A COVID-19 patient inhales herbal medicine at a COVID care centre in Kanyakumari district, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. (PTI Photo)Chennai, Tamil Nadu News Highlights: Tamil Nadu on Friday recorded 29,870 cases, pushing the caseload to 30,72,666. With 33 deaths, the toll reached 37,145. As many as 21,684 people got discharged, leaving 1,87,358 active infections. A total of 1,54,282 samples were tested on Friday. The positivity rate stood at 19.36 per cent. As many as 7,038 people got infected with the virus in Chennai, the highest among all districts. Coimbatore (3,653), Chengalpattu (2,250), Kanyakumari (1,248), Thiruvallur (1,016), Salem (1,009), among others, contributed the rest of the infections.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister MK Stalin announced that there will be a complete lockdown on Sunday (January 23). As per the release from the government, the restrictions imposed during the previous Sunday lockdown would be followed this week as well. Exempted from the lockdown are autorickshaws, pre-paid taxis and cab aggregators operating near railway stations and bus stands.
In other news, simplifying cumbersome norms for police personnel here to submit leave applications and to get approval, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday launched a mobile app ‘CLApp’ for them to seek leave and obtain permission.
Trichy: People participate in the 'Jallikattu' event as part of Pongal celebrations, in Trichy, Friday, January 21, 2022. (PTI Photo)
The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Saturday directed the parents of a class 12 girl who allegedly died by suicide to accept her body and perform the last rites today. The court also directed the parents to appear before the Thanjavur Judicial Magistrate to record their statements.
The union territory of Puducherry logged 2,446 fresh coronavirus cases during the last 24 hours taking the overall tally to 1,50,316, a senior official of the Department of Health said on Saturday. Three fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours ending 10 AM on Saturday as the death toll rose to 1,901, Director of Health G Sriramulu said in a release.
The Puducherry region alone accounted for 1,870 of the 2,446 new infections while Karaikal logged 470 cases, followed by Yanam (83) and Mahe (23). The new cases were identified at the end of the examination of 5221 samples, he said. (PTI)
As many as 7,038 people got infected with the virus in Chennai, the highest among all districts. Coimbatore (3,653), Chengalpattu (2,250), Kanyakumari (1,248), Thiruvallur (1,016), Salem (1,009), among others, contributed the rest of the infections.
The Supreme Court has closed the contempt case against nine officials of Tamil Nadu, including former Chief Secretary K Shanmugam in a contempt case after accepting their unconditional apologies and warning them to be "careful in future and to implement directions given by a court of law promptly."
The officials, some of them have retired, were found prima facie guilty of contempt by a bench of justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai for making some of the PWD engineers "run from pillar to post" for getting the benefit of merit-based promotion as directed by the court by a judgement in 2016.
"We have heard the contemnors personally who have expressed remorse for not implementing the directions. They have further stated that they had no intention to violate the directions issued by this court and they have immense respect for this court and the orders passed by it," the bench said while closing the contempt case. (PTI)
The Tamil Nadu government is conducting its mega Covid-19 vaccination camp today across the state to administer vaccine doses to people. As many as 1600 special camps have been put in place and walk-ins are allowed.
Here is the link to a list of centres that are administering the Covid-19 booster dose in Chennai today: https://chennaicorporation.gov.in/gcc/covid-details/mega_vac_det.jsp
The Thirukattupalli police in the district on Friday said they have arrested the warden of a missionary school hostel in allegedly in connection with the alleged suicide of a plus-two girl student, even as the BJP alleged a conversion bid by the school management to be the cause of the suicide. Police said the warden has been arrested and remanded.
Thanjavur Superintendent of Police G Ravali Priya warned of action by invoking the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act and certain IPC sections against those spreading fake news of the 17-year-old girl’s death. Read more
Tamil Nadu forest department officials rescued the three-year-old leopard locked inside for nearly five days in an abandoned private godown in Coimbatore. Aditya Rama Subramaniam, Field Director, Anamalai Tiger Reserve in Pollachi said that the leopard will be released into a safe habitat.
The forest department had earlier set up two cages at both the entry and exit points of an abandoned godown at BK Pudur near Kuniyamuthur in Coimbatore to capture a three-year-old leopard locked inside for five days.
The Madras High Court on Friday declined to entertain a plea from a Public Interest Litigation petitioner to restrain the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC) from notifying the date for holding elections to urban local bodies in the state.
Wondering as to how the notification of the election process can be stayed when the Supreme Court had granted four months time to Tamil Nadu to hold elections and the same would come to an end on January 27, the first bench of Acting Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice P D Audikesavalu rejected the plea. Read more
In case you missed out, here are the top 3 stories that made news in Chennai and Tamil Nadu so far.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister MK Stalin announced that there will be a complete lockdown on Sunday (January 23). As per the release from the government, the restrictions imposed during the previous Sunday lockdown would be followed this week as well. Exempted from the lockdown are autorickshaws, pre-paid taxis and cab aggregators operating near railway stations and bus stands.
Tamil Nadu on Friday recorded 29,870 cases, pushing the caseload to 30,72,666. With 33 deaths, the toll reached 37,145. As many as 21,684 people got discharged, leaving 1,87,358 active infections. A total of 1,54,282 samples were tested on Friday. The positivity rate stood at 19.36 per cent.
Ahead of the Republic Day celebrations on January 26, the Greater Chennai Police has announced traffic diversions in parts of the city on January 20, 22, 24 and 26.
For the next 24 hours, the sky condition in Chennai and its neighbourhoods is likely to be partly cloudy. The maximum temperature is expected to be around 31 degrees and the minimum temperature is likely to be around 21 degrees. Also, check out the weather forecast for Chennai for the next few days.
The Regional Meterological Centre (RMC) Chennai has predicted dry weather over Tamilnadu, Puducherry & Karaikal area today.
Parts of Chennai will face a power shutdown from 9 am to 2 pm, with supply expected to resume before 2 pm if the work is completed.
As per a press release given by the company, the following neighbourhoods in Chennai will be affected:
Perambur / Papermills road: Papermills Road, Dimmasamy durga Street, Prakash Avenue, Gopal Reddy Colony 1 st ,2 nd ,3rd, East and West Main Road. Read more
Vanakkam Chennai! Welcome to today’s live blog. We bring to you the latest news on Covid-19, politics, features, entertainment, sports, weather, art and culture from across Chennai and Tamil Nadu. Follow our live blog and @ie_chennai to stay up to date with what’s happening in the state.
Tamil Nadu on Friday added 29,870 coronavirus infections, pushing the caseload to 30,72,666 while 33 more fatalities took the death toll to 37,145 as the state continued to report an upward tick in new COVID-19 cases.
Recoveries went up to 28,48,163 with 21,684 people getting discharged in the last 24 hours leaving 1,87,358 active cases, a medical bulletin said.
Chennai accounted for the majority of new coronavirus infections with 7,038 followed by Coimbatore 3,653, Chengalpet 2,250, Kanyakumari 1,248, Thiruvallur 1,016, and Salem 1,009 while the remaining was spread across other districts.
Those who tested positive, included 22 returnees, from domestic and one individual from Nigeria.
A total of 1,54,282 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 6,02,90,114, the bulletin said. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy Friday said semester exams for all universities and colleges will be conducted online from February 1 to February 20. He said a meeting was held with all representatives and they decided it was not feasible to conduct exams offline in the current period.
He also said necessary arrangements will be made to ensure students from rural areas are not affected by the online mode.
“The first five semester exams will be conducted online. The final semester is anyway happening in June, so we will take a call then. But we wanted to conduct the final exam offline. The rest of the semester exams for all colleges and universities, including engineering, arts and science, polytechnic, etc will be conducted online,” the minister said. Read more
The Madras High Court on Friday directed the Tamil Nadu government to use drones across the State to assess the quantum of minerals extracted and the areas under mining operations.
"The respondents are directed to conduct drone measurements hereinafter in all mining operations across the State of Tamil Nadu for purpose of assessing the mining operations and the minerals mined by the operators and determine the royalty to be collected and recover the same accordingly," Justice S M Subramanian said.
The judge gave the direction while disposing of a batch of writ petitions from the Associated Cement Companies Limited in Madukkarai village in Coimbatore challenging an order issued in March 2002 by the Director of Geology and Mining at Guindy here. The order directed the petitioner-companies to pay the royalty as was demanded in the impugned notices. (PTI)
Over one kilogram of heroin worth Rs 7 crore was seized and a citizen of Uganda was arrested in this connection, the Customs department authorities said on Friday.
Acting on specific inputs, the department officials intercepted the 29-year-old passenger who arrived here from Sharjah on Thursday. During a personal search, 108 capsules concealed in his inner garments were retrieved. The capsules contained powder that upon testing was identified as heroin. In total, 1.07 kg of heroin worth Rs 7 crore was seized and the Ugandan national was arrested, an official release from the Commissioner of Customs said.
In another incident on Thursday, officials intercepted a passenger who arrived here from Dubai and retrieved gold chains and other gold material concealed in the form of cylindrical rods in his baggage worth Rs 69.44 lakh. The passenger was arrested and an investigation was on, the release said. (PTI)
Following instances of misuse of social media platforms for committing crimes, including posting content like video tutorials on making guns and bombs, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court sought to know from the government and advocates if social media firms could be arraigned as accused/abettor in criminal cases.
