Anti-dengue operations have been intensified in Tirunelveli district even as the death toll mounted to 29. The outbreak of dengue, whose impact is seen in other southern districts, has put public health officials on their toes.

Director of Public Health R.T. Porkaipandian is in Tirunelveli with a team of officials to supervise the operations. In neighbouring Tuticorin district, four cases were under treatment at Tuticorin Medical College Hospital.

Plans are afoot to increase the production of inland fish in the State to three lakh tonnes a year.

Presently, of the total 5.97 lakh tonnes of fish production in Tamil Nadu, inland fish production is only 1.72 lakh tonnes and marine fisheries is 4.25 lakh tonnes. To make available more fish seeds and advanced fingerlings from 7 cm to 10 cm stage, the capacity of fish hatcheries and fish-rearing centres across the State is being enhanced and additional infrastructure created. Catla, Rohu, Mrigal varieties of Indian major carp (kendai meen) and common carp are bred and reared at these centres.

Agitated over the State government's plan to allow sand quarrying again at the dry Nambiyar riverbed in the district, residents of various villages in Radhapuram taluk submitted a petition to Collector R. Selvaraj on Monday against the move.

Unlike the Tamirabarani, the Nambiar would very rarely experience flood even during active monsoon. Naturally, sand deposit on this riverbed is not so dense and deep.

Fresh water for ensuring unhindered operation of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) will not be drawn from the Pechipaarai dam or the Tamirabharani, the outgoing Site Director, M. Kasinath Balaji, has said.

“Since we've installed two desalination plants to meet the drinking water requirements of Anu Vijay township (where KKNPP personnel reside) and also the KKNPP site, we will never draw water from the Pechipaarai dam in Kanyakumari district or the Tamirabharani, lifeline of southern districts, at any point of time in future.

CHENNAI : As if the spurt of Dengue induced deaths in Tirunelveli region isn’t alarming by itself, the sheer number of cases recorded in 2012 is a shocker.

According to the health department, in just five months this year, there have been 1,632 cases of dengue recorded officially in Tamil Nadu. With over 21 people having already succumbed this year, this is much more than the eight deaths last year.

London-based groups protesting against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KNPP) have pledged to widen their campaign across Europe, as several British MPs voiced their concerns about the plant and the way protestors have been treated, ahead of a protest outside the Indian embassy in London on Friday.

CHENNAI: The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) Friday announced that the first of the two 1,000 MW units of Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) is expected to start commercial operations this August and the second unit in March 2013.

The announcement on NPCIL's website as to the expected month of commercial operation of the first unit has now eased the mental pressure on people at KKNPP as the government has been saying that the first reactor would start operations in 20 days' time.

British MPs address letter to Manmohan, Jayalalithaa

Carrying placards that read, “No More Chernobyls! No More Fukushimas!,” activists representing a coalition of anti-nuclear and human rights groups held a protest outside the Indian High Commission here on Friday, demanding a halt to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) and withdrawal of police and court cases against anti-KKNPP protesters.

Express deep concern over human rights and environmental issues around the plant

British MPs and members of the European Parliament have signed a letter from South Asian anti-nuclear groups to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressing “deep concern” over human rights and environmental issues around the controversial Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) which they argue “violates” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s safety guidelines.

A.P. Shah surprised that State Human Rights Commission has not intervened

A jury that presided over a public hearing on the alleged State suppression of democratic rights on the Kudankulam issue here on Monday will petition the National Human Rights Commission against the foisting of “omnibus FIRs” accusing thousands of anti-Kudankulam protestors of sedition.