Former TNPSC official booked for cheating

22/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

When Mathuruban, son of a local resident, Shanmugasundaram, received mail from Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) in January 2016, stating that he was selected in Group II.

Within a few days, he was approached by three persons, who demanded payment of ₹27 lakh to get the job. He was told that if he failed to honour the demand, all further communication would be suspended and his name blocked from the selection list. So, his father arranged for the money and the payment was made. However, when he neither got the job nor the money back, he approached the police and lodged a complaint a week ago. On Superintendent of Police Vinay Kumar’s directive, police registered a case against Siva, a retired TNPSC officer in the rank of deputy secretary, Nagendra Rao, a broker, and Ramani alias Rajendran, a retired TNPSC office assistant.

Police said no arrests had been made so far.

DAE issues advisory to residents

22/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ,CHENNAI

The Department of Atomic Eenergy Department (DAE) has issued an advisory to all the employees and residents of DAE townships in Kalpakkam.

In the advisory, it has requested people to avoid social gatherings and functions where large numbers of people assemble unless it is absolutely necessary. The residents should avoid non-essential travel out of the township. All non-residents will be allowed inside the township only after thermal scanning.

Meetings, as far as feasible will be conducted through video conferencing. Thermal scanning will be carried out at all vehicle entry gates and DAE hospital, it said.

54 Indian tourists stranded at Kuala Lumpur airport

Over 30 are from T.N.; they were to return on March 18

22/03/2020, KATHELENE ANTONY ,TIRUCHI

An official of the Indian Embassy in Malaysia has met the tourists. LIM HUEY TENG/REUTERS

Indian tourists, stranded at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport for the fourth day, have appealed for intervention from the Union Government, to facilitate their travel back home.

A total of 54 tourists, with over 30 from Tamil Nadu, were scheduled to return to India on March 18, but they have been stuck with no means to return, as all flights from the country to India have been cancelled.

The travellers, who were to return home by a SriLankan Airlines flight via Colombo, had completed emigration and security checks and were seated at the waiting hall of the airport, when the Centre announced the cancellation of flights, said the passengers.

When an Indian flight, which arrived at the airport to airlift Indian students stuck in Malaysia on March 19, refused to board them, their hopes were shattered.

An official of the Indian Embassy in Malaysia met the passengers and said that measures to take them home were under way.

S. Sivarasu, Tiruchi District Collector, who received a copy of the letter from the Indian Embassy in Malaysia to the Indian Government, said that efforts to bring them back were on.

Judge donates ₹2.25-lakh salary towards unorganised workers’ welfare

Justice S.M. Subramaniam says it is the duty of every citizen of the country to pool resources and help the hapless

22/03/2020, MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S.,CHENNAI

Justice S.M. Subramaniam of the Madras High Court on Saturday donated a month’s salary — ₹2.25 lakh — towards the welfare of labourers in the unorganised sector, whose earnings have taken a substantial hit as a result of the COVID-19 threat.

According to High Court officials, the judge handed over a cheque for the amount to Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam at the Secretariat, with the hope that it would serve as an impetus for further donations towards the cause.

When contacted, the judge confirmed that he had made the donation. He expressed deep concern over domestic helps, construction labourers, sanitary workers and many others having lost their livelihood due to the pandemic.

“People are willing to grant leave to domestic workers to avoid the spread of COVID-19, but not many are willing to pay the wages for the period of leave. How will those poor men and women run their families without any pay? That is why I thought of kickstarting a movement,” he said.

“We cannot depend upon the government for everything. Provisions supplied through ration shops will be hardly enough for the unorganised labourers. It is the duty of every citizen of the country to pool resources and help the hapless,” he said.

The judge went on to state: “I could have chosen to call the Health Secretary to my residence or even to my chambers in the High Court and handed over the cheque to her, but this is a time when we should not disturb government officials who are burning the midnight oil.”

The judge was also the first in the High Court to discourage lawyers, litigants, court staff and others from entering his court hall if they were suffering from a cough, cold or fever. He had announced that no case shall be posted under the caption ‘For Dismissal’ till March 31.

He had taken the decision even before the Administrative Committee of the High Court met and decided to restrict hearings to only urgent and admission cases in all courts, till March 31. .

Three more test positive, take total of COVID-19 patients to six

Number under home surveillance jumps from 4,253 on Friday to 8,950; app launched for medical advice

22/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

Three more persons — two of them Thai nationals — have tested positive for COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu. This takes the total number of persons who have tested positive in the State to six.

Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar, in a tweet, said: “The three patients were already quarantined and on the radar. They were admitted to isolation wards in government hospitals.”

He added that, so far, all six COVID-19 patients in the State were “imported cases”, with a travel history, and did not involve community transmission.

Screening had been intensified at railway stations, at domestic and international terminals of airports and on the borders with States, he informed.

