LAST WORD

www.freepressjournal.in | twitter.com/fpjindiaREG. NO. MCS/048/2018-20; RNI NO. 1541/1957 I M.P.C.S office Mumbai-400001

Vol. 64 No. 25 | SATURDAY | MAY 30, 2020 | 14 Pages | EDITIONS : Mumbai*, Pune, Indore, Bhopal

Fast News

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Enjoy the

flight of life. Pujya Gurudevshri

Rakeshbhai

WEATHER 360C. 280C.

Sunrise: 06:00 am Sunset: 07:12 pm

LOCKDOWNS OR NOT, THE VIRUS MUST GO Pg 8

EDITEIGHT CORE INDUSTRIAL SECTORS’ OUTPUT FELL BY RECORD 38.1% Pg 11

COVID-19 EFFECT: AJAY-STARRER MAIDAAN SET DISMANTLED Pg 13

YOGESH PAWAR

After it seemed like all kinds of off-beat sto-ries had been done and dusted in the run-up to the 2014 general elections, my then editor

had pulled a rabbit out of the hat by suggesting I speak to astrologers, tarot-card readers, numerolo-gists and the like to predict the outcome.

Almost everyone I called was either iffy or built in so many qualifiers to their predictions that they could score irrespective of who won. I was wondering if the story was a no-go when I called the astrologer Bejan Daruwala. He was his gregarious self and chor-tled away asking how I was doing. “Modi is unstoppable. He has the stars with him for popularity and drive. He will make a clean sweep,” he had said.

Today, the massive mandate that brought Narendra Modi to the prime ministerial chair came back to mind when news came of the passing of Daruwala at an Ahmedabad hospital due to pneumonia. The nonagenarian was in the ICU, on

a ventilator. All the life-support systems and the prayers of his huge following could not, unfortu-nately help, as doctors said things were not look-ing too good. “Knowing Bejan, he would have chuckled at the irony of how this was happening to him. After all, with Ganesha’s grace, he would be able to scan the Universe, read planets, and make a fortune with astonishing predictions based on Vedic and Western astrology, tarot cards, I-Ching, the Hebrew Kabbalah, palmistry, and what

have you,” says senior journalist and close friend of the deceased Mark Manuel.

Pointing out how he will miss him forever, Manuel said: “I was watching the 6 pm news on TV. My heart sank at the rising death toll of coronavirus rampaging across the country. That's when the call came from Ahmedabad, telling me about the one death that I didn’t want to hear

about,” and added, “At 90, given his failing health over the last

decade, and his recent hospi-talisation with pneumo-

nia, I should've been pre-pared. But you’re never

prepared for death. \ CONTD. ON P5

Ganesha says it's sad Bejan is gone...

BAD GDP DATA, AND IT IS NOT COVID AT WORK India's GDP estimates for the January-March quarter make dismal reading – the data suggests that the gross domestic product fell to 3.1 per cent. Further, GDP growth in FY2019-20 slowed down to an 11-year-low of 4.2 per cent. This is almost 2 percentage point lower than the revised GDP growth rate of 6.1 per cent for 2018-19. This is also the lowest annual GDP growth rate in 11 years. Interestingly, this data is a manifestation of the protracted economic downturn that India had been witnessing for seven quarters before coronavirus pandemic brought growth almost to a halt. In fact, coronavirus could not have derailed the economy at a worse time. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram slammed the central government, saying the latest figures were a "running commentary on economic mismanagement in the country". The former Union Finance Minister tweeted: "We had forecast that the Gross Domestic Product for Q4 will touch a new low at below 4 per cent. It has turned out to be worse at 3.1 per cent." Also, these figures are for pre-lockdown period. Of the 91 days of Q4, the lockdown applied to only seven days of the given fiscal quarter, the Congress leader said. ‘WARI’ CANCELLED The “Wari,” which is a well-known tradition and ritual in Maharashtra, a symbol of the inclusive nature of the state, will not be held this time in the shadow of the pandemic. Each year, more than 10 lakh devotees or “Warkaris” of Lord Vitthal assemble in Pandharpur in Solapur district. The ‘Wari’ has a tradition of more than a thousand years. For last 400 years, ‘paduka’ (sleepers) of great saints like Dnyaneshwar, Tukaram and others are carried in a palanquin and this is called ‘Palkhi Sohala’. Most of the ‘Warkaris’ walk with these palanquins in the belief that the saint is walking with them. With the pandemic weighing on its mind, the state government has appealed to the ‘Warkaris’ to skip the ‘Wari’ this time. But keeping in mind the importance of “paduka” reaching Pandharpur, the state government has promised that it will arrange a helicopter or a bus to carry these “paduka” to Pandharpur.

Pramod Chunchuwar/ Mumbai

TRIPTI NATH / New Delhi

The super-confident American negotiator, nay, President, Donald Trump has been rebuffed by both the Chinese and the Indians. His claim of having spoken to Prime Minister Modi has been also denied. Although the mandarins in foreign office are familiar with Prime Minister Modi’s personalised style of diplomacy – often by phone -- sources have asserted that there “has been no recent contact between PM Modi and President Trump.”

At the heart of the latest controversy is President Trump’s claim, in reply to a question at a media briefing. ‘‘I can tell you, I did speak to Prime Minister Modi. He’s not -- he’s not in a good mood about what’s going on with China.”

Sources said that the last conversation between Modi and Trump was on April 4 last month on the subject of hydroxychloroquine. This denial has set foreign policy experts wondering where the truth lies, as similar claims of being asked to

mediate on Kashmir, made by President Trump in the past, were also denied by India.

Forgetting for a while his own simmering tensions with China, Trump, it seems, grabbed the opportunity for mediation. A skilful negotiator, he was hoping to leverage the situation to his advantage. He expected India to play along but PM Modi refused to take the bait. PM Modi knows and understands Trump better than anybody. He knows the US president will extract his pound of flesh, were India to accede to his desire to mediate.

Given the tensions between Washington and Beijing, it is clear to even the politically naive that the US is the last country China would like to involve in a mediation effort. “We do not need the intervention of a third party,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on being asked to comment on Trump’s offer.

But Donald Trump is a hard nut to crack and he does not give up easily. Only this time, his trying to leverage the situation made him look rather silly.

TAILPIECE

Modi won’t take Trump’s bait

FPJ NEWS SERVICE Minneapolis

The unrest witnessed in the Min-nesota city of Minneapolis, ignit-ed by the death of a black man seen on video gasping for breath while a white police officer knelt on his neck, has fanned out in other American cities.

Stoking the unrest was none other than President Donald Trump, who branded those en-gaging in arson, looting and van-dalism as ‘thugs.’ He further said on Twitter that he would send the National Guard troops to assume control of the situation, if the lo-cal Left-leaning mayor failed to cap the violence, tweeting “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”.

Since the inflammatory tweet

was put out, 500 National Guard troops have arrived at Minneapo-lis to douse the unrest, which reached its peak after ‘‘rioters broke in and set fire to a police station, roaming through its cor-

ridors with baseball bats, axes and torches.’’

A backlash was witnessed in New York and in Ohio. Worse still, in Kentucky, seven people were shot in downtown

Louisville during a protest de-manding justice for a black woman who was shot dead by cops back in March.

Even as the Minneapolis killing reignited tensions between the police and the African-American community, Twitter flagged Pres-ident Trump's tweet saying it was 'glorifying violence.' It also at-tached a warning label to the tweet saying that it had violated the rules. But there was no let-up, as Trump again began angrily at-tacking Twitter. ‘‘Twitter is doing nothing about all of the lies & propaganda being put out by Chi-na or the Radical Left Democrat Party. They have targeted Repub-licans, Conservatives & the Presi-dent of the United States,’’ the president wrote.

CONTD. ON P5

Trump, Twitter slug it out as riots fan out in US cities

SACHIN GAAD / Mumbai

An entire nation turned out to ap-plaud healthcare providers for their services in the ongoing co-rona pandemic on March 22.

But for the very same reason, closer home, some of these 'Covid yoddhas' suddenly find themselves facing brickbats. They are stigma-tised for the very nature of their work, being perceived as carriers and spreaders of the disease.

On May 24, a 21-year-old nurse from Seven Hills Hospital at Marol was attacked with a cricket bat after her 2.5-year-old nephew happened to walk into their neighbour's vicinity.

Initially, Wadala Police had regis-tered a non-cognisable (NC) of-fence. It was only after the nurse shared a video of her ordeal which went viral on social media, in which she alleged her family had

been attacked, did the police regis-ter an offence and arrest three peo-ple -- Ahmed, 44, his wife Hazra, 36, and daughter Shagufta, 21.

According to the police, initially, the nurse's mother had registered an NC; and, on Friday, she approached them with a com-plaint after which they registered an offence.

"We have registered an offence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections of voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means (324) and common intention (34) and arrested all the accused," said Shahaji Shinde, senior inspec-tor, Wadala police station.

According to police, Sakeena Khatun, a resident of Deenband-hu Nagar in Wadala east, is a nurse at the Seven Hills Hospital in Andheri, a dedicated Covid-19 facility.

CONTD. ON P5

Nurse attacked for being a ‘spreader’

SANJAY JOG Mumbai

The Maharashtra Government may continue with the lockdown beyond May 31 in Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nagpur, Nashik and Au-rangabad, amid rising coron-avirus cases. The government will, however, relax curbs in non-red zones to revive economic ac-tivity.

In all probability, the govern-ment will wait for the Centre’s an-nouncement and then issue its notification. Chief Minister Ud-dhav Thackeray and his deputy, Ajit Pawar, indicated at different forums on Friday that lockdown 5.0 is inevitable in Mumbai, Pune, Thane and other hotspots. Both have said the government was not keen on summarily lifting the lockdown and favour making a staggered exit.

However, both leaders have also

indicated that the State govern-ment may further announce relax-ation in non-red zones from June 1 onward with certain riders.

A Home Department officer told the FPJ, ''The 'chase virus' model adopted by the BMC, in ad-dition to the increase in screen-ing, detection and treatment, is yielding positive results in Greater Mumbai.

The doubling rate in Dharavi has slowed down to 21 days, and 19 days in Worli; the mortality rate in Greater Mumbai is 3.25 per cent which the government and the BMC want to bring down to zero.’’

He informed that the Chief Minister has directed the admin-istration to pursue with the Cen-tre the request for commence-ment of suburban railway servic-es for staff from the essential services sector.

CONTD. ON P5

NARSI BENWAL / Mumbai

Taking note of the cramped and unhygienic conditions the mi-grant workers are living in, the Bombay High Court on Friday or-dered the Maharashtra govern-ment to file a report on the entire procedure adopted to send back these stranded workers to their native places.

The court has also ordered the government to spell out in its re-port the conditions of the shelters in which these workers are residing after missing their Shramik Special trains.

A bench of Chief Justice Di-pankar Datta and Justice Ka-malkishor Tated was dealing with a petition filed by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions through senior counsel Gayatri Singh.

The petition highlighted the fact that the migrant workers who have applied for leaving the state by availing of the Shramik Special trains and buses, have been left in the dark about the sta-tus of their applications.

"Till such time they can board the trains or buses and leave for their native places, they are made to live in cramped and unhygienic shelters, without be-ing provided with food and other essentials," the plea claimed.

During the course of the hear-ing, additional solicitor general

Anil Singh, appearing for the Union government, pointed out the detailed order passed by the Supreme Court on Thursday, re-garding the plight of migrant workers.

Having heard the contention, CJ Datta noted, "Indeed, on perus-al of the order, we find that cer-tain directions have been issued by the SC.

However, with regard to the pe-culiar local conditions, we con-sider it fit and proper to call upon the State to file a report in-dicating how the plight of the migrant workers, who have been assembling at the railway sta-tions and bus stands in Mumbai and places around it, are being addressed."

The judges further referred to the photographs of migrant workers gathering in large num-bers outside railway stations and bus stops, published in vari-ous newspapers.

"In fact, these photographs show congregation of migrant workers not only on railway platforms but also on the streets adjoining the railway stations," CJ Datta said.

"We are of the opinion that if such congregations are allowed, it would run counter to the ob-ject, for which the lockdown has been imposed, across the na-tion," CJ Datta observed.

Lockdown 5.0 may be restricted to hotspots

State must give details of process a migrant has to follow

DETAIL ENTIRE PROCEDURE: HC

`50 lakh risk cover for COVID 'Yoddhas'

SANJAY JOG / Mumbai

The Maharashtra Government will pro-vide a comprehensive personal accident cover of Rs 50 lakhs to all employees who are on active duty relating to survey, trac-ing, tracking, testing, prevention, treat-ment and relief activities for Covid pan-demic.

In addition to the healthcare staff, the personnel from the district ad-ministration, police, home guards, Aanganwadi workers, finance and treasury, food and civil supply, water supply and sanitation, and em-ployees of various other departments deputed for house to house sur-vey work, will be the beneficiaries.

The State Government’s Rs 50 lakh personal accident cover is on the lines of the one the Centre had announced on March 28 for frontline war-riors working in government hospitals and laboratories.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who holds the finance department, said his department has issued a notification on Friday and the modalities in this regard are being worked out with insurance companies. Till the time the details are fleshed out and the insurance scheme comes into force, as an interim measure, all cases of deaths of employees on duty (survey, tracing, tracking,

CONTD. ON P5

Honorarium is up for docs on contract, bond

SANJAY JOG / Mumbai

For doctors who are on contract or have filled a bond, the Maha-rashtra Government has an-nounced a substantial hike in the honorarium, bringing it at par with other doctors. This will fur-ther strengthen their resolve in the war against the virus.

Doctors serving their bonds in tribal areas will get R 75,000, in-stead Rs 60,000. Specialist doctors working in tribal areas will be paid Rs 85,000, as against Rs 70,000 earlier, said a release is-sued on Friday by the chief min-ister's office. The MBBS doctors in other areas will see their hon-orarium rise to Rs 70,000 from Rs 55,000. Similarly, specialist doctors in other areas will get an honorarium of Rs 80,000, instead of Rs 65,000.

CONTD. ON P5

NARSI BENWAL / Mumbai

Observing that the weaker a stu-dent is socially and economically, the farther he or she is from edu-cation, the Bombay High Court on Friday quashed a notification of the government that "discrim-inated" amongst reserved catego-ry students who secured admis-sions to professional and techni-cal courses through the cen-tralised admission process (CAP).

The High Court ordered the state education authorities to re-imburse the fees of 26 students belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC), who were initially denied the facility as they did not get ad-mission through the CAP.

A full bench of Justices Amjad Sayed, Dama Naidu and Prakash Naik said, "Still access to education depends, among other things, on the student’s economic strength. Socially and economically speak-ing, the weaker the student is, the farther he is from quality educa-tion. And the present case concerns the right of a few down-trodden students for recompense on their educational expenditure."

The observation was made while quashing a February 2013 govern-ment resolution, by which the state restricted the reimbursement of fees to only those reserved category students who secured admissions through the state-approved CAP.

CONTD. ON P5

GR discriminating among ‘quota’ students quashed

116 DEAD WHAT NEXT?

• Highest single-day death toll in State with 116 fatalities • But State also recorded highest count of patients who have been discharged • 8,381 patients were discharged in 24 hours. • This has pushed the recovery rate from 31.2 % to 43.3 % • On Friday, 2,682 new cases were recorded • Now, the total case count is 62,228, with 2,098 deaths • So far, 26,997 patients have been discharged across the State • Mumbai recorded 1,447 new cases and 38 deaths • City’s total count is 35,273 cases, with 1,173 deaths so far

SHAH, PM DISCUSS

EXIT PLAN

RAJNISH SINGH / New Delhi

With the countdown starting for end of lockdown 4.0, the govern-ment is positioning itself for an exit strategy. Home Minister Amit Shah has been pushed up-front and PM Modi has decided to take a back seat – at least for the time being.

On Thursday, Shah had called up the chief ministers to access the ground situation and elicit their views on the proposed lock-down extension, which may see relaxations such as reopening of malls and restaurants.

But it will not be unhindered ac-cess: social distancing norms, use of masks and Aarogya Setu app would be the entry tickets everywhere.

Taking the process forward, Shah on Friday morning met PM Modi, as some states are worried about the spike that recent relax-ations have brought about. The decision to resume Metro in the national capital and opening of religious places would be a dicey decision in view of the surging numbers.

The Centre, in the new range of restrictions, would sharpen its fo-cus on containment zones, which would have to be geographically defined based on factors such as mapping of cases and contacts and their geographical spread. This would enable the authorities to demarcate a well-defined parameters and enforce strict protocols.

Sources in the governments sug-gested that it would be a "different fight" in the lockdown 5.0 against the deadly virus. From June 1, municipal corporations would de-cide if residential colonies, mo-hallas, municipal wards or police-station areas, municipal zones and towns could be designated as containment zones.

The new guidelines for the ex-tended lockdown, however, will be comparatively rigorous for 13 worst COVID-19-hit cities. These cities have about 70 per cent of the positive cases in the country.

The 13 focus cities are Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Thane, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata and adjoining Howrah, Indore, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Chengalpattu and Thiruvallur.

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Friday he was breaking off US ties with the World Health Organization, which he says failed to do enough to combat the initial spread of the novel coronavirus. Trump had already suspended funding to the UN agency, accusing it of being a "puppet" of China as the global health crisis erupted. "Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization," Trump told reporters. "China has total control over WHO despite only paying USD40 million a year compared to what US has been paying, which is approximately USD 450 million a year," Trump said. He further said US will be redirecting funds intended for WHO to other organisations working on public health needs.

US SNAPS ALL ITS TIES WITH WHO

2THE FREEPRESSJOURNAL

MUMBAI | SATURDAY | MAY 3O, 2020

LOCKDOWN MUMBAI: Poet Varavara Rao, 81, accused in the Bhima-Koregaon case, was admitted to JJ Hospital on Thursday withcomplaints of giddiness. JJ Hospital dean Dr RanjitMankeshkar said Rao is in the general ward, is beingevaluated and his condition is stable. His advocate R

Sathyanarayan said he had not been informed about thesame by Taloja jail, where Rao was lodged. AdvocatesSathyanarayan and Nilesh Ukey said they will be approachingthe special court on Saturday to seek a report from thehospital and a permission to meet Rao. -Staff reporter

Former Bombay High Court judge B N Deshmukh dead

SANJAY JOG | Mumbai

Notwithstanding its cash crunch, theMaharashtra government will soon an-nounce an economic package to helpthe poor and unorganised sector.Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, whoholds the finance department, said thestate cabinet will give an approval forthe same. He said, even though the cen-tral government has announced theRs 20.97 lakh crore pack-age, there are dif-ferent views onhow muchmoney willactuallyreach thepeople whoare badly hitbecause ofCOVID-19 pandem-ic.Even though Pawar has

not divulged further de-tails on the proposed eco-nomic package, FinanceDepartment officerstold the Free PressJournal that the gov-ernment will focus onthe vulnerable, in-cluding daily wageearners and farmers.“The vulnerable ru-

ral poor and dailywage earners are hithard and need to besupported directlytill the situation im-proves and theyget back towork. A web-based Aad-har, publicdistribu-tion sys-tem, andSECC datamay be ini-tiated toreach out tothese sec-tions in this challenging peri-od,’’ said a senior officer.In order to revive the rural

economy and provide support to vul-nerable sections, the government willfocus on MGNREGA to provide em-ployment to the rural labour force fortheir livelihood and also help increasedemand. Given these wages are fundedby the central government, there will beno burden on state exchequer.For the revival of agriculture, the gov-

ernment has implemented the croploan waiver scheme, though 11 lakh

farmers are yet to get the ben-efit due to the lockdown. The

government may bor-row under RuralInfrastructureDevelopmentFund from Na-tional Bank forAgriculture andRural Develop-ment(NABARD) at3.5 per cent tosupport

planned infra-structure like roads

and irrigation. It may alsoborrow from the long termirrigation fund at 6 per centto execute identified irriga-

tion projects. Further, the stategovernment can continue its planof 4 per cent interest subvention oncrop loans.As far as industries is con-cerned, the Maharashtra Indus-trial Development Corporation(MIDC) already announced de-ferment of premium and othercharges without charging inter-est.“The state government may

take measures to infuse liquidi-ty into the industries and sup-port them in reducing costs.

States could usestate level

bankerscommit-tee/leadbankmachin-ery to

supportbusinesses.

GOVT WILL ANNOUNCE ECONOMIC PACKAGE SOON: DCM AJIT PAWAR

NARSI BENWAL | Mumbai

The Maharashtra government, on Friday,told the Bombay High Court that it wouldnot be ‘practically possible’ for it to set upa COVID-19 testing center in all thedistricts across the state. The governmenthas, however, said that new proposals forsetting up a testing facility are beingscrutinized.A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Dattaand Justice Kamalkishor Tated wasunimpressed with the submission of thegovernment that it Is not possible to setup testing centers in all the districts.Notably, the bench had, last week,specifically ordered the government toinform if there are testing centers in allthe districts. Pursuant to the orders, the state throughadditional government pleader ManishPabale, submitted a written note, spellingout that, at present, there are nearly 70testing centers across Maharashtra."The COVID-19 testing facilities in thestate have been increased from threelaboratories in March, 2020 (one each inMumbai, Pune and Nagpur) to 72 labs, ason May 25," the note read."Of these 72 labs, 41 are government-run,while 21 are private laboratories. Theselabs follow the guidelines issued by theIndian Council of Medical Research

(ICMR)," the note added.As per the ICMR guidelines, the swabsamples could be preserved for four tofive days (in transport) and for two daysin the labs itself, the note stated."There is no need to have a separatelaboratory in each district due to theprocedure of the ICMR, which givessufficient time to send the samples to thedesignated laboratory within a radius of250 kms as recommended by ICMR," thenote submitted by Pabale, reads.The note, which had no official signatory,further stated, "Also, the new laboratoriescannot instantly be set up due to severeconstraints in availability of the technicalinfrastructure in each district."The government further claimed thatsince the spread of the virus is undercontrol in most of the districts, they nowdo not require a separate testing center."It is required to be noted that, as perICMR standards, a new laboratory for adistrict is necessary only when thenumber of suspected cases per day ofthat district is more than 100. Hence, it isnot practically possible to start a newlaboratory in every district within theavailable resources," the governmentsubmitted. Unimpressed, CJ Datta,reportedly remarked, "It's a bit strange forus that no testing facilities are required ineach district."

PRAMOD CHUNCHUWAR |Mumbai

Cracking a whip againstrationing officers and rice mills,Food and Civil Supplies MinisterChhagan Bhujbal has orderedthe suspension of the DistrictRationing Officer at Nagpur andGadchiroli. He also ordered thecancellation of the licence of therice mill in Gadchiroli, whichsupplied poor quality of rice.The guardian minister got angrywith the poor quality of ricebeing supplied to Nashik, hishome district. He receivedseveral complaints about the

same.Taking serious note of thesecomplaints, Bhujbal soughtsamples of rice being distributedthrough the ration shops inNashik. When he inquired aboutit, the Nashik District RationingOfficer told him that the rice wassupplied through a godown inNagpur. He was also informedthat the rice was supplied by arice mill in Gadchiroli district.“When people are fightingagainst COVID-19, what use ispoor quality rice to them? This isserious. The quality controlofficer (who took possession ofthe rice despite its poor quality)

as well as the Nagpur andGadchiroli district rationing orsupply officers should besuspended immediately. Adepartmental inquiry againstthese officers should beinstituted,” Bhujbal directedSanjay Khandare, secretary offood and civil supply. He alsoordered to file cases against therice mill under EssentialCommodity Act and cancel itsmilling licence. Teams of seniorofficials will be constituted toinspect all the godowns to checkthe quality of rice and other fooditems being distributed throughthe rationing system.

‘Not possible to set up separatetesting centres in each district’

Temple looted in Palghar district; priests attackedPALGHAR: Three unidentified assailants allegedly attacked twopriests and looted a temple at Balivali in Maharashtra's Palghardistrict, police said on Friday.The incident took place at around 12.30 am on Thursday whenthree armed men barged into Jagrut Mahadev Mandir andAshram at Balivali in Vasai taluka, an official said.The trio attacked the temple's head priest Sankaranand Saraswatiand his assistant and decamped with valuables worth Rs 6,800,he said.An offence has been registered under section 394 (causing hurtwhile committing robbery) and other relevant provisions of theIndian Penal Code, the station house officer of Virar police stationsaid.

