8

‘No exclusivity’clause dampensrailway route privatisation

5

Modi changedpolitical culture,says JP Nadda

2

Unleashing thepotential ofMissionKarmayogi

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

MONEY 8AFTER PETROL, DIESEL DEMANDRETURNS TO PRE-COVID LEVELS

ANALYSIS 7MAKE LOCAL

GOVERNANCE VOCAL

SPORTS 11MI REGAIN TOP

SPOT

VIJAYAWADA, SATURDAY OCTOBER 17, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

}CHANDINI IN A HAPPY AND COMFORTABLE SPACEPage 12

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RNI No. APENG/2018/764698

*Late City Vol. 2 Issue 347*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Established 1864Published From

VIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN HYDERABAD

VIJAYAWADAWEATHER

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated October 16, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANAC

TODAY

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Ashwin & Shukla Paksha

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any important work)

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FFoorreeccaasstt:: ThunderstormTemp: 31/24Humidity: 84%Sunrise: 06.09 amSunset: 05.52 pm

PNS n NEW DELHI/VIJAYAWADA

Union Minister Nitin Gadkarion Friday inaugurated andlaid the foundation stones ofhighways projects worth Rs15,592 crore in AndhraPradesh, an official statementsaid.

Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy presidedover this event conducted invirtual mode via videoconfer-ence from New Delhi andVijayawada.

The projects inauguratedincluded the long-awaited 2.7-km Kanakadurga flyover, anew jewel for Vijayawada city,built at a cost of Rs 501 crore,with the state governmentscontribution of Rs 146 crore.

The other flyover at BenzCircle on NH-16 is part of theexpansion of the Vijayawada-Machilipatnam section of NH-65 into a four-lane road.

Incidentally, Gadkari laidthe foundation stone for theseflyovers in December 2015.

Both were delayed for manyyears due to various reasonsbut the Benz Circle flyover wascompleted early this year andthe Kanakadurga flyover lastmonth. An engineering mar-vel, it is only the third six-lanebridge in the country with aunique spine-and-wing designsupported by a single pier.

Gadkari called it "the prideof the country."

Gadkari also conducted thebhumi puja (ground-break-ing) for the development ofanother 16 projects at a cost ofRs 7,585 crore. These includehighway projects stretchingover 1,411 km. "Union

Minister for Road Transport,Highways and MSMEs NitinGadkari inaugurated and laidthe foundation stones of 16national highway projects witha total length of 1,411 kmworth Rs 15,592 crore in

Andhra Pradesh," the roadtransport and highways min-istry said in a statement.

Addressing an event throughvideo-conferencing on theoccasion, Gadkari said thelength of national highways in

Andhra Pradesh before May2014 was 4,193 km, which hasnow increased to 6,860 km,registering an increase of 2,667km, or 64 per cent, in length insix years.

Traffic flows on the newly-inaugurated Kanakadurga flyover in Vijayawada on Friday.

Tamil Nadu efforts to reduce road accidents praisedVijayawada: Lauding the TamilNadu government's efforts atreducing road accidents andrelated fatalities, Union Ministerfor Road Transport and HighwaysNitin Gadkari on Friday askedother states to take it as anexample and work on a missionmode to decrease the mishapsand deaths.Gadkari said five lakh roadaccidents were happening in thecountry, resulting in the death ofat least 1.5 lakh people everyyear. "Give highest priority tosaving the lives of people. Wehave to reduce the number of

accidents. This is very important,"he said, addressing a virtual eventfrom New Delhi wherein hededicated several roaddevelopment projects in AndhraPradesh to the nation."I am personally very muchsensitive and will support you inthis mission," Gadkari observed.The Union Minister pointed outthat the Tamil Nadu governmentsuccessfully reduced the roadaccidents and deaths by 25percent. "If you plan and takemeasures...there is a goodexample of Tamil Nadu. At thesame time, the World Bank and

Asian Development Bank arehelping us. They are ready tosanction Rs 14,000 crore forimproving road engineering forblack spots," Gadkari said.He said 435 black spots havebeen identified on NationalHighways in AP. Temporary rectification measureshave been completed for 295black spots and permanentmeasures for 150. Temporarymeasures for the remaining blackspots were targeted forcompletion this year whilepermanent measures would becompleted by December 2021.

Crops in 19K hectares hitby rain; inflows continuePNS n VIJAYAWADA

The recent heavy rains thatlashed the State and its neigh-bours left a trail of devastationand misery that would take along time to overcome.

This was reflected in thepreliminary assessment con-ducted by the Krishna districtauthorities that was madepublic on Friday.

According to the prelimi-nary report, more than 5,000people from 1,736 familieswere moved to 22 relief campsliving in low-lying andKrishna river catchment areasas nine lakh cusecs of floodwaters was expected atPrakasam barrage.

Krishna District collector AMd Imtiaz said that as per thepreliminary estimates, 14,400hectares of paddy and 4,568hectares of other crops weredamaged due to torrentialrains. The Collector said that5,025 people belonging to1,736 families affected by thefloods in the district so farhave been shifted to saferareas and provided accommo-dation through 22 reliefcamps.

According to preliminaryinformation 119 km length ofroads was damaged. The col-lector said 14,414 hectares ofpaddy and 4,568 hectares ofcrop were damaged, 24 hous-es completely and 112 par-tially damaged and 3,302houses were inundated.

The Collector reviewedthe flood situation in KrishnaRiver through a teleconfer-ence with the Revenue,Irrigation, Fisheries andMunicipal officials from theCamp office. He said that asPrakasam barrage was likelyto receive nine lakh cusecs offloodwaters from upstream.

“The danger has not yetpassed though the rains haveabated. District authoritiesand tahsildars have beeninstructed to evacuate the

people living in low-lyingand catchment areas ofKrishna river,” Imtiazinformed.

The Collector said that 32villages in 31 mandals wereaffected by the flooding.

Revenue officials inJaggaiahpeta, Chandralapadu,Kanchikacharla, Pamid-imukkala, Ibrahimpatnam,Kankipadu, Mopidevi,Challapalli, Avanigadda,Thotlavalur and Nagayalankamandals were told to be morevigilant and use boats in areaswherever necessary to evacu-ate flood victims. The direc-tor, fisheries department, wasinstructed to arrange boatswherever required.

Imtiaz directed the govern-ment staff in each mandal toattend to the emergencyduties and said the staff ofAgriculture, Fisheries,Irrigation Horticulture andSecretariat shall attend theemergency duties.

He said that all the peoplein the flood-hit areas shouldbe moved to a safer area andthe NDRF and SDRF troopsare available to take part in therelief operations.

Centre’s stand on ‘damaging’ news reports soughtPNS n MUMBAI

The Bombay High Court onFriday asked the Union gov-ernment if there is any mech-anism for checking the contentbroadcast by news channelsbefore the "damage is done".

Hearing Public InterestLitigations about coverage ofactor Sushant Singh Rajput'sdeath, the court also said thatif the media crossed the line, itis for the legislature to act.

"In a case where the mediacrosses the ‘Lakshman Rekha',it is for the Parliament to stepin. Why should the court doit?" the HC said.

The petitioners, whichincludes several former IPSofficers, have said there is a

"media trial" going on in theRajput case, and it should bestopped.

"All public officers are liableto be removed if somethinghappens. Same for privateemployment. People are takento task for not behaving prop-erly," a bench of Chief JusticeDipankar Datta and JusticeGS Kulkarni said.

"For print media you havecensor, something is there bythe state. You do not seem tobe in the mood to ruffle feath-ers with respect to electronicmedia," the bench said.

Additional Solicitor GeneralAnil Singh, appearing for theUnion government, arguedthat the Supreme Court hasmaintained that the govern-

ment must not interfere withthe freedom of press, and thepress must be encouraged tohave a system of self-regula-tion. But the HC noted that thejudgments cited by Singh wereold. "These judgments are from2012-2013. Times havechanged. This is the most mis-used freedom now," it said.

The bench also referred tothe Chief Justice of India'srecent remark that freedom ofspeech is most abused.

The High Court further saidit was concerned with the effi-ciency of the present mecha-nism of regulation with regardto news channels.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The National Testing Agency(NTA) on Friday declared theresults for the NationalEligibility cum Entrance Test(NEET) held on September 13,and again for Covid-affectedstudents on October 14.

Eight students from APwere in the top 50 rankers,while seven were from TS.

Of the, 62,051 students whoregistered from AP, 57,721took the test with a qualifyingpercentage of 58.63.

Guthi Chitanya Sindhu

bagged the sixth rank scoring715, followed by Kota Venkatwho was ranked 13 scoring710, Bhavanam Manasa (16thrank), Shaik Kothapalli ArfathKhadeer (18th rank), LokaSekhar Satvik Sarma (20thrank), Bala Siva Rama KrishnaJonnala (26th rank), Dasari SaiChakradhar (39) and TeluSwetha Gayatri (26).

The examination was con-ducted without any glitch in3,862 centres in 155 cities. Atotal of 4,27,943 female candi-dates and 1 transgender qual-ified for the examination.

CBI unearths ‘tech support fraud’PNS n NEW DELHI

The CBI has recovered assetsworth Rs 190 crore during itssearches against six companiesbooked for targeting Microsoftcustomers through a technicalsupport scam, an investigationwhich has received praise fromUnited States' Department ofJustice, officials said Friday.

During its searches onSeptember 17, the agencyalso seized gold worth Rs 55lakh, cash totalling Rs 25lakh and a plethora of digitalevidence indicating allegednefarious activities of the sixaccused companies.

The CBI is collaboratingwith US agencies and author-ities of other friendly countriesagainst the fraudsters whoallegedly took remote controlof computers of users by send-ing them a pop-up message ofmalware presence on theirsystems, Gaur said.

Once the user dialled thenumber given on the pop-up,

he was directed at call centreexecutives who demandedhuge sums of money to cleanthe non-existent malware andalso installed unnecessarydamaging softwares of theusers' computers, he said.

