Articles by News Desk

On June 1st, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) unveiled a new washing machine for its buses. Built in-house at the Bangalore Central Division (Shanthinagar) depot, KSRTC claims that the new machine is the first of its kind in India. The machine was inaugurated by KSRTC Managing Director, Rajender Kumar Kataria. As per the press release shared by KSRTC, the new washing machine offers quite an upgrade on the earlier washing process.   The new system comes fitted with six brushes on either side, for improved quality of washing. Only two brushes were used to wash the vehicles in…

Abitha Shetty (name changed), a resident of Bellandur, found her two children complaining of severe headaches all of a sudden. She had seen garbage being burnt near the school where her children study. Being conscious about air pollution, she decided to check out what is happening, as she couldn’t bear the possibility of the innocent kids suffering because of air pollution. She, along with Lokesh, Deputy Environmental Officer, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), visited a spot in Choodasandra, near Chikkanayakanahalli, where she saw garbage being burnt regularly. This article has been made possible thanks to support from Aruna Green…

  Bengaluru this week May 28th 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     As you may be aware, Oorvani Foundation has launched its reader-funding campaign for Citizen Matters’ sister publication, India Together. If you are a reader, do consider making a contribution to support our developmental journalism. If you are not familiar with our work on India Together, do have a look. The campaign will run until May 31st. Click here to make a donation. Here are the top stories from Bangalore for this week: Alok Kumar, was suspended as additional commissioner…

  Bengaluru this week May 21st 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     Oorvani Foundation had called for funds earlier this year and we were truly overwhelmed by the support we received. Several folks made online transfers without sharing the details of the transfer on mail or on the form. We have sent out the 80G receipts to those folks for whom we had complete details. In case you are yet to receive an acknowledgement, drop us a mail on foundation@oorvani.in with your name, transaction amount and date and we will get…

  May 7th 2015 saw the launch of a unique initiative in Bangalore -  the Neighbourhood Improvement Partnership (NIP) Challenge. Rolled out by United Technologies Corporation (UTC), the challenge is the first of its kind in the country, and calls for a collaboration between citizens and public officials, to identify key civic challenges in their neighbourhoods, and voluntarily contribute time, energy and resources to tackle them. The challenge will be be rolled out by the Centre for Public Problem Solving (CPPS), a division of Imagine Bangalore with support from EMBARQ India. Organisations like BBMP and BPAC are also slated to…

Vijaya Bhaskar, IAS, Administrator, Kumar Naik, IAS, BBMP Commissioner and Darpan Jain, IAS, Joint Commissioner (SWM), BBMP held an interaction with various civil society organisations in which at least one trade union representative participated. The purpose of this interaction was BBMP’s keenness to engage NGOs in its city cleaning drive. Commissoner Kumar Naik explained that the last minute invitation that did not reach many was well-intended at inclusivity of all, though the organising was all last minute, which he agreed the next time around would be done right. Here are the highlights of the meeting: 1) Almost everyone present agreed…

  Bengaluru this week May 14th 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     Before we get into our stories for this week, we need your help! Oorvani Foundation is looking for a lawyer to work with us pro-bono on reviewing investigative reporting stories. This is critical assistance and we are unable to afford commercial rates. Work may amount to an hour per week, and we are flexible about this. If any of you are able to chip in, please send an email to edit@citizenmatters.in with a brief intro about yourself and we…

  Bengaluru this week May 7th 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     While this edition of our newsletter is much briefer than usual, it features several interesting stories. Read about how public land near Sankey tank is now in the hands of Mantri developers. Also check out what a reader has to say about the challenges faced by her apartment in waste segregation. We also have a new blog post that will take you back in time. Happy reading! Here’s a look at the latest news from Bengaluru, before we get…

  Bengaluru this week May 4th 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     With the long weekend out of the way, we’re sure all of you are once again knee-deep in work. Well, so are we… Here’s a look at the latest news from Bengaluru, before we get into our stories: Namma Metro's Reach 3B that runs from Peenya Industrial Area to Nagasandra was inaugurated on May 1st​. A few activists who protested against the absence of toilet and drinking water facilities in the Metro stations were arrested. Bengaluru Urban district administration…

Here's the report submitted by the Lake Devlelopment Authority to the High Court of Karnataka, on the status of Agara and Bellandur lakes.     //  Related ArticlesHC pushes for restoration and rejuvenation of Agara and Bellandur lakes