DME directs medical colleges to verify students’ documents
Papers of 2nd-year UG, PG students to come under scanner

28/02/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

Documents of first-year MBBS students have already been scrutinised, following the NEET impersonation scam last year.

With yet another case of impersonation in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), involving a second-year MBBS student of the Madras Medical College (MMC), the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) has directed all government and private medical colleges in the State to take up verification of documents submitted by the present batch of second-year undergraduates, and postgraduate medical students — batches that had appeared for UG and PG NEET.

Two arrested

After MMC’s dean lodged a police complaint, seeking investigation into the suspected impersonation involving the second-year MBBS student last October, the CB-CID police, investigating the NEET impersonation scam, arrested the student and his father.

“As a precautionary measure, the Directorate has told all medical colleges to verify documents submitted by second-year MBBS students as well as postgraduates. This is to be sure on our side that the documents submitted to the DME are genuine,” said an official. Documents of first-year MBBS students have already been scrutinised, following the NEET impersonation scam last year.

He added that verification of documents were completed in a few colleges, while it was under way in a number of institutions.

“However, we have not come across any suspicious documents. Invariably, these are valid certificates. What has happened is impersonation during NEET, and this can be checked only by the Central Board of Secondary Education, that initially conducted the exam, and later, the National Testing Agency,” he said.

Visa on arrival for Japanese, Koreans suspended

28/02/2020, STAFF REPORTER,CHENNAI

Bureau of Immigration at Anna International Airport has issued a communication stating that the visa-on-arrival facility for Japanese and South Koreans has been suspended in wake of the COVID-19 outbreak with immediate effect and shall remain in force till further notice.

“All concerned airlines are hereby directed to only accept those passengers from these countries who have a regular visa on their passports,” the communication added. The Bureau of Immigration website had a mention of the temporary suspension.

Egmore railway station to get AC lounge

Amenities will be on a par with airport facilities; can be accessed for nominal fee

28/02/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

A modern retiring room fitted with air-conditioning, wi-fi, changing room and restaurant facilities is being proposed.

Passengers arriving at Egmore railway station will soon be able to access a lounge, with amenities on a par with facilities at some airports.

An executive lounge is also on the cards at the Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. MGR Central station, railway officials said.

A senior Railway official said that a modern retiring room fitted with air-conditioning, cushioned chairs, wi-fi, changing room, lockers and restaurant facilities is being proposed.

To be run by IRCTC

The facility, to be constructed and maintained by IRCTC, could be used by paying a nominal cost.

The IRCTC, having successfully commissioned modern rest rooms at Madurai and Tiruchi railway junctions, is giving a complete makeover to passenger amenities at Chennai Egmore station. At present, renovation work is in on.

The Railway official said commuters in Madurai and Tiruchi by paying an entry fee of ₹60 can avail free wi-fi, a clean toilet, newspapers and a shoe shiner at the air-conditioned executive lounge. The lounge also has a separate recliner room, cloak room, shower and changing room, which can be used at extra cost. There is also a business centre, he added.

Commuters can order breakfast, lunch and dinner while waiting at the lounge.

However, many passengers bound for Madurai and Tiruchi rue the lack of awareness about such a facility and want IRCTC to promote the lounge.

Egmore railway station is being renovated under the ‘one station, one division’ plan at a cost of ₹16 crore.

Unemployed engineers queue up for parking attendant jobs

Over 70% of the applicants are graduates; qualification needed for post is SSLC

28/02/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

Chennai Corporation will inaugurate the parking management system in over 2,000 parking slots in Anna Nagar, Nungambakkam and Purasawalkam on Monday. File Photo

Starting Monday, many qualified engineers will start manning parking spaces in various parts of the city, along with parking attendants with just an SSLC.

So far, all of the parking attendants in the city have been retired armed forces personnel, who had completed high school.

More than 1,400 candidates have applied for jobs of parking attendants. More than 70% of the applicants have completed graduation. Over 50% are engineers, indicating the level of unemployment among engineers in the city.

Chennai Corporation will inaugurate the parking management system in more than 2,000 parking slots in areas such as Anna Nagar, Nungambakkam and Purasawalkam on Monday.

