City: Chennai

It would be an understatement to say that humans are dependent on their electronic gadgets or devices. In this day and age of work from home and e-learning, where the pandemic has ensured that individuals and families spend most of their time within the four walls of their homes, it is safe to say that we’re all hooked on to some or the other electronic appliance, one way or the other. However, the question remains as to what happens to these electronic or electrical devices once their shelf lives are over? That is, when they have been reduced to 'e-waste'?…

Last year, Chennai experienced intense rains and flooding yet again, bringing the city to a standstill for days. Excess flooding in the city has been associated with poor planning and urban development projects over the years. Rapid urbanisation in erstwhile agricultural lands and wetlands, and increased concretisation have altered the natural flow of rainwater. This is what has often led to debilitating floods.  Existing infrastructure to manage flooding has been criticised by city dwellers and environmentalists for incomplete construction, lack of topographic study before implementation, and lack of linking drains to natural channels.  A growing concern is the fact that…

After over a decade, elections to the council of the Greater Chennai Corporation have been announced. As the city authorities waited for the dates to be announced, work to resurface the pothole-ridden roads of Chennai was taken up in different parts of the city. This starts with milling, a process in which a portion of the surface on the top of the road is removed with the help of a milling machine before it is resurfaced in accordance with the guidelines specified by the High Court of Madras. Given our bad experience in the past, members of the local residents’…

Translated by Sandhya Raju கீழ்பாக்கத்தில் தனது குடும்பத்துடன் வசிக்கும்78 வயது டி சுரேஷ், 2012-ம் ஆண்டு முதல் இது வரை ஆண்டுக்கு 2 எல்பிஜி சிலிண்டர் மட்டுமே வாங்கியிருக்கிறார். தினமும் அவர் குடும்பம் வெளியே சாப்பிடுவதில்லை, எலெக்ட்ரிக் அல்லது இண்டக்ஷன் அடுப்பையும் உபயோகிப்பதில்லை. "இதில் ஒன்றும் பெரிய சூட்சமம் இல்லை," என கூறும் சுரேஷ், கடந்த 9 ஆண்டுகளாக சமையலறை கழிவுகளிலிருந்து அவர்களுக்கான சமையல் எரிவாயுவை தயாரிக்கிறார். இது எந்தவொரு ஆய்வகத்தில் தயாரிக்கப்படுவதில்லை, தன் சொந்த வீட்டிலேயே அவர் நிறுவியுள்ள உயிர்வாயு அமைப்பு மூலம் பெறுகிறார். சமையல் எரிவாயுவை உருவாக்குவதைத் தவிர, உயிர்வாயு வெளியிடும் மிச்சம் தாவரங்களுக்கு கரிம உரமாக பயன்படுத்தலாம். பல வருடங்களாக மேற்கூரை சோலார் பேனல் வைத்திருக்கும் இவரிடம் பலர் இது குறித்து ஆலோசனை கேட்டுச் செல்கின்றனர். "சுமார் 10 வருடங்கள் முன், என்னுடைய சோலர் நிறுவலை கஆண வந்த ஒருவர், தான் உயிர்வாயு வணிகம் செய்வதாக…

Mega sports city to come up on East Coast Road A mega sports city spanning 500 acres is slated to come up on the outskirts of Chennai, along East Coast Road near Thiruvidanthai. The site encompasses 9 villages and will be located on either side of the Buckingham Canal.  The sports city will have facilities such as athletic tracks, indoor cycling velodrome, a hockey stadium, a multipurpose indoor stadium housing a boxing ring, basketball and volleyball courts. Tamil Nadu Sports Minister stated that the project has been planned after observing the construction of Pune’s Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex and…

On Wednesday, January 26th, Tamil Nadu State Election Commissioner, V Palanikumar announced that elections to various urban local bodies across the state will be held on February 19 and the date for counting of the votes as February 22. This announcement comes a day after the Madras High Court gave the green signal to go ahead with the polls, in response to a Public Interest Litigation filed in the court, asking for local body elections to be deferred owing to the COVID-19 situation in the state. Rejecting the plea, a bench consisting of acting Chief Justice MN Bhandari and Justice…

As the entire world saw an upsurge in the number of COVID-19 cases during the first and second waves, the necessity for credible information was paramount. In March 2020, I started Covid19Chennai on Instagram and Twitter (rebranded as News of Chennai in 2021) to publish cross-verifiable, fact-checked information such as important helplines, home-based food providers, where to get tested, what to do if someone tests positive and curated FAQs related to COVID-19 from reliable news agencies.  This also gave me an idea to create chennaicovidhelp.in — a web app where all information would be collated. The advantage of a web…

Let’s face it – our city ­administration has done a magnificent job over the last two years trying to keep the pandemic within control. We have emerged better than some other metropolises though that does not mean we have been exemplary. But yes, we can commend our performance. Which is why, in the light of all this, we did seem to detect something of a flap in the last two weeks before matters righted themselves once more. Of course, with numbers continuing to rise we need to watch the ground situation more closely. And in that, perhaps we can avoid…

Chennai has made strides in cycling in the recent years. The promising start has seen many new riders take to cycling during the pandemic. Recognising the need to make the city safe for cyclists, dedicated cycling lanes have been piloted in parts of the city. While these steps augur well for the future of cycling in the city, there is a long way to go in making cycling mainstream. Cycle lane in ECR  A proposal for creating more happy streets - closure of streets for activities by citizens - came from the cycling community and has been taken up with…

COVID cases show downward trend Chennai saw 7,038 new cases of COVID-19 as on January 21st. This is the fourth day in a row that the city has registered a decline in the number of cases. A total of 60,698 individuals are under treatment for COVID-19. The test positivity rate stood at 24% for the city.  The civic body had amped up screening following the spread of the omicron variant. A total of 200 teams are currently engaged in assessing the severity of the cases and recommending future course of action. Volunteers are also assisting those under home quarantine for their…