In Pune, those who spit in public have to clean up their act

Vijay.Chavan @timesgroup.com 12.11.2018

Less than a week after an anti-spitting drive was started by the Bibvewadi ward office, the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) solid waste management department has decided to replicate it across all 15 wards in the city. Under the drive — which began on November 3 — anyone found spitting in areas under its jurisdiction are not only being charged a fine but also be made to clean up evidence of their expectoration from roads, footpaths, medians and walls.

Impressed with the aim of the Bibvewadi drive, head of the department, Dnyaneshwar Molak, on Wednesday instructed all his sanitary inspectors to keep vigil at every major chowk and junction in the city and impose a fine of ₹100 of people found spitting.

They will also be asked to clean up their act and this will be captured via videos and photographs. Speaking to Mirror, Avinash Sakpal, assistant commissioner of the Bibvewadi ward, who first initiated this drive, said, “The drive has been much appreciated by citizens as well as from municipal commissioner Saurabh Rao. We are happy that our model is being executed all over the city and hope this will help to maintain the city’s clean and hygiene. Also, we hope it will instil discipline among errant citizens.”

Elaborating further, Molak said, “Replication of the Bibvewadi model will be started across all 15 wards. On Wednesday, we started it in areas under the Ghole Road ward office. Several errant citizens were made to clean up their spit at Balgandharva Chowk, Jangali Maharaj Road, the PMC main building and bus stand area.”

“Initially, we ask them to pay a fine of ₹100. If they fail to do so, then we compel them to clean the dirt. We provide mops and water,” he added.

Baba Inamdar, senior sanitary inspector in charge of this anti-spitting drive, said, “On the very first day, we managed to catch over 20 citizens spitting in public places. This drive will continue indefinitely.”

Cobra gets into bizman’s car, rescued

Tirupur: 12.11.2018

A knitwear industry businessman from Kangeyam and his friend, who were on the way to Madurai in a car on Thursday night, got the shock of their lives seeing a six-foot cobra in the moving car. The panicked duo called a snake handler from Coimbatore, who rescued the snake.

They were headed towards Madurai to attend a wedding. They noticed a cobra on the road while crossing Varattukarai village near Muthur and, thinking they had run over the reptile, they got out of the vehicle and inspected the road. After failing to find it, they carried on their journey. But soon after the car started the snake made an appearance on the bonnet.

They got down from the car and called the fire and rescue department. But as the rescue personnel could not find the snake, the duo then approached a snake charmer. TNN

HC rejects cop’s appeal against graft conviction

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Madurai:12.11.2018

The Madurai bench of the Madras high court refused to set aside a 2008 order by a CBI court, convicting a Delhi police official on graft charges after he was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe from a manpower agent in Madurai and dismissed the appeal petition by the policeman.

In 2005, sub-inspector Mandeep Singh had come from Delhi to Madurai after a passenger, Manthakaruppan was detained at Delhi airport with a fake Malaysian visa.

Manthakaruppan led the police to a manpower agent, Manoharan in Madurai and Mandeep Singh along with a constable rushed to Madurai to investigate and round up others involved in the case. During the course of investigation, Mandeep Singh pressurised Manoharan to pay ₹2 lakh to not array him as an accused. He eventually settled for ₹50,000.

However, Manoharan had complained to the CBI and a trap was laid and Mandeep Singh was caught redhanded with chemical smeared currency notes when he took the cash.

Doc off the hook for death due to wrong anaesthesia

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Madurai:12.11.2018

The Madurai bench of the Madras high court directed the authorities to discharge a government doctor from criminal prosecution in a case of medical negligency.

In 2011, a woman — Rukmani,34, a tailor — was admitted to the Kanyakumari Government Hospital for a birth control operation. She was administered laughing gas (nitrous oxide) instead of oxygen. She died an year later.

The court held that Dr Muthu Shenbagam, assistant surgeon at the Kanyakumari GH, who was in charge of the hospital stores when the incident happened cannot be held guilty for wilful negligence as he cannot be aware of the change of gas by the firm supplying it.

The doctor moved the high court against a trial court order last year which named him one of the accused in a criminal case.

