Coimbatore Live

Health camp for rescued children

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:57:23 PST

he National Child Labour Project (NCLP) organised a medical camp in Thondmauthur recently for child workers from Assam who were rescued from the areca nut farms here and are studying at two special schools in Thondamuthur.

According to a release from the NCLP project director D. Vijayakumar about 110 children attended the camp. They were diagnosed with nutrition deficiency, digestion problems, skin allergy and cough and cold.

Two children were referred to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital for further treatment. Medicines were given to the rest with assistance from the NOVA Foundation and primary health centre.

Conference on Arbitration

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:54:43 PST

The Nani Palkhivala Arbitration Centre, Chennai and Singapore International Arbitration Centre will organise a conference here on November 17 on “Strengthening Arbitration in India: Sharing Concerns and Finding Solutions.”

Some of the topics to be discussed at the meet are: arbitration – a Singapore perspective, arbitration in India – concerns, role of courts in arbitration, advantages of institutional arbitration, negotiating and drafting effective arbitration and mediation clauses with special reference to Small and Medium Enterprises. Retired judge of the Supreme Court of India P.K. Balasubramanyan will inaugurate the conference.

About 200 participants are expected. For registrations, contact: N.V. Sreejaya, Advocate ( sreemerv@gmail.com)

Development works in CBE Rly station ..

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:53:46 PST

Development works and passenger amenities related works are under way in various stations of the Southern Railway at an outlay of over Rs 10,000 crore, said M.S. Jayanth, General Manager of Southern Rialway on Sunday.He also pointed out that Rail Over Bridge construction is on at 12 places and proposals are in final stages with regard to 40 places in Tamil Nadu.

He inspected the Coimbatore Railway Junction, North Junction, Peelamedu and Irugur junctions and discussed the development works. He also inspected the Coimbatore - Irugur railway line doubling work.He was accompanied by Salem Railway Divisional Manager P.N. Ram, Chief Engineer Bola Singh, Chief Planning and Design Engineer M. Satish.Mr. Jayanth inspected the cleanliness at the junction, platforms and waiting hall.

He reviewed the plans for the proposed foot under bridge and foot over bridge planned for Coimbatore Junction for decongesting the junction premises.He also directed for putting up boards displaying the parking fee and heard the passengers on the “exorbitant increase” in parking fee at the North Coimbatore Junction.He had a meeting with the Members of Parliament, P.R. Natarajan (Coimbatore) and K. Sugumar (Pollachi). He said that considering the increasing passenger density, the Southern Railway has proposed an additional train on the Coimbatore - Nagercoil sector.

Mr. Jayanth said that the railway line doubling works between the Coimbatore and Irugur sections are nearing completion and efforts are on to have safety trial runs and Rail Safety authorities have been requested for conducting the same to throw the section open soon.To ease congestion at the counters, Mr. Jayanth said that next to Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram, a proposal is under consideration for automatic ticket vending machine at Coimbatore and would become functional very soon.

Considering the fact that 60 per cent of the passengers are now opting for e-tickets and only 40 per cent use the counters, Mr. Jayanth said that a proposal is under consideration for ticket vending through private sector at the rate of Re 1 as commission per ticket.Southern Railway was witnessing an increase of 2 lakh passengers increasing per day in Southern Railway and said that efforts are on to provide them with all amenities.

He said that line doubling in respect of 320 km and broad gauge conversion in respect of 122 km are in full swing in Southern Railway.

Heavy rainfall in district !

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:45:59 PST

All schools and colleges in Coimbatore and Tirupur districts will be closed on Monday in view of heavy rain, the district administration said on Sunday following instructions from the State Government.

Bharathiar University said all examinations scheduled by it for Monday were cancelled. Fresh dates would be announced later, it said.The heavy rain that lashed the city and suburbs since Saturday afternoon left many stretches flooded. Clogged drains in some places added to the agony of road users. After a halt for about three hours in the afternoon, heavy rain pounded these areas throughout evening.

Traffic on Big Bazaar Street was disrupted in the morning as the Lanka Corner underpass near the Coimbatore Railway Junction was flooded. The Coimbatore Corporation used its water tanker to pump water out of the underpass and enable full traffic to resume.

Supervised

Mayor R. Venkatachalam, Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra and officials of the Corporation supervised the de-flooding measures.A portion of the Corporation’s road, off Tiruchi Road, was washed away on Saturday night. Highways officials said traffic had been diverted on this road for some days as works to widen the Tiruchi Road were on.Shrubs and waste being washed away towards Singanallur clogged a culvert at this spot. Water overflowing from the canal washed away a portion of the road.

A Highways official said restoration works were taken up early and traffic was restored by afternoon.There was heavy flow in River Noyyal that brings water to about 10 tanks in and around the city. Water overflowed from the Siruvani Dam for the third time this year. The dam recorded 92 mm rain till 8.30 a.m. on Sunday.

Good inflow

The Corporation said the dam was still recording good inflow as there was heavy rain in the catchments.The dam being filled to its capacity of 650 million cubic feet at this time of the year was heart warming for the civic body as it supplied drinking water to one half of the city. Now, the normal rainfall in the North-East Monsoon would help in maintaining a good storage during next summer.

