Pioneer dehradun-english-edition-2021-05-24

1. 20?BD;4
14=60;6DE³BCD==43´
E4AC2?2;08B
:^[ZPcP) FTbc1T]VP[6^eTa]^a
9PVSTT_3WP]ZWPafPb[TUc
U[PQQTaVPbcTS^]Bd]SPhPb
C2?:P[hP]1P]TaYTT
[Pd]RWTSPcXaPSTPVPX]bcWX
R[PXX]VcWPcXcfPbPcWXb
QTWTbccWTcWaTTC2[TPSTab
P]SPU^aTaRXchPh^afTaT
PaaTbcTSX]cWT=PaPSPbcX]V
^_TaPcX^]RPbT
'C4AAA8BCB:8;;43
8=0BB04=2D=C4A
3X_Wd) 4XVWc3XPbP=PcX^]P[
;XQTaPcX^]0ah3=;0
cTaa^aXbcbfTaT^]Bd]SPhZX[[TS
X]P]T]R^d]cTafXcWbTRdaXch
U^aRTbX]0bbP³bFTbc:PaQX
0]V[^]VSXbcaXRcP[^]VcWT
=PVP[P]SQ^aSTa
?=BQ =4F34;78
After months of indecision,
the Centre on Sunday took
steps to build a consensus for
the conduct of the pending
Class 12 Board examinations
by putting two options before
the States during a virtual
meeting chaired by Defence
Minister Rajnath Singh in the
presence of Education Minister
Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank.
Sources present in the
two-hour-long meeting said
the Centre proposed that the
States either hold Class 12
Board examinations in select
major subjects, or hold the
exams based on multiple choice
single paper objective ques-
tions.
The Centre asked the
States to respond latest by May
25 after taking a call and
announce the exams by June.
Several States, including Delhi,
opposed holding of the exam-
ination at a time when the
Coronavirus pandemic was
raging across the country and
also suggested that students
and teachers should be vacci-
nated before taking the exams.
The State Boards will be
allowed to take their own deci-
sion on the conduct of the Class
12 Board exams this year,
depending on the Covid-19 sit-
uation, said an official of the
Education Ministry. However,
the decision by the
Government and the CBSE
overall, will decide the fate of
other national Boards like the
ICSE and IB.
There are approximately
21,271 CBSE schools in India
and 220 schools in 28 foreign
countries affiliated to it. A
whopping 13 lakh students
have registered for the Class 12
Board exams this year. There
are about 2,400 ICSE-affiliated
schools and annually 2.5 lakh
students take the Class 12
exams.
Union Minister for
Women and Child
Development Smriti Zubin
Irani and Union Minister for
Information and Broadcasting
Prakash Javadekar were also
present in the meeting. The
high-level consultation saw full
participation of education min-
isters and education secretaries
of States and Union Territories
and chairpersons of State
Examination Boards.
Jharkhand Chief Minister
Hemant Soren represented his
State. In a series of tweets,
Pokhriyal said the meeting was
extremely fruitful and
immensely valuable sugges-
tions were received across the
board.
I have requested the State
Governments to send me their
suggestions by May 25. I’m
confident that we will be able
to arrive at an informed, col-
laborative decision regarding
the Class 12 Board exams and
remove the uncertainty from
the minds of the students and
parents by informing them of
our final decision at the earli-
est, Pokhriyal said.
He reiterated that the safe-
ty, security, and future of the
students and teachers were
important to the Government.
The Board offers 174 sub-
jects to Class 12 students, of
which about 20 are considered
major by the CBSE. These
include: Physics, chemistry,
mathematics, biology, history,
political science, business stud-
ies, accountancy, geography,
economics and English. A
CBSE student takes a mini-
mum of five and a maximum
of six subjects. Of these, usually
four are major subjects.
Sources also said that the
CBSE has proposed two
options to the Education
Ministry for conducting the
Board examinations for the
major subjects.
0A270=09HC8Q =4F34;78
Contaminated hospital set-
tings among others can
also be one of the major rea-
sons for the spike in mucormy-
cosis or ‘black fungus’ cases
among immune-compromised
Covid patients and those who
have recovered from the infec-
tion in the country, doctors
have said. India has reported
more than 8,000 cases of black
fungus so far.
As mortality associated
with the black fungus is as high
as 50 per cent, reports of deaths
have started trickling in from
the States which are facing
acute shortage of the anti-fun-
gal jab, Amphotericin B.
Many patients will sustain
permanent damage to their
health, said the doctors and
warned that not only diabetics
but even those who have
undergone transplants, or are
suffering from pulmonary
tuberculosis, chronic kidney
disease, as well as critically-ill
people, besides those who are
malnourished, are equally vul-
nerable to the disease because
of the weak immunity caused
by the steroids given to them
during Covid management.
India has been a hotbed for
black fungus for long, said Dr
Hariprasath Prakash and Dr
Arunaloke Chakrabarti in their
recent article titled
‘Epidemiology of
Mucormycosis in India,’ that
was published in the journal
‘Microorganism’. Dr
Chakrabarti is a prominent
mycologist and head of the
Department of Medical
Microbiology at the PGIMER
(Post Graduate Institute of
Medical Education and
Research), Chandigarh, while
Dr Prakash is at the
International Higher School of
Medicine, Issyk-Kul Regional
Campus, Kyrgyzstan.
“The environment, both
indoor and outdoor, has a
higher mucor spore count.
This means that the spores
(microscopic biological parti-
cles that allow the fungi to
reproduce) belonging to the
mucor group are present in the
air in high numbers,” they
said.
In fact, hospital-acquired
infections among patients in
India have always been a mat-
ter of concern. “The infections
are caused due to the lack of
compliance with infection
control guidelines, such as
hand hygiene, use of outdated
technology, misuse or exces-
sive use of antibiotics and
more.
BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal on Sunday
announced that the lockdown
in the national Capital has
been extended by one week till
May 31. Also, he said if the
cases continue to decline at this
pace, the Delhi Government
will start the unlock process in
a phased manner.
Delhi has to be complete-
ly prepared for the third wave
of corona and administrating
vaccines is the Delhi
Government first and fore-
most agenda to protect people
from the third wave, the Chief
Minister said in a digital broad-
cast. He said it is the top pri-
ority of the Delhi Government
to figure out how to vaccinate
2.5 crore people of Delhi with-
in three months and the
Government is ready to spend
whatever budget is required for
the procurement of vaccines.
“The battle is pending and
is not over yet. More than
1,000 cases are emerging even
now. I asked a lot of people as
to what should be done. A gen-
eral opinion surfaced that the
lockdown should be extended
for another week as whatever
Delhi has gained during the
lockdown might be lost if lock-
down is lifted,” he said.
Talking about the infection
rate which has reduced rapid-
ly, he said there was a time
when the infection rate reached
36 per cent in April. “In the last
24 hours, the infection rate has
fallen below 2.5 per cent. In
April, there was one such day
when 28,000 cases were record-
ed in a single day. In the past
24 hours, 1,600 cases have
been recorded in Delhi. The
levels have come down from
28,000 to 1,600. So the speed of
the coronavirus has declined
rapidly in Delhi,” he said.
Lauding the efforts of doc-
tors and health care workers
during the period, Kejriwal
said, “Our doctors and nurses
have not slept for days and have
not been to their homes for so
many days.”
?=BQ =4F34;78
DefyingtheCovidlockdown,
a large number of farmers
from Haryana, Punjab and
Western Uttar Pradesh (UP)
have marched to Delhi ahead of
the ‘black day’ protest planned
for May 26 to mark six months
of their protests against the
three controversial farm laws.
The growers chose to observe
May 26 as a ‘black day’ as
Narendra Modi had first taken
oath as the Prime Minister on
this date in 2014 and the
Government will complete
seven years in office then.
Meanwhile, 12 Opposition par-
ties, including the Congress,
the NCP and the TMC have
come out in support of the
decisionofthefarmers’unionto
observe a countrywide protest
on May 26.
Led by the Bharatiya Kisan
Union (BKU) leader Gurnam
SinghCharuni,thefamerssetoff
inhundredsofvehiclesfromthe
Bastada toll plaza in Haryana
and headed for the Singhu bor-
der point near Delhi. They will
perform langar seva for a week
after reaching their destination,
the farmer leader said.
Farmers’ leader Balbir
Singh Rajewal appealed to sup-
porters to raise black flags at
their homes and atop their vehi-
cles and shops on May 26. “We
will also burn effigies of
Narendra Modi as a form of
protest,” he said. Visuals from
Karnal showed many of the
growers, either wearing no
masksorwearingthemimprop-
erly while raising slogans. On
May 20, a large convoy of farm-
ers from Punjab’s Tarn Taran
had left for Delhi and a promi-
nentfarmerleaderhaspromised
that convoys of around 2,000
vehicles each would leave every
week for Delhi to participate in
the May 26 protests.
B74:70AB8=67Q =4F34;78
Two-time Olympic medalist
Sushil Kumar and his asso-
ciate were arrested by the
Southern range of Delhi Police’s
Special Cell on Sunday from
Mundka area in connection
withthemurderofa23-year-old
budding wrestling champion
Sagar Dhankar. Meanwhile, the
Rohini Court sent the wrestler
and his associate to six days’
police custody for interrogation.
Kumar was on the run for
nearly 20 days and he was con-
tinuously changing his location
toevadearrest.Sourcesalsosaid
that the wanted gangster,
Sandeep alias Kala Jathedi, who
is Sagar Dhankar’s maternal
uncle was also looking for
Kumar. While seeking his cus-
tody for interrogation, police
alsostatedthatthecameraatthe
stadium was dismantled and
Kumar took away the DDR
(video records) of the crime
scene, which have to be recov-
ered from him.
=0E8=D?037H0HQ =4F34;78
Be it Delhi’s Lodi Garden,
where Delhi’s elites hang
around in the morning, or
Mumbai’s Marine Drive, or
Bengaluru’s sprawling Kabban
park, the fear of coronavirus
hangs so heavily in the air that
the number of their visitors
have come down sharply.
The fear of an invisible
enemy is one of the worst sorts
of phobia that has haunted
mankind from ages. Deserted
roads patrolled by police and
dogs, empty parks, desolate cin-
ema halls, shuttered or pad-
locked pubs and bars, closed
malls, for better parts of the last
15 months, the world has been
reduced to a haunted place, its
inhabitants living indoor in the
dreadofanunseenenemystalk-
ing their streets and every nook
and corner of their existence.
In India, the number of vis-
itorstoparksandoutdoorspaces
has declined by as much 44 per
cent during the last three
months due to the panic trig-
gered by the spread of Covid-19
and subsequent lockdown and
curfew restrictions imposed by
States.
The theories that the virus
is lurking in the air waiting to
pounce on you if you venture
outdoors, has created such an
atmosphere of fear that only the
most hardened of souls chose to
keep their outdoor morning
date with nature.
According to statistics pro-
vided by Our World in Data,
when the pandemic first hit
India the people didn’t care for
the enemy, but as the caseload
grew and fatality increased so
did the tendency to remain
indoors. The fear of the unseen
was more pronounced during
the second wave, which saw
people promptly retreating to
theirhomestosecurethemselves
from the dreaded virus.
For example, when the
country first came in touch
with coronavirus few people
took precautionary measures
till the Government announced
a nationwide lockdown, first a
three-day affair from March 21,
and then a three-weeks shut-
down from March 24.
On March 20, the number
of people who avoided going
outdoors was just around 5.86
percent. The definition of pub-
lic places for this study includ-
edplaceslikelocalparks,nation-
al parks, public beaches, mari-
nas, dog parks, plazas, public
gardens.
The number kept rising till
April 22 when as many as 60
percent of people avoided going
to parks or strode to their near-
by plazas or beaches to unwind
themselves.
The trend reversed as the
country came to terms with the
enemy and the fear of the
unknown subsided toa great
extent with medical science
providing hope that it could
tame the enemy. Every morning
more and more health freaks
andpleasureseekersputontheir
sneakers and revisited the parks
and gardens.
The number of those still
indoors was a mere 9.47 on
March14 , when the Second
wavestartedtoattackthenation.
