Civic

National Clean Air Program covering 102 cities launched The union government has launched a comprehensive programme to tackle the growing menace of air pollution in Indian cities through the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). The programme will cover 102 cities in total, with the aim to reduce the concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 levels by 20 to 30 percent by the year 2024. The overlay for the first two years is Rs 300 crore. The NCAP will cover cities that have shown air quality that is consistently poorer than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The programme will be brought…

Campaign for a smokeless Bhogi The celebration of the harvest festival brings with it a spike in air pollution across the city. The air quality index (AQI)  data from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board confirms the rise in particulate matter during this period. The Chennai Corporation has begun an awareness campaigns for a smokeless Bhogi. The campaign conducted by the TNPCB  and health department officials is aimed at sensitising residents, RWAs, students, etc on the hazards of burning certain items like rubber and plastics. The Environment department of the TN Government is also lending its weight to the campaign. The…

I want to thank the movement Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB) for pushing me to attend the ward committee meeting in my ward Shanthinagar. I’m glad I went. Kudos to all energetic young people, I now feel there’s hope for Bengaluru! On time, but low on public participation The meeting started on time, which was great. But citizen participation was very low, with only about 15 attending. Hardly anyone from RWAs was present. I thought RWAs exist to push citizens’ agenda, so I was not sure what to make of this. Of the 10 ward committee members, nine attended the meeting.…

The saga of transferring my late father-in-law’s car registration/title to my mother-in-law began on August 2, 2018. We had put together all the necessary documents after reviewing Wikiprocedure.com (not the RTO website) and speaking to other people who had gone through this process. The required documents included: The original RC book Form 31 Death certificate. Legal heir certificate issued by the Tahsildar’s office. Affidavits from the other legal heirs (my husband and his sister) that they had relinquished their rights in favour of the applicant (their mother) - these affidavits were on printed on stamp paper and notarized A copy…

Wooden cutlery, cloth and paper bags, steel containers to replace disposables. The implementation of the plastic ban is increasingly becoming visible in all quarters of life in Chennai, as traders, hoteliers and the general public are slowly taking to eco-friendly alternatives. When it comes to businesses, there have been mixed results, in terms of adherence to the ban on plastic. Big food brands such as Adyar Anand Bhavan, Fassos and The Black Box have switched to eco-friendly packaging material such as cloth bags, paper cartons and wooden spoons, while some are still to comply. The transition Close observation of the…

“Sir, only Rs 10,500/- service charge for Khata and property tax. Quick and reliable service!” said a representative of a broker firm in Akshay Nagar, Begur. The firm facilitated the issuing of Khatas for apartments, while residents of West End Heights, an apartment complex of 1,830 units, were looking to get Khatas. But they decided they had to do something about the blatant corruption in the delivery of Khatas. What followed was a tale of how a group of aware and vocal citizens fought against the system and won, and received their Khata certificates without having to pay any bribes.…

Recycling sewage, the only resort for Chennai Poor show of north-east monsoon and dry summers have become the new order in Chennai. As water scarcity turns out to be a burning problem, researchers from Anna University’s Geology department feel that recycling sewage water could be an effective and viable solution. According to ‘Predicting future water supply-demand gap with a new reservoir, desalination plant and waste water reuse by water evaluation and planning model for Chennai Mega City’ published in Elsevier’s Groundwater for Sustainable Development in October 2018, the city’s water woes can be solved by next year through recycling sewage…

Women come together for show of solidarity on Sabarimala A 35-lakh strong contingent of women formed a 620-km long wall across the state of Kerala to show solidarity with the women who defied tradition to enter the Sabarimala temple, and to demand the upholding of their constitutional right to do so as per the Supreme Court verdict in 2018. The participants of the wall pledged to uphold gender equality. The protest was organised by the Kerala government after the state saw a backlash for implementing the Supreme Court verdict that allowed the entry of all women into Sabarimala, which was previously…

Compare this. Actor Rajinikanth, who lives in Poes Garden pays Rs 2.66 per square foot as tax for his property, while N Nagarajan, a resident of Nanganallur has to pay Rs 3.685. Poes Garden, an address for the who’s who of Chennai has all facilities: wide roads, well-designed storm water drains and a comprehensive underground drainage system. On the other hand, Nanganallur in Alandur zone presents a sorry contrast. Roads are battered even after a brief spell of rain, and connectivity to arterial localities of the city appears to be a distant dream. The information gathered by Alandur residents reveal that…

With the Tamil Nadu government's partial ban on single-use plastic in place since January 1st, Citizen Matters spoke to Rajendra Ratnoo, IAS, one of the the three regional coordinators working to make the transition to a plastic-less state smooth and ensure the success of the ban. We asked him some of the questions raised most often by our readers. What happens to the existing single use plastic in possession with the people as on January 1st? The segregated collection of waste by the local body is already underway in many places. People can turn in the single use plastic they…