City: Mumbai

The continued prevalence of certain infectious diseases in Mumbai highlights the need for improved urban planning for the city. For over a decade now, Dr Rajesh (name changed) has been seeing his patients complain about the same illnesses year after year at his civic-run dispensary situated inside Kurla’s slums. The most common of them all, he says, is tuberculosis and scabies. Kurla falls under Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s L ward, which registered a total of 1,013 TB cases in 2021. Since 2012, the ward has registered a total of 10,326 TB cases, the highest among all the 24 wards. “I cater…

There are few people more well-versed about urban planning in Mumbai than Shirish Patel. The civil engineer and urban planner has been around for decades, watching the island city grow into the suburbs. He has witnessed the skyward trajectory of infrastructure in the city and at the opposite spectrum, degradation, crumbling under the Rent Control Act, Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act (ULCRA), and over dependence on floor space index (FSI) rules. He designed India's first flyover, at Kemps Corner. And then, along with Charles Correa, he was the one of the first to suggest and draft a plan for…

On January 18th, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) invited people to send in their suggestions for the annual municipal budget on Twitter. This is a step towards making the country's richest municipal corporation's budget more democratic. But with such an open question, and the fact that not many people are not even familiar with the structure and form of the budget, where do you start? In a previous explainer, we covered the basics of the BMC's budget. We touched on how to read through the budget estimates as and when the BMC releases it, as it is a complicated bunch…

It has been nine months after the partial start of Mumbai metro lines 2a and 7. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating Phase 2 of the lines, Mumbaikars can now travel the length from Dahisar to Andheri within 40 minutes; on the west by Line 2a, or Line 7 in the east. Running parallel to the Western railway line and Western Express Highway (WEH) at 80 km per hour, the six-car trains with a capacity of 2,280 passengers will easily be the faster and more comfortable option for travel. Their connection to the metro Line 1 running between Andheri to…

Egg prices shoot up in Mumbai due to shortage The price of eggs has gone up in the city due to a shortage in supply caused by the extended winter season, which led to a decrease in production. There is a shortage of 10 lakh chicken eggs in Mumbai daily and the cost per dozen has increased from 66 rupees to over 80 rupees. In November, the wholesale rate of 100 eggs was around Rs 475 to Rs 500, which has now touched Rs 600. The Department of Animal Husbandry in Maharashtra is developing a long-term policy that would enable…

Whether a stampede may recur at a railway station you use everyday, whether property prices in your suburb will appreciate with the addition of a modern mass transit system, whether decrepit chawl buildings will be redeveloped before they collapse, each of these quintessentially Mumbai concerns, are or should be, addressed through an urban planning exercise. Unknown to us, urban planners’ designs and agencies implementing them dictate how far from work we live, how we commute to work, what quality of life we may enjoy, how tools such as floor space index and transferable development rights may densify a particular area,…

Versova intrigues me greatly. I recently relocated there from another city, and on my way to Madh Island for shoots, I would look out and watch the area intently. One evening, I set out to photograph the area. Versova exudes a very sophisticated vibe as soon as you arrive there. On either side of JP Road are several cafes, restaurants, studios, and casting offices, recruiting actors for films and television. Yari Road and Seven Bungalows are home to high-rise apartments and commercial buildings, some with enviable sea-facing views. A trip away by the Versova jetty is Madh island, a popular…

"In the world of our greatest inventions, the solutions to our biggest problems may be hiding right below our feet.” When we look at urban spaces from a sustainability aspect/the angle of sustainability, it is easy to feel hopeless at times, especially looking at the rate at which the cities are growing, attracting more migration and reducing capacities to look after the needs of the people. An acute lack of space and time — a characteristic of a capitalist lifestyle — impacts all our actions. Challenges such as indiscriminate waste generation and lack of consciousness towards consumerism are difficult to…

PM to bring in a showering of infrastructure projects Prime Minister Narendra Modi's presence in Mumbai in the coming week on January 19th is expected to bring about multiple projects in the city. Among these are: seven sewage treatment plants (STP) at different locations across the city; the PM SVANidhi scheme, offering loans to street vendors; bhoomipujan of concrete roads worth Rs 6,000 crore; and the laying of foundation stones for the reconstruction of two civic hospitals. Phase 2 of the metro lines 2A, and 7 may also be on the cards, as well as Navi Mumbai's metro stretch between…

The year 2022 ended with dramatic scenes at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters. The police stationed at the headquarters had to break off the scuffle between the two Shiv Sena factions. The fight was over the control of the Sena office situated inside the historic BMC building at Fort. Like the Sena, a number of political parties have their offices on the ground floor of the headquarters. However, after the brawl all the party offices were sealed off on the orders of BMC Administrator IS Chahal. This blanket lockdown on their offices has irked politicians across party lines. They…