Centre’s panel gives nod for four new govt medical colleges in Tamil Nadu

The new colleges at Ariyalur, Cuddalore, Kallakurichi and Kancheepuram districts will each have 150 MBBS seats once the executive committee gives its approval. 

Published: 06th January 2020 03:19 AM

By Sinduja Jane

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Union health ministry’s technical evaluation committee (TEC) has given its nod for four new government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu, at its meeting in New Delhi on Thursday.

The new colleges at Ariyalur, Cuddalore, Kallakurichi and Kancheepuram districts will each have 150 MBBS seats once the executive committee gives its approval.

With this, the number of government medical colleges in the State will increase to 37. Tamil Nadu has the highest number of government medical colleges in the country.

An official source told Express that TEC has sent the file to executive committee, a meeting of which is scheduled for this week.

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on December 2 had announced that the State had applied with Union Health Ministry for four more medical colleges and it was Amma (the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa)’s vision to establish one medical college in every district.

In October last, the Centre had approved six new medical colleges at Tirupur, The Nilgiris, Ramanathapuram, Namakkal, Dindigul and Virudhunagar districts.

In November, it gave nod to set up three medical colleges in Tiruvallur, Nagapattinam and Krishnagiri districts, taking the sanction of new medical colleges in the State to nine in one year.

Health Secretary Beela Rajesh, Director of Medical Education (in-charge) R Narayanababu and other senior officials attended the TEC meeting in New Delhi and convinced the committee with a detailed report seeking sanction of four new medical colleges.

The State Government is planning to lay foundation for the first sanctioned six medical colleges soon.

Where are the colleges?

The colleges are to be built in Ariyalur, Cuddalore, Kallakurichi and Kancheepuram districts.

They will have 150 MBBS seats each, once the executive committee approves. With this, the number of medical colleges in the State will increase to 37

A taste of Tiruchy in Chennai

We were at the inauguration of Cholan Mess, a restaurant brand that traces its origin to the 1950s in Tiruchy.

Published: 06th January 2020 04:12 AM 

Cholan Mess was inaugurated at OMR on Sunday (Photo | Debadatta Mallick, EPS)

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: On an overcast Sunday morning at Okkiyam Thoraipakkam, the beats of western snare drums and trumpets met the grooves of traditional Karagattam, and the scrumptious notes of Tamil Nadu mess food met vintage aesthetics.

We were at the inauguration of Cholan Mess, a restaurant brand that traces its origin to the 1950s in Tiruchy.

As we stepped into the eatery covered with checkered flooring, popular Tamil songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s blared through the retro loudspeakers.

Walls caked in warm mustard yellow and refreshing teal adorned illustrative portraits of women in Tamil households from a bygone era.

Adjacent to a swinging door that looked right from a Mexican cantina, a vibrant wall tastefully painted with posters of Tamil blockbuster films including the 1964 classic Server Sundaram, Aayirathil Oruvan (1965) and Vasantha Maligai (1972) caught our attention.

“To recreate the 1980s era was our main goal. Everything — from the interiors to the menu — has been curated in such a way that it evokes a sense of nostalgia and warmth in customers,” said Praveen Antony, founder and MD, adding that the brand has only been “refound”.

“Cholan Mess was originally established in 1953. The Mess has a strong presence in Tiruchy and after so many years, it’s still tasting success. After the idea to start an eatery in Chennai took different shapes, I decided to narrow it down and bring Cholan Mess to Chennai,” said the restaurateur who opted to keep the origin story of the brand under wraps.

Praveen opened the first outlet of the Mess in Mogappair in September 2019. The brand will soon open its doors in Ashok Nagar too.

After a low-key inauguration, the restaurant was all set to serve the customers a virundhu (feast) of delicacies from down south — from seeraga samba biryani, nalli fry, prawn thokku, goli soda to milk sarbath.

“The seeraga samba biryani is our specialty. We follow heirloom recipes for all our dishes and being authentic is our USP. We serve food in banana leaves,” he added.

The eatery boasts a sizeable menu comprising wholesome meals, biryani, tiffin, drool-worthy gravies, and Indo-Chinese options. The restaurant doesn’t serve idli or dosa for breakfast, instead, they serve a traditional Neeragaram or Pazhaya soru served with chinna vengayam, chilli, more milagai, maavadu and maasi karuvadu.

“We will be adding more traditional dishes to the menu in the future. The idea is to make the brand national,” he shared.

The dishes start from Rs 20 onwards. Cholan Mess is located in HIG-I-104, Nolambur Main Road, Mogappair West, TNHB Phase I, Nolambur, Ambattur Industrial Estate, and Vinayak Avenue, First Main Road, Okkiyam Thoraipakkam, OMR.

7 flights diverted as fog hits air traffic

For the second day on Saturday flights were diverted from Chennai International Airport due to poor visibility caused by extreme fog.

Published: 05th January 2020 06:39 AM 

Sunish P Surendran, EPS)

By Express News Service

CHENNAI : For the second day on Saturday flights were diverted from Chennai International Airport due to poor visibility caused by extreme fog. Seven flights, both international and domestic, which were to land in Chennai, were diverted to Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Coimbatore due to poor visibility. Similarly, 40 flights were delayed due to poor visiblity which lasted till 10 am. The schedule of air passengers went haywire.

