CITIES
Indore in troubled waters
The recent water contamination crisis in Indore has damaged its reputation as India’s cleanest city. At least 15 deaths are linked to consuming contaminated drinking water in just over two weeks, while local media reported 21 deaths. The laboratory tests confirmed faecal contamination in the municipal water supply, including bacteria
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Delhi gets ready to count dogs on its streets
Every Indian city has a growing population of stray dogs. In fact it’s hard to find a street or a galli without a stray dog loitering in it. Some dogs are friendly, but there are also those who are aggressive and roam around in packs. Municipalities don’t have the money or the
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Delhi dog count rolls on: Paharganj, a mixed bag
t is early in the morning and the usually busy locality of Paharganj in north Delhi is deserted and mostly asleep. There are only dogs up and about and it is clear from their restlessness that they are hungry. Some roam around in packs, without loyalties, like marauders. Others are
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Stray dogs have Srinagar on edge
SRINAGAR is vying to become a smart city so that it can attract tourists and investment. The administration has initiated many development projects too. But one civic issue is haunting civic agencies and residents and casting a shadow on the overall image of Srinagar — the stray dog problem. The
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More street dog rules, more dog attacks and deaths also
A four-year-old child was surrounded and killed by stray dogs in Hyderabad. An infant was bitten to death in a hospital in Rajasthan. Yet, no measures are taken to remove stray dogs roaming wild in our cities. Why has the stray dog become such a highly protected animal? Until 2001
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Residents seek end to dog bites, terror in Delhi
FACED with new regulations for taking care of street dogs, residents of Delhi colonies have come together to express their concern over such a responsibility being thrust upon them. They are seeking more viable solutions to multiple problems arising from the rising number of strays. A meeting convened on May
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Deadly strays? Or docile ‘community dogs’?
A resident of Ganga Apartments in the south Delhi colony of Vasant Kunj was on her way down the stairs of her building, when a pack of stray dogs on the loose rushed at her. She lost her balance, fractured her leg and ended up at the AIIMS Trauma Centre
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Dogs, people, courts: Pune housing society in a bind
Imagine the scene. It is around 2 am. A van with 25-odd stray dogs turns up at the gates of the Brahma Suncity Housing Society in Pune. They are accompanied by a busload of policemen. At that early hour, the dogs are released in the apartment complex without any intimation
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ABC is not the last word on stray dog problems
SEVERAL laws at state and Central level protect citizens from being subjected to stray dog attacks and ensure public health and safety. Yet, the common misconception is that only the Animal Birth Control (ABC) Rules are the ‘law’ and must be strictly adhered to. In reality, there is a host
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When dogs rule the streets and endanger people
A little girl, all of three years old, playing with other children in a park in Moti Nagar in west Delhi, is mauled and killed by a marauding pack of street dogs. Her father, a gardener, is working nearby in the same park, but can’t save her. In DLF Phase-2,
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Rethinking the smog
IT is 6.30 in the morning and you are starting your day in Gurugram. A thin fog, more like a mist, hangs low outside. You check your phone for the weather report to see if there could be rain coming. Along with the weather, you check the Air Quality Index
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Litterbugs in Bengaluru are held to account
How do you deal with litterbugs who throw bags of mixed garbage on the street, disfiguring the cityscape? It was the single biggest challenge civic agencies trying to clean up Bengaluru faced. Officials at Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML), however, ideated a solution. In every locality there were litterbugs
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Roadmap for clean air
For more than a decade, Delhi has experimented with various pollution control measures — the ‘odd-even scheme’, smog towers, water cannon, tree plantation, the Graded Response Action Plan or GRAP, (which restricts industry, construction, and vehicular activity during winter), and now cloud seeding. Despite these efforts, the city continues to
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Bengaluru has got more water this summer, distribution is the big worry
Bengaluru has a lot going for it, from tech companies and global investors to a salubrious climate and a cheerful cosmopolitan character. But when it comes to water in taps, nobody is quite sure what to think. Last year crisis struck with some 4.5 million residents finding almost overnight they
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Colour and the ageing Kolkata taxi
Ameasure of the liveability of a city is the quality of its taxi services. If they are clean, safe and dependable it says a lot for the urban experience. But Indian cities don’t rank among the best in the world and it shows in their taxis. Kolkata’s yellow Ambassador taxis
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Odisha shows how to turn slums into homes with rights
The Odisha government’s Jaga Mission for Slum Transformation is easily a standout project in India’s slum redevelopment landscape. It ticks all the right boxes and would meet the approval of pernickety social activists. It has people’s participation, land rights, delivery of services, infrastructure, gender rights, technology, NGOs and more. The
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