The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : Reporter's Diary

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 13, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Reporter's Diary

UNDER THE aegis of the Erode District Blindness Control Society and other social service organisations, the World Eye Donation Fortnight was observed recently. A function was held at the seminar hall of the Government Headquarters Hospital, Erode, in this connection. The Collector, D. Karthikeyan, ophthalmic surgeons and representatives from various service organisations like Lions Clubs said that public awareness on eye donation was still low. Speakers said that people did not know understand the real concept of eye donation.

The gathering comprised nursing students and some paramedical staff working in the Government hospital. Unfortunately, no general public was seen at the function.

People wonder whether the message on eye donation would reach the public if such functions are conducted in `entry-restricted places' and inside Government offices. Such meetings should be conducted in public places where it would be open to all. Only then would the message reach the target audience.

* * *

SPEED-BREAKERS AND drop barriers are becoming increasingly visible on college campuses these days. Whether engineering colleges, business schools, or arts and science colleges, all of them find it necessary to regulate vehicular movement owing to the steep rise in the number of powerful two-wheelers and fast cars.

College authorities certainly do not want an accident caused by reckless driving on the campus, so they have made strict rules about where to park vehicles, and have also banned motorised vehicles altogether in the vicinity of classrooms, laboratories, libraries and conference halls.

Cycle stands that once held long lines of shiny bicycles have all but disappeared from colleges in urban centres. In their place have appeared parking lots for snazzy bikes and sleek cars.

Rather than frown upon motorised transport, colleges could opt for informal guidance on safe driving, stressing the need for proper control of the vehicle, and underscoring the danger of resorting to stunts and heroics that could endanger lives.

* * *

AFTER THE communal flare-up of 1997 and serial blasts of 1998, the Coimbatore City Police, as a matter of precaution, have been insisting on closure of shops by 11 p.m.

The restriction was aimed at preventing drunken brawls and street fights, which eventually end up in clash or a stabbing incident.

Unfortunately, the decision of the State Government to allow the TASMAC-run wine shops to remain open till midnight has put the police in a fix.

The police on night patrol face a volley of questions when they go about asking small shops to close at 11 p.m.

Wine shops are vulnerable to law and order problems rather than roadside tiffin and tea stalls, people feel.

Several hundred poor families, who are hit by closure of private wine shops, are making a living out of roadside tiffin stalls. The teashops do some brisk business banking on second show moviegoers.

To any effort to convince the people on the need to close the shops at 11 p.m. for peace in city, they point at `Thoonga Nagaram' (a city that never sleeps) Madurai, where tiffin stalls and tea shops are open round the clock. Citing this, traders in Coimbatore hope that the police would relax rules.

* * *

ON SATURDAY, a huge quantity of pan masala and gutka products that were seized by the City Health Department of the Coimbatore Corporation was set ablaze at the compost yard of the civic body in Vellalore. It was said that these had been seized when a ban on their sale was in force in the State.

Witnessed by senior officials of the Corporation, the products that were seized during raids since March this year were burnt sending smoke into areas that were already complaining of open incineration of municipal solid waste.

Official sources in the civic body said the products were worth over Rs. 4 lakhs. After the exercise was completed, there was a hint at action against sale of these products. That left the traders in the city confused. They wondered how officials could warn of action when the Supreme Court had lifted the ban imposed on it in the State. However, there was no official confirmation of such a warning having been issued and there was a studied silence on the part of the civic body as well to reports of a warning against sale in future.

* * *

(Contributed by

R. Sundaram in Erode and A.A. Michael Raj,

V.S. Palaniappan &

K.V. Prasad in Coimbatore)

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