City: Bengaluru

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) presented its budget last week. Janaagraha, a non-governmental organisation working in urban affairs, analysed the budget. While the actual receipt of property tax was at Rs 1725 crores, estimated collection for 2018-19 is Rs 2,675 crore. Here is the summary of analysis. All amounts in Rs Cr unless otherwise stated; all growth rates on compounded basis unless otherwise stated. Budget trend Table 1: Budget Trends   Actuals Actuals Actuals Actuals RBE BE Particulars 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 Receipts 3,093 4,205 5,246 6,572 7,514 9,322 YoY receipts %   36% 25% 25% 14% 24%…

For an effective air quality management plan, a lot of information is required at various stages to ascertain the sources, their impacts on health, and their potential to control emissions. However, the most basic information that every city requires is ambient monitoring data. This data tells us, what is the level of air pollution, where and when is it the highest (spatial and temporal trends). It is very important that the ambient monitoring network for a city is representative, spatially and temporally, to support an effective long-term air quality management plan for the entire airshed of the city. For example,…

A recent BBC report projected that Bengaluru will run out of water soon. Yes, it was a superficial list of cities that already have water problem. It just pronounced the harsh verdict without any in-depth analysis of the factors involved. That’s like taking a casual look at an emaciated man and saying, “he is going to die soon”. But in this case, all the x-rays and MRIs are only going to confirm the same verdict. Ignoring the problem is going to worsen the situation. Let’s have a look at this complicated case, Munnabhai-style. He is bound to say, “Ae maamu!…

Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) recently released the fund utilisation report of MLAs under their Local Area Development Scheme (2013-14 to 2016–17) through a web page. B.PAC undertook this study focusing on the 27 Assembly constituencies in Bengaluru Urban to observe the pattern of spending on activities. The data was collated for the MLA’s across 27 constituencies in Bengaluru Urban for the fiscal years 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 from Govt sources. The activities undertaken by the MLA’s under local area development scheme were classified as per KLLAD guidelines issued by Government. The activitywise spending across all the constituencies has been…

The Indian Motor Vehicles Act makes it compulsory to wear a BIS standard helmet when riding a two wheeler. It has been proven that wearing a standard helmet can reduce the risk of fatality by 40% and severe injury by 70%. Yet 70–80% of the helmets sold in the country are spurious. Bengaluru Traffic Police recently decided to make driving safer for two wheeler riders by insisting they wear ISI branded helmets only. Campaigns were launched and repeated reminders were published in the newpapers leading up to the roll out date of 1 Feb 2018. Then came the U-Turn, the…

Piped Natural Gas is available as an alternative to Liquid Petroleum Gas in many cities across India. PNG is preferred by many as it is cost-effective when compared to LPG. Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) has started work in Bengaluru on supplying PNG to industrial and a few residential areas and people have been asked to apply for it if they want the connection. Piped natural gas, though not risky as compared to LPG, is also flammable. So, it becomes necessary for all of us in Bengaluru to be aware of the hazards that are related to PNG. What…

The Bengaluru Master Plan for 2031 promises to equip the city to deal with the challenges that will come its way by 2031 - principally more people, causing more demand for living space and transport. There are plans for development of new mass transport options like LRT (Light Rail Transit), BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) and Monorail along several major corridors alongside road and junction improvements.  But in this article, I want to step back from the issues concerning the city at large, and focus on the impact of the master plan on my own area of J.P. Nagar. The strange…

Every morning hundreds of tempo travellers traverse IT corridor routes including Outer Ring Road and Hosur Road in Bengaluru. On their way to picking up their customers’ employees, they also ferry commuters waiting on the way for public transport, illegally of course. It is no secret that there are many private buses too plying from K.R. Market or Anand Rao Circle, to the outskirts. Some of them have just a contract carriages license, and some service organisations. A colleague of mine reports college buses plying in the evening near Race Course Road, carrying regular passengers to pre-defined destinations within the…

If you have travelled a reasonable number of major cities in India, the first thing that will strike you about Bengaluru is its green cover. The trees that stand regally spreading their foliage on both sides of the road, creating cool, beautiful avenues for passers-by to enjoy. These trees shield us from the fury of the sun during the warm summer months, and bear beautiful flowers in springtime. The joy that comes from watching these flowers in full bloom is truly sublime. It can transport one from mundane surroundings to a veritable paradise. Trees soothe our senses and relieve stress.…

With rising concerns about air quality in the city, a number of private citizens have begun measuring pollutant levels in the atmosphere, and are publishing them. The Karnataka Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), which is tasked with monitoring air quality and protecting the public from the health risks of poor air, disputes these measurements, arguing that these are taken by un-certified sensors. That's true, but it's also not the end of the matter. The problem is quite simple - secrecy is the weakness of pollution control efforts in the country. The government has taken the view that it will collect its…