City: Bengaluru

A tree uprooted in Malleshwaram 6th Main on 2 June, 2014. Tree Comittee will have to keep track of the trees planted and uprooted, and plan accordingly to protect green cover in the city. Pic: Shree D N The Karnataka High Court directed Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike to draw an action plan that will ensure accountability and maintenance of trees that BBMP claims to have planted since 2007 till 2011, and in future. Following the HC’s order on 25th April 2014, a suo motu PIL was (WP No. 7288/2011) filed by former Justice D V Shylendra Kumar and WP no.…

During the week that the newspapers carried reports about proposed curbs on lavish weddings, coincidentally, Jaya and Valli came to me announcing weddings of daughters in their families. Jaya works as cleaning maid at two commercial establishments in south Bengaluru. Valli is a roadside flower seller. Both are of course, indigent, leading a hand-to-mouth existence. Jaya’s 16-year-old grand daughter Asha used to work in a clothes shop but when her mother (Jaya’s daughter) was diagnosed as suffering from kidney failure and it was clear she would not survive for long, Jaya decided that Asha should be married off while her…

Central Minister of Housing, Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation Minister (HUPA) Venkaiah Naidu announced in a press conference on Friday that one among many plans to develop the city would be to make use of scientific Geographic Information System (GIS) for Town Planning. Venkaiah Naidu announced this after conducting first review meeting in the state at Hotel Orchid on Friday, May 30, 2014. The progress review meeting had top bureaucrats of various departments such as BBMP, BWSSB, BDA, BMTC, KUIDFC etc. Urban Land Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy was also present. Venkaiah Naidu and Bangalore Central’s Member of Parliament P C…

The garbage time bomb that Bengaluru was sitting on has exploded again. The villagers in Mandur near Bangalore, who had agreed to tolerate the mess for an year, have started protesting as they did not see any concrete action taking place to clear the mountain of garbage in Mandur. Starting the night of May 31, 2014, no waste is being allowed to be dumped in Mandur by the villagers, until further negotiations solve the problem temporarily. Besides, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has proposed the closure of Mandur waste disposal unit, following the failure of BBMP to comply with…

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will form a committee to investigate the A khatas issued by its officials for revenue sites across Bengaluru. BBMP took this step in the wake of complaints by many corporators on A khatas being issued by BBMP officials for revenue sites or revenue pockets, for a hefty bribe, allegedly between Rs 50,000 to 5 lakh, depending on the size of the plot. On May 28, 2014, BBMP Council Meeting saw high decibel discussions, when BJP Corporator from Kacharakanahalli ward, Padmanabha Reddy, took up the issue. He showed the documents and khata certificates issued recently to…

X and V are not finished yet. The basic rescue act is over and the initial impact has been made. Their mission is to find a permanent solution to a decades-old problem, not just beautify a street corner for a feel-good photo-op. It would be a failure if the dump just shifted to the next orphan spot, to the next point of least resistance. V & X are very conscious of this, and have worked out a plan. For a start, they have made friends with all the security guards in the area. All commercial areas have security guards – who are…

Dogs trying to figure out the source of stinking meat on Railway Parallel Road, Malleshwaram. Some residents of Malleshwaram in Bengaluru noticed that there was a foul smell in the air one fine morning, after the first rains. They saw many bags lying around near the railway area on 11th main road. When they checked the bags, there was animal waste dumped by unknown persons, rotting and causing the smell. When they enquired with city administration, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials on how to dispose animal waste, the answer they got was shocking: BBMP does not have a proper…

Traffic on Mysore Road. Pic: Google Maps I am an ordinary citizen of Bengaluru who travels all the way from Rajarajeshwari Nagar to Sarjapur Outer Ring Road for work every day. I almost travel 50 kms each way. On the way, I see that more than 50% of jams are purely because of someone flouting the rules. I thought I must present my thoughts to see whether some problems can be solved. 1.       For example, the Rajarejshwari Arch bus stand on the Mysore road is at a traffic trisection, which creates so much of confusion, at all times of the…

Since they have been asked, let me put down my answers to these questions for the record: Why Modi? Why this self-inflicted - and, presumably, on others - two-month personal campaign? Why FB? How did it go? What next? But first, why me? I'm political. I'm consciously political while in conversation, staging a play, writing for the screen or my newspaper column, and even inside the classroom. This means my social life is completely boring to normal people, by normal standards. I keep meeting the same friends of a small personal group, which is often fragmented because even these friends…

People's Campaign for Right to water- Karnataka (PCRW-K) is a campaign pushing for a water democracy that protects water as a common property resource and provides safe, sufficient and clean water for all. The campaign also works on protection of lakes, water bodies in Karnataka and conserving water resources as commons. This is a press note from the Campaign, produced as it is. The campaign works to make the state responsible to facilitate people’s participation in nurturing lakes as commons and has repeatedly registered complaints, had series of discussions with the Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka and various concerned departments…