GENRE: In Focus

City elections may not happen on February 21st. On January 28th the Supreme Court directed the Karnataka state government to follow the ruling of the Division Bench of the High Court of Karnataka of December 8th. In that ruling, the High Court had asked the government to re-do the ward reservations list for Bengaluru in line with the 2001 census data for the Bangalore municipal area. With the ward reservation list quashed, the BBMP council elections are likely to not take place as scheduled. Pic: Vaishnavi Vittal The State Election Commission (SEC) today told Citizen Matters that they have written…

Sixty-nine year old A N Vittal, a resident of Kammanahalli in Bangalore East, has frequented the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) office several times in the past one year. Despite several phone calls, e-mails and hand-written letters to the concerned officials at the BWSSB including the Chairman and Public Relations Officer (PRO), the water problem in his area persists. “Cauvery water supply through the tap has completely stopped”, he says. But Assistant Executive Engineer N Malla Reddy has given Vittal and his neighbours a temporary solution to the problem. “He said, if water is not coming, you call…

Confusion continues to loom over the status of road widening projects in Bengaluru. Recent media reports suggested that all road widening projects in the city were put on hold, after a statement made by Transport Minister R Ashoka. The Minister later backtracked saying that work on only the Mysore Road-Central Silk Board corridor will be stalled. One of the markings on the Silk Board-BTM Layout corridor, indicating proposed acquisition of 7.41 m. File pic. Citizen Matters reconfirmed this with Ashoka who says, “I don't know how many road widening projects have been stopped. I don't have exact number. In JP…

A visit to a zoo always sounds like a fun-filled activity for kids and adults alike. Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP) located on the outskirts of Bangalore in Anekal district is no exception. Easy accessibility, parking spots, surprisingly well-organised ticket counters, and numerous food kiosks make the outing a delightful experience. A near-perfect picture? Not quite.What started off as a picnic spot in 1971 is now a notified ‘large zoo' spread over 320 hectares housing over 1,500 animals. All zoos in India come under the purview of the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), New Delhi, and a state-level body, which in Karnataka…

For years now, Bangaloreans have gotten accustomed to seeing dug up roads across the city. Furthermore, one doesn’t know who has dug it up or why and when it is likely to be closed. And then traffic suffers. The traffic police are clueless about the roadwork and are then forced to divert traffic."Sometimes we don't even know who has dug up the road", points out Praveen Sood, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic).  Nothing new in namma Bengaluru. Coordination, or the lack of it has always been a challenge for many local authorities - BBMP, BTP, BWSSB, BDA, BMTC, and so…

At a testy hearing in the High Court of Karnataka, the University of Agricultural Sciences reversed its position on the BBMP's link road through its GKVK campus in north Bengaluru. Before a two-judge bench on December 16th, the university's counsel Nithin Ramesh said the Vice-Chancellor, P G Chengappa, was willing to convene a fresh meeting of the Board of Regents to strike down its earlier approval for the link road, and added that the board's earlier decision was taken under ‘duress'. As BBMP claims 70 per cent of the work is completed the High Court orders an expert committee be…

Bengaluru is a city that’s learning to stay fit. Running the marathon or biking to work or hitting the gym with increasing regularity, most Bangaloreans are up, about and active. The health and fitness market is India is estimated at around Rs 2,900 crores, according to a Technopak report in Business Standard. It pegs the average annual spend on health and fitness by individuals at approximately Rs 2,600. The statistics are not specific to Bangalore but do give you a general idea of the average citizen’s interest in fitness. Is fitness as an industry seeing satisfied consumers? And who’s rushing…

When D T Thyagaraj (50) of Padmanabhanagar, suffered a heart attack 10 years ago, he was wheeled into one of the prestigious hospitals in Bengaluru. Once he survived the attack and was out of the ICU, Thyagaraj sensed that the world around him had changed so completely in so short a time. First he was isolated from the general ward and then supplied food in plastic plates. The doctors and nurses armed themselves with double gloves each time they came to check on him. Their hush-hush talk, suspicious glances, and curt answers left him and his family shocked. Launch of…

“We don’t want to see piles of garbage on the road when we grow up. It is our future we are looking at”, says Anugraha Anand, all of 12. Anugraha and her friends at her apartment complex Renaissance Regalia on 6th main Malleshwaram are spearheading a campaign on waste segregation and solid waste management. “We do not want piles of garbage on the road when we grow up”, say the young children of Renaissance Regalia in Malleshwaram. Seen here from L to R - Sowmya Panyan, Srishti, Malaika Vijay, Prerna Mohan, Tanvi Kaushik, Anugraha Anand. Pic courtesy: Vani Murthy Leading…

It isn’t everyday that a state’s draft transport policy is discussed in humour. Well, but that is exactly what happened at ‘Mobilicity – an unconference on sustainable transport’ on November 21st at the Indian Institute of Science. Organised by online community Praja.in and Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP), the event was held to discuss issues on sustainable mobility for Bengaluru. (From left) Gaurav Gupta, Shankarlinge Gowda, Krishna Byregowda, Praveen Sood. Byataranapura MLA Krishna Byregowda says, "People ask me about BPL cards, drains and street lights. Nobody asks me about transport". The unconference, a participant-driven discussion with…