Water level

The water level in the Sholayar Dam was 150.66 ft as against the full reservoir level of 160 ft.The inflow into the reservoir was 832 cusecs and the discharge was 144 cusecs.The level in Parambikulam Dam was 71.12 ft as against the full reservoir level of 72 ft. The inflow was 3,117 cusecs and the discharge was 315 cusecs.The water level in Thirumurthy Dam was 41.96 ft as against the full reservoir level of 60 ft.The inflow was 2,136 cusecs and the discharge was 13 cusecs. The water level in Amaravathy Dam was 59.86 ft as against the full reservoir level of 90 ft. The inflow was 9,453 cusecs and the discharge was five cusecs.

The rainfall level (in mm) is as follows: Sholayar (58), Parambikulam (98), Aliyar (200), Thirumurthy (173), Amaravathy (173), Upper Nirar (74), Lower Nirar (96), Uppar (51), Thoonacadavu (102), Peruvaripallam (105), Valparai (70), Vettaikaranpudur (175), Pollachi (148), Sultanpet (60), Pongalur (65), Kangeyam (78), Navamalai (264), Sarcarpathy (220), Vellakoil (86.2), Palladam (53) and Negamam (57).

New ways of marketing !!

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:45:35 PST

TWO MAJOR problems plague the agriculture sector: the first, lowering input costs, and the other, proper marketing. If these two are addressed then the farmers’ economic status will improve.“Though marketing fruits and vegetables at the right time become’s imperative to get a good price, the fact is many of our farmers are unaware of the daily market prices and often depend on middlemen, who easily exploit them. Many of these brokers often work on an established network and quote the same (low) price.

Severe liability

“A small farmer who lacks information on the right price often sells the produce to the middlemen as storing his produce is simply not possible,” says Prof. E. Vadivel, Project officer, e- Extension Centre, Directorate of Extension Education, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore.To a small and marginal farmer, selling his produce at the earliestensures some cash flow in his hands for repaying his debts. This scenario persists in the country since independence.

Daily information

“With a view to helping such farmers overcome this problem our University recently started the e-Extension centre, to provide information on the daily rates for different produces in the state to our farmers.“After careful study and extensive tours to different places we chose about 13 markets for implementing this scheme: Kochi (Kerala), Chennai, Coimbatore, Ottanchatram, Tiruchi, Hosur, Kumbakonam, Madurai, Mettupalayam, Panruti, Thalaivasal, Tirunelveli (all in Tamil Nadu) and Bangalore (Karnataka),” explains Prof Vadivel.

These major markets handle more than 100 tonnes of perishable produce on a daily basis, and influence the flow of perishable commodities mainly in the four southern States.

Market committees

Further, the Market Committees functioning in each market are willing to provide information to the centre. About 13 market analysts (Agricultural and Allied sciences graduates) stayed near different markets and collected the daily market price from both wholesalers and retailers, compiled it and sent it to the University by 11 am every day.The rates are ready to be viewed by 1.00 pm by logging on to www.agritech.tnau.ac.in both English and Tamil.“In the initial period, the analyst’s spent a week’s time in the market to study its nature and functioning.

“Their daily visits encouraged a good rapport among the several dealers which helped us to get the right information,” explains Prof. Vadivel.But how many farmers use computers in villages?True, the use of internet by farmers is meagre. However the mobile phone network has expanded in leaps and bounds. Virtually every farmer has a mobile today.

Those with mobiles can easily access this information. Right now, about 3,000 farmers and 200 scientists are already using mobile-based SMS on commodity and market information.In addition market information data base, several farmers association are being linked to both farmers and field extension officials to understand the daily prices of important markets in south India.

Readers can contact Dr. E. Vadivel, Project officer, e- Extension Centre, Directorate of Extension Education, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore – 641 003, website: www.tnau.ac.in and www.agritech.tnau.ac.in, e-mail: info@tnau.ac.in, phone: 0422-6611383.

South is growing !!

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:40:43 PST

About 30 of India’s top 112 cities are located in the four southern states—Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu; but the bulk of them are in India’s most urbanized large state, Tamil Nadu. About half of the state’s population lives in cities and most of these cities have a strong manufacturing base. While Chennai as the state capital is the financial and commercial hub, Thiruvallur also has a large tertiary sector. These two cities with their higher incomes and diversified activity rank at the top of the list of urban markets in the states and among the top 25 of the country. Others that make it to the top 50 urban markets of India include Kancheepuram, Kanyakumari, Madurai and Salem. Kancheepuram, the city of a thousand temples and silk saree centre, has also attracted investment from large production houses—Ford, St Gobain and Hyundai, etc., while steel city Salem is also a major textile centre.

From Karnataka only Bangalore makes it to the top 50 urban markets and Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi rank here. Four of the top 50 urban markets are from Andhra Pradesh: Hyderabad and areas surrounding Rangareddy, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada.

