Passengers told to reach 90 minutes early, travel light & carry own food

NEW TRAVEL NORMS

Passengers told to reach 90 minutes early, travel light & carry own food

Dipak Dash & Bharti Jain TNN

New Delhi  12.05.2020

: All passengers with confirmed tickets will need to reach railway stations at least 90 minutes prior to scheduled departure of any special train that will start plying between Delhi and 15 other cities from Tuesday (today), a norm which was applicable for domestic air travel till now.

The passengers also need to carry less luggage with them and bring their own food as there will be no catering service or provision for prepaid booking of meals in these trains, except IRCTC making provision for limited eatables such as dry and ready-to-eat food and packaged drinking water on payment basis. They will also require to carry their own linen with them as railways won’t provide linen, blankets and curtains. However, the temperature inside AC coaches shall be “suitably regulated”, the railway ministry said.

The first eight trains will start plying from Tuesday including three from New Delhi — one heading to Dibrugarh, another to Bengaluru and a third one to Bilaspur — one

each from Mumbai Central, Howrah, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Patna to Delhi. Another nine trains will start their trip on Wednesday.

Addressing a major concern of how passengers can reach stations amid a lockdown, the home ministry issued guidelines said passengers as well as the driver of the vehicle transporting them to and from the railway station shall be allowed on the basis of the confirmed e-ticket.

In a detailed guideline, the railway ministry said booking for these trains can be done through IRCTC for maximum seven days in advance and no waitlist or RAC tickets will be issued. The railways allowed booking for all berths including the middle berth in 3AC coaches even as the home ministry guidelines require social distancing by passengers inside the trains.

Only passengers with confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the station after proper thermal screening.

While only asymptomatic persons will be allowed to travel, railways said the passengers will have to comply with the health protocol of the destination state once they deboard the train.

Full report on www.toi.in

India sends 88 nurses to help UAE fight Covid-19

India sends 88 nurses to help UAE fight Covid-19

TNN & AGENCIES

New Delhi:12.05.2020

Even as more and more Indians are repatriated from UAE, the government has also facilitated travel of Indian nurses to the Gulf nation which had asked for assistance in the dealing with Covid-19.

A batch of 88 nurses from India arrived in the UAE to help the country’s stretched healthcare professionals amid a surge in the number of Covid-19 infections in the country.

India’s ambassador to UAE Pavan Kapoor said that this would further strengthen the long-standing friendship between the two countries.

“India and the UAE are showing how a strategic partnership translates into concrete cooperation on the ground in dealing with this pandemic. Helping a friend in need is the motto of cooperation between our two countries,” he said.

India’s Consul General in Dubai Vipul said, “It is yet another example of strong India-UAE bilateral ties and reflects deep understanding of problems faced by expatriates as well as UAE nationals in the UAE.”

The fifth day of Vande Bharat Mission saw seven repatriation flights landing in India. While an AI flight was denied permission to land in Qatar, the government said it was for technical reasons.

The special flights included London to Delhi to Bengaluru, San Francisco to Mumbai to Hyderabad, Dhaka to Mumbai, Dubai to Kochi, Abu Dhabi to Hyderabad, Kaula Lampur to Chennai and Bahrain to Kozhikode.

India’s ambassador to UAE Pavan Kapoor said that this would further strengthen the long-standing friendship between the two countries

Bengaluru-based pilot gets married online, complete with virtual ‘sangeet’ and ‘aarti’

Bengaluru-based pilot gets married online, complete with virtual ‘sangeet’ and ‘aarti’

Farheen.Hussain@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:  12.05.2020

It was to be a big fat wedding spread over three days with all frills thrown in. Thanks to the nationwide lockdown, the marriage of a Bengaluru-based pilot, 28, turned into a two-hour virtual ceremony watched from nine locations. The bride and the groom got married in Gurgaon, with his parents catching the action live from Bengaluru.

Sameer Varma, a senior first officer with IndiGo, was scheduled to marry 27-yearold Ayushi Kataria, a consultant with Accenture, on April 17 with hundreds of guests, including a few from Australia and Belgium, in attendance. The bride’s family had nearly completed the wedding preparations before the lockdown was announced.

Sameer, Ayushi and her family were in Gurgaon. Sameer’s parents — Rohit and Kiran — were in Bengaluru. Rohit Varma, a retired IAS officer and a decorated Kargil veteran, is also with IndiGo as a senior captain.

By May 1, Sameer’s mother Kiran realized they should go ahead with the wedding since there was no sign of the lockdown being eased. “Ayushi lives 10-15 minutes from Sameer and we asked them to go ahead with the wedding with Ayushi’s parents, a photographer and a panditji, with the permission of local authorities,” Kiran said.

The original wedding was to be held at a Delhi resort with a pre-wedding cocktail do for 200 guests. Around 45 guests were to fly down to Bengaluru on April 18 for a reception and a puja at the Varma residence in Whitefield. The plan went for a toss.

The wedding was held on May 6, and a virtual sangeet the previous evening. “Some 35 family members attended the online wedding between 3.30pm and 5.30pm that day from nine locations – Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida, Jaipur, Pune, the northeast and Singapore. Our older son, who lives in Singapore with his wife and son, participated from there. Our grandson was glued to the screen to watch his ‘chachu’s’ wedding,” Kiran said, adding she was in tears because she couldn’t be physically present for her son’s wedding.

Besides Sameer and Ayushi, five people were present at the bride’s residence for the wedding: Her parents, brother, panditji and a photographer.

Since last-minute shopping was ruled out, the bride turner mother’s finery into her trousseau and the groom colour-coordinated it with a kurta from his wardrobe.

