Bangalore Mélange

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Bangalore Open could lose WTA Tier II status

BANGALORE, India, March 4 (Reuters) - A decision on whether the Bangalore Open will remain a Tier II event will be taken in the next few months, WTA chief Larry Scott said on Tuesday.
The Bangalore Open, in its third year, was upgraded to Tier II this season which Scott said was on a trial basis as the WTA was finalising plans for restructuring the tour.

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Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Credibility at stake: BIAL

Albert Brunner, CEO of BIAL, while making his point against the retention of the existing HAL airport, said, "Give me one reason, why it should be kept open. There are about three to four reasons on why BIAL can become the transport hub of South India...

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Retain old airport: HAL

Speaking at a seminar on ‘Should HAL airport be closed’ he said, “We have come a long way from the beginning of the HAL airport in the 1940, when the Royal Airforce started its operations from there. With 150 passenger flights making 380 movements a day, we have achieved a 47 per cent growth in 2007. There is room for both.

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It's 'race' at snail's pace here

The road is dug up, buildings are demolished, wall of the Turf Club has been reduced to the ground. But, the widening of Race Course Road is yet to begin...

The project has not progressed at all in the last three months, and the delayed work has put both pedestrians and motor riders at great risk.

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B`lore`s 75% of SEZ office space pre-committed

Nearly 75 per cent of the 5.8 million square feet of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) office space set to enter the Bangalore market in 2008-09 are pre-committed.

Built-to-suit (BTS) or campus developments have gained greater momentum in the SEZ space occupancies in the city and developers are busy with BTS arrangements by signing up large companies like Cisco, Accenture and IBM.

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Bangalore airport faces GMR heat

The management of the Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) is likely to come under pressure to follow GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd’s (GHIAL) model to spare domestic passengers from the contentious user development fee (UDF). Budget 2008-09

GHIAL on Monday decided to levy $25 (about Rs 1,000) as UDF on international passengers from the new airport at Shamshabad, which is scheduled to open from the midnight of March 15.

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Monday, March 3, 2008

PRR phase-1 awaits government nod

Following transfer of works to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) would commence acquisition of land for construction of Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) soon. For, the government is expected to approve the final notification for acquisition of land to initiate works on the first phase of the PRR.

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Reva rally to curb global warming

Over 120 Revatica employees and customers staged a rally here spreading the message of global warming and the need to protect the environment.

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A star-studded show from today

“When we got the WTA’s nod to hold the Bangalore Open as a two-tier event, we faced an uphill task. Today, standing before you, I can say, we have arrived.”

That was C.S. Sunder Raju, Bangalore Open Tournament director and secretary of the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA), talking. He surely can take pride in the KSLTA’s effort to bring home the biggest tennis extravaganza in the country which kicks off at the KSLTA Stadium on Monday.

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BBMP launches major drive to asphalt roads before monsoon

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is focussing on a major roads improvement drive to asphalt most of the arterial roads before the onset of the South-West Monsoon in May. The next three months would thus facilitate a qualitative improvement in city’s roads at an estimated cost of around Rs. 400 crore.

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Rallying for a better city

Our roads would be better if each one of us observed traffic rules and our city would look better if we did not litter and behaved responsibly…”

This was the message carried by many residents of Indiranagar when they took out a “leadership march” to create awareness about building “a better Bangalore”.

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Sunday, March 2, 2008

Bangalore: Mega tennis bonanza for fans from March 3

KSLTA stadium in all certainty will reverberate to the sound of applause when the city's mega tennis event, the Bangalore Open Championship unfolds itself on Monday, March 3. The championship is regarded as one of the highest ranked women's tennis tournaments having $600,000 in stake as prize money. It is all set to commence with the main draw matches.

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No place for pedestrians?

Skipping over dislodged pavements, skirting around vegetable vendors, swerving past electricity junction boxes and darting between vehicles... the pedestrian in Bangalore would be a natural at Parkour, the urban obstacle race.

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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Liquor shops oppose change in closing time

Business Standard

The ongoing debate in the state on allowing a section of liquor establishments to operate till very late in the night took an interesting turn on Wednesday with the Federation of Wine Merchants Association of Karnataka appealing to the government not to change the present business timings.

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Short-haul flyers shun new airport

ToI

Fears are coming true. The new Bengaluru International Airport appears to be putting off travellers flying on short-haul routes — those that have a flight time between 30 minutes and an hour.

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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Hyderabad, Bangalore airports to close after new ones come up

Commissioning of the new airports is pursuant to the provisions of the contractual agreements with the concerned airport companies," Minister for Civil Aviation Praful Patel said while replying to a query.

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Karnataka to build Rs 200 cr stadium, aims to host Super Slam

Karnataka has proposed to build a Rs 200 crore "world class stadium" here to host the first 'Super Slam,' a combined men's and women's tennis event, by 2011-12 with prize money of over $5 million.

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Monday, February 25, 2008

Campaign against excessive honking

New Ind Express

IT is a traffic jam and not a single vehicle is moving. Yet, there are a few who insist on honking, as if it would help ease traffic. There are some others who are obsessed with honking even in silent zones.

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March of metal in the city soon

ToI

March promises to be a rocking month for Bangalore. Two of the biggest metal bands will perform with seven Indian groups at the ‘Rock n India’ music festival at Palace Grounds on March 14.

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Friday, February 22, 2008

Will it ease traffic or not?

Deccan Herald

The first underpass constructed using pre-cast elements at Cauvery junction was opened for traffic on Wednesday evening. Vehicles moving from BDA junction to Mekhri Circle took left turn at the junction and a U-turn at the underpass to reach Bellary Road.

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