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The Hindu
9 hours ago
- General
- The Hindu
One-stop service centre for differently- abled inaugurated
District Collector A. K. Kamal Kishore inaugurated the one-stop service centre for the differently-abled at Puliyangudi Government Boys' Higher Secondary School campus on Saturday to offer a range of services to improve their quality of life. After inaugurating the integrated service centre, christened 'Vizhuthugal', he said the experts in this centre would offer a range of services like physiotherapy and other treatments for stroke, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, Parkinson's disease and congenital diseases and exercises for pain in neck, shoulder, back etc., special education for the intellectual disability, recognising, reading and writing numerals and alphabets, socialising with others, doing their personal routines, understanding time in clocks, identifying coins and currencies, special education for hearing and speech impairment, articulation therapy, improving their understanding, fluency therapy, expressing their thoughts etc. 'Since we've posted well-trained experts, the parents of the differently-abled and the special children should make use of it so that these children's quality of life will improve substantially,' he said. The Collector also handed over 83 battery vehicles, costing ₹2.07 crore, to the village panchayats of Sankarankovil and Melaneelithanallur panchayat unions. MP Rani Srikumar, MLAs T. Sadan Thirumalaikumar of Vasudevanallur and E. Raja of Sankarankovil and Project Director of District Rural Development Agency Michael Antony Fernando were present.
The Hindu
4 days ago
- The Hindu
Tiruvannamalai Corporation plans to build OHTs to provide uninterrupted water supply on Girivalam path
The Tiruvannamalai Corporation plans to construct at least two large overhead tanks (OHTs) on 14-km-long Girivalam Path near Arunachaleshwara temple soon to provide uninterrupted water supply to washrooms used by pilgrims along the route. Officials of Tiruvannamalai Corporation said that existing civic amenities, mainly washrooms and water taps, remain inadequate due to the rising number of footfalls to the temple town, especially after the pandemic. 'Water supply especially to washrooms on Girivalam path remains the top priority due to a steady increase in pilgrim flow to the temple town. Water sources are also being identified for the purpose,' S. Selva Balaji, Commissioner, Tiruvannamalai Corporation, told The Hindu. On an average, the town gets around three lakh visitors on Chitra Pournami days and 1.5 lakh tourists on weekends. During Karthigai Deepam festival last December (2024), around 40 lakh visitors attended it on Maha Deepam day alone. Corporation officials said that temple and Girivalam path is covered by Adinamalai reserve forest (RF), which comprises around 900 hectares, and a home for spotted deer, wild boar, peacocks, wild cats and rabbits. Any open defecation on the route will not be unhygienic but also pose a threat to wild species in the forests. On Tuesday, along with Corporation Commissioner Mr. Balaji, Collector K. Tharpagaraj inspected temple, Girivalam path and surrounding areas on providing additional civic amenities to pilgrims. At present, the path has 57 washrooms including 35 of them were built by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA). Most of the washrooms are in existence since 2002 when the path got its first batch of four toilets for pilgrims. Since then, mobile washrooms especially during festival seasons were hired on rental basis by the civic body. Corporation officials said that an additional 223 new washrooms on the path will be built in the coming months under CSR initiative by public undertakings like BHEL, NLC and ONGC. In other words, each washroom, on an average, will have a space of 50 metres between each other. The civic body plans to build at least two OHTs at a cost of Rs 30 crore for the purpose. Each tank will have a capacity of one lakh litres. Sathanur dam and Samuthiram lake will provide water for the new facility. Currently, washrooms on the path are maintained with around one MLD (millions of liters per day) of water as against the actual need of four MLD. Borewells remain a key water source for it. The civic body gets around 22 MLD for its domestic needs and other purposes from these two water bodies every day. A small share of water from these water bodies will be diverted to new washrooms on the path, Corporation officials said.
