Union Minister Giriraj Singh during his recent visit to Tamil Nadu attempted to take a swipe at the Congress over its shifting political alliances in the state. Referring to Congress MP S Jothimani, Singh remarked, “She has been part of Parliament during the current regime (led by TVK) and the previous government (DMK) in TN. She has been like a kingmaker before and even now. Am I not right?” he asked the audience twice in Hindi, drawing laughter from sections of the gathering. The punchline, however, failed to fully land as the translator omitted parts of Singh’s Hindi remarks while rendering them in Tamil. The union minister appeared visibly frustrated for the rest of the event
Vivanesh Parthiban
Councillors peeved over no photo-op
The first Greater Chennai Corporation council meeting after the change of government brought about an unusual complaint from DMK councillors. Their grievance wasn’t about roads or drains, but about photographs. R Saritha, DMK councillor and Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar ward committee chairperson, complained that corporation officials were reluctant to be seen with elected representatives during field inspections. “We are the people’s representatives. We call officials to address public grievances but they ask us not to gather the public and repeatedly tell us not to take photographs. Why do officials refrain from taking any photos with us?” she asked. In civic administration, shouldn’t solving problems matter more than appearing in photographs?
Praveena SA
Decoding the disappearing act
If you’ve noticed advertisement hoardings disappearing off Chennai’s streets of late, the Greater Chennai Corporation deserves some credit. The civic body maintains the crackdown is aimed at ensuring public safety.In the inner circles, word, however, is that officials have been asked to focus more on commercial unauthorised hoardings. The reason is simple: they attract hefty penalties and also provide an opportunity to bring advertisers into the licensing system, generating additional revenue for the city corporation. It may not be a windfall, but at a time when every rupee counts for the civic body, even illegal hoardings seem to have acquired a revenue angle
Praveena SA