City: Chennai

Feeling too lazy to step out of your home? Don’t like your PG/hostel food? Your spouse can’t cook? No time to prepare lunch? Ran out of groceries? For all these reasons and more, food delivery services are a quick, one-click solution for millennials. An aerial view of Chennai today would show the long stretch of beach, sparse tree cover, myriad projects under construction across the city... and a sea of red, orange and green riders dotting its roads. Rapidly growing market Such is the rapid growth of food delivery services in the city over the past 5 years. The market leader…

Picture this. You could sell your paper waste for the highest market rate; contact local scrap dealers and sell your discarded plastic containers, unused bags and slippers and even buy compost at dirt cheap rates. All online. Waste management and recycling in the city just got easier with the launch of India’s first web portal-cum-mobile application for waste trading, called Madras Waste Exchange . On December 3 2019, Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) Commissioner, G Prakash inaugurated the website that is developed under the Smart City Mission. Three weeks after the launch, Citizen Matters Chennai spoke to Azhagu Pandiaraja M P,…

Chennai has welcomed globalisation and liberalisation with open arms. As India’s largest auto hub with multiple automobile manufacturers setting up shop in the outskirts of the city, and being home to many IT services companies employing more than a lakh people, Chennai, with its concentration of skills and activities, is today an important centre for both manufacturing and services. Which in turn is facilitated by other ancillary services such as transportation and communication. In a modern economy such as this, changes take place rapidly or over a period of time. Infrastructure for example, is perhaps the most tangible manifestation of…

Translated by Krishna Kumar "கிணத்த காணோம், கிணத்த காணோம்!" - கண்ணும் கண்ணும் படத்தில் வடிவேலு காவல்துறையிடம் ஒரு திறந்த கிணற்றை காணவில்லை என்று பொய் புகார் கொடுத்து நம்மையெல்லாம் வயிறுகுலுங்க சிரிக்கவைத்த நகைச்சுவை காட்சியை யாரால் மறக்க முடியும். கிணறு ஒன்றை காணோம் எனும்பொழுது அவ்வளவு சிரித்தோம், ஆனால் நிஜத்தில் ஒரு நீர்நிலையே காணாமல் போகும் சாத்தியமுண்டா? அதிர்ச்சியூட்டும் விஷயம் தான், அனால் நடக்கிறது. சென்னை -திருவள்ளூர் நெடுஞ்சாலையில் 7 குளங்கள் அப்படிதான் காணாமல் போயுள்ளன. பல வருடங்களாவே இந்த குளங்கள் பொது மக்களாலும்,  சென்னை மாநகராட்சி மற்றும் தமிழ்நாடு குடிசைமாற்று வாரியம் போன்ற பல்வேறு அரசு துறைகளாலும் தொடர்ந்து ஆக்கிரமிப்புக்கு ஆளாகியுள்ளன.  ஒரு காலத்தில் [30 வருடங்களுக்கு முன்] குழந்தைகளும் பெரியோர்களும் அல்லி நிறைந்த இந்த குளங்களில் மீன்பிடித்து மகிழ்ந்தனர் ; பெண்கள் அங்கிருந்து தண்ணீர் எடுப்பது சகஜம். பண்டிகைகளுக்கு விளக்கேற்றி, கரையில் மக்கள் கூடிய காட்சிகள்…

Evictions near the Cooum in Triplicane Around 3000 families along the banks of the Cooum river near Triplicane were evicted forcibly by the Chennai police and slum clearance authorities on December 30th. The eviction drive is part of the river restoration project. The families residing in Gandhi Nagar, Sathyamoorthy Nagar and Indira Nagar were evicted without notice, prompting protests from the residents. The residents lamented that the move would leave many without homes and would affect the continued education of many of the school and college-going children. The settlements that have been evicted have seen residents living there for nearly…

With the passage of time and steady environmental degradation, the global push to conserve water bodies has intensified. For Chennai, which saw an unprecedented water crisis last summer when the city had to ferry in water, saving water bodies could be the only way out to avoid another Doomsday scenario.  Ironically, the state government does not seem to share such concern for the lakes and rivers of the city. The sad tale of Korattur Lake is evidence of that. Located in the central region of Chennai, this 590-acre water body is on its death bed: hazardous chemicals such as iron,…

It was an eventful, often rough, year for Chennai especially as the city faced severe water crisis in the summer. While the city grappled with this crisis, there was also cause for some cheer as the city saw the inauguration of the AG DMS-Washermanpet stretch of the metro, the opening up of the pedestrian plaza in T Nagar and several strides made in solid waste management. As we step into the new year with hope and anticipation, here are some initiatives and projects that could be expected to take off this year. Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) The Bus Rapid…

Spanish firm to keep Chennai clean Chennai Corporation has issued work orders to a Spanish firm for conservancy operations in seven zones. The firm will be paid based on performance indicators and not based on the tonnage of waste, which has been introduced for the first time in the country. The firm will take over collection and transportation of waste including doorstep collection, street sweeping and handling of domestic and hazardous waste for a period of eight years. The key performance indicators framed by the Corporation include primary collection, street sweeping and collection, secondary collection and transportation and complaint redressal.…

The Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation is planning to geo-tag nearly 60K medical equipment costing over more than Rs.1,500 crore in government clinics, hospitals and medical colleges to ensure maintenance and prevent thefts.  The state public health department has planned to distribute deworming tablets to everyone in Tamil Nadu instead of just children, twice every year for at least five years from February 2020 in an endeavour to fight against anaemia. More than half the pregnant women and adolescents girls in the state suffer from anaemia, which also results from hookworm infections.  Plans are being charted by Greater Chennai Corporation…

Kenatha Kanom! Kenatha Kanom! Who can forget actor Vadivel's comic sequence in the film Kannum Kannum, where he lodges a false complaint about the disappearance of his open well. The joke soon became a rage because, again, how can a waterbody go missing? Shockingly, it can. Just like the seven ponds that have disappeared on the Chennai Tiruvallur Highway (CTH) Road. Over the years, these ponds have been steadily encroached upon by citizens and various government departments, including the Greater Chennai Corporation and Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB). There was a time when children along with adults fished at…