Thiruporur bypass to be ready by January

Thiruporur bypass to be ready by January

After acquiring the land, it may take at least six months for completing the works, according to official sources.

Published: 23rd August 2021 03:25 AM |

For representational purposes

By B Anbuselvan

Express News Service

CHENNAI: After a prolonged delay, one of the two bypasses proposed along Old Mahabalipuram Road at Thiruporur will finally be completed by January, said a senior official from Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC).

This will help motorists heading towards Puducherry and Mamallapuram enter ERC by skipping the congested Thiruporur Junction. Meanwhile, another bypass proposed at Kelambakkam is facing hurdles as a portion of road passes through a saltpan. After acquiring the land, it may take at least six months for completing the works, according to official sources.

As part of widening of 25-km IT Expressway (Rajiv Gandhi Salai) from Siruseri to Mamallapuram into six-lane, two six-lane bypasses were proposed at Thiruporur and Kelambakkam under Tamil Nadu Investment Promotion Programme (TNIPP) phase II.

In the first stage, TNRDC took up construction of two bypasses in 2018 at a cost of Rs 247 crore and planned to complete it by 2020. However, works got delayed due land acquisition issues and lockdown.

The 7.45-km long Thiruporur bypass proposes to connect Kalavakkam village with Thandalam, skipping Thiruporur junction.

To facilitate smooth passage of locals, a pedestrian underpass will be built at Hindustan Engineering College in Pudur. Similarly, Kelambakkam bypass road which starts at Pudur in OMR and ends at Thaiyur village, will cover the 4.67-km distance without entering Kelambakkam.

“As per the Centre’s guidelines, we can commence construction works only after remitting the land acquisition cost. Recently, the State government released `95 crore for the project. The saltpan will be acquired after approval from the salt commissioner, and it may take at least six months for completion of road works,” said the official.

S Kumaravel, a resident of Kelambakkam said, “Even during lockdown, Kelambakkam and Thiruporur Junctions were facing huge traffic snarls. Taking advantages of the lockdown, several long-pending projects were completed in other States, but the six laning of OMR which has been delayed for more than 10 years, is still moving at a snail’s pace.” As per the traffic survey in 2017, vehicle volume in OMR was 75,000 a day and is projected to reach one lakh over the next three to five years.

Avoid crowding medical colleges in Chennai, other TN cities: Madras HC

Avoid crowding medical colleges in Chennai, other TN cities: Madras HC

Since the government counsel submitted that the applications seeking approval for the colleges are pending before the NMC, the judge disposed of the petition by calling it premature.

Published: 24th August 2021 05:13 AM 

Madurai Bench of Madras High Court

By Express News Service

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court recently advised the National Medical Commission (NMC) and the State Government to avoid establishing medical colleges in and around Chennai or other cities where medical colleges already exist.

A division bench of Justices, N Kirubakaran and B Pugalendhi observed, “Once a medical college is established, it is not only for teaching the medical students but also for treating the people residing in that area. Crowding medical colleges in one area will not help the people at large.”

Therefore, the National Medical Commission has to see that the approval is granted only to the colleges established in the area where there is no medical college at all so that the treatment facilities in the ‘unserved area’ could be improved, judges opined.

“The court hopes that in future, the State government, as well as the National Medical Commission, would not approve any medical college in and around Chennai or in any other city which has already got enough medical colleges like Pondicherry,” they said.

The judges voiced the opinion in a petition filed by a medical aspirant last year, seeking direction to include 11 newly established government medical colleges in the 2020-2021 medical counselling.

Since the government counsel submitted that the applications seeking approval for the colleges are pending before the NMC, the judge disposed of the petition by calling it premature. They gave the above suggestion after noting that out of the 25 private medical colleges in the State, over 16 colleges are located in and around Chennai.

Govt ‘summons’ Infy CEO after tax portal outage

Govt ‘summons’ Infy CEO after tax portal outage

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:23.08.2021

A day after the income tax portal became “unavailable”, the finance ministry on Sunday said it has “summoned” Infosys CEO Salil Parekh on Monday to explain why errors have not been fixed even two-and-a-half months after the platform was launched.

