Inspection of school vans, buses to be over by weekend

KRISHNAGIRI: The inspection of school vans and buses to ensure safety of students will be over by the weekend, said a release from the Regional Transport Officers, P. Suresh (Hosur) and N. Palanivelu (Krishnagiri).

The release said as per the instructions of the District Collector C.N. Maheshwaran, checking of the buses and vans owned by the educational institutions were being done in full swing by the Motor Vehicle Inspectors Ashok Kumar, Asokan, Saravanan, Dhanapal and Saravanan on a daily basis.

Out of the 719 school vehicles, 575 have been checked till last week.

Rest of the vehicles will be checked before this weekend, the release sadid.

The managements of the educational institutions have been asked to cooperate with the authorities to ensure safety measures as per the instructions of courts.

The managements should ensure that the drivers appointed should have a minimum of 10 years experience.

The vehicles should be fit to operate on road, they should have safety tools like emergency door, first-aid box, side grill, fire-fighting equipments, and should be yellow-painted and have stickers pasted on all the four sides stating that the school/college children are inside.

Managements were been asked to follow the guidelines issued by the courts, and send their vehicle to the RTO for checking if the rules were not been abided by, the release added.

Govt. allocates Rs. 1.58 crore to improve cultivation of nutritious pulses and cereals

KRISHNAGIRI: The State Government has allocated Rs. 1.58 crore for improving the area of cultivation of nutritious pulses and cereals in the district for the financial year 2011-12, said a release issued by K. Rajan, Joint Director, Agriculture here recently.

The release said the subsidy is distributed to the farmers to encourage cultivation of nutritious crops such as ‘ragi' and ‘samai.'

The scheme was launched by the Collector on June 22.

Under this scheme, bio fertilizer, micro fertilizer, chemical fertilizer and other inputs required to safeguard the crops from insects would be issued on 100 per cent subsidy basis.

Subsidy

This scheme would be implemented for ragi crop on 5000 hectares, ‘samai' crop on 400 hectares in Shoolagiri, Thali, Hosur, Kelamangalam, Mathur and Uthangarai Panchayat Unions. Under this scheme, the subsidy per hectare for ragi Rs. 3000 and Rs. 2000 for ‘samai' have been fixed by the government.

Due to the implementation of this scheme, ragi and ‘samai' production would improve 25 to 35 bags per hectare and about 5,187 farmers would be benefited.

Production

Improving the production of ragi and ‘samai' would automatically improve the iron, vitamin and fibre nutrition to the people of the district.

Increase in production of ragi and ‘samai' would also improve the usage among the people in the form of value added products, the release further added.

Indian Bank disburses loans in Krishnagiri

Indian Bank has sanctioned home loans and vehicle loans to a tune of Rs. 3.53 crore to 38 applicants at a special camp conducted at the Krishnagiri main branch on Sunday.

Home loans

Of the total amount, Rs. 3.23 crore was disbursed as home loans to 31 customers and Rs. 29 lakh as vehicle loans to seven customers.

M. Karthikeyan, Zonal Manager, Dharmapuri Circle, handed over the letter of approval to the customers in the presence of Lead District Manager B. Krishnadoss, Chief Managers K. Sankar Rao, and R. Thirumavalavan.

Ten branches of Indian Bank - Krishnagiri main branch, Gandhi Road (Krishnagiri), Bargur, Varattanapalli, Maharajakadai, Kaveripattinam, Moranaalli, Venkatasamuthiram, Mathur and Kannandaalli -participated in the special camp.

Rally to mark World Anti-Drug Day flagged off

Turning to drugs is not the solution to problems plaguing one's life. Youth should be taught to keep away from drugs, said District Revenue Officer C. Prakasam here on Sunday.

Flagging off the rally to mark the World Anti-Drug Day at the Government Girls Higher Secondary School, he said that problems would follow man everywhere.

Every action would have an obstacle that needed to be surmounted to achieve the goal.

Getting addicted to drugs to shy away from the issue was not how one should deal with the problem.

“Rather than taking recourse to harmful drugs that spoil a person's career and life, youth should understand the problem and sort it out intelligently and skilfully, Mr. Prakasam said.

Over 300 students participated in the rally.

Slogans

The rally passed through the main thoroughfares and reached the Government Boys Higher Secondary School in Krishnagiri. The students raised slogans against use and smuggling of drugs.

Farmers' forum seeks closure of private mineral water plan

Over 100 members of the CPI(M)-affiliated Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam staged a demonstration in front of the Office of the Block Development Office, Bargur, demanding closure of a private Reverse Osmosis water treatment plant at Sigaralapalli Panchayat, near Bargur, in Krishnagiri district on Friday.

