Chennai, Tamil Nadu News July 15 Highlights: The NIA remanded 14 terrorists to judicial custody following a hearing at a special court in Chennai today. (Representational Image)
Chennai, Tamil Nadu News July 15 Highlights: Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated M G M Healthcare, a super-specialty hospital in a ceremony in Chennai on July 14. Lauding the state for being the medical hub of the country, Naidu urged the government of Tamil Nadu to create awareness of healthcare among the youth.
He also appealed to the medical fraternity to reach out to schools and colleges in the state and educate students about preventive healthcare and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
During the ceremony, deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam praised the Vice President and called him a ‘statesman’ of Indian polity and called Tamil Nadu governor Banwarilal Purohit, a ‘mentor’ who was helping the state on its development path.
Residents of Kasimedu are facing the brunt of the ongoing water crisis in Chennai. Express Photo: Shivani Ramakrishnan
Around 11 people were detained by officials at the Chennai International Airport (MAA) for questioning today, after customs officials seized 3 kg of gold worth Rs. 1.1 crore, which had been smuggled from Colombo to the city.
The Madras High Court today directed the Tamil Nadu government to provide Rs. 186.25 crore as compensation to the farmers of 17 districts within the next four weeks. Over 65 per cent of the mazie cultivation of farmers from the affected districts had been destroyed due to an attack by the invasive pest, Fall Armyworm since last year. The compensation will be given to the farmers under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested 14 people today for having links to the terror outfit, Ansarullah following a hearing at a special court in Poonamallee, Chennai. The 14 people were arrested for allegedly sources funds for the outfit from abroad to carry out attacks in India.
The arrested people have been remanded to judicial custody until July 25.
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, seeking cancellation of import taxes which are levied on imported food purchased by chicken farmers. "Chicken owners are facing difficulty due to the high price of poultry food", said the CM while citing the problems faced by the chicken owners.
The CM added that the prices of food for the poultry in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh had fallen steeply due to food invasion by insects and urged Modi to consider cancelling import taxes on the food.
"No information has been given regarding the deaths of students in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry who committed suicide after failing NEET", said the Ministry of Health after DMK MPs raised a question regarding the status of the NEET Exemption bill in the Parliament at New Delhi today.
The Ministry added that since no decision had been made on the NEET Exemption bill, which was requested by Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the southern state and Union Territory will not be given any leverage as far as NEET is concerned.
The Southern Railway announced a change in the timings of trains bound for Yeswantpur and Ernakulam, travelling through the Arakkonam - Jolarpettai section on Thursday, due to track maintenance work and Simple Quick Relaying System being carried out at the section between Mukundarayapuram and Tiruvalam from July 5 to July 16.
A gang of 10 machete-wielding men stormed into an HP petrol bunk at Tambaram in Chennai today morning and slashed the owner and employees of the bunk and customers before fleeing the scene. According to sources, the men were hired by an auto driver who had had a feud with the petrol bunk. The auto driver had allegedly refused to pay for gas after refuelling at the bunk earlier, following which he got into a dispute with the employees. In retaliation, he had hired the 10 men to carry out the attack at the bunk.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced in the State Assembly session today that the four-lane road from Perungalathur to Singaperumal Temple in Chennai will be expanded to an eight-lane road to ease traffic congestion along the stretch.
The Greater Chennai Traffic Police conducted a road safety awareness programme at Little Flower Matriculation Higher Secondary School at Mangadu in Poonamallee, Chennai today to sensitise students on the importance of following traffic rules and road safety.
Aishwaryaa Dhanush took to Twitter today to announce that she will now be co-owning Chennai Lions, the city's Table Tennis team for the Ultimate Table Tennis along with Sameer Bharat Ram.
Ultimate Table Tennis, which will commence from July 25 in Delhi is India's top league for table tennis, which seeks to revolutionize the game in India. After premiering in 2017, season 3 of the tournament will feature six table tennis teams from India.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) brought in 14 terrorists, who were arrested in Delhi following a complaint that they were collecting funds for a terrorist organisation, to Chennai today afternoon for interrogation. The 14 terrorists were flown in by a private jet and will be presented to a special court at Poonamallee in Chennai.
The NIA had nabbed two men on Sunday after conducting searches in Chennai and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu on July 14. The two men, Hassan Ali Younus Maricar (28) and Harish Mohamed (32) were alleged to be members of the terror outfit Ansarullah. The duo were later remanded to judicial custody in Chennai on Sunday.
