Chennai, Sept 25 : Security has been stepped up in five major temples in Tamil Nadu following an intelligence alert of terror attacks.

The Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, the Ramanathaswamy Temple in Rameswaram, the Murugan temple in Palani, the Kapaleeswarar Temple in Chennai and Sri Ranganathar Temple in Srirangam in Tiruchirappalli have come under a heightened security.

Besides these temples, commercial hubs in Chennai and elsewhere have also been placed under surveillance.

The TamilNadu government, in a joint venture with the Emergency Management and Research Institute have launched an integrated emergency service to attend to all medical, fire and police emergencies.

One of the first ever public/private ventures, set up at the cost of 70 crores, will have the facility available in the city and its suburbs. It aims at covering the entire state by the yearend, said the health minister M R K Paneerselvam.

The Tamil Nadu Government has revealed that it has planned to roll out a website, which would enable the user to access information on various aspects.

While commenting on website, Mr. C Chandramouli, IT Secretary stated, “It would be a mother of all portals where anyone can get information or services on 110 various services. It might be something to do with telephone bill payment or birth certificate, but it would cover the entire state.”

According to the sources, the website was ready but its launch date has yet to be finalized.

Raj Television Network has clarified that at present the company does not have any proposal to foray into print media business. However, the company may look at the proposal in the long-term.

Dharmapuri (Tamil Nadu), Sept 11 : In a unique ritual, a priest broke coconuts over the devotees'' heads during a temple festival in a village in Dharmapuri District of Tamil Nadu, as part of their abeyance to the deity.

The ritual, which is unique to the festival of Veerapathiran Samy temple, is an annual ritual in which hundreds of devotees participated on Wednesday at Parvathanullur village

By breaking the coconuts over their heads, the devotees pay gratitude to the deity for fulfilling their wishes.

Erode (Tamil Nadu), Sept 4 : Congress president Sonia Gandhi will today address a rally at Tamil Nadu’s Erode District today.

The rally is being held as a part of series of rallies planned by the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) in the run-up to next year''s Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress has planned to hold rallies at Tiruchirapalli, Madurai and Tiruneveli in the next three months, to be addressed by Sonia.