter point for theconnection (7 m head corre-

sponds to ability to supply to asingle storey building).

APRIL ACTIONWater pressure monitors (WPM)installed across the city fromApril 14. 36 WPMs out of the to-tal 39 already deployed at vari-ous wards to check the pressureof water flow in the pipelineevery 5 minutes. Using this data,one can measure the quantityof water supplied per ward. Tar-get: To get the real picture acrossthe 198 wards by June 1st week.

TOI

The target is to get thedata for all 198 wards byJune first week

WARDS MEASURED ON THIS WISA INDEX:Banaswadi, Jayanagar,Kushalnagar,Kadugondanahalli,Konankunte, Kumaraswamylayout, Rajajinagar,Muneshwara Nagar andGottigere.

WHAT’S MEASURED?Municipal water supply with regard to:

Access - % of establishmentswith water connections,

Reliability - Continuity of supply (no. of hrs/day),

Quality - Quality of water supplied,

Cost - Avg. cost per capita

TIMES CITY4THE TIMES OF INDIA, BANGALORE

MONDAY, MAY 10, 2010

1st Death Anniversary

K.P. JAYALAKSHMI,Retd.Teacher (RCIS)

29.03.1959 - 10.05.2009'You are and will alwaysbe missed' Sreekumaran P.K.(BSNL),Thara Srikumar & Seshanand P. Rao,

Thanu Srikumar, Brothers & Sisters

3rd Death Anniversary

K.M. RAMAIAH REDDY

10.05.2007

Ever since you left usanguished, along withyour memories, we havekept alive your vision &believes. We always seek

your blessing to give us courage to walk onthe path you have shown us. -Sorrowing wife & children

7th Year Remembrance

SMT. JAYALAKSHMI MANICKAVAL

06.01.1953 to 10.05.2003

Year may Roll Memories Never fadeBody May Perish Soul will Remain Inserted by,

Loving Husband : R. Manickavel.

DEATH

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Obituary, Condolence, Ceremo-ny and In memoriam messageswill be published at a cost ofRs.505/- for five lines extra lineRs. 128/- (without photo) andRs.280/- per sq. cm (with photo).Messages accompanied withDeath Certificate should be sentto Times Classifieds (during of-fice hours) or to the Night Co-or-dinator (after office hours till9pm) at 40/1, M.G.Road, Banga-lore - 560 001. For details con-tact Ph : 25582527/25069571.

BENNY ANCHAN(01-09-1942 - 09-05-2010)

Former Treasurer - CSI,Koramangala Church,

Joint Secretary - Basel MissionChristian Association

Cortege leaves residence at10:15 am and Funeral at

Hosur Road Cemetery GateNo: 1 at 11 am on 10.05.2010

Grieving: Grace Anchan,Kevin & Alina Anchan.Ph: +91 990 281 6401

No Abstruse Shlokas Or Shastras For This Swamiji. His Mission Is To Touch The Lives Of Ordinary People. He Toured For Years To Know The Pulse Of The People And Their Problems

A man of action, a monk of the massesN D Shiva Kumar | TNN

He isn’t your typical monk. He doesn’t hidebehind impregnable texts and arcane rit-uals to seek his God. He lives among the

teeming masses and touches their life in a mil-lion ways. He advocates family values and tire-lessly strives to provide education, food andhealthcare to people rather than preach com-plex philosophy and teach meditation as manyseers are prone to do.

Not surprisingly, he was honoured with thePadma Bhushan this year, perhaps the onlymonk to have been thus decorated. Emotionalbonding in the family is what he prefers overlaksharchana (reciting the Lord’s name onelakh times). He would rather plant saplingsthan spend time in penance. For the seer of oneof Karnataka’s most influential religious in-stitutions, the essence of life is parartha (forthe benefit of others).

Sri Balagangadharanatha Swami was bornGangadharaiah on January 18, 1945, at Banan-dur. He was the second son of Chikkalinge Gow-

da and Boramma’s six children. He was study-ing science at the Government Arts and ScienceCollege, Bangalore, when he read a newspaperadvertisement for the post of pontiff at SriKshetra Adichunchanagiri, which had a histo-ry of 1,800 years. His parents were opposed tohis choice, but Gangadharaiah was determined.

THE TRIGGERWhat prompted him to take sanyas? “I was aquiet child and a normal student. I watchedmovies occasionally and played football. I wasinto meditation and read the Mahabharatha,Ramayana and books on philosophy. I think itwas God’s will. Perhaps, I was destined to com-plete the half-done work during my previousbirth,’’ the swamiji says.

He narrated a couple of instances that left a

deep impact on him. When he was in PUC, hismother had to be admitted to Victoria Hospital.“I took care of her for years. Scenes at the hos-pital made me realize that life indeed is short.The experience made me wonder how smallthings can disrupt life. This could have moti-vated me to take up sanyas.’’ Another incidentstrengthened his decision — “I was caught inrain at Lalbagh and took shelter under a treewith my bicycle. A huge branch collapsed be-cause of wind and rain, almost crushing me. Ithought if I wasn’t lucky, I would’ve turned intoan abandoned corpse. This was when the mutthad advertised. I made up my mind and took abus to Sri Kshetra Adichunchanagiri.’’

From 1968 to 1974, under Sri Ramanan-danatha Swami, he learnt the Vedas and othersacred texts. As per his tutor’s wishes, he tookover as the 71st spiritual head of Sri Adichun-chanagiri Mahasamsthana Mutt in 1974, whenhe was just 30. And he hasn’t looked back since.Today, he’s one of the state’s most powerful re-ligious personalities, especially among the dom-inant Vokkaliga community.

SWAMI WITH A DIFFERENCEUnlike the typical pontiff, he doesn’t spend timein pooja, meditation, preaching and rituals.

