Agents get e-passes approved through govt ‘connections’

Agents get e-passes approved through govt ‘connections’

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:4.8.2020

Common citizens struggle to get e-passes, even for genuine reasons, but some travel agencies and cab operators get them issued easily through ‘connections’ at district collectorates and Greater Chennai Corporation.

This reporter, seeking an epassfor returnof stranded relatives, marriage and a health emergency, approached three taxi operators in Chennai who promised to get the document for ₹250-₹300 per head over and above the base fare (₹10-₹20 depending on the vehicle model).

“It’s ok even if you don’t have hospital records. We can apply for a pass to Kerala and drop you at Madurai,” said Chennai-based travel agent Rajamanickam. Claiming that Tamil Nadu authorities didn’t cross-check documents much for inter-state travel, he said applying from a random address would get the job done.

Vasu, another travel agent, said he could transport even seven people in a Xylo, meant for four, and demanded ₹1,500 for an approved e-pass through an internet centre with ‘connections’ in government. All he wanted was an ID card like Aadhaar or driving licence with a Chennai address. It was not necessary for the person to travel in the car as it was only for e-pass approval. Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA) mandates local address proof for such travel.

The last agency approached by this reporter, Ragavendra Travels, said it could arrange passes to and from Kanyakumari without hassle and didn’t charge extra for epass approval. Asked how it was able to do this when applications for genuine reasons were rejected, staff at the agency said what was entered in the description column mattered and that they had learned how to get it right.

J Ramanujam of TN Call Taxi Operators Association said some drivers from other districts had started taking regular trips by pooling in people. “Just like share service, people travel together by paying their share,” he said. Every day, on an average, he got 10-15 such calls but avoided many as they had invalid supporting documents.

TNeGA officials said their role ended with facilitating the application process and transferring it to respective district authorities to take the final call.

Corpn e-passes for workers entering city

Corpn e-passes for workers entering city

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

4.8.2020

Greater Chennai Corporation has come up with a new scheme for e-pass for guest workers returning to Chennai from other states and other districts of Tamil Nadu.

Corporation commissioner G Prakash said companies employing the workers have to apply for e-passes after providing their particulars. “The company has to indicate the exact number of workers who are coming and get an e-pass for each of them,” Prakash said.

Apart from this, the companies will have to create quarantine facilities for such workers in the city. “They will have to build some kind of shed where the arriving employees can be quarantined. We understand that it cannot be a very high quality facility, but it has to be suitable with proper facilities like toilets,” Prakash said. These facilities will be inspected by local corporation officials and given approval, he said. “Already we have started giving permissions to some companies who have approached us,” Prakash said.

All employees will be quarantined and they have to stay put during the 14-day period and also undergo testing, the commissioner said. “In case they have symptoms, they would have to report to us and undergo the treatment cycle,” he said. “This is one line of defence.”

Prakash said the corporation was approving 1,000 e-passes on a daily basis. He said Covid-19 prevention and detection activities would continue for at least three more months and complete relaxation of lockdown right now was difficult.

“The number of people wearing masks has improved, 90% are using it and it is a good sign. However, maintaining physical distancing is turning out to be difficult in some places. We will implement it as far as possible,” Prakash, who inaugurated a free quarantine centre at a hotel in Velachery along with health secretary J Radhakrishnan, said.

EXODUS: Thousands of guest workers left Chennai after the outbreak of Covid-19

Tedious e-pass norms, lack of public transport make it a crawl to work Curbs On Travel Among Dists Hit Staff Availability

Tedious e-pass norms, lack of public transport make it a crawl to work

Curbs On Travel Among Dists Hit Staff Availability

Sindhu Hariharan & Mamtha Asokan | TNN

4.8.2020

It’s two steps forward and one back for companies which want to bring back their employees to work. While the services sector appears to have embraced WFH, manufacturing units, particularly those on the outskirts, are facing issues with a tedious e-pass system and the lack of public transport.

Tamil Nadu scrapped the zonal system of boundary demarcation whereby the state was divided into eight zones. “When Chennai and its adjoining areas were one zone, there was no need for e-pass. But that has been scrapped and we have gone back to boundaries by district borders, making it cumbersome and tedious for e-pass procurement,” said the head of a trade body.

Consultancy firm IndiaFilings, which currently has about 100 staff working at its office in Chennai, prefers WFH. “If we apply e-pass for employees on behalf of the company, the approval rate is high. If they apply individually, it’s low,” Lionel Charles, CEO of IndiaFilings, said.

TOI spoke to several company officials and most said only employees living within the city limits and having their own vehicles are able to report to work while those who depend on public transport are not able to.

SECO Controls, an MSME based out of the Perungudi Industrial Estate, said the absence of public transport has hit movement of people. Vaishnavi Vignesh Raja, its VP, said the company is helping staff living outside Chennai limits get epasses to come in to work, but there are a few employees who have been trying to get e-passes and are not able to secure them.

