Hike unavoidable, please cooperate: Tamil Nadu CM

DECCAN CHRONICLE.

Published Jan 21, 2018, 6:27 am IST

Chennai: Explaining in detail the difficult financial circumstances that forced his government to opt for the bitter pill of bus hike, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has appealed to the people of Tamil Nadu to understand the situation and cooperate.

"The transport corporations are reeling under heavy losses. Despite this, we have now granted wage hike for the transport employees. Besides, the cost of the bus spares has skyrocketed. All these factors have pushed us to the inevitable decision to increase the bus fares. I appeal to the people to understand the true situation and cooperate with the government", the CM told a large rally on the occasion of MGR's 101st birthday celebration at T'Nagar late Sturday evening.

"MGR had toiled throughout his life for the sake of the people. Many are now trying to launch into politics using his name. Compare those actors with MGR. Have these actors done anything for the people? Their ambition will evaporate as daytime dreams", the CM said, adding: "Just as some people are using MGR's name for selfish political purposes, some others are trying to use politics for the sake of their own families. People have already identified such people as dishonest".

The CM said the government would appeal in the Supreme Court against the Madras high court order banning sand quarries.

Tamil Nadu: Tamilisai Soundararajan, Pon Radhakrishnan differ on bus fare increase

 DECCAN CHRONICLE.

Published Jan 22, 2018, 1:10 am IST

Krishnagiri: Tamil Nadu BJP appears to be divided on the issue of the state government hiking bus fares with state unit chief Tamilisai Soundararajan and Union minister of state for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan publicly contradicting each other.

Speaking to reporters in Hosur on Sunday, Radhakrishnan said he saw nothing wrong in the hike in bus fares since such things are decided according to the prevailing situation.

“They should have done this long back when the prices of fuel and other commodities increased, but they failed to do as since they were afraid of losing votes. They have come out with announcement on fare hike after six years which, according to me, is not a mistake,” Radhakrishnan told reporters here.

He also said the state government would not have had to face strong protests if it had increased the fares periodically instead of doing it at one go. “People seem to be upset because the fare hike has been imposed on them at one go,” he said.

Radhakrishnan’s comments contradict the Tamil Nadu BJP which has outright rejected the fare hike and has also called for a protest across the state on January 24. TN BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan opposed the hike when the announcement came on Friday and reiterated her stand on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters in Madurai, the BJP leader sought to know from the sate government why it increased the salary of MLAs when the state was reeling under financial crisis. "The bus fare hike is anti-people and the BJP strongly opposes the measure," she said.

Chennai book fair to end today, 12 lakh books sold 

DECCAN CHRONICLE.

Published Jan 22, 2018, 6:04 am IST

Updated Jan 22, 2018, 6:55 am IST 

Apart from increased footfall, the book fair has also registered higher sales this year. 


A packed stall in the Chennai book fair on the last Sunday of the event (Photo: DC)

Chennai: The 44th Chennai book fair, organised by the Booksellers’ and Publishers’ Association of South India (BAPASI), which has been witnessing overwhelming footfalls is all set to draw its curtains on Monday.

“The book fair has received an increased footfall this year, as more than 11 lakh readers have visited the fair until Sunday, which is higher than the previous year”, P. Mailavelan, Vice president, BAPASI, said.

Apart from increased footfall, the book fair has also registered higher sales this year. “During the 2017 book fair, we had sold 10 lakh books on the whole. But we have sold more than 12 lakh books this year. With one day remaining, we expect more sales,” he said.

The 13-day book festival has been conducted at Saint George Anglo-Indian Higher secondary school, Aminjikarai, with 708 stalls and 376 publishers. The books are being sold at 10 percent discount on actual cost, which is also a reason for the success of the fair.

To instil general knowledge in addition to subject knowledge, district education officials of Thiruvannamalai have sent 1,000 government school teachers to buy books, on Sunday. “This is the first time when the education department took this kind of initiative. The teachers stayed at the fair the whole day boosting the sales”, Mailavelan added.

The teachers said that the district authority had offered `1,000 each to buy books. “The higher officials insisted that we have to read a variety of books so that we could educate students on the wider manner”, one of the teachers said.