In month time, — by April 14 to
be precise, — ten per cent more
people chose to keep off parks
andplazas.Thisnumbergrewto
44 per cent as the states brought
in strict curbs and coronavirus
seemed to be lurking in every
tree and bush, and grass, or
watching one from the tree tops
and thickets. The cuckoos freely
sang and squirrels raced around
in the parks, only the footprint
of regular two-legged invaders
was nowhere around.
Compare India with the
UnitedStates,whichhasseenthe
highest number of infection
and casualty from coronavirus
across the world. The US also
saw people taking refuge inside
their homes and avoiding parks
and beaches.
4V_ecVafdYVdW`c
#eY3`RcUViR^d
*LYHV6WDWHV
WZRFKRLFHV
VHHNVUHSO
E0D
'LUWKRVSLWDOVFRXOGEHFXOSULWV
@gVc)!!!TRdVd`WS]RTWf_Xfd
cVa`ceVUd`WRcZ_eYVT`f_ecj
?=BQ =4F34;78
For several people, who have
received the first dose of
Covid-19 vaccine, the second
one seems to be elusive, at least
in near future, as States have
reported shortage of drugs
while the Centre is scouting
foreign land for importing as
well as enhancing manufac-
turing of the jabs to meet the
vaccine need for its people
here. For instance, a random
click by The Pioneer on the
CoWin, the Government por-
tal, found that the slot for the
second dose in several vaccine
centres and hospitals even
under the 45 plus category is
showing nil.
The Government’s overall
vaccination data under the
nationwide jab programme
launched from January 16 also
show that of total 97,52,422
healthcare workers (HCWs)
who have taken the first dose,
just 67,00,147 have taken the
second dose so far. Overall,
19,49,51,603 vaccines have
been administered so far.
The first phase of the vac-
cination programme was
opened for the health workers
followed by frontline workers
and then above 45 plus having
comorbidities. The
Government had plans to cover
30 crore people by June-end.
Similarly, 1,49,47,941
frontline workers (FLWs) have
received first dose but just
83,22,058 FLWs have received
second dose while 6,06,73,244
for over 45 years old to 60 years
old have been vaccinated first
dose of which 97,84,465 have
been given second dose. At
least 5,65,49,096 for above 60
years have administered first
dose of which just 1,82,42,554
have received second dose.
While vaccine has become
an urgency amidst second
wave, many rue that second
dose is nowhere to be seen.
“No second dose. What if
at least a person took the first
dose in February end and
wants to take the second dose
now, after three months? Will
s/he be registered for the sec-
ond dose? And where?” ques-
tioned a doctor from a
Government hospital refusing
to be quoted.
!]SS^bTT[dbXeT
PbBcPcTbaT_^ac
YPQbW^acPVT
KVc`d]`edW`c
dVT`_UdY`e
Z_gRTTZ_V
TV_ecVdW`c)
?=BQ =4F34;78
India’s death tally crossed 3
lakh mark on Sunday even as
thecountry’scaseloadsawasus-
taineddeclineandhitafiveweek
low of 2,09,243
India added 4,056 deaths
during the last 24 hours to
reach a total of 3,03,355 deaths.
The country is now only behind
theUSA(6lakhplusdeaths)and
Brazil(4.5lakhplusdeaths).The
total global death count stood at
34.75 lakh as on Saturday.
During the last few weeks
India’s death rate has steadily
climbed up, going from 0.5 per
cent to 1.8 per cent as virus pen-
etrated the rural belt and hit
those who didn’t have access to
even basic health care.
Maharashtraleadsthecoun-
try in terms of total death. The
State has reported 88,620 deaths
followed by Karnataka (25,282
deaths) and Tamil Nadu (20,
468).
On Sunday, States like
Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh,
Delhireportedmajordeclinesin
thenumbersofcases.Butsouth-
ern States still remained in the
grip of the virus.
Maharashtrarecorded1,320
Covid-19 deaths on Sunday —
including 726 old unaccounted
deaths that were added to the
day’s cumulative tally, while the
infectionsclimbedmarginallyto
26,672. A day after the state
logged 682 deaths and 26,133
infections, the infections went
up marginally to 26,672, while
the State added 1,320 deaths –
comprising 398 deaths that
occurred in the last 48 hours,
196thattookplacelastweekand
726 old unaccounted deaths
that were added to the State’s
daily Covid-19 toll.
:_UZRSVT`^Vd$cU
T`f_ecje`Tc`dd$=
UVReYdUfVe`4`gZU
4`gZU*
:?:?5:2
CC0;20B4B) !%'!!
!(!#
340C7B)$$#$%
A42E4A43) !%(((!
!$ $%
02C8E4)!! '
070)$$('(!%%!
:´C0:0)!#!#(#!$((
:4A0;0)!#(%!$'!
D?) %%('( # $
34;78) # %'%' %#(
'HOKL*RYWH[WHQGV
ORFNGRZQWLOO0D
BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78
Delhi reported 1,649 fresh
Covid cases on Sunday
while the positivity rate came
down further to 2.42 per cent.
According to the health
bulletin released by the Delhi
Government, the national
Capital reported 189 fatalities
on Saturday. As per the report,
46,745 tests were conducted.
Of the 25,048 hospital beds for
coronavirus patients in the
city, 15,388 are vacant, it said.
5V]YZcVT`cUd
'%*4`gZU
TRdVda`dZeZgZej
cReV#%#
3TUXP]cUPaTab
QTVX]VPcWTaX]VPc
3T[WXU^a³Q[PRZSPh´
Rj#'^Rcd
'^`_eYd`W
deZc(jVRcd`W
`UZ8`ge
1RRIYLVLWRUVWRSDUNVGRZQVLQFHSDQGHPLF
=PT^UcWT4gP
21B4 !cW1^PaS4gPb!! Ph#c^9d]T #!! C^QT=^cXUXTSX]9d]T
21B4 cW1^PaS4gPb!! 2P]RT[[TS 2P]RT[[TS
28B2482B42[Pbb cW
4gPb!!
Ua^Ph#!! 2P]RT[[TS
28B248B22[Pbb !cW
4gPb!!
Ua^Ph#!! C^QT=^cXUXTS
8]cTa]PcX^]P[1PRRP[PdaTPcT
814gPb!!
2P]RT[[TS 2P]RT[[TS
944PX]0_aX[!! 0_aX[!c^!! C^QT=^cXUXTS
944PX]Ph!! Ph!#c^!'!! C^QT=^cXUXTS
E8C444!! ?aT_^]TS 9d]T 'c^!%!! Ph!(c^ !!
BA9444
!! ?aT_^]TS
9d]T c^ %!!
?WPbT Ph!
!#!!
?WPbT!9d[h!$
!%!!
=44C?6!! 0_aX[ '!! C^QT=^cXUXTS
C8BB0C!! Ph'!! C^QT=^cXUXTS
ATeXbTS4gP3PcTb
0RcdP[3PcTb
;8BC510A34=CA0=244G0B
?BC?=433D4C2E83 (8=!!
0f^aZTacaXTbc^R[TPafPcTaPUcTaWTPehaPX]bU[^^STScWT_aTXbTb^UP2^eXS (
W^b_XcP[QTX]VbTcd_Pc6WPiXPQPS^]Bd]SPh 0?
3T[WX20aeX]S:TYaXfP[PSSaTbbTbP
SXVXcP[?aTbbR^]UTaT]RT^]2^eXS (
bXcdPcX^]X]=Tf3T[WX ?C8
[h_XRbTSP[fX]]X]VfaTbc[Ta
BdbWX[:dPaQTX]VTbRacTSQhcWT
_^[XRTPcBPZTc?^[XRTBcPcX^]X]=Tf
3T[WX^]Bd]SPh ?C8
2^_bUX]P[[hVTc
PbcaP]V[TW^[S
^]BdbWX[:dPa
/CWT3PX[h?X^]TTa UPRTQ^^ZR^SPX[h_X^]TTa
7`]]`hfd`_+
fffSPX[h_X^]TTaR^
X]bcPVaPR^SPX[h_X^]TTa
;PcT2Xch E^[ $8bbdT #
0XaBdaRWPaVT4gcaPXU0__[XRPQ[T
?dQ[XbWTS5a^
34;78;D2:=F 17?0;17D10=4BF0A
A0=278A08?DA 270=3860A7
347A03D= 7H34A0103E890HF030
4bcPQ[XbWTS '%#
51,1R5HJQ877(1*5(*'1R8$'2''1
347A03D==30H0H !#!! *?064B !C!
@A:?:@?'
C7464=4B8B5C74
8BA04;700BB2D55;4
DA@CE#
E4ABC0??4=F8=B
=026A0=3?A8G
m
m
H@C=5)
B4E4A4F40C74A:8;;B! 2ABB
2D=CAHAD==4AB8=278=0
F9F5;?25B?9
DEBC
?CD1793
! F9F139DI

2. ]PcX^]!
347A03D=k=30H k0H !#!!
3ULQWHGDQGSXEOLVKHGE$MLW6LQKDIRUDQGRQEHKDOIRI0.3ULQWHFK/WGSXEOLVKHGDW8QLJDWH*HQHUDO0HGLD3YW/WG2OG1HKUXRORQ2SS8WWDUDNKDQG-DO6DQVWKDQ'KDUDPSXU'HKUDGXQ3K0RE DQGSULQWHGDW$PDU8MDOD3XEOLFDWLRQV/WG3ORW1R+WR+6HODTXL,QGXVWULDO
$UHD'HKUDGXQ8WWDUDNKDQG(GLWRUKDQGDQ0LWUD$,5685+$5*(RI5H(DVWDOFXWWD5DQFKL%KXEDQHVZDU1RUWK/HK:HVW0XPEDL $KPHGDEDG6RXWK%DQJDORUH KHQQDLHQWUDO.KDMXUDKR'HOKL2IILFH1R%HKLQG*XODE%KDZDQ %DKDGXU6KDK=DIDU0DUJ1HZ'HOKL3KRQH
RPPXQLFDWLRQ2IILFH)6HFWRU12,'$*DXWDP%XGK1DJDU83
3KRQH /XFNQRZ2IILFHWK)ORRU6DKDUD6KRSSLQJHQWUH)DL]DEDG5RDG/XFNQRZ7HOHSKRQHV
$OWKRXJKHYHUSRVVLEOHFDUHDQGFDXWLRQKDVEHHQWDNHQWRDYRLGHUURUVRURPLVVLRQVWKLVSXEOLFDWLRQLVEHLQJVROGRQWKHFRQGLWLRQDQGXQGHUVWDQGLQJWKDWLQIRUPDWLRQJLYHQLQWKLVSXEOLFDWLRQLVPHUHOIRUUHIHUHQFHDQGPXVWQRWEHWDNHQDVKDYLQJDXWKRULWRIRUELQGLQJLQDQZDRQWKHZULWHUVHGLWRUVSXEOLVKHUVDQGSULQWHUVDQGVHOOHUVZKRGRQRWRZHDQUHVSRQVLELOLWIRUDQ
GDPDJHRUORVVWRDQSHUVRQDSXUFKDVHURIWKLVSXEOLFDWLRQRUQRWIRUWKHUHVXOWRIDQDFWLRQWDNHQRQWKHEDVLVRIWKLVZRUN$OOGLVSXWHVDUHVXEMHFWWRWKHH[FOXVLYHMXULVGLFWLRQRIFRPSHWHQWFRXUWDQGIRUXPVLQ'HOKL1HZ'HOKLRQO5HDGHUVDUHDGYLVHGDQGUHTXHVWHGWRYHULIDQGVHHNDSSURSULDWHDGYLFHWRVDWLVIWKHPVHOYHVDERXWWKHYHUDFLWRIDQNLQGRIDGYHUWLVHPHQWEHIRUH
UHVSRQGLQJWRDQFRQWHQWVSXEOLVKHGLQWKLVQHZVSDSHU7KHSULQWHUSXEOLVKHUHGLWRUDQGDQHPSORHHRIWKH3LRQHHU*URXS·VZLOOQRWEHKHOGUHVSRQVLEOHIRUDQNLQGRIFODLPPDGHEWKHDGYHUWLVHUVRIWKHSURGXFWV VHUYLFHVDQGVKDOOQRWEHPDGHUHVSRQVLEOHIRUDQNLQGRIORVVFRQVHTXHQFHVDQGIXUWKHUSURGXFWUHODWHGGDPDJHVRQVXFKDGYHUWLVHPHQWV
?=BQ 347A03D=
As Uttarakhand battles the
deadly second-wave of
Covid-19 and the thought of
what to expect next looms
large among people, the
Director General of Police,
Ashok Kumar said that the
ongoing Covid- curfew is like-
ly to be extended by two weeks
from May 25. In an online
interaction on a social media
platform on the weekend,
Kumar said, “People need to be
mentally prepared for Covid
curfew to be in force for the
next 10-15 days.
