Salem City Police launch new website

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SALEM,AUGUST 30, 2017 00:00 IST

UPDATED: AUGUST 30, 2017 03:55 IST

Police Commissioner Sanjay Kumar (second left) launching the Salem City Police website at a function on Tuesday.  

The Salem City Police on Tuesday launched a new website containing various facilities with the objective of bridging the gap between the police and the general public.

The website comprised the facilities of e-complaining, e-court, FIR status, vehicle status, applications of help app and women safety app, and spotting the nearest police station.

Sanjay Kumar, City Police Commissioner, launched the websitewww.salemcitypolice.comdeveloped by Bhemya Software Solutions Private Limited at a function held here.

On the occasion, he said that through this site the common people could come to know about the activities and administration of Salem City Police.

He said that the ‘HELP ME’ (e-alert) application was a mobile application which was developed exclusively for the city people for their safety.

‘FIND PS’ application was to ensure the safety of people even when they were away from the city.

With the help of ‘women safety app’ (help app button), any woman in distress can press the HELP button in the mobile and the officials would come to know about her location instantly using the GPS facility. The police personnel were being imparted training in using this application, Mr. Sanjay Kumar said.

Download

The mobie applications could be downloaded through the website:www.salemcitypolice.comdownloading the below links:http://salemcitypolice.c om/help-app,http://salemcitypolice. com/find-ps;http://salemcitypolice. com/women-safe.

The City Police have already launched a WhatsApp number 90872 00100 to enable people to lodge complaints.

G. Subbulakshmi, and R. Ramakrishnan, Deputy Commissioners of Police, were present on the occasion.

Awareness

Later, the Commissioner also addressed a meeting to create awareness on the government norm of carrying the original driving licence.

Mr. Ramakrishnan, Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime and traffic), also spoke.

Tamil software for use of govt. staff launched

STAFF REPORTER

VELLORE,AUGUST 31, 2017 00:00 IST

UPDATED: AUGUST 31, 2017 05:03 IST

New package:Collector S. A. Raman (centre) launching ‘Amma Menthamizh’, a Tamil word processor, in Vellore on Tuesday.  

It will do away with hitches in fonts, says official

For the government staff in Vellore district, typing official documents in Tamil is all set to become hassle-free. The district administration has formally launched a software, Tamil word processor that has plenty of features in store.

Called ‘Amma Menthamizh,’ the Tamil word processor was launched by Collector S.A. Raman. It was developed by a team headed by N. Deivasundaram, retired professor and Head of Department of Tamil, University of Madras, and also recipient of the Chief Minister’s Tamil Computing Award for 2013.

“Other Tamil software feature font and keyboard drivers. This software offers word processing. It is based on Unicode. Users can take up spell check, grammar check and also refer to dictionary,” Mr. Deivasundaram said. For the last 20 years, the Tamil Nadu government was following a non-Unicode font following which the government issued an order to implement Unicode.

In fact, the software has been customised for government employees as it also enables them to refer to administrative dictionary in English to Tamil and Tamil to English.

Templates of official letters that government staff use on a regular basis is also available in readymade formats in the software, he said, adding, “It contains all facilities for editing any typed matter. It is a full-fledged software.”

One of the key highlights of the software is that it can change old files to Unicode in a fraction of a second. This is not just individual files but folders, he noted. “It is also available as a MS Office plug-in,” he added.

This software is being implemented in all 32 districts of Tamil Nadu. “We are conducting workshops for government staff on how to use the software,” he said. The launch of the software and workshop for staff was held in Vellore on Tuesday.

T. Lalitha, Deputy Director of Tamil Development, Vellore, said 200 CDs were provided for each district. “Implementing this software will do away with hitches in Tamil fonts. For instance, if we at Vellore use one Tamil font, while another is being used at Secretariat in Chennai, it leads to illegible text. With this software, we can avoid such problems,” she said.

MBBS mop-up counselling over

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

PUDUCHERRY,AUGUST 31, 2017 00:00 IST

UPDATED: AUGUST 31, 2017 05:03 IST

247 seats allotted under management quota; 17 go to NRI students

The mop-up counselling for MBBS degree course — for government quota, management quota and NRI quota seats — has been completed and allotment letters issued to students to join the respective colleges.

All the candidates from the general merit list of Puducherry/all-India merit/ NRI were called for the counselling.

As many as 247 seats were allotted under management quota (52 seats are converted from NRI quota) and 17 seats were allotted to NRI quota (including six seats of IGMC&RI). As per the court direction, six seats are reserved (IGMC&RI-3, in management quota PIMS -1, Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College-1, Sri Venkateshwaraa Medical College-1) while five government seats were filled. Four seats were surrendered.

As on August 29, Centac has received 148 DDs (self-financing colleges only) and handed them over to the colleges concerned.

Bakrid holiday tomorrow

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

MANGALURU,AUGUST 31, 2017 00:00 IST

UPDATED: AUGUST 31, 2017 04:28 IST

Dakshina Kannada district in-charge Minister B. Ramanath Rai has said that the government has declared holiday on Friday in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts since Bakrid will be celebrated on that day.

While the official holiday was on September 2, the State Cabinet has agreed to shift it to September 1 for the twin districts. Saturday will be a normal working day, he added.

HC stays GO on medical seat vacancy

Legal Correspondent

HYDERABAD,AUGUST 31, 2017 00:00 IST

UPDATED: AUGUST 31, 2017 04:52 IST

‘Order affects 50% ceiling on quota’

A division bench of Hyderabad High Court comprising Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice T. Rajani on Wednesday stayed the operation of an AP Government Order which mandates filling of vacancy of medical seat by students from reserved category only if the vacancy arises due to decision of the students from reserved category to move to the seat which they got in open category.

