Civic

Nearly 200 citizens from Nandini Layout ward got together on May 23rd to participate in the KillBill campaign. The drive was organised by B.CLIP’s Civic Hub leader Jayalakshmi K to get rid of the illegal flex boards, posters and banners that were creating ‘visual pollution’ in the surroundings. This was conducted jointly with the Clean Nandini Layout, Beautiful Nandini Layout campaign run by the corporator, KV Rajendra Kumar. Residents peel posters that are defacing the ward. Pic: B.PAC Participants expressed their support towards the well-being of the ward and agreed to spread a clear message that people’s active participation is…

House documents in order? Do you have your occupancy certificate in order? This is an important document to have BEFORE you occupy your new dwelling and one that the builder is supposed to get and often doesn't. Problem is that you wont get a Khata without this. Read on to understand the requirements given by BBMP and be sure to get your OC. Power of standing together It was a big day for Kundanahalli Lake recently as BBMP brought down encroachments. This came after repeated efforts by residents who are on a mission to restore the lake to its healthy…

So far, I have received expressions of interest from people in about 25 wards to work on local solutions for civic improvement and better governance. I'll reach out to each of you individually and see how to help you get going, but meanwhile, here is a list of things to get started with, in thinking about the local area. This is from the work of CiFoS in Sanjay Nagar (thanks, Sathya Sankaran, Subbaiah T.S. and others). Later this week, we'll organise a small workshop for the first few wards to begin to replicate this work in other areas. Meanwhile, if…

Here is a quick guide to all that you might want to know as you prepare to cast your vote. Find your constituency details and information on candidates: 11    Dr.Radhakrishnan Nagar Incumbent: J Jayalalithaa, AIADMK » Candidates: J Jayalalithaa, AIADMK M N Raja, BJP Shimla Muthuchozhan, DMK Agnes F, PMK Vasanthi Devi, VCK More info » 20 Thousand Lights Incumbent: B. Valarmathi, AIADMK » Candidates: B Valarmathi AIADMK Selvam Ku Ka DMK Shivalingam M BJP Ambigapathy C MDMK Rangan V PMK More info » 12 Perambur Incumbent: SoundaraRajan. A, CPI M » Candidates: A SoundaraRajan, CPI-M P Vetrivel AIADMK R Prakash BJP N R Dhanapalan DMK M Venkatesa Perumal PMK More…

Lack of reliable irrigation schemes leads to agriculture land being unutilised. Pic: Shree D N March 22, 2016. No sign of good rains in near future. A farmer, Chandrashekharaiah, who has some land near Hesaraghatta, is worried about what he can do on his land, to reduce his water needs and get better returns. He used to grow paddy, millets and vegetables earlier. Now he is not concerned about food crops, because the effort and labour required is more than what he can earn from it. And he does not want to end up becoming yet another farmer who could…

With a continued influx of people setting down with Bengaluru, a majority of the population is now living in apartments. On Saturday March 19th, ApartmentADDA, an organisation that hosts private, secure portals for apartment complexes, is conducting a workshop aimed at citizens living in these apartments. Citizen Matters is the media partner for the workshop. The workshop, Neighborhoods of Tomorrow, will bring together various members of the society—apartment management committees, subject matters experts, representatives from the city administrations—to arrive at solutions to the problems that every neighbourhood faces. The workshop, touted to be India’s largest convention of management committee members,…

Residents of Koramangala and users of the Koramangala 3rd Block playground participated in a Walk/Run event conducted on March 6th. The event had two twin objectives – to raise funds for charitable purposes and to focus attention on the need to save the Koramangala 3rd Block Playground. More than 300 men women and children of all ages participated. Walk and run events were held two distance categories – 2.5 km and 5 km. Over 300 residents showed up for the Save our Playground walk/run event. Pic: Nitin Seshadri A civic amenity site located contiguous to the BBMP Playground in Koramangala 3rd…

Residents Welfare Associations across Indira Nagar have been working towards getting rid of the commercial enterprises in the residential streets of their neighbourhood. Members of the RWAs in Indira Nagar 1st Stage and 2nd Stage had filed RTIs last year to figure out if the commercial establishments in their neighbourhood had a valid trade licence, as the Karnataka High Court order states that:  “The BBMP shall not permit or grant any change of land usage in the following areas: Malleswaram, Richmond Town, Vasanthnagar, Jayanagar, Vijayanagar, Vishweshwarapuram, Rajajinagar and RT Nagar. In addition thereto, residential areas mentioned and shown in CDP…

Common Purpose, sponsored by Comic Relief, is running an online crowd sourcing challenge to explore how we can increase civic engagement in Bengaluru. The Common Purpose Challenge, which is also running in Manchester, United Kingdom is asking residents of both cities to work together to generate new ideas that will increase civic engagement. The winning ideas will be presented to a distinguished panel led by Academy Award winner David Puttnam, and including Director General of Police, Karnataka, MN Reddi and Trustee of Bangalore Little Theatre, Vijay Padaki. The challenge is hosted online through Crowdicity, an innovative crowd sourcing platform. Residents…

B.PAC is working with Hasiru Mithra (the HSR Layout residents’ initiative) and Syngene on a neighbourhood cleanup drive. This will be a sustained campaign to drive corporate social engagement that brings corporates, neighborhood communities and BBMP together to clean, drive behavioural change and monitor progress. Employees and residents of the neigbourhood work together to beautify their locality and appoint wardens who will keep watch on the neighbourhood to ensure that the cleaned up areas do not relapse into their original state. Cleanup drive on January 30th The 27th main road in HSR Layout is one of the prime roads in the…