Tamil Nadu Live Updates: DVAC raids under way at Swamy Ayyappan educational trust at Musiri

German Consul General in Chennai Karin Christina Maria Stoll held discussions with Puducherry chief minister N Rangasamy on Friday at his chamber. A press release from office of the chief minister said it was only a courtesy meeting that lasted nearly half-an-hour.

PMK founder S Ramdoss has said his party would hold protests against the proposed sand quarries in Tamil Nadu. The state government has announced that it would open 15 new sand quarries and do away with the practice of importing sand. Ramdoss slammed the DMK government's decision to stop imports and open new sand quarries in the state. In a statement on Thursday, the veteran leader said the state government must construct check dams every five kilometre in rivers to increase the water table. He urged the state government to continue import of sand, adding that mining sand would alter the ecological balance.

Many wholesale shops in Tamil Nadu selling firecrackers have witnessed a slump in business and traders have attributed the reduced demand due to a shortage of funds in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the high rates of the products.With under two weeks left for Diwali on November 4, wholesale and retail shops for firecrackers in the state are wearing a festive look but with brisk business.Business is quite dull in the busy Parry's corner in Chennai which has a huge wholesale market for firecrackers.

Searches were held on Friday by vigilance sleuths here and in Salem in connection with a case of Rs 27.22 crore disproportionate assets against C Vijayabaskar, who was the health minister in the previous AIADMK regime. In Chennai, the searches were held in the residence of a former personal assistant to Vijayabaskar, in the office of a property developer, and another person. The raid was conducted in a hospital in Salem, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption said.

Traffic congestion in the KK Nagar-Nesapakkam area could be eased by November when Metrowater is expected to complete replacing the old pipeline carrying sewage from residential areas of Kodambakkam zone to the Nesappakkam treatment plant. READ MORE

Indian Institute of Technology Madras and Monolith Research and Training Labs are launching an advanced diploma program in virtual reality to be offered in both online and offline mode. The course will be open for anyone with an engineering background, including students currently enrolled in engineering degrees, anywhere in the country. READ MORE

Tomato price has started rising with the onset of rain and is sold at Rs 60 a kilogram in the retail market in Madurai, a good Rs 20 more than the wholesale price. Supplies have dropped by half and the price is expected to rise further. READ MORE

The DMK has plans to field a woman candidate for the Chennai mayoral election, highly placed sources in the party said. The state election commission, meanwhile, is gearing up to hold the elections to over 600 urban local bodies in the state by December-end as the Supreme Court has granted four months to complete the election process that has been pending since 2016. READ MORE

Health officials in Madurai are leaving no stone unturned to increase 100% Covid-19 vaccination coverage with at least one dose, and are hoping for a better response to vaccinate more than one lakh beneficiaries during the sixth mega vaccination drive set to be held across the state on Saturday.

Steady revival of the real estate sector after the second wave of Covid-19 has reflected in the revenue generated through property registrations, which has touched a new high in September. Income from property and land registrations in Tamil Nadu in September was nearly Rs 1,500 crore — the highest in a month in any year. READ MORE

The Tamil Nadu government has declined a plea by the opposition AIADMK seeking permission to undertake the maintenance of the statue of late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. The government contended that handing over the maintenance of statues to private individuals or organisations was not in practice. AIADMK coordinator and former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam had petitioned the Tamil Nadu higher education department to allow the party to maintain the statue of Jayalalithaa at the Tamil Nadu State Council of Higher Education campus.

The Chennai Police are continuing to crack down on vehicles, including high-end cars that are bearing fake stickers of press, lawyers, and human rights bodies. In certain cases, the stickers of doctors were also falsely used.

The Union territory of Puducherry did not report any Covid-19 deaths for the second consecutive day on Thursday. The number of active Covid-19 cases remained below the 500-mark.The territory reported 43 fresh cases even as 50 patients recovered in the last 24 hours ending at 10am on Thursday bringing down the active cases to 454. Of them, 354 are under home isolation and treatment.

Thirumurthy, whose reprisal of the famous ‘Kannana Kanne’ in ‘Viswasam’ starring Ajit and Nayanthara, never thought he would get a chance to sing for police personnel who laid down their lives during duty. But, his rendition of the original Sid Sriram number went viral on social media and won him fame. READ MORE

The police in Tamil Nadu's Salem on Thursday took up a case pertaining to the death of C. Kanagaraj, the driver of the late former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.Kanagaraj was the prime accused in the murder of a security guard, Om Bahadur at the Kodanad estate in April 2017.Kanagaraj was killed in a road accident at Attur in April 2017 while he was riding a two-wheeler on the Salem-Ulundurpet highway.

Petrol costs Rs 103.92 per litre and diesel Rs 99.92.

Gold weighing over five kg and electronic goods worth Rs 2.68 crore were seized at the airport here and five air passengers arrested in this connection. Ten people who arrived from Dubai via Colombo on Wednesday were detained by the Customs sleuths, and their belongings examined at the airport based on specific inputs.

Years of neglect have spelt doom for four colonial-era buildings on a plot on arterial Poonamallee High Road at Kilpauk. READ MORE

The Tamil Nadu health department will organise sixth mega Covid vaccination drive for the second jab on October 23, Saturday. This, after the poor percentage of the second dose, as the state has till Wednesday administered second dose only to 26 per cent of its population and is lagging behind other South Indian states like Kerala (33 per cent), Karnataka (33 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (36 per cent) and Telangana (28 per cent). It is also behind the national average which is at 29 per cent.