K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

Telangana Assembly SpeakerPocharam Srinivas Reddy hassuggested that all those seekingto enter Assembly and Councilpremises must undergo Covid-19 tests before the commence-ment of the session. He saidthat Ministers, MLAs, MLCs,officials, Assembly staff, policeand media persons, amongothers, must not enter theAssembly and Council premis-es if they test positive or havefever, cough and cold.

Pocharam was speaking tomedia persons after a meetingwith the Legislative AffairsMinister, Chief Secretary andother officials, including police,on Friday at the AssemblyCommittee Hall.

Pocharam said that theHouse would run for 20 to 21days. According to him, thismonsoon session is being heldunder special conditions andthe authorities are taking all

steps to ensure that it is held ina trouble-free manner. Covid-19 rules being implemented by

Parliament would be replicat-ed for the state Legislature.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday urged womenpolice personnel to engagewomen in Jammu andKashmir to prevent youth fromtaking to terrorism at an earlystage itself.

Virtually addressing IPSprobationers at the SardarVallabhbhai Patel NationalPolice Academy here, Modialso said the 'humane' side ofthe police force in the countryhas come to fore during thecoronavirus pandemic.

Responding to a womanprobationer, Modi heapedpraises on the people of theunion territory, saying theywere "lovely" people.

"I am very connected tothese people. They treat you

with so much love...we have tostop those who take the wrongpath. Women can do that.

Our women personnel can

use mothers (in J&K)..if wedo that in the initial stagesitself, it will be very useful," hesaid.

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

The differing approaches of theChief Ministers of TeluguStates has just spilled over to anew area: implementing DBTas required by the Centre in thename of power sector reforms.

Jagan recently approved theCentre's diktat with regard toimplementing Direct BenefitTransfer (DBT) for supply offree power to farmers and gotthe measure passed in the cab-inet meeting held two days ago.He did this despite the fact thatin June the Andhra Pradeshhad opposed the Centre'spower sector reforms andwrote a letter, saying "it'sagainst the Federal spirit of theConstitution".

Jagan's sudden U-turn overDBT for supply of free power tofarmers has come as a bigshock to Telangana ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Sources said on Friday KCRdiscussed at length the impli-

cations of AP's decision onpower sector reforms withministers and officials, butcategorically stated that thiswould not influence his deci-sion not to implement DBT forsupply of free power to farm-ers in Telangana.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that the Centre has ques-

tionably linked power sectorreforms to States' entitlementto enhanced FRBM limits forsecuring additional loans.

In May this year, the Centreraised FRBM limit of Statesfrom 3% to 5% of GSDP, witha rider that States, in order toavail of it, need to implementreforms in the power sector,

public distribution system andULBs (urban local bodies).The power sector reformsmandate States to implementDBT for free power to agricul-ture sector.

KCR has been opposing theCentre's power sector reformstooth and nail right from thebeginning on the ground thatCentre cannot dictate Stateswhat to do as power subject isin the Concurrent list andmoreover the Centre cannotusurp powers of States.

HYDERABAD, SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 5, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN VIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 2 ISSUE 326*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

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‘Fintech the wayforward for Indianbanking, paymentsystem’

5

Man travels 1,200km on scooter totake wife to examcentre in MP

2

Covid-19: Building a betterIndian city

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to meet his Chinese counterpart inMoscow, where both are attending a three-day event, government sources

said today. "We have received a meeting request. A meeting is likely," thesources said. Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghi is believed tohave asked for the meeting on the sidelines of a ShanghaiCooperation Organization (SCO) meet in the Russian capital. TheChinese side reached out to the Indian mission for the meeting,said sources. Indian and Chinese troops are engaged in atense border row in eastern Ladakh since May. In June 20Indian soldiers died in a clash with Chinese troops atGalwan Valley.

RAJNATH SINGH LIKELY TO MEETCHINESE DEFENCE MINISTER IN MOSCOW

7 US COPS SUSPENDED FOR BLACK MAN'SDEATH; VIDEO SHOWS HE WAS HOODED

AWorld Health Organization spokeswoman said on Friday it does notexpect widespread vaccinations against COVID-19 until

the middle of next year, stressing the importance ofrigorous checks on their effectiveness and safety."Weare not expecting to see widespread vaccination untilthe middle of next year," spokeswoman MargaretHarris told journalists at a briefing in Geneva. "Thisphase 3 must take longer because we need tosee how truly protective the vaccine is and wealso need to see how safe it is," she addedreferring to vaccine clinical trials.

WIDESPREAD COVID VACCINATION NOTEXPECTED UNTIL MIDDLE OF 2021: WHO

Seven police officers have been suspended after the release of a video fromMarch showing a hood being placed on the head of a Black man in police

custody who later died, roiling the nation and leading to finger-pointing amonglocal officials. On Thursday, amid mounting questions about why it took fivemonths for the circumstances of Daniel Prude's death to become public, thegraphic video with Prude's last words went viral, onceagain forcing Americans to ask whether tactics used bypolice are too extreme. With protests and outrage buildinghere and nationwide, the city's mayor apologized Thursdayand rebuked the city's police chief, who she claimed didnot disclose to her the circumstances of Prude's death.

There has been a major force build-up of Chinese tanks and infantry forcesin the South Pangong region of Eastern Ladakh after the Indian Army

seized the initiative and gained control of several key heights in the area onAugust 30. Given the range of their guns,Chinese artillery would be located in'depth' positions, more than twentykilometres away from the Line of ActualControl. Source said that the presence ofadditional tank forces has been detectednot too far from Chinese positions inMoldo in South Pangong.

INFANTRY BUILD-UP IN SOUTHPANGONG AS STANDOFF INTENSIFIES

Jagan's U-turn shocks KCR,not to implement DBT in TS

‘Humane’ side of police cameto fore during pandemic: Modi

The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi interacting with the IPS Probationersduring Dikshant Parade at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National PoliceAcademy, through video conferencing, in New Delhi on Friday

Covid test report must forlegislators to enter Housen Speaker issues dos and don'ts for session under ‘special conditions'

PNS n HYDERABAD

It is one thing to crow aboutrecovery rates and quiteanother to deal effectivelywith critical cases. For, morethan 10 per cent of criticalCovid-19 cases i.e. patientsneeding oxygen or ventilatorsupport or treatment in ICU inthe country are fromTelangana.

There are 47,699 such crit-ical cases across the country,of which 4,776 are fromTelangana. About 12 per centof Covid-19 patients in thecountry needing oxygen sup-port are from Telangana.Likewise, nearly 7 per cent of

the cases admitted in ICU oron ventilator support are fromTelangana.

As per the data released bythe Union Ministry of Healthand Family Welfare, of the 8.3lakh active cases in the coun-try, only 28,437 need oxygensupport, while 19,262 are inICU or on ventilator support.

As per the data released byTelangana Health Department,of the 32,994 active cases,there are 7,246 patients admit-ted in government and privatehospitals in Telangana. Morenumber of critical patients areadmitted in private hospitalsthan in government hospitals.

HC: How come 9 Covid deaths daily?INKESHAF AHMEDn HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Court onFriday termed the report sub-mitted by the state governmenton the steps initiated by it tocontain the spread of Covid-19virus and treatment of theaffected patients as "incompleteand confusing".

A division bench of the HCexpressed suspicion over thenumber of Covid-19 deathsbeing disclosed by the stategovernment in its media bul-letins. Citing the spurt in thenumber of Covid-19 positivecases in recent times, the HC

pointed out that the state gov-ernment was only showing 8 to10 deaths every day.

The division bench of theHigh Court warned of sum-moning the Chief Secretary of

the state if such wrong reportsare submitted before it. TheCourt directed the state gov-ernment to submit a reportrevealing the details of thefunds allocated for the Public

Health Department beforeMarch 23, 2020 and after theentry of COVID-19 in thestate. It also directed the stateto submit district and state-wise action plans framed underthe Disaster Management Act.

The division bench alsomade it clear that there was nocomparison between the fig-ures given out by the state gov-ernment and the figures pub-lished by media organisations.It expressed its displeasure atthe state government for notsubmitting district-wise fig-ures of the Covid-19 virusdespite its orders.

Activists in Hyderabad cry foul as people eat catsNAMRATA SRIVASTAVAn HYDERABAD

Even as the Centre is seized ofa plea to ban trading in dog andcat meat (see inset),

animal rights activists inHyderabad have come acrossseveral cases people catchingcats and eating them. PanneeruTeja, an animal welfare activist,shares that he recently rescueda cat from the clutches of agroup of people. Teja says, "Ireceived a call from a volunteer,saying two men inDommaiguda captured andsealed a cat in a bag with no ven-tilator. They came on a scooty

with no number plate. We some-how managed to rescue it andalso filed an FIR against the men

in Jawaharnagar Police Station,Rachakonda."

JEE, NEET to go ahead, apex courtdismisses 6 Oppn-ruled States’ pleaPNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court todayrejected for the second time arequest to postpone the engi-neering and medical examsJEE (Joint Entrance Exam)and NEET (National Eligibilitycum Entrance Test) on accountof the coronavirus crisis. Thistime, six opposition-ruledstates had asked the court toreview its earlier order and putoff the exams for the safety oflakhs of students.

There is no merit in the peti-tion, Justices Ashok Bhushan,BR Gavai and Krishna Murari

said after considering it intheir chambers. "No case ismade out for reconsidering ourearlier decision," said the topcourt.

The SupremeCourt had onAugust 17 reject-ed a similarrequest by 11students from 11states.

