Central Bank of India plans to develop SME business in Coimbatore

Central Bank of India is looking at developing its Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SME) business here, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank S. Sridhar told presspersons here on Saturday.

“Coimbatore is an important centre for us,” he said. “We are rediscovering Coimbatore.” It had a large number of textile units and was an engineering hub, especially the small and medium scale units. The bank registered 53 per cent growth in the SME portfolio last year (2009-2010). So, it wanted to develop its SME business here.

The bank would shortly have a specialised branch for the mid-corporate sector with focus on medium-size units. The bank's exposure in these units would be Rs. 10 crore to Rs. 150 crore. Another branch would focus on the SMEs. The education loan portfolio of the bank was Rs. 1,350 crore. It grew by about 35 per cent last year. There were a number of untapped areas here in this sector too, he said.

The bank had 10 branches here. One new branch would be opened in Coimbatore and another in Namakkal this year. The bank's emphasis was on technology. It had introduced several technology-based products. On a pilot basis, it was trying out IT application in financial inclusion at Kota and Patna.

The capital adequacy ratio was 12.24 per cent. It was looking at increasing the tier I capital to eight per cent from 6.83 per cent as the bank was targeting 20 per cent growth this year.

Though the gross Non Performing Assets (NPAs) came down to 2.29 per cent in 2009-2010, bed debts had increased by Rs. 100 crore mainly because of small loans. The overall recovery performance of the bank was good. It recovered Rs. 620 crore last year and hoped to recover Rs. 750 crore this year.

CIDC plans training programme for diploma students

The Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) plans to organise here a training programme for civil engineering diploma students every year.

Former chairman of the Builders' Association of India, Coimbatore Centre, G. Srinivasan, told The Hindu here on Saturday that a pre-employment training programme was held at Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya from May 24 to 29. Of the 54 candidates who participated in it, 44 had just completed their studies and were recruited by construction companies.

From next year, the council would organise the programme during the final semester so that more students benefitted.

CIDC - Tamil Nadu Advisory Group member M. Nagaraj said the council was an arm of the Planning Commission. Its main objective was to represent the issues of the construction industry to the Government. Its other priority areas were common conditions of contract and skill development.

“The diploma students went straight to the field when recruited. Through a week-long programme they learn the intricacies of the industry,” he said.

Ampere to start second unit

Ampere Vehicles, a Coimbatore-based manufacturers of electric vehicles, plans to start another manufacturing plant.

Its General Manager (Operations) B. Ramachandran told The Hindu recently that the company had started identifying land and was likely to open it in a year.

The existing unit at Sulur had the capacity to produce 100 vehicles a day. The two-year old company had sold about 2,000 vehicles so far.

Ampere manufactured 22 models now, including two-wheelers, three-wheelers and customised electric vehicles. The focus would continue to be on its base product – two wheelers.

The company had won a bid to supply about 540 special vehicles, customised for the differently-abled, to the Tamil Nadu Government. It was planning to open about 120 dealership outlets this year across the four Southern States.

On the three-wheeler segment, Mr. Ramachandran said the company expected a substantial increase in market for load carriers that could be used to transport cylinders, water bottles and within institutions. Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ampere Hemalatha Annamalai has said in a release that the company had a technical collaboration with a Japanese company and the National University of Singapore. Currently, the vehicles were financed through Shriram Finance. The State Bank of India would extend retail finance to Ampere's customers soon.

Signature campaign, handbills to spread awareness on ill-effects of tobacco

Development works for Tamil meet to be completed soon: Mayor

BEAUTIFICATION: Workers fixing tiles along a roadside park at V.O.C. Park Grounds in the city, as part of the works for the World Classical Tamil Conference.

All the infrastructure development works for the World Classical Tamil Conference, including the ones being implemented by the Coimbatore Corporation, will be completed by June 10, Chairman of the City Development Committee for the conference and Mayor of Coimbatore R. Venkatachalam said on Thursday.

“We have completed 75 per cent to 85 per cent of the works. Instructions have been given to complete the rest by June 10,” the Mayor said.

Focus

“The major focus is on completing the works on Avanashi Road and Tiruchi Road soon. We have to get Avanashi Road ready for the conference related procession on June 23. Owing to the procession, the entire traffic will be diverted through Tiruchi Road. So, both these thoroughfares will have to be ready by June 10,” the Mayor said.

The improvements to roadside parks and the creation of new ones along footpaths and the V.O.C. Grounds would be completed by June 5, the Mayor said.

While the Corporation was spending Rs.7.36 crore on improvements to existing parks and Rs.97.85 lakh on creating the ones along roads, those on the margins of the footpaths are being put up by private parties under the public-private partnership.

“Works are apace to install high-mast lamps at 19 places in the city at Rs.96.40 lakh.We have already installed new lamps on Avanashi Road and will complete soon the rest of the road and also the entire Mettupalayam Road within the city,” he said.

On whether Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin were upset during their recent visit over the pace of works, the Mayor said: “Words such as ‘bad' or ‘slow' were not used. They only wanted us to speed up the works further”.

The pace of construction of the bridge across Sanganur Canal at S.N.R. College and the works on the Rangavilas Mill Scheme Road was being stepped up, the Mayor said.

CM's advice

The Chief Minister was against huge cut-outs of his or of anyone else in the State Cabinet or the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam hampering traffic and pedestrian movement on the city's roads during the conference, the Mayor said.

Cut-outs of eminent Tamil litterateurs or historical personalities from the State could be put up well into the margin of the roads so that traffic was not hit.

“The Chief Minister told us that paintings on walls should depict only historical events in the State and trace various phases in Tamil literature. He did not want his name or those of others in the Ministry painted large on the walls in the city,” Mr. Venkatachalam said.

CCC looking to link with Indian business to use Indo-Lanka FTA

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) says it is looking to establish links with businesses in Cochin, Coimbatore, Pollachi and Chennai, to maximise on the Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA).

The CCC Trade Fair Unit took a seven member business delegation from Sri Lanka to the four Indian cities recently and met with trade chambers and 75 organisations, said the Ceylon Chamber in a press release.

Sri Lankan businesses noted that the ISFTA has been in place for the past 10 years and by now six airlines and 14 shipping lines are operating between India and Sri Lanka. Local businesses noted that opportunities are also emerging in Sri Lanka’s North and East with the end of conflict and with the Hambantota port development.

“Logistics have improved a great deal, the climate is conducive, and tourism is picking up. Sri Lanka is a launching pad to manufacture and export under the ISFTA and I feel this is an ideal opportunity for the Indian business community to enter into joint ventures,” said the leader of the CCC business delegation and Chairman of IFCO, Sarath De Silva.

This is the first time that the CCC has explored the cities of Cochin, Coimbatore and Pollachi. Polllachi in particular is seen as an untapped area with great potential. The President of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Cochin also expressed interest in entering into a MOU with the CCC.

NU Street plans ERP solutions for machine shop

NU Street Technologies Private Limited, a Chennai-based company, plans to come out with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions for the machine shop vertical, according to its General Manager, Vijayasarathi M. Kalle.

He told The Hindu here that the company had ERP solutions for specific verticals such as forging, textile spinning and healthcare.

The one for machine shop would be launched in July.

Mr. Kalle said the company had studied the use of ERP solutions in about 100 textile mills before launching the product (NU Spin) for the mills. It was found that most of the mills with over 15,000 spindles had some sort of Information Technology application. However, the benefits were not realised fully.