“There’s no fixed time for pooja. Service is im-portant and not tapassu,’’ he says. The swami-ji is not particular about food: “I eat anythingvegetarian. While on tour, I eat whatever peo-ple offer me.’’

He toured for years to know the pulse of thepeople and their problems. He realized educa-tion was the only way to eradicate poverty andignorance. “I believe service is God. I realized

education, food, health and family values werethe priorities,’’ he says.

This zeal motivated him to set up over 475 ed-ucational institutions in and outside Karnata-ka, from primary level to specialized profes-sional courses where over 1 lakh students studytoday. More than 15,000 students have their mealsfree at these institutions and a sizeable numberstudy without paying.

To encourage children of NRIs to know moreabout Indian culture and values, Sri Balagan-gadharanatha Swami has opened internation-al schools with state-of-the-art facilities in Kar-nataka and in Delhi. “Of these, 85% cater to ru-ral students, 15% to urban. The quality is thesame in both,’’ he explains.

His contribution to the health sector is phe-nomenal, from organizing free medical check-up camps to setting up super-specialty hospitals.The 1,050-bed hospital at BalagangadharanathaNagar caters to the poor, where diagnosis, treat-ment, medicine and diet are free of cost. “Youcan go to any hospital, be it in Delhi or Chennai,you’ll find doctors and nurses who have passedout from our institutions. It gives me great sat-isfaction. I was told that of 400 Indian scientistsat Nasa, 104 are from Karnataka. And of the 104,90 are our alumni. The institutions have grownto such heights,” he says proudly.

The swamiji is involved in afforestation too;organizing relief work during natural disas-ters and building bonds with other faiths area must for him.

The mutt has 12 branches managed by 12 pon-tiffs. There are foundations abroad, one at FlintMichigan, USA, another in Berlin, Germany.The mutt patronizes and supports many otherindependent ashrams in Karnataka. Besideshelping in construction of temples across thestate, he has built a magnificent temple at SriKshetra Adichunchanagiri for Rs 100 crore.

What is daily routine? “It’s not fixed. I prayfor some time and involve myself with affairsof the mutt and its institutions. Earlier, I usedto travel and work for almost 24 hours. After myhealth failed, I have restricted my tours,’’ hesays. Though, he still finds time to watch films,cricket and football on television.

In recognition of his services, Bangalore Uni-versity, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sci-ences and an American university have con-ferred doctorate on him. “I want to continue myservice as long as I live,’’ he sums up.

THE MUTTAdichunchanagiri Mutt in Nagamangala taluk,Mandya district, is believed to be the placewhere Lord Shiva meditated. The presiding de-ity is Sri Gangadhareshwara and protectingdeity Sri Kalabhairaveshwara.

PUBLIC SPACE

PRIVATE LIFEKNOW

MO

RE

WHAT DOES HE DO?

As pontiff of Sri AdichunchanagiriMahasamsthana Mutt, he propagates heritageand brotherhood among all sections of society,besides being actively involved in social service

FAVOURITE THINGS:

Belief - Service is God

Favourite Game - Football

Food- Anything vegetarian

Message to people - Love is the language of God

Sri Balagangadharanatha SwamiPONTIFF OF SRI ADICHUNCHANAGIRI

MAHASAMSTHANA MUTT

Common people can’t digest complex shlokas and shastras. They have to be told simple things. From the Ramayana, aperson can learn about relationships, be it among brothers or couples. They should be told such stories, the moral ofwhich they can adopt in their lives. I believe life becomes meaningful only through emotional bonding. God’s language islove. If you have true love, it means you have conquered life

Sri Balagangadharanatha Swami took over as the 71st spiritual head of Sri Adichunchanagiri

Mahasamsthana Mutt in 1974, when he was just 30

SAD DEMISE

SANJAY B.S.We regret the untimelydemise of our beloved

SANJAY on Saturday the8th May 2010

Cremation on 10th May2010, at 12 noon

Banashankari ElectricCrematiorium.

Prof. Suresh Kumar B.P.Suryakala

and All Family MembersM/s Sujay Advertising

Bangalore

WRITE TO US

Write to (with photographs, if available): CIVIC

PROBLEMS, The Editor, II Floor, S&B

Towers, 40\1, M G Road,

Bangalore, 560001. E-mail:

mytimesmyvoice@timesgroup.com, with

‘Civic Problems: Bangalore’ as the sub-

ject line. This column is ONLY for complaints

about civic problems

Here, water iscontaminated Residents of M S Palya are facingsevere water problems. Many waterpipes in the locality are broken andthere are drainage pipes nearby.The water gets contaminated anddespite repeated complaints noaction has been taken so far.Instead, the residents were asked tosit on a dharna in front of thecouncillor’s house. Authoritiesshould take action immediately.

— Md Asif Ahmed, Bangalore

Problem of plenty: Recently, sevennew bus shelters were put up on K RCircle. However, no BMTC bus everhalts at any of these stops. Now, aneighth shelter is being built on thesame route. Authorities shouldimmediately stop this and makesure the unused bus shelters areshifted to some other locations.

— K V Pathy, Bangalore

Sad state of buses: The condition of theRajahamsa deluxe buses (KA09 F 4321) and (KA09F 3547) on Ooty-Mysore route is pathetic. Thenoise and wobbling throughout the journey standtestimony to the state of the engine. Also, thebuses look dirty. The drivers and conductors saidthey were forcefully put on duty in these buses.Authorities concerned must take up the matter on priority.

— Sandeep Keshav Thamankar, Bangalore

CIVIC PROBLEMS

MY TIMES, MY VOICE

READER REPORTER: A DEATH TRAP

There is an open sewerage at the intersection of a footpath at 7thMain near Aishwarya Bakery, N S Palya, BTM 2nd Stage. Are theauthorities waiting for someone to die before taking any action?

