35 Years on, Cops of Anti-Naxal Operation Saluted

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 07th August 2015

VELLORE: Residents of the district of Vellore, Tirupattur and Jolarpet and beyond gathered at the memorial in Tirupattur on Thursday to honour and pay tribute to police personnel on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the successful conclusion of Operation Ajanta that freed northern Tamil Nadu of the scourge and terror of Naxalism, rampant in the area at the time.

If north Tamil Nadu is largely free of Naxalism and the terror it invoked, it is largely because of the bravery of the police personnel involved in Operation Ajanta.

Those who gathered remembered afresh that Operation Ajanta eliminated the Naxals from Tirupattur, Jolarpet and surrounding areas in the erstwhile North Arcot district three decades ago to the day.

Operation Ajanta was so named by the then Chief Minister of Tamil nadu, MG Ramachandran, in honour of Jolarpet Inspector V Palanisamy’s six-year-old daughter Ajanta. Thirty five years ago on August 6, Palanisamy and two police constables — C Murugesan and R Yesudoss — were killed in a bomb attack by a notorious Naxalite, Sivalingam, of Jolarpet. Sivalingam’s associate Selvam was also killed when the bomb was hurled at the three policemen who were on their way to the Tirupattur taluk police station for interrogation.

Sivalingam disappeared from the police radar after the killings and was arrested only in 2009.

“The incident happened a week after I took charge as DIG of the range,” former DGP of Tamil Nadu Walter Devaram told Express on the sidelines of the 35th Commemoration Day.

“Within a year, we had uprooted the Naxalites from this part of the State and ensured they do not resurge in the future,” said Devaram and attributed a large part of the success of the operation to public support.

It may be recalled that around 100 policemen split into three to four teams and encountered 19 Naxalities — including prominent Naxals Kannamani, Rathinavel, Anbu, Irutupatchai.

“We encountered three Naxals on August 21, in the year 1981 in Naickaneri hills near Ambur and also seized Chinese made weapons from them,” added the former DGP.

sewage water turns lifeline for irrigation near Vaniyambadi

Farmers Forced to Use Sewage for Irrigation

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 03rd August 2015 

VELLORE: Farmers of two panchayats — Girisamuthiram and Necknamalai — have been irrigating their fields with sewage water from Vaniyambadi Municipality for the last three decades, rather than groundwater, since they believe the groundwater was highly polluted with effluents from the leather industries.

A man shows the water from a rivulet that is contaminated by effluent from tanneries, in Vellore | 

Crops such as paddy, corn, maize, sugarcane and fodder are being grown on 500 acres of land that have been irrigated with sewage water in these two panchayats. It is also used for coconut farms, besides feeding livestock. The farmers divert the municipality sewage water from Girisamuthiram channel to their lands. “We share the sewage water among ourselves. We mix it with the well water in 3:1 ratio and use it for irrigation,” said 53-year-old farmer Arumugam of Girisamuthiram. He also feeds his milch animals the filtered sewage water.

Using sewage water to irrigate the fields of Girisamuthiram and Necknamalai has been in vogue for the past 30 years and has become an ‘acceptable’ practice, as farmers contend it is a choice between the lesser of two evils. The farmers claim that the groundwater has Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) of over 5,000 mg/l while sewage water from the Vaniyambadi municipality has around 2,000 TDS mg/l. “Ground water in and around Girisamuthiram has been declared unfit for human consumption. The TDS level has crossed over 5,000 mg/l. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board’s (TNPCB) monitoring well in the vicinity is a clear proof for this,” said a farmer and added that they were forced to use sewage for irrigation due to non-availability of good water sources.

The farmers allege, perhaps justifiably, that the leather industry has caused ecological damage discharging untreated effluents into water bodies, particularly the Palar riverbed. “If we use the well water, the crops wither due to the high level of TDS. The sewage water has now turned into a lifeline for the agricultural activities here,” said farmer Prakasam in Girisamuthiram.

