QChennai: Holiday for Schools; Anger over Govt Inaction Post Gaja

Here is your roundup of the top stories from Chennai.

1. Holiday for Schools and Colleges in Chennai District on Thursday

Chennai District Collector Shanmugha Sundaram has announced holiday for schools and colleges in Chennai district On Thursday, 22 November, following prediction of heavy rains in the district. Holiday has been declared for educational institutions in Kancheepuram district too.

Chennai will witness rains for the next two days while north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will see heavy rainfall in one of two places for the next three days, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted. Tamil Nadu will also witness moderate rainfall in many places.

(Source: The News Minute)

2. In Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam, Villagers Angry with Govt Response After Gaja

Anger simmers in the villages of Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts. It has been five days since Cyclone Gaja reduced their homes to rubble. A sea of discontentment is all that remains for the people in Thalayamangalam in Tiruvarur and Vizhanthamavadi in Nagapattinam districts. Despite the TN Chief Minister's claims that relief works started hours after the cyclone made landfall, people in these two villages deny it completely.

Villagers are involved in protests across the districts in the past two days alleging that no relief has come from the government’s side for them. “We (common men) immediately pitched in money and bought power saws to cut the trees. The trees in Rajagopalapuram village were cleared by the villagers after a lot of struggle. Even now there are a lot of trees fallen here,” one said.

(Source: The News Minute)

3. Jayalalithaa’s Pet Project on Solar Energy Falls Behind Target

Former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s pet scheme to promote solar energy in households through a subsidy scheme has been left languishing in cold storage since her death in 2016. She had announced the ‘Capital Incentive Scheme’ to promote solar energy among domestic consumers by giving a capital subsidy of ₹20,000 per kilo watt (KW) for grid-connected photo voltaic systems in the State.

She had also set a target of 10,000 domestic consumers as per the Government Order of the Energy Department, dated October 18, 2013. However, since the launch of the programme, the State has not been able to reach even the half-way mark of 5,000.

(Source: The Hindu)

4. 32-Year-Old Man Murdered in TN, Police Probe If It Is a Case of Hate Killing

32-year-old Esakki Shankar body was sprawled on wild foliage, deep cuts visible on his hand and his chest. A fatal knife wound on his neck police believe was the likely cause of his death. Shankar's body was found at around 7.30 am on Tuesday at the banks of the Thamarbharani river which flows near his home at Vellanguli in Tirunelveli district. Shankar was murdered when he went to take a bath at the river.

But over a day after he was hacked to death, Deputy Superintendent of Police, who conducted the preliminary investigation says that they have established neither the motive for the murder nor zeroed in on possible suspects. An investigating official in his team however on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that they were looking into two possible motives, one of which is a hate crime.

(Source: The News Minute)

5. Raids on Shops Selling Second-Hand Mobiles

The police raided 21 shops that were found selling second-hand mobile phones without proper bills near the Moore Market Complex on Tuesday. A total of 794 phones were seized.

According to the Tamil Nadu Scrap Merchant and Dealers in Second Hand Property and Owner of Auto-mobile Workshop and Tinkering Shop (Regulations Control and Licensing) Act 1985, the shop owners should have proof pertaining to when and from whom they purchased the equipment. “However, most of the roadside shops selling the second-hand mobile phones do not have any proof and they do not produce any bill on purchase of the equipment. We suspect that stolen mobile phones can flood these shops,” said a senior police officer.

(Source: The Hindu)

6. 187 Buses Shifted from CMBT to KK Nagar Depot

A month after shifting Andhra Pradesh bound buses to the newly developed Madhavaram Mofussil bus terminus (MMBT), the Transport department has shifted buses operating to Puducherry, Cuddalore and Chidambaram from Koyambedu bus terminus to K K Nagar MTC depot. The move aimed at decongesting the Dr MGR bus terminus in Koyambedu and Inner Ring road, is expected to bring down travel time by 30 minutes.

Some 167 buses run by Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (Villupuram) and 20 buses of Puducherry Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) have been shifted to K K Nagar MTC depot, two weeks ago. The decision was also attributed to the frequent accidents at Ashok pillar junction by official sources.

(Source: The New Indian Express)