The mayor presented the Corporation’s annual budget at the Council meeting on March 12, 2012, a meeting that I was able to observe. The meeting was interesting to watch because it showed the extent of partisanship and political posturing in the Council, and how few civic issues are seriously discussed.

The mayor started the meeting by speaking briefly about pressing civic issues like garbage being dumped in Pallikaranai and Kodungaiyur instead of being recycled, roads not being maintained properly, and street lights that were broken. His promised solution? The magical words: “Amma will take care of this.”

A reporter I spoke to from the New Indian Express told me that the budget is usually prepared by the mayor, Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner with inputs from the councillors. Before the budget items were read out, the councillors and the press were given a CD and a large book containing basic information about the budget. The mayor read out the items in the order given in the book . He gave an introduction to every item, but this introduction did not give me much knowledge about the context and relevance of the item being presented in the budget. The leader of the ADMK on the floor commented on the budget for ten minutes, and praised “Amma” for such an inclusive budget.

Meanwhile, the councillors and some reporters from the press were given a huge bag with a picture of the Ripon building which contained papers containing details of the budget. When the mayor announced that there will be a discussion on the budget after lunch, the councillors and the reporters from the press were shocked because these discussions usually happen after a week or two. During the lunch break, Mr. Subash Chandra Bose, a DMK councilor and the leader of the opposition, was surrounded by reporters who were interviewing about his take on the budget. He said that the presented budget was not very different from that which was prepared by the mayor last term, but he refused to answer any further questions from reporters.

In the post-lunch session, reporters were not allowed to bring their cameras for the discussion. As the mayor started the discussion, Mr. Subash Chandra Bose interrupted to say that having the discussion then was not right and went against the procedure. The mayor said that eighteen councillors would get a chance to speak and critique the budget and that the DMK councillors would also get a turn to speak. The DMK councillors, agitated by this response from the mayor, walked out of the session. Then, the session continued without any distraction.

The mayor read out the names of the Councillors selected to speak that day. When their names were announced the councillors stood up and spoke. Surprisingly to me, every single ADMK councillor had the same thing to say: “We thank Amma for this excellent budget. We are very happy that the problems of our ward were considered while preparing the budget.” Only one or two councillors also complained that their ward be given more importance in the next budget. After this, the discussion ended and the Council was dismissed. The reporters ran off in a hurry to interview any Councillor they could catch hold of.

Observing the Budget session of the Council was extremely interesting. I was surprised by how little substantive discussion of the issues there was in the session. I was also surprised by how many of the interventions made by sitting councilors focused on praising the Chief Minister rather than speaking about issues relating to their ward, or problems they found with the budget or the budget making process. As a resident of Chennai, it was disappointing.

Transparent Chennai hopes to undercover more about the council and the budget, and more about how individual wards and ward councilors get money allocated for their ward’s problems in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more updates!

- Srinidhi Sampath Kumar

Transparent Chennai has started a project on Electoral Accountability where we seek to understand what our elected representatives do, how we can measure their performance and hold them accountable. In the weeks leading up to the Council elections that will be held in October, we will be putting out information on what our local government does and how they function. In this regard, we are starting a blogpost series Chennai Council Elections. Below is the first post in this series:

According to the Chennai Municipal Corporation Act, 1919, a Councilor can bring to notice of the proper authority the neglect of municipal work, wastage of municipal property, communicate the needs of his ward and suggest improvements. A Councilor has access to the records of the Corporation and can peruse them giving due notice to the Commissioner. Councilors can also be held liable for loss or wastage of money or property of the Corporation caused by them.

From talking to a Ward Councilor one understands that they, informally, interact with their constituents and use meetings at the Ward Committee and the Council to give voice to their needs. Requests by the Councilor that are approved at the Ward Committee meetings are presented at the Council meetings and result in resolutions. The Council Department says that around 100-150 resolutions are passed at the Council meetings that are usually held once a month.

