Tamil Nadu   

Briefly

Tension at Puliakulam

Coimbatore: Tension prevailed at Puliakulam in the city on Saturday after some miscreants tampered with an EVR Periyar statue.

They attempted to burn the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) flag and put the flag rope around the neck of the statue making it appear as if the statue had been hanged. In a message board adjoining the statue, they wrote "worshipping God". On noticing this, the DK activists gathered in large numbers causing tension and commotion.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) K. Shanmugavelu assured them of stringent action against the miscreants. Within a few hours, the police arrested Thirumurugan of Ramanthapuram, organising secretary of the Hindu Makkal Katchi. Armed guards have been posted near the statue. — Staff Reporter

Karunanidhi's appeal on pulse polio

CHENNAI: Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Saturday appealed to the parents to take their children below five years to the nearest pulse polio immunisation booths as the Government had made arrangements to immunise a total of 71 lakh children in the State on January 7 and February 11. In a statement here, Mr. Karunanidhi said the booths would function at all Government hospitals, primary health centres, noon meal centres, schools and private hospitals. Mobile units would function at bus stands, railway stations, places of worship and tourist centres.

Stressing the need for administering polio drops to the children in the specified age group, Mr. Karunanidhi said not even one child should be left out during the intensified pulse polio programme. — Special Correspondent

Sub-inspector suspended

SALEM: A police sub-inspector has been placed under suspension for allegedly consuming liquor at a TASMAC shop while on duty. Police said Thulasi was reportedly seen drinking at a TASMAC shop with his friends. Police Commissioner K. Gopalakrishnan ordered an enquiry by a team of senior officers. Based on their preliminary report, the sub-inspector was suspended pending further enquiry. — Special Correspondent

"Abolish cess for textile industry"

COIMBATORE: The Southern India Mills' Association has appealed to the Centre to abolish the Textiles Committee cess for the textile industry.

In a release, association chairman S.V. Arumugam said it welcomed the abolition of the cess for readymade garments. The cess was introduced about four decades ago to fund activities such as mandatory pre-shipment quality inspection. However, these compulsory inspections were withdrawn about a decade ago.

Hence, the textile associations had been seeking abolition of the cess. Mr. Arumugam said the cess collected was deposited into the Consolidated Fund of India and only a part of it was released to the Textiles Committee to meet its expenditure.

Some other sectors such as the spinning were likely to be affected by the sensitive list of various preferred trade agreements signed by the Government recently. Hence, the entire textile chain should be exempted from the cess, he added. — Staff Reporter

Old man fatally knocked down

Tuticorin: Sivasankar (50), son of Govindan, was fatally knocked down by a speeding lorry when he was crossing the road near SPIC roundabout near here on Friday.

The Muthiapuram police are on the look out for the lorry driver.

Two injured in

road accident

Tuticorin : Two persons were injured when a lorry hit the motorcycle in which they were travelling on Ayyanarkoil Street near here on Friday.

Bhaskar (31), the rider, and Jeyamurugan (32), the pillion rider, were admitted to the Government Hospital.

The police are searching for the lorry driver.

Thief apprehended

Tuticorin: The police on Saturday arrested K. Balamurgan (25), who had stolen valuables from two cars at Kovilpatti recently.

According to sources, the accused took away a CD player and two speakers from the car owned by Gandhiraj (36) on January 1. He also took a tape recorder, four speakers and a remote control panel from a car owned by Nehru (42) on the same day. The accused was remanded to the judicial custody.

Three held

Tuticorin: The police have arrested three persons at Kovilpatti near here on Friday on the charge of possessing lottery tickets.

While 23 lottery tickets were seized from Sankarasubbu (48), 22 tickets each were taken from Velsamy (58) and Mariappan (61). Encroachments removed

Krishnagiri: A team of officials from the Krishnagiri Municipality accompanied by a posse

of police personnel removed encroachments

at Chettiampatti near

here on Saturday.

Acting on instructions from Collector Santhosh Babu, the encroachments, which caused inconvenience to public and road-users, were removed.

Municipal officials had earlier warned vendors

and encroachers who

had built houses on poromboke land and those who failed to respond to it were evicted.

- Staff Reporter

Application invited for eco award

Krishnagiri: The State Government has decided

to give Environment Award to best

performing educational institutions, individuals and non-governmental organisations for 2006. According to a release

from the Collectorate,

the awards would be

given to educational institutions involved in environmental education and awareness,

individuals and

voluntary organisations involved in environmental protection activities

and research

organisations involved in environmental management.

- Staff Reporter

Encroachments removed

Krishnagiri: A team of officials from the Krishnagiri Municipality accompanied by a posse

of police personnel removed encroachments

at Chettiampatti near

here on Saturday.

Acting on instructions from Collector Santhosh Babu, the encroachments, which caused inconvenience to public and road-users, were removed.

Municipal officials had earlier warned vendors

and encroachers who

had built houses on poromboke land and those who failed to respond to it were evicted.

- Staff Reporter

Application invited for eco award

Krishnagiri: The State Government has decided

to give Environment Award to best

performing educational institutions, individuals and non-governmental organisations for 2006. According to a release

from the Collectorate,

the awards would be

given to educational institutions involved in environmental education and awareness,

individuals and

voluntary organisations involved in environmental protection activities

and research

organisations involved in environmental management.

- Staff Reporter

Polio campaign

THANJAVUR: Polio drops will be administered to children below five years of age under the pulse polio immunisation programme in Thanjavur district on Sunday.

A press release issued here by the Collector, C. Vijayaraj Kumar, said that the drops would be administered through 1,510 centres out of which 1,382 are located in rural areas and 128 in urban areas. A total of 6,040 staff and 198 supervisors would be engaged for the campaign.

Programme on VAT

TIRUCHI: All India Radio will broadcast a phone-in programme on value added tax in its `Makkal medai' event from 9.16 to 10 p.m. on January 8. An official release said that the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Tiruchi region, E. Rathinasamy, will clarify the doubts of the traders. At 1 p.m. on the same day, N. Ganga, paediatrician from Thanjavur, will clarify the doubts of listeners on the physical and mental health of children.

Certificate course

TIRUCHI: The Bharathidasan University's Institute of Entrepreneurship and Career Development (IECD) and Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board, Tiruchi, will offer a three-month certificate course on TALLY 8.1 for people residing in slum areas of the district. Interested candidates can register their names before January 12 with IECD, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchi, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. For information contact: 0431-2421635/2331651.

Special buses

TIRUCHI: The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation will operate special buses to various parts of the State from January 12 to 17 to clear the rush during Pongal holidays. The corporation will ply buses to Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode, Chennai, Madurai, Dindigul, Palani, Villupuram, Ariyalur and Jayamkondam.

Mettur level

TIRUCHI: The level at the Mettur dam stood at 97.32 feet against its full level of 120 feet on Saturday. The inflow was 857 cusecs and the discharge, 8,000 cusecs. - Staff Reporter

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