City: Mumbai

For over a decade now, residents of Indira Nagar slums in Mumbai's Sewree have been waiting for a road that would not be an invitation to diseases in their homes. But that has not happened yet. With the arrival of the monsoon, the road adjoining their makeshift houses gets waterlogged making their living conditions difficult and threatening public health.  "The water and mud accumulate when it rains heavily, even taxis don't come here. People here frequently fall sick in the rains. There have been so many people who have had dengue or malaria in the past," said 42-year-old Laxmi Harijan,…

Two years ago, the Bandra West railway station area used to be crowded, chaotic and messy. Commuters heading towards the trains jostled not only with those leaving, but also with the many rickshaws, share-rickshaw drivers, vehicles and occasional hawkers vying for their attention. Vehicles squeezed past each other narrowly, making it unsafe for pedestrians. “I used to take the train to work every day for eight years,” recalls Samir D’Monte, founder and principal architect at SDM Architects. “I realised then that there was a lot of scope for improvement.” Sketching out a few plans for reworking the railway station area,…

Maharashtra government lifts stay on construction of Metro car shed On July 21st, the new Maharashtra government announced the lifting of the stay on the construction of the Mumbai Metro-3 car shed at the controversial site in the Aarey Colony, a day after Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, at a meeting with the Consul General of Japan in Mumbai Fukahori Yasukata, assured him that Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-funded projects would be fast-tracked. The Metro-3 car shed is one of them. Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray had ordered a stay on the car shed construction in the Aarey Colony on…

On July 15th, Citizen Matters hosted a City Townhall for participants of the 'If I were the Mayor' contest, held over the months of April-May earlier this year. The contest had been hosted in collaboration with Kuviraa, an initiative that aims to increase political engagement in young girls across India, and Reap Benefit, an organisation that is trying to build a cadre of young people who are problem solvers in their localities through skill building. The contest encouraged children to imagine themselves as the Mayor of Mumbai and highlight key issues they would address.  By May 2022, over 50 entries…

Year after year, images of people wading their way through knee-deep water, potholes, and building collapses are splashed across newspapers and TV screens as soon as monsoons begin in Mumbai. Mumbaikars endure unsafe commutes without many choices. They register complaints on various platforms, and while Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities claim to take note of their grievances, little materialises. A new report analysing councillors' performance confirms this. BMC's Councillors "do not appear to be interested in permanently solving day-to-day civic problems", states the report, released to the public earlier in July ahead of the civic body elections. "Instead, they show…

We are usually accustomed to the voices and stories of people in our social class and circles. The stories of others seldom come to us straight, and when they do, they are often narrated in the voice of mediators, such as journalists, NGOs, the government, etc. Anmol Tiwari lives in an informal settlement, like 42% of Mumbaikars. This is his story, told by him. Like every village child who is told big tales of big cities, I, too, dreamt of high-rises and fancy houses when I lived in my village in Bihar. It was finally in 2013, when I was…

On June 30th, the Shiv Sena rebel leader Eknath Shinde became the 20th Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and Bharatiya Janata Party's Devendra Fadnavis returned to power as his deputy. In their first cabinet meeting, held hours after the oath-taking ceremony, the first decision they took was to shift the construction of the metro car shed for the 33.5 km underground Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro Project (Line 3) from Kanjurmarg back to the Aarey Milk Colony in Goregaon. Effectively affecting the Aarey forest as a whole. Backlash followed as environmentalists took to the streets in protest after two-odd years. Commonly known as 'Aarey…

Tansa dam, which supplies water to Mumbai, is now full One of seven reservoirs in the city, the Tansa dam, has filled up thanks to steady and sometimes heavy rainfall in Maharashtra. However, the dam is now overflowing, which could be dangerous for those living close to it. With a height of 128.17 metres and an overflow level of 128.63 metres, the dam is at risk of rising water levels. Authorities in the area have begun preparations for any outcome in the next few days. Earlier in the monsoon, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had announced a 10 per cent water cut in this…

In a lesser-known corner of Mumbai, at Anik Depot, a Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) museum has been set up showcasing the evolution of the iconic transportation company BEST, from a horse-drawn tramway service to the electric buses we see now. The Mumbai Research Centre of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai organised an educational experience to visit the museum, thanks to the kind courtesy of the BEST museum curator Yatin Pimpale who guided our group with expert inputs. The visit was a sequel to a lecture series in 2020 on the evolution of transportation in Mumbai, thus tying in…

On July 12th, Citizen Matters hosted a panel discussion on the National Youth Policy in collaboration with Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), a non-profit developmental organisation that enables vulnerable groups to access their rights.  Moderated by Sabah Virani, Reporter at Citizen Matters Mumbai, the panel consisted of YUVA Project Lead, Youth Work, Sachin Nachnekar and youth activists from YUVA in Mumbai named Pranaya Patade, Shehenshah Ansari, Sana Shaikh, Asma Ansari, and Swapnil Shinde.  All of them had earlier participated in consultations that YUVA organised to understand the youth’s perspective on the new draft National Youth Policy (NYP), an…