Articles by News Desk

Chairman of BBMP Accounts Committee, A L Shivakumar, has pointed out discrepancies in the Accounts department in a press release dated March 26th. The Accounts Committee held an inspection in the Accounts office on 26th. They found that many letters and documents had been lying pending in the office's Receiving Section for 6-7 months; some had been pending for over a year.More serious matters were found. A letter from the Chief Secretary of Urban Development Department termed ‘very urgent’ has been lying pending for more than three months. In cases where employees had paid off loan amounts, installments were still…

Here are details on property tax payment for 2012-13, as per BBMP's press release: • Financial year for 2012-13 begins on April 1st.• As there has been no revision in taxes, tax can be paid as per last year. There is no change in self-declared tax and building depreciation.• Property tax can be paid at all BBMP offices and Bangalore One centers on all working days. Payment hours are from 9 am to 12.30 pm, and from 3 pm to 7 pm.• If the entire year's property tax is paid by 30th April, you can get a rebate of 5%.…

There will be intermittent power supply (about 43%) from 10 am to 5 pm on March 31st, Saturday, in the following areas of 220/66/11KV Somanahalli MUSS, 220/66/11KV Subramanyapura MUSS, 220/66/11KV Naganathapura MUSS, 220/66/11KV Vrushabhavathi MUSS, 220/66/11KV HSR Layout MUSS and 220/66/11KV Yerandanahalli MUSS, to carry out maintenance works.Areas affected:1) Kumbalgodu: Ramohalli, Malligondanahalli, Maragandanhalli, BGS, Kengeri Satellite Town.2) Kengeri Satellite Town: New KHB Suncity, Komghatta, Apporva Layout.3) Sir MV Layout: Bhuvaneshwari Nagara, Maruthinagar.4) RBI: Arekere, Sarvabouma Nagar, MICO Layout, Kothanur.5) South City: Hulimavu, Ramanasri Nagar, Tejaswi Nagar, L&T South City, MS Ramaiah City.6) Elita Promanade: Puttenahalli, KR Layout, JP Nagar 6th…

Last month, Kaikondrahalli lake on Sarjapur road had a distinguished visitor, Nobel Prize winner for Economics, 2009, Elinor Ostrom. She was here to see the results of collective action in Bangalore lakes. Dr. Ostrom planting at KK Lake. Pic: Priya Ramasubban. Elinor along with Harini Nagendra, an urban ecology coordinator, ATREE, Bengaluru, has been working to understand when exactly communities step in to conserve. Having heard of citizens initiative at Kaikondrahalli lake, Elinor who was in Bangalore for the Khoshoo Memorial Lecture at ATREE, decided to visit the lake and plant a tree.Citizen Matters caught up with the Nobel prize…

Bangalore-based Environment Support Group was given the 2012 UN-Water "Water for Life" Best Practices Award for it unprecedented legal work on protection of Bangalore's lakes. ESG's trustee and coordinator Leo Saldanha received the award at a ceremony held at the headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, at Rome on 22nd March, World Water Day. As some readers may already know, ESG has been on a major initiative for several years to protect Bangalore's lakes. Its litigation work has led to direct supervision of local government protection efforts by the Karnataka High Court itself. Leo Saldanha (right), Coordinator, ESG,…

Oota from your Thota (OfyT), a programme for organic farming enthusiasts, will be held on March 25th, Sunday, in Malleswaram. The programmes includes lectures and discussions on organic farming, pest control etc. There will also be exhibition and sale of seeds, saplings, gardening accessories, compost bins etc.The event is organised by Malleswaram Swabhimana Initiative (MSI) - the Resident Welfare Association of Malleswaram - along with Garden City Farmers Trust (GCFT), an NGO that promotes organic farming. Citizen Matters is media partner for the event. OfyT was held in BTM Layout last August. File Pic: Yogaraj Mudalgi G Shantaram, Joint Secretary…

1) There will be no power supply from 8 am to 5 pm on March 24th, Saturday, in areas under 66/11KV K&C Valley MUSS.Affected areas are: Nagasandra, Agaram Dairy, Challaghatta, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Airport, Golf Link Software Park, Murugesh Palya, National Aerospace Laboratories, NR Garden, Kempapura, Wind Tunnel Road, Yamalur, Konena Agrahara, SR/NR Layout, Salarpuria Touch Stone, Salarpuria Hall Mark, Logica, Ashwini Layout, NAL Control Tower, Amarjyothi Layout, Parts of Domulr, and surroundings. 2) There will be no power supply from 10 am to 4 pm on March 24th, Saturday, in areas under 66/11KV Kumbalgodu MUSS.Affected areas are: Ramohalli, Beemanakoppe,…

Because of holidays there will be lot of rush towards Bangalore City Railway Station and Kempe Gowda terminal on March 9th and 10th. This may cause traffic congestion on all the routes leading to these points.To ensure smooth flow of traffic, Bangalore City Police has taken these measures for both days:1) All private vehicle parking is banned on Dhanvanthri Road, Railway Station Road, Tank Bund Road, Platform Road and Khodeys junction.2) All buses going towards Mysore, Kodagu and Kerala will start only from Mysore Road Bus Terminal.3) Buses to Tamil Nadu will start only from Shanthinagar Bus terminal.4) All long…

Jawahar Union won the B Division League Bangalore Blues Cup 2011-12, on March 4th. They beat Bangalore Kickers to win the cup.Both teams have been promoted to A Division for the year 2012-13. Five teams - BWSSB, Young Muslims, Goans, Sunrising and BHEL (EPD) have been relegated to C Division. Thirteen teams had participated in the championship held in Bangalore Football Stadium.  Jawahar Union team with the championship trophy. Pic: Bangalore District Football Association A R Khaleel, Founder President of Jawahar Union, received the championship trophy on behalf of the team. ⊕

Maverick Holdings and BBMP signed a concessionaire agreement on 2 January, 2012, clearing the deck for the construction of 1,640 Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quarters at Ejipura. This is coming after a protracted legal battle that lasted nine years. The agreement was signed between Uday Garudachar of Maverick and BBMP Engineer in Chief BT Ramesh. Pic: Vijayalakshmi P But the residents still do not know where they will be relocated when the construction starts. Neither the BBMP nor Maverick has informed them about the relocation plans. And on January 14, Shantinagar MLA NA Harris had a shocking request to make…