Two 17-year-old boys from Nagaland were rescued by the Railway Protection Force (Katpadi) in Ammor village on Sunday.

The police said the rescued boys were identified as T. Nagampha and A. Tsemtun Kanyak. The teens were stranded in a remote forest area near a railway track between Walajah Road and Mukundarayapuram railway stations past midnight.

A railway patrol team comprising assistant sub-inspector P.R. Murali and head constable G. Gopalakrishnan found the teens. “We got an alert from our counterpart in Nagaland that two teens were missing from their houses and were headed towards Kerala. Despite heavy rain, our patrol team was looking for the boys in the area,” said K. Prabhu, inspector, RPF (Katpadi).

The police said that the two boys had left their homes in search for jobs in Keralam. The boys had initially travelled by train and reportedly alighted at Samalkot Railway Station near Kakinada in A.P to attend nature’s call.

They had briefly alighted at Samalkot Railway Station and before they could re-board, the train departed. They subsequently purchased fresh tickets and boarded another train, the Gurudev Express, bound for Thiruvananthapuram.

However, overcome with anxiety, the boys got down near Katpadi and were walking aimlessly when they were found by the patrol team.

After their rescue, the boys were provided with suitable clothing, food, and necessary medical assistance. They were found to be in good health. Necessary arrangements were also initiated for their safe reunion with their family. After informing the Child Welfare Committee, the boys were handed over to the Child Helpline for Safe Custody at the Collectorate.

In a significant development, the Tamil Nadu government has shortlisted two sites for Chennai’s second airport and has asked the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to conduct a pre-feasibility study. The move comes nearly a week after Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay announced that the State government will drop the greenfield airport project planned at Parandur and will look for alternative sites. 

The Hindu was the first to report that two sites—Cheyyur and Gummidipoondi—are the top contenders for the project. It is now learnt that the State government has asked AAI to study Cheyyur in Chengalpattu district and Manellore, near Gummidipoondi, in Tiruvallur district. Sources said that a final decision will be taken after the AAI gives its recommendation in the pre-feasibility report.

A team from Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) has already completed the first round of inspections for both the sites.

Sources said the Cheyyur site is about 40 km from the Puducherry airport and nearly 35 km from Kalpakkam. It is also nearly 100 km from the existing airport at Meenambakkam. The Manellore site is about 50 km from the city and 35 km from Sriharikota.

Sources said that even if AAI recommend one of the two sites, there could be some difficulty in getting the remaining approvals from various regulatory bodies, given the location of both sites. “While there is possibility for Cheyyur, provided the Ministry of Defence gives clearance, since the Indian Air Force, Tambaram, controls the airspace in the region. But Manellore in Gummidipoondi has some challenges,” a source said.

As the next step, a team of AAI officials will visit both sites and carry out an inspection, after which the report will be drafted. It is expected that AAI will submit the report in a few months. “The State government wants to start the process on the second airport soon. It will help if AAI speeds up and gives the report at the earliest,” another source said. 

But another source pointed out that even if the State government wants to build the second airport soon, it may have to wait for a minimum of 5-7 years to make this project a reality.

Homemaker Rigzin Ladol and her retired teacher and husband Tundup Tsering from Zanskar district of the Union territory of Ladakh stood proudly next to their 24-year-old daughter Stanzin Tsangyang at the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai on Saturday morning. Their daughter had completed her training and was commissioned into the Army as a Lieutenant.

Lt. Stanzin Tsangyang was among the 342 persons who completed their training and were commissioned as officers during the Passing Out Parade (POP) at the OTA. “I was interested in sports, and I was in the NCC during my college days. I was interested in joining the Army,” says the engineering graduate. “She is the first from my family to join the Army,” says her father Mr. Tsering.

Like Ms. Tsangyang, Lt. Ritika Dubey from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh is the first from her family to join the Armed forces. There were also Lieutenants Mohit Arora, Prashant Gurung, and M.R. Raswanth, who had followed their family’s tradition of serving in the Army. Besides, 17 cadets from friendly foreign countries such as Bhutan, Eswatini, Lesotho, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe also completed their training on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, Chief of the Naval Staff, reviewed the parade in Parameswaran Drill Square. During his speech, Mr. Swaminathan said: “Courage is a muscle. It strengthens every time you use it. Whether physical or moral, courage more often than not, means the ability to stand alone to your convictions. It cannot be downloaded in a crisis; it is built and engrained over time in the small choices we make every day.”

The character of warfare might have changed in many ways but fundamentally, war remained a profoundly human endeavour, said the Chief of the Naval Staff. “Combat operations may see new weapons being used across new domains, but their outcomes shall continue to be determined by the men and women who fight, lead, inspire, persist, and persevere.”

He presented the prestigious ‘Sword of Honour’ and Bronze Medal to Battalion Under Officer Gurkeerat Singh Hora, OTA Gold Medal to Academy Under Officer Abhinab Chauhan, and Silver Medal to Academy Cadet Adjutant Niket Singh Tomar. 

After more than a decade of its opening, an Amma canteen near the old bus terminus in Arakkonam town in Ranipet got a fresh lease of life on Saturday as Minister for Co-operation V. Gandhiraj inaugurated the restored facility.

