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Stalin promises rewards for civic officials

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The Times of Indian 28.08.2009

Stalin promises rewards for civic officials

CHENNAI: Chennai Corporation officials who ensure that the construction of the new Communicable Diseases Hospital in Tondiarpet is completed in a year will be rewarded, deputy chief minister M K Stalin announced on Thursday. He was speaking after laying the foundation stone for the modernisation programme that is estimated at Rs 13.53 crore.

On the occasion, Stalin recalled a similar gesture made by his father and chief minister M Karunanidhi to government officials in July last. Karunanidhi had given away medals to engineers of the Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage Board for completing the combined drinking water scheme in water-starved Ramanathapuram district at an estimated cost of Rs 616 crore in record time.

"Though the contract period is for 18 months, the corporation and the identified contractor should ensure that the project is completed in a year. Also, the civic administration should maintain constant vigil on the quality of the work. The hi-tech facilities in the CDH will not only support this region, but also the neighbouring Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts," Stalin said. The state government had, during the last fiscal, sanctioned Rs 8 crore for the modernisation project.

TIRUVOTTIYUR METRO RAIL: Responding to a request made by North Chennai MP T K S Elangovan on the inclusion of Tiruvottiyur in the Metro Rail project, Stalin said the state government had appointed a consultant to look into the feasibility of incluing Tiruvottiyur in the first phase of the project. "If the consultant gives its approval, the state government has no issues in implementing the same," he added. The residents of North Chennai had held several agitations in the past, appealing to the state government to include the Tiruvottiyur area in the Rs 14,600-crore mega project.

Earlier, the deputy chief minister unveiled granite plaques for the inauguration of 78 buildings, including additional class rooms in schools, anganwadis, kitchen sheds, noon meal centres and public toilets built in 42 wards of North Chennai at a cost of Rs 11.7 crore. Deputy Mayor Sathyabama and commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni were among those who participated in the programme.
 

Drainage scheme work to begin soon

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The Hindu 26.08.2009

Drainage scheme work to begin soon

Special Correspondent

COIMBATORE: The much-awaited Rs. 377-crore underground drainage scheme will take off to cover a large part of the city that does not have underground sewers, according to Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra.

Out of three packages for establishing a sewage collection system, the work for two had already been awarded. But, the commencement of work had been put on hold because of the byelection to the Thondamuthur Assembly constituency on August 18. “Now, that the election is over, the work will begin in the first week of September,” Mr. Mishra told presspersons on Monday.

Another package

Another package was being put through the process of re-tender and the work relating to this would begin in another 40 days.

Work on related projects – the establishing of sewage treatment plants - had already begun. One plant was being established at Ukkadam and another at Nanjundapuram. While the work at Ukkadam was under progress, the other at Nanjundapuram was stopped because of a court order. “We have approached the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board for a solution and we hope for a positive decision”, he said.

Inconvenience

The Commissioner asked the people in the scheme areas to brace for some inconvenience in the form of digging of roads.The Commissioner’s announcement has brought hopes of a decade-long wait for a scheme eagerly sought for by the areas added to Coimbatore when it was made a city corporation in 1981. Only a relatively smaller part of the city that constituted the old municipality had underground sewers.

The Commissioner said works on the Pilloor Phase II drinking water scheme were also under way. Five km of pipes (out of the total 35 km) had been laid. The construction of a water treatment plant near the pumping station at Velliyankadu and a reservoir at Ramakrishnapuram near the city was under progress.

Bids had been approved for constructing the collection well and the laying of pipe till the tunnel at Pilloor. All the works cleared would be completed in 18 months, the Commissioner said.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 26 August 2009 04:25
 

Building blocks of Chennai

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The New Indian Express 17.08.2009

Buildin g blocks of Chennai



Corporation of Madras, down the ages

September 29, 1688. That was the day when the Corporation of Madras was born. The man behind the making of the city’s corporation was Sir Josiah Child, a top official of the East India Company. Elihu Yale was the then governor.

In his letter dated September 28, 1687, Child made known his plan for the setting up of a Corporation that would include Englishmen and a few Indians. The local body was to have a Mayor, a recorder and a town clerk. It was to be armed with the power to decide petty cases and to levy rates upon the citizens for the building of schools, a town hall and a jail.

Child was keen that the councillors should consist of three Englishmen, three Portuguese, seven Moors and Hindus. He also suggested that the councilors and the recorder take oath to be true and faithful to the English King and the Company; and that the three Englishmen should always be servants of the company. Conservancy and Public Health were not thought of in those days.

Temples of learning for women

At a time when even the thought of educating women was at its nascent stage in the country, Chennai got the first college for women in the whole of the then Madras Presidency.

Founded by the government in 1914, the Madras College for Women began functioning out of a huge rented building, the Capper House, just opposite the sands of Marina. The college got its present name, Queen’s Mary College, in 1917. What began with a modest strength of 37 now has several thousand students on its rolls.

Ms Dorothy De La Hey, the founder principal, served the institution for more than two decades. During her tenure (1914-36), the college grew by leaps and bounds. With the support of Lord Pentland, the then British Governor, De La Hey expanded the college campus by buying adjoining houses besides building new structures.

In 1915, Pentland House was opened, followed by Stone House in 1918, and Jeypore House in 1921. Besides these, the houses of two British era judges S Subramania Iyer and Sankara Iyer were bought in the mid-1920s and the college was raised to the “first grade” in 1923.

During the 1980s, Capper House appeared to be on the verge of collapse because of no maintenance; and in 1993, a part of the building collapsed. Efforts to save the building failed and it was demolished in 2003.

The Womens’ Christian College on College Road, Nungambakkam is another old institution that played an important role in the cause of women’s education. Established in 1915 as a joint venture of 12 missionary societies from England and the USA, it acquired the stately Doveton House in 1916. The building was named after its previous owner Lt Gen John Doveton, who lived in the city in the late 18th century.

Chennai one lakh years ago

The primitive man had made Chennai his home, more than one lakh years ago. The credit for discovering it goes to the Father of Indian pre-history, Robert Bruce Foote (1834-1912). A British geologist and archaeologist, Foote in 1863 found Paleolithic or 100 thousand-year-old stone tools used by our ancestors in Pallavaram. That was the first pre-historic find in the whole of India. Soon he stumbled upon several Paleolithic tools in and around the present day Poondi reservoir near Chennai besides discovering cave shelters of the primitive man at Gudiyam in Tiruvallur district.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is holding a photo exhibition on the pre-historic facets of Chennai till August 22 in Clive House, Fort St George. Entry is free.

 


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