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BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78
Confusion and chaos pre-
vailed at several airports
across India on day 1 of the
resumption of the flights after
two months of coronavirus-
induced lockdown even as 630
flights were cancelled, includ-
ing 82 to and from Delhi and
50 flights to and from Mumbai.
The cancellations were caused
by the West Bengal and Andhra
Pradesh Governments refusing
to relent to the requests by the
Civil Aviation Ministry to allow
flight services from Monday,
and limited operations at major
airports such as Mumbai,
Chennai and Hyderabad.
Consequently, many pas-
sengers reached the airports on
Monday only to be told by the
airline staff that their flights
have been cancelled. Many
people took to social media to
vent their anger. States like
Maharashtra, West Bengal and
Tamil Nadu, which are home to
some of the busiest airports in
the country, were reluctant to
allow domestic flight services
from their airports, citing
swelling Covid-19 cases there.
Fliers were taken aback
upon their arrival at Terminal
3 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi
International Airport, and
vented their ire for not being
informed beforehand.
However, airport officials said
the cancellation took place on
account of several States telling
the Centre that they were not
in a position to operate flights
agreed upon earlier.
Delhi Airport had installed
a scan-and-print boarding card
system for contactless board-
ing, however the scanner mal-
functioned. The Delhi airport
could handle 125 departures
and 118 arrivals on Monday.
Union Civil Aviation
Minister Hardeep Singh Puri
said on Monday evening,
“From no domestic passenger
flights yesterday to 532 flights
and 39,231 passengers today,
action has returned to Indian
skies. With Andhra Pradesh
set to resume operations from
tomorrow West Bengal
from 28 May, these numbers
are all set to increase further.”
On May 22, bookings had
opened for around 1,100
domestic flights for Monday.
The airlines, which were
allowed to operate one-third
of their pre-lockdown domes-
tic services, have been busy
since Sunday night to further
rework their flight sched-
ules.
?=BQ =4F34;78
The Chinese Army has
intruded at least three to
four kms into the Hot Springs
area of Eastern Ladakh and
pitched tents there. India has
ramped up its troop strength
after the Chinese more than
doubled their presence at all the
four stand-off sites in the
region. There are now about
4,000 Chinese soldiers at the
face-off locations.
Also, at most of the places
especially Galwan valley, the
Chinese have started con-
structing barracks for addi-
tional troops and heightened
aerial surveillance though on its
own side of the LAC by heli-
copters.
While the Line of Actual
Control (LAC) remains tense
due to these ongoing stand-offs
on for the past 20-25 days, the
local commanders of the two
armies of the rank of Brigadiers
have held more than five
rounds of talk including one on
Sunday. However, these parleys,
so far, have failed to defuse the
situation.
Diplomatic efforts are also
on at various levels between the
two countries to avoid the sit-
uation from escalating further.
Giving these details here on
Monday, sources in the securi-
ty establishment also said the
face-offs are spread over an area
of more than 30 km but con-
fined to small pockets.
The transgression in the
Hot Springs area is turning out
to be the most challenging as
the Chinese troops have come
in more than three kms into the
Indian territory thereby clear-
ly transgressing the LAC and
mutually agreed protocols, offi-
cials said. Hot Springs is south
east of the Galwan valley.
In an obvious pressure tac-
tics, the Chinese have also
pitched tents indicating they
intend to stay put for some
time, sources said. In response,
the Indian side has also brought
forwards its troops as a defen-
sive measure to check any fur-
ther move by the Chinese. In
fact, this is the general pattern
in all the four stand-off situa-
tions now.
Of the 4,000 to 5,000
Chinese troops, majority are
present at Pangong Tso lake,
which saw a violent face-off
earlier this month with both
sides engaged in
fisticuffs.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Maharashtra continues to
dominate the Covid-19
spread with 2,436 new cases
and 60 deaths on Monday, out
of total 6,332 new cases and 148
deaths reported across India.
Countrywide count of Covid-
19 cases stood at 1,44,868 and
4,172 deaths.
Tamil Nadu spotted new
805 cases, followed by Delhi
(635 new cases) and Gujarat
(405). Tamil Nadu has now a
total of 17,082 cases, Delhi
14,053 and Gujarat 14,468.
West Bengal traced 149
new cases, taking its tally of
cases to 3,816. Rajasthan
reported 272 new cases for a
total count of 7,300.
After Maharashtra
Monday’s death tally of 60,
Delhi witnessed 15 deaths fol-
lowed by seven deaths in Tamil
Nadu and six deaths in West
Bengal.
Of the total 1,44,868 cases,
79,987 are active patients and
60,698 recovered persons.
On Monday alone, across
India 3,004 persons recovered.
As many as 1,186 persons
recovered in Maharashtra
alone.
Highly populated States
such as Uttar Pradesh and
Madhya Pradesh have 2,668
and 2,988 active patients with
3,660 and 3,571 recovery till
date. No deaths reported from
these two States on Monday.
?=BQ =4F34;78
The Centre on Monday
announced to go for a mas-
sive increase in the number of
examination centres for the
pending CBSE Class X and XII
board exams.
HRD Minister Ramesh
Pokhriyal Nishank said that the
exams will be now spread to
15,000 centres instead of 3,000
test centre across the country
to maintain social distancing
norms. The pending exams
are to be held from July 1 to
July 15, with results expected to
be announced by late July .
“Earlier, as per the direc-
tion of Home Ministry the
board was slated to hold the
exams at only 3,000 exam
centres. However, the number
of exam centres has been
increased by 12,000 consider-
ing the Covid-19 situation and
the need for social distancing
among students,” said a senior
HRD Ministry
official.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Putting the Indian
Government in a fix, the
WHO on Monday suspended
the trial of hydroxychloro-
quine as Covide-19 treatment
over safety concerns.
The WHO move followed
a Lancet study of 96,032 hos-
pitalised coronavirus patients
in which it found the anti-
malarial medications hydroxy-
chloroquine and chloroquine
did not appear to benefit the
patients who took them.
Instead, those who received one
of the medications had a high-
er risk of death than those who
did not take them.
On Thursday, the Central
Government had expanded the
use of the medicine as pro-
phylaxis to healthcare and
other frontline workers
deployed in non-Covid and
Covid area after the National
Task Force (NTF) for Covid-19
constituted by the ICMR
reviewed the use of HCQ.
?=BQ =4F34;78
The heatwave condition is
likely to start subsiding
from Thursday as easterly
winds are expected to start
blowing in northern parts of
the country. The IMD cau-
tioned people not to step out
from 1 pm to 5 pm due to
intense heatwave.
The highest day tempera-
ture in Rajasthan on Monday
was recorded in Churu at 47.5
degrees Celsius, while
Allahabad was the hottest place
in UP at 46.3 degrees Celsius.
The IMD had on Sunday
sounded a red category alert for
Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, west
and east Rajasthan for heatwave
or severe heatwaves.
Kuldeep Srivastava, the
head of IMD’s Regional
Meteorological Centre, peo-
ple have been cautioned against
stepping out during 1 pm to 5
pm, when the intensity of the
heat is the most.
?=BQ 270=3860A7
With the domestic flights
resuming from Monday
and international flights also
coming in, the Punjab
Government on Monday
released its own “revised
instructions” for all passengers,
domestic as well as interna-
tional, entering the State via
rail, air, and buses.
The State Health and
Family Welfare Department
on Tuesday issued “revised
instructions”, similar to those
issued by the Centre, for peo-
ple coming into Punjab to all
Deputy Commissioners and
Civil Surgeons, making seven-
day mandatory
quarantine period for all
international travelers.
Notably, the Centre has
left it up to the State
Governments to decide on
quarantining of all
passengers entering the
State.
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Observing that the
Government should be
more worried about the health
of citizens rather than the
health of commercial airlines,
the Supreme Court on Monday
asked the Centre and the
national carrier Air India to
keep the middle seats vacant
on its scheduled flights as a
safety measure. The directive
will become operational after
10 days during which AI can
fill up the middle seat as well.
The top court asked the
Bombay High Court to decide
the plea against Directorate
General of Civil Aviation
(DGCA) circulars expedi-
tiously and said Air India and
other airlines will have to fol-
low the order given by the HC
with regard to safety mea-
sures, including maintaining of
social distancing inside aircraft
by keeping middle seats vacant
between two passengers in a
row.
A Bench headed by Chief
Justice SA Bobde conducted an
urgent hearing on Eid holiday
through video-conferencing
to hear the appeals of the
Central Government and Air
India against the Bombay High
Court order.
“You should be worried
about the health of citizens, not
about the health of commercial
airlines,” the Bench, also com-
prising AS Bopanna and
Hirshikesh Roy, told Solicitor
General Tushar Mehta, who
appeared for the Centre.
The High Court had on
May 22 sought response from
Air India and the DGCA on a
petition of an AI pilot
claiming that the airline was
not following safety measures
for Covid-19
while bringing back Indians
stranded abroad.
The High Court had
directed Air India and DGCA
to file affidavits clarifying their
stand and posted the petition
for further hearing on June 2.
The pilot, Deven Kanani,
in his plea claimed that a cir-
cular issued by the
Government of India on
March 23, 2020 laid some
conditions to prevent the
spread of Covid-19 while
bringing back Indians
stranded abroad due to the
pandemic.
However, the condition
pertaining to keeping the mid-
dle seat between two passen-
gers empty was not being fol-
lowed by the Air India, he said
in the plea.
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Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad
administration on Monday
sealed its border with Delhi
again in view of the rising cases
of the coronavirus in the dis-
trict, according to an official
order. Essential services includ-
ing doctors, paramedical staff,
police, bank employees and
media personnel are allowed to
move across the two cities
after showing identity cards,
the order stated.
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Shimla: Hamirpur and Solan
districts in Himachal Pradesh
will continue with the coron-
avirus lockdown for a month
after the current nationwide
phase ends on May 31. In
addition, section 144 of the
CrPC, which prohibits gather-
ing of people, will also remain
in force in Shimla district up to
June 30, an official said.
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Kathmandu: Criticising Indian
Army Chief Manoj Mukund
Naravane’s remarks on
Kathmandu acting on “behest
of someone” over the Lipulekh
issue, Nepal Defence Minister
Ishwor Pokhrel has said that the
statement was an insult to the
nation’s history and was made
ignoring its social characteris-
tics and freedom.
“Such a statement is an
insulting statement made by
ignoring Nepal’s history, our
social characteristics and free-
dom. With this, the Indian
CoAS has also hurt the senti-
ments of the Nepali Gurkha
army personnel who lay down
their lives to protect India. It
must now become difficult for
them to stand tall in front of the
Gurkha forces,” Nepal’s
Defence Minister reacted to
Indian Army chief’s statement
during an interview with a
local daily, The Rising Nepal, on
May 22.
On May 15, General
Naravane had suggested that
Nepal might be raising the
issue of road construction via
Lipulekh to Mansarovar at
“behest of someone else” after
Kathmandu protested against
India’s newly-built road passing
through Lipulekh area.
During a webinar organ-
ised by a think tank, General
Naravane, without naming
China, said on last Friday,
“There is reason to believe
that they might have raised this
issue at the behest of someone
else and that is very much pos-
sible.”
“The road constructed by
the Border Roads Organisation
(BRO) is on the west side of
Kali river. So, I do not know
what exactly they are agitating
about,” he added.
India had made it clear that
there is no dispute over the new
road built in Uttarakhand,
connecting the Lipulekh pass
with Kailash Mansarovar route
in China. But, Nepal had
protested against it and also
deployed a security post near
the area.
“How professional is it for
the head of the Army to make
a political statement? We don’t
have anything like that here.
Nepali Army does not go vocal
on such matter. The Army is
not there to speak,” he said.
“They may have been some
shortcomings in similar talks
held in the past on many occa-
sion and in international
treaties and agreements. As a
close and friendly state of
Nepal, India should give a pos-
itive response. We will put
forth everything in clear terms
in a dialogue. Such a dialogue
will be held not based on mind
matters but with facts and evi-
dences,” the Defence Minister
added.
Last week, Nepali Prime
Minister KP Sharma Oli had
also responded to Naravane’s
comments saying it is “inap-
propriate” to make the Army
speak over border issues in
between two neighbouring
countries.
Earlier this month, the
Indian envoy was also handed
over a diplomatic note by Nepal
after a dispute arose over the
construction of the road lead-
ing to Mansarovar via Lipulek,
a territory claimed by Nepal.
Defence Minister Rajnath
Singh had inaugurated the link
road to Kailash Mansarovar
yatra on May 8. Nepal said it
has “consistently maintained”
that as per the Sugauli Treaty
(1816), “all the territories east
of Kali (Mahakali) river, includ-
ing Limpiyadhura, Kalapani
LipuLekh, belong to Nepal.”
ANI
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In a unique initiative aimed at
mitigating the woes of
women facing domestic vio-
lence during lockdown, the
Jalandhar Police
Commissionerate has started
the facility of online counseling
helpline for such women
through teleconferencing.