After that, the unlock
process will begin in a phased
manner. Even now, we are try-
ing to see if we can increase the
duration of the relaxation win-
dow given to people with cau-
tion. However, there cannot be
any compromise on measures
required to keep the pandem-
ic under control.” He added
that implementation of the
Covid-curfew has been a big-
ger challenge for the police in
the second wave as compared
to last year due to complacen-
cy in public until the infection
peaked, “The second Covid
wave hit Uttarakhand in April
after it had already affected
other states but people here still
remained slack until cases
spiked to as high as 8,000 per
day.”
Commenting on the pos-
sibility of a third wave in
Uttarakhand Kumar said, “The
State government is very alert
to an imminent third wave. A
high-level meeting presided
over by the chief minister was
also held for strategic planning
and swift action on this. While
mortality among children has
been very low in the first and
second wave, it is possible that
in the third wave, mortality
among children increases.
Hence the State government is
trying to improve infrastruc-
ture in remote mountainous
areas while ICUs with special
ICUs for children are being set
up. Work is also on in other key
areas like finalising the proto-
col for treatment of children if
a third wave hits us.”
Asked about the role
played by the police during the
second wave and its Mission
Haunsla initiative, Kumar
informed, “The police have
been playing two key roles-
enforcement of Covid protocols
including the curfew and the
humanitarian role of helping
affected people. On the
enforcement side, to ensure
that people follow Covid guide-
lines strictly, state-wide the
police has issued more than
three lakh challans for not
wearing masks and not main-
taining social distancing, col-
lected fine of more than Rs five
crore and registered over 1,400
FIRs for violation of Covid-cur-
few in the second wave. We
have also had a zero-tolerance
policy on black-marketing and
selling spurious medicines and
have arrested around 46
offenders. I urge people to
report such people, the identi-
ty of the complainant will be
kept secret if so desired.”
Speaking about Mission
Haunsla he said, “Under
Mission Haunsla there is one
nodal officer for every district
and help is being provided
through all police stations
across the State. Through col-
laborative efforts with NGOs,
citizen- volunteer groups and
philanthropists police have
been providing all kinds of
Covid related help to people
round the clock through emer-
gency helpline numbers 112,
100, WhatsApp number
9411112702 and requests
received at various police sta-
tions. Calls can be made to 112
from anywhere in Uttarakhand
24x7. The central control room
immediately informs the dis-
trict concerned and local con-
trol room and the instruction
is to provide required help at
the earliest from whichever
source available. Since May 1,
Uttarakhand police have
responded to more than 23,000
calls. We have also cremated
bodies of 610 Covid patients
whose families did not want to
do the cremation and
unclaimed bodies. Anyone who
wants to help society in this
pandemic can facilitate it
through Mission Haunsla.
From delivering oxygen cylin-
ders even late night in remote
areas, taking patients without
attendants to hospitals, arrang-
ing lifesaving medicines, plas-
ma, food, hospital beds and any
other help asked for, we have
been working hard day and
night to provide relief to dis-
tressed people.”
The DGP also appealed to
the people to have a positive
mindset but not become com-
placent or careless in the com-
ing weeks. “Please come out of
fear but be alert and aware, only
then can we win this battle,” he
said.
4`gZUTfcWVh]ZV]je`SV
VieV_UVUSjeh`hVVd+58A
E8=3270;8Q =4FC47A8
EvenasCovid-19isspreading
to rural mountainous areas,
there are still some villages
untouched yet by the virus.
Koldhar in Chamba block of
Tehri district is one such village
wherenotasinglecaseofCovid-
19 has surfaced yet. The steps
taken by villagers to avoid the
virus are being appreciated by
neighbouring villages where
people are now thinking of fol-
lowing suit. There are about 50
familiesinKoldharwithmostof
them involved in agriculture.
Theselfdisciplineofthevil-
lagersisoneofthemajorreasons
why no Covid case has been
reportedheresofar.Thevillagers
have been able to avoid the
infection with a combination of
awareness, discipline and main-
taining hygienic conditions.
AwareofCovid-19surge,thevil-
lagers got together and decided
to stay away from crowded
places. All the marriages sched-
uled for the season were can-
celled and one quarantine cen-
trewascreatedawayfromthevil-
lagewherefacilitieslikefoodand
medicine were provided to the
people in the quarantine.
The villagers say that they
laid special focus on cleanliness,
adding that a Peepal tree plant-
ed by their elders served as
their source of clean oxygen.
The Gram Pradhan Lalita
Devi and former Pradhan
Surendra Dutt Uniyal said that
everyone in the village forgot
their differences and worked
togetherfollowingCovidguide-
lines and no one was allowed
entry into the village. The vil-
lagersknowthattheywillbeable
to beat Covid by staying at
home. It was because of strict
adherencetotheguidelinesbyall
the villagers that Covid did not
enter the village.
;_TXQbcUdcQ^UhQ]`UgYdXjUb_3_fYTSQcUc
?=BQ =4FC47A8
Emotional tributes were paid
to the noted environmen-
talist Sunder Lal Bahuguna as
an urn containing his ashes
reached the Thakkar Bappa
Hostel in New Tehri.
A tree was also planted in
his memory at the hostel
premises by the nature lovers
gathered here. Himalaya
Bachao Andolan activist
Sameer Raturi reached the
hostel from Rishikesh with the
urn after which people bid an
emotional farewell and paid
homage to Bahuguna while
observing Covid guidelines.
The famous environmentalist
was always in favour of fruit
bearing trees.
Speaking on the occasion,
former president of Pradesh
Congress Committee, Kishore
Upadhyay said that a person-
ality like Bahuguna will never
be born again in Uttarakhand.
His penance and strength is
recognised by the world.
Raturi said that the urn will
reach Silyara Ashram on
Monday. On the birth anniver-
sary of freedom fighter Shridev
Suman on May 25, the ashes
will be offered in the Ganga at
Devprayag. Pratapnagar block
chief Pradeep Chand Ramola,
former president of district
bar association Shanti Prasad
Bhatt, Devendra Naudiyal,
Musharraf Ali and others were
present on the occasion.
%DKXJXQD¶V
DVKHVUHDFKHG
1HZ7HKUL
?=BQ 347A03D=
Fifty oxygen cylinders and
other items have been facil-
itated for Vikasnagar area in
coordination with an NGO
based in Gujarat. Director of
Women’s Indian Chamber of
Commerce and Industry
(WICCI) Uttarakhand for
Culture and Tourism and head
of Aviral Financial
Management Consultancy
(AFMC), Mamta Rawat had
contacted Udaan Foundation
in Gujarat being run by NK
Sharma who is a prominent
businessman in Gujarat and
hails from Vikasnagar. On
behalf of Udaan Foundation
and AFMC, Rawat handed
over 50 oxygen cylinders, 50
oxymeters, one refrigerator
and 100 Covid kits to the
Lions Club, Vikasnagar in pres-
ence of local MLA Munna
Singh Chauhan and others.
The step was taken to ensure
that people in smaller towns
and remote areas can also be
benefitted from the aid being
sent. Chauhan and Lions Club
commended the effort. The
Udaan Foundation and AFMC
team has also decided to send
help to various districts of
Uttarakhand. Sharma has also
been trying to help various
departments of Uttarakhand in
sourcing life saving items from
Gujarat where these items are
readily available. Udaan
Foundation team is working
extensively in Gujarat for social
causes and has now decided to
expand its area to Uttarakhand
where it has worked with food
supply to interior villages after
the 2013 disaster. Rawat of
AFMC has helped various
social causes for girls education
and education for the under-
privileged apart from support-
ing different NGOs.
ghVT]Rh[X]STab
^cWTaXcTb
aTPRWEXZPb]PVPa
?=BQ 270=3860A7
Categorically rejecting the
allegation of the State
Government’s failure to effec-
tively tackle the COVID pan-
demic, Punjab Chief Minister
Capt Amarinder Singh on
Sunday urged the Bhartiya
Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan)
not to go ahead with their pro-
posed dharna as it could “turn
into a super-spreader of the
contagion”.
“The State Government
has fought hard to prevent
Punjab going the way of some
other states, such as Delhi,
Maharashtra, and even Uttar
Pradesh (where bodies floating
in the Ganga river had exposed
the total pandemic misman-
agement by the BJP-ruled
state). Any event, such as the
proposed three-day dharna of
the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) in
Patiala, has the potential to
negate the gains made by the
State Government in tackling
COVID in Punjab,” he
said.
Capt Amarinder urged the
farmers’ group not to act irre-
sponsibly and jeopardize the
lives of their own people with
such reckless behaviour amid
the pandemic, especially when
there is a complete ban in the
State on all gatherings and any
violation of the ban would be
highly detrimental to the inter-
ests of Punjab and its
people.
“Such a dharna would
draw people mainly from the
villages, which are, in any case,
going through a crisis during
the second wave of the pan-
demic,” he pointed out.
The group’s action was also
completely unwarranted con-
sidering the total support the
State Government had extend-
ed all these months to the agi-
tating farmers on the issue of
the Centre’s ‘black’ farm laws,
said Capt Amarinder. “The
State Government was the first
to pass amendment laws in the
state Assembly to contravene
the farm laws,” he pointed out,
adding that it was the time for
the farmers now to reciprocate
by supporting the State
Government in the fight
against the pandemic.
“Just as the farmers’ inter-
ests are inexorably linked with
that of Punjab, so was Punjab’s
interest dependent on the farm-
ers’ support to the State
Government in the battle
against COVID,” he
added. Pointing out that even
during the peak of the second
COVID surge in Punjab, things
had not gone out of control as
they had in several other states,
the Chief Minister said that the
State had been one of the best
performing so far as the man-
agement of the pandemic was
concerned.
“There are no widespread
shortages of oxygen in hospi-
tals despite shortfall in supply,
as the State Government had
ensured judicious management
of the critical commodity,” he
noted, adding that even avail-
ability of medications, beds
etc had been continuously
ramped up to keep pace with
the spiraling cases. This was in
sharp contrast to states like
Delhi, Maharashtra and UP,
among others, he
added.
The only serious problem
being faced by Punjab was the
shortage of vaccines, which
was not due to any misman-
agement of the State
Government but that of the
Centre, said Capt Amarinder,
rejecting all charges of the
State Government failing to
tackle the pandemic effective-
ly.
The Chief Minister point-
ed out that as a result of the
Government’s concerted
efforts, the medical fraternity,
the police, the civil adminis-
tration, and the village pan-
chayats (who had been con-
ducting Thikri Pehras), Punjab
had successfully brought the
number of cases to 5421, with
201 deaths, on May 22, from a
high of nearly 10,000 just about
two weeks ago.
“But given the gravity of
the situation, there is no scope
for any laxity in COVID appro-
priate behaviour, and rallies or
dharnas of any kind are total-
ly unacceptable when the lives
of the people are at stake,” the
Chief Minister asserted.
Notably, the state's biggest
farmers' organisation, BKU
EKta Ugrahan, had announced
to organize a three-day “con-
tinuous dharna” in the Chief
Minister’s hometown, Patiala,
to pressurize the Government
for its failure in making all
arrangements for tackling the
Corona pandemic.
“We will hold a continuous
dharna on May 28, 29, and 30
in Patiala as the State
Government has failed terribly
in tackling the pandemic. It has
not set up any quality health-
care facilities, there is the short-
age of medicines, oxygen, ven-
tilators,” BKU (Ekta Ugrahan)
president Joginder Singh
Ugrahan had said while
announcing the
decision.
5`_eY`]Uac`eVde`gVc
4`gZU+4Raee`WRc^Vcd
=8:00;8:Q 270=3860A7
Come May 26, and the agi-
tating farmers across
Punjab are all set to observe
‘Black Day’ to mark the com-
pletion of six months of the
ongoing farmers’ agitation
against the Centre’s three farm
laws at Delhi borders. The
day would also coincide with
the completion of seven years
of the Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s term.
