Demand plummets post festive travel, railways to cancel trains

Demand plummets post festive travel, railways to cancel trains

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:20.11.2020

With the festival season over, demand for trains has dropped as only those who were visiting family and friends have been travelling. Railways is now looking to cancel trains that don't have patronage.

Southern Railway has cancelled Chennai-Bengaluru-Chennai (02027/02028) Shatabdi special from November 21. The Chennai-Coimbatore Shatabdi too has been cancelled from December 2. The last service will be on November 30. The trains were being operated on all days except Tuesdays.

Most of the trains from Chennai to southern towns and to the cities in neighbouring states are running with several seats vacant. There are more empty berths or seats in air-conditioned coaches.

The Chennai-Madurai Tejas Express has 628 chair car seats and 33 executive chair car seats vacant this Friday and 766 chair car seats and 42 executive chair car seats are empty for travel on Monday. On the Madurai route, sleeper AC tickets are available for weekdays and so do trains to Kollam, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Bengaluru. The Chennai-Bengaluru double decker has more than 500 seats vacant on all days next week.

An official said that RAC or waitlist on weekends are getting confirmed closer to departure. This shows that people are booking but are hesitant to travel, he said.

Most trains to south TN have several empty seats 

4 from MBBS counselling Covid +ve

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:20.11.2020

Four government school students, who attended medical counselling in Chennai on Wednesday, tested positive for Covid-19, directorate of medical education officials said. The testing was done as a precaution since it was a function attended by chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.

The selection committee took RT-PCR tests for all 262 candidates who attended counselling for 7.5% of seats reserved for government school students. “All of them are asymptomatic and healthy. They were not among the 18 students who received admit cards from the CM,” said director of medical education Dr R Narayanababu.

“It was an incidental finding. Nevertheless, we have informed the students, their parents and district authorities. While these students will go into isolation, their close contacts will be tested,” he said. The directorate said if others who attended the counselling showed symptoms of the viral infection, they should undergo the test.

TN girl fights off dark nights, poverty and a cyclone to live her doctor dream

TN girl fights off dark nights, poverty and a cyclone to live her doctor dream

Vincent.Arockiaraj@timesgroup.com

Trichy:20.11.2020

When G Sahana collected her MBBS admission card from KAPV Government Medical College in Trichy on Thursday evening, it was the culmination of an inspiring fightback against poverty and nature’s fury. The 18-year-old girl from Pookollai village in Thanjavur district, which was devastated by cyclone Gaja in 2018, bagged a seat in the government medical college under the 7.5% quota for government school students. My dream wouldn’t have come true without the help of actor Sivakarthikeyan who sponsored my NEET coaching, the girl said.

Sahana had scored 87.3% marks in her Class XII examination in 2019, overcoming a life of darkness in a thatched house bereft of electricity. The havoc wreaked by Gaja came as a double blow in November 2018.

TOI had reported in April last year how her good score came amid challenging circumstances. Her family lived in a thatched hut on rent in a coconut grove which was looked after by her father. Since it had no electricity, she struggled to prepare for Class XII by studying when there was sunlight. She used to finish her homework and studies in her school itself. “We lost the thatched hut too during the cyclone. The entire family resided under the open sky in the grove. Despite the odds, I did not give up on my dream and started preparing for NEET with the help of my school teachers, as my parents didn’t have the resource to send me to a coaching class,” Sahana recalled.

G Sahana with father K Ganesan

Actor to fund girl’s med education as well

It was at this juncture that Sivakarthikeyan contacted her and promised help to pursue her dream. “As Sivakarthikeyan sir promised me, his managers arrived at Pookollai and took me to Chennai. They helped me get admission in a private NEET coaching centre there and he bore the entire expense. Without him I could not have attained my dream. Some good-hearted people also offered money,” Sahana told TOI. She secured 273 marks in NEET but was not sure if she would get a seat until the state government came out with an ordinance on 7.5% quota and the governor okayed it. Her father K Ganesan is also a part-time tailor while mother G Chitra is an agriculture worker. She also has an elder sister.

Sahana said the actor has also come forward to bear the entire expenses of her medical education. Sahana arrived from Chennai on Wednesday evening after completing the counselling to collect her admission card from KAPV Government Medical College in Trichy.

As Sivakarthikeyan sir promised me, his managers arrived at Pookollai and took me to Chennai. They helped me get admission in a private NEET coaching centre there and he bore the entire expense. Without him I could not have attained my dream

G SAHANA | Medical aspirant who bagged seat in KAPV Government Medical College in Trichy

Sasikala has 129 days remission, can walk out of prison anytime

Sasikala has 129 days remission, can walk out of prison anytime

A Subramani & Rajiv Kalkod TNN

Chennai/Bengaluru: 20.11.2020

Former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa’a aide V K Sasikala, now serving a four-year jail term in Karnataka, can walk out anytime, theoretically.

