PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Court onFriday moved quickly to stay a con-tentious government order issuedearlier by the Chief Secretary reg-ulating the entry of Covid patientsfrom other states into Telangana.

Terming the order as 'discrimina-tory', the High Court directed PoliceDepartment not to stop ambu-lances at inter-state borders andwanted its fiat to be communicatedimmediately to officials concerned.

A Bench of Chief Justice HimaKohli and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy

responded to a PIL (public inter-est litigation) petition filed bymoving a House motion challeng-ing the Telangana government'srecently issued guidelines onCOVID-19 patients being brought

from other States to Hyderabad formedical assistance. The PIL wasfiled by retired IRS officerGarimella Venkata Krishna Rao.

The Bench said that no authori-sation was required for patients toenter the state. In case a patient orkin applies for authorisation, theauthorities can assist them insecuring hospitalization.

The Court said that the govern-ment "should not adopt any cir-cuitous way of issuing fresh guide-lines, circular or order putting ped-als on inter-State travel of ambu-lances carrying COVID-19 patients".

HYDERABAD, SATURDAY MAY 15, 2021; PAGES 12 `3

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CHIRANJEEVI'S‘LUCIFER’ REMAKETO HAVE DIREC-

TOR CHANGE

2

Black fungus hasclaimed 52 lives in

Maha so far: Official

5

Akshaya Tritiyabegins on sombre

note

8

Pandemic Wave 2.0:Plan of action

SPUTNIK LIGHT MAY BE INDIA'S 1STONE-DOSE VACCINE

Russia's Sputnik Light could be the firstsingle-dose vaccine to be used in Indiaand Dr Reddy's will have discussions

with the government and the regulator inJune for an immediate launch, thecompany said. "We are working veryclosely with our Russian partner and theGamaleya Institute on this. As you may beaware, the Sputnik Light has already beenapproved in Russia. It demonstrated anefficacy of 79.4%. This is a single-shot vaccine,"Deepak Sapra, the CEO of Dr Reddy's, said. "What it essentiallyis, is that it is the first shot of Sputnik," he explained, adding thata second dose would take the efficacy to up to 91.6%.

SECOND YEAR OF PANDEMIC SET TOBE ‘FAR MORE DEADLY': WHO CHIEF

The WHO said Friday that the Covid-19pandemic's second year was ontrack to be its deadliest, as he

urged rich countries to donatevaccines rather than jab children."We're on track for the second year ofthis pandemic to be far more deadlythan the first," the World HealthOrganization's director-general TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus told a pressconference, adding: "I understand why somecountries want to vaccinate their children and adolescents,but right now I urge them to reconsider and to insteaddonate vaccines to Covax."

OZ RESUMES REPATRIATION FLIGHTSFROM INDIA FOR STRANDED CITIZENS

The repatriation flights facilitated by theAustralian government for itsstranded citizens in India resumed

from today, Australia's Foreign MinisterMarise Payne said. Ms Payne said thata flight today departed from Sydney topick up Australian passengers in NewDelhi before arriving back in Darwin onSaturday. It has also carried life-savingoxygen equipment to India to support itsCOVID-19 response, she said. Ms Payne saidthe passengers would have to undergo a strict quarantine tomake sure they are not carrying the variant of the coronavirusfirst identified in India.

75 DEATHS AT GOA'S BIGGEST COVIDHOSPITAL FIGHTING OXYGEN CRISIS

Seventy-five patients have died at the GoaMedical College and Hospital - thestate's biggest Covid facility - in the

past four days, because of "logisticissues" in the supply of medical oxygen.Thirteen died on Friday, according to for-mer Deputy Chief Minister Vijai Sardesai,whose Goa Forward Party was allied withthe ruling BJP before quitting last monthover "anti-Goan policies". On Thursday 15deaths were recorded. The day before -Wednesday - 21 people died, and on Tuesday 26 people lost theirlives. All 75 deaths, Mr Sardesai said, took place in the "dark hours,which is the time from 1 am to 6 am..."

SNV SUDHIRn VIJAYAWADA

Telangana government issuingguidelines for the entry of Covidpatients from other states for treat-ment at Hyderabad hospitals hadsnowballed into a major politicalcontroversy on Friday even asscores of patients in ambulances onoxygen support at Andhra Pradesh- Telangana borders had waited forhours until a reprieve came in theform of TS high court's order.

While political parties in AndhraPradesh had criticised TelanganaChief Minister K ChandrasekharRao for his 'unilateral' and 'dictato-rial' attitude of not allowing patientsenter Hyderabad terming it deny-ing medical treatment, a fundamen-tal right, Andhra Pradesh chief min-ister had been accused of 'soft ped-dling' over the issue due to his

'friendly ties' with KCR. Leadersof various political parties remind-ed that Hyderabad still remained acommon capital for both the statesuntil 2024 and none could restrictanyone's entry to the city.

Though the state governmenthad impleaded in a case filed againstTelangana government's guidelines

and restricting entry of AP ambu-lances into Hyd and AP governmentvociferously presented their argu-ments, leaders questioned the silenceof Jaganmohan Reddy, who was notinclined to talk to his Telanganacounterpart to resolve the issue.

CMs under fire for interstaterestrictions on Covid patients

AP argues interstatemovement is afundamental right

Andhra Pradesh Advocate GeneralSriram Subramaanyam in the TS

High Court on Friday said thatinterstate movement was afundamental right under article 21of the Constitution of India. Such arestriction on travel wasunconstitutional under article 21 ofthe Constitution of India, he said.He said the provisions referred to inthe circular, epidemic diseases actand national disaster managementact 2005 does not allow a state todiscriminate on the basis ofresidence of a patient.

No entry in TS withouthospital confirmation

ML MELLY MAITREYI n HYDERABAD

With the Union government appar-ently allocating to States liquidmedical oxygen and other medicalsupplies in line with their respectivesegments of population to be cov-ered in the cohort of 18-44 years,Telangana, facing the double wham-my of surging Covid cases across thestate in the raging second wave andthe influx of Covid patients fromneighbouring states seeking treat-ment in Hyderabad's famed hospi-tals, on Friday sought to further reg-ulate the entry of Covid patients atinter-state borders. The government

issued a circular regulating theentry of Covid patients from theneighbouring States by stoppingthose without prior confirmationfrom hospitals in Hyderabad andelsewhere in the State.

HC stays order stopping ambulancesSays don't adopt any circuitous way

100 ventilators receivedthrough PM Cares defectiveNAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Compounding the woes of thealready stretched public healthinfrastructure in Telangana amidstthe raging pandemic, as many as100 ventilators received by the statethrough the PM Cares Fund havebeen found to be defective.

The service provider concernedhas not been responding prompt-ly to complaints regarding the

defective ventilators, according tosources.

The Government of India hasbeen providing ventilators toStates, which in turn allot them tovarious medical institutions. Aspart of this, TS has received around1,300 ventilators.

An official in the Medical andHealth Department said: "Aftersupplying the ventilators,

230 teachers succumbedto Covid in second wave15 teachers died after performing election dutiesANUSHA PUPPALAn HYDERABAD

In all, 230 government teachers inTelangana lost their lives in thecurrent second wave of Covid-19.

The Telangana United TeachersFederation (UTF) said that major-ity of these teachers were forced toattend schools up to April 26, 2021due to which they were infected.Some were infected after theyperformed elections duties.

About 500 teachers weredeployed for election duties in theNagarjuna Sagar Assembly con-stituency as well as Warangal andKhammam MunicipalCorporations. Among them, 15teachers died due to Covid-19.Among the 230 teachers who died

in the second wave, 166 were inservice and 59 were retired teach-ers. At 25, the highest death tollwas recorded in Sangareddy dis-trict and 16 deaths occurred inHyderabad district.

Sputnik V vaccinelaunched at Rs 995.4 per dosePNS n NEW DELHI

Dr Reddy's Laboratories onFriday launched COVID vaccineSputnik V in India and theimported vaccine is priced at Rs995.4 per dose.

AP CID arrestsMP for seditionafter he says‘cancel CM's bail'PNS n HYDERABAD

Narsapuram MP, KanumuriRaghurama Krishnam Raju, wastoday arrested by the AndhraPradesh Criminal InvestigationDepartment (CID) for seditionweeks after the rebel YSRCongress leader asked a CBI spe-cial court to cancel the bail grant-ed to his party founder, ChiefMinister Jagan Mohan Reddy, ina disproportionate assets case.

Raju was arrested from hisresidence in Hyderabad forallegedly acting in a way detri-mental to the prestige of thestate government, ANI reported.The 59-year-old MP's allegationsinclude that of corruption againstMr Reddy's government.

Rs 1.35 lakh croredisbursed underKisan scheme: PMPNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi onFriday said the Centre has trans-ferred around Rs 1,35,000 crore sofar under the PM-KISAN schemewith the payment of eighth instal-ment on Friday and is also procur-ing higher quantity of paddy andwheat at MSP to boost farmers'income. Out of the total amountdisbursed since the launch of thescheme in February 2019,

Recoveries outnumber daily Covid casesPNS n NEW DELHI

India's daily COVID-19 recover-ies have outnumbered the dailynew cases, taking the total recov-eries to over two crore, the UnionHealth Ministry said on Friday.

This is the third time in the lastfour days that recoveries have out-numbered daily cases.

India's cumulative recoverieshave surpassed 2 crore(2,00,79,599) with 3,44,776patients recuperating in a day.

"It outnumbers India's dailynew COVID cases for the third

time in the last four days," theministry said, adding ten statesaccount for 71.16 per cent of thenew recoveries.

A total of 3,43,144 new coron-avirus infections were registered

in a day. Maharashtra has reported the

highest daily new cases at 42,582.It is followed by Kerala with39,955 while Karnataka reported35,297 new cases.

The cumulative tests conduct-ed in the country for detection ofCOVID-19 stands over 31 crore,and the cumulative positivity ratehas also marginally increased to7.72 per cent. However, the dailypositivity rate slightly declined to20.08 per cent, the ministry said.

Monsoon to make early arrival over Kerala: IMDPNS n NEW DELHI

The southwest monsoon is likely toarrive over Kerala on May 31, a dayearlier than its normal onset date, theIndia Meteorological Department(IMD) said on Friday.

The normal onset date of themonsoon over Kerala is June 1.

"This year, the onset of the south-west monsoon over Kerala is likelyto be on 31st May with a model errorof plus/minus 4 days," the IMD said.

In the Indian monsoon region,initial monsoon rains are experi-enced over south Andaman Sea andthe monsoon winds then advancenorth-westwards across the Bay of

Bengal. According to the new normal

dates of monsoon onset or progress,

the southwest monsoon advancesover the Andaman Sea around May22. As a cyclone is expected to form

over the Arabian Sea, the cross-equa-torial south westerlies have tem-porarily strengthened over theArabian Sea.

The cross-equatorial flow is verylikely to strengthen and deepenover the Bay of Bengal from May 20and a sustained rainfall activity islikely over the south Bay of Bengaland Andaman Nicobar Islands fromMay 21.

Hence, the monsoon advanceover Andaman and Nicobar Islandsis very likely around May 21.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) has said mon-soon is expected to be normal thisyear.

No vaccinationtoday and tomorrowPNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana Government hassuspended the ongoing vaccina-tion drive for the second dose fortwo days --- Saturday andSunday.

Director of Public Health DrSrinivasa Rao said that theGovernment of India hadincreased the period of intervalbetween the first and the seconddose of Covishield vaccine fromthe present duration of 6-8weeks to 12-16 weeks.

About 500 teacherswere deployed forelection duties in theNagarjuna SagarAssembly constituencyas well as Warangaland KhammamMunicipal Corporations

o Entry of Covid patients from other States linked to nod

from Hyd hospitals willing to treat them

o Over 80% of oxygen, ICU beds occupied in TS hospitals

o Over 45% of Covid patients in TS are outsiders: DPH

o State concerned over rising demand for medical

oxygen, Remdesivir injections

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hyderabad 02HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 15, 2021

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Pandemic managementinvolves multiple tasksbeing performed at dif-

ferent levels. Subsidiarity pro-vides one way of assignmentof tasks (or functions) to mul-tiple levels in a way thatbrings about coherence andmaximizes their effectiveness.The principle of subsidiarity,popularized by ProfessorWalter Stohr at the Universityof Vienna, states that assign-ment of functions should startwith the lowest administrativeunit and all functions that arebest performed by the lowestunit should be portioned outto it. What the lowest level isunable to do should then beassigned to the next higherlevel. The same process isrepeated for succeeding levels.In the case of COVID-19management, let us do theallocation of functions tothree levels: locality (e.g.wadas, mohallas, purwas,petas), district and the State.

At the lowest level (locali-ty), coronavirus medical facil-ities (called centres) would beestablished in buildings (e.g.banquet halls, community

halls) or open grounds (e.g.exhibition grounds/stadia).These centres would containbeds, beds with oxygen (cylin-ders or concentrators) andwould be manned by nursingand medical students andsupervised by AYUSH doctors(India has more than 7 lakhAYUSH doctors). Testingwould also be performed atthis level. Administrativearrangements, such as hiringof beds from tent companies,i d e n t i f y i n gphilanthropists/organizationsto provide food/water, etc.would be looked after by thelocal tahsildars/BDOs/munic-ipal inspectors.

These centres would be thefirst port-of-call for all afflict-ed people from the localities.Here, medical staff wouldassess their condition anddivide the patients into threecategories: (1) not so seriouscases would be sent homewith a medicine kit and their

condition would be moni-tored by doctors using tele-consultation, (2) patientsrequiring observation and/oroxygen would be admitted inthe centre for a few days, and(3) serious patients would bereferred to hospitals having atie-up with the centres.Ambulances located at thecentres would ferry seriouspatients to the hospitals fortreatment in hospitals.Patients would also be referredto private hospitals from thecentres only.

The second level(district/municipal) and

would perform the followingfunctions: arrange for tie-upof hospitals to the centre(s);supply oxygen and medicinesto centres; maintain and oper-ate ambulances; mobilize anddeploy AYUSH doctors andmedical/nursing students;supply vaccines; collect dataand act on information(including grievances); andcoordinate between the mul-tiple centres and linked-uphospitals.

The second level wouldalso be responsible for the roll-out of active surveillance-containment in order to cre-

ate a ring of immunity aroundeach infected person. Locallevel field workers (e.g. ASHAworkers) would be identifiedto conduct house-to-housevisits periodically in order toidentify infected persons andprevent sick people from leav-ing their homes, and isolatethe super-spreaders. Micro-level lockdowns would also bedecided based on this infor-mation. In this way, the sur-

v e i l l a n c e - c o nt a i n m e ntmethod would prevent thevirus from spreading in otherlocalities (social networks).

Vaccination would be donestrategically in order to breakthe link between infected andhealthy people. The tacticwould be to track down eachand every case of COVID-19,seclude the patient and firstvaccinate every person knownto have physically come intocontact with the carrier. Thiswould reinforce the ring ofimmunity created aroundinfected people and seal offout-breaks from the rest of thepopulation. For vaccination,the experienced pulse poliohealth workers are readilyavailable.

The third level (StateGovernment) would performthe following functions: (1)continuously review andrevise the action plan based onregular feedback, (2) decideon locking down

localities/wards/cities/vil-lages/districts based on themorbidity and mortality pat-terns, (3) ensure doorstepdistribution of food, medi-cines and daily provisions,particularly to the poor andthe vulnerable, (4) monitorand coordinate conversion ofestablishments coronavirusmedical centres, (5) distributepensions, direct cash transfer,etc. to the local residents, (6)procure and supply all med-ical and health supplies andtechnical assistance, (7) mobi-lize and provide digital solu-tions for monitoring opera-tions at all levels, track patientsand provide them access totele-consultation with doc-tors, (8) organize advocacy ona range of issues that are con-nected to prevention ofCOVID-19 and its treatment,and (9) provide direct help ifthe districts/municipalitiesare overwhelmed by a largenumber of cases.

This action plan provides abasic template for integratingpandemic control operationsin a way that the whole effortbecomes greater than a meresum of its parts. Most impor-tantly, the action plan is a liv-ing document and is contin-uously updated and improvedbased on feedback receivedfrom lower levels. No matterwhat the upgrade to the actionplan, the cornerstone wouldbe adherence to the subsidiar-ity principle - processes anddecisions that can be per-formed at a lower level shouldbe performed there. Onlythose functions that cannot besatisfactorily done at the lowerlevel would be "delegated" tohigher levels of government.Such reverse delegation wouldalso include entrustmentfunctions to the private sectorand the 'third' sector.

(Author has a PhD fromUSA and a DLitt from

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

personal)

DR. SAMEER SHARMA

PANDEMIC WAVE 2.0: PLAN OF ACTION Vaccination would be done strategically inorder to break the link between infectedand healthy people. The tactic would be totrack down each and every case of Covid,seclude the patient and first vaccinateevery person known to have physicallycome into contact with the carrier

TRS moves to isolate Eatela base in HuzurabadML MELLY MAITREYI

n HYDERABAD

The Telangana Rashtra Samithileadership has moved to ensurethat none from the party unitin Huzurabad constituencyveers towards the camp ofEatela.

After Etela said that he hadbeen vindictively targeted bythe party leadership with alle-gations of encroachment onassigned lands and made itclear that he would not com-promise on his self-respectand fight it out in 'people'scourt', the party leadershipassigned Minister GangulaKamalakar to manage the partyaffairs in the constituency.

Kamalakar, who figuresamong the other Ministersidentified by the Congress asthose who have encroached onassigned /wakf/temple lands(but spared by the rulingparty), countered the criticismof Etela against party presidentand Chief MinisterK.Chandrasekhar Rao.

Kamalakar said that, muchbefore Eatela entered the con-stituency, i.e. since 2001 TRShad had with it committed

ZPTCs, MPTCs, Sarpanchesand cadre in every village in theHuzurabad constituency. So,Eatela entered the constituen-cy that was already a strong-hold of TRS.

Eatela won six times as MLAon the strength of TRS flag,symbol and with KCR's photo,but was under the mistakenimpression that it was due tohis own individual strength,Kamalakar observed. Eatelaused the BC card for conve-nience in the constituency andOC card in Hyderabad. It wasKCR who introduced severalschemes for empowerment ofBCs, SCs, STs and minorities,Kamalakar said.

Kamalakar has been inter-

acting with TRS leaders andfunctionaries in every mandaland municipality of Huzurabadconstituency, preparing theground for the party to retainthe seat despite the exit ofEatela. "It is not individuals butthe organization that is impor-tant for a political party," hetold them.

Kamalakar has been meetingpeople's representatives fromlocal bodies and party leadersto ensure their loyalty to theTRS and its president KCR,though Eatela is believed tohave his own followers in theconstituency.

On Friday, some people'srepresentatives and party cadrein various mandals, including

Huzurabad, Jammikunta,Illanthakunta and Veenavanka,reiterated their support andloyalty to the party.

Kamalakar also conveyed tothem that whether it was issues

related to constituency devel-opment or party affairs, theycould approach him and hewould take them to the ChiefMinister. He has been moni-toring pending developmental

works in the constituency andfollowing it up with officials.He is also collecting details ofproposed works to take themto the Chief Minister for con-sideration.

Jagga: We will field our candidate in Huzurabad Congress shocker to Eatela Rajender

K VENKATESHWARLU

n HYDERABAD

Former health minister Eatela Rajender, who wasejected from the state cabinet under a cloud of land-grab charges, may not get the support he expectedfrom the Congress party, going by the remarks ofJagga Reddy, Congress party MLA fromSangareddy, at a press conference here onFriday.Jagga Reddy made it clear that the Congressparty would field its candidate in Huzurabad "if by-elections are inevitable". He described thedifferences between Eatela and TRS party as "theirinternal conflict'. The Congress party's KaushikReddy would carry the party flag in Huzurabad evenin crisis, he underlined. "To my knowledge, TPCCchief Uttam or CLP leader Bhatti both would fieldCongress candidate in Huzurabad if a by-electioncomes", he said. This statement of Jagga Reddyhas thrown cold water on the reported plans ofEatela to resign from the Assembly and TRS party,

and take on the TRS by winning the Huzurabad by-elections with the support of all opposition parties.According to media reports, Eatela wants to contestthe Huzurabad by-election as an Independent withthe support of all opposition parties. Jagga Reddy'sstatement comes in the wake of TPCC workingpresident A Revanth Reddy's demand that the stategovernment should order an inquiry into theencroachments by Ministers Ch Malla Reddy andKT Ramarao as well. This is seen as indirectsupport to Eatela. Former Congress MLA SASampath Kumar also extended his indirect supportto Eatela by demanding the state government toorder an inquiry into land encroachments by 12Ministers. It may be recalled that Eatela, afterexpressing his intention to meet leaders of allpolitical parties, first met Congress Legislature Party(CLP) leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka. It is learntthat Eatela sought the support of the Congressparty, should he quit the Assembly as well as thepink party and contest the by-elections.

