Governance

As the fear of bird flu looms over Bangalore, here are some facts that one ought to know: What is bird flu?Flu stands for influenza, a viral infection caused by the flu virus. And bird flu is ‘flu occurring in birds'. Depending on minor differences on the genetic make up of the virus, influenza virus is of type A, B and C. The current outbreak is caused by a subtype of influenza A, known as H5N1.If it is an infection of birds, why should humans be worried?Humans can catch bird flu directly through close contact with live infected birds. It…

Ever since the state Election Commission opened up the voter registration for the summary revision earlier this month, the system has been besieged with problems.With the online registration system available this time too, many citizens opted to submit their applications online. As on November 29th, 2,10,020 citizens registered and 1,40,325 submitted their applications online. Many citizens who registered could not submit their forms successfully. Some of them had registered during the earlier window in June, and complain that their application status still says, "Under process". A bunch of assembly constituencies, part of Batch I and II was open for registration…

Sahaja Rao had shifted to her new apartment in Koramangala five months ago and wanted a new LPG connection for her house. After asking several neighbours for available options and doing several rounds of the distributor for the required documents, she finally managed to get a new LPG connection for her new house. But then, it took her almost two months of repeated visits to the distributors and following up on the status. This is the case with several people who are want a new LPG connections or want to transfer the connections from other cities to Bangalore. Here's is…

With the special summary revision of photo electoral rolls, on till December 4th, 2012, citizens can enroll in the voter list online too. To check your name on the voter roll or for information on how to register as a new voter, see bangalore.citizenmatters.in/vote2013Who can become a voter?Any person who is:a citizen of India18 years of age or above on the qualifying date (1/1/2012)ordinarily resident in Bangalore.This includes a student in a University, Institute etc.not disqualified to be voter e.g. not of unsound mind etc.I am not able to find my name in the voters listDue to the use of…

Lakhs of names have been reported deleted from Bengaluru's voter lists - there is even a PIL requesting the High Court to intervene. Shantala Damle, a social activist, was shocked to see over 30% names deleted from Basvanagudi constituency. (Ref: ToI, November 9th)In his response, the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, said:"I disagree with the claims of 30% deletions. A revision exercise was done, but there was no erratic deletion. Booth level officers of BBMP have visited individual houses. In April-July 2012, over 53,000 names were added after BBMP realised that genuine voters were affected in some places. If there are…

Twenty days after BBMP issued his transfer, Brijesh Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) was able to get a stay on it. The state government's Urban Development Department (UDD) issued the stay, saying that BBMP could not make the decision on its own.In the order, written in Kannada, UDD clearly says that BBMP's decision was unilateral, and that no permission was asked from UDD. It was UDD that had passed the initial orders to create the new CCF position in BBMP, and to appoint IFS officer Kumar to it.BBMP had issued Kumar's transfer order on October 11th, and the officer…

This month, new contractors will start garbage clearance work in 168 wards in the city. These wards are covered in 77 packages. Fifty of the 77 packages have gone to a single company, named BVG India Pvt Ltd. This company has also bid for extremely low amounts in most packages. In one case, its bid amount was 50% lesser than BBMP's estimated amount. The corporate office of BVG India in Vasanth Nagar. This company won the highest number of garbage tenders in the city. Pic: Navya P K But there is another story behind these low amounts - BVG seems…

A PIL, questioning the deletion of lakhs of entries from the current voter rolls has come up for hearing at the Karnataka High Court. The court heard the case on November 6th.The PIL has been filed by Commander P G Bhat of Daksh, a Bangalore based organisation working towards accountability in politics and governance, Ashwin Mahesh of Loksatta party and Smart Vote, a campaign that encourages people to vote. The petitioners have named the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Chief Electoral officer (CEO), Karnataka as their main respondents, along with four other Electoral officers from Bangalore zone. It…

For over a month, there have been reports about power shortage in the city. Early October, BESCOM had contemplated power cuts for industries, but later changed the plan when rains started.Currently, the city has shortage of around 100 MW daily, which is only less than 5% of its total requirement, says P Manivannan, MD of BESCOM [1]. The shortage for entire BESCOM area is upto 600 MW. Manivannan says, "The shortage cannot be quantified, but varies from 0-600 MW through the day depending on wind and other sources. We are able to handle it, and are not contemplating any load…

The Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, advertised on 30th October with a headline  "Electoral rolls are being revised. Ensure that your name is in the Electoral Roll." After deleting about one million names from the rolls of Bangalore districts alone, does he cover up some gross errors of his organisation putting the onus on citizens to ensure that their names are in the roll? When his organisation has not accepted the errors, why would they shown any concern to correct the errors.Now they have delivered another set of incomplete and incorrect voter lists.The advertisement has some interesting phrases."... your tryst with…