City: Bengaluru

Lobbying with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to fix your road should not be fundamentally a different experience from shopping for a car. After all, you paid your taxes; you are simply asking for the tax money to come back to your locality. You pay for your car, you take it. You pay your taxes, you get your road. But it ain’t so in Bengaluru. Once you pay your taxes, power transfers to the government. That’s fine, if we have a benevolent dictatorship, but what we have is an incompetent corruptocracy (if there’s such a word). Thus speaking to…

Residents of HSR Layout and surroundings n Bengaluru objected to the construction of sewage treatment plant (STP) on Agara lake bed, proposed by Lake Development Authority and supported by the MLA of Bommanahalli, Satish Reddy. Agara lake is situated off Sarjapur Road, and is not a part of any lake chain. A public meeting was conducted by Lake Development Authority (LDA) to inform people about their plan to rejuvenate Agara lake with treated water on the lines of Jakkur lake. However, the members of the Agara Lake Protection and Management Committee (ALPMC) were apprehensive about this plan. The agenda of…

As an immediate remedy for daily wet waste generated in Bengaluru, Additional Chief Secretary of Urban Department of Karnataka (UDD) D Satya Murty submitted to the High Court of Karnataka (HC) on Thursday, June 26, 2014, that portable processing units with the capacity of 50 tonnes will soon be installed in 15 to 20 wards. However, the bench comprising Justice B V Nagarathna and Justice N Kumar observed that processing units in 15 to 20 wards will not be sufficient when Bangalore has 198 wards. Murty submitted to the court that the government is keen on solving the garbage problem…

You are in a newly constructed large apartment community or in an individual house, and you don’t know where to send your garbage. Throwing it on to the streets is illegal, and you are a nice person who wouldn’t do it. You have a solution now : igotgarbage.com (IGG). An initiative of Information Technology company Mindtree, in association with Hasirudala, Saahas Zero Waste, Daily Dump and other stakeholders who manage IT city’s waste, IGG connects the waste collectors who dispose it responsibly, to waste generators who want to see their waste managed responsibly. Prashant Mehra, project manager of IGG does…

What does a typical day in Bangalore feel like? One can’t help but think of the traffic, the potholes, the never-ending garbage crisis and the rampant corruption. But there are lovely things about the city too - the trees, the lakes, the melting pot of people from all over, the weather, the work culture... the list is endless. For many old-timers, as well as folks migrating to the city, Bangalore seems to be a near-perfect city. Bangalore is also the state capital, and houses most of the administrative wing of the state. It also has its own municipality - the…

Can you show me the photo of the rat, V asked. Bangalore is a great city for rats, he remarked – it’s almost like the city is designed for them! It didn’t seem the best topic for conversation in a restaurant, but by now I had got quite immune to such stuff. Once you work in muck, talking about it is easy. X went on – The place we fixed is Rat Heaven. Let me tell you why. He took out a pencil and started sketching. Do you have any idea what lies beneath the footpath? He began explaining. Here’s…

The Karnataka government introduced provision for self declaration in many services by various departments recently. The scheme is expected to be implemented in most departments by mid-July. However, here is the hitch: the mechanism to check the truthfulness of the statement made in the declaration is not foolproof yet. This calls for more transparency from the government, in order to prevent corruption. The first department to fall in line is the Revenue Department. An official from the Department of Administrative Reforms says, “Revenue department has already introduced this initiative with citizens getting most of the certificates (caste, income, profession etc),…

Speed bumps are the common name for a family of traffic-calming devices or designs that use vertical deflection to slow motor-vehicle traffic in order to improve safety conditions. Variations include the speed hump (or speed ramp), speed cushion, and speed table. Well - it sounds like a mission statement. But this is the purpose of the speed breakers or speed hump. These were discovered in 1906 and used in the US. Later in the late 70’s the British Transport and Research teams found that this was more suitable for private roads and not the public roads. However in Bengaluru, you…

Namma Bengaluru leads the way when it comes to civic initiatives towards solving problems. You cannot see this level of awareness among citizens in any other city in India. This amazing city, which is a melting pot of activism and civic action, is constantly changing, with its proactive citizens bringing up various initiatives. This series will track such initiatives in Bengaluru, that arise hope and inspire people. Featured below are some of the initiatives in Bengaluru that have showed the way in how waste can be managed better or made use in better way. They follow focussed, simple ways to…

The real reason behind BBMP not being able to maintain trees planted in Namma Bengaluru is this. As the Amicus Curiae in the Tree Felling case told the High Court of Karnataka (HC) on June 23rd, 2014, that less than 50% of the budget allocated for Forest Wing for various activities is released by Bruhat Bengauru Mahanagara Palike. This was just one of the many issues pointed out to the court on BBMP Forest Wing’s ineffectiveness. In a hearing held on the suo motu PIL (WP No. 7288/2011) filed by former Justice D V Justice Shylendra Kumar against mass tree felling…