Dense rain clouds, power cuts leave streets in dark

Dense rain clouds, power cuts leave streets in dark

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

21.05.2021

Rain that lashed some parts of the city and its suburbs on Thursday evening might stay with us for the next two days. The showers on Thursday, accompanied by strong breeze, caused power cuts in some neighbourhoods.

Southern suburbs received the maximum rain on Thursday - Meenambakam 2.3cm, West Tambaram 2.8cm, OMR 3.4cm, Chembarambakkam 1.6cm, while areas in the city such as Nandanam and Villivakkam recorded 1.2cm and 1.5cm rain. Many neighbourhoods including Aminjikarai, Anna Nagar, Nungambakkam, Korattur and parts of North Chennai received a short yet good spell of rain. There were power cuts for more than three hours in Pazhavanthangal, Pallikaranai, Keelkattalai, Medavakkam, Maduravoyal and Porur.

A senior official with Tangedco said they had cut power as precaution for field workers to check if there were any low-lying wires in the suburbs. “There were no cuts in most parts of the city.”

Chances of rain in the next 48 hours are high due to convergence of sea breeze and land breeze ahead of formation of a low pressure in the Bay of Bengal. An IMD forecast for the city said, “The sky condition is likely to be partly cloudy. Light rain is likely to occur in some areas.”

The southwest monsoon will make its onset and a low pressure that may turn into a cyclone will also develop over the south Andaman Sea by May 22. The state government has issued an alert asking fishermen to return to shore by May 23. However, the low pressure and the possible cyclone may not bring much rain to Chennai once the system takes shape and starts to move towards West Bengal.

SUDDEN SILHOUETTE: Dark clouds loomed over Chennai early on Thursday evening and resulted in a short, brisk spell of rain

Chromepet residents donate vehicle for use of Covid patients

SHOT OF HOPE

Chromepet residents donate vehicle for use of Covid patients

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:21.05.2021

In an effort to make resources available to those affected by Covid, residents in and around Chromepet came together to donate an emergency vehicle, 40 oxygen concentrators and cylinders to the local Covid-19 health centres.

Close to 1,200 people have made their way at the two major government Covid hospitals in the city’s southern suburbs – Chromepet Government Hospital and Tambaram TB Hospital – ever since the second week of April.

Only severe cases manage to get a ‘108’ ambulance to reach Chengalpattu Medical College Hospital or private hospitals for intensive medical care. Those with mild and moderate infection are unable to get a ‘108’ ambulance and private ambulances cost ₹25,000 to ₹30,000 even for short trips.

So residents, most of whom are also activists, from Chrompet rented a van for the next three months and converted it into an emergency vehicle so that mild/moderate patients too can be transported to other hospitals or Covid care centres set up in Tambaram and other neighbouring areas. This would roughly cost ₹2.25 lakh.

S M Govindarajan, president of Patel Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association said, “On May 6, we got a panic call from the GH for oxygen cylinders. Within 24 hours, we crowdfunded ₹2 lakh to buy 20 new cylinders for the hospital. We did not want this to be a one-time act. So till date we ensure that the cylinders are refilled at Gummidipoondi and made available for patients round the clock.”

Besides this, he managed to get the help of Bhoomika Trust to mobilise 20 oxygen concentrators for the GH. These were supposed to assist Chennai Super Kings players but with the IPL on hold, the trust decided to donate it for the benefit of patients at government hospitals, said Govindarajan, also head of Lions Club of Thiruneermalai.

“We are trying to mobilise 20 more concentrators from the US and it is expected to reach Chennai in the next two days,” said V Santhanam, another resident-activist from Chromepet helped the GH by donating four steel wheel-chairs worth ₹50,000 and heavy-duty trolleys to transport cylinders.

The group has also procured 100-odd new chairs for patients and their attendants, who wait in queue, before admission. “We hope this will inspire many others to help during this crisis,” Santhanam said.

Resident and Chengalpet collector A John Louis flag off the emergency vehicle fo the local government hospital on Tuesday

TN: 35,579 new cases, 397 deaths

TN: 35,579 new cases, 397 deaths

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:21.05.2021 

For the third consecutive day, Tamil Nadu reported the country's highest number of fresh cases, when new cases breached the 17 lakh mark. The 35,579 new cases and 397 deaths pushed the case tally to 17.3 lakh when the cumulative death toll reached 19,131. After 25,368 discharges, the state was left with 2.63 active cases.

