Good morning, Chennai!
☁️ Today’s weather: Generally cloudy day ahead.
🧐 Did you know? The Egmore station has a couple of historic firsts. It was one of the early instances where concrete was used in the city. It was also the first to incorporate Dravidian motifs within the Indo-Saracenic genre.
🏠 Housing survey
The CMDA began its housing demand and supply survey to address housing development challenges.
What’s it about? The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) and its consultants Cushman and Wakefield began the ‘Housing Demand and Supply within Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA)’ survey to address housing development challenges. The information will be used to outline a strategy to address housing issues.
- The survey will focus on corridors including Poonamalee, Sembakkam, and Pammal. The parameters studied will be floor space index (FSI), transfer rights, etc.
- The study will include surveys of macro and micro-level housing to understand people’s housing needs. It’ll also have demand drivers of housing for premium, middle-income, and low-income groups.
Chennai’s expansion: Until last November, the CMA covered 1,189 sq km. This included Avadi and Tambaram Corporations and five municipalities. It was later increased to 5,904 sq km to include Kancheepuram, 12 municipalities, 14 town panchayats and others.
🚶 Keeping pedestrians safe
The traffic police have begun a drive to improve pedestrian safety by widening roads and removing encroachments.
What’s it about? The Greater Chennai Traffic Police (GCTP) are taking a zero-tolerance approach to increase pedestrian safety. Given the number of road accidents and pedestrian deaths, the police have begun cracking down on encroachments and penalising vehicle owners for parking obstructions.
- In many cases where pedestrians were harmed, they were forced to walk on the road amidst speeding vehicles since the pavement was encroached by parked vehicles or there was no pavement at all.
- The initiative’s first phase will focus on key stretches like GP Road, Anna Salai, and Royapettah High Road. In several places, the pavement area has shrunk due to ongoing metro construction and small vendors and shops taking up space.
Accident statistics: This year, over 330 road accident deaths have been reported. This includes 188 pedestrian deaths by two-wheelers and 36 involving cars.
🧳 Scanner delays
Scanners in some metro stations aren’t designed to handle large volumes, leading to crowding and delays.
What’s happening? For passengers at the Airport, Egmore, and Central metro stations, it’s a struggle to get past the baggage check since the scanners aren’t equipped to handle large volumes of luggage. It has led to overcrowding and passenger delays.
- The three stations are important transport hubs and attract high footfall. People often travel with several large bags. The space provided at the scanning stations is inadequate.
- There are currently two scanners each at the airport and Egmore stations and four at Chennai Central. Since the stations don’t have a surge around the clock, a sudden increase in passengers leads to overcrowding.
What’s being done about it? Officials said they’ve modified the scanners at the Central and airport stations, and added an additional scanner at the airport based on feedback. They’ve also made some design tweaks, like increasing the length of the conveyor belt and adding a bracket to hold scanned bags.
🍛 Mess for the masses
The city’s messes provide good quality food at reasonable prices for students and working professionals.
What’s it about? Messes have been a part of the city’s culinary scene for decades. For a long time, they’ve catered to men who came to the city to work and live. As times changed, so did the clientele, with people from all walks of life wanting a taste of home-cooked fare.
- Thanjavur mess in West Mambalam has been feeding people since 1984. As more people demanded their ₹100 meals, proprietor R Ramamurthy had to hire chefs.
- Since these messes have home-style kitchens, they’ve become popular among college and school students. They’re different from restaurants since the kitchens are run by families and the pricing is reasonable.
Famous Chenani messes: ₹60 meal at the Bommi Mess in T Nagar has been a hit among customers since they launched 12 years ago. Bharathi Mess which has branches in Thiruvallikeni, Mylapore, and Chepauk, also began 12 years ago and focuses on healthy meals. Then there’s Gomathi Mess run by Y Ramakrishnan and his wife in Mandaveli.
✨ Things to do…
Here are some fun and interesting things to do in the city over the weekend!
- Calling all dog lovers, Blue Cross of India is organising its Paw Project this Sunday.
- Tamil comic Chockalingam brings the funny with Chocku with friends this Saturday.
- Young and aspiring actors have a chance to learn from Charles Vinoth at his workshop this Saturday.
- Unleash your creativity with V Furn’s Alcohol Ink Workshop this Saturday.
- Meet people with diverse interests under one roof at Zolives-Con this weekend.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll Results:
- Ola and Uber fares should be regulated: 81.8% 🏆
- Ola and Uber fares shouldn’t be regulated: 18.2%
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
What’s your favourite local radio station?
Suchi: “Radio Mirchi”
Chitra: “Big FM”
That’s it for today. Have a great weekend!