City: Bengaluru

  Construction work on Bellandur wetlands continues unabated. Pic: Nikita Malusare Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike issued an order to M/s Manipal ETA Infotech Ltd. (Mantri Techzone Private Limited) directing the latter to stop the construction of the 72-acre project coming up on the wetland between Agara and Bellandur lakes in Bengaluru. This order comes after the Karnataka Upa Lokayukta rapped BBMP on the continuance of construction activities in spite of the lack of proper approvals from BBMP. The order, from the BBMP Commissioner Lakshminarayan, a copy of which with Citizen Matters, directed the Bommanahalli Zonal Joint Commissioner to act immediately to…

December 22 is National Mathematics Day in India, in honour of the great Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan who was born in Erode on 22 December 1887. In his short lifespan of 32 years, Ramanujan discovered and rediscovered (things unknown in India at that time, but known in other countries) about 3900 theorems and equations that have mostly been proven correct, and have been the basis for new research around the world. One of his more known magical revelations was that the number 1729 is the smallest number that can be expressed as the cube of two numbers in two different ways.…

These numbers have been provided by BBMP. If you find that a number is not working, do comment below this post with that number. BBMP West Zone - 23663366 Name Officers Wards Phone Lakshmi Narasaiah Joint Commissioner 1 To 37 9480685411/ 22975648 Nagarajaiah Deputy Commissioner 1 To 37 9480683602/ 23464648 Krishnaswamy Chief Engineer 1 To 37 9480683144 Vishwanath Superintending Engineer 1 To 37 9480684268 Poornima Environmental Engineer 1 To 37 9480684708 Muni Krishna Chief Engineer Swd West 9480683853 Prakash Kumar B G Executive Engineer (Malleshwaram) 36,64,77 9448111261/ 22975610 Thimma Arsu Executive Engineer (Mahalakshmipuram) 36,43,44,67,68,74,75 9945198909 Prabakar Executive Engineer (Rajajinagar) 99,100,101,107…

These numbers have been provided by BBMP. If you find that a number is not working, do comment below this post with the number that's not working. EAST ZONE 22975802 NAMES OFFICERS WARDS PHONE Venakateshppa Joint commissioner All East 9480684122/ 25588242 Venakata chalpathi Deputy commissioner All East 9480684056/ 25595239 Prasad Chief engineer All East 9480684531 Narasimha raj Superintent engineer All East 9480685304 Narasimha raj Executive engineer (shanthi nagar) 89,111,112,114,115 9480685304 Anwar pasha Executive engineer (cv raman nagar) 50,57,58,79,80,88,113 9740813571 Mohan gowda Executive engineer (hebbal, j c nagar) 18 21 9945065565 Yarab reddy Executive engineer (pulakeshinagar) 31,32,47,48,60,61,78 9480685236 Jay shankar Executive…

Kudos to the Parliament and the Government for passing the Lokpal bill today. It goes along with a bouquet of legislation to combat corruption, starting with the Right to Information Act. Though Lokpal is a powerful tool, we still need to address the causes of the disease of corruption - electoral funding! 1. The reality of direct elections today is that large sum of money is required to reach out to the electorate and provide them with democratic information relating to their electoral choices. The official limits upon election expenses are irrational, barely meeting the appropriate levels of expenditure and…

Upalokayukta Subhash Adi had visited Kaikondrahalli lake in October 2013, to study the work done by citizens and BBMP in restoring the lake. Pic: Meera K Upa Lokayukta seems to be emerging as a new saviour for Bengaluru’s lakes. Subhash Adi, the Upa Lokayukta of Karnataka Lokayukta, has set a deadline of three months for BBMP to clear the encroachment of lakes by slums, with proper rehabilitation. Upa Lokayukta came up with this order after reading the inspection reports on 183 lakes done by BBMP, BDA and other civic agencies that look into the lakes of Bengaluru. The report by…

With the recent examples of harassment charges against journalist Tarun Tejpal and supreme court retired judge A K Ganguly, the issue that most companies choose to ignore has come to the fore. Even in Namma Bengaluru, there are hundreds of such cases that go unreported for various reasons. These are high profile personalities - but what about the millions of others working in various offices across cities, towns and villages in India? Are they aware of their rights? What constitutes sexual harassment at the workplace? Are they aware that there are clear work and personal boundaries? How can a woman…

Kempegowda International Airport. Pic: KGIAL PRO On December 14, 2013, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) was renamed Kempe Gowda International Airport Limited (KGIAL). A new expanded terminal T1A was opened by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh. With this expansion, the terminal area has more than doubled from 73,347 sq.mt to 1,50,500 sq.mt. Infrastructure has been put in place to handle the growth in traffic expected for the next few years. An overview of projection of facilities, done before the inauguration of new terminal BIAL was opened on May 24, 2008, at Devanahalli, about 40…

A bus commuter, Vamshi Krishna, posted a discussion on the Citizen Matters forum. He stated that he was issued a  ticket for Rs.70 on the Volvo from Kundalahalli Gate to Majestic bus station in Bengaluru, and the distance printed on the ticket was 24 km. On 4 December, he boarded the bus, armed with a GPS device in hand and measured the distance. The GPS device however showed the distance covered as 17.4 km. Citizen Matters decided to get to the crux of the matter and find out what the problem was. Was the BMTC doing something they shouldn’t? Was…

A waste dump in Kadu Malleshwara ward continues as ever, even after the pilot project came into being. Pic: Shree D N One thing religiously practised by every citizen when it comes to failure of any project: Blame the government. But this time citizens too have equal blame to take. The citizens of Bangalore seem to have forgotten the garbage crisis which erupted last year distorting the sight and smell of the garden city. The target was to achieve 80 percent waste segregation at the source within eight weeks. But a status report on Kasa Mukta project projects a low success…