Lifeofchennai

26/10/2022

G Sundarrajan of Poovulagin Nanbaragal, an environmental NGO, said that residents of Chennai on Monday breathed as much toxic smoke as if they smoked 31 ci******es a day. "The AQI in the city dropped to 786 at Sowcarpet which is equal to a person smoking as many as 31 ci******es in a day," he said.

26/10/2022

The revised Motor Vehicle Act, which now includes multiple increases in the penalties for traffic Rules violations, is effective from today (Wednesday, 26th October)!

As the revised Motor Vehicles Act by the Central Government in 2019 is already implemented in the States, now, after a gap of 3 years, the State Government of Tamil Nadu has released the revised rules.

As the above-revised traffic Rules have come into effect from today (26th October) in Chennai Metro City, THE VEHICLE DRIVERS ARE ADVISED TO CHECK FOR ALL THE REQUIRED DOCUMENTS, KEEP THEM AND DRIVE AT REASONABLY LOW SPEEDS!

26/10/2022

Despite the promotion of green crackers and time restrictions, Chennai city's air pollution levels dropped to hazardous levels during Deepavali.

According to Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), the city’s Air Quality Index (AQI) ranged from 345 and 786 observed on October 24 from 6 am to October 25 at 6 am.

Sowcarpet registered the highest pollution with an AQI of 786 as against last year’s 371. Nungambakkam followed suit with 563, Valasaravakkam with 545, Triplicane posted 503 and Thiruvottiyur with 436. Besant Nagar, like last year, recorded the least AQI value of 345 and T Nagar followed with 372.

According to the AQI standards set by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), AQI between 401 and 500 is considered severe, affecting healthy people and seriously impacting those with existing diseases. If values are between 301-400, they may cause respiratory illness in people with prolonged exposure. Anything between 201 and 300 is considered poor causing breathing discomfort to people.

25/10/2022

The partial solar eclipse or Surya Grahan on October 25 marks the last solar eclipse of the year. The eclipse will be visible from parts of Europe, Northern Africa and large parts of western and central Asia. Most of India should be able to view the solar eclipse, apart from some parts in the Northeast

During a solar eclipse, the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, stopping some of the Sun’s light from reaching our planet. Typically, there are three kinds of solar eclipses—total solar eclipse, annular eclipse and partial solar eclipse. During a total eclipse, the Moon will completely cover the Sun. During an annular solar eclipse, the Moon will not fully cover the Sun but will leave an edge visible. During a partial solar eclipse, like the one happening on October 25, the Sun will be partly covered by the Moon as it passes in front of it.

According to Time and Date, the partial solar eclipse will begin at 2.28 PM IST and the maximum eclipse will be at 4.30 PM. The table below shows at what time the eclipse will start and have its maximum in different Indian cities.

23/10/2022

Data provided by the city police showed that there were 480 fatal cases until October in 2021, while 2022 has recorded 57 less fatal cases- registering 423 deaths this year

Chennai city has witnessed 12 per cent drop in the number of fatal accident cases reported in the last ten months compared to the same time period in 2021, said Additional commissioner of traffic, Kapil Kumar Saratkar.

Data provided by the city police showed that there were 480 fatal cases until October in 2021, while 2022 has recorded 57 less fatal cases- registering 423 deaths this year.

It may be noted that the Chennai city police commissionerate was trifurcated from Janaury this year.

While this reduction in fatal incidents is largely credited to the pandemic situation last year which saw less movement of vehicles on roads, the additional commissioner said that their records show that there is a reduction in the grievous accidents too and the total number of accident cases were more or less the same this year.

“Considering the situation this year with the roads opening up for traffic, even maintaining the same accident rate as last year is commendable on our team’s part,” Kapil Kumar Saratkar said.

Addressing mediapersons on Friday clarifying on the new traffic fine amounts, the additional commissioner said that the city police will be intensifying checks against drunken driving and other traffic violation in the coming days.

“With the increase in fines, we hope there is more deterrence in traffic violations. E-challan machines will have to be configured with new fines. Work is underway and from October 28, new fines will be in force, ” he said.

