Articles by Laasya Shekhar

In mid-February, the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) submitted the revised Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Airport-Kilambakkam metro project to the Tamil Nadu government. “The DPR proposes the construction of the elevated corridor in the first level and the metro corridor in the next level. It was prepared as per the suggestions of the State’s Highways Department,” M A Siddique, Managing Director, CMRL, told Citizen Matters Chennai.  Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu, while presenting the state budget on March 14th, said the DPR would be forwarded to the union government. Estimated to cost Rs 9,335 crore, the metro line is among…

What started as a cool activity in the 1970s—a group of college students going on night walks to protect freshly laid turtle eggs—has, half a century later, evolved into a crucial conservation movement. The Students' Sea Turtle Conservation Network (SSTCN) now plays a key role in the conservation of the Olive Ridley turtles along the Chennai coast. Their awareness efforts have been so impactful that these night walks are flooded with people of all ages, particularly children and young adults. From collecting freshly laid eggs and relocating them to hatcheries to releasing hatchlings back into the sea after 45 days, SSTCN volunteers…

Chennai witnessed an unprecedented environmental disaster this year, as more than 1,000 dead Olive Ridley turtles washed ashore in January. The mass mortality event has put the Forest and Fisheries Departments, along with voluntary organisations, on high alert, prompting collaborative efforts to strengthen Olive Ridley turtle conservation. The Tamil Nadu Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 2020, which mandates mechanised trawlers to fish at least five kilometres from the shore, was enforced more strictly from late January. Fishermen were educated on the dangers of ghost nets and urged to use Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) to prevent accidental turtle entanglement. Read more: Oil…

In Pallavaram, a sleepy suburb of Chennai, the water supply from the Palar River — once the lifeline of every household — has turned into a silent threat. On December 5th, three residents lost their lives in separate incidents allegedly after drinking the contaminated water. At least 50 others were rushed to Chromepet Government Hospital over three days with severe diarrheal symptoms.  The locality is in the Tambaram City Corporation limits. But, neither the corporation nor Tamil Nadu's Public Health Department has specified the cause of the deaths (as of publishing this article). The BJP's state unit has claimed that…

A dump yard in Pammal, which was restored through bio-mining in 2020, has once again become a towering trash mountain. The real twist is that the Tambaram Corporation — the line agency tasked with managing waste — is responsible. When Pammal was a municipality, the dump yard was scientifically restored by treating the old waste and removing undigested organic matter, in a process called bio-mining. Once the locality was merged with Tambaram Corporation, the civic body started dumping about 150 tonnes of waste every day in Pammal’s Mahalakshmi Nagar (adjoining survey number where bio-mining was done) and the nearby Adyar…

In August 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a renewed version of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), through which migrants could avail of a cooking gas connection with just a self-declaration as proof of address. Through this scheme, christened  Ujjwala 2.0, the beneficiaries could get a gas connection, the first gas cylinder worth over Rs 800 and a stove, for free. It was touted as a thoughtful welfare scheme that helped migrant workers avail themselves of a gas connection without the necessary documentation such as caste certificates and ration cards.  Three years later, this scheme remains an unfulfilled promise,…

Being the commercial nerve centre of the city, Chennai Central constituency has a significant population of migrants. From Chennai Metro Water department to the state electricity board and the GST and central excise departments, crucial city, state and central government offices are located in Chennai Central. The constituency is also a hub of healthcare institutions, with more than a dozen prominent government hospitals such as Government Children Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and Kilpauk Medical College Hospital located here.  Chennai Central comprises of six assembly constituencies — Villivakkam, Egmore, Harbour, Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni, Thousand Lights and Anna Nagar. Politically, the constituency…

One of the three Lok Sabha constituencies representing the city, Chennai South comprises localities maintained by two different civic bodies: Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) and Tambaram Corporation. And thus, the issues prevailing in the constituency are also contrasting. While the localities under Tambaram Corporation are grappling with the lack of basic amenities, those under GCC require improvement in the amenities provided decades ago. Sholinganallur is one of the largest assembly constituencies, with a voter base of six lakh. Chennai South constituency boasts a highly educated populace, with a significant presence of IT industries and educational institutions. Unique to this area…

On March 3rd, Primary Health Centres (PHC) in Chennai conducted the annual Pulse Polio Immunization campaign for children between the age group of 0-5 years. To ensure no child is missed, the Urban Health Nurses (UHN) made door-to-door visits on March 4 to administer polio drops.  While the initiative garnered praise from all quarters, the tireless efforts of health nurses who walked kilometres under the scorching sun, went unnoticed. On March 4, at 2.30 pm, Meenambakkam and Nungambakkam weather stations in Chennai recorded the maximum temperature of 32.2 degrees C and 31.4 degrees C. However, as the humidity levels were…

Six months ago, the Tambaram City Municipal Corporation carried out work on East Main Road and West Main Road in  Sri Prashanthi Colony, Madambakkam. In the past ten years, these roads were re-laid three times and each time, their heights increased considerably. The new roads came as a relief for residents only until the onset of the Northeast monsoon in 2023.  As the interior roads including the 2nd, 3rd and 4th cross streets of Sri Prashanthi Colony have not been re-laid, excess water runs down to these roads which now lie at a lower level compared to  the main roads.…