NICE trouble for farm land; Contempt for BBMP in Orion Mall case; Kaikondrahalli lake fest

Dear reader,

Wish you a very happy new year from all of us at Citizen Matters – Oorvani Foundation!

It was a sad start to the new year, with the reports of molestation in several parts of Bengaluru. What do you think about the debate around molestation incidents? We would like to hear from you!

This week’s highlight

NICE road land acquisition saga

Framers in Gonipura, Thippur and Sigehalli villages grow ragi, maize, dal, peanuts and veggies in their fertile agriculture land. Pic: Akshatha M

Bengaluru-Mysuru Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) was supposed to connect two cities seamlessly. NICE Road, the part that forms half of the Peripheral Ring Road, is just a part of the corridor. Land was notified for NICE Road and township projects 19 years ago. What’s up now? Read: 19 years on, farmers in limbo as govt yet to act on land notified for NICE.

Also read: Malpractices in collecting toll on NICE Road

Special treatments for high profile encroachments?

The BBMP’s inaction regarding clearing encroachments where big builders have their properties has attracted a contempt notice from the High Court. Read: Will the government go after high profile encroachment cases?

K R Market in pictures

Every Mayor’s agenda is to clean-up K R Market. G Padmavathi’s challenge is no mean task as this photo essay by Nikhil R Reddy shows.

Sorrows of Bengaluru’s lakes

We all know that Bellandur and Varthur lakes are in bad shape. But how bad? This photo feature shows the reality.

Starting troubles

Bengaluru has been ranked the second fastest growing start-up ecosystem in the world, but owners of innovative businesses in the city find the journey far from smooth. Read: Hurdles for innovative start-ups in Bengaluru.

Blog posts

Dangal in single screen

The experience of watching the latest popular Bollywood movie Dangal in a single screen in Bengaluru. Read: Wrestling the box office.

Ritvik also writes about the boring writing style in text books and how they can be made innovative and interesting. Read: ‘Subjective’ education

For the love of books

A resident of Malleswaram writes her experience of starting a book club in her area along with her friends. Radhika explains in this blogpost how Malleshwaram Book Club has helped them rediscover the lost passion.

Treating trees right

Blogger Deepa Mohan writes how we nails signs to our trees, loop cables over them and harm the trees. How do we treat our trees?

Also read: Nature walk-n-Talk at IIMB campus

Kaikondrahalli lake fest

On January 8th, third Kaikondrahalli festival will be celebrated. Day long events have been planned for lake and environment enthusiasts. Read more about it here.

This week’s news in Bengaluru

• The BBMP which is often criticised for not taking action against illegal advertisement hoardings in the city, has submitted before the High Court that it has so far removed 1,841 unauthorised hoardings. It has collected an amount of Rs 29.59 crore as advertisement tax from agencies.
• The Bengaluru police have arrested four persons in connection with the sexual assault of a woman on new year’s day in Kammanahalli.
• The BBMP is coming up with a software to help track waste disposal of households through the formal door-to-door waste collection system. This according to the Palike officials will be done by tying up the new software with GIS system that has mapped 19 lakh properties in Bengaluru.
• With the authorities delaying the work on rejuvenating Bellandur lake, the High Court has asked the State government to submit in detail about the measures taken to prevent sewage from entering into the lake.
• The BBMP has decided to change the door-to-door waste collection schedule. Accordingly, the civic workers will pick up wet waste everyday and dry waste will be collected twice a week.