Retired IAS officer is syndicate nominee for MKU V-C search panel

STAFF REPORTER

MADURAI, NOVEMBER 06, 2018 00:00 IST

Oza’s election was a foregone conclusion

D.K. Oza, a retired IAS officer and former Vice-Chancellor of the Gandhigram Rural Institute (GRI), has been named the Madurai Kamaraj University syndicate’s nominee to the institution’s Vice-Chancellor search panel.

The announcement was made by MKU Registrar V. Chinniah on Monday — the last day for the withdrawal of nominations for the election to choose the syndicate’s nominee.

The election of Mr. Oza to the search panel was a foregone conclusion since he was the only person to have filed a nomination to contest the election.

Though it was clear last Monday — the last day for the filing of nominations — that Mr. Oza would be the winner, the university’s administration said a formal announcement could be made only after the window for the withdrawal of nominations closed.

The election was necessitated in the wake of the Madras High Court’s decision to set aside the appointment of C. Thangamuthu, former V-C of the Bharatidasan University, who was unanimously chosen by the syndicate without any election. An election announced subsequently was cancelled by the syndicate after complaints were raised questioning the candidature of the two contestants in the fray.

With Mr. Oza’s election, the search panel will have all the three members required, the other two being Nageshwar Rao, V-C of the Indira Gandhi National Open University, who is the Governor-Chancellor’s nominee, and M. Anandakrishnan, former V-C of Anna University, who is the senate’s nominee.

Inmates of Tamil Nadu prisons are treated worse than animals

TNN | Nov 3, 2018, 09.09 AM IST

CHENNAI: Describing the condition of inmates in TN central prisons as ‘worse than that of animals,’ a Madras high court-appointed amicus curiae has submitted a damning report to the court questioning the reformative role of prison administration.

Senior advocate and amicus curiae R Vaigai, who visited the central prisons in Vellore, Trichy, Madurai and Sivaganga between October 15 and 27 to study the condition and basic amenities there, has submitted a preliminary report to the court. A division bench headed by Justice S Manikumar had named Vaigai as amicus curiae on October 3, to assist it and submit a report on Tamil Nadu prisons, along with her recommendations.

Vaigai’s report sheds light on the inhuman conditions prevailing behind the high walls of central prisons in the state. It highlights the cases of several prisoners who have been suffering without proper medical care and says prison toilets have been turned into a “hell on earth”.


A prison department report said the state prisons witnessed 469 deaths in the last seven years. Of these, 395 were due to health problems and 49 were suicide. The remaining died due to attack by fellow prisoners and while out on parole.

Vaigai told TOI, “The existing condition and practice in the central prisons killed the very concept of reformation and rehabilitation of the prisoners, who are treated worse than animals.” Since a majority of the prisoners hailed from below the poverty line and there was no legal support for them to fight their case, they were condemned for decades. “There are prisoners above 90 years of age,” she said.

The amicus curiae’s report cites the case of life convict Paulraj, 78, and says he was suffering from schizophrenia and that he was totally blind.

The report further said almost one-third of the convicts were under psychiatric medication with most being treated for anxiety and depression. Prisoners with mental illnesses of varying degrees are being kept in isolation and a fellow convict is their caregiver. “They are in a pathetic state, in very poor hygiene with hardly any psychiatric support, apart from the medicines that are given to them. The prisoners suffering from mental disorders should be released and rehabilitated in a facility outside the prison,” Vaigai said in the report.

Expressing shock over the poor medical care and the condition of the inmates, a member, who assisted the amicus curiae, said several prisoners had been suffering due to age-related ailments and were chronically ill. But they were left without due medical care.

Authorities, however, play the blamegame. They are not able to send inmates for treatment and check-ups for want of escorts. “Due to poor escort service from police, prisoners suffering from mental illnesses have been denied monthly check-up for four months now,” said a prison official in Vellore.

