Chennai Hyderabad March 10, 11 Highlights: TN records 671 fresh cases as cases steadily rise in state

President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday emphasised the role of education in moulding students into agents of social change and said educated youth, given the right direction, can bring revolutionary changes in the course of history. Reiterating that education is the catalyst for change and the youth the most potent agent of social transformation, he said "the youth, given the right direction, can bring revolutionary changes in the course of history."

In fact, this is what the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 aims to achieve. "It seeks to implement a modern education system based on research, skill and acumen relevant to the evolving needs of the present," the president said addressing the gathering at the 41st convocation of Anna University in Chennai.

"I am told that more than one lakh candidates at undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD levels are receiving degrees today of which about 45 per cent are women," the president said.  His "bigger pleasure" was to know that out of total students being conferred with gold medals and first-class degrees today, over 60 per cent are women.

He was also glad to note that this is the first Indian university to design, develop and operate a satellite in association with ISRO named ANUSAT. The president said the NEP would include within its domain the country's rich cultural heritage in consonance with a futuristic outlook. The policy focused on inculcating moral values and promoting understanding of Indian culture.

Exuding confidence that the implementation of this policy would usher in an era of modern learning and education, he said "it will create a brigade of researchers and professionals who would take our country to the great heights of development, as befitting our national aspirations." (PTI)

Owing to engineering work between Sulur Road – Somanur and Coimbatore – Coimbatore North Section and Rebuilding of Bridge No.15 and 17 between Coimbatore and Podanur, the Southern Railway has announced several changes in the pattern of train services.

Partial Cancellation of Trains:

• Train No.01013: Lokmanya Tilak – Coimbatore Jn Special Train of March 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 is partially cancelled between Erode and Coimbatore
• Train No.01014: Coimbatore – Lokmanya Tilak Special Train of March 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31 is partially cancelled between Erode and Coimbatore Jn

Diversion of Trains:

The following trains will be diverted via Irugur – Podanur Jn, by-passing Coimbatore Jn on March 15 and March 17.

• Train No.03351: Dhanbad – Alappuzha Special Train leaving Dhanbad at 11.40 hrs on March 13and March 15 will be diverted via Irugur – Podanur Jn by-passing Coimbatore Jn
• Train No.02626: New Delhi – Thiruvananthapuram Special Train leaving New Delhi at 20.10 hrs on March 13 and 15 will be diverted via Irugur – Podanur Jn by-passing Coimbatore Jn
• Train No.02677: Bangalore – Ernakulam Special Train leaving Bangalore at 06.10 hrs on March 15 and 17 will be diverted via Irugur – Podanur Jn by-passing Coimbatore Jn
• Train No.03352: Alappuzha – Dhanbad Special Train leaving Alappuzha at  06.00 hrs on March 15 and 17 will be diverted via Irugur – Podanur Jn by-passing Coimbatore Jn
• Train No.02678: Ernakulam – Bangalore Special Train leaving Ernakulam at 09.10 hrs on March 15 and 17 will be diverted via Irugur – Podanur Jn by-passing Coimbatore Jn

Short Termination of Train:

• Train No.06607: Kannur – Coimbatore Special Train leaving Kannur at 06.20 hrs on March 15 and 17 will be short terminated at Podanur Junction

Change in Origination of Train:

• Train No.06608: Coimbatore – Kannur Special Train leaving Coimbatore at 14.20 hrs on March 15 and 17 will originate from Podanur instead of Coimbatore

The Southern Railway has announced a partial cancellation of trains operating between Erode and Tiruchchirappalli Fort Section owing to a line block to carry out LUS work.

