Good morning, Chennai!
⛅ Today’s weather: A sunny day with some possible cloudy weather.
🧐 Did you know? The Chennai office building of Grundfos India was the first commercial building in the country to be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified in 2005.
🐔 Higher poultry prices
As summer temperatures rise, so does the price of meat in the city.
What’s it about? Hot weather means poultry chickens aren’t gaining weight. Combined with supply issues and a fishing ban, prices have increased. Broiler chicken now costs ₹300 per kg compared to ₹220 last month.
- With the annual ban on fishing, even the prices of mutton have increased to ₹840-900 per kg. Some meat shop owners could sell chicken for a profit in February and March when the price was ₹80 per kg.
- Poultry traders said the wholesale price of chicken increases during the summer due to low supply. This is usually the time for hatching. Their intake of feed reduces as temperature rise.
🅿️ Airport parking fee controversy
The parking fees collected at the Chennai airport are double the tariff.
What’s it about? In the wake of the inauguration of the new multi-level parking facility at the airport, problems ensued. First, there were no proper guides for passengers to direct them to the parking areas. Now, there’s an issue with the parking fees, with passengers complaining they’re double the tariff.
- The Airport Authority of India’s (AAI) policy was vehicles coming to the airport for pick-ups can stay for free for the first 10 minutes. Beyond that, ₹75 is charged for up to 30 minutes. The fee was deducted through Fastag.
- Passengers have now noticed that ₹150 was being deducted from their account even if the time was less than 30 minutes. If it exceeded that, the amount was ₹225. Since the fees are collected automatically, they can’t do anything about it.
Airport response: Airport Director CV Deepak said officials are aware of the issue. The private company operating the system was asked to not collect extra charges.
- There seems to be an issue with Fastag since some cab drivers have experienced this problem at toll gates in Sriperumbudur and Pallikonda.
🏗️ Regulating illegal constructions
Buildings and officials violate norms as they escape CMDA’s radar.
What’s it about? As more construction projects fuel the city’s growth and change its skyline, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) is mandated to keep builders in line and curb illegal constructions. A High Court-appointed monitoring committee set up two decades ago doesn’t seem very proactive.
- The committee’s role is to identify CMDA and Corporation officials who aren’t enforcing the laws and impose penalties on builders of illegal multi-storied buildings. Over the past decade, the committee has been lax, with no official meeting minutes post-2020.
- There has been little progress in identifying builders by name and imposing penalties.
CMDA response: Through an RTI, the CMDA said it hadn’t identified any specific list of officers or builders. This is even though the minutes of some meetings mention a list of accountable officials and builders.
👁️ Curbing bogus voting in Bihar
Chennai-based FaceTagr helped the Bihar state election commission curb bogus voting.
What’s it about? The tech startup deployed its face recognition tool across 450 booths for last month’s panchayat by-elections in Bihar. It reportedly helped prevent 10,000 cases of bogus voting where people impersonate someone else. It was also used in the local urban body elections last week.
- The tool compares a person’s face with their voter ID card to verify their authenticity. The process takes just three seconds. The company was recognised by NIST’s Face Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT) for its accuracy and speed.
- Since the election commission is looking at transparency, the company is working on making the tool even more accurate. The company sees this as an opportunity to employ this tool across India and developing countries.
Journey: The company began with just four employees. Promoters Vijay Gnanadesikan and Elango Meenakshisundaram began building a facial recognition tool for retail clients. They then helped police track missing girls across India. They’ve helped deploy drone-based surveillance for facial recognition at religious festivals to help monitor crowds.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Do you live in a residential apartment or a private house?
- I live in a residential apartment.
- I live in a private house.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
How would you rate the city’s public transportation network?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- Fisherfolk opposed the proposed project to redevelop and revitalise the shoreline between Kovalam and Ennore.
- Tholkappiar Poonga will get new amenities like a viewing deck and a watch tower.
- Rising temperatures are causing the city’s reservoirs to dry up fast.
- A special team has been formed to assess the condition of underground cables in the city.
- Chennai businessman builds a mini Taj Mahal to honour his late mother.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I have invested in crypto: 11.1%
- I haven’t invested in crypto: 88.9% 🏆
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
Chitra: “Live For Yourself”
Kalaiarasi: “Do what you love and don’t think what other people think of you because it’s your life.”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!