BBMP

On top of my list of priorities as a Mayor of Bengaluru, would be to clean up lakes and water bodies in the city, and mitigate health hazards of citizens of the Bengaluru Metropolis. Background of the problem There are an estimated 2500 or more micro, mini and small Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) distributed across the city in Residential, commercial, retail and industrial complexes. The total quantity of sewage treated in these STPs is estimated to be approximately 350 MLD. To put it in perspective, this constitutes nearly 20-25% of water supplied to Bengaluru by the BWSSB. A vast majority…

Everyday when I wake up, I start my day by estimating the amount of time it would take for me to reach work. Normal routine involves catching a bus from the nearest bus stop. But it is nearly impossible to reach there without wading through mud scooped out from the drains mixed with cow dung, growing weeds and a family of pigs heading for their breakfast into the nearby stormwater drain. Only after a few really overcrowded buses bursting at the seams pass by, I decide to walk it to Bellandur bus stop which takes merely 20 minutes away. I…

It’s clear we grew up reading about the kings of yore, who planted trees, dug wells and laid roads. That is indeed what we expect from our current crop of leaders. Thank you all for an overwhelming response to the contest. We know the Mayor has limited powers, yet we adopted the theme, to impress the importance of a city leader, one who has the authority and complete responsibility for the entire city. That is indeed what the submissions highlighted — the imagination of a mayor who could get things done. A few writers lamented the better days gone by,…

Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself. - Gloria Steinem. Until T.N. Seshan became the Chief Election Commissioner of India, the public did not know much about the Election Commission and the powers it had. We’ve seen individuals infusing life into public institutions that were seen as ‘weak’ or ‘ceremonial’. I will draw inspiration from such stories to leverage my one year term as Mayor of this great city Bengaluru. My strategy would be to elevate the stature of the Mayor’s office, take up a small but significant set of things…

I was following the articles posted about Mayors of other cities outside of India, and how as Mayor of their city they could achieve a lot. Of course, the lingering question is, are we really comparing apples to apples? Does the Mayor in our country have the similar responsibility and authority like a Mayor in a Philadelphia OR New York City? So here are my practical reasons why I would NEVER want to be Mayor of Bengaluru, it is almost as close or worse than being the Chief Minister of Delhi! There’s a saying in kannada, ಆಟಕ್ಕೆ ಉಂಟು ಲೆಕ್ಕಕ್ಕೆ ಇಲ್ಲ…

Residents living near Shivananda Circle in Bengaluru have decided to protest once more on November 25th, against the 310-metre grade separator planned on Hare Krishna Road that connects Race Course Road to Sheshadripuram. The grade separator for which work has begun already, will start after the Railway Over Bridge near the petrol bunk and will end in front of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce. The residents have been sounding alarm bells with petitions and protests for a long time now. On Saturday November 18th, residents from various Resident Welfare Associations including Kumara Park East, Srikanthan Layout, Kumara Park West,…

Two years ago, many of us came together with an idea - to save the local lake that we lived near. The situation was dire. Rachenahalli Lake located near Srirampura Cross, Jakkur, Bengaluru, like many other water bodies in the city, is part of an interconnected system both upstream and down. Though the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) had spent a substantial sum of public money to rejuvenate it about eight years ago, it had turned into a drain for the sewage water being released by the upscale apartments that surrounded it. The situation had taken a turn for worse because…

Last Friday, my visit to a friend’s place was reminiscent of a typical journey that most of us are so accustomed to in Namma Bengaluru. Meandering through the famed Brigade Road in order to connect to Bannerghatta side of the city, it took a good 15 minutes just to cross the stretch of 200m. As we crossed the signal, we couldn’t see an apparent reason for the delay in moving across the street. There are no feeder streets coming onto this road to cause any conflict in the flow. On further introspection it can be realised that the real culprit…

If I were the Mayor, I would let data and metrics shape the future of the city. The city has grown exponentially and beyond the expectations of everyone to a point where it is becoming unmanageable. Well, as Peter Drucker famously said: You can't manage what you can't measure. If you can't measure it, you can't improve it. The above would be my mantra to improve this city. Everybody has been saying there is no planning, but the intent to improve it has been very few. Unfortunately,for long amounts of time, there is hardly any data that is made available…

The Karnataka High Court in an order issued during the court hearing on Friday, November 10th, 2017, said that solid waste should be managed at the ward level in the city of Bengaluru. This order was delivered by a bench of the Karnataka High Court in the ongoing case - WP 46523/2012 (Environment Support Group & Ors v. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike & Ors connected with WP 24739/2012 and other Public Interest Litigations that are being heard by the Court since July 2012 in tacking the solid waste management crises). Ward committees were constituted across all wards in Bengaluru, in October…