City: Mumbai

On September 23 2022, a seven-year-old boy was killed when the battery of the Electric Vehicle (EV), which his father had kept for charging, exploded on him at their Vasai residence. While this unfortunate incident led to the loss of an innocent life, electric vehicle fires have been regularly reported in newspapers raising concerns about EV safety. Exact figures of EV vehicles (cars and bikes) catching fire or their batteries exploding are not available for Mumbai. Earlier, fire in a Tata Nexon EV at Vasai on June 23, 2022 had prompted the Union government to issue notices to all EV…

Mumbai's suburban railway network, also known as the ‘local train’, is famous across the country for its robust network. While it connects the entire city, its expansion has also added pressure to existing infrastructure. Overcrowded trains and station platforms are a common sight, especially at busy stations like Dadar, Kurla and Thane. Trains on average carry 2.6 times more than the official capacity carrying 7.5 million passengers every day. When it comes to railway station infrastructure, safety, hygiene and accessibility become paramount for women and children who use trains regularly. Railway toilets form an important part of this infrastructure. Read more: Mumbai’s…

Mumbai at a severe risk of plastic pollution A new study led by a researcher at Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) concludes that out of the total 496 cities in India, Mumbai is at more ‘severe risk’ of plastic pollution from landfills. The peer-reviewed study—‘Risk of plastics losses to the environment from Indian landfills'—states that the danger of pollution is high because of factors like wind, rain and floods, which leads to Mumbai’s waste dumps being “leaky”. Other ‘severe’ risk level cities included Kolkata and Chennai, and followed by Delhi. The study also notes that the COVID-19 pandemic increased plastic…

The festival season is almost synonymous with the sale season. It's an excuse to splurge, buy and gift. Advertisements and discounts attract us to many such offers and our shopping carts, virtual and otherwise overflow with binge buys. But this rampant consumerism in festivals is incredibly damaging to our environment, increasing the burden on our resources, and adding to the mounting levels of waste and pollution. With Diwali around the corner, Citizen Matters was joined by two enthusiastic and spirited environmentalists for a panel discussion held on Instagram live, titled 'Conscious consumers: Celebrating in a sustainable and responsible way' on October…

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) began the demolition of illegal structures inside the 800-year-old Mahim fort on October 13th to begin restoration work. However, not all of the 267 families are happy about the decision of the civic body to rehabilitate them to Malad or Kurla. Many believe leaving the G/North ward, under which Mahim fort falls, would deprive them of their livelihoods and make access to schools difficult for their children. 38-year-old Samir Sheikh, who has been living in the area all his life, points at a demolished house inside the Mahim fort and says his family lived there…

The monsoon in Mumbai is nearing its end, and it's time to take stock of the season. The rainfall received in the city has just about crossed the expected average, at 101.45% in Colaba, and 106.26% in Santacruz.  The seasonal rainfall received by the city - between June and September - was 2,093.8 mm in Colaba and 2,658.3 mm in Santacruz. The seasonal average normal of Mumbai is 2,317 mm. But the rain did not stop there; October witnessed more rainfall in 24 hours than the 89 mm expected of it in the whole month. Till October 16th, the rain recorded in Colaba increased to…

In September 2022, a lawyer, while traveling to work, was molested inside a local train. She shared her ordeal on Twitter, in a detailed thread that outlined not only the incident but her experience as she tried to report it to the police immediately after the incident. At the time of posting, police negligence towards her case pushed her to take to social media. Earlier in 2022, police data revealed that there was a sharp rise in sexual assault cases in the city in the last five years. Crime against women rose from 1,194 (reported) cases in 2017 to 1,541…

For the last ten years, Sunita Sutar has been looking after the well-being of slum dwellers near Bandra (West) railway station. From September 26th to October 12th, Sutar and nearly 4,000 Community Health Workers (CHW) like her were on the ground conducting door-to-door tuberculosis and leprosy survey for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) health department. The survey is part of India’s plan to eliminate TB and leprosy by 2025 and 2030 respectively. It covered over 49 lakh people in 9 lakh houses across 24 wards under BMC. "When this area was initially assigned to me, it was difficult to navigate.…

Art exhibition on Mumbai's monsoon Making a comeback after 16 years, the month-long Monsoon Festival has landed in Mumbai this year. The art exhibition is currently on show at two venues: at Method Bandra till October 16th, and the Tao Art gallery in Worli till October 23rd. Chock-full of art in diverse mediums, from paintings, drawings, photographs, to poetry, sculpture and vintage prints, the festival depicts the 'love-hate' relationship Mumbai has with the season. It attempts to capture the lived but un-documented aspects of the downpour, the relief and distress it brings, and the home-grown culture around it. The exhibition…

As we gear up to celebrate Diwali, stalls selling firecrackers crop up across the country, homes are cleaned and new clothes are bought. We see round-the-clock advertisements for clothes, jewellery, gadgets, sweets and other food products with attractive offers. Little thought is spared for waste generated in the production, packaging and disposal of all the products we buy during festivals. Burnt firecrackers, huge garbage bags filled with disposable cutlery, packaging from gift boxes are a common sight after festival days. Ever increasing waste and pollution levels We grow up reading about the disastrous impact of firecrackers on the environment and our…