City: Bengaluru

With the Core Urban Region (Integrated Governance) Bill 2026, better known as the CURE Bill passing in the Telangana Legislative Assembly, India's two fastest-growing mega-cities—both having crossed the 1.3-crore population mark—now operate under brand-new urban governance laws enacted within roughly two years of each other.  Both states confronted the exact same structural challenge: a single, overstretched corporation, fractured inter-agency coordination, and an urgent need for hyper-local administrative units capable of  delivering civic services efficiently. In an earlier article, we broke down how local governance would change with the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act. Read it here. Two mega-cities, one playbook The…

The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) and the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) have released proposed Road Circulation Plans, inviting public suggestions and objections till December 11th, before the final approval. This is a necessary step to address the city’s mobility issues. But before framing the suggestions and objections, citizens need to understand what is meant by a circulation plan and how and why it is prepared. This is critical for Bengaluru, as endless urban expansion without an updated master plan has strained the city’s mobility and transportation systems.  Bengaluru residents can send their feedback to the Office of the Chief Town Planner,…

The CEO Karnataka recently published the final rolls for Karnataka after finishing their hurried and stressful Special Intensive Revision (SIR). People were asked to prove that they live where they do, and map themselves or their parents/ancestors to the 2002 voter roll. The final roll published now has 4.54 Crore electors in Karnataka as against the 5.54 Cr as per the 2025 Special Summary Review; a reduction of almost one crore electors or 18% of the earlier rolls. However, the numbers in the 28 constituencies in Bengaluru Urban paint a more drastic picture. The 1.026 crore electors as per the…

Walk down almost any street in Bengaluru, and you will spot them: missing slabs, wide gaps, and wooden planks covering openings. Uncovered stormwater drains have become a safety hazard across the city, creating serious obstacles and putting residents at risk of injury or death. Experts flag bad engineering design, poor monitoring, inadequate funding, and lax enforcement of liability rules as the major reasons for this public safety crisis. In Sanchar Nagar, Thanisandra, contractors dug up a stretch of at least 150 metres for stormwater drain works. A few weeks ago, a resident slipped and fell into the trench, getting badly…

Residents of Sancharnagar-MCECHS Layout in Ashwath Nagar, Thanisandra, are facing a prolonged civic crisis. What was once a well-regarded neighbourhood has now turned into a hazardous zone of dug‑up roads and broken footpaths. Exposed iron rods and makeshift wooden planks serving as temporary walkways pose constant danger to residents.  The same roads have been repeatedly dug up by multiple agencies. These include gas pipeline contractors, Cauvery water project teams, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM), and most recently, drainage and sewage contractors. The situation has persisted for months leading up to a year…

During the Open City biodiversity datajam held in December 2025, our group examined the ecological trends around Bengaluru’s lakes. Our analysis suggests a majority of waterbirds are declining across the city's lakes. Earlier, we addressed crucial questions on how migrant and resident waterbirds are surviving across 14 of Bengaluru’s lakes, how the shape of the lakes influence microhabitats, and how a scoring system can be used to record the decline in lake quality and bird populations. The last of our four-part series turns its attention to an individual site. As part of this study of waterbirds in 14 city lakes,…

While bird detection trends over the years clearly point to the decline of Bengaluru’s shoreline and vegetated-edge habitats, numbers alone tell only part of the story. In Part 3 of this four-part series on the state of the city's waterbirds, we have used a scoring system to understand how stressed the lakes and the microhabitats within the lake are, based on the bird diversity they support. We explore how lake shape, permanent inundation and shifts in citizen-led management might explain why some lakes may thrive as wetlands while others collapse.  For instance, at Kasavanahalli, the Pied Kingfisher and the Coot…

Bengaluru boasts one of the world's largest networks of decentralised sewage treatment plants (STPs). Yet, certificates of compliance are routinely issued without continuous monitoring, and much of the water treated on-site is never reused. In Part 1 of this series, we explored case studies of how three different apartment complexes navigate these issues. Missing pipelines, no buyers, and low trust in recycled water: the reasons why treated water has nowhere to go are numerous. In this second part, we examine these hurdles and what it will take to convert wastewater into a vital resource. Apartment residents often blame builder or…

In a 400-unit apartment complex in Jakkur, about one-third of treated water is being dumped into a nearby stormwater drain. While National Building Code (NBC) guidelines mandate that a building must have a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) with a capacity of 210 to 290 Kilolitres per day (KLD), this apartment actually has an STP with around 300 KLD capacity. A resident of the complex, who requested anonymity, said that despite conducting audits, regularly monitoring water quality, and installing aerators, the apartment still struggles to reuse 100 per cent of its treated water. This is not an isolated case. In a…

More than 1,000 trees to be cut. Close to 100 bird species and 400 plant species endangered. All this for a project that covers just about two kilometres and costs a whopping ₹1,140 crore. Residents and activists in Bengaluru have vehemently opposed the Karnataka government's Hebbal Short Tunnel project, launching a petition to halt construction immediately. Environmental activists and experts warn that the project threatens Bengaluru's cascading lake system and increases flooding risks. There is growing public concern that the tunnel will cut through one of North Bengaluru’s last major green-blue landscapes and cause lasting environmental damage. The petition, started…