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Chennai corporation gets its act together

Monday, 15 February 2010 10:57 administrator
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The New Indian Express 15.02.2010

Chennai corporation gets its act together

G Saravanan


CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation recently woke up and intensified fogging and fumigation at all vulnerable points following a spate of complaints. The banks of the several channels and storm water drains crisscrossing Chennai saw civic staff engaged in spraying anti-larvaecite in large numbers.

Besides that, the Corporation plans to seek the help of experts from Indian Council of Medical Research in controlling mosquite breeding.

According to a senior Corporation official, the civic body would discuss setting up ovitraps along the waterways in Chennai to trap t h e mosquitoes and kill the larvae at an early stage. An ovitrap is a cost-effective strategy in which fresh water dissolved with chemicals is kept in a vessel. Mosquitoes find such containers good source for breeding. When they visit the vessels to lay eggs, the chemical kills the insects and ensures that the eggs don’t hatch.

Admitting that complaints of the mosquito menace were pouring in from different parts of city, Corporation Health Official P Kuganantham said, “We are also unable to understand why there is a sudden spurt in mosquito population when compared to last year.” The civic body also plans massive awareness drives, including the playing of a five-minute documentary at all cinema theatres.

Last Updated on Monday, 15 February 2010 11:08
 

Oppanakara Street in Coimbatore to have new pavements

Saturday, 13 February 2010 03:03 administrator
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The Hindu 13.02.2010

Oppanakara Street in Coimbatore to have new pavements

Special Correspondent


FOR WALKERS: Coimbatore Corporation South Zone Chairman P. Pynthamil (left) inaugurates works to lay pedestrian pavements on Oppanakara Street in Coimbatore on Friday.

COIMBATORE: Oppanakara Street, the shopping area in the city with a high volume of traffic, will soon have new pavements for pedestrians at a cost of Rs.75 lakh.

At present, the road is a nightmare for pedestrians. Wherever the pavement is visible, it is used as parking space for two-wheelers and sometimes even cars.

Pointing this out, Chairman of Coimbatore Corporation’s South Zone P. Pynthamil said the new pavements would be at least half foot above the road level so that vehicles could not get on to these.

‘Bhoomi puja’

Mr. Pari and Town Planning Committee Chairman P. Krishnamoorthy took part in a ‘bhoomi puja’ to mark the launch of the pavement works.

The Corporation already announced that this road was among many thoroughfares, including Avanashi Road, which would have new pavements for pedestrians.

The pavements on either side of Oppanakara Street would be more than eight feet wide, over a stretch of 1.6 km from Shobha Corner to Mill Road.

At some places, pavements were not visible at all now, suggesting that these were laid at least a decade ago.

“Now, apart from raising the height of the pavements, we may propose barricades on the pavements’ border with the road. Only pedestrians can get on to the pavements at some access points,” Mr. Pari said.

Accidents

The pavements were expected to reduce risk of accidents for pedestrians on this road that had heavy bus traffic.

All the buses from Ukkadam had to take this road. Some took a turn into Raja Street, some into Variety Hall Road and the other took a left or a right at the Mill Road Junction.

During festival times, there was heavy pedestrian movement for shopping at the textiles/garments stores.

With pavements not available to the pedestrians, they walked on the road and ran the risk of getting hit by the vehicles.

Police put up barricade during these times to create separate lanes for pedestrians and vehicles.

The new pavements would solve this problem, Mr. Pari said.

Last Updated on Saturday, 13 February 2010 03:05
 

Chennai Corporation to launch census by June

Sunday, 07 February 2010 00:00 administrator
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The New Indian Express 07.02.2010

Chennai Corporation to launch census by June

G Saravanan

 

CHENNAI: With a view to have the population figures within city limits updated, Chennai Corporation is all set to begin a mega census by June.

According to sources, the exercise would involve about 8,000 field staff, who will enumerate various details from scores of houses located within the city limits. The door-to-door survey would continue for about two months and will be monitored by 1500 supervisors, sources said.

The groundwork and discussions in this regard has been completed and three exclusive training programmes would be provided to the field staff.

Apart from drafting central and state government staff for the process, there are also plans to rope in private school teachers for the effort. Each field staff would enumerate 150 households and collect basic details required for the census. The information collected from the houses would be synchronized with either the proposed national identity card or with some photographic or biometric evidences, sources said.

To get the accurate information from each points, the enumerator would depend on ward-wise digital maps.

Currently, such digital maps are readily available for 114 wards and maps for other remaining 44 divisions are being prepared.

According to sources, the digital maps are expected to play a major role in the census scheduled for 2011.

Today, the director of census operations Gopalakrishnan held a high level meeting with Corporation zonal officers at Ripon Buildings to discuss the modalities and training that has to be delivered to the field staff during the Government of India Census - 2011.

Last Updated on Monday, 08 February 2010 08:16
 
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