1. Vijayakant laid to rest
Vijayakant, the 71-year-old Tamil actor-turned-politician who breathed his last yesterday, was laid to rest with state honours, in the presence of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister at the DMDK party headquarters in Chennai this evening.
Earlier in the day, the public and eminent personalities including Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, actors Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan paid homage to the mortal remains of ‘Çaptain’ Vijayakant at the Island Grounds.
2. Private choppers unauthorised flyby over Mukurthi National Park leads to probe
A chartered helicopter flew over the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) and the protected Mukurthi National Park, carrying VIP guests from a major private company on December 27. Since no permission had been granted for this, the T.N. Forest Department has now begun an investigation into the incident.
The Bell 429 GlobalRanger, took off from Mysuru on December 27 and flew over the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) before flying up the precarious O’Valley ridge, past the Mukurthi Peak and Lake, crossed into Porthimund and skirted around Avalanche before landing at the Korakundah Estate adjoining the Mukurthi National Park, which is closed to tourists and can only be accessed with permission from the Chief Wildlife Warden and the Conservator of Forests (Nilgiris).
3. Thoothukudi floods | Thousands of documents, records lost
The torrential rains that lashed the southern T.N. districts recently also damaged a number of facilities and buildings, particularly government offices. It may take up to a year to fix the damage that these buildings have sustained.
According to official records, 1,819 government buildings in the region were damaged in the rain causing a huge loss of government records.
