BMRCL

  Voter turnout reduced  Compared to the 2014 Lok Sabha election, voter turnout has dipped in all four Bengaluru constituencies, as per figures released by the Election Commission at 9 pm on Thursday. Of the three urban constituencies, Bangalore South's turnout was the highest, at 54.2 percent. However, this turnout was 1.55 percent lower than that in the 2014 election. Turnout was the lowest in Bangalore Central, at just 50.84 percent. This was 5.27 percent lower than that in 2014. As usual, the voter turnout in Bangalore Rural was higher than that in the urban constituencies. The turnout here was…

In the first part of this series, we explained how compensatory afforestation is a sham - compensatory saplings are not tracked or cared for, or are planted way outside the city. In this part, we explore why trees are felled in the first place without public consultations. Environmentalists in Bengaluru have pointed out the curious trend of tree-cutting packages awarded in bunches of 49 trees or lesser. Why is this? Section 8 (3)(vii) of the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976, stipulates that if more than 50 trees need to be cut for any infrastructure purpose like road construction or…

‘Whitefield phase BMRCL gets over 44 acres from central ministry,’ said a recent headline in the Economic Times. The news report said that the state Revenue Department had agreed to hand over 16 acres of land in Thippagondanahalli and another 30 acres from six villages in Kali Tiger Reserve forest, to the Forest Department. The land transfer was on behalf of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL). With this, the “hurdle” that delayed BMRCL from acquiring forest land was cleared, making way for Metro construction in Whitefield. What was the “hurdle”? BMRCL had identified 45.18 acres of forest land…

I was pretty excited and went with a lot of hope to attend a 'Namma Karnataka' development conclave at Vidhana Soudha on February 17, jointly organised by a media house and Government of Karnataka. The event, however, turned out to be a major marketing and propaganda exercise of government’s infamous Elevated Road Corridor Project. Large flex banners highlighting the project had been put up at the venue, and the panel discussion on Bengaluru’s transport issues hardly had any discussion, and there was no question and answer session. Since I and many other invitees did not get an opportunity to voice…

Flyover repairs and delayed road-widening The Sirsi Circle flyover, constructed in 1999, was the longest flyover then, running 2.91km. It was repaired at a cost of Rs 2.8 crore, four years ago. Now the BBMP is planning to repair it again at a cost of 4.3 crores. The issue is in the longevity of the project. The material used will make the repair last only for four more years. The government’s plan of building elevated corridors has put the road widening plans in Whitefield and Electronics City to a halt. The proposed plan had been to provide an alternative route between…

Bengalureans will get a chance to showcase their love for the city this Valentines Day. The Bengaluru Civic Fest organised by IChangeMyCity (an initiative of Janaagraha) along with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will be held on the 14th of February at Freedom Park from 10 am to 8 pm. The festival will be a platform where various civil society organisations and groups discuss their work, government agencies communicate their work with citizens and school children will discuss their participation with local governments. The festival will see the presence of BBMP mayor and Corporators. Sapna Kareem, coordinator, Civic Participation, Janaagraha,…

City transport scene The European Investment Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank have agreed to lend €500 million and €300 million respectively to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to execute the Gottigere-Nagawara line under Phase II of the project. A proposal to realign the Metro line to the airport through Hebbal junction was approved by the Karnataka cabinet.  The state cabinet also approved the proposal for four suburban railway corridors that will have 81 stations, on a total route length of 160.50km. TenderSURE work is set to begin on K.G. Road in Gandhinagar and Margosa Road in Malleswaram and…

Gearing up for New Year eve Bengaluru has geared up for the new year celebrations. Following an alert by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), city police have been deployed around tourist and religious places over the next few days during the lead up to New Year’s eve. CCTV and drone cameras will be deployed in order to monitor any suspicious activity and movement of people. As many as 12,000 police personnel, along with 80 platoons of the reserve police force and 250 women police squads will be deployed. The management of pubs, bar and restaurants have been directed to ensure…

Big money for Bengaluru Karnataka State cabinet sanctioned an amount of 8038 crores for next three years, for various development works in Bengaluru. As of now, about 1200 crores have been sanctioned for whitetopping, while rejuvenation of Bellandur lake got Rs 350 crores. Meanwhile BBMP continues to burn money on projects that have no explanation, like an unused library and a quarters that doesn’t belong to BBMP. The Court Commissioners appointed by the High Court pointed out to the substandard quality of BBMP’s understanding of engineering, in its report. The High Court rapped the BBMP. In other news, BBMP has…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship How many people in Bengaluru use Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Company (BMTC) buses, which are perceived to be the lifeline of the city, everyday? BMTC figures say the ridership is 51 lakh. This means BMTC, with its 6650 buses, sells 51 lakh tickets daily from the 70,892 trips it undertakes. Each bus undertakes an average of 5-6 round trips per day. There are demands for increasing BMTC buses. But will more buses help? Look at the city’s roads - the traffic crawls at such a low speed that even walking can…