“Due to lockdown, com-
plaints regarding domestic vio-
lence amongst women were
pouring in. To redress such
complaints and ensure their
safety and security, the
Commissionerate Police has
constituted a special panel
under Additional Deputy
Commissioner of Police D
Sudharvizhi. A Sub-Inspector
rank officer Monica Arora
would head the panel with
two Assistant Sub-Inspectors
— Asha Kiran and Suman
Bala—as its members,” said
Jalandhar Commissioner of
Police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar.
Bhullar said that three psy-
chiatrists would be holding
the counseling of the com-
plainants. “As due to lock-
down, it is not possible for the
complainant to move easily
and pursue the case, so this
decision has been taken by the
Commissionerate Police. If any
women complaints about her
problem to the
Commissionerate, this panel
would contact her on the
phone,” he added.
KHAIRA DETAINED BY
POLICE
Jalandhar police on
Monday detained Bholath
MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira
ahead of a candle-light march
in support of Kabaddi player
Arvinderjit Singh Pehalwan in
Jalandhar to “demand justice
for his killing by the police”.
Khaira, along with his sup-
porters, has been detained by
the police for flouting the lock-
down norms.
Bholath MLA has all along
been raising the issue of
Pehalwan’s killing alleging that
the murder of kabaddi player
was connected to the illegal
liquor sale mafia.
Hours before his detention,
Khaira had addressed a press
conference to demand an
enquiry by the central probing
agency (CBI) into “politician-
drug-liquor mafia nexus dam-
aging the youth of Punjab”.
Khaira had sought CBI
enquiry into the revelations
made by a recent ‘chitta’ ped-
dler arrested at Kapurthala,
alleging that he was close to a
senior Congress leader.
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?=BQ 270=3860A7
In the backdrop of the com-
mitment of Haryana Chief
Minister Manohar Lal Khattar
to send back the willing
migrant labourers to their
home states, 2.90 lakh such
laboureres have so far been sent
to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,
Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,
north eastern states and other
states of the country by 77
trains and 5,500 buses till
Monday.
An expenditure of over
C10 crore has been made on the
transportation of migrant
labourers in a safe and sys-
tematic manner, a government
statement said on Monday.
ADGP CID Anil Rao, who
is also the Nodal Officer for
coordinating with other States
for ensuring the safe trans-
portation of labourers under a
special campaigns Code named
as ‘Operation Sanvedna’ said
that the migrant labourers who
have been sent to their respec-
tive states also included those
of neighbouring states of
Rajasthan, Punjab, Himachal
Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Rao said that as per the
directions of Chief Minister, the
entire expenditure on the trans-
portation of the willing migrant
labourers are being made
through the Haryana Corona
Relief Fund set up to combat
Covid-19 Pandemic. He said
that it is the result of the deci-
sion well taken in time by the
Chief Minister that migrant
laboureres in such a large num-
ber have been sent to their
home states free of cost.
He said that now only
about 15,000 laboureres are left
in the State who are willing to
return and for them arrange-
ment of trains and buses have
been made in adequate num-
bers. On Monday arrangement
of 100 buses were made but
only 15 buses have left to the
other States due to less number
of migrant labourers.
Rao said that after the
resumption of economic and
industrial activities in Haryana,
large number of migrant
labourers and workers have
opted to stay back here and
started working in the indus-
trial establishments as earlier.
The ADGP, however, clar-
ified that since number of will-
ing migrants are less so bus and
train service to other States
would continue till May 27 and
labourers willing to return to
their home States could contact
nodal officers and district
administration of their respec-
tive areas.
Trains would be sent to
Jharkhand and Bihar in the
days to come, he added.
However, on 27th May there
will be deliberation for any fur-
therance of special trains and
bus services. Normal Bus and
train services are being
resumed in the state.
Rao said the State
Government is committed to
send every willing migrant
labourer back to their home
state. He said that some
migrants from Manipur locat-
ed Delhi had also contacted the
Haryana Government.
Following which, they were
brought to Gurugram and from
where they have been sent to
Manipur by a train from
Gurugram today on govern-
ment expenditure.
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Atrain carrying 1400
migrant labourers started
from Gurugram, destined to
Jaribam in Manipur on
Monday.
In this train everything
was as normal as it was in
other trains carrying the
migrant labourers except an
initiative by the small children
of Gurugram that moved all
hearts at the station.
Mahi Jeph and her broth-
er Aarav Jeph reached the sta-
tion with toys, biscuits and
chocolates for the toddlers
travelling in train. Officials at
the station helped these chil-
dren in accomplishing this
wonderful gesture.
Mahi, studying in class
ten and her brother Aarav
studying in class VI at The Shri
Ram School (Aravali)
Gurugram did not take the
money to purchase these items
from their parents. The two
broke open the piggy bank
(gullak) meant to keep their
savings, to purchase these toys
and chocolates for the babies
travelling in the train.
Mahi and Aarav used to
help the travelling kids with
migrant. Now, they broke
open the piggy bank and spent
about Rs.10,000 to purchase
toys, biscuits and chocolates
for the small children starting
their long journey. The gifts
were enough to make over 100
children travelling in the train
to Manipur.
Mahi and Arav were so
excited to hand over the gifts
to the travelling children that
they reached at 4.30 pm on sta-
tion for the train that was
scheduled to leave at 6 pm.
Many of the passengers were
seen wiping their tears on
seeing the gesture of love and
humanity of these children.
Prior to sitting in train, the
passengers had to go through
a medical test. They were
asked to sanitise their hands
before being offered lunch
and water. Thermal scanning
was done for all the passengers
and masks were provided.
Travel was free of cost for
these migrant labourers.
Deputy superintendent civil
defence and tehsildar of
Wazirabad Manish Yadav him-
self distributed food packets to
the passengers. They were also
given snacks, biscuits, face
masks, soap and other essen-
tials for the travel.
SDM Badshahpur
Hitendra Sharma was also
present on the railway station.
He informed that the protocol
set for the process of sending
migrant laboureres by train or
bus is being fully followed. It
is also ensured that the norms
of social distancing are also
maintained.
!ZXSbT_chcWTXa_XVVhQP]Zc^WT[_XVaP]c[PQ^daTab
=8:00;8:Q 270=3860A7
Known for standing by his
officers at the time of cri-
sis, Punjab Chief Minister
Capt Amarinder Singh con-
tinued with his lunch diplo-
macy in an apparent attempt
to resolve the ongoing tussle
between the state’s top bureau-
crat and his Cabinet and party
colleagues.
This time, the Chief
Minister hosted luncheon
meeting for the Finance
Minister Manpreet Singh
Badal and the Technical
Education Minister Charanjit
Channi — the two who
reportedly objected to the
Chief Secretary Karan Avtar
Singh’s “rude behaviour” and
led the Cabinet to decide to
boycott the top bureaucrat.
The Monday meeting
came four days after the Chief
Minister met five Congress
leaders, including state party
chief Sunil Jakhar, Jails
Minister Sukhjinder Singh
Randhawa, and three party
MLAs — Amarinder Singh
Raja Warring, Pargat Singh,
and Sangat Singh Gilzian, in
the same way at his farmhouse.
After the May 21 meeting,
the Government sources
claimed that the Chief
Minister’s effort has paid off
and the standoff between the
Ministers and the Chief
Secretary was now over.
However, the Congress leaders
seem to be not satisfied, and
are now looking at Manpreet
and Channi — the two who
spearheaded the attack against
the Chief Secretary — for the
next move.
The leaders, who met the
Chief Minister, had claimed
that the Chief Minister has
assured action in the matter.
It has been learnt that the
Chief Minister is making fer-
vent efforts to resolve the
matter, especially at a time
when not only the State but the
entire nation is strangled due
to coronavirus pandemic.
Available information sug-
gests that the Chief Minister is
in favour of convening a
Cabinet meeting in the com-
ing days, as the last one was
held on May 11, which also
ended amidst the tussle.
Sources informed The
Pioneer that before the cabinet
meeting, the chief minister
wanted to end the standoff
between the two sides, and
that was why he was meeting
the angered leaders and
Ministers to give them a
patient hearing.
While Manpreet had
taken exception to the Chief
Secretary’s “rude behaviour”
and “unacceptable attitude”
during a pre-Cabinet meet-
ing, Channi has all along
been enraged after he
claimed that his Cabinet col-
league Tripat Rajinder Singh
Bajwa had “threatened” him
of reopening an old com-
plaint against him in case he
did not bury the hatchet
now.
DSW¶V OXQFK GLSORPDF FRQWLQXHV
WKLV WLPH KRVWV 0DQSUHHW KDQQL
?=BQ 270=3860A7
Haryana on Monday
reported 29 new cases of
corona virus, taking the State's
case tally to 1213 even as a
total of 37 patients have recov-
ered from various hospitals of
the State over the last 24
hours.
The total number of active
COVID-19 cases in Haryana
is 395 while the number
patients who have been dis-
charged are 802. The State has
a recovery rate of 66.12 per
cent, fatality rate at 1.32 per
cent while tests per million
being conducted are 3,944.
The doubling rate in the State
is 18 days.
While Gurugram has 284
cases, Faridabad 211, Sonipat
163 and Jhajjar has reported
93 COVID-19 infections,
making it a total of 751 cases
in these four districts which
fall in the National Capital
Region. As per the bulletin, 16
deaths have been reported so
far in the State.
Yamunanagar and Nuh
are corona free districts of the
State as eight and 65 persons
tested positive for COVID-19
respectively in both the dis-
tricts have been discharged
from the hospitals, as per the
state health bulletin.
According to the State
government’s health bulletin,
29 fresh cases were reported
from Gurugram, Faridabad,
Sonepat, Jind, Karnal,
Fatehabad, Hisar, Charkhi
Dadri and Kurukshetra.
Gurugram reported high-
est 13 new cases of the dead-
ly disease, taking the total in
the district to 284. Faridabad
reported two new case of the
deadly disease, taking the
total in the district to 211.
Sonepat reported four more
corona virus cases, taking
total to 163.
Karnal, Hisar, Fatehabad
and Charkhi Dadri reported
one more case each, taking the
tally to 33, 20, nine and seven.
Jind and Kurukshetra report-
ed three more cases each,
taking the tally to 29 and 18
respectively.
13 FRESH CASES REPORT-
ED FROM CHANDIGARH
13 fresh cases of COVID-
19 have been reported from
Bapu Dham colony in
Chandigarh till Monday
evening taking the total num-
ber of positive cases to 269 in
the city. While six cases were
reported late Sunday night,
seven were reported during
the day.
A day before, the city had
recorded its youngest ever
Coronavirus fatality of a
three-day baby girl. So far,
four Coronavirus related
deaths have been reported in
the city.
The total cases stood at
266 while the active cases are
75 in Chandigarh, stated
Chandigarh Health
Department’s evening bul-
letin.
187 patients have so far
being declared cured of
Coronavirus and discharged
from the hospital, the bulletin
stated. The BDC, which has
been declared as containment
zone in Chandigarh has
reported 194 positive cases out
of total 266 till now. The
colony in Sector 26 here has
an approximate population
of 60,000 people.
The Administration had
last week started onsite sam-
pling facility at a school in
BDC. With positive cases
being reported every day from
BDC, the Administration has
so far failed to break the
chain of infection in the
colony.
Three quarantine centre
have been set up for residents
of BDC including a care cen-
tre in a school in Bapu Dham
for elderly and Co-morbid
persons, one in girls hostel no
8 of Panjab University and
another in Government
Model school Raipur Kalan.
7PahP]PaTR^aSbaTR^eTaXTbPVPX]bc!(]Tf2^eXSRPbTb
?=BQ 270=3860A7
Punjab on Monday reported 21 fresh cases tak-
ing the total number of coronavirus positive
cases in the State to 2,081.
Among the fresh cases, Amritsar reported
the maximum of 10 cases, followed by six in
Jalandhar, and one each in Tarn Taran,
Kapurthala, SAS Nagar, Patiala, and Sangrur.
Of Amritsar’s 10 new cases, three were peo-
ple with influenza-like illness (ILI), five were
contacts of already diagnosed cases, one recent-
ly returned from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, and
the last one recently returned from abroad.
The Tarn Taran case has a travel history of
Maharashtra.
Of the Jalandhar cases, five are contacts of
a positive case and one is a new case of Severe
Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI). The
Kapurthala case is a new case with a travel his-
tory of Maharashtra.
Sangrur, Patiala and SAS Nagar all report-
ed new cases.
A 29-year-old woman tested positive in
Nayagaon in SAS Nagar — the district's first case
in two weeks. She recently had a baby at
Government Multi-Speciality Hospital in Sector
16, Chandigarh. Her samples, taken at the time
of her delivery, came back positive on Monday.
This takes the district's cases to 106, with just
one active case.
In Patiala, a 20-year-old pregnant tested pos-
itive for COVID-19. A Rajpura resident, she has
already been shifted to the isolation ward of the
Government Rajindra Hospital.
