MTC asked to pay ₹13L relief to injured cyclist

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
20.11.2019

A Chennai accident claims tribunal has directed Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) to pay ₹13.29lakh as compensation to a passenger who suffered injuries due to the rash and negligent driving by a bus driver.

According to the petition by M Meenakshi (40) of Salladaiyanpet, her bicycle was knocked down by a rashly driven MTC bus near Perumbakkam Main Road, in 2016. The woman was a vegetable vendor and as a result of the accident, she suffered 70% disability.

In response, MTC submitted that the cyclist was riding the vehicle in an unsafe manner and that the driver gave way for her, but she skid and fell near the left bumper of the bus and sustained injuries.

MTC said that contributory negligence had to be fixed on the woman.

After examining the submissions and documentary evidence, the tribunal noted that the accident happened only due to the rash and negligent driving by MTC bus driver. The tribunal also assessed the disability certificate from the regional medical board, which held the woman’s functional disability at 70%. She had suffered brain injury too.

After computing her loss of income, medical expenses and other factors, the tribunal held that the woman was eligible for a compensation of ₹13.29lakh. The tribunal directed MTC to deposit the amount within two months.

Sugar cardholders can change to rice: Govt

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:20.11.2019

The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday announced a special week-long drive for 10.19 lakh family card holders who had opted for sugar in the public distribution system (PDS) to change their cards to avail of all commodities, including rice. The move would entitle a family to get 5kg of rice per person (including a child) per month free of cost.

The average monthly off-take of rice in PDS is 3.13 lakh metric tonne. “Majority of those with sugar cards have demanded that the cards be changed to get rice and chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has issued an order to that effect,” food minister C Kamaraj said.

All that the sugar cardholders will have to do is to submit applications with the Xerox copies from November 19 to 26. This can be done through www.tnpds.gov.in or block supply officials and assistant commissioners of the civil supplies department in the region.

The minister said the government would take speedy action to consider the applications and change the cards for rice.

All cardholders now get 500gmsper head a month subject to a maximum of 2kg a month. In the case of sugar cardholders, they are entitled to get 500gm per head a month plus an additional 3kg of sugar subject to a maximum of 5kg a month. The PDS outlets collect ₹13.5 a kg for Antyodaya Anna Yojana cards and ₹25 for all other cards.

NEWS DIGEST

NEET case: HC grants interim relief to student

Directing a student to cooperate with the inquiry in connection with the NEET impersonation case, the Madras high court has granted interim relief to him by asking the authorities not to arrest him till November 28. V Ravikumar and his son, residents of Chennai, filed two separate petitions before the high court seeking anticipatory bail as a case was registered against them in connection with NEET impersonation. Ravikumar said his son had cleared NEET and the allegation of impersonation in the exam arose due to mismatch of photograph in the hall ticket. When the case came up for hearing on Tuesday, Justice G R Swaminathan inquired as to whether the student was involved in impersonation. However, the student said he himself had appeared for the examination.

DVAC books Tamil Univ ex-VC for graft: The Department of Vigilance and Anti Corruption has booked the former vice-chancellor and former registrar of Tamil University in Thanjavur and two others for malpractices and irregularities in the appointment of faculty and non-teaching staff at the institution during their tenure. Dr G Baskaran, former vicechancellor, S Muthukumar, former registrar, G Sakthisaravanan, personal assistant to the former VC, and N Baskaran, former director of distance education, Tamil University, were booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Photo of abandoned girl released: The Trichy district administration on Tuesday released the photo of a four-month-old girl found abandoned on a bathing ghat at Mannachanallur in Trichy on July 19. Locals rescued the infant and Childline volunteers admitted her in the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital. After basic treatment, the baby was kept in the hospital. She was named Prathiksha. The baby was later handed over to Saranalayam, an adoption centre in Coimbatore with a temporary custody order by the child welfare committee of Trichy.

Two trucks gutted in fire at Tasmac godown: Two trucks parked outside a Tasmac godown at Thuvakudi in Trichy were gutted on Tuesday. Security guards on duty at the godown found one of the trucks on fire around 6am. The fire spread to the other vehicle parked nearby. On being alerted, fire and rescue services personnel from the Navalpattu station rushed to the spot. A fire tender was deployed. One more team of firemen from BHEL also joined the operation. The teams extinguished the fire in 40 minutes, but by then both the vehicles were gutted. Preliminary inquiries revealed that the trucks were parked at the godown around 11pm on Monday to load liquor for supply in neighbouring districts.

Teacher suspended for corporal punishment: A mathematics teacher in Alangariyur panchayat union middle school in Erode district was on Tuesday suspended for resorting to corporal punishment. Selvaraj S of Bhavani beat 12 Class VII girls after they allegedly failed to complete homework given by him, A Eesan, a villager said. Soon, the district school education authorities and police reached the school. After inquiry, Bhavani district education officer K Palani suspended Selvaraj.

Changes to flight timings, gates to be notified faster

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:20.11.2019

With the new boarding gate management system in place, passengers at Chennai airport will no longer have to rush from one boarding gate to another at the last minute as it will provide real time details on changes in flight timings, boarding gates and others on the flight information display screens at the terminals.

