Kancheepuram: a tale of years of neglect

R. Sivaraman

CHENNAI, APRIL 07, 2019 00:00 IST




Non-implementation of a silk park and failure to desilt lakes stand out as major issues in the reserved constituency

It is a direct contest between the ruling AIADMK and the main opposition DMK at Kancheepuram, an ancient town famous for its fine temples and silk sarees.

Maragatham Kumaravel, the sitting MP representing the AIADMK, defeated DMK’s Vedal G. Selvam, in 2014, by a margin of 1.46 lakh votes in the Kancheepuram Lok Sabha (reserved) constituency. Interestingly, in 2019, they are pitted against each other again.

In between, the DMK won five of the Assembly segments, which comprise the Lok Sabha constituency, and the party feels the anti-incumbency wave will work in its favour.

Meanwhile, the Thiruporur Assembly constituency is facing a bypoll after the MLA, M. Kothandapani of the AIADMK, was disqualified after he supported rebel leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran.

Non-implementation of a silk park and a 4,000 megawatt ultra mega power project in Cheyyur, the failure to desilt major lakes, lack of underground drainage and drinking water supply facilities in urban areas and the non-availability of full-fledged medical facilities are key issues facing the electorate here.

Tourist attractions

Apart from Kancheepuram, it has other historical towns — like Mamallapuram, Uthiramerur and Maduranthakam, that are major tourist attractions — huge tracts of agricultural fields and lakes.

J.S. Selvam, an office-bearer of the Silk Weavers Cooperative Federation, said: “Ten years have passed since the Central government announced a silk park. There has been no progress. The welfare of handloom weavers has also been neglected.”

Kancheepuram town is plagued by a host of civic issues.

K. Bethuraj, organiser of the Gandhi Makkal Iyakkam, said the rulers had failed to provide underground drainage facilities and water supply to extended areas.

Lacking in facilities

“We are facing problems every day and the traffic is also bad. There is no long-term plan to create facilities to meet the needs of the town, despite rapid industrialisation in the district over the past two decades.”

D. Chozhan, a Siddha doctor and social worker in Uthiramerur, said, “The MP has not made frequent visits to redress the grievances. The large lake of Uthiramerur was not desilted despite her promise to augment water supply to 200 villages.” A large number of farmers and agricultural labourers are solely dependant on the water from the lakes in the constituency, he added.

“The present MP adopted a village called Orathi, but has not brought about any improvement.

Cheyyur and Maduranthakam have potential to attract investments, but they remain neglected. Even after a decade, the proposed ultra mega-power project is yet to take off,” said M. Srikanth, a social activist from Melmaruvathur.

Shrugging off criticism, Ms. Kumaravel said, “I have implemented many schemes the people wanted and a few more are pending. The BJP-led alliance will win the elections and we will be able to get projects our way.”

Rising prices

Mr. Selvam, the DMK candidate, said, “The price of LPG cylinders, cable TV and essential commodities are too high. So, there is a strong anti-incumbency wave in the constituency.” He promises more express trains to Chennai, healthcare facilities and employment opportunities.

The constituency has over 25% Scheduled Caste population and there are 21 candidates in the fray.

RECHRISTENED

Central renamed 1 mth after PM’s vow
EC Gives ‘No Objection’ With Riders

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:07.04.2019

Within three days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to rename Central railway station after former chief minister M G Ramachandran in his first election rally after striking an alliance with AIADMK, the Union government commenced its action to swiftly clear the proposal. The election commission gave the nod with some riders though: No propaganda shall be undertaken by any party to derive any political mileage from the move and no event shall be organised for renaming the station.

Following clearances from the Centre, Tamil Nadu government on Friday renamed Chennai railway station as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr M G Ramachandran Central Railway Station. “The name of Chennai Central Railway Station situated in Chennai, Chennai district, Tamil Nadu, shall be changed as per the following schedule, from the date of issuance of this notification,” chief secretary Girija Vaidyanathan said in her order, which has been notified in an extraordinary gazette. The state cabinet had passed a resolution in September last year, recommending the Centre to rename the station on the sidelines of the former chief minister’s centenary celebrations.

Wasting no time, the Union home ministry headed by Rajnath Singh communicated its ‘no objection’ to the change of name on March 9. The Railway Board under Piyush Goyal’s ministry received the election commission’s clearance on March 20, within less than a week of its request. In a communication to the chief secretary on March 26, a copy of which is available with TOI, Railway Board executive director passenger marketing, Neeraj Sharma, conveyed the election commission’s “no objection”, exempting it from the purview of the model code of conduct. However, it came with some conditions.

One of the conditions is that, “There shall be no inaugural function in which political parties are invited either by the ministry and or by the Tamil Nadu government.” No hoardings of the former chief minister along with political leaders of Tamil Nadu shall be displayed on this occasion anywhere till the election process is completed was another condition. Yet another condition was: No other propaganda shall be undertaken by any political party in print/electronic and any other form of media to derive any political mileage from the renaming of the station. Southern Railway general manager in charge of Tamil Nadu and chief electoral officer of Tamil Nadu shall ensure strict observance/enforcement of the instructions.

Modi, while participating in the election rally at Kilambakkam on March 6, announced the decision to rename the station.

Puratchi Thalaivar Dr M G Ramachandran Central Railway Station

Hosp gets nod for spl cancer therapy

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:07.04.2019

Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre has got the approval of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board to use highdose isotope therapy to test treatments for thyroid and neuroendocrine cancers. Isotopes are radioactive material that can kill the cancer cells, but AERB regulates the safe usage of these.