Despite the farmers considering the sewage water to be their ‘lifeline’, experts from Krishi Vigyan Kendra say that the practice of irrigating the fields with sewage water will harm the soil and that agri-produce grown on such soil would be unfit for human consumption.

However, farmers associations dissuade such practice. “Poor monsoon and depleting ground water force many farmers to use the sewage water for irrigation at many places. But is not an acceptable practice,” said a member of Tamil Nadu Vivasaigal Sangam L C Mani.

Professor and Head of KVK, Virinjipuram, M Pandiyan said that the presence of ammonium in high level in sewage discharge will boost the growth of crops. It contains several hazardous metals apart from ammonium. These metals will turn the agriculture produce unfit for human or animal consumption and also spoil the soil. “It will cause health hazard for those who consume the produce. Farmers should stop from following such practice,” said Pandiyan.

Witnesses Detained in Breach of HC Fiat:

Witnesses Detained in Breach of HC Fiat: NGO

By J Shanmugha Sundaram | ENS

Published: 22nd July 2015 06:38 AM

VELLORE: Allegations have surfaced that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) interrogating the three witnesses in connection with the Seshachalam encounter case “wrongfully restrained” two witnesses and an advocate in a private institution, Sri Padmavati University, in Tirupati during the early hours on Tuesday.

According to a representative of People’s Watch, an NGO, it received a call from one of the advocates accompanying the witnesses presumably in a panic. The NGO protested with the SIT for going against the AP High Court directive and succeeded in getting the SIT to finally hand over the witnesses to the NGO after much argument. This was denied by SIT police who claimed that the NGO interfered with their investigation. “We were planning to commence the inquiry on Wednesday. But the NGO’s representative protested and took them away,” said Additional Superintendent of Police Chandrasekar of the SIT.

Palaniammal of People’s Watch who was contacted by K Umar, an advocate, who had accompanied the witnesses, said, “Police personnel attached to SIT violated the Hyderabad High Court order and whisked two key witnesses — Elangovan and Sekar — away. The SIT teams did not communicate this either to the Tamil Nadu police teams or us. After reaching Puthur, the SIT sped away with the witnesses.” The HC order says that “....the SIT shall ensure safety and security of all the three witness and the advocates as long as they would be within the jurisdiction of the State of AP.”

They had taken the duo to the guest house (Saaviri) in the University. While Elangovan and advocate K  Umar were taken to the guest house at about 2.20 am, the team that took Sekar reached the guest house at 3.50 am on Tuesday.  “We were inside the guest house till 8 am. We were not allowed to step out,” said Umar.

Umar said he was worried after Elangovan did not return for 50 minutes when he had gone to attend nature’s call. “I contacted People’s Watch representative and informed them about the situation,” he added.

The three witnesses accompanied by three separate SIT teams retraced each of the witness’s movements starting from their respective villages to Puthur. “The SIT team did not show any interest in stopping in certain places to cross-check my route and took me instead to the University,” said Sekar.

Another witness, A Balachandran of Sitheri hills in Dharmapuri, expressed his unwillingness to go with SIT after Puthur in Chittoor district, fearing for his life.

Kin in Dark Over Accident Victims in Oman

By J Shanmugha Sundaram | ENS

Published: 20th July 2015

VELLORE: Despite forty hours passing after a road accident in Muscat, Oman, in which seven persons, including five from India (three from Vellore, one from Thanjavur, one from Kerala) died, aggrieved family members in Vellore have not received any official word either from the Ministry of External Affairs or from the Indian Embassy in Muscat.

The Vellore district administration has made every effort to contact the Embassy in Muscat and officials in Delhi and Chennai, but have been thwarted in their attempts to contact anyone and get more information. Two other persons who died were in the bus and were from Oman. Though it is the Ramzan weekend, Vellore district officials voiced their concernthat in such emergencies appropriate officials must communicate with aggrieved family members.

The three Vellore victims have been identified as Stephen Joseph (44) of Bagayam, M Divakar (24) of Palur and A Suresh (34) of Karai in Ranipet. The car in which they were travelling was involved in a head-on collision with a tourist bus near Haima between Salalah and Muscat around 5.30 am (7 am IST) on Saturday. They were returning from Salalah after spending the Ramzan vacation at a friend’s house.

