TN this Week: Nadda Claims ‘95% of AIIMS Work Done,’ MPs Expose Truth

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on September 22 urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make changes to the draft Indian Ports Bill, 2022. He said the Bill is centralising the administration of minor ports, which are currently administered by the state governments.

A resolution seeking the unanimous selection of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as the president of the party was passed by the general council of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) on September 19.

Amidst the ongoing vigilance raids on former AIADMK Ministers, the party's interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami gave a courtesy call on Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the national capital on September 20.

Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palainivel Thiaga Rajan on September 22 said the state has performed exceedingly well and that the estimated Rs 7,000 crore revenue deficit for this year will further reduce.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MLA SR Raja was booked by Tambaram City Police on September 21 on charges of trespassing and criminal intimidation. A complaint was filed by an executive of an auto ancillary company in Singaperumal Koil, an industrial hub 40 km off Chennai.

Hit by the economic crisis in their country, 12 more Sri Lankan nationals arrived in Rameshwaram on September 20.

A shopkeeper and another man were arrested in Tenkasi district of Tamil Nadu on September 17 after the former asked a few Scheduled Caste children to not visit the shop and discriminated against them.

Adding to the suicide cases by high school students, a class XII girl was found dead in her hostel toilet in Thoothukudi on September 20.

A government school principal in Rameswaram caused a stir by objecting to a girl student wearing a hijab. This is in continuation of educational institutions asserting 'uniformity' in students' attire.

Two journalists working for Tamil magazine Nakkeeran were brutally attacked when they visited the Kallakurichi school to collect information regarding the recent controversy over a class XII student’s suicide.

The state archaeology department on September 22 unearthed more than 2,000-year-old artefacts from the Vembakottai archaeological excavation site in Virudhunagar district. Also, a new array of antiquities were excavated at Keezhadi and its cluster sites in the Sivaganga district.

NewsClick brings you a round-up of the happenings this week in Tamil Nadu.

NADDA'S FALSE CLAIMS

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda was in Madurai on September 22 during his two-day visit to Tamil Nadu, when he made a verifiably false claim: that the work on AIIMS Madurai was 95% complete.

Congress MP Manickam and CPI(M) MP Su Venkatesan visited the site the next day and shared visuals claiming that the building of the hospital “could not be found”.

ROW OVER DMK MP’S SPEECH

DMK deputy general secretary and MP A Raja drew the ire of right-wing groups with his words “You are a Shudra till you remain a Hindu. You are the son of a prostitute till you remain as Shudra…” The saffron party accused him of being anti-Hindu and spewing hatred.

Hindu Munnani called for a bandh in the Nilgiris district on September 20 condemning Raja’s remarks, which was well received.

BJP's Coimbatore district chief Uttama Ramasamy was arrested by the city police for threatening the MP.

The Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP has called for protest marches on September 26 condemning the words of Raja.

11 PFI WORKERS ARRESTED

The central security agencies led by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on September 22 raided the Popular Front of India (PFI) Tamil Nadu headquarters in Chennai and the residences of its office bearers across the state. 11 workers of the Islamist group were arrested over terror charges.

In the backdrop of the arrests, unidentified miscreants vandalised cars and auto rickshaws belonging to BJP and Hindu Munnani functionaries in Coimbatore and petrol bombs were hurled at the residence of an RSS functionary in Chennai outskirts on September 23 and 24 respectively.

MEASURES TO CONTROL FLU SPREAD

On September 20, Tamil Nadu had 368 H1N1 active influenza cases.

To bring them under control, the state government organised fever camps at 1,000 locations from September 21. Read more

PROTESTS & STRUGGLES

POWERLOOM SECTOR STRIKE

The power loom weavers' strike against the tariff hike was called off on its eighth day on September 23. Almost 1.5 lakh power looms were kept shut causing large losses to the sector.

LAWYERS CONDEMN ATTACKS ON THEM

More than 100 lawyers in Chengalpattu on September 20 protested against the attacks on their community and demanded stringent laws to protect them.

Repeated attacks on lawyers were reported in Tirupur and Thittakudi areas.

SWIGGY DELIVERY WORKERS PROTEST

Swiggy’s increased working hours without extra incentives in Chennai have triggered spontaneous protests among its delivery partners. Read more

Meanwhile, Swiggy’s statement responding to the protests claimed “There are no changes to how much Swiggy’s delivery executives earn or how long they work”.

IT UNION SAYS TCS BACKING ACCUSED

The Union of IT and ITES Employees (UNITE), in its statement, alleged that the IT industry giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has shown bias toward the accused of sexual harassment in the workplace case. Read more

SETTLEMENT FOR FORD WORKERS

Auto company Ford, which shut shop in India in July 2022, issued details regarding its final settlement with the Chennai Plant workers union.

The company revised the settlement to an average equivalent of 140 days of gross wages per completed year of service and an additional one-time lump sum of Rs 1,50,000.