Showtime for Udhay ‘anna’
Udhayanidhi Stalin’s political career has been on a high ever since he was appointed as the sports minister at the end of last year. Being heir apparent to CM M K Stalin, he is being endorsed as such by the newbies and veterans in the party. While it is not a new phenomenon in DMK for leaders to address each other as ‘anna’ and ‘thambi’, Udhayanidhi came to the spotlight recently when 60-year-old HR & CE minister P K Sekarbabu addressed him as ‘anna’ (elder brother) multiple times at an event in Chennai. During his short speech at an event, Sekarbabu was heard calling 45-year-old Udhayanidhi as anna at least 10 times.
Fault in the stars
Last week, it took many by surprise when the monthly honorarium of `1,000 got credited to bank accounts of several women a day before the scheduled launch. Grapevine has it that astrology played a role in such a move. September 15, DMK stalwart CN Annadurai’s birth anniversary and the scheduled launch date, incidentally falls on a Prathamai thithi, a day that is considered inauspicious for starting any venture. This made some wonder whether the early disbursal of funds was to avoid starting the scheme on an inauspicious day. However, officials maintained that it was only to avoid technical issues that may crop up if they transferred money to over a crore bank accounts in a single day.
The road less travelled
Due to ongoing road works on the Chennai-Kumbakonam stretch, even government buses try to avoid travelling on the route. Recently, an elderly woman booked a ticket for a government bus from Alandur to Papanasam. There is only one government bus on the TNSTC website that stops at both points and starts at 8 am. However, the conductor gave her two options – either board the bus at Perungalathur or get down at Thanjavur and take another bus to her hometown. To make up for the time lost while travelling on the bumpy stretch, buses try to save time by coming into Chennai city or else taking an alternate route via Perambalur to reach Thanjavur.
A costly discovery
A burial urn (Mudhumakkal Thazhi) containing skeletal remains was unearthed by workers who were digging a road for pipeline laying work in Tiruppur city on Thursday. Though most people were happy, there was one unhappy soul amid all the excitement– the contractor in charge of the pipeline project. When asked, the man said, “After the urn was discovered, work was stopped in the entire stretch and I will have to pay the workers from my pocket even though they did not work on the day. So, for them it was like a paid holiday.”
Ready, set, wait
Seventeen sub-inspector of police belonging to the 2008 batch completed their pre-promotion inspector training eight months ago and have been waiting for an appointment as inspectors since December 2022. Out of 756 sub-inspectors selected in 2008, only 17 are yet to assume charge as inspector of police. Officials in the Tamil Nadu police headquarters should display the vacancy in the districts as it would help these 17 sub-inspectors to get promoted soon.
(Contributed by Mohan, T Muruganandham, Subashini Vijayakumar, Saravanan MP and Sivaguru S; Compiled by Ashok Subramaniam V )