• Train No.06843: Tiruchchirappalli – Palakkad Town Special Train leaving Tiruchchirappalli at 13.00 hrs on March 13 is partially cancelled between Karur and Palakkad Town

• Train No.06844: Palakkad Town – Tiruchchirappalli Special Train leaving Palakkad Town at 06.35 hrs on March 19 is partially cancelled between Erode and Tiruchchirappalli

• Train No.06843: Tiruchchirappalli – Palakkad Town Special Train leaving Tiruchchirappalli at 13.00 hrs on March 19 is partially cancelled between Tiruchchirappalli and Erode

• Train No.06321: Nagercoil - Coimbatore Special Train leaving Nagercoil at 07.35 hrs on March 19 is partially cancelled between Karur and Coimbatore

In view of the sudden spike in Covid-19 cases in Kerala, the Coimbatore district administration has made E-pass and Covid-19 negative certificate mandatory for any passenger coming from the neighbouring state to Tamil Nadu through any mode of travel.

Police, Health and Revenue Departments have set up 13 check-posts at border points in Walayar, Velanthavalam, Anaimalai, Anaikatti, Valparai in Pollachi and across other points in the district.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has also been alerted to check people arriving from trains originating from Kerala at railway stations.

The decision comes after Coimbatore reported a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in the past week. Health officials said at least three to five families test positive for the virus every day.

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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami received was administered the COVID-19 vaccine at the Government Super Specialty Hospital in Chennai's Omandurar Estate today.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami received the #COVID19 vaccine at the Omandurar Government Hospital in Chennai. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/CuIpyLRrPK

— Janardhan Koushik (@koushiktweets) March 11, 2021

Actor Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam released the first list of candidates who would be contesting for the assembly election in Tamil Nadu. The list of 70 candidates included former IAS officer Santhosh Babu and late president APJ Abdul Kalam’s scientific advisor V Ponraj.

Addressing the press conference on Thursday, Haasan said his party’s maiden assembly polls battle, is being fought by it on the plank of corruption and good governance. “We don’t have financial strength, but the media should report what other parties don’t have: Honesty,” Haasan said.

Haasan’s MNM signed a poll-pact with actor R Sarathkumar’s All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi (AISMK) and India Jananayaga Katchi (IJK) of Lok Sabha MP Paarivendhar. The senior actor announced that his party will be contesting in 154 of the total 234 seats. Both AISMK and IJK have been allotted 40 seats each.

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With Phase 2 of the COVID-19 vaccination drive underway in full swing on its second week, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has said that a total of 2,15,035 people have been vaccinated in Chennai till March 10, with 18,814 people vaccinated on Wednesday alone.

Under pressure from political parties and various organisations that have been protesting against the move to privatise the Vizag Steel Plant in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has sought a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to urge him to reconsider the decision.

In a letter to the Prime Minister on Tuesday, the Chief Minister sought an appointment to meet an all-party delegation he wants to take to New Delhi to discuss the issue.

“The CM is very clear that Vizag Steel should not be privatised under any circumstances. He has appealed to the PM for an appointment to meet and discuss directly with political leaders and representatives of trade and workers’ unions. He also wants to discuss other options available to put the steel plant back on track,” said Government Advisor (Public Affairs) Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy on Wednesday.

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The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Election Commission to ensure that government staff and teachers engaged in election works are provided adequate time to exercise their votes through postal ballot.

The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthil Kumar Ramamurthy gave a direction to this effect, while disposing of a PIL from Dr A Mayavan, founder-president of the Tamil Nadu High and Higher Secondary Schools Graduate Teachers Association.

Observing that the officials engaged in the election work should not be deprived of their democratic right of voting, the judges directed the EC to achieve its motto of 100 per cent polling and keep absenteeism at minimum level. 

The petitioner sought a direction to the  EC to consider his January 30  representation this year, preferred  under Sec. 20A of the Representation of the People Act and issue orders to authorities concerned to facilitate requisite number of polling stations in their respective constituencies at least three days prior to the polling date (April 6). (PTI)

The 44th book fair at Chennai’s YMCA Ground in Nandanam came to an end on Tuesday. Organised every year by the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI), the fair, which is an extremely popular event in the city, was held from February 24 to March 9 this year.

Speaking to Indianexpress.com, Nagarajan, the vice-president of BAPASI, said that the fair has generated an income of Rs 8 to Rs 12 crore this year.

