Free medical camp

Tirunelvali:The INS Kattabomman naval base, located at South Vijayanarayanam near Nanguneri will organize a multi-speciality medical camp at ‘MGS Illam’, Moolaikkaraipatti on August 15 between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.An official statement said the Principal Medical Officer, INS Kattabomman, Surgeon Lt. V.K. Pareek, along with a team of specialists including a gynaecologist, paediatrician, endocrinologist and a dietician and Dr. Kamalashankar, a dentist from Sattankulam, would render free consultation.Free testing of blood, ECG and blood pressure would be done and free medicines provided to the visitors, the statement said.Meanwhile, Arun Nursing Home of Tirunelveli Town will conduct a free medical camp in the hospital to test bone mineral density.

Using children for begging

Tirunelveli:Using children in the 3-7 age group by beggars to evoke sympathy and consequently augment their revenue is on the rise in the twin towns of Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai in the recent past. The official machinery is yet to take action against them.A group of ‘child beggars,’ closely guarded by some ‘senior members’ or hirers, can be seen mobbing those who come out of leading eateries, bakeries, supermarkets and restaurants here.

The ‘earnings’ of the children are forcibly transferred to the ‘seniors’ for every 30 or 60 minutes. After the end of the day, nothing will be given to the boy or girl as their parents might have received the ‘rental charges’ in the morning itself.The most painful characteristic of this profession is that the women beggars, who hire children below the age of two, administer some sedative syrup to the babies, so that they will not be disturbing their business by crying all the time.“Since they are not their mothers, they tranquilise the babies and the infants can be seen sleeping all the time even under the hot sun and blaring cars and heavy vehicles,” the coordinator of a non-governmental organisation, which looks after widows and destitute children, here said.

When a sex worker was arrested recently in Tirunelveli Junction, she was taken to a home in Madurai.During interrogation, she requested the police to look after her five-year old son she had left at the place from where she was picked up by the law-enforcers. As the police were searching for the boy, much to their shocking, they saw him being used by a 75-year-old vagabond for begging.“After giving Rs.50 a day to the sex worker, the old man used to hire her son and pushed him into beggary. Now the boy is being rehabilitated,” a police officer here said.Recently, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court directed the Madurai Police Commissioner and the district administration to submit a detailed report to the court on the steps taken by them to curb the menace of begging. Since the joint anti-beggars drive by the Madurai police and the district administration flushed them out of the ‘Temple City,’ they might have shifted their base to ‘Halwa City’, social workers here feel.

When the matter was tbrought to the knowledge of the then Collector, Atul Anand, at a government function, he immediately asked the officials to take all possible measures to check the menace.Subsequently, 12 little boys and girls, begging in and around Tirunelveli bus stand were taken to rehabilitation homes.“We expect such continuous operations in the days to come so that beggars hiring children and their parents would be forced to stop the ‘business’ immediately,” the social worker said.

‘Cotton mini-mission’ programme by Agri dept

Tirunelveli:Following drastic reduction in area under cotton cultivation in the district, the agriculture department has planned to introduce a ‘cotton mini-mission’ programme to increase productivity.After the cotton cultivation area shrunk from 8,000 hectares to 2,000 hectares, the department decided to execute the ‘special cluster approach’ strategy in 14 of the 19 blocks on an outlay of Rs.22 lakh during the current fiscal.

Under the programme, efforts will be made to increase productivity in rain-fed areas through supply of quality seeds and other assistance to farmers. The programme will focus on integrated cotton development activities in clusters that have a continuous stretch of five to 10 hectares suitable for cultivation. A total of 2,750 farmers under the Tamil Nadu Women in Agri Business and Extension Scheme, Farmer Interest Groups, Farmers Advisory Committee and Water Users’ Association will be covered.

Strategies include quality seed production and distribution, inter-cropping of pulses to ensure additional income, integrated pest management, dissemination of ideas through farmers’ field schools, distribution of inputs such as plant protection equipment, pheromone traps, bio-agents, bio-fertilizers and micro-nutrient mixtures.Farmers will be given subsidy for purchasing power and hand sprayers, bio-fertilizers etc. A sum of Rs.2.75 lakh will be spent on field demonstration, seminar and conferences. Initially, training would be given to farmers in 55 villages. Fifty farmers, having sufficient stretch of land, will be identified from each village and trained in technologies to increase productivity.

