Articles by News Desk

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,…

Election commission announces dates for Lok Sabha polls On March 10th, the Election Commission announced the schedule for the poll to elect the 17th Lok Sabha. The exercise is to be conducted across all states in seven phases. The polls will be held between April 11 and May 19. The current schedule makes this election cycle the longest so far, at 38 days. The results for all constituencies are to be announced on May 23rd. Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) will be used in all polling stations for the elections to verify the integrity of the Electronic Voting Machines…

Camps for differently abled voters in city Chennai Corporation has set up camps to assist differently abled voters to include their names in the voters' list. As a move to ensure that they do not face any challenges, the civic body has also introduced helplines to make sure that they can cast their vote without any hassle. People can call 9445477699 to request for assistance. The corporation has set up 3,754 polling booths in 913 locations with facilities such as wheelchair, stretchers, Braille and other required features to assist the specially abled people to cast their vote. Source: The Times…

HC asks govt to halt elevated corridor project Karnataka High Court has asked the state government to halt work on the elevated corridor project until it decides on a case related to the Bengaluru Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC). MPC, the statutory body responsible for city planning and approving major projects like the elevated corridor, has been almost dysfunctional. A few citizen activists from the Namma Bengaluru Foundation and Citizen’s Action Forum had filed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) after government hurriedly called tenders for the elevated corridor project, without public consultations. A bench headed by the Acting Chief Justice Narayana Swamy…