Chennai: This year was a roller coaster ride for Tamilnadu for it began with transport employees protesting and marched towards the end with the shocking news of HIV blood being transfused to pregnant women. The happenings in between had also jolted the people of State. Here are the highlights of Tamilnadu in 2018.
JANUARY STRIKER
The beginning of the year saw Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) striking 4 January following failure of talks with the government on wage revision. After eight days of protest, the government offered 2.44 times hike as against workers’ demand of 2.57. The strike saw the commuters crippled and facing hardships though government tried to maintain services by appointing temporary drivers and private buses.
NATURE’S FURY
The date 16 November has been etched on the hearts of farmers from delta regions. That was the disastrous day when cyclone Gaja made a 
landfall near Vedaranyam town in Nagapattinam district, about 350 km from here and ravaged the farming lands, households and livelihood. The raging cyclone claimed 52 lives and flattened three lakh thatched houses, uprooting lakhs of trees, electric poles and other towers and damaging crops.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
As per the data provided by National Control for Disease Control, the number of swine flu cases reported till 9 December stood at 2,458 and 15 deaths, trailing only behind Maharashtra that topped the list. As of 29 November, a total of 3, 706 dengue cases have been reported. But experts claim the data to be manipulated.
TALE OF SOUTH INDIAN STATES
In a major development, Centre constituted a Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) 1 June to address the dispute over sharing of 
Cauvery water among Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry. Despite receiving flaks from Karnataka, as per the regulation provided under Cauvery Management Scheme, the centre constituted the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC). Recently, the State government approached the apex court seeking a direction to Union Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) to appoint an independent authority as the full-time chairman of the CWMA as Masood Hussain, who had also been serving as the chairman of CWMA and Central Water Commission (CWC) since the authoritys formation six months ago.
MIFFING MEKEDATU
To meet the water needs of Bengaluru and Ram Nagar, the-then Karnataka law minister TB Jayachandra announced the construction of a multi-purpose balancing reservoir project over Mekedatu. However, Tamilnadu government appealed the Supreme Court to restrain the construction process as it would impede Cauvery water flow to the State. Recently, in a meeting, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy with Union Water resources and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari discussed the project in detail. Nitin Gadkari was convinced that it does not affect Tamilnadu and stated he would direct the officials to call for a meeting of chief ministers of the two States.
END OF AN ERA
Widely acclaimed for his literary prowess and leading the Dravidian politics, Muthuvel Karunanidhi, fondly known as Kalaignar breathed his 
last 7 August after a long battle. He was 94. Several national leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and opposition leader Rahul Gandhi flew down to pay their last respects. Favouring the requests of his followers, he was laid to rest near the Marina Beach.
STERLITE COMES BACK
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) appointed committee led by former Meghalaya High Court Chief Justice Tarun Agrawal recently in its hearing dismissed the State government’s ruling to shut Vedanta’s copper smelter unit permanently and ordered continuation of operation of the facility in Tuticorin. It is also learnt that the company would invest one billion Rupees to build hospitals and schools for people living close to the smelter.
CHUCK PLASTIC
In a historic move, this year, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced the ban of selective single-use plastic items considering the
environmental impact they have on Earth. The High Court had also instructed the plastic manufacturers to halt the production of single-use plastic items. However it hits two lakh workers. There’s an ongoing chaos as well. The move will be in implementation from tomorrow.
DECEMBER SHOCKER
While December is synonymous with Tsunami that hit the State 2004, this year, people woke up to the shocking news of HIV blood being transfused to an eight month preganant woman in Virudhunagar. The incident came to light after the donor informed Sattur government hospital that he had been contracted with AIDS. Medical tests revealed that the woman has also been infected and 
the authorities have taken measures to ensure it does not get passed on to the fetus. The Madras High Court took suo motu cognisance and ordered the Heath department to submit a detailed report 3 January. However, on Sunday, the donor who was taking treatment at Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai, for consuming rat poison, died. Following this, two women from Mangadu and Salem also came forward and stated that they too had been transfused with HIV infected blood.