TNSTC increases bus services

TNSTC increases bus services

09/09/2020

Special Correspondent TIRUNELVELI

The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation increased the bus services to the nearby districts on Tuesday.

As operation of buses to the nearby districts resumed on Monday, buses, which plied to Tenkasi, Thoothukudi, Madurai, Nagercoil, Kovilpatti, Rajapalayam and Tiruchendur, attracted huge crowd. Since the passengers ignored physical distancing even as they travelled to these destinations, the TNSTC management increased the number of buses operated to these places on Tuesday.

“Based on inputs provided by our officials, we are operating around 70% buses,” the authorities said.

Complex jaw surgery done in city hospital

Complex jaw surgery done in city hospital

09/09/2020

Special Correspondent CHENNAI

A 75-year-old chronic tobacco user, diagnosed with Stage IV head and neck cancer, recently underwent a complex single-stage jaw implant reconstructive surgery at MGM Healthcare.

Senior consultant and head of the Institute of ENT at the hospital Sanjeev Mohanty said the cancer had metastasised to the lymph nodes in his neck. They removed the right half of his jaw bone and part of the eft half before reconstructing it.

Senior consultant maxillofacial and dental surgeon Abhilash Ayalur Bhaskaran and his team performed the procedure.

Dr. Mohanty said the surgery had to be done in one sitting to prevent the patient from contracting COVID-19 during hospital visits.

“ The patient was counselled and educated about the procedure so that he could be prepared for it and the follow-up,” he said.

The patient was discharged on the tenth day after surgery. The patient is able to swallow and his breathing functions are intact, Dr. Mohanty added.

Follow Covid norms, CM appeals on phone

Follow Covid norms, CM appeals on phone

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:09.09.2020

To drive home the importance of wearing masks and following social distancing, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will now directly appeal to one crore Delhiites through phone calls.

In the message, which is being broadcasted through phone, radio and other mediums, Kejriwal could be heard saying, “Now, we don’t have to be complacent and let the virus spread further in any circumstances. For the past few days, some people have become a little careless. You have treated me as a part of your family. I don’t want anyone in my family to fall ill. It is a serious disease. So, I am asking you today to swear that whenever you get out of the house, you will wear a mask and follow social distancing.”

He has also urged people to get themselves tested. “Delhi government has made the test free. If you have any symptoms, you should immediately get a test done,” he said.

Agri dept to weed out all ineligible beneficiaries from PM Kisan scheme To Trace Frauds With Aadhaar, Bank Details

Agri dept to weed out all ineligible beneficiaries from PM Kisan scheme

To Trace Frauds With Aadhaar, Bank Details

Team TOI

Chennai:09.09.2020

The state agriculture department has drafted its entire machinery to do complete verification of PM Kisan Scheme beneficiaries in Tamil Nadu to weed out all ineligible beneficiaries from the list before the next instalment of ₹2,000 per small and marginal farmer family – the seventh instalment of the dole – is disbursed in December, said state agriculture secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi. As Aadhaar and bank account details of all the fake beneficiaries are available with the government, none can escape from the probe, he said.

He said 10 teams headed by directors of agriculture and horticulture were carrying out departmental inquiries to identify ineligible beneficiaries and officials who had assisted them in the fraud. “We are zero-tolerant to misuse of government welfare schemes. Action will be taken against all those who are involved in the fraud. We are waiting for the final report from the probe teams,” he said. The departmental probe is in addition to the CB-CID inquiry that is underway.

Bank accounts of about 5 lakh fraudulent claimants have been frozen so far, he said. The state, as of March, had 39 lakh eligible farmers enrolled under the scheme, he said. Inquiries have revealed that around six lakh ineligible people had enrolled in the PM-Kisan Scheme portal in August alone, using the passwords of agricultural department officials. Of them, five lakh entries were from northern districts and the rest were mostly from western districts. About 11,000 fake entries have been detected in Madurai district and 4,800 in Tiruvarur and Karur districts. Fraudulent entries have been reported in Villupuram, Cuddalore, Kallakurichi, Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Ranipet, Tiruppattur, Salem, Dharmapuri, Coimbatore, Chengelpet and Chennai districts also.

Cuddalore collector Chandrashekhar Sakhamurai said 70,709 ineligible beneficiaries had siphoned off ₹14 crore in the district, of which, ₹5 crore has been recovered.

More than 42,000 ineligible beneficiaries have been identified so far in Villupuram district and ₹5 crore has been recovered from their accounts. In Kallakurichi district, two lakh ineligible beneficiaries have been identified and ₹7.3 crore has been recovered from them. Seven people have been arrested from Kallakurichi district.