In the petition, the doctor said the woman was administered anaesthesia for the operation, but during the operation her health deteriorated. Following this the anaesthesia was withdrawn. Later, it was found that the cylinder meant to supply oxygen was filled with nitrous oxide (N2O). So, instead of administering a mixture of oxygen and N2O in a specific proportion, the patient was administered N2O alone.

The woman went into a vegetative state and died in May 2012. Subsequent investigations revealed that the gas company had mistakenly filled N20 in a cylinder which was supposed to carry oxygen.

The Asaripallam police, who registered an FIR, included the doctor as one of the accused, as he was in charge of the stores when the incident happened.

The doctor argued that he was off duty on the day of the incident and he was in no way connected with the accident. “Some of the entries found in the indent form were made by the store keeper without my knowledge and I am not responsible for them,” the doctor said. The doctor also submitted that a departmental enquiry exonerated him of the charges.

The court set aside the trial court order and discharged the doctor from criminal proceedings.

Anna Univ brings in examination reforms
Seeks To Refine Process After Evaluation Scam

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com 12.11.2018

Chennai:

In the aftermath of the revaluation scam, Anna University has introduced a slew of examination reforms, including distribution of answer keys, striking down of blank pages and cross-checking 30% of evaluated answer scripts, the university told the Madras high court recently.

G V Uma, former Controller of Examinations, and other faculty members were suspended for their alleged role in the said scam. Besides an ongoing Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Vigilance (DVAC) probe, an internal committee formed to probe the scam found that answer scripts of students were manipulated at evaluation centres. Answer scripts provided to students contain 44 pages. Students, involved in the scam, left the last few pages of the scripts blank and scamsters filled these pages with relevant answers during evaluation.

According to the new assessment schedule introduced by the varsity, students must strike out all unwritten pages of the answer scripts and exam hall supervisors have been told not to collect answer scripts with blank pages.

Also, a proposal has been made to remove the front page of answer scripts before they are handed over to the evaluating faculties. The front page contains students’ register number and number of pages answered, said a senior official from Anna University. “By doing this, the evaluator will not know the students’ identity and cannot fill additional answers,” the official added.

In its affidavit submitted to the court, Anna University said answer keys for all the subject question papers were provided to faculty so that the number of students applying for revaluation comes down.

Besides this, the chairman of the evaluation centre should cross-check at least 30% of answer scripts evaluated by examiners and the number of examiners under a chairman has been reduced from 17 to 10 now, the university submitted.

Further, answer scripts with a difference in the original and re-evaluated score of more than 15 will be scrutinized, the affidavit said.

A 40-day deadline has been set for the Controller of Examinations to finish the re-evaluation process and release the results via website and text messages. Earlier, action was taken against 1,070 faculty members who awarded illogical marks during evaluation.

20% less on Madurai Duronto tickets if 60% seats stay unsold

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 12.11.2018

Chennai: Passengers on the Chennai-Madurai Duronto Express will now get a discount of 20% of the fare if less than 60%of the seats are unsold four days prior to the scheduled departure of the train.

The discount will on for seats sold up till 70% occupancy is registered. Between 70-80% occupancy, the discount would be 10% on the last fare. There would be no discount above that.

This will be applicable for both 22205 Chennai-Madurai and 22206 Madurai-Chennai Duronto Express.

These changes would come into effect from March 15, 2019 for an experimental basis of six months, the Railway Board said in an order on November 6.

For instance, when ticket availability for the Chennai-Madurai Duronto on November 14 was checked on Saturday, the total fare was ₹1135 at a ticket availability of 432 in the third AC class.

This was around 66% occupancy; which means that passengers booking the ticket yesterday for the November 14 train would have gotten the tickets at a fare of around ₹850-950. This brings the fare almost onpar with that of a third AC seat on the Pandian Express, which is the most popular train on the Chennai-Madurai route. A similar seat on Pandian costs ₹815.

Railway sources said the extra fare of around ₹200-300 was the sole reason why Duronto Express ran virtually empty despite taking almost the same travel time on the section. It was operated from Chennai Central and had a stoppage at Salem.

Sources said the average occupancy was only around 30-40% which never picked up. It is a bi-weekly train. The passenger feedback has been that an omni bus ticket would be cheaper than a ticket on Duronto.

However, what is also inexplicable is that a section of passengers are still paying higher fares for Suvidha special trains on the Chennai-Madurai section, which is buttressed by the 80-90% occupancy registered by Southern Railway.

