Civic

Like most other cities in India, Bhubaneswar has two faces. One is as tinselly and bright as you would expect a fast-growing city to be. The other frowns with the strain and concentration of having to look good. Bhubaneswar was the first choice of the Ministry of Urban Development's (MoUD) flagship Smart City project. A year later, it featured in the top 20 global cities of the world in the Global Smart City Performance Index 2017,  according to a survey by UK-based Juniper Research. The city was a member of a list that included Singapore (that topped the list), San Francisco, London, New…

42 km on average, a commute of 2 hours, and three buses. This is what a majority of children from the resettlement colonies in Chennai have to navigate to reach their schools. Everyday is a struggle, as they commute in overcrowded buses, where they are often barely able to get a foot on the footboard. It has been close to two years since 6310 families from 28 settlements alongside Cooum River were relocated to the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) houses in Gudapakkam (Thiruvallur district), All India Radio (Chennai) Navalur and Perumbakkam in Kancheepuram district. But their lives are yet…

With storage levels dipping,  Krishna water likely to ease Chennai’s thirst With water storage levels dipping at the city’s major reservoirs, it is a grim situatioin as it may only feed the city for a month. But the good news is that the city will start receiving 2 TMC of Krishna water anytime now.  As per the 1983 agreement between the two states, 12 tmcft water should be supplied to Chennai of which  8 tmcft should have come between July and October. Lack of adequate inflow in the waterbodies of Andhra Pradesh was cited for the delay in releasing water…

I was at the launch of the Cycle to Work campaign along with the Mayor and the Bicycle Mayor last week. It was very nice to see many cyclists come together, hopeful of renewed efforts to make their commutes and other rides easier and safer. The program is designed to enroll corporates in supporting their employees who cycle to work, and a template for that is being put together. Looking back at lake revival efforts over the last decade, I feel the push for cycling can also work, if I we adopt the key learnings. I offered a few thoughts…

For several years now, I've had one theme around which I felt we could push for change - "rather than try to solve problems, we should focus on increasing the number of problem solving people". In different spheres, that is now happening in the city, and that gives me hope. A few examples ... The BCLIP initiative of B.PAC trains 100 people a year in understanding local governance, so that they can be better prepared to contest BBMP elections. In a 5-year term that is 500 graduates, with more than half of them also doing projects in their wards after…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship There are some things in every house, which were used in the past, but not so useful anymore, but stay on the shelf collecting dust, because people think it might be useful in future. What if those products are rented for a fixed period? What if you could donate all that material to a store that makes products out of waste? Changing consumer habits have led to generation of more waste. Today recycling has evolved from being a trend to a necessity. This is also a business opportunity. There are…

This article is part of a special series: Air Quality in our Cities M Karthik, Chennai-based software engineer was mighty pleased when he purchased his 350cc Royal Enfield Classic from a showroom in Anna Nagar. But his excitement was considerably muted when he found out that his make of vehicle was among the highest polluting two-wheelers available. Deeply environmentally conscious, Karthik says, “Had I known that my vehicle emits such a lot of greenhouse gases, I would have changed my decision.” But how would he know? Is there really a way for vehicle owners to gauge the emissions from the…

 போக்குவரத்து காவல் துறை Vs குடிமக்கள் : பொறுப்பு மற்றும் உரிமை சமீபத்தில் போக்குவரத்து காவல் அதிகாரி லஞ்சம் கேட்டு ஒரு இளைஞரை அடித்த சம்பவம் சமூக வலைத்தளத்தில் பரவலாக பகிரப்பட்டு அதன் தொடர்ச்சியாக காவல்துறை ஆணையர் பாதிக்கப்பட்டவரை சந்தித்து ஆறுதல் கூறியது அனைவரும் அறிந்ததே.   போக்குவரத்து அதிகாரிகளுக்கும் ஓட்டுனர்களுக்கும் நடக்கும் இது போல சம்பவங்கள் புதிதல்ல. இதற்கு முன் வலை பதிவில் உலா வந்த வீடியோ ஒன்று, தலைகவசம் அணியாததற்காக காவல் துறை ஒன்று நபரை அடித்து உதைத்த விதத்தை சுட்டி காட்டியது. இது போன்ற தருணத்தை எவ்வாறு எதிர்கொள்ள வேண்டும் என்பதையும், நம் உரிமை மற்றும் பொறுப்பு ஆகியவற்றை அறிந்து கொள்வதன் மூலம் மேலும் இந்த நிகழ்வுகளை இனியும் நடக்காமல் தடுக்க முடியும். என்ன செய்ய வேண்டும்: சரியான அதிகாரியால் தான் நீங்கள் நிறுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளீர்களா என்பதை முதலில் அறிந்து கொள்ளுங்கள். அதிகாரிகள் சீருடையில் இருப்பதோடு அவர்களின் பெயர்…

Urban floods: Will urban affairs ministry take charge? Given the spate of flooding incidents in Indian cities and towns in the recent past, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is reportedly planning to involve the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) to spell out ways in which the ministry can act to prevent and mitigate the impacts of urban floods. In 2010 an expert panel of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had issued guidelines on management of urban flooding, and had recommended the establishment of an urban flooding unit under the ministry of urban affairs, headed by…

37 Chennai areas listed as highly vulnerable to north east monsoon With the onset of the north east monsoon expected soon, the Tamil Nadu Government has identified 321 areas across 14 districts of the State as 'highly vulnerable', out of which 37 are in Chennai. Water stagnation in these areas are expected to be above 5 feet. Other districts with a concentration of highly vulnerable areas are Kancheepuram (84), the Nilgiris (68), Cuddalore (37), Thiruvallur (29), Kanyakumari (22) and Nagapattinam (21). According to the report cited above, there are 3,055 vulnerable locations in all in the 14 districts, out of which 306…