— Santosh, Bangalore

Chethan Shivakumar

Bhavishyanidhi AdalatThe Employees Provident Fund Organization willconduct Bhavishyanidhi Adalat on Monday at itsregional office, 1st Stage, Peenya. The Adalat willredress grievances of EPF subscribers falling under thejurisdiction of Peenya, Bommasandra and Whitefield (K R Puram) offices. Contact: 23721377.

Reporters Guild office-bearers elected: K V Prabhakarwas elected president of Bangalore Reporters’ Guild onSunday. It is a professional body consisting of reportersfrom the print and electronic media. Other office-bearersof the Guild are: vice-president K K Murthy, generalsecretary B N Sridhar, joint secretary M Chandrashekarand treasurer K M Shivaraju. Executive committeemembers are Lakshmiprasanna Babu, Kirthi Prasad,Shivanna, S Shantharam and N S Subash Chandra.

METRO DIGEST

Mesha Masa 26 - Sri Vikriti Nama Samvatsara – Uttarayana – Vasantha Ritu – Tithi: AdhikaVaishakha Krishna Ekadashi Hr:5-25 Nak:

Uttara Bhadrapada Hr:23-43 Yoga: VishkumbhaHr:24-57. 25 Jumadu’lawwal.

Rahu Kalam 07-30- 9 am— Daivajna K N Somayaji

ALMANAC (10.5.2010)

Gift to entice GP

voters recoveredTIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chitradurga: A silver gift worth Rs 1,000, allegedlyused to entice voters, was recovered from a dis-tributor at Bhimasamudra in the early hours ofelection day. It was supposedly a ploy to garner votesfor BJP-sponsored candidates during the gram pan-chayat elections.

Congress leader G S Manjunath, while talkingto reporters here on Sunday, said the gift items werefrom Gujarat. He added that the one recovered hasa photo of Mahatma Gandhi on it and resembles acurrency note.

ByatarayanapuraResidents Are

Longing For ChangeAarthi R | TNN

Bangalore: The ward-level measuringprocess is gaining momentum on theground. An inspired and motivated bunchof people are out there on the streets keep-ing vigil, trained to measure what’s on theirroads and even from their drying taps.

The Byatarayanapura ward is alreadyteeming with 30 active volunteers with-in a week. Equipped with a GIS map, listof categories and a key of symbols, theyare on the ground, measuring road stan-dards, spotting their namesake footpaths,counting street lights and even inspect-ing bus stops and buses that stop by intheir area — from the regular ‘parisaravahinis’ to hi-tech Vayu Vajras.

Bangalore Patrol, an initiative of TheTimes of India, conceived and managedby Janaagraha, has suddenly made citi-

zens acutely aware of the civic mess inand around them.

“Why is there no negative marking;what about the mud roads?’’ asks this cu-

rious homemaker as she checks the WISA(Ward Infrastructure and Services As-sessment) list. She settles for a bold 0 inher assessment file. “This zero should send

a message to them (authorities),’’ she says,happy that at least she could speak out andgive a grade in the hope of some change.

Each ward has a GIS map that has beendivided into 15-16 grids; surveying eachinvolves 4 to 5 hours of ground work. Vol-unteers are well-prepared for that, work-ing along with Bangalore Patrol’s fieldassociates. The questions and animateddiscussions that follow add value to theoverall WISA index.

“Where do you measure well-laid roadsthat get affected by overflowing drainsduring rain?’’ asks Ramesh, a resident

who’s upset about many such stretchesin his layout. A few like Gokul K suddenlyrealizes that the main road they often useand abuse has no name or number to startwith. “How do I go beyond this?’’ he asks.

Mamta, another resident, is shockedthat footpaths blocked with beautiful gar-den spaces are actually encroachments.“Who’s at fault?’’ she asks seeking answers.

Well, simply put, it’s systemic failure.And these are just some of the prelimi-nary observations. All these field obser-vations will be compiled along with datareceived from technical support and of-ficial sources for the final WISA index —finally, there will be answers to residents’questions along with reliable statistics.

Citizens alert, activevolunteers on the job

GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT: Residents of Byatarayanapura ward attend a training session

organized by the Janaagraha team. (Right) A garbage dumpyard in the same ward

Pics: Syed Asif

ON-FIELD EXPERIENCES

Work on the ground started fromscratch in December 2009, with wardnumber 1. In May 2010, field associatesstarted interacting and working withvolunteers in some wards. Here’s whatsome of the field associates had to say

about their experiences:

There’s been a great response fromthe people. They are grasping itreally fast and interested in doingmore. In fact, some are acting as

catalysts; they are encouraging morevolunteers to join the field survey —Anjana Krishnan

It seemed difficult initially, but collatingdata has been easy. I have completed 10wards now. It’s nice working withpeople. They are willing to work andthey’ve been very cooperative. I’ve hadsome memorable experiences collatingdata about D J Halli — Justin Ralph

Starting two months ago was tough. Webegan with no experience at all, and itwas during election time. I havemeasured 14 wards. Regular waterwoes apart, at least four prominentarea have no proper bus shelters orroute maps for a long time — Raja

It’s been interesting work. AtLingarajapuram, I saw a dilapidated busshelter almost ready to fall anytime.Yet, people continue to wait for theirbus under it, unaware of its condition— R Charles

ARE YOU INTERESTED?Have a query? Want to know more or evenwork as volunteers on the ground for theBangalore Patrol initiative? Just drop amail at bangalore.patrol@timesgroup.com

ON WISA JOBThe first Ward Infrastructure ServicesAssessment (WISA) scorecard for all 198wards will be out in June� Field associates on the project: 12

� Ground surveyors: 24

� People volunteers: 30

� Target: Measuring 32 indicators in fivecategories across 198 wards — Mobility,Water, Sanitation, Environment, PublicAmenities

� I phase of assessment ends by June

TIMES CITY4THE TIMES OF INDIA, BANGALORE

MONDAY, MAY 17, 2010

CHAUTHA- UTHAMNADEATH

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Puj. SrichandKishindas BathijaLeft for his heavenly abode

on 15.05.2010.Chautha for both Ladies

and Gents on 17.05.2010,4.30pm - 5.00pm

At Sindhi High SchoolK.K. Road, Bangalore - 01.

