GENRE: In Focus

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…

The Karnataka State cabinet on 7th May underlined its commitment towards women empowerment and announced provide 50 per cent reservation in urban local bodies on the lines of reservation in gram, taluk and zilla panchayats. Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs S Suresh Kumar after a cabinet meeting on 7th, reportedly said that the government will amend the Karnataka Municipalities Act, 1964 and Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976 in the next legislature. Karnataka has nine city corporations including the recent inclusion of Tumkur. It has 205 other municipalities: 43 City Municipal Councils, 94 Town Municipal Council and 68 Town Panchayats.…

The deadline for removing films has now been extended to June 5th.From May 20th, no vehicle in the city is supposed to have films plastered on its safety glasses, as per the recent Supreme Court ban. While Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP) is all set to fine offenders, vehicle owners in the city are rushing to BTP’s centres that offer to remove the films for free, as well as private garages.While private garages are charging as much as Rs 350-500, even BTP centres do not remove films for free. BTP had started service in 10 centres from May 10th. Hundreds of…

Debt-ridden BBMP is unable to retrieve Rs 12,68,030 from National Public School (NPS), Koramangala, for the 7,166 sqft of land it leased.A Right to Information(RTI) reply, sought by MVK Anil kumar and RTI activist from Koramangala, indicates that NPS at Ejipura Ward, near NGV has possession of more than 7000 square feet of BBMP's land but till date the rent has not been paid. Nearby the school land, there is a strip of land measuring 7166.66 square feet. This land has twin 3 meters underlying sewage pipeline laid by BWSSB. NPS wanted to take up the maintenance of this land…

On April 30, Chief Minister D Sadananda Gowda laid the foundation stone for Bengaluru's much contested Agara-St John's signal free corridor. A few Koramangala residents assembled and protested at the event, but were appeased by Gowda who promised to hold a discussion with them on 5th May. In December, CM had held a meeting with residents and BDA, but there was no outcome except that work was suspended for a short while. Chief Minister laid foundation stone for the four Koramangala junction works on April 30th. Pic: Navya P K In the meanwhile, two major institutions in Koramangala - St…

Elita Promenade residents in JP Nagar, 7th Phase, have filed a lawsuit against their developers for allegedly keeping them in dark over various issues related to the apartment complex. The case was filed in November 2011. Elita Promenade, near Sarakki lake, is a multi-floor apartment complex constructed in joint venture between Singapore-based Keppel Land and Puravankara Developers, Bengaluru. Three issues seems to lie at the centre of the conflict - sewage problem, lack of clarity on land ownership in the layout and sale of one part of common land to KPTCL without notice. Pic: Abhishek Angad A temporary boundary fence…

The Karnataka High Court cancelled the lease of Agara lake in HSR Layout given to Biota Natural Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd on February 29, 2012. Biota had filed a petition against the termination of lease of Agara lake by Lake Development (LDA) in 2009. Following the High Court judgment, the lake has been handed back to the LDA, Bangalore. The under-maintained Agara lake, adjacent to HSR Layout, off the outer ring road. Pic: Anisha NairThe judgement from high courtBiota contested LDA's termination of its contract in its petition. Biota claims that they could not take up any development work on…

RWAs run by elected volunteers are subject to full fledged auditing to the last paisa. They are answerable to the house owners for every single expenditure incurred for the year. But BBMP that has budget outlays of hundreds of crores of rupees has done away with auditing for more than four decades now. Worse, BBMP has been reeling under fund crisis and scams. BBMP Councillors protest during the 2011 budget approval. File Pic: Navya P K Since the major report of February 2012, Indicted by CAG, strangled by state, Bengaluru Limps on, Citizen Matters did an exclusive inquiry into who…