Articles by News Desk

Beautification work by Corporation Several beautification projects have been initiated in the city across localities by the Chennai Corporation. A new fountain at Marina beach has been completed and another such structure is under construction near the War Memorial and Egmore Railway Station. As part of the drive, several areas including the T Nagar pedestrian plaza will receive additional lighting. On the cards is also a facelift for parks across the city including the famous Maadi Poonga. A park with fountains is planned near Mint Flyover at an estimated cost of Rs 5 crores. Dynamic lighting has also been proposed for…

Schools, colleges to reopen from October 4 Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar has issued strict guidelines for the city's schools which are set to open for Grade 8 - 12 on October 4. The guidelines included mandates such as contact sports are disallowed, all schools and colleges have to be connected with nearby Covid centres, follow one seat for one student policy, and have 50 students capacity per class. What the SOPs are missing, as some experts point out, is how underfunded civic schools will be supported by the BMC to carry out some of these procedures. According to a Citizen…

First electric bus unveiled Bengaluru’s first electric bus, nine-metre-long and non-AC, was unveiled by Transport Minister B Sriramulu. The bus can run 120 km on a single charge, and carry 33 passengers. The BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) had got the e-bus built by the Uttar Pradesh-based JBM Auto Limited.  This is the first of 90 electric buses to be inducted by BMTC by December. Each bus will cost Rs 90 lakh, of which about Rs 60 lakh is contributed by grants from the Smart Cities Mission. Over the next three years, the fleet might expand to 500. The first…

On September 21, two women died in a fire that broke out at their apartment in Devarachikkanahalli. The balcony of their apartment unit was enclosed with metal grills, and hence they had no escape route. The lack of fire safety is a concern in many Bengaluru apartments. Here’s an explainer on how to make your apartment fire-safe, and what to do in case of a fire. What can Management Committees do? First, the Management Committees in apartments have a crucial role to play. They should: Ensure the complex is fire-safety compliant, as per the National Building CodeConduct audits of fire…

Vaccine for children from October As per a Reuters report, children aged 12 or older will be eligible for vaccination from October. Zydus Cadila will start producing 10 million doses per month of Zy-CoVD, the world’s first DNA based vaccine, once it gets emergency use authorization from the Indian government last month. Zy-CoVD is the only vaccine India has approved for children. In another development, the Central Board of Secondary Education has decided to waive fees for children who lost their parents to COVID-19. In an official communication, CBSE has asked schools to prepare a list of such students along…

Corporation sets one month vaccination target The Greater Chennai Corporation has set a target of one month to complete the COVID-19 vaccination of all those who are over 18 years of age. To this end, the civic body has begun deploying teams to various areas of the city to carry out the vaccination. The special teams are tasked with persuading those residents who have not taken the vaccine so far. The civic body has deployed 1000 workers to carry out this task.  Vaccination numbers in the city is set to hit the 50 lakh mark in the coming week. The…

Mumbai schools to reopen post Diwali? At the last Pediatric Task Force meeting that local corporations should take the final decision of reopening schools in their areas. However, Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar on September 23rd, said that the decision of re-opening of schools in Mumbai and surrounding areas will be taken after Diwali BMC Education Officer, Raju Tadvi was quoted as stating that they are "preparing a plan for safe reopening, which will be given to all schools in the city, irrespective of which board they are affiliated to.” Under this plan, schools will be required to have a medical…

City roads to be audited: Govt State government has decided to conduct a road maintenance audit in Bengaluru to fix responsibility on officials for poor road conditions. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday informed the State Legislative Council that a detailed audit of main, arterial and sub-arterial roads will be undertaken. Bommai added that administrative approval had been given in 2015-16 for spending Rs 20,060 crore on Bengaluru roads, but not a single road is free of potholes or cracks. Meanwhile, B R Ravikanthe Gowda, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said that traffic-calming measures like rumblers and surface markers were…

Bengaluru is not typically imagined to be a hotspot of biodiversity, and the urban biodiversity here often gets missed in conversations about the environment. The city's water bodies and green spaces, apart from being recreational spaces, are a home to biodiversity as well as a source of livelihood for many citizens. In this set of illustrations, we examine the components of Bengaluru’s lakes, and get a glimpse of what lies beneath the concrete layers and dense human population in our city. Every artwork has elements of household and construction waste that the artist found in her neighbourhood in Bengaluru. Look closely…

NCRB Report 2020: India registers a crime rate of 56.5 per one lakh women   As per the NCRB (National Crime Record Bureau) report for 2020, the country has reported a crime rate of 56.5 per one lakh women, compared to 62.3 in 2019. Of these, more than 1.11 lakh cases related to "cruelty by husband or relatives" while more than 62,000 cases were kidnapping and abduction. The report also revealed a grim situation in terms of heinous crimes like rape and murder. The country reported an average of 80 murders and 77 rape cases daily, according to the report.…