Showing Chennai like it is, from the MRTS
If you run a search for Chennai on YouTube or Google Video, you see some very basic videos of what this pattanam is famous for.
The crazy way Chennai remains mobile strikes me. There are some foreigners who have put in footage shot from cyclerickshaws and autorickshaws. Others have endangered their lives to shoot scenes of the "pride of Chennai," the 3 km long IT corridor, from the pillion of two wheelers.
I think the future lies with trains and buses, and the only rudimentary video of the city's elevated urban rail that I could locate on YouTube is by someone who goes by the name of Abhiramia:
Here it is
Though the video presents a very familiar perspective for the Chennaiite, to the visitor, it shows the often decrepit state of housing, the profilerating squalor and the generally dirty appearance of the city. Most of it is in Mylapore in the video. Catch a few glimpses of British-era buildings at Chepauk. The seemingly beautiful river is devoid of most river life species because it contains only sewage, fed in by the ever helpful Chennai Metrowater agency that is supposed to treat the city's sewage.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Lalu, Harvard, Wharton, IIMs...
Union Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's contribution to the so-called turning around of the Indian Railways is now the subject of study by two business schools, Harvard and Wharton.
There are few materials available on record to show that Mr. Yadav has implemented any special management measures that have led to a profitable spell for the railways.
By most accounts, the Minister has been wise enough to leave the running of the gargantuan railway system to the somewhat reclusive set of professionals who make up the Indian Railway Technical Service and the Indian Railway Accounts Service.
As I have been repeatedly pointing out, Mr. Yadav and his less prominent deputy in the Ministry, Mr. Velu have done little for the Mass Rapid Transit System in Chennai. The picture shows it all. There is a lot of real estate in the MRTS stations, such as Chintadripet here. But it is completely wasted because the only occupants of the neglected building are some transport contractors and parcel agents for bus operators.
On most days, the approach to the station is dark, the entrance obscured from view by a proliferation of bushes and storm drains without covers that people fall into.
Not the kind of rail transit system that someone from Harvard or Wharton would imagine Mr. Yadav is running at a profit, or come to think of it, even at a loss.
Union Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's contribution to the so-called turning around of the Indian Railways is now the subject of study by two business schools, Harvard and Wharton.
There are few materials available on record to show that Mr. Yadav has implemented any special management measures that have led to a profitable spell for the railways.
By most accounts, the Minister has been wise enough to leave the running of the gargantuan railway system to the somewhat reclusive set of professionals who make up the Indian Railway Technical Service and the Indian Railway Accounts Service.
As I have been repeatedly pointing out, Mr. Yadav and his less prominent deputy in the Ministry, Mr. Velu have done little for the Mass Rapid Transit System in Chennai. The picture shows it all. There is a lot of real estate in the MRTS stations, such as Chintadripet here. But it is completely wasted because the only occupants of the neglected building are some transport contractors and parcel agents for bus operators.
On most days, the approach to the station is dark, the entrance obscured from view by a proliferation of bushes and storm drains without covers that people fall into.
Not the kind of rail transit system that someone from Harvard or Wharton would imagine Mr. Yadav is running at a profit, or come to think of it, even at a loss.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Metro railway for Chennai
At long last, it appears (just appears) that Chennai is moving ahead with a Metro rail project.
Here is A.Srivathsan's report in The Hindu on it.
If the DMK government is intelligent (which is unlikely in its present avatar) it will built a solid metro for the city and stake its claim to have revolutionised mobility in Chennai. The first step of involving the DMRC is positive, but the future course is hazy at present.
Srivathsan makes the important point that the MRTS in Chennai in a sort of stupor because the State Government sees no stake in it, and a similar attitude to the metro rail, bus and suburban rail options in the future will create another dysfunctional system. So far, the State Government has not shown any interest to go beyond its atrophied bus monopoly, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation.
