City: Chennai

Many students from across the country move to Chennai to pursue their higher education as it is a sought-after destination. But data show that Tamil Nadu has the third-highest number of student suicides in India. This makes a focus on the mental health of students in higher educational institutions of Chennai and elsewhere paramount. What are some of the common triggers that impact the mental health of the students? Are there systems to address the mental health issues of the students in Chennai? How efficient are they? To address these broad questions in detail, Citizen Matters organised a panel discussion…

CMRL launches WhatsApp e-ticket service in Chennai On March 17, the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) launched the service to book e-tickets through WhatsApp in Chennai. According to the news reports, the commuters, have to send a message saying 'Hi' to the number 8300086000. Commuters will then find a provision to choose the origin and destination stations, following which they will be directed to the payment gateway. The commuters will also get a discount of 20% while booking tickets through WhatsApp. As soon as the payment is done, a QR code ticket will be generated and sent to them. One…

The appointment of P K Sekar Babu as the Minister-in-Charge of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) in February 2023 was seen by the real estate sector as a focused attempt by the DMK to get someone with core knowledge of the city to help steer its expansion. The Chennai Metropolitan Area is now spread across 5,094 sq km, a giant sprawl encompassing four revenue districts. In his policy note for the CMDA, presented for 2023-24, Babu has serialised the plans to pump significant resources into development priorities for various locations. These include a grid of roads that will provide easier connectivity…

"The wait for an MTC bus on hot days is pushing me to use autos," says M Priyanka. "I take the 12G bus to go to my office in Mylapore from KK Nagar. There is no bus shelter in Munusamy Salai in KK Nagar from where I board the bus. The trees around the stop, which provided some respite, were chopped and not replanted. The wait for buses is also unpredictable. So now I use autos."  Priyanka used to pay nothing to travel on the MTC bus, thanks to bus transport being made free for women by the state government.…

Chennai has seen rapid expansion in recent decades. But essentials such as water supply and sewage connections have failed to materialise in many parts of the city despite demand from residents. This has forced residents to find alternatives such as procuring water from tankers and setting up their own Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs). Many apartments on the outskirts of Chennai, mainly on the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR), have set up STPs to treat the sewage generated in the apartment complex. Since the building rules mandate sewage treatment plants at multi-storeyed apartments, the builders will usually set up an STP and…

There has been a spate of suicides by students in Chennai's colleges in recent months. Four students have died by suicide in a span of three months at IIT-Madras this year. The 2021 NCRB report states that one died by suicide every 42 minutes in India. Tamil Nadu had the third-highest number of instances of student suicide, which is 9.5% of total student suicides across India. Mental health support for students has been sorely lacking in institutions of higher education. Without adequate support and mechanisms to address grievances on college campuses, students are left to lonely and uphill battles by…

Chennai’s decentralised waste management system has been designed with the aim of reducing the quantum of waste that reached the landfills in Perungudi and Kodungaiyur. Dumping of unsegregated waste is a serious detriment to this goal. The mixed solid waste dumped in the dumpyards generates methane, which is one of the greenhouse gases. Methane is 25% more potent than CO2 in trapping heat in the atmosphere. With the looming effects of climate change, every stakeholder in the process must participate in managing their waste effectively. This includes the city’s many large apartment complexes and gated communities that have been deemed…

Anyone who has visited a government office to obtain certificates or documents is aware of the daunting process it entails. With the aim to cut out long queues of disgruntled visitors, e-sevai centres were launched across the state in 2006 to provide IT enabled-services to the public. This came long before the formulation of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). Despite the pioneering move, government-run e-sevai centres in Chennai face myriad issues that prevent their effective functioning.  Working of public and private e-sevai centres in Chennai According to the Tamil Nadu e-governance agency, around 92 different kinds of services are provided…

NGO accuses Greater Chennai Corporation of corruption Arappor Iyakkam, an anti-corruption NGO, has alleged that a decision by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) to build a community hall instead of renovating a Corporation Middle School in Ward 114 Chepauk involved corruption. The school in Ward 114 was supposed to undergo repairs and renovation, according to parents and teachers. Therefore the students were shifted to a nearby GCC school which did not have enough space to accommodate more students. The stakeholders believed that the arrangement would be temporary and the students will be shifted to their school when the work on…

Councillor Murugesan was born and brought up in Semmanchery. His political journey began in 1996. He started off as a Youth Wing Leader with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Then he climbed up the political ladder and became a Panchayat Councillor of Semmanchery in 2006 when the area was not part of GCC. This is his second stint as a councillor, representing Ward 200 of GCC. "Yes, very glad to hear that," says A Murugesan, the Ward 200 Councillor of Greater Chennai Corporation. He was on a call when I entered his office. "We won the court case and now…