Army General Visited DSSC

General Deepak Kapoor (right), Chief of the Army Staff, is received at the Defence Services Staff College at Wellington near Udhagamandalam on Wednesday. General Deepak Kapoor, Chief of the Army Staff, visited Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, on March 11 and 12.

According to a release, the General addressed the officers training at the tri-services institution. He briefed them on the state of the Armed Forces in the country. He asked officers to remain vigilant and impressed upon them the need to keep the morale of the Forces high. Kirti Kapoor, President, Army Wives’ Welfare Association, interacted with the women and urged them to work for the welfare of families of personnel from ranks and war widows.

Golden Leaf Award To Rousdon Mullai

Rousdon Mullai Estate Tea has won two awards for the dust category and fannings category at the 5th edition of the Golden Leaf Southern India Competition held in Kochi recently. According to a release, the awards were given away by Dunstan M. Ngumo, Chairman of the Tea Board of Kenya. Rousdon Mullai teas, produced in the Nilgiris District, were sold through Contemporary Tea Auctioneers in Coimbatore and Cochin Tea Auction centres.

Wild Fire At Mudumalai

Fire engulfed a part of the Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary, home to tigers and rare animal species in the Western Ghats, and ravaged nearly 25 acres of the dry forest tracts on Tuesday morning. However, no wild animals were injured in the blaze which was put out after a fourhour operation. Spread over a 321 sq km of dry deciduous and scrub forests, Mudumalai wildlife s a n c t u a r y, which was recently declared a tiger reserve, has at least 39 tigers in its terrain besides sloth bear, elephants, leopards and hyenas.

A few metres from the forest reception centre at Theppakadu, on the national highway, a fire broke out on a dry patch of scrub land on Tuesday morning. As at least 300 vehicles pass through the national highway cutting through the sanctuary daily, forest officials suspect that passers-by may have dropped a burning cigarette butt triggering the fire. “We suspect it to be a man-made accident,” said the field director of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, Rajiv K Srivatsava.

Immediately, the Forest Disaster Management Centre, set up recently after two incidents of forest fires last month, sent about 25 fire fighters and local tribals to combat the blaze. In case of a minor fire, the forest personnel normally beat it down with dry brooms or douse it with water. However, as the fire raged on and threatened to s p re a d across the sanctuary area, they used the counterfire technique: Fighting fire with fire. In the opposite direction of the blaze and wind flow, a patch of vegetation was cleared and a rubbish heap was set on fire. “The two fires came into contact and extinguished themselves,” explained the field director. Finally, the fire was brought under control by afternoon.

Night Travel To Ooty Will Be Banned ???

Elephants have attacked cars on the Mettupalayam-Coonoor highway twice in the last month, severely damaging the vehicles though the occupants escaped unhurt. While the forest department and conservationists are concerned about such attacks, they say they have been reiterating the need to regulate or stop traffic on this highway during night hours. The highway cuts right through a crucial elephant migratory corridor, the Kallar-Jaccanari corridor, which the animals use mostly at night. “The Kallar corridor links the elephant populations in the Nilgiris, Coimbatore and Silent Valley,” says Dr Raman Sukumar, one of the world’s leading authorities on the Asian elephant, and chairman, Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, Bangalore.This corridor is a highly disturbed one, with both the Mettupalayam-Coonoor highway and the Mettupalayam-Kotagiri highway cutting through it.

Increased construction and development activities in the area also encroach upon the traditional migratory paths of the animals, which migrate between habitats in search of food and water. “In the last two months, vehicles have been damaged on the Mettupalayam-Coonoor highway and the Kotagiri highway. Such incidents are rare, but wild elephants are under tremendous pressure as they are unable to cross the highway,” says Mohan Raj, coordinator for Eastern Ghats landscape, World Wide Fund for Nature.

