Floods - Question of Cities

Nepal’s Melamchi, still recovering from 2021 flood, shows multiple risks of rapid urbanisation

Melamchi, 76 kilometres from Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, was bouncing back from the massive 2015 earthquake when the flood in 2021 brought further devastation. The ravaging flood also severely damaged its ambitious water supply project which had taken nearly three decades…

Delhi’s real town planner, the Yamuna, still gasps for life

Over the decades, even as multi-crore programmes to clean the river are expanded, the Yamuna and its floodplain continue to be polluted. Delhi takes from the Yamuna but treats it as a receptacle for its waste. As long as this…

The Sabarmati story: A river is more than a usable resource

The redeveloped, concretised, and glitzy Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad is a far cry from the meandering river which flows into the Arabian Sea. A natural river has been transformed into a tank of stagnant water – for commercial and recreational…

Pune’s Mula-Mutha sinks into ecological disaster

The ancient river, Mula-Mutha, has been battered by floods, encroachments, and rampant constructions causing massive environmental damage. Turned into a sewer and a dumping site over the years, the neglected river is heavily polluted and filthy. The plan to ‘develop’…

How Vadodara’s citizens joined forces to save the iconic Vishwamitri river

The highly polluted Vishwamitri river in Gujarat’s Vadodara was dying and the municipal corporation floated the idea of a riverfront which would have spelt the death knell for the river. From academics who first woke up with the alarm bells…

Sinking Mumbai: Have we woken up to the climate crisis and rising sea level?

Most parts of South Mumbai will be under water by 2050, drowning prominent landmarks and businesses, warned the chief of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation last year. There are contesting projections of just how much of the financial capital will be submerged…