Illegal sand mining at Ravgudlu mountains in Kanakapura for the last ten years has left resi- dents in distress. There are 150 families living around the mountain as well as an NGO called Vishwalaya. Vinuth Krishna manager of Vishwalaya said, “We are not getting water as sand mining has affected the ground water level; govern- ment has made no effort to stop sand mining.” “It's not just the Ashram which is affected, the whole village is in danger,” he added. Meera, resident of the village, said, “We had a pond in the village which used to be full of water, now it has no water.” Subramani, another res- ident, said, “Our wells and bore wells are dry because of sand mining.” Mr. Ashok Narayan from Space Geo Tech said "sand mining is very dan- gerous for the environment as it reduces the ground- water level." Rakesh, 23, said, “We start digging the sand at 8 am, in the afternoon we fil- ter the sand; this goes on till 9.30 p.m.” “If police or media come to know that, we are mining for sand illegally, we wouldn’t be able to work,” he added. Krishna Murthy, driver of a sand-transport truck said, “I have been working in the sand mining business for eight years now , I get Rs 300 for one truck-load; in a day we transport five to six loads.” Kanakapura police says that they have fined 20 truckloads of sand on Sep- tember 22; however they were unable to get details of people involved. Mr Venkatesh, the writer for Kanakapura police sta- tion who is currently inves- tigating illegal sand mining cases said "22 cases have al- ready been filed, 126 vehi- cles were seized and were fined Rs. 25,000 each." The three founders of Bookpad, the first Indian tech start-up to be bought by Yahoo, say India is not start-up friendly. Niketh Sabbaneni, 24, and Aditya Bandi, 23 were interns for Amazon and Ashwik Reddy, 21, was a student of IIT-Guwahati when they started an app project in May 2012. The young friends were frustrated that various doc- uments on the web re- quired different pro- grammes to open them. They created Docspad, an application that can open any document. Karnataka’s government has held up the Bookpad deal, valued at $8.9million, as a model of state start-up success. But Niketh said, “India is not an ideal place for start-up companies and es- pecially a tech start-up. We had to go knocking on a lot of doors for the invest- ments. We initially invested our own money and later, as we hired people, we invited their contribution as well. “The technical start-ups in India are not that invest- ment friendly and many in- vestors in India do not quickly accept the idea of SAS, Software as a Service products,” he added. The trio had problem focusing on the project as finding the investors and onvincing them to fund the project was not an easy task. “It was a real issue as finding the investors.” (Continued on pg 4) O bserver Volume 14 | Issue 9 Thursday, September 25, 2014 The Weekly Un-appy with India, trio finds success in US Darshan D Rane Aparna Singh BRIEFS Drunkards, drug addicts atend school at night Drunkards and drug addicts are causing trouble to residents of Manga- manapalya at night. Page 2 ‘Lollipop men’ scheme failing A road safety pro- gram for school children lacks trained personnel and well-equipped recruits as it com- pletes a year in Sep- tember 2014. Page 3 Infant death scheme in a state A health scheme is failing in the city as the government is not creating awareness and mothers are un- aware it exists. Page 4 Niketh Sabbaneni, Aditya Bandi and Ashwik Reddy Sand mining leaving locals in drought Illegal sand mining at Kanakapura Elizabeth Mani
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Transcript
Illegal sand mining at
Ravgudlu mountains in
Kanakapura for the last
ten years has left resi-
dents in distress.
There are 150 families
living around the mountain
as well as an NGO called
Vishwalaya.
Vinuth Krishna manager
of Vishwalaya said, “We are
not getting water as sand
mining has affected the
ground water level; govern-
ment has made no effort to
stop sand mining.”
“It's not just the Ashram
which is affected, the whole
village is in danger,” he
added. Meera, resident of
the village, said, “We had a
pond in the village which
used to be full of water,
now it has no water.”
Subramani, another res-
ident, said, “Our wells and
bore wells are dry because
of sand mining.”
Mr. Ashok Narayan
from Space Geo Tech said
"sand mining is very dan-
gerous for the environment
as it reduces the ground-
water level."
Rakesh, 23, said, “We
start digging the sand at 8
am, in the afternoon we fil-
ter the sand; this goes on till
9.30 p.m.”
“If police or media
come to know that, we are
mining for sand illegally, we
wouldn’t be able to work,”
he added.
Krishna Murthy, driver
of a sand-transport truck
said, “I have been working
in the sand mining business
for eight years now , I get
Rs 300 for one truck-load;
in a day we transport five to
six loads.”
Kanakapura police says
that they have fined 20
truckloads of sand on Sep-
tember 22; however they
were unable to get details
of people involved.