Full preparations are on in
the villages, and also in some
urban areas of the State as the
farmers have given a call to all
the trade unions, small shop-
keepers, students’ organiza-
tions, khet mazdoors, employ-
ee wings, youngsters, and
everyone to openly support the
campaign — the call for which
was given by the Samyukt
Kisan Morcha, a pan-India
umbrella body of protesting
farmers. It was six months
back that the farmers from
across the country, with major-
ity from Punjab and Haryana,
trooped towards New Delhi to
stage the protests against the
three controversial bills against
the Central Government in the
national capital. Since
November 26, farmers from
several states have been camp-
ing at Delhi’s five border points
that connect Delhi with
Haryana and Uttar Pradesh
from different directions.
Even as the Centre was
holding negotiations with the
farmers’ organizations, the
unfortunate incidents that
unfolded on January 26 applied
brakes on all talks between the
two factions.
“We would hold protest
across Punjab…People have
been appealed to hoist black
flags on May 26 atop their
houses or on vehicles to protest
against the Centre on the com-
pletion of six months of the
farmers’ movement on the
Delhi borders against the three
farm laws and completion of
seven years of this BJP
Government,” said Bharti
Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan)
president Joginder Singh
Ugrahan.
“From 12 noon, effigies of
the Prime Minister, BJP, and
the corporate houses would be
burnt in a series of protests to
be held at several places across
the state. We have invited the
trade organizations, traders to
join us,” he added.
Ugrahan, who heads the
biggest farmers’ organization of
the State, asserted that the
“specialty” of the Black Day
would be that “earlier, we were
fighting over black laws, but
now it is not only the issue of
farm laws, but also that of
Corona”. BKU Ugrahan’s gen-
eral secretary Sukhdev Singh
Kokrikalan made it clear that
in Punjab, the ‘Black Day’
would be observed against the
State Government. “Village to
village, all preparations are
going on. We are spreading the
message and making the peo-
ple aware. In urban areas too,
the traders and small shop-
keepers, khet mazdoors, stu-
dent organizations, young-
sters…all have been galva-
nized for the ‘Black Day’. Here,
our aim is not only the
Governments but also the cor-
porate,” he added.
“People in Punjab are get-
ting ready to put up black flags
on their house, taking out ral-
lies by tractors or cars in var-
ious parts of Punjab. This is to
further intensify the ongoing
protest against the Prime
Minister who has turned a deaf
ear to the farmers’ agitation till
now,” said BKU Kadian’s
national spokesperson Ravneet
Brar. Making it clear that the
fight for survival is still on, Brar
said “This day would be a
reminder that the protest is still
on and with the same vigor
and zeal…We are not quitting
until we win as we are fighting
for our future generations.”
‘CENTRE, PUNJAB
FAILED IN TACKLING
CORONA’
Kokrikalan said that to
end Corona, “our main
demands are from Punjab and
Central Governments as they
had not done anything at all or
done even a little. “We want
them to bring all private hos-
pitals, which have made this
pandemic situation an oppor-
tunity to make profit, under
the State Government.
?d]YPQeX[[PVTbaTPShc^
^QbTaeTPh!%Pb³1[PRZ3Ph
?=BQ 270=3860A7
Over 2.38 lakh BPL families
in Haryana have been
registered to be covered under
insurance relief scheme amid
the COVID-19 pandemic.
“An insurance relief
scheme was announced by
the Chief Minister Manohar
Lal Khattar under which a
financial relief of Rs 2 lakh
would be provided to the BPL
families of those who had lost
their lives due to COVID-19
or due to any other untoward
incident,” said an official
spokesman.
The spokesman said that
in this scheme, for the regis-
tration of persons belonging to
BPL family or those having
family an annual income of
less than Rs 1.80 lakh in the
age of 18 to 50 years, the
Mukhya Mantri Parivar
Samridhi Yojna (MMPSY)
portal was reopened from
May 15. Over 2.38 lakh fami-
lies have been registered on
this portal.
Under this scheme, the
families do not have to pay any
insurance premium, as the
premium of Rs 330 per person
will be paid or reimbursed by
the State Government, he said.
The Chief Minister had
also announced to provide an
ex gratia relief of Rs 2 lakh to
the families of those who had
lost their lives due to COVID-
19 in the period from March 1,
2021 to May 31, 2021 and so far,
two such bereaved families
have already given this financial
relief who have lost their fam-
ily members during the said
period, the spokesman said.
eTa!'[PZW
UPX[XTbaTVXbcTaTS
X]7ahU^aX]bdaP]RT
aT[XTUbRWTT
Chandigarh: As many as
172 more persons succumbed
to the deadly contagion on
Sunday in Punjab taking the
state’s COVID-19 death toll to
13,281. Besides, 5,094 fresh
cases at the positivity rate of
6.18 percent pushed the infec-
tion tally to 5,38,994.
Witnessing a continuous
dip since the past few days, the
state currently has 57,505 active
cases (10.67 percent of the
total positive cases), against
61,203 recorded a day before.
Among the total active
cases, there are 386 critical
patients who are on ventilator
support, 1,024 other critical
patients and 7,154 are on oxy-
gen support.
As per the media bulletin,
the number of recoveries —
8,527 — registered on Sunday
in a single day were more than
the 5,094 daily cases.
The fresh fatalities report-
ed in the last 24 hours includ-
ed 20 from Ludhiana, 19 from
Patiala, 18 from Bathinda, 16
each from Sangrur and Mohali
and 15 from Amritsar.
Continuing to register the
highest daily cases in the State,
the number for Ludhiana on
Sunday stood at 597, followed
by 459 in Jalandhar, 454 in
Mohali, and 436 in Fazilka.
The state's positivity rate
marginally dropped from 6.60
per cent on Saturday to 6.18,
the bulletin stated. With 8,527
recoveries, the number of cured
persons has reached 4,68,208,
it said.
97 deaths, 4400 cases
reported in Haryana
Haryana on Sunday report-
ed 97 deaths and 4400 COVID-
19 cases. The state also report-
ed 9480 recoveries.
According to the state's
health bulletin, the death toll
due to COVID-19 has reached
7512 while the state's cumula-
tive caseload was recorded at
738028. The state's active cases
were recorded at 42816.
In the last 24 hours, a
maximum of eight deaths each
were reported in Bhiwani and
Hisar. A maximum of 494
fresh infections were reported
in Bhiwani followed by 383 in
Hisar and 308 in Gurugram
district. Till date, more than 86
lakh samples have been tested
in Haryana.
The cumulative positivity
rate was recorded at 8.53 while
the recovery rate stood at 93.18
percent in Haryana.
@e^ZQRcUUc!'
TUQdXc% )$
^Ug3_fYTSQcUc
?=BQ A?0A
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)
president Sukhbir Singh
Badal on Sunday said that it
was unfortunate that Punjab
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder
Singh was impervious to the
suffering of Punjabis and was
refusing to give them any relief
be it waiving off power and
water bills for a six months peri-
od or offering a comprehensive
package to skilled workers,
small shopkeepers, and taxi,
auto and rickshaw operators.
Sukhbir, who was in Ropar
to inaugurate a 25-bed COVID
Care Centre established by the
Shiromani Gurdwara
Parbandhak Committee
(SGPC) equipped with oxygen
concentrators, said: “Congress
party is busy in their infighting
for the top chair instead of fight-
ing COVID.” “SAD has been
appealing to the Chief Minister
to provide some relief to the
people who have suffered
immensely due to prolonged
lockdowns but it seems as if we
are talking to stones,” said
Sukhbir.
He said that the
Government had also failed to
get its act together on the
healthcare front despite record-
ing the highest mortality rate in
the country with 13,000 persons
succumbing to the disease
including 3,000 in the last one
month alone.
“The Government has
refused to encourage people to
come forward and get treated by
offering free medical treatment
in private hospitals as the facil-
ities available in the government
sector are not adequate.
Similarly, our plea to establish
COVID Care Centres at the
block level, on the pattern done
by SGPC at seven places, has
also fallen on deaf ears,” he said.
TALK TO AGITATING
FARMERS DIRECTLY:
SUKHBIR TO PM
Responding to a media
query, Sukhbir Badal said that
the Central Government should
not impose conditions to talk
with the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha
which was leading the Kisan
Andolan as had been done by
the Union Agriculture Minister.
“It has been four months since
the Centre had broken off talks
with the farmers…Such kind of
attitude to break the will of pro-
testers instead of engaging
them in a serious dialogue and
resolving their grievances does
not bode well for a healthy
democracy,” said Sukhbir
Singh Badal.
BdZWQXaPbZb2c^fPXeT_^fTa
QX[[b^UUTaUX]P]RXP[_PRZPVTc^
^bcPUUTRcTSbTRcX^]b

3. dccPaPZWP]S
347A03D=k=30H k0H !#!!
?=BQ 347A03D=
The curve of the contagion of
Covid- 19 is continuing
on its downward path in
Uttarakhand. The State health
department reported 3,050 new
cases of the disease on Sunday
which increased the cumulative
count of the patients to 3,13,519
inthestate.Thedepartmentalso
reported the death of53 patients
from the disease on the day
which increased the death tally
to 5,805. The authorities also
added 18 unreported deaths
whichhadoccurredonprevious
datesinthedeathtollonSunday.
On a positive note the authori-
ties disclosed 6,173 patients
recovered from the disease on
the day which increased the
recovery rate to 78.98. The sam-
ple positivity rate is 6.94 percent
in the state.
Out of the 53 deaths which
occurred Sunday, seven
occurred at Government Doon
Medical College (GDMC) hos-
pital Dehradun, six each at
Sushila Tiwari Government
Hospital Haldwani and District
hospital Rudrapur, five at
Military hospital Dehradun and
four at Military Hospital
Roorkee.
The provisional state capi-
tal Dehradun reported 716 new
cases of the disease on Sunday.
Udham Singh Nagar reported
537, Haridwar 364, Tehri 276,
Nainital 224, Pithoragarh 182,
Rudraprayag 178, Chamoli 161,
Pauri 144, Uttarkashi 96,
Champawat 73, Almora 54 and
Bageshwar 45 new cases of the
disease on Sunday. The State
now has 54,735 active patients
of the disease. Dehradun con-
tinues to remains at the top of
the table of active cases of the
disease with 12,327 patients;
Haridwar has 8,947, Udham
Singh Nagar 6,157, Pauri 5,265,
Tehri 4,992, , Nainital 4,238,
Chamoli 2,488, Rudraprayag
2,454, Almora 2,211,
Pithoragarh 1,795, Bageshwar
1,482, Uttarkashi 1,465 and
Champawat 914 active cases of
the disease.
To contain the contagion of
Covid-19, the state administra-
tion has set up 492 containment
zones in different parts of the
state.Intheongoingvaccination
drive only 9,769 people were
vaccinatedin168sessionsindif-
ferent parts of the state on
Saturday.Atotalof6,80,985peo-
ple have been fully vaccinated
while 21,00,294 have received
the first dose of the vaccine.
4`gZU*TfcgV`_
U`h_hRcUaReYZ_F¶YR_U
$]TfRPbTb
% aTR^eTaXTb
aT_^acTS^]
Bd]SPh
?=BQ 347A03D=
The number of the cases of
the black fungus
(Mucormycosis) increased to
101 in Uttarakhand on Sunday.
The fungal disease has so far
claimed nine lives in the state.
In the All India Institute of
Medical Sciences (AIIMS)
Rishikesh maximum 64
patients of the disease are
undergoing treatment while
17 patients are admitted in the
HIHT Jollygrant. Five patients
of the disease have so far recov-
ered from the disease in the
state. Meanwhile the state
received 500 injections needed
to treat Black Fungus on
Sunday. The state administra-
tion is also planning to start the
production of these injections
in Haridwar and Rudrapur.
SDWLHQWVRI%ODFN
)XQJXVLQWKH6WDWH ?=BQ 347A03D=
Chief Minister Tirath Singh
Rawat donned a PPE kit to
interact with Covid-19 patients
in the Covid hospital in
Bageshwar on Sunday.
