CMC not on list of colleges for counselling 

Special Correspondent 
 
CHENNAI:, July 03, 2018 00:00 IST

College sources say no communication from government about surrender of seats

Top candidates who aspired for seats in Christian Medical College, Vellore, were disappointed as the government counselling for medical seats under general category on Monday began without including the college.

Neither Health department officials nor Minister C. Vijaya Baskar, who distributed the allotment letters to the top 10 candidates, had an explanation for the omission.

Dr. Vijaya Baskar said he was pleased that all 10 the students had chosen Madras Medical College, while at least three students openly expressed interest in joining CMC.

Later, when the candidates were asked if they would surrender the MMC seats in favour of management seats at CMC, they said they were unsure.

Since the Supreme Court struck down CMC’s plea and refused to allow the college follow its own selection process, instead of NEET, the college was included for counselling under the single-window process.

According to the Directorate of Medical Education handbook on Right to Information Act - 2005, “Minority Colleges have to share 50% of the seats with the Government for allotment of candidates under the single window system.”

But Health Department officials have not included 50% of the seats in CMC under government pool. The officials said the college would feature in the counselling for management quota seats.

CMC sources maintained they had not received any communication from the government about surrender of seats to the State pool.

The sources also pointed out that the candidates who aspired to join the college, however, ranked lower in the management quota merit list.

The Selection Committee had released a separate list of 92 candidates, which the Minister said, had been in compliance with a court directive. These candidates’ name had been withheld as their nativity claims had to be verified. Any candidate who wishes to apply for MBBS, BDS must be a native of the State.

According to officials 15-20 candidates among the 90 could get a seat in the State.

Toppers from State Board

On the chances of candidates from State Board, Dr. Vijaya Baskar said 70% of the seats would go to State Board students.

On the first day on Monday 598 candidates were invited for counselling. On Tuesday, as many as 750 candidates were called, he added.

Three of the 10 toppers are from State Board schools. R.S. Supraja, who scored 613, and M. Dhinakar are from Velammal Matriculation School. Dhinakar scored 820th rank in AIIMS but was offered JIPMER Karaikal.

Hence, he chose MMC. S. Sabarish from Tirupattur, who was ranked 13 and has a NEET score of 610, is also from the State Board.

At the end of the first day, all seats in the open category, BC, BCM and MBC were filled in MMC. In Stanley and Kilpauk, there were no vacancies in OC and BC, whereas in Madurai and Coimbatore Medical College seats in OC were filled.

Constable catches culprits who targeted older ATMs 

Special Correspondent 
 
CHENNAI, July 03, 2018 00:00 IST

The suspects deployed a novel method to withdraw money

A constable’s perseverance helped in nabbing two men who adopted a novel modus operandi to steal money from older ATMs of banks across the city in the last several months.

In older ATMs one does not have to swipe the card multiple times to do more than one transaction and the ‘time-out’ period is longer.

Police said the accused, Manoj Kumar, 26, and Munna Kumar, 26, would insert a small metal pin near number 0 on the keypad to disable it.

When a customer enters the ATM kiosk they would remain inside on the pretext of helping him.

They would figure out the PIN when the customer repeatedly tries to key it in after swiping the card.

Once the customer leaves the kiosk, the two would remove the metal to release the keypad.

If the transaction in the ATM had not been ‘timed out’ by then, they would key in the PIN and withdraw money from the customer’s account.

Special teams

The Anna Square police had been getting complaints about money being stolen from ATMs since February. Following this, special teams were formed to crack the case.

One special team member, M. Shankar, a constable from the police station special team, collected CCTV footage from different ATMs.

“After identifying the suspects, he waited outside the SBI ATM inside Ezhilagam on Kamarajar Salai. He did this for three months,” said a senior police officer.

In the last week of June, a soldier lodged a complaint with the Anna Square police stating that Rs. 20,000 was withdrawn from the Ezhilagam campus ATM.

“The constable started monitoring the campus discreetly, and on Saturday spotted the two persons whom he had identified from the CCTV footage,” added the officer.

He nabbed them red-handed when they tried to withdraw money and handed them over to the Anna Square police station.

On Sunday morning, the two were taken to the ATM and asked to demonstrate how they stole the money.

