Four of family take poison, parents die

Four of family take poison, parents die

Salem:11.02.2021 

In a suicide pact, four members of a family took poison near Attur in the district on Tuesday night. While the parents died, the children are battling for lives in hospital.

Police identified the deceased as P Velmurugan, 37, of Pungavadi village, and his wife Sathya, 33. Their children – 13-year-old Abinaya and 11-yearold Sanjay – are hospitalised.

A police source said Velmurugan, a driver did not have a job. “His mother Dhanalakshmi used to scold his wife. When he intervened in their fight on Tuesday night, his mother scolded him too.” Upset, the couple, along with their children decided to end their lives. He poured poison into their ears and fed it to the children forcibly, but they managed to escape and alert the villagers,” the officer said.

According the officer, Velmurugan and Sathya had died by the time the villagers reached the spot. When alerted, the Attur police sent the bodies to the nearby government for postmortem. “The boy’s condition is critical at a private hospital, while the girl is undergoing treatment in the government hospital in Attur,” the officer said. A case has registered. TNN

Sasi isolates herself, no visitors for a week

Sasi isolates herself, no visitors for a week

Ilavarasi To Stay With Her At T Nagar

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:11.02.2021 

After a 24-hour trip from Bengaluru, and a grand reception en route, former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s confidante V K Sasikala, who has recovered from Covid-19 recently, has sought to isolate herself for another week. Her co-convict in the disproportionate assets case and sister-in-law, J Ilavarasi would give her company in a house on Habibullah Road in T Nagar in Chennai, sources said.

Her supporters have been gathering near the residence ever since she arrived in the city at 6.30am on Tuesday. Save for a few AMMK officebearers, who met her upon her arrival, no party cadre or functionary had been given audience until Wednesday. Sasikala had a word of praise for AMMK functionaries, when Dhinakaran introduced his loyalists to her for arranging a grand reception. “She has been advised rest for now. She may meet visitors from next week,” said a source. Her legal team is eagerly awaiting a call from her in case she wanted to discuss the next course of action regarding matters relating to the AIADMK.

On Wednesday, Nagercoil former AIADMK MLA A Nanjil Murugesan, who claimed to be a Sasikala supporter, met her aides. “It was she who recommended my name twice to Amma (Jayalalithaa) to contest from Nagercoil. Only she can lead the AIADMK. All those who speak against her are ungrateful and will fall at her feet soon,” Murugesan told TOI. The AIADMK had expelled Murugesan from the primary membership of the party, after he was booked under POCSO.

Ilavarasi’s daughter, Krishnapriya is staying in an adjoining house. The Habibullah Road residence is a property of Anjaneya Printers Private Limited, in which Krishnapriya is one of the directors. After the Income Tax department attached Sasikala’s nine-ground property opposite to Veda Nilayam in Poes Garden, where construction was going on until a few months ago, the family chose the T Nagar house, considering her plan to return to active politics.

Jayalalithaa’s assistants, drivers and security guards in Poes Garden, K T Karthikeyan, M Iyyappan, C Kannan, Rajan Pradhan and Bhim Thapa, remain with her in T Nagar. “They continued to be her staff even after she left for Bengaluru prison,” said a source. Jayalalithaa’s cook Rajammal is being taken care of by Sasikala, sources said.

GRAND HOMECOMING: V K Sasikala at Ramavaram Gardens to garland the statue of MGR in Chennai on Tuesday

Now rent a bike taxi for multiple stops

Now rent a bike taxi for multiple stops

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

11.02.2021 

Bike taxi services have been an economical alternative to cabs, especially for the young who wanted a short trip or two, but for those who wanted to visit several places over a few hours without an own vehicle, options were limited.

Now, the only bike taxi service in the city offers rental services for multipoint trips. Rapido, which has been operating in Chennai for two years, launched the facility on Wednesday, which may spur more service providers to enter the scene. The new service will allow commuters, who have to complete multiple tasks at different locations but do not want to go through the hassle of multiple bookings and waiting for the ride to arrive every time.

Rapido said this would will bring down transportation cost further. In case someone travels around 40km in the city within four hours using the bike rental option, it would cost him/ her ₹399. Renting a cab for a similar duration or distance would cost around ₹650, which is almost 60% more. Ola and Uber offer bike taxi services in the city, but their expansion plans have been put on hold due to the pandemic. Two years ago, the authorities seized 175 bike taxis calling them illegal. But the Madras high court allowed bike taxi services and told the government to frame necessary guidelines. The government, however, is yet to frame the rules.

Rapido co-founder Aravind Sanka said that in the last months the company noticed a rising need for multistop, affordable and easily accessible ride among customers. “With Rapido Rental, we aim to address the need of such users. This can be a short stopover to pick a few things from a local shop to longer/ multiple stops related to work or personal use such as for comprehensive shopping or house hunting.” he said.

An official statement from the company said that the concept was conceived as a result of customer usage data analysis. The Company launched an MVP (minimal viable product) to validate the data and hypothesis. Rapido Rental operates in six tier-I Indian cities including Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad in the south. Rapido, which launched its operation in Chennai with 500 bikes in 2019, has around 90,000 ‘captains’ (riders) who share the earnings with the company.

Transportation activist R Rengachari said, “Given the significant reduction in MTC’s small buses and share autorickshaws hiking fare, bike taxis would attract more passengers.” he said.

