Chennai, Tamil Nadu News Live Updates: The first Tamil Nadu International Kite Festival (TNIKF), organised by Global Media Box in association with the state tourism department, will take place in Mamallapuram from August 13 to August 15. Tourism Minister M Mathiventhan and Minister for Mini Small and Micro Enterprises Tha Mo Anbarasan are set to inaugurate the mega event which is set to take place at TTDC Ocean View on East Coast Road (ECR), located around 57 km from Chennai.
Beef biryani was given a miss at the three-day food festival underway at the Island Grounds in Chennai as no caterer offered to put up a stall, Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Minister Ma Subramanian said on Friday. People could savour a variety of dishes, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, as over 150 stalls have been put up. Some of them showcased Tamil Nadu’s traditional cuisine which has nutritious value. “The absence of a beef biryani stall at the three-day food festival is not deliberate. The delicacy was skipped as no caterer offered to put up a stall,” Ma Subramanian replied when reporters drew his attention after the inauguration.
Meanwhile, the ruling DMK’s key initiative aimed at women, providing them free bus travel, should not be confined to a “narrow” aspect of freebies but it is an economic revolution, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Friday. The scheme has ensured an 8-12 per cent savings for the families of the beneficiaries, he said while chairing the third meeting of the Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission. He said the free bus travel for women has found a place in the hearts of people.
Beef biryani was given a miss at the three-day food festival underway at the Island Grounds in Chennai as no caterer offered to put up a stall, Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Minister Ma Subramanian said on Friday. People could savour a variety of dishes, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, as over 150 stalls have been put up.
Some of them showcased Tamil Nadu’s traditional cuisine which has nutritious value. “The absence of a beef biryani stall at the three-day food festival is not deliberate. The delicacy was skipped as no caterer offered to put up a stall,” Ma Subramanian replied when reporters drew his attention after the inauguration.
Vanakkam Chennai! Welcome to today’s live blog. We bring to you the latest news on Covid-19, politics, features, entertainment, sports, weather, art and culture from across Chennai and Tamil Nadu. Follow our live blog and @ie_chennai to stay up to date with what’s happening in the state.
Responding to Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav's announcement on accepting a proposal of the Tamil Nadu forest department to notify 1,197.48 sq km area of land as an elephant reserve, the Chief Minister said, 'On World Elephant Day 2022, I am glad that Tamil Nadu gets its 5th Elephant Reserve at Agathiyamalai in Tirunelveli District.' The Chief Minister further said in a tweet 'elephants play a critical role in balancing the forest ecosystems. The majestic mammals are nature's assets we must conserve at all costs.' Nilgiris-Eastern Ghat, Nilambur Silent Valley in Coimbatore, Srivilliputhur, and Anamalai are the four existing elephant reserves in the state.
Speaking at the World Elephant Day celebrations at the Periyar National Park in Kerala's Idukki district, Union Minister Yadav announced that the Central government will establish an elephant reserve at Agasthyamalai thereby adding another 1,197 sq km of the protected area dedicated to the protection and conservation of elephants in India. (PTI)
Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday urged the Central government to prevail upon Sri Lanka to immediately release nine Tamil Nadu fishermen and their fishing boats. (PTI) Read More
Tamil Nadu Cheif Minister M K Stalin on Friday said that 'the ruling DMK's key initiative aimed at women, providing them free bus travel, should not be confined to a 'narrow' aspect of freebies but it is an economic revolution'.
M K Stalin stated that free bus travel for women has found a place in the hearts of people. (PTI) Find More
The first Tamil Nadu International Kite Festival (TNIKF), organised by Global Media Box in association with the state tourism department, will take place in Mamallapuram from August 13 to August 15. Tourism Minister M Mathiventhan and Minister for Mini Small and Micro Enterprises Tha Mo Anbarasan are set to inaugurate the mega event which is set to take place at TTDC Ocean View on East Coast Road (ECR), located around 57 km from Chennai.
