Civic

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the Horticulture Department started Hasiru Mitra (friend of parks/green spaces) in 2023 with two objectives: To maintain the city’s parks and to engage citizens as active stakeholders. “Hasiru Mitras work in collaboration with the BBMP officials and the contractors. They have to oversee the work of the contractors and check whether the officials are visiting the parks. If there are any issues, they bring it to our notice,” says Chandrasekhar MR, Deputy Director, Department of Horticulture.  Meanwhile, out of the approximately 1,237 parks maintained by the BBMP across eight zones in the city,…

Chennai was one of the first cities in India to get selected under the Smart City Mission. The objective of the ambitious Central Government programme was to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens; a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘smart’ solutions. But, the benefits of the programme for Chennai residents have been limited. While projects like the bicycle lanes and vertical gardens were a failure, the multi-level parking scheme remains underutilised. In April this year, when we spoke to a few experts on the Smart City projects implemented…

Vegetable prices soar Several factors have pushed up vegetable prices and inflation in cities. Extreme weather conditions and soaring temperatures resulted in a poor harvest this season, with some crops destroyed due to excess water accumulation in the fields. In addition, prices surged because of the ongoing wedding season. Retailers said that they did not bring many vegetables to the markets, because of concerns that they would suffer losses if consumer demand remained low. Hence, prices of onions, tomatoes and potatoes, which are staples in every kitchen, shot up due to heavy floods and extreme heat. The wholesale prices of all three…

“I have got a lung infection because of the dust. Even at home I try to keep my windows shut. A lot of redevelopment is happening near my home as well as office,” says Rohini Vij, an HR professional at a fast food chain. Her workplace in Prabhadevi is undergoing renovation and refurbishment work, and what makes working even more difficult is the redevelopment of buildings around. She says the noise and dust are affecting their productivity. It does not help that it is the same situation in the area where she lives in Bandra. Rohini is among the many…

Air pollution kills 33,000 every year in cities Air pollution in 10 of India's cities kills 33,000 every year, even where pollution levels conform to India's air quality standards, according to a study in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health. India's clean-air threshold is too high, nowhere near or getting closer to the World Health Organisation recommendations. Even coastal centres, where air quality is considered to be moderate, such as Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai, have seen a significant incidence of air pollution-related deaths. Even in the Himalayan town of Shimla, with the cleanest air among the 10 cities studied, 3.7%…

Umbrella? Check. Raincoat for the kids? Check. All-season footwear? Check. Plastic cover for mobile phone? Check. As June approaches, Mumbaikars ready themselves for monsoon or what is popularly called "Bambai ki baarish." They buy protective gear and extra food supplies. Some like me even pack away ‘the summer wardrobe’ and bring out ‘the monsoon wardrobe’. While we are careful about preparing for the monsoon, are our neighbourhoods equally ready? What should be on our safety checklist as we go about our lives for the next four months? In this two-part series Citizen Matters explores the factors that cause flooding, various…

Sameena Selvam, a first-time Councillor represents Ward 188 of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC). Getting into politics was not easy and she was expecting to navigate the space with the support of her late husband C Selvam. A DMK party worker, Selvam was killed in 2022. “After his death, I continued on his behalf,” she recalls. "Everyone assured me of their support, including the party and the MLA." Madipakkam ward stretches from Ram Nagar to Madipakkam. Once a small village panchayat, Madipakkam is now part of GCC and has become a bustling neighbourhood. This area has grappled with inundation during…

Every year, Chennai experiences severe flooding, with cars being washed away, homes submerged, and residents navigating waterlogged streets. One of the affected areas is Chitlapakkam, situated amidst three lakes — Chitlapakkam, Seliyur, and Rajakilpakkam — on Chengalpettu's agricultural lands. Due to its proximity to these water bodies, Chitlapakkam suffers extensive flooding during Chennai's intense monsoon. We at Chitlapakkam Rising, along with the Water Resources Department (WRD) and Tambaram Corporation have worked on flood mitigation measures such as the construction of  ‘macro cut-and-cover drains’ around the lake, to drain out surplus water during floods. We even initiated the construction of a…

“It used to flood a couple of years ago. Water would get into the bank on the ground floor of my building. But now there is a pump to clear out the water. So it doesn’t flood, unless there is a lot of rainfall,” says Shubhalaxmi Burde, a resident of Sleater Road in Grant Road. But she remembers a time, when she moved as a new bride in 1978, she discovered that people in the area had to use small boats to get around because of the flooding. Nana Chowk  at Grant Road and the area around it, has been a…

Roof in Delhi Airport collapses due to downpour One person was killed and at least eight were injured when the Indira Gandhi International Airport Terminal-1 roof collapsed in Delhi. Flight operations at Terminal-1 were shut down till 2 pm, while the entire terminal was evacuated. An inquiry has been ordered. Delhi police, fire service, CISF and NDRF teams rushed to the spot after the shed outside the terminal caved in. According to official sources, the collapse happened because heavy rains pounded the roof. It rained heavily over many parts of the capital on June 28. The southwest monsoons has arrived…