Searches were conducted atthe premises of the New Delhi-based Softwill Infotech Pvt.Ltd. and Saburi TLC Worl-dw-ide Services Pvt. Ltd, Jaipur-based Innovana Think labsLtd. and Systweak SoftwarePvt. Ltd., Noida-basedBenovellient Technologies Pvt.Ltd., Noida-based SaburiGlobal Services Pvt Ltd.

Hyd shopowner heldin ESI scam PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The Andhra Pradesh AntiCorruption Bureau on Fridayarrested the owner of aHyderabad-based computershop on charges of supplyingbiometric devices for submit-ting fake quotations in collu-sion with the then director ofthe Insurance MedicalServices (IMS) that imple-ments the ESI scheme.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

The State Government onFriday appointed NeerabhKumar Prasad, IAS officer ofthe 1987 batch as the ChiefCommissioner of LandAdministration, just two daysafter he was transferred fromthe post.

A GO signed by ChiefSecretary Nilam Sawhney saidthat the appointment was ‘withimmediate effect’.

There was no word from

official circles about whyNeerabh Kumar Prasad was‘shifted’ from the post in thefirst place, nor why he was re-

appointed.In her orders on Wednesday,

the Chief Secretary had direct-ed Neerabh Kumar Prasad toreport to the GeneralAdministration Departmentfor further posting.

Aditya Nath Das, also of the1987 batch, was given fulladditional charge as SpecialChief Secretary, Environment,Forests, Science & TechnologyDepartment and ChiefCommissioner of LandAdministration.

Gadkari inaugurates, startsprojects worth Rs 15,592 crn Much-awaited ‘pride of the country’ Kanakadurga flyover in Vja thrown open for traffic

Residents of a flood-hit village wade through waist-deep water to meet Krishna district collector A Md. Imtiaz who was onhis inspection tour of the district, on Friday

Neerabh Kumar reappointed CCLA

Eight students from Stateamong NEET top 50 rankers

An estimated 119km length of roadswas damaged asalso 14,414hectares of paddyand 4,568 hectares of crop

22

2

{S

haurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh, who had fought againstterrorism for years, was shot dead by two unidentified men in

Punjab's Tarn Taran district today. He and his family had remained onterrorists' hit list for years. Sources claim the 62-year-old was attackedinside his home and took five bullets. BalwinderSingh was rushed to a hospital, where he wasdeclared brought dead, sources added. "MrSingh was murdered today. Two people wereinvolved in the attack, one of whom went up tohis house and shot him. We have filed a caseand it is being investigated," SeniorSuperintendent of Police Tarn Taran DhrumanNimbale said.

SHAURYA CHAKRA AWARDEEBALWINDER SINGH SHOT DEAD

ICICI BANK IS DOWN, MAKINGTRANSACTIONS FAIL FOR MANY

Chinese Covid-19 vaccine candidate -- BBIBP-CorV -- that is expectedto completely inactivate the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is safe and elicits an

antibody response, a study published in The Lancet has found. Aprevious clinical trial reported similar results for a differentvaccine that is also based on inactivated whole SARS-CoV-2 virus, but in that study the vaccine was only tested onpeople aged under 60 years.The latest study reported inThe Lancet Infectious Diseases journal includedparticipants aged between 18 and 80 years, and foundthat antibody responses were induced in all recipients.Participants aged 60 and over were slower to respond, taking 42days before antibodies were detected in all recipients compared with 28days for participants aged 18-59.

India's gasoil sales rose in October for the first time since the nationimposed COVID-19 restrictions in late March, preliminary data shows,

signalling a pick-up in industrial activity ahead of key festivals Diesel salesby the country's three state fuel retailers rose 8.8% year on year in the firsthalf of October, according to provisional data compiled by Indian Oil CorpIOC.NS, the country's biggest refiner and fuel retailer. Sales of gasoil, whichaccount for about two fifths of the country's overall fuel demand, totalled2.65 million tonnes, up more than 24% from the previousmonth. Rising diesel sales in the world's third-biggestoil consumer and importer would help refiners thathave had to cut crude-processing runs during thecoronavirus crisis, said an official at one of the staterefiners, though he cautioned that diesel sales growth could be temporary.

ICICI Bank is down and netbanking, debit card transactions, as well asUPI transactions are not working for many customers in India. Many

affected customers have raised complaints against the outage on socialmedia. While several people are not able to make any transactionsthrough ICICI Bank's net banking service, some of them are not evenreceiving a one-time password (OTP) for their transactions. It's possiblethat this is because of a sudden increase in demand thanks to e-commerce sales; or it could be some other matter entirely, which willplay havoc with shoppers trying to takeadvantage of these sales, as ICICI is one ofthe biggest banks in India. At the time ofwriting, the ICICI Bank support team is yet torespond to customer complaints.

CHINA'S COVID VACCINE IS SAFE,PROMPTS ANTIBODY RESPONSE

OCTOBER DIESEL SALES RISEABOVE PRE-COVID LEVELS

Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Phone: 040-23322341, Hyderabad Office: F-502, Diamond Block, Lumbini Rockdale, Somajiguda, Hyderabad - 500 082. Telangana. Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, Plot No.19, IDA Balanagar , Hyderbad-500037, Medchal -Malkajgiri District, Telangana. Chief Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00.

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vijayawada 02VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | OCTOBER 17, 2020

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AP-Odisha Police to launchjoint anti-Maoist opsPNS n BHUBANESWAR

Odisha and Andhra PradeshPolice have mutually agreed tocooperate and launch jointoperations in border areas tocounter Left Wing Extremism,officials said.

The Directors General ofPolice of both the states helddiscussions over videoconfer-encing on Thursday to discussthe issues relating to growingmaoist activities in the borderareas of Odisha and AndhraPradesh, they said.

"The discussion was held oncooperation in intelligence

sharing and joint operations,"Odisha Police said in a statement.

A strategy was also workedout for future action and fur-ther cooperation between the

agencies engaged in anti-maoist operations, sourcessaid.

The Odisha Police has alsoplanned to enhance inter- statecoordination with neighbour-ing Chhattisgarh, they said.

Anti-maoist operations inOdisha are at present focusedon five areas - SwabhimanAnchal in Malkangiri, TulsiDongri area, tri-junction ofKandhamal, Kalahandi andRayagada, Patdhara reserveforest area in Nuapada andGandhamardan region atBargarh-Balangir border, thesources added.

Covid fatality rate 1.52 pc, lowest since MarchPNS n NEW DELHI

India has one of the lowest 81Covid-19 deaths per millionpopulation in the world withless than 1,000 fatalities regis-tered daily since October 4,while the fatality rate of 1.52 percent on Friday was the lowestsince March 22, the UnionHealth Ministry said.

These results have beenboosted by 22 states and UnionTerritories which have demon-strated better performance andare reporting even lower deathsper million population com-pared to the national average, itsaid.

"The Covid-19 case fatalityrate has been on the slide con-tinuously. At the current figureof 1.52 per cent, it is the lowestsince March 22," it highlighted.

Thirteen states and Union

Territories, includingPuducherry (403), Maharashtra(335), Goa (331), Delhi (317),Karnataka (152), Tamil Nadu(135) and Punjab (131), haddeaths per million populationmore than the national average.

As part of Covid-19 manage-ment and response policy, theCentre's sharp focus has beennot only on containing the

spread of the disease but also toreduce deaths and save lives byproviding quality clinical care tothe critical and severe patients,the ministry said.

Collaborative efforts of theCentre, states and UnionTerritories have resulted in thestrengthening of health facilitiesacross the country.

A total of 2,212 dedicated

Covid hospitals have been pro-viding quality medical care.The Centre has also issued astandard of care guidelines thusensuring the standardised qual-ity of medical care for all coro-navirus patients in governmentand private settings.

A unique initiative to buildthe capacities of the ICU doc-tors in the clinical managementof critical patients towardsreducing the fatality, e-ICUhas been started by AIIMS,New Delhi.

India on Friday too main-tained the trend of registeringmore recoveries than the newcases, with 70,338 people hav-ing recuperated in 24 hours asagainst 63,371 fresh instances ofthe infection being reported.

The total number of recover-ies have surged to 64,53,779 andexceed active cases of Covid-19

by 56,49,251."Recovered cases are eight

times more than active caseswhich are sliding continuous-ly. Presently, active cases com-prise merely 10.92 per cent ofthe total cases," the ministryhighlighted.

The national recovery ratehas improved to 87.56 per cent.

The ministry said 78 per centof the new recovered cases areobserved to be concentrated in10 states and Union territories.Maharashtra alone has con-tributed the maximum withmore than 13,000 single-dayrecoveries.

Also, 79 per cent of the newinfections are from 10 statesand Union territories.Maharashtra continues toreport more than 10,000 casesdaily followed by Karnatakawith more than 8,000 cases.

The first piece of thisseries (October 10), wehad seen that the lead-

ership development pathwayof administrators is hourglassshaped, not funnel-shaped asit is in the long-standing pro-fessions (e.g. medicine andengineering).

In the lower bulb of thehourglass, administrators gainexperience by making deci-sions in direct, firsthand, con-tact-with-reality situations. Inthe neck of the hourglass, theylearn what causes what, andwhy (theory).

Finally, having learnt toconnect the right experiencewith the right theory, admin-istrators use experience-basedintuition to make decisions.

The storehouse of experi-ences in the lower bulb is tacit- the know-how is acquired bya process of learning by doing,and resides in the minds andhands of the administrators -and situated - know-how isspecific in time and place.Contemporary training cours-es are largely oriented totransfer explicit technicalknowledge or managerialknowledge, and little attention

is paid to explicate the tacitand situated aspects of expe-rience-based decision-mak-ing.

As decision-making byadministrators is based ontacit and situated experiences,they are unable to makeexplicit the how and why oftheir own proficient deci-sions. The challenge is how todocument the tacit and situ-ation elements of experiencesfor the purpose of training.

