writingonblog uncensored: Wake up Kumbakarnan, says Madras HC after TN delay...

writingonblog uncensored: Wake up Kumbakarnan, says Madras HC after TN delay...: EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ CHENNAI: Madras High Court has slammed the Tamil Nadu government for 17 years delay in framing Ad Hoc rules aft...

Wake up Kumbakarnan, says Madras HC after TN delays framing ad hoc rules to rationalise services of library officials

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ CHENNAI:

Madras High Court has slammed the Tamil Nadu government for 17 years delay in framing Ad Hoc rules after it took a policy decision to rationalise the service of the local library authorities and to bring them into one single unit.

A division bench of Justice K K Sasidharan and Justice R Subramanian said, “A policy decision to rationalise the service of the local library authorities and to bring them into one single unit was taken by the government as early as December 11, 1989. But the Adhoc Rules were framed only in 2006, nearly after a lapse of 17 years.” 

This exhibits the callous indifference shown by the officials of the state. In 1995, the state administrative tribunal had observed that the framing of the Rules should not be unduly delayed. It had specifically observed that administrative decisions which involve change in service Rules should be followed up by necessary changes by way of amendment without any unduly delay, the bench pointed out.

The Madras high court observed that it is high time for the state to wake up from ‘Kumbakarnan's sleep’ and follow court directions without any further delay while pulling up the officials of the Tamil Nadu government for their ‘callous’ attitude in making administrative decisions, leading to long-drawn litigations and waste of judicial time.

The judges made the observations on a batch of appeals challenging a government order issued by the school education department on January 12, 2015 and a consequential order of the director of public libraries dated January 13, 2015 by which the petitioners who were appointed through direct recruitment were reverted from the posts of district library officers. The appointments were made during 2002 to 2005.

Allowing the appeals, the bench said, “Once it is found that the appellants appointment was pursuant to direct recruitment, they cannot be reverted to a lower rank…”

“Despite the direction the government has taken 17-years for framing Rules, because of which the appellants had been running from pillar to post right from 2007 to till date. We are pained at the attitude exhibited by the state machinery in not even framing the Adhoc Rules for 17 years. In our considered opinion, this failure on the part of the state to do its duty has led to this long-drawn litigation resulting in waste of court hours on trivial issue of promotions and seniority,” the court said.  

writingonblog uncensored: PSLV-C42 launches 2 foreign satellites

writingonblog uncensored: PSLV-C42 launches 2 foreign satellites: Chennai: The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C42) of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched two satellites...

PSLV-C42 launches 2 foreign satellites

Chennai:
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C42) of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched two satellites -- NovaSAR and S1-4-- from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota on Tuesday.

The PSLV-C42 lifted off from the First Launch Pad of SHAR at 10.08 pm (IST). Both satellites were injected into the Sun Synchronous Orbit, about 17 minutes later, at an altitude of 583 km.

The satellites belong to UK-based Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), which has a contract with Antrix Corporation Ltd, the commercial arm of ISRO. NovaSAR carries S-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and an Automatic Identification Receiver payloads. The satellite applications include forestry mapping, land use and ice cover monitoring, flood and disaster monitoring and maritime missions. It will be operated from SSTL’s Spacecraft Operations Centre in Guildford, UK.

S1-4 is a high resolution earth observation satellite meant for surveying resources, environment monitoring, urban management and disaster monitoring.

This was the 44th flight of PSLV and the 12th flight of the Core Alone version of the vehicle. Core Alone is its lightest version without the six strap-on motors. It is used for launching smaller payloads.

The PSLV launch vehicle consists of four stages, each of which is a self-contained vehicle capable of functioning independently with own propulsion systems.

During the previous launch (PSLV-C41, April 12, 2018), the ‘XL’ version of PSLV with six strap-on motors was used. The vehicle successfully launched the IRNSS-1I navigation satellite to a Sub-Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.

Preparations for the PSLV-C42 began at Sriharikota in mid-July with the process of vehicle integration setting the tone for the launch. Many centres of ISRO contributed to this mission with the vehicle being designed and developed by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram. The second and fourth stage liquid engines came from Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, Thiruvananthapuram and ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu.

The vehicle’s guidance system is from ISRO’s Inertial Systems Unit, Thiruvananthapuram, while SDSC SHAR was responsible for solid motor preparation, vehicle integration and launch infrastructure. ISRO’s Telemetry Tracking and Command Network provided tracking support.

