City: Bengaluru

Bengalureans have a multitude of COVID helplines, but how helpful are these? Those who have called the helplines for beds say it takes hours or even days to get a bed now. When it comes to follow-up for those in home isolation, some say they got calls on time, but some others say the calls came too late to be helpful. "There are simply no beds" Biju Mathews, a resident of Koramangala 3rd block, is part of a volunteer group that supports COVID patients. Last week, his group got requests for hospital beds from two critically-ill patients. Despite calling COVID…

A group of individuals and members of civil society organisations including Whitefield Rising, Bangalore Apartment Federation, and Sochara, have written to the Karnataka Chief Minister, BS Yediyurappa, highlighting major issues in COVID Management, with suggestions and asks for immediate steps. Here's the letter Dear Shri Yediyurappa, Bengaluru urban and rural is in an extremely serious state with a large number of COVID patients in need of medical resources, from hospital beds, to oxygen infrastructure to ICUs and ventilators. Volunteers and family members of patients are making desperate calls and sending messages to find sources to help those in need. We…

The usually quiet police station of Kumbalgodu, located on the outskirts of Bengaluru enroute to Mysuru, saw some unusual activity a few weeks ago.  A group of about 50 residents of the neighbourhood had landed up to file a complaint.  Residents at the Kumbalgodu Police Station, March 2021. Pic: Nikhil Tiwari The trigger was a major fire that had broken out on the banks of the nearby Vrishabhavathi river and which had spread dangerously close to their homes. This was just the most recent in a series of fires that have been noticed on the river's banks over the past…

The issue of whether domestic help (house helpers, cooks, drivers etc.) be allowed to continue working in flats during the lockdown has become quite a contentious subject over the last few days. Many apartment residents are complaining that it is putting them to a lot of inconvenience. Some people have even approached the police to take action against managing committees of apartment associations that have restricted entry to domestic help. In this backdrop, my views on this contentious issue are as follows: Every passing day, I am seeing more people dying around me, including in apartment complexes. The inconvenience of…

One of the characteristic features of a lake is its colour.  You may have noticed that the water in many lakes in Bengaluru is green, and not blue, as you might have imagined it to be. This is due to the presence of algae. Algae are microscopic plants that contain chlorophyll which is the pigment that gives it a green colour. While some amount of algae is healthy for the lake ecosystem, excess algae can be harmful and is an indicator of a polluted and nutrient-rich lake. Lakes rich in nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are called eutrophic lakes,…

In the view of the rapidly rising COVID cases and deaths in entire families, the State government and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) have, over the last two days, ordered measures to deal with emergency requirements such as setting up of ICU beds, support for orphaned children, monitoring oxygen supply and modifying home-isolation protocols. While the direction of oxygen monitoring and supply came after the tragedy at the Chamarajanagar district hospital, where 23 COVID patients succumbed due to lack of oxygen, the government also appointed IAS officers to take care of children orphaned due to the pandemic. A nodal…

The city that was once declared “Pensioners’ Paradise” has seen its elderly population treading the murky grounds of COVID since the past year. Data from the Health and Family Welfare Department of Karnataka tells us that while around 19,000 people were infected in the age group of 15-29 years from March 5 to April 5 as opposed to around 10,000 in the bracket of above 60 years, only 4 people died in the former age group against 214 senior citizens who succumbed to COVID. This means that the younger folks are getting infected more but they are recovering unlike senior…

Up to two million school children in Bengaluru are exposed to dangerous air pollution during their school day, risking asthma, allergic rhinitis and other chronic health impacts, according to a report produced by the Global Climate and Health Alliance (GCHA) and Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL). The report was released by Healthy Air Coalition, Bengaluru, last week. Healthy Air Coalition brings together various stakeholders such as health researchers, heart and lung doctors, and public health institutes and patients to collaborate on air monitoring initiatives, share information about air pollution and health, build the capacity of health professionals, and provide insights…

No to crematorium in landfill The BBMP’s proposal to create an ‘open crematorium’ at Mavallipura land-fill has angered many in the village and surrounding areas. Villagers have started a dharna at the landfill site, even as work started to create a temporary cremation ground for COVID victims for the next two months. On Wednesday afternoon, police and revenue officials visited the landfill site in Mavallipura, on the city outskirts, to inspect and start preparations. Clearly, appeals by villagers did not deter the site-visit. Activists of the Environment Support Group said that the Karnataka High Court has ordered the BBMP to…

Pandemic or no pandemic, when it comes to urban mobility especially in cities like Bengaluru, the reality is that the private vehicle is here to stay, whether powered by petrol or electricity, and along with it, traffic jams. But even if public transport buses and Metros were running normally, is it possible to determine the factors that affect an individual's choice of a particular mode of transport? If such factors are identified, they could then be included in public decision-making. For example, if it is determined that distance to a transit station is the key factor in people using cars,…