Over 10 lakh books by 650 publishers were available for sale and there were almost 700 stalls this year. One of the highlights of the book fair has been the daily book recommendations given by actor and MNM leader Kamal Haasan.

Nagarajan said that the Chennai book fair has registered a footfall of only 12 lakh this year, with many people staying away due to the ongoing Covid crisis and fears of a second wave of the pandemic spreading across Tamil Nadu. “Many more people had visited us last year,” the BAPASI vice president said.

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Telangana recorded 194 new COVID-19 cases and three related deaths on Wednesday, taking the total tally of cases to 3,00,536 and the toll to 1,649 respectively, the State government said on Thursday. A total of 1,855 patients were under treatment, it said in a bulletin.

Out of the 194 fresh cases, 35 were reported from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), followed by 16 from Ranga Reddy, and 14 from Medchal Malkajgiri districts. 

According to the bulletin, as many as 37,904 samples were tested on Wednesday and cumulatively 90,93,645 samples have been tested. The bulletin said a total of 2,97,032 people had recovered and the recovery rate was 98.83 per cent in the state.

The case fatality rate in the state was 0.54 per cent. (PTI)

A public interest litigation (PIL) petition to transfer the investigation into the case relating to the alleged sexual harassment of a woman IPS officer by a former Special DGP, to the CBI, has been filed in the Madras High Court. The case is being probed by the CB-CID wing of the state police.

When the PIL from K Rajendran, a retired Additional SP in Anna Nagar, came up on Wednesday, the accused complained to the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthil Kumar Ramamurthy that despite the court's earlier restraint order, debates on the issue tarnishing his image, are going on at various levels. 

Since a higher official in the cadre of DGP was involved in the case, the investigation by the State CB-CID would not go in the right direction, the petitioner alleged.

The bench posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks. Earlier, the judges were told by the prosecution counsel that about 50 people were questioned in connection with the woman IPS officer's complaint. (PTI)

The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) conducted 237 fever clinics in Chennai on Wednesday. A total of 19,541 people attended the clinics, with swabs collected from 61 people who were identified with ILI symptoms, while others were provided with medication for minor ailments.

The most number of camps were held in Tondiarpet (Zone 4) where 39 camps had been set up, while Manali (Zone 2) had the least with three camps.

237 Fever clinics were conducted in Chennai today. 19,541 people attended the clinics and 61 symptomatic patients were identified & tested for COVID-19 and others given medicines for minor ailments.#Covid19Chennai#GCC #Chennai#ChennaiCorporation pic.twitter.com/5kDVfrvOJI

— Greater Chennai Corporation (@chennaicorp) March 10, 2021

DMK president M K Stalin on Wednesday criticised the alleged attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the state's Nandigram assembly constituency, saying it was "an assault on Indian democracy".

Banerjee alleged on Wednesday that she was attacked by four to five men who manhandled her during an election campaign in Nandigram because of which she sustained an injury in the left leg.

"The shameful attack on Mamata Banerjee is an assault on Indian democracy. The perpetrators of such a crime should be brought to justice immediately. Election Commission of India and the police dept should take stringent action to avoid such instances in the future," Stalin tweeted.

The Leader of Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly also wished a speedy recovery to the TMC supremo. (PTI)

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:

• Thirumudivakkam: Parts of Kundrathur, Thirumudivakkam Industrial Estate, Thirumudivakkam Village, Pazanthandalam, Erumaiyur, Somangalam, Naduveerpattu, Varadharajapuram, Poonthandalam, Puthuperu, Srikalathur, Keluthipettai, Periyar Nagar, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Nanthambakkam, Kundrathur Bazaar, Sambantham Nagar, Vazhuthalampedu and Natham.

Chennai's Anna University was pulled up by the Madras High Court on Wednesday for allegedly providing 10 per cent reservation, within the 49.5 per cent reservation, to candidates belonging to economically weaker sections (EWS) in admission to M Tech Biotechnology and M Tech Computational Technology courses.