“Traffic on the highway should be stopped from midnight to 5 am, when the elephants are most likely to cross. We’re planning to put up signboards warning people of elephant movement along the highway, with the help of Wildlife Trust of India,” says K Kalidasan, president of OSAI, an environmental organisation. Traffic on the Mettupalayam-Coonoor highway has increased in the past few years. A study conducted by Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in April-May 2007 revealed that 4,540 cars and larger vehicles use the highway cutting through the corridor every day, with over 2,000 of them travelling during evening and night. The forest department conducted its own study from November 15-30, 2008 at the Kallar checkpost.

“Between 365 and 450 vehicles ply on the highway between midnight and 6 am,” says I Anwardeen, district forest officer. “To ensure safety of travellers, traffic should be stopped after midnight till at least 5.30 am, making an exception for emergencies.” He adds that people should also be sensitised about driving in this area at night. “People should be responsible enough to plan their trip so that they avoid using this highway at night,” he says. However, no action has been taken so far.

“We do not know if we can completely stop traffic on the highway at night, but we shall discuss it at our next meeting,” says district collector V Palanikumar, who is also the chairman of the traffic advisory committee. To ensure better passage for elephants and avoid human-animal conflict, conservationists have been urging for the construction of a flyover for vehicles. “Since there is 24-hour traffic along the highway, it is essential to construct a flyover from the beginning of the first hairpin bend to the end of the second hairpin bend,” says B Ramakrishnan, field officer, Wildlife Trust of India.

Tea Industry Should Shift From Production Oriented Strategy

With cyclic crisis in the Indian tea industry erasing fast, the current need was to shift from a production oriented strategy and subsidy approach to market oriented strategic framework with market economy outlook, an expert in tea in Himachal Pradesh said. This implied the need to liberate the mindset of the industry from its old strategic framework of produce and market, Gagnesh Sharma, Department of Tea Husbandry and Technology, Himachal Pradesh Krishik Varsity, Palampur, said in his study of Indian and Himachal Pradesh tea situation.

Due to the pressures of the economy, the earlier mindset of 'disposal of tea' was changing to a new one --'marketing of tea,' which implied a shift from 'subsidy' to capacity building approach, he said. In the absence of appropriate government interventions, attention may have to be given to developing appropriate agribusiness models with strong vertical coordination to ensure that small holders have financial capacity and access to information required exporting into global markets,he said.

Multinational tea companies were increasingly contracting with larger agro-processing firms,who were able to effectively coordinae deliveries and quality standards from small farmers through effective supply chain management, as in South India and Indonesia, Sharma said. Oversupply of tea and less demand has contributed to market imbalance in India. Strategies have to be devised to improve the demand side, as so much effort has been put in improving supply efficiency in the past, Sharma said.

Demand For Tea Was Good At Tea Trade Association

The demand for tea was good at the first auction of the year 2009 at Coimbatore tea trade association last week. The good liquoring and good mediums in CTC leaf category sold Rs 1 to Rs 2 per kg more than previous week. The medium and plainer varieties too met with good demand and sold firm to dearer by Rs 2 per kg compared to previous week and sometime more on competition. Blacker and cleaner teas sold Rs 2 to Rs 3 per kg more than previous week.

In the CTC dust segment, popular mark and good liquoring teas sold firm to dearer by Rs 1 to Rs 2 per kg compared to previous week. Medium and plainer varieties were fully firm to irregularly dearer particularly on competition. The high grown and well made orthodox leaf teas sold dearer by Rs 1 to Rs 2 per kg when compared to previous week. Medium varieties sold at irregular levels. The orthodox dust teas too sold at irregular levels following quality. The buying pattern was similar in CTC segment, with HUL lending good support for both leaf and dust teas.

