Infrastructure | Citizen Matters

Why Bhopal wants its BRTS corridor to be dismantled after spending Rs 329 crore on it

October 31, 2019 Shuriah Niazi

Traffic chaos, commuter inconvenience and alarming accident records — on the face of it, the reasons for the public outcry against Bhopal’s ‘corridor of trouble’ seem aplenty. But does it really call for dismantling of the infrastructure? What do experts say?

How 5000 school kids in Dehradun helped put 550 kilos of plastic waste where it belongs

October 25, 2019 Rishabh Shrivastava

Dehradun Smart City Limited’s innovative and community-centric initiative titled “Plastic Wapsi Abhiyaan” involved almost 20 government schools, engaging more than 5000 students and 100 teachers. Here’s how they did it.

How a small Himalayan town panchayat is showing Shimla the way to effective waste management

October 22, 2019 Ashwani Sharma

Aima panchayat, an urban-rural agglomeration near Palampur, has its own modern garbage treatment park, with the facility to handle all kinds of waste, including plastic. Inspired by it, Shimla has now set up its own waste-to-energy plant, expected to help the capital in sustainable waste management.

How and why revival of Car Free Thursdays could help Hyderabad dispel its traffic nightmare

October 3, 2019 Prashanth Bachu

Traffic in Hyderabad is going from bad to worse, everyday, particularly in the Hitech City-Financial District area, where traffic speeds on a regular day often fall to 12-15 km/hour! Here’s an option that could help ease the situation effectively.

Many problems, one humble solution, yet Indian cities continue to ignore that

October 1, 2019 Dattatraya T Devare

Lessons learnt globally point to the many benefits of cycling — whether in terms of health, reduced congestion or even greater equality. Yet, whether in Kolkata, Bangalore or Pune, a sustained thrust to promote cycling in our cities is clearly missing.

What cities pushing for bicycle sharing must learn from Bhopal’s not-so-smart experiment

September 25, 2019 Shuriah Niazi

Two years back, Bhopal’s automated bicycle sharing programme was launched amid much fanfare as one of its smart city projects. However, the scheme has seen lukewarm response at best and the factors behind this need careful attention.

City of freebies: Promises that the Delhi government must deliver on

September 19, 2019 Sri Krishna

Water, electricity, wifi, bus rides for women — promises of free or heavily subsidised services for the citizens of Delhi flow freely and frequently from the AAP government. We take a look at the details of some recent announcements and where they stand.

Heavy rain, dams full to the brim, yet Pune citizens have to rely on costly tanker water

September 13, 2019 Ekta Joshi

Citizens fail to understand why, even with abundant rains and a flooded city, their daily needs for water are not met and the municipal corporation has to implement water cuts in so many areas. Here’s a look at the real reasons.

Why Smart City projects may not be enough to hold back Jalandhar’s youth

September 5, 2019 Ayona Datta

For the older generation, many of them tradesmen, smart city is about a lot more than “chowk redevelopment.” For the youth, ‘Jalandhar ka kuch nahi ho sakta’ appears to be the dominant sentiment. The smart citizen they say is one who is successful in his efforts to emigrate.

Mitigating the curse of the car in Indian cities

September 2, 2019 Dattatraya T Devare

On one hand, there is a thirst for bigger and more expensive cars. On the other, there is the state’s inability to provide strong enough disincentives and efficient alternatives. Together these are destroying our cities and our communities slowly but steadily. What is the way out?

Can individual water metering help Indian cities avoid Doomsday?

August 29, 2019 Apekshita Varshney

Is there any scarce resource that we can enjoy for free or for a fixed sum, irrespective of the amounts we consume or use? If that’s not true for anything, why should it be so for water? As Indian cities stand perilously close to running dry, a look at whether water metering can help the cause of conservation

The gaps in public transport that are pushing people towards private vehicles

August 27, 2019 Dattatraya T Devare

Citizens look for mainly three factors when it comes to public transportation: efficiency, accessibility, and affordability. Sadly, Indian cities have been ignoring all three, leading to an explosion of private vehicles on our streets and all the associated problems.

Guwahati’s garbage mess gets worse in the rains, calls for collective action

August 24, 2019 Hriday Ch Sarma

Monsoon has turned the streets of Guwahati into a serious health hazard for citizens, and this is why. Most importantly, the solution now lies as much in the hands of citizens as with city administrators.

Yeh dil maange more: Kolkata, New Town love their e-buses, but more needed for impact

August 22, 2019 Gurvinder Singh

40 electric buses planned for 11 routes in Kolkata were pressed into service earlier this year, while the satellite town of New Town has been successfully running 3 e-buses for more than one year. How have they been faring and what’s in the offing?

Delhi, Mumbai or Bengaluru, our cities treat pedestrians as second class citizens

August 21, 2019 Dattatraya T Devare

In 2018, pedestrians comprised more than 50% fatalities on Mumbai streets; the numbers for Delhi and Bangalore stood at 44% and 40%. Our streets have turned into a battlefield between cars and citizens, and citizens almost always lose.

Where cars are king and pedestrians their slaves

August 17, 2019 Dattatraya T Devare

Thanks to lack of political will and unfortunate US-style aspiration, we have arrived at a sad state of affairs as far as urban mobility is concerned. In this first of a four-part series, the author explains the latent inequality and hierarchy in our city streets.

When crocodiles roamed city streets: The real reason behind Vadodara floods

August 16, 2019 Himanshu Upadhyaya

Yet another city, yet another time. A tale of how callous city administration ignored repeated warnings and saw Vadodara go under water following spells of intense rainfall over a day this monsoon.

Hope anew for Delhi’s Ghazipur landfill as PMO steps in

August 8, 2019 Sri Krishna

Following national and international outcry over East Delhi’s towering Ghazipur dump, the Prime Minister’s Office has issued a Global Request for Proposal (RFP) inviting solutions from experts to the problems posed by the landfill.

‘Peeda’: What urban villagers in Noida claim to have got in return for the lands they gave up

August 3, 2019 Nilotpal Kumar

A team of researchers met villagers and activists engaged in anindefinite dharna at the marble market site in Noida’s Sector 48. Here are the stories that the protesters shared as they explained their anger and grief.

Why Shimla smart city projects worth Rs 2905 crore look destined to fail

August 1, 2019 Ashwani Sharma

53 projects in all are envisaged under the Shimla Smart city mission, all to be completed by 2022. But a severe crunch of funds, coupled with an NGT ban on new construction to arrest haphazard and risky sprawl, makes it all seem unrealistic and unattainable.