Space below three flyovers in city to be turned into leisure places for the public

Space below three flyovers in city to be turned into leisure places for the public

Komal Gautham@timesgroup.com

Chennai:13.08.2021

The space under flyovers is either used for dumping construction debris or as illegal parking space for street hawkers. This is set to change in the next few months, as the civic body has launched a drive to identify and beautify these spaces.

The first three flyovers in the pipeline are the Gandhi Mandapam flyover, G K Moopanar flyover and Pantheon Road flyover.

Under the chief minsiter’s Singara Chennai project, the civic body is teaming up with Chennai metro rail and the state highways department to beautify these idle spaces with water fountains, flowering plants, art work and seating arrangements.

A joint inspection was also held on Thursday when the civic body finalized the Koyambedu junction for the next renovation project along with the CMRL. The work at Kathipara flyover is nearing completion.

Gagandeep Singh Bedi, corporation commissioner, said they review the beautification work every 15 days, and recently decided to redesign spaces under flyovers. The corporation alone won't be executing these projects, as metro rail, highways and other departments will also be involved in the process.

Four stretches maintained by CMRL— Koyambedu to Alandur, Tondiarpet to Wimco Nagar, Saidapet to Airport and Alandur to St Thomas Mount will be revamped. Fourteen flyover spaces by state highways department, including Vysarpadi flyover, are also on the revamp list. In total, there are 35 flyovers and about 150 bridges that will be revamped.

The civic body has already set up vertical gardens at the IIT-M flyover, but they now plan to add a small garden, water fountains and seating arrangements. It will be a place where people can hang out. These will be undertaken using CSR funds and some work will be taken up under capital expenditure, said an official.

FACELIFT: The civic body plans to add a small garden, water fountains and seating arrangements at the IIT-M flyover

One-shot Sputnik Light all set for rollout in Sept

One-shot Sputnik Light all set for rollout in Sept

Mumbai:13.08.2021

India’s immunisation plan against Covid-19 may get a shot in the arm soon with the rollout of Russian singledose vaccine Sputnik Light, which will be locally manufactured in September, reports Rupali Mukherjee.

Panacea Biotec, which had earlier partnered Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), has submitted the dossier for seeking emergency-use authorisation to India’s drug regulator recently, sources told TOI. The vaccine is expected to be priced around ₹750. Shortage in supply of the two-dose Sputnik V could be resolved as early as the month-end, with Dr Reddy’s, RDIF’s exclusive distribution partner for India, ramping up supplies, sources added.

Around 5L doses of imported Sputnik vax could be rolled out in India soon

The full rollout of the Sputnik V vaccine was put on hold and is hence lagging, as its imports from Russia were impacted in June. Around five lakh doses of Sputnik V’s component 2 vaccine, which have been imported, could be rolled out in India soon.

“We are also working closely with our partners in India for manufacturing readiness. We expect that locally manufactured doses are likely to be available from the September-October period”, a Dr Reddy’s spokesperson said.

Sputnik Light, developed by Russia’s Gamaleya Institute and backed by RDIF, received emergency use authorisation in Russia in May. It is perceived by experts as more ‘suitable’, given the task of vaccinating a large population even as a possible third wave looms. The Sputnik Light jab has demonstrated nearly 80% efficacy, according to analysed data taken 28 days after the injection was administered in a trial in Russia, an RDIF statement said.

Univs close 102 engineering courses as demand stays low

Univs close 102 engineering courses as demand stays low

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:13.08.2021

Following poor admissions in the past few years, 14 deemed universities in Tamil Nadu including top institutes have closed 102 engineering courses including 62 postgraduate courses from 2021-22, according to data released by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

The discontinued courses vary from traditional engineering courses to highly specialised courses such as civil engineering, electrical and electronics engineering, electronics and instrumentation, power electronics, automobile engineering, nano science and technology and VLSI design and architecture among others.

Around 50 engineering colleges closed 97 engineering courses in Tamil Nadu including 17 colleges which have closed civil engineering course this year, the data showed. As many as four engineering colleges including three in Coimbatore region have got the permission for progressive closure from the technical council from 2021-22. An official from the deemed university which closed postgraduate and undergraduate courses said the main reason for closure of courses was poor enrolment in the past few years.

"The simple reason for closing postgraduate courses is they have no takers. AICTE software is calculating the faculty ratio for all approved courses and showing deficiency for the course which is not offered due to no enrolment. To avoid faculty deficiency, the institutes have closed many postgraduate courses," said S Vaidyasubramaniam, vicechancellor of SASTRA.

Several institutes have closed the part-time degree programmes.

R W Alexander Jesudasan, pro-vice-chancellor, Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science in Chennai, said, the deemed universities will try to revive some of these courses with different course curriculum which will appeal to students and with different nomenclature.

"Higher education system is evolving one. There will be some programmes which will lose their importance and charm and other programmes will gain prominence. The deemed universities and autonomous colleges have freedom to close and introduce new courses depending upon the number of admissions," he added.

