EDITORS' PICK

As India gets ready to vote to decide who will represent them in Parliament, Citizen Matters is speaking to elected Parliamentary representatives from Mumbai. We will ask them about the work they have done for the city, policies they have supported and why Mumbaikars should cast votes in their favour (or of their political parties). As part of this series, we spoke to Gajanan Kirtikar, who represented Mumbai North West for the past two terms. He is an active Parliamentarian who was one of top 10 MPs who asked the maximum number of questions during their tenure, according to a report…

As India gets ready to vote to decide who will represent them in Parliament, Citizen Matters is speaking to elected Parliamentary representatives from Mumbai. We will ask them about the work they have done for the city, policies have they supported and why Mumbaikars should cast votes in their favour (or of their political parties). As part of this series, we spoke to Gopal Shetty, who represented Mumbai North for the past two terms. Shetty has now been replaced by Piyush Goyal by his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who will be seeking votes based on the work done by…

At the best of times, mornings in a family of four are probably exhausting, particularly for women. Ensuring that everyone eats, gets dressed, heads to school or work on time and in one piece can be chaotic. But mornings in a hot Bengaluru without water is downright soul crushing, says Kala, a 38-year-old woman living in Krishnanapalya. The water shortage in several parts of the city has disrupted the lives of low-income families and put public institutions like schools and hospitals on the edge. Krishnanapalya lies in east Bengaluru. Unlike the 110 villages in the peripheral areas of the city,…

'Galli Number 4', Seelampur in New Delhi is well-known for being India's largest e-waste market. Birds fly over a sprawling stream of dirty, black water overflowing with a deluge of plastic, and metallic waste. Children sift through the refuse with their small hands delicately exploring the piles of garbage hoping to find something of worth that could fetch them a few rupees.  Narrow lanes and footpaths are riddled with discarded mobile phones, defunct computer supplements, broken guts of a circuit board, cuts of optical fibres, and various other dead and rejected electronics.  This suburb in Shahadara district of east Delhi,…

As the evening sun creates an orange hue over the shimmering waters of Pulicat Lake, the fishermen get ready to launch their wooden kattumarams (catamarans) for the boat race. The participants, sitting in the middle of their boats and rowing furiously, plunge ahead amidst the cheering of villagers, who have dropped by to witness the event. At least for a day, the fishing community and others, whose livelihoods depend on the marine ecosystem of the lake and sea, forget their troubles and have a good time. The boat race is a sort of affirmation by the village community around the…

The BBMP budget 2024-25 seems to be full of measures that are contradictory, which also undermine the rule of law. It hopes to garner Rs. 1,000 crore by permitting additional floors on high-rises as ‘premium floor-area ratio (FAR)’, over and above what is permitted by law.  At the same time, the budget has reduced the penalty on property tax defaulters by which it will lose about Rs. 2,700 crore!  Both these measures modify existing laws in an arbitrary manner, conveying the impression that laws may exist on paper but can be allowed to be bypassed at the whims of the…

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has proposed building a four-lane elevated expressway through the Bannerghatta National Park, the only protected area within Bengaluru Urban district. The NHAI is working on a 280 km long expressway called the Bengaluru Satellite Town Ring Road (STRR). The road, which is part of the Bharat Mala Pariyojna scheme, will connect towns like Hosur in Tamil Nadu to satellite towns around Bengaluru, like Anekal, Sarjapura and Doddaballapura. Read more: Why a shrinking Bannerghatta forest should worry Bengalureans NHAI claims that the expressway will divert all commercial traffic, like trucks, that currently pass through…

Over the years, the Kharghar Hills in Navi Mumbai, have seen many forest fires. According to the Kharghar Fire Station records, between 1st January 2022 and 11th September 2023, totally 164 calls were received relating to fire. Forest fires usually occur after the monsoon season, once the grass starts drying up. Interestingly, Navi Mumbai and the areas nearby are less likely to be affected by natural forest fires, as the temperature in the area does not increase too much.   Many of these fires are man-made, as are 90% of all forest fires. In Kharghar, the hills are characterised by…

Apartments in Bengaluru, especially in the peripheral areas such as Mahadevapura and Bengaluru North, which are dependent on groundwater or tanker water, are being compelled to take some drastic measures of water rationing. But even amidst these dire situations. there are implementable solutions. Here is an example of an apartment that took strong measures to conserve water, despite being serviced by BWSSB: Floriana Estates Apartment, a 19-year-old building in Koramangala, recognised the importance of water conservation as a social responsibility and for sustainability. The Managing Committee (MC) of Floriana Estates took several initiatives, including raising awareness, addressing water wastage, fixing…

Two major announcements were made in February 2024: Karnataka Assembly passed the BBMP Amendment Bill 2024. Bengaluru development/Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on X (twitter) hailed it as a taxpayer-friendly Bill. The amendment was projected to benefit around 13-15 lakh people in Bengaluru, including 5.51 lakh taxpayers, by reducing the penalty on property tax arrears by 50%. This was followed, on February 20th, by BBMP’s draft notification proposing a new property tax calculation structure in Bengaluru. The new structure, based on Guidance Value (GV), is expected to begin during the next financial year, starting April 1st. Tax computation Municipalities in…