Rally By School Students For Road Safety Awareness

School students at a Road Safety Awareness rally in Udhgamandalam on Wednesday. City Police Commissioner K.C. Mahali on Wednesday flagged off a rally by school students for creating awareness on the need for road safety. Road Safety Week which started on January 1 concluded on Wednesday. The rally was attended by students from Corporation High Schools, NGR Memorial High School and Rangammal Educational Institutions. The students carried placards with slogans highlighting road safety awareness. The rally wound its way from VKK Menon Road, Sidhapudur, Balasundaram Road and reached VOC Park.

Addressing the students who took part in the rally, Mr. Mahali said that after the enforcement of compulsory helmet rule, the culture of compliance has reached a near 50 per cent. This had started showing the accident statistics. Still a number of two-wheeler riders were not wearing helmets.

In an effort to combat the soaring accident rate and fatality, the police have stepped up enforcement of road rules. Every day at least thousand cases of road rule violations were being booked and this was resulting in reducing the number of accidents on the city roads. The Commissioner pointed out that two-wheeler riders should make it a point to wear helmets for the sake of protecting their lives and not for the sake of complying with the rule.
The Transport Department officials also took out a rally.

Ooty Pykara selected for Neutrino Observatory Research

Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar called on Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on last week to discuss the setting up of a neutrino observatory in the State.

“I came here to seek the consent and approval [from the Chief Minister] for [setting up] the India-based Neutrino Observatory,” Mr. Kakodkar told reporters after the meeting.

Members of the high energy and nuclear physics community in India have been discussing, at least since 2000, the setting up of the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) to study atmospheric neutrinos.

Neutrinos are naturally occurring particles, There is worldwide interest in this field

According to the INO website, hosted by the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, the observatory is a pure-science underground laboratory. “Its primary goal is to study the properties and interactions of weakly interacting, naturally occurring particles called neutrinos. There is a worldwide interest in this field due to its implications for several diverse and allied fields such as particle physics, cosmology and the origin of the universe, energy production mechanisms in the sun and other stars.”

The commission has chosen a spot in The Nilgiris, because some infrastructure (tunnels) is already there. It is two km from the Pykara TNEB camp and 1300 metres beneath the mountain named INO Peak (2207 m).

According to the website, the State government has given in-principle approval for locating the project at Singara near Masinagudi, pending statutory clearance. The project has been given environmental clearance by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Surveys have been going on “for a while” at the site, sources said. The AEC chairman met the Chief Minister to formally seek his consent. The facility will be located in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve.

At the meeting, the Chief Minister was briefed about the need for the facility and its importance to the country and the scientific community.

Appreciating the need for the project, Mr. Karunanidhi felt that people living around the forest should be taken into confidence and made aware of the purpose of the project. Their consent was what mattered most.

e-auction System For Tea Inaugurated

The entire quantity of tea marketed through the manual auction system now is expected to come under the e-auction system by the end of January next year, according to Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Power. Inaugurating the e-auction system for tea here on Saturday, at a function organised by the Tea Board and the Tea Trade Association of Coimbatore, he said that the e-auction system was a web-based platform. It had advantages such as base prices and instant settlement system. Through this the auction process would be far more transparent.

India produced about 950 million kg of tea annually and roughly 500 million kg was marketed through the manual auction system. The objective was to bring the quantity under the manual auction system under the e-auction by the end of January 2009. And, over a period of time, the tea that was marketed through private sales should also come under this system. There would be massive training programmes.

Though the e-auction system was not mandatory, incentives would be introduced for people to move in to it. “To stimulate e-auction, we will have incentives so that more people migrate to it,” he said. With the India-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement to be signed next year, the import duty on tea was scheduled to come down from 100 per cent to 45 per cent by 2018. Productivity of the tea sector in Vietnam was higher than India and there could be competition. However, the re-plantation scheme introduced for tea would help improve the productivity of the Indian tea.

