GENRE: In Focus

SEZ project on Agara-Bellandur lake bed. Pic: Pavithra Ashok Kumar The National Green Tribunal (NGT) issued a historic judgment on May 7th, 2015, on the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project by Mantri Tech Zone Pvt Ltd and another project by Core Mind Software and Services Ltd. Both the projects were being constructed on the catchment area of Agara and Bellandur lakes. The highlight of the verdict was the Tribunal slapping a penalty of Rs 117.35 crore and Rs 22.5 crore to Mantri and Core Mind respectively, for commencing the project before obtaining Environmental Clearance. The Tribunal has also formed an…

The land abutting Sankey lake where an apartment from Mantri Developers is proposed to come up. Pic courtesy: Google Earth No one will miss the pristine forest area abutting Sankey Tank in Malleshwaram, just next to Aranya Bhavan, the State Forest Department building. The cool water in the lake and the woods nearby make the place a walkers’ paradise, with the chirping birds and thriving vegetation. This sight, it looks like will not last longer, with the Karnataka Government losing its appeal in the High Court against the land transaction and the owner of the land ready with a development…

Lather flowing onto the road near Varthur lake. Pic: Murali Govindraju On Wednesday April 29th, Bengaluru made national headlines once again. The reason: rising pollution in Bengaluru’s lakes, a proof for which was the snow-white effervescence seen in Varthur lake. Despite it being a weekday, many young kids, working professionals and old residents of Whitefield-Varthur area turned up near Varthur lake where large volumes of white lather had risen from the lake. After the rains in Bengaluru over the last couple of days, many lakes have started carrying huge volumes of snowy froth. This froth which would have otherwise been…

Hosur Road tops the chart in fatal accidents. The highway extending from Kudlu gate to Huskur gate near Electronic City, saw the highest numbers of accidents resulting in spot deaths in Bengaluru over the last three years. Citizen Matters tried to understand why the accident rate was so high on Hosur Road and what was being done to improve the situation, and hit upon many interesting facts. National Highway hinders city’s traffic 36 out of the 55 fatal accidents in 2014, have occurred on Hosur Road. The area falls under Electronic City Traffic Police limits. The fence between the service…

Over the past 15 years the population of the city has increased more than 2.5 times, from 4 million to close to 10 million, the per capita garbage generation on an average has doubled, from 0.25kg/capita to 0.50kg/capita, and the composition and fabric of garbage has drastically changed, from about 80% compostable organic waste and a great part of the 20% being recyclable, to less than 60% compostable and a great part of the 40% being rejects, that will have to be landfilled because they are mixed waste. This article has been made possible thanks to support from Aruna Green…

It is terrible to know of people losing lives in accidents. What if we know which areas are accident-prone? We could try avoiding those routes, or at least be careful while passing through the area. In this background, Citizen Matters tried to compile a list of top ten areas that are most accident-prone in Bengaluru. We also tried to understand why the accidents are more at these places and what is being done to solve the problems. We took into consideration the total number of accident cases over the last three years to come up with top 10 list. Over…

Debris left behind after demolition of Malleswaram Market. Pic: Pavan Kulkarni Heaps of rubble are piled high over the land where the almost half century old Malleswaram market thrived till a few months ago. There were days when this place used to be scented by garlands of fresh vibrant flowers hung outside the numerous shops, patronised by loyal customers for its wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Some shopkeepers have been rehabilitated in temporary shops built along the storm water drain next to the market that used to be spread over 2.08 acre of land. Some shopkeepers who had not been rehabilitated have set…

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) presented its annual budget, the last by the current Council, on March 17th 2015. The total outlay in the 2015-16 Budget is of Rs. 6730 crores. Acknowledging the financial situation of the BBMP to be “tight and tough”, Chairman of the Finance and Taxation Committee, V Anand characterised the budget as a realistic one. Instead of initiating new projects, the budget’s main focus would be to see through the ongoing and spilled over works and to cut down on administrative overheads. Total grants of Rs. 2,891 crores are expected from the State Government. The…

Kundalahalli gate, Hosur Road, Old Airport Road, CBD, Old Madras Road, Koramangala Sony junction, Banashankari bus stop, Nrupathunga Road, K G Road, Mysore Road, Tumkur road are a few areas that commuters would avoid if they could. These are wide roads but the sheer volume of traffic, stretches of roads that bottleneck and constant civil works like cables or drainage pipe laying or electrical transformer repairs make these roads perfect traffic gridlock examples. Roads under Tender SURE Phase 1 Vittal Mallya Road St. Marks Road Richmond Road Residency Road Museum Road Commissariat Road Cunningham Road Roads under Tender SURE Phase…

Licence for operating a sewage treatment plant can now be renewed once in five years. Pic: Satarupa Sen Bhattacharya Now, apartment management committees don’t have to trudge to the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) once in every two years, to renew their licence to operate sewage treatment plants (STPs). Industries have to renew their licence to operate only once in five years. This is the result of the KSPCB’s recent decision to eliminate extra paperwork and make the processes user-friendly. In a move perceived to be industry-friendly, the KSPCB has decided to extend the minimum consent period for operation…