Graduates from Gaya

During interrogation it was found that both of them were graduates from Gaya in Bihar. One of the culprits said that he learnt this technique of stealing from ATMs from an online video sharing platform.

“They used to come to Chennai once in three months and stay in hotels. They used to do a recce of the city and identify kiosks with double ATMs that are old,” said a police officer.

Checking for offence

The police are now checking if they have committed similar offence elsewhere in the State.

Thomas Franco of the All India State Bank Officers Federation said such a technique could be deployed only in older ATMs.

“One has to exercise caution while exiting the ATM kiosk. Always leave when a green light blinks around the card slot,” he advised.

₹2L fee at registration makes medical candidates cautious

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:03.07.2018

Directorate General of Health Services may not return many seats to deemed university this academic year, officials say. With just one day to go for students to join colleges they were allotted in universities, many college administrators say students with average scores have made smart choices by locking their seats in deemed varsities in the first round.

Students with NEET scores as low as 200, who may not stand a chance to get MBBS seats through state counselling, have joined deemed universities. The cut off at SRM Medical College and Hospital and Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Hospital stood at 224 and 283 respectively as on Monday.

“This may not happen in the second round. Factors such as stringent rules framed by the DGHS and tough competition reversed the trend this year,” said A Sundaram, dean of SRM Medical College and Hospital.

Last year, up to 90% of seats in some universities were returned because many students blocked the seats and didn’t join later. This year, medical aspirants opting for admissions to deemed universities were asked to pay ₹2 lakh towards tuition fee while registering for the online counselling. The amount will be returned if they do not join in round 1, but students will have to forfeit the tuition fee if they don’t join colleges they are allotted after the second round of counselling.

This year, admissions to government medical schools in Tamil Nadu are expected to be tougher as cut-off is expected to be at least 50 marks more in NEET compared to last year’s. Although eighty-one students scored above 550 in NEET in both 2017 and 2018, there were 1,279 students who got above 400 marks compared to 1,466 students last year and 4,791 students above 300 marks compared to 2,569 last year.

On Monday, students who scored between 270 and 300 marks are still waiting eagerly to see if they can get a a seat through state counselling and if they fail, they have to enrol for counselling with DGHS and lock seats in deemed universities. “And everyone who enrols in round 2 will be serious because if they don’t take the seat they are allotted, they will be fined ₹2 lakh,” said Meenakshi Medical College Hospital and Research Institute dean M Dhanapal.



CONCERNED ABOUT FUTURE

Boy, 12, washed away as heavy rain lashes Salem

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Salem:03.07.2018

Normal life was affected in Salem on Monday due to torrential downpour all through Sunday night. Many areas in the city were flooded with rainwater. A rail underpass connecting Sivadhapuram to the city was submerged.

A 12-year-old boy was washed away in the flash flood on ‘Raja Vaikkal’ due to heavy downpour on Sunday midnight.

The boy has been identified as M Mohammed Shath, 12, of Housing Board area at Narayana Nagar in Salem. He was studying Class VII in a nearby school.

He went to a movie with his elder brother Sadham Hussain, 27, and his brother’s friend Abdul, 35. “We were returning home after watching the movie around 2am on a bike,” Sadham Hussain said. When they neared Kitchipalayam area, they found a torrent of water flowing in ‘Raja Vaikkal’, one of the big drainages in the city. They also found floodwater flowing above their hip. Sadham Hussain parked the bike in front of a closed shop and the trio started walking in the floodwater, when the accident happened.

Salem collector Rohini R Bhajibhakare said, “The district has received 362.8mm of rainfall starting from Sunday night until Monday morning.”

She said the city has recorded 133.8mm of rain while Yercaud received 116.8 mm.

Kitchipalayam, Narayana Nagar, Kalarampatty Pulikuthi Street, Hasthampatty, Manakkadu, Suramangalam and Five Roads are the worst affected areas in the city.

Govt bus driver’s ‘drape’ protest makes heads turn

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:03.07.2018

Passengers who boarded a government bus at the Erode stand on Sunday were taken aback when they saw the driver clad in a strange uniform.

He had draped himself in a shawllike khaki cloth when behind the wheel as a sign of protest against the non-payment of stitching charges by the government for the uniform.