In the murky waters of what a Councilor can or cannot do, there is one clear responsibility they can carry out- the utilization of funds provided to them under the Councilor Ward Development Scheme. Every year, each Councillor gets a specific sum to use for the development of his ward. The funds come to the Corporation from the State Government. When a Councillor wants to use these funds, he suggests a work that needs to be done within his ward like road improvement, he tells the Junior Engineer to prepare a plan and draw up an estimate. This is then taken up to the Assistant Commissioner for approval. On receiving his sanction it goes to the concerned department in the Corporation, a tender is called for and the contract is given out. The funds are released directly to the contractor by the Assistant Commissioner at the Zone.

Now, this should be good news. But how are they spending this money? Are they spending at all? An RTI filed by Transparent Chennai shows that during the year 2007-08, from the total allotment of Rs.1085 lakh 70% was used. The allotment for each Councilor was Rs.7 lakh. When in 2008-09 the allotment increased to Rs.15 lakh per Councilor, the percentage of total expenditure fell to 63.5%. With the increase in allotment to Rs.25 lakh in 2009-2010, the spending fell further to 40.6%. It increased to 62.74% in 2010-2011. Were the elections slated for October 2011[1] an incentive?

More pitiful are the figures of the Mayor Special Development Fund, only using Rs. 18.36 lakh in 2007-08 and Rs.12.62 lakh in 2008-09 out of the allotted Rs.50 lakh. Following the downward trend, in 2009-2010, when the allotment increased to Rs.200 lakh spending plummeted to a miserable Rs.9.71 lakh.  No figure was given for 2010-2011.

- Meryl Mary Sebastian

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[1] Mariappan, Julie; Poll fever continues; local body elections slated for October, The Hindu, 29 April 2011. < http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-29/chennai/29486803_1_local-body-polls-assembly-polls-poll-fever>

Transparent Chennai is partnering with Chennai live 104.8 radio station to talk about ways in which citizen’s suggestions on traffic problems on Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) can used for resolving traffic woes. The additional traffic commissioner of police has promised that best suggestions will be implemented. Following is the information on challenges and recommendations suggested by the traffic police incharge of the OMR stretch from SRP Tools to Semancheri post:

This road is being maintained by TNRDC (Tamil Nadu Road Development Company). The traffic controlling instruments like traffic signals, speed breaker permissions, mid block and zebra crossings including monitoring advertisement hoardings etc which is usually maintained by the Chennai Traffic police in the city is being maintained and permitted by the TNRDC on this stretch.

There are totally 9 policemen and 11 signals to monitor the stretch between SRP Tools upto Semanjeri Checkpost which is about 30km stretch. On an average there are over 1 lakh vehicles passing Sholinganallur and between 20-30 cases of over-speeding cases are booked every day. Apart from this 5-10 accidents are reported every week on this stretch. Following are the signal points and their conditions on these stretches:

Table 1 Signals on OMR

S.No	Name of the Signal	Condition	Remarks
1	SRP Tools	Good condition
2	Lifeline Hospital	Good condition	Main signals being manned by 2 cops
3	Thoraipakkam	Good condition	Main signals being manned by 2 cops
4	Rajiv Nagar junction	Good condition
5	CTS (Cognizent Technology Systems)	Sometimes does not work.	CTS  guards monitor traffic during problems but are otherwise effective in facilitating safe flow for their  company buses and vehicles.
6	Amravati hotel/ Mahindra Satyam	Incomplete	1 side signal post only
7	Accenture	Sometimes does not work.	Every month there is a complaint about it not working
8	Sholinganallur	Good condition	Main signals being manned by 2 cops
9	Infosys	Incomplete
10	Satyabhama	Not working
11	Pazhakotachalai/ Semancheri check post	Sometimes does not work.	Blinks and on many occasions the signal is not working

Source: Chennai Traffic Police.

Following are the major traffic bottlenecks and accident prone zones as observed by the traffic police area in-charge.

