In a major rejig, 25 IAS officers in Tamil Nadu have been transferred to new posts. As per the order issued by chief secretary V Irai Anbu, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, Tirunelveli, and Tiruppur corporations will have new commissioners Raja Gopal Sunkara, KP Karthikeyan, T Christuraj, B Vishnu Chandran, and Kranti Kumar Pati respectively.
READ | Five corporations in Tamil Nadu get new commissioners in major reshuffle
The Tamil Nadu government has asked Dr M G R Medical University in Chennai to conduct an “impartial probe” into the alleged “unauthorised collection” of at least Rs 22 lakh from final-year MBBS students of a prestigious government medical college in the name of conducting practical exams.
READ | ‘Lakhs collected for exam’: Tamil Nadu medical college under probe
For assistance on COVID-19-related queries and mental health support in Chennai, citizens can contact the Greater Chennai Corporation's (GCC) COVID-19 helpline 044 46122300 or 044 25384520 | Citizens can also contact the general helpline 104, the 24-hour helplines 044 29510400 or 29510500 and the 24 x 7 mobile helplines 8754448477 or 9444340496 | Citizens can find the nearest GCC-facilitated COVID-19 fever clinic here | For lodging rain-related complaints and assistance during the monsoon, citizens can contact the GCC's monsoon helplines 044 25384530 or 044 25384540 or the control room 1913 (available 24x7)
Tamil Nadu recorded 15,759 positive cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the state tally to 23,24,597. Among these, Chennai reported 1094 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 5,23,123. The state recorded 378 deaths on Friday, putting the state toll at 28,906. 298 of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. A total of 29,243 patients were discharged following treatment, taking the total number of recoveries to 21,20,889. As of Friday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 1,74,802.
In an uncanny incident, a Sub-inspector and two constables have been booked for allegedly stealing Rs 8.5 lakh and gold ornaments during a prohibition raid at Kurumalai hills in Nachimedu village near Ariyur in Vellore district.
Based on a complaint about few people brewing illicit arrack, three police personnel – SI Anbagalan, constables Yuvaraj and Ilayaraja – attached to Ariyur police station broke into the houses of Elango and Selvam as part of their raid on Wednesday.
The officers found around 50 liters for illicit arrack and other substances needed for its production.
Read More
Nippon Paint (India) Private Limited (Decorative Division), one of Asia's leading paint manufacturers, has resumed its outreach efforts to painters who have been affected due to lack of employment opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first phase, groceries were distributed to painters in their respective localities here and in Chennai, a company release said on Friday. So far, the company has supplied grocery to over 1,500 painter families by conducting relief camps in more than 25 localities across these two cities, the release said. During the first wave, Nippon Paint supported over 2,500 painter families amidst the series of lockdowns, it said.
The Greater Chennai Corporation has stepped up the Covid-19 vaccination drive in the Koyambedu wholesale market, one of the largest perishable markets in Asia. As part of its measures to control the spread, Chennai Corporation first carried out random testing for traders at the complex itself and the traders, helpers, drivers were inoculated later.
Till May 31, 4,742 were vaccinated but on June 1, June 2 and June 3, the numbers came down to 17, 11, and 54, respectively. The corporation decided to intensify the vaccination pace and conducted a special drive which led to an increase in numbers. On June 4, 541 got vaccinated and 672 got the next day. On June 9, as many as 703 people got inoculated taking the tally to 8,239 to date.
Read More
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee staged a protest in front of petrol pumps across the state against the diesel price hike. In Chennai, party's state president KS Alagiri led the protest. He was accompanied by Kanniyakumari MP Vasantha Kumar, Congress spokesperson Gopanna, and other leaders. The protestors raised slogans condemning the centre. They claimed that people are economically weakened due to the pandemic and the price hike will further burden them.
