Articles by Supriya Khandekar

The BMTC is launching the Kendriyasarige, a bus service that will serve Bengaluru's central business district, and the Big 10 service that will be a direct route connecting 10 major roads in the city to the outer ring roads. The BMTC has adopted some of the suggestions given in the ABIDe report on transport and has taken the initiative to apply them even before the government asks them to do so. "The new launches are definitely going to benefit public transport system, thus, the earlier we do it the better it is," says P S Sandhu, Director, BMTC. He thinks…

It was a dull and cloudy afternoon when I was on my way to Jayanagar to meet first-time MLA B.N.Vijaykumar (BJP). I was not too excited about the interview as, like most of us, I was quite sure of getting long winded answers for simple questions. The first impression, as I entered the spic and span office, though, came as a surprise. I expected piles of folders and paper lying on the tables but I was astonished to see this almost paperless office with an executive constantly working on the computer. The grey haired bachelor in his late forties welcomed…

The most awaited park of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BBMP), the Freedom Park, opened to the public in November 2008, even as a number of facilities inside are still not functional. This, over-20 acre park, built on the former Central Jail premises on Seshadri Road is mainly constructed for arranging rallies, dharnas and protests and, therefore, not affecting the flow of traffic on such occasions. Garden area inside Freedom Park ( pic: Architects Mathew and Ghosh )The Freedom Park, now a vital green lung space in fast-concretising Bengaluru, has a long history to it. The plans for the park…

In the year 2008, discussion about power cuts was the talk of the town, among the city’s numerous other grouses. While everyone was affected by these outages, scheduled and unscheduled, and ranting about the same, Jayanagar Shopping Complex was least bothered to join the debate. Not because it never had these power cuts, but because it is suffering from the malady for the past 33 years. Jayanagar shopping complex (Pic: Supriya Khandekar) The well known Jayanagar IV Block Shopping Complex has been facing untimely and repeated power cuts since the time it came into existence 33 years ago. "We have…

"The city is getting beautiful," says the A K Gopalswamy, Engineer-in-Chief of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BBMP). Amidst all the criticism, he believes that the on-going road widening drive, the newer malls under construction, new roads, Metro rail, and so on are part of this ‘beautification'.Granite slabs dug up on Seshadripuam Main Road (pic: Supriya Khandekar)The recently dug-up Seshadripuram Main Road in northwest Bengaluru is evidence of this. The granite footpath on this road has been removed by the BBMP as part of work to install a new concrete pavement. This road, like most of the lanes and roads…

We all often read in newspapers about various raids that the Lokayukta of Karnataka does on various officers and catches them red-handed taking bribes. And most of us wonder how do they get to know of this. If one of us comes across an officer who readily accepts bribes, how do we tell the Lokayukata about that? Where do we complain? Will the Lokayukta consider the small complaints that do not involve a one crore-rupees scam?Well, the answer is yes. And filing a complaint is not as daunting as it may seem, considering our collective experience of access to government…

Are you familiar with offers like ‘Shop for Rs.999 and get a gift voucher worth Rs.99'? Most of us constantly look for such announcements in supermarkets, malls and showrooms. But are they for real, i.e, do consumers really get what the vendor promisesThe moment we come to know of discounts and offers through the media, we rush to avail of them. S N Subramanya, a consumer and RTI activist, also jumped at one such offer, to his regret. The Big Bazaar (Food Bazaar) grocery outlet in Sigma Mall on Cunnigham Road regularly has special offers on Wednesdays. On 19th November…

On 1st December, B N Vijay Kumar, MLA(BJP), Jayanagar constituency (which includes Jayanagar and JP Nagar), distributed pamphlets to all residents of his constituency asking them to inform him if they find vacant sites which is not protected by either the BBMP or BDA. Vijay Kumar says that he often gets complaints from his constituents about unused government land being misused or getting encroached upon. To verify the complaints, he went around his constituency and found that there were a lot of unprotected land sites owned by government or city corporation, which were not fenced or marked, near BBMP parks,…

Many of us often fight with the road-side shops for charging an extra Rs.2 for cold drinks or water. Some of us succumb to the demand after a futile argument. Still others pay without any question. But have you paid almost double for buying the same brand of bottled water from the same shop at the same time? S N Subramanya (79) was asked to pay. He happens to be an RTI and consumer activist and so pursued the matter further.On 8th January 2008, S N Subramanya went to Commercial Street to shop. There, he purchased two bottles of Kinley…

Property taxes are due city-wide, but clear information about how the tax is to be calculated has still not reached citizens, and this has created much disturbance and worry.To address the confusion, the Citizens' Action Forum (CAF) on 29th November passed a resolution demanding that the state government should bring back the Annual Rateable Value (ARV) based property tax system. CAF claims that the revised system which the BBMP has introduced recently was a violation of all the promises politicians had made before the elections.The meeting saw a participation of around hundered people from various residents associations who voiced their…