2 in trouble for tampering with NEET scorecard

 2 in trouble for tampering with NEET score card

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

16.01.2022

Chennai: Two students are in trouble for tampering with the NEET, 2021 scorecard to jack up scores not just to make themselves eligible to apply but also enhance chances of getting admission to the undergraduate medical course. On January 7, university registrar Dr M B Aswath Narayanan lodged a complaint. It said the students, a 19-yearold from Tharamangalam in Dharmapuri and an 18-yearold

from Bhavani in Erode submitted their application forms online to the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University for procuring eligibility certificate – an essential document to be submitted during medical counselling for UG medical admissions.

Officials found that the two girls had tampered with the NEET score card. Another complaint was lodged at the Guindy police station the same day. However, police are yet to file an FIR. The university officials, however, said they were waiting for the police to proceed with the case as tampering with certificates is a "criminal offence".

Court reprieve for MTC conductor suspended over deficit of ₹3

 Court reprieve for MTC conductor suspended over deficit of ₹3

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

15.01.2022

Chennai: A conductor with the metropolitan transport corporation who was suspended for a cash deficit of a mere ₹3 during inspection by MTC checking inspectors has successfully contested his suspension in a labour court. The court has set aside the order and directed MTC to issue consequential benefits due to the employee.

The court noted that the suspension order was issued without conducting any domestic enquiry and directed the earlier suspension be set aside. The court however held that the transport corpora- tion can conduct a fresh enquiry if required.

The transport workers’ union, which moved the petition on behalf of the conductor, Kolanji, stated in their petition that the conductor was suspended on December 17, 2005 after the checking inspec- tor found a deficit of three rupees and served with a memo for non co-operation and illtreatment towards superior officer, carelessness and indifference, for which Kolanji gave an explanation.

However, without considering the explanation and without conducting a domestic enquiry, the conductor was given a punishment of withholding increment for a year, against which the union moved the labour court. The corporation, in response contended that the conductor is a serial offender and argued for the petition to be dismissed.

Presiding officer of the principal labour court, Chen- nai, C Kumarappan, after perusing the submissions observed that as per the standing order of the transport corporation, it is mandatory to conduct domestic enquiry before awarding a punishment, except for censure or fine.

“Therefore, this court has no hesitation to hold that the order of suspension is liable to be set aside. Even then, the corporation is given liberty to have a domestic enquiry against the conductor according to the relevant law and standing order,” the presiding officer stated in his order and held that the conductor is entitled to have consequential benefits.

 

VACCINE HESITANCY

25-yr-old man with no comorbidities dies, not vaxxed

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Omjasvin.MD@timesgroup.com

16.01.2022

Chennai: A 25-year-old youth who did not have any comorbidities died of Covid-19 at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) on Wednesday (January 12). He did not get vaccinated out of fear, his family said.

Friday’s state health bulletin said Mohammed Karimullah tested positive for the Delta variant on December 26 and was admitted to RGGGH the next day. He died of Covid-19 pneumonia after battling for life in the ICU for nearly 20 days.

Dr D Sudharakan, head , critical care, RGGGH, said the patient did not have any comorbidities such as diabetes or hypertension, but was obese, weighing 110 kilograms.

“He had a 99% lung involvement,” said the doctor, who was part of the team that treated the patient.

“When we questioned his family why he didnot get vaccinated, they said it was due to fear,” Dr Sudhakaran said.

He said the patient was brought to the hospital in a critical state and was put in CPAP ventilator and highflow nasal cannula. He was given Remedesivir too.

In the first week of January, when Omicroncases began surging, 11 of the 17 patients admitted in theICU of RGGGH were not vaccinated. In Omandurar GH, eight of 10 were not vaccinated.

“Most patients admitted in the ICU are unvaccinated. Maybe, if this patient (Karimullah) had taken at least one dose, there could have been progress during the treatment,” Dr Sudhakaran said.

Data collated from the city Covid hospitals showed, 69% of those who died due to Covid in the city in December were unvaccinated.

 

₹500 penalty for mask violators not implemented yet

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

16.01.2022

Chennai: The city police are yet to increase the fine amount from ₹200 to ₹500 for violation of mask compliance.

During the night lockdown from10pm on Friday to 5am on Saturday, the police had registered 4,962 cases for mask non-compliance and 21 for not maintaining social distance. In the past eight days, they have registered 43,478 cases against those who did not wear masks and collected the fine amount of ₹86. 95 lakh from them.

Though the State government had on Thursday issued an order increasing the fine for mask non-compliance to ₹500, the city police are yet to implement the revised penalty.

As many as 302 vehicles including 281 two-wheelers, 14 auto rickshaws and seven cars were confiscated from violators. These vehicles, parked at an open ground near the police stations, would be returned to the owners after a week.

At least 10,000 police personnel, including from law and order, traffic and armed reserve, have been deployed to man the 312 vehicle check points in the city. Those on night patrolling have been asked to keep changing the vehicle check points so as to nab those who plan to skip the vehicle checking points. The police have also tightened the vigil for drunken driving cases.

