RPB

Let us make it quite clear at the outset – we are delighted that the city has a metro rail service in operation, albeit a mere fraction of what ought to have been running by now. Those who use the facility profess to be quite happy with it – it saves time, the stations are clean and Chennai Metro Rail Limited has also organised some kind of last-mile connectivity by pressing into service local auto-rickshaws and taxicabs. But what is of worry, apart from the high fares, is the shoddy workmanship of the stations and the numerous technical glitches that…

In 2017, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) reported that 425 million adults have diabetes worldwide and India alone harbours 73 million adults with diabetes. November 14 is observed as World Diabetes Day aimed at raising diabetes awareness and calling for urgent action to tackle the diabetes epidemic. Since 1991, each year World Diabetes Day is centered on a theme related to diabetes. The theme for World Diabetes Day 2018 (and 2019) is Family and Diabetes. A two-year timeframe has been chosen to best facilitate the two following aims through vigorous public campaigns: a) To raise awareness about the impact of diabetes…

The elevated road corridor from Maduravoyal to the Harbour is back in the news. A Committee recently reviewed progress on the project with particular reference to the issues of land acquisition. Earlier in the year, it was decided that the road, planned originally for four lanes, will now be expanded to six. With all this, it appears that the project will take off once more, five years after it was stalled ostensibly for environmental reasons, while it was an open secret that the actual cause was political. The story then given out was that the piers for the elevated road…

From being a much vaunted city of firsts, Chennai certainly appears to lag right behind everyone else when it comes to heritage conservation. The latest metro to steal a march over it is Kolkata, which is close to completing the restoration of two magnificent structures, both built in the colonial era. What is more, there are creative programmes in place for both the buildings, so that they are kept in continuous use. You just need to compare this with what is happening here in Chennai. Our city has sadly lost it on matters concerning heritage. The Currency Building in Kolkata,…

Can you travel from Kodambakkam in South Chennai to Dasaprakash on Poonamallee High Road (E.V.R Periyar High Road) at just Rs. 14, throwing in a short hop on the Chennai Metro also? Surprisingly, this is what the ride costs. If you are anywhere in a radius of 500 to 800 metres of the Kodambakkam Suburban Rail Station, it is just a ten minute walk to get there. With a five rupee ticket, you reach Chennai Egmore, where there a convenient transit point to the Chennai Metro. Without really stepping out of the complex, you reach the Metro station, and swiping your card,…

River Mutha, the pride of Pune, lovingly called 'Muthai' or 'mother Mutha', is dying a slow death, thanks to the rapidly urbanising city which is depositing huge amounts of untreated sewage and dirt in its water. The pollution of the river is consistently rising. The situation is so bad that the river has been declared dead at many stretches. The high level of contamination of water from untreated sewage and industrial wastes has led to the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in its water. While a large number of activists, environmentalists and citizens have been drawing people’s attention towards the sad state of…

Urban commuting has become one of the most energy- and pollution-intensive activities in India, contributing to increased greenhouse gas emissions, finds a diagnostic analysis of key cities of India by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi-based think tank. The study, released at a seminar in Kolkata, made an assessment of the 14 most populous cities of India based on toxic emissions of particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NOx), heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2), and energy consumption from urban commuting practices. These cities include Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad (henceforth called megacities); and Ahmedabad, Pune, Jaipur, Lucknow, Kochi, Bhopal,…

Election Commission of India (ECI) approved a proposal of a programme for Special Summary Revision of Electoral Rolls, by the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka (CEO-KA). Of the nine listed activities in the letter, we the citizens should note the following: 1. House to house visit by BLOs 16 Jul to 10 Aug 2018 2. Rationalisation of Polling Stations 27 Aug to 15 Sep 2018 3. Publication of integrated electoral rolls 10 Oct 2018 4. Period for claims and objections 10 Oct to 20 Nov 2018 5. Disposal of claims and objections by 20 Dec 2018 6. Final publication of electoral…

Built in the 13th century, Delhi’s Qutb Minar, a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the tallest minarets in the country, is facing stiff competition − from the height of a garbage dump in the national capital. In a recent report, a panel of India’s Parliament noted their observations on landfill sites in Delhi, writing that the “laissez-faire of the civic bodies of Delhi also gets reflected in the fact that the height of Ghazipur landfill site has reached as high as 65 metres which is just eight metres less than the height of the national monument Qutub Minar”. Ghazipur is…

Sixteen years after the Karnataka High Court ordered the closure of all abattoirs within Bengaluru city limits and instructed the state government and the municipal authority to construct alternative facilities on the outskirts of the city, the first steps in that direction are visible. According to Dr K P Ramesh, official working at the Animal Husbandry Department in the Bangalore Bruhat Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), a new abattoir is being built on a 40-acre site within the KSIDC industrial estate at Harohalli, 34 km from the city and is expected to be commissioned by mid-2019. Not only this, concrete steps are…