Maharashtra ,Bengal, Punjab,Rajasthan, Jharkhand,Chhattisgarh and Puducherryhad decided to request thecourt to reconsider its decision

in the interest of students.The states had claimed that

the top court order failed tosecure students' "right to life"

and ignored "teething logis-tical difficulties" to be

faced in conducting theexams during theCOVID-19 pandemic.

They had asked forthe exams to be

deferred "in a mannerthat achieves the twin

objectives of ensuring thatthe academic year of the stu-dents is not wasted and theirhealth and safety is not com-promised."

IMD predicts rainsin TS from SundayPNS n HYDERABAD

After a two-week dry spell,rains are likely over parts ofTelangana again fromSunday.With no rains for overtwo weeks, the maximum tem-peratures across Telangana wit-nessed a significant rise. Themaximum temperaturesrecorded have been over 2 to 3degrees Centigrade above nor-mal. People are experiencingheat like in summer due to ris-ing maximum temperatures. Inview of the present conditions,power demand too has shot upall of a sudden to nearly 11,000MW over the past one week.

IMS scam accusedarrested for 2nd time

Telangana accounts for 10% ofcountry’s critical Covid-19 cases

HYDERABAD: ACB sleuths onFriday arrested ex-director ofInsurance Medical Service(IMS) Dr Ch Devika Rani --the prime accused in theIMS scam -- and eight otherson fresh charges of colludingand helping an accused K.Srihari Babu cause loss to thestate government to the tuneof Rs 6.5 crore.

n Ministers, MLAs, MLCs, officials, Assemblystaff, police and media persons must not enterthe House if they test positive or have fever, cough and cold

n Covid rules being implemented by Parliamentwould be replicated for the state Legislature.

n Legislators have to cometo the Assembly with test

reports. They will be allowedto enter the House if they

wear masks and havenormal body temperatures.

The division bench alsomade it clear that therewas no comparisonbetween the figuresgiven out by the stategovernment and thefigures published bymedia organisations.

‘Breeding ground forzoonotic diseases’A

group of animal rights bodies recently urged the Uniongovernment to stop dog and cat meat trade, saying it is the

"perfect breeding ground" for another public health disaster after theongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Zoonotic diseases are those that canbe transmitted from animals to people. Rabies, trichinosis, typhusand anthrax are some such diseases. In a joint letter to Union Healthand Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan in May, fourorganizations viz. The Humane Society International/India, Peoplefor Animals, JBF (India) Trust and Pawsome also requested him topermanently shut down unhygienic cat and dog meat markets, amidgrowing global concern about zoonotic diseases and public healthdanger zones.

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It is pertinent tomention here that theCentre has questionablylinked power sectorreforms to States'entitlement toenhanced FRBM limits for securingadditional loans

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(IN HYDERABAD)

The Covid-19 pandemichas been particularlysevere on urban India.

If one has to live under con-ditions of restraint in cities,how are localities where peo-ple reside to be redesigned?

For this, one has to under-stand the unique trajectory ofIndia’s urbanisation and thenapply highly specific solutions.

Urban India consists of‘cities in a city’, and these havedeveloped through the agesby a process of accretion ofsettlements. Accretionoccurred as a response toinvasions, physical expres-sion of new political regimesor ideologies, and regionaland political interests.

The process of accretioncontinued during the Britishrule, and they added plannedareas to cities for Britishers(civil lines) and the military(cantonments or militarylines). Cities central to thecolonial enterprise were devel-oped much more, like thepresidency towns of Mumbai,Chennai and Kolkata.

Thus, two types of spatial

patterns are visible in Indiancities - indigenous (e.g.Chandini Chowk in Delhiand Abids in Hyderabad),and the new (e.g. canton-ments built the British andcolonies built by housingboards, urban developmentauthorities after indepen-dence). In the West, denser,mixed land-use compactcities are more liveable.However, in Indian cities therelationship between urbandensity and liveability is notconsistently positive, particu-larly in the indigenous city.

Often, higher density inIndian cities is the result ofover-concentration in theindigenous city or unplannedmixing of land uses (I call it“mixed-up land use”) in thenew ones. The congestionforces so generated have anegative spiralling effect onliveability. How does oneaddress this uniquely Indian

phenomenon?One uniquely Indian way

was championed by PatrickGeddes, pioneering townplanner, who visited Indiaduring 1915 and 1919, andprepared plans for 18 Indiancities (e.g. Tanjore, Madurai,Balrampur, Lucknow andIndore). His work was com-missioned by both British andIndian rulers. Geddes believedin ‘diagnosis before treatment’and thus advocated survey asthe first step in planning. Thesurvey instrument was devel-oped in civic surveys inEdinburgh and became themodel for later surveys.

Geddesian innovationshave a contemporary ring tothem. For example, reducingthe number of paved streets inresidential areas and turningthe land saved into usableforms of open space, which issomewhat similar to placemaking. He viewed both citiesand human beings as wholes,and he saw the process ofrepair, renewal and rebirth asnatural phenomena of devel-opment.

His planning instrumentwas a diagnostic survey fol-lowed by ‘constructive andconservative surgery’. Thediagnostic survey starts with

an assessment of the nature ofgrowth of the city. The citywould seem chaotic to themodern eye trained to amechanical order, however,there is an underlying orderof life in its development.

The method of conservativesurgery is different from thetypical development of a new

grid pattern with 40-feet streetsthrough congested localities,which was common practice inIndia at that time. Moreover,gridirons, while relieving con-gestion in some parts of thecity, increase it in other parts.

Conservative surgeryshows that new streets maynot really be required, asexisting lanes can be substan-tially improved by rearrang-ing the artefacts and activitieson the streets. Conservativesurgery requires long andpatient surveys, that too in thefield involving hours of per-ambulation and sketching ondifferent sites. Geddes gave upon the mathematical straightline and aimed at a differentaesthetic - one more attractiveand comparably cheaper.

Thus, there are two styles— regular and formula-dri-ven vs. individual and free.The former is found in newtowns and the latter predom-

inates in indigenous townsand was advocated byGeddes. Diverse historicstyles represent a recogni-tion of varying preferences ofhouse owners.

For example, one personmay desire an open balcony,another a closed and projectingone, while a third prefers a dec-orated window. One house-holder prefers plain whitewashwhile another one wants apainted plater house, and a thirdprefers a blue or a green.

Slowly this is gainingrecognition. One of the mostwell-known examples is thetransformation ofShahjahanabad in Delhi. It isstreet development ofChandini Chowk keeping inview aesthetics as well as thecommercial needs of the res-idents.

Most important is theinvolvement of the real stake-holders of the area — resi-

dents, traders and those in thetourism business, who are inthe best position to con-tribute to the area’s redevelop-ment in collaboration withgovernments. This is anexemplar and can be replicat-ed in all commercial localitiesand housing colonies in India.

The Covid-19 crisis is anopportunity to rebuild a ‘cityin a city’. Making operationalthe individual and free stylemeans reclaiming local streetsand transmuting them intosocial zones.

Unlike traffic zones, socialzones combine car and pedes-trian movement, children’splay areas, social activities andidea of shared space is appliedto transform busy trafficintersections. For this to hap-pen, traffic engineers andurban designs would have towork together.

(Author is a Ph.D. fromUSA and a D.Litt. from

Kanchi University. The article is based on hisresearch and practice and

views are personal)

SAMEER SHARMA, IAS

Covid-19: Building a Better Indian CityUrban India consists of ‘cities in a city’, andthese have developed through the ages by aprocess of accretion of settlements. Accretionoccurred as a response to invasions, physicalexpression of new political regimes orideologies, and regional and political interests.

PNS n BIDIPET

Money lenders have beenexploiting the condition of thepoor in villages by lendingmoney to them at usuriousrates of interest. The poor arenot in a position to repay theinterest on the loans borrowedfrom money lenders. In fact,the money lenders have dou-bled the rate of interest nowcompared to earlier. The mostvulnerable are daily wage earn-ers and petty vendors.

The virus has played havocwith the lives of the petty ven-dors, daily wage earners andthose who do petty jobs. SinceMarch 22, when Janata curfewwas observed, they could notstep out of homes for twomonths. Their savings, thelargesse by the State andCentral governments exhaust-ed.

The workers were not able tofind work even after unlockingthe lockdown as the Viruspushed many sectors deep intocrisis. In villages, NREGSworks benefited the poor to an

extent. The street businesseswere paralysed completely.There are no takers for goodsother than essential commodi-ties and eatables. The pettyvendors who road about streetsselling their wares on pushcarts and baskets are not ableto sell their products. Theirlivelihood has become a hugeproblem. They have no alter-native except borrowingmoney from village moneylenders.

As per the government rules,the money lenders should not

lend money at interest morethan Rs 2 per Rs 100. Theinterest mafia is turning the sit-uation to their favour to exploitthe people. On ordinary days,the money lenders collected Rs5 per Rs 100 as interest. Nowthey have doubled it. Theinterest mafia has forgottenhumanity. The street vendorsare borrowing anywherebetween Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000from money lenders promisingto repay the loan on weekly ormonthly basis. The street ven-dors would have to repay the

loan or interest by evening.Their earnings all through theday are sufficient to pay theloans leaving nothing for them.

The money lenders givemoney on the strength of vehi-cles, goods and on execution ofa promissory note. If repay-ment of loans becomes difficultby one or two days for want ofwork, the money lenders willget down to showdown.

Many shops in towns andcities have displayed To-Letboards as the landlords got thebusiness persons vacated asthey failed to pay rent, whichis in the range of Rs 10,000 toRs 20,000 in district head-quarters and which is of theorder of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000per month in taluk headquar-ters. At many places, shopowners are borrowing moneyat usurious interest to payrent. Owner of a general storein Bibipet Venkatesh said thathe is finding it very difficult torun the family as his businessis going through a tradedepression following outbreakof Coronavirus.

