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Selected work from Citizen Matters

Explore a featured selection of my writing work below.
Citizen Matters •

Namma Metro report reveals plans for a circular metro

Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) has released its 2017-18 annual report online last week in its entirety. The report details BMRCL’s efforts to keep up the pace of construction and other issues.
Six new stretches of the Metro cover 72 km and 61 stations. Two extensions of the already existing purple line on the west and east sides, two extensions of the already operational green line on the north and south sides, and establishment of the new Yellow Line and Red Line form six stretche...
Citizen Matters •

What is the fate of properties in the B register?

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner Manjunath Prasad has said that properties in 110 villages added to BBMP in 2007, which are on B-Khatha list, will be regularised. These properties will be de-linked from the Akrama-Sakrama scheme, on which a public interest litigation is going on in the Supreme Court. It is not clear how many properties will benefit from this, and whether it will be vacant sites alone, or if it will include the built up properties as well.
The statement come...
Citizen Matters •

Rs 95 crore billed, but BBMP fails to meet deadline for white topping; Why?

Two years ago when the Centre for Smart Cities, the same think-tank that came up with the idea of elevated corridors, formulated a proposal to concretise 29 Bengaluru roads, it was with the vision to build sustainable road infrastructure. Like many ambitious government plans, the execution of the project by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) continues to be stalled by obstacles not taken into consideration during planning.
The work has been held up in the absence of clearances from traffi...
Citizen Matters •

NIMHANS launches digital academy to help tackle India's mental health crisis

On June 27, Bengaluru’s National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) formally launched its digital academy, virtually, with the government’s participation. Along with NIMHANS director B.N Gangadhar, who was at the office of the Union Health Minister JP Nadda in New Delhi, 500 doctors from 15 states logged in.
“It was a formal event. We announced the course, launched digital books and shared the link to the website. We also discussed the agenda, and the benefits of distance edu...
Citizen Matters •

Shared-auto system in Bengaluru: Much-needed but ignored

An auto stops on Tannery road. Five adults seat themselves in the back. One adult, with a toddler on his lap, shares the seat with the driver. The overcrowded auto carries them forward, navigating narrow roads. It swiftly drops them in a location and picks up more passengers going to a nearby destination.
This is a common practice across Bengaluru today where there is insufficient last mile connectivity. The concept of shared autos prevalent in Chennai and Hyderabad has slowly entered Bengaluru...
Citizen Matters •

BWSSB projects March 2021 deadline for sewage network in 110 villages

Solving their civic-woes has been a challenge for the 12 lakh residents living in the 110 villages on the outer circle in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits, in Bengaluru. Not only has the struggle to get drinking-water been unfruitful, the lack of drainage network lets the sewage accumulate in open drains and lakes, causing irreversible long-term ecological and health problems.
There is, however, about to be a slight change in their plight. The infrastructural work to lay unde...
Citizen Matters •

How long before BWSSB's Cauvery Stage V reaches Bengaluru?

Gopinath P (35) grew up in extreme water scarcity, in Vijayanagar village in Bengaluru. This is an area located in Mahadevapura, a zone earmarked under the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP’s) 110 villages project. “My mother travelled 4.5 kms by foot often to Immadihalli village, where certain rich zamindars had built borewells owing to favourable water tables,” Gopinath says.
Carrying plastic-pots attached to her waist and head, she along with many other villagers of Vijayanagar trav...
Citizen Matters •

How 6.5 tons of trash generated at an IPL match gets managed in Bengaluru

The fervour gripping the nation during the IPL cricket season is about to die down as it draws to a close on May 27. While the ups and downs for cricket teams get publicised, what generally goes unnoticed is how the trash generated is managed. Bengaluru has led the way in showing other cities and cricket match organisers how waste can be handled in a scientific, sustainable manner.
The seven matches played and hosted by them this summer at Chinnaswamy Stadium drew an audience of minimum 40,000...
Citizen Matters •

What do the various party manifestos promise us? A bird's eye view

For reading Citizen Matters, of course. It would be fantastic to be able to thank you for supporting us as well.
For 15 years we have strived to bring you credible, useful and actionable information about our cities. So every citizen has the power to build a better city. Support our work today.

