City may soon see new bicycle sharing service

Karthik Madhavan

COIMBATORE, AUGUST 01, 2018 00:00 IST

The Coimbatore Corporation is planning another bicycle sharing system in a few months.S. Siva SaravananS_SIVA SARAVANAN

In a couple of months from now, the city may soon see a new bicycle sharing service. According to sources in the Coimbatore Corporation, the civic body has begun negotiations with a company that has evinced interest to launch service in the city.

The move comes close on the heels of the exit of 'ofo', a company that launched its service in and around R.S. Puram and wound up a couple of months ago after six months of trial period.

Sources say another round of negotiations will take place shortly with the company representatives, where it will be decided where they will operate, the number of bicycles they will launch and other details.

This again, will be for six months or so after which based on mutual consent, the civic body will extend permission for the company to operate in the city.

The civic body is looking at an area other than R.S. Puram for launching the service. The sources point out that the city's response to bicycle sharing by ofo was better than expected and vandalism was less than expected. But hoarding of bicycles was a major concern. The sources add that based on the experience gained from the bicycle sharing experiment, the Corporation is looking at facilitating a round-the-year bicycle service for the city by going in for a revenue sharing model. While the bicycle service provider will get to advertise in the bicycles, the company will have to share a part of the revenue gained by advertising with the Corporation.

Evening rain likely for a few days

STAFF REPORTER

CHENNAI, AUGUST 01, 2018 00:00 IST

In a welcome relief from the searing heat of the last few days, the city experienced light showers on Tuesday evening, which is likely to continue for a few more days.

Various areas in the city, including Alwarpet, Anna Salai and Chennai airport, experienced light showers. “The strengthening of westerly winds has caused the light rain. In the next few days, the forenoons will be warm and evenings will experience thunderstorms,” a Meteorological Department official said.

While Nungambakkam recorded 3.3 mm of rainfall, Meenambakkam recorded 10 mm. The dip in temperature brought much needed relief from the heat for residents.

Not just the city, parts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry too experienced showers. Cuddalore, Tiruvarur and Villupuram saw light rain. Nagapattinam and Valparai recorded 3 cm of rainfall. This is likely to persist for the next 2-3 days and the sky will be cloudy and there may be light rain or thunderstorms in some districts.

Report sought on denial of college seat to transperson

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI, AUGUST 01, 2018 00:00 IST

She had applied for nursing course

Taking suo motu cognisance of a media report of a transperson having been denied admission into a nursing programme, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has ordered issue of notice to the authorities and has sought an action taken report.

State Human Rights Commission member D. Jayachandran directed the Health Secretary and the Director of Medical Education to submit their action taken report within two weeks.

He sought to know as to why the transperson — Tamilselvi — was not provided admission to a government nursing college at the appropriate time.

The State Human Rights Commission also wondered whether denying her admission into the nursing programme would constitute a violation of human rights.

Juggling responsibility

According to the media report, Tamilselvi from Vellore secured 74% of marks in the Class XII examination and applied for a nursing course.

While she was denied admission in government colleges, a private college, which initially accepted her application, rejected it later.

When Tamilselvi approached the Directorate of Medical Education, it directed her to the Nursing Council of India, which in turn pointed to a judgment of the Supreme Court.

The judgment said that it was up to the respective State governments to take a call.

The report added that there was no response to Tamilselvi’s plea for euthanasia addressed to the Health Secretary even after three months.

High Court confirms acquittal of former Minister Selvaganapathy

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI, AUGUST 01, 2018 00:00 IST



T.M. Selvaganapathy 

CBI had challenged the trial court verdict in ‘colour TV’ case

The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal preferred by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2009 challenging the acquittal of former Local Administration Minister T.M. Selvaganapathy from a case related to the purchase of colour television sets for panchayats in the State between 1993 and 1996. Mr Selvaganapathy, now a DMK functionary, was in the AIADMK then.

Justice G. Jayachandran dismissed the appeal on the ground that prosecution’s failure to marshal adequate evidence to prove charges of corruption had forced the trial court to acquit the accused. He refrained from interfering in any way with the verdict delivered by a Special Court for CBI cases here on January 23, 2009. “After perusal of the entire records and the submissions made by the counsels, this court finds plausible the reasons given by the trial court for acquitting the accused,” the judge said. He added that the statement of the approver in the case did not inspire the confidence of the court.

Amendments for senior citizens’ council

Dennis S. Jesudasan

CHENNAI, AUGUST 01, 2018 00:00 IST

Empowers the council to review the standards and working of old age homes

Aiming at improving the functions of the State Council of Senior Citizens, the State government has made certain amendments in the Tamil Nadu Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Rules, 2009 specifying the council’s functions, duties and responsibilities.

The recent amendment empowers the council to review the status of maintenance claim cases reported by parents and senior citizens, once in six months or whenever necessary.

