DMK cadres up in arms against party candidate

DMK men demand removal of Jolarpet candidate

Shanmughasundaram.j@timesgroup.com

VELLORE:  Ignoring party leader M Karunanidhi’s plea not to oppose the party’s decision but to work for its victory in the May 16 election, the dissenting party functionaries in Vellore district are up in arms against party candidate for Jolarpet constituency.  The party men on Friday staged a protest and one of them attempted to commit suicide to express their displeasure over the selection of the candidate.

The party has fielded Vellore (West) party women wing secretary Kavitha Dhandapani for Jolarpet constituency.  She faced a stiff opposition from a section of the party cadres, who were in no mood to heed to their leader’s plea.

Nearly 150 party men, all believed to the supporters of former DMK MLA of Natrampalli N K R Sooriyakumar, have staged protest demanding to replace Kavitha Dhandapani, in Natrampalli bus stand.

After staging a protest for nearly 30 minutes, they moved to Vaniyambadi party office to register their protest. A group of around 100 party men from Jolarpet have also joined them.  The dissenting cadres reached the party office in Vaniyambadi New Town and raised slogan against Principal Secretary Durai Murugan and party Vellore (West) district secretary Devaraj

Tension flared up in the party office when a party man – Kandasamy of Natrampalli – has doused himself with kerosene and attempted to immolate. However, the police acted swiftly and thwarted his suicide bid.

The party functionaries said that Kavitha Dhandapani was not familiar among the party cadres in the constituency.  She was hailing from Kumberi village in Tirupattur and she has no connection with Jolarpet constituency.

 Sources claimed that former MLA N K R Sooriyakumar had instigated his supporters to protest against the woman candidature.  

On Thursday, over 500 cadres, all supporters of Anaicut (West) Union Secretary M Babu, protested in Vellore party office. A section of them had beaten up party nominee Nandhakumar for Anaicut constituency. They demanded that he be replaced with Babu.

Downplaying the protests in Vellore district, Durai Murugan told TOI, “It is very among political parties in the State. It will settle down within a day or two.”/eom/shan/

Rebel candidate

Denied ticket, AIADMK woman candidate to contest as Independent candidate

VELLORE 

Unhappy over the party’s decision for not giving an opportunity for woman candidate in Vellore Constituency, forty seven year-old AIADMK cadre, M Usha Nandhini, has decided to contest as independent candidate in Vellore constituency in the forthcoming assembly election.

On Friday, she resigned from the party membership and councilor post. “No party has fielded a woman candidate for Vellore Constituency till date. Be it AIADMK or DMK.  So, I have decided to represent the women of the constituency in the election and I am confident to win the election,” said Nandhini after handing over the resignation letter to Corporation Commissioner. She also sent a letter to the party headquarters.

"My mantra is -no money for vote," said Nandhini, who started her campaign in the city. She has been appealing to the women to support her to represent them in the assembly. "I have also promised them that I will work for the constituency development in the next five years."

Nandhini has been running Bharathi Amma Social Service Organisation, an NGO, for over 10 years in Vellore city to provide job oriented training and financial aid to women. “There are around 5000 members in the organisation. Irrespective of their community, caste and religion, they are supporting me and willing to campaign for me. In fact, they encouraged me to contest in the election as independent candidate,” she said.

Nandhini was confident to take on AIADMK candidate P Neelakandan, DMK candidate P Karthikeyan and others in the fray. “People will vote for a candidate who works for their development. I have fulfilled the needs and demands of the people in my ward during my tenure as councilor. I am confident to continue my good work, if the people support me in the election,” she added.

In fact, she contested as independent candidate in the 54^th ward in the last local body election after she was denied party ticket. She defeated the party’s official candidate and the DMK candidate. After winning the election, she attached herself with AIADMK party.