Nine youngsters in Hyderabad were arrested Friday for violating Covid-19 protocols and lockdown guidelines while celebrating birthday of two of them. The celebration took place in the bylanes of Afzalsagar near Mallepally in the city on the night of June 9.
The youngsters took to the streets in the neighbourhood at midnight, wielding swords and knives, and danced to music in a crowd. Following this, a case was registered at Habeebnagar police station.
The visuals from the midnight celebration were shared widely on social media demanding action against them. Police booked them under section 25 of the Arms Act, sections 188 and 269 of the Indian Penal Code.
Read more
A total of 21,48,912 people have been vaccinated in Chennai till date, with 2327 people inoculated on Thursday alone, according to the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC).
The number of active Covid-19 positive cases in Tamil Nadu has come down below two lakh on Thursday. More importantly, the number of daily fresh cases too declined in the state and has now come down to 16,813.
Similarly, there has been a significant drop in the number of positive cases in Chennai as well. The capital city, which had been reporting over 7,000 infections daily a month ago, reported 1,223 cases on Thursday and now has 12,210 active cases.
The test positivity rate (TPR) also came down below five per cent, the first time since March. A total of 32,168 samples were tested on Thursday and 1,223 cases were reported.
Read more
A severely injured and incapacitated leopard was rescued and moved to Hyderabad’s Nehru Zoological Park for treatment from Telangana’s Mahabubnagar district late Thursday evening after locals informed the Forest Department.
According to locals, the leopard was injured by grazing buffaloes. It was found lying on the ground in severe pain, and could not move due to internal injuries. The incident took place in Burugupally village in Koilkonda.
A statement from the Nehru Zoological Park said a vet team from the zoo reached the location near Burugupally village upon receiving a call from the Conservator of Forests, Mahabubnagar. The team led by Dr Rakesh found the leopard, believed to be a two to three years old male, incapacitated.
Read more
After being steady for a day, prices of petrol and diesel were hiked again on Friday, June 11, 2021, touching fresh record highs across the country. In the national capital, the petrol price rose by 29 paise while that of diesel too inched up 28 paise.
In Chennai, petrol is priced at Rs. 97.19 per litre and diesel costs Rs. 91.42 per litre.
In Hyderabad, petrol costs Rs. 99.62 per litre and diesel costs Rs. 94.57 per litre.
To complement the national effort led by Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG), a consortium of four city clusters – Bengaluru, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Pune – has been established to upscale genomic surveillance on SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. The new effort aims at developing strategies and building capabilities to identify variants of concern before they spread widely and cause outbreaks, said experts.
The consortium aims to develop targeted sampling strategies based on granular epidemiological and clinical data. Coupled with intense environmental surveillance and advanced computational techniques, the consortium will also focus on building capabilities for real-time surveillance and epidemiology, read an official statement issued on Thursday.
The consortium has been established with the support and seed funding of Rockefeller Foundation, and is led by CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad. At present, it includes different partners in three other cities: NCBS-TIFR, InStem-DBT and NIMHANS in Bengaluru; CSIR-IGIB in New Delhi; Pune Knowledge Cluster, CSIR-NCL and IISER in Pune. It will work closely with local governments, hospitals and clinicians. In collaboration with INSACOG, the consortium aims to eventually turn this into a national effort by expanding to other strategic locations in India.
Read more
Insisting that admissions to various courses including medical in Tamil Nadu be allowed based on marks in the higher secondary examination for this year in view of COVID-19, the opposition AIADMK on Thursday again urged the Centre to exempt the state from common entrance examinations including NEET.
The criteria for admissions to college courses should be based on the marks to be awarded by a committee to be set up for this purpose, AIADMK's coordinator O Panneerselvam said. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said the Performance Grading Index of states and union territories for 201920 fiscal, published by the school education and literacy department of the union education ministry, stated that Tamil Nadu crossed the threshold of 90 percent i. e. A++ grade and stood first along with four other states.
