QChennai: Bus Fares Hiked; TTV Dhinakaran Accused of Overspending

Here is your roundup of the top stories from Chennai.

1. After Six Years, Tamil Nadu Government Hikes Bus Fares

Weighed down by spiralling fuel prices, fleet operating cost and other expenses including salary to its employees, the Tamil Nadu government on Friday announced an upward revision in bus fares, after a gap of six years. The revised fare will come into effect from Saturday.

While the mofussil fare for a distance of 10 km has been increased by one rupee in ordinary service, the fare for 30 km distance has been hiked from Rs 17 to Rs 24 in the express/semi-deluxe service category. The revision is steep in Volvo service (from Rs 33 to Rs 51), air-conditioned bus (Rs 27 to Rs 42), ultra deluxe (Rs 21 to Rs 33) and super deluxe (Rs 18 to Rs 27) categories. This is the second time that the bus fares have been revised in the State since 2001. The last revision was undertaken by the AIADMK government in November 2011.

(Source: The Hindu)

2. ‘TTV Overshot Expenditure Limit During Byelection’

DMK candidate N Marudu Ganesh, who lost the Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar bypoll to dissident AIADMK leader TTV Dhinakaran, has made a representation to the Election Commission (EC), accusing Dhinakaran of having spent well beyond the expenditure limit set by the poll body during the campaign.

In his representation, addressed to three electoral expenditure observers and the District Electoral Officer, Ganesh alleged that Dhinakaran had “incurred huge expenditure beyond the permitted level” and further claimed that the independent candidate had “suppressed” some of his expenditure.

(Source: The Hindu)

3. Court Stays Proceedings Against Vairamuthu

The Madras High Court on Friday stayed all further proceedings against lyricist Vairamuthu, pursuant to the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against him at the Kolathur police station, for having allegedly hurt religious sentiments by quoting certain remarks about Vaishnavite minstrel Andal in an article published in a Tamil daily on 8 January.

Justice MS Ramesh granted an interim stay after observing that he was unable to comprehend how the lyricist, who has now moved the court to quash the FIR, could be prosecuted “for having quoted from the book Indian Movements: Some Aspects of Dissent, Protest and Reform, in which Andal had been described as a devadasi.”

(Source: The Hindu)

4. LIC Not to Seek Aadhaar for Online Access

The Life Insurance Corporation of India on Friday said it will remove the mandatory requirement of providing Aadhaar number for customers to access their policy pages, saying it was “inadvertently done”.

Replying to an email sent to the Chairman on Thursday, the executive director corporate communications, LIC, said the earlier website was available without requesting the Aadhaar number. “Subsequent to the migration to a new portal, the LIC has planned to extend the range of facilities offered to our customers online,” the executive director said.

(Source: The Hindu)

5. ‘Tech Can Be Key in Treating Congenital Heart Defects’

Tamil Nadu, which lowered child mortality significantly in the past decade, could further the trend by investing in technology to treat congenital heart defects (CHDs), said experts.

R Krishna Kumar, head of the Department of Cardiology at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, said India had a huge burden with around 2-2.5 lakh babies born annually suffering from congenital heart defects. Around 80,000 have serious complications but though most of them only require a single corrective surgery to live a normal life, they often have no access to them, he said.

(Source: The Hindu)

6. A Space to Generate Superstar Ideas

Step into the ‘Thalaivaa Lounge’ on the third floor of the incubation cell at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras and you will feel all stress leave you, even if you are not particularly a fan of the Superstar.

Larger than life cut-outs of actor Rajinikanth from some of his most memorable movies welcome you into the den. You can practise Manickam’s inimitable style of driving the autorickshaw. Tamaswati Ghosh, the chief executive officer of the cell, said the idea was to enable people from offices to take a break.

(Source: The Hindu)

7. The Artful Way to Rejuvenate Cooum

The clean-up and restoration of the Cooum, the polluted waterway of Chennai, still eludes a comprehensive solution. Though government agencies are involved in chalking out and implementing ambitious projects, the fate of the waterway largely remains the same.

People seem to have turned away from the river. They need to be brought back to confront the waterway and accept it. The DAMned Art project is one of the initiatives of Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan to encourage citizens’ dialogue on the river and showcase the potential of art to bring in social change. Sustained and holistic efforts are needed to restore the polluted waterway, said the Institute’s director Helmut Schippert.

(Source: The Hindu)