Rescued Saudi workers relive ordeal

        A group of nine men mill around restlessly in the Manithaneya Makkal Katchi office. Having recently returned to India from Saudi Arabia, they have suffered over the past year to get to where they are now.

          Promises of a monthly pay of Rs 20,000, free food, lodging, uniforms, trip allowances and an international licence lured these men to Riyadh as drivers. All of them possessed heavy vehicle licences and were interviewed and underwent a driving test before being selected.

       Venkatesan of Vriddhachalam, Cuddalore, paid Rs 80,000 to an agent,Selvam. He had told Venkatesan that the job would his if he paid the amount. “Selvam works for Mumbai-based Vijaya Travels. He is one of many agents in Tamil Nadu. They prey on hardworking people like us, who want to provide for our families and look for better job opportunities,” he says.

         Hired to work for Abdullah Nasir Abdullah Al Dagheen, a company that hires out buses on contract for a school for the differently-abled, the men were paid only once in four months. They were not provided food or water, and the accommodation was woefully inadequate. An international licence was not given, which meant that they would always have to pay to get out of any situation even if it was not their fault. They washed dishes and toilets, just to be able to afford food.

       Ansar Basha of Nellikuppam, Cuddalore, had worked in Kuwait previously and with his knowledge of Arabic, questioned the management. “They beat me up and a few others, and threatened to kill me. They had a gun to my head, but finally put three bullets in the ceiling as a warning,” he said. The owner claimed that he had provided the visas for free to Vijaya Travels, and they were the ones who fleeced the men. On contacting the travel agency, they met another dead end. “They would see a Saudi number calling and hence not answer. After a couple of tries, the phone would be switched off,” says Raja of Villupuram district.

           The men then approached the Indian Embassy. Ganesh, also of Cuddalore, says, “We were treated as if we were of no consequence. They listened to us and then called our employers, who took us back to the quarters and beat us up soundly.” They then contacted the Amma Peravai in Riyadh. This group, along with Manithaneya Makkal Katchi and Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK) branches in Saudi, helped them leave the country. The plane fare to Mumbai and bus fare to Chennai from there were taken up by them. Chelladurai of Ramanathapuram says, “We had to pay Rs 40,000 to get out of that place. Some of us paid nearly Rs 1.2 lakh for this job, but we sent back hardly Rs 12,500. How will we face our family, and more importantly, those who lent us money?” The men ask the Chief Minister to ensure the safety of Tamilians abroad, and to look into the way the Indian Embassy treats their own.

          “We do not want anyone to go through what we experienced,” they say. Rajiv Gandhi of Karnatham, Cuddalore says, “Vijaya Travels has to be shut down so they cannot ruin more lives. We have nothing more to lose.”

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Large quantum of water wasted from overhead tank in Cuddalore

Large quantity of water gushing out from the overhead tank in the pumping station in Cuddalore on Monday.

CUDDALORE: 

          The mega-size overhead tank with a total capacity of 1.5 lakh litres, located at the pumping station near the Collector's camp office here, suddenly decanted large volume of water on Monday morning.

            A stretch of the Nethaji Road, Nellikuppam road and the entry point to the camp office remained flooded for some time. Those employed in the pumping station claimed that since cleaning operation was going on in the overhead tank entire water was drained from it. It defied logic and raised the question as to why should the cleaning operation be undertaken in a filled up overhead tank.

          When contacted, Municipal Commissioner M.Elangovan said that it was a routine that after the overhead tank got filled the respective valves would be opened to supply water to particular areas. However, on Monday morning a valve got struck thereby causing disruption in the supply. All attempts made to fix it failed and therefore the only corrective measure available was to replace the faulty valve with a new one. Therefore, when the old valve was removed water stored in the overhead tank gushed out. With a new valve in place now no such problem would recur, Mr Elangovan said.

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Over Rs 2.76 lakh thrown out of fleeing car near Cuddalore District

CUDDALORE: 

         The district administration has launched a hunt for the car that gave a slip to the flying squad after dumping on the road a cloth bag containing Rs 2,76,400 in cash, all in Rs. 100 denomination, at Melpathi near here on Thursday.

          Some of the cash bundles carried the Laskshmi Vilas Bank slips. The seized cash was entrusted with the Nellikuppam police station. On information District Collector P.Seetharaman, accompanied by Superintendent of Police Ashwin Kotnis and Election Observer D.S.Dhok Rajurkar went to the police station to inspect the cash.

         The Collector told the presspersons that at about 10.30 a.m., the Election Control Room in the Collectorate received information that money was being distributed to voters in the Nellikuppam area. Soon, a flying squad led by Deputy Block Development Officer Ganesan rushed to the spot. But on sighting the official vehicle, the Maruti car bearing registration number TN-01-X-5478 sped away.