Law collage students 'sit-in' agitation

Tirunelvali: Students of Government Law College here continued their ‘sit-in’ agitation for the second day on Tuesday after talks with the officials failed to make headway.Demanding stipend and scholarships for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students in time and the transfer of students to college of their choice, appointment of full-time lecturers etc., the students commenced their protest on Monday.

As their talks with the officials failed, they announced that their agitation would continue until their “genuine demands” were met.Since there was no progress in the talks held on Tuesday also, they refused to give up their protest.

‘Chithra Sabhai’ at Courtallam will get a coat

The murals of the ‘Chithra Sabhai’ at Courtallam will get a coat of herbal paint in the next few months.‘Chithra Sabhai,’ or the hall of pictures, at Courtallam, will be restored in the next few months, thanks to the initiative of the Department of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment.Architecturally, ‘Chithra Sabhai’ resembles other ‘sabhas’ of Lord Nataraja elsewhere in Tamil Nadu. Its interior is decorated with hundreds of beautiful murals, depicting images from the epics. When the artworks, created using paint made of herbal extracts, started losing their splendour, a coat of enamel painting was given in 1970. This triggered a hue and cry among the public, who complained that the enamel painting spoilt the grandeur of the murals.

To breathe in fresh life into the paintings created during the Pandya dynasty, the HR and CE department will rope in experts from the Government College of Fine Arts in Chennai.“Though it was initially estimated that the noble exercise, which is likely to begin by August 15, would cost Rs. 13 lakh, it may go up to Rs. 20 lakh. After experts from Chennai inspect the paintings, the date will be decided. We intend to complete the work before January 2008, as we plan to perform kumbhabishekam at the Kuttraalanathar temple during that time,” P. Bhaskaran, Joint Commissioner, HR and CE, Tirunelveli, told reporters here on Monday.

The carbon deposits on the walls would be removed and the gaps filled with herbal gum. The restored paintings would be encased in glass panels. Those who want to support the HR and CE Department in its endeavour may contact P. P. Bhaskaran, Joint Commissioner, HR and CE, 52-A/1, Thiruvananthapuram Highway, Palayamkottai, Tirunelveli – 627 002. Ph. 0462– 2572783 and 94426–37484.

Applications for admission to M.E

Tirunelveli:The Department of Computer Science and Engineering of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University has invited applications for admission to M.E. Computer Science and Engineering programme (both full-time and part-time).According to the Registrar, MSU, P. Chellathurai, said admissions to M.E. programme will be through GATE, TANCET. Candidates without TANCET, GATE score will have to take an entrance test to be conducted by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering on July 25 at 11 a.m. at university.

B.E. candidates with 55 per cent and above marks in Computer Science and Engineering, Information Technology, Electrical and Electronics, Electronics and Communication, Instrumentation and Control, Electronics and Instrumentation are eligible for the M.E.programme.Aspiring candidates can appear for the entrance test on July 25 by submitting a Demand Draft for Rs. 600 (Rs. 350 for application and Rs. 250 for entrance test) drawn in favour of, the Registrar, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli.For Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe candidates, the DD amount is Rs. 350 only, the Registrar said.

Job fair

Tirunelveli:The University Students’ Advisory Bureau under the Department of Youth Welfare, Manonmanaim Sundaranar University, is organising a job fair for graduates on the university campus in Abhishekapatti on July 21 and 22.

According to the Registrar, MSU, P. Chellathurai, companies like Temenos, TWWI, Citi Group, Global, TATA Teleservices, Hindustan Lever, Hutch, Impetus and Megafoods, are expected to participate. The jobs on offer include software development (BE, MCA and M.Sc. computer science), online tutoring, sales executives, back office executives, administration and accounts Chennai-based Techruit will coordinate the fair. Aspirants can register their names by paying Rs. 25 on July 21 at 9 a.m. For details, contact 0462 – 2573996, 94433 – 58020 and 94430 – 69733.

