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Tamil Nadu News Papers

The offer for TN short of 2.82 million houses

Tuesday, 15 December 2009 10:34
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The New Indian Express 15.12.2009

The offer for TN short of 2.82 million houses

K P Sai Kiran


NEW DELHI: A staggering 2.82 million is the number of houses Tamil Nadu is short of, according a recent report by a committee constituted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.

With the country’s population growing rapidly and increasingly drifting towards urban areas – by about 3.8 per cent annually – this urban housing shortage is a matter of great concern.

By the end of the 10th Five Year Plan period, the total housing shortage in the country will stand at 24.71 million, the committee estimated.

Maharashtra tops the list with a shortage of 3.72 million houses.

The committee found that shortage of housing was highest for economically weaker sections (those with an income of up to Rs 3,300 per month.)Their shortage was 21.78 million houses. Low income groups (between Rs 3,300 and Rs 7,300 per month) fare a little better with a housing shortage of 2.89 million while for middle and high income groups the shortage was 0.04 million houses.

The committee reported that the government envisaged a requirement of an additional 1.82 million dwellings for the 11th Five Year Plan period. Since land and colonisation are state subjects, it was primarily the responsibility of state governments to provide adequate shelter both for residents as well as migrants, the report added.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 December 2009 10:36
 

Coming soon: Stamp on historical Ripon Building

Tuesday, 15 December 2009 10:09
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The New Indian Express 15.12.2009

Coming soon: Stamp on historical Ripon Building

G Saravanan


CHENNAI: Exactly 100 years after its foundation was laid (December 12, 1909), the Ripon Building, the seat of the oldest civic body in the country, is all set to reach another landmark: getting its image on a postal stamp.

According to Chennai Corporation sources, the mandatory procedure for putting the historical structure on a postage stamp was initiated recently with a formal letter to the Chief Post Master General.

A few months ago, a senior official of the postal department had indirectly asked the Chennai Corporation to explore the possibility of bringing out a stamp on heritage structures, such as Ripon Building.

Senior civic body official sent a detailed letter a few days ago to initiate the stamp procedure. The entire process would be over in another three to five months, a senior Chennai Corporation official told Express.

Ripon Building would join a select league of historical buildings in the city that figure on stamps, such as the Central Railway Station and St Paul’s Church (Choolai).

Ripon Building, fondly called as local ‘White House’ by Chennaiites due to its colour, is located near the Central station. Commissioned in 1913, it was built by a builder named Loganatha Mudaliar. It took four years to build the Indo-Saracenic vision in white.

Earl of Minto, the then Viceroy and Governor General of India, laid the foundation on December 12, 1909.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 December 2009 10:13
 

Chennaiites heading for summer water crisis

Tuesday, 15 December 2009 05:16
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Deccan Chronicle 15.12.2009

Chennaiites heading for summer water crisis

December 15th, 2009
By Our Correspondent
Tags: Chennai, summer, water crisis

Dec. 14: The city is heading for a terrible water crisis coming summer. With the northeast monsoon failing to fill up the city reservoirs, Chennaiites are facing ‘double trouble’ as the city is most unlikely to receive Krishna water from Kandaleru reservoir at least for the next couple of months.

The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to close the Kandaleru reservoir for two months to carry out maintenance works in the upstream of Krishna canal, a senior state PWD (public works department) official told this paper, preferring anonymity. The decision is yet to be officially informed, he added.

In fact, water managers here were not surprised wh-en protesters closed the slu-ice gates of Kandaleru res-ervoir two days back in pr-otest against home minister Chidambaram’s statements supporting a separate Telangana state as their Andhra Pradesh counterparts have already kept them posted about the Kandaleru closure. Krishna water was released only on September 15, against the scheduled July 1 owing to maintenance works.

As per the 1983 inter-state water-sharing agreement reached between the two states, Tamil Nadu is entitled to 12 tmcft Krishna water, but this year only 4 tmcft has been realised so far. While 4 tmcft would be released between January and April, the remaining 8 tmcft would be supplied between July and October to help Chennai. With Chembarambakkam, Poondi, Puz-hal and Cholavaram reservoirs, which have a joint full storage capacity of 11.057 tmcft, having only 6.6 tmcft as on date and the higher ev-aporation rate and increased summer consumption, water managers are predicting a tough summer in 2010.

 
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