Articles by Navya P K

Two months after their first auto boycott on August 12, Meter Jam - an initiative against menacing auto drivers - is organizing another boycott on October 12. In addition to Bangalore, the boycott will be held in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi as well. Jammers in the city are hoping that the initiative will be successful, unlike the last boycott, during which autos were plying smoothly and many drivers did not even come to know about the initiative. "Last time the focus was on Mumbai, and Meter Jam was only starting to get popular in Bangalore. This time, around 40,000 online…

A new option to get your auto woes addressed is holding out promise for Bengaluru, thanks to the Transport Department's initial enthusiasm to respond. Auto Watch, an initiative by the technology platform Kiirti, is co-ordinating with the Transport Department to address the grievances of auto commuters. The complaints that the public reported have been forwarded to the concerned RTOs for action. Transport Commissioner Bhaskar Rao has instructed officials to ensure that each RTO should seize five autos against which there are complaints. The action taken by the RTOs will be updated in the site soon. Kiirti is an initiative by…

Five days after an ABIDe-led committee was constituted to discuss Karnataka's draft rules for implementing the national Right to Education (RTE) Act, it has already received several suggestions from senior educationists and NGOs. To propose a way through the confusion regarding the implementation of the RTE Act the chief minister's task force for Bengaluru, ABIDe (Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure and Development Task Force), formed a working group on September 23. The group plans to collect suggestions from the public and hold discussions with parents, teachers, NGOs, school associations and other stakeholders to discuss the draft rules proposed by the state…

A complaint regarding tampered water meter has arisen in Jayanagar 4th T block. David S R, a resident of the area, noticed the issue of steep hike in his BWSSB's water bill around three years back. "The bill would come to Rs.4000 a month sometimes. Whenever I visited the local BWSSB office, I would be sent back saying that the case would be investigated, but nothing was done", he said. The Water Meter. Pic: David S R. During David's many visits over the past few years, he alleges that the officials not only demanded bribes, but also said that the…

Litigations have been flying thick and fast at L&T South City apartments, one of the premium residential complexes in south Bengaluru. Six court cases have been filed between the apartment owners, land owner and the developer within the last two years. South City is located at Mico-Arekere Layout, off Bannerghatta Road. Citizen Matters spoke to state advocate-general Ashok Haranahalli on the issue of 'gated communities'. Read the interview here The main contention is regarding two deeds that the original land owner Dinesh Ranka made to the BDA - one in 1996 and another in 2006 - relinquishing 12 of the…

Tuesday September 14th was Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) day in Bangalore. Drawn into severe scrutiny by citizens protesting the TDR scheme's use as compensation for roadwidening, the state government's Urban Development Department organised a workshop on the controversial scheme. Following that, in the evening Samaya TV, a Kannada 24x7 news channel, organised a live debate on the topic. (See inset box for a brief report on the debate). As was the concern of many citizen action groups, the government's day-long workshop turned out to be a mostly technical session on TDR's implementation. Bureaucrats from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat…

Of the 35 lakes in Mahadevpura assembly constituency in northeast Bengaluru, 23 have become dysfunctional, according to a report authored by urban ecologist Dr Harini Nagendra, Ramesh Sivaram (member of resident association federation of Bellandur) and Dr S Subramanya (Professor at University of Agricultural Sciences). The report classifies seven lakes as ‘extremely polluted', another seven as ‘heavily polluted, drying' and nine lakes as ‘completely dry'. Only 10 ten lakes are categorised as healthy while two are under restoration. Bengaluru-based Harini is also co-author of papers with US-based political scientist Elinor Ostrom, Nobel prize winner for Economics in 2009. Harini Nagendra,…

G Manjunath Raju. Bangalore's city budget, presented by the BBMP at the city council session on August 30th raises more questions than answers. The steep revenue projections BBMP has cited are themselves a whole topic. Citizen Matters spoke to G Manjunath Raju, corporator of Kadu Malleswaram (Ward 65) and member of BBMP's Taxation and Finance committee that prepared the budget. Discussion on the budget at the council is scheduled for September 2nd. There is a several fold increase in revenues compared to last year. How are you planning to manage that? There are total 15 lakh properties in the city.…

The BBMP  has proposed an expenditure of Rs.8488 crores for Bengaluru in its maiden budget session today. The same figure for last year (2009-10) when the city administration was running without an elected council was Rs 3582.02 crores. P N Sadashiva (BJP), Chairperson of the Taxation and Finance Committee and corporator of the Sunkenahalli ward, presenting the BBMP budget on August 30. BBMP Commissioner H Siddaiah, Mayor S K Nataraj and Deputy Mayor N Dayananda share the dias. Pic: Navya P K. However, BBMP's opening balance for 2010-11 was a mere Rs 424.72 cr. The administration proposes bridge the gap…

After Governor H R Bhardwaj refused to sign the Sakrama Bill last month, the B S Yeddyurappa-led state government is now planning to take its chances again by re-sending the bill for the governor's approval. The bill has been with the state's Department of Parliamentary Affairs and Legislation (DPAL) for almost a month now after the governor sent it back. But transport minister Ashoka (MLA-Padmanabhanagar) says that the governor's reason for not approving the bill - the 2007 High Court stay on the implementation of the penalty scheme - is not valid. A January 2008 meeting, with citizens discussing Setback…