Chennai Low on Livable City Index

The New Indian Express has a damning piece about Chennai being ranked very low among Indian cities as far as livability is concerned: http://expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Chennai++low+on+livable+city+index&artid=amW5opISZ/M=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&SEO=chennai,+livability&SectionName=rSY|6QYp3kQ= The study carried out by an international ratings body, Mercer, considered several different aspects before giving Chennai its record low rating.

With several "Master Plans" coming up every ever so often, I wonder if the authorities would now tighten their belts and work seriously to ensure that there is genuine improvement instead of mere lip service to making this grand old city better? If they want the co-operation of the public, there are enough people who would be more than willing to oblige. Chennai-vasis are among the most educated people in India and their support could always be counted on to make the city a better place.

More Media Coverage of the Elevated Expressway Protests

This is an article from The New Indian Express detailing the protests against the proposed elevated expressway: http://expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Elevated+expressway+opposed&artid=WD1e5b5MvNU=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&SEO=Kalakshetra&SectionName=rSY|6QYp3kQ= In considerably more detail than the report in "The Hindu," this second piece in a prominent Chennai newspaper is good news, indeed.

The Hindu Reports on the Protests Against the Elevated Corridor

I have received the following link from the Coastal Protection Group which is dedicated to monitoring "development" along the beautiful Chennai coast: http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/31/stories/2009083158430200.htm The report on the recent protests that were organized are very to the point. Additionally, there is a presentation that could be downloaded from: http://www.sipcotcuddalore.com/reports.html that should interest those who are interested in alternative solutions to this very vexing issue.

The Coastal Protection Group inserted 18,000 pamphlets into newspapers and distributed them to the public at the various beaches in their drive to get information across. This is incredible work and I would request friends who are in the USA and elsewhere in India who support this group, to please follow this campaign which I shall be writing about here. Please also pass this information on to as many people as you can. Thank you!

Uranium Pollution from Coal Fired Powerplants in India Deforms Children

I have received this utterly frightening link from Dr Mayraj Fahim, a local government expert who has very kindly been sending me a lot of very useful material that I have utilized on my Renewable Energy Blog in the past: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/30/india-punjab-children-uranium-pollutionNow, I have a second place to use this information and it worries me that this is what I have to do. As India buys up huge amounts of coal from foreign countries (and this includes Coal India Ltd buying up mines in several other countries including the USA) and there is a steadfast refusal by the Government of India to co-operate with other countries in reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions citing lifestyle reasons, our children are ending up sick, and weak. The children in Punjab whom this article talks about, had 60 times the safe uranium limit in their bodies as observed by German experts.

While I understand that India is a country that is starved of power because of generation shortages, I wonder if this whole business of coal fired powerplants is the way to go? If anyone else has more information about similar issues near other powerplants in India, I would appreciate the information.

Climate Change Will Cost the World £300 billion a Year

The Telegraph quotes the UN in saying that climate change will cost the world £300 billion a year, significantly more than had been earlier estimated. While I do understand the hypocrisy of nations that demand that poor nations like India do more about this, I wonder if anyone in government in India has thought about who would be worst affected by this huge cost? Certainly not the world's wealthy nations which have all the money that they need to combat this menace. The world's poor are going to get shafted the worst - and India, with the world's largest Below the Poverty Line population of any nation, is going to be hit hard.

A terrible thought, but one that is certain to show itself as true. To check out the Telegraph piece, please go to: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/6099963/Climate-change-will-cost-the-world-more-than-300-billion-say-scientists.html

The Sad New "Development" of an Elevated Expressway Along Chennai's Beautiful Beaches

A popular joke, when I was a boy, was that no one really knew which was the "longest" beach in the world, while school textbooks listed Chennai's Marina as the second longest beach in the world. Longest or not, the beach has many lovely memories for me as well as for most people who remember it before the shores became littered with sewage from the Cooum and the sands covered with litter. When I was a boy, my father owned a Triumph convertible and we would drive along the almost empty road at night past Fort St George and all the way upto the Gandhi statue before turning back homewards to Broadway where we then lived in George Town. The "new" lighthouse that is across the road from the All India Radio station didn;t exist back then, and the old lighthouse which is inside the High Court compound, was a beautiful sight to look at at night. As children, we would stand up inside the running car to imitate politicians who stood up in bigger convertibles to wave to their audiences before we fell back laughing at our little humor onto the seats - yes, those were times when no one had even heard of seatbelts and cars didn;t even have radios, the latest innovation in home entertainment was the then new spool recorders, and there was no television in India.

