GENRE: Explainers

What is an Occupancy Certificate? A certificate of occupancy is a document issued by a local government agency or building department certifying a building’s compliance with applicable building codes and other laws, and indicating it to be in a condition suitable for occupancy. Obtaining an OC is a requirement under the Karnataka Apartment Ownership Act, 1972. The law says one cannot legally move into a building unless the developer gets an occupancy certificate from the BBMP or BDA. The corporation can ask apartment owners to leave such illegally occupied flats or impose heavy penalties. Occupancy certificate is also required when the buyer applies for…

BBMP Property tax payment cycle is underway. Here's a guide that explains the process and lists the problems, along with the changes introduced this year. Note: This article was originally published on April 18th, and has been updated on May 6 2016, to reflect the BBMP's rollback of zonal classification. Finally BBMP has fixed the system to file property tax. This year there are changes: 1. Change in tariff 2. Change in zonal classifications (Rolled back on Apr 28th) The first one is a regular hike, which had to be done after expiry of every BLOCK period of FIVE years.…

“Don't forget! May 16!” scream the posters. They are quite hard to miss, plastered as they are onto every vertical surface in the vicinity of any government building, local corporation school, bus shelters, trees or any random wall left standing. Election fever has the state in its grip and the media is full of the campaign trails of the main parties contesting for the 236 seats in the TN legislative assembly. The results will be declared on May 19th and the party that has won a majority of 118 seats will take charge of the state legislative assembly. For old…

This document details about the struggle an apartment community had to face and eventually how they got the khatha. It also list out few suggestions for getting khatha faster and in a transparent way. The apartment falls in Mahadevpura constituency and Bellandur Ward in Kasavanahalli area. ARO office for the apartment complex falls in Marathahalli BBMP office and JC/DC office falls in Mahadevapura BBMP office. May 2015 i.We did the groundwork of understanding the khata process from Citizen Matters post, BBMP site and Sakala website. Below are the links that I referred. Citizen Matters article: Citizen Matters BBMP Site: http://bbmp.gov.in/khatha-services Sakala…

Swacha Graha is a citizen-driven campaign initiated by the Solid Waste Management Round Table Bangalore to address Bengaluru’s garbage woes. The campaign challenges you to make you look at the waste you generate as a resource, just by starting three green spots. What are the three green spots? Green Spot 1: Your composting spotGreen Spot 2: Your garden where you use your compostGreen Spot 3: Your kitchen, where you cook with vegetables and greens from your garden How is Green Spot 1 beneficial? Composting is a smell-free, non-messy process which will reduce your carbon foot print. 60% of the waste…

Prakash Belawadi, an actor and a theatre personality, had the shock of his life when a caller posing as a bank officer asked his wife for the One Time Password (OTP). Belawadi happened to reveal it to her without thinking. It was too late when he realised that his wife had unintentionally communicated to it to the person at the other end of the phone. The result: money to the tune of Rs 90,000 was billed to his credit card. A screengrab from an animation by the Federal Trade Commission intended to educate citizens about phishing tactics. Pic: Wikimedia Commons…

On the first day of implementing the helmet rule for pillion riders, not many pillion riders were seen wearing the helmet in Bengaluru. Pic: Akshatha M Finally helmets have become mandatory for two-wheeler pillion riders in Bengaluru. For all those who have been cribbing about the rule of helmet for pillion riders, there is no other go but to follow it, or face the music. The Transport department has decided to implement the new rule from today: January 12th. However the enforcement may be a bit slower in order to give time for people to buy new helmets and get…

A fortnight ago, a kitten belonging to Aditi Surendra, a city-based graphic designer, passed away. Unsure of how to dispose of the body, Aditi sought help from her friends on how to dispose of the dead body. With no satisfying inputs forthcoming, she had to bury the kitten near the railway tracks, so that some other animal could feed on it. There is a BBMP animal crematorium in Magadi Road. When asked whether she knew about it, Aditi said she was not aware of the facility. “Plus, the kitten died early morning and we couldn’t drive until the next day.…

Bengaluru has over 200 churches and some of them date to even a couple of centuries old. Locals and tourists alike are drawn to these majestic old houses of prayer. While some seek it to find solace, some others pay a visit to simply take in the grandeur of these buildings. And come Christmas, one can be sure to find these churches lit up, thronging with crowds who have come to attend mass or just to take in the spirit of the festival. There are several organisations like INTACH, Bengaluru Walks, Unhurried, Bengaluru By Foot and others that take you…

November 30. Sindhu Naik, a resident of North Bengaluru, got a notice from her apartment community: “A drive being conducted this Saturday (5th Dec) & Sun (6th Dec) from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. for the verification of the Aadhar card. Ms. Kumari S. from the Registrar General of Citizen Registration will be visiting our complex for this purpose. Please keep your Aadhar cards handy at this time.” She asked her friends and others, but did not get any clarity on what the issue was about. Citizen Matters tried asking Unique Identity Authority of India, but the officials in the…