Navatri celebrations, in distance mode

Mar 24, 2020, 04.09 AM IST

New Delhi: With the capital in complete lockdown to check the spread of the novel coronavirus, the faithful will not, as usual, gather at temples when the Navratri festival begins on Wednesday. The major city temples instead are prepping to offer Delhiites the novelty of participating in the aarti and having a darshan from the safety of their homes. This is one win for technology over the virus’ ground assault.

Dedicated to Goddess Aadi Shakti, the Jhandewalan temple near Karol Bagh is among the oldest in Delhi and attracts lakhs of people during the nine-day Navratri period. It has made extensive arrangements to deter people from congregating there. “We have informed everyone besides putting up huge banners on all four sides of the temple warning of a closure till the next update,” said Sandeep Kumar, the temple spokesperson. “Devotees should worship Devi Maa in their own homes.”

But that will not deprive worshippers of participation in the pujas. Kumar elaborated, “The aarti of Devi Aadi Shakti will be live streamed on YouTube as Jhandewalan Devi Mandir Live Aarti. While the 4am morning aarti and the7pm evening aarti will be available live on all nine days, we have made arrangements to have a 24-hour live session on the auspicious day of Ashtami.”

Authorities at south Delhi’s Kalkaji Mandir have decided to appeal to devotees to carry out the Navratri rituals in their houses. Lokesh Bharadwaj, general secretary of the Shri Kalkaji Mandir Prabandhak Sudhar Samiti, said the pooja-archana-sringar will be carried out by the temple priests, but the lakhs who came to the shrine to take jyoti will be urged not to venture to the shrine this year.

Bharadwaj said that a meeting between committee members and the temple high priest will decide whether the proceedings will be streamed live. Perhaps for the first time in the history, there will neither be langars or bhandaras nor people thronging the temples. Jai Prakash, chairman of North Delhi Municipal Corporation’s Standing Committee, said anyone wishing to organise a bhandara should instead have a “bhandaras of soaps and hand sanitisers” for poor people as a service to Devi Maa.

The Chhatarpur Temple has been closed from March 21, and the shrine management has made arrangements for the live streaming of morning and evening aarti on the temple website.

Two students held under Goondas Act for spreading fake news

TNN | Mar 24, 2020, 04.11 AM IST

Erode: The Goondas Act was slapped against two college students at Gobichettipalayam on Monday for spreading fake news about Covid-19 on social media.

Police, who arrested the youths, identified them as S Boobalan, 20, and N Karthikeyan, 20, of Thookanaickenpalayam village in the district. While Boobalan was second year BSc computer science student at a Coimbatore college, Karthikeyan was an engineering student at Sathyamangalam.

Erode SP Sakthi Ganesan said police conducted an inquiry after a video of a news feed stating that 24 people were infected with Covid-19 at Thookanaickenpalayam village was circulating on WhatsApp. It also asked people of the village not to step out their houses.

“We found the video was created by the duo. They downloaded the logo of a private news channel and used it as a template to make the video,” a police officer said. The duo also confessed to the crime, the officer added.

The Bangalapudur police arrested them on Monday. District collector Kathiravan slapped the Goondas Act against them based on a recommendation from the SP, who also warned of severe action against people spreading fake news.

IRT Perundurai hosp to treat Covid related cases only

TNN | Mar 24, 2020, 04.12 AM IST

Erode: With two Thai nationals testing positive for Covid-19 in Erode district, the IRT Perundurai Government Medical College (IRTPGMC) has been made to treat only Covid-19 related cases. The hospital houses two positive cases, besides 11 people, including four other Thai nationals, quarantined in an isolation ward.

The move follows after health officials are monitoring people who came into contact with the two positive cases. “The health department officials are closely monitoring 694 people of 169 families in the district. They were quarantined at their houses from Sunday,” collector C Kathiravan said. The hospital has 300 beds and doctors were equipped with enough facilities to treat new cases if they arise, he added.

The collector also said patients who were treated for other aliments would be shifted to the government hospital in Erode city at the earliest.

He warned against spreading fake news on social media and threatened to slap the Goondas Act against miscreants.

Coimbatore: Summer rain brings relief to residents in lockdown times

TNN | Mar 25, 2020, 04.26 AM IST

COIMBATORE: In what could be a relief for people who were made to quarantine themselves under the sweltering heat, the city has been experiencing brief to moderate summer rain on and off since Saturday. Though the rain may not be enough to change water levels in tanks, it seems to have brought down temperature by 1C to 2C. Farmers too say the rain will help preparing soil for summer cultivation.

TNAU’s agro climate research centre recorded 8mm of rainfall on Monday and 37mm of rainfall on Saturday. This was the first summer showers in the district after the last drizzles that were recorded in January third week. While the centre did not record rainfall on Sunday, other parts of the district, like Peelamedu, Periyanaickenpalayam and Narasimanaickenpalayam, recorded 4mm to 10mm of rainfall. “This is convectional rain. If temperature keeps increasing and more clouds keep forming, it will result in more rainfall,” said director of the centre S P Ramanathan.

