Two bridges over Uppanar connecting Devanam- pattinam with Cuddalore main land are in dilapidated state for decades. Presumably, these bridges were been built during the British rule in India.They are too narrow to cope with present needs. Things remained unchanged for more than half a century.

Among the two bridges the one on the north was badly damaged and so people did not use it for more than five years.

The bridge on the south which is en route to Silver Beach, Periyar College of Arts and Science (and other historical monuments like Fort St.David, White House, Marine House,Parry House, Director’s Bungalow, New Life Centre) is also ageing week.But the government was unwilling to spend it.

Thanks to tsunami and to the thoughtful district adminis- trator.A portion tsunami relief fund is being utilised to construct a new bridge near the existing one.

Constituency funds of MPs from West Bengal is being utilised for the project .The entire project is estimated at a cost just less than one crore rupees.

Water is being drained to allow construction process and to keep the water off from entering the work zone a large heap of red soil is dumped across the backwater on either side of the worksite.

Above are some of the photographs of bridge and the makeshift barrier,taken when the work started.

Roller skating is getting increasingly popular among kids in India both as a recreational sport and as a serious sport.Many from metros like Chennai participated in international competitions and have won prizes.

This sport is no more alien for the rural population.It is intresting to come to know that a division level roller skating competition was held in Kovilpatti (must be somewhere in interior TamilNadu).This shows a brighter future for the sport in this country.

Like most other sport skating needs years of dedicated practice.What really prevents from getting into this sport is the non-availability of smooth rolling floor.There are only handful of rinks in entire the state I suppose.Chennai Corporation has rink at several places like Marina Beach,Veshweshwaraya Park-Anna Nagar.But such facility is not available in others places.

To encourage the sport in Cuddalore region,a rink must be built in Anna Stadium and another in Silver Beach.Also coaches must be appointed to train the children.So that kids from Cuddalore region does not lag behind in this sport.

EID Parry to expand sugar biz

Padayatra taken for Bhopal survivors

Human rights, environmental and youth groups in the city Thursday took out a rally in support of the survivors of the December 1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal. The groups are on an 800-km padayatra to New Delhi demanding justice and a life of dignity.

Representatives from pollution-hit communities in Mettur, Cuddalore and Gummidipoondi also participated in the Chennai rally from Monroe Statue to Chepauk Guest House.

A delegation of supporters from Tamilnadu will join them in the last stage of the padayatra.

More than 130 survivors of the Bhopal gas disaster began a march on foot to New Delhi on 20 February, 2006.

The walk was undertaken to demand clean water, clean environment, medical assistance and compensation.

On 10 March, members of Chennai-based youth collective ‘We Feel Responsible’ met the Tamilnadu Governor and handed over a petition addressed to the Prime Minister with signatures collected in support of the demands of the Bhopalis, Nityanand Jayaraman of Corporate Accountability Desk said.

Representatives from Human Rights - Tamilnadu Initiative, Penn Thozhilalar Sangam, Corporate Accountability Desk, Tamilnadu Dalit Women’s Movement, Alliance for People’s Movement, Tamilnadu Women’s Forum, We Feel Responsible - A Youth Initiative and other organisation took part.

New refinery projects to raise capacity to 210 mt

With a slew of greenfield refinery projects expected to be set up in the country, the crude oil refining capacity will surge to 210 million tonne (mt) per year by 2010. At present, the country’s refining capacity is 127.37 mt from 18 refineries.

Over six greenfield refinery projects are at different stages of development, while two capacity expansion projects are under way. Reliance Industries (RIL) will be a major contributor through its arm Reliance Petroleum, with a refining capacity of 60 mt in four years, industry experts said.

“Apart from RIL, Nagarjuna Oil Corporation, Essar Oil, Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) are in the fray to build-up refineries. Both IOC and RIL have started expansion in their existing refineries as well,” Deepak Mahurkar, principal consultant - oil and gas, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said.

RIL has the third largest single location refinery in the world at Jamnagar with a capacity of 33 million tonne per annum (mtpa) and accounts for 26 per cent of the country’s refining capacity.

With the new project it plans to increase capacity to 60 mtpa. Reliance Petroleum has announced its pubic issue to fund a new project in Jamnagar. The total project cost will be $6 billion.

Nagarjuna is a new entrant into the petroleum sector with their refinery at Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu. It will have a capacity of 6 mtpa and the commercial production is expected to start in 2008.

The investment for the project is Rs 4,000 crore. The refinery will have the flexibility to process different types of crude oil and produce multiple grade products. full story>>

BBC organises tsunami cricket match in India

Is there a better way to help the tsunami survivors overcome their trauma than by organising a cricket match between a host of celebrities from England and the youth of fishing hamlets for whom cricket is not just a game but religion and cricketers are not players but demigods?

Understanding this rather well, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) hosted a cricket match at Samiyarpettai fishing village, about 20 km from Chennai, on Sunday for the UK-based Charity Comic Relief, between fisher folk drawn from half-a-dozen tsunami-hit coastal hamlets in Cuddalore district and British players comprising celebrities from various fields. Leading the celebrities as their coach is none other than the West Indian legend Alvin Kallicharan.