Telangana reports 2,478Covid cases, 10 deathsPNS n HYDERABAD

The daily jump in the Covid-19 cases dropped in Telanganaon Friday as the state report-ed 2,478 new infections duringthe last 24 hours. The numberof cases came down despite anincrease in the number oftests. Officials said 62,543 testswere conducted during a 24-hour period ending 8 p.m.Thursday.

The state had reported 2,817positive cases the previous daywhile 59,711 tests were con-ducted. According to a mediabulletin issued from the officeof the director of public healthand family welfare, 10 morepeople succumbed to Covid-19, taking the death toll to 866.

The fatality rate in the stateis at 0.63 per cent against thenational average of 1.74 percent. Out of the total fatalities,53.87 per cent had comorbidi-ties. The new cases pushed thestate's tally to 1,35,884. Ofthem, 93,760 (69 per cent)were asymptomatic and 42,124(31 per cent) symptomatic.

The number of new cases inGreater Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation (GHMC)dropped to 267 from 452 the

previous day, indicating fur-ther improvement in the situ-ation in the state capital. Thenumber of cases also droppedin the state capital's neighbour-ing Rangareddy district from216 to 171.

However, it increased inMedchal Malkajgiri districtf rom 129 to 190 .Sangareddy, another districtbordering the state capital,recorded 67 cases against 76the previous day.

The number of new cases in GHMCdropped to 267 from 452 the previousday, indicating further improvement inthe situation in the state capital

Dubbaka by-pollto be held alongwith Bihar electionsPNS n HYDERABAD

The Election Commissionon Friday said it has decid-ed to hold the pending by-polls, including for Dubbakaand the Bihar Assemblypolls "around the sametime".

In a statement, the ElectionCommission said that it willconduct by elections for 64Assembly constituencies andone for parliamentary con-stituency. The commissionreviewed the reports andinputs from ChiefSecretaries/Chief ElectoralOfficers of many of the con-cerned states seeking defer-ment of the by-elections intheir states in view of variousfactors.

It may be recalled that thesudden demise of four-timeMLA and journalist SolipetaRamalinga Reddy has left adeep void in DubbakaAssembly constituency’spolitical atmosphere. AsRamalinga Reddy was morethan just an MLA, but aninfluential figure and a dearto all, it would be a herculeantask for the pink party to findhis ‘heir’.

Covid test report must forlegislators to enter HouseContinued from Page 1

Already two MLAs have under-gone corona tests. The otherMLAs have to come to theAssembly with test reports.Thermal testing facility andsanitisers are being made avail-able at the entrance of theHouse. Ambulances, doctorsand staff, along with oxygen,would be kept ready for anyemergency.

All those eligible wouldallowed inside the Assemblyand Council premises only ifthey wear masks and have nor-mal body temperatures. He

suggested that all those havingoxygen percentage that is lessthan 90 should not to come tothe Assembly. He made it clearthat there is no permission forvisitors to attend this session.There is no entry for PAs ofMLAs and Ministers.

Those who come to theAssembly should not attend rel-atives' functions. They shouldnot go to the residences offriends, the Speaker said. Theymust come directly from hometo the Assembly and go backhome directly from the House.He said thatCovid kits would bedistributed to MLAs and MLC.

HC: How come9 Covid...Continued from Page 1

It asked the state govern-ment to submit reports ofthe district-wise figures forCovid-19 cases from August31.2020 to September4,2020. The HC benchalso asked the GHMCCommissioner to submit alist of the number of isola-tion wards and Covid-19centers located in its limits.

The division bench ofthe HC passed these orderswhile dealing with a batchof Public Interest Litigation(PIL) petitions filed on theissue of the containmentand management of thevirus. During the course ofarguments, the HCexpressed its dismay overthe inaction of the state gov-ernment on private hospi-tals which are violating itsorders by collecting exorbi-tant amounts of chargesfrom Covid-19 patients. Itwondered if there was noresponsibility on the part ofthe state government totake action against the pri-vate hospitals which areviolating rules even afteravailing subsidies from it.

Activists in Hyderabad cryfoul as people eat catsContinued from Page 1

Unfortunately, this is not anisolated case. Some people,impoverished and famishedmost of the days due theimpact of the pandemic, arenow after stray animals tostop their hunger pangs. PostUnlock 1, when hordes ofmigrant set out on long march-es to their hometowns, a sec-tion of the media flashed pic-tures of people feeding oncarcasses of stray dogs enroute. Priyanka Samyukta, apara veterinary doctor and ananimal rights activist, alsochanced upon people trap-ping cats and kittens a fewmonths back. She recalls, "Iwas out walking my dogs,when I noticed that two young

boys - nearly 16-17 years old- holding a long stick with ahook at one end. They wereholding a bag and trying totrap a cat. When I approachedthem, they ran. I followed andwas able to get hold of the bagin which I found two cats anda small kitten. There havebeen several such instances,where activists have saved sev-

eral cats from such people."Cat meat is illegal in India.

"Yet, this has been going on foryears," shares Priyanka, adding,"The problem is that these peo-ple are difficult to catch. Wehave been trying to catchthem, but they live in slumsand hence to get hold of them- especially when are in the act- is very tough."

IMD predicts rains...Continued from Page 1

The Indian MeteorologicalDepartment, in its specialweather bulletin issued forTelangana State on Friday,has warned of thunder-storms, accompanied withlightning and heavy rains, inisolated places from Sundayfor three days. The rains willbe returning to the Stateafter a brief lull due to acyclonic circulation oversouth Chhattisgarh andneighbourhood, 4.4 kmabove mean sea level whichis getting weak.

During the past 24 hours,Nallabelly (Warangal Rural)received 4 cm rainfall,Shyampet (Warangal Rural)received 3 cm, Bodhan(Nizamabad) received 2cm,Parkal (Warangal Rural)received 2 cm, Talamadugu

(Adilabad) received 1 cm,Miryalaguda (Nalgonda)received 1 cm, Atmakur(Warangal Rural) received 1cm, Yeda Palle (Nizamabad)

eceived 1 cm andKothagudem (Kothagudem)received 1 cm of rain.

Meanwhile, major irriga-tion projects on Krishna,Godavari rivers and theirtributaries continued toreceive flood waters as onFriday. At PriyadarshiniJurala on river Krishna, theinflow was 67,300 cusecs,and outflow was 75,479cusecs. Nettempadu lift waspumping 1,500 cusecs, leftcanal was receiving 900cusecs and right canal wasreceiving 786 cusecs.

On Godavari, the inflowshave been moderate withSRSP receiving 7,513 cusecs,Yellampalli 6,112 cusecs.

Jagan's U-turn shocks...Continued from Page 1

He even dashed off a letter toPrime Minister NarendraModi in June demandingwithdrawal of the draft Bill onpower sector reforms, expect-ed to be tabled in Parliamentin the upcoming monsoonsession beginning fromSeptember 14.

The Andhra Pradesh gov-ernment too had opposedthe power sector reformsand written a letter to theCentre to this effect in June,saying " it ' s against the'Federal spir it ' of theConstitution".

Incidentally, 11 States havewritten to the Centre oppos-ing power sector reforms,including TS and AP.

At a time when KCR wasexpecting the Centre to rollback power sector reforms

bowing to pressure from theStates, the U-turn of the APCM, and that too from a non-BJP ruled state, came as ashocker.

That apart, Telangana'sfinancial outgo on account offree power to farmers is farmore than that of AP. This isbecause TS has more agricul-ture pumpset connectionsthan AP.

AP has 18 lakh pumpsetconnections, while TS has 25lakh connections. Besides,TS provides 24-hour freepower to farmers, while APprovides free power only fornine hours. The Centre'sDBT scheme mandates Statesto instal power readingmetres for all farm pumpsetsand transfer the subsidyamount to farmers everymonth directly into the bankaccounts of farmers.

‘Breeding ground for zoonotic diseases’Continued from Page 1

"Within that context, it is onlyresponsible for governmentsacross Asia, including India, toalso tackle the dog and cat meattrades," the release quoted

Humane Society's managingdirector Alokparna Sengupta assaying. Dog and cat meats areconsumed in China, Vietnam,Indonesia and the Philippines,besides India, according to therelease.

IMS scam accused ...Continued from Page 1

All the accused have beensent to fourteen days' judicialcustody.

In continuation of theirextensive investigation intothe multi-crore IMS scam,ACB sleuths on 3rd ofSeptember fresh charges in thecase registered under thePrevention of Corruption Act.

On Friday, ACB officialsarrested accused Dr. Ch.Devika Rani, former Directorof IMS, Dr. Kalakuntla Padma,former Joint Director of IMS,and Dr. Kurapati VasanthaIndira, former Asst. Directorof IMS. The other arrestedaccused were identified ascouple Kancharla Srihari Babuand Kancharla Sujatha ofOmni Healthcare, andKukkala Krupasagar Reddy,Tankasala Venkatesh,Bandi

Venkateswarlu and CherukuriNagaraju, both employees ofOmni Medi.

Investigations revealed thatone of the accused K. SrihariBabu floated shell compa-nies and indulged in circulartrading by infalting the pricesof products using different'paper companies' and causedwrongful loss to the govern-ment.

The product HB Cuvettesreportedly manufactured byHemocue were supplied todistributors at the rate of Rs3,300/- per unit. The distrib-utors of Hemocue supplied thesame items at the rate of Rs4,800/-per unit. M/s LegendEnterprises supplied the aboveitems to the Director ofInsurance Medical Services atthe rate of Rs 16,500/-per unitand thus charged an excessprice of Rs 11,700/- per unit.

