15 hurt as police resort to lathicharge

TINDIVANAM: Police fired tear gas and resorted to a lathicharge on residents staging a demonstration at Rettanai village near Mailam on Saturday. As many as 15 persons and two policemen suffered injuries.

The residents were protesting against the local body for distributing low wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Rettanai village panchayat.

Protesting against the block development officer’s move to distribute Rs 40 as a daily wage to the workers, more than 500 residents, including 400 women, demanded that the BDO, Elango, distribute Rs 80 as daily wage. Tasildar Kalyanam and Elango were making efforts to pacify the residents when a large number of police personnel arrived and demanded that the protestors disperse.

Rettanai Village Panchayat president, Kalaiselvan, was appealing to the police not to intervene in the discussion when they allegedly attacked him. Noticing this, residents pelted stones at the police. A few police vehicles were also damaged. After this, police fired tear gas at the protestors.

Anything possible in politics: Ramadoss

VILLUPURAM: Anything is possible in politics, said S. Ramadoss, founder of the Pattali Makkal Katchi, here on Thursday, while responding to All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Jayalalithaa’s observation that her party was open to alliance with Left parties and the PMK.

Dr. Ramadoss told presspersons at Thailapuram that Ms. Jayalalithaa had expressed her opinion. It was the consistent view of the PMK that it would align with a Congress-led alliance for the Lok Sabha elections.

Asked whether an AIADMK-Congress-PMK combine was in the pipeline, Dr. Ramadoss said in that case elections would have to be held for both the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly. However, he would not speculate on the Assembly poll.

He pointed out that Congress leaders had been staking their claim for power sharing in the State but the minority Karunanidhi government was not magnanimous enough to accommodate them.

With the expulsion of the PMK and the Left parties all set to quit the Democratic Progressive Alliance, Dr. Ramadoss wondered whether any democracy or progress could be possible in the truncated DPA. Apprehensive of the political fallout, Mr. Karunanidhi had appealed to the Communist parties to keep intact the friendship that was assiduously nurtured over a period of time.

Dr. Ramadoss said that Mr. Karunanidhi had criticised Communist Party of India leader A.B. Bardhan on several occasions. But, it was customary for him to join hands with those whom he criticised.

The PMK leader urged the Chief Minister to clarify his position on the Hogenakkal project. Because of the soft-pedalling attitude, Tamil Nadu was losing its rights over the Cauvery, Palar and the Mullaperiyar dam.

S Railway records impressive growth in passenger earning

Chennai (PTI): Southern Railway on Friday said it has registered a passenger earning of Rs 750 crore in the first four months of this fiscal, a 20 per cent growth from that in the corresponding period last financial year.

During the period, Southern Railway carried 224 million passengers, 13 per cent more than that in the same period last year, its General Manager Rakesh Chopra said in a release.

"In the same period, we have loaded 11 million tons, nine per cent more than last year and earned Rs 445 crore from goods traffic, an increase of 24 per cent over last year," he said.

As part of serving more number of passengers, Southern Railway has planned to develop 'coaching terminals' at Tambaram and Kochuveli and will also be strengthening their facilities at Tirunelveli and Rameswaram, he said.

Chopra said that the gauge conversion of the main line between Villupuram and Mayiladuthurai will be completed by the year-end and would reopen the rail link to towns of Cuddalore, Chidambaram and Sirkhazhi.

He said that they will be introducing mechanised cleaning of major stations for improving the standard of cleanliness.

Engg students prefer pvt colleges

The six new government engineering colleges, which will start functioning from the current academic year, have failed to attract meritorious BE/BTech aspirants. Just as the six new Indian Institutes of Technology were not favoured by top ranking IIT-JEE candidates this year, during the ongoing single window counselling for engineering admissions in Tamil Nadu, there are virtually no takers for the new government colleges. The state government established engineering colleges in Villupuram, Tindivanam, Ariyalur, Thirukuvalai, Ramanathapuram and Panruti to provide facilities to the students to pursue professional education at an affordable cost. These institutions have been designated as Anna University (Chennai and Tiruchi) colleges. However, an analysis of the trends in the single window counselling during the past four days reveals that students preferred to join well-known self-financing colleges instead of the new government institutions. This, despite the fact that the annual fees in government colleges are only Rs 15,000 against Rs 40,000 charged by colleges which offer courses accredited by the National Board of Accreditation. Admission statistics pertaining to the electronics and communication engineering branch, which is the most popular course, revealed that after seats were filled up in College of Engineering (Guindy), Madras Institute of Technology, PSG College of Technology and Thiagarajar College of Engineering, students had opted for self-financing colleges.

