Registered with the Reg. No. TN/CH(C)/374/12-14 Registrar of Newspapers Licenced to post without prepayment for India under R.N.I. 53640/91 Licence No. TN/PMG(CCR)/WPP-506/12-14 Publication: 15th & 28th of every month Rs. 5 per copy (Annual Subscription: Rs. 100/-) WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI INSIDE • Short ‘N’ Snappy • The killer buses • A jolly sponsorship • Connemara’s pecadilloes • Who were the British? Vol. XXIII No. 2 MUSINGS May 1-15, 2013 How (NOT) to protect City’s heritage (By The Editor) he workings of the Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC) Tunder the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) are shrouded in mystery. But what is quite clear is that the speed at which it works is better suited to the era in which the buildings it is meant to protect were constructed. And in the pro- cess of grinding slowly, its wheels are letting several opportunities slip. Given the pace of its working, it is open to question as to whether the HCC seriously intends protecting any heritage struc- Because hot idli with sambar is available for one rupee, all my regular donors have started giving me one rupee ture. instead of the usual five rupees! Take the listing of heritage buildings, for instance. Despite G the presence of a list put to- Where is the water? gether by INTACH (Oops! Who or what is that?), and a subsequent list put together by Rainwater harvesting a forgotten the Padmanabhan Committee, the HCC is once again in the process of listing buildings. The n an alarming repeat of what that followed and groundwater modus operandi of this exercise Ihappened in 2004 and several solution was recharged in most localities and the people involved in the years before that, the water sup- start, was recently closed for ing supplies to the city. But resi- in Chennai. process are top secrets. It is ex- ply in the city is vast depleting. further repairs. Further, dents in those areas have long However, that practice has actly three years (judgement Thanks to a poor monsoon last Andhra has not had a good since woken up to the dangers now fallen into disuse. Most was on April 29, 2010) since the year, an exploding population monsoon either and, so, copious of over-exploitation of ground- buildings are not ensuring that Hon’ble High Court of Madras and scant regard to water bod- supplies, if they were ever that, water. In several localities, soak pits and drain chutes are mandated the formation of the ies in the city, Chennai is facing cannot be hoped for. The neighbourhood vigilance kept clear to divert rainwater to HCC. And at the end of this the prospect of a parched sum- Veeranam tank which supplies squads have been formed to underground sumps. It is doubt- period, all that the HCC has to mer and even a few months af- water to Chennai, especially to prevent water tankers from ac- ful whether buildings that were show is a first list of 70 buildings ter that, at least till the next industries, dipped to 3 per cent cessing wells. However, the constructed after 2007 have and a promise of a second list monsoon. And hopefully that of its total storage capacity as same awareness has not come even implemented rainwater ‘quite soon’. Even the first list should be a bountiful one. early as February this year. That about in the matter of deep harvesting. Certainly, the has not been made public (State What is ironic is that Govern- CMDA and Corporation au- secret, you see) and we only ment is not following up on its thorities are not attending to have vague rumours of the own excellent scheme – rainwa- G by A Special Correspondent this with the diligence that it buildings that have made it to ter harvesting. requires. Public structures, such that list. It would be relevant to The combined storage level as flyovers and bridges, certainly pause and ponder over the fact at the four reservoirs of the city necessitated reduction in borewells. Most housing devel- do not have any such scheme in that the Padmanabhan Com- – Chembarambakkam, Chola- Metrowater’s daily supplies to opments are merrily indulging place as is evident from the way mittee list and INTACH’s list varam, Poondi and Red Hills – the city, especially to commer- in this with scant regard for the run-offs simply stagnate at ei- had 400 and more buildings now stands at 3.4 tmc ft, cial consumers. The situation future. ther end. enumerated. roughly half of what it was at has since improved but officials Which brings us to the ques- Given the way the city is ex- And what after the first and the same time last year. With termed the situation as precari- tion of rainwater harvesting. panding, conserving rainwater second lists are finalised in the Chennai needing 1 tmc ft of ous when it came to continued Why is the Government re- appears to be the only long- fullness of time, at the appropri- water each month, this is ex- supplies from this tank. maining silent on this? In 2004, term solution. And considering ate juncture and when the mo- pected to last till July end. What That leaves the wells in the it was this same regime in power that we were lucky to have nine ment is ripe, to quote from a after that? mofussil. These were dug in that made a determined and bountiful monsoons since the British sitcom when lampooned The authorities are, as usual, 2003/4 at Neyveli, Poondi, highly commendable effort to last drought, we ought to have that country’s bureaucracy? trotting out a list of alternatives Tamaraipakkam and Minjur get rainwater harvesting imple- managed better. So can we The HCC proposes to write to – Krishna water, Veeranam and supply 40 million litres to mented in every building. The please get back to basics and the owners. The last time these supply, and tankers that draw the city. These have, at best, a Chief Minister appealed to citi- implement what was a very suc- people heard from the HCC was water from mofussil areas. None marginal influence on the wa- zens through the electronic me- cessful scheme and which is re- three years ago when, following of these is going to be easy. The ter situation. Private tankers dia and it paid rich dividends. quired even more now than first, plagued as it has been with have been drawing water from The Kapaleeswarar Temple when it was first thought of in (Continued on page 7) maintenance issues from the wells in the suburbs and effect- tank filled up in the monsoons 2004? CMYK 2 MADRAS MUSINGS May 1-15, 2013 Our buses – with a Footfalls in City malls he Man from Madras to the interiors of malls for “Two people play the T Musings is not much of a their constitutionals. The game...” began the voice some- mall rat but he cannot say he watch-and-ward staff does what condescendingly at avoids them. And when he recognise these regulars but which juncture MMM said licence to kill visits them, he does take to can do nothing about it for, af- rather coldly that he knew his t has been pointed out that the Metropolitan Transport Corpo- musing on malls. What always ter all, malls are public places chess. Iration, Chennai, has the smallest fleet of buses among the In- impresses MMM is the vast and, who knows, one of the “The audience is likely to dian metros, yet it has the dubious record of more fatal bus acci- number of people in these walkers could buy a thing or run into lakhs,” said the voice. places, walking about the two. Somehow MMM is more MMM then asked as to what dents than those in any other metro. Chennai’s MTC fleet of 3622 corridors, going up and down in sympathy with these walkers buses accounted for 104 deaths in 2012. Mumbai has the best was the best place in the city the escalators and, sometimes, than with the shopkeepers. that could host such numbers. record, its 4607-strong fleet of buses accounting for only 26 deaths the stairways as well. They in that year. Bengaluru has the largest fleet of 6437 buses and ac- remind MMM of railway So, are malls on the way “A stadium,” came the counted for 83 deaths in 2012. stations. But looking inside the out? Not so, as MMM learns. reply. It has long been pointed out that vehicle manufacturers have a shops themselves, MMM There are giant variants com- MMM rested his case and role in ensuring road safety. In the 1960s, consumer activist Ralph cannot but help notice that the ing up in the suburbs, the kinds the telephone receiver. The Nader proceeded against the three giant auto manufacturers of the silence is more like as what where a person can spend an next day, the same newspaper US for their vehicles being unsafe at any speed. His relentless cam- could be expected in a church. entire day without realising it. carried a photo of the resi- Those in the neighbourhood dence of a cement and horse- paign finally compelled the automobile producers to focus on And the atmosphere is akin to a church hosting a funeral ser- are hoping that these will be racing baron of the city and safety. Indian automobile manufacturers have not been focussing vice. complete before the schools claimed that it was an ancient in required measure on the vital aspect of road safety.