Udhagamandalam: A day after a dog was killed by a black leopard in Emagundu Colony near Alakkarai village in Kattabettu range of forest, a team compri.
Coimbatore: The botanical garden on the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) campus, which was closed for renovation work two years ago, is now open to the public.
The 113-year-old garden, on Maruthamalai Road, is a popular tourist attraction. Renovation work was carried out to give the garden a contemporary touch, while retaining its heritage, educational, scientific and recreational values, a statement from the university said. “We have increased plant diversity. There are rare species and a garden maze.”
The garden now has as many as 80 species of flowering and foliage trees, climbers and creepers, shrubs, flowering annuals, cut flowers, cacti and succulents, ferns, palms and lawn grasses and over 400 species of ornamental plants. All plants have been labelled using QR code to educate the public.
They were granted the bail on Tuesday night and released from Avinashi sub-jail on Wednesday.
The issue came to light after a member of a non-governmental organization took video of the two beating up the 18-year-old female elephant, which was chained to a tree, with canes and circulated the same on social media.
After the video went viral, Mettupalayam forest range officer Palaniraja and team had arrested the mahout and his assistant on February 21. They were subsequently remanded in judicial custody and lodged in Avinashi sub-jail.
The two had moved the Mettupalayam judicial magistrate court seeking bail a few days ago. The court granted them bail on Tuesday night and directed them to appear before the office of Mettupalayam ranger to put their signature every day morning for 15 days.
Coimbatore: Two men were arrested with as many idols near the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) on Tuesday night.
The Race Course (crime) police said the two, identified as G Murugan alias Gundu Murugan, 36, of Erimedu at Puliyakulam, and K Mahesh, 33, of Peraiyur in Madurai district, were seen roaming around Balaji Nagar near Avarampalayam in a suspicious manner on Tuesday night.
“Local residents followed the duo, who dug out two amman idols, which were made of metals, from a vacant land, kept them in a gunny bag and headed towards the CMCH on a motorcycle. The residents stopped them, beat them up severely and recovered the idols from them,” a police officer said.
Coimbatore: By announcing a 10.5% quota within a quota for vanniyars, and getting the Centre to club together seven scheduled castes into one and calling them devendrakula vellalar, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami did what his predecessors didn’t.
Though the two demands were decades old, they were never considered by J Jayalalithaa or by M Karunanidhi because they would unsettle the caste dynamics electorally. EPS has now changed the caste dynamics and could reap the benefits in the poll. Some in the AIADMK term it a masterstroke by EPS to consolidate certain caste groups. But giving in to the demands of devendrakula vellalars and vanniyars comes with the risk of antagonizing the AIADMK’s traditional vote banks.