15 of a family injured in mini bus accident

Fifteen persons who were part of a family were seriously injured when a mini bus went out of control and fell on its side after a front wheel suffered a flat tyre at Mathur on Thursday.

The passengers were travelling from Dharmapuri after attending a family function.

They had set out from Kolandhampalli village in Thirupathur in Vellore to attend a ‘valaikappu’ ceremony.

The injured persons were taken to the Krishnagiri Government Hospital, according to police sources here.

They had set out from Kolandhampalli village in Thirupathur in Vellore district to attend a ‘valaikappu’ at Dharmapuri

Girl killed in accident

A two-year-old girl was killed after she was hit by a school van near Mathur in Krishnagiri district on Wednesday morning.

Police sources said that S. Haripriya was hit by a van belonging to a private matriculation school .

The incident took place when her mother S. Nandini was taking her elder child to the school van . It was alleged that neither the mother nor the driver noticed the victim going near the rear wheel of the vehicle. 

The girl was hit by the mud guard of the rear wheel when the driver started moving the vehicle. The girl sustained head injury during her fall and died on the spot. Mathur police have registered a case under sections 279 (rash driving) and 304 A (causing death by negligence) of Indian Penal Code. The driver of the bus S. Madhu (30) of Narapandaalli in Tirupattur taluk in Vellore district was arrested. Further investigations are on.

NDA will bag 320 seats, says Vaiko

MDMK general secretary Vaiko addressing an election meeting in Mathur on Monday. Krishnagiri PMK candidate G.K.Mani is in the picture.

People who wish to have caste, and communal harmony and peace will prefer a government headed by the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, MDMK general secretary Vaiko said on Monday.

Mr. Vaiko was canvassing votes for the PMK candidate for Krishnagiri G.K. Mani and Dharmapuri candidate Anbumani Ramadoss at a series of meetings at Hosur, Shoolagiri, Krishnagiri, Bargur, Mathur, Pochampalli and Uthangarai in Krishnagiri district and at Palacode and Pennagaram in Dharmapuri district.

Mr. Vaiko said first-time voters wanted a change of guard and they would definitely vote for Mr. Modi, helping the NDA bag 320 seats and handing the BJP 272 seats (simple majority). The NDA would win all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu. If that happened, “we can fight for the rights of Indian fishermen and those of the State in the long-pending Palar, south Pennar, Cauvery and Mullaiperiyar dam issues.

Condemning the incident in which stones were thrown at Mr. Anbumani Ramadoss, the PMK Youth Wing leader, Mr. Vaiko praised the restraint shown by PMK workers to avoid a clash. He also praised the swift action taken by Superintendent of Police Asra Garg.

Stalin accuses AIADMK Govt. of dumping Hogenakkal scheme

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) treasurer M.K. Stalin on Tuesday accused the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government of dumping the Rs.1928-crore Hogenakkal Drinking Water and Fluorosis Mitigation Scheme.

Beginning his election campaign for DMK’s Krishnagiri Lok Sabha candidate P. Chinnapillappa at Thally, Mr. Stalin said many areas, especially the rural habitations in Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts, were yet to benefit from the scheme. (The scheme was drawn up to provide a solution to the problem of high fluoride content in ground water that caused health problems in the people of the two districts.)

The scheme was implemented because of the efforts taken by the previous DMK government. It was the DMK which took efforts to bring the scheme into reality with the financial assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

As much as 99 per cent of the scheme was over during the DMK rule, but the AIADMK government dumped the scheme after coming to power.

The scheme was dedicated by the Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to the public in haste at the end of May last year through video-conferencing. Many rural habitations that were affected by fluoride in ground water were yet to get protected water under the Hogenakkal scheme. It was the DMK government which took a lot of efforts to implement various integrated drinking water schemes in the State such as the Ramanathapuram Integrated Drinking Water scheme and desalination plants. Providing protected drinking water to the public was the government’s duty. Instead of providing water free of cost, the only State selling bottled drinking water was Tamil Nadu, Mr. Stalin said.

Mr. Stalin also campaigned at Denkanikottai, Kelamangalam, Hosur, Shoolagiri, Kurubarapalli, Krishangiri, Bargur, Mathur and Pochampalli.

Later, addressing a public meeting at Uthangarai in the evening, Mr. Stalin dared the AIADMK Government to prove before a committee of legislators of various parties that it had implemented the Hogenakkal scheme totally.

Mr. Stalin also accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of intending to cause communal unrest across the nation by pledging in its manifesto to build Ram Temple at Ayodhya and bringing about a uniform civil code.

Bus conductor falls from bus, dies

A State Transport Corporation bus conductor Natarajan (52) of Ambalur village, near Vaniyambadi in Vellore district, was killed when he fell from the footboard of a town bus plying between Krishnagiri and Mathur on Wednesday. The incident took place when the bus was on its way to Mathur near Chinnapanagamutlu on the Krishnagiri-Pudhucherry National Highway.

It was said that Natarajan was hanging on the footboard cautioning others to get into the bus.

He sustained head injuries and was brought to the Government Headquarter’s Hospital in Krishnagiri and was later referred to Government Medical College Hospital in Dharmapuri.

Kandikuppam police have registered a case and are investigating.

Over 1,000 wild animals rescued in 2012

As many as 1,238 wild animals that strayed into human habitations last year were safely left deep inside the reserve forests in Hosur Forest Division, said District Forest Officer A.K. Ulaganathan.

