Milestone of India - Stamp, coin to mark Big Temple millennium. (Tamilnadu - India.)

THANJAVUR: The curtains came down on the five-day-long millennium celebration of the Big Temple here on Sunday with Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi making a slew of announcements and the release of a special postal stamp and a five- rupee coin.

At a function held at the Armed Reserve Police training grounds here, the Chief Minister said that a paddy variety would be named as Rajarajan 1000.

A number of infrastructure development schemes for Thanjavur would be taken up, including improvement of roads, widening of the Irwin Bridge and creation of wings in the Thanjavur Medical College-Hospital for trauma care and cancer treatment. Referring to the State government's sanction of Rs. 25 crore for the schemes, Mr Karunanidhi said the Union government had also announced the sanction of Rs. 25 crore but the State government was yet to receive the amount. He wanted Union Ministers G.K. Vasan and V. Narayanaswamy to ensure that the funds were released.

Union Minister for Communications A. Raja handed over the first copy of the new stamp to Mr Vasan. Union Minister of State for Finance S.S. Palanimanickam presented the inaugural coin to Mr Narayanaswamy.

Praising the greatness of the Chola emperor, Mr Karunanidhi said the administration of the emperor was famous for its elaborate system of land measurement and taxation. The proceeds collected through taxes were used for the welfare of people The Chief Minister presented 1,000 coins to Padma Subrahmanyam for the dance programme organised at the Big Temple on Saturday in which she and 1,000 dancers participated.

Milestone of India - PSU BPCL to diversify into Gas, Power.

MUMBAI: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has chalked out a five-year strategy to diversify its business into other core areas like gas, exploration and production, power generation, increasing its market share and refining capacity, a top company official said.

“With hydrocarbon as our core business, we are aware of the challenges the company is going to face down the line and after an internal exercise, we decided to diversify our business into other areas,” Chairman and Managing Director S. Radhakrishnan told reporters here on Saturday.

As a part of this five-year plan, the company has proposed to make foray into some specific power segments with an investment ranging between Rs.600 crore and Rs.1,000 crore with a view to generating 500 MW, he said.

The locations and the fuel medium would be decided later, based on how economical the fuel will be, and most of the power plants would be joint ventures, Mr. Radhakrishnan said.

BPCL is one of the serious players in the city gas segment, taking into account that CNG is taking away some parts of its LPG and retail fuel business, and the company has tied up with many others for city gas distribution and is expected to bag distribution rights in 10-15 cities, he said.

He said there was pressure on the company to diversify into gas due to several reasons, including the emission norms set by the courts and as fuel gas is cheaper than others.

Refining capacity addition is another major area included in the plan with a view to increasing it by 50 per cent from 30.5 million tonnes to 45 million tonnes annually following the launch of Bina refinery and capacity addition in Kochi, he said.

There was no decision on the initial public offer of the Bina Refinery, he said, in response to a query.

The company has no immediate plan to re-locate its Mumbai refinery, as it is not easy to create the 12-million tonne capacity and infrastructure.

But an octroi of $2.3 a barrel made this refinery uneconomical and the company was discussing the issue with the BMC and State Government, he said.

In the E&P business, the company owns 26 blocks in Mozambique and Brazil and production from these blocks is expected to start in 2013. The company has planned to invest Rs.7,500 crore in its E&P business with Rs.3,000 crore as equity.

According to Mr. Radhakrishnan, BPCL will focus on buying blocks in the last stages of exploration so that they will turn in to revenue-making soon.

Latin America, East Africa and Australasia with Indonesia were the major geographies that the company was eyeing to acquire E&P blocks, D. Rajkumar, Managing Director and CEO of Bharat Petro Resources, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BPCL to handle E&P business, said.

BPCL had earmarked Rs.800-1,000 crore for new projects, including new blocks, he said. — PTI

Milestone of India - Delicate surgery performed. (Andhrapradesh - India.)

VISAKHAPATNAM: A team of doctors of Railway Hospital here performed a difficult and rare surgery, in these parts of the State, on a 20-year-old female patient for removing a cystic lesion in distal right radius (forearm). Wife of a Railway employee came to hospital with complaints of painful swelling in Right fore-arm and over a period of six months it progressively increased in size. An X-ray showed cystic lesion in distal Right Radius.

Fibular graft

A fibular graft was harvested from right leg after the tumour was removed with wide excision. The reconstruction using the Fibular Graft was done as that was most proven method ending recurrence.

The operation was performed under the guidance of East Coast Railway Chief Medical Superintendent D. Panigrahy, and the team comprised visiting specialist A. Gopikrishna, Sr. Divisional Medical Officer (surgery) K.P.S. Kasipati, and DMO (anesthesia) Mahash Kumar, Divisional Medical Officer (Anesthesia).

MAY LORD VENKATESHWARA BLESS HER SPEEDY RECOVERY.

Milestone of India Dancer from Kearala claims world record. (Kerala - India.)

Thrissur: Mohiniyattom exponent Kalamandalam Hemalatha on Saturday claimed to have created a world record by staging a marathon dance show for more than 108 hours.

She will submit to the Guinness World Records an application for the longest dance show record.

