Teachers' recruitment examination to be held in Tuticorin

The examinations to recruit the post-graduate teachers for various subjects conducted by the Teacher Recruitment Board will be held on September 17.

D. Hariharan, Chief Educational Officer, said that 892 candidates are expected to appear for the examinations, which is to be held at Karapettai Nadar Boys Higher Secondary School and Caldwell Higher Secondary school.

The examination will commence at 10 a.m. and end at 1 p.m.

Methods to augment salt production discussed

An interactive session between the `Salt Explorers Group' from Gujarat, a consortium of salt manufacturers, and the salt manufacturers in Tuticorin, was organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), here on Thursday.

The session provided a platform for manufacturers of the two largest salt producing states in the country, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, to exchange the salt production techniques practised in their respective regions and discussed methods to augment the production.

They compared the two salt manufacturing provinces in terms of economic aspects, application of technology, productivity, quality and protection against adverse weather conditions.

Answering queries on the status of the salt industry in Gujarat, Dinesh Manek, team leader of Salt Explorers Group, said unlike in Tamil Nadu, the electricity board in Gujarat had recognised the salt manufacturing sector as a `seasonal industry'. "Hence only minimal electricity charges are levied during monsoon time, which had acted to the advantage of the manufacturers," he added.

Prakash Patel, a senior member of the group, asked manufacturers in Tuticorin to raise the charging of brine in crystallisers to nine inches from the present three inches, to reduce impurities and augment the yield.

He advised the Tuticorin entrepreneurs to reduce the ridges in the saltpans and increase the evaporation area to enhance production.

Michael Motha, Member, Central Advisory Board for Salt, Government of India, presented the status of the salt industry in State.

He said a total of 32,296.45 acres of land is presently under the salt cultivation in the State.

D.R Kodeeswaran, secretary, ICCI, also addressed the session.

Source: The Hindu

Rs. 1,400-cr. shipbuilding yard planned for Tuticorin

The Tuticorin Port Trust plans to establish a shipbuilding yard on its premises on an outlay of Rs. 1,400 crore, to be built on build-operate-transfer (BOT) or lease basis.

Korea Maritime Consultants Company Limited, which conducted a feasibility study, submitted its report to the port authorities a few days ago.

Speaking to The Hindu , N.K. Raghupathy, Chairman, TPT, said the proposed facility would be established on 49.68 hectares — 31.68 ha of reclaimed area and 18 ha of waterfront. "We plan to build six Panamax-size vessels every year," he said.

The yard would have a building dock of 390 metres in length, 65 metres in breadth and 10 metres in height and five berths with a total length of 1,200 metres.

The other facilities include a pipe fabrication and assembly unit, pre-erection yard, galvanising unit, hull fabrication section and provision to stack steel, pipes and hull blocks.

About 60,000 to 66,000 tonnes of steel meant for shipbuilding would be handled at the yard in a year.

Mr. Raghupathy said the yard would provide employment to 5,000 persons.

"The ancillary units that will come up once the yard is established will generate more jobs," he said.

Construction of the yard would be completed in four years, once the Centre accorded statutory clearance, he said.

Source: The Hindu

Sand mining in Vaipar river stayed

he Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has stayed sand mining in the Vaipar river near Atrangarai village in Tuticorin district after admitting a PIL filed on behalf of the people of nearby Kalkuzhi village.

A Division Bench comprising Justice P K Mishra and Justice K Venkataraman, which stayed the sand mining for a week, ordered the Tuticorin district collector to reply within a week to the allegations raised in the PIL.

The petitioner, K Velappan, a retired Highways engineer, submitted that illegal mining was being done on a large scale on the Vaipar river bed near the check-dam, even though it was banned under the Tamil Nadu Minor Minerals Mining Rules.

Besides, the Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage Board had sunk borewells near the point. "As per rules, mining should not be done within a radius of 500 metres from borewell or dam." Near the dam, there were eight wells which provided water to those living along the banks of the river.

