bangalore news

Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB) members Prakash Belawadi, Naresh Narasimhan, Srinivas Alavilli, Tara Krishnaswamy, Priya Chetty Rajagopal, Deepti Sudhindra along with Leo Saldanha (ESG) addressed the media on recent developments with respect to the steel flyover and master plan for Bengaluru. They put on record the following: 1. We are appalled by the recent statements by Hon'ble Minister K J George that 'people who own private jets oppose the steel flyover'. The statement reflects disdain for the concern of citizens who love Bengaluru, more than 2.5 lakhs of whom have emphatically rejected the steel flyover plan - via the human chain…

Wherever BDA shows its Master Plan, there are strong objections to it. People point out that it ... (a) .. is autocratic, having been developed with no input from the people of the city. It is almost as if it is being shown to us after everything is done and dusted, and only to comply with the legal requirement for 'consultations'. (b) ... is ill-conceived. The idea that the existing BDA region can / should support twice the population we now have is foolhardy, besides being environmentally tenuous. (c) ... is unconstitutional, having followed none of the statutory processes for…

Most borewells along Sarjapura Road do not yield much water. A new apartment opposite Kaikondrahalli Kere is also struggling for water as their borewells run dry. The builder decides to revive an old  open well in his property. The well is  18ft in diameter and 40ft deep and has been fully closed with mud. Pedanna the well digger is called in. Alongwith his team Pedanna excavates all the 40ft of mud manually. They strike water at about 20ft below ground level. The water has to be pumped out as they continue to dig. The well is now completely excavated and…

Defence Colony Cooperative Housing Society Ltd (DCCHSL) & Defence Colony Residents Association (DECORA) JOINT BRIEFING 1. The Defence Colony Cooperative Housing Society Ltd (DCCHSL) was formed by serving and retired Defence Officers. In July 1964, the City Improvement Trust Board (CITB), acquired and transferred by a sale deed, the entire area now forming Defence Colony, to the society. This sale deed showed the boundaries of Defence Colony, both by description and in a site map, but did not mention the specific survey numbers of the land that had been acquired by the CITB before handing over to the society. 2.…

An evening scene from Indiranagar. Bengaluru city has been mushrooming over the years with little regard for any form of Town Planning and Governance. The fallout of this rapid growth is witnessed most acutely in residential areas of the city. Civic woes abound. Indiranagar was once a pensioner’s paradise and now our existence today is trying to restore some order into our personal lives, thanks to the illegal and reckless commercialisation of our residential areas violating zoning norms left, right and center. The real estate mafia, an apathetic local administration and a greedy citizen have connived to create an experience…

Are you frustrated by traffic delays in Bengaluru? Do you know how much time you and others are wasting due to traffic jams! While everyone in Bengaluru complains about the traffic problems of the city, very few invest their personal time and capability to critically analyze problems and identify solutions.Volunteers from Whitefield Rising with the help of MapsHalli have found a way to analyze traffic problems. The idea is to use technology to analyze realtime Google traffic data to help Bengaluru traffic police, commuters, and city planners to take action.The team chose the Outer Ring Road section from Mahadevapura to…

Whitefield Habba is an initiative to bring together people belonging to diverse backgrounds and residing in different parts of BBMP's Mahadevapura Zone. To be held at Whitefield's oldest spot - Inner Circle ground - the fest is 'by the people, of the people and for the people' of the locality. Organized by citizens' group Whitefield Rising on the occasion of Karnataka Rajyotsava, the six-hour event will celebrate the rich culture, craftsand cuisines of the state. As the attached poster mentions, a variety of stalls, skits, songs, dances and games promise to make it a memorable event for the entire family. It is an opportunity to experience traditional entertainment like Dollu Kunita, Mallakhamba and Gardua Gumbe, alongside music by our Anglo-Indian settlers and art by recent migrants to…

The BMRDA Act was passed in the mid-1980s, to set up the Bangalore Metropolitan Regional Development Authority, and to empower it to direct the planned development of the state capital region. Since its founding, however, the BMRDA has done nothing useful, because the state government has always preferred it that way. Why was the BMRDA set up, then, if no one wanted it to do anything? It's hard to be certain, but if I had to guess, I would say the answer lies with Ramakrishna Hegde. Hegde was an unusual Chief Minister, in one very important way that we are…

BDA, under the determined pressure of the citizens' movement against its steel flyover project, filed an affidavit before the Karnataka High Court on November 3, 2016, that it won't commence the project for the moment. This only proves Citizens for Bengaluru's (CfB) consistent argument that BDA had never observed due diligence or due process on the ill-conceived project but was hurrying through it even though it wasn't ready with design and feasibility studies. Even the Detailed Project Report for the project was made available only last month after the citizens' movement gathered momentum. Already set back by the National Green…

Recently, Bengaluru was in news for the wrong reasons. While a woman brutally flung eight puppies to death earlier this year, more recently a mass grave with over 30 street dogs was found in a dump yard with a single survivor. There have been repeated calls to control Bengaluru’s dog population by “culling”. These incidents are testimony to the contempt for street dogs in the minds of many citizens. Moreover, they threaten to destabilise the ancient fabric of friendship that unites people and their dogs. Credit: Alokparna Sengupta/HSI As in rest of India, free ranging dogs are a ubiquitous part…