The Special Purpose Tea Fund was launched in 2007 and the objective was to replant 11,000 hectares per year for the next 15 years. The country had five lakh hectare under tea. About two lakh hectare would be replanted in 15 years. In the first year, at the national-level 60 per cent of the target was achieved under this scheme. However, in South India only 40 per cent of the target was achieved. The main problems here were the cost norms and labour shortage and “We are trying to meet these two issues,” he said. He also urged the need to produce orthodox tea in a big way. Eight per cent of India’s tea production now was orthodox tea. By the end of the eleventh plan it was proposed to increase this to 120 million kg from the current 85 million - 90 million kg.

AEC Committed To Set Up INO At NBR

With Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Chairman Anil Kakodkar committed to setting up the Rs.1000 crore India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) in the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve (NBR), the districts environmentalists have raised a banner of revolt terming the project as destructive of nature and wild-life. The local people including the tribals, however, welcome the INO project in the hope that the project would generate more job opportunities in the area.

Kakodkar had called on Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Thursday and urged him to give clearance to set up the INO at Singara near Masinagudi and Mudumalai sanctuary of Nilgiris district. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest has already conferred its support for the project. Sources say that the AEC had earlier identified Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu as suitable places for setting up the project but later settled on the Nilgiris biosphere in Tamil Nadu as it was considered the safest zone in the aftermath of Mumbai terror attacks.

Tamil Nadu Green Movement (TNGM), which has written a letter to the AEC under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, inquiring the projects impact on environment, is awaiting a response. Jayachandran, TNGM Joint Secretary, told the Express that if the chief minister gave permission, the TNGM would file a writ petition in High Court to stall the project. According to him, the project that would require the excavation of hillocks and forest areas to construct huge underground tunnels, would affect the Project Tiger of Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary.

He said the heavy manpower and machinery to be engaged in the project work would drive the wild animals away from Mudumalai. Wildlife in Bandipur Sanctuary of Karnataka would also be affected by the commotion as the building materials could be transported to the proposed site only through Bandipur. The act of locals welcoming the INO in the hope that they will get jobs has already caused great concern among environmentalists. What kind of jobs will they get? Experts, scientists and technicians will come from North, East and West blocks of the country,Jayachandran said.

V Sivadass, an environmentalist, demanded that the AEC constitute a panel comprising experts from NGOs to study the impact of the project on environment and ecology. On behalf of the Masinagudi Peoples Livelihood Protection Movement, I would welcome the INO project and would give full support for the successful implementation as it would generate more jobs to the locals, said Dr K Jermina, former chairman of Gudalur Panchayat Union. Mansinagudi Village Panchayat president Sangeetha also echoed the views of Dr Jermina.

Ooty Tea Awared GI Status

The orthodox tea produced at Nilgiris has been awarded the status of geographical indication (GI) like the Darjeeling tea, said Tea Board of India’s executive chairman RD Nazeem at Coonoor on Thursday. The Nilgiri orthodox tea got the recognition as the 100th commodity in India, followed by Assam orthodox tea. Both teas now join Darjeeling tea and Kangra tea (grown in Himachal Pradesh) to have won this status.

In November 2007, the tea board made a representation to the Registrar of Geographical Indication, Chennai, for registering the Nilgiri orthodox tea under the Geographical Indication (registration and protection) Act, 1999. The recognition was bestowed on Nilgiri tea this December and would be valid for 10 years and can also be renewed. The registration would facilitate the authorised users to display the GI logo, which would indicate the place of origin and the special features, Mr Nazeem said. The tea produced in Coonoor and nearby places like Kotagiri, Kuntha, Kulakombe and Ooty are classified as Nilgiri tea. The total production of orthodox tea in these areas is around 15 million kg per year. The fragrance and flavour of these teas have been compared with some of the renowned Darjeeling teas.

Experts say because of GI tag, the Darjeeling tea got better prices even in bad years of global tea market. Therefore, the local planters are hoping for a price revival in Nilgiri orthodox tea following the GI recognition. The registration would enable the product to fetch higher prices both at international as well as local market, said Nilgiri Planters’ Association secretary OR Subramaniam. “It would also help check spurious teas and prevent unauthorised claims,” he added.