"The (earlier) orders passed by this court should be carried out in full and any deviation will attract the consequences. The newly introduced reservation clause has created unnecessary confusion," Justice B Pugalendhi said. The judge made the observation when pleas from two aspiring candidates came up on Wednesday.

The university had suspended the two courses, following the insistence of the Centre that it should adhere to its 49.5 per cent reservation alone and not the 69 per cent quota policy of the Tamil Nadu government in the admission of students to these two courses.

The judge on February 19 had directed the University to admit students to the two courses following the Central government's 49.5 per cent reservation for the current academic year. The case of the petitioners might be considered under this quota, he had added.

The judge also directed the institution to explain by Friday as to why it has introduced the 10 per cent reservation for EWS within the 49.5 per cent reservation. (PTI)

The ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on Wednesday released its second list of candidates for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly election. Including the first list which was released a couple of days ago, as many as 27 former ministers have been renominated.

The party will contest on its ‘Two leaves’ symbol in 177 constituencies across the state and nine in Chennai.

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami (Edappadi), O Pannerselvam (Bodinayakanur), P Thangamani (Kumarapalayam), SP Velumani (Thondamuthur), D Jayakumar (Royapuram), Mafoi Pandiarajan (Avadi), CV Shanmugam (Villupuram) C Vijayabaskar (Viralimalai), KT Rajendra Balaji (Rajapalayam), Saroja (Rasipuram), Sengottaiyan (Gobichettipalayam), Dindigul Srinivasan (Dindugul), Vellamandi Natarajan (Trichy), RB Udhayakumar (Tirumangalam), Sellur Raju (Madurai West), Kadambur Raju (Kovilpatti), Rajendra Balaji (Rajapalayam), KP Anbalagan (Palakodu) are some of the prominent leaders who will be fighting to keep hold of their constituencies.

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Tamil Nadu recorded 671 positive cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the state tally to 8,56,917. Among these, Chennai reported 275 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 2,37,716. The state recorded five deaths on Wednesday, putting the state toll at 12,530. All five had succumbed due to comorbidities. A total of 532 patients were discharged following treatment, taking the total number of recoveries to 8,40,180.

As of Wednesday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 4207. Till date, 5,17,730 males, 3,39,152 females and 35 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, 1,80,20,932 samples from the state have been tested till date, with 65,082 samples having been sent yesterday. There are 257 COVID-19 testing facilities in the state, out of which 69 are government and 188 are private facilities.

Good morning!
Welcome to the live blog from Chennai and Hyderabad where we bring to you the latest updates on Tamil Nadu elections 2021, COVID-19 vaccination, COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, UK COVID-19 virus in Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and more across Chennai and Hyderabad throughout the day. Follow the blog to stay up to date with the states in real time.

Gold worth Rs 62 lakh has been seized from an air passenger who arrived from Dubai and he has been arrested, the Customs said in Chennai on Wednesday.

The 49-year-old resident from the city had concealed four plastic pouches of gold in paste form in his socks and two pouches in the knee cap support worn by him, a Customs press release said.

"Totally, six plastic pouches of gold paste weighing 1.52 kg were recovered. On extraction, 1.35 kg of 24 K purity gold valued at Rs 62.35 lakh was recovered and seized under the Customs Act," the release said.

The passenger was arrested, it said, adding further investigation was on. (PTI)

Captain Vijayakanth’s DMDK decided to quit the AIADMK-BJP alliance on Tuesday following a disagreement over the distribution of seats. At a time when Rajinikanth has abandoned his plans to enter politics, and Kamal Haasan is going full steam ahead with them, matinee star Vijayakanth’s DMDK continues to enjoy a support base in the state.

As an actor, Vijayakanth used to be known as the ‘Raja of B and C Class theatres’, meaning that even when his movies bombed at the box office, they would fetch good money for producers from theatres in the smaller towns. When he launched his party in 2005, Vijayakanth’s strength was this fan base, particularly the socially and economically backward Dalits and OBCs. He also continues to have command over the Telugu Naidu community to which he belongs and which forms a small but loyal fan base in the state.

