City: Bengaluru

Hello Dr Saleem, At the outset a big thank you for reaching out to citizens on this serious issue that we face on a day to day basis. Just to give you the context, every day I travel from Jayanagar 5th block to Iblur in 30-40 minutes. It takes me another 20-30 minutes (there have been days when it has taken as long as an hour) from Iblur to Adarsh Palm Retreat in Bellandur. I am guessing a good 3-4 lakh people are employed in IT companies between Iblur and Marathalli junction and another 3 lakh people pass through this…

Citizens of Mahadevapura and East zones, including Bellandur and Whitefield area are up in arms against the system that surrounds them. They pay taxes every year, but the infrastructure around them is broken. They have to fight with the system everyday for everything: good roads, clean water, garbage disposal, pollution, traffic problems and more. There is a good amount of citizen activism in the area where there is a presence of well-educated people employed in various corporates. However, the issues don’t get sorted as quickly as they should. This brings us to the question: how did a part of the…

Ward offices say they don't have the addresses of the voters, which poses a problem when there is a need to print the voter id card once again. File pic. Being a responsible citizen who has not missed a voting opportunity in the last 20+ years, I was horrified to discover recently that my voter id was missing – did I leave it in the bank while opening an account six months ago, or was it in one of the photocopying shops, or was it at the mobile phone outlet…? I went back to all places where I had used…

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner G Kumar Naik has warned the politicians and political parties to adhere to the model code of conduct, in the BBMP election background. He directed the election officers to act against any violation of code of conduct, including erection of flex boards and banners and meetings by elected representatives. Organisers of any political programmes and campaigns must take prior permission and adhere to the rules, barring which the officials must take strict action, he added. Total voters Number of wards - 198 Polling stations - 6,733 Male voters - 37,68,498 Female voters - 34,10,388…

The new building of Government Higher Primary School, Nallurahalli which has remained unoccupied from last five years. Pic: Murugaraj Swaminathan Even after years of construction, the building of the Government Higher Primary School, Nallurahalli in Whitefield remained unoccupied. Inaugurated with much fanfare five years ago, the school building which is supposed to shelter students, turned out to be a dumpyard for builders. Eight classrooms in two blocks of the school were used by local contractors to dump the cement sacks, concrete blocks and other waste materials. However, the situation is going to change soon. You will hear the chitter-chatter of…

Pic: Subha Priya On June 29th 2015, a performance audit on Conservation and Ecological Restoration of Lakes under the jurisdiction of Lake Development Authority (LDA) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in Karnataka by the CAG of India was tabled in the Assembly. The report brought into focus many of the ignored facts about lakes in the city and the state. This 75-page-long performance audit covering the period 2009 to 2014 highlights the deterioration in ecological health of lakes as well as issues among the institutions of management and governance of lakes. This audit scrutiny covers 56 lakes selected by adopting…

The India Biodiversity Portal is organising an invasive species campaign through the month of August 2015: Spotting Alien Invasive Species or SPAIS. India Biodiversity Portal (IBP) is an online, open-access repository of information on India’s biodiversity. It has already conducted several campaigns involving citizens in documenting, contributing and sharing biodiversity information from diverse parts of the country. With the SPAIS campaign, IBP and its partners aim to create awareness about, and to map the occurrences of, a set of widespread invasive species in India. The campaign will be conducted online at: http://indiabiodiversity.org/group/spotting_alien_invasive_species/show.  What are alien species? Alien species are sometimes…

Massive SEZ coming up on the catchment area between Agara and Bellandur lake. File pic. With the deadline only a week away for an eight-member Expert Committee to study Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project on Agara-Bellandur lake catchment area, the Committee has decided to submit an interim report on the project for the time being. The Expert Committee was formed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) as part of the litigation proceedings on the SEZ project by Mantri Tech Zone Pvt Ltd and another project by Core Mind Software and Services Ltd, on May 7th, 2015. ‘Yet to get details…

  Bengaluru this week July 30th 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     Are you interested in contributing your bit to civic journalism for Bengaluru? Oorvani Foundation is looking for a volunteer to proofread material published in Citizen Matters every day. You need to be proficient in English, and be able to spend 30 minutes to an hour every day. If you are interested, drop us a mail to edit@citizenmatters.in and we will get back to you. Thanks! Also, in case you are yet to take the BBMP pre-poll survey, please do…

A meeting conducted on June 26, 2015, between the government and the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) decided that the government will help the telecom service providers get a “speedy clearance” for laying Optical Fibre Cables (OFCs). According to this meeting, the applications received were to be cleared within 15 days by the Chief Engineer, BBMP (OFC), who will also have to provide security to the digging staff through police, if requested. There will be no criminal charges or penalties levied on telecom companies, for the damages if any, if restored within 96 hours of a notice. There is no mention…