City: Bengaluru

After recent cases of Dengue in Bengaluru, many residents are looking for preventive measures. And many are discussing Ovitrap as an effective preventive measure that can trap mosquitoes that spread Dengue. How effective is Ovitrap in Bangalore? We have to understand what is Dengue and how does Ovitrap work. Dengue is a vector-borne disease, caused by mosquitoes that breed on water. A mosquito named Aedes Aegypti is the host of Dengue virus. Researchers say that most Aedes Aegypti do not fly beyond than 100 metres, and bite only during day time. What is a lethal Ovitrap? Lethal Ovitrap is a…

It is an important day in Kiran's life - he has an interview scheduled in Delhi. He has booked the 7 am flight from Bengaluru, and a cab to the airport at 5 am. He gets ready by 4.30 am and calls the assigned cab driver's number. There's no answer. He calls twice, thrice, four times - still no answer. It is 4.45 am when he calls the cab helpline. The sleepy voice that picks the call, after listening to him, gives him the number of another driver. This driver refuses to serve Kiran’s request claiming that he is far…

A demonstrator shouts slogans during a protest on July 19, 2014. Pic courtesy: Reuters Some time ago, a couple of days after the rape of a school girl in a leading school, there was this very striking image, published on the front page of a leading newspaper; it was that of a visibly angry young woman who was part of a protest group appearing to shout at someone, maybe at someone in the school (we will probably never know). That face and that anger which was so palpable, in essence captured the anger of a whole lot of people, be…

Today KCDC has around 300 vermi-composting pits. Pic: Nikita Malusare I had ended my first blog on garbage (you can read this blog here) with the observation that the Karnataka Compost Development Corporation was not making a great deal of money from the business of producing compost from city garbage, even though we had a long waiting list of satisfied customers and no marketing problem on our hand. We had two problems with compost production. The first was that in a city that produced plenty of garbage - it was estimated to be around 1,000 tons per day then and…

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…