The Hindu      28.07.2010

Delay in completion of building project worries local body head

Staff Reporter

Photo: R. M. RAJARATHINAM

Snail's pace : Construction work for the municipal office at Thuvakudi progressing slowly.

TIRUCHI: The Thuvakudi municipality authorities are not certain about getting the construction of its new administrative office completed by October as announced earlier.

Nearly a year after the project for construction of a spacious administrative complex at Rs. 65 lakh was sanctioned, less than 40 per cent of the work has been completed.

According to the chairperson of the Thuvakudi Municipality, E. Kayambu, there was little that the municipality could do about the delay. Cooperation from the contractor was not forthcoming, he said. The contractor appointed for the project was the one who constructed the buildings of the primary health centre in the town a few years ago. “Our hope that the contractor would display the same degree of promptness in executing the new project has been belied,” he said. After much struggle to obtain the land along the Tiruchi-Thanjavur national highway for its administrative office from SIDCO, and to evict encroachers, the tardy progress of the project was causing consternation to the authorities. The work order was given on October 22, 2009. The Government sanctioned Rs.15 lakh while the rest was mobilised from the general fund.

Till the local body was upgraded as a third-grade municipality about five years ago, the office was functioning from a small building that was hardly enough to accommodate the staff. The office was subsequently shifted to the base of an octagonal shaped overhead tank.

However, the office staff are eager to move to the permanent facility at the earliest since there has been a substantial increase in their number in the last few years.

The Hindu     28.06.2010

Coimbatore to have Rs.100-crore flyover

Infrastructure development that marked the run-up to the five-day World Classical Tamil Conference in Coimbatore city is set to continue after its conclusion.

Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi announced in his valedictory address of the conference on Sunday that a flyover would be built at Rs.100 crore at Gandhipuram in the city where a botanical garden named “Semmozhi Poonga” would come up on 165 acres at Rs.20 crore.

Already, Gandhipuram was the busiest area in the city with a high volume of traffic. The proposed one-km flyover would help in decongesting this area, the Chief Minister said. Mr. Karunanidhi also unveiled a commemorative plaque to mark the launch of the botanical garden project.

On the State's commitment to sustain efforts for the development of Tamil, Mr. Karunanidhi said the World Tholkappiyar Classical Tamil Sangam, comprising international scholars, would start functioning in Madurai.

The Sangam would establish a permanent exhibition for displaying Dravidian language, art, culture and lifestyle. It would establish an archive of all aspects of Tamil and bring together centres of Tamil research that were scattered now. The Sangam would maintain a biographical data of Tamil scholars and establish contact with Tamil organisations across the world. As part of the emphasis on Tamil, a law would be enacted to accord preference in employment to those who study in Tamil medium.

Mr. Karunanidhi said the conference resolved to request the Central government for sufficient allocation of funds for research and development of Tamil at least on a par with the funds provided for a similar initiative on Sanskrit.

Through two other resolutions, the conference urged the Centre to accord official language status for Tamil and that it should be the language of use in the Madras High Court.

Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology A. Raja handed over to the Chief Minister the first copies of two stamps – one on the logo of the Conference and another on Tamil scholar Robert Caldwell. Given the significance of the meet, the stamp on the Conference was released.

The Chief Minister released two volumes of etymological dictionaries and gave first copies of the publications to Finance Minister K. Anbazhagan. Among those present on the occasion were Deputy Chief Minister M. K. Stalin, Union Ministers for Textiles and Chemicals and Fertilizers, Dayanidhi Maran and M.K. Alagiri, Chief Secretary K.S. Sripathi, Special Officer for the WCTC K. Allaudin and Coimbatore Collector P. Umanath.