Sadly, the two dravidian parties and the palsied Congress in Tamil Nadu cannot bring themselves to think beyond the immediate future and the filthy lucre that they can make from deals. The other parties, including those professing green credentials, only give the impression that they are perpetrating an elaborate hoax on the State.
There are others also who think that cheaper cars are not the answer to Chennai's mobility problem, metros and buses are. Here is a blog post that reflects this view.
At long last, it appears (just appears) that Chennai is moving ahead with a Metro rail project.
Here is A.Srivathsan's report in The Hindu on it.
If the DMK government is intelligent (which is unlikely in its present avatar) it will built a solid metro for the city and stake its claim to have revolutionised mobility in Chennai. The first step of involving the DMRC is positive, but the future course is hazy at present.
Srivathsan makes the important point that the MRTS in Chennai in a sort of stupor because the State Government sees no stake in it, and a similar attitude to the metro rail, bus and suburban rail options in the future will create another dysfunctional system. So far, the State Government has not shown any interest to go beyond its atrophied bus monopoly, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation.
Sadly, the two dravidian parties and the palsied Congress in Tamil Nadu cannot bring themselves to think beyond the immediate future and the filthy lucre that they can make from deals. The other parties, including those professing green credentials, only give the impression that they are perpetrating an elaborate hoax on the State.
There are others also who think that cheaper cars are not the answer to Chennai's mobility problem, metros and buses are. Here is a blog post that reflects this view.
Hit and run and Chennai's 'helpless' police?
Today's report in The Hindu gives the impression that there is little that the Chennai City Traffic Police can do to record evidence about motorists who cause accidents due to sheer arrogance.
The explanation of the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) is on shaky ground for the following reasons:
Technology is available to record evidence on the road in the form of CCTV systems, and one such system has indeed been put up at Spencer's Junction, Anna Salai. If it is not working, the police have only themselves to blame.
The Chennai Police now have 100 more vehicles at their disposal, thanks to the largesse from Hyundai Motor (though this donation, in my view, is unacceptable and totally unethical due to conflict of interest questions). So what is the Police using these vehicles for? Note my earlier posts about fatal accidents early in the morning because no policemen are present and commercial and transport department vehicle drivers couldn't care less about traffic signals.
The Police in Chennai and elsewhere is forever trying to convince the public that it is helpless and unable to perform in a civilised manner because others are not helping it to. In my view, it should stop whining and get down to work.
Tailpiece: It is an amusing thing that the Tamil Nadu government is an absolute ignoramus when it comes to Information Technology. The Government's website puts out a news item from the New Indian Express that claims Chennai City Traffic Police to have launched a website to tackle what is officially termed "traffic chaos." There is a hyperlink in the report to this site: www.cctp.org. Click on it and you get a surprise! It goes to some domain salesman, rather than any useful page from the Police. No wonder the hit-and-run drivers are laughing at the vulgarly muscular and uncouth CCTP.
Today's report in The Hindu gives the impression that there is little that the Chennai City Traffic Police can do to record evidence about motorists who cause accidents due to sheer arrogance.
The explanation of the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) is on shaky ground for the following reasons:
The Police in Chennai and elsewhere is forever trying to convince the public that it is helpless and unable to perform in a civilised manner because others are not helping it to. In my view, it should stop whining and get down to work.
Tailpiece: It is an amusing thing that the Tamil Nadu government is an absolute ignoramus when it comes to Information Technology. The Government's website puts out a news item from the New Indian Express that claims Chennai City Traffic Police to have launched a website to tackle what is officially termed "traffic chaos." There is a hyperlink in the report to this site: www.cctp.org. Click on it and you get a surprise! It goes to some domain salesman, rather than any useful page from the Police. No wonder the hit-and-run drivers are laughing at the vulgarly muscular and uncouth CCTP.
ECR: Road to hell
Like many other new highways of "global" standards that are snaking across India to cater to the newly affluent and motorised classes, the East Coast Road connecting Chennai to Cuddalore is a monstrosity.
