CMDA plans two sponge parks in Chennai
This plan follows the Tamil Nadu Budget for 2025–26, in which Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu announced that seven climate-resilient sponge parks would be established across the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) at an estimated cost of ₹88 crore.
The identified sites at Thoraipakkam and Padi fall under the Greater Chennai Corporation. Necessary administrative approvals were obtained to enable CMDA to take up the work, officials said.
The existing structure of the parks would be retrofitted under the sponge park model. Each sponge park will include a central pond-like structure about three feet deep, designed to store rainwater collected through an underground pipe network.
Once the surrounding groundwater table reaches saturation, excess rainwater will be directed into the stormwater drainage system. The sponge parks are useful in urban areas experiencing groundwater depletion and can contribute to long-term water resilience and climate adaptation in the city, the officials said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
a day ago
- The Hindu
Blue Flag project to be expanded to three more Chennai beach stretches
Chennai's three beaches — Thiruvanmiyur, Palavakkam and Uthandi — are expected to be developed under the Blue Flag certification programme. Further, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) is set to begin work on the second phase of the Marina Beach Blue Flag project — from the Mahatma Gandhi Statue to Nochi Nagar, opposite the Karaneeswarar Koil Street. After the inauguration of the Blue Flag project at Marina Beach by the Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin on Sunday, Mayor R. Priya said a total of 30 acres along Loop Road had been planned for the next stage. She further said the Detailed Project Report was being prepared for these sites, and the tender would be finalised soon. The works, estimated to cost over ₹6 crore for each beach, will be funded under the Tamil Nadu: Strengthening Coastal Resilience and the Economy Project, supported by the World Bank. The plan includes new toilets and changing rooms, wheelchair-accessible paths, solar lighting, waste bins, lifeguard stations and grey water treatment systems. Seating areas and Blue Flag programme-compliant signboards will also be installed. Dedicated access for persons with disabilities will be created, according to the GCC. 'A total ₹6.02 crore has been allocated for each beach. The works will take seven months to complete, and the beaches will then be maintained for another year under the same contract by the private party engaged,' an official said. There was no mention of shops in the proposals for any of the four Blue Flag projects. To this, the Mayor said the decision to remove shops in the first phase at Marina Beach received good response from the public. 'This is also crucial to keep the beach clean — a critical criterion for Blue Flag certification. A complex can be set up for authorised vendors, and illegal shopkeepers will be evicted as per GCC regulations,' she said.
The Print
a day ago
- The Print
Trash piles up across Chennai areas as sanitation workers protest privatisation move
Chennai: The putrid smell of decaying garbage wafts through several areas of Chennai as at least 1,000 sanitation workers under the National Urban Livelihoods Mission have refused to report to duty, a move prompted by the Greater Chennai Corporation's decision to privatise solid waste management. Visuals of overflowing dumpsters and trash lying on the streets have been common in Ambattur, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar and Royapuram for nearly a week now, according to people who spoke to ThePrint. The city's corporation recently decided to outsource the collection and transportation of waste to a private body, a project that is pegged at Rs 2,363 crores for 10 years. This has sparked anger among contractual sanitation employees, who have previously also demanded being regularised as permanent staff under the corporation. Show Full Article 'When we went to work on August 1, we were denied jobs under NULM and were asked to work under a private contractor. This means, we will no longer be contract employees of the Greater Chennai Corporation under NULM. With this, our long-pending demand to make us permanent employees will also become redundant,' said R Thilakavathy, a sanitation worker from Ambattur. The National Urban Livelihoods Mission is aimed at reducing the vulnerability of urban poor households by enabling them to access self-employment and skilled wage opportunities. The protest of the sanitation workers at the Ripon Building, the headquarters of the Greater Chennai Corporation, intensified on 5 August as many of them occupied pavements on the streets outside the compound. On 16 July, the Greater Chennai Corporation passed a resolution that it would privatise the waste management in Ambattur, Thiru Vi Ka Nagar and Royapuram zones. At a cost of Rs 2363 crores for 10 years, the project will also include door-to-door collection of segregated waste, and street and footpath cleaning. Although the solid waste collection was handed to Delhi MSW Solutions Limited of the Ramky Group, they are yet to begin the work. The protesting workers said there was no difference between the AIADMK and DMK governments when it came to handling their issues. 