State requests Centre to dailybroadcast education contentMUMBAI: In an attempt to keep students engaged at home, theMaharashtra School Education Department has appealed to thecentral government to allow broadcasting 12 hours of dailyeducational content through any two channels under the DDNational Channel Family on television (TV) and two hours of dailycontent on the All India Radio (AIR). Varsha Gaikwad, state schooleducation minister, wrote a letter to Prakash Javadekar, minister ofthe Information and Broadcasting (I&B), on May 27, requesting toallow broadcasting in order make up for the loss of instructionaltime, as schools are shut because of the COVID-19 pandemic.The letter stated, due to the lockdown, students are at huge risks oflosing significant instructional time. Gaikwad tweeted on Friday, "Wehave requested the central government to give 12 hours air onnational TV and 2 hours radio slot so that we can conducteducational programs for children, which can reach tribal and ruralMaharashtra kids where e-learning and Internet access is aproblem." The State Council of Educational Research and Training(SCERT), an autonomous body of the government for academicaspects, will curate grade-wise digital learning and interactivecontent, which will be broadcasted. An officer of the state schooleducation department, said, "We have already accumulated morethan 1,000 hours of content. We are waiting for an approval fromthe central government, following which we can decide time slotsfor broadcasting." The state government, along with SCERT, isfiguring out different ways to support student learning in difficulttimes. -Staff reporter

Shorter monsoon session inMaha being consideredMUMBAI: As the COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra remains grimwith the highest number of cases in the country, the possibility ofholding the monsoon session of the state legislature for a shorterperiod than usual is being considered, sources said on Friday.The option of holding the meeting of the Legislative Assembly first,followed by that of the 78-member Council, instead of doing sosimultaneously, is also being mulled, they said.As the Assembly has 288 members, the session could be held at theCentral Hall of the instead of the designated hall (of the LowerHouse) in the legislature building to ensure that social distancing isobserved by the legislators.The Central Hall is more spacious and the joint sittings of membersof the both the Houses take place there in normal circumstances.However, the final call on the duration of the session, its scheduleand the manner in which it will be held, will be taken by thebusiness advisory committee (BAC) -- comprising the representativesof the government and opposition- when it meets on June 9, thesources said. It was earlier announced that the monsoon sessionwould start on June 22."There is one option (on how the session can be held) being thoughtabout. Its period can be shorter than the usual period. Socialdistancing can be maintained properly if the session is held in theCentral Hall. "First, the Assembly can transact business for whateverthe number of days as the BAC decides. Then the Council memberscan meet. So, this way social distancing can be observed properly,"the sources said. -Agencies

Days after transferring PI,Azmi, Shaikh bookedMUMBAI: Samajwadi party MLAs Abu Asim Azmi and RaisShaikh were booked for protesting outside Nagpada policestation on Tuesday night. The development came a day after asenior police inspector (PI) of Nagpada police was transferred,which led to criticism.Protestors threatened to transfer the senior PI Shalini Sharma. OnThursday, Sharma was transferred to Chembur police station,while Chembur police station's senior PI replaced Sharma. Thetransfer received a lot of flak on social media. Senior policeofficials maintained that Sharma herself had asked for thetransfer.According to the police, Azami and Shaikh, along with theirfollowers, sat on protest outside Nagpada police station onTuesday night. They were protesting against the allegedmistreatment to the migrant workers and demanded thesuspension of the senior PI.Following the uproar after her transfer, Azami and Shaikh werebooked, along with their 20 to 25 party workers, for allegedlyprotesting against senior inspector Shalini Sharma of Nagpadapolice station. The protesters were booked under the IPC sections of rioting,criminal intimidation, intentional insult with intent to provokebreach of peace, lockdown violations, and not following socialdistancing guidelines amidst the lockdown. Sections of theDisaster Management Act and Epidemic Act were also applied .No arrests have been made so far. -Staff reporter

STATE RADAR

FPJ POLITICAL BUREAUMumbai

Taking an aggressive standagainst the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP), Congress hasdemanded an apology from itsstate president Chandrakant Patilfor his claims on bearing the costof the fares of Shramik Specialtrains. The Maha Vikas Aghadipartner also went ahead todemand the inclusion of theopposition’s name in theGuinness Book of World Recordsas the most lying political partyin the world.“BJP’s unfounded claim that thecentral government is bearing 85per cent of the train fare torepatriate migrants has beenexposed. In a statement to thecourt, Solicitor General TusharMehta, who was representingthe central government, said that

the state governments bore theentire cost of the train tickets.This has exposed the hypocrisy ofthe BJP. The party’s statepresident Chandrakant Patilshould immediately apologise tothe people,” demanded Sachin

Sawant, general secretary andspokesperson of Congress. Other senior leaders of the party,including Union Minister NirmalaSitharaman and PrakashJavadekar, too had made suchfalse claims.

War of words on Shramik Special tickets continuesBharatiya Janata Party insists that the Centre is paying 85 per cent of the fare

There are differentviews on how much ofthe Centre’s packagewill actually reach the

people who are badly hitbecause of COVID-19.

-AJIT PAWAR

NARSI BENWALMumbai

In a setback for liquor shops, theBombay High Court, on Friday,refused to quash or set aside thenotifications issued by theBrihanMumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) and theMaharashtra government, whichallowed online sale of liquor. TheHC, while refusing to grant anyrelief to the liquor merchants, hasasked the civic chief to look intotheir grievances.A bench of Justices Nitin Jamdarand Nitin Borkar was hearing apetition filed by the MaharashtraWine Merchants Association. Theplea challenged the notificationsissued on May 5, May 12 and,subsequently, on May 22, by thecivic body.The notifications allowed onlinesale of liquor and also laid downthe procedure for ordering it. The association, through theircounsel Charanjeet Chanderpal,argued that the authorities haveallowed offline or counter sale ofliquor in Pune and Nashik cities,which are also a hotspot ofCOVID-19 just like Mumbai andits suburbs. "In cities like Puneand Nashik, the authorities havepermitted normal sale of retailliquor despite these cities facingan identical situation. There is no

reason why the same norms arenot applied in Mumbai,"Chanderpal argued.The merchants' association furtherargued that the online sale ofliquor can pose serious threats forthe society. "The system of online/home delivery of liquor is fraughtwith various difficulties and canhave adverse social impact, and itis also not safe. Thus, thenotifications deserve to be setaside," Chanderpal urged.Having heard the contention,Justice Jamdar noted that thenotifications are nothing but apolicy decision of the BMC."The impugned notification, datedMay 22, issued by BMC does notpermit over the counter sale ofliquor. It only permits e-commerceplatforms to be utilised fordelivery," the bench noted."This decision is in the nature ofpolicy and such a decision entailsevaluation of various competingfactors. Situation may differ fromplace to place. The relevantfactors can also undergo achange by the passage of time,"the bench observed.The judges, accordingly, deemedit appropriate to forward thepetition to BMC chief IqbalChahal and ordered him to dealwith the grievances of theassociation and pass an order atthe earliest.

Despite the publication of study reports on thedevastating floods of 2005, 2006 and 2019, it isevident we have not learn anything from the deaths ofso many people and losses running into thousands ofcrores of rupees, says Pradeep Purandare, a well-known authority on water and irrigation, in aninterview with The Free Press Journal's Political EditorPramod Chunchuwar. Purandare was formerly aprofessor at the Water and Land Management Instituteof the state government and a memberof the Wadnere Committee set up tostudy deluges in Western Maharashtra.

The Maharashtra government has sofar constituted two committees, ledby former Water Resource SecretaryNandkumar Wadnere, to study floods.What is the status of implementationof these reports?Mumbai was hit by massive floods in 2005, whileSangli and other parts of Maharashtra were hit byfloods in the following year. The state government hadthen set up the Wadnere Committee to study thereason for these disasters and recommend correctivemeasures. The committee submitted its report in 2007.Again in 2019, Western Maharashtra, especially Sangliand Kolhapur were ravaged by floods. Once again, thestate government appointed a committee underWadnere, which submitted its report on Thursday. Mostof the key recommendations made in the current reportare the same as those made in 2007. This means thestate has not implemented the recommendations of the2007 report.

The committee has recommended integratedreservoir operation. How this will be useful?This is an important suggestion, which will help

prevent floods. Currently, there is no coordination onthe release of water from dams. Every dam officialdecides based on their own assessment and they arenot aware whether other dams in their vicinity or neartheir catchment are releasing water or not. When wateris released from more than one dam in the same area,it causes floods. This is why we need an integratedreservoir schedule. This recommendation was made inthe 2007 report of the Wadnere Committee but in the

last 13 years, there has been no progress inthis regard.

The committee has stressed on theremoval of encroachments. How canthis be achieved, as it has politicalramifications?The biggest encroacher of rivers is thegovernment itself. The 'Kolhapur Type' (KT)weirs constructed by the government are

the biggest hurdle in smooth water flow. By abuttingwaterways, they cause afflux, which leads to flooding.Even the bridges constructed by the public worksdepartment causes such afflux. It is said that charitybegins at home. Therefore, the state governmentshould first remove its encroachments, change thedesign of the KT weir and the poles of the bridge.

Why did you resign from the committee?I was asked to write a chapter on the reservoiroperation schedule. I showed how the water resourcedepartment had not done anything in the last severaldecades. But Wadnere did not want to indict his ownformer department and was in a hurry to give it a cleanchit. I requested him not to save engineers, as due totheir mistake, many people had died and propertyworth crores of rupees was lost. But he omitted thischapter from the report and in protest, I resigned.

'We haven’t learned lessonsfrom '05, '06 and '19 floods'

Bombay HC refuses tostop online liquor sale

PIC: BL SONI

“ “

SANJAY JOGMumbai

In a significant move, the Pune administra-tion has evoked the Maharashtra EssentialServices Maintenance Act (MESMA), 2006empowering the authorities to initiate actionagainst doctors and nurses from private hos-pitals refusing to treat coronavirus patients.Pune Municipal Corporation has issued noti-fication asking doctors and nurses to treatCOVID and non COVID patients in privatehospitals where 80% beds are reserved forCOVID and 20% for non COVID patients.The government has recently issued notifi-

cation whereby 80 :20 beds for COVID and nonCOVID patients in private hospitals are re-served across the state. The government has

also issued notification for covering these pa-tients under the state health insurancescheme titled Mahatma Phule Jan Arogya Yo-jana.Pune is coronavirus hotspot with 7223 pro-

gressive positive cases of which 3,484 are ac-tive. Until recently, the patients were treatedin the government and civic hospitals butwith the government decision it is mandato-ry on the private hospitals to reserve 80% percent beds for COVID patients.Senior officer told FPJ, “Pune Municipal

Corporation has issued notice whereby theMaharashtra Essential Services Mainte-nance Act, 2006 will be invoked if the doctorsand nurses from private hospitals with bedcapacity ranging between 30 and 500 beds re-fused to treat COVID patients.’’

PIC: BL SONI

PUNE CIVIC BODY TO INVOKE MESMA ...if healthcare workers refuse to treat pantients

8,381 patientsdischarged onFridayPublic Health Minister RajeshTope said the state has stateset a record where in 8,381coronavirus patients weredischarged in a single day.In Maharashtra in all 26,997patients were so fardischarged while there are33,124 active patientsundergoing treatment. Therecovery rate is 3.3 per centand only 1.5% patients areon ventilators while 95% areunder recovery. In Mumbai,16,000 patients weredischarged while 19,000 areactive patients.

Poor rice quality for Nashik angers minister

PIC: BHUSHAN KOYANDE

REPRESENTATIONAL PICTURE

PIC: BL SONI

PIC: BL SONI

THE FREEPRESSJOURNALMUMBAI | SATURDAY | MAY 30, 2020

3LOCKDOWN

FRIENDLY WHEELS

Every Monday, The Free Press Journal brings you a segment that features readers’ views on issues thatmatter to them. Write in to us at connectfpj@fpj.co.in, sharing your views along with your name,occupation and photograph to be featured in `Chatter that Matters’ -- a weekly segment in The Free PressJournal. THIS WEEK’S QUESTION: Do the economic costs of a continued lockdown in Mumbai nowoutweigh the risks associating with a lifting of the lockdown?

YOUR VOICE MATTERSYOUR VOICE MATTERS

At 116, highest no. of1-day deaths in state

DIPTI SINGH Mumbai

After the Mumbai Police, now even Mumbai FireBrigade (MFB) personnel have fallen prey to the deadlycoronavirus. Following the death of one of its staff/officers on Thursday night, the fatalities due to covid19involving MFB personnel rises to three.The fire brigade personnel have been at the frontline ofMumbai’s bid to combat the Covid-19 outbreak, andhave been sanitising containment zones and hotspots.On Sunday, May 26, a 56-year-old MFB firemanUmesh Gonga succumbed to Covid-19. This was thefirst fatality involving a fire brigade personnel. So far,42 fire brigade staffers have tested positive forcoronavirus across the city.Currently, 22 firemen/officers are recuperating atdedicated covid hospitals (DCH) and five others are inICU. Meanwhile remaining 15 are admitted to differentCovid Care Centres or are under home quarantine andaround three have been cured and discharged. The

number of positive cases involving Mumbai fire brigadepersonnel stands at 42, among the total force strength

of around 2500 firemen and officers.Gonga, was being treated for typhoid and dysentery,was posted at Gowalia Tank Fire station at Grant Roadand was involved in fumigation and disinfectionactivities. He had been on leave since May 16 due tohis illness.On May 23, when his condition worsened, he wasrushed to JJ Hospital but was allegedly refusedadmission. The next day, he was again taken to thehospital by his relatives, where he died during thetreatment. He tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.It is yet to be ascertained how he contracted theinfection. Three family members of deceased havebeen put in quarantine and their test results areawaited.On May 28, firemen Rafiq Shahabuddin Shaikhattached to Goregaon Fire Brigade and ShashikantLabhe who was posted at Vile Parle Fire Brigadesuccumbed to Covid19. Sheikh (57) who was attachedto Goregaon division of Mumbai fire brigade, andworked there as a fireman and vehicle operator

breathed his last at a hospital in Virar on Thursdayafternoon. According to fire brigade sources, Shaikh haddeveloped symptoms like cold fever and breathlessnessa couple of weeks ago. On May 21 his test reportsconfirmed covid-19 infection and on Thursday hesuffered a heart stroke and passed away. He is survivedby his wife and son. Shaikh was due to retire on May31.Following Shaikh, Labde too was declared dead due tocoronavirus infection late on Thursday evening. TillThursday, Four family members of infected staffers havealso tested positive."It is unfortunate that frontline heroes are falling prey tothe deadly virus. However, the best part about them isnone of them is discouraged or have shirked off theirresponsibility due to the virus scare. All our staffers areat the frontline and working 24x7. We salute the threewho lost their lives in a bid to ensure the safety ofMumbaikars," said MFB Chief Fire Officer PrabhatRahangdale told the Free Press Journal.

The decision has been taken to aid social distancing measures

SWAPNIL MISHRAMumbai

Relatives of the Covid-19patients will not be allowedin the wards of the civic-run King Edward Memori-al (KEM) hospital, the ad-ministration informed onFriday. The decision hasbeen taken as hospital fearsthe crowd outside thebuilding will lead to thefurther spread of infection. The hospital said that theperiodic information aboutthe patient shall be given tothe family members overthe phone.Dr Hemant Deshmukh,dean, KEM hospital, saidthat they have noticed thatwhen a corona positive pa-tient is admitted to the hos-pital, his/her relativeskeep doing rounds of thehospital to meet them.Moreover, the area outside

the ward is crowded andthere’s no social distanc-ing. “We already have covidpatients and when their rel-atives come to meet them,they are in a danger to con-tract the virus and becomethe carrier themselves,” hesaid.Dr Deshmukh added: “Wehave set up a team whichwill be calling the relativesonce or twice a day to up-date them about the detailsand well-being of theirloved-one.”Civic officials said they

are taking all possible stepsto control infection at thehospitals for which this de-cision will be applicable forboth covid and non-covidpatients. Moreover theyhave noticed relatives tak-ing photos of hospitalwards without knowing theactual facts and they circu-late it on social media dueto which it demoralisesdoctors. “All these steps are beingtaken for the benefit of thepatients and their relatives.It has been learnt patients'relatives stay in the hospi-tal premises without rea-son even though there is arule that only two relativescan stay,” he said.However, health activistssaid it is a good move butstopping relatives cannotbring any change in theworking of hospitals orfacts inside the hospital.

BEST ferries migrant labourers for freePRATIP ACHARYA

Mumbai

Following the directives of the Supreme Court, Mumbai's presentlifeline - Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST)undertaking on Friday announced it won't charge any migrantlabourers for ferrying them at the city railway stations. BEST undertaking has been providing uninterrupted transport serviceto the essential service providers of the city eversince the lockdownhas been imposed, to fight the global coronavirus pandemic.However, following the instructions of Mumbai police, the transportundertaking took the initiative of ferrying the workers to the railwaystations after special Shramik special trains were started by therailway ministry. The passengers were charged according to the distance travelledand according to the bus routes. "Earlier, they were charged as per the general fare rates. We wereproviding special buses for the labourers on request with MumbaiPolice, eversince the Shramik special trains were introduced" addedVarade. Meanwhile, BEST is also ferrying incoming passengers from abroadvia flights to the quarantine and transferring them to the variousquarantine facilities in Mumbai. The civic body has transformedseveral hotels into institutional quarantine centres for the passengerswho are being airlifted from foreign territories. BEST has deployed fifteen of its conventional buses regularly whoare transferring these passengers to the institutional quarantinecentres from the airport regularly

Each passenger is charged Rs 50, wherein Rs 25 is charged forluggage and Rs 25 is charged as passenger fare. "BEST is providing this special service eversince the special flightoperations resumed. There is no transport services available, thuswe are providing transport service by charging a nominal amount"said a senior BEST official, who was in charge of the airportoperations on Friday. "Special fights from Korea, Japan, Peru and Europe land here everyalternate day. The passengers are then being dropped at theinstitutional quarantine centres as per their preference. At present,there are more than 40 hotels across the city which are beingtransformed into quarantine facilities. Our employees are also beinggiven protective gears" stated the official.

SWAPNIL MISHRA/ Mumbai

For the eleventh time in 12 days,Maharashtra reported more than2,000 new coronavirus cases andthe highest number of deaths in asingle day so far at 116, on Friday. Inthe midst of this grim scenario,however, there was a sliver of goodnews. On the same day, 8,381patients were discharged fromvarious hospitals in the state, thehighest number to do so in a singleday, causing the recovery rate in tojump from 31.2 per cent to 43.3 percent in the last 24 hours. On Friday 2,682 new cases wererecorded, taking the total positivecount to 62,228, with 2,098 deathsuntil now. So far, 26,997 patientshave been discharged across thestate. Thirty-eight of the 116 deaths werein Mumbai, followed by 17 inJalgaon, 13 in Pune, nine in NaviMumbai, seven in Dhule, five eachin Malegaon and Aurangabad,

three each in Bhiwandi, Mira-Bhayandar, Solapur, Nashik andKolhapur, two each in Amravati andRaigad and one each in Panvel,Thane and Kalyan-Dombivli.State officials attributed the highfatalities to book-keeping and said,“Of the total deaths reported onThursday, 46 deaths occurred in thelast two days, while the remaining70 were from the period betweenMay 16 and May 26.”According to the public healthdepartment of the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC), thecity has recorded 1,447 new casesand 38 deaths, taking the totalpositive count to 36,932, with 1,174deaths so far.Dr Pradip Awate, state surveillanceofficer, said that considering themonsoon is just around the corner,the prevalence of other epidemicdiseases too will possibly increaseand with this in mind, the healthdepartment has begunpreparations.

Stay cautious before ordering liquor online

MUMBAI:The cyber wingof Mumbai police has issued alist of 73 fraud mobile num-bers that are cheating cus-tomers on the pretext ofliquor shops or helpline num-bers. After the state government'snod to allowed home deliveryof liquor, many trippers haveturned online in search ofliquor shops near to them.However, most of the timesnumbers came out to be ofthose who dupe customers onthe pretext of online payment. "It has been noticed that inmany instances the citizensdo not actually visit the gen-uine websites and insteadpick up numbers from searchengines. “To avoid citizensfalling pray to such frauds wehave compiled a list of 73 tele-phone numbers, which are be-ing currently used by scam-sters for cheating the cus-tomers trying to purchaseliquor online," said DeputyCommissioner of Police, Cy-ber Crime Vishal Thakur.To tackle these menace, theAssociation of ProgressiveRetail Liquor Vendors(APRLV), Mumbai has decid-ed to accept Cash on Delivery(COD) instead of asking on-

line payment before deliverythey have also started to pro-vide their ATM swipe ma-chine to their delivery boys in-case cash is not available.Meanwhile MaharashtraCyber has also issued a warn-ing about a new banking mal-ware named Zloader whichwas being distributedthrough COVID-19-themedphishing scams. The malwareuses PDF files that link to aword document laced withmacro code that downloadsand runs a version of theZloader. The malware found to bestealing credentials and pri-vate banking informationfrom victims along with sen-sitive data stored in browsers,like cookies and passwords.This data can be use to log intothe victim’s online bankingaccount. As a precautionary meas-ure, the Maharashtra cyberhas issued guidelines andasked not to open attach-ments or web links within ir-relevant emails that are re-ceived from unknown, suspi-cious addresses and avoiddownloading or updating soft-ware from third-party web-sites. — Sachin Gaad

MUMBAI: A 54-year-old policeconstable, Deepak Hate, attachedto Bandra police station succumbedto the novel Coronavirus on Friday.Hate's death recorded the 16thdeath in the Mumbai Policedepartment, after another constableattached to Dahisar police stationwas tested positive for COVID-19after he died on May 26. Till Friday, a total of all 25 personnelfrom Maharashtra Police died due toCOVID-19, of which 16 are fromMumbai Police, three from NashikRural, two from Pune and one eachfrom Solapur City, Solapur Rural,Thane and Mumbai unit of AntiTerrorism Squad (ATS).A police official said, Hate, who wasposted at Bandra police station sincethe last five years, had been on amedical leave for more than a weekafter he fell sick. While Hate, aresident of Worli police colony hadno pre existing ailments, he wasadmitted in a Worli-based hospitalafter he tested positive for the novelCoronavirus. — STAFF REPORTER

DASHBOARDMAHA: CASES 62,228; DEATHS 2,098Mortality rate- 3.37 per cent; Recovery rate- 43.38 per cent

MUMBAI: CASES 36,932; DEATHS 1,174Mortality rate- 3.17 per cent; Recovery rate- 43.34 per cent

Kin of patients barredfrom entering KEM hosp

IIT-B reports first fatality

STAFF REPORTER/ Mumbai

The first death due toCovid-19 on the Indian In-stitute of Technology Bom-bay (IIT-B) campus was re-ported on Thursday afteran employee with the insti-tute's transport depart-ment was declared suc-cumbed to the deadlyvirus.According to the IIT Bspokesperson, the 40-year-old employee lived outsidethe campus and shifted inthe campus five-six daysago. "Two days back hestarted showing symptoms.The IITB hospital suspect-ed he might have covid 19and so he was shifted toBYL Nair hospital wherehe was tested positive. Hehad co-morbidities and suc-cumbed to the infection onThursday evening," thespokesperson said.IITB director Dr SubhasisChaudhari took to Facebookto announce the development.The first case of Covid-19at the IIT Bombay campuswas reported on May 2 af-ter the wife of a staffertested positive for thevirus.

New cases cross2K-mark yet again

Highest 1-dayrecoveries: 8,381

Three firemen succumb to coronavirus

Two morecops die

Murder inMalad, copsfind a link

WARD-WISE DATA

STAFF REPORTER / Mumbai

In the fourth murder case re-ported in Mumbai in a spanof four days, a 37-year-old se-curity guard, Rakesh Yadav,was killed after an unidenti-fied assailant fired at himnear Inorbit mall in Malad(W) on Thursday night.Meanwhile, another incidentof firing was reported a fewkilometres away, where no-body was injured, whichcould be connected to themurder, suspect police. According to police, thefirst incident occurredaround 8pm near an openplot owned by a builder. Thedeceased, Yadav, who was em-ployed as a security guard,was shot dead by an unidenti-fied assailant with a country-made pistol. Malad Policereached the spot and rushedYadav to a nearby hospital,where he was declared deadbefore arrival. His body wassent for postmortem and acase of murder was regis-tered at Malad police stationagainst unknown persons.

Thane: Renowned architect Vasant Pansare, whodesigned some iconic buildings in Maharashtra's Thanecity, died of prolonged illness on Thursday, familysources said. Pansare was 93 and a bachelor.He had been suffering from age-related ailments for

quite some time and breathed his last at a hospital onThursday night, a source from the family said. Pansaredesigned several iconic structures in Thane, includingRam Ganesh Gadkari Rangayatan, the Thane MunicipalCorporation building and offices in Wagle Estate area.

Renowned architect Vasant Pansare dies at 93LOCKDOWNTHE FREEPRESSJOURNAL

MUMBAI | SATURDAY | MAY 30, 2020

4Now, Palghar on high alert

PRAMOD CHUNCHUWARMumbai

While Vidarbha is fightingagainst swarm of desert lo-custs, the Maharashtra gov-ernment has alerted Pal-ghar district about the pos-sibility of an attack of thesemigratory pests. The stategovernment is planning touse drones to spray pesti-cides on the locusts.“These locusts travel asper the air flow. They mayenter in Palghar districtthrough North Maharash-tra and Gujarat. Thereforewe have alerted villages es-pecially in Talasari, Da-hanu tehsils on Gujarat bor-der. We have asked villagersto be more vigilant in thenight. As these locusts mixthemselves with the greenvegetation, they are not eas-ily noticed. They mightland on crops in the evening

and by morning, they candamage the whole crop,”Vikas Patil, Joint Directorof Agriculture for Kokanregion told FPJ.“Officials of the Agricul-ture department are visit-ing the villages and educat-ing the villagers aboutthese locusts. They havebeen requested to alert thestate government wheneverthey site such locustswarms,” he added.“State agriculture depart-ment is supplying free pesti-cides to farmers to fightagainst this menace. Thestate government is plan-ning to spray pesticidesthrough drones. The govern-ment had used hose pipes offire brigade for sprayingpesticides in Vidarbha.The state government hasallowed District Collectorsto use 25 per cent of Nation-al Disaster Relief fund for

purchasing of pesticides, forpublic awareness againstthese pests,”Dada Bhuse,Agriculture minister said.Swarms of crop eating lo-custs have spread acrossMadhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,Uttar Pradesh and easternpart of Maharashtra.

State may use drones to spray pesticides

Covid delays pre-monsoonwork in Navi Mumbai

AMIT SRIVASTAVAMumbai

With barely a week left forthe monsoon to arrive in thecity, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation(NMMC) has not yet com-pleted the necessary pre-monsoon works. The civicchief held a meeting onThursday and has set an-other deadline to completethe work.From a survey of danger-ous buildings to trimming oftrees, all necessary pre-mon-soon works have not beencompleted. Earlier, the civicadministration had set May25 deadline to complete thepre-monsoon works. Sincemost of the officials are busy

in handling coronaviruspandemic, the monsoon re-lated works got delayed.Abbasaheb Misal, munici-pal commissioner of NMMCheld a meeting on Thursdaywith senior other civic offi-cials at civic headquarterand also connected withward officials through videoconferencing, and has setMay 31 deadline for desiltingof drainages. All the nullahwill be cleaned in a week andsilt should be removed thevery next day, he ordered.Though Navi Mumbai is aplanned city, there are veryfew places that see waterlogging during the mon-soon. Ward officials havebeen asked to ensure in-stalling pump at all impor-

tant places before the mon-soon arrives. “The repair ofthe flood gate is also at thelast stage and it will be com-pleted earliest,” stated asenior civic official.All the ward officials havebeen asked to complete thesurvey of dangerous build-ings urgently and take nec-essary steps like publishingthe list and putting up a no-tice board. They have alsobeen directed to ensuretimely tree trimming. The civic body will con-front multiple challengesfrom handling virus patientsto vector-borne diseases dur-ing monsoon. The civic ad-ministration's missed thedeadlinedue to ongoing waragainst the virus.

