Articles by Hepzi Anthony

Between April 9th and September 8th, this monsoon, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) filled 31,398 potholes in the city, measuring 1,56,910 sq.m, with 2,696 metric tonnes of bitumen cold mix. The expenditure for this was roughly Rs forty-eight crores.  However, every year, all 24 administrative wards in Mumbai are allotted only Rs two crores each for tending to potholes that emerge every monsoon. Of these, while Rs 1.5 crores is meant for preventing potholes, the rest - Rs 50 lakh - is meant for filling potholes that have become a repetitive problem in the city.  The BMC had set up…

As fears towards an impending third wave – set to reveal itself in October according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) – have set in the city, there is a deeper concern among parents of young children who are yet to be vaccinated. To ensure the safety of their wards, many parents have restricted their children from playing in common premises where they would normally interact with other children.  On September 13, only ten children were admitted in Mumbai hospitals (nine in the NESCO COVID-19 care facility and one in Seven Hills Hospital) with moderate or severe symptoms of the…

When fishermen at Worli Koliwada tried to take their boats out to sea in the last week of August, soon after Narali Poornima - a festival that marks the onset of the fishing season - they found that reclamation work had affected the coastline used for docking boats. “They have left us with no space to dock our boats in the shallow waters," says Sanjay Baikar, secretary of the Vanchit Machimar Worli Haji Ali Sahkari Sansthan Maryadit, an organisation of fishermen. "Where earlier 35 boats would stand, today even 19 boats are finding it difficult to find space in the…

As Mumbai prepares for a third wave, housing societies watch closely as it marks the beginning of yet another harrowing time. The spike in COVID-19 numbers even before Ganesh Chaturthi festivities could begin, has rung warning bells in the city. As of 8 September, Mumbai had 50 buildings and only one informal settlement actively sealed with about 2,075 people considered high risk for having come into contact with a COVID-19 patient. Another 530 people had tested positive in a single day. The resurgence of the virus is being witnessed with nervousness, especially in large residential complexes where a number of…

For the third year in a row, Rev Godson Samuel, 46, a Christian pastor has been collecting Palmyra palm seeds from Aarey during the monsoons and distributing it for planting. This year, he has already helped gather and distribute around 7000 seeds in Mumbai along with volunteers from citizen groups like Rewilding Aarey. This is apart from the 13,000 Palmyra seeds that he sourced from others for plantations in other parts of Maharashtra.  Godson wants to convert Mumbai into a 'Palm Bay' by encouraging growing over one lakh Palmyra plantations over the next few years. His passion for Palmyra is…

As of 6 August, the Mithi river in Mumbai became the first to have booms or 'thrash traps' installed across it. This machinery imported from Finland transfers garbage collected from the river, via a conveyor belt, to another conveyor belt that segregates the waste which is eventually recycled.  Booms are temporary floating barriers made up of light materials like plastic chained across water bodies to prevent and collect floating garbage from flowing into the sea.  Booms obstruct floating debris without affecting marine life in any way.  How will Mithi be cleaned up?  Booms placed near Bandra Kurla Complex on the…

With a massive shortage of vaccines staring in its face, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is now devising ways to prioritise vaccination for its local population especially its lower-income groups. With an impending third wave of the pandemic, the BMC wants to ensure that it can reach and vaccinate a maximum number of people despite its limited resources. “We are now tieing-up with non-government organisations to help vaccinate those residing in the slums and the neglected, unpenetrated population,” said additional municipal commissioner, Suresh Kakani.  After focusing on specific high-risk groups like the frontline workers, pregnant and lactating women and even…

Mumbaikars are demanding that the city, especially the suburban trains be opened up for all as numbers drop to 259 new cases as on 2 August.  Many delegations were taken to the government demanding more relaxations on commute, to save livlihoods and revitalize the economy.  On 2 August, the state government relaxed certain restrictions and extending working hours of all shops - essential and non-essential -  till 10PM in Mumbai. They also allowed private offices and sporting facilities excluding swimming, to be fully open. Salons, gyms were open earlier but their timings have been extended. However, the one demand the…

Though the Union government claims that the Model Tenancy Act 2021 is meant to unlock more empty houses, many property owners in Mumbai are unsure.  Friction between the tenant and the landlord often result in long-drawn out legal battles. The new law is meant to govern the tenant-landlord equation through effective and faster dispute resolution.  Property owners fear legal disputes if tenants do not vacate their property on time. “....expensive legal costs deter landlords from giving their properties on rent in the first place. The risk of property litigations in cases of conflicts is a major deterrent which has made…

On 18 July, Renita D’Souza and her family woke up with neck deep water in their house at Hanuman Nagar slum along the storm water drains. They found themselves surrounded by houses laced with dirt. “Our house was full of muck and we had to wade through a foot-deep grime throughout the day and there was no water to either drink or clean up," she said.  The electricity supply to their house was disconnected as a precautionary measure. The entire neighbourhood could not light gas stoves. “We had to ask our children to buy vada pav because we couldn’t even…