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Tamil Nadu News Papers

300 kg tea seized, destroyed in city

Sunday, 27 September 2009 00:00
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The Deccan Chronicle 27.09.2009

300 kg tea seized, destroyed in city

September 27th, 2009
By Our Correspondent

Chennai
Sept. 26: It was something similar to the Boston tea party except that the tea seized and destroyed by the city corporation on Saturday was adulterated.

The tea bags were seized from godowns and provision stores by health officials of the city corporation. At the end of the day-long drive about 300 kg of adulterated tea powder was seized and destroyed in the garbage dumping grounds.

Acting on a report of rampant sales of spurious tea powder in Chennai, the health officials raided several shops and godowns in Tondiarpet, Sowcarpet, Perambur, Ayanavaram, Anna Nagar, Triplicane, Chepauk, Mylapore,

Nungambakkam, Kodambakkam, Saidapet, Adyar and Tiruvanmiyur. Simultaneous raids by teams comprising food and sanitary inspectors across the city helped the corporation to destroy adulterated tea bags valued around Rs 50,000, sources said.

The food inspectors have also collected 113 samples of suspected spurious tea powders from different places for tests. Based on the results, further action would be taken under the Food Adulteration Act.

 

Govt agencies told get ready to tackle monsoon floods

Saturday, 26 September 2009 06:19
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The Times of India 26.09.2009

Govt agencies told get ready to tackle monsoon floods

TNN 26 September 2009, 03:39am IST
CHENNAI: With the northeast monsoon only weeks away, the city corporation on Friday convened a high-level meeting with representatives from all government agencies to take stock of preparedness and to chalk out strategies to tackle floods. The corporation has evolved a disaster management plan with contact persons and numbers of nodal officers of all departments.

"Coordination among officials plays a vital role. We should not lose time in reaching out to the needy. The lessons we learnt in previous monsoons should come in handy," corporation commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni said.

Lakhoni urged all service agencies, especially Metrowater and the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board to refrain from digging roads from October 1. The PWD has been asked to remove sandbars at the mouth of the Cooum and Adyar rivers to ensure smooth flow of floodwater into the sea. The agency has to desilt canals and remove encroachments.

The Met department has been asked to issue weather bulletins 24 or 48 hours in advance. The police department will install wireless sets at all important spots and in officers' rooms.TNEB has been asked to conduct regular patrolling of affected areas and to cut off power supply, if required.

Metrowater has been asked to ensure continuous working of sewerage pumping stations during floods, with heavy-duty motor pump sets. It has also been told to replace missing manhole covers and to put up pictorial signboards at dangerous or open spots.

The telephones department has been asked to ensure that all important helplines are free from any disruption during rain. The agricultural engineering department is to provide at least ten heavy duty pump sets to the corporation in an emergency; fire and rescue services will keep inflatable boats to rescue people in low-lying areas.

The fisheries department has been asked to provide adequate number of boats and catamarans. The highways department will have to provide links to storm water drains on Jawaharlal Nehru Road near Vadapalani and the SAF games village.

MTC, Aavin, the army, civil supplies, MRTS/railways, airlines, Red Cross and Blue Cross have also been asked to render support.
 

Water levels in city reservoirs plummet

Saturday, 26 September 2009 01:48
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Deccan Chronicle 26.09.2009

Water levels in city reservoirs plummet

September 26th, 2009
By Our Correspondent

Chennai
Sept. 25: Water levels have dipped at the three reservoirs of Chennai, Poondi, Red Hills and Chembarambakkam, which give much of the drinking water to the city.

As of Friday, the water level at Poondi reservoir stands at 393 million cubic feet (mcft), while it was 689 mcft in the same period last year.

While the level is 1,434 mcft at Red Hills, compared to 1,622 mcft during 2008, the storage at Chembarambakkam stood at 531 mcft as against 1,291 mcft last year.

Mr Swaran Singh, chairman and managing director of the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board, assured that there would be no water shortage in the city since the southern and western districts of the state have received more rains. Moreover, the onset of monsoon is expected soon, he said. “We have some issues in supply of water to Hosur, Dharmapuri, Vellore and Krishnagiri, which receive water from Palar River,” he said. “However, we have initiated some projects to supply water to these areas.”

Mr Shiv Das Meena, managing director of the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, said that though it was a fact that the storage in the reservoirs had come down when compared to last year, the department had taken all possible measures to avert any crisis.

He pointed out that the department was maintaining normal supply of water to the city and its tail-end areas through piped water supply and trucks.
“Chennai gets water from Veeranam and Krishna projects, which helps us to compensate for the poor storage in these reservoirs,” he said.

“We have been receiving inflow of 650 cusecs in Veeranam, which makes the situation better. With the onset of monsoon that replenishes our reservoirs, we assure Chennaiites that there would not be any disruption in the supply of drinking water.”

 
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