Industry engages sanitation workers at CMCH
The Hindu
The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore, Coimbatore Cancer Foundation, and the CSR arms of Pricol and Messer Cutting Systems, have jointly initiated a programme to keep the COVID-19 wa
The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore, Coimbatore Cancer Foundation, and the CSR arms of Pricol and Messer Cutting Systems, have jointly initiated a programme to keep the COVID-19 ward at Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) clean. Chamber president C. Balasubramanian said in a press release, “We hear from patients who got discharged from our CMCH as well as from the general public that even though the doctors and nurses are undertaking super human efforts to help those affected by the virus, sanitation is not upto the expected standards.” While the CMCH administration is concentrating on attending to the patients and their treatment, maintenance of the washrooms and wards need more personnel. “We have therefore offered to assist in the area of sanitation as an unique contribution - the CLEAN GH drive,” he said. Vanitha Mohan, Chairperson of Pricol, said the CMCH has a team of people to keep the premises clean. However, several new facilities have been created now to treat COVID-19 patients. Hence, the industry, Coimbatore, Coimbatore Cancer Foundation, and the CSR arms of Pricol and Messer Cutting Systems have jointly taken up the drive to keep the COVID-19 entry point, zero delay ward, and the COVID-19 wards at the hospital clean. “We have appointed an experienced housekeeping service provider who will engage 15 people and a supervisor every day to clean these areas regularly. We will also provide the cleaning material required,” she said.“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.