Good morning, Chennai!
☁️ Today’s weather: High: 39 ℃ | Low: 26 ℃ | Mostly cloudy for today.
🧐 Did you know? The Vivekananda House was previously a storehouse for ice imported from the Tudor Ice Company from the USA.
📚 Showcasing diverse stories
The Goethe Institut has recently made strides toward representing and showcasing diverse voices and stories.
What’s it about? The Goethe Institut has been promoting cultural exchanges through conversations and storytelling. It has pushed to include more diverse voices in the literary world. It’s now introducing a new section dedicated to queer voices and literature to build an environment of inclusivity and celebrating LGBTQIA+ voices.
- The Institut has been working with Orinam, a Chennai-based collective, for 11 years for the annual Queer Film Festival. The idea of a queer literature section came from a discussion with Orinam.
- The books are available to the public to borrow without membership for now. It includes English and Tamil books from authors like Devdutt Pattanaik, Ruth Vanita, and Raj Rao.
An accessible resource: The library and this particular section are meant to be a resource for people to learn about LGBTQ+ lives, the history, and who are the storytellers.
🚮 Waste at Koyambedu market
The poor waste management at the market has made it a hassle for traders and customers.
What’s it about? While the Koyambedu market is considered a pride of the city, it’s not living up to expectations. With over 3,000 shops that handle 6,000 tonnes of fresh produce daily, it generates 200 tonnes of waste. However, discarding that waste has proved to be difficult due to poor planning and inaction by the contractors.
- The two contractors employ 200 workers. However, no adequate bin system and no enforcement by the civic authorities result in waste accumulation on walkways and corners. Several other amenities, like toilets, are also unusable.
- Vendors said that fruits transported from Maharashtra and Karnataka are cushioned with dry grass, arrive damaged, and can’t be sold. The grass and the produce then get dumped in the lanes of the market.
What’s being done? The Chennai Corporation plans to work with the market’s officials to have a suitable waste management plan. Part of that is two 100-tonne bio-CNG plants by the year’s end.
⚽ Viability of the Sports City
The CMDA is planning to study the commercial and technical viability of the proposed Global Sports City.
What’s it about? The state government announced it would set up a state-of-the-art Global Sports City. The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) finalised Semmencheri as the location and will now study the project’s feasibility.
- The sports city will have a large stadium, football grounds, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, athletic tracks, and a velodrome, among others. It’ll also have administrative blocks and accommodation for athletes.
- The CMDA has invited consultants to prepare a techno-economic feasibility report to assess the project’s economic and technical aspects.
Sporting ambitions: The project’s goals are to promote the development of sports and make the city a sporting hub for athletes, teams, and tournaments.
🛬 Flight landings without radio system
Part of the Chennai airport’s main runway won’t have the ILS for the next three months.
What’s it about? The Guindy-end of the main runway won’t have the Instrument Landing System (ILS) for the next three months. This could make landing tricky and result in delays and diversions if there’s bad weather or low visibility. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has notified pilots and airlines.
- The ILS emits radio signals that help approaching aircraft come in for a safe and precise landing. The existing ILS is being removed for a new one that needs to be calibrated.
- Most flight landings happen at the Guindy-end until they switch to the Pallavaram side when the sea breeze sets in. Things get trickier since weather patterns have become more unpredictable.
It’s an inconvenience: Without an ILS, long-haul foreign flights could be affected since it becomes difficult for a pilot to land after a 10-12-hour flight. They’ll now need to depend on air traffic controllers and visual references.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Are you following the Euro 2024 tournament?
- I’m following the Euro 2024 tournament.
- I’m not following the Euro 2024 tournament.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
What’s your favourite birthday tradition?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- Metro’s phase 2 construction has motorists and residents angry due to traffic diversions and damaged roads.
- Private milk prices have been reduced due to declining sales.
- Early morning showers greeted Chennai as more expected this week.
- Young Chennai artists showcase their works at an exhibition about Chennai with the theme “Local”.
- The mini-bus scheme has been altered to enhance accessibility and support last-mile connectivity.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- My locality has adequate parking space: 20.0%
- My locality doesn’t have adequate parking space: 80.0% 🏆
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
If you could have a themed birthday party, what would it be?
Suchi: “A retro theme”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!