The river also received water only during the rainy season when the wells were recharged. If the sand was removed, the wells would go dry. Following the public demand, the Kovilpatti tahsildar had promised that mining would not be done.

The district collector had told the people of Kalkuzhi that mining was being done to help free flow of water to Melmanthai village. But Melmanthai people denied that they had given any complaint about water inflow and said they had only asked the collector to desilt a small irrigation channel branching away from the river, the petitioner contended.

Source: Chennai Online

Tuticorin villagers fight sand quarrying

People living in forty villages in the Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu have taken matters into their own hands.

They have launched a movement to stop the state government from quarrying sand on the Vaipaar river bed.

Sand mining could deprive them of their only source of ground water.

It's a fight to save the River Vaipaar from sand mining in Tuticorin district.

The seasonal river, which is just three kilometer away from the sea, is the only source of ground water for over thirty villages with a population of about forty thousand.

"If we allow sand quarrying, all of us will have to starve. We can manage without food. But how will you save people without water to drink," said a villager.

Over the years, illegal sand mining has depleted the river bed upto fifteen feet. Sea water has seeped in, making the ground water saline and unfit for consumption in fifteen villages.

To make things worse, now the district administration has decided to start quarrying on the river, something the local people are determined to stop at any cost.

"If sea water seeps in, nobody can live here. We will have to vacate the village," added another villager.

"We never used to take water for our cattle while grazing. Now ground water has gone down and there is no water," said the villager.

While the district Collector is out of station, the officials in charge are unable to take a decision.

"We've understood the apprehension of the villagers. The Collector is away. Soon after he comes we'll take a final decision on this," said Sudarmanipandian, RDO, Kovilpatti.

The AIADMK government had brought sand quarrying under the direct control of the government to boost it's revenue. The DMK government has followed suit.

And any living river is looked at as a goose laying golden eggs. The helpless people are hoping against hope that the government will spare the river which is their lifeline.

Source: NDTV

Tuticorin College Won Women's Championship

In the two-day MUTA athletics meet for colleges affiliated to Madurai Kamaraj and Manonmaniam Sundaranar Universities, which concluded at the Anna Stadium here on Sunday.

Yadava College, Madurai, won the men's team championship with a total of 31 points, while St. Mary's College, Tuticorin (MS University) won the women's team championship with a total of 52 points.

Mr. A.V. Bellarmin, Member of Parliament, Nagercoil, distributed the prizes in the presence of Dr. R. Murugan, Presdient, MUTA.

World conference on Ornamental fish !! - Tuticorin Professor Invited

Tuticorin Kamaraj college profesor,MR.Sakthivel is been invited to China for the World Conference on ornamental fish.Research scientist from 53 countries are expected to attend this conference.

Buckle Channel:

The State Government will revive the historic Buckle Channel passing through Tuticorin on a war footing, where free flow of water is blocked now, according to M.K. Stalin, Minister for Local Administration.

Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, he said desilting and de-weeding would be carried out wherever it was found necessary, after a study.

"Moreover, we will lay blacktop roads along both sides of the five-km channel, which was constructed to drain rainwater from the town to the sea, and beautify its surroundings."

Fencing - taking roots in Tuticorin:

One more sport has taken roots in Tuticorin. When highly enthusiastic boys and girls of Under 17 Category clad in a different outfits span the steel blades in air on Wednesday, the spectators, who hitherto saw the sport only on television sets, had a feel of fencing for the first time.

To promote and popularise this sport in Tuticorin district, the Superintendent of Police, J.Y. Nicholson, who actually introduced fencing in Tirunelveli also when he was the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Tirunelveli, decided to conduct the 4th State-level U-17 fencing competitions here.

And his invitation elicited tremendous response from students across the State, as 250 students from 21 districts participated in the three-day event.

The winners of this competition will represent Tamil Nadu in the national-level meet to be held at Guwahati, Assam, between August 24 and 27.

"Since Tamil Nadu won the championship in the last edition of the national-level meet held at Kozhikode, Kerala, we'll go all out to defend the title this time also," said the general secretary of Tamil Nadu Fencing Association, D. Nagappan.