The PM Kisan Scheme, during its initial one year of existence, could not have been widely misused as the list of beneficiaries – small and marginal farmer families with land holding up to 2 hectares – were identified by a team of agriculture and horticulture officials under the guidance of district collectors. Their documents were validated before enrolling them as beneficiaries, he said. However, later, the Centre allowed left out farmers to upload their data online and allowed block-level officials to validate them. Internet cafes came into play at this stage. Many officials, it is learnt, gave their passwords to internet café owners to do the validation. They misused it as a business opportunity and enrolled multiple people from same family and also faked land records for landless applicants, all for benefits ranging from ₹500-₹1,000 per applicant. As a result, people from Cuddalore and Kallakurichi district got enrolled in Salem district and vice versa. As it developed into a mega syndicate in the last two months, it came under the watchful eyes of some diligent officials, who found an abnormal increase in PM Kisan Scheme applications.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, popularly known as PM-Kisan Scheme, launched in December 2018, the Centre gives financial assistance of ₹6,000 per year to small and marginal farmer families. Under the scheme, the Centre had disbursed ₹2,459 crore to Tamil Nadu farmers till January 30, 2020, as per a reply given by Union minister of agriculture and farmers’ welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar in the Lok Sabha in February.

Passengers keep away from buses, MTC daily revenue hit

Passengers keep away from buses, MTC daily revenue hit

Oppili.P@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 09.09.2020

MTC may have resumed bus services in Chennai, but commuters continued to shun public transportation.

A senior official said many buses returned with poor collection. “Some of the prime routes that usually generate about Rs 5,000 a trip on a normal day did not even fetch Rs 1,000,” he said.

The average per day collection of Rs 3 crore has dropped below Rs 1 crore. The revenue is not sufficient to cover the fuel cost, the official said.

Of the total 3,234 MTC buses, 2,300 are being operated now. Of these, nearly 1,200 buses are run full shift, from morning to night, and the rest are divided into two shifts. In both shifts, nearly 550 buses are operated.

Each vehicle requires 60 litres of diesel, the mileage being 6km a litre. About 50% of buses are more than five years old and hence consume more fuel compared to newer models, the official said.

Another official said people from neighbouring districts working in Chennai are using MTC services as suburban services on the Chennai-Chengalpet, Chennai-Tiruvallur, Chennai-Arakkonam and Chennai-Gummidipoondi routes are not available yet.

These people were solely dependent on suburban train services for their daily commute before the pandemic. Local trains are preferred as season tickets are cheaper when compared to MTC services, he said.

NO TAKERS: An official said buses on prime routes don’t even fetch a fraction of the earlier collection

PGI Rohtak to start phase-2 trial of Bharat Biotech's Covid-19 vaccine

PGI Rohtak to start phase-2 trial of Bharat Biotech's Covid-19 vaccine

Dr Vinod K Paul said that Bharat Biotech's vaccine candidate based on inactivated virus procured by ICMR and Zydus Cadila's candidate based on viral DNA are two Indian vaccines in second phase trial.

Published: 08th September 2020 11:06 AM 

'COVAXIN' was developed and manufactured at the company's Bio-safety Level-III high containment facility at Genome Valley. (Photo| Special Arrangement)

By ANI

ROHTAK: Post Graduate Institute (PGI) Rohtak will start the phase-2 human clinical trial of Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine.

Speaking to ANI, Dr OP Kalra, vice-chancellor, PGI Rohtak said, "We got permission from Bharat Biotech to start a phase-2 human clinical trial of their vaccine. We've 300 volunteers, aged between 12 years and 65- years, out of which screening of 15 has been completed."

"We hope to get vaccine dosages by tomorrow morning," added Kalra.

Recently, Niti Aayog member Dr Vinod K Paul said that Bharat Biotech's vaccine candidate based on inactivated virus procured by ICMR and Zydus Cadila's candidate based on viral DNA are two Indian COVID-19 vaccines in second phase trial.

"In India, Bharat Biotech's vaccine candidate based on inactivated virus procured by ICMR is in the Phase II trial along with Zydus Cadila's candidate which is based on viral DNA. The Oxford vaccine candidate developed by Serum Institute of India is already in Phase III trial in Maharashtra and some other States," he said.

The total coronavirus cases in the country reached 42,04,614 including 8,82,542 active cases, 32,50,429 cured/discharged/migrated and 71,642 deaths, as per the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

NEET PG 2020: MCC notifies on refund process

NEET PG 2020: MCC notifies on refund process: New Delhi: Through a recent notice, the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) has informed about the initiation of the process of Refund for NEET PG 2020 admissions.The MCC has notified the