The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Reporter's Diary

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 08, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Reporter's Diary

Ever imagined a free ride in an Metropolitan Transport Corporation bus? That's what a few passengers on route number 21 have been enjoying in the busy Parrys area for some time.

Some of the bus crew on this route allow passengers to travel without a ticket up to the telephones office on NSC Bose Road.

The tactic is simple.

The passengers who have to go to Flower Bazaar do not get down at the Parrys bus stop, up to which they have tickets.

Instead, they continue to travel in the bus in the return direction to Mandaveli without purchasing tickets and get down at Flower Bazaar. The revenue loss is not taken note of by the corporation, for reasons best known to it.

On the other hand, there are passengers who complain of extreme and ruthless action by the "checking squads".

The other day an elderly person who boarded a bus on route number 20 bound for Parrys at the Ayanavaram police station stop, was pulled up by a checking inspector at Sayani for not having a ticket. The passenger told the inspector that he had the fare in hand and had boarded the bus at the previous stop. But his pleadings fell on deaf ears.

The passenger was asked to get down, which he did.

Though the bus was not crowded, the checking staff do not take the conductor to task for not getting up from his seat and issuing tickets to passengers.

So much for checking by the MTC.

* * *

The garbage source segregation drive is under way and so is visible street cleaning by private agencies. But some people just don't seem to have got the point. For many garbage is not garbage in their house or car or place of work. This reporter was driving behind a car on L.B. Road, Adyar, the other day. Youths in the car kept on throwing out a continuous stream of plastic bottles and food packets. Sometime later, the car stopped on the middle of the road, blocking traffic as well. A couple of them jumped out of the sparkling car to replenish their stock from a a roadside store.

The others in the car looked unperturbed as drivers behind them cursed and shook angry fists at them. All this, while a traffic policeman stood nearby.

* * *

For quite some time, the police and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board created a hue and cry about dialling `100' to complain about the loud speaker problem. But the ground realities in Chennai appear such that immediate action on complaints do not happen often. A family residing on Venugopal Swamy Street in Mogappair thought it fit to share their joy with the neighbourhood. Five box speakers were stacked one over the other, facing the road. The decibel level was an experience residents in locality never had before. The blare woke everyone up at 5 a.m. After some contemplation, a resident called 100 and informed the police about the `noisy nuisance.'

The police took down the details, enquired whether it was some `saamy paatu,' (religious music) - which it was.

And then, there was a short period of silence. But sometime later the music began all over again with greater intensity.

* * *

Last week a city school held an exhibition in which themes ranged from pets to environment awareness, India's diversity to what is measurement. Some children quizzed visitors on their knowledge and even had prizes for the right answer.

When one of the visitors refused a prize for answering a question on biodegradable material, a girl quipped, "It is an award and you must not refuse." The `award' was a paper bag that the child had made as part of `Say no to plastic,' campaign. As if to ensure the visitor would take the prize the child said, "I have plenty of them to give to other winners." Obviously, the award is worth more than any prize the visitor might have won.

* * *

Residents of north Jagannatha Nagar at Villivakkam, are piqued at the way old sleepers have been dumped on the road margin of the Second Main Road in the colony. They say while renewing the concrete sleepers in the nearby railway track, the old ones were cast aside and they are lying on the roadside for several months now (see photo) and hampering free movement of traffic. They want the railway authorities to shift the sleepers to a nearby vacant land.

* * *

K.T. Sangameswaran, Akhila Seetharaman, Swahilya, and

R. Sujatha.)

(Contributed by K.T. Sangameswaran, Akhila Seetharaman, Swahilya, and R. Sujatha.)

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