Viewing the misuse of the social media platforms such as YouTube, the Bench orally observed as to why such platforms could not be added as accused/abettor.
The judge further observed that in many instances, the accused confessed to have learned about making guns, committing robbery and other offences from YouTube videos. (PTI)
BJP on Friday backed the demand for lifting the ban on toddy- tapping and sales in Tamil Nadu by participating in an event organised by the Tamil Nadu Toddy Movement on the outskirts of the city.
The Movement said it would drop the demand if the government proves that toddy is an intoxicating drink as was believed.
The president of the BJP Agricultural Wing G K Nagarat said the party would continue to support the Movement as it would increase farmers' income if their demand was met. He said over 70 BJP workers participated in the event. (PTI)
A 50-year-old man has been arrested on the charge of murdering a woman-friend for gain, police said here on Friday.
According to the police, a retired lecturer on Thursday lodged a complaint stating that his wife was found murdered in their house and her jewels were stolen.
The police said they verified the footage of a CCTV camera near the house and arrested the 50-year-old. The jewels were recovered, they said. (PTI)
The Thirukattupalli police in the district on Friday said they have arrested the warden of a missionary school hostel here allegedly in connection with the alleged suicide of a plus-two girl student, even as the BJP alleged a conversion bid by the school management to be the cause of the suicide.
Police said the warden has been arrested and remanded. Thanjavur Superintendent of Police G Ravali Priya warned of action by invoking the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act and certain IPC sections against those spreading fake news of the 17-year-old girl's death.
The warden was remanded after the Thanjavur judicial magistrate took the dying declaration of the girl and following the recording of statement by the police. "The case is now under investigation," she said and warned against anyone circulating or revealing the identity, photo, video, address of the victimised juvenile or her dying declaration in the social media as it is an offence. (PTI)
On January 23, Tamil Nadu will implement complete lockdown. Only essential services from last week will be allowed movement. Auto-rickshaw and taxi near railway stations will be allowed as well.
In view of the rising Covid-19 cases in Tamil Nadu, state Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy on Friday announced that all semester examinations for colleges across the state will be conducted online between February 1 to February 20.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin Friday launched a mobile-based application called Complete Leave APP (CLAPP) for police personnel in Chennai to apply for leave and get it sanctioned.
The opposition DMK on Friday slammed the AINRC headed NDA government in Puducherry for 'ignoring' the woes of farmers in the Union Territory. DMK opposition Leader in the territorial Assembly R Siva said in a release that farmers were now facing hardship in storing paddy and the six procurement centres the government had promised were yet to be opened.
"Middlemen are trying to exploit the situation and purchase the paddy at an exceptionally low price," he claimed. While the government had fixed Rs 20.51 as the price per kilo of paddy, middlemen were pestering the farmers to dispose the paddy harvested during the current samba season at Rs 16 a kilo. "The procurement centres should be opened without delay," Siva said. (PTI)
Puducherry witnessed a dip in number of daily cases of coronavirus with 2,528 infections being reported in the last twenty-four hours ending 10 a.m. on Friday while the active cases increased. The new cases were identified at the end of examination of 6,093 samples.
The active cases however shot up to 14,122 against 13,053 cases on Thursday. While 139 of the 14,122 active cases were in hospitals the remaining 13,983 cases were in home isolation. Of the 2,528 cases reported today, Puducherry accounted for 1,985 cases followed by 411 in Karaikal, 105 in Yanam and twenty-seven in Mahe region. The overall tally of cases touched 1,47,870. (PTI)
Chennai Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal Thursday said as many as 548 police personnel have been infected by Covid-19 in the third wave.
He added they have been following the Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) and the moment anyone tests positive, they are immediately taken in an ambulance to testing centres and after the result, they are taken to triage where they are directed to CCC or hospital or been advised home Isolation based on their condition. He said based upon their request, the Chennai Corporation has even allocated a separate block with a 148-bed facility for police and their families at the Nandabakkam Trade Centre.
The Commissioner added they are also providing them psychological support for their staff members.
The Madras High Court on Thursday restrained poet Leena Manimekalai, play-back singer Chinmayi and journalist Dhanya Rajendran from making defamatory statements against film director Susi Ganeshan. Social media platforms Twitter, FaceBook and WhatsApp were restrained from publishing such statements against the film-maker. Justice Abdul Quddhose granted the injunction while passing interim orders on an application arising out of a civil suit filed by Susi Ganeshan. Read more
The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) to complete within 30 days, the exercise of fixing a fair rent and calculate the arrears of rent and communicate the same to the Anna Nagar Tower Club, at downtown Anna Nagar. Justice S M Subramaniam gave the direction while disposing of on Wednesday a writ petition from the Club, by its secretary E Ravichandran, challenging an order dated June 9, 2016 of the Executive Engineer of the TNHB.
