The Hindu : Reporter's Diary

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 26, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi

Reporter's Diary

The railway authorities here are extending the shelter on platform number 1 at the station. The work is being carried out at a cost of Rs. 27 lakhs on the northern side of the platform.

The extension is for a length of five bays. The first two bays would be completed within a fortnight while the rest by March, according to railway sources here. The girders and cross beams used in the shelter have been manufactured by the Railway Tools and Plants Workshop at Goldenrock. The work would be carried out in other platforms in due course of time, the sources added.

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Private courier services have been vying with one another in ensuring fast delivery of letters. In view of stiff competition, they make the booking counters more attractive with illuminated name-boards at a number of places in the cities and towns.

But the entrance of the Clock Tower post office near the Gandhi Market in Tiruchi has been wearing a dull look due to poor maintenance. It will be hard for a stranger to believe that a post office is functioning at the building.

The entrance is in need of a facelift.

* * *

The special arrangements made by the city police for speedy completion of the formalities to hand over the bodies of the fire mishap victims has been hailed in various quarters. A special team was deployed at the mortuary of the K. A. P. Viswanatham Government Medical College Hospital within a couple of hours of the tragedy. Men and women constables quickly set up a makeshift office beneath a tree and commenced their work to expedite the process on the spot.

They helped the relatives regarding the formalities to be followed after post mortem. They clarified their doubts patiently. As many as 30 Inspectors of Police from Tiruchi, Karur, Pudukottai were involved in the inquest work.

Special teams were formed under the Inspectors of Police to hand over the bodies to their relatives and periodic announcements were made over the mike in this regard and this came handy in providing much relief to the anxious relatives.

The police also made arrangements for supply of drinking water pockets to all those who thronged the mortuary.

The arrival of more and more charred bodies with the passing of time did not deter these teams. This arrangement was continued round-the-clock for two days. A team of top officials monitored the whole process. Such special initiative was praiseworthy in this hour of great havoc.

* * *

The Tiruchi chapter of the Coimbatore Institute of Technology Alumni Association celebrated the Republic Day by organising a nine-km road race for the students of schools (boys and girls in the age group of 14-17 years) and colleges (18-22 years) on Sunday.

Christened as `Energy Realisation Run,' the event was to create an awareness of good health and spirit of sportiveness. It evoked good response with over 100 boys and girls from a dozen colleges and 14 schools from Tiruchi and neighbouring districts taking part in it, according to the secretary of the association, V. Jayaraman and P. Baskaran respectively. All those, who took part in the race, managed to cover the distance.

The Assistant Commissioner of Police, City Traffic Wing, Manikkavasagam, flagged off the race from the Kamaraj statue near the Chathiram bus stand and the General Manager, Human Resources, BHEL, T. D. Subburoyan, distributed prizes at the Anna Stadium with the president of the association, V.Jayaraman, in the chair.

The District Sports Officer, S. Panneerselvam, commended the association for taking this initiative. Sivanathan (St. Joseph's College) won the race while the second place went to Anand Prabhu (H. H. Rajah's College, Pudukottai) and the third place to R. Charles (E. V. R. Periyar Government Arts College).

N. Venkatesh, T. Karthikeyan and R. Shankar, all of Khajamian Higher Secondary School, won the first three places in the school students' category.

* * *

The whole Srirangam is agog with talk about the fire that snuffed out the lives of at least 57 persons on Friday. One common refrain is the connection between the continuing eruption of unsavoury incidents in Srirangam and the reported defiling of a couple of gopurams of the Ranganathaswamy temple a few months back.

When some part of the clay kalasams in the karna koodu of the Rajagopuram and another gopuram on the northern entrance to the temple fell off their perch within a short duration, the temple authorities were prompt in calling for an assessment and declared that nothing had gone wrong and no sacrilege had occurred. But unfortunately one unfortunate incident after another occurred in Srirangam.

Though rationally the events could never be linked, it is but human to see `some link' between them and that found vent in the aftermath of the ghastly fire. Some other incidents such as the `reopening' of one of the main doors of the temple to let in a very senior IAS officer and a politician, among others, through a wicked gate added fuel.

Reliable sources point to a report from intelligence agencies sent to Chennai a few months back about the happenings going on inside the temple with particular reference to deviations from established guidelines and daily rituals.

Even the police authorities are now inclined to think in terms of undertaking some `correctional work' for the Srirangam police limits to return to its normal days.

* * *

(Contributions from R. Rajaram,

M. Balaganessin, Syed Muthahar

and L. Renganathan in Tiruchi)

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