Peoples beware of Fraudsters and Scams; They found a new way now.

It was a dream coming true too fast for Narendraa Dave, a resident of Coimbatore. It was not even a month since he put up an online advertisement expressing interest in adopting a dog when Andrew D’Silva, in response to his advertisement, informed him that he had a two-month-old German Shepherd to give away for free.

Clearly excited with the quick response, Dave quickly followed D’Silva’s instructions for depositing the transportation charges in the account of Parth J Bhatt from Mumbai.

However, the telephones of both the men have been switched off ever since Dave deposited the money on June 11. After waiting for three days to hear from them, Dave finally wrote to Mumbai police’s cyber cell, seeking help to find the missing dog and the men.

“I have been feeling quite helpless since the bankers have not been very cooperative in revealing details of the account holder,” Dave told DNA. According to Dave’s complaint, D’Silva had claimed that he was giving away the dog for free since he was moving to Miami.

On being asked about the transportation of the puppy, Dave was asked to get in touch with Bhatt, who according to D’Silva was a sub agent of Jet Airways Cargo. When contacted, Bhatt claimed to be specialising in transportation of pigeon, cats and dogs.

“Though it was a small amount of Rs2,700, I feel that the duo would have tricked many innocent people if no action is taken against them,” said Dave.

Hope you all remember about the stories about Lottery Scams:

A lottery scam is a type of advance-fee fraud which begins with an unexpected email notification that "You have won!" a large sum of money in a lottery. The recipient of the message — the target of the scam — is usually told to keep the notice secret, "due to a mix-up in some of the names and numbers," and to contact a "claims agent." After contacting the agent, the target of the scam will be asked to pay "processing fees" or "transfer charges" so that the winnings can be distributed, but will never receive any lottery payment.^[1] Many email lottery scams use the names of legitimate lottery organizations or other legitimate corporations/companies, but this does not mean the legitimate organizations are in any way involved with the scams.(Souce: Wikipedia)

Be Cautious while approaching/dealing with stranger. If you suspect someone, approach the police station nearby.

It is no more a metro for Coimbatore, Luckly we will have monorail

The mention in the Governor's address to the state assembly on Friday that the government plans to explore the prospect of building a mono rail in Coimbatore has been welcomed by city residents. Majority of them claimed that the monorail would ease the traffic burden, besides considerably reducing pollution levels in the city.

"It is very heartening to know that the government has addressed our transport problems. Even Mumbai does not have monorail. This is an indication that Coimbatore is being recognised as one of the major cities in the country," said M Krishnan, President, Chamber of Commerce.


With Coimbatore all set to become a major IT hub in the coming years, the vehicle and resident population is expected to increase substantially. However, some residents were concerned that since monorail is a long term project, the government should ensure its completion as per schedule.

"The monorail will help a great deal to ease traffic congestion but then, the project implementation might prove tricky for the government," said R Hariharamoorthy, a city based businessman. A few residents believe that the monorail will help curb accidents. "Surface accidents will be reduced as there will be less vehicles on the roads," said R Kalaiarasu, advocate.

The former DMK government had announced a metro rail project for Coimbatore. Residents have for long demanded that the public transport infrastructure in the city needed to be improved by taking into account the economic potential of the region.

Coimbatore is the urban hub for people of western Tamil Nadu as well as Palakkad district in Kerala. As one of the fastest growing tier-II cities in the country, the city needs better rail connectivity with neighbouring towns, as well as more comfortable travelling options within the city. The attention now shifts from a metro for the city to a mono rail. The point is to build it fast so that the city doesn't get bogged down by a crumbling public transport system.

Call centre for Coimbatotre Residence - Corporation's Grievance Centre

City residents of Coimbatore has one more reason to be happy about. There is a Call Centre open, for grievance redress of the Corporatioin,  with the efforts of our Corporation and Anshul Mishra, Commissioner.

Public can dial 0422-2334455 (with STD code) to reach the new grievance.

City residents can now directly dial the corporation's grievance centre. They will be assisted by trained call centre employees, who will ensure that the complaints are registered with the proper department.
The corporation also plans to incorporate a bulk sms gateway to send notification to corporation tax defaulters to registered residents. The unified grievance centre will be inaugurated on Friday and a special training session conducted for corporation officials.

Local IT firm, KGISL, has been outsourced the task of handling the grievance calls.
"The system is expected to enhance the grievance redress of the corporation. The new unified centre will be located on the ground floor of the main corporation office building near Town Hall," said Anshul Mishra.

As of now the corporation is dealing with more than 100 grievances on weekly grievance days while the offices of the mayor and the commissioner receive about 40 petitions on other days. The unified grievance system will compile and store all grievance petitions received over the phone and track follow up action.
"Action taken by officials will be recorded and senior officials can track and assess its progress," said Jayaraman, deputy commissioner, coimbatore corporation.

Grievances can also be emailed to the unified grievance centre equipped with integrated voice response system (IVRS), which is being set up at a cost of over `35 lakhs. The grievance centre will guide the callers either in Tamil or English. The pending property tax and water charges will also be available to the callers through the system.

Summer mela planned in TN's Cherrapunji - Valparai

COIMBATORE: Rolling green carpet beneath misty mountains, balmy air blended with scent of tea leaves and cardamom, gurgling lakes, massive reservoirs and a tantalising chance of spotting a big cat lurking in the bushes. Tranquil Valparai plateau, hailed as Tamil Nadu's Cherrapunji, beckons tourists again this summer.

The Coimbatore district administration is planning to hold a summer festival in the tea plantation town by May end or the first week of June to attract tourists from across Tamil Nadu and other parts of the country. "We cannot conduct the festival in the first two weeks of May because of the model code of conduct. After the election results are announced, we will consider holding the summer festival in Valparai by May end or first week of June," the Coimbatore district Collector P Umanath told TOI.

