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DC
Hike in old PM to inaugu- Rajesh Shar-
Chennai ● Saturday ● 15 January 2011 5
State
age pension rate Kerala ma is new MD
will benefit Development of Cryo-Save
40,000 per- Congress on Group, stem
sons: Stalin February 11. cell bank.

Expedite
relief, says
mayor
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI
Jan. 14: Following a major
fire that broke out in the
early hours of Friday in
congested Royapuram in
north Chennai at least 60
tenements were reduced to
ashes with people loosing
their valuables. It took wa
while for the fire tenders to
douse the fire and there
were no causalities.
Meanwhile mayor M.
Subramanian, who interact-
ed with the fire victims
assured them immediate
relief and consoled the fam-
ily members.
He directed the revenue
officials to speed up the
process and provide the
relief materials and cash
before evening.
The corporation officials
were also instructed to pro-
vide temporary shelter
arrangements and food for
about 200 people. Besides,
the mayor directed the offi-
cials to erect streetlights
and restore basic amenities
that were damaged in the
fire accident.
In another function at
Royapuram Mr Subraman-
ian handed over cheques for
about 100 beneficiaries
under maternity assistance
scheme. Cheques with
denominations of `6,000
each were distributed to the
beneficiaries.
At least 60
tenements were
reduced to ashes
in the accident
with people
loosing their
valuables
● PANANTHOPE, PERAMBUR AND TAMBARAM COLONIES NOT REPAIRED FOR DECADES
Railway colonies look more like slums
GEORGE ADIMATHRA
DC | CHENNAI
Jan. 14: Southern Railway
might be actively con-
tributing to filling the cof-
fers of Indian Railways,
but a visit to the three rail-
way colonies in the city,
Pananthope, Perambur
and Tambaram, called
home by employees of rail-
way’s southern zone, por-
trays a totally different
picture.
These colonies exist in
total neglect, going with-
out repair works for sever-
al decades. Due to rail-
ways not allotting enough
funds for their upkeep,
they bear striking similari-
ty to the slums that line
the Cooum river and
Buckingham canal, cour-
tesy overflowing sewage,
garbage-strewn surr-
oundings and cattle, pigs
and stray dogs roaming
around.
Says Ms Saroja, a rail-
way employee’s wife stay-
ing at the first street of
Pananthope railway
colony, “The primary
issue is scarcity of drink-
ing water. The piped
water is salty and worm-
filled which no sane per-
son here uses. A year ago,
about 55 plastic tanks
were placed in the colony.
Till date the tanks remain
empty and we buy water
for our basic require-
ments.”
Her neighbour Rajesh-
wari was more concerned
about the garbage removal
system. “Garbage trucks
come only once in three
days and by then the dis-
posal areas in front of our
houses are full. Outsiders
come inside and dump
chicken waste, dead ani-
response
◗ I have not received
any complaints
regarding drinking
water from the
residents belonging
to the three colonies
for the past six
months. But yes, the
drainage system
inside the
decades-old colonies
are in worst condition.
Southern Railway has
already allocated `90
crore for the
Pananthope railway
colony to redo all the
pipelines. We will sort
out the issues soon,
said S. Anantharaman,
divisional railway
manager.
mals, silt from sewage sys-
tem, which are causing
serious health problems
here. Sometime back, one
of the resident’s daughters
died due to brain fever
caused by the unclean sur-
roundings,” she said.
The drainage is clogged
resulting in backyards
overflowing with sewage.
The sewage treatment
plant announced with
much fanfare now lies use-
less. According to Mr
Ravi, who resides in Per-
ambur, many buildings
earmarked for demolition
are frequented by anti-
social elements.
Mr K. Ramdoss, a civic
activist who has spent
more than 50 years in
Perambur railway colony,
said each tenant pays
`3,000 to `4,000 as month-
ly rent, yet there is no
maintenance.
Civic body steps
up tax collection
C.S. KOTTESWARAN sources, the civic body,
which has been registering a
DC | CHENNAI
record collection of property
Jan. 14: The Chennai corpo- taxes and professional taxes
ration has intensified tax col- in the last few years, is set to
lection to improve its exche- surpass its target fixed for the
quer which is hit by Sixth fiscal 2010-11 as the average
Pay Commission recommen- collection of property tax has
dations and inflation. Tax surged to around `1.5 crore
collectors have begun fre- per day. The corporation has
quenting buildings with fixed a property tax target of
property tax arrears, going `360 crore and tax officials
door-to-door to improve have so far collected above
collection. Several tax col- `270 crores. And in case of
lectors admitted that they professional tax, `99 crore
were spending sleepless was collected till December
nights due to the intensified against the target of `135
drive. “Every morning, we crore, sources said.
are put on a deadline and are “Several government
now closely monitored by offices are evading property
the top brass of the corpora- taxes and the corporation
tion. The work pressure is officials should focus on
high,” opined a senior offi- such buildings,” said Mr
cial attached to the revenue Saidai Ravi, Opposition floor
department. leader of the city corpora-
According to corporation tion.
A building (above) at the
Pananthope railway
colony in Ayanavaram in
a dilapidated condition.
The plastic waste and
garbage overflow in the
backyards of Panan-
thope railway colony.
According to residents
unhygienic surround-
ings that haunts the
colony round the year
results in serious health
problems for them.
— DC

