City: Bengaluru

  Bengaluru this week April 16th 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     When it gets really hot, rains invariably come to redeem Bengaluru’s reputation. Our weather may be something to boast about, but not our local government. This week we start a new series that analyses all that went wrong in the city’s garbage mess. There are lessons to learn as a new BBMP council is due to be elected. Even as the Election Commission readies for BBMP election as per the High Court’s orders, and citizen groups ask the state…

Though Bengaluru's weather has been a tad moody the past couple of days, it is common knowledge that come summer, as the temperatures rise, so will the water tanker prices. Earlier this year, Citizen Matters had assisted in collecting data for a joint study between a student from MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, and IIM Bangalore’s New Real Estate initiative on the water tanker industry in Bangalore. Here are the results from the survey. This map aims to give information about water tanker rates across the city of Bangalore, and an insight into the availability (or lack of) water in…

The pitfalls of an overly centralised governance structure, without adequate devolution of power and funds at the local level, was increasingly becoming grave. The 74th Constitutional Amendment was enacted to devolve powers to the Urban Local Bodies and to strengthen citizen participation at the local level. Local governments reflect the will of the people either by direct individual participation or through interest group action. (Reference)  However, various state governments have delayed holding elections to Urban Local Bodies and misused provisions to dissolve the councils due to political reasons. Jammu Kashmir, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh , Gujrat, are just few of the…

Demanding speedy BBMP elections, better administration and active citizen participation in the selection of urban local bodies, Namma Bengaluru Foundation and Bengaluru Residents Associations Confederation Ensemble-BRACE (a confederation of the more than 1200 resident welfare associations) today urged the State Government to uphold their constitutional right to periodically elect local representative and not delay the BBMP elections any further. Placing forth a citizens charter of demands, they reiterated that the Government’s move to deny Bengaluru an elected council is against the spirit of the 74th Amendment of the Constitution. Also read: BBMP Elections: A Backgrounder.  Charter of demands to the State Government…

Over the past 15 years the population of the city has increased more than 2.5 times, from 4 million to close to 10 million, the per capita garbage generation on an average has doubled, from 0.25kg/capita to 0.50kg/capita, and the composition and fabric of garbage has drastically changed, from about 80% compostable organic waste and a great part of the 20% being recyclable, to less than 60% compostable and a great part of the 40% being rejects, that will have to be landfilled because they are mixed waste. This article has been made possible thanks to support from Aruna Green…

Update: Click here for the details of the bandh on September 26th 2015.Normal life in Bengaluru city and other parts of the state is likely to be affected as pro-Kannada organisations have called for a 6 am to 6 pm bandh on Saturday April 18th 2015. The bandh has been called to protest against the Tamil Nadu government’s opposition to the Mekedatu project. Kannada Okkuta President Vatal Nagaraj told Citizen Matters that around 620 organisations including government employees, auto and truck drivers’ unions, trade unions, advocates associations have expressed their support to the bandh. All offices and shops will remain closed…

Madiwala Kere played host to the third Lake Day celebrations on Saturday April 11th. It was organised by Namma Bengaluru Foundation in association with Snehadhara Foundation, BB76 and United Way. The event encouraged people to connect with their surroundings, explore and participate in preserving it, and become a stakeholder in keeping it alive. With talks on biodiversity and sustainable living, demos on organic gardening and water testing, bird watching, sketching, cycling, music and dance, it truly was a day to celebrate the abundance in nature. Here's a glimpse of the Lake Day celebrations at Madiwala in pictures.  My3leaves on their…

Pic: Meena ArtwaniPic: Meena ArtwaniPic: Meena ArtwaniPic: Meena ArtwaniPic: Meena ArtwaniPic: Meena Artwani‹ › $(document).ready(function(){ $('.carousel .carousel-inner .item').first().attr('class', 'active item');});  Respectful Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Officials, I am Meena, a resident of 6th Cross, Manjunatha Layout, Thanisandra Main road near Elements Mall, Ramaiah North City. I would like to bring to your urgent attention that this area is becoming inhabitable, day after day. The area is plagued with many issues like the ones below: The area has open drains (gutters) and the individual sanitary connections are not connected to main underground drain (UGD) system. These drains overflow during the rains.…

A butcher at the Murphy Town market showing off his skill with a cleaver. Pic: Pavan Kulkarni Murphy Town market, along with Johnson market and Russell market, may be officially declared as heritage structures in the near future. Professor Gitanjali Rao, the director of Art, Architecture, Design Environment Consultants (AEDI), a Hubli-based organisation designated by the Archaeology Department with the task of preparing a list of heritage structures in Bengaluru, has confirmed to Citizen Matters that Murphy town market is one of the 800+ entries in their initial inventory of heritage structures in Bengaluru. However, operating under tight time constraints,…

With High Court granting a stay, EWS housing rule published by the government has hit the roadblocks again. File Pic. Unhappy over the final regulation on earmarking housing for economically weaker sections (EWS), published by the Urban Development Department recently, the Bengaluru chapter of Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI) has approached the High Court and got a stay order on the implementation of the new regulation. With this, the regulation is bound to be left at cold storage till the court resolves the dispute. The High Court in its interim order dated March 30th 2015 has…