If one goes by the rules on leaves for prisoners, she has completed her prison term and was eligible to walk out of the jail more than two months ago. Karnataka jail rules enable a convict to earn three days of remission for every full month spent in jail. A total of 129 days of earned remission have accrued to Sasikala’s history ticket so far. Sasikala’s lawyer Raja Senthur Pandian told TOI that as on Thursday she needed only 69 days of earned leave to step out of the Parappana Agrahara jail. “If you add leave incentive for good conduct activities like gardening and taking courses in Kannada and computers, she has earned more than 200 days of leave. Yet, it has been denied due to discretionary powers of officials.”

A Parappana Agrahara jail official said they have been getting calls from supporters seeking to know whether Sasikala would be released on Saturday. “Sasikala has spent 13 days in judicial custody between January 31 and February 12, 1997. After the trial court convicted her, she spent 22 days between September 27 and October 18, 2014, in prison. If these 35 days are considered, Sasikala is likely to be released on January 27, 2021,” an officer said. “The date was calculated after considering 17 days’ parole she used.”

V K Sasikala at Jayalalithaa memorial in Chennai

Earned leave prisoner’s right, say some

Sasikala, accompanied by her co-convict and sisterin-law J Ilavarasi, entered the Parappana Agrahara jail in Bengaluru on February 15, 2017, a day after the Supreme Court upheld a trial court order finding them guilty of corruption and amassment of wealth.

Former chief minister Jayalalithaa, too, was found guilty, but charges against her abated as she was no more.

Though the imminent release of Sasikala has been a hot topic in power corridors, the news that the ₹10 crore fine imposed on her was paid on November 18, has triggered curiosity outside political circles. Rules empower jail superintendents to give prisoners a relaxation of 30 days per year for good conduct; a deputy inspector-general of prisons can give 60 days and IG prisons can give 90 days per year, based on a mark system.

“While mark-based remission relief is discretionary, the one which Sasikala must have earned on monthly basis cannot be denied,” said A Sirajudeen, senior Supreme Court lawyer and author of the book ‘The Rights of Prisoners’. The earned leave can be forfeited only if the convict commits a prison offence for which due trial was conducted and she was punished, he said. “A written punishment order, too, should be served on the convict. In the absence of this process, earned leave is an earned right,” he said.

Replies obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act show how similar earned remission benefits have been extended to other convicts during the same period. Pandian said there is a Union home ministry note clarifying that those convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act are excluded from the benefit.

Sirajudeen said the parole period should not be exempted from the jail term. “If these mandatory benefits are denied citing discretionary powers, it is a good ground for filing a personal liberty petition saying her continued incarceration amounts to illegal confinement, he said.

Some differ. Advocate S Ashok Kumar said remission is not a legal right. “It isn’t an absolute right either. Remission days are calculated, and above that their conduct is considered. Whether, during the period of sentence, the convict has reformed or his/her release will not harm others should be up to the subjective satisfaction of the appropriate government,” he said.

V K Sasikala and sister-in-law J Ilavarasi, convicted in a disproportionate assets case, went to prison in February 2017

Rail users seek halt at Papanasam

Rail users seek halt at Papanasam

TNN | Nov 19, 2020, 04.28 AM IST

Trichy: Rail users have appealed to the railway authorities to allow stoppage for Mysore-Mayiladuthurai-Mysore special express train at Papanasam though the station has annual revenue of Rs 1.25 crore. They have appealed to allow halt for the train at the station as the temple town is located at centre of various pilgrimage sites.

Southern Railway had included Papanasam among the other stations in the list of stoppages when it announced the Mysuru-Mayiladuthurai-Mysuru superfast daily festival special train (Number 06231/06232) on October 20.

But, when the train commenced its service on October 26, it skipped the station to the shock of rail users in Papanasam, T Saravanan, secretary, Rail Users Association and member of DRUCC of Trichy railway division, said. “This has made hundreds of passengers from Papanasam to travel 25km to reach Thanjavur to board the superfast. Being a pilgrimage centre in the district, a large number of devotees arrive at Papanasam,” he said.

Hundreds of passengers from Papanasam and surrounding areas rely on the train to reach Hosur, Bengaluru, Mysuru as most of them are working in IT field, he alleged.

The station is handling around 2,700 passengers on a daily-basis earning around Rs 40,000 a day.

Coimbatore Corporation school student gets admission in Stanley Medical College

Coimbatore Corporation school student gets admission in Stanley Medical College

Nov 18, 2020, 07.45 PM IST

COIMBATORE: Coimbatore Corporation school student J Dharani has secured a seat in the Stanley Medical College, Chennai, under the horizontal reservation for the government school students. She secured 461 marks in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).

Dharani attended medical counselling for the 7.5% reservation for government school students that took place at the Jawaharlal Nehru Outdoor Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday. She secured 22nd in general ranking and 10th in BC community ranking under the horizontal reservation.

The 20-year-old was a student of Corporation Girls Higher Secondary School at RS Puram and completed her Class XII in 2017. Since then, she has been taking the NEET and preparing on her own with available books. Due to poor performance, she joined a private coaching centre in 2019 with a scholarship she obtained.

“It’s my dream to become a doctor and I always wanted to get admission in Stanley or Madras Medical College. If not for the reservation, I might not have got a medical seat at all because of the increase in cut-off marks,” she said.

