EDITORS' PICK

Road crashes kill around 1,50,000 people every year in India and could thus be termed the 7th most important non-communicable disease. The Government of India, in 2019, passed the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act which increased penalties for several violations such as not wearing helmets and seatbelts.  As part of the National Road Safety Month 2021, Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG) surveyed 10 locations in Chennai city to gauge the level of compliance with helmet and seatbelt rules. By law, only two persons are allowed on two-wheelers and both are required to wear a helmet, properly fastened. In cars,…

A vertical pole stands tall at the Ashok Pillar junction, right next to the bus stop. Apart from a loudspeaker, a street lighting system and a CCTV camera fixed to the pole, it also sports a Wi-Fi router. Any member of the public can access free Wi-Fi in this area for half-an-hour at the speed of 2Mbps. That’s a smart pole for you! Chennai has 50 such smart poles.  Internet service for the 50 smart poles has been provided by Airtel, as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility. According to a senior official from Chennai Smart City Limited, the approximate…

On the one hand, it is good news. The Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) is looking at creating a museum at the Kilpauk Water Works. The Police Commissioner’s Office in the city is setting up a museum at its old office in Egmore. The Corporation is debating the possibility of a city museum in Victoria Public Hall. Three great institutions of the city almost simultaneously working on museums for themselves! What more could we ask for? The question is how sustainable will these be in the long run given that they will almost certainly be run by…

In 2019, the Indore Municipal Corporation became the first Indian city to clear around 15 lakh tonnes of historic waste at landfills using a process called bioremediation. With overflowing landfills and the difficulty of finding new waste disposal sites, Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) across the country now look at the Indore project as an example worth emulating to clear out waste dumps at landfills. Cities like Bijapur, Davanagere, Doddaballapur, and most recently, Hassan and Gokak have already invited Expressions of Interest or tenders for conducting bioremediation. While this may result in reclaiming some land from waste disposal sites, several challenges…

Off the busy NSC Bose Road opposite the Madras High Court building, run two streets parallel to each other. On any work day, you would find a stream of loadmen carrying wrapped packages on bullock carts and rickshaws on these streets, even as two-wheelers snake their way in and out and shoppers walk leisurely past. There's not much to distinguish the streets from any other commercial locality on Broadway just by the looks of it.  The real uniqueness lies elsewhere. These two streets -- Prakasam Salai and Baker Street host hundreds of wholesale optical stores.  From the cutting of lens…

A scorching summer sun is the first thing that comes to mind at the mention of Chennai for many. The most common jibe at the city’s unforgiving weather is that Chennai has three seasons: hot, hotter and hottest. While Chennaiites have acclimatised themselves to the heat amidst all these jokes and memes, they have yet to embrace fully the ways to turn that into an advantage. By harnessing the power of the sun.  Solar energy as a renewable energy resource has gained immense popularity over the past decades. So much so, that Tamil Nadu is home to the largest solar…

Did the recent rainfall help to bring about any significant increase in the groundwater level in your neighbourhood? You can check the data online now.  In a bid to assess groundwater level across the city, so that it can take proactive measures when the table dips, the Chennai Metrowater Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) has installed 200 groundwater monitoring devices and 20 rain gauges across 15 zones of the city. Notably, Chennai is the first Indian city to have a comprehensive automatic groundwater monitoring system. But why do we need such a system in the first place and how will it…

Vidya Jonnagada, a resident of Tarnaka escaped the hardships of many of her neigbours who were stuck in their homes and flats without power, water and connectivity for several days due to the flood havoc caused by the incessant rains in October. “We had one advantage,” said Vidya. “We had set up a solar-powered backup for our entire complex, which proved a life-saver".  Tilak S. Gajendran, a resident of Nizampet too said the solar power backup enabled him to see through those rainy days even though the solar panels wasn’t very effective. “We were fortunate to have some power during…

In consolidation of what is an established and flourishing trend in the Chennai art arena, more than 2000 memes were released on social media, to coincide with the recent release of the Vijay-starrer Master. Indeed, the release of any star-studded, big-budget film in Tamil Nadu is now inevitably accompanied by the creation and promotion of hundreds of creative memes. But did you know that the creators of these memes slog at it for at least two months before each release? Memes are hugely popular today and Chennai has pretty much established itself as the meme capital of Tamil Nadu. Evolution…

Translated by Sandhya Raju முப்பத்தியோரு வயது பொறியாளர் எம் பி அழகு பாண்டிய ராஜா, ஜனவரி 25-ம் தேதி அன்று இந்தியாவின் முதல் நகர பதுமுறைகாணல் அதிகாரியாக (City Innovation Officer) நியமிக்கப்பட்டார். இங்கிலாந்தில் மென்பொருள் நிறுவனத்தில் ஐந்து ஆண்டுகள் வேலை பார்த்த அழகு பாண்டிய ராஜா, தாய் நாட்டிற்கு பங்களிக்க வேண்டும் என்ற உந்துதலால், சென்னை திரும்பினார். இந்தியன் ஸ்மார்ட் சிட்டி ஃபெலோ (Indian Smart City Fellow) பணியில் தன்னை இணைத்துக் கொண்ட அவர், சென்னை மாநகராட்சியுடன் இணைந்து ஆகியவற்றிற்கு புது தீர்வுகளை கொண்டு வந்தார். சென்னை மாநகராட்சி ஆணையர் ஜி பிரகாஷ் மற்றும் வருவாய் துணை ஆணையர் மேகநாத் ரெட்டி ஆகியோரின் முயற்சியே புதுமுறைகாணலுக்கான ஒரு பிரிவினை உருவாக்க காரணம் என்கிறார். இந்த புதிய பதவியில் அவரது பங்கு குறித்தும், பதுமுறைகாணல் அதிகாரியாக பொது மக்களுடனான ஈடுபாடு குறித்தும் அவரிடம் சிட்டிசன் மேட்டர்ஸ் உரையாடியது. சென்னையின்…