Responding to a question about traffic cops staying put outside Tasmac bars to catch motorists, the additional commissioner said that there is nothing wrong in that and they are only enforcing traffic rules.

“There is nothing wrong even if police stays outside Tasmac and registers case. Actually that is a good strategy also. Government is selling (liquor). But, the government is not telling to drink and drive. Let the person drink and take an auto or taxi,” the additional commissioner said.

23/10/2022

The Airport Authority staff took to a lunch-break protest here over the non-allocation of any festival bonus for the past few years. The airport sources said the Centre had announced bonuses in 2018 and 2019 but as promised the bonus was not provided. Later in 2020 and 2021, the airport was shut down due to a COVID-induced lockdown. This year the staff requested Central Civil Aviation to provide them with the bonuses which were promised in 2018 and 2019 and it was promised that the same would be provided before Friday ahead of Deepavali. A few days ago the staff were informed that permission has been granted and the money would be released only in the coming days which triggered the protest. They said they would continue to protest till they receive the bonus. However, flight operations were not affected by the protest.

22/10/2022

Poonamallee police rushed to the scene and sent the bodies to Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital for postmortem.

Mystery shrouds death of a couple who were found dead in their house in Poonamalee on Thursday. The deceased were identified as Pandiyan (40) and Parimala (30).

He was living with his two wives- Bhuvaneshwari (35) and Parimala (30) and two sons at Ambal Nagar neighbourhood in Poonamalee.

Pandiyan was working abroad for a few years and had returned to India this year and was staying home, police sources said. Investigation revealed that he was suffering from chronic stomach pain.

On Thursday, Bhuvaneswari left home for work and the two children went to school. In the evening, they returned home to find the two of them dead after which police were alerted. While the man was found hanging, the woman was found dead with cut injuries, police sources said.

Poonamallee police rushed to the scene and sent the bodies to Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital for postmortem. Police sources said that a note was recovered from the home in which the couple did not blame anyone for their extreme step. A case has been registered and further investigations are on

22/10/2022

A cab driver was found dead inside his vehicle at a parking yard in Koyambedu on Thursday night.

Police said that they received information about a man lying unconscious inside a parked cab for the past two days.

When other drivers went near the car to check on the driver, foul smell emanated after which police were alerted.

Police personnel from Koyambedu reached the scene along with personnel from Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services (TNFRS) and broke open the door and secured the man. The body was sent to Kilpauk Medical college hospital for autopsy.

The deceased was identified as Arun Kumar (32) of Nerkundram. Investigations revealed that Arun Kumar was married with two children. Preliminary enquiry has revealed that Arun Kumar consumed alcohol and slept in his vehicle.

Police are also investigating if Kannan took rest, by turning the the air conditioner on and slept in the car which could have led to suffocation causing death. A case has been registered and further investigations are on.

22/10/2022

A History Sheeter is Person who commits many crime.

A 25-year-old history-sheeter was hacked to death, allegedly by his friends near Pulianthope on Thursday night.

The deceased was identified as Maari alias ‘Lodang’ Maari of Kannikapuram near Pulianthope. Police investigations revealed that the deceased has more than 25 cases filed against him including cases of attempts to murder.

Police sources said on Thursday night, Maari was along with five friends — ‘Korukkupet’ Mari (35), ‘Pillai’ Karthik (32), ‘Karuppa’ Manikam (35), Martin and Lakshmanan — had consumed liquor near his house.

Preliminary investigations revealed that while drinking, the gang had an argument and in a fit of rage, the others started an argument with him and started assaulting Maari.

In the melee, one of them had allegedly attacked the gangster with a knife and the other four prevented Maari from escaping. After inflicting several cut injuries, the gang left Maari in a pool of blood and fled the scene.

On Friday morning, a passerby saw Maari lying in a pool of blood and alerted the authorities. He was rushed to the Stanley Government Hospital where he was declared dead. Pulianthope police have registered a case and have launched a hunt for the suspects.

22/10/2022

A private bank on Chennai's NSC Bose road caught fire on Saturday.