Positive cases in MBMC cross 600 but recovery rate is 63%SURESH GOLANI

Mumbai

The number of peo-ple testing positivefor Covid-19 in Mira-Bhayandar has spi-raled in the past sev-en days. Twenty-eightpeople tested positiveon Thursday, takingthe total cases in thetwin-cities to 605. Thehealth departmenthas registered asmany as 202 cases inthe past seven days

and the situation isexpected to furtherworsen, with the dou-bling rate having re-duced to 14 days, fromthe earlier 20.Despite a rise incases, the civic ad-ministration canheave a sigh of reliefas the recovery ratehas registered a sig-nificant recovery andcurrently hovers alittle above 63 per-cent, with 378 pa-tients having so far

recovered and beingdischarged from des-ignated Covid-19 hos-pitals, bringing downthe number of activecases to 207 tillThursday night.However, swab testreports of 254 peopleare still awaited.Of the 202 positivecases reported in thelast one week, 98 areunrelated and havebeen reported fromnew areas, while 104are close contacts of

those who had testedpositive earlier. With319 positive patients,Mira Road has ac-counted for 52.73 percent of the cases, fol-lowed by 146 (24.13%)and 140 (23.14%) casesfrom the west andeast sides of Bhayan-dar, respectively.Eight people havesuccumbed while un-dergoing treatmentfor the deadly infec-tion in the past sevendays, taking the total

number of casualtiesto 20. The MBMC facesanother dauntingtask, as a large num-ber of cases are beingreported from vari-ous slum clusters.However, the healthdepartment, apartfrom other sanitisingmeasures, claims tohave initiated an ag-gressive contact-trac-ing campaign to contain the spread ofinfection.

Med students' sting unearthsfake EWS certificate scam

RONALD RODRIGUESMumbai

Students seeking admission to post-graduate (PG) medical courses in Ma-harashtra have conducted a sting oper-ation to unearth a scam, involvingtheir peers submitting fake economi-cally weaker section (EWS) certificatesto get seats in government medical col-leges. Background checks of some PGcourse applicants have revealed thatthat they do not fall under the EWS cat-egory and actually come from well-to-do families. These findings have beensubmitted to the state CET cell.This year, over 6,000 students are vy-ing for 1,128 seats in government med-ical colleges for PG courses in Maha-rashtra. While the admission process iscurrently going on, some students andalumni conducted a sting operation tocheck for fake EWS certificates. Ac-cording to the guidelines of the centralgovernment, 10 per cent of the seats arereserved under the EWS category.Aditya Shastri, a PG medical aspi-rant, researched the backgrounds ofthose of his batchmates applying un-

der EWS category. Shastri said, "Ifound it fishy when some of my batch-mates from affluent families, havingparents with jobs in renowned compa-nies, were securing seats under theEWS category. When I spoke to them, Ilearnt that there are local agents who

cook up fake EWS certificates withstudents showing the annual familyincome of just one earning member,rather than the entire family."

When The Free Press Journal spoketo some students who had fought theEWS reservation introduced in 2019but are supporting it this year, some as-pirants claimed it was because fakeEWS certificates can be obtained bypaying Rs 1,000. An aspirant said, "It isalmost impossible to secure a seat in agovernment college in cities like Mum-bai, Pune or Nagpur because there areover 6,000 students fighting for just1,000 seats. To add to this, there is quo-ta reservation, so we are compelled toget a fake certificate from a local agentand apply under EWS category." It is unfair to students working hardto secure seats, said Sudha Shenoy,representative of the Medical Parents'Association. Shenoy said, "Some stu-dents are getting away with fake EWScertificates even though their annualfamily income is above Rs 8 lakh.There are students who are genuinelyfrom financially weak backgroundsand in need of aid. Also, the totalreservation of seats has gone up to 74per cent leaving approximately, only300 of 1,128 seats for open category stu-dents in Maharashtra.”

INVADERS IN AIR

Right of women to get sanitary padsat an affordable price: Plea in HC

NARSI BENWAL Mumbai

In a bid to protect the rightsof women, two law studentshave moved the BombayHigh Court seeking the list-ing of sanitary pads as an'essential product' and fur-ther making it available towomen at cheaper rates.The students have furthersought the withdrawal ofthe Goods and Services Tax(GST) imposed on the rawmaterial used in the manu-facture of sanitary pads..A bench of Chief JusticeDipankar Datta and JusticeKamalkishor Tated has or-dered the Union govern-ment to spell out its standon the issue by next Friday.The bench was dealingwith a petition filed byNikita Ghole, 26, and Vaish-

navi Gholave, 23, both lawstudents and residents ofAurangabad. The duomoved the HC through ad-vocate Vinod Sangvikar,urging the bench to issuedirections to the authori-ties to provide sanitarynapkins at cheaper rates,especially during the pres-ent lockdown period, whichhas resulted in a steepshortage in their supply."The lockdown was an-nounced in March 2020.Ever since, people are mi-grating to their home-towns. There are variousfacilities provided by thegovernment to these mi-grants but there is a com-plete negligence on theirpart towards providingsanitation facilities formenstruating women," thepetition reads.

"During this period ofpandemic various HighCourts have taken cog-nizance of the sufferings ofthe migrants about food,shelter etc but no referencehas been made regardingthe Menstrual Hygiene ofWomen (MHW), a topicwhich is always neglectedand ignored and as a resultwomen have suffered a lotsince ancient times," theplea states further.The petition further readsthat on an average, a girl ora woman menstruates forover 3,000 days of her life, itis of utmost importance forthem to maintain hygiene.Unless hygiene is prac-tised during menstruation,there could be serious is-sues such as fungal or bac-terial infections in the re-productive and urinary

tracts, the plea points out.The law students have fur-ther accused the govern-ment authorities of beingnegligent about this issueand turning a blind eye tothe sufferings of women.However, after 2005, somesteps have been taken inthis regard, the petitionersargue.The plea further high-lights the imposition of theGST and the subsequentdeletion of this item fromthe ambit of the GST."On one hand, the govern-ment has removed sanitarypads from GST ambit buton the other, it has imposedGST at the rate of 12-18 %on the input raw materials.This speaks volumes aboutthe intentions of the gov-ernment," the girls havepointed out.

NARENDRA GUPTA / Mumbai

Thane Police, which is working hard to ensure the im-plementation of lockdown rules to contain the spreadof coronavirus, is under a lot of pressure these daysafter 136 of its personnel including 15 police officersand 121 police personnel's were found to be infected bythe deadly virus.Nine police officers from Thane city police, who test-ed positive for coronavirus have recovered and havebeen discharged on Friday. Six police personnel's havebeen discharged from Sapphire hospital (Thane), onefrom Kalsekar (Mumbra), one from Vedant, one fromSeven Hill hospital in Mumbai. According to Thane commissionerate, there are totalnumber of 15 police officers and 121 police personnel'swho had tested positive for coronavirus. Out of these, 10police officers and 70 police personnel's have recoveredand discharged and one woman police personnel died.While 5 police officers and 50 police personnel's are cur-rently under the treatment.

Nine Thane copsrecover from Covid-19

Recentlyvarious media

and more sosocial mediareported thattrains have losttheir way. Theyare taking daysrather than hoursto reach theirdestinations. Thepassengers onShramik Specials,primarily migrantlabourers, nothaving much

knowledge of train operations posted thevideos claiming that the trains have losttheir way and then these became viral. Practically, the trains never lose their way.The driver or loco pilot cannot divert a trainor take it to the course of his liking. For alayman, a train doesn’t have steering. Thecontroller at junction station sets thefurther course of a train after gettingclearance from divisional control which inturn takes instructions from zonal control.Train operations are synchronized betweenvarious divisions and zones and are runsmoothly in close coordination. Beforelockdown, Indian Railways was dailyrunning more than 13000 Passenger trainsand more than 9000 good trains with thepunctuality of around 90% in passengertrain operations. A system with thecapability to undertake such mammoth’soperations doesn’t just lose its trains.Indian Railways is running shramik specialtrains on point to point basis during theseunprecedented times. Railways don’t haveliberty of advance planning about thesource and destination of trains, neitherthere is advance timetabling. The demandfor train is received from state govt afterreceiving acceptance from destinationstate. This normally happens at a veryshort notice leaving very little margin forrailways to plan rake availability andother modalities such as crew, engine,route, coordination with other railways toallot path etc. The train is however,immediately approved, route is decided,schedule is prepared and state govt isasked to bring the passengers to thestation. Two to three hours’ advanceplacement of rake is done at station toallow state authorities manage theboarding, following social distancingnorms. The waiting period between traindemand and placement at platform is keptminimum to reduce inconvenience tomigrants. The railways otherwise have fixed patterntrains with fixed schedule, route and halts.These are prepared, keeping in mind thedemand, the section capacity etc.However, the shramik specials arechartered trains, ie from a specific source

to a specific destination with no or veryfew halts. The trains are being run fromany station demanded by state govt andto any station required. In fact, railways isbearing 85% of the cost of operating thesetrains which includes haulage to theoriginating station which can be a remotestation, empty return etc while 15% isbeing borne by the State. Even the crewmanagement is quite challenging and locopilots, guards, RPF etc get stranded atintermediate stations after off duty and arebrought back in goods trains, or any othertrain whenever available. Indian Railways have run over 3700Shramik Specials till 28/05/2020 carryingmore than 53 lakh migrants to their homestates. 80% of these heading towardseastern UP & Bihar from all over India. Thiscan be considered as one of the biggestevacuation operation. On May 20 & 21stdue to heavy demand from several states,many Shramik specials were run mainlytowards UP & Bihar taking the commonfinal route of Itarsi-Jabalpur-Pt Deen DayalUpadhyaya jn, leading to congestion onthis route. Moreover, as de-boarding ofpassengers was taking time, the bunchingof trains occurred leading to cascadingeffect on all incoming trains. The migrantsare also not in the best of their health andseveral cases of them falling ill enrouteadd to the detention of trains. Recently,Western Railway staff assisted twopregnant female passengers with delivery.Around 35 deliveries have taken placewhere the females were travelling byShramik specials and railway staff assistedthe delivery and the train was detained.Various trains of Western Railway for UP &Bihar & beyond were also being runthrough Jalgaon-Itarsi-Jabalpur as thisbeing the shortest route. 29, WesternRailway trains were pushed through thisroute on 21st May. At the same time otherzones especially Central Railway receivedrequest to operate trains to eastern UP &Bihar thus adding to the congestion. Butsensing the situation, the WR planningheads, immediately drew alternate plansand few trains which had already departedwere diverted via Nagpur. One such trainVasai- Gorakhpur Special which departedon 21 May, was to run via Kalyan-Khandwa-Itarsi- Jabalpur-Pt Deen DayalUpadhyaya Jn route, but was diverted viaBilaspur-Jharsuguda-Rouekela-Asansolroute. This increased the running time byfew hours. However, this gave somebreathing space to the congested sections.The railway board immediately swung intoaction and re-planned the routes andstarted running new demanded trains fromthese new routes. Western Railway identified three alternateroutes and trains on subsequent days wererun via these alternate routes. The Shramikspecials do not have halts at station on

enroute states, hence diversion didn’tcause any inconvenience of boarding/de-boarding at intermediate stations. In fact,it posed as a great challenge for railwaysto provide food packets at the stations ondiverted routes. There is no provision ofPublic Address System in trains, henceinforming passengers about diversion wasnot possible. The announcements, though were made atoperational halts but could not reduce theanxiety levels of passengers who are usedto particular route by regular trains. Astation like Itarsi, which is dealing around70-80 trains per day with 1600 passengersper train, needs to arrange food packetsfor around 1.25 lakh passengers daily. All

this being arranged despite there beinglockdown and shortage of labour. Evenbringing the train crew back from therelieving stations was a big challenge.Amidst this there were reports that severalpassengers have died because ofstarvation and thirst during the hotweather. However, in none of the cases thedeath could be attributed to starvation orthirst. In majority of cases the passengerhad previous medical history of ailmentand were travelling by train, inspite ofRailways making an appeal to thepassengers to avoid travelling if they arenot well or suffering for any pre-existingailments. Indian Railways has arranged more than84 lakh food packets and 1.25 cr waterbattles since the Shramik Specials havestarted. In some instance it has beenobserved that the food packets are lootedby passengers thereby depriving the oldand disabled of food and water. Therailways are undergoing through ahistorical phase where on one handregular trains have stopped while on otherthe manpower and minds are burning thecandles at both ends to manage theunprecedented crisis of migrants’movement, forced upon by the Covid-19situation in the country. The ShramikSpecials will be permanently marked in thehistory of Indian Railways, where thepassengers were not planning theirjourneys according to trains but the trainswere being planned according to thepassengers and every railwaymen workedbeyond the call of duty to reach themigrants to their home states.

The Indian Railways’ Maze & The ShramikSpecial Trains #KnowingTheReality

Ravinder Bhakar, ChiefPublic Relations Officer,Western Railway

CORPORATE CONNECT

Agriculture varsity suggests waysto tackle the locust menace

AGENCIES / Aurangabad

As parts of Maharashtraand other states face at-tacks from locusts, whichdestroy crops and vegeta-tion, an agriculture uni-versity has suggested aslew of measures like de-stroying their eggs andspraying neem oil oncrops to tackle threat fromthe migratory pests.

The Vasantrao NaikAgriculture University atParbhani in Marathwadasaid threat from swarmsof locusts can be tackledby undertaking certainmeasures. Destroyingtheir eggs, digging trench-es of a specific size andspraying neem oil onstanding crops are some ofthe effective methods totackle the menace, it said.

NMMC pushes the deadline by a week

Woman founddead in Thane

NARENDRA GUPTA / Thane

A 38-year-old woman founda dead body under the juris-diction of Robodi police sta-tion on Friday morning. The police said that the in-cident took place near Saketground gate in Thane. Apasserby noticed a woman’sbody with her throat slit.Police have identified thedeceased as Reshma Kha-toon, 38, who lived with hus-band and two children inRobodi area in Thane. Police Inspector DilipRasham from Rabodi policestation said, "We were in-formed about the body andreached at spot at 9 am andfound that a lady was lyingwith her throat slit. She wastaken to Civil hospital forpost mortem". We are going through theCCTV footage and hope willnab the culprit soon,Rasham added.

ELGAR PARISHAD-BHIMA KOREGAON CASE

Court rejects interim bailplea of Sudha Bharadwaj

STAFF REPORTERMumbai

A special National Investi-gation Agency (NIA) courton Friday rejected the in-terim bail plea filed onmedical grounds of civilactivist Sudha Bharadwajaccused in the ElgarParishad – Bhima Kore-gaon case.Bharadwaj through heradvocates Yug MohitChaudhry and Ragini Ahu-ja had sought interim bailas she suffers co-morbidi-ties of diabetes and highblood pressure which makeher vulnerable to the coro-navirus infection.

The 58-year-old is lodgedin Byculla women’s prison.The plea had said that ather age and with her co-morbidities the infectioncould be life-threateningfor Bharadwaj. A 54-year-old jail inmate and a jaildoctor at Byculla jail hadtested positive.The NIA had opposed thebail plea in its reply statingthat there is no provisionfor grant of temporary bailunder the Unlawful Activi-ties Prevention Act (UAPA)under which Bharadwaj ischarged and that the evi-dences indicate the link ofaccused persons with CPI(Maoist).

“Desperate timescall for desperatemeasures, saysPG aspirant”

Covid-19: Thane policebooks 3 private hospitals

NARENDRA GUPTA / Mumbai

Thane police has registered acase against three privatehospitals from Mumbra forcharging extra money fromCOVID-19 patients and oth-ers for not to admitting viruspositive patients in the hospi-tal, said officials from ThaneMunicipal Corporation.According to civic body,during the enquiry, three hos-pitals, Bilal Hospital, PrimeCriticare and Universal Hos-

pital were found guilty. PRO, Sandeep Malvi, fromThane Municipal Corpora-tion said, "We are receivingseveral complaints these hos-pital. Following which, com-missioner Vijay Singhal havepassed an order to inquireabout these hospitals. Duringthe enquiry, these hospitalswere found the guilty. Follow-ing which, commissionerhave passed an order to sealthese hospital rooms."

Tiff over pet dog triggers ugly brawl SURESH GOLANI

Mumbai

As the police are busy bat-tling with the Covid-19 pan-demic amid the ongoinglockdown, a petty tiff dis-pute over a pet dog led to aviolent clash in Bhayandaron Thursday evening. While cross FIR’s wereregistered from both thesides, three people includ-ing local BJP corporator-Nayna Mhatre has beenbooked by the Bhayandar

police. While, no arrestshave been made so far, Mha-tre claimed innocence whiledenying her involvement inany sort of violence. According to the police theincident was reported fromthe Rev-Agar area in Murd-ha village near Bhayandar.When contacted Senior Po-lice Inspector- ChandrakantJadhav said, “Based on boththe complaints, we have reg-istered a cross FIR." Furtherinvestigations were under-way.

NEW DELHI: An earthquake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale, in Haryana’sRohtak, jolted the national capital and its surrounding regions on Friday evening.According to the National Centre for Seismology, the earthquake, with a depth of3.3 km, had its epicentre 16 km east-southeast of Rohtak. It occurred at 9.08pm. European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre stated the quake originated

49 km northwest of Delhi. The tremors prompted people to venture out of hom -es in fear. No casualties or damage to properties have been rep o rted so far. Qua -kes of less than five magnitude are unlikely to cause much dama ge, unless in ca -se of weak or compromised structures. Low-intensity quakes have been hittingDelhi since April. This is the 7th quake, which shook NCR over the last month.

STRONG TREMORS FELT IN DELHI-NCR AS QUAKE HITS HARYANA LOCKDOWNTHE FREEPRESSJOURNAL

MUMBAI | SATURDAY | MAY 30, 2020

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FAST NEWS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1Lockdown 5.0 may be restricted to hotspotsBMC Commissioner Iqbal Chahal has proposed that suburban trainscan ply between 6 am and 10 am and in the evening between 5 pmand 8 pm for staff from essential services. Further, the governmentmay allow opening of non-essential good shops in a limited manner,but not in containment zones; and that too subject to socialdistancing and hygiene norms. Schools will remain shut thoughonline teaching will begin from the second week of June. In Pune,where progressive cases have surged to 7223 with 3,484 activecases, the district administration may allow opening of non essentialgood shops and other establishments, barring containment zones.

In Thane, where progressive cases have surged to 8638 with 5737active cases, the district administration will not allow opening ofoffices, hotels and restaurants during lockdown 5.0.

‘’The transfer of migrant workers in their respective home districts isbeing constantly witnessed as new coronavirus positive cases surface,which is putting additional burden on the district administration,’’ saidthe officer. Therefore, the local administration will take a call onrelaxation, depending on the ground level situation. The State hasrelaxed lockdown norms and permitted industries to function;however, due to exodus of labour, new challenges have emerged. Thiswill take some time to resolve; however, in due course, the situationwill become normal, the officer said.

`50 lakh risk cover for COVID 'Yoddhas'prevention, testing, treatment, relief activities), on account of Covid,will be covered through an ex gratia assistance of Rs 50 lakhs.

''The State Government is committed to the welfare of such personneland intends to stand by them in this vulnerable situation,’’ said Pawar.However, the employee should have been on duty during the 14-dayperiod preceding his/her hospitalization or death. Theverification/certification in this regard would be done by the DistrictMagistrate or any other designated Head of Department.

Further, the medical certification that the death is related to Covid-19would be done on the basis of a report of a Government/Municipal/ICMR notified private hospital or laboratory. The government has furtherclarified that the beneficiary employees would include all contractual,outsourced, daily wages, ad hoc and even honorarium-based staff. Thebudget heads in this regard would be notified by the concerneddepartments. A similar ex gratia assistance scheme will also beimplemented by all Local Bodies and State Govt Public Undertakings.

Honorarium is up for docs on contract, bondMinister of Tourism and Environment Aaditya Thackeray in his tweetsaid an old order had proposed a reduction in the honorarium andhe had requested the government to review the same. ‘’Iwholeheartedly thank the Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister,the Public Health Minister and the Medical Education Minister whohave reversed the decision,’’ he tweeted.In another tweet, the minister said, ''For doctors on contract and onbond, the Maharashtra Government has decided not only toenhance the salary but also bring at par. They are our COVIDwarriors and this was their due.’’

Trump, Twitter slug it out as riots fan out...Trump’s initial tweet is still accessible to the American public, but it hasto be clicked into after users read the warning label. The move comesa day after the president signed an executive order, which was a directresponse to Twitter fact-checking two of his tweets about voting. CNN REPORTER ARRESTED LIVE ON AIR: In an interestingsidelight, a black CNN reporter was arrested live on air on Fridaymorning while reporting on the killing of the black man GeorgeFloyd. The correspondent was put in handcuffs and led away in frontof his producers for refusing to move when he was told to. ‘‘Do youmind telling me why I am under arrest, sir? Why am I under arrest,sir,’’ he demanded. But no one was listening.

GR discriminating among "reserved"...The GR was a followup on the state’s policy for fee reimbursement

to SC, ST and OBC students pursuing professional courses inMaharashtra. The GR was impugned by over 26 students from acity-based college as they were denied the reimbursement since theydid not get admissions through CAP. Notably, whether a studentsecures admission through CAP or not, he or she has to appear forthe Common Entrance Test (CET).

The full bench noted this aspect and held that the GR was arbitraryand discriminatory in denying reimbursement to non-CAP studentsdespite all of them appearing for CET.

In its 75-page judgment, the judges said that it was notmandatory for the government to return the fees of the reservedcategory students.

"No law mandates that the fee of the SC students must bereturned or that they should be paid back their educationalexpenditure. It is, indeed, a welfare decision of the government. Themodern state is a source of succor," the judges observed.

The bench further said that whatever it does, a government isalways a government and, as such, is subject to the restraints,inherent in a democratic society. "The government cannot lay downarbitrary and capricious standards for the choice of persons withwhom alone it will deal. Every action of the government must beinformed with reason and should be free from arbitrariness becausethe government is always a government," the judges observed.

The bench in its order further said that the move of the government toreimburse the fees of reserved category students is a positive one fortheir welfare. "For integrating a historically, socially, and economicallymarginalised section into the mainstream society, education is the sure-fire device. It not only enlightens but also elevates an individual’sstatus," reads the judgment authored by Justice Naidu.

The bench further said the policy of returning fees is "need basedand not merit based."

Nurse attacked for being a ‘spreader’On May 24, her nephew was standing outside their neighbour'shouse. According to the police, Ahmed's second daughter, a 10-year-old, asked the toddler not to come to their area, claiming they wouldcontract coronavirus, as his aunt worked in a hospital. Hearing this,Sakeena came out and asked the girl to refrain from such talk.

However, Ahmed came outside, enraged by Sakeena's words andbegan verbally abusing her, allegedly telling her, since she wasworking in a corona hospital, she could spread the virus. Later, hiswife Hazra and daughter came out and allegedly assaulted Sakeena,dragging her by her dupatta and slamming her head, while Ahmedallegedly clobbered her over the head with a child's cricket bat.

Ganesha says it's sad Bejan is gone...And in Bejan’s case, I expected a miracle. Like so many times before.

Waiting to hear his booming “Shree Ganeshaya Namah!” on the phone.Which was his way of telling me he was back! After cheating deathagain. I thought it'd be the same this time too. Now my heart's broken.”

Columnist and actor-activist Dolly Thakore also condoled the demise ofDaruwala, who used to be her neighbour in Mumbai.

“I would rib him about the astrology since I never believed in it.Though he never gave up trying to give me astrological advice which Iresolutely ignored, it never came in the way we related to each other asfriends. He was gregarious, charming and had one heck of a sense ofhumour. He could tell jokes and entertain like few. Conversations withhim were so entertaining that I would often visit his place and in a fewminutes, all the world's worries would simply float away.”

According to her, what made him special was his ability to laughat himself and guffaw at his own resort to hocus-pocus. “Butpeople come with such high expectations and you don't want themto leave crestfallen.” She also points out how well-read Daruwalawas. “Unlike other astrologers, he could bring in Shakespeare orTagore into his conversation and find a way of linking it all toastrology and the planets.”

Manuel agrees there wouldn't be one dull moment around Daruwala,who he remembers as “the bawdy Parsi astrologer, who wrote our dailyhoroscopes in the city tabloid I worked for.” But this was before he bec -a me quite the sought-after sensation for predicting the Indira Gandhi'sassassination and the Bhopal gas tragedy. He was 5 feet tall andweighed 200 pounds. “He would not lose any opportunity to talk abouthis days as Ahmedabad’s 100-metre sprint champion and of when heplayed cricket and hockey for the varsity,” he says, adding, “Of course,there was nothing athletic about Bejan. But his girth matched his mirth.”

The last time Manuel met Daruwala, the astrologer was wheelchair-bound and needed an attendant to help him. “I asked him quietly aboutdeath. And whether he knew when his time would come. Bejan rudelydismissed me. With the choicest bad words. Then when I was leaving,he solemnly handed me a sealed envelope. I asked him what it was.“Your forecast for next year,” he said ominously, “just in case we nevermeet again.” So, Bejan Daruwala knew after all!

Govt gets notice, toreply by next week

OUR BUREAU / New Delhi

The Supreme Court has issuednotice to the Centre for reply bynext week on a petition by a doc-tor questioning the health min-istry move ending the 14-daymandatory quarantine of thefrontline COVID-19 healthcareworkers through an advisory formanaging healthcare profession-als working in COVID and non-COVID areas of the hospitals.

A bench of Justices AshokBhushan, SK Kaul and MR Shahon Thursday took on record theaffidavit of Dr Arushi Jain in herpending petition and sought re-ply from Solicitor GeneralTushar Mehta, appearing for theCentre. It also allowed applica-tion for permission to file addi-tional documents.

The affidavit, filed through ad-

vocate Mithu Jain and ArjunSyal, said the May 15 advisoryissued by by the DirectorateGeneral of Health Services,Union Ministry of Health andFamily Welfare, prescribes thestandard operating procedure(SOP), including and quaran-tine and accommodation facili-ty, only to the healthcare work-ers “only in case of high expo-

sure to COVID-19 patients and incase of the healthcare workersshowing symptoms of COVID-19,” and not to quarantine otherhealthcare workers.

It said several doctor associa-tions have already written to theministry, opposing this advisoryas “the obligation of hospitals/concerned government to pro-vide quarantine facility/ accom-

modation to other healthcarepersonnel has been dispensedwith, and the healthcare work-ers have been now deprived ofthe same quarantine facilitiesgiven to others on the basis ofsome irrati o nal mechanism,who are equally fighting a tire-less war to save the spread ofvirus,” the affidavit said.

On the basis of the Centre’s ad-visory, the affidavit said the Kar-nataka government on May 16 is-sued a circular that the health-care workers who are asympto-matic need not be institutionallyquarantined as they are advisedto merely monitor their tempera-ture and absence of symptomseach da before starting their du-ties in hospital.”