Meantime, the Patiala Health Department
informed that the woman had returned from
New Delhi on May 19. During her regular check-
up for pregnancy, she was screened for COVID-
19.
As per the state Health Department, sam-
ples of 66,142 suspected cases have been sent for
testing so far. Of them, as many as 60,114 sam-
ples were found negative while reports of 3,968
were still awaited.
In the state, a total of 1,913 patients have
been discharged so far after the treatment. Now,
only 128 active cases are left.
NAWANSHAHR, FARIDKOT BECOME
CORONA-FREE
With the recovery of 10 patients in Faridkot and
two in SBS Nagar (Nawanshahr) on Monday, the
two districts have become corona free with no
more active COVID-19 cases in these districts.
Nawanshahr district was earlier also declared
COVID-19 free on April 22, but a new case was
reported three days later.
! UaTbWRPbTbX]
?d]YPQcP[[hXb!'
?=BQ 347A03D=
Amid the fourth phase of
the lockdown, members
of the Muslim community in
Dehradun and elsewhere in
the state celebrated Eid-ul-
Fitr indoors on Monday. The
prayer meetings and com-
munity celebrations associat-
ed with the occasions were
missing this time due to mea-
sures taken to check the
spread of Covid-19.
Since any type of religious
gathering is prohibited dur-
ing the lockdown, many peo-
ple offered their prayers at
home with their family mem-
bers while some did it alone.
According to college stu-
dent Farheen Parveen, I
offered my prayers in my
room. Later, I made some
sevain and shared it with my
roommate. My family lives in
Delhi and my parents asked
me to stay here because they
said that Delhi is in more crit-
ical situation than Dehradun.
Of course, this was the sad-
dest Eid celebration of my life
but we are still lucky to have
shelter, food and safety in
these hard times unlike hun-
dreds of people in our coun-
try.
Local vendor Asif Sheikh
said that he could not return
to his family in Saharanpur
due to lockdown, therefore he
celebrated Eid with his neigh-
bours. Talking about main-
taining social distance during
Eid, Sheikh said his neigh-
bours invited him for a feast
including some other people
who were alone this Eid but
everyone maintained social
distancing at their home
while regularly sanitising
their hands. We are not
highly educated but we know
that novel coronavirus infec-
tion can spread from anybody
to anyone, therefore we are
trying to lead a normal life
while taking all the precau-
tions, he added. A local res-
ident Mohammad Ali also
said that he celebrated Eid
with his family at home and
he hopes that the situation in
the city will get back to nor-
mal soon.
;^RP[bRT[TQaPcT4XSX]S^^abX][^RZS^f]
BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F
34;78
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal on Monday said
that there have been 3,500
new corona cases and around
2,500 patients have recovered
in the last week since the
relaxations on the corona lock-
down have been announced.
He also said that around
2,000 new beds have been
added in 117 private hospitals,
along with 2,500 beds currently
available in the Government
hospitals in Delhi.
This may be noted that on
Sunday, the Delhi Government
had issued an order that 117
private hospitals of Delhi
should save at least 20 per cent
of their beds for the treatment
of corona patients whereas
currently 2,000 beds available
in Government hospitals and
2500 beds available in private
hospitals in Delhi.
Addressing a digital Press
conference in Delhi, Kejriwal
said, “It has been a week since
some relaxations were given on
May 17 and after a period of
one week, I can say that the sit-
uation is under control and
there is no need to worry. We
had expected a sudden rise in
the number of cases after the
relaxations and the same has
happened, but there is no need
to worry.” “The situation will
get worrisome in two cases,
first, if there is a steady rise in
the death rate, and second if
the cases are so severe that it
leads to the collapsing of our
whole healthcare system. I
have been saying this time and
again, there should be no
deaths and people should
recover and go back to their
homes as soon as possible. It
would be a troublesome situ-
ation if the number of severe
patients increases to the extent
that there is a non-availability
of beds, oxygen, ventilators,
and other healthcare infra-
structure.”
Citing the health bulletin
report, he further said that
there were 13,418 cases in
Delhi till yesterday, out of
which 6,540 cases have recov-
ered and 6,617 are active cases.
There have been 261 deaths.
He said that for the status
of Covid-19 dedicated hospi-
tals in Delhi, there are 3,829
beds in government Covid-19
hospitals, out of which 3,164
beds have oxygen availability.
“I stress the term oxygen,
because there is no cure to
Covid-19 currently, and there
is a need to supply oxygen to
severe Covid-19 patients as
their respiratory rate decreas-
es when they become infected.
Only 1478 beds out of 3829
beds are currently occupied.
Around 2500 beds are still
unoccupied.
There are 250 ventilators
available in the government
hospitals, out of which 11 ven-
tilators are being currently
used and around 240 remain
unused,” he added.
As per the data, there are
currently 677 beds in private
hospitals, out of which 509
have been occupied.
“Most of the new cases of
Covid-19 have mild symp-
toms such as a mild fever and
cough, and many of them are
asymptomatic. These cases
do not need to be admitted
into the hospitals and are
advised to follow home isola-
tion. My team stays in regu-
lar touch with them and their
families for monitoring their
symptoms,” Kejriwal said.
CM Kejriwal said, “Today,
3314 people are being treated
through home isolation and
around 2000 people are being
treated in the hospitals. We
are also preparing around
1500 beds fully equipped with
oxygen facilities in GTB
Hospital. This will lead to a
total of 5500 beds available for
Corona treatment in Delhi.
We are fully prepared to han-
dle the surge in serious cases
of Corona.”
Announcing the change
in the number of cases in the
last one week since some
relaxations on Corona lock-
down were given, he said
that there were 9755
COVID+ve patients in Delhi
as on May 17, and there are
13418 cases today, which
means that there has been a
rise of around 3500 patients
in the last week.
He said, “Around 2500
patients have also recovered
in the last week, which is a
positive development for
Delhi. Similarly, there were
1750 patients in the hospitals
on May 17, and today there
are 2000 patients in the hos-
pitals, which means that the
occupancy of only 250 beds
has increased in the last
week.”
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Pioneer dehradun-e-paper-26-05-2020
- 1. 72A34ABB48IDA45 ;6?;H4AB?;0=C 0PaPePcX)CWT0]SWaP?aPSTbW 7XVW2^dacWPb^aSTaTScWT bTXidaT^UcWT_aTXbTb^U;6 ?^[hTab_[P]cfWTaTcWTaTfPb PVPb[TPZPVTP]SP[b^QPaaTS T]cahX]c^cWT_[P]cQhP[[TgRT_c cWTR^XccTTbP__^X]cTSQhcWT bcPcTV^eTa]T]c 72:4H82=10;18A B8=67BA?0BB4B0F0H 2WP]SXVPaW) 7^RZThXR^]1P[QXa BX]VWBT]X^afW^SXTSPc(% PUcTaQPcc[X]Vd[cX_[TWTP[cW XbbdTbfPb^]^]SPh RaTPcTSWTaTfXcWUd[[bcPcT W^]^dabfXcW?d]YPQB_^acb X]XbcTaAP]P6daTTc BX]VWB^SWXSTR[PaX]VcWPccWT ^WP[XbcPSXdfX[[QT]PTS PUcTacWT[TVT]SPah_[PhTa 278=0C4E02D0C48CB 28C8I4=B5A8=380 =Tf3T[WX) 2WX]PWPbSTRXSTSc^ TePRdPcTXcbRXcXiT]bX]R[dSX]V bcdST]cbc^daXbcbP]S QdbX]TbbT]Ua^8]SXPfW^ PaTUPRX]V°SXUUXRd[cXTb±X]cWT R^d]cahP]SfP]cc^aTcda] W^TX]cWTfPZT^UcWT R^a^]PeXadb_P]STXRP]SaXbT X]2^eXS (RPbTbX]8]SXP 20?BD;4 BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78 Confusion and chaos pre- vailed at several airports across India on day 1 of the resumption of the flights after two months of coronavirus- induced lockdown even as 630 flights were cancelled, includ- ing 82 to and from Delhi and 50 flights to and from Mumbai. The cancellations were caused by the West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh Governments refusing to relent to the requests by the Civil Aviation Ministry to allow flight services from Monday, and limited operations at major airports such as Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. Consequently, many pas- sengers reached the airports on Monday only to be told by the airline staff that their flights have been cancelled. Many people took to social media to vent their anger. States like Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, which are home to some of the busiest airports in the country, were reluctant to allow domestic flight services from their airports, citing swelling Covid-19 cases there. Fliers were taken aback upon their arrival at Terminal 3 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, and vented their ire for not being informed beforehand. However, airport officials said the cancellation took place on account of several States telling the Centre that they were not in a position to operate flights agreed upon earlier. Delhi Airport had installed a scan-and-print boarding card system for contactless board- ing, however the scanner mal- functioned. The Delhi airport could handle 125 departures and 118 arrivals on Monday. Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday evening, “From no domestic passenger flights yesterday to 532 flights and 39,231 passengers today, action has returned to Indian skies. With Andhra Pradesh set to resume operations from tomorrow West Bengal from 28 May, these numbers are all set to increase further.” On May 22, bookings had opened for around 1,100 domestic flights for Monday. The airlines, which were allowed to operate one-third of their pre-lockdown domes- tic services, have been busy since Sunday night to further rework their flight sched- ules. ?=BQ =4F34;78 The Chinese Army has intruded at least three to four kms into the Hot Springs area of Eastern Ladakh and pitched tents there. India has ramped up its troop strength after the Chinese more than doubled their presence at all the four stand-off sites in the region. There are now about 4,000 Chinese soldiers at the face-off locations. Also, at most of the places especially Galwan valley, the Chinese have started con- structing barracks for addi- tional troops and heightened aerial surveillance though on its own side of the LAC by heli- copters. While the Line of Actual Control (LAC) remains tense due to these ongoing stand-offs on for the past 20-25 days, the local commanders of the two armies of the rank of Brigadiers have held more than five rounds of talk including one on Sunday. However, these parleys, so far, have failed to defuse the situation. Diplomatic efforts are also on at various levels between the two countries to avoid the sit- uation from escalating further. Giving these details here on Monday, sources in the securi- ty establishment also said the face-offs are spread over an area of more than 30 km but con- fined to small pockets. The transgression in the Hot Springs area is turning out to be the most challenging as the Chinese troops have come in more than three kms into the Indian territory thereby clear- ly transgressing the LAC and mutually agreed protocols, offi- cials said. Hot Springs is south east of the Galwan valley. In an obvious pressure tac- tics, the Chinese have also pitched tents indicating they intend to stay put for some time, sources said. In response, the Indian side has also brought forwards its troops as a defen- sive measure to check any fur- ther move by the Chinese. In fact, this is the general pattern in all the four stand-off situa- tions now. Of the 4,000 to 5,000 Chinese troops, majority are present at Pangong Tso lake, which saw a violent face-off earlier this month with both sides engaged in fisticuffs. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Maharashtra continues to dominate the Covid-19 spread with 2,436 new cases and 60 deaths on Monday, out of total 6,332 new cases and 148 deaths reported across India. Countrywide count of Covid- 19 cases stood at 1,44,868 and 4,172 deaths. Tamil Nadu spotted new 805 cases, followed by Delhi (635 new cases) and Gujarat (405). Tamil Nadu has now a total of 17,082 cases, Delhi 14,053 and Gujarat 14,468. West Bengal traced 149 new cases, taking its tally of cases to 3,816. Rajasthan reported 272 new cases for a total count of 7,300. After Maharashtra Monday’s death tally of 60, Delhi witnessed 15 deaths fol- lowed by seven deaths in Tamil Nadu and six deaths in West Bengal. Of the total 1,44,868 cases, 79,987 are active patients and 60,698 recovered persons. On Monday alone, across India 3,004 persons recovered. As many as 1,186 persons recovered in Maharashtra alone. Highly populated States such as Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have 2,668 and 2,988 active patients with 3,660 and 3,571 recovery till date. No deaths reported from these two States on Monday. ?=BQ =4F34;78 The Centre on Monday announced to go for a mas- sive increase in the number of examination centres for the pending CBSE Class X and XII board exams. HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said that the exams will be now spread to 15,000 centres instead of 3,000 test centre across the country to maintain social distancing norms. The pending exams are to be held from July 1 to July 15, with results expected to be announced by late July . “Earlier, as per the direc- tion of Home Ministry the board was slated to hold the exams at only 3,000 exam centres. However, the number of exam centres has been increased by 12,000 consider- ing the Covid-19 situation and the need for social distancing among students,” said a senior HRD Ministry official. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Putting the Indian Government in a fix, the WHO on Monday suspended the trial of hydroxychloro- quine as Covide-19 treatment over safety concerns. The WHO move followed a Lancet study of 96,032 hos- pitalised coronavirus patients in which it found the anti- malarial medications hydroxy- chloroquine and chloroquine did not appear to benefit the patients who took them. Instead, those who received one of the medications had a high- er risk of death than those who did not take them. On Thursday, the Central Government had expanded the use of the medicine as pro- phylaxis to healthcare and other frontline workers deployed in non-Covid and Covid area after the National Task Force (NTF) for Covid-19 constituted by the ICMR reviewed the use of HCQ. ?=BQ =4F34;78 The heatwave condition is likely to start subsiding from Thursday as easterly winds are expected to start blowing in northern parts of the country. The IMD cau- tioned people not to step out from 1 pm to 5 pm due to intense heatwave. The highest day tempera- ture in Rajasthan on Monday was recorded in Churu at 47.5 degrees Celsius, while Allahabad was the hottest place in UP at 46.3 degrees Celsius. The IMD had on Sunday sounded a red category alert for Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, west and east Rajasthan for heatwave or severe heatwaves. Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of IMD’s Regional Meteorological Centre, peo- ple have been cautioned against stepping out during 1 pm to 5 pm, when the intensity of the heat is the most. ?=BQ 270=3860A7 With the domestic flights resuming from Monday and international flights also coming in, the Punjab Government on Monday released its own “revised instructions” for all passengers, domestic as well as interna- tional, entering the State via rail, air, and buses. The State Health and Family Welfare Department on Tuesday issued “revised instructions”, similar to those issued by the Centre, for peo- ple coming into Punjab to all Deputy Commissioners and Civil Surgeons, making seven- day mandatory quarantine period for all international travelers. Notably, the Centre has left it up to the State Governments to decide on quarantining of all passengers entering the State. E`eR]TYR`d`_URj`WW]ZXYecVdf^aeZ`_ IOLJKWV FDQFHOOHG LQ 'HOKL LQ 0XPEDL QR DLU VHUYLFH LQ %HQJDO $QGKUD IOLHUV YHQW LUH IRU QRW EHLQJ LQIRUPHG LQ DGYDQFH ?=BQ =4F34;78 Observing that the Government should be more worried about the health of citizens rather than the health of commercial airlines, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and the national carrier Air India to keep the middle seats vacant on its scheduled flights as a safety measure. The directive will become operational after 10 days during which AI can fill up the middle seat as well. The top court asked the Bombay High Court to decide the plea against Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) circulars expedi- tiously and said Air India and other airlines will have to fol- low the order given by the HC with regard to safety mea- sures, including maintaining of social distancing inside aircraft by keeping middle seats vacant between two passengers in a row. A Bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde conducted an urgent hearing on Eid holiday through video-conferencing to hear the appeals of the Central Government and Air India against the Bombay High Court order. “You should be worried about the health of citizens, not about the health of commercial airlines,” the Bench, also com- prising AS Bopanna and Hirshikesh Roy, told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Centre. The High Court had on May 22 sought response from Air India and the DGCA on a petition of an AI pilot claiming that the airline was not following safety measures for Covid-19 while bringing back Indians stranded abroad. The High Court had directed Air India and DGCA to file affidavits clarifying their stand and posted the petition for further hearing on June 2. The pilot, Deven Kanani, in his plea claimed that a cir- cular issued by the Government of India on March 23, 2020 laid some conditions to prevent the spread of Covid-19 while bringing back Indians stranded abroad due to the pandemic. However, the condition pertaining to keeping the mid- dle seat between two passen- gers empty was not being fol- lowed by the Air India, he said in the plea. .HHS PLGGOH VHDWV YDFDQW DIWHU GDV 6 WR $, KLQD SLWFKHV WHQWV NP LQVLGH /DGDNK +RW 6SULQJV :_UZRcR^adfaec``a decV_XeYRd%!!! 4YZ_VdVec``adRe WRTV`WW]`TReZ`_d 6HHV YH GHDWKV QHZ FDVHV GHDWKV LQ ,QGLD Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad administration on Monday sealed its border with Delhi again in view of the rising cases of the coronavirus in the dis- trict, according to an official order. Essential services includ- ing doctors, paramedical staff, police, bank employees and media personnel are allowed to move across the two cities after showing identity cards, the order stated. *]E VHDOV ERUGHU ZLWK 'HOKL DJDLQ Shimla: Hamirpur and Solan districts in Himachal Pradesh will continue with the coron- avirus lockdown for a month after the current nationwide phase ends on May 31. In addition, section 144 of the CrPC, which prohibits gather- ing of people, will also remain in force in Shimla district up to June 30, an official said. =`TU`h_VieV_UVU Z_9A¶d9R^Zcafc D`]R_,TfcSdeZ]] ;f_V$!Z_DYZ^]R 4]RddII:: ViR^ TV_ecVdZ_TcVRdVU Wc`^$e`W`c d`TZR]UZdeR_TZ_X H9@dfdaV_Ud 94BecZR]`gVc dRWVejT`_TVc_ 7KXQGHUVWRUP WR EULQJ UHVSLWH IURP KHDWZDYH 7KXUV RQZDUGV (URjbfRcR_eZ_V W`cR]]V_eVcZ_X Af_[RSgZRRZc cRZ]hRjc`RU 0B_XRT9Tc_[P]TcPZTb^UUUa^2WT]]PXPXa_^acU^aS^TbcXRcaPeT[PUcTaU[XVWcb aTbdTSSdaX]VcWT^]V^X]V]PcX^]fXST[^RZS^f]X]2WT]]PX^]^]SPh ?C8 0]PXa_^acbcPUUTabP]XcXbTbP_PbbT]VTa´b[dVVPVTPcC^UcWT8680Xa_^acX]=Tf3T[WX^]^]SPh AP]YP]3XaXk?X^]TTa 1HSDO UDSV 1DUDYDQH¶V /LSXOHNK UHPDUN Kathmandu: Criticising Indian Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane’s remarks on Kathmandu acting on “behest of someone” over the Lipulekh issue, Nepal Defence Minister Ishwor Pokhrel has said that the statement was an insult to the nation’s history and was made ignoring its social characteris- tics and freedom. “Such a statement is an insulting statement made by ignoring Nepal’s history, our social characteristics and free- dom. With this, the Indian CoAS has also hurt the senti- ments of the Nepali Gurkha army personnel who lay down their lives to protect India. It must now become difficult for them to stand tall in front of the Gurkha forces,” Nepal’s Defence Minister reacted to Indian Army chief’s statement during an interview with a local daily, The Rising Nepal, on May 22. On May 15, General Naravane had suggested that Nepal might be raising the issue of road construction via Lipulekh to Mansarovar at “behest of someone else” after Kathmandu protested against India’s newly-built road passing through Lipulekh area. During a webinar organ- ised by a think tank, General Naravane, without naming China, said on last Friday, “There is reason to believe that they might have raised this issue at the behest of someone else and that is very much pos- sible.” “The road constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is on the west side of Kali river. So, I do not know what exactly they are agitating about,” he added. India had made it clear that there is no dispute over the new road built in Uttarakhand, connecting the Lipulekh pass with Kailash Mansarovar route in China. But, Nepal had protested against it and also deployed a security post near the area. “How professional is it for the head of the Army to make a political statement? We don’t have anything like that here. Nepali Army does not go vocal on such matter. The Army is not there to speak,” he said. “They may have been some shortcomings in similar talks held in the past on many occa- sion and in international treaties and agreements. As a close and friendly state of Nepal, India should give a pos- itive response. We will put forth everything in clear terms in a dialogue. Such a dialogue will be held not based on mind matters but with facts and evi- dences,” the Defence Minister added. Last week, Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had also responded to Naravane’s comments saying it is “inap- propriate” to make the Army speak over border issues in between two neighbouring countries. Earlier this month, the Indian envoy was also handed over a diplomatic note by Nepal after a dispute arose over the construction of the road lead- ing to Mansarovar via Lipulek, a territory claimed by Nepal. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had inaugurated the link road to Kailash Mansarovar yatra on May 8. Nepal said it has “consistently maintained” that as per the Sugauli Treaty (1816), “all the territories east of Kali (Mahakali) river, includ- ing Limpiyadhura, Kalapani LipuLekh, belong to Nepal.” ANI :_UZR_2c^j4YZVWd T`^^V_eR_Z_df]e e``fcYZde`cj+?VaR] 5VWV_TVZ_ZdeVc 4`gZU* 20B4B) ##'%' 340C7B) # ! A42E4A43) %#(' CC0; BC0C4B CC0;20B4B340C7BA42E4A43 PWPaPbWcaP $!%% %($ $'% CPX[=PSd '! (' 6dYPaPc ##%' '''%%% 3T[WX #$ !% % APYPbcWP] %'$% PSWhP?aPSTbW %'$( $ DccPa?aPSTbW %#( %(%% FTbc1T]VP[ ' % !' # # 0]SWaP?PSTbW !'!# $% ''# 1XWPa ! RYRT`_eZ_fVde`RUU $cUTRdVd /CWT3PX[h?X^]TTa UPRTQ^^ZR^SPX[h_X^]TTa7`]]`hfd`_+ fffSPX[h_X^]TTaR^ X]bcPVaPR^SPX[h_X^]TTa ;PcT2Xch E^[ #8bbdT ## 0XaBdaRWPaVT4gcaPXU0__[XRPQ[T ?dQ[XbWTS5a^ 34;78;D2:=F 17?0;17D10=4BF0A A0=278A08?DA 270=3860A7 347A03D= 7H34A0103E890HF030 4bcPQ[XbWTS '%# 51, 1R 5HJQ 877(1* 5(*' 1R 8$'2''1 347A03D=CD4B30H0H!%!!*?064B !C! m @A:?:@?' 2;;0?B45 FA;342=H H@C=5* ?80?;0=42A0B7)?8;C86=A43 F0A=8=6BC;F4A0;C8CD34 ;:?DB51DC 89=C56D? 819B3??EB !!F9F139DI m DA@CE# 1E17BC10H4A= 8=1D=34B;860
- 2. ]PcX^]!347A03D=kCD4B30H k0H !%!! C02:;8=62A=0E8ADB ?=BQ 90;0=370A In a unique initiative aimed at mitigating the woes of women facing domestic vio- lence during lockdown, the Jalandhar Police Commissionerate has started the facility of online counseling helpline for such women through teleconferencing. “Due to lockdown, com- plaints regarding domestic vio- lence amongst women were pouring in. To redress such complaints and ensure their safety and security, the Commissionerate Police has constituted a special panel under Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police D Sudharvizhi. A Sub-Inspector rank officer Monica Arora would head the panel with two Assistant Sub-Inspectors — Asha Kiran and Suman Bala—as its members,” said Jalandhar Commissioner of Police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar. Bhullar said that three psy- chiatrists would be holding the counseling of the com- plainants. “As due to lock- down, it is not possible for the complainant to move easily and pursue the case, so this decision has been taken by the Commissionerate Police. If any women complaints about her problem to the Commissionerate, this panel would contact her on the phone,” he added. KHAIRA DETAINED BY POLICE Jalandhar police on Monday detained Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira ahead of a candle-light march in support of Kabaddi player Arvinderjit Singh Pehalwan in Jalandhar to “demand justice for his killing by the police”. Khaira, along with his sup- porters, has been detained by the police for flouting the lock- down norms. Bholath MLA has all along been raising the issue of Pehalwan’s killing alleging that the murder of kabaddi player was connected to the illegal liquor sale mafia. Hours before his detention, Khaira had addressed a press conference to demand an enquiry by the central probing agency (CBI) into “politician- drug-liquor mafia nexus dam- aging the youth of Punjab”. Khaira had sought CBI enquiry into the revelations made by a recent ‘chitta’ ped- dler arrested at Kapurthala, alleging that he was close to a senior Congress leader. 2QOLQH FRXQVHOOLQJ IRU ZRPHQ LQ GLVWUHVV LQ -DODQGKDU ?=BQ 270=3860A7 In the backdrop of the com- mitment of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to send back the willing migrant labourers to their home states, 2.90 lakh such laboureres have so far been sent to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, north eastern states and other states of the country by 77 trains and 5,500 buses till Monday. An expenditure of over C10 crore has been made on the transportation of migrant labourers in a safe and sys- tematic manner, a government statement said on Monday. ADGP CID Anil Rao, who is also the Nodal Officer for coordinating with other States for ensuring the safe trans- portation of labourers under a special campaigns Code named as ‘Operation Sanvedna’ said that the migrant labourers who have been sent to their respec- tive states also included those of neighbouring states of Rajasthan, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Rao said that as per the directions of Chief Minister, the entire expenditure on the trans- portation of the willing migrant labourers are being made through the Haryana Corona Relief Fund set up to combat Covid-19 Pandemic. He said that it is the result of the deci- sion well taken in time by the Chief Minister that migrant laboureres in such a large num- ber have been sent to their home states free of cost. He said that now only about 15,000 laboureres are left in the State who are willing to return and for them arrange- ment of trains and buses have been made in adequate num- bers. On Monday arrangement of 100 buses were made but only 15 buses have left to the other States due to less number of migrant labourers. Rao said that after the resumption of economic and industrial activities in Haryana, large number of migrant labourers and workers have opted to stay back here and started working in the indus- trial establishments as earlier. The ADGP, however, clar- ified that since number of will- ing migrants are less so bus and train service to other States would continue till May 27 and labourers willing to return to their home States could contact nodal officers and district administration of their respec- tive areas. Trains would be sent to Jharkhand and Bihar in the days to come, he added. However, on 27th May there will be deliberation for any fur- therance of special trains and bus services. Normal Bus and train services are being resumed in the state. Rao said the State Government is committed to send every willing migrant labourer back to their home state. He said that some migrants from Manipur locat- ed Delhi had also contacted the Haryana Government. Following which, they were brought to Gurugram and from where they have been sent to Manipur by a train from Gurugram today on govern- ment expenditure. #*=^ZXcR_edX`e`FA3ZYRcAR_U4YYReeZdXRcYWc`^9cj ?