Space constraints and the absence of modern infrastructure have prompted 35 textile manufacturing and processing units in Madurai to shift base to Kariapatti in neighbouring Virudhunagar district.

The units manufacture yarn and process them into fabrics before exporting them to various places. The units in Madurai generate an annual revenue of Rs. 100 crore by direct export and Rs. 350 crore by indirect export within India and to the US and the UK.Ritan N. Thakker, Chairman and Managing Director of Southern District Textile Processing Cluster, told The Hindu that 35 of the 70 units in Madurai would form a cluster at Kariapatti where 104 acres of land had been purchased. The industrial units had registered their names at the District Industries Centre in Virudhunagar and once the formalities were over, the construction of industrial units will begin.

Villagers of Gopalapuram registered their protest against sand quarrying in their vicinity on Wednesday.

Members say it will help ganja cultivators, encourage poaching

The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court on August 7 rejected a proposal cleared by the Tamil Nadu Government for laying a road connecting Karumbarai in Theni Forest Division with the grizzled giant squirrel sanctuary near Watrap in Virudhunagar district. According to Ministry of Environment and Forests sources, the CEC, after inspecting the areas in Theni and the sanctuary on June 13, held public hearing on four occasions. The last one was on August 7, at which it announced the rejection of the proposal.

Wildlife officials have submitted a proposal to the State Government to create a new tiger reserve in the existing Grizzled Giant Squirrel sanctuary in Srivilliputhur in Virudhunagar district.

Shekhar Kumar Niraj, Conservator of Forests, Virudhunagar Circle, says that in the recent population monitoring exercises, tigers were sighted frequently in the sanctuary's middle and upper ridges. In the recently concluded census, participants sighted an adult tigress with two of her cubs in the foothills of Rajapalayam Range of the sanctuary.

It will be taken under rural employment guarantee scheme

The State Rural Development Department has planned to remove encroachment on scores of water bodies, falling under its jurisdiction, and restore the storage of the water bodies to their original capacity.

Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has asked all the local bodies of Madurai district to establish plastic waste collection centres and dispose them of at cement kiln of Madras Cements in Virudhuna

VIRUDHUNAGAR: Distribution and retail sale of Endosulfan pesticide have been banned, Virudhunagar Collector, V.K.

To be implemented at a cost of Rs.597 crore

BENEFICIAL:Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin laying foundation stone for the water schemes near Rajapalayam on Monday.

RAJAPALAYAM: Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday laid the foundation stone for three Tamiraparani combined drinking water schemes for Virudhunagar district to be implemented at a cost of Rs.