On May 15, the top court hadasked the Centre on Dr Jain’s pe-tition to apprise it of steps takento quarantine doctors and med-ical staff engaged in fight againstcoronavirus in accommodationsnear the hospitals itself.

SC RAISES QUESTIONSENDING OF 14-DAY MANDATORY QUARANTINE OF HEALTH WORKERS

Cong attacks Centrefor SG’s ‘prophets ofdoom’ remark in SC

OUR BUREAU / New Delhi

A day after Solicitor General (SG)Tushar Mehta told the SupremeCourt there were a handful of peo-ple — “prophets of doom” — whowere always sceptical about every-thing, the Congress on Friday ques-tioned the apex court’s silence andalleged the government was auto-cratic in its functioning.

Randeep Surjewala, Congresschief spokesperson, said, “ModiGovt’s ‘New Definitions’ in SC —First, ‘Some High Courts are run-ning a parallel Govt’; second, thosecriticising the govt are ‘prophets ofdoom’ and third, cites instance of ajournalist as ‘vulture’.” “A preludeto complete ‘Autocracy & Abdicationof Constitution’!” Surjewala tweet-ed.

The Congress leader also ques-tioned the transfer of the bench inthe Gujarat High Court. “No wonderthe High Court Bench holding Gu-jarat Govt accountable for abdica-tion of duty & turning the hospitalinto a ‘dungeon’ is suddenlychanged. Can there be a greater‘travesty of justice’?” Surjewalasaid. “Why is SC silent on such ranksubversion of justice?” he asked.

Kapil Sibal also lashed out at theSG and tweeted, “Sad but true. Alaw officer in the Supreme Courtdealing with the plight of mi-grants epitomised by the images inthe public domain said: Journal-ists are vultures and High Courtsare running parallel governments.This is politics not law!”

AGENCIES / Ahmedabad

The Chief Justice of Gujarat HighCourt on Thursday assigned a suo motuPIL and other related pleas about thecoronavirus outbreak in the state to anew bench. The earlier bench hadpassed some strong observations aboutthe state government’s handling of thecrisis and especially the conditions atthe Ahmedabad Civil Hospital.

Now the cases will be heard by ChiefJustice Vikram Nath and Justice JBPardiwala, said a notification by the HCRegistrar. Justice Pardiwala was part ofthe earlier bench too. Chief JusticeNath also formed another divisionbench, comprising Justices RM Chhayaand Ilesh Vora, to hear urgent mattersthrough video conference. As per thenew roster, Nath and Pardiwala’s benchwill hear coronavirus-related petitionsthrough video conference.

The PIL about cooronavirus, initiatedby the HC on its own (suo motu) and oth-er similar plea were first assigned to thebench of Ch ief Justice Nath and JusticeAJ Shastri. Then, in the beginning ofMay, Nath created a new division benchof Justices Pardiwala and Vora. This

bench conducted hearings and passedscathing remarks about the way thestate govt was handling the pandemic.

In its order on Saturday the bench hadsaid the condition of Ahmedabad CivilHospital was “pathetic, distressing andpainful,” and it was “as good as dun-geon”. It was the responsibility ofhealth minister Nitin Patel and seniorhealth department officials to deal withthe situation, the bench headed by Jus-tice Pardiwala had remarked. The num-ber of coronavirus cases in Gujarat in-creased to 15,944 on Friday while thedeath toll reached 980.

NEW DELHI: The government may considerdirect cash transfers to the poor and migrantlabourers if the current crisis deepens and asituation evolves where this exerciseemerges as the best solution, a top FinanceMinistry source said on Friday.

With no work in the cities due to the lock-down, millions of migrants have taken to theroad and other means to return to theirhomes. This section of society has been ad-versely hit by the Covid-19 pandemic as theirsources of income have completely dried up.

The source also said the Finance Ministryhas asked the Labour Ministry to collect dataon job losses and pay cuts in the aftermath ofthe Covid-19 outbreak in the country.

About monetising the fiscal deficit by print-ing more money, the official said the issuewould be looked at “when we reach thatstage”, asserting that it has not come to thatstage yet. On restrictions put on Chinese in-vestments in India, the official clarified nodecision has yet been taken to restrict Chinathrough the foreign portfolio investment(FPI) route. With regard to the govt’s Rs20lakh crore economic package, the source de-fended its structure, suggesting comparisonswith the economic packages of other coun-tries should not be drawn as India’s need wasdifferent from others. “We have gone withmore reforms that were needed to givestrength to the economy. This is requiredmore in our country,” it said. —Agencies

Centre mulls cashhandout to workers

New Guj HC Benchto hear virus pleasGives hope to many

stranded migrantsNEW DELHI/LEH: Amidheartrending stories of mig -rants longing to return ho -me, the Jharkhand govern-ment on Friday gave a ray ofhope to many such strandedworkers by facilitating re-turn of 60 of its natives, stu -ck in the snow-clad frin gesof the mountains inLadakh, by air, in a first-of-its-kind initiative by a state.

After two months of anxi-ety and uncertainty, thegroup of 60, involved in aBorder Roads Organisationproject in Ladakh, took acommercial flight, whichlanded in the afternoon inDelhi, from where theyboarded another plane to goback to their home state.

While many stories of em-ployers and organisationssponsoring the return ofworkers have emerged afterthe resumption of domestic

passenger flights on Mon-day, this is perhaps the firsttime a state government hasfacilitated the return of somany migrant labourers viacommercial flights.

After the first leg of thejourney, Saul Tudu, alabou rer, said he alwaysthought there were roadsin the clo uds on whichplane runs. “It was my firsttime on a plane (Leh to Del-hi) and I think my flight toRanchi would be the lastexperience, as I can neverafford this,” he told PTIfrom Delhi airport.

The workers from Jhark-hand’s Dumka district werestuck in Gorgodoh village ofBatalik in Kargil district.

First CM ofC’garh, AjitJogi, dies

J’khand flies back 60natives from Ladakh

RAIPUR: Ajit Jogi, an IAS of-ficer-turned-politician whobecame the first CM of Chhat-tisgarh in 2000, died on Fridayat a city hospital where he wasbeing treated for the last 20days, doctors said.

Jogi (74), who had slipped

into coma, suffered a cardiacarrest in the afternoon andcould not be revived. He is sur-vived by wife Renu Jogi, theMLA from Kota constituency,and son Amit, a former MLA.

CM Bhupesh Baghel de-clared a 3-day mourning in the

state. Jogi’s last rites will takeplace on Saturday at Gaurela.He was admitted at ShreeNarayana Hospital on May 9after he suffered respiratoryand cardiac arrest after a seedof sweet tamarind got stuck inhis windpipe. —Agencies

Now, the cases will be heard by ChiefJustice Vikram Nath and Justice JB

Pardiwala. Justice Pardiwala was partof the earlier bench too.

UP MIGRANT’S BODY FOUND IN SHRAMIK TRAIN TOILETJHANSI/ NEW DELHI: A 45-year-old migrant labourerwas found dead in a toilet of a 'Shramik Special' trainwhen it was being cleaned by workers at UP’s Jhansistation, four days after he boarded it for Gorakhpur,officials said on Friday. The body was found when thetrain was opened for maintenance and sanitisation onMay 27 and he had boarded it on May 23, they said.The Jhansi-Gorakhpur train left on May 23 and reachedGorakhpur on May 24, then, as per protocol, its rakewas sent back to Jhansi for maintenance andsanitisation on May 27, the officials said.

BROTHER OF IED-LADEN CAROWNER NABBED, QUIZZEDSRINAGAR: Brother of active Hizbul Mujahideenmember Hidayatullah Malik, the owner of theexplosives-laden car intercepted in Pulwama, is beingquestioned by the police, J&K Police said on Friday. Ina major breakthrough, police had identified theowner of the explosives-laden car. According to thepolice, Hidayatullah Malik is a resident of Sharatporain Shopian who joined the militant ranks in July2019. “As per the investigations we have found thecar belongs to Hidayatullah Malik. He is an activeHizbul Mujahideen militant who is a resident ofSharatpora Shopian. He had joined militant ranks inJuly last year and is being wanted by the forces,”said a senior police officer.

DRAVIDA THAMBI / Chennai

Tamil Nadu’s COVID-19count went past the 20,000-mark following the highestsingle-day spike of 874 pa-tients on Friday. The state’scount of patients who hadtested positive for novel coro-navirus stood at 20,246.

Incidentally, Chief Minis-ter Edappadi K Palaniswamiat a virtual meeting of dis-trict collectors said the casecount was under control inthe districts but Chennai wasseeing large numbers. He in-dicated the lockdown wouldnot be completely lifted post-May 31 and asked the collec-

tors to consult the chief sec-retary before making an-nouncements about any re-laxation in the prevailingconditions.

The health departmentrecorded the death of 9 pa-tients, 3 less than Thursday’sfigures. The overall death tollrose to 154. Chennai too wit-nessed its largest single-dayspike with 618 persons test-ing positive. More than 30prisoners at the Puzhal Cen-tral Prison in Chennai, thelargest jail in the state, hadtested positive for the pan-demic. Till date 11,313 per-sons have been discharged inthe state post-treatment.

K’taka sees highest single-dayjump; tally 2,781; death toll 48

SHANKAR RAJ / Bengaluru

Karnataka recorded the highest single-day rise inCovid-19 cases on Friday with the addition of248 patients. Only once had the state crossedthe 200 figure – on May 23 with 216 cases.

The state also reported the death of a 50-year-old Covid patient bringing the death toll in thestate to 48. Raichur saw the maximum Covidcases at 62, followed by Kalaburagi 61 andYadgir 60. Bengaluru city remains the worst-affected district in the state with 303 cases,followed by Mandya 257.

Kalaburagi is the third-worst-hit district in thestate with 251 cases, while Yadgir has 223cases. Maharashtra returnees form bulk of newcases. Among the 248 new cases on Friday 208were patients with travel history to Maharashtra.In fact, almost half of Karnataka’s Covid patientsare those who returned from neighbouringMaharashtra, said the department.

OUR BUREAU / New Delhi

The Reconciliation, Return and Re-habilitation of Migrants, a Delhi-based NGO of the Kashmiri Pan-dits, on Friday urged the Centre tostop the delimitation process beingstarted in Jammu and Kashmir toredraw the Assembly constituen-cies, asserting that it would keepthe Pandits out of theprocess since the 2011Census is being usedfor the purpose.

“It is becoming in-creasingly clear thatthe Government of In-dia is not interested inrehabilitating the persecuted andthe expelled community of Kash-miri Pandits in Kashmir as prom-ised on the floor of  Parliament,”said its chairman Satish Mahaldar.

By going ahead this way, it seemsthe BJP is trying to appease thoseelements in the valley, which havecaused the persecution of the mi-norities and have soft corner for

the separatist agenda, he affirmed.In an email statement, he con-

demned the whole delimitation asa “fraudulent exercise” in whichthe rights of people are not protec -ted. He asked how can the delimi-tation be fair when over two lakhKashmiri Pandit migrants are notenrolled in the electoral roll ofKashmir, nor are they registered

with the Migrantsand Relief Depart-ment. He asserted thenam es of the Kash-miri Pandits have be -en deliberatelyerased from electoralrecords in the pres-

ent Parliamentary Constituenciesin Kashmir.

The NGO said the delimitationshould start only after completingthe domicile process of the Kash-miri Pandits to give right figure oftheir population and they are en-rolled in the respective parliamen-tary constituencies as specified intheir domicile certificates.

NO DELIMITATION:KASHMIRI PANDITS

With largest single day spike,TN COVID count crosses 20K

LAW KUMAR MISHRA / Patna

Social distancing norms were thrownto the winds outside Rabri Devi’s offi-cial 10 Circular Road bungalow as thepolice thwarted RJD’s march to Gopal-ganj. Led by ex-CM Rabri Devi, leaderof opposition in Bihar assembly Te-jashwi Yadav and state RJD presidentJagdananad Singh made an abortiveattempt to march to Gopalganj.

Heavy security bandobasts by BiharMilitary Police and Rapid Action Forcewere made and barricades were putoutside the bungalow to prevent theRJD leaders to leave for Gopalganj. Theparty was planning a march to Gopal-ganj to press for their demand for ar-rest of JDU MLA Amrendra Pandey.

They alleged Pandey was behind themurder of three members of the fami-ly of RJD leader JP Yadav. Senior offi-cers of administration and police offi-cers persuade Tejashwi to keep awayfrom the march in view of restrictionsdue to the lockdown.

Tejashwi’s supporters, including par-ty leaders S Abdul Bari Sidiqqui, AlokMehta, reached the bungalow and triedto remove the barricades.

Social distancing violated bypolice, RJD leaders in Bihar

OUR BUREAU / New Delhi

The Supreme Court willhear on Tuesday a plea

seeking the dropping of theword “India” from the Consti-tution and replacing it witheither “Bharat” or “Hindus-tan” “to instil a sense of pridein our own nationality”. Suchan amendment will “ensurethat citizens get over theircolonial past,” the petitionerhas reasoned. “The removalof the English name, thoughit may seem symbolic, will in-stil a sense of pride in ourown nationality, especially inthe case of future genera-tions,’’ the petition claims.Referring to the 1948 Con-stituent Assembly debate onArticle 1 of the then draft, theplea said even at that timethere was a strong sentimentin favour of naming the coun-try as ‘Bharat’ or ‘Hindustan’.It said: “However, now thetime is ripe to recognise thecountry by its original and

authentic name, i.e. Bharat,especially since our citieshave been renamed to identi-fy with the Indian ethos.”

It was PV Kamath, who hadbrought the first amendmentto the Constitution, seekingto replace the word India withBharat. This is not the firstplea of its kind. In April 2015,a PIL was filed making a sim-ilar demand. It was filed byNiranjan Bhatwal, a socialactivist from Maharashtra.Then CJI HL Dattu had is-sued a notice to the Govern-ment but another Bench ofChief Justice TS Thakur andJustice U Lalit, in March 2016,dismissed Bhatwal’s plea,snubbing him, stating the PILis for poor people and “do youthink we have nothing else todo.’’ It held such pleas shouldnot be entertained at all.“Bharat or India? You want tocall it Bharat, go right ahead.Someone wants to call it In-dia, let him call it India,” thecourt had then said.

TAIL PIECE

Why India, Why not Bharat?

SNIPPETS

NEW DELHI: Doordarshan News has shifted its operations from Mandi House toits studio in Khelgaon after a video journalist employed with it tested positive forcoronavirus following his death, officials said on Friday. According to his family,the 53-year-old video journalist had last gone to work on May 21 and after hereturned home, he started feeling uneasy and took leave. According to his elder

brother, he did not have symptoms but had ''mild breathing difficulty''. On May25, when he felt unwell, he consulted his family doctor who advised himagainst getting tested for coronavirus and asked him to undergo some bloodtests. "His blood test reports were normal. But on May 27, he collapsed and dieden route to the hospital. He tested positive for the virus later," his brother said.

DD News shifts operations to Khelgaon after employee dies of CovidLOCKDOWNTHE FREEPRESSJOURNAL

MUMBAI | SATURDAY | MAY 30, 2020

6Chaos and jams at Delhi entry points

SWAPNIL MISHRA / Mumbai

In view of the rising number ofdeaths reported on the Shramikspecial trains, the IndianRailways on Friday appealed tocitizens above 65 years of age,pregnant women or childrenbelow 10 years of age, andcitizens with co-morbidities(diabetes, hypertension, etc)not to travel on these trains.This comes after the deathsof at least nine passengerson May 27 on these trains.“It has been observed thatsome people who are availingthis service have pre-existingmedical conditions, whichaggravate the risk they faceduring the Covid-19 pandemic.A few cases of deaths related topre-existing medical conditionshave happened while

travelling," said the ministry ofrailways in a release.“In order to protect vulnerablepersons from Covid-19,Ministry of Railways makes anappeal that persons with co-morbidities (for example -hypertension, diabetes,cardiovascular diseases, cancer,immune deficiency conditions),pregnant women, childrenbelow the age of 10 years andpersons above 65 years of agemay avoid travel by rail, exceptwhen it is essential,” it added.

“The safety of our passengersis our biggest concern. In caseof any distress or emergencyplease do not hesitate to reachout to your railway parivaarand we will help you asalways (Helpline number - 139& 138),” said Shivaji Sutar,chief public relations officer(CPRO), Central Railway.Ravinder Bhakar, CPRO,Western Railway, said, “Weare also appealing topassengers to travel only inan emergency.”

Delhi records 398 deathsNEW DELHI: Delhi's COVID-19death toll has mounted to 398with 82 fatalities that took placein the last one month beingreported on Friday, as the city'stotal tally jumped to over17,000, authorities said. DeputyCM Manish Sisodia and HeathMinister Satyendar Jain in avirtual joint press conference alsoannounced that 13 of the 82deaths occurred on May 27.

HC SUSPENDS FUNCTIONINGThe Delhi High Court hasextended the suspension of itsfunctioning, along with that of itssubordinate courts, till June 14.

AGENCIES / New Delhi

The tightening of traffic restric-tions put in place to contain thespread of the coronavirus byGurgaon and Ghaziabad admin-istrations on their borders withDelhi led to chaos and traffic con-gestion on Friday.This comes a day after the

Haryana govt issued fresh ordersto seal the inter-state border tocontain the spread of the coron-avirus. Earlier this week, theGhaziabad district administrationtoo made the inter-city movementstricter after it reported a spike incoronavirus cases.Although Ghaziabad, Nodia,

Gurgaon fall under different

states, a large number of peoplestay in these two cities, but workin Delhi or vice versa."There was a massive chaos

this morning with traffic jamsas the police were not allowingpeople to cross the border fromeither sides," Ruchir Sharma,who stays in Uttam Nagar inwest Delhi but works with a di-agnostics laboratory in Gur-gaon, said."The new directive (of tighten-

ing the restrictions) came latenight, so no one had clarity andinstructions were not issued tothe police. To get to the check postafter clearing the whole queuewas a long wait so I decided tocome back," Sharma added.

Satellite cities seal borders with the capital

Seniors, pregnant women, kids mustavoid travel on Shramik trains: Rlys

NEW DELHI: India's COVID-19 death toll rose to 4706on Friday, with 175 more succumbing to the disease inthe last one day, while the Health Ministry said morethan 70% of these deaths were due to co-morbiditieslike hypertension, diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases,cancer, and immune deficiency conditions. –Our Bureau

Over 70% deaths due to old diseases

JMB man held in WBKOLKATA: A Jamaat Ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh(JMB)terrorist has been arrested onFriday morning from a hideoutin Suti in Murshidabad districtby the Special Task Force (STF) ofKolkata Police along with thelocal Jangipur district Police. Theaccused Abdul Karim or BoroKarim was wanted in connectionwith a warrant issued way backon 29th November 2017.

WB min tests +veKOLKATA: As the West Bengalgovernment is grappling with therapid spike in COVID-19 cases,344 new cases recorded as ofMay 28. Fire and EmergencyServices Minister Sujit Bose testedpositive for the coronavirus onThursday. The Minister's wife andservant too have tested positive.However, since Bose has shownno symptoms as yet, he has beenkept in home quarantine for now.The wife and servant too areasymptomatic as of now.

WB offices to reopenKOLKATA: West Bengal CMMamata Banerjee on Fridayannounced that all govt, privateand public sector companies towork with 100% workforce fromJune 8. Schools, however, willremain closed for the wholemonth of June. Mamata has alsoannounced that places ofworship will reopen from June 1.Only 10 people will be allowedat a time and no big events oran assembly can take place.”said Mamata. –Prema Rajaram

Monkey ’loots’ samplesLUCKNOW: In a bizarre incidentin Uttar Pradesh' Meerut city, amonkey attacked a labtechnician, snatched vialscontaining blood samples fromthree coronavirus patients fromwithin the hospital premises andescaped. In a video, the monkeycan be seen sitting atop a treein the hospital, chewing surgicalgloves he stole along with thesamples. –Our correspondent

S’pore court dumpsSingh bros’ pleaNEW DELHI: The Court ofAppeal of Singapore onThursday dismissed the appealfiled by former Ranbaxypromoters Malvinder andShivinder Singh (Singh brothers)against the Singapore HighCourt judgment refusing to setaside a 2016 arbitral award. InDecember 2018, the High Courtof Singapore upheld the Rs3,500 crore arbitralaward passed in2016 against theSingh brothers, infavour of DaiichiSankyo Limited.

OBC quota: DMKmoves SCCHENNAI: The DravidaMunnetra Kazhagam hasapproached the Supreme Courtagainst Centre's failure toimplement 50% reservation forOther Backward Classes in TamilNadu's share of All India Quota

seats (other than in the Centralinstitutions) in undergraduate,PG and Diploma Medical andDental Courses.

AP HC reinstatesSEC’s tenureAMARAVATI (AP): In a blowto the YS Jagan Mohan Reddygovernment, the AndhraPradesh High Court on Fridaystruck down an Ordinancepromulgated on April 10

curtailing the tenureof the State ElectionCommissioner fromfive to three years.

Pvt hosp as coronainstitute: HC seeks reportNEW DELHI: The Delhi HighCourt has asked the AAPgovernment to file a statusreport on a plea challengingits decision to declare a privatehospital as a dedicated COVID-19 hospital allegedly withoutconsidering the impact onresidents in the area.

LOCKDOWNTHE FREEPRESSJOURNAL

MUMBAI | SATURDAY | MAY 30, 2020

“Don’t think of introversion as something that needs tobe cured… Spend your free time the way you like, not

the way you think you’re supposed to.” — Susan Cain

7

US SEES NIGHT OF VIOLENCE, PROTESTSLouisville: 7 shot during protestsover killing of Breonna Taylor

CORONA CURE CORNER

Pharmaceutical company executives said Thursday that one orseveral COVID-19 vaccines could begin rolling out before 2021,but warned the challenges would be “daunting” as it wasestimated that 15 billion doses would be needed to halt thepandemic.Well over 100 labs around the world are scrambling to come upwith a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, including 10 thathave made it to the clinical trial stage.Albert Bourla, head of Pfizer, said that his company believed avaccine could be ready before the end of the year. Pfizer isconducting clinical trials with German firm Biontech on severalpossible vaccines in Europe and the United States.

Vaccine could be ready by October: Pfizer head

Patanjali joins the raceThe Patanjali group, whose flagship unit sells consumer productsand ayurvedic remedies, said it has launched clinical trials onhumans to find a cure for COVID-19 after receiving regulatoryapprovals."We are not talking about an immunity booster. We are talkingabout a cure," said Acharya Balkrishna, managing director ofPatanjali.The clinical trials have begun in Indore and in Jaipur afterPatanjali secured permission last week.

US President Donald Trump isfeeling "absolutely great" aftertaking a two-week dose ofantimalarial drughydroxychloroquine and will takeit again if he thinks he isexposed to the coronavirus, atop White House official hassaid. Hydroxychloroquine sulfatewas first synthesised in 1946and is in a class of medicationshistorically used to treat andprevent malaria.

Prez Trump feels absolutely great after taking HCQ: WH

• Sun Pharma gets DCGI approvalfor clinical trial with Nafamostat inCovid-19 patients• US biotech firm Novavax buysSerum Institute parent's Czech unitfor ₹1,270 crore to make coronavirusvaccine

Demonstrations reignite in HKAGENCIES / Hong Kong

Dozens of people protestedin a mall in Hong Kong onFriday following a vote byChina's ceremonial parlia-ment to approve legislationthat could severely restrictopposition political activityand civil society in the Asianfinancial center.The protesters chanted slo-

gans in the main atrium ofthe mall in the high-end Cen-tral district, some drapingbanners over the balconieswith slogans such as "Inde-pendence for Hong Kong."Police waited in vans parkedprominently outside the mallbut did not attempt to breakup the gathering. Hundredsof people have been arrestedduring recent demonstra-

tions that seek to revive themomentum of protests thatshut down large parts of thecity during the second half oflast year.China's National People's

Congress on Thursday votedto approve the bill that willnow be sent to its standingcommittee for final approval.Details of the final version

of the law aren't known, butChina says it will prohibitseparatist activities and ac-tions that might threaten theCommunist Party's monop-oly on political power inmainland China.

Beijing and its supportersin Hong Kong are defendingthe legislative move againstcriticism from foreign coun-tries, including the U.S.,which has threatened to re-voke special trade privilegesgranted to the former Britishcolony when it was handedover to China in 1997 under a"one country, two systems"framework in which it wasguaranteed its own political,legal, social and legal institu-tions for 50 years.In Beijing, foreign ministry

spokesperson Zhao Lijiansaid China would not toler-

ate any interference in whatit considers a strictly inter-nal matter.Meanwhile, The UK gov-

ernment has said that it isopen to extending the visarights of British NationalOverseas (BNO) passportholders in Hong Kong to offerthem a path to the country'scitizenship unless China"steps back" from a new se-curity law in the formerBritish territory.An estimated 300,000 BNO

passport holders in HongKong currently have theright to visit the UK for up tosix months without a visa.These passports were issuedby the UK to people in the re-gion before the transfer ofHong Kong to Chinese sover-eignty in 1997.

The protesters chanted slogans in the main atriumof the mall in the high-end Central district, somedraping banners over the balconies with slogans

such as "Independence for Hong Kong"

Now, groups of 6can meet in UK

ADITI KHANNALondon

British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson has an-nounced that groups of up tosix people will be able tomeet outdoors in Englandfrom next Monday, providedstrict social distancingguidelines are followed, aspart of steps towards easingthe country's coronaviruslockdown.The devolved administra-

tion of Scotland has beguneasing its lockdown fromFriday, which allows peoplefrom two households to meetoutside so long as they keepat least two metres apart.The changes come in over

two months after the UKwent into lockdown to con-trol the spread of the deadlyvirus on March 23 and hasresulted in a death toll ofover 37,800.Downing Street said the

changes are part of a "care-fully-designed package" toease the burden of lockdownin a way that is expected tokeep the R rate - or rate of in-fection - down."We know that transmis-

sion of the virus is far loweroutdoors, so we can confi-dently allow more interac-tion outside," said Johnson."I want to reaffirm that

fundamental commitment to

the British people that all thesteps we have taken, and willtake, are conditional. Theyare conditional on all thedata, and all the scientific ad-vice, and it is that scientificadvice which will help us tojudge what we are doing issafe," he said.He stressed that the gov-

ernment will be monitoringhow the new changes areworking, and look at the Rrate and the number of newinfections before taking anyfurther steps to avert therisk of a second peak of thevirus.As part of measures to re-

open the economy, a series ofmeasures will be put in placefrom next Monday in threecore areas - schools, retail,and social contact.

