GENRE: In Focus

In a landmark decision, A S Sadashivaiah, Chairman, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), has directed BBMP and Ramky Infrastructure Pvt ltd, the private operator of landfill, to immediately stop dumping waste in Mavallipura landfill. This comes a week after BBMP handed over an acceptance letter to Ramky for setting up a power plant which produce power out of waste at Mavallipura landfill. Combust making technology at Mavallipura landfill. Pic: Sankar C G “Stop the supply of waste by BBMP to the Mavallipura Landfill site, at survey number eight, Hesaraghatta Hobli, Bangalore North, immediately till the entire accumulated waste is…

BBMP has presented yet another inflated budget of Rs 9498.40 crore on June 28th, 2012. Like the two previous budgets, this time also activists and opposition parties criticised the budget as unrealistic. The budget has got more significance in the grounds of coming assembly election on May 2013. Budget session. Pic: Sankar C G As usual, infrastructure works have snatched a good portion in the current budget too, with around 2000 crore rupees allocated for major infrastructure works. BBMP’s initiative to provide basic infrastructure to 110 villages in outer Bangalore, received warm welcome from all sections. Rs 135 crore has…

In the last few years, a large part of the city's low lying areas were affected by flash floods, due to heavy and continuous rains. The RWA members of these areas have been trying hard to get BBMP and BWSSB to fix these issues. This year practically all roads have been dug up for either laying BWSSB pipes or for new flyovers. Will BBMP re-lay the roads in time? Digging at Bismillah Nagar, near BTM Layout. Pic: Abhishek Angad BBMP has taken up desilting the Storm Water Drains (SWD) in the four valleys - Koramangala, Hebbal, Challaghatta and Vrishabhavati, to…

In this year’s graduate constituency MLC election for Karnataka, the three mainstream parties BJP, Congress and JD(S) won the first, second and third places respectively. The surprise result was that of Andhra Pradesh-based Lok Satta party, which came fourth.Legislative council elections use the preferential voting system, by which voters can rank candidates in their order of preference. Initially first-preference votes for each candidate - wherein they were ranked ‘1’ - are counted. Then candidates with the least first preference votes are removed one by one, and the second preference votes marked by their voters are transferred to the respective candidates.…

Chikkanna, aged 40, a traditional handloom weaver from Chowdeshwari Nagar, Kanakapura road has decided to quit weaving after things turned worse due to debt and poverty. Three years ago when profits from his handloom died down, he took a loan to purchase a powerloom. The loan came at 12 percent interest. But he failed to repay the loan due to high interest, increasing power costs and day to day expenses. A Handloom weaver from Sarakki. Pic: Sankar C G Using a powerloom, one can make one or two saree per day. But the cost of one power loom is one…

On 8th May, BBMP issued a notice meant as a final warning to unlicensed health units to obtain trade licenses. But this was not the first time; BBMP had issued the notice thrice before - first on 5th December 2010, second in February 2011 and the third in June 2011.Despite these notices, 937 health units out of a 2648 hospitals surveyed by BBMP were unregistered as of March 2012. Early morning at 6, the bi-medical waste collectors-Maridi at work. Pic Abhishek Angad The notice makes it mandatory for health units to have an up-to-date receipt of tax payment, an authorisation…

Unlike previous years, BBMP held a meeting with NGOs this time to get their suggestions for the 2012-13 budget. The meeting, held on May 26th, had over 15 representatives from NGOs such as CIVIC, KRIA Katte (Karnataka RTI Act Forum), Hasiru Usiru, Citizens Action Forum (CAF) etc. About 25 people representing various NGOs attended the meeting. Pic: Navya P K The Chairman and three members of BBMP's Taxation and Finance Committee - which prepares the budget - attended. Chairman of the committee, Munendra Kumar (Jakkur Corporator, ward no.5), said that the budget draft has not been prepared and that public…

There are a three weeks to go for the Bangalore’s graduate constituency election - the one in which only graduates can vote. The candidate elected from this constituency will become a member in Legislative Council (MLC), the upper house of Karnataka's state legislature. With election scheduled for June 10th, candidates are campaigning intensely. In addition to the three mainstream political parties that usually participate in this election - BJP, Congress and JD(S) - the Andhra Pradesh-headquartered Lok Satta party has entered the fray this time. There are also independent candidates. An overview of the major candidates -Ramachandra Gowda, Ramoji Gowda,…

Sixteen candidates will battle it out in the Bangalore graduate constituency MLC election on June 10th. The candidates include those from five political parties - BJP, Congress, JD(S), Lok Satta and CPI(M) - and 11 independents. Unlike the last election in 2006, more voters also have been enrolled this time. While there were around 60,000 graduate voters last time, it has gone over 1.1 lakh this time, with over 51,000 new enrollments. In graduate constituency election, the votes a candidate gets depends on the number of voters he has gotten enrolled. And even less voters actually come to vote on…

As I write this, I hear the noise of yet another borewell being dug on my street. This is the ninth one since December 2011; all within a radius of less than half kilometre, in Kalyan 1st block, HRBR Layout. This is happening at a time when the newly formed Karnataka Ground Water Authority is trying to gather force.45 houses in HRBR layout were surveyed informally for this piece. Ground water levels, availability of corporation water, implementation of rain water harvesting (RWH) are some of the things that were looked at. What I found out could be the reality across…