Rain to continue till Wednesday

Deficit for the season wiped out

03/12/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

Though the city did not experience heavy showers on Monday, the sky remained overcast. B. Jothi Ramalingam

While rain is likely to ease in the northern parts of the State, southern T.N. will continue to receive rainfall for two more days, the Meteorological Department has said.

Heavy rain over the weekend has wiped out the deficit for the season. Tamil Nadu has received about 40 cm of rainfall so far, against its seasonal share of 36 cm — a 11% excess. It needs just 4 cm more to reach its average for the season, officials said.

During the 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m. on Monday, Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district received very heavy rainfall of 18 cm, the highest in the State for the day. Coonoor in the Nilgiris and Palaviduthi in Karur district each recorded 13 cm of rainfall.

Trough the reason

A trough that runs from the southwest Bay of Bengal, off Sri Lanka’s coast, to the south Tamil Nadu coast will influence rain for the next few days.

S. Balachandran, Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Chennai, said a low pressure area over the Lakshadweep area and the adjoining southeast Arabian Sea also influenced good easterly flow, which was favourable for wet weather in Tamil Nadu.

“The present rain spell will continue. While south Tamil Nadu will receive scattered rainfall, the intensity and spatial coverage of rain will be less in the northern parts of the State,” he said. There are chances of heavy rain in one or two places on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The weather stations in Nungambakkam and Meenambakkam recorded 4 cm and 6 cm respectively. Chennai will experience light to moderate showers till Wednesday.

Nearly 107 minor and major tanks in Kancheepuram and Chengalpattu districts have reached their capacity in the past three days.

Rainwater inundates Chromepet GH

Dialysis unit shut, OPD ward shifted to first floor of hospital

03/12/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

Flirting with danger: Despite a warning, children play in floodwaters at Vempakkam in Kancheepuram on Monday. B. Velankanni Raj

Sunday’s heavy rains caused flooding at the Chromepet Government Hospital, forcing the hospital authorities to shift some of the wards to the first floor and also shut down the dialysis unit.

The government hospital, located on GST Road, was flooded after a small stretch of the road was inundated near the MIT flyover.

The inundation of a portion of the ground floor of the hospital caused severe inconvenience to patients. The flooding occurred despite a stormwater drain on GST Road, hospital officials said.

“Water entered the outpatient ward, forcing us to shift it to the first floor. The dialysis unit functioning in the ground floor had to be closed and the equipment was shifted to the first floor,” said a senior doctor at the hospital.

V. Santhanam, whose house abuts the compound of the Chromepet GH, said that whenever there is heavy rain, the hospital faces inundation and this has been happening for more than a decade.

Lake encroachment

He said that the encroachment of the Veeraghavan Eri located nearby was the reason for the flooding of the hospital as it was on a low level.

He urged the government to construct additional floors to accommodate the various wards located in the ground floor and convert the ground floor into a parking area.

The hospital authorities said the Public Works Department had deputed an assistant engineer to take necessary steps to drain out the rainwater.

Steps on to close channel

Pallavaram Municipality officials said that steps had been taken to close the channel near the railway track in Chromepet through which water overflowed on to the GST Road. The blockages had been identified in three places in the drain network on GST Road, including the one near the government hospital, the officials added.

T.N. rural local body polls on Dec. 27, 30

Elections to urban local bodies to be announced ‘later’

03/12/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

R. PalaniswamyS. SIVA SARAVANAN

Rural local bodies across Tamil Nadu will go to the polls in two phases on December 27 and 30, Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC) Commissioner R. Palaniswamy announced on Monday. The counting of votes is scheduled to take place on January 2.

Citing “administrative reasons”, Mr. Palaniswamy told a press conference that the election schedule for urban local bodies would be announced “later, but definitely”.

With the announcement of the dates for rural local body elections, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force across the State. A total of 1,18,974 posts in rural local bodies across Tamil Nadu are to be filled up through this election.