Even Kalli could not do much against the spirited local boys, who spend most of their spare time when not at sea playing barefooted cricket with tennis balls on the beach. The ‘New Indian Tsunami Team’ hammered the ‘English attack’ for 176 runs in just 20 overs losing only five wickets and thereafter bundled out the visitors for 119 in 12 overs.

Who really cared for the result when all that really mattered was the spirit of camaraderie across continents? Reflecting just that mood, the little hamlet of Samiyarpettai was decked up like a high-profile cricket Test center with banners inviting the locals to the great event.

The British team included one of the fine wicketkeepers of our times, Jack Russel and retired left arm spinner and reality television character Phil Tufnell, member of the current England women’s cricket team Rosalie Birch, county cricketer Mark Chapman, broadcaster Chris Evans, BBC’s anchor Jake Humphrey and popular comedian Patrick Kielty. Also there were Harry Judd, drummer for Mcfly and musician Jay Sean. The contest, watched by over 500 villagers, was done in collaboration with an Indian NGO, ‘New Hope’.

“One of the objectives of the contest is to entertain the local crowd and support relief work on the less emotive side,” said New Hope director Eliazar T Rose. The English visitors had arrived a couple of days ago and moved around interacting with the enthusiastic local youth in Cuddalore, a town that had witnessed over 600 deaths in the tsunami.

“We never expected that such a big event would be hosted in a small place like ours. Enthusiastic people came from several coastal villages to witness the match,” said local youth Prakash. The UK team gifted the winners with a cricket kit before driving to Chennai, where it would play against the tsunami kids at Royapuram on Tuesday and move on to Mumbai to play another match against a celebrity Indian/Bollywood cricket team just before the tmillions of pounds, 66 million pounds last year, to be spent on a wide range of charity projects across the world. Every other year, Comic Relief runs a campaign titled ‘Sport Relief’ focusing on using sport for raising money for international children’s charities.

TNPCB Orders Tagros Chemical Shut; Cuts Electricity Connection

Cuddalore, 6 March, 2006 – The Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board at 4.30 p.m. issued closure orders and disconnected the electricity to Tagros Chemicals, a manufacturer of synthetic pyrethroids, a class of highly toxic pesticides. The company, which is located in Pachaiyankuppam village, had expanded capacity illegally, and was manufacturing and exporting products that it was not authorised to produce. On November 27, 2005, the company was found dumping toxic effluents on a farmer’s land in Poondiyankuppam, a nearby village within the Semmankuppam Panchayat.

The president of the Panchayat had in December 2005 invoked a seldom used clause under the Environmental Protection Act, 1986, and written to the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board and the Ministry of Environment & Forests — “Since the Ministry of Environment & Forests and the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board seem incapable or unwilling to take any action to implement the law, I intend to prosecute Tagros Chemicals and its contractor Mr. Senthil Velan under Section 15 of the Environmental Protection Act, 1986, and under Sections 6 and 16 of the Hazardous Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 1989. I request the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board to provide us with all the reports relating to Tagros in its possession to us. Please let us know who the occupier of the facility is, as he/she is liable under Section 16 of the Hazardous Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 1989.”

Indian law allows citizens to write to the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board requesting it to prosecute the offender within 60 days, failing which the citizen can step in the shoes of the regulator and conduct the prosecution.

Tagros Chemicals claims to be “India’s leading manufacturer exporters of various Synthetic Pyrethroids like Cypermethrin, Permethrin, Alpha cypermethrin, Deltamethrin and various other products like Imidachloprid, Hexaconazole, Propiconazole.” This was brought to the notice of the TNPCB in August 2004, less than a month before the company was to have a statutory public hearing to seek permission for expanding capacity and introducing new products.

According to SACEM, as early as in 2004, reports from workers and residents of SIPCOT indicated that not only had Tagros completed construction for the expanded capacity, but also engaged in production, including of new products. The matter was brought to the notice of the TNPCB and the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee on Hazardous Wastes in September 2004, and subsequently at the public hearing on September 7, 2004. No action was taken by the TNPCB, and the company continued to manufacture and export the unauthorised products in the illegally expanded factory. In February 2005, the SCMC recommended its closure to TNPCB. The company continued to operate illegally until it was shut-down today, a year later.

In the 17 month period that it operated illegally, and despite the knowledge of the Inspector of Factories, the District Collector of Cuddalore, and the TNPCB, 6 people were injured and one killed in four serious accidents in Tagros, according to SACEM records. During the same period, the company illegally dumped toxic wastes on open land on two separate occasions.

“Gas Trouble” – a September 2004 SACEM study on SIPCOT’s air quality – reports finding 14 chemicals in one air sample taken downwind of Tagros. Cancer-causing chemicals like Carbon Tetrachloride and ethylene dichloride were found at levels 11,538 and 22,973 times higher than levels considered safe by US EPA’s Region 6 screening levels.

