Talk of the town

AFTER ALL the hype about shifting to a Poes Garden residence, the Chief Minister, Mr. O. Panneerselvam, is now likely to stay at his Greenways Road home. And that is another indication of the ``interim nature'' of his tenure.

Although the PWD began readying a house next to that of the AIADM general secretary, Ms. Jayalalithaa, things have now been put on hold. Reason? Ms. Jayalalithaa thinks she can assume the mantle of chief ministership sooner than later.

Now, any change of address for Mr. Panneerselvam is likely only after the verdict in the TANSI and Pleasant Stay hotel cases. If she is acquitted, then Ms. Jayalalithaa would only have to wait for the Andipatti by-election to become MLA and Chief Minister. AIADMcircles believe this could happen within the next month or so.

Apparently, the reasoning is that there is no need for Mr. Panneerselvam to shift residence if things are going to move quickly. But what if she is convicted?

If Ms. Jayalalithaa has to go to jail, then it hardly matters whether Mr. Panneerselvam is at Greenways Road or at Poes Garden.

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PERHAPS, HE is one among the police officers who were much talked about during the previous DMrule.

Mr. P. Sivanandi, who was the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Annanagar in the DMregime, was shifted out of the city to the TSP battalion, Kovaipudur.

Later as another officer was posted there, he remained without a posting. The State Government has now issued orders posting him to the TSP battalion, Kovaipudur again. But, the joke in police circles is that posting of an officer to a battalion is considered a ``peaceful job'' nowadays.

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THE STAND off between the State and Union Education departments seems to be continuing.

Three months ago, the State Education Minister, Mr. M. Thambidurai, was involved in a slanging match with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) over the State being overlooked in the matter of approval of new engineering colleges.

The Council defended some of its actions and tried to blame the State administration for lacunae in engineering education.

Now here is the latest bout. Recently, university heads and educational administrators discussed the issue of converting Anna University into an affiliating technical University wherein the Minister apparently spoke about the delay in getting the Central Government's nod for the Anna University (Amendment) Bill.

He reportedly felt that the Union Government ``was playing politics in delaying the Presidential assent,'' when normally such Bills get through in a few days. Of course, academics around could hardly venture to make a remark.

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IN THESE days of VVIPs getting e-mail threats, the suggestion from well-meaning quarters is that policemen need to go through training programmes on cyber crime. There should also be a cyber cell in the State Police department. The CBI has got one such unit. Now, comes the offer of a city-based private company, to help the Government, particularly the police department, in preparing them to tackle cyber crime.

The company, with its headquarters in Chennai and locations in countries including the U.K. and Australia, is willing to offer the complete range of services to Governmental departments to assist them face the challenges of ``all potential cyber threats''. The company, eAlcatraz Consulting, has proposed for the police department to conduct training programmes on cyber crime which will also address issues concerning forensics.

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ONE OF the latest singers of Tamil film media, Shrinivas, will celebrate his birthday among music lovers on Wednesday, if the plan of the organisers materialises. He will be at the newly- inaugurated Landmark and Music World, both at Spencer's Plaza, along with his team-mates of ``Sangeetham Santhosham'', a Tamil Ghazal album that was recently launched. Among those who are scheduled to be present are SPB, Ananthanarayanan, Sujatha, Kalpana and of course, MSV, who played the key role in the album venture of Music Today. So, at Spencer's Plaza, It will not just be a meeting. it will be colourful too.

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ON WEDNESDAY evening, it will be children's evening at Kamaraj Hall. They will perform a light music programme, featuring popular tunes composed by A.R. Rahman and Ilayaraja. The children, under the banner of Sruthilaya, will play the tunes without using hi-tech instruments. One of the objectives is to give exposure to instrumentalists, who, in the opinion of Sruthilaya, do not get as much attention as vocalists. The veteran musician, Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, and the film director, Mr. K.S. Ravi Kumar, are expected to witness the children' concert.

By K.T. Sangameswaran,

K. Ramachandran and T. Ramakrishnan

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Section  : Southern States
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