Pharmaceutical Company at Kurumbapet given closure order

The Puducherry Pollution Control Committee (PPCC) has issued a closure order to Taica Labs, a pharmaceutical company in Kurumbapet.

Special Secretary to Government and Chairman of the PPCC G. Theva Neethi Dhas told The Hindu that the unit had been issued directions for closure, for unauthorised manufacture of liquid formulations such as tonics.

Environmental Engineer of the PPCC N. Ramesh said that the directions were issued with the approval of the Chairman of the PPCC and the recommendation of Member Secretary G. Rajmohan.

The Department of Electricity had also been directed to stop power supply to the unit.

Mr. Ramesh said that the unit obtained licence to operate from the PPCC in February 2007, stating that it would only manufacture tablets and capsules. Water was not required in the manufacturing process, and there was no scope for effluents to be released. Later, the unit started unauthorised manufacture of tonics with alcohol content. This was brought to the notice of the PPCC by complaints from residents of the area, he said.

According to a resident of Raghavendra Nagar in Kurumbapet, “The unit started to discharge effluents into public drains, because of which water turned green. There was open discharge of effluents too, because of which even grass stopped growing in the area. We started to get frequent bouts of fever and developed skin allergy. There was a strong odour released by the effluents, because of which children used to vomit.”

Mr. Ramesh said that the unit had been collecting effluents in a sump and pumping it into roadside drains through an underground pipe.

Officials of the PPCC inspected the unit and discovered the violation.

“We then issued the unit a show cause notice. But, because the response was evasive and not satisfactory, we have now issued directions for closure under Section 33A of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974,” Mr. Ramesh said.

Yet to fill Nurses vacancies in Puducherry

While we knew, unemployment has been a constant struggle for any country. The recent economic crisis very generously boosted the toll rate of unemployment in many developed and developing counties. United States and other European countries are not exceptional.

It is not a rare situation that in India you plead the government to fill the vacancies assured some 3 year, 4 years back. Recent “the Pondicherry Government Nurses’ Association has urged the government to fill vacancies to the post of staff nurses, head nurses, public health nurses and nursing superintendents.

At a general body meeting held on Thursday, the association adopted resolutions urging the government to fill the third installment of 100 posts of staff nurses and three head nurses as per the Staff Inspection Unit norms as agreed to by the government in 2004, a release said. “

Filling these posts would surely improve the treatment and services provided in Puducherry Government Hospitals. Let us hope the government to act as quick as possible

Puducherry tops in CBSE class X results in Chennai region

Puducherry with 99.72 pass per cent topped the list of states and union territories in the CBSE class X results in the Chennai region, which were announced on Tuesday.

More than one lakh students out of the 1.05 lakh students who appeared for the exam passed, surpassing the previous year's record of 95.25 per cent, N Nagaraju, Joint Secretary, Chennai region, told reporters.

The Chennai region, comprising Andaman and Nicobar islands, Andhra Pradesh, Daman and Diu, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Maharashtra, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu, scored an 18-year high record of 95.60 pass per cent.

Kerala, Goa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu also registered pass percentage of more than 98 per cent.

Kerala with 35,000 students had the maximum number of students who took the exams this year.

Source

Teens becoming fashionistas nowadays..

Oh my God!!! Its really a heck of time to walk out with a teen age girl in the Jawaharlal Nehru Street in Pondicherry. I have a very good friend of mine, She is a great Fashionista who use to often buy trendy ornaments and cosmetics in various types. This Sunday we both jumped out in J.N. Street to find out some Fashion Jewelleries for her as she is entering the college next year. I was amazed by the designs and the varieties of these trendy jewels and was dumb-struck. This was more than enough for not only girls in the town, I could even see teen boys too wearing these sorts of fashion jewels. Today I sat down to blog on these trendy fashion picks I saw in various shops.
Its not an easy task to pick a trendy earring or a bracelet in a particular shop because in our small town we could find many petty shops and also Air-conditioned showrooms that showcase this trendy items. My friend dragged me over the streets and she has been collecting various trendy things that suits her dresses. She even told me that most of the girls prefer these trendy items rather than the Gold ornaments. I have been seeing my Mother and Sister from my childhood who has been wearing Gold ornaments but now to my excitement, even a girl kid too joined the fashion team and was looking for the fashionable and pretty ornaments. Thanks to the fashion jewellery, We could find a huge variety of designs these trendy jewels are much affordable and has a wide range where you can pick the one that suits you. The varieties range from wood, glass, metals, sea-shells, embellished with precious stones and also semi-precious stones.
"Trendy ornaments are fast-moving. We keep getting new designs, and sales are good through the year. Both youth and middle-aged men and women buy them," says Vijay Kumar, Manager of Casablanca. Casablanca is a very famous outlet for the fashionistas who wish to wear trendy jewels. In the shelves of the shop we could see innumerable items like earrings, chains, rings, bracelets, pendants and etc. Famous Super markets in Pondicherry too stock these sorts of ornaments and trendy items. In all the fancy stores we could see these type of jewels that could be afforded by the middle as well as the lower class people.
“The range of colours is huge too, and the cost ranges from Rs. 90 to Rs. 1,200. "Most customers prefer fashion jewellery since it is not expensive and looks good too. Young girls prefer fashion jewellery, and so, we keep sourcing new designs to keep up with the changing trends," he says.
A number of shops on Jawaharlal Nehru Street, one of the commercial hubs in Puducherry, sell trendy jewels and fancywear too. In another famous fashion showroom is the Pink Fashion Jewellery which offers a wide range of bangles and anklets sporting pearls, corals and precious and semi-precious stones. Many teen girls prefer these types of hook and drop models as they are easy to wear and also light weighed metals that suit their dresses. This is one of the hot news in this hot summer for our Girls and also for fashion headed boys too.