Despite their high ranking in India’s urban markets, it would not be correct to place all four states of the south in the same basket—each has a distinct socio-economic identity. While Tamil Nadu has the highest urbanization level, Kerala has one of the lowest. Yet, incomes in Kerala are high, with a highly literate and skilled population bringing in remittances from abroad. Rural incomes in Kerala are also higher than the levels seen in other states. In fact, in terms of character, it is difficult to distinguish between rural and urban markets in Kerala. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, both larger states, have significant regional imbalances within and urban clusters are few and concentrated.

Karnataka’s urban markets are highly concentrated in the southern part in and around Bangalore. The region around Mangalore ranks a very distant second in the state. Some of the northern parts of Karnataka are not very different from parts of Bihar and UP or even sub-saharan Africa on many socio-economic parameters. The same is true for the region around Dharmapuri in Tamil Nadu. But all in all, urban centres are much better spread in south India. Moreover, they are well networked with surrounding rural areas through a relatively well-maintained rural road network. This ensures that some part of the higher value demand from rural areas is fed by urban areas in these states.

Two factors that have contributed to the success of southern states are good governance and high levels of public security. Law and order has been maintained while bureaucracy has delivered on many fronts, relative to the northern states. Land reforms have also been more successful in Tamil Nadu and Kerala than in other states and a more decentralized government has helped. Moreover, despite being highly dependent upon the international economy, these urban centres have managed to bear the international economic slowdown well—this indicates that these are not only rapidly growing markets, they are also very stable. Manufacturing, services and agriculture have all benefited from good governance and higher education in the region.

Interestingly, though the south will remain an important source of urban consumption, it would not be very different in character from other parts of India. It is becoming fairly clear that socio-economic or cultural differences are not affecting the size or character of urban consumer markets to a large extent. High levels of consumer expenditure are seen in Chennai—what was considered by many to be a conservative spender. Hyderabad shows levels of conspicuous consumption, not very different from New Delhi. Bangalore’s large professional class behaves not very different from that in Mumbai, where consumption expenditures are concerned.

In other words, though all cities are different, with different cultural and socio-economic characteristics, consumption characteristics are not that different once we account for the incomes, education and socio-economic characteristics of the individual consumer.

Narain funds educations needs of 50 students

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:20:46 PST

Education is the key to ensure employment, end poverty and reduce the scope for crimes, said P. Sivanandi, Commissioner of Police, Coimbatore City.

Speaking at a function organised to distribute financial assistance to poor students for pursuing their education on Wednesday, Mr. Sivanandi said that police is trying to be bridge between corporate houses, philanthropists and poor students.Affordability should not deprive poor and underprivileged students from getting educated.

Cordial relations

Lack of employment could lead to poverty and thereby create criminals.Through the gesture of being a facilitator for the education of poor students, the police wanted to foster a cordial and friendly relationship with the people.Mr. Sivanandi lauded K.N. Manivannan, Director of True Value Homes, for providing ten laptops for students and funding higher education of 100 students and also Formula 1 Race driver, Narain Karthikeyan for funding the education needs of 50 students.

Mr. Sivanandi said that already 400 children were getting educational assistance and the same for 100 more children is in the offing. Through this initiative, Mr. Sivanandi said that he wanted the numbers to grow where in 400 children becomes 4,000 children over a period of time.

Gesture

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Narain Karthikeyan said that as a trustee of PSG institutions, the education of girl children is already being taken care of.He thought he should make such gestures open so that more people would come forward to fund the education.Deputy Commissioners of Police, P. Nagarajan (Law and Order), N. Kamini (Crime and Traffic) took part.

No parking allowed in avinashi road on friday

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:04:28 PST

Police Commissioner P. Sivanandi on Wednesday told reporters that in view of the visit of the Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, on Friday to the city, parking of vehicles on either side of Avanashi Road would be banned throughout the day.

Mr. Sivanandi said that the Chief Minister would arrive here by a scheduled aircraft at 9.30 a.m. to take part in the Krishi Vigyan Kendra conference at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.Mr. Sivanandi said that there would not be any traffic diversions except for a brief period during the movement of the Chief Minister’s convoy.Mr. Sivanandi said that nearly 2,000 police personnel would be in deployment on the day of the Chief Minister’s visit.

Earlier, the police officials had an advance security liaison with the officials from the Special Branch (Security) in charge of the security arrangements.Additional Director-General of Police (Law and Order), K. Radhakrishnan is expected to arrive on Thursday to review the arrangements.

Impersonator held

City Police on Tuesday arrested D. Vigneshwaran (23) of Devala in the Nilgiris on charges of posing as constable and and collecting money from people promising to get them employment in police department.Mr. Sivanandi said that G. Karthik Prabhu (19) of Ramanathapuram preferred a complaint stating that Vigneshwaran claiming to work as a constable attached to Race Course Police Station and on duty at CMC Hospital had deceived youth by promising to get jobs in police department.

He had collected Rs. 25,000 from various persons.Karthik Prabhu also alleged that Vigneshwaran had collected Rs. 13,000 as first instalment and was pressurising for paying the remaining Rs. 12,000.Based on the complaint, the police arrested him. Preliminary investigations revealed that he had collected a sum of Rs. 1.30 lakh from various persons hailing from Gudalur, Pandalur, Devala and Valparai.

