VIRUDHNAGAR: Three rooms were gutted down in a fire accident at a fireworks unit near Sivakasi in Virudhunagar district on Saturday morning. As the incident took place in the early hours, no one was working thus resulting in no casualties. The unit, owned by Rajaram of Kathanatar Street, is located in Naranapuram Pudur near Sivakasi. The raw materials for the fireworks unit stocked at a room where the fire reportedly broke out around 6.30 am. Two other nearby rooms were damaged in the fire accid

COIMBATORE: The western region of Tamil Nadu couldn't match its recent excellent higher secondary (Class 12) board examination results in the Class 10 Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination results announced by the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Government Examinations on Friday. As far as the western region is concerned, Erode district secured the 7th place out of the 38 districts in the state in the Class 10 final exams with a pass percentage of 95.08%, followed by the Coimbatore d

TIRUNELVELI: A search was carried out by the special police team, which was set up to probe the mysterious death of Tirunelveli East District Congress president Jeyakumar Dhanasingh, inside a 85-ft deep well to trace two cell phones that belonged to the late leader. As part of the search, officials, with the help of fire and rescue services personnel, drained out water from the well, located in Jeyakumar's farm, using a high-power motor. According to sources, the works to pump out the water bega

MADURAI: Five out of 10 districts in southern Tamil Nadu feature in the top 10 list of overall ranking with respect to the class 10 board examination. Sivaganga secured a pass percentage of 97.02%, which is 0.51% less than 2023. But the district secured the second rank both last year and his year. Up from rank 12 last year, Ramanathapuram secured the third spot this year with a pass percentage of 96.36% 2.5% more than last year. Kanniyakumari got 96.24% this year 0.25% more than last year, and

TIRUNELVELI: Days after members of the MBC community alleged some officials attached to the Devarkulam police station of practising discrimination, Sankarankovil DMK MLA E Raja submitted a petition to Collector K P Karthikeyan on Friday, seeking transfer of the officials. Members of the MBC community from Devarkulam and Vannikonenthal villages alleged that the police personnel of the station foisted false cases against them. Condemning the act, around 100 people had decided to stage a protest. H

MADURAI: The episode of searing heat in Madurai has concluded, after heavy rain lashed the district on Thursday night. From days recording temperatures of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the downpour brought the much-needed respite. Although citizens rejoiced at the sight of shower, they have complained of sewage overflow and garbage-strewn roads. The latest spell of rain came for the second consecutive day in the district. According to the IMD, Madurai witnessed 102 degree Fahrenheit in the day ti

VELLORE: Vellore district witnessed a notable decline in the class 10 examination results, landing at the bottom of Tamil Nadu's rankings recording a pass percentage of 82.07%. This marks a significant drop from the previous year's pass rate of 91.34%, a 9.27% decrease. Official sources reported that a total of 18,357 students -- 9,104 boys and 9,253 girls -- from 254 schools across the district appeared for the examinations this year. Of them, 15,066 students passed -- 6,885 boys (75.63%) and 8

SIVAGANGA: Though she bagged 478 marks in class 10 exams and brought pride to her whole community, 15-year-old N Iniya Srees dream of pursuing higher education and wielding the stethoscope could soon bite the dust as she has not yet been provided a Kattunayakan (ST) community certificate. Iniya, a student of Maharishi Vidya Mandir in Karaikudi, scored 96 in Tamil and English, 99 in Mathematics, 97 in Science and 90 in Social Science. Her father M Naadimuthu said he too lacked a community certifi

VIRUDHUNAGAR: A day after a blast at Shri Sudharsan Fireworks at Sengamalapatti killed 10 people , a preliminary inquiry by the district administration revealed several violations at the unit, where the blast had occurred, including usage of an excess amount of raw materials. The unit also employed more workers than the norms and manufactured crackers in the absence of safety protocol and proper infrastructure. Official sources said, the unit was also subleased to others, and crackers were manuf

THANJAVUR: About 120 farmers owing allegiance to the national south Indian rivers linking farmers association, who planned to travel to Varanasi in the Kashi Tamil Sangamam Express, detained the train at Thanjavur junction for two hours alleging their tickets were cancelled in the last minute. The train from Kanniyakumari to Varanasi, on Friday arrived at Thanjavur junction at 6.45 am against the scheduled time of 4.10 am. When the train started after three minutes of halt, the farmers who board