A senior official at the state industries department told TOI that companies have been granted e-passes for inter-district movement of staff earlier and they can continue to apply.

However, in industrial hubs like Coimbatore, where most staff stay in districts outside the city limits, businesses continue to get affected due to curbs on inter-district movement. “Rules must be modified such that an authorization letter from respective companies along with employee identification cards support inter-district movement,” R Ramamurthy, president, The Coimbatore District Small Industries Association, (CODISSIA) said.

Meanwhile, Chennai’s tech companies have embraced the work-from-anywhere model with the product firms like Freshworks, OrangeScape, Chargebee and others also hinting that they will remain remote till the end of the year.

Cognizant has decided to keep its corporate and sales offices closed through the end of 2020. “We are deciding on the reopening of delivery centres based on the local Covid-19 situation and restrictions, client needs and center requirements,” a spokesperson for Cognizant said.

Verizon said they plan to continue the 100% WFH implementation that is currently underway. GAVS Technologies, a software product company on OMR, has made all arrangements to accommodate increased staff but said lack of public transport has led to just around 5% employees coming in. “There is a huge amount of social anxiety about the virus, and we are also not forcing people to come in as we are okay continuing operations remotely,” Balaji Uppili, chief customer success officer, GAVS, said.

A MUST: Police cracked down on those travelling without e-passes during the lockdown

Cut gratuity period to one year:

Cut gratuity period to one year:

panel  ‘Extend it to all kinds of employees’

04/08/2020

The Parliamentary Committee on Labour has, in its latest report, recommended that the eligibility period for gratuity payable to an employee on termination of his employment should be reduced to one year from the present provision of five years.

The Committee made this recommendation in its report on Social Security Code, which has been evolved subsuming nine Central Labour laws. This comes in the wake of extensive retrenchment in all sectors in COVID-19 pandemic-induced economic slowdown.

The committee, which is headed by Biju Janta Dal MP Bharatruhari Mahtab, submitted the report to Speaker Om Birla on Friday.

“Keeping in view the nature of India’s Labour Market where most employees are employed for a short duration period only, making them ineligible for gratuity as per extant norms, the Committee desires that the time limit of five years as provided for in the Code for payment of gratuity be reduced to continuous service of one year,” the report says.

It has also recommended that this facility be extended to all kinds of employees, including contract labourers, seasonal workers, piece rate workers, fixed term employees and daily/monthly wage workers.

The committee has stressed that there should be a robust redressal mechanism in case an employer does not pay up the dues.

Supreme Court Judgments Now Available In More Regional Languages [Read Judgments in Malayalam, Tamil & Punjabi]

Supreme Court Judgments Now Available In More Regional Languages [Read Judgments in Malayalam, Tamil & Punjabi]

LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK

3 Aug 2020 8:21 PM

The Supreme Court has started uploading the translated version of its judgments in more regional languages.

Some judgments delivered by the Court last year and earlier this year are now seen available in Malayalam, Tamil and Punjabi. Mostly the judgments connected to a state is being translated and uploaded in the language of that state.

Last year, the Supreme Court had started to make its judgments available in regional languages. A separate tab titled 'Vernacular Judgments' was added to the home page of the Supreme Court Portal. Initially, the translation was made to six vernacular languages: Assamese, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Odia and Telugu.

On finding that the translation is not being made to Malayalam, the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had then written to the then Chief Justice of India and Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad requesting that all Supreme Court judgments should be made available in Malayalam also. Anyhow, the Supreme Court is seen to have positively considered this request and is making available the Malayalam version of the judgments in cases related to Kerala.

The translation is being done using an indigenously developed software by the electronic software wing of the Supreme Court.

However all these regional language versions have a 'disclaimer' attached to it it at the end. It states that for all official and practical purposes, the judgments published in English shall be used. It further clarifies that the translated version in regional languages are only for the better understanding of the litigants.

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ராம் சங்கர் ச

ஃப்ளிப்கார்ட்

``அமேசான் நிறுவனமும் விரைவாக பொருள்களை டெலிவரி செய்து வருகிறது. ஜியோமார்ட் நிறுவனம் உள்ளூர் வாடிக்கையாளர்களை வாட்ஸ் அப் வழியாகத் தொடர்புகொண்டு வருகிறது.”

கொரோனா ஊரடங்கு தொடரும் இந்த நாள்களில் பலரும் ஆன்லைன் வழியாக பெரும்பாலான பொருள்களை ஆர்டர் செய்து வாங்கி வந்தனர். காய்கறிகள், பழங்கள், பால் மற்றும் மளிகைப் பொருள்கள் உள்ளிட்ட அன்றாடத் தேவைக்குப் பயன்படுத்தும் பொருள்களையும்கூட மக்கள் முடிந்தவரை ஆன்லைனிலேயே ஆர்டர் செய்து வந்தனர். இதனால், அமேசான், ஃப்ளிப்கார்ட் மற்றும் தொழிலதிபர் முகேஷ் அம்பானிக்கு சொந்தமான ஜியோமார்ட் நிறுவனங்கள் இடையே கடுமையான போட்டியும் நிலவி வருகிறது.

ஆன்லைன் வணிகத்தில் போட்டிகள் அதிகரித்து வரும் சூழலில் நிறுவனங்கள் மக்களைக் கவரும் வகையில் பல்வேறு அறிவிப்புகளை வெளியிட்டு வருகின்றன. அவ்வகையில், ஃப்ளிப்கார்ட் நிறுவனமானது ஒன்றரை மணி நேரத்தில் அதாவது 90 நிமிடங்களில் மளிகைப் பொருள்களை டெலிவரி செய்வதாக அறிவித்துள்ளது. இதுதொடர்பான அறிவிப்பை ஃப்ளிப்கார்ட் நிறுவனத்தின் துணைத் தலைவர் சந்தீப் கர்வா வெளியிட்டுள்ளார். அவர் பேசும்போது, ``மளிகைப் பொருள்கள், காய்கறிகள், இறைச்சி மற்றும் மொபைல்கள் ஆகியவற்றை உள்ளூர் அளவில் மிக விரைவாக ஃப்ளிப்கார்ட் டெலிவரி செய்யும்” என்று தெரிவித்தார். மொபைல் டெலிவரி ஆரம்பத்தில் பெங்களூரில் உள்ள சில குறிப்பிட்ட இடங்களில் மட்டுமே கிடைக்கும் என்றும் இந்த ஆண்டின் இறுதியில் ஆறு முக்கிய நகரங்களிலும் இந்த சேவைகள் விரிவுபடுத்தப்படும் என்றும் அவர் குறிப்பிட்டார்.

அமேசான் நிறுவனமும் விரைவாக பொருள்களை டெலிவரி செய்து வருகிறது. ஜியோமார்ட் நிறுவனம் உள்ளூர் வாடிக்கையாளர்களை வாட்ஸ்அப் வழியாகத் தொடர்புகொண்டு வருவதாகத் தகவல்கள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன. இதனால், மூன்று நிறுவனங்கள் இடையேயும் கடுமையான போட்டி நிலவும் எனக் கூறப்படுகிறது. ஊரடங்கின் காரணமாக ஆன்லைன் வணிகம் மிகவும் அதிகமாக வளர்ந்துள்ளது. இதனால், கடைகளின் வழியாக நடைபெறும் வணிகம் அதாவது, ஆன்லைன் தவிர்த்து வெளியில் நடைபெறும் வணிகங்கள் பாதிப்படைந்துள்ளன. கொரோனா ஊரடங்கு மற்றும் ஆன்லைன் வணிக வளர்ச்சி ஆகியவை பிற வணிகர்களையும் ஆன்லைன் பக்கம் இழுத்துள்ளது எனலாம்.

வெளிநாடுகளிலிருந்து வருவோருக்கான புதிய வழிகாட்டு நெறிமுறைகள்: மத்திய சுகாதாரத்துறை வெளியீடு

வெளிநாடுகளிலிருந்து வருவோருக்கான புதிய வழிகாட்டு நெறிமுறைகள்: மத்திய சுகாதாரத்துறை வெளியீடு   3.8.2020

புது தில்லி: வெளிநாடுகளிலிருந்து வருவோருக்கான புதிய வழிகாட்டு நெறிமுறைகளை மத்திய சுகாதாரத்துறை வெளியிட்டுள்ளது.

கரோனா தொற்றினைக் கட்டுப்படுத்துவதற்கான நடவடிக்கைகள் தீவிரமாக எடுக்கப்பட்டு வரும் நிலையில், வெளிநாடுகளிலிருந்து வருவோருக்கான புதிய வழிகாட்டு நெறிமுறைகளை மத்திய சுகாதாரத்துறை வெளியிட்டுள்ளது

அதன்படி வெளிநாடுகளில் இருந்து வருவோர் கட்டாயம் 14 நாட்கள் தனிமைப்படுத்தப்படுவர்

குடும்ப உறுப்பினர் மரணம், உடல்நலக்குறைவு அல்லது பயணி கர்ப்பிணி என்றால் 14 நாட்கள் வீட்டில் தனிமைப்படுத்தப்படுவர்

ஆனால் பயண நேரத்திற்கு 96 மணி நேரத்திற்கு முன்னதாக பிசிஆர் பரிசோதனை செய்து கொண்டிருக்க வேண்டும்.

பிசிஆர் பரிசோதனை மூலம் கரோனா இல்லையென சம்பந்தப்பட்டவர் சான்றளித்து வீட்டிலேயே 14 நாட்கள் தனிமைப்படுத்திக் கொள்ளலாம்.

இந்தப் புதிய விதிகள் அனைத்தும் வரும் 8ஆம் தேதி அமலுக்கு வருகிறது .

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