CMs under fire for interstate...Continued from page 1

However, Andhra Pradesh chiefsecretary, Adityanath Das spoketo Telangana chief secretary onthe issue, but patients sufferedin long traffic jams in ambu-lances at the borders.

"Why is Jagan not remindingKCR that Hyderabad is a com-mon capital for 10 years? KCRand Telangana government hasbeen treating Andhra people assecond grade citizens thoughthe law and order in Hyderabadis still with the governor andwhy Jagan is maintaining silenceand not questioning about it?Telangana police are violatingArticle 14, 17 and 21. It is unfor-tunate that Telangana is notstopping those coming fromother countries to Hyderabadfor treatment but stopping thosecoming from Andhra Pradesh.

AP police should file casesagainst Telangana governmentand its heads for the deaths ofAndhra patients," said BJP state

general secretary, SVishnuvardhan Reddy.

CPI state secretary KRamakrishna too questionedTelangana government's ratio-nale behind stopping ambu-lances from Andhra Pradesh.

TDP National General

Secretary and MLC Nara Lokeshdemanded that Chief MinisterYS Jaganmohan Reddy spoke tohis Telangana counterpart forgetting permission for ambu-lances to carry Coronaviruspatients from AP to Hyderabadfor medical treatment.

AP argues interstate movement is a...Continued from page 1Any power to classify persons for specific measure under the epidemicdiseases act on the basis of residence would be unconstitutional, heargued. "Further, the measures prescribed have no nexus with theobjective sought to be achieved under the circular. Why are thesemeasures prescribed only for other than citizens of Telangana? Isresidence disqualification? Medical infrastructure in the countryirrespective of the state in which it is located is a national asset and theSupreme Court has directed that there should be seamless coordinationbetween all the states," he said. "To restrict access or to condition accesson the basis of residence is clearly unconstitutional and this circularissued to get over the judgment of the High Court on May 11 where theHigh Court directed state not to restrict. The circular was sent to AP bymail last night and since morning there is stopping of ambulances. Theentire process is to work around the orders of the High Court lackingcomplete justification in law and on facts. Separate restrictions for covidpatients belonging to other states are constitutionally impermissible.

No entry in...Continued from page 1

After government officialsissued oral instructions onMay 10 not to allow ambu-lances and other vehiclescoming with Covid patientsfrom other States likeMaharasthra, Chattisgarh,Karnataka and AndhraPradesh without prior confir-mation of admission fromhospitals here, check-postswere set up in the border dis-tricts. After a furore, theHigh Court said the govern-ment should not take suchdecisions all of a sudden.

TS Chief Secretary issuedfresh guidelines on Thursdayand wrote to neighbouringStates about the procedure tobe followed by the Covidpatients. The number ofcheck-posts were increased to16 to monitor the patientscoming from outside.

Covid patients comingfrom other States should sendto the Control Room (040-24651119, Whats App No.094944 38251) the details ofpatient such as age, the Stateto which he or she belongs,the name of the attendant andthe name of the ward and thehospital.

AP CID arrests..Continued from page 1

He has been charged underSections 124A (sedition), 153A(Promoting enmity betweendifferent groups), and 505(conducing public mischief).

"There was informationagainst Sri Raju, stating that hehas been indulging in hatespeeches against certain com-munities and promoting dis-affection against the govern-ment," a states from the policesaid following his arrest.

"...it was found that throughhis speeches on regular basisMr Raju was indulging insystematic, schematic effort tocause tensions...and by attack-ing various government digni-taries in a way which will causeloss of faith in the governmentwhich they represent," it said.

Raju had, on April 27, askeda special CBI special court tocancel the bail granted toJagan Mohan Reddy in a dis-proportionate assets case from2012. He had claimed that theChief Minister had violatedthe bail provisions.

The Parliamentarian hadquit the YSR Congress sever-al years ago only to return tothe party just before the 2019Lok Sabha polls.

230 teachers succumbed...Continued from page 1

Majority of the teachers whodied were in the age group offorty years. Approximatelyfive teachers have been losingtheir lives every day over thepast one month due to whichteachers were terrified, saidTelangana United TeachersFederation (UTF).

Chava Ravi, general secre-tary of the Telangana StateUnited Teachers Federation(TSUTF), said, "The highdeath toll of teachers in thesecond wave of Covid-19 is amatter of grave concern.Despite spending lakhs ofrupees in local, private andcorporate hospitals for Covidtreatment, the survivors arestill in debt. Covid-19 treat-ment costs about Rs 4 to Rs 20lakh in private hospitals. But

the state government is reim-bursing only one lakh rupeesand that too is only possiblefor those who have been treat-ed in referral hospitals. Sinceall the hospitals allowed forCovid treatment are not refer-ral hospitals, there is no pos-sibility of recovering even onelakh rupees. Reimbursementfacility should, therefore, beapplied to teachers who havebeen treated in government-empanelled hospitals."

K Jangayya, president ofTSUTF, said, "We haveappealed to the government totake steps to prevent theCovid-19 deaths of teachers, togive priority to teachers in vac-cination, and to support thefamilies of the deceased teach-ers. The maximum limit of Rs1 lakh on reimbursement ofmedical expenses should be

HC stays order stopping ambulancesContinued from page 1

The Andhra Pradesh and theCentral government were alsomade parties to the plea. Thecourt asked them to file theircounters to ensure uniformity.

It may be mentioned herethat earlier this week, Court hadissued directions to the state toensure that ambulances fromother states are not restricted atthe borders. The Court said thatthe state does not have the right

to stop the ambulances andeveryone has the right to savetheir lives as per Article 21 ofthe Indian Constitution. Thecase was posted for hearing onJune 17 until then the interimorders will be in force.

No vaccination...Continued from page 1

Accordingly, changes havebeen made in the CoWINportal by GOI such that itwill be possible to adminis-ter the second dose onlyafter a minimum of 12weeks.

In view of the abovechanges, the special drivefor second dose for 45 yearsand above age group takenup by the HealthDepartment will not beconducted tomorrow andday af ter tomorrow(Saturday and Sunday).

HC stays felling of trees for road wideningANUSHA PUPPALA

n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Court hasgiven a stay order to save 244fully grown trees from beingcut by the government atGandipet for road wideningprojects in Hyderabad. TheHigh Court was pleased tostay the felling of trees on thelunch motion moved by VataFoundation who is known fortranslocation of trees in the city.

Vata Foundation has triedits best to halt the tree fellingby approaching Road andBuildings department and hadappealed the department togive time to the foundationuntil monsoon showers toshift the trees as the climate isnot suitable for the transloca-tion. However, R&B depart-ment decided to continue the

road widening work atGandipet and started choppingthe huge old trees since May10, 2021.

Devastated to see choppingof trees, Vata Foundation hasapproached the High Courtseeking a halt to the treefelling. Even many citizenshave come forward to adopt

these trees and Vata founda-tion is looking forward totranslocation of these trees asearly as possible.

Uday Krishna, Founder ofVata Foundation told ThePioneer, "Everyday we hearpeople dying for lack ofOxygen. Our cities have slow-ly become death traps with

oxygen levels reducing by theyear. When I come back fromthe jungles I gasp for air witha mask on in Hyderabad andit's that bad. People have got-ten used to low levels of oxy-gen out of no choice and whenthings went down they aredying for lack of oxygen. Evenin this scenario governmentwants to cut 244 trees atGandipet for a road project.This has happened despite weoffered our services for free ofcost to translocation of thosetrees. I had appealed toMA&UD Minister KT RamaRao on March 24, 2021 toallow us to translocate all thetrees that Tree ProtectionCommittee had marked forfelling at Gandipet. On March25, Arvind Kumar, PrincipalSecretary of MAUD hadassured us of help.

100 ventilators received..Continued from page 1

The company which has sup-plied them is not at all respond-ing to complaints. They are notcoming and rectifying it even ifthere is a small problem.Amidst the crisis, we have notkept aside any ventilator, exceptthose which are defective. Wehave placed tenders for compre-hensive maintenance of all thebiomedical equipment utilizedfor Covid treatment in themajor State Government hos-pitals of Telangana throughTSMSIDC".

A total of 3,801 items of bio-medical equipment are beingutilised in the state exclusivelyfor Covid-19 treatment in gov-ernment hospitals. Of these,1,449 are ventilators worth Rs68.48crore. Life-saving equip-ment worth Rs 88.45 crore,including ventilators, HFNC,CPAP, BiPAP, multipara mon-itors, infusion pumps, suctionapparatus, syringe pumps anddefibrillators, is currently beingused in government hospitals.The government is looking foran agency to ensure propermaintenance of the equipment.

Sputnik V vax...Continued from page 1

The first dose of Sputnik V,also the first foreign-madevaccine used in the country,was administered inHyderabad as part of a lim-ited pilot project.

The first consignment ofimported doses of Sputnik Vlanded in India on May 1,and received regulatoryclearance from the CentralDrugs Laboratory, Kasauli,on May 13, according to DrReddy's Laboratories.

"The imported doses ofthe vaccine are presentlypriced at an MRP of Rs 948+ 5 per cent GST per dose,with the possibility of alower price point when localsupply begins," it said in astatement.

Currently, the importeddose is priced at a maximumretail price of Rs 948 alongwith 5 per cent GST, whichamounts to Rs 995.4 perdose.

Recoveries...Continued from page 1

India's total active caseloadhas decreased to 37,04,893and now comprises 15.41per cent of the country's totalcases. A net decline of 5,632cases has been recorded inthe active caseload in a spanof 24 hours.

The National MortalityRate currently stands at 1.09per cent, the ministry said.

A total of 4,000 deathswere reported in a span of 24hours. Ten states account for72.70 per cent of the newdeaths. Maharashtra saw themaximum casualties (850).Karnataka follows with 344daily deaths. The cumulativenumber of COVID-19 vac-cine doses administered inthe country is nearing 18crore, the ministry said.

A total of 17,92,98,584 vac-cine doses have been admin-istered through 26,02,435 ses-sions, according to the provi-sional report till 7 am.

Rs 1.35 lakh cr...Continued from page 1

Modi said around Rs 60,000crore has been transferredduring the Covid pandemic,which is helping farmers inthese difficult times. ThePrime Minister on Fridayreleased the eighth instalmentof Rs 20,667 crore to morethan 9.5 crore farmers underthe Pradhan Mantri KisanSamman Nidhi (PM-KISAN)scheme via video-conference.

Under the scheme, whichbecame effective from December2018, the Centre provides Rs6,000 per year to eligible farm-ers in three equal instalments ofRs 2,000. Addressing the event,Modi said farmers have per-formed their duties even duringthis Covid pandemic and helpedthe country achieve a record pro-duction of foodgrains and hor-ticulture crops.

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 15, 2021hyderabad 03

Rich tributes were paid toJagadguru Basaveshwara byCyberabad Police

Commissioner VC Sajjanar on theoccasion of his Jayanthi. Sajjanarrecalled the services ofBasaveshwara for the society. "Hewas a 12th-century poet-philosopherand the founding saint of the Lingayat tradition, who devoted his lifeto service and social reforms. He was a social revolutionary muchahead of his times. His noble teachings, particularly the emphasison social empowerment, harmony, brotherhood and compassioncontinue to inspire several people all over the world. All of us shouldfollow him and re-dedicate ourselves for nation, the Cyberabad CPsaid. DCP Traffic SM Vijay Kumar, IDCP Madhapur MVenkateshwarlu, Cyberabad CAR HQTRS ADCP Manikraj, EstateOfficer ACP Santhosh Kumar, ACP Hanumanth Rao, all RIs, SCSCVolunteers and other staff were present on the occasion.

Basavanna was greatest social reformer, says Cyb CP Sajjanar

With the support extended by someof the members of Society forCyberabad Security Council

(SCSC) by the way of donations,Cyberabad Police Commissioner andChairman of SCSC VC Sajjanar, flaggedoff 30 truckloads of medical materialcomprising of beds, pulse oxymeters,thermometers, PPEs, N95 masks,stretchers, wheel chairs and sanitizers forstaff and patients to 30 district hospitals in Telangana.On thisoccasion, Cyberabad CP VC Sajjanar, thanked SCSC and its memberswho generously donated funds to provide Covid relief during thesetroubled times. He appreciated all the member companies namelyProvidence, Harsco, Phoenix, Metrochem, Cigniti, Keste Software,Arcesium, Innominds, Nalsoft, Copart, Sundew and RajapushpaProperties who supported SCSC with their CSR funds towards variousinitiatives of SCSC towards Covid Relief Measures. He appreciatedefforts SCSC General Secretary Krishna Yedula and team DCP TrafficSM Vijay Kumar, Additional DCP Manikraj and other police officers forworking relentlessly over last 10 days to make this happen.

Light to moderate rainslashed the city on Fridayafternoon, bringing the

temperature down by quite afew notches. While the daystarted off on a dry, hot note,late-afternoon saw showers inmany areas across the city,ranging from a light drizzle of0.5 mm rainfall recorded atthe Automatic Weather Station (AWS) at Malkajgiri to 33 mm atGachibowli. The AWS at Lingampally MMTS station also sawmoderate rainfall, at 32.2 mm, and the surrounding areas as well,like Miyapur, Khajaguda, Chandanagar also saw rainfall of 16mm,16.8mm and 28 mm respectively. Bachpalle also recorded rainfall ofover 30 mm. The south-eastern parts of the city, Saroornagar andHayathnagar, also saw moderate rainfall between 16 mm recordedat Alkapuri and 29.3 mm recorded at Hastinapuram community hall.The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Hyderabad, expectssimilar rainfall till May 18, with a possibility of rain orthundershowers towards evening or night.

Om Prakash Mishra, ChiefGeneral Manager, SBIHyderabad Circle has

been elevated to the post ofDeputy Managing Director,effective May 14. Mishra, abanker with over threedecades of experience , hasheaded the Hyderabad Circleof State Bank of India since May 2019. Mishra joined the bank as aprobationary officer in 1987 in Patna Circle. He worked in Guwahatiand Delhi Circle in his earlier assignments as General Manager.Also, Ajay Kumar Singh, General Manager, SBI, Hyderabad Circle,has been elevated to the post of Chief General Manager. Singhjoined the bank as a probationary officer in 1991 in Patna Circle andhandled various operational assignments including in CorporateCentre, Mumbai and North Eastern Circle, Guwahati, said a release.

CITY LIGHTSMuslims in the city celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr on Friday. The festival is celebrated on the first day of theIslamic month of Shawwal and ends the fasting month of Ramzan. Since morning, a festive atmosphereprevailed across the city with people rushing out early in the morning to make last-minute purchases.Traffic slowdown was witnessed at several places. Adhering to the request of community elders andreligious scholars, many prayed at their homes, instead of heading to mosques and Idgahs to attend theprayers. At important mosques in the city, only the management committee members attended the regularprayers and the general public was not allowed. After the prayers, dressed in festive attire, people cameout and greeted their neighbours and well-wishers. Most people avoided going out long distances tomeet their relatives in view of the lockdown restrictions. Instead, people preferred social networkingplatforms to convey Eid greetings. - Photos by SV CChary

FESTIVE ATMOSPHERE

Virus levels in Hyd lakes gave early warning of Covid wavesPNS n HYDERABAD

Apart from confirming thatHyderabad's iconic HussainSagar Lake is teeming with thedreadful Coronavirus,researchers have found that thedynamic of viral load in thewater serves as an early warn-ing signal of impending pan-demic waves.

In addition to the HussainSagar, the group of researchers,has identified some more lakesin the city vicinity, the watersof which, contain the virus.

These include theNacharam lake and the NizamTalab. Fortunately, so far, thereare no documented studies toprove that Covid can be

spread through water unlikethe polio virus.

The researchers, comprisingof scientists from the IndianInstitute of ChemicalTechnology (IICT), the Centrefor Cellular and MolecularBiology (CCMB) here, and theAcademy of Scientific andInnovative Research (AcSIR) inGhaziabad, conducted thestudy, with support of theCouncil of Scientific andIndustrial Research (CSIR).

The study, spread over sevenmonths, roughly coincidedwith the first and second pan-demic waves in the country.

"The SARS-CoV-2 genefragments have been detectedwere clearly in the urban lakes

which are surrounded by theanthropogenic activities," thestudy noted and further said,

"The surge in February 2021sample showed the on shoot ofthe second wave of infection

which correlated well with theprevailing pandemic situation."

The study concludes that thepresence of viral fragmentsand its load can be used as asurveillance tool to under-stand the infection spread.

"This study depicted theneed for regular monitoring ofthe water bodies/wastewater aspart of water borne epidemics(WBE) studies in the urban

and semi-urban areas to under-stand the outbreak and toassess spread of viral as well,"the study concludes.

The findings have been com-piled in a research paper titled"Comprehensive and TemporalSurveillance of SARS-CoV-2 inUrban Water Bodies: EarlySignal of Second Wave Onset,and published in preprint serv-er 'MedRxiv' on May 12.

In addition to the Hussain Sagar, thegroup of researchers, has identified somemore lakes in the city vicinity, the watersof which, contain the virus.

CPs inspect lockdownsecurity arrangementsPNS n MEDCHAL MALKAJGIRI

The Police Commissionersof tri-commissionerates onFriday inspected the securityarrangements for lockdown.

Cyberabad Commissionerof Police VC Sajjanar visitedRajendranagar, Attapur PillarNumber 151, Aramghar,Shastripuram, Mailardevpally,Shamshabad and Thondupalli.

Sajjanar spent time with thefield level police officers andsupervised their functioningat the check-posts on roads.Also, he advised them to takeall safety precautions whilechecking the vehicles andinteracting with the public.

He reiterated that the policepersonnel need to be very vig-ilant as the pandemic is stillrampant and expressed satis-faction that the citizens havebeen voluntarily followingthe lockdown orders and thatthe police on ground are actu-ally trying to help citizens.

Sajjanar also appreciatedthe efforts of police personnelin ensuring strict implemen-tation of lockdown while facil-itating the movement ofessential and emergency ser-vices men and materials as perthe GO.

Rachakonda Commissionerof Police Mahesh M Bhagwatalong with senior officials vis-ited police check-posts atHayathnagar, Abdullapurmet,Uppal, LB Nagar and Meerpetand enquired with the staffabout the implementation oflockdown.

“If anyone is caught violat-ing lockdown rules and com-ing on the road for trivial rea-sons, that will be taken seri-ously. Those caught a secondtime will have their vehiclesseized," Bhagwat said.

Hyderabad PoliceCommissioner Anjani Kumartoo visited various places inthe old city and reviewedsecurity arrangements.

Major fire breaksout at a shop inJagadish MarketPNS n HYDERABAD

A major fire broke out in amobile phone and accessoriesshop at Jagadish Market in theAbid Road area here onThursday night. No casualtieswere reported as the shopwas closed at the time of theincident, police said.

Officials suspect a shortcircuit led to the fire.

Local residents who noticedthe fire and thick smokeemerging from the closedmobile shop on the groundfloor of a building, alerted thefire department and policeimmediately.

"It is a market place and theshop was full of gadgets, plas-tic, fibre and inflammablematerial. There was nobodypresent inside at the time ofmishap," said an official.

Officials said the cost of theproperty damaged was yet tobe estimated.

4,305 new cases,29 fatalities in TSPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana has reported 4,305new Covid infections and 29fatalities on Friday taking thecumulative number of deathsto 2,896 and the total numberof positive cases to 5,20,709.The number of active cases inTelangana, as on Fridayevening, is 54,832.

Between Thursday andFriday, authorities conducted57,416 Covid tests of whichresults of 1714 samples wereawaited. On Friday, 6,361 indi-viduals have recovered with arecovery rate of 88.91 percent.So far, a total of 1,39,52,378Covid-19 tests have been con-ducted in the State out ofwhich 5,20,709, tested positiveand 4,62,981 persons haverecovered.

The Covid-19 positive casesreported from the districtsincluded 34 from Adilabad,130 from Bhadradri, 607 fromareas under GHMC, 125 fromJagtial, 63 from Jangaon.

2 die as TS cops turn back AP ambulancesPNS n HYDERABAD

In a tragic turn of events, twopatients from Andhra Pradeshdied in the ambulance vehiclesthey were traveling in, asTelangana Police did not per-mit vehicles without validonline permits to cross theinterstate border at Kurnool.The development took place atthe Panchalingala Checkposton National Highway 44, onFriday.

The two persons who diedon Friday, were identified asnatives of Nandyal andKurnool respectively.

At least 40 ambulances fromAndhra Pradesh were forcedto return back from the Pullurtoll plaza since Thursday whenthey tried to cross the stateborder on the way toHyderabad. A similar situationplayed out at the Ramapuramcross border post nearSuryapet.

While Telangana police offi-cials said that ambulances notcarrying the required onlinepermits, were barred fromentering, kin of some thepatients said that even thosewith permits issued by theAndhra Pradesh police wereforcibly turned back.

With Covid cases on the risein Andhra Pradesh, many crit-ically ill patients are beingtaken to Hyderabad, which inturn is putting pressure on bedavailability and medical care inthe state capital.

