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VOL. XXXIII NO. 142 H CHENNAI H WEDNESDAY 29.4.2015 (EVENING) H OTHER STATIONS THURSDAY 30.4.2015 (MORNING) H 8 PAGES Rs. 4.00 H Regd. No., TN/CC(S) DN/223/15-17, RNI No: 33810 / 82
After 100 years, Big Temple
ther runs on Thanjavur roads
HOLY CAR
B
Court, concern
ollywood actor Salman Khan today appeared in a
court here to record his statement in an Arms Act
case related to shooting of black bucks.
Salman Khan appeared before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Anupama Bijlani and pleaded innocence, Salman’s counsel H M Saraswat said. Court gave us time
to present our side on 4 May 4, he said. Salman was
accompanied by bodyguard Shera and sister Alvira.
Earlier one of the actor’s bouncers had an argument
with the police at the entrance of the court when police
stopped him from entering the courtroom. A case had
been registered against Khan by the forest department
under the Arms Act mentioning that licence of the arms
used by Khan during alleg
Elsewhere, rescuers raced against time to search for
survivors still feared trapped under mountains of debris
in quake-hit Nepal where over 5,000 people have been
killed, even as heavy rains hampered global humanitarian efforts in remote areas of the battered country.
Quake relief efforts continued, but ofﬁcials warned
that they were hampered by problems of getting aid into
the country and then delivering it to some of the remote
communities in desperate need in the Himalayan nation.
Landslides in remote mountainous areas around the epicentre of the quake hampered rescue and relief teams.
A government spokesman said that helicopters had been
dropping tents, dry food and medicine to remote villages.
5 die as bus
runs into hotel
q Early morning mishap shocks Thiruvannamalai q Locals hold protest
Thousands gathered in Thanjavur today to witness the car festival
of the big temple, which took place after 100 years.
NT Bureau
months and their work is being well
appreciated by the people of the
Chennai, Apr 29:
locality. The trial run of the car was
After 100 years, the car festival of
held recently.
the renowned Sri Brihadeeswarar
Before the trial, sivacharyas
temple in Thanjavur, popularly
performed special poojas and
known as Big Temple, was held
conducted rituals on the simhastoday. Lakhs gathered to witness
anam, representing the Lord, and
the grand spectacle, with the
held over that a ﬂashy umbrella as
district administration declaring
a mark of respect before waving
local holiday in view of the festithe green ﬂag as a sign to start
val. Ministers, Collector and other
pulling the chariot. Immediately,
higher ofﬁcials took part.
hundreds of devotees gathered for
Since devotees from Thanjavur,
the occasion, reverentially picked
Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Pudukotup the huge ropes of the chariot
tai, Trichy, Ariyalur and Perambalur
and tugged at the car that wobbled
districts thronged the temple town,
and then instantly stabilised to give
elaborate security and administraa perfect start.
tive arrangements were made.
Following Emperor Rajaraja I,
For all the residents of Thanjavur,
Chola kings as also Nayaks and
young and the old, this is their ﬁrst
the Marathas added glory and
big temple chariot run ritual as the
grandeur to the Big Temple and
temple never had experienced that
conducted the festivals in a ﬁtting
chance in the last nearly 100 years.
manner over the centuries despite
Over 30 sthapathis (sculptors)
some interregnums.
crafted the car for close to 15
Vishing gang: City
cops in search of more
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 29:
After the arrest of two men who were a
part of a vishing (voice pishing) scam and
allegedly cheated people to the tune of
Rs eight crore, the Central Crime Branch
officials will reportedly continue with
investigations in Delhi to nab more suspects, sources with the city police said.
Deputy Commissioner for Central
Crime Branch (CCB) Jayakumar said
that as part of investigations in the money
extortion case, there is possibility that
the accused, currently lodged at Puzhal
prison- Deepkumar Devakinandan (33)
and Praveenkumar Kashyap(32) from
Uttam Nagar could be taken to Delhi.
Police said, they will also inquire the case
with statements from the duo.
In about a week or so, a special team
of eight police ofﬁcers in Delhi will arrest Ashraf Ali and Sunny- the two main
culprits who are currently absconding.
It is suspected that these men are
two small players of a larger network,
which might be functioning in other
States including Gujarat, Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.
Police sources said, the gang included
banking professionals who were wellversed in regional languages and used
them to con customers. This way, personal banking information was extracted.
It may be noted that a special team was
formed based of complaints from around
250 individuals who lost sums of money
from Rs 4000 to Rs 50,000. A total of Rs
eight crore was lost from people in the
city. The accused ran the fraud business
as a data collecting centre in Delhi.
NT Bureau
Thiruvannamalai, Apr 29:
Five persons were killed and three
others sustained serious injuries when
the driver of a government bus lost
control and the vehicle ran into a hotel
at Thenmathur village near here this
morning. The driver is absconding.
According to police, a bus carrying
50 passengers was proceeding from
Madurai to Thiruvannamalai. When it
reached Thenmathur village early this
morning, the driver suddenly lost control of the vehicle. The bus ran berserk
and went inside a roadside hotel. Five
persons who were having tea. were
crushed to death on the spot. Also three
others who were waiting for bus in front
of the hotel sustained serious injuries.
The deceased were identiﬁed as Seeman (70), Elumalai (40), Arunachalam
(40) and Rangan 40), all residents of
Kamaraj Nagar, while Ramalingam
(58) is a native of Thenmathoor.
They succumbed to bleeding injuries and their bodies were thrown out
in the impact of the mishap.
Those injured were identified as
Subramani (53), Munusamy (48) and
Thanal (80). Munusamy and Thanal
were rushed to Chennai Government
Hospital for treatment, while Subramani was taken to a local hospital.
The driver of the bus was absconding.
Following information, senior police ofﬁcials rushed to the spot and
supervised relief works. Meanwhile
people who gathered in the area were
Indonesia defies
world anger, executes
drug convicts
Cilacap, Apr 29 (AFP):
Indonesia executed seven foreign drug
convicts including two Australians by
ﬁring squad but a Filipina was spared at
the 11th hour, local reports said.
Defying a ﬁrestorm of international
criticism and heartrending pleas by
relatives, authorities put the seven
plus a local man to death after midnight Tuesday, the reports said.
However the Filipina, Mary Jane
Veloso, was spared after someone
suspected of recruiting her and
tricking her into carrying drugs to
Indonesia turned herself in to authorities in the Philippines, MetroTV
and the Jakarta Post reported. Eight
convicts -- two Australians, one from
Brazil and four from Africa, as well as
the Indonesian -- were put to death
on the high-security prison island of
Nusakambangan, the reports said.
In Indonesian executions, convicts are
led to clearings just after midnight, tied
to posts and then giving the option of
kneeling, standing or sitting before being
executed by 12-man ﬁring squads.
(More on page 4)
SHOCKING SCENE
The driver suddenly
lost control of the
vehicle. The bus ran
berserk and went
inside a roadside
hotel. Five persons
who were having tea
were crushed to death
on the spot
The government bus that rain into a hotel near Thiruvannamalai killing
ﬁve people today (Below) Those injured were taken to Government
Hospital.
agitated by the incident and hurled
stones on the bus. They said that their
demand to erect a speed-breaker
in the road went unheeded. Now, a
major mishap has occurred and ﬁve
lives have been lost.
The police tried to pacify the crowd,
who raised slogans against the authorities concerned. The trafﬁc on
the stretch was disrupted for over two
hours. The bodies of those who were
killed in the mishap were retrieved
and sent to Thiruvannamalai Government Hospital for postmortem.
State Minister Mukoor Subramaniam, District Collector Gnanasekaran,
Superintendent of Police Mutharasi
and others rushed to the hospital and
called on those injured. They also
consoled the families of the victims.
Veraiyur police have registered a
case and search is on for the driver.
Chaos in Kathmandu
q Quake toll crosses 5,000 q Survivors queue up for relief materials
Kathmandu, Apr 29:
Nepali ofﬁcials conceded they had made
mistakes in their initial response to a massive earthquake that has killed more than
5,000 people, as survivors stranded in
remote villages and towns waited for aid
and relief to arrive on Wednesday. The
government has yet to fully assess the
devastation wrought by the 7.9 magnitude
quake, unable to reach many mountainous
areas despite aid supplies and personnel
pouring in from around the world.
Anger and frustration was mounting
steadily, with many Nepalis sleeping
out in the open under makeshift tents
for a fourth night since Nepal`s worst
quake in more than 80 years.
‘This is a disaster on an unprecedented
scale. There have been some weaknesses in managing the relief operation,’
Nepal`s Communication Minister Minendra Rijal said late on Tuesday.
‘We will improve this from Wednesday.’
Prime Minister Sushil Koirala told
Reuters on Tuesday the death toll
could reach 10,000, with information on
casualties and damage from far-ﬂung
DIVINE DROPS
A childlooks on as residents queue
Kathmandu.
villages and towns yet to come in.
Nepal PM came to know about
quake from Modi
Sushil Koirala was in Thailand when
the7.9-magnitude earthquake rocked
his country, and came to know about
the temblor though the tweets of his
Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
Koirala went to Bangkok from Indo-
up to get water in earthquake-hit
nesia after participating in an international conference. He was to return to
Kathmandu after a stopover for medical
treatment in a hospital in Bangkok.
As soon as he landed at the Bangkok airport, Koirala saw Modi’s tweets
on the quake, Nepal’s Minister for
Foreign Affairs Mahendra Bahadur
Pandey said on Tuesday.
Battle lines drawn: Srini vs Thakur
q Efforts on to oust ex-BCCI chief from ICC chairman post q All eyes on SGM to be held 24 May
Meanwhile, there are reports that
NT Bureau
and every member of the cricket gov- Baroda Cricket Association on allegaNow that the men at the helm (of BCCI
erning body. Thakur has been involved tions of ﬁnancial irregularities.
affairs) appear hell-bent on knocking him
Chennai, Apr 29: the Board is mulling efforts to get
in a public tussle with Srinivasan, which
However, Patel is not taking things lying off the ICC perch, Srinivasan (and his
The eighth edition of the Indian Pre- Srinivasan ‘removed’ as the chairman
began when ICC sent an advisory, cit- down as he is all set to take legal recourse men) face a rocky road ahead.
mier League (IPL) is on and on-ﬁeld of the International Cricket Council
ing Thakur’s closeness with an alleged to revoke the decision of the BCA’s Who is Gilhotra?
action has kept the fans interested. The (ICC). It is learnt that it (BCCI) is exbookie Karan Gilhotra.
managing committee taken on the day.
battles for the play-off spots intensiﬁes pected to conduct a Special General
Until last weekend, Karan Gilhotra
Thakur subsequently asked Srinivasan
as the fortunes keep changing in each Meeting (SGM) on 24 May to take a
These are tough times for Srini- wasn’t a name part of cricket debates.
N Srinivasan
Anurag Thakur to provide a list of the alleged bookies vasan, who once wielded ‘ultimate But a letter from the ICC headquarters
game. Meanwhile, a different game is decision on Srinivasan’s role.
few
days
ago
there
were
reports that via a ofﬁcial letter, and also asked him to power’ in the Board as he now ﬁnds to BCCI’s inbox changed it all.
‘To
oust
Srinivasan,
the
ruling
group
will
being played out off-ﬁeld as deposed
BCCI president N Srinivasan attempts require two-thirds majority which is 21 units. he had hired a London-based spying provide the same to his family members, himself on the outer and attempts to
Gilhotra is a 38-year-old from Ghanito keep his critics at bay and save his If they can’t ensure 21 votes, they won’t call agency and spent on them Rs 14 as his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan return to the top post have proved in ani, a village near Fazilka in Punjab.
