Panel for extending lockdown in 4 T.N. districts

Panel for extending lockdown in 4 T.N. districts

Prabhdeep Kaur says relaxation could be granted based on ground situation

31/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

Prabhdeep Kaur

The panel of public health and medical experts constituted by the Tamil Nadu government on Saturday suggested to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami not to give any relaxation to Chennai and three neighbouring districts from the COVID-19 lockdown.

Addressing mediapersons, after their meeting with the Chief Minister, Prabhdeep Kaur, Scientist–E/Deputy Director, Indian Council of Medical Research–National Institute of Epidemiology, said the panel opposed giving any relaxation to Chennai, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur districts. She said the panel was of the view that there could not be one rule for all of Tamil Nadu.

Relaxations could be granted based on the situation prevailing in in the district, she said. Seventy per cent of the COVID-19 positive cases across the country were reported in 30 districts.

More cases were reported in cities as they were more crowded, she said.

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Govt. eases a slew of restrictions; malls, religious places to open

Govt. eases a slew of restrictions; malls, religious places to open

Lockdown shall continue to be implemented strictly in containment zones: MHA

31/05/2020, VIJAITA SINGH,NEW DELHI

As Lockdown 4.0 comes to an end, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Saturday released new guidelines called ‘Unlock 1.0’ that allow the opening of malls, restaurants and religious places in all areas except the containment zones from June 8.

It, however, prohibits the opening of bars, swimming pools gymnasiums, entertainment parks, cinema halls, metro rail and international air travel.

Wide publicity

The permit system for inter-State movement of vehicles has been removed and there shall be no restriction on movement within and outside a State. If the local administration has to regulate the movement in the wake of a surge in COVID-19 cases, it will have to give wide publicity in advance regarding the procedure and restrictions to be followed.

The grading of areas as red, orange and green zones will no longer be in force after May 31, when the fourth phase of the lockdown imposed on March 24 ends. However, the State governments could identify buffer zones outside the containment zones and impose restrictions.

On Saturday, the MHA issued the guidelines under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, for a “phased reopening” of areas outside the containment zones, which will be effective till June 30.

The MHA said the lockdown shall continue to be implemented strictly in the containment zones that will be demarcated by the State governments. “Within the containment zones, strict perimeter control shall be maintained and only essential activities allowed.”

“The current phase of reopening, Unlock 1, will have an economic focus,” an MHA statement said.

All kinds of social, political, sports, entertainment, academic, cultural and religious congregations would remain suspended.

Grasshoppers seen in TN, not locusts, says agri dept

Grasshoppers seen in TN, not locusts, says agri dept

‘These Insects Don’t Form Swarms’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  31.05.2020

Krishnagiri/Kanyakumari/Chennai: The agriculture department and Krishi Vigyan Kendra have clarified that the insects spotted in Neralagiri village in Krishnagiri as well as two villages in Kanyakumari district were grasshoppers and not the locusts ravaging crops in some northern states.

Thousands of insects had swarmed Neralagiri since Friday evening. The matter was brought to the attention of Veppanahalli MLA P Murugan. On Saturday morning, agriculture department officials and KVK insect researchers in Piyur visited the village along with district collector S Prabhakar collector.

On closer inspection, they confirmed that the insects were not schistocerca gregaria, which is commonly known as desert locust. “Grasshoppers are usually found in calotropis gigantea and cactus plants especially when it rains during summer,” said S Rajasekar, joint director of Krishnagiri district agriculture department. He said farmers need not panic as they do not ravage standing crops.

State agriculture secretary Gagandeep Singh said it was not possible for locusts from the North to enter southern states. The officials advised the farmers to spray neem oil with water to control the grasshopper.

In Kanyakumari, farmers of Mulavilai and Vettukuli villages in Thiruvattar taluk saw thousands of big grasshoppers preying on banana, rubber and other leaves and also covering bushes and plants in the two villages. They measured two to three inches, had stripes of dark green and pale yellow.

