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(ARCHIVE) Vol. XX No. 13, October 16-31, 2011
Your Worship, here's Musings' wish-list
(By The Editor)

By the time this issue of Madras Musings is in your hands, the elections to the Chennai Corporation would have been over. What is saddening to observe, however, is that not many candidates stood on platforms that promised civic improvements. They simply echoed the political manifestos of their respective parties, none of which had any relevance to the city’s administration. This is a major cause for concern.

It was the first time in the history of the Corporation of Chennai, which, incidentally, is the oldest municipal body in India, that elections took place for 200 wards. This was consequent to the increase in the area that is now being governed by the Corporation. The expanded area stretches to Sholinganallur in the south, Kathivakkam in the north and Ambattur in the west, adding five more zones to the previous ten. With the Corporation having been a challenge in the past even with a smaller jurisdiction earlier, are its Councillors in any way equipped to handle the demands of an expanded area?

A record number of mayoral candidates – 32 in all – were in the fray. This was the first time in two decades that the Mayor was directly elected by the people – a record 44.9 lakh voters eligible and expected to participate in the franchise to select the candidate of their choice. But not many of the candidates appeared to be even aware of the gravity of the election. Their promises were vague, to say the least. One candidate promised to uplift the poor, another said that the city would become very clean, a third asked for an opportunity to usher in the rule of Kamaraj who was never Mayor in any case. So where does this leave us?

We at Madras Musings have, therefore, drawn up a wish-list that we hope the Worshipful Mayor will consider implementing when he/she takes office. Our list is:

• Can we please have pavements? It is high time that the requirements of pedestrians were taken care of. Their interests should not be sacrificed for sake of those travelling on/in vehicles. Walking is healthy, clean and green.

• Can we have restrictions on the number of new private vehicles that are being registered? Singapore, which Chennai has always tried to emulate with very little success, has long had this policy. Today, our roads have reached a state where they cannot take any more vehicles.

• Can we have stricter parking laws? It is high time we took stock of the parking spaces that are available in the city. We cannot simply hope that cars, vans and two-wheelers will somehow manage. It is time we had clear parking lots and, perhaps, it is also the time for us to explore punitive parking fees to discourage unnecessary use of private vehicles even for short distances.

• Can we hope to have a public hygiene campaign? How do we educate the unconcerned sections among our people that defecating, relieving themselves and spitting in public are not indicators of civilised behaviour? And arising out of that, can we have more public toilets and can these be maintained better?

• Can we hope for a census of trees in the city and a freeze on their being cut down to make way for roads? Can we have a proactive policy on tree pruning, so that they do not get uprooted during storms?

• Can we expect tighter monitoring of buildings under construction to avoid FSI violations and to ensure adequate parking facilities and fire protection? There is no point swinging into action after a disaster has occurred.

• Can we make the city poster- and grafitti-free (after the Corporation election, perhaps)? The exiting Corporation had taken some steps to ensure this, but these were observed more in the breach. Can we hope for real action?

• Can we expect an integrated public transport plan that will involve trains, buses, the MRTS, the Metro and the Monorail? True, most of these are independent agencies, but the Mayor can play a key coordinating role.

• Can we prevent our waterways – the Cooum, the Adyar, the Buckingham Canal, the Otteri Nullah, the Mambalam Canal and others – from becoming anything other than gutters? Can we hope for a master plan for these waterways?

• Can we expect garbage segregation at source? With tenders being called afresh for garbage clearance, this is the right time to get our act together. And can we also look at safe disposal of garbage without taking recourse to landfills, marshes and plain burning?

• Last, but not least, can we hope that, once elected, our Councillors and Mayor will sink party differences and objectively act on what is best for the city? They could well take a leaf from S. Satyamurthi’s book. During his tenure as Mayor in 1939, he got the Poondi Reservoir inaugurated. There was a demand from the Congress, of which Satyamurthi was a member, that he should not attend the foundation stone-laying ceremony as the British Governor would be the Chief Guest. Satyamurthi dissented and said that his role as Mayor necessitated his presence and he went ahead and attended the function. Can we hope for such principled stand?

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In this issue

Your Worship, here's Musings' wish-list
Automotive sector wakes up to traffic woes
Masons remember ­ Madras connections
The Mystery of the ­Appearing Lorises
Changing with the times
Reviving a heritage craft

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