50% govt hospitals have ramps, rest to be covered soon

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  04.03.2018

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has informed the Madras high court that of the 203 multi-storied medical college hospitals in the state, ramp facilities, are available at 105, and the facility will soon be built in the remaining 98 structures.

The court gave three months for total compliance.

Similarly, in the 326 multi-storied secondary care hospitals located in district and taluk levels, of which 211 have ramps.

State health secretary J Radhakrishnan made the submission on a PIL moved by Jawaharlal Shanmugam seeking direction to build such structures in all the multi-storied hospitals in the state.

The secretary said private hospitals were also inspected for strict compliance of ramp rules from December 5 to December 12, 2017 by forming six teams including the petitioner. The team inspected 296 hospitals in Chennai. In the districts, teams led by joint directors of health services have so far inspected 67% of the hospitals (1,977 of 2,934 hospitals).

The government has received proposals to construct ramps and firefighting equipment in secondary care hospitals at a cost of ₹29.71 crore and in medical colleges for ₹55.92 crore. Of this, ₹1.154 crore has been released for providing sprinkler system at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai.

Recording the submissions, the first bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Abdul Quddhose granted three months to achieve 100% compliance.

Houses turn marriage halls on Vadapalani street

Yogesh.Kabirdoss@timesgroup.com  04.03.2018

Chennai: On auspicious days, it’s rush hour at Vadapalani Andavar Street as couples queue up outside micro marriage halls, where weddings take place by the minute. All the marriage halls on this street are tiny, about the size of a living room. But that’s just what these halls are, the drawing rooms of homes, painted, polished and dressed up by their enterprising owners, who are tapping into the demand for affordable places to tie the knot. And Vadapalani – the marriage quarter of the city on account of the famed Murugan temple – is now home to more than 15 of these ‘houses’ of marriage, all within 200 metres of the temple.

The home-halls, either leased or sold to professional marriage service companies, operate from a space of 300 to 500 square feet, and are so in demand that two to 10 weddings take place every ‘Muhurtham’ hour. On the more auspicious days, it isn’t unusual to see several weddings taking place simultaneously with couples either sharing the tiny stage or anxiously waiting their turn outside the congested halls.

Mani, who runs an agency providing a slew of marriage services, says the mini halls offer packages for weddings. “The halls come with priest, garland and materials required for marriage rituals under one roof. The bride and groom just walk in with their families, tie the knot and leave, all in a matter of minutes,” he says.

Mani adds that the Murugan temple, nominal rates for marriage-related expenses and recent restrictions over the number of marriages permitted inside the temple premises have all added to the lure of Vadapalani. A traditional marriage with a sumptuous spread for 50 guests can be arranged at Rs 1 lakh at these micro halls, says Mani. Enquiries with different marriage halls revealed that packages were available from Rs 8,500 to Rs 35,000 depending on the decorations, volume of guests and number of hours spent at the halls. Official sources with the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department say that 800 weddings were reported at the temple in 2017. “We now allow only a maximum of 25 weddings on the temple premises per ‘Muhurtham’,” says a temple official. When the demand rises, these halls come in handy, with more than 1,500 marriages being conducted in these mini halls every year.

The home hall owners provide acertificate as a proof for the wedding, while few go the extra mile facilitating registration of marriages at the sub-registrar office on the same day of the wedding. Sampath, who visited Vadapalani for a relative’s wedding, says he came for one wedding but witnessed several. “It is a new experience for me because I have never seen so many weddings take place so fast under one roof,” he says.

Most residents in the locality though aren’t pleased with the increasing number of mini weddings as the swarms of people and vehicles lead to traffic snarls around the temple and on the arterial Arcot Road.

ONE FOR THE CAMERA: Weddings take place by the minute in Vadapalani

Engg students convert debris into building blocks

U.Tejonmayam@timesgroup.com  04.03.2018

Chennai : The concrete waste after a building is demolished mostly ends up in landfills, in unauthorized places or simply dumped on the roadside. If the attempts of a team of engineering students from Erode succeed, this waste could well turn out to be building blocks for a new structure. The team from Kongu Engineering College, Erode, recently won an award in the Carbon Zero Challenge competition organised by IIT Madras for developing blocks from concrete debris.