“As a group of 50 to 100 grasshoppers on a banana plant, they destroyed a sizeable portion in less than an hour,” said Padmanabhapuram MLA T Mano Thangaraj who visited the place.

District collector Prashant M Wadnere sent a team to the spot with scientists from the KVK and officials of agriculture and horticulture departments. Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Coimbatore later confirmed that it is a species known as spotted or ‘coffee grasshopper’ (Aularches milliaris) that affects coffee plantations.

KVK scientist and programme coordinator K Thirukumaran said that ‘coffee grasshopper’ is easily controllable by spraying Malathion 50 EC pesticide by mixing 2 ml in 1,000 ml water..

Grasshoppers seen in Krishnagiri

Intern doctors in Pondy paid ₹5,000/month

Intern doctors in Pondy paid ₹5,000/month

Bosco.Dominique@timesgroup.com

Puducherry:31.05.2020

Intern doctors at the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Research Institute (IGMCRI) in Puducherry, who are in the forefront of screening people suspected with Covid-19 infection besides treating Covid-19 patients, draw a paltry stipend of ₹5,000 per month, while their counterparts in government medical college hospitals in rest of the country receive not less than ₹20,000 per month as stipend. Their stipend works out to ₹163 per day, which is far less than the minimum daily wage (₹256) of a worker under the MGREGA scheme.

The intern doctors said the government college, which has the highest fee structure among all government institutions in the country, has the lowest intern doctor stipend. The fees at the IGMCRI is close to Rs1 lakh per year. To rub salt to their wounds the government does not release the stipend regularly. "Sometimes it takes more than six months to get this rock bottom stipend. Even after paying the fees which were hiked more than 110% in the past two years, we are not getting equal pay compared to other state government medical colleges. These issues have been represented multiple times by our students' associations but it is bitter to say it has not been heard in the past," said a memorandum submitted by the intern doctors to the government.

They lamented that they risk not only their lives and also their family members' lives during the pandemic and continue to work day and night overcoming many physical and psychological difficulties, but the government has failed to initiate any concrete action to redress their genuine grievances.

IGMCRI dean and director (in-charge) Sivagnanam said the society which runs the college received representation from the students requesting stipend on par with their counterparts in other government colleges and has forwarded the representation to the secretary (health). “We are actively working on their representation,” Sivagnanam said.

Virtual reality trial helps city docs operate on 11-yr-old boy

Virtual reality trial helps city docs operate on 11-yr-old boy

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:31.05.2020

City surgeons used virtual reality to make hard decisions ahead of the heart surgery on an 11-year-old boy, who was flown in from Cairo in February. Doctors at MGM Healthcare said they implanted an adult size heart pump in the boy’s heart virtually using a joy stock before they used scalpels.

The boy, who has now recovered and is waiting for flights to resume, danced to his favourite Bollywood track, with the battery bag hanging across his shoulder, before a camera to show he is “happy and healthy”.

Doctors diagnosed him with restrictive cardiomyopathy and severe pulmonary hypertension. He was too weak for a heart transplant so doctors had to place an implantable heart pump called left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) as a bridge to transplant. “All existing pumps were for adults and may not fit into his chest cavity. We were scared we may not be able to close his chest after implanting it,” said senior cardiac surgeon Dr K R Balakrishnan of MGM Healthcare. “There was no way of knowing if the pump can be fitted inside the heart from x-ray and scans,” he said.

In March, when the boy began drifting in and out of consciousness, Balakrishnan sought help from R Krishnakumar, professor of department of engineering design at IIT-M. Using the CT scan, Krishnakumar’s team built a virtual reality model of the boy’s chest and heart overnight. “The robots used during surgery help doctors navigate so the percentage of error is reduced. In this virtual reality model, doctors can plan the surgery using three dimensional images of the organs. They can look at the best position to place the implant,” he said.

Once planning was done, Balakrishnan walked into the theatre with confidence. The March 6 surgery was event-free. The boy’s mother, Dr Noha Almohamady Fatouh Dabash, a paediatrician, said she saw her child’s health condition improve rapidly after the surgery. “My son now has a fresh lease of life.” She knows he may eventually require a heart transplant, but the device will keep him healthy for another six years until he gets a new heart.