SGM for sure. Dalmiya and Thakur will crore from BCCI coffers to spy on the was known to be in touch with bookies.
position - as ICC chairman.
vain. As the IPL spot-ﬁxing/betting
Media reports said that he promotes
Meanwhile, Srinivasan received scandal issue drags on, the BCCI Celebrity Cricket League team PunIt may be noted that Srinivasan and have to ensure there are 21 votes in their members of the Indian board.
serious
was discussed
of Dalmiya
said. 85, The
another600
jolt032
as and
one printed
of his by
closest
strongman’s
chances
of Ltd.,
regaining
Published
K. Balakumar
behalf offavour,’
Newsa member
Today Media
(P) faction
Ltd., from
Mount
Road matter
(GST Road),
Guindy, Chennai
him at Frontline
Printers
Private
M-7, Thiru-Vi-Ka
Industrial
the currentbyboard
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Anurag
jab de Sher
and hasEstate,
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in the
Working
Incidentally,
has been in /Advt:
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Sanjay Patel
removed e-mail:
[email protected],
of the body once he comThakur, a600
BJP
strongman
locked
Chennai
032.
Ph: 4202are
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Editor: K.
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City
2 WEDNESDAY
29 APRIL 2015
Centre
Slick
ICE ICE BABY
CHENNAI
Relief at the middle
ingle
Anna Nagar Third Avenue gets a median
L
People make best use of the summer goodies that have stormed the market. A vendor at Madhavaram
selling tender coconut.
Photo: R Thiyagarajan
Paper Mills Road to be
made spectrawide
ack of a median was one of the major concern
along the busy stretch of Third Avenue, Anna
Nagar. It poses danger to both the motorists and
pedestrians. Considering the troubles people face,
ofﬁcials of Chennai Corporation has taken up the issue. They have started work to come up with median
along the stretch.
Residents are happy to see Third Avenue getting a
face lift now.
Harshal Bothra, an architect from Anna Nagar East,
said, ‘This road has lots of commercial attractions on
both sides, which draws huge crowd everyday’.
We thank the authorities concerned for constructing
median here, he added.
‘Crossing the lane was major concern, as one is not
sure from which direction a vehicle may come’, said
Joseph, who resides in Block I, Anna Nagar .
Other than commercial outlets, the stretch also has
Government Peripheral Hospital, and a few private
medical centres.
‘The vehicles take U-turn at unexpected spots, risking
the lives of pedestrians ‘, says Yesodha Nandagopa-
‘Crossing the lane was
major concern, as one
was not sure from which
direction a vehicle
may come’
lan, a senior citizen from Y Block Anna Nagar.
The officials of Bus Route Road Department of
Chennai Corporation says that they have taken up the
task of constructing medians along all the bus routes
in Chennai, and are completing it one-after-another .
They say that these medians are being constructed
as per the speciﬁed measurements, built with granite
kerbs of height 0.60 metre, and 0.0125 metre thick,
with grills and greenery along the stretch. The Bus
Route Road Department can be contacted at 25360556
- NT Bureau
A
NN
R
GA
NA
A
R
esidents and road-users of Paper Mills Road are
overjoyed as the civic body has ﬁnally started widening this surface.
Authorities were spotted removing encroachments
along the stretch much recently.
Residents here say that this comes after
R
BU
the Madras High Court had directed the
AM
ER
P
Chennai Corporation to clear the place so
that works to expand it can be undertaken.
‘On Saturday last, when I went out to buy
grocery, I saw a few men clearing encroachments. I was
very happy to see the work progress, as all these days it
was only on paper. I immediately informed my neighbors
who were glad to hear the news. This road, is one of
busiest in the locality, and there was a need to widen
it. This would deﬁnitely beneﬁt all,’ says Ramamurthy,
Encroachments removed at Paper Mills Road.
a longtime resident of the area.
‘Ofﬁcials of Chennai Corporation have removed more resident of the area.
‘Ofﬁcials of Revenue Department conducted a survey
than 150 encroachments here. This will facilitate the
widening of this narrow stretch from 30 to 80 feet. This in of the various blockades here a few
days back and the result was this. Residents here
turn will ease the ﬂow of vehicles not just on this surface
but also in the surrounding areas of Kolathur, Periyar didn’t actually believe that they would act,’ says Manish,
Nagar and Sembium. This indeed is a great relief for another resident of the area.
- NT Bureau
the public,’ says Sudha Ramani, a social activist and a
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CHENNAI
WEDNESDAY
29 APRIL 2015
LOWDOWN OF
GETTING HIGH
Getting ID card
made easy for
disabled
q Drug use am
among youth rampant in suburbs despite ban
LAASYA SHEKHAR
Chennai, Apr 29:
For 23-year-old Mervin, it all started
with listening to Bob Marley’s songs
like Redemption, Ganja Gun. As days
passed, he gradually got into a lifestyle
wherein he smoked pot once every
four hours each day.
A majority of Chennaiites these
days would not be shocked to learn
about such things or see news reports as they would be aware of the
‘scoring’ places in the city.
Despite a legal ban imposed on
the use and sale of narcotic drugs
in 1981 (the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act) (NDPS)),
it is said drugs are sold at several
places in the city.
Not
just in
the suburbs,
prominent places
in the city are famous
for sale of narcotics, said a
police ofﬁcial on condition of anonymity.
Many youngsters use it because they
are economical. Also, they think that
the substance reduces stress.
Viswas, a student of Madras Christian College said, ‘Unlike tobacco
and alcohol, it is cheap. Use of weed
decreases stress levels and the Indian
government should seriously consider
legalising it like in the US and other
western countries.’
About the misconceptions surround-
ing about the use, he said ‘it
was not hazardous as they
are portrayed in movies. Many
Indian movies seem to give a
wrong impression about the use
(of weed).’
‘Most of them (buyers) are
those between 16 and 30 years.
Recently, girls have begun using
the drug, which could have adverse
affects,’ he mentioned.
It is learnt that students also use
it as an easy mechanism to reduce
their weight.
Christiana, a student of Loyola
College said, ‘Medical benefits
which include analgesic and pleasant mood altering effects made me
go for it. Also, it is one of the fastest
ways to reduce weight, provided we
follow a strict diet.’
According to a research published
in ‘Nature Neuroscience’, Marijuana’s main ingredient - tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), targets the
brain’s olfactory bulbs among other
things and actually makes one
smell and taste more than usual.
The heightened senses stimulate
an individual’s appetite.
Ramakrishna, a city-based dietitian, said, ‘Trying to lose weight
by smoking pot is one of the worst
ways to do as it have the opposite
effect, as it having failed to control
the appetite. Regular consumption
would also lead to poor memory
management.’
‘Not just in the suburbs, prominent places
in the city are famous
for sale of narcotics.
Besides areas near the
Fort St George, it is
sold at Saidapet, Pallavaram and West
Tambaram’
Usha, who is into research on
the use of narcotic drugs said that
weed does less harm than alcohol
and tobacco. She said, ‘They mix it
with tobacco to make a joint, which
makes it harmful. But it acts like a
gateway as youth tend to try most
dangerous substance like brown
sugar, heroin etc, the fact which
made the Indian government ban
them.’
Russian education
fair from 9 May
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 29:
Nine leading Russian Government
institutions including medical and
engineering universities are participating in an education fair to be held
at Russian Cultural Centre, Chennai
for two days from 9 May, between
10 am and 5 pm.
According to a press release, Consul General of Consulate General of
Russian Federation in South India
Sergey L Kotov and Hindustan
University Vice-Chancellor Ramachandran will inaugurate the exhibition
organised by Russian Cultural Centre, Chennai and Study Abroad.
Volgograd State Medical University,
Kazan State Medical University, Tver
State Medical University, Kazan Federal University, Russian International
Olympic University, URAL Federal
University, Far Eastern Federal University, Southern Ural State University and People’s Friendship University are participating in the exhibition
and will offer seats through direct
counselling and spot admission on
Vietnam opens
visa centre
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 29:
Planning a trip to Vietnam this summer? VFS Global has opened their
Vietnam Visa Application Centre at
Egmore on Tuesday.
The visa application would be processed within a span of three days and
the centre expects as many 5,000
applications in a year.
Speaking during the inauguration of
the centre, Ambassador of Vietnam
to India, Ton Sinh Thanh said, ‘With
Indian investment growing in Vietnam we expect the tourism to rise.’
The centre in Chennai will process
both tourist and business visas. Application forms will cost Rs 500 and
visa fees Rs 4,500.
From 2011 to 2014, there has been
a 300 per cent rise in the number of
Indian tourists coming to Vietnam
from 19,000 to 55,000, the Ambassador said.
All applications will continue to be
assessed and processed by the Embassy of Vietnam in New Delhi. The
centre will be open from 8 am to 3
pm on weekdays. For details, log on
to:www.vfsglobal.com/Vietnam/India.
merits across undergraduate and
postgraduate programmes including medicine, engineering, sports
management, aviation, aerospace,
nuclear power technology, power
plant management and more.
Scholarship seats including free
tuition and accommodation will be
provided by the individual institutions
and by the Ministry of Education of
the Russian Federation to eligible
candidates both at graduate and
post-graduate levels.
To join the above programmes,
students should have a minimum
of 50 per cent marks in the relevant
core subjects/degrees, which in the
case of SC/ST and OBC students, is
40 per cent. Tamil medium students
are also eligible to apply.
Students furnishing Plus Two standard mark sheets will be given spot
admission. Entry is free.
The academic year starts from 1
September 2015. Each academic
year is of two semesters. Annual
holidays will be for two months in
July and August.
Devotees in large numbers gathered at Karaneeswarar Temple in Saidapet in Chennai today as part of
Brahmotsavam celebration.
3
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 29:
Southern Railway has increased
the number of centres where people
with disabilities can submit their
documents to apply for a photo ID in
order to book train tickets online as
well as across the counter.
According to a press release, those
who need the ID cards can send in
their documents to the divisional
ofﬁces in Chennai, Tiruchi, Madurai,
Salem, Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram as well as to 36 additional
locations across south India.
These locations will take in application forms at the railway station every
Tuesday and Thursday between 10
am and 1 pm.
The additional locations are:
Erode, Karur, Tiruppur, Coimbatore, Udhagamandalam, Dindigul,
Virudhunagar, Manamadurai, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Villupuram, Kumbakonam, Thanjavur,
Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam,
Nagercoil, Arakkonam, Katpadi,
Chengalpattu, Jolarpettai, Gummidipundi, Puducherry, Kollam, .
Kottayam, Alappuzha, Ernakulam
South, Thrissur, Shoranur, Tirur,
Kozhikode, Thalassery, Kannur,
Payyanur, Kasaragod and Mangalore.
These 36 locations will start receiving applications from 1 May and
continue to do so for a period of two
months, the release said.
Concession holders have the following options, the release said:
send in their applications by post
to the divisional ofﬁ ces; visit the
divisional ofﬁces and submit their
applications; submit their applications at any of the 36 stations.
On completion of veriﬁcation, the
cards can be collected from the
place of submission in person or
though an authorised representative on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
If the concession holder gives her
mobile number, she will be intimated by SMS; if not, the card can
be collected after three weeks, the
release said.
‘It was sheer luck that saved us’
q City residents recount ‘hardest days of their lives’
Laasya Shekhar
Chennai, Apr 29:
Relief writ large on their faces, a
group of 17 persons who embarked
on a holiday to Nepal, returned home
after what they described as ‘a bad
phase in life.’
They were among the 40 persons
who returned from the quake-hit nation after enduring tense moments
and hurdles.
Recounting their
horror tales, they
said an escape was
possible due to an
element of luck and
timely assistance
from the government of Tamilnadu.