Mr Venkatesh, the writer
for Kanakapura police sta-
tion who is currently inves-
tigating illegal sand mining
cases said "22 cases have al-
ready been filed, 126 vehi-
cles were seized and were
fined Rs. 25,000 each."
The three founders of
Bookpad, the first Indian
tech start-up to be
bought by Yahoo, say
India is not start-up
friendly.
Niketh Sabbaneni, 24,
and Aditya Bandi, 23 were
interns for Amazon and
Ashwik Reddy, 21, was a
student of IIT-Guwahati
when they started an app
project in May 2012.
The young friends were
frustrated that various doc-
uments on the web re-
quired different pro-
grammes to open them.
They created Docspad,
an application that can
open any document.
Karnataka’s government
has held up the Bookpad
deal, valued at $8.9million,
as a model of state start-up
success.
But Niketh said, “India
is not an ideal place for
start-up companies and es-
pecially a tech start-up. We
had to go knocking on a lot
of doors for the invest-
ments. We initially invested
our own money and later, as
we hired people, we invited
their contribution as well.
“The technical start-ups
in India are not that invest-
ment friendly and many in-
vestors in India do not
quickly accept the idea of
SAS, Software as a Service
products,” he added.
The trio had problem
focusing on the project as
finding the investors and
onvincing them to fund the
project was not an easy
task. “It was a real issue as
finding the investors.”
(Continued on pg 4)
ObserverVolume 14 | Issue 9 Thursday, September 25, 2014
The Weekly
Un-appy with India, trio finds success in USDarshan D Rane
Aparna Singh
BRIEFS
Drunkards, drug
addicts attend
school at nightDrunkards and
drug addicts are
causing trouble to
residents of Manga-
manapalya at night.
Page 2
‘Lollipop men’
scheme failing A road safety pro-
gram for school
children lacks
trained personnel
and well-equipped
recruits as it com-
pletes a year in Sep-
tember 2014.
Page 3
Infant death
scheme in a
state
A health scheme is
failing in the city
as the government
is not creating
awareness and
mothers are un-
aware it exists.
Page 4
Niketh Sabbaneni, Aditya Bandi and Ashwik Reddy
Sand mining leaving locals in drought
Illegal sand mining at Kanakapura
Elizabeth Mani
Drunkards and drug ad-
dicts are causing trouble
to residents of Manga-
manapalya at night.
"They followed me as I
was walking alone and tried
to snatch my chain but I
somehow escaped," said
Geetha a resident.
Residents complained
that Johnson High School
in this area has no security
and people trespass at night
and get intoxicated.
“We know that people
smoke ganja and drink
there. Two months ago we
went there after getting a
call from the residents at
night but they escaped,”
said Kumar, PC of Bom-
manahalli Police Station.
"One day my roommate
reached late, these guys
taunted her and she was
crying," said Sneha, who
stays next to the school.
Sonu Jerad, proprietor
of the school, said: “Intrud-
ers had destroyed a statue
of Mother Mary and bro-
ken the windows of the
school last month but the
police didn’t register the
complaint and instead
blamed us.
“After weekends we
often find liquor bottles in-
side the school campus,” he
added.
Beem Nayak, ASI of
Bommanahalli Police Sta-
tion said, “There is no
problem in that area and we
haven’t received com-
plaint.”
Mustaq, a resident, said,
"To tackle the issue school
authorities installed a gate
last month and now people
even stand in front of the
gate and drink."
"I have seen men bring-
ing girls to the school at
night for obvious reasons,"
said Prasanth, a resident.
The residents said de-
spite all this the police still
don’t regularly patrol the
area at night.
The Weekly Observer Thursday, September 25, 20142
Students wash dishes at govt school
Drunkards,drug addicts attend school at night
Natasha Singh
School students have to
wash the utensils in
which they are provided
mid-day meal.
“We have a helper but
most of the time he doesn't
come, so we have found an
alternative for that. We ap-
point any two students
from any class as food min-
ister for a week and then it
becomes their responsibility
to look after the dishes,”
said the headmistress of
Government Higher Pri-
mary school, Hanumanth-
nagar.
Students of primary
classes of Government
Higher Primary School,
Hanumanthangra have to
lift buckets full of 5-10
liters hot milk. And also
they are forced to wash the
utensils.
“We don’t have any
choice. For this week
Vishwa and I are the food
ministers. And we have to
manage things on our
own,” said Rithvick, a stu-
dent of 5th grade.
“It is difficult for us to
do the chores. But we can’t
complain because our
teachers have instructed us
to do that,” he added.