Unlike the developed world, where the onslaught of motorisation and road building has largely spared people from the risk of direct collision with vehicles, India's highways, many of them aided by international financiers like the World Bank, are built only for vehicles.
Too bad that they are planted onto landscapes where people have been living for generations. These roads rip through such communities without the courtesy of even a subway or overpass, for people to cross to the other side. There are also no exits from the highway, no detours to spare the villages.
Little surprise that an estimated 65 people died on ECR during 2006.
There is this nice video on youtube that provides a glimpse to the anarchy that characterises neoliberal India's tolled "superhighways". Note the two-wheeler riders and cyclists travelling on the wrong side, practically coming into the speeding vehicles, the ramshackle commercial and housing structures that exist close to the carriageway, the occasional three-wheeled autorickshaws that transport those who cannot afford the high cost of motorisation and the complete indifference of the vehicular traffic to people's safety.
Of course, the best on youtube on the state of India's road traffic is here
Like many other new highways of "global" standards that are snaking across India to cater to the newly affluent and motorised classes, the East Coast Road connecting Chennai to Cuddalore is a monstrosity.
Unlike the developed world, where the onslaught of motorisation and road building has largely spared people from the risk of direct collision with vehicles, India's highways, many of them aided by international financiers like the World Bank, are built only for vehicles.
Too bad that they are planted onto landscapes where people have been living for generations. These roads rip through such communities without the courtesy of even a subway or overpass, for people to cross to the other side. There are also no exits from the highway, no detours to spare the villages.
Little surprise that an estimated 65 people died on ECR during 2006.
There is this nice video on youtube that provides a glimpse to the anarchy that characterises neoliberal India's tolled "superhighways". Note the two-wheeler riders and cyclists travelling on the wrong side, practically coming into the speeding vehicles, the ramshackle commercial and housing structures that exist close to the carriageway, the occasional three-wheeled autorickshaws that transport those who cannot afford the high cost of motorisation and the complete indifference of the vehicular traffic to people's safety.
Of course, the best on youtube on the state of India's road traffic is here
New platform ticket vending machines at Chennai Central
At the best of times, Chennai Central is a beehive of activity, to some a functional anarchy of teeming thousands who throng a stately building that is familiar to generations. It takes little imagination to realise that the major part of the passenger handling areas of this premier railway terminal were created during colonial rule (just as the British put in more rail tracks to expand their own interests than free India's leaders have been able to, to pursue theirs).
Two new things strike you at Chennai Central.
There are a couple of sleek-looking platform ticket vending machines of foreign manufacture on the portico in the entrance. Neither is functional as yet, and I doubt if they will be around for long. It is of course, debatable whether you need German-built machines when you have many people who can find gainful employment (remember that machines need to be refilled with tickets and change, which requires people, though fewer than to operate separate counters).
Then there is a bright green kiosk on the bus bay outside Chennai Central now. This belongs to that somnolent bureaucracy, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation that runs the city bus service. The objective is to dispense daily, weekly and monthly season tickets. On a weekday afternoon, I came across this kiosk, nicely and cosily shut. I learn that the passes and tickets are only available in the first fortnight of the month. It is a pity that MTC cannot use modern technology and a matching attitude for its operations: Its buses are ramshackle and dangerously old, dirty, unwashed and polluting. Its crews are surly, rude, abusive and unabashedly homophobic. Its bureaucracy is faceless, arrogant even in its obscurity and closed to reform. Above all, it is unredeemingly corrupt.
At the best of times, Chennai Central is a beehive of activity, to some a functional anarchy of teeming thousands who throng a stately building that is familiar to generations. It takes little imagination to realise that the major part of the passenger handling areas of this premier railway terminal were created during colonial rule (just as the British put in more rail tracks to expand their own interests than free India's leaders have been able to, to pursue theirs).
Two new things strike you at Chennai Central.