"This index was released after examining 70 indicators.This scheme is mainly focused on quality of education to catalyse transformational change in the field of school education," he said. The index took into account various parameters and the standard of education in Tamil Nadu is extremely good.
"Hence, I am of the view that there is no need to test the ability of the students by conducting entrance examination for admission to all professional and other courses including medical courses," the AIADMK leader said in the letter. (PTI)
The Tamil Nadu government has asked Dr M G R Medical University in Chennai to conduct an “impartial probe” into the alleged “unauthorised collection” of at least Rs 22 lakh from final-year MBBS students of a prestigious government medical college in the name of conducting practical exams.
The move came after the University submitted a report on “unwarranted and unethical practices of collecting money” at Stanley Medical College “to show gratefulness to the departments” and “to arrange accommodation and food” for external examiners. The University has also suspended several internal examiners of the college from its official examination panel.
“We have now asked the University to conduct an impartial inquiry. We cannot compromise on examination malpractices. We will get to the root of this issue. We will see if it was an isolated incident or a common practice. We will send out a strong message, and the people behind this will not be spared,” TN Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan told The Indian Express.
Read more
A high level committee led by retired judge of the Madras High Court, A K Rajan to study the impact of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test on aspirants from the socially disadvantaged sections in medical admissions, would make its recommendations in a month, the state government said here on Thursday.
Besides Justice Rajan, who heads the panel, there would be eight other members including Dr G R Ravindranath (Doctors Association for Social Equality), Jawahar Nesan (educationist) and six top government officials including Principal Secretary of Medical and Family Welfare Department
The panel would study the data related to medical admissions in the state and make necessary recommendations within a month to safeguard the interests of students from the backward sections and “the government will initiate the next course of action after considering the recommendations,” an official release here said.
Read more
Tamil Nadu tourism, badly affected by the pandemic both in terms of tourist arrivals and revenue loss, is in the process of evolving a roadmap to revive the sector. Tourism minister M Mathiventhan on Thursday directed officials to constitute an expert committee to develop post-COVID tourism recovery plan.
Aiming to put the sector on the recovery path, thereby revitalising livelihood opportunities, the minister, who reviewed the issues afflicting the tourism industry, asked the department officials to devise appropriate plans to lure tourists to the state.
"Tourist destinations across Tamil Nadu saw a drastic decline in the arrival of tourists since the last 18 months owing to the pandemic.As a result, the tourism stakeholders lost substantial income," an official release said. The post-COVID tourism recovery plan, which is being taken up on the advice of Chief Minister M K Stalin, will take into account the safety of tourists visiting Tamil Nadu in the near future, besides appropriate measures to enhance the income of the stakeholders, it said.
Mathiventhan directed the officials to prepare a project report for landmark lighting and projection show at the statue of Thiruvalluvar located in Kanyakumari district, to attract more tourists including foreign nationals. At the review meeting, the minister sought a proposal to improve the art gallery and infrastructure in the tourism complex at the ancient port town of the Cholas Poompuhar. (PTI)
The body of a 41-year-old woman, who had been reported missing after being admitted at the Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital in Chennai, has been found in a decomposed stage on the eighth floor in Tower III of the hospital, police said on Thursday.
The woman went missing on May 23.
According to the police, Mouli (48) and his wife Sunitha, residents of West Tambaram, tested positive for Covid-19 in May. While Mouli was advised home isolation, his wife was admitted to RGGH. As per the FIR copy, Sunitha was admitted to the third floor of Tower III (b wing) around 11:30 pm on May 21.
Read more
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin announced Rs 5 lakh solatium to the kin of a pregnant woman, who died when the ambulance she was travelling in hit a roadside tree in Kallakurichi district on Thursday. Also, the chief minister announced Rs 3 lakh each as relief to the family of two of the 23-year old woman's relatives who also lost their lives in the accident.
