City: Bengaluru

This petition will be handed over to the Railways officially by the Hosur Payanigal Meambattu Sangham, on October 26, 2017, at 7.30 am, in Hosur Railway Station. To, Honorable Shri Piyush Goyal, The Honorable Minister of Indian Railways, Government of India. From, The Daily Rail Commuters between Hosur and Bengaluru Hosur Tamilnadu. Respected Sir, Sub: Requesting to approve the doubling of track between Hosur and Bengaluru; and stoppage of Express trains in a few stations. We are the proud passengers who commute up and down from Hosur to Bengaluru on daily basis to earn our livelihood. Most of us are…

Vijay Kundaji didn't really figure in my list of friends, though we met at regular intervals during Citizens for Bengaluru meetings. He seemed reticent and a man of few words who liked a comfortable corner—very unlike me. But when we began work on the Beku Beda Santhe, I realised his shy nature was a sham. He turned into a one-man army, whose stoic confidence was what kept most of us calm during the run up to the event. Murphy's Law would not meet a more determined adversary. Our shared moments over absolute disasters and accomplishment also saw us become friends.…

KEY HIGHLIGHTS 66% of budgeted property tax of INR 2,600 crores collected in H1. Highest in the last five years. INR 1200 crores of Pending Bills cleared. Spends on current year’s works at INR 177 crores. 2422 Tenders for INR 925 crores raised against a residual budgeted spend of INR 5758 crores SECTION I | Analysis of Expenditure BBMP has spent INR 2,030 crores (26% of the total planned capex & maintenance on infrastructure), out of which INR 177 crores is towards works budgeted for the current financial year BBMP has allocated INR 7,788 crores towards various works, out of…

As a result of sustained struggle of contract powrakarmikas, in June 2017, the Karnataka Government took a cabinet decision mandating abolition of contractors and direct payment of wages to workers. Despite this decision, the BBMP has been dragging its feet to implement it and the contract pourakarmikas are suffering at the hands of the contractors on a daily basis!  The BBMP was a mute spectator to the illegal protest and strike held by the contractors on two occasions in August and September 2017, during which period, the workers worked despite serious threats. The Union protested against the illegal action of…

Seven corporators from Bengaluru have welcomed Greenpeace India’s campaign on composting and growing food. They have agreed to take forward the message of segregating, composting and using this compost to grow food. Joining them are more than 14,000 individuals who have pledged to do the same. The initiatives are part of Greenpeace India’s campaign ‘Waste To Food’. The campaign's objective is to ensure that solid waste that the city produces is segregated, composted and sent to farmers to use as fertiliser. This can reduce dependence on agro-chemicals for farmers, improve soil health and also comes back as safer food for…

It’s that time of the year, when crackers compete with lights. It is also the time when eye hospitals are on alert to attend to emergency cases. This is when Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) starts measuring air pollution in Bengaluru diligently and collects data to compile reports on air quality. This is also when activists, media and government agencies start coming up with fire safety guidelines. And this also is when activists who advocate eco-friendly celebrations are countered with whataboutery on crackers:“What about animal slaughter done by other religion?” “What about industrial pollution?” “Don’t you pollute air by…

Bangalore Literature Festival (BLF), Bengaluru’s flagship community-funded literary event on the cultural calendar of the city, is all set for a sixth edition on October 28 and 29 at the Hotel Lalit Ashok lawns in Kumara Krupa High Grounds, Bengaluru. Building on the success of over the past five years, this year Bangalore Literature Festival (#blrlitfest) has a “Speak Up, Speak Out” theme and will feature a host of distinguished authors, speakers and artistes including Ramachandra Guha, Perumal Murugan, Paul Zacharia, Ambai, Hardeep Singh Puri, Suketu Mehta, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, NS Madhavan, Girish Karnad, Sonal Mansingh, Gideon Haigh, Twinkle…

Here is a drainage map of the city of Bengaluru sourced from the Central Ground Water Board website. No city sitting on a ridge line should actually get flooded but we have achieved the impossible — of course in parts. A dotted ridge line divides the city between the Vrishabhavathy-Arkavathy-Cauvery basin and the Dakshina Pinakini, from the North to the South. There is a huge difference between these two in the slope, the hydro-geology, the soil, the rainfall, the built up area etc. The drainage patterns - the rajkaluves - are interesting too. They are more dendritic in the Vrishabhavathy-Arkavathy-Cauvery basin…

At the stroke of midnight, when the whole world is asleep, one garbage “terrorist” in HSR Layout of South Bengaluru is rudely shaken to wake up to his responsibilities by a green volunteer. Striding up to a man who is emptying garbage into a parking lot in HSR Layout, Dr. Shanthi Tummala thunders that overturning his dustbins on a vacant site even at midnight is against the norms. “Don’t you know that you are violating the rules?” she asks. He knows, so it isn’t news to him. Yet he is doing it. Dr Shanthi forces him to pick up his…

The #SteelFlyoverBeda movement inspired citizens to come together and exercise their right to actively participate in governance.  #BekuBedaSanthe is being organized on Oct 15th 2017 by a large number of organizations, civic and social as a mark of one year anniversary. #BekuBedaSanthe  will serve as a platform for citizens across Bengaluru to express what they want for their area and city (ಬೇಕು) and what they do not want for their area and city (ಬೇಡ.) The Santhe is unique due to the broad and diverse set of  RWAs, NGOs, slum rights groups, unorganized sector representatives, civic groups, think tanks  and many others  joining…