In December 2010, Reclaim Our Beaches (ROB), a local youth initiative in the city, contacted Transparent Chennai to see if TC could, in any way, help strengthen a proposal that they were sending to the Chennai Corporation on the need for dustbins and toilets on Elliots and Valmiki beaches. A methodology for data creation was devised that would benefit both organizations. For ROB, it was the creation of spatially precise data that buttressed the need for dustbins and toilets, and for TC, it served as a starting point for infrastructure and pollution mapping of Chennai’s coastline. This blogpost will tell our readers about how the data created helped strengthen ROB’s proposal to the Chennai Corporation.

Dustbins and Toilets on the Beach:

ROB’s campaign, which involves placing dustbins and toilets on the beach as a first step towards a healthier beach environment, led them to a meeting with the Chennai Corporation, a civic body responsible for maintenance of public spaces and amenities in the city among other things. The meeting ended with the corporation suggesting that ROB submit a proposal stating the nature of problem and related demands concerning Chennai’s beaches.

While thrilled at the opportunity to come up with a sound proposal that would put dustbins and toilets on the beach they soon realized that it was not an easy task to create a convincing proposal especially since they were an unregistered organization. The need to make their proposal more persuasive was why they initially contacted TC.

TC and ROB:

At TC, a methodology was devised for obtaining information on the formal and informal uses of Elliots and Valmiki Beaches that would help ROB to: 1. help reinforce the need for dustbins and toilets; 2. provide insight into the most effective locations for the same.

How so? Let us explain by using Elliots beach as an example.

While ROB already had data on the amount of trash along the coastline, this data was repackaged to spatially showcase how dirty the beach was during different days and times. We did this by mapping sites where trash had accumulated on different days to get a spatial sense of the problem. In our study, a trash accumulation site was defined as any area where more than 5 pieces of trash were found together.

These sites were mapped by ROB volunteers on Monday 20/11/2010

These sites were mapped by ROB volunteers on Sunday 02/01/2011

As you can see, these maps provide a strong spatial representation of the problem of trash on Elliots beach. What’s even better is by overlaying this data with the existing neelmetal dumpsters and government operated dustbins in the area, one can easily see how the present waste management system is inadequate.

Similar representations of informal urine hotspots were mapped and overlaid with information of public toilet facilities in the area to present the need for more toilets.

To help in locating ideal places for trash bins a heat map containing a point density algorithm was used to spatially show the most concentrations of trash thereby showing where trash bins would be most useful.

Example heat map using the trash accumulation data obtained on 20/11/2010

The same methodology was used to stress the need for toilets as well. We hope that these maps will help ROB’s proposal to the Corporation and eventually result in more dustbins and toilets on the beach.

Go to Build A Map feature on our website to explore our Beach Layer! Please do write to us and give us feedback on our methodology.

- Siddharth Hande

Whenever there are any potholes, or water stagnation or any services that disturb the functioning of the road and reduce mobility, the public tends to blame the Chennai Corporation. The Chennai Corporation is to maintain all city roads as per section 203(2) of the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919. But is the Corporation really to be blamed? My research for Transparent Chennai indicates that it is actually not the Corporation that is in charge of all the roads in the city.

In the process of collecting data regarding the pedestrian facilities in the city I stumbled across a surprising fact: until 2006, the City road division of the Tamil Nadu Highway Department maintained seven corridors of roads. These city roads were handed over to the Highway Department in 2002 on a special request from the Tamil Nadu State Government as it was far from satisfactory and required urgent attention. This was done to provide good quality riding surface and driving comfort of the highway standards which the Chennai Municipal Corporation could not deliver, as it did not have enough money, man power and technical knowhow to work in this area. The funding to maintain these roads were being given by TUFIDCO (Tamil Nadu Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation).

Till today, the City Road Division of the Highway department continues to maintain four main roads measuring 65.9 kms in the city and 17 subways on these roads. Following are the roads:
S.No Name of the Road Length of Stretch being maintained in (Km)
1 Anna Salai (G.S.T Road) or NH45 28
2 Poonamalle High Road/ E.V.R.Salai (G.W.T Road)NH4 9.2
3 Wall Tax Road/ Erukkancheri High Road (G.N.T Road) NH5 10.7
4 Jawaharlal Nehru Road/ 100 Feet Road (Inner Ring Road) 17.5

But the bus shelters, street lights and the trees on these roads continues to be maintained by the Corporation of Chennai.
Any subsidiary functions such as laying of pipes (sewerage, water supply, telecom lines etc) which involves digging of roads and abruption of traffic due to these functions, on these roads requires prior permission of the Highway Department. Mr. Duraisamy, (Chief Engineer Planning division, City Road Division, Highway Department) said that the agencies responsible for these subsidiary functions pays the Highway Department for the road digging and relaying.

