Urban News

The Hindu       22.06.2010

Residents lay siege to Corporation office

Staff Reporter

Tirupur: About 100 residents of Corporation Ward 19 laid siege to the Corporation office here on Monday in protest against the ‘step-motherly attitude shown by the authorities concerned' when it comes to implementing infrastructure development projects in the ward.

Ward 19 councillor S. Velusamy said that the ward dwellers had been reeling under acute drinking water shortage for the past many months.

“Only once in seven days the drinking water is supplied to the ward and that too for just two hours,” he added.

According to him, the problem has been brought to the notice of Corporation officials on many occasions without getting redressed.

The residents also highlighted that the motor used to pump water from the main borewell situated at Mettupalayam First Street in Ramamoorthy Nagar was not in working condition for the past many weeks.

“This aggravates the water scarcity in the region,” they said. Mr. Velusamy said that street lights in the ward were badly maintained and hence, the roads had become increasingly unsafe for pedestrians in the night hours.

He cited that the works on construction of storm water drains in the ward left halfway had been causing enormous difficulties to the commuters.

The residents, along the councillor, then submitted a memorandum to Corporation Commissioner R. Jayalakshmi who promised to look into their grievances. The crowd later dispersed.

The Hindu       22.06.2010

85% of shops comply with nameboard norms in city

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation on Monday started removing nameboards of shops and commercial establishments, which did not display the names in Tamil.

The action against 1,387 shops and commercial establishments on the first day of the drive came after the deadline set by the civic body to change nameboards ended.

Launching the drive on Anna Salai, Mayor M. Subramanian said, “Over 85 per cent of the shops and commercial establishments in the city have included Tamil letters on their nameboards.” Action is being initiated against the remaining shops and commercial establishments for their failure to comply with the directive of the civic body, he added.

The most number of name boards – 200 – were removed in areas of Zone 5 (Kilpauk), such as Anna Nagar, Virugambakkam, Shenoy Nagar, Kilpauk, Purasawalkam, Aminjikarai, Choolaimedu and Arumbakkam.

In Royapuram, Parrys Corner and George Town of Zone 2 (Basin Bridge) 37 name boards were removed.

Corporation officials removed 41 name boards in Tondiarpet, 168 in Pulianthope, 172 in Ayanavaram, 162 in Ice House, 153 in Nungambakkam, 155 in Kodambakkam, 119 in Saidapet and 180 in Mylapore zones.

There are around 90,000 shops and establishments in Chennai.