A press release said it has been providing nuclear scans and low-dose isotope therapies since 1995. “SRMC now has all facilities for diagnosis and treatment of various cancers,” the release said.

DREGS OF A TANK

RUNNING DRY: Reflecting the looming water scarcity in the city, a duck struggles to quench its thirst at an almost dry Kapaleeswarar temple tank in Mylapore on Saturday. Peak summer is still away but the levels of lakes are significantly low as compared to last year. The combined storage at the Poondi, Cholavaram and Red Hills reservoirs is 632mcft now. It was 3,279mcft water last April

As pilots fail to turn up, flyers wait inside aircraft for two hours

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:07.04.2019

Passengers of a Chennai-Delhi Indigo flight (6E 2976) had a tough time after they were forced to remain inside the parked aircraft for about two hours as the pilots failed to turn up on time on Saturday morning.

As the airline staff struggled to arrange an alternative, the cabin crew offered snacks and beverages to the passengers.

The flight, which was scheduled to depart at 6.30am, finally took off at 8am. Passengers boarded the flight at 6am via shuttle buses. “There was an update about 30 minutes after the flight was supposed to take off that there was going to be a delay due to operational reasons,” said Ankita Bose, a passenger.

On further questioning, the crew said the pilot wasn’t unavailable and then that he was at the international terminal going through customs. Passengers began to get agitated as there was no clarity about the reason or how long they would have to wait, she said. The air conditioning worked intermittently and a few passengers complained of stuffiness.

A statement from Indi-Go said, “Due to operational reasons, an alternative crew was required to be arranged to operate this flight. This caused a delay of one hour and 36 minutes. Our crew kept the passengers informed of the delay. We regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers.” An airport official said, “In such situations, airlines try to bring in the alternative crew as quickly as possible and operate the flight because disembarking of passengers will mean further delay and loss of take-off slot for the flight during the early morning peak hour.”

Osmania Medical College top official nabbed by ACB

By Author   TelanganaToday |

 Published: 4th Apr 2019 8:53 pm

Hyderabad: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday arrested Bhukya Balaji, Head of the General Medicine Department at the Osmania Medical College (OMC) for allegedly demanding money from medical students to pass them in the semester examination.

On March 2, Balaji called some students and told them that the exam did not go well and they were at risk of failing in the examination. He asked them to meet him the next day. When students met Balaji, he took their hall tickets and their contact numbers.

On March 3 evening, Balaji called and informed students that he was taking a risk to get them passed for which he demanded Rs.50,000 from each. When the students told him that they could not afford to pay such a huge amount, Balaji did not agree and insisted on to pay the amount.

He forwarded a photograph of a cheque in the name of one Rathlavath Srinu’s account name through WhatsApp to students and asked them to send a screen shot of the transaction to his WhatsApp number. On the same day, students transferred an amount of Rs.75,000 to Srinu’s account through Tez/Google Pay.

Based on a complaint received from students, the ACB registered a case after due preliminary inquiry and searches were carried out at Balaji’s office in OMC in Koti and residence in DD Colony. Police said many incriminating documents showing collection of money from medical college students were seized.

Documents related to sale and purchase of properties in his name and his family members were also found, according to a press release issued by ACB. The ACB officials produced Balaji before the special court for ACB cases after which he was remanded in judicial custody.

Anyone, who is acquainted with any facts and complaints pertaining to the same case, can forward them to ACB on WhatsApp number: 79010 99398. In case of demand of bribe by any employee of medical education department, the students and public can contact ACB’s toll-free number 1064 for taking action as per law.

Fake ticket racket in STC: 3 staff suspended

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | ZAKEER HUSSAIN

Published  Apr 6, 2019, 2:25 am IST

However, officials here then quizzed the conductor on duty that day on that particular route and a careful examination of the ticket.

The conductor on that TNSTC bus route from Salem had endorsed the cash payment behind the ticket, but the passenger had reportedly not cared to collect the remaining amount on alighting at Coimbatore that day.

SALEM: An alleged racket in printing of counterfeit tickets for buses operated by the State-owned Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) has come to light in Salem division, leading to the suspension of three departmental staff working as cashiers in the Erumapalayam depot here.

Official sources said on Friday that the racket in printing fake bus tickets was detected when a passenger had come to the superintendent’s office at the new bus terminus here, showed the ticket he had purchased on board a Salem-Coimbatore bus recently. He demanded that the department return the cash owed to him as he had given a Rs 2,000 currency note for purchasing the ticket priced at Rs 101, while travelling from Avinashi to Coimbatore.

The conductor on that TNSTC bus route from Salem had endorsed the cash payment behind the ticket, but the passenger had reportedly not cared to collect the remaining amount on alighting at Coimbatore that day.

However, officials here then quizzed the conductor on duty that day on that particular route and a careful examination of the ticket revealed that it was a counterfeit bus ticket.

Further inquiries revealed that three employees in the Erumapalayam, who had been recruited for the post of conductor few years ago, had been working as cashiers in the depot for want of staff and their involvement in printing of counterfeit bus tickets was suspected.

The three staff members had allegedly colluded in printing counterfeit bus ticket books based on serial numbers from earlier printed tickets and circulating the bogus tickets, sources said, adding, pending further investigation, all the three were placed under suspension.