CHENNAI: The cyber crime wing of the Central Crime Branch, Chennai, has registered another case against YouTuber Savukku Shankar based on a complaint registered by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority. The authority had said Shankar used forged documents and claimed them to be from CMDA. Police said that according to the complaint, Shankar used the data and information from these false documents in interviews which led to law and order issues. Based on the complaint from CMDA, a case u

CHENNAI: The volume of gold brought by each consumer may have come down but the sales on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya have gone up despite the spurt in prices. Explaining why crowds were not witnessed at many jewellery shops on Friday, Jayantilal Challani, president of The Madras Jewellers and Diamond Merchants Association, said about 75% to 80% of customers pre-booked purchases to avoid feeling the pinch of price hikes. Interestingly, the gold price per gramme went up by just Rs 155 this mon

TIRUCHY: Non-biodegradable waste lying exposed for long hours under the sun on the premises of the city corporations micro composting centres (MCC) has raised concerns over possible fire outbreaks. However, civic body officials said the functioning of the centres is being regularly monitored. There are about 40 micro composting centres in the city. These centres, after segregation, recycle degradable waste into manure and sell the non-biodegradable waste to cement factories or auction them off t

TIRUCHY: In a proud moment for Manachanallur, 11 students of the government model girls higher secondary school in the town share 15 centums among them in the Class 10 public examination held this year. Commenting on the performance, school headmaster Muthuselvan, who was also the recipient of the best teacher award this year, said, Though we havent achieved 100% pass this year, over 218 students scored above 400. We have achieved 97.5% pass. Our highest total score is 493. One student scored ce

CHENNAI: For the girls of Chennai corporation schools who had triumphed in Class 10 public exam, education is not just an isolated struggle with letters and numbers. It is among the numerous battles they fight every day for a life of basic needs that many would take for granted. For instance, G Shanthoshini of corporation girls higher secondary school on Buddha Street, who stood first in her school and third among all corporation school students with a score of 488, managed the feat while taking

VIRUDHUNAGAR: When a 38-year-old Arivukodi dropped out of school after finishing class 10 years back, owing to her poor family condition, and started working at cracker units, she was stern on preventing her children from facing the same ordeal in future. Giving wings to his mothers dreams, Arivukodis son Yaswanthaman scored 496 marks in his class 10 board exams, when results came out on Friday, securing third rank at the district level. Yaswanthaman (15), a student of Government Higher Secondar

THENI: On the Cumbam-Kumily national highway, the vineyards have lost their luscious vibe. The unprecedented rise in temperature has left the valley parched and the grapes city of south India lies in a shambles. The past month has been horrible for grape farmers of Tamil Nadu as the heatwave aborted the flowers, which will have a huge impact on the yield of the fruit this year. Instead of the usual 12 to 15 tonnes per acre, the farmers are expecting two to three tonnes this season, marking almos

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has said the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department can proceed with the construction of Vallalar International Centre at Vadalur in Cuddalore district only after obtaining the nod of statutory bodies concerned, including the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP). A special bench of Justices R Mahadevan and PD Audikesavalu directed the department to complete the process of appointing trustees to the Vallalar Trust by June 24 and adjo

CHENNAI: Moosa Raza, the former chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir and prominent educationist who passed away in Chennai on Wednesday was not only a distinguished IAS officer and fire-fighter for the government but also a polyglot who made important contributions to literature. Fluent in Persian, Urdu, Arabic and English among other languages, the 87-year-old, a Padmabhushan awardee, had translated the 19th century poet Mirza Ghalibs 500 Persian couplets into Urdu and English. The book, Smile

PUDUCHERRY: In a bid to align with the precedent set by Tamil Nadu, the Puducherry Health Department is deliberating on seeking exemption from the Common Entrance Test (CET) for admissions to the BSc Nursing course for the academic year 2024-2025. The decision came in response to the appeal from the public, citing the exemption granted to Tamil Nadu. Subsequently, Chief Minister N Rangasamy discussed with Director of Health and Family Welfare Dr G Sriramulu, who said, We plan to retain the exist

