CITY DIGEST

CITY DIGEST

30.01.2021

MU students want hostel mess opened

A group of students from Madras University's Marina campus hostel held a sit-in protest for the last two days demanding to waive the hostel fees for lockdown period and open the mess for the students. Students alleged that the hostel management asked the students to pay the fees towards salaries to hostel workers from March to June last year. The hostels were closed on March 17 last year due to Covid-19 pandemic. Protesting students also alleged that university authorities did not meet them despite giving several written complaints.

Vacancies for office assistants: Tamil Nadu Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department has invited applications for recruitment of 12 posts of office assistant (OA) posts. The last date to apply is February 14. Minimum educational qualification for the job is Class VIII. Interested candidates can apply online through TNRD's official website ( http://www.tnrd.gov.in/).

Power shutdown in Pammal: Tangedco has announced that power supply will be suspended temporarily in Pammal area in Chennai on Saturday to facilitate maintenance work. There will be no power supply from 9 am to 2 pm in shops and houses along Nehru Nagar, H.L Colony, Venkateswara Nagar, Agatheeswar Nagar, Viman Nagar, Lakshmi Nagar, MGR Street and Bharathi Nagar. Power supply will be resumed before 2pm if work is completed, according to an official release.

Plea to reopen sand quarries: The Tamil Nadu Sand Lorry Owners Association has urged the state government to reopen 80 sand quarries. In a press release, association state president R Munirathanam said the request to open more quarries was because only two sand quarries were being operated in Tamil Nadu at present, offering just three loads of river sand for a truck through the online booking system.

HC: Can’t ask Pondy to allot medical seat to Villupuram student

HC: Can’t ask Pondy to allot medical seat to Villupuram student

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:30.01.2021

The Madras High Court on Friday made it clear that it cannot direct the Puducherry government to provide medical seat under the Centralised Admission Committee (CENTAC) of Puducherry to a Villupuram resident who passed NEET examinations from a Puducherry School.

A division bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Senthil Kumar Ramamoorthy upheld the earlier order by a single judge, who had refused to direct three private medical colleges in Puducherry to allot 50% (75 seats each) of their intake capacity to the government quota.

The court observed that if allowed, several students living in the border villages of TN-Puducherry will claim seats in a similar manner.

The case pertains to Manikandan, a resident of Villupuram but doing his schooling in Puducherry. Manikandan had secured the 111th rank in the rank list released by the Puducherry government.

According to the petitioner, since the school where he did his education was in Puducherry limits, the Tamil Nadu government rejected his application and citing his place of residence, the Puducherry government had said he was not eligible to apply under CENTAC.

A single judge dismissed the plea moved by the student appealing against which the student moved a division bench.

On Friday, the first bench comprising the Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthil Kumar Ramamoorthy after hearing the submissions made by the counsels made it clear that it is not possible for the petitioner to apply under the 7.5 percent reservation of the Tamil Nadu government school students applying for medical admissions.

The judges also accepted the state submissions that if the petitioner is allowed under the reservation, it will only result in students in the bordering villages applying to the state under the quota and dismissed the plea.

Mop-up counselling for MBBS, BDS seats

Mop-up counselling for MBBS, BDS seats

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:30.01.2021

The state will conduct a mop-up counselling round from Saturday to fill up MBBS and BDS seats that fell vacant, an official said.

On Friday, the selection committee secretary Dr G Selvarajan said four MBBS seats in government colleges, 15 government quota seats in self-financing colleges and 113 government BDS seats, including 11 in government colleges, were vacant after two rounds of counselling.

Besides this, there were seats vacant under management and NRI quota. Since the deadline for admissions expired, the state moved the top court seeking permission for a mop-up round. “We have been given one week time to fill the seats.”