The order claimed that Rs 52.25 lakh remained towards arrears of rent as on June 2016. The judge directed the petitioner-club to settle the arrears of rent to the Board within four weeks. In the event of failure, the Housing Board can initiate all appropriate actions to evict the petitioner-club from the premises and recover all dues, compensations and penalty etc., by following the procedures as contemplated under law, the judge added. (PTI)
Actor Siddharth has been summoned by the Greater Chennai Police over his controversial tweet against Indian ace shutter Saina Nehwal. Addressing reporters on Thursday, Chennai Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal said, “We have received two complaints regarding (the tweet). A case had already been registered over one of the complaints in Hyderabad, the second complaint involves a defamation. We have already issued a summons. Since it is a pandemic period, we are thinking how we can get his statement.”
All the staff of the Electricity Department of the Puducherry government would launch an indefinite strike in the Union Territory from February 1 to protest against the move to privatise the power sector. A spokesperson of the Engineers and Employees Association of the Electricity Department on Thursday said in a press release: "With the territorial government adhering to its stand to open up the distribution wing of power supply, the power staff has decided to resort to indefinite strike on February 1." (PTI)
Chennai continued to lead the overall districts by recording 7,520 cases today. It is followed by Coimbatore (3,320), Chengalpattu (2,196), Kanyakumari (1,148), Thiruvallur (998), Salem (937), Erode (919). As many as 14 deaths were recorded in Chennai, five in Chengalpattu, three each in Coimbatore, Erode, Thiruvallur and Thoothukudi, two in Kanyakumari and Thanjavur, one each in Virudhuangar, Tiruvannamalai, Ranipet, Namakkal.
The death of a Class 12 girl, days after she consumed pesticide in her school hostel, snowballed into a social media campaign and led to local protests by Hindu outfits in Tanjavur on Thursday after BJP and VHP leaders circulated a 47-second video of the girl purportedly accusing the school management of troubling her after she refused to convert to Christianity.
According to multiple sources, including students and people close to the family, the girl had asked for permission from the school to visit home in Ariyalur district on January 7. The school authorities denied her permission, saying she could go home on January 10 along with other students for Pongal festival, which was on January 14. Read more
Senior BJP leader H Raja on Thursday alleged corruption to the tune of Rs.1,000 crore in the purchase of Pongal gift hampers for distribution among the ration card holders in Tamil Nadu this month. Considering the standard of the articles distributed as against the claim of an Rs.1,800-crore purchase by the government, there was a corruption of Rs 1,000 crore, Raja told reporters in Coimbatore.
The ruling party DMK, which demanded Rs.5,000 for distribution among the people as against Rs.2,500 given by the previous AIADMK regime as a Pongal gift, had given only sub-standard articles now, said Raja who was here to participate in a temple festival. Read more
Tamil Nadu on Thursday logged 28,561 fresh Covid-19 infections taking the tally to 30,42,796. As many as 19,978 people recovered in the past 24 hours leaving 1,79,205 active infections. With 39 casualties, the toll reached 37,112. The positivity rate touched 18.43 per cent. Chennai continued to lead the overall districts by recording 7,520 cases on Thursday.
For the next 24 hours, the sky condition in Chennai and its neighbourhoods is likely to be partly cloudy. The maximum temperature is expected to be around 30 degrees and the minimum temperature is likely to be around 21 degrees. Also, check out the weather forecast for Chennai for the next few days.
The Regional Meterological Centre (RMC) Chennai has predicted dry weather over Tamilnadu, Puducherry & Karaikal area today.
Parts of Chennai will face a power shutdown from 9 am to 2 pm, with supply expected to resume before 2 pm if the work is completed.
As per a press release given by the company, the following neighbourhoods in Chennai will be affected:
Tambaram/Madambakkam: Shanthi Nagar, Velachery Main Road, Palaniyappa Nagar, Vembuliamman Kovil Street and above surrounding areas.
Guindy /Madipakkam: Sheela nagar, Annai Therasa nagar, Rajaji nagar, Kuberan nagar, LIC nagar, Lakshmi nagar, Periyar nagar MOOVARASAMPET Iyyappa nagar, Ganesh nagar, Gandhi nagar, K.G.K nagar, Raghava nagar, Vishal nagar, Arulmurugan nagar, Anna nagar, Ramamoorthy nagar, Madipakkam main road PUZHUTHIVAKKAM Venkatraman street, Bharath street, Raja street, Andavar street, EVR colony, Church street, Kalaimagal street, Hindu colony and above surrounding areas. Read more
Vanakkam Chennai! Welcome to today’s live blog. We bring to you the latest news on Covid-19, politics, features, entertainment, sports, weather, art and culture from across Chennai and Tamil Nadu. Follow our live blog and @ie_chennai to stay up to date with what’s happening in the state.