City: Mumbai

The Western Express Highway in Kandivali East, North Mumbai is expectedly, one of the busiest arterial roads of the city, but those living on the side of it often spend an hour from the highway to reach their homes, about a kilometre away. Residents of Hanuman Nagar, Lokhandwala Township, Damu Nagar and Kranti Nagar are the worst affected. At the place where the highway crosses Akurli Road (the road that begins at the Kandivali East station and extends right upto the hills), we have a flyover, a traffic-cum-pedestrian subway and service roads crisscrossing, with vehicles moving in different directions. There…

The Mumbai Birdrace, supported by HSBC, has been organized since 2005, with Sunjoy Monga as the chief organiser. Many teams, each comprising of 4-5 people take part, and the one with the highest number of species of birds wins. The team that spots the rarest bird also gets a prize. Every year a dinner is usually organized for the participants at the end of the day. This year due to COVID, team size was restricted to 3, and every team was compensated for their travel and meals (in lieu of the dinner). The bird watching timings were from sunrise to…

Surge in COVID-19 cases The Mumbai Metropolitan Region reported 1,075 new Covid cases on Wednesday—a 55% surge from 693 cases recorded on Tuesday, according to a report by The New Indian Express. Many wondered whether the higher cases are because of resumption of local train services. “The cases have increased but it cannot be attributed to local trains. We have increased the number of testing at airports and other destinations as a result of which the number of cases may increase,” a BMC official told The New Indian Express. Source: The New Indian Express Restrictions on travel from Kerala After…

Early this year, Dhanashree Panchal, a student of Mumbai’s Khalsa college, participated in a unique initiative. She went around her neighbourhood in Charkop to understand what people thought of Mumbai’s health infrastructure. “I expected COVID-19-related concerns to be on top of people’s minds,” Dhanashree says, “but people were far more worried about the city’s overall health infrastructure.”  Dhanashree is a volunteer with Civis, a city-based organisation that works towards facilitating citizen participation in national and local issues. Last month, Civis conducted an online and offline survey to gather feedback on areas they think Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) should prioritise while…

In a recent online talk, Sidharth Bhatia, founder editor of The Wire, took us on a tour of the street that introduced public dining to the city of Bombay.  Shortly after sunset, author Bhatia began to unravel the colourful history of Churchgate Street, which now goes by the name of Veer Nariman Road in honour of lawyer-activist Khurshed Framji Nariman (1883-1948) who later became the mayor of Mumbai . “Bombay is a city of full-time nostalgists. History buffs concentrate too much on colonial Bombay, especially the 19th century. What fascinates me is the mid-20th century, and that’s what I’m going…

Historically, civilizations grew around rivers in their valleys (i.e. Nile and Indus valleys). It is relatively very recent in human history that we now dwell and thrive in spaces that are far away from rivers or other water bodies. I (Deepak) have read earlier that the city of Mumbai, with its population of 20 million people, draws its water requirement from large reservoirs and rivers that are more than a 100 km away from downtown city. Ironically, the native population living around these reservoirs have been restricted access to these bodies of water that are present in their communities. The…

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Unveils Budget  The Mumbai civic body presented an ambitious budget of Rs 39,038.38 crore. BMC has experienced a dip in its revenue due to COVID-19 induced lockdown. But its budget was 16.74% more than last year’s Rs 33,441.02 crore budget. BMC’s capital expenditure is also increased by a whopping 71% at ₹18,750.99 crore. BMC plans to earn through property tax, sewage tax, interests from investments, state grants, among others. Although capital expenditure has gone up by around Rs 5,000 crore, BMC has slashed its garden and parks budget by 50%, Mumbai Mirror reported.  Source: Hindustan Times, Mumbai…

The Mumbai Development Plan (DP), a statutory document which lists policies and proposals for land-use in an area, has undergone a tumultuous journey. First proposed in 2015, it was scrapped owing to a number of serious flaws, and a new committee was set up. Around the same time, women in the city started to raise clamour for how the development plan needs to pay attention to gender and recognise that women and men experience cities differently.  Led by the Akshara Centre, a non-profit working for women's rights, the activists advocated for a chapter on gender in the DP. But what got…

The Wetlands in India, Mumbai and Navi Mumbai included, are under severe threat. Time to take action is now. "According to the environment ministry, 35 per cent of wetlands have disappeared since the 1970s and 87 per cent have been lost since the 1700s. Causes of wetland loss are drainage and infilling for agriculture and construction, pollution, overexploitation of resources (like overfishing), invasive species and climate change." - Hindustan Times Read more: How a Navi Mumbai citizens group fought for the flamingos World Wetlands Day World Wetlands Day, that is observed on 2nd February every year, was celebrated by several…

Newspaper reading has been a habit quite lost in the recent years. However, in a city where thousands of people spend many hours commuting, newspapers are a way to kill time. Here's a how people used to read newspapers in the 'old normal' or before the pandemic struck and lockdown was imposed. Kurla 2019. (Pic: M. Gopal) Bandra 2018. (Pic: M. Gopal) Chembur 2017. (Pic: M. Gopal) Chembur 2017. (Pic: M. Gopal) Chembur 2016. (Pic: M. Gopal) Andheri 2018.(Pic: M. Gopal) Lalbag 2020. (Pic: M. Gopal) Kurla 2019. (Pic: M. Gopal) Harbour Line 2019. (Pic: M. Gopal) GTN Nagar 2020.…