=BQ 6DAD6A0 270=3860A7 Atrain carrying 1400 migrant labourers started from Gurugram, destined to Jaribam in Manipur on Monday. In this train everything was as normal as it was in other trains carrying the migrant labourers except an initiative by the small children of Gurugram that moved all hearts at the station. Mahi Jeph and her broth- er Aarav Jeph reached the sta- tion with toys, biscuits and chocolates for the toddlers travelling in train. Officials at the station helped these chil- dren in accomplishing this wonderful gesture. Mahi, studying in class ten and her brother Aarav studying in class VI at The Shri Ram School (Aravali) Gurugram did not take the money to purchase these items from their parents. The two broke open the piggy bank (gullak) meant to keep their savings, to purchase these toys and chocolates for the babies travelling in the train. Mahi and Aarav used to help the travelling kids with migrant. Now, they broke open the piggy bank and spent about Rs.10,000 to purchase toys, biscuits and chocolates for the small children starting their long journey. The gifts were enough to make over 100 children travelling in the train to Manipur. Mahi and Arav were so excited to hand over the gifts to the travelling children that they reached at 4.30 pm on sta- tion for the train that was scheduled to leave at 6 pm. Many of the passengers were seen wiping their tears on seeing the gesture of love and humanity of these children. Prior to sitting in train, the passengers had to go through a medical test. They were asked to sanitise their hands before being offered lunch and water. Thermal scanning was done for all the passengers and masks were provided. Travel was free of cost for these migrant labourers. Deputy superintendent civil defence and tehsildar of Wazirabad Manish Yadav him- self distributed food packets to the passengers. They were also given snacks, biscuits, face masks, soap and other essen- tials for the travel. SDM Badshahpur Hitendra Sharma was also present on the railway station. He informed that the protocol set for the process of sending migrant laboureres by train or bus is being fully followed. It is also ensured that the norms of social distancing are also maintained. !ZXSbT_chcWTXa_XVVhQP]Zc^WT[_XVaP]c[PQ^daTab =8:00;8:Q 270=3860A7 Known for standing by his officers at the time of cri- sis, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh con- tinued with his lunch diplo- macy in an apparent attempt to resolve the ongoing tussle between the state’s top bureau- crat and his Cabinet and party colleagues. This time, the Chief Minister hosted luncheon meeting for the Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and the Technical Education Minister Charanjit Channi — the two who reportedly objected to the Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh’s “rude behaviour” and led the Cabinet to decide to boycott the top bureaucrat. The Monday meeting came four days after the Chief Minister met five Congress leaders, including state party chief Sunil Jakhar, Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, and three party MLAs — Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Pargat Singh, and Sangat Singh Gilzian, in the same way at his farmhouse. After the May 21 meeting, the Government sources claimed that the Chief Minister’s effort has paid off and the standoff between the Ministers and the Chief Secretary was now over. However, the Congress leaders seem to be not satisfied, and are now looking at Manpreet and Channi — the two who spearheaded the attack against the Chief Secretary — for the next move. The leaders, who met the Chief Minister, had claimed that the Chief Minister has assured action in the matter. It has been learnt that the Chief Minister is making fer- vent efforts to resolve the matter, especially at a time when not only the State but the entire nation is strangled due to coronavirus pandemic. Available information sug- gests that the Chief Minister is in favour of convening a Cabinet meeting in the com- ing days, as the last one was held on May 11, which also ended amidst the tussle. Sources informed The Pioneer that before the cabinet meeting, the chief minister wanted to end the standoff between the two sides, and that was why he was meeting the angered leaders and Ministers to give them a patient hearing. While Manpreet had taken exception to the Chief Secretary’s “rude behaviour” and “unacceptable attitude” during a pre-Cabinet meet- ing, Channi has all along been enraged after he claimed that his Cabinet col- league Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa had “threatened” him of reopening an old com- plaint against him in case he did not bury the hatchet now. DSW¶V OXQFK GLSORPDF FRQWLQXHV WKLV WLPH KRVWV 0DQSUHHW KDQQL ?=BQ 270=3860A7 Haryana on Monday reported 29 new cases of corona virus, taking the State's case tally to 1213 even as a total of 37 patients have recov- ered from various hospitals of the State over the last 24 hours. The total number of active COVID-19 cases in Haryana is 395 while the number patients who have been dis- charged are 802. The State has a recovery rate of 66.12 per cent, fatality rate at 1.32 per cent while tests per million being conducted are 3,944. The doubling rate in the State is 18 days. While Gurugram has 284 cases, Faridabad 211, Sonipat 163 and Jhajjar has reported 93 COVID-19 infections, making it a total of 751 cases in these four districts which fall in the National Capital Region. As per the bulletin, 16 deaths have been reported so far in the State. Yamunanagar and Nuh are corona free districts of the State as eight and 65 persons tested positive for COVID-19 respectively in both the dis- tricts have been discharged from the hospitals, as per the state health bulletin. According to the State government’s health bulletin, 29 fresh cases were reported from Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonepat, Jind, Karnal, Fatehabad, Hisar, Charkhi Dadri and Kurukshetra. Gurugram reported high- est 13 new cases of the dead- ly disease, taking the total in the district to 284. Faridabad reported two new case of the deadly disease, taking the total in the district to 211. Sonepat reported four more corona virus cases, taking total to 163. Karnal, Hisar, Fatehabad and Charkhi Dadri reported one more case each, taking the tally to 33, 20, nine and seven. Jind and Kurukshetra report- ed three more cases each, taking the tally to 29 and 18 respectively. 13 FRESH CASES REPORT- ED FROM CHANDIGARH 13 fresh cases of COVID- 19 have been reported from Bapu Dham colony in Chandigarh till Monday evening taking the total num- ber of positive cases to 269 in the city. While six cases were reported late Sunday night, seven were reported during the day. A day before, the city had recorded its youngest ever Coronavirus fatality of a three-day baby girl. So far, four Coronavirus related deaths have been reported in the city. The total cases stood at 266 while the active cases are 75 in Chandigarh, stated Chandigarh Health Department’s evening bul- letin. 187 patients have so far being declared cured of Coronavirus and discharged from the hospital, the bulletin stated. The BDC, which has been declared as containment zone in Chandigarh has reported 194 positive cases out of total 266 till now. The colony in Sector 26 here has an approximate population of 60,000 people. The Administration had last week started onsite sam- pling facility at a school in BDC. With positive cases being reported every day from BDC, the Administration has so far failed to break the chain of infection in the colony. Three quarantine centre have been set up for residents of BDC including a care cen- tre in a school in Bapu Dham for elderly and Co-morbid persons, one in girls hostel no 8 of Panjab University and another in Government Model school Raipur Kalan. 7PahP]PaTR^aSbaTR^eTaXTbPVPX]bc!(]Tf2^eXSRPbTb ?=BQ 270=3860A7 Punjab on Monday reported 21 fresh cases tak- ing the total number of coronavirus positive cases in the State to 2,081. Among the fresh cases, Amritsar reported the maximum of 10 cases, followed by six in Jalandhar, and one each in Tarn Taran, Kapurthala, SAS Nagar, Patiala, and Sangrur. Of Amritsar’s 10 new cases, three were peo- ple with influenza-like illness (ILI), five were contacts of already diagnosed cases, one recent- ly returned from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, and the last one recently returned from abroad. The Tarn Taran case has a travel history of Maharashtra. Of the Jalandhar cases, five are contacts of a positive case and one is a new case of Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI). The Kapurthala case is a new case with a travel his- tory of Maharashtra. Sangrur, Patiala and SAS Nagar all report- ed new cases. A 29-year-old woman tested positive in Nayagaon in SAS Nagar — the district's first case in two weeks. She recently had a baby at Government Multi-Speciality Hospital in Sector 16, Chandigarh. Her samples, taken at the time of her delivery, came back positive on Monday. This takes the district's cases to 106, with just one active case. In Patiala, a 20-year-old pregnant tested pos- itive for COVID-19. A Rajpura resident, she has already been shifted to the isolation ward of the Government Rajindra Hospital. Meantime, the Patiala Health Department informed that the woman had returned from New Delhi on May 19. During her regular check- up for pregnancy, she was screened for COVID- 19. As per the state Health Department, sam- ples of 66,142 suspected cases have been sent for testing so far. Of them, as many as 60,114 sam- ples were found negative while reports of 3,968 were still awaited. In the state, a total of 1,913 patients have been discharged so far after the treatment. Now, only 128 active cases are left. NAWANSHAHR, FARIDKOT BECOME CORONA-FREE With the recovery of 10 patients in Faridkot and two in SBS Nagar (Nawanshahr) on Monday, the two districts have become corona free with no more active COVID-19 cases in these districts. Nawanshahr district was earlier also declared COVID-19 free on April 22, but a new case was reported three days later. ! UaTbWRPbTbX] ?d]YPQcP[[hXb!' ?=BQ 347A03D= Amid the fourth phase of the lockdown, members of the Muslim community in Dehradun and elsewhere in the state celebrated Eid-ul- Fitr indoors on Monday. The prayer meetings and com- munity celebrations associat- ed with the occasions were missing this time due to mea- sures taken to check the spread of Covid-19. Since any type of religious gathering is prohibited dur- ing the lockdown, many peo- ple offered their prayers at home with their family mem- bers while some did it alone. According to college stu- dent Farheen Parveen, I offered my prayers in my room. Later, I made some sevain and shared it with my roommate. My family lives in Delhi and my parents asked me to stay here because they said that Delhi is in more crit- ical situation than Dehradun. Of course, this was the sad- dest Eid celebration of my life but we are still lucky to have shelter, food and safety in these hard times unlike hun- dreds of people in our coun- try. Local vendor Asif Sheikh said that he could not return to his family in Saharanpur due to lockdown, therefore he celebrated Eid with his neigh- bours. Talking about main- taining social distance during Eid, Sheikh said his neigh- bours invited him for a feast including some other people who were alone this Eid but everyone maintained social distancing at their home while regularly sanitising their hands. We are not highly educated but we know that novel coronavirus infec- tion can spread from anybody to anyone, therefore we are trying to lead a normal life while taking all the precau- tions, he added. A local res- ident Mohammad Ali also said that he celebrated Eid with his family at home and he hopes that the situation in the city will get back to nor- mal soon. ;^RP[bRT[TQaPcT4XSX]S^^abX][^RZS^f] BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F 34;78 Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that there have been 3,500 new corona cases and around 2,500 patients have recovered in the last week since the relaxations on the corona lock- down have been announced. He also said that around 2,000 new beds have been added in 117 private hospitals, along with 2,500 beds currently available in the Government hospitals in Delhi. This may be noted that on Sunday, the Delhi Government had issued an order that 117 private hospitals of Delhi should save at least 20 per cent of their beds for the treatment of corona patients whereas currently 2,000 beds available in Government hospitals and 2500 beds available in private hospitals in Delhi. Addressing a digital Press conference in Delhi, Kejriwal said, “It has been a week since some relaxations were given on May 17 and after a period of one week, I can say that the sit- uation is under control and there is no need to worry. We had expected a sudden rise in the number of cases after the relaxations and the same has happened, but there is no need to worry.” “The situation will get worrisome in two cases, first, if there is a steady rise in the death rate, and second if the cases are so severe that it leads to the collapsing of our whole healthcare system. I have been saying this time and again, there should be no deaths and people should recover and go back to their homes as soon as possible. It would be a troublesome situ- ation if the number of severe patients increases to the extent that there is a non-availability of beds, oxygen, ventilators, and other healthcare infra- structure.” Citing the health bulletin report, he further said that there were 13,418 cases in Delhi till yesterday, out of which 6,540 cases have recov- ered and 6,617 are active cases. There have been 261 deaths. He said that for the status of Covid-19 dedicated hospi- tals in Delhi, there are 3,829 beds in government Covid-19 hospitals, out of which 3,164 beds have oxygen availability. “I stress the term oxygen, because there is no cure to Covid-19 currently, and there is a need to supply oxygen to severe Covid-19 patients as their respiratory rate decreas- es when they become infected. Only 1478 beds out of 3829 beds are currently occupied. Around 2500 beds are still unoccupied. There are 250 ventilators available in the government hospitals, out of which 11 ven- tilators are being currently used and around 240 remain unused,” he added. As per the data, there are currently 677 beds in private hospitals, out of which 509 have been occupied. “Most of the new cases of Covid-19 have mild symp- toms such as a mild fever and cough, and many of them are asymptomatic. These cases do not need to be admitted into the hospitals and are advised to follow home isola- tion. My team stays in regu- lar touch with them and their families for monitoring their symptoms,” Kejriwal said. CM Kejriwal said, “Today, 3314 people are being treated through home isolation and around 2000 people are being treated in the hospitals. We are also preparing around 1500 beds fully equipped with oxygen facilities in GTB Hospital. This will lead to a total of 5500 beds available for Corona treatment in Delhi. We are fully prepared to han- dle the surge in serious cases of Corona.” Announcing the change in the number of cases in the last one week since some relaxations on Corona lock- down were given, he said that there were 9755 COVID+ve patients in Delhi as on May 17, and there are 13418 cases today, which means that there has been a rise of around 3500 patients in the last week. He said, “Around 2500 patients have also recovered in the last week, which is a positive development for Delhi. Similarly, there were 1750 patients in the hospitals on May 17, and today there are 2000 patients in the hos- pitals, which means that the occupancy of only 250 beds has increased in the last week.” DZefReZ`_f_UVcT`_ec`]_`_VVUe`h`ccj+4 $:E4!$:A42E4A43?BCA4;0G0C8= CWTaTPaT!$eT]cX[Pc^abPePX[PQ[T X]cWTV^eTa]T]cW^b_XcP[b^dc^U fWXRW eT]cX[Pc^abPaTQTX]V RdaaT]c[hdbTSP]SPa^d]S!# aTPX]d]dbTS²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·V ZLOO QRW EH KHOG UHVSRQVLEOH IRU DQ NLQG RI FODLP PDGH E WKH DGYHUWLVHUV RI WKH SURGXFWV VHUYLFHV DQG VKDOO QRW EH PDGH UHVSRQVLEOH IRU DQ NLQG RI ORVV FRQVHTXHQFHV DQG IXUWKHU SURGXFWUHODWHG GDPDJHV RQ VXFK DGYHUWLVHPHQWV
