Articles by News Desk

Namma Chennai App to the rescue of residents, yet a long way to go Since the launch of the Namma Chennai App in January, Greater Chennai Corporation is witnessing a steady flow of complaints. As many as 3000 complaints have been received so far and officials say they act on the complaints swiftly. Poor street lighting, Pavement encroachments, abandoned cars  are some of the issues that are getting the attention of the officials.  As on May 4, the app had seen 8000  downloads on Google Play store, and it has also been introduced in the iOS store. Source : Times…

Indian cities’ ongoing dilemma: To breathe or not to breathe? With 14 of the 15 most polluted cities in the world in terms of PM 2.5 concentrations, as recorded in the recently-released WHO global air pollution database, India continues to grapple with the huge challenge of cleaning up the air in its cities. With a PM 2.5 of 173 micrograms per cubic metre, Kanpur holds the unenviable top position in the list, followed by Faridabad, Varanasi and Gaya. The Indian capital stood at sixth position. The study considered both PM2.5 and PM10 pollution in the cities over the period 2010-2016.…

The Chunavana Android App is developed by the CEO of Karnataka after assessing the need of the public through a specialized KAP Survey is available for the public download now in the Google Play Store. The survey report revealed that out of the people who did not vote 25% was because they were not aware of their polling stations, 17.5 % of the urban voters did not vote because of long queue and avoided standing in the queue and 7.5 % of the urban voters did not vote because they are unaware of their candidates and the constituencies. The Chunavana…

Political parties come up with their manifestos for every election, promising to solve issues and do progressive things that will help people at large. Here's the list of manifestos from various political parties, for Bengaluru and the state. Indian National Congress (INC) Manifesto for Bengaluru Region (released on April 28, 2018): The highlight for Bengaluru is the mention of pitching Bengaluru region as a second capital for the country. [embeddoc url="https://citizenmatters.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Regional_INC-Manifesto_260418.pdf" download="all"] Indian National Congress (INC) Manifesto for Karnataka State (released on April 28, 2018): [embeddoc url="https://citizenmatters.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/INC_Manifesto_State_2018.pdf" download="all"] Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State Manifesto (released on May 3, 2018) [embeddoc…

Chennai taps go dry already With major reservoirs supplying water to Chennai holding enough water only for the next four months, several pockets of Chennai are already seeing water cuts ahead of the severe shortfall that will arise this summer. Though December 2015 floods had filled up the lakes and reservoirs and increased the groundwater table, it has not helped much in salvaging the crisis. The north east monsoon which is the main source for the state was deficient by 62 percent last year. With acute heat waves already setting in, experts warn of a severe summer ahead and the…

Governor's behaviour at Press Meet sparks controversy Chennai has been witnessing an abundance of action week after week, though not all may have been reason to cheer. While the Cauvery protests and IPL grabbed the limelight a week ago, this week it was the State head, His Excellency Governor Banwarilal Purohit, who stirred up controversy over his allegedly objectionable behaviour. At a press meet that he called for, on an incident involving Madurai professor Nirmaladevi, he ended up inviting the wrath of the journalists for his uncalled for behaviour. “The incident took place when the 78-year-old Governor was about to…

Several hundred pourakarmikas gathered at the BBMP Head Office today to demand four months salary. The BBMP, which is the principal employer of these pourakarmikas decided to pay the workers directly from January 2018, and to rid the contract-system that was prevalent earlier. The biometric system that was put in place to identify the number of workers in the city, so that the BBMP can pay them directly has been ridden with discrepancies, thus creating a situation where powrakarmikas who turn up for work every day were marked absent and had their salaries cut. The State Government and BBMP also…

Cities relive cash-crunch crisis as ATMs run dry In an unpleasant reminder of the demonetization days, ATMs across Indian cities and towns reported running out of cash, creating panic among the citizenry. Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh appeared to be the worst affected, though reports and social media posts came in from all corners of the country. The government attributed the shortage to a sudden spike in demand over the last three months amid regional elections (or the run up to it) in several states. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the "temporary shortage" in…

After a meeting with the heads of various political parties, the District Election Officer, BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad conducted a press meet to informed the media of nomination procedures for the upcoming election, on Monday, April 16, 2018. The filing of nominations for the polls will begin on 17th April, 11am onwards. Between 17th and 24th, nominations can be filed between 11am and 3pm. The Commissioner specified rules for the nomination process: not more than three vehicles and five people including the candidate can be present within 100m of the office of the RO. Nomination paper and the format for…

Action inside and outside Chepauk; CSK team and IPL fans disappointed with turn of things On an otherwise normal day, with the Chennai Super Kings staging a comeback, the city of Chennai would be bleeding yellow. But the day for which all cricket fanatics in the city had been waiting for, turned into an ugly battle ground with fringe groups staging demonstrations and calling for cancellation of the match. High drama was witnessed as some of the protestors shouting slogans for cancellation of the match in support of the Cauvery Management Board broke barricades. To control the situation, the police…