1. Kandanchavadi: Near YMCA school; this is the most accident prone spot with over 10 fatal accidents last year causing death. Although there is a FOB (Foot over bridge) very few people use it. As TNRDC does not allow speed breakers on the road or a mid block crossing. Jay walking is quite prevalent as the school caters to over 1000 students. There is an unapproved mid block crossing carved out by regular commuters and an unauthorised bus stop at which the buses stop.

2. Life line Hospital signal: It is a traffic bottleneck because of free left and as the turning is a 2 lane road.

3. Span between SRP Tools and Lifeline hospital: This is an accident prone zone due to wrong side driving and jay walking. The discontinuity of service lane from SRP tools towards Mahabalipuram causes the confusion amongst the motorists travelling in wrong direction.

4. Before Toll Gate (Hyundai showroom Perungudi Bus stop): Traffic bottleneck due to heavy pedestrian traffic. There is an unauthorised median opening and during the peak period the road is completely taken over by the pedestrians.

5. Between Perungudi Bus stand and Toll gate: Although there is a Foot over bridge the incomplete service road on one side hampers the access. The FOB is also incomplete and hence pedestrians resort to jay walking. They have created an opening in the median and the crossing is a cause of caution for motorists.

6. Corporation Road (Madras Industrial Gear) Thoraipakkam: The vehicles turn at this junction and as there are no signals or policeman on a regular basis and thus withough proper regulation it becomes a traffic bottleneck and a soft spot for accidents.

7. Seevaram: FOB is not being used and has become a traffic bottleneck.

8. MNM Jain Engineering  College: The median is broken and student jaywalk to cross the roads. During college hours (closing and opening time) peak hours it becomes a traffic bottleneck.

9. Mettukuppam bus stop/ FOB and opposite to ASV Suntech Park: The FOB is not being used and the unauthorised median opening for pedestrian to cross causes a traffic bottleneck

10. Karapakkam PTC bus stop: There are no FOB, no crossing (mid block or zebra) and presence of heavy pedestrian and vehicular traffic. It is an accident prone zone.

11. Between Mahindra Satyam and Accenture at Aravind Theater: There is a FOB and a mid block crossing but due to heavy motor and pedestrian traffic it has become an accident hot-spot.

12. Sholinganallur, between (Kelambakkam and Thoraipakkam): It has become a congestion point lately because the vehicles going towards Tambaram have a close to the turning. Although it was shifted by 100m the clinging of buses together has made it ineffective.

13. Diamond Engineering Company: The road bends and because of poor visibility many accidents occur. As there are few villages in the surrounding people cross randomly and thus it has become an accident prone area.

Recommendations:

1. The height of the median throughout is less than 2feet which eases Jaywalking. As there are several villages, institutions (schools and colleges) and Industrial area on both sides of the IT corridor it cannot be stopped. So increasing the median height will dissuade them to cross at grade and use the FOBs or cross at signals and authorised mid block crossing.

2. Incomplete service roads and limited mid block crossing has forced the motorists to drive on wrong side to the nearest signal or crossing. This is difficult to monitor considering only 9 policemen are manning these roads. The drivers are booked for dangerous driving and every day the traffic police collects 9-10,000Rs for over-speeding and dangerous driving. The police have recommended the TNRDC for putting speed-breakers and giving mid block crossing as per their observations but TNRDC takes a long time to respond.

3. Large number of wine shops in this stretch has caused drink’n’ drive problems. The drunkards also sway on the roads and are victims of accidents. The TASMAC shops should not be allowed to have bars or drinking areas at nights. It needs to be monitored regularly.

4. MTC buses do not stop at their assigned space, causing traffic disturbance as commuters dependent on the public transport cause commotion running all around the buses. In Sholinganallur the bus stop was very close to the signal which became a bottleneck and is now sorted out by pushing the stop by 100 meters away from their location. This was due to heavy traffic and short time gap between arrivals of 2 buses which eventually becomes a chain.

