Lake Revival Plan Welcomed

Citizens’ voice on revival of a lake brought a response from their elected representative in the municipal authority.


Several persons had written in Reachout about the need to rejuvenate Halagewaderahalli Lake in Rajarajeshwari Nagar.

Mr. G.H. Ramachandra, member of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, invited a group of concerned citizens and briefed them on the restoration plan.

This group – Clean and Green Mission Team – has been active in BEML Layout, where it persuades people to adopt an environmentally friendly system of garbage disposal.

Students' Cycle Rally for Greater Public Awareness

Interact club of Sri Jnanakshi Vidyaniketan conducted its fourth consecutive cycle rally, to create greater awareness among the public on some important civic issues.

The themes were: (1) Ensure babies get Pulse Polio drops, (2) Harvest rainwater and save water, (3) Plant and protect trees, (4) Avoid plastics, and (5) Don’t spit on roads and in public.

The 80-member rally comprised Interact Club and NCC Air Wing Cadets from Sri Janankshi Vidyaniketan and Swargarani School, and ten teachers.

The rally covered more than 7 km, starting from the school and returning there after touching Mysore Road, Rajarajeshwari temple, Corporation Bank, Munivenkatappa Bayalu Mandira, Ideal Homes Circle and BEML Complex.

Rohith, IX standard student of Sri Jnanakshi Vidyaniketan, has sent this drawing – Children Working for Their Living.

It has a very telling message:

“Why should we pay the price of poverty ? We didn’t create it; adults did !”

How Good is Our Rajarajeshwari Nagar ?

Last year, The Times of India, in collaboration with Janaagraha, launched Bangalore Patrol, an assessment programme, spread across the 198 wards of Bangalore.

This was done to assess basic services such as water, environment, sanitation, mobility and public amenities in these wards.

The measurement was on a scale of 0 to 10.

“The result wasn’t exactly what we’d expected,” they say in their report and add: “It was worse.”

Here is what the report shows about our Rajarajeshwari Nagar – Ward 160.

[It should be remembered that this ward is very large and not limited to Ideal Homes, BEML Layout, BHEL Layout and surrounding areas.]

In overall ranking, Rajarajeshwari Nagar stood at 56 among the 198 wards. Its overall score was 6.06.

The scores for basic services were: Water – 7.06, Mobility – 5.06, sanitation – 7.66, environment – 4.35 and public amenities – 2.93, Crime – 6.08.

The drawing presented here is by L. Mahalakshmi, student of VIII standard, in Sri Rajeshwari Vidyashala, published in ReachoutPlus School Showcase.

Reachout Reaches Out

Reachout in Rajarajeshwari Nagar entered its ninth year in January 2011.

Showcasing the talent of children in neighbourhood schools – at no cost to either the student or the school – was a unique effort.

For me, personally, it has been an interesting and satisfying experience of social service.

The story began with 8 participating schools in January 2003 and the number doubled in a year.

Now, as many as 26 schools and pre-schools are in.

Inspired by it, ReachoutPlus was launched in September 2009, for the general public, to encourage individual initiative and collective action.

The two publications have been combined, so that the showcase is seen by more people – over 15,000 families – and more often – every fortnight.

Reachout in Rajarajeshwari Nagar continues to be distributed free to all.

Citizens have been invited to write in English or Kannada, and the response has been encouraging.

– M.C. Ramaswamy