Chennai, May 21st, 2013: A two-day seminar on water and sanitation concluded here on Thursday. The seminar was organised by city-based NGO The Catalyst Trust on the theme ‘Water and Loo? Are we heading towards a Waterloo?’. The seminar sought to create awareness in panchayats and citizen centres about sanitary conditions.
In his keynote address, C V Shankar, Principal Secretary, Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, said, “The Chief Minister’s ‘Vision 2023’ document aims at improving sanitaryconditions and eradicating open defecation.

Coimbatore, May 14, 2013: District Collector M. Karunagaran on Monday gave his approval to close 12 schools in the district that have either not obtained recognition or renewed it as mandated under the Right of Children To Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act.
District Elementary Education Officer T.

Madurai, Tamil Nadu, May 2, 2013: The Madurai Municipal Corporation has reopened a toilet meant for the differently abled which remained locked in Mattuthavani integrated bus terminal for the past two years after being in use for a while. Meanwhile, corporation officials have also commenced maintenance works at toilets in other bus terminals.

Madurai, Tamil Nadu, Apr 25, 2013: Sufferings of differently-abled persons are endless, especially while travelling from one place to another. In Madurai district, they are put to many hardships while travelling in the absence of proper toilet facilities in bus terminals.
The three major bus terminals in the Madurai city, Mattuthavani integrated bus terminal, Periyar and Arapalayam bus terminals have exclusive toilet facilities for differently-abled persons.

Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, May 6, 2013: Superstitious beliefs, religious sentiments and vasthu shastra are making construction of toilets in rural areas of Namakkal district an uphill task.
P. Aruna (32) and her husband Periyasamy (45), a truck driver of Parali panchayat, stopped construction of toilet and filled up the newly-dug leach pit with debris.

Tamil Nadu, Apr. 26, 2013: The State’s ‘Namma Toilet’ model shows public involvement is crucial in building user-friendly sanitation facilities
In December 2011, the Government of Tamil Nadu declared that it would take steps to provide safe sanitation to all its residents by 2015. This ambitious goal led to sanitation being recognised as a priority “State” issue. In pursuit of improving sanitation services, a multidisciplinary team was formed to look into various aspects of urban sanitation.

Chennai, Apr 25, 2013: Chennai Metrowater will soon own the first-of-its-kind tertiary treatment plant in the State. The agency is in the process of finalising the design and treatment process of the facility that will reduce the amount of treated sewage let into waterways and also improve supply to industries.
The six-acre facility will be added to the existing sewage treatment plant in Koyambedu to treat the sewage another time to make it fit for industrial use.

Salem, Apr 25, 2013: At a time when crores of rupees are spent on better sanitation by building toilets in schools and public places, here is a public facility that remains idle even after its inauguration two years ago.
Constructed under S. Semmalai’s Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme in 2010-11 at a cost of Rs. 6 lakh in M.G.R.

Kochi, Apr 19, 2013: The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) has promised to provide technical support and capacity building training to implement Kochi corporation's city sanitation plan (CSP). After holding talks with German representatives, Kochi mayor Tony Chammany said that the project would help to improve sanitation in urban areas.

Tiruchi, Apr 14, 2013: Gramalaya, a voluntary organisation working in areas of water and sanitation improvement in Tamil Nadu, has been approved by the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation as a key resource centre (KRC) for providing training and capacity building to professionals and government officials on water and sanitation.
Three southern states
S.Damodaran, founder of Gramalaya, in a release, said the 25 years of service in the water and sanitation sector has enabled Gramalaya to emerge as a training in