MLA Fund!

              Yesterday in the budget session in the assembly, our beloved Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced to double up the MLAs fund. Many legislators have been apparently asking for the raise since long, stating that the current Rs.1Cr wasn’t sufficient. This fund is purposed to infrastructure development activities within the legislator’s respective wards.

                Well, if the current budget wasn’t sufficient to take up the development activities and need more to do the job right, then the raise can be justified. But is that all? Is, just a gut feel of the sufficiency enough to double up the budget? Shouldn’t there (or was there?) a thought be given to the usage & tracking of those funds? What all has been done with the existing 1Cr? What do you intend to do with the additional 1Cr? How do you say that an additional 1Cr is needed? Is there a plan or proposal & an estimate for it?

                Or is the MLA development fund for development OF MLAs instead of development BY MLAs? J

Honey, I shrunk the garbage!

                Every city would always have a set of problems to deal with. Be it crime or infrastructure or terror targets etc. But the major one for Bangalore is quite a bizarre one though. Since the last many months one of the biggest problems in the city is its Garbage! Of everything else that can be controlled, garbage? Is it the fault of the Government or we the citizens?

                I would say both. Yes, it is the Government who should have made a scientific, fool proof processes for efficient collection & disposal. Not rely on age old methods or come up with methods that can fall useless on the scale needed for the city. And US? When was the last time you carried an empty cola can with you to ensure its thrown in the right place? How many times have you seen or you yourself have thrown empty candy wrappers or plastic bags in the open? Don’t we , amongst us, have people who throw away their domestic waste in the empty plot at the street corner? Well it certainly helps get rid of trash from your hand/house but is it helping the city any better?

The Chief minister & Mayor launching the program

                There must be a start somewhere & with this problem reaching the city’s throat there are many initiatives being taken now. An NGO started the “Kasa Rasa” program in Koramangala. A great initiative to take care of the waste locally, given that there are so many restaurants around. The Government, a couple of days ago, launched “No Garbage on Road” campaign in 22 wards. The idea is to have the garbage segregated right at the source making it easy for disposal/treatment. It doesn’t take a scientist’s brain to say this isn’t going to solve it all. Nevertheless, shouldn’t we be supporting it? I urge that all of support it, for it is OUR city that needs be made better and it will be US benefiting from it.

                Even school kids know dirty places are breeding grounds for mosquitoes. And with the number of Dengue cases rising in the city, it needs nothing more to explain how bad the problem is. We shouldn’t only HOPE that things get better, we should ACT.

Lord of the bumpy roads : The return of pot holes!

Rainy days are here and the legendary pot holes of Bangalore are back in action. After a brief break in many areas, the spine breaking pot holes have made a come back and how! I am confident everyone would agree that it's getting increasingly difficult to find roads in between the tears and pot holes of all shapes, sizes and formats. Has it even been a year since tar was laid across the city? The life of it says all about the quality. And no prizes for guessing if and who made money from that. Yeah, who cares about the quality of the roads, all that matters is if someone became rich.
                    With the government's nod for BBMP budget lets hope we get to see usable roads again - at least, since good quality roads is too much a ask.
                    My 2 piece of suggestions : 1. Avoid driving during rain, coz you ll never know if that water clog you are driving into is a pothole or the entrance to a basement :) 2. Bangalore Mirror is running a campaign (Holes of Shame?) i have also seen that action has been taken up on a few & filled up. So lets not let go of that little hope  and send them as many as we can.

Hoping for a less bumpy ride