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Le-Meridien PGP Group Hotel Coimbatore, in Association with Yoshino Architects

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Corpn. buys new equipment to clean sewers

The Coimbatore Corporation armed itself with three new vehicles to clear choked sewers and pump out water from low-level areas.

Anshul Mishra, Commissioner, said the civic body had bought a jetting-cum-suction lorry and two suction lorries at Rs. 53.5 lakh.

The jetting-cum-suction lorry would flush water with heavy force into the chocked area in sewers and manholes. The suction vehicles would pump out water, sullage and sewage from low-level areas, roads, etc.

Mr. Mishra said the civic body bought the vehicles to better the implementation of the underground drainage (UGD) scheme.

At present, the civic body had a vehicle which catered to the needs of the 23 wards that were covered by the UGD scheme. The wards had 3,000 manholes and 24 km of sewerage.

The Commissioner also said that the civic body went in for the machines after the Supreme Court ordered ban on deployment of conservancy workers to clean sewers.

The new machines' usefulness would be felt once the Corporation extended the UGD scheme to all the 72 wards. Then the number of manholes would go up to 20,000 and sewerage lines to 650 km.

A Corporation official said the machines would be able to clear small block within three hours and big ones in six hours.

Coimbatore, first to get Fibre to the Home service

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), Coimbatore, on Friday launched the Fibre to the Home service for the first time in Tamil Nadu.

The service provides 100 Mbps broadband, voice call facility and Internet Protocol Television providing television channels to the television from the Optic Fibre Cable.

The service was launched by Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore, N. Kannan at a function held at Brooke Fields Mall in the city. M. Balasubramanian, Director of Brooke Fields, K. Mahesh of RMKV Silks, P.T. Mathews, Principal General Manager of BSNL and G. Muraleedharan, General Manager of BSNL, were present at the function.

Mr. Mathews explaining the service of Fibre to the Home said for the first time in Tamil Nadu optic fibre cable would be laid from the exchange to the door step of the customer to provide high speed internet up to 100 Mbps bandwidth.

In addition, voice call service and IPTV service would be also made available.

The base tariff for availing the same is Rs. 550 per month. Broadband plans with fixed monthly charge of Rs. 499 and above and 10 per cent of the monthly fixed charges shall be payable for broadband. Voice telephone services would be according to the existing landline phones and IPTV is according to the existing plans.

The entry cost is activation and installation charges of Rs. 1,500. It will be Rs. 750 for customers who make payment in advance for six months and will be free for customers who make the payment in advance for 12 months.

Recurring charges will be ONT modem charges of Rs. 100 per month but free up to March 31, 2011 and usage charges are as per the plan chosen.

Mr. Mathews said BSNL had optic fibre cables on almost all roads and the work would be just to take a small length of the cable from the road to the doors of the subscriber.

There would not be any constraint or delay in taking the services to the customers owing to works such as cable laying and the services could be instantly rolled out across the city, he said.

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Karunanidhi to kick off slew off projects in Coimbatore

 Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi will inaugurate the Rs. 100 crore project for a flyover at Gandhipuram on December 12, Minister for Rural Industries and Animal Husbandry Pongalur N. Palanisamy said on Tuesday.

He will also launch works for establishing a botanical garden on 165 acres at Gandhipuram, which is now part of the Coimbatore Central Prison premises. The park would be created on an outlay of Rs.100 crore in phases.

The first phase would be on 45 acres on an outlay of Rs.20 crore. The Chief Minister will also inaugurate the construction of the building of Anna University, Coimbatore, coming up on the Bharathiar University campus at Marudhamalai.

Mr. Karunanidhi will also start the repairs and renovation works of the 54-km Contour Canal of the Parambikulam – Aliyar Project at Rs. 150 crore.

The canal meets the irrigation and drinking water requirements of three revenue districts in Western Tamil Nadu — Coimbatore, Tirupur and Erode. The renovation of the canal would be done after nearly four decades.

The Chief Minister will also lay the foundation for a Rs.50-crore additional block in the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital and launch the Rs.27-crore modernisation of the Coimbatore District Co-operative Milk Producers Union (Aavin) plant.

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Coimbatore gears up for birthday

Coimbatore celebrates the anniversary of its birth on November 24, 1804 with the celebrated environmentalist-indologist-author Nandita Krishna flying down from Chennai to speak on ‘environmental concerns amid fast urbanisation’, it’s also time to reminisce on the many giants a couple of generations back, who had invested their money, toil and foresight in turning a little town and a cluster of villages to what it is today.