ISRO Chairman Dr K. Sivan congratulated the team soon after the successful mission.

“I am extremely happy that the PSLV-C42 precisely launched two of our customer satellites at 583 km orbit. This was unique night mission executed for the first time by us. The PSLV has proven yet again as a user-friendly vehicle in all aspects. The credit goes to the entire ISRO team and industries. This success will give added energy for industries to make PSLV by themselves. We are going to have 18 missions in the next six months, virtually one launch every two weeks,” Dr Sivan said.

Thousands of skilled personnel from ISRO and industries, including many youngsters, played a crucial role in this mission. The Project Director of PSLV is Shri R. Hutton, who was also the Mission Director.

“The PSLV-C42 marks the latest technology and commercial collaboration between India and the UK with the launch of the combination of high resolution optical and radar (SAR) satellites from us,” says Sir Martin Sweeting, Group Executive Chairman, SSTL.

As on date, ISRO has launched 239 foreign satellites of 28 countries

writingonblog uncensored: $500m World Bank aid to fund 40,000 homes for urba...

writingonblog uncensored: $500m World Bank aid to fund 40,000 homes for urba...: C Shivakumar @ Chennai: World Bank is likely to provide $500 million in assistance to Tamil Nadu government in building 40,000 homes f...

$500m World Bank aid to fund 40,000 homes for urban poor

C Shivakumar @ Chennai:

World Bank is likely to provide $500 million in assistance to Tamil Nadu government in building 40,000 homes for urban poor.

The move comes after state government had made the announcement in the floor of the house to build homes for urban poor.

A top housing department official told Express that World bank has accepted ‘Tamil Nadu Sustainable and Resilient Housing and Habitat Development for Urban Poor’ project and Department of Economic Affairs in the Union government has cleared it.

It is learnt negotiations are on with the World bank officials who to accord final sanction to the project. The World Bank officials are in the city and high-level meetings have been organized with them where in the concept note of the project prepared by the state government and cleared by DEA are discussed.

“The value of the entire project is $715 million of which World Bank has sanctioned $500 million,” the official said.

It is learnt that the World Bank officials will be visiting housing development projects on September 4 and inspect households which have been relocated and resettled from the rehabilitated waterways.

Sources said the negotiations had been on with the World Bank officials since May when a delegation of World bank undertook a scoping missionfor affordable housing project from May 16 to May 18. At that time, they held meetings with Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Fund Management Company, Slum Clearance Board and Chennai River Restoration Trust.

Interestingly, Tamil Nadu government has already taken Rs 4,145 crore loan from World Bank in 2015 for storm water drain network, water supply, solid waste and underground drainage network.

The aid from World Bank comes after Tamil Nadu has carried a demand assessment of 8.30 lakh houseless households under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in urban areas of the state under PMAY’s four components --- Insitu rehabilitation, Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme, Beneficiary led Construction (BLC) and Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP).

According to State Urban Housing and Habitat Policy (SUHHP) being drafted by German agency GIZ along with the state housing board, Tamil Nadu is facing a shortage of 1.5 million homes in the urban areas and there is an urgent need to regulate and streamline private urban rental housing to enable access to urban poor.

writingonblog uncensored: Health Minister’s father rejects IT report that un...

writingonblog uncensored: Health Minister’s father rejects IT report that un...: CHENNAI: Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar’s father Chinnathambi rejected the allegations made by Income Tax department that he had rece...

Health Minister’s father rejects IT report that unaccounted cash found at home was collected from job aspirants

CHENNAI:

Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar’s father Chinnathambi rejected the allegations made by Income Tax department that he had received cash from various persons to get government jobs and transfers.

This comes in the wake of report submitted by Income Tax department to the State government over alleged irregularities in mining and seizure of unaccounted cash from state health minister’s home in Pudukottai accessed by the media.

The report alleges that according to a sworn statement recorded from Chinnathambi, of the Rs 20 lakh recovered from minister's residence at Ilupur in Pudukottai, Rs 12,96,000 was found in brown covers with names of candidates written on each cover with regard to job in nutrition meal scheme. However, the allegation has been denied by the health minister and his father

Chinnathambi in a statement said that political rivals are spreading rumours and causing mental stress to the family. “We have been cooperating with Income Tax and will face these alleged insuniations both legally and politically,” he added.

Denying the allegations health minister said that the raids happened one and a half year ago. There was no seizure of cash by income tax department. And we have been cooperating with Income Tax officials. We will be legally taking up this case, the minister said.

