Articles by Meera K

Fifty percent of us are women. And there is a Women's Day, yes. Yet, there are scores of stories about the struggles, achievements, journeys, and worries of women in our cities. We cannot cram all these into a paper just on Women's Day. So for our part at Citizen Matters, as the city's premier newsmagazine, we simply decided to dedicate this issue on the theme. And we found plenty to report to you.Many of us may not pay attention to women related topics, unless we spend a conscience-pricked hour in front of Satyameva Jayate. But much of society’s attitude is…

To the casual observer, it may appear that Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs) in the city often work in silos; they are not often effective and find it tough to tackle larger issues. This may even be true. However, over the past decade, Bangalore has been seeing more residents’ activism. Together, they tell a story of change. For instance, more RWAs are now teaming up to form federations. The newest kid on the block is Bannerghatta Road Neighbourhoods Association or BANA. Emerging networks In the newer gated communities and apartments, the owners associations are networked well and reach out to their…

 Dangerous section of Harlur Road needs quick action.Many of us who live on this road may have noticed this deep ditch by the side of Harlur Road; but it took Krishna Gurumurthy, from Coimbatore, who visits Bangalore regularly to take this seriously and send this note to Citizen Matters. Harlur Road. Pic: Meera K Gurumurthy writes:When you go from Haralur road to Sarjapur road, just before turning to left, there is a very narrow section where vehicles pass. There, if vehicles drive too far to the left, they can fall off the road; if they are  heavy vehicles like buses…

The residents’ associations of about 15 apartments of Somasundarapalya and Haralukunte, down HSR 27th Main Road have joined together to create a HSR-x Federation to collectively solve their problems and improve their neighbourhood. On Saturday, March 3rd, the group invited Bommanahalli MLA, Satish Reddy and HSR Corporator Latha Narasimhamurthy. Also present were Ravi Reddy, HSR ward BJP president for Bangalore), Syed Salam, businessman, husband of Mangammapalya ward Corporator Syed Haseena Taj and BBMP officials. Satish Reddy, Ravi Reddy and Latha Narasimhamurthy at citizen-MLA meeting, HSR Layout extensions. Pic: Satvik Koushik Virat Gohil, from Sai Poorna Paradise shared the problems of…

One may not expect a topic like borewell recharging or types of sewage treatment plant hold a 70+ strong audience engaged and animated over 7 hours of a Saturday. But last Saturday saw a bunch of residents mostly apartment owners, many of them representing over 50 apartments' management committees at a workshop on water. Ashwin Mahesh advocated creating water. Pic: Deepthi M S The session was organised by ApartmentAdda which provides apartment management solutions. Co-founder and director Venkat Kandaswamy, talked about bringing the relevant stakeholders and experts together on a single platform so residents can be empowered to tackle water…

Citizen Matters had earlier covered Kaikondrahalli lake being threatened by road widening plans and illegal building encroachment. The temple is only a few metres from the lake, which violates the rule that a buffer zone of 30 metres be provided around lakes. Also, pillars of the temple have been erected only a feet away from the neighbouring Elements Layout compound. K N Devaraj, Joint Commissioner (Mahadevpura zone) had said that he stopped the construction work. The temple builders had obtained permission from the Tahsildar earlier and not from BBMP. "They have applied to us for plan sanction now, but we…

No public meeting organiser ever takes in to consideration waste management. Whether it is an exhibition or a hunger strike, it is rare to see dustbins. Food stalls all around Freedom Park. Not a bin in site. Pic: Meera K. Hawkers and vendors naturally gravitate to any large group, selling icecreams, tea-coffee, groundnuts, roasted corn and more. They too never provide a bin to collect the waste. The visitors eat and throw trash in corners, sometimes just anywhere. Litter at Freedom Park. Pic: Meera K. At Freedom Park last week, visitors enthusiastically stuck stickers of I am Anna and wore…

Many Bellandur residents have been enthused by the anti-corruption campaign. They are organising small and large local rallies, candle light vigils and protests.It started earlier this week itself - Aug 16th saw a human chain and singing of the National Anthem on ORR.One of the organisers of a protest on 19th August, Geetha Arvind, shared this on our federation mailing group, "Started at around 9am with one person and kept growing with time and by 11am there were more than 60-70 people... Cab drivers joined, auto drivers joined... Many junta from softzone companies were present". Another march from Iblur Junction…

All the daily newspapers covered the death of a child at an apartment on Bannerghata Road yesterday.   The mother was feeding the restless child near the open passage window. With the child cranky and kicking, she tries to hold on to the plate and the kid. In the melee, the child slips and falls down 9 floors.  Many highrises these days do not have grills installed by the builder. The first reaction of many readers may have been, how can the mother be so careless? It is easy to tut tut while reading the report. But how many of us are…

Every area in Bengaluru has two faces. Koramangala is known to be a posh locality. But turn into a side road off 80 feet road and you will hit Koramangala village, or what's left of it. Small plots built to the brim, assorted coloured blocks upon blocks. A rare old single storied house every once in a while.Christina Daniels, a communications professional and our movie reviewer, talks about a part of Kammanahalli she hadn't seen in a while.Yes, there was the Kammanhalli of bright shining lights, beautiful houses and nice things in abundance. But on the edge of this nouveau…