Registered with the Reg. No. TN/CH(C)/374/15-17 Registrar of Newspapers Licenced to post without prepayment for India under R.N.I. 53640/91 Licence No. TN/PMG(CCR)/WPP-506/15-17 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 • New hope for the Marsh • City’s green landmarks • Keeping the record straight • An early American connection Vol. XXV No. 4 MUSINGS June 1-15, 2015 A long haul yet Know your Fort for Metro Rail better he decks are cleared for to be completed. It is only when tion from all other modes of TChennai’s long-awaited this is done will the full benefits transport. If this is to be re- Metro Rail system to roll out. of the metro service be enjoyed peated by the Metro, it would Those in the know agree that by the commuting public. indeed be a futile exercise. At these have been cleared for The delay in the execution the initiation of the Metro quite some time now, but who of the project owing to various project, last mile connectivity are we to cavil at the delay? factors has caused an escalation was one of the major promises Though a section of the media of costs as well. Much will de- made. Now it is not so clear. has gone to town over the inau- pend on the continuous fund- Certainly, there are no bus bays guration and has written of it as anywhere in the vicinity of the the beginning of the end of all completed stretch that awaits traffic woes in the city, we G by The Editor inauguration. Detail showing the Sea Gate from an 18th Century engraving of would advise a more cautious What of parking facilities? If Fort St. George, after paintings by Scott and Lambert. approach. For there is much the Metro hopes to get car users that still needs to be completed ing of the project by the State to switch to public transport, it and Central funding agencies if the service is to prove effec- will have to provide parking The moat as it is today, as seen from St George’s Gate. tive. for speedy completion. bays, or at least make arrange- Firstly, this is only a part of Secondly, the completed ments in the near vicinity for G Before we enter the Fort proper, let us pause for a moment the service – the line being used section has quite a few issues this. At present, no plans and run our eye over the moat that surrounds the entire precinct, only connects Koyambedu to that need immediate attention appear to be afoot to achieve or at least was supposed to. Today it is entirely overgrown with Alandur. The rest of the route if the service is to see good pa- this and those who live in the weeds, barring a few places to the rear of the Fort where it still has which, when fully executed, will tronage. The major problem is vicinity of the Metro stations stagnant water, but in its time this was a vital element of the de- connect Central Station to St of last mile connectivity. As is fear that their streets will soon fences. well known, one of the chief Thomas Mount, will take quite become unauthorised parking There have been several versions of the moat in the Fort’s long causes for the failure of the a while before it is completed. lots for the cars that await history. Arriving here as early as in 1673, Dr John Fryer noted that Mass Rapid Transport System The second line, from Wimco ‘on the south side they have cut a ditch of a sufficient depth to (MRTS) was its complete isola- (Continued on page 2) Nagar to the Airport, also has prevent scaling the wall’. This did not evidently last long for, in 1676, when the Council at Fort St George wrote to the East India Company HQ seeking permission for strengthening the place, it raised the subject of a wet ditch. As this was in response to a stern missive demanding that the Madras establishment reduce its ex- Are contractors bent on penses, the tone of the request was somewhat submissive. The Council ‘humbly presented for your consideration’ the need to cleaning up PWD? build, among several other things, a ‘good Ditch’. This was evi- dently sanctioned, for, a year later, when the sea made great in- cursions on the land, a detailed note was submitted on the subject he first half of May was not neering) Association in bring- media and went viral. Repre- to the Company where there is clear mention of a ditch. Mrs Frank as hot as it threatened to be ing to light this problem had all sentatives of the Association T Penny, in her Fort St George, a Short History of our First Possession in when it came to the weather. the trappings of modern day then met senior officials of the India writes that this ditch was later extended to the eastern side as But as far as the Public Works protests. First came a flex ban- Directorate of Vigilance and well. She, however, maintains that this was no moat but a dry ditch. Department of our State was ner outside the Chepauk pre- Anti-Corruption and handed The original Fort, as we saw earlier, spanned what would pres- concerned, a considerable mises of the PWD that said that over the names. The matter is ently include just the Assembly building and the Parade Square. amount of heat and dust was the list of names of ten ‘most said to be under investigation. As it expanded, the ditch vanished and the Description of Fort St generated. This had to do with What ought to be a fight George or Madras (published in 1747 in the Gentleman of London’s the contractors who regularly against corruption subsequently G Magazine) states that the “Fort is surrounded with a Rampart faced bid for the PWD’s work threat- By A Special descended into bathos. Ques- with a thick Wall of what they call Iron Stone, being of the Colour ening to release a list of the Correspondent tioned as to what prompted this of unwrought Iron, and very rough outside like a Honey-comb but ‘most corrupt engineers’ of the drastic action, the Association without any Ditch or Fosse on the Outside.” But serious consider- Department. The issue has corrupt engineers’ of the claimed that it was quite fed up ation was evidently given for the construction of a new moat that since blown over to an extent, Department would soon be with the evil ways of the would surround the expanded Fort. As evidence of this we have A but it has lifted the cover off a released. A couple of days later, Department’s engineers. It Memorandum of the Early History of Fort St George (published in deep malaise that everyone the list was put up at the same transpires that everyone was 1847), according to which, in 1743 an engineer named Smith sub- knew existed but refused to ac- spot and this was soon removed quite happy with a commission mitted plans for strengthening the Fort, and increasing its area by knowledge so far. by the Police, an alacrity that of six per cent that was the 15 to 30 acres; he defined this additional area by a wet ditch, which The modus operandi of the they do not usually show when norm for all contracts. But a he dug and faced with bricks. Mrs Penny writes that this was Tamil Nadu Public Works De- it comes to dismantling banners sudden hike in the money partment Contractors (Engi- of other kinds. The list was, however, soon put up on social (Continued on page 2) (Continued on page 7) CMYK 2 MADRAS MUSINGS June 1-15, 2015 A long haul yet for Metro Rail The tie that binds hennai is said to have an flourishes at the Chennai There is, however, one pre- Cinternational airport by facility. By itself it is nothing requisite in the successful (Continued from page 1) different kind. The Russian which term The Man from other than one more queue, execution of this procedure – contractor who was responsible Madras Musings presumes something that our airport namely the packing in of the for the tunnelling along this line what is meant is nothing more specialises in. But its outcome, scissors. And last week, MMM passengers using the Metro has vanished, leaving behind than that a certain number of a plastic ring around the having arrived at a hill station service. equipment and a host of unpaid aircraft take off for foreign zippers of the suitcase or bag, is to take a temporary break from By far the biggest issue vendors. The latter have since lands each day from here and a major nuisance, for, in the Chennai heat, found appears to be the lack of pedes- been petitioning Chennai as many flights arrive from MMM’s view, there is no himself devoid of scissors. The trian access. The Metro had Metro Rail to make their those exotic locales. Certainly scientific method of taking it opening of the suitcase was an there is very little in the view off. absolute must and, so, MMM committed to building foot- payments. The vendors have of MMM that makes this faci- MMM has been advised by had to come up with some paths extending to around 500 also been staging protests out- lity in any way international.