Cardiac surgeon K.M. Cherianlaid to rest

Cardiac surgeon K.M. Cherianlaid to rest

The Hindu Bureau

CHENNAI  02.02.2025

Renowned cardiac surgeon K.M. Cherian, who died in Bengaluru on January 25, was laid to rest in Chennai on Saturday (February 1, 2025).

Dr. Cherian had collapsed suddenly while attending a wedding in Bengaluru. He was rushed to the Manipal Hospital, where he was declared dead. His mortal remains were kept for public viewing at Frontier Lifeline Hospital, Mogappair, on January 31.

During a service held in the evening, several doctors, including those who had worked with him, and colleagues shared their experiences interacting with him.

People from across the country, including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Delhi, participated. Following a service at his residence on Saturday, the final service and burial was held at the Kilpauk Cemetery.

NEWS TODAY 1.2.2025

 

New Collectors for nine districts; Secretaries for three departments

New Collectors for nine districts; Secretaries for three departments

The Hindu Bureau

CHENNAI 01.02.2025

The Tamil Nadu government on Friday posted new Collectors to nine districts and new Secretaries to the Departments of Special Programme Implementation, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, and Welfare of Differently-Abled Persons.

Chief Secretary N. Muruganandam issued the government order posting R. Sadheesh as the Dharmapuri Collector, S. Saravanan as the Dindigul Collector, and M. Prathap as the Tiruvallur Collector. While C. Dinesh Kumar is the new Collector of Krishnagiri, S. Shiek Abdul Rahman has been posted as the Villupuram Collector.

K. Tharpagaraj will be the Tiruvannamalai Collector and V. Mohanachandran has been posted as the Tirupattur Collector. R. Sukumar and K. Sivasoundaravalli have been posted as the Tirunelveli and Tiruvarur Collectors respectively.

Pradeep Yadav will hold the full additional charge as the Secretary of the Special Programme Implementation Department, while Jayashree Muralidharan will hold the full additional charge as Secretary of the Welfare of Differently-Abled Persons Department. V. Dakshinamoorthy will serve as the Secretary of the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department.

Madurai Commissioner

Chitra Vijayan will become the Commissioner of the Madurai Corporation. Gaurav Kumar will assume office as the Executive Director of Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board. A. Shanmuga Sundaram will become the Managing Director of the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation. J. Innocent Divya has been posted as the Commissioner of Technical Education and Sigy Thomas Vaidhyan as the Commissioner of Disaster Management. T. Charusree has been posted as the Director of Treasuries and Accounts and S.A. Raman as the Commissioner of Labour. S. Ganesh will be the Special Secretary in the Revenue and Disaster Management Department.

Darez Ahamed will take over as the Managing Director, Guidance. M. Aarthi will hold the full additional charge as Project Director, Tamil Nadu Women Employment and Safety Programme. R. Kannan has been posted as the Director of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services. K. Santhi has been posted as the Director of Sericulture. M.N. Poongodi has been posted as the Joint Commissioner (Admin.), Commercial Taxes.

Lalitaditya Neelam has been posted as the Joint Commissioner of Municipal Administration. C. Palani has been posted as the Additional Commissioner (Admin.), Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments.

Shankar Lal Kumawat has been posted as the Additional Secretary, Home, Prohibition and Excise Department. K.M. Sarayu will be the Joint Secretary (Protocol), Public Department. Srutanjay Narayanan has been posted as the Joint Director (e-Governance) and Joint Chief Executive Officer, Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency. R. Anamika is the Additional Commissioner of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj. R. Jaya has been posted as the Commissioner of Economics and Statistics.

S.P. Amrith is the Additional Registrar of Co-operative Societies, while S. Kishan Kumar is the Sub-Collector, Chidambaram. Durga Moorthi will assume office as the Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Magnesite Limited, while T. Prabhushankar will become the Managing Director, Metropolitan Transport Corporation. K.P. Karthikeyan will take over as the Managing Director, Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu.

D. Baskara Pandian will assume office as the Project Director of Tamil Nadu Road Sector Project-II and the Chennai-Kanniyakumari Industrial Corridor Project, and Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Road Development Company. J.E. Padmaja will take over as the Additional Collector (Dev.), District Rural Development Agency.

Violations galore in Annamalai Univ recruitment: Arappor

Violations galore in Annamalai Univ recruitment: Arappor

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 01.02.2025

Chennai : About 180 nonteaching staff recruited as programmers by the department of computer and information science at Annamalai University were redesignated as teaching staff. It is a violation of the rules, said anti-corruption NGO Arappor Iyakkam in its complaint to the chief minister M K Stalin and higher education minister Govi Chezhiaan on Friday. “Of the 180 staff members, only 50 of them completed PhDs. However, the redesignated staff members are now guiding 125 PhD scholars, of whom 44 already completed their PhDs. It raises questions about the quality of PhDs, and students may get affected if the PhDs are cancelled,” Arappor Iyakkam said in the complaint.

Due to the financial crisis and irregularities in appointments, the state govt took over Annamalai University and appointed a special officer in 2014. “When the university was facing a financial crisis due to excess staff, these non-teaching staff were redesignated as teaching staff through a resolution by the university’s syndicate on Nov 1, 2016,” said M Radhakrishnan of Arappor Iyakkam. Of the 154 programmers at the university, 27 of them were employed in the districts, and 30 were employed in different universities and affiliated colleges. “Redesignating the non-teaching staff as teaching staff is against the law.

