Cuddalore inside

Six Sinhala(Sri Lankan) fishermen freed

2007-06-07T21:12:00.000+05:30

CUDDALORE jun 2,2007

Six Sinhala fishermen, who were detained in the Puzhal Prison for the last two months, were released here on Saturday.

District Collector Rajendra Ratnoo handed over the fishermen to Meheraj, Attache, Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission, Chennai, following an agreement signed by them on Saturday afternoon.

The fishermen, who were engaged in the traditional occupation in the Sri Lankan territorial waters in Bay of Bengal, drifted and reached Devanampattinam coast after the motor fitted with their boat had developed a technical snag on March 28.

They had lost their way and drifted on the high seas for four days before reaching the coast. Six fishermen, including a 17-year-old boy, had reached the coast on April 1 and the Cuddalore New Town police had arrested them and detained in the Central Prison in the coastal town.

A few days later they were shifted to the Central Prison in Puzhal. Speaking to journalists, Rajendra Ratnoo said, “An inquiry was conducted recently and based on the report, the concerned officials gave nod to release them.”

Attache Meheraj said that the High Commission would take necessary action to deport them soon. Efforts would be made to repair the boat and obtain a Sea Worthy Certificate from the Department of Fisheries.

one of the fishermen J Nisas Sama (17) said, “We are anxiously waiting to meet our family members in Sri Lanka”.

Sivaji trailer-( Film Release in Krishnalaya ? )

2007-05-31T17:27:00.000+05:30

Click play button to view Sivaji Trailer

DMK Blocks all Passenger needs today(11th May 2007)

2007-05-11T21:44:00.000+05:30

Main News:Due to Karunanidhi's glorious political journey ,his party peoples
takes most of Local and Root bus to Chennai Meeting.

Cause: Most of Peoples , students ,oldies ,patients are affected on this thing.

Banana crop in 500 acre destroyed by whirlwind

2007-05-05T12:43:00.000+05:30

CUDDALORE/VILLUPURAM: A sudden whirlwind here destroyed banana plantation in about 500 acres of land on Thursday.

The strong wind, accompanied by thundershower, affected plantations at Ramapuram, S Pudhur, M Pudhur, Vazhichodanai Palayam and Othiyadikuppam near the coastal town.

Ramapuram and surrounding regions were considered the major areas of banana cultivation in the State, involving thousands of farmers.

The thunder shower which struck the region lasted for more than an hour. According to preliminary reports, banana crop worth Rs 2 crore was destroyed in the storm.

Thundershower also lashed Ullundurpet, Gingee and Villupuram for nearly an hour on Thursday.

Eco-friendly crematoria in 52 urban local bodies

2007-05-01T23:09:00.000+05:30

Designs and bid documents have been finalised Designs and bid documents have been finalised

>Government's share of the cost released to 38 local bodies
>Gasifier crematoria will help to cut down on the use of wood

Main : Environment-friendly, modern crematoria will come up in 52 urban local bodies in six months.

The Commissionerate of Municipal Administration has completed the spadework. Designs and bid documents have been finalised. The Government's share of the project cost has been released to 38 urban local bodies, according to a senior official.

At a workshop here on Friday, Commissioner of Municipal Administration Niranjan Mardi told representatives of urban local bodies and officials that the work should be completed by December-end.

Besides five municipal corporations (other than Chennai), 47 municipalities will be covered. Tambaram, Avadi, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, CUDDALORE, Villupuram, Namakkal, Udhagamandalam and Ramanthapuram are among the local bodies chosen for the programme.

Gasifier crematoria

In the local bodies, gasifier crematoria will be established. A large quantity of wood is used in the conventional burning ghats. The official says the average use of wood, nationwide, for burning a body is 600 kg. This will come down to 150 kg in gasifier crematoria.

Another benefit is that this type of crematoria helps to reduce the demand for electric crematoria where 100-125 units of power are required for cremating a body.

A committee, comprising representatives of Anna University, the Pollution Control Board, the Public Works Department, the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration and the Directorate of Town and Country Planning studied the requirements of different local bodies and gave its advice.

