Civic

Any regular Twitter user over the past couple of years can attest to the popularity of the Twitter accounts of the Bengaluru and Mumbai police. By using the language of the people, through topical memes and witty quips, the police of two of India’s major cities have revamped their image to exude friendliness and increase accessibility. By leveraging the power of social media, these cities have led the way in adopting a new model of interacting with their citizens and addressing complaints and queries real time. Fake message is floating on Whatsapp regarding this number as BCP’s Women Helpline. The…

Most of the city’s minor canals are choked with plastic The city's minor waterways, meant to carry rainwater, have become sewage feeder canals that convey domestic sewage into Adyar and Cooum. Indiscriminate garbage dumping by residents and alleged diversion of untreated sewage by Metrowater have contributed to the mess since the waterways were cleaned up last year. Chennai Corporation, which maintains the waterways, is set to complete desilting the canals before the northeast monsoon begins in October. Source: Times of India Road relaying work to begin on 2000 stretches across Chennai The Greater Chennai Corporation has received a go-ahead to relay roads…

At a time when cities across India are rapidly losing green cover, Naya Raipur, the administrative capital of Chhattisgarh, stands out in its endeavour to ensure that the city has adequate greenery. The Naya Raipur Development Authority (NRDA) was established with the aim of creating a greenfield city with parks, botanical garden and a jungle safari. Naya Raipur's greening efforts aim to make it a model city with the target of 27% green cover under the Harihar Chhattisgarh mission. The 25-year development plan for the city envisions a 500-meter wide green belt of an area of 15.09 square kilometers surrounding the…

Nemilichery lake, which once was a lifeline to the farmers in Pallavaram, is slowly being destroyed. With unabated encroachment and illegal dumping of unsegregated waste, the lake is dry and its bed is completely covered with plastic. In order to save the lake for the next generation, volunteers from various organisations and business entities took up the cleaning work on 10 June. “More than 250 volunteers from Federation of Civic and Welfare Associations of Pallavaram, environmental organisation Pasumai Iyakkam and Parvathy Hospital took part in the clean up,” said V Santhanam, a noted civic activist. Years of exploitation by the…

A stretch of the old, dilapidated compound wall of the Corporation School in Thiruveedhi Amman Koil Street of RA Puram grabbed the attention of a residents welfare association recently. To give a new lease of colour to the wall, Thiruveedhi Amman Koil Street Resident Welfare Association (TAKSRA), in association with an organisation called Karam Korpom-SAPS (Stop Abusing Public Spaces) started work two days before World Environment Day. SAPS focuses on preventing the abuse of public spaces by transforming them into beautiful art corners. K L Balasubramanian and M K Ramkumar, active members of TAKSRA, led a group of about 30 volunteers to…

It has been a war between the animal lovers and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in the last few days as the Palike proposed to limit the number of dogs that could be owned in residences. From online petitions to flooding the offices of the Animal Husbandry Department with letters and objections, pet lovers went on an overdrive to stop the administration on their tracks. #NotWithoutMyDog started appearing on social media, while people objected to not letting one person have more than one dog in apartments. The Palike has proposed among other things microchipping for the animals, penalty for not…

Is Chennai ready for  the monsoon? A short spell this week brought much cheer to the people of Chennai, but near immediate reports of water stagnation and potholes on many roads, raises this important question - Is Chennai ready for the monsoon?  A funds crunch has delayed the consturction of storm water drains under the Integrated Storm Water Drain (ISWD) project, by over 12 months, and last week, the state's request from funding was rejected by the Central government. ISWD was mooted by the former CM J Jayalalithaa in 2014 to reduce the impact of floods. Estimated to cost `4,034…

What is a Master Plan? Many of us complain that Chennai has grown ‘unplanned’. Technically that is not true. Chennai has been having various ‘plans’ guiding the expansion of the city since 1957. The First Master Plan for Chennai was published in 1975. Both the transport terminal and  wholesale market from Central Business District were shifted to the current CMBT and Koyambedu Market as a strategy to decongest the Central Business District then. So the master plan matters. The Second Master Plan was published in 2008 - this plan is a guiding document till 2026, another 8 years from now.…

Metro Rail to ensure last mile connectivity For any mass rapid system to succeed, it needs to ensure last mile connectivity, and  Chennai Metro Rail (CMRL) is very aware of this fact. In a few months from now, CMRL  will run share autos along its network, and will soon call for tenders. “We plan to give a contract to the lowest bidding firm, to ply share autos to stations along our elevated and underground stretches. It will most likely be Tata Magic vans that would be operated through our network,” an official said Meanwhile, Metro has seen a dip in…

Citizen Matters in the past has explained how khata can be transferred without paying bribe. This post explains the experience of khata bifurcation/transfer done for a newly built apartment by a few of the residents, after following old examples. March 2017: We initially heard that Khata transfer can’t be done without paying bribe. Many of the fellow owners of the apartments were under the same impression. Initially around 15-18 owners got it done with the help of builder by paying huge amount of bribe. Their khata was done in 2 months only. We, the rest of the owners, thought we…