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?=BQ =4F34;78
Aday after the Centre
allowed States to bring
back migrant workers to their
respective States by roads, the
logistical nightmare in arrang-
ing tens of thousands of buses
for this purpose has begun to
haunt the State Governments.
At least seven States —
Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu,
Maharashtra, Rajasthan,
Punjab and Bihar — have asked
the Centre to run trains to
move the migrants to their
States citing the distance and
the difficulty in logistics of trav-
elling by bus.
Sources said the Railway
Ministry is planning to run 400
special trains per day and may
increase the number to 1,000
special trains. As safeguards,
the train will run to the pas-
senger-carrying capacity.
Taking to Twitter,
Rajasthan Chief Minister
Ashok Gehlot wrote, “Long-
awaited demand of movement
of migrant workers has finally
been accepted by the GoI. It is
a welcome step but until GoI
allows Indian Railways to oper-
ate, practically it will not be
possible to facilitate smooth
and hassle-free transport to
their home.”
The Rajasthan CM said
more than six lakh migrants
have registered with the
Rajasthan Government, asking
for help to get home. They are
being screened for coronavirus
symptoms and those who don’t
have any are being allowed to
proceed.
Telangana Animal
Husbandry Minister T Srinivas
Yadav also demanded that the
Centre arrange special trains
and provide free transportation
for migrant workers to their
native States.
The Bihar Government
also urged the Centre to allow
running of special trains to
facilitate the return of people
stranded in different parts of
the country. Deputy Chief
Minister Sushil Kumar Modi
made an appeal in a video mes-
sage claiming that depending
on the road route could take
months because of the limited
availability and capacity of
buses. Modi said the number of
those wanting to return is like-
ly to be huge.
According to officials of the
Bihar Government, it is esti-
mated that there are 25-30
lakh people from Bihar, includ-
ing students and migrant work-
ers, stranded across the coun-
try and it needs at least one
lakh buses to bring them back
by road.
In a related development,
Jan Adhikar Party leader Pappu
Yadav took the Twitter to
announce that he has sent 30
buses to Kota, Rajasthan to
bring back students from Bihar.
“If we depend on buses, the
process could take months to
complete.
?=BQ =4F34;78
As citizens wait with the
bated breath for the
Government’s decision on
lockdown on May 3, the num-
ber of Covid-19 cases in India
continues to surge. On
Thursday, it came close to
35,000 mark with Maharashtra
alone logging more than 10,000
case and 459 deaths.
Maharashtra was followed
by Gujarat and Delhi, the two
of the other States that have
been severely hit with more
than 4,000 and 3,000 cases
respectively. It was another
day of big spike of Gujarat,
which added 303 new cases to
reach the total of 4,395 and 214
deaths. Tamil Nadu also saw a
big surge on Thursday with the
addition of 161 cases . The State
has now 2,323 cases and 27
deaths.
Maharashtra recorded 27
deaths due to Covid-19 and
with 583 fresh cases, the total
number of infected cases
crossed 10,000 mark to touch
a tally of 10,498 cases. Of the
latest 27 deaths, Mumbai
accounted for 20 deaths, while
there were three deaths in
Pune, two in Thane and one
each Nagpur and Raigad.
Of those dead on
Thursday, 19 were men while
8 were women. “Fourteen of
the deceased were aged over 60
years, while 13 were from the
age group of 40 to 59 years.
“Twenty two out of 27 patients
(81%) had high-risk co-mor-
bidities such as diabetes, hyper-
tension, heart disease, etc,” the
State health bulletin said.
Mumbai, which continues
to be the worst-coronavirus
affected city in the country,
continued to be in the vice grip
of Covid-19, as the pandemic
claimed 20 more lives taking
the total number of deaths in
the metropolis to 290.
Similarly, the total number
of infected cases rose to alarm-
ing 7,061. Of the 20 deaths
reported in Mumbai, 16
deceased had co-morbidities.
Out of 1,45,798 laboratory
samples, 1,34,244 tested nega-
tive, while 10,498 have tested
positive for coronavirus until
Thursday.
There are 733 active con-
tainment zones in the State cur-
rently. Total 10,092 surveil-
lance squads worked on Friday
across the State and surveil-
lance of 42.11 lakh population
was done.
As many as 1,773 patients
have been discharged till date
after full recovery. Currently,
1,68,266 people are in home
quarantine and 10,695 people
are in institutional quarantine.
Meanwhile, four teams
from Government of India
visited various parts of
Mumbai to monitor and assess
the prevention control mea-
sures undertaken by the
Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation (BMC) at com-
munity level and treatment
facilities in the month of
April.
?=BQ =4F34;78
The Government on
Thursday said that the
recovery rate of Covid-19
patients has increased to 25.19
per cent, while the doubling
rate of positive coronavirus
cases has gone up to 11 days. At
least six States and Union
Territories have reported a
doubling rate of 20 days and
above, with Himachal Pradesh
taking the lead.
“The progressive recovery
rate of Covid-19 patients in the
country now stands at 25.19
per cent, which was 13.06 per
cent 14 days ago,” Joint
Secretary at the Union Health
Ministry Lav Agarwal said at a
Press conference here.
Doubling time means the
number of days it takes for the
Covid-19 cases to duplicate.
Agarwal cited data saying that
coronavirus cases in Assam are
doubling in 59 days, Telangana
in 70.8 days, Chhattisgarh in
89.7 days and Himachal
Pradesh in 191.6 days.
Besides this, Karnataka is
witnessing doubling in 21.6
days, Ladakh in 24.2 days,
Haryana in 24.4 days,
Uttarakhand in 30.3 days and
Kerala in 37.5 days.
Delhi saw doubling in
11.3 days, whereas cases in
Uttar Pradesh became twice
in 12 days, JK in 12.2 days,
13 days in Odisha, 17.8 days
in Rajasthan, 19.1 days Tamil
Nadu and 19.5 days in
Punjab.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Union Home Ministry on
Thursday asked the States
to facilitate easy movement of
trucks to speed up the supply
of all items, including essential
commodities. In a letter to
Chief Secretaries, Union Home
Secretary Ajay Bhalla said all
inter-State as well as intra-
State truck movements must go
on without any hindrance for
the smooth movement of
goods. This is Home Secretary’s
fourth letter on easy movement
of truck movements.
The MHA also said empty
trucks or trucks carrying any
item should not be blocked
anywhere, including at borders
of States. The letter also reiter-
ated that all trucks can carry a
person apart from driver in the
cargo carrying vehicles. Except
drivers’ licence, nothing should
be subject to checking by
authorities, it said, adding that
all transportation of non-essen-
tial commodities is allowed.
There were complaints
from truck owners’ bodies that
they were facing checks from
some State borders and
harassment from authorities.
“The MHA has re-iterated
to all States/UTs that, as per the
consolidated revised guide-
lines on lockdown measures,
no separate passes are required
for through traffic of trucks and
goods carriers, including empty
trucks etc,” the MHA said.
In order to ensure compli-
ance to these guidelines, the
MHA has asked all States and
UTs to ensure that district
authorities and field agencies
are sensitised about the above
instructions, so that there is no
ambiguity at the ground level,
and movement of through traf-
fic of trucks and goods carriers,
including empty trucks, is
allowed without any hindrance.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi has started apolit-
ical web-based talk show with
internationally acclaimed per-
sonalities to discuss ways to
help India’s recovery post-
Covid19 era.
Rahul held his first inter-
action with former RBI
Governor Raghuram Rajan
who said India needs around
C65,000 crore to help the poor
currently hit hard by the
nationwide coronavirus lock-
down.
The 27-minute-long video
clip was released on Thursday
by the Congress on Twitter
where the two had discussion
on economy and way out of the
crisis situation.
To a question on how
much money will be needed
help the poor currently hit
hard by the nationwide coron-
avirus lockdown, Rajan said,
“India will need C65,000 crore,
it is not that much to save the
lives of the poor.”
The former RBI chief,
speaking on the impact of the
coronavirus pandemic on the
economy, also said a prolonged
lockdown would not be sus-
tainable for the economy.
As Indian economic activ-
ity opens up after weeks, Rajan
said steps should be taken to
isolate new cases of coronavirus
that emerge.
“A second lockdown will be
even more devastating and will
destroy people’s trust in the
measures taken by the
Government,” he said.
During the 30-minute
interaction, Rajan also asked
Rahul how he compared the
response in India and the US
to which the Congress
leader replied that he
saw deep-seated inequality in
India as the biggest differ-
ence between the two
nations.
A8=:D67B7Q =4F34;78
Sometimes you think you
know all about the stars.
Simply because you have seen
them larger than life onscreen
while growing up. Simply
because you have read so much
about them. In the end, you
have formed a picture of them
in your minds, just like the cin-
ema projector, and have con-
vinced yourself that is as good
as it gets. Till you meet them in
person. And they leave you
with a stray memory of their
inner selves. Rishi Kapoor was
one such and more. He would
lay his heart bare.
Many years ago, when he
was on the cusp of his second
coming as an actor rather than
the star by playing the brutal-
ly cold villain Rauf Lala in
Agneepath, I had met him at
home. He was old world that
way, relying on his secretary to
find a time slot that would
allow him to talk at length on
his craft without the noise of
film promotions. I was early for
my appointment at Krishna Raj
on 56 Pali Hill, fearing Mumbai
traffic. Twenty minutes too
early for Rishi Kapoor who was
to meet me at 11 am. His office
staff was readying for the day,
shining up the awards shields
and trophies, the cars had been
lined up, indicating the
denizens were in. I went down
a flight of steps and was shown
into a reception lounge which
opened into a lawn encircled by
azulejo panels. The lounge
itself was a tribute to European
tile art, with holy crosses of var-
ious colours and sizes adorning
the walls and pillars and a
blithe Mary and Jesus alcove
spreading benediction all
around.
“I just love Portuguese
ceramic tiles and have been col-
lecting them whenever I trav-
el. It’s not religious though my
going to a missionary school
may have had something to do
with my love for the holy
cross,” said the man who
showed up early because a
guest was waiting.
And the re-energised Rishi
Kapoor, beginning the day
with an earthy chaach, was not
done with the artiste inside, be
it decorating his little comfort
zone or experimenting with his
versatility in the second innings
of his life. But that day he want-
ed a great conversation with a
journalist guest and to play
some word games on Literati.
That year was 2012.
So he was most curious
about what the UP Assembly
elections were going to throw
up and whether governance
would be an issue. He was
clued in about politics and
corruption, saying he never
missed the 9 pm news, a far
stronger addiction than the
food or drink he loved. Apart
from discovering a news
junkie, he also appeared a
practicalist, saying though the
Kapoor eco-system was such
that all members knew how to
make films by the time they
were 10, the sons of Raj Kapoor
didn’t know the niceties of
business too well and would
have to ultimately sell RK stu-
dios, which they did.
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New Delhi: Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday
said the Delhi Government is
making arrangements to bring
back students of the national
Capital who are stranded in
Rajasthan’s Kota due to the
lockdown imposed to control
the spread of coronavirus.
“Delhi Govt is making arrange-
ments to soon bring Del stu-
dents back home from Kota”,
Kejriwal said in a tweet.
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Bengaluru: The Karnataka
Government on Thursday
decided to allow migrant work-
ers, tourists, students and oth-
ers stranded in different parts
of the State due to the ongoing
lockdown to return to their
native places, a day after the
Centre issued guidelines for the
process.
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?=BQ =4F34;78
Even as the world, including
India, is fighting the coro-
navirus pandemic, Pakistan
spy agencies are resorting to
nefarious designs by creating
an application similar to the
Aarogya Setu in order to trap
the Indian Army personnel by
hacking their mobile phones.
Realising this threat, the
Indian Army has issued warn-
ing to the troops to be cautious
and download the Aarogya
Setu app only through the
Government website
(mygov.in) or Android Play
Store or IOS Apple Play Store.
The directive came as all
forces’ personnel have been
asked to download the
Aarogya Setu application to
help in the detection and
checking the spread of Covid-
19. The app has been devel-
oped by Government agen-
cies.
Elaborating upon the chal-
lenge posed by Pakistan,
sources said here on Thursday
“inimical” intelligence agencies
have devised an app by the
name Aarogya Setu.apk.
C=A067D=0C70Q D108
In what came as a big relief for
Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray, Maharashtra
Governor Bhagat Singh
Koshyari on Thursday request-
ed the Election Commission of
India (ECI) to schedule elec-
tions to the nine vacant seats of
the Maharashtra Legislative
Council ‘at the earliest’.
A day after Uddhav spoke
to Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and sought the latter’s
intervention to speed up the
process of Koshyari nomi-
nating him to the
Maharashtra Legislature
Council, the Governor wrote
a letter to the ECI, urging it
to fill nine seats that have
been lying vacant from April
24, “with a view to end the
current uncertainty in the
State”.
