City: Mumbai

Latest reports reveal that over two lakh people have been vaccinated in Mumbai, but the city's major population, citizens from its many bastis, are conspicuously absent from vaccination centres. Consider Cheetah Camp in Mumbai's M-East ward: conversations with multiple residents in Maharashtra Nagar, Cheeta Camp, Shivaji Nagar and other parts show that awareness about COVID-19 vaccination is minimal. "There is absolutely no discussion about vaccination in Cheeta Camp," Nawab Khan, a resident, says. Nawab is part of a community-based organisation formed under Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's Dattak Vasti Yojana or slum adoption scheme. His work is field-based, involving collection of garbage,…

My friend Arun, spends 20-30 minutes everyday, waiting in his car at the toll plaza to exit Mumbai so that he can reach his office in Thane. Like him, there are lakhs of vehicles that exit and enter the island city of Mumbai daily. I used to as well, but not since I switched jobs. Blessed with a seafront on most of its periphery, there are only 5 entry/ exit points for vehicular traffic in Mumbai: Dahisar (Western Express Highway)Vashi (Sion-Panvel Highway)Mulund East (Eastern Express Highway)Airoli (Mulund-Airoli Bridge)Mulund West (LBS Marg). Data compiled by Mumbai Vikas Samiti in Dec 2018…

COVID-19 cases surge in Mumbai Between February 15 and March 15, the city has recorded 31,106 new cases of Covid-19, of which 18,903 were reported in March alone, the Hindustan Times reported. Mumbai’s Covid growth rate shot up to 0.42% on March 15, from 0.15% reported on February 15. The doubling rate — the number of days it takes for the number of cases to double —was 165 days on March 15 compared to 455 days on February 15, according to the Hindustan Times. The surge is because of lack of precautionary means such as wearing masks or social distancing,…

Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman announced a new vehicle scrapping policy in the 2021 budget, which  is expected to impact the automobile sector in a big way and could have a negative impact on small and medium entrepreneurs associated with it.  While the government is pushing it as a move to revitalize the automobile manufacturing sector, the small-scale entrepreneurs and/or vehicle owners say that it could lead to unemployment of unskilled labour working in the sector. The small entrepreneurs are also concerned with the timing of the new policy, given the economic slowdown triggered by Covid19-induced lockdowns.  Another common concern…

The general perception is that branded packaged milk is better than loose/unbranded milk. Better because it would be processed and packed hygienically, would not have added water, and would be free from any other adulterants. "Whoever is taking packet milk, please be careful. I received two packets today and it was quite clear that both packets had been resealed with fire. I called the milk supply person and he isn’t answering my calls.” Earlier this month, the residents of Lokhandwala Township, Kandivali East, received this message from a vigilant lady, along with pictures of the milk packets she had written…

If there is one woman who truly inspires me every single day, it is Vidya. Originally from a village in Uttar Pradesh, marriage brought Vidya to Mumbai 15 years ago. Her husband was already working in the city. As Vidya learnt, the big city offers opportunities that may be lacking in villages and small towns, but life can be quite hard. About six years ago, Vidya's husband deserted her, leaving her to fend for herself and their three children who were at that time aged 9, 4 and an infant. The middle one, a daughter, is a special child, with…

Another wetland in Navi Mumbai is under threat. Lotus Lake is located in Sector 27, Nerul, very close to the Belapur Sports Ground. The approximately 3-hectare lake derives its name from the thousands of lotus plants that can be seen on its surface, and in fact, lends its name to several shops and buildings in the area. Lotus Lake, Nerul. (Pic: Sunil Agarwal) A notified wetland, but only on paper As per the National Wetland Atlas, the lake is a notified wetland. In its January 2019 assessment, the Thane Tahsildar has marked the Lotus Lake coordinates, officially known as "Darawe",…

Covid cases surge in Mumbai Mumbai division reported 2,856 new cases and 11 deaths, taking the cumulative caseload to 7,49,849 and death toll to 19,921, Livemint reported. Mumbai's COVID-19 tally increased to 3,38,643 and four deaths took the fatality count to 11,519. But BMC Chief Chahal told the Indian Express that “As of now, there is no plan of imposing a lockdown." As many as 90 per cent of patients in Mumbai, who tested positive for COVID-19 in January and February this year, were residents of high-rises, while the remaining 10 per cent were from slums and chawls, NDTV quoted BMC officials.…

In the first week of February 2020, there was a leak in the Veravali reservoir water pipeline in Andheri East. Neighbouring areas such as Jogeshwari, Kurla, and Ghatkopar were without water for three days. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) workers, the Hindustan Times reported, had to enter 40 feet deep into the earth and "walk for 50 metres to reach the spot and fix the leak by welding the pipeline". It took "150" workers and engineers "60 hours" to fix the leakage. But the fixed leakage did not mean that water reached all homes immediately. Not even close. https://twitter.com/mybmc/status/1223602610286080000?s=20 As…

In September 2020, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) refused permission to Maharashtra’s state and district central co-operative banks (DCCBs) to finance self-redevelopment of co-operative housing societies, stating that such projects would fall under the category of ‘commercial real estate,’ and hence, outside the banks’ primary purview of lending for activities related to agriculture and rural development. For the Maharashtra government, which was banking on support from the state’s co-operative banking ecosystem, this is as a huge blow to a scheme it had presented late last year as the solution to the state’s, and more specifically, Mumbai’s housing crisis. Meanwhile,…