Tight secrurity

In view of the anniversary of the murder of traffic constable R. Selvaraj on November 29, 1997 at Ukkadam by fundamentalist elements, the City Police tightened the security measures across the city on Thursday.Since Wednesday evening, the police maintained a tight vigil and stepped up the security arrangements in the sensitive pockets. The entire City Police force was deployed on the roads under the direct supervision of the Commissioner of Police, Coimbatore City, C.K. Gandhirajan. Sensitive pockets were brought under the supervision of Deputy Commissioners of Police, P. Sugumar (Law and Order), P. Nagarajan (Crime) and S. Manoharan (Traffic). Armed pickets were deployed at road junctions besides strengthening of 12 check-posts on all arterial and feeder roads.

BSNL'S new telephone exchange

The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Coimbatore, has announced that a new telephone exchange would be commissioned at Pappanaickenpalayam on December 1.A release from the Principal General Manager, BSNL, said that consequent to the commissioning of the new telephone exchange, a section of the existing telephone numbers having starting levels (i.e., numbers) 220 and 221 now working in Central Telephone Exchange would be transferred to the new telephone exchange having a starting level (i.e., numbers beginning) with 224 from 12 a.m. on December 1. Information regarding numbers would be available on 1952/1953. During change over, the services were likely to be interrupted for a short duration on November 30 midnight.For assistance, subscribers can contact the telephone exchange at Pappanaickenpalayam by dialling 2242425/94861-05022.

Hardles for Coimbatore airport expansion

The People’s Protection Movement, an association of residents’ living near the Peelamedu airport, have appealed to the Chief Minister to drop the proposed move for acquiring residential lands for airport expansion.The secretary of the Movement in a memorandum to the Chief Minister has pointed out that the Airport Authority should stick to its earlier plans for expansion without dislocating the existing houses and industrial units. In the event of requirement of land, the authorities should identify lands where there were no houses or industrial units.

The lands proposed for acquisition would spell disaster to 2,000 houses, 15 textile units, over 50 industrial units, two schools besides directly and indirectly affecting more than 10,000 residential dwelling units. The areas to be affected include Chinniampalayam, Irugur, Kalapatti and Neelambur. Continuing media reports and official versions on the airport expansion had only affected the peace causing mental agony to the residents of the area. The expansion and the proposed acquisition would result in dislocation of hundreds of middle income group families, who had spent their lifetime savings to have a dream house.

While there were varying versions on the airport expansion and acquisition plans, there had not been any official confirmation from either the Centre or the State Governments in the form of an announcement or gazette notification. This led to a lot of uncertainty and panic among the residents.The only solace was the announcement from the Chief Minister that no airport expansion project would involve acquisition of residential lands affecting the livelihood of the people. The association had planned to sustain its democratic forms of agitations till the Government could come clear.

The only relief for the people would be an announcement that only vacant lands would be acquired and no residential unit or industries would be acquired or demolished for airport expansion. The association appealed to the Chief Minister to ensure that the airport authority confined to its earlier acquisition plans since it would be sufficient enough to handle bigger aircrafts and also because of the fact that the vacant lands available as per the original acquisition plans would be adequate enough to expand the airport.Meanwhile, official sources, on conditions of anonymity, said that the State Government had more or less decided to go ahead with the expansion on a totally different alignment acquiring vacant lands on the bypass road side despite the huge costs involved in creating fresh airport infrastructure on the other side.

videoconferencing session @ Coimbatore Collectorate

Transport Department officials at a videoconferencing session at the Coimbatore Collectorate on Thursday.In order to ensure uniform procedures in complying with the provisions of Motor Vehicle Rules and Act for effective enforcement and implementation, the National Informatics Centre (NIC) has organised a videoconferencing for officials of the Transport Department.The videoconferencing session was chaired and moderated by the Deputy Director of NIC.

It was attended by officials in the level of Joint Transport Commissioners, Deputy Transport Commissioners, Regional Transport Officers, PA to RTOs and Inspectors. The officials discussed the procedures being adopted in ensuring compliance to the provisions in the Act and Rules so as to ensure that implementation and enforcement could remain uniform across the country.In Coimbatore, the Deputy Transport Commissioner, Coimbatore Circle, T. Gunasekaran, took part in the videoconferencing and the places that joined the online discussions included Hyderabad, Shimla, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Punjab, Agartala, Chennai, Kolkatta, Coimbatore, Tiruchirapalli and Puducherry.The major issues discussed included the recent amendments to the Act/Rules in terms of denial of renewal for the learner’s licence asking the candidates to apply afresh besides the necessary modifications required in the software used by the Transport Department so that exchange of data and verification of information online could be made easy and user friendly for ensuring swift action.Uniform implementation of procedures would go a long way in streamlining the systems in place, officials said.

Drive against violation of road rules

The Transport Department during a recent drive against violation of road rules on arterial and feeder roads in Coimbatore, Erode and the Nilgiris districts had registered cases against 238 vehicles.In a release, the Deputy Transport Commissioner, T. Gunasekaran, said that during a two-day drive conducted at eight places across the circle such as Coimbatore South, North, Mettuppalayam, Pollachi, Tirupur, Udhagamandalam, Erode and Gobichettipalayam, the officials intercepted 1,472 vehicles and issued check reports for violations in respect of 238 vehicles. Of the total number of cases registered, 28 pertained to educational institutions, 121 goods vehicles, two mini buses, 51 against omni buses, eight against maxi cabs, three against autorickshaws, 10 against non-transport vehicles and 15 cases against other vehicles.

Of the cases registered, the major offences included overloading of goods and passengers, exceeding the height ceiling in loading goods, exceeding the speed restriction, driving without licence, plying vehicles without pollution under control certificate, without fitness certificate, using dazzling headlights and air horns, violation of permit conditions and five vehicles were detained for serious violations.The authorities collected a tax of Rs. 1,60,724 and a compounding fee for the violations to a tune of Rs. 1,16,000 besides proposing a compounding fee of Rs. 1,04,600 to be collected by the respective registering authorities after adhering to procedures such as serving of notices and obtaining of explanation.

Medical camp @ K.K.Pudur

A woman undergoing screening at the Varumun Kappom camp organised by the Coimbatore Corporation in the city on Thursday.Over 1,000 people were screened at a medical camp organised by the Coimbatore Corporation at K.K. Pudur in the city on Thursday.Official sources in the Corporation said after the camp held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. that of the 1,185 people screened, 504 were men and the rest women.

This was the eighth camp held in the Corporation limits, under the Government’s Varumun Kappom scheme. Electro cardiogram (ECG), ultra sound scan, blood pressure and eye tests were conducted.The Corporation said 60 persons underwent scanning and 38 were put through the ECG test.Medicines worth Rs.10,000 were provided free of cost by the Corporation.Rural Industries Minister Pongalur N. Palanisamy, Mayor R. Venkatachalam, Deputy Mayor N. Karthik, Corporation Commissioner P. Muthuveeran and Health Committee Chairman P. Nachimuthu inspected the conduct of the camp.More camps would be held by the Corporation.

Hakoba lifestyle enters into Coimbatore city

With a Retail presence in India with 67 exclusive outlets occupying app. 52,000 sq ft of retail space through a mix of owned and franchisee stores, Hakoba Lifestyle Limited - a 44 crore Company is one of the Leading Brands in India in the embroidered fabric segment with no significant competitor in the market today and has established an impeccable reputation and carved a permanent niche in the Textile industry.


