Plea to shift polluting units from SIPCOT Industrial Estate

Residents staging a demonstration in Cuddalore on Wednesday.

CUDDALORE: 

           Residents of Eachankadu and Kudikadu on Wednesday staged a demonstration in front of the Collectorate here urging the authorities to shift polluting units elsewhere from SIPCOT Industrial Estate.

         They were led by Senthil Kumar, district secretary of Manitha Urimai Padhukappu Maiyam. The protestors said that unmindful of health hazards posed by the polluting units, the officialdom was permitting these units to continue operation. For instance, a drug and chemical company was sealed when a bromine leak a month ago led to hospitalisation of 71 people. It had resumed operation without any assurance to the people that similar incidents would not recur, the protestors alleged.

         According to Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board sources, the company had obtained court permission to operate its units except an unauthorised research and development wing, where the leak occurred. The protestors further said that untreated effluents being discharged from chemical, drug and dyeing units in the industrial estate had polluted the environment and soil, besides affecting marine life. They alleged that through enticement of offering jobs, the companies were trying to create a rift among local people and diverting their attention from pollution problem.

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Bus services operated with police escort

Amid security: Puducherry- bound buses being escorted by police from Cuddalore on Wednesday.

CUDDALORE: 

          With police escort, the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation operated its bus services to and from the Union Territory of Puducherry as well as to other destinations via Puducherry.

           The bus services could thus be operated without any disruption owing to a better coordination between the Tamil Nadu and territorial police. They worked in tandem to escort the buses without any difficulty in their respective territories. The State Transport Corporation sources told The Hindu that since the opposition parties in Puducherry had called a bandh for Wednesday, such a precautionary measure had been taken to give protection to the travelling public and to the bus crew.

            The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its allies such as the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) organised a day-long bandh in Puducherry, demanding the recall of Lieutenant Governor Iqbal Singh for his alleged links with Hasan Ali Khan, who is now in the Central Bureau of Investigation for money laundering charges.

            When Mr. Singh was a Rajya Sabha MP, he reportedly recommended the expeditious issuance of passport to Hasan Ali Khan. The regular commuters to Puducherry felt relieved by the uninterrupted services provided by the State Transport Corporation. Since Puducherry has a peculiar boundary demarcation that interjects intermittently into Cuddalore and Villupuram districts, it had been necessitated for the Tamil Nadu police to escort the buses up to the Puducherry boundary and from there their territorial counterparts took over and vice-versa.

               Such a reciprocity between the police personnel of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry was noticed at Kanniyakoil (Cuddalore-Puducherry boundary), Madakadipattu (Villupuram-Puducherry boundary), and, near Marakkanam on the East Coast Road and on the Tindivanam-Puducherry road (for the buses that had to ply through Puducherry from Chennai, Kancheepuram and Chengalpet to farther destinations such as Chidambaram, Sirkazhi, Kumbakonam and Thanjavur).

          However, the private operators, anticipating problem, withdrew their bus services for the day. Therefore, to meet the increased demand the State Transport Corporation pressed into service additional buses to Puducherry. The uninterrupted bus services came as a great relief to the regular commuters, such as traders, industrialists, students and patients.

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“Shadow register” to act as yardstick for assessing poll expenses

CUDDALORE: 

             The “shadow registers” being maintained by polling officials will act as yardstick for calculating the real expenses incurred by candidates in the Assembly elections.

           Therefore, individual poll accounts of candidates should not deviate from the “shadow registers.” In case of any variation between the two, the candidates ought to correct their accounts in accordance with the shadow registers, said P. Seetharaman, Collector and District Electoral Officer.

           He told The Hindu that the “shadow registers” were being prepared based on inputs provided by at least four feeder groups such as the model code of conduct committee, flying squads, video surveillance committee and media certification and monitoring committee.

           These committees had filmed all poll-related activities such as spread of publicity materials, including flex boards, posters, graffiti, propaganda by star campaigners, public rallies, vehicle checking and seizure of unauthorised money and other articles, distribution of enticements, and, advertisements in print and electronic media. Mr. Seetharaman said that a “convergence meeting” of these committees was slated to be held in last two days of this week to consolidate the accounts in the shadow registers.

            These committees would convert all their findings into monetary terms and submit their report to the assistant expenditure observers, all accounting specialists. The Collector further noted that candidates ought to maintain three types of registers known by their colours - white register for entering day-to-day expenses; pink, for recording receipt and disbursement of monies by candidates; and, yellow, for bank accounts (specifically opened for elections as all transactions ought to be carried out through the instrumentality of cheques).

            The candidates had also been permitted to appoint “expenditure agents” for keeping their accounts. If the candidates have any doubt or objection over the expenditure valuations made in the shadow registers, the officials would prove their points through compact discs and video recordings on various occasions. Mr. Seetharaman noted that in this streamlined procedures for checking poll expenditure, another salient feature would be the “super check” to be done by people. In other words, they could be present at the time of verification of expenditure registers of the candidates, and if they so desire, they could get copies of the pages at the rate of Re. 1 a page.

            All candidates ought to submit their accounts within a month of counting of votes. Later, Mr. Seetharaman said that as the District Electoral Officer, he would give a date to the expenditure observer (deployed by the Election Commission) for perusal of accounts.

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