CHENNAI: With an insolvency application against Dharani Sugars and Chemicals being withdrawn from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday, three sugar factories will soon be revived. This move will benefit more than 30,000 sugarcane growers in Vasudevanallur in Tirunelveli district, Polur in Tiruvanamalai district and Sankarapuram in Kallakurichi district. The proposal under 12A was approved by NCLT resulting in restoration of power to the board of directors, a release stated. The

PUDUCHERRY: Students of the Puducherry and Karaikalregions of the UT registered a pass percentage of89.14 % in the SSLC examination, bettering the previous year's pass percentage of 89.12 by 0.02 per cent. Out of the total of 14952 students who appeared for the board examinations,13328 have passed the examination, of which 6527 are Boys and 6801 are Girls. While private schools registered 96.6%, the government schools secured 78.08% only . Puducherry region students fared better with a pass perc

CHENNAI: A total of 91.55% of students who wrote the Class 10 examinations in the state passed this year. This is slightly higher than the pass percentage of 91.39 recorded last year. The pass percentage of girls is 94.53 and that of boys is 88.58, with a difference of 5.95 percentage points. This year, 8,94,264 students, including 4,47,06 girls and 4,47,203 boys, wrote the examinations that were held between March 26 and April 4. A total of 8,18,743 students passed the examination. Last year, 9

TIRUPPUR: A group of residents and social activists sought the removal of advertisement posters of an Avinashi-based jewellery shop alleging it was obscene. Speaking to TNIE, A Saravanan, a social activist, said, Residents informed about the advertisment posters of the jewellery shop pasted in several parts of Tiruppur city. The female model was dressed inappropriately. These posters were pasted on the walls in Poluvapatti, PN Road, Palanisamy Nagar, Raja Nagar, Pitchamapalayam Pudur, Boyampalay

KRISHNAGIRI: A 16-year-old boy died by suicide near Anchetti on Thursday. The deceased was G Mahendran, son of Ganesan, of Bailkadu locality near Anchetti. Mahendran was a Class 9 drop-out. He had undergone for surgery on his left leg at a private hospital at Vellore last year. He used to complain to his parents about leg pain that developed after the surgery, police told TNIE. Ganesan lodged a complaint at the Anchetti police station stating his son died by suicide due to pain in his leg, post

DHARMAPURI: Coracle operation at Hogenakkal which was suspended two months ago by the tourism department due to renovation work resumed on Thursday. The renovation include construction of steps and walkways leading to the coracle ticketing counters. On Thursday, engineers declared the area fit for use following which coracle operations resumed. Speaking to TNIE, M Prabhu, district secretary of the boatmen and cooks association, said, In mid-February, we were asked to suspend coracle operations

THOOTHUKUDI: A 64-year-old Tasmac bar in-charge was murdered for allegedly refusing to serve liquor for free at a liquor shop in Krishnanagar, Kovilpatti here on Wednesday. The deceased has been identified as Gurusamy of Kovilpatti. The Kovilpatti west police arrested Sankarapandian alias Mookaiah Pandian (60) of Chidambarapatti in connection with the incident on Thursday. According to sources, Pandian came to the bar on Wednesday afternoon and demanded liquor from Gurusamy, who is also the beve

THOOTHUKUDI: Two days after the body of a 43-year-old woman was buried in the backyard of her house at Ayyanadaippu by her son , it was exhumed for an autopsy on Thursday. A team of doctors from the Thoothukudi Medical College Hospital, led by Dr Udhayakumar, conducted the postmortem examination at the house itself. The body was handed over to the family following the autopsy. According to sources, the deceased, Ashabairose and her son Mohammed Kulam Kader (22), who allegedly has mental health i

COIMBATORE: The state highways department has proposed to construct 32 bus stops on the Avinashi Road flyover with toilets.This was decided based on suggestion made by the Road Safety Committee headed by the District Collector Kranthi Kumar Pati, after officials from the state highways department (special projects) led by the divisional engineer V Samuthirakani and transport, CCMC, traffic police and revenue department conducted a joint review on the flyover work on Thursday. Speaking to TNIE, d

COIMBATORE: Waterlogging on the newly commissioned Periyanaickenpalayam flyover in Coimbatore city during rain hinders the smooth flow of traffic, say motorists. They alleged that the flyover in Periyanaickenpalayam town has no proper provisions for draining of rainwater from the flyover. The flyover connecting Vidyalaya and Vannankovil was officially inaugurated in March after a trial run that commenced last December. Several motorists reported they experienced difficulties in the Periyanaicke

