In the year that is about to end, Team Express did some top-line reporting through exclusive and special stories that were talked about and created an impact. All those reports were well researched and some of them extremely rich in detail. Here’s a recall of the best stories we carried in 2016 as we celebrate the good journalism done by our reporters across the State
September 27
Illegal abortions thrive, put precious lives in danger
Bypassing all legal mandates, illegal abortion centres carry out abortions, however premature the foetus is or unsafe the procedure. When Jayanthi Pawar visited some of these centres in Chennai and Kancheepuram on the pretext of fixing an appointment for her pregnant sister, the doctors and quacks assured it does not matter even if the foetus is more than three months old.
September 9
Dogs feed on biomed wastes at Kilpauk hosp
Initially, it appeared that some stray dogs were praying on leftover food. But when Photojournalist Ashwin Prasath took a closer look, the heap contained blood soaked bandages, syringes and all kinds of medical wastes. The dogs in the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital were praying on these wastes. And it was not in some backyards of the hospital, but in the centre of the hospital campus. After the Express report by Sinduja Jane, the hospital cleaned up the premises and put systems in place.
October 17
Almost 70 years after Independence, Dalit labourers are denied entry into a few public places and houses of the ‘upper caste’ people. But what reporter Sinduja Jane learnt when she attended a meeting called by a set of Dalit doctors was really shocking. Some of them claimed that they had come across patients who did not want to get treated by them as they were Dalits. Each of the participants in the meeting had a tale to tell on how even after becoming an MBBS doctor, the people still see them as low-born Dalits and hence untouchables. Frustrated over this, a total of 47 doctors converted to Buddhism, a religion they believe does not have casteism, during that meeting.
June 2
1 city, 2 faces: When a man was rescued near tech park
When C Shivakumar saw Abrar Mohammed, crippled below the waist, sitting almost naked in the sun just a few meters from the swanky Olympia Tech Park, a story of pain was born. Mohammed had faced humiliation for his physical condition and had left home in UP. With the reporter’s help, he found a safe shelter at NGO Udavum Karangal. Four months later, he was reunited with kin.
August 25
Who built the road over Muthukadu lagoon?
A mysterious road came up over Muthukadu lagoon in August, allegedly to provide quiet and direct access for the bungalows owned by popular personalities, including Kollywood actors, in the serene locality. After S V Krishna Chaitanya reported on it, Kancheepuram district administration took note of it. The National Green Tribunal also ordered the State to probe the alleged coastal violations.
November 27
TNSCB settlement where path to life is strewn with risk
The flaws in the design of the TNSCB’s rehab settlements in Perumbakkam led to the death of a child and caused severe injuries to another in the last one year. Also, the residents were cut off from their sources of income after being made to move this far from the city. After Nirupama Viswanathan reported on the flawed design, the TNSCB decided to take corrective measures.
January 5
Squatters cleared, lake in North Chennai gets fresh lease of life
A month after the floods, when reporter Ram M Sundaram went a little north of Chennai, it was water everywhere. But there was an exception. The sprawling Chinnambedu lake spread over nearly 1,500 acres was totally dry. It was found that the encroachments were preventing the water from the river from entering the lake. After Express report, the officials swiftly removed the encroachments and bunds were also constructed for a length of 4.5 km around the water body.
June 29
Kurava men illegally detained by cops as stigma bogs them down
While police apathy and excess, especially towards the lower strata of the society is an open secret, many such cases remain in the dark. One such case was involving 11 people from the Kurava community from Kerala being illegally detained at a police station in Chennai.Reporter Ram M Sundaram brought out their story in words of their desperate family members. A day later, the men were released. Later, Express wrote another story on illegal detention of a 17-yr-old, on which NHRC ordered probe.
May 25
Heartwarming story of how Saila fought all odds to emerge on top
It was one of the gripping stories that we wrote this year. It was about daughter of a migrant labourer, who had lost his life when cleaning a septic tank. For years, K Saila’s family fought to get relief from the city’s corporation. The civic body refused to pay C10 lakh, despite a strong order from the Madras HC. But despite the struggles, Saila scored 80% marks in her Class XII exams. The day after Express report came, many offered her help. Subsequently, she got admission in BSc Nursing in a private college.
October 10
Centre shelves plan to shift cipet out of city
Finally, Chennai retained the coveted research institute CIPET (Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology). There was so much political heat on the move by the Central government to shift the headquarters of Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology
to New Delhi before the Central government finally gave up the move. But in the beginning, it was reporter Ram M Sundaram who got wind of the move by the Central government from the trade unions and highlighted it through his stories. In one of his stories on the issue, he highlighted how
the Union government’s decision to shift the headquarters went against the decision of the
governing council of the institute, which is the highest decision making body on the issues pertaining to the institute. The documents and the internal rules of the institute nailed that the move to
shift the institute is not on solid legal or logical grounds. Finally, the Union government
abandoned the move to shift the headquarter of Central Institute of Plastics Engineering
and Technology.
July 29
Real ‘test’ for teachers after re-evaluation shock
Typically, when students apply for re-evaluation of their board exam papers, the deviation from the original score would be just about 5 to 10 per cent. But the information reporter Ram M Sundaram found out suggested that this year, the score variation for many was as high as 70. At least 600 papers had such huge variations and it was mostly in Commerce and Accountancy streams.
Impact
After the Express report, the School Education Department ordered a probe and nearly 25 teachers from five districts, including Coimbatore, Madurai and Dindugul were called for an enquiry and disciplinary action was also initiated on teachers who were negligent during the evaluation process. It also came to light that the huge deviation in the marks were due to teachers from other streams were made to evaluate the Commerce and Accountancy papers. The story also pointed out that how overloading of work on the teachers, narrow deadlines and unrealistic targets also affect proper valuation of the board exam papers. Also, how shortage of teachers is forcing putting teachers from other streams to evaluate the papers. Andfinally, it is the students who take the pressure with marks well below their actual performance.