The fire station rushed to the spot upon information and are involved in dousing the blaze.

Initial reports suggest that important files and computers were charred in fire. Cause of fire is yet to be ascertained.

22/10/2022

Self-proclaimed model and actress Meera Mithun's mother has a lodge a complaint with the police stating that her daughter has gone missing and need to find her.

This comes after the police are on a lookout for her with an arrest warrant issued over two months ago in the case for using abusive language against the SC/ST community.

She and her friend Sam Abhishek were arrested following complaints from Viduthalai Siruthai Katchi (VCK) that the two derided Dalit people.

The duo was given conditional bail earlier. However, after failing to appear before a city court on September 6 for hearing, an arrest warrant was issued.

Police, however, weren't able to nab them as they were reportedly changing places.

Meera Mithun's mother Shyamala lodged a complaint with the Chennai Commissioner saying her daughter has not communicated for the past few days and requested to find her.

21/10/2022

A division bench of the Madras High Court directed the Chengalpattu Tahsildar to file a report on November 1 regarding an allegation related to the encroachments made by several people in Bharathiyar Nagar, Potheri near Maraimalai Nagar in the outskirts of Chennai city.

The bench of Justice R Subramaniam and Justice K Kumaresh Babu passed the direction on hearing the petition filed by L Prabhu, a resident of Potheri near Maraimalai Nagar.

The petitioner sought direction to remove the encroachments made by several local people in the Bharathi Nagar on the government land. He drew the attention of the court by saying that despite his representations to the authorities, no action was taken to remove the occupancies.

Recording the submissions, the judge suo-motu impleaded Chengalpattu Tahsildar as a respondent in the case.

“The Tahsildar is required to cause the inspection of the said street and to file a report as to the actual encroachment of government lands by the persons living in that street. Such a report can be filed on November 1,” the bench held.

The court directed Vadivelu Deenadayalan, Additional Government Pleader (AGP) to take notice for the respondent officer in the case.

21/10/2022

Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has warned of action against persons who dump construction and demolition waste along the roads, river banks, water bodies and secluded areas.

As per a statement, the TNPCB has issued instructions to all the bulk waste generators and line departments for proper handling and disposal of construction and demolition waste as per the rules.

The statement added that the Greater Chennai Corporation has provided facilities for processing the construction and demolition waste of capacity 400 tonnes per day each at Kodungaiyur and Perungudi.

Also, the Greater Chennai Corporation through an external agency (C40 cities) has prepared a draft City Climate Action Plan (CCAP) which has identified sustainable waste management as one of the priority sector and identified action for 100% segregation of waste at source and collection coverage and to meet 100% capacity of waste processing by setting up various de-centralised waste processing units.

Hence, all the stakeholders are strictly instructed to ensure proper collection, storage, transportation, recycling and disposal of construction and demolition wastes as per the provisions of the construction and demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016 and guidelines issued by the CPCB. Any unauthorised disposal of C&D wastes along the roads, river banks, water bodies, secluded areas, other than the identified and designated area by the local body, stringent action will be initiated by the TNPCB against the violators under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.

21/10/2022

The Madras High Court directed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to grant grace marks to a medical aspirant as he said that he left a wrongly asked question unanswered in the NEET examination.

Heading the first bench along with Justice D Krishnakumar, Acting Chief Justice T Raja passed the order on the ground that the student named T Udhaykumar from Tindivanam belongs to the Scheduled Caste section and it is the duty of the State to protect and uplift the downtrodden people as per Article 46 of the Constitution.

The judge passed the direction on the writ appeal challenging the order of a single judge rejecting his plea for the reason that he filed the petition for the second time for the same relief.

According to the petitioner, when he approached the High Court for a direction to NTA to award the grace mark for question number 97 in NEET conducted on July 17, the NTA’s standing counsel informed the court that it can award marks only to the students who had attempted the question.

Hence, the counsel for the petitioner withdrew the case. Since the counsel for the petitioner failed to obtain liberty to file a fresh case, the single judge dismissed his second petition citing multiplication.

