Governance

Maverick Holdings and BBMP signed a concessionaire agreement on 2 January, 2012, clearing the deck for the construction of 1,640 Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quarters at Ejipura. This is coming after a protracted legal battle that lasted nine years. The agreement was signed between Uday Garudachar of Maverick and BBMP Engineer in Chief BT Ramesh. Pic: Vijayalakshmi P But the residents still do not know where they will be relocated when the construction starts. Neither the BBMP nor Maverick has informed them about the relocation plans. And on January 14, Shantinagar MLA NA Harris had a shocking request to make…

In the case of a citizen's death during a Fire Department mock drill on February 24th, the Police have filed an FIR under Section 304A of the IPC (death by negligence) and are investigating. The case was based on a complaint by the victim's brother against fire department. Section 304A is bailable and carries maximum sentence of two years imprisonment with or without fine. File pic: Kiran Jonnalagadda Lawyer Mukund T S confirms that prosecution can be under Section 304A itself, as there was no intent to murder. "The incident was caused by negligence only, hence the more serious Section…

  A few days ago, I was having lunch at a restaurant in Jayanagar 4th Block which offered an excellent view of the Cool Joint junction. A surprise checkpost set up by three traffic policeman close to the junction was the highlight of my lunch. During the course of half-an-hour, the police stopped 16-17 vehicles with no apparent discrimination between autos, two wheelers, four wheelers and goods vehicles. The policeman would stand behind a tree and suddenly step in front of the vehicle of his choice to make sure that there was no escaping the long arm of the law.…

On 24 February, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) called for a hearing on the basis of the complaints given by the residents of the Brigade Palm Springs, JP Nagar 7th phase, against the noise caused by granite cutting and polishing units functioning in their neighbourhood. Residents of Brigade Palm Springs at KSPCB office. Pic: Deepthi M S. The residents had given a written complaint to Environment officer, South one on 6 February. JP Nagar, where these factories are situated comes under the jurisdiction of South One department.The complaint was against Ashwini Granites, Alankar Granites and Vijaya Granites, which…

Third Saturday of the month is the time to talk traffic trouble with BTP. People from Koramangala, Silk Board, BTM layout, HSR Layout, Bommanahalli, Bellandur and Sarjapur turn up at the Madivala police station to discuss the various problems dogging pedestrians, motorists and road users in general. Madiwala traffic police public meeting. Pic: Meera K On February 18, members of Spandana Nagarika Vedike from BTM layout and a few other residents brought the list of their problems. Bommanahalli auto stand should be removed. It is causing more nuisance than helping.Request for a road hump on Gandhi Road.Usage of the flyover…

The long pending request of Jayanagar residents to remove transformers on footpaths has materialised. BESCOM is converting multi-pole transformers here to single pole transformers. (Single pole transformers occupy lesser space on footpaths.) Work started on the transformer on the busy 7th Main road, 36th Cross in Jayanagar 4th block, on February 13th. The old transformer used to obstruct traffic on the road, and the footpath was unusable. This transformer in Jayanagar 4th block is being replaced by a single pole transformer now. Pic: Keshava Kumar N Persuation by Jayanagar MLA B N Vijaya Kumar and the team work by BESCOM…

An analysis of a mere 169 city property tax returns between 2008-10 by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) found that Bengaluru had lost over Rs.200 crores in revenues. 25 software companies alone accounted for Rs.90 crores of this. The fault: BBMP officials had not done any cross-verification on the self-assessment based tax filings.   Further, CAG's audit of BBMP balances in over 600 bank accounts found out that it had left hundreds of crores of rupees lying in temporary accounts during 2008-10 without transferring the money to the main bank branches. Without this, the funds could be…

Jayanagar police nabbed a chain snatcher on 13th February. Inspector S K Umesh shot the thief who was trying to flee after snatching the chain of a resident. The victim, a 45-year-old woman, was going for a walk in front of her house when her gold chain worth Rs 2 lakh was snatched. Police chased the accused Vijay Kumar and shot him in the thigh. Kumar is a resident of Ramanagara aged around 30 years.The incident occured at around 9.45 pm near Lakshman Rao Park, 38th Cross, Jayanagar 5th Block. Police later admitted Kumar to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital. (Umesh says…

BWSSB is carrying out work of laying sewage pipelines near the Wipro junction in Koramangala, 1st block. The beginning of 1st main road, Koramangala, near the Wipro junction has been dug up for this. The entry to this road is blocked. This road will be blocked for a week from now."It takes time as a lot of other civic amenity lines are in the way," says the Assistant Engineer, BWSSB, who is in charge of the work.           Earthmovers at work. Pic: Deepthi M S More work is planned to take place in and around the Wipro Junction, which may…

"Our department will take this as a challenge, support us, we will make the process more easily" says Deputy Commissioner of Police, Dr P S Harsha (south east division). DCP Harsha addressing the HSR layout residents. Pic: Vijayalakshmi P Federation of HSR Layout Residents Welfare Association on 28 Janaury, conducted an interaction session with the police officials at HSR club. The topic of discussion was mainly crime and traffic problems. "I am ashamed about the theft that happened in the at 6th sector where many IPS officers and commissioner reside , still the cases are not solved. Why?" asked Dr.…