Mumbai Attack Hits Ooty's Tourists Flow

8 Room nights at Fernhill Palace booked for December season by in-bound tourists to Ooty was cancelled within three days of the Mumbai blasts. Ditto is the experience of most of the leading hotels in the hill station, which are largely tourism dependent. “We expect more cancellations in the coming weeks,” said I Salim Basha, unit manager of Fernhill Palace citing the impact of the Mumbai blasts. He said Germans and Britishers have cancelled bookings. Nahar Hotels MD, Umesh Nahar added, “nearly 30% of foreign traffic has reduced in our group hotels.” The blasts have compounded the misery of the hotels which are already hit hard by the financial crisis and slowdown in the Indian economy.

Normally, the second peak season or the winter season starts from November and ends in January. “Things were fine till July-August. But thereafter, the global recession caught up with our industry and we see less of domestic tourists,” said Taj Savoy Hotel representative John Jimshy. Tamil Nadu tourism officials said the blasts have made foreign tourist think twice before coming to India. Usually, foreign tourists to the Blue Mountains mostly come from Europe followed by Africa, Asia and US.

Most of them opt for package tours, where Nilgiris would invariably be on the list. “Normally around 10,000 foreigners (20% of total tourists) visit Nilgiris and stay in hotels during winter season,” said N Chandrashekar, secretary of the Nilgiris Hotels and Restaurants Association and MD of Hotel Durga. This season, he noticed a drop in the number of inbound tourists. “Foreigners who are already in India are going ahead with their tour. People are cancelling their trip now,” added Salim.

A superintendent at Botanical Gardens, the must-visit tourist spot in Ooty told ET, “tourist inflow is coming down due to rain and with the Mumbai blasts, the foreign crowd will diminish.” Compared to last year, when the bookings for Dec 15- Jan 15 would be full by Dec 1, the situation is different today, said a senior hotel executive. “Bookings would normally be over a month earlier, but today even rooms that were already booked are being cancelled,” he added. Mr Chandrashekar added, “In my hotel, no rooms have been booked for Christmas and New Year. The enquiry has also gone down.”

According to him, the Ooty tourist traffic depends more on holidays and in the last few weeks even the weekend crowd has reduced. “Visitors from Mysore, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Pollachi come and stay at Ooty during weekends. But even that has dropped,” said Umesh. He said the trend started in October following the financial crisis and blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad. Now the Mumbai blasts have triggered fear among tourists, he added. In the current situation, hoteliers in Nilgiris are thinking of bringing down costs by nearly 15% to woo inland tourists.

Ooty Hoteliers Fear After Mumbai Attack

The terror attacks on Mumba five star hotels have caused panic among the tourists and business community all over the world. Hoteliers in Ooty, a global tourist destination, are worried that they will virtually lose the normal December (Christmas) and January (New Year) foreign tourist rush. Tourists from Britain, France, USA, Africa and Australia stayed not only in star hotels and heritage hotels such as Taj Shevoy and Young Women Christian Association but also in non-star category hotels during peak winter period - from mid-December to mid-January.

Talking to this , N Chandrasekar, secretary of Nilgiris Hotel and Restaurant Association, said the advance bookings for Christmas and New Year would automatically get cancelled. There is no doubt that tourism will be hit this year. This apart, the global recession will also hit the tourism industry, he said. He suggested the government to recommend the hotel managements to use metal detector.

Coimbatore Tea Action Go Online

After 147 years, the Kolkata tea auction system went electronic on Wednesday. That’s a global first, too. The transition from the manual outcry system to mouseclicks has been smooth, if the first day of e-trade is anything to go by. Other tea auction centres in India at Guwahati, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, Kochi, Coimbatore and Coonoor will also go online by January 27, 2009, speeding up transactions significantly. The e-auction system has been designed and built by NSE.IT, a subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange to help tea buyers such as Hindustan Unilever, Tata Tea, Wagh Bakri, J V Gokul, Godfrey Philips and others bid online.

