Rasheed Kappan

3 weeks ago | thehindu.com | Rasheed Kappan

Nothing beats the unbearable stench that hits you while stepping into an open vegetable market in Bengaluru. But if you somehow bypass those mountains of rotting wet waste, a labyrinthine mess of slushy pathways awaits you inside. This is nauseatingly real as monsoon has got here in full force. The time for a cleanup job was yesterday. Trapped in the muck is a system that is critical for lakhs of Bengalureans to keep their kitchens afloat. The ugly sight repeats in markets across the city.

1 month ago | thehindu.com | Rasheed Kappan

Is it finally time to see some action on reopening the HAL Airport, an air traffic hub right in the heart of the city, before the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) took all civilian flights away in 2008? After years of widespread public demand, the big stakeholders could be nearing a decision. However, despite the overwhelming evidence of public convenience, challenges remain. All the key stakeholders met in Delhi on April 15 and discussed the issue threadbare.

1 month ago | thehindu.com | Rasheed Kappan

No congestion killer plan will work when a city’s vehicle numbers are almost equal to its population. This is exactly where Bengaluru is trapped with its estimated 1.2 crore vehicles. But beyond the inevitable traffic jams, they have triggered an unprecedented spike in air pollution. A climate-tech start-up’s latest study shows that the city’s PM10 pollutant levels breached the national air quality standard for four years in a row, and it is getting even worse.

2 months ago | thehindu.com | Rasheed Kappan

On a record-breaking spree, the scorching summer heat in Bengaluru feels particularly intense this year for a specific reason: Its Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect has gotten worse, amplified by a widening network of white-topped roads, tree-less layouts, glass-façade highrises and heat-absorbing infra projects. The hottest day of the year on March 14 at 35.4°C could just be the start. It is mid-April now and the enhanced UHI effect could take the intense heat to record levels this month.

2 months ago | thehindu.com | Rasheed Kappan

Mountains of muck, those stinky black spots of mixed garbage, are rising across the city again. But even as the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) claims to tackle them with a steep 36% garbage tax, a workable way out remains largely ignored: Wet waste composting. Localised ward-level composting with a multi-stakeholder approach could potentially solve half the problem, and the time is now.