City: Mumbai

Mumbai’s biggest and oldest dry fish market at Marol, Andheri is struggling to maintain its distinct identity. Dry fish vendors at the market, where fisherwomen from across the state have been bringing dry fish to sell for almost 150 years, want authorities to retain the market exclusively for dry fish. Historically, the market plot of 2 acres and 24 guntas (113256 sq. ft) was officially categorised “weekly market for dry fish” in 1948 by Mumbai’s suburban district collector at the time.  Today, however, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) denies the market that identity, claiming that it cannot allocate a market…

59% of the world’s population defecating in the open live in India. The sanitation situation is far worse in urban informal settlements. One such settlement is Shivaji Nagar, a neighbourhood located in the lowest-ranked ward of Mumbai. Communities in Shivaji Nagar have lived with toilet scarcity for decades. They face multiple challenges related to sanitation due to systemic marginalisation and strategic placement beside Asia’s largest landfill.  A study, taking stock of sanitation in Shivaji Nagar, was released recently by Apnalaya, a non-profit organisation working on issues of the urban poor. The NGO has been working in Shivaji Nagar for many decades.  Map showing functional and…

Rumours of child kidnappings on the internet rise time and time again. They are easy fodder on social media and messaging applications, featuring audiovisual media or text warning of child kidnappings at mass. With content that is often alarming, depicting a scary tale of children in danger, they prey on the concerns of parents and teachers. Mumbai is not immune to this. This past September, viral messages and social media posts of child kidnappings rumours led to an atmosphere of fear and suspicion in many pockets of the city, including Kanjurmarg, Ghatkopar, Andheri, Jogeshwari, etc. In one instance, two suspected…

Shakuntala (61) is a domestic worker in Mumbai's Lower Parel where she takes up jobs in and around the area and travels in BEST buses. On the rare days when she cannot afford the tedious task of waiting at a bus stop, she chooses the luxury of a kaali peeli taxi. Shakuntala was surprised to find out that the city's traffic police are now imposing fines of Rs 200 if all the passengers in a car fail to wear a seatbelt. "I travel short distances, my commute is limited from home to work and back I don't know about all of this," she…

State deploys 11-member task force to control Measles crisis Maharashtra has formed an 11-member task force to control the measles crisis in the state. The task force will include paediatricians, an epidemiologist, representatives from WHO, UNICEF, health officials from BMC and National Institute of Virology, Pune. There have been 89 measles outbreaks in Maharashtra so far with 12,241 suspected cases and 745 confirmed cases. This is a 700% jump compared to the previous year. Data suggests Mumbai to be the epicentre, accounting for 37 of 89 outbreaks. Source: Times of India Read: Missed vaccines, misinformation and other gaps highlighted by…

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has allocated crores of rupees to beautify wards, yet, participatory planning has been abandoned altogether. There is a greater need for involvement of citizens in actively monitoring the work being undertaken in their ward and demanding accountability from the municipality. Complaints of irregularities in the tendering process also alarm us, considering the lack of consultation with citizens during the planning or implementation stages. In an ideal world, all that would be expected of a citizen is that they would pay their taxes and enjoy the benefits and comforts authorities offer, in the form of good…

In the first part of the story, we looked at Mumbai’s AC trains, evaluating whether they are attracting car users off the roads and improving traffic in Mumbai. In Part 2, we shift our attention to the Mumbai Metro, which nears a decade since beginning operations in the city. When Gokhale bridge, a connector between the East and West sides of Andheri, closed for repair on Monday, November 7th, alternative routes suggested by the traffic police saw congestion and traffic jams. Some people, however, chose to park their cars and use the metro. Till 5 pm that day, 11,000 more…

A raft of proposals for the beautification of Mumbai was announced recently amid well-orchestrated publicity. The project which is estimated to cost Rs 1700 crore is slated to be completed by March 2023. Neighbouring Thane will be forking out Rs 100 crore for a similar beautification project. The "Mumbai Beautification Plan" includes beautification of road dividers, improvement of footpaths, installation of street furniture and street lights, the beautification of traffic islands, optimum usage of public spaces underneath bridges, maintenance of toilets and creation of wall paintings and murals. Even the most politically naïve citizen will refuse to believe that these…

When one asks about the recent incident where three children in Mumbai’s Rafi Nagar lost their lives to a measles outbreak, the common response from residents in the area is: What is measles? The disease is either known by its local name gobri or is commonly confused with chicken pox. What is measles, really? A measles rash is flat and is accompanied with high grade fever along with runny nose, sore throat, cough, and even conjunctivitis. The symptoms can last for several weeks. On the other hand, chicken pox comes with raised bumps, low grade fever and symptoms generally last…

The Navi Mumbai Draft Development Plan 2018-2038 is the first development plan to be formulated since the formation of the Municipal Corporation. When Navi Mumbai was conceptualised, planning authorities wanted to decongest Mumbai and shift industrial and housing demands to Navi Mumbai. Housing has always been one of the primary concerns for the financial capital of the country. The City Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), a planning authority in Navi Mumbai, was therefore tasked with the responsibility of identifying land for industrial, residential, commercial usage, etc. [Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) is the planning authority of Navi Mumbai, but CIDCO and…