A staff member disinfects a theatre hall in Chennai. (Twitter/@koushiktweets)Chennai, Hyderabad Coronavirus News November 9, 10 Highlights: Theatres, cinemas and multiplexes across Tamil Nadu will resume operations from today, after nearly eight months since the lockdown began in the state. Theatres, cinema halls and multiplexes had suspended operations in March following the outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent nation-wide lockdowns.
As per the SOP released by the Tamil Nadu government, theatres will be allowed to function with 50 per cent capacity. Theatre owners and staff should ensure that touch-free hand sanitisers are installed and the halls are disinfected after every show. Those visiting theatres will be thermally scanned and should wear a mask at all times. Seating must be arranged adhering to social distancing norms.
While no new releases have been planned for now, theatres will re-release old movies that were released last year and other box-office hits.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu recorded 2257 positive cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the state tally to 7,46,079. Among these, Chennai reported 585 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 2,05,419. Tamil Nadu recorded 18 deaths on Monday, putting the state toll at 11,362. Seventeen of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. The state discharged 2308 patients following treatment, putting the total number of recoveries at 7,15,892.
As of Sunday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 18,825. Till date, 4,50,473 males, 2,95,573 females and 33 transgenders have tested positive for the virus in the state. According to a bulletin released by the Health and Family Welfare Department of Tamil Nadu, 1,06,36,999 samples from the state have been sent for testing till date, with 74,508 samples having been sent yesterday.
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In a brief signed suicide note, Aishwarya said she would not want to be a burden on the family while her education has become one for everyone. (Express photo by Rahul V Pisharody)
Over a year after the High Court of England and Wales rejected Pakistan’s claim to 35 million pounds in a seven-decades-old ‘Hyderabad Fund Case’, and ruled in favour of India and the Nizam VII, Nawab Osman Ali Khan Bahadur’s grandsons’ – Mufakkam and Mukkaram Jah, the legal battle appears to be far from over.
Najaf Ali Khan, a grandson of the Nizam, has decided to take his cousins, the two princes, to court, accusing them of fraud and misappropriation of funds, among other serious charges. Mir Osman Ali Khan had 16 sons and 18 daughters.
He claims that the two princes presented a certificate issued by the Government of India in February 1967, which recognised Prince Mukkarram Jah alias Barkat Ali Khan as the Nizam VIII of Hyderabad, during the court proceedings. The Certificate, he said, was quashed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 1968 and Delhi High Court in 1969. “The 26th Amendment to the Indian Constitution added Article 363A substituting Article 366 clause [22]. Hence the recognition to erstwhile Rulers or successors of Rulers ceased to exist,” he said.
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Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Tuesday announced Rs 50 lakh financial assistance to the family of an army jawan from Nizamabad district, who was killed in an anti-terror operation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Expressing shock over R Mahesh's death, Rao said he would be remembered in history as the one who sacrificed his life for the country and the state government would stand by and support the family.
In an official release, Rao said one member of the family would be offered a government job, based on the qualification, besides a house site to the kin.
Four Tamil Nadu fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy on Tuesday when they were allegedly fishing in the sea off Kodiakarai coast, a fishermen association in Ngapattinam said.
The fishermen belonging to Tarangambadi in the district were apprehended for allegedly entering the Lankan territorial waters. The fishermen ventured into the sea on November 7 and were fishing about 20 knots southeast of Kodiakarai this morning when the Lankan naval personnel came to the spot and arrested them, representatives of the association claimed.
The fishermen have been taken to Kangesanthurai in the island nation, they said and added that they have lodged complaints with the officials of the fisheries department.
Qube Cinema has announced a 100 percent waiver of Virtual Print Fee (VPF) for the month of November for all film makers to help them release new movies post the lockdown.
Actor Tamannaah Bhatia is all set to star in her first Telugu web series. Titled 11th Hour, the show will premiere on streaming service aha.
Tamannaah’s look in the web series and the title logo was unveiled on Monday in Hyderabad. The actor, director Praveen Sattaru, writer-producer Pradeep U and aha promoter Allu Aravind were present at the launch event.
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To encourage women dairy farmers and to boost dairy farming in the state, the Andhra Pradesh Government has tied up with Gujarat-based Amul to procure milk from the state’s dairy farmers.
Minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development S Appalaraju said that milk procurement under the AP-Amul project will start from November 20 in Prakasam, Chittoor, and Kadapa districts.