Southern Railway officials are hopeful that the train’s occupancy will pick up once the discount factor is brought in.

A similar scheme has also been announced for the Chennai-Coimbatore Shatabdi, which has a low occupancy during pre-defined lean period (February, March and August), as directed by Railway Board. During the non-lean periods, the maximum flexi fare would be 1.4 times in all classes, the Board said.

BOOST TO TRAVEL

Air India director who was to pilot Delhi-London flight fails alcohol test

Manju.V@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:12.11.2018

About an hour before he was to operate a flight to London, Air India director (operations) Capt Arvind Kathpalia tested positive for alcohol during the mandatory pre-flight breath-analyser test in Delhi on Sunday. This is the second time in less than two years that Capt Kathpalia has been under the scanner for an alcohol-related safety violation.

The 56-year old Capt Kathpalia, who is also on AI’s board of directors, was to command the Delhi-London Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight AI-111, scheduled for a 2.45pm departure. “At 1.29 pm, the Air India medical service department in Delhi airport terminal 3 took the first breathalyser reading and it showed positive for blood alcohol,” said a source. Documents with TOI show the second test was taken after the mandatory 15-20 minutes wait, at 1.50pm. It too showed positive for alcohol. Keeping with the norm, two witnesses took the test on the same breathalyzer instrument and the printouts of their readings, which showed negative for alcohol, were recorded along with their signatures. Meanwhile, AI-111 departed at 4pm with another commander at the controls.

Being the director (operations), Capt Kathpalia is in charge of overall management of AI’s flight operations. He is in charge of ensuring safe and efficient flight operations. He was promoted to this post in March last year, while only a month before that, in February, the India aviation regulator had suspended his pilot licence for three months for skipping a breathalyzer test and tampering with medical records. Air India did not respond despite repeated requests.

Co-pilot skips test, flight called back

About 10 minutes after taking off, an Air India Delhi-Bangkok flight was asked to return to Delhi after it was found that the first officer hadn't undergone the mandatory pre-flight breathalyser test. The officer was grounded on return. The flight finally took off seven hours behind schedule late on Sunday morning. AI spokesperson did not comment on the issue.

Capt Kathpalia’s brush with alcohol began a year ago

Reporting for flying duties with alcohol in blood is considered a criminal offence in several countries. Early this month, on November 1, Japan Airlines issued a public apology after one of its co-pilots failed the alcohol test minutes before operating a London-Tokyo flight. The co-pilot was placed under arrest by the London metropolitan police under the British aviation law.

Every year, about 20 flight crew fail the breathalyzer test in India. While drunk driving is a criminal offence in India under the Motor Vehicles Act, reporting for flying duty with alcohol in blood isn’t a criminal offence under the Indian Aircraft Act.

In India, the relevant Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) air safety norm states that “the level of blood alcohol compatible with safe flying is ‘Zero’, which is also recommended by International Civil Aviation Organization.”

“Even 12 hours after a bout of drink, when blood alcohol level remains zero, there is decrement in task performance. Alcohol present in body even in small quantities jeopardises flight safety,” the DGCA norm states. But the enforcement action is suspension of licence for three months for a firsttime offender and suspension of licence for three years for a second-time offender. Pilot licence is cancelled after the third time.

Capt Kathpalia’s brush with alcohol cases began over a year ago. On August 24, 2017, on the directions of additional chief metropolitan magistrate, Delhi, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), an Air India pilots’ union, had filed an FIR with the IGI police against Capt Kathpalia and former joint director general, DGCA, Lalit Gupta, for allegedly helping Capt Kathpalia.

The matter pertained to the Delhi-Bengaluru flight AI-174 that Capt Kathpalia operated on January 19, 2017. Neither did he undergo the mandatory preflight breathalyser test in Delhi nor did he agree to a post-flight breathalyzer test in Bengaluru, the ICPA alleged in a letter sent last year to then civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju.

When he landed in Delhi later in the day, he went to the AI pre-flight medical examination room and made a false entry in the pre-flight breath-analyzer examination register for the flight he had operated, the ICPA letter alleged, adding it had gathered CCTV footage as evidence of the act.

Full story in www.toi.in