Civic

As we approach the relaxation of lockdown, traffic and people on the roads is bound to increase, even as we continue to battle the pandemic. Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) can be very effective in helping the Greater Chennai Corporation, as the civic body continues its measures to create awareness and enforce social distancing in the near future. Here are some salient points for RWAs from a note issued by a senior GCC official. Awareness Awareness material will be handed over to RWAs by GCC.Do paste where it will be visible to the publicDo share the digital messages widely.Do NOT spread…

COVID-19 updates: Police dept prohibits gatherings, GCC focusses on slums; Tasmac to remain shut in city, and more... On May 15th, Tamil Nadu recorded 385 new COVID-positive patients, taking the total number of cases to 10108, according to Tamil Nadu Health Department’s bulletin. Of 385, 309 patients are from Chennai.  COVID-19 status in Chennai as of May 15. Pic: GCC/Twitter In a bid to contain the spread of the virus, A K Viswanathan, Chennai Police Commissioner, has promulgated Section 41 of the Tamil Nadu City Police Act that prohibits all gatherings, processions, fasts, demonstrations and human chains within Chennai limits…

Special train passengers protest quarantine There was chaos as about 140 passengers who arrived in the first special train from New Delhi refused to check themselves into quarantine facilities in hotels. Many insisted that they should be allowed to self-quarantine at home, but officials refused. After a few hours, all passengers barring 19 agreed to the terms. The remaining 19 were sent back in the Bengaluru-Delhi train that left on Thursday. In all, 507 passengers opted for institutional quarantine of whom 203 availed free government facilities. The rest are in hotels identified by the BBMP, for which the passengers agreed…

https://soundcloud.com/citizenmatters/trailer-lessons-from-bengaluru-cm 'Lessons from Bengaluru' is a special, limited-series podcast from Citizen Matters, exploring four different issues that Bengaluru faces and what citizens have been doing about those. The city, in the last few decades, has seen a new phenomenon in urban governance. Its rapid development has rendered existing modes of governance ineffective, and numerous citizen groups have emerged, aiming to bridge this gap. Bengaluru is a unique city where such citizen groups are more active and have engaged with matters ranging from misallocation of funds to environmental causes. This, in turn, has engaged a larger number of people in policy…

COVID-19: Lockdown rules relaxed, Hospitals run out of beds, Koyambedu market shifted to Thirumazhisai, Madras HC’s ruling on Tasmac In a recent update, the State government has relaxed the lockdown in Tamil Nadu (effective from Monday). According to the order, saloons, spas and beauty parlours will continue to remain closed. The following are the instructions given by the government for the localities falling under Greater Chennai Police limits and non-containment zones. ServicesGreater Chennai Police limits (operation timings)Non-containment zones and rest of TN (operation timings)Private establishments10.30 am to 6 pm (with 33% workforce)10 am and 7 pm Vegetable shops and grocery…

Train services for migrants restarted, KSRTC services stopped On Thursday, state government gave directions to restart train services, following criticism of its earlier decision to cancel trains. On Tuesday, after a meeting with the representatives of the CREDAI (Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India) Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said that the COVID situation was in control and hence economic activities had to be resumed. Trains were stopped to prevent migrant labourers from travelling back. With this, hundreds of migrant labourers from North Indian states began to walk towards their hometowns. Following public outrage against this, government then…

Lockdown relaxations in Bengaluru As Bengaluru (Urban) is categorised as a red zone district by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), relaxation in restrictions from May 4 will be minimal here unlike districts categorised as orange and green zones. However, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, S Suresh Kumar, said Bengaluru will not be completely locked down, and that economic activities would restart in wards that do not have containment zones. He said restrictions will be more in the 24 containment zones in the city. State government has also categorised wards within the city as red, orange and green zones…

Nationwide lockdown extended: COVID-19 lockdown 3.0 The Centre extended the lockdown in the country for another two weeks beyond May 3rd, profiling the region into red, orange and green categories. The decision to extend the lockdown was taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs, after a comprehensive review and in view of significant successful outcomes achieved during the earlier lockdown. However, certain relaxations have been allowed for all zones. MHA has categorized districts as red zone (taking into account the total number of active cases, doubling the rate of confirmed cases), green zones (being districts with either zero confirmed cases…

COVID-19: Chennai Corporation gets new nodal officer; door-to-door sanitation in six zones; ATMs to be disinfected after every use In a recent move in the COVID battle, the state government has appointed senior bureaucrat and Commissioner of Revenue Administration J Radhakrishnan as the Special Nodal Officer for Chennai Corporation for coordinating COVID-19 related activities. He will be supported by a team of five IPS officers -- Mahesh Kumar Agarwal, Abhash Kumar, Amaresh Pujari, Abhay Kumar Singh and K Bhavaneeswari. On the evening of May 2nd, Chennai recorded 174 COVID-positive patients, taking the total number of cases to 1257, according to…

[In Part 1 of this analysis, I discussed budget figures for 2020-21, and how resource mobilisation of the BBMP can be bettered. This concluding part is on suggestions to improve the finances of the civic body and how that can translate to efficiency.] A major source that the BBMP should tap for revenue -- after property taxes and leasing advertisement hoardings -- is to monetise its real estate through lease and rentals. Revenue from lease and rentals BBMP reportedly owns more than 20,000 properties across the city and most of them in prime locations. The rentals fixed are abominably low…