City: Bengaluru

BBMP will fill potholes, but not count them The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is going to stop counting potholes, calling it an unscientific practice. M R Venkatesh, BBMP Engineer-in-chief, said that the civic body has asked engineers to fix potholes wherever they are found, without counting them. “We’ve stopped counting potholes because we’ve decided to make the city roads pothole-free,” he said. By July 18th, BBMP had listed 5630 potholes, and had filled about 2790. The remaining 2840 holes are yet to be filled. BBMP has decided to not set deadlines to fill potholes; instead, officials have been instructed…

On 7th September 2017, a 7-year-old school-going child was run over by a school bus while he was trying to cross Old Madras road (OMR). He was rushed to the hospital in an auto-rickshaw. The doctors examined the boy, and proclaimed that he suffered severe head injuries and had died on the way to the hospital. On 14th March 2017, a male pedestrian, 45, was hit and run by an unknown vehicle near Battarahalli junction on OMR when he tried to cross the road. He too sustained serious injuries and died on the way to the hospital. In another three…

“In your opinion, what is the most prevalent problem faced by the residents of your area?” three of us from the non-profit IT for Change, asked the youth of Old Baiyappanahalli a few months ago. It didn’t take long for the youth to unanimously respond – the traffic at the railway gate, which had been the bane of their existence. “It’s becoming impossible by the day!” they said in exasperation. Further discussions revealed that Baiyappanahalli road was underserved by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). This stretch connects Swami Vivekananda Road metro station (along Old Madras Road), to Maruti Seva…

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we looked at the conflict between the BBMP and the state government on allowing advertisement hoardings in Bengaluru. While the former is pushing for a blanket ban on commercial hoardings, the latter wants to allow hoardings. In this part, we explore whether the hoarding ban proposed by BBMP is justified. What is BBMP's revenue from ad hoardings? As per the advertisement scam unearthed by K Mathai, former BBMP Assistant Commissioner (Advertising), the BBMP had lost advertisement revenue of around Rs 2000 crore between 2005 and 2015. This was mainly because of…

In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the tussle between BBMP and state government on allowing advertisement hoardings in the city. Last year, the BBMP Council passed draft bye-laws that ban commercial hoardings. But the state government's UDD (Urban Development Department) recently framed its own Rules that allow hoardings. It's still unclear which of these laws would prevail. The High Court recently upheld the BBMP bye-laws at a PIL hearing, but the final judgement is pending in the case. And the UDD continues to insist on implementing its own Rules. In this part of the series, we look…

For a while, Bengaluru has been sporting skeletal metal frames where glossy advertisement hoardings once stood. The city had been stripped of its hoardings after the BBMP Council passed a resolution last year, banning these. The Council also passed the draft Outdoor Signage and Public Messaging Bye-laws, 2018, that would ban all commercial hoardings. But the state government wanted to allow hoardings in the city, which led to a tussle between the government and BBMP. State government's UDD (Urban Development Department) even published a separate set of laws - the BBMP Advertisement Rules, 2019 - this July 15th. These Rules…

City to get air purifiers  About 500 air-purifying devices will be installed at various traffic-heavy junctions in the city, to reduce vehicular pollution. A memorandum of understanding was signed by the BBMP with the software firm aTechTron, which will begin to install the purifiers from the second week of September. About 100 air purifiers will be installed over three months in the first phase. The entire project will be completed within the next year-and-half. At more traffic-heavy junctions such as Silk Board, Marathahalli and Bellandur, more than one device will be installed. The devices are made with patented technology. They…

If you want to be a professional sportsperson, what training options do you have in Bengaluru? Where do you go if you can't afford private coaching or training facilities? In this edition of Citizens Live, Olympian Pramila Aiyappa and para-athlete Shalini Saraswathi share their thoughts. Currently, there are only two major sports training facilities in Bengaluru - state government's Kanteerava Stadium, and central government's SAI (Sports Authority of India) centre in Kengeri. Pramila, a heptathlete who had trained at SAI, says that all facilities are not available under one roof. Currently a coach, Pramila had represented India in the 2000…

In India’s IT capital Bengaluru, sprinkled within its concrete jungle, are shady peepal trees adorned with serpent stones, bells and sacred threads, standing majestically atop gated, raised platforms. Often a pit-stop for tired travellers or an informal gathering place, these culturally-important open-air tree shrines or ‘kattes’ and temples, with their assemblage of native tree species, offer immense scope to enhance the green infrastructure within rapidly growing megacities, suggests a study. Offering a glimpse into the city’s native trees, the study documents 121 such species thriving in 69 sacred sites in Bengaluru, spread across 36 temples and 33 kattes, a sizeable…

Is ‘culture’ and its representation through art galleries ‘public’? This question came to my mind when I recently dropped by the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) Bengaluru after a gap of 6-7 months. When I attempted to walk in, a security guard stopped me at the gate, and asked me to buy a ticket. Surprised, I enquired if the gallery had started charging a parking fee, and pointed out that I was on foot. He said, “No, no, it’s entry fee. Everyone entering the compound has to pay.” Though he replied promptly, he seemed a bit annoyed. Perhaps other…