Articles by News Desk

122 trees to be cut for underground tunnels The State Board of Wildlife approved a proposal to cut 122 trees at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park to build underground tunnels. These tunnels will connect Borivali and Thane in Mumbai. The project is a pet project of the chief minister Eknath Shinde and will require drilling 27 holes for which explosives will be used. The decision was taken at a meeting of the board chaired by forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on Monday and was kept under wraps. The project has faced severe criticism from environmentalists. A government document said the underground…

New biogas plants to be operational next year Chennai will get more biogas plants across various zones by February 2024. The plants will be established at the direction of the Greater Chennai Corporation. Currently, there are two biogas plants operational at Chetpet and Madhavaram. These plants generate 6 tonnes of biogas per day through the processing of waste. New biogas plants are expected to come up in Manali, Shollinganallur and Koyambedu. These plants will have a processing capacity of 500, 200 and 200 tonnes of waste respectively. Around 30% of the city’s waste is expected to be processed by all…

Probe into fire accidents Mudpipe Cafe, a hookah bar, where a fire broke out on October 18th, was being run illegally as the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had given permission only for food catering, said Home Minister Dr G. Parameshwara. He added that as the BBMP had failed to verify the business, action would be initiated against the owner and officials.   Mudpipe Cafe is on the fourth floor of the KDP building in Koramangala. The fire force came within five minutes, but Prem Kumar, 29, a chef from Nepal, jumped from the fourth floor and was rushed to…

Stale meat found in Chennai eateries In a crackdown by the officials of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) around 400 kgs of meat was confiscated from restaurants and eateries. The inspection was carried out in and around the Koyambedu area on push-carts and eateries. Officials found a range of violations such as improper storage of food, stale food, and rotten meat such as mutton, chicken, beef, pork and fish being used to make food. The inspection follow on the heels of multiple reports of illness for patrons due to the poor quality of food being served…

“October Heat' in Mumbai raises health concerns Since the southwest monsoon left Mumbai on October 6, the city has experienced a swift return of hot weather, known as the 'October heat'. This has led to a surge in illnesses like viral fever, dehydration, and heat stroke due to temperature fluctuations. Civic, state and private hospitals have reported a surge in the number of people visiting outpatient departments in the past seven days. The India Meteorological Department recorded a high of 34.2°C on Thursday, three degrees above normal, raising concerns among doctors about the health effects of the heat. Source: Free…

Purple line, 37 feeder buses The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) operationalised the Baiyappanahalli-KR Puram and the Kengeri-Challaghatta sections of the entire Purple Line. Metro ridership rose to nearly 7 lakh on October 9th, the first day of the opening. The BMRCL said it is running 33 trainsets of six coaches each on the Purple Line that makes 180 trips a day. But the rush was so huge that the BMRCL had to run even Green Line trains on the Purple Line. With the fully operational Line, many commuters said that they preferred the metro to the use of personal…

That Mumbai is space-starved with one of the worst ratios of people to open spaces, is common knowledge. In this highly congested city, it is the public parks and grounds that offer respite to citizens, who often live in housing societies with little or no place for walks, or for children to run around. So, when the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) came up with a proposal that some of these open spaces could be given to private players on temporary leases for upkeep, through an adoption scheme, citizens and civic activists have come together to oppose it. Activists have met…

Elevated corridor to come up on Mount Road The State Highways department has invited bids for the construction of an elevated corridor above the metro tunnel on Mount Road. The elevated corridor will be 3.2 km long and have four lanes and the width of the flyover will be 34m. Footpaths measuring 2m will be present on both sides.  The flyover will allow vehicles to drive up to a speed of 80 km/ph and cut travel time between Teynampet and Saidapet to under 10 minutes. The budget for the project is Rs 525 crore.  The project will commence after clearance…

Fire at SRA building in Goregaon West Seven persons died and over 60 were injured in a fire at the Jay Bhavani SRA building in Goregaon west. The fire gutted the ground floor with shops and the seven residential floors. Parked vehicles, items in the shops, meter cabins, household items were also damaged. The fire was extinguished at 0654 am on 6th October using six hose lines and 8 motor pumps. Out of the 62 injured five are critical. The injured have been admitted to Cooper Hospital and HBT hospital. Various agencies including persons from six NGOs were mobilised to…

Stalled BBMP works to resume Civic stalled works in the city will be resumed, according to the directives by the Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D K Shivakumar. Broken roads will be repaired while stalled projects, including overflowing rajakaluves, will be fixed. The incomplete works were paused four months ago, due to a pending inquiry by a government-constituted team of IAS officers. Partial payments to contractors and up to 75% of the bills are being cleared, but the special investigation team (SIT) will continue with its investigation. The previous government had sanctioned 353 works costing over Rs 5,000 crore.…