City: Bengaluru

Karnataka’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), the scientific adviser to the government on COVID management, had predicted a second wave in January and February of 2021. While the TAC’s prediction was off by a couple of months--in UK and USA, the second wave had wreaked havoc in the final months of 2020--they did forewarn the State government that a faster spreading and more debilitating second wave of the pandemic was just waiting to happen. And it did. In the end April 2021, the State was clocking approximately 50,000 cases per day with capital Bengaluru alone averaging 20,000 cases per day.    The…

Highest mortality among big cities Bengaluru recorded the highest 28-day COVID mortality with a Moving Growth Rate (MGR) of 82% during the lockdown from April 14 to May 12, according to a study by Jeevan Rakshe, conducted with technical support from the Public Health Foundation of India. The city accounted for 24% of the 17,000 deaths recorded in the six biggest Indian cities. Bengaluru was only behind Delhi, which recorded over 50% of the deaths. In terms of MGR, the national capital was second with 76%. Hence, the doubling period for death numbers is shorter than other mega cities. In…

The second wave is not just more widespread and alarming, it has completely disrupted systems, and has put pressure on existing waste management operations. Volunteers are stretched chasing beds, ambulances, plasma and more. And the last thing on everyone’s mind is waste management.  News of housekeeping staff, sanitary workers and other informal waste workers testing positive are on the rise. As frontline workers, they are often at the receiving end, sometimes because of how we dispose of waste and sometimes because we don’t care what we dispose of. But in the current situation, there is the added risk of the…

As another lockdown began in Bengaluru, the entire day’s hustle and bustle found itself compressed into the four-hour window from 6 am to 10 am. That's when even the most paranoid of folks leave their homes to buy everything from chicken to cigarettes to chat masala. Some are taken aback when asked to pay Rs. 100 for 5-odd cigarettes while others sigh as they queue up to buy beer at 7:30 in the morning.  Read More: Will your neighbourhood grocery store recover from COVID lockdown? My daily morning ritual was a walk to the main road, to buy newspaper and…

With the advancement in solar power technology and the government's thrust on renewable energy, more and more people are starting to invest in solar power systems. Utilising the rooftop to instal solar panels to generate electricity However, there are many things to consider before the installation process. Understanding different factors such as technology, policy, permissions, etc involved in a project like this are important. Here are frequently asked questions on rooftop solar installation in Bengaluru: Technology How much space is required for installing rooftop solar? A typical 1 kWp (kilowatts peak) of solar system consisting of 3 panels needs roughly 70 Sqft…

With COVID second wave, there has been a lot of attention on how crematoriums in Bengaluru are being managed. According to a report in The News Minute, between April 18 and 22 alone, 860 bodies were cremated in six facilities in the city — Kudlu, MS Palya, Peenya, Sumanahalli, Kengeri and Panathur -- plus the Christian and Muslim burial grounds. However, BBMP has had to temporarily close a few crematoriums so as to repair damaged furnaces. Authorities have now been forced to restart the traditional open-air crematoriums to manage the increasing number of deaths.  The question one is left with…

Cases cross one million On Thursday, the city crossed the one million mark in cumulative COVID-19 infections. About 25% of the cases were reported in the past 13 days alone, while 30% of the total deaths in Bengaluru were between May 1 and 13. The daily positivity rate stands at 27.6 %. Since the beginning of May, there were 2,153 deaths, compared to 1,907 in April. There are 300-plus deaths every day. However, as per projections, the number of cases will gradually decline by the end of May. Bengaluru Urban’s testing numbers too have declined since April 20. Official data…

Randeep D is currently Special Commissioner for CHBMS (Central Hospital Bed Management System). Pic: Twitter/Randeep D Last week, MP Tejasvi Surya caused a furore when he made allegations of corruption in the allotment of hospital beds to COVID patients. Even before Surya made the allegations, the BBMP, on May 3, had appointed a three-member committee to study and recommend changes in the CHBMS (Central Hospital Bed Management System). The committee was to plug loopholes in the CHBMS software that allowed for its misuse. On May 7, the committee submitted its 33-point recommendations; the very next day, BBMP passed an order…

Each time a survey, however small or flawed it is, places Bengaluru on top of its list, you can be rest assured that the government will paste full-page advertisements in papers, of its leaders claiming credit for it. Wonder why there is complete silence when Bengaluru became the city with the most active COVID cases not just in India, but across the world. After all, the political establishment has perhaps contributed more to Bengaluru’s horrifying COVID scenario than it has in the city being ‘the most liveable’, ‘most dynamic’ or for being the start-up capital.  At crematoria, at hospitals, in…

With Bengaluru becoming the most traffic-congested city in the world in 2020, mass transit is the key ingredient for a sustainable, low carbon footprint future and the only solution to decongest Bengaluru's roads. However, the perception that cost effective transport options are primarily for use by the economically weaker section of the society, is a big worry.  The extensive bus network of Bengaluru, with a fleet size of over 6775 buses, is the largest in India, and among the 20 largest in the world. Why then is it not leveraged as a solution to its traffic congestion? Even with the…