Good morning, Chennai!
🌤️ Today’s weather: High: 45 ℃ | Low: 26 ℃ | Partly cloudy skies for today.
🧐 Did you know? Dr Arun’s Photography and Vintage Camera Museum in Chennai holds the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of film cameras.
🎶 Showcasing tribal instruments
To mark World Music Day, several tribal musical instruments are on display at the DaskhinaChitra Living Museum.
What’s it about? Folk instruments used by the state’s tribal communities are on display at the museum and range from a snake charmer’s flute to cow horns to percussion instruments used by devadasis. They’re all made of either bamboo, wood, or animal skin.
- The instruments are from the private collection of Babu Susan, a nurse and film buff. Some of the instruments are still used today in movies.
- While originating from Tamil Nadu, the instruments have travelled to other states, especially Kerala. The ‘kombu’ is particularly popular in Kerala.
Keeping traditions alive: Conserving these instruments is important to preserve the cultural identity of Indigenous communities and educate the public about their traditions.
🚇 Metro work in T Nagar
T Nagar will continue to have traffic diversions as tunnelling from Panagal Park to Boat Club will begin in a year.
What’s happened so far? Currently, two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) are building 1 km twin tunnels between Panagal Park and Kodambakkam. These areas will be linked as part of the 45.4 km corridor 3 from Madhavaram Milk Colony to Siruseri Sipcot.
- The ongoing tunnelling work is expected to be completed by February 2025. These TBMs will be redeployed from Panagal Park to Boat Club next May or June.
- Several portions of the roads have already been barricaded around Panagal Park with traffic diversions. Further diversions could be announced as workers begin excavating soil within the outer walls.
Struggle for commuters: For regular commuters, crossing T Nagar during peak hours has become time-consuming. Many spend over an hour to reach their destinations since there are diversions in the surrounding areas like Nungambakkam and Valluvar Kottam.
📚 Book stalls at Central Metro
Commuters will soon be able to browse their favourite books at the proposed book park at the Central Metro.
What’s it about? The Central Metro station is one of the busiest in the city with a daily footfall of up to 3 lakh passengers. The book park will have a collection of Tamil and English books with seating.
- There’ll be over 40 stalls that will display books. It’ll also have a common counter where people can buy books.
- It could be located in the ticketing area or in the food court corridor of the station in an 11,000-16,000 square feet area. It’ll be operated by the Tamil Nadu Textbooks and Educational Services Corporation.
Future plans: If the initiative gets a good response from the public, another book park could be opened at the AG-DMS station.
🌃 Ward management
The state government has decided to add more wards and delineate them.
What’s it about? The government has taken note of the large population in each ward of the Chennai Corporation and the disparity between them. Municipal Administration and Water Supply Minister KN Nehru said a committee has been formed to upgrade and merge urban local bodies.
- Nehru said that some wards have a population of above 50,000, which is bigger than assembly constituencies in smaller states. He announced that Poonamallee, Tiruverkadu, Tirunindravur, and Madukarai municipalities will be merged with corporations.
- Sriperumbudur, Mamallapuram, Avinashi, and a few other town panchayats will be upgraded into municipalities.
Changes in the state: The number of municipalities and town panchayats in the state will be increased to 149 and 700, respectively. There are currently 138 municipalities and 490 town panchayats.
📊 Today’s Poll
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Has your commute been affected by ongoing metro construction?
- My commute has been affected by ongoing metro construction.
- My commute hasn’t been affected by ongoing metro construction.
❓ Today’s Question
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What adventure sport would you like to try?
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🗞️ In other news…
- The Chennai Corporation takes stock of the upcoming flyover along South Usman Road.
- Pallavaram subway remains unfit for pedestrians with sewage and garbage.
- Additional pedestrian plazas have been proposed by the Chennai Corporation across three locations.
- New transport infrastructure is on the cards for Chennai, including new bridges and an ECR-OMR link.
- A land pooling scheme will be used by the CMDA to develop six satellite towns.
That’s it for today. Have a great day!