Articles by Subramaniam Vincent

Almost as if in response to rising Bangaloreans' concern against the BBMP and BDA's permissions for commercial buildings in residential areas and large format apartments on narrow roads, a zoning review committee of the state government had acted last month. On Oct 15th, the committee, headed by former chief secretary and ABIDe member Dr A Ravindra sent to the government a major set of revisions to the CDP's zoning rules. If the government accepts it, it will become harder for the most blatant of illegal buildings to crop up around the city, and easier for citizens to monitor. The redrafted…

The breakdown at the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on the unruly Monday, October 11th, was broadcast over and over again on television channels last night. The city dailies of October 12th have a veritable gallery of pictures: everything from broken glass and a ripped off shirt, to police pushing back on legislators, and more. The High Court today continues hearing arguments on the controversial disqualification of the 11 dissident BJP MLAs and five independent MLAs. In case coverage in the media has left you confused or you have not had time to catchup with the core of the issue, here…

Even as the BJP government totters this weekend, yet another scam in the government's favourite playground - Bengaluru city - stands exposed. For over three years now the spectre of the Akrama Sakrama Bill has been hanging over the city. The bill is meant to 'regularise' illegal buildings in return for owners paying penalties. The premise of such a bill is that the BBMP will otherwise put all measures in place to bring the percentage of violations down to the single digits (some percentage in every society will flout the law) with stiff penalties. Regularising illegal buildings is therefore imagined…

The state government is doing a rethink on the Transfer of Development rights (TDR) scheme and announced a panel last week to be led by ABIDE-member Dr A Ravindra, according to the DNA. A public workshop is also going to held soon. This follows much citizen angst and resentment about roadwidening and BBMP's offering of TDR as compensation. (ABIDE is the chief minister's task force - Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure Development) This is a welcome move. Citizens will hopefully find their voices heard at this meeting. But the real issue is not TDR, as much as the state government may…

The past few months have given us several examples once again that Bangaloreans do not sit silent beyond a point. Yes, you can push citizens here for some time, but push hard enough and they are likely to hit back. The message from the backlash against auto rickshaw drivers tampering meters and refusing rides to passengers with runaway impunity is clear: 'We've had enough'. The mere fact that the unions have reportedly met and have started making pronouncements to address citizen fury is indicative that it took a united expression of anger to bring the auto rickshaw driver community to…

Nearly two weeks ago, a major chokepoint in city's north-eastern fringes was eliminated when citizens starting driving over the Whitefield-Kadugodi railway overbridge. The bridge connects the Kadugodi-Seegehalli-Kannamangala area north of the Whitefield Railway Station with the rest of Bengaluru city. After wait of nearly four years and a particularly excruciating two years, the clean, well-done road with bridge bounding walls nicely painted seems like a heaven-slapped fast lane for weary motorists here. It now takes only a minute to cross over what has been a 20-40 minutes detour, leading to an extra hour of road-time every day for most people…

Transfer. A piece of paper with an order written on it. In the stroke of a pen, Bharat Lal Meena was lifted from the top of BBMP and placed atop the BDA. Another stroke, and BDA Commissioner H Siddaiah takes his place.But why were they transferred? No reasons given.These are top officials with responsibilities. Their current roles have a relevance and power that citizens understand. The same state government that seeks so much publicity for its much acclaimed accomplishments (see the posters of B S Yeddyurappa and R Ashoka on Volvo buses this week), does not even bother to issue…

It's a classic case of putting cart before the horse and getting away with it. The Jayanagar Traffic and Transit Management Centre - a fancy name for a new bus stand located in a multi-storey building - was inaugurated in August 2009. The cost was around Rs.12 crores. It was a classic sarkari ceremony with the chief minister cutting the ribbon, transport minister attending, and the works. The media was happy to report it too.The centre has space for offices in the second and third floors and a swanky terrace parking lot for the public on the fourth level. They…

Once upon a time, Bengaluru had over a 100 lakes, of which many were used for water supply. Other lakes fed groundwater, which was again used for fetching drinking water through wells.And then the city grew, first slowly, and then faster. Amenities were needed. Housing was critical. The city's growth skyrocketed in the last two decades as the IT revolution came in. Apartments mushroomed.With all this came piped water supply from the Cauvery, a 100 kms away. Lakes were quickly forgotten, by everyone - from politicians to citizens.Land became precious. It turned into gold. Everyone, literally everyone - politicians, bureaucrats,…

In response to an RTI application filed by Citizen Matters, the BDA has listed out the 364 allottees who were given BDA sites under G-category during 2007-08 and 2008-09. Karnataka law allows BDA plot allocations on the fast track (no need to wait in a queue) to ‘eminent’ individuals under a rule called G-category.Incidentally, in the RTI application, Citizen Matters had specifically asked 'for particulars for eminence' for all people who were allocated these sites. In the BDA's reply, the entire question of what was 'eminent' about the allottees was ducked. Instead the BDA sent a list of 364 allottees.…