8/6/2019 Temples of Chennai

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c m y k c m y k

Chennai Monday 4 July 2011

K Devarajaninauguratedthe newSindhi modelschool

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ChennaiSubash Lakh-otia felicitat-ed two people

who clearedthe IAS exam.

4,000 char-tered accou-ntants toattend ICAIsconference.

DC

Land delay stalls Porur flyover PROPERTY ACQUISITION TROUBLE SEES MOOLAKADAI FAIL TO TAKE OFF

G.JAGANNATH

DC | CHENNAI

July 3: Inordinate delay inland acquisition has hit con-struction work of Porur andMoolakadai flyovers. Whilework on the Porur projecthas been stalled for the lastfew months, the Moolakadaiflyover work, launched inJanuary, has not taken offfor want of land.

According to sources inthe highways department,the `35 crore-flyover workat Porur junction waslaunched in March 2010 andbe ready by August 2011.But, the construction is onlyin the initial stages becauseof the delay in land acquisi-tion, said an official.

Once complete, the Porurflyover will benefitmotorists travelling betweenAnna Salai-PoonamalleeHigh Road and ArcotRoad and is expected to

reduce congestion in thearea.

The revenue authorities

have paid compensation fortaking over the land forconstruction of the flyover.

We hope to get the sanctionfor the demolition processby next week. Immediatelyafter taking possessionof the land, the constructionwork would begin andthe flyover would be readyin a year, the officialadded.

Then state finance ministerK. Anbazhagan laid thefoundation stone for the `50crore Moolakadai flyover onGrand Northern Trunk Roadin January 2011.

Without land acquisition,we could not start work onthis project, a senior high-ways official said, addingthat his department hashanded over money to thespecial deputy collector topay compensation for landacquisition.

As soon as land acquisi-tion is completed, wewill begin full-fledged con-struction work, the officialsaid.

DC CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI

July 3: Sun Pictures CEO

Hansraj Saxena was arrestedSunday evening on chargesof cheating a film distributorto the tune of `82.5 lakh.The media honcho was bo-oked under section 420 (ch-eating) and 406 (criminalbreach of trust) of the IPC

and sent to Puzhal jail after amagistrate remanded him to judicial custody until July17.

He was also charged withsection 385 (putting personin fear of injury to commitextortion) and section 506(criminal intimidation).

Saxena was arrested fol-lowing a complaint fromT.S. Selvaraj, distributor of

Kandan Films in Salem,who alleged that SunPictures had failed to payhim a sum of `82,53,374

lakh for the distributionrights of the filmTheerathavilayattu

pillai across Salem district.Selvaraj has also allegedthat Saxena and his aideshad threatened him of direconsequences when he

approached them for hismoney.

Complainant Selvaraj whosubmitted a letter to the

Chennai city police com-missioner J.K. Tripathyalleged that Saxena had soldhim the rights to distributethe Kollywood film inSalem district for `1.25crore, of which Selvaraj hadpaid up `82.5 lakh.

However, after the filmwas complete, Saxena wentahead and distributed thefilm in Salem under the Sun

banner,owned by the Maranbrothers. Selvaraj statedthat on January 5, Saxenacalled him to the Sun Net-work office at ForeshoreEstate, confined him thereillegally, and coerced him tosign on a blank paper.

GEORGE ADIMATHRA

DC | CHENNAI

July 3: Old-timers believethat the business houses thathave replaced the agra-harams on the streets closeto Sri Kalikambal Kamates-warar Temple and Kach-aleeswarar Temple onArmenian street in GeorgeTown pose little threat to thesanctity of the shrines thatboasts of a rich heritage.

On this day on October 3,1677 Chhatrapati ShivajiMaharaj visited this shrine,says a wooden plank placedinside Kalikambal Kamate-swarar temple. According toN. Kasinathan, 88, a reside-nt of George Town, Shivajiwas on a visit to the fast de-veloping town outside FortSt. George, a small tradingoutpost set by the English.

In those times the seaused to break on the areawhere todays Beach Stationis located. Shivaji probablytook a dip in the sea and thenoffered prayers to the deityat the temple, Mr Kasi-nathan said.

Revolutionary poetBharathiyar used to live nearKalikambal Temple whilehe was working for a Tamilnewspaper called Swadesha

Mithran. His devotion forthe Shaktiwas such that hewrote 180 hymns, the mostof famous of which is Yad-humagi Ninrai Nee Kali,Yengum Nirainthai, a favo-urite of Carnatic musicians,said 79-year-old K.R. San-thana Krishnan.

Kachaleeswarar Temple,which is over 800 years old,is said to have existed sincethe Narasimha Pallava peri-od and has an interestingstory regarding its history.Dhalavayi Chettiar, the Du-bash of Robert Clive, saw adream in which Lord Shivagranted him permission topray at a small Shiva shrinein George Town but not totravel all the way to Kan-chipuram to worship. Dhal-

avai Chettiar then madeevery effort to turn the smallshrine into a larger temple.

As a young boy in the ea-rly sixties I remember Sen-galipuram Anantha RamaDiksheethar delivering Upa-nyassams at the temple.Among the audience wouldbe Rajaji, Kalki Krishna-murthi, M.S. Subbulakshmiand freedom fighter T.S. Sa-dasivam, said Sankara Sub-ramaniam, a social activist.The temple is the only onein the city which has a watertank with perennial naturalsupply of water, he added.

