Inadequate fund allocation is hampering the ambitious Noyyal river system revival or restoration project and the meagre allocation of Rs. 30 lakh per annum is just proving to be insufficient even for carrying out emergency repairs to the channels and tanks.

Noyyal that originates in Western Ghats near Poondi and runs through Coimbatore, Tirupur and Erode, to become a tributary for Cauvery, is the lifeline of these districts. It runs for 65 km in Coimbatore, 34 in Tirupur and 39 in Erode before joining river Cauvery in Kodumudi. The system was once catering to the irrigation needs of over 36,000 acres.

In the backdrop of power shortage, which makes charging inverters a difficult task, the Solar Energy Exhibition being held at Thiagarajar College of Engineering sought to convey the purpose of innovative solar chargers and various means of solar power generation and utilisation.

As many as 14 leading solar energy product manufacturers and suppliers from all over India showcased their products in the exhibition. Solar powered toys, lighting products and domestic solar power supplying appliances were exhibited.

Vaccine Vial Monitors to allay apprehensions of public regarding the dosage’s potency

A total of 3.39 lakh children in the age group of zero to five years have been targeted in Coimbatore district during the first phase of 18{+t}{+h}annual Pulse Polio Programme on Sunday (January 20). To allay public apprehensions on efficacy of the vaccine, Deputy Director of Health Services R. Damodharan informed that all vials contain ‘Vaccine Vial Monitors,’ a thermo-sensitive paper containing a white square inside a blue circle that would reflect the temperature of the vaccine which was susceptible to heat variations.

The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday announced a slew of drinking water projects.

According to a release, Rs 94.4 crore has been allotted to implement a project to provide water to people in 248 settlements in Kovilpatti, Kayathar, Ottapidaram, Vilathikulam and Pudur blocks in Tuticorin district. Another Rs 1.62 crore has been earmarked for annual maintenance of the project. Water from Thamirabarani river will be used for the project.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has detected four unauthorised dyeing units that were discharging effluents into River Noyyal through drains, during raids conducted over the last few days. Official sources said of the units, three were located at K. Chettipalayam and Thennampalayam in the Tirupur knitwear cluster and one in the hinterland.

“Two of the units have installed large scale winches that are capable of dyeing almost 500 kg of fabric in a ‘single lot’,” officials said. Of the other units, one was involved in the dyeing of accessories used in the apparels and another in small-scale dyeing of fabrics.

This paper examines the emergence of specific commodity complexes and transactional forms in eight interior districts in Tamil Nadu focusing on gherkins, marigold, broiler, cotton and papaya. Their growing importance is a response to the structural changes in the larger economy and the contextual constraints on agriculture in the region. It posits that this phenomenon represents an inflection in the trajectory of agricultural growth in the region because of three distinct features. First, the new commodity complexes have strong links to agribusinesses and global markets.

Urge State and Centre to expedite disbursal of compensation

Farmers affected by industrial pollution in the district have called upon the State and the Central government to expedite disbursal of compensation to those distressed by pollution by dyeing units besides making efforts to protect the precious natural resources. “Failure to protect our genuine interests will force us to put up our own candidates in the Lok Sabha elections,” the affected farmers have threatened.

The Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) has commenced reassessment of compensation to around 650 farmers in Tirupur district on whose land through which it would be laying underground pipeline to take liquefied natural gas from Kochi to Bangalore.

“This exercise is taken up only with an aim to enhance the compensation scale as many farmers have been expressing that the amounts initially fixed for laying the underground pipeline through their fields was inadequate to offset the cost of crops displaced to facilitate digging of earth,” GAIL officials told The Hindu .

A group of students from Frontline Academy Matriculation Higher Secondary School here has come out with a handy waste-converter model that can turn the poultry farm wastes and meat wastes from slaughter houses into biogas.

L. Pugazharasi, A. Jagadeesshwari, Bharath Kumar, R. Satieesh and S. Chandru, all Class XI students, who developed the gadget using a bag made of strong flexible waterproofed canvas and fitted with inlet and outlet valves, told The Hindu that the project was aimed at creating awareness among poultry farm owners and farmers about generation of biogas from such wastes and thereby, keep the poultry farms and slaughter house premise free of stench.

A Central Government appointed high-level team constituting the 6th Common Review Mission (CRM) under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has commenced concurrent evaluation and review of development works taken up in the district under NRHM, on Sunday.

The CRM team would be assessing the progress of NRHM works on 24 parameters relating to core strategies and central areas of concern by visiting the District Headquarters hospital, taluk and non-taluk level government hospitals, Primary Health Centres (PHCs), health sub-centres and villages over five days.

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