The filing of nominations for the elections to rural local bodies will commence on December 6 and the last date for submitting nominations is December 13.

The nominations will be scrutinised on December 16 and the last date for withdrawing them is December 18, he said. The results will be declared on January 2, when counting of votes will take place. The newly elected representatives will officially take over on January 6. Indirect polling to pick the heads of these rural local bodies is scheduled on January 11, Mr. Palaniswamy added.

MIDAIR DRAMA

Woman fakes illness to get bigger seat on flight

Helen Coffey 3.12.2019

A woman who pretended to have health issues during a flight in order to get a bigger seat caused the pilot to make an emergency diversion. The unidentified passenger was flying from Pensacola, Florida, to Miami on American Eagle flight 3508 when she claimed to have trouble breathing, Pensacola police told NBC News.

However, the plan quickly backfired, as the pilot decided to turn the flight back around. All flyers had to evacuate after the woman refused to get off, but eventually authorities convinced her to deplane.

She later admitted she had made up the medical problem to get a bigger seat, Pensacola police public information officer Mike Wood said. “The passenger was subsequently removed by law enforcement and medical personnel,”American Airlines said. It said the plane took off after almost an hour.

The woman is currently being held in custody under Florida’s Baker Act, which allows people with mental illnesses to be held involuntarily for up to 72 hours if it’s believed they’re at risk of suffering from neglect or of harming themselves or others. No charges have yet been filed. THE INDEPENDENT

NIRBHAYA CASE

Execution nears, but Tihar has no hangman

Rajshekhar.Jha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:3.12.2019

With options running out for the Nirbhaya convicts, their execution seems imminent. However, Tihar officials are a worried lot as the jail doesn’t have a hangman.

A source told TOI that senior jail officials are weighing their options as the execution may be conducted in one

month. The convicts could be hanged any day after the court issues a “Black Warrant” sanctioning their execution. The warrant would be issued after rejection of their mercy petition by the President.

During the last hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, the Tihar administration was caught off-guard as the developments unfolded overnight.

In most likelihood, Tihar will not appoint a hangman even this time and hire someone on a one-time contract. “Executions don’t happen often in our system as the death penalty is given in rarest of rare cases. So, having a full-time hangman is not viable. Also, it’s difficult to find a full-time employee for this job description,” a jail official explained. This time, only one of the convicts, Vinay Sharma, filed the mercy petition. The Tihar administration forwarded it to Delhi government, which sent it to the lieutenant governor recommending that the petition be rejected given the severity of the crime. “The LG will send the file to Union ministry of home affairs, which will present it before the President. The President’s decision will be conveyed to Tihar Jail, which will move court requesting a Black Warrant if the petition is rejected,” a government official said.

The other convicts — Mukesh, Pawan and Akshay — didn’t file the mercy petition despite the Tihar administration giving them a week’s time.

Why are PM, WCD minister silent on Hyd rape, asks Congress

New Delhi:Congress on Monday asked why the Prime Minister and the women and child development minister had not yet spoken on the gruesome Hyderabad rape-cum-murder, saying the Centre was expected to do more than issue perfunctory statements on women’s security.

“We speak of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’. Our daughters step out after studying, they become empowered and then when this happens to them, the people in power, the government, are just silent bystanders. We want to ask if the government has forgotten about women,” Congress MPs Amee Yajnik and S Jothimani told a press conference.

They said PM Narendra Modi and WCD minister Smriti Irani should break their silence and show political will to draw up an emergency plan on the issue.

Jothimani referred to other incidents of rape across the country, including the Unnao case, and said that according to data, there were 984 rapes every day. TNN

Critically ill patients should not get neglected during doctors’ strike: SC

‘We Must Evolve A Mechanism For This As Doctors Have Right To Strike’

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi 3.12.2019

The Supreme Court on Monday said it intends to evolve a mechanism by which doctors’ strike do not deprive critically ill patients of care and derail emergency health services while seeking responses from the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the health ministry.

