Tamil Nadu

Keezhputhupattu refugee camp tenements to get power supply

VILLUPURAM: Collector R. Palanisamy made a surprise visit to the refugee camp for the Sri Lankan Tamils at Keezhputhupattu near here on Monday.

On enquiry, the residents told him that of the 320 tenements in the camp, 80 were yet to get electricity. The Collector immediately called up the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board officials to provide power connection to all the houses.

He also directed them to fix covering domes for the 12 street lights in the camp. The Collector instructed the officials to ensure cleanliness and spraying of mosquito repellents in the camp.

Later, the Collector inspected the fair price shop in Keezhputhupattu and found the electronic weighing machine missing. He took the salesman to task for not using the electronic weighing machine as the latter had come out with an excuse that it was under repair.

Mr. Palanisamy categorically told the officials that they must enforce the usage of electronic weighing machine in all the fair price shops.

The Collector told presspersons that with the sanctioning of special funds to the tune of Rs. 20 lakh to each village under the Anaithu Grama Anna Marumalarchi Thittam the basic amenities in the rural areas had improved a lot.

Of the 1,104 panchayats in the district, 350 had already been covered under the scheme and the works were under way in 231 others. The remaining panchayats would get the benefits within two years.

Under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme assets worth Rs. 5 crore, by way of construction of roads and digging tanks, were created every week in each village.

With the dovetailing of other schemes such as the Prime Minister Rural Road Programme and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) assisted road programme, works to the tune of Rs. 85 lakh were being implemented in every panchayat, the Collector said.

For improving the pass percentage in the SSLC and Plus Two examinations, special coaching classes were arranged in the schools. The teacher vacancies in high schools and higher secondary schools were being filled up, and in certain cases the Parents-Teachers’ Associations were engaging temporary teachers to handle the classes.

The Collector hoped that these endeavours would pay off in the coming examinations. He pointed out that following the efforts put in by Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy, the district got two government engineering colleges, affiliated to Anna University – Chennai, and a government medical college.

These pro-active measures would significantly improve the education scenario in the district, the Collector added.

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