ITI student hacked to death by gang in Chennai

By Express News Service | Published: 21st January 2018 01:43 AM |


CHENNAI: An ITI student, aged 18, was allegedly chased and hacked to death by a gang at Nungambakkam here in the wee hours of Saturday.

The victim was identified by police as Ranjith, studying first year polytechnic at Guindy ITI.

“On Friday, he had informed his mother that he was going to attend a birthday function and would return late. Around midnight, his mother spoke to him over phone. Ranjith had said he was boarding a train from Beach station to reach Nungambakkam. He got off at Nungambakkam when some persons attacked him near the railway station and slit his throat. Ranjith tried to escape, but collapsed on Tank Bund Road and died”, said a police official.

A resident of Mangal Nagar at Choolaimedu, alerted police. The police have taken CCTV footage from the locality which showed Ranjith running holding his bleeding neck with his hand for about 50 metres. “The footage also showed two bikes following Ranjith who we suspect to have committed the crime,” the official said.

The official further added that only after the suspects are arrested the motive will be known.

Nungambakkam police sent the body to Government Hospital for autopsy. A case has been registered and investigation is on.

Police said Ranjith stayed with his father Ramesh, a carpenter and his mother, a home maker at Appu Street, Nungambakkam.

Re-fix seniority of technical SIs, HC tells govt

TNN | Updated: Jan 21, 2018, 20:22 IST

Chennai: Stop treating unequals as equals and stop mindless application of service rules while preparing seniority list of technical persons in police department, Madras high court has told the government. 

The issue pertains to the practice of deciding the seniority list of police personnel working in the technical wing of the department based on the marks obtained in general training provided in police training college, without due weightage to marks obtained in special technical training exclusively provided to technical personnel.

P K Murugan, a sub inspector (technical), attached to police telecommunication branch, Virudhunagar approached the court to quash a recent seniority list and direct the department to refix seniority based on marks obtained in technical training.

Allowing the petition, Justice V Parthiban said: "The rules are very clear that due emphasis was placed on the technical knowledge of the personnel to be recruited as sub inspectors (technical). Elaborate training has also been provided on the technical side for the purpose of handling their job. Such technical posts are not interchangeable and they have to remain on technical side till retirement. They are not vested with the normal power of even registration of FIRs."

Such being the case, it is rather preposterous that the administration has given undue weightage only to the proficiency of such technical personnel in general training, completely wishing away their proficiency in the technical training, he added.

No pension for anti-Hindi agitators: HC

TNN | Updated: Jan 21, 2018, 01:35 IST

Chennai: Giving pension to those who had participated in the anti-Hindi agitation would amount to encouraging agitations against a particular language, said the Madras high court, adding, "If the trend is allowed to continue, integrity of the country would be at stake." 

Justice R Suresh Kumar dismissed a plea of S Chokalingam seeking pension on the ground that he had been jailed thrice for taking part in agitations in Tirupur and Avinashi.

Latest CommentSad news for the old living fossil.narasarao
In 1983, the government brought in the TN Payment of Pension to Tamil Scholars Miscellaneous Provision Act to grant pension to persons who participated in the agitation to safeguard the interest and richness of Tamil language.

The judge said since the government stopped giving benefit to those who participated in the agitation no order could be passed against this policy decision of the government.

Madras varsity to host UK students this year

Siddharth Prabhakar | TNN | Updated: Jan 22, 2018, 06:02 IST

 
  CHENNAI: This summer, a group of college students from the United Kingdom might well be spotted studying the musical traditions of Thanjavur or traditional medicinal plants in Chennai, guided by professors of University of Madras. 

The 161-year-old university will host a set of students from the UK, for a two to three weeks long residential summer school programme (RSSP). This is a part of a scheme where the students are given a travel grant by Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), to participate in programmes in the member institutions like the Madras University.

Basic sciences and humanities departments like botany, biochemistry, women studies, anthropology, English literature and management studies have submitted proposals for conducting special classes and workshops.

Local study tours and field trips will also be part of the programme to be hosted by the International Centre for University of Madras (ICOM), a professor from the university said. The students will be put up in the university's hostels for international students.

This is the first time the university will be seen participating in such an initiative and it has been planned to position the institution as a favourable destination for foreign students. "Individual departments have been attracting foreign students, but this is the first time it is happening at a university level," said the professor.