Governance

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…

What do you think of when you interact with one of the conductors on a Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus? Do you view them merely as people who issue tickets on the bus? Many commuters who travel often by bus probably think of them as people they need to haggle with to get their change back; because of course, our conductors are change making machines! How many of us bother to look at these people as humans like us? Not many of us do - so believes Jayalakshmi, a BMTC bus conductor. A bus ride from Hessarghatta to Kalyanagar,…

Three major incidents of sexual assault/molestation and abuse grabbed headlines in a span of two months in Bengaluru last year. These incidents also triggered public outrage, protests and campaigns demanding justice. However, the limelight slowly faded away with the passing of time. The demands for justice have faded down, with most of the public forgetting the cases. At this juncture, Citizen Matters brings you a brief note on those cases with latest updates. The three cases that were of significance not just for the incident itself, but also due to various angles attached to it, are: 1. Case against IPS…

Sampath Ramanujam (fifth from left) and Lingaraj Urs (second from right) alongwith other members of BWRCA. Pic courtesy: BWRCA FB Page Two residents of posh homes in two Gram Panchayats in Whitefield area are gearing up to actively participate in the GP polls scheduled for June 2nd, 2015. This would not have been news, but for the notion that elite people living in gated communities pay least attention to local affairs. With only ten days left for the polling day, two members of gated communities in Whitefield area have filed their nominations to contest the election from Seegehalli and Kannamangala…

Vijaya Bhaskar, IAS, Administrator, Kumar Naik, IAS, BBMP Commissioner and Darpan Jain, IAS, Joint Commissioner (SWM), BBMP held an interaction with various civil society organisations in which at least one trade union representative participated. The purpose of this interaction was BBMP’s keenness to engage NGOs in its city cleaning drive. Commissoner Kumar Naik explained that the last minute invitation that did not reach many was well-intended at inclusivity of all, though the organising was all last minute, which he agreed the next time around would be done right. Here are the highlights of the meeting: 1) Almost everyone present agreed…

In 2008, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) rapped the then-Bengaluru Municipal Corporation, BMP, and pointed out they had not put in efforts to ensure segregation of municipal solid wastes at source, which made processing of the waste difficult. The situation did not change even after six years—CAG repeated the observation in their 2014 report. In 2008 and again in 2014, the CAG report points out that the BBMP has no system in place for waste segregation or scientific processing at landfills, which has led to ecological and environmental burden. Biomedical waste is another area of mismanagement. The CAG points…