Lockdown relaxation triggers crowding

05/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,TIRUNELVELI

A view of ‘busy’ Madurai Road in Tirunelveli Junction on Monday. A. SHAIKMOHIDEEN

The lockdown relaxation shockingly opened the floodgates here on Monday with all the roads getting mobbed by the public riding their bikes and cars at will as they did before the pandemic outbreak and more than 90% of the business establishments resuming their operations.

As Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, Tenkasi and Kanniyakumari districts have been categorised as ‘orange zone’ following steep fall in the number of fresh COVID -19 cases, lockdown has been relaxed in these districts. Unfortunately, the relaxation led to the crowding of all roads in these four districts with the bikes and the cars moving around freely.

Special buses were operated from the Vaeinthaankulam new bus-stand for taking health workers to their workplaces in Thoothukudi, Tiruchendur, Tenkasi, Sankarankovil and Papanasam.

In Thoothukudi, the more than 70% of the shops including a few jewellery and the textile showrooms were opened with the people coming out freely for their shopping. As there was no ‘physical distancing’ in any of the shops that transacted business on Monday, Collector Sandeep Nanduri and the Superintendent of Police Arun Balagopalan ordered the closure of the shops.

As similar situation prevailed in Tenkasi and Kanniyakumari districts also, the police had to intervene to bring back orderliness on the roads.

Rajasthan defers staff salaries as revenues dry up

With depleting income amid the extended lockdown and mounting healthcare bills, Gehlot urges massive infusion of funds

05/05/2020, MOHAMMED IQBAL,JAIPUR

The revenue collection in Rajasthan in the first month of fiscal 2020-21, after the COVID-19 lockdown was enforced, has fallen by 70%, even as there was a shortfall of ₹18,000 crore in the last fiscal 2019-20, according to the State Finance Department.

While the State had budgeted for revenues of ₹8,400 crore, including ₹6,800 crore through taxes and GST compensation and ₹1,600 crore of non-tax revenue, it has achieved only ₹1,800 crore by April-end.

Massive shortfall

In March, there was a shortfall of ₹3,500 crore, putting the State in a fiscal crisis. Rajasthan has allocated ₹1,200 crore for the expenses to deal with the impact of COVID-19, including the expenditure for providing free wheat under the public distribution system to the beneficiaries of National Food Security Act.

The biggest decline in tax revenue earnings has been witnessed in stamp duty and registration and vehicle taxes, as there was almost no sale of property and vehicles during the lockdown. Against the target of ₹466 crore for stamp duty and registration in April, the State has got only ₹6 crore. For vehicle tax, the target was ₹500 crore, while the State collected only ₹8 crore.

In view of the adverse impact on revenue collection of States due to the lockdown, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who also holds the finance portfolio, has demanded from the Centre a grant of ₹1,00,000 crore for the States, which can be distributed according to the States’ share in Central taxes or as per the standards prescribed by the GST Council or Inter-State Council.

In a 15-point note submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his video-conference with the Chief Ministers on Monday, Mr. Gehlot said the revenue loss compensation given to the States for five years since the implementation of GST should now be increased to 10 years, looking at the local circumstances and economic situation of every State.

Besides, a six-month, interest-free moratorium should be granted on payment of instalments of principal amount and interest on loans taken by the State governments, their boards, corporations or companies, including the power companies, from the Union government and its various institutions, such as the Power Finance Corporation.

The fiscal expenditure should be encouraged to bail out the economy at this challenging time, said Mr. Gehlot. For this, the Union government should immediately release the first instalment of its share of centrally sponsored schemes and the process of releasing the amount should also be simplified.

The Chief Minister welcomed the decision of increasing the limit for Ways and Means Advances to 60% and demanded that full rebate should be given on interest on advances to the States. Also, the limit of net loan that the States can take should be increased from 3% of State GDP to 5% without any conditions.

As the State’s GDP is around ₹11,00,000 crore, the 2% raise will enable the State to borrow about ₹20,000 crore more from the open market.

As part of the measures to deal with the crisis situation amid rapid deterioration of financial condition, the Rajasthan government has partially deferred the salaries of MLAs and its employees, including the all India services officers, in March, while five days’ salary was deducted as contribution to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund for COVID-19.

In the postponement of salary payment, 75% salary of legislators, 50% salary of all India services officers and 30% salary of other government officials has been deferred.

University of madras

Tamil Nadu Director of Public Health retires, three officers appointed 

In a curious move, the department has also appointed two other senior officers as Directors of Public Health.

