Civic

United Technologies Corporation on December 19th today announced the 12 winners of India’s first ever Neighbourhood Improvement Partnership Challenge (NIP), an initiative of UTC’s Citizens for the City Program. The winning projects and support teams will collectively receive a total amount of nearly Rs one crore. The 12 winners will implement projects in the areas of mobility, waste management, public safety, autonomous building, water quality and rejuvenation of public spaces. Chris Rao, VP and Country Head, UTC Aerospace Systems and Goldie Srivastava, Director - Communication, United Technologies India along with the 12 winning teams who will collectively receive a total…

Khata is the record maintained in the Corporation office on the ownership right of a property owner in the BBMP area. Obtaining this after a person has acquired the title to a property has become a nightmare in Bengaluru, with endless delays, pervasive corruption and official apathy. Every person who has acquired a title to property in Bengaluru by any means, usually by purchase, but also by inheritance, gift or any other method, is harassed by BBMP officials, their middlemen and agents when (s)he tries to get the khata. This document is required for all transactions relating to loan to…

Now an annual fest at namma Turahalli forest, Turahalli Day was celebrated on December 6th 2015. The day began by around 6.30 am with people gathering under the banyan tree. Ganeshram and Anurag, who were there to go on a plant walk, were already in a ‘taxonomic’ discussion with Ravee. A few others joined them and off they went on a green path. Here's the highlight of the plant walk, in Ganeshram's words: "One of the topics that was underlying the whole walk was the importance of forests and native flora and how it affects us. The other was how knowledge…

As the rains continue to batter the city, it is easy to see that the infrastructure is of very poor quality. The potholes, the overflowing sewage, the flooding... these and many other observable things in the city remind us how shabby the quality of public works is. But this is only the apparent problem, the actual problem is deeper. Let's ask ourselves : why are the roads so bad? And then follow the answers steadily deeper to the root of the problem. The roads are bad because there is no check on their quality during the construction phase, and no…

KCDC plant located on the banks of Somasundarapalya lake in HSR Layout, is causing pollution much to the discomfort of residents. Pic: Anis Pandela A Facebook page created by a group of HSR Layout residents reads “Right to Breathe - Control KCDC from becoming life threatening.” This page aims at garnering public support for a protest that the residents have planned to stage in front of Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC) unit at Somasundarapalya on October 31st. Protests are not new for the residents of Somasundarapalya, Mangammanapalya and HSR Layout. They had staged at least three protests last year alone,…

A bus shelter and an expansive walkway is to be formally inaugurated on Monday (October 5, 2015) at 12:15 PM near International Tech Park Bangalore (ITPB) on Whitefield Road. The Xerox CSR project was executed in partnership with Whitefield Rising (WR). As a community partner, WR played the role of an enabler in this initiative. The guests of honour include Shri Arvind Limbavali, MLA, Mahadevapura constituency, Muniswamy, Corporator, Kadugudi ward, and Ekroop Caur, Managing Director, BMTC. The event will be graced by Ms. Arpana Mehra, Vice President, Xerox, and Mr Mohan Kumar, AVP and Head of CSR on ‘Environment Sustainability’…

Normalcy is likely to be hit in Bengaluru on Saturday September 26th, with various organisations calling for a state-wide bandh. The bandh has been called to protest against the delay in implementing the Kalasa–Banduri project in North Karnataka. Speaking to Citizen Matters, Kannada Okkuta President Vatal Nagaraj said, “We have declared a bandh from 6 am to 6 pm. What we are asking for is this: implementation of the Kalasa-Banduri project, linking the Mahadayi river, development of Uttara Karnataka, and finally, that farmers loans be waived.” Nagaraj added that the bandh had the support of 1,080 associations across Karnataka, including…

Just concluded BBMP Elections saw ward no 198 - Hemmigepura stand second in voters turnout. This ward reported 59.4% voter turnout, to stand next to Siddapura where 62.14% voted were polled. This is because, various layout residents of Kanakapura road are together and having a good net work among themselves. They have prepared a vision document for their aspiring corporators and submitted when they met them during the election campaign. The Residents Welfare Associations together decided to ensure they followup with their residents and ensure they go out and vote. Infact many associations helped the residents to find out their name…

Bellandur Ward candidates have started campaigning and reaching out to residents. Meanwhile residents had a discussion on the Bellandur Forum egroups and Facebook page, on what our needs are and what we want the winning candidate of the Bellandur Ward to address in her term.  This is the Citizen Manifesto that we came up with.  Governance Form a Ward Committee within a month: select 3 representatives from Bellandur apartment/layout RWAs - call out for applications by issuing public notice. Communication Have a public meeting at a fixed day, say first Saturday of the month to hear grievances and review execution. Liason with other agencies including traffic…

Members of the Indiranagar 2nd Stage Residents Welfare Association met to discuss what they would like to see happening in Ward 80-Hoysala Nagar and Ward 89-Jogupalya. Here is their wishlist for their neighbourhood from corporators aspirants. Their demands are common those of citizens in many other wards in the city - better waste management, safe passage for pedestrians, better sanitation. Here's what they had to say.  Sewarage drains and moris The sewarage drains in the residential layout of Indiranagar 2nd Stage, 10th and the 10th A Main crosses from 1st to 10th have become clogged. The drain pipes are very old,…