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Flipkart’s Q-commerce play
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Good morning, Bengaluru!

🌧️ Today’s weather: High: 28 ℃ | Low: 20 ℃ | A generally cloudy day with a few spells of rain.

🧐 Did you know? Trees like the Jacaranda and Tabebuia, associated with the city and its garden city tag, have been here for over 150 years.


🛒 Flipkart’s quick commerce play

Flipkart has launched its quick commerce platform in the city.

What’s it about? The quick commerce sector just got another entrant. Flipkart launched “Minutes”, its new quick commerce platform to take on Swiggy’s Instamart, Zomato’s Blinkit, and Zepto.

  • The company will deliver groceries, electronics, and other products within 8-16 minutes. The service is currently available only in select areas like Bellandur and HSR.
  • The company has an introductory offer on all orders above ₹99. There’s also a ₹5 platform fee. There’s also a feature that allows customers to cancel an order at their doorstep if they’re not satisfied.

Strategy: The company plans to enhance its quick commerce business with 100 dark stores during the festive season.


🌱 Afforestation drive paused

(Image credit: RanjithsijiCC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

The BBMP paused its afforestation drive following opposition from Kere Mitras.

What’s it about? The civic body planned to conduct a 13-day drive to plant saplings, but that has been put on hold. The Kere Mitras the volunteers appointed to take care of waterbodies, opposed the move. Instead, the drive will begin with a consultation exercise on how to implement the sapling campaign.

  • The civic body didn’t consult the Kere Mitras and already identified contractors for the initiative. Other groups, like the Bengaluru Federation of Lakes, opposed the move.
  • The concern is that unplanned afforestation will only create Miyawaki-like forests. Activists said they’ve repeatedly tried to coordinate with the civic body and forest department officials.

BBMP’s defence: A BBMP official defended the initiative, saying a detailed analysis was done on the lakes where saplings were to be planted. They found that some plants were wrongly planted and some were dead.


🧹 Indira Canteen clean up

The Indira Canteen staff at Murugeshpalya have taken measures to clean the facility and equipment.

What’s it about? Following reports of unhygienic conditions at the Indira Canteen at Murugeshpalya, the staff have undertaken cleaning activities by clearing stagnated water and cleaning the algae-laden handwash basins.

  • Since the canteen wasn’t guarded by a gate, it was being misused by miscreants. The conditions at the canteen were poor, with the place a haven for poor people to get food.
  • Lakhs of people depend on these canteens for their food and the canteen needs to be maintained. Random checks should be done by the civic body to ensure that they’re well maintained.

Repair request: The Reverse Osmosis plant at the canteen needs to be repaired since the water purifier is defunct. The canteen has requested a replacement.


🛫 An increase in passenger numbers expected

(Image credit: Soumendra Kumar Sahoo CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

The BIAL has alerted passengers to arrive early for their flights as they expect a surge in footfall in the coming weeks.

What’s it about? The Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) expects passenger numbers in the coming weeks to increase and has asked passengers to arrive early. Security will also be beefed up in anticipation.

  • The airport expects an increase in passengers during the Independence Day week and has warned passengers of possible delays in processing and check-ins.
  • Authorities asked passengers to plan their travel and arrive early to give them sufficient time for security checks.

Road troubles: Passengers will have to deal with bad roads in north Bengaluru during the monsoons. The Nagavara, Hebbal, and Sahakara Nagar areas have seen delays due to civic works and improper traffic management.


📊 Today’s Poll

(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)

Have you eaten at an Indira Canteen?

  • I have eaten at an Indira Canteen.
  • I haven’t eaten at an Indira Canteen.

❓ Today’s Question

(Only subscribers can submit their answers)

What book have you recommended to others many times?

Reply to this email with your answers.


🗞️ In other news…


🛋️ Local Lounge

Yesterday’s Poll:

  • I consider Bengaluru to be cleaner than other Indian cities: 31.3%
  • I don’t consider Bengaluru to be cleaner than other Indian cities: 68.7% 🏆

Answers to Yesterday’s Question:

If you could master any instrument, which one would it be?

Mradul: “Drums”

Yogita: “Piano”

Santosh: “I don’t know any instruments. But given opportunity and time , i would love to master Shehnai and of course take inspiration from Dr Rajkumar movie Sanadi Appanna and Bismillah Khan.”

That’s it for today. Have a great day!

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