GENRE: In Focus

For the last two years, a park-cum-playground in 30th main in JP Nagar 6th phase has lost almost a third of its area. This part of the site, which was designated for the park, was encroached for the construction of two temples. Today only the playground remains and the site itself is known after one of the temples. While one temple is a permanent structure and almost 75% of its work is complete, the other is a temporary structure. Playground attached the park in J P Nagar 6th phase has been taken over for building temples and fenced off. Pic:…

Five private layouts that were approved by the BDA in Bangalore East, Sheegehalli panchayat near Whitefield, are in a quandary on whom to collect Khatas from. The layouts do not fall under BBMP limits and both panchayat and BDA insist that they have the right to collect taxes from the residents. BDA's go-ahead The authorisation letter says that BDA had transferred all its layouts to BBMP in October 2007 as per a Government Order on May 5, 2007; but since some layouts did not come under BBMP, BDA will collect taxes from these property owners, for the owners' convenience. It…

If you are living in gated community - be it apartments or a layout with independent homes- did you know that your builder would have had to relinquish the parks (you paid for) to get the layout plan sanctioned?  Bengaluru's townplanning rulebook says apartment complexes with an area more that 20,000 square metres must relinquish parks to public. Likewise layouts - whether ‘gated' or not - have to relinquish parks to the public too. While some layouts have relinquished albeit reluctantly, some have sued the BDA for it and some are clueless about a rule like this. Authorities on the…

They persisted with what is right and have saved scores of Bengaluru's apartment associations lakhs of rupees in 2011. Arathi Manay Yajaman, 40, and O P Ramaswamy, 64, of JP Nagar challenged BESCOM's levy of penalties on their apartment complex and, despite being pushed around initially, won their case. BESCOM had penalised their apartment complex in August last year for not taking into account the building's fire safety equipment (pumps) as part of sanctioned electrical load. On January 12th, the Brigade Millennium Mayflower block residents association, represented by Arathi, received a letter from BESCOM, which in effect said BESCOM was…

Plays in regional languages other than Kannada - Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali et al. - have reduced considerably in Bengaluru over the past 15 years. This runs contrary to Bangalore's much heralded cosmopolitan nature. Citizen Matters decided to investigate, and found out that the question only led to more questions that encompass seemingly disconnected spheres. Dr K Y Narayanaswamy, 45, Sahitya Akademi awardee for his play Kannada Pampabharatha, says we must re-examine the meaning of cosmopolitan as it appears today. While it actually means a mix of multi-ethnic cultures, what it translates to, is the knowledge of English in…

In 2000, it was still BMP managing 100 wards. How have things shaped up since then? The quiet bean town became the centre of world's attention practically overnight and since then the city's infrastructure is only been playing catch up. Hasty road-widenings with arbitrary plans of TDRs, relocation of slums without a though tto the urban poor's basic needs, large-scale corruption by local civic bodies in land allocation and building rights are all in the recent memory. In 2000, it was still BMP managing 100 wards and Prema Cariappa was the Mayor. Ward Committees existed briefly, but were not very…

"First they said that our apartment was illegal. When we showed our property documents, BBMP engineers said that it wouldn't matter because we had to give up our land for road widening anyway," says a resident of Rashi Pride apartments on Nyanappanahalli main road, BTM 6th stage. This relatively quiet road located in BTM 6th stage has been in the news lately because the residents raised their voice against BBMP's coercive tactics for land acquisition. Apartment marked for road widening on Nyanappanahalli main road in BTM 6th stage. Pic: Sreenandan A V The resident, who does not wish to be…

Most schools in Bengaluru have completed their admissions for the coming academic year. Despite that, the state government seems to be pushing to implement the RTE (Right to Education) Act for 2011-12. The SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) will soon submit a revised draft of the Act to the government. "We have revised the draft after taking suggestions from the public. The new draft will be submitted by end of this month," says Sandhya Venugopal Sharma, State Project Director, SSA. Ramakrishna School - 80% of the children are from low income groups. Pic: Navya P K While many private schools are…

Despite Bengaluru's cosmopolitan nature, safety in public spaces is still a problem for women in the city. Opinions vary about whether Bengaluru is safer compared to other Indian cities, but most women agree that the city has a long way to go in terms of accommodating women. Citizen Matters and Justfemme present Is Bengaluru women-friendly? A panel discussion Dec 18th, 4-5.30pm @ NGMA Auditorium, Palace Road, Bangalore All are welcome. The Bangalorean panelists (in alphabetical order) Prakash Belawadi, a well-known journalist, theatre enthusiast and a filmmaker. Mithila Jha, an Urban Planner, currently working with BMTC. Suneel Kumar (IPS), is Additional…

Saaku, Bengaluru's anti-corruption campaign, may not have lived up to the buzz generated in social networking sites over the last week, but the rally of around 800 citizens more than managed to capture the attention of the public on December 11. The event's coordinators had initially expected participation of 1000-2000. The participants, most of them from relatively elite sections of society - included college students, IT professionals, activists and residents from all over the city. Around 800 citizens, including students and IT professionals, participated in the event.Pic: Navya P K The four-day Saaku campaign started on December 8 with the…