Articles by Navya P K

There are a three weeks to go for the Bangalore’s graduate constituency election - the one in which only graduates can vote. The candidate elected from this constituency will become a member in Legislative Council (MLC), the upper house of Karnataka's state legislature. With election scheduled for June 10th, candidates are campaigning intensely. In addition to the three mainstream political parties that usually participate in this election - BJP, Congress and JD(S) - the Andhra Pradesh-headquartered Lok Satta party has entered the fray this time. There are also independent candidates. An overview of the major candidates -Ramachandra Gowda, Ramoji Gowda,…

For the past one month, former Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde has been campaigning for Ashwin Mahesh, Lok Satta party’s candidate for the graduate constituency MLC election. This is the first time Hegde is endorsing a candidate in any election. He also goes door-to-door appealing residents to vote for Mahesh. Justice Santhosh Hegde. File pic: Citizen Matters In this interview with Citizen Matters, Hegde talks about his decision to start engaging with elections.Why are you endorsing a candidate in this election?I was against anyone in Team Anna campaigning in elections, as it would almost be like taking sides. There are lot…

Starting the grade separator works at Koramangala for the contested Sirsi-Agara signal free corridor has landed BDA in trouble. The High Court on May 29th ordered that emergent notices be sent to BDA and its Commissioner Bharat Lal Meena. Emergent notices are issued only in serious conditions and have to be responded to immediately.Justice Shylendra Kumar and Justice B Srinivasa Gowda passed this order on a contempt case filed by Bengaluru-based civic organisation CAF (Citizen's Action Forum) and Kuvempu Nagar RWA. These petitioners said that BDA started electrical works for the project, by violating the court's previous orders. They had…

Sixteen candidates will battle it out in the Bangalore graduate constituency MLC election on June 10th. The candidates include those from five political parties - BJP, Congress, JD(S), Lok Satta and CPI(M) - and 11 independents. Unlike the last election in 2006, more voters also have been enrolled this time. While there were around 60,000 graduate voters last time, it has gone over 1.1 lakh this time, with over 51,000 new enrollments. In graduate constituency election, the votes a candidate gets depends on the number of voters he has gotten enrolled. And even less voters actually come to vote on…

Over 100 residents of Ejipura EWS (Economically Weaker Section) quarters staged a protest at BBMP head office on May 29th, demanding that shopping mall should not be built in the quarters land. The quarters is spread over 15.64 acres and houses over 1500 families. In January, BBMP made an agreement with a private company Maverick Holdings to develop almost half the area for a shopping mall and the remaining area for EWS quarters. Residents of Ejipura EWS quarters protesting at BBMP head office, NR Square, on May 29th. Pic: Navya P K “It is illegal for EWS land to be…

The deadline for removing films has now been extended to June 5th.From May 20th, no vehicle in the city is supposed to have films plastered on its safety glasses, as per the recent Supreme Court ban. While Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP) is all set to fine offenders, vehicle owners in the city are rushing to BTP’s centres that offer to remove the films for free, as well as private garages.While private garages are charging as much as Rs 350-500, even BTP centres do not remove films for free. BTP had started service in 10 centres from May 10th. Hundreds of…

On April 30, Chief Minister D Sadananda Gowda laid the foundation stone for Bengaluru's much contested Agara-St John's signal free corridor. A few Koramangala residents assembled and protested at the event, but were appeased by Gowda who promised to hold a discussion with them on 5th May. In December, CM had held a meeting with residents and BDA, but there was no outcome except that work was suspended for a short while. Chief Minister laid foundation stone for the four Koramangala junction works on April 30th. Pic: Navya P K In the meanwhile, two major institutions in Koramangala - St…

BBMP Council elected its Mayor and Deputy Mayor for 2012-13 on April 26th. Kathriguppe (ward number 163) Corporator D Venkatesh Murthy became Mayor while Padmanabha Nagar (182) Corporator L Srinivas became Deputy Mayor.These BJP corporators were the only ones who filed their nominations at the elections, and were hence elected directly. Home, Transport and Bangalore-in-charge Minister R Ashoka was present. The Mayor position is reserved for Backward class A category, while that of Deputy Mayor is for general category this year. Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy (R) with Minister R Ashoka and Deputy Mayor L Srinivas (L), after nomination. Pic: Navya…

The MG Road metro station will soon have two restrooms - one near Anil Kumble Cirlce, and the other next to the station at the start of boulevard.Restrooms will be for three categories - men, women and disabled. BMRC had initially said that the stations do not need restrooms as the time of journey is very short. "The decision to start restrooms was taken after continued demand of citizens," says Ravi Prakash, Manager PRO at BMRC. One restroom each is planned for Ulsoor and Swami Vivekananda Road stations, but tenders for these have not been finalised. MG Road and Bayappanahalli…

RWAs run by elected volunteers are subject to full fledged auditing to the last paisa. They are answerable to the house owners for every single expenditure incurred for the year. But BBMP that has budget outlays of hundreds of crores of rupees has done away with auditing for more than four decades now. Worse, BBMP has been reeling under fund crisis and scams. BBMP Councillors protest during the 2011 budget approval. File Pic: Navya P K Since the major report of February 2012, Indicted by CAG, strangled by state, Bengaluru Limps on, Citizen Matters did an exclusive inquiry into who…