Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91
Vol. XXVI No. 21, February 16-28, 2017
Archives: Vol. XXVI No. 21, February 16-28, 2017
The blackcoast……choking with oil
by Seetha Gopalakrishnan
Disaster struck two nautical miles off Ennore’s Kamarajar port just before dawn on January 28 when two cargo ships – LPG-filled BW Maple bearing the flag of the UK’s Isle of Man and MT Dawn Kanchipuram loaded to the brim with petroleum oil and lubricants collided. The LPG tanker suffered a major dent and Dawn Kanchipuram was left with two holes that torn through it. Pregnant with oil and lubricants, the cargo ship released a considerable amount of the stored oil into the surrounding sea.
The Kamarajar Port Limited (KPL) downplayed the issue initially but the aftermath was hard to be concealed from the public eye. Even as the Port authorities were denying the damage done to the environment, fishermen spotted slick floating on the water surface while a good amount of dense oil had begun to beach by the next day. The Indian Coast Guard sprang into action, removing tonnes of thick oil sludge from the beaches around Ennore. Armed with buckets and mugs, the -local administration and volunteers pitched in and helped clean up the coast around Ennore. Thanks to the sluggish response of the administration, by the third day, the spill had already travelled on the waves for over 30 km south of the spill site leaving the port authorities and the coast guard neck deep in muck. (Editor’s Note: As we go to print, it is reported that remnants of the spill have reached Mamallapuram.)
Keeping heritage in the hands of Government
by The Editor
It has taken the Government of Tamil Nadu four years to get going on the Heritage Act that it passed. At long last, a Heritage Conservation Commission (HCC) was formed – the second of its kind and on the fate of the first there is no clarity. The composition of the proposed new HCC is at present disappointingly full of Government representatives and nominees from State institutions and undertakings. And not surprisingly,
Disappearing dwellings
Disappearing Dwellings was an exhibition of -water colours that was held from February 14-19, 2017. Explaining his theme, the -artist, K. Vikram Varghese, wrote in his invitation:
Chennai Newsreel
By T.K. Srinivasa Chari
A bookshop, writers, and a café
It would seem that the Biblical saying ‘Man shall not live by bread alone’ motivated two of the city’s very own business enterprises to come up with a recipe called the Writer’s Café. Opened before three months ago, the coffeehouse meets bookstore is a collaboration -between restaurateur M. Maha-devan better known as ‘Hot Breads’ Mahadevan, and the iconic 172 years old bookstore Higginbothams.
Art in the park
by Vincent D’Souza
Illustrator and social activist Nithya Balaji liked what she had bought at Art Mart on a Sunday afternoon. A water colour of a temple in South Tamil Nadu.
She had stopped at one of the 69 stalls put up by artists taking part in this annual event held recently at Nageswara Rao Park in Luz. And she was impressed with the young artist from Kumbakonam.
