Long before Indian cities began to talk about segregation and composting, Chennai as a city had successfully experimented with it, thanks to the unique Exnora initiative. But how did the movement wane? Akshatha M chats with M B Nirmal, the visionary founder of Exnora.
Organisers had to shell out Rs 15000, as against the Rs 2000 initially quoted, for each of two concerts held on Besant Nagar during the Marghazi Festival this year, but have since been trying in vain to substantiate the official basis for these charges.
Students of the AMM Matriculation HS School in Kotturpuram were tired of the political posters that made their compound wall an eyesore, till a group of art-loving students decided to take matters in their hands. And look at the results!
Chennai has just about survived the scantiest north-east monsoon in 140 years, and the worst-ever water situation in the last 14 years. Akshatha M finds out about the CMWSSB’s contingency plans for the coming season.
For five years, the NGO’s weekly grievance redressal camps have been effectively assisting ordinary citizens to address and solve problems pertaining to a range of issues, from property disputes to police inaction.
Under new system, contractor payments will be based not on quantity alone but on more holistic indicators such as segregation, collection and cleanliness of bins and streets, says Commissioner D Karthikeyan in a freewheeling chat with Akshatha M.
Under guidelines issued by the Urban Development Department, all unauthorised buildings built before July 1 2007 can be regularised upon payment of a penalty.
While the Chennai Metro Water site displays a vibrant water and sewage network plan in place for the OMR IT Corridor, no one, not even officials seem to know the actual status of these projects.
For years, residents of the famed Rajiv Gandhi Salai IT corridor have been pressing for basic water and drainage infrastructure, lack of which has meant not just huge expenses but also undesirable developments for the city as a whole.
Businessman-turned-PIL advocate VBR Menon is on a mission to clean up the city system — from water bodies management to registration of unapproved plots. Akshatha M catches up with him.
In the 2014 general election, close to 6 lakh voters in Tamil Nadu chose ‘None of the Above’ option on the ballot machines. So all in all, the people who opted for NOTA was 1.4
