City: Bengaluru

Next time, if ever an emergency occurs in your area, you need not be a silent spectator because of the sole reason that you are not trained to tackle such situations. Civil Defence (CD), an organisation that is not so well known but is increasingly becoming popular in the city, enables citizens to actively respond in case of emergencies. CD is a government organisation functioning according to the Civil Defence Act, 1968. Civil Defence Act, 1968The act provides the basis for the formation of Civil Defence Corps, which it empowers to take any action - not amounting to actual combat…

After three years of no city council, the city finally saw the day when its 198 newly-elected corporators took oath to office. The city also welcomed its first citizens, Mayor S K Nataraj and Deputy Mayor N Dayanand, both of who were elected unopposed. There were mixed emotions in the air. While nervous first-time corporators quietly waded their way to their seats, the experienced lot seemed to be in a lighter mood. Few Congress MLAs turned up to lend their support to their party corporators. City BJP MLAs and ministers came in larger numbers, breaking into bouts of laughter amongst…

Since the formation of Bruhat Bengaluru in January 2007, the BBMP's first ever council session took place on April 23rd. All 198 corporators were sworn in and the city got a new mayor and deputy mayor. The session itself was rather eventful with both bouquets and brickbats thrown about.See the pictures in a special Citizen Matters slideshow. While most came dressed in their best, Ashwath Y N, Corporator of Kempegowda ward (Ward 1) took it a step further. He came riding on a horse and dressed as Kempegowda himself. Pic: Vaishnavi VittalThe council building decked up for the first session…

BBMP has started accepting payments for 2010-11 BBMP property tax, at BBMP Help centres and Bangalore One centres; one can also obtain the forms there. Payment has to be by cheque or DD in the name of the Commissioner, BBMP. ONLINE PAYMENTSOnline payment of property tax can be done at here. BBMP allows you to pay online for the year 2009-10, if 2008-09 details are available online You can pay online for 2010-11, if 2008-09 and 2009-10 details are available online. If your property details have not been uploaded, however you have paid and have the receipts, you will have…

It has been two months since Bengaluru witnessed the fire at Carlton towers. Nine lives were lost. Then came the fire at Gold towers on Residency Road and another in a godown in Peenya. Just four months into 2010 and the fire department has attended to over 900 fire-related calls.All this and there is still no system in place to periodically check for fire safety violations in high-rise buildings in the city. While officials of the Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services (KSFES) are toothless as they do not have powers to reinspect Bengaluru's buildings after issuing the Occupancy Certificate,…

Malavalli Chikkanna Charities (MCC), a trust that donated its land in Sheshadripuram to the Karnataka Government for construction of a dispensary is reclaiming it, as the unit has been converted into a storeroom. The dispensary was built in 1957 by the health department on a land spread across 3,000 square feet. There were two doctors along with four other staff for attending patients. It was converted to a medicine storeroom around eight years back. From some years now, the trust has been asking the health department to hand over the dispensary to it since it was converted into a store…

Imagine you are in a time capsule. You open the door and peer out to see the Bengaluru city, especially the Gavipuram-Gandhibazaar area at different periods in time.Circa 1540: Work going on at Kempambudhi. Kempegowdaru is building a huge lake for the settlement here which later comes to be called Kempambudhi lake. He visits the Gavi (cave) Gangadeshwara temple and prays to the lord.1900s: Basavanagudi is a spacious settlement for the pete people with huge roads and wide open spaces. A little beyond are the some villages in Gavipuram. There are a few who venture into this area. It's a…

About two years ago, when writer Usha Rajagopalan looked out of her balcony, the view that faced her was that of a vanishing lake called Puttenahalli Kere. As a longtime resident of the apartment complex L&T South City, Usha remembers the lake as a large water body that attracted several kinds of birds once. See: Kere in crisisAs apartments in the area grew and consequently, a slum started building up, encroachment, waste disposal and activities like bathing and fishing resulted in the lake's water level and quality diminishing rapidly. The lake lies between Puttenahalli in JP Nagar VI Phase, Lakshmi…

On a day when there were low-intensity explosions near the Chinnaswamy cricket stadium, here are photographic examples of what emergency-readiness and security was like within the stadium on April 17th 2010.One of the emergency exits on the day of the match, meant for spectators who enter through Gate No. 6, is locked. In addition you have a turnstile just in front of the gate and a standee as well, besides some bottles and trash. In case of an emergency, would they have enough time to access the person who has the key, remove the turnstile and other obstructions in front…

IT has been announced recently for the collection of tax for the year 2010-11 with a rebate of 5% only upto 30th April 2010.This period being the bottleneck of the year, where previous years dues of loan, interest etc would have been paid by 31st March. The burden of children education, holiday expenses ( either you have to move out or relatives move in), the current cost of essentials - food and vegetables, etc. which are unavoidable to be postponed and has to be met.In many cases, contributions to the recently held elections have also been met by many indirectly,…