Thoothukudi : The Thoothukudi district collector, N Venkatesh launched a new interactive programme with students here on Thursday.
The one-hour programme termed, ‘Coffee with Collector’ is aimed at improving the interface between the administration and the public, especially youth and students, whose coordination with the administration for the development of the district is very important, said the collector.
Mr. Venkatesh added that he has been planning to make it a weekly meeting with the students and to extend it to the taluk headquarters based on its success. Five students each from two city colleges--St Mary's women's college and Kamaraj college and five students each from two schools, Soreespuram Government higher secondary school and Holy Cross Anglo Indian Girls higher secondary school-, participated in the first meeting with the top ranking district officials.
The students posed a slew of questions on core issues like acute water scarcity, industrial pollution and farmers' issue. Abishek, a third year UG student from Kamaraj college pointed out at the administration's inability to handle the flood two years ago and added, “had we saved the water wastefully drained in to the sea during that flood Thoothukudi would not have faced the severe water crisis now.”
Fully endorsing the student's concern, the collector said the water storage level of the systems tanks and rain-fed tanks in the district has been enhanced under the ‘Kudimaramathu’ scheme and the storage capacity of the water bodies has now been doubled.
The collector too agreed to the student's suggestion that private industries be encouraged to establish desalination plants for their water needs, so that the Thamirabarani water now being supplied for industrial use could be diverted to enhance farming in the district.
Later, the students were taken to the district SP's office, office, where the police superintendent, Mahendran explained to them the mode of policing and crime detection.
