City: Bengaluru

It is terrible to know of people losing lives in accidents. What if we know which areas are accident-prone? We could try avoiding those routes, or at least be careful while passing through the area. In this background, Citizen Matters tried to compile a list of top ten areas that are most accident-prone in Bengaluru. We also tried to understand why the accidents are more at these places and what is being done to solve the problems. We took into consideration the total number of accident cases over the last three years to come up with top 10 list. Over…

A girls hostel building run by one of the private educational institutions. Picture for representation purpose only. The killing of a girl student in her college hostel room in Whitefield has sent shockwaves in the civil society. Apprehension over the safety of girl students in schools and colleges, has now expanded to hostels too. Mahesh, who was appointed as the attender of Pragathi PU College two years ago, was also serving as the attender of the hostel after the college hours. He was allegedly allowed inside the hostel at any time and on the fateful night he entered the room…

Following the High Court’s directive to publish the final reservation list for 198 BBMP wards before April 13 2015, the Urban Development Department has published the draft reservation on April 4, inviting objections from public. (Here is the final reservation list for BBMP polls) This time, 50 per cent of the seats are reserved for women candidates in accordance with women quota. The womens’ seats that were 66 have been increased to 99. However, the reservation made by the government has not gone down well with the BJP, which is the ruling party in the BBMP. Going by the draft…

Gurudas Sivadas, a resident of 8th block Koramangala in Bengaluru, received a call from an unknown number (84689 38330), one day. A woman told him that his late father, who had expired in 1997, had left behind a life insurance policy, with him as the nominee. He was asked to claim the amount in the policy, Rs 145,580, on the same day from Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), failing which the money would be transferred to the government account, as the delay in making the claims was too long. When Sivadas said he would seek advice from one of…

  Bengaluru this week April 2nd 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!   Our March fundraiser has come to a close. Please do not miss our note at the end of this newsletter! Before we get into our stories, here’s a round-up of the latest news from Bengaluru. A teenage girl student from a Whitefield college was killed, and her friend injured, at a shooting at the college hostel on March 31st. The police have arrested Mahesh, an office staff member of the college, on charges of murder. BBMP Council passed a resolution…

“The tattoo is the mark of the soul. It can act as a window we can see in, or it can be a shield to protect us from those who can see past the surface.” - Author unknown It was the year 2006 when an 18-year-old girl decided to get tattooed. While it had been playing on her mind for sometime, she was yet to decide what she wanted and by whom she would get it done. One fine day, walking down Commercial Street in Bengaluru with a friend, she saw a board that said ‘Tattoos’ and in she went. About…

A huge crowd in front of the Dharmarayaswamy temple, this is the only entrance path used by the Veerakumaras and other followers. There were people as far as the eyes could see. People were on almost top of every balcony and roof. Pic: Amoghavarsha JS The annual Dharmarayana Karaga is scheduled to start on April 3rd, 8 pm and will go on till April 4th, 8 pm. More than 18 pallakis will be coming in from different parts of the city.  Here are the traffic diversions in place during the procession. The ramp in front of City Market will be closed…

As part of its persistent efforts to increase awareness around fire safety, Beyond Carlton has just launched its new refreshed website www.beyondcarlton.org. Apart from containing information on what Beyond Carlton means, it is also about what more, each of us as citizens can and will do. Fire safety, is not just the passion of the team at Beyond Carlton, but of thousands of people across India. This website looks to bring this community together and make it stronger. It will act as a forum for people to share news, share stories of change, start petitions and gather support, and enjoy…

Pic credit: CARA - www.adoptionindia.nic.in  “We were nervous when we were to meet the judge for the first time since we weren't sure what to expect. He welcomed us into his chambers and the first thing he said was, ‘I wanted to thank you for taking the bold step of adopting a child. I am sure you will give this child a better life than he would have got otherwise.’ We always felt that we were also getting a better life and explained that to the judge and he smiled. As much as we needed him, I think the little guy…

Karnataka High Court - Central Portico (Pic: Poornima Dasharathi) Even after what seemed like desperate effort by the State government to delay the BBMP election based on the BBMP restructuring and its plans to supersede the BBMP Council, the High Court on Monday, March 30th 2015, directed the State government to conduct the Palike election before May 30th 2015. It also directed the government to prepare the reservation list by April 13th, 2015. Judge B V Nagarathna pronounced the order after hearing the petition filed by some of the BBMP corporators and citizens seeking timely BBMP election. In the order,…