Chennai cops pool Rs 70000 to help Sudanese man go home

Mohammed Al Musthafa was held in August last year for allegedly threatening some boys with a knife when they tried to pick a fight.

Published: 07th April 2019 01:19 AM 

Musthafa with his benefactors

By Sahaya Novinston Lobo

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Twenty-seven-year-old Sudan national Mohammed Al Musthafa will be able to see his family in Khartoum after three years thanks to Chennai cops who pooled in close to Rs 70,000 to help him go home. Mustafa came to India in 2010. He failed his college final exams in 2016. He went to Sudan and returned the same year to re-take the exam but failed. His visa expired in 2017.


“I did not have money for studies or to go home. I stayed in Chennai from February 2018 on Marina Beach, doing odd jobs,” he said. On August 2, 2018, he was held by Marina police for allegedly threatening some boys with a knife when they tried to pick a fight. He was released in December.

“Last week, he came asking help to go home. We contacted his parents but they said they did not have money,” said a police officer. With commissioner AK Viswanathan’s nod, the cops pooled in some Rs 70,000 for flight tickets and expenses. His friends gave Rs 8,000.

He left for Sudan on Saturday. “He was overwhelmed as he hadn’t visited his family in three years. He wants to do farming,” said Inspector S Jayaraj, who made the arrangements.

Chennai: Safe walk ahead for Tambaram residents

Official sources from the State Highways department confirmed that the work will be over by November 2019. The total length of the skywalk-cum-FoB is proposed to be 240 m.

Published: 06th April 2019 07:27 AM |

The State Highways department began the construction of the FoB in January 2018 at a cost of Rs 17 crore | Martin Louis

By KV Navya

Express News Service

CHENNAI: In six months, crossing over to Tambaram railway station from West Tambaram bus terminus and vice versa, across the bustling Grand Southern Trunk (GST) Road will be much safer as the construction of Foot over Bridge (FoB) will be completed by then.

Following numerous fatal accidents, where pedestrians were mostly hit by vehicles while trying to cross GST -National Highway 45 - the State Highways department began the construction of the FoB in January 2018 at a cost of Rs 17 crore. According to official data, nearly 60,000 pedestrians cross that point, daily.

Official sources from the State Highways department confirmed that the work will be over by November 2019. The total length of the skywalk-cum-FoB is proposed to be 240 m. It will enable people from West Tambaram bus terminus to reach Tambaram railway station directly.

“Work only began in June 2018 as the initial six months went off in obtaining clearance from several departments including Railway Traffic. Also, as the road is very busy, we only have permission to work from 11 pm to 4 am. We will complete the work before November, this year,” said an official from the State Highways department.

Additional facilities include installation of CCTV cameras, ramps, escalator, e-toilet and construction of a ticket counter at the point where the skywalk meets the station’s FoB. Though there is a pedestrian subway nearby, there is not much public patronage. Hawkers and small traders take up much of the subway, and the lights seldom work. So, the intended beneficiaries instead prefer to cross the road. “The subway is frequented by tipplers at night and incidents of groping are common. So, we avoid the subway and prefer to cross the road amid zipping vehicles instead. An FoB will be very helpful,” said R Miriyam, a college student. In 2014, authorities were forced to make a gap in the median and create a pedestrian crossing with a signal.

KR Gopalan, a resident of Chromepet, said traffic is chaotic at the point where the FoB is coming up, especially during weekends when mofussil buses wait on the road. Adding to the chaos, private buses take over much of the space on the eastern side of the GST Road. “Most of the FoBs in the city are vandalised, filled with garbage and serve no purpose. The officials must ensure that this FoB is well-maintained,” he said.

Daniel John a reisdent of Selaiyur said, “The traffic police are deployed near the crossing only during rush hours, and motorists don’t pay heed to the pedestrian signal.”

Medavakkam flyover in Chennai sees further delay of 18 months

Officials said that land acquisition issues have been sorted out and wqork on the remaining part of the flyover began last month.

Published: 06th April 2019 07:31 AM 

The width of the bridge will be 24m | Martin Louis

By KV Navya

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The traffic snarls on Velachery-Tambaram Road might continue till September 2020 as the work on the Medavakkam flyover, which began in 2016 will take at least another 18 months to be completed, confirmed officials from the State Highways department.

