NUT CASE

Emirates crew told PIO siblings with nut allergies to sit in loo

London: 02.05.2018 TOI

Two Indian-origin siblings, with a severe nut allergy, were allegedly told by Emirates cabin crew to ‘sit in the loo’ while cashews were being served on the flight, media reports said.

Shannen Sahota, 24, and Sundeep Sahota, 33, say they warned the airline three times about their allergies and were shocked when the fried nuts were served 40 minutes into the flight, leaving them “panic stricken”, Daily Express reported.

They claim that one staff member told them that they might feel more comfortable if they moved into a toilet with cushions and pillows, the report added.

They refused and spent the next seven hours sitting at the back of the plane with blankets covering their heads and nostrils. “We felt so degraded and embarrassed,” said Shannen, an analyst from Wolverhampton.

The airline, however, claims the booking records do not reflect any mention of an allergy. “We are sorry to hear about Ms Sahota’s complaint. Emirates tries to cater to all passengers specific needs by offering a number of special meals that cover as many medical, dietary and religious requirements as possible. However, Emirates cannot guarantee completely nutfree flights,” the airline said in a statement. PTI

A housewife too is busy, can’t deny her airfare: HC

Vasantha.Kumar@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru: 02.05.2018
Observing that husbands who think homemakers have a lot of free time don’t quite understand their work, the Karnataka high court rejected a Bengaluru man’s petition challenging a family court order directing him to pay his estranged wife’s travel expenses. The court said a “housewife is as busy as a professional”.

Gaurav Raj Jain had said she was a homemaker and had free time to travel by train instead of taking a flight to attend hearings of their divorce case at a Bengaluru family court. The high court ordered him to bear the flight expenses.

Stating that his contention is “misplaced and even shows a lack of gender justice”, the high court said a husband cannot decide the mode of transportation his wife takes to attend hearings. “If the wife decided to travel by air and not by train, the husband cannot escape his liability to pay the requisite expenses,” Justice Raghvendra S Chauhan observed.

Gaurav had challenged a February 1, 2018 order of a family court directing him to pay ₹32,114 as travelling expenses to his wife Shweta Jain, who lives in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, towards travel expenses for attending the hearing on November 3, 2017 and February 1, 2018.

Gaurav’s counsel claimed since Shweta was a housemaker, she was free to travel by train but travelled by air and this doesn’t fit into “requisite expenditure” as mentioned by the Supreme Court.

The court said: “A large number of people continue to carry a misnomer that a housewife is ‘free’. Needless to say, a housewife is as busy as a professional person. After all, she is responsible for looking after members of family and for running the house. To look after the members of family and to run the house is not an easy task,” Justice Chauhan observed in his order passed on April 26.

Gaurav and Shweta married in Meerut on June 30, 2009. In March 2016, Shweta filed a complaint against her husband and in-laws and later a petition seeking divorce. In the meantime, Gaurav filed a divorce petition under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriages Act against Shweta on grounds of cruelty and desertion.

Since Gaurav filed the divorce petition in Bengaluru and she lived in Muzaffarnagar, Shweta moved the Supreme Court with a transfer application. On July 10, 2017, the apex court dismissed her application but observed that she can claim “requisite expenditure” when she has to travel to Bengaluru for hearings.

Shweta filed an application before the family court and placed documents claiming ₹32,114 as travel expenses for attending the court on two days (in November 2017 and February 2018). The family court allowed her application and directed Gaurav to pay the travel expenses. The high court also noted that the apex court “has not limited the requisite expenditure merely to train travel.” 

You could soon be online while flying, but at a cost
Connectivity Will Be Allowed After Plane Is Above 3,000 Metres

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: 02.05.2018

In just a few months, you can browse the internet – or make calls – while flying in Indian skies. The government on Tuesday gave a goahead to the much-awaited proposal that will allow inflight connectivity and enable fliers to use their mobile phones while in the air.

Connectivity, however, will not come in soon, but over the next few months as airline companies, telecom operators and other intermediaries now have to come together to work out solutions and customer package.

Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said that the matter has been cleared by the inter-ministerial telecom commission. Earlier, regulator Trai had also given a go-ahead to the proposal.