The question is who should one contact in case of any dysfunction of services which may lead to disruption of the traffic on these roads. As the services are being maintained multiple agencies like the water supply and drainage by the CMWSSB, the transformers and electricity supply by the TNEB, the telecom utility boxes by the various companies, the role of the Corporation and the Highway department is to manage and co-ordinate its repair and maintenance. They further hire contractors either through tenders or through their contacts to finish the job depending on the type and size of work.

The roads deteriorate due to wear and tear because of the traffic, and sometimes because it is not laid properly. The constant digging and relaying parts and stretches of roads creates imbalance and results in uneven surface. Hence, from all the above arguments, it is clear that the services on the roads require special attention, space and a body which manages and integrates these. This will result in better accountability and reduce wear and tear of the roads without disrupting traffic.

- Roshan Toshniwal

This post in an excerpt from a Media Voice Magazine article on Chennai’s SWM crisis. Read more in the March issue of Media Voice Magazine.

The informal sector in SWM refers to scavengers and rag pickers that are involved in the extraction of reusable and recyclable materials from unsegregated waste. The work of this group is labor-intensive, low-paid and unregulated. The informal sector intervenes at several points of the SWM system. This includes iterant waste buyers that collect waste door-to-door, street-level waste pickers and dump site workers. Most Indian metros have large populations of rag pickers. Chintan, a New Delhi-based NGO, estimates that the city has close to 300,000 rag pickers who retrieve around 1,000 tons of waste a day from the municipal cycle – around 20% of Delhi’s daily garbage that would otherwise make its way into dump yards.

About a decade ago, Chennai’s SWM network included thousands of waste pickers, who scavenged for raw materials from dust bins, road sides, dump sites and transfer stations. This sector has shrunk to a great degree in recent years due to reasons which can be attributed to privatization of SWM and a general disregard for rag pickers by the CoC. In 2000, Chennai became the first Indian city to hire a private agency to fulfill part of its SWM duties. Onyx used a large work force, compactors and other facilities to clear garbage, and thus left rag pickers with limited access to waste. Furthermore, in order to comply with the SWM Rules, the CoC constructed compound walls around Perungudi and Kodungaiyur dump yards, as well as its transfer stations and set up security personnel to guard these sites. Rag pickers, who used to retrieve recyclables in these sites, now have very limited access to them. Many have to pay bribes or undergo harassment in order to enter these places.

A rag picker settlement adjacent to the Kodungaiyur dump yard in Chennai.

Kodungaiyur is one of two major dump sites in the city of Chennai. This 350-acre site receives around 1500 tonnes of garbage a day. It is also home to over 2000 rag pickers, who live in shacks behind the site. With the main entrance guarded by security and the site walled off, rag pickers only have access to waste from the back entrance of the site. Dubeda, in this photo, is a rag picker who lives in this settlement and only collects remnants of shoes. She says that many rag pickers specialize in retrieving specific raw materials, such as glass, paper, plastic, etc. She has been involved in this profession ever since she lost her husband 14 years ago. Rag picking is her main profession, without with she has no source of income. Also seen in this picture is Dubeda’s young daughter, who will be helping her out with waste picking in a few years.

Vijay Anand, a social worker with Exnora, stresses on the importance of resource recovery and estimates that only 5% of our absolute waste would end up in landfills with proper recycling and segregation. He explains that the informal sector is an integral cog to the SWM system, without which resource recovery is extremely low. Accommodations must be made at the policy-making level to recognize the importance of their work and include them within the formal SWM system. Almitra Patel of the Supreme Court committee for SWM recently urged the CoC to formally employ rag pickers to clean up the city. She estimates that waste that is source segregated could potentially earn Chennai up to 1 crore rupees a month. Unfortunately, the CoC is apprehensive about hiring informal sector workers to do corporation jobs due to their nomadic lifestyles, lack of stability, and because they do not possess identification material, such as ration cards and birth certificates.

- Vaishnavi Narasimhan

My Sunday mornings are normally meant for sleeping in, being lazy, watching TV and eating a late brunch. However, this Sunday was different from others. For starters, I woke up at 5:15am. I then got dressed and made my way to Marina beach to do something much needed – pick up trash!

The Chennai Trekking Club (CTC) led a massive volunteer effort towards cleaning up the 15-km coastal stretch from Marina to Injambakkam this Sunday. CTC is a non-profit volunteer-based organization of nearly 1000 trekking enthusiasts. The group is actively involved in exploring trails, jungles and mountains all over India. CTC organizes 5-8 treks every month and often more than one trek on weekends. Apart from trekking, the group is also passionate about raising environmental and social awareness and organizes several campaigns to clean up and preserve environmentally sensitive areas.

Sunday’s coastal clean up was a sequel to another massive clean up that was held in May 2010. The group’s founder had a vision to make this event the largest beach clean up campaign in Chennai’s recent history. Thus, a single email calling for volunteers caught the attention of hundreds of residents and the media. In a mere few weeks, nearly 1000 volunteers (including me J) signed up to offer 2 hours of their Sunday morning to rid the city’s coastline of garbage.

