Civic

BBMP to set up C&D waste processing unit in Kannur BBMP announced it would sign an agreement with the private company Rock Crystal in a couple of days, to set up a construction and demolition (C&D) waste processing unit in Kannur. BBMP's announcement comes after the High Court ordered it to find solutions for solid waste management in two months. The court had threatened to stop new constructions in the city if it didn't. The agreement for the processing plant has been pending since May. The BBMP had written to the Deputy Commissioner, Bangalore Urban, in May, when the agreement was…

Ever since BBMP publicised its proposal for ward delimitation in June, citizens and experts have raised many concerns. Now, the Whitefield Rising Trust has filed a formal objection with the state's Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar, against the "unscientific" proposal. The Trust's letter, submitted on Tuesday, is also marked to Additional Chief Secretary of the Urban Development Department E V Ramana Reddy, and to BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar. BBMP's delimitation exercise will restructure ward boundaries so that Bengaluru's population is distributed equally across wards, at 42,645 per ward. This population data is based on the 2011 Census.…

Residents and citizen groups of Mahadevapura assembly constituency will stage a protest on Friday 9.30 am, at the Marathahalli Bridge bus stop. The #MahdevapuraDemands protest is called against elected representatives of the constituency for failing to deliver on the promises they had made on restoring civic amenities and making the area liveable. Resignation of elected representatives is one of the main demands of the protestors. The representatives here are Mahadevapura MLA Aravind Limbavali, Bengaluru Central MP P C Mohan, BBMP corporators A C Hari Prasad (Hoodi), B N Nithish Purushotham (Garudachar Palya), S Muniswamy (Kadugodi), S Uday Kumar (Hagadur), Shwetha…

Following complaints from several residents against revision of property tax by the Greater Chennai Corporation [GCC] for the period 2017-18, in addition to the general revision for the period 2018-19, the Motilal Street Residents' Welfare Association approached officials to ascertain the reasons for such selective revision for some properties. This revision of tax for the period 2017-18 was implemented along with the general revision for the period 2018-19. We were told that the revision for 2017-18 was on account of the change in the occupancy of the premises -- that is from owner to tenant. However, upon analysis of the…

Change is a slow process and to implement it in cities on a large scale requires active citizen engagement and participation. Through a mix of traditional and non-traditional means, Alby John Varghese IAS, Regional Deputy Commissioner (South) has attempted to make inroads into the areas of waste management, rainwater harvesting and restoration of water bodies. In this exclusive interview, Alby John takes us through the various initiatives and challenges faced in implementing them.  How is the zero waste initiative picking up in the South region of Chennai?  If we look at the South as a region, there are five zones,…

Red Hills Reservoir is in the news again. As per news reports, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) had accepted an application from the Small Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO) to allocate around 54 acres of land in the Red Hills catchment area for the construction of a women’s entrepreneur zone. This land is designated as 'Redhills catchment area' in the Master Plan 2026; that is, no construction or development activity is allowed here. But once the project is approved, the land use will be changed to 'industrial'. The move has elicited criticism from citizens of Chennai, reeling as they are…

Heavy rains breach lake, flood homes in north Bengaluru Heavy rains breached the corner bund of Doddabidarakallu lake, leading to overflow and inundation of about 500 houses, early on Thursday morning. Residents of Bhavani Nagar, Annapurneshwari Layout, Anandappa Layout and Muneshwara Layout were horrified as water levels rose up to almost six feet. Power cuts worsened the situation, leaving residents groping in the dark for their belongings. The lake bund was breached at about 2 am, as it received a huge volume of water from a stormwater drain (SWD) upstream. Police came to the spot at about 3 am with…

Thanks to Mahabalipuram summit, it is advantage Koneri tank From the elaborate arrangements to the traffic diversion, Modi-Xi summit has been the talking point for many Chennaites. The area around Mahabalipuram has been getting a facelift, and a significant one is the hitherto neglected Koneri tank now sports a new look. Spread over 7 acres, it is the largest waterbody in Mahabalipuram and was once a source of drinking water for residents. Residents of the locality and volunteers from the Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI) restored the lake, which had a thick cover of Karuvelam or Prosopis juliflora and was used as…

The city is all set to provide passage to the Chinese President Xi Jinping who is heading to the temple town of Mahabalipuram, roughly 60kms away from Chennai, for his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi (the PM is expected to fly into Mahabalipuram). In order to make the city ‘presentable’,  Greater Chennai Corporation has taken up a series of beautification activities along the route to Mahabalipuram. Multiple pockets have been spruced up by repairing roads, painting the road dividers, cleaning and recolouring the barricades and in some places, covering up the ugly patches.  Various departments of the City administration…

Ramasamy (name changed) refused to change the proposed date of marriage of his second daughter when his first born in the US expressed inability to attend her sister’s marriage. He had fixed a marriage hall belonging to a superstar, six months before D-Day and had paid the entire rent of several lakhs as advance -- which was non-refundable.  This is the plight of many who believe in conducting traditional wedding ceremonies in halls in Chennai. Says Sindhu Vijayakumar, a senior media professional in Chennai, “People are paying in lakhs to hire just four walls and a limited parking space.  The cost…