There are a couple of sleek-looking platform ticket vending machines of foreign manufacture on the portico in the entrance. Neither is functional as yet, and I doubt if they will be around for long. It is of course, debatable whether you need German-built machines when you have many people who can find gainful employment (remember that machines need to be refilled with tickets and change, which requires people, though fewer than to operate separate counters).
Then there is a bright green kiosk on the bus bay outside Chennai Central now. This belongs to that somnolent bureaucracy, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation that runs the city bus service. The objective is to dispense daily, weekly and monthly season tickets. On a weekday afternoon, I came across this kiosk, nicely and cosily shut. I learn that the passes and tickets are only available in the first fortnight of the month. It is a pity that MTC cannot use modern technology and a matching attitude for its operations: Its buses are ramshackle and dangerously old, dirty, unwashed and polluting. Its crews are surly, rude, abusive and unabashedly homophobic. Its bureaucracy is faceless, arrogant even in its obscurity and closed to reform. Above all, it is unredeemingly corrupt.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Spanish living through a Chennai lens
Is there something inherently wrong about the way Indians have lived for four millennia? Apparently, there is nothing much to draw from a long history of civilisation in habitat or architectural terms, if you go by the rash of advertising in the Property Plus supplement of The Hindu.
The advertisers promise locales and lifestyles that are far removed from India's civilisational history.
Today's edition of PP has an advertisement explaining the Spanish vision of the Alliance Group, which is promoting villas with a hispanic flavour in suburban Porur (watch a video of this Spanish vision on the promoter's website). Each of these villas will cost Rs.65 lakhs to Rs. two crores and they are truly international in such dollar-converted prices. It is also interesting that this new prestige address will combine English gardens with Spanish villas, an esoteric mix that is expected to tickle the sensibilities of largely the newly rich Indian catapulted to prosperity by globalisation and liberalisation.
But be warned that these villas with their imaginary flamenco dancers, toreadors and Englishmen walking terriers on lawns are here on Indian terra firma. The gated denizens of Porur have no access to good sanitation for their area. Sanitation and health are issues that the English settled in the 19th century before they developed a vision of urbanisation.
The Alliances, DLFs and other carpetbaggers must focus first on fundamentals and learn from India's own civilisational record, on sanitation, community spaces, health and welfare before rolling out their fictional landscapes.
The more realistic picture is available from a neighbouring CMDA approved layout called Jeeva Nagar, which you can find here.
Is there something inherently wrong about the way Indians have lived for four millennia? Apparently, there is nothing much to draw from a long history of civilisation in habitat or architectural terms, if you go by the rash of advertising in the Property Plus supplement of The Hindu.
The advertisers promise locales and lifestyles that are far removed from India's civilisational history.
Today's edition of PP has an advertisement explaining the Spanish vision of the Alliance Group, which is promoting villas with a hispanic flavour in suburban Porur (watch a video of this Spanish vision on the promoter's website). Each of these villas will cost Rs.65 lakhs to Rs. two crores and they are truly international in such dollar-converted prices. It is also interesting that this new prestige address will combine English gardens with Spanish villas, an esoteric mix that is expected to tickle the sensibilities of largely the newly rich Indian catapulted to prosperity by globalisation and liberalisation.
But be warned that these villas with their imaginary flamenco dancers, toreadors and Englishmen walking terriers on lawns are here on Indian terra firma. The gated denizens of Porur have no access to good sanitation for their area. Sanitation and health are issues that the English settled in the 19th century before they developed a vision of urbanisation.
The Alliances, DLFs and other carpetbaggers must focus first on fundamentals and learn from India's own civilisational record, on sanitation, community spaces, health and welfare before rolling out their fictional landscapes.
The more realistic picture is available from a neighbouring CMDA approved layout called Jeeva Nagar, which you can find here.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
So many crores for everyone except the poor Chennai pedestrian
Today's newspapers carry the story of the Tamil Nadu Government cutting sharply the money that cinema theatres can collect from patrons all over the State, from January 1, 2007.
