The cattle-breeding station was handed over to the Agriculture department of Madras on September 1, 1924.

It was later reformed as a livestock research station when it was taken over by the Madras Civil Veterinary Department, for maintaining the purity of Indian milk breeds of cattle and to conduct basic research on animal breeding.

The farm was renamed as District Livestock farm in January 1970.

The sections functioning in it include longstable diary, progeny testing scheme, horse section, poultry section, chick hatchery and sheep and piggery section.

“The area of the farm is 1641 acres, divided into 46, the highest altitude from the sea level is 3015 feet. The minimum temperature is about 15 to 20 degree Celsius and maximum is 30 to 35 degree Celsius. The average rainfall is 840 millimetres, which is about 84 centimetres. There are 17 sections in this farm and this is one of the biggest farms in South Asia,” said Gnanaupakaram, Deputy Director of Livestock Farm.

The farm is known for the breeding of rare varieties of cows and bulls like the one of Sindhi bulls. Different breeds of cows such as Jersey, Friesian, Cross-bred Friesian, Cross-bred Jersey and Kangayam are also reared in the farm.

The farm has been supplying cattle, both infant and adult, to various parts of the country and states.

Besides trading cattle and cattle produce, the farm also provides training to various doctors, inspectors and even farmers on livestock maintenance.

The landscape and the climatic conditions of the region also play an important role in the productivity of the farm.

The farm still follows traditional methods of breeding and preservation. (ANI)

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned Rs. 210 crore for construction of buildings in 303 government schools in the State, School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu has said.

Inaugurating the School Reforms Conference here on Wednesday, Mr. Thennarasu said that 200 schools would be upgraded very soon. He said that 24 schools in Krishnagiri would be given priority.

To improve basic infrastructure, each of the schools would be given Rs. 61 lakh, he said.

Apart from this, 831 schools were upgraded through Sarva Siksha Abhiyan scheme.

This included 40 schools in Krishnagiri. Besides this, five new primary schools were established through panchayat unions this year, Mr. Thennarasu said.

The Union Government has decided to upgrade 1,000 primary schools in the State. With aim to improve the quality of education, all the High and Higher Secondary schools in the State would be linked with broadband connectivity.

Mr. Thennarasu said that the vacant teacher posts in the district would be filled soon. He gave necessary instructions to the officials in this regard.

The Minister appreciated the efforts of the headmasters, teachers and Parent Teachers Associations of the government schools in Krishnagiri that had mobilised assets worth Rs. 19 crore. Mr. Thennarasu said the aim of conducting Education Reforms Conference in 10 districts was to bridge the gap between the community, teachers and officials.

Later, Mr. Thennarasu honoured the philanthropists, who had contributed for the government schools in the district.

Collector V.K Shanmugam presided over the conference. School Education Secretary M. Kutralingam and School Education Director P. Perumalsamy were among those who participated.

M. Baskaran, Chief Education Officer, read the conference report.

K. Devarajan, Director, Primary Education proposed a vote of thanks.

Students were asked to develop the habit of reading books from a young age. With a view to inculcate reading habit, the government was running libraries all over the State. Students should make use of the concession offered to them for joining the library as member.

As many as 4.5 lakh students were enrolled as members of the public libraries in the State. A target had been set to enrol another 50,000 students from Krishnagiri district within a month.

Under the ‘Namakku Namae Thittam’, 21 branch libraries in the district were provided with computer. The central library in Krishnagiri has an IAS and IPS study centre with browsing facility. Students should make use of the libraries for improving their general knowledge, Mr. Shanmugam added.

J. Karthikeyan, District Library Officer (in charge), welcomed the gathering. Central Librarian T. Chinnathambi proposed a vote of thanks.

K. Ramkumar from Jekkappan Nagar gave away cheque for Rs. 1000 to the Collector to become a patron at the function.

Competitions
Presiding over the National Library Week celebration in Dharmapuri, Collector P. Amutha urged the people to develop reading habit. She urged the people to read at least one book daily and take part in competitions conducted in the libraries.

Later, she had inaugurated a children’s section in the Central Library.

To mark the library week, an awareness programme for students would be conducted. Panchayat Union level competitions for students from Std. IX to Plus Two would be conducted on January 8 and district level competitions on January 22.

The winners would be allowed to take part in the State-level competitions on January 29. P. Rajendran, District Library Officer (in charge), welcomed the gathering.

Tamil Nadu Government Employees Association has asked the Government to withdraw immediately the outsourcing of work to private agencies and to fill up through employment exchanges and government recruitment agencies the various posts lying vacant in government offices.

Members of the association, speaking at a protest held near the New Bus Stand in Krishnagiri on Thursday, also sought the continuation of old pension scheme and regularisation of noon meal workers, anganwadi employees, panchayat assistants, clerks at town panchayats , rural librarians etc.

Their other demands included implementation of medical insurance scheme for government employees through public sector insurance companies and correction of the anomalies in the new pay structure for technical employees.

About 75 members of TNGEA, including 25 women, participated in the protest.

Staff Reporter

KRISHNAGIRI: Students who had come to take part in a sports event were denied entry at the district sports stadium here on Wednesday.

The students had to wait under the scorching sunlight only to be informed by official that the event had been cancelled because All India Congress Committee General Secretary and MP Rahul Gandhi would be attending a function at the stadium.

Officials blamed

The students blamed the officials for not informing them in advance about the cancellation.

District Sports Officer (In charge) Kriba told The Hindu that they had announced the postponement of the events to Saturday. He blamed the security officials, who had come from New Delhi, for not informing them after taking over control of the stadium.

