City: Bengaluru

Our preferred imagination of an urban lake is mostly blue water with a well-maintained walking track all along, some trees on the periphery and some birds on them. That imagination is of course broken when the lake stinks, froths, has plastic strewn around. And when we see overgrown typha reeds in the lake, floating hyacinth and alligator weed, when the lake turns from blue to green, that imagination is broken. And then we want to rejuvenate the lake and turn it blue again. Lower Ambalipura lake / wetland If we were to step back and think why is it that…

Dear Parties contesting in the Karnataka State Elections, Have you considered including Fire Safety in your election manifesto for the forthcoming election? If not, we urge you to do so. And here is why. There have been a spate of fire accidents in our country these past couple of months - be it at a liquor shop in Bengaluru or a hotel in Mumbai, or some other building in another city, town or village. In fact, as per NCRB 2015 data pertaining to Karnataka:  1244 died in fire accidents in 1 year  Of these, 781 were women and…

It was the year 1957 that Bangalore elected three women to the erstwhile Mysore Legislative Assembly. It remains the most number of women that the city has elected. Ours is a city that prides itself to be bustling cosmopolitan, representing modern times and yet how do we explain why there are not too many women who represented this city’s people politically? It is truly awesome and terrifying being a woman in these times. The last few months have been rather difficult for the collective patriarchy that has defined our world order so far. This month, the United Kingdom celebrates hundred…

The dream of having electric vehicles on the roads of Bengaluru came a bit closer to reality in the recent years. The city is slowly but surely moving towards electric vehicles. The recent push is the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) putting out a tender for private companies to add electric buses to the diesel fleet. Last date for submitting bids is February 19, 2018. BMTC to procure electric buses According to Ashwin Mahesh, an urbanist and social technologist, the production of electric vehicles is quite a challenge, and will take time to stabilise. As the design, strategising and building…

Union Budget mentions Bengaluru Suburban Rail:  Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced in the Union Budget that Bengaluru suburban network could spring up at a cost of ₹17,000 crore. It had agreed to invest about 20% of the total expenses, with ₹1,745 crore in two years. State government will invest another 20%, and the rest needs to be funded through loans. The rail project will be partly elevated inside the core areas of the city. Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao agreed that the project can take off when both the State and the Centre contribute 20% of the cost.  They both…

The Revised Master Plan 2031 of Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) which reflects the BDA’s vision of the growth of Bangalore over the next 15 years was open for public comments recently. At the outset, when one examines the overall ELU (Existing Land Use) and PLU (Proposed Land Use), there doesn’t seem to be any errors. The errors become evident when one examines the LU (Land Use) classification for each of the 42 PDs (Proposed District). First, the ELU areas of PDs does not add up to the total ELU mentioned for Industry, Unclassified, Transport, Vacant and Agriculture Land Uses. The…

As Delhi choked on toxic smog in November 2017, the Koramangala 1st Block Resident Welfare Association thought it apt to discuss the feasibility of Waste to Energy (WTE) for Bengaluru. In her opening remark, Padmashree Balaram, the President of the RWA, said: “We should not be governed in the hands of misinformation. We should also be smart enough to realise that information is not wisdom. Every topic, however controversial must be discussed with a scientific temper”. The timing, however for such a discussion could not have been more appropriate. Bengaluru has managed to instill a certain discipline in its operations,…

Over the last three decades, the lakes in Bengaluru have been ruined. Several reports list the causes and remedies, and orders were issued by the Karnataka High Court, Lokayukta Court and National Green Tribunal. But no significant action was ever taken, and the situation has only worsened. On 22nd January, citizen groups in Bellandur catchment area met Bengaluru In-charge Minister K J George, to press for time-bound and fast-track implementation of the Expert Committee Report. This was the first round, and does not address all action-points identified in the Expert Committee Report: The remaining points will be taken up in…

For RMP 2031, a group working on heritage, Heritage Beku, with over 80 members, set up by Priya Chetty Rajgopal, has worked over three weeks to come up with a suggestions / objections document that was sent to the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA). Besides response to the BDA's RMP suggestions on heritage, the document also has objections, institutionalising heritage, concerns of urban planners, suggestions from experts etc. Do read the document for details. [embeddoc url="https://citizenmatters.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/RMP-2031_heritage-suggestions.pdf" download="all"]

Makkala Jagriti, an NGO working with children and youth from the underprivileged communities, is holding an event ‘Makkala Raaga’, at Chowdaiah Memorial Hall on February 2nd, 2018. The event marks the 15th year of Makkala Jagriti’s establishment and we believe that that this esteemed platform will ignite the dreams of several children from marginalized communities who have had no opportunity to perform in front of a huge audience and showcase their talents. Makkala Raaga, meaning ‘Symphony of the Children’ is an ensemble of 500 children and youth from the underprivileged and marginalized communities to showcase the rich cultural heritage, diversity…