The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Reporter's Diary

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 01, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Reporter's Diary

Whose banners are they?

NOW EVERYONE knows who is responsible for all those banners all over the city. Politicians thanking voters for electing them, those at the lower rungs of hierarchy fawning over their leaders' birthdays and announcement of some event being conducted. The gist of it: politicians can safely be held responsible for the posters. But they also have the audacity to complain that the civic body is not doing enough to curb the menace.

Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) Commissioner K. Jairaj made a cheeky reference to this scenario at a recent council meeting. Usually at the receiving end of corporators' barbs, he brought up the issue of posters and said: "With your permission, I will instruct my officers to have the posters removed."

When the corporators did not understand that he was actually blaming them for the rampant pasting of posters, in an uncharacteristic remark, Mr. Jairaj said: "We all know who pastes the posters on the walls. It is members from your parties itself."

Care for the cyclist

STORIES OF cyclists flooding some Chinese city roads are part of our modern urban folklore. Images posted on the web confirm this Chinese fascination for the mechanical two-wheelers, powered only by the strength of human limbs. How often have we tried to capture the essence of this fascination, to be duplicated on Bangalore roads.

Former Police Commissioner H.T. Sangliana ventured to demarcate separate lanes for the cyclists. The yellow line on the periphery of some key roads reflected Sangliana's concern for the eco-friendly riders. But that short-lived affair with the cyclists died young.

No end to one-ways

EVEN FREQUENT visitors to our city are bewildered by the maze of one-ways on practically every major road. That additions and modifications are announced every few months only adds to their confusion.

To reach two of the city's oldest clubs, Bowring Institute and Bangalore Club, one has to drive considerable distances and take a number of diversions. St. Mark's Road is one way and so is the major portion of Residency Road and the flyover at Richmond Circle has its own lane systems, which can challenge even locals.

The traffic police claim only more flyovers or underpasses can solve this problem. The vehicle population shows no signs of stopping its growth rate and we just have to brace ourselves for more one-ways, it seems.

Swathi Shivanand,

Rasheed Kappan,

K. Satyamurty

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