PRAMILA KRISHNAN

DC | CHENNAI

July 3: Sign language isexpected to soon be on thelist of official languages ofIndia.

The Union humanresource ministry has initi-ated a pilot study to find the

grammar and structure ofsign language used acrossIndia. Three young hearingchallenged people withdiplomas in sign languagefrom Coimbatore, alongwith researchers of Mysore-based Central Institute ofIndian Languages (CIII), aredeveloping a lexicon forsign language for the min-istry.

They have interacted withmore than 250 hearing chal-lenged persons and are nowfinalising the draft.

The three field workers,who belong to the Ramakr-ishna Mission Vidyalaya(RMV) in Coimbatore, andthe CIII researchers hope tocomplete the pilot project byDecember.

Following this, a national-level study will be conduct-ed by the ministry to inte-

grate common signs of all

states in the official lan-guage.

According to the Associa-tion of Sign Language Inter-preters in India, over sevenmillion people in India arecategorised as deaf.

Rajesh Sachdeva, director-in charge of CIII, andresearcher L. Ramamoorthytold Deccan Chroniclethat avenues should beexplored to use the sign lan-guage.

Sign language is no more

the language of hearing-impaired persons. Data ontext structures, signs andsymbols used by deaf per-sons would be studied.Based on the nationalresearch report, we will rec-ommend to the governmentto recognise sign languageas an official language,they said.

Swami Anuragananda ofRMV said the research teamhad met deaf persons in

schools, public places and

marriage halls to know howthe signs are communicatedamong the largeaudience. He added thatsign language should betaught to teachers, doctorsand professionals in allwalks of life.

Learning sign languagewill be useful for thegeneral population toavoid language barriers inour multilingual country,Swami Anuragananda

added.

DC CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI

July 3: Residents of Porurhave been demanding thestate government to upgradethe primary health centre intheir area into a governmentperipheral hospital to meetthe growing needs of peo-ple. The Porur PHC caters toover six lakh people livingin Valasaravakkam, Madhu-ravoyal, Ramapuram,Nolambur, Nerkunram andVanagaram areas. The fewstaff at the PHC is unable tohandle the number ofpatients the center receivesfrom all the six districts.

The 5-acre land in which

the centre was initially set

up has gradually shrunk to 4acres over the years. Thecenter, which has 14 beds,has just four doctors andfive nurses who are unableto provide treatment for thelarge number of people whoturn up from 9 am to 4 pm.There is a huge differencein the doctor-patient ratio inthis primary health centreand only if more doctors areappointed we can get quali-ty treatment, says Chellam,an autorickshaw driver anda resident of Nolambur.

This apart, the narrow anddamaged roads leading tothe PHC result in very fewbuses plying in the route.We are forced to hire

autorickshaws at an exorbi-

tant fare to reach the PHC.Overall, each trip for a che-ck up costs us a minimum of`300, said Meena, who is6-months pregnant and istaking treatment from thePorur PHC. With mostlypregnant women, elderlypeople and children comingto the hospital, the residentsfeel that they cannot affordto spend much every time.

The hospital has a lot ofspace where all the depart-ments occupy separate bui-ldings. If they can shell out alittle more money to build asingle block that accommo-dates all the departments,the PHC can be convertedinto a government peripher-

al hospital, says Chellam.

A tree that was cut down on Mettupalayam Roadin Coimbatore for road-widening work has not yetbeen removed, affecting free flow of traffic. DC

obstruction

A young girl admires a carved wooden elephant at an exhibition of handicrafts from Rajasthan, at the

Poompuhar showroom on Anna Salai. DC

wonders in wood

Shrines remain gateway to Chennai history

Saxena in judicial custody till July 17

Signs to be official language soon

REVISITED

CHENNAI

A priest (above) at

Kachaleeswarar Templeoffers pooja to 63Nayanmars idols.

Women come out of thehistorical KalikambalKamateswarar Templeat Armenian Street inGeorge Town. DC

The engine snagresulted in thetrain getting heldup at Olakur near

Tindivanam

COMMUNICATING

North Indian tourists admire the exquisite stone work of the Pallava sculpto-rs as they walk past Arjunas Penance at Mahabalipuram, on Sunday. DC

A group of hearing-impaired youngsters engage in a serious discussion. DC

A file picture of Maduravoyal MLA G. Beem Raoinspecting progress of Porur flyover work on Jun e13, 2011. DC

art, forever

Plea to upgrade PHCinto peripheral hospital

Salem Expresshit by snag,delays trainsChennai: Several trainsproceeding towards Chen-nai got delayed for morethan two hours after theSalem Express developed atechnical problem on Sun-day.

The engine snag that

occurred during the earlyhours resulted in the traingetting held up at Olakurnear Tindivanam.

Railway techniciansrushed to spot after thedriver alerted the nearbyrailway station.

However, the problemwas solved and service res-tored only after two hoursdue to which more incom-ing trains, Mangalore Exp-ress, Nellai Express Pandi-an Express, Rock Fort Ex-press, Ananthapuri Exp-ress, RameshwaramExpress and Sethu Express,got delayed.