A deafening cheer went up from the crowd that gathered at the K.T. Mohammed Memorial Regional Theatre, the venue for the marathon dancing, when she created the record at 9.32 p.m. She took breaks totalling nearly 10 hours over five days in accordance with the rest periods stipulated by marathon rules. The dance endurance show was flagged off here on Monday last at 11.30 p.m. Ms. Hemalatha had failed in her earlier attempt to create a world record. On June 9, she had stopped her marathon dancing after performing for 63 hours. She was admitted to hospital then with dehydration problems, stomach disorders and sore feet.

Milestone of India - Yeddyurappa donated two and half kilograms of pure gold to Lord Balaji. (Andhrapradesh - India.)

TIRUMALA: Chief Minister of Karnataka B.S.Yeddyurappa on Saturday offered prayers at the Lord Venkateswara temple accompanied with his Cabinet colleagues and relatives.

On his arrival at the main entrance of the temple complex the TTD authorities accorded him a warm reception and led him into the sanctum sanctorum.

Mr. Yeddyurappa donated two and half kilograms of pure gold to the temple authorities and requested them to use it for preparing a ‘Harathi' plate for the daily use in the temple rituals.

MLA Krishnaiah Chetty, who also accompanied him, donated two battery-run vehicles worth Rs.11 lakh for the benefit of the physically-challenged devotees.

Mr. Yeddyurappa, who reached Tirumala on Friday evening, had his dinner at the TTDs Nitya Annadanam complex.

He announced Rs.25 lakh for the free meals scheme on behalf of the Karnataka State government besides a personal contribution of Rs. 5 lakh. TTD Executive Officer I.Y.R. Krishna Rao also called on him.

Milestone of India - The Hindu to launch World Heart Day campaign. (Andhrapradesh - India.)

KARIMNAGAR: As part of corporate social responsibility (CSR), The Hindu, (A Leading Newspaper in South India) in association with Pabba super specialities hospital, is organising World Heart Day-2010 campaign of ‘Make every day – healthy heart day' at Pabba super specialities hospital on Sunday.

Rally to be taken out

A massive rally will be taken out from the Government Headquarters Hospital to Pabba hospital in the morning. Superintendent of Police N. Shivashankar Reddy will flag off the rally and participate in the World Heart Day celebrations at the hospital. National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets of SRR Degree and PG College, students of various educational institutions and nursing students of Chalmeda Ananda Rao Institute of Medical Sciences (CAIMS) will participate in the rally.

Pabba super specialities consultant cardiologist and interventional cardiologist Kylas Pabba will deliver a lecture on prevention of heart diseases, first aid and give tips for a healthy heart. He will answer queries on prevention of heart diseases.

Milestone of India - Millennium celebration of Big Temple. (Tamilnadu - India.)

THANJAVUR: The 1,000-year-old Big Temple, built by the emperor Rajaraja Chola in Thanjavur and regarded as an architectural wonder, was the venue of a spectacular Bharatanatyam performance on Saturday.

As the highlight of the millennium celebration of the temple, a world heritage monument, over 1,000 dancers, predominantly women, led by Padma Subrahmanyam, displayed their talent for about 45 minutes.

Watched by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, his ministerial colleagues and thousands of people from the town and nearby places, the performance was meant as a tribute to the Chola emperor and the greatness of the temple that withstood the test of time.

Dressed in colourful costumes, the dancers started with ‘Ganapathy Kauthuvam,' followed it up with ‘Thirvisaipa songs of Karuvur Devar' and concluded with ‘Sivapanchaksharam, stotras of Adi Sankara.' It was a rare sight to see the hundreds of artists dancing around the Nandhi Mandapam with the 216-ft-tall Vimana of the Big Temple in the backdrop.

One thousand years ago, dancers patronised by Rajaraja Chola paid their obeisance in the same temple to Lord Brihadisvara every day, according to inscriptions. On Saturday, the dancers gave their performance in praise of the emperor and the temple's glory besides paying obeisance to the Lord.

With available space (four ft by four ft) for each dancer, the dancers maintained uniformity and danced perfectly.

Earlier, 108 Oduvars rendered Thirumurai (a compendium of hymns in praise of Lord Siva) in chorus. They started with ‘Thodudaiya Seviyan Or Thuvenmathi Soodi' – Thevaram of Thirugnanasambandar and followed it up with ‘Kutrayina Varu Vikalakyile,' ‘Pitha Pirai Soodi,' ‘Manthiramavathu Neeru,' ‘Anjana Velvizhi Madamanthar.'

By the time Mr. Karunanidhi reached the venue, the Oduvars had completed their recital. But, they sang a verse in response to the request of the Chief Minister.

Mr. Karunanidhi, who wore a silk ‘angavastaram,' commended Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam for the dance programme.

When he came to know that she was planning to stage the programme to celebrate the 1,000 {+t} {+h} year of the construction of the temple, he told her that the State government would join her in the celebration.

Dr. Subrahmanyam thanked the artists who came to the programme at their own expense. She appealed to the Chief Minister and the Archaeological department to see to it that an inscription referring to the dance programme was engraved in the temple. .

The Chief Minister released a book authored by R. Nagasamy, veteran archaeologist, on the 400 dancers of the temple during the period of Rajaraja Chola. M.K. Stalin, Deputy Chief Minister, received the copy. LED screens were put up around the temple.