Good morning, Chennai!
☁️ Today’s weather: High: 28 ℃ | Low: 22 ℃ | Mostly cloudy for the day.
🧐 Did you know? In 1973, the state government replaced all hand-pulled rickshaws with mechanised ones across the city.
🙏 Helping Cyclone Fengal victims
Volunteers in Chennai opened their homes and businesses for the NGO Goonj’s collection drive.
What’s it about? Goonj has launched collection drives across the city for people to donate old clothes, rations, stationery, and other usable items. Many people opened their homes to become collection centres where the items are collected and sent to families affected by Cyclone Fengal.
- The donated items are collected from various homes and sent to Goonj’s main centre in Kovilambakkam. During Christmas last month, The Little Caterpillar playschool in RA Puram was converted into a collection centre.
- The school also hosted a team from Goonj who interacted with visitors and had a stall that sold upcycled items. The school’s founder, Nikita Viswanath, has plans for more drives and other activities.
Growing networks: People and companies planning to conduct collection drives are required to reach out to Goonj at least five days in advance. Volunteers also sign up through WhatsApp groups.
📚 Donating books to prisoners
The stall set up by the government for people to donate books to prisoners was a success.
What’s it about? The Department of Prisons and Correctional Services of Tamil Nadu received a good response from visitors who donated books to help inmates cultivate reading habits. While the response was good, the number of books donated last year was higher due to larger crowds.
- People appreciated the initiative and donated the books that will be distributed to prisons across the state. Visitors believed the initiative would have a positive impact.
- On the final day of the Book Fair, Supreme Court Justice R Mahadevan felicitated the donors and institutions who helped make this year’s edition successful.
Statistics: According to the organisers, about 20 lakh people visited this year, and books worth ₹20 crore were sold.
🚌 Ordeal to reach Kilambakkam terminus
Commuters continue to face challenges in accessing the Kilambakkam bus terminus.
What’s it about? Pongal is a busy time for bus termini across the city as people throng to leave Chennai. While operational for over a year, accessing the Kilambakkam bus terminus remains challenging for many commuters. The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) remains the only transport option since the nearby railway terminus is progressing slowly.
- Over the past two days, the terminus has been inundated with people. Due to increased congestion, mofussil buses heading to Vandavasi, Chetpet, and Polur were temporarily relocated to the MTC terminus.
- The delay in building the railway station has frustrated commuters. Work began last January and was expected to be completed in December. The project has been delayed due to land acquisition issues.
What’s being done? Transport officials have mobilised additional MTC services from across the city. Hundreds of private buses were also hired by the Villupuram, Coimbatore and Salem transport corporations.
🚇 Scams by metro employees
Following a recent top-up scam, contract staff at metro stations have taken advantage of tourist cards.
What’s it about? Recently, a top-up scam involving contracted staff at metro stations was unearthed. In one incident at the Pachaiyappa College metro station, the operator was fired and found guilty of fraud. Another scam involving tourist cards has been found.
- In 2023, the contract staff at several stations misused the one-day passes, i.e., tourist cards. When passengers returned the card before it expired, operators kept it active and re-issued it to new customers.
- Through this practice, the operator pocketed the deposit amount of ₹50. This happened at several stations last year. A contract staff at the Pachaiyappa College station also forced college students to pay a nuisance fee to an operator, thinking he was an employee.
Previous scam: Recently, the cybercrime wing of the Chennai Police uncovered a scam involving top-up cards that resulted in a ₹69 lakh loss for the Chennai Metro.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Do you usually buy clothes online or in-store?
- I usually buy clothes online.
- I usually buy clothes in-store.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
What household items would you normally donate to charity?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- Over 30 flights were delayed or cancelled at the airport due to low visibility from Bhogi smoke.
- The Mylapore Festival saw more visitors this year as the kolam contest took centre stage.
- Publishers want transparency by the Chennai Book Fair organisers on memberships granted.
- A recent study ranked Chennai among the top 3 Indian cities in social and industrial inclusion for women.
- The first driverless train of the Chennai metro will be tested over the viaduct near Poonamallee.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I have been to a book fair/literature festival: 70.6% 🏆
- I haven’t been to a book fair/literature festival: 29.4%
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
What’s your favourite Pongal tradition?
Chitra: “Making Sweet Pongal in a mud pot.”
Suchi: “Sweet Pongal”
Rangarajan: “Kolam”
Shiva: “Eating Pongal”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!