Tuticorin college wins quiz contest

The team from Tuticorin Medical College topped the inter-district quiz finals, "India Quiz - 2006", held at Srimathi Indira Gandhi College on Sunday, conducted by the Rotary Club of Tiruchi Midtown. The immediate runner-up was for the team from Gandhigram Rural Institute, Dindigul.

The initial round revolved around the Indian Vedic period, which proved to be a sure bet for all the teams. Questions such as `which is the world's largest satellite system? (INSAT)', `who was the first to propose the law of gravity? (Bhaskaracharya in his book `Suryasiddhantham')' and `who was the first to use a rocket in warfare? (Tipu Sultan)' proved to be a greater challenge for students.

Seethalakshmi Ramaswami College, Tiruchi and VVV College, Sivakasi got past the first round but Tuticorin Medical College took charge of rest of the rounds.

The quizmaster S. Muralidharan of SMD Consultancy, Coimbatore, impressed the audience with a lot of extra information.

Each of the winners, S. Maniram Krishna and S. Bharani Velan, from Tuticorin Medical College were awarded a LG laptop computer and the first runner-up team, A. Balaji and Kuldip Gyaneshwar, from Gandhigram Rural Institute walked away with Nokia communicative mobiles.

With a participation of one-lakh students from 125 colleges, various rounds were conducted at the respective districts. The district finals was held at Campion Anlgo-Indian Higher Secondary School following which six teams were selected from the semi-finals conducted at P. S. N. A. Engineering College, Dindigul.

The chief guest of the occasion was the All India Co-Convener of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, S. Gurumurthy and the District Governor, RI District 3000, M. Rajasekaran distributed the prizes to the teams.

Cash prizes given away to students

The Collector R. Palaniyandi gave away cash prizes to eight students from Adi Dravidar community who had excelled in the last SSLC and Higher Secondary examinations from the district, at a function held here on Monday.

C. Anbarasu from Tuticorin and M. Kaleeswari from Ottapidaram received Rs.3,000 from the Collector for their academic excellence in the Higher Secondary examinations.

K. Senthil Kumar and P S Preethigouri received Rs 1,000 each, T. Stan and M. Kavitha got Rs.500 each and G.Thangapandi and Deepika received Rs.300 each for scoring good marks in the SSLC examinations.

Dr. Palaniyandi then gave away a tricycle to Manickam, a differently abled person from Chockalingapuram. The beneficiary had given a petition to the Collector last week and sought assistance.

Source: The Hindu

Distribution of application forms for unemployment dole begins

The Department of Employment and Training started issuing application forms to the public to avail themselves of the unemployment assistance to be provided by the Government monthly.

Paul Thangam, District Employment Officer, said the forms were issued to those who had registered five years back with the employment exchange and yet remained unemployed.

The maximum age of the applicant should not have exceeded 40 years in the case of a general candidate and 45 years for those belonging to SC/ST category.

"Even if the applicant satisfied the age criterion, his/her family income should be below Rs.2,000 per month," Mr Thangam said.

On the other norms, he said the candidate should either have studied in the State or his/her parents should have lived in the State for more than 15 years.

To the successful applicants, Rs.300 a month would be given as unemployment assistance, if the candidate was a graduate, Rs.200 to those who had passed higher secondary level and Rs.150 a month to those who had passed SSLC.

Source: The Hindu

Employment of child workers to be banned

The district administration will prohibit employment of children below 14 years of age from October 10 as domestic workers or servants and in hospitality sector such as dhabas (roadside eateries), resorts, spas and other recreational centres.

M. Nallaperumal, Project Director, National Child Labour Project (NCLP), said the ban was necessitated since the children in these occupations were forced to work for long hours without proper sleep.

Moreover, they were not given proper toilet facilities and were forced to undertake various activities, which are hazardous in nature.

While got employed, the children will have to stay far away from the parental care and were at the mercy of the employers.