This was my first interaction with CTC, and I was pleasantly surprised at how organized its volunteers were. The 15-km stretch that we cleaned was divided into 1-km zones, with 2-3 of CTC’s organizers manning each zone. A map indicating pick-up points, beach clean up zones and organizer names was sent out to everyone ahead of time through email. I signed up to meet the group that gathered at the Marina lighthouse. When I got to the beach, I saw a few organizers ready and waiting with gloves and biodegradable garbage bags (sponsored by Biotec). Once the gloves and bags were handed out, my group was divided into two teams– one that picked up larger pieces of trash, such as shoes, gunny bags, large plastic bags, etc, and a second team that picked up smaller pieces such as cigarette butts, small pieces of thermocole, plastic, etc. Since I am afflicted with an obsessive compulsive disorder and love cleaning in detail, I happily opted to join the second group. I spent a good 1.5 hours picking up all kinds of trash (and burning a lot of calories J), much of which was deeply buried in sand. Several of CTC’s photographers captured photographs of the clean up at all of the different zones.

It was really nice to see how passionate all of the volunteers were about cleaning up the beach. There were people of all ages that came out to for the clean up that morning. We also got the attention of several fishermen who lived in the area and people who happened to be taking a stroll at the beach that morning. A few fishermen made some generous contributions to my trash bag and even thanked me, which made me feel proud for doing something worthwhile with my Sunday morning. Together, we collected 800 bags of non-degradable garbage – a commendable attempt at raising environmental awareness.

I hope that the beach clean up has made Chennai’s residents realize the importance of preserving this precious and beautiful ecosystem, and that beach go-ers will now think twice before littering. On behalf of Transparent Chennai, I would like to thank CTC for organizing this amazing campaign. This effort is proof that we, as residents, can work together to make our city a better place to live!

Vaishnavi Narasimhan

Reclaim our beaches is a  youth led movement to restore the sanctity of Chennai’s beaches. It started with a small group of students cleaning up the beach and creating awareness by asking the citizens to own up their garbage and not litter everywhere. On the eve of their first anniversary on Saturday, 18th December 2010, these young environmental activists were really determined to push forth their agenda by something they call ‘in the face clean up’. In the face clean up is an initiative to encourage the residents to keep the beach surroundings clean.

They received  a resounding response of a hundred and fifty plus people. As the ROB volunteers tread their path to clean they saw many people littering the beach area. The volunteers went up to them, picked the waste, gave them a look that made them feel guilty. Seeing this many people from the crowd volunteered to help out in the cleaning and the enthusiasm swept many strangers into becoming friends for a common cause.

ROB has been very active in demanding dustbins and more toilets on the beach as people are often seen polluting the place due to a lack of these basic amenities. The corporation has promised ROB to put the dustbins and toilets on the beach and have asked them for an aesthetically beautiful and financially feasible plan to maintain the beach stretch. The executive engineer and his colleague from the corporation also witnessed the clean up and were impressed. In the end, Mr. Nithyanand a famous environmental journalist, a friend and mentor of ROB, thanked everyone for their time and contribution and inspired the residents to keep the city clean and take this fruitful thought to more people.

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Transparent Chennai recently collaborated with ROB on mapping the infrastructure on Elliots beach. A map showcasing the present infrastructure i.e; ( dustbins, public toilets, vendors etc) will be up on the website soon. A report based on the mapping exercise will also be drafted in due course and sent to the Corporation.

Please write to us with suggestions and feedback, and do join ROB in their beach clean ups. We have beautiful beaches in Chennai and all of us want it clean. Don’t we? For more information: http://letsrob.org/home/

By Roshan Toshniwal, Consultant, Transparent Chennai

I came across this article in Times of India today:

Sewage system improvement at Rs 42 crore

CHENNAI: The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) has prepared a blueprint to improve the sewage system in the city at the cost of Rs 42 crore. An announcement to this effect was made on Wednesday by CMWSSB managing director Rajesh Lakhoni during a high-level meeting… Read more here

What was particularly interesting about this article was a comment by Devi, a CPM councillor: “The sewer lines were laid decades ago and there is neither improvement nor modernisation, resulting in clogged sewers. Public health is at risk due to contamination of drinking water”

Transparent Chennai is conducting a survey, a pilot project, to asses the quality of public toilets in Chennai. In many of the toilets that we visited, users of toilets complained of clogged sewers as a frequent problem. Caretakers in some of the locations had locked up latrines and toilet compounds because of blocked underground drainage.

While this piece in ToI comes as a pleasant development, the question is : Will we succeed in utilizing these funds to create a sustainable solution? What do you feel? Please write to us.

- Somya Sethuraman