City: Bengaluru

“His form is ungainly — his intellect small —” (So the Bellman would often remark) “But his courage is perfect! And that, after all, Is the thing that one needs with a Snark. Lewis Carroll: The Hunting of the Snark About 10 years ago, four NGOs in Bangalore — Janaagraha, Public Affairs Centre, Centre for Budget and Policy Studies and Voices — got together to demand quarterly accounts from the Bangalore City Corporation. This was called the PROOF campaign, and it attracted a great deal of interest. PROOF became possible because a system of accounting for the Corporation had been…

After years of lobbying by Praja, CiSTUP (Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transport and Urban Planning, Indian Institute of Science) and Directorate of Urban Land and transport (DULT), Commuters Railway Services (CRS) has got primary approval from the state government on July 5th, 2013. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced this in state budget too. He said that the project will make use of Special Purpose Vehicle that will be floated under the name Bangalore Suburban Rail Corporation Limited. He also sanctioned Rs.200 crore for construction of 29 underbridges and overbridges for railway across the city where the tracks intersect roads. A feasibility…

Every budget talks about how Bangalore is an important metropolis and how its glory as an IT-BT capital has to be restored. In keeping with the current sentiment, the budget has discussions about garbage, roads, sites and investments. However there is only so much a city can take; so much a city can absorb; a limit to which it can cope. So, the question with every budget is that why are we so Bangalore-centric? Unpack the current Karnataka budget and you have a section dedicated to Bangalore which details out fly-overs, sky-walks, grade separators and garbage management. There is an…

Connectivity to Bangalore will be improved in the coming years, with the government formally announcing the willingness to form Bangalore Suburban Rail Corporation, in the state budget, a few days after the proposal getting formal approval. This has cheered many groups who have been batting for the commuter railway for many years. Other major announcement was the decision to separate ground water wing from the Mines and Geology Department and form a Ground Water Directorate. This looks important in the background of the Right to Water bill proposed to be tabled in the Parliament. “We should not avail loans just…

The new Budget has been announced. For the first Budget with limited time, it is indeed a good one. Our Chief Minister  has said in the introduction that he intends to provide every citizen the bare necessities of life, a house, water in the tap, power, a road to the house, sewage facilities, education for children and safety for people and property. Ultimately this is what every citizen looks forward to and what we have not been able to achieve in the past 65 years. He has stated that he will ensure that taxpayers’ money is well-spent with no wastage,…

Several years of efforts by Koramangala citizens bore fruit on Friday, 12-July-2013 when a Bhoomi Puja was held to mark the start of re-development work on Meistripalya Lake in Koramangala. Bhoomi puja for Meistripalya Lake re-development, by BTM Layout MLA Ramalinga Reddy, Koramangala corporator Kokila Radhakrishna and other officials. Pic: Srinivas The work, estimated to cost Rs 175 lakhs, is based on a  Detailed Project Report (DPR), developed by the BDA and Lake Development Authority using inputs furnished by Koramangala citizens. Over the years, a number of elected representatives and officials have played a major role in bringing the project…

Members of the Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) voiced concerns about the term ‘encroachers’ being used to describe Ejipura evictees. To prove that they are not encroachers but original allottees, they shared documents of property rights of the evictees, at a press conference held on 9 July 2013. PUCL, in association with Housing and Land Rights Network, another international NGO focussing on housing for poor, also released a report titled ‘Governance by denial,’ which analyses the related events before and after the eviction. Ramadas Rao, a member of PUCL, said the allegations of MLA N A Haris that evictees…

After almost a 40 minutes run from Bangalore city, the train 16732 bound to Tuticorin comes to a halt. Half-asleep passengers peek out assuming the stop to be Hosur, as the train comes to a halt on platform 1 of the station just outside Bangalore limits. However it is not Hosur - welcome to Carmelram. An unassuming country side station, it is almost a let thorugh for Bangalore city trains - but for a major part of North Bangaloreans, this is an important station, especially for trains from Yeshvantapur as they do not have to waste time in traffic jams…

Bangalore has always been home to many locals and migrants. But this welcoming nature now seems to have become a costly affair for its residents. While  the number of trees and lakes have reduced considerably, the number of vehicles and pollution levels in the city have increased considerably, which is posing major health hazards to people. However, a recent study conducted by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) reveals that the pollution level is the least during monsoons, and highest during winter. This study shows that the pollution level near CIty Railway station, which is at the centre of…

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) now aims to go hi-tech to gain a clean green image. Going with the trends of the IT capital and borrowing its technological feather, the corporation within another three months aims to introduce an online tree felling grievances mechanism. Every year, around 3,000 permissions for axing trees are issued by the Tree Officer (Assistant Conservator of Forests), under the Tree Authority of the BBMP. In some areas, there are examples of trees being felled even during late night hours. But there is no formal record (online record with verification) explaining why the tree was…