Chennai, May 16: After a series of setbacks in the Supreme Court over the Mullaperiyar dam issue, the Kerala government is getting ready for the next round of legal battles. The strategists fighting it out for the state has succeeded in getting some relief in the form of an admission by the Central Water Commission (CWC) that any hike in the water level was detrimental to the dam.

"It was the Right To Information (RTI) Act which came to our help. Though we have been asking the CWC about the safest height to which the water level could be raised, we never got any satisfactory answer," said James Wilson, the lead player in the think tank set up by the government.

Mr Wilson, an executive engineer in the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), told this newspaper that the CWC finally revealed that when the full reservoir level (FRL) of the dam was at 136 ft, with all the gates operative and tunnel discharges, the Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) would push the Maximum Water Level (MWL) to 156.02 ft.

"This is a blatant violation of the lease deed as the water level in the reservoir must be within 155 ft. So, the Full Reservoir Level restriction law can be justified in Court," said Mr James, who completed his engineering studies in Tamil Nadu. He said the maximum flood that took place in Mullaperiyar Dam was in 1943. "The official records show that the PMF in that year was 8,453 cubicmetres a second (cumsec) water. The CWC took an artificially lowered value for their assessment. But later, studies by the Delhi IIT has shown that PMF is possible even with 6,003 cumsec," said Mr Wilson.

Though Mr Wilson has succeeded in getting a ray of hope for Kerala, shadow boxing in the bureaucracy has taken its toll. A powerful coterie of irrigation engineers and their political masters saw to it that Mr Wilson was moved out of the think tank. Still, the Kerala government is in a mood to fight, N.K. Premachandran, minister for irrigation, is in the process of setting up a special cell with two young engineers.

Chennai, May 16: The first of its kind waste to power plant constructed at the Koyambedu wholesale market complex, (one of the largest perishable markets in Asia) at a cost of Rs 5 crore suffers several drawbacks. As the vegetable waste is not segregated properly, the plant is not able to function to its maximum capacity.

Since its inception in 2005, the plant faces plenty of technical problems due to non-cooperation of officials and vegetable traders. The plant was expected to generate 5,000 units a day or 17.2 lakh units annually for power supply and is monitored by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority.

According to official sources, thirty tonnes of vegetable waste, which the plant will require everyday is collected from the market that comprises about 2,800 shops including 1656 vegetable shops and 721 fruit shops. On an average day, the market generates around 110 tons of degradable waste, which includes fibre, and non-fibre waste. Of this non-fibre waste particularly rich in starch would be ideal for generating power under certain parameters. Mostly potato, banana and tubers of plants are ideal for the plant. They would be fermented for a period of few days and then the pulp would be converted into methane gas and from methane power is generated, the sources said.

According to Ms Gincy Susan Jose of Exnora International, who is currently studying waste management in Koyambedu, the inadequacy of human resource, absence of suitably trained staff for handling solid waste, lack of coordination from traders and official apathy has forced the plant to operate less than its expected capacity.

The vegetable traders do not throw the garbage in a disciplined manner. In most of the cases the garbage waste is mixed with mud and stones. Besides the plant would work efficiently only if the vegetable waste rich in starch is fermented and then feeded into the plant. But fibre waste is also mixed up and there by the system suffers frequent technical problems. Neither government staff nor vegetable traders are aware of these facts and there is frequent break down of the plant resulting in under production of power, she alleged. Waste management systems include onsite-handling, storage, collection, transportation, processing and recovery as well as the final disposal but there is no system. Further while allocating resources including finance, solid waste management is assigned a low priority resulting in inadequate provision of funds, she alleged. Moreover with the people there throw the waste on the adjoining road and outside the bin, the work of the collection staff is increased and this has also increased the cost of collection, affecting the project. Currently, 70 per cent of the solid waste generated from Koyambedu market, which can generate revenue is dumped in Kodungaiyur, Ms. Jose added.

When contacted, a senior official said several measures to sort out the issue is underway.

