75 new services, 20 volvo services inaugurated

VILLUPURAM: The State Transport Corporation is incurring a loss of Rs. 1.2 for every km.

The aggregate distance covered every day by corporation buses, which stood at 64 lakh km at the time of its inception, has increased to 94 lakh km now, said Transport Minister K.N. Nehru.

He was speaking at a function held at the main bus stand here on Tuesday to inaugurate 75 new services and 20 volvo services.

The corporation had a fleet of 19,000 buses carrying an average of 2.5 crore people every day. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi was sanctioning adequate funds to offset the losses, he said.

Mr. Nehru said that the ticket fare of 0.28 paise for a km charged in ordinary State-run buses was the lowest in the country. The fare in express bus was 0.32 per km; ultra deluxe – 0.52 paise per km, air-conditioned bus – 0.82 paise per km and in Volvo bus – Re. 1 per km.

While ordinary buses were priced at Rs. 12 lakh each, the volvo model cost Rs. 88 lakh each. Mr. Nehru said that in the last three-and-half years, 10,350 new buses were bought. This year alone, 3,000 new buses had been purchased. Of these, 800 had been pressed into service and the remaining would be deployed in phases.

Mr. Nehru observed that on an average 3,550 new vehicles a day or 10 lakh new vehicles a year were registered.

The issuance of smart card driving licences, now in vogue in Cuddalore, Sivaganga and Chennai districts, would be extended to the rest of the State during this year.

The Minister pointed out that Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy, during his tenure as Transport Minister, had started a pension scheme and mobilised a sum of Rs. 800 crore. Since the fund was treated as income, the government might have to pay tax on this. Therefore, a committee would be formed to go into the issue and restructure the pension scheme.

Keeping in view the safety of passengers, the bus crew was prohibited from carrying cell phones. But, some of them had contested the move in the court. The Minister opined that the ban would ensure the safety of the crew too.

Promotion orders were given to 52 employees on the occasion. Mr. Ponmudy said the Villupuram division was always run profitably. Health Minister M.R.K. Panneerselvam sought air-conditioned bus services from Cuddalore.

Regional Managing Director of the corporation C. Paramasivam, General Manager Premkumar, MLAs and officials participated.

Students and teachers of special schools take out procession

CUDDALORE: The students and teachers of special schools in Cuddalore, Villupuram and Nagapattinam districts took out a rally here on Thursday in support of their demands.
Demands

It was held under the aegis of the Cuddalore branch of the All India Confederation of Organisations for Persons with Mental Disability. According to M.Ravichandran, State president of the organisation, the demands included time-scale pay for the teachers in special schools and speedy distribution of benefits announced by the government for the differently abled persons.

According to the 2001 Census, there were two lakh mentally challenged persons in the State, and 250 special schools run by the service organisations were catering to their needs.
Teachers appointed

Mr. Ravichandran pointed out that till 1992, the government had appointed 32 teachers in special schools, but later, no postings were made. In view of the present and future needs, the government must post at least 750 teachers, 250 women helpers and 250 office assistants in special schools.

Correspondents and non-teaching staff of at least 18 special schools such as Oasis, G.V.Dhaya, Santhi Jain, Vela and John, and hundreds of students and parents took part in the rally that wound its way from the Periyar statue to the Collectorate.

Later, the office-bearers of the organisation handed over a memorandum to District Collector P.Seetharaman. Those participated on the occasion included K.Kumar, district president and Kavi.Thavaraj, secretary.

Poll roll, ration cards basis for identification

CHENNAI: Electoral rolls and ration cards will be the basis for the identification of beneficiaries under the proposed Kalaignar Housing Scheme to be implemented in rural areas.

The documents have been chosen in view of their authenticity, according to a senior government official.

Addressing a function at Veeramachanpatti near Thuraiyur on Friday, Transport Minister K.N. Nehru announced that Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi would inaugurate the Scheme in Tiruchi on March 3.

On an average, huts or temporary houses with mud walls and thatched roof account for 33 per cent of the rural houses. In districts such as Villupuram and Cuddalore, the share of such houses is in the range of 55 per cent to 57 per cent. Totally, there are about 26.6 lakh huts, identified as temporary houses.

The scheme envisages conversion of such houses into concrete-roofed permanent houses. It will be executed in six years, starting from 2010-2011, covering 21 lakh houses totally. The size of each house will be 200 sq. ft.

The official explains that the figure of 21 lakh houses has been arrived at, taking into account factors such as coverage under the Central scheme of Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) by 2016-2017. Normally, 70,000 houses are built under the IAY. As a special case, during 2009-2010, 1.35 lakh houses have been taken up.

