GENRE: Voices

The Tamil Nadu Apartment Ownership Act, 2022 is a new legislation that could potentially safeguard the interest of apartment owners and improve the administration of common areas and facilities.  It has been stated that every apartment should get registered under the new Act. While the legislation was notified recently, the Government is yet to come out with the rules and regulations for the Act.  Some important considerations of apartment owners must be taken into account and reflected in the rules for the aim of the legislation to be met. Stakeholder inputs on Apartment Ownership Act  While framing the rules under…

In 2019, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) buses were on their deathbed. Once known for buses that never broke down, it was going through a particularly rough phase. Daily ridership had halved in the previous decade, down from 42 lakh to 25 lakh. Higher ticket fares, discontinuation of the AC Super Routes, rising competition and a workers’ strike in January meant it was losing crores by the month. Things took a turn for the better in the latter half, when the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) promised monthly financial aid of Rs 100 crore to tide them over. But…

Books connect readers to voices from the past, from alternative universes, from lives of people we don’t know. Books transport us to unknown worlds, while simultaneously revealing and helping us interpret the realities of our own. Books transform, by making us think, wonder and find our own voices. Public libraries, therefore, can be the centre of such transformation — for both individuals and communities.   Libraries, however, can be more than a repository of books.  During the pandemic and subsequent lock down, community-run free libraries in India educated its members on social distancing and masking, helped them book vaccination appointments, filled…

On a regular Wednesday morning, Prem* reached his office ready to take on his tasks for the day at an IT company in Chennai. He found himself denied access to his office as he had been laid off from the job he had held for the past six months. There were a few other workers like him who knew about the termination only after reaching the office that day. The ramifications of a global slowdown in the IT industry have begun to be felt in India, with over 21,000 techies facing layoffs in the last quarter. Employees in Chennai have…

You've probably seen the Ulhas river on your escape from the city, as it flows through Mumbai’s favourite holiday haunt in Khandala valley in interior Karjat. But there is a lot more to the river, which originates in the Sahyadri hill ranges of Raigad district to the south of Mumbai. It is fed by multiple small rivers, rivulets, and streams and then flows through Neral, Badlapur, Ambernath, Ulhasnagar, and Kalyan. Before joining the Arabian sea, it splits at Balkum, one going to Vasai creek and the other to Thane creek. The river supplies drinking water to 45 lakh people in…

Waste management in Chennai has been a problem that the city has struggled to solve over the years. With the launch of the new system of source segregation and emphasis on cleanliness as part of Singara Chennai 2.0, there was renewed hope that there will be cleaner streets. Unfortunately, the experience of the residents of my apartment complex in Anna Nagar has called into question how effective the recent efforts have been. At the heart of the issue is the placement of three garbage bins on our street and the scenes that ensued after.  Garbage bins moved near homes We…

In part one of this interview, Professor Ashish Verma, who studies urban mobility plannning at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), explained why India’s low car ownership is an opportunity to invest in sustainable and equitable public transportation systems. In part two, Ashish discusses scientific traffic management, which coupled with a long-term vision, can make Bengaluru a truly liveable city. CM: You often mention that traffic can be optimised with simpler low cost measures. Can you elaborate on these? AV: This is about utilising the existing road infrastructure and capacity in the most optimum way to improve the throughput of the…

Professor Ashish Verma, convenor of the Sustainable Transportation Lab at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) recently made a detailed presentation on the problems with the Sankey Road flyover at the Citizens for Sankey meeting. A professor of transportation systems engineering, Ashish has been with the IISc for 14 years and has developed, in his own words, "a systems perspective to problem solving in transportation with a strong focus on development goals." Ashish has been a vocal critic of flyovers. He has provided his scientific perspective to various citizens groups concerned about projects like the Steel Flyover, Elevated Corridor, and, most…

Chennaiites have a complicated relationship with water. It seems like we either have too much or too little depending on the vagaries of the yearly monsoons. Which is why when ten years ago. we began getting water from the Nemmeli Seawater Desalination Plant, we heaved a sigh of relief as it seemed like a solution to our water woes.  From this desalination plant in Nemmeli, areas like Neelankarai, Kottivakkam, Besant Nagar and Tiruvanmiyur got their daily supply. While things looked promising at the start, we have found that lately the amount of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in our water supply…

In the past few months, Mumbai's worsening pollution levels have made headlines. It has even been compared to Delhi, which has one of the worst winter pollution levels, year after year. Increased construction activity, industrial pollution and vehicular emissions continue to worsen pollution in Mumbai. To understand this better, Citizen Matters spoke with Ronak Sutaria, Founder and CEO of the Climate Tech startup Respirer Living Sciences in an interview that is now available on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtLkl7WkyFQ In the discussion, Ronak explained that Mumbai’s pollution levels were lower than Delhi but emphasised the need to increase monitoring in Mumbai. “Mumbai has…