Articles by News Desk

City soars with ISRO A new video of Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 Rover ramping down from the Lander to the Lunar surface, as well as a photo of the moon’s surface, were released on August 24th. Hundreds of Bengalurians celebrated ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 completion of soft landing on the moon's south pole. There were jubilant screenings and scientific commentaries at the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Indian Institute of Astrophysics campus, Century Club at Ambedkar Veedhi and Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM). A special screening at the Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Park in ISRO Layout had many former…

Telemedicine services launched at RGGGH Chennai’s largest government hospital, the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, has rolled out telemedicine services for various specialities. The consultations will take place between Monday to Saturday. The departments that are covered include paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, dermatology, surgery, general medicine and geriatrics. The teleconsultation service will be available from 9 am to 12 noon. The service can be availed by those who are over 18 years of age. The departments will operate on staggered timings each day for six days of the week. The service has been launched with a view to help elderly…

Eighteen deaths in a day at public hospital Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital (CSMH) located at Kalwa saw an unprecedented death toll in a span of mere 24 hours with 18 patients losing their life due to various reasons. Nearly 70% of the deaths that occurred were above the age group of 50 years. Of the 18 deceased, 10 were women and eight men. The relatives of patients claimed lack of attention and shortage of staff as the cause of death. The opposition demanded a thorough investigation into the incident. “This is an unfortunate incident and we have taken it very…

Funding for second phase of Chennai City Partnership plan The second phase of the Chennai City Partnership will receive funding of 350 million dollars from the World Bank. The second phase will reportedly focus on improving Digital Chennai for e-mobility and smart parking solutions and implementing projects to improve bus and suburban rail services. Further, parking, e-mobility and transport hubs will also be developed in various parts of the city under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model. In a recently held meeting, the officials also discussed the projects to create climate-resilient public infrastructure. Notably, as part of the first phase…

Mumbai-Goa highway to be ready before Ganesh Utsav One lane of the Mumbai-Goa highway will be ready before Ganesh Utsav, chief minister Ekanth Shinde has said. The Mumbai-Goa highway has been in the works for a long time. Thousands of people travel from Mumbai to Konkan for the festival. If it becomes functional by then, this journey will be much better for the travellers. "Our public works department minister Ravindra Chavan is on a visit to ensure the work is started though the highway comes under the National Highway Authority of India. Preparations have been completed. Before the Ganesh festival…

BBMP governance issues The government has set a two-month deadline for ward delimitation. Even the previous government reduced the number of wards from 243 to 225. However, senior Ministers are now debating whether civic polls should be organised at the end of this year. As there is no clarity over restructuring the city’s governance structure, the worry is that the civic polls may push reforms to the background. Meanwhile, on the Working Contractors' Association complaint that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has held up its bills, the Governor, Thaawarchand Gehlot, summoned BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath. The contractors said…

Dear  Smt. Manjula V, Commissioner, Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) Smt. G. Sathyavathi, Managing Director, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC)  This is with reference to a webinar held by Citizen Matters, Bengaluru, on what makes commuters choose cars and bikes over buses and metro and how this can change. The webinar, titled ‘‘Why not public transport?’, was held on July 21, 2023.  The panellists included experts, Srinivas Alavilli, Fellow, Integrated Transport and Road Safety, World Resources Institute (WRI) India; Shreya Satish Mokhashi, Assistant Urban Planner at Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT); Jayenkumar Desai, Head of Strategy and Transformation…

Vehicles to be fined for illegal parking The Greater Chennai Traffic Police (GCTP) will be imposing fines on vehicles found to have been parked illegally. The traffic police have been instructed to photograph the vehicles and issue a challan to the owners. This move has been put in place as many vehicles have been parked in no-parking zones, affecting traffic flow. All arterial roads in the city have been declared no parking zones and vehicles parked here will be fined. Those found guilty of illegal parking can pay the fine imposed online or through e-seva centres across the city.  First-time…

BEST bus drivers protest again Contractual bus drivers of Mumbai BEST service went on a strike again. The reason was once again various issues related to their salaries - delays, lesser amount compared to staffers. The strike affected the commute severely as only one-third buses were on the road. According to the BEST spokesperson, 500 private bus operators and employees of Daga Group stopped work and protested. “We shifted the buses from other routes and tried to salvage the situation in the best possible way,” said a BEST spokesperson. The BEST has decided to levy fines of ₹5,000 per bus…

HC: Govt should pay for illegal hoardings The Karnataka High Court said that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the state government would have to deposit Rs 50,000 each in the court for every instance of unauthorised hoarding in future. There are too many unregulated and uncontrolled illegal hoardings, banners and flexes, mainly due to the callousness and negligence of BBMP officials, it said. Even though 59,413 illegal hoardings were identified in the past four months and 58,429 of them were removed by spending BBMP’s funds, or taxpayers money, why hadn't the BBMP collected any penalty? the court asked.…