GENRE: LN

Last month, BBMP started deploying SWM (Solid Waste Management) Marshals to check littering, garbage dumping etc and penalise offenders under the new SWM Bye-laws. The Marshals booked 1129 cases in September, issuing steep penalties under the new bye-laws. This, along with 774 cases booked for the plastic ban, earned BBMP over Rs 14 lakh in fines that month. Now, BBMP is planning to provide handheld devices to the Marshals, to enable them to issue digitally-printed challans to offenders on the spot. Speaking to Citizen Matters, D Randeep, Special Commissioner (SWM) at BBMP, said that predefined fines for each offence would be…

You’ve probably heard about BMTC’s 'bus priority lane' pilot project in ORR (Outer Ring Road) by now. Officials are working full-time to set up infrastructure for the project, and are conducting test runs. Speaking to Citizen Matters, KR Puram Traffic Police Inspector Lokesha says they have been asked to deploy police personnel to ensure only buses ply in the priority lanes. "BMTC will gives us details after the pilot runs are completed. We will then deploy personnel depending on the number and frequency of buses," he says. Here are some quick details about this pilot : Starting November 1st, the…

Red Hills Reservoir is in the news again. As per news reports, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) had accepted an application from the Small Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO) to allocate around 54 acres of land in the Red Hills catchment area for the construction of a women’s entrepreneur zone. This land is designated as 'Redhills catchment area' in the Master Plan 2026; that is, no construction or development activity is allowed here. But once the project is approved, the land use will be changed to 'industrial'. The move has elicited criticism from citizens of Chennai, reeling as they are…

Heavy rains breach lake, flood homes in north Bengaluru Heavy rains breached the corner bund of Doddabidarakallu lake, leading to overflow and inundation of about 500 houses, early on Thursday morning. Residents of Bhavani Nagar, Annapurneshwari Layout, Anandappa Layout and Muneshwara Layout were horrified as water levels rose up to almost six feet. Power cuts worsened the situation, leaving residents groping in the dark for their belongings. The lake bund was breached at about 2 am, as it received a huge volume of water from a stormwater drain (SWD) upstream. Police came to the spot at about 3 am with…

In July, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) formally acknowledged that ‘foldable bicycles’ were welcome in the Metro. But its blanket rule on baggage fees has dampened the spirits of commuters who use cycles for last-mile connectivity. The baggage rule implies that a commuter would have to pay Rs 30 every time he boards the Metro with his cycle. This fee may even be higher that the commuter's own ticket cost. Despite BMRCL's avowed support for cycling, it's unwilling to exempt cycles from baggage fee. Rs 30 for excess baggage Since the Metro started operating in 2011, BMRCL had introduced…

The city is all set to provide passage to the Chinese President Xi Jinping who is heading to the temple town of Mahabalipuram, roughly 60kms away from Chennai, for his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi (the PM is expected to fly into Mahabalipuram). In order to make the city ‘presentable’,  Greater Chennai Corporation has taken up a series of beautification activities along the route to Mahabalipuram. Multiple pockets have been spruced up by repairing roads, painting the road dividers, cleaning and recolouring the barricades and in some places, covering up the ugly patches.  Various departments of the City administration…

Ramasamy (name changed) refused to change the proposed date of marriage of his second daughter when his first born in the US expressed inability to attend her sister’s marriage. He had fixed a marriage hall belonging to a superstar, six months before D-Day and had paid the entire rent of several lakhs as advance -- which was non-refundable.  This is the plight of many who believe in conducting traditional wedding ceremonies in halls in Chennai. Says Sindhu Vijayakumar, a senior media professional in Chennai, “People are paying in lakhs to hire just four walls and a limited parking space.  The cost…

Govt considers zonal committees in B'luru State government is considering promoting zonal meetings at BBMP, to further decentralise the powers of BBMP Commissioner. The zonal committee will involve special commissioners, engineer-in-chief, ward officials, officials from all civic agencies, MLAs, nominated representatives from citizen groups, and ward committee members of the respective zones. As per a draft brought out by the government, the committee should clear proposals and works in the zone, before these are sent to the BBMP Council for approval. The draft also recommends including the committees in finalising the zonal budget for 2020. As per a recent government…

How does a national downturn affect a small, local market in this city? If we want to understand that, we should probably look at the Pudupet spare parts market.  The nation-wide auto sector slowdown has hit the livelihoods of many traders at Pudupet, a second hand vehicle-parts market off Egmore. There has been a slump in metal prices due to the slowdown, a factor that has probably had the most damaging impact on the Pudupet traders.  “There has been a steep fall in metal prices: Iron price has declined to Rs 16 from Rs 25 and aluminium costs Rs 63…