PNS n HYDERABAD

In the central part of Hyderabadis one of the largest slums in thecity. Patigadda in Begumpethas multiple slum clusters whichare home to a population ofmore than 50,000. Average sizeof occupants in some of thehouses here, which is a mix oftin houses and concrete struc-tures, is anywhere between 4and 10.

Covid is spreading at a rapidpace across the state, whichprompted the state governmentto mandate home quaranti-ning. Quarantines aren't par-ticularly ease to implement -they require sacrifices and trustin the government, but also ade-quate infrastructure so peoplecan safely quarantine them-selves. Those who live in singleroom in over 1400 notifiedslums under GHMC limits arefacing difficulties to send theirnear and dear to home quaran-tine if anyone of the familymembers tests positive for thevirus.

An auto-rickshaw driver who

lives along with wife and threechildren in Talabkatta was forcedto work even as there is spurt inCovid cases under the impact ofthe Coronavirus second wave tosupport the family. Recently, hehad developed Covid symp-toms. Upon testing, he testedpositive for virus. Doctorsadvised him to undergo treat-ment in home quarantine. He isat a loss of comprehension

where is the space for him toundergo home quarantine?

A mechanic working in agarage in Golnaka area ofAmberpet in the city came herefrom Mahabubnagar for liveli-hood. He lives in a small roomalong with wife and two chil-dren. In the house, where helived, there are three more fam-ilies live there. All the tenantsshould share common bath-

room. His wife who works as adomestic help tested positive forthe virus. The family is worriedabout quarantining her as thereis no other room in their por-tion.

Besides slums, there are manyhousing colonies and slumsmushroom all around the city.Many families that reach herefor livelihood live in small rent-ed rooms there. Official statis-

tics indicate that a majority ofpeople who arrived here arefrom other parts of the state.They live in rented houses, nar-row rooms and hence cannotafford quarantining at homes.The family has no alternativeexcept sending wife and chil-dren to their relatives' homes.Their condition will worsen ifrelatives would not let them in.

Covid tests being done aturban clinics, urbal primaryhealth centres, PHCs, Area hos-pitals and government hospitals.How to quarantine the peopleliving in slums and one roomportions if they happen to test-ed positive for the virus? Thereis none to think about their wel-fare. If they happen to test pos-itive, the authorities wash offtheir hands giving them medi-cines. There is no informationabout free quarantine centres setup by the state government orcivil society organisations atthe Covid testing centres. Thosewho tested positive for virus areafraid of visiting the quarantinecentres for fear of facing manymore problems.

Rachakonda SHE Teams avert 100 child marriages, highest in BhongirDUGGU RAGHUn MEDCHAL MALKAJGIRI

The SHE Teams ofRachakonda and two womenand child counselling centreshave played a major role inimproving the safety of chil-dren and women.

The SHE Teams have solvedmajor cases and prevented100 child marriages in just fiveyears with the cooperation ofself-help groups.

The Rachakonda SHETeams have conducted sever-al awareness programmes andcounseled several parents andguardians for performing childmarriages.

According to officials, thehighest number of 43 childmarriages was prevented inBhongir area, followed byChoutuppal, 25, Ibrahimp-atnam, 12, Malkajgiri, 8,Kushaiguda, 5, Vanasthalip-uram, 4 while the lowest wasthree marriages in LB Nagarduring the five years since theinception of the She Teams.

Of the rescued childrenfrom child marriages, 29 ofthem aged 15 or younger, 20 ofthem were 16-years-old and 40of them were aged 17.

The Rachakonda

Commissioner of PoliceMahesh M Bhagwat said,"According to Child MarriagesPrevention Act, we conun-selled all the parents andguardians performing mar-riages below the stipulatedage. Priests, wedding cardprinters, elders and supportersof the marriage, parents ofchild will be held responsiblefor the act. As per ChildMarriages Prohibition Act-2006 , people permitting, sup-porting, performing andattending, will be held accusedunder the Act. Encouragingsuch things would fetch a fineof Rs 1 lakh and minimum oftwo years imprisonment aspunishment. Due to early mar-riage, the chances of maternaldeath of the mother are high."

"During the awareness pro-

grammes, the SHE Teamsmade the public understandthe problems of child mar-riages. As a result of these pro-grammes from 2017 to 2021,the Rachakonda SHE Teamsstopped 100 child marriagesand rescued the girls fromchild marriages," he said.

Mahesh Bhagwat, appreci-ating the good work of theSHE Teams, requested citi-zens not to encourage childmarriages as it was a crime.Priests, wedding invitationprinters, elders and supportersof the marriage and parents ofthe child would be heldresponsible for the act, hesaid, adding that citizens couldreport child marriages on Dial100 facility or the RachakondaPolice WhatsApp number-9490617111.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Municipal AdministrationMinister KT Rama Rao said onFriday that the State govern-ment is exploring all possibleoptions to procure a sufficientquantity of vaccines.

The Minister, whoheads the Covid TaskForce, discussed var-ious alternatives todrugs that are in highdemand likeRemdesivir with rep-resentatives of pharmacompanies at PragathiBhavan here on Friday. Heurged the medical fraternity toexplore these options.

The Task Force, constitutedto procure necessary vaccinesand medicines for Covid man-agement, met the top manage-ment of various pharmaceuti-cal companies. The team dis-cussed various issues in-depthwith the heads of pharma com-panies involved in producingCovid vaccines.

Among the issues discussedin the meeting were theprogress in the development ofvarious types of vaccines by dif-

ferent companies, their pro-duction capacities, and theavailability of vaccines in themarket. The Minister assuredthe representatives of all helpfrom the government to expe-dite various steps involved in

the commercialisation ofvaccines. Among those

participated in themeeting were repre-sentatives fromNatco Pharma,Biological E Ltd,

Bharath Biotech,Serum Institute of India,

Sanofi India, VirchowBiotech, Zydus Cadila, HeteroDrugs, Gland Pharma, IndianImmunologicals, and DrReddys Labs.

Meanwhile, as part of its cor-porate social responsibility, theTSIIC contributed Rs 1.19 croretowards Covid mitigation activ-ities in the State. A cheque washanded over by EV NarasimhaReddy, Managing Director-TSIIC, to Rahul, Commissionerof State Disaster ManagementAuthority, in the presence ofMinister KT Rama Rao, andPrincipal Secretary, Industries,Jayesh Ranjan.

SCSC sends Covid relief to 30 district hospitals in Telangana

Parts of Hyderabad record moderate rainfall on Friday

SBI, Hyderabad officials elevatedas Deputy, Chief Gen Managers

Exploring all possibilities to procure vaccine: KTR

Corona in Hyd slums: Wherehome quarantine is difficult

hyderabad 04HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 15, 2021

PNS n PEDDAPALLY

There is no need for people topanic over the Coronavirus asthe state government was fullyvigilant and everyone shouldbe courageous to fight againstthe virus, said Peddapally ZillaParishad chairman PuttaMadhukar on Friday.

Addressing the media per-sons, Madhukar said that thepeople are losing lives due toover thinking about theadverse effects of the virus, 99per cent of people have theimmune system to recoverfrom the virus. Stressing thatthere is no shortage of medi-cines and beds in the district,

he said that over 100 oxygenbeds and 100 ventilator bedsare available across the districtcurrently. The officials arepreparing another 50 oxygenbeds at the district hospital inPeddapalli, he added.

Madhukar requested thepublic to fully cooperate withthe lockdown imposed by thestate government.

He said Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Reddy and ITMinister KT Rama Rao areconstantly reviewing the situ-ation in the state and with theinitiative of KCR onlyTelangana was ranked No. 1nationally in Covid vaccina-tions.

PNS n KHAMMAM

Minister for TransportPuvvada Ajay Kumar has cometo the rescue of a Covid-19patient who is receiving treat-ment in a private hospital butbadly in need of a Remedisivirinjection saving him from alife-threatening situation.

According to reports, thepatient, identified as BhukyaRamesh of Yenkur, was pre-scribed Remedisivir by doctorsas part of the treatment, but hisrelatives could not find any. Hisrelatives approached theMinister who was at that timeinaugurating an oxygen tankerin Khammam DistrictHeadquarters GovernmentHospital and appealed to theMinister to come to their res-cue.

Responding to the patient'sneed, the Minister immediate-ly asked the District Collectorand other officials to do theneedful and ensured thatRamesh received the injec-

tion. Everyone appreciated theminister's gesture for savingthe life of a man in distress.

Minister greets MuslimsOn account of Ramzan on

Friday, the Transport Ministerperformed Namaaz at his res-idence along with elders ofMuslim community whileadhering to the Covid regula-tions. Later, he greetedMuslims on the occasion ofRamzan. He thanked everyMuslim for observing month-long fasting and praying forthe good of world during theprevailing Covid period.

Referring to Chief Minister

K Chandrasekhar Rao's con-tribution to uplift Muslims, hesaid that the Chief Ministerpaved the way for the Muslimsto lead a dignified life holdingtheir head high. He appealedto Muslims to celebrate the fes-tival observing the precautionsfor Covid.

There are 320 Covid bedsin Khammam governmenthospital, but all of them arefull. There are 1300 beds inprivate hosptials in the city,out of them 494 are vacant.There are 200 beds in Covidfacility set up at SaradaEngineering College.

To serve the needy amid lockdown,the State government has decided

to increase the number ofAnnapurna Canteens offering hotand hygienic meals for Rs 5. 150Annapurna centres on an averageserve food to 35,000 to 40,000

beneficiaries. The GHMC inassociation with Hare Krishna

Movement Charitable Trustoperates these canteens and themeals are a boon for daily wageearners and others.In addition to

the present 140 canteens, theadditional 102 new canteens will be

set up which will becomeoperational from May 14

CARE FOR POOR

Officials told to set up more CT scan machines in Medak

Transport Minister comes to the rescue of Corona patient

PNS n MAHABUBNAGAR

Excise Minister V SrinivasGoud's measures to fulfil the'own house dream' of the pooris being eulogised from allquarters. When contractorsdid not execute the contractgiven to them two years ago tobuild 2BHK houses inMahabubnagar district and inseveral villages in PalamuruAssembly constituency, theMinister took special care tocall for tenders again givingdirections to engineering offi-cials at a special meeting heldhere recently.

As a result of it, the con-struction of 2BHK houses forthe homeless poor is going onat jet speed in the district.

With the perseverance ofthe Minister and coordinationof the project by DistrictCollector Venkat Rao, districtin-charge director for housingproject V Bhaskar stepped upon the gas on execution of the2BHK houses. The govern-ment sanctioned several

2BHK houses for the districtand released Rs 422 crore fortheir execution. In all, 2,907have been allotted to urbanareas, while 4,876 have beenallotted to rural areas. Out ofthem, 2,666 have been com-pleted, while 4,906 are in var-ious stages of completion.

Construction of 1,021 hous-es did not ground yet.

The state government sanc-tioned 3,790 2BHK housesfor Mahabubnagar Assemblyconstituency and allocated Rs208 crore for execution of thehouses. Out of them, 994houses have been ready in allrespects, while construction inrespect of 1,706 houses is inprogress. The government hasspent so far Rs 125 crore. Thegovernment sanctioned 2760houses for Jadcherla, 950 forDevarakadra and 140 forParigi. Out ofthem, 418 havebeen ready in Jadcherla, 254have been ready inDevarakadra. In Narayanapetaand Parigi, construction is yetto begin.

Srinivas Goud praised for initiative on 2BHK houses

PNS n WARANGAL

The Mahatma GandhiMemorial Hospital Hospital inWarangal is going through atroubled phase in this pandem-ic time. Sufficient sanitationworkers are not there in thehospital and as a result of thisproper sanitation work is nottaking place in the hospital.Most of the sanitation andsecurity workers are contractu-al labourers and they aredemanding an increase in theirsalaries as their work burdenhas increased, but theirdemand has not been met.

Not just sanitation workersthere are not enough doctorsand paramedical staff too inthe hospital and as a result ofthis the patients are suffering.On average there are at leasttwo deaths everyday in thehospital. The dead bodies arealso not being removed intime, adding to the woes of thepatients.

Patient parties are demand-ing that the authorities musttake steps to improve the san-itation system in the hospital.However, the situation insteadof improving has deterioratedduring this second wave ofcorona, many alleged. There isno proper monitoring of thepatients in the hospital too.

Recently Panchayat RajMinister Errabelli DayakarRao visited the hospital andreviewed the situation withthe doctors, but the situation inthe hospital has not changed,patients alleged. The govern-ment must take steps in warfooting to solve the problemsplaguing the hospital.Recruitment of medical andparamedical staff must be done

on permanent basis, observersfelt. MGM Hospita l ,Warangal being the biggesthospital in north Telangana,government must take neces-sary steps to set things right,especially in these times ofcorona. The patient partiesdemand that the Collectormust take immediate steps toimprove the sanitation facil-ity in the hospital.

The facilities available inthe Corona ward are not upto the mark, patient partiesalleged.

The BJP State PresidentBandi Sanjay visited the hos-pital on Friday.

He too demanded that thestate government tookimmediate steps to solve theproblems plaguing the MGMHospital.

Lack of sanitation plaguesMGM Hospital in Warangal

PNS n HYDERAAD

TPCC working president andMalkajgiri MP A RevanthReddy has demanded theTelangana Chief Minister KChandrashekar Rao, ITMinister KT Rama Rao andChief Secretary SomeshKumar to arrange forRemdesivir injections imme-diately for the patients request-ing the officials for Remdesiviron Twitter, to believe thatthere is no shortage of injec-tions in Telangana.

In his series of tweets onFriday evening, RevanthReddy said that "If there is noshortage, why is it that peopleare requesting for injections inlarge numbers. Is the@TelanganaCMO @ktrtrs and@SomeshKumarIAS listen-ing...?!"(sic)

Replying to another tweetRevanth tweeted, "Will@TelanganaCMO @ktrtrs and@SomeshKumarIAS arrangeremdesvir for this patient inSuryapet. Please do not give

statements and run away. Thegovernment is accountable."

Meanwhile, Revanth Reddyhas stated that it is not prop-er on part of the state govern-ment to stop the ambulancesfrom neighboring AndhraPradesh at the state border.

Suggesting both the ChiefMinisters of Telugu states KChandrashekar Rao and YSJagan Mohan Reddy to findthe solution for the issueimmediately on humanitarianbasis, Revanth said that apatient named Shiva Reddyhas been admitted in Kurnoolhospital after the TS policedidn't allow Covid patientsfrom AP into Telangana. Hedemanded both Telugu statesto initiate steps to clear thestalemate in regard to permis-sion to Andhra Pradesh Covidpatients to enter intoTelangana state.

Meanwhile, CPI nationalsecretary Dr K Narayanafound fault with the police fornot allowing the vacant ambu-lances.

PNS n SANGAREDDY

People in the Narayankhedconstituency should cooperatewith the state governmentannounced lockdown andpeople undergoing homequarantine should strictly iso-late themselves, stated DistrictCollector Hanumantha Rao.

The Collector andNarayankhed legislative mem-ber Bhupal Reddy spoke wereaddressing at a tele-conference

with officials on Friday,regarding the home isolationmeasures to be taken by theCovid patients.

The Collector advised allthe people undergoing homequarantine to use the medicinekits given by the state govern-ment properly and suggestedthe diet to boost immunity. Hesuggested going to the govern-ment hospital in case of anyhealth problem and gettinggood treatment for free.

PNS n HYDERAAD

Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee President andNalgonda MP N Uttam KumarReddy on Friday demandedthat the state government toadd Covid testing and treat-ment facilities to ArogyasriScheme. "While the neighboringAndhra Pradesh and TamilNadu states were offering freetreatment for Covid patients,why could the Telangana not

do so?" Uttam questioned andsaid that both the state andCentral governments should beashamed as both failed to con-trol the spread of Covid.

Demanding that the stategovernment provided freetreatment to Covid patients,Uttam said that he spent Rs.3lakh for Covid treatment in aprivate hospital. "I am aMember of Parliament and Ican bear it. What about thecommon people?" He ques-tioned.

He was addressing the mediaat his residence on the occasionof the release of Rahul GandhiCares programme poster, alongwith Telangana Youth Congresspresident Sivasena Reddy.

Under Rahul Gandhi Caresprogramme Youth Congresswould take up several reliefworks for Covid patients in thestate, he said.

Speaking on the occasionUttam Kumar Reddy said thatthe central and the state gov-ernments had miserably failed

to contain Covid second wavein the country. He said that nei-ther Prime Minister NarendraModi nor Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao botheredto control the second wave inthe country and in the state andforced the people to face severehardship.

He said that it was atrociousto note that testing kits werenot available in the state. Hesaid that Rapid Antigen Tests(RATs) were failing to find thevirus and negative results had

been shown. This was one rea-son for the piling up of Covidpositive cases in the state, hesaid. He also said that to over-come this problem the govern-ment should take up RTPCRtests for all the people ofTelangana. It would cost just Rs4 crore to the exchequer, hesaid.

Making scathing remarkson the Chief Minister, UttamKumar Reddy said that KCRwas much more interested inmaking money than protecting

the lives of the people.Uttam Kumar Reddy said

that the government had devi-talized 104 and 108 services inthe state. As 108 AmbulanceService was not available, peo-ple were forced to cough upthousands of rupees to hire pri-vate ambulances.

Uttam Kumar Reddyinformed that about Rs 50,000and Rs one lakh had beencharged for each general bedand each oxygen bed respec-tively in private hospitals.

PNS n WARANGAL

BJP State President BandiSanjay, who went to theCovid ward of MGMHospital to boost themorale of patients, staffand doctors, inquiredabout the details of thetreatment being given tothe patients and said thatsteps should be taken toprovide better treatment.

Sanjay, along withMGM SuperintendentNagarjuna Reddy,inspected the situation atthe MGM premises, as heinspected the Covid ward.He said that the Covidwards were worse thanthe general wards in thehospital.

With the recent deathof Doctor Shobharani,four lab technicians, theworkload had fallen onthe existing staff, makingdelivery of quality health-care in the hospital diffi-cult.

"We are not criticizingin a political sense. Wewill cooperate in allways," he said adding thatthe number of deaths dueto Covid was beingdownplayed as was thenumber of corona vic-tims.

PNS n JAYASHANKAR

BHUPALAPALLY

In an exchange of firebetween Maoists and thepolice in forest area underGeedam police station limitsof Dantewada district ofChhattisgarh, a Maoist mili-tia member was killed onFriday, the police officialssaid.

He was identified as Maoistmilitia member RamchanderKirti.

The police recovered agun, some arrows, essentialcommodities for daily use,several rounds of ammuni-tion, bags, Maoist literature,the Superintendent of Policeof Dantewada said.

‘Why cannot TS offer free treatment while others can?’Collector seeks cooperation of people during Covid lockdown

Maoist killed in exchange of fire

PNS n ZAHEERABAD

The 888th birth anniversaryof Mahatma Basaveshwar wascelebrated in the town onFriday.

Local MLA Manik Raoperformed special prayers tothe portrait of Basaveshwaraat his camp office and paidfloral tributes to the learnedsoul.

The MLA said that theMahatma advocated that allhumans are equal and pavedthe way for creation of a newand egalitarian society. Hesaid that all religious are equaland laid emphasis on creatingdharmic, political and eco-nomic rights of people.Society is indebted to him forthe services rendered by himto it. Soon after KCR comingto power in Telangana, hetook steps to celebrate thebirth anniversary of the noblesoul officially.

Lingayat Samaj leaders andothers were present.

PNS n KARIMNAGAR

District Collector KShashanka has clarified,responding to complaints ofsome private CT scan centreshave been charging morefrom Covid patients at this cri-sis hour, has said that the CTscan centre owners will chargeonly Rs 2,000 for each scan.

In a meeting with CT-Scan centre owners here onFriday, he said that the own-ers immediately compliedwith the request of chargingonly Rs 2,000 per scan.

A four-member task forcehas been constituted toinspect the CT scan centres.

The committee inspectedSri Krishna DiagnosticCentre, Mahati DiagnosticCentre, KC Diagnostic andAdarsh Hospital on Fridayand found that these centresare charging only Rs 2,200 pereach scan along with the film.

Bandi Sanjay inspects Covid ward at MGM

No shortage of medicines and beds in district: Putta

Officials warn action against overcharging for CT scans

‘Basava Jayanti' celebrated amidCovid lockdown

‘Govt is accountable forshortage of Remsesivir’

PNS n MEDAK

Minister for Finance T HarishRao on Friday asked theDistrict Medical and HealthOfficer to sanction two CTscan machines to private hos-pitals and ensure that four CTscan machines are at the ser-vice of the people, as alreadytwo machines are in operationin the town.

Addressing district collec-tor, elected people's repre-sentatives and owners of CTscan centres and ICU Centresthrough teleconference modehere on Friday, Harish Raoasked the owners of CT scancentres to charge not morethan Rs 2,000 for each scanwithout film and not morethan Rs 2,500 with film, sothat people would not be bur-dened during the currentCovid period.