According to the organisers, in this three-day festival, professional kite flyers from various countries, including Thailand, Malaysia and the US, besides India, will take part. Of the 10 teams that participate in the festival, six are from India and four from other countries. Read more
As Chennai began to host a three-day food festival at the Island Grounds between August 12, 13 and 14, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian said "No one came forward to put up a beef stall, so the festival does not have one."
"Food is an Individual preference, If someone had approached us (to put up a beef stall), we would have provided permission," he said.
Subramanian's comments comes months after Tirupattur Collector Amar Kushwaha had said that beef and pork biryani stalls would be excluded from Ambur Biryani Thiruvizha 2022. This had stirred a controversy with various outfits in the district criticising the move. However, the May event was later indefinitely postponed by the collector citing “forecast of heavy rains.”
The Madras High Court on Thursday reserved its orders on the civil suits from ousted AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam (OPS) and general council member Vairamuthu challenging the GC meeting of the party conducted by the other group led by interim general secretary K Palaniswami on July 11.
Justice G Jayachandran reserved his verdict without mentioning the date of its delivery, after listening to the extensive arguments advanced by the advocates and senior advocates of both the groups.
The Madras High Court on Thursday directed Arappor Iyakkam, a non-governmental organisation, to file its reply to the civil suit filed by AIADMK interim general secretary and former Chief Minister K Palaniswami seeking to restrain it from carrying on any defamatory statement against him and to direct it to pay Rs 1.10 crore towards damages.
Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy issued the direction when the suit came up for further hearing, today. The suit and applications arising out of the same against Arappor Iyakkam, its convenor Jayaram Venkatesan and joint convenor Zakir Hussain, prayed for a direction to them to jointly and severally make a payment of Rs 1.10 crore towards damages caused to Palaniswami's reputation. (PTI)
Chennai is gearing up to host a three-day food festival at the Island Grounds on August 12, 13 and 14. The festival, organised by the Tamil Nadu Food Safety Department in association with Eat Right India, will also witness a walkathon on the closing day. Eat Right India is an initiative of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to improve public health in India and combat negative nutritional trends to fight lifestyle diseases. Read more
A blast in a gas pipeline being laid here by Indian Oil Corporation as part of supplying cooking gas to households created panic, police said on Thursday. Members of the public ran helter-skelter following the explosion on the Thaneerpandal-Vilankurichi Road.
Preliminary inquiry revealed a leakage in the pipeline while officials were testing the flow of gas caused the blast, said the police. Vehicular traffic was disrupted owing to the incident, they said adding further investigations are on. (PTI)
Nalini Sriharan, serving life sentence in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, has moved the Supreme Court seeking her premature release. Nalini has challenged the June 17 order of the Madras High Court, which rejected her plea for early release, and cited the apex court judgement ordering the release of co-convict A G Perarivalan while seeking to be set free.
The high court had on June 17 rejected the petitions of Nalini Sriharan and Ravichandran, both convicted in the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, to order their release without even the consent of the state’s. Read more
The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) has announced that power will be suspended in parts of Chennai today in Anna Salai, Perambur, Tambaram, IT Corridor, Tharamani and Porur carrying out maintenance work in the city.
Parts of Chennai will face a power shutdown from 9 am to 2 pm, with supply expected to resume before 2 pm if the work is completed. Read more
New Covid-19 cases dropped below 900 in Tamil Nadu as 892 people tested positive in the last 24 hours, pushing the caseload to 35,56,430 till date, the Health Department said on Thursday. The death toll remained unchanged at 38,033 as there were no fresh fatalities, a bulletin said here.
Recoveries eclipsed the new cases with 1,190 people getting recuperated in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 35,10,109 overall, leaving 8,288 active cases. Chennai accounted for most of the fresh cases with 178 while Coimbatore which reported 98 new cases on Wednesday reported 101 infections today. (PTI)
Superstar Rajinikanth has posted a picture of the national flag as the Display Picture on his Twitter handle, days after he visited Delhi in connection with the 75th anniversary of independence.
