CITIZEN JOURNALISM

The survey of street vendors in south zone was to have taken place in the south zone between 25th September and 28th September. The survey has started in several wards but is not complete and in fact has been called off. Additionally there are several issues in how it has been done. In Some wards like ward 170, it has happened as per guidelines however in a lot of other places its not done. Here are some issues: 1) Not enough forms: In ward 123 and 168, there have not been enough forms. We are not sure if the forms…

There is one thing to be said for the Bengaluru monsoons – it pulls down the curtains on the city and puts you back into the float of your memories. If you wade through the waterlogged streets during the rains, you at least need not see the crowds, smell the traffic or taste the garbage. You just have to squint through your half-shut eyes as you walk under a straggly umbrella in the pouring rains and understand that this year, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike has not undertaken the recharge that you did not expect it to pursue, anyway. Not…

The decision of Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to relocate the Cantonment Metro station has drawn flak from citizens. Why has this become such a big issue? The answer is something every urban transport planner will appreciate, every concerned citizen will appreciate, and every visionary will appreciate. Those who don’t, will appreciate it the moment they become aware of its implications in their daily lives. The answer is, integration. What went wrong? Metro is here for the next several decades from now–our next few generations will use the Metro to move around this sprawling, ever-expanding city. If Metro is…

I write this after a recent visit to the Animal Birth Control Centre on Basin Bridge Road run by the Corporation of Chennai. The official mandate of the pound is to catch our stray dogs based on regular inspection and specific complaints from the public, sterilize and immunize them against rabies and then release them in the same area where they were caught as per Animal Birth Control Rules. However, my visit has left me with such heart-breaking sights and experience, that I feel responsible to do all that is needed to relieve the dogs in the pound from the…

Do you remember the famous wedding video invite with a LED display which had the family lip-syncing to a choreographed welcome song and dance? Ever wondered what happened to the card after the wedding? This was the storyline for the Street play performed by Kaledio to raise awareness on e-waste.  How long does anyone hang on to an invite that has run out of battery? It goes in the garbage. And the performers went on to explain the hazards of e-waste. E-waste is extremely harmful to both human and environmental health. The toxic elements that e-waste contains include chromium, lead,…

It has been six months since separate dry waste collection started in Bellandur ward. But the service provider who has collected dry waste for last six months has not been paid. In February, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) handed over the Dry Waste Collection Centre (DWCC) in both Doddakannelli and Kodathi dry waste collection centers in Bellandur ward (ward number 150), to Mr Manjunath, who is into dry waste business. In April 2017, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) gave the Memorandum of Understanding, Memorandum of Agreement and the work order to him, that allowed him to collect dry…

Nirvana Country in Sector 50, Gurugram, Haryana. A sprawling 108-acre scenic and lush green community comprised of 1100 independent bungalows with independent gardens. When writer Chetan Mahajan and his wife Vanduta moved in here, they had perhaps never imagined that they would eventually be forced to move, and that too for environmental reasons. The vast acres flanking the community was dotted with strewn plastic bags and mounds of waste being burnt at odd times of the day. Pollution levels had risen to unbearable heights and families were moving out with their elderly and children. The Mahajans were among them, as…

A few months into my first job as reporter in The Times of India, Bangalore, in the 1990s, Gauri joined the desk, on transfer from the Delhi office. “Hello, mari..” (that's Kannada for pet, or little one) she said, and gold-flecked brown eyes twinkled with the promise of much mischief, great humor and the thrill of a million little rebellions. Gauri wasted no time in taking charge, and now I had two shoulders to cry on, which I did a lot of in those days, for the same reasons that most 23-year-olds need a shoulder to cry on that is…

Every time I visited the Wazirabad Bundh site to watch a lush linear forest taking shape in the middle of our city, the dirty storm water drain would bother me no end. iamgurgaon – a citizens’ movement focused on improving every aspect of life in the Millennium City – had been working on the bundh for a year and a half and it was clear that the work would remain incomplete if this drain full of debris and plastic was not cleared. The drain was such an eye sore that I decided to seek permission to clean the 200 metres…

Bengaḷūru, today, is bursting at its seams trying to provide for a population well beyond the capacity of its infrastructure. One would assume any proposed remedy would refer to planning methods adopted in the early settlements and respond to the city’s unique topography. Instead, the authorities concerned seem to have divorced themselves from local wisdom as they go about creating land parcels catering to commercial, and opportunistic interests, ignoring heritage and ecology. A few years ago, when I started my research on Bengaḷūru, the journey took me to the oldest labyrinths of the city, the past reached out across the…