Urban News

  • Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size
General

Govt. to open browsing centres in libraries

Print PDF

Source : The Hindu Date : 23.06.2009

Govt. to open browsing centres in libraries

Staff Reporter

Officials will provide assistance to the users

— Photo: E. Lakshmi Narayanan

Access to net: Browsing facility established in Tirumal Public Library in Salem.

SALEM: The State Government will open browsing centres at five more public libraries in the district shortly.

The libraries located in Mettur, Omalur, Vazhapadi, Yercaud and Gengavalli will get the facility. Five centres have already been opened in District Central Library, Tirumal Public Library in Navazhar Nedunchezhian road, Sooramangalam, Sankagiri and Edapadi.

The Central Library has four computers, while all other centres have two computers each with broadband connection.

A sum of Rs. 10 is being collected as browsing charge for an hour and Rs. 5 for half-an-hour. The amount charged is 50 per cent less than what is charged at private establishments.

Officials in the library would provide assistance to the users and also ensure that the systems were not misused, District Library Officer V. Madeshwaran said.

The facility had been established with the objective to provide access to Internet to the people at affordable cost, he added.

“The response from the public is good. But we are not able to ensure better service to the users as the systems have old configuration,” library officials point out.

The government should initiate efforts to improve the facilities in the centres in order to attract more number of users, they said.

The officials also appealed to the government to appoint adequate number of personnel with computer knowledge to ensure effective functioning of the centres.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 23 June 2009 04:00
 

36 panchayats in Madurai district get awards

Print PDF

Source : The Hindu Date : 20.06.2009

36 panchayats in Madurai district get awards

Staff Reporter

MADURAI: ‘Nirmal Gram Puraskar’ awards were given to 36 panchayats in the district under the Total Sanitation Campaign here on Wednesday. District Collector N. Mathivanan gave away the awards and said that improving the sanitary conditions in the village stands as the basis for the development of the village. Madurai has 431 panchayats; out of which 36 panchayats have maintained sanitation and hygiene to be qualified to receive the awards. He said that the remaining villages should also strive to make their villages clean to receive awards.

The Total Sanitation Campaign, a flagship programme launched by the Centre, Nirmal Gram Puraskar is given to each such panchayat which gets individual toilets constructed in all houses, ensures 100 per cent sanitation in schools and anganwadis, promoting vermi-compost, and rids the village of the despicable practice of open defecation, dry latrines and manual scavenging.

Government has been taking necessary steps to build individual toilets and public toilets.

Last Updated on Saturday, 20 June 2009 06:59
 

Financial assistance arrears given to 43 poor artists

Print PDF

Source : The Hindu Date : 02.06.2009

Financial assistance arrears given to 43 poor artists

Special Correspondent

Beneficiaries include sculptors, thavil, nadaswaram and street play artists

— Photo: D. Gopalakrishnan

FULFILLING THE NEED: Vellore Collector C. Rajendran handing over a cheque for Rs.8000 towards arrears of monthly financial assistance to an artisan at the Collectorate in Vellore on Monday. Additional Collector A. Suganthi is in the picture.

VELLORE: Vellore Collector C. Rajendran handed over cheques for Rs.8000 each towards payment of arrears of monthly financial assistance at the rate of Rs.1000 per month for eight months to 43 artistes and artisans belonging to the weaker sections during the weekly ‘manu needhi naal’ (public grievances redressal day) meeting held at the Collectorate here on Monday. The beneficiaries included sculptors, thavil and nadhaswaram artistes and street play artists.

There was huge crowd at the ‘manu needhi naal’ meeting on Monday, since the weekly meeting was held after a gap of 12 weeks, and for the first time after the recent Lok Sabha elections. The weekly public grievances redressal day meetings as well as the monthly agriculturists grievances day meetings were suspended till May 28, following the Election Commission notification of the Lok Sabha elections.

The Collector received a total of 624 petitions from the public on Monday. The petitions related mostly to land patta, patta transfers, employment, loans, financial assistance, free house site pattas, assistance for the differently-abled, old age pension, police protection and electricity connections. The Collector forwarded the petitions to the concerned department officials for immediate action.

Mr.Rajendran also handed over cheques for Rs.25,000 each towards financial assistance to 12 beneficiaries to meet their expenses on heart surgery under the Tamil Nadu State Cardiac Patients Financial Assistance Scheme. Besides, he distributed cheques of Rs.20,000 each towards financial assistance to 12 beneficiaries under the Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammayar Marriage Assistance Scheme.

One of the petitioners a retired nutritious meal organiser of Katpadi requested for payment of his gratuity arrears, while another petitioner –an old age pensioner–from Vellore said that his old age pension (OAP) was stopped after he received it for seven months. He petitioned the Collector to restore his OAP.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 02 June 2009 12:55
 


Page 23 of 23