After these things, Udhayakumar approached the first bench against the single judge’s order.

Advocate R Sankarasubbu representing the petitioner submitted that his client scored 92 marks on September 7 and 93 is the cut-off mark for SC students.

"One question carries four marks in NEET. Therefore, the petitioner who is from the SC section sent a representation on July 8 to the NTA to award the grace mark for the wrong question for getting admission to the MBBS course. The authorities did not respond to the representation and reminders of the petitioner," the advocate submitted.
Recording the submissions, the bench held that the State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, especially Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from social injustice.
“Therefore, the second respondent (NTA) being an instrumentality of the state cannot refuse to award the four marks to the appellant who belongs to the weaker se

20/10/2022

City Police on Wednesday arrested a 17-year-old in connection with a murder of a history-sheeter near Basin Bridge on Tuesday night. Police, on a tip-off that a man was lying unconscious with cut injuries on Cooum river banks near Basin Bridge, secured and moved him to a hospital, where he was declared brought dead. The deceased was identified as D Satish (22), a resident of Jeeva Nagar in Tondiarpet. Probe revealed that the deceased Satish is a history-sheeter and has several criminal cases against him. Based on his family’s complaint, Seven Wells police registered a case and began investigations. On Wednesday, police arrested a juvenile who was part of a gang which murdered Satish. He was produced before a juvenile justice board and sent to an observation home for boys. Police said the deceased had previous enmity with one Ajithkumar and he is the main suspect in the murder.

20/10/2022

DVAC sleuths arrested Villivakkam all-women police station inspector Anuradha for allegedly demanding and accepting Rs 20,000 as bribe to close a case of trespass. The woman officer allegedly demanded the bribe from a woman complainant who had been living separately from her husband due to a misunderstanding. Each of them had separate keys for the house. The complainant had opened the house with her key and took her belongings for which a trespass complaint was filed against her at Rajamangalam police station, Chennai in 2021. Though the case was investigated and closed as a mistake of fact, her mother-in-law had approached the High Court, which had instructed to reinvestigate this case along with another dowry harassment case registered at Villivakkam police station connected to the complainant. For closing the case in favour of the complainant, Anuradha, inspector of AWPS Villivakkam demanded Rs 20,000 from the complainant and harassed her. The victim then preferred a complaint with the DVAC and the sleuths on Wednesday evening arrested the officer in a trap procedure.

20/10/2022

A tax collector of Ward 151, Valsaravakkam in Chennai, was caught red-handed by sleuths from the Directorate Of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) on Wednesday while accepting a bribe of Rs 9,000 for assessment of house tax from an applicant. The complainant, a resident of Sriji Apartments in Manapakkam, was trying to fix the house tax, for which he approached tax collector Ganesan of Valsaravakkam corporation office. Ganesan told the complainant that the house tax will be around Rs 1 lakh from 2011 to current date. Ganesan later demanded Rs 9,000 as bribe to process the house tax. The complainant refused to pay and filed a complaint with the DVAC. On Wednesday, sleuths caught Ganesan accepting the bribe.

20/10/2022

Three persons who allegedly waylaid a college student and tried to escape with his valuables were intercepted by transgenders who secured the trio and handed them over to police personnel in Nungambakkam during the early hours of Wednesday.

The victim, Lalit (19) of Avadi had come to Nungambakkam and was returning to his home in Avadi around 3 am when the incident happened, police sources said.

Police investigations revealed that Lalit had intended to go to a late-night eatery in Pulianthope, but did not know the route and rode to Nungambakkam. Lalit then asked a group for directions to reach Pulianthope when the trio tried to rob him.

They took his bike key and then threatened him to part way with valuables in his possession.

Hearing Lalit’s screams for help, transgenders who were passing by came to his rescue and questioned the trio as to why they were harassing him.

They then took the college student’s valuables- a watch and a mobile phone from the harassers and handed them over to the Nungambakkam police station.Police arrested the trio- Arunkumar (21), Prashanth (20) and Vijayakumar (21) - residents of Choolaimedu. They were produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.