Although the “emergency maintenance” of the site was completed on Sunday evening, and it went live again, the shutdown had caused considerable embarrassment. On Saturday, Infosys had tweeted about a “planned maintenance”, though the tax department had remained silent about it until about 2pm on Sunday when it tweeted about the Infosys CEO being “summoned”. During this time, users had come across a message, saying the “portal is going through a maintenance”.

Last week, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj was regularly monitoring the issue and the glitches would be removed soon.

‘I-T portal launched without enough tests’

Government functionaries have asked Parekh to meet them again on Monday.

This is the second time that the government has publicly named Infosys in the case. Two months ago, the company brass held consultations with the FM and other stakeholders after she had flagged the concerns on social media, hours after the June 7 launch.

Sunday’s tweet points to the government’s growing impatience over the quality of service offered by Infosys, with GST Network and MCA-21 (for corporate filings and database) being other assignments where the Indian tech giant’s role has come under the lens. While the government has repeatedly blamed the IT vendor for the problems with the new income tax portal, it has offered no response on how a faulty system was allowed to go live by officials handling the high-profile project. Some of their colleagues and former tax officials have suggested that sufficient tests were not conducted before the system was launched.

A source said the portal was ready for launch last year itself, but rollout was planned to be done in phases, a decision that was changed later. A questionnaire sent to the Central Board of Direct Taxes on Sunday remained unanswered, while Bajaj did not respond to text messages. In the past too, tax authorities have refused to offer any explanation on how the department had failed to spot multiple glitches in the platform. The problems with the portal have already prompted the tax department to offer some concessions. Besides, officials have blamed the snags for a massive slowdown in tax refunds.

Between April and August 16, refunds added up to Rs 49,696 crore against close to Rs 96,000 crore between April and August 25 last year. The number of refunds which added up to over 25.5 lakh till August 25, 2020, have dropped to 22.7 lakh so far this year. Also, repeated disruptions have led to demands to defer the deadline for filing returns apart from seeking other relaxations.

Although some experts had suggested reverting to the earlier system till the issues in the new portal were sorted out, Sitharaman has ruled out the possibility. “While several of the issues have been resolved, new problems keep coming up,” a leading CA said.

“The new e-filing portal was expected to replace the existing e-filing portal. It was viewed to create a strong technology backbone by enabling (a) host of new functionalities to taxpayers, including enhancement of look, feel and usage experience. We regret to say that after the expiry of more than two months, the portal is still not functioning and is suffering from several serious problems,” the Bombay Chartered Accountants’ Society said in a letter to the FM on August11.

Sunday’s tweet points to the government’s growing impatience over the quality of service offered by Infosys

Sacked engg faculty now in demand, get hired for a day as colleges eye affiliation

Sacked engg faculty now in demand, get hired for a day as colleges eye affiliation

Nirupa.Vatyam@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:23.08.2021

Engineering faculty members, who were relieved during the pandemic, are now said to be in demand as several colleges are hiring them for the one-day inspection to get affiliation for the academic year 2021-22.

Colleges are said to be paying ₹15, 000 to ‘act’ as faculty for one day and are looking for ratified faculty with all necessary documents-- Selection Committee Meeting (SCM) record, faculty ID and relieving letter. Messages are said to have been sent out through third-party consultancies to lure faculty who are without pay for the last one-and-half years or so. “Vacancies for M Tech-CSE visiting faculty. Certificate verification. Only a single visit ₹15,000. Only ratified candidates having 2020 and 2021 as relieving years are eligible,” read a message received by some of the faculty members in the state.

Faculty said that a majority of colleges are having openings across the branches and have been hiring thousands of them since the last week to have the required number of faculty members for inspection. “When I called on the number mentioned in the message, they said that they will hire immediately and that I just have to go on the inspection day,” said a faculty member, who used to work in the computer science engineering department at a private college. In the state, there are about 175 engineering colleges, of these, majority are affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad (JNTUH).