So far, the system was used only in Bengaluru airport. This is the first time the system is introduced at an Airports Authority of India (AAI) airport. There are plans to introduce it at all AAI airports in the future after it is tried out in Chennai.

Airport director S Sreekumar said airline staff will be able to update changes at the boarding gate itself and need not call up Airports Operation Control Centre (AOCC) every time they want to make a change.

“This was causing a delay in updating the information. The new system will also reduce the number of calls to the control centre thereby reducing the workload of staff,” he added.

As the changes will be fed into the system by the airline staff and airport staff immediately, all agencies involved in flight operations will be able to view the updates.

At most times, staff know about the changes in flight schedule and boarding gates well in advance but there’s a delay in communicating it to the passengers, leading to confusion and passengers are pushed to rush from one gate to another at the last minute as the announcement is made only when it gets closer to the boarding time.

Boarding gates are assigned to aircrafts almost an hour or two before departure so that it will reflect on the boarding pass. But because of constraints in the apron area and delay in arrival of flights, sometimes an incoming aircraft gets assigned to another gate.

This happens quite often because domestic carriers use the same aircraft to fly to multiple destinations and there will be delays in Chennai when there is air congestion at another airport.

“AOCC used to get hundreds of such calls with requests to update the changes. This was increasing the workload. The new system will help conserve manpower, space and machinery at the control centre,” he added.

Check-in counters and boarding gates have already been designed for use by any airline. The airport is also looking at e-boarding by which passengers can scan a barcode on their phones and walk in. This will be introduced in the new integrated terminal for passengers who register in DiGi Yatra system.

The new boarding gate management system at Chennai airport will provide real time details on changes in flight timings, boarding gates and otherss on the flight information display screens at the terminals

‘6 med colleges to be set up as per int’l norms’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:20.11.2019

Minister for health and family welfare C Vijayabaskar on Tuesday said the six medical colleges coming up in different parts of the state would be established as per international standards. On the sidelines of an event in the city, the minister told reporters that steps were being taken to prepare blueprints for the upcoming medical colleges in Dindigul, Namakkal, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, the Nilgiris and Tiruppur districts.

Govt buses caught fleecing public, charge ₹10 to₹40 extra per ticket

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:20.11.2019

Fleecing customers is not a practice seen only among private buses or autorickshaws. Government buses too have joined the party as RTI replies reveal that more than 40 government buses collected between ₹10 and ₹40 extra per ticket from every passenger they have catered to since 2018.

These buses, which were to be operated as ordinary services, were run as express services that charge 1.2 to 1.5 times more than ordinary ones. A handful of cases are booked for the sake of it, but more than 500 violations can be identified across the state every day, activists said.

Any bus operator, be it the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) or private operators, is to collect fares as approved by the regional transport (district collectors) or state authorities based on permits issued, trip length, timing and type of service. Rules mandate all operators to exhibit a table with these fares in buses. But, many choose to give this rule the slip and collect excess fare.

In light of this issue, transportation activist Kathirmathiyon conducted a sample survey along 42 routes in west TN. He filed a series of RTI petitions seeking the approved fare tables and travelled in these buses to find out how much a ticket really costs. “Besides operating ordinary as express services, TNSTC Coimbatore has added stops illegally and has submitted wrong details about trip length while applying for permits,” he said.

Similar violations by TNSTC Villupuram were identified by activists in Chennai. While the approved fare for travel between Poonamalle and Tiruvallur is ₹31 per ticket for 29km, conductors collected ₹35.

“Instead of levying fines, regional transport offices should either suspend conductors’ licences or bus permits. The transport commissioner has written about this to his subordinates at least five times in the last two years, but there hasn’t been one suspension,” Kathirmathiyon said.

An official from TNSTC Coimbatore said, “No excess fare was collected even in special buses operated during Diwali. Express services are operated only when the length of the trip exceeds 80km. We operate 214 express and 1,028 ordinary services.”

Govt vows to follow 8-hour duty rule for PG docs at hospitals

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:20.11.2019

The system of eight hours of duty on shifts will be strictly adhered to for post-graduate medical students in government medical college hospitals, but depending on exigencies, they would have to work beyond hours considering the nobility of the profession, the government informed the Madras high court on Tuesday.

M Indumathi, deputy director of medical education, also assured the court that a proper and effective mechanism should be put in place on the compliance of a communication dated July 9, 2015, in connection with the duty hours of PG medical students.

Recording the submission, a division bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and N Seshasayee observed that when a considerable amount of public money is spent to make such persons doctors, we should also preserve them to serve the society.

The issue pertains to a plea moved by doctor G R Ravindranath, general secretary of Doctors Association for Social Equality, seeking to implement 8-hour duty for PG students instead of the present 24/7 duty. When the plea came up for hearing, the petitioner submitted that despite the communication dated July 9, 2015, the eight-hour duty time is hardly implemented, and PG students are compelled to work round the clock even without a weekly holiday.

“The notification was issued as a result of continuous agitations and representations made by the medical students’ community as well as social welfare organisations and doctors. The failure on the part of the directorate of medical education to implement the guidelines is causing serious consequences in the life of the post graduate and UG CRRI students,” the petitioner said.

Non-implementation of the notification is in total violation of the basic human rights of the students, he added.