The Minister later told reporters that two of the new cases were tourists from Thailand, while the third person had arrived from New Zealand. The Health Department had begun tracing the contacts of all three persons. However, he refused to divulge details on where the three patients were admitted, citing “medical ethics”.

However, late on Saturday, officials said that the two Thai nationals were lodged at the isolation ward of Government IRT Perundurai Medical College. The third patient has been admitted to a private hospital in Chennai.

Home quarantine

The number of persons under home surveillance for COVID-19 in the State has doubled. From 4,253 persons on Friday, the number has gone up to 8,950. Chennai accounts for the highest number of persons in home quarantine, at 2,904.

Currently, 221 asymptomatic passengers from highly-affected countries are being quarantined in centres near the airport, according to a bulletin released by the Directorate of Public Health (DPH) and Preventive Medicine.

The number of persons admitted to isolation wards increased from 32 to 54. The number of persons screened at airports crossed the two lakh mark. A total of 2,01,672 persons have been screened so far. The total number of samples taken for testing also went up to 412 from 333. Of this, 67 samples were under process.

The Minister urged people to stay at home and cooperate to prevent community spread of COVID-19. He added that they were following the guidelines issued for testing.

The number of beds in isolation wards in government medical college hospitals is all set to increase. Presently, there are a total of 1,120 beds in isolation wards in government medical college hospitals, headquarters hospitals and private hospitals.

As of now, government medical college hospitals have 20-bedded isolation wards. Now, all hospitals have been instructed to increase the number of beds for isolation wards up to 100 along with ventilators, step-down wards and observation wards. Private hospitals empanelled under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme have been roped in, he said.

The Minister held a meeting with deans and chiefs of medicine of private medical college hospitals and asked them to ready 100-bed isolation ward facilities in their institutions. The Minister said that the 24-hour control room of the DPH, which is manned in three shifts by 50 persons each, was also involved in contact tracing of COVID-19 patients.

Those under home quarantine — those with a travel history from affected countries or other States — were usually contacted on their phones to check on their health status every day, he said.

App launched

“Now, we have launched an app through which our doctors can provide medical advice to those under home quarantine through video calls. This app has a capacity to connect one lakh persons,” he said. Officials said that a video call facility would be provided on the portal.

The Tamil Nadu Ophthalmic Association, in a press release, advised its members to cancel all elective procedures. The association advised members to cut down regular outpatient department appointments, attend only to emergences and request patients to get back after a couple of weeks or till further communication.

If patients need hospital visits, members must ensure that all necessary precautions were in place, the association said.

T.N. plans reservation for govt. schoolchildren in medical colleges

Panel headed by an ex-judge to make recommendations

22/03/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

Edappadi K. Palaniswami

22.03.2020

The Tamil Nadu government plans to enact a law to grant special reservation to students of government schools in medical colleges even as it wages a battle in the Supreme Court against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).

Making a suo motu statement in the Assembly, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said that quota would be for students who had studied from Class 1 to 12 in government, corporation or municipal schools. It would also cover Kallar reclamation schools and institutions run by the Forest Department.

“Entry of government school students into medical colleges has come down drastically after the introduction of NEET. The government is keen to stop the trend,” Mr. Palaniswami said.

The CM said that the government would constitute a commission under the chairmanship of a retired High Court judge to collect details and make recommendations. It would get a month’s time to hand in its recommendations.

The secretaries of health and law and two educationists would be its members. The Director of Medical Education would be its member-secretary.

Big rush at vegetable markets, Uzhavar Santhai ahead of Janata Curfew

TNN | Mar 22, 2020, 04.44 AM IST

Trichy: Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for observing a ‘Janata curfew’ on Sunday, residents in city flocked the vegetable markets including the Uzhavar Santhai, Gandhi Market to buy vegetables and essentials. Meanwhile, most of the eateries in Trichy have declared holiday till March 31.

Except for essentials, the government has ordered to close down all commercial establishments. Traders and vegetable vendors have promised to observe the curfew on Sunday. Agriculture marketing officials also announced that Uzhavar Santhai would down shutters on Sunday.

In order to avert scarcity of essentials, people thronged all the Uzhavar Santhai located in seven places in the district, Gandhi Market as well as various local vegetable markets to stock vegetables, greens and fruits.

To cater to the needs of customers, all the Uzhavar Santhai in the city were kept open till afternoon, skipping evening sales. A large number of people gathered at the markets in Tennur Anna Nagar, KK Nagar, Lalgudi to purchase things.

According to Gandhi Market vendors, around 2,000 wholesale mandis are there exclusively for vegetables, onion, potato, fruits and banana. As per the call made by the PM, they have decided to close down all the mandis and retail shops in the market. Several customers from the city and from the outskirts of the city arrived at the market till late in the evening.

“I have never seen such a huge crowd even during festivals in the recent past,” S Ramesh, a vegetable vendor in Gandhi Market, said.