TS contributes

10 % of Critical ...Continued from Page 1

In all, 1,290 patients ingovernment hospitals and2,136 patients in private hos-pitals are on oxygen support.Likewise, 694 patients in gov-ernment hospitals and 856patients in private hospitalsare on ventilator support orin ICU. A total of 2,488 per-sons have occupied regularbeds in various hospitals.More number of Covid-19patients in Telangana needoxygen and ICU support,compared to those elsewherein the country on an average.According to MOHFW,across the country less than3.5 percent of active casesneed oxygen support. But inTelangana, 10.38% of patientsneed oxygen support.

Moneylenders use Covidcrisis to their advantage

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2020 hyderabad 03

IN BRIEFIN BRIEF

The Government of Telangana has decided topostpone Teacher's Day celebration, onSeptember 5, as mark of respect towards DrPranab Mukharjee. The Department ofEducation, in a GO to all the heads ofeducational institutions, instructed that asmark of respect to the departed dignitary,Telangana is observing seven days of statemourning from August 31 to September 6 - both daysinclusive. During the period of state mourning the National Flag willfly at half mast throughout the state where it is flown regularly andthere will be no official entertainment. The authorities requested theeducational institutes to not celebrate the Teacher's Day onSeptember 5. They also asked schools/colleges to felicitate theawardee teachers after the completion of state mourning.

The Consortium of National Law Universitiesat an emergency meeting of the GoverningBody requested the National Law School ofIndia University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, toreconsider its decision of holding its ownindependent test for this year's admission to

BA.LL.B and LL.M. The emergency meeting ofthe Governing Body held on Friday under the

chairmanship of Prof. V. Vijaykumar, Vice-Chancellor, NLIU, Bhopalwith all the members present including the Vice-Chancellor ofNLSIU, Bengaluru, resolved that the decision was in violation ofRule 15.3.3. of Consortium Bye-laws as all members of theConsortium were duty-bound to admit students only through CLAT.After detailed deliberations, it was unanimously resolved to requestthe NLSIU, Bangalore to reconsider its decision of holding its ownindependent test for this year's admission to BA.LL.B and LL.M.

Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria, Chiefof the Air Staff (CAS), Indian Air Force,visited College of Air Warfare (CAW) onThursday. The Secunderabad based CAWwith its origins dating back to 1959 is anIAF institution of higher learningconducting courses on air warfare for tri-service officers in an integrated manner. During his visit to CAW, theCAS addressed officers from all the three services undergoing the44th Higher Air Command Course (HACC). He sensitised themabout the emerging contours of national security, emphasised theunique attributes of air power that would allow its employment inlikely scenarios and apprised the course officers about the progressbeing made in deliberations that are ongoing for creating integratedstructures towards enhancing synergy in future war fighting.

TS Government postponesTeacher's day celebrations

The Indian School of Business (ISB)through its initiative- The Global ISB Forum(TGIF), organised a discussion on 'Vision ofNational Education Policy for HigherEducation'. The conversation was aimed atgaining insights from the New Education

Policy. The panelists touched upon various aspects including - role offoreign universities, implications for degree granting status, liberalarts education versus specialized education, vocational training andeducation, infrastructure development, among others. Speaking atthe session, Shri Navin Mittal, IAS, Commissioner, Technical andCollegiate Education, Government of Telangana emphasized that agreater research funding, accelerating infrastructure and enhancedscholarship to students in meritorious institutions must be givenimmediate attention to implement the New Education Policy. Heunderlined on the need to strengthen Industry-Institute connect,which will help the students to understand the industry needs muchbetter before they enter into the job market.

Reconsider decision forindependent test: NLUs

Air Chief Marshal visitsCollege of Air Warfare

Road to New Education Policy

discussed at ISB's TGIF event

PNS n HYDERABAD

Industries Minister K T RamaRao on Friday exuded confi-dence that if Telangana isincluded in the Ease of DoingBusiness rankings along withcountries around the world, thestate is definitely going to be inthe top-20. He made the abovecomments during a conversa-tion with Google IndiaCountry Head Sanjay Gupta atthe US-India StrategicPartnership Forum's 3rdAnnual Leadership (virtual)Summit 'US-India week 2020:Navigating New Challenges.

He said the TS-iPass policyformulated 6 years ago hasattracted large scale invest-ments in the state. KTR saidthe reforms taken by theTelangana government in thisfield are on par with manyexcellent policies around theworld. Minister proudly saidthat Hyderabad has claimed itsrightful place on the globalinnovation map and has cap-tured the imagination of glob-al leadership.

In order to achieve self-suf-ficiency in various fields, it isnecessary for others to takeinspiration from the manyprograms undertaken by theTelangana government, saidKTR. Speaking on the occa-sion, Minister KTR said thatTelangana is moving towards

achieving self-sufficiency inadministration, schemes andattracting investments.

"There are many opportuni-ties in the current crisis andIndia has the potential toattract large-scale investorsfrom all over the world," KTRsaid. He said that instead oflooking at India as a whole,investors need to think about

the programs being undertak-en by the various progressivestates in the country based onthe policies of those states. Hesuggested the need for furtherlarge-scale engagement withthe states in that direction.

KTR expressed confidencethat the country's youth is themost attractive resource forIndia and that many compa-

nies will come forward toinvest based on the talent here.He said that for the existing tal-ent, the youth need more skilltraining. To that end, theTelangana government has setup the Telangana Academyfor Skill and Knowledge(TASK) and has been provid-ing them with skills trainingservices for the last five years.

Minister went on to high-light the setting up of T-Hubafter state formation and alsomentioned the 'The InnovationPolicy' which defined a holis-tic approach to bridge the gapsbetween Start-ups and govern-ment and to build the Start-upecosystem.

TS will be among top 20in world in EoDB: KTR

Industries Minister K T Rama Rao during a conversation with Google India Country Head Sanjay Gupta at theUS-India Strategic Partnership Forum's 3rd Annual Leadership (virtual) Summit 'US-India week 2020.

COVID CRISIS

Good samaritans joinhands to help needyPNS n HYDERABAD

The pandemic certainlybrought the world to a stand-still, however, it also broughtcommunities together andprompted people to help eachother. A few groups operatingin Hyderabad are going put oftheir way to help the needyduring these dark times.Interestingly, most of thesepeople are just common citi-zens and not connected to anyNGOs.

When Siddharth Rao, a 28-year-old from the city, madea WhatsApp group with just10-15 people to provide infor-mation about Covid-19, littledid he know that the groupwould gain so many members.He shares, "After my uncleAchyut Rao, well-known childrights activist from the city,expired due to Covid, I creat-ed a WhatsApp called'Combat COVID' with just 15members. Soon I started get-ting calls and messages inquir-ing about basic Covid infor-mation. I also added doctors

to the group so that the infor-mation passed on was accu-rate. We have around 104members in the group whohave successfully helped sev-eral people to get admitted inhospitals, get plasma donors,and provide any other infor-mation pertaining to the dis-ease."

Akhil Ennamsetty, an advo-cate, who was the first Coronasurvivor from Telangana todonate plasma also created anonline platform to help Covid

patients. "The platform wasstarted in May. Several peoplehave been able to benefit fromthe platform. In fact, we did-n't need any advertising, all thepeople who followed came tothe page via word of mouth."

An eight-member teamcalled Cure Bank is workingtirelessly to connect Covidparients to plasma donors.Sirish Javvaji, says, "I believewe should always worktowards creating a better soci-ety.”

An eight-member team calledCure Bank isworkingtirelessly toconnect Covidparients toplasma donors

Visit to tiffin centres now a costly affairPNS n HYDERABAD

In the wake of Coronavirus,breakfast items like idli, vada,dosa and so on have becomecostlier due to increase in costof essential commodities andvegetables, shortage of labour-ers and drop in customers vis-iting the vendors. Prior toordering food at a roadsidepush-cart break-fast vendoror big hotel, one has to loosenthe strings of his or her purseas the food has become pricey.

Earlier, Rs 100 used to fetchbreakfast for four at least at aroadside shop. But that's notthe case now. In fact, peoplehave made adjustments withtheir lifestyle and prefer to eatwhatever they have at homeinstead of going out to enjoythemselves food. Besides,

increasing the cost of essentialcommodities and vegetables,the other reason beingadvanced for increase in thecost of breakfast items to loss-es sustained by the push-cartfood vendors and hotels dur-ing the past five or six monthsdue to closure of their shops.

There is a 30-40 per cent

jump in the price of breakfastitems such as Idli, Vada, Dosa,Puri, Mysore Bonda and so on.The special breakfast itemstoo have become costlier. Aplate of Idli was sold at Rs 15or 20 prior to outbreak of thevirus. Now the idli is not beingsold at that price nowhere inthe city. Some have increased

the cost of Idli while some oth-ers have greatly reduced size.The Idli is now being sold at Rs30-50 a plate depending on thetype of the restaurant. The spe-cial Sambar Idli is being soldbetween Rs 50 and 70 a plate.The ordinary Dosa which wasonce sold at Rs 20 a plate nowsells at Rs 30.

Masala Dosa, Onion Dosa,Omlette, Upma Dosa pricesvary between

Rs 50 and Rs 70 a platedepending on the vendor. Atsome places, a Special Dosacosts Rs 100. A plate of MysoreBajji, which was sold at Rs 25a plate prior to Covid, now sellsat the double the price. Onehas to spend Rs 50-60 to havea plate of Vada. The prices ofa plate of puri or chapatti havealso increased.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Enforcement MedakDivision team on Friday arrest-ed two people for allegedlytransporting ganja. The offi-cials seized 850 kg of ganjaworth 1.5 crore. The arrestedwere identified as RathodBansilal and Rathod Shankar.

