The Hindu : Briefly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 14, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Briefly

TMMK men arrested

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI FEB. 13. Members of the Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, numbering 430, were arrested today for staging a demonstration in front of the Madras High Court protesting non-inclusion of any Muslim candidate in the recent list of nine names recommended for appointment as High Court judge.

The arrested include the general secretary, S. Hyder Ali, the deputy general secretary, A.S. Alauddeen, and the secretary, S. Mohammed Jainulabuddin. All the arrested were released in the evening.

Boy falls into borewell

By Our Staff Reporter

Dharmapuri FEB. 13. A three-year-old boy fell into a 605-foot deep hole sunk for a borewell at Adhiyamankottai here today.

According to the police, Ajith, son of Kala and Ilango, was playing when he slipped and fell into the borewell on a land belonging to Shanmugam.

The boy was located at a depth of 18 feet. The borewell tube was only 8 inches in diameter. A team led by the Dharmapuri Fire Officer, Ezhilarasu, was making all-out efforts to rescue him alive.

The boy has been living with his grandmother as his parents were employed in Bangalore.

Hit for not reciting poem

By Our Staff Reporter

SALEM FEB. 13. A student was injured in the groin when his teacher reportedly hit him with a cane for not reciting an English poem.

The police said Vairakkan, an VIII Standard student of the Panamarathupatti Government Higher Secondary School, near here, could not recite an English poem in the class about two days ago. The teacher reportedly beat the student. Vairakkan was admitted to the Salem Government Medical College Hospital.

The Panamarathupatti police, however, claimed that the parents withdrew the complaint against the teacher.

Elephant tramples man to death

By Our Staff Reporter

THENI FEB. 13. Peria Kaliappan (50) of Cumbum was trampled to death by an elephant, which was part of a herd that destroyed fodder on his field near the Cumbum mettu forest area last night.

On seeing him, the elephant chased and attacked him and he died on the spot.

Farmers had complained to forest department officials about the movement of elephants at night in the Manikatti forest range near Cumbum mettu.

10 fishermen `abducted'

By Our Staff Reporter

Nagapattinam FEB. 13. Ten Indian fishermen were ``abducted'' and three fishing boats seized allegedly by Sri Lankan fishermen after they ``strayed into Sri Lankan waters''.

According to Arulanandam of Thankachimadam in Ramanathapuram district, the Sri Lankan fishermen attacked the Indian fishermen yesterday in mid-sea and `abducted' 10 fishermen and seized three boats.

Arulanandam said he and Antony, Sudhakar and Arokiyam (all the three hailing from Thankachimadam), were allowed to swim back to the Point Calimere coast.

Postal pension adalat

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI FEB. 13. The next postal pensioner's circle level adalat will be held during April. Pensioners may send their complaints to N. Ananthakrishnan, senior accounts officer, Office of the Principal Chief Postmaster-General, Tamil Nadu Circle, Chennai - 600 002 on or before February 27. The date and the venue will be intimated later, says a release.

`Banks not accepting coins'

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI FEB. 13. The Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in its complaint to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has said banks in and around Madurai are not accepting remittances in coins.

The president, S. Rethinavelu, said traders, especially those engaged in the retail and distribution business, were put to hardship owing to refusal of the banks.

"The coin circulation has increased manifold. On an average 20 per cent of the traders' daily revenue collection is in coins."

In a communication to the RBI, he said an instruction should be issued to banks to accept coins. "The coins are legal tender" and any refusal by the banks to accept them "should be considered an offence."

Mr. Rethinavelu, who had also written to the Banking Ombudsman, S. Krishnamurthy, said the RBI should restrict further issue of coins. The banks were citing lack of manpower to count the coins and inadequate space to store them.

Teak logs seized, one held

By Our Staff Reporter

NAGERCOIL FEB.13 . The Forest Department foiled a bid to smuggle teak logs from the Velimalai range and arrested a person today.

According to the District Forest Officer, I. Anwar Deen, four men loaded their car with six teakwood logs. Two guards at the check-post at Chitrancode signalled the car to stop. But it sped away. The guards gave a chase. owever, at Mundanvilai, the group abandoned the vehicle and fled. The car was confiscated and the logs worth Rs.10,000 were seized.

