Palar comes alive
After nearly 20 years, the bone-dry river Palar came alive with abundant flow of water. Surplus water from the check dam constructed near Pullur panchayat at the Vellore-Andhra Pradesh border flowed into the river starting from the end of July.
It was a sight to behold for residents of Vellore as they witnessed water gushing into the river including in the city, flowing through its course. Its tributaries too had water flow. The flow in the river helped in recharging groundwater and also fed several tanks maintained by the Public Works Department.
CMC suspends admissions
In a major decision, the Christian Medical College suspended its admissions to under graduate and super specialty courses for 2017-2018 owing to the regulation imposing common counselling. The college administration was of the view that their system of counselling of candidates for selection should not be disturbed. Their petition against the common counselling was to be heard by the Supreme Court. The undergraduate course was run with one student, who was nominated by the Government of India and is the son of a martyr, while one candidate was admitted to higher specialty course.
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Commissioner in DVAC net
On August 9, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) arrested the top official of Vellore Corporation – its Commissioner T. Kumar on charges of taking bribe. He was caught red-handed taking bribe from a contractor. He demanded a bribe of ₹22,000 for releasing a cheque for paying salary for workers involved in mosquito-control measures. He reduced the bribe amount to ₹20,000. The DVAC personnel also seized unaccounted cash of ₹10.44 lakh and jewellery weighing 26 sovereigns from his office and residence.
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Parole after 26 years
One of the life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case A.G. Perarivalan was escorted from the Vellore Central Prison for Men on the night of August 24 after the State government granted him a 30-day parole. This was the first time he was granted parole since he was arrested in 1991. The government granted parole after several petitions to allow Perarivalan to visit his ailing father. He spent the next 60 days — the State government extended his parole by another 30 days — at his home in Jolarpet. In the first few weeks, his house witnessed a steady stream of visitors including political party leaders. He returned to the prison on October 24.
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Vellore’s weightlifter wins gold
Sathish Sivalingam, a weightlifter from Vellore’s Sathuvachari, lifted gold at the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships at Gold Coast, Australia. He won the gold in the 77 kg category, qualifying for this year’s Commonwealth Games. The weightlifter had bagged the gold medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games at Glasgow. He finished 11th in the Rio Olympics in 2016.