In-flight connectivity will be allowed only after the aircraft soars above 3,000 metres. Industry officials, however, said that the tariffs may not be as cheap as they are on the ground. “A lot of connectivity will be provided through satellite links, and even airline companies need to make changes to their aircraft. These investments will mean that tariffs will be high when you compare to the dirt-cheap plans that customers are used to,” an official with one of the country’s leading telecom companies said, though requesting anonymity.

Currently, a number of international carriers offer inflight connectivity, but only after they move out of the Indian skies. These include airlines such as Etihad, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, and Lufthansa.

“With the government now opening the Indian skies to connectivity, these airlines may soon start offering them on our skies as well,” an industry official said.

Aviation Secretary R N Choubey welcomed the move. “A new category of inflight connectivity service provider has been created. The norms for that will be set by the telecom and aviation ministries very soon. By the end of May, applications will be invited by telecom authorities for this category.”

The matter of connectivity in the air, however, is surely a lucrative affair not only for the airlines but also for telecom companies. Indians are one of the biggest consumer of data globally and are also very strong in terms of voice calling.

Top mobile company Bharti Airtel has already been preparing for this move, and has signed up pacts to work out solutions for airline companies. In February this year, the company joined the ‘Seamless Alliance’ — which enables mobile operators to extend their services into airline cabins through satellite technology. Other members of this alliance include OneWeb, Airbus, Delta and Sprint.

Sundararajan said that the Telecom Commission has largely agreed to Trai’s recommendations on in-flight connectivity, with an exception to an aspect pertaining to foreign satellites and gateways.

“Trai had said that foreign satellites and foreign gateways should also be permitted... but there had been an earlier Committee of Secretaries meeting which decided that it should be an Indian satellite or Department of Space approved satellite and the gateway should be in India. So, the proposal is cleared subject to this... all the other recommendations of Trai have been accepted,” Sundararajan, who also chairs the Telecom Commission, said.

Civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu welcomed the Telecom Commission’s decision. “Exciting times ahead in Indian skies as Telecom Commission approved data and voice services in flights over Indian airspace.” 

Villagers protest against Salem-Chennai road project

Shanmughasundaram.J@timesgroup.com

Tiruvannamalai: 02.05.2018

Villagers in Tiruvannamalai district are up in arms against the ₹1,100 crore greenfield access control road project between Salem and Chennai. To register their protest, they have passed a resolution in a special grama sabha meeting against the project.

A day after staging protest and submitting a petition to collector K S Kandasamy, the members of Pasumai Vazhi Salai Ethiruppu Kuzhu said that the residents of nearly 40 villagers have decided to press the village administration to pass a resolution against the eightlane road, which would be executed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). “We have asked the villagers to pass a resolution in the grama sabha meetings held today. It was done in several villagers,” said CPM worker Abhiraman, who is one of the members of the forum formed to protest against the project.

“We have communicated to the government about the public agitation against the project. But the project is in a primitive stage and there will be a public hearing before it is taken up. We will talk to the villagers and also discuss with the officials involved in the project and take further steps,” collector Kandasamy told TOI.

The 277-km-long highway between Salem and Chennai cuts through reserve forest areas and several villages in Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Tiruvannamalai and Kancheepuram districts.

“It is insensible to design a project that devours several hectares of forest land. The road would range from 400 feet to 1,000 feet. It will destroy a vast track of green cover in the reserve forest area and have an adverse impact on the environment,” said an official in the forest department and added that the department has yet to receive any official communication from the NHAI.

The official, however, said that they have to follow the standard procedure once the executing agency of the project uploaded the data in the website of the ministry of environment, forest and climate change for clearance. “We will conduct a study and look into to various aspects as per Forest Conservation Act to issue the clearance,” said an official.

Girls disappear, show up as brides
Run Away To Avoid Being Married To Elderly Grooms

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:
02.05.2018

Withchild marriages still prevalent in parts of Tiruvallur district where girls are forced to marry much older men against their will, many of them arechoosing to elope with a partner of their choice. At least 40 teenaged girls have gone missing from their houses this year alone in the district, say police.

Senior counsel and social activist V Kannadasan said child marriages are common on the outskirts of Tiruvallur district along the border with Andhra Pradesh. Girls are usually asked to enter wedlock with an older man or become the second wife of a relative to avoid cutting them off from the family, said S Jebaraj, who runs an NGO and works closely for these young school dropouts.

Kannadasan said he has visited several schools in Tiruvallur and north Chennai where many girls get married by the age of 16, during their schooling.

