The website of Chennai Corporation has an option, Vehicle Monitoring, which is supposed to let anyone keep a track of garbage trucks and waste collected from all the zones of the civic body.

The facility had been devised so that all garbage trucks, fitted with GPS tracking systems, could be monitored online. The corporation's solid waste management and the vehicle maintenance departments were supposed to monitor the system.

But two years after the system was introduced as a pilot project, it has proved to be of little use like many of the civic body's other technology-driven initiatives. "It does not tell us anything worthwhile, except that a certain amount of garbage is being cleared from our zone. We do not know where the garbage is being collected from," said Raji Suresh, the secretary of an apartment residents' association in Mandaveli.

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Kulithalai has become the first town in the State to prepare the City Sanitation Plan under the National Urban Sanitation Policy.

Presenting the plan to the civic body and outlining the details on potable water supply, sanitation, sewage and solid waste management at a task force meeting of the Kulithalai municipality, the project engineer, Consortium for DEWATS Dissemination, Bangalore, V.Andrews, said the plan takes into account the existing basic amenities in towns and makes a projection on the requirements for ensuring hygienic life over the next 25 years.

The plan necessitated more overhead tanks to be constructed within the civic limits and outlined the need for ensuring frugal water usage to avoid scarcity beyond 2030. The plan also called for measures such as construction of more community toilets with hygienic treatment facilities such as decentralised waste water treatment system, and operation and maintenance by user groups, to eradicate open defecation.

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The flood alert issued by the state PWD in view of the approaching Cyclone Thane has highlighted the need to revive our water bodies, most of which have now been encroached upon. However, activists, who complain about encroachments of water bodies, are also confident that the AIADMK government led by J. Jayalalitha would pitch in to save them. The chief minister has already sanctioned Rs 130 crore to deepen or ‘restore’ Porur, Ayanampakkam, Nemam and Cholavaram lakes and enhance the storage capacity by an additional 568 mcft (million cubic feet). “It is really important,” says Shekar Raghavan of the Rain Water Harvesting Centre. “Proper maintenance of water bodies such as traditional yeris will not just ensure that the floods are handled properly but will also help save the water for summer” Rag-havan says.

“The situation is pathetic” says Ayanavaram Ram-adoss, president of North Chennai Exnora. “The encroachments on water bodies lead to various problems and efforts to remove them in the past have not yielded any result. We need political will to deal with this kind of situation.” Exnora’s founder president M.B. Nirmal feels the chief minister has the political will to do it. “We hope she will intervene and set things right” he says. Chennai has almost lost 40 per cent of its water bodies, including the Pallika-ranai marshland that accounts for a majority of its waterspread. Hundreds of lakes in Kanchipuram and Thiruvallur district face extinction and there is an immediate need for protecting the remaining water bodies, says K.V.R.K. Thirunaranan, founder, The Nature Trust.

Courtesy : www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/chennai/save-water-bodies-activists-cm-490

Environmentalists and civic activists have welcomed the city corporation’s move to include plastic content in the bitumen roads as it would enhance the road durability and also recycle some of the plastic generated in the city. The activists, however, criticised the corporation for its failure to implement the ban on plastic along the Marina Beach that was mooted during the previous DMK regime. Earlier in the day, Chennai mayor Saidai Duraisamy inspected the relaying of roads with plastic mix at T Nagar and assured quality roads to the motorists. The mayor said that the civic body would soon launch a pilot project under which the garbage mounds will be cleared in short span, making the city a litter-free zone.

The major reason for garbage piling up is the failure to segregate garbage at source. The garbage situation in Chennai can easily be handled if waste is segregated as biodegradable and non-biodegradable components, said M.B. Nirmal, founder, Exnora international. Restriction in use of plastic will also help the city become free of the stench of garbage mounds, said Nirmal. Corporation sources said that the civic body is planning to store waste in 4-10 different points in every ward using closed bins and the accumulated garbage would be sent dumped directly to dumping yards. The corporation also plans to change the timings of garbage collection from early mornings to 10.30 am, they said.

Courtesy : www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/chennai/civic-activists-welcome-corporation-plastic-roads-044

Collection of plastic wastes from the public, as part of a campaign launched by Tiruchi Corporation, began at the temple town of Srirangam on Wednesday, on the eve of Vaikunda Ekadasi. The campaign includes a lucky dip through which prizes, including gold, silver coins and LED bulbs, are to be awarded to people handing over plastic wastes from public places or from their households to the civic authorities. The lucky dip is aimed at dissuading people from using plastics below 40 microns in thickness and littering public places with plastic wastes. The Corporation has opened collection centres to receive the plastics at 51 drinking water distribution points in Srirangam.

