Urban News

The Hindu       16.11.2010

Fund allocation for sewage pipeline project increased

Photo: B_Velankanni Raj

raising an issue:R.Chandramohan, Chairperson, presiding over the municipal meeting in Nagapattinam on Monday. —

NAGAPATTINAM: The fund allocated for the Nagapattinam underground drainage scheme has been raised by nearly a whopping Rs. 30 crore. The estimated cost for the 90-km sewerage pipeline project has been increased from Rs.49.43 crore to Rs.79.31 crore. The estimates have been hiked partly because of the escalation costs and also to provide technology transfer for sewage treatment.

The Municipal Council meeting presided over by Chairman Chandramohan, here on Monday adopted a resolution giving its sanction for the same.

DMK councillor Jothi Rama wanted to know the reasons for sanctioning additional fund of Rs.14 crore for the electrical crematorium project.

According to the councillor, estimated Rs.34 crore has already been sanctioned to the contractor concerned, but the works were temporarily halted.

Under such circumstances, the Municipality has sanctioned an additional allocation, the councillor stated. Commissioner K. Sivakumar said the sanction was made only after works were met for the earlier allotment.

The corruption charges resurfaced again towards the allocations made for renovation of the Nagore park near the Silladi Dargah on the beach. The park established by an American NGO was left to ruins, until the Nagapattinam Municipality allotted Rs.16 lakh to renovate it. Shahul Hameed of the DMK cried foul, stating that the work accomplished does not commensurate with the fund allotted.

Tamim Ansari of the Communist Party of India (CPI) called attention to the yet-to-be-inaugurated public toilet that was constructed at a cost of Rs.10 lakh in Nagore.

The Hindu  10.11.2010

Alumni meet expresses gratitude to Corporation

Special Correspondent

Thanking:A section of audience at a function organised by the alumni of lab technician course of Chennai Corporation on Tuesday.

CHENNAI: At the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here, a large group of youths from under-privileged background took time on Tuesday to thank the organisation that had secured them a respectable job and status in society.

The youths had undergone a two-year laboratory technician course at Communicable Diseases Hospital, Tondiarpet, of Chennai Corporation after leaving school. In the last 16 years, around 400 students have taken the course which is taught by doctors working for the Chennai Corporation.

The programme on Tuesday was got up to honour the teachers and the Chennai Corporation.

The course was launched with the aim of ensuring that the students of Corporation-run schools get decent jobs. Most of the students were children of the civic body's employees with little means, said P. Kuganantham, Health Officer of the Corporation. He urged the alumni to set up a corpus that could be used for developing programmes to upgrade their skills and educate poor students.

Students of the first batch that took the course in 1993 recalled that they trailed doctors in hospitals in the mornings and spent the afternoon reading lessons. Most of them have been absorbed into the Corporation's laboratories through Employment Exchange programmes. Some of them are employed in leading private hospitals.

Mayor M. Subramanian said the Corporation would try to get a resolution passed in the Council to ensure that the students who underwent training at Communicable Diseases Hospital would be given priority in postings to the Corporation's health centres.

The civic body would release the financial assistance towards the higher education of the children of burial ground assistants within 10 days, he said. The Corporation had received 10 petitions from the children, including two from candidates pursuing engineering courses, Mr. Subramanian added.