According to the officials,based on a tip-off, the MedakExcise enforcement team, ledby D Gayatri, AssistantProhibition & ExciseSuperintendent Enforcement,Medak conducted route watchat Doulatabad Crossroads ofHathnoora mandalSangareddy District. At about4.45 am, they intercepted aMahindra Bolero GoodsCarriage. On checking the

vehicle, they found 425 pack-ets of ganja in 10 gunny bagsfilled with groundnuts. Uponinterrogation, the accused con-fessed that they were transport-ing ganja from Andhra Orissaborder area to Maharashtra.

Meanwhile in another case,West Zone task force team,Hyderabad, apprehended oneperson near Shahinayathgunjoutpost, Jummerath Bazar,and seized six kg of Ganja. Theaccused Farid Sab was trans-porting ganja from Adilabadto city. He purchased six kgganja for Rs 5,000 per 2 kg. OnFriday, while he was waitingnear Shahinayathgunj out-post, Jummerath Bazar,Hyderabad and trying to sellthe ganja, the task force teamnabbed him.

2 held with ganjaworth Rs 1.5 crore

The officials with the seized ganja on Friday

TSECETpreliminarykey availableonlinePNS n HYDERABAD

Jawaharlal NehruTechnological University,Hyderabad (JNTUH)announced the preliminarykey for the recently conduct-ed TS ECET on August 31.

The authorities shared thatafter the exam, experts relat-ed to the subjects were invit-ed to prepare the preliminarykey for all the 200 questionsin 11 specialisations forwhich examinations wereheld. The preliminary keysand master question papers isuploaded on Telangana StateCouncil for HigherEducation's official website.

JNTUH also instructedcandidates to download can-didate specific response sheetconsisting of preliminary keyby entering the requireddetails. They can also checkthe options chosen by themduring the examination. Incase of any objection with thepreliminary key, candidatescan report the same throughonline mode. Every claimmust be supported by the evi-dence. Candidates can onlysend the objections bySeptember 6.

Helpdeskscome in handyfor patientsPNS n HYDERABAD

The help desk setup atGovernment hospitals areacting as liasion between theadmitted cases mainly fromdistricts and their familymembers as many admittedpatients are not carryingmobile phones and anxiousrelatives are concerned abouttheir health.

City-based NGO, HelpingHand Foundation has nowset up a help desk services atthe Gandhi hospital apartfrom the existing ones atDistrict Area Hospital, KingKoti, Osmania GeneralHospital, GovernmentNizamia General Hospital &at Government Chest hospi-tal, Erragadda for COVID -19. The newly setup helpdesk at GGH, will have fourPatient Counsellors and twoambulances attached to thedesk from 9am to 5pm daily.The volunteers will also assistelderly patients in providingpatient care & counselling.

Two chain

snatchers heldPNS n HYDERABAD

The Humayun Nagar policeon Friday nabbed two chainsnatchers and recoveredstolen material worth Rs 1.10lakh from them. The arrest-ed suspects were identified asL Uday Chary (21) fromBalanagar and a native ofMahabubabad, and G Raju(24) from Balanagar, a nativeof Medak. They were pro-duced before the court andremanded in judicial cus-tody.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Home Minister MohammedMahmood Ali on Friday con-vened a review meeting withthe Senior Level Police Officersin his office at Lakdi-ka-Pool.Ravi Gupta, PrincipalSecretary (Home), JithenderAddl DGP (Law and Order),Anjani Kumar , Commissionerof Police, Hyderabad, ShikhaGoel, AdditionalCommisssioner of Police(Crimes), Anil Kumar,Additional Commissioner(Traffic), Hyderabad, VCSajjanar, Commissioner ofPolice, Cyberabad and Sudheer

Babu, AdditionalCommisssioner of Police,Rachakonda Commissionaratehave participated in the meet-ing.

Minister appreciated thePolice Officers for successful-ly making necessary arrange-ments for peaceful completionof Muharrum and GaneshNavaratri and Immersion.Minister for Home said thatthis time it was a special taskfor the police for these festivalsin view of the spread ofCoronavirus for which manymeasures had to be taken bythe Police besides maintainingeffective law and order.

Minister reiterated duringmeeting that the TelanganaState Police has been rankedNo. 1 in the country in main-tenance of law and order,crime control and innovativeand people friendly pro-grammes besides effectivelyusing technology for detectionof crime, management of traf-fic, cyber crimes.

During the meeting,Minister also reviewed theposition of Traffic in the Cityand further arrangements forsmooth flow of traffic in thewake of ensuing AssemblySessions.

HM all praise for TS policeHome Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali at a review meeting with the police officials on Friday

PNS n HYDERABAD

Former Member of Parliamentand founding pesident ofTelangana JagruthiKalvakuntla Kavitha extendedher helping hand towards StJoseph's Secondary School(SJSS) in Hyderabad, respond-ing to an appeal on Twitter.The school works for theupliftment underprivilegedchildren.

The appeal was made byMarika Isabel Mary Gabrielwho has requested for com-puters for teachers to ensurecontinuous learning duringthe pandemic. Kavitha swift-ly responded to the request byproviding nine desktops to theschool in the presence of theprincipal Beula Gabriel andthe staff of the school. The for-mer MP also extended her bestwishes for the cause and mis-

sion that Beula Gabriel andSJSS envisage and wishedthem all the best in theirfuture endeavors. In responseto the gesture of former MP,Marika tweeted a video ofprincipal and the manage-ment of the school thankingformer MP.

Kavitha responded with acongenial tweet to thank SJSSfor giving her this opportuni-ty to be able to help.

LPCET to beheld onSeptember 6PNS n HYDERABAD

The State Board of TechnicalEducation and Training ofTelangana announced thenew exam date for LateralEntry into PolytechnicCommon Entrance Test(LPCET) 2020. The examwill now be held onSeptember 6, in two sessions- 11 am to 1 pm (Paper I) and2:30 pm to 4:30 pm (PaperII). LPCET is an entrance testconducted to grant admissioninto second year EngineeringDiploma courses inPolytechnics of Telangana.To apply for the test, candi-dates must have qualifiedITI with 60% marks.Candidates can check furtherdetails about TS LPCET 2020including application form,admit card, eligibility, exampattese, and others.

Kavitha donatescomputers to SJSS

KU to organise degreeexams from Sept 16PNS n HYDERABAD

The authorities of the KakatiyaUniversity (KU), Warangal,are gearing up to conduct theexams for the degree studentsfrom September 16 to October19. Controller ofExaminations, Prof SMahender Reddy along withother officials has releasedthe time table for the examshere on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion,

Mahender Reddy said thatthe sixth semester exams of theB.COM/B.Sc/BBA/BCA/ willbe held from 9 am to 11 am asper the schedule.

Meanwhile, the secondsemester exams of the B.Edsecond year will be heldSeptember 11 to 16. He alsoadded that the students mustappear for the exams wearingthe masks and they should fol-low the Covid-19.

IT Minister KT Rama Rao said thereforms taken by the Telanganagovernment in this field are onpar with many excellent policiesaround the world

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2020 hyderabad 04

Coronavirus slows downrecruitment process in TSPNS n HYDERABAD

In spite of clearance fromFinance Department, notifica-tions for recruitment in variousgovernment departments arenot being issued because of theimpact of Covid. In somecases, there is no progressbeyond issue of notifications.As there is no scope for issueof fresh notifications, manyunemployed have been return-ing to their native places andworking small errands. In fact,17,000 teacher posts remainedvacant in government schools,including 1,731 head masterposts. Similarly, 12,000 policeconstable posts remainedvacant in Police Department.There is no recruitment of SIsso far.

Municipal AdministrationMinister KT Rama Rao recent-ly announced filling of officerfor each ward. In fact, there are3,600 wards in the state.

Similarly, the FinanceDepartment gave clearance forfilling 2,000 posts in themunicipal administration min-istry. Over 5,600 postsremained vacant in MunicipalAdministration Department.There are 3,717 posts vacant inresidential schools for BCs.Further, 605 posts haveremained vacant for fillingthem up on outsourcing bases.

In Irrigation Department,

there are hundreds of vacanciesto be filled, but the recruitmentis not going on because ofCovid-19. TSPSC has said thatit is busy verifying certificatesissued earlier online and wouldissue notifications to recruitposts once the governmentgives its nod.

Ever since the state wascarved out in 2014, notificationto fill Group-I posts was notissued. In the first phase, it

planned to fill over 100 Group-I posts. Because of problems inZonal system, the notificationcould not be issued. In fact,there are 500 vacancies ingroup-I. In the new state ofTelangana, Group-2 notifica-tion was issued only once. Theunemployed have beendemanding the governmentto fill group-3 and 4 postswhich remained vacant on alarge scale.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Court onFriday issued standard operatingprocedure (SOP) for carrying outits limited physical hearing ofsome of its benches on an exper-imental basis. The physical hear-ing is scheduled to begin fromSeptember 7 and would concludeon September 11 of this month. Aspart of the SOPs, the entire HighCourt premises will be disinfect-ed everyday twice between 7.30 amto 9.30 am and after 5 pm.

The High Court will accepteither online filing of cases orphysical filing of cases as the casemay be. The cases filed by physi-cal mode will be scrutinized afterdue disinfection after 48 hours innormal course. All mentionsshould be made by the advocatesand litigant public only throughVideo Conferencing before allrespective Benches at 10.30 am.

