Divya Senthil, Senior Researcher at CAG explains why making public transport an appealing alternative to private vehicles is the way forward, if we are to address the city's parking difficulties. With two wheelers comprising 52% of vehicles in the expanded Chennai Metropolitan Area it's time for strong policies to address the scourge of congestion on our roads.
A survey by the Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group highlights several challenges with the MTC’s ‘Chennai Bus’ app, including freezing, inaccurate bus information, and GPS issues. Out of the 500 respondents surveyed, over 50% of MTC commuters have downloaded the app, only 7% actively use it.
An article in The Hindu highlighting why the Tamil Nadu government's proposal to build a Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plant in Chennai raises serious health and climate concerns. Despite the city's ambitious climate action plan, burning garbage will only worsen air quality, reduce Tamil Nadu's health outcomes and substantially increase carbon emissions.
CAG hosted a road safety awareness event in Chennai to mark the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims - a day to honour lives lost to traffic accidents. The campaign aimed to highlight rising road fatalities and promote safer driving practices, especially among young people.
A recent study by the Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group found that only 25% of respondents in Chennai reported that their children wear helmets, despite the CMVR 2022 regulation mandating helmets for children aged nine months to four years. Parents quote reasons such as the child being too young for helmets, the survey found.
CAG's Kuppai Thiruvizha celebrated the city's zero-waste possibilities. The event marked Climate Action Month, a series of events across the city, designed to make the young and old alike think about the problem of waste.
CAG's report 'Evaluating the efficacy of the Meendum Manjappai campaign' was released during the inaugural event of Climate Action Month 2024. The report finds that while 94% of respondents indicated a desire to avoid single use plastics, the cost of plastic alternatives were a prohibitive factor.
The Meendum Manjappai vending kiosks are a great initiative, but like other reuse systems, struggle from some practical difficulties including rough handling and poor maintenance. CAG will soon be releasing a report analysing the effectiveness of the campaign in eight districts in Tamil Nadu.
As vendors struggle to transition away from single use plastic (SUPs) bags, Vamsi Shankar Kapilavai, Senior Researcher at CAG, explains that the low production cost of plastic coupled with the low production of alternatives perpetuate our reliance on SUPs. He recommends curtailing plastic production as more effective than raiding vendors.
Mr. Uttam Kumar, Irrigation Minister, speaking at the media workshop on “Clean Energy Transition in India: Focus on Telangana”, jointly organised by the Press Club Hyderabad, Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG), Chennai, and People’s Monitoring Group on Electricity Regulation (PMGER) assured people that the government was open for a panel on environment and sustainable development to tackle global warming.