Deeply Mourned byBindu S. Bathija

Sandeep & KanchanNeeraj & JiyaBathija Family

Relatives & Friends(Parking at Bharat Seva Dal)

CHAUTHA

Obituary, Condolence, Ceremony and In memoriam mes-sages will be published at a cost of Rs.505/- for five lines ex-tra line Rs. 128/- (without photo) and Rs.280/- per sq. cm (withphoto). Messages accompanied with Death Certificate shouldbe sent to Times Classifieds (during office hours) or to theNight Co-ordinator (after office hours till 9pm) at 40/1,M.G.Road, Bangalore - 560 001. For details contact Ph :25582527/25069571.

Ban parking onroadside, foothpathsVehicles are parked on both sides ofmany city roads, affectingmovement of traffic. This even onroads which were either no-parkingzone or had space for only one-sideparking. Multi-storeyed parking lotsare only on paper. Wherever theyhave been constructed, the usage isvery less. Traffic police and BBMPshould put an end to this. Also,parking on footpaths and pavementsshould be dealt with severely.

— G Padmanabhan, Bangalore

Green space a dumpyard: The parkbehind Karnataka Bank, near Gokulflyover, is turning to be a dumpyard.Debris of buildings and other thingsare dumped here everyday. Moreover,this green place is also witnessingmany illegal activities. Authoritiesmust take up the matter on priority.

— Rajesh Xevier, Bangalore

Wrong-side driving a menace: Theunderpass work at Tagore Circle inBasavanagudi has resulted in trafficchaos. Double-side parking onnearby roads has resulted in slow

movement of vehicles, causingtraffic jams. Also, driving on wrongside has become a menace. OnDiwan Madhav Rao Road, vehiclesare being driven on right side, posinga threat to people visiting KrishnaRao Park. Police should take actionimmediately.

— Vasudev K, Bangalore

‘Award’ BBMP for shabby work: Ifthere is any international award forshabby civic work, BBMP deserves it.The 50-Feet Road inHanumanthnagar is in a messparticularly from Apex Bank stop toAvalahalli BDA Park. It is a nightmareto drive on this road because ofpotholes and incomplete civic work.Also, vehicles are parked in ahaphazard manner making thingsworse. Authorities concerned shouldimmediate action.

— A R Joshi, Bangalore

WRITE TO US

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able): CIVIC PROBLEMS, The Editor,

II Floor, S&B Towers, 40\1,

M G Road,

Bangalore, 560001. E-mail:

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galore’ as the subject line. This col-

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CIVIC PROBLEMS

MY TIMES, MY VOICE

READER REPORTER: WASTAGE ALL THROUGH

As many as six trees were cut to make way for a subway on Miller’s Roadnear Basveshwara Circle. The door of the subway, however, is closed mostof the time, preventing anyone from using it. To top it all, the subway isfully lighted up even when it is locked.

— Radha Bordia, Bangalore

Aarthi R | TNN

Bangalore: It’s getting closer to D-day. Actionis building up on ground. In the next few weeks,Bangalore Patrol, a The Times of India ini-tiative which is conceived and managed byJanaagraha, will be out with its first civicscorecard for the all the 198 wards. While cit-izens await for the Ward Infrastructure Ser-vices Assessment (WISA) index with curiosi-ty, civic experts who have examined the entireprocess, say this is what the city most wantedand are confident about the change WISA willunleash on the city.

H L Shashidhara, coordinator of trans-portation planning, Bangalore City ConnectFoundation, first heard about WISA way backin August 2008. “My first reaction was WOW! Iknew for sure, how valuable this project couldbe after completion for the growth of any city,”he says about his immediate reaction when askedabout WISA. Then, he was teaching at a privateengineering college. Moved by what he under-stood about WISA, he carried out a similar studywith his students for their final year project.

Till now, he has mainly reviewed indicatorsrelated to mobility and water and his quickevaluation of the WISA index: “These indica-tors can become extremely decisive when scor-

ing is ready for entire Bengaluru. The betterour indexing, the more prepared we are to planand react to the world we operate in.”

His quick suggestions on how a commonman can use these indices and mobilize for bet-ter civic conditions.

“The WISA score is useful for both citizensand politicians. Based on the scores obtainedfor each ward, any ‘active’ citizen or civic bodycan advocate this with the area representativeto improve the services provided to them. Theycan compare their ward scores with neigh-bouring wards to rightfully solicit for ‘equity’in services. For a politician, it will become aready-reckoner about the ward he is incharge

of. Managing a ward becomes easier for thecouncilor as the complaints generated by pub-lic can be immediately fixed based on the pri-ority. Devolution of funds from local govern-ment also becomes more efficient and wouldreach the needy.”

Dr S Ramadurai, water quality and groundwater expert, also had similar observations tomake. A retired senior hydro-geologist fromCentral Groundwater Board, he has for longbeen unhappy about the conditions of bothsurface water and ground water in the city.“There always seems to be a lack of direction.Now, BWSSB has an ultimatum for rain waterharvesting (RWH). But on the other side, we

are also progressing with concreting surfacesand trees are left with no breathing space. Anychange can happen only when the entire com-munity participates. This is possible only whenthere is transparency of what they really getfrom the government in terms of civic infra-structure. Unless you monitor the levels, youcannot plan any action,” he observed.