20/10/2022

The Chennai Outer Commissionerate of GST and Central Excise department has claimed busting of a fake invoice racket by arresting a suspect on charges of cheating to the tune of Rs 31 crore.

The GST & CE office had withheld the identity of the accused but said that he with the help of few others obtained GST registration for a web of non-existent companies. Tax invoices were issued among these companies without supplying any actual goods or offering services for want of input tax credit. GST Chennai Outer Commissionerate arrested the main accused after investigation and has identified the companies who availed fraudulent input tax credit from him. Further investigation is on, a note from the commissionerate said.

20/10/2022

Tamilnadu has decided to revise the penalty in various traffic violations including using mobile phones while driving to use of horn unnecessarily.Here are the most important revisions

20/10/2022

20/10/2022

Chief minister M K Stalin on Wednesday announced major infrastructure projects for development of schools, roads and transport service in the state. He made the announcements in the assembly under rule 110 of the House.
He said the government had needed to spend 12,300 crore to construct 26,000 new classrooms, 7,500 km compound walls and carry out maintenance of old school buildings. ‘Per Aasiriyar Anbazhagan development scheme’ was announced to ensure the same, he said.
As the student strength has increased, he said 7,200 classrooms would be constructed at a cost of 1050 crore, this year. The works include construction of 6,000 classrooms in panchayat union, elementary and middle schools, and 1,200 classrooms in high schools and higher secondary schools this year. An additional 115 crore was being allocated for maintenance of school buildings, he said. The government schools in the state saw enrolment of 15 lakh students in the last two years. The state government was implementing various programmes like free morning meals, ‘Illam Thedi Kalvi,’ ‘Ennum Ezhuthum,’ and ‘Naan Mudalvan Scheme’ to develop the educational sector, said Stalin.
There are 649 urban local bodies in the state, and they have roads to the distance of 55,567 kms. Roads to the stretch of 6045 kms have been damaged due to UGD and drinking water pipeline works. They were not developed after 2016-2017. He announced an allocation of 2,200 crore from Tamil Nadu government’s special fund for laying of 4,600 km roads under Tamil Nadu urban road development scheme. Apart from that, about 16,390 km of roads would be developed in a phased manner under Singara Chennai 2.0 scheme at a cost of 7,388 crore.
He said the government’s free  bus service for women had helped the beneficiaries save 2,000 crore. It was being seen as an allocation for women development, he said. He said 44 lakh women were utilising the service daily. Public transport had fallen to 70 lakh passengers per day in 2020-2021. But it has gone up to 1.70 crore passengers a day now, he said and added that 1,000 new buses would be purchased at a cost of 500 crore. Several thousand buses would be refurbished, he said

20/10/2022

The Tamil Nadu assembly on Wednesday passed a Bill amending the Ci******es and Other To***co Products Act (COTPA) to ban ho**ah bars as part of the state government's efforts to w**d out to***co abuse.
The Bill, tabled by the health and family welfare department and passed without any objection, has introduced a clause, effecting prohibition of opening or running ho**ah bars. The clause states that sale and service of ho**ah at any place including an eating house is prohibited. It describes an eating house as a place where food or refreshment of any kind are served.
The Bill also sought addition of a clause empowering police officer of the rank of sub-inspector and above to seize materials and articles from a ho**ah bar. It has introduced another clause that violators can be punished with an imprisonment up to three years and fined up to Rs 50,000.
Health minister Ma Subramanian justified the amendment stating that ho**ah bars, which have severe health implications, have mushroomed across Chennai and added that even many restaurants allow consumption of ho**ah since there was no law to regulate ho**ah bars in the state.
When contacted, a police officer said it would help police crack down on ho**ah bars in an effective manner as restaurants with ho**ah bar facilities often cite a Supreme Court's stay order in connection with a similar bill passed in Mumbai Municipal Corporation to prevent police from taking action against them. "So far, we had to check if there were any other violations of regulations such as whether such bars are located in school zones or whether minors are allowed in the bars to close them," said the officer.The Tamil Nadu People’s Forum for To***co Control (TNPFTC) has welcomed the amendment stating that the COTPA lacked the provision to regulate the functioning of ho**ah bars. The forum has also sought amendment in the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Smoking and Spitting Act, 2002 by bringing the enforcement of gutka ban.
"Till date, the enforcement of gutka ban has been vested with the food safety department.

