City: Bengaluru

Bangalore Apartments' Federation (BAF) has strongly condemned Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for its unilateral, unreasonable and illegal penalisation of apartments which have not been able to do in situ composting. BAF is a not-for-profit organisation with a membership base of over 500 apartment complexes across Bengaluru, representing almost one lakh households and three lakh people. Elaborating on Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, Vikram Rai, Treasurer and SWM Lead of BAF, said, “The SWM Rules of 2016 - notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on 8th April 2016 - mandates only waste segregation. It neither mandates…

As an engineer, I always try to find logic in everything. After years of persistent effort, I finally concede - there's no logic when it comes to hailing an autorickshaw in Namma Bengaluru. Autos refusing a ride isn't uncommon in Bengaluru. But a few weeks ago I had my moment of epiphany when six empty autos - all going in the same direction - refused me a ride on the straight, freshly white-topped stretch from Silk Board Junction to Koramangala Forum mall. The distance - not more than 2 km. That's when it dawned on me - hiring an auto…

Ward committees are supposed to make citizens the co-decision makers in governance of their ward. The idea is to entrust citizens with ward-level planning, budgeting and monitoring of BBMP services/schemes, and to leave corporators to focus on broader systemic issues of the city. But a recent study by Sensing Local Foundation revealed that the ward committees in Bengaluru were mostly ineffective. The foundation studied ward committees across 22 wards over four months, from July to October. The researchers found that while citizens were keen to attend the meetings, corporators often didn’t turn up, and the ward committee members didn't resolve issues…

Crores have been spent on cleaning up lakes in the city, but these lakes still receive sewage. This is because of the peculiarity of Bengaluru's lake system - lakes here cascade into one another, and the land gradient supports this. So, once a lake is cleaned up, it will remain so only if the lakes and rajakaluves upstream of it are also clean. The infamous Bellandur lake is being rejuvenated now. But this exercise would be pointless unless the upstream Doddanekkundi and Kaggasadapura lakes too are cleaned, because it's from these two lakes that sewage enters Bellandur lake. So, even…

Bypoll voter turnout only around 50% A large number of Bengalureans, true to tradition, failed to vote in the by-election to the four assembly constituencies - Shivaji Nagar, Mahalakshmi Layout, Yeshvanthapura and KR Puram - on Thursday. The voter turnout was lower than that in the 2018 assembly elections and that in the other 11 constituencies polled on Thursday, as per Election Commission figures. The constituencies in Bengaluru recorded an average turnout of more than 50 per cent. Yeshwanthpur, at 59 percent, showed the highest polling. Mahalakshmi Layout had a turnout of only 51 percent; Shivajinagar turnout was lower at…

On October 4th, 33-year-old Vyas (name changed), an IT professional, fell and broke his right knee when his scooter bumped into a pothole. The surgery afterwards, recurring hospital bills, physiotherapy, expenses for medicines, scooter repair etc have drained him of over Rs 4,34,323 so far. And he is still bed-ridden. Vyas has been sending emails to one government department after the other, hoping for compensation. But there’s been no response. The reason? BBMP has never had a mechanism to compensate victims of pothole accidents despite the high number of victims. So far, compensation has been purely at the ‘discretion’ of…

Most Indian cities have a distinct historic past, rooted in the natural, social, economic and cultural contexts of different times. A strong relationship with nature and its processes is the most significant aspect of these cities’ development and survival. Landscape Foundation, India initiated the pilot study of the city of Delhi (Delhi – Hills, Forests and a River, 2017) in this context. This was followed by the study of Pune (The City of Hills and Rivers, 2018). This year, the study of Bengaluru was undertaken. The research, in each case, is produced in English and the regional language, as to…

Bengaluru's drinking water highly polluted Most Bengalureans are consuming highly contaminated water due to pathogens in BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board) supply, borewells and sumps, according to a study by the Ramaiah Advanced Testing Laboratory (RATL). Besides, heavy metals and toxic chemicals have contaminated groundwater, the study found. RATL analysed water samples from BWSSB taps, borewells and sumps from 100 residential areas for over a year. One-third of these samples showed traces of E. coli bacteria, which can lead to bloody diarrhoea and even kidney failure. All 80 samples collected from BWSSB taps showed some form of contamination…

Elected on a Congress ticket from Yeshvanthapura in the Karnataka Assembly polls 2018, MLA S T Somashekar was among the 17 legislators disqualified by former Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar, under the anti-defection law. Since Supreme Court allowed these MLAs to contest the bypolls, Somashekar is now contesting as the BJP candidate from Yeshvanthapura. Know your candidates Twelve candidates are contesting from Yeshvanthapura constituency. The nominations of two other candidates had been rejected. Following are the major candidates: P Nagaraj Indian National Congress Family: Spouse and one dependant Educational qualification: SSLC (discontinued) Profession: Self-employed Pending criminal cases: Nil Net worth…

On December 5th, by-elections will be held in four assembly constituencies in Bengaluru - Yeshwanthpur, KR Puram, Mahalakshmi Layout and Shivajinagar. In the first three of these, disqualified MLAs are returning as candidates, albeit from a different party. Former Congress MLAs S T Somshekar and Basavaraj Byrathi, and former JD(S) MLA K Gopalaiah, are now contesting as BJP candidates. They are coming back to you one and half years after you elected them. I wish I could tell you what development plan they have for your constituency. But I just couldn’t find anything on it except political statements. Yes, these…