PRESS RELEASE

When was the last time you saw a disability inclusive flash mob event? Can’t remember? Neither can I. On the evening of 13th august, in the spirit of Independence Day, people gathered in forum mall, Koramangala, beheld the awe-inspiring performances led by OSAAT-One Step At A Time, constituting of people from all walks of disabilities along with able bodied individuals, dancing their hearts out, to show the world that they’re danceabled. OSAAT is a nonprofit organisation striving to increase awareness on disability and build communities/ support groups for people with disabilities. They conduct programs encircling adaptive dance, theater and fitness,…

Karnataka Composting Development Corporation (KCDC) in HSR Layout, Bengaluru, is in news yet again. Residents are demanding that the government: 1. Shift the existing plant immediately to a remote and unpopulated location outside the city limits, as all other options to control the odour from the plant have failed 2. Limit the current intake of the wet waste to 70 tonnes as an interim measure to reduce the smell until plant shifts out to remote location. 3. Clear the Refuse-Derived Fuel backlog, release the encroached land and restores the ecosystem of the lake as per the NGT norms. Through an…

Bengaluru produces an estimated two lakh tonnes of e-waste annually. But 90% of this goes to landfills or scrap dealers who then sell it to illegal recyclers. bE-Responsible is an initiative for Environmentally Responsible Collection and Recycling of e- waste in Bangalore. We have launched a campaign is to encourage people to drop e-waste at collection points at Bangalore One centres. Twenty-three students of Christ College have volunteered for this drive. This initiative which was started in January 2017 has collected e-waste and reached out to around 40,000 individuals through our campaigns and outreach programs. What has been done thus far:  3…

Greenpeace India recently launched its Waste To Food campaign to create awareness about segregation of waste and composting of organic matter among the citizens of Bengaluru. With the population of nearly 10 million, Bengaluru produces between 3,000 tonnes to 5,000 tonnes of garbage every day of which around 60 percent is  organic waste. To kickstart the campaign, activists from Greenpeace India placed placards with the message 'Waste To Food'  at five locations across the city where unsegregated garbage is being dumped unceremoniously at public spaces. “The city deserves better, and the authorities need to pay immediate attention. While there are…

Early in the morning, around 7.30 a.m., on 18 January 2013, BBMP officials, bulldozers, a demolition crew, and a police force consisting of approximately 500 policemen and 20 policewomen reached the EWS housing settlement. When residents tried to resist the demolition, they were subjected to violence. The police arrested 21 women dragging them into their vans, some of them by their hair. They were taken to two police stations, implicated on false charges, and detained overnight. Residents reported that the BBMP Commissioner had assured them that evictions would not begin until the end of the academic year (April). But this…

Karnataka government has published a draft notification of Common Zoning Rules to be applicable across the state, with the last date for objections being July 30th, 2017. Citizen Action Forum, a Bengaluru-based nongovernmental organisation, has come up with a sample letter highlighting the problems of the new Common Zonal Regulations (CZR) and asking the government to re-consider the new zoning rules that will make master plans irrelevant. July 30th, 2017, is the last date for the objections to be filed. Interested Resident Welfare Organisations (RWAs) can check it out and send it to the concerned department or Chief Minister's office.…

Compared to Indiranagar and Koramangla, HSR Layout is a reasonably new layout and hence the tree cover is very sparse. With this in mind, the active citizens of the layout, the volunteers of HSR Citizen Forum came together to brainstorm on ideas to increase the tree cover. “When we took a walk to identify locations to plant tree saplings, we saw most homes and commercial outlets had the area in front of them neatly concretized. Planting there would involve drilling through the concrete, cutting it and making space for soil, compost, sapling and tree guard,” says Krupa, a resident of sector…

We invite citizens to join us in protesting against destruction of the spirit of democracy and citizen participation as envisaged by the Nagarapalika Act  or 74th Constitutional Amendment (CA). BBMP was ordered by the Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka (HC) during a hearing of a PIL petition on 24th April 2017 to form Ward Committees (WC) in all 198 wards within one month.  When the practice of councillors nominating the ward committee members was challenged in the Court at a subsequent hearing, the HC gave oral orders to BBMP that out of the ten members to be nominated to the ward committee, “two…

Efforts to mobilise citizens to apply for ward committee membership have gained splendid traction in the last few weeks. Citizens’ groups such as Lanchamukta Karnataka Nirmana Vedike (LMKNV), Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB) and B.PAC have motivated more than 500 citizens to apply for ward committee membership. A team of LMKNV met almost all BBMP officials connected to the formation of WCs, including Zonal JCs, Council Secretariat officials and Mr. Sarfaraz Khan, Special Commissioner (Health and SWM), stressing the point that it is the “Corporation” that nominates WC members and NOT the “Corporator”. Several Joint Commissioners of zones of BBMP, who…

On Sunday, June 18th, Chennai Trekking Club (CTC) and Environmental Foundation of India (EFI) in association with The Hindu and Casa Grande organized the 8th edition of the Chennai Coastal Cleanup (CCC), a South India-wide awareness drive on our growing garbage footprint and the impact on the environment. 5000 volunteers and 130 organizations, schools, NGOs in 10 large cities removed 41 tonnes of garbage from lakes, rivers and beaches. In Chennai, 4600 volunteers participated in removing 32 tonnes of garbage from 20 km of Chennai's shoreline between Lighthouse and Uthandi. Volunteers segregated garbage in 69% recyclables (glass, plastics, etc) taken…