Professor of civil engineering, G S Rampradheep, said the debris can be recycled into construction material like hollow or paver blocks. “We have tested the blocks for compressive strength and found that they are stronger and more durable than conventional bricks and concrete blocks.”

The professor said they have come up with a simple and economical process where concrete waste is carefully segregated from the C&D debris and is crushed to produce recycled aggregates of different particle sizes. The crushed material is then mixed with sodium silicate, which acts as an agent to reduce porosity, increase durability and to help the material bind well. The mixture is then put through carbonation process where carbon dioxide is injected into it at varying pressures in a chamber. It is then mixed with cement and water, moulded into blocks before being sprayed with water again and sundried for curing.

“Injection of CO2 will improve the physical properties including the density of the aggregate. Such properties are important for the durability of the block, as most recycled bricks are known to crack faster,” said Rampradheep. “Also, there is no need to add water for curing, as we have added sodium silicate to the crushed particles.”

The city generates about 1,200 tonnes of C&D waste every day. Recently, the Chennai corporation identified two erstwhile landfill sites in Athipattu and Pallikaranai to process the waste. The technology to convert debris into construction material has been widely adopted in the West while civic body officials said less than 1% of the C&D waste is processed or recycled in the city.

Rampradheep said the technology, if adopted, will convert waste into wealth and also cut down on CO2 emissions.

The team has applied for a patent for both the technology and the equipment used to process the waste.

WEALTH FROM WASTE: The concrete blocks made from construction debris were found to be stronger and more durable

After barrage of graft plaints, guv gives VCs pep talk on integrity

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  04.03.2018

Chennai: Against the backdrop of a few universities in the state coming under the scanner for various irregularities, governor Banwarilal Purohit has urged vicechancellors to “ensure transparency and maintain integrity and dignity” of the institutions of higher education.

At a meeting on Saturday in Raj Bhavan, the governor saidtheincident in Bharathiar University, where then vice-chancellor A Ganapathiwas arrestedon February 3 over charges of accepting bribe for appointment, was a blot on the system.

Stressing that all appointments should be made only on the basis of merit and that vice-chancellors should work on gaining a good name, the governor urged the VCs to uphold the integrity of their posts.

R Rajagopal, additional chief secretary to the governor, and Sunil Paliwal, higher education principal secretary, were present at the meeting attended by 17 vicechancellors of various state universities.

Any complaint of corruption raised must be acted upon immediately and those involved should be penalised, the governor said, adding that transparency in all administrative procedures, including calling for tenders, employment and filling of vacancies, should be maintained and proper procedures followed. With regard to financial activities, proper accounts must be maintained to guarantee transparency, he said.



‘Discussions also focused on funding in universities and jobs’

“Ultimately equipping students with the required skills and making them employable has to be top priority for universities. That was one thing the governor wanted all VCs to understand,” said an official who attended the meeting.

A few other officials who were present on the occasion said the discussions also focused on National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking, funding in universities, employment opportunities and ongoing activities on campuses.

Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University vice-chancellor V Geethalakshmi said it was a very interactive session where the participants debated on how to achieve high rankings for respective universities, ensuring transparency in the administrative processes, and how to help students get the best out of the system. “The main aim was to ensure that Tamil Nadu should be at the top when it comes to its institutions. Heads of the institutions were told that since we maintain high positions, we need to maintain that dignity and work towards preserving the name of the institution,” she said.

P P Chelladurai, vice-chancellor of Madurai Kamraj University, said the meeting discussed improving standards of universities with emphasis on filling teaching vacancies at the earliest. The governor advised all vicechancellors to act independently without fear to improve the standards of their universities and also to empower their students to enhance job opportunities, he added.

A request for a search committee to fill the vacancies in the Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University was also put forth.

I-T sleuths unearth ₹3,200cr TDS scam, arrests likely

447 Firms Used Deducted Sum To Further Their Business

C.Unnikrishnan@timesgroup.com  05.03.2018

Mumbai: The income tax department has unearthed a ₹3,200 crore scam where 447 companies deducted tax from its employees but did not deposit with the government and diverted to further their business interests.