“The fruit of ERP is the possibility to take key decisions based on certain critical inputs.” Hence, the company had come out with business manager concept that was geared towards the Managing Director of the mill.

The three-year-old company had 17 customers.

It would start marketing through seller meets and partners. It was also making the business manager available for textile mills on cloud computing, he said.

Tamil computer expo from June 23

Tamil computer exhibition will be held along with the World Classical Tamil Conference at CODISSIA Trade Fair complex from June 23 to 27. A release said that stalls would be set up on various themes such as e-governance, Tamil multi-media and Wikipedia.

World Tamil meet: Security measures discussed

Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) K.Radhakrishnan holding a meeting to review security arrangements for the World Classical Tamil Conference, in Coimbatore on Saturday.

Top police officials on Saturday discussed and reviewed the security arrangements to be in place in and around the region, in view of the World Classical Tamil Conference, scheduled to begin here from June 23.

The review meeting, presided over by the State ADGP (L and O), K. Radhakrishnan, discussed the requirement of police force for the security, particularly at the venue, CODISSIA Complex, the route of procession, special stage for VVIPs to view the procession and places where the VVIPs and delegates staying.

West Zone IG, P Sivanandi, DIGs of different ranges in the State, including Balanagadevi, Thamaraikannan, Balasubramanian, Balachandran, Amalraj and Armed Reserve DIG, Jayaraman participated in the meeting, police said.

It was estimated that around 15,000 police personnel were required as part of the security in and around the city alone, they said.

Aegis launches Institute of Customer Experience Managemen

Aegis Limited, a leading global business process outsourcing (BPO) provider and part of the Essar Group, today announced that it has joined hands with leading academic and industry partners to launch the first of its kind education venture in the country, which promises to fulfill a very clear need gap faced by the services industry in finding the right talent.



Aegis, Indian Institute of Management – Indore (IIM- I), Service Quality (SQ) Centre (SQ Centre), and Customer Operations Performance Center (COPC Inc.) have come together to launch Institute of Customer Experience Management (ICEM), a first-of-its-kind institute designed to train students specifically for the service industry (retail, BFSI, ITeS etc.) through focusing on the customer experience and customer life time value. Subir Ghosh, President, President - Aegis Global Academy, is spearheading the venture.



The inaugural centre opens in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, with the first batch commencing classes from August 2010. Spread across 40,000 square feet of state-of-the-art infrastructure, ICEM plans an intake of 400 students for the 15-month post graduate residential programme, which has been specially designed by IIM- I, SQ Centre, and COPC Inc. in active consultation with the industry.



Aparup Sengupta, Managing Director and Global CEO, Aegis Ltd., said, “India is a service economy and hence for the services sector, customer is the very raison d'être. While we have several institutes teaching other business aspects like finance and marketing, academically customer experience management has still not found its due recognition even though the industry very well understands and appreciates its importance. This disconnect results in huge training cost and re-orientation for the employer and employee. We are extremely delighted to have found such able partners in IIM-I, SQ Centre, and COPC Inc. in this novel venture to prepare future-ready managers.”



The unique highlight of the programme is its 65% weightage to work experience comprising managing live customer channels of contact and internship opportunities, and 35% weightage to theory, totally leading to 100% job readiness. Students can opt to specialize in any of the five sectors, viz. telecom, banking, insurance, retail, and ITes. Besides IIM – I faculty, SQ Centre trainers, and COPC auditors, the students would be taught by industry professionals, giving them the right mix of theory and industry knowledge.



“There is an urgent need of the hour for people specialized in the aspects of customer experience management and customer lifecycle management, concepts that drive profitability in the services industry. We are happy to partner with Aegis and bring to forth this unique programme which we are confident will find takers from the industry. After all, it is designed by the industry itself,” said Prof Ravi Chandran, director, Indian Institute of Management – Indore.



“SQ Centre, with her extensive global experience in defining and certifying customer experience management, is the de facto standard for excellence. This marks our first foray in India partnering an education institute in India to instill the concept and importance of customer experience right at the foundation level itself. We are pleased to share our insights in customer experience management which will definitely add value to the industries,” said Dr. Buck P. Tang, Group Director and Principal Consultant, Service Quality (SQ) Centre.



“As the leading authority on quality standards for processes in the service industry, our standards provide a high performance set of global best practices and benchmarks that simultaneously increase service quality and customer satisfaction while lowering costs. COPC will bring to the table the same rigorous quality processes used by over 1,500 organisations across sectors and geographies,” said Cliff Moore, Chairman and Co-Founder, COPC Inc.



Aegis has already tied up with leading services companies in banking, telecom, insurance and retail for industry-academia partnership and also for interning and placements opportunities for the students.

Bombay Dreams,,,

A view of the restaurant 'Bombay Trombay' at R.S. Puram in Coimbatore..

Two chillies, one fiery red and the other a vibrant green make up the snappy logo of Bombay Trombay. If the buzz has not reached you foodies yet, there is a new place in town. Quite simply called Bombay Trombay, it immediately conjures up bhaji on the beach. There is no beach, but plenty of the other good stuff.

Splashes of red, yellow and green greet you as you seat yourself. Bright neon-lit signs flash the names of counters, which will have all Mumbaikars in Coimbatore sighing with nostalgia. Chowpatty, Haji Ali juice Centre, Central Mumbai, Gateway of India, Marine Drive and Arabian Tent serve up the goodies.

Bombay Trombay is located at No. 20, East Venkataswamy Road, R.S. Puram.

Renovated airport to receive Tamil conference delegates

The front view of the extended terminal building coming up at the Coimbatore airport.

The terminal building at the Coimbatore airport is being expanded and the newly constructed area will be used exclusively for domestic and international arrivals. It is expected to be ready for receiving delegates for the World Classical Tamil Conference.

D. Devaraj, Regional Executive Director, Airports Authority of India (AAI), Southern Region, has told The Hindu that after the expansion, the building area will go up from 6,000 sq m to 14,000 sq m. The enhanced terminal building area will be able to handle up to 700 passengers in both arrival and departure sections.

The work began in January last year and AAI has so far spent Rs.78 crore.

A new parallel taxi track, laid at a cost of Rs.31 crore; four state-of-the-art fire tenders; extension of runway; new fire station and a workshop are some of the other facilities added to the airport.

The new parallel taxi track was commissioned recently, Mr. Devaraj said.

Originally there was no air-condition facility at the Coimbatore airport. However, the expanded area will be totally air-conditioned. Facilities such as escalators and lifts will be added to it.

AAI will also provide two aerobridges at the Coimbatore airport. It is planning to dismantle aerobridges at the old Bangalore airport and re-install them in Coimbatore.

The AAI has asked the State government to allocate 613 acres for the new terminal building.

The existing area of the airport is only 603 acres. If the State government allocates the land, facilities, including a new apron, will be constructed. The new building will be able to handle a total of 1,200 passengers in both arrival and departure sections. AAI has finalised the plan.

Work on three new parking bays and increasing the car parking facility are some of the other development works taking place at the airport. At present the airport sees 42 aircraft movements per day and handles 3050 passengers, Mr. Devaraj adds.

Toyota Q World auto show in Coimbatore on May 30

An exclusive auto show by Toyota Kirloskar Motor- Toyota Q World will be held in the city on May 30 at Anaamalais Toyota, Mettupalayam Road between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. The show will have an exciting array of vehicles, including its new compact car- Etios.

