More cops at check posts as many try to sneak out of city

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:4.5.2020

Police have increased strength at check posts on the outskirts of the city following reports that many people were trying to leave Chennai without valid vehicle passes or supporting documents.

A check post at Vandalur now has a 30-member team headed by a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) to ensure documents are checked faster and vehicles carrying essential items don’t wait for long in queues.

On Saturday, many vehicles tried to get out of the city despite not having passes citing personal reasons; and some even had false documents, said a senior police officer from Chengelpet district. “On an average, 10-15 such vehicles were caught and sent back to Chennai,” he added.

This happened soon after news about lockdown extension was out. Chennai’s Covid-19 figures are on the rise and this could have prompted such attempt, say officers at the check post.

Officials of Greater Chennai Corporation, authorised to issue vehicle passes for interdistrict movement for death, pre-fixed marriages or medical conditions, however, did not witness any sudden rise in number of applications.

On Saturday, 1,357 people applied for leaving Chennai, 292 were approved and the rest rejected, according to official data. This was close to the figures reported every day since the lockdown began on March 24.

Overall, nearly 36,000 applied to leave Chennai during the lockdown period (till May 2) and over two-third of applications were rejected.

Most of the rejections were repeated claims and the applicants didn’t have proper ID cards, supporting documents or a valid reason authorised by the government, to leave Chennai, said a senior corporation official.

To a question on crosschecking of supporting documents submitted by applicants, the official said, “Only a couple of cases have eluded our screening and they were caught at police check posts in other districts. So over 99%, it has gone smooth”.

From Monday, all vehicle epasses will be processed by the corporation through http://tnepass.tnega.org/, he said.

LEFT IN THE LURCH: Guest workers who gathered outside the Pallikaranai police station on Sunday said there has been no communication from the government on when they will be sent back home

Vehicles lined up at Perungalathur police check post

Krishnagiri trick: Why the green matters

D.Govardan@timesgroup.com

4.5.2020

Even as the admission of a 67-year-old Nallur resident of Krishnagiri district, who tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday, to Salem government hospital set off speculations over the move, the 8,000-odd industrial units, both large and small, in the district are awaiting the directive from the district collector to resume operations from this week.

While the admission of the Nallur resident at the Salem hospital has helped Krishnagiri district remain in the green zone, representatives of the industrial units in the region say it will not make a big difference – whether the district remains in green or orange zone -- as far as resuming industrial operations are concerned. However, they said the patient might have been transferred to the neighbouring district due to pressure from large industrial units. Remaining in the green zone helps such units to deploy 50% of workforce, they said.

“There is no correlation between zones and industries. The district did not have a single patient and this patient, despite being a native of Krishnagiri, is an import from Andhra Pradesh,” district collector S Prabhakar reiterated on Sunday. “The vehicle was intercepted at our district border and hence taken to Salem GH,” said Salem district collector S A Raman.

“We are waiting for the directive from our collector to resume industrial activities in the district, especially in the industrial town of Hosur, with several units coming under the limits of the municipal corporation. We cannot take any chances. Hopefully, the directive will come by Monday and after getting the units ready on Tuesday, we can restart operations on Wednesday,” K Ramalingam, president, Hosur Small and Tiny Industries Association (Hostia) told TOI.

According to him, the various industrial units in Krishnagiri together employ around four lakh people, with a sizeable number of them being guest workers. “Only if companies like TVS Motor resume operations, the smaller units will start getting new orders,” said Ramalingam. “I don’t think we are in a position to resume work on Monday. There has been no directive yet,” a TVS company official said, on condition of anonymity.

“There is a large contingent of guest workers and the state government has hardly done anything to help them. While the administration is asking the respective villages to take care of the guest workers, they are suffering a lot. If at least the units resume operations, it could provide them some respite,” said K A Manoharan, a former Congress MLA and national secretary, INTUC.

(With inputs from Senthil Kumaran in Salem)

5 Mumbai hosps fail man who gave dignity to dead

Sumitra.DebRoy@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:4.5.2020

Breathless with depleting oxygen levels, a 52-yearold Dongri man died after allegedly being tossed around from one south Mumbai hospital to another. Calls to 1916, the BMC helpline, yielded no concrete response. Khalid Ali Shaikh passed away early on Saturday, merely four hours after he managed to find a bed at the state-run St George Hospital.

