Tuesday 5 June 2012
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.JPG)
.jpg)
Rajendra balaji
Rajendra balaji
Trade fair opens business avenue after 12 years
Features 21 stalls by government departments and agencies
trying out:Minister for Information and Special Programme Implementation K.T.Rajendra Balaji inspecting a stall put up at the government trade fair in the city on Thursday. —PHOTO:R.M. RAJARATHINAM
A 45-day government trade fair, organised by Department of Information and Public Relations, got underway at the St.John's Vestry Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School grounds in the city on Thursday.
The exhibition features 21 stalls by government departments and agencies, highlighting various government schemes and achievements. Ten stalls by private traders and amusement enclosures for children also form part of the exhibition.
Declaring open the fair, K.T.Rajendra Balaji, Minister for Information and Special Programme Implementation, said the government trade fair is being organised in the city after a gap of about 12 years.
Apart from highlighting the government schemes, they were also a leisure and entertainment avenue for people. The fair also served as a platform for showcasing traditional art forms and the culture of the State.
Gold coins distributed
The Minister, who distributed gold coins and marriage assistance to about 490 women under the marriage assistance scheme, affirmed that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was committed to put the State on the forefront of development in the country.
P.Shankar, Director, Information and Public Relations, said the government trade fairs, a regular event some years back but suspended over the past few years, have been revived now.
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has ordered that similar fairs should be organised in all the panchayat unions in the State.
The fairs would be organised in 97 panchayat unions in the first phase soon. The government has also increased the quantum of fund sanctioned for the annual multi-media exhibitions, he said.
Collector Jayashree Muralidharan said the fair would help sensitise people to the various welfare and development schemes implemented by the government.
P.Kumar, MP, M.Paranjothi, N.R.Sivapathi, R.Manoharan, T.P.Poonatchi, and Indira Gandhi, MLAs, A.Jaya, Mayor, and G.Thanappan, Deputy Director, Information and Public Relations, spoke.
Though the opening of the trade fair was deferred by three days to give time for the organisers to complete the arrangements, many of the stalls being put up by government departments and traders remained incomplete on Thursday. Work was still underway and the stalls were expected to be ready within a day or two.
Sivakasi students get cycles and laptops
"Government keen to help weaker sections"
Helping hand: Information Minister K.T. Rajendra Balaji presenting a milch animal to a beneficiary in Sivakasi on Sunday. Collector M. Balaji (left) is seen.
The State government presented cycles and laptops to 702 students with the sole intention that it would lessen the burden of the parents hailing from the economically weaker sections and facilitate improvement in the academic performance of the students.
Speaking on the occasion, Information and special programmes implementation, Minister K.T. Rajendra Balaji said on Sunday at Sivakasi that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa accorded top priority to education and was keen on providing all basic infrastructural facilities to the school students.
Like the children in urban locations, those living in remote and isolated rural pockets too should feel comfortable and exposed to gadgets like laptops, which would give a fillip and help them in academic performance. In an information era, one segment of student community should not feel they were lagging behind in learning the nuances of computer, he said.
The minister also said that the scheme to present cycles to students was started by the Chief Minister as early as 2001, during her earlier regime. A total of 20,898 students would be benefitted in Virudhunagar district alone in getting cycles, valued at Rs six crore, he added.
Collector M. Balaji presided. Students from Sivakasi Hindu Nadar Victoria Higher Secondary School, Vilampatti A.V. Marimuthu Nadar School, Sivakasi Velankanni Madha HSS and Sivakasi Rathnavilas HSS received the cycles from the minister, valued at Rs 20.90 lakh. District Revenue Officer C.A. Raman welcomed the gathering. CEO Sasikala proposed a vote of thanks, a press release said.
Milch animals
In another function, the minister gave away milch animals – cattle and goats – to beneficiaries from Sattur, Sivakasi and Aruppukottai Assembly segments all worth around Rs 36 lakh. This would help the beneficiaries, who are selected from below poverty category, improve their economic status. The BPL category population should not feel they are let down in the society and keeping this in mind, the Chief Minister had devised such a welfare scheme. Hence, Mr. Rajendra Balaji urged the beneficiaries not to sit back, but work and earn their living through the income from the cattle and goat. The government has played the role of a catalyst and the masses should try to elevate their position, he added.
He also outlined the welfare schemes such as gold for marriage (thalikku thangam), food mixer, fan and grinder for the poorer sections of the society. He urged the beneficiaries to make use of these commodities in the right perspective and improve their standards of living. Sattur MLA Udayakumar, Vaigaiselvan (Arupukottai) were among others who spoke.
District Revenue Officer C.A. Raman welcomed the gathering. Animal Husbandry Joint Director Jayaraman proposed a vote of thanks. District Panchayat council chairperson Vasantha Alagarsami and among others participated.
Rajendra balaji
Rajendra balaji
Bhoomi puja for water projects
15.57 lakh people to benefit across Virudhunagar district
Beneficial:Minister for Information and Special Schemes Implementation, K.T.Rajendra Balaji, performing bhoomi puja for drinking water project at Seithur near Rajapalayam on Monday.
