RTI reveals there was oxygen shortage at BRD med college

Lucknow/Gorakhpur:  14.08.2018

An RTI response has revealed that there was in fact a shortage of oxygen cylinders at BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur, on August 11, 2017, the day more than 30 children died in the hospital’s encephalitis and neo-natal wards. The response states that 10 cylinders had been arranged on August 11from suppliers other than the authorized suppliers.

Lucknow-based RTI activist Sanjay Sharma had sought in his August 14, 2017 query information from the state government on nine points pertaining to the deaths at BRD Medical College. “I received the reply in July this year. But no information has been provided on seven points, and it has been stated that the matter is pending in court,” Sharma said.

In response to his query seeking day-wise numbers of oxygen cylinders provided by suppliers other than the authorised ones between August 1 and August 14, 2017, the public information officer (PIO) of the college stated that six cylinders were provided by Anandlok nursing home, Gorakhnath, Gorakhpur, and four by Dr Kafeel Khan, then nodal officer of the hospital, on August 11.

The response vindicates the stand of Dr Khan who had been in the eye of the storm ever since he had said there was a shortage of oxygen because the administration had not made payments to the supplier.

No response has been provided to questions like details of patients who died between August 1and August 14, 2017; the causes of their death and certified copies of their postmortem reports; the supplier companies found guilty in the probe; the rate at which authorized suppliers provided cylinders; a certified copy of the magisterial probe report; and a certified copy of the then principal’s suspension

‘Party will be ruined under Stalin’s leadership’

My Father’s Loyalists Are All With Me, Says Alagiri

Barely a week after the death of DMK chief M Karunanidhi, ugly sibling rivalry resurfaced with estranged leader M K Alagiri swearing that loyalists of his father were with him. In an interview to Julie Mariappan, the rebel leader who was expelled from DMK in 2014 said his brother and DMK working president M K Stalin lacked the leadership qualities of their father.

Why did you choose to express your grievance at your father’s burial site on the Marina?

I have nursed the grievance for long and I could only express it today.

People say express your feelings to god and I have done precisely that, to my god (father).

My father will punish them (the wrong-doers). You will know what I am talking about within six months.

But you were expelled from the party by your father.

Yes, my father expelled me. But people instigated him. I conveyed that grievance to him today.

Isn’t your family helping you to get back into the party?

That is wrong information spread by the media. The family has not taken any effort and I am unaware of what their motives are.

Had the party chief been alive, do you think he would have taken you back into the DMK?

Certainly. He knew me, my hard work very well, and that I had fetched many victories for the party. Winning or losing is immaterial, but I put in a lot of hard work for the party. I was in charge of Andipatti (assembly constituency) when (former chief minister) Jayalalithaa contested twice. The leader (Jayalalithaa) was nervous and campaigned for two more days. Her own functionaries admitted this.

Are you saying Stalin is opposed to your being taken back into the party?

How can I blame him alone? The family members could have colluded too. I don’t know.

What do you think of the party now?

Things are getting worse day by day. The outcome of the R K Nagar bypoll (in which DMK candidate lost deposit) is an example.

The party will be ruined under Stalin’s leadership. You will see the (disastrous) results soon. DMK leaders are in touch with actor Rajinikanth.

There were opinions, divergent views, and disagreements among many sections, but ‘thalaivar’ (Karunanidhi) steered the party by embracing every one. That’s his style. His opponents too were treated affectionately and encouraged to work for the party. Stalin lacks such tactics. He has one group and does not bother about others.

Why were you expelled in the first place?

There was an organizational election and many applications (of my supporters) were rejected. The members contested not because I told them to do so. They (Stalin and his men) wanted their loyalists in plum posts and I questioned that. I rallied behind (the rejected ones) and wanted them to contest because at the end of the day everyone will say ‘Kalaignar vazhga’ (Long Live Karunanidhi). But they cheated my father.



They (Stalin and his men) wanted their loyalists in plum posts and I questioned that. I rallied behind (the rejected ones) and wanted them to contest because at the end of the day everyone will say ‘Kalaignar vazhga’

M K Alagiri

2ND ROUND MBBS COUNSELLING OVER

Better NEET results, same seat count make admissions tougher

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:

As the second round of MBBS counselling for the state came to an end on Monday, students, who were being admitted based on their NEET scores for the second consecutive year have raised the bar.

Admission to medical colleges in the state was tougher in 2018 compared to 2017. The last student to enter a state-run medical in the state this year had a score of 200 in NEET compared to 161 in 2017. The difference in scores compared to last year was the smallest among ST category (39) and widest among MBS (88). In the OC category difference is 42 marks.