Even while holding the courtsphysically, the respective courtswill take up the admission mattersin virtual mode in the forenoonsession, whereas the final hearingand other matters will be taken upby way of physical hearing in the

afternoon session or after exhaust-ing the list of admission matters.The registrar General of the HChas asked all the stakeholdersincluding the Advocates to followthe guidelines of the SOP whileappearing physically before thecourts scrupulously along withother instructions issued by it theHigh Court and Government ofIndia from time to time includingthat of maintaining physical dis-tance, use of masks, sanitizersetc.

He said that the entry to theHigh Court premises was restrict-ed only to the Advocates and

Parties-in-person whose names arepublished in the cause list. Theentry of parties or such otherstakeholders into the High Courtis permitted only if there is a courtdirection to that extent and on theauthorization given by the con-cerned Advocate. No one with thesymptoms of cough, fever, runningnose and people with less immu-nity and people without wearingmasks, be allowed to enter into theHigh Court premises. Personswith such symptoms shouldimmediately visit the nearestGovernment Hospital, and theircontact details be obtained, and

informed to the nearest CivilAdministration and the Directorof the Public Health of the state bythe Security Personnel of the HC.The Advocates shall enter into theHigh Security Zone through theGate No.4, after subjecting them-selves to the thermal screening atSecurity for detecting body tem-perature, infection status.

On entering the High SecurityZone, the Advocates Parties-in-Person would proceed to the des-ignated waiting halls and vacantCourt halls near by the concernedCourt Halls, and wait for their turnto enter respective Court Halls.

HC will accepteither online filingof cases or physicalfiling of cases asthe case may be.The cases filed byphysical mode willbe scrutinized afterdue disinfectionafter 48 hours innormal course

Revanth urges Centre to liftcurbs on Sec'bad Cantt roadsPNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC working president andMalkajgiri MP A RevanthReddy on Friday requestedUnion Defense Minister RajnathSingh to lift the curbs on closureof roads in SecunderabadCantonment area. He addresseda letter to Rajnath Singh onFriday in this regard and allegedthat the residents are facing a lotof troubles due to closure of 20roads in Cantonment area. Thelocal Military Authorities areacting unilaterally without fol-lowing any rules and not eveninforming the CantonmentBoard, he lamented.

Revanth Reddy, in the letter,mentioned that the Centralgovernment responded in thepast on the closure of roads inhis constituency by militaryofficials troubling about 10 lakhpeople. The Centre also direct-ed the Defence Department tolift the restrictions imposed onclosure of roads.

However, the SecunderabadCantonment officials are leastbothered about the Centre'sdirections, he said urging theUnion Defence Minister toinitiate steps to makeCantonment officials to openthe roads for common public.Revanth also attached thecopies of directions given bythe Centre in the past asking

the Cantonment officials toopen the roads for publicmovement, to his letter.

Revanth said that roads toMalkajgiri, ECIL, Safilguda,Risala Bazar, Bollaram Bazar,Lal Bazar and many other areaslead through SecunderabadCantonment area. "Lakhs ofpeople are facing troubles duethe closure of the roads byArmy officials now and then.The political parties submittedmemorandums in the pastalleging that the attitude ofArmy officials is in a disputablemanner. Telangana IT andMunicipal Minister KTRamarao too addressed a letterin this regard," he said in the let-ter. On the other hand, onesenior citizen Anup Kumarfiled a petition in SupremeCourt last month challengingthe closure of roads inSecunderabad Cantonment

area. The petition will come fora hearing very soon.

Revanth clearsthe air on newpolitical partyPNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC working president andMalkajgiri MP A RevanthReddy on Friday made it clearthat there is no political vacu-um in Telangana state. He saidthat the Telangana people donot want a new political partyand want to take up move-ments. Speaking to a section ofthe media on Friday, Revanthsaid that the people are in afeeling that the oppositionparties are not working up tothe expectations of the people.The Ministers — KT RamaRao and T Harish Rao aregoing on inauguration spreeacross the state, however, thegovernment is controllingopposition leaders in the nameof Covid rules. Revanth madeit clear that there is no spacefor a new political party in thestate as rumors spread for thelast several months that hewould float a new politicalparty in the state.Guv apprises President of

Covid situation in statePNS n HYDERABAD

President Ram Nath Kovindon Friday dialled TelanganaGovernor TamilisaiSoundararajan and discussedabout the President's upcom-ing video conference on theNational Education Policy-2020 scheduled to be held onSeptember 7.

The President has also inter-acted with the Governor onCovid-19 situation and askedabout the measures beingtaken to contain the pandem-ic in the State. The Presidentwished the people of Telanganato stay safe and to be in goodhealth and help prevent thespread of the Covid-19.

In his preparatory round ofdiscussions with Tamilisaiabout the scheduled videoconference on the NationalEducation Policy, the Presidentmentioned that quality of edu-cation at all levels andimprovement of higher educa-tion on a par with the globalstandards are vital.

During the proposed videoconference, the President willbe interacting with theGovernors of the States andMinisters of Education, while

all the vice-chancellors of theState universities will also jointhe meeting and listen to themessage by the President andhis interaction with theGovernors and the Ministers ofEducation.

The main objective of theproposed video conference isto create better awarenessabout the National EducationPolicy-2020, which is beingconsidered as the path-break-ing and is potentially capableof transforming the educa-tion system to meet the glob-al standards. The NEP-2020 isaimed at creating knowledge

economy and to make India asthe knowledge superpower.

Tamilisai informed thePresident about the variousinitiatives and the lead she hastaken with regard to the NEP-2020 and other key issues inthe higher education sector inthe State.

The Governor apprised thePresident about the webinarshe organised with six eminentpersonalities, including twomembers of the UGC, of high-er education on the topic of"Perspectives about NationalEducation Policy-2020: RoadMap for Telangana."

Many abstainfrom work atSrisailamPower stationPNS n SRISAILAM

The workers posted inSrisailam Left Canal Bankhydel power station abstainedfrom duty on Thursday with-out giving notice in largenumbers as the ElectricityDepartment officials haveconducted a mock drill in theplant on Wednesday withoutintimating to the workers.

The mock drill was con-ducted to assess the pre-paredness of the plant tomeet any eventuality in thewake of the August 20 fireaccident in the power plantclaiming lives of nine person-nel, including representativesof two battery companies.Daily at least 120-150 casualworkers report for work at theplant. But on Thursday, only100 workers reported forwork. In fact, many officersand staff members of theplant did not fully recoverfrom the August 20 fire acci-dent shock.

Covid dents TransportDepartment’s revenue PNS n HYDERABAD

In spite of vehicles coming onto the roads for the past twomonths and there is anincrease in the revenue of theTransport Department, thereis no growth in the revenuefrom permits and quarterly taxrevenue receipts. In August,the number of vehicles regis-tered exceeded those regis-tered in July by 14,977. Thenumber of vehicles registeredin August was 56,159. The carsregistered in August were10,621 as against 6,426 in July.

While 51,803 vehicles gotregistered in July, it was 66,780in August. Majority of the

66,780 vehicles registered werenew vehicles. The old vehiclesconstituted only 10 per cent. InJuly, the TransportDepartment earned Rs 296.44crore while the revenue earnedin August was 246.34 crore,registering a decline of Rs16.90 crore. In fact, quarterlytax is not being realised fromsome vehicles especially frommaxi cabs, contract carriages,travellers' buses and schoolbuses. These vehicles mostlyconfined to the garagesbecause of the Covid-19threat. The vehicles that areplying on roads pay quarterlytaxes, but there is no percep-tible change in the incom.

NTPC Ramagundam gets Covid care centrePNS n PEDDAPALLI

The National Thermal PowerCorporation (NTPC) has set up aCovid care centre at NTPC-Ramagundam along with five of itspower plants. The corporation'sExecutive Director atRamagundam, Raj Kumar inaugu-rated the new facility featuringTele Consultation, Tele Emergency,Covid care centre and TrueNatMachine.

Speaking on the occasion, hehighlighted NTPC's efforts to pro-vide best healthcare facilities foremployees and their dependents.Chief Medical Officer, Dr SashmitaDash spoke on various facilitiesavailable at the centre besides high-

lighting efforts from hospital man-agement and staff to fight againstCovid-19.

Setup at Dhanwanthari Hospitalof NTPC-Ramagundam, the 10+1ICU care bed Covid care centre willserve as a nodal point for treatmentof mild to moderate corona patients

in association with Apollo TeleHealth Service. The Covid centrehas been strengthened with newmanpower besides providing train-ing to staff and sanitation workersin bio-medical waste. Districtauthority also extended requiredtraining to lab technicians.

The hospital is handling Covidcases and now with the setup ofTrueNat machine, the diagnosisprocess for Covid care treatmentwill be further improved. Presidentof Deepthi Mahila Samithi,Sadhana Rajkumar, senior officialsfrom NTPC and CISF, office bear-ers of unions, medical staff fromDhanwanthari hospital and ApolloTele Health Service and otherswere present.

Left Parties demandComprehensive LandSurvey in TelanganaPNS n HYDERABAD

Left parties on Friday demanded the stategovernment to conduct a ComprehensiveLand Survey before introducing newRevenue Act in the Assembly. They alsodemanded Chief Minister K ChandrasekharRao to announce a Draft Act before intro-ducing new Revenue Act. CPI State secre-tary alleged that the new Revenue Act willhelp real estate businessmen.

Telangana State Rythu Sangham onFriday organised a round table meeting atMaqdhoom Bhavan on ‘Telangana- NewRevenue Act’. Speaking on the occasion,Chada Venkat Reddy alleged that the stateis under dictatorial rule though there isdemocracy for name sake. He alleged thatthe leaders, who encroached lands duringCongress and TDP governments in unitedAndhra Pradesh state are now in TRS party.The then YS Rajasekhar Reddy governmenthad set up the Koneru RangaraoCommittee, however, YSR governmentthrew the recommendations set aside thecommittee recommendations, Chada saidalleging that the Revenue Acts had becomea curse to the Telangana state.

