Governance

Recently a certain type of vehicle mugging cases is on the rise. They seem to be targeting IT employees specifically.The areas that have been targeted are around Iblur junction, between Iblur and Marathahalli, or Iblur to Kaikondrahalli or Kaikondrahalli to Wipro.  Timings is usually between 11 am to 4 pm. The offenders are riding a black Pulsar.  They are two or three of them. The vehicle has a kannada registration number plate. Identification marks: One person is stout and has a dark complexion. Another one is lean with medium complexion.MODUS OPERANDI They stop your vehicle on a pretext, saying that…

At a time when Bengaluru is facing acute water shortage, call it ironic that over 400 half-litre bottles (costing Rs 8 each) of mineral water were consumed during the two-day special ‘water' session of the BBMP council. Only one corporator, Congress's K Poornima (Basavanapura, Ward 53) pointed out to this, requesting Mayor S K Nataraj to ensure that smaller bottles are provided or to make it compulsory for all corporators to carry the bottles back with them instead of leaving them in the council hall, half-consumed. Poornima's appeal may well have fallen on deaf ears. It is unfortunate that many…

For a majority of them, it was their first ever chance to speak as people's representatives. That too on a pressing issue. As BWSSB Chairman P B Ramamurthy put it, "It was a golden opportunity. I couldn't have got so much information from anywhere else". For two days, corporators from across Bengaluru voiced their concerns over water-related problems in their wards. Demands for borewells, jetting machines, regular desilting and replacement of old pipes with new ones, were made. Complaints ranged from lack of cooperation from local BWSSB officials, to the need to hold monthly meetings with engineers. The occasional bouquet…

In the two-day BBMP council session on water, as each corporator spoke about the water problem in their wards, they all had one demand in common. Borewells. And more borewells."I need 20 borewells in my ward", said one. "Give me 10-15 borewells", said another. At the end of the session, as BWSSB Chairman P B Ramamurthy announced the various projects taken up by the Board, the corporators requested him to mention the immediate plan of action to address the water crisis and demanded a response to how many borewells were going to be installed immediately. Mayor S K Nataraj and…

At the two-day special BBMP council session on water, Mayor S K Nataraj and BWSSB Chairman P B Ramamurthy made a slew of announcements to address the water crisis in Bengaluru. These include both short-term and long-term measures to improve infrastructure and ensure water supply to all.Here are announcements made by the BWSSB:111 Assistant Executive Engineers (AEE) are being recruited. The process will be completed in the next 15 days193 valve men are being recruited. This will also be completed in the next two weeks78 sanitary workers will be recruited. The BWSSB has only 136 sanitary workers currently, apart from…

The BBMP Tax Collection System is in shambles. Neither the help centres nor the online system is user friendly. I am listing below the various problems faced by tax payers.1. Application Forms not properly worded. The depreciation clause in the ‘Instructions to Tax Payers' booklet should be clear as to where and how to apply this clause. The tax calculated for 2009-10 will not be the same as in 2008-09, if this clause is applied as per its real meaning. It will be higher because of the use of ‘Net Taxable Annual Value' without depreciation for the subsequent years in…

By mid-April I was becoming allergic to the calendar. “Don’t look at the date”, I told myself. The April 30th deadline for paying property tax was approaching. "There are no forms available at the Sanjaynagar centre yet", said a friend.  "I downloaded the form but they refused to accept it because it doesn’t have the acknowledgement form," said another (Why doesn’t it have an acknowledgement form? Good question.)With just a week left, I decided to pay up, and “be done with it”. That morning’s newspapers said some Assistant Revenue Officers (ARO’s) were being authorised to collect property tax. So I…

If you live around a BBMP park in any part of Bangalore and are wondering whether the park's open space or stage can be used with loudspeakers for a community event, think again. For one, use of loudspeakers in BBMP parks was barred by the High Court over a year ago. But more importantly, each BBMP official you talk to today will you give a different impression about the exact ban - who and what are allowed or disallowed are still unclear. On May 9th 2010 a music programme, called Udaya Raaga, scheduled to be held at the JP Nagar…

Muniyamma (56) who was awarded the Kuvempu Vidyamaana Prashasti  by Kuvempu Kalanikethan Trust in February does not sound very elated.  "Memento will not fill our stomach, but a government job can feed our family," she says. She is a resident of Konanakunte.She is the milk-seller who helped police capture the LTTE members who took part in the conspiracy to assassinate former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.She says, the Government of Karnataka promised to reward her with Rs 10 lakhs in the year 1991, but she got only Rs 60000 since then. Her son also never got his promised job. She complains,…

Bangalore has a spanking new set of councillors. We citizens have cast our votes and are hoping, it will pay at least this time. What is interesting is that we have 74 women councillors compared to the 17 in the previous election. Will that make a difference? Of the 74 seats 67 come from reserved constituencies.In the light of the hoopla around Women's Reservation Bill in the Parliament, Bangalore's future administration might become the test case. It is true that most women candidates fielded were political novices and wives or relatives of politicians or political aspirants. And all along, media…