HAKOBA - THE BRAND, its ventures & future plans:


Hakoba is a premium brand targeted at middle and high- end customers. With extensive research backing the Brand, Hakoba values their customer’s preferences & tastes thus providing innovative and stylish product ranges for every season. Hakoba’s key focus is women’s wear in the apparel market. However they now plan to expand their business by venturing into products of different segments.After studying today’s aggressive markets where value added brands are making the most noise and are also attracting large number of consumers towards lifestyle and trendy names, Hakoba has tried to encash on these trends by venturing into Designer Labels and is joining hands with the best of creative minds in the industry like Rocky S, “Going designer is the buzz today”


Hakoba is however now entering the men’s wear segment for which it has acquired a men’s shirt brand Born Rich. Hakoba plans to expand its business by venturing in youngsters clothes with tie-up with Designer like Rocky S for club wear and few other designer for couture wear.By the next financial year Hakoba, plans to invest 250-260 crores in various segments like Home furnishings, Lingerie, Value retail & Designer associations and further strengthen their brand Born Rich and Value retail. It plans to open another 35 retail outlets of Hakoba and then get into large format stores.Hakoba is also coming with its first mid-size format store in Coimbatore in FY- 08. The number of mid-size formats are expected to reach double-digit by FY- 09, and take Hakoba to the level of other big retailers like Pantaloons, Lifestyle etc will soon be coming up with large format stores ( 40, 000 – 60, 000 sq ft module).

Most advanced tech @ SPi's Coimbatore facility

SPi, a BPO provider, has invested in its Coimbatore facility to integrate speech recognition technology into its transcription platform (Chartnet). The new speech recognition technology now being used by its staff is considered to be the most advanced in the medical transcription industry, the company claims.SPi's Coimbatore staff provides customised transcription for all types of medical reports, office and clinic notes, referral letters and emergency documentation. SPi manages the necessary transcription and documentation processes on behalf of hospitals, clinics, etc, across the US and produces accurate, accessible and shareable medical information for its clients.

The adoption of a speech recognition tool offers accuracy, productivity gains of 30 per cent to 50 per cent, faster turn around times and the ability to take on higher volumes of work, to SPi's clients. Employees who work with this new tool will be spending their time editing transcribed files generated by the technology rather than just transcribing the files. The technology also allows SPi to advance the careers of its medical language specialists.According to Srinivasan S.N., director, healthcare operations, India, SPi, "Our clients will derive enormous benefit from this new technology as content and formatting considerations are well addressed by it and because it integrates seamlessly into our platform and workflow."

CBE airport may be privatized

Of the 82 operational airports in the country, only 19 have licences granted by the civil aviation ministry. As per International Civil Aviation Organisation rules, airports are required to have a licence so that they can handle flight operations, especially international ones. The country has a total of 127 airports.Airports Authority of India (AAI) has put some of these 19 airports on the auction block for privatization. Most of these airports have been registering major profits. The list of 19 licensed airports includes all the privatised airports and many of the airports under the control of the AAI.

With more and more airports being developed, the continuous privatisation of existing airports and the new policy of the minister to have an airport at every 50 kilometres, the licencing requirements will also rise, an analyst said.Among the licenced airports are the major airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Cochin, Trivandrum, Kolkata and Chennai. Other licenced airports include Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Lucknow, Jaipur, Guwahati, Varanasi, Amritsar, Nagpur, Aizwal (Lengpui) and Calicut. The JSW Vijaynagar Aerodrome in Karnataka is also among the licenced airports.The Sri Satya Sai Airport in Puttaparthy, Andhra Pradesh which was recently put up for sale is also a licenced airport.

State level chess tournament

At Coimbatore, a State level chess tournament for regional level winners of the NIIT@School connected institutions will be held at the Suburban HSS in Ramnagar on November 30. Players from Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Madurai, Namakkal and Shenkottah are expected to participate.The Coimbatore region is represented by R. Kaviarasu, R. Vikram and R. Naveen Rajkumar from Suburban HSS.The tournament, held under the guidance of the World chess champion Viswanathan Anand, is being promoted in schools across the country.

Life-long free consultation for children

Children below the age of 15 with type I diabetes would be given life-long free consultation at the Kovai Diabetes Speciality Centre and Hospital at Ramnagar, said Dr Balamurugan, Consultant Diabetologist of the hospital, during a press conference here on Thursday.“The children within the said age group with diabetes will be adopted by the hospital after a screening at the camp conducted between December 1 and 7 at the hospital”, the doctor said.The free diabetes awareness and detection camp cum exhibition would be held as part of the World Diabetes Day on the theme 'Prevention of Diabetes in Children and Adolescents.'

Training for tracker and sniffer dogs

Commissioner of Police C.K.Gandhirajan presenting a memento to a police dog handler at the conclusion of training for tracker and sniffer dogs of the various police units at Coimbatore City Police Kennel on Wednesday.Eight sniffer and tracker dogs of various police units across the zone completed 15-day crash refresher training course. City Police Commissioner C.K. Gandhirajan handed over mementoes to the dog handlers and took the salute from the canine sleuths on completion of training.

In the last fifteen days since November 13, the City Police Dog Squad designated as one of the kennel training centres for the Tamil Nadu Police, has been imparting a training to the second batch of the canine sleuths.The training included obedience drills, crime tracking and explosives sniffing. The training imparted by a team led by Sub-Inspector K. Manian also included theory classes for the 16 handlers. The sleuths belonged to the German Sheppard, Labrador and Doberman breeds of dogs.The City Police had already trained pups for the various police units besides conducting in-service refresher training for 13 canine sleuths in the first batch. Eight more dogs completed their training in the second batch.

AU launches interactive learning programmes

The first batch of distance education students of the Anna University, Coimbatore, will not have to attend the conventional Personal Contact Programmes (PCP) hereafter. The university has introduced the Interactive Learning Programmes (ILP), in its place.The ILP will enable the distance education students to learn online and in a continuous manner, R. Radhakrishnan, Vice-Chancellor, said while inaugurating the programme on Saturday. The university launched the distance education programmes for the 2007-2008 recently.

Thirty-seven courses in management, science and engineering, including computer science, high level of technology orientation, had been introduced. Under the ILP, each student would be given an e-mail ID. A teacher would be dedicated for each subject. Students could regularly interact with the faculty online. This would ensure continuous learning, the Vice-Chancellor told The Hindu. “As per the mandate of the Quality Council constituted by us, quality text books have been supplied. Students’ Relationship Management will be adopted for ensuring speedy mitigation of students’ grievances. The curriculum of the courses is designed by bench marking it with international standards”, the Vice-Chancellor added. The first batch of students would appear for the first semester examination in February 2008 and second semester in June.

A fresh batch would be admitted in January for the year of 2008. The university had plans to help the subsequent batch of distance education students pursuing postgraduate studies to procure computers at subsidised rates.“There will be contribution from the student as well as the university. This will make online education more relevant”, Dr. Radhakrishnan observed. After evaluation and testing, online education would be launched in the near future for regular courses too. This would help not only the students, but also the public to learn more about the emerging areas in engineering, about the additional courses it would offer. For details contact V. Balakrishnan, Director, Directorate of Online and Distance Education, Anna University, Coimbatore, GCT Campus, Coimbatore – 641013; or call 0422-2455353.