While JNTUH officials said that about 25, 000 faculty members are working as engineering faculty in affiliated colleges, faculty members claimed that not even 50% of these faculty are being paid salaries and many of them have been sacked during the pandemic. The JNTUH officials questioned why faculty members are supporting managements by accepting their offer for a day. “There is no way for us to see if a faculty member just came for inspection or has been working in that particular college. Faculty should not take up such offers as we go by the data uploaded by colleges on our website and verify the same when our teams go for inspection,” said an official. The official added that if found guilty, the number of seats will be reduced according to faculty-student ratio. Colleges have time till 7 pm on Monday to apply for affiliation with a 100% late fee.

Colleges are said to be paying ₹15, 000 to ‘act’ as faculty for one day and are looking for ratified faculty with all necessary documents— Selection Committee Meeting record, faculty ID and relieving letter

Faculty demand biometric attendance at engg colleges

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad:

To put a check on ‘fake faculty’ being hired by engineering colleges, the faculty demanded that the officials make biometric/iris attendance mandatory and conduct reinspection if there are any discrepancies in the faculty details submitted during the inspection and biometric attendance.

They said that in the next one week or so, the technical education department officials or universities concerned should take this step and initiate action against thousands of faculty members and college managements, who are joining in colleges just for one day. “The officials should take stern action against erring managements and faculty as per the All India Council for Technical Education norms,” said A Santosh Kumar, president, Telangana Schools Technical Colleges Employees Association.

Faculty members said that the officials should cancel the affiliation and blacklist faculty members if they are found violating norms.

They alleged that the factfinding committees (FFC), which are inspecting colleges, are not even checking bank statements of the faculty to see if college managements are paying salaries regularly to faculty members and are only going by the count given by the managements. They said that FFC should strictly verify whether the colleges have required infrastructure and faculty and only then grant affiliation to colleges for the current academic year.

தாம்பரம் புதிய மாநகராட்சி ஆகிறது

தாம்பரம் புதிய மாநகராட்சி ஆகிறது

தாம்பரம்

23.08.2021

தமிழக தலைநகர் சென்னையின் புறநகரில் அமைந்துள்ள தாம்பரம் நகராட்சி, மாநகராட்சியாக தரம்உயர்த்தப்பட உள்ளது. இதற்கானஅறிவிப்பு பேரவையில் நாளைவெளியாகும் என தெரிகிறது.

சட்டப்பேரவைத் தேர்தல் பிரச்சாரத்தின்போது திமுக சார்பில் பல்வேறு உள்ளாட்சி அமைப்புகள் தரம் உயர்த்தப்படும் என வாக்குறுதி அளிக்கப்பட்டது. அதன்படி தமிழகம் முழுவதும் 29 பேரூராட்சிகள், நகராட்சிகளாக தரம் உயர்த்த திட்டமிடப்பட்டுள்ளது. அதேபோல் தாம்பரம் நகராட்சியும் மாநகராட்சியாக தரம் உயர்த்தப்படவுள்ளது. இதற்கான அறிவிப்பு நாளை சட்டப்பேரவையில் உள்ளதாக தகவல்கள் வெளியாகியுள்ளன.

நகராட்சிகளாக தரம் உயரும் பேரூராட்சிகளின் பட்டியல்: காஞ்சிபுரம் மாவட்டம் - மாங்காடு, குன்றத்தூர்; செங்கல்பட்டு மாவட்டம் - நந்திரவம், கூடுவாஞ்சேரி; திருவள்ளூர் மாவட்டம் - பொன்னேரி, திருநின்றவூர்; கரூர் மாவட்டம் - புஞ்சை புகளூர், டின்.பி.எல். புகளூர்; ராணிப்பேட்டை மாவட்டம் - சோளிங்கர்; சேலம் மாவட்டம் - இடங்கனசாலை, தாரமங்கலம்; திருப்பூர் மாவட்டம் - திருமுருகன்பூண்டி; கோயம்புத்தூர் மாவட்டம் - கூடலூர், காரமடை, கருமத்தம்பட்டி, மதுக்கரை;

விழுப்புரம் மாவட்டம் - கோட்டகுப்பம்; கள்ளக்குறிச்சி மாவட்டம் - திருக்கோவிலூர்; தஞ்சாவூர் மாவட்டம் - அதிராம்பட்டினம்; திருநெல்வேலி மாவட்டம் - சுரண்டை, களக்காடு; சிவகங்கை மாவட்டம் - மானாமதுரை; தூத்துக்குடி மாவட்டம் - திருச்செந்தூர்; கன்னியாகுமரி மாவட்டம் - கொல்லன்கோடு; புதுக்கோட்டை மாவட்டம் - ஆலங்குடி, இலுப்பூர், பென்னமராவதி; கடலூர் மாவட்டம் - திட்டக்குடி, பெண்ணாடம், வடலூர் போன்ற பேரூராட்சிகள் நகராட்சிகளாக தரம் உயர்த்தப்பட உள்ளன.

