The service would enable subscribers to avail themselves of a download speed in the range of 2 Mbps to 24 Mbps, a statement said. BSNL has introduced the advanced technology with 15,000 hi-speed broadband connections for the Madurai telecom district comprising the districts of Madurai, Dindigul and Theni.

The service has been introduced in Tiruppalai and Ellis Nagar exchanges. It would be provided shortly in Tallakulam, Bibikulam, Alagappan Nagar, Palanganatham, K. Pudur, Tirunagar and Anuppanadi telephone exchanges soon. Within the end of this month, this service will be available in 22 telephone exchanges in Theni and Dindigul districts.

BSNL Madurai General Manager, S.E Rajam, Principal General Manager (Development) Chennai, Santhosam, and other officials were present.

Worst-affected are the farmers who depend only on well water for irrigation. Normally, these farmers raise only one crop in a season using the water in the wells.

After good rainy season and de-silting of tanks in some areas, water level in many wells have gone up substantially.

Present storage in many wells is sufficient for farmers to irrigate the crop till harvest.

They will not face any difficulty in getting the yield. Good storage in wells encouraged many farmers in the district to raise crops.

Watering at least once in three or four days is necessary to protect long term crops like coconut and once-a-day to banana, sugarcane and vegetable crops.

Now, farmers have sufficient quantum of water in their wells. But they cannot use them because of power cuts.

Already, short term crops like paddy and vegetables, and rain-fed crops like groundnut, maize and Cumbu have started withering.

The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) had assured to supply power for three hours for agriculture pumps.

Actually, the supply has been made only for two hours a day, says K. Kaliappan, farmer in Palakkanuthu. Even such two-hour supply is not continuous. Frequent tripping has paralysed agriculture activities.

The loss does not end with crop damage and slump in yield. Burning of motors owing to trip in supply too scales up the loss.

“No one knows when the power will come and go. More than 40 electric motors meant for irrigation pumps were burnt in Reddiyarchatram and Oddanchatram blocks.

Agriculture has already become an expensive vocation owing to the rise in input costs and shortage of labour. “We have to invest more on farm mechanisations also,” he said.

Prices of fertilizer (20:20) rose to Rs.950 a bag from Rs.600, potash has shot up to Rs.650 from Rs.300. Price of other fertilizers too have gone up sizably.

“With no power for irrigation, all these investments were of no use. Ultimately, we will incur huge loss,” farmers worry.

If this trend continued, even long term crops like, coconut, guava, mango, banana and sugarcane will also wither.

The first service from Bangalore will commence from Feb 16. A railway press release said the first service from Nagercoil would commence from February 18.

It said the Bangalore-Nagercoil weekly express will arrive at Karur at 6.18 hrs, in Dindigul at 7.40 hrs and in Kovilpatti at 10.28 hrs.

In the return direction, it would arrive at Kovilpatti at 15.08 hrs, in Dindigul at 18.00 hrs, and Karur at 19.15 hrs, it said.

The work that began in 2008 has been completed at a cost of around Rs. 175 crore. The Deputy Chief Engineer (Construction), R. Manoharan, inspected the entire stretch of railway track covering Aruppukottai, Tiruchuzhi and Narikudi stations.

“The physical work of laying the track is over. Few other works like providing signal is at an advanced stage which could be completed in a couple of months,” a railway official said. Passenger trains would be operated on the section after a clearance from the Commissioner of Railway Safety.

However, operation of goods train could be taken up immediately after completing the minor works on the tracks. The project included the construction of 159 bridges, including five major bridges, and three road over bridges. The Virudhunagar-Manamadurai stretch would offer a link for an alternative rail route of Virudhunagar-Manamadurai-Karaikudi-Tiruchi to the over-utilised Virudhunagar-Madurai- Tiruchi section. Besides, it would also provide the shorter rail route connecting the deep south of Tamil Nadu with the pilgrimage centre of Rameswaram and the Delta districts.

The alternative route was also free from any gradient, unlike the Madurai-Dindigul-Tiruchi section, and would be ideal for operation of goods train as it would be easier for hauling longer formation of loaded wagons. The Executive Engineer, P. Williams Joy, was present.

This is the second phase of the Tamil Nadu State Level Placement Programme, organised by Anna University to make one last attempt to get jobs for students filtered out by companies during campus placement sessions in affiliated colleges over the last year.

Software developers Cognizant also picked up around 150 candidates from a group of students shortlisted based on their academic performance over the last four years. While Cognizant conducted their recruitment process in Chennai, Wipro held the interactions in Dindigul on February 7 and 8. A written test will be held on the first day and shortlisted candidates will be interviewed on the second day.

The 2011 placement season is widely considered to have been better than last year despite talks of a recession earlier this year. Leading corporates recruited more than 1,000 candidates from a single campus in a few institutions in the state. However, in some self-financing engineering colleges, students protested against the college management for failing to conduct campus placements or getting companies to visit their campus. As the season ends, students in several of these colleges have still not been able to land jobs.