Photography exhibition on ‘Nature’

Visitors at the photography exhibition on ‘Nature’ at PSG Institute of Management in the city on Tuesday.The three-day photo exhibition on the theme ‘Nature and Wildlife’ organised by the Nature Club of the PSG Institute of Management commenced on Tuesday. The expo aimed at encouraging student community to appreciate nature and wildlife has nearly 100 rare photographs.The photographs were by R. Tolstoy of the PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research and C.R. Jayaprakash, Lecturer of the Department of Communication of PSG College of Arts and Science besides close to 75 photographs on the rich flora and fauna by the students of MBA and Diploma in Management.

On Wednesday, the Veterinarian of the Forest Department, N.S. Manoharan, would give a presentation on man-animal conflict in the fringe areas of the forest.It is aimed at creating awareness on the reasons for conflict situations and the practices that the human beings should and should not resort to in order to ensure harmonious mutual co-existence along the forest boundaries.The presentation would in detail deal with the practices that human beings should avoid to prevent the straying of wild animals and the proactive measures being taken by the forest department to prevent the straying of wild animals in search of food and water.The presentation would also throw light on the rescue measures to be adopted in the event of animals straying into human habitations.

e-jerkin developed by PSG research team

L. Ashok Kumar demonstrating the electronic jerkin.A two-member research team from the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Department of Textile Technology of the PSG College of Technology has developed an ‘electronic-jerkin’ (e-jerkin).The jerkin is embedded with a circuit that enables the wearer to use it as a mobile phone which is Bluetooth compatible and also as an iPod. The buttons, which include stop, play, rewind and forward, will be in the sleeve of the jerkin. It is also provided with earplugs and a microphone to speak into.Speaking time via Bluetooth is approximately two-and-a-half hours at a time.

The iPod can store MP3 songs (audio formatted). The MP3 player has storage capacity of 128 MB, 256 MB and 512 MB. The playing time is approximately eight hours. There are special switches to stop music and attend to incoming calls. A flexible printed board circuit has been provided so that the wearer does not experience any discomfort. LiPo battery with 780 mAh is also provided for recharging.It will also include optical and acoustic feedback for different functions and a customised software.

L. Ashok Kumar, Senior Lecturer and research head, says: “Wearable electronics” refers to the functional implementation of microelectronic circuits into innovative textiles or garments (smart clothes) in a way that is suitable for everyday use. When electronic capabilities are integrated into textiles, miniaturised semi-conductor chips with low power consumption levels are mounted on the fabric in special housings, and thin conductors are woven into the fabric to make electric connections.”“The textile industry stands to benefit from smart functions that can now be implemented by integrating electronic elements into textiles. This is expected to open new opportunities in the areas of sport, security and healthcare,” he adds.

What is unique about the innovation is that the circuit need not be exclusive to the jerkin alone. It can be detached and fixed onto any other clothing like a shirt or pant, to make it into a ‘smart shirt’ or ‘smart pant’, according to him.The research team consisting of Mr. Ashok Kumar and M. Sivanandam has finished the product and is looking for manufacturers for mass production, since it can be used by anybody.According to the analysts from the U.S. market research company Venture Development Corporation (VDC), the global market for wearable computing and communication systems will reach a volume of over $ 270 million dollars in 2007, and is expected to grow at a rate of more than 25 per cent annually, according to the team.

VLB entered industry academia partnership with Keane

Raja Sekharan (second left), Senior Vice-President, Campus Relations, Keane India, hands over partnership document to S. Subramanian, Advisor, of V.L.B. Janakiammal College of Engineering and Technology, at the college near the city.Keane, an Information Technology services company, entered into an industry academia partnership programme called Keane Adept, with V.L.B. Janakiammal College of Engineering and Technology recently.

According to a college release, the partnership entails Keane to support the college with a view to enhancing the quality of education to engineering students, thus enabling better employability opportunities of students in the IT industry. Keane has partnerships with several colleges in South India. The partnership has been segmented into three categories – platinum, gold and silver. Out of the 250 colleges that come under its purview, 29 are in the platinum category.Raja Sekharan, Senior Vice-President, Campus Relations, Keane India, said that he looked to increasing industry-academia interactions that would be of mutual benefit to all stakeholders.According to him, the company believed in recruiting promising students from campuses and grooming them towards becoming an integral part of the IT fraternity, thereby creating future leaders.

Master plan for CMCH clean

Collector Neeraj Mittal (second left) chairing discussions on improving sanitation at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital in the city on Tuesday.A master plan will be drawn up in a month for initiating efforts to turn the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) clean, Collector Neeraj Mittal told presspersons on Tuesday.After the first meeting of the Environment and Sanitation Committee at the hospital, the Collector said every key component of sanitation would have individual action plans.

The committee was constituted recently by the State Government to take efforts for total sanitation in its hospitals. The Collector is the Chairman of the committee and Dean of the CMCH Hemalatha Ganapathy its Member-Secretary.The Collector, the Dean, officials of the Department of Health, Coimbatore Corporation and other agencies concerned with the infrastructure and sanitation at the hospital took part in the meeting.Restricting the number of visitors for patients, putting up boards with a message to sensitise people to need for cleanliness and installing more dustbins were some of the measures listed by the Collector. “I have asked the Dean to divide the hospital into zones, a doctor each being in charge of these,” Mr. Mittal said.

A register on the maintenance would be kept and this would be checked by the committee.“There is a huge environmental load on the 20-acre hospital with 68 buildings. On an average, there are 10,000 people in the hospital at any given time, he said.The Collector explained this by saying that the hospital had 6,000 out-patients a day and 1,500 in-patients.The visitors for the in-patients were about 2,000. This put a lot of stress on facilities such as toilets.Food waste was dumped into the storm water drains.“The first major task is to spread awareness among the visitors on the need for a clean hospital. We will put up boards that will ask them not to spit on the premises.As for food waste, we have asked the Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore to provide more bins,” Mr. Mittal said.The association had already provided some bins for this purpose.

The Collector now wanted more bins so that people from one ward need not walk long distances to dispose of waste.When asked who would remove the waste from the bins if they were full, the Collector suggested to the Dean that the mobile phone number of the hospital sanitary officer could be painted on them. “Each bin can have a number. Anyone can inform the officer using the short messaging service (SMS) by mentioning the bin number also. This will help remove quickly the garbage from the bins that are full.” The Collector also asked RAAC to identify spots where effective microbe solution could be sprayed to eliminate stench from drainage.

The problem of drainage stagnation was being dealt with. But, the spraying could provide temporary relief till a permanent solution to the problem was found in three to six months.“The Public Works Department (PWD) has drawn up estimates for Rs.20 lakh to correct a problem in the drainage that leads to a backflow of waste water into the hospital.Rural Industries Minister Pongalur N. Palanisamy has also offered to contribute from his constituency development fund,” the Collector said.The PWD would also clean the overhead tanks to ensure good water. They would also have to get a certificate from the Dean after carrying this out.

