GENRE: In Focus

Last month, around 400 residents under BESCOM's S6 subdivision, JP Nagar, were in for a shock. Their bill reflected a penalty ranging from Rs 4000 to Rs 1.1 lakhs. Upon enquiry, they found out that the penalty was for not entering into an agreement with BESCOM at the time of shifting into LT3 consumer category. The overall penalty charges amounted to around Rs 43 lakh. From left to right: Kashinath, Pradeep Nagaraj, Sunita K S. Pic: Abhishek Angad In May 2010, there was a major shifting of electricity installations from residential (LT2) to commercial (LT3) in the S6 subdivision of…

Illustration: Sridhar comaravalli Mar 21st UPDATE On the evening of March 20st, as this article was published, lawyers decided to call off the strike for a few days. This was in response to Karnataka Home Minister R Ashoka's order to transfer DCP(Central) G Ramesh and ACP K N Jitendranath. Lawyers say, however, that they are continuing to demand resignation of Ashoka himself. Also, DGP (CID) R K Dutta's report to Karnataka's Home Secretary has confirmed that police did not follow due procedure during the lathi-charge on advocates on March 2nd, according to media reports. Lawyers say it is now a…

CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) has unearthed yet another BBMP scam. This time it is about the excess payment of over Rs 90 lakhs paid to two contractors for drain de-silting works in 2009. Despite spending 1.65 crore rupees on these two rajakaluves, it is not clear how much work was actually done, as BBMP officials had manipulated the work records. This has come out in the 2008-10 audit of BBMP by CAG. Rajakaluve works in another area. File Pic: Anisha Nair The irregularities were on de-silting and re-sectioning two rajakaluves (major Storm Water Drains or SWDs). One…

BDA can no longer work on the five grade separator projects planned in Koramangala. On February 27th, High Court ordered a stay based on a PIL filed by Koramangala residents. Pic: Deepthi M S Residents had been in discussions with BDA for over six months to re-consider flyover and underpass projects at Koramangala water tank, Krupanidhi college, 80-feet road - Sarjapur road intersection and Jakkasandra junctions. These works alone cost Rs 120 cr. This is part of the larger signal-free corridor project from Agara to Sirsi Circle, planned by BBMP in 2009. The project is implemented by BDA.Residents had filed…

Maverick Holdings and BBMP signed a concessionaire agreement on 2 January, 2012, clearing the deck for the construction of 1,640 Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quarters at Ejipura. This is coming after a protracted legal battle that lasted nine years. The agreement was signed between Uday Garudachar of Maverick and BBMP Engineer in Chief BT Ramesh. Pic: Vijayalakshmi P But the residents still do not know where they will be relocated when the construction starts. Neither the BBMP nor Maverick has informed them about the relocation plans. And on January 14, Shantinagar MLA NA Harris had a shocking request to make…

Residents of Golden Blossom apartment in Kadugodi, Bengaluru, have gone to court against the builder for not providing promised facilities on time. In their petition to the state Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, residents say that Golden Gate Properties Ltd (GGPL) had promised them about 35 facilities such as club houses, sports complexes, super market etc., but has not delivered most of these. They also claim that quality of construction of existing facilities is poor. Golden Blossom apartment houses around 500 families. Pic: Ajiyos Yohannan Golden Blossom Apartment Owners Association (GBAOA) filed the complaint in December. Hearings are on at Consumer…

An analysis of a mere 169 city property tax returns between 2008-10 by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) found that Bengaluru had lost over Rs.200 crores in revenues. 25 software companies alone accounted for Rs.90 crores of this. The fault: BBMP officials had not done any cross-verification on the self-assessment based tax filings.   Further, CAG's audit of BBMP balances in over 600 bank accounts found out that it had left hundreds of crores of rupees lying in temporary accounts during 2008-10 without transferring the money to the main bank branches. Without this, the funds could be…

No Cauvery here: In the backdrop is the Army Welfare Housing Organisation's towering 1000-plus flat community under construction, opposite Chaithanya Samarpan, off the Whitefield Hoskote Road. Samarpan's security entrance is in foreground. Both communities don't have BWSSB connections and rely tanker and borewell water currently. Pic: Subramaniam Vincent. Some of the residential and commercial complexes in the peripheral Whitefield area of Bengaluru are likely to see better times. They will get water supply once the second phase of Hoodi reservoir is completed, probably by August or September this year, an official with BWSSB has said. Rapid growth, no water Two…

Susheela, a vegetable vendor at Gandhi Bazaar who was thrown out on Jan 23rd, is one of those who was allowed to return on February 9th by city councillor P N Sadashiva. Pic: Vijayalakshmi P. After being thrown out by BBMP on January 23rd, vendors of Gandhi Bazaar, Basavanagudi have set up shops again on February 9th. "Yesterday the police constables chased us, but today they allowed us. But how about compensation?", asks Venkatappa, a 35-year-old florist. The vendors allege that the BBMP never gave them any notice.The trader's association of Gandhi Bazaar had a list which was used by…

Gollahalli lake in Electronic city has lost 2.11 acres to an illegally built road. Despite orders, the road still stands intact thanks to the timely call by the then Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa. Road that encroaches on the Gollahalli lake. Pic: Sankar C G The then Tehsildar Mallikarjuna ordered the road to be dismantled in 2010. The road, which covers about one-fourth of the 9.2-acre Golahalli Lake, is still in use today.  According to the records obtained through RTI, survey number 15 is a lakebed and it belongs to the government. However, a road was constructed in 2007. The…