One arm of Kilkattalai flyover to be ready by Feb

One arm of Kilkattalai flyover to be ready by Feb

Oppili.P@timesgroup.com

Chennai:26.01.2021 

One arm of the flyover on Thorappakkam-Pallavaram radial road at Kilkattalai junction will be open for public in mid-February. About 50% of the congestion at the junction is expected to reduce once the 700-metre arm is opened.

A senior state highways department official said 95% of work on the flyover, delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and rain from the northeast monsoon, was completed.

The project is expected to be ready by the first week of next month and chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami is expected to inaugurate it a week later.

Asked about the progress of work on the flyovers at Velachery and Medavakkam ones, the official said the two projects were still best with problem including of land acquisition.

At Velachery, realignment of the Metrowater pipeline and sewer line, which had caused the delay, was a major issue. Also, work on the two-level flyover is more complex because construction at the higher level can be taken up only when work on the one below is completed, the official said.

In May, when the ₹186 crore Velachery flyover is thrown open to the public, motorists can finally breathe easy. Currently sweating out in long lines of stranded vehicles, they can breeze through to Taramani, Tambaram or Saidapet and vice versa. The junction is a key link to the IT corridor for residents of several interior areas.

Similar is the situation at Medavakkam where the 2.3km long flyover, the longest in the city, is coming up. Given its proximity to Sholinganallur and a few other areas along the IT Corridor, reducing congestion was a major issue. With scores of residential colonies having sprung up in the vicinity, vehicles stretching for lines in all directions during the morning and evening rush hour became common.

Constructing a flyover at the junction had been a long standing demand of people in the area.

TAKING SHAPE: The flyover that’s coming up on Thoraipakkam-Pallavaram Radial Road

Airlines wary of flying people from UK to Chennai

Airlines wary of flying people from UK to Chennai

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:26.01.2021

Airlines have become cautious while boarding passengers from London to Chennai and other cities in the country as the Union government has instructed that passengers flying via transit airports should not be allowed.

Checks are also high Dubai, a popular transit hub, after an airline got penalised when a Covid-19 positive passenger flew from the UAE to Chennai recently. Airlines are checking documents at Dubai to find out if all passengers to Chennai are originating from Dubai or whether they are coming from the UK.

The heightened travel restrictions in London and document screening in Dubai have affected passenger confidence to travel abroad, said Basheer Ahmed of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI).

Earlier, passengers from London were allowed to fly via transit airports such as Paris, Frankfurt, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and a few others. Now this has been stopped as the government wants to restrict the number of passengers who land in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi from the UK.

An airport official said the scrutiny of documents is high at airports abroad. “This has made travel a hassle for people, especially those who want to come from the UK because there are fewer direct flights to Chennai. Air India is flying while British Airways is resuming schedule only from next month. There is an uncertainty whether the flights will continue or not.”

“A majority of the people have to land in Mumbai and Delhi. But they have to spend more to travel to Chennai by domestic flights because domestic fares have increased,” said Ahmed.

A London-Chennai oneway ticket costs Rs 30,000 while London-Mumbai flight costs Rs27,000 for travel in the second week of next month because the route has more flights. However, passengers have to pay Rs 4,500 to 5,000 on the Mumbai-Chennai leg. Most of the travel is not booked much in advance as there is a need for registrations and approvals.

People are hesitating to travel from Chennai to London unless they have to travel for business or work because cases are high in the UK and the country has put in a lot of restrictions.

Passengers do not want to get stuck abroad if their test there turns positive. “It is going to make people wary of traveling to destinations even when they are open for leisure and business travel,” an airline official said.

Won’t interfere with earlier order on chief engg appointment: HC

Won’t interfere with earlier order on chief engg appointment: HC

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:26.01.2021

The Madras high court on Monday refused to interfere with an order quashing the appointment of a retired officer of the Chennai corporation as the chief engineer of the commissionerate of municipalities.

Upholding the order of a single judge in quashing the appointment, the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said, the Tamil Nadu Municipal Engineering Services Rules does not permit such appointment.

“As per the rule, a chief engineer of municipalities has to be selected by promotion from the superintendent engineers of the municipal corporations other than the municipal corporation of Chennai,” the bench said. This apart, such a candidate must have worked in the Tamil Nadu engineering services other than the Chennai corporation, the judges added.

The issue pertains to a plea moved by N Natarajan, chief engineer, Commissionerate of municipal administration challenging his transfer to the post of chief engineer in the office of the commissioner, Chennai corporation. As his replacement, a retired officer Pugazhendi, who was working as principal chief engineer in the Chennai corporation on extension of service was posted as the chief engineer municipal administration.

Allowing the plea, a single judge of the court observed that it is not open to the Tamil Nadu government to use ‘Pleasure Doctrine” to make illegal appointments.

