CITIZEN JOURNALISM

In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about how we, at Sobha Quartz apartment in Bellandur, have been composting garden waste. Our compost pits are not just an ideal way to dispose of garden waste, they also yield high-quality manure for the entire garden. Our apartment association also saves around Rs 25,000 annually with this process, as we don't have to ship out the waste or buy chemical fertilisers for the garden anymore. But how exactly does composting happen? And how can you ensure good-quality compost? This part of the series deals with these questions. What exactly is ‘composting’?…

Many apartment complexes and layouts in Bengaluru have large gardens with flowering plants and trees. A lot of yellowing or dry leaves fall to ground everyday in such gardens, and these are swept away regularly. Hedges are also routinely pruned to maintain aesthetic appeal. This generates significant amounts of garden waste. Many complexes dispose off garden waste to tractor operators, who pick it up, assuring it would be dumped in approved sites. Though these operators charge stiff prices, no one knows where they ultimately deposit the waste. I would like to highlight a better, responsible way of handling garden waste, based on…

What makes governmental arrogance worse – media ignorance or just plain indifference? I refer to the claim, made through a press statement, that new-generation MTC and other Tamil Nadu transport corporation buses will provide access to persons with disabilities. Global good practice on universal access requires low floor buses, designated wheelchair spaces in the bus, and minimal effort for disabled users. This contraption from MTC is a reflogged idea from the time A P Shah was in the Madras High Court and ordered MTC to come up with some form of disability access. The truth is, they didn’t, and couldn’t care…

This February, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) published the Draft Bengaluru Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Policy. On inviting public suggestions and objections on the draft policy, BMRCL got just 32 responses. To put this number in perspective, Bengaluru’s total population is approximately 120 lakh, of which the working population is around 55 lakh (46 percent). Adding to this, the 5-19 age group which also needs to commute, would peg commuter numbers in the city at an estimated 77 lakhs (about 64 percent of the total population). But, only 28 lakh use public transportation. Obviously, the commuter numbers are…

Driving down from Hebbal to Tin Factory, as you cross the Kasturi Nagar flyover, you may occasionally chance upon a lone crane or two, circling over a water body on the left. It may create a pretty picture, but this was not the case until sometime ago. Situated along the Old Madras road and stretching up to the Tin Factory bus stop is the Benniganahalli lake. Not quite visible from the main road, many citizens had become aware of the lake only when it started frothing a few years back due to the untreated sewage flowing into it from nearby…

Across Bengaluru, apartments have been popping up like mushrooms over the years. This poses several challenges to the city, including waste management. Though BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) has introduced many rules that require apartments to manage their own waste, not all apartments follow these. Some apartments face practical difficulties such as lack of space or the heavy investment needed to install a composting unit. The poor management of waste affects not just apartment residents, but all citizens. But the solution could be quite simple. Back in the olden days, people used to segregate and compost their wet waste - mainly…

The newly introduced Dial for Water 2.0 scheme by the Metro Water Department is being billed as the panacea for long delays in  water supply, but it could be a classic case of the cure turning out to be worse than the disease. As per the new scheme, one has to make an on-line payment while booking is made.  This means that only those who have the wherewithal to make on-line payment can make the bookings. The new scheme says it will not allow a consumer to make further bookings if he does not confirm receipt of the previous supply…

Recently, the citizens' movement CfB (Citizens for Bengaluru) presented the Corporator #1 awards to the BBMP councillors who had attended the most ward committee meetings. If you are convinced that ward committee is an effective mechanism to engage with the government, this articles gives some pointers for you to get started. Bengaluru's governance is what it is due to decades of apathy and lack of active citizen participation. There are no instant fixes, but things can be improved if committed citizens come together and work on the ground with a clear action plan. The good news is, there are many…

Chennai had a severely deficient monsoon in 2018 with 40% less rain than normal. Since then, the city has been bracing itself for a water crisis. But clearly not enough had been done and the severe water scarcity this summer has been a wake-up call for people, highlighting the urgency of finding ways to use their water resources better. Though rainwater harvesting was made mandatory in 2003 when the city experienced similar drought like conditions, the idea has been poorly implemented across the city. With the recent water crisis, the focus has shifted to efforts that the citizens can undertake…

For the last three years, citizens plying on Medavakkam road are waiting for the Medavakkam-Koot road flyover to be ready so that their daily woes come to an end. This 4-km stretch has been in complete shambles, thanks to the ever-ongoing flyover construction that started in 2016, but the completion of which does not seem remotely imminent. Medavakkam road connects Tambaram with Pallikaranai and is also an important junction to reach the Elcot SEZ in Sholinganallur, a major hub for IT professionals in the city. This flyover will facilitate non-stop movement of vehicles between Pallikaranai and Tambaram, enabling them to…