Examining the various water indicators be-ing measured under the WISA index, he said:“This is the way to manage the system. Ourmain problem so far is that we never had prop-er data to what we had even 10 years back. Atleast now, we should be able to continue withwhatever is available. It’s time to act now. Weare already late.” The mobility measures alsoworry him. “There should be rigid control onthe quality of road laying. There should besomeone to answer the questions and the stan-dards of work,” he says.

WISA is wise and mostwanted, say city experts

TAKING THE LEAD FOR A BETTER TOMORROWH L Shashidhara Dr S Ramadurai

IN A NUTSHELL WISA STANDARDSPROFESSIONAL PATROLLING

� Extensive literature review (which is veryimportant for a project carried out on thisscale and magnitude).

� Post literature and indicator briefs. A lot ofeffort has been taken to draw the proceduresfor survey, sample size, sampling methods,human resources required for survey,materials for survey, etc.

� The formulas have been derived by referringto high-standard publications, such as IndianRoad Congress (IRC), UK — TransportResearch Board, American Association ofState Highway and Transportation Officials(AASHTO), etc.

� Similarly for water indicators, a lot ofresearch and technology is being used toderive the formulas and calculate the score.

No sympathy for Sene,

says Venkaiah NiaduTIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: Even as chief minister B S Yed-dyurappa has declined to ban Pramod Mu-talik’s Sri Rama Sene (SRS), senior BJP leaderM Venkaiah Naidu has said that in the lastelections, Sene had negatively impacted theBJP with all the wrong publicity surround-ing it and some misinformation that went

around.Reacting to the

sting operation inwhich SRS leaderMutalik and hisaides were alleged-ly caught on cam-era accepting mon-ey to stage riots,Naidu told re-porters here onSunday that BJPwould never ap-

prove Sene’s methods and believed law wouldtake its own course. “The BJP and RSS havenothing to do with the Rama Sene. We do notapprove of the methods used by SRS. We haveno sympathy towards it,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, prisons minister Umesh VKatti told TOI that he saw the footage and hassought information by the jail authorities.“The footage shows Prasad Attavar, Muta-lik’s close aide, accepting money to stage ri-ots. Report on the footage is expected to besubmitted in next three days. Action will betaken based on the findings of the inquiry,’’Katti said.

BJP LEADER BACKS REDDYStrongly backing infrastructure minister GJanardhana Reddy, senior BJP leader MVenkaiah Naidu on Sunday said that the gov-

ernor should act as the state’s guardian andnot get involved in political controversies.

“The governor should act as the guardianof the state and guide the government. Heshouldn’t get involved in political contro-versies. The governor cannot become a judge.If there is something wrong, the judiciaryis there,” Naidu told reporters here, whilereferring to governor H R Bhardwaj sum-moning ministers and holding a court-likeinquiry.

Naidu’s reaction against the governorcame as the latter came down heavily on Red-dy who questioned his constitutional au-thority to summon him and two other col-leagues — G Karunakara Reddy and B Sri-ramulu — on a petition filed by CongressMLC K C Kondaiah seeking their disqualifi-cation on grounds of holding office of prof-it despite being ministers.

Early this week, the governor began pro-ceedings on the petition by summoning theReddy brothers. However, Janardhana main-tained that Bhardwaj was crossing his ju-risdiction by summoning a minister and hold-ing court-like inquiry.

Some hospitals

selling babies

for a price Seethalakshmi S | TNN

Bangalore: Couples waitingfor adoption have now foundan easier route to get theirbundle of joy. They book theirrequest with a hospital whi-ch, in turn, happily sells anabandoned child for a price.

The Karnataka Child Pro-tection Commission hasbeen receiving complaintsabout hospitals illegally sell-ing children for adoption,while the Adoption Coordi-nation Agency (ACA) hasstopped getting childrenfrom hospitals.

The agency, which is theofficial body for finally plac-ing children for adoption,has asked the government tobook hospitals for traffick-ing if children are givenaway without following pro-cedures and legalities as perthe Hindu Adoption andMaintenance Act, 1956.

“Not just that, fami-lies/parents who take chil-dren directly from hospitalscan be booked for kidnap-ping. Even if it is familyadoption, it must be clearedby the Child Welfare Com-mittees. Every rule must befollowed,” says ACA chair-person Aloma Lobo.

KCPC chairperson NinaNayak has written to thehealth and women and childwelfare departments to en-sure that hospitals compul-sorily surrender abandonedchildren to adoption agen-cies. “We have been receiv-ing complaints about nurs-ing homes and hospitals in-volved in illegally handingover new-born babies of un-wed mothers to coupleswanting to adopt children.”

A nursing home in Hanu-manthnagar is said to havedemanded Rs 20,000 from aregistered agency to handover an abandoned baby. Sho-ckingly, when the agency vis-ited the hospital, the child wasmissing and the hospital saidit didn’t have any child.

Again, last month, a hi-tech hospital in Udupi hadkept 19 children for over ayear. A week after they werequestioned, all children hadleft the hospital. On investi-gation, the commission foundthat one of the hospital au-

thorities had floated an NGOto place the children for adop-tion. “During inquiry, theyconfessed that mothers whopreferred not to take low-weight birth children or chil-dren born out of wedlock of-ten sold them to the hospitalfor huge sums of money,”says Nina Nayak.

Often, the long waitingperiod — ranging from oneto two years before the en-tire adoption process is over— is what forces parents totake the short-cut. “But it isdangerous to take away achild without clearing the le-galities and due process. Ifthe parents discover that thechild is HIV+, they willdump it. It’s more difficultfor the child in the lateryears... It’s time the govern-ment viewed all this seri-ously,” Aloma says.

WHAT THE RULE BOOK SAYS As per guidelines of CentralAdoption Research Agency(CARA) and Supreme Courtorder of 1999, as soon as anabandoned or destitute childis found by an agency/nurs-ing home/hospital/police oranyone else, a report shouldbe lodged with the police sta-tion along with photo of thechild.

