Civic

Highest temperature in eight years The city's maximum temperature this month, so far, has been 37.6 degrees Celsius on April 2nd, which is the highest in the past eight years and third highest in the last 15 years. A Prasad, senior scientist from India Meteorological Department (IMD), says that the El Nino effect shows a decreased index of 1.1 from last year's 1.5. Though the city shows a steady rise in temperatures, the IMD predicts some rainfall in the second week of April, along with some pre-monsoon showers on April 12th and April 13th, with 61.7 mm. The IMD predicts…

Cleanup Marshals are back in Mumbai “The Cleanup Marshal” scheme has been reintroduced by the BMC from 2nd April after a gap of two years. The scheme has been launched on a pilot basis in the A Ward. The marshals are now equipped with a mobile app via which they can issue penalty receipts to people caught littering. When launched earlier, there were complaints that the marshals were not issuing receipts and were carrying out extortion of tourists: the reason why the scheme was discontinued by the BMC in 2011. This system does away with physical receipts. Penalties can also…

Olive Ridley turtles released at Besant Nagar beach in Chennai The cute little creatures making their way through the sand and into the sea along the Chennai coast is a beautiful sight to watch for beach goers. Forest Department officials released around 10,000 newborn Olive Ridley turtles into the sea at the Besant Nagar beach on Monday. The Tamil Nadu coast is an important nesting site for these turtles. According to the Forest Department, nesting of the Olive Ridley turtles had been adversely affected following the Cyclone Michaung, which lashed the Chennai coast in December last year. But this year,…

Action against cholera outbreak A 27-year-old woman was tested for cholera, when she showed symptoms such as diarrhoea and vomiting. Her doctor informed the nearest primary health centre. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) took measures for surveillance and a health team visited 165 houses around her residence. Some awareness campaigns were created about transmission of the disease, importance of hygiene and using clean water. But they did not find symptoms of cholera in the 165 households.  As health officers and medical officers have been told to form Assembly Constituency/Zone Level Rapid Response Teams to deal with any cholera outbreak,…

Manual scavenging deaths Three labourers died when they fell into a 15-foot underground drain when they were cleaning the sewer chamber of a public toilet on Thursday. The incident occurred at Malwani Gate number 8 at Abdul Hameed Road in Ambujwadi in Malad. The men who died were 18-year old Suraj Kevat, his brother, 20-year old Bikas Kevat, and their father, 45-year old Ramlagan Kevat. According to a senior BMC official, one of them fell into the sewer chamber while cleaning the toilet and the other two men jumped in to save him. All three were pulled out by locals,…

Lok Sabha elections: GCC chooses 21 disability ambassadors to promote accessible elections In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has chosen persons with disabilities (PwDs) as ambassadors for the 21 disability categories to ensure accessible elections. The problems faced by PwDs were highlighted by the ambassadors during the training programme conducted for the polling officers in Chennai. Accordingly, the GCC has also planned to ferry the PwDs to polling stations through a mobile van service. As part of the voting exercise, the GCC has planned to take the mobile vans with a model electronic voting machine to the…

Did air quality improve in 2023? The air quality in the city improved last year, shows the ‘World Air Quality’ report. The average PM2.5 value was 28.6 micrograms per cubic metre as against 31.5 micrograms per cubic metre in 2022 - better than since 2018. The report has ranked the city as the third most polluted in India and 673rd among 7,812 global cities. However, it is proven to be less polluted than many other metropolitan cities, including Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata. However, experts said that the improved air quality is due to climatic changes, such as the El Nino…

On Saturday, March 23rd, Oorvani Foundation hosted the first ever edition of the India Civic Summit, an annual event envisioned as a unique convening of people working in the urban civic space. The Summit provided a platform for them to come together to learn, get inspired and celebrate their journeys. In today’s time, where our cities face such overwhelming challenges — from traffic to water scarcity, from safety issues to vanishing commons and ecosystems — the need for citizen engagement is higher than ever. And that’s one of the reasons that the efforts and stories of the initiatives being undertaken…

Valmiki Nagar is a compact and beautiful residential colony in Thiruvanmiyur, comprising four Seaward Roads that run East-West and Balakrishnan Road running North-South that bisects them. The quality of the roads in Valmiki Nagar, re-laid over 10 years ago, has deteriorated over the years, with large patches of exposed areas, loose stones and so on. The volunteers (me being one of them) of the Valmiki Nagar Residents Association took up the request for relaying of roads with the councillor of Ward 180 and Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) Assistant Engineer (AE). Here is how the road laying went — Pre-approval phase…

Limits on using water The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has drawn up some guidelines to celebrate Holi on March 25th. While the festival can be followed in households or in public, potable water for any such event cannot be used. A rain or pool dance should not be organised for monetary gains and Cauvery or borewell water should not be leveraged for the event, said BWSSB Chairman, V. Ramprasath Manohar. However, several hotels are selling tickets for pool parties. Meanwhile, it is mandatory for bulk water users to install flow restrictors or aerators by the end of…