New Delhi [India], December 12 (ANI/SRV): VKM Silks pioneer Handloom Silk sari manufacturers in Tamil Nadu headquartered at Arani in Tiruvannamalai District.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday said that the landfall process of cyclonic storm Mandous will be completed within a few hours.

The Karthigai Deepam Chariot festival was held at Tiruparangunram in Madurai after a gap of two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Delhi [India], July 10 (ANI): After Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin accused the BJP of playing the religion card to serve its purpose, BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP from Telangana K. Laxman on Sunday alleged Stalin was "anti-Hindu" and accused him of practicing "religion-based politics".

Chennai Apr 22 PTI While the AIADMK targeted the ruling DMK on Friday in the Assembly over power cuts in Tamil Nadu the State government blamed inadequate coal supplies by the Centre and sudden interruption in power supply from the Central pool and hit out at the principal opposition party for a mischievous campaign on power outage in the State Chief Minister M K Stalin meanwhile urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct the Union Coal Ministry to ensure supply of 72000 MT coal per day as per the Fuel Supply Agreement at Paradip and Visakhapatnam ports Only this step can enable us to maintain uninterrupted power supply in the State and hence I solicit your personal intervention in this regard Stalin said in a letter to Modi Raising the power shortage issue in the House by moving a special call attention motion leader of opposition K Palaniswami said that during the AIADMK regime 17120 MW was made available to ensure that there were no power cuts Considering the increase in power consumption during the summer season the government should have stepped up electricity generation correspondingly However the government did not store coal needed for power plants for the current season Electricity Minister V Senthilbalaji had earlier said that requisite coal is available for summer season However power cuts are being witnessed and news reports say that it is due to coal shortage the AIADMK leader said In view of power cuts in several districts including Villupuram Cuddalore and Tiruvannamalai farming activities industries and students were affected and people could not have peaceful sleep at night Hitting out at the government on the matter Palaniswami demanded to know the action being taken to address the situation Senthilbalaji accused the opposition AIADMK of indulging in a mischievous campaign on the matter Only in 41 places disruption was seen in view of shortage of 796 MW for about half an hour he said An appearance was being sought to be created by the opposition AIADMK as if power cuts were not seen during its regime He cited 68 instances of power outage during the AIADMK regime from 2017 till 2021 However after Chief Minister Stalin assumed office in May 2021 only once disruption was seen as supply from the Central pool was interrupted all of a sudden he said Action was taken on a war-footing by the Chief Minister to address the issue All steps have been taken by him to make Tamil Nadu a power-surplus State within five years he said Though adequate coal is not available to the State there would be no power cuts be it for industries or domestic consumers Palaniswami said Senthilbalaji had earlier assured coal availability and that there would be no power cuts Terming the Ministers reply to the motion moved by him as not satisfactory the leader of opposition led a walkout of his party MLAs The Minister said when CM assumed office the debt burden of the State-run electricity corporation TANGEDCO-Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation was Rs 160000 crore and reforms have been initiated by the government and the Centre is being urged to ensure adequate coal supplies to the State Barring Chennai power cuts were witnessed for sometime in a number of places in the State on Wednesday and Thursday Stalin seeking Modis urgent assistance said provision of sufficient coal from Talcher mines in Odisha is vital for power units in Tamil Nadu In this regard the current daily receipt of coal for Tamil Nadus units is only 50000 MTs against the coal requirement of 72000 MTs Even though coal production is sufficient to meet the increased summer demand for power it is not getting transported to ports due to short supply of rakes by railways the CM said This in turn has resulted in the coal stocks of our States generation plants reaching critical levels In the case of TANGEDCO 22 railway rakes per day are required for moving 72000 MTs of daily allotted coal to Paradip and Vishakhapatnam ports However on an average only 14 rakes per day are currently being provided by the Railways Due to the resultant shortage of domestic coal TANGEDCO has to resort to import coal at the current historically high prices for maintaining uninterrupted power supply Further the gap in power generation is also being filled by buying power at high rates in energy exchanges Unfortunately sufficient quantum of power is not available in energy exchanges to meet the requirement of all buying utilities This serious situation would significantly impact the nascent post Covid economic recovery and needs to be immediately addressed the Chief Minister told the Prime Minister Considering the critical scenario Stalin requested Modi to direct the Coal Ministry to ensure supply of 72000 MT coal per day PTI VGN NVG NVG

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 20 (ANI/Target Media): Thiru Ma. Subramanian, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu today inaugurated an 250 litres per minute Oxygen Generation Plant at St. Isabel's Hospital, Mylapore, Chennai.

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India] April 16 (ANI/Newsvoir): A team of doctors from Medway Heart Institute, a tertiary cardiac centre at Medway Hospitals, a premier and integrated multi-specialty group of hospitals located in Kodambakkam, Chennai, performed an extremely challenging Aortic Dissection surgery on a 32-year-old man with kidney failure.