Battle of friends in Puducherry: Narayanasamy and Ramadoss

It will be a battle between two friends in the Union Territory of Puducherry where Union Minister of State and Congress General Secretary V Narayanasamy is taking on his college mate and PMK nominee M Ramadoss in the May 13 Lok Sabha polls.

The two, who had shared a close friendship while studying in the Government Tagore Arts College ( My College! I too completed my graduation ) here in the 1960s, have turned rivals with the PMK dumping the DMK-Congress led DPA and joining the AIADMK-led front for the polls.

Mr. Ramadoss had won the seat in 2004 when the PMK was alloted the seat as part of the then rainbow alliance formed by DMK.

With PMK's exit, the ruling Congress had secured the lone Lok Sabha seat in the Union Territory for itself and fielded Mr. Nararyanasamy, a three-time Rajya Sabha member.

Both Mr. Narayanasamy and Mr. Ramadoss, in their 60s now, belong to semi-urban pockets of Nonankuppam and Murungapakkam localities of this former French colony respectively.

"He was my closest classmate. We used to study the subject of economics together. We would peruse the books taken from the library in the college," Mr. Narayanasamy said.

Mr. Ramadoss too recalled his close association with Mr. Narayanasamy in the college days and said he never expected then that they would one day battle it out in poll arena."I did not then expect that we would lock horns in elections."

Source

Municipality yet to keep promise of constructing building at Gingee Salai market

With no buildings, lights or basic amenities, 100 vendors at one of the popular fish-cum-vegetable markets in the boulevard have been facing hardships for several years now. Lack of attention from the local body and unhygienic surroundings have made the situation worse, the vendors alleged.

Home to around 150 shops, majority of them selling seafood, the market on Gingee Salai has been in need of attention for years. Rain or shine, the vendors carry on their business under thatched roofs erected by themselves.

“Some of us have been selling fish here for nearly 30 years. But the market does not even have basic infrastructure. Some of us have put up thatched roofs for our shops. During rain, we do our business with the help of umbrellas, as it is a question of life. The Puducherry Municipality, which runs the market, has been promising to construct a building but nothing has come through till now,” a seafood vendor said.

The vendors, mostly women, come from nearby areas of Vaithikuppam and Kuruchikuppam. “The market did not have drinking water facility two years ago. Only after repeated petitions made did the local body provide water supply here,” another vendor said.

However, women faced difficulty owing to lack of toilets. “The market is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., and again from 4.30 p.m. to over 8 p.m. There are no lights here and we have to carry on the trade with the light from the nearby streetlights during evenings,” some vendors said.

Earlier, the vendors had been paying a tax of Rs. 3 to the municipality for utilising the market facility. They said that the local body had stopped cleaning the market leading to accumulation of garbage.

“Now, we are cleaning the market and clearing the garbage from the shops. Adding to our woes, the local body has started to station garbage lorries close to the market leading to unbearable stench,” a vendor said.

Besides, an old tree in the centre of the market has also been posing a threat to the vendors. “It’s rickety. A branch fell on an elderly vendor last month. We informed the municipality but no action has been taken. We have placed wooden planks on the tree trunk to prevent it from falling,” she added.

Meanwhile, the municipality had plans to construct a fish market here. At present, steps are being taken to construct a modern hygienic market through INTACH and the government has asked the agency to prepare estimates for the works, official sources said.

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