"Under such conditions, the health and psyche of the children would be affected and hence the decision," Mr. Nallaperumal said.

At times, the children were even subjected to physical and sexual abuse, which mostly went unreported since it had taken place within the confines of a household or dhaba.

The Project Director said the ban on employment of children as domestic workers and in the hospitality sector would be an important step towards the elimination of child labour in the district before the end of 2007.

He said an action plan would be prepared by the administration in association with the civil society to impose the ban effectively in the district.

Source: The Hindu

Credit-linked revolving fund subsidy for women SHGs

The Tamil Nadu Corporation for Development of Women Limited (TNCDWL) will extend `credit-linked revolving fund subsidy' to the women self-help groups functioning in the municipal and town panchayat limits in the district from this fiscal.

Till now, the corporation was offering the subsidy only to the women SHGs from village panchayats, under various schemes like Swarnajayanthi Grama Swarozgar Yojana.

M. Madasamy, Project Officer, TNCDWL, said the Government would offer the subsidy at the rate of Rs.10,000 to each group, with the remaining Rs.30,000 to come in the form of credit from financial institutions.

He said the financial assistance could be utilised for internal lending and micro-credit.

Since Rs.10,000 was considered as subsidy grant, banks would charge interest only on the credit component.

Mr. Madasamy said a total of 1,453 women SHGs functioning in the 19 town panchayats and 1,831 groups in the three municipalities had been short-listed for the scheme.

Of this, the subsidy would be disbursed only to those groups that had passed the first round of grading as per the criteria set by the Government.

Mr. Madasamy said that internal lending, audit of accounts, thrift, refund of credit and maintenance of records, pertaining to each group would be scrutinised for grading.

"Those groups which score 60 per cent would be selected as beneficiaries," he said.

The successful groups could apply to the banks for the release of the subsidy to them through TNCDWL.

Source: The Hindu

Oilseeds production set to get a boost in Tuticorin

With the demand for edible oils on the rise, the Department of Agriculture has chalked out plans to augment production of oilseeds in the district on an outlay of Rs. 5.53 lakh during the current fiscal.

The amount was earmarked under the Integrated Scheme of Oilseeds, Pulses, Oil palm, and Maize (ISOPM) of the Union Ministry of Agriculture.

Speaking to The Hindu , S. Subramaniam, Joint Director of Agriculture, said the production and productivity of oilseeds such as groundnut, gingelly and sunflower would be enhanced through area expansion, efficient crop management practices, and soil and moisture conservation techniques.

"We will increase the area under oilseed cultivation from 8,000 ha in the last fiscal to 11,000 ha before March 31, 2007," he added.

Of this, gingelly would be cultivated on 6,800 ha, groundnut on 3,000 ha and sunflower on 1,200 ha.

Similarly, productivity of groundnut would be increased from 1,667 kg per ha in the last fiscal to 1,800 kg per ha, gingelly from 223 kg per ha to 300 kg per ha, and sunflower from 363 kg per ha to 500 kg per ha, before the end of the fiscal.

Under ISOPM, assistance would be provided to farmers for the production of certified seeds, and procurement of bio fertilizers and irrigational gadgets.

For the production of certified seeds, the department will first purchase breeder seeds from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU). The seeds would then be multiplied into certified class seeds at the farmers' holdings, with subsidy given to the ryots at each stage of conversion.

The other assistances included distribution of rhizobium culture to economise the nitrogenous fertilizer usage and supply of plant protection equipment, all at subsidies rates.

"A total of 10 hand-operated sprayers will be distributed, at a subsidy of 50 per cent of the cost of a sprayer or Rs. 800 per unit, whichever is less," Mr Subramanian said.

He said pipes of 75 mm in diameter would be supplied to the oilseed cultivators under subsidised rates, for irrigation.

Source: The Hindu

Minister lays foundation stone for three bridges

The Minister for Highways and Ports M.P. Saminathan laid the foundation stone for three bridges in the district on an outlay of Rs.1,168 lakh at a function at Srivaikundam near here on Tuesday.