Conservancy staff demand time-scale pay

Tirunellvali:Cadres of the CITU being arrested in Tirunelveli on Monday. A total of 155 members of the CITU, including 17 women, were arrested when they tried to block traffic near the Junction here on Monday.The protestors said the village panchayat overhead tank operators and the conservancy workers should be given time-scale pay and their salary be given from the general funds of the civic body besides ensuring provident fund, gratuity and pension facilities.They said the village panchayat presidents should not be authorised to terminate the conservancy workers and others from their job.The protestors were released in the evening.

School buildings inaugurated

Tirunelveli:The Minister for Environment and Pollution Control, T.P.M. Maideen Khan, inaugurated additional school buildings constructed under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme at a cost of Rs. 6.45 lakh at the Government High School, Tharuvai, near here on Saturday.Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Maideen Khan said infiltration wells would be sunk to solve drinking crisis at Tharuvai and another Rs.10 lakh allocated for constructing ‘aalangaal’ bridge also at Tharuvai, where Rs. 50 lakh had so far been spent on laying roads.The Tirunelveli MP, R. Dhanushkodi Adityan, said that Rs.15 crore had been allocated for the district under SSA programme.

Exhibiton by Information and Public Relations

Tirunellvali:Minister for Information Parithi Ellamvazhuthi looking at photos at the expo in Tirunelveli on Saturday.The Minister for Information, Parithi Ellamvazhuthi, inaugurated a 45-day exhibition organised by the Department of Information and Public Relations in Tirunelveli on Saturday.Various departments established stalls at the expo to highlight the schemes mooted by them for the welfare of people.The salient features of these schemes were explained to the visitors with the help of illustrations and miniature models.

The District Rural Development Agency had set up a model of a village to draw attention of the public to the infrastructure works being taken up under the All Village Anna Renaissance Scheme (Anaithu Grama Anna Marumalarchi Thittam).Earlier, the Minister convened a meeting of town planning officials of Tutirocin, Tirunelveli, Sivaganga and Kanyakumari districts to review the ongoing development works.He said the Government plans to develop Krishnapuram, Tenkasi, Sankarankoil (all Tirunelveli district), Panchalankurichi (Tuticorin district), Mandaikadu, Suchinthram and Thiruvattar (Kanyakumari district) as heritage towns at an estimated outlay of Rs.50 lakh each.

Besides, recreation parks were planned at Tuticorin, Tenkasi, Shenkottai, Kovilpatti, Courtallam, Ambasanmudram, and Padmanabhapuram, at an estimated project cost of Rs.1.25 lakh each.The Ministers, T.P. M. Modieen Khan, the Collector, G. Prakash, and officials of various departments, were present.

Family card data compilation centre established

The Collector, G. Prakash, inaugurating the centre on Thursday.The Collector, G. Prakash, inaugurated the data compilation centre on the Collectorate premises on Thursday, which would put together all details to be printed in the family cards and send them to Chennai for printing in the shortest possible time.As all district administrations have to send every information to be printed in the family card to the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu, Chennai, which is printing the cards, it consumed a great deal of time and resulted in inordinate delay in distributing the family cards to the beneficiaries.

To put an end to this problem, the district administrations have now been empowered to compile all details, enter it in the computer and send to ELCOT, so that retrieving the data and printing the cards will be an easy and trouble-free task.Pursuant to this decision, a data compilation centre has been established at the Office of Revenue Divisional Officer, Tirunelveli on the Collectorate premises with ten computers, scanners and other hardware required for this exercise. Under the new arrangement, every application would be directly scrutinized by the Collector and the DSO and forwarded to the compilation centre, where the data would be entered in the computers to be dispatched to ELCOT. Based on the data they receive from the districts, family cards would be printed immediately, so that the delay in disbursing it to the applicants can be weeded out.

Maanur transformer instlation review meeting

The Minister for Social Welfare, Poongothai Aladi Aruna addressing a review meeting in Tirunelveli on Wednesday.The Minister for Social Welfare, Poongothai Aladi Aruna, pulled up the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board officials for the “unwarranted delay” in the installation of the 110 KVA transformer at Maanur, the area notorious for perennial power fluctuation.Chairing a meeting held at the Collectorate on Wednesday to review the completed and the ongoing development works of all departments in the Alangulam constituency, from where she was elected to the Assembly, Dr. Poongothai asked the TNEB officials whether the work on the 110 KVA transformer at Maanur, which commenced five months ago, had been completed.

When the TNEB officials replied that the project would be completed only in March 2008, “as there were so many practical difficulties in completing it”, she came down heavily on them, saying that the officers concerned should have met any one of the two Ministers or the Speaker, all hailing from the district, to sort out the problems.“I’ll speak to all of you (TNEB officials) separately since I want to know the problems involved in completing the installation of the transformer,” the Minister said.Dr. Poongothai informed that she had submitted a petition to the Local Administration Minister, M.K. Stalin, on the necessity for implementing Mathikettaan channel to provide Tamirabarani water to the dry regions of Maanur union and the wayside habitations.

Terming the ‘review meeting’ as an “excellent learning process”, the Minister announced that a review meeting once in six months would be organised at Alangulam union level and the annual meeting conducted at Tirunelveli in the presence of the Collector “so that all welfare schemes can be brought to the beneficiaries without fail”.The Collector, G. Prakash, the District Revenue Officer, G. Srinivasan and officials from all departments participated in the review meeting.The Minister for Social Welfare, Poongothai Aladi Aruna addressing a review meeting in Tirunelveli on Wednesday.

Students design windmill

Mechanical engineering students of the Government College of Engineering, Tirunelveli, working on the windmill designed and fabricated by them.The Government College of Engineering, Tirunelveli, will save Rs.15,000 a year in electricity expenditure in the years to come, thanks to the windmill designed and fabricated by 12 final-year mechanical engineering students and to be installed on the college premises.

When a team of students, led by R. Prem, were asked to submit their final- year project, they decided to present a ‘towering gift’ to the institution. After lengthy discussions, they zeroed in on a windmill with a capacity of 2 KW, since the sprawling campus enjoyed a reasonable wind velocity throughout the year, and an optimum of 8 metre a second during June to August. While Prem, K. Duraisamy Pandian and P. Rameshkumar designed three 2.44- metre-long blades, C. Sethupathi, T.K. Krishnaswamy Balaji and R. Prabhakaran fabricated the lattice tower. The electrical circuits and generators were readied by C. Sai Vignesh, K. Sundarakani and Durai Murugan. M. Murali Krishnan, M. Mathankumar, A. Samson Fredrick Manoj and D. Saravanan designed and fabricated the step-up gear box. Two sensors implanted in the windmill will control the entire system and the uniquely-designed yaw brake arrangement will change the direction of the fiberglass reinforced plastic blades.Since the fabrication of all vital parts has been completed, the 25-metre-high wing turbine generator, is likely to be installed in the next couple of days.

Varsity wants senior professors to value answer scripts

Vice-Chancellor of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University Cynthia Pandian addressing a meeting in Tirunelveli on Saturday. The Manonmaniam Sundaranar University (MSU) has made valuation of answer scripts by senior professors compulsory. This is following a series of complaints from several quarters, particularly the Controller of Examinations (In-Charge), N. Arunachalam, regarding repeated skipping of paper valuation by senior faculty members of affiliated colleges.

Participating in a debate on one of the resolutions in the Standing Committee on Academic Affairs (SCAA) of MSU here on Saturday, Dr. Arunachalam said that the senior professors, who did not want to value the undergraduate and post-graduate answer scripts, wanted only to be chiefs. Consequently, the faculty members working in self-financing colleges with only a few years of teaching experience had to be roped in for paper valuation.Members V. Rajaram, M. Sadananthan and others reiterated that the students could get a fair deal only by bringing in the senior professors for valuation.

Intervening, the Vice-Chancellor, MSU, Cynthia Pandian asked the SCAA members whether the promotion of senior professors could be deferred for a while if they preferred to skip paper valuation. But none of the participants favoured the suggestion. “Since we are receiving a lot of complaints from students and good number of appeals for revaluation, the senior faculty members should come forward to fulfill one of their duties,” Dr. Pandian said. When member K. Kumarasamy moved a resolution on admitting all science students, who had studied mathematics at Plus Two in the M.Sc. Computer Science programme irrespective of their major in the undergraduate programme, it drew flak from all quarters.