18/10/2022

DMK functionaries at the doctor's clinic in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu.The entire incident was captured in the CCTV where DMK workers were seen attacking Dr Arumugam and his mother. The police is investigating the matter and also looking for the attackers.

18/10/2022

Retail prices of milk sold by private producers are set to increase by `2 per litre this week, the fourth hike this year hike due to increase in milk procurement price and raw material used for manufacturing sachets. Accordingly, 500 ml of full cream milk (FCM), manufactured by Heritage and Jersey, will cost `35 per pack and Arokya (Hatsun Agro Product Limited’s brand) will sell at `36 per unit, according to circulars (accessed by TOI) sent to all authorised milk dealers last week.

This decision is expected to increase the prices of tea, coffee and other milkbased sweets or food etc., at eateries and restaurants. Tamil Nadu Milk Dealers’ Welfare Association (TNMDWA) has, however, rejected claims there has been an increase in milk procurement price in TN and in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. “During the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, private dairies had slashed the procurement prices by `18 per litre from milk producers but did not pass on the benefit to the customers and ended up increasing the retail prices up to `18 per litre,” said SA Ponnusamy, founder president.

TNMDWA had earlier written to the state dairy development department to form an authority to streamline such attempts by private firms at a time when Aavin (run by government's TN Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Limited) too was hesitant to revised procurement prices on a par with changes in the market. Milk development minister S M Nasar recently told reporters that currently no steps were taken to form such an authority but efforts are being taken to increase Aavin milk sales. At present, Aavin sells around 30 lakh litres of milk. But it constitutes to only 16% of TN’s daily milk needs and remaining (84%) is met by private dairies, said Ponnusamy

18/10/2022

Filmmaker Mani Ratnam’s epic historical drama Ponniyin Selvan: 1 has shattered all domestic and international box office records. After overtaking Kamal Haasan’s Vikram to become the top-grossing film in Tamil cinema, Ponniyin Selvan has now achieved the feat of crossing Rs 200 cr mark in Tamil Nadu.

According to trade expert Manobala Vijayabalan, the film touched the milestone in its 17th day, becoming the first Tamil film to do so in the history. Even at the global box office, Ponniyin Selvan is inching towards Rs 450 cr mark.milestone at the TN BO today[17th Day]. First ever film in the history of Kollywood to achieve this gigantic feat,” Manobala Vijayabalan tweeted.

According to trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai, Ponniyin Selvan has managed to bring in senior citizens to cinema halls, which has ensured the film’s steady business despite being in its third week.

“PonniyanSelvan still going super strong in in its 3rd weekend, after losing steam in other states. is extraordinary due to huge surge of senior citizens (most visiting theatres after years) & family audiences. Becomes highest collecting Tamil film of all times in ,” he tweeted.

18/10/2022

Nearly a week after it came to be known that K-pop supergroup BTS band members will likely serve in the South Korean military, now it seems the day is nearing. HYBE, formerly known as Big Hit Music, the label that oversees the brand, has confirmed that the seven-member K-pop band will serve the mandatory military service.

The development comes after months of speculation, and back-and-forth between the band and the South Korean government. According to the official announcement, Jin, the oldest member in BTS, will be the first to enlist while the other members will join as and when they are asked.

"BigHit Music is proud to announce today that the members of BTS are currently moving forward with plans to fulfill their military service. After the phenomenal concert to support Busan's bid for the World Expo 2030, and as each individual embarks on solo endeavours, it's a perfect time and the members of BTS are honoured to serve,” read the official statement from Big Hit Music.

The label went on to state that it has focussed on the milestone moment and said that it was the right time to respect the needs of the country and young members to serve their countrymen. It said that Jin will be initiating the process as soon as he completes his solo release towards the end of October. The label said that the 29-year-old Jin will go through the enlistment process set by the Korean government.