Good morning, Chennai!
☀️ Today’s weather: Clear skies with sunny weather and pleasant temperatures.
🧐 Did you know? Men from Chennai were chosen to be a part of India’s first submarine crew. The INS Kalvari was headed by Commander KS Subramanian. Four of the ten commanding officers were from Chennai.
🏞️ Green TDRs for waterbodies
The CMDA is proposing green TDRs to help save waterbodies.
What’s it about? The CMDA is proposing acquiring land parcels near waterbodies in exchange for green transferable development rights (TDRs). The goal is to have buffer zones and prevent encroachments. TDRs were previously introduced in Tamil Nadu but weren’t popular due to no legal backing. Only after the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act was amended, the state gave legal sanctity to the development rights certificates.
- TDR is a compensation issued through Floor Space Index (FSI) or development rights. It allows the owner to build additional built-up areas above the stipulated limit.
- The first will be for eco-sensitive areas like waterbodies and marshlands. These include those protected by the state government. The buffer zones will be 50 metres from the boundaries of marshlands like Pallikarnai and Buckingham Canal.
Concerns: Former Anna University professor KP Subramanian said TDRs along waterbodies should be bought by the government, and their ownership shouldn’t be with land owners since it could lead to unauthorised development.
- Also, the TDRs used in Mumbai have been monopolised by a few. Officials said they’re looking into this and will have solutions so that the Mumbai scenario doesn’t repeat in Chennai.
🏗️ Increasing FSI along metro and MRTS corridors
The CMDA is proposing to increase the floor space index (FSI) along metro and MRTS corridors.
What’s it about? For the first time, the CMDA is looking to increase the FSI for properties along metro and MRTS corridors to 6.5 from the existing state-wide 4.87. They want to increase commercial development along transit lines and create affordable housing near transit hubs. The earlier mobility plan, which is now being revised, proposed an FSI of 2.5 along metro corridors.
- The categories specified by the various agencies are station area zones, transit-oriented development area zone 1 (TOD-1), and transit-oriented development area zone 2 (TOD-2).
- Under TOD-1, the proposed increase to 6.5 is for plot areas of 3,000 square metres and above. In TOD-2, the proposed increase is 5.7 for plots of 3,000 square metres and above.
FSI rules: FSI rules in Indian cities are implemented to limit the constructed area in a particular plot size. An FSI of 1 allows one floor of 100 square feet or two floors of 50 square feet each.
🌱 Green terrace spaces
Self-help groups are helping transform concrete terraces into green spaces.
What’s it about? The Chennai Resilience Centre (CRC), a unit of Care Earth Trust, helps resident welfare associations set up rooftop urban gardens to create livelihood opportunities for women’s SHGs. The NGO has launched the “Grow Your Own Edible Garden” as part of the city’s Urban Farming Initiative.
- Five residents’ welfare associations were brought in to promote kitchen gardens in places like Kasturba Nagar, Valmiki Nagar, and Gandhi Nagar. A model farm is set up in each space, and 200 kitchen gardens in anganwadis were set up.
- The CRC has partnered with government agencies. A key factor in the campaign was support for maintenance through women’s SHGs. The CRC has trained about 100 women in sustainable gardens.
What are the benefits? Krishna Mohan of CRC said houses with terrace gardens witnessed a drop in temperatures. They hope this initiative will help reduce the urban heat island effect.
- One SHG member said she earns up to ₹3,000 a month thanks to maintaining gardens in anganwadis and corporation schools.
🏫 Free study centre
A free study centre aims to help college students take up group IV examinations.
What’s it about? The Thadam Training Academy at BB Road is an initiative by the Gold Heart Foundation to help women get government jobs. The centre is open to any first-generation student.
- Students are admitted after taking a basic test to assess their fundamentals in core subjects they learned at school. The centre has a well-stocked library with reference material for competitive exams.
- To encourage more college girls to take the Group IV exams while they’re studying, a team from the centre recently conducted sessions at the Dr Ambedkar Government Arts College.
Who said what? Padmapriya from Queen Mary’s College said the long-distance travel to the centre is worth it since the environment created is accommodating. G Sripriya, the Foundation’s founder, said the possibility of boys going out and studying is higher than girls. Their focus is to encourage and educate girls to take up jobs and be financially independent.
📊 Today’s Poll
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Would you rather live inside the city or on the outskirts?
- I prefer living in the city.
- I prefer living on the outskirts.
❓ Today’s Question
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What’s your favourite non-Indian cuisine?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- Land acquisition is almost complete for the Metro’s Phase 2.
- The G20 Education Working Group meeting in the city will focus on inclusivity in tech-based learning.
- 6 lakh residents in the city have yet to pay property tax as the Corporation urged them to do so to avoid penalties.
- Chennai Metro Water has been fined ₹1.20 crores by the state pollution control board for improper treatment of sewage into Korattur Lake.
- Chennai’s Kalakshetra is hosting a festival on Kashmir with food, arts, crafts, culture of the Himalayan state.
That’s it for today. Have a great day!