He told The Hindu that the animals were rescued either by the forest officials or by the villagers. The rescued animals include 277 pythons, 21 cobras, 32 rattle snakes, 26 russell vipers, 849 monkeys, 11 spotted deers, 12 wild boars, five pangolins and five peacocks. A spotted deer was rescued by the forest officials from a well in Seelapalli Village near Samathuvapuram on the Veppanahalli Road.

The animal was later left into the Thogarapalli Reserve Forests by the forest officials. Similarly, a peahen was rescued near Mathur in the district and left into the Veppanahalli Reserve Forests. Apart from this, five pangolins (ant-eaters) were rescued from various places in Krishnagiri Range. 

One of the pangolins was rescued by schools students near Bargur recently and they handed it over to the Forest Department. Meanwhile, a proposal has been sent to the government to dug up elephant proof trenches for 40 km around Udedurgam Reserve Forest during the current financial year in the Hosur Forest Division where large number of elephants enter into human habitations via Jawalagiri from Bannarghatta Wildlife Sanctuary.

22 injured as bus overturns near Uthangarai

Twenty-two persons including an Inspector and a Head Constable were injured when a private bus they had traveled overturned near Uthangarai on Tuesday morning.

The accident occurred near Jogi Thanneerpallam when the private bus was on its way to Bengaluru from Villupuram. It was alleged that the axle of the bus was broken when it maneuvered in a deep pot hole on the National Highway No. 66.

All the injured including the Inspector Mr. Murugesan attached to the Singarapettai Police Station and the Head Constable Mr. Rajendran were admitted in the Uthangarai Government Hospital for treatment.

Mr. Murugesan reportedly sustained injuries in his forehead due to the broken glass pieces from the window panes. All of them were referred to the District Headquarter’s Hospital in Krishnagiri later.

Mathur police have registered a case and investigating.

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.

Israel man know-how on horticulture in india

An Israeli expert checked out this town on Wednesday, but the visit had nothing to do with the security scenario here.He was here to help the State give a big push to its horticultural sector. The visit was arranged by the Tamil Nadu Government through its horticultural department.Israeli horticulture expert Cliff Love, who is attached to his country’s ministry of agriculture and rural development, and specialises in subtropical orchards of mango, avocado and lychee, interacted with horticulture farmers in this district and shared his knowledge with them. With TN officials in tow, Love visited many mango groves at Bargur, Mathur, Ikadu and other places in Uthangarai and Krishnagiri on Wednesday. Love asked the farmers about the mode of mango cultivation in the Krishnagiri belt, which is the biggest producer of the fruit in it in the State. He tried to understand their problems and suggest solutions.Talking to Express, Love said he would check the suitability of high-density planting under rain-fed conditions. He would look into the possibility of implementing special practices for rain-fed conditions followed in Israel, in Tamil Nadu’s mango belt. Love would also chalk out methods for rejuvenating old orchards suitable for the area. There again, Love would try to implement the methods followed in Israel. Next only to ragi, mango is a major product in Krishnagiri district. The farmers have covered 30,017 hectares under mango cultivation. The entire stretch of Bargur, Uthangarai, Pochampalli, Krishnagiri, Mathur, Singarapettai and Veppanapalli has thousands of hectares under mango cultivation. In fact, the mango pulp industry in Krishnagiri district is the second largest in the country, the first being Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh. The district accounts for around 30 per cent of the Rs 400 to Rs 500-crore foreign exchange earned through mango pulp exports every year. The National Horticultural Mission (NHM) has identified the region’s potential and has taken steps to promote mango cultivation here, said Subbian, Joint Director of Horticulture, who accompanied Love to the interior parts of mango groves in Bargur.Besides Tamil Nadu, Love has already visited the fields in Maharashtra and Haryana.

Standing panels formed to monitor code of conduct

Three standing committees have been formed to monitor the model code of conduct for the Bargur Assembly bye-elections which goes to poll on August 18.

A. Anbarasu, Revenue Divisional Officer, would head the committee would also function as liaison officer for the District Election Officer and Returning Officer.

Tahsildhars A. Chandramohan, Pochampalli; K. Rajagopal, Krishnagiri and M. Theerthagiri, Uthangarai would function as members of the panel at the taluk-level and another committee at the Firka level under the Zonal Deputy Tahsildhars has been formed here on Saturday.

The members of the committees would monitor the implementation of the model of code conduct and violation if any would be reported to the district-level officers for further action.

Polling booths

Out of the 230 polling booths in Bargur assembly constituency, 71 have been identified as hyper-sensitive and the remaining 151 identified as sensitive booths. Elaborate security arrangements have been made by the district administration to conduct the bypoll in a free and fair

Para military forces would be deployed in the hyper-sensitive and sensitive booths.

Check posts

Twenty-two check posts have been formed in the state, district and constituency borders to prevent infiltration of anti-social elements during the time of election.

Nine check posts in state borders with Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, five in district borders of Dharmapuri, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai and eight in constituency borders were set up.

Booth inspection

Meanwhile, the District Election Officer V.K. Shanmugam inspected 11 booths in Kunnthur, Vaduganur, Pasandhi, Kumarampatti, K. Ettipatti and Samalpatti villages in Mathur block on Friday.