Your smartphone will be your ticket to board a metro train

TNN | Nov 3, 2018, 09.29 AM IST

CHENNAI: When the remaining underground stretch along Anna Salai becomes operational early next year, commuters may need only their smartphones to board a metro train. Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) is working on a plan to introduce QR-based tickets which will allow passengers to purchase tickets through a mobile app and tap the QR code they receive, upon payment, on the scanners at the automatic fare collection (AFC) gates. For those it, the facility does away with the physical ticket. Commuters may no longer have to carry plastic smart cards or wait in queues at stations to purchase tickets or to top up their cards.

“We have studied its feasibility and conducted tests. We are in the process of preparing tender invites. We may introduce it in six months across all stations,” said a metro rail official. To purchase tickets on their smartphone, passengers will have to select their origin, destination and number of passengers and make a payment. A QR code will then be displayed.

Officials said the existing CMRL mobile app will be updated with the feature. Readers that can scan QR-codes will be installed at all AFC gates at stations. “This mode of ticket purchase will promote digital transaction. This will make our job of handling cash and accounts at the ticket counters easier. It will also save us on the cost of making smart cards,” the official said.

Delhi Metro has mobile ticketing system on its airport line. Officials said commuters in Delhi still have to carry a printout of the QR-ticket. Metro rail services at Bengaluru also have plans to introduce this system.

Southern Railway again mulls trains to North India from Tambaram

TNN | Nov 4, 2018, 09.26 AM IST

CHENNAI: Southern Railway has dusted off plans to run express trains to the north, west and east of India from Tambaram, the city's third terminus, to reduce the load on Chennai Central. 

This move would help thousands of citizens living in the southern suburbs of Chennai as they would no longer need to take a bus or suburban train to Chennai Central to catch a train to Kolkata, Delhi or Bhopal. The trains would start from Tambaram, touch Egmore and get to the north-eastern line through Chennai Beach. Currently, some trains bound to the southern districts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been shifted to Tambaram from Egmore.

This Diwali an unreserved special will run from Tambaram to Coimbatore via Egmore and Beach.

Discussions on the plan were held at the Southern Railway headquarters on Monday with Railway Board Member Traffic Girish Pillai, who also visited Tambaram for an inspection.

During the discussion, senior officials pointed out there were only three lines between Chennai Beach and Egmore, which could prove a roadblock. Two of the lines were used for running suburban trains between Beach and Tambaram/Chengalpet, while the third line was used for express and freight trains. The railways needed another line on the Egmore-Beach section for smooth operation of north-bound trains from Tambaram, officials said.

"We have already sent this proposal to Railway Board. The major work would be of land acquisition," said Naveen Gulati, Chennai Divisional Railway Manager.

Other sources in the Southern Railway headquarters said land acquisition would be a thorny issue as the state government would have to part with land belonging to the Madras Medical College near Park Town station.

Sources said that till then, Pillai had advised Souterhn Railway to increase the speed of express trains to 50 kmph on the Egmore-Beach section so that more of them could be run. The operations department had also been asked to tighten other parameters to make this feasible.

In addition, Pillai advised Southern Railway to create another additional platform at Egmore by re-aligning the Gopalapuram yard, even if they had to sacrifice a shorter length platform.

During the inspection on Monday, Pillai was apprised of the foot-over-bridge on platform one and two of Tambaram station, which was an infringement. It was being corrected by Chennai division; Pillai instructed the works to be carried out on priority basis and the place barricaded to avoid injury to passengers.

DVAC seizes Rs 2.39 lakh from Thirunavallur police station

TNN | Nov 4, 2018, 01.53 PM IST

VILLUPURAM: The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on Saturday seized Rs 2.39 lakh and gifts worth Rs 60,0000 from the Thirunavallur police station, and the Villupuram SP ordered the transfer of a police inspector to the Villupuram armed reserve force.