In his letter to the Election
Commission, the Governor
stated that the Centre had
announced many relaxation
measures regarding the
enforcement of lockdown in
the country.
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?=BQ =4F34;78
The Supreme Court on
Thursday refused to enter-
tain a plea against the Centre’s
Central Vista project which
covers a 3-km stretch, from
Rashtrapati Bhavan to India
Gate, and includes construction
of new Parliament building.
A bench, comprising Chief
Justice SA Bobde and Justice
Aniruddha Bose, did not agree
to the submission that the
project in Lutyens’ Delhi need-
ed to be stayed as the
Government bodies were to
approach the authorities con-
cerned for clearance and other
formalities.
“Nobody is going to do
anything’ during the Covid-19
pandemic, said the bench.
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In response to the Centre’s
advisory on return of strand-
ed migrants and others, Punjab
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder
Singh on Thursday directed all
Deputy Commissioners to pre-
pare state-wise data of migrant
labourers to coordinate their
movement. At the same time,
he urged the Prime Minister
Narendra Modi to arrange for
point-to-point special trains
for transportation of such per-
sons.
The Chief Minister also
announced that one officer
had been assigned to each
State for coordinating the
return of stranded migrants.
During a videoconferenc-
ing with the state’s Deputy
Commissioners and Senior
Superintendents of Police, the
Chief Minister said that he has
written to the Prime Minister
with regard to the transporta-
tion of migrants.
“Ludhiana alone had over
seven lakh migrant labourers,
with whole of Punjab having
over a million of them. Though
data is still being collated,
approximately 70 percent of the
labourers in Punjab hailed
from Bihar,” the Chief Minister
said, adding that the movement
of such large numbers was
possible only through trains,
with proper screening to be
done at the time of departure.
The Chief Minister asked
the DCs to, in the meantime,
start preparing database of
migrant labourers, state-wise,
to ensure their smooth return.
In response to concerns
expressed over shortage of
food packets in some districts
in view of extended lockdown,
the Chief Minister directed
the Food Department to
increase the quota of rations to
be distributed to migrants and
non-smart card holders.
“Nobody should remain hun-
gry,” he stressed.
Capt Amarinder, in his
letter to the Prime Minister,
cited the Union Home
Ministry’s orders of April 29
and said that given the large
number of workers stuck due
to lockdown, use of buses for
their transportation would not
work.
“Estimates indicate that
nearly one million workers
will need transport to go back
to their states,” he observed,
adding that the only feasible
option in the circumstances
was to arrange “special trains,
which the Railways may run
from point to point, keeping in
view the number of persons to
be transported to a given des-
tination”.
Noting that since many
other states might also be fac-
ing a similar situation, the
Chief Minister sought Prime
Minister’s intervention in the
matter, urging him to advise
the Railways Ministry to make
special arrangements to ensure
that these migrant workers
reach their destinations safely.
The Union Ministry of
Home Affairs (MHA) had, on
Wednesday, allowed inter-state
movement of migrant workers,
while directing that “buses
shall be used for transport of a
group of persons, of course
after proper sanitization and
maintaining social distancing
norms in seating”.
Captain Amarinder point-
ed out that a large number of
migrant workers who had
come to Punjab for jobs or
employment from Bihar, UP,
and Jharkhand intended to
return to their respective states
due to the outbreak of COVID-
19.
“These workers are
engaged both in agriculture
and industries. However, most
of them either lost their jobs or
could not find employment or
work due curfew imposed in
the State to contain coron-
avirus,” he wrote.
“Though the Government
has tried its best to look over
the stranded migrants, who are
needed for the state’s industries
and agriculture, by providing
food, shelter and other basic
amenities, most of them unfor-
tunately appeared to still
wished to return to their
respective native places,” said
the Chief Minister.
Meanwhile, Chief
Secretary Karan Avtar Singh
informed the VC that as per the
protocols, the DCs have to get
the migrants in their respective
districts screened and give cer-
tificates, following which the
state control room is required
to provide the concerned state
the details of the migrant with
contact number. There was no
ban on sending the migrants in
private buses, he clarified in
response to a concern raised by
Ludhiana DC in this regard.
?=BQ 347A03D=
Thousands of College teach-
ers of Uttarakhand are in a
State of quandary over a
Government order which has
asked them to report to their
respective headquarters failing
which the salary of April would
not be paid to them.
In an order, the Higher
Education additional secretary
Iqbal Ahmed has asked the col-
lege education director to
ensure that all college teachers
and principals are at the place
of their posting.
The order adds the absence
of teachers is affecting the
teaching activity in the colleges
which is hilarious since the col-
leges of the state are closed at
the moment due to lockdown.
As a precautionary mea-
sure to prevent the spread of
COVID-19, the Uttarakhand
government had closed the
colleges of the state along with
other educational institutes on
March 15. After closure of the
colleges’ large number of the
college teachers including some
Principals left their place of
posting and came to their
homes.
On March 25, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
enforced a 21-day long lock-
down in the entire country
which was later extended to
May 3.
The teachers which are
away from their place of post-
ing are upset with the order as
they have to go through a
tedious process of seeking per-
mission from the administra-
tion to cross the state and dis-
trict boundaries. Further these
teachers would have to be put
into mandatory 14 days of
quarantine on return to their
place of posting which would
increase pressure on existing
facilities of government.
“We were asked to start
online classes for the students
which we are doing on regular
basis. We are now being asked
to remain at headquarters
which in prevailing situation is
both dangerous and worthless
as the colleges are closed. The
department should start mon-
itoring our online classes
instead of issuing such order,’’
said a college teacher.
The spokesperson of
Uttarakhand Congress, Garima
Dassauni has termed the order
unfortunate. She said the order
is not feasible in prevailing sit-
uation where borders are
closed. The Congress leader
demanded that the govern-
ment should re examine the
order which is absurd.
When contacted the high-
er education secretary Ashok
Kumar told The Pioneer that
the online classes are being
affected due to absence of
teachers. He however added
that efforts would be made to
ensure that teachers don’t face
problem in coming back to
their headquarters.
?=BQ A0=278
At least three fresh cases of
COVID-19 infection were
reported on Thursday, taking
the total count of Coronavirus
cases in State to 110, health offi-
cials said. Two of the three new
cases are from Ranchi's
Hindpiri – the hotspot of
Coronavirus in Jharkhand, they
added.
A 24-year-old man and a
26-year-old woman tested pos-
itive on Thursday. Both are
from Hindpiri, said Health
Secretary Nitin Madan
Kulkarni. The third case is also
from Ranchi. The suspects
sample was collected at RIMS,
he added.
After a major jump in the
COVID-19 trajectory here,
fewer cases have been report-
ed in the past couple of days.
According to health officials,
only seven cases were report-
ed in the past three days. As
many as 333 samples were
tested on Thursday, and three
of them were positive.
There are 33 COVID-19
containment zones in
Jharkhand and 15 of them fall
within the periphery of Ranchi
– the only red zone in State,
Health Secretary Nitin Madan
Kulakarni said on Thursday.
The remaining 18 contain-
ment zones are spread across
the nine districts that fall in the
category of orange zones here,
he added.
The nine districts in
Jharkhand that fall in orange
zone of COVID-19 will
become green zones if no new
cases are reported in the next
21 days, Kulkarni said. At pre-
sent, Ranchi is the only red
zone in Jharkhand and there
are 14 green zones – districts
that have not reported any
cases of COVID-19 virus, he
added.
The Government of India
has identified red, orange and
green zones in all states. In
Jharkhand, Ranchi is the only
red zone, Kulkarni said while
addressing media persons in
Ranchi. Any kind of move-
ment in the 33 containment
zones across the State is strict-
ly prohibited, he added.
Kulkarni said that the State
was equipped with sufficient
ventilators to address severe
cases of COVID-19 infection.
We have 206 ventilators in
Jharkhand. Besides, sufficient
number of masks has been
supplied to all the districts, he
added.
At present there are four
sample collection centres for
COVID-19 tests in Jharkhand.
The State, Kulkarni said, will
also set up three laboratories
for testing the samples collect-
ed from different parts of the
State. Bokaro, Hazaribag,
Jamtara, Simdega, Giridih,
Dhanbad, Garhwa, Deoghar
and Koderma are orange zones
in State, health officials said.
Meanwhile, Disaster
Management Secretary
Amitabh Kaushal said that
steps were being taken to bring
back Jharkhand workers
stranded in other States.
?=BQ A0=278
Chief Minister Hemant
Soren today said that
preparations have started to
bring back stranded students
and migrant workers in various
states back to Jharkhand. All
public representatives should
suggest measures so that the
stranded people can be brought
back. The government has
appointed nodal officers for
this. The stranded people have
to be brought back with all cau-
tion. All public representatives
should assure the stranded
labourers that the government
is concerned about them and
the government is reaching
out to them by connecting
with different social organiza-
tions.
The CM, while interacting
with MPs and MLAs of Kolhan
and Palamu region said that the
work of doctors, health work-
ers, policemen, representatives
of Panchayati Raj system, social
organizations who are fighting
against the Coronavirus in the
entire State is commendable.
The CM said that the State
Government will try to arrange
employment for the labourers
coming from different states.
For this, the government is
preparing an action plan, which
will soon be implemented. The
government is preparing to
introduce a new guideline on
MNREGA, so that more
employment can be generated.
Workers will get employment
in their village itself.
Soren said that a directive
has been given to assess the
damage done to the crops due
to the weather. The govern-
ment will compensate for the
loss of crops under disaster
management. As far as the
payment of the amount of
paddy through the lamps is
concerned, the farmers are
being paid.
The CM urged the public
representatives not to stop the
vaccination work in the lock-
down. Children should be vac-
cinated. The government is
paying special attention to chil-
dren and the elderly. All pub-
lic representatives should make
aware the Panchayat level pub-
lic representatives of their area
to ensure distribution of ration
among everyone. It is the
responsibility of the govern-
ment to give food grains to all.
Soren said that social polic-
ing has to be made meaning-
ful for the people returning to
their village from outside.
Because people coming from
outside can be prone to the
Coronavirus infection. The
government is fully conscious
on this matter. This social pil-
lar will play a big role in this
work. The public representative
should identify the people
coming from outside and
inform the administration, so
that the spread of infection can
be prevented. There is a need
to awaken the social system.
MLA, Jamshedpur East,
Saryu Roy informed the CM
that Jamshedpur administra-
tion is doing better work.
?=BQ 270=3860A7
Haryana Government on
Thursday decided to put a
complete ban on the purchase
of new vehicles, including cars
and jeeps, except buses for
public transport and vehicles
used for emergency responses
during the current financial
year. A decision in this regard
was taken in the cabinet which
met under the chairmanship of
Chief Minister Manohar Lal
Khattar, here.
The cabinet has also decid-
ed that even in case of very
urgent need of a new car or
jeep, outsourcing/hiring of the
vehicles should be done, a
statement said here.
Haryana's revenue sources
have dried up in view of the
ongoing coronavirus-induced
lockdown, which has adverse-
ly affected all economic activ-
ities, and the present measures
are aimed to cut down on
expenses.
While maintaining that
state's revenue sources had
dried up in the wake of present
crisis situation, Khattar on
Wednesday had said, We will
have to curtail our expenses
and generate sources of
income.
BUS FARE INCREASED
Haryana Cabinet on
Thursday decided to increase
the Bus Fare for Ordinary,
Luxury, and Super Luxury
buses from 85 paisa per pas-
senger per km to Rs 1 per pas-
senger per km to partially
meet the increased cost of
operation of buses from Rs
37.48 per km in June, 2016 to
Rs 52.23 per km in December,
2019.
An official statement said
that even after this increase, the
bus fare in Haryana will con-
tinue to be less as compared to
the neighbouring states of
Punjab, Uttrakhand, Himachal
Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar
Pradesh. The Bus Fare in the
State was last revised on June
30, 2016.
Since the last revision of
bus fare in Haryana, the oper-
ational expenditure has
increased substantially espe-
cially on account of expendi-
ture towards staff, diesel, spare
parts, tyre-tubes, lubricants,
Bus Chassis, bus fabrication
cost, and insurance, etc. The
expenditure per Kilometer has
gone up from Rs 37.48 in June
2015 to Rs 52.23 in December
2019, the statement said.
As a result of the increased
costs, Haryana Roadways is
operating with heavy losses
and the loss in the current
financial year has been to the
tune of Rs. 726.21 Crore up to
the month of January 2020
itself.
