Rain lashes Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri districts

Rain-hit: The compound wall of the Forest Ranger's office on Bangalore road in Krishnagiri collapsed on Friday night due to heavy rain.

DHARMAPURI/KRISHNAGIRI: Rain with thunderstorm and lightning lashed many parts of Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri districts on Friday night.

This brought down the mercury level on Saturday.

Weather was pleasant and the sky remained cloudy all over the districts.

Some parts of the Dharmapuri district experienced rainfall for three days from April 20.

Rainwater stagnated in the low-lying areas in the town.

Rainfall registered in Dharmapuri district: Dharmapuri town 89 mm, Collectorate 65 mm, Pennagaram 64 mm, Palacode 45 mm, Pappireddipatti and Marandaalli 40 mm and Harur 35 mm.

Rain lashed Krishnagiri district from evening till mid night Friday.

In some place it was drizzling till morning. Shoolagiri registered a maximum of 95 mm rainfall.

Farmers expressed happiness as the ground water level is expected to increase.

Compound wall collapse

Compound at the Forest Ranger's office in Krishnagiri collapsed due to the rain.

No one was injured as it happened at night.

Rainfall registered in many parts of Krishnagiri district: Shoolagiri 95 mm, Krishnagiri Reservoir 85 mm, Krishnagiri town 75 mm, Thaly 73 mm, Nedungal 68 mm, Royakottai 51 mm, Hosur 50 mm, Barur 47 mm, Denkanikottai 25 mm, Uthangarai 23 mm and Anchetti 16 mm.

Rs. 4.98 cr. disbursed under Agriculture Workers' Scheme

As many as 4,690 people benefited under the State Government's Agriculture Workers' Protection Scheme to the tune of Rs. 4.98 crore for the past one year, Collector V.K. Shanmugam has said.

A review meeting was held at the Collectorate recently. Presiding over the meeting, Mr. Shanmugam scrutinised the applications received for various assistance such as marriage assistance, compensation for natural death and accidents and old-age pension etc.

Applications

The applications received from the agriculture workers were scrutinised block-wise by the Collector and the action taken on the applications was taken up for review at the meeting.

During the meeting, Mr. Shanmugam said that under the marriage assistance of the members Rs. 7.43 lakh was disbursed to 187 persons, for the marriages of sons and daughters Rs. 47.68 lakh to 1164 persons, for natural death and last rites Rs. 2.07 crore to 1,659 persons, for accident deaths and last rites expenses Rs. 1.89 crore to 185 persons and old-age pension totalling Rs. 45.66 lakh was given to 1,485 people during the past one year.

Officials were instructed to scrutinise the applications from the agriculture labourers on priority basis and disburse the assistance as early as possible.

Likewise the applications received for educational scholarships, maternity assistance and Janani Suraksha Scheme should be disbursed to the agriculture workers without any delay through the concerned departments.

P. Prabhakar, District Revenue Officer, K. Alagesan, Special Deputy Tahsildhar (Social Security Scheme), K. Rajagopal, Tahsildhar and other officials participated in the review meeting.

photo:SSLC runing in krishnagiri

Collector V.K. Shanmugam inspecting the SSLC examination centre at the Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Krishnagiri on Tuesday.

photo:SSLC runing in krishnagiri

Collector V.K. Shanmugam inspecting the SSLC examination centre at the Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Krishnagiri on Tuesday.

Archana Institute of Technology 'malpractice' canceled 1st sem Anna Univirsity exams

Anna University-Coimbatore has cancelled first semester examinations held at the Archana Institute of Technology in Krishnagiri.

The decision follows the findings of a committee appointed to inquire into allegations of malpractices that took place in the first semester examinations held in January 2010. Vice-Chancellor (officiate) T. Kannadasan told a press conference here on Tuesday that the university had received information that mass copying had taken place in physics, chemistry and mathematics examinations.

This was confirmed by the committee, which concluded there was “very strong evidence” of such malpractices. Faculty from the PSG Institute of Technology, Coimbatore Institute of Technology and Knowledge Institute of Technology and a Syndicate member were part of the investigation team.

Registrar S. Palaniswami said more than 85 physics answer scripts had similar answers with same mistakes. Further decision, including the date of re-examination, would be taken only after the investigation was complete and the Senate took a decision. Mr. Palaniswami said the committee was yet to talk to invigilators, the university representative who was present during the examinations and others concerned. It would require a few more sittings to arrive at the final decision.

Mr. Kannadasan said the university had sent a notice a couple of days ago to the engineering college seeking an explanation. The college was yet to respond. The university would also issue show-cause notice to disaffiliate the college. In addition to the action against malpractices, the university had also issued a notice to the college seeking explanation for claims it had made in advertisements.

The Vice-Chancellor (officiate) said the college had claimed cent per cent pass while two of the 124 students had failed.