Mr. Mittal also suggested to the Dean that a panel of doctors could be formed to interact constantly with organisations that could sponsor equipment useful in sanitation.“One such sponsor in Pollachi has provided 100 electronic fly and insect traps to primary health centres,” he said.As for restricting the number of visitors and issuing passes to them, he said the hospital would first have to study its feasibility as this measure required a large workforce.Asked whether the Government would provide funds for the sanitation programme in the hospital, the Collector said that if the hospital provided 30 per cent of the cost, the rest could be provided by the district administration under the Namakku Naame scheme. The Hospital Maintenance Fund of the CMCH could also be used, the Dean said.

Exhibition of industrial products

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Institute (MSME DI) will organise an exhibition and a buyer-seller meet here from December 20 to 24.A release from the institute said the multi-product exhibition was organised jointly with the National Small Industries Corporation, Khadi and Village Industries Commission and Coir Board. The aim was to provide marketing opportunities for micro, small and medium enterprises, khadi and village industries and coir units, to showcase the competitiveness of these units, to display the strength of working in industrial clusters, create awareness on the financial schemes available for expansion and to bring these units and the large-scale ones on a common platform.

The sectors to be covered at the exhibition were food processing, home appliances, kitchenware, furniture, textile, leather, electrical and electronic goods, household chemicals, cosmetics, herbal products, handicrafts, coir and khadi and village industries. For details, contact: Director, MSME DI, 65/1, GST Road, Guindy, Chennai (044-22601011 to 13) or Deputy Director, Branch MSME DI, 386, Patel Road, Ramnagar, Coimbatore – 641009 (0422-2233956, 2230426).

TNAU placement time now

Nearly 50 agricultural graduates of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University have been short listed to be selected by the Indian Overseas Bank.The two-day recruitment drive by the bank was to select candidates for the post of Agricultural Officer-JMG (Scale I), a release said.Conducted by a team under the chairmanship of M. Shanmugam, General Manager, IOB, the drive included written tests and interviews.Mr. Shanmugam said that the selected candidates would receive their appointment orders soon. M. Thangaraju, Director of Students Welfare, said that banks were focussing on the agriculture sector and hence required professionals to promote their agricultural activities.

U.K Education exhibition @ Coimbatore

The Education U.K. exhibition, organised by the British Council, will be held here on November 30 and December 1.The two-day exhibition will give students a chance to meet representatives from more than 25 institutions in United Kingdom. It will cater to a range of subjects, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, according to a release from the British Council.At present, 27,000 Indian students are studying in the U.K. The number is expected to increase at an annual rate of over 10 per cent. U.K. has become one of the favoured destinations for students, thanks to the discounts they enjoy in travel, entertainment and healthcare.

The exhibition is expected to provide a platform for those wishing to pursue higher education in the U.K. to know more about the modalities. They will be able to interact with representatives, attend seminars on topics like admission procedures, courses, student visas, scholarships, etc.The exhibition series, since November 19, have been held in Mumbai, Kolkata, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Kochi. The one at Coimbatore will be on at The Residency from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. on both days. To register online and for more information, visit http://www.educationuk-in.org/.

Cartidge World opened outlet

Cartridge World, retailer of printer cartridge refilling service, has opened a store here. This is the company’s first store in the State and the 15th in the country.Naveen Rakhecha, Chief Executive Officer of Cartridge World (South Asia), told presspersons here on Tuesday that according to a study conducted by the company about a year ago Coimbatore was among the top 10 consumer cities for inkjet cartridges and among the top 15 consumer cities for toner cartridges.The store would be a one-stop-shop for all printer and cartridge-related needs.

It would refill empty inkjet and laser cartridges of all brands, conduct cartridge care education to customers and sell printers and speciality paper.It planned to establish 50 outlets by March 2008 in different parts of the country and scale it up to 250 by 2010.In Tamil Nadu, three more outlets would come up in Chennai and the company planned to have its presence in Madurai, Tiruchi, Erode, Salem and Tuticorin.At the global level, the company currently had 1,500 stores in 45 countries and would increase it to 4,000 outlets by 2011.The Coimbatore outlet was located on 95/356, Avarampalayam Road, New Siddhapudur.

Cable manufacturing factory by V-Guard

V-Guard Industries Ltd., a Kerala-based company engaged in manufacturing and marketing of electrical and electronic products, proposes to tap the capital market with an initial public offering (IPO).V-Guard proposes to use the proceeds from the IPO primarily for setting up facilities for cable manufacturing in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Uttaranchal; an enamelling plant in Coimbatore; development and pilot production plants for water heaters, fans and pumps in Coimbatore and Himachal Pradesh; and service and distribution centres in Bangalore and Hubli in Karnataka and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh.

V-Guard filed a draft red-herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on November 20, to raise funds from the capital markets.Kochouseph Chittilappilly, managing director, V-Guard Industries Ltd., said: “The brand V-Guard has been present in this industry for the past 30 years.On account of this long-standing presence in the Indian market and with constant improvement in performance of our products, augmented with quality and recognition of our brand, we believe that we enjoy considerable brand equity and reliability in the market.”

The total sales of the company for the year ending March 31 amounted to Rs. 222.27 crore.The company proposes to offer eight lakh equity shares of Rs.10 each at a premium to be decided through a 100 per cent book- building process, out of which four lakh shares have been reserved for its eligible employees.The issue will constitute 26.8 per cent of the fully diluted post- issue paid-up capital of the company.The net issue to the public will be 25.46 per cent of the fully diluted post-issue paid-up capital of the company.The book-running lead manager to the issue is Anand Rathi Securities Ltd. and the Registrar to the issue is Intime Spectrum Registry Ltd., says a press release.

Time for young scientists to show their knowledge

Students visiting the three-day science fair organised by the Department of School Education and Rotary Manchester at the PSG Sarvajana High School in the city.R.Sivachandran and K.Kumar of Government Boys High School, Ondipudur, have found a new source of income.They discovered that using an electrically charged iron coil, thermocol could be cut into pieces with smooth edges. They now undertake orders for thermocol cuttings from organisations for decorative work.“We used to iron clothes during free time for income. But, now we get paid for these orders,” says Sivachandran.

This device, which can cut thermocol without scraggly edges, was one of the projects that was displayed at the science exhibition held at PSG Sarvajana School from November 23 to 25.Organised by the Department of Education in association with Rotary Manchester, the exhibition gave a platform for students from Government, Corporation, Matriculation and Government-aided schools to showcase their scientific knowledge and skill.More than 139 schools participated and the total number of exhibits displayed was 262.Students were divided into two categories – Classes VI to X and Plus Two. They could display projects on physical, biological or environmental sciences. However, the emphasis was on global warming and environmental pollution.

Plus-Two students from CMS Matriculation Higher Secondary School M.Ravindra Kumar Sharma and M.Muhammed Fakeer had made a model of a sewage treatment plant.Treatment of waste materials could yield useful materials such as biogas, grease and lubrication oil, and even drinking water. The project would cost about Rs.6.4 crore for commercial implementation, said Ravindra Kumar.The plant could be set up on a stretch of barren land. If a suitable location was found, it could solve the sewage problem of seven cities, Muhammed said.They had worked on the project for more than a month and had done extensive research for it with the help of their project guide and science teacher, S.Bagyam.Students from Government High School, Pichanur, had made models of an automatic pump that could be used for irrigation and electronic current indicator.This year, the participation from Government schools is good, said Chief Educational Officer, S.Karmegam, who inaugurated the fair.

