Tamil Nadu news live: About 2.38 lakh tonnes coal found missing during verification, alleges electricity minister

NGO Arappor Iyakkam on Friday demanded registration of an FIR against the officials of the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) and the contractor who had built the residential apartments at K.P. Park, Pulianthope here, for poor construction.Demanding a probe against the former Chief Minister and AIADMK Coordinator O. Panneerselvam's role, it also said that the poor quality should be documented and the FIR registered before any repair work is done.

Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V. Senthilbalaji on Friday said 2.38 lakh ton of coal has vanished from the North Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS), belonging to state power utility, Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Ltd (TANGEDCO).Talking to reporters, he said the coal, valued about Rs 85 crore, is available on the power utility's books but missing physically."It is understandable if 5-10 tons of coal is missing but 2.38 lakh ton is not there and the issue will be probed and guilty punished," he said. (IANS)

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday extended his Onam greetings and hailed the festival as a "proud symbol" of brotherhood and social harmony. In a statement, he also recalled his father and former chief minister, the late M Karunanidhi, announcing holiday for Kanyakumari, Coimbatore, Nilgiris, the bordering districts and a local holiday for Chennai, during the 2006-11 DMK government, for Malayalees to celebrate Onam.

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the Central government to follow the provisions of the Official Languages Act, 1963 strictly.The High Court said that the Centre should reply in the language in which the state government sends the application to the Central government."Once a representation is given in English, it is the duty of the Union government to give the reply in English only," the court said.The directions by a division bench comprising Justices N Kirubakaran and M Duraiswamy came on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Madurai Lok Sabha MP S. Venkatesh.

The residents of Kovilambakkam are a worried lot as the monsoon nears. The 4km Keelkattalai surplus channel between the lake and the Pallikaranai marsh is meant to drain rainwater, but it’s filled with sewage. Read more

Grape farmers in Theni and Dindigul district are being encouraged to cultivate a new variety of grapes based on zero waste concept by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Theni in coordination with National Research Centre for Grapes (NRCG), Pune, which would enable value addition and better returns. Read more

As many as 13 students of Salem Government Nursing College have tested positive for Covid-19. The college was opened on Monday following a direction from the government. Read more

The taluk government hospital at Vilathikulam in Tuticorin district is the first among peripheral taluk hospitals in Tamil Nadu to get a dedicated centralised oxygen supply, a suction pipe and ICU cots to treat Covid-19 patients. Read more

An 18-year-old college girl in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu, who consumed a pesticide as she could not attend online classes on a day last week, died on Thursday night while undergoing treatment in a hospital here. The girl from Kalvelipatti near Vadipatti was a second year B Com student in an autonomous college in Madurai. Read more

Tamil Nadu agriculture minister M R K Panneerselvam said in the assembly on Thursday that insurance companies were expected to pay Rs 2,000 crore compensation to farmers for the crop loss during samba cultivation last year. Read more

District collector G S Sameeran on Thursday said making shops down shutters after 5pm has helped bring fresh Covid-19 cases down. He promised to relax the restrictions when the test positivity rate dips below 1% in the district. At present, the district has a test positivity rate of 2%. Read more

Madurai’s fresh Covid-19 cases dropped to 12 on Thursday, the lowest since March 15. The district also reported 18 recoveries pushing down the number of active cases to 187. No death was recorded in the district.

The closure of liquor vends has not reflected in alcohol consumption going down in Tamil Nadu. The number of Tasmac shops has reduced by nearly 20% in the past 15 years, but liquor sale jumped by eight times during the same period, a reply to an RTI question and a white paper on the government’s financial situation show. Read more

Ahead of an extended weekend, shopping areas in the city and highway roads covering the suburbs were choked with traffic on Thursday evening. Read more

When Covid clusters emerged in two city neighbourhoods 30km apart early this month, corporation’s health teams stuck to the basic mantra: Trace, Track, treat. But to crack the biggest challenge of identifying the index case, they employed a fourth ‘T’: Talk. Read more

A village in Villupuram district, which banned the sale and consumption of tobacco products including cigarettes four decades ago, continues to set an example for other villages to become tobacco-free. Read more

Puducherry reported 134 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday, taking the active cases to 971. Of these, 799 are under home isolation and treatment. Puducherry headquarters area has the maximum fresh cases (86) followed by Mahe (23), Karaikal (19) and Yanam (6). Puducherry headquarters has the maximum active cases (603) too, followed by Mahe (187), Karaikal (163) and Yanam (18). The territory has so far reported 1.22 lakh cases of which 1.19 lakh patients recovered registering a recovery rate of 97.7%.

The slowing down of southwest monsoon over other regions may be good news for Chennai and its neighbouring districts as weathermen have forecast rainfall for at least three days starting this weekend. For the next 48hours, IMD has forecast thunderstorms with light rain to occur over some areas in the city and its neighbourhood. The skies are likely to be generally cloudy while the maximum and minimum temperature will be around 35 deg C and 26 deg C.