Articles by News Desk

Poll plans roll out Many are worried that as civic officials have been posted to election duties for the upcoming Assembly polls on May 10th, the ongoing infrastructure projects will be affected. Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that urban apathy is a concern in elections. Against the 72% polling in the state in the 2018 Assembly elections, the city's constituencies had only around 55% polling. He said that the EC (Election Commission) has reached out to IT firms, colleges and start-ups to increase awareness. To increase voter participation, the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) listed out some initiatives…

The Karnataka and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Budgets, 2023-24, recently announced that 75 junctions of Bengaluru would be improved, at a cost of Rs 150 crore. In keeping with this vision, the BBMP and Bengaluru Traffic Police, in collaboration with World Resources Institute India (WRI India), under the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS), launched the Suraksha 75 Mission 2023 initiative on March 25th. The Suraksha 75 Mission aims to create people-centric and holistic intersection designs to make them safe, efficient, inclusive, and universally accessible. This initiative aims to make Bengaluru's busy intersections safer for pedestrians, along…

A recent study found Chennai to be the top city for women in India. Chennai ranked first among metro cities with a million-plus population. The parameters that the ranking was based on included safety and ease of living for women. At the same time, crimes against women in Tamil Nadu have seen an increase by 40% in 2022 according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau. So, how easy is it to navigate life in Chennai as a woman? Is the city as safe and convenient as perception seems to suggest? What does freedom mean for the women of…

GCC issues guidelines for Area Sabhas in Chennai On March 23, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) issued guidelines for holding Area Sabhas across the 200 wards in Chennai. Each ward has 10 Area Sabha with the city having a total of 2,000 Area Sabhas. The guidelines were issued during the orientation conducted for the Area Sabha secretaries and Ward Committee secretaries. The meeting was presided by Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi. The functions of the Area Sabha secretaries and Ward Committee secretaries have been defined in the guidelines and the Councillors have also been directed to convene these meetings at…

Mumbai and beyond catch the flu The recent spike in influence cases has taken the instances of H1N1 (swine flu) and H3N2 in the state to 425 and 264 respectively this year. Suspected cases in Maharashtra are over 3 lakh. Three deaths have been reported due to the former infection, and one is suspected of the latter. Doctors suspect the spread may be the see-sawing temperatures, going from hot in February to a cool spell in March. Precautionary measures are recommended, like wearing a mask, taking the influenza vaccine, and if elderly or with comorbidities, checking in regularly with physicians.…

Road construction on Hosakerehalli Lake stopped On March 11th, BBMP Special Commissioner (Projects) P M Ravindra said that engineers will remove mud immediately and restore the 59-acre Hosakerehalli lake, the main water source at Rajarajeshwari Nagar, to its original condition. Earlier, Horticulture Minister and area MLA Munirathna had denied that a permanent road was being built through the Hosakerehalli Lake. However, he admitted that a temporary road was laid just to clear silt, as the lake is spread over 50 acres and has collected silt over the last 100 years. The BBMP will develop a model lake and build a…

Climate change is experienced in the form of erratic, unpredictable and extreme weather changes in the various seasons. This is impacting the periodic appearance of leaves, flowers, and fruits on the seasonal trees around us. Observing these changes regularly can give an insight into climate change's impact on biodiversity in India. Since trees are the basis of all life, including ours, understanding the impact of climate change on trees is imperative. For over a decade, SeasonWatch is leading a citizen science project following the patterns of emergence and maturation of leaves, flowers and fruits (“phenology”) on common tree species of…

No water or sewer connections for a decade in Sholinganallur It has been 10 years since the Sholinganallur Assembly Constituency was made part of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC). But there has been a dearth of piped water and sewerage infrastructure in those areas to date. Residents demanded immediate action on these issues and staged a protest in Thoraipakkam on 12th March. The residents shared their concerns about the lack of water supply and sewerage in the IT Corridor, and how private tanker lorries are hampering the projects in this part of Chennai. The protesting residents were provided assurance by…

State Government to create SOP for under-construction sites after tragic accident in Mumbai Maharashtra government will be establishing a standard operating procedure (SOP) for under-construction buildings in order to prevent accidents in light of the one that occurred in Mumbai's Worli four weeks ago and resulted in the deaths of two pedestrians. During the Assembly session, Sunil Shinde, a legislator from Shiv Sena (UBT), brought up the issue of the February 15th accident by a calling attention motion. As per news reports, a concrete block fell from a crane of a 42-storey under-construction building killing two pedestrians. As a response,…

Viral fever cases Bengaluru hospitals are reporting high numbers of fever patients in the OPD, yet hospitalisations are much lower as patients are being admitted mostly in general ward rather than in the ICU. However, in the last fortnight, government hospitals in the city showed a rise in admissions to 45. The numbers in the state went up from 17 at the end of February to 52 on March 13th. An 81-year-old, suffering from ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) in the city passed away on March 9th, one of five deaths reported in the state this year. The weekly test…