A new high-level bridge will be constructed on the Major District Road connecting Srivaikundam with Tiruchendur, situated about 30 km from Tiruchendur, at a cost of Rs.818 lakh.

The remaining projects included construction of a bridge on the Tuticorin-Tiruchendur MDR at a cost of Rs.330 lakh and another one at Sattankulam along the State Highway stretch connecting Alwarthirunageri with Valliyoor at a cost of Rs.20 lakh.

The PWD sources said 95 per cent of the total project cost of Rs.1,168 lakhs was taken as loan from the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.

The remaining amount was taken from the State Exchequer.

The entire works were expected to be completed before December 31, 2008.

New projects

Delivering address, Mr. Saminathan said the Government had taken up highways development works to the tune of Rs.2,461 crore in the State.

"They included laying of new roads at a cost of Rs.550 crore and strengthening and maintenance of roads and bridges at a cost of Rs.801 crore, with the remaining amount to be utilised for other works."

The Minister said steps would be taken to fill the 270 posts of junior and assistant engineers and 500 road inspectors in the Highways Department.

Mr. Saminathan along with the Minister for Animal Husbandry Geetha P Jeevan distributed pension benefits worth Rs.6.73 lakh to eight government servants, who superannuated recently.

They also jointly gave away a solatium of Rs.1.5 lakh to the kin of a road worker who died in harness recently.

The Collector R. Palaniyandi, and the Divisional Engineers of the Highways Department, V. Jesudas and Selvaraj were present.

Source: The Hindu

Proposed pilots academy site may be shifted

Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran on Saturday said the Centre was exploring the possibility of shifting the site of the proposed Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Aeronautical Science and Training and Pilots Academy from Sriperumbudur to Vellore, as "operational and technical problems in the air corridor" over Sriperumbudur had been brought to its notice.

He was addressing a function at Raj Bhavan where a special postal cover was released by Tamil Nadu Governor S.S. Barnala to mark the commemoration of 75 years of Madras Flying Club. Chief Postmaster General, Tamil Nadu Circle, Radhika Doraiswamy, was present.

Mr. Maran said the Centre was committed to starting the state-of-the-art training academy named after former Prime MinisterRajiv Gandhi, who was a trained pilot.

He urged Southern Regional Executive Director of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) K. Ramalingam to work in tandem with the State government and the Centre for creating airport infrastructure not only in major international airports but also in tier II towns such as Tiruchi, Madurai and Coimbatore, and in lesser known idle airstrips.

"I want the AAI to lay runways over 9,000 ft to facilitate direct wide-bodied jet operations to transport passengers and cargo," Mr. Maran said. "Our endeavour should be to remove the licence raj regime and to think big by displaying foresightedness."

Expressing happiness over the current boom witnessed in the civil aviation sector with the opening up of the skies to more private airlines by policies announced by Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Praful Patel, Mr. Maran said the Department of Information Technology was working on a software programme to facilitate easy completion of the Radio Telephone Examination conducted by the Union Ministry of Telecommunications to help budding pilots.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Barnala said job opportunities in the aviation field were expected to grow further considering the boom in the civil aviation sector. There would be more demand for pilots, flight attendants, aircraft and avionics equipment mechanics and service technicians. Mr. Barnala said flying was a responsible job with no room for errors. It required resourcefulness and pilots had to be vigilant and alert all the time. "I am confident that when young men and women are given opportunities for training, they will come out in flying colours."

Dr. Ramalingam, who gave an account of the quantum jump in aircraft movement and passenger traffic in the country, said there were 28 State-owned flying clubs/schools and 11 private flying schools.

Over 17 private organisations had applied for space in Tuticorin, Pondicherry, Madurai, Tiruchi, Salem and Vellore for establishing flying schools.

Vellore Collector Dharmendra Pratap Yadav wanted the AAI to upgrade the airstrip in the town to handle Madras Flying Club's activities and declare it a new "cargo hub" by adding more operational facilities including a larger runway.

