City: Chennai

How big is your city? Growing up in Chennai, my knowledge and therefore idea of the city extended possibly between school, home, and a few other places I frequented. While this has expanded, I don’t think I realised how big it actually was. In October 2022, it was reported that the Tamil Nadu government had cleared a 5-fold expansion of the city - from 1189 km2 to 5904 km2. I was a bit shocked that my city was already 1189 km2 big and now had gotten even larger.  Read more: Holistic plan by CMDA necessary for Chennai’s expansion What makes…

The Annual Madras Day festivities have begun with a collection of heritage walks, heritage talks, contests, and various other community-organised events in the city.  While the entire month of August is usually set aside to organise events to commemorate the historical founding of the city on August 22, 1639, most of the events occur over the actual week in the run-up to Madras Day. Started by a group of community journalists and historians in 2004 – notable among them Vincent D’Souza, Sashi Nair and S. Muthiah – the celebration of Madras Day aims to bring people and communities together to…

Vasudevan S had been living in the tenements of the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) located in Meenabal Sivaraj Nagar since 1977 before having to move out in 2021 for its reconstruction. "In the three decades after we moved in, these houses had turned 'unlivable'," he says. The broken staircases, dysfunctional lights, caved ceilings and leaky pipes are how he describes the building. Perhaps, the description fits most of the TNUHDB tenements in Chennai. Lack of maintenance of the buildings is said to be a significant reason for these buildings to be in a dilapidated condition. The TNUHDB…

As Chennai’s IT corridor grew and expanded, the need for housing around the new offices was felt. Large residential apartment complexes came up in various parts where these offices were concentrated. One such area is Perumbakkam, where many IT professionals, among others, have come to reside in recent years. While this could be seen as a huge sign of progress for the city, the civic amenities that are present in these localities leave a lot to be desired. The residents battle irregular water supply, improper sewage system, lack of adequate pedestrian infrastructure, rising crimes and most of all, bad roads.…

Vehicles to be fined for illegal parking The Greater Chennai Traffic Police (GCTP) will be imposing fines on vehicles found to have been parked illegally. The traffic police have been instructed to photograph the vehicles and issue a challan to the owners. This move has been put in place as many vehicles have been parked in no-parking zones, affecting traffic flow. All arterial roads in the city have been declared no parking zones and vehicles parked here will be fined. Those found guilty of illegal parking can pay the fine imposed online or through e-seva centres across the city.  First-time…

Recently, Chennai has lost many trees to rains, cyclones and civic work. But the act of preserving existing tree cover and carrying out urban greening activities is only happening in pockets of the city.  There have been instances of tree felling for work on stormwater drains across the city. Many avenue trees were lost in areas such as K K Nagar. Very little has also been done to protect old trees in the city, with the instance of the felling of a centuries-old baobab tree on Greams Road being a prime example.  In order to prevent a repeat of such loss…

As one passes the bridge in Kotturpuram, the huge mound of construction debris that lies on the left, close to the banks of the Adyar River, cannot escape the eye. Amidst this debris lie the dreams of Kumari and hundreds of other families, whose story we narrated in an earlier report on Citizen Matters Chennai.  Kumari had bought with her hard-earned savings a 280-sq ft room in the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board (TNUHDB) tenements that stood on this site. But that dream lasted for barely a year and a half. Then the Board decided to demolish these buildings…

சிடிஸன் கன்சூமர் அண்ட் சிவிக் ஆக்ஷன் குரூப் (சிஏஜி) மூத்த ஆய்வாளரான சுமனா நாராயணன், 2003 ஆம் ஆண்டு சென்னையில் நான்கு சக்கர வாகனம் ஓட்டுவதற்கான உரிமம் பெற விரும்பியபோது, ​​ஓட்டுநர் தேர்வில் தேர்ச்சி பெற, அவர் சாலையில் குறைந்தது 300 மீட்டர் ஓட்ட வேண்டும். .  திருவான்மியூர் வட்டாரப் போக்குவரத்து அலுவலகம் (ஆர்டிஓ) பின்புறம் உள்ள குறுகலான தெருவில் காரை ஓட்டி, போக்குவரத்து சிக்னலில் காரை நிறுத்திவிட்டு, இடதுபுறம் திரும்பி, மேலும் 200 மீட்டர் தூரம் ஓட்டும்படி சுமனாவிடம் கூறப்பட்டது.  "என்னுடைய பெற்றோரின் தலைமுறையில், சென்னையில் ஓட்டுநர் உரிமம் பெறுவதற்கு வாகனம் நிறுத்துவதற்கு கூட அவர்கள் சோதனை செய்யப்பட்டனர்," என்று அவர் கூறுகிறார். இரண்டு தசாப்தங்களுக்குப் பிறகு, திருவான்மியூரில் ராம்* அதே ஆர்டிஓவில் ஓட்டுநர் சோதனைக்குச் சென்றபோது, ​​அவர் 100 மீட்டர் மட்டுமே ஓட்ட வேண்டியிருந்தது.  "இது ஒரு நேர் கோடாக இருந்தது. முந்தைய விண்ணப்பதாரரால் கார் இன்ஜின் ஏற்கனவே ஆன்…

At around 10 am on July 26, the loud noise from a construction site inside the Kosasthalaiyar river came to a halt. The construction workers slowly walked out of the river, while the inland fishers from the villages around Ennore surrounded the construction site with their boats.  It was an unusual protest, one without black flags or loud slogans. While many of the fishers stayed in their boats, a few of their representatives came down to explain the reason for their protest.  Soon the construction site below the Ennore Creek Bridge was packed with hundreds of police personnel. The protest…

GCC to provide vaccines for infants and pregnant women Under Mission Indradanush 5.0, an initiative of the Union government, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) is set to vaccinate infants and pregnant women. The first round of the vaccination drive will be held from August 7 to August 15. The second and third rounds of the vaccination drives will take place in September and October respectively. The vaccines available will cover a range of illnesses such as polio, jaundice, Japanese encephalitis, whooping cough, tetanus and measles.  A door-to-door survey was carried out by the civic body to identify eligible beneficiaries. The…