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Heritage premises to be merged, given a makeover

Wednesday, 22 January 2014 04:28
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The Hindu               22.01.2014

Heritage premises to be merged, given a makeover

Staff Reporter

The Chennai Corporation has decided to merge the heritage premises of Ripon Buildings and Victoria Public Hall to facilitate a major makeover of the integrated premises.

“A few of the old structures have been earmarked for demolition. Under the new proposal, of the total of 10-odd structures on both premises, only three structures will remain on the integrated premises,” said a Corporation official.

After demolition of the old buildings, an integration of the two premises and landscaping of the area, more than 75 per cent of the land will be open space.

Victoria Public Hall, Ripon Buildings and the Ripon Building Annexe will be the three structures on the 9.5 acre plot of land.

The Corporation will then commission seating facilities across the landscaped greenery for visitors to Ripon Buildings. “The new Ripon Buildings’ premises will have one of the best landscaped parks in the city,” the official said.

A multi-level parking space near the Ripon Building Annexe will also be set up, and will accommodate 1,000 cars.

Construction of the parking facility will be carried out based on the advice of the Heritage Conservation Committee of the Chennai Metropolitan Area, officials said.

After work on the Ripon Building Annexe, which spans 1.25 lakh sq. ft., is completed in March, the Corporation will take measures to aesthetically blend all the structures with the century-old Ripon Buildings.

The annexe is being built in a contemporary and post-modern style, with elements of regional architecture highlighted. The annexe will have a new auditorium which will seat 500 persons.

Ripon Buildings is one of the city’s finest examples of architecture in a combination of Gothic, Ionic and Corinthian styles.

The Corporation intends to integrate Ripon Buildings and Victoria Public Hall, and landscape the entire area.

 

Vaigai clean-up drive begins

Tuesday, 21 January 2014 04:54
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The Hindu              21.01.2014

Vaigai clean-up drive begins

New life:Conservancy workers cleaning the Vaigai riverbed off Albert Victor bridge in Madurai on Monday.— Photo: R. Ashok
New life:Conservancy workers cleaning the Vaigai riverbed off Albert Victor bridge in Madurai on Monday.— Photo: R. Ashok

Armed with gloves, masks and bins, Corporation officials and sanitary workers and students of Meenakshi Government College for Women started a two-day clean-up drive of the Vaigai on Monday Morning.

The exercise, initiated under the ‘Alagiya Madurai Maanagar Thittam’ (AMMA Scheme), began in the presence of Corporation Commissioner Kiran Gurrala and Mayor V.V. Rajan Chellappa. The Mayor said that through this cleanliness drive, they hoped to involve the public and spread awareness of the need to keep the river free of pollution.

“We will also address the issue of sewage being discharged into the river. We plan to have two garbage lorries stationed on the river banks to collect garbage through the day,” he said.

The Vaigai river bed, which is dry in most parts, is often used as a garbage dump by people in the surrounding areas as well as passers-by. People just fling garbage bags into the river. Encroachments along the banks also pose a problem.

The clean-up drive will cover a six-km stretch between Vilangudi and Teppakulam (PTR bridge). Nearly 150 National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers from Meenakshi college took part in the drive on Monday and more students and organisations are expected to join the clean-up drive on Tuesday.

The bulk of the work will, however, be carried out by 200 Corporation conservancy workers. They will make use of 12 tractors, 2 tipper lorries and four small machines.

 

Vaccination of stray dogs begins

Tuesday, 21 January 2014 04:39
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The Hindu              21.01.2014

Vaccination of stray dogs begins

Staff Reporter

The U.K.-based Worldwide Veterinary Services, the Tirupur Corporation administration, the Thangam Memorial Trust for Animals, and few other organisations joined hands on Monday to commence an ambitious project to control the stray dog population in the city, and to fight rabies.

“We are planning to vaccinate about 5,000 stray dogs against rabies, as dog-bite is the main cause for rabies in human beings. Surgeries will be carried out on 500 dogs by January 31,” said Murugan Appupillai, a veterinarian and regional manager of Worldwide Veterinary Services.

The volunteers from different organisations, including trained animal handlers, were involved to catch the dogs and give vaccinations against the rabies.

Dr. Murugan Appupillai said that the family planning procedure would be conducted at the modern facility run by Corporation administration, near Kovilvazhi.

“We are going to focus more on female dogs for the birth control programmes, as that is more effective and easier way of controlling the population increase,” he added. Asha Krishnakumar, the managing trustee of Thangam Memorial Trust for Animals, said the people could bring out their domestic dogs too for vaccination against rabies.

 
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