Page 4 - Puducherry

RailTel bags Rs 170.11 cr contract from Puducherry govt for Smart City

RailTel Corporation of India Ltd, a Mini Ratna Public Sector Unit (PSU) under the Ministry of Railways has received a work order from the Department of Revenue and Disaster Management, Government of Puducherry for design, develop, supply, install, test, commission and Operations and Maintenance (O & M) for five years of Integrated Command Control Centre (ICCC) and other associated activities for Puducherry Smart City.The estimated total value of the work order is Rs 170.11cr (including GST) which will be completed in 10 months' time.As per the official statement, RailTel has been selected through competitive bidding and it is the first smart city project awarded by Puducherry Government.It further said that besides ICCC, the project includes Data Center Disaster Recovery (DC-DR), On Street Parking Management, Intelligent Traffic Management System, Creation of online/mobile based platform to facilitate tourists and visitors, City level application and Smart Dashboard, Smart Kiosks,

Shops closed, private buses off roads in Pondy during bandh for statehood

Most shops and establishments remained closed in Puducherry on Wednesday in response to the call given by the AIADMK for a day-long bandh to urge the Centre to grant statehood for the Union Territory. Secretary of the Puducherry unit of AIADMK (East) A Anbalagan, who gave the call for the shutdown, was taken into custody along with his supporters at his office in the early hours today. Anbalagan had earlier said that statehood was "absolutely necessary" for Puducherry. Privately-owned inter-state and intra-state buses went off the roads while state transport buses operated as usual. The Rajiv Gandhi bus terminal here remained forlorn with private operators not functioning. Auto-rickshaws and tempo travellers did not ply as well. Hotels and jewellery shops remained shut in and around Puducherry. Vegetable shops and fish vendors suspended their business in most of the areas. Police were deployed in strength at vantage points. Only two-wheelers could be seen on the main ...

Set up medical varsity in Puducherry, CM tells Union Minister of State

Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy on Sunday urged Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Bharati Pravin Pawar to establish a medical university here. At a meeting during the Central Minister's visit to the Union Territory, Rangasamy submitted a memorandum urging the Centre to set up the varsity. Earlier, the Union Minister addressed a meeting of officials of Health Department of Puducherry and the Centrally administered JIPMER here. She reviewed the implementation of various health-related schemes, said an official release. PWD Minister of Puducherry K Lakshminarayanan, Director of JIPMER Rakesh Agarwal, Director of Health of Puducherry administration G Sriramulu were among those who attended the meeting. The release said the Chief Minister in the memorandum sought early sanction of the university and also set up a radiotherapy centre, a de-addiction centre, a 200-bed hospital for infectious diseases and a pharmaceutical park here. The Chief Minister thanked the

India, SL to launch ferry service between Kankesanthurai and Pondicherry

Sri Lanka and India will start a passenger ferry service next month between Kankesanthurai port in Jaffna district and Pondicherry, according to media reports. Ports, Shipping, and Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said arrangements were made to start the ferry service in mid-January next year, Colombo Page reported. The minister said the Indian government had extended consent for the service, Daily Mirror reported. "A large number of Indian citizens are engaged in business activities in the Jaffna Peninsula. With such engagement, the new service is expected to generate a large portion of foreign revenue. It will also be of immense convenience for Buddhist pilgrims to India," the minister said. The minister said that passenger transport services will also be started from south India to Trincomalee and Colombo in Sri Lanka. He pointed out that till now no firm conclusion has been reached about starting the ferry service between Thalaimannar and India. De Silva added

Rumblings in ruling NDA in Puducherry after CM Rangasawmy, BJP cross swords

BJP Puducherry state president, in a statement said that its pan-India policy was against alcohol and that the stance of the 12 BJP MLAs of the Puducherry Assembly was the same

Cyclone Mandous: Schools, colleges declare holiday in Puducherry, Karaikal

With the Cyclone 'Mandous' intensified into a major cyclonic storm, Puducherry has declared a two-day holiday for educational institutions across the territory

IMD predicts below normal rainfall in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry till Dec 8

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted a below normal rainfall in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for the next two weeks till December 8, officials said

Sri Lanka gets medicines from Puducherry for Tamil workers in hilly areas

Sri Lanka on Sunday received a consignment of medicines from the Government of Puducherry to be used for the Tamil workers in the hill plantation regions of the island nation's central province, according to the office of President Ranil Wickremesinghe. The consignment, which was coordinated by the trade union cum political party of the plantation Tamils of Indian-origin, Ceylon Workers Congress, was received by President Wickremesinghe. Speaking on the occasion, Wickremesinghe said that the government will appoint a committee to seek how best to integrate the Tamils of Hill Country origin further into the Sri Lankan Society. While some of the Tamils of Hill Country origin had integrated successfully into the Sri Lankan society, some have failed and measures would be taken to assist them to do so, he said. The President recalled the Sirimalwatte-Shastri Pact between the then Indian and Sri Lankan leaders under which some of the Indian-origin plantation Tamils was ...

Now, two-wheeler riders in Puducherry must compulsorily wear helmets

The Puducherry government has announced that motorists riding two-wheelers and travelling pillion should both compulsorily wear helmets as the Union Territory has seen a rise in fatal road accidents in recent past. Transport Commissioner A S Sivakumar said a notification has been issued making it compulsory for two-wheeler riders to put on helmet. In a press release on Saturday, he said those riding two-wheelers without wearing helmets and those sitting pillion without using helmets would be levied a fine of Rs 1,000 each for first time violations. The driving licences of defaulters would also be suspended for three months. Besides not wearing helmets, those found to be using mobile phones while riding the vehicles would also face penal action. It may be mentioned that helmet wearing has not been compulsory in Puducherry till now. Sivakumar said road accidents have been on the rise in Puducherry. He said 3,410 accidents occurred on the roads in the UT between 2019 and 2021. The ..

