Coimbatore/Tamil Nadu/Mumbai/Pune, Sept 3 : Devotees thronged a temple in Coimbatore, to offer prayers to Lord Ganesha on the occasion of ''Ganesh Chaturthi'', the ten-day long annual festival, which began on Wednesday.

The festival, which marks the birth anniversary of lord Ganesha, is celebrated with great fanfare across the country.

Hundreds of devotees thronged the temple in Coimbatore today, to offer prayers on the first day of Ganesh Chaturthi, in front of the idol, which is claimed by the temple priests to be the biggest in Asia.

Ooty (Tamil Nadu), Sep 1 : Udagamandalam or Ooty, one of the scenic hill stations in India, is abuzz with activity as film makers’ start making a beeline to the hill resort generating employment for locals.

Local people have benefited a lot in terms of employment opportunities with a large number of shooting units flocking to the city in the past few months.

The sudden spurt in film shooting in Ooty provides jobs to more than 1000 persons and 2500 derive indirect benefits.

When five to seven units come here at least 100 cars and vans are hired and a large number of hotel rooms are also occupied.

Ponneri (Vellore) Tamil Nadu, Aug. 29 : Located 14 kilometres from Ponneri on the Vaniyambadi-Tirupattur Road and situated midway between Chennai and Bangalore Yelagiri Hills is a hill resort which is also known as the ''Poor Man''s Ooty’.

Until the other day, the scenic Yelagiri didn’t have much to draw tourists except the boating experience in the stream and lake at the foothills. But today it has many attractions for tourists and the latest addition is paragliding.

On Monday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi announced to pay of Rs. 5 lakhs to each victim, who had been undergoing treatment of eye cataract surgery and complained of blurred vision post surgery, during the eye camp at Perambalur.

Karunanidhi further said the Government would conduct a detailed inquiry into the matter. He also said that all patients who currently are being treated would get a monthly pension of Rs 400.

The patients complained to the administration that they have been given expired eye drops during the eye operation, which was conducted in a camp organized by a private Joseph Institute of Ophthalmology on July 28. Sadly, six victims lost their eyesight completely yesterday.

The Tamil Nadu government received a notice from the Supreme Court on Wednesday and was questioned regarding the free distribution of products like color televisions and computers to attract the voters, the cost of which would be accounted from the public funds. This pre-poll promise has been made by DMK party.

S Subramaniam Blalaji questioned the DMK government regarding the issue on a public interest petition. Notices were also issued to the Central Government’s Finance Ministry, the Election Commission of India, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India and DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi by a Bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan.