Latest news with #NMuruganandam
New Indian Express
6 hours ago
- General
- New Indian Express
81 per cent of destitute people in Chennai homeless for generations
CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), in collaboration with the Madras School of Social Work, recently released the final report of a city-wide homelessness survey titled 'Data for Dignity'. While the survey identified around 13,529 homeless individuals across 2,837 locations in Chennai, the report recommends strengthening housing policies, enhancing social protection systems, addressing structural discrimination, and fostering community engagement. The report, calling for coordinated inter-departmental action, was handed over to chief secretary N Muruganandam and officials from at least seven departments, including GCC, and TNUHDB, on May 29. According to the report, of the total homeless population, around 51% that is 2,482 were part of family units. Moreover, a significant 80.66% of homeless population are generationally homeless noting they never had stable access to housing. The report recommended government departments to invest in permanent housing within 2-3 km of their current locations, especially for families, who as per current practice often separated in gender-specific shelters. With 58.26% of homeless families have children under 18 years, 25.89% have two children and 19.34% have one child, 5.1% (164) of them reported that their children had dropped out of school. While dropout rates are relatively low, continued monitoring and educational support remain critical, the report said. Common reasons cited for dropout was poverty, lack of interest, and inability to cope. Only 10.78% of the children reached Class 11-12, and a mere 4.89% pursued college education.
New Indian Express
4 days ago
- Business
- New Indian Express
Under PDS, TN to door deliver essentials to the elderly, disabled
CHENNAI: In a first for the state, the Tamil Nadu government is gearing up to launch a door-to-door delivery service of essential commodities such as rice, sugar, wheat, palmolein oil and toor dal under the Public Distribution System (PDS) to cater to those facing difficulties in accessing the fair price shops for their supplies. In the first phase, the scheme will cover around 15 lakh of the roughly 2.21 crore ration cardholders, focusing on those cardholding families that have only senior citizens aged 70 and above or persons with disabilities (PwDs) with no other family members available in a capacity to visit the shops for procurement. Beneficiaries will include both Priority Household (PHH) and Non-Priority Household (NPHH) cardholders. The proposed home delivery of commodities in Tamil Nadu, expected to start in July or August, will be implemented by the cooperation department using various vehicles such as maxi trucks, mini trucks and vans. A similar scheme, which was launched in Andhra Pradesh by the previous YSRCP government in 2021, was discontinued in May this year due to issues, including frequent failure of biometric authentication, irregularities in delivery and high operational costs. Chief Secretary N Muruganandam recently held a detailed review meeting with officials from the civil supplies and cooperation departments at the secretariat. According to official sources, the final list of beneficiaries is being finalised at the moment.
Time of India
05-06-2025
- Time of India
NGT slams govt, orders recovery of Rs 5.7crore compensation from cracker unit
CHENNAI: (NGT) has slammed Tamil Nadu govt for inaction in auctioning the attached properties of a firecracker unit, where an explosion killed 21 people in 2021. It ordered the govt to treat the issue as urgent and pass necessary orders by June 24, the next date of hearing. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Chief secretary N Muruganandam shall urgently obtain govt orders for allocating Rs 5.7 crore as pending compensation to the victims of the accident at Sree Mariammal Fireworks unit in Virudhunagar. The amount shall be recovered from the unit's owner or lessee, it said. The accident on Feb 12, 2021, claimed 26 lives and injured 26 others. Based on a committee's recommendation, NGT in 2021 fixed graded compensation from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh for the deceased and the injured. The order fixed 80% of the Rs 5.7 crore responsibility on the unit's licensee and lessees, and 10% each was apportioned to the central and state govts for regulatory lapses. While both govts disbursed their Rs 52 lakh shares through the CM and PM relief funds, the remaining 80% from the industry has not reached victims. The collector's status report said the firm's declared assets was only Rs 50 lakh, forcing the administration to seek state funding first, before recovering it. The state had earlier challenged the NGT order citing procedural lapses, but Supreme Court, in Jan 2024, rejected the argument, saying Tamil Nadu's approach was 'casual'. The apex court held that the state could not claim lack of hearing or missing documents as grounds for appeal, especially after being granted multiple opportunities post-remand. Though Supreme Court dismissed the state's appeal and cleared the tribunal's orders, the govt is yet to initiate the revenue recovery process against Sree Mariammal Fireworks. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now According to the Virudhunagar collector's May 9 communication, the proposal to recover Rs 5.7 crore was sent on Oct 28 last year but it remained unapproved by the govt. The unit's properties across two villages spanning 7.36 hectares have been blocked under Section 22-B(2) of the Registration Act in anticipation of recovery, it said. Recording the collector's letter, NGT, which had previously warned that inaction would attract a Rs10,000 cost, said on June 2 that apart from the collector's letter to the chief secretary, no progress had been made in the case. Reiterating that the issue should be treated as urgent, the tribunal adjourned the case to June 24.