Investigations are on to ascertain the number of persons cheated by the accused.Deputy Commissioners of Police P. Nagarajan (Law and Order) and N. Kamini (Crime and Traffic) were also present during the press

100 per cent screening in schools begins for H1N1

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:50:30 PST

The City Health Department of the Coimbatore Corporation began on Monday a 100 per cent screening of students in private schools in the city to check for A (H1N1) influenza cases. Two schools were covered on the first day of the drive. This followed a decision of the Government to carry out the screening in Coimbatore after a spurt in the cases of students testing positive for the flu over the last 15 to 20 days.

Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj announced after a review meeting here on Friday that all the students of the private schools in the city would be screened.Doctors and urban health nurses of a Corporation health centre screened students of a private school at Ganapathy, Joint Director of Health M. Duraikannan said. School authorities said the screening was done for 700 students to check whether they had any of the symptoms of the influenza. Another health team from the Corporation screened over 500 students of a school near Ramanathapuram.

Public Health authorities explained that frequently travelling adults, especially by flights, contracted the virus. Before the problem was detected in them, they passed it on to the children at home. From here it spread in the schools.Apart from the screening, doctors and health officials were educating parents and teachers on the importance of early detection and treatment and the need for absolute quarantine or isolation of the infected persons.During the discussions with health officials, the Health Secretary had said there was no need to close the schools.

On the other hand, the detection of cases would be effective if the schools functioned and enabled screening of all the students. Legislators belonging to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam submitted on Monday a memorandum addressed to District Collector P. Umanath, calling for measures to control the spread of the flu.Adequate number of doctors, medicines and effective screening were needed as there was panic among the people over the rise in the number of cases.The Department of Local Administration and the Department of Health should co-ordinate on flu control measures, the memorandum said.

Take all measures to ensure industrial safety, peace

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:47:57 PST

The Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore Rural District, N. Kannan on Monday exhorted the representatives of textile mills and industries to take all measures required for ensuring industrial safety and peace.

Mr. Kannan addressed more than 50 representatives of various industries and mills in the district, wherein he pointed out that Coimbatore happened to be the second city in Tamil Nadu and fourth in the country besides being the 17th city in the global ranking for industrial development. Hence, it is paramount for all stake holders to contribute their share for sustaining this position and to progress further. He said that industrial units should hire able-bodied and agile securities from approved and licensed private security agencies.

While sourcing, iron scrap industries should exercise extra vigil to ensure that explosives in any form never get into the iron scrap stocks. Such unidentified explosives in the form of iron scrap could lead to industrial accidents. Mr. Kannan also expressed the need for providing the work force with identity cards to avoid problems for them inside the factory/mill or even outside. He also exhorted the industrial units and mills to have surveillance mechanisms such as Closed Circuit Televisions for monitoring unlawful activities and this could help even check pilferage.

Similarly, the SP also cautioned workers resorting to strikes and demonstrations without prior notice. The SP said that such meetings with industrialists would be conducted once in three months. Police officers pointed out that there would be a similar meeting with the representatives of trade unions representing the workers. The objective of such meetings is to act as a bridge and ensure that differences never aggregated and industrial safety and peace are maintained well, they added.

Power shutdown

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:43:48 PST

Tamil Nadu Electricity Board has announced that replacement of corroded poles would be taken up in Ramanathapuram area on November 4 and 7 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Hence there would be a power shutdown in the following areas: Kamachiamman Koil Street, Roopa Nagar, Vincent Road, Mayflower Colony, Kamaraja Nagar, Sri Nagar, Indira Nagar, Park Town, Sivaram Nagar and Nataraj Nagar, according to the TNEB release.

Kannan Departmental Stores on expansion

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:49:01 PST

As the texcity is warming up to the opening of two big malls - Fun Republic and Brookfield Plaza by early 2010, the home grown leading retail chain, Shri Kannan Departmental Stores is quietly expanding its network in the Kongu region. It also plans to enter Chennai after a year.

The chain, which clocked a turnover of Rs 290 in 2008-09, recently ventured out of the region to open its first store in Madurai. Now, it has 25 stores, mostly in Coimbatore and Erode and the remaining in smaller cities including Salem, Karur and Tirupur.After Madurai, the next stop for Shri Kannan will be Tiruchi. "We are on an expansion spree and will open one new store every month," Shri Kannan Departmental Stores chairman T Thanushgaran told ET. He said, the retail chain would reach Chennai by 2011 and is planning not less than 20 stores in the state capital.

He said currently the company is reorganising its business and accounting structure. "Like big retailers, we also want to go public and turn this company into a top player in Indian retail market," he added.With big plans on hand, , Mr Thanushgaran, who started the first store in Erode in 1985, is banking on his marketing strategy to grow the retail business. "Costing matters, but when you do bulk business even a small margin will bring profit," he said.