Not many in the present generation would know this birthday, though. “This is the first time we are attempting this elaborate initiative to spread awareness about the Coimbatore Day amongst our youngsters. We began celebrating the Day two years ago on a smaller scale but from now on, we are going to boast, justifiably, about our hoary past,” says Rajesh Govindarajulu, one of the architects of the Day celebrations.

He also happens to the grandson of the late P.A. Raju Chettiar, the doyen of the jewellers in this part of the country.

It is said that Saint Vyasaraja, the Rajaguru of Krishnadevaraya, had visited Coimbatore in the 16th century and established three of the 732 shrines of Hanuman he built across India.

“This only goes to prove Coimbatore’s strategic importance even in religious terms,” says R. Venkatesh Babu, MD of Sree Annapoorna Hotels. An Englishman, Sir Robert Stanes was among the pioneers who had lit the entrepreneurial fire in the region. In 1888, he set up the Coimbatore Spinning and Weaving Company Ltd, also known as Stanes Mills, after starting a coffee curing factory.

He helped several others to set up ventures of great significance to the development of Coimbatore. Lakshmi Mills Company was set up in 1910 at Papanaickenpalayam in the city and soon others followed, thanks to cheap labour and electricity from the Pykara hydel power station.

Even earlier, a retired railway engineer and maverick-millionaire called Swamikannu Vincent, had started movie theatres in the city and installed German power generators for his theatres. He then went on to establish the first electric printing press and a rice mill.

Coimbatore got electricity for the first time when the British government allowed him to supply his surplus generation to the little town. The lights that Vincent lit then never dimmed as one entrepreneur after another descended upon Kovai.

Textile mills, foundries, motor pump-set factories, model jewellery ventures, hospitals and educational institutions cropped up aplenty. There was also huge demonstration of unrestricted philanthropy from several of the prospering businessmen—S.P. Narasimhalu Naidu known as the Raja Ram Mohan Roy of the south and Rao Bahadur A. T. Thiruvenkataswamy Mudaliar, a multifaceted entrepreneur and Dewan Bahadur Sulur Lakshminarasima Iyer, to name just a few. Iyer had owned vast tracks of land and did much to the cause of sanathanadharma through the Sringeri Mutt.

“He never kept count of what he donated to whom,” says a Kovai insider.

Coimbatore to get first 5-star hotel

The high-end hospitality sector in Coimbatore is set to establish a new benchmark with the opening of the Rs 300-crore five-star deluxe hotel from the PGP Group under the ‘Le Royal Meridien' brand on Avinashi road near the airport on December 12.

While the city is geared to witness a rush of star hotels being launched in the next year or two, this may not result in a glut in view of the hectic industrial activity in the region and as its population profile and spending habits are different from cities like Chennai.

Speaking to The Hindu group here on Saturday, Dr Palani G. Periasamy, Chairman, Le Royal Meridien, Chennai (owned by Appu Hotels Ltd), said the nine-storey hotel has been established on 6.75 acres of land with a built up area of 7,00,000 sq ft.

It would be a very service-intensive hotel, having 256 rooms, employing about 600 people and managed by the Starwood Hotels group.

Coimbatore's advantages

Asked about the potential of the top-end hospitality sector in Coimbatore, particularly when the city may see nearly 1,000 star-category rooms being added within a short span, he said he wanted to create demand by providing the facility first.

Mr Periasamy pointed out that major towns surrounding Coimbatore — Karur, Erode, Tirupur, Pollachi, Udhagamandalam, etc. — had major and minor industries with international business transactions.

For these international customers quality accommodation was not available in Coimbatore and they had to stay in Bangalore or Chennai.

He said Coimbatore also enjoyed a crucial advantage in terms of spending population compared to even Chennai, where the big spenders are corporates, foreign tourists and high net-worth individuals.

The upper middle class population in Chennai was less in number, because the city had more salaried professionals, who had limited propensity to spend money on five-star comforts.

But in the Coimbatore region, because of extensive industrialisation, the upper middle income segment was very large with high spending potential, but till now they did not have an opportunity to spend.

He reasoned that the entry of a string of star hotels with high brand value, including the Taj Group, in the coming year or two into the city would “instead of diluting the market…strengthen the market”, particularly for promotion of the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) market. As the region has a good mix of consumers, creation of luxury products would meet the needs.

Expansion of the Coimbatore airport would be the icing on the cake.