COIMBATORE: A 54-year-old tribal man was trampled to death and two others were injured in a wild elephant attack at Nedunkundru settlement near Valparai in the Anaimalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) on Wednesday night. The deceased has been identified as R Ravi and the injured are K Vijayan (52) and N Ramachandran (37) all three being residents of Nedunkundru settlement which is part of the Kavarkal forest beat of the Valparai forest range. The incident happened when the three were returning to their ho

NILGIRIS: The 126th annual flower show will commence at government botanical garden (GBG) in Ooty on Friday. It will continue till May 20. Since the model code of conduct is in force, chief secretary Shiv Das Meena will inaugurate the event, instead of ministers, in the presence of agriculture production commissioner Selvi Apoorva. Officials say a total of 2.60 lakh varieties of flowers and 5,000 flower pots would be displayed in ten different structures at the garden. The horticulture departmen

CHENNAI: Nearly 15 years after GOs were passed to exempt differently abled students from paying tuition fees and special fees in government and aided colleges, it is yet to be implemented in many of these institutions, said Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently Abled and Caregivers (TARATDAC). Since many departments are involved in ensuring that GOs are implemented in spirit, they urged the chief secretary to convene a meeting. An order in 2008 was passed to exempt di

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the state government to file reply to a public interest litigation petition seeking implementation of the crackdown against unauthorised stickers pasted on vehicles, as done in Chennai city, across the state. When the petition filed by Devadas Gandhi Wilson of Chennai came up for hearing on Thursday, a vacation bench of Justices AD Jagadish Chandira and R Kalaimathi ordered notice to the government directing it to file a reply in four weeks. The petiti

TIRUVARUR: The Nannilam police on Thursday detained a juvenile for allegedly assaulting a 20-year-old man during an altercation that broke out during a game of cricket the previous evening. The victim succumbed to injuries in hospital hours after the assault, the police said. The deceased has been identified as D Ajithkumar of a village falling under Nannilam police limits. Ajithkumar, who assisted his father in masonry work, usually joined in a game of cricket with the youngsters of the localit

COIMBATORE: Two Bangladesh nationals were arrested for illegal entry and stay in the country on Wednesday. They were remanded in the central prison in Chennai. According to police, M Mohammad Arzoo (26) and Bolash Chandra Burman (25) obtained Aadhaar and PAN cards using fake documents in West Bengal and Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu, respectively. Police traced and arrested them based on an intelligence alert on Wednesday. Search is on for one more suspect M Shakil (28) who lived in Tiruppur. Accor

DINDIGUL: Days after a 50-year-old Dalit man was allegedly hacked to death over community-related issues near Nilakottai in Dindigul, the Nilakottai police on Thursday arrested three persons in connection with the murder. The accused were identified as Ramesh Kumar (36), Vigneshwaran (22) and Karthik (19) of Kariyampatti. According to police sources, a group clash erupted between two communities in the neighbouring villages of Nadupatti and Kariyampatti here on May 6. Three people -- Sakthivel,

VILLUPURAM: Two women and a man were injured in a blast at a cracker manufacturing unit in Marakanam on Thursday morning. Police sources from Kottakuppam identified the injured as M Rajendran (53) of Mariamman Temple Street in Keezhputhupattu, S Andal (50) and P Gowri (65) of Periyakozhuveri. Rajendran owned the cracker unit, which has been operational in a farmland near Ayyanar Temple in Keezhputhupattu for the past two decades. On Thursday morning, Rajendran and four women, were drying cracker

VIRUDHUNAGAR: Lives of four women belonging to three generations of a family died in the blast at a firecracker unit near Sivakasi on Thursday. Relatives of the women mourned outside the mortuary at the Sivakasi Government Hospital and reminisced the last moments they spent with them. The deceased women have been identified as M Aavudayammal (75), her daughter M Muthu (52), and granddaughters V Lakshmi (47) and K Jeyalakshmi (25). At least 60 relatives gathered outside the mortuary. Recalling th

