Posts Tagged ‘Chennai’
Written by admin on 24 February 2010
Chennai, Feb 24 – Introduction of new train services, setting up of a sports academy, speeding up of gauge conversion projects and expansion of Integral Coach Factory (ICF) located here are the major announcements relating to Tamil Nadu in the 2010-11 railway budget presented by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday.
The minister also announced taking up of preliminary engineering-cum-traffic survey this year for dedicated freight corridor connecting Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu (North-South freight corridor) and South-South (Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Goa).
In addition, Banerjee has included Tamil Nadu for building some socially desirable projects which needs the Planning Commission’s sanction.
As regards the new trains, Banerjee has sanctioned one Duronto, five long distance and three passenger trains. In addition, eight Bharat Teerth trains will connect important tourist places in Tamil Nadu.
According to Banerjee, the upsurge in the economy has resulted in ‘an unprecedented growth of passenger traffic during the last five years resulting in increased requirement of passenger coaches’.
‘While other goods and commodities are readily available in the market, coaches and wagons are not available off the shelf. Our manufacturing capacity is less and we have to plan years in advance,’ she said.
While steps are being taken to set up new coach factories at Rae Bareilly, Kanchrapara and Palakkad, Banerjee said the existing plant of ICF near here will be modernised while a new one will be set up.
Currently ICF has a capacity to roll out 1,500 coaches per year.
Suburban railway services in Chennai got a boost in the budget with the announcement of new services between Chennai Central-Sullurpeta-Chennai Beach, Chennai Beach-Velachery-Chennai Beach (on the MRTS), Chennai Beach-Tiruttani-Chennai Central, Chennai Central-Arakkonam-Chennai Central.
Work on the extension of MRTS Phase II from Velachary to St. Thomas Mount is in progress and targeted for completion by March 2012.
Mainline Electric Multiple Units (MEMU) service will be introduced Tirupati-Nellore-Chennai, Salem-Katpadi and Coimbatore-Erode.
Banerjee also announced construction of multifunctional complexes at Erode, Nagercoil, Salem, Trichy and Tiruttani.
On healthcare, outpatient treatment centres will be set up at Katpadi, Karur, Kumbakonam, Rameswaram, Trichy, Tirunelvelli, Villupuram and Virudhunagar and a secondary level general speciality hospital will be built in Trichy, the minister said.
While survey for a new Krishnagiri-Chamrajnagar line will be taken up this year, Banerjee said the new Nagapattinam-Vellankani and Salem-Namakkal lines will be completed soon.
Tags: Chennai
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Written by admin on 24 February 2010
Chennai, Feb 24 – The Tamil Nadu’s Pennagram assembly constituency by-election March 27 will be a four-corner contest with the AIADMK and DMDK announcing their candidates here Wednesday.
Tamil Nadu’s major opposition party AIADMK announced its Dharmapuri district secretary R. Anbalagan as its candidate for Pennagaram, while actor-turned-politician Vijaykant’s DMDK has nominated Kaveryverman as its candidate.
They will be crossing swords with the ruling DMK’s P.N.P. Inbasekaran, son of Periannan whose death has necessitated the by-poll, and PMK’s G.K.M. Tamizhkumaran, son of party president G.K. Mani.
Mani successfully contested in 1996 and 2001 state assembly elections from the Pennagaram seat.
Pennagaram, meanwhile, is witnessing the electioneering heat with DMK and PMK already trying to woo voters.
The PMK was routed in the parliamentary elections held last May as none of its candidates won. This is the first time the PMK is contesting a by-poll, deviating from its earlier policy of terming such elections as a waste of public money.
Tags: Chennai
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Written by admin on 23 February 2010
Chennai, Feb 23 – French digital and print content management company, $150 million Jouve group has announced the acquisition of the Chennai-based outsourcing firm TexTech for $5.4 million and said it will shift a part of its Madagascar operations to India.
‘As a de-risk strategy and to avoid disruption in our services to our customers, we plan to shift the English language publishing work from Madagascar to our Indian subsidiary TexTech,’ said Pierre Vincent Debatte, chief executive of the French firm.
