Articles by News Desk

  LOK SABHA ELECTIONS 2014 Citizen Matters Special Bengaluru MP seats: News and Analysis Sponsor our Journalism! An independent coverage of the elections is essential to ensure that citizens get an unbiased outlook on those standing for the elections. We gave you just that – a non-partisan, independent account of all the Elections News. If you liked our coverage of the Elections and would like to help us out, do make a donation to the Oorvani Foundation. Donations are eligible for 50% deduction under Section 80G. We acknowledge DAKSH and B.PAC for underwriting part of the costs for Citizen Matters' data…

“How many Government Hospitals are there in Bengaluru? Could you please tell me few names?” I asked a female worker at St Johns Hospital, Bengaluru, who had a big smile on her face and looked approachable. “Umm, Victoria… Vanivilas… Jayadeva… there are a lot of them” she answered. Armed with what I could glean from Google and my limited knowledge of Kannada, I was on a quest: to locate health services for women in government hospitals in the city. We had attempted the same earlier in Delhi as part of a mapping project for Hidden Pockets, which locates services around…

Karnataka Composting Development Corporation (KCDC) in HSR Layout, Bengaluru, is in news yet again. Residents are demanding that the government: 1. Shift the existing plant immediately to a remote and unpopulated location outside the city limits, as all other options to control the odour from the plant have failed 2. Limit the current intake of the wet waste to 70 tonnes as an interim measure to reduce the smell until plant shifts out to remote location. 3. Clear the Refuse-Derived Fuel backlog, release the encroached land and restores the ecosystem of the lake as per the NGT norms. Through an…

Citizen Matters presents a contest for all enthusiastic writers of Bengaluru. Write an article on what you’d do if you were the Mayor to make a difference to Bengaluru. In either Kannada or English. What we expect Innovative yet practical ideas for what you’d do as the Mayor of Bengaluru that can make the city better. Your writeup should be based on an understanding of the role of the Mayor and the  authority vested in them. Your arguments should make one think, substantiate them with context and data. Write in a simple and lucid style. One winner in each language…

Early in the morning, around 7.30 a.m., on 18 January 2013, BBMP officials, bulldozers, a demolition crew, and a police force consisting of approximately 500 policemen and 20 policewomen reached the EWS housing settlement. When residents tried to resist the demolition, they were subjected to violence. The police arrested 21 women dragging them into their vans, some of them by their hair. They were taken to two police stations, implicated on false charges, and detained overnight. Residents reported that the BBMP Commissioner had assured them that evictions would not begin until the end of the academic year (April). But this…

Did you know that if you live or rent a premise in the corridor of Metro Phase-II and next phases, you could avail many compensations when the land acquisition goes on and the construction work starts? Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) Ltd has come up with the new Resettlement Policy Framework for land acquisition, which is in line with amended land acquisition policy-2013. Extract of the section that explains some interesting components of compensation, from the BMRCL document: Inconvenience Allowance: This is a onetime allowance paid to all project affected persons losing structure and land, for the inconvenience caused due…

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has launched the much-awaited Smart Card to the bus commuters in the city. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launched the Smart Card and also inaugurated hi-tech buses and renovated foot-over bridge at Kempegowda Bus Station on June 17th. BMTC’s Smart Card has been launched in order to facilitate cashless transaction in purchasing ticket and passes. It intends to implement Smart Card based fare collection system. For this it has planned to implement a new method called Open Loop Smart Card based fare collection system in its services. This type of Smart Card is the first of…

With the greatest respect to the Minister of Sericulture and Animal Husbandry, GH Krumbiegel was my great grandfather, I am only an interloper in Bengaluru I do however have his passion for trees and my profession is also architecture it's very important for me to try and protect his legacy for future generation of Bengaluru and indeed my grandchildren Things have to change for any country to progress as I understand the citizens are not against the new hospital site; top architects have already come forward willing to work pro bono with the existing plans (so no new permission will be needed…

The city and municipal corporation civic workers who were on an indefinite strike demanding for regularisation of contract workers and payment of salaries, called off their protest on the second day. The BBMP Guttige Pourakarmikara Sangha, along with Karnataka Rajya Nagarapalike, Nagarasabhe, Purasabhe Pourakarmikara Mahasangha and the Safaikaramchari Kavalu Samiti had staged an indefinite strike starting June 12th, 2017. The strike was called off on June 13th , after the Minister for Social Welfare and Backward Classes Welfare H Anjaneya and Minister for Municipalities and Local Bodies Department and Public Enterprises Ishwar Khandre, along with Bengaluru Mayor Padmavathi G, assured…