Years before the DMK government gave the former bureaucrat V Thiruppugazh the job of studying the disastrous 2021 flood in Chennai and suggesting permanent remedies, he had undertaken a study of best practices in the wake of the 2015 flood in the city on behalf of the Union Government’s...
It is a running battle between disability rights activists and government establishments to get officials to obey the law. Although it is six years since the new law on rights of the disabled was passed, the situation on the ground is far from improved, whether in public buildings, transport or...
A decade-long problem relating on hawking on the Chennai street resurfaced recently. The Madras High Court directed senior retired and serving IAS and police officers to appear personally for committing contempt on the issue of continued presence of hawkers on NSC Bose Road opposite the court...
World Environment Day is a good time to take stock of how infrastructure in Chennai has developed historically and what its impact on ecology has been. This will help to plan for developing infrastructure in Chennai in future. Chennai, which lies along the coast of Bay of Bengal, is prone to...
The fire in Perungudi dumping yard that started on April 27 and raged for five days literally brought to light the state of garbage collection and disposal in the city. The waterbody in the dumping yard that turned pink due to the leeching of toxic pollutants has remained pink nearly three...
The Chennai bus app does work fairly well on certain basic aspects but could be more user-friendly. Using the app, the next MTC bus on your route can now be spotted on a mobile phone, sparing the commuter the frustrating guessing game of whether there is any bus coming. Look for Chennai Bus by...
The quiet launch of ONDC, or Open National Digital Commerce platform, in five cities including Coimbatore to help local businesses and even mom and pop stores open online storefronts is the Union government’s bid to curb the power of giants such as Amazon and Flipkart over India’s $ 700 billion...
Chennai autos are back in the headlines after the city police registered almost 959 complaints in a single day, on April 20, against “errant” drivers who violated rules governing operation of the three-wheelers, on ‘overcharging’, overloading and so on. Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal was...
How has a residential area at the confluence of West Mambalam, T. Nagar, Ashok Nagar and Kodambakkam spread over about five square kilometres turned barren without a single bus route? That is the story of Rangarajapuram, a largely residential locality that once boasted of two regular MTC bus...
Driving around Chennai for a few hours and inquiring with residents shows that Chennai Corporation seems to have given up on the practice of patching roads and performing small road repairs. Either the roads were in bad condition due to rains or natural degradation. Pits dug by various agencies...