The pregnant woman Jayalakshmi of Sorapattu was being taken in an ambulance to the Kallakurichi government general hospital from the Pudupattu Primary Health Centre, along with her mother-in-law and sister-in-law, when the accident occurred. While proceeding to the hospital early on Thursday, one of the tyres of the ambulance burst and the driver, losing control of the vehicle, rammed it into a tree, said police. Jayalakshmi, said to be nine months pregnant, died on the way to the hospital.
Expressing grief over the unfortunate death of Jayalakshmi and her two relatives in the accident, chief minister M K Stalin announced a solatium of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of Jayalakshmi and Rs 3 lakh each to the family of her two relatives. Conveying his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families, the CM said he has directed the officials to ensure the entire benefits of the insurance policies reaches the victims' kin. (PTI)
The opposition AIADMK has convened a meeting of its legislators at the party headquarters in Chennai on June 14. With the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly set to commence on June 21 with the customary address by Governor Banwarilal Purohit at the Kalaivanar Arangam, AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam and co-coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami have called upon their party lawmakers to attend the meet.
"Since the meeting is meant for the AIADMK's legislators, office bearers and others in the party need not come to the party office due to the pandemic. Others will not be allowed," the leaders said in a joint release on Thursday.
The party MLAs should bring their identity cards, wear face masks and also follow the COVID safety norms stipulated by the government, when they come for the meeting at 12 noon, they said. (PTI)
A wedding invitation announcing the nuptials of a young couple has generated widespread buzz in Tamil Nadu. The names of the bride and groom — P Mamata Banerjee and AM Socialism — have left people wondering whether the card is legitimate or edited. What’s more, the card also mentions the names of the groom’s elder brothers — AM Communism and AM Leninism.
Family members of the couple have since confirmed that the card is, in fact, real. The groom is the son of Lenin Mohan, popularly known as A Mohan, the district secretary of CPI in Salem, Tamil Nadu. Mohan is also the councillor of Panamarathupatti town in Salem.
Speaking to Indianexpress.com, Mohan explained the reasons behind naming his son and how their family is carrying on the tradition. “After the Soviet Union was dissolved, people were saying that communism has fallen and the ideology won’t prosper anywhere in the world. There was a news clip on Doordarshan with regards to this and at that time, my wife gave birth to my elder son. I decided immediately to name him communism as I believed that till the human race exists, communism won’t fall,” he said.
Read more
Over one kilogram of gold worth Rs 63.20 lakh which was allegedly smuggled into India from Dubai was seized by the Customs department and one person was arrested in this connection, officials in Chennai said.
Acting on specific inputs, the Customs officials intercepted a 26-year old passenger on his arrival from Dubai on suspicion and retrieved the precious metal which was concealed in a belt and also in his pants, an official release said.
On extraction, 1.25 kg of 24k purity gold worth Rs 63. 20 lakh was recovered and the passenger was arrested, it said. (PTI)
A total of 104 flights will be operated between Chennai and major cities today, with 53 arrivals and 51 departures scheduled at the Chennai International Airport.
In a major rejig, 25 IAS officers in Tamil Nadu have been transferred to new posts.
As per the order issued by chief secretary V Irai Anbu, Coimbatore, Madurai, Salem, Tirunelveli, and Tiruppur corporations will have new commissioners Raja Gopal Sunkara, KP Karthikeyan, T Christuraj, B Vishnu Chandran, and Kranti Kumar Pati respectively.
MS Prasanth, Dr Narnaware Manish Shankarro and D Sneha have been made deputy commissioners of works, health, and education respectively in the Greater Chennai Corporation. K Elambhavath will be the joint managing director of the slum clearance board. Vandana Garg will be the executive director of the industrial corporation and S Anu the deputy secretary to the government (protocol). Simranjeet Singh Kahlon will be regional deputy commissioner (south).
Read more
The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the government to take steps to protect the harvested paddy, which are kept in open places for procurement by the government or to dry the produce when there is chance of a heavy downpour.