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The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) conducted 391 fever clinics in Chennai on Monday. A total of 18,834 people attended the clinics, with swabs collected from 573 people who were identified with ILI symptoms, while others were provided with medication for minor ailments.
The most number of camps were held in Teynampet (Zone 9) where 49 camps were set up, while Manali (Zone 2) had the least with four camps.
Telangana registered 1,267 fresh coronavirus cases on Monday, taking the total infection count to 2.52 lakh while four more deaths pushed the toll to 1,385.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 201, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri 109 and Rangareddy 104, a government bulletin said.
As many as 18,581 people are under treatment and 42,490 samples were tested on Monday. Cumulatively,46.84 lakh samples have been tested. The samples tested per million population was 1, 25,866, the bulletin said.
The case fatality rate in the state was 0.54 per cent while the recovery rate in Telangana was 92.09 per cent.
After the Tamil Nadu government refused to grant permission to the BJP state unit for its much-hyped Vel Yatra to celebrate Lord Muruga abodes in the state, a statement by the saffron party’s state president, L Murugan, has irked the AIADMK leadership and invited a strong counter.
On Sunday, during his second unsuccessful attempt to launch his Vel Yatra, as the police took him and others into custody again, Murugan had said that the Vel Yatra will make BJP an unquestionable force in Tamil Nadu in the upcoming Assembly polls, expected by next summer. Murugan also said that the next chief minister of Tamil Nadu will be a person chosen by the BJP.
Reacting to Murugan’s statement, state Cabinet minister and senior party leader D Jayakumar said the AIADMK continues to be powerful enough to face the polls and form the next government on its own. Ruling out the BJP’s chances of assuming a key role in the government if AIADMK is elected for the third consecutive time, Jayakumar said, “There is space for talks about a coalition government. The AIADMK will form the government, as it has done in the past. There is no doubt about that.”
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Two key issues that LSR College student Aishwarya Reddy’s family said were troubling her — lack of resources for online learning and having to vacate her hostel room by October-end — had been flagged during the course of this year by students and student representatives to college authorities.
Aishwarya, a second-year student of B.Sc. (Hons) Mathematics at DU’s prestigious Lady Shri Ram College for Women, committed suicide on November 2. In a purported suicide note she had left in her Telangana home, she wrote “Because of me, my family is facing many financial problems. My education is a burden. If I can’t study, I can’t live.”
One of the issues her family said she was facing was that they could not afford a laptop and she was having difficulty keeping up with online learning on a phone. Her father G Srinivas Reddy, a motorcycle mechanic, had said she asked for a laptop in October but he had not been able to afford even a second-hand one.
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A total of 179 flights will be operated between Chennai and major cities today, with 90 arrivals and 89 departures scheduled at the Chennai International Airport.
“Another meritorious student like my daughter should not face the same fate. Let this be an eye-opener. The government should help poor students, especially during this Covid crisis,” said G Srinivas Reddy, father of LSR College student Aishwarya Reddy who committed suicide at her Telangana home last week over her family’s financial difficulties.
Seaking to The Indian Express, Reddy said just like him, many families must have lost livelihoods during the lockdown and students who hoped for a bright future must be facing a grim financial situation. “I urge the central and state governments to help such students continue their studies… No one should die like my daughter due to lack of money to study. She worried over our poor financial condition and took the extreme step. This should not happen in any other house again.
Reddy, who had asked his second daughter to drop out of school so that Aishwarya could go to college in Delhi, said he now wants her to resume school: “My elder one is no more… I want to educate the younger one. I will do whatever I can to fund her studies.”
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Tangedco has announced a powercut in parts of Chennai from 9 am to 2 pm today to carry out maintenance work.
Here are the affected areas:
Tamil Nadu recorded 2257 positive cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the state tally to 7,46,079. Among these, Chennai reported 585 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 2,05,419.
Tamil Nadu recorded 18 deaths on Monday, putting the state toll at 11,362. Seventeen of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. The state discharged 2308 patients following treatment, putting the total number of recoveries at 7,15,892.
As of Sunday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 18,825. Till date, 4,50,473 males, 2,95,573 females and 33 transgenders have tested positive for the virus in the state.
According to a bulletin released by the Health and Family Welfare Department of Tamil Nadu, 1,06,36,999 samples from the state have been sent for testing till date, with 74,508 samples having been sent yesterday.