Palar, lifeline of northern districts, sets course for heated poll debate

Palar, lifeline of northern districts, sets course for heated poll debate

Shanmughasundaram J





Mounting Pressure On Parties To Revive The River

After more than a decade of drought, farmers and environmentalists in the districts of Vellore, Tiru vannamalai and Kancheepuram saw some water in Palar river only last December. It was an aberration caused by an unusually heavy downpour. With no chance of seeing water in the river till another unprecedented monsoon hits the state, people are eagerly waiting to see if parties take up Palar restoration project as part of their election manifesto.The sand mafia has been plundering the riverbed for decades, while indutries have been releasing effluents into the water. Without any water to flush it out into the sea, ground water is being contaminated.
The stakeholdies for attention to ers' cries for attention to revive the river, which is the lifeline for three northern districts and some parts of Chennai, has mounted pressure on parties to come up with schemes to revive the river. It was one of the two perennial rivers -the o t h e r b e i n g Ta m i r ap a r a n i i n Tirunelveli -in the state. The flow became seasonal and scarce in Palar after Andhra Pradesh constructed multiple check dams in the upper reaches of the river.
DMK and AIADMK, which have ruled the state for over four decades, have failed in designing projects to breathe life into the river. “There is no political will to stop sand mining from the riverbed. It has depleted groundwater level,“ said Kanchi Amudhan, an activist.
Chief minister J Jayalalithaa had announced in 2014 that her government would take up a project to link Thenpennai and Palar rivers. It was aimed at diverting flood water from Krishnagiri reservoir at Nedungal to the Palar river basin via Kallaru by digging a 54 km long canal. However, the project is yet to materialise, though it was first proposed in 2008.
“The government did not give con currence to the project report submitted by the National Water Development Agency in July last year. We have lost faith in AIADMK,“ said A C Venkatesan of TN Pasumai Pathukappu Iyakkam.
DMK's election manifesto, released on Sunday, says it will implement Palar-Thenpennai-Cauvery link project. But no party has so far lived up to the expectations of the people of Vellore. “We want a government, which will maintain a cordial relationship with neighbouring states, to succeed in implementing the river linking projects,“ said A Ashokan, an activist.

Roadside trees in Fort City facing threat due to indiscriminate nailing

Roadside trees in Fort City facing threat due to indiscriminate nailing

Shanmughasundaram.j

VELLORE:

 

 The next time you see an advertisement board nailed to a roadside tree, it means the tree is facing a slow death. Display boards nailed to trees are a common sight in various parts of the district. But this indiscriminate nailing on trees, according to environmental activists, acts like ‘slow poison’ to the trees.

 

Several commercial establishments, educational institutions and tuition centres have turned roadside trees into their advertisement spaces. In fact, it is difficult to see a tree free from advertisement boards. Even the age-old trees near the Collectorate, District Police Office, District Combined Court Complex and Corporation Office face the brunt of indiscriminate nailing on to them.

 

The silence of the law enforcing agency and ignorance of the public has given free hand to the commercial establishments to abuse the trees.  The officials have also failed to adopt health management of the trees.  

Two persons were found busy hammering the billboards of a private firm onto the trees in and around Sathuvachari in Vellore City on Tuesday. When inquired, the duo said that they have been asked to put up 100 billboards to promote the new offer of their firm. “The billboards put up on lamp posts are damaged or removed within a couple of weeks. So, we prefer to put up the boards on the trees. We have also obtained permission from officials to nail the billboards on the trees,” said one of them.

 

Cementing around the trees, wiring and erecting lamps on the trees would also amount to abuse of trees. It would prevent the supply of nutrition and water to the roots and subsequently result in the decay of the roots leading to the slow death of the trees.  “Tree abusers should be instructed to plant and grow trees for nailing,” said R Raja Rajan, president of the Rotary Club of Vellore (North).

 

Nailing is a cause of concern. It should be addressed to protect the existing well grown trees and young saplings to preserve the biodiversity, opined trustee and founder member of Nizhal, an NGO based in Chennai, Shobha Menon.

 

Nailing, according to the environmentalists, would cause serious damage to the bark of the tree. It is the first line of its defensive mechanism – compartmentalisation – that seals off the wounded part.  Repeating nailing weakens the protective mechanism to heal the wound to the bark. It will ultimately prevent food and water supply to the branches. The wounds will also turn into an entry point for bacteria, tree borer insects and fungus into a healthy tree.

 

The tree abusers retain the nails. “One can find at least 100 nails on well grown trees due to indiscriminate nailing on the species. It will turn into a slow poison and over a period of 6 months to 1 year, the tree will die,” said Dr T D Babu, trustee of Nizhal.

 

Officials of the Vellore Corporation were not available for comment.

