City: Bengaluru

Residents of Chokkanahalli and Sampigehalli have been fighting to save their neighbourhood lake, Venkateshpura Kere. The lake was listed as 10 acres 35 guntas by BDA and BBMP until a few years ago, but has slowly been reduced to 6 acres and 35 guntas on paper. Read more about this in part 1. The remaining four acres, which comprise the lake watershed area, has been notified as a Civic Amenity (CA) site by BDA; part of this has been leased to a private trust. BBMP, which is the custodian of the lake, has done little to address the concerns of…

Road construction on Hosakerehalli Lake stopped On March 11th, BBMP Special Commissioner (Projects) P M Ravindra said that engineers will remove mud immediately and restore the 59-acre Hosakerehalli lake, the main water source at Rajarajeshwari Nagar, to its original condition. Earlier, Horticulture Minister and area MLA Munirathna had denied that a permanent road was being built through the Hosakerehalli Lake. However, he admitted that a temporary road was laid just to clear silt, as the lake is spread over 50 acres and has collected silt over the last 100 years. The BBMP will develop a model lake and build a…

Distraught residents of Chokkanahalli, a neighbourhood near Jakkur in North Bengaluru, watch everyday as a rocky outcrop, which is part of a monument, is demolished by a private trust. The remains are currently being dumped into their neighbourhood lake, Venkateshpura. Chokkanahalli Sampigehalli Abhivriddhi Forum (CSAF), a residents group in the area, alleges that the BDA notified a portion of the lake as a Civic Amenity (CA) site and allotted it to a private trust. They have been trying to stop the construction and demand a resurvey of the lake. But neither BDA, which has allotted the land, nor BBMP, which…

Climate change is experienced in the form of erratic, unpredictable and extreme weather changes in the various seasons. This is impacting the periodic appearance of leaves, flowers, and fruits on the seasonal trees around us. Observing these changes regularly can give an insight into climate change's impact on biodiversity in India. Since trees are the basis of all life, including ours, understanding the impact of climate change on trees is imperative. For over a decade, SeasonWatch is leading a citizen science project following the patterns of emergence and maturation of leaves, flowers and fruits (“phenology”) on common tree species of…

Amidst much anticipation, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) presented its budget for the fiscal year 2023-24 on March 2nd. The total projected budget for this fiscal year stands at Rs 11, 163 crores. The budget's main focus is on construction and maintenance of road infrastructure, as has been the trend in the past years as well. This is mainly because of the sub-par quality of construction requires repeated expenditure on operation and maintenance.  It was announced that the total receipts of BBMP during 2023-24 will be Rs 7,070.11 crore, while the total Centre-State grants will be Rs 4,093.86 crore.…

It is 10 am on a Tuesday morning on Bazaar Street in Austin Town, Bengaluru. Traffic is moving smoothly, people are walking on the footpaths without hindrance. It is hard to believe that this was once a chaotic and dangerous street to use. About four months back, the footpath was virtually unusable. Shopkeepers had set up canopies and put up advertising boards that blocked the footpath. Some had piled their wares in front of their shops. The street itself was no better. Both sides were lined with street vendors, reducing the road width available for vehicles. Auto rickshaws used to…

In May 2022, Bengaluru’s flooding issues prompted Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to announce modernisation of these drains in an integrated manner, at a cost of Rs 1,600 crore. BBMP then authorised zonal commissioners to take up emergency work worth Rs 1 crore and this included removing silt in all drains. The BBMP engineers were also directed to identify low-lying areas and other vulnerable areas in the city. Housing Minister V Somanna stated that all engineers would be held responsible if flooding persisted during monsoons. The August-September 2022 rains did see more flooding. But no official was hauled up. Removal of…

Viral fever cases Bengaluru hospitals are reporting high numbers of fever patients in the OPD, yet hospitalisations are much lower as patients are being admitted mostly in general ward rather than in the ICU. However, in the last fortnight, government hospitals in the city showed a rise in admissions to 45. The numbers in the state went up from 17 at the end of February to 52 on March 13th. An 81-year-old, suffering from ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) in the city passed away on March 9th, one of five deaths reported in the state this year. The weekly test…

Bengaluru’s stormwater drains made headlines last year when the city witnessed its worst floods. The August-September 2022 rainy season saw 7700 houses inundated, over 170 houses partially damaged, and over 12 informal settlements submerged. It once again exposed the faultlines: lack of vision in imagining the city, encouraging haphazard growth, rampant constructions on wetlands, building infrastructure with complete disregard for natural systems, incompetent planning and lack of governance.  “Every time it rains, it floods” Lakshmi, a former bone waste collector, has lived with her family of five in a small 100 square feet house in Cement Huts, JC Road, for…

The general perception has been that residents in large apartment complexes or gated communities are not a significant vote bank and have a lower rate of voter turnout in assembly or municipal elections. Ahead of the Karnataka 2023 Assembly Elections, the Bengaluru Apartments' Federation (BAF) hopes to change this perception by focusing on voter registration, awareness and participation through their Every Vote Matters (EVM) campaign. Towards this, BAF organised a discussion with representatives from political parties, to facilitate objective conversations and debates concerning Bengaluru's development agenda. With Citizen Matters as the media partner, the discussion was led by panellists Tanveer…