GENRE: Voices

Every monsoon, South Chennai goes underwater. The only sponge that soaks up all that rain is the Pallikaranai Marsh, yet around it, 8,619 hectares of land face severe flood risks. Despite this, the State has offered to protect only a fraction of that land.  On October 9th, the Tamil Nadu State Wetlands Authority (TNSWA) told the Madras High Court  that the marsh's interim Zone of Influence (ZoI) is just 36 survey numbers, covering 128.19 hectares. The next hearing of the case is on November 11th.  Scattered "protection"  These plots lie in bits and pieces across seven villages, from Pallikaranai to Perumbakkam.…

தாம்பரம் மாநகராட்சியானது, கடந்த 2023 ஆம் ஆண்டு மாநகராட்சி உட்பட்ட அனைத்து பகுதிகளுக்கும் 24x7 மணி நேரமும் தடையற்ற குடிநீர் விநியோகத்தை உறுதி செய்யும் வகையில் ஒரு விரிவான திட்ட அறிக்கையைத் தயார் செய்திருந்தது. அந்தத் திட்ட அறிக்கை செயல்பாட்டுக்கு முழுமையாக வருவதற்கு முன்பே, 2026 -யில் தற்போதைய மக்கள் தொகை, நகர்ப்புற வளர்ச்சி, எதிர்கால குடிநீர் தேவை, தற்போதைய உட்கட்டமைப்பு மற்றும் திட்ட செலவினங்களைக் கருத்தில் கொண்டு குடிநீர் திட்டத்திற்கான மீண்டும் ஒரு விரிவான திட்ட அறிக்கை (DPR) பணி மேற்கொள்ளப்படுவதாகவும், முதற்கட்டமாக செம்பாக்கம், மாடம்பாக்கம், சிட்லபாக்கம், திருநீர்மலை, பெருங்குளத்தூர், பீர்க்கங்கரணை ஆகிய ஆறு பகுதிகளை உள்ளடக்கிய குடிநீர் விநியோகத்திற்கு அரசு-தனியார் பங்கேற்பு (PPP) முறையில் ஆய்வு மற்றும் பரிந்துரை பணிகளை மேற்கொள்ளுவதற்கு அரசு அதிகாரப்பூர்வமாக டெண்டர் விட்டுள்ளது. மக்களின் அத்தியாவசியத் தேவைகளான குடிநீர் விநியோகத் திட்டத்தில் தனியார் பங்களிப்பை இணைப்பது குறித்து பொதுமக்களிடம் போதிய ஆலோசனை மற்றும் கருத்துக்கேட்பு…

In Chengalpattu district, the main water channels of the Kovalam-Nemmeli coastal wetland, which drains a catchment of more than 270 square kilometres, have currently been blocked. Barriers that obstruct water flow have been built across Chennai's Buckingham Canal at three places: Thiruvidanthai-Vadanemmeli, near the Nemmeli-Thiruporur bridge, and Saluvankuppam. Earlier, we explored how the Mamallan Reservoir causes serious damage to the wetland’s ecology and how fishing livelihoods are affected. Field investigations by the Wetland Conservation Network have recorded the blockages preventing tidal exchange in the Buckingham Canal.           According to officials, these barriers were put up to enable construction of the Mamallan…

Where do the items in our homes come from, and what happens after we discard them? Let’s take a plastic bottle. Water, cola, buttermilk, and caffeinated drinks — all this comes in PET bottles. Indians collectively throw out 38,00,000 kg worth of PET bottles daily. Where does a plastic bottle come from? Oil, gas, and other fossil fuels are processed into polymers. Polymer pellets are shipped to factories where a multi-step process turns them into bottles. These bottles are shipped to other factories to be filled and labelled. These bottles go to warehouses, wholesalers, and then retailers.  Crude oil from…

Residents of Sancharnagar-MCECHS Layout in Ashwath Nagar, Thanisandra, are facing a prolonged civic crisis. What was once a well-regarded neighbourhood has now turned into a hazardous zone of dug‑up roads and broken footpaths. Exposed iron rods and makeshift wooden planks serving as temporary walkways pose constant danger to residents.  The same roads have been repeatedly dug up by multiple agencies. These include gas pipeline contractors, Cauvery water project teams, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM), and most recently, drainage and sewage contractors. The situation has persisted for months leading up to a year…

When we first met Sarthak* in November 2025, he was eight years old and in Grade 2. We remember seeing him sitting on his teacher’s chair with both legs up, his shirt untucked, tear stains on his face, and demanding her phone.  We came to know Sarthak through our work as Social Work Fellows with Brain Bristle, a Mumbai-based non-profit working to advance autism inclusion and equitable education for children in low-income schools. The Fellowship places selected Master’s students of psychology with specialised training in under-resourced schools across Mumbai. The Fellows work to address systemic gaps and help children learn…

Over the past two decades, Chennai has weathered a tsunami, repeated floods, and now, according to a new study, a rapidly worsening mix of heat and rain. Heatwave-preconditioned extreme rainfall events in the Chennai Metropolitan Area have nearly tripled over four decades, rising from an average of 1.2 events a year between 1982 and 1991 to 3.2 events a year between 2012 and 2021. When a heatwave comes before the rain, the same study finds, the population exposed to flooding rises elevenfold and the number of buildings affected rises seven-fold. A separate assessment projects that heatwave days in the city…

As work on the Mamallan Reservoir project is picking up pace, environmentalists and locals dread the devastation it is unleashing. The project not only threatens the fragile Kovalam-Nemmeli coastal wetland and the habitats it supports, but also poses flood risks to communities living nearby.  In an earlier article, we showed how field studies by the Suzhal Arivom team documented the damage this project will cause to the local ecology. Based on that same report, Part 2 looks at how the project impacts the daily lives and livelihoods of people in the Kovalam-Nemmeli area. The project can trigger the erasure of…

More than 1,000 trees to be cut. Close to 100 bird species and 400 plant species endangered. All this for a project that covers just about two kilometres and costs a whopping ₹1,140 crore. Residents and activists in Bengaluru have vehemently opposed the Karnataka government's Hebbal Short Tunnel project, launching a petition to halt construction immediately. Environmental activists and experts warn that the project threatens Bengaluru's cascading lake system and increases flooding risks. There is growing public concern that the tunnel will cut through one of North Bengaluru’s last major green-blue landscapes and cause lasting environmental damage. The petition, started…

Businesses in Ramtekdi Industrial Estate are expected to manufacture, employ and attract customers, but the basic infrastructure around them tells another story.  The industrial estate in Hadapsar is home to small and medium manufacturing units, including businesses supplying Indian companies and exporting overseas. For our unit on Lane 1, getting to work means navigating a road broken into deep craters that fill with stagnant water during the monsoon season. Trucks carrying goods, workers on two-wheelers and visitors to the factory, all have to negotiate the same stretch. The state of the approach has become a problem for the business itself.…