The Tamil Nadu government on Sunday extended the lockdown in the state till February 28 with further relaxations. All arts, science, technical, engineering, agriculture, veterinary and fisheries colleges will reopen for undergraduate, post graduate and diploma students from February 8, with hostels permitted to reopen as well. Schools and hostels for Classes 9 and 11 will reopen on February 8.
READ | Tamil Nadu: Lockdown extended till Feb 28; Colleges, classes 9 and 11 to reopen on Feb 8
Also Read | Tamil Nadu BJP leader held for alleged hate speech at public meeting
A 55-year-old healthcare worker in Telangana died late Saturday night, 11 days after she received her vaccine against Covid-19. This is the third post immunization death reported in the State. The Health department has said the woman had comorbidities that led to her demise.
READ | Woman healthcare worker in Telangana dies 11 days after Covid vaccination; Doctors say no link
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 | 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)
The Board of Intermediate Education, Andhra Pradesh (BIEAP), Vijaywada will hold the exams for the first year and second year inter students from May 5 onwards. The exams will be held from 9 am to noon. The ethics and human values exam will be held on March 23 and the environmental education exam will be conducted on March 27. Practical exams will be held from March 21 to April 24, as per the official notice.
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After the Southern Railway began allowing the public to travel via Chennai’s Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) and suburban trains in December last year, the railway body reintroduced the use of the Mobile Unreserved Ticketing System app (Mobile UTS) across the city’s suburban and MRTS train network on Monday.
The app, which had been launched three years ago with the aim of curtailing long queues at ticket counters had been suspended during the lockdown and the initial unlock periods in Chennai. “It has been reintroduced now for Chennai users”, an official from Southern Railway told Indianexpress.com.
Currently, unreserved journey tickets can be booked on the app only by those travelling along the following routes in the Chennai network:
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Telangana Minister for Excise, Sports, Tourism and Culture V. Srinivas Goud and State Home Minister Mohammad Mahmood Ali inaugurated the newly-procured Catamaran Deluxe Cruise under the auspices of Telangana Tourism at Hussain Sagar Reservoir in Hyderabad today.
The event was attended by Tourism Corporation Chairman Uppala Srinivas Gupta, MD Tourism Manohar and others.
Students of classes 9 and above stood in long queues, in their respective demarcated circles as part of social distancing norms. Hands sanitised and faces covered with masks, the next step was to undergo a temperature check. While this is the new normal in the post-COVID era, behind the masks were anxious faces happy to reunite with friends and teachers in the school. After 11 months, schools across Telangana Friday opened to physical classes for students of classes 9 and above.
According to the School Education Department, the first day of school reopening in Telangana recorded an attendance of 45 per cent across schools under different managements. Of the 9,59,914 students enrolled in classes 9, 10, intermediate first, and intermediate second years, across these schools, about 4,43,507 were present.
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The DMK on Tuesday walked out of the Tamil Nadu Assembly after a heated argument with Governor Banwarilal Purohit ahead of his customary address to the House, over allowing them to raise some issues concerning the state. Even before the Governor could start his address, Leader of Opposition M K Stalin was on his feet and tried to raise some issues.
Purohit, however, appealed to Stalin to listen to him and pointed out that the Central budget has allocated Rs 1.03 lakh crore for Tamil Nadu. A din ensued, with DMK Deputy leader Duraimurugan and other members objecting to Purohit making a mention of the budget allocation.
Purohit underscored that this was the last session of the current Assembly and urged them to take full advantage by participating in the proceedings and debates.
He said he had a suggestion to the DMK, saying they could register their protest if they wanted to do so and come back to the House. DMK's allies, including Congress MLAs who came with green headgear in support of agitating farmers outside Delhi who want repeal of three Central laws, followed suit. (PTI)
With the government easing relaxations gradually and students beginning to attend offline classes in college, the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) in Chennai has announced that the institute’s annual cultural fest, Saarang will be held online this year.
In it’s first online edition, the theme of Saarang will be Vintage Vogue. According to a release from the institute, students will be taking a trip down memory lane and going retro.
Saarang will be held from February 4 to 7, with access for the public to view the fest for free also enabled.
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The Greater Chennai Corporation is mulling to set up 1000 more urban forests by utilising open spaces and reserve lands in a bid to increase the green cover of the city.
Addressing reporters at the anniversary celebration of Miyawaki forest in Kottupuram on Monday, Chennai Corporation Commissioner G Prakash requested resident associations, private firms, and NGOs to create more urban forests. He said private firms can even place advertisements and signboards in the forests they maintain.