Thousands take part in ‘Ani’ temple car festival

Tirunelvali: Thousands of devotees participated in the 504th ‘Ani’ car festival of Swamy Nellaiyappar–Gandhimathi Ambal temple here on Friday. The Speaker, R. Avudaiyappan, the Mayor of Tirunelveli Corporation, A.L. Subramanian, the MLA, N. Maalairaja, the District Collector, G. Prakash, the Corporation Commissioner, T. Mohan, and the District Revenue Officer, G. Srinivasan, participated in the function.More than 500 policemen took care of security arrangements.Surveillance cameras were fitted at all the four car streets and also inside the temple.

Develop villages: Nellai Collector

Tirunelveli Collector, G. Prakash, addressing the district panchayat council meeting on Wednesday.The National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, which replaced the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana to provide a minimum of 100 days of employment in a fiscal to the rural poor, was launched in the district on Wednesday.The Collector, G. Prakash, inaugurated a workshop on the scheme for village panchayat presidents.

“Without using materials such as cement, blue metal, brick and heavy equipment and without involving contractors and middlemen, the panchayat presidents, who are Executive Officers of the programme, should provide employment to anyone above 18 years who is willing to work for the creation of community infrastructures,” Mr. Prakash said.The Union Government had introduced the scheme that ensured a salary of Rs. 80 a day for completing a prescribed task such as deepening or creating an irrigation tank or ‘oorani,’ desilting channels, strengthening tank bunds and restoring roads. Jobs should be provided within 15 days from the date of enrolment of the workers’ names.

Mr. Prakash urged the panchayat presidents to maintain records in a meticulous manner so that there would not be any hitch in the execution of the scheme and clearance of bills.“There is no upper limit for spending. Dungarpur district in Rajasthan had spent Rs. 195 crore in a financial year to create community assets. As the district has received a token amount of Rs. 14.41 crore, I appeal to everyone concerned to utilise this opportunity to create and strengthen infrastructure in the villages.

“Utilising the facilities created under this programme as a basement, representatives of local bodies should strive to get funds from MP’s Local Area Development Fund or MLA Constituency Development Fund to reinforce the facilities further,” Mr. Prakash said.The works to be taken up under the job scheme should get approved at grama sabha meeting.The next training programme for panchayat presidents would be held at Valliyoor (July 3) and Tenkasi (July 4).The chairman of district panchayat, M. Graham Bell, appealed to the Collector to initiate steps to include material component also in the scheme so that there would be more avenues to create more assets.The District Rural Development Agency, which organised the training programme, gave a power-point presentation to explain various aspects of the scheme.

BSNL Contract workers dharna

Members of the Tamil Nadu Telecom Contract Workers’ Union and the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited Employees’ Union staging a dharna at Palayamkottai on Tuesday.Members of the Tamil Nadu Telecom Contract Workers’ Union and the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited Employees’ Union – Tamil Nadu staged a dharna here on Tuesday.

They demanded pay on a par with the salary of Grade D employees of the BSNL.The protestors said that thousands of contract workers had been posted temporarily in the BSNL in housekeeping, cable repairing, telegram delivery etc. even as thousands of postings were remaining vacant, owing to a ban on recruitment. However, the contract workers, who did not have job security, were being given inconsistent pay that varied from district to district.Moreover, the contractors were not making statutory payments of the EPF and ESI, they alleged.

Hence, the contractor workers should be given salary equal to the pay of Grade D employee of the BSNL, the protestors said.While district vice-president of the union D. Gopalan presided over the agitation, R. Karumalaiyan of the CITU inaugurated the protest.State vice-president of BSNL Employees Union V.S. Vemburaja, divisional secretary of Insurance Employees Union R.S. Durairaj and others spoke.Members affiliated to the BSNL Employees Union and Tamil Nadu Contract Workers Union also staged a demonstration in the town.They demanded wage revision for all contract workers deployed in the telecom sector.K Gandhi, president, BSNL Employees Union, spoke.

Government exhibition at Nellai

TIRUNELVELI: To highlight the performance of its various departments and popularise the welfare schemes, the State Government will conduct a 45-day exhibition here from the first week of July.According to the Collector, G. Prakash, Government departments would establish stalls in the exhibition providing a chance for the public to get all information about their functioning. A medical outpost would be opened to assist the public. Special buses would be operated from Exhibition Grounds to Tirunelveli Junction bus stand after 10 p.m. he added.