Right from groceries, cosmetics, electronics, stationery items, furniture, clothing to medicines, Shri Kannan is a one-stop-shop for customers. It also sells seasonal products like fire-crackers.
"Apart from opening new stores, we keep increasing our product portfolio. We also manufacture products in-house and sell under our own brand – Shri Kannan," he said. The company is targeting a turnover of Rs 360 crore and Rs 400 crore this fiscal.

The company has a large R&D team to scout for innovative products and also cost-effective sources for direct purchase of different goods. The chain also has its distribution centres at strategic locations. "The business will be viable only when there is easy facilitation of goods transport, because the stores need to be kept well-stocked," he said.Shri Kannan recently ventured into bulk retail under which huge discounts are offered for those buying in large quantities. It opened a wholesaleBazaar in Singanallur to cater to institutional clients like educational institutions, hospitals, offices and small businesses.

Southern Railway to introduce several special trains

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:42:55 PST

With passenger traffic showing tremendous growth, Southern Railway has decided to introduce a large number of special trains and alsoexpand its network by completing before March next year 132 km of doubling works, 333 km of gauge conversion and 20 km of new lines.

"We will be introducing 162 Sabari special trains to meet the festival rush to Sabarimala. It will mark an 18 % increase over last year's 138 special trains. A large number of special trains for Pongal and New Year have also been planned for high-demand routes such as Tuticorin, Nagercoil, Coimbatore and others," said Union minister of state for railways, E Ahmed, after releasing the new railway timetable as well as a new suburban timetable in the city on Friday.

The new timetable has timings for trains under the jurisdiction of Southern Railway, South Central Railway, South Western Railway and Konkan Railway.According to Ahmed, the number of special trains had shot up from 912 during 2008-09 (January-September) to 1,020 this year (for the same period), an increase of 12 %. "The earnings from specials have also gone up from Rs 22 crore to Rs 30 crore," he said.

Ahmed pointed ut that said that the special trains were being run despite an increase in the number of trains allotted in the budget for the zone over the years. "As against the nine new trains introduced last year, 11 new trains have been included in the budget for this year, one of the highest in recent years. The number of train extensions have gone up, from four trains last year to six in current year."

The new timetable states that 28 trains, including the Chennai Central-Erode Yercaud Express, Chennai Central-Mangalore Express, Chennai Central-Coimbatore Express and Chennai Central-Vascodagama Express, will be speeded up by 10 minutes to 90 minutes from Sunday. However, a couple of trains such as the Nellai Express, Kacheguda-Chennai Express, Ananthapuri Express, Nagercoil-Chennai Express and Kovai Express will arrive later based on new timings from Sunday.

"To manage the growing passenger demand, Southern Railway will carry out a massive expansion of the unreserved ticketing system this year. Around 449 unreserved ticket counters will be opened this year, as against 70 last year; 100 new counters have already opened."Ahmed also said that railways were taking "standard measures to ensure security of passengers and trains" in the wake of the Naxalite attack on the Rajdhani Express.

Chamber seeks removal of duty for fibre imports

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:38:34 PST

The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore, has appealed to the Union Government to remove the counter vailing duty and special additional duty for viscose and polyester imports.In a pre-budget memorandum submitted to the Centre, the chamber president Mahendra Ramdas has said that the Customs Duty on all capital goods, spares and accessories for the textile industry should be uniform at five per cent. Benefits under the Technology Upgradation Fund (TUF) scheme for textile units should be available to the units every quarter within a month from the completion of the quarter.

The Central Sales Tax purchases should be eligible for Value Added Tax benefits to reduce the cost for the manufacturers. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh levied VAT when cotton was removed from the State to another. However, there was no tax for depot transfer. The tax should not be levied for cotton transfer from the producing State to others.The Minimum Alternate Tax on the book profit should be 10 per cent and not 15 per cent.

In the new Direct Tax Code Bill, the proposal to charge two per cent tax on gross assets would affect companies with large asset base and do not have sufficient profits. The depreciation for plant and machinery for micro and small units should be increased to 30 per cent as these units should stay competitive in the global market. A scheme similar to the TUF for the textile industry should be introduced for the engineering sector.

The Centre should extend subsidies for roof top solar (photo voltaic) installations, solar energy use in processing units, energy management software and thermal infrared scanners used to detect energy waste, he said.

Local Bodies’ Day celebrations

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:23:27 PST

The Coimbatore Corporation began the Local Bodies’ Day celebrations here on Sunday with a rally by school and college students to generate awareness on hygiene and promised that it would provide greater development in the city through various schemes whose implementation had already begun.Presiding over the celebrations, Mayor R. Venkatachalam sought the support of the public to the schemes that were being implemented by the civic body.He sought their co-operation to specific schemes such as the one for solid waste management.

Stating that the Corporation wanted to ensure hygiene by creating a clean city, he highlighted the efforts taken by Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra in improving the working conditions and health of conservancy workers.Apart from the special grievances redressal camps conducted in the zone offices last week in connection with the celebrations, a week-long camp would be conducted at these offices and the main office to redress the grievances of the public over various civic issues.The Corporation received 364 petitions submitted during the camp last week and steps to solve the problems mentioned in these were announced on Sunday.