‘One of my fellow
tourists was in the
Jayanthi
restroom and efforts to alert her went
in vain. Soon after she came out, the
walls came crashing down. It was just
our sheer luck that saved us,’ said
Jayanthi, a resident of Anna Nagar.
‘Fearing to defecate in
the open, my wife did
not eat anything and
almost fainted’ - said
Ramakrishnan, who
went on a holiday to
Nepal with his family
A 17-member group which returned to Chennai from Nepal on Tuesday.
She also spoke about the hardships they endured and how they
had to live on the streets, fearing
another earthquake. ‘Forget food
and shelter, restroom facilities and
electricity were unavailable which
made the situation worse. Women
were embarrassed to defecate in
the open. The gesture of Nepal people to offer shelters for us despite
being in trouble themselves needs
to be appreciated.’
Jayanthi had embarked on a
six-day trip to Nepal and being a
senior citizen faced a tough time
in the Himalayan Kingdom. She is
among the 61 people who went to
spend a holiday in Nepal. Environmental conditions and food-related
woes seem to have changed Ramakrishnan, a resident of Saidapet
who went to Nepal along with his
wife.
‘We had the toughest two days of
our lives on the streets of Nepal.
Had the Indian government contacted us late, the situation would
have been worse as many among
us are diabetic and senior citizens.
Fearing to defecate in the open, my
wife did not eat anything and almost
fainted,’ he said.
Most of the tourists stated that
they are upset about the statements
made by Christian missionaries
online. Referring to a tweet by an
organisation, a Salem-based senior
citizen said, ‘A tweet which said that
absence of Christianity in Nepal
has resulted in the earthquake is
totally naive and uncivilised. It is a
natural calamity and religion plays
no stand,’ he added.
All those who arrived here thanked
the Central and State governments
for the swift response in rescuing
Ramakrishnan with his wife
them from the affected areas and
taking steps to ensure they reached
home safe.
A total of 53 persons hailing from
Tamilnadu who were stranded in
Nepal have arrived here so far in
the past three days after the quake
hit the Himalayan nation.
Of the 53, 26 were men, 25
women and two were 2 children,
said sources.
They belong to various places
including Chennai, Salem, Tirupur,
Vellore and Tiruchi.
TN to impart skill training to 2 crore people
q Labour Minister hands over certiﬁcates to candidates at Guindy
trained under the scheme, he said.
government is taking measures to
NT Bureau
Council For Leather Exports
Chennai, Apr 29: enhance employment opportunity
chairman M Rafeeque Ahmed
Tamilnadu government will im- in various skills.
The Minister said the govern- said prospects for leather busipart skill training to about two
ness were bright in Tamilnadu
ment has decided to increase the
crore people in the next 11 years
as western nations were looking
amount for training over two lakh
to get them employment in various
towards India as an alternative to
youngsters in skills from Rs 100
sectors, said
China where cost of production
crore to Rs 150 crore for the year
Tamilnadu Minister For Rural
was going up.
2015-16.
Industries and Labour P Mohan.
Moreover, the leather business
He also said that youngsters are
Presenting certificates and
is likely to go up to $27 billion
also being trained by TNSDC in
placement orders for candidates
dollars by 2020 from its present
trained under Tamilnadu Skill De- association with Tamilnadu Police
$7 billion dollars. This provides
in security skills, which can enable
velopment Corporation (TNSDC)
ample opportunity for youngsters
at Central Footwear Training In- them to obtain jobs as security
Tamilnadu Minister For Rural Industries and Labour P Mohan giving away a certiﬁcate to a candidate trained
guards at various establishments. who are trained in the required
stitute (CFTI) premises at Guindy
Tamilandu
Corporation
Chennai
yesterday.
Council
For Leather
Exports
chairman
Published by K. Balakumar on behalf of News Today Media (P) Ltd., from 85, Mount Road (GST Road), Guindy,under
Chennai
600 032Skill
andDevelopment
printed by him
at FrontlineinPrinters
Private
Ltd., M-7,
Thiru-Vi-Ka
Industrial
Estate,
Guindy,
skill sets, he said.
So far 4,500 people have been
M Rafeeque Ahmed is present.
yesterday,
he
said
the
State
Chennai 600 032. Ph: 4202 1111. Editor: K. Balakumar. Phone: Editorial/Admn /Advt: 22504000, Fax: 2250 1800 (Editorial)/2250 1200/2250 0101 (Advt/Admn). e-mail: [email protected], Circulation: 4202 1111. Fax: 4212 0000.
Blend
4 WEDNESDAY
29 APRIL 2015
WHAT
WH
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NEWS
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TODA
TODAY
DAY
DA
Y PR
PRIN
PRINTS
INTS
IN
TS IIS
S NE
NEWS
WS TTHA
THAT
HATT CO
HA
COUN
COUNTS
UNTS
UN
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CHENNAI
SHOWING RESPECT
C
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PIC
A
Same old ways
gain, the government seems to have got the signals all wrong.
Markets have been spooked by the arbitrary demand for some
Rs. 40,000 crores as arrears of Minimum Alternate Tax from foreign
investors. MAT at the rate of 20 percent is levied on capital gains,
the actual incidence depending on the inﬂation index. Clearly,
the one-dimensional income tax apparatchiks did not consider the
consequences of demand notices for periods going as far back as
seven assessment years. What were they doing all this time? If these
were really genuine demands, why did nobody wake up earlier? Also,
how is the taxman sure that the foreign investors who proﬁted from,
say, some trades seven years ago are still present in the country?
The real problem is that tax authorities exploit their powers to raise
demands while leaving it to others to explain them their un-tenability.
In other words, they can be quite fanciful and arbitrary because they
act on behalf of the Government. And if their actions cause a run on
the markets, so be it. They are least bothered. The sole concern is to
mop up maximum revenues even while ignoring both the principle
of equity and fairness as also the impact of the out-of-the-blue charge
on foreign investors. Since they slapped those MAT notices, foreign
funds have been net sellers. Markets have lost nearly ten percent due
to the MAT-caused panic.
The most important reason has been the uncertainty stemming
from the sudden MAT notices. Clearly, no lessons were learnt
from the Vodafone affair; nor from the huge backlash against what
was described by the ministers of this Government at that time as
`tax terrorism.’ Bureaucracy is so set in its slow and tawdry ways
that even Modi can fail in making it responsive to the demands of
changing political and economic scenarios. Uncertainty in future tax
planning deters foreign and even domestic investors from choosing
India as a destination for their investible funds.
There are a number of foreign markets which offer better returns
and certainly have a stable tax regime which is not given to making
arbitrary and whimsical demands. In this regard, it has been suggested
that the income tax department’s power to keep the tax returns alive
for scrutiny for seven years ought to be limited to, say, three years.
Seven years is too long for FIIs to keep track of their investors who,
in the ﬁnal analysis, ought to pay any bona-ﬁde demand for tax on
their earnings. Better still, a crystal clear tax law which makes for
no confusion or obfuscation ought to replace the old miles-long
gobbledygook that passes for the tax manual now. Both tax-payer
and the tax-receiver must be fully clear as to where they stand on a
particular taxable income. Simplicity and predictability in taxation
is the ﬁrst thing that the Government must introduce to help create
a positive business environment.
M S Swaminathan
@msswaminathan
Nepal ideal for temperate vegetables & ornamental plants; as
in Kutch, construct greenhouses
for homes ﬁrst & occupation
later #NepalQuake
Sania Mirza @MirzaSania
‘Ofcourse it’s hard. Its supposed
to be hard. If it was easy, everyone
would do it. Hard is what
makes it great.’
Yahoo tests ear-based
smartphone ID system
Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik creates a sand sculpture with a message We Pray for you - We are with You for Nepal earthquake victims, at
Puri beach in Odisha. In the other photograph, students at a school pay tribute to earthquake victims in Gurgaon.
Execution of drug
convicts sparks anger
Australia recalls envoy from Indonesia
BALI:
An Indonesian ﬁring squad executed eight convicted drug-trafﬁckers
from several countries on Wednesday, prompting Australia to recall
its envoy to Jakarta and bringing an
angry reaction from Brazil.
The leaders of Australia and Brazil had made personal appeals for
clemency for their citizens among
the group, raising the stakes for
Indonesia’s new president, Joko
Widodo, who has stepped up the
pace of executions since coming
to ofﬁce.
Australia has deep commercial
and political ties with its big neighbour, while Brazil has a $5 billion
trade surplus with Southeast Asia’s
biggest economy. Brazil is at risk of
losing a major military export deal to
Indonesia over the executions row.
An Indonesian
ﬁring squad
executed eight
convicted drugtrafﬁckers from
several countries
AXE EFFECT
Brazil
Four Nigerian men, one from Brazil and one Indonesian who among eight
were executed today for drug cartel. A woman from the Philippines and
a Frenchman were temporarily reprieved.
The Philippines
Australia
A spokesman for the Attorney
General’s Ofﬁce said it had delayed the execution of Mary Jane
Veloso, a housemaid and mother
of two who was arrested in 2010
after she arrived in Indonesia with
2.6 kg of heroin hidden in her
suitcase. He said the delay came
in response to a request from Manila after an employment recruiter,
whom Veloso had accused of
planting the drugs in her luggage,
gave herself up to police in the
Philippines on Tuesday.
Supporters holding a vigil for
Veloso outside the Indonesian
embassy in Manila cheered and
clapped on hearing the news.
We respect Indonesia’s sovereignty but we do deplore what’s been done
and this cannot be simply business as usual, Prime Minister Tony Abbott told
reporters in Canberra, adding that ambassador Paul Gibson would return to
Australia by the end of the week.
Charlie Burrows, religious counsellor to the Brazilian convict, was with the
prisoners before the execution and he conﬁrmed to reporters that they were
shot dead. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australia had yet to
receive formal conﬁrmation of the executions from Indonesia.
Recalling an ambassador is a step rarely taken by Australia, and
never previously taken over a prisoner execution. Still, Abbott cautioned
against a trade or tourism boycott, as the hashtag #boycottIndonesia
trended on twitter.
Hitler birth house
haunts Austrian town
VIENNA:
Every year it`s the same circus, mutters a resident at the sight of dozens
of anti-fascist protesters stomping
toward a large weatherworn building
in the small northern Austrian town
Braunau am Inn.
Nazis out! chant the demonstrators,
many clad in black hoodies and sporting sunglasses despite the rain, their
shouts ricocheting off the three-storey
residence. This is no ordinary town
and no ordinary house: behind the
fading facade of number 15 Salzburger Vorstadt Street hides the birthplace
of Adolf Hitler. And almost exactly 70
years since the Nazi dictator`s suicide
in the ruins of Berlin, it continues to
stir up controversy.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International said the executions were utterly reprehensible.
‘The execution of eight people in Indonesia today shows complete disregard for due process and human rights safeguards,’ it said in a statement.
The Brazilian government said
in a statement that it was shocked
by the news, which marked the
second execution of a Brazilian
in Indonesia in three months despite President Dilma Rousseff’s
personal humanitarian appeals.
Brazil’s foreign ministry said it
was evaluating ties with Indonesia before deciding what action
to take, but said it had no plans
at present to replace its former
ambassador in Jakarta who had
been recalled after the ﬁrst execution in January.
Given the lack of a satisfactory
reply to our appeals, this has to be
evaluated to decide what attitude
we will adopt towards Indonesia
from now on, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergio Franca Danese told
reporters.
Earlier, Jakarta rejected lastditch pleas from around the world
for clemency to be granted to the
eight drug trafﬁckers, who also
included nationals from Nigeria
and Indonesia.
