High on debts,TN needs Tasmac to remain sober

High on debts,TN needs Tasmac to remain sober

Desperation Apparent In Urgency To Move SC Against Order Of Outlets’ Closure

D.Govardan@timesgroup.com

11.05.2020

Ameme — even if people of the state decide to stop drinking, it seems Tamil Nadu government will not let them to do so — widely circulated last week highlighted the desperation of the state to plug its financial loopholes.

The speed at which the government, despite condemnation from the opposition, moved the Supreme Court on Saturday to get reprieve from the Madras high court’s order on Friday to close state-owned Tasmac outlets, only highlighted that fact. And you don’t need a Rajinikanth to drive home the point.

Nevertheless, the actor and politician-in-waiting did make a point. “The state government should look at better ways to fill up its treasury,” tweeted Rajinikanth on Sunday morning, even while chiding the ruling AIADMK to “forget about returning to power” if it plans to reopen Tasmac outlets.

A couple of weeks ago, a senior official from the state finance department told TOI that salaries have to be paid, even while seeking to discount the notion that Tamil Nadu government is surviving on ‘liquor money’. “Consumption of alcohol appears to be high since everything goes through Tasmac, which controls both the wholesale procurement and retail sale. It also indicates the efficiency in collection of this revenue, a model that has been since replicated by the states of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. But the revenue from liquor is just around 25% of the state’s total own revenue,” the official said, while adding that revenue through Tasmac is around ₹30,000 crore per annum, while state’s own revenue amounts to around ₹1.3 lakh crore.

Surprisingly, the trigger happy AIADMK camp, which hits back at anyone attacking the government, preferred a stoic silence through the day and let Rajinikanth go almost scot-free. Even officials are tight lipped about the precarious state of government finances. But the writing is on the wall and one gets to see the glimpses. First came the withholding of the dearness allowance and then the order to increase the retirement age of state government employees by one year.

That too may not suffice. There are unofficial talks about the state government having ordered a freeze in recruitment and discussing ways and means to implement a salary cut, which some say could be up to 30%, for different categories of government employees. “Salary cut was discussed and debated. It has been decided not to implement it,” said one official. “Paying salaries to government employees will not be a problem since it comes through ‘appropriation account’. Further, there is a 70% chance that this government will not opt for a salary cut of employees,” said another official.

A statement from the Tamil Nadu government on Saturday, announcing an expert committee to be headed by former RBI governor C Rangarajan, seems to highlight the precarious condition of the state’s finances to a certain extent. In reply to the general discussion on the budget on February 20, 2020 deputy chief minister (O Panneerselvam) had announced that an expert committee would be constituted to recommend measures to improve the tax-GSDP ratio of Tamil Nadu, it read.

In the present context where the Covid-19 pandemic has posed much more serious economic and fiscal challenges, the expert committee may be requested to examine the challenges of Tamil Nadu and the way forward to improve the fiscal position including the tax-GSDP ratio as part of the larger brief of suggesting policy measures to improve the economic situation, the statement said.

“What the chief secretary’s order doesn’t say, but was duly acknowledged by the deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam in the state assembly, is that the suggestion to the government to constitute such an expert committee came from me. I have been telling this to the state government since 2017,” said DMK MLA P T R Palanivel Thiagarajan, who worked as a financial consultant in the US before getting active in state politics a few years ago.

“The tax-GSDP ratio used to be around 10% between 2004 and 2014. Since then it has steadily declined to around 7% now. A onethird drop and it should have alarmed the government long ago. The state’s finances were in a precarious situation much before this crisis,” said Thiagarajan. The constitution of the expert committee too does not enthuse him. “The committee does not inspire confidence as it should. It does not have any world-class economists as the one constituted by the Rajasthan government. Also the three-month timeframe given to the committee is too long. By then, we will already be bankrupt or will be in a deep liquidity crunch,” says Thiagarajan.

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UNCONCERNED: People queuing up in front of Tasmac shops were uncontrollable on the first day outlets opened

Lesson not learnt: Trichy markets see huge crowds

Lesson not learnt: Trichy markets see huge crowds

Deepak.Karthik@timesgroup.com

Trichy:  11.05.2020

As the fish markets and meat stalls resumed business on Sunday, after being sealed on Sundays for a month, residents thronged the shops ignoring and violating all social distancing norms.

