City: Mumbai

Need a a COVID bed at a hospital in Mumbai? Promising a bed to someone in need of it? Please read what BMC has to say. Dated 24th April, 9:25 p.m. https://twitter.com/mybmc/status/1385985789419343872?s=20 Ward War Rooms - Only Authority To Allocate Beds We appreciate concern of individuals & groups not related to BMC offering help to citizens tweeting to us, but citizens must know that even they will reach out to us to ask for beds. Please follow protocols in the interest of all. Bed allocation system was decentralised since a single helpline, with innumerable calls, could not have taken the…

Lack of oxygen supply hits Mumbai Waiting periods for hospital beds, especially ICU, ventilator, and oxygen beds, have considerably lengthened in the city. According to BMC data, only 661 oxygen beds were vacant and they were vacated due to supply shortages. In order to meet high demands, the first ‘Oxygen Express’ has left for Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and will transport liquid medical oxygen for Maharashtra’s usage. Volunteer groups have also attempted to aid the cylinder crunch in Mumbai. Several mosques in Mumbra, Mira Road, Kalyan, and Bhiwandi are providing oxygen cylinders to the city’s hospitals. Source: Times of India, Hindustan…

Several parents in Mumbai are upset with the decision by the government to set up a review committee to suggest amendments to the Fee Regulation Act, 2011. They say while the a 3-month review committee may restructure school fees, the school administration has already started restricting students from attending e-learning classes, if fees are not paid. "In 2019 a committee was set up to recommend amendments therefore this new committee formation wasn't needed at all," says Anubha Sahai, President India Wide Parents Association. "The government has always supported schools' decisions on fee hike, both in private and aided schools. Parents…

In 1997, Stephen Webber, a professor of music production and engineering at the Berklee College of Music, proposed teaching a course in turntablism. What DJs were doing with turntables had opened his eyes to a new musical frontier. But when he proposed teaching the course, Berklee denied. He tried two more times but he was denied on both occasions. Webber explained to the college that turntablism and hip hop was a crucial part of culture. “If we plan to be relevant in academia, we have to address it [hip hop] and learn about it ourselves,” he tried saying. In 2003,…

The Union Budget 2021 laid out an elaborate financial package to develop metro rail lines across cities. While more metro lines are being envisioned with a focus on building back the economy, post-pandemic mass transit infrastructure also needs to be leveraged to sustain the growth of jobs and urban economy. One such clear opportunity lies before the Mumbai Metro. Mumbai Metro line 2A (Dahisar – D.N. Nagar) and 7 (Andheri East – Dahisar East) are expected to be operational within the next few months, adding 35 kilometre of mass transit lines to the megacity. Before the pandemic, the 11.4 kilometre long Metro line 1 (Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar) served…

Migrant exodus begins in Mumbai Hundreds of migrant workers waited outside Lokmanya Tilak Terminus to board trains and return to their hometowns. Echoing struggles of last year, migrants are either taking once again to the road, or spending anywhere from Rs. 1,500 to Rs 5,000 for trains and buses leaving the city. The Chief PRO of Central Railway stated that on April 14th ten trains were scheduled to leave for northern states and had waiting lists of more than 1,000 people. The All-India Motor Transport Congress’s Chairman claimed that almost all of Maharashtra’s 14 lakh helpers, unloaders, and truckers are…

On a warm evening in March, staff members worked swiftly inside a glitzy salon in Malad, Mumbai, to sanitize their customers’ hands and feet as they noted down their details and studied the number of appointments pending for the evening.  Most masks stayed on as a customer waited for her hair color to set in just as another client soaked in the afterglow of her manicure. The Glam Factor salon, a family-run establishment in the western suburbs of the city, was slowly getting back on track this year after the pandemic stalled their profits in 2020 after India went into…

Numbers of tuberculosis patients are sharply rising in Mumbai. And that is good. According to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation data, the city records 45,000 new patients a year on average. However, last year, it was down to less than 1% of that. The health department authorities at BMC say that Covid-19 and Tuberculosis (TB) have similar symptoms. Therefore, if TB patients go unchecked in times of the pandemic, the number of patients of Covid-19 may also increase as they are difficult to differentiate. TB is a bacterial disease, which mainly affects the lungs. The bacteria that causes TB spreads when an…

Mumbai starts partial lockdown According to joint guidelines produced by the BMC and Mumbai Police, a weekend shutdown and strict night curfew beginning at 8 PM will be followed for public spaces. With Section 144 now imposed on the city, no more than 5 people are allowed to crowd public spaces and gardens from 7 AM to 8 PM on weekdays while the weekends will see a total shutdown except for essential services. Home delivery of essential items will be allowed 24x7. Beaches will remain completely closed until April 30th. Public transport will continue at full capacity except for autos…

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) is the busiest airports in India, after Delhi. But unlike the Delhi airport CSMIA is located in the middle of a densely populated, congested area.  Therefore balancing biodiversity and wildlife alongside the airport infrastructure is an unusual challenge for the airport authorities. All living things, including plants, animals, and humans are part of the biodiversity of the area.  CSMIA in a press release states “it has undertaken numerous measures towards biodiversity management and wildlife conservation at the airport and its vicinity. The principles of biodiversity and wildlife management have been integrated right from the…