PRESS RELEASE

As one of India’s largest and most populous metros, Chennai exhibits all the traits and vulnerabilities inherent to a developing, high-density city. Rapid urbanization has led to pollution, poverty and energy and water scarcity.  However, one of the key issues with the city is a pronounced lack of civic consciousness. Resilience working group sessions (led by the  Resilient Cities Network chapter in Chennai) involved experts from government, civil and academic bodies. They concluded that in order to achieve sustainable development goals and build resilience, civil ownership and participation was essential. These are the top three areas where citizen participation and involvement…

India’s cities are dealing with an array of complex challenges that have arisen from growing rates of urbanisation, population, motorisation and wealth disparity. They have been consistently ranked as the world’s most congested and polluted cities, which has led to high annual traffic deaths and extremely dangerous levels of particulate matter, on top of lost economic potential. These circumstances, in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, in all its calamity, have the effect of bringing to the fore the benefits that cycling can offer in terms of local economic recovery, healing mental and physical health, reinforcing social connections in our communities…

To understand and document the impact of COVID on Bengaluru's crematoria and burial ground workers, two members and a volunteer from the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), Karnataka, visited 26 crematoriums/burial grounds between May 4 and 8, 2021 and interviewed workers. Based on these interviews and other publicly available information including circulars issued by the government regarding COVID related deaths and burials/cremations and visits to each facility, they have brought out a report titled ‘Dignity Disposed’. Here is an overview of their findings: Bengaluru has 42 crematoriums and 58 burial grounds according to newspaper reports. Additionally, there are temporary…

Electronics City houses technology giants like Infosys, Wipro, Siemens and HP. While people usually see the developed side of Electronics City with its high rises and IT parks, one often misses the reality, point out residents. According to the Hulimangala Resident Welfare Association, a diverse population of residents in the many villages and residential apartments in Electronics City do not have access to health care. This area, the association says, is eligible to be within Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, but falls outside the city limits. Neither BBMP nor the Electronics City industrial Township Authority (ELCITA) have responded to the COVID…

A report by Healthy Energy Initiative — India (an initiative that works in healthcare and climate change spaces) reveals that two Thermal Power Plants (TPPs) in the Ennore thermal cluster in Tamil Nadu were found violating the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) prescribed norms up to 53% of the total operational time in two years, between 2019-2020.  In March 2021, just as the second wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic was surging in India, the MOEFCC issued a notification extending the deadline to meet the 2015 emission norms for thermal power plants until 2024. Zero action to meet…

A group of individuals and members of civil society organisations including Whitefield Rising, Bangalore Apartment Federation, and Sochara, have written to the Karnataka Chief Minister, BS Yediyurappa, highlighting major issues in COVID Management, with suggestions and asks for immediate steps. Here's the letter Dear Shri Yediyurappa, Bengaluru urban and rural is in an extremely serious state with a large number of COVID patients in need of medical resources, from hospital beds, to oxygen infrastructure to ICUs and ventilators. Volunteers and family members of patients are making desperate calls and sending messages to find sources to help those in need. We…

The issue of whether domestic help (house helpers, cooks, drivers etc.) be allowed to continue working in flats during the lockdown has become quite a contentious subject over the last few days. Many apartment residents are complaining that it is putting them to a lot of inconvenience. Some people have even approached the police to take action against managing committees of apartment associations that have restricted entry to domestic help. In this backdrop, my views on this contentious issue are as follows: Every passing day, I am seeing more people dying around me, including in apartment complexes. The inconvenience of…

In the view of the rapidly rising COVID cases and deaths in entire families, the State government and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) have, over the last two days, ordered measures to deal with emergency requirements such as setting up of ICU beds, support for orphaned children, monitoring oxygen supply and modifying home-isolation protocols. While the direction of oxygen monitoring and supply came after the tragedy at the Chamarajanagar district hospital, where 23 COVID patients succumbed due to lack of oxygen, the government also appointed IAS officers to take care of children orphaned due to the pandemic. A nodal…

Up to two million school children in Bengaluru are exposed to dangerous air pollution during their school day, risking asthma, allergic rhinitis and other chronic health impacts, according to a report produced by the Global Climate and Health Alliance (GCHA) and Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL). The report was released by Healthy Air Coalition, Bengaluru, last week. Healthy Air Coalition brings together various stakeholders such as health researchers, heart and lung doctors, and public health institutes and patients to collaborate on air monitoring initiatives, share information about air pollution and health, build the capacity of health professionals, and provide insights…

In view of rising COVID cases, on April 2, the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) issued an order imposing restrictions in public spaces. The situation of COVID in Karnataka has been reviewed and it has been observed that there has been a persistent rise in the number of COVID cases in the State during the last month, the order said. Further, a large number of social, religious and public gatherings like marriages, political rallies are being witnessed in which COVID appropriate behaviour is not being followed which may cause a setback in the appreciable gains made in the suppression…