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Jan 31, 2025 | 
citizenmatters.in | Shobana Radhakrishnan |Shruti Gokarn
A long weekend drive on the highway sounds like a good way to unwind, but the massive, often overloaded trucks and other commercial vehicles belching black-grey smoke can make city roads less pleasant. While commercial vehicles are crucial for the supply of essential goods across cities, they also cause major pollution. In Bengaluru, commercial vehicles make up just 4% of the total vehicle population but contribute a staggering 49% of the city’s PM2.5 vehicular emissions.
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Jan 29, 2025 | 
citizenmatters.in | Shobana Radhakrishnan |Shruti Gokarn |a Bachelors
Ramesh S, a resident of Perambur, stands at his local bus stop, waiting to start his daily commute. A beat-up Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus, painted pink at the front and rear, arrives, emitting visible black smoke from its exhaust. The fumes and unpleasant smell make him cough. In 2023-24, the average age of MTC buses was 9.61 years as opposed to the recommended 9 years.
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Jan 27, 2025 | 
citizenmatters.in | Shruti Gokarn |Shobana Radhakrishnan
Air pollution is a silent epidemic killing people and chipping away at the quality of life the world over. “Not only long-term exposure, but short-term exposure to large qualities of particulate matter can cause an increase in mortality rate. Globally, the death rate due to air pollution is as high as 65 lakhs because of multiple causes, including pollution-related respiratory, cardiac and neuropsychiatric illnesses.
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Jan 23, 2025 | 
citizenmatters.in | Shruti Gokarn |Shobana Radhakrishnan |Sandhya Bhat
Manvi Goyal, a PR professional, struggled to adapt to Mumbai’s polluted air after living in the pristine hills of Kurseong, Darjeeling. “In two years, I have fallen ill several times,” she recounts. She suffers from breathing difficulties and constant dehydration despite drinking water. Manvi is one of many Mumbaikars affected by the city’s worsening air quality. On December 30th, the BMC implemented sections of GRAP-IV in parts of Mumbai to improve the air quality.
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Dec 15, 2024 | 
citizenmatters.in | Shruti Gokarn
“Panchhi nadiya pawan ke jhonke, koi sarhad na inhe roke…” (Birds can fly where they want/ water can take its course/ the wind blows in every direction/ no barrier can stop them) — thus go the Javed Akhtar penned lyrics of the song from the movie Refugee (2000, J. P Dutta). As I read about the Panje wetlands in Uran, I wondered if these lyrics hold true today, when human interference is wreaking such havoc on natural environments, and keeping these very elements out.
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Dec 10, 2024 | 
citizenmatters.in | Shruti Gokarn |Navya P K
Visitors to Mumbai are often surprised by the city’s lax attitude towards household waste segregation. Despite being aware of the importance of segregating garbage at its source, many residents fail to practise it because of various reasons. Meanwhile, Mumbai’s dumping grounds are overflowing, and the situation worsens every year. Proposed solutions like waste remediation and waste-to-energy plants come with their challenges.
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Nov 17, 2024 | 
citizenmatters.in | Prachi Pinglay-Plumber |Shruti Gokarn
Shaina NC, a fashion designer, prominent personality in Mumbai and daughter of former sheriff of Mumbai Nana Chudasama, was earlier with the BJP for several years. She joined Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and is now contesting against Amin Patel (Congress) from Mumbadevi constiatuency.
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Nov 17, 2024 | 
citizenmatters.in | Prachi Pinglay-Plumber |Shruti Gokarn |Shobana Radhakrishnan
In 2022, with the world just recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, it didn’t seem extraordinary when elections to the richest civic body, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) were postponed. Though the reasons for postponement were a case in the Supreme Court about OBC seats and an earlier delimitation exercise, any aberrations to the existing systems were acceptable in the backdrop of two ghastly COVID-19 waves and Omicron.
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Nov 16, 2024 | 
citizenmatters.in | Shruti Gokarn |Shobana Radhakrishnan |Prachi Pinglay-Plumber
Scorching heat waves, devastating floods, , high AQI levels, Mumbai has seen it all over the past few decades, with no sign that the vagaries of climate will let up anytime soon. If the island city is to weather the storm of climate change, it requires a concrete map to navigate the next couple of decades. The Mumbai Climate Action Plan (MCAP), created by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) with the World Resources Institute (WRI) as a knowledge partner, is such a map.
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Oct 25, 2024 | 
citizenmatters.in | Shruti Gokarn
Maharashtra is at a critical juncture in its urban development. As cities expand and populations grow more diverse, the state’s transportation infrastructure struggles to keep pace. Rising pollution, worsening congestion, and increasing social inequities have escalated from issues of inefficiency to a full-blown crisis. As the 2024 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections approach, these mobility challenges require urgent action.