On an average, the cost of each gasifier crematorium has been estimated at Rs. 40 lakh. The Government will provide Rs. 20 lakh. It is for the local bodies to mobilise the remaining amount. The urban local bodies can source the money from the constituency development fund of the Members of Legislative Assembly or Members of Parliament or donations from voluntary bodies.

In respect of five corporations and 33 municipalities, the Government has released its grant of Rs. 7.6 crore. The other 14 urban local bodies have been advised to go ahead in anticipation of the funds, the official says. The project cost in these areas is Rs. 5.6 crore. Furthermore, the Government has planned to help the urban local bodies maintain burial grounds better.

Approach roads

It has worked out a project to cover 69 municipalities. The estimated cost is Rs. 6.28 crore, of which the Government will grant Rs. 3.14 crore. In addition, approach roads to crematoria will be laid wherever required, the official says.

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2006-11-20T21:25:00.000+05:30

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Cuddalore – Toxic Present; Troubled Future[Special thanks Cuddaloreonline.blogspot.com]

2006-11-12T08:04:00.000+05:30

Cuddalore, the place by the sea, is soon set to be assaulted. Some of the dirtiest industries – chemical factories, petrochemical refineries, shipbuilding yard, textile dyeing units, and coal-fired power plants – are making a beeline for Cuddalore. The Tamilnadu Government has earmarked Cuddalore district for locating polluting industries. Their argument: Cuddalore is already polluted. So let's concentrate all polluting industries in this district, thereby saving the rest of Tamilnadu from pollution.

Fact aside, that only one part of Cuddalore – the SIPCOT Industrial Estate in Pachaiyankuppam, Kudikadu and Semmankuppam panchayats – is polluted. The rest of Cuddalore is home to white-sand beaches, dense mangroves, lazy rivers, cashew groves and casuarinas.

I have heard about this decision to sacrifice Cuddalore repeated often. At least two chairpersons of the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board have admitted over the last 8 years that Cuddalore's fate is sealed. . .that a decision to sacrifice Cuddalore has been taken at the highest levels.

Indiscriminate dumping of toxic wastes has spoilt agricultural fields and groundwater.

The kind of industrialization that is planned for Cuddalore will mean the death of Cuddalore as we know it. Pollution-intensive industrialization has its beneficiaries in far-away places. The local people and the local economy will take a punishing beating.

On the one hand, people dependent on water and land for a livelihood – fishers and farmers – will lose their source of income. On the other, the ill-health caused by a poisoned environment will mean fewer work days, and higher medical expense

There are industries, and there are industries. Industries that destroy local resources, poison the air, water and land will eventually impoverish the local people rather than lend to their prosperity.

How do I know? Because we have experience of this kind of chemical-intensive industrialization in Cuddalore, and we know that it has made local people poorer.

All you have to do is check out the 8 km stretch south of Pachaiyankuppam on the Cuddalore-Chidambaram Highway. The SIPCOT industrial estate located here has been judged by many as ranking among the smelliest places in India. About 19 chemical industries, manufacturing pesticides, pharmaceuticals, dye chemicals, explosives, gelatin and sundry chemicals, spew out noxious air emissions and liquid effluents.

Contaminated groundwater does not spare even the utensils it is stored in.

Just as Eskimos have a thousand words to describe the snow, SIPCOT residents have numerous descriptions for the various smells that assault their senses day-long. SPIC smells of shit; Tagros smells like a hospital; Shasun smells like rotten cabbage, rotten eggs; Pioneer Miyagi smells like a decomposing corpse; Asian Paints smells like sapota fruit. Then there are other smells – nail polish, rotten egg, fruity odours. In all, the SIPCOT Area Community Environmental Monitors (SACEM) – a team of five villagers trained in environmental monitoring – have identified at least 36 odours emanating from the SIPCOT industries.

Surely, progress can't be this smelly. These smells are not merely a nuisance; anybody that tells you that is lying. Odours are indicators of pollution, of chemicals in the air. Hydrogen sulphide, a deadly gas, has a characteristic rotten egg odour. The nail polish odour indicates the presence of acetone. Rotten cabbage is the smell of your cooking gas resulting from the chemical methyl mercaptan. The shit smell means the presence of a category of chemicals called Indoles.