Primary schools,nurseries and otherearly year schoolsettings will be

reopened from June 1and from June 15,

secondary schools andcolleges will begin toprovide some face-to-face contact time tohelp students preparefor exams next year

• S Africa has backlog of nearly 100,000 tests

• Thailand relaxes coronavirus restrictions

• B’desh to resume domestic flights on June 1

• Indonesians return to mosques

• Two Radio Pakistan staffers die of COVID-19

• Coronavirus cases in Pak cross 64,000-mark

• France reports 3,000 single-day cases

DEATHS

363,007+

5,950,863+CASES

2 lions maulzookeeper inAustralia

AGENCIESSydney

Two lions mauled and criti-cally injured a zookeeper in-side their enclosure Fridayat a closed Australian zoo.Emergency services were

called to Shoalhaven Zoonorth of Sydney on Fridaymorning where a 35-year-oldwoman suffered serioushead and neck injuries, po-lice and ambulance state-ments said. She was airliftedto a Sydney hospital and re-mained in critical condition.The zoo is closed to the

public because of coron-avirus pandemic.Ambulance officer Faye

Stockman described the at-tack as "absolutely harrow-ing," adding it was frighten-ing to be the first to walkinto the enclosure to treatthe zookeeper."This is one of the worst

jobs I have ever experi-enced," Stockman said in astatement.Police Detective Superin-

tendent Greg Moore said thetwo male lions were securedshortly after and posed nofurther threat.He said it was too early in

the investigation to saywhether the lions would bekilled.Another zookeeper suf-

fered a hand injury at thesame zoo in 2014 when acrocodile dragged himinto water during a feed-ing show.

AGENCIESRio De Janeiro

For Joao Blank and EricaBlank's first kiss as husbandand wife, they didn't locklips. The couple could onlypress their face masks to-gether while sitting in theback of a hatchback, wherethey had just been wed.A Brazilian notary public

hovering outside the carpresided over Thursday'sceremony.The drive-thru marriage

perhaps wasn't the romanticvision the Blanks had imag-ined, but it is one of few pos-sibilities in the era of thenew coronavirus.People have begun turning

to this unconventional unionat a notary in Santa Cruz, aneighborhood on the west-

ern outskirts of Rio deJaneiro, since the COVID-19disease caused by the virusstarted battering Brazil. OnThursday alone, 15 coupleswere married at its drive-thru."We're very happy because

we didn't think we weddingdate would come so soon,"

said Erica Blank, 24, whoworks in a pet shop."We found out a week ago

that we would get marriedand it was so good!" Rio deJaneiro state is Brazil's sec-ond hardest-hit state by thepandemic, with nearly 45,000people infected, according tothe official tally.

Cars instead of altars: ‘I Do’ at Drive-thru in Brazil

AGENCIES / Louisville

At least seven people were shotin Louisville as protesters turnedout to demand justice for Breon-na Taylor, a black woman fatallyshot by police in her home inMarch.Louisville Metro Police con-

firmed in a statement early Fri-day that there were at least sevenshooting victims, at least one ofwhom is in critical condition.The statement said there were"some arrests," but police didn'tprovide a number."No officers discharged their

service weapons," policespokesman Sgt. Lamont Wash-ington wrote in an email to TheAssociated Press. Washingtonsaid that all seven were civilians.Around 500 to 600 demonstra-

tors marched through the Ken-tucky city's downtown streets onThursday night, the CourierJournal reported. The protestsstretched for more than sixhours, ending in the early hoursof Friday as rain poured down."Understandably, emotions are

high," Louisville Mayor Greg Fis-cher tweeted just before mid-night, sharing a Facebook postasking for peace that he said waswritten on behalf of Taylor'smother. "As Breonna's mothersays let's be peaceful as we worktoward truth and justice." Taylor,a 26-year-old emergency medicaltech, was shot eight times onMarch 13 after Louisville nar-cotics detectives knocked downthe front door. No drugs werefound in the home.Attention on Taylor's death has

intensified after her family suedthe police department earlierthis month. The case has attract-ed national headlines alongsidethe shooting of Ahmaud Arberyin a Georgia neighborhood inFebruary.Thursday's demonstration

came as protesters across thecountry - from Los Angeles toMemphis, Tennessee, to NewYork to Minneapolis itself - havedemonstrated against the deathof a black man, George Floyd, inMinneapolis police custody.Around 12:20 a.m., Fischer

tweeted a video that he said wasa message from Taylor's family."Louisville, thank you so much

for saying Breonna's nametonight. We are not going to stopuntil we get justice," a womansays in the video. "But we shouldstop tonight before people gethurt. Please go home, be safe andbe ready to keep fighting." Mean-

while, live video from downtownLouisville around 12:30 a.m.showed some protesters behindmakeshift wooden barricades,which appeared to be made out ofpicnic tables spray-painted withthe words "You can't kill us all." Asmall fire inside a trash can wasvisible in the middle of thestreet.Police in body armor and face

shields held batons and lined uparound Louisville City Hall.They appeared to fire rubber

bullets and deploy tear gas canis-ters, fogging the air and inducingcoughs among the remainingmembers of the crowd. Protest-ers were shown filming policewith their cellphones.Chants early Friday included

"No justice, no peace" and"Whose streets? Our streets."Looking to defuse tensions in

Louisville over the fatal shootingof a black woman by police whobroke down her door, the victim’smother on Friday called on pro-testers to continue demandingjustice but to do it in “the rightway without hurting each other.”In her statement, Tamika

Palmer said her daughter — anemergency medical technician —devoted her life to others, and the“last thing she’d want right nowis any more violence.”“Please keep saying her

name,” her statement said.“Please keep demanding justiceand accountability, but let’s do itthe right way without hurtingeach other. We can and we willmake some real change here.Now is the time. Let’s make ithappen, but safely.”

Taylor, a 26-year-oldemergency medical tech, wasshot eight times on March 13

after Louisville narcoticsdetectives knocked down thefront door. No drugs were

found in the home. Attentionon Taylor's death has

intensified after her familysued the police departmentearlier this month. The case

has attracted nationalheadlines alongside the

shooting of Ahmaud Arbery ina Georgia neighborhood

in February

Indonesian min under fire over sexist remark

AGENCIESJakarta

An Indonesian minister isunder fire after he com-pared coronavirus to re-bellious wives, in remarksaimed at soothing publicfears about easingCOVID-19 restrictionsacross the SoutheastAsian archipelago.Women's groups and so-

cial media users slammedthe apparent joke by secu-rity minister MohammadMahfud MD, who made thecomments during an on-line address to a local uni-versity earlier this week."Are we going to be holed

up forever? We can adjustto the situation while stillpaying attention to our

health," the minister saidon Tuesday."The other day I got a

meme from my colleague...that says: Corona is likeyour wife. Initially you tryto control it, then you re-alise that you can't. Thenyou learn to live with it."Critics panned the re-

marks as sexist and said itunderscored Jakarta'sweak response to the virusoutbreak."This statement not only

reflects the superficial pow-er of the government tosolve the Covid-19 pandem-ic problem, but also showsthe sexist and misogynisticmindset of public officials,"Women's Solidarity groupchief executive Dinda NisaYura said in a statement.

Letters to the editor should be sent to: The Free Press Journal, Free Press House, Free Press Journal Marg, 215 Nariman Point, Mumbai. 400021; Fax: 22874688, e-mail: mail@fpj.co.in; Type letter, leave space, write your views and name. Letters may be edited for clarity and space.

8 EDITTHE FREEPRESSJOURNAL

MUMBAI | SATURDAY | MAY 30, 2020

SINCE 1928

FOUNDER EDITOR: S SADANAND

Kamal Nath, the former Congress Chief Min-ister of Madhya Pradesh, who accused thegovernor, Lalji Tandon, of colluding with the

Centre is probably blissfully unaware of B.R.Ambedkar’s unflattering description of the guber-natorial office as “a rubber stamp, a mere figure-head, having absolutely no power worth the name”.The question then arises: do we need governors atall?It is being asked again in West Bengal where thegovernor, Jagdeep Dhankar, loses no chance to nee-dle Mamata Banerjee, the combative TrinamoolCongress Chief Minister. The COVID-19 pandemic,panic-stricken return to the state of hundreds ofthousands of migrant workers from all over thecountry, and, now, the havoc caused by Cyclone Am-phan enables Mr Dhankar constantly to find faultwith the elected government. There has been aslight pause in the exchange of accusatory lettersbetween them because of the Prime Minister’s briefvisit for an aerial survey of the cyclone damage, butthis can only be the lull before the storm.In the United States, the governor is the electedhead of the state government. In India, the gover-nor is a relic of British times. When ConstituentAssembly members were discussing the Constitu-tion, they could not imagine the state governmentsthat were to replace provincial governments beingwithout a head of state. Even Vallabhbhai Patel,who has posthumously been elevated to be theBharatiya Janata Party’s icon, professed to favour“the British type of constitution with which we arefamiliar”. Since the Government of India Act 1935,which is in all essentials today’s republican Consti-tution, had governors, we continued the tradition. At the same time, and as with the highest office inthe land, that of President of India, we tried to en-sure the British convention of form without sub-stance. Jawaharlal Nehru even said in the Con-stituent Assembly that any precise list of dos anddon’ts would derogate from the President’s dignity,as it would from that of the British monarch. Theanalogy was all wrong. It misread the tempera-ments of the two peoples concerned, and what eachunderstands by convention. It was also historicallyinaccurate. True, “many things which cannot bewritten in a Constitution are done by conventions”,

as Rajendra Prasad rightly noted. But unlike senti-mental Britons, hard-nosed Indian politicians donot respect conventions without punitive force.British sovereigns did not voluntarily surrenderthe authority still vested in them in theory. Theywere forced to do so by revolts and revolutions, de-thronements, exile, imprisonment and even an exe-cution. At university in England in the 1950s, wewere taught that if the Queen strayed from her cer-emonial role, Parliament would cut off the CivilList, her payment from the state. Every Britishmonarch has before him or her the spectre of thedecapitated Charles I. The British held that some of the divine right ofkings percolated through the viceroy to provincialgovernors and even to heads of districts. They but-tressed this fancy by claiming that the Maurya,Gupta and Mughal empires exalted its regionalsatraps, and, indeed, some of them, notably in Luc-know and Hyderabad, became almost independent.Since Independence, a state governor has been ex-pected to be apolitical and to act on the advice of thecabinet. In practice, governors like Ram Lal inAndhra Pradesh, Dharma Vira in Bengal orSikkim’s Homi Taleyarkhan gave short shrift to thefigurehead theory.

The British devised the office of governor in thetwilight of the Raj to ensure that even if theprovinces had elected governments with Indianpremiers in charge, certain essential powers, aswell as control over the Centre, still remained inBritish hands. New Delhi has used this reserve au-thority ever since to keep recalcitrant states on ashort leash. The now forgotten Burgula Ramakr-ishna Rao was the governor of Kerala who in 1959enabled Nehru to dismiss what has often beencalled the world’s first democratically elected Com-munist government.Mr Dhankar may aspire to similar eminence in

Bengal as he comments adversely on just aboutevery aspect of the state government’s perform-ance. He has spoken on the supposed flight of in-dustry from the state, criticised the protests againstthe Citizenship Amendment Act, and complainedabout not being appointed to the governing board ofthe private Christian La Martiniere schools. He de-scribes the Bengal government’s actions to containCOVID-19 as an “abject failure” and panders to theHindutva lobby by criticising what he calls the “ex-plicit and awkward appeasement of the minoritycommunity”. In an unprecedented move, he evenonce called an all-party meeting.It’s difficult to think of a topic he has left out. Heaccuses the Chief Minister of “demagoguery”. Hecomplains of the state’s allegedly low testing ratefor coronavirus and charges Ms Banerjee’s govern-ment of abetting a “PDS scam”. In one letter he saidhe had sought the Centre’s confirmation about thenumber of testing kits Bengal had as well as the dis-tribution of rations under the Union government’scoronavirus relief scheme, provoking an immedi-ate and furious response from the Chief Minister.She argued that an unelected figurehead had noright to a political role. “You appear to have forgot-ten that I am an elected chief minister of a proudIndian state,” she wrote. “You also seem to have for-gotten that you are a nominated governor.”Mr Dhankhar was unfazed. “Your constant re-frain of governor being ‘nominated’ is lamentableand can be ascribed to elementary ignorance of theConstitution,” he wrote back. He also justified hisinterventionist role: “Governor is not expected tobe in sleep mode when the state is facing a chal-lenge.” The point was reiterated on Twitter, “I can-not be fiddling in Raj Bhawan when people arestressed. I cannot turn ‘Nelson’s eye’ to issues beingfaced by the people in this crisis period.” Whatever merit the governor’s argument mighthave, newspapers now seek his views on things thatwere not asked of previous governors. Is he “satis-fied with the state government’s efforts in combat-ing COVID-19 spread”? Will he “request the Centreto release more funds to the state government”?What are his thoughts on “lifting the lockdown”?Mr Dhankar’s televised address on Doordarshanwas dubbed in Bengali. Bengal’s BJP Opposition might be ineffective andimpotent but its BJP-appointed governor is a robustsubstitute. That answers the question with which Istarted. E.M.S. Namboodiripad, early victim of gu-bernatorial manipulation, thought governors couldbe dispensed with. But he was looking at the matterfrom an administrative point of view. As Nam-boodiripad also concluded, “whatever the theory re-garding the governor in the Constitution, the gov-ernor is, in practice, an agent of the Central gov-ernment, or rather of the party which rules theCentre.” No Centre will surrender that asset.

The writer is the author of several books and a regular media columnist.

LOCKDOWNS OR NOT,THE VIRUS MUST GO

India’s strategy in dealing with the deadlyCOVID-19 has been a mixed bag. The total num-ber of cases reported from across the country

has crossed 1.5 lakh, making India the ninth most af-fected country in the world. Yet, considering that In-dia is the second most populous country in theworld and is of mammoth size while some countriesin Europe are at best the size of small and mediumIndian states, the country has not done badly so far.Particularly in terms of casualties this country hashad a record that reminds us that we could havebeen much worse but for the four rounds of lock-downs and other administrative measures. What isalso encouraging is that the percentage of recover-ies among cases is over 40 per cent which compareswell with most countries. Yet, it would be wrong torest on our laurels. The management of the pan-demic leaves a lot to be desired considering thatwhile we are on the threshold of a fifth lockdown,which is an indicator that the lockdowns have beensuccessful in some states but in some others the au-thorities have failed to rein in the numbers. Somewhere along the way, there is lack of ac-countability with the way Maharashtra has beenbreaking records in the numbers afflicted and WestBengal has been cocking a snook at the Centre, de-fying instructions with impunity while failing tostep up substantially its extent of testing. The Mus-lim sect Tablighi Jamaat played a major part in thespread of the pandemic in the initial stage by or-ganising a congregation composed of delegatesfrom many countries in which the norms of eachone maintaining a safe distance from other partici-pants was grossly disregarded. That after the Delhimeeting the Tablighis fanned out within the coun-try, many of them carrying the virus worsened mat-ters. At this stage, while the Tablighi woes have sub-sided and faded from public forums, there are otherreasons why the pandemic is still far from beingcontrolled. In Mumbai, which is a hotbed of coron-avirus cases, the density of population is so highthat there is a huge number of ‘containment’ zoneswhich are continuing to rain misery on the afflict-ed. The Maharashtra government has been of littleheld with the inexperienced Uddhav Thackeray ofthe Shiv Sena holding fort while groping for solu-tions. In the normal course, it was a fit case for theCentre to impose President’s rule but the BJP iswary of acting against an Opposition-ruled stategovernment while not taking parallel action in BJP-ruled Gujarat.Sadly, each lockdown is costing the Centre and thestates crores upon crores but the rate of growth ofnumbers of corona-afflicted is failing to go downmuch in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Naduand even in Madhya Pradesh. The states can hardlygo on imposing more lockdowns groping in the darkon what to do even as Coronavirus continues to ex-tract a heavy toll. It is time the Uddhav Thackeraygovernment is given an ultimatum to pack up if it isunequal to the task of controlling the pandemic.The economy has to be put back on the rails. It can-not wait any longer. If we do not approach the re-covery issue on a war footing, foreign investors whoare looking at re-locating to India from China maydrift to other countries like Vietnam andBangladesh. That would be a lost opportunity thatwe will regret much. There is bound to be an acuteproblem on the migrants issue. Tens of thousandsof migrant labour has been uprooted by the virusand has moved to their homes where there are notenough jobs. While some states are promising themjobs in their home states, there would not be thatmany jobs going around. Government schemes likeMNREGA could absorb some but the Central andState governments have their own limitations giventhe crippling blow that coronavirus has dealt totheir economies. Our productivity is low in variousareas of activity. It is time now for raising this inline with world standards. While India is in the racefor finding a vaccine to cure coronavirus, it wouldbe futile to pin too much hope on an early cure. Whatis sorely needed is to look to manage the present.

Figurehead theory to the role of governors

Thorn on our sideThe Global Times, statemedia of China, hasaccused the US PresidentDonald Trump of driving awedge between China andIndia. Even in the J&Kmatter, the US and someother countries had offeredto mediate. But the offerwas turned down by Indiaas the matter is bilateral. Inthis case also, India’s standcan be no different. What isastonishing is Beijing’sview, as China has alwaysregarded India as its bêtenoire.

K.V. Seetharamaiah

Tone up adminBMC is the richestcorporation in India whosebudget is higher than manystates. Mumbai is thefinancial and commercialcapital of India; with thefinest doctors of the world,it is also called Medicalcapital of India. Its policeforce is best in India and isbeing compared withScotland Yard. Then, howcome this abysmal position;it has not been able tocontrol Corona pandemicaffecting its citizensadversely. Need of the houris to tone up theadministration to performat the best level.

Dr B.L Tekriwal

Serve and learnThe envisaged 'Tour ofduty' plan gives anopportunity to youngstersto understand tough andunconventional lifestyle of'the men in Olive green' byjoining the Army for ashort period of three years.The indicative titlesuggests that thisaugmented manpower willhave its own limitations inemployability owing to thenature of militarymanoeuvre. This plan isbeneficial to the younggeneration who want to addsome adventure to their CV,while the Army hasmultiple advantages —meeting the immediatemanpower requirementwhile applying costeffective measures,utilising these youngsoldiers as mascots tospread a positive note onmilitary way of life andmotivating them to chooseArmy as a career byeliminating common mythsassociated with the Army.Bollywood has played itsrole in pumping 'Josh' inyouth and glamourising the'Uniform'.

Murali M. Mallareddy

The pandemic has brought with it many horror storiesnot the least of which is the way in which the dead arebeing robbed of their dignity, and their family mem-

bers denied the right to perform the last rites in accordancewith customs, traditions and rituals. Poor communicationsand the lack of understanding of a protocol issued way backin March by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (Mo-HFW) is leading authorities and all manner of officialdom tostitch up their own versions of protocols that are based moreon fear than on science and a measured reading of the risk ofthe transmission of the virus from those who have died of thedisease.The government will have to do much more to explain itsown protocol at various levels to make way for a humane ap-proach and offer people help and succor where it is most need-ed. The protocol is an important document that needs morepublicity and discussion. A failure to communicate this isless seen in these difficult times but is most felt by those whohave gone through the agony of seeing someone die of the dis-ease.To be sure, and to make it clear, the body of a person whodied of COVID-19 does not and cannot transmit COVID-19 inordinary circumstances. This is quite unlike in the case of,say, the Ebola virus outbreak, where every pore, every open-ing, every cut in the body discharges the deadly Ebola virusand can infect people handling the body. There is no such riskin the case of COVID-19. The body of a person who died ofCOVID-19 cannot transmit the infection to those who handlethe body. This much is plain and clear.The MoHFW has a seven-page document (COVID-19:GUIDELINES ON DEAD BODY MANAGEMENT) that rightupfront puts up the following clear position: “The main driv-er of transmission of COVID-19 is through droplets. There isunlikely to be an increased risk of COVID infection from adead body to health workers or family members who followstandard precautions while handling the body. Only the lungsof dead COVID patients, if handled during an autopsy, can beinfectious.” The document lists precautions for those remov-

ing the body, for mortuaries and for autopsies but these aremostly standard precautions and they reinforce use of mask,repeated hand washing and safe disposal of linen, etc. Theguidelines in fact say that “viewing of the dead body by un-zipping the face end of the body bag (by the staff using stan-dard precautions) maybe allowed, for the relatives to see thebody for one last time.” WHO guidelines clearly say that there is no need to disinfectthe body before transfer to the mortuary area, body bags arenot necessary (although they may be used for other reasonslike excessive body fluid leakage) and no special transportequipment or vehicle is required. The body can be wrappedin any suitable cloth or placed in a coffin if that is the customof the family. The MoHFW guidelines are dated March 15. Theministry must be complimented for this early issuance. But acase can be made now for a revised version to incorporatesome of the WHO language and also add in experiences of thelast two months in India in handing the disease, along with arobust effort to communicate the guidelines. Orders of vari-ous State governments must be aligned to these Central di-rectives.In sum, for the immediate family in mourning, there are nospecial precautions required to be taken when attending tothe last rites of someone who has fallen to COVID-19 save thefollowing two: 1. The number of people attending the funeral must be re-stricted to that specified by the local administration. Thisnumber should be agreed and implemented on a nation-widebasis. It is quite obvious that this restriction is to protectthose attending the funeral, to enable the maintenance ofphysical distancing so that the mourners in attendance donot spread the virus to each other. Therefore, the number re-striction is for persons gathering at a time, not a blanket re-striction for the same persons who were present at the begin-ning of any ceremony. Some of the mourners could be closerelatives who would have had exposure to the virus and theythemselves may be under quarantine and therefore should re-consider attending the funeral at all or wear face mask and re-frain from touching any surface. 2. Kissing or hugging the body is disallowed to prevent therisk of infection from any residual virus on skin surface.It is important to stress that death with COVID-19 comes af-ter unimaginable suffering, often in isolation. This can lastmore than a fortnight, after the initial days of suffering athome, as the patient steadily deteriorates. The last days of

those suffering from COVID-19 offer no opportunity for com-fort, personalised care or the loving touch of those near anddear. Fighting the disease by themselves in hospital, even ifthey are well attended, is itself lonely because of the suddenchange of surroundings and the sudden removal of lovedones from their lives. To add to that they may never see eachother again, the pain and trauma caused by this separationcan only be imagined. In the thick of a pandemic, with bedsfilling up, there is little scope for the health system to createconditions to allow loved ones to see the patients. Worse, theloved ones themselves are often under quarantine and will beconcerned about being infected by the virus. Social serviceagencies are not allowed into COVID wards in many cases.The practice of trained grief counsellors and support staffthat can help the patient navigate through this sudden andfrightening change is also almost non-existent in the Indianhealth system.In these circumstances, a high order of patience, compas-sion and care is required even as a person heads towarddeath. As we exit the lockdown and as hospitals settle in tohandle COVID with a greater sense of understanding andsome experience of the last one month, they must make spaceto allow at least one relative at a time, with full protectiongear to visit their loved ones and to comfort them. This canalso relieve some of the burden of hospital teams and nurs-ing staff. The call will have to be careful, taking into consid-eration that virus transmission is by droplets and via fomites,and only after the hospital is able to put in place a system ofchecks and controls so that risk of infection spreading is min-imised.We must in any case work as a nation to stop the horror im-ages of bodies in black plastic bags, tied with rope, beingswung into burial pits as if they are the most hazardous kindof waste and a prime source of infection. To repeat, this is notappropriate or acceptable, and there is no reason to fear in-fection form those who died of COVID-19 beyond taking theregular, normal and sensible precautions that are already inforce. At the most, special PPE such as face mask, apron,gloves — may be called for. Beyond that, the relatives cangrieve, perform rituals, say prayers and bid goodbye in peace.

Jagdish Rattanani is a journalist and faculty member at SPJIMR. Dr. TJacob John is retired Professor of Clinical Virology, CMC Vellore, and

past President of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics.Syndicate: The Billion Press

PANDEMIC MUST NOT ROB THE DEAD OF DIGNITY

Global VillageSunanda K. Datta-Ray

LETTERSTO THEEDITOR

The understanding of convention by the British monarch is poles apart to that of the Indian President

New Zealand only has one active case in the country. No new cases for seven days. No hospital cases. An early hard lockdown, commitmentto testing, resistance to herd immunity, and clear humane health messaging seems to work. Who would have thought it?

Matt Haig, Writer

Thing about a crisis like this pandemic, it is genuinely not a question of partisan politics - the crisis is either handled well or it’s not. A countrylike New Zealand has handled it well. We, with the highest death rates IN THE WORLD, have not. That’s just a fact.

Stephen Mangan

New Zealand had a lot going for it naturally in the fight against the coronavirus, like a relatively low population density and compliantcitizens. But one of its secret weapons is a leader who communicates well and whom the public trusts.

Anna Medaris Miller, Senior health reporter

Inverclyde has recorded five times more fatalities than New Zealand and its death rate is double the national average in Scotland - this is anational scandal and demands serious answers from the Scottish Government.

Jamie Green, Scottish Conservative MSP for West Scotland

SATURDAY’S SWIPEONE FLEW OVER THE NEST #newzealand

OpinionJagdish Rattanani & T Jacob John

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: The only way to make sense out of changeis to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.

— Alan Watts

TAILPIECE

103-year-old celebrates COVID-19 recovery with ice-cold Bud Light

103-year-old Stejna recently beat the novel coronavirus.Upon recovery, the hospital staff gave the COVID-19 sur-vivor an ice-cold Bud Light to celebrate, US Today report-

ed.According to the American daily, Shelley Gunn calls her

Polish grandma as having a 'feisty spirit'. She certainly showedthat spirit in her fight with the deadly infection.A few weeks back, Stejna had a low-grade fever and was

moved to a separate ward and was the first to test positivefor the COVID-19 infection in her nursing home. Stejna didn'treally grasp or understand COVID-19, Gunn said, but didknow she was very ill. After Stejna's condition started deterio-rating, Shelly said they called to say what they thought wastheir final farewell.But Stejna recovered on May 13."This feisty old Polish grandmother of ours officially beat the

coronavirus," Shelly’s husband Adam Gunn was quoted assaying by USA Today.A 'hardcore' Boston sports fan, Stejna has lived all her life in

Massachusetts. Teddy, her husband of 54 years of marriage,died in 1992 at the age of 82. Throughout her life, Stejna wasan avid bingo player and enjoyed reading books.The 103-year-old COVID-19 survivor has two children, three

grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren, the family said.