The Corporation Commissioner said a lot of works had been initiated to improve various facilities in the city.“We have done well so far and let us do better,” he said while addressing the officials, staff and councillors of the civic body.“Let us strive to implement all the development schemes,” he said.Listing some of the schemes introduced by the State Government, Deputy Mayor N. Karthik said the scheme for the regularisation of house sites in the unapproved layouts was a boon to the residents who had been languishing without basic amenities such as roads, streetlights, drinking water and sewerage lines.

South Zone Chairman P. Pynthamil said the works initiated by the Ministry of Local Administration over the last three years were more than the efforts made over the last 30 years for the development of the cities such as Coimbatore.Efforts had been made in the last three years to bring the local body closer to the people. A proof of the Coimbatore Corporation’s focus on all-round development was manifest in the improvement made in its schools.West Zone Chairman V.P. Selvaraj attributed the developments in cities and towns to the decision of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Government in 1996 to hold elections to local bodies.

Held after a gap of 13 years, the elections brought about the much-needed link between the people and the local bodies, he said.East Zone Chairman S.N. Samy said though a lot of progress had been made, councillors had only 75 per cent satisfaction and it was only 50 per cent among the public.“Let us all take a pledge on this day to create a clean city. Despite rules, the drive against plastic bags is not successful to the desired level. Let us work to create a clean city that we can hand over to the next Council of the Corporation after two years,” he said.

During the function, 34 families were provided Rs.28,000 each to build houses under the Basic Services for the Urban Poor project.A total of Rs.1.37 lakh was provided to 12 thrift societies, under the Swarna Jayanthi Shahari Rozgar Yojana scheme of the Central Government.Prizes were given to 18 students of Corporation schools for winning the first three slots in various competitions held as part of the celebrations.

The Local Body day was celebrated with grandeur in Tirupur on Sunday.To mark the occasion, the Tirupur Corporation administration organised a rally as well as sports and cultural competitions.Mayor K. Selvaraj, Deputy Mayor Senthil Kumar, Corporation Commissioner R. Jayalakshmi, City Health Officer K. R Jawaharlal, councillors and traders took part in the rally which started from Corporation office premises and culminated at Nanjappa Corporation Boys Higher Secondary School.

Official sources said that the rally was aimed at disseminating the role of Panchayat Raj institutions in the overall economic development and social justice in the country, to the general public.The cultural competitions were held for both Corporation staff and for students of various schools run by the local bodies, while sports events had the participation of Corporation councillors, general public and staff of local bodies.In a function held in the evening, Minister for Highways and Minor Ports M.P. Saminathan gave away prizes to the winners of the competitions.

Efforts on for median on two major roads

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:46:06 PDT

The Road Safety cum Traffic Advisory Committee meeting on Friday informed that efforts were underway for bringing in medians on Avanashi Road from Hope College railway over bridge till Avanashi and from Chinthamanipudur to Palladam on Tiruchi Road.

The meeting was presided by District Collector P. Umanath while Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra, Superintendent of Police N. Kannan and others took part. Meeting also asked the officials to ensure proper road markings at the Ganapathy – Athipalayam pirivu on Sathyamangalam Road.On the plea for caution sign boards on National Highways, the meeting informed that measures would be taken to consider the request and implement the same.

On the issue of reconstructing the small/narrow culverts on Mettuppalayam Road, the officials informed that the road was under the custody of National Highways, hence there was delay for taking up the works by State Highways Department. National Highways Department officials informed that a proposal has been sent asking permission for the works to be undertaken by the State Highways Department.The meeting also asked the concerned department to do the needful for setting right the pot holes from Neelambur to Karumathampatti on Avanashi Road to make the stretch motorable.

It was also asked to redesign the median near the CMC Hospital. The meeting also gave instructions for putting up speed breakers for regulating the flow of buses exiting for Palani and Palakkad from the Ukkadam bus stand. Highways authorities were also asked to take up works for constructing centre median from Karupparayan Koil to Convent in Pollachi.A plea for centre median on Huzur Road till Anna Statue could not be conceded, since the road width was not available.

Corporation was requested to take steps for maintaining the underpass beneath the Avanashi Road flyover for the flow of two-wheeler traffic without any hitch especially water stagnation and lighting. Transport Department was asked to consider the request for making the buses with route numbers 3 and 5 ply via Variety Hall Road. Authorities were also asked to evict encroachments in parking areas.

Power generation from Trees !!

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:44:31 PDT

Bio-Fuels Technologies India Private Limited has joined hands with the U.S.-based Clenergen Corporation for generating power from trees.Power generated from coal and hydel projects, atomic power plants and wind mills are not adequate to meet the ever increasing demand for power in India.Trees which are able to generate a minimum of 4,500 kw of power a cubic meter have been identified by Coimbatore based Bio-Fuels and Technologies India Private Limited.

Ganapathy Arumugam, Managing Director of the company said suitable technology has been developed for the purpose. Infrastructure for mass production was in place. In the first phase, steps would be taken to establish a biomass power plant in Namakkal to generate 1.5 MW. It would be operational by the end of 2009. Trees are being grown on 18 acres in Coimbatore and 210 acres in Udumalpet.

