Friday, June 22, 2007

Rain at Siruvani Dam brings cheers

The Coimbatore Corporation seemed a bit relaxed on Thursday as 40 mm rain was reported at the Siruvani Dam, the source of a drinking water scheme serving one half of the 105 sq.km. city.

Mayor R. Venkatachalam said the water level remained at 23 ft for close to a week, despite 85 million litres a day (mld) being supplied to the Corporation areas, three municipalities and a clutch of town panchayats and village panchayats. Only because of steady rain, the storage was being maintained at this level, he said.

The Mayor said there were reports of water being received through two falls. “We are told that the Mukthikulam (in the upper reaches of the Siruvani hills) is full and surplus water is flowing into the dam,” he said. The situation indicated heavy rain in Kerala where the dam and the catchments were located. Heavy rain would bring water from the Mukthikulam to the dam through more than five falls. The Mayor said the storage would improve in a week if the heavy rain in the catchments continued.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Kidzee school opened in Kovai

Kidzee, a leading pre-school network, today opened its centre in the city.


With a philosophy, 'Learning by Playing,' the curriculum is structured bearing in mind the interests and abilities for pre-school children and emphasising on their stress-free holistic development, Ashish Deb, Executive Vice President, Zee Interactive Learning Systems, told reporters here.


Indigenously designed toys, play and learning equipment would encourage children to collaborate and help each other, Deb said.


Kidzee has 550 schools across the country of which south India has more than 100 schools, he said adding it was proposed to open at least 10 such schools within one year in Coimbatore.


The company has plans to extend the facility to the villages, Deb said adding smaller size centre would require an investment of Rs.Six lakh and bigger ones Rs.12 lakh.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Promoting technical textiles

The Centre will implement a scheme for the development and growth of technical textiles, the Union Minister of State for Textiles, E.V.K.S. Elangovan, said here on Monday. He said that during the XI Plan period it would be implemented at a cost of Rs. 96 crore to promote indigenous manufacture of technical textiles, tap global opportunities and increase employment potential in this segment. The scheme would also support the infrastructural needs of the segment through centres of excellence.

He was inaugurating a three-day conference on advances in textiles, machinery, nonwoven and technical textiles organised jointly by the Kumaraguru College of Technology and Texas Tech University.

In a move to accelerate the growth of technical textiles, the Government had appointed the Synthetic and Art Silk Mills’ Research Association as the nodal agency for technical textiles. The agency was entrusted with the task of assessment of application areas for technical textiles.

It would look at market development, creating awareness to the industry, research and development support and testing facilities to the industry.

With regard to rupee appreciation affecting textile exporters, the matter was taken up with the Prime Minister and the Union Finance Ministry too, he said.

GDTC returns to Coimbatore

The second leg of the Gulf Dirt Track National championship for two wheelers will be held besides Jenney’s Club here on July 14 and 15.


Entry forms are available and accepted at Sportscraft, Chitrakut Building, Third Floor, Siri Road, Chowpatty Band Stand, Mumbai 400 006 (ph: 022-23677631, Fax: 022-23685071) from Monday to Friday between 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturday between 10 a.m. and 12 noon. Participants can also visit www.sportscraftindia.com for details.

Local entries can be had before July 11 from Coimbatore Auto Sports Club, 29, Nehru Stadium, tele-fax: 380065.