The exhibits would be adjudged separately and prizes would be given to all four categories.“This is just to encourage students to participate in such inter-school competitions,” Mr.Karmegam added.The last day of the fair was open to the public. The winners of the fair would be selected to participate in the revenue level.The State level science exhibition would be held in Tiruchi in January and the winners at the State-level would get a chance to participate in the exhibition which would be held along with the All India Science Congress in New Delhi.

Vibrant Soundbridge implants available

Vibrant Soundbridge implants for mild to severe hearing impairment are now available in Vikram ENT Hospital.Anjana Visvanathan, Consultant ENT Surgeon, told reporters on Monday that the implants would be a boon for individuals who could not wear hearing aids or who were dissatisfied with them.Vibrant Soundbridge offered an alternative treatment option to patients suffering from sensorineural hearing loss.It enabled improved sound quality, higher amplification, good speech comprehension and comfort. Imported from Austria, the device could be implanted for both congenital as well as acquired deafness.While cochlear implants were most suitable for cases of profound deafness, Vibrant Soundbridge provided a superior option to acoustic hearing aids, she said.The cost of the device was Rs.4 lakh. The entire surgery, post-operative care included, would cost Rs.5 lakh.

Medical students strike continues

Medical students on strike in the city on Monday.The striking medicos of the Coimbatore Medical College said on Monday that they did not see as a mere rural service period, a year’s extension of the MBBS course that the Union Health Ministry had planned.If the certificates were to be issued only after six-and-a-half years, would this not amount to a full course period, asked a statement from the Coimbatore Division of the Tamil Nadu Medical Students’ Council.Quoting Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss as having said that it was not an increase in the duration of the course, but only a rural service component, the statement contended that if the certificates were to be issued only after this service period, it could only amount to a full course period.

Besides, it would be improper on the part of the final year students to function as doctors in the rural areas without their degree certificates, the students said, declaring that they were continuing with their strike to press for the withdrawal of the proposal.They wore black gags across the mouth and tied their hands to show their protest.Supporting this view, secretary of the Indian Medical Association’s Coimbatore Branch N.V. Girish Kumar said it was not wise to post inexperienced junior doctors when they had not even registered with the Medical Council of India. “We are of the opinion that employing permanent, full-time Government doctors is a better method.”Stating that the IMA had studied the proposed changes to the course, including the compulsory rural posting, Dr. Girish Kumar demanded that the proposals should not be implemented.

“Increasing the course duration from five-and-a-half years to six-and-a-half years is not necessary, and will not serve any useful purpose. The increased course duration will further reduce the number of good students wanting to take up medicine, and IT (information technology) and computer courses will become even more attractive,” he said.The district unit of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has planned a demonstration here for Tuesday to express support to the strike by the medicos.The party said in a press release that the demonstration would be led by legislator from Pollachi and party election cell secretary V. Jayaraman.Party district secretary and legislator S.M. Velusamy said in the release that he and Perur MLA S.P. Velumani would also participate.This announcement from the AIADMK came at a time when the students declared that they did not want any political colour to be given to their strike.

Cox Street in Kattoor turned as sewage pool

Sewage stagnates on Cox Street at Kattoor in the city on Monday.Cox Street in Kattoor was a sewage pool on Monday. Blocks in old, worn out underground drainage lines led to sewage bursting through manholes and stagnating on the street. Inside the houses of most of the 1,500 families in the Ramnagar and Kattoor areas, the situation was threatening to be equally bad. Blocks in the lines were pushing waste back into the toilets.

Mayor R. Venkatachalam visited Cox Street and other areas along with Deputy Mayor N. Karthik, Health Committee Chairman P. Nachimuthu and Coimbatore Corporation officials to assess the problem. “These are 37-year-old lines that do not have the capacity to bear the increased sewage load,” he said. “But, we have decided to quickly solve this problem. The old lines will be replaced. Estimates for this would be prepared soon,” he said.About 5,000 people lived in these areas that had about 650 to 700 drainage connections. The waste water from here was conveyed through the underground sewers to the sewage farm at Ukkadam. “We are going to use block detectors as a first step. The removal of the blocks will provide relief immediately.Then, we can get into replacing the lines,” the Mayor said.Mr. Venkatachalam said efforts would have to be made to prevent the sewage from flowing into the subway below the Avanashi Road Flyover.

15 lak woth of cotten yarn theft

The Special Teams of the Coimbatore Rural Police arrested five persons in connection with the theft of 300 bags of cotton yarn worth over Rs. 15 lakh.According to the police, it is learnt that on June 21, 2006, Mukesh, a cargo handling agent, despatched 200 bags of cotton yarn from a spinning mill in Kamanaickenpalayam and another 100 bags from another mill at Pogalur near Annur, to Mumbai.The consignment did not reach the destination. Based on a complaint, the Kamanaickenpalayam police had registered a case.

The Inspector-General of Police, West Zone, K. Rajendran, the DIG of Police, Coimbatore Range, Seema Agrawal, and the Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore Rural District, G. Karthikeyan, had constituted special teams.Investigations by the teams led to the arrest of Hyder Ali, Noor Mohammed, Murugadas, Gunasekaran and Selvam.It was found that the accused had changed the number plate of the truck used for transporting the yarn. Instead of sending the consignment to Mumbai, they sold it to some other person.The police had recovered 225 bags of cotton yarn and the cash in respect of the remaining 75 bags as well as the truck. All the accused were produced before the Palladam Judicial Magistrate Court and had been remanded to judicial custody.

Home for rehabilitating child workers

Native Medicare Charitable Trust, a non-Governmental organisation based in Coimbatore, has laid the foundation stone for a care home for rehabilitating child workers and children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. ‘Abhaya Students Shelter’ was set up on the premises of NMCT in June 2007. The new home can accommodate about 50 children. The organisation has been working closely with child workers and children of migrant labourers. It has also been involved with children who have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS or are HIV positive themselves. The new centre, Abhaya, will cater to the education, healthcare and overall development of the children.

Anti-Corruption police raid

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption police raided the house of M Ponnusamy, now serving as Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories, at Race Course, here on Saturday.A team led by Additional SP, DVAC S Giri Murugan, inspectors Ramachandran and Selvarajan started the raid at the residence of Ponnusamy at 8 am and the raid continued late in the evening.Ponnusamy had served in Coimbatore for three years before he was transferred to Dindigul four months back, said sources.A disproportionate asset case was registered against him. The DVAC team has stated to have seized several incriminating documents from the house.

AU is to give computers for PG students

The Anna University, Coimbatore is to give computers at a subsidised rate to Post Graduate students of Distance Education, said Dr R Radhakrishnan, Vice-Chancellor, while inaugurating the Interactive Learning Programmes (ILP) for Distance Education here on Saturday.The computer would make a difference in their learning, Radhakrishnan said, adding that instead of contact seminars, ILP will enable the students to enrich their capability.Student's Relationship Management will be adopted for ensuring mitigation of grievances immediately. He added that text books have been prepared and supplied by the University as per the norms of the quality council. The curriculum of the courses is designed by bench marking with International standards.Credit exchange among On Campus, Distance Education and Online Programmes will facilitate switch over from one mode to another mode, he noted. Anna University-Coimbatore started Distance Education Programmes for the academic year 2007-2008 by launching courses in 37 different branches of management, science and engineering including computer science in August 2007.

