Civic

Back to summer heat After a respite from the scorching heat after Mumbai took the honour of being the hottest in the country on Monday (at 39.3 degrees Celsius), expect a very warm weekend. It is likely to reach between 36 and 39 degrees Celcius, which will be accompanied by poor air quality. Strong winds from the east are pushing back the sea breeze. Post-March 12th, the temperature may slightly dip again. Source: The Indian Express Air quality data may be fudged A leading scientist has expressed doubts over the air pollution data from most of the continuous ambient air…

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Viral fever cases among children An increase in hospitalisations, among children, due to viral fever has been reported since December last year. Influenza, including the currently prevalent H3N2 strain, is causing upper respiratory tract infections and body ache. On the other hand, adenovirus is leading to respiratory infections, gastro-enteritis and conjunctivitis, though body ache associated with it is less severe. Fever, cold, sore throat, body pain, vomiting and diarrhoea are probable adenovirus symptoms. However, adenovirus symptoms, which used to earlier resolve in two to three days, are now lasting seven to 10 days, with high-grade fever. The prevalence has been…

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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will be increasing the number of swimming pools in the city this year. It also announced 25 per cent discount for women at four of its existing functional swimming pools to increase the number of female users. The current annual fee for large pools is Rs 10,100 while for the smaller ones, it is Rs 8,000. The monthly fee varies as well, depending on the size of the pool, and ranges between Rs 1,300 to Rs 4,700. While the pools have special slots for women, from 11 am to 12 pm and 5 pm to…

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The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has proposed the reconstruction of some of the flyovers within the city.  A section South Usman Road flyover ramp near Chennai Silks will be demolished and the arm is likely to be extended up to CIT Nagar connecting Anna Salai to T. Nagar, with a bigger 1.2km carriageway.  Similarly, a section of the flyover which links Adyar with Besant Nagar will also be demolished and the foundation pillars will be removed to facilitate the construction of the Metro Rail Twin Tunnels underground.  The flyover will be reconstructed once the CMRL work is completed. In the…

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In October 2021, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s government announced a Rs.6,000 crore grant under the Amrut Nagarothana Scheme for Bengaluru. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was entrusted with undertaking a slew of infrastructural development work across sectors like road infrastructure, lakes, stormwater drains, hospitals, etc.  Ahead of the assembly polls, the state and the BBMP budget allocations focused mainly on the development of physical infrastructure in the form of flyovers, reconstruction of roads, etc. The Amrut Nagarothana Scheme, also known as Mukyamantri Nagarothana or Nagarothana Yojane, was launched to improve infrastructure in the urban local bodies across Karnataka. However,…

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Civic body removes close to 100 hawkers from Wall Tax Road The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has evicted 100 hawkers from the pavements near Chennai Central and Basin Bridge. The civic body has cleared encroachments over a five-kilometre stretch. The area used to have shops selling food, mechanical parts and other goods. Pavements were also encroached upon by parked vehicles. Apart from making it difficult for pedestrians to use footpaths, some of the encroachers were also found to have let out sewage into the recently built stormwater drains. Corporation officials say that they have taken a stronger stance against the…

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Areas in Mumbai's Kurla to experience water cuts every Saturday for 10 days The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will be carrying out works to strengthen water lines at Khairani road in Mumbai's Kurla for 10-days. As a result of this, starting March 5th, there will be a water supply outage in the area every Saturday for a period of 10-days. The BMC will be conducting the necessary works in stages instead of a continuous 10-day water disruption to prevent prolonged inconvenience to the locals. The civic body also advised the residents to boil water every Sunday as a precautionary measure…

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BBMP presents budget The BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) on March 2nd presented its budget of Rs 11,157 crore at Town Hall. Infrastructure projects received 63% allocation, followed by solid waste management that got 14.73%. It is the third time that the BBMP has presented a budget in the absence of a city council. Amid opposition, the civic body also proposed five more flyovers. Pushing for transparency in accounting, the BBMP has created IFMS (Integrated Financial Management System). The BBMP has also earmarked Rs 92 crore to establish 61 primary health centres and allocated Rs 2 crore for the Bangalore Health System…

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Citizen Matters Chennai organised a Citizen Clinic on Fixing Civic Issues in Chennai with a panel of civic activists providing guidance and sharing their experience in engaging with civic authorities. The panel considered questions on issues such as waste management, water supply, parking and drainage and offered suggestions on the steps to be taken to solve these issues. The panel comprised Raghukumar Choodamani, a resident of Perambur and the Founder of Community Welfare Brigade, a civic engagement forum; Sridhar Venkataraman, a resident of Mylapore and a social activist and Vasanthi Kannan, a civic activist and Secretary of the Kodambakkam Residents…

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Viral fever spreads in Chennai With the spread of viruses like Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Adenovirus and Influenza virus in Chennai, many residents continue to fall sick with fever, body ache and sniffles. Officials have said that cases of Dengue and Chikungunya have been lower in comparison to December and January. However, as other viral diseases have been spreading, some patients see a sudden drop in platelet count that requires hospitalisation, while others require rest and antibiotics. Most of the patients continue to have a cough even after ten days after the symptoms of fever subside. As this is not…

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