A series of articles examining the impact and lessons of 2020 and looking ahead to the journey in 2021
It's almost like a relief to be able to say goodbye to 2020, but how different will 2021 be?
We have come to the end of probably the most tumultuous year in the collective history of our cities, a year that has changed almost everything as we knew it once.
In healthcare, education and markets, in formal and informal spheres of work, in our festivities as well as the humdrum existence of regular life, COVID has left an impression that cannot be obliterated ever. Much as we want this pandemic to end, neither can we completely erase its impact, nor should we forget the lessons that this period holds for the future.
As we look forward to new beginnings, we look at how different domains have been transformed by the 2020 experience and the new realities we may expect in our cities and our lives.
Businesses in the industrial hub pay lakhs in taxes, yet they lack civic infrastructure, despite multiple complaints to the Pune Corporation.
Businesses in Ramtekdi Industrial Estate are expected to manufacture, employ and attract customers, but the basic infrastructure around them tells another story. The industrial estate in Hadapsar is home to small and medium manufacturing units, including businesses supplying Indian companies and exporting overseas. For our unit on Lane 1, getting to work means navigating a road broken into deep craters that fill with stagnant water during the monsoon season. Trucks carrying goods, workers on two-wheelers and visitors to the factory, all have to negotiate the same stretch. The state of the approach has become a problem for the business itself.…
As Bengaluru anticipates its first GBA election, Bengaluru East City Corporation’s residents raise concerns over civic and infrastructure issues.
Bengaluru has been without elected corporators for over six years. While the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) replaced the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) formally last year on September 2nd, elections to the new GBA have been stalled. Citing logistical challenges from the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), authorities received a Supreme Court extension to hold elections by December 31st. The restructured GBA, expanding from 198 wards to five corporations across 369 wards, faces continuing gaps in solving various ward-level issues — such as solid waste management and traffic problems, poor execution of civic works and funding issues. People believe the…