For trainers the best way isto observe the "ways of talk-ing, rituals, implicit protocols,routines, relational strategies,character traits and virtues", aswell as the "practice of astute,sensitive and skilful" admin-istrators to generate accountsof proficient administrativepractices (e.g. case studies,narratives).

Such contextually rich anddetailed accounts of practicewould enable administratorsto judge the extent to which

there are sufficient points ofsimilarity with the currentproblem for it to be useful.One of the most difficultproblems that administratorsface when trying to draw onunderstandings or ideas devel-oped in a different context isthat of how transferable theyare: What is unique to a par-ticular time and place, andwhat is more general? It isonly depth of contextualisingdetail that will allow this kindof judgment to be made. Deepsituational understanding isessential input when dealingwith new problems and cir-cumstances.

In the neck of the hourglass,administrators largely designpolicies. Policies are generalinterventions that are not spe-cific to time and place. Inother words, policies requirean understanding of universallaws and principles of thedomain. These are providedby theory. Theories are gener-al statements of what causesthings to happen, and why. Letus use the what and why ofauction theory and how it canbe used to prepare policies.

This year's Nobel Prize inEconomics was given to PaulMilgrom and Robert Wilsonfor their research on auction

theory. Traditionally, a coal-field would be sold to thehighest bidder. Auction theo-ry tells us that bidders takeinto consideration both whatthey know themselves andwhat they believe other bid-ders to know. They are wor-ried about the winner's curse- that is, about paying toomuch and losing out.

Paul Milgrom found that

people underbid by less in so-called English auctions, inwhich prices start low and areraised, than in Dutch auctions,where they start high and arereduced. This insight showsthat revenue is unlikely to bemaximised by relying on thestandard method of allocatingcoalfields to the highest bid-ders. Auction theory providesa different auction format (setof rules for bidding and pre-dicting final prices) that is use-ful for maximising revenuefrom auctions of coalfields,mines, etc.

Suppose there are othergoals in addition to revenuemaximisation. These couldbe to protect the environment(for coalfield auction) orencourage technological inno-vation (telecom spectrum auc-tion).

For achieving broader soci-etal benefits, Milgrom andWilson invented new auctionformats, which are again use-

ful for administrators duringpolicy-design.

In the upper bulb, admin-istrators develop the capabil-ity to connect ideas and expe-riences (their own and oth-ers), hitherto thought to beunrelated.

Warren Buffet's confidante,Charlie Munger, succinctlyexplains how thishappens:"Well, the first rule isthat you can't really know any-thing if you just rememberisolated facts (or experiences)and try and bring 'em back. Ifthe facts don't hang togetheron a latticework of theory, youdon't have them in a usableform. You've got to have mod-els in your head. And you'vegot to array your experienceboth vicarious and direct onthis latticework of models. …You've got to hang experienceon a latticework of models inyour head."

Such expertise is gainedafter years of practice, and

these leaders develop con-centration (or spikes) in a fewdomains. Even though thespiky leaders have a solidgrounding in all aspects ofadministration, they havepracticed in becoming thebest in the world in their areasof strength, even if that meansthat they are average in otherleadership competencies.

Thus, administratorsrequire a different sort ofcapacity building. Broadly,they have to be exposed to thetacit and situated elements ofdecision-making, learn theright theories, and combinethe experience plus theory tomake intuitive decisions thatare not only good, but bril-liant.

(Author has a PhD fromthe USA and a DLitt from

Kanchi University. The arti-cle is based on his researchand practice and views are

personal)

DR. SAMEER SHARMA

The storehouse of experiences in thelower bulb is tacit - the know-how isacquired by a process of learning bydoing, and resides in the minds andhands of the administrators - know-howis specific in time and place.

Unleashing the potential of Mission Karmayogi

State records 3,967new cases, 25 deathsPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh added 3,967fresh cases of Covid-19 onFriday, taking theoverall tally to7,75,470.

In the 24hours ending9 am onFriday, 5,010coronaviruspatients gotcured whileanother 25 suc-cumbed.

The latest bulletin saidthe overall recoveries nowstood at 7,30,109 and thedeath toll 6,382. The numberof active cases in the state

reduced to 38,979, it said.The two Godavari districts,

West and East, added 627 and608 new cases in 24 hours.

Chittoor reported510 and Krishna

456 fresh casesw h i l eVizianagaramadded only 86.

The totalcases inVizianagaram

crossed the38,000 mark on

Friday but only1,371 are active.

Chittoor reported five freshCovid-19 fatalities and Kadapaand Krishna districts foureach.

BCI condemns Jagan'sallegation against SC judge PNS n NEW DELHI

The Bar Council of India (BCI)has condemned the allega-tions of Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy against asenior Supreme Court judgethat he has been influencingthe sittings of Andhra PradeshHigh Court.

The apex bar body said itwas aghast and appalled at thereprehensible move by theChief Minister to target theapex court judge.

The Bar Council of India isaghast and appalled at thereprehensible move by theChief Minister of AndhraPradesh Several Judges ofAndhra Pradesh High Court,including its Chief Justice havealso been targeted, with thesole aim to undermine theindependence of the judiciaryand browbeat judges to suit hisown purposes, BCI said in astatement.

It further said that in recenttimes, the country has wit-nessed several such overt andcovert attempts when sittingjudges of the top court havebeen attacked by a section ofsociety to destabilise the sys-tem of administration of jus-tice.

That it should now comefrom a CM of a state, animportant constitutionalauthority, is most worrisomeand alarming. The sinister actof releasing the letter of theCM to the media is the clearmanifestation of the conspir-

acy to scandalise and malignthe judges, which is nothingbut a subterfuge to shake theconfidence of the public in theinstitution of the Judiciaryand administration of justice,it said.

BCI further said the lawyersshould come forward to defeatand demolish the forces of dis-ruption whose hidden agendawas to subvert the smoothfunctioning of courts andadministration of justice.

The Council makes it clear

that it has no intention to inter-fere with the functioning of theoffice of Hon'ble Chief Justiceof India. The Council hasalways stood to protect the dig-nity and decorum of theInstitution. The lawyers of thecountry have always stoodbehind the judges wheneverany attempt to scandalise theinstitution has been made,and the legal fraternity of thecountry will never tolerate anysuch evil design of anybody tomalign the system, it said.

In an unprecedented move,Jagan had written to CJI SABobde, alleging that theAndhra Pradesh High Courtwas being used to "destabiliseand topple my democraticallyelected government."

He requested the CJI tolook into the matter and con-sider initiating steps "as may beconsidered fit and proper toensure that the state judiciary''sneutrality is maintained."

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

In a bid to enhance safety ofpassengers travelling in auto-rickshaws in Vizag, electron-ic IOT devices would be fittedto the vehicle, according to thepolice department. This wouldbe taken up on a pilot basis.

Autos will have a panicbutton for passengers and thiswill be integrated with themain command control roomof the police department.

As a result live tracking ofautos can be done in times ofemergencies. The projectwould be implemented by the

Transport department. Policeoffered to extend help to thetransport department in thisinitiative in terms ofantecedent verification of autodrivers.

Vizag autos to be fitted withIOT devices, panic button

CBI unearths ‘tech support ...

Hyderabadshop ownerheldin ESI scamContinued from Page 1

According to the Anti-Corruption Bureau , when KAtchannaidu was AP labourminister, there were severalirregularities in the purchaseof medicines, surgical equip-ment, and furniture for thefour Employees' StateInsurance (ESI) hospitals,three ESI diagnostic centresand 78 ESI dispensariesspread across the state.

After coming to power,Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy hadordered an investigation intothe alleged multi-crore ESIscam.

The ACB, in the course ofits investigations arrestedaccused No 17 in the case,Thunuguntla Dinesh Kumar,(30), director of ProdigyComputers & Laptops Pvt.Ltd. located in Hyderabad, atVijayawada.

Investigation by ACBsleuths revealed that DineshKumar had during the year2017 submitted quotationsfor supply of biometricdevices, along with four otherfake quotations colludingwith the then Director ofIMS, Dr CK Ramesh who isaccused No 1 in the scam.

Prodigy Computers sup-plied 100 biometric devicesfor all the ESI dispensaries inAP on nomination basis at anexorbitant rate.

Dr G. Vijay Kumar(Accused officer-2) who suc-ceeded Dr Ramesh Kumarcolluded with Dinesh Kumarwithout following theGovernment instructions andestablished procedure, paidthe bill of Rs 73.65 lakh onDecember 18, 2017 to thecomputer shop owner whichcaused loss to Governmentexchequer to a tune of aboutRs 53.67 lakh, ACB officialssaid.

Dinesh Kumar was pro-duced before the Court ofSpecial Judge for SPE & ACBCases, Vijayawada and wasremanded to judicial cus-tody till October 29.

Continued from Page 1

The searches were spreadacross various locations includ-ing Jaipur, Delhi, Noida,Gurgaon, Faridabad andMainpuri (Uttar Pradesh) atthe premises of private compa-nies and residential premises ofaccused persons in an on-going investigation of the case,Gaur said.

The US Department ofJustice (DOJ) said in a state-

ment on Thursday that in an"unprecedented collaborative"effort, the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) in Indiatook actions in parallel withtoday's filing against corporateand individual participants inthe scheme located in Delhi,Noida, Gurgaon, and Jaipur.

The Department of Justicesincerely appreciates the CBI's“efforts to disrupt and prose-cute technical-support fraud,government imposter fraud,

and all other schemes direct-ed at the American public,”Acting Assistant AttorneyGeneral Jeffrey Bossert Clarkof the Civil Division said in astatement in the US.

The US authorities havefiled a complaint in a Floridacourt against the scam onwhich the court on Thursdayhas issued a restraining orderto dismantle internet basedinfrastructure of the allegedfraudsters.

Gadkari inaugurates,starts projects ...Continued from Page 1

He said works costing Rs34,100 crore are under thedetailed project report (DPR)stage and may be completedby 2024, while works costingRs 25,440 crore are underimplementation.

The minister said 50-60 percent progress has beenachieved in projects costing Rs18,100 crore.

