EDITORS' PICK

Over 56% of the city's transplanted trees in Mumbai failed to survive their shifting, revealed a Bombay High Court-appointed fact finding committee, entrusted to determine the status of such trees. The court-appointed committee inspected about 1483 fully grown trees transplanted since 2017, of which 824 trees were found to be either dead or on the verge of dying. The report presented in court found inadequate tree care and lack of scientific transplanting methods to be the root cause of the problem.  "The proportion of dead trees keeps on rising. In January 2018, 478 trees (42%) were found dead. The number rose…

It was the year 1935, when the idea of widening Race Course Road was being discussed. The project would destroy the guardhouse of one the older buildings 'Poorna Prasad' in the stretch, that was built in memory of the first Diwan of Mysore Mir Miran Purnaiah in 1910. So the-then Diwan of Mysore, Mirza Ismail, decided to translocate the portion that would have to be destroyed, brick-by-brick, to another part of Bengaluru. Today we see it at Lalbagh West Gate entrance. I open with this anecdote, because when the powers-to-be put their mind to protect a city and its history, options…

Television channels and newspapers could not stop talking about Kashmir. Every news bulletin, every panel discussion, every TV debate was about Kashmir and its people. Yet, what media did not, or could not, cover was the everyday ordeal in a city of close to two million, where municipal workers had not been able to report to duty for 10 days. Srinagar was stinking. All normal operations were suspended in Srinagar from August 5th, following abrogation of Article 370. Within a few days, residents started to complain of chest discomfort, frequent sneezing, mild cough and allergies due to the foul smell…

Twenty six years ago, on 1st June 1993, the 74th Constitutional Amendment or Nagarapalika Act was effected to give “power to the people” in urban governance. Under the 74th CA, ward committees had to be set up in all municipal corporations with population over three lakh, to ensure decentralisation, citizen participation and accountability. In the municipal corporations of Karnataka, elected representatives have posed total resistance to the setting up and functioning of ward committees. In Bengaluru, with constant pressure from citizens, more than 50 percent of wards now have ward committee meetings, though infrequently. But how are these meetings being held?…

“The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see.” This quote from Russian-American author and philosopher Ayn Rand’s bestseller, The Fountainhead, aptly describes everything that happened at Rabindra Sarovar since early morning on November 2nd well into the following day, as an order from the country’s green court -- the National Green Tribunal (NGT) – was brazenly flouted to allow the conduct of Chhat Puja in the Sarovar premises. An earlier story on Citizen Matters had detailed all the precautions and steps that had been taken to protect the national lake from toxic…

Many stakeholders have been involved in the introduction of bus priority lanes in Bengaluru - BMTC, BBMP, DULT, Bengaluru City Police, among others. The project also put the advantages of public transport at the centre of public discourse once again. However, an important aspect that plays on our mind about public transport is our personal safety. Women especially, are always at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to safety. We sat down for a chat with Bhaskar Rao, Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru city, on measures to improve safety in public transport. In his candid style, Rao spoke at…

Following a strict order from the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), custodian of the Rabindra Sarovar Lake in Kolkata has taken several steps to ensure that Chhat Puja is not held in the lake premises this year and its biodiversity is protected. As a result, for the second time in the history of its existence, Rabindra Sarovar will remain closed on November 2 and will open on November 3 after 11 AM. The only other time that the lake was completely closed down was during the Aila Storm in 2009. Spread over 192 acres, Rabindra…

The High Court’s recent decision to give ‘itself’ a seven-storey annexe building in Cubbon Park has not gone down well with heritage and environment activists in the city. In an online petition on Change.org, the activists have pleaded to the High Court to revisit its decision and to conserve the lung space of Bengalureans. The petition, started two days ago, has already garnered over 4300 signatures. In a writ petition filed in 2014, High Court Registrar Rajendra Badamikar had sought the court's permission to demolish the Old Election Commissioner's Office in the park, and to build an annexe to the…

The much-hyped 24-km BRTS (Bus Rapid Transit System) corridor in the city, on which Rs 329 crore has already been spent to create the required infrastructure, is now likely to be dismantled, at a cost of 40% of the money already spent on it. The “corridor of trouble”, as it has come to be known among commuters, residents and commercial establishments on its route, has seen 121 accidents and 21 fatalities between 2016 and 2018, according to official figures. Not to mention the traffic chaos it is causing. Launched in 2013 by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation, the corridor from Misrod…

The festive season is all about lights, delicious savories, fun and frolic with family and are much awaited by the people across the country . But amidst the sight and sounds, an unaccounted number of birds and animals scamper. Similar to a human infant or elderly person, they too are unsettled by the wild display of fireworks and shrill or explosive sounds. The helpless animals are distraught in the face of the overall increase of heat in the surroundings, the chemical fumes entering their bodily system and the general melee all around. As though all this was not sufficient cause…