Techie dies after illegal banner crashes on her

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:13.09.2019

Illegal hoardings claimed their first victim in Chennai on Thursday. A software engineer riding home after work was knocked off her bike and came under the wheels of a water tanker when a flex banner erected for the marriage of an AIADMK functionary’s son crashed on her near Pallikaranai on Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Radial Road.

R Subashree, 24, who worked with a software firm at Kanthanchavadi, was on her way home to Nemilichery, Chromepet, after finishing her 6am to 2pm shift, when the banner that had been put up illegally fell on her. In the impact, the woman fell from her bike and the water tanker which was behind her ran over Subashree.



LURKING DANGER: The flex was erected on Pallavaram-Thoraipakkam Road for the marriage of an AIADMK functionary’s son

In few months, she was to go to Canada

Subashree, who was to go to Canada in a few months, was rushed to a nearby private hospital where she died of injuries. Witnesses said that a few men carried her nearly 100 meters before they got an autorickshaw to take her to hospital.

The banner was one of several erected by a former AIADMK councillor Jayagopal for his son’s wedding. Soon after the incident, people tore up the hoardings that lined the stretch — there were not less than 50 banners and hoardings. AIADMK workers were also seen hurriedly taking down some of the banners.

Police first slapped a case of negligent driving on lorry driver Manoj Yadav, 28, of Kilpauk. A second case was later filed against Jayagopal based on the complaint of Amalraj, assistant engineer of division 188 of Chennai corporation. Police have registered the case under the Section 4 of The Tamil Nadu Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1959.

Meanwhile, the Chennai corporation has also registered a separate case against the AIADMK functionary for installing a illegal banner on the road without permission. They slapped a case under Section 326 of the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919. Activist ‘Traffic’ S Ramasamy too has lodged a formal complaint demanding police file cases against AIADMK workers, corporation officials and police personnel for allowing illegal banners on the road.

‘Caring child’ can get parents’ property: SC

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:13.09.2019

If parents transfer property to an offspring who took care of them in old age, it cannot be assumed that the individual exerted undue influence on them to corner a bigger share of property and dispossessed his or her siblings, the Supreme Court has ruled in a dispute dating to 1970.

Adjudicating a property dispute among brothers, a bench of Justices Navin Sinha and Indira Banerjee said drawing such a conclusion without requisite evidence would have undesirable consequences as people who take care of aged parents would be at the receiving end from siblings who chose to be less dutiful. The court said the offspring who receives a larger inheritance cannot be subjected to a “reverse burden of proof” to establish that they looked after their parents only with the objective of extracting a large share of property.

‘There is bound to be more affinity between elder members & those who look after them’

The SC said there is bound to be more affinity between elder members of the family and those who look after them day-today and if property is transferred to a caring person then inference of undue influence cannot be drawn. Such an implication could deter people from caring for their elders.

“In every caste, creed, religion and civilised society, looking after elders of the family is considered a sacred and pious duty. Nonetheless, today it has become a matter of serious concern. Parliament taking note of the same enacted the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007. We are of the considered opinion, in the changing times and social mores, that to straightaway infer undue influence merely because a sibling was looking after the family elder, is an extreme proposition which cannot be countenanced in the absence of sufficient and adequate evidence,” the court said.

“Any other interpretation by inferring a reverse burden of proof straightaway on those who were taking care of the elders, as having exercised undue influence, can lead to very undesirable consequences. It may not necessarily lead to neglect, but can certainly create doubts and apprehensions leading to lack of full and proper care under the fear of allegations with regard to exercise of undue influence,” it said.

In the case under consideration, the siblings fought for close to five decades after the father transferred property to one of them in 1970. The father died a year after and the sale deed was challenged by other members of the family, alleging it was done fraudulently by deceit and under undue influence because of old age and infirmity of the deceased who was living with him.

CANDID TALK

Sivaganga man announces his time of death
Devanathan.Veerappan@timesgroup.com

Sivaganga:13.09.2019

Hundreds of people have gathered for an allnight vigil at Pasangarai village, 4km from Sivaganga town, after a 71-year-old man announced he would die in the early hours of Friday and sat down next to a pit dug for his ‘samadhi’. Police said they would not allow him to be buried alive.

The man, Irulappasamy, claims to be a ‘Shiva bhakta’, and has told his family (son and daughter) and friends that he will die between midnight and 4am and wants them to bury him in a seated position in the pit and build a temple over it. As the news spread, people started turning up to seek his blessings. Rohit Nathan Rajagopal, Sivaganga district SP, told TOI they are watching the developments and monitoring the crowd. There is nothing to worry about law and order, he said. Past midnight Irulappasamy, sat clad in a green lungi while people fanned him and sang bhajans. The crowd, meanwhile, was growing.

Irulappasamy said he would die between 12am and 4am on Friday

Help pours in for Coimbatore paati who sells idli for ₹1
‘Happy To Get Gas Stove After Using Firewood For 30 Years’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Coimbatore:13.09.2019

Not many entrepreneurs may want to emulate the business model that sustained her for 30 years. But 82-year-old M Kamalathal, who had been selling idlis for ₹1 each at Vadivelampalayam in Coimbatore district, felt she lacked nothing. After videos and news reports about the “idli paati” preparing the dish on a firewood stove went viral, she was flooded with offers of help from across the country.

Sharing a video clip of Kamalathal cooking at her homecum-shop, chairman of Mahindra Group Anand Mahindra said he was willing to “invest in her business and buy her an LPG-fuelled stove.”

