Civic

A stretch of the old, dilapidated compound wall of the Corporation School in Thiruveedhi Amman Koil Street of RA Puram grabbed the attention of a residents welfare association recently. To give a new lease of colour to the wall, Thiruveedhi Amman Koil Street Resident Welfare Association (TAKSRA), in association with an organisation called Karam Korpom-SAPS (Stop Abusing Public Spaces) started work two days before World Environment Day. SAPS focuses on preventing the abuse of public spaces by transforming them into beautiful art corners. K L Balasubramanian and M K Ramkumar, active members of TAKSRA, led a group of about 30 volunteers to…

It has been a war between the animal lovers and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in the last few days as the Palike proposed to limit the number of dogs that could be owned in residences. From online petitions to flooding the offices of the Animal Husbandry Department with letters and objections, pet lovers went on an overdrive to stop the administration on their tracks. #NotWithoutMyDog started appearing on social media, while people objected to not letting one person have more than one dog in apartments. The Palike has proposed among other things microchipping for the animals, penalty for not…

Is Chennai ready for  the monsoon? A short spell this week brought much cheer to the people of Chennai, but near immediate reports of water stagnation and potholes on many roads, raises this important question - Is Chennai ready for the monsoon?  A funds crunch has delayed the consturction of storm water drains under the Integrated Storm Water Drain (ISWD) project, by over 12 months, and last week, the state's request from funding was rejected by the Central government. ISWD was mooted by the former CM J Jayalalithaa in 2014 to reduce the impact of floods. Estimated to cost `4,034…

What is a Master Plan? Many of us complain that Chennai has grown ‘unplanned’. Technically that is not true. Chennai has been having various ‘plans’ guiding the expansion of the city since 1957. The First Master Plan for Chennai was published in 1975. Both the transport terminal and  wholesale market from Central Business District were shifted to the current CMBT and Koyambedu Market as a strategy to decongest the Central Business District then. So the master plan matters. The Second Master Plan was published in 2008 - this plan is a guiding document till 2026, another 8 years from now.…

Metro Rail to ensure last mile connectivity For any mass rapid system to succeed, it needs to ensure last mile connectivity, and  Chennai Metro Rail (CMRL) is very aware of this fact. In a few months from now, CMRL  will run share autos along its network, and will soon call for tenders. “We plan to give a contract to the lowest bidding firm, to ply share autos to stations along our elevated and underground stretches. It will most likely be Tata Magic vans that would be operated through our network,” an official said Meanwhile, Metro has seen a dip in…

Citizen Matters in the past has explained how khata can be transferred without paying bribe. This post explains the experience of khata bifurcation/transfer done for a newly built apartment by a few of the residents, after following old examples. March 2017: We initially heard that Khata transfer can’t be done without paying bribe. Many of the fellow owners of the apartments were under the same impression. Initially around 15-18 owners got it done with the help of builder by paying huge amount of bribe. Their khata was done in 2 months only. We, the rest of the owners, thought we…

Hemraj, a youth in his mid twenties, hails from Royapuram, in North Chennai, which is a neglected area in terms of development or infrastructure compared to other parts of the city. From street light malfunction to free flow of sewage to handling simple checks by the police, Hemraj says he had no clue how to resolve all them and whom to approach, until he started volunteering with a civic-action group, Arappor Iyakkam. Citizen movements across the city are growing and are becoming a powerful tool to resolve civic issues and what is heartening is that these citizen movements are now…

Two underground stretches of Metro Rail commence operation Commuters travelling to Chennai Central  from Annanagar can now take the Metro, as can travellers from Saidapet to DMS. Two new stretches of Chennai Metro were inaugurated by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Union Minister Hardeep Singh from Egmore railway station.  A commuter who wants to travel from Chennai Central to Chennai airport or AG-DMS to Chennai airport will have to pay ₹70. The minimum fare is Rs.10/- and the maximum fare has now been revised to Rs. 70 Meanwhile, work is said to be in full swing to complete the…

A mid-January dawn in Chennai of UNESCO ‘heritage fame’, as margazhi kolams inch boisterously onto the centre of roads, roadside temples belt out loud religious music to the neighbourhoods. It is the run up to auspicious Thai and the bounteous Pongal festival. Only, the air of peaceful holiness is marred by the overflowing garbage bins everywhere around. Stranger still is that morning walkers, senior citizens, fitness enthusiasts etc., move around effortlessly, unseeing of the muck in every periphery of their vision!Interviewing conservancy workers whose job profile is to keep the streets of Chennai clean and free of garbage and litter…

A month after DefExpo, trash all over the location. Whatever happened to Swacch Bharat? A citizen driving past Thiruvidanthai on Chennai's ECR captures the trash (plastic, thermocol) and construction debris left behind after the prestigious DefExpo 2018 was held there in April 2018. Land owned by the Nithya Perumal temple was taken over by the Defence Ministry for the event, but the villagers and temple authorities say they have no idea when the land will be returned to them. Environmentalists said the DefExpo site was a violation of coastal zone regulations. “When the Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone Management Authority gave…