City: Bengaluru

Sahaja Rao had shifted to her new apartment in Koramangala five months ago and wanted a new LPG connection for her house. After asking several neighbours for available options and doing several rounds of the distributor for the required documents, she finally managed to get a new LPG connection for her new house. But then, it took her almost two months of repeated visits to the distributors and following up on the status. This is the case with several people who are want a new LPG connections or want to transfer the connections from other cities to Bangalore. Here's is…

Nadasurabhi, a leading cultural organisation of Bangalore conducted its 19th Annual Carnatic Music Festival from the 20th to 25th November with seven programmes. The venue was the new auditorium attached to the St.John's College of Nursing in Koramangala.The opening day saw the famous Mysore brothers, Nagaraj and Manjunath demonstrate their proficiency in violin by a vibrant performance. Poorvikalyani and Varali were dealt with in detail, and a Ragam Tanam pallavi in Charukesi was presented with aplomb. The second day sobriety, serenity and excellence were on display in the vocal concert of Maharajapuram Ramachandran who comes in the illustrious lineage of…

With the special summary revision of photo electoral rolls, on till December 4th, 2012, citizens can enroll in the voter list online too. To check your name on the voter roll or for information on how to register as a new voter, see bangalore.citizenmatters.in/vote2013Who can become a voter?Any person who is:a citizen of India18 years of age or above on the qualifying date (1/1/2012)ordinarily resident in Bangalore.This includes a student in a University, Institute etc.not disqualified to be voter e.g. not of unsound mind etc.I am not able to find my name in the voters listDue to the use of…

If ‘reforms' is the buzz word, then electoral reforms should be on top of the list, and the funding of political parties foremost among them. Currently there is a lack of transparency in how political parties and candidates solicit, collect and disburse funds. These issues were highlighted in a widely distributed report released by two NGOs, National Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms, published this September.Legally, the activity of fund-raising, expensing, accounting and reporting of funds collected by political parties fall under the ambit of various acts including the Representation of the People Act, 1951; The Foreign Contribution (Regulation)…

Little children walked on Saturday, November 17th for a social cause. The children aged 3 to 6 years were students of Eurokids, Koramangala and this was their way of celebrating Children's Day.With the idea of spreading awareness on saving the environment, the walkathon began from Raheja Arcade. The chief guest for the occasion, renowned educationist Radha Kulkarni inaugurated the walkathon by releasing a host of green and white balloons. She said that the tiny tots are the best messengers to convey the message of civic awareness.Radha Kulkarni with 42 years of teaching experience, is a recipient of the National Teacher…

If you are a regular user of BMTC, you would know that the commute during peak time is no picnic. One of my recent trips on a Sarjapura Road route at 5:30pm was no different. The bus driver and the conductor, were on an auto mode - shouting at the women - go inside, don't crowd around the pillars, while driving / issuing tickets. This kamba bittu hogri (leave the pillar/support and go inside) is a refrain I've been hearing since I was a school student.   So why do women crowd around the three kambas in the ‘ladies' section?…

The Vibhutipura lake near HAL airport which spans across 14 acres is slowly diminishing due to increasing encroachment over the last 5 years. This sort of encroachment seems to be systematic and starts with building debris dumped in the lake bed. Later, it is flattened and slums rise over it following which, building construction begins. People living nearby dump garbage while raw sewage flows into the lake from apartment complexes and individual houses. Jobees Krishnan, a decade old resident observes, "The lake was full, with clean water 10 years ago; so clean that there were fish in the lake and…

Lakhs of names have been reported deleted from Bengaluru's voter lists - there is even a PIL requesting the High Court to intervene. Shantala Damle, a social activist, was shocked to see over 30% names deleted from Basvanagudi constituency. (Ref: ToI, November 9th)In his response, the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, said:"I disagree with the claims of 30% deletions. A revision exercise was done, but there was no erratic deletion. Booth level officers of BBMP have visited individual houses. In April-July 2012, over 53,000 names were added after BBMP realised that genuine voters were affected in some places. If there are…

It was a pourakarmika who, last Friday, provided  the answer to the vexing question of what to do about the mounds of garbage  that now characterise our city. She was sweeping up the rubbish from the road in front of my apartment -- mud and muck, mixed with soggy bits of paper, plastic, heaps of dried flowers and leaves rotting after the overnight drizzle, dog mess, the lot. -- and carefully piling it right in front of my door. This new mound by the kerbside was also blocking the path of the rain water to the drains  along the edge…

Bangalore has been facing a serious problem in getting garbage cleared on a daily basis, especially since the past few months, with the result that garbage dumps are seen all over the city. BBMP is trying to solve the problem but not much result is seen on the streets of Bangalore.Any scheme that the BBMP adopts will have to take into consideration the following issues.1. The waste generated has to be segregated at source. There is no alternative to this in spite of the various objections raised by some groups, elected representatives, BBMP officials and the garbage contractors. Some citizens have…