Why not open Marina beach to public, HC asks civic body

Why not open Marina beach to public, HC asks civic body

Says Decision Rests With Authorities Concerned

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:30.09.2020

Consider reopening the ‘beautiful’ Marina beach for public, the Madras high court on Tuesday told the Chennai corporation. When everything else is being opened up, why not the beach, the court wondered.

A division bench of Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice Krishnan Ramaswamy however, made it clear that it is up to the authorities concerned to take such a policy decision in opening the beach. The beach was closed for public access in view of the pandemic. The bench made the observations while hearing a batch of pleas pertaining to regulating and restricting vending in Marina.

When the pleas came up for hearing, additional advocate general S R Rajagopalan said, tender process to purchase uniform vending carts and other related works have already been commenced and that he would file a status report in a short adjournment. Recording the same, the bench adjourned the pleas to October 5 for the corporation to file status reports. In December last, the corporation informed the court that only 900 vendors would be permitted to carry out vending on the Marina beach and that it has planned to purchase uniform smart vending carts to be distributed to such identified vendors at ₹27 crore.

Apart from the identified hawkers, no one would be permitted to carry out vending on the sands of the Marina. In 2017, a total of 1,544 vendors were enumerated, out of which identity cards were issued to 1,486 vendors. As per the enumeration conducted in 2019, there were 1,962 shops, out of which only 808 shop vendors possessed identity cards, the authorities said. The issue pertains to a plea moved by Fishermen Care, a fishermen rights association, seeking direction to the state government to increase the allowance provided to fishermen community during the fishing ban period. However, the scope of the PIL was expanded, covering regularisation of vendors on the Marina Promenade and Loop Road, and as to the steps taken for beautification of the beach.

MAJESTIC: An aerial view of Marina Beach which has been closed for public in view of the pandemic

More wet days in the offing

More wet days in the offing

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:30.09.2020

The city could achieve its average rainfall levels for the July-September period, as weathermen have forecast patterns of light rain with thunderstorms to continue in the city for the next 48 hours due to a cyclonic circulation or swirling winds over south Andhra Pradesh and its neighbourhood and the resulting convective activity. Chennai has a 5% deficit so far with 409.3mm rainfall registered against a normal 431.9mm with only a day left for the July to September season to end.

The regional meteorological centre, Chennai has forecast, “The sky condition is likely to be generally cloudy. Light rain with thunderstorms is likely to occur in some areas. Maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 34°C and 27°C in the city for the next 48 hours.”

In its five-day forecast for the state, the nodal weather agency has forecast light to moderate rain is likely to occur at isolated places over north coastal Tamil Nadu, Chennai and its neighbours Chengelpet, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur.

Officials said the rainfall is due to the cyclonic circulation over south Andhra Pradesh and neighbourhood between 4.5 and 5.8km above mean sea level, which has merged with another cyclonic circulation between 1.5km and 7.6km over westcentral Bay of Bengal of Andhra Pradesh coast. Cyclonic circulation, where winds swirl in the direction of the earth’s rotation, pulls moist air resulting in cloudiness that may bring rainfall.

Many localities like Kodungaiyur, Madhavaram, Perumbur and Vyasarpadi in the north, Avadi in the west and Velachery in the south registered sharp intense spells on Tuesday. This left 4.6mm in Nungambakkam and 10.1mm in Meenambakkam stations as on Tuesday 8.30pm.

Intense rain spells buffeted city on Tuesday

Anna univ faculty members write to guv, oppose name-change move

Anna univ faculty members write to guv, oppose name-change move

Chennai:30.09.2020

Faculty members of Anna University on Monday wrote to governor Banwarilal Purohit opposing the proposal to change the name of the university and asked him to advise the government to bring suitable amendments to the bill to retain the name.

A bill was passed in the assembly last week to bifurcate Anna University and it was proposed to name the new affiliating university as Anna University. The parent university, consisting of College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG), Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), Chromepet, Alagappa College of Technology (AC Tech), Guindy, and School of Architecture and Planning (SAP), will be renamed as Anna Technological and Research University (ATRU).

“For 42 years, CEG, MIT, AC Tech and SAP have gained fame as Anna University, and all their credentials are in the name of Anna University,” the letter from Anna University Teachers Association said. TNN

TN rules out partial reopening of schools

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:30.09.2020

The Tamil Nadu government has gone back on its decision to allow students of Classes X, XI and XII to go to school voluntarily from October 1 and extended the Covid-19 lockdown to October 31while relaxing several curbs.

Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday said the government had put on hold its decision to partially open schools considering the views of district collectors and health experts with whom he had a meeting earlier in the day. “A decision will be taken to grant permission at an appropriate time after a review again,” the CM said.

Schools, colleges, other educational and research institutions, cinema halls, swimming pools, entertainment/amusement parks, auditoriums, assembly halls, beaches, zoos, museums, museums and tourist spots will continue to remain shut. International air travel, except for purposes permitted by the Union home ministry, is prohibited and suburban trains will not run.

Religious congregations remain prohibited

Religious congregations, social, political, entertainment, academic and other gatherings and processions are prohibited. However, tea shops and restaurants will now be allowed to stay open from 6am to 9pm. Takeaway service will be permitted till 10pm. Film shoots with a crew of up to 100 adhering to standard operating procedures will be allowed. But the public are barred from sets.

Chennai airport is permitted to handle 100 flight landings a day from the existing 50. Coimbatore, Trichy, Madurai, Tuticorin and Salem airports will maintain status quo.

Government and government-affiliated training institutes can function following standard operating procedures. Weekly markets in rural and urban areas allowed.

“Even as the state government had extended a lot of relaxations in September, the speediness of virus spread has fallen at a state level. Aggressive efforts are on to reduce further the fatality rate,” Palaniswami said. He also advocated the use of masks and frequent washing of hands with soap at home and workplaces.

The virus spread could be contained if people wear masks, adhere to social distancing norms and avoid unnecessary travel and support the government’s efforts, he said.

Rift widens in AIADMK as OPS skips CM’s review meet

Rift widens in AIADMK as OPS skips CM’s review meet

EPS Supporters Try To Make His Deputy ‘Fall In Line’

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:30.09.2020

Political jousting in the AIADMK gathered pace as O Panneerselvam skipped a video conference Edappadi K Palaniswami called with top officials on Covid management on Tuesday, a day after they sparred over announcing a CM candidate for the 2021 assembly election.

As chief minister Palaniswami attended the conference at the secretariat, some of his supporters made another bid to force his deputy’s hand and persuade OPS to propose EPS’s name for CM. AIADMK deputy coordinator R Vaithilingam and deputy coordinator K P Munusamy called on OPS at his residence to persuade the deputy CM to “fall in line”. AIADMK organising secretary P H Manoj Pandian, among the few OPS supporters, was present too. Talks and mediation are likely to go on for the next few days, with OPS “upset” over the “persistent” demands by EPS loyalists at the executive committee meeting on Monday that the CM candidate be announced at once.

The BJP is also stirring the pot with multiple sources confirming that ministers S P Velumani and P Thangamani, close aides of the CM, had visited New Delhi on Friday last to meet “BJP leaders”. A close associate of OPS said the deputy CM too had long sought a meeting with home minister Amit Shah and is yet to be granted an appointment.

Vaithilingam told reporters his visit to OPS’s residence on Greenways Road here was “apolitical, personal. There is no confusion (over CM candidate).”

VYING FOR THE TOP POST: Some of the CM’s supporters made another bid to force his deputy’s hand and persuade O Panneerselvam to propose Edappadi K Palaniswami’s name for CM

OPS ‘upset’ over mins’ ‘conduct’

In the evening, minister S P Velumani and senior leader Natham R Viswanathan met the CM and minister R B Udayakumar visited the deputy CM. Panneerselvam has, meanwhile, dropped his earlier plan to leave for Theni, his native town.

A sticking point is OPS’s insistence that a 11-member steering committee be constituted for the party. OPS is also “upset” over the “conduct’ of a few ministers, including K A Sengottaiyan, Thangamani, Velumani, R Kamaraj, and some functionaries, who kept insisting that the CM candidate be announced at the Monday meeting. A minister had declared that he would not leave until the announcement was made. And some members had booed party veteran Panruti S Ramachandran when he pushed for “a collective decision taken in a democratic manner”. Ramachandran left the hall shortly thereafter. Palaniswami has opposed the constitution of a steering committee, saying he does not want to choose from a long list of aspirants.

At the Monday meeting, minister Udumalai S Radhakrishnan had shouted at another OPS supporter, J C D Prabhakar, when he rose to object to the way the EPS camp was pushing for announcement of the CM candidate. Panneerselvam was taken aback by the strong reaction from Thangamani, who said that pre-merger of the factions, the EPS camp had agreed to make him deputy CM for this term alone.

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