Private trains to soon run in state

Private trains to soon run in state

Firms To Be Selected By End Of June

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:03.06.2021

Southern Railway has completed groundwork to enable private players to run trains from Chennai and other cities in the state as the Railway Board is gearing up to select firms by the end of the month. The financial bids for running trains, including on11 routes in Chennai cluster, will be opened by June-end. The project cost for Chennai cluster will be Rs3,221crore, covering around 1,052km, the highest after Mumbai.

The routes identified include Chennai to Madurai, Coimbatore, Trichy, Kanyakumari, Tiruneveli, Mumbai, Mangalore, Secunderabad and Delhi. Railway Board chairman and CEO Suneet Sharma said in a virtual press conference on Wednesday that railways was going ahead with the tender process and more than 10 players are eligible for bidding. "We will open the tender in June and we hope to get proper response from the companies," he said.

As the companies who were qualified to bid for the project in the request for qualification have already started to set up ties and to get rolling stock, technology transfer and other finer details, running of private trains may start running along these routes by end of the year or earlier.

The private operator will bring rolling stock, fix fare and run the train using railways' crew. As per the arrangement, railway zones were told to identify stations, maintenance yard, washing lines, pitlines within existing facilities for maintaining the private trains or earmark land for the operator to build such facilities near the stations.

A senior official of Southern Railway did not reveal the specifics but said that the zone has identified all the required infrastructure like stations, maintenance yards or lands for private trains.

Sources said that Tambaram could be a terminal for south-bound private trains while Tondiarpet yard was being considered for maintaining private trains. Railways has started adding passenger facilities at Tambaram and has also recently modernised its yard which will also have an automatic train washing system.

Railway Board specifications said that an exclusive electrified line should be identified at yards so that the private trains could drive in and drive out without having to depend on railway-owned shunting locos.

Sharma said that a request for qualification was called and there were successful firms who became eligible and we called for a request for proposals and there is a day fixed for opening of tender.

NEW HORIZON: The financial bids for running trains, including on 11 routes in Chennai cluster, will be opened by June-end

Have ties with Centre like MK did: BJP to Stalin

Have ties with Centre like MK did: BJP to Stalin

Shanmughasundaram.J@timesgroup.com

Chennai:03.06.2021

If chief minister M K Stalin and his cabinet colleagues follow former DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s policy of maintaining cordial relations with the Centre, it would benefit the state, said BJP Tamil Nadu president L Murugan on Wednesday.

Murugan said in a statement that Karunanidhi followed the policy of maintaining good relations with the Centre whenever he was in power in the state, because it helped in the state’s growth.

The present DMK government, especially state finance minister PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan was deviating from that path, he said. Murugan lashed out at Thiagarajan for his view expressed in the GST council meeting that there would be no union without the states. The minister said the Centre should not act like a begrudging donor. Murugan said Thiagarajan’s comments were “childish”.

The BJP leader urged Stalin to advise his ministers to avoid confrontation with the Centre. “They should be focusing on the welfare of the people. This is not the time to do petty politicking,” said Murugan.

Reacting to Stalin’s statement that the failure of the previous AIADMK government in controlling the first wave of Covid had led to the second wave wreaking havoc in Tamil Nadu, Murugan said Stalin and his party colleagues should take the responsibility for creating scare among the people about the vaccines when they were in the opposition. It resulted in vaccine hesitancy among the people. If more people had come forward to take vaccination, the pandemic could have been controlled in Tamil Nadu, said Murugan.

Stalin should ask himself whether he functioned as a responsible opposition leader then, said Murugan.

State to decide on conducting Class XII exams in two days

State to decide on conducting Class XII exams in two days

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:03.06.2021

The state government will take a call on conducting Class XII board exams after getting feedback from teachers, parents, students, health experts and educationists in the next two days, school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi said on Wednesday.

Online meetings will be held and suggestions received on tnschooledu21@gmail.com and on helpline 14417, the minister said.

On Tuesday, citing Covid-19, the Centre cancelled CBSE Class XII exams and said the assessment would be based on objective criteria in a time-bound manner. Students not satisfied with the assessment will be given the option of appearing for exams when the situation is conducive, it said.

Following the Centre’s announcement, chief minister M K Stalin held a meeting with the school education minister.

“The central government took a decision to cancel CBSE Class XII exams when most states were in favour of conducting them. The CM wanted us to get the opinion of teachers, parents, students, health experts and educationists before taking a call on Class XII exams. He also wanted to know the stand of other states on cancelling Class XII exams,” the minister told reporters.

“Students’ health is very important to us. At the same time, Class XII exams and marks are also important for students. At present, there are mixed opinion about the cancellation of board exams. We will take a decision based on a majority of the views," he said.

At the meeting of education ministers last week, Tamil Nadu said it was in favour of conducting the board exams.

Graduates flying abroad in fix over vaccine shortage

Graduates flying abroad in fix over vaccine shortage

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:03.06.2021

Students from Chennai headed overseas for higher studies are in a fix because of the vaccination policy and visa appointments.

While several foreign universities have made vaccination compulsory for all incoming students, states like Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra (Mumbai) have announced that doses will be reserved for these students at vaccine centres. But there is no such policy in Chennai or other parts of Tamil Nadu. Given the vaccine shortage, many students return home without getting jabs even after queuing up for long.

