City: Bengaluru

The National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP), 2006 framed by Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India recommended setting up of a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) for every million plus city in India. The Government of Karnataka was the first to respond to this suggestion by creating the Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) - the UMTA for Bangalore Metropolitan Region (BMR).BMLTA was created for BMR vide GO No. UDD 134 BMR 2006 (2) Bangalore 09.03.2007 as an executive order.This body is the first of its kind to be set-up in Karnataka to coordinate and integrate all land transport activities…

The dusty haze of construction, ubiquitous green signs and makeshift shacks with ‘namma metro', a clear view of a once tree-lined street, half demolished buildings, newly asphalted road - metro construction work is in full swing on Mahakavi Kuvempu Road (MKK Road) in north-west Bangalore. Listen to Citizen Matters audio story in English and Kannada (6 1/2 mins) Citizen Matters Podcasts Download Podcast Subscribe to podcasts What are Podcasts?Podcasts are audio files you can listen to whenever you want. You can subscribe to our podcast feed using a jukebox tool (like Apple's iTunes) so that your computer automatically downloads it…

Watching the Shiv Sena's latest threats to non-Maharashtrians in Bombay, I'm sure a lot of people in various other metropolitan cities are thinking - could it happen here? Could the xenophobia that has characterised the politics of some groups in some parts of the country take hold everywhere? And how about Bangalore itself?This question is interesting for two reasons. One is the usual politics of 'us' and 'them' around which endless commentary has been written.On the other side of this fence too, the noises are understandable. Rahul Gandhi has been ticking off the Shiv Sena quite publicly on its stance,…

He's the monk who makes the cheese and sells it too! Father K L Michael. Administrator of Gualbert Bhavan, a monastery in KR Puram, is a priest with an alter ego as a cheese maker. A variety of Italian cheese. Pic: Theresa Varghese.How did a priest from Kerala end up supplying cheese from Bangalore to the best of Italian restaurants and star hotels in the country? As Father Michael himself puts it, with a characteristic little smile tugging at his mouth, "It was a long journey."A boy of 15, he was among 11 youngsters in the first batch to join…

The State Election Commission (SEC) has written to the BBMP asking the Assistant Revenue Officers (ARO) to verify the voter lists of their respective wards. This comes a day after a Bangalore-based citizens group on voter awareness, Smart Vote, approached the SEC about errors in 19 polling booths. Smart Vote found that the electoral lists of three polling booths have been duplicated, in what seems to be a human error and not that of the database itself. These have been fixed by the SEC. But there are more such duplications and the SEC says they are looking into it. In…

A lot of heated debates at the recently concluded Copenhagen Climate Meet 2009 threw up more questions than answers. Though many argued over India's position in the debate, little is known of how its rapidly growing cities are contributing to global warming. Speaking locally, how much does Bangalore, teeming with a six-million-plus, contribute to India's total carbon emissions? How does it hold itself accountable to the mess our planet is in and how does it plan to help clean it up? The answer is systematic assessment of its emissions. As with much of the climate change topic, here it becomes…

A bull. A ballerina. A Buddha. A baby T-Rex. And a big ant. All in one place. Frozen in steel - yet appearing to be in motion. These are but a few works of artist Kalyan S Rathore that are on display at ‘Active Canvas', Jayanagar I Block, till February 23rd, 2010 in an exhibition titled ‘Verbs in Steel'. Kalyan S Rathore with one of his steel sculptures. Pic: Deepa Vaishnavi.Industrial and Product Designing, Biology, Entrepreneurship, Ergonomics and biomechanical machines, Geometry, Contemporary Furniture are words that one would usually not associate with an artist, barring a few such as Kalyan…

The residents of Kaverinagar in North Bangalore have not received water from the BWSSB for about two years now. But bills from the water board have been delivered regularly. The only relief they have now is because of one of their neighbours Victoria who took it upon herself to help her neighbours by distributing water freely from her borewell.A kilo litre (1000 litres) of water costs the BWSSB Rs 34, including production, distribution and so on. An average consumer receives this water at a highly subsidised rate, paying around Rs 18 per kilo litre. It's those who purchase them through…

On February 10th, The Environment Protection Institute (EPI) conducted a training session on teaching methods and environment protection for teachers.EPI was set up in 1993 and was formerly known as Environment Education Foundation (EEF). EPI's main objective is "to conserve bio-resources and health of the planet" says Dr K Shivashankar, President of EPI.Around 67 teachers from Bangalore schools participated in the workshop, at JP Nagar 5th Phase, near AV Education.Shivashankar said that EPI aims to reach out to schools and teachers. They also conduct inter-school competitions in collaboration with the Rotary Club and hold lectures at schools to spread awareness…

Batti Bandh Bengaluru, scheduled for February 13th 2010, will call on Bangaloreans to switch off all their electrical appliances for one hour, from 7 to 8PM, and in doing so, 'unplug' not just for the day but also through their lifestyles in the fight against climate change.Batti Bandh Bengaluru is part of an annual nationwide series of events that was started in 2007 by Keith Menon in Mumbai. The build-up to Batti Bandh Bengaluru will include programs such as flash plays, flash performances of music and singing, flash performances of dance, hula hooping, djembe performances, posters in schools and colleges,…