The deputy commis-sioner must be informed,who, in turn, must imme-diately inform the nearestrecognized adoptionagency. The IGP should in-struct every police stationwithin his jurisdiction toundertake an inquiry im-mediately for tracing theparent of the child and theinquiry must be completedin one month.

SHORT CUT TO ADOPTION

Often, it is the longwait that drives

would-be parents togo around the rules

Metro to use carbon fibres TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: Bangalore Metro is all set go greenwith the use of carbon fibres for its coaches.“We are planning to use carbon fibre elementsfor Bangalore Metro. This is environment-friendly, less-weight and has more carrying ca-pacity,” said B S Sudhir Chandra, director proj-ects and planning — Bangalore Metro Rail Cor-poration (BMRC).

Speaking at a conference on the theme ‘Vi-sion Bangalore 2020 - unfolding the business ofconstruction and building materials for the nextdecade’, Chandra added that the carbon fibreswould be used in coaches or in the external partsof the Metro Rail. “However, the planning is stillat a preliminary stage. This will be implement-ed in the second phase. The details are yet to beworked out,” he said.

The BMRC also plans to harvest rainwater atthe stations. Rainwater accumulating on the25km stretch of elevated tracks of Metro Railwill be harvested. With the width of the tracksbeing 10 meters, BMRC is planning to tap at least50,000 cubic meters of rainwater a year.

Towards an integrated mass rapid transport,

Sudhir Chandra said common ticketing wouldbe introduced. “We are working out the revenuesharing formula and are yet to finalize it,” hesaid.

Besides, battery buses will be deployed to car-ry passengers to the metro stations. “Circular busservice would be introduced at every metro sta-tion. These buses will run within 3 to 4 kilometreradius, thus reducing travel time from house tometro station to 15-20 minutes,” he said.

Four Jains take deekshaTIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: To be detached from the materialworld and focus on the spiritual upliftment of theirsouls, four women from the Jain community tookdeeksha (a vow to renounce worldly pleasures andlead a life of austerity) on Saturday.

Manju Daga from Jaipur, Shilpa Srisrimalfrom Shimoga, Shilpa Bagrecha from Koppal andPreeti Kanunga from Hubli took the vows at 12.15pm at Maratha Hostel under the banner of ShreeJain Ratna Hiteshi Shravak Sangh, Bangalore,under the guidance of Mahasati Sri GyanlatajiSadhviji and fellow sadhvis with the blessing ofacharya Sri Heera Chandraji Maharaj Sahib.

METRO DIGEST

HIV victimsrememberedInternational CandlelightMemorial Day was observed byHIV-affected persons atNayandahalli, Mysore Road, onSunday. The event was organizedby Bangalore HIV and AIDSForum, a coalition of over 40 civilsociety organizations, NGOs andcommunity based organizations.Candlelight memorial is observedto remember those who lost theirlives to HIV and to support thoseliving with HIV.

Water Adalat: BWSSB will holdWater Adalat for south 4 sub-division on Monday from 9.30 amto 11 am at the AEE’s office, MNKPark. Disputes of customerscoming under the jurisdiction ofMNK Park, Chamarajpet andMountJoy service station limitswill be heard. 22945143

Karaga Samiti stage protest:Agitated over the problem of landacquisition on Pailvan KrishnappaRoad, Karaga Bhavan Horata

Samiti on Saturday held a protestdemanding back the land. “BBMPcouncil had approved theallocation of 5,066 feet land forKaraga Bhavan on October 29,2005. Chief minister B SYeddyurappa had directed theurban development and financedepartment to fasten the processand provide land to us,” said BabuAditya, member of the Samiti.

Applications invited: DharithreeTrust Residential School hasinvited application from parentsof children above 10 years withmental retardation and multipledisabilities for admission to theschool at Narasipura village,Koratagere Road, Nelamangalataluk, Bangalore Rural district.9743915961

Vrishabha Masa 03 - Sri VikritiNama Samvatsara – Uttarayana –

Vasantha Ritu – Tithi: ShuddhaVaishakha Shukla Chaturthi Hr:

24-38 Nak: Ardra Hr: 23-19 Yoga:Dhriti Hr: 13-38. 02 Jumadu’s

Sani. Kali Day 1866868Rahu Kalam: 7.30 am to 9 am

— Daivajna K N Somayaji

ALMANAC (17.5.2010)

How to accessICSE, ISC results

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: ICSE and ISC results will bedeclared on May 19, 2010 at 3 pm. The re-sults will be available through internetor mobile phones.

ON SMSFor viewing the ICSE ‘10 result: Enteryour index number in the following way:If your index number is T/4331/009, thentype: ICSE T4331009 For viewing the ISC‘10 result: Enter your index number inthe following way: If your index numberis B/8531/009, then type: ISC B8531009.Send SMS to 56388 or 52424 or 56263 or51818.

WEBSITES FOR RESULTSw w w. c i s c e . i n d i a r e s u l t s . c o m ;www.cisce.ndtv.com; www.cisce.examre-sults.net; www.cisce.myschool.in.com

All school principals have been givenpersonalized passwords to view their re-spective school results. The exams wereconducted in March 2010. As for CBSE andCET, the dates are yet to be finalised thoughthe officials have confirmed that it willcome out this week.

AN ECO-FRIENDLY MOVE

Rs 25 lakh for KCPBangalore: Students and faculty ofKarnataka Chitrakala Parishath will nowhave a permanent place for exhibiting artwork. BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu laid thefoundation stone for the Artist ConventionBlock on the Parishath premises on Sunday.

