Good morning, Chennai!
🌧️ Today’s weather: High: 31 ℃ | Low: 26 ℃ | Cloudy weather with a chance of some rain.
🧐 Did you know? The first pincode in the city was assigned to Parry’s Corner with 600001.
🖊️ Chennai in poster form
Chennai in Posters by artist Shiva Ravishankar tells the city’s story through bright posters.
What’s it about? Using posters as a medium, Shiva Ravishankar’s artwork tells the story of Chennai with striking sketched images. If you’re lucky, you’ll come by some of his work dotted across the city.
- His first piece paid tribute to the Triumph of Labour statue at Marina Beach, which marks India’s first May Day rally. During his walks, Shiva kept an eye out for monuments that sparked inspiration.
- Chennai in Posters has 16 posters. The captions on them mix Tamil and English with a colloquial tinge. One poster has an auto with the caption “Anna, GPay ok ah?”
Response: Once he made seven posters, Shiva and a friend began sticking them up in different areas. His social media was flooded with messages and posts of appreciation.
🏗️ Resistance to new SIPCOT project
An environmental organisation has asked the state government to scrap the new SIPCOT project in Gummidipoondi.
What’s it about? The environmental organisation Poovulagin Nanbargal has asked the government to drop its plans for setting up a SIPCOT Industrial park in Gummidipoondi. The organisation said it’ll affect agriculture and cattle rearing in the nearby villages of the proposed site.
- The State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) approved the industrial park on 215.83 hectares in Surapoondi and Vaniamallee villages. SIPCOT got the state’s approval without a public hearing.
- The organisation said villagers near the site will lose their homes and grazing lands. 5 villages have over 20,000 cattle and cultivate crops like paddy, groundnuts, and vegetables.
Other projects: SIPCOT also acquired land for another project on 984.6 hectares in Surapoondi, Manellur, Matharpakkam, Vaniamallee and Sanapudur.
🚆 Facilities for railway staff
The Chennai Central and Egmore stations now have running rooms with new facilities.
What’s it about? The running rooms at the Chennai Central and Egmore stations now have mini gyms, subsidised food, and air-conditioned cubicles. They’ve been designed to offer comfort and respite for drivers, assistant drivers, and guards.
- The gyms have modern exercise machines. To help the staff relax, there are indoor games like chess and carrom. There’s also a dedicated yoga and meditation hall.
- The reading room is stocked with newspapers, magazines and material on train operations and related issues. Nutritious and subsidised meals are also available.
Other incentives: The Southern Railway has limited the maximum working hours for locomotive pilots to eight hours, excluding the time for sign-on and sign-off procedures.
🏅 New stadium site identified
The CMDA has identified land for a new sports stadium in North Chennai.
What’s it about? The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) identified 0.4 acres of land in RK Nagar for the new multi-purpose sports stadium. The stadium will be built under the North Chennai Development Scheme for ₹8 crore.
- The work is expected to be completed by June 2025. The stadium will be on Elaya Street and have parks, gyms, an indoor stadium with a walking track, a yoga hall, and facilities for basketball and badminton.
- The RK Nagar constituency has been getting attention as a hub for physical fitness. A local councillor had previously set up a free unisex gym for locals.
Another stadium: Apart from the stadium in RK Nagar, there’s another one coming up at Sunnambu Kalvai in Tondiarpet for ₹10 crore. This will also have similar world-class facilities and amenities.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Do you enjoy trying new foods?
- I enjoy trying new foods.
- I don’t enjoy trying new foods.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
Which is your favourite OTT web series?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- IIT-Madras will collaborate with other universities and an edtech platform to make graduates industry-ready.
- The “Enakkul Naan” programme was launched to address issues faced by students in Chengalpet.
- Land acquisition to build stations for the metro phase 2 has begun on OMR.
- Eviction of private buildings that encroached on land in Chromepet paves the way for MTC’s expansion plans.
- The state government is looking into integrating the Chennai Corporation’s single-window system with the Call Before u Dig (CBuD) app.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I did follow the EURO 2024 tournament: 68.7% 🏆
- I didn’t follow the EURO 2024 tournament: 31.3%
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
Who’s your favourite non-cricket Indian sportsperson?
Suchi: “P.T. Usha”
Shiva: “P.T. Usha”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!