Drive against stray cattle

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:36:16 PDT

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) conducted a drive against stray cattle on roads in Coimbatore East and took to custody 30 goats.They were brought to the cattle yard in the taluk office compound.District Collector P. Umanath and Superintendent of Police N. Kannan ordered the drive.

Special team

Joint Director of Animal Husbandry V. Jagadeesan constituted a special team led by SPCA Inspectors J. Fredrick Vimalan and R. Balakrishnan for the purpose.Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra provided trucks and conservancy workers to remove stray cattle from the roads.

The drive focused on Neelikonampalayam, Anjaneyar Colony, Puliakulam, Singanallur and Dhamu Nagar.The Corporation Zoo Director and Veterinarian R. Perumalsamy administered vaccine to goats. SPCA authorities have registered a case against goat owners under sections 11 (1) (h) (i) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of 1959/60.

New guidelines for passport issue !

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:33:13 PDT

The Passport Officer, Coimbatore, B. Balamurugan, has announced that the Ministry of External Affairs has issued new guidelines relating to passport application acceptance and miscellaneous entries.

The guidelines included: the present practice of transferring files from one passport office to another on receipt of income, police verification report stating that the applicant had moved out of the jurisdiction of the passport office is discontinued forthwith.

Speed Post Centres

The acceptance of applications by post is discontinued. The acceptance of passport applications through District Passport Cells and Speed Post Centres would be continued.The miscellaneous services on existing passport: it is noted that for any change in the particulars in the laminated page including correction of name of the passport holder or his father/mother/spouse, change in date of birth/place of birth/address etc a fresh booklet needs to be issued. The miscellaneous services for deletion of Emigration Check Required for police clearance certificate will be rendered on existing passport if police verification was clear.

All private school students in Coimbatore city to be screened

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:27:59 PDT

Students of all the 23 private schools in the city will soon be compulsorily screened for symptoms of A (H1N1) influenza, following an increase in the number of students testing positive for the flu in the last 10 to 15 days, Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj said here on Friday.

The rural areas of the district were not being included in this programme as cases were reported rarely, he told presspersons after reviewing the flu situation and preventive measures with Joint Director of Health M. Duraikannan, Deputy Director of Health S. Senthil Kumar and Coimbatore Medical College Hospital Dean V. Kumaran.

Such a massive screening of students would be done for the first time in the State by the public health machinery, he said. This had not been done so far even in Chennai, which was the other centre in the State along with Coimbatore that recorded many A (H1N1) cases.Eight of the 12 persons who tested positive here on Friday were aged below 15, he said.The Health Secretary attributed the incidence in both the cities to frequent international travel by people.

So far, 12.36 lakh passengers arriving by 8,842 international flights had been screened in the airports in the State.Totally, 1,869 people tested positive for the flu in the State. Of these 50 persons were still under house quarantine and 28 were in hospitals.

Orientation

In Coimbatore, another round of orientation would be conducted for private general physicians and hospitals on detecting early the symptoms of the flu and immediately referring the patients for tests and treatment.The Health Secretary said the orientation was necessary because awareness was low among doctors.The Dean of the CMCH and the City Health Department of the Coimbatore Corporation would conduct the orientation sessions.Assistant City Health Officer R. Sumathi and Resident Medical Officer of the CMCH P. Sivaprakasam were also present at the review.

The deaths that occurred in private hospitals were because of late diagnosis. Nothing could be done if too much time had been lost. “No one admitted to Government Hospitals died,” he pointed out. “And, we have effectively contained the impact of the flu.”Mr. Subburaj said that so far only seven persons in the State died of the flu.He said there was no such case in Coimbatore so far and there was no effort to conceal any.

The Health Secretary said oseltamivir capsules should not be sold over the counter. Medical shops authorised to dispense the drug should ask for a prescription. And, physicians should give a prescription only if the patients furnished a test report that said they were positive. He, however, said there was no need for a public health official to countersign the prescription.The drug was available only in 20 designated dispensing centres across the State and these included 10 in Chennai and two in Coimbatore.The proposed flu testing laboratory would begin functioning at the Coimbatore Medical College in another 10 days, Mr. Subburaj said.

Tata launches Photon Plus in Coimbatore

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:22:36 PDT

Tata Tele Services Limited on Friday launched Photon Plus for providing mobile broadband services with speed up to 3.1 Mbps. The launch was marked by G. Ramprasad, Chief Executive Officer of Tata Tele Services Limited, Tamil Nadu, handing over the first device to ace driver Narain Karthikeyan in the presence of Sunil Pillai, Chief Operating Officer – Tamil Nadu, Tata Tele Services Limited at a function held in the city.

Photon Plus services could be accessed using two devices – Router for SMEs and Business Enterprises which are configured with an in-built modem and has wi-fi capabailities and USB model for individual users.

