FCRA deadline extended but no relief for MoC

---

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:

01.01.2022

The home ministry on Friday extended the validity of Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) licences expiring between September 29, 2020 and March 31, 2022. This move comes as a relief for NGOs and associations that have applied for renewal of their registration under the Act but are still awaiting a decision. The extension has been given until March 31, 2022 or till the disposal of their application, whichever is earlier.

The ministry, however, clarified that the FCRA licences of NGOs whose renewal plea has already been turned down, shall not be eli- gible for the extension. This essentially means that the Missionaries of Charity, an NGO founded by Mother Teresa, became ineligible for receiving any fresh foreign contributions or utilising foreign funds received by it, right from the day — December 25, 2021 — the MHA rejected its FCRA renewal application due to “adverse inputs”.

This is the third time that the MHA has extended the validity of FCRA registration certificates of NGOs who had applied for their renewal after September 29, 2020. The original deadline of May 31, 2021was extended to September 30, 2021. Thereafter, it was further extended to December 31, 2021.

Panel to probe HoD’s ‘gift’ demand

Panel to probe HoD’s ‘gift’ demand

BJMC ENT Head Asked A Student To Gift Her Drill Set, Allege Junior DocsTIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad: 01.01.2022

During the Christmas season when children usually expect gifts from Santa Claus, a senior faculty at a medical college in Ahmedabad is facing an investigation on allegations of ill-treatment and demanding gifts from her

students.

In a  letter to the  faculty dean, Gujarat University, the Junior Doctors’ Association has alleged that  the head of the ENT department at BJ Medical College (BJMC), Ila Upadhyay, asked one of her students resident doctor Saurabh Banerjee to gift her a micro-meter drill set.

“When the student refused to gift her the medical device, he was threatened that his senior residency would be terminated. Using her position, she has tried to take undue favours in the form of gifts. We want the authori-ty to take immediate action against her else we will launch a protest,” said JDA vice-president Oman Prajapati, a student at the ENT department.

In a video message circulated on social media, Banerjee is seen narrating how the HoD demanded the drill set, his refusal and the alleged harassment by her.

Sources in the department said Banerjee had recently gone on leave andt here was an issue regarding the forwarding of his application.

Upadhyay, head of the ENT department, said no such incident had taken place and that she was being targeted. “There are already three drill machines in the department, so why should I demand one from the students?” Upadhyay said.

Jayesh Sachdeva, the faculty dean at Gujarat University, said they have received a complaint in the matter. “We have decided to form a three-member committee to investigate it. The findings of the committee will be sent to the state government for further action,” said Sachdeva.

In another letter to the college authorities, signed by ENT department students, they have written about alleged harassment in the department under the HoD.

New guidelines out for govt offices

 New guidelines out for govt offices

---

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Gandhinagar: 01.01.2022

The general administration department (GAD) of the state government has issued fresh guidelines to be followed in government offices in view of the rising cases of Covid-19 across the state. The new guidelines will come into force from Saturday, January 1.

All visitors to the secretariat compound will need fully vaccinated certificate for entry into the complex. Entry passes will be issued only if a person is fully vaccinated.

Thenotification, signed by ACS, GAD, A K Rakesh, said the guidelines will be applicable to all other offices of the government, semi-government, boards, corporation, local self-government bodies and bodies availing grants by the government.

Meanwhile, the state home department issued a notification extending night curfew in eight big cities, until January 7. Night curfew will remain in force from 11 pm to 5 am in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Gandhinagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh and Bhavnagar.

The notification has made a specific mention of wearing a face cover compulsorily in all public places, workplaces and public transport. The notification also states that a social distancing of at least six feet has to be maintained and spitting in public places will attract a fine according to provisions of the law.

97 new corona cases in Surat

Surat: Three persons with no travel history have tested positive for the Omicron in Surat on Friday, even as Diamond city recorded 97 fresh cases of the Covid-19. Surat district registered19 more cases. Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) health officials said that 12 school and college students tested positive for Covdi-19 on Friday.

41 fresh Covid cases in Vadodara

Vadodara: The consistent increase of new Covid-19 cases continued in the city and district with 41new cases reported on Friday. The West Zone of the city remained the worst affected with15 new cases being reported there. The new cases in the city and district were identified from 6,087 tests.