As a first step toward developing interest, the corporation has decided to permit the residents to visit forests present in various parts of the city.
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The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) conducted 310 fever clinics in Chennai on Monday. A total of 16,714 people had attended the clinics, with swabs collected from 76 people who were identified with ILI symptoms, while others were provided with medication for minor ailments.
The most number of camps were held in Adyar (Zone 13) where 39 camps had been set up, while Manali (Zone 2) had the least with five camps.
With elections to key states coming up later this year and the government facing farmer protests in the northern states, the Union Budget, while announcing a massive infrastructure push for these poll-bound states, is being projected as pro-farmers, with Prime Minister Modi calling it one framed with “villages and farmers at its heart.”
As it campaigns in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the BJP will focus on the measures in the Budget for the farmers.
For Tamil Nadu, the Budget proposes 3,500 km of National Highway at an investment of Rs 1.03 lakh crore. These include the Madurai-Kollam corridor and Chittoor-Thatchur corridor for which construction will start next year, the government said.
The infrastructure push also includes funding for 11.5 kilometres of the second phase of the Kochi Metro, and 118.9 km of phase 2 of the Chennai Metro. The government also announced fishing harbours, including in Kochi, Chennai and Petuaghat in West Bengal.
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Telangana added 152 fresh COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking the total infection count to over 2.94 lakh while one fatality pushed the toll to 1,602.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 29, followed by Rangareddy and Medchal Malkajgiri with 11 each, a government bulletin said on Tuesday.
The total number of cases stood at 2,94,739 while recoveries were at 2,91,115. As many as 2,022 patients are under treatment and 36,058 samples were tested on Monday. Cumulatively, over 79.15 lakh samples have been tested. The samples tested per million population was over 2.12 lakh, the bulletin said.
The case fatality rate in the state was 0.54 per cent while the recovery rate in Telangana was 98.77 per cent. (PTI)
Hyderabad Customs officials booked two cases of smuggling of foreign currency today.
According to the officials, two packs bound for Dubai by EK-525 had concealed the forex, worth Rs. 54 lakh in boondi packets. The currency was later seized and further investigation is underway, they added.
Like many other small and medium entrepreneurs in India, 32-year-old Vignesh Kumar raised funds for his Tirupur-based small textile venture from gold loans. When he started his small textile unit in 2016, his assets were his five years of experience at a garment factory, a degree in B.Sc Apparel and Fashion Technology and a capital of Rs 2 lakh. His business saw many ups and downs since then, before it crashed — three months ago.
What is left with him is a debt of around Rs 8 lakh, on which he pays interest. He had to vacate the building he took on rent. Most of the 30 workers dependent on his business returned to their villages or found odd-jobs to survive. And a few are still roaming around in Tirupur, dejected and drunk.
But Kumar says he is optimistic. He does not want to blame anyone or anything. The turbulence that hit his business, one after another, affected most industrial clusters across the country — demonetisation, GST, and, as businesses were limping back to normal, the pandemic.
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Pattali Makkal Katchi president GK Mani on Sunday said the party’s founder Dr. Ramadoss has accepted their ally AIADMK’s invitation to discuss their demand on internal reservation (within the MBC quota) for the Vanniyar community in government jobs and education.
Mani posted a statement on Twitter, saying that PMK’s general council has unanimously passed a resolution to hold meetings with the AIADMK on February 3.
According to the statement issued by the PMK, a ministerial delegation, led by Local Administration Minister SP Velumani, Law minister CV Shanmugam, Electricity Minister P Thangamani and Higher Education Minister KP Anbalagan, met Dr.Ramadoss a day before the party’s general council decided to take a call on the alliance ahead of the 2021 Assembly election in Tamil Nadu.
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A total of 233 flights will be operated between Chennai and major cities today, with 118 arrivals and 115 departures scheduled at the Chennai International Airport.
A BJP leader was arrested on the charge of spreading enmity between two communities in Tamil Nadu.
According Mettupalayam police, the leader, identified as P Kalayanraman, allegedly made a derogatory reference to Prophet Muhammad while addressing a gathering in the town on Sunday.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, Muttupalayam SP Ara Arularasu said the public meeting, where he had made the alleged hate speech, took place around 5.30 pm on Sunday. “After hearing him speak, a couple of members of the Social Democratic Party of India reached the venue of the meeting and started raising slogans against the BJP. Though the police got them to leave the place shortly after, fresh trouble erupted a couple of hours later when some people stormed the venue and started hurling stones. They were detained by the police,” the SP said.
