CHENNAI BUZZ

Chennai Corporation to audit old buildings in Parry's Corner The Greater Chennai Corporation is to audit the stability of the buildings in Parry's Corner after a 70-year-old building in the area collapsed recently. A building on Armenian Street, which was under renovation, collapsed on April 19. The incident left four injured. As many as 280 personnel were deployed in the rescue operation and more than 30 trucks were used to clear the debris. Officials of the civic body stated that prior permission had not been accorded for carrying out the renovation of the building. Source: DT Next Expert Appraisal Committee…

Greater Chennai Corporation plans to clear abandoned vehicles In a joint operation with the police, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) plans to clear the city's streets of all abandoned vehicles. The drive will cover 471 bus routes roads and 40,000 streets across Chennai and is aimed at reducing congestion. As a first step, GCC plans to count the number of abandoned vehicles across 15 zones. Then, the owners of the vehicles will be sent a notice providing two weeks to remove the vehicles. After this time period, the GCC and the police will seize the vehicles. Details such as the…

COVID-19 cases on the rise in Chennai With the daily tally of COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu crossing over 200, of which Chennai alone reported over 80 cases, Health Minister Ma Subramanian has said that the infection seemed to be spreading faster in healthcare institutions. The public has been advised to wear masks in public places, maintain social distancing and self-isolate if they show symptoms of infection. The Health Minister has said that the public need not panic as the current spread is only at the individual level and is not found to exist as a cluster. The GCC has…

Retteri to supply water to Chennai Retteri's storage will be increased to 124 million cubic feet to cater to the rising water demand in Chennai. A sum of Rs. 44 crores is to be allotted for this work, said the Water Resources Minister in the State Assembly. Apart from this, the operations of Poondi, Chembarambakkam and Red Hills reservoirs would be automated at a cost of Rs. 32 crores. WRD has also planned to take up flood mitigation works in the Adyar basin, apart from desilting the canals in Kolapakkam, Manapakkam and Gerugambakkam, in the western part of Chennai. Source:…

GCC issues guidelines for Area Sabhas in Chennai On March 23, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) issued guidelines for holding Area Sabhas across the 200 wards in Chennai. Each ward has 10 Area Sabha with the city having a total of 2,000 Area Sabhas. The guidelines were issued during the orientation conducted for the Area Sabha secretaries and Ward Committee secretaries. The meeting was presided by Corporation Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi. The functions of the Area Sabha secretaries and Ward Committee secretaries have been defined in the guidelines and the Councillors have also been directed to convene these meetings at…

No water or sewer connections for a decade in Sholinganallur It has been 10 years since the Sholinganallur Assembly Constituency was made part of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC). But there has been a dearth of piped water and sewerage infrastructure in those areas to date. Residents demanded immediate action on these issues and staged a protest in Thoraipakkam on 12th March. The residents shared their concerns about the lack of water supply and sewerage in the IT Corridor, and how private tanker lorries are hampering the projects in this part of Chennai. The protesting residents were provided assurance by…

Private operators to ply 500 buses in Chennai For the first time in its history, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) has approved the Gross Cost Contract/Public-Private Partnership model to rope in private operators to own and ply private buses in Chennai. A tender has been floated by the MTC in this regard. While the MTC operates as many as 3,400 buses catering to 29.5 lakh passengers every day, the Chennai Sustainable Urban Services Programme (C-SUSP), the World Bank-funded Chennai City Partnership (CCC), as part of which the MTC has adopted the new model, aims to increase the number of buses…

Civic body removes close to 100 hawkers from Wall Tax Road The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has evicted 100 hawkers from the pavements near Chennai Central and Basin Bridge. The civic body has cleared encroachments over a five-kilometre stretch. The area used to have shops selling food, mechanical parts and other goods. Pavements were also encroached upon by parked vehicles. Apart from making it difficult for pedestrians to use footpaths, some of the encroachers were also found to have let out sewage into the recently built stormwater drains. Corporation officials say that they have taken a stronger stance against the…

Viral fever spreads in Chennai With the spread of viruses like Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Adenovirus and Influenza virus in Chennai, many residents continue to fall sick with fever, body ache and sniffles. Officials have said that cases of Dengue and Chikungunya have been lower in comparison to December and January. However, as other viral diseases have been spreading, some patients see a sudden drop in platelet count that requires hospitalisation, while others require rest and antibiotics. Most of the patients continue to have a cough even after ten days after the symptoms of fever subside. As this is not…

Chennai sees marginal dip in water table in January Chennai recorded normal rainfall during the northeast monsoon in 2022, while there was 74% excess rainfall in 2021. Chennai’s average groundwater level stood at a depth of 3.98 metres in January 2023. This is 0.05 metres less than the groundwater level in December 2022 and the same has fallen by 68 cm compared to last January. The slight dip in the water table is said to be the effect of prolonged dry weather and relatively less rainfall in the past year. A daily water supply of about 1,000 million litres a…