25,000 vax doses wasted in TN; give them to elderly, say doctors

25,000 vax doses wasted in TN; give them to elderly, say doctors

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:11.02.2021 

More than 25,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have gone waste following low turnout at vaccination centres across Tamil Nadu since the launch of the nationwide drive on January 16. The directorate of public health, which is responsible for the drive in the state, said nearly 15% of the shots have gone waste after vaccinating 1,97,114 people until Wednesday.

With several elderly and vulnerable people waiting for their shots across Tamil Nadu, senior epidemiologists, virologists and infectious diseases experts are now demanding that the vaccination drive be opened to general public, with priority to elderly and those with comorbid conditions. “This will reduce wastage. Some people may jump the queue, but even that may still be better than wasting precious doses. At least 100 countries across the globe are still waiting for their first dose,” said infectious diseases expert Dr Subramaniam Swaminathan, who has been treating Covid-19 patients.

‘WON’T LET SELECT STATES SHIFT COURSE’

Ready to give shot to elderly, waiting for Centre nod: TN

Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had recently tweeted that the government is ensuring that no vial or session is wasted and in case of absenteeism, vaccines are being allotted to other beneficiaries.

The Covid vaccines Covishield or Covaxin come in 10 or 20 dose vials and have to be used within four hours after being opened. But with poor turnout, several vials containing unused doses are moved into special boxes labelled as “unusable vials”. Public health officials said vaccinators cannot offer the vaccine to willing elderly or those with comorbid conditions because the national programme does not allow vaccination of people who are not registered on the centralized Cowin portal. “We are told that it cannot be given to anyone other than registered healthcare providers or frontline workers,” said joint director immunization Dr K Vinay Kumar.

Senior virologist Dr T Jacob John says when Covid-19 cases are coming down, the goal should be prevention of severe disease and death along with strategies for safe reopening. “We should give the first dose of the vaccine to the targeted groups as early as possible even if that delays the second dose to health workers,” he said. Studies also show that the efficacy goes from 54% to 82% when the vaccine’s second dose of Covishield is delayed from 28 days to 12 weeks, he added.

State health minister C Vijayabaskar said the state has written to the Centre seeking permission to offer the vaccine to vulnerable groups. “If they permit us we will be able to start vaccinations. This can reduce wastage too,” he said.

The Union health ministry, however, said it will not be able to “permit select states change the course” of the national programme. During their interaction with state officials over videoconference on Tuesday, central government officials have asked the state to wrap up the first dose of vaccinations for healthcare providers in another 10 days, but did not allow the state to expand coverage to elderly group. Director of public health Dr T S Selvavinayagam said the state has told healthcare workers it would cancel their “priority” if they do not get vaccinated.

TN siddha doc Sivaraj passes away aged 78

TN siddha doc Sivaraj passes away aged 78

11.02.2021 

Dr Sivaraj Sivakumar, a siddha doctor and male fertility specialist, died of age-related ailments at a hospital in Salem on Wednesday. He was 78 and is survived by his wife Mallika, 70, a son and a daughter. The Sivaraj Siddha Vaidya Salai has been operating for more than seven generations in Salem.

Two-member panel to probe TRB ‘job scam’

Two-member panel to probe TRB ‘job scam’

Chennai:11.02.2021

Two years after an alleged scam in the recruitment of 814 computer instructors through Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB), the Madras high court on Wednesday appointed a two-member committee consisiting of a former HC judge and a retired inspector general of police to look into the issue.

The committee will study the manner in which the examination was conducted at various centres. It will be open to the committee to seek CCTV footage. In the event of CCTV footage not being available at some centres, the panel must seek an explanation about it. It will also be open to the panel to speak to the examinees so that all apprehension expressed by the petitioners may be addressed, said a bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy. TNN

HC seeks probe report in April

The bench passed the order on an appeal moved by the state government challenging a single judge order.

“Justice N Authinathan (retired) who has been appointed by the single judge as a one-man committee to go into the probe shall appoint a retired police officer not below the rank of inspector-general who is without any political leanings so that the committee now comprises of two members,” the bench said.

The bench asked the committee to conclude the exercise within six weeks and file the report before the single judge by April 30. The appointments already given to the successful candidates will abide by the result of the proceedings and the final order that may be made on the petitions by the single judge, the bench said.

The issue pertains to an order passed by a single judge on December 17, 2020, constituting the one-man committee to probe the allegations. The order was passed on a batch of petitions moved by unsuccessful candidates alleging large scale irregularities including allowing the use of mobile phones while attending exams.

As all such allegations pertained to three exam centres established in KSR College of Engineering, Namakkal, Annai College of Engineering, Thanjavur, and Kongunadu College of Engineering, Trichy, the court permitted the state to proceed with the appointment of candidates selected from other centers.

As the single judge restricted the probe only to the three centers, the bench has expanded the same to all the 742 centres where the exams were held. The direct recruitment drive was conducted in 2019.

Muslim Man Can Marry More Than Once Without Divorcing Earlier Wife But Same Doesn't Apply To A Muslim Woman: P&H High Court

Muslim Man Can Marry More Than Once Without Divorcing Earlier Wife But Same Doesn't Apply To A Muslim Woman: P&H High Court: A Muslim lady has to divorce her first husband, either under the Muslim Personal Law or under the provisions of the Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, before contracting a second marriage