Interestingly, the Union Ministry of Environment & Forests seems unconcerned about the illegal expansion, or the SCMC’s recommendations for closure. A senior bureaucrat from MoEF also serves as member secretary of the SCMC. Ignoring SCMC’s recommendations, Tagros had directly submitted its application for environmental clearance to the Union Ministry, by-passing the TNPCB. Rather than take action, the MoEF is actively considering the file. Conditionally cleared by the technical committee, the MoEF currently has the “file under process.”

Tagros is not the only offender in SIPCOT, Cuddalore. The SCMC had also recommended closure orders for TANFAC, and similar complaints of toxic waste dumping and effluent spills are pending for months against Pondicherry Alum, SPIC, Loyal Super Fabrics and CUSECS.

The TNPCB remains highly inconsistent and arbitrary in the manner in which it applies the law. Tuticorin-based Sterlite Industries is operating an entire illegally constructed factory complex consisting of a 300,000 tonnes/year copper smelter, a 1,25,000 tonnes/year refiner, a power plant, an oxygen plant, and a Continuous Cast Rod unit.

But Sterlite is too well-connected to suffer Tagros’ fate. Despite repeated emphasis by the SCMC that Sterlite has both illegally expanded and endangered the environment, the TNPCB and MoEF have regularised the violation.

Sterlite’s Tuticorin smelter complex has a disturbing track record of safety. Between 1996 and 2004, at least 139 people have reportedly been injured and 13 have lost their lives in 15 incidents.

Related stories

1. Tagros Chemicals caught red handed dumping hazardous waste in SIPCOT area
http://www.sipcotcuddalore.com/updates_061205.html

2. Two more industrial accidents reported from Tagros Chemicals in SIPCOThttp://www.sipcotcuddalore.com/updates_311005.html

Our Opportunity With India

By Condoleezza Rice
Monday, March 13, 2006;

The week before last President Bush concluded a historic agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation with India, a rising democratic power in a dynamic Asia. This agreement is a strategic achievement: It will strengthen international security. It will enhance energy security and environmental protection. It will foster economic and technological development. And it will help transform the partnership between the world’s oldest and the world’s largest democracy.

First, our agreement with India will make our future more secure, by expanding the reach of the international nonproliferation regime. The International Atomic Energy Agency would gain access to India’s civilian nuclear program that it currently does not have. Recognizing this, the IAEA’s director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, has joined leaders in France and the United Kingdom to welcome our agreement. He called it “a milestone, timely for ongoing efforts to consolidate the non-proliferation regime, combat nuclear terrorism and strengthen nuclear safety.” full story>>

Chemical company ordered to be closedTuesday March 7 2006 00:00 IST
CUDDALORE: The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has ordered closure of a chemical firm on charges of violating the norms of the TNPCB in the SIPCOT complex here on Monday. The power supply to the firm has also been snapped this evening.

According to sources, the TNPCB had granted permission to Tagros Chemicals India Ltd for the production of pesticide, which included alpha methrin, cyper methrin and per methrin. The firm had obtained licence for a generation capacity of 30 tonnes of the pesticide permonth (1,000 kg per day).

Violating the provisions, the plant had been producing two new products clandestinely. The unit had been developing pesticides - hexaconazole and delta methrin- without the knowledge of TNPCB at the plant. The plant was also generating pesticide more than the prescribed capacity of 1,000 kg of pesticide per day for the past few weeks.

Besides, a contractor of the unit had transported spent hydrochloric acid from the firm and dumped it on an arable land in Poondiyankuppam recently. As a result of this the fertility of the land had been severely affected .

Following intervention of local people and others the plant had extended a relief of Rs 2 lakh to the farmer.

However, the sources said, the unit was held responsible for discarding the acid on the fertile land.

The district unit of TNPCB had conducted an investigation and submitted a detailed report to the TNPCB chairman.

On Monday, the chairman gave necessary directions to the concerned officials to shut the firm immediately.

A team comprising District Environmental Engineer, TNPCB, Ka Karthikeyan, Assistant Engineer, M Malaiyandi, Assistant Executive Engineer, TNEB, Kumarasamy and Assistant Executive Engineer Adhi Moolam visited the firm and served the order.

Source: http://www.newindpress.com/

All out for charity||

With England are taking on India in the Test series, a celebrity team has set off for the sub-continent to take on the stars of Bollywood.

The Sport Releief Red Socks including former England spin bowler Phil Tufnell, McFly’s Harry Judd and radio Dj Chris Evans.

They will also be witnessing at first hand how money raised through Sport Relief is being spent in India.

The trip is being filmed by the BBC and will be shown at the end of May.

Other cricket-mad celebrities in the Red Socks team include hip hop artist Jay Sean and television presenters Dermot O’Leary and Patrick Kielty.

And former England wicket-keeper Jack Russell and Rosalie Birch of the England women’s team are also on the week-long trip, which will see them visit Chennai (Madras), Mumbai (Bombay) and Cuddalore.

You can follow their progress by logging on to www.alloutforindia.net

Sport Relief raised £16.5m 2004. This year’s event will take place on 15 July.