Civic

Over the past two decades there has been much political posturing about turning various Indian cities into a ‘Singapore or Shanghai’. While we may have mimicked the glass and steel façade buildings, airports and some freeways, why is it that we have not been able to mimic the public realm and walkability aspects of these and other cities? Is it the municipal bodies and politicians who are responsible for the sorry state of pedestrian infrastructure and the public realm? Or do we, as a society, hold pedestrians in disdain?  Providing a great walking experience is one of the easiest (and…

Civic body to revise company tax The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has plans to revise company tax by at least three times the present figures. The revision will come into effect in the second half of this fiscal year. This move has been made with a view to improving the civic body’s finances and revising tax rates that have remained unchanged over many years. Earlier the civic body had revised property tax rates in the city.  With the revision, companies that have an investment less than a lakh will now pay Rs 300 as company tax. Those with investments less…

Private aircraft skids and crashes during landing, injuring 8 Eight people including the pilot and co-pilot were injured after a private aircraft veered off the runway at the Mumbai airport and crashed on Thursday evening around 5.45 pm. “VSR Ventures Learjet 45 aircraft VT-DBL operating flight from Vizag to Mumbai was involved in runway excursion (veer off) while landing on runway 27 at Mumbai airport. There were 06 passengers and 02 crew members on board. Visibility was 700 meters with heavy rain," the directorate general of civil aviation said in a statement. The eight passengers were admitted to the Criticare…

BWSSB: Set aside city's share of Cauvery waters The level in the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) reservoir has come down due to low rainfall this year. However, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) Chairperson N Jayaram, on September 8th, wrote to Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Limited (CNNL) requesting to keep aside the city's share of water in Kabini and KRS reservoirs. The sharing was asked to be done on a 'priority' basis reserve'. BWSSB, which supplies Cauvery water to almost 70-80% of the 1.3 crore population in various phases, sources the required Cauvery water from Shiva anicut in Malavalli…

The whole of North Chennai will be the subject of a survey to identify gaps in infrastructure. This is part of the Rs 1,000 crore Vada Chennai Valarchi Thittam announced by the Chief Minister for the equitable development of the city. As many as 1,000 (some reports have it as 500) volunteers from city colleges have been roped in to conduct the survey, which it is said will cover the social, economic, and psychological aspects of life in that part of the city. As per a press release of the Greater Chennai Corporation, the survey will cover Tiruvottiyur, Manali, Madhavaram,…

Projects for clean air to be launched in Chennai The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) will initiate a slew of schemes to improve air quality in the city. The projects in the pipeline include mechanised cleaning of polluted roads, robust policy for non-motorised transport and revamping of on-street parking in the city. The civic body will also look to create more dedicated cycle tracks across the city.  A city-based NGO also submitted a memorandum to the civic body on the efforts to clean up the air in the city. The memorandum called for the shelving of some of the projects of…

Completion of the Gokhale bridge delayed again The Gokhale bridge, which was supposed to get ready before Diwali this year, will take more time. During the assembling of the girders that came from Ambala last month, it was found that the place for the cranes to move in the area was not sufficient. So, 28 structures affecting the movement of the crane and the pace of work, were demolished. Of these 13 were residential structures and 15 commercial.  According to civic officials, 30 days are needed to assemble the girder and another 15 days to launch it and push towards…

BBMP works held up About 25.2 mms of rainfall on September 5th flooded roads and homes, uprooted trees and caused traffic jams. The maximum impact was seen in areas where Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewage Board (BWSSB) are undertaking civil works.  Even after 100 days in office, Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister DK Shivakumar is accused of holding up civic projects with incomplete works on roads, primary drains and lakes. Only the Congress-represented assembly segments have completed some work, while the BJP-ruled constituencies remain inactive. Initially, the contractors had halted work, protesting…

கருப்பான மற்றும் துர்நாற்றமான தேங்கி நிற்கும் நீர் - ஒரு காலத்தில் நகரின் குறிப்பிடத்தக்க நன்னீர் கால்வாய்களில் ஒன்றாக இருந்த மாம்பலம் கால்வாயைத் தேடிச் செல்லும்போது இதுவே காணப்படுகிறது.  நான்கு தசாப்தங்களுக்கு முன்பு இருந்த நுங்கம்பாக்கம் குளம் மற்றும் மாம்பலம் குளம் ஆகிய இரண்டு பெரிய தொட்டிகளில் இருந்து உபரி நீரை எடுத்துச் செல்லும் இந்த கால்வாய் அதன் உச்சக்கட்டத்தில் இருந்தது. நகரமயமாக்கல் காரணமாக, இந்த குளங்களின் நீர்ப்பிடிப்பு பகுதி முழுவதும் தற்போது குடியிருப்பு மற்றும் வணிக நிறுவனங்கள் உள்ளன.  அசல் கால்வாய் செல்லும் பாதை வள்ளுவர் கோட்டம் அருகே தொடங்கி தி நகர் மற்றும் சிஐடி நகர் வழியாக நந்தனம் கோல்ஃப் மைதானத்திற்கு அருகே அடையாறு ஆற்றில் வடிகால் செல்கிறது. மாம்பலம் கால்வாயை அதன் தோற்றம் முதல் இறுதி வரை கண்டறியும் முயற்சியில், அதன் சில பகுதிகளை மட்டுமே கண்டுபிடிக்க முடிந்தது.  கால்வாயின் பழைய படங்கள் அனைத்தும் உள்ளூர் மக்களின்…

Battered roads have become the new norm across the city of Chennai. Roads that were resurfaced over a couple of months ago are now ridden with potholes and craters. At every 10 to 50 metres, commuters are bound to stumble upon a road cut or a pothole or speed breaker or a manhole cover which is at least four to six inches higher than the surface of the road.  The reasons stated for poor roads have been that there is ongoing development work such as the construction of the metro rail or the creation of stormwater drains. As a result of…