After a lot of data juggling on what percentage of new storm drains in Chennai are complete, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has announced that 100 drain sites would be closed with centering sheets to prevent a repeat of what happened to journalist Muthukrishnan. Only on September 29,...
Every time the traffic police in Chennai and other cities of Tamil Nadu launch a “road safety drive”, there are spectacular displays and a week of media charades, but nothing really changes on the tarmac. Badly behaved motorists don’t feel persuaded to drive by the book. A case in point is the...
At a discussion with consumer rights activists recently, a Regional Transport Officer said candidly that Thoppur in Dharmapuri district on the Salem-Bengaluru highway is the most dangerous stretch of road in the whole of south India. Although the Transport Department has tried to intervene,...
The ball has been set rolling for preparing a Third Master Plan (TMP) for Chennai under the aegis of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA); there is high expectation that the future of the metropolis should be one of vibrancy without the “functional anarchy” tag that J.K....
Another edition of the Swachh Survekshan awards and honours was rolled out recently for 2022, hiding basic failures in India’s urban waste management as envisaged under law. Going by the metrics of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Tamil Nadu fared badly, with only one award for...
Chennai’s storm water drain work has become a major disruption for normal life in a big city. But it could well have been minimised or avoided. One striking feature of Chennai Metro Rail’s construction methods is the speed at which the concrete spans and pillars come up along the elevated...
Chennai’s swirling mass of two-wheelers and cars could technically make the Greater Chennai Corporation a wealthy civic body through parking fees, but the current realisation of revenues is only of the order of Rs.1.2 lakh a day, going up from a low Rs.80,000 after parking lots were “improved.”...
The recently released data for road accidents across India present the shocking picture of Tamil Nadu topping all States in the rise of traffic accidents in 2021 over the previous year, going up from 46,443 to 57,090. Chennai is the mega city that fares the worst on accidents and road safety....
Nearly two years before the COVID-19 pandemic laid low the travel and hospitality sectors, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry had zeroed in on 21 cities which needed a second airport, to meet the peaks of passenger travel and freight transport as the economy grew. For Chennai, in May 2018, the...
The Ramsar Convention recognition given to Pallikaranai marsh in Chennai has turned the focus on the economic value of Tamil Nadu’s 42,978 mapped wetlands, and the trends in degradation and encroachment of these water bodies that have an ecosystem value conservatively estimated to run into...