Indeed, when samples of the ambient air in SIPCOT was sent to the United States for analysis by SACEM, at least 25 chemicals were discovered. Eight of them are known to cause cancer. These include – chloroform, methylene chloride, trichloroethylene, 1,2-dichloroethane, carbon tetrachloride, vinyl chloride, bromomethane and benzene.

1,2-dichloroethane was more than safe levels by a factor of 22,973; chloroform was above safe levels by a factor of 5119.

At least 13 of the chemicals found are used as raw material in one or more industries. In other words, toxic chemicals are constantly spilling out of the factories through chimneys and various other leaks and contaminating the air breathed by more than 20,000 people.

The effects are there for all to see. Children in the SIPCOT villages can be seen with rheumy eyes, running noses and rashes on the skin. The eye and nose disorders are indicative of upper respiratory tract problems – a likely sign of air pollution. Anecdotal evidence gathered during the visit of Justice J. Kanakaraj and team as part of the Indian People's Tribunal revealed shocking information. Women in SIPCOT were reporting menstrual irregularities, delayed onset of puberty among girls, compromised physical development among boys, widespread dental and skin problems.

These long-term effects pale in front of the acute effects people experience when the air pollution gets intense. "We can't breathe; it feels like somebody is sitting on your chest. Whatever is in the air burns your eyes, tears through your nose and sets your lungs on fire. At least we can hold a cloth to our nose; imagine the fate of infants," said one irate mother from Eachangadu, a village surrounded on three sides by smelly factories.

Several 100 acres of fertile farm land have been abandoned because ground water in the entire SIPCOT area is contaminated, and the lands are awash with effluents and toxic waste. The River Uppanar, once the lifeline for more than 8 villages of inland fisherfolk, is now a faint shadow of its original productive self. Ask any fisherman and he will rattle off the names of at least 30 kinds of fishes that used to be found in the River. Now, less than 8 commercial species are found.

In all this, the TNPCB and the State Government have played villains, colluding with the polluters and punishing residents when they complain about pollution. Many of the industries function outside the law. CUSECS -- a company that was set up with Government participation to collect treated effluents and discharge it into the Bay of Bengal -- is completely illegal. It has no permits whatsoever. Information about quality of effluents discharged from CUSECS was recently obtained by SACEM using Right to Information. That information revealed that CUSECS was not merely illegal, but was discharging highly toxic and untreated effluents into the sea. The long-term effect on fisheries and consumers of Cuddalore fish can be devastating.

A fisherman displays a fish damaged by pollutants in the River Uppanar

The verdict on Cuddalore is straightforward. The State Human Rights Commission, the Indian People's Tribunal headed by Justice J. Kanakaraj, and various other agencies both Governmental and non-Governmental have said that Cuddalore is overpolluted, and the people are ill. They have recommended that no further polluting industries be allowed in Cuddalore. But nobody is listening.

Despite intense opposition, the Government is pushing ahead with a proposal by Chemplast Sanmar to set up a factory to manufacture PVC plastic. PVC is one of the most toxic plastics. Its production, usage and disposal are all associated with the release of highly toxic chemicals, including dioxins and furans which are the most toxic chemicals known to science.

The scenic sand dunes of Naduthittu are earmarked for a ultra-mega coal-fired thermal plant which will throw out tones of sulphur dioxide into the air, and release a flyash slurry that will convert the bountiful ocean floor into a concrete cemetery.

Effluents from Tirupur textile units, and from the Ambur-Vaniyambadi leather tanneries are also rumoured to be making their way to the Cuddalore seas via long-distance pipelines. All in all, Cuddalore is set to become the smelly, sweaty armpit of industrial civilization.

Some may call this progress or development. But for the people who live in Cuddalore, this is hell. The ones that can afford to have already left Cuddalore. The unfortunate ones and the elderly have no option but to stay in what has now become a gas chamber.

Young fishermen in the River Uppanar. Will the river still be alive when these boys grow up?

