Governance

Schedule for the much-awaited Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) election has been declared. The Karnataka State Election Commission has scheduled the election on July 28th 2015. With the announcement of poll schedule, model code of conduct has come into force with immediate effect and will be in force till August 1st. Addressing media persons on Thursday, State Election Commissioner P N Srinivasachari declared that the BBMP Commissioner will issue poll notification on July 8th. Last date for filing nominations is July 15th. Last date for scrutiny of nominations is July 16th. Candidates can withdraw their nominations before July 20th. Polling…

Be it your road, the garbage or street lights in your area, it is Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) that has to set it right. With BBMP polls to be held anytime now, now is your chance to choose the candidate who will help solve the problems in your area, and give enough representation to citizens from your ward in the BBMP council. As part of our special coverage of BBMP elections, we are happy to provide a special space for candidates to reach out to voters. Here is a form, both in Kannada and English, which the candidates can…

With the High Court on Monday ordering the State government and State Election Commission to conduct Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) polls on time, air of apprehension has surrounded the BBMP restructuring process. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has called for a meeting tomorrow, on June 25th 2015, in which selected ministers in the state government, MPs, MLAs and MLCs from Bengaluru, the Urban Development Additional Chief Secretary, the BBMP Administrator and the BBMP Commissioner will take part. The meet is expected to decide on whether the BBMP will be restructured or not. While the BBMP Restructuring Expert Committee is likely to…

Uncertainty that loomed large over BBMP election has been cleared, with the High Court on Monday dismissing the State government’s Impleading Application (IA) seeking time to conduct polls on the grounds of releasing fresh reservation roster. Apart from dismissing the IA, the Court also imposed penalty on the government for abuse of the process of judiciary. The Court has ordered the State government to pay Rs 10,000 to each of the respondents in the case. It also dismissed applications filed by other applicants including Karnataka State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and levied them a fine of Rs…

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is currently the largest municipal corporation in the country, operating within an area of over 700 sq km. Due to the wide area of operation, there has been a lag in the service delivery to the citizens of the city. In view of this, Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC), in association with Daksh, is conducting a widespread survey on the performance and responsiveness of BBMP, and citizens' perception of the proposed trifurcation of the municipal corporation and the upcoming elections.  Please take a few minutes of your time and fill out the questionnaire below. This will help…

A recent circular sent by the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) directed apartments with Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) to adhere to certain parameters. This kickstarted a debate among apartment residents, as the BWSSB did not publish the circular on their website and there was no official communication on this to any of the apartments that have STP. The BWSSB circular issued by BWSSB Engineer-in-Chief on May 19th 2015 deals with two aspects: 1) Making it mandatory to use external additives like microorganisms for bio-culturing in STPs 2) Compulsory installation of single low cost ‘probe’, a sensor equipment, fitted…

The BDA tender makes it mandatory to leave some space to make the skywalk path visible from beneath the road. Pic: Shree D N The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) wants to improve pedestrian experience on Outer Ring Road by building 25 skywalks. However, the plan has hit a deadlock, after there were no bids or expressions of interest put up by anyone for the tender to construct 23 of these. Jayashankar Reddy, Executive engineer, BDA, told Citizen Matters that no applications were made for the tenders the BDA had called for, to construct pedestrian these pedestrian skywalks. The BDA plans…

Lingaraj Urs (third from right) with members of Bruhat Whitefield Residential Community Association (BWRCA). Pic: BWRCA Facebook Page Well-known formula for bringing in change world over is, if you want to change the system, be a part of it first. Lingaraj Urs, a top IT honcho, fed up of the problems in his area, wanted to change the system to improve governance and administration in his area. He decided to get into poll politics to do it. And he won. To most well-heeled urban citizens, politics was thus far known as ‘the last resort of scoundrels’; good men and women…

​The Urban Development Department (UDD) has published the draft of the Kamataka Municipal Corporations - Ward committee Rules, 2013 on May 26th 2015. Kathyayini Chamaraj, Trustee CIVIC, says they had not announced or published it on the UDD website. When Citizen Matters checked the website on June 8th 2015, the ticker on the homepage still carried the rules that were gazetted on November 10th 2014.   Kathyayini says that when she enquired about the rules on multiple visits to the UDD office, the standard response was that it would take ten days and the like. When she visited the office on June 4th…

The Karnataka Composting Development Corporation (KCDC) has decided to serve a notice to Terra Firma Biotechnologies Pvt Ltd, on cancellation of the agreement for supplying vermicompost, after the issue of garbage being sold as vermicompost came into light. A citizen and a Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) official spotted garbage being burnt in a site near Sarjapur Road in Bengaluru, at Choodasandra in Chikkanayakanahalli area. They were shocked to see that the sieved fine garbage powder was being filled into bags labelled ‘vermicompost’ with the name of KCDC on it. Citizen Matters had carried an exclusive story on this…