While some have struggled to get the first dose at private hospitals, the long gap between doses has left many fearing whether they would get it before flying abroad.

Vaibhav Singh, co-founder of Leap which offers financial services to Indian students wanting to pursue higher education abroad, said, “Many students who were supposed to start their classes last year deferred it to this year, hoping to be able to attend offline classes. The second wave added more uncertainty to their plans.”

Now that countries like the US are opening up flights for international students, or allowing vaccinated students to attend classes; students will be able to attend classes in-person. Helping them with priority vaccinations will be a great move to allow them to start degrees in the Fall of 2021, he said.

Many others are facing issues with visa appointments. Some foreign consulates in Chennai are closed and are not accepting regular and even expedited appointment (EA) requests.

“I haven’t slept properly for weeks now because of the anxiety surrounding the visa process,” said a student, who got his PhD admission in the spring of 2021, requesting anonymity. He deferred his admission to the Fall because he was unable to get an appointment till November. His programme starts on September  1.

Alekya Kastury, an engineer from Chennai, said further delay in appointments will impact their travel plans. “It is going to be a situation in which we will be entering classes as soon as we land,” she said.

Many students slated to fly abroad have struggled to get their first dose at private hospitals

Vaccination for 45+ to continue

Vaccination for 45+ to continue

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:02.06.2021

The Tamil Nadu health departmenton Tuesday received 4.95 lakh doses of covid vaccine even as most districts inthe state complained of empty stock. The consignment included 75,000 doses of Covaxin and of 4.2 lakh doses of Covishield health minister Ma Subramanian said.

“So far, the state has received1.1 crore doses of the vaccine including 4.95 lakh doses we received on Tuesday. The state has administered 90.5 lakh doses and the state now has a stock of 6.5 lakh doses of the vaccine. This will be distributed across the state for vaccination in all districts. All districts will start vaccination by Wednesday,” he said. Priority and additional doses will be given to the western districts, where the caseload has been high, he added.

The fresh stock would help the state continue the vaccination drive for a few more days. “However, these doses are for people aged above 45 years. For people in the 18-44 age group, the state will make the purchase from the two manufacturers,” the minister said.

On Tuesday, 98,183 people including 47,567 in the 18-44 age group took the vaccine on Tuesday.

HC: Reinstate 41 AI pilots, give back wages

HC: Reinstate 41 AI pilots, give back wages

New Delhi:02.06.2021

The Delhi high court on Tuesday came to the rescue of 41 Air India (AI) pilots who were sacked by the company last year, as it quashed the national carrier’s decision and directed their reinstatement, reports Abhinav Garg.

Justice Jyoti Singh, in her order, also directed that back wages would have to be paid to the reinstated pilots along with their seniority. It, however, clarified that the payment of back wages will be as per rationalisation (reduction) of allowances of pilots carried by AI due to the impact of Covid-19 and also made it clear that extension of contract in the future, of those who are on contract, would be at the discretion of AI as per their performances.

HC had asked AI to take sympathetic view of situation

A detailed judgment would be available only on Wednesday. Appearing for some of the petitioners, advocates Keshav Sehgal and Gaurav Sethi had challenged the national carrier’s decision to terminate their services effective from August13 last year.

The pilots argued that there was a lack of decision-making by AI when they withdrew their resignations that had been submitted in 2019.

Citing the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) issued by the DGCA, the pilots were required to serve a mandatory six months’ notice period during which they withdrew their resignations in March 2020, Sehgal submitted. However, no decision was taken by AI on the withdrawal of these resignations, forcing them to move the HC. Even as the plea was pending, AI issued a letter on August13, 2020 illegally and retrospectively accepting their resignation, the petition contended, in violation of settled position of law.

In November last year, the HC had asked AI to take a sympathetic view of the situation and said the employees cannot be left high and dry.

TN govt gives ‘all pass’ for students of Classes I to VIII

TN govt gives ‘all pass’ for students of Classes I to VIII

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:02.06.2021

Tamil Nadu government has decided to grant ‘all pass’ to students of Classes I to VIII for the current academic year. The state had earlier issued orders to promote students of Classes IX to XI, citing the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a circular issued to chief educational officers on Monday, director of elementary education M Palanisamy said headmasters should enter ‘all pass’ in registers based on Right to Education (RTE) Act.

“As per Section16 of the RTE Act, no child shall be held back in any class or expelled from school till the completion of elementary education. Based on the act, all students studying in all types of schools should be declared pass. The chief education officers should give the necessary directions through email and phone to headmasters,” the circular said.

The directive said the date for reopening of schools would be announced after the end of the lockdown. The announcement on distributing books and welfare schemes, too, would be announced later. Chief minister M K Stalin and school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi held a meeting on Tuesday on Class XII exams.

‘Marks based on previous exams last yr’

Meanwhile, principals wanted the school education department to come out with modalities for awarding marks for Class X students. After cancelling the Class X boards, the school education department is yet to come out with modalities for awarding marks. “Last year, marks were awarded based on quarterly and half-yearly exams. But due to the pandemic, half-yearly and quarterly exams could not be conducted for the current batch. But class tests have been conducted. The state government may award marks to Class X students based on the performance of students in half-yearly and quarterly exams of Class IX and annual exam of Class VIII and can give some weightage to class tests,” said G J Manohar, principal, MCC Higher Secondary School, Chetpet.