Gold stolen from dead Covid patient

Gold stolen from dead Covid patient

Coimbatore: 05.08.2020

An unidentified person stole a gold bangle weighing three sovereigns from the body of a Covid-19 patient, who died in the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) on Monday evening.

The Race Course police identified the deceased as a 60-year-old woman from Ukkadam.Adiabetic,shewastaken to a private hospital with breathing difficulty on Monday morning. As hospital authorities askedthefamily members to pay an advance of ₹40,000 to hospitalise her, the woman’s kin rushed her to CMCH, where she was admitted to the Covid-19 ward.

A police officer said, “Her daughter stayed back in the hospital. The woman’s condition was steady till 3pm. Her breathing difficulties aggravated and she died around 4pm. When her daughter came out of the ward, an unidentified person stole the gold bangle from the body.”

The woman’s daughter informed doctors about the theft and the latter advised her to lodge a police complaint.

“A similar incident had taken place in CMCH earlier and we have collected details of suspects. We will register a first information report and arrest the culprit,” the officer said. TNN

Tamils in Kuwait wait for rescue flight to Trichy

Tamils in Kuwait wait for rescue flight to Trichy

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Trichy:05.08.2020

Despite hundreds of Tamils still stranded in Kuwait following the Covid-19 lockdown, not a single service has been operated so far by Air India Express under Vande Bharat mission to Trichy. Though rescue flights were expected in the fifth phase of the mission which began on August 2, it came as a dampener when Trichy didn’t figure in it.

In all, 49 services were operated from other countries to Trichy under Vande Bharat mission. Sources said about 20,000 Indians, mostly Tamils, stuck in Kuwait have been waiting for four months to return. The Kuwait government had arranged eight services to Trichy, bringing 909 people via Kuwait Airlines. Jazeera Air and Indi-Go Air brought back 1,810 passengers in 11 services. “However, the ticket fare and other expenses like Covid-19 test in Trichy, isolation at private hotels and food make it charter flights unaffordable. In the case of Vande Bharat except for flight fare, the others are taken care of,” Nowshath Ali, president of Association of Overseas Tamils in Kuwait, said.

A total of 2,719 Tamils had so far been brought to Trichy on 19 foreign charter flights including Kuwait Airways. Yet, hundreds still await Vande Bharat rescue flights.

Some services were operated to Chennai, said AB Khaleel Ahmed Baaqavee, general secretary of Kuwait Tamil Islamic Committee (K-Tic). “We filed a petition before Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Union government to operate Vande Bharat rescue flights to Trichy. We hope we will get a favourable order from the court,” he told TOI.

A total of 49 services were operated to Trichy from other countries as part of Vande Bharat mission. But not one flight was scheduled from Kuwait to Trichy

VAO accused of taking ₹15,000 bribe to issue caste certificates

VAO accused of taking ₹15,000 bribe to issue caste certificates

Karal.Marx@timesgroup.com

Villupuram:  05.08.2020

A 17-year-old girl from the irula community, accompanied by fellow villagers and relatives from Koralur, lodged a petition at Villupuram collector office on Tuesday, requesting the authorities to give students of the village Scheduled Tribe caste certificates and demanded stringent action against the VAO, who, she alleged, had collected a bribe of ₹15,000 to provide them community certificates.

R Ramya, in her petition, said, “Koralur, a remote village located near Kanjanur, houses 45 irula families. All though we are living at the village for more than five decades, only seven families have community certificates. In the absence of community certificate, none of us can pursue higher education and are forced to stop our education after HSC.”

Ramya’s mother R Sumathi, 35, said “The Koralur village VAO Vasudevan, promising people of providing community certificates, had collected ₹750 each from parents of 20 irula children two months ago. However the VAO is now trying to avoid the issue, claiming all the applications have been forwarded to Villupuram RDO office.”

K Rajendran, revenue divisional officer of Villupuram, said, “The district administration is yet to receive any application for irula caste certificates from Koralur village. We will take stringent action against the VAO if he is found guilty.”

RDO of Villupuram K Rajendran said the district administration is yet to receive any application for irula caste certificates from Koralur village

20 docs have died in TN, says med council

20 docs have died in TN, says med council

Chennai: 05.08.2020

At least 20 doctors have died of Covid-19 in Tamil Nadu so far, according to reports collated by the state wing of the Indian Medical Council. The doctors’ body has urged the state to offer a compensation of Rs50 lakh to the family members of these doctors.

“We have so far sent death certificates and test reports of 18 doctors in the state to the chief minister’s office. We have reports of two more doctors. We are in the process of collecting information regarding more doctors from 166 branches of IMA across the state,” said IMA state president Dr CN Raja. “All doctors are like soldiers in the battle field. Their death is martyrdom,” he told TOI.

