Civic

The Richards Town Residents Association (RTRA) invited all the residents of Richards Town to join hands in cleaning up Richards Park, one of the most prominent landmarks of the area. Young and old (the oldest being 86 years old) gathered on a Sunday morning armed with gloves, brooms and garbage bags to clean the park and lead by example. Richards Park was set up in the late 1800's to decongest the South Parade Area. Named after Richard, a British Civil Services Officer, the park is the highest point of Richards Town. This beautiful park with a bandstand where the British…

Seven months after their first ‘Gandhigiri' protest, residents of Sachidananda Nagara layout in Rajarajeshwari Nagar held a second protest at the BBMP Commissioner's office on 25th April for the same reason - non-issuance of Khatas. In September last year, a group formed by residents named Sachidananda Nagara Nyayapara Andolana (SNNA) had presented roses to the Commissioner saying that they should be provided khatas without having to give bribes. But despite an order from the Commissioner in November, only 120 residents have got khatas so far. There are nearly 800 residents in the layout. Another set of 120 khata applications have…

It has taken just about 2 months to flood National Games Village (NGV) after the initial protest on 25th February from the residents for opening up the storm water drains. The trauma has just started with the first few summer showers. We had water overflow from the drains reach areas near the centre court in Tungabhadra, NGV on 22 April. Water overflowing from open drains into the residential area. Pic: Meera Rajesh There was no way to cross between the towers without stepping into the dirty water from the drain! BBMP had earlier taken an on the spot decision to…

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…

In Support of Chikka Bapu (Anna Hazare) for Jan Lokpal bill thousands turned up at Freedom Park, Bangalore on 8-Apr evening. All TV channels lined up to cover the hunger strike that is going on for past 4 days.People came up with different placards, banners, posters to show how much they hate corruption. All must have been the sufferers of corruption in their lives.I heard a story from the public at Freedom Park ... one of the members factory was gutted in a fire when he is taking part in hunger strike at Freedom Park. Fire officials asked 20k for…

Residents of L&T South City in Bangalore have taken their fight against their residential complex's builder L&T, and original landowner Dinesh Ranka, to the open. On April 1, about one thousand residents from the apartment complex assembled in Freedom Park and held a demonstration against L&T and Ranka. Court cases are already going on between the apartment owners' association SUGRUHA, L & T and Ranka. Over thousand South City residents including children demonstrated at Freedom Park. Pic: Navya P K The issue is that L&T and Ranka had relinquished 12 acres of land within the 34-acre apartment complex to the…

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…

Residents of Dollars Colony in J P Nagar 4th phase are complaining of increasing traffic jams at the 8th main road-2nd cross intersection. The cause they say is the M K Ahmed super market located at the intersection. Sign at the entrance (8th Main Road) of the basement restricting parking to two-wheelers. Pic: Yogaraj Mudalgi. K V R Somayaji, at IT consultant in his fifties, who lives opposite the store on 2nd cross says that the store is not allowing car parking in the basement, leading to customers parking on busy 8th Main. A city no-parking sign prohibits parking of…

Garbage contractor S Ramachandra Reddy is in charge of Bellandur ward (150) since December 2009. Bellandur is in the south-eastern outskirts of Bengaluru, and falls under BBMP's Mahadevapura Zone. Reddy's track record has been extremely poor and yet he stays on, and even talks of the new contract coming up this year. Contract workers shifting garbage from autos to tipper lorry at Haralur road, near Kaikondanahalli lake. Pic Navya P K. Mamatha, Environment Engineer, BBMP (Mahadevpura zone) says that there have been many complaints about this contractor. "When public complain to us about specific instances, we attend to those promptly.…