Passengers want timing to be revised

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

TIRUVARUR, MAY 30, 2019 00:00 IST

Passengers have welcomed the decision to operate Tiruvarur-Karaikudi and Tiruvarur-Tiruchi special services from June 1.

Welcoming the DEMU service from Tiruvarur to Tiruchi on Sundays, the Thanjavur District Rail Users Association has requested the Southern Railway to revise the timing in such a way that it leaves Tirvarur by 6 a.m.

The train would get good passenger patronage if it is made a daily service, its advisor A.Giri said. The taluk level rail users associations in Tiruvarur-Karaikudi section are happy over the introduction of DEMU service between Tiruvarur and Karaikudi but are upset over extended travelling time. The travel time of six hours might cause low patronage, they felt.

Train service to resume from Tiruvarur to Karaikudi

R. Rajaram

TIRUCHI, MAY 30, 2019 00:00 IST

In the newly laid broad gauge line from June 1; facility is created after a gap of over five years; journey time will be six hours

Southern Railway is set to resume service in the newly laid broad gauge line from Tiruvarur to Pattukottai via Tiruthuraipoondi and from there up to Karaikudi after a gap of over five years. But the journey time to cover nearly 150-km stretch will take six hours.

It announced on Wednesday operation of passenger special trains from Tiruvarur to Karaikudi and back from June 1 to August 30.

The new six-days-a-week service is scheduled to leave Tiruvarur Junction at 8.15 a.m. and reach Karaikudi at 2.15 p.m. The train will leave Karaikudi at 2.30 p.m. and arrive at Tiruvarur at 8.30 p.m. The trains would stop at 18 stations en route including Tiruthuraipoondi, Muthupet, Athirampattinam, Pattukottai, Peravurani, Aranthangi and Kandanur Puduvayal.

Southern Railway would operate a six-car Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) rake from Tiruvarur to Karaikudi with Travelling Gatekeepers on board in both directions. There would be four Travelling Gatekeepers each in the Karaikudi-bound passenger and in the one leaving for Tiruvarur.

The Tiruvarur - Karaikudi section accounts for 84 level crossing gates of which 23 are interlocked gates where gatekeepers would be present. The remaining 61 are non-interlocked gates and it is here the role of the Travelling Gatekeepers comes about. Because of manpower shortage the railway administration would be deploying Travelling Gatekeepers on board the passenger specials. The train would stop 30 metres ahead of an approaching non-interlocked gate and the Travelling Gatekeepers on board the front and rear side of the DEMU would alight and close the gate for the train to pass through. The train would again stop at 30 metres after crossing the non-interlocked gate for the Travelling Gatekeepers to board. This is the procedure that is to be followed in the section causing long journey time of six hours to cover the 150 km stretch from Tiruvarur to Karaikudi.

The Loco Pilots and the Travelling Gatekeepers have been familiarised with the route including the number of stations, interlocked and non-interlocked gates midway.

The Pattukottai Rail Passengers Association feels that duration of running hours was very long. It would desist many from travelling in the train up to Karaikudi, says G. Moorthi, secretary of the association. Instead of Travelling Gatekeepers, the administration could deploy persons on deputation at the gates which would reduce travelling time, he said. It would be a daunting task for the Travelling Gatekeepers as they would have to jump out from the DEMU and close the gate and again reopen it before boarding the train. He said the railway administration had operated train service from Pattukottai to Karaikudi with Travelling Gatekeepers but had withdrawn it later.

Besides, the DEMU rake would not have toilets.

IRCTC asks user to clear browser history to get rid of vulgar ads on app
New Delhi:30.05.2019

An Indian railways passengers support Twitter handle on Wednesday asked a user to delete his internet search history, responding to his complaint that “vulgar and obscene” advertisements popped up on IRCTC’s ticket booking app.

The Indian Railways Seva handle (@RailwaySeva), which was set up in December 2017 for passenger support, also educated the complainant that online advertisements depend on personal browsing history of a user.

“Obscene and vulgar ads are very frequently appearing on the IRCTC ticket booking app. This is very embarrassing and irritating,” the complainant wrote. The user also tagged official Twitter handles of the railways minister, IRCTC and railway minister Piyush Goyal’s office in the tweet made at 4.15 pm.

Responding to the complaint, the Indian Railways Seva tweeted, “Irctc uses Googles ad serving tool ADX for serving ads.These ads uses cookies to target the user. Based on user history and browsing behaviour ads are shown. Please clean and delete all browser cookies and history to avoid such ads.”

