City: Bengaluru

Keys? Check. Wallet? Check. Dry Food, Wet food, Biscuits? Check. Spare Collar? Check. Phone. Check? Anxiety and love, Check? And Priya Chetty Rajagopal is ready to go out on her morning walks around Chalukya Circle, in Bengaluru. First up, time for a daily roll call of all the neighbourhood street dogs – Ringtone, present, Chime, present, 4GMother, present. Then exchange pleasantries, talk gibberish, pet them, feed them till she moves on to the next lane towards the BSNL building.  Priya is part of Canine Squads, a locality-based group of community volunteers who work to ensure both animals and humans are cared…

All property owners in Bengaluru have to pay the property tax for the financial year 2022-23. The last date for doing so without penalty and interest is June 30th, while with penalty and interest, it can be paid at the convenience of the owner. BBMP offers a 5% rebate on property tax payment upto 30th April 2022. Given the challenges of growing circumstances, BBMP must extend the rebate period for one more month (upto May) as was done in earlier years. There are some issues in the system, BBMP must rectify all bugs and malfunctions in the tax payment portal…

BBMP has spent over 100 crores on fixing, remodelling, and maintaining drains in just one ward – HSR Layout. Their Stormwater Drain Department does not maintain records like work registers or the progress reports of works. BBMP has been indicted for ineffective and inefficient collection of waste, non-compliance with waste management rules, and lack of scientific processing facilities at landfill sites. These are just three instances of impropriety and poor performance in local government bodies. All these are issues that citizens should demand accountability from their elected reps and officials. One easy way to be aware of such issues is…

Action after garbage trucks cause fatal accidents After three fatal accidents caused by BBMP garbage trucks, the city traffic police conducted a special drive and booked 307 trucks for violations such as signal jumps and defective number plates. BBMP has made fitness certificates mandatory for the trucks, and marshals have been deployed to inspect the vehicles at mustering points every day. BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said the new garbage contracts would include a clause mandating the use of new vehicles. BBMP also decided to install speed governors in 600 compactors to restrict their speed to 35 kmph. BBMP, along with…

A lone tempo with jumbo bags hanging from the edges and plastic bags  of mixed waste piled high in the van are a familiar sight  in Bengaluru. Despite the fact that in the last few years, wards that started to use separate vehicles to collect different streams of waste saw much better quality of waste collection. It ensured waste that was easy to recycle did not get sent to landfills or burnt on the wayside. Recently, BBMP said they plan to discontinue sending separate vehicles to collect dry waste and will look at a single vehicle having compartmentalised spaces collecting…

This January, as part of a larger programme to make all bus travel free, Boston city set aside eight million dollars to introduce free bus travel on certain routes. Making bus travel free was first tried out in US in the 1970s. The idea caught on and by 2017, 96 such programmes have been recorded globally. In India, Delhi has presently made free bus travel free for women. Can Bengaluru think along similar lines? The city's bus network BMTC (Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation) currently has among the highest fares in the country, making it unaffordable to many. Besides, the city…

Tired of the constant digging up of roads, residents of Ward 45, Malleswaram took to the streets to conduct a peaceful walk called #SAAKU walk on March 6th, 2022, to highlight their issues. While their walk managed to get the attention of the bureaucracy and the politicians, nothing much changed on the ground. Instead of sitting quietly for the authorities to wake up and hope that they keep up their promises, Malleswaram residents decided to take further steps. Here is what they did next. Seeing all this angst of citizens and the enthusiasm during the first Saaku walk, we decided…

Walking on the streets of namma Bengaluru is an adventure in itself. Not a road left untouched and footpaths non-existent or in disarray; all in the name of development. On March 6th, 2022, to highlight the multiple problems residents are facing because of the unending work on their roads and other infrastructure for months and years, residents of Ward 45, Malleswaram took to the streets to conduct a peaceful walk called #SAAKU walk. The half kilometre walk was from Malleswaram bus stand at 18th cross to 11th cross, 4th Main. Here is what the residents of Malleswaram did: The problem…

Making public spaces safe for women, in particular, is not rocket science. Nor is it an expensive high tech exercise. Yet with little action being taken, collecting ground data can help raise awareness of the issue and convince authorities to act. With this in mind, Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) in collaboration with CGI, conducted a safety audit of public places in Malleshwaram and Mahadevapura Assembly Constituencies as a pilot project. The areas were chosen based on preset criteria - Malleshwaram being one of the oldest constituencies and Mahadevapura - one of the newer ones. Some of the locations audited.…

Low demand for booster dose Only 8,041 people in the 18-59 year age group had taken the COVID booster dose in Karnataka as of April 14, five days after private hospitals were allowed to administer it. Of them, 86.97% (6,994 people) are from BBMP limits. Bengaluru has the highest number of private hospitals and private vaccination centres in the State. Given the low demand, the offer by vaccine manufacturers to compensate the slashed vaccine prices with additional doses has not gone down well with private hospitals. Many want a refund from the manufacturers instead. Dr H M Prasanna, president of…