News of the Week (June 18-24)
A curation of city updates from last week
Welcome back to The Chennai Emailer — a local journalism project that brings out original human-interest features & news compilation from Chennai. It’s run by me —Mohammed Rayaan😊
I’m currently pursuing the Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism (City University of New York).
I started this newsletter as my passion project to bring out the best of local journalism from this city that I call home. A reminder again: starting last week, I am trying a new format:
📰Every Saturday, you will get a crisper ‘News of the Week’ edition along with event listings and other interesting social media posts.
💌On Sundays, you will get an original human-interest story.
So you will now see me twice a week. Hope you love this. ❤️
😷🦠Covid
📈Cases in the city continue to rise. 💉The Director of Public Health, says, “The main cause for concern is the waning of immunity” and the poor uptake of precautionary dose is worrisome. 👥Meanwhile, the State government has urged the Union government to permit free booster shots for 18-59 age group. 🦠This study demonstrates the effectiveness of Covishield vaccine. 🏥Also, as many as “448 hospitals and 71 laboratories in the city have started reporting patients with symptoms of influenza like illness (ILI) to Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC).”
📚Education
✍🏽The Board exam results for class 12 was declared with a pass percentage of 93.76. 🎒Heads of schools say that these students fared better than class 10.
😷S. Gokulakrishnan, Headquarters Secretary, Tamil Nadu Teachers Association, said that students were finding it hard as the academic year started late due to the pandemic. 🏃🏽♀️However, despite all these challenges, there were students who overcame many hurdles.
🏫With the beginning of a new academic year, many GCC-run schools are going through a makeover, thanks to the support of NGOs. 🌍The European Union will also help in upgrading infrastructures of corporation schools.
🎥Meanwhile, the Open Air Theatre of IIT Madras saw a facelight and this is how it feels to catch a movie inside. 💓IIT-M recently conducted an outreach programme for Class X students from rural areas.📱 The premier institute will set up a 5G test bed for Army Training Command. “It will provide an impetus to the use of AI-based algorithms for enhancing capabilities of the Armed Forces”. 📚It is also offering two-year masters programmes while the Madras University will offer online certificate courses.
⛈️Monsoon watch
🌧️The city recorded the highest rainfall for a single day in June in 10 years. 🛣️And as expected, several roads turned slushy as rainwater filled trenches, making it hard for drivers to pass through narrow stretches in many localities. 💺The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin held a review of monsoon preparedness.
♒Areas around Porur lake may be spared from flooding this monsoon as the Water Resources Department (WRD) started work on “improving the network of channels in and around Porur and Kundrathur takes up work on strengthening the network of channels in the area”. 💧WRD also has plans to increase the sources of water. 🛢️Oil leaking from defunct pipeline contaminates water, soil in Tondiarpet. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd asked to clear the water and Chennai Metro Rail Ltd told to close the trench.
👥Community
👩🏽🍳Through a cloud kitchen, this Purasawalkam resident seeks to provide tasty alternatives to junk food. 🖼️Chennai-based Ashvita Gallery’s latest display traces the genesis and growth of commercial art from Madras — from calendars to advertisements and, of course, cinema posters
👮🏽Director-General of Police, C Sylendra Babu stresses on scientific approach for road safety. The DGP emphasised on the importance of understanding the socio-economic burden of road crashes on the family and society due to the loss of breadwinners and young students. 🛕Burglar returns money stolen from temple with apology. 🚫Police Commissioner launches awareness campaign against drug abuse. International Day Against Drug Abuse being observed on June 26
🌳Environment
🗑️GCC aims for 75% segregation at source by June-end. Waste management at beaches can be impressively in place but still miss a vital component. 🏖️Here is a visit to the Marina to illustrate the point. At the Marina, waste-collection props also seem to be a special target of vandals.🏖️ You can participate at a beach clean-up at Pattinapakkam on June 26 Sunday.
✈️Transport and 🏢Civic updates
🛬The Chennai Airport will get an additional ground handling agency in a bid to “eliminate the delay in the arrival of baggage at the terminal from the aircraft”. 🚃As phase II project of the Chennai Metro Rail begins, the construction work at several localities has irked residents and commuters. Work on Thoraipakkam-Palavakkam road is in full swing. 🏢GCC conducted coordination meeting with line agencies to resolve civic issues. The action taken report in each of the 200 wards will be shared with the councillors. Tenders have been called to procure 100 electric buses for the city.
🎾Sports
🏀“The 2022 edition of ACG-NBA Jump, India’s first national basketball scouting program that provides aspiring basketball players from across the country with a platform to compete alongside one another, showcase their skills and receive additional basketball development opportunities, concluded on June 19,” said a press release. ⛹🏽More than 300 players participated in the Chennai tryout, with more than 1,600 players participating overall this year.
📹Watch this
🦜From the Twitter world
I am planning to add more interesting content in the days to come. I am open to ideas and suggestions. Please feel free to reach me at thechennaiemailer@gmail.com. See you tomorrow! Do forward this newsletter to your family and friends. 😊❤️
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