Civic

BBMP removes 2021 encroachments in KR Market On Friday, BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) cleared KR Market of 2021 encroachments and dozens of unauthorised shops. BBMP got together 390 personnel, 48 tractors, 15 lorries, eight compactors, eight earthmovers and 30 marshals, besides the traffic police, to clear the encroachments. The drive resulted in 240 loads of debris. Just a day before, BBMP Commissioner had inspected the market and promised to clear illegal constructions and footpath encroachments. The drive was in response a High Court directive on a PIL. The Bengaluru Flower Merchants’ Association had filed a PIL in 2017, questioning…

The quest for water deepens With storage levels at all the reservoirs in the red, Chennai Metro has started drawing from the dead storage from Redhills. The situation is so grim that the water board has started tapping the minimal storage of 328 million cubic feet (mcft), which is only 10% of its capacity of 3,300 mcft. Chembarambakkam reservoir is nearly bone dry and withdrawal is possible only for 10 days, given the current situation. Metrowater has already started pumping 30 mld of water from Cholavaram lake since early this week and this is expected to continue till mid-April. Meanwhile,…

For 700 years, the Yamuna river was a thriving entity around which Delhi grew. This historic connect has been severed in just a few decades. Today, Delhi’s citizens are so detached from the river, and have polluted it to such an extent, that the Yamuna has become incapable of supporting any form of life. The subject of several orders from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on efforts to clean it, the river flows through the heart of the capital dark, murky and giving off the most horrible of smells. Despite an expenditure of Rs 2000 crore in recent years on…

Tambaram, a bustling suburban pocket has witnessed steady growth in its economy and population over the last three decades. With the increase in population, the pressure on the groundwater table has been tremendous. During the 2015 flash floods, a majority of water bodies in the suburb including Mudichur lake flooded their banks, creating a crisis that speaks about the mismanagement of the lakes and ponds. Now, TAKE Solutions that delivers domain intensive services in Life Sciences and Supply Chain Management has taken up restoration work in three ponds in the suburb as part of their CSR Project. TAKE solutions collaborated…

NGT calls for Delhi to act on noise pollution The National Green Tribunal termed noise pollution as a serious crime and called for authorities in Delhi to take strict action to curb it. The tribunal said that growing levels of noise pollution is a serious hazard. It directed the Delhi police to map hotspots of noise pollution in the city and evolve a surveillance mechanism to identify and act on violators. The Delhi police is to submit a report on the action taken on the issue to the NGT in a month. The NGT was of the view that the…

Translated by Sandhya Raju பொய்த்து போன மழையினாலும் வெகுவாக குறைந்து வரும்  நிலத்தடி நீராலும்  கோடை காலம் வரும் முன்னரே தண்ணீர் தட்டுப்பாட்டை சென்னை மக்கள் உணர ஆரம்பித்து விட்டார்கள்.  சென்னை குடிநீர் வாரியமமும் ஒரு நாள் விட்டு ஒரு நாள் தான் தண்ணீர் விநியோகம் செய்யும் நிலையில் உள்ளது. சென்னையின் மேற்கு மற்றும் வடக்கு பகுதி மக்கள் தண்ணீர் கிடைக்காமல் ஏற்கனவே அவதி படுகின்றனர். இந்த தட்டுப்பாட்டை சமாளிக்க புது யுக்தியை கையாள வேண்டிய கட்டாயத்திற்கு மக்கள் தள்ளப்பட்டுள்ளனர். 2000-ம் ஆண்டின் மத்தியில் மழை நீர் சேகரிப்பு திட்டம் சென்னையில் செயல் படுத்தப்பட்டாலும், பொய்த்து போன பருவ மழையால் இந்த திட்டத்தின் பலனை உணர முடியாமல் போனது.  உபயோகித்த தண்ணீரை மறுசுழற்சி செய்யும் முறை சமீப காலமாக பிரபலமாகி வருகிறது. இந்த முறையால்  நீரின் தேவையும் குறைகிறது. அதிக முதலீடு இல்லாமல் இந்த மறுசுழற்சி முறையை எளிதாக செயலாக்க…

NGT committee inspects Varthur lake A surprise inspection of Varthur lake turned out to be shocking for a committee constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), headed by Justice N Santosh Hegde. In contrast to the picture painted by officials, the team found a depleted water body. The lake was encroached by a two-kilometre-long road, near its feeder canal. The committee also found other encroachments, such as pipelines inside the lake. Citizens complained to Justice Hegde that the road and the canal had not been cleared despite NGT's orders. They said that the recently built sluice gates were affecting the natural…

Chennai ready to brace yellow Amidst the election fervor, Chennaites will start bleeding yellow from today as the country catches cricket fever with the commencement of the IPL 2019. Euphoria is high especially in the city as sport-loving Chennaites did not get a chance to witness any matches in a home ground in the last season due to political unrest. The defending champion CSK will take on RCB on the first day (March 23rd). Southern Railway has announced special services between Chennai beach station and Velachery on March 23rd and March 31st. Source: The Times of India Day Zero threat…

On World Water Day, conservation is the buzzword. The Internet is flooded with tips on how to conserve water and the need to focus on water as a scarce resource. Many resident welfare associations in Chennai are organising awareness sessions to educate people about water economics. But, ironically perhaps, World Water Day this year has come just a day after Holi, exposing the huge gaps in awareness and responsibility among many sections of the people, still. Just a day ago, the city celebrated Holi in a grand manner, but wasted gallons of water in the process, creating artificial rain. “The…

Exactly a year back, in March 2018, Beautiful Bengaluru had launched the “Minimum Water Challenge,” which it plans to continue this year. Over the last one year, we have seen many challenges being rolled out across the world, most of which are dares of no significant consequence. But this is one challenge that can have a definite impact on a very real problem the world is facing – water scarcity. What this challenge pushes you to do is to use only as much water as is needed for a particular task, not as much as is abundantly available. That requires…