Lamb feast to slaughter crime?
As the New Year began, police personnel from three stations in Dindigul arranged an elaborate Kida Virunthu (a lamb feast) with sumptuous dishes for the deity of Vandi Karuppanaswamy Temple in Ayyalur at Dindigul-Tiruchy Road. The cops prayed for the deity’s blessing to ensure crime continues to be under control. The personnel and their family from Eriyodu, Vadamadurai, Vedachandur took part in the feast.
Power struggle
The tussle between the state and centre often delays power-related projects in Tamil Nadu. The state-owned power utility initiates several projects with the centre’s financial aid under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme. However, the union frequently changes bidding rules and instructs the utility to select a particular contractor. The latest conflict has caused a delay in smart meters, with TANGEDCO yet to float any tenders.
Late Deepavali crackers
During an internal party meeting in Manamadurai recently, an elderly cadre of TNCC asked former Union minister P Chidambaram why the party workers were not given a Deepavali bonus even though their alliance partner DMK had given Rs 1,000 each to their cadre. He went on to state that at least Rs 100 should have been given if not Rs 1,000 as the party has a local MP in Karti Chidambaram. A visibly miffed Chidambaram told him that it was only possible if he looted the money. Do you want me to do it or are you asking me to take a commission from contractors engaged for work under the MP Fund? The conversation went on for a while before others stepped in.
Lost in translation
Despite defending state Governor RN Ravi’s remark that ‘Tamizhagam’ is a more appropriate name for the state than TN, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan in a meet at Tiruchy airport on Friday failed to use the word ‘Tamizhagam’. She cited rising voices for secessionism in TN for supporting Ravi’s choice of name. But she mentioned TN twice in a five-minute byte: “I belong to TN. TN is my state and Bharat my country.”
Adding to grievances?
The secondary-grade teachers who were protesting at Chennai DPI Campus demanding equal pay for equal work filed a complaint with the DVAC. In the complaint, the teachers said on the sidelines of the protest, a group was collecting thousands of rupees from them with a promise to organise a conference in the presence of ministers Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and Udhayanidhi Stalin, during which their grievances will be aired. The staff have been urging the state to make their stand clear regarding the promises made to them
(Contributed by S Guruvanmikanathan, Vignesh V, Subashini Vijayakumar and Palanivel Rajan C. Compiled by Archita Raghu)