Civic

Find in-depth articles on common issues affecting daily life in our cities, and related to community responses and action around these issues. The articles provide insights into the complexities of managing and improving urban livability and citizen engagement.

City prepares for the third wave With the third wave of the pandemic being predicted, the civic body has set a target to vaccinate 8 lakh persons with comorbidities.  After holding a meeting with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the civic body has decided to focus on vulnerable population with comorbidities and tuberculosis patients and pregnant mothers. The corporation has collected data about vulnerable residents and would help them get all assistance at the divisional level.  In view of the third wave, the civic body also plans to start increasing ICU beds and other infrastructure. Additionally, in a…

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Permanent road closure in south Mumbai The traffic police has announced to "All vehicular traffic plying from Eastern Freeway's down ramp and MbPT Road via Wadala going towards P D'Mello Road as well as all vehicular traffic plying from Wadi Bunder Junction, P D'Mello Road, going towards Wadala via MbPT Road under the Freeway at Orange Gate Junction is permanently closed". The closure comes as a consequence of construction and development that Mumbai Port is undertaking on Marina Bay. In the notification issued on July 8, Pravinkumar Padwal, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) said that to prevent any danger, acting…

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BBMP to reduce govt-quota COVID beds BBMP has decided to reduce the number of government-quota COVID beds to about 1,800, due to the decrease in demand. Some of the CCCs (COVID Care Centres) have been closed. However, the civic body is keeping the city's health infrastructure ready for a possible third wave, BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said. According to BBMP's data, of the 6,446 government quota beds available, over 6,000 were unoccupied as of Thursday. However, the COVID second wave is not over yet, according to sources from the Karnataka’s Technical Advisory Committee. According to them, the next six…

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Centre warns tourist cities In the light of the expected third wave of COVID-19, health experts have raised red flags over images images of tourists, flouting all COVID Appropriate Behaviour norms, flocking to Manali and Kempty Falls in Mussoorie. Himachal and Uttarakhand relaxed curbs on movement resulting in cities like Shimla, Mussoorie, Nainital and Haridwar witnessing a surge in tourist influx from nearby states. "Infection has always spread faster in crowded areas," said Dr. V.K. Paul, member, Niti Aayog and the COVID-19 Task Force. "Tourism should be there, but if we are irresponsible and don't follow COVID-appropriate behavior, the virus…

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Conservancy workers stage protest, demand regulating their jobs Conservancy workers hired on contract through the National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) organised a demonstration in Ambattur demanding regularisation of their jobs. As their contract is set to end by mid-July, the conservancy workers sought immediate intervention from the state government.  According to the worker’s union, Uzhaippor Urimai Iyakkam (UUI), in an ongoing case, the Madras High Court had ordered the civic body to not discontinue their contract for three months. With the three-month timeframe having already expired, the workers are concerned about their livelihoods as the legal hearing has not taken…

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72% COVID patients have new variants About 71.7% of 1,018 patients in the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) and Bengaluru Urban district limits had the latest variants of SARS-CoV-2. Out of the 2,774 samples received for genomic sequencing, 1,738 were processed. This includes 525 patients with the Delta variant, 116 with Kappa, 88 with Alpha, and one with Delta Plus. In all, 730 patients have the new variants. A member of the state genomic surveillance committee said that the BBMP should be acting on the data. Quick tracing is crucial. It is important to check if patients with the Delta…

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Translated by Sandhya Raju அரசு தலைமை மாற்றம் பல மாற்றங்களையுயும் அதனுடன் கொண்டு வருகிறது. 90-ம் ஆண்டு மத்தியில் ஐடி புரட்சி பெருமளவில் நிகழ்ந்தாலும், மெட்ராஸ் என்று அப்போது அழைக்கப்பட்ட தமிழகத்தின் தலைநகரமான சென்னை, அதற்குறிய பொலிவை பெற்றிருக்கவில்லை. இந்தியாவின் பிற தலைநகரங்கள் மற்றும் மெட்ரோ நகரங்களை ஒப்பிடுகையில் சென்னை பின் தங்கியிருந்தது. மே 1990 நடைபெற்ற தேர்தலில் வெற்றி பெற்ற பின்னர், அப்போதைய முதல்வர் எம் கருணாநிதி, நகரத்திற்கு சென்னை என பெயர் மாற்றி, "சிங்கார சென்னை" என்ற பெயரில் பல திட்டங்களை அறிவித்தார். சிங்காரம் என்ற சொல்லுக்கு தமிழில் அழகான / அலங்கார / அழகுபடுத்தப்பட்ட என்று பொருள். நகரத்தை அழகுபடுத்துவதோடு, சாலைகளில் குவிந்த குப்பைகளை அகற்றுவது, போக்குரவத்தையும் சீராக்கும் திட்டத்தை அடக்கி இந்த திட்டம் உருவாக்கப்பட்டது. நகரத்தை வாழக்கூடியதாகவும் பயண நட்பாகவும் மாற்ற, இது தான் முதல் படி. முந்தைய மெகா திட்டங்கள் 1990-ம் ஆண்டு…

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After years of preparation and drafting, the union government has finally given the green light to a Model Tenancy Act (MTA) 2021, which aims to make rent laws more equitable for landlord and tenant, and smoothen the processing of renting a home. Such an act had become necessary to achieve the target of constructing 20 million houses for the urban poor by 2022 under the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana. The 2011 census had recorded a total of 246.69 million households, of which 68% were rural and 32% urban, leaving 63.67 million urban and rural families without adequate housing. In India,…

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Nine European Union countries approve Covishield In a positive development, nine European Union (EU) countries – Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Spain, Estonia and Switzerland – have granted approval to Serum Institute of India’s (SII) Covishield. This will allow people with Covishield certificates to apply for a “green pass”, allowing hassle free travel between these countries. The European Medicines Agency (EMA), EU's top medical body, has approved only four vaccines so far: Pfizer-BioNTech's Comirnaty, Moderna's Covid vaccine, AstraZeneca shot manufactured and sold in Europe as Vaxzervria, and Johnson & Johnson's Janssen. Covaxin by Bharat Biotech is still not on…

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Post-COVID care centre at Guindy hospital To cater to the needs of those dealing with post-COVID issues, the state government has set up a post-COVID care clinic at the Government Corona Hospital in Guindy. Some of the services offered by the clinic are general medicine, cardiology, neurology, nephrology, gastroenterology, ENT, ophthalmology, diabetology, chest medicine and psychiatry. An ENT specialist has also been stationed to screen patients for any signs of mucormycosis. A 100-bed pediatric COVID ward and a 40-bedded intensive care unit has also been inaugurated at Stanley Medical College & Hospital’s Institute of Social Paediatrics in order to deal…

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