Lack of housing is a clear indicator of poverty. As the IAY essentially covers Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, this has given a room for social tension in villages. The scheme has been conceptualised to address the issue, the official says, adding that the selection of beneficiaries will be fair and transparent.

Pointing out that most of the norms being followed in the case of IAY will be adopted in respect of the new scheme too, the official says there will be no cash component.

The assistance will be in the form of material, including cement and steel. To ensure proper implementation, the government is toying with the idea of a third party validation.

Noting that the scheme will be funded purely by the State government, he says adequate funds will be made available. Major schemes such as the distribution of colour television sets, Anathiu Grama Anna Marumalarchi Thittam and the allocation for compensating cooperative societies for loan waiver will be over by next year.

This will result in savings of nearly Rs.2,000 crore a year.

Harvesting machinery to be brought from other districts

CUDDALORE: As the harvesting season has begun in the district now the farmers are hamstrung by acute shortage of harvesting machinery.

Following their appeal to District Collector P.Seetharaman, the district administration has made arrangements to bring seven harvesting machinery from various districts. A statement said that six wheel-type harvesting machinery would be brought from Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai, Virudhunagar, Tiruvallur and Tirunelveli districts. It would be rented out to the farmers at the rate of Rs 780 an hour. One more belt-type harvesting machinery would be brought from the Nandanam Agriculture Office, Chennai, and the rent for its usage would be fixed at Rs 1,145 an hour.

BSNL introduces ‘Project Udaan’ to push wireline sales in Tamil Nadu

BSNL launched ‘Project Udaan’ in Tamil Nadu to drive uptake for its wireline services in Tamil Nadu. As part of the project specially trained employees will aim to reach out to potential customers.

The first phase of the project will cover Cuddalore, Villupuram, Coimbatore, Tirupur, Tiruchi, Karur, Pudukottai, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Madurai, Dindigal, Theni, Salem, Namakkal and Erode districts.

The operator has also waived off installation charges as part of the project.

BSNL bid to boost landline connections

CHENNAI: BSNL Tamil Nadu Circle has launched ‘Project Udaan,’ a nationally conceived initiative to spur landline/broadband growth.

The first phase is being rolled out in Cuddalore, Villupuram, Coimbatore, Tirupur, Tiruchi, Karur, Pudukottai, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Madurai, Dindigal, Theni, Salem, Namakkal and Erode districts, a BSNL release stated.

Specially trained employees have been deployed to reach out to potential customers at their doorstep. New connections can be obtained by sending SMS (typing “LL” or “BB”) to 54141 from a BSNL mobile or calling 1500 or 1800-425-5161.

Installation charges have been waived as an introductory offer. — Special Correspondent

H1N1 flu effectively under control

PUDUCHERRY: Since the first case of A (H1N1) influenza surfaced in August, Puducherry has recorded a total of 116 positive cases, including those from the neighbouring districts of Tamil Nadu. However, continuous monitoring measures have “contained the spread of infection” within Puducherry, resulting in zero deaths.

Data available with the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP), Puducherry, revealed that there were 18 cases of A (H1N1) influenza in August.

The month of September saw 24 positive cases, and October registered the highest number of cases, till now, at 38.

There were 18 positive cases each in November and December. A total of 569 persons were screened, of which samples of 522 were tested. Four persons who tested positive had a travel history to H1N1-notified countries (imported cases), according to IDSP.

Officials said that persons who tested positive for H1N1 were from Puducherry and neighbouring places of Tamil Nadu such as Cuddalore, Villupuram, Vadalur, Tiruvannamalai and Kancheepuram.

“There has been continuous monitoring effort and epidemiological works done in Puducherry. If there are any positive cases, the staff of Health Department ensures that the patient is admitted to hospital or quarantined at home. We advice the patient not to go out until the infection comes down. All measures are being taken to contain the spread of infection, even within the family of the positive person,” said an official.

Though the trend cannot be denoted as downward, officials said the H1N1 situation in Puducherry has been “effectively under control.”

“This is evident from the fact that there have been no deaths in Puducherry and no formation of indigenous clusters,” the official said.

So far, there have been 12 cases of deaths – all from neighbouring districts of Tamil Nadu.

A senior official of the department said that the flu fear among people was gone.

“There has been increased awareness, resulting in lack of fear now. In fact, most of the doctors have been trained to pick up the suspected flu cases,” he said.

The department has adequate stock of Tamiflu and most of the positive cases are being quarantined at home, he said, adding, “The World Health Organisation has predicted that one-third of the world’s population will be exposed to the flu in the next two to three years.”