MSME TO BE FACILITATED
TO RETAIN EMPLOYEES
DURING COVID-19
To facilitate industrial units
in Haryana in retaining their
employees in times of financial
duress brought in by COVID-
19 Pandemic.
?=B Q 70A83F0A
The generation of bio-med-
ical waste in the state has
increased since imposition of
lockdown with thousands of
people in home and institu-
tional quarantine. The bio-
medical waste generated in
Garhwal region is sent for dis-
posal to the plant run by
Medical Pollution Control
Committee at Mandawar in
Bhagwanpur, Haridwar.
Haridwar assistant munic-
ipal commissioner Uttam
Singh Negi and city health
officer Dr Pankaj Jain said that
the waste generated in institu-
tional quarantine facilities is
sent to this plant for disposal.
The plant in-charge Mayank
Dubey informed that bio-med-
ical waste from the entire
Garhwal region is incinerated
at this plant. The maximum
quantity of waste is received
from three areas- Dehradun,
which also includes Rishikesh,
AIIMS Rishikesh and
Haridwar. Since the start of the
lockdown and quarantine of
suspected patients, more than
2,000 kilogrammes waste has
come from Dehradun region,
1,500 kilogrammes from
AIIMS Rishikesh and about
1,500 kilogrammes from the
Haridwar region.
?=BQ 17D10=4BF0A
Arecord number of 17
Covid-19 cases were
reported on Thursday in the
State. All the cases were detect-
ed in Jajpur district.
With this, the State’s tally of
coronavirus cases climbed to
142.Official sources said 14
fresh cases were reported from
the Katikata containment area.
Six females are among the
fresh positive cases.
All are asymptomatic and
have West Bengal connection.
Contact tracing and follow-up
action are being done by the
district administration, said
official sources.
So far, 36 covid-19 positive
cases have been detected in
Jajpur district. Earlier in the
day, the State Government said
three persons of the district
were detected positive for the
virus. While one of them was
an 18-year-old girl, another was
a 65-year-old man. Both are
West Bengal returnees and
asymptomatic.
Till now, the number of
active cases in the State is 102.
A total of 39 persons have
recovered and one has died.
In view of the detection of
so many positive cases in Jajpur
district in a single day, the
Health Secretary directed the
State Surveillance Officer and
the State Rapid Response Team
to proceed to Jajpur for
strengthening the surveillance
activities and containment
measures.Besides, two rapid
response teams from the
AIIMS Bhubaneswar were
rushed to Baleswar and
Bhadrak districts to strength-
en surveillance and cluster
containment activities.
?=BQ 270=3860A7
A68-year-old coronavirus
patient from Faridabad
district died on Thursday, as
the total number of COVID-19
cases rose to 339 in the state
with 28 fresh cases reported in
a day. The state has recorded
four COVID-19-related deaths
so far.
The aged man having
underlying health conditions
had tested positive for COVID-
19. He passed away on
Thursday, an official said,
adding that seven fresh cases
were reported from Faridabad.
Gurgaon also reported three
fresh cases. Jhajjar reported 18
fresh cases, taking the total
number of COVID-19 cases in
the district to 24, according to
State Health Department's daily
bulletin. Jhajjar has seen these
caseswithinaspanofthreedays,
whichisacauseofconcern,offi-
cialssaid.Jhajjarreporteditsfirst
COVID-19 case on Monday,
after remaining coronavirus-
freeforlongdespitefallinginthe
National Capital Region, which
has a large number of hostpots
or ''red zones''.
Haryana government has
maintained that many of the
coronavirus cases in its NCR
districts have their origins in
infections emanating from the
national capital and the author-
ities had ordered sealing the
districts with Delhi to check
spread of the infection.
The worst-affected districts
of the state with maximum
number of positive cases are
Nuh (58), Gurgaon (54),
Faridabad (53), Palwal (34),
Sonipat (25), Jhajjar (24) and
Panchkula (18). According to
the bulletin, the total active
COVID-19 patients in the state
are 100 while positive cases dis-
charged so far are 235, the bul-
letin said.
?=BQ 347A03D=
Amid the differences between private
schools and parents of students regard-
ing submission of school fees during the
lockdown, locals of Dehradun opine that
some schools and parents are trying to take
advantage of the current crisis. The private
schools were recently given permission by
the State Government to collect fee from
financially sound parents who can afford
to pay the school fees.
Those who cannot pay the fee during
the lockdown can pay their dues later, as
per the government orders. The lockdown
has put pressure on parents who are fac-
ing financial challenges and also the
schools who are completely dependent on
the monthly fees to operate their school
and pay staff salaries. Several groups,
organisations and parents have requested
the government to waive off the three
months school fee. The chairperson of
State Commission of Protection of Child
Rights (SCPCR) also suggested that school
should provide fee relaxation during such
crisis. While some of the schools have
waived off three months fees, some of them
are still asking parents to submit it or at
least state when they can deposit the fee.
“I understand that these are difficult
times but every school actually cannot
afford to waive off three months fees. I
teach in a private school and I will prob-
ably not receive my salary next month if
the parents of the students do not deposit
the fees. We are teaching students from our
home during the lockdown which is way
more difficult than teaching physically. I
think we deserve our salaries,” said a local
teacher Priyanka Sharma. Some people are
claiming that even those who are finan-
cially well off do not want to submit the
school fees in the hope that the
Uttarakhand Government will also provide
relaxation to the parents as in some other
states.
Mathematics teacher Dheeraj Santosh
said, “I know some parents who are doing
quite well financially and still want the
school to waive off the fees of their chil-
dren. Our school has requested those par-
ents who are government servants because
their salaries are not being hindered dur-
ing the lockdown but even they are not
ready to pay in the hope that the govern-
ment will soon issue an order stating
schools to waive off the fee. Schools com-
pelling parents to submit the fees are not
right but some parents are also taking
advantage of the situation.”
However, some parents said that they
understand school administration needs
funds to run the school but those schools
which are run by charitable trust should
at least give some exemption in the fee
because most of these schools are quite rich
and capable of coping with some financial
restraints.
Recently, the Dehradun district mag-
istrate said that parents can complaint to
the district control room number 0135-
2726066 about schools pressurising them
to pay fees but according to the sources,
only about half a dozen complaints have
been received in control room till now
which were sent to the education depart-
ment.
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CRPF personnel stand guard at Hindpiri area
during nationwide lockdown to curb the spread
of coronavirus, in Ranchi on Thursday
Vinay Murmu| Pioneer
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States seek special trains as logistical nightmare begins in arranging buses
- 1. 8=380E8B8CA40558A43 28C4=CB)CAD? FPbWX]Vc^]) DB?aTbXST]c 3^]P[SCad_WPbbPXSWXb WXbc^aXRUXabc^UUXRXP[eXbXcc^8]SXP X]5TQadPahaTPUUXaTScWT R^XcT]cb^Ucf^R^d]caXTb c^QdX[SPR^_aTWT]bXeTV[^QP[ bcaPcTVXR_Pac]TabWX_Va^d]STS X]bWPaTSX]cTaTbcbP]SR^^] _da_^bT ?78;8??8=4BA4942CB 278=0´B;014;=B2B P]X[P) ?WX[X__X]Tb_a^cTbcTS^] CWdabSPh2WX]P³bSTbXV]PcX^]^U PSXb_dcTSB^dcW2WX]PBTPaTTU fWXRWXcWPbcda]TSX]c^PWTPeX[h U^acXUXTSXb[P]SQPbTPbP 2WX]TbT°PSX]XbcaPcXeTRT]cTa± CWT3T_PacT]c^U5^aTXV] 0UUPXabXbbdTSPbcPcTT]c ^QYTRcX]Vc^fWPcXcRP[[TS 2WX]P³b°X[[TVP[STbXV]PcX^]±^U 5XTah2a^bbATTUPbPaTVX^]P[ PSX]XbcaPcXeTRT]cTaX]cWTW^c[h R^]cTbcTSB_aPc[hPaRWX_T[PV^ =800AA4BCB A48= BDB?4=3433H B?20B4 9Pd) CWT=80^]CWdabSPh PaaTbcTSP]P[[TVTSPabSTP[Ta fW^d]bdRRTbbUd[[hR^]cTbcTS cWT! #0bbTQ[hT[TRcX^]^]P 19?cXRZTcX]R^]]TRcX^]fXcWP RPbTaT[PcTSc^bdb_T]STS 3T_dchBd_TaX]cT]ST]c^U?^[XRT 3PeX]STaBX]VWfW^fPbRPdVWc fWX[TUTaahX]VcTaa^aXbcb^dcbXST cWT:PbWXaeP[[ThCWTPRRdbTS XST]cXUXTSPbCPaX`XaPaTbXST]c ^UP[S^^aP^UBW^_XP]SXbcaXRc X]b^dcW:PbWXa 20?BD;4 ?=BQ =4F34;78 Aday after the Centre allowed States to bring back migrant workers to their respective States by roads, the logistical nightmare in arrang- ing tens of thousands of buses for this purpose has begun to haunt the State Governments. At least seven States — Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab and Bihar — have asked the Centre to run trains to move the migrants to their States citing the distance and the difficulty in logistics of trav- elling by bus. Sources said the Railway Ministry is planning to run 400 special trains per day and may increase the number to 1,000 special trains. As safeguards, the train will run to the pas- senger-carrying capacity. Taking to Twitter, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot wrote, “Long- awaited demand of movement of migrant workers has finally been accepted by the GoI. It is a welcome step but until GoI allows Indian Railways to oper- ate, practically it will not be possible to facilitate smooth and hassle-free transport to their home.” The Rajasthan CM said more than six lakh migrants have registered with the Rajasthan Government, asking for help to get home. They are being screened for coronavirus symptoms and those who don’t have any are being allowed to proceed. Telangana Animal Husbandry Minister T Srinivas Yadav also demanded that the Centre arrange special trains and provide free transportation for migrant workers to their native States. The Bihar Government also urged the Centre to allow running of special trains to facilitate the return of people stranded in different parts of the country. Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi made an appeal in a video mes- sage claiming that depending on the road route could take months because of the limited availability and capacity of buses. Modi said the number of those wanting to return is like- ly to be huge. According to officials of the Bihar Government, it is esti- mated that there are 25-30 lakh people from Bihar, includ- ing students and migrant work- ers, stranded across the coun- try and it needs at least one lakh buses to bring them back by road. In a related development, Jan Adhikar Party leader Pappu Yadav took the Twitter to announce that he has sent 30 buses to Kota, Rajasthan to bring back students from Bihar. “If we depend on buses, the process could take months to complete. ?=BQ =4F34;78 As citizens wait with the bated breath for the Government’s decision on lockdown on May 3, the num- ber of Covid-19 cases in India continues to surge. On Thursday, it came close to 35,000 mark with Maharashtra alone logging more than 10,000 case and 459 deaths. Maharashtra was followed by Gujarat and Delhi, the two of the other States that have been severely hit with more than 4,000 and 3,000 cases respectively. It was another day of big spike of Gujarat, which added 303 new cases to reach the total of 4,395 and 214 deaths. Tamil Nadu also saw a big surge on Thursday with the addition of 161 cases . The State has now 2,323 cases and 27 deaths. Maharashtra recorded 27 deaths due to Covid-19 and with 583 fresh cases, the total number of infected cases crossed 10,000 mark to touch a tally of 10,498 cases. Of the latest 27 deaths, Mumbai accounted for 20 deaths, while there were three deaths in Pune, two in Thane and one each Nagpur and Raigad. Of those dead on Thursday, 19 were men while 8 were women. “Fourteen of the deceased were aged over 60 years, while 13 were from the age group of 40 to 59 years. “Twenty two out of 27 patients (81%) had high-risk co-mor- bidities such as diabetes, hyper- tension, heart disease, etc,” the State health bulletin said. Mumbai, which continues to be the worst-coronavirus affected city in the country, continued to be in the vice grip of Covid-19, as the pandemic claimed 20 more lives taking the total number of deaths in the metropolis to 290. Similarly, the total number of infected cases rose to alarm- ing 7,061. Of the 20 deaths reported in Mumbai, 16 deceased had co-morbidities. Out of 1,45,798 laboratory samples, 1,34,244 tested nega- tive, while 10,498 have tested positive for coronavirus until Thursday. There are 733 active con- tainment zones in the State cur- rently. Total 10,092 surveil- lance squads worked on Friday across the State and surveil- lance of 42.11 lakh population was done. As many as 1,773 patients have been discharged till date after full recovery. Currently, 1,68,266 people are in home quarantine and 10,695 people are in institutional quarantine. Meanwhile, four teams from Government of India visited various parts of Mumbai to monitor and assess the prevention control mea- sures undertaken by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) at com- munity level and treatment facilities in the month of April. ?=BQ =4F34;78 The Government on Thursday said that the recovery rate of Covid-19 patients has increased to 25.19 per cent, while the doubling rate of positive coronavirus cases has gone up to 11 days. At least six States and Union Territories have reported a doubling rate of 20 days and above, with Himachal Pradesh taking the lead. “The progressive recovery rate of Covid-19 patients in the country now stands at 25.19 per cent, which was 13.06 per cent 14 days ago,” Joint Secretary at the Union Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said at a Press conference here. Doubling time means the number of days it takes for the Covid-19 cases to duplicate. Agarwal cited data saying that coronavirus cases in Assam are doubling in 59 days, Telangana in 70.8 days, Chhattisgarh in 89.7 days and Himachal Pradesh in 191.6 days. Besides this, Karnataka is witnessing doubling in 21.6 days, Ladakh in 24.2 days, Haryana in 24.4 days, Uttarakhand in 30.3 days and Kerala in 37.5 days. Delhi saw doubling in 11.3 days, whereas cases in Uttar Pradesh became twice in 12 days, JK in 12.2 days, 13 days in Odisha, 17.8 days in Rajasthan, 19.1 days Tamil Nadu and 19.5 days in Punjab. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Union Home Ministry on Thursday asked the States to facilitate easy movement of trucks to speed up the supply of all items, including essential commodities. In a letter to Chief Secretaries, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said all inter-State as well as intra- State truck movements must go on without any hindrance for the smooth movement of goods. This is Home Secretary’s fourth letter on easy movement of truck movements. The MHA also said empty trucks or trucks carrying any item should not be blocked anywhere, including at borders of States. The letter also reiter- ated that all trucks can carry a person apart from driver in the cargo carrying vehicles. Except drivers’ licence, nothing should be subject to checking by authorities, it said, adding that all transportation of non-essen- tial commodities is allowed. There were complaints from truck owners’ bodies that they were facing checks from some State borders and harassment from authorities. “The MHA has re-iterated to all States/UTs that, as per the consolidated revised guide- lines on lockdown measures, no separate passes are required for through traffic of trucks and goods carriers, including empty trucks etc,” the MHA said. In order to ensure compli- ance to these guidelines, the MHA has asked all States and UTs to ensure that district authorities and field agencies are sensitised about the above instructions, so that there is no ambiguity at the ground level, and movement of through traf- fic of trucks and goods carriers, including empty trucks, is allowed without any hindrance. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has started apolit- ical web-based talk show with internationally acclaimed per- sonalities to discuss ways to help India’s recovery post- Covid19 era. Rahul held his first inter- action with former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan who said India needs around C65,000 crore to help the poor currently hit hard by the nationwide coronavirus lock- down. The 27-minute-long video clip was released on Thursday by the Congress on Twitter where the two had discussion on economy and way out of the crisis situation. To a question on how much money will be needed help the poor currently hit hard by the nationwide coron- avirus lockdown, Rajan said, “India will need C65,000 crore, it is not that much to save the lives of the poor.” The former RBI chief, speaking on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy, also said a prolonged lockdown would not be sus- tainable for the economy. As Indian economic activ- ity opens up after weeks, Rajan said steps should be taken to isolate new cases of coronavirus that emerge. “A second lockdown will be even more devastating and will destroy people’s trust in the measures taken by the Government,” he said. During the 30-minute interaction, Rajan also asked Rahul how he compared the response in India and the US to which the Congress leader replied that he saw deep-seated inequality in India as the biggest differ- ence between the two nations. A8=:D67B7Q =4F34;78 Sometimes you think you know all about the stars. Simply because you have seen them larger than life onscreen while growing up. Simply because you have read so much about them. In the end, you have formed a picture of them in your minds, just like the cin- ema projector, and have con- vinced yourself that is as good as it gets. Till you meet them in person. And they leave you with a stray memory of their inner selves. Rishi Kapoor was one such and more. He would lay his heart bare. Many years ago, when he was on the cusp of his second coming as an actor rather than the star by playing the brutal- ly cold villain Rauf Lala in Agneepath, I had met him at home. He was old world that way, relying on his secretary to find a time slot that would allow him to talk at length on his craft without the noise of film promotions. I was early for my appointment at Krishna Raj on 56 Pali Hill, fearing Mumbai traffic. Twenty minutes too early for Rishi Kapoor who was to meet me at 11 am. His office staff was readying for the day, shining up the awards shields and trophies, the cars had been lined up, indicating the denizens were in. I went down a flight of steps and was shown into a reception lounge which opened into a lawn encircled by azulejo panels. The lounge itself was a tribute to European tile art, with holy crosses of var- ious colours and sizes adorning the walls and pillars and a blithe Mary and Jesus alcove spreading benediction all around. “I just love Portuguese ceramic tiles and have been col- lecting them whenever I trav- el. It’s not religious though my going to a missionary school may have had something to do with my love for the holy cross,” said the man who showed up early because a guest was waiting. And the re-energised Rishi Kapoor, beginning the day with an earthy chaach, was not done with the artiste inside, be it decorating his little comfort zone or experimenting with his versatility in the second innings of his life. But that day he want- ed a great conversation with a journalist guest and to play some word games on Literati. That year was 2012. So he was most curious about what the UP Assembly elections were going to throw up and whether governance would be an issue. He was clued in about politics and corruption, saying he never missed the 9 pm news, a far stronger addiction than the food or drink he loved. Apart from discovering a news junkie, he also appeared a practicalist, saying though the Kapoor eco-system was such that all members knew how to make films by the time they were 10, the sons of Raj Kapoor didn’t know the niceties of business too well and would have to ultimately sell RK stu- dios, which they did. DeReVdUV^R_U^ZXcR_edecRZ_d /DNKV RI EXVHV QRW IHDVLEOH 5DLOZDV SODQV WR UXQ VSO WUDLQVGD New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said the Delhi Government is making arrangements to bring back students of the national Capital who are stranded in Rajasthan’s Kota due to the lockdown imposed to control the spread of coronavirus. “Delhi Govt is making arrange- ments to soon bring Del stu- dents back home from Kota”, Kejriwal said in a tweet. RZ_Xa]R_ e`ScZ_XSRT defUV_edWc`^ `eR+V[cZhR] Bengaluru: The Karnataka Government on Thursday decided to allow migrant work- ers, tourists, students and oth- ers stranded in different parts of the State due to the ongoing lockdown to return to their native places, a day after the Centre issued guidelines for the process. .¶WDND *RYW DOORZV RQHWLPH PRYHPHQW RI VWUDQGHG SHRSOH 0DKD OHDGV RYLG VXUJH WRWDO . !TRdVdZ_ RYRdaZV Z_E?8f[RcRe CR[R_dRjd:_UZR_VVUd C'Tce`YV]aa``c cVT`gVcWc`^TcZdZd Wc`^4`gZU]`TU`h_ ?=BQ =4F34;78 Even as the world, including India, is fighting the coro- navirus pandemic, Pakistan spy agencies are resorting to nefarious designs by creating an application similar to the Aarogya Setu in order to trap the Indian Army personnel by hacking their mobile phones. Realising this threat, the Indian Army has issued warn- ing to the troops to be cautious and download the Aarogya Setu app only through the Government website (mygov.in) or Android Play Store or IOS Apple Play Store. The directive came as all forces’ personnel have been asked to download the Aarogya Setu application to help in the detection and checking the spread of Covid- 19. The app has been devel- oped by Government agen- cies. Elaborating upon the chal- lenge posed by Pakistan, sources said here on Thursday “inimical” intelligence agencies have devised an app by the name Aarogya Setu.apk. C=A067D=0C70Q D108 In what came as a big relief for Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday request- ed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to schedule elec- tions to the nine vacant seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council ‘at the earliest’. A day after Uddhav spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought the latter’s intervention to speed up the process of Koshyari nomi- nating him to the Maharashtra Legislature Council, the Governor wrote a letter to the ECI, urging it to fill nine seats that have been lying vacant from April 24, “with a view to end the current uncertainty in the State”. In his letter to the Election Commission, the Governor stated that the Centre had announced many relaxation measures regarding the enforcement of lockdown in the country. 6_dfcV^`gV^V_e `WecfTddhZWe]j 92eV]]dDeReVd 5DKXO EHJLQV ZHE WDON IRU SRVWRYLG UHYLYDO 2^a^]PaTR^eTahaXbTb c^!$S^dQ[X]VaPcT X_a^eTbc^ SPhb 5HOLHI IRU 8GGKDY DV *XY DVNV ( WR KROG RXQFLO HOHFWLRQV ARaYZdYZ_X 2Rc`XjRDVef ecZVde`ecRa :_UZR_2c^j 7KH .DSRRU ZKR VWRRG RXW LQ WKH NKDQGDDQ ?=BQ =4F34;78 The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to enter- tain a plea against the Centre’s Central Vista project which covers a 3-km stretch, from Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate, and includes construction of new Parliament building. A bench, comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justice Aniruddha Bose, did not agree to the submission that the project in Lutyens’ Delhi need- ed to be stayed as the Government bodies were to approach the authorities con- cerned for clearance and other formalities. “Nobody is going to do anything’ during the Covid-19 pandemic, said the bench. D4cVWfdVde` deRj4V_ecR] GZdeRac`[VTe C:D9:2A@@C %DVaeV^SVc*#$!2acZ]#!#! XVaP]cf^aZTabUa^^cWTaBcPcTbb_TPZc^_^[XRTT]PbcWThPaaXeTc^RPcRWPQdbc^caPeT[c^cWTXaW^Tc^f]bX]?aPhPVaPY ^]CWdabSPh 0? 7TP[cWf^aZTabcP[Zc^PccT]SP]cb^UP_PcXT]cPcPW^b_XcP[TP]cU^acaTPcX]V2^eXS (_PcXT]cbX]=Tf3T[WX^]CWdabSPh 0? 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- 2. dccPaPZWP]S!347A03D=k5A830H k0H !! 3ULQWHG DQG SXEOLVKHG E $MLW 6LQKD IRU DQG RQ EHKDOI RI 0. 3ULQWHFK /WG SXEOLVKHG DW 8QLJDWH *HQHUDO 0HGLD 3YW /WG 2OG 1HKUX RORQ 2SS 8WWDUDNKDQG -DO 6DQVWKDQ 'KDUDPSXU 'HKUDGXQ 3K 0RE DQG SULQWHG DW $PDU 8MDOD 3XEOLFDWLRQV /WG 6KHG 1R 3DWHO 1DJDU R2SHUDWLYH ,QGXVWULDO $UHD 'HKUDGXQ 8WWDUDNKDQG (GLWRU KDQGDQ 0LWUD $,5 685+$5*( RI 5H (DVW DOFXWWD 5DQFKL %KXEDQHVZDU 1RUWK /HK :HVW 0XPEDL $KPHGDEDG 6RXWK %DQJDORUH KHQQDL HQWUDO .KDMXUDKR 'HOKL 2IILFH 1R %HKLQG *XODE %KDZDQ %DKDGXU 6KDK =DIDU 0DUJ 1HZ 'HOKL 3KRQH RPPXQLFDWLRQ 2IILFH ) 6HFWRU 12,'$ *DXWDP %XGK 1DJDU 83 3KRQH /XFNQRZ 2IILFH WK )ORRU 6DKDUD 6KRSSLQJ HQWUH )DL]DEDG 5RDG /XFNQRZ 7HOHSKRQHV $OWKRXJK HYHU SRVVLEOH FDUH DQG FDXWLRQ KDV EHHQ WDNHQ WR DYRLG HUURUV RU RPLVVLRQV WKLV SXEOLFDWLRQ LV EHLQJ VROG RQ WKH FRQGLWLRQ DQG XQGHUVWDQGLQJ WKDW LQIRUPDWLRQ JLYHQ LQ WKLV SXEOLFDWLRQ LV PHUHO IRU UHIHUHQFH DQG PXVW QRW EH WDNHQ DV KDYLQJ DXWKRULW RI RU ELQGLQJ LQ DQ ZD RQ WKH ZULWHUV HGLWRUV SXEOLVKHUV DQG SULQWHUV DQG VHOOHUV ZKR GR QRW RZH DQ UHVSRQVLELOLW IRU DQ GDPDJH RU ORVV WR DQ SHUVRQ D SXUFKDVHU RI WKLV SXEOLFDWLRQ RU QRW IRU WKH UHVXOW RI DQ DFWLRQ WDNHQ RQ WKH EDVLV RI WKLV ZRUN $OO GLVSXWHV DUH VXEMHFW WR WKH H[FOXVLYH MXULVGLFWLRQ RI FRPSHWHQW FRXUW DQG IRUXPV LQ 'HOKL1HZ 'HOKL RQO 5HDGHUV DUH DGYLVHG DQG UHTXHVWHG WR YHULI DQG VHHN DSSURSULDWH DGYLFH WR VDWLVI WKHPVHOYHV DERXW WKH YHUDFLW RI DQ NLQG RI DGYHUWLVHPHQW EHIRUH UHVSRQGLQJ WR DQ FRQWHQWV SXEOLVKHG LQ WKLV QHZVSDSHU 7KH SULQWHU SXEOLVKHU HGLWRU DQG DQ HPSORHH RI WKH 3LRQHHU *URXS·V ZLOO QRW EH KHOG UHVSRQVLEOH IRU DQ NLQG RI FODLP PDGH E WKH DGYHUWLVHUV RI WKH SURGXFWV VHUYLFHV DQG VKDOO QRW EH PDGH UHVSRQVLEOH IRU DQ NLQG RI ORVV FRQVHTXHQFHV DQG IXUWKHU SURGXFWUHODWHG GDPDJHV RQ VXFK DGYHUWLVHPHQWV ?=BQ 270=3860A7 In response to the Centre’s advisory on return of strand- ed migrants and others, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday directed all Deputy Commissioners to pre- pare state-wise data of migrant labourers to coordinate their movement. At the same time, he urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to arrange for point-to-point special trains for transportation of such per- sons. The Chief Minister also announced that one officer had been assigned to each State for coordinating the return of stranded migrants. During a videoconferenc- ing with the state’s Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendents of Police, the Chief Minister said that he has written to the Prime Minister with regard to the transporta- tion of migrants. “Ludhiana alone had over seven lakh migrant labourers, with whole of Punjab having over a million of them. Though data is still being collated, approximately 70 percent of the labourers in Punjab hailed from Bihar,” the Chief Minister said, adding that the movement of such large numbers was possible only through trains, with proper screening to be done at the time of departure. The Chief Minister asked the DCs to, in the meantime, start preparing database of migrant labourers, state-wise, to ensure their smooth return. In response to concerns expressed over shortage of food packets in some districts in view of extended lockdown, the Chief Minister directed the Food Department to increase the quota of rations to be distributed to migrants and non-smart card holders. “Nobody should remain hun- gry,” he stressed. Capt Amarinder, in his letter to the Prime Minister, cited the Union Home Ministry’s orders of April 29 and said that given the large number of workers stuck due to lockdown, use of buses for their transportation would not work. “Estimates indicate that nearly one million workers will need transport to go back to their states,” he observed, adding that the only feasible option in the circumstances was to arrange “special trains, which the Railways may run from point to point, keeping in view the number of persons to be transported to a given des- tination”. Noting that since many other states might also be fac- ing a similar situation, the Chief Minister sought Prime Minister’s intervention in the matter, urging him to advise the Railways Ministry to make special arrangements to ensure that these migrant workers reach their destinations safely. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had, on Wednesday, allowed inter-state movement of migrant workers, while directing that “buses shall be used for transport of a group of persons, of course after proper sanitization and maintaining social distancing norms in seating”. Captain Amarinder point- ed out that a large number of migrant workers who had come to Punjab for jobs or employment from Bihar, UP, and Jharkhand intended to return to their respective states due to the outbreak of COVID- 19. “These workers are engaged both in agriculture and industries. However, most of them either lost their jobs or could not find employment or work due curfew imposed in the State to contain coron- avirus,” he wrote. “Though the Government has tried its best to look over the stranded migrants, who are needed for the state’s industries and agriculture, by providing food, shelter and other basic amenities, most of them unfor- tunately appeared to still wished to return to their respective native places,” said the Chief Minister. Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh informed the VC that as per the protocols, the DCs have to get the migrants in their respective districts screened and give cer- tificates, following which the state control room is required to provide the concerned state the details of the migrant with contact number. There was no ban on sending the migrants in private buses, he clarified in response to a concern raised by Ludhiana DC in this regard. ?=BQ 347A03D= Thousands of College teach- ers of Uttarakhand are in a State of quandary over a Government order which has asked them to report to their respective headquarters failing which the salary of April would not be paid to them. In an order, the Higher Education additional secretary Iqbal Ahmed has asked the col- lege education director to ensure that all college teachers and principals are at the place of their posting. The order adds the absence of teachers is affecting the teaching activity in the colleges which is hilarious since the col- leges of the state are closed at the moment due to lockdown. As a precautionary mea- sure to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Uttarakhand government had closed the colleges of the state along with other educational institutes on March 15. After closure of the colleges’ large number of the college teachers including some Principals left their place of posting and came to their homes. On March 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi enforced a 21-day long lock- down in the entire country which was later extended to May 3. The teachers which are away from their place of post- ing are upset with the order as they have to go through a tedious process of seeking per- mission from the administra- tion to cross the state and dis- trict boundaries. Further these teachers would have to be put into mandatory 14 days of quarantine on return to their place of posting which would increase pressure on existing facilities of government. “We were asked to start online classes for the students which we are doing on regular basis. We are now being asked to remain at headquarters which in prevailing situation is both dangerous and worthless as the colleges are closed. The department should start mon- itoring our online classes instead of issuing such order,’’ said a college teacher. The spokesperson of Uttarakhand Congress, Garima Dassauni has termed the order unfortunate. She said the order is not feasible in prevailing sit- uation where borders are closed. The Congress leader demanded that the govern- ment should re examine the order which is absurd. When contacted the high- er education secretary Ashok Kumar told The Pioneer that the online classes are being affected due to absence of teachers. He however added that efforts would be made to ensure that teachers don’t face problem in coming back to their headquarters. ?=BQ A0=278 At least three fresh cases of COVID-19 infection were reported on Thursday, taking the total count of Coronavirus cases in State to 110, health offi- cials said. Two of the three new cases are from Ranchi's Hindpiri – the hotspot of Coronavirus in Jharkhand, they added. A 24-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman tested pos- itive on Thursday. Both are from Hindpiri, said Health Secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni. The third case is also from Ranchi. The suspects sample was collected at RIMS, he added. After a major jump in the COVID-19 trajectory here, fewer cases have been report- ed in the past couple of days. According to health officials, only seven cases were report- ed in the past three days. As many as 333 samples were tested on Thursday, and three of them were positive. There are 33 COVID-19 containment zones in Jharkhand and 15 of them fall within the periphery of Ranchi – the only red zone in State, Health Secretary Nitin Madan Kulakarni said on Thursday. The remaining 18 contain- ment zones are spread across the nine districts that fall in the category of orange zones here, he added. The nine districts in Jharkhand that fall in orange zone of COVID-19 will become green zones if no new cases are reported in the next 21 days, Kulkarni said. At pre- sent, Ranchi is the only red zone in Jharkhand and there are 14 green zones – districts that have not reported any cases of COVID-19 virus, he added. The Government of India has identified red, orange and green zones in all states. In Jharkhand, Ranchi is the only red zone, Kulkarni said while addressing media persons in Ranchi. Any kind of move- ment in the 33 containment zones across the State is strict- ly prohibited, he added. Kulkarni said that the State was equipped with sufficient ventilators to address severe cases of COVID-19 infection. We have 206 ventilators in Jharkhand. Besides, sufficient number of masks has been supplied to all the districts, he added. At present there are four sample collection centres for COVID-19 tests in Jharkhand. The State, Kulkarni said, will also set up three laboratories for testing the samples collect- ed from different parts of the State. Bokaro, Hazaribag, Jamtara, Simdega, Giridih, Dhanbad, Garhwa, Deoghar and Koderma are orange zones in State, health officials said. Meanwhile, Disaster Management Secretary Amitabh Kaushal said that steps were being taken to bring back Jharkhand workers stranded in other States. ?=BQ A0=278 Chief Minister Hemant Soren today said that preparations have started to bring back stranded students and migrant workers in various states back to Jharkhand. All public representatives should suggest measures so that the stranded people can be brought back. The government has appointed nodal officers for this. The stranded people have to be brought back with all cau- tion. All public representatives should assure the stranded labourers that the government is concerned about them and the government is reaching out to them by connecting with different social organiza- tions. The CM, while interacting with MPs and MLAs of Kolhan and Palamu region said that the work of doctors, health work- ers, policemen, representatives of Panchayati Raj system, social organizations who are fighting against the Coronavirus in the entire State is commendable. The CM said that the State Government will try to arrange employment for the labourers coming from different states. For this, the government is preparing an action plan, which will soon be implemented. The government is preparing to introduce a new guideline on MNREGA, so that more employment can be generated. Workers will get employment in their village itself. Soren said that a directive has been given to assess the damage done to the crops due to the weather. The govern- ment will compensate for the loss of crops under disaster management. As far as the payment of the amount of paddy through the lamps is concerned, the farmers are being paid. The CM urged the public representatives not to stop the vaccination work in the lock- down. Children should be vac- cinated. The government is paying special attention to chil- dren and the elderly. All pub- lic representatives should make aware the Panchayat level pub- lic representatives of their area to ensure distribution of ration among everyone. It is the responsibility of the govern- ment to give food grains to all. Soren said that social polic- ing has to be made meaning- ful for the people returning to their village from outside. Because people coming from outside can be prone to the Coronavirus infection. The government is fully conscious on this matter. This social pil- lar will play a big role in this work. The public representative should identify the people coming from outside and inform the administration, so that the spread of infection can be prevented. There is a need to awaken the social system. MLA, Jamshedpur East, Saryu Roy informed the CM that Jamshedpur administra- tion is doing better work. ?=BQ 270=3860A7 Haryana Government on Thursday decided to put a complete ban on the purchase of new vehicles, including cars and jeeps, except buses for public transport and vehicles used for emergency responses during the current financial year. A decision in this regard was taken in the cabinet which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, here. The cabinet has also decid- ed that even in case of very urgent need of a new car or jeep, outsourcing/hiring of the vehicles should be done, a statement said here. Haryana's revenue sources have dried up in view of the ongoing coronavirus-induced lockdown, which has adverse- ly affected all economic activ- ities, and the present measures are aimed to cut down on expenses. While maintaining that state's revenue sources had dried up in the wake of present crisis situation, Khattar on Wednesday had said, We will have to curtail our expenses and generate sources of income. BUS FARE INCREASED Haryana Cabinet on Thursday decided to increase the Bus Fare for Ordinary, Luxury, and Super Luxury buses from 85 paisa per pas- senger per km to Rs 1 per pas- senger per km to partially meet the increased cost of operation of buses from Rs 37.48 per km in June, 2016 to Rs 52.23 per km in December, 2019. An official statement said that even after this increase, the bus fare in Haryana will con- tinue to be less as compared to the neighbouring states of Punjab, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The Bus Fare in the State was last revised on June 30, 2016. Since the last revision of bus fare in Haryana, the oper- ational expenditure has increased substantially espe- cially on account of expendi- ture towards staff, diesel, spare parts, tyre-tubes, lubricants, Bus Chassis, bus fabrication cost, and insurance, etc. The expenditure per Kilometer has gone up from Rs 37.48 in June 2015 to Rs 52.23 in December 2019, the statement said. As a result of the increased costs, Haryana Roadways is operating with heavy losses and the loss in the current financial year has been to the tune of Rs. 726.21 Crore up to the month of January 2020 itself. MSME TO BE FACILITATED TO RETAIN EMPLOYEES DURING COVID-19 To facilitate industrial units in Haryana in retaining their employees in times of financial duress brought in by COVID- 19 Pandemic. ?=B Q 70A83F0A The generation of bio-med- ical waste in the state has increased since imposition of lockdown with thousands of people in home and institu- tional quarantine. The bio- medical waste generated in Garhwal region is sent for dis- posal to the plant run by Medical Pollution Control Committee at Mandawar in Bhagwanpur, Haridwar. Haridwar assistant munic- ipal commissioner Uttam Singh Negi and city health officer Dr Pankaj Jain said that the waste generated in institu- tional quarantine facilities is sent to this plant for disposal. The plant in-charge Mayank Dubey informed that bio-med- ical waste from the entire Garhwal region is incinerated at this plant. The maximum quantity of waste is received from three areas- Dehradun, which also includes Rishikesh, AIIMS Rishikesh and Haridwar. Since the start of the lockdown and quarantine of suspected patients, more than 2,000 kilogrammes waste has come from Dehradun region, 1,500 kilogrammes from AIIMS Rishikesh and about 1,500 kilogrammes from the Haridwar region. ?=BQ 17D10=4BF0A Arecord number of 17 Covid-19 cases were reported on Thursday in the State. All the cases were detect- ed in Jajpur district. With this, the State’s tally of coronavirus cases climbed to 142.Official sources said 14 fresh cases were reported from the Katikata containment area. Six females are among the fresh positive cases. All are asymptomatic and have West Bengal connection. Contact tracing and follow-up action are being done by the district administration, said official sources. So far, 36 covid-19 positive cases have been detected in Jajpur district. Earlier in the day, the State Government said three persons of the district were detected positive for the virus. While one of them was an 18-year-old girl, another was a 65-year-old man. Both are West Bengal returnees and asymptomatic. Till now, the number of active cases in the State is 102. A total of 39 persons have recovered and one has died. In view of the detection of so many positive cases in Jajpur district in a single day, the Health Secretary directed the State Surveillance Officer and the State Rapid Response Team to proceed to Jajpur for strengthening the surveillance activities and containment measures.Besides, two rapid response teams from the AIIMS Bhubaneswar were rushed to Baleswar and Bhadrak districts to strength- en surveillance and cluster containment activities. ?