Governance

"Better than nothing" is not progress. It's just better than nothing. If we set our metrics so low, we can never develop. Take the example of buses. The city needs about 13,000 to 15,000 buses to reach the kind of service levels that are seen in places with excellent bus service globally (1,250 buses per million of population). Also, each year, as the population grows, the fleet strength has to grow by about 200-300. That's the need. The actual fleet strength now is 6,500. And each year, 600 buses are scrapped, so these need to be replaced to keep the…

By-election for Hebbal Legislative Assembly Constituency is just a week’s away. The Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka has announced the date for by-election to Hebbal and two other constituencies. The election for the three constituencies, Hebbal, Bidar and Devadurga, is scheduled for February 13th. The by-election in Hebbal is to fill up the vacant post that was created following the death of MLA Jagadish Kumar last November. As many as 20 candidates are in the fray in the Hebbal constituency. During the last election, the BJP candidate had won the seat. As this by-election is seen as a matter of…

Many government officials invited to attend the state’s first ever public discussion on slum evictions chose not to attend the event. The Karnataka Slum Janara Sanghatanegala Okkoota, a federation of slum resident organisations, organised the hearing in light of the increasing number of slum evictions in Bengaluru. The federation invited officials from the departments of Housing Urban Development, Revenue, Women and Child Welfare, SC/ST Commission, Backward Classes Commission, Minorities Commission, Child Rights Commission and the Karnataka Slum Board. The discussion was held to examine citizenship, urban deprivation and future policy direction. A jury of eight was present to preside over…

Most of our neighbourhoods in Bengaluru are beset with infrastructure issues; issues that need to be fixed to ensure a better quality of life for us. In a city that is as cosmopolitan as ours, the issues are also not the same across the city; they differ from one neighbourhood to the next. Every year, our local government prepares an annual budget for the city, in which, budgets are allocated to all the neighbourhoods (wards). Also, a decision is taken on which issues would be taken up for work in each neighbourhood. So far, it was difficult, maybe even impossible…

Ever since the BBMP published a draft notification proposing to hike the property tax with effect from next financial year, there has been opposition for the proposal from various quarters. Citizen groups have termed the property tax hike as unscientific and non-essential. While the BBMP is gearing up to revise the property tax in less than two months time, the citizens groups comprising motley of residents welfare associations have been trying their best to convince the BBMP on why the tax hike does not make much sense.   On September 8th, 2015, the BBMP issued a draft notification on revising…

Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) on behalf of the citizens of Bengaluru city had submitted a petition to the Karnatala Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on November 9th 2015 against BESCOM’s unsafe electrical installations across the city. Prior to this, B.PAC conducted an on-field survey covering 21 locations, identifying more than 200 dangerous electrical installations, awaiting major tragedies to happen. The pictures submitted were self-explanatory that none of these installations fulfilled the safety norms recommended by the Central Electricity Authority. Pics: B.PAC B.PAC requested the commission to direct BESCOM to replace all dangerous installations in public access areas on priority. The…

Tinsheds at the EWS quarters in Ejipura were razed to the ground in January 2013. Pic: Karthik Ranganathan The Karnataka Slum Janara Sanghatanegala Okkoota has organised a public hearing on the 28th of January. 12 slums from six districts across the state have been identified to highlight the socio-economic and cultural antecedents of slum evictions, and the untold human cost of evictions especially on children, women and the aged.  Date: January 28th 2016 Time: 10 am to 5.30 pm Venue: Gandhi Bhavan, Shivananda Circle Overall, there will be cases of 12 slums, each with a slum profile, the life experience of…

January 25th is observed as National Voters' Day by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Does it include real voters? I doubt. As mentioned in my last blog post, sloganeering and “celebrations” have started on January 14th. Some reality checks on the rolls of Bengaluru Legislative Assemblies, published on January 11th 2016: Was there an exodus in parts of Mahadevpura? ECI rules require District Electoral Officers (DEO) to examine cases of deletions exceeding 2% and additions exceeding 4%. Deletion is more than 2% in 152 parts. Top 7 of them are from Mahadevapura constituency, with more than 20% deletions each. 266…

A file picture from an earlier edition of Traffic Police Day. Despite the growing vehicular population, Bengaluru is kept on the move thanks to its traffic police. Battling the harsh sun, rain, pollution, the indignant citizen and many civic woes, the service of the Traffic Police goes unnoticed. With the aim of urging young people to recognise their tireless contribution and to empathise with the hardships they face, (Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness) CMCA organises 'Traffic Police Day'. Traffic Police Day is dedicated to thanking one of the city’s unacclaimed heroes – the traffic police. 2016 marks the 11th annual celebration…

GAIL has begun the pipeline laying work for its PNG project in HSR Layout. Pic: Akshatha M Within months of the GAIL Gas Ltd initiating work on its ambitious City Gas Distribution Project in Bengaluru, it has attracted the wrath of residents of HSR Layout. A few days ago one of our readers had written about how HSR Sector 7 residents are caught between GAIL and BBMP. The author had complained against the contractors for doing a shoddy job and not restoring the trenches properly. Now it is the turn of HSR Sector 2 residents. HSR Layout is the second…