அதேபோல் தாம்பரம் நகராட்சி அருகில் உள்ள நகராட்சி மற்றும் பேரூராட்சிகளை இணைத்து மாநகராட்சியாக தரம் உயர்த்தப்படவுள்ளது. அதன்படி தாம்பரம், பல்லாவரம், பம்மல், அனகாபுத்தூர், செம்பாக்கம் ஆகிய நகராட்சிகளையும், திருநீர்மலை, மாடம்பாக்கம், பெருங்களத்தூர், பீர்க்கன்காரணை, சிட்லபாக்கம் ஆகிய பேரூராட்சிகளையும் இணைத்து தாம்பரம் மாநகராட்சியாக அறிவிப்பு வெளியாகவுள்ளது. இதில் தாம்பரம், பல்லாவரம் அருகே உள்ள 15 கிராம ஊராட்சிகள் இணைக்கப்படவில்லை என்பது குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.

உள்ளாட்சி அமைப்பு தரம் உயர்த்தப்படுவதால் சமச்சீரான வளர்ச்சியைப் பெறும் என்பதால் பொதுமக்கள் மத்தியில் நல்ல வரவேற்பு உள்ளது. சட்டப்பேரவை கூட்டத்தொடரில் அறிவிப்பு வெளியாகும் என தகவல் மகிழ்ச்சி அளிக்கிறது. ஆனால், அதிமுக, திமுக கட்சியினரிடையே இதற்கு பெரிய வரவேற்பு இல்லை.

காரணம் தலைவர்கள், கவுன்சிலர்கள் எண்ணிக்கை குறைந்துவிடும். இதனால், தங்களுக்கு பதவி கிடைக்காது என்பதால் தரம் உயர்வதை அவர்கள் விரும்பவில்லை என சமூக ஆர்வலர்கள் கூறினர்.

UAE to let in Indians with tourist visas, but with riders

UAE to let in Indians with tourist visas, but with riders

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:23.08.2021

Indian citizens will now be allowed to visit the UAE on tourist visa if they have not been in India for 14 days prior, according to Dubai-based flydubai. The visitors will need to follow other pandemic-time requirements.

“Passengers carrying passports of India, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan or Uganda with tourist visas can be accepted if they have not entered or been in India, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Uganda in the previous 14 days. PCR requirements will be based on the country of departure,” says the flydubai website.

The UAE has been slowly opening up for Indians after imposing restrictions on travellers from here in Aprilend. In the past few weeks, it has been gradually allowing more categories of visitors from India. Indian citizens with a valid US visa/green card or with a residency of UK/EU are now eligible for UAE’s visa-on-arrival. The visitors will need to follow all pandemic time requirements for travel.

Full report on www.toi.in

Non-practising allowance for in-service docs

Non-practising allowance for in-service docs

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:23.08.2021

The Gujarat government on Sunday approved a non-practising allowance for inservice doctors of government hospitals and teachers of the Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society (GMERS) medical colleges, in line with the 7th Pay Commission’s recommendation.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who also holds the state health portfolio, announced this as the "Rakshabandhan gift" for the doctors and medical college teachers, who were pressing for it and had even gone on strike over the demand.

“Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel has approved NPA as per the 7th Pay Commission to the eligible in-service doctors of government hospitals and GMERS medical college teachers as a Rakshabandhan gift,” said a note on Patel's Facebook page. The nod comes a few months after the state government in May approved the NPA for teachers of six government medical colleges, as per the 7th Pay Commission, as a condition for them to call off their strike along with teachers of eight GMERS medical colleges.

The GMERS medical colleges are semi-government institutions established under the Gujarat Medical Education and Research Society of the state health department. PTI