Articles by News Desk

Proposed amendment to Tree Act cancelled: The proposed amendment to the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act of 1976 has been cancelled, as the state government withdrew the bill last Wednesday. It was a victory for the earnest citizens who had been on a non-stop campaign against the plan. The government had been slammed for proposing a plan that would make it legal for authorities to cut down trees. Hence, on Wednesday, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister TB Jayachandra, clarified to the House that the government was going to take back the proposed amendment. He admitted that the amendment might have…

The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board has issued the following rejoinder on 22nd February to the press release by Climate Trends, on the air quality data monitoring exercise, published on 19th February. [Update] On 23rd February, the team behind the study, Climate Trends and Co Media Lab issued an addendum to clarify the points made in KSPCB's statement below.  On 21st February 2018, Co- Media Lab and Climate Trends have released the report on air quality of Bengaluru City, where it is reported that there are huge gaps in the KSPCB data on the smaller particulate matter ( PM 2.5).…

Delhi, Mumbai to be in list of world’s 10 most populous cities by 2030: UN Report According to a report released by United Nations’ World Urbanization Prospects, India’s political and financial capitals are both going to find a place among the ten largest cities in terms of population by the year 2030. As per the report released by United Nations’ World Urbanization Prospects, the population in the Middle East, Asia and Africa is only going to increase by 2030. In 2030, the following will be the new 10 biggest cities in the world: 1. Tokyo, Japan: 37.2 million people 2. Delhi,…

The Bengaluru In-charge Minister K J George launched the cycle stands and cycle sharing rental services in Sanjay Nagar on Saturday February 17, 2018. BBMP commissioner Manjunath Prasad, Corporators of wards 18 and 19, Anand and Indira Subhash and residents of Sanjaynagar were present in the event.       The Minister, Commissioner and the corporators took a ride in the cycle as a part of the launch. Minister K J George and the BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad spoke supportive of the initiative and encouraged people to take up such initiatives in other areas. The commissioner requested the residents to partner…

Have you walked around your city lately, and observed the collapsed Electricity Board wires and mounds of garbage near various government departments? Or the remnants from so called developmental work undertaken by the state or the various parastatal agencies? Even as we talk about waste and what can be done to manage household/industrial waste more effectively, piles of unattended debris and confiscated vehicles dumped by various government departments stand as testimony to the inaction by the Tamil Nadu Government. While the Chennai Corporation is frequently under fire for being unable to check dumping of unprocessed waste near water bodies or…

Union Budget mentions Bengaluru Suburban Rail:  Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced in the Union Budget that Bengaluru suburban network could spring up at a cost of ₹17,000 crore. It had agreed to invest about 20% of the total expenses, with ₹1,745 crore in two years. State government will invest another 20%, and the rest needs to be funded through loans. The rail project will be partly elevated inside the core areas of the city. Congress leader Dinesh Gundu Rao agreed that the project can take off when both the State and the Centre contribute 20% of the cost.  They both…

Delhi to pay for parking in residential areas too In a bid to ease the stranglehold of traffic and discourage use of private vehicles, the Delhi government notified The ‘Delhi Maintenance and Management of Parking Rules, 2017’, which when implemented will require citizens to pay for parking in residential areas as well. The new rules have been approved by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, and are likely to be implemented in March. The new parking rates for public and residential areas will be finalised by July.   The minimum parking rates across Delhi will be fixed by a ‘Base Parking Fee…

“Urbanisation is our opportunity and priority,” said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his speech in Parliament, as he presented the Union Budget 2018, presumably the current government’s last big one before the nation goes for elections in 2019. Cities, per se, however did not see too much exclusive focus except in a few allusions to big-ticket schemes introduced by the current dispensation and a couple of city-specific allocations. Here is a quick round-up of what Budget 2018 had to say about the plans for India's urban future: Air pollution in Delhi and NCR Concern for the alarming levels of pollution…

For RMP 2031, a group working on heritage, Heritage Beku, with over 80 members, set up by Priya Chetty Rajgopal, has worked over three weeks to come up with a suggestions / objections document that was sent to the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA). Besides response to the BDA's RMP suggestions on heritage, the document also has objections, institutionalising heritage, concerns of urban planners, suggestions from experts etc. Do read the document for details. [embeddoc url="https://citizenmatters.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/RMP-2031_heritage-suggestions.pdf" download="all"]

The alarming air quality in the National Capital region (NCR), comprised of Delhi and adjoining areas, has found fresh mention in the Economic Survey 2017-18 tabled in Parliament on January 29th. It is well known by now that the average annual levels of PM2.5 – one of the most critical contaminants in the air we breathe – remain at above three times the prescribed level in this region. The Survey reiterates the four main reasons for Delhi’s worsening air quality – crop residue and biomass burning; vehicular emissions and re-destributed road dust; construction, industries, and power plants; winter temperature inversion,…