Three days after an HIV-positive student was denied admission at the Alandur Government High School in Perambalur district, Tamil Nadu, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) sent notices to the Collector of Permabalur and the Director of the school today and asked them to cite their reasons for denying admission to the student.
READ | HIV-positive boy denied admission to government school in Tamil Nadu; probe ordered
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami inaugurated a new memorial for the late INC leader Kamarajar at Virudhunagar on the occasion of his 116th birthday today. The memorial is located along the Madurai-Nellai National Highway.
The Chennai unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested two Maldivians at the Chennai International Aiport (MAA) on Sunday for attempting to smuggle around 1 kg of hashish from India to Male, the capital of Maldives. Based on a tip-off, the NCB arrested Abdulla Aalim and Shamsiyya Mohamed for attempting to smuggle hashish which was wrapped in silver foil and stuffed inside shampoo bottles.
The two Maldivian nationals were arrested under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The NCB has commenced investigations to trace the duo's handler and bust the racket.
Members of the DMK staged a walk-out in the Tamil Nadu Assembly session today at Chennai over the cancellation of the postal examinations in Tamil. The Department of Posts had announced on July 11 that postal examinations will only be conducted in English and Hindi, sparking an uproar in Tamil Nadu.
The DMK had raised the issue in the State assembly session today, with DMK treasurer Duraimurugan stating, "If IAS examinations can be conducted in Tamil, why can't the postal examinations be conducted in Tamil as well?". Duraimurugan also slammed the AIADMK government and said that the party was blindly supporting the initiatives of the Centre. "DMK will continue to resist the forceful implementation of Hindi in the state", he said.
Tangedco announced on Sunday that power will be suspended in parts of the city today from 9 am to 4 pm to carry out maintenance work. Neighbourhoods in and around Ennore, Sholinganallur and Navalur will be affected.
Taking a leaf from Sweden's book, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) conducted a Plogging Challenge at Edward Elliot's beach in Besant Nagar, Chennai on July 14. Over 100 people from the locality, eight conservancy staff from the GCC and volunteers from jogging groups took part in the challenge and collected close to 300 kg of plastic from the beach.
The joggers started from the Elliot's beach police booth at 6 am, jogged for 5 km where they picked up plastic and convened at the booth one-and-a-half hours later. GCC Commissioner G Prakash inaugurated the challenge and later took part in it.
The Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre (TNSTC) announced on Sunday that there will be a partial lunar eclipse on from 01:30 am to 04:30 am on July 17. The eclipse will be visible across India and most of Europe, Africa, Central Asia and the Indian ocean.
B M Birla planetarium in Chennai will be making arrangements for the public to view the eclipse at the Periyar Science and Technology Centre along Gandhi Mandapam Road in the city.
From the 15th of July, Private cars and cabs will be allowed to drop and pick up the passengers at the Chennai airport without any time restriction, the Airports Authorities of India (AAI) has decided to scrap the ten-minute free time rule. The vehicles will be given RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) cards and have to return them while exiting the airport. "Parking the vehicle in the non-parking/transit area will not be permitted after dropping the passengers and penalty will be imposed at the rate of four times the parking charges for 0-30 mins slab, for the respective category of vehicles," the release from AAI said.
Eleven volunteers of Arapor Iyakkam, an NGO, were detained by Chennai Police on Saturday morning when they tried to carry out a social audit of Kallur Kuttai Lake in Perungudi. According to the reports, the police detained the activists as they did not seek prior permission from the cops and they were not accompanied by the government official. The team of activists were later released around 5.30 p.m.
DMK district secretaries will be meeting at the party's youth-wing office - Anbagam, in Chennai to address key issues ahead of Vellore parliamentary election. The party had put out a list of functionaries who will campaign in Vellore for their candidate Kathir Anand, son of DMK's treasurer Durai Murugan. Polling for the Vellore constituency will be held on the 5th of August and the counting is set to take place on the 9th of August.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) nabbed two men on Sunday after conducting searches in Chennai and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu on July 14. The two men, Hassan Ali Younus Maricar (28) and Harish Mohamed (32) were alleged to be members of the terror outfit Ansarullah.
The outfit was formed by Hassan Ali to carry out terror activities in TN. The duo were remanded to judicial custody in Chennai on Sunday.
Weather forecasters have predicted another dry day for Chennai, with the minimum and maximum temperatures today expected to be 29C and 34C respectively. The sky will remain cloudy throughout the day.
Forecasters opined that strong winds prevailing over Chennai seem to be keeping rain away from the city. Though the city received rain in a few areas in the past two days, it was not consistent since the clouds dissipated quickly. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and private weather bloggers said that the city is expected to get good rain in the next few days.
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