A G.O. issued recently also provides for ensuring the life and property of senior citizens by reviewing the progress of probe into crimes against them and prosecution of registered offences.

Reviewing the working of old age homes and ensuring their conforming to the standards laid down, monitoring the work of maintenance officer, conciliation officer and reviewing the progress in cases pending in maintenance tribunals and ensuring timely and fair disposal of applications are among the notified functions of the council.

The council will also have to ensure that volunteer committees are formed to liaise between senior citizens living alone and the police to review the departments concerned, to make recommendations to the State government about any modifications in the mode of implementation of any of the provisions of the Act.

In case of a vacancy in the council, the State-level nodal officer and convener of the council are to submit a report to the government towards filling the vacancy immediately.

City-based engineering colleges losing sheen?

R. Sujatha

CHENNAI, AUGUST 01, 2018 00:00 IST

Worrying trend: Many colleges in Chennai which have seen admission in the cut off range of 195 and 192 are still expecting students.B. Jothi Ramalingam 

Number of unfilled seats point to a new phase, say some

In the first round of Tamil Nadu Engineering Admission counselling this year, Chennai region colleges have not performed as well as Coimbatore region.

Some college officials say it is still too early to conclude but some others believe early trends point to a new phase.

Though Anna University departments and some of the colleges like PSG and SSN seem to have filled seats in the Open Category many colleges in Chennai which have seen admission in the cut off range of 195 and 192 are expecting students.

Sai Prakash Leo of Sai Ram Engineering College says there has been a steady dip in the applicants in the cut off ranges of 191.75, 187 and 164.5 since 2016. In the 191.75 cut off, 2,600 fewer students have applied; similarly in the 164.5 cut off mark, 12,195 fewer candidates are competing, he says.

Sadagopan Rajkumar, head of biomedical engineering at Rajalakshmi Engineering College, says Chennai-based colleges may have slid as more colleges in the Coimbatore region are autonomous. “Students find Anna University’s curriculum tough and have probably not chosen colleges affiliated to the University,” he surmised.

“Our competition is with SSN. Last year we won the gold and SSN silver medal in biomedical engineering. We have to wait and see the performance in the next round,” he added.

His worry is that if the cut-off marks during entry is lower, the performance would be affected. “We don’t know how the public missed the co-curriculur strength of the colleges,” he says.

Coimbatore-based colleges attribute the preference to students from further south and nearby Tiruchi region which have fewer colleges with good rating. S. Kuppuswami, principal of Kongu College says Coimbatore has the advantage of having some of the established colleges such as CIT, PSG and GCT.

As for students opting for other colleges, he says institution’s approach to discipline also matters. A college that has established a reputation for discipline on the campus may keep students away, he reasons. He notices it even in his college, he points out. Students would opt for a college that allows more freedom, he says.

It is not the tough curriculum as much as the students’ perception of a college, he says. College officials say the results of the next round of counselling would see more seats filling up and also show a clearer trend.

‘Red Fort’ at Madras Medical College to reopen as museum

Serena Josephine M.

CHENNAI, AUGUST 01, 2018 00:00 IST

The Indo-Saracenic style building housed the Department of Anatomy for several decades.B. Jothi Ramalingam
121-year-old heritage building to showcase history of institute

To the east of Madras Medical College (MMC) stands a building referred to as ‘Red Fort’. The 121-year-old heritage building, which is currently being restored to its old glory, will soon turn into a museum.

Constructed in 1897, the red brick structure has been classified as a Grade I heritage building by the Justice E. Padmanabhan Committee on heritage structures. The Indo-Saracenic style building housed the Department of Anatomy for several decades.

“The building is a structure of grandeur. The idea is to renovate and preserve the heritage structure, and create a museum for students of schools and colleges,” said R. Jayanthi, dean of MMC and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.

In 2013, the Department of Anatomy partially moved into the new MMC campus on the erstwhile central prison premises. In December 2017, the PWD began restoration work.

“The State government sanctioned Rs. 1.97 crore to restore the Anatomy Block to its old glory. Once the work is over, we intend to create a museum here. On the ground floor, we will showcase the history of MMC, while the first floor will have specimens for comparative anatomy,” said Sudha Seshayyan, Director, Anatomy, and Vice-Principal, MMC.

While specimens required for teaching anatomy to MBBS students were moved to the new campus, huge animal skeletons remained at the ‘Red Fort’.

“We are collecting materials that will help in tracing the history of MMC and have listed down nine to 10 broad areas. This includes exhibits on the life and contribution of renowned alumni. We are going to display old equipment used in the college,” she said.

Among the building’s distinctive features are sliding panels in the ceiling to adjust for lighting.A PWD official said a major portion of the restoration work is complete. “There were at least 30 to 40 cracks on the terrace, primarily due to ageing. We used a traditional mixture consisting of lime mortar, filter sand, ‘kadukkai’ and palm jaggery. This was allowed to soak for 15 days. The lime powder was brought from Virudhunagar ,” he explained.