Articles by Navya P K

Of late, many suggestions have been floating around on ensuring security to women. One recent suggestion has been by electricity utility BESCOM's Managing Director P Manivannan (IAS), known for his reformist efforts. In a discussion on Facebook last week, Manivannan said that having a 911-like helpline will be a major step in improving police responsiveness. If police tracks calls automatically and reaches a spot within 10 minutes of the call, it will deter criminals, he argued.The current 100-helpline for Bengaluru is inefficient to the point that many do not consider it to be working at all. For a city of…

There has been outrage in the country after the recent Delhi gangrape case. The ripples have been felt in Bengaluru too. Different groups in the city, ranging from feminists, political parties, students and IT employees have been protesting. There have been protests in the city earlier, on issues of violence against women with barely 20-30 activists participating. The number of male protesters would be negligible. The protest would often be seen as so irrelevant that the public would not give a second glance. If there was no police permission given, there would be no gentle treatment from the police either.…

The tin sheet shacks in Ejipura EWS (Economically Weaker Section) quarters are lined up so close to each other, that it is not easy to tell one house from the next. Outside the shacks, little girls and boys are seen carrying small pots of water which they have collected from somewhere. In one of the houses stays Aisha (name changed), with her husband, four children, and parents-in-law. Like most families here, this family of eight also does not get water to their house. Aisha, 38, spends a lot of her time standing in queue in front of public taps. Children…

In January this year, the High Court of Karnataka had ordered that commercial activities should not be allowed in residential areas in Bengaluru. But even after this, BBMP continued to give sanctions in violation of the verdict. Many shops had come up without any BBMP sanctions at all also. Citizen Matters had reported on these violations earlier. Pic: Sudha Narasimhachar However, in a hearing on November 22nd, the court ordered BBMP to submit the list of all such sanctions that it gave in residential areas after the January order. Surprisingly, BBMP informed court that it had cancelled all such sanctions…

Saroja, a domestic worker staying in Ambedkar slum in Ejipura, spends much of her time waiting near a public tap every day. There is no individual water connection to her house, and the only sources are two public taps nearby. The tap gives water for 2.5 hours everyday, but this could be at any time during the day. Saroja checks up on the tap every now and then to collect this water, even though she knows that it is mixed with sewage. Both she and her 24-year-old daughter Mangala, are responsible for collecting water for the household. This story is…

In recent times, there has been frequent leadership change in BMTC. It's new Managing Director Anjum Parwez took charge only about two and half months back. Parwez, 43, is an IAS officer of ‘94 batch. Parwez joined as BMTC MD in September end. Pic: Navya P K Before BMTC, he had been posted in various departments like Urban Development, Land Revenue and Rural Development. In this exclusive interview with Citizen Matters, Parwez talks about BMTC's new plans, and also explains the rationale for starting new services, limiting Volvos to certain routes etc. Here are excerpts from the interview: What are…

If you have not updated your name in the voter list yet, there is time till December 31st. Though the last date for submitting applications for all 28 BBMP constituencies was December 4th, the date has been extended now. A press release on this, was issued yesterday by the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka.The draft rolls had been published earlier on November 5th. This list has been revoked. As per the new schedule, the new draft rolls would be published on December 10th, which will be available on the website http://ceokarnataka.kar.nic.in. Public can also inspect the rolls at the offices…

Twenty days after BBMP issued his transfer, Brijesh Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) was able to get a stay on it. The state government's Urban Development Department (UDD) issued the stay, saying that BBMP could not make the decision on its own.In the order, written in Kannada, UDD clearly says that BBMP's decision was unilateral, and that no permission was asked from UDD. It was UDD that had passed the initial orders to create the new CCF position in BBMP, and to appoint IFS officer Kumar to it.BBMP had issued Kumar's transfer order on October 11th, and the officer…

This month, new contractors will start garbage clearance work in 168 wards in the city. These wards are covered in 77 packages. Fifty of the 77 packages have gone to a single company, named BVG India Pvt Ltd. This company has also bid for extremely low amounts in most packages. In one case, its bid amount was 50% lesser than BBMP's estimated amount. The corporate office of BVG India in Vasanth Nagar. This company won the highest number of garbage tenders in the city. Pic: Navya P K But there is another story behind these low amounts - BVG seems…

For over a month, there have been reports about power shortage in the city. Early October, BESCOM had contemplated power cuts for industries, but later changed the plan when rains started.Currently, the city has shortage of around 100 MW daily, which is only less than 5% of its total requirement, says P Manivannan, MD of BESCOM [1]. The shortage for entire BESCOM area is upto 600 MW. Manivannan says, "The shortage cannot be quantified, but varies from 0-600 MW through the day depending on wind and other sources. We are able to handle it, and are not contemplating any load…