The Income Tax report also alleges that during search and seizure proceedings conducted in the premises of J Srinivasan, personal assistant to health minister at Vasantham flats in New Betaniya Nagar in Valasaravakkam, two incriminating documents containing data-wise noting of fund collection and its application was recovered from e-mailjanakiramanseenu@gmail.com (operated by J Srinivasan). Similarly Income Tax department alleged that it perused through collections made to various persons and entities from July 23, 2015 to November 9, 2016 which is worth more than Rs 20.75 crore. Srinivasan could not be contacted.

Mining: The Income tax department also highlighted about the irregularities in mining in the land owned by Vijayabaskar which was leased to Subbiah.

It is stated that as per the Green clearance, the approved depth for quarrying is 43 metres below ground level and approved quantum was 2.95 lakh cubic metres of rough stone. As per the report of Valuation cell, Income Tax department, the depth of quarry at Thiruvengavasal Village of Illupur taluk in Pudukottai is 72 metres and a total of 23.76 lakh cubic metre of rough stone and 2.75 lakh cubic metre of mixture of gravel and earth totaling to 25.51 lakh cubic metres have been unearthed till August 2017.

writingonblog uncensored: Hosur Airport will cater to one or two aircraft

writingonblog uncensored: Hosur Airport will cater to one or two aircraft: C Shivakumar @ Chennai: Hosur airport also known as Taneja aerodrome is likely to cater to one or two aircraft only in a bid to restri...

Hosur Airport will cater to one or two aircraft

C Shivakumar @ Chennai:

Hosur airport also known as Taneja aerodrome is likely to cater to one or two aircraft only in a bid to restrict competition to Bengaluru International Airport Limited, according to S Sreekumar, regional executive director of Airport Authority of India (Southern Region).   

Sreekumar said that a team from Airport Authority of India along officials from director general of civil aviation and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security of India had visited the airport and submitted the report.

"Airport Authority of India does not have much role in the airport as it is owned by Pune-based operator Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Limited (TAAL)," he said.

The Taneja Aerodrome lies 60 km from Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru and located close to Bengaluru’s information technology (IT) hub Electronics City. However, with a limited number of aircraft, it would not benefit most of people who would prefer to get away from the hustle and bustle of Bengaluru.

"The operation of airport now depends on decision taken by TAAL and Bengaluru International Airport Limited (BIAL)," says Sreekumar. It is learnt that BIAL and TAAL has been in discussions over the quantum of flights to be operated from Hosur airport.

Thsi comes as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edapadi Palaniswamy has written to Union Minister for Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu demanding the immediate commencement of operations from the Hosur aerodrome.

Sreekumar said that the airport has a space for parking small aircraft and a small terminal building. To a query on the status of Thanjavur airport under the Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) Scheme, Sreekumar said that land acquisition has been a issue. "The Indian Airforce wanted the 25 acres of land which we possess and in turn promised to give us 50 acres of land. Once the land is acquired, the work will be started," he said.

Meanwhile, the last date for comments from stakeholders on the draft International Air Connectivity Scheme where in state governments will identify routes and offer financial support to select airlines in the form of subsidy for operation to international routes has come to an end on Tuesday.

Under the scheme International Air Connectivity Fund (IACF) corpus will be created through the contributions made by the state Governments. The fund can be created at the level of the Airports Authority of India or the State Governments as per the notifications issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation from time to time, which shall be a dedicated fund for the provision of Subsidy Support under the Scheme, the draft report said.

The Scheme envisages State Government led mechanism for selection of an airline to operate on an IAC Route, wherein the proposal will be evaluated as per prescribed mechanism. Pursuant to such evaluation of proposals, a selected airline will be identified and the State Government will enter into a three year agreement with the selected airline for operations on the IAC Route.

Sreekumar said that the draft is at a initial stage and it will be known only later on which all routes will be selected by the states to connect the Udan airport globally

writingonblog uncensored: Former police commissioner George acknowledges Gut...

writingonblog uncensored: Former police commissioner George acknowledges Gut...: CHENNAI: Two days after Central Bureau of Investigation raids on his residence, former Chennai Police Commissioner S George on Friday ...

writingonblog uncensored: Chennai Airport ranked among global top 10 fastest...

writingonblog uncensored: Chennai Airport ranked among global top 10 fastest...: C Shivakumar @ Chennai: Chennai airport is ranked among the global top 10 fastest growing airports when it comes to cargo being handle...

writingonblog uncensored: TN Forest Policy faces funds hitch to get operatio...

writingonblog uncensored: TN Forest Policy faces funds hitch to get operatio...: C Shivakumar @ Chennai: The state government has framed a forest policy but funds are a hitch in getting it operationalised by all the ...

writingonblog uncensored: TN Forest Policy faces funds hitch to get operatio...

writingonblog uncensored: TN Forest Policy faces funds hitch to get operatio...: C Shivakumar @ Chennai: The state government has framed a forest policy but funds are a hitch in getting it operationalised by all the ...