The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, which gave the direction, hoped that appropriate measures would be taken and put in place immediately, particularly since there is a possibility of further rain in the next few days.
The bench was treating a news item in an English daily dated June 10 as a Public Interest Litigation plea. The news report alleged that due to the laxity on the part of the Madurai district administration the harvested paddy kept in open spaces for procurement by the State and for drying purposes was soaked in the sudden rain and started sprouting.
The matter will come up again on June 17. (PTI)
Telangana on Thursday recorded 1,798 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the tally to 5,98,611, while the toll rose to 3,440 with 14 more deaths,as 2,524 people recovered.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 174 followed by Khammam (165) and Nalgonda (151) districts, a state government bulletin said.
It said 2,524 people recovered from the infectious disease on Thursday, taking the cumulative number of recoveries to 5,71,610. The number of active cases was 23,561. It said 1,30,430 samples were tested on Thursday and the total number of samples tested till date was 1,63,87,698. The samples tested per million population were 4,40,292.
The case fatality and recovery rates in the state were at 0.57 per cent and 95.48 per cent, respectively. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu recorded 16,813 positive cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the state tally to 23,08,838. Among these, Chennai reported 1223 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 5,22,052. The state recorded 358 deaths on Thursday, putting the state toll at 28,528. 279 of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. A total of 32,049 patients were discharged following treatment, taking the total number of recoveries to 20,91,646.
As of Thursday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 1,88,664. Till date, 13,53,435 males, 9,55,365 females and 38 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, 2,94,25,279 samples from the state have been tested till date, with 1,81,920 samples having been sent yesterday. There are 271 COVID-19 testing facilities in the state, out of which 69 are government and 202 are private facilities.
Good morning!
Welcome to the live blog from Chennai and Hyderabad where we bring to you the latest updates on COVID-19 vaccination, COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, politics, civic issues and more across Chennai and Hyderabad throughout the day. Follow the blog to stay up to date with the states in real time.
Tamil Nadu recorded 16,813 fresh cases on Thursday, bringing the state tally to 23,08,838. Among these, Chennai reported 1,223 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 5,220,52. The state recorded 358 deaths on Thursday, putting the state toll at 28,528. 279 of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. A total of 32,049 patients were discharged following treatment, taking the total number of recoveries to 20,91,646.
A high level committee led by retired judge of the Madras High Court, A K Rajan to study the impact of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test on aspirants from the socially disadvantaged sections in medical admissions, would make its recommendations in a month, the state government said here on Thursday.
Besides Justice Rajan, who heads the panel, there would be eight other members including Dr G R Ravindranath (Doctors Association for Social Equality), Jawahar Nesan (educationist) and six top government officials including Principal Secretary of Medical and Family Welfare Department
A wedding invitation announcing the nuptials of a young couple has generated widespread buzz in Tamil Nadu. The names of the bride and groom — P Mamata Banerjee and AM Socialism — have left people wondering whether the card is legitimate or edited. What’s more, the card also mentions the names of the groom’s elder brothers — AM Communism and AM Leninism.
Family members of the couple have since confirmed that the card is, in fact, real. The groom is the son of Lenin Mohan, popularly known as A Mohan, the district secretary of CPI in Salem, Tamil Nadu. Mohan is also the councillor of Panamarathupatti town in Salem.
Read More
Ghantasala Ratnakumar, famous dubbing artist and son of legendary music composer Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao, died on Thursday at a private hospital in Chennai after to cardiac arrest. He was diagnosed with Covid-19 earlier but recently tested negative. He was also suffering from other health-related issues including kidney ailment.
As a dubbing artiste, Ratnakumar lent his voice to more than 1000 movies in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Hindi. He has also dubbed for many Telugu and Tamil television serials and cartoons. He has nearly 50 documentaries to his credit as a dubbing artist.
Read more
Two lionesses of the Arinagar Anna Zoological Park in Tamil Nadu have tested positive for COVID-19, while a lion was found to have contracted distemper virus, the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) Bareilly said Thursday.
