Back to school, but via flooded streets

TNN | Nov 8, 2017, 07:46 IST

An overloaded autorickshaw ferries schoolchildren home near Egmore in the afternoon on Tuesday, when schools r... Read More

A week after re maining shut, city schools reo pened to reduced optimism among students who were forced to wade through stagnant water and brave rain to reach their schools. Some school campuses and playgrounds were inundated on Tuesday. On Angalam man Koil Streetin Choolai, students wad ed through sewage-mixed rainwater to reach home after school. S Dharshini, a Class VIII student, said she was late for school in the morning due to rainfall."I don't like walking in this water because it stinks.I hate it when vehicles splash water on my uniform. But there is no space to walk on the side of the road," she said, pointing to a broken footpath.

J Salim, a parent of two primary school students, said roads being damaged after rainfall made his commute difficult. "The roads are in poor shape. I took my children on a two-wheeler avoiding the potholes. It was also raining heavily early in the morning," said Salim, who had dropped off his children to the school they attend near Meenambakkam.

R Narmada, whose child goes to at a private school in Adyar, said the institution had suspended physical training classed because its grounds were waterlogged.

"Waterlogging was minimal on streets in Adyar, so I didn't have a problem taking my son to school," she said.

MODERATE RAIN TODAY

The city and its suburbs are likely to receive moderate showers on Wednesday, the Met office said. Area Cyclone Warning Centre director S Balachandran said, "There are likely to be a few spells of rain or thundershowers on Wednesday." The sky over the city is likely to be overcast on Wednesday.The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 28°C and 23°C.

Tiruvannamalai Karthigai Mahadeepam: Mobile app to be launched to help devotees

Shanmughasundaram J| TNN | Nov 8, 2017, 19:46 IST

The app will have emergency numbers and the contact numbers of revenue, police and health officials.

TIRUVANNAMALAI: The Tiruvannamalai district administration will launch a mobile application ahead of the annual Karthigai Mahadeepam festival at the Arunachaleswarar Temple for the benefit of devotees. The app will have all information about the festival and services.

Collector K S Kandasamy said a devotee had come forward to develop the mobile app to provide information of medical camps, temporary bus stands, police booths, free accommodation facilities and locations of annadhanam organised along the girivalam path during the Karthigai Mahadeepam fest. The festival will take place on December 2.

The app will have emergency numbers and the contact numbers of revenue, police and health officials.

The app will also have information on the festival, pilgrim spots and holy tanks, he said and added that it would be developed within a week.

Special darshan tickets for Barani Deepam and Mahadeepam would be available online this year. The online tickets would be available on the Arunachaleswarar Temple website, he said.

Around 23 lakh devotes participated in the festival last year. The authorities expect the same number or more devotees this year.

Pedal past traffic in Adyar, Besant Nagar soon

TNN | Nov 8, 2017, 23:42 IST

CHENNAI: If you have been cycling around Island Grounds, Sardar Patel Road, Adyar and Besant Nagar wary of the traffic brushing past you, then there is good news. The areas have been finalised for development of the Smart City's dedicated 17km-long network of cycle track.

As part of the project, various roads across the city that are wide enough and have pavement space will be developed to accommodate cycling tracks with an aim to promote non-motorised transport system. In the board meeting of Chennai Smart City Limited (CSCL) held last month, the project was approved and tenders are expected to be floated soon.

"We have identified roads in the city wide enough to have a cycle track. Apart from the track, reflective bollards and signboards for the safety of the cyclists will be set up," said a source.

As part of the proposal, the track around Island Grounds will be developed along Adam Street, Mount Road, Flag Staff Road and a part of Kamarajar Promenade near Napier Bridge. Similarly, it is planned to develop the track on Sardar Patel Road connecting it to Velachery Road till Raj Bhavan junction. It will be extended along Sardar Patel Road to parts of Adyar and Besant Nagar, including the Elliot's Beach.

Kasturibai Nagar Second Cross Street, M G Road in Adyar, Besant Avenue Road, Thiru-Vi-Ka Bridge and a part of D G S Dinakaran Road are the areas in Adyar and Besant Nagar to be covered under the project.