The Delhi Auto Expo had customers coming to see the world premiere of the Etios concept and its latest technology; however the Toyota Q world will take this experience ‘to the customer'. Customers eagerly awaiting the launch of Etios will now get an opportunity to see the vehicle in their own city.

The exhibit will also include the current line up of Toyota products such as the New Prado Diesel and Fortuner. Various events are also to be arranged.

The show will give the customers a ‘touch and feel experience' of Toyota vehicles.

New traffic plan

City Police Commissioner, C. Sylendra Babu said that as part of the various initiatives to decongest the city roads, the NH Road – Mill Road Junction to Sukrawarpet is being made an one-way and a trial implementation of this would be done on May 29.

A release said that vehicles will not be allowed to proceed towards Sukrawarpet from NH Road – Mill Road Junction.

Vehicles from Sukrawarpet towards NH Road to Mill Road will be allowed to ply as usual.

From the flyover, heavy vehicles should take the Goods Shed Road and proceed further.

Light Motor Vehicles and two-wheelers from flyover could proceed up to NH Road junction on Mill Road and from there vehicles will be diverted via NH road, VH Road, Idayar Street, R.G. Street, Sukrawarpet road and then proceed to Gandhipark or towards Northern side via Flower Market, Mettuppalayam Road.

Vehicles from Flower Market to Sukrawarpet will have to take the Theppakulam road, Lingappa Chetty Street, NH Road – Mill Road Junction and proceed further.

Vehicles from Oppanakkara Street bound for Western part of Coimbatore would have to take the Idayar Street, RG Street, Sukrawarpet Junction and proceed via Gandhipark or via Flower Market and Mettuppalayam road.

Vehicles from Oppanakkara Street towards flyover could take the Oppanakkara Steet, Mill Road and reach Avanashi Road flyover.

Gowtham awaits chance for promoting Tamil ambigrams at Tamil meet

AWAITING A CHANCE:S. Gowtham displaying his Tamil ambigrams.

Even as the entire State is gearing up for the World Classical Tamil Conference, here is S. Gowtham, a student of Computer Science at Amrita School of Engineering with a series of Tamil ambigrams that can take the language a step forward.

Ambigram is a design or art form that may be read as one or more words when looked at angles of 90 or 180 degrees. The words readable in the other angles may be the same or different from the original words. One such ambigram that Gowtham has created is Kalaignar that can also be read as Muthalvar (Chief Minister).

“Tamil can be a very flexible language for ambigrams,” says Gowtham. He adds that the language is older than the ambigrams and has the ability to blend itself with other languages which could help in mutual understanding between people of different nationalities, thus, helping break language barriers. With ambigrams, proficiency in a particular language would no longer be an issue.

Ambigrams came into focus after the release of books by Dan Brown namely the ‘Da Vinci Code' and ‘Angels and Demons'. They can be very helpful in passing secret messages between defence personnel and networking services.

Gowtham says that there are many English ambigrams available on the Net but when it comes to Tamil, there are hardly any. He has done around 20 Ambigrams, a few of them being The Hindu-Unmai (Genuine), DMK-Tamil, out of his passion for the language and wishes to get them into the World Classical Tamil Conference and prove that Tamil is one of the best Asian languages ever.

Gowtham looks forward to creating ambigrams that can be used to compress text. One of the main features of ambigrams is that it can compress and encrypt the text in a single step. He says that with the help of ambigrams one can compress a given text to half of its size. Gowtham is currently working on his book for ambigrams that will contain 676 combinations of letters.

The World Classical Tamil Conference that will contain great Tamil literary works can have a space for Tamil ambigrams that can generate curiosity amongst the public. He looks forward to a chance to draw the attention of the scholars to do more Tamil ambigrams with their help. At present, he is on his own and there are no set standards or guidelines for preparing Tamil ambigrams. “I want these ambigrams to become popular to take Tamil to more people and make them understand the rich legacy of this language.”

He is at present knocking the doors of the Collector and officials involved in World Classical Tamil Conference arrangements for a chance in the form of a small corner in the exhibition hall. Once ambigrams make a foray into Tamil, they will become more popular, he says.

SOURCE FOR TODAY'S POST:: HINDU

Traffic plan trial on Saturday

As part of the efforts to streamline traffic flow in congested pockets, various measures were being experimented with across the city.

City Police have planned a trial of one-way on Bharathiar Road and VKK Menon Road for one day on Saturday.

Objective

The objective of the trial is to ease congestion at Gandhipuram RV Hotel round-about, Bharathiar Road areas.

A release from City Police Commissioner, C. Sylendra Babu said that during the trial period on May 29, vehicles from Women's Polytechnic bound for Gandhipuram would be diverted via Avarampalayam Road and VKK Menon Road.

Vehicles will not be allowed on Bharathiar Road to reach Gandhipuram.

Similarly vehicles from Gandhipuram would have to take the Bharathiar road to reach Women's Polytechnic and proceed further to their intended destination.

Gandhipuram

From Gandhipuram vehicles will not be allowed on VKK Menon Road.

Vehicles from Aavarampalayam Road will not be allowed to reach Women's Polytechnic and they would have to proceed via VKK Menon Road and take one of the lanes in order to join Bharathiar Road and then subsequently reach Women's Polytechnic.

Mr .Sylendra Babu has requested the people to extend their co-operation for the trial run in a bid to achieve the objective of removing congestion on roads.

AFNHB Coimbatore project takes off

AUSPICIOUS BEGINNING:Rear Admiral R. Gaikwad (second right), Director General, Air Force Naval Housing Board, taking a look at the plan of the welfare housing scheme to come up at Ganapathy in Coimbatore, after laying the foundation for it on Thursday. Wing Commander M.J. Bobby (right), Project Director, is in the picture.

The welfare housing project of the Air Force Naval Housing Board (AFNHB) took off at Ganapathy here on Thursday.

First of its kind in Coimbatore, the foundation for the Rs. 88-crore project to come up on 13-odd acres, was laid by Rear Admiral R. Gaikwad, Director General, AFNHB. The contract for execution of the project has been given to Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Limited.

Launching the project, Rear Admiral Gaikwad said it would have 372 dwelling units besides a swimming pool, community centre, and jogging path. “The project is scheduled to be completed in two years taking into fact the satisfaction of the allottees. The construction will be fast paced with focus on three key areas – quality, safety, and ensuring completion on time,” he said.

The project was aimed at providing affordable accommodation for serving and retired Air Force and Naval personnel. So far, 29 such projects had been executed in various parts of the country. At present, 10 were on-going, Coimbatore being one of them. The scheme in Shimla had just been completed and another one in Bhubaneswar was to be launched shortly, the Rear Admiral said.

“The board procures land from the government at economical rates for execution of these projects. Proximity of hospitals and schools are taken into consideration before identifying land,” he added.

V. Reghunath, Assistant Director (Works), AFNHB, said there would be four categories of houses for the officers, and two categories for the sailors and airmen.

“A model house / flat in each of the six categories will be ready in eight months. The approximate cost of each dwelling is being worked out with the contractor and the allottees will be intimated the price soon taking into consideration the escalation rates and upgraded specifications. Since the project is slated for completion in two years, the payment schedule will be staggered for seven to eight instalments,” Mr. Reghunath said.

With regard to availing of loans for the project, he said the required documents of Plan Approval, and Land Registration were available, and a Tripartite Agreement among the bank, board, and the allottee, should facilitate sanction of loans.

Only on completion of the project in its entirety, dwelling units would be allotted by number / floor / block by draw of lots by an allotment committee to the allottees.