Through this effort we wish to have a better participation of people in resolving the traffic problem of the city. We are soon going to have an OMR layer in which you will be able to placemark the location of the traffic problem and suggest your views to resolve the problem.

Roshan Toshniwal

Manual scavenging is constitutionally banned under The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prevention) Act. Close to two decades have passed since this Act was passed in 1993, but manual scavenging is still ingrained in the lives of the urban poor in Chennai. Repeated protests by NGOs and civil society have not been able to eradicate this deplorable practice. Why has the government not taken necessary steps to rehabilitate the lives of manual scavengers? Why does a person still have to go 5 feet into the drain to manually clean human faeces? What happened to the promises of full mechanization? None of these questions fetch any answers from city managers.

An interview with Mr. R Anbuvendhan, President of the Sanitary Worker’s Union, shed light on inconsistencies inherent in government policies and practice. According to Anbuvendhan, 9727 sanitary workers were sanctioned by the government in 1996 to work in Chennai. Of these, only 3750 are currently working with the Corporation of Chennai. “Nobody knows what happened to the rest of the employees. While some retired in normal course, many have suspiciously disappeared from the attendance registers and government payroles”, said Mr. Anbuvendhan.

The sanitary workers department is under staffed and incapable of handling the load of work entrusted to them by the Corporation. Chennai’s boundaries have expanded since 1996 to include a number of municipalities. The population has increased from 4 million in 2001 to 4.7 million as per the recent Census. However, these are not accounted for when the government calculates the number of sanitary workers to be employed by the department. As per Central government norms, not less than 2.75 sanitary workers should be assigned to a population of 1000. Currently, each employee takes care of more than 1300 residents. “Unofficial corruption and bonded labour is inherent in the bureaucracy”, says Anbuvendhan. Out of all the processes, only the attendance records of sanitation workers have been computerized. “Attendance is taken at least thrice during the day and even one time absence leads to salary cuts”, he said.

Source: Hindu, File Photo

Nearly all workers are in their mid forties and fifties, and suffer from work induced ailments like cancer, tuberculosis, asthma and other respiratory diseases. However, the medical claims offered to sanitary workers do not cover these diseases. “More than 65 per cent of the sanitary workers are women and their rights and needs should be protected. Families of sanitary workers do not even get adequately compensated when they die during service. Metro Water, a parastatal agency, privately hires workers to manually clean the sewers. When workers die inside these sewers, they are entitled to zero compensation by the agency”, he said.

The Sanitary Workers Union was formed in 2004 to protect the rights of the sanitary workers and help rehabilitation. Have things changed since then? “Not much has changed, but workers are more aware and empowered to fight for their rights now. They no longer fear to exercise their freedom of speech”, said Anbuvendhan who hopes to completely rehabilitate the lives of manual scavengers in the city some day.

Transparent Chennai will be going on a city tour this week to check the conditions in which manual scavengers operate in the city. Transparent Chennai will also be a part of the weekly union meetings to interact with workers. If you are interested in talking about this issue, write to somya.sethuraman@ifmr.ac.in

All views expressed here are based on newspaper clippings and interviews.

Somya Sethuraman

To understand how the Chennai’s Council functions we have been reading up on the published Council reports- reading questions they asked, speeches they made and the discussions that took place. The second to last meeting of the present Council was held on August 29^th, 2011 and we had the chance to attend it, and finally see and hear the people we had been reading about. As we stood at the entrance of the Ripon building, cars pulled up. Men in white and women in silk bustled up the stairs to the Council Chambers.