The cycle track in K K Nagar was developed by widening the pavements and introducing a concrete carriageway - costing the civic body Rs 3 crore for the 3.8km-long stretch. Sources said the new project is estimated to cost Rs 36 lakh as it would involve improving the existing roads to accommodate a cycle track along the road and streamline traffic. "The project will not take more than a month after the work order is passed as no new construction will be taken up. Improvements to infrastructure will be made keeping cyclists in mind," said a senior corporation official.

Focusing on the long-term scope of the cycle track project, CSCL will look to develop dedicated tracks for cycling along the beaches, parks, canals and river banks, sources said.

"Along the beaches, roads in most areas are wide enough. In consultation with architects, we are looking to develop cycle tracks along the coastal roads. It is possible for someone to cycle from north Chennai to south Chennai along the coastal line if a track is developed along the road. We will be looking for more development in that direction," said a source. "To prevent encroachments, bollards are a must. Thermoplastic paints and stencilling will be used on the tracks for directions and markings."

Cheran Express train to get LHB coaches

Siddharth Prabhakar| TNN | Nov 8, 2017, 18:33 IST

CHENNAI: German design Linke Hoffman Busch (LHB) coaches, which have better safety features, have been allotted for No 12673 Chennai Central - Coimbatore Cheran Express train with effect from November 10 and No 12674 Coimbatore - Chennai Central Cheran Express train with effect from November 11.

Consequently, the composition of Cheran Express will be revised as given below.

Composition: First AC cum AC 2-tier - 1 coach, AC 2-tier - 1 coach, AC 3-tier - 5 coaches, sleeper class - 10 coaches and general second class - 3 coaches.

TN Governor Banwarilal Purohit learning Tamil

Meera Vankipuram| TNN | Nov 8, 2017, 17:10 IST

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit has started to learn Tamil, a Raj Bhavan release said on Wednesday.

The governor has started learning the language from a Tamil teacher "due to his flair and love for Tamil and his keen interest in learning the Tamil language," according to the release.

The release quoted the Governor as saying that "Tamil is a classical and beautiful language, and learning the language of a place helps one converse well with the people."

The Governor, who served as the managing editor of English daily The Hitavada, is fluent in English, Hindi and Marathi.

Will you come with me, Modi asked MK. Now Stalin to reply

TNN | Updated: Nov 8, 2017, 23:59 IST

Was Narendra Modi's 'gesture' of calling on ailing DMK president M Karunanidhi an apolitical move or was it a hint of a thaw between the two parties and a precursor to an understanding for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls? DMK allies view it as BJP's attempt to divide the DMK-led front and drive a wedge among them.

While DMK working president M K Stalin has been quick to repudiate any talk of an alliance between the two parties, tongues continue to wag over the confusion that was created in the opposition camp, just two days before the DMK and its allies were about to launch Black Day protests in Tamil Nadu.

The BJP, which seemed all set to strike an alliance with the AIADMK for the Lok Sabha elections, seems to have changed track in the wake of recent opinion polls that point to poor credibility levels of the party. It has instead redrawn its strategy, going for the winning horse. Subtle hints have been dropped by BJP leaders that there was nothing wrong in the two parties having an alliance as they had it from 1999 to 2004.

The DMK which contested the 1996 and 1998 elections on an anti-BJP platform drifted towards the saffron party in 1999 once AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa decided to pull out of the NDA and bring down the Vajpayee government. The DMK initially said it was merely extending its cooperation to the BJP-led government at the Centre. Later, on April 25, 1999, Karunanidhi in an interview to this writer said the DMK would consider an alliance with the BJP. Karunanidhi made a pitch that an alliance with the BJP would actually help the minorities. The same year, the DMK stitched a new alliance with the BJP, PMK and MDMK among others.

Karunanidhi's argument of 1999 is being cited by the BJP as relevant even today. Referring to the DMK's anti-Congress roots in the Justice Party, its opposition to the Emergency and its association with the Janata Party and the Jan Sangh in the struggle for democracy then, BJP circles say, there is nothing wrong in renewing its alliance with the DMK.