Naidu, who had sanctioned Rs 25 lakh forthe block, announced an additional Rs 25lakh from his MP fund. MP P C Mohansanctioned Rs 5 lakh and transport ministerR Ashoka also announced Rs 5 lakh. TNN

M Venkaiah Naidu

‘Hand over unclaimed bodies to BMC’TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: To put an end to the tussle be-tween private medical colleges for takingunclaimed dead bodies involved in medico-legal cases, city police commissioner,Shankar Bidari, has directed cops to handover such bodies only to Bangalore MedicalCollege. Quoting Sec 4 of the Mysore Anato-my Act, 1957, Bidari said the unclaimed bod-ies, involved in medico-legal cases like un-natural deaths and accidents, could be hand-

ed over to only four government medicalcolleges, that too after collecting Rs 10,000.In Bangalore, such bodies can be handedover to BMC only.

Earlier, a former police inspector of Madi-wala police station was dismissed along withtwo other personnel, for selling a body to aprivate medical college. Bidari said the un-claimed bodies, which doesn’t require post-mortem and were unclaimed, should be hand-ed over to the director, Bangalore MedicalCollege and Research Institute.

EARLY MORNING RIDE ON BIKE FROM NANDI HILLSPROVES FATAL TO 23-YR-OLD BBM STUDENT | 3

INDIGENOUSLY-BUILT LIGHT COMBAT COPTERMAKES MAIDEN FLIGHT AT HAL AIRPORT | 3

THE TIMES OF INDIA, BANGALORE | MONDAY, MAY 24, 2010

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Bahubali statue begins

its journey to GujaratTIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: This 41-foot tall statue weighing400 tonnes is perhaps one of the world’s largeststatues of Bahubali. Made in Bangalore, thestatue is now on its way to Gujarat, where itwill be installed.

Sculpted out of a single block of 400-tonnegranite, from Koira near Devanahalli, byrenowned artist Ashok Gudigar and his 10-member team, the statue has a height of 41feet, width of 14 feet and thickness of 6.5 feet.

It took them 14 months to complete the stat-ue. The search for the right stone and sculp-tor began two years ago. After an exhaustivesearch, it was decided that the stone and thescultptor have to be from Karnataka only, sincea similar stone and style of sculpture werenot available elsewhere, the officials said.

The idol will be installed at Songadh vil-

lage of Sihor taluk, Bhavnagar district, Gu-jarat, on a hill where Digambar Jain saintPujya Kanji Swamiji had preached the prin-ciples of Jainism over a period of 45 years.The idol is being transported on a special ve-hicle with 140 wheels in 45 days.

From sculpting his first crude idol of LordGanesha 30 years ago to this mammoth 41-foot Bahubali idol in 14 months, it has beenan eventful journey for Ashok Gudigar, agold medalist and national award winnersculptor who hails from a family of sculp-tors in Sagar, Shimoga.

“It’s my masterpiece. We’ve worked hardfor it and it will remain in memory forever,”said the 40-year-old artist. Ashok has sculpt-ed 4-5 big statues till date, including a 38-foottall statue of Lord Hanuman at Haridwarfour years ago and another 28-foot idol for atemple in Chennai.

A platform to relivetheir good old days

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: This is the place to age with grace.The fourth Coffee Chavadi Centre for seniorcitizens was inaugurated on Sunday at Ba-nashankari 3rd Stage.

Set up at a dance hall near Parampara Artand Culture Centre, this chavadi centre willbe the meeting point for at least 50-60 agedand retired citizens wanting to mingle withthe crowd. The centre will be open from 4 pmto 6 pm on all days. The place will serve as aplatform for senior citizens to revive their in-terests on various subjects that will inspirethem to lead a self-sustained and successfullife. The centre will also celebrate birthdaysand organize small tours.

Dignity Foundation targets to set up atleast 20 such centres with total 20,000 mem-bers by December this year. Similar centreshave been also set up at Cox Town, Hebbaland Magadi Road. The next centre is likely tocome up at Jayanagar.

“It will be a space to relive all their olddays. This is one of many services for the sen-ior citizens. This, considering the fact that lo-gistics is the main problem for the aged,” Dig-nity Foundation director N B Jaiprakash said.

The new centre was inaugurated by B Ra-machandra Upadhya, president of Kar-nataka Pradesh Hotels’ and Restaurants As-sociation. 41511307.

TOI

ON A SPIRITUAL SOJOURN: The statue is sculpted out of a single block of granite and is

transported to Gujarat in a special vehicle with 140 wheels

Spiritual experience on Buddha Poornima TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: It’s time for medita-tion and spiritual involvementwith Buddha Poornima nearing.Times Foundation is bringing toyou special events to mark the oc-casion from May 24 to 27.

Buddha Poornima, which fallson the full moon night in themonth of Vaisakha (either inApril or May), commemorates thebirth anniversary of Lord Bud-dha, founder of Buddhism, whogave to this world the precious giftof ‘Anapanasati Meditation’, thesimplest breath meditation tech-nique. Pilgrims from all over thecountry visit Buddhist temples tomeditate and interact spiritually

during this annualevent. The celebrationswere started by Fa-Hien,a scholar from China.

This year, BuddhaPoornima falls on May27. In Sri Lanka, it isknown as Wesak festivaland in India, it is BuddhaJayanti. Like all otherBuddhist festivals, it isobserved according to the lunaryear. Vaisaka Poornima is cele-brated especially in Boddha Gaya,Lumbini and Kushinara as they arethe holy places connected with LordBuddha’s birth, enlightenment andthe Parinirvana. Sarnath, the capi-tal of Buddhism, too celebratesVaisaka Purnima in a grand way.

In most of the Bud-dhist countries, vil-lages, roads, streets,temples and houses areadorned with colourfullanterns and other dec-orations. Meditationdone on this day is be-lieved to be effective.