Dalit marries French woman

VILLUPURAM: Transcending barriers of custom, tradition, nation, race and colour, a French woman was married to a Dalit youth at Kombedu village near Gingee. The marriage was conducted in a church on Friday night.The couple met at a restaurant in Puducherry two years ago where the man was working as a supplier.Richard Martin (29), a Dalit Christian, was working as a labourer in a restaurant in Puducherry when Kursio Marianbos (29), hailing from Nann in France, had visited it and met him in 2004. Since then, she had been returning to India every year and staying for three months in Puducherry. Last year, the duo flew to France to seek permission for marriage from Marianbos’s parents. Marianbos and family members later visited the Dalit colony at Kombedu village and secured consent from Martin’s family members recently. The marriage was conducted at St Xavier Church at Kombedu village. More than 30 family members and relatives of Marianbos attended the function. The French women were decked up in silk sarees and blouses and men in dhoties and shirts. As many as 20 priests have solemnised the wedding. Speaking to this website's newspaper, Marianbos said: “I had visited the place on several occasions. I like the tradition and culture of people in Tamil Nadu. I will follow the custom and wear thali forever.”

Mahavira bas-relief tells a story

An exquisitely carved bas-relief of Mahavira, the 24th tirthankara in the Jaina pantheon, has been discovered at Panaipadi village in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district. R. Sivanandam, epigraphist, Tamil Nadu Department of Archaeology, made the discovery when a team under the guidance of R. Vasanthakalyani, epigraphist-cum-instructor of the Department, was on a regular survey camp of epigraphy to study inscriptions around Panaipadi.
The discovery confirms that the area covering present-day Villupuram district was an important centre of Jainism in Tamil Nadu. The sculpture, from the Chola period, was about 1,000 years old, said K. Arulmozhi, Commissioner, State Department of Archaeology.
The bas-relief of Mahavira is carved on the surface of a boulder facing a Mariamman temple on the edge of a lake at Panaipadi. He is seated in a “dhyana” (meditation) pose and there are three umbrellas above his head. He has curly hair and his ears are pierced. There is a semi-circular “prabha” (halo) around his head. There are prancing lions on either side. Carvings of lions adorn the seat-pedestal. The sculpture has carvings of a yakshan and a yakshi on either side of the 24th tirthankara; they have “chamaras” (fans) in their hands.
“The tranquil face of Mahavira and the way the yakshan and the yakshi are carved attest to the fact that this sculpture has Chola period features and it belongs to the 10th century A.D.,” said Mr. Sivanandam.
Cholapandipuram village, about 2.5 km from Panaipadi, was a 10th century Jaina centre. On a nearby hillock, Andimalai, are carvings of Adinatha, Parsvanatha, Gomatisvara, Mahavira and Padmavathi and 20 Jaina beds hewn out of rock beds. An inscription at Cholapandipuram said these carvings were made at the behest of Sriveli Konkaraiyar Puddhadigal. Another inscription was in the form of a poem: it mentions that a local chieftain, Siddhavadavan alias Sethirayan, donated Panaipadi village for the worship of these Jaina tirthankaras during the second regnal year (952 A.D.) of Chola king Kandaraditya.
“When nothing related to Jainism was found at Panaipadi which has been mentioned in the inscription at Cholapandipuram, the discovery of the beautiful carving of Mahavira at Panaipadi now is important,” said Dr. Arulmozhi.
The Villupuram area was a flourishing centre of Jainism. This could be seen, said Ms. Vasanthakalyani, from discoveries of a number of Jaina sculptures and beds near Ginjee, Thondur, Melsithamur, Sirukadambur, Thirunarungkondai and so on.

State ahead of rest in implementing housing project

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu is way ahead of other states in implementing the centrally-sponsored Indira memorial housing scheme, Indira Awaas Yojana, to construct free houses for the shelterless and those living in thatched huts. While more than 85,000 houses were constructed or renovated last year, the state government hopes to take up the same number this year too. Officials are confident that they would achieve the target this year too. "Tamil Nadu not only stands first in availing of the funds from Delhi for rural development works but also in completing the construction of houses," said a senior officer. While the Centre and state governments share the cost of construction in a 75:25 ratio , the cost of construction was hiked to Rs 35,000 from Rs 25,000 by the Union government considering the spiralling prices of raw material. What has proved attractive to the beneficiaries - at least 60 % of them are Dalits - is the state government's decision to provide an additional Rs 20,000 per house for concrete roofing over and above its share. Local administration minister M K Stalin raised the allocation to Rs 20,000 this year from Rs 12,000 taking into consideration the steep hike in cement and steel prices. By raising its share, the state's contribution goes up to 51% of the total cost. The Central Planning Commission member , Anwar-ul Hoda, who visited some of the construction sites in Villupuram district last month, expressed appreciation of the state government's efficient implementation of the project and the move to enhance its share. Unlike other works the house construction has not been entrusted to contractors. Instead, the government releases the funds directly to the beneficiary in two installments. In some districts the administration also helps the beneficiaries by arranging bank loans for constructing additional facilities.