A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant issued notices to IMA secretary R V Asokan and health secretary Preeti Sudan on a petition by NGO ‘People for Better Treatment’, which sought initiation of contempt proceedings against them for allowing a nationwide doctors’ strike in June. While disagreeing with the petitioner’s plea for initiation of contempt, the SC decided to evolve a mechanism to ensure that critically ill patients and those in need of emergency medical help are not neglected during doctors’ strike.

The NGO’s president Kunal Saha moved the contempt petition alleging regular violation of the SC’s November 11, 2014 order, which was passed after the same NGO had brought to the court’s notice a series of strikes by doctors leading to enormous suffering to patients and death of some.

In the November 2014 order, the SC had recognised doctors’ right to strike work but had said striking doctors could face disciplinary action from regulatory bodies like Medical Council of India and state medical councils if anyone approached these bodies with complaint against doctors for going on strike.

However, it had disposed of the NGO’s PIL and said, “We would only express our desire that doctors, who carry out a noble service as god’s agent by saving lives of people, should not resort to strikes with any intermittent cause but undertake their responsibilities with efficiency and utmost sincerity at all times.”

Referring to the order, the bench headed by CJI Bobde told counsel Sanjay Hegde and Rabin Mazumdar that though the court had recognised doctors’ right to go on strike, “we would like to evolve a mechanism by which patients who are admitted in ICU and emergency healthcare services remain unaffected during the strike by doctors”.

The petitioner NGO said, “In spite of repeated and clear calls from the highest court of the land, doctors across India have continued to resort to strikes, disrupting regular hospital services and bringing endless pain, suffering and death for hapless patients.” The NGO cited repeated strike calls by doctors in West Bengal and also mentioned the IMAinitiated nation-wide doctors’ strike on June 17, which crippled medical services across the country.


HEALTH MATTERS: In the November 2014 order, SC had recognised doctors’ right to strike work but had said striking doctors could face disciplinary action from regulatory bodies

DAY OF DISABLED PERSONS - DEC 3

Shunned as a burden at birth, this disabled man now supports his family

Sukshma R@timesgroup.com

Madurai:3.12.2019

Born with multiple disabilities,SenthilKumarwasseen by hisfamily as an oddity and nothing but a burden, incapable of eating, grooming or using the toilet independently. Little did they know that 30 years later he would be supporting them financially. The 42-year-old now has a hefty bank balance too.

“He doesn’t even understand the concept of money or math. He can’t even count the number of zeroes in his bank balance. But, he is able to provide for his family who once only sawhim as a burden,” saidDr Dayalan Barnabas, principal, CSI Elwin Centre, Sivakasi,where SenthilKumar underwent special education. With multiple disabilities, life was once unbearable for him.

“At the age of 17, after he completed his special education at our school, he was sent back home to his family as is the norm. However, being unable to take care of himself as he cannot see or hear, he tried to get the attention of people by touch. However, people around him, especially women, felt the touch inappropriate.Thisescalatedto a situation where the family wanted him to stay away forever,” said Dr Dayalan.

It was then that Senthil Kumar was taken in as an inmate at the Special Employees Hostel at the CSI Elwin Centre, where he was given vocational training. He soon managed to get job in a packaging company. The hostel now has10 special adults.

Apart from helping them get a job, the CSI Elwin Centre opens and monitors bank accounts for them. “We manage bank accounts for special employees so that they can safely save money for their future. But we found some people taking away our inmates for a while to get the money they earned. So, we came up with a process by which if the family convinced us on the need for money, we allowed them to draw it from the bank account,” said Dr Dayalan.

Senthil Kumar, who earns ₹5,000 a month, was able to provide ₹ 1 lakh for his sister’s wedding in 2014. He also gave₹30,000 to meet the hospital expenses of his sister’s child birth in 2017. “Even people without any disabilities who earn good money hesitate to give away so much to support their family. Would you believe the family once wanted to get rid of him?” said Dr Dayalan.