Civic

The Swacch Bharat ranking released last month has seen Chennai climb to rank 100, up from a lowly 235 the previous year. While there is some reason for cheer there, realities on the ground with regard to sanitation facilities in the city are far from promising. Chennai's lack of public toilets has been an issue that has plagued the city for many years.  With a burgeoning population, the facilities in existing toilets have also been found to be wanting. Couched in this larger issue is the oft neglected problem of absence of adequate public toilets for women in the city…

With truckers nationwide strike, veggie prices likely to shoot up Truck operators across the nation called for an indefinite strike against rising fuel cost, and calling for rationalising road toll plazas. Though the strike might not impact the supply of essential items like milk, water and medicine it is likely to affect the prices of vegetables. In Tamil Nadu it is estimated that around 4.5 lakh lorries would be off the road. Source: New Indian Express Key bus terminuses likely to be put to commercial use The MTC that has been financially strained with steady loss of commuters is likely…

In our deeply undemocratic traffic system, we need to call out how strong the automobile lobby is, how suppressed pedestrians are and how small is the resistance from pedestrians and public transport uses. Consider this: peaceful, democratic protesters are not allowed by a force-wielding police to come anywhere near Mantralaya. They are confined to a corner some 2 km away in Azad Maidan, in a corner, rendered invisible to the people. But axe-wielding men of the Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) could easily dig up the footpath right in front of the state government headquarters, supposedly to protest the presence of…

One of the most pressing challenges faced by the Indian education system is to bridge the gap between the infrastructure and quality of education in a private school and that of a government school. While the government rethinks its model for public schools across the country, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and citizen groups have taken it upon themselves to bring about change. The Avasar Foundation, a Bengaluru-based NGO recently inaugurated a pre-primary school at the Seegehalli Government Higher Primary School located in Kadugodi, near Whitefield in Bengaluru. This pre-primary school has been built on the kindergarten model that is seen in…

Do our smart city projects come at the cost of green cover? Several trees have been cut in T Nagar to pave the way for road development under the Chennai Smart City projects. Greater Chennai Corporation is building a pedestrian plaza from Anna Salai to Bashyam Road near Panagal Park, covering a stretch of 1.45 km. Residents, traders and NGOs have criticized Chennai Corporation's lackadaisical attitude towards conservation of trees and allege that work for the plaza has started without any survey or census of trees in the area. Source: The Hindu | The Times of India Two new sewage treatment…

Supreme Court slams city governments, Delhi LG for urban crisis Referring in particular to the garbage woes in Delhi and the drainage mess in Mumbai, the top court of the country pulled up urban governments over their inaction and ineffectiveness to stem the growing crisis in Indian cities. A two-judge bench took strong exception to the fact that around 13 states and several Union Territories had not yet formulated their policy for solid waste management strategy, well beyond two years since the central Solid Waste Management Rules came into force in April 2016. 10 states and two union territories were…

Urban infrastructure projects announced by various government departments have hit a stumbling block in Chennai, since the expiry of the last city council in October 2016. A handful of ideas announced by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) were languishing at varying stages of implementation, several of them still at a very preliminary stage. Several other projects taken up by the highways department have also been in suspension.   We inquired into three such significant projects in Chennai and the problems that impede completion. Pallavaram flyover skips deadline When the highways department commenced the construction works of the three lane unidirectional…

The Union government launched the Smart Cities programme on June 25, 2015 with the objective to "promote sustainable and inclusive cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions". Chennai was one of the 20 cities selected in Round 1 of the smart cities mission in January 2016. Chennai's smart city projects are funded by a Rs 500-crore allocation from the Centre and an additional Rs 500 crore from the state. Chennai Smart City Projects But for all the hype, the Corporation of Chennai…

Some plastic items go off the banned list As Government issues notification for ban of plastic items with effect from January 2019, it has also issued orders exempting a number of plastic items such as plastic bags that constitute or form an integral part of packaging, in which goods are sealed prior to use in manufacturing / processing units. The order issued by Environment and Forest Secretary Md Nasimuddin said no industry or person shall manufacture, store, supply, transport, sell or distribute throwaway plastics. The exemptions include plastic carry bags manufactured exclusively to meet an export order at a plastic…

Following SC order, Delhi passes doorstep ration delivery, stops tree cutting In a much awaited court ruling on the power tussle between the Delhi government and the Centre represented by the Lieutenant Governor (LG), the apex court of the country said that the LG is bound by the aid and advice of the council of ministers of the democratically elected government in all matters, except land, public order and the police force. Barely a couple of days after the verdict, the Delhi government headed by Arvind Kejriwal, overruled all objections and passed the long-proposed doorstep delivery of PDS supplies to…