City: Bengaluru

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…

  Bengaluru this week February 19th 2016     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     The important story of the week - on how there are no rules or regulations for water tankers that most apartments, especially those outside the core city area, are dependent on. Nobody monitors whether the water tankers are safe enough. What water are we drinking? Some good news after that shocker – plastic ban trending across the city. Koramangala, HSR Layout, Sanjay Nagar - who is next? We track the various citizen-led single-use plastic bans. And The Green Ogre…

Pic: Ganga Madappa Only one pet dog per flat, every dog to have a collar, badge and microchip, clean up after your pet. Rottweilers, Pit Bulls and other aggressive breeds to be muzzled in public places. These and some more new rules are part of BBMP's draft by-laws for pet dog licensing that Urban Development Department is expected to approve soon. All these years, there were no rules governing pet dogs in Bengaluru, while other cities like New Delhi, Chennai or Chandigarh have had rules that require pet dogs to be registered for many years now. However, Section 344 of Karnataka…