Power back in city, suburbs have to wait till tomorrow

TNN | Dec 15, 2016, 07.35 AM IST
CHENNAI: Power supply continues to be in fits and starts two days after cyclone Vardah. While the authorities claimed to have restored supply in several parts of the city, many parts of the newlyadded areas and the suburbs continued in the dark.

Tamil Nadu minister for electricity P Thangamani promised that power supply will be restored in the core city by Wednesday night, while suburbs will have to wait it till Friday. Vardah had brought down at least 15,000 electricity poles on Monday. Ac cording to Tamil Nadu Electricity Board officials, there was greater damage in the southern suburbs. "As the suburbs suffered greater damage to the electrical lines, power will be restored in those areas only by Friday," the minister said.

Core areas of the city like Egmore, Nungambakkam, Royapettah, Triplicane, Adyar, Anna Nagar, Kilpauk, T Nagar, Mylapore, Saidapet, Thriuvanmiyur, Besant Nagar and Thiruvanmiyur continued to have intermittent supply on Wednesday night.Chindadripet and southern suburbs such as Madipak kam, Velachery , and OMR had erratic power supply.

According to officials, power supply was not severely affected in the core areas where underground cables supply electricity , but supply had to be cut for safety reasons. In the suburbs, where electricty is transmitted through overhead cables, repair and restoration would be delayed.

Chief minister O Panneerselvam, accompanied by key ministers, reviewed repair works on damaged transformers and electrical poles in Mambakkam on the Vandalur-Kelambakkam Road.

No power, no water and no cash

TNN | Dec 14, 2016, 06.50 AM IST
Households across the city minimised water consumption as there was no powerto pump water out of the sumps. Some residents went back to older ways, using buckets and pots to draw water from sumps and wells.

"With no power supply, there was no water in the taps. There was no Metrowater supply as the lorries could not reach the interior areas with uprooted trees blocking the roads. We drew water using buckets and it reminded me of the olden days when we drew water from wells," said Nanganallur resident Chandrsekhar V .

With no information on restoration of power supply, anxious residents in many areas hoarded drinking water while youngsters, who had mobile connectivity, took to social media posting updates about water scarcity -their panic reminiscent of the one witnessed during the floods last year.

"All basic needs are hard to meet as there is no water due to lack of power. There is no cash in ATMs and card machines aren't working," said Besant Nagar resident Vijayakumar M.

Special sub-inspector held for taking bribe in TN

VELLORE: The Vellore unit of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on Wednesday arrested a special sub-inspector (SSI) of police attached to the Tirupattur town police for taking a bribe of Rs 1,000 to settle a money transaction petition.

A DVAC team, led by additional superintendent of police M Balasubramanian caught R Udayakumar, 48, red-handed when he received the 'chemical-laced currency notes' from the complainant, G Krishnakumar, 36, at the former's office on Textile Market Road in Tirupattur.

The police said Krishnakumar had borrowed Rs30,000 from Varadharajan a year ago. After he failed to repay it, Varadharajan approached filed a police complaint on June 26.

Following this, the SSI summoned Krishnakumar for inquiry. He told the police that he was not in a position to return the money immediately. However, he agreed to repay the loan amount on or before July 15. He paid Rs 10,000, after which the SSI mediated a settlement for Rs 8,000.

The SSI demanded the bribe to settle the dispute for a 'low sum.' Krishnakumar approached the DVAC. The DVAC registered a case against the SSI under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The officer was in DVAC custody, sources said.

Cyclone Vardah: Diesel shortage and inability to accept cards ail Chennai fuel stations

CHENNAI: When Sumi Agarwal took out her car on Wednesday, she thought it would be easy to fill diesel in her vehicle. "It's a distance of less than 6 km from my home in Mandaveli to my workplace at Little Mount. I was confident that I could fill diesel and reach office in time," said Agarwal.

She hit four fuel stations only to find they were not accepting cards, as online banking services were affected after cyclone Vardah wreaked havoc in Chennai. The petrol bunks had displayed "Only cash" signboards.

When Agarwal finally reached a fuel station which accepted cards, they had run out of diesel. As Chennai lit up with diesel-backed generators on Monday and Tuesday night, vehicle users were finding it difficult to assess fuel.

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd on Wednesday struggled to supply diesel to fuel stations in the city as invoice generation became impossible with internet connectivity down.

"Our vendors have reported a surge in demand for diesel as the state government departments, hospitals and large apartment complexes buy more diesel for their generators. But since internet connectivity has been sketchy, our vendors have not been able to generate invoices," said an executive of Chennai Petroleum.

The state government has apparently stocked 16,000 litres of diesel as backup for hospitals.

Petrol pump owner Raghava Reddy said his chain of pump stations had adequate stock of petrol. "Though our last supply was on Sunday night, we still have petrol stocks. This was because PoS (point of sale) machines were down on Monday and Tuesday. Fewer people were on the roads on Monday. On Tuesday, we had shorter queues as only a few could pay us in cash," said Reddy.

Vendors said manual orders could no longer be placed with Indian Oil Corporation. "We have moved completely online. So it is not possible for us to call them and say that we would need 5,000 litres more diesel. Invoices have to be generated online, and we are stuck," said Reddy.

An Indian Oil executive said there had not been a complete breakdown of banking network connectivity via PoS machines. "30%-35% PoS machines at petrol pumps are up and running. Only those PoS machines running on GPRS are down. Machines connected via landlines are still functioning," he said.

He confirmed that there had been a problem with executing fresh orders. "With poor internet connectivity some of our vendors have not been able to generate invoices online," he said, adding, "We have adequate stocks of petrol and diesel. The problem is just disruption in our supply chain because of low internet connectivity."

