Articles by Laasya Shekhar

Urban infrastructure projects announced by various government departments have hit a stumbling block in Chennai, since the expiry of the last city council in October 2016. A handful of ideas announced by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) were languishing at varying stages of implementation, several of them still at a very preliminary stage. Several other projects taken up by the highways department have also been in suspension.   We inquired into three such significant projects in Chennai and the problems that impede completion. Pallavaram flyover skips deadline When the highways department commenced the construction works of the three lane unidirectional…

When it comes to transparency and providing information to citizens, Tamil Nadu has a rich legacy. The southern state was a front runner in passing the Right To Information (RTI) act in 1997, eight years before the Centre passed it in 2005.  The Act proved to be a game changer. To cite just one example, an RTI activist exposed a scam by the Tamil Nadu Housing Department (TNHB) in December 2010, where selected government servants were provided with houses, under the Government Discretion Quota. Through the RTI reply and further investigation, it was learnt that undeserving people were categorised as social…

With broad, lush green leaves and purple flowers, water hyacinth often adds a measure of surreality to ponds and lakes. Yet, in reality, Eichhornia crassipes (the scientific name for water hyacinth) contaminates water bodies, blocks the passage of sunlight and subsequently destroys the aquatic ecosystem. Why should we care? Water hyacinth is a killer species. The plant obstructs photosynthesis and poses a threat to the lives of fish and other migratory birds in the water bodies. “The decline in the count of migratory birds at Pallikaranai marsh explains the gravity of damage already done by sewage pollution and water hyacinth,” says J…

Information is an asset. Before the Right To Information (RTI) Act enacted in 2005, information was limited and often, important public data remained within the access of a select few only. The state of affairs in India has changed undoubtedly after the RTI act, with citizens filing petitions, but there is still a lack of awareness that has limited its adoption. Even now, many civic activists follow the conventional procedure of visiting the government offices for information, when it could be done through a simple application.  There are others who complain that getting the relevant information from a government department through…

Nature is the manifestation of God, said Frank Lloyd Wright, the noted American architect. Indeed, Nature is often equated with the divine. However, our worship of the divine often takes a toll on the natural environment. Have we stopped to consider the magnitude of waste generated at our religious institutions? Tamil Nadu, which has 38,000 temples under the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR &CE) department alone, generates more than 3.8 lakh kilos of floral waste every day, according to a senior HR & CE official. This number does not include the hundreds of private temples, mosques and gurudwaras, where…

Speeding two-wheelers, Electricity Board (EB) boxes (working or otherwise), tree stumps and encroachments, and no space to walk. The picture this conjures explains the pathetic state of footpaths in Chennai, a city with a significant percentage of pedestrians in the traffic. On one hand, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) claims to be creating more footpaths and cycle paths in the city. “We will soon be creating footpaths along 80 percent of the city roads, to facilitate the movement of pedestrians,” said a senior corporation official. On the other, the civic body has flouted several rules in its footpath construction in…

In the first part of our series on ambulance services in the city, Citizen Matters focused on the challenges and memorable moments in the lives of ambulance crew serving the city and state. Running an ambulance service is truly exciting work. It is a heart filling service that includes saving the lives of strangers in the quickest way possible, says Uma Maheswari, IAS, Project Director, Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project, Government of Tamil Nadu. 108 ambulance services are operated under the Public Private Partnership framework  by GVK EMRI (Emergency Management and Research Institute), a not-for-profit organisation and the Tamil Nadu government.…

“From a needle to a computer, you will get everything here,” said a lungi-clad old man, who was selling rare copper coins (half anna from 19th century) at the Friday Pallavaram market. With a brief pause, he chuckled, “Except a girl to get married to.” Fresh vegetables, various varieties of fish, antique coins, old newspapers, eggs, chicken, batteries, computer spare parts... the list goes on. True to the trader’s words, the weekly Sandhai (market) that takes place every  Friday on the Old Trunk Road of Pallavaram brings a village to the city. With just an umbrella or a wet cloth…

Nemilichery lake, which once was a lifeline to the farmers in Pallavaram, is slowly being destroyed. With unabated encroachment and illegal dumping of unsegregated waste, the lake is dry and its bed is completely covered with plastic. In order to save the lake for the next generation, volunteers from various organisations and business entities took up the cleaning work on 10 June. “More than 250 volunteers from Federation of Civic and Welfare Associations of Pallavaram, environmental organisation Pasumai Iyakkam and Parvathy Hospital took part in the clean up,” said V Santhanam, a noted civic activist. Years of exploitation by the…

Clad in dark blue uniforms, a group of seven school children, all aged above 12 years, restlessly jostle for space in an auto rickshaw on Velachery Main Road near Tambaram. While three children sit on the side bars of the auto, two of them sit next to the driver, holding on for dear life to the already crowded seat. Heavy school bags and lunch boxes are also stuffed in the same vehicle. This scene is not uncommon during school hours on our busy city roads. The risk to life and limb that these children face every day is either unknown…