 

‘After 2nd wave people queued up for jabs’

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15.01.2022

R Trivedi, who retired from Gandhi Medical College (GMC) as a professor of paediatrics, is a vocal advocate for vaccination. Way back in 1962, as a medical student, he went around convincing people for the polio vaccination. In the past year, he has done the same for the Covid vaccine. With a heavy heart, he recalled how people known to him, young and old, got sick with Covid,some even died, because they were not vaccinated. “Go get the vaccine,” he tells those still hesitating to take their second or even first dose That’s what vaccinator Jaya Patil tells people around her, too. She was on duty at the launch of vaccination drive and administered hundreds of doses in next 9 months in Bhopal’s main tertiary care hospital. “Earlier, it took a certain amount of counselling to convince people who had vaccine hesitancy. After the second wave, people queued to get the jabs,” she said.

TNN

Thanks to vax, I’m here: Doc who took Bhopal’s first dose

Bhopal: The gap was nine months -from detection of the Covid-19 case in Madhya Pradesh on March 20, 2020, to the first dose of vaccine on January 16, 2021, to protect against the pandemic. Now, 365 days later, to understand the magnitude of mission vaccination in the state, scribble nine digits — 10,72,82,293.

That was the number of doses administered in Madhya Pradesh till 6pm on Saturday. It’s more than the population of at least 148 countries and territories. By the time this paper was printed, there would have been hundreds more.

The first person to get the shot of life in Bhopal was octogenarian Dr S K Trivedi. Over the next 52 weeks, he has got three doses — ‘boosted’ as it were to take on the virus. His latest dose was earlier this week, on January10.

Summing up his three jabs, he says, “Let’s put it this way. During the Delta wave, I was sick for a couple of days. Thanks to vaccination, I am able to talk to you again.”

 

Nurse accuses colleague of rape in Bhopal

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16.01.2022

Bhopal: A 27-year-old woman, student who is pursuing a nursing course, on Friday filed a complaint against her former colleague and live-in partner for exploiting her and raping her on the promise of marriage. Recently, when the accused refused to marry her, the woman reported the matter to police.

Acting on her complaint, Kolar police registered a rape case against the accused and started investigations.

Investigation officer SI  Preksha Mourya said that the survivor, 27,told police that in July 2019, while working at a private They became friends and soon, the accused lured her into his trap saying that they would get married. He offered her to move into a live-in relationship with him so that they could know each other well.

Mourya said that the woman alleged that in August 2019, she moved into a live-in relationship with the accused at a rented house in Kolar locality. He repeatedly raped her on the promise of marriage. Whenever she asked him for marriage, he made excuses saying marriage will be after completing their MSc.

The woman alleged that on December 22 last year, the accused made an excuse that he was not feeling well and went to his village. When she contacted him, he told her that his family members were not ready for their marriage. He blocked her phone number. When she called his family members, they refused to speak on the subject. Feeling cheated, the woman approached cops. Police have registered a case.

TNN

Airfares from city nosedive during current Covid surge Airlines Start Offering Sops To Woo Flyers Before Summer

 Airfares from city nosedive during current Covid surge

Airlines Start Offering Sops To Woo Flyers Before Summer

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Joy.Sengupta@timesgroup.com

15.01.2022

Pune: Airfares from Pune to many cities have nosedived amid the current rise in Covid cases, a trend not witnessed during the first and second waves of the pandemic.

One-way airfares from the city to several destinations revealed that the decrease in the current tariff (see graphic) was between 40% and 60% on an average from what it used to be in the recent past and the trend was likely to continue in February.

The one-way fare for the Pune-Goa sector, which was almost Rs6,000 to Rs7,000 during the New Year Eve, has dropped to Rs3,500-Rs3,700 now. Similarly, the one-way fare between Pune and Delhi, which until late last year was Rs6,000-Rs6,500, presently rests at less than half.

“Airfares never really reached the pre-pandemic levels, mainly due to the cap and un- certainty related to travel. In 2019, a Pune-Goa one-way ticket would cost anything between Rs13,000 and Rs14,000 during the Christmas and New Year Eve period. We are witnessing a new low in terms of airfares, something which is a rare trend,” a travel company representative said.

Another travel company representative said, “The country has witnessed two major waves of the pandemic since 2020. But the airfares had not gone down then as seen during the ongoing third wave of the pandemic. Fresh bookings for vacations have drastically gone down. The decreased fares are, however, helping holidayers take some risks and book tickets for a trip to their favourite destinations during the coming summer months. ”

However, the airfares in sectors such as Kolkata, Ladakh and Chennai continued to be high in the range of Rs7,000 to Rs9,000, or even more. “These are places where the demand is more than supply. Kolkata, for example, has limited flights from Delhi, Mumbai and Pune,” a travel operator said.

A source associated with the industry said during the earlier surge in cases, there was an extended cap on airfares fixed by the government.

“After airlines resumed operations in May 2020 , the cap on airfares was fixed for three months (until August last week, 2020). It was in September last year only that the cap on airfares was reduced to 15 days. But at that time, travel had picked up due to the relaxed norms and fewer Covid cases,” an airline source said.

“As a result, the fares were high after 15 days at any given month. But this time, the situation is different. Despite the 15-day airfare cap, the subsequent 15 days (of a month) are witnessing very few flyers,” the source added.

Almost all airlines have floated schemes such as free meals and no charges for rescheduling/cancellation on certain sectors, seats with extra leg room and preferred seats to attract flyers.

“We want people to take advantage of the current low fares and book their tickets for the upcoming summer months. The situation will improve in sometime and travel will resume in full form,” an airline official said.