TNN

 

Doctor, 36, arrested in dowry case

---

Erode:  01.01.2022

The Erode all-woman police arrested a 36-yearold doctor on charges of demanding dowry from his wife, who is also a doctor. Dr S Anoop, 36, of Idaiyankode near Vilavankode in Kanyakumari district had married Dr Divya Sarona,35, of KK Nagar in Erode, in 2010. She works at Erode Government Hospital. Police said Anoop received 117 sovereigns of gold jewels and ₹32 lakh from Divya’s father Dharmaraj as dowry during their marriage. Recently, the couple got separated after Anoop demanded ₹10 lakh more from Divya as dowry.

TNN

Come June, city airport all set to get swanky upgrades

Come June, city airport all set to get swanky upgrades

Chennai:  01.01.2022

With a brand-new terminal and two multi-level car parking complexes, all set to open inJune, the year 2022 is going to be a crucial year for the development of Chennai airport. While the terminal construction is still underway, car parking complexes, which include a mall, a hotel, and a multiplex, area lmost complete and will be opened by June.

The expansion is being taken after 2013 when the domestic and international terminals were commissioned. Wo rks to rebuild the existing international arrivals, add more aircraft parking bays, a parallel taxiway, MRO, altogether will make the airport capable of handling 35million passengers. The deadline for these expansion works is set for 2024.

Airport director Sharad Kumar said that the new integrated terminal and the parking complexes will be completed and ready by June 2022. “The year is going to be crucial because the new facilities aregoing to open. These will help improve passenger experience and the airport's passenger handling capacity. ” The last section of the truss forthe roof of the terminal was installed recently. “The new terminal will have modern facilities including the infrastructure needed to implement bio-metric driven passenger entry and more countersforcheck-in and immigration,”he a dded.

The integrated terminal with facilities for DiGi Yatra service – a face recognitionbased digitalprocessingof passengers will be implemented after the ministry’s approval. The parking complexes, which can accommodate around 2000cars, were supposed to open by early 2021 but the deadline had to be moved to the end of the year, and has been postponed further due to the slowing work and rain.

The AAI has started discussions with airlines, immigration, customs, and other agencies to shift the international arrivals to the new building so that the old terminal can be pulled down to build a new one.

Sources said that capacity addition on the terminal side and to the airside, by adding aircraft bays and taxiways, were being planned and executed because there was a delay in deciding on the construction of a second city airport.

 

HC docks salary of two inspectors

Didn’t Execute NBW Against An Accused

---

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:

01.01.2022

The Madras high court has directed the Chennai police commissioner to recover salary paid to two women inspectors who failed to execute a non-bailable warrant issued against a person accused of domestic violence. Justice P Velmurugan said that the officers are not entitled to receive salary during the period as they failed to perform their duties as station house officers.

“Therefore, the commissioner is directed to take departmental action against the two delinquent officials and recover their salary during their period as station house officer in Anna Nagar all women police station and remit the same back to the government and file an action taken report on the same, before this court as early as possible preferably before February 2022,” the court said. The issue pertains to a plea moved by Parimala, who had filed a domestic violence case against her husband. On October 23, 2010, a mahila court had issued a NBW against her husband since he failed to appear before the court.

However, even after repeated reminders, the Anna Nagar all women police failed to execute the NBW. Aggrieved, Parimala moved the high court.

When the plea came up for hearing, the court ordered the appearance of the inspectors who were in charge of the station at the relevant point of time. Inspectors Dhanalakshmi and Selvi appeared before the court but failed to satisfactorily explain why they did not execute the NBW.

Recording the submissions, the court said, “The two delinquent officers being public servants and getting salary from the public money, did not perform their duty satisfactorily and failed to obey the order of this court, for which, there is no valid reason offered. ”

Hence, according to this court, they are not entitled for the salary during their period as station house officer in the police station, the judge added.

 

Cracks in ceiling floods PHC

---

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

01.01.2022

The Urban Primary Health Centre in Santhome was flooded on Friday not because storm water entered the building but due to a leakage from cracks in the roof.

Workers were forced to place buckets beneath leakages in the roof of the PHC while sanitation workers spend hours mopping the floor. More than 50 patients who had come to the centre for treatment and vaccination were left in a fix.

R Ramesh, who was at this PHC for vaccination, had raised the issue of leaking ceilings in November on the Namma Chennai app. “But the Corporation has not attended the complaint till now,” he said. He received a response from an assistant engineer that the issue would be addressed shortly.

Nurses and health staff at the centre on condition of anonymity said the leakage issue was there since 2017, when cracks had developed. Civid body officials said they would have to prepare a budget and fix the building. The PHC was inaugurated by chief minister MK Stalin in 2009 when he was the deputy CM.