Police, education get boost from Jayalalithaa

CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday announced a slew of welfare measures—this time benefiting police personnel and students, including establishing a new engineering college at Bodinaickanur in Theni district, all at an expenditure of over Rs133 crore.In a first of its kind initiative in the country, the Chief Minister has ordered that 10 PVC chairs each be provided to all 1,492 police stations in the State so that the people who visit these stations to lodge complaints need not stand for long time. The move will cost an additional expenditure of Rs 92.20 lakh.Besides, the Chief Minister has also provided infrastructure facilities for police personnel across the State at a cost of Rs 34 crore.The CM has announced that the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) of the police department would get a new scientific wing. Two new posts would be created for this unit and the officers would go through the scientific aspects of cases and submit reports to the CB-CID.The new government engineering college to be established at Chokkanathapuram near Bodinaickanur can accommodate 300 students in the first year, with 60 students each in the disciplines of Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Electronics and Communication Engineering.The government headed by Jayalalithaa has been taking various steps to provide higher education to all sections of the society. The government has been running institutions for technical education in rural areas so that the students living in villages need not travel far away to towns to fulfil their educational needs. The new engineering college near Bodinaickanur is yet another step towards that objective, the release added.The Chief Minister on Friday also announced that 53 new hostels would be set up for students belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Backward Castes and Most Backward Castes and minority communities across the State, at a cost of `5.42 crore. Of the 53 hostels, 25 would be for SC students, while 28 would be for those from the BC, MBC and minority communities.