City: Bengaluru

A mail from Leo Saldanha, Convenor of Environment Support Group, says: As you are aware, we have challenged the widening of roads in Bangalore by BBMP as being illegal. This matter is being heard by the High Court this week. When we filed the PIL in 2008, BBMP had proposed to widen 91 roads, a list they later expanded to include as many as 216 roads. When the PIL is heard on Friday (25th April), we will have to file a memo about the status of road widening on the original list of 91 roads.  As these are spread across…

Voting percentage for Bangalore was 56.47, 55.7 and 55.69 for Bengaluru North, Central and South respectively, while the state average was 67.28%, in parliamentary elections. What does this project? While everybody is cribbing about Bangalore’s voter percentage and “urban voters’ apathy,” it may not be what it looks like. For example, have you seen anyone around you who did not vote? If not, who are these 44 people out of 100 who did not vote in Bangalore? Don’t you think there is more to the voting percentage story? In 2010, Citizen Matters had written about the reality behind voter turnout…

File pic. Courtesy: Jayakrishnan On 21st April 2014, the Counsels of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) placed before the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court D H Waghela and Justice B V Nagarathna a compilation of tree planting activities in Bangalore. The document claims that during the years 2007-2013, the forest wing of the BBMP has planted 10,75,388 trees in the city and that on an average (across 6 years) 63.5% of the saplings have survived. The document was supplied as part of the suo moto proceedings initiated by the High Court in Writ Petition 7288/2011, responding to concerns over…

A religious procession en-route to Dharmarayaswamy Temple. Pic: Deepika Nagabhushan As a recent resident of New Thippasandra, Venkatweshwara Colony which is adjacent to the 515 colony, I had assumed that this being Bangalore, inadequacies would be dealt with swiftly. However, about 2 weeks back (April 8th 2014), when the public utility services shut down for godly processions, with power-cuts at ungodly hours, made me feel like a helpless citizen. Our colony experienced a power-cut of 5 hours during the day and yet another for a further 3 hours, from 3 am to 6 am in the morning. Not even the…

The best insights on ugly Indian behaviour come from sanitation workers – they are at the receiving end every day of their working lives. X had just been to Singapore. He was appalled at how filthy the Indian neighbourhood – Little India – was, somehow proving to him that even in a dictatorial enforcement-driven system like Singapore, the ugly Indian shows his true colours. He distinctly recalled seeing large dumpsters at street corners, even in Little India. Maybe he was missing something here – Bangalore wanted to be as clean as Singapore, but did not want to use dumpsters at…

Salt is the most underrated ingredient, but by far the most important when you think of food. Important enough to be worshipped by the Greeks, to have battles fought over it, to be used as currency and to make international headlines- thanks to Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Salt Satyagraha’! Used widely to give the ‘salty’ flavor to dishes, it is said that a pinch of salt added to sweet dishes tends to make the dish sweeter! Pic: http://bharatcs.blogspot.in It is one of the most precious natural compound and found naturally in saltwater and in the mineral halite. Salt or ‘table salt’ is…

It was the big day for all Bangaloreans and considering the number of civic organisations such as BPAC, CIVIC, Namma Bengaluru Foundation, etc, the voter turnout was expected to be at an all time high. Post voting day, the voter turnout was pegged at 56.47%, 55.7% and 55.69% in Bengaluru North, Central and South constitiuencies respectively. Though this figure is almost 10% higher than the polling percentage for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, it is less that the average Assembly election voting percentage in 2013 (58.27%) and the state voting average of 67.28%.  Citizens waiting at a booth in Malleshwaram at 7.30…

Chief Election Officer for Karnataka, Anil Kumar Jha in a press conference in Bengaluru on Monday reiterated the model code of conduct and presented statistics relating to the number of polling stations, vehicles mobilised for poll purpose and polling personnel, among others. Jha said there would be a ban on public meetings and processions from 15 April evening onwards. Setting up of temporary offices by party or candidate Such offices cannot be opened by way of any encroachment either on public or private property/ in any religious places or campus of such religious places/ contiguous to any educational institution /…

Bangalore Rural - Candidates D K Suresh - INC (incumbent MP) Age – 47 Education – PUC Businessman, brother of state minister D K Shivakumar Has 7 Cases including encroachment of forest land Assets – Rs 85.73 Crores. Click for ADR data. 9845029142 / dksuresh18@gmail.com Has set 100 RO water plants in the constituency. Won in bypolls held in Bangalore Rural last year Short profile: Click here Scams: Granite scam, illegal site,Complaint by a citizen: Click here R Prabhakar Reddy - JD(S) Age – 43 Education - BSc Realtor. Assets – 224 Crores, making him the second richest candidate in…

Only one more day left to go to the voting booth and cast your vote. All the leading parties have presented their manifesto. Their candidates have toured the city of Bengaluru trying to sell their ideas for the city and nation by large. Now it’s your turn. Step out and vote. For many who are still in a dilemma about which Parliamentary constituency you belong to, here is where you can figure it out: Which Parliament Constituency does your ward fall in? Who are the candidates? Once you know to which parliamentary assembly constituency you belong to, check out who…