The bride broke down during the gruh pravesh ceremony that was conducted on a WhatsApp video call. “There was Ferrero-Rocher instead of laddoos. My mother-in-law completed the aarti. It was a beautiful experience,” she said. Sameer completed the rituals by sprinkling water on the threshold, placing rice and played the ‘shehnai’ instrument. “I performed the aarti from here for my son and daughter-in-law,” Kiran said.

REMOTE PARTICIPATION:

Family members and friends attended the online wedding of Sameer Varma and Ayushi Kataria from nine locations

Social distancing takes a backseat in Madurai city

Social distancing takes a backseat in Madurai city

Times News Network  12.05.2020

A large number of vehicles hit Madurai roads following the state government’s relaxation of lockdown norms, which allowed 34 types of commercial establishments and services to function from Monday. The large influx of vehicles has led to traffic chaos in a few places throwing social distancing out of gear.

Places such as Town Hall Road, Netaji Street, Masi and Veli Streets and the commercial areas including Meenakshi Bazaar were flooded with people. It looked like the city has come back to life as a large number of shops were opened with people buzzing around them. However, West Masi Street, the busiest commercial area in the city, looked deserted as it continued to be a containment area.

Most tea shops were opened. But their business took a hit as they were only allowed to provide parcels as per the standard operating procedure. A few served tea at the shop in paper cups to give no room to contamination by using reusable cups. A large number of people thronged the Meenakshi Bazaar to get their mobile phones serviced and to buy accessories.

Similarly, most hardware shops, electrical shops, optical shops, steel, timber, cement and paint shops required for construction activities were opened.

LOOMING DANGER: Crowded roads were seen in Madurai after a long hiatus, following the state government’s relaxation of lockdown norms.Tea shops, hardware stores, electrical shops and other commercial establishments were opened. A large number of people thronged mobile shopps to buy new accessories or to repair their phones

Lockdown doubts

Thirumazhisai likely to become Koyambedu 2.0

Thirumazhisai likely to become Koyambedu 2.0

Yogesh Kabirdoss and A Prathap TNN

Chennai:12.05.2020

The situation at the Koyambedu wholesale market, which was shut after it emerged as a hotspot for Covid-19, could be repeated at the Thirumazhisai temporary facility where huge crowds gathered on Monday. Very few adhered to social distancing norms and the authorities remained mute spectators.

A majority of the visitors did not wear masks, while those that had them didn’t cover their noses and mouths, stylishly letting them hang by the neck. And the rule of maintaining the mandatory six feet between two individuals was thrown to the wind. No circles were drawn before the market opened at 1am and the 12,000 traders got ready to sell produce brought by at least 2,000 mini-trucks. By 9am, they managed to sell around 3,500 tonnes of vegetables valued at Rs 1.5 crore-Rs 2 crore, said market sources.

Urban development experts said the authorities should have set up temporary wholesale facilities at three different locations.

K P Subramanian, retired professor of urban engineering at Anna University, said allowing a large gathering at a single location could lead to replicating the mistakes made at Koyambedu. “Concentration of activities and people at one place, even for a short period, causes problems, particularly in the context of Covid-19. The government should have adopted a strategy on the lines of special buses being operated from different terminuses such as Tambaram and Poonamallee to clear extra rush during festival seasons for the temporary wholesale market as well. They should have set up markets in multiple locations,” he said.

When contacted, an official of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), which is now maintaining the temporary market at Thirumazhisai, said that all necessary measures were taken to ensure all rules would be followed. “In fact, the only reason we decided to establish the market in the spacious land parcel at Thirumazhisai was that social distancing can be ensured,” the official said. Vehicles entering the market were disinfected and people were scanned using thermal scanners, he added.

POINT OF CONCERN: The temporary market at Thirumazhisai began operations on Monday when very few adhered to distancing norms. The authorities remained spectators

More containment areas in Tambaram and Pallavaram

More containment areas in Tambaram and Pallavaram

Little Action Taken Against Erring Shops, Say Activists

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:  12.05.2020

As Covid-19 positive cases in Tambaram and Pallavaram are on the rise, the government has increased the number of containment zones in the areas. More people were put in isolation camps to prevent spread.

Tambaram, in particular, had only 14 cases two weeks ago. Just when the last patient was about to recover, the locality in southern Chennai started to feel the heat from the Koyambedu cluster.

As on date, as many as 50 positive cases were reported in Tambaram taluk. This included the six members from the same family, who resided at Krishna Nagar. One among them had visited Koyambedu market to buy vegetables for his hotel.

Special teams were formed to trace people who went to the market recently. Based on their findings, a total of 282 vegetable vendors and traders in these two areas were put in four isolation camps.

Following protests from them about the quality of food provided to them at the camps, the government has increased its spending. On an average, ₹200 is allocated per head a day to buy food from renowned private hotels in the vicinity, said a revenue official.

Samples were collected from them on Saturday and so far nine people have tested positive. They were referred to Chengalpet Government Hospital for further treatment, the official added.

As far as containment zones were concerned, the revenue department has devised a new strategy to meet the daily needs of people residing there.

“Since the frontline workers are not allowed to enter containment zones, we have identified a group of volunteers who can collect ration and food items at the barricades (put in street ends) and distribute them to nearby houses,” said Tambaram thasildar Saravanan.

A WhatsApp group was created for residents to share their needs with these volunteers who would later forward them to authorities, he added.

Residents outside containment zones, however, complained that not much was done to prevent the spread of the virus.

Ragu Ram from Kurinji Nagar Residents Welfare Association said all disinfection and testing measures were restricted only to main roads and interior areas were neglected.

Civic activists alleged that unlike the Chennai corporation, municiplaities here don’t take any action against shops which violate social distancing norms and they don’t update data on cases and red zones on maps regularly.

KEEPING TABS: Officials inspect a containment zone at Perungalathur near Tambaram on Monday