Gadkari said 5,000 km ofnational highways are beingdeveloped as a part of theBharatmala Pariyojana in thestate. In addition, 400 km ofport connectivity roads willalso be developed under theprogramme.

"In line with PrimeMinister's (Narendra Modi)vision for a New India, devel-opment of world-class trans-port infrastructure has beenprioritised, through initiativessuch as the BharatmalaPariyojana, India's largest-everinfrastructure developmentprogramme," the statementsaid quoting the minister.

Many flagship corridorssuch as Delhi-MumbaiExpressway, Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway, Chennai-

Bengaluru Expressway, andA n a n t a p u r - A m a r a v a t iExpressway are being devel-oped as part of the BharatmalaPariyojana, he added. Gadkarialso said the 335-kmA n a n t p u r - A m a r a v a t iExpressway is also being devel-oped as part of the pro-gramme.

The controlled-accessexpressway, he said, willimprove connectivity of thecapital region, coastal andnorthern region of AndhraPradesh and will enable theeconomic prosperity of theregion.

The expressway has 16packages and is being devel-oped with an investment of Rs20,000 crore.

It connects Amaravati, thedesignated capital of AP, withAnantapur of RayalaseemaRegion, and provides a majorconnectivity between NH-44and NH-16 which are lifelinein Andhra Pradesh.

The minister said theB e n g a l u r u - C h e n n a iExpressway with a length of262 km is also one of theexpressways being developedas part of the BharatmalaPariyojana.

vijayawada 03VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | OCTOBER 17, 2020

Poll disqualification fearhaunts Jagan: YanamalaPNS n VIJAYAWADA

The threat of disqualificationfrom elections was hauntingChief Minister YS JaganmohanReddy ever since the speedytrials began in the court on hisassets cases, opined Leader ofOpposition in the LegislativeCouncil YanamalaRamakrishnudu here onFriday.

He said that the ChiefMinister was now in the gripof a fear that his politicalcareer would reach a dead-endbecause of his 31 cases some ofwhich were of various seriousnature. He claimed that Jaganwill face immediate disqualifi-cation for six years if he is con-victed in the court.

He said that if a 10-year sen-tence would be slapped, thenJagan would face the gripprospect of a 16-year disqual-ification. Hence, he was mak-

ing one mistake after anotherand indulging in wrongdo-ings like no other ChiefMinister ever did in the past,he alleged.

He further stated that newtensions gripping Jagan on thelatest consequences of his let-ter to the Chief Justice ofIndia. He claimed that this wasevident from how the rulingYSRCP sympathisers and lead-ers were literally scared oftalking about this issue now.He claimed that all the associ-

ations of advocates across thecountry attacked the mischie-vous attitude and hidden agen-da of the Chief Minister.

Stating that the judiciarywas a strong, independent pil-lar in a democracy,Ramakrishnudu said that thepeople were now seeing a ruler,who was hell-bent on takingrevenge against the judges andthe courts.

He commented that like a'Bhasmasur', JaganmohanReddy was placing his self-destructive hand on his ownhead that would lead to hisown decimation eventually.He stated that threatening thejudiciary reflected the unac-ceptable and audacious levelsto which the Chief Minister hasgone and the letter to CJI wasjust part of Jagan's game planto escape from a jail term.

He said that once the trialswould be completed, the ChiefMinister would be sure to geta conviction and a sentenceranging from six years to 16years.

n Stating that the judiciarywas a strong,independent pillar in ademocracy,Ramakrishnudu said thatthe people were nowseeing a ruler, who washell-bent on takingrevenge against thejudges and the courts

n The Chief Minister wasnow in the grip of fearthat his political careerwould reach a dead-end because of his 31cases some of whichwere of variousserious nature, allegedthe TDP leader

TDP LEADER TOURS FLOOD-HIT AREAS

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

TDP National GeneralSecretary Nara Lokesh onFriday warned the govern-ment of paying a heavy price ifit continued to ignore the woesand suffering of farmers inview of huge losses in heavyrains and floodwaters. He vis-ited the flood and rain-hitcrops in Mangalagiri, Tenaliand Vemuru Assembly con-stituencies in Guntur district,along with TDP leaders.

He said that over 14 personsdied in the floods in the pastfew days and farmers incurredlosses worth Rs 400 crore butthe government was not givingany relief. Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy conveneda review meeting on the rainmitigation efforts only afterPrime Minister Narendra Modihad made a call to the former,he pointed out.

The former Minister visitedthe flood and rain-hit crops inMangalagiri, Tenali andVemuru assembly constituen-cies in Guntur district here.During his visit, Lokeshstepped into the knee-deepwaters in agricultural fieldsand enquired farmers abouttheir woes and the help they

required to overcome the cri-sis.

The TDP leader spoke tofarmers during his visit toGundimeda, Chirravuru andPedakonduru villages inMangalagiri segment. Speakingafter visiting the damagedfields, Lokesh said that it wouldnot be good for the govern-ment if the farmers have tearsin their eyes. They have losteverything they have spent onthe crops. Jagan had promisedto bring 'Rythu Rajyam' butnow the Chief Minister wasbringing 'Ryuthuleni Rajyam' (aState without farmers).

He said severe losses werecaused in 11 districts. Over8,000 houses were submerged.

Crops were damaged in 2.5lakh acres in which farmerssuffered a total loss of Rs 400crore. Paddy, black gram,groundnut, chilli and sugarcanecrops were badly hit.

Lokesh visitedAttaluruvaripalem, Pidaparthyand Pathabommavani Palem inTenali segment; Chilumuru,Epuru and Kolluru Lockulu inVemuru segment. Former min-isters Alapati Rajendra Prasad,Nakka Anand Babu, formerMLA T Sravan Kumar and oth-ers accompanied him. Heinspected damages to turmer-ic, green gram crops atGundimeda village andbanana, turmeric crops atPedakonduru village.

Lokesh deplores govtapathy towards farmers

Former minister N Lokesh in knee deep water in a field during his visit to flood-hitareas in Guntur district on Friday

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Minister for IndustriesMekapati Gautam Reddy onFriday lauded the Nellore dis-trict Collector, Superintendentof Police, DM&HO, districtauthorities and others for theircollective efforts in curbing theCorona deaths. He said thatwith collective measures any-thing is possible and addedthat hard work of everyone,including sanitation workers,volunteers, doctors and jour-nalists, was commendable.

He said that it was a positivesign that there are no Coviddeaths in SPS Nellore districton three occasions in October.He said that this was possiblewith the coordination of offi-cials, including DistrictCollector Chakradhar Babu,

SP Bhaskar Bhushan, GGHsuperintendent Sudhakar,DM&HW Rajyalakshmi,NGOs, cooperation of publicrepresentatives and people.

He further stated that lessthan 200 cases are beingreported from a level wheremore than a 1,000 cases usedto be registered on a regularbasis. The credit goes to thegovernment for its contain-ment measures being imple-

mented to bring down thepositive cases and the deathtoll, said the minister andadded that people need to becareful till the launch of thevaccine. The minister said thatno deaths were reported in thedistrict on Thursday.

According to the bulletinreleased by the government onFriday, 69, 20,377 sampleswere tested while 3,967 turnedout to be positive and 5,010patients recovered from thevirus. The total number ofactive cases in the State is38,979 with 6,382 deaths.

CURBING OF CORONA DEATHS

Gautam Reddy saidthat no deaths werereported in Nelloredistrict on Thursday

Minister for Industries allpraise for Nellore dist officials

Woman, twodaughters end lifePNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

A woman, along with her twodaughters, jumped into a localtank at Narapam village inKothavalasa mandal ofVizianagaram district onFriday. The deceased havebeen identified as N Gowri(28) and her daughters NSankeerthana (6) and NHasini (4).

The locals said that thewoman, along with her twodaughters, left home onThursday evening. As theydid not return home, familymembers and locals startedsearching and found theirbodies floating in the localtank. Police with the supportof the locals retrieved thebodies from the tank. Police

are suspecting that familydisputes might have the rea-son for the suicide pact.

Gowri married SrinivasRaju eight years ago.However, she reportedly wasnot on good terms with herhusband and in- laws.Apparently upset with thefamily disputes, Gowri, alongwith her daughters, commit-ted suicide by jumping intothe tank.

The Kothavalasa police ledby Sub- Inspector NP Murthyregistered a case and investi-gation is on to ascertain theexact reasons for the sui-cide. However, family mem-bers of Gowri alleged thatSrinivas Raju and his parentswere responsible for the deathof the trio.

Navaratri Brahmotsavams begin at TirumalaPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Srivari NavaratriBrahmotsavam kicked off atTirumala on Friday in 'ekan-tham' due to Covid-19 curbs.After reciting Vedic hymns atYogashala, the utsava idols ofSri Malayappa Swamy, alongwith His consorts Sri Devi andSri Bhudevi were paradedwithin the Vimana Prakaramof temple on Bangaru Tiruchi.

Thereafter they were seatedin asthanam at theRanganayakula Mandapam.Tirumala pontiffs PeddaJeeyar Swami, Chinna JeeyarSwami, MP VemireddyPrabhakar Reddy, AdditionalEO AV Dharma Reddy, TTDBoard members DP Anant,Prashanti Reddy, chief priestVenugopala Dikshitulu,

Kankanabhattar RamakrishnaDikshitulu, deputy executiveofficer of Srivari templeHarindranath, VGO Manohar,P e i s h k a r

Jaganmohanacharyulu andother officials were present.

In all, nine assistant collec-tors (IAS probationers) fromdifferent districts of the State,

who had come for hands onexperience on conductingSrivari NavaratriBrahmotsavam, called onTTD Executive Officer KSJawahar Reddy on Friday.

The TTD EO, who metthem at the Annamaiah

Bhavan, apprised them of thesecond Brahmotsavam thisyear, which commenced onFriday after Ankurarpanam onThursday and the key event ofGaruda Seva is slated forOctober 20.