He pointed out that privatediagnostic centres have beencharging Rs 5,000 per scan. Inall, 521 teams have surveyed1.70 lakh houses for fever andidentified over 7,000 as havingmild Covid symptoms. Theteams have distributed Covidkits among them. He asked theDistrict Medical and HealthDepartment authorities tomonitor the Covid situation. Itwould reduce the death ratedue to Covid-19 and also helpsave people from hospitalisa-

tion and the need to be put onoxygen.

The Minister asked thehealth authorities to recruitnurses wherever there is short-age. He offered to visitToopran, Medak and Narsapurdistrict hospitals.

Out of 52 Covid hospitals inthe district, eight have beenauthorised to treat Covidpatients, he said adding thatthe government would ensurethat there hospitals would haveno shortage of Remedisivirinjections. He said that thegovernment hospitals haveRemedisivir needed for 50patients. Local MLA PadmaDevender Reddy complainedof villagers not willing toreceive treatment under isola-tion, while some others are notcoming forward to disclosetheir Covid symptoms. Heasked the MLA to address

sarpanches, ward membersand other local elected people'srepresentatives through tele-conference and explain themthe need to sensitise people onthe need to undergo isolation,receive proper medicines andfood to recover fast. When shebrought to the notice of howpatients from Narsapur aregoing to Hyderabad for treat-ment, the Minister told herthat he would ensure that thedistrict received enough num-ber of testing kits and vaccines.

He asked the police officialsto enforce lockdown, withoutcausing problems to the peo-ple. District Collector Harish,MP Kotta Prabhakar, MLCSeri Subhash Reddy, ZPChairperson Hemalata SekharGoud, DMHO Venkateswarlu,district hospital superintendentChandrasekhar, RDO and oth-ers were present.

Harish asked theowners of CTscan centres tocharge not morethan Rs 2,000 foreach CT scanwithout film and Rs 2,500 for scanwith film

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 15, 2021 nation 05

Former Himachal Pradeshchief minister Shanta Kumaron Friday suggested that the

state government should bringretired medical experts from thearmy and elsewhere to help dealwith the crisis. With the transferof doctors from Dr. RajendraPrasad Government MedicalCollege in Tanda to other partsof the state, he said, there was aneed to make a special appeal tothe retired people so that thestate can overcome its humanresource shortage. The CMshould appeal to people of the state to come forward and makedonations, Kumar said, adding that other political parties should also givefull support to the HP government. So far, he has donated Rs two lakhto the CM relief fund for the battle against COVID, he said.

Alocal court has sentenced awoman to five years'imprisonment for helping

three men in abducting and rapinga 12-year-old girl 33 years ago.Additional Sessions JudgeParmeshwar Prasad on Thursdayalso imposed a fine of Rs 15,000on Ramvati, government counselKP Singh said. All the otheraccused in the case had died during the course of the trial, he said.Singh said this was one of the oldest cases pending in the court. Theincident had taken place on June 30, 1988. The girl had gone to attend awedding in a village and later in the night, Ramvati and her motherPhoolmata handed over the minor to three men -- Mukku, Pussu andLahri. An FIR in the matter was registered against five people -- Mukku,Pussu, Lahri, Ramvati and her mother -- at Bhinga police station underrelevant sections of the IPC. Police had filed a charge sheet against thefive accused and after 33 years, the court in April 2021 had found all ofthem guilty and reserved its verdict.

INDIA CORNER

Indian Youth Congress(IYC) president Srinivas BVon Friday said the Delhi

Police's Crime Branchquestioned him about theassistance being provided byhim to people during theCOVID-19 pandemic. "Policecalled me this morning andcame to my office around11.45 am. They questionedthat how you are doing it," hesaid. However, the DelhiPolice said the questioninghas been done following a Delhi High Court order. The high courthas directed the city police to conduct inquiry into politiciansinvolved in distribution of COVID-19 medicines and other items, andtake steps for lodging of FIR in case of offence, a senior policeofficer said. In compliance with the directions of the high court,inquiry is being conducted into several people, the officer said. OnMay 4, the Delhi High Court had asked the police to examine theinstances of politicians allegedly procuring and distributingRemdesivir, used in treatment of COVID-19 patients, in the nationalcapital and take steps for lodging of FIR in case of offence.

Bring retired doctors to help fightCOVID crisis: Former HP CM

IYC president Srinivas BVquestioned by police

Two more bodies foundlying on the banks of theGanga were cremated by

the Ballia districtadministration, after a video ofa few stray dogs dragging andmauling the corpses went viralon social media. Fefna SHOSanjay Tripathi said he got theinformation about the corpseson Thursday afternoon, following which a team of Sub DivisionalMagistrate (SDM) Rajesh Yadav reached Sagarpali village and crematedthe bodies. It appears that the bodies were left in the river by familymembers after completing rituals, he said. According to Ballia residents,at least 52 bodies were seen floating at the Ujiyar, Kulhadia and Bharaulighats in the Narahi area. However, the district authorities did not tell theexact number of bodies found there.

2 more bodies found nearGanga cremated in UP

Woman sentenced to 5-yearsin prison in 33-year-old case

Black fungus has claimed 52lives in Maha so far: OfficialPNS n MUMBAI

As many as 52 people have dieddue to Mucormycosis, a rarebut dangerous fungal infection,in Maharashtra since theCOVID-19 outbreak last year,a senior health departmentofficial said on Friday.

Mucormycosis, also knownas black fungus, became amuch talked about subjectafter some recovering andrecovered coronavirus patientswere found infected with thedisease, whose symptomsinclude headache, fever, painunder the eyes, nasal or sinuscongestion and partial loss ofvision.

As many as 52 people inMaharashtra have died due tothe Mucormycosis diseasesince the COVID-19 outbreaklast year. All of them wereCOVID-19 survivors, but suc-cumbed to the black fungusinfection, the official told PTI.

For the first time, the statehealth department has com-piled a list of deaths caused byblack fungus," said the officialwho spoke on condition ofanonymity.

On Wednesday,Maharashtra health ministerRajesh Tope had said therewere 1,500 cases of black fun-gus in the state, which is in thethroes of a severe second wave

of COVID-19. Rising Mucormycosis cases,

whose treatment requires amultidisciplinary approach, isexpected to put a further bur-den on the state's healthcareinfrastructure which is alreadyunder a strain.

The state will float a tenderto procure one lakhAmphotericin-B anti-fungalinjections to treat Mucormy-

cosis patients, Tope had said acouple of days back.

Mucormycosis has a veryhigh fatality rate and this hasincreased the woes of thehealth department which hasdeployed all its resources tocombat COVID-19.

Mucormycosis was not anotified disease like malariaand hence its cases were notmapped and a database was notprepared, the official said.

With the rise in COVID-19cases and preliminary reportsof growing infection of blackfungus, the state started creat-ing a database.

This exercise revealed that sofar 52 people have died due tothe black fungus infection, theofficial said.

All the 52 patients died afterthe coronavirus infectionspread in the country.However, very few deaths tookplace in 2020 in Maharashtra.A sizeable number of deaths

have taken place in the currentcalendar year, he said.

As per health experts,Mucormycosis is mostly foundamong COVID-19 patientswho have diabetes, fluctuationin sugar level or increased ironlevel in the blood.

Tope has said patients withsuppressed immune systemand co-morbidities are vulner-able to contract the disease.

As part of a contingencyplan to treat Mucormycosispatients, the state governmenthas decided to set up separatewards for them at hospitalsattached to 18 medical colleges.

The treatment requires mul-tidisciplinary expertise becausethe fungal infection spreadsthrough the nose, eyes and canreach the brain, Tope has said.

The Maharashtra govern-ment has already admittedthat at least eight patients in thestate have lost vision in one eyedue to Mucormycosis.

PM-KISAN benefits reach7.03 lakh farmers in WB PNS n NEW DELHI

For the first time on Friday, thebenefits under PM KisanSamman Nidhi Schemereached farmers of WestBengal as about 7.03 lakh ofthem got Rs 2,000 each underthe programme launched morethan two years ago.

Under the scheme, alsoknown as PM-KISAN, a finan-cial benefit of Rs 6,000 per yearis provided to the eligiblefarmers, payable in three equal4-monthly installments of Rs2,000 each. The fund is trans-ferred directly to the bankaccounts of the beneficiaries.The scheme was launched inFebruary 2019 but was imple-mented with effect fromDecember 2018.

The scheme was not imple-mented till now in West Bengalas the state government andthe Centre were at logger-heads over various issues,including verified data of farm-ers.

"Today, the first installmenthas reached lakhs of farmers of

Bengal. As the names of farm-ers from the state are receivedby the central government,the number of beneficiaryfarmers will increase," PrimeMinister Narendra Modi saidafter releasing the 8th install-ment of the financial benefitunder the scheme at a virtualevent.

About 7.03 lakh farmers fromWest Bengal on Friday got thefirst installment of Rs 2,000 intheir bank accounts, the PrimeMinister said.

Under the 8th installmentdisbursed on Friday, a total ofRs 20,667 crore was transferredto more than 9.5 crore farmersacross the country, including

those from West Bengal.The scheme is benefitting

small and marginal farmers a lotin the current difficult times ofCOVID-19, Modi said.

Union Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar, whowas present at the virtual event,recalled that the Prime Ministerhad directed his ministry to takemeasures to bring all statesunder the scheme as soon aspossible.

"In the absence of WestBengal, we were not able to tellall states have joined thescheme... Today, West Bengalhas joined the scheme andmore than 7 lakh farmers willget the benefit," he added.

National platform to track impact of Covid vaxPNS n NEW DELHI

A national tracking platformwill be established soon todetermine the impact of thejabs against COVID-19 and thebreakthrough infections thatare likely to occur among thosewith complete and partialimmunisation, official sourcessaid.

The recommendation of theNational Technical AdvisoryGroup on Immunisation(NTAGI) to establish such aplatform has been acceptedby the National Expert Groupon Vaccine Administration forCOVID-19 and the UnionHealth Ministry, they said.

"The COVID-19 WorkingGroup which is part of NTAGIhas strongly recommended tourgently establish a nationalvaccine tracking platform to

determine the impact of theCOVID vaccine(s) and thebreakthrough infections thatare likely to occur among thosewith complete and partialimmunisation," said Dr N KArora, the INCLEN Trustchairperson who heads theCOVID-19 Working Group.

The vaccine tracker will beparticularly important to mon-itor the impact of increasingthe dosing schedule ofCovishield, he said, as the gov-ernment on Thursday accept-ed the working group's recom-mendation to extend the gapbetween the two doses of theCovishield vaccine from 6-8weeks to 12-16 weeks.

The current data harmonisa-tion work of the IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR) and other agenciescan be leveraged to set up this

facility for review of groundrealities on real-time basis, theNTAGI has recommended.

The government panel hasalso recommended that preg-nant women may be offered thechoice to take any of the

COVID-19 vaccines and thatlactating women can be inoc-ulated any time after delivery.

The NTAGI has also statedthat those having laboratorytest proven SARS-CoV-2 illnessshould defer COVID-19 vacci-

nation for six months afterrecovery, the sources said.

According to the health min-istry's current protocol, vaccineis to be taken four to eightweeks after recovery fromCOVID-19 infection and preg-nant and lactating women arenot to be administered theshots.

The NTAGI recommendedthat all pregnant women visit-ing for antenatal care (ANC)may be informed about risksand benefits associated withCovishield and Covaxin. Basedon the information provided, apregnant woman may beoffered the choice to take anyof the vaccines.

An educational tool com-prising information on risk ofCOVID-19 infection duringpregnancy, benefits associatedwith the vaccination and rare

complications associated withvaccines like thrombosis andthrombocytopenia (withCovishield) may be developed.

In case of individuals whohave received the first dose andbefore completion of the dos-ing schedule if they test posi-tive for COVID-19, theyshould wait for 4-8 weeks afterclinical recovery from the ill-ness.

Also, COVID-19 patientswho have been given anti-SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal anti-bodies or convalescent plasmamay defer vaccination for threemonths from the day of dis-charge from hospital, the rec-ommendations stated.

Individuals having any otherserious illness requiring hospi-talisation or ICU care shouldalso wait for 4-8 weeks beforegetting the vaccine, it added.

UP records15,747 newCOVID-19 cases,312 deathsPNS n LUCKNOW

Uttar Pradesh on Fridayrecorded 15,747 fresh COVID-19 cases that took the infectioncount to 15,96,628 while 312more fatalities pushed the deathtoll to 16,958, officials said.

In the past 13 days, the num-ber of active cases in the statehas come down by over 1.17lakh. On April 30, there wereabout 3.10 lakh active cases andthe number currently stands at1,93,815, said Additional ChiefSecretary, Health, Amit MohanPrasad.

As many as 1,57,257 patientsare in home isolation, he said.

While the state reported15,747 fresh cases the previousday, 26,174 COVID-19patients recovered from thedisease. So far, 13,85,855patients have recovered inUttar Pradesh and the recov-ery rate stands at 86.8 per cent,Prasad said.

So far, over 4.41 crore sam-ples have been tested in thestate, including more than2.63 lakh samples tested onWednesday, he said.

DJ held for hurtingGuj CM's reputationPNS n AHMEDABAD

Police have detained a 30-year-old disc jockey (DJ) inVadodara city of Gujarat onthe charge of harming stateChief Minister Vijay Rupani'sreputation by making anduploading a video by using apart of the latter's past speech,officials said on Friday.

The accused was identifiedas Pradeep Kahar, a resident ofKahar Mohalla in DandiyaBazaar locality of Vadodara,they said.

He was detained onThursday by Vadodara citycrime branch under IPC sec-tion 469, which deals withforgery for purpose of harm-ing reputation, a release issuedby the police said.

Right now, he is kept underdetention and will be formal-ly arrested once his coron-avirus report comes negative,it said.

Kahar is a local DJ and usesthe name 'DJ Adee' on varioussocial media platforms, includ-ing on Facebook. "He isaccused of making and circu-

lating a fake electronic docu-ment using some portion ofthe CM's original speech withan intention to harm the rep-utation and position of theCM," the release said, quotingthe FIR.

Since it is an act of defama-tion, the Vadodara city crimebranch, upon learning aboutKahar's act from social media,detained him, it added.

"Kahar is a DJ and createda video using CM's speech onpotatoes grown inBanaskantha. He also circulat-ed the video on various socialmedia platforms," DeputyCommissioner of Police,Crime Branch, JaydeepsinhJadeja, said.

PNS n BENGALURU

The Congress' Karnataka uniton Friday announced that theparty MPs, MLAs and MLCswill use their Local AreaDevelopment fund to the tuneof Rs 100 crore for procuringvaccines.

"The government has miser-ably failed to protect the peo-ple and vaccinate people.Hence, the MPs, MLAs andMLCs of the Congress, whoare 95 in number have decid-ed to donate at least Rs onecrore each to procure vac-cines," former Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah, who is also theCongress legislative partyleader, said at a press confer-ence here.

According to him, a total ofRs 100 crore will be given byCongress leaders of Karnatakafor the purpose. T h eCongress stalwart said, "This isan unprecedented decision inthe history of Karnataka."

The state Congress chief DK Shivakumar, who accompa-nied Siddaramaiah, said theCongress parliamentarians andlegislators are ready to stopdevelopment works in their

areas."We are ready to stop all the

development works in ourarea. It is our bounden duty tosave lives rather than carry outdevelopment works," he added.

He said the party will writeto Chief Minister B SYediyurappa to utilise theirfunds for vaccine procure-ment.

Later in a statement, thestate Congress unit said itneeded two small permissions,one from the central govern-ment and another from thestate government to allowdiversion of LAD funds forvaccine procurement.

"My appeal to the BJP is to

not let politics come in the wayand in the spirit ofAtmanirbhar Bharat allowCongress to directly procureand administer vaccines," itquoted Shivakumar as saying.

Currently, vaccine procure-ment rules in India allow cen-tral and state governments,hospitals and industries todirectly procure vaccines, theparty said.

The Congress had a Rs 100crore plan to kick-start the vac-cination drive, of which Rs 10crore was being contributed bythe Karnataka Congress partyfund, the party explainedadding another Rs 90 crore cancome from the CongressMLA/MLC funds.

"I appeal to the Yediyurappagovernment to please allow usto use the MLA/MLC funds toprocure vaccines directly in atransparent manner becausethe Modi and Yediyurappagovernments are failing to doso for months now," partyquoted Shivakumar.

The two leaders flayedUnion Minister for Chemicalsand Fertilisers D V SadanandaGowda for his 'suicide byhanging' remark.

Cong MPs, legislators in K'takato use LAD funds for vaccines

PNS n CHENNAI

Vedanta Ltd owned SterliteCopper Plant which recently,commenced production ofmedical oxygen at its facility inTamil Nadu has faced a 'techni-cal snag' in a cold box leadingto a suspension of production,the company said on Friday.

The facility began produc-tion of medical oxygen and thefirst set of medical oxygentankers was dispatched to thebeneficiaries on Thursdayfrom the Tuticorin plant, locat-ed about 600 kms from here.

In a statement on Friday, thecompany said, "a technicalsnag has developed in the coldbox at our oxygen plant inTuticorin, leading to a tempo-rary pause in production."

The company said it antic-

ipated a 'minor technical fluc-tuation' since the plantremained unattended for threeyears.

A technical expert group hasbeen onsite from day one tomonitor the situation and toprovide real-time solutions toresume production at the ear-liest.

"We plan to return to sta-bilised production soon," thecompany said.

On Thursday, the companysaid with the production ofmedical oxygen, it would ini-tially dispatch two oxygentankers on a daily basis andlater it would be 'scaled up' byramping up production.

Vax drive for 18-44 agegroup to begin in HP PNS n SHIMLA

The vaccination drive againstCOVID-19 for the 18-44 agegroup will begin in HimachalPradesh from May 17, ahealth official said on Friday.

The state recently received1,07,620 doses of Covishieldvaccine from the SerumInstitute of India, Pune forthis category, Special HealthSecretary Nipun Jindal said.

Vaccination for the 18-44age group will be given onlyon Mondays and Thursdays,and slots will be visible on theCOWIN portal two daysprior to each scheduled ses-sion, he said.

The state has already placedan order for more vaccines forthis age group, Jindal added.

All the eligible persons will

have to register themselvesand schedule their appoint-ment for vaccination on theCOWIN portal, he added.

The health official said theavailable slots will be visibleon the COWIN portal fromMay 15.

HRTC conductors anddrivers, fuel pump opera-tors, PDS depot holders,teachers on COVID duty,banks and financial services,chemists, staff of Lok MitraKendra, employees in child-care institutions under theWCD department and theworkers of pharma industrywho are engaged in manu-facturing process have nowbeen declared as prioritisedgroup for the anti-coron-avirus vaccinat ion, headded.

Eid celebrated insubdued mannerin UPPNS n LUCKNOW

People in Uttar Pradesh celebrat-ed Eid-al-Fitr, which marks theend of the holy month ofRamzan, in a subdued manneron Friday, due to COVID-19restrictions.

With mosques closed andlarge congregations prohibited,Muslim families celebrated thefestival with simplicity, offeringnamaz at home and giving awayzakat (charity) to the needy.

At Lucknow's AishbaghEidgah, five persons offerednamaz. Other mosques in the cityalso witnessed a similar scene dueto restrictions, preventing congre-gational prayers.

Both Shia and Sunni clericshad appealed to the people toavoid shopping for Eid and helpthe poor and the needy, who havebeen affected by the pandemic.

SPOOF VIDEO

Sterlite Copper oxygenplant develops ‘tech snag’

other terrorist organisations itfaces. Its commando and spe-cial forces units have beenparticularly successful.

Against this, the harsh factis that the Taliban haveexpanded their control overhuge tracts of Afghanistan’scountryside and some cities,besides inflicting a number ofheavy defeats on the Afghantroops. At least some of thereverses the latter suffered thebeginning of 2020 are attrib-utable to the Trump admin-istration’s atrocious policies.These included asking theGovernment forces early in2020 to go on the defensive inthe interest of its peace nego-tiations with the Taliban, andarm-twisting it into agreeingto the Taliban demand ofreleasing 5,000 of their fight-ers in Afghan jails as a pre-condition for talks. Many ofthe released fighters havegone back to combat despitethe Taliban’s promise thatthey would not do so.

The Taliban, however,began gaining ground evenbefore the TrumpAdministration’s policies andpressures hampered theANDSF’s operations. Also,while the capabilities of theAfghan troops have improved,a big question mark hangs

against the future availabilityof effective air support, whichhas played an important rolein many of the ANA’s success-ful operations. According toone estimate, 80 to 90 per centof the air support to it is nowprovided by the fledglingAfghan Air Force (AAF).