Enquiringabouttheircondition,
the CM also checked the
arrangements in the hospital
and 100-bed Covid care centre
set up in the nearby government
college. Rawat also inspected the
ward made for children in the
district hospital. He also inter-
acted with the doctors, staff
nurses and other staff in the
hospital seeking information
about the facilities being pro-
vided to the patients. Rawat said
that the doctors and other staff
members are working with full
dedication against the Covid
pandemic.
He directed the officials to
ensure that oxygen, medicines
and other requirements are
adequately fulfilled.
After the inspections, the
CM chaired a meeting with offi-
cials to review the status of
Covid in the district. He said
that the village level monitoring
committees need to further
better their work, adding that
any person showing any symp-
tom should be motivated to get
tested. Public awareness needs
to be raised to maximise sam-
pling and remove the feeling of
fear from people’s minds, he
said. Rawat reiterated that the
medicine kit should be provid-
ed to any person exhibiting
symptoms, adding that provid-
ing Ivermectin to the people
should be accorded priority. In
addition to handling the Covid
situation, the CM also directed
officials to complete their prepa-
rations for the coming monsoon
season. The equipment used in
disaster scenarios should also be
placed in remote areas.
Reviewing the development
works being executed in the dis-
trict, he said that officials should
ensure that the benefit of such
schemes reaches the general
public. He commended the
work done by the district
administration in preventing
and controlling Covid in
Bageshwar.
The district magistrate
Vineet Kumar informed the
CM about the various steps
taken in the district for treat-
ment of Covid patients. He
said that a meeting had also
been held with officials regard-
ing the preparations for the
coming monsoon season.
MP Ajay Tamta, Drinking
Water minister and district in-
charge of Covid, Bishan Singh
Chufal, other public represen-
tatives and officials concerned
were also present in the meet-
ing.
0GRQV33(NLWWRPHHWRYLGSDWLHQWVLQ%DJHVKZDU
?=BQ 347A03D=
Chief minister Tirath Singh
Rawat checked the health
facilities for tackling Covid-19
in Pithoragarh district on
Sunday. Reaching the base hos-
pital in the district headquar-
ters, he inspected the Covid
care centre and work done on
the oxygen generation plant
building and RT-PCR testing
laboratory.
Enquiring about the con-
dition of Covid patients, he also
unveiled the foundation stone
for the oxygen generation hall
being built at a cost of Rs 26.92
lakh at the base hospital. Rawat
then visited the district hospi-
tal and checked the condition
of Covid patients and the
arrangements for their treat-
ment. The chief medical officer
informed that the oxygen plant
in the hospital will start func-
tioning from the coming week.
The CM and MP Ajay Tamta
also donned PPE kits and met
the patients in the Covid ward
and ICU.
Later, at the Vikas Bhawan,
the CM inaugurated eight
development works costing
about Rs seven crore and
unveiled the foundation stones
for three development works
costing Rs 4.52 crore.
2RWTRZb2^eXSUPRX[XcXTbX]
?XcW^aPVPaWX]PdVdaPcTb
ePaX^dbSTeT[^_T]cf^aZb
?=BQ 347A03D=
The politics of Maun Vrat has
begun in Uttarakhand on
the handling of the pandemic of
Covid -19 in the state. The
State presidents of Bharatiya
Janata Party and Congress have
decided to sit on Maun Vrat on
Monday on the issue. Accusing
theCongresspartyofcreatingan
environment of fear in the state
on Covid 19, the State president
of BJP, Madan Kaushik has
decided to sit on a Maun Vrat at
state headquarters of the party
on Monday. The presidents of
district units of the BJP too
would follow their leader by
staging silent protests in their
respective districts. The BJP has
said that on the one hand the
state government and self help
groups are working tirelessly to
save the lives of the people dur-
ing the pandemic, on the other
handtheCongressisplayingthe
politics of fear. “The Congress
party is not interested in public
service and its leaders are only
engaged in finding petty faults.
The Congress should work to
serve the people,’’ said Manveer
Chauhan, the BJP State media
in-charge. Reacting to the plan
oftheBJP,thePradeshCongress
Committee (PCC) president
PritamSinghannouncedthathe
will hold a Maun Vrat at
Congress State headquarters on
Monday for good sense to pre-
vailonthestateBJPgovernment.
He said that the health services
of the state are in a very bad
shape and the pandemic has
exposed the health system.
However it was the former
chief minister and general sec-
retary of All India Congress
Committee (AICC), Harish
Rawat who set the ball rolling by
sitting on a silent protest at his
residence in Dehradun on
Sunday. The veteran leader said
that he paid tribute to Gandhian
and environmentalist Sunder
Lal Bahuguna and the people
who died due to Covid -19. He
saidthatpandemichasspreadin
the rural areas and people are
dying in absence of treatment.
The state should throw all its
resources to save these lives, he
said.
2^eXS (WP]S[X]V)?^[XcXRb^UPd]EaPcbcPacbX]D´ZWP]S

4. ]PcX^]#
347A03D=k=30H k0H !#!!
?=BQ =4F34;78
Even as the Army is actively
engaged in fighting corona
pandemic and helping in
restoring normalcy in the wake
of cyclone Tautake, it also came
to the rescue of people and
United Nations (UN) person-
nel in Congo and rescued them
from a volcano.
The daring rescue opera-
tion took place on Saturday
after the volcano at Mount
Nyaragongo overlooking Goma
town erupted spewing lava,
gases and sediments. It took
place at about 6. 30 pm and the
Indian Army contingent under
the United Nations peace keep-
ing mission (MONUSCO)
assisted in protecting civilians
and UN officials.
Giving details here on
Sunday, army officials said
Mount Nyaragongo erupted
resulting in panic within the
civilian population. Most of the
lava, however, has flowed
towards Rwanda and only a
small stream is trickling
towards Goma, it stated.
While the UN’s internal
security system calculated that
evacuation will not be required
and asked various country con-
tingents to be on alert, a major-
ity of the country contingents
including aviation contingents
evacuated immediately, the
Army statement said.
The Indian Brigade head-
quarters held their ground and
thinned out 70% of the strength
of the camp and sent them to
the Himbi company operating
base for safety. A minimum
strength continued to hold
onto the camp ensuring no
threat to the UN and national
assets as also providing security
to empty aviation base and avi-
ation fuel stored there.
An observation point was
also established which is giving
real time updates of the lava
flow to the Brigade headquar-
ters, enabling them to pass the
correct information to UN,
the army said.
“Currently, it is ascertained
that the lava flow has consid-
erably slowed down. Lava flow
at this stage is unlikely to reach
Goma town unless there is
fresh eruption through fis-
sures. Intermittent earthquakes
of very low intensity are being
currently experienced,” the
Army added.
India is one of the largest
troop contributing nation to
MONUSCO, which is head-
quartered in the Eastern town
of Goma and bordering
Rwanda. The Indian Brigade
headquarters is located adja-
cent to the Goma airfield.
Actions by the Indian con-
tingent in the face of imminent
danger has facilitated the
smooth evacuation and pro-
tection of civilians and other
UN personnel in Goma, offi-
cials added.
:_UZR_2c^jcVdTfVd^R_j
RWeVcg`]TR_ZTVcfaeZ`_
344?0::D?A4C8Q =4F34;78
Taking the BJP’s confronta-
tion with the Twitter a step
further, senior BJP leader and
Rajya Sabha MP Vinay
Sahasrabuddhe on Sunday
sought Government to expose
the “disguise and mischief”
and “examine” whether the
microblogging site is a “plat-
form” or acting as a “media
house”.
Sahasrabuddhe, who is also
Chairman of Indian Council of
Cultural Relation, stressed that
the “mischief” played by twit-
ter in a “disguise of a platform”
needs to be “exposed”, accord-
ing to sources.
The senior party leader
recalled the 2018 Standing
Committee on IT which, he
said, had deliberated whether
microblogging sites are “plat-
forms” or “ as media houses”.
He said the committee had
then party leaders like veteran
L K Advani and the present
Minister of State, Finance,
Anurag Thakur.
“If you are a platform then
you just allow views to land on
the platform and not be judge
like a media house” and other-
wise “FDI norms be applicable”,
sources quoted him as saying.
He has demanded that the
government takes action
against the social platform after
examining their operations in
India.
The twitter-BJP faceoff
was triggered by the Twitter
red-flagging BJP spokesper-
son Sambit Patra’s tweet on the
Congress tool-kit as “manip-
ulated media”. The con-
frontation has only intensified
with an unfazed Twitter con-
tinuing to red-flag few more
BJP leaders.
Tweets posted by verified
accounts of Sahasrabuddhe,
BJP (Mahila Morcha) nation-
al social media in-charge Priti
Gandhi, co-incharge Sunil
Deodhar, BJP media panelist
Charu Pragya and Delhi BJP
general secretary Kuljeet Singh
Chahal were tagged as manip-
ulated.
The Modi-Government is
still waiting for a formal reply
from Twitter for tagging BJP’s
tweets.
The Government has
described the Twitter action as
“totally unwarranted” , “uni-
lateral”, “unfair” and as an
attempt to colour the local
investigation into the issue.
2:@]ecdUh`_cU
TYcWeYcU]YcSXYUV
_VDgYddUb*2:@=@ ?=BQ =4F34;78
In the largest consignment of
liquid medical oxygen to
India, the Navy’s warship INS
Jalashwa arrived in
Visakhapatnam on Sunday
with 300 Metric Tonne (MT)
of Oxygen and more than
3,600 oxygen cylinders from
Singapore and Brunei under
the ongoing ‘Operation
Samudra Setu II.’’
Covid-19 medical equip-
ment brought by this ship
also includes ventilators and
empty cryogenic containers,
the Navy said here. Another
ship, INS Trikand also brought
40 MT Liquid Medical Oxygen
from Qatar and 100 Oxygen
cylinders and arrived at
Mumbai.
In first week of May, the
Navy, as part of Op Samudra
Setu II, had diverted nine
warships mission deployed on
the high seas to various ports
in the region extending from
Kuwait in the West to
Singapore in the East to pick
up emergency medical oxygen
and other supplies.
Continuing its efforts
towards the ongoing Covid 19
relief operations, the IAF
brought in oxygen containers
from three different countries
on Saturday, officials said here
on Sunday.
An IL-76 airlifted three
Cryogenic Oxygen Containers
from Bangkok to Hyderabad.
IAF C-17s airlifted 4
Cryogenic Oxygen Containers
from Frankfurt to Hindan and
four from Ostend, Belgium to
Panagarh, West Bengal. In
addition an IAF C-17 is bring-
ing 2 Oxygen concentrators
from Bordeaux to Hindan.
Meanwhile, within India
IAF C-17s airlifted 22 Oxygen
Tankers from various locations
to their refilling stations on
Saturday. The IAF has
deployed more than 40 aircraft
for ferrying medical equip-
ment to different parts of the
country and airlifting oxygen
from several countries since
April 22.
Contributing its bit in the
national effort to fight the
Corona pandemic in the sec-
ond wave, the Army has set up
4,851 oxygenated beds in last
one month. The earlier
strength of these beds was
1,821 beds. Similarly, in the
same period the force
increased its oxygen storage
plants from 24 to 47 besides
providing for 93 oxygen con-
centrators and 1,223 pediatric
beds.
Besides assisting the civil
administration in many states
in augmenting their capacity
of covid-19 treatment facilities,
the Army also repaired two
civil oxygen plants at Agra,
facilitating the resumption of
supply of up to 1800 cylinders
per day.
Same process took place in
Nangal, Punjab where the
Oxygen Plant at Nangal Dam
was unused since 2011. An
Indian Army team serviced
the compressor and purifier
portion and made the plant
functional. Such procedures
were repeated at many places
all over the country to enhance
the oxygen production capa-
bility, officials said.
Moreover, 145 BOMs
(Bogie Open Military) and
274 MBWTs (Military Bogie
Well type) were employed for
the transportation of Oxygen.
More than 380 oxygen tankers
have been transported till date
through 99 military special
trains.
The Indian Army pro-
cured and delivered 100 bull-
nose rings to Goa Medical
College Hospital (GMCH)
within 24 hours of receiving
the request from the hospital.
Bull nose fitting is a life sav-
ing device used for adminis-
tering Oxygen to Covid
Patients.
