TN consumer forum gets notice over pay dispute of staff

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:15.08.2019

State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has sought a report from the registrar of State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC) and the pay and accounts officer at the Madras high court as to why the salary for the non-judicial member of SCDRC has not been paid at revised rates.

S M Murugesshan, member, SCDRC, had earlier written to the authorities concerned airing his grievance. According to his petition, the Supreme Court in August 2018 had suggested measures after a committee was formed to inspect the composition and functioning of consumer forums at district and state level throughout the country.

Accordingly, a government order was passed by the Tamil Nadu government on September 7, 2018.

According to Murugesshan’s petition, he had sent representations to the chief secretary, the registrar of SCDRC, but has not received any response.

He also sought directions from the commission to instruct the registrar, SCDRC and concerned authorities to give him ₹10 lakh as compensation.

SR cancels eight trains

Chennai:15.08.2019

Southern Railway has announced cancellation of eight trains. An official release said train no.12163 Dadar – Chennai Egmore Express from August 15 to 22,

train no.12164 Chennai Egmore - Dadar Express from August 17 to 22, 

Ahmedabad- Chennai Central bi-weekly express train no.19420 on August 17 and 21,

 train no.19419 weekly express from Chennai Central to Ahmedabad on August 18 and 22, 

the train between Sainagar Shirdi - Chennai Central 22602 bi-weekly express on August 23, 

train no.22601 Chennai Central - Sainagar Shirdi weekly express on August 21, 

train no.22919 Chennai Central - Ahmedabad Humsafar express on August 21, 

train no.22920 Ahmedabad - Chennai Central Humsafar express on August 19, will be cancelled.

FOR 3 TRANSPORT CORPORATIONS

MTC gets 235 swanky new buses
Part Of Fleet Of 500 Buses For State Corporations

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:15.08.2019

Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday flagged off 500 new buses purchased at a cost of ₹154 crore for different transport corporations in the state.

The lion’s share of the fleet, 235 buses, will go to Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) in Chennai.

The State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) got 118 buses, while the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) got 147 buses — 60 for the Salem division, 25 for Kumbakonam, 14 for Tirunelveli, 18 for Villupuram, 16 for Coimbatore and 14 for Madurai. “All the new buses are as per the All India motor vehicle quality control (AIS-052-ARAI) design and approval for bus body. They have several new features. For the sake of passengers getting in and out of the buses, the footboard will be at a lower level and the doors will be automatic,” said a press release.

Other features include independent seats as in MTC buses, a bigger gangway for passengers to stand without

choking each other in case the vehicle is crowded , announcement of the various stops, a stick holding rink and a reminder bell when the stops arrive for the differently-abled passengers, an LED route board, fan, reverse horn with sensor for drivers and LED tubelights.

Deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam, ministers, chief secretary K Shanmugam and other senior officials were present on the occasion. Later, Palaniswami, Panneerselvam and some of their ministerial colleagues went inside a few of the buses and posed for pictures .

The new SETC buses, have been provided with sleeper facilities and toilets, said the release. On behalf of the transport department, nearly ₹1,500 crore has been spent in two phases to purchase 5000 new buses and orders have been issued. “In the last two and half years, 4381 new buses have been introduced at a cost of ₹1,314 crore,” said the release.

Of the 4,381 buses, TNSTC (Villupuram and Kumbakonam) received the maximum number of buses, 823, followed by MTC with 695 buses, TNSTC (Salem) 652 and Coimbatore 476. Madurai and Tirunelveli have received 219 and 201 buses.

BRAND NEW: A lower level footboard, automatic doors, and a reminder bell for the disabled are among the new features

Man, 32, leaps to death from 26th floor

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:15.08.2019

A 32-year-old man allegedly committed suicide by jumping from the 26th floor of an apartment in Sozhinganallur on Tuesday.

Police said Eashwar Rao of Andhra Pradesh used to work in a software firm in the locality. The incident happened at Pinnacle Crest apartments around 11.30 pm.

Police said Rao visited the apartment in the morning on the day and returned there in the evening after meeting his aunt's family in Nungambakkam. Around midnight, a security guard heard a loud sound near the garden on the second floor of the Block 2. They rushed to the area and found a man lying dead in a pool of blood.

Later, the Semmanchery police sent body to Government Royapettah Hospital for postmortem. Preliminary investigations revealed Rao lost his parents and was addicted to drugs. “He lost his job as well. He used to stay with friends. He was last staying in Thoraipakkam,” said police. The apartment residents said he often visited the gym in the building and added that he must be known to someone in the apartment to gain entry.

Crowds pack Kanchi temple two days before end of Athi Varadar fest

Ex-PM Gowda, Rajini, Wife Were Among Visitors

Sivakumar.B@timesgroup.com

Chennai:15.08.2019

In two days, the idol of Athi Varadar is set to go back into the tank at Kancheepuram’s Devarajaperumal temple where it had remained for 40 years and the number of devotees arriving for darshan has soared, keeping the authorities on their toes.