The AAF, however, hasbeen supported by the massiveair power of the US. Also,international contractors, nowdoing the bulk of the mainte-nance work on its planes andhelicopters, will depart withthe American troops. Thiswill seriously affect its opera-tional capabilities. This under-lines the importance of contin-ued American aid. On July 7,2012, Hillary Clinton, then USSecretary of State, announcedin Kabul that President Obamahad designated Afghanistan asa major non-NATO ally of theUS. The questions are: Howmuch and of what kind?

Apart from military hard-ware, there is a need forfunds. Countering a blend ofinsurgency and terrorism is avery expressive business. TheUS has provided over $86 bil-lion as security assistance toAfghanistan between finan-cial years 2002 and 2019.Since 2014, it has been pro-viding between five and six

billion dollars per year tofund the ANDSF. How muchand what form of assistancewill Washington provideAfghanistan after the with-drawal of its troops?

Clearly, the military out-come in Afghanistan hangs inthe balance. So does the fate ofAfghanistan. All indications arethat the Taliban have everyintention to re-impose themedieval, authoritarian theo-cratic system that had reducedAfghanistan to a cleric-admin-istered prison. As AhmedRashid wrote in Taliban: Islam,Oil and the New Great Game inCentral Asia, edicts of theTaliban’s Department ofPromotion of Virtue andPrevention of Vice “hadchanged the lifestyles of Kabul’sonce easy-going populationand forced Afghan women todisappear from public view”.

India needs to watch out.As the diversion to Kandaharof the Indian Airlines hijackedFlight IC-814 in December1999 showed, the Taliban wereactively promoting terrorismagainst it by Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba. Do we have a coherentpolicy to meet the challenge?

(The author is ConsultingEditor, The Pioneer. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

Chandler Muriel Bing of the Friends fame said in the series: “I’m not greatat advice. But can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?” Something sim-ilar in the nature of an emotion has ostensibly stirred Uttarakhand’s for-

mer Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat. The BJP leader, no less adept at stok-ing controversy as the incumbent Tirath Singh Rawat, has now taken to bat forthe accursed Novel Coronavirus because, as it would appear, everybody is onlyhurling doses of vituperation at the poor pathogen. Choosing to look at it “froma philosophical angle”, Rawat said that the virus is a “living organism which has

a right to live”. In the same vein, he warned thehuman species that despite considering ourselvesto be the most intelligent on the planet and outto eliminate the virus, the killer is sensible enoughto keep mutating itself. Slipping into some sensemidway, he also clarified, to his credit, that peo-ple need to outpace the virus to stay safe. So far,so good! By that logic, do we need to go and offerourselves to a tiger just because it has a life andthe right to life? If the virus has the right to live,as an organism, all of us don’t?

And, as most of us would agree, the new-agepoliticians are nothing less than pernicious virus-

es. But do they really need to open their trap and prove it? As the old sayinggoes, it is better to keep your mouth shut and let the world think that you are afool, rather than open it and remove all doubts! The unusual observation, as musthave been the desired outcome of the former Chief Minister, went viral at a timewhen the entire country is battling a killer second wave of COVID-19. A Twitteruser sarcastically said: “This virus organism should be given shelter in the CentralVista.” Another said: “Shri Rawat should invite the virus home, feed it well andstay with it for at least 14 days.” All done and dusted, the statement just goeson to show how devoid of empathy are our political leaders who, in spite of see-ing the mass scale of devastation in terms of life, employment and businessopportunities, can’t keep themselves away from cour ting a headline-worth-ofcontroversy. As Chandler said, one more time: “Handle? I can handle it. Handleis my middle name. Well, actually it’s the middle par t of my first name.”

The COVID-19 vaccination drive in India appears to be wafting in the air witha mind of its own. Never an easy task, what with a billion people to be vac-cinated in time to avoid a third surge of the virus, the exercise is taking time

even to take off. Whether it is owing to gigantic nature of the task at hand or thescattered nature of the vaccination management plan, one is not sure. The barefacts of the case, if the pandemic is to be brought under control at the very leastby the end of this year, are before us. Scientists believe a minimum of 70 per centof the population needs to be vaccinated for the herd immunity to set in. In India,that means the immunity can be achieved if nearly 94 crore people receive both

doses of the vaccine. At two doses each, that callsfor 188-odd crore doses. That is a tall order. Evenif one were to scale down the vaccination to onedose under the assumption that it is better to giveat least half protection to all than complete pro-tection to only a few, even then, just under a 100crore doses are needed. Where to get the dosesfrom? How long will it take to acquire them? Howlong will it take to complete the vaccinationprocess? If, at the end, it is only one dose thatis given, an identical task stares at the countryfor giving the second dose.

Bear in mind that all this is for vaccinating only70 per cent of the population. That means just about a third of the population willbe left high and dry unless they largely constitute children who are yet to comeunder the purview of vaccination. The Serum Institute of India has said it will bein a position to produce 10 crore doses a month after July. One can assume thatBharat Biotech can produce anywhere between five and six crore doses a monthafter July. Zydus Cadila and Dr Reddy’s Labs will be able to pitch in with three-odd crore doses a month. That can stretch the total figure of available doses permonth close to 20 crore by August 2021 or thereabouts. That leaves five monthstill December to complete the task of giving around 100 crore doses. There arereports that are not so confident; they contend that the task may actually take overtwo or even three years. In any case, assuming the exercise ends by December,a population of 94-odd crore will receive one effective dose or half of them willget two doses each, as the case may be. The result is there for all to see: It issimply impossible to achieve herd immunity before the end of 2021 unless 188crore doses are available at once and an unprecedented, organised, synchronised,national campaign is undertaken to complete the process in five months. The ques-tion to the Centre goes abegging: Where is the plan?

High and dry

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

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HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 15, 2021

06

HogwashAmid the raging contagion, a handful of politicians are

providing comic relief to citizens, albeit unintentionally

There’s a host of implications emanating from the withdrawal of American troops from that country, and India needs to watch out

PICTALK

ITBP personnel share a friendly moment at a training centre near Mana, Uttarakhand PTI

AS THE DIVERSIONTO KANDAHAR OF

THE INDIAN AIRLINESHIJACKED FLIGHT

IC-814 IN DECEMBER1999 SHOWED, THE

TALIBAN WEREACTIVELY

PROMOTINGTERRORISM AGAINST

IT BY JAISH-E-MOHAMMED AND

LASHKAR-E-TAIBA.DO WE HAVE A

COHERENT POLICYTO MEET THECHALLENGE?

HIRANMAY KARLEKARHerd immunity is one thing; India needs to do a lot more to protect its people from the pandemic

The endgamein Afghanistan

The latest available esti-mates of the number ofpeople, mostly school-girls, killed in three

blasts in front of a co-education-al school in Kabul on May 8, varyfrom at least 60 (BBC) to over 85(CNN). The figure may rise fur-ther by the time this column ispublished. The diabolical intentto kill as many as possible is clearfrom the fact that a car bomb wasfirst detonated and two impro-vised explosive devices followedas the girls rushed out of theschool in panic.

Two questions arise. Who isbehind this ghastly crime? Whatare its implications? As to thefirst, no one has claimed respon-sibility. The AfghanGovernment has blamed theTaliban, which has deniedinvolvement and condemnedthe strike. This leaves one withthe Islamic State, which hasstaged terror attack in Kabul andelsewhere in Afghanistan andwhich retains its ability to strikedespite losing a great deal of ter-ritory over the months.

The Taliban are the morelikely culprits. There is no rea-son why one should believethem, particularly when theMay 8 blasts have to be seen inthe background of the surge intheir attacks and terror strikesfollowing President Joe Biden’sannouncement that allAmerican troops will leaveAfghanistan by September 11.They know they will not win anelection and they do not believein democracy. They want tocontrol Afghanistan by force andestablish the Sharia rule.

Will they be able to do it?What will happen if they do?The answer to the first woulddepend on the fighting qualitiesof the Afghan National Securityand Defence Forces (ANDSF),the support they continue toreceive from the US and itsNATO allies. As to the first,despite serious problems ofdesertion and unwillingness toenlist, the Afghan NationalArmy (ANA), the land warfarearm of the ANDSF, has emergeda battle-hardened force capableof confronting the Taliban and

The situation isextremely fragile asthere are alsoconstraints in lifting100 MT of allocated#oxygen fromBurnpur and Kalinganagar in the east.

Rajasthan Chief Minister

— Ashok Gehlot

SOUNDBITETHE OXYGEN CRISIS IN GOASir — An oxygen crisis in the Goa MedicalCollege and Hospital (GMCH), the State’slargest COVID facility, has led to the deathof over 74 patients in the span of four daysdue to daily disruptions in oxygen supply.Just two days after 26 patients lost their livesat the GMCH within hours, the StateGovernment told the Bombay High CourtBench in Goa that 15 more patients had suc-cumbed.

The Bench was informed of 13 moredeaths from the same hospital. The spate ofdeaths due to the lack of oxygen is causinga serious concern for the COVID-19patients in Goa’s hospitals. However, thePramod Sawant Government and the hos-pital both told the court that all the deathscould not be attributed to the disruption inoxygen supply.

The issue relating to oxygen shortage isso severe that the court had ordered the StateGovernment to drop everything and ensurethat there are no deaths for “at least onenight”. The relatives of the patients did raisean alarm after the oxygen pressure beganto drop overnight. But it was several hoursbefore anyone was able to fix the problemand ensure a steady supply of oxygen. It wasa simple case of utter negligence on the partof the health department and theGovernment.

CK Subbu | Goa

BE CAUTIOUS, BUT NOT SCAREDSir — The recrudescence of COVID-19 inthe form of the second wave has claimedmany lives since mid-March 2021. Cold,cough, breathlessness and fever have beenexperienced from time immemorial. Coldtriggers fever and cough triggers breathless-ness if curative measures are not taken intime; it is a known fact.

Fever appears in many forms like flu,malaria, typhoid, encephalitis (brain fever),monkey fever, and so on. The said fevershave not given an undertaking that theywould not appear since Corona has beenappearing on a grand scale. But sinceCorona made an appearance, we havehardly heard of the fevers experienced ear-

lier. If a patient with cold, cough or feverapproaches a doctor, they do not treat thepatient without subjecting her/him to aCOVID test. Have all other fevers lostground to Corona? If all other fevers aretreated like COVID, the fatalities are boundto occur due to wrong diagnosis andwrong administration of medicines.

Whether malaria, typhoid and flu havenot at all revisited after Corona first brokeout in March 2020, the other normal ail-ments are still very much a reality. Thisaspect must be looked into by theGovernment, scientists and doctors.

KV Seetharamaiah | Hassan

PAY ATTENTION TO RURAL INDIA, TOOSir —This refers to the news report, ‘Dozensof bodies found buried in sand near Gangain Unnao’, May 14. When COVID-19 firsthit India, the biggest fear among both the

policymakers and public experts was thatthe pandemic would travel to India’s Hindiheartland — primarily across the rural beltof Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar.

Given the size of the two States, the den-sity of population, the abysmal healthcareinfrastructure and the manner in which thevirus could quickly transmit in theseregions, this fear was legitimate. There wasnever any cogent explanation as to why thiswas the case, but this did not deter specu-lative, and clearly misplaced, theories aboutthe innate immunity of those in rural India.

The tragic sight of the bodies floatingin the Ganga confirms that the numbers ofreported COVID fatalities are much high-er than the official figures.

N Sadhasiva Reddy | Bengaluru

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

The suggestion of the Supreme Court aboutplacing convicts under house arrest is worthconsidering. If one may add, the release of

political prisoners on bail or parole too meritsconsideration. Political and civil rights activistsare often incarcerated for speaking out the truthto power or rebelling against the “system”.Dissent is now a crime punishable with imprisonment!

It is a matter of immense significance interms of human rights that the undertrials makeup nearly 70 per cent of the total inmates in Indianprisons. Many of them do not have access tolegal counsel or remedy. Pre-trial imprisonmentin itself is punishment. As they say, the process

is the punishment in India. It is a logical premisethat the undertrials could be convicted or acquit-ted. Eventually, be it conviction or acquittal, theycannot be kept in a place where they run greaterrisk of contracting Coronavirus. They must bespared the ‘capital punishment’ by the virus!

It is common knowledge that many ofIndia’s prisons are congested and have moreinmates than they can accommodate and, assuch, they remain the hotspots for the conta-gion. Needless to say, the prison conditions areconducive to the spread of the contagion. Whenprisons are crammed full of inmates, it is nextto impossible to maintain physical distancing.The incorporation of decongesting prisons intothe pandemic response is a much-needed mea-sure. Prisoners also share the right to health withthose outside prisons for anyone to be dismis-sive of their greater in-house susceptibility to con-tract the virus. The non-violent and low-riskoffenders pose no significant risk to public safe-ty. Releasing them is a containment measure thathas a health benefit by reducing the risk of trans-mission and an uplifting humanitarian gesture.

G David Milton | Tamil Nadu

Open up the barred humanity

It will take time, butwith great firmness,both defensively andoffensively, we willachieve our goal torestore peace to

the State of Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister— Benjamin Netanyahu

So thankful to all the love put intomaking me feel specialon my birthday. (But)without family you are nothing.

Actor— Sunny Leone

#breakthechain COVIDis not our friend. It'sour enemy. Our focusis only & only to keepit as far away from usas possible.

Actor

— Vindu Dara Singh

My quarantine

period is still not over.

Otherwise, I am doing

much better.

Requesting everyone

not to spread misleading stories/

information without

the whole context.

Cricketer

— Wriddhiman Saha

LETTERS TO TTHE EDITOR

Time to embrace thebiological revolution

AS PER TV REPORTS, MY NUMBER WAS FALSELY

GIVEN AS BELONGING TO SOME AMJAD KHAN,

OSTENSIBLY TO LINK ME WITH DRUG TRAFFICKING.

— MAHARASHTRA CONGRESS PRESIDENT

NANA PATOLE

ONE PARTY SHOULD NOT TAP THE PHONES OF THE

OTHER PARTY OR LEADERS. THE MATTER SHOULD BE

INVESTIGATED BY A COMMITTEE OF RETIRED JUDGES.

— BJP LEADER

SUDHIR MUNGANTIWAR

While ushering in the era of thebiological revolution one can-not fail to notice that one of thebiggest ironies in biology is that

microbes, which are the oldest self-replicat-ing organisms on earth and which wereamong the last to be discovered, have large-ly been ignored. This is evident from the pre-sent crisis of the Coronavirus, which hasdevastated half of the world and has broughtit almost to the brink of disaster, partlybecause of the late discovery of microbes andtechniques of genome sequencing.

The lack of attention to micro-organismsis largely due to our observational bias. Wetend to ignore what we cannot see. This pre-disposition allowed us to make greatprogress in astronomy observing visibleobjects billions of miles away from us, longbefore we could appreciate the role of bac-teria and viruses on this planet. Life on earthis much more than there are plants. Ourinherent knowledge gaps about viruses &microorganisms have brought us to the pre-sent-day crisis.

Hence, biological revolution is inevitable.The following facts expose us to the ongo-ing revolutionary and unprecedented bio-logical research and its unique opportuni-ties.

Microbes have evolved into a complexnanomachine even capable of splittingwater via energy from the sun, billions ofyears ahead, than terrestrial plants. There isonly one existing prokaryotic type of bac-teria capable of producing oxygen withoutthe sun — the cyano bacteria. We have yetto discover its mechanism.

If one happens to look to the list of noblelaureates in the last decade one cannot failto notice that most of the noble prizes evenfor physics and chemistry have gone for theirstudy on solving the biological riddle.Several aspects of the mystery of biology arestill to be unravelled. Dr SiddharthaMukherjee of New York University observedthat though cancer research started earlierthan space travel, cancer is still an uncon-querable ‘emperor of maladies’. It is no sur-prise that MIT, an institution known forengineering and technology has changed itsfocus to molecular biology and some of itsfaculty members have even won nobleprizes for their research on cell biology.

Dr Bruce H Lipton of WisconsinUniversity and subsequently at StanfordUniversity, USA, in his ground-breakingwork, has discovered how cell mechanismsreceive and process information in the cellthrough the critical cell membrane. The cellmembrane through its receptor and integralprotein that serves as an antenna sends sig-nals from the outside environment. Theimplication of this research will radicallychange our understanding of life. It showsthat genes and DNA are controlled by sig-nals from outside through the cell mem-brane. This research in cell biology andquantum physics is being hailed as a break-through showing that behaviour can be

changed as we train our thinking.Thoughts and minds’ energy direct-ly influence how the physical braincontrols the body’s physiology.Mental ‘energy’ can activate orinhibit the cells’ function to produceproteins.

Biologists in collaboration withbiochemists, biophysicists are work-ing hard to cutting-edge research onmost of the areas of the burningissues to meet the demands of thegrowing population that consumesmore and more transportable formsof stored energy. Scientists areturning to alternative sources ofrenewable energy like solar, hydro,wind and tide. But our energyneeds are still not being met becauseof their intermittent supply andtime difference between their pro-duction and demand. The alterna-tive renewable energies are gettingcheaper, better all the time.However, we are yet to find a wayto store these energies ineffective,cheap, reliable ways, without muchcreation of waste.

If biologists can devise a bat-tery that allows overcoming inter-mittency problems inherent insolar, wind, and other renewablesources, we could use clean andabundant sources to meet all ourenergy needs.

The battery converts chemicalenergy to electrical energy by mov-ing electrons from one metal toanother. Electrons are tiny negative-ly charged particles. The copper-zinc plates form positive and neg-

ative poles. It conducts the electriccurrent. It can go as long as all theelectrons get transferred. Thus, abattery is an energy transportationdevice. When the battery is dis-charged, we use electricity to charge.

Dr Angela Belcher, materialsscientist at MIT, is evolving virus-es into variants that could organizenon-biological materials such asgallium arsenide and silicon forsemiconductors. Her experimentgave her confidence to build newtools to build batteries. She foundthat metals and metal oxidesworked particularly well. Viruses donot have cell walls or any structur-al elements. It is a protein capsulewith DNA / RNA. She found thatviruses-building elements could beused to make electrodes that canopen a door to clean and efficient,new way for making batteries. Hernext step is a virus-based state of artbattery, but could this battery takethe form of a dashboard, seat cover,door panel? Nobody knows.

Until recently, it was undisput-ed that cell membrane itself is amedium for exchange of waterfrom cells and outside. Dr PeterAgre, molecular biologist at JohnHopkin’s Institute, in 1980 whilepurifying Rh protein from redblood cell membranes to identify itmade a discovery that the mem-brane has Rh protein that works asa gate and alters a particular sub-stance vehicle with a pass to allowentry into the cell. These proteinsare known as aquaporins.

Starting with a large volume ofthe red blood cells, he separatedthe cell membrane from the rest ofits content. Next, he carefully iso-lated Rh protein from other pre-sent proteins. We all need freshwater to survive but it is only fiveper cent of the total water volumeof the earth. Most of it is in icesheets and the soil.

Hence, water purification iscritical for human survival. Thisdiscovery will use cell proteins ofthe cell membrane to purify water.We now know the whole family ofaquaporin found in virtually allorganisms on earth. A particularamino acid occupies a particularpattern of location and pattern.

Contrary to the theory by afamous economist, Thomas RobertMalthus, the world would beengulfed by war, famine and pesti-lence, but the convergence of biol-ogy and engineering is giving usgreat hope that we can avoid thegloomy future. How to bringtogether researchers from the fieldsof science for a collaborative effortin bioengineering by encouragingnational investment in fundamen-tal research that motivates scientiststo work in interdisciplinary areas.

For all this to happen we musthave convergence-minded policiesand international collaboration inthe field of biology, where scientistsand technologists can work on aplatform to defer the sixth massextinction of Holocene orAnthropocene.

It is an inevitable, irreversible fact. Also, it hides within itself the potential of biological research and its unique opportunities for humanity

ISHANEE SHARMA

WE ALL NEEDFRESH WATER

TO SURVIVE BUT IT IS ONLY FIVE

PER CENT OF THETOTAL WATER

VOLUME OF THE EARTH. MOST

OF IT IS IN ICESHEETS AND

THE SOIL. HENCE,WATER

PURIFICATION ISCRITICAL FOR

HUMAN SURVIVAL.THIS DISCOVERY

WILL USE CELLPROTEINS OF THECELL MEMBRANE

TO PURIFY WATER

Till the untoward dissemination of Coronavirus in India, the econom-ic prosperity and healthcare developments were often consideredcomplementary to each other. During the COVID pandemic, empir-

ical corroborations show the gap between the two has not narrowed down,resulting in lopsided development. Every year, the Union and StateGovernments while appropriating their annual finances accord utmost pri-ority toward superficial sectors or ancilliary enterprises ie insurance sec-tor and proffer marginal policy attention to our medical and health caresectors. It is appalling that since Independence, the percentage-basedmonetary allocation in healthcare development had never exceeded twoper cent of the overall financial allocations. Consequently, it results in adispleasing growth of certain sectors accompanied by social disparitycaused by the whopping expenses incurred by the majority of our pop-ulation in meeting the basic medicinal requirements at private hospitals.This disparity makes the downtrodden masses vulnerable in the spheresof human resource development, in seeking adequate health care ben-efits from the State. Ergo, the plunder bund-like insurance companiesexploit them at their own whims and fancies, which in turn eclipses the

economic development and ultimately takes lives of thousands of peo-ple in our country due to inadequate healthcare infrastructure.This pan-demic has inadvertently helped our economy in highlighting the existinginfrastructure lacunaein the medical and healthcare industry. Due to theglaring deficiency of an adequate infrastructure and sufficient humanresource in the public hospitals, the most sought-after health care schemessuch as Ayushman Bharat have also failed to meet the legitimate med-icinal demands of the masses during the times of the pandemic. A reportpublished in a leading daily newspaper highlights that barely 10 per centof the Ayushman Bharat cardholders could take the benefit of this cen-trally sponsored scheme.

