City: Chennai

The growth of Chennai has been fuelled by the construction of new buildings and the expansion of the city in all directions. The mandate of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) is to keep erring builders in line and control illegal construction. However, collusion by builders with officials of the CMDA and civic agencies results in unauthorised construction mushrooming across Chennai. Recognising the need to regulate such development and prevent illegal construction, a Monitoring Committee was appointed by an order of the Madras High Court almost two decades ago. But in all these years of its existence not even a…

Online pet registration system introduced by the GCC An online pet animal registration system was introduced by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) to issue pet licences for pet dogs and cats in Chennai. This system aims to register 40,000 dogs and 20,000 cats. It will also be expanded to cover birds and other pets owned by people. To get a pet licence from GCC, the pet animal has to be vaccinated against rabies, inform officials. Pet owners have been asked to make use of the GCC's veterinary clinics to vaccinate the animals from 8 am to 3 pm. Other guidelines…

"In the past three weeks, my schedule has completely collapsed due to the frequent power cuts in Chennai," says Nandhini R, a working mother to a two-year-old. She walks to and fro on the dark balcony at 3 am, patting her daughter, waiting for her to go to sleep. Nandhini can only hope to get a few hours of rest before she begins her day at 5.30 am. Her husband, an IT professional who works the night shift from home, also finds his work affected by the power outage. "We have been facing frequent unscheduled power outages amidst the soaring…

Many key players in the space of Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services (IT & ITES) in Chennai are located in OMR, Perungudi, Thoraipakkam, Navalur and Siruseri. Over the past few decades, the number of offices in the area has grown exponentially. With many jobs available, large apartment complexes began to be built to cater to the needs of the people. The population along the IT corridor now runs into lakhs. Unfortunately for the residents, the area is also home to the Perungudi dump yard, one of the city’s two dump yards. Much of the solid waste from all…

Residents of OMR have written to the Chief Minister calling for the removal of the toll gate at Navalur. Citing a promise made by the DMK prior to the elections, residents demand that the toll gate, which is close to the limits of the Greater Chennai Corporation be shut down with immediate effect. The residents, through the umbrella body FOMRRA (Federation of OMR Resident Associations), have made an appeal to this effect. The residents state that while four out of five toll gates have been shut down, the one at Navalur remains functional. FOMRRA has also requested the support of other…

Strange as it may seem, the bustling traffic on Arcot Road, a State Highway feeding into Porur, has been redirected since May 6 via densely populated residential neighbourhoods in Kodambakkam and K.K. Nagar, among other places, to facilitate work on the 118 km Phase II of the Chennai Metro. Everyone is reconciled to this two or three-year upheaval as unavoidable pain to construct mass mobility infrastructure. As Chennai Metro says, it is ‘inconvenience today for a better tomorrow’. The story is no different in parts of T. Nagar, Mylapore, and Alwarpet, although the traffic there is not at highway scale,…

"If I have to come from Alandur to Koyambedu by road, it takes me over 50 minutes. But, if I take the Metro in Chennai, it hardly takes me 12 to 15 minutes, including the wait time for the train," says Shankar, a regular commuter on the Chennai Metro. Clearly, for people like Shankar, the Metro has spelt significant easing of commute. With work on Phase II underway in many parts of the city, it is only likely that more passengers will embrace this mode of transport in the days to come. The upcoming lines will link the IT corridor,…

"I was inspired to start my political journey after looking at the political life of my father and uncle. So, I cannot say that I am completely new to politics," says Mayor Priya Rajan, who belongs to Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Her father, R Rajan, has been a functionary of DMK and her uncle, Chengai Sivam, was a DMK MLA. It has been a little more than a year since Mayor R Priya assumed office. As the youngest Dalit woman Mayor of Greater Chennai Corporation, she has overcome many hurdles to find success. We catch up with her to know…

GCC takes measures to improve air quality in Chennai In a bid to improve the air quality in Chennai, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has planned to implement civic infrastructure projects. As part of it, projects like door-to-door clearance of garbage, bio-mining, non-motorised transport infrastructure, mechanisation of road sweeping and conversion of ten wood fire gasifier crematoriums to LPG crematoriums are to be implemented. While some of these projects have already been launched, proposals are to be sent for the rest of the projects. Meanwhile, officials from the Central Pollution Control Board are assessing the progress of projects to improve…

Of the total Bulk Waste Generators (BWGs), both residential and commercial buildings, across Chennai, only 43.86% follow the Solid Waste Management bye-laws and dispose of their waste through empanelled vendors. Commercial establishments, in this case, refers to include large restaurants, educational institutions, government buildings, offices and IT parks, shops and malls and cinemas, stadiums and wedding halls.  The bulk waste generators have been mandated to engage vendors to process waste on-site and dispose of the wet and dry waste. The waste collection from BWGs does not involve the civic body and the waste generated by them is not to be…