Seeking to end the impasse over the Kudankulam nuclear plant issue, the Jayalalilthaa government in Tamil Nadu on Monday gave the go ahead to the controversial project and announced a Rs. 500 crore special development package for the area where it is located.

“In accordance with (today’s) Cabinet decision, immediate steps will be taken (to facilitate commissioning) of the plant,” Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said in a statement, breaking her silence over the issue.

CHENNAI: In a bid to ease parking problems, town planners have proposed five multi-level parking lots totally worth Rs 75 crore at five important locations in the city. Presenting a paper ‘Managing Parking Issues in Chennai', on the occasion of the golden jubilee year of the Institute of Town Planners, India, Tamil Nadu Regional Chapter, Chennai, A Shankar, senior vice-president – Strategic Consulting Jones Lang LaSalle, Chennai, India – said the areas identified for the proposed facility included the Broadway Bus Stand

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday called upon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to direct the Union Water Resources Ministry to delete “objectionable sub-clauses” from the draft Dam Safety Bill 2010.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, she recalled her previous communication, sent in July 2011, in which she had urged him to ensure that certain modifications/additions to the draft Bill were carried out so that interests of the State were protected. Then, it had been referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources.

If India's gross domestic product growth could reach 7.5 per cent from 3.5 per cent over the years without further addition of nuclear energy, the country can achieve similar growth in 100 years without nuclear power, said former Naval chief Vice-Admiral (Retired) L. Ramdas on Saturday.

Vice-Admiral Ramdas, who was part of a team of writers, artists and intellectuals who visited Kudankulam on March 15 and 16, told reporters that nuclear plants contributed to only 2.5 per cent of power requirements, while the rest came from non-nuclear plants.

Unable to take up mechanisation due to water, power shortage'

Expressing concern over the “bleak prospects” for agriculture sector on account of various factors, the Tiruchi District Cauvery Delta Farmers Welfare Association has appealed to the government to amend the Land Ceiling Act and encourage cooperative and corporate farming in the State.

The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to take immediate steps to stop mining operations by encroachers on government lands.

“If the State or the authorities concerned do not take any steps to stop such illegal mining, then the court shall have no option but to presume that the persons concerned are also interested in continuation of such illegal activities,” the First Bench comprising Chief Justice M.Y.Eqbal and Justice T.S.Sivagnanam observed in its order while dismissing three writ petitions.

Tamil Nadu's scorecard for the decade is well ahead of the national average

Tamil Nadu, acknowledged widely as one of the progressive States, has lived up to this image through its enhanced performance, over the last 10 years, in most of development parameters except sanitation.

“The agreement signed during the previous Congress regime was in favour of private firm”

Recently, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, on more than one occasion, expressed his displeasure over the substance of the agreement reached between local bodies and the selected private player to manage solid waste in Puducherry.

The ‘nalla thanni kulam' (good or pure drinking water pond) is an ancient water body in Venkatamangalam Village Panchayat of Kattankulathur Panchayat Union in Kancheepuram District. Long time residents of this village recalled that the tank was the only source of drinking water for residents.

“Even during the time of the zamindari system a few decades ago, the water from the pond was the source for the zamin family,” said Vembuli Mariappan, in his late sixties.

Tiruvallur district will soon get its fifth reservoir to meet the growing drinking needs of Chennai. The Water Resources Department has initiated the process by inviting bids from firms for consultancy service to conduct environment studies for the project.

The consultants are required to get clearance from Environment Impact Assessment Authority of Central government for the proposed reservoir with a capacity to hold up to one thousand million cubic feet of water, by filling it twice.