UK returnee tests positive for Covid in Kolkata, genome sequencing underway for Omicron variant

UK returnee tests positive for Covid in Kolkata, genome sequencing underway for Omicron variant

Top officials of the health ministry informed a parliamentary panel that there are 23 cases of the omicron variant across the country, and authorities are closely monitoring the situat

Published: 10th December 2021 03:53 PM 

By PTI

KOLKATA: A woman, who returned from the UK, tested positive for COVID-19 here on Friday, a senior official of the West Bengal Health Department said on Friday.

The required specimens were collected and sent for genome sequencing to ascertain whether she had contracted the new omicron variant, which has been classified as a highly transmissible virus of concern, he said.

"A patient from the UK is found positive for COVID-19. She was initially sent to the Beliaghata IDBG Hospita, Later she chose to get admitted at a private hospital for institutional quarantine," the official said.

Her condition is stable, he added.

Top officials of the health ministry had on Thursday informed a parliamentary panel that there are 23 cases of the omicron variant across the country, and authorities are closely monitoring the situation.

Delhi University collects Rs 9.5 crore exam fees, twice than 2020

Delhi University collects Rs 9.5 crore exam fees, twice than 2020

With the help of this portal, the university has been able to ensure checks and balances as earlier several colleges would not entirely transfer the exam fees to the university.

13.12.2021 

By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: As fees for the ongoing examinations, the Delhi University has managed to collect Rs 9.5 crore from around 1.4 lakh students, almost double than last year. This was revealed by the central government's Samarth portal which helps the university maintain transparency.

With the help of this portal, the university has been able to ensure checks and balances as earlier several colleges would not entirely transfer the exam fees to the university. "Samarth has made exam fees collection a centralised process. Earlier, colleges would collect money but many wouldn’t pay to the university in full. It was difficult to keep track of the number of students and the corresponding fees from various colleges under the university," said an official from the university.

The university has been conducting open book exams for students since last year due to COVID-19 and the semester exams began on November 30.A minimum examination fee of Rs 500 is levied per semester on each student while he/she has to pay another Rs 200 for each practical exam. Ex-students appearing for re-exams need to pay an additional Rs 500.

"Another issue was that several colleges used to collect examination fees at the time of the student's admission itself and hence it would not be clear what papers the student would opt for. So, it was quite a possibility that either the student was paying higher or lower than the exact amount," he said.

DS Rawat, Dean, Examinations, said it took the university more than three months to upload details of nearly 1.4 lakh students on Samarth. 

Reducing traffic congestion: Tambaram railway ROB to be extended to link Shanmugam and GST roads

Reducing traffic congestion: Tambaram railway ROB to be extended to link Shanmugam and GST roads

At the Shanmugam Road-GST intersection, there is a fruit and flower market, the Tambaram pedestrian subway and Foot Over Bridge.

Published: 13th December 2021 04:25 AM 

By B Anbuselvan

Express News Service

CHENNAI: A decade after being built, one arm of the railway Road Over Bridge (ROB) at Tambaram on Grand Southern Trunk (GST) Road is set be extended, to link Shanmugam Road with GST. A government order sanctioning Rs 30 lakh for preparing detailed project report was issued recently by the State Highways Department.

The ROB was opened in February 2011 replacing the level crossing near Tambaram railway station. It connects Velachery Main Road, GST and Mudichur Road. The ROB has four arms on GST (two each towards Guindy and Chengalpattu) and one each on Mudichur Road and Velachery Main Road.

The ROB’s ramp that extends towards Guindy ends at the intersection of Shanmugam Road and GST. The portion is 0.6 metre high from the road level. As a result, motorists from Perungalathur are forced to take a detour via Rajaji Road which is 100 metre away from the joining point of Shanmugam Road and GST, to enter Shanmugam Road and other parts of Tambaram. The detour leads to huge vehicular pile up in both directions of GST.

The linking of Shanmugam Road with GST has been one of the long-pending demands of Tambaram locals and traders. At the Shanmugam Road-GST intersection, there is a fruit and flower market, the Tambaram pedestrian subway and Foot Over Bridge.

According to official sources, the project has two components. The width of the pedestrian subway’s entry and exit points need to be widened to 10 metres. Secondly, the ramp of the ROB towards Guindy on GST Road should be extended further so as to facilitate direct passing of vehicles from GST to Shanmugam Road.

“We are yet to assess the quantum of land required for extending the ramp and widening the subway. We are yet to assess the number of buildings that need to be demolished for the project. The DPR is being prepared,” said a State highways official.

A section of traders and locals with whom TNIE interacted claimed that, when the proposal for ROB was first made in early 2008, the ramp of the Guindy arm was to be 30 to 40 metres longer than the present one.

“The highways department initially planned to link GST with Shanmugam Road. But the proposal required land parcels at the intersections and a group of influential traders strongly resisted any moves to demolish their buildings. So the project was altered. Now, more than a decade later, the government is once again planning to link the roads,” said a resident of West Tambaram.