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Tamil Nadu recorded 502 positive cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the state tally to 8,38,842. Among these, Chennai reported 134 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 2,31,424.
The state recorded seven deaths on Monday, putting the state toll at 12,363. Six of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. The state discharged 517 patients following treatment, putting the total number of recoveries at 8,21,947.
As of Monday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 4532. Till date, 5,06,968 males, 3,31,840 females and 34 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, 1,60,71,626 samples from the state have been tested till date, with 51,664 samples having been sent yesterday. There are 254 COVID-19 testing facilities in the state, out of which 68 are government and 186 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.
The Tamil Nadu government will provide Rs 1,116.97 crore as input relief to about 11.43 lakh farmers across the state, anticipating central assistance, for the crop loss of the ryots due to rains in January, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said on Monday. The relief sum will be credited directly to their bank accounts, he said in a statement.
Owing to the heavy rains last month, a total of 6,62,689 hectares of agricultural crops besides 18,645 hectares of horticultural crops were damaged, the chief minister said.
Accordingly, the input relief for rain-fed and irrigated paddy crop and other irrigated crops was enhanced to Rs 20,000 from Rs 13,500 per hectare. While the relief for all rain-fed crops, except rain-fed paddy, was hiked to Rs 10,000 from Rs 7,410 per
hectare, the relief for the perennial crops was increased to Rs 25,000 from Rs 18,000 per hectare.
EPS informed that a Central team will visit Tamil Nadu again from February 3-5 to assess the extent of crop loss of farmers. (PTI)
A police Sub-Inspector in Tuticorin died on Sunday night after a man he had allegedly pulled up for causing nuisance in an inebriated condition rammed the victim's two-wheeler using a load van, police said.
The deceased policeman was identified as Balu of Aral station in the district, police said on Monday. Balu had reprimanded the suspect R Murugavel, on the run, for causing nuisance under the influence of liquor in the locality.
The enraged Murugavel, a goods carrier driver, later followed Balu and hit his two-wheeler from behind, police said, adding he died on the spot. (PTI)
A 55-year-old healthcare worker in Telangana died late Saturday night, 11 days after she received her vaccine against Covid-19. This is the third post immunization death reported in the State. The Health department has said the woman had comorbidities that led to her demise.
The deceased, who hails from Kasipet in north Telangana’s Mancherial district, was vaccinated on January 19 at PHC Kasipet. According to a statement from the Director of Public Health, she complained of shortness of breath and also giddiness on January 29, following which she was admitted to a private hospital in the district. A day later, she was referred to the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad.
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A BJP leader was arrested on the charge of spreading enmity between two communities in Tamil Nadu.
According Mettupalayam police, the leader, identified as P Kalayanraman, allegedly made a derogatory reference to Prophet Muhammad while addressing a gathering in the town on Sunday.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, Muttupalayam SP Ara Arularasu said the public meeting, where he had made the alleged hate speech, took place around 5.30 pm on Sunday. “After hearing him speak, a couple of members of the Social Democratic Party of India reached the venue of the meeting and started raising slogans against the BJP. Though the police got them to leave the place shortly after, fresh trouble erupted a couple of hours later when some people stormed the venue and started hurling stones. They were detained by the police,” the SP said.
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Dhanush’s upcoming film Karnan, directed by Mari Selvaraj, is set to arrive in cinema halls this April. The actor made the announcement on Sunday on Twitter and also shared a poster of Karnan.
Dhanush thanked Karnan producer Kalaipuli S Thanu for considering the concerns of theatre owners and exhibitors, who continue to reel under the after effects of last year’s coronavirus-induced lockdown. He added that the decision to bring the film to theatres means a lot to his fans.
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Telangana recorded 118 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, taking the total positives to over 2.94 lakh while two fatalities pushed the toll to 1,601, the state government said on Monday.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 26, followed by Rangareddy with 13, it said in a bulletin.
The total number of cases stood at 2,94,587 while recoveries were at 2,90,894. As many as 2,092 patients are under treatment and 17,686 samples were tested on Sunday. Cumulatively, over 78.79 lakh samples have been tested. The samples tested per million population was over 2.11 lakh, the bulletin said.
The case fatality rate in the state was 0.54 per cent while the recovery rate in Telangana was 98.74 per cent. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu produced an impressive batting display after left-arm spinner M Siddarth’s four-wicket haul as they lifted the coveted Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy after defeating Baroda by seven wickets in the final here on Sunday.
This was Tamil Nadu’s second Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy triumph, after winning their first title way back in 2006-07.