- 3. 347A03D=kCD4B30H k0H !%!! dccPaPZWP]S ?=BQ 347A03D= Taking cognisance of the growing number of unli- censed pet shops across Uttarakhand, authorities have taken a decisive step towards their regulation and compli- ance with animal welfare laws. A notification was issued by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) on May 1, requesting all State Governments to ensure that pet shops and breeding estab- lishments are allowed to reopen post lockdown only after registration with the State Animal Welfare Board (SAWB). Various orders were then subsequently issued by the Government of Uttarakhand for the implementation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Dog Breeding and Marketing) Rules, 2017 and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Pet Shop) Rules, 2018. Earlier in May, the State's Animal Husbandry secretary issued an order to all district magistrates and the director general of police to ensure that only those pet shops and breeding centres which registered with SAWB are allowed to reopen after the lockdown. After that, the dis- trict magistrates of Udham Singh Nagar, Dehradun and Haridwar also issued similar orders to sub divisional mag- istrates and senior superin- tendents of police concerned. Earlier in November 2018 in a writ petition filed by Gauri Maulekhi of People For Animals (PFA), the High Court of Uttarakhand had directed the Government of Uttarakhand to ensure all unregistered pet shops to be shut down immediately, but several shops and dog breed- ers were operating in the state in contempt of the court orders. Under the rules, sale and marketing of animals in a shop or online is only per- missible if necessary regis- tration is obtained from the SAWB. According to Maulekhi, pet shops and dog breeders in Uttarakhand have been defy- ing the law and operating without registration for many years. Such illegal establish- ments not only perpetrate cruelty to animals but also cheat buyers by not giving receipts, maintaining records of acquisition or health or even sales, thereby evading taxes and responsibility for welfare. “Cruelty in dog breeding centers is immense. Female dogs are put through back to back pregnancies and their unweaned babies are snatched from them and sold as and when customers are available. Tails and ears of some species of dogs are mutilated by breeders on demand, even though such barbaric prac- tices are illegal as per the rules. Unsold pups are usual- ly killed by drowning since they are of no commercial value. On the other hand, the state government is running a robust animal birth control programme of dogs and encourages adoption of Indian dogs,” she said, while adding that PFA lauds the timely directions passed by the Uttarakhand authorities and hopes for strict enforce- ment of the rules. ?TcbW^_bQaTTSX]VRT]caTbc^aT^_T]^][hXUaTVXbcTaTSfXcWB0F1 ?=BQ 347A03D= The number of novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) affected patients in Uttarakhand climbed to 349 on Monday with the state health department reporting 32 new cases of the disease. One per- son of Pauri district who had died on May 21 was found pos- itive for the disease on Monday. The State has so far reported deaths of four people who were infected with the dis- ease. On the day, the health department reported nine cases each of the disease from Nainital and Haridwar dis- tricts. Five patients of Covid-19 were found from the Udham Singh Nagar district while three were reported from Pauri dis- trict on Monday. Two cases each of the dis- ease were also reported from Champawat and Tehri dis- tricts. One patient was report- ed from Dehradun district on the day. The positive report of the swab sample of a 48 year old man, a resident of the Pipli vil- lage of Pabo block of Pauri dis- trict who had died at his home on May 21 created panic in the district health department of Pauri. The deceased had returned from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh (UP) on May 10 and was under home quarantine. His swab sample was sent for Covid-19 test after his death. The health department has now undertaken a drive to identify the people he had came into contact after his return to the village. The patients reported pos- itive on Monday have a travel history from cities like Mumbai and Delhi. In Nainital eight patients reported on the day had came back from Maharashtra while one has a travel history from Delhi. The additional secretary, state health department, Yugal Kishore Pant said reports of 613 samples were found negative for the disease on Monday. He added that reports of 3522 samples are still awaited by the department. On Monday, a total of 1,067 samples were col- lected for COVID -19 testing. The authorities have so far taken swab samples of 22117 suspected patients for COVID- 19 test. Out of the total samples taken, 1.86 percent samples have been found positive for the disease. On Monday, the rate of recovery from the COVID-19 in the state was at 16.61 per- cent. Incidentally the recovery rate is steadily going ever since the arrival of returning migrants started. At one time at was at healthy 67 percent. In another indication of spread of contagion in Uttarakhand, the data of the health department shows that the doubling rate of the disease now stands at 3.98 days which means that the number of patients are getting double in less than four days now. Incidentally, the doubling rate on May 11 was 45 days and after that, it has taken a plunge. A total of 16,74,488 people have so far downloaded the ‘Aaroggya Setu App’ on their smart phones. A total of 17,450 people are in facility quarantine in different parts of the State. Uttarakhand now has 284 active cases of the disease. The Nainital district where the returnees from virus infested Mumbai have created a sudden spike in the cases is at top of the table with 116 active cases. The provisional State Capital Dehradun and Udham Singh Nagar districts are at second spot with 41 cases each while Haridwar has 16 active cases now. In the districts of Tehri and Chamoli, 11 active cases are there. Almora and Uttarakashi districts each have nine active patients of the dis- ease while Pauri, Bageshwar and Champawat have eight active cases each. Pithorgarh and Rudraprayag districts have three active cases now. ?=BQ 70;3F0=8 The number of Covid-19 positive cases is rising in Uttarakhand with the return of migrants from various States. In this situation, all people need to observe precautions seri- ously. The Government had anticipated this and was preparing for this situation. The next 10 days will be very important from the view point of the contagion so strict obser- vation of precautions and working with patience are vital, said Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat while chairing a meeting with officials at the cir- cuit house in Haldwani on Monday. Rawat said that the State Government had decided to bring back Uttarakhandis from various States. The Government had anticipated that this would result in an increase in Covid-19 cases and was hence busy preparing in advance for this situation. The Government is prepared and capable of tackling the sit- uation, he said. Stating that those under quarantine must observe the rules, he said that those not doing so will be made to observe the quarantine strict- ly. In this time of contagion, all citizens must comprehend their responsibility and coop- erate in the fight against the virus. Reviewing the works and arrangements for tackling Covid-19 in Nainital district, Rawat said that with the help of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the State Government is arranging lat- est equipment. If the Sushila Tiwari Government hospital requires more and other equipment and resources, the same should be communicated immediately to the adminis- tration so that it can be arranged. Stressing that med- ical waste should be disposed as per the rules, the CM also appreciated the cooperation given by Indian Medical Association and the work done by administration and police personnel. From the view point of the contagion, the next 10 days will be very important so it is essential to observe precautions and work with patience, said the CM. Cabinet Minister Yashpal Arya and Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar MP Ajay Bhatt appealed the migrants return- ing home to strictly follow the mandatory quarantine. They also directed offi- cials to deal strictly with those violating the quarantine rules. Chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh informed that more than 1.54 lakh people had returned from various states to Uttarakhand out of more than 2.47 lakh who have registered to return so far. With a rise in number of people returning to the state, necessary arrangements should be ensured in Covid care hospitals and quaran- tine centres. Those under home or institutional quar- antine should be checked reg- ularly and action should be taken against those violating quarantine. Nainital district magis- trate Savin Bansal said that those returning to the district are being administered a check by the health depart- ment and only then are they being sent to home or insti- tutional quarantine. He also informed about the system put in place for surveillance, scanning, health check and quarantine of migrants returning to the dis- trict. Health secretary Amit Singh Negi, local public rep- resentatives and other officials concerned were also present in the meeting. P]fW^WPSSXTS X]W^T`dPaP]cX]T X]?PdaXU^d]S _^bXcXeT !]Tf_PcXT]cbP[[ aTcda]TTbaT_^acTS ^]^]SPh 4`gZU*TRdVd[f^a e`$%*Z_F¶YR_U =Tgc SPhbeTahX_^acP]c^QbTaeT _aTRPdcX^]bbcaXRc[hf^aZfXcW_PcXT]RT)2 ?=BQ 347A03D= In view of the threat posed to the teachers deployed in the management of quarantine process of the returning migrants, the teacher organi- sations are demanding that the government should increase the insurance cover of teachers. The president of the Rajkeeya Shikshak Sangh (RSS), the organisation of the lecturers and Licensed Teachers (LT) has raised concern over the safety of teachers deployed in Covid- 19 duty. The President of the organisation, K K Dimri said that the administration should ensure that all teachers are medically examined before they are drawn from Covid-19 duty. He added that the organi- sation has submitted a letter to the director education in which some demands and sugges- tions regarding duties are made. “We are ready to discharge whatever duty is assigned to us in the pandemic. However we want that the safety aspect of teachers should not be over- looked. The organisation also wants that the insurance cover of teachers should be increased to `50 lakhs. For smooth dis- charge of duties by teachers during these tough times, they should be provided with administrative powers,’’ he said. On the insurance cover resentment is brewing among the teachers. They want that they should be kept at par with health workers and other employees deputed in Covid-19 in this respect. At present an insurance cover of Rs 10 Lakh is provid- ed to the teachers. The teachers also want that the protective equipment, san- itizers and other facilities should also be provided to them for Covid-19 duty. After the arrival of returnees from different parts of the country, the state admin- istration directed teachers to oversee the quarantine process of the returnees. Schools in almost every village have been converted into quarantine centres and teachers deployed there as Government officials. DUQSXUbcgQ^d]_bU Y^cebQ^SUS_fUbV_b 3_fYT!)Tedi BRW^^[bPST `dPaP]cX]T RT]caTbcTPRWTab ST_dcTSc^ ^eTabTT PaaP]VTT]cb ?=BQ 347A03D= The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) presi- dent, Pritam Singh has expressed concern over the recent spurt in the cases of novel Coronavirus (Covid- 19) in the state. He was undertaking a meeting of senior Congress leaders of Uttarakhand Congress at Rajiv Bhawan here on Monday. He said that the pandemic has crept into the mountainous districts which till recently were safe from the disease and the State overn- ment has remained apathetic to these cases. Singh said that incidents of Covid-19 patients in mountainous dis- tricts are a matter of grave concern since the health facil- ities in these areas are very poor. He appealed all the Congress workers to provide every possible help to the people in their areas. The general secretary organisation Vijay Saraswat said that the State Government is doing mere formality in the name of quarantine of the returning migrants. He said that the people who are returning from different areas are being kept together in the schools which are functioning as quarantine centres. Saraswat said that keeping people coming from red and green zone together is very dangerous. The meeting was attend- ed by media in charge of Congress party Rajiv Maharshi, former minister Ajay Singh, spokesperson Garima Dassauni and Mahanagar president Lal Chand Sharma. Later talking to the media persons, the PCC president took a dig at BJP leaders for ‘Modi Aarti’. Terming the act of the BJP leaders as height of syco- phancy, he said that the peo- ple of Uttarakhand would never forgive the BJP leaders for denigrating the gods, hurting their religious senti- ments and indulging in wor- ship of Modi. It is worth mentioning here that the Uttarakhand unit of BJP is under attack from Congress party after the State Minister Dhan Singh Rawat and Mussoorie MLA Dhan Singh Rawat unveiled ‘Modi Aarti’ in a programme held to honour the organisers of Modi kitchen in Mussoorie area. In the Aarti, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is equated with the gods. 0__TP[b2^]VaTbbf^aZTabc^_a^eXSTTeTah _^bbXQ[TWT[_c^cWT_T^_[TX]cWTXaPaTPb 2^eXS (X]cadbX^]X] ^d]cPX]^dbPaTPb P[PaX]V)?aXcPBX]VW ?=BQ 70A83F0A Two men were arrested in a joint operation by the Special Task force and Haridwar police with one kilo- gramme of smack on Monday. This is stated to be the biggest smack haul in the state in recent times. The STF deputy inspector general Ridhim Agarwal said that two accused- Rahul Kumar from Bijnor (UP) and Jwalapur resident Begaraj were arrested by the police. During interro- gation, the accused said that they were in touch with a deal- er in Dehradun and on his instructions, they had brought the contraband from Bareilly in UP. Superintendent of police (City) Kamlesh Upadhyay said that the two accused were coming from Moradabad on two separate two wheelers when they were nabbed. A case has been registered against them at Shyampur police sta- tion and further investigation is being conducted, she said. 4e_^QRRUT gYdX![Wc]QS[ Y^8QbYTgQb ?