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New Indian Express
15-07-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
No penalty for TVK, says mayor
CHENNAI: While the TVK has said it will repair the public property damaged during Sunday's protest, including the broken steel railings along the road's centre median and plants that were destroyed, mayor R Priya on Monday said the civic body is prepared to carry out the repair works, or TVK can do it under the Namakku Naame scheme if needed. She added that no penalty is being imposed on the party for the damage. The mayor said this while addressing the media after inaugurating super-sucker machines for stormwater drain (SWD) desilting operations in Royapuram. She said, 'Any public gathering is respectable only when it takes place without causing damage to the public or public property.' The mayor also launched a crawler robot to inspect silt levels in SWD and verify silt removal with pre-and post-cleaning photos. The silt is collected using super sucker machines and transferred via pipes into closed dumpers to prevent spillage, then sent to Kodungaiyur and Perungudi.
New Indian Express
16-06-2025
- Health
- New Indian Express
Greater Chennai Corporation mulls appointing volunteers to oversee operations at ABC centres
CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has temporarily halted Animal Birth Control (ABC) surgeries for community dogs across all five of its centres over the past 15 days, said official sources. Going forward, the civic body is considering the appointment of animal welfare volunteers at the ABC centres to ensure better care. According to a series of discussions held since June 3, the GCC plans to recruit two trained volunteers in each ABC pound who will be tasked with monitoring the entire process here. Their responsibilities might include ensuring dogs are caught humanely using nets, documenting their place of capture to prevent relocation, and overseeing the availability and proper use of medical supplies such as blood testing solutions and medications, sources said. Volunteers will also verify if necessary pre-operative tests are conducted, monitor post-operative recovery, including proper medications for wound healing, ear-notching, and feeding of cooked food, and ensure that dogs are released back to their original locations once fully recovered. The suspension of ABC surgeries comes in the wake of a protest held on May 26 in front of the Ripon Buildings, where city-based animal activists had alleged that many dogs either died due to botched surgeries, succumbed to complications after being released back onto the streets, or went missing altogether, adding that some dogs that underwent ABC procedures in GCC pounds have unhealed surgical wounds and open sutures. In response, GCC Mayor R Priya assured immediate action.
New Indian Express
15-06-2025
- General
- New Indian Express
‘Drop WTE plant, go for zero-waste initiatives'
CHENNAI: The Federation of North Chennai Residents Welfare Association (FNCRWA) submitted a petition to Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) Mayor R Priya on Friday demanding the withdrawal of the proposed Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plant in Kodungaiyur. FNCRWA noted that Kerala's model of decentralised waste management offers a safer alternative and urged GCC to move towards zero-waste initiatives instead of WTE plants. The association has instead proposed an ecological park, research libraries, and other public infrastructure on 350 acres, which includes the 75-acre site proposed for WTE plant and 275 acres of Kodungaiyur dumpyard to be reclaimed through biomining. The petition follows a human chain protest held by FNCRWA on May 25. In response to the protest, the GCC assured that the WTE plant would only proceed after public consultation and environmental clearance, claiming it would adopt scientific methods to avoid groundwater infiltration. However, it is also cited that WTE plants in India, including in Delhi, Hyderabad, and Pimpri Chinchwad, are running successfully. While the petition acknowledged GCC's assurance on monitoring, it stated that similar promises were made elsewhere, only to be broken after operations. Plants in Delhi, Hyderabad, and Pimpri-Chinchwad have proven to be bitter lessons. FNCRWA pointed to an NGT report that highlighted leachate from the Jawahar Nagar WTE plant contaminating 18 lakes in Hyderabad and polluting the groundwater. Quoting CSIR-NEERI findings, the petition warned of cancer risks from incinerator emissions. They also criticised comparisons to Tokyo and Paris, noting that North Chennai's population density is four times that of Tokyo, and the area is already burdened with industrial pollution. They also highlighted that the proposed site for WTE is a wetland and vital flood catchment zone, home to 54 bird species, making it unsuitable for a WTE plant under environmental law. 'We seek development, not destruction,' the petition read. 'We are not against development projects by the GCC, but projects that destroy natural resources and public health should not be implemented,' it added.
New Indian Express
07-06-2025
- General
- New Indian Express
GCC releases gender-inclusive guidelines manual for urban infrastructure design
CHENNAI: Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) Mayor R Priya on Friday launched the city's first gender-inclusive urban design manual. Prepared by the GCC's gender and policy lab (GPL) with financial backing from the Nirbhaya Fund, the manual outlines detailed, gender-sensitive urban infrastructure design guidelines aimed at ensuring safety, accessibility and usability of public spaces for all — particularly women, trans persons and non-binary persons, children, persons with disabilities, elderly individuals, and others. The launch was made following the 'Aval Idam' event, a photo exhibition held at MRTS Park in Thiruvanmiyur curated to celebrate women in public spaces. The manual was initiated in August 2023 and developed through a research process beginning March 2024. Twelve key types of public infrastructure — including parks and playgrounds, beaches, spaces under flyovers, bus shelters, transit stations, subways and foot overbridges, streets, open and closed markets, urban delivery centres, community halls, shelters for the urban homeless, and public toilets — were studied. The research combined spatial audits, observational studies, and in-depth discussions with over 80 users such as sanitation workers, migrant women, young girls, trans persons and persons with disabilities to understand barriers they face in navigating and accessing public infrastructure. The manual identifies structural gaps in urban design that hinder inclusion -- such as dim lighting, broken footpaths, absence or inaccessible toilets, lack of signage, absence of seating, and unsafe or poor surveillance areas — and offers a set of actionable design guidelines and a practical checklist for engineers, architects, and civic planners. For example, in parks and playgrounds, the study found that only 30% of users were women, many of whom cited inadequate toilets (24%), poor infrastructure (20%), and a lack of adult-friendly leisure elements such as swings and others. The guidelines recommend multiple entrances to make entry and exit accessibility to adjacent roads, low-height permeable boundary walls, edge seating using ledges or steps, pathway widths of at least 2.5m, play areas segmented for toddlers, children, and young adults, indoor play facilities, adult gym equipment, proper toilets, changing rooms, mother-feeding rooms, drinking water, universal accessibility, and lighting with a minimum 50 lux intensity.
Time of India
30-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Free skill training for women; 7.5cr allocated
Chennai: To empower women through self-employment opportunities, Greater Chennai Corporation has announced free skill development training programmes. The training will cover a range of in-demand skills, including tailoring, embroidery, Aari work, beautician courses, and computer-based accounting software. These programmes aim to enhance the employability and entrepreneurial capabilities of women across the city. During the budget session for the financial year 2025-26, mayor R Priya announced that free skill development classes will be conducted for women. "As per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) outlined for the initiative, one training centre will be established in each of the 15 zones. A budget allocation of 50 lakh/zone has been made, amounting to a total of 7.5 crore for the entire project," said a senior official with the corporation. He added that the initiative is expected to equip thousands of women in Chennai with necessary skills to start their own ventures or seek gainful employment. The training will be provided free of cost. The corporation set a total of 880 training hours. Of this, tailoring and Aari classes will comprise 270 hours, beautician courses 240 hours, and Tally courses 370 hours. "Through skill development courses, women will be able to start their own businesses as tailors or beauticians, which will help support their families, especially those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds," said the official. The corporation will soon release the detailed schedule and enrolment procedures for interested participants.