The TDS wing of the I-T has initiated prosecution against these companies in the Esplanade metropolitan magistrate court and in some of the cases, warrants have been issued, sources said. Under the Income Tax Act, the offences attract a minimum rigorous imprisonment of three months to a maximum of seven years with fine. Prosecution is initiated under Section 276 B. I-T is contemplating adding IPC sections of cheating and criminal breach of trust as this act amounts to duping its employees, sources said.

The offenders mainly include builders with one of them, a leading and politically connected, diverting ₹100 crore collected from his employees for business purposes. The others are from various sectors including movie production houses, infrastructure companies, startups and fly-by-night operators. An infrastructure company, part of a port development has diverted ₹14 crore, sources said. A multinational company, which provides information technology solutions has not deposited ₹11crore. A senior I-T official told TOI, “In the recent verification surveys carried out, it was detected that in about 447 cases, ₹3,200 crore was deducted by the companies but not deposited into the government account.’’ This is for the period April 2017 to March 2018. “We also intend to arrest some of them,’’ the official added.

These companies are under a legal obligation under the Income Tax Act to deduct TDS on behalf of the government and deposit it into the government account within a prescribed timeframe. I-T has initiated recovery actions by attaching bank accounts besides movable and immovable assets, a source said. All sums deducted as TDS ought to be paid to the credit of the central government within seven days from the end of the month in which deduction is made or before the prescribed dates. The payments can also be made quarterly. “In several of the cases, they diverted the money towards working capital. Some apologised and promised to pay while some said they could not pay because of adverse market conditions. In some cases, of the amount collected from the employees, 50% was deposited with the government and the balance misused by the employer,’’ an official explained. I-T also came across startups that functioned for a brief period and vanished into thin air. Officials also came across fly by night operators whose intention was not to carry out any genuine businesses.

The official said, “The employees found a mismatch when they filed returns. Several employees had lots of grievance to share,’’ the official added. Officials said it is not possible to hoodwink the system since everything is digitised.

CBI arrests 4 more, including NiMo’s auditor, ‘director’

New Delhi : The CBI on Sunday made four arrests in connection with the alleged ₹12,636 crore fraud at Punjab National Bank perpetrated by billionaire jewellers Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, officials said. The agency has arrested two employees and an auditor of the Nirav Modi group of companies, while a director of the Gitanjali group of companies owned by Choksi has also been taken into custody, they said.

Manish K Bosamiya, the then AGM (operations) of Firestarter International Ltd owned by Nirav Modi, and then finance manager Miten Anil Pandya were arrested for their alleged role in the preparation of applications for fraudulent Letters of Undertakings submitted to Punjab National Bank, they said.

Auditor Sanjay Rambhia, partner in the chartered accountancy firm Sampat and Mehta, Mumbai and then director of Mehul Choksi’s company Gili India, Aniyath Shiv Raman Nair, were also held in connection with the case. PTI

Culture shock, caste put TN medicos on edge at campuses in north India

Inability To Fit In, Discrimination By Faculty, Peers Push Many To Suicide, Say Students

Mayilvaganan.V@timesgroup.com  05.03.2018

Discrimination, meted out on the basis of caste, colour or language, is an archaic evil that societies are still battling with. But, when the victims in question are meritorious students, the effect becomes more traumatising.

That is precisely what students from Tamil Nadu, who migrate to north Indian cities to pursue higher education in central institutes, say they suffer from, many a time silently.

For youth from the hinterlands of TN, pursuing a PG or a doctorate degree in Delhi is a dream come true, more so if it is a medical course. But reality strikes several students the moment they land at the campuses. While they are still acquainting themselves to the alien culture, discrimination, often bordering on harassment and preferential treatment by fellow students, faculty and administrative staff is unleashed on them. Many overcome this phase, but for the few who cannot, campus life becomes a nightmare, say psychologists. When academic stress builds up, some quit the course midway while others resort to suicide.

Take the case of M Mariraj, a third year student of M S Surgery in B J Medical College, Ahmedabad. A dalit student from Kadayanallur in Tirunelveli district, he joined the college in 2016. But three years later, he attempted suicide by consuming sleeping pills. He was saved by a friend.

“I was asked to serve tea to students one day. I sensed discrimination in the first month of my course itself. Once I was asked to leave the room during a surgery session. It is akin to denying a student the opportunity to learn,” he says.