Published: 03rd May 2020 09:05 PM 

Retiring Director of Public Health Department Dr K Kolandaswamy. (File | EPS)

By Sinduja Jane

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Health Department has appointed a new director to head the vital Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. Dr TS Selvavinayagam, director of the Institute of Community Medicine at Madras Medical College, has been made Director of Public Health in the cadre of Additional Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. In a curious move, the department has also appointed two other senior officers as Directors of Public Health. This is the first time the Directorate of Public Health will have three directors. 

The move follows the retirement of Dr K Kolandaswamy, who had headed the department, on April 30 and comes even as the State struggles to contain the rapid spread of COVID-19 ahead of an easing of the nationwide lockdown. 

Interestingly, the State had earlier issued orders stating that all doctors in government service retiring on April 30 would be given an extension for two months on a contract basis. Health department officials maintained that Dr Kolandaswamy would be reappointed as a special officer till help the State tide over the current crisis. But, till late Sunday evening, no such orders were issued. Two other senior-most additional directors of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Dr K Sadasivam and Dr K Vanaja, also retired on April 30.

Dr Selvavinayagam was additional director of the erstwhile Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project and was handling Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS) and Non-Communicable Disease Control (NCD) Programme. He played a key role in the design of the insurance programme. 

However, the Health Department’s decision to appoint two senior-most additional directors of Public Health -- Dr P Vadivelan and Dr N Chitra -- as officers on special duty in the cadre of Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine has raised eyebrows.

According to a Health department Government Order dated May 1, " The Government has further examined the eligibility of Dr N Chitra and Dr P Vadivelan, Additional Directors of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and both are eligible to hold the post of Director of Public health and Preventive Medicine."

"The Government accordingly does and hereby directs that Dr N Chitra and Dr P Vadivelan be appointed as officers on special duty in the cadre of Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine."

Five additional directors of Public Health were listed for selection to replace Dr Kolandaswamy: Dr Selvavinayagam, Dr Chitra, Dr Vadivelan, Dr K Sadasivam and Dr K Vanaja. With the last two retiring on April 30, the government-appointed Dr Selvavinayagam, who retires on July 31, 2023, as director for 2020-2021. Dr Chitra is due to retire on May 31, 2021, and Dr P Vadivelan is due to retire on June 30, 2022.

In a first, DPH to have three heads as Tamil Nadu continues to fight COVID-19

The decision came after Dr K Kolandaswamy, the director of DPH, retired from service on April 30.

Published: 04th May 2020 02:19 AM |

Disinfectants been poured in the Chennai Central Railway Station lobby. (Photo | Ashwin Prasath/EPS)

By Sinduja Jane

Express News Service

CHENNAI: In an unusual move amid the battle against COVID-19, the State government has appointed three senior officials to head the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (DPH).

The decision came after Dr K Kolandaswamy, the director of DPH, retired from service on April 30. The trio has been appointed as officers on special duty in the cadre of ‘Director’ of Public Health.

Among the new appointees, Dr T S Selvavinayagam, director of the Institute of Community Medicine at Madras Medical College, has been handling the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS) and Non-communicable Diseases Control Programme. He played a key role in designing the CMCHIS. Before being promoted, he was in the cadre of additional director (DPH). 

Besides him, two senior most additional directors in the DPH – Dr N Chitra and Dr P Vadivelan – have also been appointed as officers on special duty in the cadre of director of DPH. The arrangement comes as Dr Kolandaswamy and two senior additional directors of DPH – Dr K Sadasivam and Dr K Vanaja – retired on April 30.

As per the Health Department G.O. on April 1, “The government further examined the eligibility of Dr N Chitra and Dr P Vadivelan, additional directors of DPH, and found both of them eligible to hold the post of Director of DPH. The government accordingly direct that Dr N Chitra and Dr P Vadivelan be appointed as officers on special duty in the cadre of director of DPH.”

Health Department officials maintained that Dr Kolandaswamy would be reappointed as a special officer till the State tide over the crisis.

However, any order in this regard was yet to be issued till Sunday evening. Officials, however, said this is the first time the DPH is being headed by three directors.

Two among them were the senior-most in the department and couldn’t be bypassed during the appointment of the director, they added.

Lockdown: ‘Check your internet connection and try again’ is driving Tamil Nadu students mad

As the pandemic lays bare the inequalities deeply entrenched in our social construct while we fight it, the issues it presents us are more prominent than what meet our eyes on normal days.

