PRAJA Saarige not to be, atleast for now

murali772 - 13-AUG-2010

After a persistent pursuit, through registered letters, RTI queries, appeals, etc, targeted primarily at the Commissioner for Transport in Karnataka, he has finally got the the RTO, Koramangala, to write to me officially to say that I cannot be issued a license to operate 'majilu vahanagalu' (meaning 'stage carriage', I guess) in the city.

CWG - Corruption Wealth Games

Naveen - 6-AUG-2010

Finally, heads begin to roll after a week of denials - see this report.

Food coupons - finally

murali772 - 4-AUG-2010

HCL Infosystems' led consortium with Accor Services and Virgo Softech has bagged a contract from Madhya Pradesh government for implementing food coupon-based targeted public distribution systems (PDS) in the state.

Do Water & Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Acts cover housing complexes?

murali772 - 31-JUL-2010

When the KSPCB sent us a notice for the first time in May, '07, I, as the then President of the association, raised a query with them as under:

Ours is a high-rise apartment complex comprising 126 dwelling units, situated at the above address. The only waste we generate is the sewage from toilets which is discharged into the BWSSB sewage line running below the main road adjoining our complex, for which BWSSB is levying us a 'sanitory charge', as a part of the monthly water bill. As such, please advise on what basis your organisation should be levying any annual 'consent fee' on our complex.

Pollution Control Board - the government's cash cow

murali772 - 30-JUL-2010

Even as BWSSB, KPCL, KPTCL, BESCOM, etc are desperately strapped for cash, there is another government agency that's just rolling in money, viz the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB). A cursory glance at the financial statements, provided on its web-site ( http://www.kspcb.gov.in/ - though not quite in a reader friendly way as one would have liked it, which but is quite the norm with most government agency web-sites), shows the revenues at Rs 190 cr for total expenses of just Rs 23.54 cr, a mere 12% of the revenues, with the direct costs being just 5%. And, it's not as if they are being very frugal in their practices or anything like that.

No to crime and corruption in Karnataka politics - Petitions

indian - 23-JUL-2010

In the 2008 Karnataka assembly there're
a) 42-43 MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly) with criminal records - BJP (25), INC (08), JD[S] (07) and Independents (02).
b) 08 MLAs with murder or attempt to murder cases against them - BJP (03), INC (03) and JD[S] (02).
c) 18.75% of MLAs with criminal cases against them.

The under-valuation extortion racket

murali772 - 12-JUL-2010

My flat, part of a multi-storied complex of 124 flats, located in Koramangala, was registered on 16/02/05. From about a year after registration, many of us owners started receiving notices from the 'under-valuation cell' of the Dept of Revenue, GoK, alleging under-valuation in the assessment of stamp duty payable.

BMTC and Corruption

admin123 - 12-JUL-2010

Lot of posts and comments on bad practices around tickets, and possibility of organized corruption inside BMTC around Bus operations. Some say that pilferage levels are too high, though there is no real data to either show the level of pilferage, or compare with estimates from transportation companies.

Corruption and Technologies in BMTC - List of Questions

kbsyed61 - 10-JUL-2010

Extending the discussion on Pilferage by BMTC Conductors/Official and taking SBs suggestion for coming up with the list of questions for possible direct answers from BMTC or filing RTI with BMTC.

In any case, as a civil city and residents of Bengaluru, it is our duty to hold the powers responsible for all that good and bad happens in public institutions and corporations.

BMTC needs to be held responsible and answers should be demanded for all the relevant issues and questions.

Let us collate all the questions here. Pls feel free to list the questions via comments under two categories.

1. Pilferage via in-bus corruption
2. State of technology use in BMTC

REQUEST - Pls do not start discussions on Private vs Public. You may do so by starting a separate post on it.

Conductors of BMTC reusing already sold or old tickets.

Akshara - 7-JUL-2010

I happen to take the BMTC bus everyday to my office, however recently i encountered a situation where the conductor handed out a used ticket to me instead of tearing a new ticket from the foil. By the look of the ticket even a lame man could say that its an old ticket with traces of sand and dirt and torn edges. When i questioned him about the issue of old ticket he refused to accept his mistake and said it to be a freshly torn ticket. I was so helpless and did not get support from any of the so-passengers and had to return with the same ticket. This has not happened only to me and when discussed with some of my friends, they also complained of having faced the same issue earlier.

These conductors are not only causing a loss to the BMTC but also to the passengers, the situation is worse when some illiterates or school children alight the buses, many a times the conductors take the money and not issue the ticket for short distances thus pocketing the extra money into their personal account which actually belongs to the BMTC.

This could rather be called a daylight theft.

Some authority needs to look into this and get this right immediately...