<p>Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of News Item titled "Bengaluru stadium to get treated water supply for IPL matches amid crisis" appearing in India Today dated 21.03.2024.</p>
Dengue dominated the health concerns of Bangaloreans this year. Over 1,000 people in the City tested positive for the disease, a situation worsened by the steady build up of garbage. Intermittent rains
Bangalore’s drinking water crisis is not going to end in a hurry. But, the year 2012 witnessed the pinnacle of this crisis, particulary during summer. Residents of the newly added BBMP areas, however, had a reason for some hope by the end of the year with the commissioning of the much-awaited Cauvery IV stage II phase by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) in October. The last and the final drawal from the Cauvery basin to the City will be supplying an additional 500 million litres (mld) of water per day wherein the City will be receiving a total of 1,400 mld by January 2013.
The City found itself in a garbage conundrum, even as Palike bigwigs were busy battling BMTF The year 2012 will be remembered most for the ugly transformation of the Garden City into the Garbage City, thanks to vested interests, indifferent citizens and the administrative breakdown in the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike. Amid the bureaucratic failure leading to chaos in the BBMP, the year also saw the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) registering cases against many prominent figures - Deputy Chief Minister R Ashoka, Law and Urban Development Minister S Suresh Kumar, Mayor Venkatesh Murthy and senior bureaucrats like A M Shivakumar and V P Baligar.
In an effort to curb the rapid dieselisation, the Environment Pollution Prevention and Control Authority (EPCA) has called for a proposal to impose both a one time green tax on new cars and also reintroduce the system of owners paying an annual tax on diesel cars. The EPCA describes this as “an annual environment compensation charge amounting to 2 per cent of the purchase value of a petrol car and 4 per cent of the purchased value of a diesel car.” The second tax they want levied is an “environment compensation charge of 25 per cent of the sale value of the diesel car to be collected by the dealers at the time of the sale.”
People on City fringes aren’t in a hurry to complete formalities, despite water worries People on the City’s fringes do not seem to be in a hurry to avail new water connections from Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), under the Cauvery IV stage II phase project that was commissioned in October. This despite facing severe water crisis.
The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Mallige Hospital on Crescent Road for dumping bio-medical waste in an open area near Hebbal Lake. It has issued a showcause notice to the hospital, asking it why its trade licence should not be cancelled. The civic agency has given three days’ time to the hospital to reply, failing which the licence will be cancelled.
The ministry of urban transport is giving a major push to improve ridership in bus transport services across all major Indian cities by 2020. Delhi and Pune are targeting a ridership of 80 per cent, while Kolkata and Bangaluru are targeting 90 per cent each. Unfortunately, poor management and operational inefficiencies are resulting in a plummeting of public transport usage. A RITES survey has highlighted that by 2030, 52 per cent of the Indian public across cities will have switched over to cars and two-wheelers. Already, bus ridership in Delhi has come down from 60 per cent in 2000 to 40 per cent in 2008.
The High Court of Karnataka has directed the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to submit the status report on illegal dumping of debris and waste in Subramanyapura Lake in Uttarahalli of Bangalore South. Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) on the garbage crisis in the City on December 13, the Division Bench of Justice N Kumar and B V Nagarathna took note of the Deccan Herald report on illegal dumping of debris and garbage in the lake.
The High Court on Thursday issued directions to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to take stringent action against bulk garbage generators, who fail to dispose of garbage along established guidelines. Hearing a set of petitions related to garbage problems in the City, the Division Bench headed by Justice N Kumar and Justice B V Nagarathna, directed the Palike to undertake a massive public awareness campaign to educate the public over effective waste segregation at source.
The residents of Mandur remained indoors as ban orders under Section 144 of the CrPC remained in force for the fourth consecutive day in the village in the wake of protests against dumping of garbage at the landfill site. Amid tight security, nearly 200 truckloads of garbage from the City were dumped at the landfill site. Strong protests had broken out against what the villagers call deception by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