159 nations call for ban
on nuclear weapons
UNITED NATIONS:
Austria has called for banning
nuclear weapons because of their
catastrophic humanitarian effects, an
initiative it said now has the backing
of 159 countries.
Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian
Kurz was speaking at the ﬁve-year review conference of the 1970 nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The only way to guarantee that
nuclear weapons will never be used
again is through their total elimination, Kurz told the 191 parties to the
treaty, the world`s benchmark arms
control accord. ‘All states share the
responsibility to prevent the use of
nuclear weapons.’
Diplomats from the 159 countries
supporting the ban, presented ahead
of the 70th anniversary of the U.S.
atom bombs dropped on Japan, said
the initiative was modelled on successful campaigns to ban land mines
and other weapons and could take
years to move forward.
The initiative has virtually no support
among NPT nuclear weapons states
and veto-wielding Security Council
members - the United States, Britain,
France, Russia and China - or the
countries of NATO, an alliance that
provides a kind of nuclear umbrella
security guarantee for its members.
But most of the 193 UN members
back it.
The ﬁve permanent Security Council
members signed the NPT as nuclear
weapons states, although the pact
calls on them to negotiate the reduction and eventual elimination of their
arms caches.
SAB FRANCISCO:
Swiss robbers
Biometrics expert Prof Angela
Yahoo is working on a way of
unlocking a mobile phone using the Sasse, from University College
owner’s ear rather than a password London’s department of computer
or ﬁngerprint. It is also looking to use science, thinks that such a system
ﬁsts or even the way people grip their could have a future as a way of opensmartphone as alternative forms of ing mobile phones securely.
biometric authentication.
Sir
Fingerprint scanners on mobile
phones are increasingly popular, but
Preparing to make a push into
expensive. Yahoo is looking to use
the most isolated parts of quakethe phone’s touchscreen as the image
devastated Nepal, soldiers today
RIYADH:
sensor, which would be far cheaper.
‘Research into this has been going
were readying food, water and
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman today
other emergency supplies to be
The system, developed at Yahoo on for a few years, but it is new in
dismissed the heir to the throne,
loaded onto helicopters in this
Labs, is dubbed Bodyprint and has terms of deployment,’ she said.
Crown Prince Moqren bin Abdul
small town near the earthquake’s
had initial trials with 12 participants.
It was not the ﬁrst time ears had
Aziz bin Saud, and replaced him
epicenter.
‘Due to their cost, capacitive ﬁnger- been used as a method of identiﬁcawith the Interior Minister Mohammed
The relief works are on at fuill
print scanners have been limited to tion, she said.
lah, who died on January 23 and was
bin Nayef.
pace.
Gorkha, which would barely
top-of-the-line phones, a result of the
In Switzerland such methods are
replaced by Salman,79.
We have decided to respond to his
count
as a village in much of the
required resolution and quality of the used at the scene of a robbery, to
Moqren, 69,
highness and what he and expressed
world, is the district’s administrasensor,’ the team said on its website. help identify the offender.
w
o
u
l
d
h
a
v
e
about his desire to be relieved from
NEWS MAKER been the last tive, transport and trading center
While the input resolution of a
‘Burglars tend to listen on the winthe position of crown prince,” said
of the day
for surrounding tiny villages.
touchscreen is relatively low, ‘the dowpane to see if anyone is home,’
son of the kinga statement from the royal court,
It was being used as a staging
surface area is large, allowing the said Prof Sasse. Police then take a
dom’s
founder,
carried by the ofﬁcial Saudi Press
post to get rescuers and supplies
touch sensor to scan users’ body print of the ear, rather like a ﬁngerprint.
Abdul Aziz bin Saud, to rule.
Agency.
to those remote communities,
parts, such as ears, ﬁngers, ﬁsts and
One beneﬁt of an ear-based idenHis dismissal leaves bin Nayef as
It
added
that
Moqren
was
also
resome of which are believed to be
palms by pressing them against the tiﬁcation system was that it offered
the ﬁrst of the second generation, or
lieved of his position as deputy Prime
nearly completely destroyed.
display’, the team said.
Prince Moqren bin Abdul Aziz bin Saud
greater privacy than facial recognigrandsons of Abdul Aziz, in line to
Minister.
SURESH, By email
It identified body parts with tion, she told the BBC.
The decree named Prince Moham- the political and security council, a lead the world’s largest oil exporter.
99.98per cent accuracy and users
Fingerprint scanners, popular on
ADDRESS YOUR LETTERS TO :
The appointment of bin Nayef furmed bin Nayef as crown prince as coordinating body.
with 99.5per cent accuracy. Scan- latest iPhone models and on some
The Editor, News Today, 85, Mount Road,
The dismissal of Moqren removes ther solidiﬁes control of Salman’s Suwell as deputy prime minister and
Guindy, Chennai - 600 032.
ning ears achieved a 99.8percent Android handsets, have proved to be
or e-mail to : [email protected] /
said he will continue to hold his posi- the last-remaining high-level ofﬁcial dayri branch of the royal family. Their
accuracy
rate,
according
to
the
team.
vulnerable
to
hackers.
Published by K. Balakumar on behalf of News Today Media (P) Ltd., from 85, Mount Road (GST Road), Guindy, Chennai 600 032 and printed by him at inﬂ
Frontline
Printers
Private
M-7, [email protected]
Industrial Estate, Guindy,
uence had
waned
under Ltd.,
Abdullah.
tion of interior minister and head of remaining from the era of King AbdulChennai 600 032. Ph: 4202 1111. Editor: K. Balakumar. Phone: Editorial/Admn /Advt: 22504000, Fax: 2250 1800 (Editorial)/2250 1200/2250 0101 (Advt/Admn). e-mail: [email protected], Circulation: 4202 1111. Fax: 4212 0000.
Saudi Arabia’s crown
Prince dismissed
Moqren removes the last-remaining highlevel ofﬁcial remaining from the era of
King Abdullah, who died recently
VOICE MAIL
Commendable job
Enterprise
CHENNAI
WEDNESDAY
29 APRIL 2015
5
Chennai converses
changing job trends
City hosts FICCI’s annual conference
Delegates discuss HR, media and more
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 29:
FICCI Tamilnadu State
Council organised its annual HR & IR event titled
‘Changing Trends in Human Resources & Industrial Relations’ in the city
Tuesday. The conference
discussed on ﬁnding solutions to the recruitment
riddle, inﬂuence of social
media in work life and
emerging trends in human
resources and industrial
relations.In his welcome
address, FICCI Tamilnadu
State Council chairman
Rafeeque Ahmed said
‘Over the last several
years, the transformation
from personnel administration to human resource
management is more than
a change in semantics.
The demands to do more
FICCI TNSC chairman Rafeeque Ahmed speaking at
the FICCI HR conference held in Chennai Tuesday.
Joint Commissioner for Labour Kalaivani and FICCI
TNSC head RubanHobday are also seen.
with less, and faster, have expense center to a more
grown exponentially for visible and responsive
most HR functions. Ad- investment center’.
ditionally, many organisaThe concept of a knowltions are calling for HR to edge-based enterprise
become a ‘strategic part- model for HR includes
ner’ in transforming the HR service to the line,
function from a low-level consulting on corporate
Despite S6 launch,
Samsung’s fortune dips
Seoul, Apr 29 (AFP):
Samsung Electronics
posted a near 40 per cent
fall in ﬁrst quarter net proﬁt
Wednesday, missing analyst estimates despite a
surge in memory chip demand that cushioned a
slump in smartphone sales.
Facing increasing competition from arch rival
Apple and smaller Chinese manufacturers, the
world’s top handset maker
reported a net proﬁt of 4.6
trillion won ($4.3 billion) for
the January-March period,
down 38.9 per cent from a
year earlier.
It was the fourth straight
quarterly decline in net
proﬁt and missed the 4.9
trillion-won average of 23
analyst estimates compiled
by Bloomberg News.
Operating proﬁt also fell
29.6 per cent on-year to
6.0 trillion won, largely in
line with the ﬁrm’s earlier
forecast. But in a sign that
the South Korean electronics giant might be turning
a corner after four successive quarters of signiﬁcant
declines, the operating
proﬁt was up 13.1 per cent
from the fourth quarter of
last year.
In its earnings statement,
Samsung said it expected
overall earnings to increase
in the second quarter as
premium smartphone sales
enter ‘into full swing’.
Samsung is pinning its
hopes on the sixth edition
of its flagship high-end
smartphone launched in
April.
The Galaxy S6 and S6
Edge with a wraparound
screen received rave reviews but Samsung cautioned competition would
intensify in rapidly growing
emerging markets.
‘In 2015, continued
growth is expected due to
the growth is expected due
to the growth of emerging
smartphone markets such
as China and India as well
as the global expansion of
the LTE business,’ Samsung said in a statement.
‘However, increased
competition in the middleto low-end market...may
present challenges,’ it said.
performance issues, and
managing core competencies. Each of these dimensions has a global aspect
to it that must be carefully
integrated into the design
and implementation of HR
policies and practices,
added Rafeeque.
Joint Commissioner for
Labour Kalaivani delivered the special address.
FICCI TNSC head RubanHobday also spoke at the
inauguration.
Infosys head HR Sujith
said that social media
is a great tool and that
how the young generation
communicate but then it
is a digital reflection of
yourself, while advocate
Aadhilakshmi said that we
need to more responsible
on what we do with social
media.
Amazon introduces
‘Sunday Delivery’
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 29:
Amazon.in has launched
‘Sunday Delivery’ across
100 cities in India.
A statement here said,
Amazon.in brings Sunday delivery promises for
residential addresses for
all FBA (Fulﬁlled by Amazon) products at no extra
cost. Customers can thus
count Sunday as a regular
day for receiving deliveries
from Amazon.in. Beginning
with 100 cities, Amazon.in
will continue to expand the
Sunday delivery promise to
other cities.
‘Providing our customers with a fast, reliable,
anytime and anywhere
delivery experience is one
of our key pillars to ensure
customer delight.
Godrej net
sales rise 12%
World follows Modi and how!
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 29:
Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) on
Tuesday announced its
financial results for the
quarter ended 31 March,
2015.
According to a press
release, Q4 FY 2015 consolidated organic constant currency net sales
increased by 12 per cent.
India business branded
net sales increased by
12 per cent, led by double digit growth across
categories, while international business grew by
14 per cent on an organic
constant currency basis.
Indian PM 3rd most popular Twitter leader
NT Bureau / PTI
Chennai, Apr 29:
In less than a year after
assuming office, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
has emerged as the third
most followed world leader
on the social networking site, topped by US
President Barack Obama,
according to a report released on Tuesday.
External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj is the
most followed foreign minister on Twitter.
‘US President @
BarackObama is still the
most followed world leader, with close to 60 million
followers but Pope Francis
(@Pontifex) is catching up
fast with close to 20 million followers on his nine
language
accounts’,
the annual
Twiplomacy
analysis of Twitter accounts released by PR
firm Burson-Marsteller
said.
‘Since his election in late
May 2014, India’s Prime
Minister @NarendraModi
has skyrocketed into third
place, surpassing Turkey’s
President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan (@RT_Erdogan)
and the @WhiteHouse
with more than six million
followers each’, it
said.
Modi had
10,902,510
followers till 24
March.
In terms of influence,
Pope was the most effective. Prime Minister
Modi was the fifth most
inﬂuential leader preceded
by Obama.
A chocolate to ‘luv’
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 29:
Global Consumer Products, an FMCG startup,
launched its new range
of chocolates, LuvIt, in the
city Tuesday.