A three-day summer festival was first held in Valparai in 2008 with a flower show, vegetable exhibition and a tableau of the forest department. But for the last two years because of the labour unrest over wages, the mela was called off. However, this year, the traders have urged the district administration to hold the festival and promote tourism in Valparai.

Perched amid the rolling Anamalai hills, Valparai is a tea plantation retreat, with 25,300 acres of private tea estates dotted with 4,500 acres of coffee plantations and 3,000 acres of cardamom estates.

The Valparai town is already besieged by tourists from various parts of Tamil Nadu and other southern states especially neighbouring Kerala. Almost all the cottages of the private tea estates and a few hotels in the town are full.

With soft drizzles in the evenings and a pleasant cool clime during the daytime, picturesque Valparai is turning out to be an ideal retreat to beat the summer heat. However, lack of infrastructure and hotel facilities are sore points. As corporate tea estates from Tatas to Parrys Agro occupy most part of Valparai, there is not much private land for developing hotels, say district officials. Also, as Valparai is part of the Anamalai tiger reserve, tourism has to be regulated, say environmentalists.

Free health alerts from a city doctor

COIMBATORE: He cares for the health and well-being of those around him. He believes that a healthy nation needs healthy people. So, Amith Kumar, a physiotherapist and fitness consultant based at Kovaipudur here, has launched a initiative, offering health tips as mobile alerts on a daily basis. And he does it absolutely free of cost.

Amith Kumar's treatment centre named 23 Physia Clinic is now embarking on a unique mission of mobile alerts on heath tips to Coimbatoreans on a daily basis, free of cost. Once you subscribe, you can get health alerts on a daily basis. The alerts mainly pertain to major diseases like diabetics, cancer, AIDS, hypertension etc.

"Prevention is better than cure. So I am encouraging people to lead a healthy life to reduce the time and money spent on medical treatment. The health sector is largely money oriented and even minor consultations are very expensive," says Amith Kumar, who was born in Mannargudi and has worked in Singapore and Mumbai.
"It is not a business. I set aside about Rs 5,000 from my earnings every month to provide health education to residents through this mobile alert service. I feel it is my responsibility," says Amith, who has decided to settle down in Coimbatore permanently.

Getting enrolled in Amrit's mobile SMS list is easy. All you have to do is send the following message, 'HEALTHYLIVING NAME' to the mobile number 9488545655. "This is free of cost," says Amith, who has availed the free services of half a dozen medical practitioners in his efforts to supply health tips

Dr M Aarthy, Dr V Lakshmy, Dr Rashmi Desai, Dr M Sarmila and Dr P Sruthi and Dr M V Parthipan are now helping Amith to prepare his tips.

Amith started the project on an experimental basis this January, sending out his tips to his list of patients. Initially, he had 256 members. "Now we have about 1,320 subscribers, only through word of mouth. We have a few from other cities too," says Amith.

"As a physiotherapist, I am dealing with pain on a daily basis. Through this project, I am hoping for a painless world," he says.

A Mirror or a 2-Way Glass

How can you tell when you are in a room, restroom, Motel etc. with a mirror or a 2-way glass?

Here's how: I thought it was quite interesting! And I Know in about 30 seconds you're going to do what I did and find the nearest mirror.

Do you know how to determine if a mirror is 2-way or Not? A policewoman who travels all over the US and Gives seminars and techniques for businesswomen passed this on.

When we visit toilets, bathrooms, hotel rooms, Changing rooms, etc., how many of you know for sure that the seemingly ordinary mirror hanging on the wall is a real mirror or actually a 2-way mirror (i.e., they can see you, but you can't see them). There have been many cases of people installing 2-way mirrors in Female changing rooms. It is very difficult to positively identify the surface by looking at it.

So, how do we determine with any amount of certainty what type of mirror we are looking at?

Just conduct this simple test:
Place the tip of your Fingernail against the reflective surface and if there is a GAP between your fingernail and the image of the Nail, then it is GENUINE mirror.

However, if your Fingernail DIRECTLY TOUCHES the image of your nail, Then BEWARE! IT IS A 2-WAY MIRROR!
 
"No Space, Leave the Place" So remember, every time you see a mirror, do the "fingernail test." It doesn't Cost you anything…

REMEMBER: No Space, Leave the Place:

Ladies & Gents: Please Share this with your friends... 

Jumbos, tigers thrive in Coimbatore forests

Coimbatore: The recently-conducted wildlife census in the Coimbatore forest division has revealed that Coimbatore reserve forests have a sizable number of elephants and are also a congenial habitat for tigers.
District Forest Officer V. Thirunavukkarasu told The Hindu that the three-day census had showed a healthy trend in elephant population. The male-female elephant ratio which used to be 1:25 is now 1:15. The number of calves and sub-adult population is also on the rise.
The census was carried out by 300 people, including the forest department staff and volunteers, covering 329 sq km (out of the total forest cover of 694 sq km). The officials resorted to the direct and indirect count methods and water hole count methods. In the indirect count, the census staff took note of pug marks and scat as indirect evidences. The census was carried out in 65 blocks in six ranges in the Coimbatore division. Mr. Thirunavukkarasu said the census output indicated a harmonious balance in herbivore and carnivore population thus ensuring a healthy habitat.
As far as the elephant population is concerned, 66 elephants were sighted. Indicators i.e., indirect evidences, also proved that the Coimbatore division forests have 150 to 200 elephants while migrating and in peak period the jungles had 300 elephants. The officials sighted tigers in two places. Three pug marks were found in Karamadai and two each in Mettuppalayam and Sirumugai. A leopard was also sighted and 39 indirect evidences indicated the presence of more. Scats of sloth bears were found in 39 places.