City: Bengaluru

Vishwanath Srikantaiah, popularly known as the 'Rainman', has been in the news recently for his ambitious project to build one million recharge wells in Bengaluru. Given the dire situation we find ourselves in vis-à-vis water, the initiative could not have come at a better time. While Vishwanath has been the face of this project, a tiny community has been helping with the groundwork - the Bovi community who are the traditional well-diggers of Bengaluru. Our guest on Citizens Live this week is Ramakrishna Bovi, who has been working with Vishwanath to recharge Bengaluru's groundwater. So why is this important? While…

High Court to state: Why no law to regulate rallies in Bengaluru? High Court called the state government's conduct "contemptuous" for not putting in place a law to regulate public assemblies and processions in Bengaluru. The court was responding to a PIL filed by an advocate A V Amaranathan. He was seeking a direction to the state, to notify the Licensing and Controlling of Assemblies and Processions (Bangalore City) Order, 2008. The government had notified the draft order years ago. In April 2011, the High Court had disposed of PILs related to the problems caused by rallies and bandhs, after…

The spectre of water scarcity is haunting Bengaluru. And from a din of solutions to avert this man-made crisis, one suggestion has take the city over like a storm, and brought to the forefront a debate with myriad perspectives. Recently, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameswara suggested banning apartment construction in Bengaluru for the next five years. His announcement invited strong objections from the real estate industry. Just a day after, the shares of Bengaluru-based real estate giants Shobha and Brigade plunged five percent. However, Parameswara's suggestion resonated with many citizens who have been facing the brunt of water shortage. Questions…

Bengaluru has found a love for microbreweries that brew their own beer on small scales, thanks to the influx of well-traveled young tech workers. Known as the pub capital of India, the city now has an estimated 60-plus micro breweries. What you may not know, is the amount of water needed to brew a pint of beer in these craft breweries. On average, it takes seven litres of water to brew a litre of beer. That number becomes many times higher when you factor in the entire water footprint of beer, including water required to grow the grain and water…

In a packed Town Hall on Sunday, 14th July, citizens conferred the Corporator #1 Awards (Namma Samiti Puraskaara) to 51 BBMP corporators. Justice Santosh Hegde, chief guest at the event, honoured the winners with a traditional Mysuru Petta. The winners were chosen based on the number of ward committee meetings held in their wards so far - that is, between last December and this June.  Corporators who had held two-third of the monthly meetings - that is, at least four - have been conferred the award. Following are the award winners: Ward No Ward Name Corporator 5 Jakkur Muneendra Kumar…

“A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transport,” is an interesting remark by Enrique Penalosa, the former Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia. Bengaluru needs to inspire a shift in the travel pattern of its citizens - from private transport to public transport. Buses are an awesome way to travel in the city. But we hear that BMTC finds Volvo AC buses unviable, and that the government is even considering taking these off the roads. According to BMTC’s 2017-18 annual report, the state-run corporation had lost around 6.9 lakh daily passengers…

  City may face water crisis by September Inconsistent southwest monsoon, especially at the Cauvery catchment area, may lead to water scarcity in Bengaluru. BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board) sources say that the city's water needs can be met only till September, due to poor inflow and plummeting water levels at the Krishnaraja Sagara (KRS) dam. This too would be possible only if the government does not release water into canals for irrigation. Currently, KRS holds only 9.34 TMC of water, as against 30.12 TMC last year. Since Mysuru, Mandya and other areas too depend on KRS, water…

On June 29th, hundreds of JP Nagar residents took part in a peace walk from MLR Convention Centre to Nandini Junction along 24th Main road. Our walk was against the illegal commercialisation and bad traffic planning along this stretch. Over 15,000 residents live around this 1.8 km-long stretch of 24th Main road. Thousands of commuters use it as well, but they take as much as 40-45 minutes to traverse it on a regular day. The reason is the unethical commercialisation of the area, which has led to infrastructure breakdown and deterioration of the neighbourhood. As per the Revised Master Plan (RMP…

Ward committees bring democracy to your doorstep, and give you a say in the planning and management of local work. The Nagarpalika Act, 1992, a central law, made ward committees mandatory for large cities. But this was not implemented in Bengaluru for long. It took years of citizen campaigning for ward committees to be formed at all. More recently, the High Court judgement in a PIL by the NGO Environment Support Group, and public outcry, compelled the Bengaluru Mayor to issue a direction to compulsorily hold ward committee meetings on the first Saturday of every month. Following this, the BBMP…