=PehfPabWX_QaX]VbC
^ghVT]Ua^BX]VP_^aT1ad]TX
80=BQ =4F34;78
Coming down heavily on
the continuation of Central
Vista project, Congress leader
Kapil Sibal in a statement on
Sunday said, future
Government should remove
the plaque from the project
and should write about the
apathy of the Government
towards citizens.
Kapil Sibal in a statement
on Sunday said, “The
Government which comes to
power in future must remove
the plaque and instead write
that this project was built
despite the fact that money was
needed to save people’s lives
during the pandemic. It is an
act of monumental insensitiv-
ity not to voluntarily stop the
project.”
Sibal said that the govern-
ment should purchase vac-
cine and vaccinate every citi-
zen and pool all the resources
including the PM CARES fund
and use C35,000 crore ear-
marked for vaccination in the
budget.
“The real problem that
the country is facing these
days is absence of adequate
vaccines and production facil-
ities,” he said.
He asked why there has
been limit to companies
involved in production of the
vaccines and international vac-
cine manufacturers are exclud-
ed. He justified the suggestion
made to the Government by
the opposition and alleged
that the government has not
performed at the time of cri-
sis.
Twelve major Opposition
parties including four chief
ministers had on May 12 wrote
to Prime Minister Narendra
Modi demanding that the gov-
ernment should stop the
Central Vista project and
instead use the money to pro-
cure oxygen and vaccines.
The letter said, “We have
repeatedly in the past drawn
your attention, independently
and jointly, to the various
measures that are absolutely
imperative for the Central
Government to undertake and
implement. Unfortunately,
your government has either
ignored or refused all these
suggestions. This only com-
pounded the situation to reach
such an apocalyptic human
tragedy.”
The Congress has been
attacking the government over
mishandling of the pandemic
and not heeding to the advise
of ex-PM Manmohan Singh,
party president Sonia Gandhi
and the opposition parties.
The Delhi High Court has
reserved its verdict on a plea
seeking to halt the construction
of Central Vista redevelopment
project against the backdrop of
the Covid-19 pandemic.
New Delhi: The depression
over Bay of Bengal is very like-
ly to move north-northwest-
wards and intensify into a
cyclonic storm by Monday
morning and further into a
very severe cyclonic storm dur-
ing the subsequent 24 hours,
the India Meteorological
Department’s National Weather
Forecasting Centre said on
Sunday.
Sharing latest satellite
imageries and ocean buoy
observations of cyclone ‘Yass’,
the IMD said Saturday’s low-
pressure area which became
well marked over east central
Bay of Bengal in the same
evening has concentrated into
a depression over the area.
“It lay centered at 11.30
a.m. on Sunday near latitude
16.1 degree north and longi-
tude 90.2 degree east, about 560
km north-northwest of Port
Blair (Andaman Islands), 590
km east-southeast of Paradip
(Odisha), 690 km south-south-
east of Balasore (Odisha) and
670 km south-southeast of
Digha (West Bengal),” the IMD
said.
Cyclone ‘Yaas’ is very like-
ly to move north-northwest-
wards and intensify into a
cyclonic storm by May 24
(Monday) morning and further
into a very severe cyclonic
storm during the subsequent 24
hours, it said.
“It would continue to move
north-north-westwards, inten-
sify further and reach
Northwest Bay of Bengal near
West Bengal and north Odisha
coasts by May 26 morning.”
The cyclone is very likely to
cross north Odisha-West
Bengal between Paradip and
Sagar islands by May 26
evening as a very severe
cyclonic storm.
Light to moderate rainfall
is expected at most places with
heavy to very heavy falls at iso-
lated places on Sunday and
Monday in Andaman
Nicobar Islands.
In Odisha, light to moder-
ate rainfall is likely to take place
at many places with heavy to
very heavy rainfall at isolated
places in the north coastal dis-
tricts on May 25. Heavy to very
heavy rains at a few places with
extremely heavy falls is likely in
Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara,
Mayurbhanj and heavy to very
heavy falls at a few places in the
districts of north Odisha,
namely Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack,
Jajpur and Keonjhar is expect-
ed on May 26.
The IMD forecast suggests
light to moderate rainfall at
most places in West Bengal and
Sikkim. Heavy to very heavy
rainfall is likely over Medinipur,
South and North 24 Parganas,
Howrah and Hooghly districts
of West Bengal on May 25.
Extremely heavy rainfall is
expected at isolated places over
Jhargram, Medinipur, North
and South 24 Parganas,
Howrah, Hooghly, Kolkata and
heavy to very heavy rainfall at
a few places over Nadia,
Bardhaman, Bankura, Purulia,
Bhirbhum, Murshidabad,
Malda and South Dinajpur
districts on May 26. Extremely
heavy rain is expected at iso-
lated places in Malda and
Darjeeling, Dinajpur,
Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Sikkim,
Bankura, Purulia, Bardhaman,
Bhirbhum, and Murshidabad
on May 27.
Squally wind speed reach-
ing 45-55 kmph gusting to 65
kmph is likely to prevail over
and around Andaman and
Nicobar Islands, Andaman Sea
and adjoining east central and
southeast Bay of Bengal on
Sunday, the IMD said.
It is very likely to increase
becoming 55-65 kmph gusting
to 75 kmph over east central
Bay of Bengal and adjoining
north Andaman Sea from
Sunday night.
It is very likely to increase
further becoming gale wind
speed reaching 65 to 75 gust-
ing to 85 over major parts of
central Bay of Bengal from May
24 forenoon for subsequent 12
hours and would decrease
gradually thereafter.
IANS
IQQcY[Uid_Y^dU^cYViY^d_
SiS_^YScd_b]Ri=_^TQi
5dcdaT6^ec
bW^d[SaT^eT
_[P`dT^]2T]caP[
EXbcP)BXQP[
?=BQ =4F34;78
Drawing flak from various
quarters, including from
his own fraternity, Union
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan
on Sunday called yoga guru
Ramdev’s statement on allo-
pathic medicines “extremely
unfortunate” and asked him to
withdraw the remark, saying it
disrespects “corona warriors”
and can break the morale of
healthcare workers.
However, this has not
appeased the medical fraterni-
ty who have called for stringent
action against Ramdev who,
they said, has disregarded the
allopathy stream.
Dr Harshvardhan in a let-
ter to Ramdev said that
“through your statement you
not only disrespected corona
warriors but also deeply hurt
the sentiments of countrymen”.
“Your statement on allopa-
thy can break the morale of
healthcare workers and weak-
en our fight against COVID-
19,” Vardhan said and added
that doctors are fighting day
and night to save people’s lives.
Citing a video circulating
on social media, the Indian
Medical association on
Saturday had said Ramdev has
claimed that allopathy is a “stu-
pid science” and medicines
such as remdesivir, faviflu, and
other drugs approved by the
DCGI have failed to treat
Covid-19 patients.
The doctors’ body IMA
also quoted Ramdev as saying
that “lakhs of patients have died
after taking allopathic medi-
cines”. “You calling allopathy
treatment a ‘drama, useless and
diwaliya’ (causing bankrupt-
cy) is unfortunate,” it said
adding that if today deaths due
to COVID-19 is just 1.13 per
cent and recovery rate more
than 88 per cent, it is because
of the contribution of allopathy
and its doctors.
Dr Vinay Aggarwal, ex-
national president of IMA too
had expressed displeasure say-
ing that the negative and
unwarranted comments against
the allopathy sector of which
the Minister was also one of the
members were unfortunate.
“…remarks of Ramdev have
publicly tarnished the image of
the allopathic medical profes-
sionals. This calls for an expla-
nation and immediate action
against Ramdev.”
While welcoming the
Union Minister’s action in the
matter, FAIMA President Dr
Rakesh Bagdi said that such
quacks must be put behind bars
for misguiding people and
defaming allopathic doctors.
5DPGHY¶VVWDWHPHQW
RQDOORSDWKLFPHGLFLQHV
XQIRUWXQDWH9DUGKDQ
?=BQ =4F34;78
With Cyclone Yaas likely to
make landfall at the
Eastern Coast including Odisha
and West Bengal on May 26,
Wednesday, the Armed forces
have stepped up their prepara-
tions by deploying nearly 40 air-
craft and eight warships for res-
cue and relief efforts. Moreover,
several teams of divers and 950
personnel of the National
Disaster Response Force
(NDRF) are already present in
Kolkatta and Bhubaneswar.
Giving details here on
Sunday,officialssaidtheIAFair-
lifted the NDRF personnel and
70 tonnes of load from
Jamnagar, Varanasi, Patna and
Arakonnam to Kolkata,
Bhubaneswar and Port Blair in
15 Transport Aircraft.
Moreover, 16 transport air-
craft and 26 helicopters are on
standby for immediate deploy-
ment. Indian Navy, fresh from
Humanitarian Assistance and
Disaster Relief (HADR) and
rescue operations on the
Western Coast during Ccolne
Tautake, has moved 10 HADR
pallets to Bhubaneswar and
Kolkata, while five HADR pal-
lets are ready at Port Blair.
Eight ships of Eastern Naval
Command and Andaman and
Nicobar Command have been
embarked with HADR Bricks to
provide succour to the people
likely to be impacted. Four div-
ing and 10 flood relief columns
have been pre-positioned at
Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and
Chilika for rendering assistance
to civil administration at short
notice, they said.
Seven flood relief teams
and two diving teams are ready
at different locations in
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
to deal with any eventuality. In
addition, Naval aircraft and
helicopters in Vishakhapatnam
andPortBlairareonoperational
readiness to undertake search
andrescuemissions.Eightflood
relief columns and three
Engineer Task Forces of the
Indian Army are ready for
immediate deployment on req-
uisition by the civil administra-
tion.
The Armed Forces are in
constant touch with the civil
administration of the affected
states. Armed Forces teams are
aware of the need to keep the
road and rail links open to
ensure uninterrupted supply of
life saving oxygen and drugs
required for treatment at
COVID-19 hospitals.
0aTSU^aRTb
aTPShc^STP[
fXcWHPPb
A0:4B7:B8=67Q =4F34;78
The Jammu and Kashmir
police has sought to
counter the negative perception
of the successful counter-ter-
rorist operations in Jammu
and Kashmir last year leading
to elimination of a number ter-
rorists in Srinagar and OGW
(over ground workers) net-
work in the Valley.
“While unprecedented
work has taken place in terms
of a large number of Counter-
Terrorist operations in Srinagar,
eliminating terrorists and their
OGW (Over Ground Workers)
network operating in the city
during 2020, such acts, how-
ever, didn’t go well with the
public perception on improv-
ing security environment for
the last over two years.
Therefore, the senior officers
from Kashmir Zone and the
CRPF shall have to put their
heads together to counter such
trending,” reads a recent letter
of Jammu and Kashmir police
Director General Dilbag Singh
to the Special DG CRPF,
ADGP (now DGP) CID, JK
Jammu, Joint Director of
Intelligence Bureau, Kashmir
and IG (Operations), CRPF,
Srinagar.
In order to further ramp up
the security set in the Valley,
the top JK police official also
stressed on the use of technol-
ogy at some selected spots for
recognition of known terror-
ists, OGWs/suspects, especial-
ly in vulnerable areas in order
to check the movement of
undesirable elements.
In most of the terror inci-
dents, vehicles have been used
by the ultras to reach the tar-
get and escape from the scene
after the terror acts and a
checking plan of vehicles is
required on a daily basis in a
surprise manner on different
routes and on different timings
should be included in the plan,
according to the top official.
Counter measures like
CCTV cameras, vehicle
mounted cameras and other
surveillance gadgetry like
drones and facial recognition
systems need to be used in
crowded places under sur-
veillance. “Installation of
CCTV cameras under the
Smart City Project needs to be
expedited for which con-
cerned authority may be sen-
sitized and activated,” reads
the letter.
The DGP also empha-
sized on the need to generate
intelligence by all the field
officers especially relating to
newly joined terrorists and
their OGWs in Srinagar as
well as their network outside
the city. The terrorists’ data-
base should be updated and
utilised at checkpoints to
identify the ultras and their
associates.
- .SROLFHRQZDWR
EOXQWQHJDWLYHSHUFHSWLRQ
DERXWLWVDQWLWHUURULVWRSV
80=BQ =4F34;78
Since the early days of the
coronavirus pandemic,
patients with diabetes have
been in the spotlight for their
increased risk of severe Covid-
19 outcomes. Now health
experts say diabetes, coupled
with Covid, may be the reason
for the sudden spike in
mucormycosis or ‘black fungus’
infections in the country.
