If you were in the habit of taking your pet dog along on your morning/evening walk along the Promenade Beach premises, you might have to find another spot to unwind or go alone.
The Puducherry Municipality, which had launched a beach cleaning drive on Saturday, announced a ban on pet dogs in the area.
If you absolutely must take your dog with you to the beach, it can only be between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. or after 10 p.m., and that too provided the dog has a valid municipality licence.
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The decision followed complaints from beach users about the nuisance of stray dogs as well as pet dogs brought into the zone by walkers. Nasty fights between the stray animals and pets have also created a nuisance for walkers.
One of the primary reasons for the beach turning a walker’s delight has been the vehicular ban after 6 p.m.
Later, hawkers were relocated from the area and now we have the ban on pet dogs. Good news, if you are a walker. But, if you are one of those who tagged along your pet Boxer or Lab to the beach, tough luck!
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Unprepared for celebration
The achievement of a student of a Government school who had notched the top rank in the SSLC examinations was not known to the school authorities until reporters broke the news.
The student had secured 491 out of 500 marks emerging topper among Government schools in the Union Territory.
The staff members and teachers in the school were not prepared to accept the information.
With the reporters insisting for meeting the student the staff members immediately contacted the principal who in turn asked the student to come to school for an interview.
Unaware
In another instance, students from the Union Territory who made it to the State (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry) rank list in the differently-abled categories also did not know about their achievements till media persons came searching for them. In fact, when reporters reached the Shri Patcheappane School for hearing-impaired in Thengaithittu, they found it locked. At St. Antony’s Government Aided High School too, the school management was not aware about the performance of its student in the visually-impaired category. This was the first time that Tamil Nadu had announced ranks for visually and hearing-impaired students and schools here did not seem aware about it. Finally though, most of the students were able to make it to the schools and have their stories featured in media reports. This experience will perhaps make the schools more alert next year around when the results are due.
Wall of contention
The ruling party MLA and Chief Whip G. Nehru’s protest against police department left political circles and journalists awestruck.
Many questions remain unanswered in the episode. Normally such acts are viewed seriously for their potential to demoralise the police force.
On Friday, Mr. Nehru accompanied by his supporters locked the main gates of the CID office and staged a sit-in to register their protest against the police. He alleged that the police constructed a wall over irrigation canal and in spite of some specific order from PWD to remove it, the police had been dilly-dallying.
While he was observing the protest, some overenthusiastic supporters broke concrete wall of office with iron crow bar. The mob attempted to break the cordon of the police and an altercation followed.
In the melee, a star-studded badge of a sub-inspector was ripped away and an inspector of police lost his cap.
Senior police officials rushed to the spot and pacified the activists. Interestingly, the Public Works Department had issued notice to the police to remove the wall.
Now, two days have passed since the incident occurred, yet no case has been opened against anyone.
M. Dinesh Varma,
S. Prasad, Annie Philip and R. Sivaraman