All the programmes have high level of technology orientation.After evaluation and testing online education will be launched. The first batch of students will appear for the first semester examination in Feb 2008 and Second Semester examination in June 2008. Another batch will be admitted for the year of 2008 commencing from Jan 2008.Dr Annadurai, Principal, Government College of Technology, Coimbatore felicitated the students. Dr V Balakrishnan, Director, Directorate of online and distance education, presided over the function. Students received books and ID cards on the spot.

Seminar on “Advances in Pharmaceutical Sciences”

R. Thiruvengadam, Joint Managing Director, Tablets India Limited, Chennai, R. Venkatesalu, Managing Trustee, SNR Sons Charitable Trust and K. Chinnaswamy, Chairman, Indian Pharmaceutical Association, Education Division, Mumbai, at the seminar on ‘Advances in Pharmaceutical Sciences’ in the city on Friday.Ethics in pharmacy is a very important virtue. Be it in manufacture, delivery, or any other form, ethics should be above the law, R. Thiruvengadam, Joint Managing Director, Tablets India Limited, Chennai, said here on Friday.

Inaugurating a seminar on “Advances in Pharmaceutical Sciences” organised by the Indian Pharmaceutical Association, Education Division, Mumbai, and hosted by the College of Pharmacy, Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Paramedical Sciences, he called for inculcation of ethics in pharmaceutical students during their training in order to make them ethical pharmacists.“Pharmacists should comply with ethics than with law. Ethics is inclusive of law. Since the welfare of patient is of paramount importance, 100 per cent ethics should be ensured. Only strict discipline will bring about such ethics”, Mr. Thiruvengadam said.

He pointed out that the level of pharmacy in India should not deviate from that of the international level. Good pharmacists would ensure that there was no leniency in quality and standard, he added. R. Venkatesalu, Managing Trustee, SNR Sons Charitable Trust, said the importance that was attached to pharmacy in India was not as high as in the U.S. and the U.K.“But, as pharmacy is growing into a multi-discipline, there is a good demand for pharmacists today even in India.” N. Shanmugasundaram, Dean, Sri Ramakrishna Hospital, said that today the pharma industry was in the forefront of the science industry. The scope was gradually increasing. K. Chinnaswamy, Chairman, Indian Pharmaceutical Association, Education Division, Mumbai, and T.K. Ravi, Principal, College of Pharmacy, Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Paramedical Sciences, spoke.

Convention of the COSI

Diabetes is emerging as a major public health issue, Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj observed here on Sunday.Addressing the valedictory of a two-day convention of the Community Ophthalmology Society of India (COSI) at the Sankara Eye Centre here, he said problems in the eye caused by diabetes were acquiring alarming proportions.“India is already called the diabetes capital of the world. At least four per cent of its population is diabetic and 25 per cent of these diabetics have diabetic retinopathy that causes blindness,” he said. Out of nearly 45 lakh people screened so far under the State Government’s Varumun Kappom scheme, 1.5 lakh had been found to be diabetic. Almost 15 per cent to 25 per cent of the people in Chennai were found to have the disease. They faced the risk of problems in the heart, eyes and kidney. This situation called for a special focus on diabetes-related eye care.

Stressing even coverage of rural and urban areas by blindness control schemes, Mr. Subburaj said people in cities and towns had access to good eye care as hospitals were more in urban areas. People in the rural areas did not have this benefit. This imbalance should be corrected, he said.Private healthcare institutions provided a lot of inspiration to the Government to improve the facilities and sanitation in its hospitals.“We wonder how private hospitals are able to maintain high levels of sanitation. How much ever good we (Government hospitals) do in terms of surgery and treatment, these are nullified by poor sanitation,” he said.

Poor sanitation was a major complaint, but efforts were on to turn things around. “We have miles to go and we are allocating several thousand crore of rupees on improving the conditions in Government hospitals,” he said. Another effort at improving the services was appointing doctors. “We have appointed 3,300 medical officers. There was 30 per cent shortage of doctors at any given time. Now, doctors have been posted even in remote areas,” he said.Managing Trustee of Sankara Eye Centre R.V. Ramani said the healthcare demand in the country was so huge that it was not possible for the Government alone to meet it. Voluntary organisations needed to chip in to help the Government meet its public health care commitment.

“Health is a basic right of the people. Vision is the gift of God. So, it is unfair to be blind, especially when it can be cured,” he said. Dr. Ramani also pointed out that the rehabilitative part of eye care was as important as that of the preventive and curative.Chairman of the centre S.V. Balasubramaniam pointed out community eye care brought light to the lives of many poor people. “The success of the programme is reflected in the happiness of the patients when whey got back their sight,” he said. President of COSI Tanuja Joshi said words such as “availability”, “accessibility” and “affordability” and also “commitment” and “devotion”, which were mentioned right through the convention, brought out the essence of community eye car. Stressing timely intervention, she warned that diabetic retinopathy and problems of cornea showed no symptoms.

By the time they were discovered, the blindness would have become irreversible. As for diabetes, the involvement of rural community was also important as this disease was no longer restricted to the urban areas. A major community participation in this area was necessary as the problem was huge.The COSI president also called for roping in non-Governmental organisations (NGOs) that were involved in community development programmes for eye care projects. “We need to shift from an emotion-based approach to an evidence-based planning. This required the involvement of organisations that were into community studies.” There was also need for a network between organisations involved in eye care with those in the development sector.

Model farm for organic cotton

The South India Cotton Association has developed a model farm here for organic cotton.According to an association official, the farm is developed jointly with Super Spinning Mills and the cotton varieties Sara 2 and Sara 33 have been sown on 60 cents. The plant is about 80 days old now. From next month, the association plans to invite delegations to the farm.The demand is increasing in the U.S. and the European Union market on organic cotton and fabric made from it. Awareness about these products is on the rise in the domestic market too. Hence, the association decided to demonstrate cultivation of organic cotton through its model farm.

“It is biocotton. We have used only the natural method for cultivation of these cotton varieties,” the official said. The programme is supported by the Organic Exchange. As many as 13 technologies of organic method of farming have been adopted. Farm yard manure, bio-fertiliser and natural predator pests have been used. All the methods followed are in line with international standards. The total life of the crop is 180 to 190 days, he says. The association has been growing cotton on the plot for the last three seasons to demonstrate different cotton cultivation methods to farmers and the industry.

TECA appealed to Minister

The Tamil Nadu Electricity Consumers Association (TECA) has appealed to the State Electricity Minister, Arcot N. Veerasamy to ensure uninterrupted quality power supply.In a memorandum, A.V. Varadarajan, president of the Association, said that the load shedding resorted to by the board in the wake of the power shortage in the State had resulted in unscheduled power cuts affecting the industries very badly. As a consumer association representing the electricity consumers, TECA suggested that TNEB could resort to load shedding for one full day every week in different feeders in a staggered manner and ensure that uninterrupted power should be given on the remaining six days. He also said that industries were given to understand that Chennai City was not affected by the power cuts and appealed to the Minister that loading shedding should be even throughout the State and it would be fair only if the electricity consumers throughout Tamil Nadu are treated evenly.