Modi plans to make a Nitish Kumar out of Karunanidhi by weaning DMK away from the Congress. Karunanidhi's family faces several cases. Especially, the verdict due in the 2G case relating to former Union minister A Raja and Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi could be out in the next two months. In 1979-1980, the DMK was said to have extracted an assurance from the Congress government that it would withdraw the CBI cases against DMK leaders after the 1980 polls. Though this was denied, the cases were withdrawn later. Stalin has scoffed at rumours of a similar "compromise". But that the BJP is the source of such rumours is the interesting part.

But, can such an alliance be ruled out? Going by the past, politics has seen strange bed-fellows. Expressing DMK's displeasure with the Congress for dismissing its government in 1976 (Emergency), Karunanidhi in an interview with Cho Ramaswamy in 1979 ruled out any possibility of a DMK-Congress alliance. Yet, a few months later the DMK struck an alliance with the Congress which swept the 1979-1980 Lok Sabha polls.

Tamil Nadu has always seen 'humanitarian' gestures of leaders' visits to hospitals or ailing political opponents turn into alliances. Jayalalitha called on an ailing G K Moopanar at his residence and later an alliance emerged with the TMC. Karunanidhi's birthday in June 2017 turned out to be an occasion for parties at the national level to get together for the Presidential polls.

But DMK leaders feel it is too late for the party to take a U-turn now. They feel that a lot of work has been put in by Stalin to bring together various parties into an opposition front including Congress, CPI, CPM, MMK, IUML, TMC and VCK. Political observers say the DMK lost a significant section of its minority votes after it aligned with the BJP in 1999 Lok Sabha polls and 2001 assembly elections. Many DMK leaders believe the party should not commit the 1999-2001 mistake again.

But, power is a powerful magnet. The BJP will continue to dangle the carrot (of ministerial berths) and the stick (of cases against the Karunanidhi family) before the DMK. Its plan A would be an alliance with the AIADMK if the government improves its image; plan B will be an alliance with the DMK to win a majority for the NDA in the state; and plan C will be to make the DMK break electoral ties with the Congress and force the Congress to draw a blank in TN.

The DMK has so far resisted the "advances" by the BJP. Things may take an interesting turn after the 2G case verdict is out, towards the end of the year.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Flyer with 100g heroin hidden in condom held

TNN | Updated: Nov 9, 2017, 00:52 IST

Chennai: It was a plan high at least on ambition, but a 35-year-old man who on Wednesday morning tried to smuggle heroin to Colombo ended up in pretty low spirits after security personnel at Chennai International Airport discovered the consignment he had concealed in a place he reckoned would be safe from checks.

Security officers said CISF guards conducting security checks at the airport stopped and checked Muhammed Sabir, a storekeeper in an engineering college in Chennai, after they noticed that "his pelvic area appeared to be unusually large". The CISF personnel took Sabir aside and frisked him.

"The search revealed that he had hidden 100g of heroin in a condom that he had attached to his penis with a rubber band," said an officer involved in the case.

The CISF guards who caught Sabir handed him over to airport customs officials. Officials have detained the Chennai resident. The customs department is likely to file a case and carry out a detailed probe into Sabir's attempt to smuggle heroin to Sri Lanka, an official statement said.

"Sabir, we believe, was carrying the heroin on behalf of a Sri Lankan narcotics trafficking cartel," the officer said. "We will send the contraband to a lab for tests to determine the purity of the seized drug."

If it is high quality heroin, it could be worth more than Rs 10 lakh for 100g in retail in the international market, he said. Other experts noted if the cartel intended to smuggle the heroin to the West, the consignment could be worth even more.

"Though the price of heroin in the West, has fallen steeply since the 1990s, drug enforcement authorities in the United States estimate that medium quality heroin has a street value of around $200/g in an American city," one expert said. "If this heroin is of high purity, that would make make this consignment worth much more than Rs 13 lakh."

Officers with knowledge of Wednesday's case said interrogating Sabir could provide the customs department with clues regarding the gang responsible for the abortive smuggling bid.

"Investigators could use the information to track down the cartel responsible for the attempted crime," an officer said. "Various gangs operate drug smuggling networks between Tamil Nadu and Southeast Asia. Chennai has become a hub for smuggling drugs like ephedrine to countries in Southeast Asia."