Civic

Translated by Sandhya Raju சைக்கிள் ஓட்டும் பழக்கம் சமீப காலமாக அதிகரித்துள்ளது. கொரோனா தொற்று காலத்தில் மேலும் பலரை ஊக்கப்படுத்தியுள்ளது. சைக்கிள் ஓட்டுனர்களுக்கு பாதுகாப்பை உறுதிப்படுத்த, பிரத்யேக சைக்கிள் ஓட்டும் பாதைகள் நகரின் சில பகுதிகளில் சோதனை முறையில் செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளன. இது எதிர்காலத்திற்கு உதவும் என்றாலும், சைக்கிள் ஓட்டுதலை பரவலாக ஊக்கப்படுத்த மேலும் பல நடவடிக்கைகள் தேவை. ECR-இல் சைக்கிள் பாதை மகிச்சியான தெருக்களுக்கான பரிந்துரை - தெருக்களில் தேவயற்ற நடவடிக்களுகு தடை - சைக்கிள் ஓட்டுனர்களிடமிருந்து பெறப்பட்ட இந்த கோரிக்கைகள் வெற்றிக்கரமாக பெசன்ட் நகரில் அமல்படுத்தப்பட்டது. ECR-இல் சைக்கிள் பாதை அமைக்க இது உந்துதலாக அமைந்ததா என தெரியவில்லை, ஆனால் காவல்துறையிடமிருந்து இதற்காக அழைப்பு வந்த்து. இந்த சிந்தனையை முன்னெடுத்து, சென்னையில் சைக்கிள் ஓட்டுதலை ஆணையர் சங்கர் ஊக்கப்படுத்துகிறார். சைக்கிள் ரோந்து படை மூலம் மேலும் இதை ஊக்கப்படுத்த திட்டமிட்டுள்ளார். காவல்துறை மற்றும் பொதுமக்களை சைக்கிள் ஓட்ட மேலும்…

Guidelines for school reopening The Ministry of Education on February 3rd released guidelines for the reopening of schools across India. "We share these guidelines, which are advisory in nature, and states are free to make their own guidelines accordingly. These guidelines contain all SoPs for attending classes. Students can opt for online education," said the Education Ministry. Currently, 98.85% of teaching staff and 99.07% of non-teaching staff in central institutions have all been vaccinated. Social distancing and sanitation measures have been mandated to ensure safe physical schooling. Source: India Today Union Budget 2022-23: Key highlights Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on…

Night curfew lifted, other restrictions remain City police commissioner Kamal Pant issued orders withdrawing the night curfew, on Monday. But the prohibition on rallies, dharnas and congregations will remain. Three hundred guests in open places and 200 in closed places will be permitted at marriage functions. Fifty per cent occupancy will be allowed in cinema halls, auditoriums, swimming pools, gyms, sports complexes and stadia. The order will remain in force till 5 am on February 15. Those violating the order will be booked under the Disaster Management Act, IPC Section 188, and under Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act. Source: Deccan Herald…

Urban local body poll preparations underway Preparations are underway for the urban local body polls that are set to take place on February 19th. Counting for the same will happen on February 22nd. The Greater Chennai Corporation is working with the Chennai Police to identify sensitive polling booths and beef up security. A total of 1243 sensitive polling booths across 200 wards has been identified. Proceedings from these booths will be live streamed on the day of the elections. Additional monitoring will be carried out by banking staff roped in for this purpose. A total of 18000 police personnel will…

Mumbai Coastal Road project given priority in 2022-23 budget In the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)'s 2021-22 budget for Mumbai, Rs 3500 crore was allocated to the Coastal Road project, 50% of which has been completed. For the financial year 2022-23, Rs 3200 crore has been allocated for a 90% completion of it. The base construction cost of the project is 8,429.44 crore, and Rs 12,950 crore including taxes, supervision charges, consultancy charges and others. A total of Rs 22,647 crore has been allocated for capital expenditure for spending on projects dealing with infrastructure, drainage systems and water supply. Source: Mid…

Can the government modify or usurp public spaces as to wishes to? Or should it be the people's decision? This question has been the crux of the multitude of protests to protect Cubbon Park since the 1990s. The park, which spread across 300 acres at one point, was portioned for government buildings along with some private ones over the years. As per a state government notification of 2015, after excluding the land used up for various establishments, the park area now stands at 197 acres. The Karnataka Government Parks (Preservation) Act, 1975, mandates the government to maintain parks as horticultural…

After over a decade, elections to the council of the Greater Chennai Corporation have been announced. As the city authorities waited for the dates to be announced, work to resurface the pothole-ridden roads of Chennai was taken up in different parts of the city. This starts with milling, a process in which a portion of the surface on the top of the road is removed with the help of a milling machine before it is resurfaced in accordance with the guidelines specified by the High Court of Madras. Given our bad experience in the past, members of the local residents’…

Omicron cases start to plateau Since the beginning of the Omicron surge in India in late December 2020, the trajectory of this third wave seems to have now begun to recede. Since January 20th, daily cases have shown a declining trend, with the country registering 233,779 new cases on January 28th. One consoling aspect of this third wave has been the reduced need for hospitalisation and the resultant reduced burden on the public health infrastructure. Experts, however, continue to emphasise the need for caution and strict enforcement of COVID appropriate behaviour, especially wearing of masks. Even as many states start…

COVID cases dipping  Bengaluru continues to report a dip in COVID cases. On January 26th, the State Health Department reported 38,083 fresh cases, of which 17,717 were in Bengaluru. The city had 1,89,853 active cases, and test positivity rate of around 22% on the day. Health minister K Sudhakar said 185 new Omicron cases have been confirmed in Bengaluru, taking the tally of the variant in the State to 1,115. BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta directed officials to control the spread of infection in areas with higher numbers of cases. “Case trend over the past week across all the eight…

89% COVID-19 samples from Mumbai show presence of Omicron From 280 samples sequenced at civic-run Kasturba Gandhi Hospital, Mumbai, 89% had the Omicron variant of COVID-19. 8% had Delta derivatives, and the remaining 3% had other subtypes. “This explains the reason behind the spike in cases by the end of December last year. As Omicron doesn’t involve the lungs, we are witnessing very few cases of pulmonary pneumonia, which was high in the second wave when Delta variant was predominant in Mumbai,” said Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Source: Indian Express Mumbai's double decker buses to…