Spl trains to Rameswaram for Pongal

11/01/2020, STAFF REPORTER,COIMBATORE

To meet the rush during Pongal, Southern Railway on Friday announced unreserved special trains from Coimbatore to Rameswaram via Pollachi.

There will be four train services between Coimbatore and Rameswaram, comprising two services of Train No. 06031 from Coimbatore on January 14 and 16 and two services of Train No. 06032 from Rameswaram on January 15 and 17. These will depart from Coimbatore at 9.45 a.m and arrive in Rameswaram at 6.45 p.m. Similarly, trains will depart from Rameswaram at 8.40 a.m and arrive in Coimbatore at 5.30 p.m.

The trains will halt Podanur, Pollachi, Udumalpet, Palani, Oddanchatram, Dindigul, Kodaikanal Road, Madurai, Manamadurai, Paramakudi, Ramanathapuram, Uchipuli and Mandapam. Coimbatore MP P.R. Natarajan, who placed the demand for train services to Rameswaram during a meeting with Southern Railway officials on January 7, welcomed the announcement. In a statement, he said that this train service will help the public celebrate Pongal in their respective hometowns.

Rail activist S. Ravi said the services would have substantial patronage. Members of Pollachi Train Passengers Welfare Association also welcomed the introduction of the special trains.

IRCTC launches group tours

11/01/2020, STAFF REPORTER,COIMBATORE

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) has announced the launch of group tours by flight and train in February.

According to a press release, the domestic group tour by air to Hyderabad will depart from Coimbatore International Airport on February 21 and return on February 23.

The package comprises visits to famous locations in Hyderabad including the Golconda Fort, Lumbini Gardens, Birla Mandir, Ramoji Film City, Salarjung Museum and Charminar.

The package cost, which starts at ₹13,670 per person, comprises flight ticket in economy class, three-star hotel accommodation with breakfast and dinner, sightseeing in air-conditioned buses and services of the IRCTC tour manager.

The ‘Aastha Teerth Yatra’ package train tour with visits to Puri, Konark, Kolkata, Gaya, Varanasi and Prayag will depart from Madurai on February 5 and return on February 14.

Passengers may board the train from Palakkad, Podanur, Erode and Salem Junctions.

The package costs ₹9,450 per person and includes train ticket, food, accommodation, transport facility for sightseeing and services of tour escorts, according to the release.

Its food and festivity at Taste of Coimbatore

11/01/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,COIMBATORE

Children from one of the orphanages in the city, who were invited by the organisers, at Taste of Coimbatore in the city on Friday. 

S. Siva Saravanan

Three evenings of music, shopping, and delicious food is what Taste of Coimbatore offers this year.

Inaugurated on Friday evening, the three-day food festival organised by the Coimbatore District Hoteliers Association has 130 stalls. Well-known brands, home-made food servers, and some of the new food outlets have set counters at the festival, held near Codissia as part of Coimbatore Vizha.

Spread over 4.5 acre, with two entry points and lot of vehicle parking area, the food festival took off with youngsters and children from three orphanages, invited by the organisers, walking in from 5 p.m.

Many of the stalls offer food at nearly 30 % lesser price compared to the price at their restaurants. “The idea is to help more people taste more food at the festival,” said D. Srinivasan, president of the Association.

There are vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, chaats, fast food, ice creams and more. “This is a plastic-free zone and food safety officials will check the kitchens regularly on all the three days,” Mr. Srinivasan said.

Hotels and restaurants in the city had come together on a common platform. The stalls promoted their brands in different ways. It was their choice, said Jegan Damodarasamy, executive committee member of the Association.

Chithirai Selvan, a Class X student and inmate of one of the orphanages, came to the food festival last year and has come this year too. He preferred to have a plate of chicken biryani. Jeeva, a Class IX student, also from the same orphanage decided to start with an ice cream.

Mohamed Asan, director of Courtallam Border Rahmath Kadai, said he had set up stall at Taste of Coimbatore for the second year.

The event gave improvement in visibility to the brand, which had two outlets in the city.

The food festival will be open from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Traditional dances and music concerts will be organised in the evening.

Anuradha Sriram will perform on Saturday and on the last day, it will be Diwakar and team.

The music concerts will be held from 7.30 p.m. for two hours. There are stalls selling eco-friendly products and packaged food items too.

Government college students in Karnataka to get free laptops

More than one lakh first-year students will benefit

11/01/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,BENGALURU

The Karnataka government has decided to give free laptops to over a lakh students of first grade government colleges from Sunday.

Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa will launch the free laptop distribution programme on the day of Swami Vivekananda Jayanthi at the Sri Kanteerava Indoor Stadium, Bengaluru, by symbolically presenting laptops to a few students.

Later, laptops will be distributed to all first-year degree students at government first grade colleges.

Addressing presspersons on Friday, Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan, who also holds the Higher Education and IT/BT portfolios, said a total of 1.09 lakh students would get laptops. The estimated expenditure is ₹300 crore.

Empowerment centres

He said youth empowerment centres, one in each district, would be established in lead government first grade colleges.

The centres will function under the guidance of a committee chaired by the Deputy Commissioner and with senior officers of 21 government departments as members.

These centres will disseminate information on job openings, opportunities in higher education, scholarships, education loans, schemes for the youth, hostel facilities, and employability-related issues.

Mr. Yediyurappa will inaugurate the Bengaluru centre on Sunday. The other district centres will be inaugurated on the same day.

In the second phase, centres will be established in all 224 Assembly constituencies, he said.

The Chief Minister will also inaugurate the programme ‘Arivina Daari’ on career and skill development, which will be telecast on DD Chandana.

Official conducts inquiry into ‘exam irregularities’

TNPSC Secretary seeks list of officials on exam duty

11/01/2020, STAFF REPORTER,RAMANATHAPURAM

K. Nanthakumar, Secretary, TNPSC, coming out of the district treasury in Ramanathapuram on Friday.

Secretary of Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission K. Nanthakumar visited the District Treasury here on Friday. Sources in the TNPSC said that the commission had deputed its secretary to conduct an inquiry into alleged irregularities in examinations held in the district in 2019.

According to sources, it was found that about 40 of the first 100 ranks in the group IV examination were secured by candidates who appeared for the exam in the two centres of Rameswaram and Kilakarai. In addition, the candidates were found to be from other districts as well.

This discrepancy led to suspicion and as a repercussion to that, Mr. Nanthakumar was deputed to visit the coastal district for inquiries.

Sources said that the district administration and the police here were told to furnish the list of officials from the respective departments who were involved in the examination duties.

It is expected that the Secretary may conduct inquiry with all those officials on Saturday also. Candidates, who appeared for the exam in the Kilakarai and Rameswaram centres, may also be summoned for inquiry.

When contacted over phone, Mr. Nanthakumar remained unavailable for a comment.

Power shutdown

11/01/2020

There will be a power shutdown from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday due to maintenance works at Vadipatti, Alanganallur and Ayyankottai substations: Rajakkalpatti, Maravarpatti, Chathiravellapatti, Valayapatti, Errampatti, Palamedu, Manickampatti, Senthamangalam, Pondhugampatti, Alanganallur, Kuravankulam, Siruvalai, Ambalathadi, Alagapuri, A. Puthupatti, Vaikasipatti, Muduvarpatti, Aathanur, Achampatti, Vairavanatham, Nagari, Kattakulam, Kutladampatti, Mettuneerathan, Semminipatti, Ramanayakkanpatti, T.Mettupatti, Ramagoundanpatti, Vadugapatti, C. Pudur, Thanichiyam, Melachinnanampatti, Alankottaram, Thirumalnatham, Rishabam and Nedungulam.

Teacher gets five years’ jail for humiliating Dalit student

Punished for making child clean human waste in 2015

11/01/2020, STAFF REPORTER,NAMAKKAL

A government schoolteacher who made a class II student clean human waste manually was on Friday sentenced to undergo five years’ imprisonment under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, by a special court in Namakkal.

The judge also imposed a penalty of ₹1,000 on her.

According to the prosecution, in 2015, when R. Vijayalakshmi was working as a teacher at the Government Middle School in Ramapuram, near Namakkal, she asked a Dalit student to manually clean the waste of a classmate. The boy did as the teacher told him to and later informed his parents. Following this, protests were held outside the school demanding action against the teacher.

The boy’s parents also filed a complaint at the Namakkal police station and a case was registered against the teacher under provisions of the Act. She was suspended from the school thereafter. The case was investigated by T. Manoharan, Namakkal DSP, and a chargesheet filed before the Special Court for trial of cases registered under the SC/ST Act. After hearing the arguments by public prosecutor Madheshwaran and the defence counsel, sessions judge K. Dhanasekaran sentenced the teacher to five years’ imprisonment and a fine of ₹1,000 under Section 3(1)(x) of the SC/ST Act.

“The teacher has asked a student from the Scheduled Caste community to clean human waste of another student manually. The court has awarded the highest punishment to the accused under the Act,” said Mr. Madheshwaran.

The accused would have to serve a further six months of prison time if she failed to pay the fine.