Times Foundation,in association with

Pyramid Valley and Dhyan Foun-dation, will conduct a number offollowing events on the eve ofBuddha Poornima. The First Na-tional Congress of Spiritual Sci-entists (NCSS) will be held at thePyramid Valley Internationalcampus, along with the BuddhaPoornima celebrations. Several

spiritual scientists from differentparts of India such as guruji Kr-ishnananda, H R Nagendra, YogiAshwini, Newton, D RKarthikeyanji and others willpresent their work and findingsduring the event that will be heldfrom 10 am to 5 pm everyday fromMay 24 to 27. Details can be hadfrom 9448177563 and 43432525 orwww.pyramidvalley.org

Special dhyan will be held onBuddha Poornima, in the presenceof Yogi Ashwini, on May 27 at 6.30pm at the Indian Institute of WorldCulture, Wadia Hall 6, BP WadiaRoad, opposite M N Krishna RaoPark, Basavanagudi. For registra-tions, call 9739804355, 9945770439 orlog on to ww.dhyanfoundation.com.

Soon, civic redressalswill be just a click away

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: Get prepared for an e-revolution in civic life. You will nothave to run around or make repeat-ed calls for the fused streetlights,potholed roads, fallen trees or dam-aged electric poles in your area. Justcome online, write about it and getit fixed by the concerned agency.

Finally, India’s IT capital canboast of a holistic public complaintmanagement system, one that inte-grates complaining civilians, act-ing civic agencies and the rulinggovernment online.

The Times of India’s BangalorePatrol, conceived and managed byJanaagraha, is working on an on-line complaint management sys-tem where people can log in, lo-cate their area, file their com-plaint and submit it online. Thesecomplaints will then be directedto the concerned authority. Theagencies will also have an optionto log in and update the complaintstatus online.

The idea is based on commonman’s experiences and careful stud-ies of the various success modelsthat have been adopted and imple-

mented in many developed coun-tries, including the UK and the US.

UK’s http://www.fixmystreet.comis already doing it for many yearsnow. So is the http://www.seeclick-fix.com in US that equips the com-mon man and the governing agen-

cies on reporting and receiving is-sues across the various neighbour-hood communities.

This facility will be made avail-able online on the WISA portal, amonth after the first report card forall the 198 wards is out.

Online Complaint Management System To Be In Place

WISA BULLETIN� The first Ward InfrastructureServices Assessment (WISA)scorecard of Bangalore Patrolwill be out in June

� Target: Measuring 32indicators along five categoriesacross 198 wards. The maincategories include mobility,water, sanitation, environment& public amenities

� Till date, 19,800 interviewshave been completed by A CNielson across all the 198 wards

� Ground data and survey workfor 160 wards complete. Thisincludes data collection for fourcategories. The water meterdata is complete for 60 wards

� People-volunteer database

for Bangalore Patrol is also onthe rise. Have a query? Want toknow more, or even work asvolunteers for BangalorePatrol? Just drop in a mail at:bangalore.patrol@timesgroup.com

A farmer’s family was

taken out in a

procession on a

chariot pulled by

chief minister

B S Yeddyurappa,

ministers and mutt

chiefs at the organic

farmers’ convention

at Kudalasangama in

Bagalkot on Sunday.

The honour went to

Hanumanthappa

Karagi and

Ratnavva family

(inset) from

Katenahalli in

Byadagi taluk of

Haveri district for

their dedication to

the organic

farming

ponnappa48@dataone.in

Health campsA free dental check-up camp will be heldfrom Monday to May 29 between 9 am and2 pm at P D Hinduja Sindhi Hospital,Sampangiramnagar. Senior citizens mayavail 25% concession on full dentures andchildren 20% on dental procedures.22237117� A free eye and dental check-up for

schoolchildren fromMonday to May 29 from 10am to 1 pm by Sai JyothiDental Clinic, #11, UlsoorTank Road, opposite Ulsoorlake. 9845215615

Award for BMTC: Bangalore MetropolitanTransport Corporation has bagged the chiefminister’s Ratna Award for best practices,excellence in performance and beingpioneer in many activities. The award wasreceived by Syed Zameer, MD, BMTC fromthe CM on May 17.

Water Adalat: The BWSSB will conductWater Adalat for consumers of JP Nagar1st Phase and 6th Phase on Monday at theAEE’s office, South-5, Kottanur Dinne.22945230

Get rebate on electricity bills: Bescomhas requested all itscustomers to availthe facility of rebatein electricity bills(upto Rs 50 maximumper month) byinstalling the solarwater heaters in theirdomesticinstallations at theearliest. The

customers who seek to avail of this rebatehave to submit an application at theirrespective sub-divisions along with thecopy of the bill for having purchased andinstalled solar water heaters.

Vrishabha Masa 10 - Sri Vikriti NamaSamvatsara – Uttarayana – Vasantha

Ritu – Tithi: Shuddha Vaishakha ShuklaEkadashi Hr:9-47 Nak: Hasta Hr:13-57

Yoga: Siddhi Hr:15-26. 09 Jumadu’sSani. Kali Day 1866875 Mohini

Ekadashi Rahu Kalam: 7.30 am to 9 am

ALMANAC (24.5.2010)

— Daivajna K N Somayaji

Last dateextended: The lastdate for payment ofexamination feeand submission ofexaminationapplication formsfor II and IVsemester PG,including MCA andMBA, has beenextended till May 28(with a fine of Rs500), a BangaloreUniversity pressrelease said. TNN

METRO DIGEST

WEATHER

Max: 32.40 C; Min: 21.60 CRainfall: 3.6 mmHumidity: 51%Sunset (Monday): 6.40 pm

Sunrise (Tuesday): 5.53 am Moonrise (Monday): 3.23 pmMoonset (Monday): 02.36 amForecast: Partly cloudy sky. Rain/thundershowerswould occur in some areas. Maximum temperaturewill be around 330 C.

ANOTHER FEATHER IN HER CAP: Infosys

Foundation chairperson Sudha Murty is

bestowed with the Basavashree Award

by transport minister R Ashoka in

Bangalore on Sunday

Md Asad

STATE HONOURS FARMER