Good morning, Chennai!
☀️ Today’s weather: High: 36 ℃ | Low: 27 ℃ | Sunny weather for the day.
🧐 Did you know? The Madras Courier, founded in 1785, is the world’s second-oldest surviving English-language newspaper.
🧑🏫 Madras University vacancies
The number of permanent faculty members at the University is the lowest in 10 years.
What’s it about? Madras University has been struggling financially, and its faculty strength has dipped to the lowest in a decade. 350 of the 536 posts remain vacant, including the post of vice-chancellor. Two departments have no faculty, and staff of allied departments are being brought in to handle classes.
- While 5-6 senior faculty members retire every year, there hasn’t been any recruitment for the past decade. Several departments have been unable to apply for research funding.
- The 140 guest lecturers aren’t on par with the permanent staff. Some have called on the state government to intervene and restart recruitment.
Fallout: The University was known for its innovations and research work. That has taken a back seat due to inadequate faculty. The work done by the research scholars isn’t being recognised nationally.
👨💻 Inaccessible portal
The Chennai Corporation’s online services portal is deemed inaccessible by persons with disabilities.
What’s it about? The Corporation has three primary channels for the public to register complaints – the online public grievance redressal (PGR) portal, the Namma Chennai app, and the 1913 helpline. For persons with disabilities, the online portal is inaccessible due to design flaws.
- Users with visual impairments pointed out the need to label text boxes for easy navigation. The screen readers identify CAPTCHA as unlabelled text. Alternatives like an OTP or audio authentication feature have been suggested.
- Hearing and speech-impaired people have requested a video grievance service with a sign language interpreter. Also, some features are only available on the app and not the website.
Acknowledging shortcomings: The civic body agreed that there were gaps in the designs that needed to be fixed. The developers have been asked to redesign the portal following a meeting with stakeholders.
👮 Zero fatality days
The Chennai Police’s campaign has helped achieve six zero-fatality days so far.
What’s it about? The Greater Chennai Traffic Police launched its road safety campaign for zero road accident deaths to observe Zero Accident Day. So far, the city has recorded six zero-fatality days since the campaign began.
- Since the beginning of the month, there have been 28 deaths compared to 41 in the corresponding period last year. This August, 56 injuries were reported compared to 146 last year in the same period.
- There has been a 31.7% reduction in fatal accidents this month and a 61.6% reduction in grievous accidents related to accidents.
Campaign components: The Chennai Police have rewarded Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) drivers and conducted awareness campaigns for cab drivers, students, and delivery agents. They also used social media and brought in celebrities to spread the message.
🚦 Adaptive traffic signals
The Chennai police will install adaptive signals at major junctions to help improve traffic flow.
What’s it about? For the first time in the city, 55 adaptive signals will be installed at key arterial roads to help improve traffic flow. Traditional signals have fixed wait times, while dynamic signals will adjust timings based on real-time traffic conditions.
- Motorists usually wait 60 to 90 seconds with fixed signals. Adaptive signals can extend the green light up to 120 seconds for busier roads and reduce it for less congested ones.
- The LED signals will also have manual override functions for emergency instances like the passage of ambulances, fire engines, and VIP convoys. The initial locations are Taramani Link Road, MIOT Hospital Junction, and Mount-Poonamallee Road.
Another feature: 30 new signals will be equipped with Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras to detect traffic violators. They’ll receive e-challans once it’s verified by the Traffic Police Control Centre in Vepery.
📊 Today’s Poll
(Only subscribers can participate in the polls)
Do you read or watch something during long travels?
- I read on long travels.
- I watch something on long travels.
❓ Today’s Question
(Only subscribers can submit their answers)
What’s your favourite traditional Indian sweet?
Reply to this email with your answers.
🗞️ In other news…
- Three cattle sheds will be built by the Chennai Corporation in South Chennai to curb the stray cattle menace.
- The CMDA is awaiting details on the Ramsar site’s boundary for construction work on the Pallikaranai marshland.
- Robotic excavators and ATVs have been deployed to help civic staff monitor the city’s beaches.
- Zoya’s flagship boutique in the city was launched at the Taj Coromandel.
- 13 city NGOs held a campaign demanding the government take action to ensure women’s safety.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll:
- I have stayed at a 5-star hotel: 66.7% 🏆
- I haven’t stayed at a 5-star hotel: 33.3%
Answers to Yesterday’s Question:
What’s your favourite meat to eat?
Suchi: “Crab”
That’s it for today. Have a great day!