BBMP

  I answered the knock on my door and found two smiling ladies outside, who asked me if our names were already on the electoral rolls. "No," I said, explaining how we could not find our names either in our old locality or our present one. The ladies, Padma and Nagaratna, immediately gave me two forms to fill, and submit, along with passport photographs, for including our names in the electoral rolls.  It was good to see these ladies going to all the apartments and taking down details, meticulously. If only every government employee were as hard-working as this!  Three cheers for Padma and…

Trees being felled or the remains of cut trees have sadly become an increasingly common sight in the garden city of Bangalore nowadays. Some of us have questioned, protested or expressed our indignation in various ways at these appalling and often baseless actions by the government. A few have tried to compensate this loss by planting trees elsewhere after ensuring feasibility. Such indiscriminate tree felling that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) 'authorities' have undertaken irked Vikram Simha, a well known Right to Information (RTI) activist in Bangalore with the Mahiti Hakku Adhyan Kendra (MHAK) and a lover of trees.…

Trees being felled or the remains of cut trees have sadly become an increasingly common sight in the garden city of Bangalore nowadays. Some of us have questioned, protested or expressed our indignation in various ways at these appalling and often baseless actions by the government. A few have tried to compensate this loss by planting trees elsewhere after ensuring feasibility. Such indiscriminate tree felling that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) 'authorities' have undertaken irked Vikram Simha, a well known Right to Information (RTI) activist in Bangalore with the Mahiti Hakku Adhyan Kendra (MHAK) and a lover of trees.…

Most of us know how difficult it is to work with government officials to get the works done. And works related to a social cause will take more time, energy and patience. But the following report makes all citizens to feel happy and ready to shower flowers on the officials who are quick in taking actions on matters related to the social causes brought up by the FORward150 active members. I congratulate all the officials who are directly and indirectly helped us in FORward150 intiatives. Water flow into the Ambalipura lake. Pic: Rajesh Rao. This is one of the biggest…

Most of us know how difficult it is to work with government officials to get the works done. And works related to a social cause will take more time, energy and patience. But the following report makes all citizens to feel happy and ready to shower flowers on the officials who are quick in taking actions on matters related to the social causes brought up by the FORward150 active members. I congratulate all the officials who are directly and indirectly helped us in FORward150 intiatives. Water flow into the Ambalipura lake. Pic: Rajesh Rao. This is one of the biggest…

Almost every other week, outside my office on Sarjapur Road, I see an elderly gentleman stopping by a tree in the morning, to relieve himself.  A Nirmala Shauchalaya stands barely 100 metres away from this recipient tree. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) budget ambitiously speaks about a lot that the city needs - storm water drains, flyovers, underpasses, parks, playgrounds - so on and so forth. A lot of criticism has gone the way of the budget, pooh-poohing the amount of loans that the corporation is planning to take and slamming the massive revenue projections. Plans have been made…

Almost every other week, outside my office on Sarjapur Road, I see an elderly gentleman stopping by a tree in the morning, to relieve himself.  A Nirmala Shauchalaya stands barely 100 metres away from this recipient tree. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) budget ambitiously speaks about a lot that the city needs - storm water drains, flyovers, underpasses, parks, playgrounds - so on and so forth. A lot of criticism has gone the way of the budget, pooh-poohing the amount of loans that the corporation is planning to take and slamming the massive revenue projections. Plans have been made…

Vinay Sreenivasa and I organized a photowalk to document the last of the beautiful promenade known as Ambedkar Veedhi. One would think that a Government would have the aesthetic sense to leave this most historic of boulevards alone...but no, the Metro must needs run right through this last bastion of public spaces and greenery.So, to mark the murder of yet another public space, and the funeral of the greenery, we decided to photo-document the stretch of Ambedkar Veedhi...We started with the desecration that was a tree-shaded Minsk Square, not so long ago; now it's a desert of cement and concrete:We…

Vinay Sreenivasa and I organized a photowalk to document the last of the beautiful promenade known as Ambedkar Veedhi. One would think that a Government would have the aesthetic sense to leave this most historic of boulevards alone...but no, the Metro must needs run right through this last bastion of public spaces and greenery.So, to mark the murder of yet another public space, and the funeral of the greenery, we decided to photo-document the stretch of Ambedkar Veedhi...We started with the desecration that was a tree-shaded Minsk Square, not so long ago; now it's a desert of cement and concrete:We…

Even as the BJP government totters this weekend, yet another scam in the government's favourite playground - Bengaluru city - stands exposed. For over three years now the spectre of the Akrama Sakrama Bill has been hanging over the city. The bill is meant to 'regularise' illegal buildings in return for owners paying penalties. The premise of such a bill is that the BBMP will otherwise put all measures in place to bring the percentage of violations down to the single digits (some percentage in every society will flout the law) with stiff penalties. Regularising illegal buildings is therefore imagined…