Good morning, Chennai!
☁️ Today’s weather: Partly cloudy with some rain.
🧐 Did you know? The Institute of Mental Health is one of Asia’s oldest and largest mental health facilities. It was acquired by the British Raj from the East India Company in 1794.
🚇 Metro’s driverless trains
Production for Chennai Metro’s driverless trains will begin next year.
What’s it about? For the upcoming phase 2 of the Chennai metro, the production for the driverless trains will begin in February and be delivered in six months for trials.
- While trains for the first phase have drivers, that won’t be the case for phase 2. The designs for the trains are ready, and the final version will be shortly approved.
- The new trains for the next phase will have additional features like additional cameras inside and outside the coaches and charging points. The trains will also have an obstacle-detection feature for safety.
Passenger safety: Currently, in case of emergencies, the existing doors are used by passengers. In the second phase, the coaches will have a front door, apart from the common door, for entry and exit.
🛣️ Rains = commuter woes
With rains forecast for the city, commuting is a risky prospect with damaged and pothole-filled roads.
What’s happening? At several spots in the city, damaged and pothole-filled roads pose a risk to commuters as more rains have been forecast for Chennai. Apart from stormwater drain work, roads have also been dug up by other service departments.
- The Tambaram-Velachery main road has been riddled with potholes for many years, and the stretch is in bad shape. It’s the same story at the corporation road in Perungudi.
- At the Guindy Industrial Estate, which has several IT companies, heavy rains make the arterial and link roads inaccessible. Despite thousands using these roads daily, they haven’t been properly relaid.
Who’s maintaining them? The Chennai Corporation has proposed to the government to take control of maintenance in areas that come under other service departments. Corporation commissioner J Radhakrishnan said work is being done across the city, and the Corporation is ready to take over maintenance.
🚧 Tackling rains and flooding
The Chennai Corporation is devoting plenty of resources to identify and tackle flooding.
What’s it about? The Chennai Corporation is deploying various resources across the city as the northeast monsoon continues to affect the city. It has also identified schools and community centres to function as relief centres.
- The Corporation has rented 15 tractor pumps. Since the beginning of the month, they’ve already procured 150 tractors positioned across 15 zones. ₹10 lakh has been allocated to each zone for flood relief.
- The Corporation has identified 37-low lying areas where 100 pumps will be deployed. 169 locations have been identified as relief centres. Over 500 surveillance cameras and 46 flood sensors have also been installed across the city.
Pending work: Mayor R Priya said ongoing stormwater drain work will be completed by November 12, with over 90% of it finished, including desilting.
🧑🎓 Assessing freshers’ mental health
IIT Madras will assess the mental health of freshers to identify those vulnerable to stress.
What’s it about? IIT Madras, under pressure from students and parents, has introduced steps to lighten the load on students. Apart from assessing their mental health, the institute will also relax mandatory attendance and allow them to take tests they may miss.
- Professional counsellors will interview students and plan to counsel parents during next year’s admission process. The sessions with parents will be in multiple languages and focus on the student health issues and how they can be supported.
- A facial recognition system will help monitor their behaviour and attendance to classes, labs, and the mess. A student with irregular attendance will get a call from a counsellor to check up on them.
Bringing in experts: Following multiple suicides on campus, the institute partnered with Kauvery Hospital, which sent counsellors to hostels and the departments regularly. There’s also an option for tele-counselling.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Do you plan on bursting crackers this Diwali?
- I plan on bursting crackers this Diwali.
- I don’t plan on bursting crackers this Diwali.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
What’s your usual Diwali day routine?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- VIT Chennai and the DoT will establish a 5G test bed facility to increase engagement in 5G technologies.
- Water and sewage line prices have been deemed too high, according to several residents.
- A special Vande Bharat express train will operate from Chennai Egmore this festive season.
- Chennai’s Garuda Aerospace will open retail outlets post-Diwali.
- For street food lovers, here are 10 places in the city that are must-try.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- The city is better prepared for heavy rains/floods compared to previous years: 66.7% 🏆
- The city isn’t better prepared for heavy rains/floods compared to previous years: 33.3%
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
What’s your favourite Indian classic movie?
Suchi: “Thillana Mohanambal”
Chitra: “Nayagan”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!