The day's stories also include a major plan to revamp urban infrastructure in the Chennai suburbs and Madurai region, involving astronomical sums of money.
Sometime ago, Minister K N Nehru had stated to the media that the State had sought a huge sum to improve transport infrastructure in Chennai -- Rs.1,300 crores to be exact, under the JNNURM.
In all of these announcements, the poor pedestrian of the city gets next to nothing. Take the United Progressive Alliance government's Common Minimum Programme, JNNURM or National Urban Transport Policy and one finds a great deal of discussion on pedestrian facilities. But when it comes to forking out the big bucks, the man (and woman and child) on the street is nowhere!
Today's newspapers carry the story of the Tamil Nadu Government cutting sharply the money that cinema theatres can collect from patrons all over the State, from January 1, 2007.
The day's stories also include a major plan to revamp urban infrastructure in the Chennai suburbs and Madurai region, involving astronomical sums of money.
Sometime ago, Minister K N Nehru had stated to the media that the State had sought a huge sum to improve transport infrastructure in Chennai -- Rs.1,300 crores to be exact, under the JNNURM.
In all of these announcements, the poor pedestrian of the city gets next to nothing. Take the United Progressive Alliance government's Common Minimum Programme, JNNURM or National Urban Transport Policy and one finds a great deal of discussion on pedestrian facilities. But when it comes to forking out the big bucks, the man (and woman and child) on the street is nowhere!
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Lalu Prasad Yadav wants to raise Railway Profits
A correction to a report in The Hindu published today says Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav wants to raise the profits of the Railways by a few thousand crores.
The Reader's Editor says, "A sentence in "Garib Rath may run from all State capitals: Lalu" (December 11, 2006) was: "Mr. [Lalu] Prasad said his target was to increase the railway profit from Rs. 13.5 crore to Rs. 20 crore in the next fiscal." It should have been Rs. 13,500 crore to Rs. 20,000 crore."
My own contention is that Mr.Yadav has to only galvanize the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) in Chennai, which is sitting on several hundred crores worth of property in this metro.
If the stations on this line are put to good use, they are sure to generate significant levels of revenue.
The picture here shows what could have been well-patronised shops in one of the MRTS stations (Chintadripet). Their sorry state shows that Southern Railway has little idea of how to improve its revenues.
A correction to a report in The Hindu published today says Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav wants to raise the profits of the Railways by a few thousand crores.
The Reader's Editor says, "A sentence in "Garib Rath may run from all State capitals: Lalu" (December 11, 2006) was: "Mr. [Lalu] Prasad said his target was to increase the railway profit from Rs. 13.5 crore to Rs. 20 crore in the next fiscal." It should have been Rs. 13,500 crore to Rs. 20,000 crore."
My own contention is that Mr.Yadav has to only galvanize the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) in Chennai, which is sitting on several hundred crores worth of property in this metro.
If the stations on this line are put to good use, they are sure to generate significant levels of revenue.
The picture here shows what could have been well-patronised shops in one of the MRTS stations (Chintadripet). Their sorry state shows that Southern Railway has little idea of how to improve its revenues.
Monday, December 11, 2006
London is the place to be on New Year's eve!
Here's what London is offering everyone in the city on New Year's eve. Can our shortsighted politicians and bureaucrats imagine a situation like this in Chennai? If you get my point, I am talking about the distance yet to be travelled to have a decent transport service in Chennai that was Madras, India.
"Passengers throughout the Capital will be able to travel for free on these services during the prime festive hours, for journeys starting between 11.45pm and 4.30am.
In addition, the Mayor is funding free travel on selected National Rail services between midnight and 5am, particularly in areas with fewer Tube connections."
As you can see, the idea is that you don't have to drink and drive. Don't kill yourself and don't kill others.
Here's what London is offering everyone in the city on New Year's eve. Can our shortsighted politicians and bureaucrats imagine a situation like this in Chennai? If you get my point, I am talking about the distance yet to be travelled to have a decent transport service in Chennai that was Madras, India.
