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Showing posts from March, 2009

RTI forces removal of encroachments

Repro of a news item published on New Indian Express on March 19: CHENNAI: A relentless campaign launched by an RTI activist and local residents has forced the Chennai Corporation to act remove an encroachment on the eastern corner of the Turn Bulls Road-Chamiers Road junction that has posed as stumbling block to free flow of traffic on the busy stretch. The disputed spot, located inside the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) shopping complex along the Turn Bulls Road-Chamiers Road junction was under encroachment for last several years. It is said that the open space inside in the complex (along the corner of the road) was rented out to run a ‘vegetable shop’, but soon it flourished and become a full-fledged-eatery serving customers of the (now closed) TASMAC shop. Locals considered the TASMAC outlet on the junction a traffic hazard and petitioned the authorities to remove it, so that the area would be free of such nuisance. After a nine-month-long battle using RTI tool, we forced the Sta...

ANOTHER CASTE-BASED PARTY IN THE OFFING?

ANOTHER CASTE-BASED PARTY IN THE OFFING? Published Date: 2/17/2009 - (NIE) G Saravanan Chennai, February 16: IN what could be a ‘timely’ decision for Tamil Nadu Parkava Kula Sangam, a united body of Udayar, Moopanar and Nainar communities in the state, the association has mooted a plan to float a political party to meet the community’s aspiration in different levels.According to sources, T. Pachamuthu, one of the prominent faces of the community and Chancellor of SRM University has openly asked the officer-bearers of the Sangam during its general body meeting on Sunday to seriously think about floating a party for safeguarding the community’s aspirations in future.The annual meeting, described as a significant and important one, was attended by more than 800 representatives from different parts of the state. A resolution was passes at the meet. V.R. Venkataachalam, prominent patron of the Parkava Kula Sangam and Chancellor of Sri Ramachandra University also seconded Pachamuthu’s idea...

Robbed of their lives

Robbed of their lives http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Robbed+of+their+lives&artid=45OL1PbTIxE=&SectionID=f4OberbKin4=&MainSectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&SectionName=cxWvYpmNp4fBHAeKn3LcnQ==&SEO=Tamil%20Nadu,%20%20Gulf%20of%20Mannar;%20Velammal,%20%20seaweed%20co G Saravanan First Published : 06 Mar 2009 02:29:00 PM IST For Velammal, a seaweed collector from Chinnapalem fishing hamlet near the Gulf of Mannar in southeastern Tamil Nadu, the concept of a Marine Protected Area is nothing less than a direct attack on her only available livelihood — seaweed collection. Not only has Velammal, a mother of two, been humiliated by forest officials for venturing ‘illegally’ into the Mannar area for seaweed collection, but there are also around 5,000 women from various fishing communities in the area whose livelihood is threatened. India’s marine and coastal ecosystems constitute an important natural resource, with millions of people dependent on them. The Marine Pr...

NHRC admits complaint against cops

NHRC admits complaint against cops Published Date: 3/11/2009 - (NIE) G Saravanan Chennai, March 10: IN what could have been a perfect start to fix the uniform-clad policemen’s ‘visit’ to an RTI applicant’s house for ‘giving reply’ as a cognizable offence, National Human Rights Commission recently admitted a complaint by a Chennai-based RTI activist who personally witnessed it a few months ago. Instead of sending a reply through post for an RTI complaint filed by R Natarajan, an activist and a research scholar from R A Puram, with the Mylapore police station (E-1) about noise pollution and other environmental issues, a police inspector from the very station landed at his house at 10.30 pm in uniform to give a ‘reply’ in person. According to Natarajan, police presence in his house at the odd-hour not only made him angry but also dented his reputation among neighbours. His ‘visit’ was nothing less than an intimidation to the RTI applicant, who just asked a few details of action taken on...

Cooperative sugar mills across State face closure

Cooperative sugar mills across State face closure Published Date: 3/1/2009 - (NIE) G Saravanan Chennai, February 28: WITH the private-run sugar mills eating into their designated command areas and the State Government’s failure to conduct election for cooperative (sugar) societies for the past 42 years, remaining 14 out of 16 cooperativerun sugar mills in the state are facing imminent closure, according to sugarcane farmers. These cooperative mills were just running to show that they are indeed active, but in reality, they were surviving with a ventilator support, C Nallasamy, president of Lower Bhavani Project Farmers’ Association and field coordinator for Tamil Nadu Toddy Movement told Express. Out of 16 mills, two mills -- Madurantakam Cooperative Sugar Mills Ltd and National Cooperative Sugar Mills Ltd were not working since 2001-02. “Even after four decades and recommendation by the Vaidyanathan Committee few years ago to conduct elections in such cooperative societies to revita...

Pallavaram civic chief takes a ‘cheap’ shot at city dustbins

Pallavaram civic chief takes a ‘cheap’ shot at city dustbins Published Date: 2/13/2009 - (NIE) G Saravanan Chennai, February 12: CHENNAI may be the biggest city corporation in the State, but it apparently cuts costs and corners in its line of duty. The corporation’s recently acquired trash cans have received a trashing from the municipal chairman of a suburb, Pallavaram. He has described them as ‘cheap’ and ‘not durable’. The four lakh dustbins procured by Chennai Corporation at a cost of Rs 12 each for distribution among slum dwellers - to encourage source segregation and help them keep their surroundings hygienic - cannot be compared to the Rs 69 a piece bins that the Pallavaram Municipality proposes to buy for its 16,000 slum dwellers, said the municipal chairman, E Karunanithi. Rubbishing a news report comparing the rates and saying that the municipality had gone in for dustbins each costing a whopping Rs 69 when the cost of the bins bought by the Chennai Corporation was just Rs ...