The meeting was chaired by Mayor Subrahmaniam. The monthly Council meetings are held at the Council Chambers near the Mayor’s office in the Ripon Building. The Mayor sits at the head of the room. To his right sits the Commissioner and on his left the Deputy Mayor. The Councilors sit according to their party. The benches in front of the Mayor are occupied by the ruling party in the city (DMK) on the right and the opposition party (AIADMK) on the left. There are two balconies on either side of the Council chambers; on the left is where the press is seated and on the right the recording equipment is kept. There are scribes who sit near the Mayor and take down the minutes of the meeting. Two scribes work at a time. This is used to compile the Proceedings Report of the Council meeting, which is published and sent to all Councilors.

The Council Secretary sits near the entrance of the Chamber. Councilors sign their attendance at the ledger there and collect the agenda for the meeting from him. The Agenda specifies the questions being asked at the meeting and the resolutions up for discussion. The Council Secretary is the head of the Council Department and is in charge of keeping attendance, preparing the agenda for every meeting and publishing the monthly reports.

The first 15 minutes of this meeting was chaotic as the CPI and the PMK members wanted to raise the issue of the High Court verdict on the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The State government had passed a resolution that day where they asked for the death sentence of the 3 convicts to be turned to life imprisonment[1]. This led to loud arguments between the CPI and PMK on one side and the AIADMK on the other. The Mayor called for order and said that the issue was not a Council matter and so will not be discussed. If any one wanted to express their opinion on this issue, it could be done at the Legislative Assembly. At 12:00 p.m. the CPI and the PMK walked out to show their displeasure/staunch disagreement. But they walked back in at 12:15 p.m. A Councilor we talked to opined that the Mayor took such a stance so as to not go against the State government.

The first part of every Council meeting is the question hour. Unfortunately we missed this because we were obtaining permission from the Council Secretary to attend the meeting.

After the question hour, the following people were called upon to address the Council-

Ward No.	Name of Councilor
146	Selvi Sounderaraj
11	K.Kripakaran
63	Prabakaran (ABSENT)
61	Mohammed Yasin (ABSENT)
83	Nagarajan
39	P.M.Kalyani
3	P. Jayanti
154	Meenakshi Venkatraman
95	R.Durai
93	Arunmozhi Seran
102	Balakrishnan
74	Ramesh
116	P.Ravi (Opposition leader)
75	N.Ramalingam (Ruling party leader)

The Councilors use this time to address the Council about matters regarding their ward and city-related problems, as was done by Councilors P.Jayanti, Meenakshi Venkataraman and R.Durai. Party leaders P.Ravi and N.Ramalingam congratulated the Council on successful completion of their term.

The majority of the time at the Council meeting is spent on discussing resolutions. As the Mayor called out their names, the Councilors stood up to present their resolutions. Any resolution can be passed or implemented only with the approval of the Council. In this meeting, 64 resolutions were passed. Some councilors pass multiple resolutions; some resolutions are backed by multiple Councilors.

The reports that we read from the years 2007 and 2008 gave us a picture of chaotic Council sessions while the reports of the years 2009, 2010 and 2011 seemed more orderly. At the meeting we saw, the Council was in constant chaos. At any given time, half the Councilors are at the cafeteria adjacent to the Council chambers where they eat and talk with other Councilors. Councilors who are within the Chambers pay attention to the proceedings when it has to do with their ward, party or is of general importance. Often, while Councilors ask their questions, give their speeches or present their resolutions in a pre-decided order, there are several simultaneous mini-discussions going on. We saw one Councilor admonished and sent back to his seat by the Mayor for posing in front of the cameras with a paper.

Throughout the reports we have read there is very little mentioned of the Deputy Mayor Satyabama. At this meeting she was conspicuous in her silence. The meeting was attended by the Commissioner as well but he sat in only for the first half hour. He was later replaced by the Deputy Commissioner.

At the end of the speech session, the Mayor addressed the Council congratulating the Council on the good work done in this term and the last 10 years.  He said that the within 20 days the date for the Council election would be announced. The last Council meeting will be held in September only to announce the placement of the ballot boxes. He thanked the Council for their cooperation and wished them luck for the election.

