GENRE: Voices

BBMP Administrator T M Vijay Bhaskar Pic: Akshatha M It has been only two months since senior IAS officer T M Vijay Bhaskar assumed charge as the Administrator of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). With the announcement of calendar of events for BBMP election and the council likely to be formed in a month, there is very less time left for the Administrator to prove his mettle. In an interview with Citizen Matters, Administrator T M Vijay Bhaskar shares his experience and the initiatives taken up during his tenure, challenges faced by BBMP and solutions to the impending problems. What…

BBMP Elections are here again. Candidates must make their stand clear about creation of Ward Committees / Area Sabhas as per Karnataka Municipal Corporation (Ward Committee) Rules 2013 and other Acts. Otherwise, people must reject them. Despite High Court of Karnataka orders in 2013, BBMP has failed to form Ward Committees / Area Sabhas in most of 198 wards under its limits; if existing, selection process of members is either skewed or manipulated to suit the whims and fancies of the ward corporation and local MLA. If existing, they are either defunct or the meetings held and recorded are far…

The ever-busy Silk Board junction. Pic: Abhishek Chandel The clock chimed seven on a balmy Wednesday evening, as I peered out of the dusty window of my motionless office bus. A cacophony of voices, the humdrum of engines, snatches of conversation and a curse word or two greeted my eardrums. The scene in front of my eyes appeared as dull and despondent as my day had turned out. A middle-aged lady driving back home from office killed her car's engine, and got busy yelling instructions to the domestic help about that evening's repast over her phone. A bored taxi driver…

Touts stopping non-KA registered vehicles opposite Kadugodi police station on June 8th 2015. Pic: Waseem Memon   Dear Sir, At the outset, let me express my sincerest thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet me in Nagpur on May 17th 2015. You gave me a patient hearing and assured me that my concerns with regards to freedom of movement of motor vehicles across all states, shall be addressed in the New Motor Vehicles Bill to be tabled soon in the Parliament. While we may still be able to Drive Without Borders across states, I believe we…

Pic: Sheeja Cassius   Potholes - I got you under my skin!! When you are tired of sobbing, you sing! The worst pothole on varthur gunjur stretch had me and my pillion in. Ironically we were on our way to collect an IGCSE report card (International)! To save the road of an empty fuel guzzler and wasted carbon footprint, I stick to a mobike when we are two... I trailed behind a couple cars... Maybe three feet away? But that wasn't enough to steer me away from this nasty one as I swerved to avoid and skid straight in. The…

Of whom are you? Who are you? Whence have you come?                                                                                                                 - Śamkara bhagavatpāda, “Moha-mudgarah” The roots of people are not always clear. Sometimes, it is quite all right for things to be that way. Nothing much is gained by knowing the facts as they seem…

Touts stopping non-KA registered vehicles opposite Kadugodi police station on June 8th 2015. Pic: Karthikeyan Dear Sir, I am torn. All through my life, I was the lone person in my circle of friends who had faith in the government. I was the only one who staunchly defended the government. I was the only one who said that governments don’t lie. I was ridiculed. I was chided. I was considered odd. Yet, I soldiered on. Then something happened. Some of my friends pointed out to me that the RTO, Karnataka was clamping down upon out-of-state cars. They said that the…

Hayes Road in Richmond Town is considered one of the better addresses to have in town. Yes, the homes are posh, the residents keep excellent, photo worthy homes, the gardens are lovely, but the condition of the road is a total and absolute mess. The road is a despair of the residents  who have been trying desperately to get the corporation to do something to alleviate their suffering. Take a look at the pictures; you need to go no further. At the end of the road, there is a house which residents say has been locked up for years. In…

June 8th 30 million people. It boggles the mind to think that so many could live in a single metropolitan area. But the Jakarta city region is just that - the second largest concentration of people anywhere in the world. The city itself (which is itself actually 5 municipalities) is of Bangalore proportions - 10 million, 700 sq km - but the metro area which includes many other cities is thrice the size. In 25 years, a few Indian cities could look like this - vast, a little more wealthy than today, and juxtapositions of order and chaos, rich and…

Lingaraj Urs (third from right) with members of Bruhat Whitefield Residential Community Association (BWRCA). Pic: BWRCA Facebook Page Well-known formula for bringing in change world over is, if you want to change the system, be a part of it first. Lingaraj Urs, a top IT honcho, fed up of the problems in his area, wanted to change the system to improve governance and administration in his area. He decided to get into poll politics to do it. And he won. To most well-heeled urban citizens, politics was thus far known as ‘the last resort of scoundrels’; good men and women…