Articles by News Desk

Multi-level car parking lot to be inaugurated by end of February By the end of February, the newly-constructed multi-level car parking lot on Thanikachalam Road in T Nagar will be inaugurated. The parking charges for cars will be Rs 20 for an hour and Rs 5 an hour for motorcycles. Parking will be facilitated through the GCC Smart Parking App. The facility will be linked with the command and control centre in Ripon Building for analysis. Currently, the facility is being tested with the trial of the lifts, using cars of various models and different sizes. While the lot was…

Spurt in COVID-19 cases in Mumbai There's been a rapid increase in the coronavirus cases in Mumbai. On on Wednesday, Mumbai recorded 721 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day spike since January 7, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). BMC has now issued updated guidelines. See them below: https://twitter.com/mybmc/status/1362426766527066113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1362426766527066113%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.livemint.com%2Fnews%2Findia%2Fnew-curbs-in-mumbai-amid-surge-in-covid-19-cases-check-new-rules-here-11613694432059.html Mumbai's air quality is worsening Factories across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) burn two million tonnes coal every year, a new study by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi-based non-profit, found. The study identified the Trans-Thane Creek (TTC), Taloja, Ambernath and Dombivali, which covers about 70 per cent…

Death by air pollution A Greenpeace Southeast Asia report on Thursday estimated that Bengaluru recorded 12,000 avoidable deaths due to PM 2.5 air pollution in 2020. The city fared better than Delhi and Mumbai, but worse than Chennai, Hyderabad, and Lucknow. The ‘Cost Estimator’ online tool estimated the real-time health impact and economic cost from fine particulate matter (PM 2.5), using real-time ground-level PM 2.5 measurements collated in IQAir’s database. Apart from waste burning, construction, industries, and DG sets, the fossil-fuelled transport sector was the key emission source. Polluted air increases the likelihood of deaths owing to cancer and stroke,…

Bengaluru Mission 2022 is the state government's plan to transform the city's infrastructure, enabling faster commute and providing a cleaner and greener city. It was unveiled by Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddiyurappa in December last year. In a tweet in December 2020, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddiyurappa said, "Increasing green cover and air quality will lead to an overall improvement in quality of life. Revitalisation of the lakes and Raja Kaluve network along with improved utilisation of rainwater and grey water across Bengaluru will address the SWD problem." The proposed plan includes the creation of new urban lung spaces in…

Twitter vs Indian government: Supreme court issues notices to both In response to a petition filed by a BJP leader calling for curbs on the seditious and hate content on Twitter and other social media forums, the Supreme court issued notices to Twitter and the Union government. The petition talked about checking content on Twitter and advertisements spreading hate and also instigative messaging by fake accounts. The petitioner had asked for some kind of screening mechanism in order to check hate and seditious content. After issuing the notice, the Supreme Court tagged the petition with other similar pending petitions seeking…

MTC to be impacted by scrapping policy? The Central government has announced its old vehicle scrappage policy, according to which commercial vehicles that are over eight years should clear a fitness test and pay a green tax which is likely to be 10% to 25% of the road tax. This policy is applicable to government vehicles only. The state-owned Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) owns 3,100 buses of which one-third are over eight years old and have crossed the 10-lakh kilometre mark. It is stated that some of the old buses are not road-worthy as they meet with accidents frequently. The…

Surge in COVID-19 cases The Mumbai Metropolitan Region reported 1,075 new Covid cases on Wednesday—a 55% surge from 693 cases recorded on Tuesday, according to a report by The New Indian Express. Many wondered whether the higher cases are because of resumption of local train services. “The cases have increased but it cannot be attributed to local trains. We have increased the number of testing at airports and other destinations as a result of which the number of cases may increase,” a BMC official told The New Indian Express. Source: The New Indian Express Restrictions on travel from Kerala After…

Pay to park outside your home Parking a vehicle in a public space in the city, including on a residential street, will be charged. That is the norm under Parking Policy 2.0 approved by the Urban Development Department. It will come into effect once the Directorate of Urban Land Transport and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike prepare area parking plans, six months to one year from now. Almost all places including commercial and residential areas will be covered under the pay and park system. The new parking policy introduces a permit system to park outside one's home as well. The annual…

On-street parking in 32 spots In a bid to streamline parking management, the civic body rolled out the on-street parking project in Chennai last week. The project has been in trial since 2019 in 32 places and was inaugurated formally in Anna Nagar, T. Nagar and Besant Nagar.  With this project, the civic body has collected Rs 1 lakh a day and has created 9,200 parking lots which can be booked with an application designed to allow users to find vacant spots.  Source: The Hindu | The Times of India Read more: Street parking to be charged soon in city:…

Third national sero survey conducted by ICMR As per the third national sero survey conducted by ICMR, more than 21% of Indians might have had COVID-19. The survey was conducted between 7th December last year to 8th January 2021. The survey highlighted that a large proportion of the public was still at risk of catching the infection. Urban slums showed the highest prevalence of the COVID-19 at 32% followed by urban non-slums at 26%. The survey was conducted across 21 states. Source: NDTV Classes 9 and 11 reopen in Delhi After ten months, school for classes 9 and 11 have…