This court is constrained to hold that the extraordinary favour shown to Pugazhendi who got extension of service continuously for the fifth year appears to be on an extraneous consideration, the single judge said while quashing the appointment.

Aggrieved, the state government moved the present appeal challenging the order.

According to Natarajan, Pugazhendi, who was working as a Chennai corporation chief engineer retired on June 30, 2016. But his service has been extended three times on the ground that his service was required to oversee projects undertaken by the corporation worth ₹12,000crore.

Parents kill their 2 daughters in AP to usher in ‘Satya Yug’

Parents kill their 2 daughters in AP to usher in ‘Satya Yug’

Couple Believed Their Children Would Be Reborn In 24 Hours

Sandeep.Raghavan@timesgroup.com

Tirupati  26.01.2021 

The couple who bludgeoned their two college-going daughters to death at Madanapalle in AP’s Chittoor district on Sunday night did so with the belief that their children would come back to life within 24 hours. They strongly believed that ‘Kali Yug’ was ending and Monday would see the ‘dawn of Satya Yug’ which their ‘reborn’ daughters would be able to enjoy.

V Purushotham Naidu and his wife Padmaja told the police they ‘sacrificed’ the two women only to bring them back to life in a purer form. “Give us time till the end of the night, we will bring them back,” they said when the police reached their house after being alerted by a friend of the couple.

While Purushotham is an associate professor of chemistry at government degree college for women in Madanapalle, Padmaja runs a private coaching institute for IIT aspirants.

The victims have been identified as Alekya, 27, and Sai Divya, 22. Alekya had completed her MBA from Indian Institute of Forest Management in Bhopal and was preparing for civil services. Younger daughter Sai Divya had recently completed her BBA and was learning music. The daughters had come home during the Covid-19 lockdown and stayed back.

Neighbours told police they had been hearing strange sounds from the house for the last four days, but the couple told everyone they were performing special pujas. At around 9pm on Sunday, Naidu called up a friend and told him his daughters had been sacrificed to the Almighty. Shocked, his friend alerted Madanapalle police who rushed to the spot.

The couple initially stopped the police from entering the house, stating rituals were being performed and no outsiders would be allowed inside. When police officials forcibly barged into the house, it was in disarray with objects of tantric worship strewn everywhere.

The body of one of the daughters was lying in the puja room while the second daughter’s body was found naked and in a pool of blood in a bedroom on the second floor. A ‘kalash’ had been stuffed in her mouth.

Police officials said the couple believed they could receive signals from the divine force. “Many miracles have happened in our home which you will never understand. Please let us complete our pujas and we will surely bring our daughters back to life,” the couple pleaded.

The younger daughter, who was the first to be killed, was bludgeoned with a dumb-bell in the puja room, while the elder daughter was killed with a trident. The bodies have been shifted to the local government hospital for post-mortem.

“Naidu and Padmaja will be taken into custody once they complete the last rites of their daughters,” Madanapalli DSP Ravi Manoharachari told TOI.

Chittoor SP S Senthil Kumar said, “Superstition appears to have driven the parents to kill their daughters. We will come to know if there was any other reason behind this killing during the course of our investigation.”

DRIVEN BY SUPERSTITION:

Alekya and Sai Divya had come home during the Covid-19 lockdown and stayed back

No action on IIT-M professor found guilty of harassment

No action on IIT-M professor found guilty of harassment

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:26.01.2021

An associate professor in the civil engineering department at IIT Madras, found guilty more than two months ago of sexually harassing a research scholar, continues in the post though he was to be demoted. IIT’s internal complaints committee against sexual harassment (CCASH) recommended that Mathava Kumar be demoted to assistant professor and that he be barred from guiding women research scholars for five years. IIT-M officials, including director Bhaskar Ramamurthi and CCASH chairperson professor Hema A Murthy, refused to comment, while the institute’s media cell said CCASH proceedings were confidential.

Even on Monday night, Kumar’s name figured on the IIT website as associate professor. “It is very clear that Mathava Kumar misused his position as guide, and the research scholar’s vulnerability as a single parent, and did made sexual advances to her, for a temporary relationship,” the committee had said.

IIT-M panel moots demotion of prof guilty of harassing woman

The committee met in August and September last year and studied the various depositions and the WhatsApp messages presented as evidence by the woman research scholar, which Mathava Kumar admitted he sent. TOI has seen the WhatsApp messages and has a copy of the committee’s recommendations made in October 2020 In her complaint, the research scholar said Mathava Kumar asked her to cook at his quarters during lockdown and wanted to have a temporary relationship with her. When she refused, he resorted to character assassination, the research scholar said in her complaint.