Two sets of uniform material are given to all bus conductors and drivers working in the eight different state transport corporations. A stitching charge of ₹280-₹320 per uniform is given to all the employees as soon as they receive the clothes in the month of March.

“I have not been paid the stitching charges for nearly three years in a row. I don’t have enough money to pay the tailor and both the uniforms which I managed to stitch using money from my own pocket have been worn out,” said the driver in a video shared widely on several social media platforms.

The driver claimed that besides this the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) Coimbatore Ltd had not provided new footwear for more than 12 years which goes against government policies.

In the video, he also said that he was being transferred after he questioned the alleged misuse of funds allocated under these heads.

TNSTC authorities refused to comment when TOI contacted them.

Many other corporations including the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) in Chennai had defaulted on payments in connection with this and other benefits were also not released properly.

This is the second video concerning government bus drivers that has gone viral in two days.

On Sunday, a video clip showed a government driver reading a newspaper as he was piloting the bus which plying from Thiruvanmiyur and Avadi in Chennai’s suburbs went viral on social media.

TN mulls operation of small buses without conductors
 
Drivers Can’t Handle Extra Responsibility, Say Unions

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:03.07.2018

After long routes, Tamil Nadu is exploring the possibility of operating small buses in the city without conductors to reduce losses.

“As part of the ongoing efforts to reduce expenses, we are currently looking at two options. One is to operate buses without conductors along routes in which there are not many stops and the other is to operate small buses without conductors,” a senior official from the state transport department told TOI.

In 2013, 200 small buses were launched and became an instant hit as they conveniently moved in lanes and bylanes despite traffic jams. However, the frequency of these buses was reduced in routes along Kolathur, Nanganallur and Ayanavaram recently.

Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) authorities attributed this drop to increase in operational and maintenance cost and drop in revenue.

“Even if these buses are operated on full capacity, a bus can earn only up to ₹4,000- ₹5,000 per day. But we have to spend almost twice the amount. So at the end of the day, we face a loss of at least ₹10 per km,” said a MTC official. The government cutting diesel subsidy despite the hike in fuel price adds to the increasing losses.

“We need to deploy at least four staff (two drivers and two conductors) to run the bus for two full shifts every day. This would cost at least ₹4,000. With no conductors, this expense would be cut by half,” the official added.

The transport department official added that the idea was tougher to pull off on small buses than on buses plying long routes. The department is considering ticket vending machine models used by other countries, the official added.

Transport unions have opposed this move stating that it is practically impossible for drivers to take up the role of conductors too within city limits as passengers keep getting in and out at every bus stop.

K Arumugam Nainar from CITU-affiliated state transport union said that passenger vehicles can’t be operated without conductors as per the Motor Vehicle Act, 1989.

“The conductors’ role doesn’t end with issuing tickets. They guide passengers, ensure that no one is travelling on footboard and assist drivers during long trips,” Nainar said.

100 CMC med seats under mgmt quota

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:03.07.2018

Counselling for admission to medical and dental colleges began on Monday with no seats from Vellore-based Christian Medical College (CMC) on display for allotment through government quota, althougheightother self-financing colleges had put 862 seats on display.

Several top ranked students who came into the counselling hall wanting to opt for the century-old college were told that there will be no seats in state quota for CMC. “Admission to all 100 seats in CMC will be done through management quota as per court orders,” selection committee secretary G Selvarajan said.

Parents of several students ranked in the top 250 told TOI that they would have opted for CMC as the college charged ₹3000 per year against the₹13,500 in government colleges, had a better brand name, campus and faculty.

Officials from CMC said 84 seats were reserved for students from churches that have a hospital in rural areas networking with CMC, three seats for SC/ ST students and one seat for MCI. The college had already triggered a debate during postgraduate admissions. The seats allotted were based on conditions that priority must be given to Christians from “minority network” and “minority service”.

The state, CMC said, had “obliged” and allotted nearly 50% of the 195 PG seats, including in-demand clinical degree courses, exclusively for Christians. This year, of the 195 PG seats, 81 were allotted to Christian students from the minority network colleges such as Christian Medical College in Ludhiana or St Johns Medical College in Bengaluru and 25 seats went to Christian students who are working in these institutions.