Dennison (32) of Thadikarankonam near here, kingpin in felling trees, was arrested and a hunt has been launched to his associates, Mr. Anwar Deen said.

Demo for basic facilities

By Our Staff Reporter

RAMANATHAPURAM FEB.13 . Around 250 persons including 200 women staged a demonstration in front of the town panchayat office at Rameswaram today.

They were demanding infrastructure for their coastal villages of Murungaivadi and Venmani Nagar.

Tenders invited

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUNELVELI FEB.13 . The Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation has invited tenders to finalise bidders for empty bottles and cartons being generated in its IMFL retail outlets.

According to C. N. Maheshwaran, District Revenue Officer and Senior Regional Manager, TASMAC, Madurai Region, it was decided to sell empty bottles and cartons being generated in the IMFL retail outlets in Madurai, Dindigul, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, Sivagangai, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Theni and Kanyakumari districts and the aspirants can get tender applications from the TASMAC District Manager concerned, paying Rs.100. The last date for submitting the tender applications is February 17.

The aspirants can submit their applications even on Saturdays and Sundays in the Offices of the District Managers, TASMAC, Mr. Maheshwaran said.

Special buses

By Our Staff Reporter

DINDIGUL FEB.13 . The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (Division) IV Limited has made elaborate arrangements to operate special buses to Devadhanapatti for Moongilanai Kamatchi Amman Temple festival scheduled from February 18 to 25.

In a release here today, the Managing Director, K. Chandrasekaran, said about 30 special buses would be operated from Batlagundu, Periakulam, Andipatti and Theni.

Senior traffic officers would be posted at these destinations to assist and guide pilgrims.

Russia keen to help

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI FEB. 13. Russia is interested in assisting the State Government in setting up a desalination plant at Minjur, near here, said Mikhail M. Mgeladze, consul-general of the Russian federation in south India, said yesterday.

Listing the areas of cooperation between the countries, he said construction of the Koodankulam nuclear power plant in Tirunelveli district with Russian assistance was "going ahead of schedule." He was speaking at the inauguration of an Indo-Russian Science and Technology Centre for Gas Hydrate Studies at the National Institute of Ocean Technology here by the Union Minister of State for Science and Technology.

Noting "India has been and remains, without any reservations, Russia's closest and most reliable friend and partner," Dr. Mgeladze said a national consensus existed in the countries for developing further cooperation, bilaterally and in the international arena.

One of the upcoming events was an exhibition of Russian goods here "this summer."

Cargo handling at port

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI FEB. 13. Nearly 30 million tonnes of cargo was handled by the Chennai port in the first 10 months of the current financial year, which is 5.56 per cent more than the traffic it registered in the corresponding period of 2002-03.

In January alone, the cargo handling was around 31.23 lakh million tonnes, 21.71 per cent increase over the 25.65 lakh million tonnes in January 2003, the Chennai Port Trust said in a release.

Its cargo handling had been on the decline from 41.22 million tonnes in 2000-01 to 36.11 and 33.68 million tonnes in the next two financial years.

While attributing the drop to the transfer of about nine million tonnes of thermal coal to the Ennore port over the years, the Chennai port had turned into focus on attracting other (clean) cargo, including passenger cars and foodgrains.

The release said the container handling in the first 10 months of 2003-04 went up by 25.04 per cent over the corresponding period last year. The container traffic was around 4.39 lakh TEUs (twenty feet equivalent units) as against 3.51 lakh TEUs.

Meet on functioning of legal fora

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI FEB. 13. The first State-level conference of the Tamil Nadu State and District Legal Service Authorities will begin at the newly-inaugurated headquarters of the Authority here on Saturday.

According to Akbar Ali, Member-Secretary, the two-day meet will review the functioning of the State and district forums, besides discussing legal aid and legal literacy campaign details. The Patron-in-Chief of the Authority and Chief Justice, B. Subhashan Reddy, and its Executive Chairman, Justice V.S. Sirpurkar, are scheduled to inaugurate the meet. All Principal District Judges and Senior Division Civil Judges, who are chairmen and secretaries of district units respectively, are attending the programme.

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