But you could see the stars in the sky at night back then, and as children, we would look up and try to identify the various constellations in the days before light pollution blanked them out altogether. And the air had a salty smell to it from the sea breeze which set in every evening. There was no pollution rendering the whole place stinking of rotting sewage and untreated vehicle exhausts. When we walked on the sand, there were always shells that we could pick. There was sea life in the waters of the Bay of Bengal before the sewage killed it all off. Which brings me to the dirty mess that the place was, seven years ago when I last left India and since when I have not returned - Beach Road now resembles any other overcrowded road anywhere else in India.

But there is worse to come and I have a couple of e-mails from Ms Kamla Ravikumar, a Chennai based environmental activist, which I would like to reproduce ad verbatim:

Hi Mehul,

Just to keep you posted about a new problem facing citizens of Chennai.The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authorities(CMDA) have proposed a new Elevated Expressway which will start at the Marina beach ( near the light house) and go all along the shores ... via the Adyar Estuary, Theosophical society, Besant nagar beach and other beaches.

This expressway has been proposed to ease traffic and enable vehicles to move faster.

ABOUT THE ELEVATED EXPRESSWAY
1. The Highway runs through and disrupts fishing habitation and livelihood. upon completion, it will have run through 14 fishing villages. Like the Ramanathapuram Pamban bridge, which drastically impeded fisheries by restricting space for beaching of fishing craft, and taking over beach space, the elevated highway too will impede fishing.
2. The project is being slipped in through subterfuge, as it does not find mention in any of the draft masterplans circulated for consultation.
3. The project runs through ecologically sensitive areas -- Adyar Estuary, sandy beaches and the nesting habitat of Olive Ridley turtles. Adyar Estuary is critically polluted, and is desperately needing restoration. The degraded mangroves of the estuary have a chance of surviving if care is taken. The estuary is an important bird feeding ground, and was even declared a bird sanctuary by the Tamilnadu Government. The Estuary ought to have been classified as CRZ 1 by the GoTN. It has been classified as CRZ 3 despite concerns raised by the Ministry of Environment & Forests. Olive Ridleys are a species included in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act and deserve the kind of attention that tigers get. The Ridleys will be affected by the construction, and permanently thereafter by the light pollution from the highway. Ridley hatchlings are highly light sensitive and get disoriented with light pollution, resulting in mass mortalities as they head confusedly away from the sea following the lights.
4. Construction debris will be dumped -- even temporarily -- on CRZ 1 areas. Construction workers' colonies will be constructed in this area. As is the practice when housing migrant workers, no facilities for hygiene and sanitation will be made available leading to more pollution.

A lot of citizens have raised their voice against this elevated expressway.A major seminar has been planned on 30th August at the Kalakshetra auditorium.

I am attaching a poster that is being circulated for this meeting.

As a resident of Besant nagar I am actively involved and deeply concerned.

Kamla


And:

A lot of activity is going on in Besant nagar.One resident has donated his compond wall for publicty...we are getting all the children together to write messages on the wall against this elevated highway.

Their generation will have no beach front if the highway comes up....so the awareness campaign starts with them.I will send you images of the kids and their writings on the wall.

Kamla

Please be in touch with this group and help them in whatever way you can. I shall regularly post whatever information that I receive from them. They need all the publicity to fight the very powerful and wealthy vested interests that have a stake in building this new expressway.

The Reason Why I Started a Second Blog

For some time, now, my old Renewable Energy Blog has attracted both friends and support that I am grateful for. I started that blog in order to look at how to wean people off fossil fuels in as many different ways and in as many different places as possible. I routinely get support from some old friends and from people whom I have not met, but who have been always enthusiastic about supporting my work, and whom I consider friends whom I have not, so far, met. One thing that kept coming up through the year and a half that my old blog has been online has been issues that are of a broader significance than Renewable Energy alone. Let's face the facts - India, the country of my birth, is a mess environmentally speaking. And things are getting worse despite the best efforts of some hard-working, decent activists who have been doing their best to try nad make things better. This blog, again a non-expert one like my Renewable Energy Blog, is as much a tribute to the efforts of these good people as it is an attempt at highlighting both the good and the bad from an environmental standpoint.

There will be a difference here, though. While my older blog is and will continue to be a personal effort, I have invited some friends to participate on this blog along with me. Whenever they accept my invitation, they will be welcome to participate here. If they don't, for some reason, I shall still appreciate their help as I am grateful for at my other blog. I cannot stress enough how much support I have got from dedicated people from India and elsewhere.

Now, let's go and look at making the air, the water and the soil of that great nation of India cleaner. The Indian people deserve this and every little bit helps!