Speaking to mediapersons at the launch, chairman and managing director Mahendran said, ‘LuvIt
chocolates are targetted
at young consumers in
PUBLIC NOTICE
the age group of 15 to
30 years. The Rs 700
crore chocolate market
witnesses a growth of 25
per cent annually. With a
low penetration of 10 per
cent, we are sure that the
new products will reap in
the necessary beneﬁts.’
Executive vice president- sales and marketing, Anuradha Narasimhan, said, ‘Youth love to
SRI MALINI SPINNING
MILLS LIMITED
experiment.
They believe in small,
easy and simple ways
of leading life as we see
them on social networking sites with the tags
like ‘like’, ‘comment’ and
‘follow’ etc. When people
have a bite of this chocolate, ‘LuvIt’ is the first
word that comes to them
and that’s how we coined
this name for our brand’.
I hereby on behalf of my client
PUBLIC NOTICE
Mr.S.Sandillyan residing at no.51,
This is to inform that I have obtained the proposed environmental
Ambedkar
Street,
Kodungaiyur,
Regd.Off: Sandhiyur Via,
clearance before the state level Environment impact Assessment
Chennai-118, notify that he have
Mallur Post, Trichy Main Road,
Authority Tamil Nadu for the purposed of Savudu Deposit quarry at
misplaced Sale deed Document no.
Salem - 636 203
S.F.No 114(p), Panakottur Village, Chengalpattu Taluk, Kanchipuram
2386/1949 of his property comprises
CIN No:U17111TZ1990PLC008370
in survey no. 368/1 of his family
District with a lese extend 3.00.0 Ha.
E-Mail: [email protected]
property at no. 31/A, Thurvethi
The same approved by the SEIAA-TN/F.No.3588/EC/1(a)/1994/2014,
NOTICE
Amman Koil Street, Koonar village,
Dated 01.04.2015 and copy of the clearance available in the State
Notice hereby given that
Villivakkam, Chennai-49. The above
Pollution Control Board and also website of the SEIAA TN at http://
said original document with his Family
a Board Meeting of the
selaa.tn/gov/in%%&'%*'+
ration card have been misplaced near
Company will be held on 29th
Ministry Government and Forest, Govt. of India located at Bangalore.
kaviarasu Kannadasan Nagar bus
May 2015 at The Registered
stand when he took a Xerox copy
Thiru V.Iyyappan,
of the same. It is hereby noticed to
No.1-195, Melakarumpuram Kottai,
handover the documents if found and
Alangudi Taluk, Pudukottai District
also it is stated that the misuse of the
same will not bind my client. If any
consider the Audited results
illegal attempt with the documents in
of the company for the
future will constraint my client to take
!"#
legal action against the party.
Published
by K. Balakumar
of NewsPRAKKAASH
Today Media (P) Ltd., from 85, Mount Road (GST Road), Guindy, Chennai 600 032 and printed by him at Frontline Printers Private Ltd., M-7, Thiru-Vi-Ka Industrial Estate, Guindy,
R.K.Ilanchezhian,
Advocate on behalf $KSS
5, No
1/515,
Sujatha
Chennai
600
032.
Ph:Complex
4202 1111. Editor: K.Executive
Balakumar.
Phone: Editorial/Admn /Advt: 22504000, Fax: 2250 1800 (Editorial)/2250 1200/2250 0101 (Advt/Admn). e-mail: [email protected], Circulation: 4202 1111. Fax: 4212 0000.
Director
6 WEDNESDAY
29 APRIL 2015
In-form Aussies
will sweep
Ashes: Smith
Sydney, Apr 29:
Australia have a huge hunger for an
Ashes triumph in England, according
to all rounder Shane Watson, while
batsman Steve Smith believes this
year’s series will not even be close
if the tourists play to their potential.
After the 5-0 sweep in the 2013-14
series Down Under, Australia head to
England in July and August in possession of the coveted urn with a chance
to claim a ﬁrst Ashes series win away
from home since 2001.
Watson has played in two of the four
Steve Smith
series Australia has lost in England
since then but believes the current
squad, with the core of the team
that won the 50-overs World Cup in
March, should break the drought.
‘We’ve got a very strong squad
that’s going over to England,’ the
33-year-old told Cricinfo.
‘We’ve got good depth and the best
part is everyone is in nearly careerbest form right now which is most
important as well.
‘There is a huge hunger within the
group because we know that we
haven’t won in England for the last
three series. I’ve been involved in two
of those. ‘There’s a big burning desire
to be involved in an Ashes winning
campaign in England as well.
Harika wins
silver, bronze
for Humpy
Chengdu (China), Apr 29 (PTI):
D Harika and Koneru Humpy came
up with ﬁne individual performances
to win a silver and a bronze, respectively, even as the Indian eves
ﬁnished fourth in the women’s world
team chess championship here.
Harika’s silver and Humpy’s
bronze though were a big consolation for the team, overall it was a
disappointing show by the Indian
girls given the missed opportunities. The medal for the team was
always within reach, but it failed to
ﬁnish off well.
Considering that the Indian team
entered the tournament as a wild
card, a fourth-place ﬁnish can be
justiﬁed as a pretty decent show.
However, the medal was within the
grasp as the team ﬁnished just one
point shy of China, which bagged
the bronze. China was beaten in
the ﬁnal round by Georgia, who ﬁnished the event with an impressive
17 points to clinch the gold medal.
Georgia drew just one and won the
remaining eight matches in this
round-robin contest.
Russia claimed the silver medal
after defeating United States in the
ﬁnal round. They garnered 15 points
in all. In the final game, Harika
made mincemeat of Lilit Galojan,
who played black.
The only time Harika looked surprised was when Lilit found an apparently miraculous defence against the
onslaught, but on a careful inspection,
the Indian girl just found the winning
moves with a minute to spare on her
clock.
Sports
CHENNAI
Dhoni hails ‘fantastic’
bowlers and ﬁelders
KKR skipper rues ‘too many dot balls’ ‘We messed up good start’
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 29:
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was all praise
for his bowlers and ﬁelders for their
‘fantastic’ victory over defending
champions Kolkata Knight Riders in
their IPL match here last night.
CSK pulled off a sensational lastball two-run win over KKR and Dhoni
described it as fantastic.
‘It is a fantastic victory. This was the
wicket where you don’t know what is
a good score. It’s where if you bat well
you can score 160 and if you bowl
well you can defend 125. That’s what
I told the team. The game changes
after the sixth over,’ Dhoni said after
the match.
‘Robin (Uthappa) gave them a good
start, but we came back with some
good ﬁelding and some good bowling. Raina has done well with the
ball for us sometimes. He hits the
seam and his trajectory is low and
he can get wickets if batsmen makes
mistakes.
‘I wanted to save one over of Jadeja
for the end, if the fast bowlers didn’t
bowl well. His three overs were important,’ he added.
Talking about his team’s ﬁelding,
Dhoni said: ‘We did drop two catches,
but the fielding was outstanding.
Russell’s run out was important for
us. Brendon McCullum was lightning
on the ﬁeld. And in the middle overs,
we did put pressure on them so they
got stuck,’ Gambhir said. ‘We should
have rotated the strike, Letting the
spinners run away with three or four
runs an over was not on. One of the
top four has to bat till the 15th over.
Specially in these kinds of totals. We
need to be smarter.
‘We need to stop playing so many
dot balls, that’s where we messed
up. We play them again in two days,
so hopefully we can turn it around,’
he said.
Dwayne Bravo, who was adjudged
the Man of the Match, said after losing his wicket cheaply in their innings
he wanted to do something special.
Injured Ashwin
out for 2 games
Dwayne Bravo did the star turn for CSK with his all-round heroics
as the host snatched a two-run win over KKR in Chennai yesterday.
couldn’t rotate freely.’
Dhoni said he expects his team to put
their best effort and
not think about the result
as wining and losing is a
part of the game.
‘We want to take one
game
at a time. What’s important is to keep
going well, of course there will be
some games were you will lose, but
what’s important is to keep performing at your best,’ he said.
Kolkata skipper Gautam Gambhir
lauded his bowlers for restricting CSK
to 134 but said his batsmen messed
it up in the middle
overs after getting a
good start.
‘Containing
Chennai to 134
was tremendous.
S h o u l d have chased it down, especially with the start we got. But the
batsmen got stuck,’ said Gambhir. ‘
When you win the toss and put the
opposition in, and you restrict them
to 134, it is fantastic. Robin and
Manish were good with the bat early
on, but they didn’t carry on. We just
‘Nishikori better
than Djokovic’
Japanese star’s mentor feels Kei will win a Slam soon
London, Apr 29:
Japan’s Kei Nishikori has the ability
to reach the summit of men’s tennis
and is technically already better than
world number one Novak Djokovic,
according to his former mentor.
Shuzo Matsuoka told AFP on
Tuesday it was ‘only a matter of time’
before Nishikori, who broke into the
top ﬁve last season, captured his ﬁrst
Grand Slam title.
‘Kei is hitting the ball harder and
controlling opponents more than last
year,’ Matsuoka said in an interview.
‘He has a decent chance of winning
the French Open. He’s knocking on
the door, for certain. I’m not being
biased but he plays better tennis than
Djokovic or (Rafa) Nadal.’
Matsuoka, who has watched
Nishikori develop since ﬁrst encountering him as a shy 11-year-old,
added: ‘That said, he knows there
are still questions over his mental
strength and that tennis is about more
than just pure talent.
‘Seeing Kei dominating on clay puts
him right behind Djokovic in terms of
who you would fancy to win right now.
I don’t think anyone would write off his
Kei Nishikori
chances at the French Open. He has
a good shot.’
Nishikori, 25, who retained his Barcelona title at the weekend to capture
a ninth career tournament, learnt a
harsh lesson after being ﬂoored by
Croatian Marin Cilic in last year’s US
Open ﬁnal, insisted Matsuoka.
‘He had never reached a Grand
Slam ﬁnal before and he felt the pressure for sure,’ said Matsuoka, who
in 1992 became the ﬁrst Japanese
player to win an ATP title.
‘But it’s only a matter of time before
Kei wins a Grand Slam. If he wins
one, he could go on to win a bunch.’
Matsuoka believes that Nishikori
has nothing to fear from the so-called
Wimbledon is richest Slam
London, Apr 29:
The acceleration in the size of
the prize money pot at Wimbledon
continues to slow but the grasscourt
championships remain the richest of
the four grand slams.
All England Club ofﬁcials announced
on Tuesday a seven per cent overall
rise, compared to 10.8 percent last
year and 40 percent in 2013, taking
the total fund to 26.75 million pounds
($40.88 million).
The increases, unveiled by club
chairman Philip Brook at a news
conference, means the singles champions will pocket 1.88 million pounds
Have to say well played to Faf and
Ashwin’s boundaries,’ he said.
‘We knew we will do well if we could
pick up wickets in the middle overs,
with one side being a longer boundary. They put themselves under pressure. Well done to Mahi’s captaincy.’
Talking about his ﬁelding, he said:
‘Catch was really special, it reminded
me about four-ﬁve years ago. My
body is still holding up and it’s a great
feeling to know I helped the team
win. This situation is what I prepare
myself for.
‘I bowl at MS (Dhoni) and Baz
compared to the 1.76 million handed
to Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova
in 2014.
First-round losers receive 29,000
pounds compared to 11,250 five
years ago -- a 152 percent rise driven
by a commitment to reward the rank
and ﬁle pros.
‘After three years of favouring the
left-hand side of the draw (the ﬁrst
and second rounds) we feel we
have got the balance about right,’
said Brook.
‘Without the world’s best tennis
players we wouldn’t have the world’s
best tennis tournament.’
big four of men’s tennis -- Djokovic,
Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy
Murray.