In April, a Chennai-based senior neurosurgeon Dr Simon Hercules was among the first doctors to succumb to the viral infection. Since then several doctors have died due to the viral infection. TNN

No MBBS batch should be allowed to move to the next level without exam: MCI

No MBBS batch should be allowed to move to the next level without exam: MCI

TOI-Online | Aug 4, 2020, 08.03 PM IST

NEW DELHI: The board of governors in suppression of Medical Council of India (MCI) has issued advisory on MBBS examination and external examiners for the MBBS examinations in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As per the advisory no batch should be permitted to move to the next level of the MBBS course without an examination.

It further said that the colleges should aim to complete the first MBBS course within two months of re-opening of the colleges and thereafter the first MBBS University exams should be completed as soon as possible, preferably within a month.

The Board has further advised that relaxations provided for the conduct of final year postgraduate examination in terms of the appointment of examiners and the exam patterns, would also be applicable for the conduct of MBBS university examinations.

In respect to external examiners for the MBBS examinations the university is advised to considering the risk stratification of the areas where the Medical colleges/institutions are located, if external examiners are not available from outside the state due to pandemic that the external examiners to be selected from a different university in the state. These external examiners have to be physically present at the venue of the examination.

If this is also not possible then at least half the external examiners to be selected from a different university, who would be physically present at the venue of the examination and the other half from a different university who would participate through video conferencing.

Conduct of practical/clinical examinations

The Board stated that since the objective of the practical examination is to ascertain skills relevant to the subject as outlined in the respective course curricula, alternative methods of skill evaluation which may include OSCE/OSPE, simulations, case scenarios, etc. may be used in lieu of clinical cases, wherever the latter is not feasible as provided for in the regulations.

Govt may go back to monthly billing of power

Govt may go back to monthly billing of power

Sivakumar.B@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 5.8.2020

Tamil Nadu government is mulling changing the electricity billing cycle of domestic consumers from bimonthly to monthly system, said state power minister P Thangamani on Tuesday.

“We will have to discuss it with the chief minister before taking a decision. There is a demand for returning to the monthly cycle. We have to take a call on this,” said Thangamani.

Changing the billing cycle with the current tariff system would provide major benefits to consumers as their tariff will remain in lower slabs as most consumers will not cross 500 units. Moreover, the first 100 units are free for all domestic consumers. It is not clear as of now whether the government has plans to tweak the tariff along with change in the billing cycle. Changing the billing cycle without altering the tariff would be suicidal for the power utility, Tangedco.

People who cross consumption of 500 units bimonthly, after factoring in the 100 free units, are paying Rs 6 per unit at present. Use of air-conditioners, especially in cities like Chennai, leads to power consumption crossing 500 units in the bimonthly cycle.

“The bi-monthly cycle of billing was introduced in August 1987 as the then TNEB did not want crowding of consumers at bill collection centres. But things have changed a lot now. Only a few consumers pay at collection centres at present. Most consumers make online payment, either using Tangedco App or its website,” said Pattabirambased consumer activist T Sadagopan.

Domestic sector alone follows bimonthly billing cycle at present. All other segments like commercial and industrial are paying monthly bills in Tamil Nadu.

“Lack of adequate assessors was one of the reasons to introduce bimonthly billing cycle for domestic consumers. Moreover, there was no hand-held machine for taking meter reading those days. Everything was done manually and it was not possible to record meter readings every month. Since technological advancements have simplified everything now, it is time we got back to the monthly cycle,” said a senior Tangedco official.

The discom has not got any official communication from the government regarding the change in the billing cycle. Hence, even deliberations have not started, he said.

International flights on radar of airlines

International flights on radar of airlines

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

5.8.2020

With the Union government promising to open an air bubble between select routes, airlines have begun preparations to start limited international flights from next month. However, the Centre has not clearly said if it would allow flights from a particular date.

The approval to conduct IPL in Dubai has raised hopes that the government may allow flights to the Middle East from next month. Many Indian carriers including IndiGo, SpiceJet, Vistara had flights to the Middle East during the pre-shutdown days and have started to display fares on online booking sites for direct flights from Mumbai and Chennai.

SpiceJet has already got slots in London to fly to India from September 1 but is yet to decide which city to fly to. “We have the slots and will announce flight dates soon,” said a spokesperson of the airline.

Ajay Singh, chairman & managing director, SpiceJet, said, “The identical arrival/departure slots that we have secured at Heathrow should suit the convenience of our passengers.”

An airline official said many airlines have begun to push for international flights because there was huge demand from people to travel to the Middle East, southeast Asia, Europe and the US.