Civic

Few civic issues bring citizens together like Solid Waste Management (SWM). An important component of neighbourhood cleanliness and sanitation, SWM has formed the core of citizen-government partnership in Mumbai.  Repeated governments have tried to stir up citizen participation through SWM. In 1997, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) formalised the creation of citizen groups called Advanced Locality Management (ALM) in an attempt to involve citizens in neighbourhood cleanliness.  Most recently, Swachh Survekshan, part of the Swachh Bharat Mission, ranks cities across the country in categories of cleanliness and sanitation on four parameters, one of which is citizen feedback. The SBM guidelines…

GCC sacks temporary workers amid pandemic Around 500 temporary sanitary workers deployed for COVID-19 duty were sacked by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) last week. The termination of jobs comes after the civic body’s decision to outsource waste management in 11 of the 15 zones in Chennai. Due to the outsourcing, all the permanent sanitary workers and National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) workers were transferred to Tondiarpet, Royapuram, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar and Anna Nagar zones, zones managed by the Corporation. Of this, the excess staff have been made redundant. There is an ongoing case on the issue at the Madras…

COVID vaccination underway Six health facilities in the city are primed for the COVID vaccination programme, inaugurated nation-wide by the Prime Minister today (January 16). The Victoria Hospital campus has 11 vaccination sites, St John’s Hospital nine, KC General Hospital three and CV Raman Hospital one. The other two are Jayanagar General Hospital and Mallasandra primary health centre. In all, there are 243 centres across the State where the initial phase of vaccinating healthcare workers will be carried out over a week. The chosen hospitals have also readied a separate ward to observe and treat severe allergic reactions, if any,…

India’s COVID-19 vaccination drive begins India is all set to initialize its much awaited vaccine drive on 16th January 2021 across 3,000 sites. Each site will vaccinate 100 people a day. The government plans to increase the number of vaccination sites to 5,000 in the coming days. As per the government data, around 3 lakh people will be provided vaccination shots during phase I of the drive. Batches of Covishield (Serum Institute of India) and Covaxin (Bharat Biotech)  have been delivered to 12 cities in India.  As of 12th January 2021, 54.72 lakh doses of the two vaccines reached designated…

The role of residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) in solving civic problems in the neighbourhood is undeniable. Active RWAs not only help in bringing about positive changes in civic life in the area, but also enhance awareness of rights and duties among the larger citizenry. But how does one form an RWA where none exists? What are the powers of such an RWA? Who can become office bearers? How are by-laws framed?  This FAQ tries to answer the most common queries with regard to forming a welfare association. What is a Residents’ Welfare Association and how is it formed? An RWA…

In August 2019, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike had invited citizen groups and other organisations in Bengaluru to adopt streets. Under this volunteer initiative, the adopter has to maintain streets and ensure their visual cleanliness. Nearly one-and-half years later, the project is yet to kick off. D Randeep, Special Commissioner (Solid Waste Management) at BBMP, says the delay was due to COVID and that the programme would likely be resumed in the first week of February. “During COVID, we did not want people to come out together and do community work, which would be required under AASI. Before COVID, we…

“If you walk two feet you will bump into a person here and we were all advised to maintain physical distance over the past year,” says Radha R of Perumbakkam, underlining the challenges and irony of the lives of those living here. But this, Chennai’s largest resettlement colony, with 21,000 homes and close to 18,000 families in residence, could yet be set for expansion. On January 2 2021, PM Modi laid the foundation for the Centre’s ambitious affordable housing scheme, the Light House Project, that is set to add a further 1152 houses to the already packed Perumbakkam resettlement colony. …

“To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves." -- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Suchitra Akella, an ex-employee of HSBC, planted her terrace garden five years ago when she was pregnant with her second child. “Although I had ornamental plants while living in a flat, I was worried about managing the terrace garden,” says Suchitra. “My initial efforts failed many times. Then V S Kumar, Naresh and Shastry from the Rythu Mitra gardening group provided great support. The horticulture department was also helpful. Now, we source fresh produce directly from our terrace vegetable patch at…

Delhi: Institutional quarantine for people arriving from UK As flight services to United Kingdom (UK) resume, an Air India flight comprising of 246 members landed in Delhi on 8th January 2021. Earlier, the government imposed a ban on flights from India and UK due to a new COVID-19 mutant virus found to be present in the UK. As per the new order, only 30 flights a week will be allowed to operate till 28th January 2021. The Delhi airport has advised passengers to keep a gap of at least 10 hours between their flight from the UK and the connecting…

GCC to form road safety cell In a bid to prevent accidents in Chennai, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has planned to form a road safety cell. The body would analyse the reasons behind mishaps and propose exhaustive solutions. The aim of the cell is to halve the number of accidents in the city by they year 2026. Tenders have been called for the appointment of a consultant. Improving roads, public transport infrastructure and reinforcing road safety norms are some of the focus areas. It is to be noted that the state government undertakes initiatives to enforce road safety. With…