“It’s time for a transition to the new-age system. If everything is stabilised by August next year, we should have a national e-platform or a cybermarket for tea, where boundaries will be meaningless. There is no point in having a fragmented auction centre system. Since we won’t have physical auction centres, they can be converted into warehouses and distribution centres, ” said Jairam Ramesh, Union minister of state for commerce, industries and power, inaugurating the e-trade.

Basudeb Banerjee, chairman, Tea Board, said some of the big international tea auction centres like Mombasa and Colombo will also go electronic soon. “The entire tea world is closely watching us make this change. The NSE is now working on a settlement system and Deloitte is working on a self-sustaining model,” Banerjee said. With the last bang of the hammer, Jairam Ramesh set the first e-auction rolling and 1,000 kg of tea was sold on Wednesday, with five buyers making it to the top -Gujarat Tea Processors and Packers, Duncans, Asian Tea Exports, M K Corporation and Bajaj Enterprises.

Currently, about 500 million kg of tea, or 50% of the total tea produced in the country, is exchanged through the traditional auction system. According to Jairam Ramesh, there is a possibility that 5% more tea would migrate from the non-auction (private sales) to the e-auction system. Better quality Assam and Darjeeling teas are likely to become a part of the electronic system, he said.

Black Day For Tea Auctioneers

It was a black day for tea auctioneers at Coonoor and Coimbatore on Friday. While 70% of the quantity on offer was left unsold at the weekly tea auction at Coonoor, the Coimbatore centre saw a sudden drop in prices with tea selling at Rs 10 to Rs 14 per kg less than the previous week. The global meltdown, cash crunch in Pakistan and Diwali season are said to be the major reasons for the sudden slowdown in tea market. Industry sources said, “Pakistan buyers are not able to get LC and banks are not in a position to make payment. The shipments to Pakistan have come to a standstill and payments are still to be made for the last one month.”

A leading auctioneer said the financial crisis in Russia has curtailed 20% of tea sales and the sales internally has also gone down because of the prevailing holiday mood. At Coonoor auction, only the good medium teas in both the leaf and dust varieties were sold. The prices hovered around Rs 75 to Rs 80 per kg, which were on an average lower by Rs 5 to Rs 10 per kg compared to the previous week. The tea prices dropped further at the Coimbatore auction centre and a kg of medium quality tea was selling at Rs 72 and even less.

The prices were nearly Rs 10 to Rs 14 per kg less than previous week. But the demand was quite normal in Coimbatore since the last week’s auction was cancelled due to Diwali. But in Coonoor, where an auction took place last week despite Diwali, the lowering of prices didn’t effect in any substantial purchase. “Only around 20% to 30% of the total quantity of teas on offer was sold,” said industry sources. “The situation is really panicky. We are afraid that the prices will further drop due to piling up of teas for next week sales,” a leading auctioneer said. Tea Trade Association secretary S Sreekumar added the situation is grim all over the country.

Coimbatore Tea Action

The demand was slightly less from exporters and north Indian buyers at the Coimbatore tea auction last week. The buyer participation was less and it was attributed to the forthcoming Diwali festival. Tea Trade Association of Coimbatore secretary S Sreekumar told that the dwindling demand is due to the fewer number of orders from north India. “It is because of the Diwali season that the buyers participation has reduced and thus we have no auction this week on October 24,” he added. He said, the next auction would take place on October 31.

Last week, there was selective enquiry for whole leaf grades from internal buyers in the orthodox tea segment. The orthodox dust category met with fair demand from a few exporters and internal buyers and the prices were irregular and sold lower than the previous week. According to market sources, substantial value of the medium teas that fetch over Rs 80 per kg was withdrawn for want of bids.

