TN-Puducherry sign pact on sharing Pennayar water

VILLUPURAM/Puducherry,Oct 15: The Tamil Nadu and Puducherry governments today inked an agreement for sharing water in Pennayar system at Sornavur Anaicut, giving a fresh lease of life to a 1910 French-British accord.

P Raman, Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department, Tamil Nadu government and C.Anandane, PWD Chief Engineer, Puducherry, signed the agreement.

Raman later told newsmen that the agreement would be in force for 60 years ending 2029,retrospectively from 1969.The two governments were scheduled to have renewed the pact in 1969 after construction of the dam across the Pennayar at Sornavour in neighbouring Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu.

Anandane, who referred to the highlights of the pact, said the agreement would benefit as much as 4778 acres of land in Puducherry while 1275 acres would be covered in Tamil Nadu.

The first initiative was made in 1864 between the then French and British governments for an agreement. It was in 1910 that an accord was finalised for sharing water for irrigation purposes. As much as 215 cusecs would be available for the union territory.

Pennayar river, also known as South Pennayar, originates from Chenna Kesva hills, north west of Nandidurga near Ongashanhalli village in Karnataka and it is the second largest inter-state east flowing river, a release said.

After traversing 85 km in Karnataka the river enters Tamil Nadu near Bagalaur village of Hosur taluk and flows through Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram and Cuddalore districts of Tamil Nadu. It reaches Bay of Bengal after traversing a short distance through five villages of Bahoor commune panchayat limits here. The Sornavur Anaicut was constructed in 1969 and is in Villupuram district, 45 km from Puducherry.

Ten new SEZs cleared, BoA yet to decide on DLF

VILLUPURAM: NEW DELHI: The Centre on Friday cleared 10 new Special Economic Zones (SEZs), including an information technology and IT-enabled services (ITeS) SEZ of Tata Consultancy Services in West Bengal. It also gave in-principle approvals to three SEZs, including two in Tamil Nadu.

Eight SEZs of IT and ITeS sectors were given final approval, while one each of biotechnology and warehousing sectors were also cleared. TCS will construct its IT SEZ in 16 hectares in Kolkata, while another IT SEZ by Bengal Shristi Infrastructure Development Limited will come up at Asansol. Similarly, Rakindo Kova Township Pvt. Ltd. will construct an IT SEZ at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. Other IT SEZs will come up at Indore (Madhya Pradesh) by Malwa IT Park Ltd., at Bangalore (Karnataka) by Gopalan Enterprises, at Noida (Uttar Pradesh) by Perfect IT SEZ Pvt. Ltd. and at Gandhinagar (Gujarat) by Calica Construction Impex Pvt. Ltd.

Final clearance


Two other SEZs that were given final clearances are a free trade warehousing zone SEZ spread over 136 hectares by Jafza Chennai Business Parks Pvt. Ltd. at Thiruvallur in Tamil Nadu and a biotechnology SEZ by Saloni Business Park Pvt. Ltd. at Thane in Maharashtra.

The Centre also gave an in-principle approval to a multi-product SEZ in 2,245 hectares at Thane in Maharashtra which will be developed by Privilege Power and Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. Similarly, two more in-principle approvals were given to two SEZs in Tamil Nadu — a 1,000-hectare multi-product SEZ of Sengadu Projects Pvt. Ltd. at Villupuram, and a 100-hectare electronics and electrical products SEZ of Sriperumbudur Ventures Pvt. Ltd. at Thirvallur and Kancheepuram districts.

However, the Board of Approval (BoA) of SEZ did not take any decision on DLF and Unitech Hitech projects in Noida as its promoters did not have the land in possession. So far, the Government has granted formal clearance to 395 SEZs, of which 156 have been notified and an investment of Rs. 50,906 crore has already taken place in these zones.

Puducherry urged to regulate “mushrooming of liquor shops” in border districts

PUDUCHERRY: The Prohibition and Enforcement Wing (PEW) of Tamil Nadu Police on Thursday urged the Puducherry government to regulate the “mushrooming of liquor shops in uninhabited places” in the border districts.

The plea was made at the first joint meeting between officials of the PEW and the Excise Department of Puducherry here. Top police officers from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry also attended the meeting.

Clandestine transportation


Officials of the PEW, which initiated the meeting, were of the view that location of wine shops in desolate pockets of Puducherry and Karaikal regions bordering on some districts of Tamil Nadu was the main reason for “clandestine transportation of liquor” to the State.

PEW officials said there were 18 IMFL outlets and 9 arrack shops in places bordering on Cuddalore district alone. These shops did not adopt uniform pricing but offered discounts for bulk purchase, mostly to persons from Tamil Nadu.

Antecedents


They have asked the district administration not to issue licence for setting up shops in places where there was no habitation and also check the antecedents of the applicants before giving permit. Bulk purchase of bottles from shops should also be banned, they said.

Stolen vehicles


Another issue that came up for discussion was the use of stolen vehicles from Puducherry in the illegal trade of rectified spirit in Tamil Nadu. The PEW asked the Puducherry government to adopt safety measures while transporting rectified spirit from distilleries in Puducherry and Karaikal regions. They wanted to identify exit points radiating from the Union Territory to Cuddalore, Villupuram, Kancheepuram, Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur districts to check transportation of IMFL and rectified spirit.

Joint mechanism


It was also decided to evolve a joint mechanism to conduct vehicle checks and raids along the border districts. Both sides have agreed to exchange information about bootleggers involved in transportation of IMFL and rectified spirit, sources said. The PEW handed over a list of 20 wanted bootleggers from Puducherry involved in various cases.

Puducherry Collector G. Theva Neethi Dhas, Deputy Inspector General of Police (PEW) E.Ma. Masanamuthu, Senior Superintendent of Police, Puducherry, Chhaya Sharma, Deputy Commissioner, Excise R. Anbajagane, Superintendent of Police, Villupuram, Amalraj, Superintendent of Police, Cuddalore, Pradip Kumar and Additional Superintendent of Police, PEW, Cuddalore, S. P Murugesan participated in the meeting.