Heavy rains wreak havoc in Jaipur, social media abuzz with clips

In an unusual incident, the pink city of Jaipur got flooded due to heavy rains on August 14 2020. It also disrupted road and rail movement in the city. Horrifying clips of water entering low floor buses and shopping complexes made several rounds on social media. As per media reports, the rainfall started during the early hours and continued till 1:00 PM in the afternoon.

In response, 13 civic defense teams and four teams of stated disaster relief were deployed for evacuation of people stuck in low lying areas of the city. Almost 50 families were moved to safer locations. The floods also claimed the lives of three people living in low lying areas.

As per the Jaipur Meteorological Center, the heavy rains were caused due to cyclonic disturbances in East Rajasthan.

Source: The Times of India

North Delhi: Three injured in Bhalswa landfill collapse

The 53-metre high Bhalswa landfill collapsed on August 14th in North Delhi. The landfill was accumulating 2,100 metric tonnes of waste every day. As per studies, the landfill had reached the peak of its capacity way back in 2006, but it was still operational due to lack of alternative sites.

The landfill was being managed by North Delhi Municipal Corporation and three rag pickers got buried in the debris but were later rescued successfully. The part that collapsed was 10 feet long and 15 feet wide, informed the Mayor.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) attacked BJP over the incident, as the saffron party is in power at the municipality level. AAP called for better and scientific management of landfills.

Earlier, in 2017, a similar incident was witnessed at the Ghazipur landill site in East Delhi. This site was also advised to be closed in 2002, but is still operational and receives almost one-fourth of the total garbage collected in the capital.

Source: Financial Express | The Times of India | Hindustan Times

Noida authorities to expedite water and sewage treatment works

The Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) in its board meeting decided to expedite the drinking water projects and sewage treatment works in Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida. The residents will be getting door to door connections for Ganga water. Chief Executive Officers from GNIDA and Noida Authority were also present in the meeting.

At present, households are dependent on ground water for meeting their daily water requirements. This water has very high salt content, making availability of fresh water very necessary.

Ganga Water Scheme was prepared ten years ago at an estimated cost of Rs. 290 crores.

Source: Hindustan Times

Urban mobility plan for 13 cities in UP gets approval from centre

The central government has approved an urban mobility plan for 13 cities of Uttar Pradesh (UP). The plan includes ideas like bicycling pathways, pedestrian lanes, bus rapid transit system and intelligent transport system. As per the plan, almost 80% of the money will be provided by the central government while 20% will be managed by the state government.

The objective of the plan is also to promote open and safe urban spaces with clean air, said the Lucknow Municipal Commissioner. The plan will also introduce public bike sharing system and electric vehicles.

However, the current challenge is to accommodate the BRTS system, given the limited road space and width in the cities.

Source: Hindustan Times

Increase in home quarantines, PMC finds difficult to manage COVID-19 waste

Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has been finding it difficult to manage the COVID-19 waste, as more and more people are opting for home quarantine. As on August 11th, out of a total of 15043 active cases, 7754 cases are in home isolation in the city. As a result, door to door collection of COVID-19 waste is becoming a challenge for the municipal body.

At present, the health department is collecting waste from homes in quarantine while solid waste is being collected by PMC. Also, residents are not segregating the waste at source and are not following other norms related to waste management, putting sanitary workers at risk.

Officials from the Health Department informed media that more than three kilograms of bio-medical waste are being collected and disposed off daily from home quarantined patients.

Source: Hindustan Times

Compiled by Rishabh Shrivastava