=BQ 270=3860A7 A68-year-old coronavirus patient from Faridabad district died on Thursday, as the total number of COVID-19 cases rose to 339 in the state with 28 fresh cases reported in a day. The state has recorded four COVID-19-related deaths so far. The aged man having underlying health conditions had tested positive for COVID- 19. He passed away on Thursday, an official said, adding that seven fresh cases were reported from Faridabad. Gurgaon also reported three fresh cases. Jhajjar reported 18 fresh cases, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the district to 24, according to State Health Department's daily bulletin. Jhajjar has seen these caseswithinaspanofthreedays, whichisacauseofconcern,offi- cialssaid.Jhajjarreporteditsfirst COVID-19 case on Monday, after remaining coronavirus- freeforlongdespitefallinginthe National Capital Region, which has a large number of hostpots or ''red zones''. Haryana government has maintained that many of the coronavirus cases in its NCR districts have their origins in infections emanating from the national capital and the author- ities had ordered sealing the districts with Delhi to check spread of the infection. The worst-affected districts of the state with maximum number of positive cases are Nuh (58), Gurgaon (54), Faridabad (53), Palwal (34), Sonipat (25), Jhajjar (24) and Panchkula (18). According to the bulletin, the total active COVID-19 patients in the state are 100 while positive cases dis- charged so far are 235, the bul- letin said. ?=BQ 347A03D= Amid the differences between private schools and parents of students regard- ing submission of school fees during the lockdown, locals of Dehradun opine that some schools and parents are trying to take advantage of the current crisis. The private schools were recently given permission by the State Government to collect fee from financially sound parents who can afford to pay the school fees. Those who cannot pay the fee during the lockdown can pay their dues later, as per the government orders. The lockdown has put pressure on parents who are fac- ing financial challenges and also the schools who are completely dependent on the monthly fees to operate their school and pay staff salaries. Several groups, organisations and parents have requested the government to waive off the three months school fee. The chairperson of State Commission of Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) also suggested that school should provide fee relaxation during such crisis. While some of the schools have waived off three months fees, some of them are still asking parents to submit it or at least state when they can deposit the fee. “I understand that these are difficult times but every school actually cannot afford to waive off three months fees. I teach in a private school and I will prob- ably not receive my salary next month if the parents of the students do not deposit the fees. We are teaching students from our home during the lockdown which is way more difficult than teaching physically. I think we deserve our salaries,” said a local teacher Priyanka Sharma. Some people are claiming that even those who are finan- cially well off do not want to submit the school fees in the hope that the Uttarakhand Government will also provide relaxation to the parents as in some other states. Mathematics teacher Dheeraj Santosh said, “I know some parents who are doing quite well financially and still want the school to waive off the fees of their chil- dren. Our school has requested those par- ents who are government servants because their salaries are not being hindered dur- ing the lockdown but even they are not ready to pay in the hope that the govern- ment will soon issue an order stating schools to waive off the fee. Schools com- pelling parents to submit the fees are not right but some parents are also taking advantage of the situation.” However, some parents said that they understand school administration needs funds to run the school but those schools which are run by charitable trust should at least give some exemption in the fee because most of these schools are quite rich and capable of coping with some financial restraints. Recently, the Dehradun district mag- istrate said that parents can complaint to the district control room number 0135- 2726066 about schools pressurising them to pay fees but according to the sources, only about half a dozen complaints have been received in control room till now which were sent to the education depart- ment. 8`ge`cUVcdV_UdT`]]VXVeVRTYVcdZ_e`eZkkj CTPRWTabc^[Sc^aT_^acc^ WTPS`dPacTabPXSbc [^RZS^f]UPX[X]VfWXRWcWTXa bP[Pah^U0_aX[f^d[S]^cQT _PXS 2Y_]UTYSQgQcdUWU^UbQdY_^ bYcUcTebY^W_S[T_g^ 6RPH SDUHQWV DOVR WDNLQJ DGYDQWDJH RI VLWXDWLRQ EHVLGHV VRPH VFKRROV RSLQH ORFDOV BcaTbbTb^] b^RXP[_^[XRX]V SdaX]VeXST^ TTcfXcW?b ;0b ?[P]X]^UUX]Vc^QaX]VQPRZ [PQ^daTabbcdST]cb)2B^aT] A0=278=;H A43I=48= 970A:70=3 UaTbW2E83 (RPbTbbdaUPRTX]AP]RWX CRPF personnel stand guard at Hindpiri area during nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, in Ranchi on Thursday Vinay Murmu| Pioneer 8QbiQ^QRQ^c`ebSXQcU_V^UgfUXYSUc UhSU`dV_b`eRYSdbQ^c`_bdU]UbWU^Si =455824A70B 144=0BB86=43C 4027BC0C45A 2A38=0C8=6C74 A4CDA=5 BCA0=343 86A0=CB (^UgSQcUcd_dQ ##)Y^8QbiQ^Q^_g 38B70A468BC4AB78674BCB8=6;430H78:4 ]TfR^a^]PRPbTb* C^cP[Yd_bc^ #! 0[[]Tf_PcXT]cb F1aTcda]TTb^U 9PY_daSXbc 2P_cfaXcTbc^?U^ab_TRXP[caPX]bU^aaTcda]^UXVaP]cb B27;544BAF
- 3. dccPaPZWP]S347A03D=k5A830H k0H !! The unprecedented condi- tions which the whole country is facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic has peo- ple remaining at home and restructuring the world in all various spheres including social, economic, political, transportation and education. This state of affairs is going to leave a major impact on time. Today, all the educational insti- tutions are left with no option but to wait for liberation in the distant future. In this hour of need, every educational institution is look- ing forward to making the paramount use of online teach- ing options by using different digital learning platforms and tools as per their own picks and penchants. Online education has vast potential that was already in the process of development but was not becoming popular among the masses due to a tradition- al and a well-established system of classroom teaching every- where. It has become important for both the teachers and learn- ers to know and understand how they can be most effective in the situation as online class- es continue to grow. As a teacher, it’s high time to learn, grow and make a mark of our contribution to this his- torical change as every teacher has something distinctive which must reach the maxi- mum students across the boundaries of the classrooms or educational institutions. We have spent consider- able time in classrooms but don’t have the same profundi- ty and extent of experience in the online classroom as either students or teachers. Whether you’ve taught online a lot or a little, chances are you didn't enjoy it as much as teaching in person since it is believed that the bond between a student and the teacher is strengthened when they inter- act and share their views and feelings that’s why maybe you didn’t experience that fizz after a particularly invigourating e- class. But we can recall how most of teachers always com- plain that they are unable to complete the course content with the quality they wanted due to unwanted holidays and lots of festival holidays. As a result, the quality of teaching in the schools has been drifting towards average and the students look for extra help for covering the content of quality. This situation can be tack- led when good teachers provide video lessons of the funda- mental concepts to the students with ample time to discuss problems and queries of the student whenever there is time for regular classes. Most effective online class- es are asynchronous — mean- ing students aren’t all together in class at the same time, and class activities don’t take place in real-time. Instead, students can complete the tasks when- ever their schedules permit, they can play the video lessons once and as many numbers of times it is required. In synchronous classes stu- dents have to appear online while the class is on. This sys- tem does average in the con- ditions of poor internet con- nections or limit to the num- ber of participants. Teachers often fail to make the connection between what we do in a physical classroom and what we do online. Some basic principles should be implemented by teachers for an enriching online classroom. Teachers should show up in class. When you are regularly present and engaged in the online classroom, your stu- dents are more likely to be, too. Post a weekly announcement to provide an overview of the coming week’s topic or a recap of the previous week’s work or both. Respond to questions posted in an online question- and-answer discussion forum or sent to you by email/Whatsapp. Most teachers relish teaching in person because of the opportunity to interact with students, share passion for a subject and watch understanding dawn on their faces. Remember that students appreciate seeing your face and hearing your voice. In an online classroom, capture your personality and your passion in authentic ways that are differ- ent from what you might do in person. Ideally, students should know exactly what you are teaching and what they are sup- posed to do as a result. That rarely happens by accident, though. You must be intentional, put yourself in your students’ shoes and try to think as they feel in the situa- tion. Strive for a syllabus dis- tribution that is clear, method- ical, and intuitive so that their attention remains focused on learning the material. The appearance of our sur- roundings affects our delight and therefore our rendezvous. Embed relevant images. Include videos from YouTube, news sites or library resources. Remember, online students can’t ask for, or receive clarifi- cation at the moment they first encounter your instruc- tions. So, jot down the directions as if you were having a con- versation with a student, so they don’t read like a textbook. Create an informal two-minute explainer video to flash out some details of an assignment. Look for ways to break down complex tasks so that you explain things step by step to help students learn and per- form successfully on tests, pro- jects, papers and other assign- ments. During classroom teaching, when students don’t get a concept, you find anoth- er way to explain it with varied instances and explanations. Examples are even more crucial in online teaching. Online learners, too, benefit from mul- tiple explanations of difficult concepts and multiple exam- ples of the kind of work you want to see. When you teach in person, you do many things to help students feel welcome. You greet students, smile and make eye contact. Apply that same principle to your online classes. Bring that zeal of your campus class- room into your online class- room. Never forget that there are things you can do to improve and find fresh ideas. Many teachers seem to believe that students should be able to walk themselves through online content without much active direction from the instructor. That is a recipe for disaster. Instead, plan to guide your online class vigor- ously and frequently. (The author is principal of DPS Ranipur in Haridwar.) To be continued… 3J 2?FA2;2882 ?=BQ 347A03D= About C55 crore has been contributed by various organisations, departments and concerned citizens to the Chief Minister relief fund to boost efforts to tackle COVID-19. Reviewing Governmental efforts, contributions received and expenditure on relief efforts, CM Trivendra Singh Rawat thanked all for the con- tributions. Rawat said that the COVID-19 pandemic had posed serious challenges to the health and financial secu- rity of the general public. People from all sections of society ranging from daily wagers, sanitation workers and concerned citizens to Govt employees, institutions, com- mercial and industrial enter- prises had contributed about C55 crore in total to the CM relief fund so far. Money is being allocated from the CM relief fund for works for which it is not possible to allocate funds from the Centre, NDRF, SDRF or other heads. From this fund about C30 crore has been allocated to district magistrates to feed the poor and needy, labourers of the unor- ganised sector, needy students and tourists among others. Medical health department has been allocated Rs 10 crore and Rs 10 crore has been allocated to medical edu- cation department for expan- sion and strengthening of health services. Similarly, C1 crore has been allocated to Tourism department to devel- op quarantine facilities in the marked tourist rest houses, C o1 crore to transport corpora- tion for dropping stranded tourists and pilgrims to their destinations and C50 lakh to the additional resident com- missioner for meals and lodg- ing of Uttarakhand natives stranded in New Delhi. Along with this, it has been decided that C10 lakh will be provided to dependents of any frontline COVID warrior in case of demise. Rawat opined that community participation is the most effective means of facing any disaster situation. He said that in addition to bank draft/cheque, contributions to the CM relief fund can also be made through various online means including the website www.cmrf.uk.gov.in. ?=BQ 347A03D= Two new cases of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) were reported by the State health department of Uttarakhand on Thursday. With them the number of COVID-19 patients in the state mounted to 57. The two patients found positive from the disease are from Rudrapur in Udham Singh Nagar district. Both these patients were in hospital isolation. Meanwhile the number of samples tested witnessed a quantum jump on Thursday with health depart- ment receiving reports of 553 samples. In the State 36 patients have recovered from the dis- ease. The number of active cases in the State is now at 21 which are concentrated in Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar,Haridwar and Nainital districts. The additional secre- tary, State health department, Yugal Kishore Pant said that reports of 553 samples were received by the department on Thursday and out of them two were found positive for COVID-19. He said that reports of 156 samples are still awaited by the department. The authorities have so far taken swab samples of 6100 suspected patients for COVID- 19 test. On Thursday, samples of 178 suspected patients were taken and sent to the lab for test. A total of 15470 people are in home quarantine while 2221 are in facility quarantine. In the State, 1034953 peo- ple have so far downloaded the Arogya Setu App. In Dehradun 14 active cases are there while three active cases are in Udham Singh Nagar district. The Haridwar and Nainital districts have two active cases of COVID-19 each. Almora district with no case from last 25 days is inching close to come in green zone from orange zone. In the state, 63.16 percent of the patients have so far recovered from the disease and the doubling rate for positive cases is 25 days. In order to prevent the spread of the disease, the state adminis- tration has made seven con- tainment zone (hot spots) each in Dehradun and Haridwar districts. ?