EDITORS' PICK

Zone snapshot: Wards – 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 Population – 3017485 (2013) Number of polling stations – 279 To locate your polling station – https://tnsec.tn.nic.in/tn_election_urban2021/find_your_polling_station.php To locate your ward and zone – https://chennaicorporation.gov.in/gcc/citizen-details/location-service/find_zone.jsp Issues in the zone: Industrial pollution is one of the major issues causing distress in the area; Indiscriminate discharge of industrial waste and effluents has caused health concerns such as respiratory diseases among the residents. Worries about protecting Ennore Creek have risen as a result of poor environmental monitoring. The residents are convinced that the Kattupalli port expansion project…

Knowing how to a register a flat in Mumbai is important for a person's legal ownership over a property. When you purchase or receive a flat, its agreement of sale, transfer, gift or lease needs to be registered with the government for the transaction to be considered valid and legal under The Registration Act, 1908. Rules in the state are framed under the Maharashtra Registration Rules, 1961. What is the significance of flat registration? Legally, a flat owner's name is not changed or transferred until the sale or gift transaction is registered with the government. Any unregistered transaction has no…

Chennai is all set to have local body polls for the first time since 2011. The city will elect 200 councillors who will then choose from amongst them a Mayoral candidate for indirect election. In what is a first for the city, the post of Mayor has been reserved for a woman candidate from the Scheduled Castes. The city also sees a 50% reservation of wards for women candidates, meaning half the elected councillors will be women. With the election all set to take place on the 19th, here is all you need to know to cast your vote in…

As Chennai gets set for local body polls for the first time since 2011, many issues faced by the city and how an elected council might offer long-awaited solutions for the same, warranted a discussion. On February 14 2022, Citizen Matters and Janaagraha Center for Citizenship and Democracy brought together a diverse panel of candidates in the fray in this election and prominent voices from civil society organisation to delve into the complexities of local governance and how Chennaiites can hold the elected representatives accountable. The panel was comprised of activist David Manohar of the corruption watchdog Arappor Iyakkam, Charu…

Zone snapshot: Wards - 168, 169, 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191 Population - 322728 (2013) Number of polling stations - 279 To locate your polling station - https://tnsec.tn.nic.in/tn_election_urban2021/find_your_polling_station.php To locate your ward and zone - https://chennaicorporation.gov.in/gcc/citizen-details/location-service/find_zone.jsp Issues in the zone: Poor civic amenities in many slums in the zone are a persistent issue. Residents of Kallukuttai slum have decided to boycott the civic polls on account of not having basic facilities despite living in the area for nearly four decades. They demand better roads, drainage facilities and solutions to water shortage in the summer months. Many roads…

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget 2022-23 provides no relief to the people, especially those living in urban centres who were severely hit by the pandemic. With an estimated 200 million plus people without work, most of them in the cities, there was a dire need for addressing this problem. However, the urgent need for some sort of urban employment scheme remained unaddressed. The only positive aspect of the budget speech is that the finance minister has finally accepted what we, through various forums, have been advocating for long — that the current model of urban development is not sustainable. That a…

Zone snapshot Wards -143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155 Population - 433077 (2013) Polling stations - 309 To locate your polling station - https://tnsec.tn.nic.in/tn_election_urban2021/find_your_polling_station.php To locate your ward and zone - https://chennaicorporation.gov.in/gcc/citizen-details/location-service/find_zone.jsp Counting station - MGR College of Engineering, Maduravoyal Issues in the zone Encroachment of water bodies has been a key issue in the zone. Large scale flooding has taken place as a result of such encroachment during the rains of 2021. The Ambattur lake channel has seen construction on it, leading to water stagnation in many parts of the zone. Shrinking…

Come the first signs of winter and 50-year-old Saleema, a resident of Panthachowk area of Srinagar, visits her 10-acre orchard for two hours daily to collect fallen leaves of the different variety of trees there. She also cuts small tree branches to keep with the leaves. Saleema along with her two daughters, Sab 15 and Iqra 13, then begin the process to turn the leaves and tree branches collected into a kind of coal to be used in fire-pots, popularly known as Kangris, a traditional heating pot which Kashmiris use to fight the bone chilling winter cold. Thanks to the…

Dadul, a security guard at a construction site in Mira Road, returned to Mumbai from Allahabad a month ago. "I went back to my village by truck, paying Rs 3,000, at the start of the pandemic. All I was given from the government at the time was Rs 1,000 and some ration because of the 14-day quarantine. But I was scared of another lockdown, so I stayed back in my village, until recently." he says. Dadul is not aware of any relief announced for construction workers through the lockdown, and he is not alone in this. In the early months…

Zone snapshot Wards: 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78 Polling stations: 505 Population: 611680 (2013) To locate your polling station - https://tnsec.tn.nic.in/tn_election_urban2021/find_your_polling_station.php To locate your ward and zone - https://chennaicorporation.gov.in/gcc/citizen-details/location-service/find_zone.jsp Issues in the zone: Improper road laying leading to excess flooding in settlements and houses. In Vetri Nagar in Kolathur, manholes were covered up in the road laying process. Many incomplete development projects. For example work on Stephenson Bridge across Otteri Nullah is still ongoing. Residents are wading through drainage water stagnating on the road daily. Water logging during the rainy season especially…