Civic officials said that former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa virtually inaugurated Amma Canteens in Ranipet, Arcot, Arakkonam and Walajah towns in the district in 2015, when the scheme was launched in the State.

Since then, renovation of the facility was not done. “The municipality has completed restoration work of the canteens for the first time with improved civic amenities for visitors,” G. Anandan, Commissioner, Arakkonam municipality, told The Hindu.

Accompanied by Collector N. Priya Ravichandran, Mr. Gandhiraj inspected the renovated canteen, which was done at a cost of ₹11 lakh in the town.

The canteen in Walajah town that refurbished at a cost of ₹9 lakh will be opened to the public in the coming week.

 
The kitchen was refurbished with new water pipelines and utensils. Electrical lines were also checked thoroughly to prevent any power fluctuations and short circuit. An overhead tank with a storage capacity of 50,000 litres was cleaned.

 
Motor pump sets connected to borewells that supply water to the canteens were refurbished, to ensure uninterrupted water supply. A fresh coat of painting was also given to the facility.

 

A 50-year-old man was allegedly killed by his son, who ran a mini-truck over him following a dispute over land at Mannur near Sriperumbudur on Tuesday.

The deceased was identified as Sathya, 50, of Ramji Street. He lived with his wife and four children. His second son, Munusamy, 25, who lives separately with his wife, had reportedly been quarrelling with his father for the past few months, demanding either a share of the family land or money to purchase a house.

According to the police, Munusamy arrived at his parents’ house in a mini-truck and picked an argument with Sathya over the issue. The argument soon escalated into a physical altercation between Munusamy and his younger brother, Satheesh.

The police said Munusamy, who was allegedly under the influence of alcohol, drove the mini truck towards Satheesh. Sathya intervened and pushed his younger son aside but was struck and run over by the vehicle. Munusamy allegedly drove for about 300 metres after which he abandoned the vehicle and fled the scene.

Sathya sustained severe injuries and was rushed to Tiruvallur Government Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. Sriperumbudur police registered a case and sent the body for postmortem. A search is on for Munusamy.

North coastal districts are likely to continue experiencing evening thundershowers this week due to wind convergence. The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) has forecast isolated heavy rainfall in various parts of north coastal Tamil Nadu over the next two days.

Daily spells of rain have become a feature of August weather in Tamil Nadu. Wet weather bringing rainfall of light to moderate intensity is likely in other parts of the State, particularly the Western Ghats region, till August 23.

According to the RMC, heavy rainfall is likely with gusty winds reaching a speed of 40-50 kmph at one or two places over Chengalpattu and Villupuram districts on Tuesday. A few other places in north coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and Karaikal may receive moderate rainfall on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Wednesday, isolated heavy rainfall might cover more districts- Nilgiris, Chennai, Chengalpattu, Tiruvallur, and Villupuram. Some places may experience light rainfall with thundershower activity throughout the week.

V.R. Durai, Head, Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, RMC, said a depression over the north Bay of Bengal would trigger wind convergence and sustain the wet spell, particularly over north coastal Tamil Nadu this week.

However, interior places like Tiruchi, Madurai, and Karur, may experience sweltering heat as moisture incursion would not penetrate far inland.

Though coastal places like Chennai experience relatively above normal temperatures, the onset of sea breeze in the evening helps keep temperatures in check, he said.

Scattered rainfall across various parts of the State since the start of August has kept the overall rainfall deficit within the normal range for this season. On Monday, places like Puzhal and Madhavaram in Chennai (1 cm each), Coimbatore and Kanniyakumari districts recorded light rainfall till 6 p.m.

The India Meteorological Department has also invited citizens to give their feedback online (https://mausam.imd.gov.in/survey_app/survey.php?survey=hw_gp) on the usefulness of heatwave alerts. The feedback link would be open till September 13 to register responses.

The Anna Nagar branch of Time Bank of India was launched at Anna Nagar Tower Park on August 15. The programme enables members to volunteer their time to help others and receive support when they need it, without any exchange of money.

Under the programme, members can spend time with elderly people living alone, accompany them to doctor appointments, dental visits, physiotherapy sessions, eye examinations and other essential visits. They can also provide companionship to members admitted to hospital. The time spent helping another member is recorded and can be used to seek similar assistance when required.

Time Bank of India, which began the programme in 2017, has over 10,000 members across 28 States and 431 cities.

V.S. Natarajan, known for his work in geriatric medicine, launched the Anna Nagar branch.

The halt railway station being executed by the Southern Railway in Kilambakkam is expected to be completed by October this year. The project has been delayed and one of the main reasons was the the skywalk project linking the Kilambakkam bus terminus with the station. For the skywalk project, permission for placing the girder across the railway tracks was needed for the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) from the Southern Railway. 

Shailendra Singh, Divisional Railway Manager of Chennai division, during a press meet held last week, said the State government had deposited ₹20.82 crore for construction of the new halt station. The construction of platform no. 1 was completed, whereas civil work for platform numbers 2 and 3 was nearing completion. Construction of a temporary booking office and a toilet block was also completed, he added. 