‘Powers fading’
‘Murray had it incredibly tough,’
said Matsuoka, referring to the Scot’s
agonising wait for a ﬁrst major title.
‘He was coming up against the other
three at their absolute peak. But their
powers are fading a little now, without
a doubt, and a new generation of
players are on the rise.
‘Clearly, Kei can beat those players
and this year he has a bigger chance
of winning a slam than last. In the
next two or three years, as long as
he stays ﬁt, he will break through.’
Nishikori burst onto the scene as
an 18-year-old by winning in Delray
Beach as a 244th-ranked qualiﬁer
in 2008. He has become a huge celebrity in Japan, with millions waking
up early to watch his matches on
television during his run to the US
Open ﬁnal.
Despite his recent success, Nishikori’s career has been plagued by
injuries, most notably in 2009 when
he needed elbow surgery and feared
he might not play again.
CSK spinner R Ashwin has been
ruled out of the next two IPL matches due to a hand injury which he
suffered during yesterday’s match
between Chennai Super Kings and
Kolkata Knight Riders.
‘Ashwin has split in his middle
finger. We do not know how many
stitches he will require... he has
been taken to the hospital. The
team has decided not to take Ashwin for the next two matches,’ CSK
team manager Russell Radhakrishnan said during the post-match
press conference. Ashwin will remain in Chennai.
‘It was a great team effort. Disappointed with the way I got out so I
wanted to do something special.
(McCullum) and back home against
Pollard. I tell myself that I have 14 to
defend off six balls in training.
Barcelona hits
Getafe for six
Barcelona, Apr 29:
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar motored past 100
goals for the season to ﬁre the La Liga
leaders to a 6-0 rout of Getafe that
stretched the gap over Real Madrid
to ﬁve points on Tuesday.
After Suarez was felled, Messi set
treble-chasing Barca on their way
with a dinked penalty in the ninth
minute at the Nou Camp, the ﬁrst time
the Argentina forward has attempted
a ‘Panenka’ in 75 spot kicks for club
and country.
Suarez clipped a volley into the
net from Messi’s ﬂoated pass in the
25th and Neymar weaved into space
to ﬁre low into the corner three
minutes later, the 100th goal for
Messi, Suarez and Neymar,
known as ‘MSN’, in all competitions this term.
Messi is on 49 goals,
Uruguay striker Suarez,
whose ban for biting an opponent expired at the end
of October, has 21 and
Brazil forward Neymar 32.
Playmaker Xavi, making
his 501st league appearance for the
Catalan giants, curled a superb shot
into the top corner on the half hour
and Suarez netted his second after
a ﬂowing move ﬁve minutes before
the break.
Robben’s comeback
lasts all of 16 minutes
Messi took his league
tally to 38 this term,
one behind top scorer
Cristiano Ronaldo of
Real, with a whipped
shot into the top
corner two minutes
after the break
It was the ﬁrst time Getafe, who are
13th, have conceded ﬁve goals in the
ﬁrst half of a La Liga match.
Messi took his league tally to 38
this term, one behind top scorer
Cristiano Ronaldo of Real, with
a whipped shot into the top
corner two minutes after
the break before Getafe
managed to repel waves of
attacks for the remainder of
the game.
Barcelona have 84 points
with four matches left,
while second-placed Real
can trim the gap back to two
points if they win their game in
hand at home to Almeria on Wednesday. Champions Atletico Madrid are
seven points adrift of Real in third
ahead of their game at Villarreal on
Wednesday.
F1 season start
to be delayed
in 2016
Melbourne, Apr 29:
Formula One’s 2016 season will kick
off in April at the Australian Grand
Prix, the latest start to the championship since 1988.
Estoril, Apr 29:
Arjen Robben
The season-opener at Albert Park
Fifth seed Richard Gasquet made
street circuit has usually been held
a winning return after nearly six
in March, though it was pushed back
weeks out with a back injury as the
to April in 2006 to become the third
Frenchman beat Marinko Matosevic
round on the calendar when Melof Australian 7-6 (9/7), 6-1 to open his
bourne hosted the Commonwealth
account at the Estoril Open. Gasquet,
Games that year. Organisers gave no
the former ATP number seven currently ranked 28th, took less than 90
Munich, Apr 29:
The forward, who had scored 17 reason for the 2016 change but said
minutes to dispatch the 82nd-ranked
Bayern Munich winger Arjen Rob- league goals prior to his injury, had in a statement it would ‘condense the
Matosevic in the opening round.
ben’s return from injury as a sub- to leave the ﬁeld, however, in the season,’ which ﬁnishes in November.
Media have speculated that ForGasquet was one of two French winstitute against Borussia Dortmund 84th, clutching his calf after going
mula One Management is aiming to
ners as qualiﬁer Kenny De Schepper
lasted 16 minutes before he limped down unchallenged.
put out Portugal’s Gastao Elias 6-2,
Bayern’s Poland striker Robert condense the season to reduce costs
off with a calf problem in Tuesday’s
2-6, 6-3 to move into a second-round
German Cup semi-final shootout Lewandowski also needed medi- for teams and shorten the downtime
meeting with Gasquet.
defeat.
cal treatment after clashing with between races in a bid to maximise
In Munich, wild-card entry Janko
‘He injured his calf muscle and Dortmund keeper Mitch Langerak interest in the championship.
Tipsarevic rallied to beat sixth-seeded
Pundits have also suggested a conwill undergo further checks tomor- with the Munich club saying he was
Bernard Tomic 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (3) in the
row,’ Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rum- taken to hospital with suspected densed season could be a bargaining
ﬁrst round of the BMW Open clayconcussion, coach Pep Guardiola chip for FOM to pack in more races
menigge told reporters.
court tournament on Tuesday.
It was unclear whether the Dutch- said. He added that Thiago Al- into the calendar.
Tipsarevic, once ranked No. 8 in the
The later date at Albert Park will
man would be ﬁt for the Champions cantara, taken off for Robben, was
world, is making a comeback after bealso mean an earlier start for the race,
League semi-ﬁnal at Barcelona next nursing a knock on the thigh.
ing sidelined 17 months following two
Bayern, who won the Bundesliga given it falls after the end of daylight
week.
surgeries to remove a benign tumor
Robben, out since 23 March when on Sunday, saw their treble hopes savings in the state of Victoria when
SDAT Member-Secretary Shambu Kallokikar inaugurating the 33rd
from his left foot.
he tore an abdominal muscle on his dashed after missing all four of clocks are switched back an hour.
Summer volleyball coaching camp organised by Nellai Friends Cup
Fifth-seeded Philip Kohlschreiber
The AGPC was unable to provide
comeback from yet another injury, their penalties in the shootout
Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium, Egmore, Chennai. Tamilnadu State
eased into
round
a of at
further comment
butEstate,
conﬁrmed
the
Dortmund
to slump
of M-7,
the Thiru-Vi-Ka
came on600
in the
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03268th
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printedtoby
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Guindy,
Olympic Association president W I Davaram is among those present.
6-1,
6-1
win
over
Jiri
Vesely.
move
was
a
directive
from
FOM.
German
Cup.
applause
from
the
Bayern
fans.
Chennai 600 032. Ph: 4202 1111. Editor: K. Balakumar. Phone: Editorial/Admn /Advt: 22504000, Fax: 2250 1800 (Editorial)/2250 1200/2250 0101 (Advt/Admn). e-mail: [email protected], Circulation: 4202 1111. Fax: 4212 0000.
Winning return
for Gasquet
Mixed Bag
CHENNAI
WEDNESDAY
29 APRIL 2015
7
Cabinet okays 100
Smart City projects
Fillip for farmers as norms on grains relaxed
Preparations are on to come up with yagasalais at Melmaruvathoor
Adiparashakthi Siddhar Peetam for Chithira Pournami celebrations.
(INSET) Bangaru Adigalar at the temple.
VIT Chancellor to take
part in alumni fete
NT Bureau
Vellore, Apr 29:
VIT Chancellor G Viswanathan will
participate at the diamond jubilee
celebrations of the sixth standard
students (1954-55) batch of
Gudiyattam Municipal Higher
Secondary School on 3 May.
According to a press release,
the inaugural function of the
alumni meet will be held at the
school premises Gudiyattam
and the valedictory function at VIT
University.
Viswanathan will take part in the
valedictory function. Manormanium
Sundaranar University former Vice
Chancellor Vedagiri Shanmuga
Sundaram and Rajya Sabha D Raja,
MLAs Lingamuthu, Tamil Arasan will
speak on the occasion.
Veteran Parliamentarian Era Cheziyan will release the Student Day
magazine.
Former Madras High Court
Judge Pon Baskaran, film
director Cheran, Madras
Medical College former ViceChancellor V P Narayanan,
VIT vice-presidents Shankar
Viswanathan, Sekhar Viswanathan,
G V Selvam,
assistant vice-president Kadambari
S Viswanathan, Vice Chancellor
V Raju and Pro Vice-Chancellor S
Narayanan will participate.
New Delhi, Apr 29:
The Union Cabinet today cleared
100 Smart City Projects and the old
housing projects initiated by the previous government also got cleared,
according to sources.
The Smart City project was announced in July 2014 in the current
government’s ﬁrst Union Budget last
year.
Earlier this month, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had
said the project will be rolled from the
next month onwards and then the
competition, race will start.
The Centre will be a facilitator with
Two kill man
at Teynampet
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 29:
A man was killed by two persons following a dispute over money at Teynampet
last night.
According to police sources, Arockiaraj
(50), a resident of Ashok Nagar, had
loaned a sum of money to two persons
identiﬁed as Selvam and Vijayakumar.
Last night, police said, Arockiaraj had
met the duo at South Boag Road near
Teynampet and asked them to return
the money. The trio subsequently got
into an argument which soon escalated
into a ﬁght.
regard to smart cities and government will do the hand holding, he
had told the industry promising all
support in implementation of projects
they identify.
Lot of companies are showing
Now, a Tamil
movie on AP
encounter
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 29:
Inspired by the encounter
of 20 Tamils by Andhra
Pradesh police a few days
ago for allegedly cutting red
sanders in Chitoor forest,
director duo Kalidas and
Augustine are coming out
with a movie.
Titled Thooku Mara Pookal,
the movie will feature prominent actors and actresses.
The story, screenplay and
dialogues are by writer
Rajeshkumar.
Produced by Chamundeswari Films and Scot Movies, Thooku Mara Pookal will
go on ﬂoors soon.
Speaking about the film,
the director duo, says, ‘it is
about the travails of Tamils
who were killed in a brutal
manner by Andhra Pradesh
police’.
We have done enough
research and we will bring to
light untold truths, they add.
NLC Chairman and Managing Director B Surender Mohan with students
of Jawahar HSS who have qualiﬁed for the JEE (Advanced)-2015 at Nevyeli
yesterday.
Mohan said 68 students
appeared for the JEE and
51(37 boys and 14 girls)
have been qualified for
the advanced exam.
Congratulating the stu-
dents, he said the school
authorities are providing additional intensive
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 29:
Around 120 ﬁshermen from Tamilnadu, who were taken to New Delhi
by the BJP to take part in a seminar
organised by it, met External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj today.
They were accompanied by State
BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan
and others. The seminar has been
organised by the BJP to discuss
crash course coaching
programme for students
to achieve the best results
in the forthcoming JEE
advanced examination.
Since 2007, 284 students
of JHSS were selected in
various IITs/NIT institutes.
With an intention to improve the opportunities
for the students studying at Neyveli to enter
into the prestigious institutions like IITs,NITs
,Neyveli Telugu Samithi
Educational Academy in
coordination with Jawahar
Education Society is conducting coaching classes
for the IIT aspirants since
2005.
