City News

Due to change in the advance reservation period to 120 days, trains 12685/12686 Chennai Central-Mangalore-Chennai Central expresses that is running six days a week will be converted to a daily express starting from August 20 in Mangalore and August 21 from Chennai Central. Train 16043 Puducherry-Mangalore weekly express which departs from Puducherry on Tuesdays will leave on Fridays from August 17, and train 16044 Mangalore-Puducherry weekly express that presently leaves Mangalore on Mondays will leave on Saturdays from August 18.

A 19-year-old engineering student of Anna University committed suicide on Tuesday, leaving behind a note attributing her action to failure in exams.

S Dhyriyalakshmi (in pic), a first year student of BE civil engineering, hanged herself in her room number 10 of at Kondrai hostel in Kotturpuram, police said.

Joining the campaign for municipal polls, BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday launched a blistering attack on Delhi government accusing it of involvement in large scale corruption, and promised a clean civic administration if his party was voted back to power.

The BJP president released a dossier listing 35 alleged scams and cases of corruption involving Delhi Government and slammed it for ignoring findings of Prime Minister-appointed Shunglu Committee and Comptroller and Auditor General examining alleged irregularities in hosting of the CWG.

Chennai traffic police (CTP) has embarked on a Rs 150 crore project to detect traffic violators, facilitate flow of emergency vehicles and VVIP convoys and allow offenders to pay fines online using credit cards.

The new project, that is expected to integrate the existing system into its fold, envisages the estbalishment of a citywide state-of-the-art wireless network, installation of automatic number plate readers (ANPRs), pan tilt zoom surveillance cameras at 100 traffic junctions and the setting up of a control-and-command centre at the new police commissioner’s office building.

The national strike call given by 11 major trade unions and supported by 5,000-odd smaller ones across the country on Tuesday came a cropper in Chennai. As against the unions’ threats to paralyse road transport in the city, MTC buses plied right from the morning.

“I was worried that I may have to take leave because of the strike,” said G S Balaji, a resident of Chromepet, who works in Parrys. “I tried my luck and found my usual MTC bus on time.”

Chennai may soon have a second airport. Airports Authority of India (AAI) has proposed a greenfield airport at Sriperumbudur that would accommodate 5 million passengers a year. Kancheepuram district collector Hanish Chhabra said: “Land acquisition is on for several projects, including the airport.”

“Chennai will be the first city in the country to have two international airports,” AAI chairman V.P. Agrawal said.

A Kiran Trainer Aircraft of IAF today crashed on the outskirts of the city during a routine training sortie, but both the pilots ejected to safety. More >

A four-member gang managed to rob Rs. 19 lakh from a Bank of Baroda branch located on the outskirts of Chennai on Monday. According to police, the gang members were in the 25-35 year age bracket and came to the bank in the afternoon, posing as customers.

After sometime one of them went near the branch manager while two others stood pointing weapons at the seven staff members and around 15 customers present in the branch.

A team of police personnel led by a T P Chatram inspector A J Ravikumaran on Monday rushed to Pamba in Kerala to probe the suspicious death of a 39-year-old plumber from Tiruverkadu in Tiruvallur district.

D Shanthavel’s brother Ponvel on Monday submitted a complaint at the Kilpauk police station claiming that his brother died of burn injuries after a tea shop owner in Pamba poured boiling water on him.

Christmas turned catastrophic in Chennai after 14 people died when a boat capsized in the Pulicat Lake. Eight others are still missing, while only three people survived the accident. More >