Voter awareness campaign begins in Chennai
There are 39.01 lakh voters in Chennai. However, there is an urban apathy during elections in Parliamentary constituencies in the city, leading to low voter turnout. In a bid to increase electoral participation, especially among first-time voters, the government is planning to conduct various awareness programmes. As part of it, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Satyabrata flagged off three vehicles in Ripon Buildings to create awareness in the city’s three Parliamentary constituencies. The vehicles will carry electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter-verified paper audit trails (VVPATs). Similarly, ‘Pedal for Vote Cyclothon‘ was also flagged off at Marina Beach in Chennai. Voters’ education programmes will also be organised at all polling stations in Chennai for one month.
Source: The Hindu | DT Next
Several tonnes of plastic waste accumulated on YMCA grounds post PM Modi’s public meeting
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took part in a public meeting on March 4 at the YMCA grounds in Nandanam. A day after the event, there were reportedly several tonnes of waste accumulated at the venue. Among the waste that was allegedly dumped there were plastic bottles, covers, flags and food packets. Based on the request from the Greater Chennai Corporation, Urbaser Sumeet, the private agency that looks into garbage management in Zone XIII, deployed 120 workers (cumulatively) for the clean-up. According to the news report, the sanitary workers usually work from 6 am to 2 pm. However, they were asked to clean the venue after 8.30 pm for which they were made to stay back. The workers also used battery-operated vehicles to clean the grounds.
Source: The Hindu
Read more: Lukewarm scores for Chennai in Swachh Survekshan 2023: How can the city improve?
Government mulls over different plans to meet Chennai’s water demand in summer
With the dip in water supply from the Veeranam tank and to meet the water demands for the upcoming summer, the Tamil Nadu government is mulling over various plans. According to Municipal Administration Minister, KN Nehru, the recently inaugurated 150-mld desalination plant in Nemmeli was being used to make up for the water loss from Veeranam. Meanwhile, the government is also identifying more abandoned quarries in Chennai to use as buffer drinking water sources. For this, quarries in Tirusulam with 5-mld capacity and few other potential sites are being identified to use if required this summer. On the other hand, the Water Resources Department (WRD) plans to seek the release of water from the Krishna River in April to meet the demand for water. Notably, Chennai received nearly 4,800 mcft of water from the Krishna River last year.
Source: The Hindu
Read more: Looking back for answers: Can Chennai reclaim its relationship with the water commons?
Committee formed to look into non-standardised speed breakers in Chennai
Headed by the Joint Commissioner (South) of Greater Chennai City Traffic Police, a committee has been formed to check the non-standardised speed breakers in Chennai. This move comes after the recent death of a 34-year-old man after his two-wheeler hit an unmarked speedbreaker at Chitlapakkam. Speed breakers can be laid in the city only after getting a clearance from the said committee and it will be removed if it is found to be deviating from the norms. To address the larger issue, a meeting is also scheduled with various stakeholder departments including Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Greater Chennai City Traffic Police, Highways Department, and Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority.
Source: The Hindu
The vending zone list needs revision, say the street vendors of Chennai
The Greater Chennai Corporation has come up with the finalised vending and non-vending zone list. While the GCC says that they prepared the list based on the inputs from the zonal level officers and the elected chairpersons from the town vending committee, the committee members say that the GCC did not discuss the list with the members. The street vendors point out that the chosen vending zones were on the interior roads and several commercial areas were not marked as vending zones in the list. If the street vendors are asked to move as per the list, their livelihoods would be affected badly. Hence, they are planning to make a representation to the GCC Commissioner J Radhakrishnan in this regard.
Source: DT Next
[Compiled by Shobana Radhakrishnan]