GENRE: In Focus

Imagine you’re about to go to bed after a long and tiring day’s work. And at that very moment, you hear the dreaded sound of those heavy drilling machines from a house next to yours, as part of some work that looks likely to continue late into the night. Or imagine having to deal with the constant menace of dust pollution in your homes and locality because of some building activity in the neighbourhood. Perhaps not so difficult to imagine, given that it is a common issue that residents of India’s metro cities, including Chennai, have been facing for years:…

As Delhi’s air quality continues to oscillate between poor and severe this winter, the Delhi government imposed a ban on construction from November 15th. The Supreme Court too stepped in to reinforce the ban. In a move to alleviate the problems faced by about six lakh suddenly unemployed construction workers registered with the Delhi Government, the government launched the ‘Shramik Mitra‘ scheme for them. Under the scheme, 800 ‘Shramik Mitras’ will reach out to construction workers, and spread awareness on various government schemes available to them. These Shramik Mitras will work as District, Ward and Vidhan Sabha level coordinators and go…

On any given day, 4173 million litres (MLD) of water flows towards Mumbai. It travels through 650 km of transmission pipes and 6000 km of service pipes, to eventually provide just 2300 million litres for its residents. The difference — 1,900 MLD — is lost due to a variety of reasons, including leakage, thefts, dysfunctional or rigged water meters and non-metered municipal connections. 7.74% - 323 MLD - is lost before the water is even made fit for drinking, en route to the two water treatment facilities at Bhandup and Panjrapor, northeast of the city. These are conveyance losses, and…

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we saw that Bengaluru’s drains are poorly designed and that the government doesn’t even have a full database of the drainage network even as many drains have gone missing. In this article, we explore why these stormwater drain works do not yield results. When a government department entrusts any work to a contractor, it should follow clear procedures to verify the completed works and make payments. But this seems anathema to BBMP's Stormwater Drain (SWD) Department. A 2021 audit report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), an independent watchdog body,…

On the evening of November 21st, parts of North Bengaluru were hit by a sudden thunderstorm. Jakkur, in the Yelahanka zone recorded 153 mm. Many layouts and apartments around Yelahanka were flooded. Visuals of a flooded Manyata Tech Park went viral on social media. November is expected to be the start of winter in Bengaluru and the end of the regular rains that start in April. As per the IMD Long Period Average (LPA) - the average rainfall between 1981 and 2010 - November gets average rainfall of only 49 mm, with four rainy days. But this November, IMD Bengaluru…

Translated by Sandhya Raju கடந்த சில நாட்களுக்கு முன் பெய்த அடர் மழையின் போது, தி.நகரில் வசித்த விஎஸ் ஜெயராமனை, தரைத்தளத்தில் வசிக்கும் அவரது சகோதரர் அதிகாலையில் எழுப்பினார். அதிகாலை வேளையில் அந்த குடியிருப்பு பரபரப்புடன் இருந்தது. தி.நகர் மோதிலால் சாலையில் உள்ள அந்த குடியுருப்பு முழுவதும் வெள்ள நீரால் சூழப்பட்டு, தரைத்தளம் முழுவதும் நீர் புகுந்தது. "உடனடியாக மாநகராட்சி அலுவலர்களுக்கும் ஆர் 1 காவல் நிலையத்திற்கும் தகவல் அளித்தோம். காவல் துறை மற்றும் சட்டமன்ற உறுப்பினர் அலுவலக ஊழியர்கள் உதவியுடன், தரைத்தளத்தில் வசித்து வந்த என் 96 வயது அம்மாவை, முதல் மாடியில் உள்ள என் வீட்டிற்கு கொண்டு வந்தோம்" எனக் கூறும் ஜெயராமன் தி.நகர் குடியிருப்பு வாசிகள் சங்கத்தின் தலைவரும் ஆவார். மாநகராட்சி அலுவலர்களின் அறிவுறுத்தலின் படி குடியிருப்பின் மின்சாரம் நிறுத்தப்பட்டது. இதனால், தண்ணீர் வெளியேற்றப்படும் வரை பல நாட்களுக்கு மின்சாரம் இல்லாமல் இருந்தோம். தி.நகரின் பல…

In Part 1 of this series, we saw that a CAG report of 2021 revealed Bengaluru does not have a complete map or database of its stormwater drain network. Drains are mapped in two master plans - the Revised Master Plan (RMP 2015) by the BDA (Bangalore Development Authority), and the BBMP’s master plan of drains. But the former does not indicate the type of drain (primary/secondary/tertiary), and the latter does not include tertiary/roadside drains at all. Neither plan has marked the buffer zones around drains; and many drains are missing in either document or both. Drains mapped in BBMP's…

“I feel like crying when talking about the problems we are facing now,” laments Mary, a resident of Chennai’s Perumbakkam resettlement colony, who has been grappling with the recent floods. “We do not have access to water, electricity or food. Government authorities have not taken any relief measures whatsoever.” Anguished voices such as Mary's are now echoing across the resettlement colonies in the city. Unlike buildings elsewhere, people on the ground floor were not the only ones who had water enter their homes. “The top floors had water leaking in many of the buildings because the construction is of poor…

It takes very little to flood a road or home in Bengaluru. In recent weeks, rains have caused severe flooding in many parts of the city, especially in North Bengaluru. A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the city’s stormwater drain (SWD) system, released this September, shows why this shouldn’t be a surprise at all.  In any city, stormwater drains are critical for: Preventing flood and its related effectMaintaining clean lakes/water bodiesGroundwater recharge But Bengaluru’s drainage system has been badly mismanaged by the city corporation BBMP’s Stormwater Drain (SWD) department, finds the audit report. The report covered…

Families of six workers who worked in a shoe factory in Delhi’s Udyog Vihar, had to wait two days in front of the factory for the charred remains of victims of an industrial fire in the factory on June 23rd this year to be found. The fire broke out in a three-story building trapping 12 workers inside. It took 140 firefighters over six hours to control the fire, rescuing six while the other six died inside the building. On November 13, another fire broke out in a jacket manufacturing factory in Seelampur, Delhi. Five workers were rescued from inside the…