Air India’s flight from Muscat and British Airways flight from Heathrow, were diverted to Hyderabad. The other flights that were diverted to Hyderabad include Air Australia flight from St Denis Rolland Garos Airport in Australia, Indigo flight from Delhi and Oman Air flight from Muscat. Indigo flight from Pune was diverted to Coimbatore and Ethihad flight from Shanghai to Chennai was diverted to Bengaluru.

Over 100 infants died in two Jodhpur hospitals: report

The report was prepared by S.N. Medical College

06/01/2020, PRESS TRUST OF INDIA,JODHPUR

Over 100 infants died in two government hospitals in in December last year, a report has found amid growing outrage over infant deaths in a Kota hospital.

While a total of 146 children died in Umaid and MDM hospitals in Jodhpur in December, 102 deaths were reported in the neo-natal intensive care unit.

The figures of infant deaths in Jodhpur were given in a report prepared by the S.N. Medical College in the light of casualties in Kota’s J.K. Lon Hospital.

Over 100 infants have died in the government-run hospital in Kota.

S.N. Medical College principal S.S. Rathore, however, said the figure is in the range of international standards of infant mortality.

“A total of 47,815 children had been admitted to the hospitals in 2019 and of this, 754 children died,” said Dr. Rathore.

In December, 4,689 children had been admitted to the hospitals of which 3,002 had been admitted to NICU and ICU and 146 of them died. Dr. Rathore said most of the children who died were those referred from other surrounding districts in a critical condition.

The hospitals here have to bear the load of patients from entire western Rajasthan and children were also referred from hospitals like AIIMS, he said.

He added the critical care unit of the hospitals have been adjudged best in the State for two consecutive years and attributed it to their best practices and care. Though Dr. Rathore denied any shortage of resources at the hospitals, there have been reports that many senior doctors have been running their own private hospitals.

Doctors attacked by mob outside university campus

‘They surrounded ambulance, threw stones’

06/01/2020, SOIBAM ROCKY SINGH,NEW DELHI

A group of nine doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and other hospitals was attacked by a mob outside Jawaharlal Nehru University’s main entrance gate on Sunday night.

The doctors, who had come in an ambulance with medical supplies to help the injured students, were not allowed to enter the campus.

“Around 100 masked goons attacked our ambulance with stones and lathis when we tried to enter the campus,” said Praveen, a general surgeon at Maharishi Valmiki Hospital.

Another doctor, who had come on his own as a volunteer to treat the students, said: “The police remained a mute spectator while our ambulance was being surrounded and attacked by the mob.”

Dr. Praveen added that the mob broke a window of the ambulance. “The mob even tried to drag and pull one of the doctors out of the ambulance’s window,” he said, pointing towards the doctor, who had received injuries.

A visibly rattled woman doctor in the group said, “The goons were wearing masks and helmets. I could smell that they were drunk. They even tried to take our mobile phones as we were taking videos.”

“There is no safety even for ambulance and doctors,” another doctor.

After some policemen intervened, the ambulance was allowed to leave the premises after half-an-hour, the doctors said.

I-T Dept. notifies new forms for filing income tax returns

Joint owner of house cannot avail ITR-1, ITR-4 forms

06/01/2020, PRESS TRUST OF INDIA,NEW DELHI

The forms for filing returns are usually notified in April every year.

The government, which usually notifies forms for filing returns by individuals in April every year, on January 3 notified tax return forms for assessment year 2020-21 (income earning year April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020).

As per the notification, returns in ITR-1 Sahaj can be filed by an ordinary resident individual whose total income does not exceed ₹50 lakh, while form ITR-4 Sugam is meant for resident individuals, HUFs and firms (other than LLP) having a total income of up to ₹50 lakh and having presumptive income from business and profession.

According to the notification, in two significant changes, an individual taxpayer cannot file return either in ITR-1 or ITR-4 if he is a joint-owner in house property, and the ITR-1 form is not valid for those individuals who have deposited more than ₹1 crore in bank account or have incurred ₹2 lakh or ₹1 lakh on foreign travel or electricity respectively.

Such taxpayers will have to use different forms, which will be notified in due course.

An individual who “owns a house property in joint ownership with two or more persons” is required to furnish a return of income, the notification said.

“... A taxpayer, who is required to file the return before the previous year ends, cannot do so until the return filing facility is activated on the e-filing portal,” said Naveen Wadhwa of Taxmann.

‘Govt. cannot interfere in movie jobs’

06/01/2020, STAFF REPORTER,KOVILPATTI

The State government could not interfere in the issue of employment of local workers in any movie as it was under the purview of the producer of the movie, said Information and Publicity Minister Kadambur C. Raju when asked about the recent complaint against music director Anirudh Ravichandran on Sunday.

A controversy arose earlier when the Cine Musicians’ Union complained that Anirudh Ravichandran, music director of Rajinikanth-starrer Darbar, had not opted for its members while recording the music of the film. Instead, foreign musicians were engaged by him, it said.