Civic

#ABetterHebbal Challenge was launched in consultation with BMRCL and DULT as a part of CiFoS’ umbrella for high impact, long-term city wide campaign called #ABetterBangalorean. Hebbal, a fast developing suburb was identified for the pilot. With an exponential rate of development in residential, work and transit density, Hebbal is seeing one of the worst traffic congestions. A new Metro line is being provisioned and being an axis for the North-South & East-West it attracts huge bus traffic as well. #ABetterHebbal Challenge invited citizens to bring about ideas for public transport adoption around the Hebbal rooted in strong belief that involving…

The Surat fire tragedy in a coaching centre which claimed the lives of 24 students has impacted coaching centres in Bhopal as well. A fire safety inspection ordered by Kalpana Srivastava, Divisional Commissioner, found that none of the coaching centres had even basic fire safety facilities. The four inspection teams found that in the 250 odd coaching centres in MP Nagar, the city’s busiest area where a majority of the coaching centres are housed, and other localities, many did not even have a fire extinguisher or a fire alarm system and were ill-equipped to deal with any unforeseen emergency fire…

Mahalakshmi street at T Nagar. Harrington Road in Chetpet. Station Border Road at Chrompet. The story is similar in all these localities. Once serene residential neighbourhoods, they now host a number of commercial and institutional establishments.  Let’s take the case of Mahalakshmi Street in T Nagar. A private bank is being operated from this primarily residential locality, which has no infrastructural support for commercial establishments. There is no designated parking space. Residents came to know about the bank only when it was being constructed.  It is not the conversion alone that is attracting eyeballs, but also the fact that residents,…

In Part 1 of this series, I narrated how our citizen group surveyed 439 streetlights in Vasanth Nagar this June-July, and identified defective and missing lights. Using our data, we convinced BBMP to take action. BBMP has already fixed nearly half the defective streetlights here, and is expected to complete the rest in another fortnight. Given the condition of streetlights in many parts of Bengaluru, you may want to replicate the survey in your neighbourhood too. During the survey, you can map streetlights either on a Google Map online, or list the details manually in an Excel sheet. I prefer…

Private water tankers withdraw strike Tamil Nadu Private Water Tanker Lorry Owners Association has withdrawn its strike following assurances for licences to draw water and the release of seized lorries. The strike was announced over the seizure of water tankers by police, as many operated without licenses. The association members also alleged that many of the water tanker owners were booked under non-bailable sections of the IPC for not carrying a legal permit to draw groundwater and that they were harassed by the police. The association caters to a major chunk of Chennai's population who do not get Metro Water…

Protest against garbage dumping at Bellahalli landfill On Wednesday morning, residents around Bellahalli landfill stopped BBMP's garbage trucks from dumping waste there. Since the last three years, Bengaluru has been dumping waste here. The landfill has become a serious threat to the health and well-being of residents nearby, especially during monsoons, the protestors said. As the protest continued, BBMP used police force to resume waste dumping on Thursday afternoon. D Randeep, BBMP Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management), said that the protestors had blocked over 300 garbage-laden trucks. Later, BBMP's entire fleet of 450 trucks was sent on a second trip to collect…

Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike, a bus commuters’ rights forum, is having a public discussion on the impact that cab aggregators like Ola, Uber have on mobility and livelihoods on 23rd August. Researchers on mobility, the gig economy, and representatives of the drivers will join them. The speakers are: Kaveri Medappa - Doctoral Researcher, University of Sussex Sudeept Maiti - Senior Manager, Integrated Transport, World Resources Institute Tanveer Pasha - President, Ola and Uber Owners and Drivers Association Event details: Date & Time: 23 August, 2019 at 6pm Venue: Vishranti Nilayam, Infantry road, Bengaluru (Opp. 'The Hindu' office) [ This article…

It was in April 2018  that a bunch of enthusiasts banded together to make an increasingly chaotic Adyar, a more livable place. This led to a programme called 'Azhagiya Adyar' conducted last year at the KNRA Hall in collaboration with the Namma Ooru Foundation (NOF). The event was a big success and it encouraged the bunch to take the movement to higher levels.  It was around the same time that the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) announced plans to implement source segregation of waste, door-to-door collection and proper disposal by GCC of such segregated waste through composting, bio-methanation, recycling etc. We sensed…

Recent incidents of chain snatching as well as petty theft in our Vasanth Nagar neighbourhood made us realise we needed to do something. There were many dark spots due to the lack of uniform streetlighting -  random gaps between adjacent streetlights, and tree branches covering the light. So, Citizens for Citizens (C4C), a self-help citizens’ forum, decided to carry out a ‘streetlight survey’ in Vasanth Nagar. How are street lights maintained? BBMP has ward-wise contractors to maintain streetlights. If the contractors come to know of a defective streetlight, they may do repairs, but this system is unreliable. BBMP can also…

Chennai holds the dubious record of topping road accident death charts in the state year after year. The figures released by the Transport and Road Safety Commissioner for January of this year shows that Chennai registered 689 accidents, the most among the 32 districts. It also led in terms of fatalities with 114 deaths, though there was a marginal decline in the death toll from the same time period last year. Various efforts have been undertaken by the state and citizens to address road safety. Late last year, the State Traffic Planning Cell worked with researchers from the Indian Institute…