Civic

Mini transfer stations to process waste To strengthen decentralised waste collection, BBMP will set up 50 mini transfer stations. Waste collected by auto-tippers and push carts, instead of being loaded onto compactor trucks, will be brought to the mini transfer stations. The stations will process waste from two wards each. According to BBMP, this system will reduce garbage transfer points as well as black spots in the city. It will also ensure there is no leakage of garbage residue from compactor trucks. Besides, fewer garbage vehicles will be required, which in turn will reduce air pollution. Only four waste processing…

On October 28th, the northeast monsoon set in over Tamil Nadu and Kerala. On the 29th, Chennai recorded the highest amount of rainfall in 24 hours since November 2017, as called out by weather expert Pradeep John. AreaRain (in cm)Mylapore (DGP office)18Anna University14Redhills Lake13Chennai district13Alandur, Sholinganallur8Ambattur9Source: IMD Chennai Koyambedu saw heavy rains lashing their neighbourhood on October 29th. As a result of which, people had to wade through knee-deep water. Pic: Avinash D But the writing has been on the wall for some time. A study titled ‘Future changes in precipitation extremes during northeast monsoon over south peninsular India’ by…

COVID-19: Step test to assess patients' tolerance level, mobile ICU inaugurated for treatment On October 30th, Chennai recorded 723 cases and 1047 recoveries. The day also saw 13 deaths. The Government Medical College Hospital, Omandurar, has devised a method to assess the lung and heart functions of discharged COVID patients. The doctors ask patients to take a six-minute walk. The walk, known as Harvard step-test, assesses the patient’s effort tolerance. At the outpatient department, patients who had 20% and higher lung involvement over the course of their illness are administered a CT scan of the chest after six weeks of…

Ambattur has the biggest small scale industrial estate in South Asia. The locality is slowly turning into an IT hub and in the past three years, the quality of roads has improved thanks to the many road-laying projects taken up by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC). But, has the quality of life really improved in Ambattur?  Many deep-rooted issues plague civic life at Ambattur. Residents of the zone are still waiting for amenities such as water and sewage connections, despite being included in the Greater Chennai Corporation limits in 2011. Basic rights such as public health and education are still…

There can be no dispute over the fact that the frequency, intensity and spread (new cities getting affected) of urban floods is increasing in India. The reasons are mostly known: increasing and mostly unplanned urbanisation, rural-urban migration, encroachments of water bodies, concretization of flood plains and other lands, decreasing capacity to hold, store, recharge and drain the rainwater, increasing rainfall intensities with changing climate, wrong operation of big dams and deteriorating governance. The damages are going up, also because our forecasts are far from reliable, accurate, location-specific or with sufficient lead time. Because of our incapacity to learn lessons. Disaster…

2021 deadline for 100% waste segregation, collection The state government approved a new SWM (Solid Waste Management) policy and strategy, which sets 2021 as the deadline for segregation of waste at source and for 100% door-to-door collection, as well as laying out guidelines to protect the health and dignity of pourakarmikas. The Karnataka State Urban SWM Policy-2020 lays out a road map for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), including BBMP, to implement time-bound measures. The burning of waste should be stopped by December 2021 and ULBs should ensure that less than 30% of their waste reaches landfills. ULBs should also ensure…

COVID-19: 32% developed antibodies, hospitals resume outpatient services On October 22nd, the city recorded 833 new COVID cases while 13 patients succumbed to the disease. The total number of active cases in Chennai stands at 11,107. The results of the second serological survey have been published. It revealed that of 6,389 samples tested, 2,062 (32%) were positive for the presence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 virus. As the total number of cases is seeing a downward trend in the city, the number of containment zones has come down. There current number stood at 18 as on October 23rd. The city had…

Hyderabad lay submerged under the highest ever rainfall since 2003. While the October average has seen around 103.6 mm, October 13th saw the skies discharge 192 mm of rain, followed by another deluge in and around Hyderabad on October 17th. Added to the pandemic, the heavy rainfall made an already bad situation for Hyderabadis much, much worse. Major roads and highways were severely damaged and several colonies were isolated from the rest of the city. Hundreds of families were unable to access basic needs like drinking water, food and power for over three days following the rainfall. About 80 colonies…

Over the past few years, rising temperatures, heat waves, and oppressive humidity have made Mumbai scorching hot. But not all parts of the city heat up equally. Life in some is more stifling than the others.  A recent World Resources Institute (WRI) infographic showed that in October, Dharavi is typically five degrees hotter than Matunga, its immediate neighbour. The study looked at Mumbai’s average land surface temperatures in October over the past three years. Land surface temperature is the radiative skin temperature of land which is recorded using satellite-derived data. Quite simply, it is about how hot a "surface", like a…

COVID positivity rate drops even as cases surge COVID cases in the city have been shooting up at a very fast rate in the last two weeks. On three occasions, there were more than 5,000 cases per day. Despite the rising number of cases, most of the city’s eight zones have reported a drop in both positivity rate and fatality rate over the last four weeks, according to BBMP sources. Bommanahalli, Mahadevapura, Dasarahalli and Yelahanka zones have recorded a very sharp drop in positivity rates, some nearly dropping by half in four weeks. Only the East zone recorded a slight…