Articles by News Desk

“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,…

Bandh gets good response: The statewide bandh on January 25 was fairly successful and mostly peaceful, as it got a good response from diverse organisations. In the attempt to reach a resolution for the Mahadayi row between Karnataka and Goa, the bandh got BMTC and KSRTC buses to stay off roads, with shops remaining shut. However, Metro services remained unaffected, while taxis and autos too were plying on the roads. Though it was fairly peaceful, the protest also witnessed some stray stone-pelters. There were more than 15,000 police personnel, along with 50 platoons of KSRP and CAR police persons who…

Mumbai’s vehicular explosion Mumbai has seen an explosive growth in its vehicle population, jumping by 56% in just 5 years, with 32 lakh registered vehicles on its streets. These include all vehicles -- private cars, buses, two-wheelers, app cabs, school transport and trucks. Close to 700 vehicles hit city roads daily (till Oct-Nov 2017). Experts now fear that the gap between every extra 10 lakh vehicles on road is narrowing. Soon, it could take a mere two to three years to add another million vehicles in Mumbai and this could sound alarm bells for the city—where the road length has…

Google to help Bengaluru police manage traffic better: "A team of officials from Google and the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) are developing a custom-made ‘Traffic analyser app’ for the traffic police, which will help in congestion management, benefiting the general public," said R. Hitendra, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), to The Hindu. Rooftop restaurants already shutting shop: A number of rooftop pubs, bars and restaurants have complied with the orders of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to close down their establishments. They had been found operating without trade licenses. About 135 establishments had been given a week’s…

Fire kills five in Kailash Bar: Safety norms are always drawn up carefully, but remain only on paper. Even though the state fire department had asked Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to cancel the occupancy certificate of 106 high-rise buildings in 2015, no steps were taken to ensure safety. Notices had been issued to roof top pubs after the Kamala Mills tragedy in Mumbai, yet a fire, maybe due to short circuit, killed five staff members in Kailash Bar, Kalasipalyam. “My question is: Why did we wake up after a mishap occurred in another city when the matter was known…

Chennai bus strike It was a week of helplessness and frustration for regular commuters in Chennai as a section of transport workers’ unions went on indefinite strike, demanding a revision in wages and settlement of other benefits that they are entitled to. The workers refused to resume work even after an order from the Madras High Court, and several rounds of talks with the State Transport Department failed. Transport workers are demanding salaries on par with drivers in other state government corporations. The unions want a 2.57 per cent hike but the government is willing to increase salaries only by…

From new year parties to short-lived hopes on metro trains to medical strike, it has been an eventful week! New Year pulls in with a peaceful bang:  This year’s New Year Eve stood out for its high-security leash on the celebrations. One man wanted to file an FIR against his wife's molestation and 60 were arrested for creating some ruckus. But no major bawdy, lewd or rowdy scenes marred the noise and pomp like last year. The city’s security teams seem to have pulled out all plugs to preempt bad news. A special 16,000-plus policeman squad, 3,000 home guards, 100…

A lot is happening in India, and a lot of it is happening in our cities. Often much more than we can assimilate while navigating the routinely busy course of our lives. Starting this week, Citizen Matters will present a weekly compilation of news headlines and features that our team feels will be consequential for the Indian urban space as a whole, and interesting to any observer of how our cities are evolving. Here’s a quick round-up of what caught our eyes over the last week. Kamala Mills Fire Even as urbanisation continues at a frenetic pace in the country,…