City: Bengaluru

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…

In the first part of this series, we pointed out that Environment Clearance (EC) was issued for the mammoth elevated corridors project within the record time of two weeks. EC is issued based on an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report submitted by the project proposer. In this case, the consultant AECOM Asia had submitted the report on behalf of the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd (KRDCL) which is implementing the project. In this part, we discuss the serious omissions in the EIA, which begs the question of how the EC was issued at all. For one, the EIA does not…

Garbage rule violators might be fined heavily from September Heavy fines would be imposed on anyone who litters, dumps waste and construction debris, uses banned plastic items or does not segregate waste at the source, according to a new proposal drafted and sent by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to the government. These revised fine amounts are likely to be in place from September, said BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad. The proposal identified and drafted the fines to be incorporated in the Solid Waste Management (SWM) by-laws for effective implementation of SWM Rules 2016. The state-level SWM Policy, which…

After years of public demand for a suburban rail network in Bengaluru, the project seems to be rolling out slowly. But there is much confusion as authorities are still working out the details. Just last week, the state government gave its consent to register a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that would implement the project worth Rs 22,242 crore. The SPV named B-RIDE (Bangalore Integrated Rail Infrastructure Development Enterprises Limited), is expected to be registered within a month. It will be a joint venture between the state and the centre. After years of delay, it was this February that the state…

Over the past few months, Karnataka has become infamous for its treatment of taxi aggregator apps. It began with the state transport department banning Ola for operating bike taxis. Last week, the department ordered aggregators to stop shared-cab services too in the city. In the absence of a predictable public transport system, many of these services - shared cabs or bike taxis - had become cost-effective alternatives for Bengalureans. But despite their obvious benefits, state government continues to view such services with suspicion, and brings down the law on them. It is not that state government is particular about hindering easier…

With its population growing at the rate of 4.45 percent annually, Bengaluru is now the largest city in India after Delhi and Mumbai. The city shelters about half of Karnataka’s urban population. The administration of such a huge, expanding population calls for a structure with a holistic approach, which the BBMP (Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike) lacks. An alternative administration that will overcome the shortcomings of BBMP and address the city's issues, is the need of the hour. An expanding city Bengaluru has been expanding rapidly over the last three decades. In 1991, the then-BMP (Bangalore Mahanagara Palike) expanded to include…

The citizens' movement CfB (Citizens for Bengaluru) has launched the first 'Namma Samithi Puraskara' or 'Corporator No 1 Awards'. The award will honour ward councillors who have done the best work in their wards, and have engaged citizens through ward committee meetings. At a press conference yesterday, CfB announced that the awards will be presented at the Town Hall on July 14th, 10.30 am. Justice Santosh Hegde will participate in the ceremony. Corporators will be selected for the awards based on inputs from citizens themselves. You can rate your corporator at citizensforbengaluru.in. This page has a form to gather information…

  Ward delimitation before civic polls State government has taken up the delimitation of wards based on a proposal by the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike), in the run up to the civic polls in 2020. After delimitation, the number of wards will remain the same, but the core city will have fewer wards compared to the outer zones. The goal is to reduce the disparity in ward population, which ranges from 21,171 in Marenahalli to 95,368 in Horamavu. The plan now is to have 198 wards with an average population of 42,645. The exercise will be done on the…

A walk along our neighbourhoods in Bengaluru will indicate the vibrancy of some of our streets. Colourful carts of green and other bright colours with a fresh supply of vegetables, fruits and flowers are therapy for the eyes, and also ensure we buy the required vitamins and minerals for our well-being. The carts of street food that offer a quick snack after shopping, or the much-needed energy after too long a day to cook dinner at home, are such a blessing. More importantly, the little stalls in unexpected corners selling just what you were looking for - such as a…

Newspapers are reporting that the Karnataka government is considering handing over BMTC's 1000 AC buses to other Road Transport Corporations (RTCs) due to profitability concerns, and also adding 3000 regular buses to all RTC fleets. Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike (BBPV), a collective that campaigns for better BMTC services, welcomes the move to rethink the presence of Volvo AC buses and replace these with ordinary buses. The decision will greatly help urban poor commuters and the corporation itself. We, however, would like to emphasise that no buses should be taken off the roads until new ones are added to the fleet.…