Tiruchi upstages Chennai
Amongst cities with a population upwards of 4 million, Chennai is the second most livable city in the country. Socially and physically, it was ranked second and third amongst its peers, while it was found wanting in institutional and economic sub-indices. The city’s health services were ranked best amongst metros and its transportation and mobility service was third-best in the country. This was the finding in a survey carried out by the Housing Ministry which recently assessed ease of living amongst 111 Indian cities. Pune was declared the best city to live in, followed by Navi Mumbai and Greater Mumbai while Rampur of UP was found to be the worst. Chennai ranked fourteenth, while Tiruchi ranked twelfth.
Sathyam goes. Popcorn & cold coffee stays
The iconic Sathyam Cinema which bucked trends to not just stay afloat but change as well, is now changing hands. PVR Ltd is taking a whopping 71.6 per cent stake in Chennai’s darling theatre. The purchase consideration is Rs 850 crore, partly by cash and partly in stock.
With that PVR becomes the seventh-largest multiplex chain in the world! It will now have 706 screens covering 60 cities. Explaining the reason for the sale, CEO Kiran Reddy said: “the more the cinema business turned profitable, the more we ended up spending, which put pressure on our cash flows. I do not like the idea of borrowing more money than our cash flows can generate. I’m not comfortable with the idea of going public and cashing in on our brand value either.” He also assured his customers that Sathyam’s popular popcorn and cold coffee would remain in its counters!
Clean Tambaram and Anakaputhur
In a bid to successfully manage waste, Tambaram and Anakaputhur municipalities have agreed to segregate waste at source and give away the plastics to Tamil Nadu Cements Corporation Limited on a weekly basis. TANCEM will use the plastic waste and confiscated plastics as raw material for their Ariyalur’s cement factory. A ten-year agreement has been inked , making the existing waste management system more robust by centralising disposal. About 7-8 tonnes of plastic are being disposed every week. The municipalities also facilitate composting of food, vegetable, kitchen and garden waste and encourages hotels and commercial establishments to set up bio-gas plants for managing their wet waste.
Three year old gets in Guinness
Even as Indian archers are globally becoming a force to reckon with, P Sanjana, a three year old from Chennai, sought to create Guinness World Record by shooting 1111 arrows at a 8-metre target. The kindergarten wonder took three and half hours to accomplish the feat. The attempt was overseen by G Shankar, a representative of the South Asia Archery Association. Father Premnath who works at a government hospital and mother Swetha, a housewife, are ecstatic about their daughter’s accomplishment and excited about Sanjana’s eventual prospects to bag an Olympic Gold! She is being coached by Shihan Hussaini, who is a doyen of multiple art forms including Karate, Archery, and Sculpting. Hussaini currently heads The Archery Association of Tamilnadu (TAAT).
