Police open fire as eve-teasing triggers group clash at Trichy
Tricht
July 8 2002
The police opened fire in the air to disperse a mob, which attacked them, following a clash between two groups at Thuraiyur, late last night.
According to the police, a couple of caste Hindu youths allegedly teased a Dalit girl. Her relatives rushed to the caste Hindu street and indulged in violence, in which four persons suffered simple injuries.
On receiving information, a police party rushed there to rescue the two, when the caste Hindus threw stones, in which an inspector, Thangavel, and two constables were injured.
Meanwhile, the Dalits, in retaliation, reportedly detained two caste Hindus, returning from work, in their colony. Another police party led by the Musiri Deputy Superintendent, Muthiah, along with the tahsildar, Rathna Sankar, went there to secure their release, but a strong mob of Dalits hurled stones at them.
The police used teargas and later force to chase away the mob, which, however, remained defiant.
At this, the police fired rubber bullets in the air and the crowd dispersed.
The police have registered four separate cases and taken into custody five persons from each group.
The Superintendent of Police S. Rajan, and the Musiri Revenue Divisional Officer, Jeevakani, who have been camping at Thuraiyur since last night, held peace talks with representatives of both groups this morning.
Heavy armed pickets have been posted at Thuraiyur and in surrouding areas.
The police said the situation was `well under control.
Water scarcity hits farm works in Karaikal region
Pondicherry
July 8 2002
With Karaikal not receiving water from the Cauvery, farmers have virtually abandoned the works. The region depends on Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for water release.
Normally the kuruvai cultivation would begin on 1500 hectares in Karaikal. Due to non-availability of water this time, the cultivation was taken up only in Nedungadu, Tirunallar and parts of Neravy, utilising the community and the privately owned borewells. It was apprehended that Karaikal would witness fall in rice production this time by 40,000 tonnes.
According to informed sources, the farmers had been advised to take up cotton cultivation, and nearly 400 hectares had been brought under the cultivation against the usual 100 hectares.
The commune panchayats, the District Rural Development Agency and the Public Works Dept had jointly taken up desilting and deepening of irrigation canals and channels in Karaikal under a Central Government-sponsored scheme.
Hindu Munnani to hold fast on July 11 2002
Pondichery
July 8 2002
Volunteers of the Pondicherry unit of the Hindu Munnani would observe a fast here on July 11 to urge the administration to retrieve properties belonging to Hindu temples.
A spokesman of the Munnani, K Velu said in a release here yesterday that a number of anti-social elements now cornered the properties. They should be retrieved, he said.
As the fast was not aimed at the govt or any political party the Munnani sought the co-operation of all sections for the fast.
Chennai Marina and Pondicherry boat service soon
Nagercoil
July 8 2002
The Tamil Nadu govt proposes to operate speed boats between Chennai Marina beach and Pondicherry to attract tourists and is negotiating in this regard with some private agencies, Tourism Minister A Miller said.
The proposal of operating train services exclusively to tourist destinations in the state, like in Kerala, would be discussed with the Railways, he said yesterday.
Miller said tenders had been invited for the purchase of six luxury tourist coaches. The coaches, estimated to cost around Rs 40 lakh, would be used for conducted package tours to tourist destinations within the state.
The minister said the government also proposed to set up a model village on 632 hectares at Mamallapuram, near Chennai, for tourists. For this purpose, land would be obtained from private persons on a 35-year lease.
Miller said a proposal to set up special police force for the protection of tourists was under consideration.
Earlier, the minister inaugurated a tower in Kanyakumari for viewing the sunrise and sunset, which has been built at a cost of Rs 50 lakh. State Revenue Minister Dalavai Sundaram also participated in the function.
8 MDMK activists held under POTA
Madurai
July 9 2002
After obtaining non-bailable arrest warrants yesterday, the police today arrested eight MDMK activists, including a former MP and a former MLA, for their recent pro-LTTE statements, even as party general secretary Vaiko, against whom a warrant could not be obtained, announced that he would return to Chennai on July 11 as scheduled.
The arrested included former MP Ganesamurthy and former MLA P S Manian.
Magistrate S Venkatachalapathy, who issued the NBWs against the eight, declined to issue a warrant against Vaiko, police said.
The pro-LTTE remarks were made by the activists at a public meeting at Thirumangalam, about 30 km from here, on June 29 2002, following which cases were registered against them under the POTA, Unlawful Activities Act and IPC.
Police said those arrested included A Sundaram, Nagarajan, P S Manian, Pulavar Sivandhi Appan, Bhoominathan, Madurai Ganesan from Madurai and its suburbs, Veera Elavarasan from Sivaganga and Ganesamurthy from Erode. The arrested were taken to Thirumangalam.
Police said after completing all legal formalities, the arrested would be produced before the magistrate later in the day.
Ganesamurthy, after his arrest, told reporters that they were ‘rewarded’ by the AIADMK government for their support to the Sri Lankan Tamils, who had been fighting for their rights in their homeland.
Meanwhile, Vaiko, in a statement from Chicago, asked his partymen to maintain calm. He described the arrests as a repression let loose against the Opposition.
2 dead and 4 injured in van-moped collision
Villupuram
July 8 2002
In a tragic incident, two persons were killed and four school students, including a girl, were injured in a van-moped collision on the Chennai-Tiruchi National Highway this morning.
Sources said that the Mahindra van was on its way to Villupuram after picking up students from Periasevalai Sugar Mill Colony and the nearby areas.
Even as it crossed Arugur and neared a private engineering college, it overtook a lorry and the moped coming in the opposite direction dashed against it killing Palani, who was driving the two-wheeler, on the spot.
The pillion rider who sustained injuries breathed his last at a govt hospital. Both of them belong to Paravantakkal village near Arugur.