For reading Citizen Matters, of course. It would be fantastic to be able to thank you for supporting us as well.

For 15 years we have strived to bring you credible, useful and actionable information abo...
Citizen Matters •

D J Halli has 40 Anganwadis to counter malnutrition: Akhanda Srinivas Murthy

Incumbent MLA and INC candidate for Pulakeshinagar constituency, Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, won by a margin of nearly 50% last time. Despite shifting loyalties and getting inducted into the party only in March, Murthy is confident of repeating the same performance. He was in the eye of the storm for cross-voting with seven other former JD(S) leaders in favor of INC leader KC Ramamurthy.
Amidst the hustle and bustle of campaigning, he sat down with Citizen Matters for a chat at his home.
DJ Halli a...
Citizen Matters •

Women come together in Bengaluru to prepare manifesto with gender lens

Women’s groups in Bengaluru, representatives from various political parties, Bangalore Ladies Circle and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Ladies Organisation (FICCI FLO), came together to discuss representation in politics for women and women’s issues.

(WO)Manifesto, brainchild of Shruti Modi Kaura saw attendance by women from all walks of life at the TERI Institute on April 24. Shruti, once the Chairperson of Bangalore Ladies Circle 31, was only acting on her inclination...
Citizen Matters •

George let down people who voted for him, says Prithvi Reddy

Politics did not happen to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Karnataka Convener Prithvi Reddy intentionally. He was a part of Corruption Saku campaign in 2010 (which later merged with India Against Corruption) with no aspirations other than to reduce corruption.
He co-founded Smart Vote, a movement to encourage voter registration and participation in issue-based politics. He runs his father’s school of 450 students in Addagal village, Kolar District. Reddy then co-founded Swabal, an initiative to provide p...
Citizen Matters •

Former bureaucrat Renuka aims to bring governance to doorsteps

Renuka Vishwanathan belongs to a rare breed of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers from Karnataka. It goes without saying that she has many broken barriers to her credit. She was a member of the Planning Commission of India, and the first woman Deputy Commissioner in Karnataka posted in Uttara Kannada District, and subsequently posted in Dharward District for a second term. She was also the first woman to become the Managing Director of the Karnataka State Finance Corporation, and the f...
Citizen Matters •

Bengaluru looking for its own Bicycle Mayor, apply by April 23rd

Calling all avid cyclists who believe cycling makes cities safer, better, cleaner and happier. Do you have what it takes to join the league of Bicycle Mayors across the globe and transform transportation in Bengaluru?
The initiative, coordinated by ESAF, an NGO, a part of the Bengaluru Coalition for Open Streets (BCOS) will nominate a Bicycle Mayor in Bengaluru to evangelise cycling and put cycling on the city’s agenda. It is a voluntary position for a period of two years.
The Bicycle Mayor is...
Citizen Matters •

‘I have done more work than Jayanagar MLA,’ says Ravikrishna Reddy

He has contested polls three times earlier, and has lost it to more powerful candidates from recognised parties. Yet, former AAP Spokesperson for Karnataka, Ravi Krishna Reddy, is an undeterred independent candidate, who has chosen Jayanagar assembly constituency for the elections going to be held in May 2018. Losing has not killed his spirit, but has only served to invigorate it.
Jayanagar is where his journey started a decade ago, when he contested as an independent candidate. After joining po...
Citizen Matters •

What is bothering voters in the cities as Karnataka election draws closer?

Karnataka, one of the only five remaining states in the country where Congress rule still prevails, is gearing up to host a major electoral battle that will not just decide the next Assembly but is also expected to create a reflective impact on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2019 election campaign.
Two months prior to the state elections, the anxiety of the people is palpable in the ‘Karnataka Voters’ Survey 2018’  released by the Chief Election Commissioner, Om Prakash Rawat, at IIM Bangalore...

Articles published in Deccan Herald

Explore a featured selection of my writing work below.