Beela Rajesh is new Health Secy, Prakash to head Chennai Corpn.

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI, FEBRUARY 17, 2019 00:00 IST



J. Radhakrishnan

State government carries out reshuffle covering a wide range of posts, from Additional Secretaries to District Collectors

As part of a major reshuffle of IAS officers, the State government on Saturday transferred Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan as Transport Secretary.

Mr. Radhakrishnan has been Health Secretary for the past seven years, and was in the news recently after some adverse comments by the Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry, looking into the death of Jayalalithaa. Beela Rajesh, who is currently Commissioner, Indian Medicine and Homeopathy, has been posted as Health Secretary.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, Chennai and Coimbatore Corporation Commissioners D. Karthikeyan and Vijayakarthikeyan, who have been holding the posts for over three years, have been shifted out. While Mr. Karthikeyan switches places with G. Prakash, who is currently Commissioner, Municipal Administration, Mr. Vijayakarthikeyan has been posted as Director, T.N. Institute of Urban Studies in Coimbatore.

T.N. Hariharan, Coimbatore Collector, has been posted as Special Secretary, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department.

Tiruchirappalli Collector K. Rajamani will replace him as Coimbatore Collector.

Besides posting Beela Rajesh as the Health Secretary in place of J. Radhakrishnan, the Tamil Nadu government on Saturday transferred several bureaucrats from various departments across the State.

J. Kumaragurubaran, Inspector General of Registration, has been transferred and posted as Director of Disaster Management. Ka. Balachandran, Principal Secretary to Government, Commercial Taxes and Registration Department, will hold full additional charge of the post of Inspector General of Registration until further orders.

P. Uma Maheswari, Project Director of the Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project, Chennai, has been transferred and posted as Collector of Pudukkottai district.

S. Nagarajan, Additional Secretary to Government, Health and Family Welfare Department, will hold full additional charge of this post.

D. Karthikeyan, Commissioner, Greater Chennai Corporation, has been transferred and posted as Commissioner, Municipal Administration. G. Prakash, who was the Commissioner, Municipal Administration, is now the Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation.

Tiruchi Collector K. Rajamani has been transferred and posted as Coimbatore Collector. Up until now the Coimbatore Collector, T.N. Hariharan has been posted as Special Secretary to Government, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department in the cadre post.

S. Sivarasu, Joint Commissioner (Enforcement), Commercial Taxes, Coimbatore, has been posted as Tiruchi Collector.

T. Anand, Joint Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board, has been posted as Tiruvarur Collector.

Current Tiruvarur Collector L. Nirmalraj will take charge as Joint Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board.

K. Vijayakarthikeyan, Commissioner, Coimbatore Corporation, has been transferred and posted as Director, Tamil Nadu Institute of Urban Studies, Coimbatore.

S. Ganesh, who was the Collector of Pudukkottai district, has been posted as Director, Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy.

Pollachi Sub-Collector B. Gayathri Krishnan has been transferred and posted as Joint Commissioner (Enforcement), Commercial Taxes, Coimbatore.

S. Jayandhi, Chairperson, Teachers Recruitment Board, will take charge as Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Text Book Corporation. Sravan Kumar Jatavath, Sub-Collector, Tirupur, is now the Commissioner for Coimbatore Corporation.

S. Aneesh Sekhar, Commissioner of the Corporation of Madurai, is now the Executive Director of the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO). S. Visakan, who is currently the Executive Director, TIDCO, will take charge as Commissioner of Madurai Corporation.

Corpn. Commissioners

Alby John Varghese, Commissioner, Corporation of Thoothukudi, has been appointed as Regional Deputy Commissioner (South), Greater Chennai Corporation, while Gopala Sundara Raj, who held this portfolio, has been transferred to the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board as its Joint Managing Director and Project Director for the World Bank and Asian Development Bank Projects. V.P. Jeyaseelan, Deputy Secretary to Government, Housing and Urban Development Department, has been made the Commissioner of the Corporation of Thoothukudi.

Subodh Kumar, Regional Joint Commissioner (Central), Greater Chennai Corporation, has been made the Joint Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco).

This portfolio was held by P.N. Sridhar, who has now been made Regional Joint Commissioner (Central) of Greater Chennai Corporation.

Family WhatsApp group hyperactive? Here’s how to cope

Times of India 17.02.2019

Research shows people do 40% less work when they are constantly checking social media notifications on their smartphone. They are also more anxious, as they worry about missing messages.

