QChennai: I-T Raids Again at Properties Linked to Sasikala & More

Here is your roundup of the top stories from Chennai.

Adding to the fact that the Sasikala faction did not win the party name and the two-leaves symbol, I-T raids have definitely impacted their reputation especially with the RK Nagar bypolls in another month. 

(Photo Courtesy: IANS/PTI)

1. Income Tax Department Raids 33 Places in Tamil Nadu

Just a few days back, simultaneous searches were carried out at 187 locations on properties linked to VK Sasikala.(Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

Income Tax (I-T) officials today raided 33 premises in Tamil Nadu and Madurai belonging to three business groups. It is a follow-up to its earlier searches linked to jailed AIADMK leader VK Sasikala's family and business associates, said a senior official.

"Search operations are on... the officials are carrying out searches in the premises of Marg group, S2, and Millennium," the IT official said. According to him, this is a follow-up of the I-T department's search operations carried out in 187 premises belonging to the relatives of Sasikala and their business organisations. The raid comes days after the IT officials carried out that massive search operation and unearthed Rs. 1,430 crore of tax evasion.

(Source: NDTV)

2. After Talks, Government Nurses Decide to Call off Protest

Over 2,500 nurses were on indefinite strike at the Directorate of Medical Services campus in Chennai since Monday and so the board intervened and assured their services will be regularised.(Photo Courtesy: Maanavan)

More than 2,000 staff nurses, recruited through the Medical Recruitment Board Tamil Nadu from across the state, called off their two-day long protest after talks with Health Minister C Vijayabhaskar who assured that their services will be regularised gradually. Though the strike continued for the second day, services in the government hospitals and public health centres in the city remained unaffected as the doctors and the staff on duty worked double shifts on Monday and Tuesday to prevent disruptions in the discharge of services.

The nurses also presented the formal notice directed to the Director of Medical Services regarding the protest a month ago after officials alleged that there was no formal communication about the strike. After two-hour long talks with the minister, the nurses called off their protest a little before 9 pm and announced that they will resume work on Wednesday.

“We had placed our demands in front of the authorities more than a month ago regarding the regularization of services with a time-scale pay on an 8-hour shift basis”, S Aishwarya, joint secretary, MRB Nurses’ Empowerment Association, said.

(Source: Deccan Chronicle)

3. LEEDing from the Front

A plaque describing the score of the campus, with regard to its energy and water consumption, transportation used, waste generated and human experience has been placed in the foyer of the school.(Photo Courtesy: AISC Chennai)

Taking a step forward by incorporating sustainable practices as a part of their functioning, the American International School Chennai (AISC) has been awarded LEED Gold Certification by the Green Business Certification Institute (GBCI). The American International School is one of the first in the world to be certified the gold status using the ARC platform, which displays real time data based on various parameters.

“The education sector is a very critical one with regard to adapting sustainable practices and we are encouraging more institutions to take this up since it will prove to be a great foundation for the community and the children. Sustainable practices can either be brought in at the design stage itself where steps can be taken to design a green building or can be incorporated in an existing building,” explained P Gopalakrishnan, Managing Director, Asia Pacific and Middle East Markets of GBCI.

(Source: The Hindu)

4. Five-Decade-Old Dream Comes True for 67-Year-Old

Chellathai used her retirement benefits to pursue a degree.  (Photo: Rhythum Seth/The Quint)

For M Chellathai, 67, it was a five-decade-old dream come true when Governor Banwarilal Purohit, by virtue of the authority vested in him as the Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Open University, admitted her to the masters’ degree in History in that university.

“I will join another course to study Law. Age cannot deter me from studying for a degree,” says Chellathai. Recalling the challenges she faced in her pursuit of education because of the social conditions in her hometown during the 1960s, Ms. Chellathai says she is determined to achieve her goal.

Five decades ago, her father tore up the application for admission to Queen Mary's College. She wanted to join the pre-university course in Chennai after clearing her SSLC in her hometown, Sattur. But her father rejected her request, saying, in their family, higher education for girls was frowned upon.

(Source: The Hindu)

5. Students Made to Clean School Toilets in Tiruvallur

The Chief Education Officer, Tiruvallur, has held an inquiry and submitted a report to the Director of School Education. This is a representational image. (Photo: The Quint)

In a shocking incident, the principal of a government school in Tiruvallur on Friday made girl students clean the toilets, that too without any protective gear as the janitor had not come for work for the past few days. Following complaints from parents, teachers and students, the Chief Education Officer, Tiruvallur, conducted an inquiry on Monday.

On November 24, Kavya, a Standard IX student of RM Jain Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Tiruvallur, complained of nausea and was not able to eat properly, said N Dinesh, her relative. “When I asked her, she explained how she and other students were made to clean toilets without any protective gear or gloves,” he alleged. The school has around 1,000 girls in Classes from VI to XII. But it has toilets that can be used only by 20 persons at a time.

(Source: The Hindu)

6. Differently Abled Seek Justice for 16-Year-Old 'Rape Victim'

Demanding justice, angry members of TARATDAC burnt duplicate copies of the CB-CID report and raised slogans against the agency.(Photo: The Quint)

Over 50 persons belonging to the Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently Abled and Caregivers (TARATDAC) and All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) burnt duplicate copies of a CB-CID report pertaining to the alleged rape of a differently abled girl in Krishnagiri in 2014, in the city on Tuesday. The protesters rejected the report that denied the girl was raped.

In December 2014, a 16-year-old hearing and speech-impaired girl from Denkanikottai had alleged that she was gang raped when she was coming home after giving food to her father. She was taken to the Denkanikottai Government Hospital the next morning for treatment and later to a Hosur hospital, where doctors said that there were no signs of rape. The court ordered the government to pay the girl a compensation of ₹20,000 and ordered a CB-CID inquiry.

(Source: The Hindu)

7. Dead Fish Wash Ashore for a Second Day

Hundreds of dead fish have washed ashore and activists cite untreated sewage as the reason. This is for representation purpose only. (Photo Courtesy: The News Minute)

For the past two days, thousands of dead fish have been washed ashore along the coast at Besant Nagar or found floating in the estuary of the Adyar near the broken bridge. Fishermen of Urur Kuppam, who have been removing fish from the water and throwing them on the shore, wonder whether the deaths are due to lack of dissolved oxygen in water.

“This is the breeding season for fish and they enter the estuary in large numbers. As the rainwater has pushed a lot of sludge towards the sea, the water at that point is polluted leading to these deaths. It happens almost every year. But this year, it looks like thousands of fish are dead. Some of them have turned black. Some are quite big in size, which is a sad thing,” said Karunakaran of Urur Kuppam. G Sundarrajan of NGO Poovulagu Nanbargal said the loss of fish at this time would mean a reduction in production in the area next year.

(Source: The Hindu)