GENRE: LN

"Kasa Muktha Bellandur" campaign (earlier called Clean Bell and renamed to align with city level initiative) has taken off to a very positive start. This campaign aims to achieve responsible, end-to-end solid waste management in the Bellandur ward. The main objectives of phase-1 of Kasa Muktha Bellandur are as follows: Standardise waste segregation process for all residential communities (using colour coded bins) in the ward. Accomplish 100% segregation and eliminate usage of plastic bags for garbage disposal.  Segregation pamphlet outlining the waste categorisation followed by Kasa Muktha Bellandur. Key accomplishments in last four weeks: Around 30 apartments adopted and implemented this…

When a seven-km stretch of the road takes 45 minutes to cross, it calls for an action. When the area is near a prominent IT zone like Whitefield in Bengaluru, it is likely to affect the image of the city too. Bruhat Whitefield Residential Community Association (BWRCA) from Whitefield will submit a memorandum to the Kadugodi Traffic Police demanding to solve the traffic problems near Whitefield. The three major issues that the memorandum highlights are: Enforcing ‘no entry’ for heavy vehicles at Kadugodi Rail Over Bridge, during peak hours; Better traffic management at Hope farm circle Prohibiting parking of vehicles…

The audit report by Comptroller Auditor General of India for the year ending March 2013 reveals that Bangalore Development Authority, which lacks funds for the development works it is supposed to undertake, donated Rs.10.19 crore for various purposes, including Chief Minister’s relief fund and flood relief fund by a TV channel. An amount of Rs. 2 crore each was donated to Chief Ministers’ Relief fund and Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, while the Institute of Nephro Urology and Karnataka Chalana Chitra Academy for Rs 1 crore each. Similarly Rs 5 to 10 lakh was donated to many institutions under…

It’s official. Namma Metro Reach 3 and 3a services from Malleshwaram to Peenya in namma Bengaluru will open for public use from March 1st, 2014. Urban and Land Transport and District in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy along with Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola announced this on February 24th, 2014, at a press conference held at Rajajinagar Metro Station. Ramalinga Reddy said: “On 28th February evening at 6 pm, Railway Minister Mallikarjun will inaugurate this line. From 1st March 6 am onwards the service will be open for public.” The good news for the users is…

  The Bangalore Chapter of AID is organising a photography contest, based on the theme 'Soul, Space, Society'.  The competition is meant to give photographers the opportunity to take pictures of the Bangalore that they love with, fight with and are in love with. If their picture captures the essence of Bangalore in a unique way, then AID Bangalore will to showcase it.  Photographers are invited to submit their entries on AID's Facebook page. The last date to submit photographs is 1st March 2014.  The best photographs will be selected by AID Bangalore's judges panel and will be put on display at Thalam…

The High Court on Wednesday, February 19th, 2014, disposed of a Public Interest Litigation (WP 3676/2008) filed by Citizen Action Forum (CAF) and a few other civic groups in Bengaluru, that challenged the Draft Revised Master Plan (RMP) - 2015, prepared by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), that allowed commercial use of residential areas, through a land use category called "mixed residential." A division bench comprising Chief Justice DH Waghela and Justice BV Nagarathna issued a direction to the State government to amend the land use change rules of the BDA's Revised Master Plan to allow only the ancillary use…

Are you aware of the ill-effects, especially on health, caused by the increasing number of mobile towers and resultant radiation levels in Bengaluru and other cities? Is there any government body to regulate the installation of cell towers? Are citizens allowed to know the actual level of radiation in a given area? In the backdrop of these questions, Surakshit Vatavaran has recently initiated an e-petition on Change.org to the Prime Minister of India for the establishment of a regulatory body to monitor cell tower installations and radiation levels.  You can find their petition here.   Subhashree, Managing Trustee at Surakshit…

This newsletter is shared by the citizen group, Bellandur Forum (bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com) Sarjapur Road Cleaning drive      On Saturday 15th Feb, the BBMP zonal office will do an intensive cleaning of Sarjapur Road from ORR junction to Purva Sunshine. This initiative will involve cleaning the medians, levelling the ground on either side of the tarred road, removing all illegal hoardings/advertisements, removing debris/junk from the road side and cleaning of rain water drains.  The BBMP will bring pourkarmikas, two JCBs and several tractors. Some of the residents living on this stretch are volunteering to map the problems, and coordinating the task on the ground on Saturday. More…

I have been pursuing a master’s degree in Sustainability in Helsinki for the past year and a half. Scouting for a thesis topic along with my interest in the intersection of water, communication and education brought me right back to Bangalore where I had studied and worked earlier in the areas mentioned above. This time, I was trying to look at how design interventions can enable public awareness and participation in the functioning of a sustainable urban water management system. My research was based around the Jakkur Lake — and this was for a specific reason. Bangalore and water Bangalore was once…

Members of NBF and BRACE holding the press conference.T S Vidhyadhar, D S Rajshekar, Mahalakshmi Parthasarathy, Ravindranath Guru, Subbu Hegde, Nitin Seshadri and others are seen in the picture. Pic: Nikita Malusare Citizen Action Forum (CAF) backed by Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF), will question the Akrama Sakrama Bill – 2013 in court shortly. This was revealed in a press conference hosted by NBF on February 5th, 2014. N S Mukunda, President of Citizen Action Forum, who spoke in the press conference, questioned as to why the buyers should be responsible for the mistakes made by the builder. Since the bill…