Articles by News Desk

Clean Marina on top priority for the officials Following the directions of the Madras High Court, Corporation Commissioner D Karthikeyan along with the police commissioner took a walk along the Marina to inspect and take stock of the progress on the clean-up works. From streamlining vendors to stepping up security through CCTV surveillance, work along the world's second longest beach is on at a fast pace. The High Court has directed the civic body to ensure a clean Marina before the new year. Source: The Times of India GCC news: More worms out of the can A recent RTI filed by NGO…

Six airports to be privatised by February The coming year will see the privatisation of six new airports along the lines of Delhi and Mumbai. The Airports Authority of India has sought proposals for the privatisation of airports in Lucknow, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram. The AAI plans to hand over the six airports to private players for a period of 50 years. The bids are to be submitted to the AAI by February 14, 2019 with announcement of winners scheduled for February 28th. The bidding will depend on the fee quoted per passenger, with the authority collecting a…

Big money for Bengaluru Karnataka State cabinet sanctioned an amount of 8038 crores for next three years, for various development works in Bengaluru. As of now, about 1200 crores have been sanctioned for whitetopping, while rejuvenation of Bellandur lake got Rs 350 crores. Meanwhile BBMP continues to burn money on projects that have no explanation, like an unused library and a quarters that doesn’t belong to BBMP. The Court Commissioners appointed by the High Court pointed out to the substandard quality of BBMP’s understanding of engineering, in its report. The High Court rapped the BBMP. In other news, BBMP has…

The Knights of Cubbon Bark, (Cubbon Park Canines Volunteers) have organised the second annual Santa BowWow FunTrain at 9 am-10.30 am on Sunday, December 23, 2018. After the excellent response last year, the festival is back with a bang. It is designed to help children get along with dogs in a safer and happier manner. The Knights of Cubbon Bark, (Cubbon Park Canines Volunteers) decided after an unfortunate child-dog interaction, where a frightened dog inadvertently injured a young boy, that it was important to create a safe and fun platform to help children and adults figure out ways to happily…

Phethai may give Chennai a miss again, but heavy showers likely Cyclone Gaja gave Chennai a near miss but devastated large parts of coastal Tamil Nadu. Now, a low pressure has started brewing in the Bay of Bengal. Named "Phethai", the powerful tropical cyclonic storm is expected to be the most intense in Andhra Pradesh. Even though it may move towards AP, Chennai may get heavy showers, bringing in much relief to the dry spell the city has been having. Source: The New Indian Express | Times of India Drive against encroachments around lakes 57 lakes in the city will…

CRZ 1 buffer zone to be marked to protect Mumbai's mangroves The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada), Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB), Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and revenue officials have been issued directions to demarcate the 50-meter buffer zone identified as Coastal Regulation Zone 1 along the mangrove forests. The direction has been issued by the suburban collector's office per the orders of the Bombay High Court. The 50-meter buffer zone will be marked initially on maps and then physically demarcated on the ground. Once demarcated, fencing of the area will be carried…

Activists skeptic about Waste-to-Energy plants The waste processing area in Chikkanagamangala will soon get a waste-to-energy plant. The MoU for this was signed early this year. Solid Waste Management Activists from the city have upped their ante against the proposal. They say lower calorific value of the waste will make the plant unviable and would lead to its failure. They fear that the push being given to segregation at source would be derailed. However, BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad says it can be adopted to Indian conditions, and segregation of waste at source will not be stopped. Meanwhile in a written…

Come December, every year, thousands of music rasikas, practitioners, scholars and other curious on-lookers from all over the world descend on Chennai to experience the remarkable cultural coming-together that is the annual Music and Dance Season. However, the Tamil Heritage Trust (THT), has created a parallel ‘concert’ experience this year, which allows rasikas an opportunity to immerse themselves in the magnificent ocean of history, literature, fine arts, sculpture and architecture that is India’s Heritage. Pechchu Kachcheri 2018 is a celebration of heritage along with music. As part of the event, a series of lectures, Cholavanadu Kalayudaithu, has been organised that…

Garbage continues to be one of the biggest challenges in our city and can only be addressed by managing waste in a decentralised manner. More households should manage their waste ‘at source’ through home composting while the rest can be managed at a neighbourhood level. It is clear that with this degree of decentralisation, only a meager 5-10% of our waste would go to landfills. What is the key missing piece in this puzzle? Citizen Awareness. One such great initiative looking to solve this problem is 'SwachaGraha Kalika kendra' a composting learning center. It is a first-of-its-kind project in India,…

Mandran and NCBS (National Centre for Biological Sciences) have put together Jigyasa event for 2018, themed on Traditional Knowledge meets Modern Science. The event starts at 9.30 am on December 15, 2018 at the Dasheri Hall in the NCBS campus in Kodigehalli, Bangalore. This time the Jigyasa project features three languages, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi with eminent scientists participating to share their knowledge in their mother tongues. This event has been put together to benefit people whose primary language of communication is not English. Tamil: Prof. Sowdhamini and Prof. Dhandapani, from 10 am to 11.30 am. Prof Sowdhamini from NCBS…