We have witnessed that ICUs, ventilators, availability of RT-PCR facil-ities, oxygen cylinders, cardiac monitors for operation theatres, electrocar-diogram machines, adequacy of beds available, vaccines, ancillary med-icines and steroids, vertical transport facilities, staff and most important-ly sufficient number of doctors were also inadequate in most of the health-care institutions. Scarcity of testing facilities and vaccines erodes the util-ity of rural and government hospitals and bulldozes the poor patients tohasten to distant places for availing urgent treatment. It can be said thatthe genesis of this problem accentuated in the year 1991 when our coun-try adopted the LPG (Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation) policy. Sincethen the government allowed the private sector to take a lead in the healthcare industry and thereby the state in a gradual manner withdrew from itsresponsibilities for providing adequate health care means to the masses.This stunted public sector spending on medical services, resulting in exces-sive reliance upon the private sector in seeking health care benefits. Thegovernment needs to realize the fact that the private sector operates in aprofit-centric manner and they will not take necessary initiatives to reachthe masses at the grass root level. Presently in the rural areas, there areonly 0.6 doctors per 1,000 population. A pure mercenary approach in themedicinal industry and inception of users’ charges in healthcare sectorshave placed the people at a disadvantage. Equilibrium in appropriating bud-getary allocation between other sectors of our economy and the health-care sector is a very crucial policy decision, which our country urgentlyneeds to address for saving the lives of thousands of people who are dyingdue to the pandemic. Earmarking adequate precedence to the health caresector has also become non-negotiable in the present scenario.

(The writer is the Managing Partner, Ishanee Sharma Law Offices, andworks towards achieving gender justice and freedom of speech. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

It was national technologyday on May 11 (the day iscelebrated to mark 1998

Pokharan nuclear tests) andthe irony is Indian science hasmanaged to break an atomand unleash its power but anatomic size virus seems insur-mountable. The statementcould well be turned around-to, in this battle of humans’ vsvirus, policy makers ignoredscience.

A month into one thedarkest periods of modernIndian history things look tat-tered and dishevelled withcitizens in queues even for per-forming last rites of their lov-ing. Early celebrations, polit-ical compulsions of a democ-ratic society, vibrant regionalsensitivities,one can attributea ton of reasons to the currentlevel of pandemic devasta-tion, yet what is lacking issound backing and knowl-edge of a science-led bunch of

experts leading the fightagainst pandemic. It may notbe an exaggeration if oneassumes India’s second waveCOVID battle is being foughtin courts, national and localadministrative offices. Eachone in their desperation orcompulsion to make the rightannouncement is giving asiloed decision, often over-reaching each other’s territo-ry, therefore creating anunwarranted bottleneck at acritical time. Examples havebeen quoted of differencesbetween Delhi and Mumbaiand will continue to be a casestudy for any future pandem-ic management, but what itshowed was any governancehas to start right at the colonycluster level. The biggestbunch of caregivers/adminis-trators/counsellors are right inthe neighborhood and there-fore healthcare and civic infra-structure has to be upgraded

at the mohalla level. Tossing afew social media posts withglossy pictures of infrastruc-ture fail to impress when a per-son urgently needs to breathe.Running to courts to interveneis allowing the judiciary towalk into executive’s coreresponsibilities while present-ing a united face to any calami-ty/war or crisis is one of thebasic rules of public adminis-tration. One does not start to

gain brownie points before theunconnected and potentiallydangerous parties during a cri-sis situation. It is shocking tosee central,state, local admin-istrations if not judiciary, cre-ating opposing guidelines forCovid management or tryingto control surge with delays.

Second, it is important forthose at the top to understandthat the pandemic is a bluntreminder of the gross neglect

of rationale domain experts inpolicy making and governance.India still is governed bybureaucrats, who by trainingare generalists with no specialdomain knowledge for han-dling new world challengesand therefore solutions.Political leaders of any huewould always cater to theirconstituencies and come upwith the most populistschemes, which may or maynot impact lives and liveli-hoods in the long term. Anexample, free food distribution,while at a humanitarian levelit is a noble move yet ensuringa continuous supply of govern-ment subsidized ration is theonly long-term solution. If the‘one nation one ration card’had been operationalised inmajor parts of India, alongwith various schemes formigrants and those out of thesocial net, tons of public sec-tor human resources such as

police could have been betterutilized for enforcing otherCovid appropriate protocols.Ifa few scientists, epidemiolo-gists, doctors had been perma-nently co opted in a steeringcommittee for Covid man-agement in national and Stategovernments (if not local) thepermanent tag of India facingworst Covid wave in the worldcould have been avoided.

Finally, the truth no mat-ter however harsh or shamingif told honestly and with com-passion, always benefits theorator. The government hasbeen avoiding queries on vac-cination supply and distribu-tion. All domain experts havebeen suggesting vaccinationbeing the only long-term solu-tion for protecting a largechunk of population andavoiding mass graves. Thegovernment had nearly eightmonths to be prepared for thecurrent onslaught and has

been blessed with one of thelargest vaccine manufactur-ing sites in the world, alongwith a home grown vaccine. Ittherefore cuts a very sorryfigure when despite all thewealth and a team to pushIndia to the next lever ofgrowth, only about 10 percent of the population hasbeen vaccinated while a size-able chunk of India, eveninmost impacted districts ofDelhi and Mumbai,are battlingit for ajab in the arm. The cur-rent vaccine distribution pol-icy of the government isopaque and needs clarity alongwith an almost daily update onthe pipeline for next fewmonths. Estimates suggestnearly one per cent of the Indiapopulation would be willing topay for vaccines. Governmentmust prioritise COVID3 man-agement by securing nearly 1.5billion vaccines for India in thenext few months.

We, as one nation, one people, need to come together. If all of us don’t care for each other in this hour of crisis, who will?

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 15, 2021

07

www.dailypioneer.com facebook.com/dailypioneer | at the rate ofTheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

FIRSTCOLUMN

HEALTHCARE POLICYNEEDS A BOOSTER

The disparity among the masses makes the downtrodden people more vulnerable

BKP SINHA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The writer is an advisor to AmitySchool of Natural

Resources andSustainable

Development, UttarPradesh. The views

expressed are personal.

The nation needs to come up with a transparent vaccine policy

KUMARDEEP BANERJEE

(The writer is a policy analyst.

The views expressed are personal.)

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 15, 2021 Money 08

MONEY MATTERS

Tata Motors on Friday saidits board will meet next

week to consider a proposalto raise funds throughvarious means. The boardmeeting is scheduled to beheld on Tuesday, May 18,2021 to consider andapprove the audited financial

results for the quarter and financial year ended March 31, 2021. "Theboard in the said meeting would also consider a proposal for raisingfunds by way of issue of one or more instruments includingconvertible securities of any description or debt securities, throughpreferential issue, private placements, rights issue or any othermethods or combination thereof in the domestic and/or internationalmarkets," Tata Motors said in a regulatory filing. However, TataMotors did not give an indication on the quantum of the amount thatthe company intends to raise.

Tata board to meet next week to consider fund-raise proposal

All India PowerEngineers

Federation (AIPEF)on Friday said asmany as 1,000power sectoremployees havesuccumbed toCOVID-19 andmore than 15,000have been infected

from the virus. In Maharashtra, a total of more than 7,100power employees are COVID positive and about 210 have died.While, in Uttar Pradesh, more than 4,000 power sectoremployees are suffering from coronavirus and there have been140 casualties. "Amid a record surge in COVID-19 cases in thecountry, around 1,000 employees working in the power sectorhave died and more than 15,000 employees have testedpositive for the virus," AIPEF Spokesperson V K Gupta said.

1K power sector employeessuccumbed to Covid: AIPEF

The Asian Development Bankon Friday said it has commit-

ted a record USD 3.92 billion insovereign loans for 13 projectsto India in 2020, including USD1.8 billion in COVID-19 relatedprojects to support the govern-ment's pandemic response. Aspart of the pandemic support toIndia, the Manila-headquartered

multilateral agency said it has provided emergency assistance tocontain the disease and establish social protection measures forrelief to the poor and other vulnerable groups. ADB also approvedfinancing to help the government improve equitable access to com-prehensive primary health care in urban areas. This is ADB's high-est-ever annual lending commitment to India since the start of itslending operations in 1986, it said, adding it has also committedUSD 356.1 million through its non-sovereign operations to India,including three COVID-19 support projects.

ADB commits record USD 3.92billion loan to India

Infrastructure company Larsen &Toubro (L&T) on Friday said its

construction arm has bagged an upto Rs 5,000 crore contract fromChennai Metro Rail Corporation."The business has secured an orderfrom Chennai Metro Rail

Corporation Ltd (CMRL) to construct nearly 12 km twin bored tun-nels from Kellys station to Taramani Road Junction station," thecompany said in a regulatory filing. L&T said the business has alsosecured another order from Chennai Metro Rail Corporation to con-struct approx 8 Km of elevated Viaduct with 9 elevated metro sta-tions starting from Power House to Porur Junction including otherassociated works. The engineering and construction company didnot provide the exact value of the contract, but as per its projectclassification, "large" orders are those valued between Rs 2,500 croreand Rs 5,000 crore. L&T said these projects are the first packagesof phase - II which have been awarded by Chennai Metro Rail.

L&T bags construction orderfrom Chennai Metro Rail Corp

PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensexended marginally higherafter a choppy session onFriday as concerns over theeconomic impact of the sec-ond wave of COVID-19 andpace of vaccination weighedon investor sentiment.

While the 30-share BSEindex ended 41.75 points or0.09 per cent higher at48,732.55, the broader NSENifty fell 18.70 points or0.13 per cent to 14,677.80.

Asian Paints was the topgainer in the Sensex pack,rallying over 8 per cent, fol-lowed by ITC, Nestle India,L&T, HUL and RelianceIndustries.

On the other hand,IndusInd Bank, M&M, DrReddy's, SBI and NTPCwere among the laggards.

"Indian equity marketsremained largely rangebound over the last week.The COVID situation inIndia is no doubt grim and

hence the health issue issomething that could keepmarkets volatile in the nearterm," said Shibani Kurian,Senior EVP & Head- EquityResearch, Kotak MahindraAMC.

Going forward, marketwill likely track the pace ofvaccinations, trajectory ofactive cases curve and man-agement commentary ofcompanies. Rollback oflocalised lockdowns andtrend of inflation in manyglobal commodities likecrude oil and steel will beother key factors to watchout for, she noted.

Elsewhere in Asia, bours-es in Shanghai, Hong Kong,Tokyo and Seoul ended on aposit ive note. Stockexchanges in Europe werealso trading with gains inmid-session deals.

Meanwhile, internationaloil benchmark Brent crudewas trading 0.92 per centhigher at USD 67.67 perbarrel.

Sensex ends marginally higher;Nifty stays below 14,700

PNS n NEW DELHI

Petrol and diesel prices onFriday touched record highlevels across the country afterrates were increased for thefourth time this week.

Petrol price was hiked by 29paise per litre and diesel by 34paise a litre, according to aprice notification by state-owned fuel retailers.

The increase propelled ratesin Delhi to climb to an all-timehigh of Rs 92.34 a litre forpetrol and Rs 82.95 per litre fordiesel.

Rates had already crossedthe Rs 100-mark in severalcities in Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh and Maharashtra andwith the latest increase, pricesin Mumbai too were inchingtowards that level.

A litre of petrol in Mumbainow comes for Rs 98.65 anddiesel is priced at Rs 90.11 perlitre.

Fuel prices differ from stateto state depending on the inci-dence of local taxes such asVAT and freight charges.Rajasthan levies the highest

value-added tax (VAT) onpetrol in the country, followedby Madhya Pradesh.

This was the fourth increasein prices this week and eighthhike since May 4, when thestate-owned oil firms ended an18-hiatus in rate revision theyobserved during assembly elec-tions in states like West Bengal.

Sri Ganganagar district ofRajasthan had the costliestpetrol and diesel in the coun-try at Rs 103.27 per litre and Rs95.70 a litre respectively.

In eight increases, petrolprice has risen by Rs 1.95 perlitre and diesel by Rs 2.22.

Since March last year whenthe government raised exciseduty on fuel to an all-time

high, petrol price has increasedby a record Rs 22.75 per litre(after accounting for a hand-ful of occasions when rates fell)and diesel by Rs 20.66.

Oil companies, who have inrecent months resorted tounexplained freeze in rate revi-sion, had hit a pause buttonafter cutting prices marginal-ly on April 15. This coincidedwith electioneering hitting apeak to elect new govern-ments in five states includingWest Bengal.

No sooner had votingended, oil companies indicat-ed an impending increase inretail prices in view of firmingtrends in international oil mar-kets.

Petrol, diesel prices riseagain, reach record highs

PNS n NEW DELHI

Reliance Jio on Friday said itis working with RelianceFoundation to provide 300 freeminutes of outgoing calls permonth, which amounts to 10minutes per day, for the entireperiod of the pandemic.The scheme will be available

to JioPhone users who havenot been able to recharge dueto the ongoing pandemic, thecompany said in a statement.

Reliance Jio is the first com-pany to announce free talktime for users in the secondwave of pandemic whereinmany states have imposedlockdowns or lockdown-likerestrictions as a desperatemeasure to restrict the spreadof the virus.

"Jio working with RelianceFoundation will provide 300free minutes of outgoing callsper month (10 minutes perday) for the entire period ofthe pandemic, to JioPhoneusers who have not been able

to recharge due to the ongo-ing pandemic," Jio said in astatement.

In addition to free talk time,Jio has announced that forevery JioPhone plan rechargedby a JioPhone user, they willget an additional rechargeplan of the same value for free.

"In these unprecedentedtimes of the COVID pan-demic, we at Jio want to ensurethat staying connectedremains accessible and afford-able for all customers, especial-ly the less-privileged sectionsof our society," the statementsaid.

However, these offers arenot applicable on annual orJioPhone device bundledplans.

PNS n MUMBAI

Akshaya Tritiya, a highly aus-picious day to purchase gold,has started on a sombre noteand jewellers are expectingonly 10-15 per cent sales as theonset of the COVID-19 secondwave, local restrictions andpartial lockdowns have affect-ed consumer sentiment.

"As most of the states areunder lockdown to curb theinfections there is almost nobusiness activity. The day ofAkshaya Tritiya has begun ona slow note and whateverbooking or enquiries are hap-pening it is only through teleor digital medium," All-IndiaGems & Jewellery DomesticCouncil (GJC) chairmanAshish Pethe told PTI. Hesaid, jewellers are expecting

only 10-15 per cent sales thisAkshaya Tritiya in placeswhere the lockdown is notimposed or there are partialshutdowns.

The second wave of thepandemic is turning out to bemuch worse than last yearwith huge loss of life across thecountry causing an overall

negative consumer sentiment,Pethe said. India's COVID-19tally of cases climbed to2,40,46,809, while the death tollrose to 2,62,317 with 4,000fresh fatalities, according to theUnion Health Ministry dataupdated on Friday.

During the ongoing secondwave of the COVID-19 infec-tions, many states haveimposed lockdowns or lock-down-like restrictions as a des-perate measure to restrict thespread of the virus.

PNG Jewellers Chairmanand Managing DirectorSaurabh Gadgil said the dayhas begun with enquiries andbookings, however, as deliveryis not possible due to lock-downs the sales during thisAkshaya Tritiya is likely to betamed and muted.

Akshaya Tritiya begins on sombre note

Jio announces freetalk time offer

PNS n NEW DELHI

The total number of indepen-dent directors (IDs) hasdecreased in 2020 as comparedto 2019 and 2018, and thereduction is mainly on accountnon-appointment of directorson boards of state-owned enti-ties, according to a report.

The total number of IDsreduced to 2,249 in 2020 asagainst 2,396 in 2019 and2,494 in the previous year,said the report by InstitutionalInvestor Advisory ServicesIndia Limited (IiAS) based onthe study of the board compo-sition of NIFTY 500 compa-nies as on December 31, 2020.

"This reduction can mainlybe attributed to the reductionin the number of IDs in PSUcompanies. The other reasonfor the decrease in IDs hasbeen churn in the companiesforming part of NIFTY 500over this period," it said.

The outgoing companies inthe NIFTY 500 in 2020 when

compared to 2019 had 208 IDson their boards while theincoming companies had 188ID, whereas when compared to2018, the outgoing companiesin 2020 had 395 IDs on theirboards while the incomingcompanies had 331 IDs, itsaid.

The PSUs forming part ofNIFTY 500 had 133 fewerIDs in 2020 compared to theearlier year, the report said,adding, there were 72 PSUcompanies as a part of theNIFTY 500 in both 2019 and2020. PSUs in the NIFTY 500companies needed to appointaround 141 independent direc-tors to their board to be incompliance with the listing

guidelines of Securities andExchange Board of India (Sebi)as on December, 2020.

On December 31, 2020, 14per cent (70 companies) werenon-compliant with boardcomposition norms. Out ofthese 70 companies, 55 com-panies were PSUs. Board inde-pendence has long been aproblem for PSUs.

"The one area that dragsoverall board statistics is state-owned enterprises (PSUs). Theboard structure related issuesare much more prominent instate-owned enterprises thanin public sector banks (PSBs).Excessive carve-outs for PSUsembedded directly into regu-lation justify the exceptions,but violations of regulationscontinue on account of poorenforcement," it said.

RBI's recent regulations ongovernance of scheduled com-mercial banks also have acarve-out for PSBs, given theman unnecessary differentialstatus, it said.

Number of independent directors ondecline; PSUs responsible: Report

PNS n NEW DELHI

Go Airlines, which hasrebranded itself as 'GoFirst', has filed prelimi-nary papers for an initialshare sale worth Rs3,600 crore and the pro-ceeds will be mainlyused to repay dues amidthe aviation industryfacing strong headwindsdue to the coronaviruspandemic.

After taking to the skies15 years ago, the Wadiagroup-promoted budgetcarrier -- which has ambi-tious expansion plans -- islooking to mop up theamount through issuanceof fresh equity shares. Italso has plans to raise upto Rs 1,500 crore by wayof a pre-IPO placement.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Dr Reddy's Laboratories onFriday reported 29 per centdecline in consolidated netprofit at Rs 557 crore for thefourth quarter ended March31, 2021.The Hyderabad-based drugmajor had posted a net profitof Rs 781 crore in January-March period of 2019-20.

Net sales however rose to Rs4,608 crore in the quarterunder review as comparedwith Rs 4,336.1 crore in thefourth quarter of 2019-20, DrReddy's Laboratories said in aregulatory filing.

For 2020-21 fiscal year, thecompany posted a consolidat-ed net profit of Rs 1,952 croreas against Rs 2,026 crore in2019-20.

Net sales increased to Rs18,420 crore during the last fis-cal year as compared with Rs16,357 crore in 2019-20.

"In FY 21, we continued togrow across all our businesses,enhance productivity andstrengthen our developmentpipeline," Dr Reddy'sLaboratories Co-Chairman

and MD G V Prasad said.The company is prioritising

its efforts to launch Sputnik Vvaccine across India whileworking on the developmentand commercialisation of sev-eral drugs for the treatment ofmild to severe COVID 19infections, he added.

The drug maker said it hascommenced a detailed inves-tigation into an anonymouscomplaint which alleges thathealthcare professionals inUkraine and potentially inother countries were providedwith improper payments by oron behalf of the company inviolation of US anti-corruptionlaws. A legal firm is conduct-

ing the investigation at theinstruction of a committee ofthe company's board, it added.

Dr Reddy's noted that it hasdisclosed the matter to the USDepartment of Justice,Securities and ExchangeCommission and SecuritiesExchange Board of India.

"While the matter may resultin government enforcementactions against the company inthe United States and/or for-eign jurisdictions, which couldlead to civil and criminal sanc-tions under relevant laws, theprobability of such action andthe outcome are not reasonablyascertainable at this time," itadded.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Bharat Biotech on Friday saidit has dispatched COVID vac-cine Covaxin to various stateslike Gujarat, Assam, TamilNadu, Karnataka and Odisha.

The Hyderabad-based vac-cine major, which has comeunder fire from the Delhigovernment over supply-relat-ed issues, said it has also dis-patched Covaxin lots to Keralaand Uttarakhand.