While you might not want to turn off notifications for work groups, the family is a different matter. Yet, people feel obliged to prioritise messages from relatives. “The distraction is now coupled with a feeling of obligation. There’s pressure to get back to a family member and this can weigh on you while you’re trying to accomplish other tasks,” says an article in Aeon.

While you endure the barrage of texts for the sake of maintaining relationships, you actually start resenting the people who don’t seem to rest their typing fingers.

If you find yourself in this situation, it is probably time to set social media boundaries, says the article. You don’t have to lash out or be rude, but you have a right to assert yourself. Without sounding hostile, tell them gently to stop texting you. “That means being straightforward and firm. ‘Please text me only for true emergencies’”

If that sounds too radical, at least explain to them that you cannot keep up with the pressure, and would be able to respond maybe once a day, or twice a week, or whatever other frequency suits you.

For more: Aeon

SET A BOUNDARY: The pressure to respond to family members can stress you. Tell them not to expect an immediate response

HOT TOPIC

Good things can happen to your body when you stop eating sugar

Times of India 17.02.2019
Saying no to a slice of cake or ice cream can be difficult even for the most disciplined eater. Despite its multiple negative effects on health — headaches, energy crashes and even hormonal imbalances — giving up processed or table sugar is tough.

The scientific reason behind this is that sugar activates opioid receptors in our brain which, in turn, trigger off our brain’s reward system. In simple words, eating sugar makes us feel happy and our brain gets used to that feeling. We start craving something sweet when we feel low.

So, what happens to our body when we stop eating sugar? “Studies have shown that [when someone stops eating sugar] there are similar effects as when people get off drugs,” says certified nutritional health counselor Sara Siskind. “You may experience exhaustion, headaches, brain fog and irritability. Some people even have gastrointestinal distress,” Siskind adds. Some may even experience a feeling of sadness, resulting from our body’s efforts to adjust to the now low levels of glucose. “After a week or so, your energy will begin to improve, and you will feel more alive and less irritable,” says Robert Glatter, M.D., an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital, Northwell Health in New York.

Reducing or removing sugar from your diet will have a positive effect on your sleep. This is because foods containing high amounts of refined sugars reduce the degree of slow wave sleep (SWS), the restorative sleep that consolidates memories and information learned throughout the day, and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the dream phase.

You may also end up losing weight. While sugar on its own doesn’t make you gain weight, consuming it in excess can contribute to weight gain. “When you reduce or eliminate sugar, storage of fat will decline slowly, and you will lose some weight. However, this takes time, with the effect typically beginning at one to two weeks,” says Glatter adding that eating more protein and following a regular exercise routine, is key to weight loss.

— BUSINESS INSIDER

Vande Bharat snag delays return trip

Dipak Dash & Arvind Chauhan@timesgroup.com

New Delhi/Agra:17.02.2019

A day after its flag-off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Vande Bharat Express developed a technical snag on Saturday morning on its return journey from Varanasi to the national capital.

Initially, a railway spokesperson said the snag might have been caused by the “train running over cattle” on the tracks. However, by evening, the railways said, “There was an issue of communication between the last basic unit of four coaches and the rest of the train probably due to some external hit. Thereafter, safety features in the train applied brakes. The train was checked for faults and moved to Delhi.” Railways said the snag had been fixed and the train is fit for its commercial run starting Sunday.

However, sources said the train faced a “brake-binding” snag around 5.30am near Tundla junction due to some failure in the system resulting in skidding of the wheels of the last coaches, which impacted the train’s entire system. Power went out in all the coaches and even the air-conditioning stopped. Technical personnel on board immediately started working to fix the problem.

An official release said all systems of the train have also been thoroughly examined and “the train will be able to run as per schedule on February 17”. The first commercial run has been fully booked.

Currently, there’s only one train — it will go to Varanasi in the morning and return to Delhi the same day — and as such if it develops a snag the entire schedule may get affected.

For full report, www.toi.in

GLITCH: Engineers inspecting Vande Bharat Express that broke down on Saturday morning

The Gandhigram Rural Institute ..Advertisement TOI

Docs backing quacks to face action
Many Paid ₹25k To Doctors For ‘Support’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:

Complaints about nearly a dozen doctors, who lent their name boards, prescription and offices to quacks, have reached the Tamil Nadu State Medical Council and in most cases, the complaints are raised by state public health officials — including the joint director of medical services.