Cyber expert Jiten Jain said online ads largely depend on a users’ ad preferences and the kind of content browsed through a particular device.

“And the users themselves give Google the permission to show such ads when they agree to their terms and conditions while subscribing to its services. Although it is not 100%, because in some cases Google also puts forth some ads on its own online,” Jain said.

By 9.21 pm, the Indian Railways Seva’s tweet was liked by over 7,800 users and retweeted nearly 3,700 times. The handle generally provides support to railway users on queries related to timings, PNR issues or concerns with cleanliness or food on trains.

On its support website, Google states that ads should respect user preferences and comply with legal regulations, so it does not allow certain kinds of adult content in ads and destinations.

“Some kinds of adult-oriented ads and destinations are allowed if they comply with the policies below and don’t target minors, but they will only show in limited scenarios based on user search queries, user age, and local laws where the ad is being served,” it says. PTI

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2 AI planes fail to take off in UK, 600 flyers to Mumbai stranded

Naomi Canton

London:30.05.2019

Nearly 600 passengers travelling between London and Mumbai were stranded at a hotel next to the airport after two Air India flights did not take off two days in a row.

A total of 293 passengers from the 1.15 pm (GMT) Air India flight on May 28 spent the night at the hotel, whilst several hundred more booked on the same flight on May 29 were sent to a room in the hotel as their flight too was delayed. Passengers complained there was no information from Air India staff.

Albashi Baig, 24, a student in London, was flying home to be in hospital in Thane for his 60-yearold father’s cardiac surgery, taking place Wednesday night.

But his Tuesday flight was grounded and the same flight on Wednesday also did not take off. Almost in tears he told TOI how had had begged Air India to get him on another flight but they did not. “No one in Air India was picking up the phone and we went to the airport and they told me to buy a new ticket costing up to £1,800 (₹1.5 lakh) one way. I’m so upset as I wanted to be with my father to give support.”

Passengers were informed at 12.30 pm that the Tuesday flight was just delayed, but then at 6.30 pm were told to collect their luggage.

54% of health professionals not qualified enough: Study
Says 20% Of Adequately Qualified Docs Not In Workforce

Sushmi.Dey@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:30.05.2019

Around 54% of health professionals including doctors, nurses, midwives and other paramedics in India do not have required qualifications, whereas 20% of adequately qualified doctors are not in the current workforce, a new study in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) shows highlighting concerns about a severe dearth of quality care across the country, particularly in the hinterland.

Pointing at a significant disparity between the number of registered health professionals and those who are actually practicing, the findings of the study show health workforce number around 3.8 million under the National Sample Survey (NSS). But this number is about 1.2 million less than the total number of health professionals registered with different councils and associations.

Of the currently working health professionals, around 25% do not have the required qualifications as laid down by professional councils, the study says.

The density of doctors and nurses and midwives per 10,000 population is 20.6 according to the NSS and 26.7 based on the registry data, reflecting a widening gap between demand and supply of health resources which is already in shortage.

The study, conducted by researchers from the Indian Institute of Public Health and the Public Health Foundation of India, was designed on a nationally representative cross-section household survey and review of published documents by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence.

“Distribution and qualification of health professionals are serious problems in India when compared with the overall size of the health workers. Policy should focus on enhancing the quality of health workers and mainstreaming professionally qualified persons into the health workforce,” the authors of the study concluded.

The level of required qualifications considered for doctors (allopathic, dental and AYUSH) was graduate or postgraduate in medicine; for nurse and midwife higher secondary with technical education in medicine or related field; and for others higher secondary with technical education in paramedical related fields.

The findings show more than 58% of all health workers are male. The proportion of males is higher in allopathic, AYUSH and dental categories, and lower in the nurse and midwife category. Around 80% of all health workers are in the 25–60 years age group.

Around 30% of all health workers, 15% among allopathic doctors, reported their educational level below the higher secondary level. Most of the health workers reported to be employed as regular wage earners (57%). However, as high as 63% of allopathic and 88% of AYUSH doctors reported themselves as selfemployed. More than 80% of doctors and 70% of nurses and midwives are employed in the private sector.

50-60 ministers, 8-10 from allies, likely to take oath with Modi today

Ahead Of Event, PM To Visit War Memorial

Akhilesh.Singh@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:30.05.2019

Narendra Modi will pay homage at the newly erected War Memorial at India Gate, followed by visits to Rajghat and Atal Samadhi Sthal, before taking oath on Thursday as Prime Minister for the second stint on the trot.

