100 sovereigns stolen from doctor’s house, help held

Burglars walk away with 90 sovereigns from engineer’s house

30/01/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ,CHENNAI

The Thiruvanmiyur police have arrested a domestic help in connection with the theft of 100 sovereigns of gold jewellery from a doctor’s house.

The police said that Raja Suruleeswaran, 52, a resident of Kalakshetra Colony, lodged a complaint with the Thiruvanmiyur police, alleging that over 100 sovereigns of gold jewellery were missing from a steel almirah in his house.

A special police team nabbed Mala, 47, the domestic help who was working in the house for the past three years. During interrogation, she admitted to having stolen 30 sovereigns, the police said.

Further investigation is on to recover the rest of the jewellery.

90 sovereigns

In a separate incident, unidentified persons stole 90 sovereigns of gold jewellery from a civil engineer’s house in Valasaravakkam.

The police said that the complainant, Arumugam, 52, a civil engineer, resides in Radha Avenue, and runs a construction firm. On Tuesday night, he and his family members had gone to a restaurant after locking the house. On return, they found the lock and almirah broken open.

On being informed, Assistant Commissioner of Valasarakkam Mahimaiveeran rushed to the spot and held an enquiry.

The family claimed that over 90 sovereigns of jewellery and cash were stolen from the house.

The police have intensified investigation after scrutiny of CCTV camera footage and collection of fingerprints.

Centre advises against travel to China; IndiGo, AI cut services
Beijing’s permission sought to operate 2 flights to bring back Indians from Hubei

30/01/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ,NEW DELHI

All ready: The new coronavirus isolation ward at TB and Chest Diseases Hospital in Puducherry on Wednesday. M. Samraj The Hindu

The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday advised people to refrain from travelling to China in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, as the death toll there rose to 133 with nearly 1,500 new cases.

The fresh advisory came hours after a communication from the Ministry said, “All non-essential travel to China should be avoided.”

The Government of India has sought the Chinese authorities’ permission to operate two flights to bring back Indians from Hubei Province. Meanwhile, two Indian carriers that fly to China — IndiGo and Air India — on Wednesday announced suspension of most of their flights to that country.

IndiGo announced that it was suspending its Delhi-Chengdu and Bengaluru-Hong Kong flights with effect from February 1. However, it will continue to operate the Kolkata-Guangzhou flight. The airline said it was taking precautions for its crew to ensure that they don’t have a layover in China and can return on the same flight.

Air India too cancelled its Mumbai-Delhi-Shanghai flights with effect from January 31, though it will continue to fly to Hong Kong.

Screening of ship passengers and crew for the virus at ports in the country was also initiated.

Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong tweeted, “The World Health Organisation (WHO) does not recommend the evacuation of nationals, and called on the international community to remain calm and not overreact. The WHO is confident in China’s epidemic prevention and control ability.”

Govt to help qualified nurses find jobs in UK

To Be Given IELTS Training Free Of Cost

Shanmughasundaram.J@timesgroup.com

Chennai:30.01.2020

The state will help find qualified nurses, doctors and paramedics from private sectors in the state find jobs in hospitals in the United Kingdom through their national health system (NHS).

The Overseas Manpower Corporation Limited (OMC) of the state government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Health Education England to recruit qualified nurses under their National Health Service (NHS). The MoU was signed two weeks ago.

The initiative of the OMC is aimed at generating employment and creating opportunities for Tamil Nadu nurses to undergo training in state of the art healthcare facilities. When these nurses return to the state after their service, they would highly trained and add value to the healthcare system of the state, officials say.

“There is a huge demand for qualified nurses in the UK. They are recruiting around 5,000 nurses every year. We want to generate employment for nurses working in the private sector. It resulted in the MoU that will be effective for three years,” said chairman and managing director of OMCL, Dharmendra Pratap Yadav. Many nurses working in the private sector apply for jobs in hospitals abroad as they get better salaries and training.

OMCL will send at least 500 nurses every year. “We are also planning to recruit doctors and paramedics from the private sector and send them to the UK,” he added.

The agency has tiedup with the British Council in Chennai for training the nurses, who have been shortlisted for grade 7 of International English Language Testing System (IELTS). “Language is a barrier for several qualified nurses working here. So, we conduct an interview to select candidates, who are able to converse in English. They will be registered for the IELTS course. It will be offered free of cost,” he said.

After they clear the IELTS test and the computer-based test, they would be appointed in various hospitals in the UK through the NHS. The state health the department has also contemplating to ink a pact with HEE to commence an exchange programme, which would help the doctors and nurses in the government sector to work in the UK and get exposure to the international standard of healthcare. In October last year, a team of HEE visited TN and held meeting with the health department officials.

CM opens Vandalur flyover for public

Flags Off 240 buses, Opens Sub-Stations

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:30.01.2020

Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Wednesday launched a slew of projects, including flagging off 240 buses for state transport corporations and inaugurating flyovers in various parts of the state, all at a cost of ₹ 211.66 crore, via video-conferencing from the secretariat. A much-awaited flyover at Vandalur near Chennai connecting the Outer Ring Road and the 2.65km-long Vandalur-Mannivakkam main road were opened for the public.

Keeping up his announcement made during the 2019-20 debate in the assembly, the chief minister opened 14 fire and rescue services’ stations. The stations are at Chennai (at Marina), Coimbatore, Namakkal, Salem, Erode, Virudhunagar, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Nagapattinam, Trichy, Kallakurichi and Chengalpet at ₹15.89 crore. The Marina station will be equipped with 50 commandos to ensure the safety of tourists and prevent them from accidents. The sanctioned strength of the new stations will be 162 personnel.