Wing Commander M.J. Bobby, Project Director of the Coimbatore project, besides serving and retired Air Force and Naval personnel, were present.

‘World will need new science to face challenges'

REWARD FOR HARD WORK: Baldev Raj, Distinguished Scientist and Director, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Reserach, Kalpakkam (second right), handing over degree certificate to a candidate at the graduation of the science stream of PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore on Monday. R. Rudramoorthy, Principal of the college, is in the picture.

“Today's world faces many challenges. It requires innovations to overcome these challenges. Climate change is not the only threat. There are many like acidity of oceans, the nitrogen / phosphorus cycle getting disturbed. The world will need a new science,” Baldev Raj, Distinguished Scientist and Director, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, said here on Monday.

Delivering the graduation day address for the science stream at the PSG College of Technology, he said real science was very different from absorbing science by learning. Real science was learnt by experience / experimenting.

Faith

“India, too, is facing many challenges. Only 40 per cent of Indians have faith in science and technology. They believe that we have achieved great heights in scientific creations. The rest have no faith. For them the dream has never begun. Making this group proud of the country's science is the greatest challenge,” Mr. Raj said.

Even though India had a long way to go to become a developed nation, it had the opportunity to grow at a fast pace.

“The U.S. is struggling because it is not competent to face the present economy. China's growth is in shades of grey. Nobody knows how its economy is growing”.

Urging the young graduates to be innovative, he cautioned them to be ready for failures.

“The science you learn is different from the science you will face outside the portals of college. Hence, you are bound to fail. But, do not let the failures deter you. You have to fight till you realise your dream,” he said.

The only way they could overcome failures was by keeping up to date. “Your aim in life should be to harness science through your career. But, so much is happening in science. If you do not read about the latest developments and apply them to your area of work, you will not be successful.

Lamenting that ethics were becoming dearer, Mr. Raj said that though the general perception was that education and hard work brought success, if it was not accompanied by ethics, then it could be not be termed success in the true sense of the word.

“In the earlier days, pursuing scientific research or a scientific career was difficult because the nation's resources were limited. But, now the resources are abundant in India. But, we get very few who are interested in science per se. There is always a question whether to pursue science or branch off into management or any other stream after graduation,” he said.

MDMK to block all roads to Kerala today

Protesting against the continued injustice meted out to Tamil Nadu by the Kerala government in all inter-State water disputes, and the biased attitude of the Centre, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and like-minded organisations will block all roads to Kerala on Friday, said general secretary of the party Vaiko here on Thursday.

They will stage a token one-day blockade of roads to Kerala at Kande Gounden Chavadi, Vezhanthavazham, Anaikatti, Gopalapuram, Nadupuni, Vazhanthayamaram in Coimbatore, Cumbum, Kumuzhi, Bodimettu, Cumbum Mettu in Theni district, Sengottah in Tirunelveli district and Kazhiyakkavizhai in Kanyakumari district at 9 a.m. on May 28.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Vaiko said that the agitation was not against the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government in Tamil Nadu.

The objective was to convey the hurt sentiments and emotions of the people of Tamil Nadu to the Centre, Kerala government and the Supreme Court and make the people of Kerala realise that the attitude of their government would be detrimental to their interests as well.

Taj-Surya Construction

SOURCE: CLICK HERE

New Tourist spot

Demolition Work

Three-fold increase in cyber crime complaints

There had been a three-fold increase in the number of cyber crime complaints this year with a total of 90 compared to the corresponding period last year wherein there were only 31 petitions.

City Police Commissioner C. Sylendra Babu told reporters that of the 90 complaints received this year, 40 had been resolved and investigations are on into the remaining 50 cases.

Of the 90 complaints, 40 pertained to obscene calls and SMS, 19 relating to obscene e-mails and threat, 10 regarding mobile phone and laptop thefts, eight relating to online money transfer and ATM card cheating, seven relating to website cheating and misusing, four pertaining to online lottery and job cheating, one relating to data theft and one on telephone misuse.

In many cases at the request of the complainants, offenders in minor cases were let off with a warning and admonition but in serious complaints, cases are registered. A total of six cases had been registered and the law had been set in motion.

With the cyber crime cell of the Coimbatore City Police proving their mettle, women who are predominant victims of cyber crime were coming forward to lodge complaints since the police are bringing the offenders to book within a day or two.

Crime unit

Mr. Babu said that a full-fledged cyber crime unit is functioning with personnel adequately trained. Private expertise was also being availed of.

He asked victims to come forward and lodge complaints and promised that anonymity of the affected persons would be ensured.

Mr. Babu asked the public to be cautious in sharing vital information such as bank account number password, pin number, credit card/debit card pin number and e-mail ID.He also advised against sharing confidential information even with best friends.

Vascon Engineers launches first premium housing project in Tamil Nadu

Vascon Engineers has announced the launch of Tulips, their first premium housing project in Tamil Nadu, which is being developed in association with Pricol Properties Ltd., the leading real estate company in Coimbatore.

Addressing the media on the occasion, R Vasudevan, Managing Director of Vascon Engineers, said: “We are very happy that we are making a beginning of our real estate activities in south by launching this project in Coimbatore in association with Pricol Properties. A couple of months ago, we were in Chennai for the assembly building work. It would appear that Tamil Nadu will be home to several Vascon projects in the years to come. We are confident to earn laurels in the south too just as we are in West.”

Located off Avinashi Road, the first phase of the project will comprise two four-storey buildings, of approx 50 apartments.

“It is a privilege for us to work on this project with Vascon, who share our philosophy of breathing life into living spaces through nature-friendly design and execution,” said Vikram Mohan, Managing Director, Pricol Properties Ltd. “With a demonstrated and an unshakeable bridgehead attained through quality and dependability in the Coimbatore real estate market, Pricol Properties will synergise its efforts with Vascon to continue to provide quality homes in the city. Vascon has the habit of picking up awards for their projects whether residential or commercial. I am sure this project will set a benchmark for real estate projects in Coimabtore.”

Ms Roopa Mudliar – AVP Business Development/ Sales & Marketing said “I believe that the location will appeal to the young executive looking to set up his first home while the peaceful setting will offer the peace and comfort that is getting so rare in city living.”

The second phase of the project will have taller residential buildings designed to suit customer requirements.

“We have been receiving enquiries about commercial developments for the third phase,” Roopa Mudliar revealed. “We are constantly assessing the mood of the market and the expectations of our customers. Fortunately, we have the experience and the expertise to provide what the market needs—ranging from malls to hotels to academic institutions.”

Alive to the needs of the market environment in Tamil Nadu ‘Tulips’ is designed in accordance with the principles of Vastu and offers 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom apartments. Thoughtfully designed landscaping that offers a perennial green look will be the highlight of the project. Other features and amenities include swimming pool, club house, intercom, piped cooking gas, generator backup for elevators and a sewage treatment plant.

Under Construction

Fun Republic Mall Under Construction

SOURCE:: skyscrapercity

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Dindigul-Coimbatore gauge conversion to be over by 2011

Dindigul-Pollachi-Coimbatore and Pollachi-Palakkad gauge conversion work would be completed by 2011, said Southern Railway Chief Administrative Officer (Construction) R. Ramanathan on Friday.

Mr. Ramanathan was talking to reporters after inspecting the rail overbridge construction work on Pollachi-Kottur Road at Makkinampatti and Vadugapalayam besides other gauge conversion work along with Pollachi MP K. Sugumar and MLAs V. Jayaraman and S. Damodaran.

