Good morning, Chennai!
🌥️ Today’s weather: High: 32 ℃ | Low: 24 ℃ | A little cloudy for the day.
🧐 Did you know? Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy was the first Indian woman to receive the University Medical degree from The Madras Medical College.
🌊 NIOT’s marine work
A new portal was launched exclusively for information on marine resources.
What’s it about? Union Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) Secretary Dr M Ravichandran launched a web portal for the Marine Microbial Repository under the Deep Ocean Mission at the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai.
- NIOT has built capacity through collaboration with academia and industry to develop vertical expertise. It has made progress in development models of the Blue Economy and the sustainable use of ocean resources.
- NIOT’s other work includes deep-sea submersibles, mining trials for marine resources, coastal protection, and collecting marine data for weather and assessing climate change.
New facility: The Ballast Water Treatment Technologies Test Facility (BWTT-TF) at the NIOT Sea Front Site at Pamanji and Vagarru villages in Tirupati districts was designed to test and validate the Ballast Water Treatment System.
🥮 Cake mixing begins
Chennai hotels blend the old and the new with their unique cake-mixing ceremonies.
What’s it about? Chennai’s hotels are already gearing up for the festive season with their traditional cake-mixing ceremonies. It’s a time for staff and management to partake in the ceremony meant to unite and celebrate unity and community.
- Savera Hotel marked its 56th ceremony with regular patrons and guests. They used 21 ingredients and many litres of red wine, brandy, and dark rum. Westin Chennai’s ceremony had a kid’s table where young ones participated.
- Grand Chennai by GRT Hotels began its festive season with the theme of sustainability. No trans fat or artificial colours were used. There’s also a rise in demand for eggless and vegan cakes.
Tradition: The ceremony dates back to 17th century Britain. It was a way to preserve dried fruits and sweets during the winter to mark the beginning of the harvest season.
🅿️ Parking management
CUMTA will study the current dynamics and available technologies to implement a parking management system.
What’s it about? The Chennai Corporation’s on-street parking management system failed to take off. The Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) will first study the existing market dynamics and technologies before implementing a new system.
- CUMTA has invited vendors working in parking systems to a consultation meeting on November 14. Tenders will be floated based on the outcome of the meeting.
- CUMTA has prepared an Area Level Parking Management Plan for Anna Nagar. It includes designated parking areas and No Parking zones as a pilot.
Components: The proposed new system will have surveillance technology, on-ground teams, and real-time processing for an efficient parking management system. Once it’s implemented, parking will only be allowed on designated roads and streets.
🚆 Request for a dedicated train corridor
Chennai residents have urged authorities to build a dedicated Chennai-Gummidipundi corridor.
What’s it about? Travelling by local train from Chennai to Gummidipundi can take at least 40-50 minutes more than travelling by road. That’s because track capacity hasn’t been increased to keep up with the population growth. Passengers want a dedicated corridor.
- The trains currently take two hours to cover 46 km from Chennai to Gummidipundi. Commuters want a third and fourth track along the 25 km stretch from Athipattu Pudhunagar to Gummidipundi.
- The Chennai-Athipattu-Gummidipundi-Gudur section is one of the Southern Railway’s busiest. It handles suburban/MEMU trains, express, and goods trains. The third and fourth lines were laid in sections between 2012 and 2023 from Chennai Central to Korukkupet to Athipattu. They’re used for freight trains.
Benefits: The collision between an express and a goods train at Kavaraipettai last month could’ve been avoided if more tracks were available. New lines could benefit employees commuting from SIPCOT Gummidipoondi and SIPCOT Thervoykandigai.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Would you use the Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway or prefer another mode?
- I would use the Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway.
- I wouldn’t use the Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
What’s your go-to movie theatre snack?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- Chennai Corporation’s Commissioner has invited citizens to learn about the civic body’s history through weekend walking tours.
- Extra motor pumps and desilting have been undertaken in Velachery and Adyar for flood mitigation.
- Kasimedu fishermen netted a surprise catch, a discarded projectile from a rocket launcher.
- Gleneagles Hospital Chennai achieved the milestone of completing over 200 robotic gynaecology surgeries.
- On the Streets is a music community that helps connect and heal through curated performances.
That’s it for today. Have a great day!