K.G.Hospital centenary celebrations

‘Doctor par Excellence’ awardees M. Vijaykumar (third left), Chief Oncologist, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bangalore, B.K. Rao (fourth left), Chairman, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, and S. Rammurti (second right), Head of the Department, Radiology and Imaging, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad at the centenary celebrations of the founder of K.G. Hospital, K. Govindaswamy Naidu, in the city on Sunday. (From left) Managing Director of KG Information Systems Ltd., Ashok Bakthavathsalam, Chairman of the Hospital, G.Bakthavathsalam, State Secretary of Health, V.K. Subburaj, Chairman and Managing Director of Canara Bank, M.B.N. Rao, and Chairman and Manag

With millions of patients suffering from diseases such as cancer, tuberculosis, and diabetes in the country, it is essential to provide the best healthcare to all, the Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu, V. K. Subburaj, said here on Sunday.He was speaking at the centenary celebrations of K. Govindaswamy Naidu, founder of K.G. Hospital and the 33rd anniversary of the hospital.“Every year the country lost about four lakh people to tuberculosis. Nearly a million new cancer cases were reported every year.Hence, it was essential to have and give the best healthcare to all,” he said.

It was estimated that the country needed more than a million nurses for its hospitals and many more with the demand in foreign countries. The State had more than 100 nursing institutions, he said.Offering his tributes to the founder of the hospital, B.K. Rao, chairman of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, said it was essential to extend cutting edge technology in medicine to the common man too. The Chairman and Managing Director of Canara Bank, MBN Rao, said medical science, like Information Technology, was the pride of the country and it would have a leading role to play in the future. The Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Bank, M. S. Sundara Rajan, also offered felicitations.The Chairman of K.G. Hospital, G. Bakthavathsalam, said over 30 lakh patients had been treated by the hospital and it planned to start an awareness programme and educate about a million people on how to avoid a heart attack.

He pointed out that it was the service of the doctors and nurses that made a hospital and not just the building and equipment.The Doctor par Excellence award was presented to Dr. B.K. Rao, Dr. S. Rammurti (Head of the Department of Radiology and Imaging, NIMS, Hyderabad) and M. Vijay Kumar, Chief Oncologist, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology.

Coimbatore Today 26th November 2007

• The Institution of Engineers (India): Talk, PSG College of Technology premises, 6.30 p.m.
  
• GKNM Hospital: Diabetic Foot Care clinic, 2 p.m.
  
• Coimbatore Management Association: Talk, Race Course, 6.30 p.m.
  
• 4 (TN) Battalion NCC: Blood donation camp, PSG College of Arts and Science, 10 a.m.
  
• Lions Club of Coimbatore: Free medical camp, Lions Community Hall, Sivananda Colony, 10 a.m.
  
• Mega Brands show: Padmavathi Ammal Cultural Centre, 10.30 a.m.
  
• Trigger Marketing Limited: Launch of Trigger Aqua packaged water, Kalaiarangam, R.S.Puram, 5.30 p.m.
  
• Rotary Club of Coimbatore Metropolis: Meeting, Siema Hall, Race Course, 6.30 p.m.
  
• Kasturba Gandhi Oral School: Annual Day celebrations, Sri Purandaradasar Kalaiarangam, R.S. Puram, 4 p.m.
  
• State Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, Tiruchi: Meet on tourism development, Hotel Tamil Nadu, 9 a.m.
  
• Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Reservation Protection Federation: Discussion on reservation, Saraswathy Natarajan Mandapam, Olympus, Ramanathapuram, 6 p.m.
  
• Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College: Faculty development programme on ‘Medical Electronics,’ 10 a.m.
  
• Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology: Faculty development programme, 9 a.m.

Goodbye to chalk and talk in Government schools

Black boards are soon becoming out of fashion in Government schools in the district. It’s less chalk and more action for teachers and students.The Active Learning Methodology introduced for the upper primary section focusses on enhancing creative thinking and understanding in children.Rather than mindless learning from textbooks, the new system promotes interaction between the students and the teachers.

The students read the textbook on their own and underline words they don’t understand.Then they either pen their thoughts or pictorially represent what they grasp from the lesson.Students themselves prepare questions based on what have learnt. It is only at this juncture that the teacher intervenes. The words they do not understand are explained and the students are introduced to the next portion of the lesson only after the class is thorough with the concept.“The thrust of the new method is on learning through practice,” says S. Karmegam, Chief Educational Officer.He was at the science exhibition on at the PSG Sarvajana School. “The role of a teacher here is that of a facilitator,” he adds.

About 1,000 teachers have been trained in Active Learning Methodology.“This method of pedagogy motivates teachers to do their best. They cannot escape their responsibility and have to be well prepared before they handle a class,” Mr. Karmegam says.Regular teacher training programmes on the concept are also being organised.All the schools have been asked to follow this method.

Dhanalakshmi Bank shifted

The Cross Cut Road branch of the Dhanalakshmi Bank has been shifted to Vivekananda Road, Ramnagar.The bank, which is in its 80th year, has taken up renovation of its branches in Tamil Nadu, P.S. Prasad, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank said. Out of the 181 branches, 150 of them were covered under core banking solution. Mr. Prasad said that 98 per cent of the bank’s business came from core banking branches. It was aiming at a turnover of Rs.10,000 crore by the end of March 2009.

1st convention of the COSI @ Sankara Eye Centre

S.S. Badrinath, Emeritus Chairman, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, delivering the Sri Jayendra Saraswathy - Sankara Oration, at the Sankara Eye Centre in Coimbatore on Saturday.Philanthropists should donate more towards eye research in the country, said Emeritus Chairman of Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, S.S. Badrinath.

“If we do not understand our own problems and find solutions through research, then who will? With high incidence of diabetes in India, there are very high chances of diabetic retinopathy becoming a major threat. We should carry out India-centric studies for solving Indian problems. Research for prevention of eye diseases, especially, reducing cataract prevalence will require Rs. 36 crore,” he said here on Saturday.Dr. Badrinath was delivering the Sri Jayendra Saraswathy-Sankara Oration on “Public – Private Partnership in Eye Care” at the inauguration of the first convention of the Community Ophthalmology Society of India (COSI) at the Sankara Eye Centre.

Describing a public institution as “a registered, non-profit, charitable, privatised public institution,” he chose to term donors as the “private institutions that helped the public institution in doing their work well.”“All public institutions should make eye care affordable to the haves and have-nots, make available state-of-the-art facilities for all patients, and make it accessible for any kind of eye problem.Whatever is collected from paying patients should be used judiciously in order to save enough to treat poor patients,” said Dr. Badrinath.Since public institutions thrived on donations, they should have credibility, accountability, and show definite results for the money received. Results should not only be in the form of good services, but also in efficiently training doctors who can go out and perform the same services in other parts of the country, he said.Tanuja Joshi, the society president, said that the base for community ophthalmology was primary eye care. R.V. Ramani, Managing Trustee, Sankara Eye Care Institutions, said that the convention would address the changing trends in eye care.

Police tightening the vigil on rowdy

The police in West Zone and Coimbatore City have started tightening the vigil on rowdy elements and notorious criminals in the wake of instructions from the Chief Minister at the recently held conference at Chennai.In the wake of stray incidents of violence and attack on political party leaders by gangs known to be hooligans and henchmen, the Chief Minister had asked the police to evolve measures to contain the activities of rowdy elements.