Following are the links to the media coverage on this meeting we could dig up-

The Hindu

News Today

CNN IBN via The Times of India

CNN IBN via The New Indian Express 1

CNN IBN via The New Indian Express 2

CNN IBN via The New Indian Express 3

Meryl Mary Sebastian

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[1] The Hindu, ‘Tamil Nadu Assembly adopts resolution approving commutation of death sentence’, 30 Aug 2011. < http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2411347.ece>

When Perungudi was carelessly chosen as a dump site way back in 1987, it was obvious that the government gave scant regard to the ecologically sensitive marshland of Pallikarnai-a hot spot for biodiversity that was situated right next to it. Ever since, the marshland has shrunk in size and the sewage treatment facility that is located nearby only makes matters worse for the flora and fauna of Pallikarnai. Studies that were conducted around Perungudi produced alarming results. The level of dioxins and furans that were found in breast milk samples collected from the vicinity were 25 times higher than WHO’s recommended limit. Dioxins are by-products of industrial process and municipal solid waste and are said to be one of the most harmful chemicals to humans.  Adding to these distressing results is the fact that the effects of such an ‘unengineered’ dump yard stretches for miles around and is not just contained in Perungudi.

The government’s policy towards waste management has the reputation of being knee-jerk reactions, and might have still continued to be so if it wasn’t for the introduction of the ‘Municipal Solid Wastes (Management & Handling) Rules’ in 2000. It took a PIL for the country to realise the disastrous path that it was following and change tracks. The ruling makes source segregation, door to door waste collection, abolition of open storage, daily sweeping of streets, transportation of waste in covered vehicles, waste processing by energy recovery or composting and sanitary landfills mandatory.

With Chennai having the highest per capita waste generation rate in the country (.6kg a day), well-planned, long-term solutions is the need of the hour. Solid waste management in the city is the responsibility of the Corporation of Chennai. The CoC has also been the first in t he country to allow private players into the dirty business. With public-private partnerships gaining popularity, the DMK government ushered in CES Onyx into 3 of the 10 zones in the city in 2000(-a good move considering the following figures, that the total cost for street sweeping, collection and transportation per Metric ton of waste for CoC and Onyx was approximately USD 33 and 25, respectively. Also CoC handled 2000 tonnes per day with a manpower of 10,000 including administrative staff and workers, while Onyx managed 1100 tonnes with a manpower of just 2000). Exnora also forayed into the picture by encouraging CBOs and it easily gained patronage from communities as they appreciated the benefits of environmentally-safe handling of waste.

Dumpyards find themselves at the end of the waste management process and are perennially overflowing with unthinkably enormous proportions of the city’s trash. Should the process really stop there? Will creating n number of dumpyards be a solution to the garbage problem of a country that’s growing at alarming rates? Recent estimates show that approximately 48 million tons of urban solid waste is generated annually in India and is increasing by approximately 1.3% each year.  With all this garbage around, a new approach to waste management is being encouraged by the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources. The ‘National Programme on Energy Recovery  from Urban Wastes’  was initiated in  1995 to  develop the waste-to energy market. This approach not only results in a substantial reduction in the area that is ear marked for dump sites but it also addresses the acute power shortage that we face. In a report brought out by Frost and Sullivan, it was predicted that the Indian municipal solid waste (MSW) to energy market could be growing at a compound rate of growth of 9.7% by 2013.

Taking all of this into account, a long term solution to real waste management must include steps to reduce garbage generated at the household level through means like recycling and also encourage segregation of garbage and even compost pits for bio-degradable waste at the community level. But private operators like Onyx or presently Neel Metal Fanalca lack the incentive to segregate garbage as they are paid based on the weight of garbage collected, and fines are rarely levied for non-segregation although it is part of their contract. Instead they blame the public for their lack of awareness on the issue.

