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MG Road comes first
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Good morning, Bengaluru!

🌦️ Today’s weather: It’s going to be cloudy with patchy rain.

🧐 Did you know? A recent study has shown that Bengaluru Urban has the highest contribution – 36% – to Karnataka’s GDP among all districts in the state.


🛍️ MG Road tops the charts

(Image credits: T. R. Shankar Raman, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

A recent study found that MG Road is India’s best retail high street.

Story so far: Bengaluru’s high streets have come out on top in providing the best shopping experience, according to Knight Frank. MG Road ranked first in India’s top 30 streets. In total, four of the city’s streets feature in the top 10.

  • The rankings consider parking, public transport accessibility, store visibility, spending quotient, and average trading density.
  • MG Road is followed by Hyderabad’s Somajiguda, Mumbai’s Linking Road, and Delhi’s South Extension (Part 1 and Part 2).

Why it matters? High streets are often a top-selling attraction in cities. They’re likely to become a part of the city’s identity when they offer a satisfactory customer experience. Since high streets have deep traditional roots, customer experience suffers more than in shopping centres.


🐕 Stray dog vaccinations successful

A recent study has shown that a large number of stray dogs have adequate antibodies to fight rabies.

Story so far: Over 70% of Bengaluru’s stray dogs to receive at least a single dose of anti-rabies vaccination is immune from the rabies virus. Veterinary College in Hebbal teamed up with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to test blood and serum samples of 260 dogs from 26 wards.

  • 71% of the vaccinated dog population has adequate levels of antibodies to protect them.
  • The highest immunity was observed in Bengaluru West dogs, while the lowest was in the RR Nagar zone.

Why it matters? It seems that the BBMP’s dog vaccination efforts over the past two years are paying off. Achieving herd immunity is not too distant a dream. However, there’s reason to be cautious since a similar study last year found a lower percentage of immunity.


🏙️ Bandemutt Layout left behind

Residents of Bandemutt Layout can’t access necessities after development works get paused.

Story so far: Unfinished development projects have left residents of the Bandemutt Layout in a fix. Improper planning by the BBMP has brought the works to a grinding halt, and it’s depriving the residents of their essential needs.

  • Residents complain of incomplete drains and other works worth ₹10 crore that started months ago but have entirely frozen.
  • Residents welfare organisation members threatened the Palike to boycott the elections if they didn’t resume the projects.

BBMP’s response: BBMP officials have assured the residents that work would begin again shortly. They attributed the delay to elections. With election duty out of the way, they can restart working in the area in a few days.


🤳 Digital campaigning

Politicians and civic body workers are steadfast in their resolve to keep this election season clean.

Story so far: Election season is usually Litter City, but this time around, political parties and civic body workers have been careful to minimise waste generation. Political parties have employed digital platforms for campaigning this time.

  • This reduced the amount of dry waste in the form of printed material. Most parties have opted for booklets and envelopes that are unlikely to be chucked instantly and openly.
  • The ban on political banners and flexes led to a negligible amount of banner waste being generated.

Tell me more? On Wednesday, the Palike hired several casual labourers and pourakarmikas to clean the polling booths. They also kept a watch on a one-kilometre radius around the polling station.


📊 Today’s Poll

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  • Yes, I voted yesterday.
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🗞️ In other news…

  • Bengaluru police modify the liquor ban order during the Karnataka polls.
  • Karnataka High Court stays the BBMP’s order preventing hotels from offering free food to voters.
  • BBMP gets ₹675 crore to clear bills after polls.
  • Bengaluru rescuers avert a ‘cat-astrophe’ to save a feline on a tower.
  • The IMD predicts rain until May 12 as Cyclone Mocha forms in the Bay of Bengal.

🛋️ Local Lounge

Yesterday’s Poll:

  • I like amusement parks: 85.7% 🏆
  • I don’t like amusement parks: 14.3%

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

Bengaluru news in just 5 minutes

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