India is known as the
world’s diabetes capital. Nearly
one in six people with diabetes
in the world is from India.
Available scientific literature
reveals that diabetes damages
the pancreatic beta cells and
leads to insufficient insulin
production, resulting in hyper-
glycemia -- a condition which
causes dysfunction of the
immune response. Besides, dia-
betes medication also sup-
presses immune responses.
Covid also decreases
immunity and the drugs used
for its treatment such as steroids
and IL-6 inhibitors (tocilizum-
ab) also leads to further
immune suppression.
The second wave of Covid
has been more lethal in India.
The country has also seen more
persons with diabetes getting
affected by Covid -- almost 76
per cent, Dr V. Ramana Prasad,
senior pulmonologist, KIMS
hospital Hyderabad, told IANS.
80=BQ =4F34;78
Even as recovery rate in
India is improving, doctors
advise people to take proper
care of their body post Covid-
19. They also urge that people
should not believe on pre-
scriptions available on social
media and should consult
doctors before taking any
medicines as excessive use of
medicines is also a concern.
In a conversation with
IANS, Dr Ashish Jaiswal, who
did fellowship in
Pulmonology and Critical
Care Disease from the US and
Europe, said that if one has
tested Covid positive and iso-
lating at home, then they first
they need to identify their
problems, which they call
‘Long Covid’ or ‘Covid Haul
Syndrome’ as it can lasts for
months.
Jaiswal, who is with
Bharadwaj Hospital in Noida,
said that the most common
symptom in long haulers are
chronic fatigue and body pain
and the other most common
thing is chest involvement.
“We notice that 60 per
cent patients are showing
these chest involvement and
other 40 per cent are asymp-
tomatic. But we see patches in
them too. Usually this patch
lessens, but in some cases, it
might increase after 13-14
days in post Covid storm.
A0:4B7:B8=67Q =4F34;78
Amid a spurt in terrorist vio-
lence in Srinagar in quick
succession earlier this year, the
Jammu and Kashmir police
chief has raised security con-
cernsontheefficacyoftheexist-
ing security grid with regard to
the non-locals, security forces
and politicians.
The top police official has
also sought to revisit the
counter-terroristsecuritygridin
the Valley and got an approval
from the Centre for deployment
of 5,000 additional troops of the
Central paramilitary forces.
Following the request for
additional deployment on the
ground, the Union Home
Ministry has approved the pro-
posal and 50 companies of
Central paramilitary forces have
joined duty last week, sources
said.
In the backdrop of a num-
ber of incidents of terrorist vio-
lence happening in Jammu and
Kashmir capital Srinagar in
quick succession in the first
quarter of the ongoing year, the
Union Territory police chief
has raised security concerns on
the efficacy of the existing secu-
rity grid with regard to the
non-locals, security forces and
politicians.
In a recent letter, Director
General of Police Dilbag Singh
directed the Inspectors General
ofpoliceandCRPFtoreviewthe
city deployment and security
grid with their Deputy
Inspectors General and
Superintendents of police in
order to have a well-designed
deployment plan of a large
number of Central paramilitary
forces’ battalions with a grid
comprising Nakas, mobile vehi-
cle check posts (MVCPs), city
patrollingandmanningofmajor
entry and escape routes.
“Whileunprecedentedwork
has taken place in terms of a
large number of Counter-
Terrorist operations in Srinagar,
eliminating terrorists and their
OGW (Over Ground Workers)
network operating in the city
during 2020, such acts, howev-
er, didn’t go well with the pub-
lic perception on improving
securityenvironmentforthelast
over two years,” reads the letter
senttoSpecialDGCRPF,ADGP
(now DGP) CID, JK Jammu,
Joint Director of Intelligence
Bureau, Kashmir and IG
(Operations), CRPF, Srinagar.
Insiders in the CRPF said
despitethedeploymentofalarge
number of the paramilitary per-
sonnel in the Valley, it has not
taken the lead role in counter-
terrorism operations as was the
case when the BSF was the des-
ignated agency for securing
Srinagar and conducting anti-
terrorist actions in the Valley.
Thishasledtoresurfacingofthe
terror groups in the city leading
to casualties of the security
forces personnel, SPOs and
political leaders.
“Though, in some cases,
Police/SFs response to a terror
incident has been appreciable,
the terrorists have generally
taken advantage of floating
movement of the people and
vehicles in the city and escaped
after an act without getting
intercepted in the security grid,”
it said, adding deployments for
more vulnerable areas/persons
have to be designed according-
ly so as to minimize the threat
and maximize the chances of
interception of the anti-nation-
al elements.
3^]´cQT[XTeTX]
_aTbRaX_cX^]bPePX[PQ[T
^]b^RXP[TSXPU^a
2^eXSbPhS^Rc^ab
3XPQTcTbPh
X]RaTPbTaXbZ^U
Q[PRZUd]Vdb_^bc
2^eXS)4g_Tacb
:;`_YSUcUdd_
e`WbQTUcUSebYdiWbYT
23(5$7,21,121*2

5. ]PcX^]$
347A03D=k=30H k0H !#!!
:D0A274;;0??0=Q :278
An innocuous and routine
ordered issued by the
Special Secretary to the
Government of Kerala on May
18, 2021 has snowballed into a
controversy and the credibili-
ty of the sensitive State Special
Branch of the State Police has
come under the scanner.
The order signed and
issued by R Sheela Rani, Special
Secretary, Governor of Kerala
says, “Sri Sini Dennis Deputy
Superintendent of Police, CB,
Kottayam and Sri Shereef S,
Deputy Superintendent of
Police, SSB, Kollam are mutu-
ally transferred with immedi-
ate effect on administrative
convenience and public inter-
est. The above officers shall join
the station to which they are
posted immediately and shall
furnish the Report of Transfer
of Charge to Government with-
out fail. The State Police Chief
shall furnish the compliance
report of this order to the
Government within 15 days”.
The seriousness of this
outwardly harmless
Government Order could be
understood only if the layman
gets to know what the SSB and
CB stand for. The CB is Crime
Branch while the SSB is the
State Special Branch, the wing
dealing with terrorist organi-
zations, their activities in the
State and shadowing the
Ministers of the
Government.
According to senior police
officers, this mutual transfer is
not a routine one as it has been
made out. “The arrest and
interrogation of Siddique
Kappan, the Keralite who was
on his way to Hathras in Uttar
Pradesh reportedly to foment
trouble in connection with the
rape and murder of a young girl
opened a floodgate of details
linking some cops in Kerala
police with extremist elements
based in the State,” said a
senior police officer who did
not want his name to be quot-
ed.
G K Suresh Babu, author
of “The Roots of
Communalism”, a book that
won the Appan Menon memo-
rial Prize, said Kerala police has
been infiltrated by many
extremist elements.
“There was a WhatsApp
Group Green Light in the
Kerala Police to facilitate com-
munication with extremist ele-
ments and the cops. Though it
was shut down the group is
active in another name,” said
Suresh Babu.
The antecedents of Shereef
were established during the
interrogation of Kappan and
his associates. The transfer was
the only option available to the
government to save its face.
“In normal circumstances,
the concerned officer should
have been placed under sus-
pension pending inquiry. But
in our State, things are differ-
ent,” said a former police chief
who too spoke on condition of
anonymity.
He pointed out the act of
another DySP who was asked
to probe the charges of religious
conversion involving Akhila,
the homeopathy student in
2017.
UHGLELOLWRI6WDWH
SROLFHXQGHUVFDQQHU
Diphu: Eight Dimasa National
Liberation Army (DNLA) mil-
itants were on Sunday killed in
an encounter with security
forces in Assam's West Karbi
Anglong district, along the
Nagaland border, a senior
police officer said.
Earlier, he had claimed six
died in the exchange of fire, as
the bodies of two others were
yet to be recovered.
Acting on a tip-off, a team
of police officers and Assam
Rifles personnel launched an
operation, led by West Karbi
Anglong Additional
Superintendent of Police (ASP)
Prakash Sonowal.
An exchange of fire ensued
between the security personnel
and the militants in
Michibailung area, following
which eight members of the
outlawed outfit were gunned
down, the officer said.
Six bodies were initially
recovered, and two others, sus-
pected to be that of the outfit's
top leaders, were spotted later
in the day during combing
operations in the remote
region, along the interstate
border.
Four AK-47 rifles and sev-
eral rounds of ammunition
were found in the possession of
the slain militants, the senior
officer pointed out.
Search operations had been
underway in the district since
last week after a priest was
killed in Daujiphang area, he
said, adding that more details
are awaited about the
encounter. PTI
6ZXYe^Z]ZeR_ed
Z]]VUZ_2ddR^
B0D60AB4=6D?C0Q :;:0C0
Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan
Banerjee has said that Bengal
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar would
be given a taste of his own medicine
after the end of his term when he
would be thrown behind the bar for
acting like a “bloodsucker.”
Making a repulsive remark against
the Governor for allegedly “acting on
behalf of the BJP by continuously dis-
turbing the State Government” the
TMC MP who is also a senior advo-
cate said, “This man is a bloodsuck-
er on the prowl … he has orchestrat-
ed the arrest” of senior Bengal
Ministers Firhad Hakim and Subroto
Mukherjee and former Ministers
Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee.
“I know that no legal steps can be
taken against him now as he enjoys
immunity but still the TMC men
should file FIRs against this man in
all the police stations of Bengal to be
taken up at a future date when he is
not in the chair … after his term ends
we shall take it up and throw him
behind the bar in the same Presidency
Jail where he has sent our senior lead-
ers by acting vindictively,” Banerjee
also a senior advocate said.
“If the phone calls of the
Governor, his officials and his other
activities are placed under scrutiny
then you will find how he has manip-
ulated the arrests of the senior politi-
cians in Bengal and caused them to be
sent behind the bar,” he said.
Soon after the Governor reacted
to the TMC M”’s statements saying he
was “hurt” and “surprised” by the
comments made by a “senior func-
tionary,” like Banerjee. State BJP pres-
ident Dilip Ghosh too hit back at the
TMC MP saying “a lawyer of his
standing should have known a
Governor cannot be booked for his
acts in office,” adding “it is perhaps
this ignorance of his that the
Trinamool Congress Government
could not rely on him and brought in
Abhishek Manu Singhvi to fight the
case of the ministers.”
The four leaders were currently
placed under house arrest by Calcutta
High Court for their alleged involve-
ment in the 5-year-old Narada payoff
case after a two-judge bench failed to
concur on whether they should be
released on bail or kept in judicial cus-
tody. Subsequently acting Chief Justice
Rajesh Bindal ordered them to be kept
under house arrest. The case is being
investigated by the CBI.
The Sunday’s attack by the
Trinamool MP is seen as the part of
the ongoing war between the Raj
Bhavan and the Nabanna (State sec-
retariat).
With no love lost with Mamata
Banerjee Government, the Governor’s
repeated comments and tweets against
the State Government on issues of cor-
ruption and falling law and order sit-
uation has created multiple flash
points.
Things reached a situation when
the Governor early this month sanc-
tioned a request of prosecution by the
CBI following which the central
agency arrested the four politicians.
Meanwhile the high profile case
is likely to be heard on Monday by a
larger five-bench comprising Justices
Bindal, Harish Tandon, IP Mukherjee,
Arijit Banerjee and Soumen Sen.
G27efQR__TceS[Ub*D=3=@
0i^^ZTT_TaUTTSbPA^^UTSCdac[TPc0bbPBcPcTI^^Rd1^cP]XRP[6PaST]^]F^a[SCdac[T3Ph
X]6dfPWPcX^]Bd]SPh ?C8
C=A067D=0C70Q D108
Hours after INS Makar—
using specialised diving
teams and equipment — located
the wreckage of accommodation
barge Papaa-305 that sank on last
Monday, the Indian Navy on
Sunday recovered the bodies of
four more persons working on
board the affected barge, taking
the total number of casualties in
the mishap to 70.
In a development that came
an overnight after the INS Makar
– employing expert diving teams
and advanced side scan sonar –
located the barge Papaa-305 on
the seabed, the Navy personnel
recovered four more bodies from
under the water in the vicinity of
Mumbai High fields where the P-
305 had sunk on May 17.