Passengers stranded for 10 hours after 2 SpiceJet planes suffer snag

Passengers stranded for 10 hours after 2 SpiceJet planes suffer snag

Panaji: 12.12.2021

In a harrowing experience for SpiceJet passengers bound for Mumbai, two of its aircraft suffered technical snags within a short span of 10 hours at Goa International Airport. The incident left more than 100 passengers stranded and led to cascading delays for the private airline.

SpiceJet accommodated the passengers on another scheduled flight later in the afternoon, but not before irate passengers protested at the departure terminal. The ordeal for passengers began in the early hours of Saturday when flight SG476 was set to depart for Mumbai at 5.25am.

After the passengers had boarded the aircraft and the flight was cleared for take-off, the pilots detected a snag and the aircraft, a Boeing 737-85R, was brought back to the apron. The passengers were asked to disembark and wait in the departure lounge till a replacement aircraft could fly in.Several flights operated by SpiceJet witnessed delays across the country, particularly Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bagdogra. TNN

TTD to construct new ghat road to Tirumala

TTD to construct new ghat road to Tirumala

Existing Road Was Damaged In Recent Rains

Sandeep.Raghavan@timesgroup.com

Tirupati: 12.12.2021

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) trust board on Saturday resolved to construct new ghat roads and a pedestrian route to Tirumala from Kadapa district as the existing ghat roads and pedestrian routes from Tirupati were severely damaged in the recent rains causing hardship to devotees.

TTD trust board chairman YV Subba Reddy told media after the board meeting that the temple body had thoroughly discussed the necessity for an alternative ghat road and a pedestrian route to Tirumala from Rajampet mandal in Kadapa district, popular as the Annamayya marg.

“We have proposed to develop alternative routes to Tirumala along the Seshachalam hills. Our engineering department will soon come up with the estimates for the proposed ghat road and pedestrian route,” he said.

The TTD board also resolved to take up repair and renovation works at all the temples that were damaged in the recent floods in Rajampet mandal.

It decided to establish a state of the art children’s superspecialty hospital in Tirupati. The board identified suitable land for establishing the hospital on a permanent campus. The TTD has so far performed 11 complicated surgeries on children from the economically poor background free of cost.

The annual Vaikunta Ekadasi and Dwadasi festival will be celebrated on a grand note for 10 days from January 13. The temple body will soon seek the permission of the state and central governments to remove curbs on pilgrim footfall due to Covid-19.

He said on the request from the Srisailam Devasthanams, the TTD will take up gold plating works of the Sivaji Gopuram at Srisailam temple.

HC junks MBBS students’ plea on exam pattern

HC junks MBBS students’ plea on exam pattern

HC Refuses To Grant Five Grace Marks

SagarKumar.Mutha@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad: 12.12.2021

Justice B Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana high court dismissed a batch of petitions filed by MBBS first year students who were failed in their annual examinations and hence were retained in the first year.

Students in their pleas contended that the National Medical Commission (NMC) changed the pattern of examinations from 2019 onwards and according to this new pattern, a portion of the questions should be in the form of multiple choice questions (MCQs). As many students could not cope up with the online class mode, the authorities should have included MCQs in the question paper. But unfortunately, the university authorities chose to skip MCQs and went in for complete descriptive mode, they said.

“They did the same thing in the annual exam and also in the instant exam resulting in a huge failure percentage,” they alleged.

The judge, however, did not agree with this line of thinking. “To give MCQs or not is the discretion of the university. Even the guidelines on the pattern of question paper issued by the Medical Council of India, now known as the National Medical Commission (NMC), are only advisory and not mandatory. Hence, we cannot direct the university to conduct a second supplementary exam for the failed candidates,” the judge said.

Agreeing with Gorantla Pujitha, counsel for NMC, who said that the students came to court only after failing in the main and instant exams as an afterthought, the judge said that the failed candidates should have come to court immediately after they found that the pattern was not in tune with NMC guidelines.

The judge also described skipping MCQs as a minor deviation. “It is not the case of the students that the questions given were not from the syllabus,” the judge said, while stressing the point that the students should be able to answer questions regardless of their form.

The court also refused to give any direction to the university to grant five grace marks to each of the students.

After victory march, farmers leave for home

After victory march, farmers leave for home

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:12.12.2021

They assembled on Delhi’s borders over several months, their numbers swelling with each passing day. It, however, took them only a couple of days to pack up and leave for their villages in Punjab and Haryana. After a victory march on their tractors and trolleys in the morning, the farmers at Singhu began the journey back home on Saturday. Amidst, slogans, songs and sword dances, there was a twinge of pain in their hearts as they left what has been their home and friends behind. It will take two days for the police to remove heavy barricades and open the highway.

At Tigri border, however, things moved fast. By 12 noon, 90% of the tents had been removed as farmers left in a convoy amid a shower of petals. The authorities wasted no time in clearing the road. A makeshift cement wall, four layers of barricades created with cemented bollards, containers, fences and trolleys got removed one by one with the help of cranes. P13'

After a year-long protest, farmers start heading home from the Singhu border on Saturday