URBAN PLANNING

"Freedom is another word for nothing left to lose", said someone. But, for many people who often lose the little that they have, freedom is another wor(l)d. And that wor(l)d did not appear on 15th August 1947 or later for the majority who live in India at present. In fact, such a wor(l)d may never exist at all for this majority. So, sometime in mid 2007 some of us in Bangalore and other parts of the country decided that we should support and celebrate ongoing struggles for freedom. From that emerged the idea of a Civil Society Summit (CSS) -…

A meeting of lake teams in Bangalore was organised by Arekere Neighbourhood Improvement Trust (ANIT) together with OneBengaluru on 5th Aug 2012. The meeting was well attended by more than 125 people from 20-odd different lake teams including PNLIT trustees and volunteers - Usha, Nupur, Sapana, Vijay, Vivek, Prajna, Vishnu, Siddharth and Mihir.  Usha, Vishnu, Siddharth and Mihir at the meeting Photo: Nupur Jain Directly after the meeting, a team of some 10 people from Kaggadasapura Lake in East Bangalore visited Puttenahalli Lake. They are keen on leveraging our experiences at Puttenahalli Lake to conserve their neighbourhood lake. Below is a…

Citizens who participated in a discussion organised by CIVIC Bangalore today vehemently called for an effective mechanism for proper implementation of the Master Plan of BDA.  The discussion was held  in the light of BDA calling for inputs from citizens to its proposed Revised Master Plan (RMP) for 2035.   P S S Thomas, retired IAS officer and former chairman of the Advisory Committee on RMP 2015, who made the opening remarks, stressed the need for citizens to be involved at all stages of the planning process and not merely at the final draft stage.  All 30 sister organisations, such as BWSSB, BESCOM, BMTC, etc., also…

Less than four months since a High Court order barred commercialisation of residential areas in Bangalore, flouting the verdict remains the norm.  The HC had ruled in January this year on a petition filed by the Citizens’ Action Forum (CAF) and 12 other individuals. The petitioners, some of whom are from Koramangala, had challenged the BDA’s Revised Master Plan 2005-15 (RMP) for allowing commercialisation in residential areas.The January 27 verdict barring shops in residential areas surprised the residents as there was a big question about its implementation. The RWA members and lawyer Aditya Sondhi had second thoughts about the execution…

Slumdwellers here have been facing acute water shortage for the past three months. The two bore wells in the slum are sufficient to satisfy the water needs of the people. But the motor which pumps water stopped working and this broke water supply.“We have to travel three kilometers daily for getting water from Austin town. We take bath only once in a week due to the water shortage. Some time we may not get water that force us to buy water for higher prices,” said Habeeb A S, a local resident. Ejipura slum, wairting for new housing since 2004. Pic:…

On May 7th, BDA quietly began a process of revision for Bengaluru's city master plan, and invited suggestions from public. This plan will be for the years 2016 to 2035. The existing  master plan (RMP-2015) is for 2005 to 2015. Bengaluru's master plan is the most critical piece of regulation for the city's land use, development, and growth management. It defines all rules pertaining to zoning. Residential and commercial development in various areas are permitted or barred in this plan, locality by locality. Permitted floor area ratios for various road widths in commerical and residential areas, mandatory additions such as…

The street vendors at Gandhi Bazaar were evicted on January 23rd, and it has been more than a month since then. Many reasons were cited for the eviction. The BBMP authorities said there was a demand from the traffic police and members of the public to clear the footpath and the road to ensure smooth movement of pedestrians and vehicles, according to a newspaper report ((Deccan Chronicle, Jan 25). So, it was traffic congestion and inconvenience to public that seemingly triggered the eviction. When I spoke to some residents of Basavanagudi, they opined that the vendors were quite rude, unlike…

BDA started work on Agara-Sirsi Circle signal-free corridor project last year. Work for grade separators was initiated in four Koramangala junctions - Jakkasandra, Koramangala 80 feet road, Krupanidhi College and Koramangala Water Tank. But residents in the area pointed out flaws in the project and managed to get the work stopped temporarily. Nitin Seshadri, a resident, writes... We were first informed in early September about the massive projects planned along Sarjapur road. Citizens' initial reaction was stoic. The typical reaction is exemplified by an email which declared: "let us do what we can to be as patient as possible". In mid-September, we…

Back in the early 1980s, against the advice of our friends and relatives in Bangalore, we moved to Yelahanka Satellite Town in the hope of living in peace, fed up of Bangalore's pollution. We compromised a lot for this, putting up with the poor construction quality of KHB, lack of some basic facilities, and distance from city's old airport and culture hubs. Many trees were cut down to accommodate this BBMP office in Yelahanka Satellite Town 1st phase Pic: Sudha Narasimhachar But we were happy the way our layout was planned with lovely parks, and amenities like bus stands, shopping…

In the Sankey road widening case, the High Court ruled in favour of BBMP on Wednesday, November 30th. BBMP's contention that it had the authority to cut off scores of old growth trees on Sankey Road was upheld.The petitioners - five individuals and residents' associationMalleswaram Swabhimana Initiative - had argued that BDA had not indicated widening of the road in its draft Revised Master Plan 2015 (RMP) and hence public had no chance to object to the widening. BDA's lawyers however argued that widening of the road to 30 metres was indicated in the 1984 and 1995 master plans and…