CHENNAI BUZZ

New sponge parks commissioned in Chennai In order to mitigate flooding during the upcoming northeast monsoon, a number of sponge parks will be created in Chennai. A total of 57 new sponge parks have been proposed, with 42 to be commissioned and completed before the onset of the monsoon this year. Of this, 21 parks are set to come up in North Chennai. A total of Rs 6.76 crore has been allotted for the project. Sponge parks are known to mitigate flooding during heavy rains, designed to store and collect water in a centralised structure for water harvesting.  The water…

Reduction in road accident deaths in Chennai Data released by the Greater Chennai Traffic Police (GCTP) shows a reduction in the number of deaths caused by road accidents in Chennai in the first half of this year. The number of deaths has reduced by 19.7% compared to the figures from 2021 and 10% compared to the figures from 2022. Until June 20 this year, there have been 216 deaths in 214 accidents on the roads of Chennai. Efforts taken by the GCTP to reduce fatalities include a crackdown on drunken driving, wrong-side driving and compliance with traffic rules, including wearing…

Chennai’s first Climate Action Plan (CAP) released Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, in the presence of Minister for Environment, Climate Change Siva V Meyyanathan, Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu, Additional Chief Secretary to Departments of Environment, Climate Change Supriya Sahu, Mayor R Priya and C40 Cities delegates, released the first Climate Action Plan (CAP) for Chennai on June 13. The CAP, which is aimed to serve as a roadmap for the city to become carbon neutral by 2050, will focus on six priority areas such as electrical grid and renewable energy, building energy, sustainable transport, solid waste management, urban…

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…

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…

New health and wellness centres to be launched in Chennai Around 140 health and wellness centres will be opened in different zones of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) in June. They will function from 8 am to 12 pm and from 4 pm to 8 pm. According to the officials of the civic body, the urban primary health centres will be linked to the health and wellness centres in Chennai. Prior to the opening of the centres, 140 staff nurses, 140 medical officers, 140 health inspectors and 140 support staff have been appointed. GCC hopes to see a footfall of…

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…

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…

Contributors of greenhouse gas in Chennai identified Emissions from vehicles and railways have been found to contribute 16% of all greenhouse gas emissions in Chennai. The findings were tabled as part of a report on the Chennai Climate Action Plan (CCAP) drafted by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC). The report prepared by Deloitte has found that 66.4% of all motorised transport trips in the city are driven by fossil-fuel-based vehicles. The share of non-motorised transport in Chennai stands at 28%. To reduce emissions, the report suggests incentivising a switch to e-vehicles. The creation of infrastructure for charging and amendments to…

GCC's bus shelter renovation project faces hurdles The Greater Chennai Corporation's (GCC) plan to renovate bus shelters across has been unable to take off due to a lack of bids. The civic body's plan to spruce up bus 844 bus shelters across Chennai was approved by the council in March. The aim was to ensure uniformity in the renovation and quality of the shelters through the adoption of a public-private partnership model. The total number of bus shelters in the city were divided into 12 corridors, with each corridor comprising 65 bus shelters. The tenders were called for renovation soon…