To avoid a huge crowds at markets, the district administration had, since April, banned fish stalls and meat shops from opening on Sundays. While the state is attempting to identify the daily wagers, who returned to their native districts after the closure of Koyambedu vegetable market, fish markets and meat stalls were given a relaxation by the district administration to do business from Sunday.

Huge crowds gathered at these stalls appeared to have forgotten the Koyambedu episode. With very limited space, Puthur fish market on Sunday saw most of the people wearing facemasks but they did not maintain social distance. Although, a few shops in Puthur market had signs for buyers to maintain social distancing, the rush to finish the purchase made the markings useless. “Residents should show responsibility. Market places are still vulnerable to the Covid-19 spread,” said, M Sekaran, president, federation of consumer and service organisations.

Meanwhile, the Trichy Corporation sealed at least 20 shops including bakeries in the past few days for not maintaining social distancing rules. Police personnel deployed in the fish market, however, appeared helpless as their instructions were ignored.

SOCIAL DISTANCING GONE FOR A TOSS: Huge crowds gathered at fish and meat stalls in Trichy on Sunday

Snakes come crawling out, calls for rescue on the rise

Snakes come crawling out, calls for rescue on the rise

Oppili.P@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 11.05.2020

It’s summer and reptiles, particularly snakes, are beginning to crawl out, looking for cool places to hide.

Already, the wildlife headquarters range office in the city is getting about half-a dozen calls a day from residents, mainly in the suburbs, saying snakes had strayed in to human habitation and had to be rescued.

Range officer Mohan said Chromepet, Pallavaram, Hasthinapuram, Medavakkam and Madambakkam are among the suburbs, where snakes have strayed into, while in the core city, they have been spotted in such places as Nandanam, T Nagar, Taramani, Velachery and Guindy in the past one month.

Herpetologist V Kalaiarasan says unused bricks, logs or tiles will attract snakes that try to hide under them and that workers, especially in the construction sector, should be careful while removing such unused material.

Well-known herpetologist Romulus Whitaker said rats and mice, found in large numbers around homes, were a big draw for snakes, adding that most of them were luckily harmless.

“If you keep rodents away by catching or killing them you are doing the right thing.

“It will also help if you learn to identify the very few venomous snakes that live around us so that if a harmless reptile like a rat snake, water snake or bronzeback shows up you can just ignore it.”

Cobra, Russell’s viper, krait and saw-scaled viper are the only four venomous snakes likely to be seen in most of India and in case any one of these is spotted near a house, it’s best to leave it alone, he said.

Any resident can call the forest department on 044-22200335 or an authorized snake rescuer — there is at least one in almost every town in the state - but should not try to catch or kill a snake, said Mohan.

A sizeable number of venomous snakes brought to his office are released after a few days in reserve forests in Tiruvallur district or Chengalpet, he said.

WATCH OUT: A file photo of snakes rescued in Velachery

Stranded Kuwait passengers return to city

Stranded Kuwait passengers return to city

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 11.05.2020

As many as 171 passengers including four infants stranded in Kuwait due to shutdown reached Chennai by a special Air India Express flight at 9.25pm on Sunday. This is the third rescue flight to the city. The first two flights from Dubai reached on Saturday early morning.

The passengers were taken to quarantine centres arranged by the government in special buses after nasal and throat swabs were taken to check for Covid-19. The passengers will remain in 14days quarantine.

Officials from health department also put quarantine stamp on their hands to ensure that they not violate the isolation.

An airport official said the same safety protocol that was followed to handle the passengers who arrived by the two flights from Dubai were used to handle the people who arrived from Kuwait also.

The passengers were first checked using thermal scanners and then were led to the immigration counters. After collecting the bags they proceeded to register to select a quarantine facility. Air India Express will operate flights from Kuala Lumpur, Muscat, Manila and Dhaka as part of the Vande Bharat Mission to bring stranded Indians.

BACK HOME: A plane from Kuwait lands at Chennai on Sunday

Guest workers walk home, take interior roads to avoid cops

Guest workers walk home, take interior roads to avoid cops

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:  11.05.2020

With no response for registrations in the state government portal (www.nonresidenttamil.org) last week, guest workers from Chennai are now walking back home. To avoid check posts, the migrants take interior roads of villages to cross district and state borders.

Sirajudeen, a 24-year-old worker from Chennai who is travelling to Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, by foot along with 32 others on Saturday, said they were taking interior roads to skip Padianallur toll gate.

They were working in sawmills and paint industries here for a year and registered with the portal as soon as it was launched. However, they haven't received any update.

