Civic

Egmore railway station to get a makeover Under the Prime Minister's Gati Shakti-National Master Plan for Multi-modal Connectivity, the Egmore railway station will be revamped to international standards. DEC Infrastructure and Projects is the contractor who will take up the redevelopment project. The project will take a year and a half, and will cost Rs 734 crore. The second-biggest station in Chennai will have various amenities like lounges, food courts and multi-level car parking spaces among other things. The platform of the station will also be redone. Since the station is a heritage structure, the work will proceed after a…

Section 144 in force from Nov 1st to 15th in Mumbai The Mumbai Police has issued several prohibitory orders, including Section 144, for the city between November 1st and 15th. As per the orders, gatherings of five or more people, processions, protests, loud speakers, bands, firecrackers, etc have been banned. Exhibiting or publishing any material leading to danger, governmental or moral trouble is also outlawed. The display and possession of weapons, arms and ammunition is also banned under a separate order from November 3rd to December 2nd. The restrictions are in response to information about the disturbance of peace, law…

Statue of Prosperity to be unveiled The 108-feet bronze statue of Kempegowda, the founder of Bengaluru, will be unveiled at the Bengaluru International Airport, Devanahalli, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 11th. It will be called the 'Statue of Prosperity' to symbolise the progress of the city under the vision of its founder, Kempegowda. On October 21th, as part of the Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Campaign, vehicles were flagged off from Vidhan Soudha’s grand steps to collect sacred soil and water from the 31 districts of the state. The sacred soil and water will be integrated with the Kempegowda Theme Park…

Flooded buildings and inundated neighbourhoods have become more commonplace in the last few years. In addition, residents have to deal with seepage, weakening foundations, damp basements and soil damage, not to mention potholed roads and footpaths.  With climate change, rainfall is only going to get more intense. How do we fix rain-related problems and prevent further issues in our homes, apartment complexes and layouts? What issues are you facing? What do you need to know to get the problem solved? Citizen Matters, Bengaluru will host a panel of experts to address your questions and doubts on November 4th (Friday), 6…

Today more than half of Chennai has been dug up for the laying of new stormwater drains (SWD) network to ensure that the city doesn’t get flooded again. But the problem doesn’t end with just laying the drains but in ensuring that they actually serve the purpose for which they are being laid. The Raja Street RWA and Poonga View RWA stepped up to monitor the Mandaveli SWD work thereby avoiding issues around flooding at the time when the rains arrive. Yearly auditing process of Mandaveli SWD Clean entry points for the water on the roads to enter them, proper…

Almost all of us have fond memories of visiting a zoo and seeing a zebra or giraffe for the first time. The pleasure and knowledge children derive from a visit to the zoo cannot be overstated. It is, therefore, essential to run zoos in a manner that balances the interests of the animals along with the comfort and convenience of the visitor. Some of the main challenges zoos face across the globe are lack of space, social stress, managing visitors, and maintaining the health of their animals. Besides food poisoning, zoo animals also suffer due to animal-human conflict and lack…

Residents need street vendors in Chennai, to buy fruits, vegetables, and even small ornaments or jewellery. The latter need residents to buy their wares because that's how they make both ends meet. On the face of it, residents and vendors share a symbiotic relationship in Chennai. But conflicts between these two groups seem to erode their relationship, undermining the chance of peaceful co-existence and creating a contentious issue out of street vending in principle.  Vendors claim that evictions could affect their livelihoods. Residents claim that the latter occupy footpaths and improperly dump waste, among other issues.  Citizen Matters organised a panel…

Mumbai's suburban railway network, also known as the ‘local train’, is famous across the country for its robust network. While it connects the entire city, its expansion has also added pressure to existing infrastructure. Overcrowded trains and station platforms are a common sight, especially at busy stations like Dadar, Kurla and Thane. Trains on average carry 2.6 times more than the official capacity carrying 7.5 million passengers every day. When it comes to railway station infrastructure, safety, hygiene and accessibility become paramount for women and children who use trains regularly. Railway toilets form an important part of this infrastructure. Read more: Mumbai’s…

Mumbai at a severe risk of plastic pollution A new study led by a researcher at Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) concludes that out of the total 496 cities in India, Mumbai is at more ‘severe risk’ of plastic pollution from landfills. The peer-reviewed study—‘Risk of plastics losses to the environment from Indian landfills'—states that the danger of pollution is high because of factors like wind, rain and floods, which leads to Mumbai’s waste dumps being “leaky”. Other ‘severe’ risk level cities included Kolkata and Chennai, and followed by Delhi. The study also notes that the COVID-19 pandemic increased plastic…

4,200 special buses to be operated for Diwali weekend Since more than 10 lakh people are expected to leave Chennai over the weekend to celebrate Diwali in their hometowns, Transport Minister SS Sivasankar has said that 4,200 special buses would be operated to ensure hassle-free travel. This is in addition to the regular bus operations from Koyambedu, Tambaram, KK Nagar and Poonamallee. While over 1 lakh people have booked online tickets in government buses so far, 2.2 lakh people have booked tickets to travel in trains from Egmore and Central Railway Stations. Further, one lakh people are expected to take…