Driver averts train accident

VILLUPURAM: An alert engine driver averted a major train accident on the Chennai-Tiruchy section here on Wednesday, when a high tension electric wire hanging from a post got trapped in the wheels of a goods train near Janakipuram railway level crossing. The coal laden goods train was proceeding to Tiruchy from Villupuram. Electrification work on Villupuram-Tiruchy section was taken up a few months ago. The work on laying hefty copper wire was progressing on the section. Thieves had stolen a portion of the copper wire from the place late last night. The remaining part of the wire was hanging from the post near Janakipuram level crossing. The wire got trapped in the goods train wheels.Driver Thirumurugan heard a loud noise emanating from the engine. Immediately, he halted the train and jumped out. On information, railway officials from Villupuram station carried out the restoration works. Meanwhile, Ananthapuri Express and Rameswaram Express, going to Chennai, were detained for three hours. While Ananthapuri Express was halted at Kandampakkam the Rameswaram Express was halted at Ullundurpet. The trains left after a delay of three hours. Janakipuram railway level crossing remained closed for more than three hours.

Shopkeepers down shutters in Mayiladuturai

NAGAPATTINAM: Shopkeepers downed their shutters in Mayiladuturai, Sirkazhi, Kuttalam, Parasalur, Sembanarkovil and other places in Mayiladuturai revenue division in Nagapattinam district on Tuesday protesting the inordinate delay in broad gauge conversion work in Mayiladuturai-Villupuram section.
They urged the Railways to immediately run trains from Mayiladuturai to Chennai via Tiruchi on the chord line until the works were completed.
The hartal was called by the Varthagar Sangam, Mayiladuturai, as the work that was taken up by the Rail Vikas Nigam Limitedin December 2006 was not completed as scheduled by December 2007.
This has caused much hardship to all sections of the society including tourists, traders and others travelling on the main line from Thanjavur to Chennai via Kumbakonam, Mayiladuturai, Sirkazhi, Chidambaram, Cuddalore and Villupuram, they said.
A large number of traders and local people staged a demonstration near the Mayiladuturai railway station to draw the attention of the Railways.
Residents’ associations of Nagapattinam, chambers of commerce, traders, consumer council and service organisations said that the Railways should operate trains on the chord line at the earliest as the broad gauge conversion on the Nagore-Tiruvarur section had been completed.
Railway sources said that the project was expected to be completed by December 2008.

Villagers caned, 20 injured

VILLUPURAM: As many as 20 persons, including policewomen suffered injuries, when police resorted to lathicharge on local residents on Tuesday, who were protesting agai nst the frequent power failure in villages near Puducherry. More than 500 residents of Poothurai, Vaanur, Thiruchitrambalam, Kottakuppam and Auroville had blocked the traffic on the busy East Coast Road at Kottakuppam on Tuesday morning. Residents had been facing serious hardship in the wake of the frequent power cuts for the past few days, affecting agricultural activities in the region. The local residents had lodged complaints with TNEB officials, but the power supply was paralysed in many parts of Cuddalore and Villupuram districts. Dejected over this, the residents assembled in front of the TNEB office in Kottakuppam. The agitators, led by councillors, Velmurugan, Karthik and Saravanan raised slogans against the government. They demanded uninterrupted power supply to the villages. They then squatted on the ECR, blocking vehicular traffic during the rush hours. A large number of women, carrying empty pots also participated in the agitation. Though the police and revenue officials tried to pacify the angry residents, they remained adamant and refused to move from the spot. The agitation created heavy traffic snarl and vehicles were stranded on the road for more than 30 minutes. Police then resorted to a lathicharge to clear the area, but the agitators hurled stones at them and damaged the windscreens of six buses, which were stranded on the highway.Villupuram district SP Amalraj rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. Nearly 20 persons, including SI Amal arasi, were injured. Police detained 10 persons in connection with the incident.