Theatres, cinemas and multiplexes across Tamil Nadu will resume operations from today, after nearly eight months since the lockdown began in the state. Theatres, cinema halls and multiplexes had suspended operations in March following the outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent nation-wide lockdowns.
As per the SOP released by the Tamil Nadu government, theatres will be allowed to function with 50 per cent capacity. Theatre owners and staff should ensure that touch-free hand sanitisers are installed and the halls are disinfected after every show. Those visiting theatres will be thermally scanned and should wear a mask at all times. Seating must be arranged adhering to social distancing norms.
While no new releases have been planned for now, theatres will re-release old movies that were released last year and other box-office hits.
Good morning!
Welcome to the live blog from Chennai and Hyderabad where we bring to you the latest updates on northeast monsoon, COVID-19, lockdown in Tamil Nadu, lockdown in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and more across Chennai and Hyderabad through the day. Follow the blog to stay up to date with the states in real time.
Former IAS officer Sasikanth Senthil, who had resigned last year alleging that “fundamental building blocks of democracy are being compromised”, joined Tamil Nadu Congress Monday in the presence of state Congress Committee leader KS Alagiri and AICC general secretary Dinesh Gundu Rao. Sasikanth said he has always worked for the welfare of the people and will continue to do so.
On Sunday, Sasikanth posted a note on Twitter confirming that he has decided to join the Congress party. In his note, Sasikanth mentioned that he decided to leave the civil service in “search of a method to stem the totalitarian attack on the country he dearly loves.” He added that after his resignation, he met many people, participated in many protests, made contributions to the CAA/NRC movement which proved to him that people in the country are ready to stand for one another.
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MDMK general secretary Vaiko on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take immediate steps for the release of over 100 impounded mechanised boats of Tamil Nadu fishermen from Sri Lanka or ensure compensation.
Citing news reports, he said a Sri Lankan court has ordered 121 boats seized from the fishermen to be 'destroyed', adding it was shocking. Of the over 100 boats, as many as 88 were from Rameswaram, Vaiko said in a letter to Modi.
"The government of India should take up this issue with the Sri Lankan government either for releasing the boats or to pay due compensation to the boat owners of Tamil Nadu. I would request you to take immediate effective steps in this regard", Vaiko said in the letter.
The cost of a mechanised boat was about Rs 25 lakh to Rs 40 lakh and fishermen obtained loans to buy them and were still paying huge interests, he said.
Telangana reported 857 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, taking the tally to 2,51,188 while four more deaths pushed the toll to 1,381, the state government said on Monday.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 250, followed by Rangareddy (88) and Medchal Malkajgiri (61) districts, it said in a bulletin.
As many as 19,239 people are under treatment and 23,806 samples were tested on November 8. Cumulatively,46,42,276 samples have been tested. The samples tested per million population was 1,24,859, the bulletin said.
The case fatality rate in the state was 0.54 per cent while the recovery rate in Telangana was 91.79 per cent. The number of individuals in home/institutional isolation was 16,449.
A total of 1,95,291 people have recovered from COVID-19 across all 15 zones of Chennai.
Here are the recoveries in the top 10 zones of the city:
An ambulance was stuck in a traffic jam in Chennai’s Poonamallee High Road for half an hour on Sunday after BJP chief L Murugan began his much-publicised Vel Yatra—a month-long political rally visiting prominent Lord Muruga temples in the state—by defying the ban imposed by the state government in view of the pandemic.
Stating that it is his “constitutional right”, Murugan began the yatra this morning. “State govt is allowing other parties to take out processions and hold agitation. It’s my constitutional right,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
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In their cramped one-bedroom house in Shadnagar town of Telangana, Sumathi and Ganta Srinivas Reddy are grief-stricken at the untimely death of their daughter Aishwarya. The 19-year-old, who was pursuing her second-year B.Sc (Hons.) in Mathematics at Delhi’s Lady Shri Ram College for Women, was a brave girl, according to her parents. She had been at home since March and ended her life by suicide on November 2.
The teenager aspired to become an IAS officer, and the daily-wager couple had big hopes from her. They mortgaged their home, pledged gold ornaments, and even stopped sending their second daughter to school. When the pandemic lockdown impacted their livelihood, Aishwarya became uncertain about her returning to college.
