GENRE: LN

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike's Rs 600 million garbage segregation plant at Subbarayanpalya, an interior village in Kumbalgudu, which should have been completed by the end of 2011, is still at the tender stage. The area is near Rajarajeshwari Nagar in SW Bengaluru. Sixty-five trucks reportedly visit this site daily to dump waste from Bangalore. Pic: Sankar C G As per information from the BBMP website, the tender process for the 750 metric-tons-per-day plant should have been wound up before April 10, 2011."It was in 2009 that BBMP thought of implementing a new automated garbage plant, similar to the one in…

Traffic police at the prepaid auto center on Residency Road charge Rs. 1 from passengers in the name of "maintenance", although the center is maintained by a private firm free of cost. Some of the prepaid auto centers in the city are now managed by IIHT, a private firm that provides computers, printing machines and printed tickets for the centers.They also repair any hardware or software damage to the computers or printers free of cost and have their institute's name painted on the counter and on the back of the tickets as advertisements.However, the Bangalore City Traffic Police places their…

In a startling land grab case filed by BTM Layout's Bank Officers' Co- Operative Housing Society against the BDA for illegal land transfer, the Karnataka High Court has ordered the BDA on January 6th to restore the land and maintain it as a park. View of the disputed land from across the street. Pic:Deepthi M S The bank officers cooperative was allotted 30 acres of land in bulk in 1982, at the time of the formation of BTM layout. The land was given to the society on a lease agreement. Most of the land was used for construction except for…

Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust's (PNLIT) "Nurturing Puttenahalli Lake back to its pristine glory" project cleared the December round (Round 4) of Mahindra Group's "Spark the Rise" social campaign. The campaign is a platform to help put ideas into action to drive positive change in the nation and the winners are awarded grant money to put those ideas in to action."We're delighted", says Usha Rajagopal, chairperson of PNLIT in a note to Citizen Matters. Banner on display at the lake asking people to vote. Pic: Swaminathan O P. After the fourth round victory, PNLIT is now eligible for Rs 4…

"If they try, visually impaired are no less than anybody, (sic)" says Soundarya Kumar Prathan, 12, the youngest player from Orissa, among the visually challenged participants. A four-day rated National Level Open Chess Tournament for blind was conducted at Kanteerava Stadium from 1 - 4 January.   71 people participated in tournament. Pic: Deepthi M S The Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) or World Chess Federation is an international organization that connects the various national chess federations around the world and acts as the governing body of international chess competitions.The tournament was conducted to mark the Louis Braille Day by…

The third edition of the organic gardening event, Oota from your Thota (OfyT) will be held on Sunday, January 8th at Electronic City. The event is to support aspiring gardeners grow gardens in their homes. An introductory workshop on organic terrace gardening will be held, along with a special session on waste management and composting practices. A mela is also planned for sale of plants, seeds, garden tools, compost, organic food, ecofriendly cloth bags etc, along with an open forum for discussions.The event is supported by NGO Garden City Farmers Trust (GCFT) and Apna Complex. Citizen Matters is media partner…

Warriors civic club of St Marks Public School, JP Nagar, took out an anti-litter walk near their school, early morning on 23rd December. Early morning walkers and joggers frequent the road for their daily shopping of fresh vegetables. Most of them do not carry their own bags, preferring to take home the veggies in thin flimsy plastic packets. WARRIORS CIVIC CLUB of St Marks Public School, JP Nagar, took out an anti–litter walk near their school. Pic: Ravikala P Baliga 52 members of the club, part of Childrens' Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA), made informative placards and charts and walked…

"Its high time they start the flyover project. The main bottleneck is at the Advaith petrol bunk junction; we have to wait for so long to pass that signal." says Viswanath Seetharam, who travels daily through the BTM main road. Udupi garden junction Pic: Deepthi M S The BTM main road leading to Silk Board, has heavy inflow of traffic as it connects to Electronic City, Koramangala and Outer Ring Road.Auto rickshaw driver, Manjunath P M who drives every day in and around BTM layout, says, "I waste most of the time in ferrying just one passenger, it's too difficult…

The 37th annual Cake Show is on at St. Joseph's Indian High School grounds till January 31st. It is organised by the Blue Hill Group this year. 18 cakes are on display. The biggest cake is the replica of the Gol Gumbaz, from Bijapur, complete with its dome, minarets and tourists. The show, which was synonymous with the Nilgiris group has now changed hands.As soon as one entered the exhibition, the cynosure of all eyes was the huge cake model of Gol Gumbaz. This cake measuring 16.5 feet long and 12 feet high has been created using 5,000 kg of…

The Bangalore India Against Corruption group, part of India anti-corruption movement that sprung up earlier this year in support of Anna Hazare, is conducting a support event at Freedom Park in the city, from December 27th. People gathered at Freedom Park asked that the Lokpal bill address four demands. The four demands: Lokpal to be free to investigate anyone; Lokpal to have its own investigating officers and budget, Lokpal to cover all government employees, Lokpal selection to be transparent.  India Against Corruption, Bangalore is holding a support event on Dec 27-29th at Freedom Park. Pic: Yogesh Devaraj. More pictures Pic:…