Good morning, Chennai!
☀️ Today’s weather: Sunny weather for the day.
🧐 Did you know? The Madras Regiment is the oldest in the Indian Army. It was initially formed by the British East India Company in 1660.
🛍️ Food essentials prices spike
High prices of essential items have impacted consumer demand and expenditure.
What’s happening? The prices of essential items have increased recently due to a supply shortage as intense rainfall has damaged crops. Monthly expenditures on groceries for families have increased, especially for low-income families.
- Heavy rain has impacted crop cultivation in the state and neighbouring ones. The prices of dal, rice, chillies, and garlic have increased over the past two months. The recent spell of rain damaged newly sowed crops.
- With wholesale prices impacted, retail prices have been affected too. There’s been lower demand. Hence, wholesale traders only buy two-thirds of essential items.
Price rise: Prices of tomatoes have increased to ₹100 per kg. The price of palm oil has also increased to ₹100 from ₹38 per kg. However, despite the war in Ukraine, oil rates have been relatively stable in the last few months. Currently, a litre of sunflower oil is ₹93 at wholesale markets.
🧾 Property tax payment changes
The Chennai Corporation has changed the penalty and incentive structure for property tax.
What’s it about? To be in line with the 2023 Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Rules, the Corporation has modified the penalty and incentive structures for the payment of property taxes. The Corporation hopes the new structure will incentivise early payments.
- A 1% simple interest will be levied per month if the half-year property tax isn’t paid within 30 days from the start of the half-year period. The new interest will be levied on the first day of every month.
- Those who pay the tax between April 1 to 30 or October 1 to 30 will be eligible for 5% of the net property tax payable and a maximum of ₹5,000 as an incentive.
Why the new rules? The Corporation wants to disincentivise late payments. Previously, if owners missed the deadline, there was a 2% fixed interest that resulted in some losing interest to pay off the dues. Now, since it’s staggered, there’s reason to pay it early and avoid further interest amounts.
🚓 More patrol vehicles
The Chennai Police got additional patrol vehicles to improve law enforcement.
What’s it about? The Greater Chennai Police (GCP) now has a bigger fleet of patrol vehicles, including 23 sports utility vehicles for VIP convoys and 15 vans. These will join the existing 350 vehicles already deployed across the city.
- Since response time to incidents is related to mobility, the Chennai Police hopes that having more vehicles will help them cover more ground and improve response times.
- Drivers and police personnel of the vehicles will be connected to the newly-inaugurated central control room. Based on alerts from the system, they’ll be deployed accordingly.
Using technology: The new vehicles will have GPS tracking technology so they can be monitored live. They’ll also be linked with the new crime mapping project to patrol vulnerable areas.
📦 DTDC comes to Chennai
The logistics company will open a new hub and regional office.
What’s it about? The super hub and regional office in the city will be a link to other cities like Ahmedabad, Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata.
- The new facility will be spread across 1.75 lakh square feet with 38 docks. It’ll be capable of handling and processing over 350 tonnes of shipments daily.
- The super hub will have a sortation system that will be able to process up to 9,000 parcels per hour. The company said it uses the innovative linear cross-belt system.
Necessity: There’s an increase in demand for parcel delivery services. The new facility will help DTDC strengthen its operations in the region. It’ll also help in their international and e-commerce verticals.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Do you prefer making relatively large payments in sum or with EMIs?
- I prefer making relatively large payments in sum.
- I prefer making relatively large payments through EMIs.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
What’s something the city’s public transportation system could improve upon?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- V Nagdas, the new Chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi, speaks about uplifting artists from across India.
- Chennai will host India’s opening match against Australia in the upcoming cricket World Cup.
- A digital crime map of the city that indicates the density of crimes in different zones is ready.
- Fybros’ beach cleanup at the Ashtalakshmi Temple Beach collected over 800 kilos of waste.
- A civic roundtable helped bring to the fore issues faced by residents.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I have seen a film/TV shoot happen in the city: 90.9% 🏆
- I haven’t seen a film/TV shoot happen in the city: 9.1%
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
What’s your favourite piece of trivia about the city?
Chitra: “Chennai was a fishing village called Madrasapatnam!”
Shiva: “Chennai was bombed during World War 2!”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!