Police are preparing a list of rowdy elements, ex-convicts, history sheeters, habitual offenders and contract/hired killers.In Coimbatore City, City Police Commissioner, C.K. Gandhirajan has formed special teams for keeping tabs on notorious rowdy elements, if any. The officers and supervisory officers in charge of all the 15 police stations in the four sub-divisions have been asked to maintain vigil and report if at all there were gangs that acted as contract or hired killers.As against the 13 detentions during the previous year, Mr.Gandhirajan said that 83 persons had been detained in the last year, thus ensuring maintenance of law and order besides bringing down the crime rate by 22 per cent.

Inspectors and Assistant Commissioners have been asked to step up shadow watching of ex-convicts and notorious offenders and also to closely monitor convicts being released from prison.Officers have been asked to give impetus to the execution of pending non-bailable warrants so that notorious elements were not allowed to remain at large.A station-wise dossier on anti-social elements and notorious criminals was being prepared in every sub-division under the supervision of a Deputy Commissioner of Police, he said.The Inspector-General of Police, West Zone, K. Rajendran told The Hindu that the Commissioner of Police, Salem City and the Deputy Inspectors-General of Police of Salem and Coimbatore Range had been asked to direct the Superintendents of Police of Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Salem Rural, Namakkal, Erode, Coimbatore Rural and the Nilgiris districts to prepare a list of rowdy elements.

Mr.Rajendran said that in the last two years there had not been even a single incident of a murder by rowdy elements or hired/contract killers across the zone.A dossier of rowdy elements, ex-convicts and notorious criminals was being prepared and those listed classified as very bad, notorious and most notorious rowdy elements and officers of the respective jurisdiction had been asked to shadow watch these elements.Officers have been asked to visit the area once a week besides summoning the rowdy element to the police office once a week to keep tab on the livelihood of these rowdy elements to prevent them from taking to crime as their career.

The accountability and answerability for the activities of rowdy elements had been fixed on the Deputy Superintendents of Police and the Superintendents of Police.Every day the police have been asked to obtain a jail release list from the prison department to prevent rowdy elements from vanishing from the watchful eyes of the police to resurface in some other part of the State.Night rounds and marching of crime prevention beats had been stepped and these armed patrol teams had been asked to execute the pending non bailable warrants to ensure that notorious elements were not at large.

Security measures stepped up

Members of an anti-sabotage team checking luggage at the Gandhipuram bus stand in the city on Saturday.In the wake of the serial explosions in court halls in Uttarpradesh on Friday, though not driven by any ‘pointed intelligence’, the Coimbatore City Police have stepped up security measures across the City, as a precautionary measure. The measures would be in place till December 6, the Babri Masjid demolition anniversary.

A detailed security scheme had been drawn up by the Commissioner of Police, Coimbatore City, C.K. Gandhirajan under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioners of Police, P. Sugumaran (Law and Order), P. Nagarajan (Crime), S. Manoharan (Traffic), S.V. Karuppasamy (Headquarters) and M. Balakrishnan (Armed Reserve) and each of them had been given specific tasks in all the four sub-divisions besides co-ordinating the anti-sabotage checks.On Saturday morning, the police deployed Anti-Sabotage Teams (AST) of the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) of Coimbatore City Police at the bus stand, to conduct checks.

Such checks would be conducted at random at railway stations, bus stands, airports and parking areas.Two explosives sniffer dogs of the City Police dog squad Rana and Meghala are on the job of conducting anti-sabotage checks round-the-clock.Anti-sabotage checks were being carried out by a special team led by Assistant Commissioner of Police (Security), C. Sambasivam. Armed guards had been posted for vital installations.As many as 12 armed check posts have been strengthened on all the arterial and feeder roads.In addition to 1,000 policemen from the City Police, additional reinforcements have been drafted from Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Tamil Nadu Special Police Battalion and Armed Reserve.Roads would be brought under vigil by deploying 24 jeeps on patrol duty besides 30 motor cycles and close to 40 bicycles and patrolling police personnel would be equipped with firearms and walkie-talkies to ensure instant reaction.

Book with 1022 words title

A college principal in a Coimbatore college has authored a book having a title written in 1,022 words containing 4,805 characters without a space!The book written on Daniel Radcliffe, the man best known for playing school-aged wizard Harry Potter in each of the first five films based on the best-selling Harry Potter book series, is claimed to be the first ever book on a Hollywood character by an Indian.Speaking at the book release function on Monday, Dr Subramonian, the writer and Principal of Dr R V Arts and Science College in Karamadai, 25 kilometres from Coimbatore, claimed that his book had the longest title ever known."We have created a record in Dr R V Arts and Science College, Karamadai. I have written a book with the longest title containing 1,022 words. This is the longest ever title written for a book like this," claimed Subramonian.

The 123-page book has an eight-pager pull out containing 3-D pictures from the movie that can be viewed with anaglyph glass that comes free with the book.The title of the book that begins with 'Daniel Radcliffe the story of the not so ordinary boy chosen from .......' and ends with 'to his ever royal crown of fame' even doesn't have even a single punctuation mark.Subramonian later said that the Guinness Book of World Record authorities in London have confirmed to him over telephone that no record of such sort had ever been made.Subramonian said that it was his daughter, a Daniel Radcliffe fan, who motivated him to write the book that also has the distinction of being the first ever book written by an Indian on a Hollywood actor.

He said his objective was to develop reading habits among the younger generation and thus selected such a topic."He (Daniel Radcliffe) is a motivator; a young motivator for the young and old alike. That is why I have selected him," said Subramonian.In 1996, Subramonian registered himself with the Guinness Book of World Record for teaching 1, 934 students online at 16 centres worldwide.

Health check up @ Coimbatore jail

Officials at a Coimbatore Jail are startled after learning during a health check up that most of their inmates have heart and stress ailments.The matter came to light after an inmate die of heart problem, making the jail authorities and the District administration to conduct a cardiac check-up of all the prisoners. Majority of the prisoners at the Coimbatore Central Jail are serving their life sentences.According to the District Collector, Dr. Neeraj Mittal over 2,300 inmates were screened by a team of 20 specialists and other doctors.

"The focus of the check-up with which we are screening almost the 2,300 prisoners, both male and female, is proper treatment for the sick and the ailing. We are screening disease like diabetes, blood pressure, heart trouble, skin disease, neuro disease and many more. The specialist doctors have been called for detailed treatment," said Dr. Neeraj Mittal, District Collector, Coimbatore.It was for the first time in past 25 years such a medical camp to check heart disease and other chronic ailments was organised at this jail.On their part, the prisoners felt happy at this camp since they were diagnosed in detail and remedial treatment prescribed.

"I am a life convict and have completed five years imprisonment for my crime and every day my heath condition seems to have worsened. I was suffering from serious constipation and stress. This kind of camp has been very much useful for all the inmates. We want the District Collector to conduct such camps frequently," said Vijayshankar, s life term prisoner, Coimbatore Central Jail."I was convicted in a murder case and have completed six years of sentence and have the feeling of stress which shoots up my blood pressure. I attended many small health camps inside the prison but this kind of medical camps helps us to make our mind stress free," said Duraipandi, another life term inmate.Among the persons lodged in the Coimbatore Central Jail, a good number of them are reportedly well-qualified in academics. Some of them hold degrees like Masters of Business Administration, Master of Science, Master of Arts and others.