Mr. Ramanathan said the gauge conversion work from Coimbatore to Dindigul via Podanur and Pollachi and Pollachi to Palakkad had been divided into four packages and the work was progressing. The total distance is 225 km and the total cost of the works is expected to be Rs. 900 crore. Fifty per cent of the work in the area from Dindigul to Palani (58 km) had been completed and it would be completed by March 2011. Work between Palani and Pollachi (58 km) and from Pollachi to Palakkad (55 km) would be completed by June 2011. Work in the Pollachi-Podanur sector covering 40 km would be completed by December 2011.

During 2009-10 Rs. 31 crore was allotted to broadgauge conversion work whereas the actual expenditure was Rs. 140 core. In the fiscal 2010-2011, the allotment was Rs. 60 crore whereas the allotment sought was Rs. 175 crore. Contractors have been assigned for the work in the entire distance and it has gained momentum now. Mr. Ramanathan said 246 bridges from Dindigul to Pollachi, 166 bridges from Pollachi to Palakkad and 85 from Pollachi to Podanur were being rebuilt.

During the last fiscal Rs. 238 crore was allocated for conversion of meter gauge to broad gauge whereas the expenditure incurred was Rs. 554 crore. In the current year the demand placed was for Rs. 550 crore whereas the allocation was Rs. 311 crore, he said. The demand for these works during 2010 was Rs. 200 crore and 2011 for completion requirement would be Rs 250 crore.

All stations in the Dindigul-Pollachi-Coimbatore and Pollachi-Palakkad sectors numbering around 16 were being upgraded, Mr. Ramanathan said.

On the Salem-Karur line (85 km) work has been taken up and that in Salem-Namakkal stretch (53 km) will be completed by June 2011. Namakkal-Karur stretch (35 km) will be completed by 2012. Proposals for the Palani-Erode line for 90 km have been sent to the Railway High level Committee after feasibility study. Work on the 10-km stretch from Nagapattinam-Velankanni is progressing fast and the line will be thrown open by March 2010 and the 10-km stretch from Nagore to Karaikkal will be completed by December.

Stations located on the broad gauge route are being renovated. During 2009-2010, the allocation was Rs. 238 crore whereas the expenditure was Rs 554 crore, for the year 2010-2011 the demand is Rs 550 crore and works have begun with an allocation of Rs 311 crore. Southern Railway has written to the Government seeking additional and adequate allocation for the timely completion of the work.

LMW to enter real estate sector

Lakshmi Machine Works (LMW) plans to enter the real estate market by developing residential units on the excess land available with it in the city.

Chief Financial Officer of the company R. Rajendran told The Hindu here on Tuesday that about five acres in Ganapathy, with residential land use classification, would be developed first at a cost of Rs. 60 crore to Rs. 70 crore. The apartments would be sold at Rs. 30 lakh to Rs. 40 lakh each. Nearly 300 residential units would be developed on the site. The investment would be made in phases.

The textile machinery manufacturing major had 15 more acres in Singanallur. “We intend to develop this land too,” he said. The company had no proposal to expand its industrial activity on these lands and hence decided to use the same to build apartments.

LMW, with core business in textile machinery, also had machine tool and foundry divisions and advanced technology centre. Now, it would foray into real estate sector.

Kovai sees more electric bikes

Coimbatore is one of the four cities in the country witnessing increased usage of electric bikes for short distance trips. The other cities are Ludhiana, Nasik and Rajkot.

This trend, according to Ms Hemalatha Annamalai, founder and CEO of Ampere Vehicles Pvt Ltd (AMPVL), is likely to increase as petrol prices are always going to go up and awareness among people to get environment-friendly is picking up. AMPVL has sold over 1,500 units of electric vehicles, while the sale of two-wheelers in 2009 stood at 80,000 across the country.

Sale of electric bikes (e-bikes) is expected to touch the two lakh mark by 2012 as more and more people are going to look at the option of using electric vehicles for short distances. She said presently, “acceptance of technology, perception of the buyers and inadequate entrepreneurial skills of dealers are the constraints plaguing the electric vehicles industry. Otherwise, there is an encouraging trend with customers using petrol bikes for long distance travel and electric vehicles for short distance rides.”

Adequate investments in the R&D centres are being done in Singapore and India for continuous introduction of new technology, she said. Mr S. Annamalai, a first generation entrepreneur and an alumnus of the government college of technology, said the objective was to produce quality vehicles.

WTC works @ CODISSIA

Hop-on hop-off bus services in Coimbatore for Tamil meet

Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) will introduce hop-on hop-off bus services in Coimbatore city for a week to cash in on the World Classical Tamil Conference (June 23-27),. “This is the first time that several services are being introduced in Coimbatore. The hop-on hop-off tour with three buses will be introduced two days prior to the actual event. It will be extended if there is a good response. During this period, we are also thinking of operating services to Mysore and Bangalore from Coimbatore,” a TTDC official told The Hindu.

As per the itinerary, the hop-on hop-off bus will cover CODISSIA, Saradhamba temple, Koniamman temple, botanical garden, Maruthamalai temple, Perur temple and railway station. The fare per person is Rs.250.

TTDC has also announced five one-day special package tours, starting and ending at Coimbatore, covering Udhagamandalam, Topslip, Karamadai and Maruthamalai. The tariff includes transport, entry fee, toll charges, parking fee, food and accommodation. Two-day tours will cover Mettupalayam, Kallar farm, Pykara, Mudumalai, Udhagamandalam and Coonoor.

TTDC has also prepared a brochure listing places of interest, temples, hotels, tourist facilities and connectivity.

Industries invited to start facilities at SEZ

Shiv Prakash, Chief Executive Officer of AMRL International Tech City, (second left) speaking at a meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and AMRL in Coimbatore on Friday (21/05)on Nanguneri SEZ. Rajesh B. Lund, Convenor of Construction and Real Estate Panel, CII Coimbatore Zone (left), and K.V. Madhan, Managing Director of KVM Advisory Services (right), are in the picture.

The multi-product Special Economic Zone (SEZ) coming up at Nanguneri in Tirunelveli District will have industries from different sectors such as engineering, biotechnology, agro and Information Technology, according to Chief Executive Officer of AMRL International Tech City Shiv Prakash.

Speaking at a session on Nanguneri SEZ organised here on Friday by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Coimbatore, and AMRL, he said the target sectors were engineering, including electrical, electronic, and mechanical, biotechnology, agro, pharma, IT and IT-enabled Services, and logistics.

A cluster of units from a single sector could also set up manufacturing facilities.

This was one of the 15 multi-product SEZs notified by the Union Government in the country. For the first phase development, AMRL had taken up 300 acres and this was likely to be commissioned in October this year.
Investment

About Rs. 800 crore would be invested in phases for development of the SEZ.

Industries had given expression of interest for 100 acres so far.
Facilities

The 2,500 acre SEZ would have processing and non-processing zones.

The processing zone would have warehouses, cold storage facilities, in-house custom offices, waste management facilities, custom bonded areas and duty-free enclaves.

Apart from a dedicated power station, the developers were also proposing a 140 MW captive power plant.

The non-processing zone would have multiple formats of housing, schools, colleges, hospitals and hotels.
Logistics

Mr. Prakash said the SEZ was just 74 km from the Thuthukudi airport and about 80 km from the Thuthukudi sea port. The SEZ was located on National Highways 7.