Modi’s visit to the War Memorial before taking charge in his second innings will only testify the ruling party’s nationalist agenda, one of its key planks in the Lok Sabha polls. A visit to the Gandhi memorial has been customary for most leaders. Modi will also be at the memorial dedicated to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, one of the founding fathers of BJP.

Top party leaders spent the whole of Wednesday deliberating on who will make the cut for the Modi cabinet as also the portfolios. BJP president Amit Shah had two rounds of meetings with the Prime Minister, each lasting over three hours, for the second consecutive day.

Shah’s 11 Akbar Road residence turned out to be the destination of all senior leaders of BJP just as Gujarat Bhavan was in 2014, where Modi had put up.

Besides Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Arjun Ram Meghwal called on Shah. Principal secretary to PM Nripendra Misra and additional principal secretary to the PM PK Mishra also met the BJP chief, possibly to discuss arrangements for the gala oath-taking ceremony.

Sources said Shah may join the Modi cabinet and a few others from the party organisation may follow suit. Sources said some of the leaders who have been part of the campaign and internal strategy teams may be rewarded for the hard work after the party’s thumping victory.

Sources said at least 50-60 ministers will be sworn in on Thursday, including 8-10 from NDA allies, and there might be another expansion soon as the maximum strength could be of 81ministers, which is 15% of the strength of the Lok Sabha.

Increased representation from states like West Bengal and Odisha is quite likely and larger number of MPs from Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana, where assembly polls are due later this year, are likely to make it to the Council of Ministers.

President Ram Nath Kovind will administer the oath of office and secrecy to ministers at the function which will be attended by heads of government and representatives from BIMSTEC countries besides Prime Minister of Mauritius and President of Kyrgystan, who is also the chair of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

State chief ministers, including those running non-BJP governments, and captains of industry will be among the few thousand guests at the swearing in function. Several overseas friends of BJP, including from the US, Australia, Germany and the UK, have been invited.

Week after quashing case against IPS officer Sait, HC recalls a part of order
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:30.05.2019

A week after quashing corruption case proceedings against the DGPrank IPS officer Jaffer Sait, and also allowing him to ‘withdraw’ a related case pending before another court, a vacation judge of the Madras high court recalled a part of the order pertaining to withdrawal of the other case.

“The oral order, which was dictated in open court with regard to withdrawal of the 2016 petition, is hereby recalled. The 2016 petition may be posted before the regular court along with memo filed by counsel for petitioner dated May 23,” Justice P Rajamanickam said on Wednesday.

On May 23, Sait had moved the vacation judge to quash the criminal case filed against him for the alleged loss caused to Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) in connection with allotment of a residential plot in his wife's name under the Government Discretionary Quota (GDQ). Since 2016 another petition made by him seeking to quash the chargesheet filed in the case has been pending before another court.

On his part, Justice Rajamanickam first quashed the criminal proceedings against Sait and then went on to allow Sait’s counsel to withdraw the case of 2016 vintage, pending before another judge. Now, about a week after the delivery of the order, Justice Rajamanickam recalled only that portion of the ruling wherein he had allowed Sait to withdraw the 2016 petition.

In effect, while the case against Sait stands quashed due to the May 23 order, the 2016 petition has been rendered infructuous. It, however, needs to be mentioned before the judge concerned and withdrawn formally by Sait. The May 23 verdict quashing the proceedings of the criminal case cleared the roadblock for the Tamil Nadu government to consider Sait for the post of state DGP, as the two-year fixed tenure of incumbent T K Rajendran ends on June 30.

In his quash petition, Sait submitted that recently the state government had initiated the process of appointment to the post of Head of Police Force (HOPF) and a probable list of IPS officers with his name in the second place had been sent to the selection committee.

In his petition, Sait apprehended that the pending criminal case before the special court for DVAC cases, even after it had become redundant with the passing of sanction declining order by the competent authority, would prejudice his chances before the selection committee. He further submitted that he had no role in the allotment of residential plot and no pecuniary advantage was obtained in the allotment, either by him or his wife.

Pointing out that allegations made against the petitioner in the final report filed by DVAC show that the alleged offences were committed by him in discharge of his official duty, the judge said, in such case previous sanction from the central government was required.



TROUBLE LOOMS: DGP-rank IPS officer Jaffer Sait