The Hindu 18.09.2009
World Tamil Conference to be held in Coimbatore next year
Special Correspondent
Police urged to monitor coastal areas
Transport corporation buses to be insured
— Photo: M. Vedhan 
TAKING STOCK: Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi addressing Collectors and police officers in Chennai on Thursday. Chief Secretary K.S. Sripathi (right) is in the picture.
CHENNAI: The next World Tamil Conference will be held in Coimbatore in January-February 2010.
A decision to this effect was taken on Thursday by the State government at the conference of District Collectors and Police Officers at the Secretariat here.
Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, who inaugurated the meet of the Collectors and Police Officers, indicated the plan to host the conference.
Police duty
The Chief Minister urged the police to monitor the coastal areas of the State. It was the duty of the police personnel to ensure that undesirable elements, in the name of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, did not enter the State.
Expressing satisfaction over law and order, the Chief Minister directed the police to prevent entry of sleeping cells of terrorist organisations and hawala transactions.
He reminded the police that it was one of their foremost duties to make sure that no custodial death and illegal detention took place. Expressing concern over the increasing rate of road accidents, he wanted police personnel to analyse the causes of accidents and work for road safety.
In view of the delay in giving compensation to victims of road accidents that involved buses of the State-run Transport Corporations and the high cost, the government decided to insure all buses belonging to the Corporations. This would enable quicker disbursal of compensation.
Noting the increase in the number of farmers covered under an insurance scheme in the last three years, the Chief Minister asked the Collectors to take steps to bring more farmers under the scheme. The number of farmers insured went up from one lakh in 2006-2007 to 9.88 lakh in 2008-2009.
The Chief Minister advised the Collectors to give priority to the completion of distribution of free gas stoves and LPG connections to 3.48 lakh beneficiaries by October-end.
Under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Rs. 888 crore was paid towards wages during April-August this year, against Rs. 982 crore last year. The target for this year was Rs. 2,000 crore.
The assistance provided by banks to self-help groups was of the order of Rs. 2,174.57 crore in 2008-2009, whereas assistance given over 19 years (April 1, 1989 to March 31, 2008) was just Rs. 3,163 crore. He wanted the Collectors to intensify their efforts in this regard.
