NO LIQUOR SALES ON PONGAL DAY

Chennai district collector A Sundaravalli on Thursday said alcohol sales would be totally banned on January 14 (Pongal Day) as it is Milad-e-Nabi; January 15, which is a regular dry day on account of Thiruvalluvar Day; and January 17, which is Vallalar remembrance day, besides Republic Day on January 26.

METRO RAIL – TEST RUN – ON THE SECTION KOYAMBEDU – ST. THOMAS MOUNT (PARANKIMALAI )

Chennai Metro rail is progressing with its ambitious project at the cost of Rs. 6,600 Crore which is expected to give the city public an exciting option of good and fast connection on travel between the city points.

There are 2 routes covering a distance of 45 km. The first one is between Washermanpet to Chennai Airport and the second one between Chennai Central Railway Station and St. Thomas Mount. Part of the route will be in subway under tunneled routs and the other part will be above the ground level. Construction of all linking stations is in progress.

The Koyambedu to St. Thomas Mount route covers a distance of 11 km and will be on the ground level & above. The track-work & electrification arrangements are nearing completion. The test-run is planned next month.

42 trains will be run. 9 trains have been imported from Brazil. The first train from Brazil arrived last July. The test run of the train took place last November in Koyambedu metro depot.2 more trains have arrived from Brazil.

The balance 33 metro trains are manufactured in Andhra Pradesh. Each train will have 4 coaches and can carry 1200 passengers.Metro is scheduled to run every day at 5am to midnight.

EC AGREEMENT WITH GOOGLE TO HELP VOTERS

To facilitate online voting and offering guidance to the voters, the Election Commission has entered a contract with Google. 

The facility is expected to come into effect from the 2nd week of this month. Lok Sabha elections are to be held in May.EC is making the necessary arrangements for making the election process simpler and easier. The Election Commission has sought the support of Google Inc of he United States to provide better online services.

Google has already helped more than 100 countries on this aspect. Google’s network and server facility will be used. Google will manage the website for 6 months. The services are expected to start functioning from the 2nd week of January.

On-line registration and voting will be possible. Finding the voters’ list for each family and locating the election booth will also be possible. The election process will be simplified and faster.

Google is providing this service free of charge. The recent elections in 5 states were conducted through another US Company Agami.Inc using their 272 servers. It is remarkable that millions of people watched the every-minute prompt details of the election results of the 5 states last month.Google will also publish the results of the next Lok Sabha elections. The Election Commission is considering ways to use the servers and the network.