Ever since Neel Metal Fanalca found its way into the city, Chennai’s residents have only had harsh words to describe its work. The city quite visibly became dirtier with NMF’s arrival and there were even instances where their workers had the audacity to ask for tips to clean streets. It was pretty sad as Chennai was just beginning to see the effects of what a well managed and efficiently run SWM operator could. The citizens of Chennai uniformly agreed that CES Onyx’s performance was far better than the Corporation’s, but much to the city’s dismay, it was shown the door. Why you may ask?-it refused to give in to the new government’s ‘demands’ and this meant that their contract would not be renewed. With the change in government in the State in May, it might be safe to say that we can again expect the incumbent private solid waste management (SWM) company to be kicked out and a new entrant having greased the hands of the new government, mine riches for itself via the city’s overflowing garbage.

References:

Municipal Solid Waste Management in Chennai City, India :S Esakku,A swaminathan, O Parthiba Karthikeyan, J Kurian and K Palanivelu   http://www.swlf.ait.ac.th/UpdData/International/NRIs/MSW%20management%20in%20Chennai.pdf

Public, Private and Voluntary Agencies in Solid Waste Management,A Study in Chennai City by Krithika Srinivasan http://www.kcl.ac.uk/content/1/c6/04/27/08/swmepw.pdf

Capacity-to-Act in India’s Solid Waste Management and Waste-to Energy Industries by Perinaz Bhada http://www.seas.columbia.edu/earth/wtert/sofos/Bhada_Capacity_to_Act_in_India.pdf

http://www.kleanindustries.com/s/environmental_market_Industry_news.asp?ReportID=452731

http://digitaljourno.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/payment-calculation.pdf

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Maria Terase, student of BA(H) Economics, currently interning at Transparent Chennai

Today’s Hindu has two very interesting stories that I felt were worth sharing with our readers. You might have already seen and read it but I am not sure if you had an afterthought. I obviously had one, so penning it down for all of you to read. The second and third page of Hindu which tell you stories about our very own Chennai City have two very contrasting pieces of news today: naturally, one good and the other bad.

Let’s first talk about the good news. Apparently, Metrowater, in an effort to ensure equitable distribution, has increased water supply to north Chennai, which is considered to be (a lot more) poorer than south Chennai. This increase is said to benefit the so called “orphaned” areas of north Chennai including Sowcarpet, Pulianthope and Basin Bridge. The report says that though the quantum of water supply was almost the same in some zones, population density led to unequal distribution. Makes sense. But isn’t it surprising to know that Metrowater, a parastatal agency which is responsible for supplying water to the entire city required a special survey to highlight such disparities? Worse, residents feel that this increase in supply will not bring any major relief to them because their areas often receive contaminated water. Will we now need another survey of quality of water in these areas to make effective and timely policy decisions? Anyhow, I would still consider this announcement as positive and much needed: better late than never is what they say.

Scene: Residents of Ayanavaram, North Chennai, washing clothes in a common area outside Corporation toilet

What’s the bad news? Chennai District, which has always had one of the the lowest school dropout rates when compared with other districts in TN as well as districts in all other states, has reported 3283 children in the age group of 5-16 years to have dropped out of school. According to a recent study done by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan:
- Male children constitute a major chunk of this number – now this is contrary to common belief that drop out rates are higher for girls than boys
- Majority pointed to lack of interest in going to school as reason for dropping out. Other reasons were child labor, lack of guidance, poverty, natural calamity etc.
- Majority drop outs are from backward classes and communities
- Again, north Chennai had relatively higher concentration of these dropouts.

Do we need to revamp our education system? Shouldn’t policies and programmes be inclusive and pro poor? How is it that north Chennai’s residents have to bear the brunt of it all – be it education or basic human needs and necessities like food, water, shelter and sanitation? We do keep writing and talking about it, but when will the issue escalate to an extent where it translates to some meaningful action? Probably more announcements in the near future like the one Metrowater has made today, along with effective implementation of these will bring some quick relief to deprived areas.

- Somya Sethuraman