Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

First Navi Mumbai Metro after 9 years delay The first Metro line of Navi Mumbai started on Friday after a nine-year delay. Instructing Cidco authorities, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde directed the commencement of the Navi Mumbai Metro Belapur-Pendhar Line 1 without an official public ceremony. Initially laid in May 2011 by former CM Prithviraj Chavan, the project faced multiple delays, with its original deadline of 2014 being extended several times due to contractor negligence compounded by the impact of the pandemic. The State opposition leader, Vijay Wadettiwar, had threatened to inaugurate the Navi Mumbai Metro service. Its inauguration, initially planned…

The elderly population in India is rapidly rising with those above 60 years of age set to constitute 15% of the population by 2036 (22.7 crore), according to the India Ageing Report-2023 released by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). From constituting about 10.5% (14.9 crore) of the population in 2022, the population of senior citizens is likely to increase to 20% in 2050 (34.7 crore), thus throwing up new challenges related to their safety, well-being and health. The report also stressed on the need to focus on policies and programmes to meet the needs of the elderly, especially older…

Four-year degrees at non-autonomous colleges Starting from the academic year 2024-25, 812 non-autonomous colleges affiliated with the University of Mumbai will offer four-year degree courses such as BA, BSc, and BCom. The academic council of the University of Mumbai decided to introduce it in alignment with the guidelines of the New Education Policy (NEP). It is aimed at providing innovative and career-focused educational pathways. The undergraduate degree course will offer multiple entry and exit points, with options for certification, diploma, and basic Bachelor's degrees. Previously, the University of Mumbai had already implemented this four-year degree system in the majority of…

Sanjay Baikar, a Koli fisherman has three boats parked at the Lotus jetty in Worli. The area, where his boats are parked, along with the many others, will soon be taken over by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the coastal road project. The boats were parked at the north of the jetty before the ambitious project began. They were asked to move to the southern section, when the project took over that section of the jetty.  In August, the BMC asked the fishermen to move the boats to another location as they wish to take up this section too,…

In a recent development, the State Education Department issued a directive to all regional deputy directors of education and district education officers. They are tasked with identifying and consolidating small schools within their respective jurisdictions by October 15, aiming to integrate them into larger schools as part of the 'cluster school' initiative. If realised, this program will entail approximately 200,000 students commuting considerable distances to access education. While this initiative has been in the planning stages for several months, its core objective is to improve the quality of education. This would be achieved by exposing students to a larger peer…

As the 10-day Ganpati festival got over with much fanfare, we delve into its environmental impact and explore some of our stories related to the festival - city's preparations for the festival, the push for eco-friendly Ganpati celebrations, and snapshots from this year's festival, capturing the emotional farewells by devotees. According to civic officials from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), over 39,000 idols of Lord Ganesh were immersed in various water bodies on the last day, and more than 2,05,722 idols were immersed across Mumbai over ten days. The Ganpati festival is commonly linked to significant environmental consequences. The idols are…

"I have a vivid memory from my childhood when I was about 8 years old. My grandfather took me to the Hanging Gardens, and I was absolutely thrilled. The trees, the open spaces to run, the panoramic views from the top – it all convinced me that no other garden could possibly be as beautiful as this one. This was in the 1980s, and my grandfather passed away not long after that. But the dearest memories I have with him are of those moments in this garden, playing around while he watched from a distance." "I hadn't thought about that…

Ganesh Chaturthi, a beloved festival in Mumbai, is about enthusiastic celebrations, but increasingly nudging citizens to engage in deep environmental reflection. In recent years, there has been a notable shift towards embracing eco-friendly practices in the festival's preparations, particularly in the material used for the creation of Ganpati idols. According to Mumbai murtikars (idol-makers), the sale of eco-friendly idols have almost doubled this year. This shift marks a positive departure from the traditional use of Plaster of Paris (POP) idols, which can have detrimental effects on our water bodies after immersion. Many Ganesh mandals and families have taken the initiative…

Over the past two decades there has been much political posturing about turning various Indian cities into a ‘Singapore or Shanghai’. While we may have mimicked the glass and steel façade buildings, airports and some freeways, why is it that we have not been able to mimic the public realm and walkability aspects of these and other cities? Is it the municipal bodies and politicians who are responsible for the sorry state of pedestrian infrastructure and the public realm? Or do we, as a society, hold pedestrians in disdain?  Providing a great walking experience is one of the easiest (and…

Private aircraft skids and crashes during landing, injuring 8 Eight people including the pilot and co-pilot were injured after a private aircraft veered off the runway at the Mumbai airport and crashed on Thursday evening around 5.45 pm. “VSR Ventures Learjet 45 aircraft VT-DBL operating flight from Vizag to Mumbai was involved in runway excursion (veer off) while landing on runway 27 at Mumbai airport. There were 06 passengers and 02 crew members on board. Visibility was 700 meters with heavy rain," the directorate general of civil aviation said in a statement. The eight passengers were admitted to the Criticare…