Planning approvals for special buildings (ground plus four floors) and multi-storeyed buildings (above four floors) will be issued by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority and the Director

Over the last couple of weeks, several tanker operators have dumped lorry-loads of a ready mix of cement waste on the banks of the river in Thiruneermalai, and this has found it way into the water. After a few days, the dumped waste solidifies and becomes permanent blocks, affecting the river’s course, residents said.

Rs. 100-crore project to be completed by mid-2014; will produce power from solid waste generated in Tambaram and Pallavaram

Preliminary civil works for a waste-to-energy power plant began at Venkatamangalam village on Monday. The non-incineration facility will produce power from solid waste generated in Tambaram and Pallavaram municipalities. A bhoomi pooja was performed at the 50-acre site at Venkatamangalam, located around 15 kilometres from Tambaram and coming under Kattankulathur panchayat union, Kancheepuram district.

A section of residents of Chromepet has appealed to the State government to shut down or shift a unit that recycles plastic containers carrying hazardous waste.

The group that gathered under the banner of the ‘Struggle Committee of Chamber’s Colony’ claimed the plant was a health hazard to the few hundred families in the colony. The residents, in an appeal to Municipal Chairman K.M.R. Nissar Ahmed, noted that the unit had begun functioning a few years ago as a godown to store empty and used cans of hazardous chemicals.

More than 3 months after they were completed, a cluster of mobile toilets, that is bound to bring immense relief to commuters waiting at the Peerkankaranai bus terminus, is yet to be made operational.

Elected representatives and town panchayat staff maintain that all the civil works as well as procedural formalities of handing over work orders for maintaining the toilets have been completed and are unable to state the reasons for the delay.

Locality receives just 4 million litres per day against requirement of 28 million

There is some good news for Pallavaram residents reeling under a shortage of drinking water. The State government has given its nod for a Rs. 99.95-crore water supply improvement scheme in the municipality. It will be implemented by Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board with the aid of World Bank under the Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project-III (TNUDP).

A voluntary organisation of residents has contributed a handsome sum for the improvement of Chitlapakkam lake, a 50-acre water body near Tambaram.

The lake has been at the core of a movement by activists and residents who have been fighting for its protection for over a decade. The S.V.V Trust handed over Rs. 10 lakh to the town panchayat administration, during a recent interaction with C. Rajendran, South Chennai Lok Sabha MP. Mr. Rajendran sanctioned another Rs. 5 lakh from his MP local area development scheme, taking the total amount to Rs. 15 lakh.

Residents of Maraimalai Nagar in Chennai can now hope to get gold without spending any money. All they need to invest is some time and store as many empty plastic sachets, polythene covers and other plastic waste below the thickness of 40 microns.

The local body will give a gram of gold for a minimum of 125 kilograms. “We want to combat the menace caused by plastic waste, especially those below the thickness of 40 microns. While most plastic waste collected from households is recycled by workers engaged in primary collection, discarded water sachets and thin polythene covers end up choking drains and water channels,

No supervision of work by government staff, they claim

The desilting of Tirupananthaal Lake, one of the last surviving water bodies in Pammal Municipality near Tambaram, has begun as part of the local body’s efforts to carry out improvement works in the lake. However, a section of residents living around the lake suspect norms to have been flouted as government staff were not present to supervise the desilting. Officials made it clear they had not violated rules.

Proposal for landscaping and walkers' pathway in the pipeline, says M.P.

A team of officials from the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board and other government departments, including the Chennai Corporation made an inspection of the sprawling Velachery Lake, among the last surviving water bodies in the city on Sunday morning in an attempt to protect and preserve the water body.