Regarding the linking of the skywalk project which is under progress and being executed by the CMDA, Mr. Shailendra Singh said coordination with the State authorities for launch of skywalk girder and additional passenger amenities is being developed. A meeting in this regard was held and the same has been resolved for planning of launching the girder. 

For road underbridges or overbridges, the Southern railway would generally handle the execution at their portion. However, in the skywalk project, the CMDA was fully given charge for seamless execution. The skywalk project on the railway premises was delayed due to the demand made by the Southern railway for way leave charges of entering the property. 

S.N. Narain, Chief Public Relations Officer of Southern Railway, said that in the last meeting organised by officials of the Chennai division with CMDA and CUMTA, the Southern Railway had accepted in principle the request for waiving off the way leave charges. A memorandum of understanding has to be signed by the State Government as permission to fix the girder.

A senior official of CMDA said they received the communication for waiving off of way leave charges and soon a decision would be taken for signing the MoU. 

The youth have an important role in building not only their own future, but also shaping their family, the country and humanity, said T. Ramasami, former secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India at the 14th annual convocation of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Chennai on Sunday.

“Since 2000, Tamil Nadu has emerged as a leader in research and development (R&D), as measured by the number of research papers published in peer-reviewed journals. About 61 per cent of the research papers published in India are from Tamil Nadu, of which 35 per cent are contributed by private universities,” he said.

Addressing the gathering, Ganesanathan Geathiswaran, Deputy High Commissioner of Sri Lanka said that India and Sri Lanka were separated by a narrow stretch of water, but connected by thousands of years of history, culture, religion, language, trade, and human relationships.

Speaking at the convocation, VIT founder and Chancellor G. Viswanathan said, “Only around 13 per cent of India’s population had attained graduate-level education and emphasised that graduating students represented the future of the nation. While India was witnessing rapid economic growth, the expansion of higher education had not kept pace with that of developed nations.”

VIT vice-presidents Sankar Viswanathan and G.V. Selvam, vice-chancellor V.S. Kanchana Bhaaskaran, pro-vice chancellor T. Thyagarajan, Director, K. Sathiyanarayanan, Registrar, Jayabarathi .T, and additional registrar P.K. Manoharan, VIT Chennai also took part in the convocation.

As many as 4,518 students in undergraduate, post graduate and Ph.D received their degrees.

On the last day of a 40-year career that has undergone the unmissable seesaw of life, S Ganapathy, who began as a gardener at the British Council (BC), chose to reminisce the long swathes of time at the organisation. When the premises permanently closed in March earlier this year, he walked through the grass lawn that he once tended to.

In a crisp pinstripe shirt, he recorded this journey of going back to where his life started in the form of a cinematic video. He sent it out to friends, family, and colleagues, and when he did, he ensured that it went out with the song ‘Venpani Malare’ from the film Power Pandi, in the background, romanticising the years gone by. “I think I’ve lived a successful life. It is not often that a gardener and maintenance person who once cleaned toilets, retires as facilities manager, South India,” he said.

Unlike those who are able to enter formal workspaces with the privilege of education and pedigree, stories like that of Ganapathy’s prove that those from economically and socially weaker sections of society can thrive when there are egalitarian systems to climb up the ranks with proportionate compensation in place.

“My family moved from Vandavasi to Chennai in 1966 when I was very young. My father was a construction worker and my mother worked as a domestic help in several houses. By the time I was in Class X, the natural assumption was that I would enter the labour force and end up working so as to bring in money to the household. We lived in a slum near Loyola College so I studied under the street light. It wasn’t until I joined the BC upon the recommendation of NS Prabhu, a mentor at whose house my mother worked, that I was able to see perceivable changes in my life,” he says.

Getting on

Back in 1986, when he cycled to BC for his first day at work for a wage of ₹55 a month, Ganapathy was not let in by the security guard. In the initial days, he did all kinds of odd jobs. Cutting grass, trimming trees, taking care of maintenance work, and filling in when they needed a security personnel. “My superiors and the regular readers at BC made me realise that educating oneself is essential to rise up the ranks,” he says.

Over the next 15 years, until 2003, Ganapathy qualified himself. He now has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Tamil, another Bachelor’s degree in Library and Information Science, and a third in Law. He also went to an English-learning institute to improve his communication skills.

Through his career, Ganapathy says that investing prudently helped his family life and career. He took loans, trying to secure permanent housing for his family, and tried paying off debts, taking up second jobs as a milk man and auto driver. Tenacity, he says, is the only trait that pushed him forth.

“Whenever life knocked me down, I would cry — but then immediately think about how to rise again. I struggled for food and education and have not wanted others to experience the same. It is why I set up a tuition centre in Nungambakkam for six years, and have since then, tried to help as many people gain an education,” he says. Today, Ganapathy has plans to enrol as an advocate at the Madras High Court because he would like to assist his second daughter who is studying the degree. “Next year, when she begins practising, I want to be available for her. I can serve as her driver, peon, assistant, and researcher. It’s a good life,” he says.

Does he still garden? “How can I not? Today, it is spiritual to me,” he says.