However, according to
Mr. Gangadhar, Senior As-
sistant Director, Mid-day
meal scheme, “Utensils are
not supposed to be cleaned
by the students there. It is
the work of the helper.”
“There is a provision
that per 50 students, there
should be a helper. But as
per my knowledge these
helpers are provided by the
NGOs and the organiza-
tions themselves which
provide food to these
schools,” he added.
According to Mr. Ma-
hesh, Relationship Man-
ager, The Akshaya Patra
Foundation, that provides
food to more than 40 per-
cent schools in Bangalore
including GHP School,
Hanumanthanagara, “We
are not responsible for the
helpers. Our responsibility
is to provide food only.”
“Helpers are appointed
by the schools only on con-
tract basis. They are not our
employees,” he added.
Nikhil M Babu
Divya Kishore
Plug pulled on
power cut app?
The mobile application
for power-cut notification
by Bangalore Electricity
Supply Company has yet
to be launched.
The application, Fault
Management System (FMS)
was a novel idea announced
by Bescom on January 31 to
keep customers informed
about power cuts.
The initiative was taken
as power cuts were rising
and complaints to Bescom
were increasing.
FMS was supposed to
be available from July1 and
easily downloadable on An-
droid phones.
Once downloaded, the
user could log in with their
electricity meter number.
The app would release in-
formation through SMS.
The vigilance officer,
Ashit Ullah Khan, said,
"When it comes to techni-
cal stuff, we can't always
stick to dates that are an-
nounced. There are always
technical difficulties in-
volved."
Prabhakar Rajendra, a
resident of HBR Layout,
who takes tuitions at home,
said, “The app would have
helped me schedule the
classes accordingly. But I
gave up waiting and bought
a generator two months
back so that the classes
aren’t disrupted.”
Johnson High School, Mangamanapalya
Rithivick, a student
A road safety program
for school children lacks
trained staff and well-
equipped recruits one
year after its launch.
Lollipop man was
launched in September last
year to avoid accidents and
ensure child safety outside
schools during peak hours.
It is a concept taken from
U.S, U.K and Australia.
Out of 5,000 schools in
Bangalore only 174 schools
have registered under this
scheme. One member from
a school is trained by Traf-
fic Training Institute for 15
days and then placed out-
side schools during peak
traffic hours.
Traffic training institute
is ready to train more than
the number they receive
currently. Viresh, Sub- In-
spector at the training insti-
tute, said, “It is always two
way traffic, so we at least
need two lollipop man con-
trolling the traffic .Our
trainers are ready to train
more volunteers, but the
initiative lacks on the part
of the schools.”
When asked about the
money invested in the
scheme, M.G Nagendra
Kumar, Assistant Commis-
sioner of Police Traffic
Training Institute (TTI),
said, “It is an independent
venture by traffic police,
and expenses are covered
under regular salaries itself.
It is a successful scheme as
no accidents have been re-
ported as of now, and we
are in the first phase of
training with four complete
sessions.”
The institute has two
sessions per year in which
approximately 40-50 people
undergo the training . So,
far 180 trainees are author-
ized to be lollipop men.
Lollypop man scheme
was launched to minimize
the burden on the traffic
police.
“We cannot trust lol-
lipop men solely for the
traffic management, we
have to leave our traffic
spot to regulate traffic out-
side schools when the
classes are dismissed,” said,
a traffic police officer con-
trolling traffic outside St.
Mary Covent School.
The training institute has
largely seen private schools
sending their attendees for
training while government
schools lack funds and staff
to recruit lollypop men.
The financial burden is
borne by independent
schools for the total invest-
ment.
“Private schools receive
high amounts of donation.
Government schools can-
not afford this concept,”
Sneha Shiromani, parent of
a child studying in Govern-
ment High School in Bhu-
vneshwari Nagar.
Vice-Principal, St.
Joseph High School,
Mariam Angelo, said, “We
have sent out our man to
the training but he is usually
occupied in his main job.
We prefer our collaboration
with a private security com-
pany above the lollipop
man.”
B. Pradip, lollipop man,
APH school, said, “I am a
physical education teacher,
if I get time, I go for half
an hour to regulate the traf-
fic as well.”
Steven, a lollypop man,
said, “I was given only one
day training where they
used only visuals to train
me. I sometimes go on the
lollypop man duty if I get
time apart from my regular
job for which I am paid
for.”
Punita Maheshwari
Trainer displaying the uniform. Courtesy-TTI
‘Lollipop men’ scheme lacks staff
The Weekly Observer Thursday, September 25, 2014 3