Over 900 jewellery shops down shutters -The HIndu

Protesting against slapping of additional tax on gold in the general budget presented by the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday, over 900 jewellery shops in Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri district downed their shutters for three days from Saturday as per the announcement of the strike call given by the All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation.

Union Finance Minister, in the budget presented on Friday, has proposed increase in excise duty on unbranded precious jewellery, and doubled the customs duty on standard gold and platinum from two per cent to four per cent.

Mr. R. Vijay Anand, District Secretary, Krishnagiri District Jewellers Association told The Hindu that over 470 small, medium and large shops closed their shutters as per the strike call given by the state office of the association.

Due to the strike, the jewellers will lose Rs. 2 to Rs. 3 crores of business in the district. The additional tax levied by the union government will reduce further purchasing power of the people, he adds. This will automatically cut down our business considerably, he opined.

“Gold has always been high value product and sale of gold jewellery has been declining because of the cost. Small and medium jewellers will have to shut the business with the imposition of new taxes,” he adds.

The next course of action would be initiated as per the announcement of the state unit of the association, he said.

Uthangarai blast: two more held

Two more persons have been arrested in connection with the Uthangarai bomb blast.

V. Kasi Viswanathan, Deputy Superintendent of Police, told The Hindu on Sunday that Viswanathan (65) of Perampathy village in Vellore district and Jeeva (22) of Karapattu village in Krishnagiri district were arrested on Saturday.

When the accused were being taken to the Salem Central Prison, Viswanathan took ill and was admitted to a hospital in Salem.

The DSP said Viswanathan had supplied about 125 gelatine sticks to Jeeva. Jeeva had sold some sticks to T. Srinivasan, who died in a blast on Monday last.

Blast victim served in Army under a different name

The man who died in the bomb blast at Uthangarai in Krishnagiri on Monday evening has been identified by the police.

A preliminary enquiry with Defence forces revealed that he had worked as washerman in the Army in Arunachal Pradesh, said Superintendent of Police Abishek Dixit here on Tuesday.

The victim joined the Army giving his name as T. Srinivasan while his original name was T. Sakthivel hailing from Padathanurkottai. His SSLC mark sheet shows his name as T. Sakthivel. Photocopies of affidavits in stamped paper submitted to the Army state his name as T. Srinivasan.

Sources in the Police Department said that they were investigating the affidavit submitted by him to the Army for appointment.

According to the health card issued by the defence forces, his service number is 16116177 P, MEG & Centre TB – I, ‘B' Coy of 7th Engineering Regiment, TENCOY in Arunachal Pradesh.

The victim was identified with the help of the engine and chassis numbers of the vehicle used by him and his associate just before the bomb went off. He used a fake registration number of Vellore district. As many as 30 items, including printed circuit boards, five gelatine sticks (used as industrial explosives), two pellets, batteries, detonating wires and timer circuits, were recovered from the residence of Srinivasan by a bomb detection and disposal squad from Chennai headed by Inspector K.K. Mohammed.

Abash Kumar, Inspector-General of Police, Internal Security, and Sanjay Kumar, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Salem Range, visited the site on Tuesday.

The victims' associate was identified as J. Ramamurthy of Andiyur, half a km away from Padathanurkottai village bordering Tirupattur in Vellore. A circuit board and a detonator wire were seized from his mobile phone repair shop. The police reached the residence of Srinivasan and took his brother-in-law Madhaiyan, mother T. Kantha, maternal aunt, and a relative Murugan for inquiry into custody.

Major (Retired) M. Muthuram, Assistant Director, District Ex-servicemen Welfare Board, accompanied the SP during inspection. The ‘Q' branch police are conducting a probe, sources in the police said.

Renew your ration card online

Those who have not yet renewed their family cards (ration cards) can do so online.

Though Wednesday is the last date for the renewal, the government has decided to extend the deadline by a month following requests from people.

Cardholders who have not yet renewed their cards can visit the Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department's website (URL: http://210.212.62.90:8080/newfcp/cardvalidity.do) for renewal. The online facility will be available from March 1 to 31, according to an official release.

On furnishing the details, they will get auto-generated acknowledgement slips. Those who require provisions have to take two copies of the slips – one to be pasted on their cards and another to be given to their respective fair price shop.

Those who do not need commodities but use the cards as proof of residence can have the slips pasted on their cards.

Those holding white-coloured ‘no commodities' cards or yellow-coloured tatkal cards or other cards may not have been able to renew their cards due to a variety of reasons.

Food Minister R. Kamaraj has appealed to people to make use of the online facility.

Of about 1.97 crore family cards, around 1.87 crore cards have been renewed so far.

The release added that Chief Minister ordered extension of the validity of the existing cards till December 31.

On Tuesday, the Minister held a meeting with senior officials, including Cooperation and Food Secretary M.P. Nirmala and Civil Supplies Commissioner P.M. Basheer Ahmed, to review the working of the Department in four districts – Vellore, Krishnagiri, Tiruvallur and Dharmapuri. Collectors concerned were also present.