Rajinikanth, who has posted the tricolour, however, did not make any comment in this respect. Actors including Anupam Kher, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Mohanlal and Mammootty have posted tricolour in their display pictures following an appeal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While he was in Delhi recently as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, Rajinikanth had met his actor-friend Anupam Kher. (PTI)
Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning provider Danfoss India has donated to the Kancheepuram district government hospital a 250-litre per minute (LPM) oxygen plant under the corporate social responsibility initiative. The gesture is to serve an additional 50-80 oxygen beds at the healthcare facility, the company said on Thursday. Last year, Danfoss commissioned a pilot oxygen plant and now the Denmark-headquartered firm was handing over the full-scale facility to the beneficiaries.
"...the pandemic has accentuated the need to build and improve our emergency healthcare infrastructure. It gives us immense satisfaction to be part of this collective fight against the global COVID-19 pandemic'" Danfoss India's president Ravichandran Purushothaman said in a statement. The district was among the badly affected ones during the pandemic, the statement said. (PTI)
The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) is carrying out searches at 26 locations linked to AIADMK MLA KPP Baskar in connection with a Rs 4.72 crore disproportionate asset case. The searches are being carried out Namakkal, Tiruppur and Madurai. KPP Baskar is a close aide of ex-chief minister and AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami.
#DVAC raids underway at 26 locations linked to former #AIADMK MLA KPP Baskar. He has been accused of amassing wealth to the tune of Rs 4.72 crores in excess out of his known source of his income. Searches are taking place at Namakkal, Tiruppur and Madurai. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/QMktqteswc
Unused gold ornaments at the renowned Bhavaniamman temple, Periyapalayam, melted converted into gold bars under the government’s gold deposit scheme was handed over to the temple authorities by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday.
The scheme to convert gold jewels remaining idle with the temples under the ambit of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) Department was revamped by the DMK after it came to power last year. As per the scheme to monetise the temple gold, the ornaments are melted and converted into gold bars after removing the stones and metals. Read more
The Madras High Court on Thursday quashed the FIR registered against actor Suriya Sivakumar and director T J Gnanavelraja by the city police, allegedly for hurting the sentiments of the Vanniyar community by portraying it in a bad light in the Tamil feature film ‘JaiBhim’. Justice N Sathish Kumar set aside the FIR, while passing orders on the petition filed by the duo.
Contending that the film depicted Vanniars in poor light, city-based advocate K Santhosh of Rudhra Vanniyar Sena had approached a Metropolitan Magistrate in Saidapet and obtained an order on May 6 to register the FIR against the filmmaker and the actor.
Vanakkam Chennai! Welcome to today’s live blog. We bring to you the latest news on Covid-19, politics, features, entertainment, sports, weather, art and culture from across Chennai and Tamil Nadu. Follow our live blog and @ie_chennai to stay up to date with what’s happening in the state.
The city will be celebrating some festivals with several other events to follow. Here is a list of the best :
Mahabalipuram will see colourful skies from August 13 to August 15 as the state’s International Kite Festival is here. Organised by the department of tourism, Tamil Nadu, and Global Media Box, the kite festival will take place with professional kite flyers (including some from Thailand, Malaysia, USA). The festival will also see food stalls, musical performances as well as a talent show for kids.
A wise man once said, “Change is the only constant in life”, which holds true in several situations. However, a shop in Chennai has proved it is not always the case. Vinu’s Igloo, an ice cream shop founded in 1995 by S Vijayan, is a popular store located near Five Lights in the sleepy neighbourhood of West Mambalam. Ask any auto-rickshaw anna or a flower-selling akka about the rendu rooba ice cream kadai (Rs 2 ice cream shop) and they will point you to the place.