Good morning, Chennai!
☀️ Today’s weather: High: 36 ℃ | Low: 26 ℃ | Hot and sunny for the day.
🧐 Did you know? The Chennai-Delhi Grand Trunk Express service is now 95 years old. It’s one of the few services that began during British rule.
👩💻 Meta’s data centre
The company’s first data centre in the country will come up in Chennai.
What’s it about? The social media giant Meta’s first data centre in India is reportedly coming up at the Ambattur Industrial Estate. The centre is likely to be located within the Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) campus, a joint venture between Brookfield Asset Management, Digital Realty, and RIL.
- The goal is to help the company process user-generated content across its apps, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Data of Indian users is currently serviced at its Singapore centre.
- The centre will bolster the company’s domestic operational capabilities through enhanced data processing. User experience is also expected to improve through faster content delivery.
Reasons behind it: Meta’s decision could be influenced by the Indian government’s increased scrutiny of AI models. With local data centres in cities like Chennai and others, the company sees further untapped potential.
🏫 Transforming a school
Members of the PYA Evolve Foundation have banded together to transform a government school in Madhavaram.
What’s it about? The foundation is a division of the Pehchaan Youth Association which has members from Rajasthan and Gujarat staying in Chennai. Over the past few months, they’ve been engaged in helping transform the PNSS Primary School in Madhavaram to give it a new look.
- Even though the school is privately owned, it receives government aid and faces challenges. The lack of adequate infrastructure and amenities has hindered the students’ education.
- The Gyaan Canvas project involves repainting the school’s walls with vibrant colours. They partnered with the Care and Welfare Foundation’s professional artists to help beautify the school.
Future plans: The PYA Evolve Foundation aims to replicate this by collaborating with more government schools and companies with their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects.
🚰 No water woes
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As water consumption surges, metro water officials say there’s enough supply till October.
What’s it about? Metro water officials say there’s no need to worry about water supplies during the summer since reservoirs have enough to last till October. The Metro Water Board has also increased supply to 1,075 million litres/day with more tanker lorries.
- Online booking of tanker lorries through Dial for Water has increased from 900 to 1,050 per day. Since customers can book only once in 5 days, there’s adequate supply.
- The metro water has an uninterrupted supply and balances it with water pumped from the Chembarambakkam reservoir and Nemmeli desalination plant.
No crisis: Chennai is unlikely to see a water crisis as the storage in reservoirs is adequate, despite a rainfall deficit during last year’s southwest monsoon.
🚇 Increased ridership
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The Chennai metro saw a busy March with over 86 lakh passengers.
What’s it about? The latest ridership figures were released by the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL). It showed 86.82 lakh passengers used the metro in March. That’s nearly 68,000 more than in February.
- Per the CMRL, ridership has increased since January, when 84.63 lakh passengers used the metro. In February, it increased to 86.15 lakh.
- March 4 saw the highest number of passengers last month, with nearly 3.34 lakh passengers.
Ticketing preferences: The majority of passengers, nearly 38 lakh, used travel cards. The Singara Chennai card was used by 13.95 lakh, and just over 2 lakh used QR codes.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Do you own an Apple product?
- I own an Apple product.
- I don’t own an Apple product.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
Which planet in our solar system would you like to visit?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- The campaign trail sees candidates participating in unique cultural and sports activities.
- The Integral Coach Factory, owing to increased preference by the railways, is set to produce more EMU-type trains.
- Weather forecasters say the coming months will see higher temperatures across Chennai.
- Popular Ramzan fair is now available in Central and North Chennai thanks to one outlet bringing cooks from Telangana.
- Faulty street lights on the stretch between Kovilambakkam and Echangadu on Radial Road pose a danger to motorists.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I listen to podcasts regularly: 40.0%
- I don’t listen to podcasts regularly: 60.0% 🏆
That’s it for today. Have a great day!