Chennai News Highlights: Creating model schools in Tamil Nadu on lines of Delhi, CM MK Stalin says

At loggerheads over the NEET issue, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday said Governor R N Ravi is a "pleasant" person but the "excessive delay" in his decision-making on the crucial matter is not correct and such a scenario shows there is no need for a governor.

The ruling DMK led by Stalin has been asking for the abolition of the office of governor after the state government's relations with the Raj Bhavan soured in the midst of a controversy surrounding the NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) Exemption Bill. (PTI)

The Greater Chennai Corporation inaugurated the Gender and Policy Lab at the Ripon Building, on Friday. The lab has been set up as a part of Chennai City Partnership and Nirbhaya Programme under the assistance of World Bank. 

It was inaugurated by Mayor Priya Ranjan in the presence of GCC commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi and police commissioner Shankar Jiwal. The lab aims to provide women a safe public space, with accessibility such proper pavements, street lights and other basic amenities. 

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— Greater Chennai Corporation (@chennaicorp) April 1, 2022

Tamil Nadu on Friday added 32 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the overall tally to 34,52,857, while the death toll remained unchanged at 38,025 with nil fatalities reported in the last 24 hours, the health department said.

Recoveries eclipsed new cases with 45 people getting discharged in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 34,14,539 leaving 293 active infections, a medical bulletin said.

Among the districts, Chennai added 14 new cases while 13 districts reported new cases below 10. The state capital leads among districts with 7,51,100 infections, overall. (PTI)

In a bid to encourage more female passengers, the Tamil Nadu transport department Friday announced that two seats will be reserved for women in all the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) buses with berth facility.

amil Nadu Governor R N Ravi, Chief Minister M K Stalin and other leaders on Friday greeted the people on the occasion of Ugadi. Extending his greetings and best wishes to the Telugu, Kannada, Marathi and Sindhi-speaking "brothers and sisters" on the occasion of Ugadi, Gudi Padwa and Cheti Chand, the Governor said these joyful festivals celebrate our traditional New Year with the rich culture and heritage of our people.

"Historically, the Dravidian people living south of the Vindhya range have many cultural similarities and live as one 'linguistic' family. This should continue forever," Stalin expressed in his message. (PTI)

With the Covid-19 restriction being lifted and the opening up of educational instituions and offices, Chennai Metro saw an increase in its ridership in the month of March. A total of 3,12,845 passengers had utilised the QR Code ticketing service, while 26,37,348 passengers have used the Travel Card last month. 

The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) also opened the Tiruvottiyur Theradi and Wimco Nagar Depot stations in the phase-1 extension between Washermenpet and Wimco Nagar for public use, almost a year after the works began.

pic.twitter.com/17Cd5K5W51

— Chennai Metro Rail (@cmrlofficial) April 1, 2022

On a three-day visit to Delhi, CM MK Stalin met Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, on Friday.

Today, I had met Union Minister @PiyushGoyal with demands for Tamil Nadu and he assured to favourably address our demands. Thanked him for the assistance extended by his ministry during #COVID19 times and wished for sustained co-operation. pic.twitter.com/dWgPbAb6Wm

— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) April 1, 2022

Tamil Nadu on Friday urged the Centre to release outstanding dues of over Rs 20,000 crore pending to the state, saying the Covid-19 outbreak has necessitated additional expenditure to the government towards upgrading the health infrastructure in the state.

Chief Minister M K Stalin, who is on an official visit to New Delhi, submitted a memorandum to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, highlighting the pending dues, including GST compensation. The dues from the Centre amount to Rs 20,860.40 crore of which the GST Compensation was Rs 13,504.74 crore, he said in the memorandum. (PTI)

Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin appreciated the Model School and Mohalla Clinic initiatives of the Delhi Government and said that his government has been creating model schools in the southern state on the lines of Delhi.

Visited Model School and Mohalla Clinic initiatives of Delhi Govt along with Hon'ble Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal and Dy CM @msisodia.

We will also be establishing a world class Govt Model School in Chennai soon and I have extended my invitation to @ArvindKejriwal in advance. pic.twitter.com/GAjBuThjiu

— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) April 1, 2022

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday said his government has been creating model schools in the southern state on the lines of Delhi and invited Arvind Kejriwal to visit them. Stalin along with his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal visited a Delhi government school where officials briefed the Tamil Nadu chief minister on the change in the education system in the city under the AAP government.

An official informed Stalin that the Delhi government has been spending around 25 per cent of its budget on education consistently for the last six to seven years. Read more

While granting bail to a youth arrested for participating in a ‘bike race’ on city road and thereby threatening the other motorists, the Madras High Court on Thursday imposed a condition of assisting the ward-boys in the Government Stanley Medical College and Hospital for 30 days.

Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin on Fridat met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Delhi. Stalin said that he briefed the finance minister on Tamil Nadu's fiscal demands.

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— CMOTamilNadu (@CMOTamilnadu) April 1, 2022

Tamil Nadu Chief minister MK Stalin Friday met his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal and visited Rajkiya Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, West Vinod Nagar along with Kejriwal and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia.

On Friday, Stalin said he would meet Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. Stalin is on a three-day visit to Delhi, where he met PM Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah on Thursday.

A female elephant was found dead at the Bethakuttai Moolayoor forest range at Sirumugai near Mettupalayam in Coimbatore district on Friday. (ANI)

After consulting legal experts, the Tamil Nadu government would take a decision on the next course of action on internal reservation for Vanniyars, state Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan said on Thursday. Without proper basic data, a law to provide internal quota for Vanniyars was brought out by the previous AIADMK regime hastily for ‘political reasons’ in the run-up to the Assembly election last year, the minister said.

Despite the government’s all-out efforts, like appointment of senior advocates to handle the matter, the law to provide sub-quota for Vanniyars was struck down by the Supreme Court in view of the data factor, Duraimurugan said in a statement. Read more

With food delivery aggregators coming up with plans like 10-minute deliveries to attract more customers and make their brand stand apart from others, the delivery personnel are caught in a soup as they tend to violate traffic rules in a bid to achieve on-time delivery targets.

A division bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Special Court for cases against MPs and MLAs here to furnish certain documents required by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to proceed with probing the corruption charges against Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji.       

The bench of Justices P N Prakash and A A Nakkiran gave a direction to this effect while allowing three petitions from the ED, on March 30. Balaji, now in the DMK, was the Transport minister in the AIADMK government, led by late J Jayalalithaa sometime during 2011-2015. It was alleged he had received huge amounts as bribe from various persons for appointing them as drivers and conductors in the Transport Corporations.       

In connection with these allegations, three FIRs were registered against him which culminated in charge-sheets being filed against him and they are now pending on the file of the Assistant Sessions Court (Special Court for trial of criminal cases relating to MPs and MLAs). (PTI)

The union territory of Puducherry emerged coronavirus free as the number of active cases stood at zero after the recovery of the solitary patient, a senior Health department official said on Thursday. No fresh COVID-19 case was reported during the last 24 hours ending 10 AM Thursday from any of the four regions of Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam, Director of Health G Sriramulu said.       

He told PTI that with no new case of infection and with the recovery of the solitary patient, in home quarantined, during the last 24 hours, there was no Covid cases and nil active case. 'We can say that Puducherry is Covid free,' he added. (PTI)

On a three-day visit to Delhi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday met PM Narendra Modi and urged the Centre to allow the state government to provide humanitarian aid to Sri Lankan Tamils. He said many of them are fleeing Lanka and coming to the state through the sea route in the wake of the economic crisis in the island-nation. Stalin handed over a 14-point charter of demands to Modi. He also met Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.

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