The EO also explained theIAS probationers aboutdharmic, spiritual, devotees'welfare and other socio-eco-nomic activities taken up bythe TTD and other charityactivities.

He also briefed them on theadministrative hierarchy, func-tions of senior managementstaff, TTD Trusts and pro-grammes for preserving andprotecting Vedic knowledgeand education. There afterthe visiting assistant collectorsalso called on TTD addition-al EO AV Dharma Reddy.

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

Already, 74,000 tickets forthe darshan GoddessKanakadurga, the presidingdeity of Indrakeeladri, weresold online and only 1,500tickets were left, announced PSomi Naidu, chairman ofKanakadurga Temple TrustBoard.

Addressing the media hereon Friday, P Somi Naidu,along with temple ExecutiveOfficer MV Suresh Babu,appealed to the devotees tostrictly follow the Covid19guidelines, including wear-ing a mask, maintaining socialdistance and using sanitiser,while visiting the temple.

The Trust Board chairmansaid that devotees could bookthe rest of the 1,500 tickets,which are available. Elaboratearrangements have been madefor the smooth darshan of thepresiding deity and Navaratrifete will be conducted success-

fully without any glitches. Hedisclosed that the temple ofLord Siva, which had beenunder renovation for the lastone year, will be thrown opento the devotees from Saturday.

Suresh Babu said that thedevotees, who booked ticketsonline, should bring identitycards while visiting the tem-ple for darshan. In case, theycould not secure online tick-

ets, they could obtain thesame at the ticket counters atPunnami Ghat, or MadapatiSatram. Chief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy will pre-sent silk saree to the presidingdeity Goddess Kanakadurgaon the day of MulaNakshatram. He announcedthat there will be no massworship on the templepremises.

n In all, nine assistantcollectors (IASprobationers) fromdifferent districts of theState, who had comefor hands onexperience onconducting SrivariNavaratriBrahmotsavam, calledon TTD ExecutiveOfficer KS JawaharReddy

74,000 online tickets soldfor Navaratri celebrations

Agency hired to salvagegrounded Bangladeshi shipPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The management ofBangladeshi vessel MV MAA,which ran aground followingsnapping of anchors in the seaoff Vizag coast, following deepdepression in the Bay, hashired the US-based ResolveMarine Private Limited toundertake the salvage opera-tions and refloat the vessel.

The 3,000-tonneBangladeshi cargo vessel MVMaa, drifted from the anchor-age point and ran agroundnear Tenneti Park in Vizag city,in the wee hours of Tuesday.

The ship, which was empty,had come to Visakhapatnamport to load cargo and waswaiting near the anchoragepoint for the last couple of daysfor the berthing itinerary. Thesalvage operations can be ini-tiated only after removal of oilfrom the vessel to avoid anyrisk of oil pollution to thebeach. No water ingress, or oilpollution is reported so far.

The vessel owner'sProtection and IndemnityClub has appointed MS GillMarine to remove fuel oilfrom the vessel. It is reported

that Gill Marine has obtainedpermission from various gov-ernment authorities to take upthe work. But, since there is noaccess road to the site of thegrounded vessel, a temporaryroad is laid by the vendor tomobilise men and material.

The Visakhapatnam PortTrust (VPT) also has mobilisedits own oil spill response equip-ment with a dedicated team tothe site to cater to any unto-ward oil pollution around thevessel. It may take two tothree days to transfer the oilfrom the grounded ship to

shore. The vessel is having 41tonnes of fuel oil and ninetonnes of diesel oil on board.

The shipping said the engineof the ship began malfunction-ing soon after arrival at theanchorage. They expresseddoubt that the vessel could bebrought to normal condition.

All the 15 Bangladeshi creware still on board. Gill Marinehas provided a generator to thevessel, as the vessel is in black-out condition. Another agencyis supplying food, water andother essential goods to thecrew.

Woman laudspolice forrescuing herfrom a stalkerPNS n VIJAYAWADA

M Dhanalakshmi fromMudinepalli mandal inKrishna district, an SC, metDGP Gautam D Sawang andexpressed her gratitude. Shesaid that the Krishna districtpolice had rescued her froma stalker, who cheated on herin the name of love. She metthe DGP at the DGP officehere on Friday.

She said that there used tobe a fear among the SCs inthe State to approach thepolice, however, afterreforms and changes broughtin the police department,justice is being rendered towomen, SCs and margin-alised sections.

Yet another lowpressure weathersystem formingNAVEENA GHANATE

n HYDERABAD

Even before Telangana couldcompletely recover from thehavoc caused by the deepdepression on October 13 , afresh low pressure area isexpected to form over centralBay of Bengal around October19, bringing in its wake heavyrains for two days in the State.

As per the IndianMeteorological Department,the low pressure area is likelyto become more marked dur-ing the subsequent 24 hoursafter October19. This would bethe 11th such weather systembetween June and October 16,as at least 10 systems haveformed over the Bay of Bengalthis rainy season. Nearly 50%of rainfall so far in the state thismonsoon has been due tothese 10 weather systems,according to the authorities.While August witnessed 5 suchweather systems, Septembersaw 2 and June, July, Octobersaw 1 each respectively.

The low pressure that wouldform on 19th in the Bay ofBengal will bring about rainsacross the state, while southTelangana, just belowHyderabad, is expected toexperience severe rainfall.However, the forecast for lowpressure to intensify intodepression is yet to known. Theweather models can underes-timate or over-predict as waswitnessed earlier this week.

Meanwhile, the IMD hasissued warning of heavy tovery heavy rainfall at isolatedplaces in the state for 19-20October. The rains are likelyto continue until Dussherathis season. So far in thestate, as per TSDPS, theMonsoon cumulative rainfallfrom 1st to 16th October2020 is 133.3 mm, against thenormal 64.0 mm, being excessby 108%

The State cumulative rain-fall from 1st June 2020 to 16thOctober 2020 is 1,211.6 mm,against the normal 784.4 mm,being excess by 54%.

19-year-oldsedated, rapedby friends

PNS n HYDERABAD

A 19-year-old girl was report-edly drugged and raped by agroup of youngsters, includingher friends, at Kukatpally. Thepolice booked a case and arrest-ed the accused on Friday. Thearrested were identified asMadhoji Joseph(20),Bondagadla NaveenReddy(22), Ragani Ramu(23)all residents of Sanathnagar.

According to police, onOctober 5, she was invited fora birthday party by the suspects,who are her friends. Theybooked a room in Anand Inn(OYO Lodge), Bhagyanagarcolony near KPHB MetroStation. At the birthday party,they reportedly served hercake laced with sedatives. Theycommitted the offence after shefell unconscious.

ED attachesproperties of DCHoldings LtdPNS n HYDERABAD

The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) has provi-sionally attached immov-able assets totaling to Rs122.15 crore under thePrevention of MoneyLaundering Act, 2002(PMLA) in a loan fraudcase. The attached assetsbelong to Deccan ChronicleHoldings Limited (DCHL)and two of its former pro-moters namely TVenkatram Reddy and TVinayakravi Reddy and thatof a benami company float-ed by them.

AP should be a rolemodel in NEP: GuvPNS n VIJAYAWADA

Andhra Pradesh should be arole model in the country inthe implementation ofNational Education Policy-2020, said Governor BiswaBushan Harichandan.

The State government wascommitted to implementingthe National Education Policyin its true spirit and it wasexpected from the Vice-Chancellors of all StateUniversities to take a lead rolein the implementation of thepolicy by overcoming thechallenges if any, he opined.

He addressed the Vice-

Chancellors of 20 StateUniversities through a videoconference from the RajBhavan on Friday.

He said that the NEP envi-sions a robust and vibrantpublic education system inthe country by putting an endto the fragmented function-ing of higher education sys-tem and transformation ofHEIs into multi-disciplinaryuniversities.

He further stated thatnational f lagship pro-grammes such as 'UnnatBharat Abhiyan' and 'EkBharat-Shreshtha Bharat' willalso be part of the NEP.

(Inset) Chairman of Kanakadurga Temple Trust Board P Somi Naidu addressesthe media in Vijayawada on Friday

‘Charge sheetin student’smurder’

PNS n VIJAYAWADA

A charge sheet will befiled within seven days inthe brutal murder ofDivya Tejaswani, an engi-neering student, by a stalk-er, said DGP Gautam DSawang. He said that sternaction will be takenagainst the accused andsuch activities shall not beignored under any cir-cumstances. “We havealready issued a fiat toV i j a y a w a d aCommissioner of Police BSrinivasulu in this regard,he said.

He expressed sympa-thies to the kin of the vic-tim. He warned that thepolice department will notspare anyone, who indulgein attacks on children andwomen, and added that itis the responsibility ofeveryone to put an end tosuch crimes in society.

Meanwhile, DishaSpecial Officer DeepikaPatil on the directive ofChief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy metthe victim’s family mem-bers and consoled them.She called upon the peo-ple to curb such activitiesin society.

She appealed to thepeople lodge complaintsthrough Disha app, PoliceService app, Dial 100/112and post whatever infor-mation they have. TheSpecial Officer made itclear that the first duty ofthe police was to protectwomen and children insociety.

VIJAYAWADA | SATURDAY | OCTOBER 17, 2020 telangana 04

Modern public toilets constructed by Karimnagar Municipal Corporation

FOCUS OON SSANITATION

Eyes on runner-up in Dubbak by-poll K VENKATESHWARLU

n HYDERABAD

By-polls have had the history ofthrowing up unpredictableresults in Telangana and the by-election to Dubbak AssemblyConstituency is sure to followthe trend. Dubbak is witnessingtriangular contest between theruling TRS, Congress and BJP.