CHENNAI: Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo has said the Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed district election officers (DEOs) and returning officers (ROs) to ensure continuous CCTV coverage and install additional cameras focused on the doors of strong rooms containing the electronic voting machines (EVMs). In a meeting held via video conference, Sahoo discussed security arrangements for strong rooms and CCTV coverage with election officials. According to the official statement

COIMBATORE: Based on the orders of judicial magistrate Court IV, Savukku Shankar underwent examination in the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) on Thursday and was treated for fracture on his right forearm. After treatment, he was taken back to the Coimbatore central prison. His lawyer S Gopalakrishnan told media persons in the evening that X-ray showed Shankar suffered two fractures in his right hand. On May 6, Gopalakrishnan filed a petition before the court stating that Shankar was a

TIRUPATTUR: More than six months have passed since a family of four from Vellore district was liberated from alleged bonded labour from a brick kiln in Bairapalli in Mittalam panchayat near Ambur. They are yet to receive their bonded labour release certificates, the delay has deprived them of compensation and other livelihood assistance they are entitled to from the government. The family Sathish (30), Sangeetha (27), Karthikeyan (9) and Tharun (6) from the Irular community, now resides in Vas

DHARMAPURI: The recent rain may have given a new lease of life to crops, and people may heave a sigh of relief for getting a break from the heat wave, but dairy farmers are in the lurch due to shortage of hay for their cattle. They have appealed to state government to sell hay at subsidised rate. In Dharmapuri, most farmers depend on the daily revenue earned from milk production. However, the heat wave and monsoon failure last year resulted in shortage of hay. Farmers said they buy hay from trad

COIMBATORE: Owners of MSME units say the continuation of the model code of conduct (MCC) despite completion of polling is causing difficulties for them. Speaking to TNIE, J James, president of Tamil Nadu Association of Cottage and Tiny Enterprises (TACT) said, As the state government administration has been restricted due to the MCC, we could not take grievances regarding day-to-day operations to the government. There are anomalies in power supply, tax collection, water supply etc. But we have n

TIRUCHY: The fresh heart-shaped leaves plucked from the evergreen betel vine may be an essential ingredient for the auspicious rituals and ceremonies. But farmers from Karur, Tiruchy, Thanjavur, and Dharmapuri see their fortunes slip away in the adverse weather conditions and unprecedented water scarcity. Most farmers TNIE spoke to are at loss of words to explain how the heatwave-like conditions over the past few weeks coupled with the lack of availability of Cauvery water for irrigation brought

CHENNAI: With the wind season commencing a week ago in the state, the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) is eyeing to purchase 15,000 million units (MU) of wind power this year against 13,500 MUs it procured last year. The power utility is expecting that this will reduce its expenses associated with procuring coal-based power from private players. The current cost of wind power stands below Rs 4 per unit, whereas coal-based thermal power costs Rs 10 in the open market.

TIRUCHY: While the 410 public toilets in the city have Quick Response (QR) codes to receive feedback on hygiene and maintenance, the city residents and commuters want the facility to be upgraded to accept QR code-based payment. According to a corporation official, of the 410 toilets (both public and community toilets), about 250 of them are paid toilets charging a nominal fee. A QR code-based payment system should be in place at least in some of the pay and use public toilets in high-footfall ar

TIRUCHY: As the district enters the dog days of summer (Agni Natchathiram), inadequate drinking water at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital here has put thousands of visitors at risk of heat-related illness, including patients. Due to faulty RO water plant in most of the hospital floors, kin of patients are forced to walk to the canteen in extreme heat to fill up empty bottles, complain bystanders. According to sources, the RO facility in several floors of GH, including the building wit

TIRUCHY: Passengers at Tiruchy railway junction seek the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendra (PMBJK) medical shop on the premises to function round-the-clock. Although the establishment under the Union government scheme has received positive responses, a few are of the opinion that the railway should consider operating it 24x7 rather than from 7.30 am to 9 pm. At present, there are only one or two medical shops in front of Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH). If the railwa

TIRUCHY: With more children opting to enrol in Mallar Kambam classes during the summer holidays, residents have demanded improved facilities for the traditional sport at the Anna Stadium in Tiruchy. The stadium, which hosted a Mallar Kambam event as part of Khelo India Youth Games recently, lacks proper facilities. It is challenging for children attending the summer special camp, rue parents, as children may suffer injuries due to small and sharp gravels on the ground. They commend the efforts o