Preferential
biomass
tariffs
Chennai: In the advertise-
ment feature ‘Alternate
Energy Sustainability in
India’ that appeared in Pg 7
of edition dated January 14,
please read the statement of
Mr Santosh Kamat, co-
founder of Auro Mira Ener-
gy (AME) as, “Understand-
ing supply chain challenges
with respect to collection
and costs of Biomass rang-
ing from `2,500 to
`3,500/tonne across
Rajasthan, Haryana, Mad-
hya Pradesh and Tamil
Nadu would necessitate
preferential Biomass tariffs
between `6.50 to `7/kwhr.”
Hypothyroidism high
among moms-to-be
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI
Jan. 14: One in 10 pregnant
women suffer from hyp-
othyroidism, a recent study
has found. Hypothyroidism
is a condition when the thy-
roid gland does not produce
sufficient hormones.
The study, conducted by
AIIMS, revealed that the
prevalence of thyroid dys-
function in expecting moth-
ers was high, with 6.47 per
cent of them diagnosed with
sub clinical hypothy-
roidism, and 4.58 per cent
plagued with the overt form
of the disorder.
“This statistic seems to be
an underestimate, as thyroid
problems are quite common
in women during pregnan-
cy. The thyroid gland
enlarges when a woman is
pregnant, and when hypo-
thyroidism is severe, she is
likely to have a miscarriage
within the first trimester
itself,” says Dr Krishna
Seshadri, head of endo-
crinology at Sri Ramachan-
dra Medical College.
“Women with untreated
hypothyroidism usually find
it difficult to conceive, but if
they manage to get through
a successful pregnancy, the
baby’s intellect is found to
be affected. Studies have
recorded a slight decrease of
around 10 points, in the IQ
levels of children born to
moms with hypothy-
roidism,” adds Dr Krishna
Seshadri.
While physicians earlier
believed that the unborn
baby takes care of its own
thyroxin requirements, as its
thyroid gland is developed
within 12 weeks, experts
now stress on the impor-
tance of the mother’s hor-
mones for the fetus’ well-
being.

fervour RARE HOBBY

Vintage photos
his obsession
PRADEEP DAMODARAN
DC | CHENNAI
Jan. 14: Collecting vintage
photographs is a hobby for
many. But, 46-year-old An-
and Kumar Bhowmick from
T Nagar is obsessed with it.
He has so far collected over
8,000 pictures, mostly from
magazines and newspapers.
Half of them are photo-
graphs of late chief minister
and matinee idol MGR.
It all started when Anand
was studying in class nine.
“At that time, I bunked class
and attended a public meet-
ing by MGR where I saw
him from close quarters.
Since then, I started collect-
ing MGR’s pictures,” says
Anand.
Over the years, Anand col-
lected pictures of the
AIADMK founder wherev-
er he could find them. “I cut
them from all possible ave-
nues including song books
of MGR’s films,” he says.
Priests and devotees of Lord Jagannath rejoice “After a while, my interest
as the gaily-decorated float carrying deities of spread to other celebrities
Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra start- and political leaders from
ed from the Kapaleeshwar temple in Mylapore. across the globe.”
— DC Today, Anand’s collec-
tions include pictures of
Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa,
Rajinikanth, Mahatma
Gandhi and even Barrack
Obama. “My priced posses-
sions are certain rare pic-
tures including a clipping of
Jawaharlal Nehru and Lady
Mountbatten sharing a pri-
vate moment,” he says. The
plastics retailer’s aim is to
collect one-lakh photo clip-
pings of celebrities and
events.
“Some day, I hope to
make a record in collecting
used photographs.”
Among the litter of shops
in Kasi Chetty Street,
Anand’s little plastic uten-
sils shop stands out. The
outer wall of his shop is full
of black-and-white pictures
of MGR. “A few years ago,
some people threatened me
to vacate this shop. It was
then I decided to stick all
these pictures outside. I
hope my idol would protect
me,” he says.
When asked if he is still a
follower of MGR and the
party he founded, he says,
“After MGR, my idol is
‘Traffic’ Ramaswamy. I vo-
ted for him during the
recent Lok Sabha polls and
consider him my guru
now.”