3ovember 2007

Thanks: The Hindu
Complaints can now be SMSed to Corporation
Chennai: Chennai residents can now send complaints on civic problems via SMS to the Corporation.

Mayor M. Subramanian, who inaugurated the facility on Saturday, said the SMS-based complaints helpline was a progressive scheme that would allow people to text their complaints to the number 9789951111.

The civic body has tied up with IT solutions firm eLogistics to offer the service. The associate firm was chosen through a tender process. It would be paid Rs.6.83 lakh to run and maintain the system for three years. Once an SMS is received, an automatically generated acknowledgement message with a complaint identification number is sent in response.

Text messages will be stored on an SMS data base along with the numbers they were sent from and forwarded to the departments concerned by e-mail and SMS. Feedback from officials would be sent to the complainant via SMS.Many cell phone users, who messaged their complaints on Saturday, did not get a response despite several attempts. Thinking the problem could lie with their service provider, they sent messages through other connections but to no avail.

The problem was rectified at 9 p.m. on Saturday.

Thanks: IBN Live
Sincere thanks to Anubha Bhonsle for such a very good stuff.

PT Usha's second coming: mentor, mother, coach
Tintu, Aswathy, Sonia and Shilpa are training with a single goal on their mind: a medal at the 2012 London Olympics.

Helping them to achieve that dream is India's best athlete ever: Pilavullakandi Thekkeparampil Usha or PT Usha or the Payyoli express.

Tintu Luka is the current 400 m national champion and one of the most talent students at the Usha School of Athletics. "There is no doubt in our minds that we will achieve our goal in 2012 London Olympics. All of us are striving hard for it and we have all set individual targets to clear before we reach there. What Usha missed in 1984, we will get in 2012. That's our aim," says Luka.


That pain of missing the bronze in 1984 is still written large on Usha's face, and it’s from this sense of loss the idea of Usha School of Athletics took birth. Today 11 athletes of this school are hoping to take the baton forward.

When Usha made a debut in 1979, athletics was very much a male preserve and track-suited women a rarity. But the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi, and Usha's later progress led to a resurgence of women's sport.

“Without any facilities I could come very near the Olympics medal but missed it only by 1100th of a second. That day If I had got the medal I might not have started this school. I missed it because of my lack of experience and exposure. So I know that if I can come near the medal, why not others. Twenty years of experience I want to give my experience to the youngsters and get them there,” says Usha.

Usha's golden girls come from poor families in Kerala and they train at a rented house which doubles up as a hostel and a mini-gym. A new school with all modern facilities including a synthetic track is all set to come up in the next one year on 30 acres of land.

Running would have been just a dream for Steffi Abraham but for Usha’s school. “I have been here for the last six years. Its only after I came here that we learned how professional and competitive athletics is. Back home we never had the situation to do all this. My family was supporting my keen interests in athletics but they didn't have the money to give me the training,” says Steffi.

So till the Rs 50-crore school comes up with the help of Shobha Developers and Infosys, it's the beaches of Payolli and Municipal stadium at Koyilandi that serves as their training grounds.

Under the watchful eyes of Usha, the athletes start early in the morning and top it up with evening sessions. Usha is a mother figure here, her words are like sermons and dedication is often the only thing she asks from her students

“They are scared of me while training but after the training they share all their problems with me. All the 11 are different from each other. Even though we have prescribed food we give them what they want,” says Usha.

It almost seems Usha has never been out of breath. Marriage in 1991 was followed by retirement, but encouraged by her husband she returned in 1994. The new Usha was wiser, and though not all was heroic there were moments of history too. In 1998, with 30 Asian medals behind her, she went to the Asian Track and Field championships in Japan as a veteran. Today all these are treasured memories.

“I go for training at 6.45 a.m. Whenever the athletes go for jogging, say for 40 minutes, I immediately call up home to check on my son. When I am at the field only my athletes are on my mind. But after I get home I now I have to take care of my family also.”