Governance

Just around three months ago, the state government completed the wards delimitation process. From 100 wards, Bengaluru now has a total of 198. And if you want to know what the boundary of your new ward is, www.bbmpwards.org is a website you can go to.  The homepage of the site states that the site gives “comprehensive information about the composition of BBMP and the delimited wards along with details of localities forming a particular ward”.  The site has been set up by Zoomin Softech Pvt Ltd, an IT solutions company, for the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Bangalore district, who is the…

Take your Form 6 to the Voter Facilitation Centre (VFC) of your Assembly Constituency (AC). Even though your wards may have changed after delimitation, your constituency remains the same. Each AC has one VFC. You can get the address and contact number of your VFC here. Remember, even though there are new wards now, your VFC will remain the same since your AC has not changed.Submit the Form 6 at the VFC with copies of address proof/ID proof.The VFC officials will check if your form has been filled in correctly and then give you an acknowledgment receipt.These forms are then…

As the BBMP elections are slated to be held by the end of the year, this new website, set up by Zoomin Softech Pvt Ltd, an IT solutions company, for State Election Commission (SEC), will help you search for your name on the voters list.But this is only if you voted for the parliamentary elections earlier this year. Citizens who have registered during the past few months after the Lok Sabha polls will not find their names on this site, since these updates have not yet been published online.The homepage of the site has both English and Kannada, with the…

Contacts play the most important role when you are doing a story. And it takes a while to build a rapport with these contacts. Once you establish this rapport, it's all for the best. This works all the more well with government officials. But what happens when these officials get transferred? Especially when you are the middle of a story? Let me tell you, it is disappointing. Very disappointing. And what if you feel you have something to do with these transfers? Not directly, but probably...hmmm...in a karmic way shall I say? Well, it all started off with the much-approachable…

A few days ago, I visited the 158-acre Beggars' Rehabilitation Colony off Magadi Road, at the intersection of Ring Road, along with officials of the Social Welfare Department (SWD) (which owns the facility) and BDA (to whom the land is now being transferred, at the direction of the Chief Minister). BDA is keen to develop the area, quite nicely located at the junction of the Outer Ring Road and Magadi Road, into a township, and also to ensure some public good outcomes using a portion of the land (perhaps, for a hospital, a man-made lake, a bus terminal for BMTC,…

  A veteran journalist for nearly 40 years, having worked for Samyuktha Karnataka, a regional daily and covering political news for nearly two decades, Gunda Bhat is a well-known name in the field of journalism in Karnataka. Bhat received a BDA plot in 2002 from the state government, under G-category as a mark of respect for his contribution to journalism. He built a single-storey house on the allotted site at Dollar’s colony near JP Nagar. Under the G-category, the chief minister allots BDA sites to eminent personalities. People who are awarded the land are essentially moved up in line and…

There is complete chaos with the markings that BBMP has made on the properties on 100 ft Ring Road in JP Nagar, where they say they will now acquire part of our property to widen an already wide road.1. Minutes of a CDP (Comprehensive Development Plan 2015) meeting classifies this as a medium density road, why would the BBMP need more than a 100 ft road for a medium density road.2. The Peripheral Ring Road is getting ready, should they not divert all heavy vehicles to that road which would then mean there would be no need for road widening.3. These…

With the BBMP polls scheduled to be held this later year, Citizen Matters has obtained a copy of the draft reservation of seats for Schedule Caste (SC), Schedule Tribe (ST), Backward Classes (BC) communities and Women. While the release of the final list is understood to be imminent, this unpublished version was received via Citizens' Action Forum (CAF), a group of citizens and members of Residents Welfare Associations (RWA). Puttanna Chetty Town Hall on JC Road. Pic: Venkatesan Perumal The new and expanded BBMP (city) council when fully constituted will have 198 seats, as opposed to the erstwhile BMP council,…

...so said a friend, partly in anguish, partly in jest, referring to the Principal Secretary of the Government of Karnataka, Department of Health and Family Welfare, IR Perumal! I happened to witness this gentleman speaking at a press conference recently. He was talking about swine flu. He was there to dispel the myths about swine flu and reduce the panic among the public. The one thing about him that would strike you (or anyone) is the capacity of his vocal chords. He's loud! And animated! Well, that's not a bad thing at all. At this particular press conference he was…

Young, spirited and raring to go. Bangalore's politics has probably never seen so many young faces. Some hail from political families, some young guns running their own firms, a marketing executive, a financial expert, a film producer, some self-made first timers who have worked their on way, and some are students. 2009 may be indeed the year that sets the trend from national to local. Citizen Matters spoke to a number of ‘gennext' politicians and political campaigners on their heeding the call of politics and their outlook for the upcoming council elections. Your future corporator or even MP may be…