Coimbatore Information - Manchester of South India.

Night bus service to be revived in city
After nearly 16 years, the city is set to get adequate night bus services at least on all arterial roads. This will bring an end to the ordeal of being fleeced by auto rickshaws. These services will be restored after a gap of nearly two decades. The services were withdrawn after the communal unrest in 1992. Further unrest in 1997 and the serial blasts in February 1998 shut out the chances of the revival of the services as part of maintaining peace. But, even after the situation improved, the services were not re-introduced and people arriving at night in the city were left to the mercy of autorickshaw drivers. The issue was raised many a times at the Road Safety cum Traffic Advisory Committee meetings chaired by the successive collectors but nothing happened, says K. Kathirmathiyon � Secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause. A person arriving Coimbatore by an early morning train or a late night train from Chennai travelling nearly 250 km paying Rs 250 as train fare, was left at the mercy of the auto rickshaws who demanded Rs 200 to Rs 250 for reaching their house in Ganapathy or Singanallur which was just 10 km to 15 km, Mr. Kathirmathiyon pointed out. The TNSTC is planning 13 buses on arterial roads for night services up to Annur on Sathyamangalam Road, Thudialur/Periyanaickenpalayam on Mettuppalayam Road, Chinniampalayam/Karumathampatti on Avanashi Road, Sulur Aerodrome on Tiruchi Road, Kinathukkadavu on Pollachi Road, Podanur, Madukkarai on Palakkad Road and Karunya Nagar on Siruvani Road. There will also be circular services (Ukkadam to Ukkadam via Ramanathapuram), Ukkadam to Singanallur, Ukkadam to Gandhipuram, Gandhipuram to Singanallur, Ukkadam to Narasipuram, Kovaipudur and Kumittipathy, Madukkarai and Walayar. While the fleet is ready, the TNSTC is waiting for the running crew (driver and conductor) strength to improve. Recruitment will begin soon and this will be followed by a quick re-introduction of the services, say TNSTC sources.

Operation on to drive away elephants from Tiger Hill
An operation was launched on Sunday by forest officials to drive away a herd of wild elephants which have strayed into the Tiger Hill area near Coonoor. The presence of the herd which had moved into the area about three days ago has become a major source of concern as it has affected the routine of the people residing there. They have been prevented from venturing out of their houses between dusk and dawn. With fear mounting, the North division of the Nilgiris forest department has formed a team headed by Assistant Conservator of Forests Jayaraj to push the pachyderms deep into their habitat. Speaking to The Hindu after visiting the area where the animals have set up camp, the District Forest Officer, the Nilgiris North S. Ramasubramaniam said that the herd comprised four adult females and two calves. Pointing out that they had strayed from a shola patch, he said that they had been drawn by the bananas being cultivated in some places nearby. Stating that on Sunday evening the animals were seen close to the labour quarters of the Tiger Hill tea factory of the Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Corporation (TANTEA), he said that efforts are on to force them to move towards Marappalam. Expressing the confidence that by Monday evening the operation can be completed, Mr. Ramasubramaniam said that the people have been requested not to cultivate bananas. They have also been asked to exercise utmost caution while moving in the area

Rahul not focussed on becoming PM, says Priyanka
Becoming Prime Minister is not the �central focus� of Rahul Gandhi�s politics, according to his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who said on Sunday that Manmohan Singh is �extremely good� and a question of change does not arise at the moment. On a campaign trail in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Ms. Priyanka also backed Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, saying she feels �sad� about the attacks on him in the 2G spectrum case when he has an �onerous and huge� responsibility towards the people of this country. Ms. Priyanka said that for Mr. Gandhi the post of party president or Prime Minister was not important and for him his mission of development was more important. �You see the political career of Rahul Gandhi that whether he should be the party president or Prime Minister, but neither he nor us see it that way... he is more concerned about what he is doing. �I do not think that is the central focus of his politics. We have an extremely good Prime Minister. We are fortunate to have a person who is honest and works well and I don�t think this question arises at the moment,� Ms. Priyanka told reporters in Rae Bareli. She was replying to a question on whether the time has come for Mr. Gandhi to become Prime Minister, a demand that is often made by sections within the Congress. She said Mr. Gandhi is more concerned about his work than worrying about how the election results would impact his reputation. �It his work that matters. He is not concerned about his reputation. Only cowards don�t lead from the front.� Asked about the allegations against Mr. Chidambaram in the 2G spectrum case, Ms. Priyanka said she feels �sad� about the attacks on him. �I feel as the Home Minister he has an onerous and huge responsibility towards the people of this country. I feel sad when he has to waste his time responding to the rants of people who are not concerned about the kind of issues he has to deal with...,� she said. Hits out at Mayawati Earlier, in an attack on Chief Minister Mayawati, Ms. Priyanka said people should decide whether they want a government which works for them or one which spends crores on buildings. Addressing a public meeting in Inhauna on the third day of her five-day tour, she said, �it is up to electorates to understand whether they want a government which thinks or works for them, or one which wastes thousands of crores of rupees on buildings�. She said the forthcoming polls in the district on February 19, 2012 were important as people do not have to think about their area alone, but also about the State and the country. �You (people) create leaders, you form the government. A leader, who does not have feeling of service towards people and who thinks that power is a chance of self promotion, only you people can teach him a lesson,� Ms. Priyanka said. She said that responsibility of being rejected by public representatives was the responsibility of the people and they should turn indifferent towards politics, which rejects the masses. She alleged that in the last 22 years, the State witnessed governments which did not work for the people. Exuding confidence on the victory of party candidate Doctor Muslim from the area, Ms. Priyanka said, �I have this hope because I know how much development was done and people�s problems were heard from the MLA�s side. Whatever development took place it happened from the centre and MP fund. No work was done from the government or MLA side�.

