Nominated for Krishnagiri

N.S.M. Gowda, District Secretary of Janata Dal (Secular) was nominated by the party to contest from Krishnagiri constituency. This was announced by Mr. Gowda to journalists here. He said that he was defeated in the 2011 assembly elections from Thally constituency with a margin of a few thousand votes against the Communist Party of India candidate T. Ramachandran. The two left parties CPI and CPI (M) are supporting the party in the Lok Sabha elections, he said. Party leader and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda would campaign for him in the constituency in April. Mr. Gowda was the district secretary of the party for the last fourteen years.

Expenditure observers arrive in Krishnagiri

They will keep track of election expenditure by candidates

Two expenditure observers, H. Ananda, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer from Karnataka and Madan Thimanpalli, an IRS officer from Andhra Pradesh, arrived in Krishnagiri on Saturday. Mr. Ananda will keep track of expenditure by Lok Sabha candidates in Uthangarai, Bargur and Krishnagiri assembly constituencies and Mr. Madan Thimanpalli will do the same for candidates in Veppanahalli, Hosur and Thally assembly constituencies.

The contact numbers of the observers are: H. Ananda 96009-09714 and Madan Thimanpalli 96009-07212.

The two officials held discussions with the District Election Officer T.P. Rajesh.

A general observer appointed by the Election Commission of India for the Krishnagiri Lok Sabha constituency was Lalhming Thanga, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from Mizoram. It was expected that he would arrive on April 5.

Funds distributed to kin of deceased self-help group members

The Krishnagiri-based non-governmental organisation, Integrated Village Development Programme (IVDP), headed by Magsaysay awardee Kulandai Francis, distributed Rs. 2.10 crore as Life Security and Solidarity Fund to the next of kin of 422 SHG members who lost their lives due to accidents and diseases during the last year, at function held at the R.C. Fathima Boys High School in Krishnagiri on Saturday.

Handed over

Mariya Susai, Rector, Don Bosco College, Dharmapuri distributed the cheques to the next to the kin of the deceased in the presence of Kulandai Francis, President, IVDP.

R. Jesudass, Principal, Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School, participated.

Presiding over the function, Mr. Kulandai Francis said that the scheme was being implemented for the last 13 years and as many as 3,018 kin of the deceased members of self-help groups had been given Rs. 10.10 crore.

Members

A total of 9,000 women SHGs with a total of 1,65,000 members are operating under the Integrated Village Development Programme (IVDP).

Manickam of Saint Mary’s Leprosy Hospital, Salem spoke on the occasion.

The scheme was introduced to help the families of those who lost their lives in accidents or because of disease, and to all those who had been permanently disabled in accidents from 2001.

Scheme was introduced to help kin of self-help group members who lost their lives due to accidents and diseases

Elephants return to Sanamavu again

Forty elephants which were driven to Jawalagiri Reserve Forests a month ago returned to Sanamavu Reserve Forests on Saturday morning, forest officials here said.

The elephant herd was prevented from entering Karnataka by Karnataka forest officials and people.

The movement of the herd towards Podur Pallam was prevented by the officials at Sinigiripalli, the other side of the Hosur-Royakottai road.

With this, the number of elephants at Sanamavu Reserve Forests and Melumalai has gone up to 55, the officials said.

Forest officials have been posted at Kukkalapalli, Pannapalli, Pathakottai, Uthanapalli, and Azhiyalam villages to prevent the animals from entering human habitations.

The team is led by Conservator of Forest (in charge) Dharmapuri Circle A.K. Ulaganathan, and Assistant Conservator of Forest A. Soundararajan, and Hosur Forest Ranger S. Sukumar.

The elephants would be driven back to Denkanikottai on Saturday night, an official said.

The herd of about 13 elephants which is roaming inside Podur Pallam Reserve Forests came out on Friday night.

They were sighted at South Pennar behind the Dakshina Tirupathi Temple.

A pair of elephants were roaming in Melumalai Reserve Forests after creating ruckus near Kaveripattinam, Krishnagiri, and other towns during the last one-and-a-half month.

Button rose cultivation hit by disease

R. Arivanantham

Button rose cultivation is hit by powdery mildew in Krishnagiri district.

V. Raja, a farmer from Kundalapatti village, near Kaveripattinam, told The Hindu that he lost 50 per cent of production because of the disease in the last one-and-a-half month.

He used to get 50 kg of flowers a day from his 75 cents. The selling price was Rs. 100 a kg.

T. Sundarraj, Programme Coordinator, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, told The Hindu that the cloudy weather with intermittent drizzling will attract leaf dandruff, resulting powdery coating on leaf surfaces.

If severe, it might appear on stems and the flowers themselves too. Affected leaves eventually turn yellow, then brown. Dead foliage typically falls off the stem, though it will sometimes remain in place.

Although not fatal to plants, powdery mildew makes the foliage unattractive and repeated bouts of the disease will gradually weaken the plant.

To keep the disease at bay and control spreading, the farmers should spray a mixture of sulphur dust at 25-30kg/ha or calixin 1ml/litre is found effective in reducing the disease incidences.

Under high incidences spraying of difenoconazole 1ml/litre is very effective, said Mr. Sundarraj.

He suggested avoiding cultivation when humidity was high.

Watering during morning hours limits the build up of humidity in the crop in the night and avoid high plant densities which leads to heavy infection.

V. Venkatachalam, president, Krishnagiri Horticulture Federation, told The Hindu that button rose was being cultivated on over 500 acres in Krishnagiri district by over 500 farmers.

The federation was offering training to budding farmers on cultivation of cut rose, button rose, and other horticulture products.

P. Kaliappan, Deputy Director, Horticulture, Krishnagiri, said that the button rose cultivation was affected in over 100 acres in the district. The disease was vulnerable because of low temperature coupled with humidity. When the temperature improves, it would automatically vanish.