Chennai cases dip Fresh cases in Chennai came down to 6,073 on Thursday, from 6,297 it reported on Wednesday. There were 73 deaths. After Chennai, the highest number of new cases were from emerging hotspot Coimbatore, which reported 3,335 new cases. While Chengalpet reported 2092 cases, neighbouring Tiruvallur logged 1,791 fresh cases. At least six districts Tiruppur (1581), Erode (1505), Trichy (1375), Madurai (1269), Kanyakumari (1096) and Tuticorin (1004) crossed the fourdigit mark. The lowest number of cases were reported from Perambalur (196), Sivaganga (237) and Ariyalur (267). After Chennai, the highest number of deaths were reported from Chengalpet (44), Vellore (36), Kancheepuram (27), Coimbatore (20) and Tiruvallur.

The number of new cases in the state, which was less than 30,000 until April 11, crossed 35,000 on Monday. “But over the last three or four days, the daily increase has slowed down,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan. The doubling time for the viral infection is hovering around 33 days for nearly nine days now, he said. The viral reproduction rate – R naught – has also dropped from1.5 on April 8 to 1.1 on Wednesday. “It is too early to celebrate but we are seeing good signs,” he said.

‘Covaxin protection after the first dose not high’

‘Covaxin protection after the first dose not high’

New Delhi:21.05.2021

The interval between the two doses of Covishield has been increased to12-18 weeks as the first dose developed strong immunity but the four-week gap for Covaxin is unchanged as the immunity after the initial shot is not as high. Explaining the government decision to make a three-month interval mandatory for Covishield, developed by Oxford University and Astra-Zeneca, Indian Council of Medical Research head Dr Balram Bhargava said the immunity post the first shot was found to be quite strong.

He said a three-month gap will give the best results. “On the other hand, the immunity level after the first shot of Covaxin is not as high and this means the second dose should be taken after four weeks to ensure the full level of efficacy,” he said.

He also said the recommendation that those who had contracted Covid or persons who came down with after the first does wait three months for their vaccination was based on the assessment that patients who recover have sufficient anti-bodies.

“It is not clear how long the anti-bodies last...six or seven months. So it is advised that vaccination be done or completed after a three month interval,” Dr Bhargava said. TNN

TN a safer home during pandemic, say workers from UP

TN a safer home during pandemic, say workers from UP

Shanmughasundaram.J@timesgroup.com

Chennai:21.05.2021

Not Uttar Pradesh (UP), Tamil Nadu is a safer place to stay in the midst of the raging pandemic for several guest workers hailing from UP. Many of them, who hail from Gorakhpur, erstwhile LS constituency of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, prefer to remain at their workplaces in Tamil Nadu rather than return to their hometown as they feel there is better health infrastructure here.

“We see the situation in our home state on TV. It is grim,” said Ram Prakash (name changed) from Gorakhpur, which elected Yogi Adiyanath to the Lok Sabha for five consecutive terms. Gorakhpur is famous for Gorakhnath Math and the CM of the state Yogi Adiyanath is the head of the Math.

Nearly 30 workers, all hailing from places in and around Gorakhpur, are working in Chennai and its suburbs, said Prakash.

Except for the shortage of raw material to continue the work during the lockdown, there is no compelling reason to think of a shift now, they said. “Tamil Nadu is a safe place to work. It is like a second home for the workers from our state,” said Lal Yadav, another native of Gorakhpur.

Nearly15 workers from his home state are working for him. They hail from Gauree Mangalpur and surrounding areas in Gorakhpur. They are engaged in painting in Ambattur, Anna Nagar and Ramapuram in Chennai. “They are very much worried about the wellbeing of their families back home. There are only two medical college hospitals in our place (Gorakhpur) and the situation is heartwrenching,” said Yadav, who settled in Chennai eight years ago. He said he is one among the 100-odd agents from UP, supplying workforce from there to various industries here. “Everyone is concerned about what is happening in our home state,” he said.

Next to Bihar, workers from UP account for the largest chunk of guest workers in Tamil Nadu. The Southern Railway operated 55 of 218 Shramik special trains from Tamil Nadu to UP between May 1 and June 2 last year.

Next to Bihar, workers from UP account for the largest chunk of guest workers in Tamil Nadu

23 colleges told to pay fee or lose affiliation

23 colleges told to pay fee or lose affiliation

Engg Institutes Failed To Remit Exam Fee To Anna Varsity

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:21.05.2021 

Higher education minister K Ponmudi on Thursday warned 23 engineering colleges that they will lose their affiliation if they do not pay exam fees to Anna University by May 24.

“Anna University has withheld the results of students from 23 engineering colleges due to non-payment of exam fees. If these colleges do not pay exam fees collected from students by Monday, their affiliation to the university will be cancelled,” Ponmudi told reporters after a review meeting.