"Passengers throughout the Capital will be able to travel for free on these services during the prime festive hours, for journeys starting between 11.45pm and 4.30am.
In addition, the Mayor is funding free travel on selected National Rail services between midnight and 5am, particularly in areas with fewer Tube connections."
As you can see, the idea is that you don't have to drink and drive. Don't kill yourself and don't kill others.
Harvard economist Greg Mankiw talks about walking
In his blog post today, Harvard economist and popular blogger Greg Mankiw advises students to walk, in the face of some evidence published by the NY Times that bicycle helmets may put you at risk.
But how easy is it to walk in faraway Chennai?
Take a look at the picture below for the answer. It was taken in Chintadripet, Chennai, on the perimeter of the Napier or May Day Park.
What you see is a power cable running across a footpath (or sidewalk, as in the US) that is the size of a ribbon. This power cable is good enough to fry you to a crisp, if it leaks at any point, and remember that these are rainy days in Chennai, India.
Despite intensive research on Chennai's public health (including an ongoing study by the Harvard School of Public Health), this is the state of affairs in general. In Chennai, everything is fraught with risks. Including your car, as the incident involving three men in a Hyundai Santro proved on October 28.
In his blog post today, Harvard economist and popular blogger Greg Mankiw advises students to walk, in the face of some evidence published by the NY Times that bicycle helmets may put you at risk.
But how easy is it to walk in faraway Chennai?
Take a look at the picture below for the answer. It was taken in Chintadripet, Chennai, on the perimeter of the Napier or May Day Park.
What you see is a power cable running across a footpath (or sidewalk, as in the US) that is the size of a ribbon. This power cable is good enough to fry you to a crisp, if it leaks at any point, and remember that these are rainy days in Chennai, India.
Despite intensive research on Chennai's public health (including an ongoing study by the Harvard School of Public Health), this is the state of affairs in general. In Chennai, everything is fraught with risks. Including your car, as the incident involving three men in a Hyundai Santro proved on October 28.
Chennai, the World Bank and footpaths
I have always maintained, even in my email exchanges with the World Bank's India office that its money has been used to defeat the objectives of sensible and civilised urbanisation.
Here are some scenes that show that all the talk of modernising Chennai is only about commerce. A truly modern and civilised city must cater first to its people. But Chennai is focussed on automobiles -- a decadent, Americanised and people-unfriendly model that is actively aided by the commerce-building strategies of the World Bank and its cohorts.
The scene below shows that the Chennai authorities, municipal, metropolitan development and police are all very tolerant towards encroachment of public space. The devotion to unlawfully exploiting footpaths is being condoned at the risk of the pedestrian losing life or limb.
I have always maintained, even in my email exchanges with the World Bank's India office that its money has been used to defeat the objectives of sensible and civilised urbanisation.
Here are some scenes that show that all the talk of modernising Chennai is only about commerce. A truly modern and civilised city must cater first to its people. But Chennai is focussed on automobiles -- a decadent, Americanised and people-unfriendly model that is actively aided by the commerce-building strategies of the World Bank and its cohorts.
The scene below shows that the Chennai authorities, municipal, metropolitan development and police are all very tolerant towards encroachment of public space. The devotion to unlawfully exploiting footpaths is being condoned at the risk of the pedestrian losing life or limb.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
See who is polluting Chennai's air
This is the official record of vehicular emissions in Chennai, from the Central Road Research Institute, in 2003.
If this does not make people in this metro anxious, no one can save them.
This is the official record of vehicular emissions in Chennai, from the Central Road Research Institute, in 2003.
If this does not make people in this metro anxious, no one can save them.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
When it rains...
Here is an image from one of India's most ambitious metros, showing how helpless people are when it rains.
Bear in mind that property prices in Chennai are at unprecedented highs, and in this area, which is Circular Road, Kodambakkam, the current rate is about Rs.4,000 per square foot.
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