Governance

G Manjunath Raju. Bangalore's city budget, presented by the BBMP at the city council session on August 30th raises more questions than answers. The steep revenue projections BBMP has cited are themselves a whole topic. Citizen Matters spoke to G Manjunath Raju, corporator of Kadu Malleswaram (Ward 65) and member of BBMP's Taxation and Finance committee that prepared the budget. Discussion on the budget at the council is scheduled for September 2nd. There is a several fold increase in revenues compared to last year. How are you planning to manage that? There are total 15 lakh properties in the city.…

Government Notification on Senior Citizen ID card. Click on image to enlarge. Directorate of Welfare of Disabled and Senior Citizens, Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Karnataka has authorised Dignity Foundation, an NGO promoting welfare of the senior citizens, to issue "Government ID Cards" to senior citizens of Bengaluru. Those who are 60+ can apply for ID cards producing simple documents like photocopy of age and address proof along with their two recent passport photographs, with a processing fee of Rs 25 and also furnishing blood group. The ID cards will be issued within a fortnight of submitting…

The BBMP  has proposed an expenditure of Rs.8488 crores for Bengaluru in its maiden budget session today. The same figure for last year (2009-10) when the city administration was running without an elected council was Rs 3582.02 crores. P N Sadashiva (BJP), Chairperson of the Taxation and Finance Committee and corporator of the Sunkenahalli ward, presenting the BBMP budget on August 30. BBMP Commissioner H Siddaiah, Mayor S K Nataraj and Deputy Mayor N Dayananda share the dias. Pic: Navya P K. However, BBMP's opening balance for 2010-11 was a mere Rs 424.72 cr. The administration proposes bridge the gap…

After Governor H R Bhardwaj refused to sign the Sakrama Bill last month, the B S Yeddyurappa-led state government is now planning to take its chances again by re-sending the bill for the governor's approval. The bill has been with the state's Department of Parliamentary Affairs and Legislation (DPAL) for almost a month now after the governor sent it back. But transport minister Ashoka (MLA-Padmanabhanagar) says that the governor's reason for not approving the bill - the 2007 High Court stay on the implementation of the penalty scheme - is not valid. A January 2008 meeting, with citizens discussing Setback…

"It's a nightmare when it rains", says 50-year-old Krishnaveni, " Every year we dread the arrival of the monsoons". Hers is one of more than 1500 families living in the low income neighbourhood (‘slum' in common usage) which has come to replace the quarters built for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) at Ejipura. Krishnaveni. Pic: V Sriram Krishnaveni and her husband moved into Block 13 of these Ejipura quarters around ten years ago. Barely three years later, on November 10, 2003, this block collapsed. They then moved into one of the tin sheds, meant as "temporary accommodation", put by the…

More than 500 senior citizens (aged 60 and above) took part in a 'dignified and silent protest' at Cubbon Park on August 16th 2010. This was a part of a nationwide protest, organized by the Joint Action Committee of Senior Citizens, and held with the intention of communicating to all governing bodies (at local and national levels) that most rights of senior citizens as mentioned in the constitution were not being safeguarded. In Bangalore, under the aegis of Federation of Senior Citizen Forums of Karnataka, this silent protest at Cubbon Park's Band Stand, was held between 10:30 and 11:30 am,…

In recent months, a large number of mobile phone towers have sprouted atop high-rise buildings in Bengaluru. Building owners or societies agree to the installation of these towers because a handsome rental can be had from the service provider. But how safe are these towers? With constant exposure to the low radiation that these transmitters emit, what are the long-term health effects of this? Does it matter which side the tower is facing (towards a neighbouring apartment complex or building, for instance)? Do the installers conform to international safety standards? Who monitors? This was one of the issues raised at…

After more than a week of erratic power cuts, BESCOM now says things will slowly get back to normal. "Everything is stabilised", says H Nagesh, Director (Technical), BESCOM. Nagesh says that load-shedding will now be scheduled. BESCOM officials say domestic feeders will face three-hour power cuts daily. Pic: Vaishnavi Vittal To know when you are likely to loose power during the day and how many times, read the tables in this article..  For domestic feeders, there will three hours of power cuts daily,  one hour per cut, in three time windows: 6 AM to 10 AM, 10 AM to 2…

Forget the common man, not even the judiciary finds it easy to sway the state's government officials from perpetual indifference. At a Lok Adalat hearing on August 6th 2010, many top officials were pulled up by the judges for poor performance and lack of initiative. However, the babus wouldn't be swayed. After the session, many were seen joking about the whole affair. Around 120 people including senior government officials and their subordinates, lawyers, members of non-governmental organisations and civil society groups were present at the hearing, held at the High Court. Among the first to face the wrath of the…

"I don't want my daughter to make the same mistakes I made", says 35-year-old Selvi P, a domestic worker who married at the early age of 19 to Pazhani, who then used to work at a petrol bunk. Against her family's wishes, Selvi married the man she was determined to spend the rest of her life with. On a recent trip to Mysore, Selvi saw the campus of IT major Infosys. Since then it is her dream that her daughter Savita works there. Pic: Vaishnavi Vittal But her happiness was short-lived as her husband soon took to alcohol and beat…