The political parties haveconcentrated on campaignseriously to ensure victory fortheir candidate. However, anyone party will emerge victori-ous in the by-poll. In the back-drop of the Congress and BJP'sclaim that they are the alterna-tive to the ruling TRS, the cru-cial question ahead of by-pollis who will emerge as the run-ner up. If TRS retains theDubbak seat, second placebecomes important toCongress and BJP. BothCongress and BJP are claimingthat they are alternative partyto the ruling TRS. In case TRS

loses the election, there wouldnot be any priority to the 'sec-ond place' and the equationswill be changed drastically.However, the ruling TRS partyis confident of winningDubbak seat with a huge mar-gin. The ruling party hasentrusted the responsibilities ofDubbak by-election to TRS'trouble shooter and FinanceMinister T Harish Rao. TheSiddipet MLA took the electionas prestigious and he is leadingthe campaign from the front.Simultaneously, Harish Rao

has successfully taken up'Operation Akarsh' by induct-ing the local leaders ofCongress and BJP fromDubbak constituency.

Harish Rao is not giving anyscope to the opposition partiesand giving series of shocks tothe opposition parties byattracting leaders from oppo-sition parties. According tosources, few more leaders arein queue to join the ruling TRS.The induction of these leaderswill take place strategically todisturb the leaders of opposi-

tion parties. On the otherhand, the Congress, for the firsttime deployed all its leaders inconstituency. The Congressalso appointed in-charges toevery village. Newly-appoint-ed State Congress Affairs in-charge Manickam Tagore hasbeen supervising the progressof the campaign in the con-stituency time and again, it islearnt. However, the local lead-ers are quitting the party oneafter the other disappointingthe top brass. There are spec-ulations that Siddipet DistrictCongress president T NarsaReddy is not happy with thestate leadership and is on sec-ond thoughts in continuing inthe party. The state leadershipalmost finalised his name forDubbak by-elections. However,the party finalised formerMinister Cheruku MuthyamReddy's son Cheruku SrinivasReddy's candidature.

On the other hand, theCongress leaders are staying in

their allotted villages and aretrying to make the peopleinclined towards Congressparty. However, the state lead-ers, who are staying in the vil-lages, are facing troubles withthe local leadership as they arenot much cooperative, it is said.The BJP is putting all outefforts to win this election.Similar to the Congress party,the BJP is of opinion that reg-istering victory in Dubbak bypoll will ensure victory in nextAssembly elections. However,the BJP is also facing similarproblem that of Congress.Leaders and cadre fromDubbak constituency are mak-ing beeline to join the rulingTRS. The party' candidate MRaghunandan Rao had startedhis campaign much beforeTRS and Congress candidates'.The BJP is of opinion thatRaghunandan Rao's victorywill bring glory to the partysimilar to the victory of fourMPs in the state.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana BJP chief BandiSanjay Kumar on Fridaylaunched a scathing attack onChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao anddemanded the latter to visit theflood-hit areas. "The ChiefMinister should personallyvisit flood-hit areas and shouldstop sending 'boot polish gang'or else people would revolt," healleged. The Karimnagar MPwas speaking after visitingflood-hit areas inDilshukhnagar, GaddiAnnaram, Bairamalguda,Banjara Colony. He spoke tothe people and enquired aboutthe problems they are facingdue to heavy rains.

"In the last six years, tanks,lakes and nalas have beenencroached in Hyderabad city.The TRS government shouldown responsibility for it," hesaid. Finding fault with thestate government for statingthat it spent Rs 67,000 crore,Sanjay demanded the govern-

ment to reveal as to where itspent the money. All coloniesin the city resembled river andcars were submerged in floodwater and in the same manner,TRS 'car' would also be sub-merged in the upcomingGHMC elections," he said.

Stating that the Centre isready to extend help, BandiSanjay said that the ChiefMinister, who divertedCentre's Covid funds, has beendemanding Rs 5,000 crorefrom the Centre. Finding faultwith KCR for criticizing theCentre time and now regard-

ing funds, Sanjay questionedthe state government to revealwhether it is giving funds tothe people freely.

Bandi Sanjay said that thepeople of the flood-hit areashave no food, drinking waterand power. He demanded thestate government to initiatesteps on war footing. "It is notproper on part of PoliceDepartment to harass Dalitwomen and locals, who ques-tioned TRS working presidentand Municipal AdministrationMinister KT Rama Rao whenhe visited their area," he said.

Bandi demands KCR tovisit flood-hit areas

Seethakka slams govtover death of tribal girlPNS n HYDERABAD

Congress MLA from MuluguDanasiri Anasuya aliasSeethakka on Friday allegedthat the state governmentneglected the tribal girl fromKhammam. The 13-year-oldgirl, who was set on fire,allegedly by her employer athis home for resisting a rapeattempt, died on Thursdaynight while undergoing treat-ment for nearly a month. TheMLA said that the girl diedafter waging fight for the lifefor 25 days. She demanded thestate government to extendhelp to the kin of the deceased.She deplored that there is nowomen commission to ventgrievances of the women.

Seethakka, along withTPCC official spokesperson

Indira Shoban staged a protestwith 'Bathukammas' underTelugu Talli Flyover'. Laterspeaking to the media, theyalleged that the TRS govern-ment was least bothered aboutthe atrocities in Telangana.Already two people have losttheir lives, however, eitherpolice or the state governmentdidn't care about these inci-dents, they said.

They said that'Bathukamma' is a festival of'daughters', however, sadly theKhammam girl died on thefestival day. They demandedthe state government to set upa Women Commission imme-diately. Congress leaders-Sudha, Srinivas Goud, Judson,Kalpana, Uzma, Vijay, Shobhaand others participated in theprogramme.

Vijayashanthilashes out atKCRPNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC campaign commit-tee chairperson Vijayashanthion Friday took potshots atChief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao overthe flood situation in thestate. “The Chief Minister hasto introspect himself as towhat he has done after com-ing to power. KCR used tocriticise the then rulers say-ing that tanks, lands werebeing subjected to encroach-ments in Hyderabad citybesides illegal constructions,however, even KCR didn’tobstruct those illegal activi-ties after he came to power.The style of TRS administra-tion would be witnessed ifone sees the KCR’s dreamworld city,” she alleged in herFacebook statement.

COVID IMPACT

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Centre has directed thestate governments to installCCTV cameras in publicparks and food courts to pre-vent crowding. It asked thestates not to open public parksin containment areas, accord-ing to guidelines issued byHealth and Family WelfareDepartment. It laid heavyemphasis on putting in placeCovid-19 preventive measuresas a large number of peoplewill gather in parks for amuse-ment and relaxation.

Besides observing socialdistance and wearing masks,people should wash hands asfrequently as possible andthey should also use handsanitisers. Spitting in publicplace has been prohibited.People aged 65 years andmore and those who are suf-fering from chronic diseases,pregnant women and childrenbelow 10 years of age shouldconfine themselves to theirhomes. Among employees ofthe public work, those whohave been indisposed andexpectant mothers should

take additional precautions.They should avoid direct con-tact with public while dis-charging their duties. Thereshould be marks on groundinside the park and also out-side to enable people toobserve physical distance.People should move in aqueue both outside and insidethe park. Enough employeesshould be posted to ensurepeople follow the queue dis-cipline.

The Centre asked the stateto allow food courts andrestaurants to allow only 50per cent of the customers ofthe total seating capacity. It ismandatory for the food courtstaff members like waiters towear masks and gloves. Thedoor handles, elevator buttons,chairs, benches, walls andother structures in museums,horticultural gardens, foodcourts and theatres should besanitised with sodiumhypochlorate. Those whohave Covid-19 symptomsshould be discouraged to visitparks. There is no entry forthose who live in containmentzones.

Parks, food courtsunder tight vigil

Cyber police crack the whip on fraudstersDURGA PRASAD SUNKU

n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad Cyber Crime teamarrested 10 people fromBharatpur, Rajasthan forindulging in OLX frauds andclaimed to have solved aroundfour cases. In addition to that,Hyderabad Police also tookeight members into custodywho were involved in eightcases. In total, 18 cyber fraud-sters have been arrested in 12cases. Those arrested on Fridaywere identified as as VajibKhan, Sahil, Sahid, UmerKhan, Satvirsingh, Ifran, Tarif,Mohan Singh, Azaruddin andRahul.

In a joint operation withBharatpur Police, the CyberCrime team raided the vil-lages in the late night with ahope to lift suspected cybercriminals. However, the teamcaught with surprise whenthe villagers attacked police

by pelting stones and throw-ing chili powder at them. Thepolice had to fire tear gas toprotect themselves from themob and whisked away tenaccused f rom the spot .Fortunately, none of thepolicemen were injured.However, in the melee,reportedly three police vehi-

cles were damaged. Investigation revealed that

the accused indulging inscams on online market-place like OLX, Quickr,Facebook since May 2018."The accused lures the vic-tim by posting fake adver-tisements regarding sale ofvehicles, mobile phones, fur-

niture items and other elec-tronic gadgets with lowprices in different onlinemarketplaces. Once the vic-tims falls for the trap, theaccused impersonate asArmy and CISF Personnel togain confidence of their tar-gets," said KVM PrasadAssistant Commissioner ofPolice, Hyderabad CyberCrime.

Further, to gain more trustof their targets, the accusedsend the soft copies of fakeAadhar and Identity cards ofdefense personnel. Once thetarget takes the bait theaccused insist them todeposit the money citing var-ious reasons like advanceamount, gate pass charges,shipment charges, Insurancecharges and delivery chargesby sending the fake transportreceipts reflecting Indianarmy symbols.

"The accused siphon the

money of victims till theyrealise it is fraud. If confront-ed accused avoid the victimcalls and switch off theirmobiles, added Prasad. Basedon the complaint from SudhirKumar, a resident ofAlugaddaBavi, Mettuguda,Secunderabad who lost Rs56,000 in the OLX fraud,Hyderabad Cyber Crimepolice booked a case andinvestigated it.

Team headed by Inspectorof Police S Naveen consistingof team members Sub-inspectors Ramesh and Vinayand pol ice constablesHanuman Prasad, Suresh,Prabhu and Vijay and othercamped ten days inBharatpur to nab the accused.Hyderabad Cyber crimepolice cautioned public not tobelieve such 'Unrealisticoffers' regarding sale of suchcars, mobiles and other elec-tronic devices.

