City: Bengaluru

On 29 September, 2009, the Supreme Court ordered that the authorised construction of any religious structure should not be allowed in streets, parks of other public places. The order applied to every state in India. In case of structures built before the date of the court order, state governments were to make decisions on a case-by-case basis. Yet in Bengaluru, we still see religious structures popping up on public land. This was because the Karnataka government or BBMP took hardly any action to implement the SC order - structures that came up since September 2009 were not demolished, and no…

Environment Support Group (ESG) has renewed its efforts to protect the Turahalli Minor and Reserve Forests in Bengaluru, the latest threat to which has come in the form of a proposal to convert the forest into a tree park. This “tree park” idea is part of the "Bengaluru Mission 2022" Plan promoted by the government. Brief History of the Forest Turahalli Gudda, as this forest has always been known, is an amazing rocky and biodiversity rich landscape located on the southern edge of Bengaluru. It’s most interesting assemblage of boulders has served as a regular practice site for rock climbers, several…

On February 2, 2021, residents in and around Kanakapura Road sounded an alarm when they spotted excavators in the vicinity of the Turahalli forest. When Gautham Kamath, one of the members of Changemakers of Kanakapura Road, and other residents confronted the officials operating the excavators, they received vague answers. Initially, they said they were building a 280-ft compound wall. On further questioning, they backtracked and said they were carrying out de-weeding in order to prevent forest fires. Finally, they admitted to clearing a path for walkways. The plan, it turned out, was for a tree park. Citizens’ outcry Last December,…

Bengaluru Mission 2022 is the state government's plan to transform the city's infrastructure, enabling faster commute and providing a cleaner and greener city. It was unveiled by Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddiyurappa in December last year. In a tweet in December 2020, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddiyurappa said, "Increasing green cover and air quality will lead to an overall improvement in quality of life. Revitalisation of the lakes and Raja Kaluve network along with improved utilisation of rainwater and grey water across Bengaluru will address the SWD problem." The proposed plan includes the creation of new urban lung spaces in…

Pay to park outside your home Parking a vehicle in a public space in the city, including on a residential street, will be charged. That is the norm under Parking Policy 2.0 approved by the Urban Development Department. It will come into effect once the Directorate of Urban Land Transport and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike prepare area parking plans, six months to one year from now. Almost all places including commercial and residential areas will be covered under the pay and park system. The new parking policy introduces a permit system to park outside one's home as well. The annual…

For long, I was intrigued by this derelict locomotive lying in the Indira Gandhi Musical Fountain Park opposite the Jawahar Lal Nehru Planetarium. I would have a fleeting glance of it while passing the gate. I had once seen it from up close and did not see any markings on it. Truly, it was a mystery locomotive. A few years back I went to the park to do a detailed documentation of the locomotive. The more I looked at it, the prettier it seemed. The first thing that one usually does when confronted with locomotives that don't bear any markings,…

In Bengaluru, apartments have to set up their own Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) to manage the sewage they generate. But the design and operations of most apartment STPs are flawed. Often, residents suffer due to the poor quality of treated water which they have to reuse; and excess sludge from the STP is dumped elsewhere, endangering public health. We, at Brigade Altamont apartment in K Narayanapura, recently fine-tuned our STP system so as to make it fully legally-compliant, and with little investment. K Narayanapura has no underground sewer network, and our apartment is located near a rajakaluve that traverses Arkavathy…

School teachers as COVID-warriors Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar has requested the Prime Minister and Union Health and Family Welfare Minister to consider school teachers as COVID warriors and ensure that they are vaccinated on priority. He said teachers have worked on the frontlines and also in containment zones. They played a crucial role in preventing the spread of the virus. They even visited households to collect data and create awareness among the public, he said. Source: The Hindu 'Save Turahalli' gets louder Even as environmental groups started a campaign to leave Turahalli forests untouched, people in…

There was someone tapping on our gate. Two gentlemen were seeking permission to enter; to rescue a bird trapped on our silver oak tree. People in neighbouring buildings had seen the bird, a kite, struggling since that morning. Its wing had been caught in manja (twine used to fly kites) that must have got entangled in the tree during the kite-flying season. A young man working in an office nearby had been monitoring the bird. He saw that though other kites had been attempting to free it, the raptor remained trapped several hours later, into the late afternoon. And he…

Donna Fernandes, founder of Vimochana, an NGO that works for women’s rights, is harried for the past few weeks. She's been trying and get a shelter, ration and compensation for a victim of domestic violence. Working in this field for forty years, she finds that the issues that plague society and affect women victims, remain unchanged. Like `the more things change, the more they don’t'. Take for instance, the Nirbhaya Fund, set up by the Central government after the December 16, 2012 gang rape in Delhi. The fund was to help survivors of violence and improve infrastructure to support women…