Damaged housing board tenements to be rebuilt in two years, says Minister
The Hindu
Chief Minister is holding a meeting on October 28 during which funds will be sought: Muthusamy
Steps have been taken to rebuild the 50 tenements constructed by Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) that were found to be fully damaged, in two years, said Minister for Housing and Urban Development S. Muthusamy here on Saturday.
Addressing the media at the Collectorate, the Minister said 195 tenements in the State, both rented and sold, were found to be in a damaged condition and steps were taken to repair them. “The Chief Minister is holding a meeting on October 28 during which funds will be sought for demolition and rebuilding of tenements,” he added.
To a question on whether another opportunity would be given for regularisation of unapproved plots and layouts, the Minister said many opportunities were given already. “But regularisation should be done within the time frame stipulated by the government. It is not to harass anyone, but to help people,” he said and added that a decision on extending the time period of regularisation would be announced.
“Writing, in general, is a very solitary process,” says Yauvanika Chopra, Associate Director at The New India Foundation (NIF), which, earlier this year, announced the 12th edition of its NIF Book Fellowships for research and scholarship about Indian history after Independence. While authors, in general, are built for it, it can still get very lonely, says Chopra, pointing out that the fellowship’s community support is as valuable as the monetary benefits it offers. “There is a solid community of NIF fellows, trustees, language experts, jury members, all of whom are incredibly competent,” she says. “They really help make authors feel supported from manuscript to publication, so you never feel like you’re struggling through isolation.”
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.