Report calls for action against medical officer on harassment charges

Serena Josephine M.

CHENNAI, APRIL 04, 2019 00:00 IST

An Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) that inquired into complaints of sexual harassment has submitted a report to the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, seeking to initiate action against a block medical officer in Tiruvarur district. The report was based on complaints from urban health nurses, village health nurses (VHNs) and a patient.

The directorate is examining the report and will be taking appropriate disciplinary action against the block medical officer. The doctor was absconding, health department officials said. In March, the Deputy Director of Health Services (DDHS), Tiruvarur, received at least eight complaints from urban health nurses, VHNs and a patient (a pregnant woman who had come for antenatal check-up) against C. Manavazhagan, block medical officer attached to the Urban Primary Health Centre in Mannargudi. The complaints ranged from attempts to sexually harass women, use of abusive language and sending inappropriate messages at night.

Vishaka guidelines

Later, the DDHS referred the complaints to the ICC as per the Vishaka guidelines. Chaired by Ranimuthulakshmi, a block medical officer, the committee had seven members including the district social welfare officer.

The complainants appeared and gave their statements, while six witnesses were also questioned. The committee summoned the doctor and he denied all accusations. Based on the inquiry, the committee concluded that all charges were true.

தேர்தல் பயிற்சிக்கு வராத அரசு ஊழியர்களை பணியிடை நீக்கம் செய்ய பரிந்துரை...!!
தேர்தல் பயிற்சிக்கு வராத 8 அரசு ஊழியர்களை பணியிடை நீக்கம் செய்ய தேர்தல் ஆணையம் பரிந்துரை செய்தது.

இதுகுறித்து மாவட்டத் தேர்தல் அதிகாரி தி.அருண் வெள்ளிக்கிழமை வெளியிட்ட செய்திக் குறிப்பு

புதுவை மக்களவைத் தொகுதி, தட்டாஞ்சாவடி சட்டப்பேரவை தொகுதி இடைத் தேர்தல் ஆகியவற்றுக்கு ஏப். 18-ஆம் தேதி வாக்குப்பதிவு நடைபெறுகிறது. அதற்கான ஆயத்தப் பணிகள் தீவிரமாக நடைபெற்று வருகின்றன.

இதற்கான பணிகளில் ஈடுபட உள்ள அரசு ஊழியர்களுக்கு முதல் கட்டப் பயிற்சி அளிக்கப்பட்டது. தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்ட ஊழியர்களுக்கு கடந்த 23-ஆம் தேதி முதல் 26-ஆம் தேதி வரை 4 நாள்கள் பயிற்சி அளிக்கப்பட்டது.

இந்த நிலையில், தகுந்த காரணமில்லாமல் முதல் கட்டப் பயிற்சி வகுப்பில் பங்கு பெறாத 92 அலுவலர்களிடம் விளக்கம் கேட்டு நோட்டீஸ் அனுப்பப்பட்டது. அதன்படி, 84 அலுவலர்களிடம் இருந்து விளக்கம் பெறப்பட்டது.

நோட்டீஸ் பெற்றும் எந்த விளக்கமும் அளிக்காத 8 அலுவலர்களை பணியிடை நீக்கம் செய்யவும், அந்த அலுவலர்கள் மீது துறை ரீதியிலான நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கவும் அந்தந்தத் துறைத் தலைவர்களுக்கு பரிந்துரைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளதாக அந்தச் செய்திக் குறிப்பில் கூறப்பட்டுள்ளது.

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Now, register online for Chittirai fest

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Madurai:04.04.2019
Paid darshan for which devotees can register online is among some measures being planned by the administration for the Chittirai festival beginning here on April

8. Even as the Madurai district administration is gearing for the LS polls, arrangements are under way at the Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple here for the Chittirai festival which will begin with flag hoisting, after which lakhs of devotees areexpectedto visitthetemple throughout the10-day event.

This year, after the flag hoisting, the coronation of Goddess Meenakshi, “Pattabishekam”, will be held on April 15, followed by “Digvijayam” on April 16 and the culminating event, the celestial wedding, on April17.

Elaborate arrangements are being made for the celestial wedding, which will take place in a stage to be erected at the junction of the north and west Aadi streets.

The entire area would be covered with special roofing and the marriage venue would be fitted with high capacity, 100-tonne air conditioners. The temple administration has decided to provide about 3,200 to 3,500 free passes to devotees on a first come, first served basis.

Paid darshan for the celestial wedding would be through ₹200 and₹500 tickets, for which devotees can register online on the website www.maduraimeenakshi.org. About 16,000 devotees would be accommodated for the event in the temple this year, according to temple sources. LCD monitors would be placed inside the temple at important places to help more people witness the ceremonies. Meanwhile, as the election dates are clashing with the car festival on April 18, arrangements are being made to ensure that parking facilities do not hinder the polling process or the festival. Polling booths near the festival area would have barricading to help the voters identify them.


Arrangements under way at the Meenakshi Amman temple

DOTE to conduct online engg counselling this year

Univ Asked To Provide Tech Help

A Ragu Raman TNN

Chennai:04.04.2019

The Directorate of Technical Education (DOTE) will conduct the annual engineering counselling following the resignation of M K Surappa, vice-chancellor of Anna University from Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) committee. Anna University has been conducting counselling for the last 22 years.