Amid unrest, Wen pledges to protect farmers' rights
A month after the southern Chinese village of Wukan rose up in open rebellion against the local Communist Party leadership over land grabs, Premier Wen Jiabao has assured farmers their rights would be protected as Beijing looks to address rising rural unrest ahead of a crucial leadership transition. Mr. Wen, touring southern Guangdong province, where Wukan is located, told farmers at a village that �arbitrary seizure� of farmland was triggering mass protests, in a rare acknowledgment from a top government official of the driving force behind the tens of thousands of such cases reported every year. �What is the widespread problem now? It is the arbitrary seizure of farmers' fields, and the farmers have complaints about this,� he said, in remarks reported by the official Xinhua news agency. �It is even sparking mass incidents.� The root of the problem, he added, was farmers' rights were not being protected. He warned that reforms needed to be continued �or there will only be a dead end� in an unusually strong language. His comments come as tens of thousands of villages begin local-level elections to choose representatives. Chinese citizens are allowed to vote for representatives in direct elections only in the village level � the lowest level of government administration. Elections are, however, widely seen as being controlled by local party branches, with independent candidates rarely meeting with success. Elected village committees hold power to take decisions to sell farmers' land, which is collectively owned by the village and leased out to farmers. Close ties between real estate developers and local authorities often result in farmers having little say in land deals, sparking unrest, as was the case in Wukan. Mr. Wen stressed �the need to ensure farmers' voting rights� as well as �the direct election of village-level leadership�. �Self-governance�, he said, was �the only appropriate way for improving rural community administration� and to ensure that �local affairs should be decided by local villagers�. He called for a �strict legal system� and to regulate elections, but did not specify how this would be done or what measures would be put in place, when thousands of villages will vote. Last week, Wukan's villagers, for the first time in years, had an open election to choose their election committees. Electoral contests had been stage-managed by party-backed officials for decades, before the local-leadership was finally thrown out by protesting farmers, who were subsequently given backing by the provincial government. But whether Wukan remains an exception or a model is unclear, though the central government in Beijing has in its first policy document for 2012 � the year that sees a once-in-a-decade sweeping leadership transition across all levels of government � pledged to revise rural land laws.

It did not eat into her activism
�It's no big deal. You diagnose it, treat it and carry on with normal life,� says S. Mahesh about the cancer she had a few years ago, in a rather matter-of-fact way. A social activist at Makkal Mandram, an organisation near Kancheepuram working for rights of the Scheduled Tribes, she is a survivor of breast cancer. �It was when I was in my early thirties. Now, I am completely fine and doing what I enjoy the most. Today, cancer is an ailment that can be cured with systematic treatment,� says Ms. Mahesh, who will soon turn 40. After an initial surgery at the Government Royapettah Hospital in 2005, she found that there was a relapse a couple of years ago. �I had ideological issues with getting treated at a private hospital. After the initial treatment at the RGH, I went to the Arignar Anna Cancer Hospital in Kancheepuram and was advised radiation and chemotherapy. Some of those days were hard, I admit. The side effects and pain can be hard to cope with. But once I got better, I only found myself coming out a stronger person,� she says. �Nothing has changed. Not even one per cent. I am working hard and loving it.�

Karunanidhi: Vijayakant's suspension from House undemocratic
The DMK and the CPI (M) on Sunday threw their weight behind Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam leader Vijayakant, terming his suspension from the Assembly for ten days undemocratic. Talking to reporters, DMK president M. Karunanidhi said the �repressive measures and atrocities� unleashed against Mr. Vijayakant were not only anti-democratic, but also an attempt aimed at demolishing democracy. But he declined to respond to a question on whether the DMK would field a common candidate against the AIADMK in the by-election to the Sankarankoil Assembly Constituency as AIADMK general secretary and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has asserted in that her party would retain the seat, even after the hike in bus fares and the price of milk. Meanwhile, a resolution adopted by the CPI (M)'s State committee said the way the ruling AIADMK conducted itself in the Assembly had become a cause of concern for those who had faith in democracy. Party's state secretary G. Ramakrishnan alleged that Leader of the Opposition Vijayakant was suspended from the House unilaterally and in a hurried manner without allowing minimum possible debate. �This only shows the anti-democratic attitude of the AIADMK leadership,� he said. Mr. Ramakrishnan said it was the opposition's duty to raise people's issues and point out shortcomings of the government and depriving the opposition of its rights by removing its leader from the Assembly was not acceptable. He also called upon all democratic forces to come together and raise their voice to uphold democracy in the Assembly.

Lawyers boycott court
Condemning the State Government for fixing the age limit for appointment of 185 posts of Civil Judges in the State Judicial Service, over 2,000 members of Coimbatore Bar Association boycotted court proceedings on Friday. This comes after a resolution passed in the executive committee meeting of the Federation of District and Subordinate Courts Bar Associations of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry held in Salem on January 29 that called for boycotting of courts. The government through its notification on January 21 had fixed the maximum age limit for practising advocates or pleaders and assistant public prosecutors as 35 years for general category and 40 years for reserved categories. Coimbatore Bar Association president N. Nandakumar said that in 2008, the State government had tried to fill up 201 posts of Civil Judges by fixing maximum age limit as 25 years for general category and 35 years for reserved categories. But after a protest by lawyers, the government withdrew the notification. He added that the government should follow the same procedure now. A Public Interest Litigation filed before the Madras High Court had challenged the Government's notification for appointment of civil judges and said that the recruitment process can be undertaken only by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission and not by the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Service. In Tirupur, lawyers, affiliated to Federation of District and Subordinate Courts Bar Association of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, boycotted the court proceedings on Friday.

Poor maintenance of park irks residents in city
How has the Coimbatore Corporation developed the park in Krishna Garden, Ward 62? Pose this question to the Ward's residents. Without second thoughts their answer will be uniform: that the civic body has ignored the facility, shirked its responsibility of maintaining the lights there, let shrubs grow and reptiles invade the place. The result: visitors' movement remains curtailed. Resident M. Balasubramaniam takes his son to the park but restricts his movement. �I ensure that he is not far away from me, does not venture beyond the small play area. For, snakes and reptiles take over the park in the evenings.� The play area he is talking about is two sand-filled rectangles with swings, slide and half-a-dozen pews on both sides of the main entrance. Other than the play area, the park has a walkway that runs along the periphery on the inside of the one-and-half acre plot. The other reason that Mr. Balasubramaniam, a regular to the park, does not let his child venture out is the absence of lights. He says that how many lights glow is a subject matter of probability. Resident S. Muniraj has a similar complaint. Walkers in the mornings also face threat from the reptiles, which have a free access to the park from the neighbouring reserved site that is full of bushes. �A couple of days ago the residents had to run for safety, thanks to snakes.� Ward 62 Councillor S. Balan says that reserve site-turned park has remained in such a state of neglect since the Corporation spent Rs. 25 lakh towards construction of a compound in 2010. Mere construction of a compound will not turn it into a park, he says and wants the civic body to develop the place in a manner that befits the description of park. The Corporation should plant ornamental plants, saplings of trees, provide fountains and more play equipment for children. It should also landscape the entire one-and-half acre, say the two residents. Mr. Balan says he has raised the issue in the Council meeting and the Mayor has promised to look into the issue. Sources in the civic body say that following instructions, they have ordered conservancy workers to clear the bush at the earliest.

One held for cheating
Posing himself as an influential person with political contacts, Pollachi East Police on Friday arrested a 57-year-old man on charges of cheating a quarry-owner to the tune of Rs. 5.37 lakh. V. Mandikandaraj (47) of Gandhi Mandapam Street, in his complaint said that he was running quarries in Pollachi and Palani areas. To repay the bank loan, he decided to sell his property and gave a newspaper advertisement. Ravikumar (42) of Theni District approached him and said that he was running a trust in Andhra Pradesh with properties worth more than Rs. 1,000 crores. Ravikumar promised to buy Mandikandaraj�s property for Rs. 100 crore and sought Rs. 5.37 lakh towards documentation fee that he would repay once the deal is finalised. Mandikandaraj paid the amount, but Ravikumar never brought the property. Based on his complaint, the police arrested Ravikumar from Erode on Friday. Investigations revealed that over 25 cheating cases were pending against Ravikumar in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and he had cheated many to the tune of over Rs. 50 crores. The police said that his modus operandi is to show the photograph of himself posing with a former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh and gain their trust. He would promise to buy their land at an exorbitant rate and receive amount for documentation charges. But never buy the land or return the money.