Government has designs for women self help groups

VILLUPURAM: In an effort to enhance the quality of products manufactured by women self-help groups, the State Government has roped in the National Institute of Fashion Technology, said Commissioner, Town Panchayats, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, Dr K Gopal.Speaking to this website's newspaper in Marakkanam, near Puducherry, on Wednesday he said the Government has decided to improve the articles and goods produced by women self-help groups and for the same the assistance of experts from NIFT was sought. Efforts will be made to improve the products quality. Nearly 3,000 women self help groups were formed in the town panchayats having a membership of 75,000 women. The Government has decided to form clusters amongst the groups and the products will be marketed through the network.He said the tsunami relief and rehabilitation activities undertaken in the tsunami affected town panchayats in five districts in the state will be completed before December 2008. The Government had sanctioned Rs 65 crore for livelihood enhancement programmes in 22 town panchayats in tsunami-affected Kancheepuram, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Kanyakumari and Villupuram districts. Similarly, the Government has allotted Rs 20 crore for providing basic infrastructure in habitations, occupied by tsunami rehabilitated persons.Gopal inspected the livelihood project works carried out by women self help groups in various places in the district on Wednesday.

PMK men caned in Ariyalur; 15 injured

ARIYALUR: A group of PMK cadre intercepted the police van taking Vanniar Sangam leader Kaduvetti Guru while the vehicle was coming out of the Ariyalur court complex here on Monday.A clash erupted between the police and the cadre, followed by a lathicharge by the police that resulted in injury to 15 persons, including four women.The cadre had reportedly sought to know where Guru was being taken and when the police gave evasive replies, the PMK men squatted before the police van and resorted to an agitation.Among the persons who sustained injuries in the lathicharge were PMK functionaries Raja Kannan (28) and PMK women's district secretary Kamala (35).Kamala, who sustained severe head injury, was sent to Thanjavur Medical College Hospital for treatment. Fearing further outbursts, all shops in the town downed their shutters.Earlier, Ariyalur judicial magistrate Vijayarani granted police custody of Guru for two days in connection with the investigation of a case relating to the hurling of bomb at the house of PMK State Magalirani’s former secretary Selvi.Guru was taken to Karur late in the night. Tight security was imposed in select areas of the town following the entry of Guru into the town. Besides officials of Perambalur and Ariyalur police, central zone top officials are also expected to conduct investigations.Guru's advocates have been permitted by the court to stay with him for a couple of hours daily during the investigations.In Chennai, PMK founder Dr Ramadoss, reacting to the lathicharge on PMK cadre said: “The minority DMK government will fall soon. No government committing such atrocities would last for long. The days of the DMK government are numbered.”In Vellore, PMK party men observed hunger protest at Nemili and Walajapet against the arrest of Guru. Condemning the State Government for his arrest, the protesters demanded the government to release him without any pre-condition.While town secretary of PMK Rajendran led the protest at Walajapet, district secretary of the party, N Krishnan led the protest in Nemili block. Arcot MLA K L Elavazhagan, who inaugurated the protests at Walajapet also took part in the protest.In Cuddalore, Vanniar Sangam activists observed a day's fast in front of the Collectorate demanding Guru’s release. Meanwhile, all night bus services of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (Villupuram division) have been suspended from Monday.Official sources said a transport corporation bus proceeding from Chennai to Kumbakonam was stopped by a gang at Konjikuppam village near Neyveli here on Sunday night. The gang tried to set the bus on fire but was dissuaded by passengers, the sources said. They then damaged the windscreen and deflated the tyres.All night bus services in Cuddalore district have also been suspended.

Blueprint for E Coast rail link to Cuddalore ready

CHENNAI/villupuram/cuddalore: Gazing at the shimmering waters of the Bay of Bengal while traveling down the east coast on a train to Puducherry — the possibility is not so distant as Southern Railway is all set to lay a new line from Chennai to Cuddalore via Mamallapuram and Puducherry.

The project is part of an ambitious plan chalked out by the railways to connect Chennai to towns along the East Coast all the way up to Kanyakumari. Though the entire line will be executed later on, the railway board has given the go ahead to build the line from Chennai to Cuddalore at a cost of Rs 523 crore.