“Seventy mortal remains
have been recovered from under
the sea. Search and Rescue (SAR)
operations for remaining others
are continuing. There are 188
survivors – 186 from Papaa-305
and two from tug Varaprada,”
Navy’s chief spokesperson
Commander Mehul Karnik said.
“Eight bodies have report-
edly been recovered along the
coast at Raigad district in
Maharashtra and eight more
bodies along Gujarat coast near
Valsad,” Commander Karnik
said.
“Thus all 274 crew reported
missing have been accounted for.
Final confirmation will howev-
er be pending till the identifica-
tion of all bodies recovered is
completed,” the Navy spokesper-
son added .
“Diving on the sunken wreck
of Barge P305 has been com-
pleted by specialised teams
onboard INS Makar and no
bodies have been found. INS
Makar is proceeding to locate the
wreck of Tug Varaprada; and div-
ing operations will be conduct-
ed tomorrow,” Commander
Karnik said.
“Search and Rescue
Operations by ships and heli-
copters/aircraft will continue in
the area to locate the remaining
crew of the sunken vessels,” the
Navy spokesperson added.
The Indian Navy deployed
INS Makar and INS Tarasa to the
BHF, around 175 kms off
Mumbai coast to make an under-
water search for the wrecks of the
two vessels which sank and trace
more bodies using expert divers
and special equipment.
INS Makar is a lead ship of
the Makar-class of Catamarans
used for hydrographic surveys by
IN, producing navigational
charts and is capable of collect-
ing marine environmental infor-
mation by conducting limited
oceanographic surveys.
INS Tarasa is a IN patrol ves-
sel of the Car Nicobar-class in the
series of four Water Jet Fast
Attack Craft.
Indian Naval ships and air-
craft are currently engaged in
Search and Rescue (SAR) oper-
ations to locate the missing crew
members of Accommodation
Barge P-305, which sank on
Monday, 35 nautical miles off
Mumbai coast.
Ships INS Kochi, Kolkata,
Beas, Betwa, Makar, Tarasa, Teg,
P81 maritime surveillance air-
craft, Chetak, ALH and Seaking
helicopters are involved in the
SAR operations, while INS
Talwar has also been
diverted to provide assistance in
relief and rescue
operations.
?$XbWP_c^[[PcPb#^aTQ^SXTbU^d]S
78C:0=370A8 Q 90D
The premises of the
Government Medical
College hospital in Jammu,
epicentre of war against Covid-
-19, was converted into a
potential breeding ground for
the spread of the deadly virus
here on Sunday after hundreds
of aspirants converged to
deposit their job application
forms for the temporary posts
being filled to operationalise
500 bedded makeshift Covid
hospital with the assistance of
Defence Research
D e v e l o p m e n t
Organisation(DRDO).
The office of Principal
GMC, Jammu had invited
applications on May 20 to fill
the posts of Pharmacist,Lab
technicians and X-ray techni-
cians. May 23 was the last date
of submission of offline appli-
cation forms till 4.30 p.m.
In contrast to this the office
of GMC, Srinagar had invited
online applications to fill these
posts in Srinagar.
At the peak of the pan-
demic, the aspirants, hailing
from remote areas of Jammu
division, not only had to face
hardships while commuting
from different district head-
quarters due to strict lock-
down but were also forced to
stand in a queue for long
hours.
The GMC authorities had
not made any arrangements to
ensure social distancing.
No volunteers, security
personnel were deployed to
organise the rush of aspirants.
It was free for all. As the
GMC authorities wasted some
precious time and started
accepting the applications after
11.00 a.m on Sunday the aspi-
rants, converging outside the
office, were forced to violate the
existing guidelines aimed at
containing the spread of the
coronavirus.
Exposing the GMC author-
ities, some of the aspirants
claimed, “we are here to submit
applications to fight the Covid
19 pandemic but here it is turn-
ing out to be a breeding ground
for the spread of virus”. No one
is following the SOP's here.
An aspirant demanding
anonymity claimed, “I really
don't know why we are still
opting for offline modes for
recruitment especially during
the peak of Pandemic? I don't
know why don't people making
decisions fail to anticipate such
scenarios”.
“If the office of GMC
Srinagar is accepting online
application forms there why are
we exposed to such risks that
too inside GMC where a large
number of patients are under-
going treatment”.
Raising question marks
over the whole exercise anoth-
er aspirant informed, “we real-
ly don't know what they are
doing to do with our applica-
tions. They are not giving us
receipts or any other acknowl-
edgement. How do we know
whether they have accepted our
application and what proof do
we have with us that we had
submitted our applications and
the same was received by them
in the office of GMC,
Principal.
C=A067D=0C70 Q D108
Living literarily up to the
much-used phrase “neces-
sity is the mother of invention”,
a second-year student of
Mumbai’s K J Somaiya College
of Engineering has invented
Cov-Tech, a compact and fru-
gal innovation — a ventilation
system for PPE kits that will
provide much-needed relief
for Covid-19 frontline workers.
Son of Dr Poonam Kaur
Adarsh, a doctor who has been
treating Covid-19 patients at
her Pune-based Adarsh clinic,
19-year-old Nihaal has invent-
ed Cov-Tech Ventilation sys-
tem.
The Cov-Tech Ventilation
System became a reality, thanks
to a C10,00,000/- grant for
prototype development and
product innovation, which
Nihaal received from NIDHI’s
PRomoting and Accelerating
Young and ASpiring technolo-
gy entrepreneurs (PRAYAS), of
the Department of Science and
Technology, Government of
India.
The budding entrepreneur
had created a start-up called
Watt Technovations, under the
umbrella of which the ventila-
tion system was developed.
Besides the PRAYAS grant, the
startup also received a support
of C5,00,000, from New
Venture Investment
Programme, conducted joint-
ly by RIIDL K J Somaiya
Institute of Management.
“Cov-Tech Ventilation
System is like you are sitting
under the fan even while you
are inside the PPE suit. It takes
the surrounding air, filters it
and pushes it into the PPE suit.
Normally, due to lack of ven-
tilation, it is hot and humid
within the PPE suit; our solu-
tion offers a way out of this
uncomfortable experience, by
creating a steady air flow
inside.” The design of the ven-
tilation system ensures a com-
plete air seal from the PPE kit.
It provides a breeze of fresh air
to the user in a gap of just 100
seconds,” says Nihaal, while
talking about his
innovation.
It was his doctor-mother’s
experiences that prompted
Nihaal to come out with “Cov-
Tech Ventilation System”.
“Every day after returning
home, my mother would talk
about the difficulty faced by
doctors and other health work-
ers like her who have to wear
PPE suits and get themselves
drenched in sweat.
How can I help her and
others like her, I thought.
Then my subsequent experi-
ments led me to come with the
ventilation kit for frontline
Covid-19 warriors,” Vishaal
recalled. The recognition of
the problem led him to par-
ticipate in a design challenge
for Covid-related equipment,
organized by Technological
Business Incubator, Research
Innovation Incubation Design
Laboratory.
The design challenge led
Nihaal to work on the first pro-
totype. With guidance from Dr.
Ulhas Kharul of National
Chemical Laboratory, Pune,
Nihaal was able to develop the
first model in 20 days.
Dr. Ulhas runs a start-up
which does research on a mem-
brane to filter air, with the aim
of preventing spread of Covid-
19.
Raipur: The Collector of
Chhattisgarh's Surajpur district,
Ranbir Sharma, was removed
from the post on Sunday after a
viralvideoshowedhimslapping
a man and throwing his mobile
phone for alleged Covid-19
norms violation. Chief Minister
Bhupesh Baghel issued instruc-
tionsfortheremovalofthe2012-
batch IAS officer from the post.
The CM also directed offi-
cials to provide a new mobile
phone to the man, identified as
Aman Mittal (23), as his hand-
set was damaged in the inci-
dent that took place on
Saturday. There were several
other videos of Saturday's drive
in which the collector and
other officials were purportedly
seen making people do sit-ups
for allegedly violating the lock-
down norms in Surajpur.In
one such video, another official
was also seen slapping a man
while asking him to do sit-ups
at the same site where Sharma
had slapped Mittal.
The collector along with
some policemen had stopped
Mittal, who was on his motor-
cycle, on a road in
Surajpur where the coron-
avirus-induced lockdown is in
force. PTI
=Tf3T[WX) CWT80B0bb^RXPcX^]
^]Bd]SPhbca^]V[hR^]ST]TS
cWTQTWPeX^da^U2^[[TRc^a^U
BdaPY_da2WWPccXbVPaWAP]QXa
BWPaPfW^bTeXST^^Ub[P__X]V
PP]U^aP[[TVTS2^eXS (]^a
eX^[PcX^]WPbbdaUPRTS^]b^RXP[
TSXPbPhX]VXcfPbPVPX]bccWT
QPbXRcT]Tcb^UcWTbTaeXRTP]S
RXeX[Xch
°2XeX[bTaeP]cbdbcWPeTT_PcWh
P]S_a^eXSTPWTP[X]Vc^dRWc^
b^RXTchPcP[[cXTb^aTb^X]
cWTbTSXUUXRd[ccXTb±XcbPXS
0bZTSPQ^dccWTR[X_P]^UUXRXP[
bPXScWTP]fPbbc^__TSQhcWT
R^[[TRc^aP]SP_^bbT^U_^[XRTX]
BdaPY_daSXbcaXRcfWTaTP
[^RZS^f]XbX]_[PRTc^R^QPc
2^eXS (
2aa]ZTR_ede`]Ue`]Z_Vfa`fedZUV84;R^^fR^ZUaR_UV^ZT
?8=44A=4FBB4AE824 Q 90D
Fifty one more patients succumbed to
the coronavirus across Jammu
Kashmir on Sunday while close to 5,000
patients fully recovered and returned
home. According to the media bulletin,
a total number of 3,308 new positive
cases of novel coronavirus (Covid-19),
were reported on Sunday. Out of this,
1,121 cases were reported from Jammu
division and 2,187 from Kashmir divi-
sion.
Out of 51 deaths, 34 were reported
from Jammu Division and 17 from
Kashmir Division.The highest number of
15 deaths were reported from GMC,
Jammu.
According to the media bulletin,
“4956 more Covid-19 patients were
recovered and discharged from various
hospitals including 1883 from Jammu
Division and 3073 from Kashmir
Division. The total caseload of active
positive cases stood at 47,437 on Sunday.
The overall positivity rate of 7.32 percent
was recorded on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Lt Governor Manoj
Sinha Sunday urged the elected PRI rep-
resentatives, teachers, ASHAs,
Anganwadi, ANM workers and volun-
tary organizations to play an active role
in effective implementation of Covid pre-
ventive measures in rural areas.
In view of the spread of Coronavirus
in rural areas of Jammu Kashmir, the
administration has initiated the setting
up of 5-bedded Covid Centre including
one Oxygen-supported bed in every pan-
chayat to provide immediate medical
attention to the people, observed the Lt
Governor.
“I urge all DDC BDC
Chairpersons, members; Sarpanchs and
Panchs, to extend their support and par-
ticipation in the establishment and oper-
ation of the grass-root level Covid Care
facilities in Panchayats, besides spread-
ing awareness among the rural commu-
nities”, the Lt Governor said.
^TiUQb5^WcdeTU^dY^fU^dc
@@5[YdV_b3_b_^QGQbbY_bc
3_fYT!)SQY]c%!]_bUYfUcY^:;
CebQZ`eb3_USd_bbU]_fUTQVdUb
fYTU_cX_gcXY]cQ``Y^W]Q^
2^[[TRc^abQTWPeX^dad]PRRT_cPQ[TPVPX]bc
QPbXRcT]Tcb^URXeX[Xch)80B0bb^RXPcX^]
0acXbcb_PX]c^]cWTa^PSc^RaTPcTPfPaT]Tbb^]R^a^]PeXadbSdaX]VcWT2^eXSX]SdRTS[^RZS^f]X]7^faPW^]Bd]SPh?C8
EXTf^UcWTWXbc^aXRCPYPWP[^QbRdaTSQhPQ[P]ZTc^USdbcP]SWPiTX]0VaP^]Bd]SPh ?C8