The mop-up counselling for admission to government quota MBBS seats in government medical colleges and government quota seats in self-financing colleges will be held at 2pm on Saturday and in two sessions from 9am on Sunday, while for BDS seats in government dental colleges and government quota seats in self-financing colleges will be held in two sessions from 9 am on Saturday. For management quota seats in self-financing dental colleges, it will be held at noon on Saturday

TN will begin vaccination of govt frontline workers on Feb 1: Minister

TN will begin vaccination of govt frontline workers on Feb 1: Minister

200 Private Hospitals Roped In

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:30.01.2021

The public health department will start vaccinating frontline workers in home department, local administration and revenue department from across the state from February 1 and allow nearly 200 private hospitals to start vaccinating staff in their facilities, health minister C Vijayabaskar announced on Friday.

The state has inoculated less than 20% of its healthcare providers since January 16. On Friday, 8,659 healthcare workers took the vaccine, which pushed the total number of vaccine recipients in the state to 97,126 against the total of 5.19 lakh people registered in the portal. Earlier this week, the state had urged the centre to allow simultaneous vaccination of frontline workers.

Until Friday, the state has registered 1.8 lakh employees of the home department, 1.7 lakh employees of local administration department and 1.2 lakh from revenue department in the Cowin portal, and is hoping to add at least one lakh more names in the portal. “We will start vaccinations for all preregistered government employees from Monday,” Vijayabaskar told reporters.

Meanwhile, smaller hospitals with 150 or more healthcare providers have been asked to collect the vaccine from respective regional vaccination centres and offer it to their employees. “We have a database of the employees registered in the portal. They can collect the vaccines from us and offer it to their staff at their own hospitals. Hospitals that have fewer staff can visit the nearest government centre for the vaccine,” he said. The smaller hospitals should have adequate space, four vaccination officers, vaccinators and observation rooms to set up the inhouse camp. Officials say increasing the number of sites will encourage more doctors and healthcare providers to take the vaccine.

On Friday, for the second consecutive day, the state increased the number of sites to 286 from 236 on Thursday and 166 on Wednesday. The number of sessions was increased to 298 from 250 on Thursday. The state which had the capacity to vaccinate 29,800 healthcare providers but only 8659 people showed up. In the last 14 days, the state had the capacity to vaccinate more than 2.6 lakh healthcare providers, but the state has managed to vaccinate only 37% of its capacity. “Many people still hesitate to take the Covaxin. I took it and I am fine,” Vijayabaskar said. So far, 2,332 people have received the Bharat biotech vaccine.

Earlier, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said the government had made arrangements to vaccinate 20% of the population, which is 1.60 crore, this year.

SHOT OF LIFE: On Friday, 8,659 healthcare workers took the vaccine, pushing the total number of vaccine recipients in the state to 97,126

Case against Eflu VC dropped

Case against Eflu VC dropped

Hyderabad:30/01/2021

Two days after a criminal case was registered against E Suresh Kumar, vicechancellor of English and Foreign Languages University (Eflu), Hyderabad police on Friday gave a clean chit to the VC and said the case was closed. Police said a student filed a false complaint against the VC and withdrew it on Friday.

“The complaint made against Kumar and the registrar by students alleging they were not allowed into campus to take part in the Republic Day celebrations was proved to be false,” police said. Three students alleged that they were denied entry to participate in the event. However, Kumar said there was no invite for students for physical participation. TNN

RTI- Husband Not Entitled To Seek Information Regarding Bank Details & Income Tax Returns Of His Wife: CIC

RTI- Husband Not Entitled To Seek Information Regarding Bank Details & Income Tax Returns Of His Wife: CIC: In a significant order, the Central Information Commission has said that a Husband is not entitled to seek information regarding bank details & income tax returns of his wife under the Right to...

RTI- Husband Not Entitled To Seek Information Regarding Bank Details & Income Tax Returns Of His Wife: CIC

RTI- Husband Not Entitled To Seek Information Regarding Bank Details & Income Tax Returns Of His Wife: CIC: In a significant order, the Central Information Commission has said that a Husband is not entitled to seek information regarding bank details & income tax returns of his wife under the Right to...