Chennai Buzz: Post-COVID care centre set up | Spike in corporation school admissions | New flyovers approved…and more

Weekly recap of important news from Chennai.

Post-COVID care centre at Guindy hospital

To cater to the needs of those dealing with post-COVID issues, the state government has set up a post-COVID care clinic at the Government Corona Hospital in Guindy. Some of the services offered by the clinic are general medicine, cardiology, neurology, nephrology, gastroenterology, ENT, ophthalmology, diabetology, chest medicine and psychiatry. An ENT specialist has also been stationed to screen patients for any signs of mucormycosis.

A 100-bed pediatric COVID ward and a 40-bedded intensive care unit has also been inaugurated at Stanley Medical College & Hospital’s Institute of Social Paediatrics in order to deal with any potential rise in COVID cases amongst children.

Source: The Hindu

Corporation schools witness a spike in new admissions

With the pandemic creating a huge blow on the economic front, the number of fresh admissions to the corporation schools attached to the civic body has gone up exponentially. The rise has been seen in the span of a month, as the admission period to the schools began on June 14th and is set to go on till the end of September. 

There are 281 corporation schools (elementary, primary, secondary, and higher education) in the city and has the infrastructure to teach 1.5 lakh students. The civic body officials expect that the admission this year is expected to cross over a lakh this year.

The corporation has received admissions applications for 14,161 new students till last week. Of this, 9,035 students were from non-corporation schools and the remaining 5,126 students are from other corporation schools. 

The civic body is also actively taking steps to improve admissions by conducting door-to-door campaigns. 

Source: The New Indian Express | Times Now

New system to streamline penalty mechanism for traffic violations

The city’s first Traffic Regulation Observed Zone (TROZ) was initiated by the city police along with Hyundai Motor India Foundation (HMIF) in 2018 in Anna Nagar. This zone has now been integrated with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and a new system that has been put in place which will see traffic violators receive an e-challan directly to their mobile number. 

Advanced surveillance cameras that capture number plates of vehicles have been installed in various locations in Anna Nagar. As the challan will be uploaded to the government database, violators will have to mandatorily pay the fine if they are caught by police elsewhere or during any kind of engagement with the transport department.

The new system automatically generates e-challans whenever a motorist jumps a signal or cross the stop lines or if they are found to be driving on the wrong side of the road or in the case of over-speeding. The cameras instantly photograph the vehicle and read the number plate, triggering a message to the phones of the violators.

Source: The New Indian Express


Read more: A delayed bridge and many missed trains: This part of Chennai needs immediate traffic solutions


10 flyovers to come up in Chennai

Minister for Local Administration K. N Nehru has approved the construction of 10 new flyovers in Chennai. The proposal for the construction was submitted by the city corporation as part of the city’s 10 year’s vision programme. The projects will be kickstarted based on the allocation of funds.. 

Some of the proposed flyovers are to be constructed above the existing Ganesapuram Subway in Royapuram, at the junction of Velachery Road-Velachery Bypass Road (near Guru Nanak college), at the junction of New Avadi Road and Anna Nagar Third avenue and over the existing subway in Nungambakkam on Nelson Manickam Road.

Source: The Times of India


Read more: When pillars become posters: Tale of the delayed Medavakkam flyover project


Two elevated levels to come up as part of Metro phase-2

In a first for Chennai, the Porur-Alwarthirunagar stretch of Metro’s phase-2 project will have trains running in two elevated corridors.

Chennai Metrol Rail phase 2
Metro trains are back on track after the service was suspended on March 23 due to the nationwide lockdown. Pic: Laasya Shekhar

The phase-2 project is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 61,843 crore will cover 118.9 km in three corridors. This project has a double-decker section that will run between Madhavaram and Sholinganallur and Poonamallee and Light House. 

The CMRL plans to inaugurate the Porur to Power House and Porur to Poonamallee stretches first. The tender for constructing the double-decker stretch has been given to L&T and the project will commence soon.

Source: The Hindu

[Compiled by Bhavani Prabhakar]

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