By Umaima Shafiq
Communist leader dies aged 95
Senior communist leader and women’s rights activist Parvathi Krishnan,95, died of age related illness at her residence in Coimbatore last week. She was living with two helpers. Her late husband N K Krishnan was also an active trade unionist. Her daughter is a doctor living in the US.
Parvathi Krishnan was a staunch advocate of the trade union movement and her efforts won many reforms for textile mill workers of Coimbatore and tea plantation employees of Valparai. She won the Lok Sabha election twice on the Communist party ticket in 1957 and 1977.
Her siblings were equally prominent. Her late brothers include P P Kumaramangalam who was the army chief and federal ministers Mohan Kumaramangalam and Rangarajan Kumaramangalam. Her father P Subbarayan was the chief minister of the Madras Presidency (present day Tamil Nadu).
Colleagues and party workers paid rich tributes to her.
Secretariat reopened as hospital
Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa last week inaugurated a multi-specialty hospital which was initially meant to be the new secretariat building at Omandurar estate on Anna Salai in Chennai.
Jayalalithaa had refused to use the 1mn sq ft facility built by the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government as the secretariat citing lack of space, security problems and other discrepancies.
She continued to work from the old secretariat at Fort St George. Her decision to convert the new secretariat into a hospital met with many legal hurdles. But it was finally opened last week.
The hospital offers cardiology, neurology, vascular surgery, reconstructive micro surgery, surgical oncology besides units for blood transfusion, post-operative care, intensive care and radio diagnosis.
Ancient coins found in Cuddalore
Police are on the lookout for Periannan, a landowner who discovered a pot of ancient gold coins while digging to build a house at Thittakudi in coastal Cuddalore district last week.
Periannan and his relative Murugan reportedly shared the coins and did not inform the district administration as per Indian law. However their neighbours heard of the incident and informed the authorities. Some of the coins were recovered from Murugan. Mumismatic experts will date and value the coins after getting the rest of the haul.
Ancient coins automatically become the property of the Indian government and are displayed in museums.
Four die during DMK meeting
Four people died during a district level two-day conference of the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party at Tiruchi last week.
The dead included three DMK men from Salem, Karur and Dharmapuri districts. The body of the fourth, a 60-year-old woman, was found while workers were cleaning the venue after the conference. Police located her address through her mobile phone.
Doctors said all four had died of heart attack. The conference brought Tiruchi to a standstill, with rallies, political meetings, road blocks and heavy police security for the visitors including party president M Karunanidhi.
College adopts solar power
The heritage Queen Mary’s college in Chennai plans to go solar inside its campus to mark its centenary this year.
The college will begin by installing 15 solar street lights and later light its administrative buildings. The project will be completed in two years, said a college communiqué.
