City: Bengaluru

Gearing up for New Year eve Bengaluru has geared up for the new year celebrations. Following an alert by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), city police have been deployed around tourist and religious places over the next few days during the lead up to New Year’s eve. CCTV and drone cameras will be deployed in order to monitor any suspicious activity and movement of people. As many as 12,000 police personnel, along with 80 platoons of the reserve police force and 250 women police squads will be deployed. The management of pubs, bar and restaurants have been directed to ensure…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship An ambulance on the ready, a medical centre with a doctor and two nurses visiting on alternate days, home healthcare services for those who need it - these are some of the medical facilities at Athashri, a retirement community in Whitefield, Bengaluru. Athashri, a retirement home for senior citizens aged above 65 years, has good medical facilities, says H Kishore, president of the resident welfare association here. The apartment has 118 units, of which nearly 80 are occupied currently. About 15 residents here are availing the home services of care…

This article is part of a special series: Air Quality in our Cities https://twitter.com/dr_rvs/status/1074692756843442176?s=21 The tweet on 18th December 2018 from a resident addressing Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the Chief Minister of Karnataka pointed to the failure of Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC) in managing the municipal solid waste that it receives and its contribution to air pollution. Municipal Solid Waste Management (SWM) deals with the control of waste - storage, collection, transfer and transportation, its processing and disposal in line with the best principles of public health, engineering, conservation, economics and other environmental considerations. However the mismanagement of…

Bengaluru has transformed from a city which was known as the “city of gardens” to the “Silicon Valley of India” because of the major IT boom it has witnessed since the 1990s. This transformation has, however, come at a major cost of widespread damage to the city’s vegetation cover, increasing pollution and concretisation of land. A problem that has crippled the city the most is the increasing traffic congestion. While most of the major roads in Bengaluru are plagued by traffic congestion, Hosur road is one of the worst affected. A 9 km-long elevated expressway was constructed on Hosur road…

A recent gazette draft published by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change proposed an ecosensitive zone for villages listed around Bannerghatta National Park in  Bengaluru. "The State Government shall, for the purpose of effective management of the Eco-Sensitive Zone, prepare a Zonal Master Plan within a period of two years from the date of publication of Final Notification in the Official Gazette, in consultation with local people and adhering to the stipulations given in this Notification for approval of Competent Authority in the State Government," said the notification, asking the State to prepare a master plan for eco-sensitive…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship When 80-year-old Rukmini Amma fell and broke her leg at her home in Rajajinagar, her husband, 86-year-old Srikantan, called their neighbours for help. Neighbours helped Rukmini Amma get admitted to hospital, and informed her son who lives in Pune, and daughter who’s in Canada. Both rushed home, and helped her get the best treatment and surgery, and brought her back home. When it was time for them to go back, they weighed their options. Finally they brought a new person home - 55-year-old Kuppamma, a trained geriatric care personnel, who…

In the last few years, citizen-led movements in Bengaluru have garnered major headlines for various success stories as they took on governments and made the administration work a little more effectively. But the tradition of community groups working towards making their city a better place is an old one in Malleshwaram. Rekha Chari of Malleshwaram Swambhimana Initiative (MSI) and Suchitra Deep of Malleshwaram Social chatted with Citizen Matters on a Facebook Live, on the journey of the two groups, the hurdles of running a community group at a time when neighbours aren't aware of each other and the various mediums…

Private vehicle growth has choked cities and caused massive loss in productivity. With a growing population, moving to mass transport is the only way to avoid further congestion. But there are inconveniences in choosing public transport. One is the need to make multiple changes which means the transition needs to be smooth. Second, Public Transport never drops you at your doorstep. There is always a last mile which would have to be covered by walk or some other mode. Let’s for a moment assume this last mile segment is solved; as a choice architect, what can the state do to…

There are cubes and cylinders here. But this is no maths class. There are bugs and a big scorpion too, yet this is no forest. Buddha and Christ almost facing each other, not in any place of worship though. This is Bengaluru’s most famous cake show, that happens at St Joseph’s Grounds every year, in this season. If you are a Bengalurean or have been here for a couple of Christmas seasons now, chances are that you would have visited this show. It was sheer chance that saw me near the gates of St. Joseph's School on a Thursday evening…

Today is observed as National Consumers Day. If you are reading this, you are a literate, educated citizen with internet connection for accessing  information via Google. But does ‘educated’ always mean ‘aware’? Check this. In Bengaluru, there are several medical shops and pharmacies that offer a discount for senior citizens. A comprehensive list of such shops, clinics and hospitals around the city, listed area-wise, is available at Nightingales Elders Enrichment Centre (NEEC) in Malleswaram, Bengaluru. Many elders know about this centre, they even attend regular events there, but some don’t know that there exists such a list of discounts available.…