Good morning, Chennai!
☀️ Today’s weather: More sunny weather.
🧐 Did you know? Chennai has the distinction of having the first Indian women surgeon – Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy in 1912. She was the first woman house surgeon at the Government Maternity Hospital.
👩🍳 Celebrating refugees through food
An event was organised at the Semmozhi Poonga to raise awareness and money and mark World Refugee Day.
What’s it about? Organised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Organisation for Eelam Refugees’ Rehabilitation (OfERR), Advantage Foods Private Limited, and the state government, the theme was “Hope Away From Home: A World Where Refugees Are Always Included.” The event raised ₹4.5 lakh from over 7,000 visitors.
- Stalls were set up with food from Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Afghanistan. The event was a chance for those who fled to showcase their culinary cultures. Among them was Vasanthi Kumari who fled Sri Lanka during the civil war.
- 19-year-old Mohammed Junaid fled Myanmar and came to Chennai via Bangladesh and Kolkata. Helping prepare some of the dishes on offer, he lives with about 100 other Rohingya refugees in Kelambakkam.
Looking for a home: The refugees have requested the Indian government for citizenship since returning to their home countries means risking death and violence. With no citizenship proof, education and employment opportunities are scarce.
🚗 Traffic near malls
The CMDA is instigating efforts to mitigate traffic congestion outside malls.
What’s happening? Going for a pleasant shopping experience at any of the city’s malls can be a pain since traffic congestions are common. With taxis and autos dropping passengers outside to cars queuing outside to enter the parking lots, it’s become a pain for traffic police.
- Urban planners have suggested malls on transit corridors, shuttle services, and raising parking fees near malls to curb traffic snarls. The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) suggested front and side spaces of malls for entry and exit.
- Sanctions aren’t given to malls if the traffic police aren’t satisfied with the space provided for vehicular movement. Representatives from some malls said they removed toll gates and illegal parking spots.
What went wrong? The flaw is in the design concerning absorbing traffic. Ideally, pick-up and drop points should be inside the mall premises and not on the roads outside. The entry and exit points in many malls are poorly thought out, and parking outside makes the issue worse for everyone.
🕹️ Drone unit
The Chennai police are the first in the country to have its own drone unit.
What’s it about? The newly-inaugurated unit will function from Adyar with a new facility. While the police already had four drones, nine new ones have been bought for ₹3.60 crore.
- The unit has two big modified containers. There’s a mobile unit that will travel across the city and fly drones in specific crowded places. The unit will also have a launch pad.
- The new unit will have six quick-response payload drones, a lifeguard one, and a long-range surveillance one. The drones will have facial recognition software to track suspicious persons.
Necessity: Police Commissioner Jiwal said the government is keen on modernising the police force. They want to infuse technology to help deal with law and order situations.
🎍 New horticulture park
Chennai will get a new horticulture park next month with a wide variety of flora.
What’s it about? Near the Kathipara junction, 6.8 acres of space have been converted into a new horticulture park. It’s expected to be inaugurated soon as it’s in the final stages of completion. The park will be open to the public and agriculturists.
- The park will have a wide footpath inside and outside for visitors. Inside, there’ll be various types of trees, flowers, and plants, including a butterfly park.
- A three-story building will have a canteen, a small theatre, organisation halls, and an insect and disease diagnostic lab and museum. The third floor will have office space.
Future plans: Once open, there’ll be an exhibition of products grown in hill stations with live demos and training in organic farming, terrace gardening, and mushroom cultivation.
✨ Things to do…
Here are some fun and interesting things to do in the city over the weekend!
- Dance Experiments is an exploration of elements of performing arts, happening this Sunday.
- Independent musician Roja Aditya presents her live performance Mettu Inidhu this Sunday.
- The Father from French playwright Florian Zeller will be presented this Sunday.
- DWL Open Mic presents a platform for stories, poetry, and music this Sunday.
- A Surya Namaskar Masterclass from Pooja Menon is happening this Saturday.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll Results:
- I prefer making relatively large payments in sum: 66.7% 🏆
- I prefer making relatively large payments through EMIs: 33.3%
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
What’s something the city’s public transportation system could improve upon?
Chitra: “Maintenance of all public transport, especially buses.”
That’s it for today. Have a great weekend!