"Covaxin goes toGandhinagar, Guwahati,Chennai, Hyderabad,Bengaluru & Bhuvneshwar.thank all our employees @BHarat bio who worked thruthe holy month of Ramzan..."Bharat Biotech Co-Founderand Joint Managing DirectorSuchitra Ella said in a tweet.

Earlier in a late night tweeton Thursday, she tweetedinforming supply of the muchin demand vaccine to Kerala

and Uttarakhand."Covaxin sent to Kerala &

Uttarakhand. Thanq for theconcern, many offered to help.Our work is highly stringent,realtime & technical,no workfrom home! All Our employ-ees will be taken care of, won'tdeter us from our mission!Let's be thankful,helpful &hopeful always," she tweeted.

Ella however did not pro-vide details on the quantum ofsupplies.

On May 12, Delhi DeputyChief Minister Manish Sisodiasaid that Bharat Biotech hasinformed the state govern-ment that it cannot provide'additional' Covaxin doses tothe national capital.

Responding to the criti-cism, Ella in a tweet said thatIt was quite disheartening tolisten to some states com-plaining about the company'sintentions regarding supplyof Covaxin.

Covaxin dispatchedto various states: BB

PNS n NEW DELHI

State-owned Bank ofIndia (BOI) on Fridaysaid the government hasappointed Vandita Kaul,additional secretary inthe Finance Ministry, toits board as nomineedirector. The bank saidit has received the com-munication from theFinance Ministry aboutKaul's nomination onMay 13, 2021. The gov-ernment has nominatedVandita Kaul, AdditionalSecret-ary, Departmentof Financial Services asgovernment nomineedirector on the board ofdirectors of Bank of Indiawith immediate effect,the lender said in a reg-ulatory filing.

Go Airlinesfiles draftpapers forRs 3,600 cr

Govt appointsVandita Kaul as nominee onboard of BOI

PNS n NEW DELHI

Twitter rival Koo is in discus-sions with investors to raisefunding and hopes to close adeal in the next 3-4 months,Koo co-founder AprameyaRadhakrishna said.

Koo, which has over thepast few months seen a mas-sive surge in user base in thecountry, is looking at raising"more than what was raised inthe last round".

In February, Koo said it hadraised USD 4.1 million inseries A funding from Accel,Kalaari Capital, BlumeVentures and DreamIncubator, and 3one4 Capital.In all, it has raised aboutUSD 10 million in total fund-

ing through multiple tranch-es.

"We raised some money inJanuary and we are in talkswith folks who are quite inter-ested to invest money. Talksare on, we will see what worksout," Radhakrishna told PTI.

He added that the compa-ny is pretty hopeful of closinga transaction in next 3-4months.

While Radhakrishnaremained tight-lipped aboutthe amount of funding Koo islooking at raising, he said theplatform would want to raisemore than what it had raisedin the previous round.

"The kind of appetite forsocial media is being seen inthe VCs," he said.

Koo to raise funds; hopesto close deal in 4 months

Dr Reddy's Q4 profit dips 29 pc

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SaturdayMay 15, 2021

ith the ongoing pan-demic, people can’t waitto meet, greet, gatherand celebrate. Makingthe most of the variousemotions one feels,

many have channeled them to art.Encapsulating the most swoon-worthy outfits that emit eleganceand grace is ‘Mehfil’ from Kaaisha— thoughtfully crafted while envi-sioning the perfect gala, it offerssome of the most individualisticand unique designer wear.Every industry has been gravelyaffected by the Covid-19 outbreakforcing the sectors from factoriesto retailers to close their shuttersfor an indefinite period of timebut this exuberant collection iscrafted with a sense of realisationof the prevalent unprecedentedtimes the world is experiencing.

Founder of Kaaisha, ShaliniGupta elucidates, “I was drawn toartistic passions, and decided to

pay tribute to the unique beautyand grace of every woman bydressing each one to reflect thisuniqueness. It’s about celebratinghomely, cultural functions sur-rounded by family, friends, andwell-wishers. It is about appreciat-ing those magic moments that we

can share with our loved ones.”With social distancing becom-

ing the new norm, intimate cele-bration with our nearest and dear-est ones is what we look forwardto, this coming year. Kaaisha’s‘Mehfil’ is a collection for all thesemoments! The coronavirus crisismay have crippled the functioningof the industry, but not its spirit.Originating from intimate gather-ings for poetry recitations, theword ‘Mehfil’ holds a warm mean-ing today. It is about closeness,warmth, like-mindedness. Fromintimate home festivities, privateparties and functions, and inti-mate reception galas, there issomething for everyone.

The label has introduced itselfto a new form of fashion whileacclimatising to the current sce-nario. It’s your time to opt for easy,breezy, and comfortable to wear,while keeping a style quotient inmind.

Elegance encasing

emotions

he passion she hasshown to us whenspeaking abouther admiration forHyderabad makesus believe that

she’s conscious about whatplace Clinical director andspeech-language pathologistDr. Garima Vegivad, callshome. Doctors are at theforefront of fighting epi-demics and pandemics pro-viding high-quality treatmentand care! The Covid-19 pan-demic has come as a starkreminder of the vital roledoctors play in our lives. Arelationship that Dr. Garimais building every day with thecity feels definitely awaken-ing. “It was the cadence ofwhen I decided to do myMasters here in Hyderabadand then I got married to aperson who’s a permanentresident of the city. For thesake of coherence, I have theability to postulate a lovelyrelationship with this city. Ireally love the weather here!Can’t ever get tired of thisplace, evenings are so pleas-ant here. It feels like home!

Though a major part of thecity is a concrete arena, thepart in which I reside is fullof greenery,” shares the doc-tor who is a resident ofAlwal.

The city has places to eat atany time of the day. To behonest, she was apprehensivewhen it comes to finding agood food joint initiallybecause she’s grown up in anenvironment where the southand north share a drasticchoice of cuisine! Shethought she won’t be able toget accustomed to SouthIndian cuisine but as timepassed by, she developed aunique taste for it. The citycan turn you into a new

human, shefeels. Apart

from that,she’s in

deep awe of the Telugudialect, it’s an interesting lan-guage she says, adding,“Basically, you can never bebored here, there is so muchto do.”

For many migrants, thewarmth of the welcome theyreceive in another state canmake or break their upcom-ing tenure and Dr. Garimahad a hearty welcome! “I wasmet with utmost hostility.Felt so appreciating of thepeople, wasn’t met with anyhorrors of a different city.The last thing you want to dois encounter rude people.Also, in comparison withDelhi, professionalism isgiven high regards in thiscity. I remember when wethought of setting up ourown clinic, my mother gaveus an option to shift back toDelhi although my husbandwas apprehensive of itbecause he knew the popu-lace back there is so commer-cialised! However, I didn’tunderstand his notion at thattime and now I see it. Theway Hyderabadis communi-cate and sign deals showstheir tehzeeb altogether. Youcan also look forward to lotsof pleasant interactions,” addsDr. Garima who is also atherapist.

Everythingabout the cityexcites her, she

has explored and learnt thehotspots, which sides toavoid, the best places to eatand socialise! While learningevery nook and cranny of itsexistence and being, shelearns it more slowly andmethodically. Her own eyesgot to reveal and revel in allof the secrets, good and bad,of her newest adoration. In acity in which she doesn’tspeak the native language,another added difficulty onlyadded to the romance of therelationship as she learntwords by association andcontext. Without a doctor, wecan’t win the current battleagainst the outbreak, hencewe, through this specialweekly column, thank everyhealth worker out there who

has kept his/her safety in abackseat to save thousandsof lives.

Can you love a city? Not justlove living in a city, but lovea city like you love anotherperson? Clinical director andspeech-language pathologistDr. Garima Vegivada, whowas born and brought up inthe country's capitalDelhi, projects these veryemotions, as she talks to The Pioneer's SHIKHADUGGAL.

INTRIGUING SHOWS

WE ALL AWAIT FORhere are good series,then there are seriesthat make it to thebinge-watch list, andthen there are only afew that intrigue the

audience, making them hungryfor more. Recently releasedHello Mini 3, produced byApplause Entertainment inassociation with Goldie Behl’sRose Audio Visual was certain-ly one amongst them. Based onthe Stranger trilogy series byNovoneel Chakraborty, the firsttwo seasons of the show fasci-nated audiences so much thaton popular demand, makerswere forced to release the thirdseason within a month of therelease of the second season.So, as we sit and enjoy the 3rdseason of Hello Mini 3, here is alist of shows which left audi-ences drooling for more.

Undekhi 2

Undekhi’s first season imme-diately clicked with the audi-ence post its release on SonyLIV. The show runs around thelife of two film Institute gradu-ates turned to wedding videog-raphers who travel to Manalito cover a wedding.

One of them inadvertentlycaptures a cold-blooded mur-der by the groom’s father. He ishorrified to see the killingbeing cleanly swept under thecarpets and trying to do theright thing, he puts all of themin danger.

At the same time, a policeinspector from West Bengallands up in Manali investigat-ing another murder whichadds to the twists in ApplauseEntertainment’s production,making things more compli-cated for the two families andthe resort owner.

The suspense in the thrillerkeeps the audience on the edgeof the seats and now, here weare all waiting for the sequel torelease soon.

Made in Heaven 2

Made in Heaven actress ShobhitaDhulipala recently left audienceswanting more with her glimpse intothe behind-the-scenes action from thesets of Made in Heaven 2. The brain-child of Zoya Akhtar and ReemaKatgi, the nine-episode series chroni-cles the lives of Tara (SobhitaDhulipala) and Karan (Arjun Mathur)who run a wedding planning agencycalled Made In Heaven. While theshow itself is based on the recession-proof wedding industry, it is brilliantin the sense that it manages to capturealmost every aspect of Indian society –from the snobbish ‘Dilli ki billi’ to thegirl from the ‘gutter’ who is trying to

make it big in the world. The relatabil-ity of the show added it to thefavourites list of audiences. Since therelease of the first season, audienceshave time and again asked AmazonPrime Video for the release date of thesequel. We hope there is an announce-ment soon….

The Family Man 2

After a lot of speculations on therelease date for The Family Man 2,Amazon Prime Video along with themakers Raj and DK have confirmedthe summer 2021 release of the secondseason of The Family Man, giving allFamily Man fans another reason toawait the summers apart from themangoes. With a multi-layered narra-tive, the sequel of the action spythriller marks the return of India’sfavourite Family Man, Srikant Tiwari,played by Manoj Bajpayee. This timeSrikant, while struggling to balance

his personal and professional life, willbe pitted against a new nemesis, Rajiplayed by Samantha Akkineni. Repletewith twists and turns, the upcomingseason will see Srikant embarking on anew mission as ‘This Time, No One isSafe’.

Broken But Beautiful 3

This one is the most awaited by allSiddharth Shukla fans as the heart-throb debuts into the web space withthe third season of Broken ButBeautiful. The AltBalaji series was ahuge hit in the first two seasons.Audiences were already excited for thenext installment and the recent videoof Siddharth and Sonia Rathee createdmore agitation as it took social media

by storm. We surely can’t wait to seethe sizzling chemistry between thetwo in the upcoming season.

Mind The Malhotras 2

If you have grown up on a diet ofcomic family dramas like Dekh BhaiDekh, Family No. 1, Khichdi, Baa BahuAur Baby, Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai, Mindthe Malhotras is the show that bringsthat flavour on OTT. The AmazonPrime Video show, produced byApplause Entertainment is based onthe life of the Malhotra couple who arelike any other urban middle-class fam-ily with a world of mundane problems.The show brings to light these issues

with rib-tickling comedy and thissugar of laughter is certainly what isneeded by us during these toughtimes. So, mask up and stay safe as wewait for Mind the Malhotras 2!

IN LOVEWITH A

CITY!

T

W

T

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

l Each row and column cancontain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

l The sum of all numbers inany row or column mustequal 45.

Yesterday’s solution

CALVIN AND HOBBES

10

Hyderabad Saturday May 15, 2021what’s brewing?

FUN

adhe has releasedin theaters and onZEE5’s pay perview platformZeePlex.

The craze of aSalman Khan film is not lim-ited to the ticket counters ofcinema halls. The fans of the‘bhai’ are equally excited forthe release of his latest action

entertainer Radhe: Your MostWanted Bhai on the digitalplatform. On Thursday, theservers of the streaming plat-form ZEE5 crashed as manyrushed to stream the PrabhuDeva directorial.

ZEE5 Premium took tosocial media to share thatthey are working on theirsystem and will fix the issue.

They also thanked the fans ofKhan for their immense love.“Thank you for the unprece-dented love, will be backsoon,” read the tweet. Theservers crashed at aroundnoon as over 1.25 millionpeople tried to login to ZEE5.They were later fixed.

Radhe is the first megaBollywood film to release on

multiple mediums simultane-ously.

It has released in theatresoverseas and in India, it isavailable on ZEE5’s pay perview platform ZeePlex. It isalso available to watch onDTH services, including DishTV, D2H, Tata Sky and AirtelDigital TV.

Salman Khan earlier spokeabout losing money at thebox office with Radhe. “Wewill lose money at the boxoffice with Radhe. The rea-son why we are releasing thisfilm is for the fans. I don’twant them to come to a the-atre to watch me. I don’t wantki kal ko koi bole ki SalmanKhan ke fans ko coronavirushogaya ya unhone faila diya. Iam glad Zee also was readyto take losses along with us,”he said.

Besides Khan, Radhe starsDisha Patani, RandeepHooda, and Jackie Shroff inpivotal roles.

The film is receiving amixed response from theaudience. While for some it islike a breather in these grimtimes, some have called themovie a waste of time.

SALMAN KHAN’S RADHErelease: ZEE5 servers crash

R

Covid relief: Ajithdonates Rs 25 lakh

to TN CM fundamil superstar ‘Thala’Ajith Kumar haddonated Rs 25 lakh toTamil Nadu ChiefMinister’s Relief Fundfor the fight against

Covid-19. After the ChiefMinister of Tamil Nadu MKStalin recently urged people todonate generously to the gov-ernment’s Covid-19 relief fund,many of the Kollywood bigwigshave come forward to con-tribute.

Suresh Chandra, AjithKumar’s manager, on Fridaytook to his Twitter handle toreveal the news. He wrote,“Shri Ajith kumar had donat-ed twenty five lakhs to the

Chief minister relief fund todayvia bank transfer.”

Ace director AR Murugadossalso came forward to do his bit.He met MK Stalin recently andpresented a cheque of Rs 25 lakhfor the Tamil Nadu CM ReliefFund.

Recently, Suriya and Karthicontributed a sum of Rs 1 croreto the Tamil Nadu governmentto battle the Covid-19 secondwave in the state.

On the work front, AjithKumar is busy shooting forValimai, which is being directedby H Vinoth. He was last seen inNerkonda Paarvai, a Tamilremake of critically acclaimedPink.

he first teaser forthe Friends reunionspecial, starringJennifer Aniston,Courteney Cox,Lisa Kudrow, Matt

LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, andDavid Schwimmer, is out.

The teaser, which featuresan acoustic version of thetheme tune and the cast

walking into the distance,reveals the release date of theFriends reunion special titledFriends: The Reunion. It willpremiere on streaming ser-vice HBO Max on May 27.HBO Max is currently notavailable in India.

As if the short video wasnot enough to get fans excit-ed, along with the teaser

trailer, HBO announced thatthe cast will be joined by avariety of special guests.

The list includes nameslike David Beckham, JustinBieber, BTS, James Corden,Cindy Crawford, CaraDelevingne, Lady Gaga,Elliott Gould, Kit Harington,Larry Hankin, Mindy Kaling,Thomas Lennon, ChristinaPickles, Tom Selleck, JamesMichael Tyler, MaggieWheeler, Reese Witherspoonand Malala Yousafzai.Naturally, the news set socialmedia ablaze.

At once, hyped, emotional,and super excited fans flood-ed virtual timelines withmemories from theirfavourite sitcom.

From sharing memes tovideos and from postingquotes to iconic momentsfrom the show, Twitterversehas got everything fansabsolutely love about theshow.

In the unscripted reunion

special, Jennifer Aniston, LisaKudrow, Matt LeBlanc,Matthew Perry, CourteneyCox and David Schwimmerwill return to Friends’ origi-nal soundstage Stage 24, onthe Warner Bros. Studio lotin Burbank, California, totalk about playing Rachel,Phoebe, Joey, Chandler,Monica and Ross, respective-ly.

Courteney Cox recentlytalked about the Friendsreunion special in a conver-sation with talk show hostEllen DeGeneres. During theinteraction, Cox said it was“unbelievable” to meet andfilm with her co-stars again.She also remarked that thereunion “was so emotional”and there are “a lot of specialsurprises.”

Friends, one of the mostpopular sitcoms of all time,ran for 10 seasons from 1994to 2004. It chronicled thedaily lives of six friends in acomedic way.

Friends reunion special gets release date

he first look of singer-songwriter CamilaCabello in the upcom-ing movie Cinderella isout.

Cabello, knownglobally for her megahit songslike Havana debuts as an actor inthe Kay Cannon directorial fairy-tale adaptation.

Cinderella is a musical roman-tic comedy.

The official social mediaaccounts of the movie shared twopictures from the film.

One features Cabella alone inthe role, while the second photoalso has Nicholas Galitzine, whoplays the role of Prince Robert.

The film also stars Billy Porter,Idina Menzel, Pierce Brosnan,Nicholas Galitzine, and MinnieDriver. John Mulaney, JamesCorden, Romesh Ranganathanare also part of the film’s cast.

The story of Cinderella and thecharacter has been adapted sev-eral times by Hollywood. Some

of the notable ones include Intothe Woods, a mish-mash offairy-tales in which AnnaKendrick played the role and2015’s Cinderella, with Lily Jamesin the role.

Corden was also a part of Intothe Woods’ cast.

Although we do not knowanything of the plot, Shannontold Entertainment Weekly in aninterview, “I just felt like it was agreat opportunity to show thisloved, iconic character that isCinderella in a way that’s morerelatable to what girls and youngwomen, in particular, are goingthrough, where they can reallysee themselves.”

She added, “She’s going to sur-prise everyone, because nobody’sever seen her act before. She’s sofantastic. She’s so good, and she’sso natural, and just funny andbeautiful and really, really talent-ed.”

Well, it does sounds like theshoe fits!

Camila Cabello's beautifultransformation into Cinderella

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11

Hyderabad Saturday May 15, 2021 tollywood

hiranjeevi earned thereputation of beingthe best judge of sto-ries. Most of the timehis judgment neverfails at the box office.

Chiranjeevi is currently star-ring in Acharya under thedirection of Koratala Shiva andapart from it, he is starring inMalayalam hit Lucifer remake.

Chiranjeevi, after deciding tostar in the Lucifer remake,chose Mohan Raja as the direc-tor. Mohan Raja of ThaniOruvan fame in Chiranjeevi’sadvice worked on Lucifer scriptand made changes according tothe tastes of Telugu movielovers. Mohan Raja in the dueprocess met Chiranjeevi manytimes but the actor wasn’t satis-fied.

According to sources,Chiranjeevi is planning tochange the director.Chiranjeevi is unhappy that

despite numerous suggestionsand repeated meetings they areunable to work on the script.

People, however, feel thatmaking changes in Luciferas per Telugu movielovers’ taste is very

difficult as Keralaand the politics inTelangana andAndhra Pradeshare completelydifferent. To topit all,Chiranjeevi’sreal-life politicalparty happeningscome as a hin-drance.

Now we’ve learntthat Chiranjeevi gave agreen signal to MihanaKrishna after beingimpressed with thechanges and the script forthe Telugu remake of Luciferhas been locked.

CHIRANJEEVI'S

anjaa Vaishnav Tej,nephew of Mega StarChiranjeevi created asensation on the silverscreen with his dream

debut along with Kriti Shetty withUppena directed by BuchibabuSana. He captured the imagina-tion of all by signing another dif-ferent genre entertainerKondapalem with creative directorKrish.

According to the latest news,Kondapalem finds itself in a pecu-liar situation.

The film’s first backdrop needsto depict wild animals and thisrequires extensive usage of VFXand CGI. Krish, who wrapped upthe film shoot in a record 45 days

non-stop schedule, handed overthe VFX work to VFX companieslast December. 80% of computergraphics work is yet to be com-pleted and the companies citelockdown problems and coron-avirus for the delay. Krish alsoadded that Kondapalem theatricalrelease will not happen any soon-er due to the current situation.

The film is inspired by thenovel Kondapalem written bySannapureddy Venkataramireddyand is all about how a youngsteralong with his father protected hissheep and also became a forestofficer after completing B.Tech.Rakul Preet Singh is playing therole of Obulama and the film’sshoot done in Vikarabad forests.

Kondapalem inpeculiar trouble

rabhas’ stardom andcraze for him areincreasing at a rapidpace with each pass-ing day. While topdirectors and ban-

ners are showing interest inmaking films with him,actresses’ managers are said tobe competing with each otherto bag the golden chance tohave them screen presencewith him. We now hear thatnow it’s not just Bollywoodbut Hollywood actress toomight soon star oppositehim.