Having no ideology was his ideology when he launched the party in 2005. His fans called him ‘Karuppu MGR (swarthy MGR)’, while J Jayalalithaa once dismissed him as “mere dust”. Neither did Vijayakanth have any strong ideas regarding governance. But his popularity as a hero helped him ride over these shortcomings.

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AIADMK’s rebel faction AMMK Wednesday released their first list of candidates, who will be contesting on behalf of the party in the upcoming assembly election in Tamil Nadu. The list released by the party’s general secretary TTV Dhinakaran featured many prominent faces including former MLAs and MP.

Former member of Parliament S Anbazhagan will contest from Rasipuram (Reserve) constituency, while former ministers P Palaniyappan, G Senthamizhan and C Shanmugavelu will contest from Paapireddipatti, Saidapet and Madathukulam constituencies respectively.

M Rengasamy, NG Parthiban and RR Murugan, who were part of the 18 disqualified MLAs by the speaker for indulging in anti-party activities, have been given seats to contest from Paapansam, Sholingar, and Harur constituencies respectively.

Other nominees include KK Umadevan (Tiruppatur), R Manoharan (Srirangam), SK Selvam (Veerapandi), I Mahendran (Usilampatti), R Duraisamy (Coimbatore, South), K Sugumar (Pollachi), DK Rajendran (Dharmapuri) and KSK Balamurugan (Bhuvanagiri).

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Telangana witnessed a slight increase in its daily coronavirus cases with 189 new additions on Tuesday, highest in a fortnight. The total positives in the state surged past 3 lakh with the addition of 189 infections, a state government bulletin said on Wednesday. Two more COVID-19 patients died, taking the toll to 1,646, it said.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 34, followed by Rangareddy and Medchal Malkajgiri districts with 15 and 12 cases respectively.

The bulletin said 176 people recovered from the infection on March 9 and the cumulative recovered cases stood at 2,96,916. According to the bulletin, 1,780 were under treatment. It said 39,000 samples were tested on March 9. Cumulatively, the number of samples tested was 90,55,741. The samples tested per million population was 2,43,303, it said.

The recovery rate in the state was 98.85 per cent while the case fatality rate in the state was 0.54 per cent. (PTI)

The Commercial Wing (IT Cell) of the Southern Railway has developed Ticketing Peripherals Management System (TPMS) for real-time monitoring and management of thousands of ticketing peripherals and accessories scattered all over the railway. In a statement, Southern Railway said that this system will help in rectifying equipment failures in booking and reservation counters in a timely manner and thus aid in better delivery of ticketing services to rail passengers. 

TPMS - Ticketing Peripherals Management System of Southern Railway is an online browser-based application for equipment maintenance, trouble shooting management and complete life cycle monitoring of the thousands of ticketing peripherals and accessories scattered all over the railway. "It is a user friendly web-based application to keep track of the functioning of the machines and easily accessible from desktop and mobile by the staff engaged in the ticket delivery front and back end office. This unique application is developed in-house using open source software and latest web technologies and thus involving no cost to Railway administration", the Southern Railway said.

Southern Railway added that TPMS is an eco friendly, paperless go-green initiative and helps in saving valuable time. "The real-time feature of extracting information about assets and their performance enhances the managerial decision making. The app is fully scalable, and may be used to monitor equipments in any division, department, zone, or the whole of Indian Railways. The expandability is such that any type of the assets of Railways can be brought in to monitoring through this app without any further investment. TPMS also enables analysis of ticketing peripherals location wise, division wise, equipment-wise, vendor wise and will significantly aid decision making with regard to vendor management, AMC management, tendering and procurement decisions", the railway body added.

This system will ensure delivery of better ticketing services for passengers.

The Andhra Pradesh government has fast-tracked work on setting up a steel plant in YSR Kadapa district even as protests rage in Visakhapatnam over the Centre’s plan to privatise the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. The state government is likely to soon select a steel producer as its joint venture partner to establish and operationalise the steel plant by March 2024.

