Virudhunagar crosses 10K Covid-19 cases

Virudhunagar crosses 10K Covid-19 cases

Ananth.MK@timesgroup.com

Madurai:11.08.2020

Virudhunagar with 10,155 cases has become the second district in south after Madurai to touch the five-digit mark. After crossing 1,000 cases on July 7, the district added more than 9,000 cases so far. The district had recorded more than 500 cases a day once, more than 400 cases thrice, 300 or more cases on 10 occasions and more than 200 cases on seven days. As many as 577 cases were reported on July 28. The district got the warning bell when cases started to climb when e-pass free travel was allowed and people started frequenting neighbouring Madurai in June. Health department officials said that the second warning bell was when Madurai crossed 10,000 cases on July 27.

Aggressive testing by conducting 2,858 fever camps, which included around 100 a day for the last few days, help bring down the daily positive cases. The average daily cases in the district between August 5 and 9 are only 140 as against 310 a day during the previous four weeks. Of the 1,740 hamlets in the district, 361 hamlets had people affected by Covid-19 and only 130 have active cases. The number of containment zones in the district was reduced from 177 on Saturday to 108 on Monday. “When five or more cases are reported from a locality we form containment zones there and it will continue till a door-todoor screening for fever and sample collection is completed,” Virudhunagar district collector R Kannan told TOI.

While Sivakasi, Virudhunagar and Aruppukottai towns and the adjoining rural areas have more active cases it has started coming down in the eight other blocks. Though testing capacity of the district is only 1,000 a day sample collection has been increased to 4,000 a day last week in a phased manner over the last three weeks. A special team under the district revenue officer is coordinating sample testing mechanism as 75% of the samples have to be sent to other districts for testing. Around 2,000 samples are sent to Coimbatore every day, followed by 1,000 samples on alternate days to Chennai, 1,000 on alternate days to Erode and 500 on alternate days to Kanyakumari for testing.

Covid-19 toll in south TN goes past 1,000

Madurai: On one hand the Covid-19 positivity rate is on the decline and some districts in the south, including Madurai, are showing a downward trend in adding new cases, the number of deaths and the death rate is steadily on the rise. On Monday the total deaths in the 10 southern districts has climbed to 1,042. The southern districts account for 20.7% of the total of 5,041Covid-19 deaths in the state. The average death rate in the region against the total of 62,046 positive cases is 1.55%. Though it is less than the state’s average of 1.66%, the increasing trend in death rate is a concern. A study of the death rate in the southern districts on a 10-day interval shows that was it was 0.90% on June 30,1.17% on July 10, 1.24% on July 20 and 1.31% on July 30 and has climbed to 1.55% on August 10. TNN

Transport dept to provide spl buses for work, marriage

Transport dept to provide spl buses for work, marriage

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:11.8.2020

The state transport department has announced that it is ready to operate special trips using its government buses for marriage and work.

State Express Transport Corporation’s new white-coloured buses with 30 seats and 20 berths will be hired out to the public at a very low rate, said an official release. To maintain social distancing, a maximum of 30 people will be allowed to travel every trip, for which SETC will charge ₹45 for every kilometre travelled.

In case of longer travel for more than two days, SETC will apply contract carriage rates meaning ₹17,800 will be charged for the first 100 km and₹40 for every km after that. An additional ₹13,000 a day will be charged as bus rent. There was no need to pay driver bata.

“We hope that the initiative will be of great help to people who are attending marriages in faraway locations and industries in suburban areas, which are working with 75% staff strength,” said a SETC official.

“But on both the cases, the applicants should ensure that they get the e-pass sanctioned by themselves.In casethey opt to travel by SETC bus, they can call us. Once they confirm the package, we will share the bus registration number details with them, which they can use to file their e-pass applications,” the official added.

A total of 40 buses have been kept ready for the initial phase of operation. For additional details, interested people can contact 9445014402, 9445014416, 9445014424 or 9445014463 or can write an email to tnexpress16@gmail.com, the release added.

Transport department is already operating more than 100 buses to transport government employees to the state secretariat and back home. Staff from Madras high court too utilise this facility by paying tickets for travel.

City likely to have a few int’l flights

City likely to have a few int’l flights

Officials May Allow Limited Schedules

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:11.8.2020

The city airport may have a few scheduled international flights after shutdown restrictions are over, sometime next month.

Though no decision has been taken, there is a thinking among the officials of the ministry of civil aviation and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to allow some limited schedules to nearby international destinations.

It looks like Chennai is also being considered as one of the airports which will be nominated as gateway airports for such flights which will be decided based on the ‘air bubble’ concept mooted by the Union government.