TN Forest Policy faces funds hitch to get operationalised

C Shivakumar @ Chennai:

The state government has framed a forest policy but funds are a hitch in getting it operationalised by all the departments in the state, according to a state forest department official.

The state forest policy , which aims to increase the forest and tree cover from present level of 21.76 per cent of the geographical areas of the state to 33 per cent, could get a new lease of life by January next year as we hope the supplementary budget could be tabled, the official said.

While forest department has asked local bodies and various departments, including that of housing department, to operationalise the Tamil Nadu State Forest Policy, 2018, the irony is that these departments would be seeking funds to operationalise it, said the official. “The budget has already been passed as such we are implementing the state forest policy with whatever funds we have,” he said.

The official told Express that the department is looking at funds from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to be dovetailed to implement the policy so that by 2030 the state could achieve 33 per cent of forest and tree cover.

 “We are planning to plant 1,000 saplings per hectare and the minimum cost would be Rs 50,000 per hectare while taking into account the infrastructure for providing it with water and fencing the area,” the official said, while refusing the give the exact figure required for implementing the policy across the state.

It is learnt that rather going in for a piece-meal approach, the state forest department is eyeing to seek funds in implementing the state eco-tourism policy as well as the trekking policy, which is under preparation, along with State Forest Policy.

According to State Forest Policy, the state will design its tree-based programmes to support planting of saplings on private land. Forest department with the help of research institutions will develop better quality clones of indigenous species and provide necessary scientific information on tree farming to farmers by developing viable agro-forestry models.

Not only that, the policy also envisages urban forestry, which includes planting tree species as road avenues and tree parks. This has to be promoted with the help of urban local bodies and non-governmental organizations to minimize the level of pollution and to ameliorate the urban environment and this requires funds.

The policy also highlights the management of fragile ecosystem of coastal areas with a thrust on mangrove forests, wetlands and Marine national Parks and developing mangroves as bio-shield along the coast.

Factfile:

1.       TN adopts State forest Policy by passing a Government Order on July 24.

2.       Funds have yet to be allocated to make the policy operational as there has been no budgetary allocation

3.       To plant more than 1,000 tree saplings on a hectare of land, it would cost the exchequer Rs 50,000.

4.       The state will design its tree-based programmes to support planting of saplings on private land.

5.       Forest department with the help of research institutions will develop better quality clones of indigenous species and provide necessary scientific information on tree farming to farmers by developing viable agro-forestry models.

6.       In a bid to boost urban forestry, the forest department plans to plant tree species as road avenues and tree parks. This has to be promoted with the help of urban local bodies and non-governmental organizations

Chennai Airport ranked among global top 10 fastest growing airports when it comes to cargo being handled

C Shivakumar @ Chennai:

Chennai airport is ranked among the global top 10 fastest growing airports when it comes to cargo being handled, according to The International Air Transport Association (IATA) report.

IATA report stated that Chennai recorded a strong growth of 17.2pc along with Mumbai airport (18.1pc) to figure in the list along with Kuwait, Moscow, Cincinnati in United states, Hangzhou in China, Muscat in Oman, Campinas in Brazil, Johannesburg and Nairobi in Kenya.

The total cargo tonnage flown from India crossed the one million tonne threshold in 2017, with a strong, double-digit growth rate of 16.9 pc.  In terms of global rankings, Dehli and Mumbai appear in the list of the top 50 airports for freight handled, ranked at 29 and 31, respectively.

Meanwhile, Delhi-Chennai and Mumbai-Chennai figure among the top 10 largest city-pair routes within India. While domestically Delhi-Chennai route is ranked 7th handling 18.36 lakh passengers in 2017 (a drop of -5.4pc from last year), the stretch is globally ranked 80th. Similarly, Mumbai-Chennai route is ranked 9th domestically with a groth of 5.1pc this year and figures 91 worldwide. Mumbai-Delhi air stretch with 55.66 lakh is ranked the number in domestic route and worldwide, it is ranked 7th.