Shaikh had dedicated the last five years of his life to giving a dignified burial to the many who died in the city but whose mortal remains could not be taken to their home in Kerala. He headed a committee formed for the purpose.

“It is unfortunate that my father couldn’t get a chance to fight for his life,” said his son, Shahbaz, adding that they spent two-and-half hours going from hospital to hospital in a taxi on Friday.

They went to five hospitals, of which two tested his father’s oxygen levels. No one was willing to admit him despite his depleting oxygen levels.

The deceased was a diabetic and was suffering from fever and weakness for the past four days, which worsened around 8pm on Friday.

Shahbaz said they hailed a taxi and headed to Prince Aly Khan Hospital in Mazgaon, where his father’s pulse and oxygen saturation levels were checked. “They said his symptoms looked like that of Covid-19 and referred us to HN Reliance Hospital. They even told us his oxygen saturation levels were low,” he said.

They then headed to HN Reliance Hospital in Charni Road, where once again his oxygen levels and pulse rate was measured.

Since the hospital is not a dedicated Covid-19 hospital, it offered to arrange for an ambulance and send Shaikh to SevenHills in Marol, which is a dedicated Covid hospital. A hospital spokesperson said that the son, who was counselled by the doctors and explained everything, was unwilling to take his father all the way to Marol.

“He was breathless already and looked fragile. I didn’t want to make him travel all the way,” the son said.

With an elevated pulse rate of 137 against a normal of 90 to 100 and oxygen saturation level of 89% against a normal of 90% to 100%, they headed to Saifee Hospital in Charni Road. By now, 40 minutes had passed. The person manning the BMC helpline told them he would get back in 45 minutes with the status of beds in hospitals.

The family is yet to receive the dead man’s Covid-19 status report, but has quarantined itself in its home.

Kin claim they were not even allowed inside Saifee hospital

The person manning the BMC helpline told them he would get back in 45 minutes with the status of beds in hospitals. The family claimed that at Saifee they were not even allowed inside.

“My father became unconscious inside the cab. I was allowed to speak with the doctoron-duty over the phone. She told me that all their ventilators were engaged. She said as his respiratory ratio was dropping, he would need life-support immediately and suggested that we try for a bed in Bombay Hospital,” said the son.

He then decided to go to Masina Hospital, where he said they were not allowed to go past the security cabin. “We finally went to Bombay Hospital, where the guard at the emergency department came out and told us that there were no doctors,” the son said.

A spokesperson from the hospital said that they should have gone to the 24-hour casualty. “Bombay Hospital is running a Covid ward. How can there be no doctors?” the spokesperson said.

A Saifee Hospital spokesperson said they would look into the records and get back.

Full report on www.toi.in

It is really unfortunate that my father couldn’t get a chance to fight for his life

— Khalid Ali Shaikh’s son

Banks urge customers not to crowd at branches

04/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,HYDERABAD

The State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC), Telangana on Saturday said the Centre’s ₹500 ex gratia payment to women Jan Dhan account holders for this month will be released from May 4 onwards.

It also announced a schedule of withdrawal for the women Jan Dhan account holders, drawn up as a measure to maintain social distancing, ensure orderly withdrawal and avoid crowding at bank branches.

As per the schedule, beneficiaries whose account numbers end with 0 or 1 are required to visit the branch on May 4, account numbers with last digits 2 or 3 on May 5, last digits 4 or 5 on May 6, last digits 6 or 7 on May 8, and last digits 8 or 9 on May 11. The credit into their account would be advised through SMS by respective banks. After May 12, the beneficiaries may go to the CSP(BC)/ATM/branch on any day as per the normal banking hours.

SLBC convenor and State Bank of India General Manager U.N.N. Maiya said customers can withdraw as per their requirement and convenient time. Withdrawal facility is also available at India Post Payment Banks if Aadhaar numbers are mapped to accounts.

Govt. support

As regards Telangana government’s support of providing ₹1,500 each to Food Security Card (white ration card) holders, for this month, the SLBC said the amount will be credited into the accounts of beneficiaries from May 2 onwards.

e-Pass initiative get overwhelming response

Dashboard crashes soon as it goes live

04/05/2020, ABHINAY DESHPANDE,HYDERABAD

The e-pass dashboard of Telangana police website crashed as soon as it went live, thanks to an ‘overwhelming’ response from people applying to leave the State.