According to the approved alignment, the 179-km line will take off from Perungudi station on the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) and traverse between Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) and East Coast Road (ECR) before reaching Jipmer at Puducherry and Cuddalore. No timeframe has been fixed for completion of the line.

After Perungudi, the line will pass through Sholinganallur, Kovalam, Tiruporur, Mamallapuram, Kalpakkam, Kuvathur, Cheyyur, Marakanam, Kunimedu, Kuiyilappalayam, Jipmer in Puducherry, Bahour, Varakalpattu, Tirupadipuliyur and Cuddalore Fort. The line will run close to the sea at Mamallapuram.

The railway line will run on an embankment, and as most of the ECR does not have buildings on either side, travellers will be able to have a view of the sea.

Surveys to identify passenger feasibility on the route have revealed that the line will be viable as more people are travelling from Chennai to Puducherry and Cuddalore because of the recent developments along the OMR and ECR.

A Perungudi-Cuddalore line will enable passengers to board an Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) to Mamallapuram and then switch to conventional trains to Puducherry or Cuddalore. Travellers will be able to reach Puducherry in two hours, as against the five hours via the current line through Chennai Egmore-Villupuram-Puducherry.

A senior official of Southern Railway said, “A final survey is being done by the engineering division to update the cost before starting work. But, there will not be any change in the alignment.”

Though Perungudi has been fixed as a take off point, railways is also considering other options “because they want to link the line to the main network. We are considering whether the new line can be connected to some point on the Beach-Tambaram line. This will enable it to handle long distance and freight trains,” said Southern Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Neenu Ittyerah.

If the line starts from Perungudi, the operations wing has decided to operate EMUs from Chennai Beach via MRTS to Mamallapuram and conventional trains between Cuddalore and Mamallapuram via Puducherry. The board has approved the new line by including it in the supplementary budget of September 2007.

Police sleep on Irula student’s complaint

villupuram/TIRUVANNAMALAI: A law student, allegedly attacked by some influential people around two weeks ago, is struggling to get his case filed. Harikrishnan, a student of Ambedkar Law College, Chennai, belongs to Irula tribe and is a resident of Irular hutments on Vettavalam Road here.

On June 25, Harikrishnan petitioned Tiruvannamalai East police station accusing his namesake B Harikrishnan, relative of an influential DMK man, of assaulting him, when he tried to stop the man and two of his associates from removing survey stones laid at Irular hutments.

But police refused to take his word and the case was not registered, following which Harikrishnan sent a registered post to SP V Balakrishnan. As per the advice from a well-known human rights activist Prof P Kalyani, he personally met the SP the next day and explained the situation.

On getting instructions from the SP, police went to the spot where the incident occurred and received a complaint from Harikrishnan. But, they refused to file an FIR and the case came to a standstill.

Prof Kalyani told Express that compared to the neighbouring districts of Cuddalore and Villupuram, police in Tiruvannamalai district were highly apathetic to the atrocities meted out to marginalised sections of people, particularly Irulars.

The activist quoted another case, where a member of Irular tribe was tied to a post and severely thrashed by some people of Villivanam village near Chethpet a few months ago.

In this case, police registered an FIR only after Tribal Irular Protection Sangam staged a demonstration and helped the accused to come clean of charges.

Pondy Minister hurt as bus rams into his car

A Minister of the Puducherry Cabinet had a miraculous escape when a bus rammed into his car near Tindivanam on Tuesday. Social Welfare Minister M Kandasamy was returning to Puducherry from Chennai last night when the incident occurred. According to police, a bus proceeding to Puducherry rammed into his car in the rear at a checkpost in Kaveripakkam. In the impact, the car dashed against a government bus, proceeding to Puducherry, and was trapped between the buses. Kandasamy suffered injuries and swooned in the vehicle. Meanwhile, police took the Minister out of the damaged car. He was admitted to the Indira Gandhi Government General Hospital and Post Graduate Institute (IGGGHPGI). X-ray, CT scan and ultrasound tests have ruled out any internal injuries. According to senior doctors attending on him, Kandasamy did not suffer any major injury or fracture, except for some minor injuries and inflammatory swellings on the right side of his chest, upper abdomen and leg.