Sagili Shan Mohan, Managing Director of YSR Steel Corporation Limited, an undertaking of the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) set up to establish a 3 MTPA Steel, told The Indian Express the plant has been given environmental clearance by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, which is crucial for work to start.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Mohan said the plant will give rise to ancillary industries around it and generate a lot of indirect employment, which will change the landscape of the Rayalaseema region.

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The budget session of the Telangana Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council will commence on March 15. A notification to this effect was issued by Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan Tuesday evening.

The state budget is expected to be presented on March 18 by the Finance Minister, T Harish Rao. The session is likely to conclude on March 31.

Earlier, the Chief Minister’s Office suggested a ‘promising budget’ this year. In a statement from the CMO on March 6, the CM K Chandrasekhar Rao was quoted as saying that the state incurred a loss of Rs 50,000 crore due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact has risen to Rs 1 lakh crore.

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The Election Commission on Tuesday ordered the removal of an Indian Revenue Service Officer from Tamil Nadu and directed that he be attached to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) headquarters.

In a letter to the chairman of CBDT, the Commission said after review of electoral preparedness in Tamil Nadu, it has decided that K G Arunraj, IRS, be transferred from Tamil Nadu and attached with the CBDT headquarters immediately. "A compliance report may be furnished by 10 AM on March 10," the poll panel told the CBDT chairman.

Separately, the poll panel also ordered suspension of and disciplinary action against superintendent of police (SP) D Kannan, facing probe under the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act. 

In a letter to the chief secretary of the state, the EC noted that in the light of a criminal case in the Villupuram CB CID, the state home department through the state chief electoral officer had requested that D Kannan be transferred. Accordingly, the Commission had ordered his transfer and had allowed him to be posted in a non-election post. 

"Considering the gravity of the case and report of the Home Department of Tamil Nadu, the Commission has directed that D Kannan be placed under suspension immediately and disciplinary proceedings initiated against him," the Commission said. (PTI)

#ElectionCommission suspends accused police officer D Kannan. pic.twitter.com/0ll3xImTOZ

— Janardhan Koushik (@koushiktweets) March 9, 2021

The Tamil Nadu Congress Party is between a rock and a hard place. It has been this way since it lost power in 1967 and started aligning with the Dravidian parties for power in the state.

However, the Dravidian parties, though generous with seats at times, have never agreed to a coalition government or shared ministerial berths. From being a deciding factor in state elections, the party has now become a shadow of its former self, waiting for crumbs at the table of Dravidian parties. When in power at the centre, the Congress is able to wrestle more seats, but when not in power, things are obviously not that easy.

The party has trained itself to play second fiddle to the Dravidian parties, partly because of the central leadership’s intention not to rock the boat and because the MPs from Tamil Nadu are too precious for the party to make electoral experiments.

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Hyderabad police arrested an ATM custodian and his former colleague on Tuesday on charges of siphoning off Rs 1.3 crore from 20 ATMs of ICICI Bank.

According to the police, the prime accused, Gundelli Krishna, who works as custodian at Secure Value India Limited and is tasked with replenishing cash at ICICI Bank’s ATMs, took the amount fraudulently after being instigated by Rapaka Rajashekar Reddy.

Reddy was previously arrested in a similar case on charges of siphoning off funds from ATMs belonging to the same cash management company, a statement from Avinash Mohanty, Joint Commissioner of Police, Central Crime Station, Hyderabad, read.

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The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) conducted 234 fever clinics in Chennai on Tuesday. A total of 17,374 people attended the clinics, with swabs collected from 101 people who were identified with ILI symptoms, while others were provided with medication for minor ailments.

The most number of camps were held in Tondiarpet (Zone 4) where 37 camps had been set up, while Manali (Zone 2) had the least with three camps.

234 Fever clinics were conducted in Chennai today. 17,374 people attended the clinics and 101 symptomatic patients were identified & tested for COVID-19 and others given medicines for minor ailments.#Covid19Chennai#GCC #Chennai#ChennaiCorporation pic.twitter.com/P6AwBqnEjO

— Greater Chennai Corporation (@chennaicorp) March 9, 2021

The release of Sivakarthikeyan’s Doctor has been delayed because of upcoming elections in Tamil Nadu, the film’s makers announced on Tuesday. The film was supposed to release on March 26.