Walter Nickson, a relative of Stephen Joseph, was the first to get the news about the tragic accident. The Indians were charred to death in the accident, according to Joseph’s friend John Kennedy, who is in Muscat. “A colleague of Joseph called me on Saturday evening to break the news. There has been no word from the embassy or the ministry so far,” he said.

Divakar’s brother Deva Prasad too said that there was no communication from the government. “We were shocked on hearing about the accident from his friends. We appeal to the government to take measures to bring back the bodies,” he said. While Joseph and Divakar were working as X-ray technicians in Life Line Hospital, Suresh was working as an X-ray technician in Royal Hospital, a government-run facility in Muscat.

Frantic calls by the district administration officials to several offices in Chennai and Delhi, including the Protector General of Emigrants, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Delhi, Joint Secretary (South) of Ministry of Overseas, Delhi, and Head of Branch Secretariat, MEA, Chennai, proved futile.Delhi (011-26874250, 24197984, 24674143/44) kept ringing; in Chennai the number 044-28252200 was out of order.

“We kept trying from the morning to confirm that residents of Vellore were involved in the accident, but in vain. We did not receive any information till 7 pm on Sunday,” an official said. “Even the office of the District Police did not receive any communication in this regard,” the official claimed. District administration officials faced the same hurdles in getting information during the evacuation of Indians from war-torn Yemen when nurses from Vellore were trapped there. 

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/546430/The-New-Indian-Express-Vellore/20-07-2015#page/3/1

'Quarry Owners, Officials Collude'

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 18th July 2015 05:18 AM

VELLORE:  Failure of officials to control stone quarry contractors has emboldened the latter to plunder the natural resource in and around Musiri and Thenkadapanthangal villages in Walajapet. Residents of the villages allege that contractors, who were granted permission between 2008 and 2011 to carry out stone quarrying for a period of ten years, are violating norms and quarrying beyond the permissible limits.

Responding to a query by U Sagayam, Legal Commissioner appointed to inspect mining activities in the State, on a complaint of indiscriminate stone quarrying lodged by B Srinath, a farmer in Walajapet, the district administration has submitted that contractors have cut stones beyond the permissible limit and quarried in non-permitted areas and that Collector R Nanthagopal had directed the Ranipet RDO to initiate action against violators.

While sources said the Collector had slapped penalty of over Rs 42 crore on contractors of 10 stone quarries in Ananthalai village and Rs 86.52 lakhs on a contractor in Senkadu, Sabas Babu, the district president of BJP charged that no further action was taken and not even a single rupee has been collected so far. “Officials are hand in glove with the contractors and under valued the loss to government in the quarrying,” he alleged.

BJP cadre staging a protest in Walajapet, vellore

On Friday, the party staged a demonstration to highlight the violations and plundering of natural resource. Villagers who participated in the protest condemned the district administration and police for failing to take action against the erring contractors and said authorities were mute spectators to indiscriminate explosions carried out to break stones.

Further, villagers complained that indiscriminate quarrying had caused irreversible damage to the environment and affected farming activities in  Musiri, Anathalai and Thenkadapanthal. “More than 60 acres of land have been affected directly due to the stone quarries. Water source has depleted and many wells went dry years ago,” said B Srinath, a farmer who has six acres of land a few hundred metres away from a quarry. He further said that many springs originating in the forest and hilly areas in the vicinity and a water canal were destroyed by the quarries. “The contractors have extended quarrying activities into the forest area adjacent to their site,” he noted.

Officials in the Department of Geology and Mines, Vellore, said they have conducted inspections for nearly six months from September 2014 and assessed the level of environment damage and violation. “Based on the assessment, we recommended the RDO of Ranipet to issue show cause notices to 11 quarries in April 2015. But the contractors have approached the court and the case is pending,” said an official.Collector R Nanthagopal was not available for comment.