“The original bidder for the project was replaced by a new one in December 2018 as they failed to complete their work on time. Land acquisition issues have been sorted out and the work on the rest of the 65 per cent of the flyover began last month,” said an official from the State Highways department.

The flyover is being built at a cost of Rs 250 crore. The width of the bridge is 24 m while the service road will be 7.5 m on both sides.

Commuters travelling on the road have been suffering for the past few years due to flyover construction and delay in execution.

“Ever since the construction of the flyover began, we are witnessing bottlenecks even during non-peak hours, and the road has been narrowed drastically. Parking encroachments on either side of the road add to our woes,” said R Aswin, a regular commuter, adding that it is a task to drive at night.
According to official data, more than 60,000 vehicles ply on the Velachery-Tambaram Road as it connects East Coast Road (ECR) with the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR). Numerous schools, colleges and residences are located along the stretch.

“We dread living in the area as our homes have turned into dust bowls due to the construction. The officials keep promising that the work will be completed in six months, but we have been suffering for the past three years,” said Kamini Lal, a resident of Medavakkam.

The section of the flyover that will carry traffic from Tambaram to Velachery crossing three junctions — Medavakkam-Mambakkam, Sholinganallur-Medavakkam and Mount-Medavakkam — will be 2.3-km long. The other section, which will allow motorists through from the other direction, will be 1.5-km in length.

High Court enhances compensation awarded to widow

STAFF REPORTER

MADURAI, APRIL 07, 2019 00:00 IST

Dismisses appeal by insurance company

Taking into account the plight of a widow, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court enhanced the compensation awarded by a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal. The court dismissed the appeal preferred by the insurance company against the tribunal’s order.

Justice N. Kirubakaran observed that it was cruel the woman had lost her husband when she was 29 years.

She might have had to face social stigma and mental agony as a result. Even the sight of a widow was not considered auspicious in our conservative society, for which, we should hang our face in shame, the court said.

Even after decades of social advancements and works of leaders like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Mahatma Gandhi, still women are not treated equally.


The court enhanced the compensation awarded by the tribunal from Rs. 4.49 lakh to Rs. 16 lakh along with an interest of 7.5% till the date of realisation.

The court directed the National Insurance Company to pay the compensation to the widow, her two minor children and her father-in-law within two weeks from the date of the order.

It is said that in 2003 the husband of the woman from Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district, a temple priest, met with an accident when his two-wheeler was hit by a tractor that was taking a reverse. Subsequently, he succumbed to his injuries.

However, when it was argued that the deceased had in fact hit a stationary vehicle, the court refused the argument and observed that when there was an inconsistency or contradiction between the FIR and the statement on oath, the statement of oath should be given evidentiary value, as per a Supreme Court ruling.

Kancheepuram: a tale of years of neglect

R. Sivaraman

CHENNAI, APRIL 07, 2019 00:00 IST




Non-implementation of a silk park and failure to desilt lakes stand out as major issues in the reserved constituency

It is a direct contest between the ruling AIADMK and the main opposition DMK at Kancheepuram, an ancient town famous for its fine temples and silk sarees.

Maragatham Kumaravel, the sitting MP representing the AIADMK, defeated DMK’s Vedal G. Selvam, in 2014, by a margin of 1.46 lakh votes in the Kancheepuram Lok Sabha (reserved) constituency. Interestingly, in 2019, they are pitted against each other again.

In between, the DMK won five of the Assembly segments, which comprise the Lok Sabha constituency, and the party feels the anti-incumbency wave will work in its favour.

Meanwhile, the Thiruporur Assembly constituency is facing a bypoll after the MLA, M. Kothandapani of the AIADMK, was disqualified after he supported rebel leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran.

Non-implementation of a silk park and a 4,000 megawatt ultra mega power project in Cheyyur, the failure to desilt major lakes, lack of underground drainage and drinking water supply facilities in urban areas and the non-availability of full-fledged medical facilities are key issues facing the electorate here.

Tourist attractions

Apart from Kancheepuram, it has other historical towns — like Mamallapuram, Uthiramerur and Maduranthakam, that are major tourist attractions — huge tracts of agricultural fields and lakes.

