GENRE: Report

On July 8th, rains lashed Mumbai, disrupting regular life and causing waterlogging and floods in low-lying areas and on important routes. Central Railway officials mention that almost 900 train services were cancelled leaving several commuters stranded, while many BEST buses were diverted. Since then several incidents of heavy rains and flooding have been reported in the city. Commuters, civic activists and residents have questioned the claims made by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) about being prepared for the monsoons.  “The half-constructed, newly-built DP road number 9 in Chandivali was waterlogged, which caused inconvenience to commuters,” said Mandeep Singh Makkar, founder…

“Does Mumbai feel the need to conserve water?” asked Sanjay Ubale, executive board member of Mumbai First at a conclave about water in Mumbai. With easy availability of water from seven reservoirs, the city has the best per capita water ratio in India, and so, there is less incentive to conserve water or practise rainwater harvesting, he explained. Why would societies spend funds to store water for future use when they are getting water at highly subsidised rates round the year, he asked. Statistics too suggest the same.  Approximately only 3000 societies of the total estimated 20,000 societies in Mumbai…

The atmosphere is lively on a summer Friday evening at the Kathipara Urban Square in Chennai. Despite the oppressive heat and humidity of the coastal city, people find relief in the evening breeze. They are milling about at open café tables, grabbing ice cream, browsing a used book store, or watching their children play on the swings. A toy train circles the plaza, while metro trains and cars speed on the lanes above. This multi-use urban square is situated beneath a busy elevated road junction adjacent to a major metro station. Envisaged as a multi-modal transit hub by the Chennai…

Sujanbai, 46, has been living in Anna Nagar in East Delhi for over six years now, earning her living as a street vendor of seasonal fruits. And yet she laments, "There is no space to live in this Dilli. Not even on the footpath. The police come and shunt you out. This is the only space along the nalla (open drain) where I’m able to put a cot for my family to lie on." This space that Sujanbai refers to is the site of a settlement, perched on the ridge of a nalla or drain in Anna Nagar. This was…

Last month, news reports emerged of ticketed passengers stranded at Chennai Central railway station. They carried bonafide tickets for seats on a train bound for Howrah, but discovered that unauthorised travellers had occupied their coaches; it is said that people began to board the train even as the railcars were entering the platform so that the sleeper coaches were full by the time they made a stop at the station. According to a report in The Hindu, ticketless passengers had not only overrun the reserved coaches but also blocked walkways with their luggage, making it impossible for those who had…

Stormwater drains in Chennai made headlines during the December 2023 floods. Many residents in areas that were waterlogged complained about their ineffectiveness. Since then, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) officials have maintained that they have identified inundated areas and constructed stormwater drains in those specific locations under various schemes. While most of the construction work is ongoing in North and South Chennai, GCC officials claim that the Integrated Stormwater Drain (ISWD) project is almost at a completion stage in North Chennai. Six months after the floods, we did a status check in parts of North Chennai and found that a…

The recent approval for revamping seven Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) complexes into retail, multiplex, entertainment centres and offices has not been well received by citizens. Residents say there have been no public consultations and a total lack of transparency. Sneha Nandihal, founder of I Change Indiranagar, says the Detailed Project Report (DPR) is not available in the public domain. "We filed an RTI but received a convoluted response, so we obtained it from other sources." Ajay Reddy, member of third block Koramangala RWA, says the biggest issue is that no public consultation has been done so far: ”We don't mind redevelopment…

As the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) predicts an “above normal" monsoon for Mumbai, the marginalised residing in informal housing along the coastlines start anticipating and preparing for heavy rains. Citizen Matters visited the slums of Ganesh Nagar located on the rocks of Bandstand, Bandra to explore how the marginalised communities residing close to the sea, face the challenge of rising sea levels, heavy floods during the monsoons, worsened by climate change. Proximity to the high tidal waves — some of them have waves lashing right into their doors during the high tides — impacts their daily living. For the residents…

27-year-old Salma was a  waste picker at the Ghazipur landfill before she came to Gulmeher, a social enterprise established in 2013 that aims to provide an alternative livelihood to women waste pickers in that area. They train these women to create eco-friendly products using discarded flowers, fabric waste and recycled paper. Till date, Gulmeher has already re-used around 15 tons of discarded flowers and more than two tons of fabric waste.  Salma, donning a red dupatta, smiles as she meticulously picks broken flower petals with a brush, pasting it on a diary before her. It has taken her long to…

It is 11:30 in the morning, Aarif (name changed), a vegetable vendor in KR Market, looks ahead, braving the searing summer heat, while waiting for customers. After a long time, a customer finally approaches him and asks for the rate of green chillies. As the day inches towards noon, the footfall in the market starts decreasing. Arif, who primarily sells chillies and ginger, says: “In about 1-2 hours, customers will start decreasing, but we will still sit in hope of getting more customers. We have to do something for survival. No matter how strong the sun is, we have to…