The CCASH committee headed by professor Hema A Murthy conducted inquiries and found samples of abuse and how the professor steered WhatsApp conversations away from work to her personal issues and commented on her mannerisms, which he did found sensual.

“Being a single mother, the victim had to persevere [sic] the perverse attitude of her guide for more than three years as she wanted to complete her PhD that will help her pursue a good career. She did not report earlier as she had already asked for a change of guide,” the meeting minutes of the committee said. The meeting minutes were signed by all five committee members and the director of the institute Bhaskar Ramamurthi.

The committee also recommended behaviour remedial training for Mathava Kumar. It said he should not be permitted to guide any PhD student for two years and any girl students for five years. Sources said Mathava Kumar still has nine PhD scholars, including women, as his students.

On a further complaint of character assassination, the committee said, “This violates every issue of privacy, and personal space. Such acts are detrimental to the institute where gender equality is given. Based on the recent violation, the committee does feel that it must be pointed out that a repeat act again can lead to termination.”

When TOI contacted Mathava Kumar, he disconnected the call and did not pick up again. He also did not respond to messages and email.

IIT Madras director Bhaskar Ramamurthi said he cannot comment. “If at all anything is going on, it’s going on by a properly constituted committee,” he said. Murthy, chairperson of the CCASH, also refused to comment.

Earlier, the institute, in response to a mail from TOI, said “Sexual harassment complaints are handled as per the law by the duly constituted CCASH (Complaints Committee Against Sexual Harassment) and its proceedings are confidential.”

IIT’s media cell said: “CCASH processes are confidential, as are any disciplinary procedures flowing from them. If there is any official statement from the institute Media Cell shall share it.”

Panel also said Mathava Kumar should not be permitted to guide any PhD student for two years and any girl students for five years.

Cash for jab: TN pvt hosps open ‘regn’ to jump vaccine queue

WILL AXE LICENCE, WARNS HEALTH SECY

Cash for jab: TN pvt hosps open ‘regn’ to jump vaccine queue

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:26.01.2021 

Private hospitals inviting ‘registrations’ for Covid-19 vaccination or trying to monetise the government-sponsored programme will have their licences cancelled besides facing action under the Clinical Establishment Act, health secretary J Radhakrishnan said on Monday. Priority for vaccines should be given strictly to eligible healthcare workers, he said.

Fewer than 40% of the daily targeted population have received the vaccine since January 16 and many private hospitals are opening “registrations”, sometimes with a fee, for those interested.

On Sunday, one hospital sent text messages to multiple clients seeking details such as name, date of birth, PAN card/passport and contact details to register for the vaccine. Hospital volunteers will upload and register names when the government portal opens, it said.

None except govt can register people

Chennai: “Charges, if any, will be based on the government’s direction as on the date vaccine is administered,” the message added. The health department has also received complaints that some healthcare providers were demanding a “fee” to put people on the “priority list.”

“The Union health ministry has approved two vaccines for emergency use. It gives every state the quota of vaccines and has released the operational guidelines. As of now, vaccinations can be done only for healthcare workers. We have allowed some private hospitals to vaccinate healthcare workers. The process of registering frontline workers is undertaken by the government. No one else is allowed to register names,” Radhakrishnan said.

Joint director (immunisation) Dr K Vinay Kumar said names of the healthcare workers were uploaded on the Cowin portal. “These people are given the vaccine. If names are not uploaded on the portal, the healthcare worker can prove the identity and take the vaccine. Their names will be uploaded into the portal later.”

After healthcare workers, frontline workers such as police and revenue officials will get the shot. “After them, priority will be for people above 50 years. We have written to the state election commission for the names of citizens above 50 as on January 1,” he said.

DVAC seizes 3.7L from 4 govt officials

DVAC seizes 3.7L from 4 govt officials

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Nagapattinam:  26.01.2021m 

Sleuths from the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC) seized unaccounted money to the tune of Rs3.7 lakh from four people, including an assistant director of animal husbandry, on Sunday. The money was seized while the accused were distributing free milch cows to beneficiaries at Thirumarugal union in Nagapattinam district. The money was allegedly received as bribe by the accused from the beneficiaries.

Based on a tip, the DVAC authorities from Nagapattinam arrived at the old panchayat office building at Marungur where the cows were being distributed. The DVAC team conducted an inspection and recovered unaccounted cash from assistant director of animal husbandry, Sokkalingam, government veterinary doctor Muthukumaran, husband of Marungur panchayat president, Mahendran and panchayat secretary, Prakashkumar. The team recovered Rs1.5 lakh from Sokkalingam, Rs48,000 from Muthukumaran, Rs1.5 lakh from Mahendran and Rs25,000 from Prakashkumar. Further investigations are on, officials said.