Arivu: from Cell to celluloid

Movie on Arivu is on the cards, says director S P Jananathan

J. Shanmugha Sundaram

Vellore:

If everything goes on well, you may get to see Arivu (A G Perarivalan), a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, and his story on screen in the near future, according to National Film Award winning Director S P Jananathan.

“I will make a movie on Arivu in the future. I will even make him act if  there is an opportunity and if he is interested in acting,” Jananathan, director of the recently released movie ‘Porampokku Engira Pothuvudamai’, told the Express after meeting Arivu in the Vellore Central Prison for Men on Thursday. He was accompanied by Arivu’s mother Aruputhammal.

A telephone conversation a week ago  between Arivu and Jananathan on the movie that touches the issue of death penalty and mental agony of death convicts led to Thursday’s meeting. During the conversation, Arivu had expressed his desire to meet the director.

This is not the first time the two are meeting in the prison. “I met Arivu when I had come to the prison with director Seeman earlier,” he added.

Though he has dealt with capital punishment in this movie starring actors Arya and Vijay Sethupathy, the meeting with Arivu has kindled further interest in him to do a movie on similar lines. There are many untold stories behind the walls of prisons, he pointed out.

“Arivu was impressed with the movie. He heard the story from the prison personnel, his mother and also read movie reviews in the newspapers. Though he did not see a single scene of the movie, he recalls the dialogues in the movie,” said the director, who won the National award in 2004 for the movie “Iyarkai” starring actor Shyam.

”Arivu told me that the movie has created an impact on the society and also changed the mindset of many about capital punishment. It helped him in particular and death convicts in general.” said the director, quoting Arivu.

If the movie had been released two years ago, Arivu felt that it could have bettered his chances for release as media reaches a large section of the society, he added.

The director feels that he never thought that the movie would make such an impact. “If I thought the movie would create such an impact, I would have put in little more hardwork into it,” he said.

Suggested Box: Arivu’s mother Aruputhammal said that his son is confident of winning his freedom very soon. He is having supreme faith in the judiciary.

“When I asked about his health and treatment, Arivu said he felt much better now,” said Ariputhammal.

She further said that the doctors at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital had asked him to come for further check-up next month and said that by then, he will win his legal battle to get back his freedom.

/eom/shan/ 

Govt School Tasks Students to Scale 30-feet Arch

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 16th July 2015

VELLORE: Teachers of the Government Boys Higher Secondary School in Tirupattur on Wednesday allegedly made some students climb up the school’s 30-ft-high arch at the entrance, in utter disregard for their safety, to remove a portion of the school’s name. The incident follows the school administration applying to the Education Department to convert the boys-only school to a co-educational institution to increase its strength of about 300 boys. Ten years ago, the school had boasted of a student strength of 1,500.

Before the school administration received permission to convert the school into a co-ed institution, it changed the name on the school’s arch by adding the word Irupalar (co-educational).

However, when parents and locals questioned the change before permission was granted, the administration sought to remove the word irupalar from the arch. The name was changed about four months ago.

At 3 pm, three students were spotted perched on the arch of the over 50-year-old school, knocking off the word irupalar, while teachers watched them from the ground.

Passersby and residents thought the students were up to some mischief, but later learned that they were following the instructions of the teachers. The boys found it difficult to climb up the arch.

P Priyadharshini, district education officer (Tirupattur), admitted that the students were made to scale the arch. “The teachers told me that the students mounted the arch to correct the school’s name and they were carefully watching them,” said the DEO. A local said there is a high-tension wire close to the arch which would have posed additional danger to the students.

They sat on top of the arch and removed the word Irupalar reverting to the original name - Government Boys Higher Secondary School.

“Politicians had assured us they would get us the permission from the Directorate of School Education, but nothing happened,” said a teacher of the school. Another teacher, when asked about students’ safety, refused to comment. A member of the Tamil Nadu Higher Secondary Vocational Teachers Kazhagam said, “The act is condemnable. Teachers should give paramount importance to students’ safety.”