URBAN PLANNING

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…

Do you know how much of the pollution in the world is caused by cars? Some studies put that at 40%. As a result, some across the globe have chosen to observe 22nd September as World Car Free Day. ESAF, a Bangalore based not-for-profit organization that is campaigning to make the city a child friendly one, decided to do its bit to create awareness on the advantage of not using cars. On the 21st, the NGO has planned to distribute handbills along with 2 English and 1 Kannada newspapers to persuade car users to consider taking public transport. "Some friends…

In November 2010, 15 families of survey number 27 in 4th main, OMBR layout, had their houses demolished by the BDA. While the residents had plan sanction copies from village panchayat and a CMC khata, the layout was illegal. They did not own either a BDA or BBMP khata. The residents, mostly senior citizens, had invested their life's savings in the property. BDA recovered the land saying it was under its jurisdiction.  Citizen Matters came to know about this through a letter from the residents. Times of India also reported on this late last year. This land was a revenue…

Even after winning a court case against the builder for misappropriation of open spaces in their layout, residents of Reliaable Tranquil layout near HSR layout, off Haralur Road, are a long way away from getting any justice. Residents had found that a park and a Civic Amenity (CA) site, which were originally part of the layout plan, was actually someone else's property. Reliaable Developers (RD) is the builder of the layout, with offices at Museum Road, Bengaluru. (Civic Amenity sites as per town planning rules are meant for public utilities like banks or recreation centres, and are open to public)  …

In a desperate bid to provide a playground for more than 700 children living in L&T South City, residents of the apartment complex in Mico-Arakere Layout on 19th March hired a bulldozer to level a part of the 5.5 acre land that was meant to be developed as a playground. The layout is located off Bannerghatta Road roughly opposite IIM-Bengaluru.  No cricket match, this one. Hulimavu Police had a brush with residents of L&T South City on Mar 19. Pic: SUGRUHA. The event witnessed high drama as Hulimavu police, BDA officials and officials from even the BBMP were at the…

After starting to use BMTC buses, one of our federation members, Jayvant Anantpur, wrote a nice article why we should still use BMTC instead of our personal vehicles in Bangalore. Read on... I agree that we should try to use BMTC as much as possible. I have been trying to do that for one year now and have successfully figured out how to commute by BMTC from Bellandur gate to IISc (between Malleshwaram & Yeshwantpur).I won't say the bus rides are very smooth etc but when compared to driving my car or going by auto/taxi, I think going by BMTC…