Published: 04th May 2020 02:19 AM 

By Harish Murali and Sushmita Ramakrishnan

Express News Service

CHENNAI: As the pandemic lays bare the inequalities deeply entrenched in our social construct while we fight it, the issues it presents us are more prominent than what meet our eyes on normal days.

When the kids in the urban setup are glued to the screens, getting their daily dose of lessons and activities, students from rural towns and villages aspiring to crack competitive exams are finding it difficult to study online due to low bandwidth and fluctuating internet connections.

“Many of my students do not have good internet access or compatible devices. It takes about 10-20 minutes for them to join a webinar and they keep getting disconnected during the sessions,” says a teacher, who trains government school students in Tiruvallur district.

He adds that when a group of teachers, including him, tried to recharge students’ internet connection, they still couldn’t make it to classes as they had poor signal reception.

With the coaching centres sending several study materials and holding sessions everyday, students, especially from the districts of Tiruvannamalai, Namakkal and other rural parts of the districts have now begun to urge institutions to compress the size (gigabytes) of the files they share.

Students, who are training for theses exams in cities have been pushed back to their native towns and villages since the start of the lockdown, with online classes being the only way they could complete their training.

S Bharathi of Karuvepalan-kurichi village in Cuddalore district, who is pursuing her TNPSC class in Chennai says, “I try to download most of my study materials in the early hours everyday when nobody else is using the internet and skip all the online coaching sessions. I call my friends and keep myself abreast.’ She further adds that as the lockdown keeps extending, it hampers the spirits of every aspirant.

“I have to walk half a km from my house to get proper internet connection. Even there, the materials download very slowly. Forget the idea of live-streamed classes. Will I attend them on the road?” questions Chitra*, a medical aspirant from Peerkangaranai in Kancheepuram district.

Each of the study material that is required for the students to prepare is at least three to five gigabytes shared in websites for students, says K Kamaraj of Kamaraj IAS Academy in Anna Nagar adding that, “The students constantly complain of internet connectivity. We are addressing it during each of the sessions.”

Madhu*, a government-aided school student from a village near Madhuranthakam says that she used to go to a local internet cafe before the lockdown. “The signal is always bad in my area, and with no internet cafes around, I am using just my school books to prepare for engineering entrance exams. I want get into a good college in Chennai,” she says with hope.

However, some students are taking screenshots of entire materials and sharing it with others. “We compress files prior to sending it to the students, after several students from the rural places began to raise issues in downloading it,” says R Mathivanan, who runs a coaching institute in Tiruchy.

NEET training on Kalvi TV

Following many requests, officials with the State government’s education channel -- Kalvi TV -- have decided to broadcast NEET programmes to help students prepare for the examination. The videos, which are being shot by the subject teachers, will be telecasted from May 20.

Take passes, but find your own transport

Police start issuing inter-State e-passes to stranded students, tourists who have a vehicle or can hire one to move

Published: 04th May 2020 08:29 AM | Last Updated: 04th May 2020 08:29 AM |

Migrants walking out of Secunderabad railway station after knowing that no train was arranged for them at secunderabad railway station on sunday. (Photo | EPS/S Senbagapandiyan)

By Mouli Mareedu

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The Telangana police started issuing e-passes to several students and tourists, stranded in Hyderabad and across the State owing to the lockdown, so that they can return home. But, only those who have their own vehicle or can hire one would get the pass, officials said. An officer, monitoring the e-pass exercise, told TNIE that they began to accept applications online keeping in view the travails of those stranded. And, the response was tremendous. 

The police received thousands of applications within hours of launching the online facility, especially from stranded families, who were waiting to travel to their native States using passes approved by the Telangana State Authorities. "The number of passes issued from Sunday morning was nearly 7,000, with additional 10,000 waiting for validation and approval," officials said.

However, the online facility was down as its servers could not take the load. The officials said on account of heavy traffic, they decided to rest the servers for a while and asked the applicants to wait for a few horus before applying. The Telangana police, including the Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda police commissionerates, said they were only gathering details of migrant workers for now. 

"We are not issuing the pass to migrant workers. We started to collect their details at all police stations and will prepare a report of the number of workers State-wise. We will submit the report to the government for a final decision. It is expected to take a call on this soon," a senior IPS officer said. Meanwhile, approximately 25,000 migrant workers approached the Telangana Police seeking permission to go back to Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and other States. While Hyderabad, Rachakonda, and Cyberabad reported 7,000 migrant workers, about 20,000 approached the police in other parts of Telangana.