QChennai: AIADMK Discusses Rift, TN Tops in Organ Donation

Here is your roundup of the top stories from Chennai.

1. Heated Exchanges at Meeting of AIADMK Leaders

The first meeting of senior leaders and key functionaries of the ruling faction of the AIADMK after it regained the ‘two leaves’ symbol, witnessed heated exchanges, particularly on the issue of the reconstitution of its parliamentary board. The recent observations by V Maitreyan, a long-time Member of Parliament, were also discussed.

There are five members already in the parliamentary board. While there was no objection to the inclusion of Chief Minister and co-coordinator of the party Edappadi K Palaniswami as a member of the board, the participants were divided as to who should fill the other vacancy. KP Munusamy, a prominent face of the erstwhile AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) led by Panneerselvam, and R Vaithilingam, MP and a leader of the Palaniswami camp, were strong contenders for the post. Both are presently deputy coordinators of the party. As for Maitreyan’s comments, members supporting Palaniswami expressed dissatisfaction with his public remarks about discontentment within the unified AIADMK.

(Source: The Hindu)

2. Tamil Nadu Tops in Organ Donations

For the third time in a row, Tamil Nadu bagged the first place in organ transplantation in the country. The award was presented by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation on Monday in New Delhi. The State has so far received 5,933 organs from 1,056 donors since the launch of the transplant programme. In the last several years, the government has been actively expanding the reach of transplantation to tier 2 cities, Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar said after receiving the award.

The transplant programme, which remained under the State Health Department, received a boost when a separate body was set up and it was given autonomy, says J Amalorpavanathan, former member-secretary of Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu. Private hospitals continue to be the largest contributors of cadavers to the programme, he says.

(Source: The Hindu)

3. ‘Will Alert Expert Panel on Ennore Encroachments’: Kanimozhi

Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi visited Ennore on Monday morning and surveyed the port area to get a sense of the nature of encroachments and violations of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) rules taking place there.

Kanimozhi said, “I had written to the Expert Appraisal Committee before and I will write to them again to alert them about the encroachments on the Ennore creek and the problems we will face if the land is taken over for further development and the existing size of the creek is reduced. Some 10,000 fishermen depend on it for their livelihood. There is already a big problem of pollution due to the dumping of fly ash by thermal power corporations. All the water bodies here are polluted and people can’t live there.”

The proposal of the Kamarajar Port Ltd. (KPL) for expansion of port operations, including construction of warehouses and other facilities in Ennore, is coming up for consideration before the Union Environment Ministry’s Expert Appraisal Committee on 29-30 November.

(Source: The Hindu)

4. Koyambedu Residents Unhappy Over Relocation Drive

The residents of Angala Parameswari temple street in Padi Kuppam, Koyambedu, have been holding prayer meetings every night at their local temple. The 300-odd families from the locality, most of whom are vendors at the Koyambedu vegetable market, will soon be evicted by the Greater Chennai Corporation as part of the Cooum River Eco-restoration Project.

The residents will be moved reportedly to the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) tenements in Perumbakkam, where they do not wish to go. “We have tried all means to get a house nearby, but nothing has worked so far. We hope at least our prayers will be heard,” said E Kamakshi, a vegetable vendor.

“We work at the Koyambedu market, which is just a few minutes away. If we are moved 35 kilometres away to Perumbakkam, we will all lose our jobs,” said Kamakshi. Families in their petitions, have requested that they be relocated to the newly constructed tenements at Athipattu in Thiruvallur district. The Board has constructed 1,472 houses of which around 400 have been allotted to residents from Kakkanji Nagar, New Avadi Road.

(Source: The Hindu)

5. Over 3,000 Contract Nurses Strike Work in Tamil Nadu

More than 3,000 government nurses struck work and gathered at the office of the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services in Chennai on Monday demanding permanent job and better salary and working hours. Services in several government hospitals, including primary health clinics, were affected.

The state health department had appointed more than 11,000 nurses on contract basis through the Tamil Nadu Medical Recruitment Board for a monthly salary of Rs 7,000.

"The government said after two years of service, nurses will be given permanent job. If that were done, we would receive a pay of more than Rs 40,000. Our work shift too would be just eight hours instead of gruelling 12-14 hours," said Sudhakar G, general secretary the MRB Nurses Empowerment Association.

Last week, a group of nurses belonging to the MRB Nurses Welfare Association went on strike with similar demands. Director of medical education Dr A Edwin Joe, director of medical services Dr MR Enbasekaran and director of public health Dr K Kolandaswamy have called the association representatives for talks.

(Source: Times of India)

6. Two Motorists Killed in Accidents in Egmore

Two two-wheeler riders were killed in separate accidents in Egmore in the span of a few hours on Sunday night. A senior officer of the Chennai city police said, in the first accident involving an omni bus and a two-wheeler on EVR Periyar Salai near Gandhi Irwin bridge, N Sai Krishna, 23, was killed after the bus hit him from behind and ran him over. The second year engineering college student was killed on the spot. Krishna’s body was sent to the Government Rajiv Gandhi General Hospital for post-mortem. The traffic investigation wing filed a case and detained the omni bus driver, N Jaganathan, 42, a native of Madurai.

In the other incident which happened on the flyover on Pantheon Road, a 28-year-old man, who was working in a private telephone company, was killed after his two-wheeler collided with a sedan. The victim, R Idhaya Chandran, died on the way to the hospital.

(Source: The Hindu)

7. Metro Rail to Get Hi-Tech Help to Resolve Snags on Track

In a move that could save passengers from being stranded in trains for hours due to snags that develop en route, Chennai Metro Rail plans to introduce a new technology that will allow them to control trains remotely and fix the problem within minutes. According to officials of the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), they plan to bring in an asset management system for their trains to sort out snags from the control room itself.

“If a train stops in some location due to some failure or any technical issue a train develops, instead of going all the way to the location, we can access the data of the system inside the train remotely and solve it. What may take about half hour to even an hour can be solved within 5-10 minutes. Instead of sending in a person, we can give instructions to the train operator and solve the problem,” an official said.

(Source: The Hindu)