Tribal girls till the land in Bt cotton fields

SALEM: Agrarian crisis may have forced farmers to switch over to Bt cotton much against the warnings of environmentalists but not without unacceptable fallouts. For 10 months after UNICEF brought out the prevalence of migrant child labour in Bt cotton fields with Attur taluk in Salem getting notorious along with Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka, a current survey indicates that at least 13 per cent of the total labour in the cotton fields are children, particularly tribal girl children, with serious compromises being made on their right to education and health.Assertions and denials flew between UNICEF officials and the district administration at the one-day consultation on ‘Child Protection Issues in Salem district’, organised by the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) and the UNICEF here on Tuesday.Dr Davuluri Venteswarlu, a UNICEF consultant, put the total figure of migrant child labour in Attur Bt cotton fields at 38,000, while all over the state 65, 000 have been identified according to a survey conducted in 2006-2007. Tribal girls below 14 years and up to 24 in Kalrayan Hills (part of the hills between Villupuram and Salem) and from Sitheri hills in Dharmapuri continue to be the main source of migrant child labour.According to Vidyasagar, another UNICEF consultant, Salem accounts for 9,000 acres of Bt cotton seed, the highest in the state. That is also largely the reason for increased cotton production in the state. Being labour-intensive, cotton seed farming requires at least 1,00,000 labourers at a time. With labour cost rising two times, farmers demand cheap labour. Moreover, cross pollination process which spans 90 days between October and December is done manually in the case of hybrid varieties (including Bt). Girls are automatic choice, much sought for their nimble hand in plucking and transferring pollen.However, the activity is highly hazardous as children come into close contact with toxic pesticides. A girl reportedly died in the field at Attur after being overexposed. Children are forcibly pulled out from schools during the pollination season, never to return to education.Livelihood resources on a sustained basis continue to elude the tribals in Salem district despite an encouraging demographic shift favouring child development. Land alienation and dismal social infrastructure like health and education were said to be driving forces that send children to work. Farmers on the other hand expressed reservations and said as long as their incomes dip, the other steps would be piecemeal.Salem Collector, N Madhivanan, denied that the situation was all that alarming and referred to the steps initiated through a comprehensive child labour eradication drive under the NCLP. According Attur RDO, only 35 child labourers were identified between October and December 2007. NCLP Project Director, Viswanathan, said the children were malnourished, looked younger and small.Officials also take cover under the Child Labour Act excluding agriculture from its purview. Serious violations under the Act's regulations such as working hours (11 hours a day in Bt cotton fields) are not taken into account. However, there is a move to bring agriculture under hazardous category with respect to child labour employment.UNICEF plans to make social investments in solving the crisis through funding, capacity building, supporting education and health development in an overall child protection framework, said Vidyasagar.Supply side and demand side factors continue to challenge official and non-official interventions to arrest the pernicious trend. Some broad approaches to bring about the needed changes were discussed at Tuesday’s workshop.

Ponmudy receives over 1,000 grievance petitions

Special Correspondent
VILLUPURAM: Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy received as many as 1,005 grievance petitions from people at the municipal office here on Sunday.
The petitions were related mostly to house site pattas, ration cards, old age pension, aid for the differently-abled and lack of civic needs.
Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin would visit Villupuram on August 22 and all eligible petitioners would be given benefits then, Mr. Ponmudy said.
Some traders’ associations told the Minister that their turnover had come down drastically after the shifting of the bus stand to a new premises. Mr. Ponmudy said the residents were happy because the move had greatly reduced traffic congestion.
The starting of a new government engineering college on the old taluk office premises would give a thrust to business in the old bus stand area. The vicinity of the new bus stand to the integrated Collectorate complex had greatly brought down the difficulty of the people in reaching the district headquarters.
When a taxi stand was sought near the old bus stand, Mr. Ponmudy said a site had already been assigned for the purpose near the new bus stand. The government had allocated funds for the underground drainage project for Villupuram and works would begin soon. The roads that were in bad condition would be repaired after the completion of the project.
Though the town did not face water shortage, Rs. 10 crore had been allocated for the construction of overhead tanks to meet the demand two decades from now, Mr. Ponmudy said.
Collector R. Palanisamy, District Revenue Officer C. Kadhiravan, MLA S. Pushparaj and municipal chairman R. Janagaraj were present at the meeting.
Mr. Ponmudy has so far visited taluks such as Kallakurichi, Sanakarapuram, Ginjee, Tindivanam and Villupuram to hear the grievances of the people.