J.S. Selvam, an office-bearer of the Silk Weavers Cooperative Federation, said: “Ten years have passed since the Central government announced a silk park. There has been no progress. The welfare of handloom weavers has also been neglected.”

Kancheepuram town is plagued by a host of civic issues.

K. Bethuraj, organiser of the Gandhi Makkal Iyakkam, said the rulers had failed to provide underground drainage facilities and water supply to extended areas.

Lacking in facilities

“We are facing problems every day and the traffic is also bad. There is no long-term plan to create facilities to meet the needs of the town, despite rapid industrialisation in the district over the past two decades.”

D. Chozhan, a Siddha doctor and social worker in Uthiramerur, said, “The MP has not made frequent visits to redress the grievances. The large lake of Uthiramerur was not desilted despite her promise to augment water supply to 200 villages.” A large number of farmers and agricultural labourers are solely dependant on the water from the lakes in the constituency, he added.

“The present MP adopted a village called Orathi, but has not brought about any improvement.

Cheyyur and Maduranthakam have potential to attract investments, but they remain neglected. Even after a decade, the proposed ultra mega-power project is yet to take off,” said M. Srikanth, a social activist from Melmaruvathur.

Shrugging off criticism, Ms. Kumaravel said, “I have implemented many schemes the people wanted and a few more are pending. The BJP-led alliance will win the elections and we will be able to get projects our way.”

Rising prices

Mr. Selvam, the DMK candidate, said, “The price of LPG cylinders, cable TV and essential commodities are too high. So, there is a strong anti-incumbency wave in the constituency.” He promises more express trains to Chennai, healthcare facilities and employment opportunities.

The constituency has over 25% Scheduled Caste population and there are 21 candidates in the fray.

RECHRISTENED

Central renamed 1 mth after PM’s vow
EC Gives ‘No Objection’ With Riders

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:07.04.2019

Within three days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to rename Central railway station after former chief minister M G Ramachandran in his first election rally after striking an alliance with AIADMK, the Union government commenced its action to swiftly clear the proposal. The election commission gave the nod with some riders though: No propaganda shall be undertaken by any party to derive any political mileage from the move and no event shall be organised for renaming the station.

Following clearances from the Centre, Tamil Nadu government on Friday renamed Chennai railway station as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr M G Ramachandran Central Railway Station. “The name of Chennai Central Railway Station situated in Chennai, Chennai district, Tamil Nadu, shall be changed as per the following schedule, from the date of issuance of this notification,” chief secretary Girija Vaidyanathan said in her order, which has been notified in an extraordinary gazette. The state cabinet had passed a resolution in September last year, recommending the Centre to rename the station on the sidelines of the former chief minister’s centenary celebrations.

Wasting no time, the Union home ministry headed by Rajnath Singh communicated its ‘no objection’ to the change of name on March 9. The Railway Board under Piyush Goyal’s ministry received the election commission’s clearance on March 20, within less than a week of its request. In a communication to the chief secretary on March 26, a copy of which is available with TOI, Railway Board executive director passenger marketing, Neeraj Sharma, conveyed the election commission’s “no objection”, exempting it from the purview of the model code of conduct. However, it came with some conditions.

One of the conditions is that, “There shall be no inaugural function in which political parties are invited either by the ministry and or by the Tamil Nadu government.” No hoardings of the former chief minister along with political leaders of Tamil Nadu shall be displayed on this occasion anywhere till the election process is completed was another condition. Yet another condition was: No other propaganda shall be undertaken by any political party in print/electronic and any other form of media to derive any political mileage from the renaming of the station. Southern Railway general manager in charge of Tamil Nadu and chief electoral officer of Tamil Nadu shall ensure strict observance/enforcement of the instructions.

Modi, while participating in the election rally at Kilambakkam on March 6, announced the decision to rename the station.

Puratchi Thalaivar Dr M G Ramachandran Central Railway Station

Hosp gets nod for spl cancer therapy

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:07.04.2019

Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre has got the approval of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board to use highdose isotope therapy to test treatments for thyroid and neuroendocrine cancers. Isotopes are radioactive material that can kill the cancer cells, but AERB regulates the safe usage of these.

A press release said it has been providing nuclear scans and low-dose isotope therapies since 1995. “SRMC now has all facilities for diagnosis and treatment of various cancers,” the release said.