However, bolder export type grades met some demand and were irregular and lower. While internal buyers and exporters were selective, HUL, Tata and Pakistan exporters did not operate. The demand was better in CTC dust segment, where the plainer teas sold Rs 2-3 per kg more than previous week. AVT, Indco and Tata operated on selective lines.

Ooty Train Turns 100

Wednesday, the historic mountain train, also called the Queen of hills will start a new journey up Nilgiri hills. Having completed its centenary run, the charming blue and cream train will look forward to many more years of huffing and puffing up the hills. The first mountain train powered by Swiss Automotive engine reached the abodes of Udhagmandalam (Ooty) on October 15, 1908. Those days, people were carried in dollies or walked a bridle path or on horsebacks to reach Ooty. Then slowly came the bullock-carts and chariots, which were used by the affluent class. The plan of building a mountain railway from Mettupalayam to the Nilgiri Hills was conceived in 1854 and it took a good 45 years to come to reality.

In 1899, the first train chugged up the track from Mettupalayam till Coonoor and it is still considered a marvel of engineering. Later on October 15, 1908, the train was extended to Ooty from Coonoor. Today, 100 years later, the Nilgiri Mountain Railway continues to serve people, mostly tourists. The average gradient is 1 in 12,28 feet and the 44.88 km railway line is the steepest in Asia.

Thetrain(also called Toy Train) travels through 208 curves, 16 tunnels and 31 major bridges. The train is scheduled to connect to the Nilgiri Express, which travels from Mettupalayam to Chennai. A summer special service is run during the months of April and May. Between Coonoor and Udagamandalam there are four trains daily. Despite incurring a loss of Rs 6 crore every year, the NMR, which was accorded the World Heritage Site status by the UNESCO, will continue to run, said union minister for state for railways R Velu recently.

He added that railways have placed orders with a manufacturer in Switzerland for four steam engines for NMR, each costing around Rs 10 crore. The Salem division spent about Rs 1.95 crore to upgrade passenger amenities at Ooty, Coonoor and Mettupalayam. “The stations were improved with laying of platform surfaces apart from building shelters and toilets,” said Om Prakash, PRO Salem division. He further said the railways would spend another Rs 63 lakhs for improving the circulating area in the three major stations.

Mr Prakash added that nearly 365 employees are working in the 44.88 km area of NMR and most of them are engineering staff. A senior employee told ET that if a separate administrative team, delinked from the Southern Railway, is set up and a special officer appointed , the NMR would fare better. Dharmalingam Vengopal, director, Nilgiris Documentation Centre said the Railways should seriously think of some kind of autonomy on the lines of Darjeeling Mountain Railway, which is run by an autonomous body and not just consider it as one more train in the Salem division.

Toy Train is picture perfect APART from tourists, the mountain train was a favourite of Bollywood and Kollywood. Day dreaming about his sweetheart, Joy Mukherji loses his suitcase in a Nilgiri Railway coach in 1964 in the movie ‘Ziddi’. In ‘Zamaane Ko Dikhana Hai’, Padmini Kolhapure, a poor girl wins over Rishi Kapoor who is pretending to be a rich boy. When the secret is revealed, she tries to run away from him, sitting on the lead carriage of the NMR.

The boy follows her and serenades her back with ‘Hoga tumse pyaraa kaun he kanchi’ on top of the train before it reaches Mettupalayam. What propelled the train to the box office hit was the song “Chaiyan chaiyan” in Mani Ratnam’s film ‘Dil Se’. Shot in 1998, Shahrukh Khan danced to the tunes atop the train. The most poignant scene shot at the Coonoor railway station was the last scene of the Tamil Movie ‘Moondram Pirai,’ in which a rejuvenated Sridevi is unable to recognise Kamal Hassan despite his enacting all tricks to kindle her memory. The most popular English movie shot at Nilgiris was David Lean’s ‘A Passage to India.’

