1. 'No Need to Hype Dhivakaran's Outburst'
A day after Dhivakaran, brother of VK Sasikala, alleged that late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had left her former aide of 33 years unguarded, his nephew and sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran sought to do some damage control describing it as an emotional outburst. According to him, concerned over the current travails of Sasikala, Dhivakaran said that Jayalalithaa had left her aide unguarded after her death, but there was no need to blow this out of proportion.
Dhivakaran had contended that Jayalalithaa made full use of Sasikala during her lifetime but left her with no safeguards when she departed. Dhinakaran claimed that Dhivakaran was overcome by sibling affection when he made those remarks.
(Source: The Hindu)
2. Sinkhole on Anna Salai Again
A sinkhole was formed on the busy Anna Salai near DMS subway, where the underground Teynampet Metro Rail station is coming up, on Sunday evening. Traffic had to be diverted to minimise congestion. According to police and Metro rail staff at the site, the size of the sinkhole was increasing. “Hence, we barricaded the stretch to prevent movement of vehicles in the area,” said an police officer.
An autorickshaw’s front wheel got stuck in the sinkhole. According to Metro Rail staff at the site, work on constructing a staircase and installing an elevator to reach the road from the underground station was going on. Police said the stretch, damaged due to rains, was relaid a few days ago.
(Source: The Hindu)
3. Red Sanders Timber Worth Rs 16 Crores Seized from Chennai
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence seized 40 metric tonnes of red sanders, amounting to Rs 16 crores from godowns in Oragadam, Chennai. Three persons involved in the transportation and maintenance of godowns carrying out this illegal trade have been arrested.
The DRI had tracked down several private godowns operating very suspiciously in the automotive manufacturing area in city. Further investigation is underway to track down the entire nexus of smuggling. The issue of red sanders’ smuggling has attracted the attention of various enforcement agencies, particularly in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
Read the full story here.
4. Film That Portrays the Ordeal of House-Hunting Bags Award
To Let, a Tamil film that vividly portrays the ordeal of a lower middle class family hunting for a rented house, has found resonance among critics and won the best film award in the Indian Language Competition at the 23rd Kolkata International Film Festival. The award includes a memento featuring the Golden Bengal Tiger, Rs 7 lakh cash prize and a certificate.
“House-owners, who earlier refused to rent out their houses to bachelors, shed all their inhibitions as a group of bachelors can afford to pay an amount unheard of in the past,” said Chezhiyan, director of the film. The jury had given a handwritten appreciation letter to Chezhiyan, saying that he had taken “a mundane and ordinary story and lifted it to extraordinary cinematic heights.”
(Source: The Hindu)
5. In Cryptic Tweet, Kamal Haasan Slams AIADMK on Recent I-T Raids
After Friday's late night drama at late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden home in Chennai, Kamal Haasan on 19 November, Sunday, hit out at the ruling AIADMK government on Twitter.
The 63-year-old actor, who is an open critic of ruling AIADMK, wrote on the microblogging site that 'criminals should not rule' and people should 'turn judges and wake up'. ‘Theft by a government is a crime. Not proving after unravelling, isn’t it a crime too? The bell has been rung. Criminals should not rule. People should turn judges. Let’s wake up.,’ Kamal Haasan tweeted in Tamil on Sunday.
Read the full story here.
6. 'State Working Hard to Boost Investment Climate'
Tamil Nadu continues to work hard on improving the investment climate and is reworking aspects of industrial policy, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said. Speaking at the United Economic Forum (UEF) Trade Summit, he said, “I, once again, commend the efforts of the UEF Trade Summit 2017 in increasing the investments in Tamil Nadu and congratulate [the investors for] the investment commitments of Rs 71,750 crore by 2030 and the MoUs to the tune of Rs 2,600 crore, which have been signed on Monday.”
The MoUs include investments worth Rs 1,600 crore by JF&Sss (Singapore) Pte Ltd in the glass sector and Rs 650 crore in IT software and hardware, BPO and training centres by Unipro Software Pte Ltd Bari Capital and Developers Pvt Ltd has proposed to set up an Ayurvedic Centre, Senior Citizen Living and Sports Academy at an outlay of Rs 101 crore, while KAS Industries Pvt Ltd has proposed to invest Rs 50 crore for setting up a textiles and fabrics manufacturing unit.
(Source: The Hindu)
7. Avadi Residents Against Garbage Segregation Unit
Residents of Avadi are concerned over the proposal of the municipality to construct garbage segregation centre in the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) layout. The TNHB layout is one of the biggest residential localities comprising 8,000 houses and with over 30,000 residents in Avadi. A few months ago, the Avadi Municipality planned to construct a garbage segregation unit on a vacant land in Vivekananda Nagar of the TNHB layout.
The residents complain that the locality was already prone to flooding during the rains, and that they have been facing several health hazards due to poor garbage collection. If the garbage segregation unit comes up in the residential locality, it would only add to the health hazards, the residents claimed.
(Source: The Hindu)
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