Source: The Hindu

Don't dismantle SEBs, says expert

The former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, M.R. Srinivasan, argued against dismantling the State Electricity Boards and called for reforming them into professional and commercial entities.

Delivering his keynote address at a seminar on "Review of Electricity Act-2003 for protecting electricity boards from un-bundling and privatisation" on Saturday, Dr. Srinivasan said: "We should also consolidate the public sector which, in any case, has played a pioneering role in building power sector to the present position." The seminar was organised by the Electricity Employees Federation of India, the Central Organisation of Tamil Nadu Electricity Employees and the Tamil Nadu Power Engineers' Organisation.

Pointing out that the Boards were subjected to constant political and bureaucratic pressures, Dr. Srinivasan said: "If the SEBs had been allowed to function in an autonomous, commercial and technical environment, we would not be having the situation we have been experiencing for the past few decades."

In the approach paper to the Eleventh Plan, he explained, it had been assumed that the only way theft and losses could be eliminated was by entrusting distribution to the private sector.

While this could be one way, there was no reason to assume that the public sector distribution companies cannot achieve these results.

Referring to the electricity generation situation in Tamil Nadu, Dr. Srinivasan suggested expansion of lignite-based generation in the Neyveli region; coal-based generation with imported coal, if necessary, at Tuticorin; LNG generation at Ennore; if an LNG terminal came there, natural gas-based generation at Ennore if gas was piped in from the Krishna-Godavari basin and additional nuclear power units at Kundankulam. "While Tamil Nadu is presently surplus in generation, it must not become complacent. It is well poised to act as supplier of electricity to Karnataka and Kerala on a long-term basis."

Dr. Srinivasan also spoke of the high quality of the technical manpower of the SEBs.

"They must acquire new skills and specialisation as the technology was improving. They must ensure that the investments made in the power sector yielded the best results and the assets were maintained in top condition. We must also create opportunities for constant upgradation of the skills and expertise of the engineers and technicians in the power sector," he added.

Source: The Hindu

Two held with ration rice

The police seized 2,580 kilogram of rice meant for Public Distribution System stored illegally in a godown at Krishnarajapuram near here on Wednesday. Madasamy and Thavam were arrested.

According to the police, a team comprising the Superintendent of Police John Nicholson, the Inspector N.K. Stanley Jones and a few policemen raided the godown owned by Thavam. The rice bags were found stacked in the godown, which was originally meant to store salt.

Source: The Hindu

Enhance basic amenities in panchayat: CPI (M)

Traffic was disrupted along Tuticorin-Rameswaram road for about two hours after the Communist Party of India (Marxist) cadres staged a road roko at North Chotaianthoppu near here on Wednesday.

The agitators sought enhancement of basic amenities and other infrastructure at Mappilayoorani panchayat.

They alleged that the authorities concerned had given a step motherly treatment to the panchayat when carrying out development works.

The major demands of the cadres included augmentation of drinking water supply, establishment of a bus stand for mini-buses at Thalamuthu Nagar, streetlights at Jyothi Basu Nagar and Gandhi Nagar, a doctor for the Primary Health Centre at Alangarathattu, and free house site pattas to the people who had set up their base at Mappilayoorani panchayat for the past few decades.

As tension mounted, officials from the departments of revenue, police, panchayat administration and the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board led by the Tahsildar S. Balasubramanian held talks with the agitators to pacify them.

On an assurance from the officials that water supply to the region would be augmented before October 31 with the introduction of the Mangalakurichi water scheme, a suitable site for the bus stand at Thalamuthu Nagar would be selected soon, and stagnant sewage water removed from Saveriyarpuram, the cadres withdrew their agitation.

The officials also told them that steps would be taken to replace 45 old poles that support electricity supply connections at the panchayat would be replaced soon.

Mr. Balasubramanian said the remaining demands would also be addressed duly.

On the demand for a doctor at the Alangarathattu PHC, he said it was a state subject to be addressed by the Government.

Source: The Hindu