“Doctor has been a wonderful experience from the word go, and your enthusiasm and love for the posters and songs have given us more energy. We were excited about bringing you the film on 26th of March, 2021. Owing to the elections, we will be postponing the release to a later, more suitable date. We’re taking this call keeping the best interests of our film, the upcoming elections and most importantly the fans in mind. We are discussing a better release date with all the core members of the project and will announce it in a few days. Until then, we request you to keep up the positivity and support you have shown Doctor from Day 1. We assure you, Doctor will be worth the wait! (sic),” said KJR Studios, which is bankrolling the film, in the statement.

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Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) has signed a memorandum of understanding with actor Sarathkumar’s All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi (AISMK) and SRM group founder TR Pachamuthu’s Indhiya Janayaga Katchi (IJK).

Haasan’s party, in its debut assembly polls, will be contesting from 154 seats. Of the remaining 80 constituencies, both AISMK and IJK will be contesting on 40 seats each.

The statement issued by MNM reads that the parties have come together to bring about an overall change in Tamil Nadu. “With the common agenda of restoring the pride and glory of Tamil Nadu, they have decided to embark on a long-lasting journey together. The primary goal of this platform is to contest the upcoming assembly elections with a promise for change and emerge victorious to form the government,” the statement read.

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The Unifi Capital Offshore regatta, featuring J80 class sailboats, will be held between Chennai and Puducherry from March 11 to 14. 

The two-legged race, which will be between Chennai and Puducherry and back, will cover a distance of 160 km one way, organisers said in Chennai on Tuesday. The race is expected to be completed in 60 hours (two ways), they added.

Four teams will be taking part in the event. They are: Navy (Commander Bakshi, Imo Lemnok), Army (Major Vikram & Swami), Royal Madras Yacht Club (RMYC) (Commander Abhilash Tomy & Capt. Vivek Shanbhag) and the Pondicherry Sailing Association (Lt. Commander Vartika Joshi & Aurofilio).
   
The event is being organised by the RMYC and YAI. (PTI)

A total of 246 flights will be operated between Chennai and major cities today, with 123 arrivals and 123 departures scheduled at the Chennai International Airport.

#AAI #Chennaiairport #Update: Domestic Arrival/Departure schedule for 10.03.2021 @AAI_Official @pibchennai @ANI @TOIChennai @the_hindu @NewIndianXpress @dinathanthi @dinamalarweb @sivaetb @dt_next @DeccanChronicle @thenewsminute pic.twitter.com/9x3Pxth1tv

— Chennai (MAA) Airport (@aaichnairport) March 9, 2021

After its seat-sharing talks with the AIADMK failed, Captain Vijayakanth’s DMDK Tuesday announced it would not fight the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections as part of the NDA.

The decision was made at a party meeting called by Vijayakanth. An official statement later said, “The DMDK quits the AIADMK-BJP alliance based on the unanimous decision at the district secretaries’ meeting.”

Soon after, DMDK leaders, including Vijayakanth’s brother in law L K Sudheesh and son Vijaya Prabhakaran, attacked the AIADMK, saying its candidates, led by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, would lose their deposits in the upcoming polls.

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Tamil Nadu recorded 569 positive cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the state tally to 8,56,246. Among these, Chennai reported 236 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 2,37,444. The state recorded four deaths on Monday, putting the state toll at 12,525. All four had succumbed due to comorbidities. A total of 510 patients were discharged following treatment, taking the total number of recoveries to 8,39,648.

As of Tuesday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 4073. Till date, 5,17,323 males, 3,38,888 females and 35 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, 1,79,55,850 samples from the state have been tested till date, with 55,134 samples having been sent yesterday. There are 257 COVID-19 testing facilities in the state, out of which 69 are government and 188 are private facilities.

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