Adani Ports, Vedanta group co-bidders for Puducherry's Karaikal port

The Karaikal Port defaulted on Rs 2,960 crore loans and was taken up for insolvency proceedings in April this year by the Chennai bench of NCLT

Strike by electricity dept staff in Puducherry 'illegal,' says official

The Union Territory administration on Sunday declared as 'illegal' the ongoing strike by electricity department staff to protest the decision to privatise power distribution. In a statement, secretary, power department, T Arun said, "The strike is illegal under section 3 (q) of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and employees resorting to strike are liable for action as per rules". He said the period of strike will also be considered "a break in service". The secretary appealed to the staff to call off their agitation and return to their normal duties failing which "necessary action would be taken as per rules". Arun said the government had proposed to privatise power distribution "to increase efficiency and consumer satisfaction". He said "Section 133 of the Electricity Act, 2003, ensured all safeguards, that there would be no shortfall in the salary of employees and they would draw the monthly salary regularly as is being paid at present by the government". He said delegates of the

Puducherry reports 63 fresh Covid-19 cases, overall tally rises to 174,002

The union territory of Puducherry logged 63 new coronavirus cases during the last 24 hours pushing the overall tally to 1,74,002. The Puducherry region alone accounted for 33 of the 63 infections while Karaikal added 26 and Mahe and Yanam had two each, Director of Health G Sriramulu said in a release on Tuesday. The new cases were detected after the examination of 1,217 samples, he added. The union territory had reported 48 fresh infections on Monday. A 85-year-old woman succumbed to the infection in JIPMER, taking the death toll to 1,971. The number of active cases stood at 502 which included 15 patients undergoing treatment in hospitals while the remaining 487 were in home quarantine. As many as 88 persons recovered during the last 24 hours ending 10 AM Tuesday and the overall recoveries rose to 1,71,529. The Department of Health has so far examined 23,97,641 samples and found 20,32,074 out of them to be negative, Sriramulu said. The test positivity rate was 5.18 per cent whi

Amit Shah urges southern states to find solutions for river water sharing

Union Home Minister Amit Shah urged the southern states to explore joint solutions to issues related to sharing of river water

Puducherry records 47 fresh Covid-19 cases, tally reaches 172,000

Puducherry confirmed 47 fresh cases of coronavirus on Saturday, raising overall tally to 1,72,981. While Puducherry region alone witnessed 39 new cases, Karaikal reported five and Yanam three. Mahe an enclave of Puducherry in Kerala had zero new case of viral infection. The 47 fresh cases surfaced during examination of 871 samples, Director of Health G Sriramulu said in a release. He said the active cases were 278 which comprised 10 patients undergoing treatment in hospitals and the remaining 268 in home quarantine. As many as 62 patients recovered during last twenty-four hours and the overall recoveries were 1,70,734. There was no fresh fatality today in any of the four regions of Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam. The toll remained 1,969. Sriramulu said the Department of Health has tested so far 23,82,403 samples and found 20,17,599 to be negative. The test positivity rate was 5.40 percent while the fatality and recovery rates were 1.14 percent and 98.70 percent, ...

Puducherry Congress facing crisis amid infighting over allegiance

The Congress party in Puducherry is going through a crisis amid differences between the groups owing allegiance to former Chief Minister and former Minister and senior leader

Puducherry: Opposition accuses LG of running 'parallel government'

Opposition in Puducherry alleged that LG Tamilisai Soundararajan was running a "parallel government" in the Union Territory and asked Chief Minister N Rangaswamy to resign like Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

Former Puducherry CM, Congress cadres detained protesting inflation

Agitators said the imposition of GST on rice, milk and curd, the adoption of Agnipath military recruitment scheme and also lack of 'practical policies to guarantee employment' were highly condemnable

Puducherry reports 189 new Covid-19 cases, one death, toll reaches 1,964

A 59- year-old woman died of COVID-19 in Karaikal on Friday, raising the toll in the Union Territory to 1,964. The deceased had diabetes, hypertension and heart disease as co morbidity. As many as 189 fresh cases were reported in Puducherry during the last 24 hours pushing up the tally to 1,69,774. Puducherry region alone accounted for 149 new cases out of the total 189, followed by 30 in Karaikal, nine in Yanam and a sole case in Mahe region. The fresh cases in the Union Territory were detected after examination of 2,310 samples. Director of Health G Sriramulu said 215 patients recovered during last twenty-four hours and the overall recoveries stood at 1,66,577. The Health Department has examined so far 23,32,768 samples and found 19,73,721 out of them to be negative. Sriramulu noted that the test positivity rate was 8.18 percent while fatality and recovery rates were 1.16 percent and 98.12 percent respectively. The Health Department has administered so far 17,76,267 samples ..

Pondy witnesses surge in Covid cases; reports 165 infections in 24 hours

Puducherry witnessed a rise in number of daily COVID-19 cases with 165 fresh infections being registered on Tuesday, taking the overall caseload to 1,67,879.

Cyclonic circulation over North Odisha; rain likely in North India: IMD

Isolated to scattered rainfall is likely over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry & Karaikal during next 5 days