“Trucks can transport us to Vizag’s outskirts if we pay them ₹1,000. We aren't sure if we can pay for the remaining 100km journey,” said L Tirupathy, a construction worker, who left Kasimedu on Sunday as the government camp they resided in ran out of food.

While this was the ordeal of registered workers, hundreds residing in Velachery struggle to get their registrations approved. “The police provided contact numbers. However, they are never answered,” said V Charukesh, a volunteer from Chennai aiding migrants with the online registration process.

TOI on Sunday contacted emergency numbers (of IAScadre nodal officers) released by the government to facilitate movement of workers to Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The calls went unanswered.

“The government could have sent migrants home efficiently by operating all available buses. But it just created a portal for namesake and is running only limited trains,” said CITU President A Soundararajan.

Data suggests 2.5 lakh workers registered to go their natives from Tamil Nadu. A train trip can ferry only 1,130 workers. There are 21,000 unused government buses in TN. Calculations revealed they can ferry 8 lakh workers out of the state a day.

“Most industries, that have employed these migrants have also not expressed much support. In fact, some have even threatened to not release pending salary dues,” Soundararajan added.

LONG WAY HOME: Guest workers walk along GNT Road near Red Hills to reach Andra Pradesh as police intensified checks along borders

Cases will go up, but don’t worry: Spl officer

‘High No. Due To Contact Tracing And Targeted Tests’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 11.05.2020

On a day when Chennai saw the highest spike in Covid-19 positive cases (509), special nodal officer for city, J Radhakrishnan said the number of cases in the city will be on the higher side for the coming week, but that the public need not worry.

The high number of cases in the city should be contextualised with the population and the rate of testing done, which is the highest in the country, Radhakrishnan said.

“My humble request is that we need not be afraid because of numbers. For the past 10 days, we have been doing targeted testing. We have traced contacts and are testing at the rate of 3,500 people s day,” Radhakrishnan said.

Deputy directors at ICMRNational Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, Dr Prahdeep Kaur and Dr Manickam, too had echoed a similar opinion in their interview to TOI on May 8. “Rising numbers reflect good testing and contact tracing strategies. It tells us we are on the right path. At one point, when we are at the peak, the numbers will decline even as we continue to aggressively test people,” the epidemiologists had said.

On Sunday, 669 cases were recorded in Tamil Nadu of which 509 was in Chennai. As on Sunday evening, the total number of cases in the city rose to 3,839 — 53% of the total cases in the state — 7,204.

Stating that coronavirus is an invisible enemy for which the public should prepare themselves as foot soldiers, the official appealed to people to support the authorities by following physical distancing and wear masks compulsorily.

There will come a stage in the future where not wearing face masks and not maintaining physical distancing might lead to fines, he said, and appealed to the public to not step out of the house without a face mask. “Face mask should become a staple part of the outdoor attire,” he said.

Stressing that the elderly and the diabetic are vulnerable, the official sought co-operation from the public.

Radhakrishnan also pointed out that majority of the wards in Chennai have less than ten Covid-19 positive cases and that the maximum cases are restricted to two wards in Royapuram zone and Thiru-vi-ka Nagar zone, which have more than 200 cases each.

For the past 10 days, we have been doing targeted testing. We have traced contacts and are testing at the rate of 3,500 people s day

J Radhakrishnan | SPECIAL NODAL OFFICER, CHENNAI

Tuticorin MCH dean shunted out after video

Tuticorin MCH dean shunted out after video

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

11.05.2020

A day after a video purportedly featuring Tuticorin government medical college hospital dean Dr B Thiruvasagamani went viral, director of medical education (DME) Dr R Narayanababu said preliminary action has been taken against him by transferring him to Virudhungar Medical College Hospital on Saturday.

In the clip, the authenticity of which could not be independently verified, the dean, seated in his car, could be seen telling final year medical students, house surgeons or compulsory rotatory residential interns to mark themselves as negative for Covid-19 test results. When a student questions him how he could do so without taking the test, the doctor was heard saying “That’s how it is done”.

Dr Thiruvasagamani has maintained that the clip was doctored and that his transfer did not have anything to do with it. Speaking to TOI, the DME said that because of the nature of the case, preliminary action was taken first after which an inquiry will be initiated to thoroughly investigate the matter. “We’ll ask for an inquiry and explanation for the video and then, on investigation subsequently, departmental action will be taken,” he said.

Senior authorities at Tuticorin Medical College Hospital were unavailable for comment.