The bench stayed GO Ms 550 para 5(2) while dealing with a case filed by Harshvardhan and others. The petitioners said that some reserved category students got good marks in NEET and were allotted seat falling in open category (non-reserved). The petitioners made it clear that they cannot complain as these students got good ranks in NEET. Later these students opted to move to another college in a different town and the seats which were allotted to them in the first round fell vacant. Now the issue is whether this seat can be filled by any student based on NEET rank or with students from reserved category only. The petitioners contended that this seat in open category must be thrown open to all. They complained that the GO says such seats be filled by only students from reserved category as they fell vacant as the students from reserved category chose other better options. The bench felt that due to the GO the 50 percent ceiling on reservations may be effected. The case is adjourned to September 18.

Now, medical seats in Karnataka at a discount

Tanu Kulkarni

BENGALURU,AUGUST 31, 2017 00:00 IST

UPDATED: AUGUST 31, 2017 05:05 IST

Vacancies under NRI/management quota go abegging

The year’s biggest clearance sale is under way. No, it’s not electronic items on Amazon or Flipkart, but medical seats under the NRI and management quota in Karnataka private colleges.

With Thursday being the last day to complete admissions in accordance with the deadline set by the Medical Council of India, these coveted seats, for which candidates would shell out anywhere between Rs. 22 lakh to Rs. 41.98 lakh per year, are now being sold at a hefty 40% discount.

Last year, they were sold for a maximum of Rs. 1.3 crore for the entire duration of the course (4.5 years). At the start of the 2017-18 admission season, they were priced at a maximum of Rs. 1.88 crore.

Common counselling

However, there were few takers, with as many as 676 of the total 773 seats in this category remaining vacant even after the mop-up round.

Officials believe this is a result of demonetisation. What’s more, this is the first time that management and NRI seats were allotted through a common counselling process by the Karnataka Examinations Authority, based on the National Eligibility-cum- Entrance Test (NEET) scores.

Compare this with other category seats: barring 20 spots, all the affordable seats in government medical colleges and government quota and private seats in private medical colleges that cost Rs. 16,700, Rs. 77,000 and Rs. 6.32 lakh respectively have been snapped up.

As per the orders of the Supreme Court, the vacant NRI and management quota seats were handed over to the respective institutions with a list of unallotted candidates in the order of merit in the ratio of 10 candidates for each vacancy.

In a hurry

M.R. Jayaram, president of the Karnataka Professional Colleges Foundation, said that managements were in a hurry to fill these seats by Thursday.

“Several seats are going abegging. We got them only late on Tuesday evening. So we have just about two days to ensure that they are filled. Despite the discounts, we are certain that all may not be filled,” Mr. Jayaram said.

However, parents and medical seat aspirants are crying foul as they feel that the college managements have already “fixed deals” prior to the admission process.

Parent upset

A parent of a candidate who failed to obtain a seat as she did not have a good NEET score said, “We did not pick a seat in a medical college and chose an engineering seat as the fees under the other quota was Rs. 42 lakh per annum. The same seats are now available for Rs. 30 lakh per annum. Had we known this earlier, we would have waited for this round.”

Medical Education Department officials said they would inquire into the matter and warned that colleges had to first exhaust the merit list given to them before admitting other candidates.

Bird hit grounds IndiGo passengers

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

AUGUST 31, 2017 00:00 IST

UPDATED: AUGUST 31, 2017 05:05 IST

Airline officials accused of not being cooperative

IndiGo passengers travelling by the 7.55 a.m. flight from Visakhapatnam to Bengaluru faced some problems after the flight suffered a bird hit and was grounded on Wednesday at Visakhapatnam airport.

“The flight crossed nearly one-third of the runway, when the pilot applied sudden brake. An in-flight announcement was made that there was a bird hit on the left side. The problem was checked and we were told that the flight would take off in about half-an-hour. But after some discussions, the airline officials decided that the flight was not airworthy,” said Balakrishna Rai of Manguluru, who has settled in Visakhapatnam, and was travelling with his family.

“We were asked to disembark and were told that we would be accommodated on another flight in the evening. I told them that I had a connecting flight to Manguluru at 12.30 p.m. Though the local representatives of IndiGo were understanding and helpful, they were helpless as their bosses seemed non-cooperative. Finally, the airline requisitioned a flight from Delhi and it departed at 3.45 p.m. We missed our connecting flight and I had to shell out Rs. 13,000 for the flight from Bengaluru to Manguluru,” he told The Hindu from Bengaluru on Wednesday evening.

Fully booked

All the 180 seats on the flight were booked and some of the passengers had connecting flights to various destinations from Bengaluru.

Many of the stranded passengers approached the IndiGo representatives at the airport and sought that they be accommodated on the IndiGo flight to Chennai.

While some passengers agreed to cancel their tickets, those who had connecting flights insisted on being accommodated on the flight to Chennai that was scheduled to depart at 10.30 a.m. and on an onward flight to Bengaluru as their tickets were already reserved on connecting flights, according to sources.

Stranded passengers said that a representative of the airline initially agreed to help them out. But after talking to his higher ups on the phone, he expressed helplessness.

He told them that they could be accommodated only on the evening flight to Bengaluru.

Helpless

Those who had connecting flights agreed to pay for the flight from Chennai to Bengaluru, but the airline representative expressed helplessness.

The airline failed to accommodate them on the Chennai flight though he had to catch a flight from Bengaluru in the afternoon, according to Srinivas of Vizag, who was going to London along with his family.

Attempts to reach the airline officials was futile, as there was no response on the phone.

Though the local representatives of IndiGo were understanding and helpful, they were helpless as their bosses seemed non-cooperative

Balakrishna Rai

A passenger