“Till now the thinking was not to have international flights till domestic passenger movement picked up considerably closer to the numbers handled in the pre-shutdown days. However, the numbers are not increasing as expected because people continue to travel only for emergencies. Quarantine restrictions in major cities is the reason,” said an airport official.

Sources said that the new SOP issued by the Union ministry of health is released with this intention to ensure that there can be a few scheduled flights.

“The SOP exempts those arriving from abroad to skip institutional quarantine if they produce a Covid-19 negative certificate. This needs to be approved by the state government. But this is a first step towards opening up airports for international flights as the state government need not test or look for accommodation for the arriving passengers,” he added.

This change in rule is crucial because passenger numbers will be high when flights are operated regularly. A twin aisle widebody plane can carry around 300 to 400 passengers.

The airlines are also putting pressure on the ministry to start flights abroad. SpiceJet has got slots from London. Most of the flights are likely to be to the Middle East or Southeast Asia to begin with. There may be a flight to London but is yet to be confirmed.

“There should be scheduled flights. Chennai-London, Chennai-Dubai/Abu Dhabi are popular routes. These airports are transit hubs. People who want to travel to countries that are open for visitors can use the scheduled flights to transit via hubs. But only point to point travellers are allowed now. This means a passenger can buy tickets from Chennai to Dubai and not beyond,” said Basheer Ahmed of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI).

TAFI has represented the union government to permit people to book and travel to Europe or the US via transit hubs. Chennai airport now handles three arrivals from abroad on most of the days under the Vande Bharat flights.

TN transport corpns can now hire, use pvt buses

TN transport corpns can now hire, use pvt buses

Govt Says e-Bus Scheme Reason, Unions Disagree

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:10.08.2020

The state government has allowed its transport corporations to hire and operate private buses along routes on which they were unable to run government buses. While the government claimed that the policy change was aimed at clearing hurdles for the e-bus program, transport unions see this as a step towards privatisation of bus services.

The state nationalised all bus routes in TN in 1972. At present, there are around 50,000 ‘scheme’ routes in Tamil Nadu, says official data. The Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, allow only state-run corporations to operate government buses along the scheme routes. Except for a handful of approved private operators, permits were not issued to others.

In 2019, the Union ministry for road transport launched the second phase of faster adoption and manufacturing of electric vehicles (Fame-II) scheme and said it was ready to financially assist states willing to shift to electric mobility. TN was one of the first states to accept this scheme and since an e-bus will cost at least ₹2.5 crore, Centre advised states to hire vehicles instead of purchasing them.

Existing state rules needed amendments to allow hiring of private vehicles by state transport corporations and hence, necessary changes were made to the MV Act and a draft amendment was released in January. Since there was no objection received, final orders were released now, said a transport department official.

Opposing this, K Arumugam Nainar from CITU, claimed hiring e-buses will increase financial burden of the state transport corporations running on loss.

The Centre provides only a financial assistance of ₹50 lakh per bus. This means each bus will get roughly ₹2,000 per day. But private e-bus operators now demand ₹12,000 as daily hire charges. So the state needs to bear the additional cost.

“Also, the said government order doesn’t specify that changes would be applicable only to e-bus operators. Instead, it has allowed hiring of all types of buses including conventional diesel-operated buses. With no buses operated along 28,000 scheme routes, we fear that the government might allow corporations to hire private buses along them too,” he added.

File photo of e-bus launch in Chennai

In TN, institutional quarantine must for flyers from abroad

In TN, institutional quarantine must for flyers from abroad

Shanmughasundaram.J@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 10.08.2020

Passengers who arrive by Vande Bharat flights from abroad at Chennai airport will continue to undergo seven-day institutional quarantine as the state government has not implemented the new standard operating procedure (SOP) put out by the Union ministry of health that allows home quarantine for thosewith a Covid-19 negative certificate. The new SOP is valid from August 8.

The state government says it will examine the SOP and will decide on it later.

However, several passengers who did not know that the state government is not following the new SOP by the Centre arespending money to get Covid-19 negative tests abroad to avoid institutional quarantine.

This absence of uniformity in policy is impacting especially those who are returning after losing their jobs from the Middle East. The tests are expensive abroad and people are forced to spend their savings for a certificate.

"Peoplespend around$200 for Covid-19 test and wait for four days to get the results. When they land here and learn that the report is of no of use, they get disappointed,” said an official.

A senior bureaucrat said that they would examine the advisory from the Centre and deliberate on it and arrive at a decision. Based on this, a report will be submitted to the chief secretary K Shanmugam. Following this, TN government would take the final call.

“There is no change in the quarantine rules yet. Though passengers have certificates, a swab test is taken and they are taken to a hotel or a government facility. Only one or two international flights arrive now every day,” said an airport official, noting that the state health officials, who screen international passengers, continue to send them into institutional quarantine.