She is one of the three corporation school students who were eligible to apply for medical admission under the reservation in the city. While J Swetha Bhagyam from Corporation Girls Higher Secondary School at Ramakrishnapuram is attending the counselling on Thursday, V Hemalatha from of SRP Ammaniammal Girls Higher Secondary School is waiting for a call letter.

சுரப்பா மீது விசாரணை ஏன்: 'மாஜி' பாலகுருசாமி கேள்வி

சுரப்பா மீது விசாரணை ஏன்: 'மாஜி' பாலகுருசாமி கேள்வி

Added : நவ 19, 2020 01:19

கோவை:''தலைமைச் செயலகத்தில் அதிகாரிகளுக்காக ஓடிக்கொண்டிருந்த அண்ணா பல்கலை வாகனங்களை திரும்ப பெற்றதால் துணைவேந்தர் சுரப்பா மீது கோபம் அடைந்தனர். அரசுக்கு வளைந்து கொடுத்து போகாததால் சுரப்பா பிரச்னையில் சிக்கியுள்ளார்'' என அண்ணா பல்கலை முன்னாள் துணைவேந்தர் பாலகுருசாமி தெரிவித்தார்.

அண்ணா பல்கலை துணைவேந்தர் சுரப்பா மீது ஊழல் குற்றம்சாட்டி அவருக்கு எதிராக விசாரணை நடத்தப்படும் என தமிழக அரசு அறிவித்திருப்பது கல்வியாளர்கள் பேராசிரியர்களை அதிர்ச்சி அடையச் செய்துள்ளது.

இந்நிலையில் அண்ணா பல்கலை முன்னாள் துணைவேந்தர் பாலகுருசாமி கூறியதாவது: போலி அநாமதேய கடிதத்தை அடிப்படையாகக் கொண்டு விசாரணை நடத்தி அண்ணா பல்கலை பெயரை களங்கப்படுத்துகின்றனர். புகார் கடிதம் அனுப்பியதாக கூறப்படும் நபரை தொடர்பு கொள்ள குறிப்பிட்ட தொலைபேசி எண்ணில் அழைத்தேன்; அவ்வாறு யாருமில்லை என பதில் வந்தது. புகார் மனுவில் திருச்சி அருகிலுள்ள ஒரு இடத்தைக் குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளனர்; அதுவும் போலியானது.

பேராசிரியர் நியமனத்துக்கு துணைவேந்தர் சுரப்பா லஞ்சம் வாங்கினார் என்பது ஆதாரமற்றது. இவரது காலத்தில் எந்த நியமனங்களும் நடக்கவில்லை. அவரை வைத்து பணம் சம்பாதிக்க முடியாததால் அரசு அவரை தொந்தரவு செய்கிறது.அவர் அரசுக்கு வளைந்து கொடுத்திருந்தால் பிரச்னையை சந்தித்திருக்க மாட்டார். தலைமைச் செயலகத்தில் அதிகாரிகளுக்காக ஓடிக் கொண்டிருந்த பல்கலை வாகனங்களை திரும்ப பெற்றதால் அவர் மீது கோபம் அடைந்து உள்ளனர். மர்ம கடிதத்தின் அடிப்படையில் விசாரணை நடப்பது இதுவே முதல் முறை.

கோவை பாரதியார் பல்கலை முன்னாள் துணைவேந்தர்கள் சுவாமிநாதன், ஜேம்ஸ் பிச்சை, கணபதி மற்றும் அண்ணா பல்கலை ராஜாராம், மன்னர் ஜவஹர் போன்றவர்கள் மீது லஞ்ச ஒழிப்புத்துறையின் சோதனைகள் விசாரணைகள் நடந்ததை கண்டிருக்கிறோம். அதற்குப் பின் எந்த நடவடிக்கையும் எடுக்கப்படவில்லை. ஏனெனில் பணம் அரசியல்வாதிகளுக்கும் அதிகாரிகளுக்கும் சம பாகமாக பங்களிக்கப்படுகிறது.

சுரப்பாவை இடைநீக்கம் செய்வதில் கவர்னரின் முடிவு தான் இறுதி என்பதால் இந்த விஷயத்தில் எதிர்க்கட்சித் தலைவர் ஸ்டாலின் எந்த தலையீடும் செய்ய தேவையில்லை.2006ல் இருந்து அதிகரித்துள்ள ஊழல் காரணமாக தமிழகத்தில் உயர்கல்வித்துறை அவல நிலையை எட்டியுள்ளது.

அந்த காலகட்டத்தில் ஒரு துணைவேந்தர் அப்பதவியைப் பெற 55 கோடி ரூபாய் கொடுத்ததாக தெரிவித்தார். அதை மற்றொரு துணைவேந்தரும் ஒப்புக் கொண்டார். அதிக விலைக்கு ஏலம் எடுப்பவர் மட்டுமே அப்பதவியைப் பெற முடியும்; திறமைக்கும் நேர்மைக்கும் இடமில்லை. இவ்வாறு பாலகுருசாமி கூறினார்.