Mr. Ramprasad said that the device is up to 20 times faster than the existing mobile wireless technology. The device is compatible to both desk top and lap top computers and one has to just plug and play. The activation could be done across the counter. The services are available in over 50 cities and towns across the country and by the turn of March 2010, TTSL plans to have the service commissioned in over 100 towns.

TTSL was confident of bagging a substantial market in Coimbatore, Mr. Ramprasad said. Coimbatore accounted for high net worth individuals and the city was an extremely potential market in the eyes of TTSL. Time-based packages are available from a lowest entry of Rs. 250, he said.

Seminar classes of MK university

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:18:09 PDT

The contact seminar classes of Distance Education, Madurai Kamaraj University, will be held on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 for the students of UG I, II, III year and PG I, II year and certificate and diploma courses at Thiyagai N.G. Ramaswamy Memorial Higher Secondary School, Varadharajapuram, Coimbatore- 641 045, according to a university release.

Spreading the message of waste management

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:15:15 PDT

As an essential part of its Rs. 96-crore Integrated Solid Waste Management Project, the Coimbatore Corporation is trying to generate awareness among the people on the need for a clean city and the segregation of waste and storage in separate bins at home as an essential requirement towards that end.

While the health wing of the Corporation is also involved in the sensitisation exercise, the civic body has enlisted the services of the students to take the message of waste management, especially segregation of waste at source, to the community.

The Corporation is implementing segregation of waste at source (at houses where garbage is generated) in nine model wards: Nos. 3, 6, 16, 23, 24, 25, 43, 49 and 63.Door-to-door collection as a pilot project has begun in all these wards. In all these, student volunteers of the National Service Scheme from colleges near the wards are being involved in generating awareness among the people.The Corporation says that awareness creation is made mandatory under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission., under which the waste management and a number of infrastructure development schemes are to be implemented in the city.

The Corporation has chosen Green Mother Trust as the consulting agency to create awareness among the public of the nine model wards on solid waste management.Based on the requirements listed by the Corporation, the trust trains the student volunteers in carrying out the sensitisation programme.Assistant City Health Officer R. Sumathi says the Corporation wants the message on segregation to reach every section of the community.The student volunteers will not only give the message in the model wards, but will also take it home, she points out.

Project Head of Green Mother Trust T. Priscilla said her organisation had formed a participatory committee in all the nine model wards with the help of the Corporation’s Sanitary Inspectors who are the Nodal Officers of the committee.The ward councillor is the head of the committee. It has as members, representatives from the residents’ association, the Corporation’s health wing and educational institutions in the locality.These members have also been trained by the trust to regularly monitor the waste management system in their wards and submit reports to an apex committee.

Ms. Priscilla says the trust has trained the women Self- Help Groups in the model wards on solid waste management practices.Training has also been given to sanitary workers and sanitary inspectors of the model wards, headmasters of all the Corporation schools and Corporation health workers.The trust uses methods such as puppet shows, street plays and songs to drive home the message of environment protection, segregation of waste at source waste minimisation.As door-to-door education is found to be an effective method, NSS volunteers from Avinashilingham University, K.G. College of Nursing and Coimbatore Medical College will play a role in the sensitisation component of the waste management project.

Nearly 500 volunteers from these colleges are being involved, she says.Students from the medical college fanned out across five model wards in the city on Thursday where the final phase of the door-to-door collection pilot project began.As many as 140 students from the medical college took the message of segregation to the public, along with the NSS Co-ordinators from the college R. Arun and P. Murugesan.

LMW sees increase in capacity utilisation

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:06:57 PDT

The capacity utilisation of textile machinery manufacturing major Lakshmi Machine Works (LMW) has increased from about 35 per cent during the previous quarter to 60 per cent now.

R. Rajendran, Chief Financial Officer of LMW, told on Wednesday that with the textile industry showing signs of revival “we hope there is scope for further improvement this year.”

The market started improving from August and the textile industry was registering good performance for the last two months.Hence, textile companies were going in for marginal expansions and some new projects too.“We have been able to improve sales in the second quarter and hope it will continue for the rest of the financial year,” he said.

The company had also installed two machines for trial run at the customers’ site in China through its 100 per cent owned subsidiary, he added.Even during the economic slowdown, China’a annual requirement was about four million spindles.By having a presence in China, the company hoped to capture a share in the Chinese market, he said.

Math to donate 50 Cr for flood releif

admin.coimbatorelive@gmail.com (Coimbatore Live Team) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:04:47 PDT

Mata Amritanandamayi has announced to donate Rs. 50 crore for flood relief works in the States of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.In a release, the Math pointed out that flood relief activities were taken up in Bijapur, Bagalkot and Belgaum districts in Karnataka and Kurnool and Mahaboob Nagar in Andhra Pradesh.

A team of five doctors, para medical staff from the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Kochi, supported by telemedicine van and ambulance have been deputed. In both the States, the relief workers would distribute food grains, food items, blankets and clothes.

Besides, the Math wanted to support the flood victims in a more tangible manner.Plans were on for rehabilitation activities in these States for which the Math would spend Rs. 50 crore. The works included construction of houses. The details of implementation would be decided after a discussion with the State Governments.