No need to salute ministerial staff: SP’s circular sparks row

No need to salute ministerial staff: SP’s circular sparks row

A.Selvaraj@timesgroup.com

Chennai:31.05.2020

Should a uniformed policeman salute a ministerial staffer in the police department? A circular from a superintendent of police in Peramabalur district to subordinate officers, asking them not to salute ministerial staff in the department has kicked up a row. The ministerial staff association has decided to express its ire by sporting a black band on sleeves, saying the circular has spoiled the cordial atmosphere between uniformed police and ministerial staff in the department. The association also complained to the DGP about the matter.

SP Nisha Parthiban is said to have witnessed police personnel saluting ministerial staff promptly when they need to get some work done. This led the officer to issue a circular dated May 23 to all her subordinates in Perambalur district.

The issue blew up with office-bearers of the Tamil Nadu police ministerial staff, Perambalur district branch, passing a resolution condemning this act at a meeting on Friday.

Though not mandatory, police personnel and ministerial staff exchanging warm regards has been part of the work culture for years. While ministerial staff said they had never insisted that field level officers or police personnel salute, it was a nod to the friendly nature the two shared and because staff work for the police personnel. “We never expect this courtesy from any police personnel,” said a ministerial staff’ office-bearers in the DGP office.

“We have received several accolades from many senior police officers on many occasions and we have continuously showed our respect and faith even now during the Coronavirus pandemic too,” said an office-bearer of the TN ministerial staff, Perambalur district.

In 2018, during a function for the golden jubilee of the police ministerial staff association at Coimbatore, the then ADGP, administration, had said ministerial staff are behind the victory of every senior police officer. “The officers are trying to replicate Lord Curzon’s ideology of divide and rule and are trying to split the healthy atmosphere between police personnel and the ministerial staff,” a former ministerial staff association member at the Chennai commissioner’s office said.

The ministerial staff association has decided to express its ire by sporting a black band on sleeves, saying the circular has spolied the cordial atmosphere between uniformed police and ministerial staff in the police department

Rlys to run 8 special trains from June 1 but will skirt city

Rlys to run 8 special trains from June 1 but will skirt city

Move Gets Lukewarm Response

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:31.05.2020

Southern Railway will start running eight trains, including return trips, from June 1 within the state as part of steps to resume services in a phased manner. However, the move has received lukewarm response from people as none of them connects Chennai.

Two daily trains are intercity expresses to Madurai that will be operated from Villupuram at 4pm and to Coimbatore that will be operated from Katpadi at 4.20pm instead of from Chennai. Since there is no overnight journey, the trains have 13 second class chair car coaches.

Nevertheless, more than 1,000 second class seats are vacant on these two trains three hours after bookings opened. More than 70 seats on AC chair car are available for booking on train to Coimbatore and 128 seats on AC chair car are available for booking on train to Madurai on June 1. In contrast, tickets for Chennai-New Delhi Rajdhani Express are getting sold out minutes after booking open. Senthil Kumar, who wanted to book a ticket to Madurai for his brother, said, “I have dropped the idea as it is difficult to drop him at Villupuram and come back.”

Sources say the patronage for the trains is likely to be low as passengers from Chennai will not be able to reach Villupuram or Katpadi which is more than 100km away without public transport. Those who reach from Madurai and Coimbatore may not find it convenient to travel by road to Chennai because the trains reach late at night.

A senior railway official said, “Trains are not being operated from Chennai because the city is a red zone. We want to avoid passengers from Chennai and do not expect passengers to travel to Villupuram and Katpadi to board these trains because getting epass for boarding trains will be difficult.” Other four trains are Coimbatore — Mayiladuturai— Coimbatore Janshatabdi specials, Tiruchchirappalli — Nagercoil — Tiruchchirappalli superfast specials.

Workers carry out maintenance at the Basin Bridge train care centre