Since midnight on Tuesday, a host of VVIPs including superstar Rajinikanth and his wife and former Prime Minister Deve Gowda along with his son and former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumarasamy had streamed into the shrine. Rajinikanth and his wife, who remained in the shrine for about 30 miniutes, were honoured with shawls and garlands and a special arathi was performed, sources in the temple administration said. As the couple were about to leave, the star struck priests snapped pictures of the star and took selfies with him.

Later, Deve Gowda and Kumarasamy came along with their families.

“It is due to God’s blessings that we had very good rainfall this year and the Cauvery river is flooding. Both (Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) are sharing the water and farmers from both the states will benefit. We had good a darshan of the Lord,” Gowda told reporters.

K S Masthan, DMK legislator from Chengam assembly constituency who came with his family memebers, told reporters that he was excited to see a statue that would again be seen by the public only after 40 years and added that he had no problem in going to a temple though he was a Muslim.

On Thursday, Kancheepuram collector K Ponnaiah said, VIP darshan will be stopped at 12pm for a special ritual (garuda sevai) and resumed at 5pm. Devotees in the general queue, however, will be allowed to stream in throughout the day.

“Similarly, there will be no separate queue for VIPs and VVIPs on the last day,” said Ponniah.

Devotees on the last day will be allowed from 5am until all those in the queue have had darshan. “...After this we will not allow anyone in and the preparation to take the statue back into the water body will start,” said the collector.

Ponnaiah, who had been caught in a controversy after a video showing him scolding a policeman went viral on social media, on Wednesday was effusive in his praise of officials from all departments for having made the 48-day festival, which began on July 1, a success. “Except for a few policemen, all others from police as well as from other departments have done excellent work and have helped the devotees. Nearly 80 lakh devotees have so far had darshan,” said Ponniah.

TILL THE FEST LASTS: Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda visits Devarajaswamy temple in Kancheepuram on Wednesday. Other VVIP’s who visited the temple on the day included his son and former Karnataka chief minister H D Kumarasamy, actor Rajinikanth and his wife. With just two days to go before the idol of Athi Varadar is placed back into the tank inside the temple, the number of devotees visiting the temple has increased

HC dismisses plea seeking direction to govt to extend festival by ten more days
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:15.08.2019

The Madras high court on Wednesday refused to direct the state government to extend Athi Varadar dharsan by 10 more days and warned the petitioner, a Vaishnava organisation, of imposing ₹1 lakh as cost for moving such a plea.

Such decisions can be taken only by the state government and the department concerned, Justice P D Audikesavalu said while dismissing the plea moved by International Sri Vaishnava Ramanuja Samrajaya Sabha.

When the plea came up for hearing, the petitioner submitted that the chief minister has already expressed his willingness to extend the darshan days.

Denying any such statement from the chief minister, the government informed the court that the state has already decided not to extend the darshan days and that the idol would be placed inside the tank as scheduled on August 17.

Recording the submission, the court dismissed the plea, granting liberty to the petitioner to seek the relief through a PIL before the appropriate bench.

Similarly, while hearing a separate plea moved by K Ashokan, a resident of West Mambalam seeking direction to the authorities to clean and renovate the temple tank before immersing Athi Varadar into it, the court directed the Tamil Nadu State Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to test the quality of the water before filling it in “Anantha Saras” in which “Adi Athi Varadar” is going to rest for another 40 years.

According to petitioner, owing to the climate change and various other anthropocentric reasons, the temple tanks in various other places had become unusable.

The district administrations and the officials of TNPCB had found the tanks are uninhabitable to the organisms. Based on research, the authorities had zeroed in on bioremediation to clean the tanks. The same treatment is required for the tank in Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kanchipuram.

The ‘Anantha Saras’, where the idol of Athi Varadar is going to be immersed for the next 40 years, is also uninhabitable to the organisms, petitioner claimed.


The court warned the petitioner, a Vaishnava organisation, of imposing ₹1 lakh as cost for moving such a plea

Pay 1k for riding without helmet

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

15.08.2019

With higher penalties for traffic violations such as riding without a helmet and drunk driving, the revised fines for traffic offences is all set to be implemented in Chennai this week.

For those riding without helmets, the fine will be ₹1,000 and a three-month suspension of licence.

The revised system will focus on underage motorists. In case of accidents involving such riders or drivers, the guardian or owner of the vehicle will be held responsible. They will have to pay ₹25,000 as penalty or undergo three years’ imprisonment. The amended act provides for a penalty of ₹10,000 on anyone blocking the way of an ambulance. Bikers who engage in racing will have to pay a penalty of ₹5,000.

Officials who earlier had powers to impound documents can now cancel licences.