Governance

After giving the full amount for the BMTC ticket you will have to ask "Ticket kodi sir" - "please give me ticket sir." I have seen many conductors taking cash and if the commuter is travelling for short distance, they just don't give the ticket. What happens if you give money and not take ticket? This incident happened in BMTC Shanti Nagar Bus Depot. Last year, I used to go for weekend trips and manage to reach Bangalore either Sunday night or Monday early morning. One day, I was comfortably seated in a bus at Majestic. The bus was fully packed…

The Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP) seems to have new arsenal - an Andriod app for Bangalore road users. The app has been developed Shree Manu, an employee with a software firm, who builds apps as a hobby. Manu initially approached the BTP with a location finder app called Wherez U, that he had developed post the Nirbhaya incident in Delhi. The BTP posted a link to the app on its Facebook page, and the app was received rather well; it has been downloaded about 4000 times so far. Following this, a user gave feedback saying that it would be useful…

BESCOM consumers need not worry about wrong billing anymore. BESCOM has noticed that customers sometimes receive electricity bills that show more units they have actually consumed. They have attritudes error or negligence in meter reading, to be the main reasons for  wrong billing. Now BESCOM is taking a step to put an end to such human errors, through a technology called Photo Billing. A BESCOM employee checks the meter reading. In Photo Billing, the meter reader will take photographs of the reading of units consumed, with a special inbuilt 3MP Camera that is given to him. The captured images, will…

  As soon as the monthly Council Meeting started at 11.30am on January 28, 2014, councillors from opposition party demanded to know why the BBMP annual report and CAG reports were not tabled in the council Padmanabha Reddy said that when the current Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was finance minister, he did away with 2% surcharge of stamp duty, which would have fetched some income to BBMP now if existed. Councillors of Congress party, outraged by this, protested vehemently by getting into the well of the council. The meeting was adjourned. Padmanabha Reddy later clarified that he did not have any…

Many citizens have filed their objections to draft rules of Akrama - Sakrama, formally called as Karnataka Town and Country Planning (Regulation of Unauthorised Development or Construction) Rules 2013 on the notification No: UDD 566 MyAPRa 2013, Bangalore, Dated December 12th 2013. Those who filed the objections include Vijayan Menon from Kormangala, Nagesh from Southern part of Outer Ring Road and others. Overall legality of the scheme The Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC) having been established, the planning of the city, including land use, must be routed through this statutory body, and cannot be passed by the State government independently. The…

After reading lot of blogs and articles on Aadhar enrollment, I thought would share my own experiences at two centers in Bangalore. I enrolled in Malleshwaram center and my family members did at Basavangudi center (both are Karvy's center). I enrolled in December 2013. My family members in January 2014. Address: 337, Karuna Complex, Sampige Road , Opp. New Vegetable Market, Malleshwaram Landmark: VGP showroom (1st floor). You can see the Board Aadhar enrollment centre in front of building. 1) I went in at about 9:30 am (on a Monday) and hence could not find much crowd. 2) I filled…

Akrama Sakrama is a complete fraud. There are many things wrong with this scheme. Sadly, Congress, BJP and JDS appear to be united in their attempts to destroy the city. Regularisation may be unavoidable, given the scale of what has happened so far, but if it's not done right even now, that will be an open invitation to let things carry on as they are in the future too.(a) The proposal does not include any penalty for the officials who connived in the illegalities. In fact, they have not even been identified.(b) There is virtually no transparency. Which are the…

There were days when you had to call and book an appointment, wait in long queues and go through harrowing ordeals to get a passport. Now, with online appointments and professionalised services like Saakala, the experience of getting a passport has changed in Bengaluru. Here's how you can apply for a normal passport. Why do you need a passport? Why would you need a passport? To be eligible for foreign travel of course. It also holds good as a valid government-approved ID card, it acts as a proof of address, it is a reminder of your heritage and can also…

What is KASA MUKTHA? The Karnataka Chief Minister launched the initiative in 22 Wards on July 24, 2013 to solve Bangalore's 'garbage problem'. He promised a Kasa Muktha (Garbage-Free) Bengaluru in 6 months (by Jan 24, 2014). The 'garbage problem' is being addressed at 3 levels:a) Segregation of garbage – by the citizenb) Processing of segregated garbage – by the BBMPc) Elimination of BLACK SPOTS (or open garbage dumps) Why focus on BLACK SPOTS? This citizen-driven pilot focused only on eliminating Black Spots. The BLACK SPOT problem is not just a garbage problem – it affects public health, sanitation, pedestrian…