By Umaima Shafiq
A national level volleyball player employed with the government-owned Integral Coach Factory (ICF) hanged himself at the factory premises at Perambur in Chennai last week.
K Guhan, 29, was reportedly depressed because his senior officer had refused to give him leave to visit his wife and baby at Puducherry. Over 600 of Guhan’s colleagues struck work and protested the management’s callous attitude to workers.
The ICF management said: “Guhan’s leave was not cleared because production was going on and people could not be spared.” However his colleagues claimed such rules did not apply to Guhan who was appointed under the sports quota.
In another incident, a 30-year-old doctor injected himself with a lethal dose as he was depressed by his wife’s two-year estrangement at Selaiyur in suburban Chennai.
G Srinivasan reportedly remained locked in his room until his mother and brother, who are also doctors, broke open the door.
Skin bank opened in Coimbatore
The privately-owned Ganga hospital opened Tamil Nadu’s second skin bank in Coimbatore last week.
This bank will harvest cadaveric skin and donate it to burn victims for cosmetic surgeries and biological dressings. Doctors said cadaveric skin is a healthier and inexpensive replacement to collagen skin grafts.
“The process of removing the skin with a Dermatom takes only 20 minutes. It can be placed on a person’s body without worrying about gender, blood groups or HLA matching because it is just a bio-dressing,” a doctor said.
However doctors said people were hesitant to allow skin donations from their kin’s dead bodies. They hoped this mindset would change along with increased organ donations seen in recent months.
Tight security in state after Delhi rape
Security has been tightened in Chennai and other cities of Tamil Nadu after an IT employee was allegedly raped by an Uber driver in New Delhi.
Police have ordered taxi companies to screen drivers, file their identification proof, character certificates and previous legal violations at the nearest police stations.
The police also instructed taxi owners to install alarm buttons and monitor them with GPS tracking. They asked companies to insist on verification certificates from police department.
Power tariff hiked by 15%
The Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission (TNERC) has increased power tariff by 15% from December 12.
However Chief Minister O Paneerselvam provided interim relief to lower end consumers by agreeing to pay an additional subsidy of Rs13bn to Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). This subsidy will cover the basic slab of 500 units per family for 10.6mn consumers, free power supply to 20mn farmers and to all places of worship.
Despite this, opposition parties protested that the subsidy was not enough and that the government was reneging on its election promise of cost effective power supply.
Lost passports recovered
A group of Sri Lankan tourists who had lost a backpack containing their passports at the Marina Beach were relieved when a female snack hawker found and returned the bag to the Anna Square police in Chennai last week.
