Singara Chennai (Beautiful Chennai)

With Madras Day (August 22nd) fast approaching, I was looking up facts about the history of the city in order to prepare a quiz and once again came upon a fact well known to me. The fact is that the Chennai Corporation is the oldest civic body in the Commonwealth outside of the United Kingdon and dates back to 1688. That makes it 321 years old a fact to be really proud off. As all Chennaiites know, the Corporation of Chennai is situated in one of the most splendid buildings in the country called the Ripon Buildings built in honour of Lord Ripon, a Viceroy, who brought about sweeping reforms. On reading this fact, I gave a deep thought to the recent working of the Corporation and decided that it deserves a place in my blog. Suddenly, I remembered a couple of comments made by my close relatives who visited me in the month of July. The first was an aunt who had come from Kerala. She was in Chennai after a gap of 20 years and to her the city seemed to have changed drastically. After travelling on some of the arterial roads, she commented on how much cleaner the place seemed. She wondered as to where all the piles of garbage that used to earlier mount in the street corners had disappeared. She appreciated the improvement and lamented that the city she lived in was way behind when it came to civic amenities. I felt happy on hearing this. Just a week after this comment my brother in law who lives in the US came to stay with us. He too seemed very impressed about the progress made and commented on the prevailing cleanliness and overall look of the city. Coming from a person who has been living in the US for about 27 years, I really was proud. I knew that only an initiative by someone in power can bring about these visible changes and the first two names that came to my mind were that of the Corporation Commissioner Shri Rajesh Lakhoni IAS and the incumbent Mayor Shri M. Subramaniam. Both of them took up office in the second half of 2006 and this very well coincides with the time when the change for the better or the new look of Chennai also began. Now by the new look, don’t expect roads with 8 lanes or multi car parks or a zero garbage environment and so on and so forth. An eight lane road considering the lay of the land is an impossible proposition, as for the rest of it, I am sure it will happen.
The first visible change was the removal of all hoardings from the city skyline. This I must say was truly welcome. With the disappearance of the hoardings, the green lungs of the city are in the open for all to see and enjoy. The next was the greening of the city and providing more parks and recreational areas in the metropolis. Most of these parks were always there but were in decrepit condition. Now they are well maintained and are being used by the people in the respective locality. The garbage collection and the disposal of solid waste have become more pronounced. The difference is for all to see. With the introduction of the compressor vehicles, more garbage gets collected in a single trip. Privatisation of certain Corporation Zones with respect to garbage collection has also had a very positive impact. Innumerable public conveniences have been provided and it seems that in conjunction with various NGO’s more are in the offing. The bus stops have been totally renovated. Gone are the four poles with an asbestos sheet as the roofing. The new trendy bus stops are prefabricated stainless steel booths, well lit, with fans, phones, mobile rechargers, GPS systems and good seating arrangement. They seem to provide the ideal respite from the harsh Chennai sun.
The educational institutions run by the Corporation have all been rejuvenated and the aim is to get children back to these schools. With the poor infrastructure earlier provided by these schools, the lower income parents were forced to send their children to the fleecing private schools. The idea now is run these schools on lines of the government educational institutions in the developed world and make them on par with most of the private educational institutions in the State. Thus I hear there is a possibility that the international language English will be the medium of instruction. Another sphere of change has been provided in the various medical clinics and hospitals run by the Corporation. What used to be understaffed and under equipped health centres have got a total make over and it is said that some of them have become truly state of the art and a place where one can avail of treatment depending on one’s income. This is indeed a blessing what with the cost of medical treatment skyrocketing!!
As for the innumerable flyovers that have come on most of the arterial roads, they have indeed become a boon for the man on the road. The travelling time has been cut short and the traffic jams have reduced considerably. With scope for expansion of the roads being practically nil, nothing more than this can be expected. Just the other day I read in the papers that two of the abattoirs maintained by the Corporation have received ISO9001:2008. I consider this as a wonderful piece of news as these slaughter houses were in a state of total neglect.
All this makes an ordinary citizen like me who obeys the rules and pays the taxes feel that the money has been utilised for the welfare of the people. I am sure there would be a large number of people voicing the very same opinion. The sleeping lion has begun to roar and there is absolutely no way that it can be stopped or shall I call it the rolling of the juggernaut. The crowning glory would be the cleaning and beautification of the Cooum, a present day curse, which then can regain its past glory. A sister city agreement has been signed with San Antonio in Texas, USA, and their expertise is being sought for this purpose. It won’t be long before all of us can take a stroll on the river walk and relive the lost glory of this waterway which till the middle of the last century was a thoroughfare.
A fresh breath of life has been infused into this 370 year old city. The time has come for citizens like me to give back to the State more than just the taxes. I salute the men in the hot seat for making this happen. (May be they have been truly influenced by Lord Ripon!!)
Jai Ho to my Singara Chennai.
P.S. This is my tribute to the city I know and love best on her 370th birthday.