Minutes after the state completed counselling and released list of allotted students, Manickavel Arumugum, a freelance consultant of medical aspirants worked out data for 2018. The numbers showed that better performance in NEET 2018 and lack of increase in seats made admissions tougher this year.

The top score in NEET this year was 676 marks— 20 points higher than that of last year’s topper. Eightyone students scored above 550 in NEET in both 2017 and 2018. But there are 213 students who got 500 or more compared to 203 students last year. The gap widened as the scores went down. For instance there were 1,279 students above 400 compared to 1,466 last year and 4,791 above 300 compared to 2,569 last year.

Admission to all medical and dental colleges is conducted by the state committee based on NEET 2018 marks and 69% rule of reservation. “Unlike last year, the DGHS returned more seats to Tamil Nadu. Many students had to options of getting a seat,” said selection committee secretary G Selvaraj.

On Saturday, round two counselling began with the seat matrix for second round MBBS counselling with 242 MBBS seats including 128 seats in government medical colleges, 26 seats in Annamalai University, 11 seats in ESIC Chennai and 77 seats under government quota in private colleges. By Monday MBBS seats in all colleges were exhausted.

The counselling to government management seats in BDS courses at selffinancing colleges will be held soon, he said.

STEM THE POST

Ex-CoE had a history of marks swapping

Debarred In 2006, Became CoE Of Anna Univ In 2015

Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com

Chennai:14.08.2018

G V Uma, former Controller of Exams of Anna University booked by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption in a re-evaluations cam, was in 2006 found guilty of a marks-swapping scandal by the administration. As per syndicate agenda and minutes accessed by TOI, Uma, then an assistant professor in the computer science depart ment of the College of Engineering, Guindy, was debarred from examination work including paper setting, invigilation, correction and examinership for a period of five years. In 2015, four years after the debarrment period ended, she was named Controller of Examinations (CoE) by then vice-chancellor MRajaram.

On June 14, 2006, a fourmember syndicate sub-committee including Professor V Jayabalan, CoE, questioned examiners, chief examiners and chairmen in regard to swapping of marks and variation in marks pertaining to papers corrected.

It found that marks of students from various colleges had been swapped, meaning a student who had passed would have failed and vice-versa. This was discovered when students obtained a photocopy of their answer-sheets. “The whole process caused enormous hardship and mental agony to students and members connected with processing of result,” the syndicate agenda said.

Ironically, the scandal involved swapping of marks in papers on professional ethics, consumer behaviour and human resource management. The committee was formed to analyse the issue and avoid such incidents in future. Twelve professors, including Uma, accepted their fault and apologised for their mistake in writing, the syndicate agenda noted. On Monday, despite repeated calls and messages, Uma could not be reached for comment. Speaking to TOI from the US, Jayabalan gave details of the modus operandi. “A dummy number is assigned to every answer sheet which corresponds to the registration number. The marks obtained by the student are then recorded by the examiner in an OMR sheet against the dummy number. The marks were entered for students in the wrong OMR sheet, thereby the results of more than 100 students were changed giving a bad result for a student who had performed well and viceversa. Uma was one of the chief examiner then and was found guilty,” he said.

Jayabalan, regarded as a no-nonsense officer and top academic by former vicechancellors of the university, said that he was not aware if the mistakes were deliberate . “However it is regrettable that a person who had such serious charges in the examination process later was appointed as CoE,” he said. Uma is currently the chief accused in a re-evaluation scam unearthed by DVAC which alleges that thousands of students paid bribes up to ₹10,000 each to artificially boost their marks. DVAC is also investigating another complaint by then higher education secretary Sunil Paliwal, alleging involvement in a ₹63 crore marksheet contract scam.

FASTER TRAVEL

S Rly speeds up 18 trains, suburban train timings tuned

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:14.08.2018

Southern Railway has speeded up 18 trains with effect from August 15. Changes have been made with the running time schedules of Nagercoil-Mumbai and Tambaram-Tirunelveli Antyodaya Express decreasing by 60 minutes.

The Coimbatore-Chennai Central Shatabdi Express has been speeded up by 15 minutes while the train that will travel in the return direction has been speeded up by five minutes.

The Chennai-Madurai Pandian express has become faster by 10 minutes. In the return direction, it has been speeded up by five
minutes.

These were the highlights of the new railway time-table which was released by Southern Railway on Monday evening.

The Tambaram-Sengottai Antyodaya Express has been announced which will leave at 7am and reach Sengottai at 10:30pm and in the return direction it would leave at 6am and reach Tambaram at 10:15pm. The date of introduction of the train will be notified in a later period.