Tribal schools gear upfor digital learningPNS n HYDERABAD

STEPapp (Student TalentEnhancement ProgramApplication) has received amandate from the IndianMinistry of Tribal Affairs toimplement its gamified learn-ing app across all TribalSchools in India in a landmarkdevelopment. This is the firsttime a government institutionhas tied up with an IndianEdTech startup on a mone-tised project.

This initiative will benefitmore than 1.5 lakh studentsfrom grades I-XII across thecountry immediately and willexpand the scope in the com-ing years. Through this asso-ciation, authorities willenhance the students' perfor-mance in school exams aswell as in competitive exams.This will also enable schools tomeasure the students' learningoutcomes through dash-boards. The content providedwill be in the English language.

STEPapp is a gamifiedlearning solution for studentsto gain conceptual clarity inmath and science through itsgamified format making itfun and enjoyable. It offersmany features including asimplified testing methodolo-gy, measurable learning out-comes, self-paced learning,content created by 400+IITians and doctors. TheMinistry of Tribal Affairs,India shared that STEPapp isa wonderful initiative to teachstudents about the concepts ofmathematics and science in agamified way so they can havefun while learning variousconcepts.

Officials told to procure seedsPNS n HYDERABAD

Agriculture MinisterSingireddy Niranjan Reddyon Friday directed officials tokeep sufficient stocks of seedfor the ensuing Yasangi seasonfrom this month itself. Hedirected the officers to startprocuring seed for paddy,groundnut and Bengal gramkeeping in mind the hugeexpansion in acreage due toincreased irrigation facilities.

The Minister, who reviewedseed availability in the Statewith principal secretary forAgriculture B JanardhanReddy and Seed DevelopmentCorporation ChairmanKondabala Koteswar Rao, said

rainfall has been good thismonsoon season and all pro-jects and tanks were brimmingwith water. "As a result, we areanticipating that the Yasangicultivation will increase byleaps and bounds," he said. Headvised them to keep sufficientstocks of seeds for most soughtafter crop varieties.

Act tough againstencroachers: VHPNS n HYDERABAD

Congress senior leader VHanumantha Rao on Fridaydemanded Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao to imple-ment former Prime MinisterPV Narasimha Rao's LandCeiling Act and land reformsbesides celebrating PVCentenary celebrations. TheCongress too supports KCR'sdemand of Bharath Ratna forPV, he said.

He also demanded thestate government to take upthorough discussion onRevenue Act in the monsoonsession to be commencedfrom September 7.

As there is noscope for issue offresh notifica-tions, manyunemployed havebeen returning totheir nativeplaces andworking smallerrands

HC issues SOP for physical hearings

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2020 nation 05

SHORT READS

Home delivery ofMata Vaishno DeviShrine 'prasad'JAMMU: The management ofMata Vaishno Devi Shrine saidon Friday that it has arrangedhome delivery of 'Prasad' todevotees throughout thecountry. Ramesh KumarJangid, chief executive officer(CEO) of Mata Vaishno DeviShrine said on his Twitterhandle, "Shri Mata Vaishno DeviShrine Board has introducedthe home delivery of Prasad tothe devotees in India. "Forfurther details and placingorders, please visit our websitemaavaishnodevi.org. You canalso get your queries redressedthrough 0-9906019475 from8AM to 8PM JMD". The shrineis situated in the Trikuta Hills ofReasi district in Jammu andKashmir. Before the ongoingpandemic, over 2.60 croredevotees from different parts ofthe country would visit theshrine each year. The shrinewas closed for devotees afterthe outbreak of the pandemic.

Guj extends ban ontobacco products forone more year

7 women killed inTamil Nadu firecracker unit blastCHENNAI: Seven women diedand several others were injuredin a firecracker factory blast inCuddalore district in TamilNadu on Friday, said the police.The fire cracker unit waslocated in Kurunkudi village inCuddalore district and the blasthappened in the morning. Theexplosion killed five women,including the unit owner,instantaneously and alsobrought down some buildings.Out of the four injured womenwho were admitted to hospital,two succumbed. Police and firetenders rushed to the spot andcarried out rescue operations.Meanwhile Tamil Nadu ChiefMinister K. Palaniswamicondoling the death of sevenwomen announced a solatiumof Rs 2 lakh to their families.DMK President M.K. Stalin alsocondoled the death of sevenwomen.

GANDHINAGAR: The Gujaratgovernment on Friday onceagain extended the ban on thesale, stocking, production anddistribution of Gutka as well asproducts containing tobaccoand nicotine for another year.The ban on these products wasimposed by the then ChiefMinister and now PrimeMinister Narendra Modi in2012. Nitin Patel, the healthminister as well as the DeputyChief Minister of Gujarat, onFriday said "There is a ban onGutka and Pan masala contain-ing tobacco and nicotine in thestate, where selling stocking,production and distribution ofthese products is prohibited.Keeping in mind the health ofthe public, the government hasdecided to extend the ban forone more year."

Another BJPMLA complainsto NaddaPNS n DEHRADUN

In yet another indication ofdiscontent in the ruling BJPin Uttarakhand, one moreparty MLA has written to thecentral leadership complain-ing about lack of develop-ment in his constituency dueto bureaucratic indifference.

Close on the heels ofDidihat MLA Bishan SinghChuphal meeting JP Naddain Delhi to share his concernover lack of development inhis constituency, party MLAfrom Raipur in DehradunUmesh Sharma Kau wrote tothe party president to lodgea similar complaint.

Kau said people have highexpectations from him andthey are disappointed to seedevelopment activities com-ing to a halt in his con-stituency.

‘Muslims being targeted inUP, framed in false cases’PNS n LUCKNOW

Bahujan Samaj Party chiefMayawati on Friday allegedthat besides Brahmins andDalits, Muslims are being tar-geted under the BJP regime inUttar Pradesh.

She also flayed incidents ofvandalising idols of B RAmbedkar in the state andasked the government to takeappropriate steps.

"In the SP government,Brahmins and Dalits wereoppressed selectively. Now inthe present BJP government,along with them, there is a lotof oppression of Muslims aswell. They are being framed infalse cases, which is very sad,"Mayawati charged in a seriesof tweets in Hindi.

"Idols of the messiah ofDalits - Baba Saheb Dr.Bhimrao Ambedkar - greatsaints and gurus were broken

in SP government, and namesof districts and institutions etc.named after them (Dalit icons)changed considerably...In thesame way, now, the presentBJP government is also run-ning," she alleged. "Now eventhe idol of Baba Saheb Dr.Bhimrao Ambedkar is beingbroken. The incidents ofVaranasi and now in Jaunpurare extremely condemnable.The government should takeappropriate steps in these mat-ters," Mayawati said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Delhi airport has set up aCOVID-19 testing facility atthe multi-level car parkingarea of its Terminal 3 for arriv-ing international passengerswho have to take connectingdomestic flights, its operatorDIAL said on Friday.

It will be operational with-in a few days.

The testing facility has beenestablished by the DelhiAirport International Limited(DIAL) in collaboration withGenestrings Diagnostic Centre,which is currently associatedwith the Delhi government totest COVID-19 samples.

The Civil Aviation Ministryhad on Wednesday said thatinternational passengers whohave to take connectingdomestic flights after landingin India will have the option of

getting themselves tested forCOVID-19 at the entry air-ports. If the RT-PCR testresult is negative, the interna-tional passenger will beallowed to board his or herconnecting domestic flight andhe or she will not need toundergo any institutional quar-antine, the ministry's ordersaid.The DIAL's press releasesaid, "Results of samples col-

lected at the laboratory will bedeclared within 4-6 hours tothe incoming passengers. Untilthe results are confirmed, pas-sengers will be isolated at thewaiting lounge or may opt tostay in a hotel."

"Constructed in 3,500 squaremeter area at multi-level carparking (MLCP) of Terminal 3,this is the first such arrange-ment among Indian airports,"

it noted. An international pas-senger who does not have aCOVID-negative result cer-tificate from a test done notmore than 96 hours prior to thejourney, and does not opt foran on-arrival testing facility atthe entry airport, will have tocompulsorily undergo seven-day quarantine.

Delhi airport sets up Covid testing facilityfor select arriving international passengers

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Election Commission onFriday announced that by-polls for the 64 assembly andone parliamentary seats in dif-ferent states will be heldaround the same time with theBihar Assembly polls, dates forwhich will be announced later.There is a vacancy of 27 seatsin Madhya Pradesh assemblyalso, which means by-elec-tions in the state will also takeplace around the same timewith the Bihar Assembly polls.

The poll panel in a state-ment said that a meeting washeld on Friday regarding hold-ing of by-elections in differentstates.The Commission saidthere were 65 clear vacanciesbecause of by-elections inAssembly or Parliamentaryconstituencies, out of whichthere are 64 vacancies in stateassemblies and one in a

Parliamentary constituency.The Commission said it dis-

cussed the reports and inputsfrom Chief Secretaries or ChiefElectoral officers of many ofthe concerned states seekingdeferral of the by-elections intheir states in view of severalfactors including the extra-ordinary heavy rains in someplaces and other constraintssuch as the pandemic etc."Considering the General

assembly elections in Bihar arealso due and required to becompleted before November29, the Commission has decid-ed to conduct all the 65 by-elections and GeneralAssembly Election of Bihararound the same time," theCommission said.

