BBMP

Dear elected representatives of Bengaluru, I know all your birth dates by now and I surely do not want to wish you on your birthdays ever! I also know that you wish your voters on every possible occasion, even though it makes no real difference to their lives, and you haven't made any sincere effort to make that happen! Bills and posters under a flyover. Pic: HaSiRuMitra team Yes, you and your party workers have successfully made Bengaluru ugly with all those banners, hoardings and posters, which to my guess are mostly unpaid and unauthorised. Since you have set the…

BBMP Property tax payment cycle is underway. Here's a guide that explains the process and lists the problems, along with the changes introduced this year. Note: This article was originally published on April 18th, and has been updated on May 6 2016, to reflect the BBMP's rollback of zonal classification. Finally BBMP has fixed the system to file property tax. This year there are changes: 1. Change in tariff 2. Change in zonal classifications (Rolled back on Apr 28th) The first one is a regular hike, which had to be done after expiry of every BLOCK period of FIVE years.…

The morning of April 23rd saw around 25 residents of Mahadevapura Zone coming together in support of the anti-plastic ban. Volunteers of Whitefield Rising visited dozens of shops on Borewell Road, creating awareness about plastic and Styrofoam menace. During the drive, BBMP officials seized disposable material from shops that were selling or using them despite the ban. "This was the fifth such drive in Hagadur (Ward 84) within a month. As part of this campaign, we educate traders about the banned items and available alternatives," said Vaibhav Jain, a Whitefield Rising volunteer. "Excessive use of plastic leads to land, water…

Antony Das, is an active participant of the B.PAC Civic Leadership Incubator Program (B.CLIP) and also an advocate of civic issues. Das went on to take up numerous initiatives in his locality, specifically reviving a public park which was turned into a dump yard for several years. The initiative has seen some substantial progress after it was pushed forward to the local BBMP members by him. Originally a project of the BDA, in 2001, the park was transferred to the City Municipal Council (CMC) and later to BBMP. However, the space allotted for the park was not maintained and it turned into a…

A number of articles have been written about step-by-step approach to fill the Online Form for payment of property tax this year. I am writing this article on the failure of the new system and what went wrong since lakhs of tax payers could not make payments till date. BBMP is in a big muddle for having introduced a software overnight without proving the efficacy of the new system. I am giving below the reasons for such a failure. The matter is in the hands of the concerned BBMP Commissioners who are probably not taking into consideration, the actual state…

Kaikondrahalli and Kasavanahalli lakes have been in the news for disturbing reasons lately - the rampant real estate developments in the valley zone that may lead to drying up of the downstream lakes and massive flooding in the next rainy season. There is an ongoing petition to raise awareness on this issue. However, it is business as usual at the government offices. Authorities seem to have been quietly sanctioning one project after another. While there is Shriram Chirping Woods project that has been sanctioned in the valley zone, there is also Bren Imperia that has partly been built on the valley…

This document details about the struggle an apartment community had to face and eventually how they got the khatha. It also list out few suggestions for getting khatha faster and in a transparent way. The apartment falls in Mahadevpura constituency and Bellandur Ward in Kasavanahalli area. ARO office for the apartment complex falls in Marathahalli BBMP office and JC/DC office falls in Mahadevapura BBMP office. May 2015 i.We did the groundwork of understanding the khata process from Citizen Matters post, BBMP site and Sakala website. Below are the links that I referred. Citizen Matters article: Citizen Matters BBMP Site: http://bbmp.gov.in/khatha-services Sakala…

BBMP, BDA, BESCOM, BWSSB, and other organisations should stop the practice of accepting deposits and payments from developers on behalf of home owners. Instead, they should set up a system by which the home owners can directly make the payments themselves, hassle-free. The current practice is leading to an ocean of black money. (a) Monies collected from home owners is often not paid at all to the utilities. (b) Monies collected from home owners is often far in excess of what is due to be paid to the utilities. (c) When money is not paid, the home owners are left…

Mandur - closed in November 2014. Bingipura - closed in  November 2015. Laxmipura - closed in November 2015. Mavallipura - closed in July 2012, reopened in July 2014, ready to close again! That is the story of landfills that help Bengaluru live in peace. With the closure of Terra Firma waste processing unit in Doddaballapur, the garbage crisis has started worsening in Bengaluru. According to BBMP officials, the waste which used to be transported to Terra Firma, is now being diverted to various processing units and to a new quarry at Bettahalli in North Bengaluru. “Around 500-600 tonnes of garbage…

Nobody wants to take mixed waste, yet Bengaluru is sitting on quite a huge quantity of it. Pic: Shree D N Heaps of unsegregated waste mixed with reject waste such as styrofoam plates and low value plastic lie unattended in the infamous backyard of Malleshwaram, that is 11th main. Some residents raised a hue and cry against Malleshwaram turning into a mini Mandur, even as the BBMP officials and contractors were figuring out how to handle the situation. This was the scene on 9th April, in Malleshwaram. It has been little over three months since the BBMP announced strict penalty…