Pongal gift distribution continues amid glitches

STAFF REPORTER

JANUARY 09, 2019 00:00 IST

Distribution of Pongal gift pack, which includes a cash component of Rs. 1,000 this year, continued for the second day in all fair price shops across the district amid minor glitches.

While a number of shops did not begin distribution on Monday owing to delay in arrival of stock, officials said the distribution took place in all shops on Tuesday.

However, R. Saraswathi, who came to collect the gift at a fair price shop in Tallakulam, said although she came in the morning she was asked to come in the afternoon due to non-availability of stock.

Collector S. Natarajan inspected the distribution in at least four fair price shops.

Distribution of Pongal gift gathers momentum

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

TIRUCHI, JANUARY 09, 2019 00:00 IST

Ration cardholders queuing up at a fair price shop in Tiruchi on Tuesday.M. MoorthyM_Moorthy

Many ration shops in the district witnessed long queues of people on Tuesday to receive Pongal gift hampers and Rs. 1000 in cash announced by the State government.

To avoid heavy crowd and untoward incidents, ration cards were staggered into a group of 250 to 300 based on card numbers. Notices were put up at the ration shops so as to inform the ration cardholders the date on which they were required to collect the Pongal gift hampers. However, brushing aside the system, enthusiastic cardholders thronged in large number at various ration shops to receive the gift hampers. As per the instruction by the senior officials, the beneficiaries were distributed two Rs. 500 denomination notes. In some places, policemen were posted to regulate the crowd.

“We do not know about others. But, the gift hampers and cash will be of immense help for the poor people like me and daily wage labourers to celebrate the Pongal,” says S. Rajam (75), who waited in a long queue at a ration shop at Bheema Nagar.

Special flying squads formed by Collector K. Rajamani, who is the monitoring officer of the Pongal gift distribution drive, visited various parts of the district to monitor the distribution.

He told The Hindu that 7.95 lakh ration cardholders in the district would be given the Pongal gifts. A sum of Rs. 80 crore had been released for the distribution in the district. Elaborate arrangements have been made to distribute the gifts in 1222 ration shops in the district.

He said the distribution was closely monitored to avoid confusion and complaints Flying squad headed by Deputy Collectors and Tashildars had been instructed to carry out continuous check. Ration shop employees should give no room for complaints.

K.C. Ravichandran, Joint Registrar of Cooperatives, Tiruchi district, said that nearly 2 lakh cardholders were distributed the gifts on the fist two days of distribution on Monday and Tuesday. The moment the cardholders received the gifts, they would receive transaction messages on their smart and Adhar card linked mobile phones. The distribution would continue up to January 14.

PMK opposes move to extend Salem – Egmore train service to Karur

STAFF REPORTER

SALEM, JANUARY 09, 2019 00:00 IST

Cadre of the Pattali Makkal Katchi staging a demonstration in front of the Salem Railway Divisional headquarters on Tuesday.E. Lakshmi NarayananE_LakshmiNarayanan

Seeks separate train from Karur-Chennai through Salem

Condemning the railway administration’s decision to extend the Salem – Egmore Super Fast express train service up to Karur junction, members of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) staged a demonstration in front the Salem Railway Division’s headquarters here on Tuesday.

Led by its State Deputy Secretary R. Arul, they said that efforts taken by the then Union Minister of State for Railways R. Velu of PMK led to the introduction of train service from the division. Train numbers 22153/22154 is the only train that originate from the Salem Junction in the division to Chennai. The train received good patronage. If the train service was extended up to Karur, people in Salem district will lose reservations. They said that a petition has already been submitted to the Divisional Railway Manager on September 14, 2018 urging the administration to drop the move to extend the train services.

They said that to serve the people in Karur district, the administration could operate a separate train from Karur to Chennai through Salem. But extending the train service is unacceptable as it will affect the passengers in the district. When they attempted to picket the divisional office, they were prevented by the police.

Salem district unaffected by strike

STAFF REPORTER

SALEM, JANUARY 09, 2019 00:00 IST

Autorickshaw drivers staging a demonstration against the Central Government’s ‘anti-worker policies’ in Salem on Tuesday.E. Lakshmi NarayananE_LakshmiNarayanan

In Erode, transport services between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka through Hasanur were affected

The two-day nationwide strike called by the central trade unions did not have much impact in the district as transportation remains largely unaffected here on Tuesday.

Most of the buses were operated as usual and shops remained opened. However, less than half of the autorickshaws stayed off the road. Banking services were hit as employees of various associations participated in the strike and staged a demonstration.

Likewise, many employees of BSNL and other Central government organisations participated in the strike. Loadmen at goods shed participated in the strike as loading and unloading from wagons were affected. Demonstrations were held in front of Central government organisations as they raised slogans against the anti-worker, anti-national policies of the government.

In Erode district, operation of buses between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka through Hasanur was affected through out the day while buses were operated as usual across the district. Employee attendance in banks remained low affecting the banking operations. However, customers waited in long queue to complete their transactions.

Dharmapuri Special Correspondent adds:

The strike in Dharmapuri witnessed road roko in Harur led by CITU along with left parties.