DMK women’s conference begins

CUDDALORE: The maiden two-day State-level conference of the women’s wing of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam began at the Periyar complex in Perarignar Anna Nagar on Manjakuppam grounds here on Saturday.

Party president M. Karunanidhi arrived at the venue at about 10.30 a.m. and handed over the party flag to Vasanthi Ganesan, who hoisted it on the 85-foot tall mast painted in black and red, in the presence of Kanimozhi, MP, S.P. Sargunapandian, Poongothai Aladi Aruna and other women’s wing functionaries such as Noorjahan Begum, Gayathri Srinivasan and P. Rani.

Union Minister for Telecommunications A. Raja, Union Minister of State for Law K. Venkatapathi, Health Minister M.R.K. Panneerselvam, and others accompanied Mr. Karunanidhi.

A Kannagi statue, with an outstretched hand and an anklet in the other hand, had been installed in the forefront of the massive pandal.

In the evening, Mr. Karunanidhi witnessed a long stretch of women’s procession that wound its way from the Silver Beach to the venue from a specially erected podium at the Beach Road-Judge’s Bungalow Road junction.

Union Minister for Shipping and Road Transport T.R. Baalu, Finance Minister K. Anbalagan, Electricity Minister Arcot N. Veerasami, PWD Minister Durai Murugan and other Cabinet Minister also watched the procession from the dais.

All roads leading to the venue were decked with colourful arches, cutouts, banners and festoons. The traffic intersections were decorated as mini-mandaps and adorned with portraits of leaders.

Blueprint for E Coast rail link to Cuddalore readyBlueprint for E Coast rail link to Cuddalore ready

CHENNAI: Gazing at the shimmering waters of the Bay of Bengal while travelling down the east coast on a train to Puducherry — the possibility is not so distant as Southern Railway is all set to lay a new line from Chennai to Cuddalore via Mamallapuram and Puducherry.

The project is part of an ambitious plan chalked out by the railways to connect Chennai to towns along the East Coast all the way up to Kanyakumari. Though the entire line will be executed later on, the railway board has given the go ahead to build the line from Chennai to Cuddalore at a cost of Rs 523 crore.

According to the approved alignment, the 179-km line will take off from Perungudi station on the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) and traverse between Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) and East Coast Road (ECR) before reaching Jipmer at Puducherry and Cuddalore. No timeframe has been fixed for completion of the line.

After Perungudi, the line will pass through Sholinganallur, Kovalam, Tiruporur, Mamallapuram, Kalpakkam, Kuvathur, Cheyyur, Marakanam, Kunimedu, Kuiyilappalayam, Jipmer in Puducherry, Bahour, Varakalpattu, Tirupadipuliyur and Cuddalore Fort. The line will run close to the sea at Mamallapuram.

The railway line will run on an embankment, and as most of the ECR does not have buildings on either side, travellers will be able to have a view of the sea.

Surveys to identify passenger feasibility on the route have revealed that the line will be viable as more people are travelling from Chennai to Puducherry and Cuddalore because of the recent developments along the OMR and ECR.

A Perungudi-Cuddalore line will enable passengers to board an Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) to Mamallapuram and then switch to conventional trains to Puducherry or Cuddalore. Travellers will be able to reach Puducherry in two hours, as against the five hours via the current line through Chennai Egmore-Villupuram-Puducherry.

A senior official of Southern Railway said, “A final survey is being done by the engineering division to update the cost before starting work. But, there will not be any change in the alignment.”

Though Perungudi has been fixed as a take off point, railways is also considering other options “because they want to link the line to the main network. We are considering whether the new line can be connected to some point on the Beach-Tambaram line. This will enable it to handle long distance and freight trains,” said Southern Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Neenu Ittyerah.

If the line starts from Perungudi, the operations wing has decided to operate EMUs from Chennai Beach via MRTS to Mamallapuram and conventional trains between Cuddalore and Mamallapuram via Puducherry. The board has approved the new line by including it in the supplementary budget of September 2007.

