Governance

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…

As a response to water shortage, four bore wells were sanctioned under the councillors quota for every ward. Unfortunately in BTM layout, the program resulted in two tragic deaths, on 16th Main Road, in II Stage. On June 15th, one of the crew members of the borewell firm that got the contract, took the first step to raise the bore motor to start drilling. While raising it, the equipment touched the electricity line above. Power was not shut down in these lines leading to the operator’s death within a fraction of a second. One co-worker tried to save him but…

A TDR notice was handed over by a BBMP employee at the gate to the Whitefield Memorial Church in May. See copy of notice given to Memorial Church. Similar notices have been given to all residences/commercial establishments along the Whitefield-Varthur main road. Exterior view of the Whitefield Memorial Church. Pic courtesy: Krupa Rajangam. Members of the Church of Church of South India (CSI) congregation and The Anglican Church of India congregation are appalled at this contemplated action of the BBMP. With respect to all Christian denominations, his Highness Wodeyar IX gifted three-quarters of an acre to build an inter-denominational church…

1. Apply for Encumbrance Certificate (EC) for your flat. It should be for a period of at least a year. You will need to fill Form 22 - available free of cost at sub-registrar office itself. The cost of EC is Rs. 35 for one year. You will need to go back after a day or two to collect the EC.2. Get a khata application form (costs Rs. 10) plus copies of 5 documents (betterment charges receipt, building sanction letters, title certificate, sketch of layout)3. Get copies of the following notarised: Sale deed, Form III (if you have), Possession Certificate…

When the khata issue was opened at Brigade Millennium in September 2009, some of us decided to take the quick and easy route. Some of us chose not to do anything at all. Some took the road less trodden.Those of us who took the hard way expected that it would mean innumerable trips to BBMP, difficult interaction with officials, lots of time on what was seen as needless trouble - when all one had to do was pay a service fee and have the khata delivered at your doorstep.I have lost track of the time some of us spent on…

On July 3rd 2010, Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde announced that he is withdrawing his resignation, following a conversation with senior BJP leader L K Advani. Hegde said the BJP has promised to cooperate with the Lokayukta and give the body suo moto powers. Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa told media persons that the state government will also help in checking illegal mining in the state. Justice Hegde has another year to complete his five-year term as Karnataka Lokayukta. More than a week after he announced his resignation, Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde seems more at ease. On June 23rd, when he…

Obtaining khatas is known to be an ordeal in itself. It is not uncommon to hear BBMP officials demanding various sums of money to 'get the work done'. In the past few weeks several residents in Bengaluru have narrated stories of how much money they doled out to get a khata. But there is also a success story amidst them, which has inspired many others in the city to follow suit. Fifty families residing at Suncity Apartments on Sarjapur Road applied for khatas with the BBMP and obtained the registration document last year. All this without paying a single rupee…

The circumstances leading to resignation of Justice Santosh Hegde clearly shows the Karnataka Government's apathy to the issue of rampant corruption in the state. Year after year successive governments have always made the customary, rhetoric noises of rooting out corruption from the state. But the will to do so has always been suspected.Admired by his peers and idolised by his subordinates, Justice Santosh Hegde has stood tall owing to his undisputed integrity and unstinted commitment in bringing to book the guilty, however high or mighty they be. Never the one to be cowed down by the powers that be, he…