If you're concerned and want to help:

Contact: nopvcever@gmail.com

Visit: www.sipcotcuddalore.com

Tel: +91 9444082401

CB-CID probe sought into custodial death-newindpress.com

2006-11-05T19:35:00.000+05:30

CUDDALORE: A Madurai-based NGO has sought a CB-CID probe into the death of a youth in police custody in Sethiathope on Monday.

In a press release, Henry Tiphagne, executive director, People’s Watch, Tamil Nadu, said that Thangavel (21) of Sakthivalagam near Chidamabram had committed suicide by consuming pesticide in Sethiathope police station.

The pesticide was given to Thangavel by Sub-Inspector Sivagnanam as he had refused to confess to a crime which he said he had not committed. Humiliated by police torture, he had consumed the pesticide. He was taken to a private hospital, where he died, the release said.

The NGO urged the government to provide a solatium of Rs 5 lakh to the family members of the victim and transfer the case to CB-CID. State Human Right Commission should also intervene in the matter, the release added.

District Collectors asked to assess damage caused by rain - THE HINDU

2006-11-04T22:16:00.000+05:30

Delta farmers are worried over continuous rain

Many reservoirs have not reached their full level

CUDDALORE : The State Government has directed all Collectors to assess the damage due to rain in their respective districts and submit a report at the earliest. They have also been asked to provide immediate relief to the flood-affected people.

Based on their reports, a comprehensive State-wide report will be prepared. They have been asked to consult the newly elected representatives of local bodies and form committees for carrying out rain-related relief works.

A Revenue official here said on Friday that with the rain continuing, it was difficult to assess the exact damage. The rain had to subside and floodwaters recede, to get the correct picture.

He said despite widespread heavy rain in the State, many reservoirs had not reached their full level. There were no major breaches of tanks. But there were reports of standing crop being submerged and flooding of colonies in low-lying areas.

The official said the district administration was keeping round-the-clock vigil so that relief could be rushed in case of heavy floods.

He said standing samba and kuruvai crop in 61,000 hectares in the delta districts were submerged. In Nagapattinam district samba and thaladi crop in about 30,000 hectares and kuruvai paddy in another 1,200 hectares were under knee-deep water. In Tiruvarur district about 24,120 hectares of samba paddy and 5,325 hectares of kuruvai paddy were submerged. sInundation of crop was minimal in Thanjavur and Cuddalore districts. It was 735 hectares in Cuddalore district and 120 hectares in Thanjavur district. Apart from the delta districts, paddy in about 80 hectares in Tiruvallur district and pulses in 400 hectares in Tuticorin district were under water.

The delta farmers are worried over the continuous rain that has affected the standing crop and harvested paddy. The Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation, the procurement agency for the Food Corporation of India, accepts paddy with moisture content up to 20 per cent and the farmers have not been able to sell their produce. They want the Corporation to purchase paddy with moisture content up to 25 per cent in view of the heavy rain.

A Corporation official said they had written to the FCI seeking relaxation in moisture content up to 24 per cent.

School-Colleges Leave for two days in Cuddalore

2006-10-27T19:33:00.000+05:30

Cuddalore Weather from BBC

2006-10-27T02:05:00.000+05:30

Its Rainy about a week in Cuddalore.

Cuddalore peoples are suffer a lot due to rain , proper rain harvest , make way to river branches and cleaning the ponds(thuur-vaaruthal) is the only solution for the problem.

Peoples are advised to take proper precautions for rain till Tuesday next week.

Photo:BBC

Cuddalore & industrial pollution

2006-10-27T00:51:00.000+05:30

Industries are welcome but pollutants in the sea are not, say Cuddalore residents who are protesting the water pollution caused by factories along the seashore of the Tamil Nadu district.

Notwithstanding the protests, the state government is planning a major expansion of the Cuddalore industrial area.

The government has given 1,000 acres of land on the seashore, where tributaries of the Cauvery enter the Bay of Bengal, to the State Industries Promotion Corp of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) to be given to medium and major industries. Investors have responded positively.

E.V.K.S. Elangovan, the central minister of state for textiles, has been promoting the relocation of polluting dye industries from the textile hub of Tirupur to Cuddalore, 200 km south of Chennai.

'This is because Cuddalore has abundant water and a coast, so all the rejects can be easily discarded,' says Shewta Narayan, an activist from a citizen's NGO.