The objective was to make it a cost-effective platform with a balance of industrial and social infrastructure. It would be a low-cost area for ownership (on lease basis) and operation.
Advantages

The SEZ has advantages such as availability of labour, assured water and power supply and telecom infrastructure, he said.

Karunanidhi reviews progress of various works

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi (centre) chairing a meeting to review arrangements for the World Classical Tamil Conference, in Coimbatore. Also seen are Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin (left) and Chief Secretary K.S. Sripathi (right).

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Monday reviewed progress of various infrastructure development works being carried out to give a facelift to the city, which is hosting the World Classical Tamil Conference, starting from June 23.

The developmental works, at a cost of about Rs.300 crore, are being carried out under direct supervision of Deputy Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin, with state ministers, heading different committees, overseeing the works from time to time.

The state highways department and electricity board were involved in carrying out road works and they were likely to be completed by June, official sources said.

The five-day conference is being inaugurated by President, Pratibha Patil and special stage at five places would be erected for the VVIPs to witness the procession with 40 floats, displaying the tradition, culture and history of Tamil Nadu.

Railways and Airport Authority of India are also upgrading their various facilities in the railway stations and Airport, in view of the conference, the sources said.

Karunanidhi would head a special session titled ‘Engum Tamil, Ethilum Tamil,’ (Tamil everywhere, Tamil in everything), in which leaders of different political parties are expected to participate, they said.

A stage measuring 80-foot long and 80-foot wide is being erected in a pandal in the size of 4.40 lakh square feet, to accommodate more than 60,000 persons to witness the day-to-day proceedings, the sources said.

Small-town India gorges on MNC restaurant chains

Happy Meals at Gwalior, Zinger Burgers at Vizag, baby corn pizzas at Haridwar and Broccoli pasta in Kota. Multinational restaurant chains are lovin’ it as small-town India gorges on fast food. World’s leading fast food chains such as McDonald’s, KFC and Domino’s Pizza say that for the first time, up to one-fourth of their sales come from tier-two and tier-three towns and cities. They expect this share to grow. And are working on it.

This year, the chain plans to tap towns with one-million-plus population such as Coimbatore and Vizag, says Mr Varma. KFC gets almost one-fourth of its revenues from tier-2 and tier-3 cities and it expects their share to go up to 30% within a year.

These multinationals use mass media advertising to create aspirational value, but localize promotional and marketing activity to maximise impact. While in most cases, the entry-level menus are similar as those offered in the metros, marketers are bundling their goodies to make them more cost-effective. Also, menus are being tweaked to local relevance.

For example, Domino’s promotes more entry-level pizzas at Rs 39 in Pune to reach out to the large student population and offers more vegetarian fare at its stores in Haridwar and Shirdi.
Have you tried them yet?

Royal College of Surgeons plans FRCS course in India

Members of the Council of Royal College of Surgeons of England John Getty (left) and David H.A. Jones (right) with Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedics and Spine Surgery at Ganga Hospital S. Rajasekaran, during a visit to the hospital in Coimbatore

The Royal College of Surgeons of England is exploring possibilities of tie-ups with private hospitals in India that can serve as training and examination centres for the FRCS (Fellow of Royal College of Surgeons) course.

Tasked with developing an overseas agenda, an 88-member team of the Royal College's Council recently visited the Health City in Bangalore and Ganga Hospital in Coimbatore to assess the surgical and teaching expertise and the other required facilities for training. The conduct of the FRCS course and examinations in nine surgical specialities is the focus of the Council.

“We have just made a beginning and are very impressed with what we saw in Bangalore and Coimbatore,” member of the Council David H.A. Jones told The Hindu here. Dr. Jones and fellow member John Getty were part of the team that visited Ganga Hospital to study the expertise and logistics that were required for the conduct of the course.

“What we see in these places is world class surgery at decreasing cost in the private health care sector,” they said. Various issues related to translating the new concept into reality would be discussed in due course.

The college was also looking at the possibilities of exchange programmes in the area of fellowship.

“FRCS examinations in India figure high on our agenda. The standards here are very high,” said Dr. Getty. “We are keen on having a system wherein English doctors can train in India. After all, medicine is a global subject,” he said.

“We were trained in surgery by Indian doctors also in the U.K.,” they said.

Former president of the World Orthopaedic Concern and Chairman of Orthopaedics and Spine Surgery at Ganga Hospital S. Rajasekaran pointed out that private hospitals performed 94 per cent of the surgeries in India. Despite the availability of expertise for training and the crucial cutting edge technology, the Medical Council of India had not granted clearance for teaching in these hospitals.

Elaborating on the advantages in the private health sector in India, Dr. Getty said it had developed so much partly because there was no regulation on how healthcare was delivered.

Ideal training ground

The space to maintain independence and the commitment to deliver healthcare to all made the private sector here an ideal training ground.

Dr. Rajasekaran said the move by the Royal College of Surgeons would open up a huge possibility of training under advanced conditions and that too without having to incur the expenses of travelling to the U.K. for the FRCS course.

Explaining what the college's move meant for India, Dr. Rajasekaran, currently president of the Association of Spine Surgeons of India, said: “We are suffocated at the top. The seats for MBBS have been increased, but not for the postgraduate courses. Many States in India produce cardio-thoracic surgeons in low single digits every year.”

“The college's move will help India meet the huge need for more specialists in surgery,” he said.

“But, we need to look beyond learning surgery or writing the examinations. Administration, better doctor-patient relations, meeting the expectation of the patients and organising a good healthcare delivery system will have to be part of the learning process,” he said.

SOURCE:: BETA HINDU

Spate of works give facelift to Coimbatore

A roadside park being developed along Avanashi Road with fountains and pathways as part of the beautification efforts ahead of the World Classical Tamil Conference in Coimbatore.

The city is witnessing a flurry of infrastructure development works in the run up to the World Classical Tamil Conference to be held in Coimbatore from June 23 to 27. While beautification by providing facelift to green spaces is underway on the one hand, road works have been given a major thrust on the other.

Traffic islands and roadside parks that had been an eyesore are now being provided with ornamental plants, fountains and figurines. Space is being provided for lawn grass and ornamental plants along footpaths that are being laid along major roads such as Avanashi Road and Tiruchi Road.

Some major works the city had been yearning for have been turned a reality by the conference. The infrastructure works themselves are of two categories. One is the facelift to many existing facilities and the other constitutes works that will have long-term benefits.

Apart from the works executed by the State Government with its funds, the Central Government departments such as the Railways and Airports Authority of India have also taken up some very significant works. The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board has taken up a major project to lay underground cables. The Rs.55-crore works on Avanashi Road, Tiruchi Road and Kamarajar Road will rid the city of the messy overhead cables, including the dangerously low-hanging ones on major roads.

In addition, there are works on three additional feeders and 21 transformers to improve the quality of power supply.

Improvements to Avanashi Road and the badly battered Tiruchi Road — the two main arterial roads — will bring immense benefit to those using these regularly.

Tiruchi Road, which forms part of National Highway 67 is being turned into an expressway at Rs.16 crore by the National Highways. The accident-prone Mettuppalayam Road will be widened at Rs.49 crore from Sukrawarpet to Narashimanaickenpalayam. The Coimbatore – Irugur railway line doubling that was pending for nearly two-decades is all set for completion. The Coimbatore Junction and North Coimbatore Station too are getting a facelift. Works are on at a good pace to complete the Hope College overbridge.