MKU to HC: Acting on job panel’s advice

MKU to HC: Acting on job panel’s advice

Madurai:13.08.2021

Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) on Thursday informed the Madras high court that it was acting on the recommendations of the highlevel committee, which was constituted to probe the irregularities in the appointments of teaching and non-teaching faculty made in 2017-18 without following UGC norms. The university also informed the court that the reports of the selection and scrutiny committees would be placed before the syndicate of the university for a decision to be taken with regard to these appointments. Taking cognizance of the submissions, a division bench of justices M Duraiswamy and K Murali Shankar directed MKU to submit the reports before the court. The judges also sought the decision of the syndicate to be placed before the court. TNN

Eleven medical colleges in Tamil Nadu inspected

Eleven medical colleges in Tamil Nadu inspected

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:13.08.2021

The National Medical Commission completed inspections of all the eleven new medical colleges on Thursday.

“Tamil Nadu will add 1,650 seats to the undergraduate seat matrix taking the tally to 5,200 MBBS seats across government medical colleges in the state if all 11 colleges get the sanction from the apex medical body,” health minister Ma Subramanian said.

In addition, the state has applied for 100 more seats in Coimbatore medical college. “We have asked the centre to consider starting admissions to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Madurai this year itself,” he said.

As a part of the national mission to increase the number of medical colleges across the country, the centre granted permission to Tamil Nadu for commencement of 11 new medical colleges in districts in Namakkal, Krishnagiri, Tirupur, Dindigul, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, The Nilgiris, Ariyalur, Nagapattinam, Kallakurichi and Tiruvallur.

The panel of inspectors appointed by the apex medical body verified the infrastructure and human resources facility required to admit students for the first year MBBS course in these newly constructed colleges.

“Inspections are now over. The teams will send in their reports to the committee. Based on the report, the apex body will grant the letter of permission for medical admissions,” said Director of Medical Education Dr R Narayanababu.

New MTC bus routes to help commuters reach offices soon

New MTC bus routes to help commuters reach offices soon

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:  13.08.2021

The Metropolitan Transport Corporation has launched services along nine new routes to help people reach work places faster. It also revived services along 14 routes that were stopped due to poor patronage.

After the inauguration on Thursday, transport minister R S Rajakannapan said 30 buses will ply along the routes regularly. Buses will be operated from Saidapet and Tondiarpet, connecting southern and northern suburbs with the core city.

State government employees from Todd Hunter Nagar, usually have to change bus two buses to reach the Secretariart, Ezhilgam and other government offices along Kamarajar Salai (Marina beach road). “Direct buses have now been made available from Todd Hunter Nagar to these areas,” said Ma Subramanian, Saidapet MLA and health minister, who was present.

Hundreds of people from Theedeer Nagar, Gotha Medu and Kottupuram along the Adyar were resettled in Kannagi Nagar, Ezhil Nagar and Perumbakkam, but most still have shops in and around Saidapet. A new route (5S) has been launched to help them, said Subramanian.

S Kavi Priya, who works at Olympia Tech Park, is happy more buses will ply from Ekkattuthangal. “Right now, we are left with no other option but to take metro trains to reach Koyambedu or Central from where we can get buses to reach our homes,” she said. MTC revived services along three old routes from Ekkattuthangal to Toll Gate, Broadway and Sunguvarchatram.

NEET could prove to be govt's most troublesome test

NEET could prove to be govt's most troublesome test

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

13.08.2021

In its first 100 days, the DMK government took two major decisions in education. One was to conduct reexam for more than 4.25 lakh engineering students who appeared for a proctored online test in February. Second, when a majority of parents and teachers wanted the Class XII state board exams to be held, CM Stalin decided to cancel them based on views of medical experts.

Academics called the first move regressive. Anna University was the only state university in the country to come up with proctored online tests to conduct a semblance of an exam during the pandemic. Instead of helping other state universities develop such online assessment tools and improve assessment standard, the state brought down the standard of Anna University exams to the level of other universities.

The second decision had to be taken in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. The government had to come up with a weightage system keeping in mind the interests of rural and urban students and gave 50% weightage to Class X board exam marks. It affected the top scoring students as there was little difference between them and others. A majority of students and parents, however, were happy in the end.

There are many positives in the approach of the new government. It appointed a committee headed by Justice A K Rajan to study the impact of NEET in medical admissions and another headed by Justice D Murugesan to study the representation of government school students in professional courses.

Now, with schools and colleges set to reopen physical classes, more challenges await the government. They include bringing back dropouts, preventing child marriages and retaining students in government schools. More than 2 lakh children moved to government and aided schools from private schools. Government colleges and state universities are crippled with faculty shortages and financial crises. At least three state universities are on the verge of collapse. Education will be one of the key parameters in which the success or failure of the DMK government will be rated.