Chennai, April 5: A horrifying incident has come to light from Tiruvannamalai where a 40-year-old man has been arrested on Sunday for allegedly raping his 16-year-old minor daughter in a village in the district. The victim is a class 10 student in a government school. Tamil Nadu Shocker: 40-Year-Old Man Rapes Minor Daughter in Tiruvannamalai […]

Chennai Feb 21 PTI The BJP on Monday asserted that its Madurai-based election agent had only urged that a hijab-clad woman voter be identified by looking at her face and never sought removal of the veil The party would approach court against the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission for contempt since the action against the BJP agent on this matter violated a Supreme Court ruling in 2010 which outlined norms on voter identification in a polling station The action against the BJP agent was based on false and distorted claims the party said BJP Tamil Nadu unit president K Annamalai speaking to reporters here said the ruling DMK wanted to politicise the matter only to divert attention from poll-related violence and other aspects like false voting Hence the BJP leader said the ruling party claimed falsely that the BJP agent wanted the woman voter to remove her headscarf Our election agent only said that the face has to be seen for identification He never sought removal of hijab he said Urban civic polls were held on February 19 in Tamil Nadu and a row erupted on the hijab matter which involved a BJP poll agent Annamalai dared the TNSEC to release the 25-minute CCTV camera footage from the Melur Madurai district polling station that captured the conversations in this regard It would prove whether the BJP agent sought identification of the voter or removal of hijab the saffron party leader said His party respected the rights of Muslim women to wear hijab and also supported it Annamalai said The TN BJP chief said the hijab-clad woman voter cast her vote and left the place following identification However a group of DMK men and others arrived at the booth in Madurai district about 15 minutes later and they distorted the BJP agents version They falsely claimed that the saffron party poll agent wanted removal of hijab This was done only to divert attention from poll-related violence unleashed by the DMK he alleged It was to deflect attention from distribution of cash unruly acts intimidation and polling of false votes by the ruling party people the BJP leader claimed A case was booked against the Madurai district based BJP election agent and he was arrested by police on February 19 in connection with the hijab row Annamalai said BJP workers and functionaries were assaulted by DMK members in several places including Madurai Tiruvannamalai and Kanyakumari and many of them have been hospitalised across the state In Coimbatore and Chennai violence was unleashed more he alleged The TN BJP chief also played a video on a screen in the state party headquarters here seeking to substantiate his allegations The party would approach court on poll-related incidents he said PTI VGN HDA HDA

Chennai Feb 19 PTI The voting in the urban civic polls in Tamil Nadu began on Saturday at 7 AM across the state amid tight police security and arrangements including ramps to ensure hassle-free experience to the differently- abled Voting began in urban regions spread across 38 districts at 7 AM with Tamil Nadu State Election Commission ensuring monitoring polling stations through web streaming and CCTV cameras and state police deploying nearly 1 lakh personnel for security Authorities said arrangements like ramps and availability of wheelchairs have also been ensured As many as 57778 candidates are in the fray for 12607 posts of ward members in 648 urban local bodies including municipal corporations municipalities and town panchayats and the voting exercise began in over 31000 polling stations In Chennai out of the 5013 polling booths 213 have been identified as vulnerable and 54 as critical and adequate security arrangements are in place police said adding as many as 390 mobile parties and a total of 22000 police personnel have been deployed here as part of efforts to ensure peaceful pollingWhile the time for voting is from 7 AM to 6 PM the last 1 hour is earmarked to people who have been affected by coronavirus In nearby Tiruvallur district voting is to elect as many as 315 ward members for 8 town panchayats 6 municipalities besides the Avadi municipal corporation In Tiruvannamalai district voting is taking place in 454 polling stations to elect 273 ward members for 10 town panchayats and 4 municipalities The ruling DMK and its allies are together fighting the polls The main opposition AIADMKs partners during the last years Assembly polls like the PMK and BJP are facing the civic polls on their own In some areas the AIADMK has allocated wards to smaller allies like the Samuga Samathuva Padai-led by former IAS officer P Sivakami However mostly they are contesting on the two-leaves symbol Sivakami is the AIADMK nominee from ward 99 of the Chennai Corporation Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam Naam Tamizhar Katchi and Makkal Needhi Maiam are among others who are in the fray Polls were announced last month by the TNSEC for a total of 12838 ward member posts in 649 urban civic bodies The 649 urban local bodies are 21 municipal corporations 138 municipalities and 490 town panchayats Subsequently polls for all the 12 wards in Kadambur town panchayat in Thoothukudi district were cancelled for violations For a town panchayat ward Kanadukathan in Sivaganga district no nominations were filed In total 218 candidates were elected unopposed PTI VGN SS SS