Civic

Vehicles to be fined for illegal parking The Greater Chennai Traffic Police (GCTP) will be imposing fines on vehicles found to have been parked illegally. The traffic police have been instructed to photograph the vehicles and issue a challan to the owners. This move has been put in place as many vehicles have been parked in no-parking zones, affecting traffic flow. All arterial roads in the city have been declared no parking zones and vehicles parked here will be fined. Those found guilty of illegal parking can pay the fine imposed online or through e-seva centres across the city.  First-time…

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BEST bus drivers protest again Contractual bus drivers of Mumbai BEST service went on a strike again. The reason was once again various issues related to their salaries - delays, lesser amount compared to staffers. The strike affected the commute severely as only one-third buses were on the road. According to the BEST spokesperson, 500 private bus operators and employees of Daga Group stopped work and protested. “We shifted the buses from other routes and tried to salvage the situation in the best possible way,” said a BEST spokesperson. The BEST has decided to levy fines of ₹5,000 per bus…

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HC: Govt should pay for illegal hoardings The Karnataka High Court said that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the state government would have to deposit Rs 50,000 each in the court for every instance of unauthorised hoarding in future. There are too many unregulated and uncontrolled illegal hoardings, banners and flexes, mainly due to the callousness and negligence of BBMP officials, it said. Even though 59,413 illegal hoardings were identified in the past four months and 58,429 of them were removed by spending BBMP’s funds, or taxpayers money, why hadn't the BBMP collected any penalty? the court asked.…

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The city of Mumbai is currently at the peak of the monsoon season that significantly impacts the lives of its residents. While these rains are vital for replenishing water sources and sustaining agriculture, they also pose several challenges for the city's infrastructure and residents. Water logging, traffic jams, health risks and infrastructure problems, the list is endless. These problems resurface year after year. We at Citizen Matters Mumbai, believe that the citizens best know the problems they encounter in their vicinity. Hence they are able to offer the most practical and workable solutions to these problems. We have always had…

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At the recently held BBMP – Work Orders, Budgets and Processes Datajam, a group of citizen volunteers analysed the data available in the public domain. Here are their observations and suggestions on BBMP’s pothole work orders. To: Sri. SomashekarBBMP Chief Engineer (Road Infrastructure) Dear Sir, Observations: We analysed BBMP pothole work orders and citizen complaints about potholes on the Fix My Street app. The idea was to see if BBMP was listening to citizen complaints while planning spending on pothole repair. We found that BBMP was spending between Rs 4 crore to Rs 25 crore on pothole management, according to…

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GCC to provide vaccines for infants and pregnant women Under Mission Indradanush 5.0, an initiative of the Union government, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) is set to vaccinate infants and pregnant women. The first round of the vaccination drive will be held from August 7 to August 15. The second and third rounds of the vaccination drives will take place in September and October respectively. The vaccines available will cover a range of illnesses such as polio, jaundice, Japanese encephalitis, whooping cough, tetanus and measles.  A door-to-door survey was carried out by the civic body to identify eligible beneficiaries. The…

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Red alert in wettest July, holiday for educational institutions Mumbai rains did not take a pause this week, and the city recorded its wettest July ever with 1557.8 mm rain. The IMD issued a red alert on Thursday due to very heavy rains. The city was flooded in many areas. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) declared a holiday for schools and colleges on Thursday. On Friday, both the Colaba and Santacruz observatories recorded over 100 mm of rainfall within 24 hours. The northern suburbs, including Dahisar (237mm), Borivali (194mm), Vasai  (138mm), Thane (166mm), and Dahanu (224mm), experienced more intense rains.…

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Building Brand Bengaluru The ‘Brand Bengaluru’ project spurred the state government to sign an agreement with Canada-based World Design Organisation (WDO) for suggestions to the BBMP to build the city. Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said that 200 engineers from the WDO will study and give suggestions on infrastructure, including roads, flyovers, footpaths, junctions, and more. D K Shivakumar had earlier launched a ‘Brand Bengaluru’ campaign and an online portal to invite suggestions by the public on the city’s development. He received 70,000 suggestions from the public, experts, and schoolchildren. Students from 17 schools in a special function spoke…

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Amid the relentless downpour last week, Dnyaneshwar Paugul, accompanied by his daughter, Yogita, and 6-month-old granddaughter, were travelling from Mumbai city to Bhiwandi after seeking treatment for the little one at KEM hospital. As the local train made its way through the suburbs, heavy rains continued and soon the train stopped between Thakurli and Kalyan on flooded railway tracks. With no sign of the train moving, impatience and anxiety began to rise among the passengers. Some of them decided to get down and walk towards the nearest railway station. Among them were Paugul and his daughter, who held her ailing…

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Two young labourers, 25-year-old Ramkrishna and 30-year-old Sudhir Das died of drowning in June, when they were cleaning an overflowing manhole in Govandi. Normally, the cleaning and repairs of sewer lines are done before the monsoon begins and not during heavy rains. "Why did they make the two men enter the manhole? Why wasn't the sewer line treated on time, before monsoons?", asks Rukhsana Nazim Mohammed Siddiquii, the ex-corporator of Govandi. Rukhsana says one of the major reasons why an incident like this happened, was because of absence of corporators, when various measures for monsoon preparedness were planned and undertaken. She…

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