Minister for Information and Special Schemes Implementation K.T. Rajendra Balaji on Monday performed bhoomi puja for three combined drinking water schemes that would cater to 15.57 lakh people across Virudhunagar district.
The Rs. 597-crore projects would draw 541.2 lakh litres of water a day from the Tamiraparani river at Sivalaperi, Mukkoodal (both Tirunelveli district) and Vallanadu (Tuticorin) to supply it to 1,787 rural habitations and seven town panchayats.
The bhoomi puja was performed in the presence of Collector M. Balaji and Tenkasi MP P. Lingam, MLAs Vaigai Selvan (Aruppukottai), R.B. Udhayakumar (Sattur), Gopalsamy (Rajapalayam) and Ponnupandian (Srivilliputtur) at different places.
Pipelines would be laid for 3,530 km and supplied to the people through 409 ground-level sumps and 78 overhead tanks to be constructed.
Mr. Rajendra Balaji said that water drawn from Vallanadu would cater to 637 rural habitations in Aruppukottai, Kariyapatti, Tiruchuzhi and Narikudi panchayat unions. The project would be implemented at a cost of Rs. 190 crore.
The Rs. 234-crore project that would draw water from Sivalaperi would supply water to 775 habitations of Sattur, Virudhunagar, Vembakottai and Sivakasi panchayat unions.
The third project envisaged at a cost of Rs. 173 crore would fulfil the drinking water requirement of seven town panchayats of Seithur, Sundarapandiyam, W. Pudupatti, S. Kodikulam, Watrap, Chettiyarpatti and Mamsapuram and 395 habitations of Rajapalayam, Srivilliputtur and Watrap panchayat unions.
The Collector said that the project would be implemented in 18 months.
Sivakasi Revenue Divisional Officer Subbulakshmi, Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board Superintending Engineer Mohan Babu and Executive Engineer Pughazhenthi, were present.
Mayor rules out permanent bridge for Kallazhagar's entry into Vaigai
The HinduMinister for Information and Special Schemes Implementation K.T. Rajendra Balaji (second from right), taking a look at the exhibits after inaugurating the annual Chithirai Government Exhibition in Madurai on Saturday. Photo: G. Moorthy
Says, it is a pride for Corporation to incur recurring expenditure of Rs. 10 to 15 lakh every year
Mayor V.V. Rajan Chellappa has ruled out the possibility of building a permanent bridge in River Vaigai for the annual entry of Lord Kallazhagar by stating that the Municipal Corporation would be more than happy to incur the recurring expenditure of around Rs. 10 to 15 lakh in building temporary bridges every year for exclusive use of the Lord.
Replying to a series of demands made by R. Annadurai, Member of Legislative Assembly representing Madurai South constituency, during the inaugural of the annual Government Chithirai exhibition here on Saturday, the Mayor said that this year the Corporation had allotted about Rs. 50 lakh for successful conduct of the Chithirai festival.
The money would be spent on refurbishing the roads through which the Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple car would be pulled and other works. He, however, accepted the other demand of the MLA that steps should be taken to establish a permanent exhibition in the city limits in order to create awareness among the people about various Government welfare schemes.
Minister for Information and Special Programme Implementation K.T. Rajenthra Balaji inaugurated the Chithirai exhibition by pressing a remote switch to light up a board carrying the words ‘Arasu Porutkaatchi' meaning Government exhibition.
In his inaugural address, the Minister said that the Chief Minister had introduced many schemes aimed at eradicating poverty.
“Whenever the Chief Minister reads out a statement under Rule 110 in the Assembly, it means that she has come out with yet another scheme for the poor and the needy. The allocation of Rs. 11,500 crore for school education itself is a standing testimony to her commitment. She is of the firm view that there can be equality only if the poor are uplifted through education,” he said.
In his presidential address, Minister for Cooperation ‘Sellur' K. Raju said that the Chief Minister had been benevolent enough in allotting Rs. 250 crore for Madurai Corporation recently.
Responding to the MLA's demand for exempting Madurai from power shutdown for about 10 days during the Chithirai festival, the Minister said that the Chief Minister was keen on relieving not only Madurai but the entire State from power cuts.
Collector U. Sagayam said that a total of 21 organisations including 15 government departments and five government undertakings apart from the Reserve Bank of India had put up stalls in the exhibition to educate people about the government schemes.
The prime aim of the exhibition was not just to display the details of the schemes but also to make sure that the benefits reached the needy, he added.
He also said that 821 beneficiaries had been identified to receive government largesse such as motor-operated sewing machines, iron boxes and electric fans during the function.
He hailed the Chief Minister for having made the laptops accessible to poor students by distributing them free of cost to students of government higher secondary schools and colleges.
Tamil Development, Religious Endowments and Information Department Secretary M. Rajaram; Director of Information and Public Relations P. Shankar; MLAs R. Samy (Melur), K. Tamilarasan (Madurai East), M.V. Karuppiah (Sholavandan), A.K. Bose (Madurai North), M. Muthuramalingam (Thirumangalam) and P.V. Kathiravan (Usilampatti) and Deputy Mayor R. Gopalakrishnan also spoke.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)