Mr Periasamy said the hospitality sector which had earlier remained focused on the metros has started looking at tier-II cities such as Coimbatore, Kochi, Chandigarh, etc. Coimbatore is emerging as another Pune that has grown from a tier-II city into a metro.

As part of Le Royal Meridien, Chennai, there are now two hotels — at Chennai and Coimbatore — and another one on the ECR in Chennai was at the planning stage.

The holding company, Appu Hotels Ltd, manages a heritage luxury hotel at Kumbakonam, which belonged to Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation.

All group star hotels were under the same hotel brand because of operational advantages.

Facilities

He said the Coimbatore hotel would have an exclusive entertainment centre designed by a company from Thailand that would be launched later in the hotel complex.

The hotel sports the latest LED technology designed by an Australian lighting consultant.

It would have a very large swimming pool built on the terrace and would be an intensively landscaped hotel.

The hotel ballroom would be the largest in Tamil Nadu with a seating capacity of 2,000.

The spa and health club would be family-centric with 30,000 sq ft space.

There would be three restaurants serving different cuisines like Italian, Chinese, Thai and Indian.

Asked about the tariff, Mr Periasamy observed “it will be compatible with what is ruling in Bangalore, Chennai” and it “would not be less expensive” and pricing-wise “definitely it would not be cheap”.

The management's emphasis was on quality and it would bring five-star comfort, luxury and resources to Coimbatore to enjoy which the people here now are going to Mumbai, Bangalore or Chennai.

He said the Coimbatore hotel would be the first hotel, since the Le Meridien brand was acquired by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc, in November 2005, to be launched in India under Le Meridien brand with new brand standards.

The hotel would be formally inaugurated by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr Mr M. Karunanidhi.

Coimbatore set to get a revised Master Plan

The city is bursting at its seams and the footprints of development are found even beyond the suburbs around Coimbatore.

In such a scenario, the Directorate of Town and Country Planning has revised the Master Plan for the city and sent it to the Government for review consent.

The original plan was formed in the early 1990s. The revised plan has taken into account the ground level changes and considered the future needs of the city. It will be available for the public to give their suggestions and objections after the Government gives its consent.

The objections and suggestions will be studied and incorporated before the plan gets its final approval from the Government, according to the Director of the Town and Country Planning Pankaj Kumar Bansal.

An official of the department explains that the Master Plan forecasts a city's need for the next 20 years.

It estimates the current population and the population growth in another 20 years and decides the infrastructure and amenities needed.

This includes housing, roads, water supply and land use.

Field-level development in any city may not strictly reflect the Master Plan. Hence, the plan is revised every five years and the actual developments are incorporated in it.

The official says the Master Plan is important even to the common man as it provides details about infrastructure requirements such as roads and takes suggestions and objections from the public.

K. Kathirmathiyon, secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause, says the revised Master Plan for Coimbatore should focus on the new residential areas that have come up in the recent years and continue to come up now. Industries were also developing rapidly.

The growth of residential and industrial segments should be complementary. The Master Plan should also ensure that industrial development had adequate pollution control infrastructure.

“It should reflect reality and pave way for a planned future growth.”

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IndiGo to fly to Coimbatore from Nov 30

 Terming Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu as a key market, low-cost airline IndiGo Friday said it will start flight services connecting the national capital as well as Chennai to the southern city from Nov 30.

'Expanding operations in south India is in line with our growth strategy in the Indian market, and Coimbatore is a key market for us,' said Aditya Ghosh, president, IndiGo.

The company said the new flights highlight the airline's expansion plan and the month-on-month growth and was in-line with its growth strategy of emerging domestic sectors from south India.

'IndiGo will continue to expand its network to meet the requirements of both business and leisure travellers wherever they demand it,' Ghosh added.

Currently IndiGo operates 207 flights connecting 23 destinations across the nation.

Man attempts to spin 500 tops in five minutes in Coimbatore

A man tried to spin 500 tops in five minutes in Coimbatore in an attempt to create a new record.

Umit Raja, who has already mastered the skill of spinning 60 tops a minute, used his three fingers to rotate them.

"For a difference, I have tried to spin tops using my three fingers. To make things interesting and challenging I have attempted to make a record of spinning 60 tops in 60 seconds revolving in one go," said Raja.

Aishwarya, a spectator, said that she liked the idea of using fingers instead of threads to spin the toy.

"I came to know that a man was rotating tops using just three fingers, I did not believe it. I came to see this, and it was very amazing. In my childhood, I also used to rotate tops, using ropes, but he rotates tops only by his three fingers. It was really amazing to see that," said Aishwarya.