The State Highways Department is widening 72 roads at a cost of Rs.59.85 crore. The stretches include Gandhipuram – Pappanaickenpalayam, Lakshmi Mills – Puliakulam, Ramanathapuram – Nanjundapuram and Podanur – Chettipalayam Road. These roads will have four lanes.

For the first time in the history of the State, three scheme/link roads are being laid with Rs.13 crore provided by the Government from the Infrastructure and Amenities Fund of Local Planning Authority. These works are expected to decongest some of the main roads.

The Airports Authority of India is also expediting its additional terminal building project and is all set to get it inaugurated soon. The State Highways is on the job of having the approach road to the airport re-laid at a cost of Rs. 4 crore. In addition to infrastructure needs, the entertainment-starved Coimbatoreans will get a world class botanical garden on 49.40 acres at an outlay of Rs 20 crore in the first phase. The garden would be expanded in a phased manner.

SOURCE:: HINDU

TIDEL park will be inaugurated next month

Stating that Tamil Nadu had succeeded in the software industry owing to the availability of a large pool of educated work force and progressive policies among others, Deputy Chief Minister M.K.Stalin described the State as the “growth star” of India.

Inaugurating the Global Development Centre (Information Technology Special Economic Zone) of Syntel at SIPCOT IT Park in Siruseri on Saturday, he said: “As the Minister in charge of industries, I can say with a sense of pride that Tamil Nadu today excels among Indian States in industrialisation.”

“Tamil Nadu is one of the largest recipients of domestic and foreign investments in the country and has emerged as the ‘growth star' of India,” Mr. Stalin said adding that the State government was committed to spread the IT revolution to other parts of the State to create employment opportunities for the qualified rural youth.

Additional productivity improvements and the development of Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities such as Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Madurai, Salem, Tiruchi and Hosur as delivery centres would improve the State's advantage, he said. TIDEL Park in Coimbatore, with a floor space of 17 lakh square feet would be inaugurated next month.

He said Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi had a vision of making Tamil Nadu the software hub of South Asia and to achieve 25 per cent share of software production in the country. If this was achieved, it would give direct employment to eight lakh people and indirect employment to another 22 lakh people in Tamil Nadu, he said.

Thanking Syntel for its proposals to start SEZs in Tirunelveli and Madurai, for which Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu had handed over 25 acres in each of the cities, Mr. Stalin appealed to the company to cooperate with the State government in implementing its e-waste policy.

He also appealed to all IT companies to allocate 3 per cent of their budget for corporate social responsibility activities.

Poongothai Aladi Aruna, Minister for Information Technology, Prashant Ranade, chief executive officer and president, Syntel, Ram Singampalli, vice-president and Centre Head, Chennai, and N.N.R.Shravanan, general manager and head of administration, spoke.

CODISSIA to organise agriculture fair

President of the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association K.Ilango (left) exchanging an MoU with Niranjan Deshpande, Managing Director, Kisan Forum Pvt Ltd, for promoting ' Agri Intex 2010' in Coimbatore on Wednesday.

Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (CODISSIA) will organise here Agri Intex 2010, an agricultural fair, from September 30 to October 3.

The association has entered into an agreement with Kisan Forum, a private company, in an effort to create awareness about the exhibition among a larger number of farmers.

CODISSIA president K. Ilango told presspersons here recently that the event usually attracted about 50,000 farmers.

With this tie-up at least a lakh farmers were expected to participate.

The exhibition would have 300 stalls. The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and Government Departments would participate.

Mr. Ilango said the objective of the agreement was to create awareness about the event to farmers across the State and those in Kerala and Southern Karnataka.

Kisan Forum would also be the web partner for the event. It would initiate a direct contact programme with farmers with the help of agricultural input dealers in rural areas. Kisan Forum would also create a data base of farmers and pre-register them for the event, he said.

Signs of rain at Siruvani Dam

On Thursday, cautious optimism ran through the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board and the Coimbatore Corporation as a thick cloud cover formed over the Siruvani Dam and the catchment.

The dam recorded 3 mm rain till 8.30 a.m. on Thursday and 5 mm on Wednesday.

This was attributed to the cyclone in the Bay of Bengal. But, the authorities said it was not time yet to conclude that the hot and dry spell was over.

The cyclone impact would be over any moment and the Siruvani scheme would have to count only on the South West Monsoon.

Water supply officials said what lent hope now was the news of the monsoon moving towards Kerala. Heavy rain in some parts of Palakkad District in Kerala (where the dam and catchment are located) indicated that things would improve in terms of water supply. The hope now was that the monsoon would set in over the catchment in the last week of May or in the first week of June.

Both the water board and the civic body were into hectic arrangements for smooth water supply during the World Classical Tamil Conference to be held here from June 23 to 27.

In this context, the setting in of the monsoon even in the first week of June would be a timely rescue act.

“The good news now is that Siruvani Dam has more water as on May 20, than in the last 10 years,” Executive Engineer of the water board P. Gopalakrishnan said.

The level on Thursday stood at nearly 19 ft, as against the full reservoir level of nearly 60 ft. It was only 11.28 ft last year.

Between 2000 and 2004, the level hit dead storage twice. Good summer showers, a low pressure in the Bay of Bengal and early setting in of the South West Monsoon turned things around in April-May 2004.

A string of austerity measures ensured judicious use of drinking water and prevented the level from plummeting to dead storage.

Readings available with the Corporation pointed out that in 2006 and 2008, the water level was beyond the 18 ft mark, though not to the level this year.

The water level in the dam now was enough for a comfortable supply, official sources said.

For World Tamil Conference

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Kerala, TN hold talks on industrial corridor

Thiruvananthapuram, May 21

The State Government has held exploratory discussions with Tamil Nadu with regard to development of the proposed Kochi-Coimbatore industrial corridor.

This was stated here by the Minister for Industries, Mr Elamaram Kareem, while inaugurating the National Resource Centre for Industrial Development (NRCID) being set up by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC).

The NRCID would act as a window to facilitate dissemination of industry-related information to stakeholders.

The Minister said that discussions with the Tamil Nadu Government were aimed at setting up a combined agency for developing the proposed industrial corridor.

SOURCE: the hindu business line


On completion, this is expected to trigger all-round development of the Coimbatore-Kanjiikode belt straddling the inter-State border as also around downstream Thrissur and Kochi in Kerala.

An international agency would be commissioned to take up a feasibility study on the project. .

Rs 8 crore for health care facilities for Tamil conference

Health Minister M.R.K. Paneerselvam checks a pump from which drinking water will be supplied to the World Classical Tamil Conference venue, in Coimbatore on Thursday. Rural Industries Minister Pongalur N. Palanisamy (right), Coimbatore Collector P. Umanath (second right) and Coimbatore Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra (left) are in the picture.

Strict measures would be taken to ensure a safe and hygienic atmosphere in and around the city during the World Classical Tamil Conference to be held here next month, Tamil Nadu Health Minister M. R.K. Paneerselvam said Thursday.

He said Rs. 8 crore had been earmarked for health aspects for the conference beginning here on June 23.

Talking to reporters after holding discussions with the managements of leading hospitals here, Mr. Paneerselvam said a 50-bed ward would be set up in each hospital to meet any requirement of delegates.

Besides, a three-bed health centre would be set up inside the CODISSIA complex, the venue of the conference, and another five-bed centre outside it, for first aid, he said.

