Civic

Surge in COVID-19 cases The Mumbai Metropolitan Region reported 1,075 new Covid cases on Wednesday—a 55% surge from 693 cases recorded on Tuesday, according to a report by The New Indian Express. Many wondered whether the higher cases are because of resumption of local train services. “The cases have increased but it cannot be attributed to local trains. We have increased the number of testing at airports and other destinations as a result of which the number of cases may increase,” a BMC official told The New Indian Express. Source: The New Indian Express Restrictions on travel from Kerala After…

Pay to park outside your home Parking a vehicle in a public space in the city, including on a residential street, will be charged. That is the norm under Parking Policy 2.0 approved by the Urban Development Department. It will come into effect once the Directorate of Urban Land Transport and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike prepare area parking plans, six months to one year from now. Almost all places including commercial and residential areas will be covered under the pay and park system. The new parking policy introduces a permit system to park outside one's home as well. The annual…

According to some accounts such as this, every year over 200 pedestrians are killed on Hyderabad’s roads on average. This number might seem like a lot, but as someone who walks very often, I was actually expecting it to be quite higher considering the absolute lack of apathy from our civic authorities and even fellow citizens to pedestrian safety.  It is said that everyone is a pedestrian at some point. I don’t know how true that is, because it fails to explain the life-threatening situations our city forces pedestrians to be in almost everywhere. Issues with infrastructure A big part…

On-street parking in 32 spots In a bid to streamline parking management, the civic body rolled out the on-street parking project in Chennai last week. The project has been in trial since 2019 in 32 places and was inaugurated formally in Anna Nagar, T. Nagar and Besant Nagar.  With this project, the civic body has collected Rs 1 lakh a day and has created 9,200 parking lots which can be booked with an application designed to allow users to find vacant spots.  Source: The Hindu | The Times of India Read more: Street parking to be charged soon in city:…

Third national sero survey conducted by ICMR As per the third national sero survey conducted by ICMR, more than 21% of Indians might have had COVID-19. The survey was conducted between 7th December last year to 8th January 2021. The survey highlighted that a large proportion of the public was still at risk of catching the infection. Urban slums showed the highest prevalence of the COVID-19 at 32% followed by urban non-slums at 26%. The survey was conducted across 21 states. Source: NDTV Classes 9 and 11 reopen in Delhi After ten months, school for classes 9 and 11 have…

School teachers as COVID-warriors Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar has requested the Prime Minister and Union Health and Family Welfare Minister to consider school teachers as COVID warriors and ensure that they are vaccinated on priority. He said teachers have worked on the frontlines and also in containment zones. They played a crucial role in preventing the spread of the virus. They even visited households to collect data and create awareness among the public, he said. Source: The Hindu 'Save Turahalli' gets louder Even as environmental groups started a campaign to leave Turahalli forests untouched, people in…

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Unveils Budget  The Mumbai civic body presented an ambitious budget of Rs 39,038.38 crore. BMC has experienced a dip in its revenue due to COVID-19 induced lockdown. But its budget was 16.74% more than last year’s Rs 33,441.02 crore budget. BMC’s capital expenditure is also increased by a whopping 71% at ₹18,750.99 crore. BMC plans to earn through property tax, sewage tax, interests from investments, state grants, among others. Although capital expenditure has gone up by around Rs 5,000 crore, BMC has slashed its garden and parks budget by 50%, Mumbai Mirror reported.  Source: Hindustan Times, Mumbai…

Translated by Sandhya Raju அண்ணாநகரில் வசிக்கும் ஈ செந்தில் அவர்களுக்கு தன் சிறு வயதில் டவர் பார்க் பற்றிய அனுபவம் இன்றும் பசுமையாய் இருக்கிறது. இன்றும் அண்ணாநகரில் வசிக்கும் இவர், பன்னிரெண்டு அடுக்கு கட்டிட டவர் பார்கில் ஏறி இந்த பகுதி முழுவதையும் காண்பது இளம் பருவத்தில் தொலைக்காட்சியை விட சிறந்த அனுபவம் என்கிறார். இவர் நோவா லைஃப் ஸ்பேஸ் பிரைவேட் லிமிடட் எனும் நிறுவனத்தின் நிர்வாக இயக்குனர் ஆவார். குழந்தைகள் டென்னிகாய்ட் விளையாடுவதும், முதியவர்கள் நாட்டு நடப்பை அலசுவதும், நண்பர்கள் ஒன்று கூடி அரட்டை அடிப்பதும், தம்பதிகள் சுவாரஸ்யமாக பொழுதை கழிப்பதும் என அண்ணாநகர் டவர் பார்க் எல்லோருக்குமான ஒரு புத்துணர்ச்சி இடமாக திகழ்கிறது. ஆனால், செந்திலை போல் அவருடைய மகன் இங்கு செல்ல ஆர்வம் காட்டுவதில்லை. சில வருடங்களுக்கு முன், இங்கே ஒரு தற்கொலை சம்பவம் நிகழ்ந்ததை அடுத்து, டவர் மூடியே உள்ளது. பூங்காவில் உள்ள பசுமையான…

NGT slaps local body with Rs 8 lakhs fine The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has slapped the Chitlapakkam Town Panchayat with Rs 8 lakh fine for improper waste management. Taking note of the flouting of Solid Waste Management (SWM) norms, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) formed a committee to conduct a probe and recommend solutions. The body has directed the TNPCB to impose fine.  The under-fire Panchayat was found to have rampantly violated the regulations as bio-medical wastes and domestic wastes were frequently disposed along the roads. The Panchayat stated that the face-off between the self-help group that has…

28.47 lakh beneficiaries vaccinated across the country 13 days into the vaccination drive, more than 29 lakh healthcare workers have been vaccinated in the country. India has identified 3 crore beneficiaries for vaccination under Phase I. The government further plans to vaccinate 30 crore Indians by August 2021. As per the Ministry of Health, India has become the fastest country to administer 20 lakh doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. As on 28th January, India had vaccinated 28,47,608 beneficiaries. India had approved two vaccines — Serum Institute of India’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin — on January 3rd for emergency use…