Nexus between prison dept staff and inmates clips the wings of Freedom Bazaar

Scam in TN jails forces shutdown of rehab units

Shanmughasundaram J & Subburaj A

VelloreCoimbatore TNN





These convicts were expected to learn a trade by providing haircuts. Instead they found a way to shave off a portion of the earnings from the scheme.Fast food restaurants, barber shops, tailoring units and laundries run by jailbirds as part of a rehabilitation exercise across Tamil Nadu have been shut down after officials unearthed a scam involving inmates and prison personnel.
The decision to close down the units, mostly functioning outside prison premises, was taken after vigilance teams seized lakhs of rupees from convicts during recent raids in the prisons at Vellore, Trichy , Co imbatore and Puzhal in Chennai. The units were run under the aegis of the Freedom Bazaar scheme, which marketed products and services rendered by prisoners, mostly serving life sentences.
Under the project, income earned from various sources was to be deposited in a prison bazaar account. A certain percentage was paid to prisoners as daily wages, while the remaining was meant for development activities in the prison.
The units, intended to provide skill-based training for life after prison, found instant acceptance when they opened. But eventually jail personnel colluded with the prisoners manning the units to siphon off the earnings, said a prison official on condition of anonymity. A raid by a vigilance team in November last was the first to uncover the scam.
“Based on several complaints, prison vigilance teams fanned out across the state to raid prison bazaars. We have temporarily suspended the activities of the bazaars based on their report,“ said a senior police officer, not willing to be named. The bazaars would be opened after the assembly election, he said. “The team seized around `30,000 from the tailoring and ironing units in Vellore prison. The subsequent inquiry divulged that prison department personnel and inmates embezzled the earnings,“ said a reliable source.
The prison department shut down these units inside Vellore jail on Saturday . They were also directed to close a canteen run by the department. Raids at other central prisons over the last few months have exposed similar malpractic es, said another source.
In Coimbatore, jail authorities have shut down a barber shop, a hotel, bakery and a motorcycle stand run by inmates. More than 50 life convicts worked in these units.Coimbatore prison superintendent D Palani said the units were shut down but would be reopened after the assembly election.
A senior official at Vellore Central Prison for Men told TOI that convicts had also siphoned off money earned from selling products in the bazaar units. Officials declined to go into details. “We are closing the units to revamp them.They will be opened after a few months. The tailoring unit will function until it completes the work orders,“ said an official.Chennai Central Prison in Puzhal was the first to open Freedom Bazaar units in January 2014. Others followed, providing avenues to generate jobs for convicts. The Vellore department inaugurated tailoring and ironing units in October 2014.A group of five life convicts ran the barber shop, the first of its kind in the state.
After undergoing training in hairstyling, they began providing services not just for prison and police personnel, but also the public.
Buoyed by the overwhelming response, the prison department also opened a restaurant opposite the prison campus in Vellore which catered to customers from 4pm to 10pm.

High Court rap forces Tamil Nadu cops to buy 'monkey caps' to mask accused

Shanmughasundaram J | Mar 23, 2016, 09.18 AM IST

Tiruvannamalai: Rifles, lathis and handcuffs are permanent assets of a police station. But soon, stations across the state will also keep a set of monkey caps.

The station head officers (inspectors of police) of all the 39 police stations, including six all women police stations, in seven sub-divisions in Tiruvannamalai district have been instructed to buy and stock monkey caps to conceal the identity of the accused while they are escorted to the court, said reliable sources in the police department, citing the SP's oral communication.

The move comes in the wake of a Madras high court stricture against the police department on March 17 for photographs of the accused in the Udumalpet 'honour' killing being circulated in social media and published in a few newspapers. Pictures of the five men, who were arrested in connection with the murder of a dalit youth, appeared in newspapers. A division bench hauled up the public prosecutor for allowing media to take pictures of the accused, despite an HC order forbidding it.

The HC had already directed the director general of police to notify the police stations not to publish photographs of the accused persons, as it will obstruct investigation.

Superintendent of police of Tiruvananmalai R Ponni issued a direction to all deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) and station head officers a couple of days ago to stock up on monkey caps. 'Use monkey caps to hide the faces of the accused while escorting them to the court. In each station, a minimum of five caps should be kept ready', was the direction of the SP communicated to police officers.

A village where there are no party flags

Shanmughasundaram J | TNN | Mar 14, 2016, 08.37 AM IST

TIRUVANNAMALAI: Tucked away from the Vellore-Tiruvannamalai state highway near Santhavasal, Vellur - I has been leading a silent revolution for over four decades now. More than 3,000 villagers here are upholding an age-old tradition of keeping their village free from flags of political parties, their banners and graffiti which otherwise block streets and occupy pavements in other parts of the state.

Much before the Election Commission drafted rules and regulations to streamline the polling process, the elders of this village laid down protocols for the younger generation to ensure that they were away from practices that could divide them, conspicuously , on political lines.

Keeping the tradition alive, residents continue to keep their village free from poll merchandise, graffiti, banners and movie posters. "Banners are allowed only for temple festivals and marriage functions. But, no pictures of film stars or politicians are allowed on these banners," said 18 year-old M Prasanth.

Youngsters in the village are keen on living up to this reputation. "We respect our elders and forefathers. Here, defacing the walls is unheard of. I have never seen members of a political party hoisting a flag. The men here are affiliated to AIADMK, DMK and VCK, but they maintain the village discipline," said 20 year-old Balaji.
Political parties are expected to take permission from the village elders before campaigning. Giving or taking money for votes is prohibited. The villagers have never missed a chance to exercise their voting rights. It records over 90% voting in any election. "The village has close to 1,000 voters. We encourage everyone to exercise their democratic right," said D Velumayilone, a government employee. "We nominate booth agents for the political parties."

In the last assembly election, one of the villagers was fined for letting workers of a political party smear the walls of his house with graffiti. "There is not a single political message on the walls. House owners are not allowed to paint their walls to show their support for a political party by way of graffiti or other messages. Everyone remains together and votes according to his or her wish," said Vasantha, a