The Hindu
13-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Chief Minister to inaugurate 252 free houses for Sri Lankan Tamils in Tiruvannamalai soon
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin will soon inaugurate 252 houses built for Sri Lankan Tamils living in rehabilitation camps in Tiruvannamalai. Officials of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) are currently giving finishing touches to these new houses. DRDA officials said that Sri Lankan Tamils have been living in dilapidated single room houses with bare minimum facilities since camps were set up in early 1990s. The new houses are ready for those families living in camps at Sorakolathur and Thenpallipet villages in Thurinjapuram block. 'Currently, painting work is under way in the new houses for Sri Lankan Tamils. The work will be completed within a week,' said S. Aruna, Assistant Engineer at the Block Development Office, Thurinjapuram. On Thursday, Collector K. Tharpagaraj, along with Tiruvannamalai BDO M. Prithiviraj, inspected construction of free houses in Nallavanpalayam village near Tiruvannamalai town. Around 140 houses are being built for Sri Lankan Tamil families living in camps at Athiyandal and Kannandampoondi villages. The construction of most of the houses in Nallavanpalayam will be completed in three months. 'The new house is like a dream coming true for us as all these years we have been living in a cramped house with poor amenities. The new house will provide a safe accommodation for our children,' said R. Pandiammal, a resident. DRDA officials said that of the total 941 houses sanctioned for Sri Lankan Tamils in the district, work on 694 houses, including 140 houses at Nallavanpalayam, is under way. Each house, on an average, will cost ₹8.10 lakh for the State Exchequer. Each house, which will be 291 will have a living room, bedroom, attached washroom and a kitchen. The new house will have a free water connection and power supply. In addition, Over Head Tank (OHTs) will also be built in the camp. The camp with new houses will also get a community centre, a common centre for children and a fair price shop. Approach roads to the camp area from the main road will also be re-laid. Some major areas in Tiruvannamalai where work for free houses has been taken up include Polur (280 houses), Kalasapakkam (160 houses), Tiruvannamalai (136 houses), Arani (111 houses) and Cheyyar (80 houses).
Hans India
11-06-2025
- Hans India
JE caught while taking bribe
Bhubaneswar: A Junior Engineer was caught while accepting a bribe of Rs 8,000 from a contractor for clearing pending bills in Bargarh district on Tuesday, a Vigilance official said. Junior Engineer Susmita Oram had joined the government service under the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Bargarh, at Gaisilet block in January 2024. This was her first posting, the officer said. The JE has been apprehended by the Odisha Vigilance official while demanding and taking a bribe of Rs 8,000 from the contractor (complainant) as the last instalment of her overall demand of bribe of Rs 32,000 for measurement and clearing pending bill in connection with the road improvement work under MGNREGA, he said. The estimated cost of the work is Rs 9.50 lakh, out of which, bills worth Rs 3.15 lakh had been paid earlier, he said. The official further said the JE was demanding a bribe of 10 per cent of the paid bill amount to clear pending bills. Out of the total demanded amount Rs 32,000, she had earlier taken Rs 24,000 a few days back and was demanding the remaining amount of Rs 8,000 to clear the rest bill. The entire bribe money has been recovered from the possession of the JE and seized, he said. Following the trap, simultaneous searches were conducted at two locations linked to the JE. A case has been registered at Sambalpur Vigilance police station under the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 and further investigation is in progress, Vigilance sources said.
Time of India
09-06-2025
- Time of India
71cr MNREGA scam: Min's son had unlawful access to official portal
Vadodara: The investigation into the Rs 71 crore MNREGA scam, allegedly engineered jointly by a Gujarat minister's two sons and govt officers in Devgadh Baria taluka of Dahod, is throwing up more muck by the day. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The rot ran so deep that Balwant Khabad, the elder son of minister of state for agriculture and panchayats Bachu Khabad, owned the official login credentials for the scheme's portal which no other person other than authorised govt officers can own. This stunning revelation was made by the prosecution in the sessions court in Dahod on Monday during the hearing of applications to cancel bail granted to Balwant and his brother Kiran, a co-accused. While opposing the bail for Balwant, the prosecution told the court of alleged WhatsApp chats that revealed that the login ID and password of the Bhuvan portal used for MNREGA works were shared with Balwant. A senior district police officer confirmed this on condition of anonymity. The portal is used to enter details of completed MNREGA works with geotags and photographs. The official said they are still investigating what the ID was used for. "We are gathering details about the IP addresses used to log in using the ID and password," the official said. Entries regarding the work are to be made by officials, which could be gram rozgar sevaks, technical assistants or other similar officials. The investigating officer moved the applications in the Dahod sessions court after Balwant and Kiran were granted bail by a magisterial court on May 28. The special public prosecutor and counsel representing the brothers submitted their arguments to the court Special public prosecutor Amit Nair pressed for the cancellation of bail even as the application was opposed by senior counsel Sudhir Nanavati. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The court has now kept the applications for orders. The brothers are linked to agencies that supplied material for MNREGA works even though they did not qualify as vendors in the bidding. A total of 32 firms connected with the irregularities were detected in an investigation by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), which registered an offence regarding the scam. Balwant was linked to the firm Shri Raj Construction Co, while Kiran to Shri Raj Traders. Shri Raj Traders was paid Rs 30.04 crore, while Shri Raj Construction Co got Rs 82 lakh. Effectively, the brothers took over 40 per cent of the total amount of the scam.