Stating that 20 ambulances, in addition to the existing ones under 108, would be available in and around the city for emergency, Mr. Paneerselvam said an helpline — 2211000 — with 20 lines, had also been created for emergency purpose.

On screening of visitors and delegates for major diseases, he said there was no necessity, particularly for H1N1 virus, as they would be coming after various tests.

A team of 20 food inspectors would be deployed to ensure supply of safe food for consumption in the entire city, Mr. Paneerselvam said.

Coimbatore Residential Real Estate Review April 2010

New K.D store

Coimbatore is one of the Sports Location

Polo Cup India 2010 kicks off next week
==============================
Come May 28, and 20 budding racecar drivers from all over the country will fight for the Polo Cup India 2010 in Balewadi in the city.

The championship will see six car races at Pune, Coimbatore and Chennai.

The Polo Cup India was first conceptualised in October 2008 by Volkswagen India, also the organisers of the event. The German automaker unveiled the racing version of their popular hatchback, the Polo, at the Delhi Auto Expo in January 2010. This variation of the Polo, known as the Race Polo, is the car that the young racers will be driving. An FIA-approved roll cage, a data logger system with an on-board camera, and a race brake system with a four-piston fixed caliper and front and rear disk brakes, are some modifications brought in to make the Polo race worthy.

The aspiring racers were put through a go-kart selection, through which the playing field was whittled down to just 45 participants. These 45 racers were then placed behind the wheel of the Race Polos, and went through another session in Coimbatore, from which the final 20 championship drivers were selected.

SOURCE:: SKYSCRAPERCITY

Anna University-Coimbatore

COIMBATORE,May 20: Anna University-Coimbatore will introduce new courses in nuclear engineering, materials technology and atmospheric science, said Vice Chancellor K. Karunakaran.

Talking to reporters here on Wednesday after assuming charge as the second Vice-Chancellor, he said the aforementioned programmes would be at the undergraduate level. The university would also introduce new postgraduate courses in nanotechnology, information systems management and space technology.

He said his focus would be on infrastructure and research. “I've classified my vision and mission in those three areas. And the first priority is to build a new campus.”

“With the help of the State Government I would like to have about 300 acres for the university, preferably from the land under Bharathiar University's control. Or, take over the departments of Government College of Technology, Coimbatore.”

In doing so he said he would talk to the Bharathiar University Vice-Chancellor and others concerned. Or if the second option was to be pursued would work with the faculty there.

“I want to take everybody into confidence and work as a team. I would like to listen more and prefer the bottom-up approach to top-down model.” Mr. Karunakaran also promised to build a modern lecture hall complex with state-of-the-art facilities, sports complex, hostel for boys and girls, residential quarters for faculty, hostel for NRI students and a health centre with 24-hour medical assistance.

On the academic front, he promised to maintain faculty-student ratio at 1:12, improve examination and evaluation systems by appointing professors of eminence, and utilise the expertise of scientists and professors in frontier areas of technology.

As for research, he planned to sign agreements with universities of excellence in India and abroad to facilitate exchange of students, faculty, share course credits at postgraduate level and provide incentives for faculty and research scholars coming out with high quality research papers and patents that could be commercialised.

Mr. Karunakaran also said that he proposed to work hard to make at least 50 per cent students turn entrepreneurs, work with industries here to set up scholarships to help poor students study engineering and implement e-governance.

He comes with over three decades of teaching experience. Prior to his appointment as Vice-Chancellor he was the director of Centre for Water Resources, Anna University, Chennai. He holds a doctorate in civil engineering.


source:hindu

Craftsman Automation to get $37 mn IFC funding

Coimbatore-based Craftsman Automation Pvt Ltd is to get $37 million (Rs 162 crore) from International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private investment arm of the World Bank group. The investment, in the form of straight or quasi equity in the company, will be used to part finance Craftman's expansion and growth.

The company plans to set up new units over the next two years at locations close to OEMs and their subsidiaries. It has also lined up purchase of new equipment for its existing facilities. The proposed investment is expected to create around 600 direct and 300 indirect jobs over the next three years.

Craftsman Automation is an engineering company with a diversified business mix encompassing machining of critical parts for domestic OEMs in the commercial vehicles and tractors segment. It is also into contract manufacturing of assemblies and sub-assemblies for various sectors like automotive, textiles, printing machines, locomotives for both domestic and export markets, and manufacture of products such as industrial gears and marine products.

The company currently has three manufacturing units in Coimbatore and four units that provide machining services at Chennai, Sriperumbudur, Pithampur (Madhya Pradesh) and Jamshedpur.

It also has a subsidiary in the Netherlands that sells marine products apart from having two joint ventures with Carl Stahl International GmBH, Germany, to develop and market material handling equipment and with Mitsubishi for selling their laser cutting machines.

SOURCE::http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/craftsman-automation-to-get-37-mn-ifc-funding/395466/

‘Elected representatives should act as a bridge connecting people and govt.'

For the people:Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology A. Raja (third left) addressing a meeting of the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee at the Coimbatore Collectorate on Monday. Rural Industries Minister Pongalur N.Palanisamy (third right) is in the picture.

Union Minister for Information Technology and Communications A. Raja on Monday urged the elected representatives to sink the political differences and serve people.

He was speaking at the District Level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee meeting. Rural Industries and Animal Husbandry Minister Pongalur N. Palanisamy, Collector P. Umanath, elected representatives of the Assembly, Parliament and local bodies besides officials from various departments attended.

Earlier, when the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) members made a comment on the delayed arrival of the Minister for the meeting, Mr. Raja said, “I apologise for the delay because of traffic”.

When the meeting was about to begin, the officials asked the photographers and media persons to leave the hall. The AIADMK members also went out of the meeting hall one after the other and were heard stating that the media should remain in the meeting if at all there was any transparency. The AIADMK representatives who turned up included Pollachi MP, Sugumar, MLAs Pollachi V. Jayaraman, S.M. Velusamy, R. Chinnasamy, T. Malaravan, C. Prema and O.K. Chinnaraj. Congress MLAs Kovai Thangam, M.N. Kandasamy and DMK MLA Mani attended.

Later, at the meeting, Mr.Raja reminded the elected representatives that they should act as a bridge connecting people and the government and ascertain people's needs and expectations. This could happen only if the elected representatives sank their political differences arising out of ideologies.

The meeting discussed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Housing Scheme, Prime Minister's Road Development Schemes, Water Shed Area development programme, computerisation of land records and social security schemes.

Under the MREGS, Mr.Raja said that 2,04,455 persons in 1,38,818 families at 229 panchayats had registered of which 81,782 were men and 1,22,673 women. Under the scheme, in 2008-09 works worth Rs. 81.41 lakh, in 2009-10 Rs. 404.56 lakh and during the current year till date from April 1, works worth Rs. 62.85 lakh had been taken up.

Detailing the allocations and works taken up under various schemes, he asked the officials to speed up the implementation.

Mr.Raja said because of the poll code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections and Thondamuthur Assembly by elections, the pace of works had slowed down. Over 90 per cent of the works had been completed, he said and asked the officials to ensure 100 per cent achievement.

He added that the decision of the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister to have the World Classical Tamil Conference in Coimbatore had resulted in the city witnessing a lot of development. He promised to take to the notice of the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister some of the administrative hitches in implementing certain schemes.

He asked the administration to prepare the agenda and proposed subjects for the next vigilance and monitoring committee meeting two days in advance and send it to the members to help them raise issues and thereby enable the administrative machinery to enhance its efficiency.