In a similar way, of the top 10 growth airports in terms of passengers handled in 2017, two are located in India, namely Delhi and Bangalore. In terms of global rankings, Delhi is ranked 16 globally in terms of passengers handled and Mumbai is ranked 29.

The report also stated that in 2017, more than 158 million passengers flew on routes to, from and within India which represents an increase of almost 15% over 2016 and is the third consecutive year of growth in the order of 15-20% per year. The domestic share of total traffic has been generally increasing gradually over the past decade. From 54.5% in 2007, and notwithstanding some bumps along the way, the domestic share has gradually risen to the 61.7% level of 2017.

Over the year to June 2018, the India domestic market has grown by a very strong 17.6%, well above the industry-wide (domestic markets) pace of 7.9%. In 2017, there were a total of 97.7 million domestic passenger journeys, up almost

15 million from 83 million in 2016.

The composition of the current in-service fleet is heavily tilted towards narrowbody aircraft. Narrowbodies account for 3/4th of the total current fleet, with widebodies contributing a further 10%. The remainder consists primarily of turboprops and regional jet aircraft 

 

Factfile:

1. India ranks relatively low (133rd) in terms of airport density (the number of airports per million of population). 

2. India ranks 108th for the number of departures per 1000 population. 

3. Around 55% of all seats in the market are offered by low cost carriers. 

4. On the domestic market alone, the LCC share of total seats is almost 70%.

5. The share of LCC seats offered on India’s international routes is much smaller, at just under 25%, this share has risen from essentially zero in 2004.

6.Amongst Indian airlines, there are currently around 600 aircraft in service

7. The air transport market in India employs more than 390,000 people and supports another 570,000 more in the supply chain. Overall the industry contributes some US$30 billion annually to India’s GDP

Former police commissioner George acknowledges Gutkha scam but denies kickbacks

CHENNAI:

Two days after Central Bureau of Investigation raids on his residence, former Chennai Police Commissioner S George on Friday indirectly acknowledged gutkha scam but rejected allegations of receiving kickbacks from gutkha manufacturer.

"There was a gutkha scam. There was some illegal activity going on and how do you expect the Commissioner to know what happens in all 300 police stations, said George while blaming  the then deputy commissioner Jayakumar  with the Chennai Police's Crime branch for failing to bring the issue to his notice.

“Entry in the diary of the gutkha manufacturer AV Madhava Rao listing out the payment of Rs 15 lakh for Christmas to a former Commissioner of Police is based on someone's statement. Why should an ex-commissioner be paid any money,” the former police commissioner told reporters during a hurriedly convened Press conference at his residence.  Interestingly, this comes after CBI has made first breakthrough in the case by arresting five persons after carrying out raids in the house of George, DGP T K Rajendran, Tamil Nadu Health and Family Welfare Minister C Vijay Bhaskar, gutkha manufacturer Madhav Rao and several state and central government officials in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

Stating that he was not the police commissioner during the dates mentioned in the dairy of gutkha manufacturer, where in it was alleged that money was paid to police officials and politicians, George also said he is not casting aspersions on commissioners who succeeded him. Tamil Nadu director general of police T K Rajendran, J K Tripathi and Ashitosh Shukla held the post of commissioner of police between October 2015 and September 2016.

The former city police chief said someone might have collected the money from the gutkha manufacturer falsely saying that it is for him (George) and entries might have been made in the diary.

George said that at the time when the scam surfaced, it was blown up to prevent him and TK Rajendran from becoming the Director General of Police.

He also said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is carrying out a probe based on entries made by a gutkha manufacturer.  

To a query on the CBI raids at his home, the former commissioner said that the CBI took only the sale deed of his plot bought from the state housing board, certain lease documents and insurance policies.

Stating that the scam can’t happen with the blessing of the Commissioner of Police, he said there are different levels in the police hierarchy and different periods.

He also claimed he held a preliminary inquiry about the gutkha scam and had written a letter to the state government to conduct a probe citing the rumours of police officials being involved in the scam. “As the allegations were against the Commissioner of Police, it was not possible for him to order a probe but there were several agencies that could have been entrusted with the task,” he said.

On Thursday, the CBI arrested five persons -- three promoters of gutkha manufacturing company Jayam Industries viz Rao, Uma Shankar Gupta and Srinivas Rao; Food Safety Department official Senthil Murugan and Central Excise Superintendent N K Pandian.