According to the act, Annamalai University should have advertised the posts, and appointments should have been done by the selection committees as prescribed by the UGC rules,” the complaint said. The complaint also asked the govt to get explanations from the former vicechancellors S Manian and V Murugesan and former special officer of Annamalai University Shiv Das Meena. “The govt should conduct a thorough audit in other universities to find out whether such irregularities were committed in other universities and ensure the quality of education,” Radhakrishnan said in the complaint. Sources in the higher education department said the department would look into the complaint

Four college students among five held for harassing, chasing women on ECR

Four college students among five held for harassing, chasing women on ECR 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  01.02.2025

Chennai : The Kanathur police on Friday arrested five people including four college students for harassing and chasing a car carrying women on East Coast Road (ECR) last week. Police also seized two cars and said one of them sported a DMK flag. Police suspect the accused may have chased the vehicle believing it brushed against their car and caused damage, but said they were still investigating the motive. 

On Wednesday, a video surfaced showing several youths in an SUV, with DMK flag fluttering on the bonnet, chasing a car carrying three women, a baby and a man. Following the incident, a woman from Kanathur filed a complaint with the jurusdic tional police on Jan 26. She said she had gone to Muttukadu with her family for a long drive and was returning when she was chased by the men at 3 am. Police registered a case of obstruction, obscene language, causing damage to public property, intimidation, and violations under the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Atrocities on Women Act. Police gathered all CCTV camera footage from the area and five special teams l were formed to track the vehicle.

On Thursday, a man named Chandru, 25, was apprehended and based on his information, Santhosh, 28, Tamilkumaran, 21, Ashwin, 21, and Visves, 21, were arrested. Police are searching for three more suspects. On Friday, Pallikaranai deputy commissioner of police Karthikeyan told reporters four suspects were college students but clarified they were not affiliated to any political party. The DMK flag, he said, was used by the suspects to avoid detection by police and toll booths. The car used in the incident is owned by Chandru, who has pending criminal cases at two police stations.

Aadhav Arjuna and Nirmal Kumar get key posts in TVK

 Aadhav Arjuna and Nirmal Kumar get key posts in TVK

The Hindu Bureau

 

CHENNAI 01.02.2025

Former VCK deputy general secretary Aadhav Arjuna and AIADMK IT Wing joint secretary C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar joined the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) in the presence of party president Vijay at its headquarters at Panaiyur near Chennai on Friday.

In a statement, Mr. Vijay said, “Mr. Arjuna, who has been appointed as the party’s election campaign management general secretary, will function along with my political strategist John Arockiyasamy in organising election campaigns.” He appointed Mr. Kumar as the deputy general secretary (IT and social media unit), P. Jegadeesh as the joint treasurer (headquarters), A. Rajmohan as the propaganda secretary, and S. Veeravigneshwaran as spokesperson.

Last December, Mr. Vijay launched a book, Ellorukkumaana Thalaivar Ambedkar (Ambedkar: A leader for all), authored by Mr. Arjuna. At the book launch, Mr. Arjuna said: “In Tamil Nadu, only monarchy exists. In 2026, the monarchy should come to an end. Chief Ministers should not be chosen on the basis of birth. We need ideologically committed leaders to rule Tamil Nadu. A common man, a Dalit, should become the Chief Minister.”

His comments on the “dynastic politics of the DMK” sparked a controversy, as the VCK is a constituent of the DMK-led alliance. VCK founder Thol. Thirumavalavan suspended him. Mr. Arjuna quit the party a few days later.

Meets Thirumavalavan

Later in the day, Mr. Arjuna met Mr. Thirumavalavan at the VCK headquarters.

Speaking to reporters along with the VCK leader, Mr. Arjuna said Mr. Thirumavalavan had given him a lot of advice, which he would follow in his new party. Mr. Thirumavalavan said Mr. Arjuna had started a new kind of politics.

Eight patients at govt. hospital develop allergic reactions, one dies

Eight patients at govt. hospital develop allergic reactions, one dies

The Hindu Bureau

Salem 01.02.2025

Eight patients admitted to the Salem Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital (GMKMCH) developed allergicreactions after they were administered salineto the patients on Thursday night.

While one patient died, hospital authorities denied that the death was caused by the saline.

Doctors injected saline into the patients at around 9 p.m. on Thursday night at the male surgery ward.

By around 11 p.m., eight patients developed allergic reactions and their relatives alerted the doctors.

The hospital’s dean, Dr. J. Devi Meenal, along with a medical team, transferred the affected patients to the Hybrid Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the super-specialty building for treatment.

The affected patients are Venugopal (40), a resident of Mangalapuram in Namakkal district, Manoj (28), a resident of Nagalur in Dharmapuri district; Manoharan (64), a resident of Erode district, Ramesh (45), a resident of Deevattipatti in Salem district, Rajaram (27), a migrant worker, Anbalagan (40), a resident of Kamalapuram in Salem district, and Murugaesan (54), a resident of Vazhapadi in Salem district.

At midnight, Venugopal died at the hospital.

However, hospital authorities denied that his death was caused by the allergic reaction, stating that he had multiple underlying health conditions.

‘Others stable’

Dr. Devi Meenal assured that the same saline solution had been used on several patients across the hospital and that all other affected individuals remained stable.

Sources at GMKMCH reported that Health Minister Ma. Subramanian inquired about the incident, and doctors were instructed to cease using that specific batch of saline. A pharmacovigilance team will investigate the saline.