City: Bengaluru

February 23, 2016 marked the 6th anniversary of the Carlton Towers fire accident which claimed the lives of nine people and saw over 60 being injured. A function to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the Carlton fire accident was held on Saturday, 27 February 2016, at St. Joseph’s College of Commerce Auditorium. Justice Santosh Hegde was the speaker of this year’s Beyond Carlton Memorial Lecture. Since its inception a few years ago, Swati Ramanathan - Co-founder Janagraha, R A Venkitachalam - MD Underwriters Laboratories, Rajeev Chandrasekhar - MP, and V Ravichandar - Civic Evangelist, have spoken on topics relating to…

Janaagraha’s Participatory Budgeting campaign in Bengaluru, called MyCityMyBudget, was launched on November 23, 2015. Over more than two months of hectic online and on-ground activity, the campaign reached out to various sections of the city’s citizenry to facilitate their identification of inputs to the forthcoming BBMP Budget. Citizens were asked to give inputs pertaining to their respective wards and neighborhoods. The campaign is now poised to move to the next phase of submitting the inputs received to the elected representatives and the relevant agencies. Sapna Karim, Co-ordinator, Civic Participation, Janaagraha, says: "Our team has complied the inputs and shared a…

With increased burden on roads, Bengaluru needs suburban trains to decongest the city. Pic: Shree D N Bengaluru’s suburban railway got a one-line mention in Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu’s speech on Railway Budget 2016-17. “Bengaluru, the technology hub of the country, warrants a comprehensive suburban system. We will partner with State Government in this endeavour,” he said while presenting railway budget, in the Loksabha on February 25, 2016. Assurances on commuter railway are not new to Bangaloreans. The railway budget speech by Mamata Banerjee In 2010-11 mentions about partnering with the states for improving the suburban railway system. Chief Minister…

  Bengaluru this week February 25th 2016     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     March (and end of financial year!) is nearing and we need to gear up for our next fundraising drive. But before that, we would like to hear from you - what do you think of our work -- does this journalism supported by Oorvani Foundation matter to you? What can we improve on? Write to us at edit@citizenmatters.in! This week’s highlight: Are you getting cheated by your LPG dealer? How much are you paying for your LPG cylinder? Pic:…

How much are you paying for your LPG cylinder? Pic: Meera K Akankshit Kanungo, a resident of BTM Layout in Bengaluru, is a customer of Indane gas agency. He has a private LPG provider, Jyothi Gas, as a back up. The reason: Indane is not providing good service. Bills were not provided, refills were not delivered. There were mysterious bookings in his account, that never delivered any gas to his address. Unable to get refills when he wanted, he went for Jyothi Gas. He pays around Rs 850-950 including delivery charges, which varies every time. He is not connected to…

T N Seetaram is a well-known name in Kannada literary circles, and popular for his TV soap operas that had progressive outlook and strong women characters. He recollects a time in Bangalore’s history, when there was no traffic and chaos, and there was no BDA too. BDA was formed on January 6, 1976 - exactly 40 years ago. In the seventies, I was living in my friend's house, as a tenant, in Swimming Pool Extension near Malleshwaram. The owner of the house, the father of my friend Krishnamurthy, never used to collect rent from me, more because of his affection…

Mahesh (name changed), a resident of Malleshwaram in Bengaluru, has been watching many cables hanging on a tree near his house, some of them looking as if they are cut. Fed up of seeing them everyday without being able to understand why they exist, Mahesh decided to check the cut cable. To his surprise, the cable was cut at the other end too, and came off easily when he pulled it. People do not want to touch the hanging cables, because they think it could be electric cable and hence dangerous. As nobody checks them, unused cables laid by cable…

The educational system in India is broken. Of course there are a few good schools, but the majority of our population is going through Government schools that have been proven to be inadequate, due to many reasons such as teacher absenteeism, wrote-learning sufficiency, lack of accountability, etc. (see James Tooley's research compiled in a book called The Beautiful Tree). Most of those forced to use the Government schools are in the Indian villages, where no alternatives are available. This rural population forms a majority of our population and it is disheartening and disturbing to see that majority Indian youth are…

I was heading to office one afternoon, when I saw a woman under the flyover. Greasy stains on her clothes, hair all knotted and tangled, she was wandering the streets, talking to herself. Nobody cared about her; nobody heard her. The lady waits to cross the road, bag in hand. Pic: Ashok Kumar S I felt sympathetic towards the woman and I stopped by the flyover and went near her. I was trying to do the best thing that I could and I offered her Rs 100. She looked reluctant and declined my offering. I tried to make her accept…

Open Streets (OMG) is being held today, February 21st, on M.G. Road, Bengaluru. Celebrating Bengaluru OMG aims to revive the long-lost charm of the 'Boulevard of Bengaluru City'. Traffic will be restricted between Anil Kumble Circle and the Brigade Road junction on MG Road between 9 am and 9 pm, opening the streets for festivities that celebrate the city of Bengaluru in all its traffic-free glory. BMTC and BMRCL have extended their bus and metro services respectively, to encourage people to use public transport when commuting to the event. Special arrangements for free and secure parking for bicycles have also…