Cyclone Vardah: Tamil Nadu CM sanctions Rs 500 crore for relief work

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam on Wednesday sanctioned disbursal of Rs 500 crore towards meeting reliefexpenses in Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts in the aftermath of cyclone Vardah.

In a statement, Panneerselvam said the decision to release the funds was taken after a meeting with the chief secretary and other senior ministers in his cabinet at the Secretariat complex.

Of the Rs 500 crore, the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board will receive Rs 350 crore. The Greater Chennai Corporation has been allotted Rs 75 crore while the relief fund to be distributed among the fishermen community has been pegged at Rs 10 crore.

The state highways department will receive Rs 25 crore while the public works department will get Rs 7 crore to repair damage to government buildings.

Rs 3 crore has been sanctioned to the health department while Aavin will get Rs 50 lakh to rectify damage in milk production units. The traffic police have been sanctioned Rs 5 crore to fit new traffic signals in place of the damaged ones while the forest department has been sanctioned Rs 2.50 crore to plant new trees in place of the fallen ones in the Vandalur zoo and other national parks.

MTC and district SETCs have been sanctioned Rs 2 crore to repair damage to buses.

The district administrations of Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur will each receive Rs 10 crore in state relief funds.

Hello, can you hear me? Pvt mobile lines remain down

TNN | Dec 15, 2016, 12.28 AM IST
Chennai: Mobile phones remained virtual ornaments in the hands of Chennaiites on Tuesday as communication lines remained down after the Monday storm. Residences, small businesses and large corporates shared the agony of not being able to communicate.

While private players like Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel and Reliance Jio failed the citizens, BSNL held out in many areas, but the signals remained weak. Venkatakrishnan R, who was to fly out to Pune, spent all Monday night attempting to connect with an airline's customer call centre to find out if his plane would take off. Multiple attempts from Vodafone and Airtel numbers went in vain.

Commerce was impacted as residents couldn't swipe their cards at merchant establishments which complained of network issues. "I spent two hours in an ATM queue because I needed money for lunch," said Hari Sridhar, a resident of Besant Nagar.

Aircel head (SBU1) K Sankaranarayan said, "Our network has been temporarily impacted. Now 75% of our transmission network is up and things will be normal by end of the day. Once power is restored our sites will be up," he said.

While Airtel and Vodafone mobile networks came to life late Tuesday evening, data connectivity was yet to be restored.

S Murali, business head, Tamil Nadu, Vodafone India said, "Our ground teams have restored voice and data services in some and we should soon be back to normalcy soon. Nearly 21 stores in Chennai are fully operational now."

BSNL landlines were the sole saviour. Of the 6.8 lakh BSNL landline connections, complaints were received for 18,000. BSNL Chennai Telephones chief general manager S M Kalavathi said that major telephone exchanges were operational though smaller ones in areas like Puzhal and Chengalpet were affected due to inundation and uprooting of trees.

Indus Towers, which has more than 7000 cell phone towers in Chennai used by private telecom players, said 60% of its towers were impacted. "Our field operations team is working round-the-clock to ensure network connectivity. Nearly 500 people have been deployed for restoration work," said a spokesman of the company

புரட்சி தாரகை... கழகத்தின் தலைமகளே... எதிர்காலமே.... சசிகலாவுக்கு குவியும் பட்டங்கள்!

புரட்சி தாரகை... கழகத்தின் தலைமகளே... எதிர்காலமே.... சசிகலாவுக்கு குவியும் பட்டங்கள்! சசிகலாவுக்கு அதிமுகவினர் புதிய பட்டங்களை அளித்து வருகின்றனர். இந்த போஸ்டர்களுக்கு அதிமுக தொண்டர்கள் எதிர்ப்பும் தெரிவித்து வருகின்றனர். 

சென்னை: அதிமுகவின் தலைமை பொறுப்பை சசிகலாவை ஏற்க வைக்க முயற்சிகள் நடைபெறுகின்றன. அதே நேரத்தில் சசிகலாவுக்கு ஆதரவு தெரிவித்து புதிய புதிய பட்டங்களும் அதிமுகவினர் பேனர்கள் வைத்தும் வருகின்றனர். ஜெயலலிதா மறைவைத் தொடர்ந்து அதிமுகவின் அடுத்த தலைமை யார் என்ற கேள்வி எழுந்தது. அதிமுக நிர்வாகிகள் பலரும் சசிகலாவை தலைவராக ஏற்றுக் கொள்வதாக கூறி வருகின்றனர்.



ஆனால் அதிமுக தொண்டர்கள் சசிகலாவை ஏற்க மறுத்து வருகிறார்கள். இந்த நிலையில் சசிகலாவுக்கு ஆதரவு தெரிவித்து தினமும் போயஸ் கார்டனுக்கு ஆயிரக்கணக்கானோர் வரவழைக்கப்படுகின்றனர். இதனிடையே சசிகலாவுக்கு ஆதரவு தெரிவித்து புரட்சி தாரகையே! கழகத்தின் தலைமகளே! கழகத்தின் எதிர்காலமே! கழகத்தின் நிகழ்காலமே! என புதிய புதிய பட்டங்களுடன் பேனர்களையும் அதிமுகவினர் வைத்து வருகின்றனர். இந்த பேனர்களை அதிமுக தொண்டர்கள் சில இடங்களில் கிழித்தும் வருகின்றனர். அத்துடன் ஜெயலலிதாவின் அண்ணன் மகள் தீபாதான் அதிமுகவுக்கு தலைமை ஏற்க வேண்டும் என்ற பேனர்களும் வைக்கப்படுகின்றன. இவற்றை சசிகலா ஆதரவாளர்கள் அகற்றியும் வருகின்றனர். 

Read more at: http://tamil.oneindia.com/news/tamilnadu/sasikala-gets-new-titles-from-admk-cadres-269766.html