=BQ 347A03D= The department of Informatics in the School of Computer Science at UPES is currently engaged in develop- ing a robot which will be able to sanitise narrow lanes, car parks, slum areas and other small pockets. Assistant pro- fessor Shubhi Sharma is being supported by BTech final year student Neel Adwani in devel- oping this robot which they have named “SaniRobo”. Sharma says that this idea occurred to her while she was watched television news show- ing people physically sanitising a slum area putting themselves at risk. She informed that SaniRobo will be compact in size and light in weight mount- ed on three rotatable wheels. In order to keep the weight of the commercial model light, polypropylene is proposed to be used. The dimensions of the equipment would be less than two and a half feet on any side. It will be equipped with a sani- tiser dispensing sprinkler at the top having the ability to move in all directions coupled with a high powered camera. The two litre capacity sanitiser dispens- ing unit placed at the bottom together with the weight of the battery will also assist in the sta- bility of the robot and prevent it from toppling. Adwani informed that the robot will be powered by a bat- tery which could enable it to work for about two hours on a single charge. Movement of the robot and camera opera- tions will be controlled and monitored through a mobile application, thereby giving the flexibility to the owner of the robot to access it from any- where. It can also be charged by solar energy from the solar pan- els mounted on the equipment. UPES senior director Arun Dhand informed that the patent for this has already been filed under the title “sanitising appa- ratus and method for dispens- ing sanitiser solution”. Development of the prototype will be taken up shortly. D?4Bf^aZX]V^]bP]XcXbX]V a^Q^c_PcT]cUX[TSU^aBP]XA^Q^ ?=BQ 347A03D= Several of the people who returned to Uttarakhand from various states have alleged lack of proper facili- ties at the staging area/quar- antine centre in Maharana Pratap Sports College from where they are being sent to the respective home districts. They alleged unhygienic con- ditions, violation of social distancing rule and improp- er arrangements of food and drinking water. Recently, a video was uploaded by a migrant who recently returned to Uttarakhand. According to the video, the toilets at the centre are unclean and the rooms are dirty. Responding to the allegations, Dehradun Chief Development Officer (CDO) Nitika Khandelwal stated that district administration is providing all the possible facilities at quar- antine centres. According to her, all the quarantine centres are being sanitised regularly. She said that administra- tion provides food to people at quarantine centres through centralised kitchen as oper- ating kitchen at every quarantine centre is not fea- sible. We ensure that people receive fresh meals so that it does not get spoiled in sum- mer. The meals might get delayed sometimes as there are several quarantine centres to deliver the food to but it is a rare occurrence, said Khandelwal. About the water issues, she said that she talked to the officials of Jal Sansthan and they told her that there was no major issue regarding water facility. Talking about the allegedly torn mattresses, she said that the administration had provided well furnished bedsheets along with mattresses as it would have been hard to wash the mat- tresses every other day. According to her, some people are taking bedsheets with them while leaving the centres and administration has to arrange new bedsheets again. Khandelwal opined that people in quarantine centres might be getting little frustrated as they have travelled so far from other states to go to their homes but they are required to stay in quarantine centres for 14 days. Khandelwal informed that many migrants who are asked to go to quarantine centres do not cooperate with administration and insist on going their homes. We have to force many people to get quarantined. I have been informed that when people travelling from other states in private vehicles arriving here are informed about 14 day institutional quarantine before heading to their homes, some of them turn their vehicle back in some cases, informed Khandelwal. ?T^_[TP[[TVT[PRZ^UPT]XcXTb X]`dPaP]cX]TRT]caTbSXbcaXRc PSX]aTUdcTbP[[TVPcX^]b ?=BQ 70A83F0A The police have lodged a case and started investi- gation after a woman accused five men of gang raping her. The woman has alleged that she was drugged, raped and being blackmailed on the basis of compromising photographs and video clips. According to the infor- mation received, a woman residing in SIIDCUL area of Haridwar, submitted an application at the SIIDCUL police station alleging that local resident Ahbab Ali had raped her several times after drugging her. He was allegedly also blackmailing her on the basis of compromising photos and clips. Along with Ali, his brother Shehzad and three others- Hanis, Hussain and Wasi allegedly raped her. Haridwar senior superin- tendent of police, Senthil Avoodai Krishna Raj S, told this correspondent that the victim has alleged that the five men gang raped her and made videos of their act. She has alleged that she was drugged by the accused. A case has been registered and investigation is underway, he added. G_]Q^ QSSecUc%]U^ _VWQ^WbQ`U
- 4. ]PcX^]#347A03D=kCD4B30H k0H !%!! ?=BQ =4F34;78 Overcoming impediments due to the coronavirus pandemic and other issues during the nationwide lock- down, procurement of wheat by Government agencies this year surpassed last year’s figures of 341.31 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) to touch 341.56 LMT as on May 24. According to the ministry of food and consumer affairs, the the figure surpasses last year’s procurement by 25,000 tonnes. Punjab is leading with 125.84 LMT followed by Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. Wheat harvesting general- ly starts towards end of March and procurement commences in the first week of April every year. However, with the impo- sition of national lockdown on March 23, all operations came to a standstill. Since the crop was already ready for harvesting, the cen- tral government gave relax- ation to start agricultural and related activities during the lockdown period and the pro- curement could start from April 15 in most of the procuring states, officials said. The ministry said that out of the 341.56 LMT, over 125.84 LMT of wheat has been pro- cured in Punjab, 113.38 LMT in Madhya Pradesh, 70.65 LMT in Haryana, 20.39 LMT in Uttar Pradesh, 10.63 LMT in Rajasthan, 31,000 tonnes in Uttarakhand, 21,000 tonnes in Gujarat, 12,000 tonnes in Chandigarh and 3,000 tonnes in Himachal Pradesh. Highlighting measures taken for smooth procurement, the ministry said wheat har- vesting generally starts towards the end of March and procure- ment commences in the first week of April every year. However, with the imposi- tion of the lockdown with effect from March 24, all oper- ations came to a standstill. The crop had ripened by then and was ready for harvesting. Considering this, the central government gave relaxation to start agricultural and related activities during the lockdown period, and the procurement could start from April 15 in most of the procuring states. Haryana started little late on April 20, it said. Statingthatthebiggestchal- lenge was to ensure that pro- curementisdoneinasafeman- ner during the pandemic, the ministry said this was achieved through a multi-pronged strat- egy of awareness creation, social distancing and deployment of technology. Thenumberofpur- chase centres was increased substantiallyreducingthefarmer footfalls in individual purchase centres. New centres were set up using every facility available at gram panchayat level and the numberswere increasedsharply inthemajorprocuringstateslike Punjab where it went up from 1,836 to 3,681, 599 to 1,800 in Haryana and from 3,545 to 4,494inMadhyaPradesh,itsaid. Using technology, farmers were provided specific dates and slots to bring their produce which helped in avoiding over- crowding. Strict social distanc- ing norms were followed and sanitisation activities were undertaken regularly, it said. In Punjab, every farmer was allot- tedspecificspacesearmarkedfor dumping of stocks and no one else was allowed to enter those areas. Only people who were directly associated were allowed to be present during daily auc- tions. In addition to the threat of spread of virus, the ministry said procuring agencies faced three major challenges. ?=BQ =4F34;78 The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Monday the heatwave is likely to start subsiding from Thursday as easterly winds will start blowing in northern parts of the country. The IMD has cautioned people not to step out during 1-5 pm due to intense heatwave. The highest day tempera- ture in Rajasthan on Monday was recorded in Churu at 47.5 degrees Celsius, while Allahabad was the hottest place in Uttar Pradesh at 46.3 degrees Celsius. It had on Sunday sounded a red category alert for Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, west and east Rajasthan for heatwave or severe heatwaves. Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of IMD's Regional Meteorological Centre, said the red warning has been issued to caution people not to step out during 1- 5 pm, when the inten- sityoftheheatisthemost.“Dust and thunder storms are likely in several parts of north India on May 29-30, bringing the much- needed relief from the intense heatwave,”the IMD said. The wind speed is also likely to be around 50-60 kilometres per hour during this period, Srivastava said, adding that this will bring relief from the intense heat. A western disturbance is a cyclonic storm that origi- nates in the Mediterranean Sea and travels across Central Asia. When it comes in contact with the Himalayas, it brings rains to the hills and the plains. Heatwave will prevail in many places and severe heat- wave in isolated places. Mainly clear sky with strong surface winds (20-20 kilometres per hour), the IMD forecast said. IMD’s bulletin said that heat- wave conditions were also like- ly over Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and Telangana during the next four to five days. Similar conditions were predicted in some pockets over Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Marathwada, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Yanam, Rayalseema and north-interior Karnataka during next three to four days. A red category alert implies authorities should take action to avoid health emergencies. Meanwhile, Rajendra Kumar Jenamani, head of Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre said that India has seen the highest tem- perature of this year (47.6 degrees Celsius) in the last 2 days. The heatwave will start subsiding from May 28 as east- erly winds will start blowing in northern parts of the country, he added. “Rains accompanied by thunderstorms will start occur- ring from May 29 due to east- erly winds in the northern parts of India and the temperature is expected to go down to 40 degrees Celsius,” Jenamani said. Rajendra Kumar Jenamani also said that the southwest monsoon is likely to hit Kerala next week.“The southwest mon- soon is expected to arrive over Kerala coast between June 1 and June 5 and is likely to reach Mumbai between June 15 and June 20,” Jenamani said. A0:4B7:B8=67Q =4F34;78 The CRPF is working on a proposal to provide WiFi facility at quarantine centres and Covid Care Centres to enhance mental peace and induce positive sentiment amongst the inmates through access to Internet. Motivational videos by prominent speakers are also being worked out to overcome depression. Prominent per- sonalities are being reached out to deliver motivational talks, which can be seen and heard by patients. The diet charts of the quar- antined personnel are also being proposed to include sprouts, Golden milk (turmer- ic milk) dry fruits and Chyawanprash. The Covid positive patients and quarantined offi- cers/men were already pro- vided electric kettles, sugar cubes, hone, ginger and tea bags for consumption. The suggestions were made at a meeting chaired by CRPF Director General AP Maheshwari earlier this month to review the arrangements made at these centres to check the spread of the Covid-19 and the preparedness to break the chain of spread of the pan- demic among the ranks across the country. The meeting was held in the backdrop of the entire 31 Battalion being quarantined hereafter significant afflictions to the disease by the paramil- itary personnel. Adequate financial powers have been granted to the Unit Commandants to procure masks, hand gloves and PPE kits but instances were dis- cussed in the meeting where- in procurement of such items were not sufficient and as per qualitative requirements. Following this revelation, direc- tions were issued to scrupu- lously follow the guidelines of the Union Health Ministry and the Inspectors General were asked to conduct random check of quality of these items so that there is no compromise with quality. All Sector Inspector Generals have also been direct- ed to ensure that there are suf- ficient Covid-19equipment like PPE kits, masks, hand gloves and sanitisers available at their units and hospitals at all estab- lishments under them. Till now, the CRPF has recorded 363 Covid-19 positive cases which includes two casu- alties due to the infection. Out of the 363, as many as 220 patients have recovered and there are 141 active cases in the paramilitary. On Monday, four new coronavirus patients were reported from the CRPF ranks in the national capital. ?