City: Bengaluru

BDA can no longer work on the five grade separator projects planned in Koramangala. On February 27th, High Court ordered a stay based on a PIL filed by Koramangala residents. Pic: Deepthi M S Residents had been in discussions with BDA for over six months to re-consider flyover and underpass projects at Koramangala water tank, Krupanidhi college, 80-feet road - Sarjapur road intersection and Jakkasandra junctions. These works alone cost Rs 120 cr. This is part of the larger signal-free corridor project from Agara to Sirsi Circle, planned by BBMP in 2009. The project is implemented by BDA.Residents had filed…

Benglauru hosted the 33rd National Masters Athletic Championship from the 23rd - 26th February 2012 at the Kanteerava stadium. Pic: Anju K P For the uninitiated, the Masters meet is for people aged 35 or above. At this meet, there were 10 age categories (for 5 years each) ranging from the 35-39 group to the 80 and above group. There could be more categories in the future with increasing life expectancy in line with global trends. The meet is organised by the Masters Athletics Federation of India (MAFI), which is the nodal body for the organization of events for athletes…

Her journey is one every aspiring technology manager will want in a city that virtually sees a startup a week. She is known in tech circles as co-founder of the start-up Aarohi Communications, which was acquired by Emulex Corporation, a California-based firm. In Bengaluru, a startup's successful acquisition usually means a lot, from a sense of enormous accomplishment at the end of a journey and the beginning of many things new, in addition to just plain becoming wealthier. Shanti Subbaraman did all this as a woman, and while working in urban India. Not easy, most will say. She started her…

Since 2002, we - owners of L&T South City apartment - have been waging a long battle against our apartment's builder L&T and land owner Dinesh Ranka. (Citizen Matters had reported on this here.) We have been running from pillar to post - going to police stations, holding protest marches, filing cases in City Civil Courts, High Court and Consumer Courts. Now, a complaint filed by our association SUGRUHA (South City Group Housing Apartment Owners' Association) at the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in August has made an impact. CCI is a central government body to ensure fair play by businesses…

Rajee Shanker, a resident of Kalyan Nagar is troubled by falling leaves on all roads and empty sites, “For the past 5 months,  nobody has been entrusted with cleaning of roads and removal of leaves".This is a common issue in all residential areas in the city especially the winter/post winter season. BBMP workers often burn the leaves, so their job becomes easier, inspite of the Commissioner’s order otherwise.BBMP’S RESPONSEResponding to complaints of leaf burning in the Organic Terrace Gardening Forum, Bangalore's composting evangelist Vani Murthy (who has documented her leaf composting process here) shared the contact details of the BBMP…

Maverick Holdings and BBMP signed a concessionaire agreement on 2 January, 2012, clearing the deck for the construction of 1,640 Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quarters at Ejipura. This is coming after a protracted legal battle that lasted nine years. The agreement was signed between Uday Garudachar of Maverick and BBMP Engineer in Chief BT Ramesh. Pic: Vijayalakshmi P But the residents still do not know where they will be relocated when the construction starts. Neither the BBMP nor Maverick has informed them about the relocation plans. And on January 14, Shantinagar MLA NA Harris had a shocking request to make…

In the case of a citizen's death during a Fire Department mock drill on February 24th, the Police have filed an FIR under Section 304A of the IPC (death by negligence) and are investigating. The case was based on a complaint by the victim's brother against fire department. Section 304A is bailable and carries maximum sentence of two years imprisonment with or without fine. File pic: Kiran Jonnalagadda Lawyer Mukund T S confirms that prosecution can be under Section 304A itself, as there was no intent to murder. "The incident was caused by negligence only, hence the more serious Section…

The residents’ associations of about 15 apartments of Somasundarapalya and Haralukunte, down HSR 27th Main Road have joined together to create a HSR-x Federation to collectively solve their problems and improve their neighbourhood. On Saturday, March 3rd, the group invited Bommanahalli MLA, Satish Reddy and HSR Corporator Latha Narasimhamurthy. Also present were Ravi Reddy, HSR ward BJP president for Bangalore), Syed Salam, businessman, husband of Mangammapalya ward Corporator Syed Haseena Taj and BBMP officials. Satish Reddy, Ravi Reddy and Latha Narasimhamurthy at citizen-MLA meeting, HSR Layout extensions. Pic: Satvik Koushik Virat Gohil, from Sai Poorna Paradise shared the problems of…

Bangaloreans started their day with a fitness run on Sunday, 4 March. Contours, a women's only fitness gym held its 3rd edition of fitness run of 10 kilometres. It is held every year close to the women's day. This run started at 6.30 am from Kanteerava stadium. Dancing their way with aerobics. Pic: Anisha Nair More than 1000 runners participated in this woman's day run including men and children. Age seemed no bound here. Participants were from the age group of 8 years to 70 years. The run was held with the support of charity partners - ASHA and PARIKRAMA…

The Byrasandra lake, situated in Jayanagar, which was once almost sold, is now set to be rejuvenated. The lake area was under a land dispute as it was allegedly sold by Indian Overseas Bank in an auction for a sum of Rs.7.60 crores. Citizen Matters's 29 Jul 2010 article has a detailed report on the various developments of the lake. Pic: Deepthi M S With the local people's initiative, the lake is now moving towards development. The fencing work at Byrasandra lake has started from 17 February.The lake development project was inaugurated by Ananth Kumar, MP, BJP. It will be…