Raja admitted that he has had a fascination with tops since his childhood. He said the record would help children to play with an almost forgotten toy. 

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Global textile show to be held in Coimbatore

An international textile show, aimed at promoting small and medium industries, will be organised in Coimbatore next month, an official said Wednesday.

'For the first time, small and medium level dealers as well as emerging designers will get an opportunity to meet buyers from about 40 countries,' chairman of the Powerloom Development and Export Promotion Council (PDEXCIL), Bharat Chhajer, said.

The two-day show will commence Dec 4. Buyers from Britain, Spain, Africa, and Australia, among others, are expected to attend, he added.

'We hope to explore joint venture possibilities in manufacturing, marketing and technology,' he said.

PDEXCIL was set up by the ministry of textiles in 1995, and organises various exhibitions and promotional campaigns across the country.

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More bridges planned in Coimbatore

As many as 18 places have been identified in Coimbatore for road overbridges, according to Highways Minister M.P. Saminathan.

Inaugurating the road overbridge work at Irugur on Tuesday, he said works would start soon on these projects. The design was being prepared for the flyover proposed at Gandhipuram. During the last four-and-a-half years, 995 road and bridge works were taken up in the district at a total cost of about Rs. 880 crore.

The road overbridge across the Noyyal and the railway crossing (No. 144) at Irugur would be 1,107 metres long. It was coming up at a cost of Rs. 21.1 crore from the State Government and Rs. 11.05 crore from the Railways.

It would be completed in 18 months.

However, efforts should be taken to complete it in a year, he said.

During the last four-and-a-half years, 28 road overbridges were opened in the State and consent obtained for 104. The total length of the roads maintained by the Central and State Governments in the State was 61,674 km.

Minister for Rural Industries Pongalur N. Palanisamy said the State Government had taken steps during the last four years to ensure that benefits from various Government schemes reached every individual.

Several welfare schemes and development works had been implemented.

District Collector P. Umanath said efforts would be taken to provide street lights under the Namakku Naame Scheme at Irugur.

Valparai MLA Kovai Thangam and Thondamuthur MLA M.N. Kandasamy also spoke.

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Coimbatore-will-get-an-intl-airport-by-2014

Coimbatore will have its own international airport on the lines of the Devanahalli airport in Bangalore by July 2014. After months of protests by local villagers, the decks have been cleared for acquiring lands for the expansion of its existing airport. 

The Tamil Nadu government has given an assurance to Airports Authority of India (AAI) that the acquisition of around 612.97 acres of land required for the expansion works would be completed by next June. And the AAI can start construction works from next July. 

"The works would begin in a time-bound manner as soon as the acquisition process gets over. We need just three more years to finish the construction work. And on completion, it would be an all-new international airport, comparable only with the recently constructed international airports like Bangalore and Hyderabad," Airport Director Peter K Abraham told The Times of India. 

With an extended runway of 12,000 ft (it is 9,900 ft at present), it can facilitate landing and takeoff of wide-bodied and fat-bellied international flights. "What we are visualizing is not just a cosmetic expansion and renovation. It would be a total revamp keeping in view of the city's needs for another 30 years," said Peter. 

On completion, the main building with domestic and international terminals would come up in the area facing L&T Bypass and so the public can use it as the main entrance. There would be an entrance from Trichy Road as well. 

However, the present entrance from Salem Road would be closed and the existing airport building would be used to accommodate various offices of AAI and its affiliated organizations. 

Terming the expansion and renovation works as boosters to city's industrial and commercial growth, the airport director said the existing cargo terminal would also be expanded by doubling its present capacity of 40 tones at a time. 

The AAI has already earmarked Rs 300 crore for the renovation and funds would not be a constraint for the time bound completion of works, he said. "We are aware of the hurdles in the wake of land acquisition. The state government has agreed to give us 612.97 acres in the place of a demand for 848 acres. But the shortage in the availability of land would in no way affect the setting up of a fully international airport,'' he said. 

Meanwhile, revenue officials have started marking the outer boundaries for the extended airport in Kalapatti, Uppilipalayam, Singanallur, Irugur and Nilambur villages. The state government has already allotted Rs 350 crores for the land acquisition process and the identified plots would be taken over by giving suitable compensation. "The compensation amount for each affected family is yet to be fixed. Government has already expressed its consent for allocating more funds for compensation if the need arises. A special revenue officer and three tehsildars would be soon deputed to speed up the acquisition," district revenue officer A Shanmugha Sundaram informed. 