Chennai, May 16: Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, better known as Pillayan, a former LTTE commander who had broken away to fight the Tigers alongside the government forces, was on Friday sworn in as the chief minister of the newly elected Eastern Provincial Council (EPC). The swearing-in ceremony was held at the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat around 6.30 p.m. in the presence of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The President has cause to worry as his Muslim ally M. L. A. M. Hisbullah accused him of betraying the Muslims by going back on his promise to make him the chief minister. He said he and two other Muslim members would step out of the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA). "The President and the government deceived not only me but also the whole Muslim community and the 12 Muslim ministers," the BBC Sinhala service quoted Mr Hisbullah saying.

The May 10 EPC polls in the eastern districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara saw the UPFA win 20 (18 plus two bonus) seats in the 37-member council, while the opposition UNP-Sri Lankan Muslim Congress alliance got 15 and the JVP and Tamil Democratic National Alliance secured one seat each. Several opposition parties and rights organisations have termed the elections as rigged, listing out the many instances of bogus voting and intimidation of voters. The most-heard complaint was the Pillayan’s armed cadres, going under the political banner of TMVP, were in control of several polling stations, driving away voters identified as members of rival camps.

Brushing aside Hisbullah’s claim, Pillayan said the UPFA would not have scored victory in the provincial elections but for his TMVP helping. Also, he has made it clear that his group would keep arms "until terrorism is defeated". Mr Hisbullah had vowed to disarm

all militant groups, Tamil and Muslims, if he was made the chief minister in the east. The Pillayan group has been repeatedly accused of murdering civilians, abducting children for conscription and other serious human rights violations, while teaming up with the government forces to take on the LTTE and other rival outfits in the east.

Interestingly, Pillayan’s boss Karuna Amman is being held in a London prison after being arrested by the British immigration officials a little over four months ago for entering the country on false travel documents. He is likely to be deported to Colombo shortly and that could throw up a fresh leadership conflict in the paramilitary outfit. Acknowledging that Karuna was still the leader of the TMVP, Pillayan had sometime back even offered to hand over the CM post to him when he returned home.

Informed sources said President Rajapaksa was keen on having a retired Sri Lanka Administrative Service officer Mounagurusamy, as the chief minister of the eastern province, preferring him over the controversial Pillayan and Mr Hisbullah. Mr Samy was the Government Agent (equivalent to district collector in India) in Batticaloa and had a clean image, so the President had thought he would make a good chief minister—a fair match for the only other Tamil chief minister in the world, DMK’s M. Karunanidhi heading the administration in Tamil Nadu.

Mr Samy had contested in the May 10 poll but lost. However, the President was contemplating bringing him into the council through one of the two bonus seats. It now appears that he did not want to take chances with the militant Pillayan and might have chosen to wait for Karuna’s return to see how the TMVP fortunes evolve in the coming days.

Chennai, May 16: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pulled up the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation Limited (TTDC) stating that of the 26 hotels run by the corporation, eight to 14 in the state did not achieve the break-even occupancy resulting in a loss of Rs. 1.39 crore.

"The hotels located at Pitchavaram, Sathur, Salem, Tirunelveli and Ulundurpet were consistently making losses of Rs. 60.52 lakh during 2002-07. The main reason for the low occupancy was poor maintenance, poor room service and ineffective publicity," the report said.

The CAG has recommended that TTDC should run its services professionally if it has to get a major share of tourist growth. Its working force has to be given regular orientation training and motivated to perform better. The corporation has to make efforts to increase the occupancy level by improving or upgrading infrastructural facilities and room services of its hotels. "If the private sector can do it so can the company," the auditors have said.

The CAG has also rapped up the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University’s (TNAU) exam evaluation process. "Of the 1,713 students who applied for revaluation, the university awarded higher marks to 1,193 students (70 per cent) and less marks were awarded to 419 students (24 per cent). Thus, there was change of marks in respect of 94 percent of the applicants indicating that valuation in the first instance was not done with due care.

The auditors have also stated that the university had not introduced any successful hybrids for rice, sorghum, pearl millet and cotton during the last 10 years and failed to popularise new varieties.

Chennai, May 16: The Child Welfare Committee here is in a dilemma over an abandoned teenager, whose maggot-infested foot must be amputated to save his life, but his parents cannot be located to give their consent for the surgery and be available for post-operative support.

