1. THE TIMES OF INDIA, CHENNAI
FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 2010 * TIMES CITY 5
Engg college owners Finished reading? Now,
Gold jewels go missing: Nirmala, a resident of Basin Bridge, who was at
Melmaruvathur with her family, returned to her home on Wednesday to find
50 sovereigns of gold jewels missing. The police suspect her relative, to
whom she gave the house key, to be behind the theft. Further probe is on. TNN
to discuss fee hike
D Suresh Kumar | TNN fee structure was fixed by a com-
mittee headed by retired Madras
leave the book behind
Chennai: Owners of self-financ-
ing engineering colleges in Tamil
high court judge N V Balasubra-
manian, which was appointed un-
Chennai Discovers Novel Way Of Passing Books Along
Nadu are scheduled to meet in der directions from the supreme Kamini Mathai | TNN
Chennai on Saturday to discuss
among other things a proposal to
court.
College owners, however, have Chennai: It all happened two-and-a-
SCRIPTING A NEW STORY
seek an increase in the fee struc- been demanding a revision in the half years ago when Raja Pandian Circulating books after reading is fast catching up in Chennai
ture for BE/BTech, MBA and fee structure and arguing for a SP’s mother told him to get rid of the Donate them to a library. Take the
MCA courses from the next aca- nationwide uniform fee structure books piling up in the house. He de- example of our chief minister,
demic year 2010-11. citing additional financial bur- cided that instead of lugging them M Karunanidhi, who has donated
The Consortium of Self-Fi- den on them caused by the im- all to the nearest second-hand shop, 1,000 rare books to the Anna
nancing Professional, Arts and plementation of the sixth pay he would just leave them around for Centenary Library
Science Colleges in Tamil Nadu commission recommendations. people to read. Railway stations, cof-
president, Jeppiaar, has called for With indications that a central fee shops, airports, bus stands — the Start a virtual book lending
a meeting of management repre- fee fixation committee headed by moment he finished a book, Raja chain in the city
Justice Ranganath Mishra has would just leave it at the spot, with Go book crossing the next time you
decided to fix a uniform fee struc- his name on the book and a little note are travelling across the world
The meeting will be held ture of over Rs one lakh in met- inside saying ‘Read it, write your
at the Sathyabhama ropolitan cities and around Rs name on it and pass it on’. “I’ve Set sail a book at the Madras
At the Madras Terrace House in the city, Terrace House (they do not accept
University to deliberate 88,000 in second tier cities, the en- passed around more than 100 books for every book you place on the shelf,
gineering college managements like this in Kerala, Mumbai, every academic books)
on the fee structure and have been pressing that the com- place I have travelled,” says Raja, a
you can take home one free
the new norms fixed by mittee must submit its report to marketing professional with books from each of their centres. Like software professional Dorai
AICTE for granting the government early . EzeeCloud Infoserve. He usually Once they finish reading the book, Thodla. A member of the Chennai
approval to technical Recently the Federation of As-
, leaves quick-read novels around for they pass the book to someone else. Open Coffee Club (COCC), a venue
sociation of Management of Un- others to pick up. The next reader logs into the Coun- for “sharing ideas and experiences”,
colleges, which were aided Professional Educational While Raja has been doing this of cil site and mentions the book’s se- Thodla decided to extend the
stayed by the HC Institutions in India (FAMPEI) of his own accord, across the world, rial number along with their name thoughts to books. “I have a gold
which the Tamil Nadu consor- ‘book crossing’ (leaving books and address. This goes on till the end mine of books. I made it a condition
sentatives of member-institutions tium is a member, had also passed around on subways, trains, coffee of March, when the readers in the that people who receive these books
at the Sathyabhama University to a resolution demanding a uni- shops, pubs, laundromats, bus sta- longest chain receive a prize. “You’ll should at least post a few paragraphs
deliberate on the proposed fee form fee structure for BE/BTech tions, etc) is becoming the rage. be amazed to know where all the to start discussions,” says Thodla,
structure and the new norms fixed courses in the country. Repre- Chennai will soon have its first book books have travelled,” says Anirud- who showed up at a COCC meeting
by the All India Council for Tech- sentatives of colleges in as many crossing station at the Madras Ter- dh Kashyap, head of remote content with two books that he handed out.
nical Education for granting ap- as eight states had demanded that race House (MTH). Kaveri Lalchand, and delivery at the British Council. Then there’s Pavithra Yogesh,
proval to technical colleges, which the uniform fee should be Rs MTH’s curator, says, “We already “Books from Chennai land in Lon- producer with a television channel,
have been stayed by the Madras 70,000 to Rs 80,000 per annum. have a shelf at MTH where people don, Kolkata and Kerala,” he adds. who has launched a ‘Rich Book Poor
high court. “Saturday’s meeting will also can set sail a book — for every book Around the city, people are get- Reader’ drive on a social networking
Presently, engineering col- discuss about the demand to re- of theirs that they place on the shelf, ting innovative with what they are site. “I thought I can bridge the gap
leges in the state are collecting vise the student-faculty ratio from they can take one home for free.” doing with the books they have fin- between those who have books and
Rs 32,500 (non-accredited cours- 1:15 to 1:20 and the faculty distri- In December 2009, the British ished. The reasons vary — some do those who do not. So far I have col-
es) and Rs 40,000 (accredited) as bution ratio in colleges. Besides, Council launched a book crossing it to recycle, some to share knowl- lected 150 story books, academic
annual fees from students ad- issues related to the online sub- contest, where they “released” 75 edge, others to make room in shelves. books and self-help guides,” she says.
mitted to BE/BTech programmes mission of application forms for
under the government quota and extension of approval for colleges
Rs 62,500 from those admitted un- and increase in intake of students
der the management quota. This are on the agenda,” a source said.
Property was mired in controversy
Swati Anand | TNN a seven-star hotel. Reddy had tied
up with Oberoi and named the
Chennai:The Ramee mall com- hotel ‘Magunta Oberoi’. After
ing up on Teynampet is set to shift 75% of the civil works were over,
the commercial hub of the city work came to a halt when Reddy
to a new location. While the first was killed by Naxalites in 1995.
three floors will be exclusive to The Balaji Group ran into finan-
the mall, remaining floors will be cial problems and the future of
taken by their hospitality part- the project became uncertain.
ner. The property was mired in Oberoi walked out in 2000.
controversy after the late Ma- The Dubai-based Ramee
gunta Subbarami Reddy former
, Group, which operates 32 hotels
chairman of Balaji Group, across Gulf countries and India,
bought the premises. The old picked up the property around
buildings were razed to construct two years ago.