=BQ =4F34;78 The Government on Monday decided to send Central teams to West Bengal to assess the situation in Cyclone Amphan-hit areas and the loss- es incurred. The Centre has already released C1,000 crore to the Mamata Banerjee dispen- sation, as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for carrying out relief, restoration and rehabilitation measures. The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) met here under Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba and monitored the ongoing relief and restoration of power and telecom services at the cyclone Amphan-hit places. “As announced by Prime Minister after his aerial survey and review of relief efforts with the West Bengal Government, a sumofC1,000croreshasalready been released to the State gov- ernment. “Chief Secretary West Bengal thanked the Centre for the support provided for relief and restoration. Restoration of Power and Telecommunication infrastructure was stated to be a priority in the Cyclone-affected areasoftheState.WhileTelecom connectivityhasbeenrestoredin most areas, damages to the local Power distribution network has affected the restoration of com- plete supply in some areas.Central agencies are deployed in these efforts along- with teams from neighbouring states. Meanwhile, Army has been deployed in Kolkata, to helpincarryoutroadclearances alongwith teams of NDRF and SDRF,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement. Continuing with the coor- dination efforts and restoration measures in the areas of West Bengal affected by Amphan, the NCMC met for the fifth time in connection with the natural calamity. Taking note of the progress made in the restoration work, the cabinet secretary advised that complete power connectivity, telecom service and drinking water supplies need to be restored on a priority basis. The central agencies are ready to provide any further assistance that may be required by the state. Adequate stocks of foodgrains have been kept ready for supply. The cabinet secretary also suggested that the West Bengal government may indicate its additional requirements, if any, and direct- ed officers of central ministries and agencies to work in close coordination with the state government to provide all required assistance expedi- tiously. The West Bengal chief secretary participated in the NCMC meeting through video-conference. Senior offi- cers from the ministries of Home Affairs, Power, Telecommunications, Food and Public Distribution, Health, Drinking Water and Sanitation, NDMA and NDRF also attend- ed the meeting. 344?0::D0A970Q =4F34;78 As part of its new outreach programme, the Congress is working towards tapping on the migrant workforce, partic- ularly in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, to revive its fortunes in the Hindi heartland. AICC sources said the top leadership of the party last week conducted a video con- ference meeting of the State unit leaders to work in this direction and engage the party workers and volunteers to extend all possible help to the migrants and labourers and turn the economic miseries faced by the poor amidst the two-month lockdown as an opportunity for the grand old party to restore faith and con- fidence in them. As per the Home Ministry records, there are a total of about four crore migrant workers across the country. The meeting chaired by AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal with PCC chiefs of about 18 States that has large number migrant workers resolved for an towards an action-plan to extend assis- tance to the migrants who were on move on roads to reach their destination. Venugopal alongwith Rajeev Sarav, in-charge for coordi- nating Covid-19 lockdown relief works and Praveen Chakravarti, AICC technology and data cell chairman and Rohan Gupta, AICC social media cell chairman have been tasked by the leaders to devis- ing a strategy to tap on the migrants class. In this effort, the party has also launched a Congress helpline services and chatbot named 'Congress Mitr' in each States where migrant workers are being encouraged to reach out to the party for any kind of assistance. To accomodate within their database, the grand old party is seeking all details like name and contact details of the migrants, their place of domi- cile, members in family etc . When contacted, AICC data department chairman Praveen Chakravarty told ET: “A helpline for each state was set up by the respective PCCs. A very simple local language chatbot was developed by Manish Khanduri in Uttarakhand to get basic infor- mation from migrants. In UP this was launched as UP Mitra by party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi. The party is also making full use of social media which it claims now that the Gandhi scion is now in the list of top 10 Indian leaders with more than 14 million followers on Twitter and this was increased between the period of last general elections till date. A dedicated workforce of Rahul Priyanka Gandhi Sena (RPGS) has been active during the lockdown period and reaching out to people like migrants, poor, jobless and meeting their requirements. In coordination with the Delhi Congress unit, our vol- unteers have been extending all possible help to the affected people during the lockdown period. While we gave the migrants tickets, transport and medical facility, our workers also shared cash amounts to the needy who may need it during the travel period. All this is on humanitarian ground and nothing political should be read in it. Am proud the Congress is working on its legacy of welfare to all sections of society, said Arjun Puri, Spokesman, Rahul Priyanka Gandhi Sena. AICC sources said while all other Congress frontline wings like, Sewa Dal, Mahila Congress etc got defunct over the period due to decimating party cadre, offlate the new wing of dedicated and smart young workers in RPGS have taken the respon- sibility of boosting the fortune of the party. In few months of its for- mation with an aim to resur- rect the party cadre at grass root level, Puri claimed that over one crore members have registered and the figures of volunteers joining is increasing day by day. During the lockdown period the organisation saw a huge jump in membership, claimed Puri. He thanked that the new outfit has been getting all support from party's other frontline organisation like NSUI and Indian Youth Congress. 0A270=09HC8Q =4F34;78 The Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), a PSU, which also offers pest con- trol services besides storage and handling, is busy making its contribution in the fight against Covid-19. Its technical staff comprising 700 personnel are working round the clock, majorly engaged in disinfecting the domestic and international flights every time its takes off as well as PSU offices and airports and hospitals to keep the Covid-19 at bay. A senior official at the CWC, an organisa- tion under the Union Consumer Affairs Ministry said that they are regularly getting calls for dis- infections on daily basis and they have to keep a slot for every organisations depending on the emergency as well as the staff availability. And as the domestic flight operations have resumed in the country, their major focus is on disinfecting and sanitising terminal building of the Airports in cities. The Corporation has core competency in executing these kind of operations. “We are following the protocol prepared by the Union Health Ministry. We ensure that our staff has proper PPE kits and all necessary pre- cautions are adopted so that they do not get infected with the virus while carrying out their routine job,” said the official. As Covid-19 pandemic has swept the world as also India, the CWC’s staff for the first time since the organisation’s inception in 1957 is now focussed more on combating Coronavirus infec- tion than what it was previously ie termite treat- ment, rodent, mosquitoes, flies, termites, rodents, weed control, etc. It has a range of clients of which prominent locations are ministries, PSUs, State/Central Government. offices, railway station and coach, workshop, ships, container, national museum, science center, aircraft, hanger, airlines, airports of Airport Authority of India, AIIMS, hospitals, banks, Universities, MSTC, HAL, HCL, GAIL, RBI, UTI among others. “To keep an edge over the private operators, we are also providing corona disinfection services in residential area at an economical rate,” said the official as in light of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the importance of disinfection against communicable disease and vector/pest control has become an urgency. He explained that disinfection services should be taken from the trained operator. As per the Insecticide Act1968, the accreditation PCS license is a must for disinfestation works. The recommended frequency of disinfection may be daily or thrice or twice a week, as per the Communicable Disease Control guidelines, the official added. 83RPdcX^]b_T^_[T]^cc^bcT_^dcSdaX]V $_SdTc^X]cT]bTWTPcfPeT 9VRehRgV^RjdfSdZUVWc`^EYfcdURj 3G3g_b[c_^TYcY^VUSdY^W QYb`_bdc@CEcd_VYWXdfYbec ?=BQ =4F34;78 Ringing alarm bell amid India's move to ease lock- down norms, a new study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has recon- firmed that coronavirus has higher transmission rate, as high as 65 per cent among close contacts, as was found on the cluster of 23 Italian tourists who visited India in March 2020. In fact, the attack rate of the virus was higher at 65.4 per cent amongst close contacts of 23 Italian tourist group than that of those at the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship which was 19.2 per cent and in the Grand Princess Cruise Ship, which was 16.6 per cent. The study outcome can be the indicator for the rising number of new positive cases in the country each passing day as migration of labours and travellers begins at a large number. The Covid-19 tally has touched over 1.30 lakhs and if study outcome is taken into consideration, then India could see huge growth in the number of Covid-19 cases in the near future. For this reason, experts have been calling for public health measures such as phys- ical distancing, personal hygiene and infection control measures as necessary habits to prevent the spread of the virus. The ICMR scientists said that Our study cluster showed a higher attack rate than that reported in existing literature such as in Diamond Princess Cruise ship (19.2 per cent) and in Grand Princess Cruise ship (16.6 per cent) 13. This may be due to the closed environ- ment, high and persistent expo- sure to index case during their tour travel (average of six hours daily for eight days).” From the group of 23 Italian tourists who reached New Delhi on February 21, along with three Indians who visited several tourist places in Rajasthan, 17 had tested posi- tive for SARS-CoV-2 infec- tion by March 3, 2020. Of these 17 patients, nine were symptomatic, while eight did not show any symptoms. Of the nine who developed symptoms, six were mild, one was severe and two were critically ill. The median duration between the day of confirmation for Covid-19 and RT-PCR negativity was 18 days (range: 12-23 days). Two patients died with a case fatality of 11.8 per cent, as per the study. The index patient, 69-year- old man, a resident of Lombardy Province, Italy and family physician by profession developed fever, cough and difficulty in breathing on February 23. On arriving at Jaipur on February 28, 2020 he first saw a private healthcare provider and then visited a pri- vate hospital from where he was referred to the SMS Medical College, Jaipur, for Covid-19 test. When he tested positive he was isolated, his wife (70), who did not have any symptoms also tested positive. The remaining 24 members of the group (21 Italians and 3 Indians) returned to Delhi on March 2 by the same coach and were quarantined. All the 24 individuals were initially asymptomatic. Their throat and nasal swabs were collected on March 3. Fifteen persons (including 14 Italian tourists and one Indian) tested positive and were isolated. Of the 17 patients, nine (52.9 per cent) had or developed symptoms, whereas eight (47.1 per cent) did not show any symptoms. The ICMR stated that the epidemiological investigation of this cluster of 17 cases was consistent with person-to-per- son transmission. The ICMR also pointed out at two possi- ble conclusions of transmission of Covid-19 in this cluster - First, the index patient could have been infected during his medical practice in Italy and later transmitted the infection to his co-tourists. According to the WHO, there were only three Covid-19 cases reported from Italy on February 21, but by February 28, Italy had 888 cases including 21 deaths due to SARS-CoV-2. The ICMR added, Most cases had occurred in the Lombardy and Veneto regions of Northern Italy with local transmission being the main source of SARS-CoV-2 infec- tions. “Second, the tourists could have individually picked up the infection from Italy before starting their trip to India. The first scenario appears mostly likely, considering the duration of onset of symptoms (12 days since their arrival in India except for the index case), the duration of viral clearance being more than 14 days in other tourists and no history of contact or exposure to any suspected or confirmed Covid-19 positive patients in Italy, said the study. RYLG KDV KLJKHU WUDQVPLVVLRQ UDWH DPRQJ FORVH FRQWDFWV 82AA42=58AB New Delhi: India and Israel on Monday discussed joint research and development on big data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. The discussion was a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counter- part's vision for wide-ranging scientific cooperation between the two countries. Defence Research Development Organisation, Council of ScientificIndustrial Research held discussions with Head of Israel's Directorate of RD, Israel's Ambassador Ron MalkaIndia's Ambassador Sanjeev Singla about high-level scientific cooperation to address COVID-19, the Israel Embassy here said on Twitter. Modi and Netanyahu had held discussions on the novel coronavirus outbreak and its possible impact on the supply lines in Israel in March. Agency :_UZR:dcRV] UZdTfdd[`Z_e cVdVRcTYUVg `_SZXUReR2: 4`_XVjVdT`hSV]eSjYV]aZ_X^ZXcR_ed New Delhi: Contributing towards the nation’s fight against COVID-19, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has distributed 19.28 crore food packets among the needy across the country. As per the official data by the party, it has distributed 19.28 crore food packets to people till May 23 as against the target of providing food packets to five crore people. The BJP has also distrib- uted 5.2 crore face covers against the target of five crores, the data states. Besides this, as many as 4.86 crore ration kits have been distributed by the party to the needy. After the lock- down was announced in March, BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda had instructed party workers to provide food packets to five crore needy people. Moreover, 8.23 lakh party workers are also engaged in helping those affected by the lockdown imposed as a pre- cautionary measure to contain the spread of COVID-19. The party has also made specialised groups to help selected category of people. After the third phase of lock- down, more BJP workers were asked to help at the grassroots level. Currently, there are many groups which are working on the direction of the party chief. As many as 4.48 lakh party cadres are especially deployed to provide service to the old and sick people. In addition, BJP is con- ducting a programme to thank corona warriors and people. The party is collecting signa- tures of common people to thank the medical workers and others fighting against COVID-19. As many as 12.87 lakh workers are engaged in this exercise. Agency %-3 GLVWULEXWHV FU IRRG SDFNHWV WLOO 0D 3URFXUHPHQW RI ZKHDW VXUSDVVHV ODVW HDU V ILJXUHV HQWUDO WHDPV WR YLVLW :% WR DVVHVV $PSKDQ GDPDJH 2A?5_[P]bc^_a^eXSTFX5XPc`dPaP]cX]T2^eXSRPaTRT]caTb