kolkata | Citizen Matters

City Buzz: Lockdown returns to several cities | Shortage of crucial COVID-19 drugs in Mumbai | Delhi to start interstate buses…and more

July 12, 2020 News Desk

Check out latest COVID-19 updates and other news from our cities over the week gone by

City Buzz: BMC gears up for Mumbai monsoon | Kolkata stops flights from six cities | Citizens oppose Hyderabad Pharma City… and more

July 6, 2020 News Desk

Catch some of the most important weekly updates from cities across India.

Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata attain 95% of clean air targets during lockdown

July 3, 2020 News Desk

The lockdown period helped researchers understand the effects of human-generated emissions; this could tell policy-makers how they may achieve what the NCAP has targetted in the coming four years.

City Buzz: Kolkata to open non-essential shops | Citizens protest over water in Aurangabad | New rules for Bhopal shops…and more

June 1, 2020 News Desk

Key news highlights of last week from Kolkata, NCR, Bhopal and other cities

City Buzz: Cyclone Amphan batters Kolkata | Drive-through COVID testing in Chandigarh | Mobile mortuaries in Mumbai… and more

May 25, 2020 News Desk

Even as the country continued to witness alarming spikes in COVID-19 cases, a devastating cyclone hit east India. News highlights of last week from the cities

City Buzz: Delhi burns | New list of most polluted cities | Delhi-Dehradun in 2.5 hours…and more

March 2, 2020 News Desk

Take a quick recap of the important news from our cities over the week that went by.

“Just two hours of disturbance”: Ugly truths and uncomfortable questions post Chhat celebrations in Kolkata lake

November 5, 2019 Mou Chakraborty

The NGT has long banned all festivities and rituals in Rabindra Sarovar, a national lake in south Kolkata. Yet what transpired during Chhat Puja clearly points to the futility of such orders in the absence of political will and awareness among masses.

Can Kolkata’s ‘national lake’ save itself from Chhat Puja celebrations this year?

November 1, 2019 Mou Chakraborty

Despite an order from the National Green Tribunal, efforts to stop Chhat Puja celebrations in Rabindra Sarovar — a 192-acre biodiverse, green sanctuary in the heart of the city — have been futile in previous years. This year the municipal corporation is closing access to the lake area for the two days of the festival, but will it help?

As Kolkata begins Durga Puja festivities on Mahalaya, environment gets a raw deal

September 28, 2019 Mou Chakraborty

2500 plus community pujas. Lakhs of revellers. The Durga Puja celebrations in Kolkata are magical, but harsh and unforgiving on the environment. Unfortunately, thoughts and plans on greening the celebrations appear to be at a very immature stage still.

Anecdotes and nostalgia are all that remain around single screen theatres in Kolkata

August 31, 2019 Shoma A Chatterji

As old movie halls in the city pull down their shutters, one after the other, those close to the world of cinema are left ruing that iconic institutions and an entire culture of movie-watching will be lost to the future generations.

Yeh dil maange more: Kolkata, New Town love their e-buses, but more needed for impact

August 22, 2019 Gurvinder Singh

40 electric buses planned for 11 routes in Kolkata were pressed into service earlier this year, while the satellite town of New Town has been successfully running 3 e-buses for more than one year. How have they been faring and what’s in the offing?

Kolkata’s ignored groundwater crisis could lead to much more than just water shortage

June 18, 2019 Gurvinder Singh

Increasing contamination due to deepening of the water table, serious health hazards and even instability in built structures in the city — indiscriminate extraction of groundwater could spell more doom for the city than it seems to be aware of.

Why 3.5 lakh doctors in the country are planning to strike work this Monday

June 15, 2019 Ankita Gupta

Following an assault on junior doctors at a prominent state run hospital in Kolkata, doctors across the country have united in support and joined their protest. But what led to the current situation and why are doctors in Kolkata unwilling to budge from their stand?

Waste mounds in open landfills grow higher as Kolkata brazenly ignores SWM rules

June 6, 2019 Gurvinder Singh

In Kolkata’s Dhapa and other neighbouring municipalities, open landfills lie filled to the brim with unsegregated waste. Biomedical waste disposal too does not uniformly conform to the rules formulated. A lax administration merely looks on and introduces token measures in select pockets.

Jadavpur Lok Sabha candidates: Glamour vs political experience vs young blood

May 18, 2019 News Desk

It is one of the most prestigious parliamentary constituencies in West Bengal with a mix of urban voters from Kolkata city and semi urban voters from the peripheries. A popular cinema actor is pitted against a veteran of the Left party, while former Trinamool MP is in the fray as a BJP candidate. Know more about the contest here.