They also demanded withdrawal of false cases foisted against the farmers who had opposed the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation's move to put up overhead wires in a lane at Sigaralapalli village that posed a threat to the life of people.

The Sangam alleged that the RO plant was supplying treated water to a mineral water company.

It exploited natural resources by sucking ground water as much as possible, depleting the water table in the area, already a drought-prone one.

Dry wells

Since the plant was extracting ground water indiscriminately, locals feared that bore wells would dry soon.

As many as 3,000 people living in Paiyadur, Erikollamedu, Sigaralapalli, Rangasamudhram, Ittiganur, Kuttappanayaganur, Thellapetta and Kollakottai villages have been using the water.

District Secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist) and State Committee Member of the Sangam D. Ravindran gave special address.

M. Dharman, district president, X. Irudhayaraj, district secretary, R. Sekar, state committee member of the Sangam, G.K. Nanjundan, CPI (M) taluk secretary, were among others who spoke.

It was also alleged that the panchayat president who owns the mineral water factory had disconnected water supply to a village with 350 houses in Santhakarambu and Kothalakuttai koot road since the last week of May.

A complaint regarding this had been made to the Block Development Officer.

All India Mango Exhibition begins in Krishnagiri

Farmers in the district will be trained in Israel techniques to get high yield in mango cultivation, said C.N. Maheshwaran, District Collector, here on Wednesday.

In the absence of Agriculture Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan and Minister for Municipal Administration and Rural Development K.P. Munusamy, Mr. Maheshwaran inaugurated the 19th All India Mango Exhibition at Government Boys High School Ground here.

Mr. Maheshwaran said that mango was being cultivated in 40,000 hectares in the district. He said that mango growers were getting Rs. 22,500 as subsidy an acre. This year, Rs. 1.20 crore would be distributed as subsidy to mango growers.

The Collector said that the exhibition would remain open to the public till July 15.

T. Ramachandran, MLA, asked the government to establish a mango procurement centre and mango pulp industry in the district to safeguard the interests of mango farmers.

The government should announce Thalli and Hosur as export zones keeping in view the abundant production of cut rose and chendu malli in the area. It would help farmers avail themselves of many facilities offered by the government. He expressed the hope that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa would fulfil her electoral promises on setting up a cold storage facility for tamarind in the district.

Mr. Ramachandran asked the Horticulture Department to double the area for eligibility for subsidy and raise the subsidy amount to Rs. 6.50 lakh from the present Rs. 3.25 lakh.

K.E. Krishnamoorthy, MLA, asked the District Collector to take the initiative in bringing back the glory of Government Spinning Mill in Uthangarai to safeguard the interests of hundreds of workers.

Manoranjitham Nagarajan, MLA, spoke.

K. Rajan, Joint Director, Agriculture Department, and P. Subbian, Additional Director, Horticulture Department, explained the actions being taken to improve the agriculture and horticulture production in the district and the subsidy available to farmers. C. Prakasam, District Revenue Officer welcomed the gathering.

Later, Mr. Maheshwaran distributed welfare assistance of Rs. 1.53 crore to 238 beneficiaries.

Residents unhappy over venue of mango exhibition

KRISHNAGIRI: With the 19th Annual Mango Exhibition set to begin on Wednesday, the residents nearby the venue of the event expressed unhappiness and concern over its arrangements.

The selection of the Government Boys Higher Secondary School ground as venue has met with disapproval by the public. While some say that it is in violation of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guidelines, many others lament that the school students will not be able to use the playground for a month.

Some medical professionals told The Hindu that the organisers had not taken into account the Pollution Control Board guideline banning conduct of public programmes within less than 100 metres from hospitals, educational institutions, courts, religious places etc.

Dr. P. Jayaraman, Director, Padma Clinic (situated near the gates of the exhibition venue), expressed concern over the plight of the patients at the nursing home.

He urged the district administration to restrict the timings of the exhibition to 10 p.m. He also suggested that a permanent venue for exhibitions could be selected by the district administration just outside the town.

C. Ramesh, managing partner, Chinnasamy Agencies, said that a permanent venue for exhibitions should be fixed outside the town on the lines of the Trade Centre in Chennai.

Plea for textbooks in Kannada

KRISHNAGIRI: A team from Karnataka Legislative Council, which on Friday visited various places in Hosur and Thenkanikottai blocks in Krishnagiri district where Kannada-speaking people are living in large numbers, has urged the Tamil Nadu government to supply textbooks in Kannada language to those students who are studying in Kannada schools here.