Seven samples had been sent to the city-based institute from the zoo for testing. "Of the samples of seven animals (four tigers and three lions) from the Tamil Nadu zoo, one lioness tested positive for SARS CoV-2 and distemper virus, one lioness for SARS CoV-2, and one lion tested positive for distemper virus," IVRI Joint Director K P Singh said.
All four tigers have tested negative for both the viruses, he said. A report is being sent to the zoo authorities in Tamil Nadu, Singh added. (PTI)
A day after hitting new record highs on Wednesday, petrol and diesel prices were steady across the country on Thursday, June 10, 2021. The auto fuel prices had touched record highs on June 9, when petrol and diesel rose by 25 paise per litre each in the national capital.
In Chennai, petrol is priced at Rs. 96.94 per litre while diesel costs Rs. 91.15 per litre.
In Hyderabad, petrol is priced at Rs. 99.31 per litre and diesel at Rs. 94.26 per litre.
Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian on Thursday said the state is left with only 1,060 doses of vaccines, which is available in Chennai alone, while the rest of the 36 districts have no vaccines.
Subramanian said the state has received 1,1,63,000 doses of vaccines till date and 97,62,957 people have been vaccinated.
The Minister said for the past two days, the state had been saying that it is running out of vaccines. But, he added: “The Union Health Ministry is asking the state governments not to share the information on the existing stock of vaccines, but if we do not inform people, they will head to the vaccine centre, stand in a long queue and return disappointed. It’s better to tell the truth.”
Read more
A total of 21,46,585 people have been vaccinated in Chennai till date, with 7999 people inoculated on Wednesday alone, according to the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC).
Singer Chinmayi Sripada took to Instagram to appreciate Samantha Akkineni for gracefully facing the hate after the release of Amazon Prime Video’s The Family Man 2. Chinmayi’s Instagram post read. “It takes a lot of strength to remain silent, resilient in the face of targeted hate. Samantha is the rockstar.”
Her comment came after the critically acclaimed series received a pushback from certain sections of the audience. Samantha plays a rebel soldier in the show and has been applauded for her performance.
Chinmayi’s caption read, “One appreciation post that is random. And so. Much. Anger. That I need to clarify why I appreciate someone whom I have appreciated several times on my feed. I am exhausted with the hate. Please leave me alone. There is a limit to what I can take.”
A few hours later, she also uploaded a post on her Instagram story addressing the hate she has been receiving for praising Samantha.
Read more
The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Animal Husbandry department to vaccinate stray dogs and cats in the state.
"When scavenging opportunities in and around the urban areas decreased, the department should now chalk out a holistic plan for the general treatment of stray animals in the State, providing for a scientific and humane approach even during normal times," the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said.
A comprehensive plan dealing with vaccinating stray dogs and cats, if necessary, or collaring them or the like should also be thought of in the best interest of both the animals and the human population that they come into contact with, the bench said. (PTI)
The Tamil Nadu Assembly would meet on June 21 with the customary address by Governor Banwarilal Purohit at the Kalaivanar Arangam with the COVID norms in place, Speaker of the House M Appavu said on Wednesday.
The session would commence at 10 AM. After the Governor's address, the Assembly's business advisory committee would meet to decide on the duration of the session, he said.
Members and staff who test negative for coronavirus alone will be allowed into the House, Appavu said and added that social distancing norms would be followed in making seating arrangements for the legislators. Speaking to reporters in Chennai, the Speaker said as has been the intent of Chief Minister M K Stalin, all the members would be given a fair chance to speak.
There is likely to be a motion of thanks to the Governor for his address to the House and the session would be wound
up with the Chief Ministers address, he said. (PTI)
The overall number of Black Fungus cases in Andhra Pradesh touched 1,955 on Wednesday but only 1,301 of them are now active.