The Assembly elections for243 Bihar Assembly seats aredue this year.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Fridayissued notice on the applica-tion filed by senior advocateIndira Jaising seeking imple-mentation of the court's guide-lines on conferring senior des-ignations. A bench comprisingJustices Rohinton Nariman,Navin Sinha and IndiraBanerjee issued notice to theregistrar general of the apexcourt, returnable in four weeks,on the application filed byJaising. The apex court wouldexamine whether the processof designating senior lawyersbegin with online interviews interms of its 2018 guidelines.

In August, Jaising hadmoved the top court seekingproper implementation of the2017 Supreme Court judge-ment, where it laid down theguidelines for the designationof lawyers as senior advocates,

for a uniform and standardisedprocess for conferment of thesenior gown on lawyers in theSupreme Court and the HCs.

Applications were invitedby the committee for the des-ignation of senior advocates inAugust of 2018. In March2019, the first round of seniordesignations, in line with thenew guidelines, finalised 37applicants. However, in thepast two years, applications

have not been invited by thecommittee and the processhas been frozen since then."Many High Courts have duti-fully implemented the judg-ment of this Court in IndiraJaising (matter). However, byinitiating the senior advocatedesignation process only once,post August 2018, this courthas failed to comply with itsown judgment and 2018guidelines.

‘IPS officers' dedicationto service will inspireyoungsters to join police’PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Home Minister AmitShah on Friday greeted the IPSofficers of 2018 batch andsaid he was confident thattheir commitment towardsservice will inspire young-sters to join the police service.

Shah's comments came afterPrime Minister NarendraModi interacted with theyoung officers, who are cur-rently at the SardarVallabhbhai Patel NationalPolice Academy (SVPNPA)in Hyderabad, through videoconference.

"My best wishes to all theseyoung IPS officers on their

Dikshant Parade. May theyserve the nation with utmostdedication while ensuring itssecurity & integrity. I am con-fident that their commitmenttowards service will inspire ouryoungsters to join the IndianPolice Service," he tweeted.

The home minister said theprime minister's inspiringspeech will surely boost themorale of the young policeofficers and guide them onhow to strengthen the police-public relations.

In his interaction, Modisaid the "humane" side of thepolice force in the country hascome to fore during the coro-navirus pandemic.

Hope to see peaceful resolution ofdecade-long Syrian conflict: IndiaPNS n NEW DELHI

India has conveyed to Syriathat it hopes to see a compre-hensive and peaceful resolutionof the decade-long Syrian con-flict through a Syrian-led andSyrian-owned dialogue, involv-ing all parties.

This was conveyed byMinister of State for ExternalAffairs V Muraleedharan in histalks with Syria's Vice Ministerof Foreign Affairs andExpatriates Fayssal Mekdadheld through video confer-encing.

The virtual meeting onThursday provided an oppor-tunity to comprehensivelyreview the bilateral relationsand chart a road map for fur-ther cooperation in areas ofmutual interest, the Ministry ofExternal Affairs said in a state-ment.

Thanking Mekdad for hisassessment on the evolvingsituation in Syria and theregion, Muraleedharan reiter-ated India's hope to see a com-

prehensive and peaceful reso-lution of the decade-longSyrian conflict, through aSyrian-led and Syrian-owneddialogue, involving all partiesto the conflict that takes intoaccount the legitimate aspira-tions of the Syrian peoplewhile preserving the unity,sovereignty and territorialintegrity of the country.

Nine years of civil war inSyria has left thousands ofpeople, including civilians,dead, according to human

rights groups.Mekdad thanked the Indian

government for the timely giftof 10 metric tonnes of medi-cines in July 2020 to help Syriain fighting the COVID-19 pan-demic as also for the generousprovision of 1,000 scholar-ships to Syrians under theStudy in India Programme,besides 90 slots under ITECand 25 slots under ICCRGeneral Scholarship Schemegiven annually, the MEA said.

As many as 483 Syrians had

benefited from an artificiallimb fitment camp organisedby the Ministry of ExternalAffairs in Damascus in January2020 in partnership with theBhagwan Mahaveer ViklangSahayata Samiti (BVMSS),Jaipur, the statement said.

The Indian government hasearlier provided USD 12 mil-lion in humanitarian assis-tance to the Government ofSyria since the conflict brokeout in 2011.

Furthermore, India has set

up a bio-tech park and an ITCentre and extended USD 265million in line of credit for pro-jects in steel and power sectors,the MEA said.

The MoS for ExternalAffairs, in turn, apprisedMekdad about the steps Indiangovernment was taking toaddress both public health andsocio-economic challengesposed by COVID-19.

There was also a brief dis-cussion on the progress madeby India in vaccine researchand development, according tothe MEA.

India-Syria relations havebeen historically warm andfriendly, which have been nur-tured through regular exchangeof visits, the statement said.

Syria has been deeply appre-ciative of India's unwaveringsupport and continued devel-opmental assistance during itscrisis years, and has extendedunconditional support toIndia's candidatures for variousmultilateral and internationalorganisations, it said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A whopping 82 per cent peoplesupport the CentralGovernment's new NationalHealth ID, provided it onlyseeks and stores health-relatedinformation and not sensitivepersonal details such as bank-ing information, sex life, caste,religion, political affiliations, etc.

The National Digital HealthMission was announced byPrime Minister NarendraModi in his Independence Dayspeech. The ambitious initia-tive will see the creation ofhealth IDs for every citizen thatwill enable storing personalmedical records and diseasehistory electronically.

The draft of the policy wasreleased on August 26 with aweek stipulated for public feed-back. However, on September1, the government extended

the public feedback deadlinetill September 10.

On the basis of 34,000responses from citizens resid-ing in 272 districts of India,'Local Circles' attempted tobring out what the masses feelabout the idea of creating a cit-izen digital health id.

In the first question, citizenswere asked about their viewson the creation of such a dig-

ital health id. Over 23 per centsaid it should be created as itcould help in faster access tohealthcare, while 18 per centsaid it should not be created asit could lead to personal sen-sitive data getting compro-mised.

As many as 59 per cent saidit should be created but datasought should be restricted tojust health information. The

results of the poll show that 82per cent support digital healthid creation but believe sensitivepersonal details should not besought. The main objective ofthe draft policy has been stat-ed as providing guidance andcreating a framework forsecure processing of personaldata of individuals who are apart of the national digitalhealth ecosystem.

82% back Centre's Health IDinitiative but wary of data-sharing

Terrorist killed,army officerinjured in KashmirencounterPNS n SRINAGAR

One terrorist was killed and anarmy officer injured in anongoing encounter in NorthKashmir's Baramulla district onFriday, officials said. Theencounter started in Yediporaafter a joint team of the policeand the army cordoned off thearea on the basis of a specificinformation about terroristshiding there. As the securityforces zeroed in on the spotwhere the terrorists were hid-ing they came under a heavyvolume of fire that triggered theencounter. "One terrorist hasbeen eliminated. Joint opera-tion in progress," army said.

PNS n GWALIOR

Rains and potholed roads wereno deterrence for a Jharkhandman who drove over 1,200 kmon a scooter, with his pregnantwife sitting pillion, so that shecould appear for an exam foraspiring teachers here inMadhya Pradesh.

The tribal couple,Dhananjay Kumar (27) and hiswife Soni Hembram (22), trav-elled on the two-wheeler fromGanta Tola village in Goddadistrict of Jharkhand to reachGwalior, a centre for DEd(Diploma in Education) exam,required to be cleared by thosewanting to take up teachingjobs.

The wish to see his wifebecome a schoolteacherinspired Kumar to undertakethe arduous journey, coveringmore than 1,200 km acrossfour states, braving rains and

bad roads in the midst ofCOVID-19-enforced lock-down.

As trains, buses and othermeans of transport were notavailable, we decided to tra-verse the journey by road onour two-wheeler, Kumar said.

My wife, who is pregnant,was initially reluctant to takethis arduous journey. Butafter seeing my determina-tion, she agreed for this longjourney, he said.

The couple arrived here onAugust 30 for DEd exam beingconducted by the MP Board of

Secondary Education. Theexamination will continue tillSeptember 11.

As a video of the couple andtheir journey taken by somenewspersons went viral onsocial media, the districtadministration stepped in tohelp them.

If I had hired a taxi for com-ing to Gwalior, it would havecost Rs 30,000 which was a bigamount for me. Whatever lit-tle jewellery we have, we mort-gaged it to raise Rs 10,000.

"So far, we have spent Rs5,000 on our one-way journeyand on a room that we havetaken on rent in DeendayalNagar here, Kumar, who hasstudied till Class 8, said.

We started off on August 28morning and enroute stayed anight each in Muzaffarpur(Bihar) and Lucknow to reachGwalior on our scooter, saidKumar.

Man travels 1,20 0km on scooterto take wife to exam centre in MP

SC notice on guidelines onsenior designations to advocates

Bypolls for 64 seats along withBihar Assembly elections: EC

Cong MLA’smother writesto YechuryPNS n THRISSUR

The 68-year-old mother ofCongress legislator AnilAkkara on Friday wrote toCPI-M General SecretarySitaram Yechury express-ing her deep anguish at theway a top CPI-M Keralaleader addressed her son asSatan's son.

In her letter, the motherLilly Antony said they werenot going to lodge any case ora police complaint againstCPI-M leader Baby John forhis outrageous statement.

"I do not know if I shouldwrite a letter like this to avery top leader. But I amdoing it because I am deeplypained when my son is calledSatan's son. In fact, my hus-band, a farmer and a driverby profession, who passedaway in 2004, and AnilAkkara belong to two differ-ent political parties.

If the RT-PCR tes