After holding detailed discussions with Tamil Nadu officials and also representatives of various Kannada-speaking people, the team led by D. H. Sankaramoorthi and accompanied by a senior education official from Karnataka, pointed out that Kannada language teachers should immediately be appointed in all Kannada schools in these two blocks bordering Karnataka.

Many parents had told the team members that teachers who had no proficiency in Kannada language had been appointed in the Kannada schools, which they claimed had affected the wards' education.

The representatives insisted that Tamil Nadu government should honour the students who scored high marks in public examinations with Kannada as main language.

Indian Bank launches mobile van banking service in Thalli

HOSUR: The Indian Bank has launched mobile van banking service at Thalli in Denkanikottai taluk in Krishangiri district on Wednesday.

District Collector C.N. Maheshwaran flagged off the mobile van in the presence of Rajiv Rishi, Executive Director, Indian Bank, in Thalli town.

Mr. Maheshwaran told the reporters that the district administration will route all the benefits of the government to the doorstep of the public through the mobile van banking service.

The five villages that are to be benefitted by this service are Palayamkottai, Achupalam, Madakkal, Agalakottai and Madupalli.

Smart cards

The bank has also issued smart cards to the account holders attached to the Thalli branch.

Even illiterates can operate the biometric ATM facility for withdrawing money.

Mr. Rajiv Rishi told the reporters that the mobile van banking services are being successfully operated in 17 villages in three states in the country. He said the bank has opened a biometric ATM at Kurubarapalli attached to the Krishnagiri branch, under the Financial Inclusion Plan.

The Indian Bank has so far commissioned 81 biometric ATMs across the nation.

With an aim to serve the rural masses, the bank has reached the remote areas through the Financial Inclusion Plan with offering services in around 5,500 villages. Of this, 271 villages were covered under the Dharmapuri circle (Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts).

M. Karthikeyan, Assistant General Manager and Circle Head, Dharmapuri Circle welcomed the gathering. Jeevakani Selvaraj, branch manager, Thalli branch, proposed a vote of thanks.

New collector bats for ‘People Friendly' administration

KRISHNAGIRI: People-friendly administration is new Krishnagiri District Collector C.N. Maheshwaran's agenda, too, like it is for most of the district collectors of Western Tamil Nadu who took charge after the recent shuffle.

Mr. Maheshwaran assumed office on Sunday.

At his maiden weekly Grievance Day Programme on Monday, he gave instructions to all department heads to maintain registers for public complaints.

Countersign

He insisted that each and every complaint should be countersigned by the head of the department.

All the departments should appoint a liaison officer to deal with public complaints. The liaison officer should verify the complaints register once a week, and ensure action on the petitions.

Apart from this, collectorate-level committee officials would monitor whether the instructions are fully followed by all the departments.

SOS basis

Officials should attend the petitions submitted by the public on SOS basis with politeness and should not delay action on them under any circumstances.

Action taken on the petitions should be intimated to the petitioners within one month.

To achieve this goal, each and every department and officials should cooperate to make the administration work ‘People Friendly', Mr. Maheshwaran said.

All India Mango Exhibition: tenders for setting up shops opened

KRISHNAGIRI: Tenders for setting up eateries, erection of pandal, publicity work and amusements to be part of the All India Mango Exhibition, an exhibition held in Krishnagiri town, were opened in the presence of the District Revenue Officer C. Prakasam at the collectorate on Tuesday. For the first time the tenders were invited by the district administration for the mango festival. Senior officials participted in the tender.

Jamabandi begins in five taluks in Krishnagiri district

KRISHNAGIRI: Jamabandhi, the annual auditing of village land accounts, began in Krishnagiri, Uthangarai, Hosur, Denkanikottai and Pochampalli taluks in Krishnagiri district on Tuesday. It will be held till June 24.

C. Prakasam, Collector in-charge, inaugurated the Jamabandhi at Krishnagiri taluk office and at Pochampalli taluk office.

The Collector will be conducting the Jamabandhi at Krishnagiri taluk office, District Revenue Officer C. Prakasam at Pochampalli, Sub-Collector Prashant M. Wadnere at Hosur taluk office, Revenue Divisional Officer (Krishnagiri) at Uthangarai taluk and District Adi Dravidar Welfare Officer T. Venkatesan at Denkanikottai taluk.

During the process, the public residing within the taluks can approach the officials for patta, name change in patta, old age pension, farmers' identity cards, widows' pension, assistance to agriculture labourers and other issues related to the Revenue Department.

Mr. Prakasam said that immediate action would be taken against petitions submitted by the public. On petitions related to critical or problematic issues, action would be taken within seven or eight working days.

As Jamabandhi officer, he had received 184 petitions at Pochampalli taluk, a release said.