After rain, maximum temperatures at various places across the district fell by a couple of degrees. According to the regional meteorological centre, the district, which recorded average temperature of 36C on Thursday and 37.6C on Friday, saw average temperature fall to 35.4C on Monday and 36C on Tuesday.

The rain and relatively moderate afternoon temperature brought cheers among housewives and people working from home. “Rather than cooped in an airconditioned room, the rain made it tolerable to spend afternoon in balcony or play in the garden,” said Aparna Ram, a housewife in R S Puram.

Farmers also welcomed the beginning of the summer rain, as it will reduce the salinity of the soil and help getting better yield of their long terms crops like banana, sugarcane, turmeric, among others. “The summer rain gives crops the much needed moisture at the point when the leaves begin to dry up without irrigation. It will also help desalinate the soil making the crops grow well,” says district secretary of the Tamil Nadu Vivasaigal Sangam P Kandasamy. “It will also help summer cultivation of millets and pulses, which is done after mid-April. This moisture will help prepare the soil for it,” he added.

Shops selling essential goods to remain open in Salem

TNN | Mar 25, 2020, 04.41 AM IST

SALEM: Shops providing essential commodities such as vegetables, milk parlours, medical stores and grocery shops will remain open in Salem.

However, the Salem municipal corporation (SMC) officials have asked the supermarkets and commercial establishments (marriage halls, malls etc) in the city to be closed from on Tuesday onwards. Any shop with a housing capacity of more than 10 people has to remain closed.

The state government has imposed section 144 of CrPC across Tamil Nadu as a preventive measure against Covid-19. The state also directed the hotels to provide only ‘take away’ parcels and not to accommodate customers inside the hotel.

Meanwhile, the Salem district administration and the corporation officials have started inspecting the city since Tuesday evening. They shut down supermarkets and commercial complexes that were seen operating after 6 pm on Tuesday.

The corporation officials warned that, they will permanently seal the shops if owners violate government order.

Salem collector urges contacts of Covid-19 patients to approach health department

TNN | Mar 25, 2020, 04.43 AM IST

SALEM: District collector S A Raman has urged the public to come forward for self-declaration if they had any contact with 11 Indonesians who had spent their time in the city for nearly 13 days. The collector said the Indonesian team went to five mosques in the city and attended religious meetings there.

Raman said the Indonesian Muslims came to the city on March 11 from New Delhi. They went to a mosque at Rahamath Nagar in Suramangalam police station limit on the next day.

Later, they had visited Para Market mosque in Shevapet police station limit on March 13 and stayed there for two days. “They had given religious preaching in the mosque for three days,” he said, adding that, later they had stayed from March 16 to March 18 at Sheik-Umar mosque in Ammapet police station limit, Buharia mosque between March 19 and 21 and Janadul Firdhouse mosque at Kitchipalayam on March 22.

“They went with another five people, including one person from Chennai and the rest from Salem,” the collector said, adding that all the 16 people were admitted to the quarantine ward in Salem government Mohan Kumaramangalam medical college and hospital for treatment.

He urged those who attended the sermons held by the Indonesians to reach the health department officials at the earliest. “People can contact the officials via 1077 – the toll-free number, 0427-2450022, 2450023 and 2450498 telephone numbers at the earliest,” he added.

Coimbatore: Taxi, auto drivers stare at loss of livelihood

TNN | Mar 25, 2020, 04.24 AM IST

COIMBATORE: Taxi and auto drivers in the city said the imposition of CrPC Section 144, which would be in force until April 1 morning, would hit their earnings hard. Pointing out that they won’t be able to pay EMI on their vehicle loans, they urged the state government to help them by directing banks and other non-banking financial companies to offer them moratorium on loan repayment till the situation improved.

There are more than 3,000 taxi drivers in the city, some of who have tied up with app-based cabs. According to them, their woes started on Sunday when the entire nation shut itself down for janata curfew. Since then, the number of rides has come down by 10 times drastically, they said.

T G Sivanath, a taxi driver, said earlier he used to earn anywhere between Rs 1,800 and Rs 2,500 a day. “But since the curfew, my earnings have plunged to Rs 200 a day. There is no hope of getting any rides in the coming days as Section 144 would be in place.” The state, in its notification on Section 144, has exempted only those taxis running to and from airports, hospitals and residences. In this scenario, Sivanath said, they won’t get long rides.

P Babu, another taxi driver, said earlier he used to get 17 to 18 trips in the city in 10 hours. He had been roaming around the city idly in his vehicle for the past three days, barring occasional trips. “I usually shell out Rs 500 daily on fuel. But in the past three days I have spent only Rs 300 and that too i couldn’t recover from the trips,” he said.

The drivers said they had mailed the cab aggregator firms, which replied that they were mulling ways to help the former. They appealed to the state to take cognizance of their situation and direct banks and non-banking financial entities to give them moratorium on loan repyment until everything returned to normalcy.

Similarly, there are around 13,000 auto-rickshaws in the city and another 2,000 in rural parts. P K Sugumaran, general secretary, Coimbatore District Auto Workers’ Union, said, “Their livelihood is also at stake. It is only fair that the state announces a moratorium on loan repayment.”