City: Bengaluru

In the recent past, there have been quite a few instances where the courts have intervened with respect to civic projects. The recent one was when the Karnataka High Court directed civic agencies to widen the Hulimavu-Begur road- a case where the BBMP and a real estate company were at loggerheads. In another case, the Karnataka High Court directed the BBMP to get rid of encroachments on footpaths – this order was passed in response to a petition filed by an individual to make footpaths accessible to pedestrians. Yet another case was when the High Court ruled mixed land use…

Pruned trees on podium. Pic courtesy: Rajesh Nair Two months ago, the residents of Prestige Shantiniketan in Whitefield, Bangalore, saw around twenty trees pruned down to 4 feet. Recently they also came to know that another 491 trees are waiting in the queue to be cut. They claim that the trees are 11-year-old. The plan to cut 491 trees was envisaged by the Management Committee of Prestige Shantiniketan, who are worried that 500 trees are on an elevated slab or a podium, and will damage the podium structure. They are concerned that the podium will not be able to take…

    Bengaluru this week  September 18th 2014       CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!  City news that matters Before our Bengaluru This Week roundup, here’s the curation of latest city news. The city is gearing up to welcome the Prime Minister - Narendra Modi is visiting Bangalore on September 24th. He is expected to stay at Raj Bhavan. Red Bull Flugtag, a fun contest, will take place on Sankey Tank on September 28th. Locals fear that it will cause problems to the birds around. HAL chief suggests that HAL airport be reopened.…

One of the origami cranes with the message of acceptance on the bottom of the wings is shown above. Credit: Shivani Pal Shivani Pal, a fan of Origami, residing in Bangalore, firmly believes she can overturn the societal conviction where inter-caste marriage is treated as a “crime.” Shivani is working on a project to promote acceptance of inter-caste marriage as part of her education at the Landmark Worldwide group. The project is two-fold: Her and a close group of family and friends make origami cranes with a message about “A Community of Love: Look beyond caste, creed and religion” with…

The Urban Development Department (UDD) of the Government of Karnataka invited Namma Bengaluru Foundation(NBF) and Bengaluru Residents Association Confederation Ensemble (BRACE) members to review suggestions on the draft of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Ward Committee Rules, 2013. The discussion of Ward Committee Consultation Meeting was chaired by T K Anil Kumar, Secretary to Govt, UDD. Officials from BBMP, NBF and Brace members led by Sridhar Pabbisetty participated in this discussion. The meeting was called for as per the directions of the Honourable High Court. The suggestions put forth by NBF and BRACE in September, 2013 were taken on record by the…

Non-Karnataka vehicles are a common sight on Bangalore's roads. Pic: Nikita Malusare You move in to Bengaluru from another part of India. You plan to move out after a few years. Along with everything else that you have to do to stay in the city, there’s something important you need to do: Re-register your vehicle and change the vehicle number. But is this a fair demand always? Karnataka government laws mandate vehicles staying in Karnataka for more than 30 days to pay lifetime tax in lump sum, and then withdraw the balance amount from the government of the city where…

As many as 20 members were chosen from Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for Bangalore Metropolitan Planning Committee (BMPC). However, newly elected Mayor Shanthakumari does not exist in the list. Former mayor B S Satyanarayana too did not make it to the premier list.Metropolitan Planning Committee is the planning body for every metropolitan area mandated by the constitution, which should have hyper-local level peoples’ representatives as its members, in addition to subject experts and executives from the government. This will plan the infrastructure requirements and land use for the city. After a High Court directive, Bangalore is now in the…

One has to be thankful that a beginning has been made to create Bangalore Metropolitan Planning Committee. But why have the MPC Rules been framed to apply only to Bangalore, while Mysore and Hubli—Dharwad are also about to cross the 10 lakh population criterion, or have already crossed it? Are the rules going to be framed for each city separately? The way the rules have been framed for the MPC’s  functioning, it will serve only two functions: 1) to comply with the High Court order to meet the letter of the law, but not its spirit; 2) to continue to…

Anyone who has lived in Bangalore for some time will fondly remember the pleasant climate, flowers blooming and the city roads covered with flowers of all hues and colours. Alas, it is no more like this today, and the city is competing with Kolkata and Chennai in summer temperatures, and vast stretches of our water-starved city are left to the mercy of water tankers. Rapid urbanisation, unplanned development and a free run to land mafia has led to massive encroachment of lake land, raja-kaluves and large-scale exploitation of underground water. Today, 85-90% of lakes have turned dry and are sitting…

Worshipful Mayor Smt Shantakumari, Kindly accept my heartfelt congrats as well as the ‘Best Wishes’ on entering your new office as the Mayor of Bangalore, from this hearing-challenged senior citizen (75+), a consumer/social activist !! I learnt from a website that dedicates itself for the welfare of the citizens of our city, that you're presently on a mission, visiting nook and corner, to study the civic problems and to improve the state of affairs, amenities, etc, so that we could lead a peaceful life, during your regime. Kindly excuse my liberties to come out with the following suggestions: After worshipping…