N. Chandrasekar (17) was first found begging outside the golden temple in Vellore, when passers-by complained about the foul smell emanating from his foot oozing pus. Then began his journey from Vellore to the Ranipet government hospital, to the CWC home in Bangalore, and to the government boys’ home at Royapuram, in Chennai. "He was taken to Bangalore because he claimed that his parents lived in Kamakshipalaya, but the CWC workers were unable to locate it. Since he spoke fluent Tamil, they brought him to Chennai," said Dr P. Manorama, the chairperson of the Child Welfare Committee.

Chandrasekar immediately underwent a medical examination, from which the doctors learnt it was a case of chronic oesteomyelitis (bone infection) and that his leg needed to be amputated below the knee. "The CWC will bear the treatment expenses, but we would be grateful if some specialists could lend their expertise for the operation," she said. (9444077177)

Chennai, May 16: The Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP has urged the government to identify all the Bangaladeshi nationals who had infiltrated into India and repatriate them immediately in the interest of national security.

Reacting sharply to the involvement of the Bangaladeshi nationals in the Jaipur blasts, the party called upon the government to deal terror activities with an iron hand and ensure that Indians were not put to peril. In a statement here on Friday, state president L. Ganesan claimed that over one crore Bangaladeshis had infiltrated into the country and several of them had already entered Tamil Nadu. "This is very ominous for the nation. The borders seem to be porous and terror activities are on the rise," Mr Ganesan said and called upon the state government also to remain vigilant. "The government should identify the infiltrators and send them back at once," he added.

Referring to the September 11 incident the senior BJP leader claimed that the US pulled itself out due to coordinated efforts of the government, political parties, public and the media. "We should draw inspiration from the US and put an end to terrorism," he added.

Chennai, May 16: Chief minister M.Karunanidhi’s reasoning to not celebrate his birthday owing to the ‘betrayal’ of his allies has hurt the Marxists. CPM state secretary N.Varadarajan on Friday said that his party considered the chief minister’s remarks on the betrayal of his ally as a generalised statement in the wake of the failure to specifically mention the ally.

Asking his partymen not to celebrate his birthday on June 3, the DMK president had on Wednesday said that he had only ‘back-stabbers’ as friends and was therefore not in a mood to celebrate his birthday. He had actually taken a veiled dig at his mercurial ally PMK and its founder Dr. S.Ramadoss, who had commented that the two-year DMK rule in the state was nothing but a failure.

Mistaking chief minister’s oblique reference to the PMK for his party, CPM leader Varadarajan explained in detail the definition for an alliance. As regard the Marxists, he said, they were continuing their support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance with a view to keeping fascist forces away from coming to power. The CPM, Mr Varadarajan said, has been backing the DMK in its struggle for Sethusamudram project.

Going one step further, he said, "We stand by the ruling DMK to defeat the efforts of the evil forces in pulling down the party from power through shortcut measures." It was the democratic responsibility of the Marxists to extend support to the DMK even while carrying forward their movement by taking an independent stand in people’s issues, he said.

While accepting Mr Varadarajan’s felicitation, the chief minister credited the CPM with following the alliance dharma at all stages. "When such is their integrity, why should they consider my statement (on betrayers) to be applicable to them?" Mr Karunanidhi asked and expressed his regret for the CPM having mistaken his remarks.

Chennai, May 16: As Chennaiites continued to endure intense heat wave conditions for the past one week, the power breakdowns in southern suburbs of East Tambaram, Selaiyur, Madambakkam and Gowriwakkam is causing severe hardship to those staying indoors.

Power crisis continued to haunt people for the third consecutive day on Friday with the residents spending sleepless nights. Though the electricity board officials restored electricity with much difficulty, they were not able to ensure proper voltage supply.

Mr Kannan of Selaiyur said, "On Wednesday as there was heavy winds the electricity board had disconnected power supply, which we can accept. But from Thursday onwards we were experiencing voltage fluctuations. We were forced to spend sleepless nights due to unscheduled power interruptions."

Mr Satish Anand of Madambakkam said that when he had called the TNEB for lodging a complaint, the personnel misguided him by stating that the problem was in his house, contrary to the fact that the problem persisted in the area itself.

