BBMP

Volunteers from Kasa Muktha Bellandur presented a small token of appreciation to the invisible & often neglected workforce of our society by distiributing cloth bags & sweets to the Pourkarmikas by the volunteers at various muster points (Doddakaneli, Panathur Bridge and Sarjapura Total mall) on the occasion of Ganesha Festival. Every morning even before we have our first cuppa tea, all these workers are out there on the ground, sweeping streets, picking up our garbage & keeping our surroundings a little more cleaner (to be dirtied by the citizens once again - day after day!). We understand that a lot needs…

On 26th May 2016, I made an appeal outlining a 3-point program for this monsoon "Let us send some rain water to our lakes" by clearing the storm water drains that carry precious rain water. "Great idea!" but.."easier said than done", "clearing drains is not as simple as spot fixing"  Those were some of the reactions. It made me even more determined to try harder, to get things started, to understand practical difficulties better. I'm a software engineer by profession and learned over the years that without a working prototype no one will give you a chance for your great…

Absence of physical verification with the state Revenue Department data while registering the property and lack of timely survey and settlement of revenue land were the factors that initially led to storm water drain encroachments in Bengaluru. However, these flaws could have been identified and fixed subsequently, had the urban local bodies done their duty diligently. In the process, knowingly or unknowingly citizens purchased the properties encroaching upon drains and are now facing the music. In the series so far: Part 1: Why and how did stormwater drain encroachments take place in Bengaluru? And the concerns raised by citizens who…

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s demolition drive against properties built on storm water drains in Bengaluru city has raised questions over the loopholes in the system that led to encroachment of government properties over the last few decades. Even as the authorities are now accusing the developers and citizens of encroaching the public property, how did all this happen over the years? What are the ambiguities in the system that led to easy encroachment of storm water drains or any government land for that matter? A building on encroached storm water drain was demolished at Avani Sringeri Layout near Kodichikkanahalli…

Early August, house owners in some neighbourhoods of Bengaluru woke up to find they may soon not have a roof over their heads. They were gripped by panic. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had initiated the drive against storm water drain (SWD) encroachers. On the first day of the drive, buildings were demolished in more than 32 locations in Bommanahalli, Mahadevapura and Yelahanka zones. Emotions ran high at the demolition sites. House owners were seen pleading the BBMP officials to grant them extra time to vacate, while some of them even got into an argument. It was a disturbing…

Tired of seeing such garbage blackspots? Unwalkable footpaths? Broken slabs on streetside drains converted to death traps? Construction rubble uncleared for months? This Independence Day, we are launching a new project by the people, for the people, of the people! This is your chance to support BBMP in identifying the bad spots in the city and reporting them, by mapping them. This data will be shared with BBMP directly and can help eliminate the blackspots in the city, help identify future blackspots, remove the construction debris and fix the broken unwalkable footpaths. All you have to do now is to…

Urban Development Department published ward committee rules in June 2016. The rules will help formation of ward committees and can have citizen participation in ward level. Kathyayini Chamaraj, the co-founder of CIVIC, says that people can now start demanding that BBMP constitute the ward committees for each ward with a total of ten members with 3 women, 2 SC/ST members, 2 local associations and any three other members.Other terms: The committee must meet every month and put up the minutes and resolutions in the ward office. The Ward Committee meetings are open to the public and RWA members should make…

So, this is the third in the Pavement series. Even if I say so myself, I think I am making progress. But there is pressure to change the format every time to keep my interest going, and that is kind of hard.  Anyway, this time I decided to do a different kind of quiz. This is somewhat like an exam. I have to give points, not answers. The maximum points I can give is ten and the minimum zero. No comprendo? Ok, read on. Pic: Suchitra Deep There are four categories.  Rules regarding pavements. Uses of pavements. Materials used for…

How many legal and illegal hoardings are there in Bengaluru and how to identify them? Looking for a complete location-specific data? Chances are that you will never ever get it. In the month of April, when I started working on a series of stories on decoding illegal advertising hoardings in Bengaluru, I tried to gather information about legal and illegal hoardings in the city. Since the officials at Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) have claimed to have conducted surveys on hoardings, I thought they would be able to provide me the required information. Kumar Naik, who was the BBMP Commissioner…

This video captures a common everyday scene which every Bengalurean is now accustomed to seeing - the sight of broken pushcarts overflowing with household waste being pushed with difficulty, the sight of huge mounds of rotting garbage lying on the ground. The heartrending sight of workers bending over ankle-deep in rotten stinky waste and laboriously filling up a large compactor vehicle with small shovels and baskets manually, while the compactor system is meant to be filled up by a mechanical operation, directly from tippers to compactors. This is the pitiable state of our waste workers functioning in a broken system…