The extreme web traffic on the said website caused a server error and users were unable to access the dashboard for hours on Sunday. Director General of Police M Mahender Reddy on Sunday evening announced the e-Pass initiative for those stranded in Telangana.

Officials had anticipated big numbers but were still surprised by the rush of web users that led to the crash. For now, police have clarified that e-passes will be issued only to those who have already arranged vehicles for their own travel, as opposed to those who are looking for support from the government for movement. While hordes of people with private vehicles applied for the e-pass, police officials said that many who have booked cabs or hired private vehicles for their commute have also applied. Details of the vehicle and passengers are required to be uploaded on the e-pass dashboard for securing the permit online.

Access issues

Even though police issued e-passes to thousands of applicants within hours of them having submitted their documents, the sheer load of scanned copies of documents going online at the same time resulted in access issues for many users, officials clarified. The dashboard crash has also resulted in delaying e-pass clearance for many, and in this manner, web traffic kept spiking up every time the dashboard was restored.

Speaking to The Hindu, a senior police officer said that on Sunday alone police units across the State issued 7,749 e-Pass for inter-State travel, while the number of applications was over 14,000.

“Concerned units will clear the application. Hundreds of passes were rejected due to lack of details,” the officer said.

Once the application is approved, the applicant will get a link of e-pass through SMS, which will be honoured by all the State across the country. The officer said that many applied for post date travel permission, which resulted in delay of ‘urgent’ passes.

‘TTD Chairman did not violate norms by visiting temple’

Contract of sanitation staff extended by a month

04/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,TIRUPATI

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) management has brushed aside the allegations that doing the rounds in a section of the media that trust board Chairman Y.V. Subba Reddy got the Venkateswara temple opened on Friday and had darshan on his birthday.

In a release, the TTD has maintained that the temple opens everyday during the lockdown period and the mandatory rituals are being performed in ‘ekantam’ (private).

“Vested with the powers to supervise the rituals in the TTD temples, Mr. Subba Reddy, along with his mother and spouse, visited Tirumala on May 1 as part of the task entrusted to him,” the release said.

As a practice that has been followed since years, the TTD Trust Board Chairman participates in the ‘Abhishekams’ on two Fridays a month. Coincidentally, May 1 (Friday) was his birthday, the release explained.

The TTD management has also refuted the alleged removal of 1,300 sanitary workers. The release clarified that the term of the sanitary facilitation contractor ended on April 30 and no tender proceedings were pursued during the lockdown period as per the court directions.

However, the TTD has extended the contract period for one more month on humanitarian grounds, the release added.

Delhi Metro makes over 3,500 trips to keep system ready for operations

Ventilation, AC systems being checked, cleaned during lockdown

04/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

The DMRC suspended operations after the lockdown was imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19.PTIRC

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Sunday said that since the suspension of services due to the nationwide lockdown, which began on March 22, over 3,500 trips have been made by metro trains to keep the system ready to resume operations.

The Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system of over 2,000 train coaches have been checked and a first-ever drive to clean HVAC systems of around 1,200 coaches with special chemicals by effectively utilizing the lockdown was also carried out, the DMRC said.

“This exercise would have otherwise lingered over longer periods due to train availability in normal scenario as carrying out such massive exercise has always been an issue in the past as trains run up to 20 hours a day. This thorough cleaning exercise would result in better air-conditioned environment in the summers,” the DMRC said.

It added that 3,500 workers employed in various Delhi metro sites are being taken care of since the beginning of the lockdown. All basic amenities including medical care are being provided to them. Over 110 reimbursable online courses have been provided for the DMRC to enhance their professional skills and knowledge during the lockdown period, the DMRC said.

Speaking on the 26th Foundation Day of the DMRC, its Managing Director, Mangu Singh congratulated the employees and said, “Today, the Delhi metro stands as one of the largest metro systems in the world with a massive network of 360 kilometres, 264 stations and 14 depots and more than 60,00,000 journeys with a punctuality of over 99%.”

Highlighting the achievements during the year gone by, the DMRC said that the Dwarka-Najafgarh metro corridor was inaugurated on October 4, 2019, taking the metro for the first time to outer Delhi, areas of west Delhi and the work for Delhi metro’s Phase 4 also commenced on December 30, 2019 on the Janakpuri West-RK Ashram corridor.