City: Bengaluru

A 60-day window is open for the public to participate in giving comments to Bengaluru’s draft Revised Masterplan (RMP) 2031. The legally required participation acknowledges that the public has knowledge and that sharing is essential to bring about a plan viable for all. While citizens now are trying to read through monumental 6 volumes of plan material to give their inputs, government’s effort to equip citizen with planning literacy is inadequate. Environment Support Group (ESG) conducted a workshop on: “How to...understand and comment on the Revised Draft Masterplan 2031 for Bengaluru” in which the above concerns were addressed. During the…

The alleged abduction and rape of a woman in Anekal area of Bengaluru has left citizens stunned. A group of us, including me, Srinivas Alavilli, Suraj Chabbria, Rini (North east forum), Divya Titus (IwGO) and others met the Home Minister of Karnataka, Ramalinga Reddy last week. We submitted the following letter to him: Dear Minister, We write to you in deep anguish this 5th anniversary of the Delhi Nirbhaya incident. The women of Bengaluru are deeply disturbed and shaken by the gruesome rape about 3 weeks ago in Anekal. We are also outraged and angry that no suspects have been…

The rains have stopped disturbing the city, but reports of dengue cases are still trickling in. In the post-rain season, buzzing armies of mosquitoes breed wherever they can, continuing to carry the sting of dengue and other mosquito-related diseases. What’s the reason behind this situation? People often complain that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is not doing enough, or even anything, to fight the mosquito menace after the rains. Currently, there is some anxiety related to the lack of efforts for “spraying insecticides” in common perception, or “fogging”. Anant, a resident of HSR Layout, says that BBMP doesn’t seem…

In what turned out to be a most engrossing discussion on “Can Inter-linking our Rivers and Greening their Banks save our Cities?” organized by Environment Support Group at Ashirvad, Bangalore, on December 15, 2017, theatre activist and Playwright Shri Prasanna Heggodu delved into the importance of introspection whilst addressing the prevailing state of affairs of the World. In particular addressing the problematic proposition of interlinking rivers, Prasanna argued that it is not an issue in which we can target the government or the Supreme Court or Narendra Modi as Prime Minister as chasing what seems like a scheme that has…

Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) has come out with the draft plan for Bengaluru that will decide the city’s growth for next 15 years. The Revised Master Plan-2031 (RMP-2031) has been displayed in its website. It’s time for interested citizens to understand and decode the RMP and comment in it, raise objections or give suggestions. The process of first Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) was started in 1995, but as public were less connected among themselves and to the government, there was lack of engagement from the public. As a result the planning process became an one-sided affair, largely catering to the business interests and commercialisation. However,…

Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation’s survey for Cantonment metro station has created panic among the residents of Maangalya apartments in Benson Town. In part 1 of this story, Citizen Matters had reported that the mid-tunnel shaft between Cantonment and Pottery Town stations will come up at Maangalya apartment site, if Cantonment metro station is built at its original location as per the Detailed Project Report (DPR). The shaft is needed because the length of this stretch would be above 1.5 kms. The DPR had mentioned a specific location for the metro station — right opposite Cantonment railway station’s main entrance, under…

As the controversy on the location of the upcoming Cantonment metro station continues, Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) has left many questions unanswered. While a citizens’ group has been demanding metro station right in front of the railway station where it was planned originally,  another is demanding it at the alternate location proposed by BMRC, at Bamboo Bazaar. With BMRC refusing to answer questions raised by citizens and the media, the suspense remains. Cantonment metro station was originally supposed to come up right opposite the Cantonment railway station, under its parking lot, as per the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for…

50 years ago, a ‘Summer of Love’ in the United States brought together the anti-Vietnam war movement, a desire to create a counter-culture and a generation longing to rid itself of the perceived stifling mores of the earlier generation. The "flower children" of the 1960s didn't just listen to the Beatles and distribute flowers. They were the rebels of the day and they had their own "Beku" and "Beda" philosophy which today most serious observers of the time regard as naive, directionless but well-intentioned. So we had the "We want World Peace", "We want disarmament", "We want Lyndon Johnson to…

An informal ban on dubbing of movies from various languages into Kannada, for more than six decades, seems to be taking a few steps towards being dubbed banned. Vega Mattu Udvega 8, the Kannada version of Fast and Furious 8 hit the theatres recently. It immediately set the pro-dubbing activists on fire. “So happy to see this happening,” was the first reaction by Pavan Srinath, a public policy researcher with Takshashila Institution, based in Bengaluru, who has been involved in related debates. What is the ban about? Although there has never been a legal or constitutional ban on dubbing in…

Janaagraha’s survey on Open Spaces* (parks and playgrounds) (Access the reports here) in Bengaluru has found out that poor availability, poor access and poor maintenance continue to plague the city’s public spaces. As for availability of open spaces, Bengaluru has 19 sqkm of open space (parks and playgrounds), which accounts for 3% of the city area (709 sq km). But at 2.2 sq m of open space per capita, Bengaluru falls considerably short of the prescribed standard of 10 sq. m of open space per capita recommended by the Urban and Regional Development Plan Formulation and Implementation (2015) guidelines of…