Dialling in the dark
In Coimbatore, journalists and residents are raising concerns over police station landlines going unanswered. Reporters say repeated calls to some stations seeking details for stories often go unanswered, prompting questions about how emergency calls from the public are handled. Last month, when a youth allegedly created a nuisance under the influence of alcohol on Vadavalli–Thondamuthur Road, residents tried calling the Vadavalli station but received no response for over an hour. Calls made by TNIE too went unanswered. When the issue was flagged to a senior city police officer, he replied: “Dial 100.” After TNIE dialled 100, the police arrived nearly 30 minutes later.
-N Dhamotharan
Percentile puzzle
When private schools secure impressive Joint Entrance Examination (Main) scores, celebrations are instant with full-page advertisements, banners and social media fireworks. Government schools, however, seem to favour suspense. The Session 1 results are out and the state has announced that 448 government school students trained under initiatives like Vetri and model schools have crossed the 79 percentile. But how many are from Tiruchy? That detail remains elusive. Despite repeated queries, the district education administration has not issued even a press note, saying the figures will come from Chennai. Until then, Tiruchy’s JEE tally remains under wraps for reasons known only to the keepers of the file.
-SR Pearson Lenekar