Principal Secretary (Health) Anil Kumar Singhal told reporters that 114 persons had died so far of mucormycosis, including five in the last 24 hours. "So far 654 patients had recovered from Black Fungus. The remaining are undergoing treatment in various hospitals," the official said.
As adequate number of Posaconazole injections and tablets were available, the affected persons were being administered those drugs for treatment of mucormycosis. He said the state received another 7,000 doses of Liposomal Amphotericin-B injections from the Centre on Tuesday night and they were dispatched proportionately to the districts.
So far, the state got 18,000 doses of Amphotericin-B injections from the Centre, he added. (PTI)
A 51-year-old braindead man has given a new lease of life to eight people after his organs were implanted on them in a private hospital in Coimbatore.
R Chenthamarai, a tailor by profession and a resident of Singanallur in the city, met with an accident on June 6 and was declared braindead at KMCH here on June 8, a press
release from the KMCH said on Wednesday.
The family of the deceased came forward and donated his organs.
The liver and one kidney were transplanted on a person at KMCH while the other kidney was sent to a private hospital in Vellore and the heart to a private hospital in Chennai, the release said. His eyes, skin and bone were sent to a private hospital here, it added. (PTI)
It has been two years since the desilting work of the 100-year old Chitlapakkam lake in Chitlapakkam near Chennai began. The project, which was kickstarted by the Public Works Department (PWD) with much fanfare in June 2019 following a green signal from the state Water Resources Department (WRD), was halted last year owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, the subsequent lockdowns and Cyclone Nivar.
With restrictions having eased across the state since Monday, residents of Chitlapakkam and volunteers from Chitlapakkam Rising are now hopeful that the 55-acre lakh will be restored to its glory before the onset of the monsoon this year. Chitlapakkam Rising, formed in 2014, is a 5000-strong volunteer group that works on civic programmes such as cleaning up of roads and lakes, Right to Information (RTI) queries and monitors government projects.
“It is unfortunate that the pandemic hit us and work on the lake was halted. While officials did try to bring in workers from time to time to carry out the work last year, it slowed down this year amid the second wave,” Sunil Jayaraman, one of the core volunteers with Chitlapakkam Rising, told Indianexpress.com.
Read more
Over 3,800 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) have been delivered to Tamil Nadu through 56 oxygen express trains, Southern Railway said in Chennai on Wednesday.
The State received the first oxygen supply through train on May 14 from Durgapur in West Bengal. "As on date, Southern Railway has delivered a total of 3,881.95 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen for Tamil Nadu through 56 oxygen express trains," an official release said on Wednesday.
The 55th and the 56th expresses from Chattisgarh and Odisha respectively arrived in Tamil Nadu early on Wednesday, the release said.
Southern Railway said the Inland Container Depot in Tondiarpet handled the maximum number of oxygen expresses with 27 trains delivering 1,884.25 metric tonnes of LMO while the remaining were shared by Tondiarpet goods yard, Tiruchirappalli goods yard, Kudalnagar, and Madukkarai near Coimbatore, the release said. (PTI)
Not even an inch of forest land can be allowed to be encroached upon, the first bench of the Madras High Court observed on Wednesday.
The bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy made the oral observation while entertaining a writ petition challenging the alleged construction of a resort in Naduvattam village in Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu.
Prabakaran, the petitioner, in his public interest litigation plea alleged that a person, Kavitha Senbagam was constructing the resort without sanction from authorities and in violation of the existing rules and regulations.
The judges ordered notices to the authorities returnable in three weeks. (PTI)
Education Minister P Sabita Indra Reddy Wednesday informed the government's decision to cancel 2nd year intermediate examinations in the state in view of prevailing pandemic situation. The decision was taken keeping the safety of students in mind, the minister said.
According to the minister, the government had opted to cancel the exams to ease the pressure on students in the wake of concerns among students and their parents over the spread of the corona virus.
A committee would be constituted to finalize the modalities for announcement of results.