A cross section of students and alumni say there is preferential treatment in campuses. In some cases, language is a barrier for students from TN to mix with peers. Students also say there is a general perception among locals that outsiders are poaching on their educational opportunities.

“Often this discrimination is not deliberate. But, TN students are academically sound and the psychological insecurity of local students manifests into discrimination,” says Lenin Devasagaya Vinobar, a Delhi University alumnus and former president of the university’s Tamil Students Alumni Association.

Caste-based discrimination is also high, says G Ravindranath, general secretary of Doctors’ Association of Social Equality. “Dalit students are allotted separate cadavers unlike students from other communities. Dalits are clubbed together and given hostel rooms which arein bad shape,” he says. “Students from Kerala, Telangana and Bihar, despite knowing Hindi, also face caste-based discrimination,” says Lenin.

Dr D Ramamurthy, chairman of Eye Foundation and an alumnus of All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) says this was not the case 30 years ago. “There was competition, but I never faced such issues as a student,” he says. He believes that the allegations of discrimination are isolated cases.

Admitting that there are challenges like language issues for TN students in northern institutions, M S Ashraf, former national vice-president of Indian Medical Association says, “But we cannot say for sure if there is discrimination.”

A second year post graduate student of a Delhi institute, however, says preferential treatment is real. “Not all, but sections of fellow students, faculty and administrative staff treat us with contempt,” he rues.

To stop discrimination, Ravindranath says the number of seats should be increased in medical institutes. Alumni also suggest that committees should be formed to counsel students from other parts of the country.

“Students have to be mentally prepared in advance on what to expect. Even if their expectations go wrong, they should speak instead of bottling up their emotions. If they find it difficult to face the problems, they should not consider it a failure, but rather deal with it,” says D Srinivasan, psychiatrist at Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital.

After 10 years, old sexually-transmitted infection makes comeback in Chennai

Ekatha.Ann@timesgroup.com  05.03.2018

Chennai: Syphilis — once considered the scourge of rulers, artists and military servicemen — is re-emerging. And cases are being picked up by an unlikely source: neighbourhood eye doctors.

After a decade-long lull, ophthalmologists say they are seeing a resurgence of syphilis in the eye, an ocular manifestation of the sexually transmitted infection. In its advanced stage, it could render a person blind.

The first time 45-year-old Sridhar* consulted doctors at Sankara Nethralya in Chennai with prolonged rednessin his right eye, they suspected conjunctivitis. Two weeks later, he returned. This time, he complained his vision was blurry.

“On a hunch we took a sample from his eye and referred him to a venereologist,” said Dr Pathopratim Majumder, consultant ophthalmologist at the hospital. He tested positive for the sexually transmitted infection.

Dr Majumder said although ocular syphilis is not a new phenomenon, recent resurgence in the incidence of overall syphilis, particularly among HIV-positive individuals, has sparked a new interest in an old disease. “The infection is still rare. But as many doctors are still unaware that syphilis is back, they don’t actively lookfor it,” said the doctor, whose paper reviewing the clinical presentation and diagnosis of ocular syphilis was published recently in peer-reviewed scientific journal Ocular Immunology and Inflammation.

Syphilis, caused by bacterium Treponema pallidum, usually surfaces in the body as firm painless sores. If left untreated, the sores, doctors say, usually go away within three to six weeks. The bacterium, however, stays in the body and can progress to cause rashes, sore throat, and headache.

It can also affect the central nervoussystem and induce swelling of the protective membrane covering the brain and the uvea – the vascular middle layer of the eye.

Though neurological and ocular manifestations are often thought of as symptoms of late syphilis, in the recent cases picked up by ophthalmologists vision problems appear to be an early symptom.

“Some of these patients had no other definitive symptoms,” said Dr Amar Agarwal, chairman, Dr Agarwal’s Eye hospital. Ocular syphilis presents as blurry vision, light sensitivity, double vision, eye pain and foreign body sensation.

Dr Agarwal said doctors are also picking up symptoms of other STDs including AIDS based on infections in the eyes .

“In some instances, the patient is aware of the HIV statusbut comestousfor help as eye infections are often overlooked in regular STD/ STI tests. Ophthalmologists, on the other hand, still haven’t started linking the two, as syphilis has been away for a long time,” said the doctor.

(*name changed)