More than 5,000 students are studying in the 23 colleges.

Following complaints of more failures in the proctored online tests and withholding of results by Anna University, the state government directed the university to conduct unsupervised re-exam for these students as in other universities. The university is planning the re-exam in June.

The state government had also received complaints about regularising guest lecturers in colleges. “The previous government planned to regularise around 5,000 guest lecturers working in government colleges through a committee and not the recruitment agency. We have received complaints that mistakes have happened at minister level. We held discussions with the secretary. We will also discuss it with the chief minister on conducting the recruitment fairly. These appointments will be made as per University Grants Commission (UGC) rules and qualifications. Meanwhile, the guest lecturers should not fall prey to middlemen,” Ponmudi said.

The government would form a committee to review and update all textbooks for distance mode programmes in the state following the complaint of bias in the textbooks.

The minister said, “It was brought to my knowledge that a first year MA textbook of Tamil Nadu Open University terms the DMK and communist parties as “parties against religion” and also accuses them of “preventing people from joining the national stream.”

“The book also says these parties are appeasing minorities and do not condemn “if Muslims indulge in violence”. This is what our distance mode students read in political science and history books. You all know where it will lead to. I was also a political science student and I have never seen such prejudice,” the minister added. The textbook, titled “Indian Government and Politics,” was published by the social science department of the university in 2005. The minister said he had directed university officials to take action against those who were responsible for it and remove such prejudices from textbooks.

ஓய்வூதிய பலன்களில் பங்கு கோரிய 2வது மனைவியின் மனு தள்ளுபடி

ஓய்வூதிய பலன்களில் பங்கு கோரிய 2வது மனைவியின் மனு தள்ளுபடி

Added : மே 18, 2021 23:49

சென்னை:கணவரின் ஓய்வூதிய பலன்களில் பங்கு கோரிய, இரண்டாவது மனைவியின் மனுவை, சென்னை உயர் நீதிமன்றம் தள்ளுபடி செய்தது.

காஞ்சிபுரம் மாவட்டத்தில் உள்ள அரசு பள்ளியில், முருகேசன் என்பவர் ஆசிரியராக பணியாற்றினார்; உடல் நிலை சரியில்லாமல் இறந்தார். ஓய்வூதிய பலன் வழங்கக்கோரி, அவரின் இரண்டாவது மனைவி அம்மு, உயர் நீதிமன்றத்தில் தாக்கல் செய்த மனு:

என் கணவர் ஏற்கனவே திருமணமானவர் என்பது எனக்கு தெரியாது. ஓய்வூதிய பலன்களை பெற, முதல் மனைவி முயற்சி செய்துள்ளார். எனக்கும், ஓய்வூதிய தொகையில், 50 சதவீதம் பெற உரிமை உள்ளது. எங்களுக்குள் உடன்பாடு ஏற்பட்டதால், முன்னர் தொடர்ந்த வழக்கை வாபஸ் பெற்றேன்.அதன்பின், உடன்பாட்டை மீறி, தனக்கு ஓய்வூதிய பலன் வழங்கும்படி, அரசு உயர்நிலைப் பள்ளி தலைமை ஆசிரியரிடம், முதல் மனைவி மனு அளித்தார்.

அதை தொடர்ந்து, முதன்மை கணக்காளருக்கு தலைமை ஆசிரியர் கடிதம் அனுப்பி உள்ளார். ஓய்வூதிய பலன்களை, சமமாக வாரிசுகளுக்கு வழங்கும்படி உத்தரவிட வேண்டும்.இவ்வாறு, மனுவில் கூறியுள்ளார். மனுவை விசாரித்த நீதிபதி எஸ்.வைத்தியநாதன் பிறப்பித்த உத்தரவு:

இந்த வழக்கை தொடர, மனுதாரருக்கு தகுதி இல்லை. சட்டப்பூர்வ வாரிசுகள் சார்பில், அவர்களின் தாய் என்ற முறையில், வழக்கு தொடர்ந்து இருக்க வேண்டும். அதற்கு பதில் அவரே இந்த வழக்கை தொடர்ந்துள்ளார். அதனால், அவர் கோரிய நிவாரணத்தை வழங்க முடியாது. மனு தள்ளுபடி செய்யப்படுகிறது.

சட்டப்பூர்வ வாரிசுகள் சார்பில் அதிகாரிகளிடம் விண்ணப்பிக்க, இந்த உத்தரவு தடையாக இருக்காது.இவ்வாறு நீதிபதி உத்தரவிட்டார்.