The Centre for University-Industry collaboration of the university is taking the initiative to help a few bright students from self-financing engineering colleges find placements before they graduate. “We received inputs from top companies that they require only 1,500 candidates. The selection criteria have been decided keeping this in mind,” said Anna University vice-chancellor P Mannar Jawahar.

The eligibility criteria for participation in this placement programme are higher than in campus placement sessions conducted by individual colleges. Often, colleges are able to convince companies to pick students with lower criteria because of their good ties with the particular company. “It is easier to get a job in our own campus placement than here, because corporates will give no consideration for a particular college and only the best will be recruited. Placement officers will not be able to push their candidates, whereas in our campus placement even students with arrears will be able to land jobs sometimes,” said a final year student of a self-financing engineering college in the city, who declined to be named.

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Flowers, especially jasmine, are in high demand during the Tamil month of Thai, popular for weddings, but jasmine even during the peak season doesn’t go beyond 450 a kg. This weekend, however, it climbed to 1,500 a kg, forcing many to use cheaper flowers like roses for wedding decorations.

Madurai Flower Market Vendors’ Association president S Ramachandran said the fresh flowering season had brought relief. “It is fortunate that winter is almost over and the hot afternoons will aid the blooming of these flowers. The price that stood at 1,500 a kg two days ago has come down to 450 a kg and will remain so for the next week,” he said.

Jasmine farmers in Nilakottai in Dindigul district say it is good that winter is coming to an end. Sonnai, a farmer, said that despite the high prices they had found it difficult to meet the demand as the flowers had started wilting very soon. “Unlike, in the month of Margazhi and during the Mandalam-Makaram season popular with Ayyappa devotees, when even the smaller buds can be sold off, in the month of Thai, decorators and makers of garlands, ask for full blooms,” he said.

Farmers say they pay the flower-pickers, usually women and children, 100 for a specific quantity. The picking is usually done early in the morning. This year, the cold weather kept the usual pickers away forcing farmers to pay higher wages to others in spite of the buds getting spoilt due to the weather.

R Karunanidhi, a member of the Thovalai flower market in Kanyakumari district, said the flowers had now started arriving in the desirable form and the price had decreased to 250 a kg. “We have to supply flowers for temple festivals in Kerala from mid-February to April. With the climate and weather improving, it is good for both flowers and vendors,” he said.

“The boards will help identify animal crossing areas and elephant crossing areas. We have planned to conduct a meeting with national highways officials to create speed breakers on the NH 209. Hereafter, we would take stringent action against drivers who ram or run over wild animals. They will be booked under sections of the Wildlife Protection Act,” said district forest officer N Satheesh.

The boards will be in Tamil, Kannada and English.

On Friday, a 30-year-old female wild elephant was killed when a KSRTC bus rammed the animal near Hasanur, Sathyamangalam. The KSRTC bus was going to Mysore from Coimbatore. The elephant was crossing the road to reach a stream.

According to forest officials, the bus driver tried to avert a collision but failed. Forest officials said the driver would not be booked under the Wildlife Protection Act since the accident was intended.

The driver, it seems, was blinded by the 20-feet tall bushes beside the road which effectively hid the elephant. Bushes along an eight km stretch road near Hasanur would be cleared to prevent any such accident in future, said DFO Satheesh.

The work for the Rs. 784-crore scheme formally commenced at Melur here on Friday. The Melur, MLA, R. Samy, and Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board officials, including its Chief Engineer, B. Gothandaraman, were present at the bhoomi puja held at Gandhi Park.

The scheme, aims to draw Cauvery water near Karur and it would cover three municipalities of Avaniyapuram (now included in Madurai city limits), Melur and Tirumangalam and six town panchayats in Madurai district and the lone town panchayat of Singampuneri in Sivaganga district.

Besides the towns of Paravai, Vilangudi, Tirunagar, Alanganallur, Palamedu and A. Vellalapatti, it would also cater to 1,430 rural habitations.

“I have been fighting for the scheme since 2005-06. The Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, had approved it during the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Government. However, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam that came to power in 2006, did not show any interest in implementing it,” Mr. Samy said. All the villages in Melur Assembly constituency would be covered, he said.

“This is one of the biggest water projects and once this is implemented, there will be no habitation that will not be covered with the supply of protected river water for drinking purpose,” TWAD Board Executive Engineer, PL. Muthiah, said.

Water would be drawn from three collector wells to be set up on the Cauvery riverbed near Krishnarayapuram, between Kulithalai and Karur. The water would be pumped for 100 km up to Kottaiyur in Madurai-Dindigul border from where it would flow through gravity for another 112 km. The project has been designed to draw a maximum of 84 million litres of water a day.