Pricol workers call off strike

The workers of Pricol Limited here will withdraw their strike from Monday.They are on strike since March 5 demanding mainly withdrawal of transfer orders served on six of their colleagues.The State Government issued orders on Friday under section 10 (b) of the Industrial Disputes Act. Following this, a meeting of the workers was held here on Saturday to discuss the future course of action.

Since, the order deals with almost all the demands of the workers it was decided to call off the strike, said S. Kumarasamy, the State President of the All India Central Council of Trade Unions.He said that the management should hold talks with the two new unions formed - the Kovai Mavatta Pricol Employees Trade Union and the Kovai Mavatta Pricol Thozhilalar Thozhil Sangham - on all the pending issues.Sources in the management said that it would decide the future course of action after the consulting its legal advisors.

Ooty-Mysore highway blacked by residents

Udhagamandalam: Residents of Thalaikundah and surroundings blocked the busy Ooty-Mysore highway (NH 67) paralysing traffic for a few hours in protest against the deplorable condition of the highway.As vehicles heading towards Ooty or Mysore could not proceed beyond Thalaikundah chaotic conditions prevailed for about three hours from 8 a.m.

Lamenting that repeated representations notwithstanding the road continued to be riddled with huge potholes and ruts, Kuttikrishnan, a resident, said that a few days ago a signature campaign had been organised at Thalaikundah. While submitting a memorandum along with the signatures to the authorities it had been informed that if action was not initiated the residents would be forced to resort to a road roko. While the condition of the highway was deplorable at many places, the stretch from the HPF quarters to Thalaikundah was among the worst.

With the potholes having become death traps, pedestrians and motorists have for the last several months been subjected to a great deal of hardship.Revenue and police officials who rushed to the spot explained to the demonstrators that since it was a national highway only the Central Government could redress their grievances.With the demonstrators refusing to lift the block, Revenue Divisional Officer Durai Ravichandran and Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ooty, Nizammudin held talks with them. Based on an assurance given by them that arrangements would be made to carry out patchworks, the demonstrators dispersed.

`Anti-Chain Snatching Squad' will get motorcycles

For effective maintenance of law and order and crime prevention, the city police are depending on motorcycles for easy access and manoeuvrability in patrolling.Old city areas and even upcoming areas have a number of small lanes and by-lanes where motorcycles are essential for ensuring visible policing.

In addition, the steep growth in vehicular population has resulted in traffic snarls on almost all arterial and feeder roads.In the event of an occurrence, a jeep finds it difficult to wade through the thick traffic especially during peak hours.Police presence was being ensured in congested pockets and remote residential areas to prevent incidents.In case of an incident, police had to reach the spot as early as possible, said City Police Commissioner C.K. Gandhirajan.

Realising the importance of easy access, the city police first went in for `Anti-Chain Snatching Squad'.The squad had 17 motorcycles with two police personnel each equipped with a VHF walkie-talkie and a weapon. The objective was to patrol the city roads and shopping hubs to keep habitual chain snatchers at bay.This resulted in the number of chain snatching incidents coming down drastically.

Then the city police introduced `Crime Stoppers' wherein another set of 17 motorcycles with two police personnel each equipped with firearm and walkie-talkie, patrolled the remote residential areas from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.This was aimed at averting incidents of house breaking, burglary and looting through the windows in remote residential areas.With both the measures yielding the desired results, the city police have decided to go in for more motorcycles.

The Government had sanctioned 17 new motorcycles for the city, Mr. Gandhirajan said. They would be distributed among the 15 police stations in the city depending on their requirement.Law and order problem and crime-prone areas would get priority for additional motorcycles, he added.

Critical Care Programme @ KMCH

Kovai Medical Center and Hospital (KMCH) has organised for May 27 a programme on critical care.Common pulmonary problems that require intensive care will be discussed in the programme.A release from the hospital said here on Friday that the programme would educate a physician in a peripheral hospital on how to initiate critical care management for patients, before shifting them to well-equipped intensive care units in other hospitals.

Review meeting for the functioning of PDS

Food Minister E.V. Velu on Thursday held a meeting in Coimbatore to review the functioning of public distribution system (PDS) in the region. Minister for Rural Industries Pongalur N. Palanisamy and Registrar of Cooperative Societies Prabhkar Rao took part. The review meeting discussed the preliminary arrangements required for the conduct of elections to the cooperative societies.He told the officials to make sure that the essential commodities reached the people without any compromise on quality or quantity.