Police foil terrorist attack on Coimbatore

According to NDTV, Coimbatore Police have foiled a terrorist attack by extremists in the textile city. This comes days after the series of explosions in Mumbai. Following a tip-off, the Coimbatore police confiscated about 30 kilograms of gun power used for making improvised explosives. The police arrested five men belonging to the organization Manitha Needhi Pasarai. The police said that they planned to attack eight places in the city including the Government Medical College.

This incident brings to memory the 1998 series of bomb blasts before the Lok Sabha elections. Coimbatore continues to be tense and on high alert following the Mumbai bomb blasts. The police have beefed up security in the troubled city to prevent any untoward incident.

SMS Warning?

Police on Saturday issued an SMS to mobile phone users stating that their instruments would be de-activated if they were used to send messages that spread rumours. In an SMS message to all Cellone customers, the police pointed out that spreading rumours was punishable under law. Indulging in such mischievous campaigns would lead to de-activation of the mobiles, the warning said.

Source: Hindustan Times

TN Budget

Value Added Tax (VAT) from 2007

The Tamil Nadu state Budget was presented in the assembly today by Finance Minister Anbazhagan. The DMK Government proposed to introduce VAT from 2007. The introduction of VAT abolishes the resales tax in the state. The announcement fulfils a key demand by the industrialists in the state. The introduction of VAT will also boost revenue generation by the state.

Government Employees

The Government will setup a Third Police Commission to address the grievances of the police force in the state. It will also consider implementing the Sixth Pay Commission in the state at an “appropriate time”. The Government also announced the restoration of bonus benefits to employees withheld by the previous ADMK regime.

Concessions

Special concessions will be provided to computer manufacturing firms who setup their units in the state. A second Tidel park would be setup to attract more companies and a joint venture software park between software companies and government will be setup at Coimbatore. Also sales tax exemption is provided to licensed Tamil software. Finally, free power of up-to 100 units for two months will be provided to handloom weavers.