Hitech farmers @ Nellai

Tirunelvalli:Farmers being educated with the assistance of a laptop.If you think that laptops are associated only with smartly dressed software professionals in multinational firms, you are wrong.An electronic notebook is being used by farmers of Urumankulam in the district to clarify doubts regarding modern farming practices.Sitting under a tree in their farms, they get details on hi-tech horticulture methods through the laptop of the Radhapuram Horticulture Officer, S. Raja Mohammed.

When the officials of Horticulture Department selected beneficiaries from Urumankulam for the two-acre-land scheme, they found that the farmers were reluctant to pursue conventional farming methods.However, the officials camped at the village for about a week and succeeded in their attempt to impart training on hi-tech methods.“We explained about the success of hi-tech farming practices followed by a few progressive farmers in Tamil Nadu and outside. They practice methods like drip irrigation, fertigation, bee-keeping in the farms, organic farming, vermicomposting, etc. Since, I have saved all these stories on compact discs, I took my laptop to the village to give the villagers an idea of what we were teaching all these days,” Mr. Raja Mohamed said.

Right from developing land and creating irrigation sources to planting of amla grafts with micro-irrigation and fertigation facilities, everything was shown on the laptop that enticed the villagers.They received a farm kit worth Rs. 11.86 lakh.With the Radhapuram MLA, M. Appavu, and the Revenue Divisional Officer, Cheranmahadevi, Anne Mary Swarna, monitoring the exercise, the National Service Scheme volunteers of Holy Redeemer Higher Secondary School, Thisayanvilai, planted amla grafts.

CM to inaugurate works tomorrow

Tirunelvali:Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi will lay foundation stone, inaugurate development works and disburse welfare measures worth Rs. 470 crore at a function to be held at the Tirunelveli Medical College ground on June 17, besides launching the fourth phase of free land distribution to landless small and marginal farmers and farmhands.

According to the Collector, G. Prakash, the Chief Minister would lay the foundation stone for 5,831 works, worth Rs. 427.08 crore, inaugurate 1,141 development works executed at the cost of Rs. 33.18 crore and disburse welfare measures, worth Rs. 9.81 crore, to 37,461 beneficiaries.The highlight of the Chief Minister’s function would be the laying of foundation stone for the much-awaited Rs. 300 crore Information Technology Park to be established at Gangaikondan SIPCOT Industrial Estate near here.

Mr. Karunanidhi will also lay foundation stones for 5,440 Indira Awas Yojana houses to be constructed by Department of Rural Development on an outlay of Rs. 27.46 crore, community halls, library and anganvadi buildings (Rs. 63.30 lakh), underground drainage scheme for Tenkasi and Sankarankovil (Rs. 50.18 crore), construction of groyne at Idinthakarai to neutralise high tides (Rs. 6.20 crore), construction of houses through Tamil Nadu Housing Board at Palayamkottai (Rs.2.32 crore), construction of houses through Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (Rs. 1.81 crore) and installation of pumps through TWAD Board (Rs. 1.36 crore).

Work on another major scheme to be commenced on Sunday is the Rs. 26.88-crore Combined Drinking Water Scheme for fishermen of 113 tsunami-affected coastal colonies in Radhapuram taluk. While Department of Agriculture Engineering would get Rs. 5.06 crore for new development works, construction of 50 quarters for the jail warders would be taken up at the cost of Rs. 2.36 crore.Mr. Karunanidhi would also inaugurate new buildings constructed by Public Works Department, Departments of Rural Development, Education, Public Distribution, Police, Forest, Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board and TAHDCO and other development works, worth Rs. 33.18 crore.

“To encourage folk arts, over 250 folk artistes from various parts of the State had been roped in to perform during the reception to be accorded to the Chief Minister,” Mr. Prakash said.Meanwhile, the Speaker, R. Avudaiyappan, accompanied by the Collector, visited the Tirunelveli Medical College Grounds, venue for the Chief Minister’s function.Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai are being beautified by the official machinery.The entire stretch between the private guesthouse at Sankar Nagar, where Mr. Karunanidhi is expected to relax and the Tirunelveli Medical College Ground, venue of the function, has been given a bitumen cover.