=BQ 347A03D= The microbiology lab of Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Medical College Srinagar became the fifth centre in Uttarakhand for testing of COVID-19 on Thursday. On the day the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat inau- gurated the RT- PCR testing lab in the medical college by video conferencing. Speaking on the occasion, he said that with start of lab in the Srinagar med- ical college it would become easier to test samples of Pauri, Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Tehri districts. The CM announced that soon testing facility would start at Almora and Haridwar which would result in increase in sample col- lection and testing rate in the state. He said that 100 samples would be tested daily at the lab of Srinagar medical college. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has given its approval to the micro- biology department of Srinagar medical college to start testing for COVID-19. At present the testing facil- ities of COVID-19 are available only at the laboratory of department of microbiology of Government Medical College, Haldwani, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rishikesh and GDMC, Dehradun. In private sector Ahuja lab of Dehradun has also been authorized by ICMR to conduct tests. The confirma- tory test of the COVID-19 involves detection of Ribo Nucleic Acid (RNA) of the virus and is called the Real Time (RT) -PCR method. #_VhTRdVd`W4`gZU* W`f_UZ_FeeRcRYR_U ?0C84=C2D=C =F$*A42A3 =D14A5 B0?;4BC4BC43 =C7DAB30H RURQD WHVWLQJ VWDUWV LQ 6ULQDJDU PHGLFDO FROOHJH DccPaPZWP]S]^f WPbUXeT[PQb PdcW^aXbTSQh 82Ac^R^]SdRc 2^eXS (cTbc APfPccWP]ZbS^]^abU^aPQ^dcC$$ Ra^aTaTRTXeTSb^UPaX]2aT[XTUUd]S ?=BQ 347A03D= With most of its projects located in Uttarakhand THDC India Limited (THD- CIL) has decided to con- tribute about C20 crore for efforts to tackle the situation resulting from COVID-19 pandemic. According to an official statement, it will con- tribute C1.45 crore to Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority under corporate social responsibility and C55 lakh by way of one day’s basic pay of THDCIL employees from the salary for the month of May 2020 in chief minister relief fund to support fight against COVID-19. ?=BQ 347A03D= Following the relaxation pro- vided to states by the Ministry of Home Affairs enabling transport of stranded persons, the Uttarakhand administration has started the procedure for facilitating this. To facilitate passes for the vehi- cles and personnel to be sent to bring back Uttarakhand natives stranded in other states, chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh has deputed superintendent of police (Traffic), Dehradun and the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation general manager (Administration) in Garhwal region and SP (Traffic) Haldwani and the Haldwani city magistrate in Kumaon region. These officers will dis- charge their responsibility in coordination with the nodal officers for this task- Urban Development and Transport secretary Shailesh Bagauli and SDRF inspector general Sanjay Gunjyal. Apart from this, with gov- ernmental support, the Dehradun Smart City Limited (DSCL) has put up online reg- istration for inter-district and inter-state travel. Uttarakhand natives wanting to return to the state will have to apply on this portal. Applicants will have to provide information includ- ing Aadhaar number, zone cat- egory and any symptoms of disease. Citizens can apply on this portal under four cate- gories- student, tourist, migrant labourer and other profession- al. DSCL CEO and Dehradun district magistrate Ashish Kumar Srivastava said that all possible efforts are being undertaken to bring back peo- ple to their home. The facility which has been made in a short time will help people travel for this purpose. The form for the pass is available on the website http://smartcitydehradun.uk.go v.in/ 6^ecbcPacb_a^RTbbc^QaX]VW^T]PcXeTbX]^cWTaBcPcTb '6/ XSORDGV RQOLQH IRUP IRU SDVV UH XLUHG R UD HO D ?=BQ 347A03D= Accusing Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat of adopting dictatorial attitude, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president, Pritam Singh has said that the Congress party would not allow the democracy to be murdered in the State. Singh was addressing media persons at Rajiv Bhawan here on Thursday. Seemingly annoyed on being asked by the CM Rawat to reduce the number of leaders in the Congress delegation to four which resulted in the Congress leaders returning from CM’s residence without meeting CM on Wednesday, Pritam Singh claimed that it appears CM of Uttarakhand is very scared of Coronavirus. “If he is so scared then he should seal the CM’s residence. It appears that the power has entered into the head of the BJP Government in Uttarakhand. The CM is behaving like a dictator by refusing to meet opposition leaders. It is actually the duty of the Government to set up dialogue with opposition,’’ quipped the PCC President acridly. He said that the Congress lead- ers had gone to CM’s residence to submit the list of people stranded in different parts of the country and hand him over a memorandum in which different issues were high- lighted. In the copy of memoran- dum handed over to the media per- sons, the Congress demanded that the number of testing should be increased so that the infection is pre- vented from spreading. The party also demanded that free ration for three months should be provided to all ration card holders irrespective of the type of ration card. In mem- orandum, the Congress leaders asked the state government to pro- vide financial help to the people affected by non operation of Char Dham Yatra. The Congress leaders also demanded that the state gov- ernment should incorporate changes on the disaster act to pro- vide necessary help to the farmers affected by the natural disasters. In the memorandum the Congress leaders also criticised the decision of state government to freeze the Dearness Allowance (DA) of the State Government employees. The Congress also demanded that the Union Government should roll out an eco- nomic package of Rs 20000 Crore to Uttarakhand. Congress leader, Manish Khanduri said that data is different from politics and the data compiled by the Congress party through ‘Dev Bhoomi Sewa App’ clearly show that thousands of Uttarakhandi’s strand- ed in different parts of the country desperately want to come back to their homes. The Vice Presidents of Uttarakhand Congress, Jot Singh Bisht, Surya Kant Dhasmana, for- mer MLAs Vikram Singh Negi and Raj Kumar, Mahanagar Congress President Lal Chand Sharma and spokesperson Garima Dassauni were also present on the occasion. Later in the day the Congress leaders handed over a list of strand- ed people in different parts of the country to Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh. F^]´cP[[^fdaSTa^UST^RaPRhX]D´ZWP]S)?22_aTbXST]c Y 2^]VaTbb[TPSTabWPSV^]Tc^2³baTbXST]RTc^bdQXc cWT[Xbc^U_T^_[TbcaP]STSX]SXUUTaT]c_Pacb^UcWTR^d]cah P]SWP]SWX^eTaPT^aP]SdX]fWXRWSXUUTaT]c XbbdTbfTaTWXVW[XVWcTS Y 2^]VaTbbSTP]STScWPccWT]dQTa^UcTbcX]VbW^d[SQT X]RaTPbTSb^cWPccWTX]UTRcX^]Xb_aTeT]cTSUa^b_aTPSX]V Y 2^]VaTbb[TPSTabP[b^RaXcXRXbTScWTSTRXbX^]^UBcPcT 6^eTa]T]cc^UaTTiTcWT3TPa]Tbb0[[^fP]RT30^UcWT BcPcT6^eTa]T]cT_[^hTTb ?=BQ 347A03D= To solve the psychological problems of students, teachers and parents during the lockdown, the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) has appointed Neeru Bisht of Dehradun as its official coun- sellor. She is a research schol- ar and Himgiri Zee University. The NCERT has made appointment of counsellors in all the states to give psycho- logical support to the students and their parents during the lockdown. Bisht said that the NCERT has divided the entire country into six zones and appointed counsellors. She said that the students, parents and teachers can contact her on her mobile number 8126302767 and 8650586778 or email her on neerubisht838@gmail.com. 1XbWcc^R^d]bT[ bcdST]cbP]S _PaT]cb ;2:3F=1;D4B C7328;c^ R^]caXQdcT ]TPa[hC!Ra 5X[T_W^c^ ±][X]TTSdRPcX^]WPb ePbc_^cT]cXP[cWPcfPb P[aTPShX]cWT_a^RTbb ^USTeT[^_T]cQdcfPb ]^cQTR^X]V_^_d[Pa P^]VPbbTbSdTc^P caPSXcX^]P[P]SPfT[[ TbcPQ[XbWTSbhbcT^U R[Pbba^^cTPRWX]V TeTahfWTaT² /RFNGRZQ DQ RSSRUWXQLW IRU WHDFKHUV VWXGHQWV WR JDLQ H[SHUWLVH LQ RQOLQH HGXFDWLRQ
- 4. ]PcX^]#347A03D=k5A830H k0H !! A094B7:D0AQ =4F34;78 If States like Karnataka are clamouring to ease the restrictions on sale of liquor after May 3, it isn’t without rea- son. Karnataka is losing almost C 55-60 crore daily on revenues collected through taxes on alcoholic beverages. In other words, the 40-day lockdown would deal it a C2,400-crore blow in terms of revenue loss- es. For neighbouring Tamil Nadu, which collects the high- est excise revenues in India, the losses by the end of the second lockdown would be even big- ger at C3,500-3,600 crore. Karnataka ranks fourth among the 12 big States where earnings through tax on alco- hol make for 20-40 percent of State’s revenues. While Karnataka clocked C19,950 crore in 2018-19 in excise rev- enue earnings, Tamil Nadu with C31,150 crore, Maharashtra with C25,300 crore and Uttar Pradesh with C 23,900 crore occupied the top three positions during the same fiscal. They are part of the 12 big excise revenue generating States. Put together, they gen- erate revenues worth C 2-2.50- lakh crore from excise duty from the sale of liquor every year. Telangana, Kerala, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi are the other States depending heavily on excise revenue. Together, the dozen States earned nearly C1.80 lakh crore in 2018-19 through rev- enue of alcoholic beverages. Recently, Karnataka’s Excise Minister H Nagesh said he has advised Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to relax the coronavirus lockdown after May 3 as “we we need money to give salaries and meet other expenses”. If States are itching to open the excise sector, the C4.25- lakh-crore alcoholic beverages industry too has been pursuing the issue of easing of restric- tions for the sector with the Chief Ministers and the Centre. The sector is losing Rs 700 crore daily, meaning which the industry would incur loss- es of about C28,000 crore by May 3. Incidentally, the 12 States combined account for over 25,000 of the 33,000 coro- novirus positive cases and about 800 deaths of over 1000 fatalities, as on April 30. “The Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverages Companies (CIABC) has writ- ten to the Chief Ministers to take up with the Centre the matter of permitting produc- tion, distribution and sales of alcoholic beverages only out- side containment zones and that too, in conformity with COVID-19 guidelines,” Vinod Giri, Director General, CIABC, told The Pioneer. “We are hopeful of easing of restrictions after May 3. There haven’t been job cuts in the sector so far but an exten- sion could compound prob- lems,” he cautioned adding the sector has also contributed its bit to the nation’s fight against Covid-19 by making 5 lakh litres of hand sanitisers for use. Pointing out the impor- tance of India’s alcoholic bev- erages industry, he said it con- tributes C2-2.50 lakh crore annually by way of taxes to the State exchequer, provides direct or indirect employment to 20 lakh persons and sustains liveli- hood of 40 lakh farmers. The CIABC has already suggested to the Chief Ministers to go for a phase-wise opening of the sector besides introduc- ing an online sale-cum-home delivery mechanism. The CIABC has in its letters to the Chief Ministers also requested for an extension of current excise year to June 30, 2020 without penalty to carry out stock clearances and statu- tory processes mandated with- in March 31 normally. Besides, while it has sought converting the excise process- es like approval, licensing, reg- istration, permits etc into an online mechanism, it has also for granting permission to home deliveries of alcoholic beverages through an online process. The CIABC has also sug- gested phase wise opening of distilleries/bottling plants, indenting/transit/stock move- ment, wholesaling/distribu- tion/warehousing, retail shops with fixed timings. The CIABC includes most major Indian companies that manufacture and market their product range in India and abroad like Allied Blenders Distillers Private Limited, Amrut Distilleries, Alcobrew Distilleries , Devans Modern Breweries, Jagatjit Industries Limited (JIL), Mohan Meakin and Radico Khaitan. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Six more CRPF jawans, including a national kabba- di player, from the same 31 Battalion here at Mayur Vihar, tested positive on Thursday as the paramilitary force subject- ed the personnel of the entire Battalion to massive testing for the Covid-19 infection. Earlier, a Sub-Inspector from the same Battalion died to Covid-19. Officials said swabs of over 350 personnel have already been collected and test reports are awaited. The swabs of about 150 others are also in the process to be taken and tested for the viral disease. Sub Inspector Mohammad Ikram Hussain had died on Tuesday due to Covid-19. He was tested positive on Friday for the disease and was under- going treatment at the Safdarjung Hospital here. Seventeen personnel traced to be in direct contact with Hussain besides a Chief Medical Officer and a nursing assistant were quarantined. As many as 46 personnel of the 31 Battalion had earlier test- ed positiveduring their quar- antine period at the quarantine facility of the CRPF at Narela here. Director General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) AP Maheshwari has been on record saying the paramilitary has been on the forefront of the war against Covid-19. “Deployed across the country, out warriors have been instrumental in stalling the virus,” he had in a message said after the death of Hussain. The paramilitary has launched a detailed survey of personnel deployed in Covid- 19 related duties in the hotspots and other operational areas and if positive cases have been reported from such locations in order to take preventive steps. According to a circular sent across all the formations last week, a proforma for seeking information of the per- sonnel regarding regular and additional deployment of troops in hotspot areas during the last 20 days has been sought. Through the circular, the paramilitary has also sought details of personnel and also civilians who worked with the troops during deployment in hotspots in the last 20 days and if anyone had tested positive for Covid-19. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Given the confusion pre- vailing amongst the stu- dents over their academics due to the corona pandemic, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has scheduled an online interaction with the students on Saturday. He is likely to address and redress grievances of students on many aspects including con- fusion over annual and semes- ter examinations and the syl- labus. Pokhriyal announced this on his Twitter handle. The HRD Ministry mean- while also revised certain important dates of the entrance tests to be conducted by National TestingAgency(NTA). The HRD minister said on twitter that given the queries and restlessness within the stu- dent community across the country due to corona pan- demic lockdown, he will be doing a webinar on May 2 afternoon. Pokhriyal has already conducted the same with par- ents followed by the State Education Ministers and offi- cials early this week where he addressed issues like academic session, syllabus and class tests and semester exams. Issues per- taining to the confusion over the remaining and pending board examinations were also dis- cussed and is again likely to be the main agenda when the Minister interacts with students from across the country. On the other hand, in view of the hardships faced by the parents and the students due to COVID-19 epidemic, the HRD Minister advised National Testing Agency (NTA) to extend / revise the dates for sub- mission of online application forms for various examinations like IGNOU, ICAR, Hotel Management etc. NTA understands the importance of academic calen- dar and schedule, but it is equally concerned about the wellbeing of every citizen, including students, said a HRD Ministry official. NTA would expect stu- dents and parents to not worry about the Examination. Moreover, parents are request- ed to help young students utilise this time for preparing for the Examination and focus on crit- ical concepts in order to close learning gaps if any. NTA would keep students updated about the latest devel- opments and would inform about changes with ample time, said a statement by HRD Ministry. ?=BQ =4F34;78 BJP President J P Nadda has interacted with former diplomats of the country on the Coronavirus situation who he said “appreciated” quick-footed efforts of Modi-Government to rope in companies “disillu- sioned” with China following the pandemic. Nadda, who interacted with from former Indian diplomats though videoconferencing on the measures to battle out the pandemic on Wednesday, asked them to contribute with their experience to strengthen the anti-Coronavirus measures in the country. He said country need their support to lead new policies needed in post-Coronavirus phase. Nadda said former diplo- mats “appreciated” fast paced efforts of the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rope-in business companies which are “disillusioned” with China in the aftermath of pan- demic. BJP President told for- mer diplomats that govern- ment is working to make an environment in which these companies could shift to India. Ex-diplomats appreciated government efforts to bring companies to Indian side and complimented Modi-govern- ment in making Indian diplo- macy effective and leading the anti-Covid-19 during the glob- al pandemic, according to a BJP statement. Nadda apprised them of ‘#FeedtheNeedy’ and ‘#WearFaceCoverStaySafe’ of the BJP which he said have helped needy during the ongo- ing lockdown in the country. BJP President also held videoconferencing with the MPs from the North-East states and reviewed their work in the current situation. BJP General Secretary (Organisation) B L Santosh was also present during the vidoconferencing. 10CC0;8=0C0HDAE870A QTTQY^dUbQSdcgYdX UhTY`_]Qdcd_QccUcc S_b_^QfYbeccYdeQdY_^ ?^ZWaXhP[WPb P[aTPShR^]SdRcTS cWTbPTfXcW _PaT]cbU^[[^fTS QhcWTBcPcT 4SdRPcX^] X]XbcTabP]S ^UUXRXP[bTPa[hcWXb fTTZ ?=BQ =4F34;78 In the backdrop of the coro- navirus pandemic, China will not host the customary border personnel meeting (BPM) with India on May one, International Labour Day, on designated places on the Line of Actual Control(LAC). Instead, the armies of both the nations will greet each other on the local hotlines this year. This border personnel meeting between the troops of both the countries is part of confidence building mea- sures(CBM)with India also hosting similar ceremonial events on the occasion of the Republic Day and Independence Day. There are five mutually agreed points or meeting cen- tres on the 4,000 km long LAC where apart from such ceremonial meets local com- manders on both sides also meet to sort out differences during incidents of trans- gressions and stand-offs between the troops of two countries. Confirming that the Chinese army has, so far, not extended event for the May One event, sources said here on Thursday, the Indian Army will wish their Chinese counterparts on three loca- tions including two in Ladakh and one in Arunachal Pradesh. The five designated points for BPMs are Moldo and Spangur gap (Chusul) in Ladakh, Natu La(Sikkim) and Bum La and Kibithu in Arunachal Pradesh. The ceremonial functions include cultural events and lunch and the meetings com- mence with saluting the national flag by members of the delegations. This is fol- lowed by the ceremonial address by delegation leaders and exchange of greetings and gifts. These meetings form part of the CBMs to maintain peace and tranquility on the LAC. The disputed border has not seen a single shot fired in anger in the last 45 years or so. The two nations fought a war in 1962. 2WX]PRP]RT[bQ^aSTaTTcfXcW8]SXPU^a2^eXS ?=BQ =4F34;78 Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, Pune, a deemed university sup- ported by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a microwave steriliser named as ‘ATULYA’ to disintegrate (COVID-19).Thevirusgetsdis- integrated by differential heat- ing in the range of 560 to 600 Celsius temperatures. Theproductiscosteffective solution, which can be operat- ed in portable or fixed installa- tions.Thissystemwastestedfor human/operator safety and has been found to be safe. Dependinguponsizeandshape of various objects, time of ster- ilisation is from 30 seconds to one minute. Approximate weight of the system is three kilogrammes and it can be used for non-metallic objects only, according to an official state- ment by the defence ministry here on Thursday. XRa^fPeT²0CD;H0³RP]ST]PcdaT2E83 ( ?=BQ =4F34;78 Aday after US-based Gilead Sciences said that antiviral Remdesivir, in a trial, has been found to have a positive effect in diminishing the time for recovery of the Covid-19 patients, India on Thursday said that it is also examining the drug as one of the protocols for the contagion. Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary at the Union Health Ministry said that as of now, there is no confirmed treat- ment protocol for Covid-19. “Remdesivir is one protocol which is being examined. Even the study on Remdesivir by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has not conclusively proved its effec- tiveness. Waiting for larger evidence, to take meaningful action, he added. Remdesivir was original- ly developed as an Ebola treat- ment. It is an antiviral and works by attacking an enzyme that a virus needs in order to replicate inside our cells. The trial was run by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and 1,063 people took part. Some patients were given the drug while others received a place- bo (dummy) treatment. The US company had said it is aware of positive data emerging from the NIAID study of the investigational antiviral remdesivir for the treatment of Covid-19. NIAID is part of National Institutes of Health, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Gilead Sciences Inc. in a statement had said, We understand that the trial has met its primary endpoint and that NIAID will provide detailed information at an upcoming briefing. It also shared additional Remdesivir data from the company''s open-label Phase 3 SIMPLE trial in patients with severe Covid-19 disease. The Phase 3 trial evaluat- ed 5-day and 10-day dosing durations of Remdesivir in hospitalised patients with severe manifestations of Covid-19. The study demonstrated that patients receiving a 10- day treatment course of remdesivir achieved similar improvement in clinical status compared with those taking a 5-day treatment course. Meanwhile, Agarwal, responding to a query on human trials in the process of vaccine development, said that multiple stages have to be passed, to conclude safe and efficacious use of a vaccine by human beings. As far as India is concerned, we have identi- fied Hydroxychloroquine to begin with as a prophylaxis treatment, he added. Agarwal pointed out that multiple organisations in the government are engaged in multiple vaccine trials for Covid-19. We are also part of WHO''s Solidarity Trial. Some candidate vaccines have been identified. Nothing conclu- sive has come up, he said. ?=BQ =4F34;78 The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested an overground worker of Hizbul Mujahideen Tariq Ahmed Mir in connection with the case relating to Jammu and Kashmir Deputy SP Davinder Singh's alleged facil- itation of safe passage to ter- rorists out of the Valley. Mir hails from Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir and said to be the lifeline for logistic support for terror groups in the Valley. Mir was in touch with Singh before his arrest and the former's ques- tioning could lead further unravel the nexus between the police officer and the jehadi tanzeems. Arrest of Mir is the seventh in the Davinder Singh case and more arrests are likely in the case soon, official said. Singh was arrested last year along with three terrorists who were being facilitated movement out of the Valley to the national capital before being nabbed by the local police. Unhindered activities of Singh and his deep-seated nexus with the terror groups have been a major failure and concern for the Intelligence agencies. However, grilling of Mir is expected to uncover the logis- tic chain of the terror groups which in turn could help the security forces in the operations against the ultras. ?=BQ =4F34;78 In the wake of reports that non-Covid patients including persons with blood disorders like haemophilia and tha- lassemia were facing difficulties in availing medical facilities, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday directed all States and Union Territories to ensure uninterrupted blood donation and transfusion ser- vices for people with blood dis- orders and advised all health facilities to remain functional for the benefit of the people. In a letter to his counter- parts in States and Union Territories, Dr Harsh Vardhan asked them to ensure that non- COVID health services were available. Also “denial of critical ser- vices like dialysis, blood trans- fusion, chemotherapy and institutional deliveries to reg- ular patients will not be accept- able,” he said. States and Union Territories are advised that as per the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, all health services should remain functional during the lock- down period. The movement of service providers may be facilitated, especially for those working in the private sector. The Health Ministers are also advised to ensure quick resolution of grievances on denial of critical services espe- cially on account of insistence on testing, said the Minister. Meanwhile, Joint Secretary, Health, Lav Agarwal said at a routine presser here that that the concept of social distancing will stay even after lockdown is lifted. From the Health Ministry side, we are very clear that we have to ensure that the concept of physical distancing is adapt- ed as behavioural change in our day to day life so that we can break the chain of transmis- sion. It is equally important to focus on containment mea- sures, he said. ATSTbXeXaWPb _^bXcXeTTUUTRcX] SXX]XbWX]VcWT cXTU^aaTR^eTah ^UcWT2^eXS ( _PcXT]cb) DBQ^Sh 8]SXPc^cTbcP]cXeXaP[ATSTbXeXa 8YjRe=eZQXYTUU^µc _fUbWb_e^Tg_b[Ub QbbUcdUTRi91 XaWPX[bUa^ BW^_XP]SXbcaXRc ^U9Pd :PbWXa BcPcTbDCbc^[Sc^T]bdaT d]X]cTaad_cTSQ[^^SS^]PcX^] ?=BQ =4F34;78 Mahavir International (MI), a non-religious social ser- vice organisation, has provid- ed ready-to-eat food packets to over 3,50,000 people and 98, 000 packs of dry ration kits of 10 KG each consisting of rice, wheat flour (atta), daal and other food ingredients totalling to about 980 tonnes during the nationwide lockdown amid coronavirus pandemic. According to a statement issued by its international pres- ident, Vir Shanti Kumar Jain, MI has also provided 2,50,000 face masks across the country as well as 65000 hand sanitiz- er bottles to the people and Covid warriors. This apart, members and centres of MI contributed Rs. 71,81,000 to PM CARES fund and C17,99,100 to Chief Minister and District Administration Funds till date. r every day from the day lock down started,” Jain added. PWeXa8]cTa]PcX^]P[ UTTSb$;[^RZS^f] PUUTRcTS_T^_[T :Pa]PcPZPc^[^bTC!#Ra^aTX]cTab^UaTeT]dTX]#SPh[^RZS^f] DeReVdhR_ee`dRjTYVVcd^Zdd]Zbf`ccVgV_fV =PcX^]P[ZPQQPSX_[PhTaP^]VbXg ^aT2A?5YPfP]bcTbcR^a^]PeT 7A3X]XbcTa´b^][X]TcP[ZbfXcWbcdST]cb ^]BPcdaSPhc^SXb_T[UTPab^]PRPSTXRb