         When the flying squad chased the car, the occupants of the car threw out the bag containing the cash and some crumpled sheets of papers carrying the names of voters and blocks where the cash was supposed to be distributed. The Collector said a special team had been formed to trace the car. Meanwhile, the officials found out that the owner of the car is S.Ramalingam, a resident of Block-4 in the Neyveli Township.

             He said the people could inform election-related irregularities to the control room functioning round the clock over toll free number 1800—4257019 with extension numbers 213,214,217 and 219, and, 04142-220029.

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Test of their flawless recitation ability, memory power

CUDDALORE: 

         The hall of the E.I.D.Parry's Recreation Club at Nellikuppam in Cuddalore district reverberated with the recitation of verses from “Thiruppavai, Thiruvembavai and Thiruppalliyezhuchi” for the whole day.

         Not less than 700 students in the age group of 9-10, drawn from 30 schools, were queuing up to participate in the recitation competition held recently under the aegis of the Pavai Vizha Committee, and were patiently but eagerly waiting for their turn to prove their mettle. A majority of them happened to be girls while the boys formed about 10 per cent of the turnout, mostly hailing from rural background. All the participants had memorised a total of 69 verses in these sacred works authored by Andal and Manickavasagar.

         A panel of judges evaluated their performance, primarily on two criteria: flawless recitation ability and the robust memory power to pick the verses at random on the direction of the panel members. Some of the students exhibited extraordinary talent in this aspect by proving their thorough knowledge of the verses. Sri Sarada Vidyalaya at Vanpakkam achieved the coveted honour of bagging the rolling trophy and its Class V student Sowmya getting the first prize.

            Chandru, a Class IV student of the Viswanathapuram Municipal School, came second, and Geetha, a Class V student of the Thorapadi Panchayat Union School attained the third place. Ashiba, a Class V student of Melpattampakkam Balavihar Primary and Nursery School, got the consolation prize. Committee president K.S.Krishnagopal told The Hindu that the competition was the 47th annual event and every passing year it was witnessing increased participation. It had its genesis in 1960 when Lalitha, a resident of Janakiram Nagar at Nellikuppam, started teaching the local students the verses along with the Bhagvad Gita and formed them part of the bhajans.

          Later, on the suggestion of Chandrasekarendra Saraswathi Swamigal of Kanchi Mutt it was broad-based to include the students studying Class IV and V in the local schools. Now, the event had acquired almost the district-level dimension. Dr. Krishnagopal said that the objective was to impart value education, inculcate sense of harmonious living and to improve memory power of the students so as to enable them to emerge as productive citizens. He appreciated the cooperation of the headmasters and teachers in this endeavour.

         Ever since 2000, Dr Krishnagopal and K.Srikanth are rendering free health care services to the participants. SBI Chief Manager (Puducherry) Narayanan delivered the presidential address and K.Thirumalai read out the annual report. Besides trophies and cups for the winners certificates and educational aids were given away to all the participants.

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Burglar held for series of break-ins

Superintendent of Police Ashwin Kotnis displaying the valubles recovered from an offender in Cuddalore on Wednesday. 

 

CUDDALORE: 

            A special police team formed by Superintendent of Police Ashwin Kotnis on Wednesday nabbed a person who was involved in a series of break-ins and recovered 71 sovereigns of gold jewellery, 4.5 kg of silver articles and cash amounting to Rs.20,000, all worth about Rs.10 lakh.

             Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Mr. Kotnis said that in the past two months a series of theft cases were reported from places such as Kurinji Nagar in Veli Semmandalam area and at Kondur, located within the jurisdiction of the Nellikuppam police station limits. On July 30, the house of T. Jothiramalingam (60), situated on Nandagopal Street in Kurinji Nagar, was burgled and valuables worth Rs.21,000 were taken away.

           On August 21, 25 sovereigns of gold jewellery and silver articles were looted from the house of P. Amaran (60) at Kurinji Nagar. Again on September 26, the intruder broke into the house of J. Suresh (36) of Annai Teresa Street in Kondur and decamped with 48 sovereigns of gold jewellery, four kg of silver articles and Rs.20,000 in cash. Suspecting a pattern in all these incidents, the Superintendent of Police constituted a special police team to trace those involved.

               While the special team was carrying out a vehicle check early on Wednesday at Veli Semmandalam, A.Vadivel (42), a resident of Lawspet, Puducherry, was detained. During interrogation it came to light that Vadivel was involved in the cases. His modus operandi was to move around in a two-wheeler during daytime, carrying a sack with an improvised crowbar, and pose as a carpenter. Whenever he came across any locked house, he would stealthily make use of a crowbar to remove the latch and gain entry. Earlier, he was caught in four such break-ins that took place at Hasthampatti in Salem district and was convicted, the SP added.

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