'Both of them don't value our work. When it was the AIADMK government, then Opposition leader MK Stalin wrote to the Greater Chennai Corporation in January 2021 to make all of us permanent workers. But, now it's been over four years since the DMK came to power and nothing has moved,' said Dhinakaran of the Workers Rights movement. Sanitation workers under the NULM are contract labourers of the Greater Chennai Corporation, many of them working for about 15 years now. There have been demands to turn them into permanent employees of the corporation for the past six years. The workers said they have not been invited by the corporation for talks to resolve the issue. When asked about it, Deputy Mayor of Greater Chennai Corporation M. Magesh Kumar said the decision to privatise waste management cannot be reversed as the tender has already been floated. Also Read: IAS officer who pulled off 'green elections' as observer urges EC to replicate model across India Neglected by people in power 'Whether it was a storm, or cyclone or Covid-19, we were always at the frontline. We left behind our families to save the people of our state. But when it came to our well-being, nobody listened to us and we were left out in all aspects of social development,' R Muneeshwari, who works in Royapuram, said. Some workers also complained that they have been working without taking leave despite health hazards. 'I suffered from electric shock while clearing a pile of waste during the recent rains. I continue to work as I cannot afford to lose even one day's salary,' said M Vanathi. The sanitation workers are paid a minimum wage of Rs 687 per day. 'Even this minimum wage was implemented after years of struggle. Only for the past couple of years, the corporation was providing this minimum wage. Before that, we were getting only around Rs 12,000 to Rs 13,000 per month irrespective of our years of experience. This minimum wage has not been revised for the current year,' Dhinakaran told ThePrint. Overflowing garbage across Chennai As the workers' strike enters the sixth day, residents of Ambattur, Perambur and Royapuram have complained of overflowing waste. 'We have informed the councillors and the corporation officials about the situation. They are also clueless about it. Now that it is also raining, the situation is getting worse day after day,' M Kamatchi, who lives in Ambattur, said. An official in the Greater Chennai Corporation who asked not to be named said they would deploy labourers from a different contractor to clear the waste soon. 'It's not just about cleaning the waste. It's also about spraying to eliminate mosquitos, cleaning the drains and checking the waste flow in the underground drainage. In some places, the underground drain blockage has caused overflowing water on the roads,' D Kamali, a resident of Perambur, said. She said stalled construction work on underground drains was also adding to trouble. 'We don't know when they began the work. Some of the work was stopped in the middle it appears, so they have just placed a barricade in the middle of the road, causing traffic snarls during peak hours,' Kamali added. (Edited by Nisheeth Upadhyay) Also read: Delhi minister vows to make landfills 'extinct' amid delays in legacy waste management plan
News18
a day ago
- News18
Stalin says Tamil Nadus economic growth has increased to 11.19 per cent
Chennai, Aug 6 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday said that under the Dravidian model regime, the state's economic growth has increased to 11.19 per cent, touching a new high. In his address after giving away job appointment orders in the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, Stalin said the talk of the town is the state's economic growth rising pretty impressively. He said: 'The talk of the town, the talk of the nation is this; under our Dravidian model regime, Tamil Nadu's economic growth has increased to 11.19 per cent and that is the joyous news. Tamil Nadu's economic growth has touched a new high." Further, the chief minister said that the state was witnessing such an impressive growth after 14 years, once again during the DMK regime. The CM said: 'We are not saying this. As per the union ministry of statistics and programme implementation's revised estimates, during 2024-25 Tamil Nadu has achieved 11.19 per cent growth." Such a growth was approximately 2.2 per cent higher than what was estimated in the Tamil Nadu Budget presented early this year. The state's economic growth, which was previously estimated to be around 9.69 per cent (2024-25) has now increased to 11.19 per cent. PTI VGN VGN KH view comments First Published: August 06, 2025, 15:30 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
