GENRE: In Focus

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahnagara Palike (BBMP) may have passed some major decisions in the last few years - including increase in taxes, and road widening and infrastructure projects worth hundreds of crores of rupees. But none of these decisions were ever passed by a vote in the city council. And this, in a city of over eight million people with massive problems ranging from inadequate affordable housing to dying lakes and property tax holes to roadwidening resentment. The Karnataka Municipal Corporation Rules (Rule 65 in Conduct of Business Rules), says a vote should be held if councillors press for it.…

Deepa Peck, long time resident and head of the Whitefield Residents Association. Pic: Jaaga. Deepa Peck has been a resident of Whitefield since 1991 and has been visiting it since 1972. In all those years she has seen many of the areas, charming colonial buildings disappear one after the other. In May last year Deepa and her fellow residents were shaken out of their complacency when a Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) notice was served to the 1882-built Whitefield Memorial Church and all residences/commercial establishments along the Whitefield-Varthur main road. BBMP was planning to widen the road which would have…

Litter bins, which almost disappeared from Bangalore's landscape some time back, may make a comeback this year. BBMP's Solid Waste Management (SWM) department has plans to re-introduce litter bins as part of its new policy.Solid waste tenders, compost/dry waste centres, decentralised biogas centres are all part of the new policy. In draft stage now, the policy has to be approved first by the Standing Committee for Health and then by the BBMP Council. "The policy will probably go for Council's approval next month. Currently we have no integrated policy; the new policy will be a guideline for all officials," says…

The death of two-year old Sandeep a few months ago brought back the debate on the vexing issue of stray dogs in Bengaluru. The city is divided with animal lovers opposing mass culling of strays, with an equally vocal group advocating culling as the only solution. There's plenty of food for man's best friend on the street, what with all the eateries around. Pic: Yogaraj Mudalgi. Following Sandeep's death, in July, Rajesh Shukla, 39, an entrepreneur in Bangalore decided to get involved. Apart from consulting US-based forensic experts to get their opinion on Sandeep's death, Shukla started www.strays.in, to "Provide…

The Vidyapeeta ITI layout in Kathriguppe relinquished four parks to BDA as per layout plan sanction regulations. But instead of handing over these parks to BBMP for maintenance, BDA granted two parks to private parties; none of the four sites are parks now. The layout residents have been fighting for proper use of these sites since 1995. In HAL 2nd stage, BDA leased out a CA site of 21,900 sq ft to Indiranagar Social Welfare Trust in 1991. The lease was for 30 years on annual rent of Rs 2, on the condition that the Trust would build educational institutions…

He is one the world's foremost authorities on public transportation, and in particular bus systems. He led the transformation of bus transport in his home city of Bogota, Columbia and has since been involved a host of cities around the world.Dario Hidalgo is in Bangalore for a few days and he and his team of people from EMBARQ, an international organisation that develops sustainable transport solutions, are training BMTC officials on improving it's BIG-10 services. EMBARQ works with local transport authorities in developing countries to help them adopt best international practices. Dario Hidalgo, is Director at EMBARQ. EMBARQ works with…

The BBMP budget was presented on 18 August, the discussions on budget went on for four days - from August 23-26. Some opposition leaders raised their points and asked for clarifications during the session. There were no official responses were given on the same day. The voting on the budget will be held on Saturday, September 3. BBMP budget discusion in progress. Pic: Yogaraj S Mudalgi Congress councillor M Nagaraj (Nandini Layout Ward 43), who was the opposition leader last yearAllocation is not equal for all wards; some have too many works proposed and others few. Many works proposed in…

Even as the Hazare movement has drawn thousands to Freedom Park every day since August 16th, Bangalore's MPs are camped in Delhi. While D B Chandre Gowda (BJP, Bangalore North) and Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Rajya Sabha) reportedly visited Freedom Park recently, the other MPs have not been as ‘accessible'. D B Chandre Gowda, BJP MP, Bangalore North, speaking at Freedom Park, Bangalore. Pic: Yogesh Devraj. On Tuesday, D B Chandre Gowda (BJP, Bangalore North) and P C Mohan (BJP, Bangalore Central) spoke to Citizen Matters over telephone on the Lokpal issue and Hazare's ultimatum to the UPA government. Chandre Gowda is…

A commercial building located in between Fortis Hospital and Apollo Hospital along Bannerghatta road in Bengaluru is being demolished by the BBMP since August 19. The building, ‘Amalodhbhala Tower', is located in one part of a 2 acre 32 guntas government land which was encroached by the complex's owner, one Shantharaju. About half the demolition of 'Amalodhbala Tower' was complete by August 22. Pic: Navya P K. This encroachment was mentioned in the report of V Balasubramanian (IAS, Retd.), Chairman of the Task Force for Recovery and Protection of Public Lands, which was published in June. In addition to Shantharaju,…

In action replay of last year, BBMP has presented a massive budget outlay of Rs.9100 cr for the city on a base of unproven revenues and uncommitted grants. BBMP Council's budget session in progress on August 18th 2011. Pic: Navya P K. Last year BBMP's actual receipts were Rs 4930 cr lesser than the projected amount of Rs 8447 cr. This year, the gap may be bigger, with a seemingly impossible expectation of receipts of Rs 9112 cr. This, along with opening balance of Rs 85 cr, is expected to cover expenditure of Rs 9196 cr for 2011-12.Reading out the…