Numerous senior citizens said that at least the EB officials should have taken steps to rectify the voltage fluctuation problem late Thursday night. They urged the EB officials to inform the residents of the status of the problem.

Mr S. Machendranathan, chairman, TNEB, told this newspaper on Friday that a tower in Madambakkam had fallen due to which there was power failure in the southern suburbs on Wednesday.

"We tried our best to provide electricity at the earliest. We had deployed all our manpower in the Kadaperi sub station and other areas to solve the crisis. But as the winds had uprooted some of our towers we could provide electricity with much difficulty," he said. The TNEB chairman promised that power crisis would be solved by Friday evening.

Mr S. Gunasekaran, member (distribution), TNEB, said that the board would be setting up sub stations at Keelkatalai and Pallikaranai, for which they had asked the state government to allocate land.

"We are also upgrading the sub station at Pallavaram from the present 33 KV to 110 KV. Setting up of new sub stations and upgradation would be completed in this fiscal itself, after which the southern suburbs will not face any power shortage," he said.

Chennai, May 16: The meeting between the state government and the trade unions at the secretariat on Friday to resolve the issue of delinking the functioning of welfare boards for unorganised sector from the labour department and attaching it to the revenue department, has ended inconclusively.

The meeting was attended by state revenue minister I. Periasamy, state labour minister T. M. Anbarasan and representatives of trade unions, including CITU, AITUC, INTUC and LPF.

Trade unions affiliated to the Left parties, the AIADMK, MDMK, Congress and the PMK had opposed the government order to shift the 14 unorganised sector welfare board for registration of unorganised labour, verification and distribution of welfare assistance only through the revenue department from the labour department. Speaking to this newspaper, CITU general secretary A. Soundarajan said, "The government has accepted our demands in principle to maintain the status quo, but final decision will be taken only after consulting chief minister M. Karunanidhi."

He said, "By the government move, registration, verification and distribution of welfare assistance will be done through the revenue department, which will put the workers under hardship. Hence, we urged the government to continue the functioning of the welfare boards with the labour department itself."

With the government citing shortage of manpower to carry out the verification of the applications as a reason to its move, Mr Soundarajan said, "We (trade unions) suggested that the verification could be done through village administrative officers. We wanted the registration of workers and distribution of welfare assistance through the labour department. So that the department is accountable and answerable to trade unions."

State labour minister T. M. Anbarasan told this correspondent that the government would consider the trade unions suggestion after consulting the chief minister.

"At taluk level, we have only one assistant inspector and it is impossible for him to verify every applicant. But, the trade union suggested that VAOs could be used for verification," he added. The issue also found its echo in the Assembly, where chief minister sought assurance from the trade union leaders to help remove duplication of membership.

Chennai, May 16: For the second time in a month, a major fire broke out in a chemical factory at Madharavam on Friday afternoon. Firemen struggled for over two hours with at least 12 fire tenders before they could douse the fire.

The chemical factory, Noble Seko Organic Chemicals Limited, located at Lotus Nagar in Madhavaram, caught fire at 12.25 pm, according to fire service officials. "The fire broke in a 150 by 100 feet area where raw materials required for paint manufacturing were stored," fire service officials said.

The police said the rising temperatures could have caused the fire.

"The chemicals are stored in a closed room and with the increase in daytime temperature, it is possible that the fire was caused by the heat," the police said. The estimated loss is expected to run into several lakhs, the fire service officials said.

Erode, May 16: Her compassion towards street dogs and the undesired cats left to loiter and the need for a spacious accommodation to take care of these ‘children’ had impelled her to purchase a house on 56 cents at Kullampalayam near Erode. Sujatha, daughter of a film producer in Erode, says she chose to sacrifice her life and left her father’s bungalow at Gobichettipalayam for about 250 cats and dogs.

A long list of degrees tag her name. She was even offered the position of a lecturer at a college. But, nine hours at work would mean nine hours away from her ‘children’. "So I decided not to work," Sujatha said. And the 35-year-old also decided to remain a spinster. The reason: "Rearing cats and dogs in our community (Goundar) is a taboo and my grandparents never stepped into our house because they despised them. My parents were supportive, but keeping them at home after marriage would be impossible," says Sujatha.