Don’t cut farm loan
beneﬁts, CM to PM
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 29:
Opposing the Centre’s
move to effect changes
in the interest subvention
scheme for short-term crop
loan for farmers, Chief
Minister O Panneerselvam
today said any reduction
of concessionality was
uncalled for and would
be a retrograde measure.
He urged Prime Minister
Narendra Modi to discuss
the issues with the Chief
Ministers of all States before taking a ﬁnal decision.
In a letter to the Prime
Minister, a copy of which
was released to the media
here, he said the Centre
should ensure that the
farmers have access to
concessional credit.
It was learnt that the
Centre was contemplating
Vasan bats
for farmers
two major changes in the
scheme.
‘The first, is reportedly
allowing banks to lend at
their normal priority sector lending rate which is
related to their base rate.
It is learnt that the second
proposal is to change the
method of disbursing the
interest subvention to a
Direct Benefit Transfer
(DBT) based reimbursement model, after the farmer has settled his liabilities
to the lending institutions’,
he added.
‘Any reduction in the extent of concessionality of
farm loans is uncalled for
and will be a retrograde
measure. Given the extensive damage to standing crops caused due to
unseasonal rains in many
parts of the country and
the recent forecast of a
below normal monsoon by
the Indian Meteorological
Department, any move to
make farm loans less concessional will be courting
disaster’, he said.
In the context of the
stressful scenario, expecting farmers to pay a higher
interest rate and then having the amount reimbursed
through a DBT would be illadvised, as it would force
the farmers to find cash
resources to pay the higher
interest dues ﬁrst, the Chief
Minister said.
Stating that DBT based
reimbursement was not
an appropriate model for
farm credit, Panneerselvam said all loanee farmers have bank accounts
and the interest subvention reaches individual
launch the India chapter.
The Indian chapter would recruit
smart cities experts in the country to
develop a ‘Readiness Guide for India’,
the Council said in a statement.
The guide, which will have local
case studies, would also enable city
leaders and urban planners to understand the comprehensive framework
of a smart city and take actionable
steps toward major city infrastructure
improvements.
Also reports say that in a relief to
farmers, the government chose to
relax norms on moisture content in
grains during the meet.
TN ﬁshermen meet
Sushma in Delhi
51 Neyveli students
clear JEE main exam
NT Bureau,
Neyveli Apr 29:
Fifty one students from
Jawahar Higher Secondary
School (CBSE), Neyveli,
have qualiﬁed for the all India level IIT Joint Entrance
Examination (Advanced)
2015 to be held on 24 May.
According to a press release here on Tuesday,
over 15 lakh students appeared for the IIT JEE
(Main) 2015 examination
held on 4 April and 1.50
lakh students cleared it. Of
them 51 students belonged
to Jawahar HSS.
Neyveli Lignite Corporation Chairman and Managing Director B Surender
interest because now the government has allowed FDI, he had
added.
Meanwhile, Smart Cities Council
India, which has been formed to
promote development of smart cities, will launch a guide to help urban
planners understand the framework
of smart city and take steps to improve city’s infrastructure.
US-based Smart Cities Council, an
industry coalition to advance smart
city development and innovation, had
reached agreement with Foundation
of Infrastructure Research Studies
Training President Pratap Padode to
farmers only through the
banking network.
‘Hence, adopting DBT for
these transactions represents no real process value
addition and only adds a
needless layer of complexity to the transaction’, he
said and urged the Prime
Minister to direct the Ministries concerned to urgently
reconsider any proposed
changes in the interest
subvention scheme.
‘Neither should the level of concessionality for
crop loans be reduced,
nor should the mode of
disbursal of interest subvention be changed to a
needlessly complex DBT
based re-imbursement
mechanism as these
would not be in the interest of the farmers’, he
noted.
DA case: Acharya
back as SPP
fishermen issues
and possible solutions to the midsea confrontations
with the Sri Lankan
Navy.
Experts have
been invited to participate and deliberate on the issue. ‘We have been
consistently working to ﬁnd a per-
manent solution for our ﬁshermen’s
problems. The Union government
under the leadership of Narendra
Modi has helped our fishermen
several times, including saving ﬁve
ﬁshermen from the gallows in Sri
Lanka,’ Tamilisai said.
This is the second time a BJP-led
delegation from the State is meeting
Sushma Swaraj on the ﬁshermen
issue.
Coromandel Engineering Company Limited
Registered & Corporate Ofﬁce : ‘Parry House’, 3rd Floor, 43, Moore Street, P.B. No. 1698, Chennai - 600 001.
CIN.No. L74910TN1947PLC000343
STATEMENT OF STANDALONE FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE QUARTER AND YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2015
(Rs in Lakhs)
Audited
(refer note 7 below)
S
No
1
Particulars
31st
March
2015
Income from operations
(a) Net sales/income from operations
(Net of excise duty)
(b) Other operating income
Total income from operations (net)
Expenses
(a) Cost of materials consumed
(b) Changes in inventories and work in progress
(c) Sub Contract and labour payments
(d) Employee beneﬁts expense
(e) Depreciation and amortisation expenses
(f) Other expenses
Total expenses
Proﬁt / (Loss) from operations before
other income and ﬁnance costs
Other income
Proﬁt/(Loss) before ﬁnance costs
Finance costs
Proﬁt / (Loss) before tax
Tax expense
Net Proﬁt / (Loss) after tax
Paid-up equity share capital
Reserve excluding revaluation reserves as
per balance sheet of previous accounting year
Earnings per share of Rs. 10/- each
(not annualised)
(a) Basic
(b) Diluted
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
A
1
Particulars of Shareholding
Public shareholding
- Number of shares
- Percentage of shareholding
Promoters and Promoter Group Shareholding
a) Pledged / encumbered
- Number of shares
- Percentage of shares (as a % of the total
shareholding of the Promoter and Promoter group)
- Percentage of shares (as a % of the total
share capital of the company)
b) Non - encumbered
- Number of shares
- Percentage of shares (as a % of the total
shareholding of the Promoter and Promoter group)
- Percentage of shares (as a % of the total
share capital of the company)
2
Particulars
B
Unaudited
Quarter ended
31st
December
2014
(b) Reserves and surplus
Sub-total - Shareholders’ funds
2
Share application money pending allotment
3
Non-current liabilities
(a) Long term borrowings
4
5,278.47
23,039.38
19,924.92
5,278.47
23,039.38
19,924.92
5,303.41
1,643.20
2,002.90
313.31
129.84
680.03
10,072.69
2,395.81
1,447.33
(231.67)
1,171.33
377.07
116.59
768.66
3,649.31
(334.49)
1,745.05
(142.05)
2,034.91
370.78
41.08
962.40
5,012.17
266.30
9,278.24
1,094.92
6,260.26
1,467.35
488.90
2,816.09
21,405.76
1,633.62
7,325.45
(802.58)
8,108.80
1,770.64
223.31
3,365.40
19,991.02
(66.10)
9.21
2,405.02
717.28
1,687.74
(58.46)
1,746.20
3,323.36
-
8.14
(326.35)
371.94
(698.29)
(698.29)
3,323.36
-
28.08
294.38
336.28
(41.90)
(355.31)
313.41
3,323.36
-
89.70
1,723.32
1,669.37
53.95
(58.46)
112.41
3,323.36
383.88
109.01
42.91
1,286.39
(1,243.48)
(355.31)
(888.17)
3,323.36
313.14
5.26
(2.10)
1.21
0.34
(4.33)
8,457,661
25.45%
8,548,581
25.72%
8,548,581
25.72%
8,457,661
25.45%
8,548,581
25.72%
24,775,937
100%
24,685,017
100%
24,685,017
100%
24,775,937
100%
24,685,017
100%
74.55%
74.28%
74.28%
74.55%
74.28%
Quarter ended
31st March 2015
1
The above results were reviewed by the Audit
Committee and approved by the Board of
Directors at their respective meetings held on
28th April, 2015.
2
As the Company’s business activity falls within
a single significant business segment, viz.
“Construction”, no separate segment information
is enclosed.
3
During the quarter, the Company completed all
the Property development projects and sold
substantial part of the properties, revenue from
which were recognised during the quarter.
4
Depreciation for the quarter has been calculated
based on remaining useful life of assets as
per Schedule II of Companies Act, 2013. The
depreciation for the quarter and year ended 31st
March 2015, is higher by Rs. 76.70 Lakhs and
Rs. 272.30 Lakhs respectively, due to change
in remaining useful life of assets. In line with
transitional provisions, where the remaining
revised useful life is Nil for assets held on
01st April 2014, an amount of Rs. 41.67 Lakhs
has been recognised in the opening balance of
retained earnings (net of deferred tax of Rs.
18.63 Lakhs).
5
The Board has appointed Mr. N. Velappan as
Manager of the Company, effective 01st May
2015, subject to the approval of shareholders for
the remuneration to be paid.
Nil
0
0
Nil
(Rs. In lakhs)
Audited
Audited
As at 31st
As at 31st
March
March
2015
2014
4,023.36
4,023.36
383.88
313.14
4,407.24
4,336.50
-
3,263.83
40.28
51.38
Sub-total - Non-current liabilities
40.28
3,315.21
(a) Short term borrowings
3,774.47
4,932.99
(b) Trade payables
2,939.69
3,070.52
(c) Other current liabilities
9,168.25 14,814.65
Current liabilities
293.37
294.21
Sub-total - Current liabilities
16,175.78 23,112.37
Total - Equity and Liabilities
20,623.30 30,764.08
B
ASSETS
1
Non-current assets
31st
March
2014
3,314.82
(b) Long term provisions
(d) Short-term provisions
31st
March
2015
3,314.82
Shareholders’ funds
(a) Share capital
31st
March
2014
12,468.50
A EQUITY AND LIABILITIES
1
Audited
Year ended
12,468.50
Investor complaints Pending at the
beginning of the quarter
Received during the quarter
Disposed off during the quarter
Remaining unresolved at the
end of the quarter
Standalone Statement of Assets and Liabilities
Audited
(refer note 7 below)
(a) Fixed assets
2,931.43 3,539.01
NT Bureau
worst affected by unseaNT Bureau
the Supreme Court. The
had resigned in August
(b) Non-current investments
5.20
5.44
sonal rains and drought.
Chennai, Apr 29:
6 Figures of the previous periods have been
(c) Deferred tax assets/ (liabilities) (Net)
1,546.42
1,469.12
apex
court
had
said
it
was
2012.
Acharya
was
quoted
Chennai,
Apr
29:
More
than
17
farmers
Both Central and State
regrouped and reclassiﬁed wherever necessary,
(d)
Long
term
loans
and
advances
9.17
23.14
the Karnataka government
as saying that ‘his role is
Senior counsel and former
governments must pro- from these districts had
(e) Trade receivables
291.83 1,298.27
to correspond with classiﬁcation of ﬁgures for
and
not
Tamilnadu
that
very
limited’
and
added
Advocate-General
B
V
Achcommitted suicide as a
vide Rs five lakh as
(f) Other non-current assets
415.00
465.00
current period.
had to prosecute the ap- that ‘the State of Karnaarya has returned as the
result of this.
compensation to the
Sub-total - Non-current assets
5,199.05 6,799.98
7
Figures for the Quarter ended March 31, 2015
peal
ﬁ
led
by
Jayalalithaa
taka
approached
me
and
Special Public Prosecutor in
‘The government must
families of farmers who
2 Current assets
and
March 31, 2014 are the balancing ﬁgure
questioning
her
conviction
told
me
to
ﬁ
le
the
written
the
disproportionate
assets
provide jobs to the
committed suicide, said
(a) Current investments
between audited ﬁgures of the full ﬁnancial year
case against AIADMK gen- by the trial court in the case, submissions as directed
TMC president G K Vas- family members of the
(b) Inventories
6,908.24 4,410.59
and published year to date ﬁgures upto the third
by the Supreme Court of
d e c e a s e d . M o r e o v e r , eral secretary J Jayalalithaa. before the High Court of
an.