To discuss the problem, the SIPCOT Area Community Environmental Monitoring Group, Cuddalore District Consumer Protection Organisation and the community environmental monitoring programme of The Other Media had organised a public hearing.

Based on the hearing, a report titled 'Environmental and Human Rights Violations in the SIPCOT Complex, Cuddalore' has been released by the hearing panel comprising R. Saraswati, retired head of the department of sociology in Queen Mary's College, S. Janakarajan of the Madras Institute of Development Studies, and Rakhal Gaithonde, a community health physician.

The report recommended against the expansion of polluting industries in Cuddalore and has called upon the government 'to respect local sentiments'.

'The current proposals to set up groundwater intensive polluting industries in Cuddalore will only threaten the long-term economic sustainability of the region,' the report says.

'It is clear that companies with political clout can and do get away with anything in SIPCOT. Such unregulated and corrupt functioning in dealing with highly hazardous industries located in close proximity to residential populations is a recipe for disaster.

'The pervasive bad odour, the devastated environment and the lengthy list of health complaints of residents make us wonder how they manage to live there.'

This is not the first time the government has been warned about the environmental crisis.

In 1994, the Asian Development Bank (AND) had warned of salinity ingress in the region.

The State Human Rights Commission had in 1998 investigated reported environment-related human rights violations in SIPCOT and found this industrial area over-polluted.

It remains to be seen if one more call will wake up the government and improve the lot of the Cuddalore residents.

- Indo Asian News Service

Copyright © IANS/IndiaeNews.com. Reproduction of news articles or any other content in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of India eNews is prohibited.

Tsunami relief: ADB pat for TN govt

2006-09-07T19:55:00.000+05:30

Finance Minister K Anbhazagan holding talks with ADB honchos today.

Tamilnadu was ahead of other regions affected by tsunami in the reconstruction works, Kunio Senga, Director General, Asian Development Bank (ADB), South Asian Department, said today. Speaking to presspersons after meeting State Finance Minister K Anbazhagan at the Secretariat here, Senga while stating that though similar assistance was given to Sri Lanka and Maladives, said 'what I have seen in Tamilnadu is proper planning and good communication with the local people in implementing the tsunami rehabilitation project.'

He expressed satisfaction over the tsunami relief work carried out by the government and said the Finance Minister was very much committed to taking various measures to implement the project. Replying to a query, Senga said he had suggested the government to have additional manpower to implement the scheme as many of the projects concerned various parts of the State.

Earlier, Anbazhagan said the ADB team after visiting the tsunami affected Cuddalore and Kanchipuram districts to review the relief work, had expressed satisfaction. Further, he said the bank had come forward to provide Rs 629 crore as assistance for Tamilnadu of which Rs 218.96 crore was for restoration of livelihood and about Rs 100 crore for water supply and sanitation.

Over three hundred held in bid to say devaram at Nataraja temple

2006-09-07T19:52:00.000+05:30

CUDDALORE: Thursday September 7 2006
The move to recite Tamil devotional hymns, Devaram, at Lord Nataraja temple, was stopped with the arrest of 338 persons, including Perambur Legislator, and some Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) volunteers, at Chidambaram on Wednesday.

The group was attempting to defy a ban on reciting �Devaram� and �Thiruvasagam� at the world famous Saivite shrine.

Among others Perambur MLA and State president of DYFI SK Mahendran, Secretary Kannan, Vice-President S Velmurugan, Joint-Secretary S G Ramesh Babu and Arumugasamy Odhuvar addressed a protest meeting near EVR Periyar Statue at Melaveedhi.

Addressing the gathering Mahendran said the Tamil Nadu Government should take steps to lift the ban imposed by the court on reciting Tamil devotional hymns at the abode of the Cosmic dancer.

The government must enact legislation for taking over the temple and take steps to recite Tamil devotional hymns at the shrine. Diskhidars had been controlling the affairs of the temple illegally, he alleged.

It is said that they had been practising an inhuman act of untouchability for centuries. An ardent devotee of Lord Siva, Nandanar was prevented from entering the temple by the Dikshidars since he belonged to an SC community. This happened several decades ago.