August 25
Blood curdling ways city hosps disposed of bio-waste
In May, an independent investigation carried out by S V Krishna Chaitanya unravelled one of the scariest scams, wherein many of the government and private hospitals were allegedly accused of selling discarded bio-medical waste like contaminated blood tubing to an unauthorised vendor for money, instead of depositing the waste with Common Treatment Facility Provider. It was triggered by a whistle blower, who traded charges against Child’s Trust Hospital. Finally, southern bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) had ordered CB-CID inquiry, which proved the hospital indeed sold about 250 kg of BMW to a vendor. The premises of the vendor was sealed and criminal case has been booked. There were anomalies found in operations of 21 other hospitals as well. Documents accessed by Express showed hospitals claims to be generating a paltry 307 grams per bed per day, which was far less than the conservative estimates of both Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and TNPCB. Government Royapettah Hospital, which has over 700 beds and 20 theatres, claimed it generates 40 grams per bed a day. The demand for a wider probe is still pending before the NGT.
December 21
Football ground famed for ‘Madras’ now open for play
Even the Kollywood film makers could shoot films in this ground, but not the local residents could play here. When reporter Sinduja Jane probed what prevented the resident from using the ground, on which the corporation spent nearly C1crore to renovate, it was shocking to find that one influential local resident was controlling access to it. After Express report, the corporation officials intervened and ‘settled’ the matter. The other group was allowed to practice in the ground, but albeit only in the fixed hours.
June 21
GH school HM who demanded bribe for admissions
When the first tip-off came from a source, it sounded absurd. A government school demanding donations for admissions is something that sounded so unlikely. But when reporter Ram M Sundaram drove to the Government HSS at Kelambakkam and spoke to the students, parents said school principal Marimuthu had been demanding gifts from them in lieu of admission.
Impact
Following Express report, Marimuthu was suspended by the authorities concerned and a departmental probe initiated against him. When the reporter checked with students of Pallikaranai Government School, where Marimuthu served previously, they too had a similar tale to tell. The students said the donation demand would be costly TV, if the student’s Class X score was very low to a moderately cheap mixie, if the student has better marks. And the bribe also varies according to the stream the student wanted to study in.
August 15
Unsafe borewell water kills three in villages
It was reminder of how even now access to safe drinking water is a struggle in villages. Just about 100 km from Chennai, three people died and 20 others fell sick. The documents showed that the local panchayat officials had supplied drinking water from a borewell. Following this report, the officials were suspended and officials from the Revenue, TWAD board camped there.
November 4
Beach vanishes after steps to stop erosion go awry
Express has carried a series of articles on unwarranted human intervention was resulting in beach erosion in Muthukadu-Kovalam coastline. State Fisheries Department had illegally started construction of groyne field without obtaining environmental clearance from State Environment Impact Assessment Authority. The result: 150 meters of pristine beach has eroded.
May 16
Anna invoked shiver in her, but nobody knew why
Much is reported on incidents of child sexual abuse. But not what the children go through during the period and house parents often miss the signs. By recollecting the behavioural changes two young children had during the period they were facing abuses at the hands of 20-year-old neighbour, reporter Jayanthi Pawar narrated the typical signs children facing abuses show.
February 25
In jail, for hitting conductor who groped her
The first tip off the reporter Jayanthi Pawar got like any other routine crime story — a public nuisance by a group of people by attacking an MTC conductor. But it was surprising that four of a family, including two women, were arrested and lodged for two days in Puzhal prison for something as trivial as a street fight. Even the court did not show any leniency on the young women, who were mothers= of children aged between 3 and 5. Surprisingly, on the same day of arrest, the MTC staff had gone a mass flash strike at the CMBT bus terminus demanding the arrest of the family. When the reporter spoke to the family after the managed to get bail, the dots could be joined. The family, which was returning from a night show, questioned an MTC staff who was drunk and standing in the middle of the road using abusive language on Prema after she narrowly avoided hitting him. When she later confronted the conductor, he groped her.
September 18
Red-tape makes Sri Lankans risk lives to cross sea
Newspapers don’t write on them even as much as Kollywood film scriptwriters do. When reporter M Sathish just wanted to probe why so many Sri Lankan Tamils risk their lives by illegally taking a boat to Australia, he found the abject insensitivity of authorities and the hurdles in forms of paperwork force them to prefer the illegal route. Processing fee was another factor.
October 23
Aftermath of SMU Hospital fire incident in Odisha that killed 20 people, a reality check done by Express at Chennai government hospitals revealed that none of leading multi-storied specialty government hospitals in city has fire safety compliance certificate, which is mandatory by law. Documents accessed from Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services Department showed that not a single government hospital falling in the purview of Chennai central, Chennai suburban and Chennai north had fire safety compliance certificate making them equally vulnerable in case of fire accidents. Six hospital blocks in Women and Children Hospital in Egmore, 9 blocks in Kilpauk MCH and Royapettah Government Hospital that has 6 blocks don’t have compliance certificate.
July 11
Faulty road design on 100 highway stretches in TN
Tamil Nadu tops the nation in number of people who die in road accidents. But very less is written about why it is so. Sushmitha Ramakrishnan reported that faulty road design on 100-odd highway stretches caused around 1,300 fatalities a year. Though the Ministry of Road Transport made this finding a year ago, rectification of black spots have been taking time.