Guwahati – Chennai Egmore - Guwahati Weekly Express (15630/15629) and Dibrugarh-Chennai Egmore-Dibrugarh Weekly express (15930/159290 have been extended to Tambaram. The motive behind such a move is to decongest Egmore station.

In the suburban train time-table, 13 trains will start earlier than its usual.

For instance, the Tiruttani-Moore Market Complex (MMC) train at 1:15pm will leave 35 minutes earlier. The Arakkonam-MMC service at 9:25pm will leave 15 minutes earlier.

The Chennai Beach-Tiruvallur service at 5:35am and Chennai Beach-Velachery service at 4:40am will leave 10 minutes earlier.

Seven suburban trains will have a late start; for instance the Chengalpet-Beach service at 11:43am will leave late by 15 minutes, while the Kancheepuram-Beach service at 10:56am will leave 14 minutes later.

Chennai division of Southern Railway has also stopped the Beach to St Thomas Mount turn-back service and has extended the trains till Tambaram.

It would leave Beach at 8:32am and reach Tambaram at 9:27am, leave at 9:32am and reach Beach at 10:27am.

All the changes that have been made in the scheduling of the trains will be effective from August 15.

Extra students in 2nd yr points to cash-for-seats scam at AU
Docus Show ‘Suspected Students’ Pursuing Most Sought-After Courses

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai  14.08.2018

: After the cash-for marks expose, it could well be a cash-for-seats scam at Anna University.

More than 60 students, whose names were not present in the final admission list last year, are attending second year classes in College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG) which is ranked first in Tamil Nadu among state-run technical institutions. Insiders say this points to a probable scam of inducting ineligible students through the backdoor.

These students couldn’t have made a legal lateral entry as the university rules make no provision to admit diploma students directly into the second year. Documents show these ‘suspect students’ are pursuing some of the most sought-after courses like electronic and communication engineering (ECE) and electrical and electronics engineering (EEE) for which only students who score more than 190 out of 200 in science and maths in their board exams qualify.

In 2017, medical counselling was conducted only after engineering counselling ended because of the uncertainty over NEET. Many students who got medical seats withdrew from the engineering course, leaving seats vacant. Courts had directed Anna University not to fill these seats, and set August 30 as the deadline to complete the admission process.



‘Seats in colleges were being sold, some top authorities involved’

Chennai: “We got credible information from within the university that seats in top colleges were being sold for cash, and some top authorities were involved in this,” said a source. The source filed an RTI petition on October seeking the number of students who got admitted in CEG before and after medical counselling.

The reply from CEG dean T V Geetha said 167 students withdrew from the college after medical counselling. “There were discrepancies when we compared the final list of students admitted in four streams of CEG – ECE, EEE, manufacturing engineering and mining engineering – with the present attendance register,” the source told TOI.

Sixty-four names, which were not in the final admission list given by the dean through RTI in October 2017, are now present in the second-year attendance register. Nobody seems to know under which quota these students were admitted as lateral entry seats are not available in CEG.

The register number of these students start with 2017, indicating they joined the college last year. Register numbers are allotted to students in the alphabetical order. The questionable admissions are clearly out of sync with the original admission list. This is apparent as alphabetical order is not followed after the last name of the original admission list.

For instance, of the total 28 mining engineering students, names of only 23 students feature in the original admission list. The last name in this list begins with the alphabet ‘T’. A student’s name begins with ‘A’, but appears in the register after ‘T’.

When contacted, Anna University vice-chancellor MK Surappa said he would look into the issue after confirming the veracity of the documents. University admissions director G Nagarajan said nearly 20 % of the seats are filled through quotas for other states, NRIs, foreign countries and consortium of industries. “Only the dean can answer other queries on admission,” he said. The dean was unavailable for a comment.

பாம்பன் பாலத்தில் ரயிலுக்கு தடை

Added : ஆக 14, 2018 02:09

ராமேஸ்வரம்: கடலில் கொந்தளிப்பு ஏற்பட்டதால், பாம்பன் பாலத்தில் ரயில் செல்ல தடை விதிக்கப்பட்டது.தென்மேற்கு பருவக் காற்று தீவிரமடைந்து நேற்று ராமேஸ்வரத்தில், 50 முதல், 60 கி.மீ., வேகத்தில் வீசியது. இதனால் பாம்பன், தனுஷ்கோடி கடலில் கொந்தளிப்பு ஏற்பட்டு, 10 அடி உயரத்திற்கு அலைகள் எழுந்தன. நாட்டுப் படகு மீனவர்கள் கடலுக்கு செல்லவில்லை.காற்று, 55 கி.மீ., வேகத்தில் வீசினால், 'சிக்னல்' தடைபடும். இதனால், ரயில்கள் செல்ல தடை விதித்தனர்.