TexTech specialises in publishing services for books and e-books and has some 270 people working for it here. The Jouve group intends to add some 100 more people into the Indian company, which logged a revenue of $3.7 million last year.
Tags: Chennai
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Written by admin on 22 February 2010
Chennai, Feb 22 – Tallying the prints of three fingers, police Monday confirmed that the highly decomposed body recovered from a suburban lake here Feb 13 is that of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader W.R. Varadarajan.
On Sunday Varadarajan’s foster son could not identify the body as it was in a highly decomposed state.
Later, Varadarajan’s wife and other family members identified the body.
According to city Police Commissioner T. Rajendran, going by the outer and inner wear on it, the body was suspected to be that of Varadarajan’s.
Speaking to IANS S. Noor Mohamed, member of the CPI-M State Secretariat, said: ‘We are satisfied with the finger print test report. We are not demanding any more tests. We are planning to hold the funeral Tuesday evening.’
According to him the party will take the body from the mortuary of the Government Royapettah Hospital and place it at the party headquarters here for public homage.
‘After 3 p.m. the body will be taken to Kannamapettai crematorium,’ he said.
Speaking to IANS, K. Thyagarajan, superintendent of the Government Royapettah Hospital, said: ‘We will release the body once the police claim the same. The police informed us that the finger prints tally.’
According to him, the autopsy was conducted Monday afternoon and samples for DNA test were taken.
Varadarajan went missing Feb 11. He left behind an unsigned note that his body be donated for medical research, and his laptops and books to the CPI-M’s publication ‘Theekathir’, and the balance in his two bank accounts to the party.
As the body is in a decomposed state, Varadarajan’s organs could not be harvested nor can his body be used to medical research though this was his last wish.
Varadarajan, 64, was a trade union leader and a former legislator. He was stripped of central committee membership of the CPI-M and all party posts earlier this month.
Varadarajan, a qualified chartered accountant, quit his Reserve Bank of India (RBI) job, attracted by the communist ideology.
He was elected to the Tamil Nadu assembly in 1989 from Villivakkam constituency.
Tags: Chennai
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Written by admin on 22 February 2010
Chennai, Feb 22 – AIADMK General Secretary J.Jayalalithaa Monday urged the Tamil Nadu government to nominate someone who can effectively put across the state’s viewpoint on the Mullaperiyar dam case.
She condemned the DMK party general council resolution Saturday opposing the apex court’s decision to form a five-member committee under the chairmanship of former Chief Justice of India A.S.Anand to go into all issues relating to the dam’s safety and the water storage level.
The court had asked both Tamil Nadu and Kerala, fighting a legal battle over the Mullaperiyar dam, to nominate one technical expert each as members of the panel, while the central government was to nominate two technical experts.
The DMK’s resolution also urged the Tamil Nadu government not to nominate any member to the apex court committee.
Terming the DMK’s decision as ‘wrong’, Jayalalithaa contended such an action could add support to Kerala’s stand, and noted the apex court has appointed the committee in a case filed by the Tamil Nadu government.
Tags: Chennai
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Written by admin on 22 February 2010
Chennai, Feb 22 – The Chennai Port Trust has chalked out plans to expand its car parking yards to facilitate car manufacturers in shipping out their small cars to global markets from here.
‘We have plans to demolish the old buildings in the port and develop those areas as the parking yard for car companies. We are also planning to build a new ‘RO-RO’ (roll- on-roll-off) berth for easy berthing of car carriers,’ the trust chairman Subhash Kumar said Monday.
Speaking at a function held at the Chennai Port to flag off the one millionth export car of Hyundai Motor India Ltd, he said there were plans to build two multi layered car parking facility with a capacity to park 12,000 cars at the port.
‘Car exporters can also use the vacant space available in the second container terminal that is currently being under utilised,’ he added.
India’s largest car exporter Hyundai Motor India ships out its cars made at its plant near here out of Chennai port.
Japanese car company Nissan, which is slated to inaugurate its plant located near here next month, has signed up with Ennore port for exporting around 180,000 cars.
Tags: Chennai
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