Articles by Navya P K

Saaku, Bengaluru's anti-corruption campaign, may not have lived up to the buzz generated in social networking sites over the last week, but the rally of around 800 citizens more than managed to capture the attention of the public on December 11. The event's coordinators had initially expected participation of 1000-2000. The participants, most of them from relatively elite sections of society - included college students, IT professionals, activists and residents from all over the city. Around 800 citizens, including students and IT professionals, participated in the event.Pic: Navya P K The four-day Saaku campaign started on December 8 with the…

At first glance the Lakshmipuram Hindu burial ground in Ulsoor, would look like just another place where cold souls rest. But on a weekend, the far end of the graveyard turns into cricket ground. A portion of the burial ground being used as cricket pitch Pic: Navya P K A clearing in one corner of the nearly 15-acre ground has two ‘cricket pitches' now - a unique solution to the shrinking playgrounds in the city. At the crack of dawn, teams of youngsters would rush to the ground to start playing in the better of the two pitches that lie…

A notorious gang of criminals conning Bengaluru women into giving up their jewellery since 1991 were caught recently. Police (Bangalore South) are now preparing chargesheets against the gang members.  Gang members lined up outside the JP Nagar police station. Pic courtesy: JP Nagar Police. The gang used to steal jewellery from women, posing as policemen and promising to keep the jewellery safe. In Bangalore alone, there are 100 cases against the gang in 34 different police stations. Ten of the gang were nabbed on September 12 while six others were arrested on October 3 by the special squad. The squad…

After repeated extortion attempts by Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) members from their stores, Bengaluru-headquartered printing solutions company Printo filed a complaint against the organisation on Tuesday. The complaint was filed at the Commercial Street police station after eight KRV activists allegedly threatened to ransack the company's Infantry Road outlet. However, an FIR itself was not filed. Printo has 14 centres in Bengaluru. KRV is a pro-kannada organisation with branches all over Karnataka. Customers waiting for printing services Pic: Navya P K The activists allegedly asked Andrew Abishek, Store Manager at the outlet on Wednesday night, to print 200 photos of…

After 26 years of service in the state and central government, former IAS officer T R Raghunandan now heads ipaidabribe.com (IPAB), an initiative by the NGO Janaagraha, to tackle corruption. Three months after its launch, the site now has 2350 reports from all over the country from the public on paying/not paying bribes. Around 1050 of these reports are from Bengaluru. Bengaluru-based Raghunandan, 51, has served as Secretary of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj for Karnataka and as Joint Secretary in the Union Ministry of Panchayat Raj, before retiring voluntarily in 2009. He is a consultant on fiscal decentralisation and…

Zipping across a skating rink on a pair of wheels may only have seemed like a cool hobby to many youngsters until a few years back. But over the last decade, skating has quietly grown as a sport in Bengaluru – from having 5-6 skating clubs a decade ago, the city now has 15 registered clubs. For many kids practicing in these clubs, skating could easily be their future career. Students at BTM Roller Skating Club. Pic: Mayur Chennagere. Faraz A Umar, a seventh standard student at Frank Anthony Public School and member of Force One skating club in Banashankari,…

On Monday midnight, 120 residents of Sachidananda Nagar got their khatas from the BBMP zonal office at Rajarajeshwari Nagar. “This is a great victory for us. It was ‘freedom at midnight’,” gushes Nethrakere Uday Shankar, 54, one of the leaders of the protest. Shankar is Chief Sub-Editor at a Kannada daily in the city. "I bought a plot in the layout in 1992, and planned to build a house there in 2001. I have been waiting for khata since 2001," he said. It was around 1.40 am when khatas were given away to all. This rare act by the BBMP…

After Citizen Matters expose on BBMP quietly shutting down the Technical Vigilance Cell's (TVC) call centre last year, very little has happened to remedy the situation. The cell that earlier used to accept complaints from the public directly regarding building violations, now monitors only public works as directed by the Commissioner. But Commissioner Siddaiah told Citizen Matters that he has appointed Technical Advisor B T Mohan Krishna to look into building violations. Complaints that the commissioner receives from the public will be forwarded to Krishna, he says. "He will co-ordinate with the TVC also for this," Siddaiah said. Krishna took…

Dr Shankara Prasad is one of the leaders of the Sachidananda Nagara Nyayapara Andolana. This group of 120 residents of Sachidananda Nagar layout in Rajarajeshwari Nagar won a hard - fought battle this week to get their khatas without paying bribes. The protests, which went on for several months, resulted in an order by BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah on November 8th to issue khatas to all residents. Pic: Navya P K. 58-year-old Prasad, though from Bangalore has spent nearly three decades traveling around the world, working as a consultant in the chip manufacturing industry. He completed his M Tech from IIT,…

After a two-year-long struggle against corrupt BBMP officials and a hostile Resident Welfare Association, residents of Sachidananda Nagar layout in Bengaluru are finally about to receive their khatas - without paying any bribe. Today, BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah issued a letter to the BBMP Additional Director (Rajarajeshwari zone) K M Ramachandrappa to issue khatas to the nearly 800 residents. The letter says that the decision was made after considering the Gandhigiri protests held by residents and a directive from the Lokayukta last week. Residents at BBMP office demanding khatas be issued. Pic: Loksatta. The battle for khatas started in 2001 for…