To strengthen the power transmission infrastructure, the CM inaugurated 91 substations built in 27 districts at a cost of ₹1,023 crore. “The government has been taking efforts to set up upgraded substations given the need to provide uniform supply, and prevent transmission loss, reduce maintenance expenditure and meet the required power demands,” said an official release.

Palaniswami launched a mobile application to book seats for long distance buses of the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC). The government added 37 new buses to the Metropolitan Transport Corporation and 103 to SETC. Tamil Nast State Transport Corporation’s Villupuram division got 25 buses, while Salem division got 10 and Kumbakonam 35 buses. Madurai and Tirunelveli divisions got five buses each. As a token gesture, the chief minister flagged off seven buses from the secretariat. The 240 buses cost Rs 83.83 crore.

The other projects are at Namakkal, Tirupur, Perambalur, Pudukkottai, Virudhunagar, Ramanathapuram, Coimbatore, Ranipet, Tiruvallur and Nagapattinam. The metro wing of the highways department received six vehicles to clean the roads, repair potholes and remove silt from the storm water drains.

Palaniswami launched a mobile application to book seats for long distance buses of the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC)

TNPSC scam: Cop whose four kin topped Group-II under lens

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:30.01.2020

The group of agents and others involved in the 2019 TNPSC Group IV exam scam, in which special ink was used to erase answers before new answers were included later, were also involved in a scam in the recruitment of Group-II officers in 2017, police have found.

Aspecial team stumbled upon the racket after some of the arrested told them how four members of the family of a policeman including his wife and brother got into Group-II service, ranked among the top 10. At least 14 people including some government employees have so far been arrested in connection with the scam in the exam held in September 2019. Armed with information about this startling disclosure, the investigation team has now written to the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC), asking it to initiate inquiries into the earlier scam.

If the TNPSC finds further material, including the modus operandi, a separate complaint could be filed for a parallel investigation, police said. Investigators are also ascertaining the identity of the policeman, who is a native of Sivaganga district and is believed to be attached to a city police station, as well as those who got into government service by resorting to fraudulent means.

Collected ₹5L-₹10L from candidates, say arrested agents

Inquiries revealed that at least 37 people who appeared for the Group-II examination from the Rameswaram and Keelakarai centres in Ramanathapuram district, ranked among the top

100. All these people later got jobs in municipalities across the state, employment exchanges, social welfare department, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR&CE) Board and various other departments.

The arrested agents have disclosed that they collected sums ranging from ₹5lakh to ₹10lakh from the candidates to chase their answer sheets in the earlier exam. An investigation officer said, “As per the confession of the arrested mediators, it appears that the policeman hailing from Sivaganga district played a key role in the recruitment scam.”

Sources said that another of the policeman’s brothers managed to get on to the list of candidates selected after Group-IV examination held in 2019, but no other details were available.

Late last week, after the scam in the September 2019 Group IV exam broke and the TNPSC banned 99 people for life, the CB-CID took over investigation. It has made several arrests and is hunting for many others thought to be involved. The fraud came to light after 32 of the 99 candidates, who appeared from just two centres in Ramanathapuram district ranked in the top 100. It was later discovered that the answer sheets of 52 of the 99 candidates had been manipulated

‘Review of mercy plea rejection is limited’

SC Bench refuses to accede to a request by Nirbhaya case convict

29/01/2020, KRISHNADAS RAJAGOPAL,NEW DELHI

Mukesh Singh, one of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape case, in New Delhi. PTIPTI

The scope of a judicial review of the President’s decision to reject a mercy petition is “very limited”, the Supreme Court on Tuesday orally told the lawyers for Nirbhaya case convict Mukesh Singh.

A three-judge Bench, led by Justice R. Banumathi, refused to accede to a request by Mukesh, represented by senior advocates Anjana Prakash, Rebecca John and Vrinda Grover, for perusal of the original files of the correspondence on his mercy petition and official notings.

Justice Banumathi said the court did not want to wade into an “uncharted territory”. “We do not deem it appropriate to concede the request and the same is declined,” the order read. The court would pronounce its order on Wednesday, she said.

‘Relevant records’

Ms. Prakash and Ms. John argued that the government’s affidavit was “evasive” about whether all “relevant records” on Mukesh’s incarceration were shown to the President for an informed decision. Ms. Prakash said the government was mum on the jail records on his solitary confinement. In several rulings, the court had held that solitary confinement for long would be a reason for grant of mercy.

The lawyers said Mukesh had suffered torture and abuse in prison. They asked whether his medical records from the time of his arrest to the present day were placed before the President. He had access to legal aid only in 2014, two years after the crime. They contended that the mercy petition was quickly rejected, in just a day, without proper application of mind. “How can you say the President did not apply his mind to the mercy plea,” Justice Banumathi asked. “The President did not apply his mind because all the records were not placed before him,” Ms. Prakash replied.

Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, for the Ministry of Home Affairs, said all the documents, supported by records, were placed before the President for a decision on the mercy petition. It was decided without delay because the Supreme Court itself had ruled that delay “has a dehumanising effect”.

“A quick decision on the part of the President does not necessarily mean he did not apply his mind… We [the President] cannot delay, we should not delay. It will have a dehumanising effect. Whether mercy is shown by the President or whether mercy is not shown by the President, either should be done as quickly as possible,” he contended.

Akshay, another Nirbhaya case convict, has filed a curative petition against his death penalty.

One day salary to be cut

29/01/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,BENGALURU

Upset with lack of attendance and participation of BBMP staff during the Republic Day celebrations held in the civic body’s headquarters on Sunday, Mayor M. Goutham Kumar has recommended that a day’s salary be cut from all those who were absent.

“We get two chances to show respect to our nation and national flag – Republic Day and Independence Day. It is our duty to show respect on these two days,” he said.