PNSn HYDERABAD

Nizamabad MLC KalvakuntlaKavitha on Friday announcedthat Bathukamma celebrationsby Telangana Jagruthi werecancelled in the light of Covid-19. Kavitha, who is presentlyunder home-quarantine aftercoming in contact with MLASanjay Kumar took to hersocial media platforms toextend her heartfelt wishes onthe occasion of Bathukamma.

She reminded people of thestate that we are still in the mid-dle of a pandemic, our safetyand the safety of our loved oneslies in our hands. She request-ed the women of the state totake all the precautions, main-tain social distancing and avoidlarge gatherings while cele-brating this festival of joy.

In a note posted by Kavitha,she emphasized on the cultur-al significance and legacy ofthe tradition that Bathukammacelebrates. She recalled thedirect analogy between thevarious seasonal flowers that

are adorned in those 9 days tothem being an embodiment ofreality, historically as well as incurrent times. She said thatChief Minister KChandrashekar Rao has playedthe role of an elder brother andfatherly figure for the womenof Telangana, like every yearthe state government is distrib-uting sarees on the occasion.Meanwhile, Telangana Jagruthihosted a function at the AshokNagar based headquarters onFriday wherein they unveiled8 songs recorded to add joy in

the celebrations ofBathukamma along with pock-et-size books of Bathukammasongs printed in the form oftext. The organization furtherreleased 3 special Bathukammasongs by director DamodarReddy to mark the success ofthe event.

The Bathukamma songshave been written by poet andwriter Kodari Srinu, sung byfamous singers Telu Vijaya,Padmavati, and Varam, com-posed by Venu and directed byDamodar Reddy.

Telangana Jagruti cancelsBathukamma celebrations

Dasoju demands Rs 50 lakhex gratia to kin of deceasedPNS n HYDERABAD

AICC Spokesperson DrDasoju Sravan on Fridaylaunched a scathing attack onChief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao for his'inhuman' attitude towards theflood-affected citizens ofHyderabad. The senior con-gress leader criticized KCRfor not responding on theserious issue of floods whichcaused huge damage to thepeople of this city anddemanded to announce ex-gratia of Rs 50 lakh to the fam-ily of each deceased person. Hefurther said that the TRS gov-ernment has miserably failedin handling the situation in therain-hit Hyderabad that was

completely inundated withflood water. Sravan, along witha team of congress leaders metthe GHMC Commissioner,Lokesh Kumar on Friday andstaged a dharna against thegovernment's laziness and fail-ure in front of the GHMCoffice. Greater Hyderabad

Congress president AnjanKumar Yadav, GreaterCongress leaders Feroze Khan,Anil Kumar Yadav and otherswere present on the occasion.

He expressed disppointmentthat, despite having huge man-power, GHMC did not reactpromptly to the situation.

PMGSY works to be expedited PNS n HYDERABAD

Panchayat Raj and RuralDevelopment MinisterErrabelli Dayakar Rao direct-ed the department officials toexpedite works pertaining todevelopment of 158 roadssanctioned under the PrimeMinister Gram Sadak Yojana.

He wanted that the workssubject to regulations should becompleted as the first priorityand those posing problems

should be completed afterresolving the issues as a secondpriority. Reviewing the workshere on Friday, the Minister saidthere should be optimum util-isation of Central funds tocomplete road constructionworks with quality standardsand within fixed time-frame.He asked the officials to person-ally monitor the constructionwork at regular interval andsubmit status reports to theirhigher officials.

43-year-oldfound deadPNS n HYDERABAD

A 43-year-old employeeworking with private airlineswas found dead inShamshabad on Thursday.The deceased, identified as NMadhava Rao, was workingas an engineer for IndigoAirlines at the Rajiv GandhiInternational Airport.According to the police,Madhava Rao had gone miss-ing on Tuesday night. It issuspected that he got washedaway during the heavy down-pour on Tuesday night.

Sabitha faces ire of corporatorsPNS n HYDERABAD

On Thursday, locals hurledslippers at TRS MLAManchireddy Kishan Reddyand other workers, duringtheir visit to flood-affectedMedipally area. Also, InUppal, Subhash Reddy facedan embarrassing situationwhen he tried to console theflood-affected people.

And now, EducationMinister Sabitha Indra Reddyfaced a similar situation when

she visited flood-affectedareas in Badangpet. The cor-porators questioned theMinister asking as to why

they are not giving priorinformation regarding theirvisits. Even, the people raisedtheir voice.

CM greets peopleon BathukammaPNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao has con-veyed his greetings to peoplein the State on the occasion ofthe Bathukamma festival. TheChief Minister urged the peo-ple to celebrate theBathukamma festival, a sym-bol of Telangana Pride and

culture, with devotion. TheChief Minister prayed to theGoddess to bless that the agri-culture sector in the stateshould prosper with highyields and each and everyhousehold should have peaceand happiness. The ChiefMinister also asked the peopleto celebrate the festival strict-ly following the Corona guide-lines and restrictions.

VIJAYAWADA |SATURDAY | OCTOBER 17, 2020 nation 05

INDIA CORNER

Agroup of 17 personsallegedly ransackedand looted a beer bar

on Mumbai-Nashik Highwayin Maharashtra, police saidon Friday.The incident tookplace on Thursday afternoonwhen the group had cometo the beer bar for lunch andlater refused to pay for themeal, inspector Dattu Bhoye

of Kasara police station saidThe accused allegedly ransacked theplace and decamped with Rs 82,000 from the cash counter, hesaid. Of the 17 men, belonging to Shirol, Kasara, Kalyan andShahapur, three have been arrested for rioting so far, while hunthas been launched for the others, the official said.An offence hasbeen registered under sections 395 (dacoity) among otherprovisions of the IPC against the accused, he added.

Locals ransack, loot beer bar onMaha highway: three held

ANaxal was killed ina gun- battle withsecurity forces in

Chhattisgarh's Bijapurdistrict on Friday,police said.Theencounter took placearound 9:30 am insidea forest betweenKorsaguda andOutpallivillages underthe Basaguda police station area when a joint team of securityforces was out on a search operation, Inspector General of Police(Bastar range) Sundarraj P told PTI.The patrolling team,comprising personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF) and the local police, was cordoning off the forest whenultras opened fire at them, he said.The security personnel swiftlyretaliated, the IPS officer said.After the guns fell silent, the body ofa Naxal along with a weapon and Maoist-related materials wererecovered from the spot, around 450km from state capital Raipur,Sundarraj said.

Naxal killed in gunfight withsecurity forces in Chhattisgarh

Birthday wishes poured infrom across the country asOdisha's five-time Chief

Minister Naveen Patnaik turned75 on Friday.President RamNath Kovind, Vice-President MVenkaiah Naidu and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi wishedPatnaik over phone on theoccasion. The PM also took toTwitter to greet the BJD

chief."Birthday greetings to Odisha CM Shri Naveen Patnaik Ji.Praying for his long and healthy life," he tweeted.Patnaik had saidon Thursday that he would skip celebrations this year, in view ofthe COVID-19 crisis. He advised his party members, supportersand well-wishers to help those in need to mark his birthday.Leaders cutting across party lines, including Union MinisterRajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and Dharmendra Pradhan, extendedtheir greetings to the chief minister on Friday. His counterparts inTripura, Nagaland and Madhya Pradesh also prayed for his healthand long life. Artist Sudarsan Pattnaik created a sand sculpture ofthe CM to wish him on his birthday. Earlier, too, Patnaik hadskipped birthday celebrations of multiple occasions, including lastyear, when Cyclone Fani had struck the state, leaving behind a trailof destruction. Patnaik had joined politics in 1997 after the demiseof his father and former CM Biju Patnaik. He took over the reins ofOdisha in 2000 and had since held the post of the chief minister.

Prez, VP, PM greet Odisha CM on his 75th birthday

Leader of Opposition in RajyaSabha Ghulam Nabi Azad hastested positive for COVID-19

and has quarantined himself athome. The 71-year-old Congressleader shared the information onTwitter and asked those whocame in contact with him in therecent past to follow protocols onself-quarantine and testing."I havetested positive for COVID-19. Iam in home quarantine. Thosewho came in contact with me inthe last few days may kindly follow the protocol," he said in atweet.Earlier senior Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Motilal Voraand Abhishek Singhvi had tested positive for COVID-19. WhileSinghvi has recovered, other leaders are still under treatment.

Ghulam Nabi Azad tests positive for COVID-19

CCTV footage from Hathras hospital ‘lost’PNS n UTTAR PRADESH

CBI investigations into theHathras rape and murder casehit their first roadblock whenthe investigators found that theCCTV footage of September14, the day the victim wasbrought in to the hospital, hasbeen 'lost'.

Chief MedicalSuperintendent of the Hathrasdistrict hospital, Indra VeerSingh, said that the hospitalwould have saved the footageif the police had asked them to.

"Previous footage gets delet-ed every seven days and newfootage gets recorded over it.We do not keep a back-upunless specifically asked to," hesaid.

The victim had first beentaken to the district hospital fortreatment after the incidentand the footage could have pro-

vided crucial evidence abouther condition after she wasallegedly attacked.

The CBI team had visitedthe hospital to record state-ments of doctors and examineevidence. CBI sources said thatthe footage would have helpedthem ascertain the condition ofthe victim when she wasbrought there, who attended toher and who spoke to her

when she was there.A police officer said the

hospital has "nothing to do"with the crime-related investi-gation. "Unless a crime takesplace in the hospital or negli-gence is reported, this has nobearing on the criminal inves-tigation. These are unrelatedthings. That is why CCTVfootage was not taken intoaccount," he said.

Poor state of women safety in UttarPradesh disturbing: Priyanka GandhiNew Delhi: Congress generalsecretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadraon Friday attacked the YogiAdityanath government in UttarPradesh over the state of womensafety, and alleged that 13horrific incidents of crimesagainst women have taken placein the last week.