The vice-chancellor resigned as chairman of the TNEA following the differences over reconstitution of TNEA committee in which DOTE commissioner R Vivekanandan was made cochairman of the committee.

“Since the chairman of the committee has resigned, the co-chairman will conduct the counselling this year. We have also asked the university to provide technical help for conducting the online counselling,” Mangat Ram Sharma, higher education secretary, told TOI.

Sources said after the vice-chancellor’s resignation, there were many letters exchanged between Anna University and higher education department with regard to the counselling.

However, there are still doubts whether the university professors would work under the DOTE commissioner.

“The university professors who were part of TNEA’s co-ordination committee had skipped the recent meeting for counselling. Now, the question remains whether the university will take part in the counselling process,” a professor said.

When enquired, the officials from Anna University said that involving two institutions in the counselling process will lead to confusion. “Either it has to be done by Anna University or without. If Anna University has to be involved then the vicechancellor has to be the head of the committee,” they said.

Earlier, the university has informed the higher education department that it was willing to conduct online engineering counselling this year as per the old GO.

Anna University had come in for great appreciation from students, parents and academicians for the efficient manner in which engineering admissions was being conducted through a single window counselling.

However, the issue erupted when TNEA committee was reconstituted and additional members were added.

“The committee was constituted in November 2017 for a period of three years. There is no need to reconstitute the present committee after completing just one year,” an official said.

Anna University has been conducting counselling for the last 22 years

School that detained LKG student refunds fees after govt steps in

Chennai:04.04.2019

The state school education department has sought an explanation from the private CBSE school in Adyar which detained an LKG student.

After TOI reported on the school forcing the parents to pay the fees for LKG again, the school management has returned fee of Rs 53,200.

“This is violation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. No school is allowed to detain students up to Class VIII,” said a senior official from the education department, adding that the department has sought an explanation from the school.

The four-year-old student from Thiruvanmiyur, studying ini Bharat Senior Secondary School, was made to repeat her course. The school withheld her annual exam results as she was ‘unable to read alphabets or write down numbers 1 to 10’, according to the school.

The girl’s parents said they were compelled to either get a transfer certificate for their daughter or make her study in the same class again ‘so that she can improve’.

The parents demanded return of Rs 15,000 fees paid by them as they were no longer interested in continuing their association with the school.

The school in response had said the decision was taken only after obtaining the parents’ consent and refused to refund the fees.

However, on Wednesday, hours after the news report was out, the school called the parents and returned the fees paid even for the previous year through a cheque. The parents are now looking for other schools in and around Thiruvanmiyur.

Anna Univ cancels degrees of 130 students involved in exam racket

A Ragu Raman TNN

Chennai:04.04.2019

Anna University has cancelled the results and degrees of 130 students after an inquiry committee confirmed their involvement in a major racket during November/December 2017 exams and special arrears exam in February 2018.

“Many of them received their degree certificates and some still have a few arrears. Now, all the 130 students have to reappear for exams,” a source in the university said.

The issue came to light when a faculty member found that a student cleared 20 arrears at one go and lodged a complaint. The university then formed an inquiry committee which collected details of all the students who had cleared several arrears at one shot. “We found the top sheets in answer scripts did not match bar codes and colour codes. In some of the answer scripts, the students mentioned wrong page numbers,” a source in the inquiry committee said.

Agents allowed students to write exams outside hall

The students and staff members involved in exam-related work were summoned by the committee members and questioned. It was found that technical assistants and peons colluded with agents and allowed many students to write outside the exam hall for a ‘fee’ of ₹15,000 to ₹40,000 from each.

Earlier, to streamline the exam process, the university decided to strictly enforce the rule that mandates BE students to complete the degree course within seven. It also provided them with a chance by conducting special arrears examinations last year.

“Using this, the agents targeted students who were having many arrears,” a source said. “They took out the original answer scripts from the bundle after the exam and handed over the blank answer sheets to the candidates. In some cases, the students were handed over original answer scripts which had blank pages,” he added. Last week, the university had terminated 37 temporary staff in connection with the exam racket.

New feature on WhatsApp allows you to choose group

Anam.Ajmal@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:04.04.2019

You can now choose not to be added to a WhatsApp group. The instant messaging app on Wednesday launched a new feature which allows users to choose the groups they want to be part of by customising their privacy settings. India has 200 million WhatsApp users. “With these new features, users will have more control over the group messages they receive,” WhatsApp said in a statement. The setting will start rolling out to users in phases, it added.

The move, coming a week before the beginning of the LS polls, assumes significance as social media platforms, including WhatsApp, are used to reach out to citizens in large numbers. The new feature enables a user to decide who can add them to a group by choosing one of three options available in his/her account’s privacy settings — “nobody”, “my contacts” or “everyone”.

Users can now choose ‘nobody’ in privacy setting

Earlier, WhatsApp allowed users to be added to groups without their consent and the only way to stop being a part of the said group was to “exit” it.

If users choose “nobody” in the privacy setting option, anyone inviting them to a group will have to send them an invitation link through private chat asking for their approval. The link will expire in 72 hours, and a fresh approval request can be made after that,” the Facebook-owned company said.