BBMP

Ward committees bring democracy to your doorstep, and give you a say in the planning and management of local work. The Nagarpalika Act, 1992, a central law, made ward committees mandatory for large cities. But this was not implemented in Bengaluru for long. It took years of citizen campaigning for ward committees to be formed at all. More recently, the High Court judgement in a PIL by the NGO Environment Support Group, and public outcry, compelled the Bengaluru Mayor to issue a direction to compulsorily hold ward committee meetings on the first Saturday of every month. Following this, the BBMP…

Garbage rule violators might be fined heavily from September Heavy fines would be imposed on anyone who litters, dumps waste and construction debris, uses banned plastic items or does not segregate waste at the source, according to a new proposal drafted and sent by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to the government. These revised fine amounts are likely to be in place from September, said BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad. The proposal identified and drafted the fines to be incorporated in the Solid Waste Management (SWM) by-laws for effective implementation of SWM Rules 2016. The state-level SWM Policy, which…

With its population growing at the rate of 4.45 percent annually, Bengaluru is now the largest city in India after Delhi and Mumbai. The city shelters about half of Karnataka’s urban population. The administration of such a huge, expanding population calls for a structure with a holistic approach, which the BBMP (Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike) lacks. An alternative administration that will overcome the shortcomings of BBMP and address the city's issues, is the need of the hour. An expanding city Bengaluru has been expanding rapidly over the last three decades. In 1991, the then-BMP (Bangalore Mahanagara Palike) expanded to include…

The citizens' movement CfB (Citizens for Bengaluru) has launched the first 'Namma Samithi Puraskara' or 'Corporator No 1 Awards'. The award will honour ward councillors who have done the best work in their wards, and have engaged citizens through ward committee meetings. At a press conference yesterday, CfB announced that the awards will be presented at the Town Hall on July 14th, 10.30 am. Justice Santosh Hegde will participate in the ceremony. Corporators will be selected for the awards based on inputs from citizens themselves. You can rate your corporator at citizensforbengaluru.in. This page has a form to gather information…

  Ward delimitation before civic polls State government has taken up the delimitation of wards based on a proposal by the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike), in the run up to the civic polls in 2020. After delimitation, the number of wards will remain the same, but the core city will have fewer wards compared to the outer zones. The goal is to reduce the disparity in ward population, which ranges from 21,171 in Marenahalli to 95,368 in Horamavu. The plan now is to have 198 wards with an average population of 42,645. The exercise will be done on the…

  HC directs BBMP to install CCTV cameras around lakes On Tuesday, High Court directed the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) to set up closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras around all lakes. This is to maintain security, and prevent illegal activities including encroachments. A Division Bench issued the direction while dictating an interim order in a PIL on poor maintenance of stormwater drains (SWDs) and sewage entry into lakes. The Bench also directed BBMP to draw up a comprehensive plan in six weeks to prevent encroachment of SWDs. Source: The Hindu   Flyover proposed between Kamakhya and Ittamadu BBMP has…

Transport Department against carpool platforms The Transport Department has warned against the use of private cars for carpooling. The warning was in response to the launch of the carpooling service rPool by the online bus ticketing platform redBus. Using the rPool platform, car owners can offer rides in their private cars, and in turn get reward points that they can redeem at a fuel station or Amazon Pay. The service would also benefit passengers since the fares are lower than that of autorickshaws and cabs, claims the platform. However, Transport Department officials say there is no legal provision to allow…

A committee appointed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) will hold its first public meeting on the rejuvenation of Bellandur and Varthur lakes, on June 21st. The committee, appointed to oversee lake rejuvenation, made the decision at its routine meeting on Tuesday, June 11th. Tuesday's meeting was chaired by committee member Dr U V Singh. Another committee member Prof T V Ramachandra, KSPCB (Karnataka State Pollution Control Board) Member Secretary Manoj Kumar, BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board) Chairman Tushar Girinath, officials from various departments including the Urban Development Department (UDD), attended the meeting. Citizen representatives Jagadish Reddy and…

  BBMP plans property tax hike BBMP may hike property tax rates anywhere between 15 to 30 percent this financial year. This plan comes soon after a power tariff hike and a proposed water tariff hike in the city. S P Hemalatha, Chairperson of the BBMP Standing Committee on Taxation and Finance, said that the last property tax revision was three years back, in 2016. She said that BBMP was facing a fund deficit of over Rs 1200 crore, and hence they decided to hike property tax which was the Palike's main revenue source. As per the Karnataka Municipal Corporations…

For what might come as a breath of fresh air for Bengalureans quite literally, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has stepped up to tackle air pollution in the city. A 44-point joint action plan has been approved by the Air Quality Monitoring Committee (AQMC) that was set up by the Karnataka government in response to a directive by the National Green Tribunal (NGT). In addition to Bengaluru, action plans have been created for Hubli-Dharwad, Davengere and Kalaburgi. These are the four ‘non-attainment cities’ in Karnataka, i.e., cities that do not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. As…