Oak Tree Crying For Preservation

An oak tree planted by the founder of Ooty Sir John Sullivan in 1823 to mark the founding of the hill station, is crying for preservation. The 185-year-old oak tree has already lost several branches and is becoming weak each year. Sir John Sullivan, the then British Collector of Coimbatore to which the Nilgiris was then attached, first came to Ooty in 1822. A year later, he planted the oak tree in front of the Stone House to mark the founding of the hill station. The Stone House is now part of the Government Arts College.

To mark the centenary of the founding of Ooty, two oak trees were planted near the Sullivan tree. According to Nilgiris Documentation Centre director D Venugopal, “While the Sullivan tree is sick and crumbling, the other two are healthy.We need to save this priceless relic.” M Kumaravel, project officer of CPR Environmental and Education Centre, said: “Scientists or experts can recommend a suitable method for preserving the Sullivan tree. It is a soft tree whose lifespan is shorter when compared to other wild trees. However, the life of the Sullivan tree can be extended if preservation techniques are applied. Before that, the nearby plants should be removed to give strength to the tree.”

Exclusive Heritage Rose Garden

An exclusive Heritage Rose (wild rose) Garden is coming up on the premises of the Centenary Rose Park at Udhagamandalam. Horticulture Department, which is maintaining the four-hectare Centenary Rose Park established on May 20, 1995, has earmarked 1.5 acre for creating a heritage rose garden. The aim is to sustain the global reputation of the Rose Park, which was declared by the Federation of World Rose Society as a ‘Garden of Excellence’ two years ago.

Speaking to this website’s newspaper, manager of the park, Uma Rani, said: “We have planned to collect and plant 300 varieties of heritage roses in phased manner. Many varieties of wild roses grown before 1850 have not still been identified and propagated all over the world. After 1850 modern roses were produced through cross breeding of wild rose varieties. wild roses will be identified and collected through rose societies across the world with the help of the International Rose Society. Heritage rose plants are being collected from several countries, including the US, China, Australia and various places in India.

The rose societies across the world have come forward to assist in collecting them. Already the Kodaikanal unit of World Rose Society has collected 50 species and given to the rose park very recently.” The centenary rose park has, as on date, 3,600 varieties of roses with more than 40,000 plants that are all modern. The park started with 1,919 modern varieties with 17,256 plants to commemorate the centenary of the flower show at Botanical Garden.

CTC Dust Tea Touched Rs 100/Kg

CTC dust tea touched Rs 100 per kg for the first time at the weekly tea auction here on Friday. Contemporary Tea Auctioneers sold Karamalai Royal CTC tea of Peria Karamalai Tea & Produce for Rs 100 per kg. The lots containing 300 kg of red dust and 300 kg of super red dust were purchased by Shri Shakthi Associates and Solar Tea Traders respectively. Contemporary Tea Auctioneers CEO N Sriram told ET that since the Kochi auction was not held due to Onam , the demand was high at the Coimbatore auction.

“For the first time the CTC dust tea price has crossed Rs 100 per kg,” he added. Moreover, all the tea varieties saw a jump in prices of as much as Rs 6 per kg for certain varieties compared to the previous week. “Competition was strong this week,” said Tea Trade Association’s Coimbatore secretary S Sreekumar. Sale no. 37 of the tea auction in Coimbatore witnessed strong demand from major packeteers namely AVT, Tata Tea and Indcoserve for the CTC dusts.

Loose tea buyers and exporters operating from Pakistan also competed actively. “Prices appreciated by Rs 4 to Rs 6 per kg compared to the previous week in this category,” said Mr Sriram. Competition for CTC leaf was also strong with the prices advancing to the tune of Rs 5 to Rs 7 per kg compared to the previous week. “There was widespread demand from internal buyers with useful competition from exporters operating for Pakistan for teas with better leaf appearance,” added Mr Sriram. In all, 2,23,533 kg of CTC dusts and 1,36,072 kg of CTC leaf were offered for sale.