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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced that Phase II of the Chennai Metro project for 118.9 km has been planned at a cost of Rs. 63,246 crores.
Presenting the Budget for the year, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the government aims to complete 11,000 km of national highway infrastructure this year. Among these, 3500 km of corridors worth 1.35 lakh crores will be laid in Tamil Nadu. The Madurai-Kollam corridor and Chittoor-Thachoor corridor will begin construction from next year.
The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) conducted 234 fever clinics in Chennai on Sunday. A total of 7457 people attended the clinics, with swabs collected from six people who were identified with ILI symptoms, while others were provided with medication for minor ailments.
The most number of camps were held in Ambattur (Zone 7) where 35 camps had been set up, while Manali (Zone 2), Madhavaram (Zone 3) and Perungudi (Zone 14) had the least with five camps each.
Four days after she completed her four-year jail term in a disproportionate assets case, and minutes after her discharge following treatment for Covid, V K Sasikala sent a political signal to her supporters — she came out of the hospital in Bengaluru on Sunday inside the late J Jayalalithaa’s trademark Toyota Prado vehicle with an AIADMK flag on it.
The message from the former Tamil Nadu chief minister’s close aide and ex-general secretary of AIADMK was not lost on the ruling party in her state. Senior AIADMK minister D Jayakumar said using the flag was “against the interests” of the party as Sasikala had been expelled. “Sasikala has no right to use the AIADMK flag on the vehicle,” he said.
On Sunday, Sasikala’s nephew and the man who emerged as a leader in her absence, T T V Dhinakaran, hit back at the party. “She is the general secretary of AIADMK…cases in this regard are pending in court. So that is why there is a party flag on her car,” he said.
Sources in the AIADMK acknowledged that Sasikala’s release from prison “has already created unease” in the party and that a section within, including many senior leaders and ministers from the Cauvery delta and southern districts, is in favour of her return to the fold.
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The Tamil Nadu government on Sunday extended the lockdown in the state till February 28 with further relaxations.
What is allowed:
All arts, science, technical, engineering, agriculture, veterinary and fisheries colleges will reopen for undergraduate, post graduate and diploma students from February 8, with hostels permitted to reopen as well
Schools and hostels for Classes 9 and 11 will reopen on February 8
Swimming pools and exhibition halls can be reopened so long as they adhere to the SOP laid down by the government
The cap on seating capacity has been removed and theatres, cinema halls and multiplexes can now permit 100 per cent occupancy from February 1
Sports tournaments can be held in stadiums with a capacity of 50 per cent of the venue
Religious gatherings and other functions can now be held with a maximum capacity of 50 per cent with a ceiling of 600 persons only. Meanwhile, functions in open spaces can be conducted with a capacity of 50 per cent of the particular venue
Public events can be held in all districts while adhering to the government SOP
Petrol bunks can also function without any restrictions as opposed to the earlier curfew of 10 pm
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A total of 26 passengers who had returned to Tamil Nadu from UK and 20 of their primary contacts have tested positive for COVID-19 till date.
The health bulletin released by the Tamil Nadu health department stated that nine (six UK returnees and three of their contacts) of the 46 samples which had been sent to Instem Lab in Bengaluru were found to have the UK variant of the virus on Whole Genome Sequencing. While 26 have tested negative, the results of 11 more samples are awaited.
All the nine patients have been discharged and kept under home quarantine after testing negative in their follow-up RT-PCR test.
Expelled AIADMK leader V K Sasikala was discharged from a hospital in Bengaluru on Sunday after recovering from COVID-19, days after she was set free by the prison officials on completion her jail term in a corruption case, authorities said.
The family has decided to take Sasikala, close aide of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, to Chennai, sources close to her said, adding the hospital has advised her to be under self-quarantine for sometime.
Sasikala was admitted to the Victoria Hospital after she tested positive for COVID-19 recently while under judicial custody.
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Tamil Nadu recorded 508 positive cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the state tally to 8,38,340. Among these, Chennai reported 141 positive cases, bringing the city’s total to 2,31,286.
The state recorded six deaths on Sunday, putting the state toll at 12,356. All six of them had succumbed due to comorbidities. The state discharged 523 patients following treatment, putting the total number of recoveries at 8,21,430.
As of Sunday, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu is 4554. Till date, 5,06,678 males, 3,31,628 females and 34 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, 1,60,19,962 samples from the state have been tested till date, with 54,043 samples having been sent yesterday. There are 254 COVID-19 testing facilities in the state, out of which 68 are government and 186 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.