The collection centres would be open till Thursday evening. People handing over plastics were issued coupons with serial numbers. Lucky dip draws would be held on Thursday. The campaign was launched in the presence of M.S.M.Anandan, Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments, P.Kumar, MP, Jayashree Muralidharan, Collector, A.Jaya, Mayor, R.Manoharan and M.Paranjonthi, MLAs, K.Veera Raghava Rao, Corporation Commissioner and other officials. The Corporation has launched the campaign in association with the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, Youth Exnora and the Tiruchi and Pudukottai Districts Plastic Manufacturers and Traders Association.

Courtesy : www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/article2777277.ece

Four pedestrians were injured after a ‘weak’ portion of a decade-old foot overbridge on the northern side of Nungambakkam railway station (Loyola college side) caved in on Friday.

Around 10 am, a loud noise followed by screams was heard from under the foot overbridge on the northern side of the station. Nearby shopkeepers, passersby and a few passengers waiting at the platform who rushed towards the bridge found four groaning pedestrians lying 12 feet below. They immediately gave them some first-aid and took them to a nearby hospital.

Railway police rushed to the spot and closed the subway on the side leading to Loyola college.

Railway authorities’ preliminary investigation revealed that four huge concrete blocks on the bridge’s first landing had caved in as a steel angle supporting the blocks broke.

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Eco Pongal promoting pollution-free Pongal celebration and renewable energy sources was organised by the district Exnora, Youth Exnora and Junior Chamber India (JCI) Tiruchi at Nerkuppai village near Manachanallur recently.

The Eco Pongal was celebrated in the presence of Collector Jayashree Muralidharan and the locals. The members of the three organisations prepared the Pongal using solar cooker.

The objective of eco Pongal is to create awareness of the renewable energy sources and to stress the need for celebrating pollution-free Pongal.

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The team consisted of 22 key officials from 13 Municipal Corporation of Uttarpradesh and Chattishgarh state. The team included Ms.Neha Kaushik, Regional Planner NUSP Cell Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and Mr.Vivek Raman of WSP, New Delhi who coordinated the visit. ExNoRa International is closely associated with the Ministry of Urban Development (MOUD), New Delhi, Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) World Bank and in dissemination of the National Urban Sanitation policy and helping the ULBs in preparation of the City Sanitation plans.

Mr.V.Ganapathy. Mr.T.Vijay Anand, Programme coordinator, ExNoRa International explained to them the working of the DEWATS in the compost yard. Visitors saw the biogas generated used for cooking by two families in the campus and the reuse of treated water from the toilet for spraying on the compost heaps to give them the necessary moisture.

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A team of senior officials, Mayors and Municipal Chairman from Chattisgarh state visited Trichy on January under Capacity building exposure cum learning visit to Trichy Corporation. Chattisgarh being a young state the aim of the team was to know about water supply, SWM and Liquid waste management schemes and also to know about public-private partnership programmers. The 24 member team had representatives from Bilaspur, Jagadalpur, badebajell, Kirandul, Manendrai, Kaverdha and Raipur municipalities & corporations and others.

A power point presentation was made by the municipal executive engineer Mr.Chandran for the visitors in the presence of Mrs.Sujatha , worshipful mayor and Mr.Raja Mohammed, City Chief Engineer, Mrs.Geetha Director Gramalaya and Mr.V.Ganapathy, laison officer, ExNoRa.

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T Nagar MLA V P Kalairajan has assured local residents of Mambalam that he will take up their issues related to the revival of bus routes and introduction of new bus routes in and around the locality for better connectivity with the rest of the city. Kalairajan addressed the residents during a public grievance meet organised by Mambalam and Kodambakkam (part) Div-133 Residents Welfare Exnora at Vathiyar Thottam Main Road recently. He said that he would discuss the issue with the state Transport Minister and MTC Managing Director soon.

The face-to-face meeting was presided by MLA Kalairajan and attended by Varatharajan, Executive Engineer, Zone-10, Corporation of Chennai, Ramachandran, Deputy Area Engineer, Area-8 Chennai Metro Water and Sewerage Board, Sakthivel, ADE-KK Nagar, TNEB and Geetha Lakshmi, Councillor Division 133.

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