-ANI

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee with Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar

FPJ - SUDOKU - 3 Level: easy

WHAT TO DO: Fill in the grid sothat every row, every columnand every 3x3 box contains thedigits 1 to 9. Every puzzle hasonly one correct solution.

4117 / © 2020 Amrita Bharati, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan

HANDS ON

SPACE LINGO

Halo: An atmospheric optical phenomenonthat results when the Sun or Moon shinesthrough thin clouds composed of ice crystals.It is caused bythe refractionor refection oflight. Halos arealways at anangle of 22°away from theSun or Moon.

Having a party? Get eyeballs for your dining tablewith Vegetable Craft!

You will need: Radishes, carrots, toothpicksInstructions:1. Take a radish and cut off a portion from both

its ends. That is the body of the aeroplane.

2. Cut the tapering end of another radish andvertically slit the piece into half.

3. Attach the two halves on either side of theplane’s body for wings, using toothpicks.

4. Cut off the tapering end of another radish andmake a slanting cut as shown. Fix this pieceto the end of the plane for its tail wing.

5. Now, take a carrot and cut off its taperingend. Slit the piece vertically into two halves.Attach each half to make the rear end wingson either side. Use the toothpicks to attachthem firmly onto the body of the plane.

6. Attach the head of the carrot to make theplane’s nose, as shown.

7. Cut the rest of the carrot into circular slices,and cut each slice into a semi-circle.

8. Fix the semi-circular carrot pieces onto theplane’s body, as windows.

Your aeroplane is all set to take off!

Veggie Airplane

ARIES: Your health will improve. If youare planning to expand your businessthen you should definitely go ahead asthe time favourable for expansion.

TAURUS: It is likely to be a hectic day .Make sure your focus should be more onwork or else you may commit mistakeswhile handling important tasks.

GEMINI: Your focus and dedicationtowards work will increase. Your co-workers may help you in finishing yourpending projects.

CANCER: In case of disputes, youshould take the first step and try to sortthings out with a concerned person. Donot waste your time in daydreaming.

LEO: Better time, better relationships leadto both greater confidence and self-belief.People at your workplace will appreciateyour hardwork and dedication.

VIRGO: Overseeing deadlines mighttarnish your image for the worst. Avoidprocrastination and concentrate moreon the work.

LIBRA: On the career front, you want toset benchmarks for others but at thesame time you are waiting for a bigopportunity.

SCORPIO: You will continue to strengthenyour professional relationships throughgood communication. You will flourish onthe financial front.

SAGITTARIUS: It’s a lucky day for peoplewho are in the field of electronics. You willmake smart investments which will offerbenefits in the long run.

CAPRICORN: Others will try to blockyour road towards success, but nothingwill stop you and you will keep movingahead.

AQUARIUS: Cut down your expenses. Beopen to opportunities, projects andtechniques that allow you to turn yourimagination into potent income streams.

PISCES: Take care of your personalrelationship. Your decision making mayland you in trouble, so think twice beforetaking a decision in regards to personal life.

GUIDING LIGHTThere is no end in spirituality

— Grand Master Akshar

Different life sys-tems, species andbeings have their

own way of living andexperiencing life. As hu-man beings, we turn toscience for answers tomeasure our world. Sci-ence defines what our re-ality is according to whatwe can see, hear, smell,touch and feel. But evenscience knows that thereare dimensions that liebeyond our senses, andour technology is too farbehind to detect them.But unlike the limits ofscience, spirituality islimitless. There is no beginning,middle or end to spiritu-ality. The world that weknow of has many ends.

Equations between peo-ple change all the time.Friends turn foes, rela-tionships turn sour, mar-riages end, and partner-ships are terminated.There is a definite birth,and death too is certain,while the life in betweenis unpredictable. Tomake life complete, andevolve we need to travelon to the spiritual path.Imagine the journeythen, it will be an endlessone with the inex-haustible energy of spiri-tuality. When you remaininfinitely positive, therewill be no suffering- onlynever-ending positivity. When we turn seekersor followers of the spiri-tual path we will always

find ways to conclude sit-uations harmoniously.Spirituality is immemo-rial. It has withstood thetest of time by stayingrelevant regardless ofthe era, century or theaeon. Time, places andcircumstances cause nonegative impact on spiri-tuality. Everything aboutit has remained just thesame. We all grow andevolve with time. Certainthings may change orend but spirituality doesnot. Spirituality is anever-expanding path witha beginning and no end.It is never-ending, andthose who are on thisroad begin to understandthat the journey is infi-nite.

(Spiritual organisations keen to be featured in this space contact : features@fpj.co.in)

YOUR DAY By Nilikash P. Pradhan

DENNIS THE MENACE

BLONDIE / Dean Young & Mile Gersher

BRINGING UP FATHER / FRANK JONSON

THE FREEPRESSJOURNALMUMBAI | SATURDAY | MAY 30, 2020

ETCETERA9

To lighten your mood during the lockdown, the FreePress Journal brings you the best puns, memes andjokes from the internet.

Why? Because puns are great and very important in aday-to-day lifestyle! Puns indicate intelligence level be-tween the society and they actually aid our well-beingwhich is a top priority while dealing with the deadly coro-navirus.Modern medical studies have proven that puns improveour health and boost immune systems. So, sit back and letthe FPJ ‘Pun’ Corner do its work!

Bollywood movie dialogues in times of coronavirus:Pickup up from where we left yesterday, here are somemore Bollywood movie dialogues in times of coron-avirus!DDLJ - Bade bade shehero main choti moti bimariyahoti rehti hai senòrita!DEVDAS - Kaun kambakth hai jo bardaasht karne keliye peeta hain, Hum toh peete hain taki economy ko uthasakey, lockdown ko bardasht kar sake!Om Shanti Om - Zindagi mei agar COVID ke caseskhatam na ho toh lockdown abhi baki hain mere dost!

Are you in a 1v1 roast session and running out of in-sults for your opponent?Do not worry, because, insults, when coated with hu-mour and wit, lose their sting and make you laugh, enjoyand also apply cold water on the burnt area.

Here are some insults you will like:

What he lacks in intelligence, he makes up in stupidity.

It is not that he has no presence of mind, his trouble isabsence of thought.

He gave a very moving performance, everyone moved tothe nearest exit.

Throwback to the good ol' days:Twitter user @filmgurlthot rightly describes the joys ofthe good old days when cinemas were open. “I miss walk-ing out of a theater after watching a movie and feelinglike i just got back to reality from another dimension.”Let’s be honest, we are still looking for Tony Stark inthis universe.

Laugh out loud in lockdown Fun corner

— Compiled by Husain Rizvi

Disclaimer: These are jokes to lighten your mood in dark times

SAN FRANCISCO: YouTube has started rolling out its video chapters features with the aim of helping its users on desktop, mobile or tablets tofocus on the portions that matter the most to them. The feature will also allow creators to better organise their content. It is expected to beparticularly of great help for long-form videos. With such videos organised by chapters, just like a book, users will be able to skip some portionsthat they may find irrelevant. The video chapters feature was soft launched by YouTube in April, The Verge reported. YouTube users on desktopwould know if the video they are watching has chapters when they hover the mouse over the bar that indicates video progress. –IANS

YouTube rolls out video chapters for desktop, mobile

AGENCIESWashington

Preliminary researchhas found that constantstream of data from

wearable devices such asOura rings, Fitbits and AppleWatches reveal early-warn-ings for coronavirus symp-toms, days before peoplecould even realize that theyhave been infected by thecontagious infection, TheWashington Post reported.That means fitness trackerscould be on their way to be-coming sickness trackers.The initial findings from twoacademic studies into thedata from wearable devices

prove to be a small step in thefight against the coron-avirus, and a giant leap forwearable tech.Since March, a half-dozenstudies have been exploringwhether the constant streamof data that wearables gath-er about human bodies of-fers any clue about who mayhave caught the coronavirus.On Thursday, researchersat Rockefeller NeuroscienceInstitute in West Virginia,the US, reported that Ouraring data, combined with anapp to measure cognitionand other symptoms, canpredict up to three days in ad-vance when people will regis-ter a fever, coughing or short-

ness of breath. It can evenpredict someone’s exact tem-perature, like a weather fore-

cast for the body, the re-searchers said.Professor Ali Rezai, the in-

stitute’s director, was quotedby the Post as saying that thetechnology is valuable be-cause it is tuned to reveal in-fection early on when pa-tients are highly contagiousbut do not know it. He calledthe combination of the smartring and app a kind of “digi-tal PPE,” or personal protec-tive equipment. “It can say,‘This individual needs to stayhome and not come in and in-fect others’,” he said further.In addition to this, re-searchers at Stanford Univer-sity studying changes inheart rate from Fitbits havealso informed that they havebeen able to detect the coron-avirus before or at the time ofdiagnosis in 11 of 14 con-

firmed patients they havestudied. In this initial analy-sis, they could see one pa-tient’s heart rate jump ninedays before the person re-ported symptoms. In othercases, they only saw evidenceof infection in the data whenpatients noticed symptomsthemselves.However, accuracy is thequestion that hangs over de-tecting the coronavirus froma gadget. To detect the coron-avirus, as opposed to justsymptoms, Rezai said theywill need more participantsto train algorithms to pick upon the many, sometimes un-expected ways diverse bodiesrespond to the virus.

–ANI

‘Smart’ enough to spot COVID symptoms Fitness wearables like Fitbits, Apple Watches or Oura rings may provide early warnings for signs of virus, finds a study

AGENCIES / San Francisco

Facebook said on Thursday that itwill now verify the identity of peoplewho have a pattern of inauthentic

behaviour on its platform and whose postsstart to go viral rapidly. In 2018, Facebookhad first started to verify the identity ofpeople managing Pages with large audi-ences. “Now we’re extending ID verifica-tion to some profiles with large audiencesin the US,” the social networking giantsaid in a statement. If someone choosesnot to verify their identity or the ID pro-vided does not match the linked Facebookaccount, the distribution of their viralposts will remain reduced so that fewerpeople see them.“In addition, if the person posting is aPage admin, they will need to completePage Publishing Authorisation and willnot be able to post from their Page untiltheir account is verified through our ex-isting Page Publisher Authorisationprocess,” said Facebook. The companysaid that IDs will be stored securely andwon’t be shared on the person’s profile.“We want people to feel confident thatthey understand who’s behind the contentthey’re seeing on Facebook,” the companyadded. —IANS

AGENCIESLondon

One in 10 Covid-19patients who havediabetes dies with-

in seven days of hospital-isation, a new study hasclaimed. The findings,published in the journal‘Diabetologia’, show thattwo-third (65 per cent) ofCovid-19 patients with di-abetes admitted to hospi-tals are men, and the av-erage age of the patientsis 70 years.According to the re-searchers from France,the presence of diabeticcomplications and in-creasing age raises therisk of death, while in-creased Body Mass Index(BMI) is associated withboth heightened risk ofneeding mechanical ven-tilation and with higherrisk of death.However, worse bloodsugar control doesn’tseem to impact a pa-tient’s outcome.For the results, the re-search team analysed1,317 patients admitted to53 French hospitals be-tween March 10 andMarch 31 this year. Themajority of the hospi-talised subjects had Type2 diabetes (89 per cent)while only 3 per cent hadType 1 diabetes, with oth-er types of diabetes inthe remaining cases.

Microvascular compli-cations (eye, kidney andnerves) were found in 47per cent of the partici-pants in the study, whilemacrovascular complica-tions (arteries of theheart, brain, legs) werepresent in 41 per cent ofthe patients analysed.Across all the patientsin this study, by Day 7 onein five (20.3 per cent) hadbeen intubated and wereplaced on a ventilator inintensive care, and one in10 (10.3 per cent) haddied.The findings showedthat the presence of mi-crovascular or macrovas-cular complications eachmore than doubled therisk of death on the sev-enth day. Advanced agealso substantially in-creased the risk of death,with the group of pa-tients aged 75 years andmore 14 times more like-ly to die than younger pa-tients aged less than 55years, while patients 65-74 years old were threetimes more likely to diethan those under 55years.The study also con-firmed that insulin, andindeed all treatments formodifying blood sugar,are not a risk factor forsevere forms of Covid-19and should be continuedin patients with diabetes.

–IANS

Is coronavirus morelethal for diabetics?

Facebook to verifyusers whose posts

go viral rapidlyAGENCIESWashington

The ALICE collaboration haspresented new results on theproduction rates of anti-

deuterons based on data collected atthe highest collision energy deliveredso far at the Large Hadron Collider.The antideuteron is composed of anantiproton and an antineutron. Thenew measurements are important be-cause the presence of antideuteronsin space is a promising indirect sig-nature of dark matter candidates.The results mark a step forward inthe search for dark matter.Recent astrophysical and cosmolog-ical results point towards dark mat-ter being the dominant form of mat-ter in the universe, accounting for ap-proximately 85 per cent of all matter.The nature of dark matter remains agreat mystery and cracking its se-crets would open a new door forphysics.Detecting antideuterons in spacecould be an indirect signature ofdark matter since they could be pro-duced during the annihilation or de-cay of neutralinos or sneutrinos,which are hypothetical dark matterparticles.

Various experiments are on thehunt for antideuterons in the uni-verse, including the AMS detector onthe International Space Station. In order to assert that the detectedantideuteron is related to the pres-ence of dark matter, the productionand annihilation rates must be wellunderstood.By colliding protons in the LHC,ALICE scientists mimicked anti-deuteron production through cosmicray collisions, and could thus meas-ure the production rate associatedwith this phenomenon. These meas-urements provide a fundamental ba-sis for modelling antideuteron pro-duction processes in space.By comparing the amount of anti-deuterons detected with that of theirmatter counterparts (deuterons,which do not annihilate in the detec-tor), they were able to determine, forthe first time, the annihilation proba-bility of low-energy antideuterons.These measurements will con-tribute to future antideuteron studiesin the Earth's vicinity and help physi-cists to determine whether they aresignatures of the presence of darkmatter particles, or if on the con-trary, they are manifestations ofknown phenomena. –ANI

Fresh antimatter study will help search for dark matter

3005-FPP-FPJ-09_ETC Right 5/29/2020 11:25 PM Page 1

THE FREEPRESSJOURNAL10 MUMBAI | SATURDAY | MAY 30, 2020

e-TENPER NOTICEThe Commissioner of Municipal Corporation ofGreater Mumbai invites e-Tenders for various worksfrom the government registered contractors, who arealso registered as "MCGM Vendor'', Bidder shouldalso give Rs. 1 lack performance guarantee for thedetails of 17 number of Tenders of estimated amountRs. 23733994.70 respective tender documents andprocess of e-Tendering, please visit www.mcgm.gov.in

Sd/-Public Relation Officer

PRO/153/ADV/2020-21MCGM HELPLINE NUMBER 1800221292 from 9 a. m. to 9 p. m. FOR Homeless/Stranded Migrants/Workers for food & Shelters

2

Sd/-Superintending Engineer,

Public Health Engineering Department, (W.S.)Nashik Municipal Corporation, Nashik

1) Nashik Municipal Corporation, Nashik invites bids for Design Providingand Construction of RCC ESR

2) Providing laying & Jointing water distribution pipeline Public HealthEngineering Department, (WS) Nashik Municipal Corporation,Nashik. The detailed tender notice, document would be available onwww.mahatenders.gov.in

Nashik Municipal Corporation,NashikPublic Health Engineering Department (Water Supply)

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CORREGENDUMTENDER NOTICE NO. 1 / 2020-21

As per Tender Notice No. 01/2020-2021 Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation has invited the Tender of works Sr. No. 2 Providing, Erecting Electric Valve Actuators for Pure Pater Sump Valve & CLF Drain Valve at Netivali WTP & Sr. No. 3 Operation & Maintenance of Mohane Head Works & Barave WTP. Due to Covid-19 Pandemic considering technical problem in submitting

500/- stamp paper. The following changes are made.

Sr. No.

WorkSr. No. Published as Read as

1 2 Blank Tender form will be available from Dt. 15/05/2020 to 30/05/2020 upto 5.00 p.m.Tender will be opened on Dt. 01/06/2020 at 11.00 a.m.

Blank Tender form will be available from Dt.15/05/2020 to 08/06/2020 upto 5.00 p.m.Tender will be opened on Dt. 10/06/2020 at 11.00 a.m.

2 3 Blank Tender form will be available from Dt. 15/05/2020 to 30/05/2020 upto5.00 p.m.Tender will be opened on Dt. 01/06/2020 at 11.00 a.m.

Blank Tender form will be available from Dt. 15/05/2020 to 08/06/2020 upto5.00 p.m.Tender will be opened on Dt. 10/06/2020 at 11.00 a.m.

Sd/-Executive Engineer (WS)

Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation,KalyanKDMC/PRO/HQ/64

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ACCORDING TO AIRASIA INDIA CEO

MUMBAI: The pent-up demand for air travel is expected tolast only two-three weeks with airlines' current passengerload factor at around 50%, said AirAsia India Chief Exec-utive Officer Sunil Bhaskaran in a CAPA India webinar onthe aviation sector held. Domestic flight operations commenced this Monday af-

ter remaining suspended for two months due to a nation-wide lockdown, imposed to stem the spread of COVID-19. Currently, people across the country are trying to get to

their destinations as flights had remained cancelled be-tween Mar 25 and May 24 leading to pent-up demand.

The government has also till Aug 24 capped the mini-

mum and maximum air fare that airlines can charge be-tween destinations. For a 40-minute flight, the minimum price cap is 2,000 ru-

pees and for 210-minute flight, the maximum price cap isup to 18,600 rupees. Bhaskaran outlined that AirAsia India is not in favour of

the price caps imposed by the government but highlightedthat since the caps have been set for a short duration ofthree months, the industry should be able to absorb it butbeyond that fares should be driven by market forces.Bhaskaran highlighted that though demand for air travelis seen subdued in the short term, no fundamental risk todemand is seen in the future once situation surroundingthe COVID-19 crisis normalises. AirAsia India is expected to get the required approval for

international operations soon, Bhaskaran said. "Probably luckiest thing which has happened to us that

we did not have international, otherwise the hit to uswould have been much worse...than what it has been to allour competitors who have international," said Bhaskaran,adding that recovery of international air travel is expect-ed to take longer than domestic and that the airline's fleetexpansion is currently on hold.

‘Pent-up demand to last only 2-3 weeks’

GST Council to meet next month; FinMin not for raising rates onThe finance ministry is not in favour of

increasing goods and services tax rates on non-essential items in the next month's meeting ofthe GST Council, despite depressed revenuecollections due to the nationwide lockdown to

contain the spread of COVID-19. If goods andservices tax (GST) rates are increased on non-essential items, sources said it will further bringdown their demand and impede the overalleconomic recovery.

BIZ BUZZSingapore top source of FDI in FY20with investments worth USD 14.67 bnNEW DELHI: Singapore was the top source of foreign directinvestment into India for the second consecutive financialyear, accounting for about 30% of FDI inflows in 2019-20. Inthe past two financial years, FDI from Singapore hassurpassed that from Mauritius. In the last financial year, Indiaattracted $14.67 billion in FDI from Singapore, whereas itwas $8.24 billion from Mauritius, according to the data of theDepartment for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

US consumer spending sinks byrecord 13.6% in face of virus WASHINGTON: US consumer spending plunged by a record-shattering 13.6 per cent in April as the viral pandemicshuttered businesses, forced millions of layoffs and sent theeconomy into a deep recession. Last month's spendingdecline was far worse than the revised 6.9 per cent drop inMarch, which itself had set a record for the steepest one-month fall in records dating to 1959. Friday's CommerceDepartment figures reinforced evidence that the economy isgripped by the worst downturn in decades, with consumersunable or too anxious to spend much.

No decision taken on setting up badbank: FinMin officialNEW DELHI: The finance ministry on Friday said there is nodecision taken on the proposal of setting up of a government-sponsored bad bank to help ease pressure on lenders withregard to non-performing assets (NPAs) which are likely towitness a surge due to the COVID-19 crisis. According to asenior official of the finance ministry, the proposal wasdiscussed during the Financial Stability and DevelopmentCouncil (FSDC) meeting on Thursday.However, no decision hasbeen taken on the issue, the official added.Currently, bankssell their bad loans to asset reconstruction company (ARC) asper the prudent norms of the Reserve Bank of India.

India's housing sector facing itsworst-ever crisis: CREDAI ChairmanNEW DELHI: Already reeling under liquidity concerns, lowdemand and high inventory levels, India's housing sector isfacing its biggest-ever crisis amid the pandemic and thenationwide lockdown, says Jaxay Shah, the Chairman of theConfederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India(CREDAI). Speaking to IANS, Shah said that the sector iscurrently in a "very fragile" state as it has faced severaldisruptions in the past four years, including demonetisation,Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the much celebrated RealEstate (Regulation and Development) Act.

Sebi slaps Rs 20 lakh fine on DHFLfor violating market norms NEW DELHI: Markets regulator Sebi levied a fine of Rs 20lakh on Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) for notcomplying with market norms while issuing non-convertibledebentures (NCDs). The markets watchdog had received areference from Catalyst Trusteeship Ltd, a Sebi-registereddebenture trustee, pertaining to NCDs issued by DHFL..

TCS CFO sees economic downturn asbest time to pick an assetMUMBAI: Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, the country's largestinformation technology major, believes an economicdownturn is probably the best time to buy an asset as thereare fewer buyers for it. The COVID-19 pandemic has disruptedbusiness and demand globally, and the priority for mostorganisations is to cut costs and conserve cash. TCS, however,said it has sufficient cash on its books. "We are always opento the idea of picking up the right asset at the right price,"Chief Financial Officer V. Ramakrishnan said.

Andhra govt says Aurobindo Pharmato invest 15-20 bln rupees in 2 yrsHYDERABAD: Aurobindo Pharma Ltd has committed to anadditional investment of up to 20 bln rupees in AndhraPradesh in the next two years, a release from the chiefminister's office said. "Madan Mohan Reddy, board director ofAurobindo Pharma, has assured that the company will invest1,500-2,000 crore (15-20 bln rupees) in coming two years,"the state government said.

HCL Tech to buy Cisco''s Self-Optimizing Network tech for $50 mlnBENGALURU: HCL Technologies will acquire products andservices built on Cisco's Self-Optimizing Network technologyfor $49.99 mln, the company said in an exchange filing. Theacquisition will help HCL Tech meet the growing needs of itscustomers in the telecommunication industry, it said. Theacquisition is likely to be completed by January 2021, it said.Cisco's Self-Optimising Network technology is a platform thatuses machine learning and a set of applications to automatethe radio access network.

SEBI warns TCS to be careful in dis-closing material informationMUMBAI: The Securities and Exchange Board of India haswarned Tata Consultancy Services Ltd to be careful in makingdisclosures of material information in the future. The warningby the market regulator came in reference to a disclosuremade by TCS on April 16, 2016, when the company said thata jury verdict in the Epic Systems case will not have a bearingon the March quarter and 2015-16 (Apr-Mar) earnings.

Schwing Stetter MD: Co to move someEuropean production lines to IndiaCHENNAI: The year 2022 is expected to be a booming yearfor construction and earthmoving equipment in India, a topofficial of Schwing Stetter India said. "Though the year 2020started well, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impacton the economy. The last quarter of 2020 will tell how theeconomy would be in 2021. We expect 2022 to be boomtime for domestic and export markets," said V.G. Sakthikumar,Managing Director, Schwing Stetter India.

—Agencies

MONEY THE FREEPRESSJOURNAL

MUMBAI | SATURDAY | MAY 30, 2020

11

NEW DELHI: India's an-nual inflation based on theConsumer Price Index for In-dustrial Workers fell to a 16-month low of 5.45% in Aprilfrom 5.50% a month earlier,data released by the LabourBureau showed. In April lastyear, CPI-IW inflation was at8.33%.

Food inflation based onCPI-IW eased to 6.56% inApril from 6.67% theprevious month. CPI-IWinflation eased in Aprildespite the overall indexrising 0.9% on month.

The maximum upwardpressure to index came fromthe food group, whichadded 2.43 percentagepoints to the total change,the Labour Bureau said.

RCF Q4 profit jumps nearly three-fold at Rs 142 croreNEW DELHI: State-owned Rashtriya Chemicals &Fertilisers Ltd (RCF) on Friday reported nearly a three foldjump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 142.38 crore forthe quarter ended March.Its net profit stood at Rs 47.16crore in the year-ago period, the company said in aregulatory filing.Total income rose to Rs 2661.91 crore in the fourth quarterof the last fiscal from Rs 2297.94 crore in thecorresponding period of the previous year.During the full 2019-20 fiscal year, RCF posted a net profitof Rs 207.13 crore as against Rs 132.92 crore in theprevious year.Total income also went up to Rs 9,826.6 crore last fiscalfrom Rs 8,967.46 crore in the 2018-19 financial year.  

VIL on Google picking stake:No proposal before board nowNEW DELHI: Amid reports of Google eyeing a five per centstake in the company, Vodafone Idea said it constantly evaluatesvarious opportunities but there is no proposal before the boardof the firm as yet. The clarification by Vodafone Idea to the BSEcame a day after reports that Alphabet Inc's Google is eyeingabout 5 per cent stake in the telecom company.

"As part of corporate strategy, the company constantly evaluatesvarious opportunities for enhancing the stakeholders' value. As andwhen such proposals are considered by the board of directors ofthe company warranting disclosures, the company shall complywith the disclosure obligations," Vodafone Idea said.

Currently, there is "no proposal" as reported that is beingconsidered at the board, it added.

"We wish to reiterate and clarify that the company will complywith Sebi Listing Regulations and duly keep the stock exchangesinformed of all the price-sensitive information," it said.

Vodafone Idea's shares, which had rallied earlier on Friday,shed some of the gains after the clarification by the telecomcompany. The scrip ended at Rs 6.56 a share on the BSE, nearly13 per cent higher than Thursday's close.