Similarly, the priest had been objecting to offering of prayers in Tamil language. To protest this, the group took out a procession to the temple from Melaveedhi when police led by ASP Pradeep stopped it.

Accident near engineering college

2006-07-08T11:55:00.000+05:30

http://mycuddalore.blogspot.com

Jacobs Gets Plant Contract in India - MSN Money PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - Construction-services company Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. on Thursday said it received a contract from Chemplast Sanmar Ltd. to provide engineering, procurement and construction management to build a polyvinylchloride (PVC) plastic plant in India. Jacobs did not disclose financial terms of the contract, but said the plant's investment cost is $110 million. The plant, to be located in Cuddalore, India, will produce 160,000 tons a year of PVC, a plastic widely used in commercial and industrial applications full story>> (7/7/2006 6:38:18 PM)

School van accident death toll rises to seven (7/7/2006 6:32:51 PM)

Six school students killed in van-bus collision near Cuddalore on Wednesday. (7/7/2006 6:10:47 PM)

"Silver beech summer festivel"

2006-07-06T12:02:00.000+05:30

Cuddalore - http://mycuddalore.blogspot.com

(7/5/2006 9:16:30 AM)

Day 3 Day 4 (7/5/2006 9:08:29 AM)

(7/5/2006 9:05:41 AM)

(7/5/2006 8:53:33 AM)

(7/5/2006 8:48:46 AM)

(7/5/2006 8:46:45 AM)

(7/5/2006 8:44:24 AM)

"MyCuddalore Photo News"

2006-07-01T11:53:00.000+05:30

http://mycuddalore.blogspot.com

"mycuddalore news"

2006-06-29T11:58:00.000+05:30

Mycuddalore - http://mycuddalore.blogspot.com

Fire broke out in one of the stalls just before the inaguration of the function. I was just a few feet away from the stall. The accident happend in an eatable shop. Fire extinguishers were ready at the venue which prevented fire from spreading futher. District Collector Mr.Gagandeep Singh Bedi rushed to the scene within seconds and put things in order. Power supply was put down immediately and fire was put out in less than a minute.This time thoughtfully 'tin sheets' where used instead of thatch roofs. If thatch roofs may have been used, Cuddalore would have seen yet another tragedy. The speed with which the fire was put out shows the level of preparedness by the district adminstration. (6/28/2006 9:47:35 PM)

Summer Festival is to start in a few hours from now. Elaborate arrangements are done by the district administration. South Esplanade Road (Beach Road) is broadened and a new black topped road is laid. An arch is put up near Hotel Arcot Woodlands. The makeshift bridge over Uppanar backwater is guarded on its both the sides with parapet made of ca stem. To my surprise the old bridge (over Uppanar) which is of great historical importance is put into use for pedestrians. A part of the bridge was broken when a huge pit was dug for the construction of the new bridge. But now the broken parts are reconstructed. A huge parking lot is setup in front of Marine House. Stalls are put up in the green spread to the east of White House (SP Bungalow) and the finishing works are underway. People from the agricultural department is sowing a patch of land. A ten member team of municipal workers are cleaning up the thrown outs, especially plastic wastes. ('Cleaning up' would not be the appropriate word, since they are not actually cleaning, but collecting the plastic wastes and dumping it in 10's of approximately 3x3 foot pits, right in sandscape- a myopic and dangerous practice.) This time roofing for the stalls are made with tin sheets. Also this time there are no 'gigantic' tora tora and Columbus, they are replaced with a smaller version of them. Wiring works are going on in the auditorium to east of Periyar College of Arts & Science. Being here one could get the real sense of the festival. (as of 9am) (6/28/2006 8:44:44 PM)

More updates soon

2005-12-17T05:01:00.000+05:30

Look for regular updates in this blog from Jan 2006

CUDDALORE

2005-10-10T16:48:00.000+05:30

Welcome to mycuddalore.Here is a blog on Cuddalore.Though mycuddalore is concerned mainly with Cuddalore,contibutors here will post other articles of general interests paticularly news items,links to selected opinion columns and more on environmental issues.Please comment on the post you read.We love to see that.And keep visiting