Civic

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…

The rapid spread of the Coronavirus pandemic across the country has forced it into a lockdown that has lasted over a month now. During this time, other than essential services, all other activities have been suspended. The pandemic has also put many in a financially precarious situation with job losses and pay cuts. Central and state and local governments have taken cognisance of the difficulties faced by the public to offer some concessions on dues such as loans, property tax dues, water tax dues and electricity bills.  In line with this, and also partly due to operational hurdles, the Tamil…

COVID-19 updates: Chennai under intense lockdown, cops and frontline staff contract virus, GCC plans dignified burial for COVID victims On April 24th, Tamil Nadu recorded 72 new cases of COVID-19 and the total stood at 1755. Of the 72 patients, 52 were from Chennai. With 452 patients, Chennai tops the chart with the highest number of positive patients. 133 COVID-positive patients from the city are from Zone 5 (Royapuram). In a bid to contain the spread, the state government announced an intense lockdown in Chennai and four other cities in Tamil Nadu from April 26th to 29th between 6 am…

Partial relaxation of lockdown Karnataka government has announced partial relaxation of lockdown from the midnight of April 23, so as to mitigate hardships faced by the public. An official order issued by Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar explained that some select activities would be allowed outside COVID-19 containment zones. Public transportation will remain suspended till May 3. Only private vehicles with passes for emergency services and for commuting to workplaces and back, will be allowed. Construction activities will be allowed for Metro rail projects within the municipal corporations. Meanwhile, IT and ITeS (IT-enabled services) will be allowed to work…

Situation alarming in Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad, Chennai: MHA The central government recently formed 10 Interministerial Central teams for spot assessment of COVID-19 hotspot districts in the country. In its statement the MHA has said, "The situation is alarming in major hotspot districts or emerging hotspots like Ahmedabad and Surat (Gujarat), Thane (Maharashtra), Hyderabad (Telangana), and Chennai (Tamil Nadu)." The statement also said that these cities have reported instances of violation of lockdown conditions posing serious health hazard and the risk of spreading COVID-19. Source: Livemint Small shops reopen in India The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued directions allowing small…