She said her interest in these animals started at the age of 7 and she flicked money from home to get kittens and pups from her friends. "Later I started to pick animals on streets, old, sick and disabled seeking attention. Vets from Chennai and Mettupalayam make periodical visits and ensure their well being," she says.

"After moving into the new house nine months ago, I have had two attendants to help me with the two sheds, 7 cents dedicated for the cats and 10 cents for dogs. The first two months at the new house was terrible, for about 90 cats died of cat pneumonia. It was then that I stopped counting. Counting is superstitious and I fear they would die," says Sujatha.

"A separate kitchen has been set up to prepare fish and milk for the animals. The monthly expenses to feed them is between Rs 17,000 to Rs 20,000," says Sujatha.

Her father, cine producer and location consultant Jyothi Raja, supports her financially.

Besides her immense love for cats and dogs, the Indian bow snake was something she had fancied for and wanted to get it from snake catcher ‘pambu’ Parthsarathy. "But I was not allowed to keep snakes. Earlier I had a deer, mongoose and a monitor lizard," she said.

Chennai, May 16: The Chennai corporation has requested the contractors to speed up the ongoing bridge work across the city. According to sources, mayor M. Subramanian had instructed the private contractors to speedup the bridge work. Two bridges in T.Nagar would be completed three months prior to the scheduled date. In the span of next eight months, the civic body would complete works on four bridges.

It may be noted that despite problems in land acquisition and escalation of building material prices, the corporation was successful in completion of Kodambakkam bridge on schedule.  And next year, two bridges would be completed. Saidapet - Alandur causeway would be inaugurated in January 2009 and Stanley level-crossing subway in north Chennai would be completed by March or April 2009, the sources said.

Land acquisition work is also underway for bridges at Cenetoph Road, L.B. Road, Perambur Ganesapuram and Coclain Basin Roads. And in the next two years, at least a dozen bridge works would be completed in the city.  Designs are also ready for four new bridges at Madhya Kailash, Thiruvanmiyur, Mint junction and Basin Bridge, the sources added.

Meanwhile the mayor on Thursday announced that the flyover at the Usman Road-Duraisamy Road junction in T. Nagar would be opened in July by chief minister M. Karunanidhi.

Chennai, May 16: Following the Sri Lankan customs ban on carrying large quantity of trade goods by air passengers since May 15, at least some of the traders have found another way to make money - smuggling. At least three traders, including one from the island nation, were arrested for smuggling gold and star tortoises on Thur-sday in Chennai.

The customs officials at Chennai airport seized six gold biscuits, weighing 760 gm, from two traders who arrived in Chennai from Colombo on Thursday night. "The traders were found carrying gold biscuits packed in polythene bag stuffed in their anus," a senior customs official said.

The two, identified as B. Ismail Harif and M.I. Nizamuddin from Raman-athapuram, were regular travellers engaged in taking clothes from Chennai to Colombo for business.

On Thursday night when they arrived they tried to walk through the green channel saying that they had nothing to declare. But customs officials, on suspicion, detained the duo and did a body scan on them. It was found that they were carrying gold biscuits.

On Friday morning with the help of a medical team, customs officials, took the biscuits out of their body. The two later told the officials that they were offered Rs 1000 to carry one biscuit.

In another incident, the customs official seized 235 live star tortoises, worth over Rs. 3.5 lakh from a Lankan trader who was going to Colombo from Chennai on Thursday night. "This is the first time airport customs are detaining a Lankan national for trying to smuggle star tortoises," the customs official said. The arrested Lankan was identified as Mohamed Murzil from Jaffna.

MMS helps them

The international smugglers seem to have found a new way to send details of carriers to their counterparts in other countries.   According to the confession by two carriers who were detained by the customs officials in Chennai airport on Thursday, the smugglers had taken their photographs using mobile phones.  Carriers pictures are then sent to their agents in Chennai by MMS. Using this MMS, smugglers’ agents, waiting at the Chennai airport, identify the carriers and collect the contraband from them.