For instance, Anna Nagar Second Avenue will get 550 parking slots where motorists will have qualified engineers requesting them to download the app for parking management.

Currently, 222 parking slots have been offered for motorists. But, the digital mode has not been promoted properly by the civic body so far.

“Many of the applicants for the parking attendants posts have also completed their master’s in engineering. These people may be ideal candidates for promoting the digital mode of parking management. The actual qualification for parking attendants is an SSLC,” said an official of the private vendor who is implementing the parking management system.

As many as 1,000 persons have been hired by the vendor for the posts of parking attendants. They will start work on Monday. Many of the engineers who visited Ripon Buildings on Thursday said they were applying for the parking attendants jobs because they were unemployed.

Tough times

“I have completed civil engineering. I do not have a job because of the market condition in the real estate industry,” said an applicant.

As many as 18,000 persons have downloaded the app for parking management in the city.

“Each of the engineers will have to educate the motorists. It is purely a digital mode. The number of downloads of the app has to increase for successful implementation of the system,” said an official.

Air India Express to operate flights to Thiruvananthapuram
New services from March 3
29/02/2020, STAFF REPORTER ,COIMBATORE

Air India Express will launch flight services to Thiruvananthapuram from Coimbatore from March 3.

Flight no. IX 014 will depart from Coimbatore at 10.50 p.m. and reach Thiruvananthapuram at 11.50 p.m. These services will be available on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Similarly, flight no. IX 013 will leave Thiruvananthapuram at 11.55 a.m. and arrive at Coimbatore airport at 12.55 p.m.

These services from Thiruvananthapuram will be available on Wednesdays and Fridays.

The flight services between Coimbatore and Thiruvananthapuram will be available till March 30, according to officials.

Low-cost carrier

Air India Express is a low-cost carrier and a subsidiary of Air India.

Flyover work not to affect vehicle movement on Trichy Road

The ₹ 250-crore project is scheduled to be completed by end of March next year

29/02/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,COIMBATORE

Traffic will be regulated on Trichy Road in the city where a flyover, passing through Sungam and Ramanathapuram junctions, is being constructed. M. PeriasamyM_PERIASAMY

The State Highways Department is taking efforts to ensure that traffic flow is not affected as it continues the flyover work on Trichy Road at Sungam junction and Ramanathapuram junction.

An official of the Department said that construction of the flyover, which started last March, was scheduled to be completed by end of March next year. The ₹ 250-crore project was to have a four-lane flyover for 3.15 km on Trichy Road till Stock Exchange building, covering Sungam and Ramanathapuram junctions. It would have 121 pillars in total, including nine pillars for the down ramp, and 120 spans. Nearly 40 % of the work was over, the official said.

The Department had also written to the Coimbatore Corporation to remove the encroachments on Ukkadam bypass road so that the down ramp works could start.

“We have marked the encroachments. These need to be removed,” the official said.

On regulating traffic on Trichy Road, the official added that vehicle movement would not be stopped at the Sungam junction. When the span work would be on at the junction, traffic would be regulated to use the road where the work was over.

When works were taken up at the Ramanathapuram junction, vehicle movement would have to be blocked for a couple of days. But it would be done only later.

A couple of road users said the motorable space had shrunk because of the flyover work. The waste on the roadsides should be cleared and parking should not be permitted so that moving vehicles would get a little more space to use.

‘₹3.76 cr.-worth gold seized at Madurai airport till Feb.28’

29/02/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ,MADURAI

Air Intelligence Unit, Department of Customs, on February 22 seized gold worth ₹ 39.85 lakh from a woman passenger at Madurai Airport . In a statement, its Deputy Commissioner L. Jaison Praveen Kumar said that officials intercepted the female passenger when she attempted to exit the airport through the green channel in a suspicious manner upon arriving at Madurai airport from Singapore.

Personal search conducted on her resulted in recovery of gold weighing 932 grams of gold.

The gold was seized and the passenger from Ramanathapuram, who is currently working in Singapore, was arrested.

Subsequently, she was released on bail. The Deputy Commissioner said that 9,933.880 grams of smuggled gold, valued at ₹ 3.76 crore, had been seized in 26 cases at Madurai airport till February 28 in the current financial year.