The protesters staged a road blockade at Harur roundtana.

Pongal holiday just got longer

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI, JANUARY 09, 2019 00:00 IST

Students and State government employees have a reason to cheer this Pongal season, as the State government on Tuesday announced a holiday on January 14, thereby extending the overall holiday period to six days. However, February 9 would be a compensatory working day.

With January 12 and 13 falling on Saturday and Sunday and January 15, 16 and 17 being declared holidays for Pongal, Tiruvalluvar Day and Uzhavar Thirunaal, respectively, a holiday on January 14 would mean students and government employees get to enjoy a six-day holiday.

Since the holiday was not announced under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, treasuries and sub-treasuries would function with minimal staff, and instructions to this effect had been given to all District Collectors, a G.O. stated.

Bonus for employees

Ahead of Pongal, the Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday issued orders announcing a special bonus of 30-day pay to Group C and D employees and pensioners.

While serving employees would get up to Rs. 3,000 each, pensioners would get Rs. 500 as Pongal bonus.

ATMs go dry, cheques not cleared

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI, JANUARY 09, 2019 00:00 IST

On a war path:Members of the bank unions staging a demonstration in front of theCanara Bank head office in Madurai.S. 

KRISHNAMOORTHYs_krishnamoorthy

Strike cripples work in banks across the State; export, import bills not processed

Several bank employees across Tamil Nadu participated in the countrywide strike on Tuesday called by various trade unions, including the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). While the branches were kept open, hardly any transaction took place.

“Several ATMs went dry, cheques worth over Rs. 6,000 crore could not be processed, trading transaction was stopped, there was no banking transaction,” said C.H. Venkatachalam, general secretary, All India Bank Employees Association. He added that inter-transactions were hit and export and import bills could not be negotiated.

The demands of the striking workers were social security cover for all staff, strict enforcement of labour laws, tough action against employers for violation of labour laws, assured pension for all workers and employees and opposition to disinvestment in Central and State PSUs or undertakings. The other demands include recovering huge corporate bad loans, making adequate recruitments in all banks, and stopping outsourcing of regular bank jobs. “All our branches were open. Only a section of employees participated in the strike,” said an Indian Bank official in Chennai.

In an announcement to the stock exchange, Indian Bank said that a section of employees might take part in the strike called by All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA) and Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) on January 8 and 9 and the normal functioning of the branches / offices of the bank may get affected.

An exception

An IOB official said that its employees were not participating in the strike and its branches were functioning normally. Karur Vysya Bank Ltd in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange said, “If the strike call materialises, the workmen of our bank may take part in the proposed strike on the said date, in which occasion the normal working of the branches/offices of the bank may get affected during the day.”

Banking operations were impacted in other parts of the State too. In Coimbatore, counter transactions were affected in several banks. At Canara Bank in Coimbatore, an official said, “The officers did not take part in the strike. Non- financial business continued.”

Over 300 out of 1,500 bank staff abstained from work in Virudhunagar. Transactions at public sector banks, barring the State Bank of India and the Indian Overseas Bank, were affected in Tiruchi and other districts in the Central region. Business operations were also hit in public sector banks at Pudukottai, Ariyalur, Perambalur and Karur besides at Thanjavur.

According to data from State Level Bankers Committee, Tamil Nadu, nationalised banks had nearly 6,600 branches across the State. Old private sector banks had 1,925 branches.

HC confirms conviction based on 4-year-old’s eyewitness account

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

JANUARY 09, 2019 00:00 IST

Rohitashwa had seen his mother being killed byhis father and grandmother

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday confirmed conviction and imposition of life sentence on a 62-year-old woman and her 45-year-old son by a court in Mangaluru, based on the evidence of a four-year-old boy, who had seen his mother being killed in front of him by his father and grandmother in 2011.

A Division Bench comprising Justice K.N. Phaneendra and Justice B.A. Patil passed the order while dismissing the appeals filed by Parvathi and her son Ravish, both residents of Vittala Kasba villege, Bantwal taluk, Dakshina Kannada district. The 1st Additional District and Sessions court, Mangaluru, had on August 12, 2016, convicted them based on the eye witness evidence given by Rohitashwa, who was nine years old and studying in fourth standard when he gave his statement before the court as the sole eyewitness of the murder of his mother, Saraswathi.

The Bantwal police had video graphed the recording of statements of various persons and this included Rohitashwa’s narration to the police about what his father and grandmother did to his mother in their home.

Rohitashwa, besides stating before the trial court that it was his father and grandmother who had killed his mother using a sickle, had also faced counter questions put forward by the defence lawyers during the cross-examination.

The trial court had also recorded the statement of other witnesses who had narrated what the four-year-old boy had told them afterSaraswathi’s death. The High Court accepted the evidence given by Rohitashwa as recorded by the trial court.

She was murdered using a sickle at around 8 a.m. on February 17, 2011, and a case was registeredon a complaint filed by Saraswathi’s father. According to the prosecution, Ravish and Parvathi, daily wage workers, frequently quarrelled with Saraswathi over property matters and other personal issues.