On Monday, the general council of the statutory body will meet to decide on the recommendations of the disciplinary committee against two such cases. Tenkasi joint director Dr P K Elangovan had told the council that they caught Anburaj prescribing medicines to patients on Dr S Sivakumar’s prescription letterhead. During the inquiry, Dr Sivakumar admitted to the council that he worked in a clinic belonging to Anburaj on Sundays, but told them that he was not aware of his letterhead being misused.

Another complaint filed by Dr Elangovan claimed that radiologist Dr Kulandaivelu, working with Subham Scan Centre, Tenkasi, allowed homoeopathy doctor Dhavamani to take ultrasound scans in his absence — a violation of the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (regulation and prevention of misuse) Act, 1994. Dr Elangovan alleged that Dhavamani signed the scan reports, although Dr Kulandaivelu sent monthly reports to the state health department for Dr Dhavamani, too.

However, Dr Kulandaivelu denied the allegation saying Dr Dhavamani was a sonologist trained in ultrasound scan at Bharathidasan University. “As per the Act, a doctor can use the machine registered in his/her own name. It wasn’t registered in Dr Dhavamani’s name because her qualification is not recognized by the Medical Council of India (MCI). She can’t perform scans on her own,” said medical council president Dr K Senthil.

In another case, Theni-based Vanagamudi running Vivekananda Hospital in Kadamalaikundu was caught redhanded by the district administration. “Vanagamudi was caught for the third time and we found at least seven doctors lending their names and boards to his hospital. We have issued them showcause notices,” said a senior member at the council.

A team led by deputy superintendent Dr Thomas Prabhakaran has found that quacks pay doctors at least ₹25,000 a month. A Supreme Court ruling in 1996 defines anyone practising modern medicine without training (in the same discipline), even if they are trained in alternative systems of medicine such as siddha and ayurveda, as a quack. The Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, stipulates only those registered with the MCI can practice medicine.

A BREACH: Doctors were found to have lent their boards, names and letter heads to quacks

Air fares soar as IndiGo cancels flights

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:17/02/2019

Air fares to most domestic destinations from Chennai remain high as Indi-Go is cancelling flights daily. Though the number of flights cancelled is fewer in Chennai, some of the cancelled schedules include red eye flights and peak hour services to small towns. The airline is expected to cancel flights daily at least till the end of next month.

Travel and tour operators say that air fares have increased by as much as 30% on most of the routes, especially on morning peak hour flights to small towns. The airline had cancelled its flights from Chennai to Thiruvananthapuram and Coimbatore last week.

Seats for Chennai-Mumbai flights for the coming week are now selling at ₹7,900 while the tickets were originally priced between ₹4,200 and ₹5,900. The last-minute fare on the Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram route was between ₹5,300 and ₹6,500.

The fares have increased because the airline has the most number of slots during peak hours and also connecting small towns, as part of its push to have more flights on regional routes.

Aloke Bajpai, CEO and cofounder of Ixigo, said several factors like runway repairs at Mumbai airport and cancellation of flights by Indigo airlines had a ripple impact on the last-minute airfares. “Flight fares for major domestic sectors have seen an average increase of 20%-25%. Our ‘fare intelligence’ feature shows that prices for routes like Kolkat-Bangalore, Kolkata-Chennai and Hyderabad-Kolkata are likely to increase further by 12%-15% over the next 15 days. On the other hand, fares for routes like Kolkata-Delhi and Ahmedabad-Bangalore are likely to fall by the same rate if booked after 10 days.”

Neelu Singh, CEO and MD of Ezeego1, said that the he huge cancellation had taken people by surprise as it had affected their holiday plans. “Now is the time people book for their summer vacations and they are unsure whether airlines will honour their flight schedules.”

Indigo is offering free cancellation of tickets and reallocation of flights when a flight is cancelled. However, the airline is not able to allot seats on flights.

The airline recently reallotted seats for passengers of a red-eye flight to Thiruvananthapuram on a flight that was to depart at 11am the next day. Many refused it because they had to be in the city earlier, said an airport official.

According to John Nair, head, business travel, Cox & Kings, “In the last week, there have been cancellations across airlines and this has led to over 30% increase in airfares. Airlines, which have cancelled flights are accommodating their customers on their flights itself but new bookings are being sold at a huge premium.”

PRICES TAKE FLIGHT:Indigo is offering free cancellation of tickets and reallocation of flights when a flight is cancelled. However, it is not able to allot seats on flights, making passengers uncomfortable