Mr. Alby John, IAS, Managing Director of the MTC, speaking at the launch of CAG's report analysing TN's free bus scheme for women, mentioned several anticipated improvements to Chennai's bus fleet including an automated fare collection system, installation of high quality GPS on all buses, and a new passenger information app.
An article discussing findings from the CAG study which revealed that a significant majority of consumers knew of the single-use plastics ban. However, poor enforecement and therefore easy availability of SUPs lead to a reliance on plastics.
Madhuvanthi Rajkumar, CAG, participated in the Citizen's Clinic organised by Citizen Matters. The event brought together experts who guided households onward in their zero waste journeys.
An article quoting CAG's analyses of the Tamil Nadu government's fare free scheme for women on public buses, even as Telengana replicates the scheme on government operated buses, non-luxury buses anywhere within the state.
The quintessential Aavin milk packets, produced in the thousands, are made of Low Density PolyEthylene (LDPE), a type of plastic that can be recycled effectively. However, Chennai-based petitioner Ayya points out that the pouches are merely discarded, endangering human health and the environment. The petition filed before the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal cites findings from CAG's plastic brand audit (2021) that Aavin milk pouches constituted 7% of the plastic waste analysed in the audit.
An article that explains Tamil Nadu's road safety policy and its lack of clarity with regards to implementation and resource allocation, based on CAG's qualitative comparative analysis on road safety policies from different states across the country.
The recent rules notified by the state government for electronic monitoring and enforcement of road safety will allow placement of devices such as speed cameras and automatic number plate recognition at key traffic spots. Sumana, CAG, says that this is a much needed move to enforce road rules, but one that will achieve desired outcomes only if it is fully automated. Additionally, collecting the fines from offenders needs to be enforced also.
As part of its Climate Change Mission, the state has begun planning a climate literacy programme for school students and other citizens. CAG is conducting a survey on climate literacy among school students which will provide the baseline for assessing outcomes of the programme.
An article quoting from CAG's study on how commuters in Chennai access public transport information. The study found that commuters relied heavily on word-of-mouth information. This is because our publicly available data is otherwise inconsistent, unreliable and patchy.
Sumana, CAG, discusses how a survey done by the organisation on the state of pavements across Chennai city threw up mostly negative results. If Chennai aims for sustainable mobility, keeping pedestrians safe must be prioritised.