Why Can't ASI Tend the Fort Better?
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Registered with the Reg. No. TN/CH(C)/374/18-20 Registrar of Newspapers Licenced to post without prepayment for India under R.N.I. 53640/91 Licence No. TN/PMG(CCR)/WPP-506/18-20 Publication: 1st & 16th of every month Rs. 5 per copy (Annual Subscription: Rs. 100/-) INSIDE Short ‘N’ Snappy A retail chain different A political shootout The Indo-Anglians All about Jallikattu WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI Vol. XXVIII No. 20 February 1-15, 2019 Why can’t ASI tend the Fort better? by The Editor oing to Fort St. George has tained area. The space is not the side of each building and as Gbecome an increasingly only walker-friendly but also for the museum that occupies depressing experience. The has wheelchair facility, albeit the Residency building itself, it maintenance of the place leaves just one, for those who cannot is a model of what such a facility much to be desired and it is move around by themselves. ought to be – in terms of clean- The Baillie Ground Gate to The Residency, Lucknow, demonstrates the care the really a surprise that the various The toilets are extremely clean liness, the courtesy of the staff ASI had taken with preservation of heritage here. Government departments that and there is not a single scrap and the information provided. have – they are solely under well. The shrine is one that sees operate from here should be so of paper lying around. A group And all of this provided by the the control of the ASI and so active worship and is therefore blind to their shabby surround- of sweepers and gardeners is ASI! the organisation does not have subject to massive numbers of ings. Paper cups (we are now forever on the move, clearing There are, of course, certain to contend with conflicting pilgrim footfalls. Yet is main- a no-plastics State) abound, up whatever little makes its advantages that locations such interests. But what holds good tained very well indeed and is as does general litter. Several way into the place. There are as Mamallapuram, the Resi- for Fort St George is true for a joy to go around. The Fort heritage buildings that are now explanatory plaques put up by dency and the Karnataka sites the Big Temple at Thanjavur as (Continued on page 3) mere hollow shells, serve as convenient places to throw garbage into and it is also a fa- miliar sight to see men zipping their trousers and emerging from these hallowed structures. And so they double up as toilets Issues to resolve in war against as well. The Archaeological Survey of India, which, ideally he Tamil Nadu Govern- It is estimated that nearly speaking, ought to be maintain- Tment which did not even plastics 50 per cent of plastic usage ing much of the space remains provide information to the Cen- is for single use or disposable content with taking care of tral Pollution Control Board, for balance helps to uncover the ered an over-estimate. What products – plastic bags, plates, its headquarters, located at the latter’s Annual Report for dimensions of the problem is uncollected is what we see throw-away cutlery, bottles. the Great House aka Admiralty 2017-18, on the action taken and indicate areas critical for everywhere, including sew- This presents the opportunity House on Charles Street in the to implement the provisions of success. Plastic waste can be age and drainage lines and to reduce usage substantially, Fort. Why is it not able to take the Plastic Waste Management contained by a combination of overflowing bins. From the within a very short time, by care of the rest of the precinct? Rules of 2016, has jumped into the following measures – reduce collected waste, registered recy- switching to substitutes and Elsewhere in the country, it action. usage by finding substitutes, cling units in Chennai get only repeatedly usable cotton/jute is quite evident that the ASI The features are: ban on bags. The waste could come does a perfectly good job of forms of plastic that are not down to half of 430 tpd i.e. 215 maintaining heritage precincts. easy to dispose, punitive mea- by A Special Correspondent tpd. Time taken to enforce this The Thanjavur Brihadeeswarar sures to deal with non-com- practice is short – say, a month Temple, the Mamallapuram pliance, and charging local or two. This is the second chal- complex, Badami, Aihole, Pa- bodies with responsibility for recycle the waste of the rest so about 50 tpd whereas they need lenge. that fresh production is corre- a minimum 100 tpd, according tadakkal and Hampi are all collection, appropriate disposal If most of the 215 tpd is spondingly reduced, wherever to the Tamil Nadu Pondy Plastic instances of very clean spaces and law enforcement. collected, the recycling units possible put waste to alternate Association. If there is as much that are welcoming to visitors. The definition of “waste could have the full 100 tpd that use (in road construction and as 430 tpd of scrap, why are Of course, it may be argued that generator” includes individu- they have been denied all along. as alternate fuel/raw material the recycling units not getting all of these are monuments that als, groups, residential estab- Recycling would be important (AFR) in cement units) and, all they want? Therefore, it fall under UNESCO’s world lishments, etc., punishable for for plastic waste management failing these, burn or dump. is doubtful if collection ratio heritage sites and so there has failure to comply and “extended for quite some time to come The last one is not environmen- is the claimed 40 per cent. It to be maintenance of a high producer responsibility” (EPR) and therefore, it is necessary tally desirable and, hopefully, is probably much less. The standard. How then are we to making producers responsi- that policies are conducive to the quantity would be nil or surrounding omnipresence of explain the fact that the Res- ble for environmentally sound sustain the operation of these negligible. plastic waste also lends basis idency complex in Lucknow management of their plastic units. They are allies in the The quantity of plastic waste to doubt the 40 per cent. The too is kept in the best possible products till the end of their life. fight against plastic and not to be managed in Chennai foremost challenge, therefore, condition? These arrangements, presently intruders. A recent visit to Lucknow on paper, will be put to severe is about 430 tpd. Collection is to raise the present abysmal by our Associate Editor had test in practice. efficiency is claimed to be 40 collection efficiency to 90 per revealed a beautifully main- A simplified material per cent but that is consid- cent or more. (Continued on page 2) C M Y K 2 MADRAS MUSINGS February 1-15, 2019 War against The National Awards plastics Up North, in the capital, the hopes till the day he died, well then it was the duty of the Beating the Retreat ceremony into his nineties. Two others, citizenry to go and collect (Continued from page 1) to virgin raw material. When oil has just concluded and, along now also with the morning it. Which is why, on the day prices fall, virgin material cost with it, the dust settles over stars, one singing and the oth- the money was distributed, The next question is whether falls making recycled material the Republic Day celebra- er playing on an instrument, serpentine queues were to be road construction and cement unattractive, as, after all, plas- tions. It is with considerable practically camped in Delhi seen at all the ration shops. units can absorb the remaining tic is derived from petroleum. amusement that The Man in the hope of achieving Gem MMM, realising that this 115 tpd. Taking road construc- Making recyclers viable enough from Madras Musings notes status but that was not to be. was where he could get some tion first, 2 tons can be used for to absorb the scrap is the third that denizens of Chennai’s In the past lobbying too easy grist for this column’s one km of road. So, to absorb, issue to be tackled in the plastic art world have also beaten had its hierarchy, from Gov- mill, decided to drive by a say, 100 tons, 50 km of roads in war. the retreat from the capital. ernment officials to ministers. few of these outlets and he Chennai should be constructed While resorting to recycling In the past few months, so These are tougher times and did note that while several of per day or in a 250 working day and usage of waste to its extinc- MMM learns, many of them the fastest route appears to be those who had turned up were year 12,500 km of roads need tion, the problem of the already had practically laid siege to using the social media. Come clearly in need of the money, to be constructed, which is accumulated landfill and dumps that seat of seven (or was it November and MMM notices several more clearly were not outright unrealistic. Therefore, must be resolved. Experts have ten?) great empires of the that the number of laudatory in need of it. Prosperity was road construction cannot be a suggested gasification as an ef- past. This was not with any posts from artistes on any- writ large on their visage, dress significant option. Can cement fective way of converting waste desire to conquer, plunder and thing and everything that the and deportment and you could units absorb the remaining 115 into energy.