GENRE: Voices

Sometime in MayBBMP workers had dredged out the storm water drain near my house, and left a mound of filth, muck, crushed plastic cups and assorted debris on the edge of the pavement on  8-F main road, Jayanagar. Each time it rained, some of the muck got washed right back into the drain. It was an eyesore and an olfactory assault. There are posh shops all along this road, hundreds of citizens walk or drive past, even park next to the pile of rubbish. The famous Jayanagar shopping complex is just across the road.I complained about it to the city…

Ramalinga Reddy hails from Anekal and did his schooling at the government school at Hombegowdanagar in Bangalore. He completed his B.Sc. from Government Science College in Bangalore after which he began pursuing an L.L.B. at the University Law College. He got into politics before he could finish the Law degree and has been associated with the Congress party in important capacities since that time, in 1973. Even as a student, Reddy was active in Youth Congress and was a city level office bearer while still at college.  He was elected to the city corporation in 1983 and became President of…

I was glad when I saw the new link in the BBMP site for online tax payment. However I was disappointed with major issues that exist. First,  I am not able to generate form IV after making online payment of tax.  I always get the message "unable to connect to server". Second, the system displays a message to collect the original signed receipt from ARO. I understand from the local ward office at Lazar Road that ARO has not received connectivity for generating receipts for online payment. This is another disappointment. In another case,  I generated Form IV for another…

R Ashoka, Karnataka's cabinet minister for transport is known for introducing Volvo services for Bangalore International Airport and supporting the expansion technology into Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation. He boasts of making public transport available and desirable by both the rich and the poor. He was the health minister in the previous JDS-BJP government. This is his fourth term in the Vidhana Soudha and he was elected from Padmanabhanagar constituency. In the last three terms he was elected from Uttarahalli. Katriguppe, Ilyasnagar, Kaverinagar in his constituency are neglected. R Ashok’s 2008 declaration of Rs. 10.06 crores in total assets reflects a…

I sat on a plastic chair at the party office, waiting for the MLA at the BJP’s temporary office during campaigning at Yelahanka New Town. In the portico outside, under the shamiana there were some party workers clad in the traditional white, friends of the MLA waiting for him,  and a ubiquitous chai-wallah.  When the MLA came, he was surrounded by a horde of workers, colleagues and well wishers. It looked like he had a busy schedule and I was doubtful of getting any questions answered. However, he was courteous, prompt and gave pertinent answers. S R Vishwanath is a…

Many of us know that hundreds of trees are  felled all over the city under the guise of road widening often with no prior approval. Traders, home-owners, street vendors and slum dwellers are  dislocated without appropriate compensation apparently for various infrastructure projects without guarantee that these tasks will meet their proposed objectives and deadlines. If these citizen groups hadn’t intervened, BBMP would have implemented its road-widening scheme launched in 2005 (pic courtesy: Hasiru Usiru/ESG) Knowing that we could either accept or question the largely brazen and undemocratic approach adopted in the name of the city's development, some groups such as…

Bangalore's administrators have been long-accused of letting down the public.  Cases abound from corruption in tendering to recklessness and negligence in execution of works. This month S Subramanya, BBMP Commissioner was transferred after a debacle over the washing away of a boy in a monsoon downpour. Just before that he was involved in a public spat with the head of the anti-corruption watchdog, Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde. Despite its status of a toothless tiger, the Lokayukta has still been able to deliver justice for complainants from the humblest of backgrounds - poor citizens who have been victimised or deprived…

Indians are perhaps the most forgiving lot. They are also one of those who give up a fight too easily. How can anyone explain why a wife, whose husband was drowned to death in a storm water drain in Bangalore couple of few weeks ago, accept just Rs One lakh from the civic authorities and resigned to the fate saying – “Can any amount of money bring back my husband?” While no one can question this sentiment, it is this lax approach that is making the civic authorities take it easy, even if they endanger the lives of the citizens.…

Theatre has always been a media that awed me. The whole idea of performing live is fascinating and challenging. I have been attending plays for a long time, but being part of a theatre crew was a totally different experience. I got an opportunity to be a part of the production team for Evam’s “An Idiot for dinner” that was recently staged at Rangashankara on the 12th, 13th and the 14th of June. A stage adaptation of the Hindi movie, Bheja Fry, which is based on the French play Le dîner de cons. Sanjay and his friends have a tradition…

Of late, Bangalore has too many parks. An area like Yelahnaka has more than 30 parks. Though parks look good, they are not planned properly. Parks enhance the beauty of the layout and increase its value, but deprive the children of playgrounds. Where should children go for playing?Today some schools do not have playgrounds. Grounds have been converted to green deserts. No one can enter the parks between 10 AM and 4 PM. What is the big idea of having parks like these? We need trees for generating oxygen and each of these parks can still have walking paths with…