A senior police said Adhilingam Bose, the inspector of Thirunavalur police station, was allegedly in nexus with the sand smugglers of the area for the past one year and was helping them with illegal mining on the Kedilam river banks.

Police got a tip off that Bose, after collecting bribes from local politicians and sand smugglers, was planning to disperse Diwali gifts to his close friends and other police personnel of the station.

The officials of the DVAC did a surprise check on Friday night and found Rs 2.39 in cash and gift items including 109 cracker boxes and fabrics.

Based on the allegations, Bose was transferred and further investigations are on.

University of Madras to adopt new system for exams

TNN | Nov 5, 2018, 06.32 AM IST

CHENNAI: University of Madras will implement a new system which will help in releasing exam results 15-20 days earlier than usual.

Under the existing system, dummy numbers are assigned to answer-sheets, after which they are sent for evaluation. Examiners enter the marks in foil cards which are collected on alternate days from the respective centres. More than 50,000 foil cards are usually created and for the April exam this year, 12 lakh dummy number slips were created twice, said a university source.

For creation of dummy numbers, around 60 temporary tabulators are engaged for 15 days for data creation of the slips and foil cards, and 10 temporary employees are engaged in the work that goes on for about 10 days.

The dummy numbers and registration numbers of the students are verified manually and corrected. Only after this, the actual processing of results begins. The entire process takes about 27 days.

In the new answer books, the first page will contain two tearable portions with QR codes. Students will fill-in their register number in the upper part and after the exam, the upper part will be removed and sent to the university. The lower part with the QR code will be sent to the valuation centres. The QR code will be read by a scanner and matched with the register number of the student after valuation. There will be no need for a dummy number. It eradicates the possibility of malpractice and will also make the university less vulnerable to re-evaluation scams.

This front page can be scanned and the image can be saved in the database of years and will help in settling disputes. With less manpower and by doing away with the creation of dummy numbers and foil cards, results can be published a lot faster.

This system was given a test run in the instant exams for 1,500 answer scripts held in July. It has been cleared by the Tamil Nadu State Higher Education Council (TANSCHE). It will be implemented in a phased manner from November or December this year sources said.

“We are planning to test this in one of the post-graduate examinations in all affiliated colleges,” said vice-chancellor P Duraisamy. The system would be tried out first for professional courses like MBA, MCA and MSc IT, where around 20,000 students write the exam, he said.

Malaysian woman arrives in TN village in search of lover, seeks police help to trace him

TNN | Nov 5, 2018, 07.43 PM IST

CHENNAI: A 34-year-old Malaysian woman came to Tamil Nadu in search of her lover, Basuvaraj, 32, who is a native of Kundalamalaiyur in Vellore district. After a week-long effort to convince her lover’s family and to meet him went in vain, the woman sought the help of police to trace her missing lover.
All had been well until S Menaga of Johor reached Tirupattur on September 31 to meet Basuvaraj’s family to seek their blessing for their marriage. When she reached the village, her lover’s family chased her away.

The woman approached the district police on Monday, who, in turn, directed the Investigation Unit on Crime against Women to take immediate action.

The woman, mother of two children, said her husband had deserted her and children. On learning about this, Basuvaraj befriended her on social media and fell in love with him. He also promised to marry her and developed a live-in relationship, according to her.

Basuvaraj, who was working as a construction worker in Singapore, returned to his village on September 14. “He called me and said that his family members were looking to find a bride for him. He promised to marry me as per his family tradition in the village and asked me to come here immediately. He gave me his address too,” said Menaka, who had been in relationship with Basuvaraj for more than a year now.

Basuvaraj’s relatives were aware about their relationship and even had spoken to her often over the phone, she said. “They were fine with our relationship and spoke to me nicely. But they act indifferently now. They chased me away when I went to the house,” said Menaga, who came to India on a two-week tourist visa.

The woman had been in touch with her over the phone till September 27. After that, his phone number was not reachable. “I don’t know where he is. I am worried about his safety,” said the woman.