After the reports of Google's interest in VIL circulated, manyanalysts had opined that any potential investment by the globaltech titan in the cash-strapped Vodafone Idea, if it materialises,will be a strategic positive for the Indian telecom operator butstill inadequate to solve the telcos' debt woes. —Agencies

BEIJING:Volkswagen isspending 2 billion euros ($2.2billion) to expand its pres-ence in China's electric carindustry in the biggest for-eign investment announcedsince the country's economybegan to reopen followingthe coronavirus pandemic.Volkswagen AG said Fri-

day it will buy control of itselectric vehicle venture witha Chinese partner in a 1 bil-lion euro ($1.1 billion) deal.The German automakersaid it would spend another 1billion euros ($1.1 billion) tobecome the biggest share-holder in a battery producer.The ruling Communist

Party scrapped limits on for-

eign ownership of electricvehicle makers in 2018 topromote industry develop-ment. Beijing sees electriccars as a profitable technolo-gy where China can becomea global leader.China accounts for about

half of global electric carsales but demand hasslumped as Beijing wounddown multibillion-dollarsubsidies and shifted theburden to automakers by im-posing sales quotas. Sales ofpure-electric and gasoline-electric hybrid models fell43.4% in the first fourmonths of this year from ayear earlier to 205,000 vehi-cles.

April eight core industrial output fell by record 38.1%

NEW DELHI: The output of India's eightcore industries tanked by a record 38.1% inApril as the nationwide lockdown broughteconomic activity to a shuddering halt dur-ing the month, data released today by thecommerce ministry showed. At (-)38.1%, core sector growth in April is

the new record low under the current series,which goes back until April 2012. The fallout from the lockdown was visible

across the board, with the output of all eightcore industries contracting in April. The steel and cement sectors bore the max-

imum brunt of the lockdown, with their out-put declining by a massive 83.9% and 86.0%,respectively. "In view of (the) nationwide lockdown dur-

ing April 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic,various industries viz. Coal, Cement, Steel,Natural Gas, Refinery, Crude Oil etc experi-enced substantial loss of production," thegovernment said.The nationwide lockdown, which began on

Mar 25, has entered its third month. However, some restrictions have been re-

laxed from this month in areas that are lessrisk-prone to COVID-19. While electricity generation declined

22.8%, coal production fell 15.5%. In March,output of the eight core industries had con-tracted 9.0%.

With the eight core industries together ac-counting for 40.3% of the total weight of theIndex of Industrial Production, the massivefall in core sector output in April is likely todrag down industrial production for themonth. Data for industrial growth for Aprilis scheduled to be released on Jun 12. Going forward, the contraction in core sec-

tor output may narrow as the governmentrelaxed the lockdown and allowed the re-sumption of production and opening of fac-tories in many areas. However, the issue of labourers may im-

pact the output. "With labour mismatches expected to con-

strain construction activity in the urban ar-eas, we expect these sectors (cement andsteel) may continue to report subdued out-put in the coming months," said Aditi Nayar,Principal Economist, ICRA.

INDIA CPI-IWINFLATION AT16-MONTH LOWOF 5.45% IN APR

Econ growth slows to3.1%, worst en route

AGENCIESNew Delhi

India's economic growth tumbled to3.1% in the March quarter -- the slow-est pace since the global financial cri-sis more than a decade back -- but theworst is yet to come as the full impactof the world's most expansive lock-down that brought the nation to anear standstill will get fully account-ed for only in the next quarter.The government began locking down

Asia's third-biggest economy only to-wards the end of the March quarter tocontain the spread of the coronaviruspandemic. The arduous lockdown, im-posed on March 25, has already beenextended thrice, with some relaxationsbeginning early this month.Manufacturing contracted 1.4% in

the last quarter of 2019-20 fiscal (April2019 to March 2020) while construc-tion plunged 2.2%. Agriculture grewby an impressive 5.9%, the Ministry ofStatistics and Programme Implemen-tation said, adding the GDP estimates

were "based on available data" and arelikely to undergo revision.The Indian economy grew by 4.2%

in 2019-20 fiscal, the slowest in 11years, after downward revision ofgrowth rates for each of the previousthree quarters.The growth rate in FY20 is slower

than the 5% the government expectedbefore the virus outbreak.International credit rating agencies

S&P Global and Fitch Ratings as well assome economists expect the fiscal yearthat began in April to see the worst eco-nomic contraction in four decades, withGDP shrinking by a record 5%.

India was already in the midst of aprotracted economic slowdown beforethe virus hit due to a festering crisisamong shadow lenders and on declin-ing consumer demand and private in-vestment .The Indian economy had grown by

6.1% in FY19.The services sector accounts, which

accounts for 55% of gross domesticproduct (GDP), and manufacturinghas been severely crippled by thelockdown, causing ripple effects onjobs and economic growth.Infrastructure output, which com-

prises eight sectors including coal,crude oil, and electricity, contracted38.1% in April from a year earlier. Thecore sectors account for nearly 40% ofthe country's industrial output.Slower economic growth also meant

slippage in fiscal deficit target. Fiscaldeficit -- the shortfall in a govern-ment's income compared with itsspending -- came in at 4.59% of GDPfor FY20, as compared to the budget-ary target of 3.8%.

FY20 fiscal gap shotup to 4.6% of GDP

NEW DELHI: The country'sfiscal deficit widened to 4.6%of the Gross Domestic Prod-uct in 2019-20 mainly on ac-count of poor revenue reali-sation, shows official data.The deficit, which signifies

the gap between governmentrevenue and expenditure, ishigher than the revised esti-mate of 3.8% for the fiscal.According to the Con-

troller General of Accounts(CGA) data, the fiscal deficitfor 2019-20 worked out to be4.59% of the GDP, while therevenue deficit was 3.27%.The effective revenue

deficit was 2.36%, the datashowed.Finance Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman while unveilingthe budget in Februarypegged the fiscal deficit for

2019-20 at 3.8%, up from 3.3%in the original budget esti-mate.The increase in the fiscal

deficit has been mainly on ac-count of shortfall in revenuecollection during 2019-20. Therevenue receipts during theyear worked out to be only90% of the revised estimate.In absolute terms, total re-

ceipts of the governmentwere Rs 17.5 lakh croreagainst the estimate of Rs19.31 lakh crore.The data showed the gov-

ernment's total expenditurewas Rs 26.86 lakh crore, low-er than Rs 26.98 lakh croreprojected earlier.The revenue deficit during

the fiscal soared to 3.27% ofthe GDP as against 2.4% inthe revised estimates.

Oil Minister for home delivery of petrol, CNG

AGENCIES/ New Delhi

After doorstep delivery ofdiesel, the government islooking at starting home de-livery of petrol and CNG forthe greater convenience ofcustomers, Oil MinisterDharmendra Pradhan said.Also, the government is

looking at unveiling a newfuel retailing model whereall types of fuels -- petrol,diesel, CNG, LNG and LPG -- would be available at oneplace, he said.Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the

nation's largest fuel retailer,in September 2018 startedhome delivery of dieselthrough a mobile dispenser.This service is availableonly in a handful of cities.Doorstep delivery of petrol

and CNG is said to poserisks due to highly inflam-mable nature of the fuel,and safe and secure modesapproved by relevant au-thorities need to be evolved.Speaking at a function to

inaugurate 56 new CNG sta-

tions in 11 states, Pradhansaid the government has al-ready started mobile dis-pensers for diesel.It "would like to expand the

same for petrol and LNG,"an official statement quotedhim as saying. "Pradhansaid that people would beable to get the home deliveryof the fuel in future." Thegovernment, he said, isworking on energy efficien-cy, affordability, securityand accessibility.He envisioned that soon,

the customers will have togo to only one place, whereall types of fuels - petrol,diesel, CNG, LNG and LPGwill be made available.

Renault to save 2 bn eurosby ‘22 at cost of 14,600 jobs

AGENCIESParisi

As a part of its plan to re-duce its costs by two billioneuros by 2022, French auto-motive group Renault on Fri-day said it would be sendingout 14,600 of its employeesaround the world over thenext three years.According to Renault, as

per its draft plan, 4,600 postswill be in France and the bal-ance 10,000 posts in rest ofthe world.As per the draft plan, Re-

nault plans to achieve itscost savings by increasingthe common parts across themodels, reducing the diversi-ty in vehicles/engines, opti-misation of research and de-velopment resources acrossthe world, right sizing ofglobal production capacities;and scrapping capacity ex-pansion plans in Moroccoand Romania.Renault also plans to accel-

erate its plant transforma-tion through the generalisa-tion of Industry 4.0, and ac-celerating digitalisation anddesign to process.The group will also cut

down its vehicle productionto 3.3 million units by 2024from 2019 level of 4 millionunits and also accordinglyadjust the production head-count.Renault also plans toincrease efficiency of sup-port functions like generaland marketing.According to Renault, the

plans will be presented toemployee representativebodies in accordance withapplicable regulations.

The estimated cost of im-plementing this plan is inthe order of 1.2 billion euros.Renault said the difficul-

ties encountered by theGroup, the major crisis fac-ing the automotive industryand the urgency of the eco-logical transition are all im-peratives that are drivingthe company to accelerate itstransformation.It said the draft plan aims

to lay the foundations for thegroup's long-term develop-ment. "I have confidence inour assets, our values and inthe management of the com-pany to succeed with the en-visaged transformation andto return our Group to itsfull value by deploying thisplan. The planned changesare fundamental to ensurethe sustainability of thecompany and its develop-ment over the long term,"Jean-Dominique Senard,Chairman of the Board ofDirectors of Renault, said.

SpiceXpressgets nod fordrone trials

VW spending $2.2 bn toexpand in China EV mart

NEW DELHI: Budget carrierSpiceJet on Friday said itsfreighter arm SpiceXpress hasreceived approval forconducting drone trials fromaviation regulator DirectorateGeneral of Civil Aviation(DGCA).

Post trials and approvals, theairline plans to use drones indelivery of essential suppliesto remote areas, it said.

"A SpiceXpress-ledconsortium had submitted aproposal to the regulator forconducting experimentalbeyond visual line of sight(BVLOS) operations of remotelypiloted aircraft in response toa DGCA notice invitingexpression of interest," SpiceJetsaid.

Based on therecommendations of theBVLOS Experiment Assessmentand Monitoring Committee,SpiceXpress was grantedpermission for conductingexperimental BVLOSoperations, it stated.

THE FREEPRESSJOURNAL12 MUMBAI | SATURDAY | MAY 30, 2020FPJ MONEY

KISS provides food items and study materials to its 30,000 students

Days before the nationwide lockdown, around 30000 students ofKalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), Bhubaneswar were sentback to their homes in their respective villages. As a result, thestudents had not got their textbooks for this academic year. Dr.Achyuta Samanta, Founder, KIIT & KISS, who has always put theeducation of these tribal students above everything else, arrangedfor the study materials and dried food items to be provided at thestudents' doorsteps. On behalf of KISS, Flattened Rice, Sugar, Dal,Biscuit, Soap, Textbooks and allied study materials have beenprovided to students of all classes of KISS. As per the instruction ofDr. Samanta, the staff and teachers of KISS have been working onthis plan since last 15 days. These materials were sent to all theKISS students in different districts of Odisha by 25 buses in thepresence of Dr. Samanta, R. N. Dash, Secretary, KIIT & KISS and Dr. P.K. Routary, CEO, KISS.

Red Chief Shoes – Made in India with prideRed Chief is wellestablished as a leadinghome grown leatherfootwear brand in Indiaand consistently providingbest of the quality, comfortand style for over 23 yearsnow to its wide base ofloyal customers acrosslength and breadth of thecountry. As elaborated byAkhilesh Singh, ChiefOperating Officer, “Our endto end process from

footwear design, procuring raw material and manufacturing usingstate of the art technologies,all are done within India. Our designteam is well equipped with world class design studio where a teamof experienced designers are constantly working together onmodern and technologically advanced software, to develop betterand innovative designs “. Further to support local for vocal –we arealso engaged with local supplier and manufacturers. We havepartnered with them to fulfil our business requirements along witheducating and developing them to achieve fast, cost effective andbest quality output.

Western Rly transports 40K tonnesthrough 263 Parcel Spl trains

Western Railwaywith its fullcommitmenttowards the nation,have continued towork at large, byensuring thatessentialcommodities aremade available

across the country, during this difficult time of corona pandemic. Itis a matter of honour that despite the nationwide lockdown, WRhas crossed the big figure of 40 thousand tonnes of essentialcommodities, which were transported through its 263 time tabledParcel special trains during lockdown period to various parts of thecountry. From 22nd March to 23rd May, 2020, total 4488 rakes ofgoods trains also have been used to supply essential commoditiesamounting to 9.03 million tonnes. 8867 freight trains wereinterchanged with other railways, including 4464 trains handedover and 4403 trains taken over at different interchange points.

Maarg supports “Put The Smile Back” initiative of SWR

Bengaluru Division of South Western Railway has distributedChannapattana Toys in five Shramik Special Trains that leftBengaluru Cantonment Railway Station to Bihar. The toys weredistributed in pursuance of “Put the smile back” initiative that thedivision has undertaken to make the journey of children of migrantlabourers who travel in shramik special happy and memorable. Thetoys distributed today were sponsored by MAARG (Motilal NehruNational Institute of Technology, Allahabad Alumni Rapport andGrant Foundation). A.K. Verma, Divisional Railway Manager,Bengaluru, Roashan Kumar, Divisional Commercial Manger,Bengaluru were present on the occasion. Sandeep Kumar, S R Mahtoand Ravi Garg representatives from MAARG were also present.

WCL’s Jhankar Mahila Mandal serves theneedy amid corona crisis

Jhankar Mahila Mandal, theleading women's group ofWCL primarily working forcommunity service andwelfare of underprivilegedsection of the society is onthe forefront to extendhelping hands to needyand homeless peopleduring the lockdownimposed for restricting thespread of corona pandemic.The Area level MahilaMandals of WCL in Nagpur,

Chandrapur, Yavatmal districts of Maharashtra and Chhindwara,Betul districts of Madhya Pradesh associated with Jhankar MahilaMandal are continuously serving the weaker section of thecommunity in and around the concerned Areas. President AnitaMishra also contributed Rs.1 Lakh to PM Cares Fund last month.

CORPORATE GALLERYMinistry Of Railways appeals for passengers cooperation for their safetyIndian Railways has been running Shramik special Trains on adaily basis throughout the country to ensure that migrants cantravel back to their homes. It has been observed that somepeople who are availing this service have pre-existing medicalconditions which aggravates the risk they face during theCOVID-19 pandemic. Ministry of Railways makes an appeal thatpersons with co-morbidities, pregnant women, children belowthe age of 10 years and persons above 65 years of age mayavoid travel by rail, except when it is essential. Shivaji Sutar,Chief Public Relations Officer, Central Railway said that IndianRailway parivaar is working 24X7 to ensure that rail servicesare provided to all the citizens of the country needing to travel.But safety of our passengers is our biggest concern. So, weseek the cooperation of all citizens in this matter. In case of anydistress or emergency please do not hesitate to reach out toyour railway parivaar and we will help you as always (Helplinenumber - 139 & 138)

WR to run one more parcel special trainwith 2 trips between Kankaria and CuttackWestern Railway’s Parcel Special trains are on the move, as perthe timetable, during the lockdown period in the wake ofCOVID19. Western Railway is fullfilling the responsibility oftransporting most essential items like medical equipment,medicines, food grains etc across the nation, as it has alwaysbeen fully committed to the needs of its customers. WR is alsoensuring the supply of milk and milk products to different parts ofthe country through its milk special trains. In continuation to this,2 more trips of one parcel special train are scheduled to runbetween Kankaria goods terminal of Ahmedabad & Cuttack inOdisha.

Dabur India Ltd. Q4 consolidated revenue at Rs 1,865 CrThe Board of Directors of Dabur India Ltd (DIL) met recently toconsider the audited financial results of the company for thequarter and full year ended March 31st, 2020. Dabur India Ltdcontinued to surge forward on its growth track through the firsttwo months of the fourth quarter of 2019-20, with QuarterlyRevenue from Operations growing by 4.5% till February-end.However, the exceptional event in the form of the COVID-19outbreak and the resultant lockdown significantly impacted ourbusiness in the month of March 2020, due to which the Revenuefor the fourth Quarter of 2019-20 ended with a 12.3% decline.Dabur India Ltd ended Q4 of 2019-20 with a ConsolidatedRevenue from Operations of Rs 1,865 Crore as against Rs 2,128Crore a year ago. Consolidated Net Profit for the Quarter stood atRs 281 Crore as against Rs 370 Crore a year earlier. Dabur was ontrack to deliver a 4.5% growth in Quarterly Revenue and 12.5%growth in Net Profit before Exceptional, had COVID-19 nothappened.

CRISIL reaffirms strong credit ratingfor Dabur IndiaDabur India Ltd has announced that CRISIL has reaffirmed its'CRISIL AAA/Stable/CRISIL A1+' ratings on the bank facilities anddebt programmes of Dabur India Limited. The ratings reflect thecompany's strong financial power and market position in India'sFMCG industry, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic andthe overall economic recession. The rating agency reaffirmed theCRISIL A1+ rating on the Rs 200 Crore Commercial Paper ofDabur India Ltd. The rating agency also reaffirmed its CRISILAAA/Stable rating on the Rs 20 Crore Non-Convertible Debenturesof Dabur India Ltd. Instruments with these ratings are consideredto have a strong degree of safety regarding timely payment offinancial obligations and carry lowest credit risk. "Dabur has astrong Balance Sheet with healthy levels of Cash Reserves. Theseratings not only reflect our strong financial power and marketposition in India, but also our healthy financial risk profile,supported by strong cash accrual and a comfortable Net Worthposition," Dabur India Ltd Group Director P. D. Narang said.

CORPORATE CORNER First Virtual listing ceremony of MitsuChem Plast Ltd. on BSE mainboard

Mitsu Chem Plast Ltd (BSE: 540078) on May 27, 2020 migratedfrom BSE SME to the BSE Main Board after completing around3.5 years in SME & meeting all the other criteria. Mitsu ChemPlast Ltd announced their maiden IPO in 2016 with the Price ofRs. 95 per share and are now migrating on the Mainboard onMay 27; 2020. They have recently issued 2:1 Bonus for theirshareholders. The script made a strong debut on BSE Mainboard surged16.4% percent; post migration stock opened at Rs. 85.00/-against the closing price of Rs 73.00 a share on May 27th;2020. The return on Investment of Mitsu Chem share is around130.5% since its listing in Sept 2016 post IPO, this is anothersuccess story of BSE SME. Jagdish Dedhia, Chairman, MitsuChem Plast Ltd said, “Migration for a company from BSE SME toBSE Mainboard is a milestone and we thank all our investorsand stake holders to support us in making our BSE SME journeysuccessful”On the occasion Chief Guest of the Virtual CeremonyAshishkumar Chauhan, MD & CEO of BSE said, “I would like tocongratulate Mitsu for its first and successful virtual migration tothe main board of BSE platform.”

Neogen Chemicals FY20 net up by 19%;announces 20% dividendNeogen Chemicals Ltd. has shown improved performance forthe quarter ended 31.03.20 with a total income of Rs. 82.37 cr.and a net profit of Rs. 7.34 cr. in FY 20. Neogen Chemical’s totalincome was Rs. 79.88 cr. and it’s net profit was Rs. 8.75 cr. forthe corresponding quarter in FY 19 despite Covid-19 relatedinterruption in operations towards the end of Q4 FY 20 quarter.The company’s board has decided to pay higher dividend to itsshareholders. It will now pay dividend of 20% (i.e., Rs. 2 pershare) as against 15% (i.e., Rs. 1.50 per share) paid in theprevious year. For the FY2020, Neogen Chemicals has earned anet profit of Rs. 28.77 cr. on a turnover of Rs. 306.45 cr. againsta net profit of Rs. 21.04 cr. on a turnover of Rs. 239.76 cr. forthe corresponding period previous year. Commenting on the FY20 performance, Haridas Kanani,Chairman & Managing Director, Neogen Chemicals said: “I amglad to note that we have sustained our growth momentumduring the period under review, on the back of expected gains inboth Organic as well as Inorganic Chemicals segment. Overall,we recorded 28% revenue growth and 37% expansion in Profitafter Tax, driven by better demand scenario as well asmaintained production at our facilities.” He further added, “I am happy to state that we have commencedcommercial production of Inorganic Chemicals at our newlycommissioned facility at Dahej SEZ. With this and given itsexpertise as well as a wide portfolio of offerings, NeogenChemicals is the best placed to capture the ongoing growthopportunities present in the end-user industries.” Answering a question raised by an analyst during the analystscall, Dr. Harin Kanani, Director, Neogen Chemicals said, “I am gladto inform that our industry is under essential services segment. Assuch we have only partially lost production in the month of April20 till all approvals were in place. By mid-May, however, we havereached production utilization of 70%-80% against standard 80%peak utilization levels. Thus we are on track and expect toimprove our performance once things get normal,” he added.

G R Chintala takes over as Chairman,NABARD

Subsequent to theappointment by theGovernment of India, G RChintala has taken over as theChairman of National Bank forAgriculture and RuralDevelopment (NABARD) witheffect from May 27 2020.Previously, he was theManaging Director ofNABFINS, a subsidiary ofNABARD headquartered in

Bengaluru. Chintala, a Post Graduate from the prestigious IndianAgricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, joined NABARD as anofficerand worked in various capacities at the Head Office,Mumbai and Regional Offices including Hyderabad, Chandigarh,Lucknow, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, New Delhi and Bengaluru.He was also the Vice President of Agri-Business Finance Ltd.,Hyderabad and the Director of Bankers Institute of RuralDevelopment (BIRD), Lucknow. He has visited over 20 countriesincluding USA, China, European nations, Bolivia, Brazil, Kenya,Senegal, Indonesia, etc. for presenting papers and otherassignments.

APPOINTMENT

MUMBAI: Non-food credit growth ofbanks decelerated further to 7.4% asof Apr 24, compared with 11.9% in theprevious year, due to weak growthacross most segments such as loans tocompanies, agriculture and allied ac-tivities, and services, according to theReserve Bank of India data. The weak loan growth was largelydue to the nationwide lockdown thatbegan on Mar 25. Credit growth to in-dustry, which refers to loans to corpo-rate entities, fell to 1.7% in April from6.9% in the year-ago period. Within this, credit growth rose tosectors such as beverage and tobacco,petroleum, coal products and nuclearfuels, paper and paper products, andrubber, plastic and their products. On the other hand, it fell to sectorssuch as mining and quarrying, chem-icals and chemical products, con-struction, textiles, all engineering,and basic metal and metal products.In terms of size, demand for credit

from medium-sized companies con-tracted 6.4% compared with a growthof 3.5% in the previous year. Demand for loans from large compa-nies grew just 2.7%, down sharplyfrom 8.1% a year ago. Demand from micro and small sizedcompanies, too, contracted 2.2% com-pared with a growth of 1.0%. Credit growth to agriculture and al-lied activities decelerated to 3.9% inApril from 7.9% in the correspondingperiod of the previous year. Credit growth to the services sectorfell to 11.2% from 16.8% a year ago.

Retail inflation forindustrial workerseases to 5.45%: DataNEW DELHI: Retail inflation for industrialworkers eased to 5.45% in April 2020from 8.33% in the same month a yearago, mainly due to lower prices of certainfood items and petrol, data showed.

"Year-on-year inflation based on allitems stood at 5.45% for April 2020 ascompared to 5.50% for the previousmonth and 8.33% during thecorresponding month of the previousyear," Food inflation stood at 6.56% inApril 2020 against 6.67% of the previousmonth (March 2020) and 4.92% duringthe corresponding month (April 2019) ayear ago, Labour Ministry statement said.

Lauding the efforts of the Labour Bureauwhich collects and released ConsumerPrice Index-Industrial Workers, LabourMinister Santosh Gangwar said the 'costof living index' data collection and releaseby the bureau in these difficult timesduring the lockdown is commendable andwould go a long way to help in policymaking in the country.

APRIL BANK LOANS UP 7.4%,CREDIT TO HIT SECTORS UP

AGENCIESKolkata

The country's economy,which has been hit by theCOVID-19 outbreak, needssupport from the publicsector banks (PSBs) toboost credit growth, an offi-cial said on Friday.The number of PSBs hascome down after amalga-mation of several lenders,and their ability to lend hasincreased manifold, Union

Bank of India MD and CEORajkiran Rai G said.Recently, Oriental Bank ofCommerce and UnitedBank of India were mergedinto Punjab National Bank,Syndicate Bank into Ca-nara Bank, AllahabadBank into Indian Bank andAndhra and Corporationbanks into Union Bank ofIndia.He said the lenders will beable to meet the expecta-tions of the business com-

munity.Rai said that there will bea shift of credit growth infavour of the PSBs, addingthat depositors will expectan interest rate of 5.5%.According to him, the is-sues of the depositors can-not be overlooked, andmore stress will have to begiven on the liability side toretain customers.Kotak Mahindra Bankwhole-time director andpresident Gaurang Shah

said the retail, a low-cost li-ability base, is key suste-nance factor of the banks.Ajay Kanwal, MD andCEO of Jana Small FinanceBank said around 65% ofmicro-finance borrowersfelt the COVID-19 impact toa large extent.He said customers at thebottom of the pyramid aremost vulnerable and theright kind of supportshould be extended tothem.

MUMBAI: The Board ofAdani Power will meet onJune 3 to discuss on thedelisting of company'sshares from the stock ex-changes.In a regulatory filing onFriday, Adani Power saidthat the company has re-ceived letter dated May 29from Adani Properties, amember of its promotergroup, whereby Adani Prop-erties has expressed its in-tention, to acquire all equityshares of the Adani Powerheld by its public sharehold-ers, either by itself or to-gether with other membersof the Promoter Group."As of the date of this letter,the Promoter Group collec-tively holds 289,16,12,567 equi-ty shares of the company rep-

resenting 74.97% of the paid-up equity share capital of thecompany. The public share-holders hold 96,53,26,374 equi-ty shares which correspondsto 25.03% of the paid-up equi-ty share capital of the compa-ny," it said.The Adani Power board onJune 3 will also discuss theappointment of a merchantbanker registered with SEBIfor carrying out due dili-gence as required in termsof Regulation 8(1A)(ii) of theSEBI Delisting Regulations.

Former COO ofCapgemini Grpappointed CEO,MD of Wipro

NEW DELHI: IT majorWipro on Friday saidCapgemini Group veteranThierry Delaporte will jointhe company as its ChiefExecutive Officer andManaging Director witheffect from July 6, 2020.He succeeds Abidali ZNeemuchwala, whosedecision to step down fromthe company wasannounced in January thisyear. Neemuchwala, whohad joined Wipro in April2015 from TataConsultancy Services(TCS), will relinquish hisposition as CEO and MDon June 1.Rishad Premji willoversee the day-to-dayoperations of the companyuntil July 5, Wipro said ina statement.

