Articles by Nikita Malusare

It’s official. Namma Metro Reach 3 and 3a services from Malleshwaram to Peenya in namma Bengaluru will open for public use from March 1st, 2014. Urban and Land Transport and District in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy along with Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola announced this on February 24th, 2014, at a press conference held at Rajajinagar Metro Station. Ramalinga Reddy said: “On 28th February evening at 6 pm, Railway Minister Mallikarjun will inaugurate this line. From 1st March 6 am onwards the service will be open for public.” The good news for the users is…

There comes a time in your life when it doesn’t matter what comfort zone you are in, you just want to move on and do something in life — something for the society; something to better the lives of others; something that everyone cannot do. This doesn’t happen to all, but Kalpana Kar saw it happen to her. Once she left her corporate comforts behind, incorporating professionalism in local governance became her new passion in life. Kalpana began her corporate career in TATA administrative services. She worked in Tata Unisys and Titan Industries. She also helped her husband in the…

Members of NBF and BRACE holding the press conference.T S Vidhyadhar, D S Rajshekar, Mahalakshmi Parthasarathy, Ravindranath Guru, Subbu Hegde, Nitin Seshadri and others are seen in the picture. Pic: Nikita Malusare Citizen Action Forum (CAF) backed by Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF), will question the Akrama Sakrama Bill – 2013 in court shortly. This was revealed in a press conference hosted by NBF on February 5th, 2014. N S Mukunda, President of Citizen Action Forum, who spoke in the press conference, questioned as to why the buyers should be responsible for the mistakes made by the builder. Since the bill…

Election is nearing; the pressure on the governments to expedite works is increasing. The promises made by the Chief Minister in budget have started to turn into reality. Slowly and steadily, BBMP is working towards asphalting and improving roads. Although Chief Minister had promised to concretise more than 200 main roads of the city, in an event in October, the reality is, only two or three roads may get concretised. District incharge Ramalinga Reddy said, “Concretising road will not be possible this year. We will do that next year. At present we are working on asphalting roads, which was neglected…

After waiting for over nine months, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has officially revoked the permission given to a vendor for delaying work on the waste management front. Hanjer Biotech Energy Private Ltd (HBEPL), whose Salem plant was visited by a 250-member delegation in September 25 2013, has been booted out from Bangalore. The firm demanded extra time to set up the waste disposal plant to which the BBMP didn’t agree. Mayor B S Satyanarayana, who was earlier happy with the firm post his visit to their Salem plant in August 2013, said: “We had asked Hanjer to initiate the work…

Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department’s interim report on the alleged KPSC recruitment scam has indicted various officials exposed in the TV9 sting operation a few months ago, in the alleged demand for ‘under-the-table’ money from KAS aspirants. The investigation was carried out after a FIR was filed by the Department of Public Administration and Reforms (DPAR). The report by CID of Karnataka confirms large scale malpractice, corruption and favouritism in the selection of Grade A Gazetted Probationary Exams of 2011. Apart from the eight people named in the FIR, CID has found out the involvement of many others who acted as…

“Western culture has made inroads to Indian culture, because of which we find nine-year-olds raping 13-year-olds. It is we, as a citizen, who have to do something about it, instead of pointing to others,” said Y Bhaskar Rao, Karnataka Lokayukta. He was addressing the participants after an interaction session organised on the eve of Lokayukta Day celebration, on Thursday, January 9, 2014. The Lokayukta day was observed as part of 25 years of Lokayukta service in Karnataka. Bhaskar Rao explained the suo motu initiatives taken up by him in the last one year, including prompting the departments to start biometric…

From ‘Pete’ to ‘K R Market,' Bengaluru's oldest market built in 1920’s has seen many changes. However, presently not many citizens in Bangalore might have visited this area, as the traffic and garbage problem is terrible and repulsive. The new market with the unique architecture was built in 1990’s. If the BBMP's plan goes well, K R Market will see another big change, as a feasibility report for multilevel car parking and some re-organisation in K R market has been prepared and being discussed. New building in K R Market was built in 1997, but vast area remains underutilised. Pic…

Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board has issued an order instructing M/s Mantri Techzone Pvt Ltd / M/s Manipal ETA Infotech Ltd to stop the construction of the Special Economic Zone, residential and commercial buildings coming up on 72 acres of land that lies between Bellandur and Agara lakes, in South Bengaluru. Post the Upa Lokayukta’s comments on Mantri SEZ in a meeting held on December 20, 2013, KIADB’s 327th Board Meeting discussed the matter and passed an order directing Mantri Techzone Pvt Ltd to stop the construction with immediate effect. According to the minutes of the KIADB Board meeting, the…

BBMP, we know, has a plan to remodel storm water drains (SWDs) of Bengaluru. While BBMP is still working on the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) and fund mobilisation to remodel the Rajakaluves, there seems to be somebody else working hard to remodel the major storm water drain that connects Madiwala lake to Bellandur lake, in South Bengaluru. A JCB digging a parallel channel next to the major storm water drain in Koramangala-Chalaghatta Valley area. Pic: Nikita Malusare Citizen Matters team happened to see a major work going on with JCBs digging the earth, in the eastern border of Koramangala ward.…