CITIZEN JOURNALISM

I have recently finished the ward level analysis of Bengaluru’s 2017-18 budget, with Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy. The budget briefs will be available online this week, for all 198 BBMP notified wards in Bengaluru. I’m writing this to tell you how important the ward level budgeting is. The ward level analysis by Janaagraha informs people about the direct budget allocation for lakes, roads, parks, public toilets and other public services for each ward. Open access to a city’s budget offers significant benefits to its citizens by enabling them to: (i) know where their tax money is spent (ii)…

Imagine a beautiful lake in your neighbourhood that is not just a lifeline in terms of freshwater for the city, but could also be a seat of leisure for you and your kids at the end of a tiring day, and home to a thriving, aquatic ecosystem. Instead it becomes, over decades, a disposal site for untreated sewage, marred by excessive encroachment and irresponsible, damaging activities like washing of clothes, cars etc. It is rarely desilted, and there is no proper outlet for the excess water leading to flooding of roads around it every rainy season. That is a scenario…

On the morning of Sunday, July 16th, 10 of us, a group of teenagers, worked for almost four hours, scraping bills, removing garbage, and repainting electrical boxes near Marathahalli Bridge, Bengaluru. We started our work at 6.30 am. By the time we finished, the stretch of road was clean, colorful, and a pleasure to see! This is just one of many projects that we have taken up in the past year, working under the group name of Clean Up Bangalore, or CUB. CUB is an initiative that originated in August 2016 when three of us, Rithana, Achyutha, and Neha, found…

Urban Development Department in Karnataka published a draft notification of Common Zoning Regulations a few days ago. Once implemented, it is applicable all over the state in all cities, and overrules the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) master planning rules. Here's a snapshot that explains how residential areas are going to change once this comes into force. Basically the rule reduces the roadwidth in residential areas of Bengaluru from 45 to 30 feet, to accommodate the daily use category of commercial establishments like milk booths, newspaper stalls etc. The notification has not gone well with the citizen groups fighting commercialisation of residential…

Wrong information is being put out on the official Metropolitan Transport Corporation of Chennai MTC website, www.mtcbus.org, on the routes that it operates. The website itself is unfriendly and the design is years old. While MTC operates several ‘small bus’ routes, it has wrongly prefixed regular routes with S in the database, while not giving information on Small Bus routes. For example, the regular route 7E is prefixed as S07E from Broadway to Ambattur Estate. S26 has been listed as if it is a small bus, when in fact it is route 26, from Broadway to Iyyappanthangal. Such wrong information given…

Citizens for Bengaluru is extremely disappointed and shocked at the final list of ward committees that have been announced. After the outrage of the initial list, we expected more citizen-centric and inclusive committees but that has been rendered false. There is now incontrovertible proof that ward committees have been largely composed through nepotism and the family-chela network. Even a casual perusal of the lists shows clearly that husbands of various female corporators, and party workers have been selected instead of active citizens. Please see attached images with just a few of our observations. While CfB led a mass RTI filing…

Chennai’s character is defined by its resilience. The city powerfully rose to the occasion when it was hit by floods in 2015. Nature was not any kinder in 2016. Cyclone Vardah stripped the city of its green cover in December 2016. At least one lakh trees were uprooted in Chennai during Vardah, resulting in about 21 to 28 percent loss of green cover. It was observed during Vardah that native trees survived the disaster but exotic trees perished in the calamity. This is because the former have a deep-rooted system while exotic species generally have shallow roots and cannot withstand…

If you just happen to drive along the wide, tree-lined Southern Avenue -- aptly named for its location in the southern part of the city of Kolkata and the giant trees that form a canopy along much of its stretch -- you may not be able to fully fathom the beauty of the 192-acre lung space of the city that you have just passed by. But if you have a moment to spare and enter the sprawling precincts of the Rabindra Sarobar Lake to the south of the main thoroughfare, you will undoubtedly be drawn forever to this verdant sanctuary…

Most of us would be surprised to know that Chennai’s is the oldest city Corporation in Asia, only behind London in the world. It is also interesting to note that Chennai’s suburban Railways was started as early as 1931 to bridge the northern and southern parts of the city. Since independence, the Chennai suburban transportation system has been operated by Southern Railways, the oldest operating zone in independent India. Suburban railways has evolved as an arterial system for transportation in Chennai and  handles 17,60,000 people per day.  Yet, as the commuter load increased a critical gap began to be felt…

District Lions Service Foundation (DLSF-317 A) has built a 'Lions Centennial Clock Tower to commemorate successful completion of 100 years of service to mankind. The Lions Centennial Clock Tower is built at RBI Layout play ground, Phase 7, JP Nagar. The centennial clock tower comprises of a large clock with an hourly chime, bust of legendary Lions founder Lion Melvin Jones and large Lions logo which stood as a common identity for Lions over the last 100 years. It was inaugurated on 30th June 2017, by M Krishnappa, MLA , Bangalore South Constituency in the presence of Shashi Rekha Jayaram,…