She highlighted a chart ofvarious incidents of crimesagainst women in Uttar Pradeshfrom October 9 to 15 and allegedthat the BJP is giving protectionto the criminals and this hasmade women unsafe in the state.

In the last one week, 13horrific incidents of crimeagainst women have occurred inUP. As per reports, victims have

been killed or the victimscommitted suicide in four suchincidents," she said in a tweet inHindi."This poor condition of women

safety is disturbing. The chiefminister has no time to convenea 'special session' but his photosession is on," she also saidwhile taking a swipe at the chiefminister. She has earlierattacked the government on thelaw and order situation. TheCongress general secretary, whois in-charge for Uttar Pradeshaffairs of the party, has launcheda major offensive on thegovernment ever since theHathras rape and murder casehas taken place.

Anything is possible in politics!PNSn THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

The new found alliancebetween once arch rivals CPI-M and Jose K. Mani proves thatanybody can be 'bedbuddies' ifit serves the purpose in politics.

This new 'political' mar-riage, was on the cards eversince Jose (son of late K.M.Mani, one of the founders ofthe Congress led UnitedDemocratic Front) who leadsthe faction of the erstwhileKerala Congress (Mani), wascut up with party veteran andsenior legislator P.J.Joseph. Josedecided to part ways with theUDF, a few months back.

The once united KC (M) forall practical purposes wasbehaving like two differententities after the passing awayof Mani, last year.

The Congress party whichleads the UDF gave numerouschances to Jose to mend hisways and to behave like a

responsible ally, but sensingthat, his position in the UDFwould be untenable, hebreached the line, forcing theCongress to kick Jose out.

With two crucial polls --local body and assembly elec-tions on the cards, and overallimage of Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan, taking ahitlike never before on account ofnumerous scams and scan-dals, the CPI-M which leadsthe Left coalition (LDF)extended an olive branch toJose.

The two arch-rivals forgotthe brutal past duringK.M.Mani's time, and somer-

saulted to make the unlikelymarriage a reality. Leader ofOpposition and veteranCongress leader RameshChennithala described this asan 'unholy' alliance of conve-nience and not one made withconviction.

"Jose has betrayed his fatherand Mani's soul will neverforgive him for this act. It'sdeeply distressing to note thatJose has joined the tormentorsof his father, who called Mani,a liar and a looter," saidChennithala. Two time formerChief Minister OommenChandy said this is a classic actof son betraying father.

Prasar Bharati ends PTI subscriptionPNSn NEW DELHI

Prasar Bharati has ended itssubscription of news agencyPress Trust of India (PTI) andwill now invite fresh proposalsfrom other domestic newsagencies, sources said.

PTI, the largest news agencyof the country, is run by aBoard comprising owners andproprietors of key newspapergroups and is a non-profittrust. Prasar Bharati decided toend its "current ad-hoc pro-rata arrangement for the PTIsubscription" four months afterit was alleged that the agency'scoverage of India-China clashwas unfair and not in sync withnational interest.

The national broadcaster isone of the biggest subscribersof the agency, and it pays PTIover Rs 6.75 crore annually,sources said. A letter to bothPTI and UNI has been sent

regarding this. Sources saidthat Prasar Bharati will initiatea process of inviting fresh pro-posals from all the news agen-cies including PTI and UNI. Acontroversy broke when thenational broadcaster sent aletter threatening to end its"relationship" over the alleged"anti-national" reportage bynews agency in June this year.

PTI had carried an interviewwith Chinese Ambassador SunWeidong, where he blamed

India for the India-China vio-lent standoff that saw 20 Indianbravehearts getting martyred.

Sources said a "strong letter"was sent to PTI just ahead of itsBoard meeting in June wherethe public broadcaster expressed"deep displeasure on anti-national reporting by PTI". Thepublic broadcaster had commu-nicated that the PTI's editorialstance makes it untenable to"continue the relationship".Government sources claim that

the broadcaster had been "sup-porting PTI with huge financialfees" which often ran into sev-eral crore. This ad-hoc pro-rataarrangement has been going onfor decades, claimed the source.However, it insisted that PTI hasbeen "rigid" on review of thesame since 2016-17.

PM Modi ReleasesRs 75 Coin PNSn NEW DELHI

World Food Day is celebratedon October 16 every year.This global event endeavors toraise awareness on depletingfood resources and highlightsthe need to bring equal nutri-tion to all. This year's WorldFood Day is of great impor-tance as the world is grapplingwith disturbed food systems inthe wake of Coronavirus pan-demic. The day also marks the75th anniversary of the Foodand Agriculture Organization(FAO), which was establishedby the United Nations in theyear 1945. To celebrate theimportance of food and agri-culture in India, PM NarendraModi released a commemo-rate coin of INR 75 denomi-

nation and also dedicated new17 crops to the nation.

World Food Day 2020 aimsto give impetus to agricultureand development of healthyfoods and eradicate the prob-lem of malnutrition andundernutrition, which is ram-pant in many parts of theworld, including India. PMNarendra Modi took this as anopportunity to gift to thefarmers of the country - 17newly-developed biofortifiedvarieties of eight crops.

In a first, Sangay invitedformally to US State DeptPNSn DHARAMSALA

In a first-of-its-kind initiativeto boost the support to theTibetan cause, Central TibetanAdministration (CTA)President Lobsang Sangay hasbeen invited formally to the USState Department, officials saidon Friday.

At a meeting with thenewly-appointed SpecialCoordinator Robert Destro inWashington, Sangay onThursday sought to resumetalks between the Dalai Lamaenvoys and the Chinese basedon the 'middle-way' approach.

During the meeting, Destroasked what he and the StateDepartment could do to sup-port the Tibetan diaspora.

Globally known as thePrime Minister-in-exile,Sangay went on to explain theimportance of passing theTibetan Policy and SupportAct of 2020 and the alarmingworsening conditions of

Tibetans in Tibet.Toeing the path adopted by

Tibetan spiritual leader theDalai Lama for years to resolvethe issue of Tibet with Chinathrough the 'middle-way'approach, Sangay urged Destroto press the Chinese govern-ment to have dialogue betweenthe envoys of the Dalai Lamaand the Chinese government.

The 'middle-way' approachfavours 'genuine autonomy'for Tibetans within the frame-work of the Chinese constitu-tion and does not speak of

independence.China and the Dalai Lama's

envoys have held nine roundsof talks since 2002 to resolvethe Tibetan issue.

During the last round oftalks, the ninth one, held inBeijing in January 2010, theCTA submitted an explanato-ry note to the Chinese leader-ship to clarify its stand onautonomy for the Tibetan peo-ple.

"The US is concerned by thelack of meaningful autonomyfor Tibetans and the CCP'songoing crackdown onTibetan Buddhists. As SpecialCoordinator, I will continueurging the PRC to respect thehuman rights and unique reli-gious, cultural, and linguisticidentity of Tibetans," Destroinformed in a tweet.

At the meeting, Sangay, whois at helm for his second con-secutive term, also elucidatedthe ongoing Indo-Tibet borderclashes.

Apex Court seeksCentre's response PNSn NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court soughtresponse from Centre on a pleaseeking direction to theDepartment of Justice to issueguides/handbooks in plainEnglish and in vernacular --easily understandable by lay-men explaining the law andprocedure for vindication ofrights and redressal of griev-ances under the law.

The counsel began his argu-ments saying, "May I pleaseyour lordships.." A bench head-ed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobdesaid "Speak correct English.You should say 'may it please'.We don't want anyone to pleaseus." The Chief Justice alsocited book by Bryan Garner onusing plain language and "wehave read this book too".

The plea filed by advocateSubhash Vijayran said the writ-ing of most Lawyers is wordy,

unclear, pompous and dull, asthey use eight words, instead oftwo, to say something. "We usearcane phrases to express com-monplace ideas. Seeking to beprecise, we become redundant.Seeking to be cautious, webecome verbose. Our writing isteemed with legal jargon andlegalese. And the story goes on",said the plea. The plea contend-ed as a consequence of thiscomplexity, the common manneither understands the systemnor the laws. "Everything is somuch complicated and confus-ing. The way laws are enacted,practiced and administered inour country violates the funda-mental rights of the masses bydenying them -- Access toJustice", added the plea. Inmany countries, laws mandatethat public agencies use plainlanguage to increase access toprograms and services, saidthe plea.

Modi changed politicalculture, says JP Nadda

PNSn NEW DELHI

High-level central teams havebeen deputed to Kerala,Karnataka, Rajasthan,Chhattisgarh and West Bengal,which have been reporting asurge in COVID-19 cases, tosupport them in managementof the disease.

The Union Health Ministry

on Friday said these teams willsupport the state towardsstrengthening containment,surveillance, testing, infectionprevention and control mea-sures, and efficient clinicalmanagement of the positivecases. The Central teams shallalso guide in effectively man-aging the challenges related totimely diagnosis and follow

up," it said. Each team compris-es a joint secretary (nodal offi-cer for the respective state), onepublic health expert to lookafter the public health aspects,one clinician to look afterinfection prevention practicesand clinical management pro-tocol being followed by theState. Kerala so far has report-ed 3,17,929 coronavirus infec-

tions which form 4.3 per centof the total cases, the ministrysaid. The cases per millionstand at 8,906. The recoverieshave surged to 2,22,231accounting for a recovery rateof 69.90 per cent. There are94,609 active cases (comprising11.8 per cent of the totalnational figure), the ministrysaid.

US CDC projects2, 40,000 Coviddeaths by Nov 7PNSn WASHHINGTON

In a new ensemble forecast,the US Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention(CDC) has projected up to240,000 Covid-19 deaths inthe country by November 7.

The new national ensem-ble forecast issued onThursday predicted that3,400 to 7,100 new Covid-19deaths will likely be reportedduring the week endingNovember 7, and some229,000 to 240,000 fatalitieswill be reported by that date,reports Xinhua news agency.

Trends in numbers offuture reported deaths areuncertain or predicted toremain stable in the otherstates and territories, said theprojection. Much of the UScontinues to report an