New Jain Sites Found in Villupuram

Over the last three months, two rock art sites, two caverns with Jaina beds, and dolmens have been discovered within a radius of 25 km on the hillocks behind the Gingee fort in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district.

Members of the team that found the sites, said the discovery of Jaina beds confirmed the earlier view that present-day Villupuram district was once a prominent centre of Jainism. The presence of the rock art sites and dolmens showed that the area had been under continuous human occupation for 3,000 years, they added.

On June 1, K.T. Gandhirajan, an explorer who specialises in art history, T. Ramesh, a researcher in archaeology, and others found a big cavern with Jaina beds and rock art on a hillock called Pancha Pandavar Kal, near Vadagal village in Gingee taluk.

The hillock, located 15 km behind the Gingee fort, forms part of a chain of hills in the area. The team found a series of Jaina beds on the floor of the cavern and pre-historic paintings on the boulder surface opposite the beds.

“The beds are of primitive nature. They are not evolved. They are about 2,000 years old,” said Mr. Gandhirajan.

Raised “pillows” had been hewn out of the rock-floor at one end of the beds. Channels were cut to drain out rainwater from the beds or the floor was scooped out to collect rainwater.

The rock art consists of a painting of a deer done in white kaolin with outlines in red ochre.
“This is really rare,” Mr. Gandhirajan said. While this figure of a deer is about 3 feet by 3 feet in size, there are tiny drawings of deer and lizard (udu mbu in Tamil) on the adjacent rock surface, as if to contra-distinguish their size. He estimated that the paintings might belong to circa 1000 B.C.

“These paintings were done by pre-historic men — by hunter-gatherers who used to live in this cavern. Much later, the Jain monks occupied them,” Mr. Gandhirajan said.Earlier finds
Three months earlier, the team found about a dozen port-holed dolmens on a hill near Devadanampettai, on the way to Tirukovilur, about 15 km from the Gingee fort. While most of the dolmens were found disturbed, a few were intact.

About 2 km away, the team discovered a small rock art site, with drawings in white kaolin of marching men or men with raised hands.

About 25 days ago, Mr. Ramesh and Mr. Gandhirajan found 11 Jaina beds on a hill near Kanchiyur village, 28 km from Gingee.

According to T. Arun Raj, Deputy Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India, Chennai Circle, Jaina beds had been discovered recently at Thirunarungkondai near Ulundurpet, Paraiyanpattu and Melkudalur. There are remains of the structural Jaina temples at Tirunarungkondai, Melsithamur and Thondur near Tindivanam and Melmalayanur near Tiruvannamalai. All these places are in Villupuram district.

On the hill at Sirukadambur, there is a bas-relief of 24 Jaina tirthankaras. “Adjacent to this, we have an inscription about a Jaina monk who went on a fast-unto-death. This inscription belongs to the transitional period from Tamil-Brahmi to Vattezuthu,” he said.

There are rock art sites in the district at Sethavarai and Kizhvalavu.

“In addition to these relics of Jainism, we have now discovered these Jaina beds in two places. All this show that the present-day Villupuram district was a prominent centre of Jainism,” Mr. Arun Raj said.

DMK snaps ties with PMK

CHENNAI: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam announced on Tuesday that it was snapping its ties with the Pattali Makkal Katchi since the DMK “could not accept that … relations had to be continued with a party that denigrated” it.

A nine-page resolution, adopted at the end of over hour-long deliberations of the party’s High Level Policy Implementation Committee here, said that after a PMK leader spoke in a cheap and derogatory manner that sought to take away the DMK’s self-respect — he was not even apologetic, nor did the PMK leadership take action against him — and since it could not be accepted that the alliance had to be continued with such persons, “the committee regrets to announce that a situation had emerged where the [Democratic Progressive] alliance could not go forward along with such people [the PMK].”