In a brief signed suicide note, Aishwarya said she would not want to be a burden on the family while her education has become one for everyone. And that she would not want to live without education. She also mentions her provisional offer of INSPIRE scholarship in the note.
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Telugu megastar Chiranjeevi on Monday announced that he has tested positive for coronavirus. The 65-year-old actor said that he did a COVID-19 test as part of the safety protocol before joining the sets of his upcoming movie Acharya.
“I am currently asymptomatic & quarantining myself at home. Request all those who met me in the last 5 few days to also undergo covid tests. Will update you on my recovery soon,” he said in a letter to fans and the media.
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State-run schools have scripted history by attracting 5.18 lakh students from several private schools across Tamil Nadu, and this reverse exodus is a heartening trend, School Education Minister K A Sengottaiyan said on Saturday.
The scenario of exodus from state government schools in the past has completely changed and a large number of students are flocking to state-run schools, he said. “From a migration of about 20,000 to 50,000 students to private schools in the past, there has been a steep enrollment in our schools.
About 5.18 lakh students who opted out of several private schools have joined government schools,” the minister told reporters here. Claiming that state government schools have scripted “history in Tamil Nadu,” Sengottaiyan said, the reverse exodus on a massive scale took place during the tenure of chief minister K Palaniswami. “This is something that gives happiness,” he added.
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A second-year student of Lady Shri Ram College for Women died by suicide last week at her hometown in Telangana, citing financial troubles in a purported suicide note. Her father, who is a motorcycle mechanic in Ranga Reddy district, said she was an IAS aspirant but the family was unable even to buy her a second-hand laptop to pursue online classes during the pandemic.
According to local police, Aishwarya Reddy, a B.Sc. Mathematics (Honours) student, hanged herself at her home in Shadnagar on November 2. The family of the 19-year-old, who had scored 98.5 per cent in Class 12, said she left behind a note written in Telugu. “Because of me, my family is facing many financial problems. I am a burden for my family. My education is a burden. If I can’t study, I can’t live,” the note reads.
Aishwarya’s father Srinivas Reddy said that when Aishwarya got admission to the prestigious college last year, he had mortgaged their one-bedroom house for Rs 2 lakh. “I am still repaying the loan,” said Reddy, who opened his own repair shop this March.
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The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) conducted 324 fever clinics in Chennai on Sunday. A total of 7309 people attended the clinics, with swabs collected from 302 people who were identified with ILI symptoms, while others were provided with medication for minor ailments.
The most number of camps were held in Teynampet (Zone 9) where 49 camps were set up, while Manali (Zone 2) had the least with four camps.
Attorney General K K Venugopal has declined a request to reconsider his decision refusing consent to initiate contempt proceedings against Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and his Principal Advisor Ajeya Kallam over Reddy’s letter to Chief Justice of India S A Bobde levelling various allegations against Supreme Court Justice N V Ramana and AP High Court judges.
Venugopal said, however, that it is “open to the Supreme Court to take up the matter of contempt suo motu as provided by the Contempt of Courts Act” since “the very crux of the alleged contempt lies in the contents of the letter written by” Reddy to the CJI.
The AG conveyed his decision in a letter sent Saturday to Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay who had sought the consent. “Given that the Chief Justice of India is seized of the matter, it would not be appropriate for me to grant consent and preclude the determination of the Chief Justice of India on the matter,” the AG wrote.
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Tangedco has announced a powercut in parts of Chennai today from 9 am to 2 pm to carry out maintenance work.
Here are the affected areas:
Tamil Nadu recorded 2334 positive cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the state tally to 7,43,822. Among these, Chennai reported 601 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 2,04,862.
Tamil Nadu recorded 20 deaths on Sunday, putting the state toll at 11,344. All twenty of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. The state discharged 2386 patients following treatment, putting the total number of recoveries at 7,13,584.
As of Sunday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 18,894. Till date, 4,49,093 males, 2,94,696 females and 33 transgenders have tested positive for the virus in the state.
According to a bulletin released by the Health and Family Welfare Department of Tamil Nadu, 1,05,61,722 samples from the state have been sent for testing till date, with 74,589 samples having been sent yesterday.
Good morning!
Welcome to the live blog from Chennai and Hyderabad where we bring to you the latest updates on northeast monsoon, COVID-19, lockdown in Tamil Nadu, lockdown in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and more across Chennai and Hyderabad through the day. Follow the blog to stay up to date with the states in real time.