“The girls don’t get any support from their families to complete their education. Many families are coolies and decide to marry off the girls when they are still studying, just to avoid feeding one more member in the family,” said Kannadasan.

These girls stop going to school after marriage asthey are forced to take care of their newly married husband and his family too. “Many girls choose a partner of their own age from the neighbourhood and elope with them to avoid being forced into wedlock by their family members,” he added.

The girls’ families sometimes choose to swallow their pride and give their blessings to the union.

“In several cases, the family members have agreed to the marriage of the young couple if they are from the same community,” said Kannadasan.

The lawyer said that such incidents have also been witnessed in parts of north Chennai like Vyasarpadi, Thiruvottiyur and Ernavur. However, child marriages have been curtailed in these neighbourhoods after repeated counselling for young girls at government-run schools here, he added.

Spl team to find missing Tiruvallur girls

Chennai: Tiruvallur district superintendent of police Sibi Chakaravarthy has assigned a deputy superintendent of police to trace girls who have gone missing in the district. A phone number has been issued for the public to give any information relating to the girls. The district police have registered at least 40 missing girl cases from January 1to April 30, a press release said. Of these 40 cases, the police have rescued about 34 girls and are yet to trace six others. The district police have assigned the district crime record bureau officer in the rank of deputy superintendent of police to monitor such cases. Apart from this special team, there exists another police team headed by a sub-inspector which will work closely with the state crime record bureau to trace the children under ‘Operation Smile’. The public can either give information or enquire of their missing kin by calling 044-27663555. TNN

Results of SRMJEEE out, counselling from May 7

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 02.05.2018

The resultsof the SRMJoint Engineering Entrance Examination (SRMJEEE) for admission to B.Tech degree programmes, that was held from April 16 to 30 across the country, were declared on Tuesday. Counselling for students will begin from May 7 and admissions will be done based on the ranks in entrance. Students from 7 different states featured in the top 10 of all India ranks and scholarships worth ₹30 crore will be given to deserving students, said a statement.

Counseling for admission toB.Tech has been scheduled for SRM University-Haryana, SRMUniversity-AP,Amaravati from May 7-10 at their respective campuses. SRM Institute of Science and Technology has scheduled counseling from 11May to 20 May, at its NCR campus and Kattankulathur campus. Candidates can download their rank card, counseling call letter by logging in to their dashboard on www.srmuniv.ac.in. Founder’s Scholarships will be awarded based on the rank obtained in SRMJEEE2018on thefirstdayof counseling. Top 100 ranks in SRMJEEE will receive100%waiver of tuition andhostel fees.

Atotalof 1.72lakhcandidates registered across the country of which 76,000 are being called for counseling. The test was conducted across 123 centers in India and in 5 centers across Middle East for NRI Candidates. The top states from where students applied are UP, Maharashtra, Delhi, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Haryana and Tamil Nadu.

Air Mauritius flight delayed by 13 hours, passengers hit

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 02.05.2018
More than 200 passengers who booked an Air Mauritius (MK-747) flight to Port Louis were forced to negotiate with their tour operators and hotels in Mauritius after their flight got delayed by 13 hours on Tuesday. The flight left at 8.30pm which was scheduledtodepart at7.45am.

As hotels do not accept flight delays as an excuse for late check ins, international flights delays often take a toll on the tourists and derail their travelbudget Karthik Lakshmanan, a passenger, said, “I have informed the hotel in Mauritius thatIwillbe reaching late.But they seemed irritated that they have to send a cab to the airport to pick me up at around 2am. I have not discussed about thes additional payment yet. But I have lost a day of the four days holiday that was planned.”

The delay was conveyed to them 15minutes before departure,thusthe passengers picked up an argument with airline ground staff. People who were waiting for the boarding came to know about the delay when the reviseddeparturetimeflashedon information board. Karthik Lakshmanan said “The airlinestaff gavedifferent reasons for the delay. Firstthey said pilotdid not report for duty and then they said that the pilot had some issuewithhislicence.”

After three hours airline staff managed to solve the issue.Basheer Ahmedof Metro Travelssaidthatdelaysof more than two hours would have an impact on the travel schedule of passengers. “If the delay is more, people may have to reschedule their hotel bookings, tour bookings. Passengers will lose out on their travel plans. They may not be able to stay an extra day because flights will be full and ticketswillbeexpensive.” 


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