PRESS RELEASE

Bengaluru is home to many educational institutions, which means it is also home to a large student population and a young professional crowd. In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, BBMP has issued the following advisory for paying guest accommodations and hostels: Students residing in Paying Guest (PG) houses or hostels may be advised to return to their own homes, in case their educational institutions have declared holidays in view of COV1D-19. In case occupants opt to stay back in the Hostel /PG House, they should be made aware of personal hygiene measures as per the advice of the Government…

With Bengaluru in lockdown, even procuring food from your neighbourhood supermarket may seem like a difficult task. There's a threat that coronavirus can spread rapidly when people come in close contact in public places. To address the safety of staff as well as customers in markets and shopping centres, BBMP has issued the following advisory: Time-bound sales promotion offers, that have the potential to draw large crowds within a limited time frame, are strictly prohibited. It is advised to introduce 'time-bound token system' for shopping. Reduce overcrowding inside the shopping outlet. It needs to be appreciated that despite the lockdown,…

As most of us are maintaining social distancing and staying at home, we may also miss taking our morning and evening walks in parks. If not our neighbourhood parks, the Cubbon Park, Lal Bagh, GKVK or JP park for sure. But these tough times call for strict measures to contain the spread of coronavirus.  To address the issue of citizens accessing parks and green spaces, BBMP has issued the following advisory: BBMP understands that the closing of all gyms, sporting and other facilities has caused a lot of inconvenience. However, as a responsible citizen of Bengaluru, you must appreciate that…

As most cities in India have unfortunately shut down due to the coronavirus scare, many citizens have been forced to work from home. We, at Beyond Carlton, thought now would an appropriate time to get citizens to check if their home or apartments are fire-safe.  This February 23rd marked the 10th anniversary of the Carlton Towers fire tragedy, that had claimed nine lives. As a mark of remembrance and tribute, Beyond Carlton, the citizen-led fire-safety initiative by those who lost their dear ones in the tragedy, organised a series of events in February. As part of this, we had launched…

Given the global pandemic of the coronavirus/COVID-19, Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) has called upon the central and state governments to implement special measures to prevent and check against the spread of this virus among homeless and inadequately-housed people, who face increased vulnerability, on account of their poor living conditions and already high morbidity. India has at least 4 million people living in homelessness in urban areas and over 70 million people living in ‘informal settlements’ without access to essential services. The homeless population and those who live in settlements without adequate housing are particularly vulnerable to contracting and…

The draft proposal for BBMP ward delimitation has been notified in the gazette. The idea is to improve services and fund allocation in the newly-added areas of BBMP, but this can't be achieved through the current proposal. Why delimitation? According to the 74th Constitutional Amendment, urban local bodies (ULBs) with population of more than three lakh were mandated to constitute wards and ward committees. Wards and ward committees provide a mechanism for participatory democracy at the grassroots level and ensure services and resources are allocated on an equitable basis for good quality of life to citizens. To ensure equitable services and…

How easy is your daily commute in your city? Does the air refresh you, or does it make you wheeze? Do you have to pass by mounds of garbage as you walk to the neighbourhood grocery? How difficult is it to avail basic municipal services in your city?  In order to assess the quality of life in Indian cities and help Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) plan and execute projects better, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched a two-pronged approach. The Ease of Living Index and the Municipal Performance Index will help evaluate the 100 smart cities and…

PublicEye, an app that allows citizens to report traffic violations, is seeing a steady growth in the number of complaints as well as resolution of the same. The app was launched in September 2015, jointly by Bengaluru Traffic Police(BTP) and Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship Democracy. From the time of its launch, PublicEye has aggregated a total of 1.26 lakh app downloads with 24,222 active users. It has received a total of 3.28 lakh complaints, of which 2.27 lakh complaints have been effectively resolved in the last four years. Last year, 2019, recorded the highest complaint uploads, with a 150% increase…

The present state government has announced a series of measures to improve bus services – enhancing the bus fleet, reducing fares, introducing bus lanes and so on. The bus lanes have had a good start, but the other announcements are yet to be implemented. We, at the advocacy group BBPV (Bangalore Bus Prayanikara Vedike), expect that the government will allot money to BMTC in the budget, so that that they can implement the announced decisions. In the context of the upcoming budget, BBPV conducted a survey to reach out to people in the city (both bus commuters and non-bus commuters)…