FROM OUR BUREAUNEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Fri-day agreed to hear thecross appeal filed by CyrusMistry challenging the Na-tional Company Law Ap-pellate Tribunal's (NCLAT)December order not doingjustice to him.The apex court benchcomprising Justice ASBopanna and HrishikeshRoy ordered tagging of hisplea with the appeals filed

by Ratan Tata and TataSons, who have also chal-lenged the judgement ofthe NCLAT. The case was listed be-

fore a 3-judge Bench head-ed by Chief Justice of In-dia Sharad Arvind Bobde,but the latter not availableand so the two other judgeson the Bench heard thematter.The 18-December order ofNCLAT had held that thedecision to remove Mistryas Tata Sons chairman wasillegal and that he shouldbe reinstated. He should also be givencharge as director of threeother group firms.

NEW DELHI: Noticeshave been issued to crisis-hit Franklin TempletonMutual Fund and Sebi bythe Madras High Court af-ter a petition was filed byan investors group tosafeguard nearly Rs28,000 crore of investors'money stuck in sixschemes shut down by thefund house, according toa statement.The statement by in-vestors group also said itis separately launching

an online petition tobring together all affectedinvestors and the samewould be forwarded to thePrime Minister's Officeas well as the US parent ofthe fund house and the USmarkets regulator SEC.It further said mutualfunds and the fund man-agers should be made toanswer questions on theirchoice of investment, andcompliance with regula-tory and prudentialnorms, among others.

Franklin TempletonMF, Sebi get notices

SC admits Mistry's appealagainst NCLAT in Tata case

Econ needs support from PSBs: Union Bank chief

Now, Adani Power onway to delist shares?

BIZ BUZZSingapore Supreme Court dismissesSingh Brothers' appeal v/s HC orderNEW DELHI: The Singapore Supreme Court has dismissed anappeal by erstwhile Ranbaxy Laboratories' former promotersMalvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh against a High Courtorder that declined to set aside an arbitration award in favourof Japan's Daichii Sankyo.  

P&G Health Jan-Mar PAT up 14.1%BENGALURU: Low tax and expansion in operating marginaided Procter & Gamble Health Ltd's bottomline in Jan-Mar.The company posted a 14.1% on-year rise in the net profit at464.62 mln rupees in Jan-Mar.  

V-Mart Retail deeper in redMUMBAI: V-Mart Retail loss in the March quarter widened to84.35 mln rupees from 9 mln rupees a year ago, and revenuefell 3.4% to 3.33 bln rupees. The company's other income fellto 7.86 mln rupees from 22.56 mln rupees a year ago.

IIFL Fin March qtr profit plunges 81%NEW DELHI: IIFL Finance on Friday reported 81 per centplunge in March quarter consolidated net profit at Rs 58.91crore due to provisions related to COVID-19. The company,which is mainly engaged in financing and investment business,had logged a profit of Rs 305.89 crore in January-March,2018-19. Income during March quarter, 2019-20 was down atRs 1,322.64 crore from Rs 1,441.34 crore in the year-agoperiod, IIFL Finance said.

Lupin Q4 profit rises 35% to Rs 390 crNEW DELHI: Drug firm Lupin has reported a 34.55 per centrise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 389.63 crore for thequarter ended March 2020 mainly on account of robust salesin the domestic market and lower tax expenses. It had posteda net profit of Rs 289.56 crore for the corresponding period ofthe previous fiscal, Lupin said. Consolidated income fromoperations of the company stood at Rs 3,791 crore for thequarter under consideration as against Rs 3,807.02 crore forthe same period year ago.

Voltas Jan-Mar consol PAT rises 14%MUMBAI: Voltas Ltd's consolidated net profit for the Marchquarter rose 13.6% on year to 1.59 bln rupees. Total revenuefrom operations for the quarter rose 1.3% to 20.9 bln rupees.The net profit and net sales topped analyst estimate of 1.21bln rupees and 19.96 bln rupees, respectively. 

Jubilant Life Sciences posts Rs 260 cr NEW DELHI: Drug firm Jubilant Life Sciences on Fridayreported a consolidated net profit of Rs 260.49 crore for thequarter ended on March 31, 2020, driven by robust sales inpharmaceuticals segment. The company had posted a net lossof Rs 100.65 crore for the corresponding period of the previousfiscal, Jubilant Life Sciences said.

RIL-Rights Entitlement trade ends 41%higher than first tradeMUMBAI: The de-materialised trading of Reliance IndustriesLtd-Rights Entitlement (RIL-RE) on Friday ended with last tradehappening at Rs 223, up 41 per cent over the first trade,according to stock exchange data.RIL-REs were first traded onMay 20 at a price of Rs 158.In just seven trading sessions, RIL-REs created great value for investors.   

—Agencies

iscovery has announced that it will be documenting the launch of a SpaceX rocket ship with two NASAastronauts on a history-making flight into orbit. The launch was called off on Wednesday with less than17 minutes to go in the countdown because of thunderclouds and the danger of lightning. The liftoffhas been rescheduled for Saturday afternoon at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Discovery’s show Space Launch: America Returns To Space will document the events of the day and it willbe later showcased on Discovery, Science Channel on June 8 at 9 PM. Viewers can stream the show bydownloading Discovery Plus app. The show will also feature some of the biggest names in entertainment withappearances by global superstar Katy Perry, TV and Internet personality Adam Savage, former NASA engineer andYouTube sensation Mark Rober, among others. —PTI

DTHE FREEPRESSJOURNAL

Now, watchlaunch of SpaceX

astronauts 13MUMBAI | SATURDAY | MAY 30, 2020

rotests over the death of George Floyd, ablack man who was a victim of police bru-tality, has been making headlines sinceWednesday. After several international

celebrities joined the outcry for justice, Bolly-wood actress Kareena Kapoor Khan took to her In-stagram to share a picture of the protest and de-manded ‘Justice for George Floyd’. However, Ka-reena was called out by netizens for not raising hervoice against the ongoing crisis in the country.She posted a monochrome picture of a protest ral-ly, where a man is seen running as a large group ofcops parade behind him. The bold text comparedAmerica in the years 1968, 2015 and 2020.

It read: ‘What has changed. What hasn’t.’ Sharingthe picture, she used the hashtag ‘#JusticeForGe-orgeFloyd’ in the caption. While celebrities dropped RIP emojis, netizensslammed the actress for ‘ignoring’ the problems inIndia. A user wrote, “Shouldn’t you be talking moreabout the mismanagement of Corona Virus inMumbai?” Another commented, “Read about Indiawhat has changed in these 4 years.”While another wrote, “We need just for migrantworkers who are the same in 1968 vs 2020,still suffer-ing...dying with hunger...god bless India.”A comment read, “Don’t mind it ma’am but Ihaven’t seen you posting anything on any of the na-tional incidents, insted of that u are posting what’shappening in america, phale apne desh ke baare meito aap kuch socho or bolo uspe kuch comment karo,baad mei videsh ka soch lena uspe comment krlena &George Floyd ke sath jo b hua wo galat hua...”For the unversed, George Floyd died on Mondayevening in Minneapolis shortly after a white policeofficer held him down with a knee on his neckthough the victim repeatedly pleaded, “please, Ican’t breathe” and “don’t kill me”, reports Xinhuanews agency. The four officers involved in the case were fired af-ter a video showing Floyd’s death went viral on so-cial media on Tuesday, sparking a national outcryfor justice. —FPJ Web Desk

Bebo facesnetizens’ ire Kareena Kapoor Khan called outfor ‘ignoring’ problems in Indiaand demanding ‘Justice for

George Floyd’

P

What is it about?

On the eve of March 24, 2020, India went intolockdown owing to the rapid spread of coro-navirus. The first case was discovered in

Kerela, on January 30, when a student fromWuhan came back as a carrier of the deadly

virus. Immediate measures had been taken by au-thorities to arrest this deadly virus. Yet, it continuedto contaminate, casting its tenacious clutches over apopulation of 1.3 billion, making them victims to thedeadly COVID-19.The financial capital, Mumbai, was badly hit by thevirus. Dharavi, India’s largest slum, falls under the

jurisdiction of Senior Inspector Ramesh B Nangare.The slum is a hotbed for migrant labours and severalsmall scale industries. Inspector Ramesh walks usthrough how he has efficaciously managed to control thesituation in Dharavi. He goes an extra mile educating resi-dents on the perils of the deathly virus. This part of thedocumentary shows that it indeed takes a lot to educate theuneducated on the perils this pandemic. The documentary then introduces us to the young Sangli-based Dr Hamna Abdur Nazir. The doctor speaks abouthow her life transformed once she was enlisted to join a

team of doctors, trained to manage COVID-19 cases. DrHamna speaks about the physiological and psychologicalchallenges that she has braved during the course of thisjourney. We manage to get a sneak peak into the life of ourHealth Minister, Harsh Vardhan, and how he communi-cates with doctors of various medical and health facilitiesfrom around the country to keep abreast of situation andcoming up with stringent plans to halt its growth. Journal-ist Sweta Singh, Delhi-based Aaj Tak correspondent, re-counts her experience of field reporting, speaking to anumber of migrant labourers who were waiting to go backto their villages before the borders were sealed. The docu-mentary also records statements from some other eminentunsung heroes like Dr Tedros .A. Ghebreyesus (W.H.O), In-spector P. Vijayan (IPS Kerela Police), and Mohammed ARahman (CEO, Propellor Technologies), who has played animportant role in the creation of robots to serve food toCOVID-19 positive patients in hospitals in Chennai.

The Review It is interesting to learn how the technological apparatushas transformed our lives for the better. This project wascompleted during the second lockdown. Today, all oneneeds is a simple hand-held device with smart features and

an excellent editing programme to create a documentary.The Lockdown is a good example of excellent editing skillsdespite limitations that one has faced to produce this proj-ect. There is a slight bucolic feel that is purposely left, help-ing us arrive at the truth of the matter. While we are shownbasic aspects of the lockdown, the documentary could havetold us more about the plight of migrant worker. We couldhave introduced how the tertiary sector has been coming toterms with the ‘new normal’. Time and circumstanceshave limited several aspects that could get involved in themaking of a better documentary. However, as an onlooker,one could hope for a sequel that will weave in various otheraspects that have impacted the country at large as we headtowards a possible lockdown 5.0.

—Review by Heer Kothari

Web Watch

The Lockdown: This docu gives a glimpse of early lockdown days

Name of the documentary: The Lockdown (in conjunctionwith the National Geographic)

Platform: Disney+Hotstar

Approximate time: 45 mins

Cast: Real People, real stories

Director: Sajeed A

Rating: 4/5

onu Sood on Friday came to the rescue of 117 girlsas he helped them reach home in Odisha. The ac-tor airlifted the girls who were stuck in Keraladue to the nationwide lockdown to contain the

spread of coronavirus. According to a source close tothe actor, Sood was informed about the group of girls by aclose friend from Bhubaneswar and he decided to helpthem. “The actor started the process by taking several per-missions from the government to have Kochi andBhubaneswar airports opened. A special aircraft has beencalled from Bangalore to airlift these 177 girls from Kochiwho will be now taken to Bhubaneshwar so they can final-ly reunite with their families. The flight duration from thevillage to Bhubaneswar is going to be two hours and soonafter finishing their journey, the girls will be heading backhome,” the source said.Rajya Sabha MP Amar Patnaik took to Twitter to thankSood for his “noble efforts”. The actor along with hisfriend Neeti Goel have won hearts of millions of Indianswith their ‘Ghar Bhejo’ initiative. Sood facilitated severalbuses for workers stuck in Mumbai due to the coronavirus-forced nationwide lockdown. Recently, the actor launcheda toll free helpline to help migrants. —PTI

oved by the plight of stranded migrants,Bollywood veteran Amitabh Bachchanhas come forward to contribute his miteto their cause. After the Friday afternoon

‘namaz’, a fleet of 10 buses carrying around225 excited migrants, including women and 43children, were flagged off for various destinationsin Uttar Pradesh. As green flag was shown to the Bachchan-spon-

sored initiative, the weary but cheerful migrantslet out collective cheers of joy and relief, with‘thumbs up’ or ‘V’ signs, looking forward to theirlong journey home. Five of the buses are on way toPrayagraj, two buses each are headed for Gorakh-pur and Bhadoi, while one bus will arrive at Luc-know. The migrants will then have to proceed totheir respective villages from these towns. The flag-off was attended by ABCL Managing Di-

rector Rajesh Yadav, Suhail Khandwani, Manag-

ing Trustee of the Mahim Dargah Trust andTrustee of Haji Ali Dargah Trust, officials andtop representatives of both the trusts includingMohammed Ahmed. The Haji Ali Dargah, incidentally, has an emo-

tional connect with Bachchan and his fans. Hehad shot the climax of his 1983 superhit Coolieat the historic shrine. The Manmohan Desai en-tertainer is still recalled for the grievous acci-dent that the superstar suffered on the film's set,following which he was hospitalised for months. While on his current initiative, Bachchan had

been feeding hundreds of migrants at various lo-cations and also providing them with medicinesover two weeks, without much fanfare. They were also given footwear, as many mi-

grants were developing sores or blisters or gash-es on their legs due to long hours of walking inthe scorching sun. —IANS

16-acre, high-maintenance set that was builtfor the Ajay Devgn-starrer Maidaan has beendismantled owing to the ongoing COVID-19lockdown and the upcoming monsoon season.

“We built a massive outdoor set covering a 16-acreplot around Mumbai, with all the production infra-structure. Just as the shoot was getting underway, thepandemic hit the world,” said the film's producerBoney Kapoor, adding, “The set has now been disman-tled as rains are due to arrive in Mumbai. The rebuildwill take at least two months, which will start in Sep-

tember at the earliest, so shooting cancommence only in November.” Kapoor added this meant a mas-sive loss for us. “Thankfully allthe indoor and some outdoor,training portions were shot inLucknow and Kolkata, so are al-ready in the can,” he informed. Directed by Badhaai Ho maker

Amit Sharma, Maidaan is a foot-ball drama based on the life of

former player, the lateSyed Abdul Rahim,who is also regard-ed as one of thegreatest coachesin the sportthat India hasseen. He man-aged the Indi-an nationalteam from1950 untilhis death in1963, andis widelyknown asthe archi-tect ofmodernIndianfootball. Report-

edly, sets ofthe AkshayKumar-starrerhistoricaldrama,Prithviraj,will also be

dismantleddue to high

maintenance cost. —IANS

Jamie Foxx defends Jimmy Fallonctor Jamie Foxx defended Jimmy Fallon after the Tonight Show hostapologised for wearing blackface during a 2000 episode of SaturdayNight Live. According to Fox News, the actor, Fallon responded to thecontroversy after a sketch from 2000 in which he appeared in blackface

to perform an impression of Chris Rock resurfaced onTwitter. Things got so bad that the hashtag‘#JimmyFallonIsOverParty’was briefly trending onthe social mediaplatform.However, Foxx

disagreed withthe host’sdecision toapologise for thesketch. Heresponded in thecomments of an E!News Instagram post on thematter to defend Fallon and comedians atlarge for pushing racial boundaries.The Django Unchained star wrote, “He was

doing an impression of chris rock. It wasn’tblack face. We comedians I know it’s a toughtime right now. But this one is a stretch. On ashow called in living colour we played every raceLet this one go. We got bigger fish to fry ...#changecourse.” He was referencing the 1990sketch show, In Living Colour, which ran for fiveseasons and often contained controversial sketchesabout race. —ANI

Sonu helps177 Odiagirls stuckin Kerala

S

Big B sponsors 10 busesfor UP migrants

MA

COVID-19 effect Ajay-starrer Maidaan

set dismantled

Hollywood TalkWill Smith reveals his ‘terrifying’ moment

ill Smith says taking on the role of Geniein the 2019 film Aladdin was terrifying.Was he anxious about playing Genie? “Itwas much more. It was terrifying! Robin

Williams did just an absolutely brilliant,memorable and nostalgic job in his film. So, for mewhen I am looking at a role and especiallysomething that has historic and nostalgic value,what I am asking myself is ‘is there any meat lefton the bone? What is it that I would add to therole’ and one of the major aspects was going fromanimation to live-action,” said Smith. “So, the idea was like okay live-

action that is going to be differentand the idea of being able tomodernise, to be able to payhomage to the originalcharacter, to be able to honourRobin while at the same timegetting a new voice tomodernise the Genie. I saw therewas a potential for absolutetragedy but there was apotential to be ableto createsomething thatdid both ofthose things,”he added.

—IANS

W

Megan Fox first dumped hubby BrianAusting Green when he was bedridden

nsiders are furious with Hollywood star Megan Foxafter she split from husband Brian Austin Green forthe second time. According to Page Six, the sourcessay that in 2015, the star dumped husband Green

around the time he was seriously ill with a stroke-likesyndrome that left him bedridden and barely able to move —only to take him back and dump him all over again a few years later. Green became sick with a terrifying undiagnosedbrain condition around December 2014, and he spent morethan six months in bed. “He could barely lift his head,” said aninsider. Meanwhile, Fox left Los Angeles to go to

New York to shoot for a movie in 2015.Sources say that when shereturned, she seemed suddenlyvery keen to end theirmarriage, and she filed fordivorce in August. However,they reconciled. We’re told thatafter the trauma of both theillness and the breakup, Greenworked to rebuild theirmarriage. Then — according to Green,

who discussed the news on hispodcast, ‘With Brian AustinGreen,’ Fox broke up with himagain earlier this year afternearly 10 years of marriage.

—ANI

IA

3005-FPP-FPJ-13_GLAM 5/29/2020 11:55 PM Page 1

14SPORTSTHE FREEPRESSJOURNAL

Printed and Published by Girdharlal Lakhotia for the Proprietors, Indian National Press (Bombay) P. Ltd., at Journal Press, Free Press House, Free Press Journal Marg, 215, Nariman Point, Mumbai-400 021. Tel: 22874566, Advt. Dept. 22872289. E-mail: mail@fpj.co.in • OFFICE: Indore: 3/54, Press Complex, A. B. Road, Indore-452 008, Tel: 2555111-2, Fax: 2558555, New Delhi: 1/8 INS Bldg., Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110 001; Tel.: 23718853; Kolkata: Tel.: 22875645; Chennai: Tel: 28217766; Bhopal: Tel: 2660570, 4271345. Air Surcharge Rs. 2.00 only. Managing Editor: Girdharlal Lakhotia. Editor: S. S. DHAWAN. Reg. No. MCS/048/2018-20; RNI No. 1541/1957

MUMBAI | SATURDAY | MAY 30, 2020

WHAT’S ONPools and halls willreopen in green zone

Andy Murray to returnto action in June

LPGA stars set to compete in Texas Open

PARIS: The swimming pools, sports halls and gymnasiums, closedsince the start of containment, will reopen on June 2 in the greenzone, then on June 22 in the orange zones, Prime Minister ÉdouardPhilippe announced Thursday. "I know it was a decision expected bymany as the summer approached," said the head of government.Outside Ile-de-France, Guyana and Mayotte, territories classifiedorange, athletes will therefore be able to enjoy their activity inenclosed spaces, whether it is bodybuilding or swimming. Receptionconditions will, however, be fairly strict, with compulsory reservations.

LONDON: Andy Murray will return from his latest injury problem onJune 23 in a tournament organised by his brother Jamie to raise moneyfor a UK National Health Service charity. Jamie Murray has helped createthe behind-closed-doors tournament called 'Schroders Battle of the Brits'.The event, which runs from June 23-28, will see the Murray brothers andfellow British players Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans go head to head atthe Lawn Tennis Association's Roehampton base in London. With theATP and WTA seasons postponed due to the coronavirus, Murray's firstappearance since November's Davis Cup Finals

TEXAS: Two-time major winner Stacy Lewis and former US Women'sOpen winner Brittany Lang will tee it up at the Texas Women's Opennext week in Dallas. American's Lewis and Lang will be joined byseveral other US LPGA players, including Cheyenne Knight, France'sCeline Boutier, Maria Fassi, of Mexico, and Gerina Piller for the June2-4 event. The Texas Women's Open used to be an LPGA Tour eventin the 1950s, but is now sanctioned by the North Dallas chapter of thePGA of America. It was first played in 1933 and previous winnersinclude Babe Zaharias and Betsy Rawls.

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTEINSPIRATIONAL QUOTE

Confidence is very important – even pretending to be Confident.If you make a Mistake but do not let your Opponent see what

you are thinking then he may overlook the Mistake.”— Viswanathan Anand

SPORTS CAFE

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICENew Delhi

Former Sri Lanka skip-per Kumar San-gakkara revealed

what actually happened dur-ing the 2011 World Cup final

against India at Wankhedethat led to two tosses and'The Islanders' batting first.Sangakkara jogged down

memory lane and spokeabout that titanic contest be-tween the two Asian rivalsduring a live video sessionwith India spinnerRavichandran Ashwin onInstagram.

"Tell me what happened atthe toss in 2011 World Cup(final). I saw two tosses. Iwas standing near the dress-ing room, I went inside and Ihad no idea what just hap-pened," Ashwin asked San-gakkara on his show 'Remi-

nisceWithAsh'"I think it was the crowd..

the crowd was huge (atWankhede). It never hap-pens in Sri Lanka and it onlyhappens in India, at least tome," Sangakkara said."I remember calling on the

toss and then Mahi wasn'tsure what I had called. Hesaid did you call tails I said

no I called heads. And thenmatch referee actually saidI had won the toss and Mahisaid no no no he didn't. Sothere was a little bit of con-fusion there."Then Mahi said let's have

another toss. And that's

when the second one wentup and it came down headsagain. I am not sure if luck-ily I had won because if Ihad lost the toss, it mayhave been that India mighthave batted," he added.Sangakkara also revealed

how an injury to their all-rounder Angelo Mathewschanged Sri Lanka's strate-

gy in the final. The south-paw states they would havebatted second had Mathewswas fit enough to feature inthe finale. "If Angelo was fitI am hundred percent surethat we would have chased.I am not sure if result

would have changed but wewould have definitelychased in the match," San-gakkara said."That balance of Mathews

at seven... If you look at ourentire campaign, whateverwe did, Matthews' overs andhis ability to bat with thetail was an incredible bonusto us," he added.

Toss that went for oneSangakkara confession on confusion at 2011 WC final in Mumbai

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICENew Delhi

The Bundesliga in Germanyhas resumed behind closeddoors, while both the Pre-mier League in England andLa Liga in Spain are workingtowards a return to action.Both these leagues, could beplayed without fans in thestadium, which could be thenorm for sports in the fore-seeable future and might bethe case in the upcoming In-dian football season as well.India and Bengaluru FC

captain Sunil Chhetri how-ever, feels that the first stagetowards a resumption ofsporting action is to ensuretraining restarts fully."The Korean League and

Bundesliga are checkingevery player every singleday before he trains. Whenthey go to the match, theyhave already been tested,that they have no virus. But,you never know, becausesome can be asymptomatic.That's why, for a second layerof protection, they are say-ing don't hug each other,don't spit and stuff likethat," he said in a webinarhosted by non-profit organi-sation Yuva."But I think the first stage

is training only. Matches areonly once a week, but youtrain every day. It's going tobe 30 players minimum, 12coaches, a ball boy and a kitman. Everybody is goingback home, and you don'tknow who they are meeting.You don't know who they aremixing with. But then again,you have to start," Chhetriadded.Cricketers Rahul Dravid

and Zaheer Khan, bad-minton star PV Sindhu andshooter Anjum Moudgilwere other sports stars pres-ent in the webinar. Chhetrijoked that the lack of fans inthe stadium might exposethe abusive language thatfootball players use duringmatches."These superstars (Sindhu

and Moudgil) play a gamevery nicely and they arevery well-behaved, theydon't abuse," Chhetri said."So if there are no fans,

people will get to know ourvocabulary of abuses. We ut-ter nonsense, but we are al-lowed to say anything, ex-cept to the referee. We aredirty, we are ugly. If the fansare there, they are loud, andit (the abuse) all gets sub-dued. But if they're notthere, my god..."

Chhetri warnsplayers on abusesin empty stadium

THIS DAY, THAT YEAR...2016: Alastair Cook became thefirst Englishman to make10,000 Test runs, and theyoungest at 31 years and 157days, when he hit themilestone in Chester-le-Streetagainst Sri Lanka. Cook hadstarted the Test, his 128th, on 9980 runs and fell for 15 in thefirst innings. After Sri Lanka's fightback in the follow-on, led byDinesh Chandimal's century, England needed 79 to win on dayfour. Cook made 47 of those, reaching the landmark with a clipoff his pads off the bowling of Nuwan Pradeep.

Federer is the world's highest-paid athleteLONDON: Tennis star, RogerFederer has emergedas the world’shighest-paid athlete for 2020 as theCOVID-19 pandemic knockedsoccer’s Lionel Messi off top spot,according to the annual Forbes listreleased on Friday. The Swisstennis great, earned $106.3 millionin the last 12 months, including$100 million via endorsements, tomove up four places and becomethe first player from his sport to topthe list. Soccer players CristianoRonaldo ($105 million), Messi ($104

million) and Neymar ($95.5 million) and American basketball playerLeBron James ($88.2 million) rounded out the top five.

MUMBAI: Capital Cup, in the capital of the country will feature to-eighttop team of the India. This move was initiated by Football Delhi,wherein teams from Indian Super league and I-League teams will takepart. New Delhi which organises one of the oldest football tournamentof the world, the Durand Cup and DCM will add this to their fixturessoon which will also be an annual feature. Football Delhi presidentShaji Prabhakaran stated that his organisation is targeting the earlypart of next year to launch the tournament as the COVID-19 pandemicis unlikely to permit a big tournament with spectators this year. "Withoutcrowd this tournament will have no meaning and the COVID-19pandemic is unlikely to permit any tournament with big crowd to happenthis year. So, we are looking at early next year before the end of theseason," Prabhakaran said.

Capital Cup in capital early next year

BWF reschedulesWorld Junior

KUALA LUMPUR: TheBadminton World Federation(BWF) on Friday rescheduledthe BWF World JuniorChampionships 2020 to Januarynext year due to the coronaviruspandemic. The Championships,initially scheduled to be held inAuckland in September thisyear, will take place fromJanuary 18-24, 2021.

Renault to staydespite job cuts

PARIS: Renault said on Friday itwill continue to run a team in theF ! world championship, despiteannouncing nearly 15,000 joblosses in the wake of plummetingcar sales.

Australian, BritishMotoGP off track

LONDON: The AustralianMotoGP and British MotoGPwere on Friday cancelled dueto the ongoing coronaviruspandemic. The AustralianMotoGP 2020 was due to takeplace at the Phillip IslandGrand Prix Circuit from 23-25October.