However, the new SOP issued by the union government will be useful when scheduled international flights begin, said the airport official. In that case, there will be more flights per day and finding accommodation for all the passengers who arrive willbedifficult.Oneflightcan bring at least 250 to 300 passengers.

Though the second test is supposedtobetaken after seven days, in some cases there is a delay because there may be too many passengers. However, a 23-year-old medical student who arrived from Kazakhstan was lucky as she was sent to her hometown for institutional quarantine. “My swab sample was taken and I was in a quarantine centre in Chennai for two days. After that they sent me to Perunthurai for a week. The second sample was taken on the seventh day there. After the second sample returned negative, I was asked to be in home quarantine."

‘Human error may have led to crash’

‘Human error may have led to crash’

Ramavarman T TNN

Thrissur:09.08.2020

A combination of infrastructure inadequacies and human errors could have contributed to the plane crash at Kozhikode on Friday evening, said E K Bharat Bhushan, former director-general of civil aviation (DGCA).

Hitting out at the successive state governments for not completing land acquisition for extending the airport’s runway, he said: “The Kerala government should be clearly told that this airport cannot function unless adequate land is provided.”

The aircraft touched down almost at the middle of the runway, so it has be found out whether there was any human error as well, he said. “There are reports that the pilot had landed the aircraft after the second or third attempt because of the bad weather. Then the question arises as to why was the flight not diverted to Kannur or Kochi, if the pilot was finding that the weather was bad,” Bhushan said.

He said there was no doubt that the flight was being manned by a seasoned pilot, with more than 10,000 flying hours to his credit.

“He was also a test pilot. It is the best pilots who are made test pilots. But these pilots were on rest for quite some time as the aircraft were remaining grounded because of Covid-19. They are being given re-induction training, but it has to be found out whether the training has been effective,” the former DGCA said.

Low visibility, wet runway must have led to poor braking action

Low visibility, wet runway must have led to poor braking action

Manju.V@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:09.08.2020

Flight IX-1344’s problems appear to have begun during its descent in heavy rains, with difficulty in spotting the runway from the cockpit. What followed was a host of factors which could have forced the pilots to opt to land in unfavourable tailwinds on a wet runway and face problems with the braking action, leading to the crash.

It began well with the pilots overflying the runway to line up for an approach to land on runway 28, according to data from flightradar24, a live flight tracking app.

The norm is to land an aircraft into the wind and runway 28 had headwinds, favourable for safe landing. But during the descent, the pilots appear to have encountered their first problem with weather. Aviation weather report (METAR) for that time showed few light clouds at 300 feet. “The pilots probably couldn’t spot runway 28 by the time the aircraft descended to 265 feet above ground level. For Calicut airport, this is the height at which pilots have to discontinue the descent to land and carry out a go-around if the runway isn’t in sight,’’ said a senior commander.

The pilots then decided to land from the opposite end, that is on runway 10. They have to seek permission from the air traffic controller, who in turn, consults METAR for wind speed and direction.

“If the runway has tailwinds of 15kt or higher, it isn’t considered safe for landing,” said a senior commander. Other pilots said a tailwind of more than 10kt for a table-top runway should be considered unsafe for landing. The METAR report for the time of accident showed a windspeed of 12kt from ‘direction 260.’ It essentially translates to a tailwind of 11kt for runway 10. But they also spoke about possible inaccuracies in the METAR report.

For instance, in August 2017, a SpiceJet aircraft went off the runway during landing at Calicut airport. The investigation report noted that METAR showed zero winds at the time of the incident, but the flight crew experienced winds over 12-15kt. “From the position of the wreckage it does look like the aircraft landed in tailwinds that were stronger than what METAR reported,” said an examiner on B737 aircraft.

There are other crucial questions. The photographs of the wreckage shows the aircraft wings with speed brakes not deployed. The senior commander said: “Were the spoilers, the flaps that lift over the wing to slow down an aircraft, deployed during landing? If they are not deployed, the aircraft won’t slow down. But the AIX commander appears to have switched off the engines. After all, he was an IAF pilot, he would have had the presence of mind to switch off the engine and prevent a possible fire following the impact.’’ Another factor that a number of pilots spoke about was ‘aquaplaning’, which refers to a condition wherein a layer of water builds between aircraft wheel and runway surface leading to loss of braking action.

“Apart from aquaplaning, if there are significant rubber deposits, then the braking action would be really poor,” said the examiner.

Pilot fatigue is another crucial aspect that needs to be looked into, said AIX pilots who added that Vande Bharat Mission flights, by their very nature of being repatriation flights, involve doing extra duty time.