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VACCINATION

NRIs and Sputnik beneficiaries unable to get boosters now

Neha Madaan TNN

Pune : Thousands of NRIs, who took Covid vaccines other than Covishield or Covaxin and are back in India, now face a unique problem: they are unable to get boosters. Even those who took the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is Covishield in India, are in a fix because their details are not on CoWin.

Sumit Sachdeva, a working professional from Mumbai, said: “My mother was in Australia last year where she got two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. She later returned to India and is now due for her precaution dose. But when we visited a hospital, we were told she can’t get one because there’s no way to register on CoWin the doses she took in Australia. ”

Many NRIs had taken vaccines such as Pfizer abroad. Scores of them had also moved back to India. But they’re unable to get boost- ers as the government only allowed homologous doses.

Asenior official from the health ministry said it would not be possible to import foreign vaccines for a set of beneficiaries. The official, however, added: “The ministry has been getting queries from beneficiaries on this issue. And the matter may be discussed soon by officials. ”

Those who took Sputnik are also having trouble getting boosters. There has been no update from the health ministry on Sputnik Vprecaution doses.

BANK NEWS

SBI denies farmer no-dues cert over 31 paise; HC livid

Ahmedabad : The Gujarat high court rapped State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday for withholding a farmer’s no-dues certificate over an outstanding amount of 31 paise. The farmer needed the certificate to complete a land deal after repaying a loan. The bank told the court that the bank’s charge from the land parcel has not been removed because the farmer still owed 31 paise after repayment of the loan. Justice Bhargav Karia said: “This is too much,” adding that not issuing a no-dues certificate for such a meagre amount is “nothing but harassment”.

“Outstanding of 31 paise? Do you know anything less than 50 paise is to be ignored,” the judge said. A furious Justice Karia told the bank to file an affidavit on the issue and posted the hearing to May 2. In this case, Rakesh Verma and Manoj Verma had purchased a parcel of land in Khoraj village, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, from Shamjibhai Pashabhai and his family.

Earlier, Pashabhai’s family had obtained a crop loan from SBI. Before the loan was repaid, Pashabhai’s family sold the land.

The outstanding amount made the bank place a charge on the land and the new owners’ names could not be entered into the revenue records. The purchasers offered to pay the amount to get the certificate.

As the matter did not progress, the purchasers approached the HC in 2020. During the pendency of the petition, the loan was repaid completely. But the bank still did not issue a no-dues certificate and the land could not be transferred. On Wednesday, the court said that once the loan has been paid, it will direct the bank to issue the certificate.

DENTISTRY

 Few takers for dentistry, 243 seats vacant after 4th round

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad : While all undergraduate seats in the medical, ayurveda and homeopathy courses have been filled in the current intake, it appears that there are few takers for dentistry. 

After three online admission rounds, 289 dental seats remained vacant. To fill these, a fourth round was held on Wednesday for which 500 students were called. At the end of it, 243 seats were still vacant. 

The Admission Committee for Professional Undergraduate Medical Educational Courses (ACPUGMEC) has handed these vacant se- ats back to the colleges who can now admit students on their own. 

Last year, 445 dental seats had gone vacant at the end of the admissions process. Sources said this suggests that interest in dentistry is waning. 

At the beginning of the fourth round of admissions, 1,086 seats were vacant: 418 dental seats, 234 in ayurveda and 434 in homeopathy. After including the seats for which students cancelled admissions, the number of empty seats rose to 1,244, for which 8,154 students provided their preferences. 

The committee will now not allow students who have confirmed admissions in MBBS, ayurveda and homeopathy courses to cancel their admissions.