Articles by News Desk

Candidate list, MP profiles, interviews, voter guide, choosing an MP, polling booth info, news, analysis and data Constituency Summary of ConstituencyConstituency & all Candidates details Phase 7 (Completed) Shimla Kolkata Dakshin Kolkata Uttar Jadavpur Phase 6 (Completed) Gurgaon Chandni Chowk South Delhi North West Delhi West Delhi East Delhi North East Delhi New Delhi Phase 5 (Completed) Jaipur Jaipur Rural Lucknow Phase 4 (Completed) Mumbai North Mumbai North Central Mumbai North West Mumbai North East Mumbai South Phase 3 (Completed) Dharwad, Karnataka Ahmedabad West, Gujarat Ahmedabad East, Gujarat Pune, Maharashtra Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Gauhati, Assam Phase 2 (Completed) Bangalore North Bangalore…

BBMP removes 2021 encroachments in KR Market On Friday, BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) cleared KR Market of 2021 encroachments and dozens of unauthorised shops. BBMP got together 390 personnel, 48 tractors, 15 lorries, eight compactors, eight earthmovers and 30 marshals, besides the traffic police, to clear the encroachments. The drive resulted in 240 loads of debris. Just a day before, BBMP Commissioner had inspected the market and promised to clear illegal constructions and footpath encroachments. The drive was in response a High Court directive on a PIL. The Bengaluru Flower Merchants’ Association had filed a PIL in 2017, questioning…

The quest for water deepens With storage levels at all the reservoirs in the red, Chennai Metro has started drawing from the dead storage from Redhills. The situation is so grim that the water board has started tapping the minimal storage of 328 million cubic feet (mcft), which is only 10% of its capacity of 3,300 mcft. Chembarambakkam reservoir is nearly bone dry and withdrawal is possible only for 10 days, given the current situation. Metrowater has already started pumping 30 mld of water from Cholavaram lake since early this week and this is expected to continue till mid-April. Meanwhile,…

There is huge variation in how Bengalureans source water and how much we pay for it. Older parts of the city get piped supply from BWSSB, supplemented by individual borewells, while the periphery is largely dependent on borewells and private tanker water supply. While BWSSB charges per kilolitre range from Rs 7 (for individual residences) to Rs 22 (for apartments), private suppliers can charge anywhere upwards of Rs 100 a KL. To get a better sense of the city’s water situation, we are conducting a survey on where you are sourcing water from, and what you are paying for it.…

Tambaram, a bustling suburban pocket has witnessed steady growth in its economy and population over the last three decades. With the increase in population, the pressure on the groundwater table has been tremendous. During the 2015 flash floods, a majority of water bodies in the suburb including Mudichur lake flooded their banks, creating a crisis that speaks about the mismanagement of the lakes and ponds. Now, TAKE Solutions that delivers domain intensive services in Life Sciences and Supply Chain Management has taken up restoration work in three ponds in the suburb as part of their CSR Project. TAKE solutions collaborated…

NGT calls for Delhi to act on noise pollution The National Green Tribunal termed noise pollution as a serious crime and called for authorities in Delhi to take strict action to curb it. The tribunal said that growing levels of noise pollution is a serious hazard. It directed the Delhi police to map hotspots of noise pollution in the city and evolve a surveillance mechanism to identify and act on violators. The Delhi police is to submit a report on the action taken on the issue to the NGT in a month. The NGT was of the view that the…

NGT committee inspects Varthur lake A surprise inspection of Varthur lake turned out to be shocking for a committee constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), headed by Justice N Santosh Hegde. In contrast to the picture painted by officials, the team found a depleted water body. The lake was encroached by a two-kilometre-long road, near its feeder canal. The committee also found other encroachments, such as pipelines inside the lake. Citizens complained to Justice Hegde that the road and the canal had not been cleared despite NGT's orders. They said that the recently built sluice gates were affecting the natural…

Chennai ready to brace yellow Amidst the election fervor, Chennaites will start bleeding yellow from today as the country catches cricket fever with the commencement of the IPL 2019. Euphoria is high especially in the city as sport-loving Chennaites did not get a chance to witness any matches in a home ground in the last season due to political unrest. The defending champion CSK will take on RCB on the first day (March 23rd). Southern Railway has announced special services between Chennai beach station and Velachery on March 23rd and March 31st. Source: The Times of India Day Zero threat…

In a letter about the construction of elevated corridors, A N Yellappa Reddy, Chairman of the NGO Bangalore Environment Trust, has appealed to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy to reconsider the project. Quoting his previous letter to Kumaraswamy, Reddy explained that hasty steps to start construction without assessing the carrying capacity and without the mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) in an urban congested area, was potentially dangerous. This would massively impact the well-being of the entire population. In his letter, Reddy also produced proficient inputs from a report by Dr M K Ramesh, Professor of…

On Saturday, March 16th, Bengaluru saw a gathering of thousands of people who came together to demand for cancellation of the controversial elevated corridor and to better public transport, footpaths and safe cycling and a more balanced and sustainable development of Bangalore and rest of Karnataka as well. This mass action was organized by a large coalition of citizen groups’ in response to the awarding of environmental clearance for the controversial elevated corridors project and floating of tender for Phase 1 of Elevated Corridors. Since the govt. announced its intention of taking up 100 km elevated corridors in the city,…