City: Chennai

It's a pleasant dawn in early June; however, 52-year-old Zareena is fidgety and keeps checking the time. It's just 6.30 am. Before long, a teenage boy opens a gate and hordes of people make their way through it to the massive well at Easwari Nagar of Zamin Pallavaram. In a firm voice, Muthu, the caretaker of the well asks people to follow the queue according to their token number. Zareena’s number is sixteen, which means she has to wait for all the fifteen members to get their share of water. The tokens are distributed on lottery basis every Sunday, and…

A collective of citizen's groups, working for various causes in the city, has been trying to ensure greater citizen participation in local government. The provision for citizens' participation in urban governance is enshrined in the 74th amendment of the Constitution. The group is of the view that the necessary notifications must be brought into effect at the state-level to extend these rights to citizen in urban centres across Tamil Nadu. In Tamil Nadu, the avenue for citizens' participation is created by the Tamil Nadu Municipal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2010. This law allows citizens to raise their voice through forums such…

A clean, well-maintained OSR park lies next to the Main road in Elcot Avenue of Shollinganallur inviting the nearby residents for a stroll. Krishna and Lakshmi are the caretakers of this park and like them, there are other caretaker families looking after the four other OSR parks in the locality. Krishna and Lakshmi are one of the many families appointed by the Corporation to look after the OSR parks. They live in the park, where the day begins at 5 AM for them as they start trimming the bushes, cleaning the park and watering the plants. "We seldom water the…

Private contractors roped in to maintain stormwater drains Amidst complaints against the maintenance of stormwater drains before the monsoon, Chennai Corporation is all set to privatise the maintenance work for these. The contract, expected to be implemented within a year, will see private contractors clean the drains periodically, create awareness and ensure that leaks are plugged. The Corporation Commissioner said that the contract will not only regularise cleaning but also ensure that illegalities are removed. The total length of stormwater drains in the city is 1894 km. Source: The Times of India City to get water from Jolarpet from July…

Chennai Corporation is always on a footpath laying spree, in a purported attempt to make our roads more accessible for pedestrians. One or the other arterial road gets a new footpath every year. But, it is also a reality that our footpaths, built with crores of investment, are not friendly to the end-users: they are either too narrow or riddled with tree stumps, encroached by parked and speeding two-wheelers, EB cables and whatnot. To add to the woes, the Corporation has recently started digging up relatively new, properly laid footpaths to construct a sewer line or a stormwater drain.  Scenarios…

Far from Myanmar, their homeland, here they feel safe, but these 85 Rohingyas are not at home in the refugee camp in Kelambakkam. Dingy rooms that barely have ventilation, narrow stairways, cluttered spaces and untidy surroundings -- the camp located on the outskirts of Chennai paints a sorry picture. The deplorable living conditions probably don't bother the Rohingya Muslims as much as they should, for they are happy to be alive. But does it give them a decent quality of life? No. Space is the biggest constraint, a factor that is driving many refugees away from the camps. Each room is…

The occasional spells of rains have brought some relief to Chennai. But that should not cloud the fact that the city went without any significant rainfall for about 200 days at a stretch. Rainfall patterns have become erratic in Chennai, with a spike in extreme weather events such as cyclonic storms and heat waves. Even though a large number of people -- in civil society as well as in the government -- are sceptical about attributing it to climate change, scientists do feel that there is a strong connect. Citizen Matters Chennai spoke to Dr V Selvam, former Executive Director…

Sometimes we wonder why inclusiveness needs to be demanded. Can't it come naturally? This seems to be the moot question that was raised in the 11th Chennai Pride March, held on June 30th. The walk started at around 3:30 PM from Chitra Theatre and ended with festivities and celebrations, including a flash mob dance. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the first Pride March which took place in Kolkata in 1999. There are around 21 types of pride parades that happen annually, all over India and the Chennai Rainbow Pride is one of them which is held in…

Rain brings respite against heat, but no relief from water crunch Amid cheers on social media celebrating the arrival of scattering rains across Chennai, the city has got respite from the gruelling heat. But the wait for water continues. The bone dry lakes, temple ponds and water bodies were partially filled, but the water table in the city is yet to see a significant rise. Incidentally, residents who had taken rainwater harvesting a little seriously enjoyed the instant benefit of the rains, however light. Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department has forecast that the city may experience showers over the weekend. Nungambakkam…

Plastics are elastic tics. They last, even if they know they aren't wanted. They were banned, but never went away because they weren't told about the law and didn't care if they did. You might think that India makes a lot of plastic and you are wrong. It makes a lot More than you think or the states report. Much more plastics are made than said. According to a report by the Central Pollution Control Board, just 14 out of 35 regional pollution boards really came out with how much plastic they generated in 2017-18. That itself worked out to…