Puducherry govt declares holiday for schools over H3N2 flu scare

The Puducherry government on Wednesday announced a holiday for all schools up to Class 8 from March 16 to March 26 in view of the spread of H3N2 influenza virus in the Union TerritoryThe order will be in force for schools in all the four regions of Puducherry Karaikal Mahe and Yanam in the Union Territory in view of prevalence of the viral subtype of influenza particularly among childrenSpeaking in the Assembly during zero hour Home and Education Minister A Nammasivayam said in view of spread of the influenza particularly among children the government decided to declare a holiday for all schools including privatelymanaged institutions and governmentaided schools from primary class to Class 8The UT health department had stated on March 11 that Puducherry reported 79 virus cases belonging to the viral H3N2 subtype till March 4Also Read Singleday rise of over 600 Covid cases after 117 daysMeanwhile Agriculture Minister C Djeacoumar said the territorial administration has introduced a government order GO providing reservation for Most BackwardClasses MBC candidates in the recruitment to Group B nongazetted posts in the government departments He told the House that a GO in this regard has been issued after a decision was taken by the UT CabinetEarlier all members belonging to opposition DMK and Congress walked out of the House protesting against introduction of prepaid meters for billing power consumption in the Union Territory DMK opposition leader R Siva who led the walkout of the members said installing such electricity meters is antipeople and caused chaos among power consumers The DMK leader insisted that the prepaid metering system be droppedThe protesting lawmakers did not agree with the contention of Minister A Namassivayam who also holds the Electricity portfolio that prepaid power consumption meters were introduced to prevent power theft and pilferageThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever