GENRE: LN

Bright welcoming classrooms with mural-decked walls, kitchen gardens on campus to teach kids about sustainable lifestyles, and game-based interactive pedagogy to engage students and bring out the best in them. No, these are not scenes from any private school in the city, but how the Greater Chennai Corporation plans to give a facelift to several of its institutions.  Roping in a not-for-profit organisation called World Vision India, the civic body is beautifying 14 Corporation schools of Chennai. When children go back to the schools after a long break due to COVID-19, they are sure to be pleasantly surprised by the…

Suburban rail project approved The Centre has approved the Bengaluru suburban rail project, estimated to cost around Rs 19,000 crore. The 148-km-long rail project is aimed at decongesting the city. The project will include 57 stations. Five proposed stations - Srirampura, RV Road, Jalahalli, Cauvery Nagar and Bommasandra - lost out on the opportunity to be part of Phase-I of the network. These stations are likely to be included in Phase-II. Meanwhile, the city's third railway coaching terminal is set to be commissioned at Baiyappanahalli before mid-November. Its facade is modelled after the Kempegowda International Airport terminal. With the commissioning…

Vidya Sagar, a social welfare organisation working with disabled people, asked the children attending their school where they would like to go for an outing. The response was unanimous: the beach. While Chennai has myriad attractions to offer for those looking to spend time in the city, the attraction of its beaches remains unparallelled. Sadly however, these beaches, despite being immensely popular, remain inaccessible to individuals with disabilities. Efforts at inclusion The efforts to make Chennai’s beaches inclusive has been in the works for over four years now. Various disability rights organisations have presented proposals to make the beach accessible…

As COVID cases rocket, authorities plan to increase fine amounts for not wearing masks, and criminal prosecution of repeat offenders. Pic Credit: Wikimedia Commons Bengaluru topped in cybercrime in 2019: NCRB data Bengaluru has recorded the maximum number of cybercrime cases (10,668) among all metros in 2019, according to data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The overall crime rate in Bengaluru for 2019 saw a marginal increase when compared to the previous year. While the crime rate was 470.4 per lakh of population in 2018, it went up to 492.5 for 2019. The number of cases registered…

Drone shot of a Metro station. All transport projects including Metro should be reviewed in light of COVID-induced changes, says a letter from three civic groups to the Centre. Pic: Siddharth Sriram This September 16, Hardeep Singh Puri, Centre's Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, said no time limit could be specified for the sanction of the ORR-Airport Metro line (from Silk Board to airport). He further said that Metro projects are cost-intensive and hence require extensive inter-ministerial consultations. In this context, members from three civic groups - Bangalore Environment Trust, Praja-RAAG and Citizens for Citizens - have written to…

Farmers protest, call for bandh on Sept 28 Hundreds of farmers blocked major highways and state highways in and around Bengaluru on Friday morning to protest the amendment to Land Revenue Act and the APMC Act passed in Parliament. The protest and blocking of roads was called by Ryot, Dalit, Labourers Aikya Horata Samithi - a collective of 35 farmers' groups, Dalit and trade unions. It affected the movement of regular traffic at Nayandahalli and Goragunte Palya junction. Police personnel were deployed at many places to prevent complete blockade of key routes. Hundreds of farmers courted arrest and were taken…

It's been five years since GAIL Gas Limited (GGL) got a contract to supply Piped Natural Gas (PNG) in Bengaluru. The aim was for GGL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of GAIL (India) Limited, to give PNG connection to 1.32 lakh homes and 200 industries in the city by 2020. But PNG, a cost-effective, green fuel, is yet to reach large parts of the city. Karthika P S N, a resident at JP Nagar’s RBI Layout, says she's awaiting a natural gas connection since it's "eco-friendly and cheap, and will relieve us from being dependent on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders". She…

Sanctions from the Centre for the ORR-Airport Metro line is expected to take longer. Representational image: Ramnath Bhat (Wikimedia Commons) Vrishabhavathi river turns frothy dark yellow Vrishabhavathi River has changed its colour from black to turquoise blue to dark yellow with froth, over the past month. Things had worsened last week, when the water turned soapy like caustic soda. On Thursday morning, a pungent smell filled the air as the river turned yellow. Namami Vrishabhavathi, a citizens' group, brought the matter to the notice of the State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB). Residents suspect that electroplating and textile-dyeing industries have been…

On August 29, BBMP issued an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) on dealing with complaints on the killing of stray dogs. Following is an edited version of BBMP's press release. The killing of an animal by any method is illegal and is a cognisable offence under Sec 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960, and Sec 428 of the Indian Penal Code. These laws provide for lodging of police complaints and filing of FIRs in such cases. So, if you have reason to suspect that the death of a stray dog is due to poisoning or killing, you…

In the past few weeks, many Bengalureans protested the reopening of Cubbon Park to vehicles, saying this lung space needs to be protected. The 300-acre park had been closed for about five months since the imposition of COVID lockdown. The protesters pointed to examples like Central Park in New York, where city authorities have completely banned motorised traffic. Despite protests, the State Horticulture Department allowed the park to be opened to vehicles last week based on a request from the Bengaluru Traffic Police. On the morning of 24 August, some 25 citizens from the #ConcernCollective gathered at Cubbon Park, demanding…