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Coimbatore – New Delhi direct flight from November 30

Indigo is introducing the first direct flight from Coimbatore to New Delhi besides one service via Chennai with effect from November 30.

The fares range from Rs. 3,324 to Rs. 3,574.

According to sources, the schedule of flight services are as follows: Flight Number 6E 285 (daily) will leave Coimbatore at 11.20 a.m. and arrive New Delhi at 2.20 p.m.

Flight Number 6E 286 on all days except Thursdays will depart Coimbatore at 4.50 p.m. and go via Chennai and reach New Delhi at 8.45 p.m.

Flight 6E 286 on Thursdays alone will depart Coimbatore at 5.40 p.m. and go via Chennai and reach New Delhi at 9.35 p.m. In the return direction, Flight 6E 285 will depart New Delhi at 6.45 a.m. and go via Chennai and reach Coimbatore at 10.50 a.m.

Flight 6E 286 on all days except Thursdays will depart New Delhi at 1.20 p.m. and reach Coimbatore at 4.20 p.m. Flight 6E 286 from New Delhi on Thursdays will depart at 2.10 p.m. and reach Coimbatore at 5.10 p.m.

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Setting up of 14 world-class universities gets approval

he National Development Council has approved setting up of 14 world-class universities for innovation across the 11th and 12th plan periods on the public private partnership model.

The innovation universities are part of the ministry of human resource development's (MHRD) "brain gain" policy to attract global talent and will be set up under the eleventh plan (2007-12).

The proposed universities will be set up in Bhubaneswar in Orissa, Kochi in Kerala, Amritsar in Punjab, Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh, Patna in Bihar, Guwahati in Assam, Kolkata in West Bengal, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Gandhinagar in Gujarat, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, Mysore in Karnataka, Pune in Maharashtra, Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Jaipur in Rajasthan.

According to ministry, three distinct approaches are possible in establishing these Innovation Universities. First, new Innovation Universities focused on distinct issues of national importance to India and building various disciplines and fields of research around such issues. The second approach is to identify a few among existing universities and other institutions of repute, and help these attain world class standards through innovation in chosen areas of knowledge with marginal top-up investment. The third approach is to identify a few educational hubs (cities) in the country where institutions and universities of excellence by national standards are located, and creating the architecture of an Innovation University by building synergies for inter-disciplinarity and strong research and teaching within these institutions.

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Greetings from Le Meridien Coimbatore!!!!!!!

We are proud to announce the first 5 star deluxe hotel for Coimbatore would be ready to serve you from 12th December 2010. Situated at proximity to the airport with 254 beautifully designed trendy rooms, 8 Food and Beverage venues and Meeting rooms is where the world meets and finds the solution.

Food and Beverage venues

Latest Recipe – Three Meal Restaurant serving multi cuisines for all day dining.

Peacock – Indian cuisine flavored with spices and condiments from across the nation.

Wok This Way – Asian restaurant serving the most relished food styles like:
· Teppnayaki – Japanese Grilled Food

· Mongolian – Local culinary traditions from Mongolian

· Chinese – Famous Handpicked recipes of china

· Malay – Malaysian Food with fresh aromatic herbs and roots.

Favola – Italian Fusion Cuisine Restaurant by the pool side.

Illy café – For coffee lovers with rich pastries and confectioneries.

Rest-O-Bar – A scenic Classy roof top pool bar where the sky is limit.

Latitude - Lobby lounge to chill out and relax across of distilled beverage.

Cigar lounge – Unique for upscale specialty tobacconist, serving cigars from round the globe along with liquors and apretifs.

Hint – Night joint meant for people who appreciate finer things in life with music to stir the soul and shake a leg.

The Meeting Place

The world meets at Le Meridien Coimbatore a simple urban resort for one-stop meeting solutions with Grand Kovai Ball Room which has a contemporary yet glamorous look with state-of-the-art technology. This is the largest in South-India, with the highest ceiling height of 22” feet, and is obstruction free with no pillars, chandeliers on top with 100,000 color schemes into it.

The hotel has 11 elegant function rooms ranging in sizes from 441 Sq. Ft to 1830 Sq. Ft.

In addition, the urban resort has the only most exclusive health club in South-India. Guests can enjoy the exclusive health club offering 4 different massages, a fully equipped gym, sauna, steam room.

The hotel has shopping arcade individually designed for women, men and kids.

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