(c) Trade receivables
4,807.78 5,330.61
quarter of the respective ﬁnancial year.
Karnataka,
including
apIndia.
They
felt
that
I
was
The
Karnataka
governprovision
of
fertilisers,
(d) Cash and cash equivalents
334.74
651.01
In a statement issued
For
COROMANDEL ENGINEERING COMPANY LTD.
pointment of prosecutor.
well versed with the case
(e) Short-term loans and advances
384.31
880.36
here today, Vasan said, pesticides and other ag- ment on Tuesday issued
Sd/and
only
I
could
file
the
Acharya,
who
had
con(f)
Other
current
assets
2,989.18
12,691.53
a notification appointing
during 2012-13, Thiru- ricultural inputs must be
Place : Chennai
M M VENKATACHALAM
submissions
in
a
short
Sub-total
Current
assets
15,424.25
23,964.10
ducted
the
trial
of
the
case
him
again
as
SPP
followdistributed
in
a
timely
v a r u r , Nby
a gK.
a pBalakumar
a t t i n a m on behalf of News Today Media (P) Ltd., from 85, Mount Road (GST Road), Guindy, Chennai 600 032 and printed by him at Frontline Printers Private Ltd., M-7, Thiru-Vi-Ka Industrial Estate, Guindy,
Published
Date : 28.04.2015
CHAIRMAN
TOTAL - Assets
20,623.30 30,764.08
span of time.’
as SPP
from
2004
to 2012,
ingEditorial/Admn
Monday’s direction
manner,’
heBalakumar.
said.
and Karur
Chennai
600districts
032. Ph: were
4202 1111.
Editor: K.
Phone:
/Advt: of
22504000,
Fax:
2250
1800
(Editorial)/2250 1200/2250 0101 (Advt/Admn). e-mail: [email protected], Circulation: 4202 1111. Fax: 4212 0000.
8WEDNESDAY
29 APRIL 2015
, CHENNAI
Licensed to post without prepayment under WPP. No. TN / PMG / (CCR) / WPP-470 / 15-17
WHERE THEY STAND
TEAMS
Karun Nair
BENGALURU:
Rajasthan Royals are sitting pretty at the top of the
points table this Pepsi IPL 2015. However, their winning
momentum has been disturbed a bit with two losses
and a washed out game, against Kolkata Knight Riders.
They are now on the road for an away game against
Royal Challengers Bangalore. Despite their winless
record at home in this tournament, RCB remain a strong
opponent for the Royals.
Karun Nair, the Bangalore boy who plays for the Royals,
looks forward to playing on his home ground and contributing to his team’s win over the Royal Challengers.
‘It feels good to be back home in the surroundings you
know,’ Karun said ahead of the match. ‘Playing RCB is a
challenge that I am looking forward to. Hopefully, we can
win this game.’
Karun was one of the leading performers for the Royals in the
last season but has not quite struck form this year. He has had
a couple of 20s and a 16 to his name. It is a trend the young
batsman wants to change in this match.
‘I have got two-three good opportunities where I have had a
lot of overs to bat. I have started off well but haven’t converted
those starts, getting out on 20s and 30s. I would like to change
that,’ he said.
Tied
N/R
1
0
0
PTS
12
Rajasthan Royals
8
5
2
0
1
11
Kolkata Knight Riders
7
3
3
0
1
7
RCB
6
3
3
0
0
6
Sunrisers Hyderabad
7
3
4
0
0
6
Delhi Daredevils
7
3
4
0
0
6
Mumbai Indians
6
2
4
0
0
4
Kings XI Punjab
7
2
5
0
0
4
Will he or won’t he?
Sunil Narine’s presence at the nets
ahead of the CSK-KKR game aroused
a lot of curiousity among fans and the
media corps.
The mystery spinner, who has come
under the scanner for his action and
has been reported recently, is said to
have undergone tests for the same.
There had been lot of speculation as
to whether the KKR think-tank would
bite the bullet and include him in the
playing XI for the Chennai game.
angles. That is not all, the CSK
think-tank is looking at ways to
monitor the workload of their
lead bowler.
Nehra played a pivotal role in four
matches and has been adjudged
man of the match on two occasions. Nehra bagged three or more
wickets on three occasions in the
on-going IPL.
It wouldn’t be an understatement
to say that the 35-year-old is a
strong contender to ﬁnish as the
leading wicket-taker of the tournament, which would help him to win
the purple cap.
With 13 wickets in seven
matches, the wily Delhi bowler
has showed that age hasn’t diminished his skills.
For a long seen as a bowler to
be taken for runs, especially at
the death, Nehra has been effective in the slog overs, prompting
the captain to rely on him for
breakthroughs.
If Nehra leeps performing in a
similar manner throughout the season and remains ﬁt, he could be
part of India’s plans for the World
Cup T20 squad, which the country
would host next year.
— C SHYAM SUNDAR
Nehra
revels in
‘yellow’
T
here is something about being
part of the Chennai Super Kings
(CSK) team that brings the best
out of players. The franchise has
brought to fore new talent with some
going on to represent the country at
the highest level.
Apart from unearthing youngsters,
CSK seems to be helping forgotten
stars bounce back too.
Ashish Nehra, almost a forgotten
man, has sprung back to prominence
with incisive spells for the team in IPL
2015 and is captain M S Dhoni’s goto-man these days.
Coach Stephen Fleming was
all praise for the left-arm paceman, who has managed to hold
his own in the T20 format with
his subtle variations and use of
hough Raj Kiran started his career as actor-director
with a purple patch rendering back-to-back hits in
Rasavin Manasilae, Ellamae En Rasathan and Aranmanai Kili, he had a lean period with some average
outings. But he rediscovered the actor in him with a
slew of hits playing character roles in the recent times.
Raj Kiran, whose recent films Manja Pai and
Komban, made it big, awaits the release of his next
Sivappu. Directed by Sathya Siva and produced
by Muktha Films, the movie stars Rupa
p Manjeri,
j ,
Naveen Chandra in lead roles. Music is by
Rahunandhan.
Speaking about the film, Raj Kiran,
n, says, ‘Unfortunately no movie has been made
ade in Tamil
cinema that chronicles the lives and
nd travails of
ls suffered a
brethren in Sri Lanka. The Tamils
eir homeland
lot. They were forced to leave their
and seek refuge in other nations. Sivappu
is a sympathetic account of such
h men
and women’.
or
Heaping laurels on Sathya Siva for
handling such a sensitive issue
with great care, he said, ‘There
is no controversy in the film. We
were given a clean U certificate
by the censors’.
‘The movie revolves around a girl,
rn
who reaches Chennai from strife-torn
s make
Lanka and her romance and emotions
up the movie’, he adds.
hat will
‘I am happy to have acted in a ﬁlm that
be cherished and talked about by all’, Raj
Kiran said with a conﬁdence.
— NT Bureau
Lost
6
KKR vs CSK at Kolkata, 8 p.m (IST)
Ashish Nehra
T
Won
7
TOMORROW’S MATCH
Karun hopes for
happy homecoming
Raj Kiran
spells success
Mat
Chennai Super Kings
Despite having a longish stint at the
nets, Narine was put on ice, apparently to preserve him for future games.
Cricket, cops
During match days, the number
of police personnel on duty in and
around the M A Chidambaram stadium seems to be rising. For the CSK
vs KKR encounter on Tuesday, there
was a security blanket around the
stadium and nearby streets and trafﬁc was regulated on Wallajah Road.
Some of the policemen, seemed to
be interested in keeping a tab on what
was going on in the match, even as
they kept guard.
‘V’ for vendors
The Triplicane area is buzzing with
activity on the days when IPL games
are held at the Chidambaram stadium. A sizeable number of hawkers,
including children can be seen selling
a variety of knick-knacks apart from
T-shirts, caps and the like.
COOL
COLOURS
A young girl was badgering a
middle-aged couple, asking them
to buy CSK jerseys and ﬂags. After
resisting the same for a while, they
chose to pick up some, bringing a
big smile on her face.
It may be too cliched to say
it went right down to the wire.
However, KKR made a hash of
a chase and fell agonisingly
short as the bowlers did
the trick for CSK. The M A
Chidambaram stadium had
large swathes of ‘yellow’ and
fans enjoyed every moment of
the match on Tuesday.
Photos: M SRINIVASAN,
A R JAYAKUMAR
TRIVIA
Old is gold
Australian veteran Brad Hogg at 44
years and 81 days became the oldest
to appear in an IPL game when he
was picked for the CSK vs KKR match
on Tuesday.
However, the oldest to play a T20
game is Carlton Saunders (50 years,
92 days) in 2008.
I don’t know to
act: Vijay Antony
F
rom a sound engineer, Vijay Antony rose to become a
music composer with Sukran. He followed it up with hit
numbers in several ﬁlms including Dishoom.
Call it his luck, he ventured to acting and his maiden venture
Naan was a hit. Then came Salim, which was received well
by the audience. Today, the music director-turned-hero awaits
the release of his next India Pakistan.
Speaking to News Today, Vijay Antony, says, ‘India Pakistan is a hilarious entertainer. Since my earlier ventures were
action-packed, I wanted to do a hilarious movie. When director
Anand came to me with the story of India Pakistan, I readily
agreed to do it’.
The movie boasts of a huge star cast that includes Pasupathy and M S Baskar. Dina Devarajan has scored the music.
Says Vijay Antony, ‘the movie revolves around a couple,
who practise law. A newcomer Sushma Raj plays my heroine.
The hilarious encounter between us makes up the movie’.
India Pakistan is the ego war between the lead pair.
We are conﬁdent that it would entertain the whole
family, he adds.
Vijay Antony says, ‘I became an actor by accident. However I love it. Frankly, I know my
strength and weakness when I stand before the
camera’.
‘Frankly I don’t know acting and just do what my
director wants, he says and adds, ‘music is also
close to my heart. However since I am busy with my
acting commitments, it has taken a backseat now’.
Vijay Antony has his hands full. Close on the heels
of India Pakistan’s release, he will act in movies
including Saithan, Pichaikaran and Hitler.
‘All I want is to do movies on varied themes and
Rajkiran
entertain masses’, he says.
— NT Bureau
Vijay Antony
I
t is pouring accolades for popular choreographer Kala, as her dance show Maanada
Mayilada, in its tenth season on Kalaignar TV,
has managed to enter Guinness Book of Records.
Addressing media persons in Chennai, Kala
said, ‘We have come up with a grand illusion
set for our show. It is a splendid set covering
4000 square feet. The set comes for 40 minutes
in the show.’
Coming to know about the mammoth set, the
ofﬁcials of Guinness awards came forward to
honour us with the accolades, she said.
‘It is a rare achievement and we managed to
put a huge set with great difﬁculties, she said
and added, ‘We are proud and happy with the
honour’, she said.
On being spoofed in shows in various television
channels, Kala, said, ‘ I am happy, because only a
VIP would be made fun of. Those who are making
fun of me are making their livelihood with that. But
making mockery of of dancing is like
degrading Lord Nataraja’.
She wound up by saying ‘We
have best dancers in the country.
The show comes on Kalaignar TV
this week’.
Among those present on the occasion included choreographer Kala,
members of the dance union and
the crew of Maanada Mayilada.
The show is directed by
Kala herself.
— NT Bureau
Dancing
their way
to fame
Kala
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