The decision would benefit 4.73 lakh students in the state. A decision on these lines was sought by many after the CBSE and CISCE had announced cancelation of exams for class 12 students under their respective boards.
The Telangana government will vaccinate six lakh people from high-risk high-exposure groups in the next four days.
Finance Minister T Harish Rao and Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar on Wednesday reviewed implementation of vaccination drive and directed the officials to vaccinate 6 lakh persons from high-risk categories in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation, and all other urban local bodies in the state in the next four days.
The officials were also directed to vaccinate the following categories on priority.
• 16,000 dialysis and Thalassemia patients.
• 3 lakhs auto and cab drivers in ULBs.
• 25,000 Engineering Staff working in all the Engineering Departments.
• 45,000 field staff working in Power Sector.
• 5,000 field level employees in Agriculture.
• 30,000 field staff of Revenue earning departments.
• 6000 IKP field staff.
• 15,000 Bank Employees in the districts.
• 13,000 Postal Employees.
• 60,000 Public Representatives of Urban and Rural Local Bodies.
• 35,000 RMP and PMPs practising in rural areas.
• 50,000 Poojari, Imams and Church Pastors.
Earlier, the health department had conducted a special drive to vaccinate all RTC drivers, Autorichshaw drivers, and Maxi Cab drivers, from 3rd June, 2021 onwards in the state. The inoculation drive was taken up for upto 10,000 persons per day in GHMC area and other district headquarters.
On Wednesday, the meeting also decided to appoint a Special Officer to pursue procurement of vaccine stocks for which orders have been placed. It was noted that payment had been made to vaccine manufacturing companies for 16 lakhs doses which were yet to be supplied.
Shipping containers modified into emergency mobile medical units that can help treat COVID-19 patients were formally put into service at the Kilpauk Medical college in Chennai on Wednesday. Each of the ‘repurposed shipping containers’ can hold seven beds along with life-saving devices, and are easy to transport and erect.
The containers are built with corrugated metal sheets and can be customised easily to be used as ‘quarantine centres’ and isolation wards in hospitals, Rajasthan Cosmo Club, which put together the units, said in a release. The containers can also act as ‘portable clinics’ or COVID-19 testing centres in hotspots.
“RCC stands by the people and the government of Tamil Nadu in these times. We will continue our contributions in all possible ways to help the state exit the pandemic faster..,” RCC Foundation President Sripal Kothari said.
Read more
Telangana on Wednesday reported 1,813 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the tally to 5,96,813, while the toll rose to 3,426 with 17 more deaths.
Khammam district accounted for the most number of cases with 180, followed by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (179) and Nalgonda (145), a state government bulletin said.
It said 1,801 people recovered from the infectious disease on Wednesday, taking the cumulative number of recoveries to 5,69,086. The number of active cases was 24,301. The bulletin said 1,29,896 samples were tested on Wednesday and the total number of samples tested till date was 1,62,57,268. The samples tested per million population were 4,36,788.
The case fatality and recovery rates were at 0.57 per cent and 95.35 per cent, respectively. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu recorded 17,321 positive cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the state tally to 22,92,025. Among these, Chennai reported 1345 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 5,20,877. The state recorded 405 deaths on Wednesday, putting the state toll at 28,170. 311 of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. A total of 31,253 patients were discharged following treatment, taking the total number of recoveries to 20,59,597.
As of Wednesday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 2,04,258. Till date, 13,44,157 males, 9,47,830 females and 38 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, 2,92,43,359 samples from the state have been tested till date, with 1,80,750 samples having been sent yesterday. There are 271 COVID-19 testing facilities in the state, out of which 69 are government and 202 are private facilities.
Good morning!
Welcome to the live blog from Chennai and Hyderabad where we bring to you the latest updates on COVID-19 vaccination, COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, politics, civic issues and more across Chennai and Hyderabad throughout the day. Follow the blog to stay up to date with the states in real time.