Governance

Respected Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, I was delighted to read yesterday’s newspaper report in The Times of India (Only 97 city high-rises have occupancy certificates) that said that your government would “take suitable action against builders who flout the building bye-laws”. As you have rightly said, those who have violated the laws need to be punished, but while this is being done, steps need to be taken to prevent this violation from happening in the first place. It is distressing to note that "only 97 high-rise buildings in the city have obtained OCs between 2009 and 2014". This means that there are…

Over 1000 contract pourakarmikas working in eight zones of BBMP and many supporters gathered on Wednesday at the BBMP head office protesting against the failure of the contractors to pay them monthly wages and BBMPs indifferent attitude in ensuring that powrakarmikas get paid the minimum wages and wages on time. Pourakarmikas from Sunkadakatte area have not been paid since four months. Some of them have not paid their rent and have been thrown out of their rented accommodation by their house owners. In Mathikere, powrakarmikas are being paid only Rs 4,000 a month which is far less than even the…

As urban sprawl in India unfolds at a frantic pace, it’s quite natural to ask: where does a city begin and where does it end? What is the spatial terrain that makes up a city? What should the boundaries of the city government be? These are some fundamental questions that need to be considered while discussing urban governance. These questions become all the more relevant at a time when there are discussions for the division of a city such as Bengaluru into two or three different municipal corporations. While questions on the institutional form of the city government have received…

Suresh, an employee of a private firm, waited patiently at the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) premises, for his name to announced in the flat allotment list. He had applied for a one bedroom flat in Kaniminike, as he trusted the BDA, and was wary of going through any middlemen to purchase a house. He was one among the hundreds who waited with bated breath to see if they would be lucky, in flat allotment that took place on November 27th 2014. In its 4th notification dated February 28th 2014, the BDA called for applications for 4,228 flats (1BHK EWS category…

Over 200 hundred bus commuters, including 90 senior citizens and differently-abled persons, supporters and members of 17 organisations participated in a peaceful walk on the Hebbal Flyover to `Reclaim the roads.’ Raising slogans and carrying placards, led by two people on wheelchairs, who find it very difficult to use the roads for lack of proper facilities and space for pedestrians. The event was organised by Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike, a coalition of over 20 organisations in Karnataka, which has been fighting for the rights of the road users and for safe roads and facilities for bus users in Bengaluru. “On…

Pic courtesy: BBPV Bengaluru Bus Prayaanikara Vedike (BBPV) organized a Makkala Adalat on the experiences of children and the concerns faced by them everyday in BMTC buses. The Adalat saw participation of children from schools across Bangalore sharing their concerns while traveling in buses in the city. A panel of officials and social activists responded to the issues raised by the children. The panel consisted of Shyamala S, Assistant Traffic Manager, Public Complaints, BMTC ; Nagaraj V, Divisional Traffic Officer, BMTC; Prahlad, Secretary, KSRTC and BMTC Staff and Workers Federation; Manohar, Human Rights Activist; Nagasimha, Child rights Activist from CRT.…

The Karnataka government is trying to draw the attention of citizens yet again, to get their borewells registered. The government has notified 35 taluks in 12 districts of the state as the places that are overdrawing water. It has declared that it is mandatory to register borewells in these areas. The effort had been launched by the state government an year ago, however it does not seem to have reached everyone. How does this affect you, the citizen of Bengaluru? If you have a borewell and if it is not registered, you need to get it registered. If you are…

On October 2nd, Prime Minister Modi announced Swachh Bharat Abhiyan or Mission Clean India. In his speech, he appealed to Indians to devote 100 hours every year towards the cause of cleanliness. He also stated, “It is our social responsibility as citizens of India to help fulfil Gandhiji's vision of Clean India, by his 150th birth anniversary in 2019.” Since then, the media has been reporting of clean-up drives across the country, involving bigwigs from the industry, celebrities, politicians, NGOs and what not, almost on a daily basis. Why, some politicians even arranged for garbage to be littered, so that they had…

On October 6th, eight-year-old girl, Geethalakshmi who was in Bengaluru for her Dasara holidays, was washed away, after falling into a four-feet wide open drain on a footpath near Bilekahalli. Her body was found in the Madiwala lake after two days. The incident fired up the anger of citizens towards BBMP's maladministration. After this incident, BBMP promised to repair the footpath. In a PIL related to the incident, the High Court rapped BBMP and gave a deadline to repair all footpaths, and finally things seemed to be moving in the right direction. Well, if you thought everything was alright, you…

A rising spate of regulations in the education sector is slowly choking the supply. And Education departments around the country are catching up to Revenue and Transport departments in their levels of corruption. The irony is that the Education department officials turn a blind eye to the government schools, which often don't meet even the most basic regulatory standards. Unfortunately, parents whose kids are in private schools are not sufficiently worried about this. They believe that schools should be forced to keep fees as low as possible, while delivering quality education. They also believe that their children's schools will pay…