MDMK submits petitions to Speaker

New Delhi: The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Friday submitted petitions to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee seeking disqualification of Gingee Ramachandran and L. Ganesan for defying the party whip and voting in favour of the confidence motion on July 22.
In identical petitions submitted at the Speaker’s office, Dr. Krishnan said: “Gingee Ramachandran, MP, raised a dispute before the Election Commission, claiming him as the general secretary of the party.”
He said the Commission, in its order dated May 30, had held that the group led by general secretary Vaiko was the real MDMK and empowered to take decisions in all matters and functioning of the party.
Dr. Krishnan said both of them did not obtain prior permission from the party to vote contrary to the directions.

No more truck with DMK, AIADMK, says Ramadoss

TINDIVANAM: Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder-leader Dr S Ramadoss on Thursday said his party would not join hands with DMK and AIADMK in the future.Speaking to reporters at Thailapuram near here, he said the parties which ruled Tamil Nadu for four decades had ruined the State. The party would remain in an alliance headed by the Congress, he added.The PMK would stage a three-day statewide demonstration in Tamil Nadu protesting against power cut, which came into force on Monday, from July 28, he said, and added that the people were facing serious hardship in the wake of frequent power shutdown. Industries, including small and medium, were facing the heat and several lakh workers were deprived of the employment opportunities, the PMK leader said. School and college students were unable to concentrate on their studies and normal work in laboratories in schools also came to a standstill, he said. Though Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had signed a number of agreements for launching industries with entrepreneurs and corporate giants, the Government had not made any effort to improve power generation, he said. On the CM’s remark over previous AIADMK Government’s failure to improve power production, Ramadoss said the total power production in the State stood at 8,690 MW in 2004. Of this, 5,909 MW was consumed.While power generation had remained same up to 2008, the consumption increased manifold. As many as 6,500 MW of power was utilised in 2005, 7,124 MW in 2006, 8600 MW in 2007 and 9121 MW of power was consumed in 2008. This was a clear proof of the government’s failure in enhancing power production.

Ponmudy to receive petitions

VILLUPURAM: Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy will receive petitions from people during a special session to be held at Villupuram Municipal office on July 27.
Collector R. Palanisamy and other officials will also be present.
The session would begin at 9 a.m., according to a statement from the Collectorate.

Departmental inquiry against DSP

VILLUPURAM: Departmental action would be initiated against Chengam DSP Murugan for allegedly driving a police jeep that met with a mishap killing a newly married couple in Nattarmangamal on Sunday, said Villupuram DIG Masanamuthu.Masanamuthu said Murugan had not consumed alcohol on Sunday and the blood sample collected from Murugan soon after the mishap, had no traces of alcohol. The study was conducted based on the direction of a court.However, local residents had alleged that Murugan was driving the vehicle after consuming alcohol. Besides, an empty distilled water bottle, lying in the jeep had been mistaken as an IMFL bottle, locals said.A newly married couple, A Devanathan (28) and Jaya (23) of Gengarampattu village, were going to conduct prayer at Sri Angala Amman temple in Mel Malayanur village on a two-wheeler on Sunday.A police jeep, proceeding to Tindivanam from Thiruvan namalai, dashed against the two-wheeler. Murugan, who was going to his native village, was driving the vehicle. Murugan had obtained necessary prior permission from SP, Thiruvanamalai.Devanathan and Jaya were thrown out of the vehicle and died on the spot. An eyewitness S Ravi had lodged a complaint in Gingee police station. Based on the direction of the Superintendent of Police Amalraj, ADSP George Isack Newton is investigating.The DIG said Murugan had violated the government rules with driving the police vehicle despite the presence of the police driver Yosuf Khan. Newton will conduct a detailed investigation and submit a report to the court.

‘Drunk’ DSP mows down newly-weds

VILLUPURAM: Devanathan (25) and Jaya (21) were looking forward to life together after their marriage a fortnight ago. On Sunday, they got death.The couple died by the roadside at Nattarmangalam village near Gingee after an allegedly drunk police officer — and also a novice at driving — rammed a jeep into them.Sources said the Chengam DSP was driving the jeep when the incident occurred. The DSP, Murugan, was going to Chennai into a police jeep. He was allegedly inebriated but at the wheels, learning to drive. Police jeep driver Yousuf Khan was seated behind him, the sources said.Around 6 am, Devanathan of Gengarampattu and Jaya were going to his village on a motorcycle. They reportedly saw the swaying police jeep and halted their bike on the side of the road, waiting for the jeep to pass. However, the jeep hurtled their way and hit them. The couple died on the spot.The DSP and the driver were admitted to Government General Hospital in Gingee. Demanding immediate arrest of the policemen, locals blocked traffic on the Thiruvannamalai-Tindivanam road for nearly three hours. Over 500 people assembled at Kalaiyur village and disrupted traffic in protest.Superintendents of Police Amalraj (Villupuram) and Balakrishnan (Thiruvannamalai), DSPs Rajendran (Gingee), Kumar (Tindivanam) and Jayabalan (Prohibition and Enforcement Wing) rushed to the spot and pacified the locals.