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Since the start of this year, there's been much discussion about the ‘Bangalore Surrounding Roads Project’, for which thousands of trees around the city would be axed. The Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd (KRDCL) had proposed this road-widening project to decongest the city's peripheral roads, and to better link different parts of Bengaluru Urban and Rural to the Kempegowda International Airport. Six roads, spanning a total length of nearly 155 km, are to be widened for the project. Though these roads are mostly outside BBMP limits, the tree loss would have severe, long-lasting impacts for the city. But there's been…

Since COVID cases started surging in Bengaluru, we've heard of several reports of patients not finding hospital beds or being denied treatment. Most recently, even a COVID doctor at Chikkamudavadi PHC (Primary Health Centre) in Ramanagara district, Dr Manjunath S T, succumbed to the virus after being turned away by three Bengaluru hospitals. Despite this, the government has maintained that there are enough COVID beds in the city. Towards the end of June, government had ordered that half the beds in all private hospitals would be reserved for COVID patients. On July 7, Dr K Sudhakar, Minister of Medical Education,…

On March 9, Bengaluru reported its first COVID case, that of a software engineer with travel history to the US. Since then, the state government and BBMP have taken aggressive measures to contain virus spread. The Centre even recognised Bengaluru as a model city in COVID management. But since mid-June, the number of cases have rocketed, and now we are back to having another lockdown. What transpired between one case on March 9 to over 22,000 cases now? Here's a timeline of COVID cases in Bengaluru, and how the government has tried to tackle it. *Data is of Bengaluru Urban…

Having spent the first two months of the pandemic and nationwide lockdown in politicking, to first grab and then stay in power, the Shivraj Singh Chauhan-led BJP government has now launched a 15-day state-wide “Kill Corona” programme from July 1st. The programme includes door to door surveys in urban slums and low-income households having high population density and poor municipal management as a majority of positive cases in both cities have been reported from these areas. As per data from the government's smart city portal, Indore has the second highest slum population (30%) in the state, followed by Jabalpur (46%)…

"India is technically in stage 2," clarified Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary at the Union Health Ministry in a press briefing on March 30th. He was responding to speculation which had arisen from a MoHFW document which pegged India's current stage as "local transmission and limited community transmission phase." This came after a recent interview with the director of Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI) by Quint, which had indicated the onset of stage 3. The speculation was cut short yet again, when AHPI released a statement on social media claiming that the Quint’s claim was misleading. The post also claimed that…

Varthur lake is the second-largest water body in Bengaluru. The 440-acre lake is located on the eastern periphery of the city, surrounded by villages and all the big IT companies. Over the last 20 years, a lot has changed and the lake has become infamous as one of the most polluted lakes in the city. From a pristine water body where people used to fish and bathe, it has now turned into a cesspool that froths and foams. It even catches fire! Concerned by the encroachment and degradation of the lake, residents came around to start a rejuvenation campaign. The…

The Central Finance Commission is a constitutionally mandated commission that has the key function of recommending how financial resources will be shared between the central governments and state governments, and between individual state governments.  It is constituted every five years, generally for a two year term, and is also required to make recommendations on strengthening financial resources of panchayats and municipalities (also known as urban local bodies). The Finance Commission’s terms of reference are drawn up by the central government, but its report is required to be tabled in Parliament. Generally the Finance Commission submits a single report sometime during Oct-Dec for five…

Pedestrians, as we know, are the most vulnerable road users. Over the past three years, Bengaluru has consistently seen the third highest number of pedestrian deaths among major Indian cities. Between 2010 and 2018, more than 3000 pedestrians have been killed in traffic crashes in the city, and four times as many have been injured. Many of these deaths could have been prevented had corrective measures been taken in a conscious and timely manner. But, beyond just the size of the problem, what do we know about pedestrian crashes happening in our city? Why and when do these crashes occur,…

This article is part of a special series: Safety of women in Indian cities On January 7 2020, more than seven years after the brutal gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in a moving public vehicle in Delhi, a death warrant was issued against the four convicted. The death sentence in the ‘Nirbhaya’ case as we have come to call it, ordered by the court to be carried out on January 22nd, has been hailed by many who see it as the final delivery of justice in a case that had shocked the nation and led to huge public…

Feeling too lazy to step out of your home? Don’t like your PG/hostel food? Your spouse can’t cook? No time to prepare lunch? Ran out of groceries? For all these reasons and more, food delivery services are a quick, one-click solution for millennials. An aerial view of Chennai today would show the long stretch of beach, sparse tree cover, myriad projects under construction across the city... and a sea of red, orange and green riders dotting its roads. Rapidly growing market Such is the rapid growth of food delivery services in the city over the past 5 years. The market leader…