City: Bengaluru

Since the noon on Friday, Oct 21st, smoke continues to billow from the encroached land next to Bellandur lake, where an unofficial waste-sorting facility has mushroomed, where construction debris is dumped day in day out and where mixed waste from various apartments is dumped in broad daylight. It is clear that this has been created by burning rubber from construction debris, the plastic present in mixed waste and low-value dry waste from the waste sorting facility, in Bellandur ward 150, Kariyama Agara area. What are BBMP officials, the police and fire departments, our elected officials and others doing? Are we…

To: His Excellency, Sri Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala, Governor of Karnataka Your Excellency, As a forum named Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB), now representing thousands of concerned citizens, with numbers growing by the hour, we approach you to intervene in a serious matter. As you are aware, Sir, the Government of Karnataka proposes to build a steel flyover from Basaveshwara Circle to Hebbal flyover, with connecting ramps on Race Course Road, Palace Road, Vidhana Soudha Road and Raj Bhavan Road. The project envisages a 6.7 km stretch of a six-lane steel flyover to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 2,200…

We have heard the CM of Karnataka and are disappointed with his response. However that doesn't change what was seen, heard and felt by thousands  on the road on Sunday - #SteelFlyoverBeda. There are thousands who are against this flyover – old and young who lined the streets in the Human Chain on Sunday, Oct 16. We believed that 8000 people on the streets would most certainly lead to a dialogue and re-examination of the project and cancellation of the project as well. The 219 people or 73% of 299 responses does NOT represent the public sentiment evident on the…

A huge commercial advertisement hoarding towering above the Adugodi police quarters in Koramangala features in the list of unauthorised advertisement hoardings prepared by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Questions may naturally be raised over why this was not torn down by the BBMP when it initiated its drive against illegal advertisement hoardings in the city. But, in fact, it was. During one such drive, BBMP staff under the supervision of the Assistant Revenue Officer (ARO) of Koramangala had removed the advertisement display of the commercial hoarding in Adugodi recently. But in less than a week’s time of removing it,…

A few weeks ago, I’d just come out of my gym in RT Nagar when a couple with a child, looking as if they hailed from somewhere rural, approached me. Both of them asked me if I spoke Hindi and told me how they’d come to Bangalore on train from some place in Bihar, was summoned for a job by a contractor who had then cheated them. Now they were without money and couldn’t go back to their village. The man had tears in his eyes and the woman looked sad. It was late evening and they begged me to…

The Central and State governments announce new schemes and programmes for the benefit of the poor every year, but how many of these schemes reach the bottom of the pyramid in reality? According to a news report, in August 2016, the Karnataka government changed the rules for BPL card holders, reducing the number of eligibility conditions to be fulfilled for obtaining the card from 14 to just four. According to estimates the total number of BPL card holders in the state today is 90 lakh. The new rule with simplified guidelines for considering a family as BPL may have helped…

The steel flyover will pass through this road. Pic: Shree D N To all those who insist on going ahead with the steel bridge... in the hope that good sense prevails: The issue regarding this bridge is becoming more heated as the days go by. As I see it, the matter will get uglier as both sides have their view points and arguments in place. So the best way to resolve this is to throw up all the pros and cons and see which comes out on top! The bridge will cut the journey to the airport and from North…

To Sri Siddaramaiah Hon’ble Chief Minister Govt. of Karnataka Vidhana Soudha Dr. Ambedkar Veedhi Bengaluru - 560001 Dear Sir, Subject:  (1) Our objections to the steel fly-over from Chalukya circle to Hebbal junction and (2) Our suggestions on the alternative use of Rs. 1,800 crore for de-congesting traffic and for human development and social infrastructure for Bengaluru Greetings from CIVIC Bangalore! We have been working since 24 years on urban governance and the Rights to Food, Health, Education, Livelihood and Social Security of the urban poor. Whenever we propose that money be set aside for human development measures, which are…

Traffic on Ballari road on a normal week day. Pic: Balaji Ganesan Civil Society activists in Bengaluru are opposing the Government's decision, to build a Steel Flyover from Basaveshwara Circle to Hebbal Junction. As someone who supports the causes pursued by many of these activists, I'm surprised by the protests against the Steel Flyover project. Is the Civil Society working against itself, jeopardising several of the causes we have been pursuing? Do we risk wasting the opportunities provided by this steel flyover project, to improve civic amenities in this part of Bengaluru? People’s flyover, not VIP flyover To begin with,…

Google Earth image of Hebbal traffic choke point. Why are citizens opposed to #SteelFlyover? A lot of people have asked during the week, "why are you so opposed to the steel flyover?" I've said to many of them, in reply, that they should pause and think about that question. The answer should be quite easy to spot, especially since so many people have been saying it again and again. They used other words - about governance, and design, and planning, and due process, and a lot of other things that can confuse the issue. But those are the vocabulary of…