Civic

Heard that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been spending thousands of crores of rupees on 'development' projects? And awarding contracts to various private consultants? But, who are they? Bangalore based Anti Corruption Forum (ACF - a group of social activists who have good experience and knowledge of the RTI Act and many other legislations) decided to find out. According to information ACF has obtained, a total of 97 consultants throughout India have been appointed for the 'development' work out of which 18 are from Bangalore. The ACF filed an RTI application with the BBMP in December 2009, requesting details…

This is the final Bengaluru (BBMP) ward reservations list for the city council elections 2010 released by the Government of Karnataka on 3 March 2010. For the convenience of readers, Citizen Matters has sorted this list in three ways - by ward number, community (BC, SC, ST, women, general) and ward name.Key: BC-A = Backward Class, Category A, BC-B = Backward Class-Category B, G = General, W = Women, SC = Scheduled Caste, ST = Scheduled Tribe. RESERVATIONS BY WARD NUMBER  Ward No. Ward Name Reservation Type       1 Kempe Gowda BC-A 2 Choudeshwari BC-A, W 3 Atooru…

I got an oral summons from the Frazer Town traffic Police station on November 22nd 2009. While I kept racking my brain to remember if there were any unpaid parking tickets, I was shocked to find out that my car number was cited in a hit-and-run case on Nov 8. It made even less sense because on that day, I was not even in town. I was traveling to Mumbai the entire week on business!I took relevant hotel/ flight reservation details to the police station. The complainant did not show up. The police felt convinced that I was not involved.…

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has wrongly sanctioned a plan for a commercial building in Panduranganagar, located off Bannerghatta Road near the Indian Institute of Management, in violation of zoning rules in the city's Revised Master Plan (RMP) 2015.The building under-construction, a convention centre at Site No. 223 in the layout is on a plot size measuring 400 sq metres. Whereas, a minimum of 2000 sq metres is required for building a convention centre, as per the BDA's RMP, which has not been followed by the BBMP's Town Planning department in Bommanahalli zone. The plan sanction for this convention…

Dear Shri Mohsin avare,This is regarding the Draft of the Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority Act. I am writing to you on behalf of the Hasiru Usiru network.We would like to commend the DULT for moving to create a unified transport authority. The creation of such an authority is a real need right now. We would also like to commend you for pro-actively arranging a public consultation to discuss the same.To ensure that the act is people friendly and so that people get a genuine chance to shape this act, we would like to request you to -1)Grant more time…

BBMP, state government and political aspirants may be gearing up for the elections on February 21st 2010. But with campaigning yet to start, the elections are not a hard reality yet for many residents. Resident Welfare Associations too are waiting and watching for the candidates to be announced. We spoke to a few people from JP Nagar, Ward 177 in south Bangalore to find out what are the improvements they wished to see around their neighbourhood. JP Nagar ward map. Credit: Google Maps.K M Handyal, a retired engineer has lived in JP Nagar II phase, for 27 years now. He…

A nifty escape route is all that we look for while rattling through the streets of Bengaluru to avoid the cacophony, the dirt and the dangers of it all. Quite the contrary, streets mean different things to different people, especially to intellectuals and artists who look at them as no less than theatre of life with a medley of dynamics on display - be it political, social, economic, cultural, or religious. The events explored a diverse set of issues on streets in India - from planning of streets, the politics of streets, appropriation of streets for religious rituals and so…

“I’m a defaulter”, he says laughing, for having dodged this interview for several weeks. Dressed casually in a pink striped shirt and black trousers he sits down to talk, in the backdrop of the public consultation of the urban development draft policy in Bengaluru. This policy was drafted in light of the challenges related to urban governance and to chart a new course for urban areas in the state.Former Corporator and now Minister for Law, Parliamentary affairs and Urban Development, S Suresh Kumar appears to have his priorities right. “We have to learn lessons from Bangalore. Bangalore should be repeated…

Open the day’s newspapers , and all you see are scary reports  -- about viral fevers, dengue, people thronging to clinics for medication, waterlogged layouts. A judgment under the Consumer Protection Act, handed out in Chennai  will be of interest to citizens in Bengaluru who would like to do something about the sorry state of civic amenities and cleanliness in the metropolis,  but knew also that the municipality could not be sued under the Act because of a  ruling that citizens were “not consumers” of municipal services under the law. A citizens' group filed a complaint with the Tamilnadu Consumer…

During the October RTI clinic at Cubbon Park, I met Jacob P (name changed to protect identity), a private sector employee who participated in the September edition for the first time. After that, he has never missed a clinic and has been updating me on the status of his applications regularly. "The commitment and enthusiasm of some of the RTI activists I met during the clinic inspired me to use the Act in public interest. I have told one of my friends about what I saw and heard and hope to bring him along next time", said Jacob. In October…