The prize distribution function was also cancelled.

The SETC bus attached by the Krishnagiri Additional District Court

KRISHNAGIRI:

An ultra deluxe bus belonging to the State Express Transport Corporation was attached by the Krishnagiri Additional District Court on Friday for failure to give compensation to an accident victim.

R. Natarajan of Keveripattinam travelled in a SETC bus from Ambur to Krishnagiri on Octorber 30, 2000 along with wife N. Rathinammal, son N. Raja and daughter N. Vijayalakshmi. The bus overturned near Pallamedu near Natrampalli. Natarajan died on the spot.

As the kin of the deceased did not get any compensation from the corporation, they filed a petition in the Additional District Court in Krishnagiri demanding Rs. 10 lakh as compensation. After hearing the case, the Additional District Judge ordered the SETC to pay a compensation of Rs. 3.40 lakh.

After waiting for seven years, the petitioners filed an execution petition on October 20, 2008. Additional District Judge S. Somasekaran ordered the court authorities to attach a SETC bus on July 24, 2009. On the basis of the verdict, the court authorities attached an ultra-deluxe bus belonging to SETC at the Krishnagiri bus stand which was on its way to Bangalore from Chennai.

Now, SETC has to pay the petitioner Rs. 6,18,682 with interest.

The Judge ordered the aggrieved party to keep the bus in their custody till September 4. N. Raja, son of the deceased, took the bus to Kaveripattinam, near Krishnagiri, on Friday evening.

More than 800 BSNL employees are on strike from Wednesday for 48 hours in Dharmapuri Telecom Circle consisting Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts.

Grade C and D staff in Customer Care Offices, technical employees and field staff are taking part in the strike. The strike call was given by the United Forum of BSNL unions barring NFTE and FNTO on July 27.

About 456 Grade C and D staff and 400 contract employees are working in the Dharmapuri Telecom Circle. Of this, 10 per cent of employees belonging to NFTE and FNTO are not taking part in the strike. A demonstration was staged in front of the Dharmapuri Telecom Circle Office. M. Narayanan, Assistant State Secretary, BSNL Employees Union, led the agitation. S. Alagirisamy, District Secretary, and about 150 employees including 50 women participated.

The employees were demanding automatic pay revision every five years as per the announcement of the Prime Minister, fitment benefits to employees and extension of all benefits to the contract labourers.

For this purpose, BSNL sim cards were given to the officials for use in their personal mobiles from August 15 till the end of the poll on August 18.

All the polling officials were instructed to go to their designated polling stations and send trial SMS to the district-level polling officials.

Returning Officer A. Shanmugasundaram directed the polling officials to reach the allocated polling booths on August 17. Immediately after reaching the polling stations, they have to send three SMSs to 54367: first one stating that the sim card is active, second one regarding receipt of the polling materials and the third regarding attendance of the polling officials.

Likewise, on the polling day, before the actual start of the polls, officials should send messages regarding the arrival of number of agents, micro-observers and mock polling. Immediately after starting the actual polls, one message should be sent every one hour up to 3 p.m. and one message every half-an-hour and at the end of the polls and finally about the movement of polling machines to the counting centres.

Laptop training to the teachers who were selected to operate on the polling day was postponed to August 15 at 4 p.m.

A press release said that the training programme had been postponed from August 11 to August 15. As per the revised schedule, the training would be conducted at Murugar Mahal at Pazhayapettai in Krishnagiri at 4 p.m. on August 15. Teachers who have received letters from the District Election Officer should attend the training programme without fail, the release added.

Over 60 employees staged a demonstration in front of Indian Bank Regional Office in Dharmapuri on Friday. Ramanathan, Regional Secretary, AIBOC; N. Ramamurthy, District Secretary AIBEA; P.S. Satyanarayana, Assistant Secretary, BEFI; S. Hari Rao, Executive Committee member, BEFI; participated. P. Dilli Babu, MLA, spoke.Ten members of All India Insurance Employees Union staged a demonstration in front of LIC office in Dharmapuri on Friday to show solidarity to the striking bank staff.

Children carrying drinking water on bicycles from a lake to Thogarapalli Adi Dravidar Colony in Bargur union in Krishnagiri district on Monday. (right) The redundant water tank with borewell, hand pump and drinking water pipes without taps at the colony. —

KRISHNAGIRI:

The Adi Dravidar cColony at Thogarapalli in Bargur Assembly constituency is facing acute water scarcity round-the-year and it becomes worse during summer, says Kala Gunasekaran, unit secretary, All India Democratic Women’s Association, on Monday.

She told ‘The Hindu’ that the colony lacks basic facilities such as drinking water, street lights, sanitation and clean environment. Though there are nine borewells in and around Thogarapalli panchayat, water is being drawn only from two borewells to three overhead tanks in the village.

The street taps provided in the colony were closed by the authorities after the women blocked the road last year. Later, they provided 10 pipes without taps on the Pochampalli-Thogarapalli road in unclean surroundings.

Water supplied through these pipes was not enough for the 100-odd families residing in the colony. There are 44 group houses in the colony. School students are forced by the parents to bring water from a distance. There is no common sanitary facility for the colony. A common rest room for women built under the MLA Local Area Development at a cost of Rs. 2 lakh at the beginning of the village lies unused.

The village panchayat has no mechanism to clean the streets. Wastes such as polythene bags and eatables lie strewn all over the village. Women complained that though a sweeper was appointed to clean the village, she is yet to reach the village.

Ravanan, a CPI (M) activist said, “when abundant water is available in the borewell dug by private parties, why has borewell dug by the panchayat gone dry.”