You may have read the news about the passing of Xerxes Desai, the founding Managing Director of Titan. Two years ago, our then intern from the University of Washington Chris Lopaze interviewed Desai for India Together. He also shared his thoughts about Bengaluru and urban issues, that we published today. He talked about how the IT industry impacted Bangalore and proposed professionalising city management. Read: Remembering Xerxes Desai.

Xerxes Desai was also a well wisher and patron of Oorvani Foundation. He encouraged the work we do at Citizen Matters – and was always ready to share valuable insights, and advice. We will miss him.

The highlight: How have things changed for cab drivers in Bengaluru?

A new series on how the Olas and Ubers are impacting Bengaluru. First – how has it changed the lives of cab drivers? Do they really earn upto Rs 60,000-80,000 a month? Read: Realities of cab drivers in Bengaluru

A twist in flyover plan

Two years ago, Xerxes Desai told Citizen Matters, “..decision must be taken by professionals whose aim is really for the greatest happiness for the greatest number, isn’t it, not just a few who want to get to the airport faster, or things of that sort.”

Karnataka government planned to construct a steel flyover from Chalukya Circle to Hebbal. But after strong public opposition, they put tender process on hold. Read: Why citizens got the government to back off?

Just when one thought Bengaluru was out of the Smart City race, the Central government gave an opportunity to the city compete in fast-track category. Will Bengaluru win the Smart City battle?

Making a mockery of RTI

We filed an RTI application with the BBMP Advertisement section to get the list of legal and illegal advertisement hoardings in the city. What happened? Read: BBMP, please don’t make a mockery of RTI!

Food for needy

How can people help the city’s hungry population? An idea inspired by Kozhikode’s Operation Sulaimani comes to Bengaluru, Bengaluru Meals programme is expected to be launched on August 15th, 2016.

Footpath tales

So you have recently read about Marianne D Nazarath’s bad experience of walking on pavements. Then a hilarious take on pavement perorations by Suchitra Deep. In the second part, Suchitra has a quiz for you. Read here: Pavement perorations – Part 2: Can pavements be used for walking?

What happens when footpaths are not walkable? Remember the two-year-old incident where  a child fell into a gap in the footpath during heavy rains and died? Have broken footpaths been fixed since then? A reality check around the city: The deathtraps on Bengaluru’s footpaths this rainy season.

Getting a duplicate license

Deepa Mohan writes her experience of losing a license and all the hassle that she had to undergo to get a duplicate done, in this blog piece.

News you can use

• BBMP is set to revise Transferable Development Rights (TDR) rates to acquire land for road widening. According to news reports, the reason for people refusing to part their land for road widening is the low TDR rates.

• Residents of Indira Nagar have expressed their concern over Bengaluru Development Minister K J George’s decision to convert a playground into an indoor stadium at Stage I. The residents have alleged that the announcement was made without prior consultation with local residents.

• The BBMP has recently informed the High Court bench that as many as 822 of 1,923 encroachments on major storm water drains across the city have been removed so far. During the hearing of the PIL about encroachments of lakes and SWDs, the BBMP told the court that a survey of storm water drains is underway.

• BBMP has proposed to develop 8,000 acre parcel of land in Whitefield under the Central government’s Smart City project. If Bengaluru qualifies to make it in the second round of Smart Cities selection, Whitefield would receive Rs 5,800 crore in the next five years for its development.

• The BMRCL has made changes in its Namma Metro Phase 2 design, by making K R Puram and Silk Board junctions as interchange stations. That is, the commuters will be able to get down at these stations and travel on another line of their choice, according to news reports.

• Manyata Tech Park which has been in the news for not paying property tax to the BBMP, has paid Rs 54.26 crore of the total tax dues of Rs 273 crore accumulated from 2008-09. The Tech Park has paid a portion of the tax following the High Court directive to pay the balance and BBMP seizing materials due to non-compliance.

• Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre has developed a software – Varunamitra, to predict the rainfall in areas. According to news reports, 150 civic engineers have been trained on how to utilise the forecast updates in their areas kin BBMP limits.

• During the hearing of Akrama Sakrama case, the High Court bench observed that BBMP should allow the construction of high rise buildings in Bengaluru than regularising them later. It said the Palike should frame suitable rules to encourage the construction of multi-floor buildings in the city.

Events

• Raja Ravi Varma: Royal Lithography & Legacy – Exhibition : At NGMA

• Pettah walk in Nagarathpet : The silk tales : At Nagarathpet

• Unlock Bengaluru – a dialogue on sustainable development in the city : At the Park, MG Road

• Malleswaram Walk : At Malleshwaram

Take a look at some upcoming events in the city here.

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