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Coimbatore, told him that it had already issued Kamalathal an LPG connection. Retweeting this, Dharmendra Pradhan, Union minister of petroleum and natural gas, said, “Salute the spirit and commitment of Kamalathal. Glad to having helped her through local OMC officers in getting an LPG connection. Society must empower such hardworking people who defy all odds.” In addition, a private firm from Mumbai gave her a commercial wet grinder to prepare idli batter.

After all this unfurled on Wednesday, Mahindra on Thursday tweeted that he would be happy to support her LPG costs.

On Tuesday, Coimbatore collector K Rajamani received her at his office and offered to fulfil whatever needs she had. “She had no demands. However, her well-wishers said it would be helpful if the district administration built her a home. She said she has a patta. If she or her children bring the patta, the district administration is ready to build her a home for around ₹2.5 lakh,” he said. “Now everyone who comes to know about her wants to help her in some way. This is a positive thing,” he added.

When contacted, Kamalathal said she was happy that people were helping her. “For the 30 years that I have been running this idli shop, I have been using a firewood stove. Now they have given me a gas stove. I am happy,” she said.

Asked how she managed to sell an idli for ₹1, she said her input costs were low, so she could sell it for a low price. “There is no loss in this. I sell idlis for around ₹600 a day. I get to keep ₹200,” she said.

CROWD FAVOURITE: Seeing videos of Kamalathal, 82, running her business using firewood stove, people have got her an LPG connection

Tanuvas asked to allot seat to Class XII ST topper

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:13.09.2019

The National Human Rights Commission has directed Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Tanuvas) to allot a BVSc seat to a scheduled tribe student who had topped the community in the vocational stream.

U Chandran, from Kongkadi in Erode district, studied vocational stream (agriculture) in Class XII. He scored 444 out of 600 in board exams and got 147 out of the 200 cutoff marks. Due to the quirks in the quota system and fewer seats available for vocational stream, Chandran could not join BVSc course despite being the topper among vocational stream students.

Tanuvas reserves 95% of seats available under state quota for academic stream students and only 5% seats for vocational stream students. Of 360 seats available, 18 were available for such students. Under reservation, only 0.18% goesto STcommunities–the reason why Chandran did not get the seat.

During the camp sitting of the NHRC at Chennai, the complaint was taken up by D M Mulay, member of the commission, on Thursday. Tanuvas registrar P.Tensingh Gnanaraj appeared before the commission. Mulay directed Tanuvas to consider 0.18% seat available for ST category under vocational stream as one seat and recommended allotting a BVSc seat to Chandran within 15 days. Earlier, Tanuvas authoritiessaidthey could allot a seat only if the community had 0.5% and above seats as per the norms.

“With the direction of NHRC, there is fresh hope to join the college in this academic year itself. I hope the university will accept the order and allot a seat,” Chandran told TOI after the hearing. The nearest school from his village was 40 km from his home while he was studying. “As the deadline to apply tocolleges wasover,Icould not join any college this year,” he said.

“If he joins the BVSc course, that will motivate tribal families and children in and around his village,” said S C Nataraj, director, Sudar, an NGO working to provide education to children residing in hilly areas.Tanuvas officials were not available for comment. Chandran has also filed a petition at the Madras high court seeking a direction toTanuvas to allot a seat.

Med waste at Egmore hosp raises a stench
Hospital Pins Blame On Visitors For Littering

Aditi.R@timesgroup.com

Chennai:13.09.2019

Medical waste generated at the Government Hospital for Women and Children in Egmore is piling up in a corner of the campus and is proving to be a health hazard.

On Thursday, the waste pile largely comprised food waste, soiled diapers, clothes, slippers, blood-soaked bandages, syringes and empty medicine bottles. A worker was seen handling the pile without any protective gear.

“I have been experiencing severe breathing problems since the last couple of days due to the stench from this,” said the worker who packs waste from the hospital into garbage bags before placing it in colour-coded dustbins.

The hospital records 80 to 90 deliveries a day, the highest in a government facility in Tamil Nadu. Though it has separate bins to segregate wet and solid waste from biomedical waste, officials at the hospital blamed visitors for not following instructions.

“All biomedical waste is collected in red, white and yellow bags and sent outside, only the general waste is collected here. But if syringes and bottles were found in this pile we shall immediately look into it. Only visitors could have thrown it there,” said Dr S Shobha, director-in-charge of the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the hospital. The hospital has outsourced services for waste management to a private firm.

Patients complained that often crows and dogs flock around thegarbage pile. “Crows pick up waste from the pile and drop it everywhere,” said P Thilothama, a visitor. The hospital staff blamed the corporation staff and claimed that they do not turn up regularly to clear the pile. “The corporation van used to come twice a day to clear the waste, but since the last two months they only come once in the evening and sometimes do not even turn up,” the staff said.

“We collect the waste only if it is handed over to us, not when it is strewn all over. Our workers cannot enter the hospital campus and clean it for them,” said an official from the corporation.

HAZARDOUS PILE: Patients complained that crows and dogs flock around the garbage mound and enter the campus

2K VIT students get placed in campus recruitment

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:13.09.2019

More than 2,000 students of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) have been placed in the ongoing campus recruitment.

A press release said 245 companies have participated in the campus recruitment and 2,026 students have been recruited by these companies. While the placement schedule will continue till October, the release said the process began in July. Companies offering a pay package of more than ₹10 lakh were invited for the first phase of campus recruitment. Amazon, Pay Pal, Cisco and De Shaw were some of the recruiters.

Core engineering placements also have been happening along with the IT placements. MBA and nonengineering placements will start in September, the release added.