The speech in question was made by J. Guru, former MLA, who spoke at a PMK meeting in a derogatory manner about the DMK leadership. He said that if any PMK functionary was arrested, Union Minister A. Raja and MLA Sivasankar would not be alive. The PMK contends that the speech was an “old issue” that “has been sorted out.” Asked about this, Mr. Karunanidhi shot back: “Will you condone a murder just because it was committed some time ago?”

Mr. Karunanidhi said he had read about the speech in the media but had not taken it seriously.

It was on June 13 that party treasurer and Electricity Minister Arcot N. Veeraswami played a CD containing the speech for him. In any case, it was not merely one speech that upset the DMK. The PMK had been making false allegations at every opportunity, the DMK said. The resolution noted that “whatever [scheme] the DMK implemented, the PMK was making fun of it and speaking in a derisive manner, and was issuing statements and interviews against the DMK government to conjure up an unreal scenario as if the DMK government had failed in every sphere.” By trying to create an impression that the DMK government was against the people, PMK founder S. Ramadoss had made it a political routine to gain cheap publicity, the resolution said.

While criticism was common, the PMK continued with its uncharitable and derisive comments even after the issues it raised were addressed.

Asked if the DMK would convene a meeting of alliance partners on this issue, Mr. Karunanidhi said this was an insult heaped on the DMK. “We are now erasing that insult,” he said. It had nothing to do with the other allies.

DMK men were particularly miffed at Dr. Ramadoss’ evaluation of the DMK government’s performance — that Mr. Karunanidhi did not pass the test. Asked how he assessed the performance of the PMK leader, Mr. Karunanidhi retorted: “I have not even seen the answer paper.”

On the letter that he sent to the PMK leader, which Dr. Ramadoss released to the press, Mr. Karunanidhi said that if one read the letter, one would realise how civil he was in his choice of words. Dr. Ramadoss had wanted some officials and police personnel shifted and he obliged.

Asked if any other party would be invited to join the DPA, Mr. Karunanidhi said there was no compulsion that another party should come in.

Asked if he would talk to Dr. Ramadoss in the event of the PMK leader coming forward to talk to him, Mr. Karunanidhi said he would not be able to answer hypothetical questions. On the possibility of revival of the alliance in the future in the interest of secularism, he said this message should be conveyed to Dr. Ramadoss.

To another question, Mr. Karunanidhi said he had no intention of insisting that the PMK be expelled from the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre. He had not spoken to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on this issue, nor had she asked him about it.

On the PMK’s Ministers at the Centre, he said he was fond of Dr. Ramadoss’ son, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss (“Anbumani meedhu enakku anbu undu”) and that Minister of State for Railways R. Velu was doing a good job. The DMK had no problems with Dr. Anbumani. Mr. Karunanidhi said he had not spoken to anyone in the Congress on the problems with the PMK.

Reacting to the DMK decision, Dr. Ramadoss said his party was neither “sad nor surprised.” The PMK would continue to raise people’s issues more vigorously, he said.

The PMK has six MPs in the Lok Sabha.

Five arrested for lynching man in Tamil Nadu

Villupuram (Tamil Nadu) June 6 (IANS) Five men were arrested in a village near here Friday after they lynched a man who may have been a mental patient, the police said. The police said that victim Venkatesan, 53, was lynched as the villagers suspected his movements and thought he was a psychpath.

Dozens of residents of the village, located near this town which is 180 km south of state capital Chennai, lynched him.

The body has been sent for post-mortem examination and five of the alleged assailants were arrested, a police official said.

New Villupuram collector assumes office

VILLUPURAM: R Palanisami, the new District Collector, assumed office on Friday at a simple function held on the Collectorate premises.

His predecessor Prajendra Navneeth has been transferred to New Delhi recently. Palanisami has joined the Government service as a District Educational Officer in Kanyakumari in 1987. Palanisami was promoted as the Joint Director and worked in Department of Primary Education and School Education.

He also served as a Director of Public Library. Palanisami was posted as a sub-collector (training) at Thiruvallur district in 2007. Later, he moved to Commercial Tax (Administration) and worked in the rank of Deputy Commissioner.