Good morning, Chennai!
🌥️ Today’s weather: High: 33 ℃ | Low: 26 ℃ | Cloudy weather for the day.
🧐 Did you know? In 1917, Madras was the first province in India to implement a system of dyarchy (double government) based on the recommendations of the Montague-Chelmsford report.
👨💻 Quantum hub
IIT Madras has plans to open a thematic quantum communication hub in Chennai.
What’s it about? The decision to set up this hub will be taken up by the Department of Science and Technology by the end of the month. The proposal submitted is currently being evaluated.
- IIT Madras also has a new ₹21-crore quantum lab funded by Mphasis. It aims to accelerate fundamental and applied research in quantum computing.
- The department will also announce technical groups for the hubs. A quantum hub has four of five technical groups which form the governing board.
Why quantum computing? Quantum communication secures data transmission through protocols offering a highly secure alternative to traditional encryption methods.
🛣️ Chennai-Bengaluru expressway delayed
The highly-anticipated expressway will miss its December deadline.
What’s it about? Union Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari told the Rajya Sabha that the expressway will be delayed to 2025 due to contractor performance issues. When it’s completed, the ₹17,000 crore Greenfield project will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- The expressway project was announced in 2018. Next month, a test drive of the expressway will occur in the first phase of the roads built so far.
- The project spans Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. The goal is to cut travel time between Sriperumbudur and Hoskote to two and a half hours.
Project features: The project is officially called NE-7. It’s a four-lane access-controlled road. The expressway will be eight lanes for 280 km.
🔌 Money from cable operators
The Chennai Corporation nets over ₹1 crore from operators for excess cables.
What’s it about? Days after the civic body began removing illegal excess cables, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) across the city paid ₹1.1 crore to the Chennai Corporation to retain the cables. Last week, officers were directed to cut the cables of companies with outstanding dues.
- The Corporation gave companies a 24-hour deadline to pay dues to avoid disruptions. The civic body cut 50-km-long cables across North Chennai. The longest cable was in Valasaravakkam at 6.3 km.
- Several broadband companies faced complaints of network issues from houses, apartments, hospitals, and police stations. Some companies paid their dues for excess cables.
Previous rules: Network providers used to get licenses for limited kilometres but laid excess cables. Before 2018, the Corporation charged ₹54,000 per km. New TRAI regulations waived that off. Since 2022, the new charges are ₹1,000 per km.
🚇 Another metro extension
The CMRL has begun studying the feasibility of extending the metro to link the Parandur Airport via Poonamallee.
What’s it about? The Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) has begun a feasibility study to extend the metro from the existing airport to Poonamallee via Kundrathur and Thiruneermalai. The line will cover 16 km.
- If it’s ready, people will be able to travel from the old airport to the new one at Parandur in less than one hour. The study is being done along with the report for the Poonamallee to Parandur metro extension project.
- The fourth route of the metro is the 26.1-km Lighthouse-Poonamalle line. The route will have nine underground and 18 elevated stations.
Second phase progress: As part of the second phase, the installation of equipment for the power line on the Poonamalle-Porur route has started.
✨ Things to do…
Here are some fun and interesting things to do in the city over the weekend!
- Taylor Swift fans, get ready to pay tribute with a curated playlist at Swiftie Night this Saturday.
- Get ready to laugh with three comedians at the The Internet Said So – Uncensored show this Saturday.
- For textile enthusiasts and shoppers, there’s a one-day Textile Vision Expo this Saturday.
- Theatre lovers can catch the award-winning play Exit Wounds this Saturday.
- An evening of poetry awaits at the Poetry Mattum Open Mic this Saturday.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll Results:
- I expect the city to handle the monsoon better this year: 71.4% 🏆
- I don’t expect the city to handle the monsoon better this year: 28.6%
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
Which brand of snacks/biscuits do you eat the most?
Suchi: “Snacks from Grand Sweets.”
That’s it for today. Have a great weekend!