An insider tells us thatBollywood directorSiddharth Anand penneda powerful story forPrabhas and he alreadynarrated it to the actor

who gave his green signal.Buzz is that the film is a highoctane action entertainer andSiddharth Anand is planningto cast a popular Hollywoodheroine. Now variousHollywood actresses’ namesare being speculated to actwith the star. SiddharthAnand recently directed TigerShroff and Hrithik Roshan’sWar and scored a hit inBollywood.

Prabhas is cur-rently busywith films like

RadheShyam,Salaar, AadiPurush, andan unnamedproject with

Nag Ashwin.

HOLLYWOOD

ACTRESSOPPOSITEPRABHAS?

agaChaitanyais makinghisBollywooddebut and

this is exciting allAkkineni fans as heis playing an impor-tant role in misterperfectionist AmirKhan’s upcomingentertainer Lal SinghChaddha under thedirection of AdvaitNarayan.

Naga Chaitanya,according to sources,will undergo aremarkable transfor-mation in hisphysique. NagaChaitanya alreadyallotted 15 days forthe shoot and will bejoining the film’sLadakh schedule.

It is known thatAmir Khan plannedto cast KollywoodStar Vijay Sethupathibut Vijay couldn’t dueto his busy schedule.The makers thenzeroed in on to NagaChaitanya. Lal SinghChaddha is the offi-cial remake of theOscar-winningHollywood filmForrest Gump. TomHanks starred in thefilm which releasedin 1994. NagaChaitanya is alsostarring in Love Storyalong with Sai Pallaviunder the directionof Sekhar Kammulaand in Thank Youalong with RashiKhanna under thedirection of VikramKumar.

LUCIFER REMAKETO HAVE DIRECTORCHANGE

Chay's remarkabletransformation forhis Bollywood debut

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n some heart-breakingnews, directorand writerNandyala Ravisuccumbed to

Covid-19. Ravi, who hadbeen battling Covid for awhile now, breathed hislast on Friday morning.

Ravi had worked forseveral films as a dialoguewriter. He made hisdirectorial debut in 2014with Lakshmi Raave MaaIntiki which starred NagaShaurya and Avika Gorin the lead roles. He hadworked as a writer for RajTarun’s Orey Bujjiga. Ravihad an unfinished film, acomedy film withSapthagiri and before itcould go to the theatres,the tragedy took place.

Nandyala Ravi washospitalised and was crit-ically ill. When he wasundergoing treatment, hewas supported by a few ofhis friends from the film

industry including NagaShaurya’s home produc-tion Ira Creations, direc-tor Sriwass, and comedi-an Sapthagiri. At a time,Ravi had shown signs ofrecovery, everyonethought he would makeit, but he gave up onFriday morning.

t is a known fact thatMahesh Babu is doing afilm with Trivikram andthe film was announced afew weeks back. So muchis being said about this

film time and again, and is makingthe fans excited.

Now, the latest gossip in the filmcircles is that Sumanth has beenapproached to play a key role in thefilm. Trivikram approached Sushanthin Ala Vaikuntapurramloo... and nowSumanth has been in talks for hisfilm.

Though there is no confirmation,this news has caught on quite well inthe industry. Watch this space formore updates on this film.

Director-writer Nandyala

Ravi dies of Covid

i

ni

Sumanth approached forMahesh-Trivikram film?

sport 12HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | MAY 15, 2021

TURKISH F1 CANCELLEDPARIS: The Turkish Grand Prix, which wasonly drafted onto the F1 calendar as areplacement for the cancelled Canada GP twoweeks ago, was itself axed on Friday. F1 chiefs,forced into another change due to Covid-19protocols, announced that they will insteadreturn to the sport's safe haven of Austria.

NEYMAR TO MISS FINALPARIS: Neymar will not play for PSG in nextweek's French Cup final against Monaco aftera booking in Wednesday's semi-final saw theBrazilian incur a suspension.

LAPORTE CAN PLAY FOR SPAINLAUSANNE: Manchester City defenderAymeric Laporte has been approved to playfor Spain instead of France at Euro 2020

ALAPHILIPPE TO SKIP OLYMPICS PARIS: Cycling's road race world championJulian Alaphilippe said on Friday he will nottake part in the Tokyo Olympics. The Frenchrider said the decision was a personal choice.

IRFAN, 4 OTHERS RETURN -VE NEW DELHI: Olympic-bound race walker K TIrfan and four other elite track-and-fieldathletes have returned negative for Covid-19in a confirmatory second test conducted atSAI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.

PHILLIPS, MITCHELL GET NZ DEALWELLINGTON: White ball batsman GlennPhillips and allrounder Daryl Mitchell havebeen included for the first time on NewZealand Cricket's list of centrally contractedplayers. But Test spinner Ajaz Patel has beendropped from the 20-strong list.

ALVES, SILVA BACK FOR BRAZILSAO PAULO: Veteran defenders Dani Alvesand Thiago Silva were brought back into theBrazil squad for next month's World Cupqualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay.

SHOOTERS DOING DRY FIRING NEW DELHI: In quarantine till May 19, India'sOlympic-bound shooters are keeping themselvesbusy with dry firing in their hotel rooms atZagreb before they hit the range next week.

JAPAN EXPAND COVID EMERGENCYTOKYO: Japan expanded a coronavirus state ofemergency on Friday, just 10 weeks before theOlympics, as campaigners submitted a petitionwith more than 350,000 signatures calling forthe Games to be scrapped.

BILES RETURNING TO COMPETITIONINDIANAPOLIS: Reigning Olympic gymnasticschampion Simone Biles will return tocompetition for the first time in more than 18months at the US Classic next week. Agencies

shortpasses

AFP nMANCHESTER

Liverpool kept their chances of a placein next season’s Champions League in

their own hands with a thrilling 4-2 vic-tory over Manchester United at OldTrafford on Thursday.

Jurgen Klopp’s men still need to wintheir remaining three games over the next10 days to guarantee their place in theChampions League for a fifth consecutiveseason, but cleared the biggest hurdle intheir path with a first victory away toUnited since 2014.

Roberto Firmino scored twice eitherside of half-time after Diogo Jota cancelledout Bruno Fernandes’s early opener for thehome side.

Marcus Rashford’s strike set up agrandstand finish, but Mohamed Salahsecured a vital win in the final minute asLiverpool moved up to fifth in the table.

“We are still in the game, still in therace. That is all we could do tonight,” saidKlopp.

“It was necessary. Without this resultwe don’t have to talk about it.”

The clash between English football’stwo most successful clubs had beenpostponed 11 days ago as United fansstormed the pitch and clashed withpolice amid protests against the club’sowners.

A peaceful protest took place beforekick-off as supporters again voiced theiranger at the Glazer family.

AFP n BERLIN

Jadon Sancho and ErlingBraut Haaland both netted

twice on Thursday as BorussiaDortmund won the GermanCup with an emphatic 4-1 winover RB Leipzig to spoil JulianNagelsmann’s hopes of leavingwith a title.

Dortmund turned on thestyle at Olympic Stadium,converting all of their threefirst-half shots on target tosweep Leipzig aside as Sanchonetted twice either side of asuperb Haaland goal.

“I am very happy that Icould score two goals and setup one for Haaland,” Sanchotold ARD.

The England winger couldhave claimed a hat-trick late onafter rounding Leipzig goal-keeper Peter Gulacsi, but failedto get his shot away.

Spain midfielder DaniOlmo pulled a goal back forLeipzig, before Haalandgrabbed his second in thedying stages despite slipping ashe connected.

Dortmund lifted theGerman Cup for the fifth timein the club’s history.

“It’s unbelievable, I amproud of the morale the teamhas shown in the last fewweeks,” said captain MarcoReus as Dortmund have alsorecently got back into theChampions League places.

Dortmund rout Leipzigin German Cup final

Liverpool end Old Trafford hoodoo

Granada: Real Madrid kept thepressure on Atletico Madrid bythrashing Granada 4-1 onThursday to reduce the gap totwo points at the top of La Liga,with two games left to play.

A draw or defeat for RealMadrid would have givenAtletico the chance to win thetitle on Sunday by beatingOsasuna but goals from Modric,Rodrygo, Alvaro Odriozola andBenzema secured a comfortablevictory at Los Carmenes.

Atletico could still becrowned champions this week-end if they overcome Osasuna

and Real fail to win away atAthletic Bilbao.

Even third-placed Barcelonaare still in the running but theyneed an incredible swing ofresults if they are to overturn afour-point deficit. AFP

PTI n MUMBAI

India’s star pacer Jasprit Bumrah has saidthat former New Zealand speedster

Shane Bond, who is currently the bowlingcoach of Mumbai Indians, has played amajor role in shaping his career.

The Mumbai Indians fast bowler,who will lead India’s attack in the upcom-ing World Test Championship final againstNew Zealand, expressed his views in avideo shared by his IPL franchise.

“I always try to talk to him even whenI am not here and with the Indian team.So, it’s been a good journey, and hopeful-ly, every year I keep learning somethingnew and try to add new things to my bowl-ing.

“He has played a major role in that. It’sbeen a great relationship so far, and hope-fully, this continues for many many yearsto come,” Bumrah said.

He said he was always fascinated byhow Bond bowled in his playing days andtries speaking to the MI bowling coacheven when he is on India duty.

“I met him (Bond) for the first time

in 2015. As a child, I had seen him bowland was always very fascinated by how heused to bowl for New Zealand, and how

he used to operate,” the India pacer said.Bumrah, who has so far played 19

Tests, said that Bond assisted him a lot inbroadening his horizon which in turnhelped him blossom as a cricketer.

“When I met him over here, it was agood experience. He helped me a lot toopen my mind to different things that Icould try on the cricket field. So that wasvery good and that relationship has onlygotten better each and every year,” addedthe Gujarat pacer.

Bond, on his part, termed Bumrah asthe best death bowler in the world.

Seasoned New Zealand left-arm pacerTrent Boult also had words of praise forhis compatriot, saying that Bond was a“tremendous thinker of the game and apretty good tactician.”

“He has been here for a long time, heknows what he is doing and he puts in alot of work into making sure that thebowlers are well equipped and have gotenough information to make some deci-sions on the day. Yeah, really enjoy work-ing with him,” said Boult, who has played71 Tests.

Bond played major role in shaping Bumrah’s career

Real trim Atleti’s lead

New Delhi: Former India selector Sarandeep Singh hasbacked the current committee’s call to ignore Hardik Pandyafrom the Test squad and said the all-rounder doesn’t fit intothe playing XI even in the shorter formats if he can’t bowlhis quota of overs.

After undergoing a back surgery in 2019, Hardik hasnot bowled regularly since his comeback and not being ableto offer his all-round skills cost him a place in the IndianTest squad for the UK tour.

Sarandeep, whose tenure ended with the historic tourof Australia earlier this year, was also surprised that a raretalent like Prithvi Shaw did not even make the standbys forthe England tour.

“The selectors’ decision to ignore Hardik for Tests isunderstandable. He has not been able bowl regularly afterhis surgery. I feel he has to bowl 10 overs in ODIs and fourin T20s to be part of the playing XI even in shorter formats.He can’t just play as a batsman,” Sarandeep, a former Indiaspinner, said.

“If Hardik doesn’t bowl, it disturbs the balance of theside hugely. You have to play an extra bowlerbecause of that and someone likeSurykumar Yadav has to miss out. As wesaw in the ODI series against England andAustralia, we can’t play with five bowlingoptions.

“Then team now has other all-roundersin Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Jaddu isback, Shardul Thakur can also be an all-rounder, he has shown that. They allcan do the job if Hardik can’t bowl.”

Talking about Shaw not beingpicked for the UK tour, Sarandeepsaid it is way too early to sidelinea batsman like him.

“He has the potential to dowhat Sehwag did for India. Youcan’t sideline him so early in hiscareer. He has scored tons of runsin domestic cricket after beingdropped post Australia tour. He hascorrected his technical flaws alsoand look how he played in the IPL.

“You have to back a talent likeShaw for that matter.” PTI

‘Hardik needs to bowlfor place in playing XI’

Nadal ends losingstreak against Alex

AP n ROME

Rafael Nadal ended a run ofthree straight losses to

Alexander Zverev with a con-vincing 6-3, 6-4 win over theGerman on Friday to reach theItalian Open semifinals.

Zverev had beaten Nadal instraight sets at the same stage inMadrid a week ago but their lat-est meeting went the Spaniard’sway from the start.

Aiming for a record-extend-ing 10th Rome title, Nadal racedto a 4-0 lead in the first set andsaved all eight break points hefaced in the second.

“I played more solid thanMadrid. Conditions are differ-ent,” Nadal said, alluding to thefact that the high-altitude of theSpanish capital allowed Zverev todominate more with his serve.“Here are little bit more normalconditions. I was able to controla little bit more.”

It was a stark contrast fromNadal’s long three-set comebackwin over Denis Shapovalov a dayearlier, when the Spaniard savedtwo match points.

Nadal’s semifinal opponentwill be big-serving AmericanReilly Opelka, who reached hisfirst Masters semifinal with a 7-5, 7-6 (2) win over Argentinequalifier Federico Delbonis.

In the women’s tournament,2019 Rome champion KarolinaPliskova rallied past 2017 FrenchOpen winner Jelena Ostapenko4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (1) to set up a semi-final against Petra Martic. Marticeliminated Jessica Pegula 7-5, 6-4 for her biggest result sincerecently hiring former FrenchOpen champion FrancescaSchiavone as her coach.

The only real moment ofconcern for Nadal came when he

tripped over the service linewhile running down a drop shotwhen he was serving for the firstset.

The crowd of about 2,500 letout a collective gasp as Nadaltumbled onto the clay and rolledover onto his back wincing inapparent pain.

After putting Nadal’s replyaway for an easy winner — theSpaniard still managed to get theball over the net — Zverevhopped over the net to check onthe 20-time Grand Slam cham-pion.

Nadal got up, though, dust-ed himself off and served out theset with his back and even head-band still covered in clay.

“Some lines are higher thanthe rest of court, so when youtouch the line it’s dangerous,”Nadal said.

Zverev, the 2017 Romechampion and winner of thetrophy in Madrid last weekend,had numerous opportunities torecover from an early break inthe second set but Nadal steppedup his game each time and closedit out on his first match pointwith a perfectly executed serve-and-volley.

Hussey recovers fromCovid, Saha +ve again

PTI n NEW DELHI

Former opener WV Raman’sunceremonious ouster fromthe Indian women’s team

head coach’s position has openeda can of worms with both theMadan Lal-headed CricketAdvisory Committee and NeetuDavid-led selection panel comingunder the scanner of BCCI big-wigs.

Raman, who successfullycoached the women’s team to T20World Cup final in Australia andis widely acknowledged as one ofthe best Indian coaches, wasremoved by Lal and Naik’s CAC,which reinstated Ramesh Powar,who was removed from the samepost in 2018.

IS LAL’S COMMITTEE ILLE-GAL?

“Maddi paaji (Madan Lal) cel-ebrated his 70th birthday onMarch 20. The BCCI, in its appealto Supreme Court against some ofthe reforms, doesn’t ask for roll-back of age-cap of 70 years. So howcome Madan Lal was allowed to sitin CAC meeting?” a senior mem-ber asked.

While the BCCI has no inten-tion of using its veto to over-ruleLal and Naik, the board’s top offi-cials are unable to wrap theirheads around as to what led to rec-ommendation of Raman’s removal.

DID RAMAN & NEETU HAVEA FALL-OUT?

It has been confirmed frommultiple sources that Raman hadred-flagged the kind of squad thatDavid, Arati Vaidya, RenuMargrate, Mithu Mukherjee and VKalpana picked for the SouthAfrica series, for which teen bat-ting sensation Shafali Verma wasnot picked for the ODIs and seniorpacer Shikha Pandey was inexplic-

ably dropped.“Do you know what kind of

logic was given for droppingShikha and Shafali? It is beyondcomprehension,” a peeved seniorofficial said.

The selectors said that Pandeywas unfit because she hasn’tworked hard on training duringlockdown and was “overweight”.

“But when they were asked toprove their point, they couldn’tsimply do it,” the official alleged.

In the case of Shafali, herfielding was questioned and putforth as the reason for her non-selection in the ODI team.

“If Raman had a counter-ques-tion that if Shafali’s fielding is aproblem for 50-over cricket, thenit is bigger problem in T20 formatwhere it is more important. Thenhow is she being selected in T20format,” the official asked.

The selection of leg-spinner CPrathyusha and left arm seamerMonica Patel has also been ques-tioned as they didn’t look ready forthe rigours of International crick-et.

Prathyusha gave 60 odd runsin 8 overs in one of the games.

“How did Monica get selectedover Shikha Pandey?” is a questionthat is being asked.

COUNTER POINTS AGAINSTRAMAN

While the majority believethat the stylish southpaw of yester-years has been hard done by, thereare a few critics who feel that therewere some loose ends from his sidetoo.

“Some girls complained that hewill at times switch himself off dur-ing training sessions. Also somegirls felt under-appreciated.Someone like RajeshwariGayakwad was not even oncepraised despite she being the bestbowler during the series,” a mem-

ber from the anti-Raman campsaid.

Another allegation againstRaman is that he unwittingly gave

gloveswoman Nuzhat Parween adebut cap without knowing thatshe has already played both ODIsand T20Is for India.

Raman’s sacking bring CAC under scanner

New Delhi: Ousted Indianwomen’s coach WV Raman haswritten to BCCI president SouravGanguly, alleging that there is a“prima donna culture” in thenational team and it needs tochange.

In the mail that has also beenmarked to National CricketAcademy head Rahul Dravid,Raman has also offered to presenta roadmap for women’s cricket inthe country, if asked.

“As far as I know, Raman hassaid that he has always ‘believed inteam being placed above every-body else, and insisted that no indi-vidual can really be a prima donna’,”a source privy to Raman’s mail said.

The stylish former left-hander’scrisp letter to the two former cap-tains is sure to ruffle a few feath-ers given that it has always been thecoaches who have either steppedaside or sacked following falloutswith players, most notably ODIcaptain Mithali Raj.

While Raman’s letter didn’t

name anyone, it is understood thathe has spoken extensively about thestar culture that prevails in theteam, which he said is probablydoing more harm than good.

It is learnt that Raman haswritten about certain individualswho need to place the team aboveself.

“Raman has asked Dada(Ganguly) that if a past accom-plished performer feels constrainedby this culture, then he (Ganguly)as a former India captain, shouldtake a call on this matter, whetherthe coach is asking for too much,”the source added.

Raman, it is learnt, is dismayedby allegations that he is not proac-tive as a coach. “In case the presi-dent and secretary want to hear hisopinion on allegations about hiswork ethic, he can explain.”

The letter has been copied toDravid because Raman sincerelybelieves that he can contributetowards building a roadmap forIndian women’s cricket. PTI

There’s ‘prima donna culture’ in women'steam: Raman writes to Ganguly, Dravid

New Delhi: Chennai Super Kings battingcoach Michael Hussey has recoveredfrom Covid-19, paving the way for hisreturn to Australia on Sunday butSunrisers Hyderabad’s Wriddhiman Sahahas received conflicting results in twocoronavirus tests, prolonging his isolation.

Saha, who has been named in India’ssquad for the World Test Championshipfinal and the subsequent Test seriesagainst England, is hoping to join thesquad’s bio-bubble in Mumbai on May 25.His inclusion is subject to fitness.

“Hussey has returned with negativeRT-PCR results and has recovered well.

We haven’t yet decided when he is goingto fly back and which route he will take— Maldives or Australia,” CSK CEO KashiViswanathan said on Friday.

In case of Saha, he will continue to bein quarantine after one of his two testscame positive.

“My quarantine period is still notover. Out of the two tests done, 1 was neg-ative and other one came as positive.Otherwise I am doing much better.Requesting everyone not to spread mis-leading stories/information without wholecontext,” the wicketkeeper-batsman post-ed on Twitter. PTI

PTI n MELBOURNE

Australia captain Tim Paineon Friday stood by his

comments that his team indeedgot distracted by India’s“sideshow” but clarified that hedidn’t ever intend to use it as anexcuse for their home Testseries defeat in January.

A day after receiving onlineflak from Indian fans for his“side show” comments onIndian team, Paine clarifiedhimself while chatting withAdam Gilchrist in a podcast.

“I was asked a number of

things, and one of those wastalking about the challenges ofplaying against India. One of

them is the distraction they cancreate,” Paine said in the Gillyand Goss podcast on Friday.

“There was a lot of talk thatthey weren’t going to Brisbane.They’re always changing glovesand bringing out physios andall that can get on your nerves.Just said that was one of thethings that probably distractedme and took my eye of the ballat times.”

The 36-year-old Paine hadsaid that his team was distract-ed by the Indian team’s “nig-gling” during the epoch-mak-ing Test series early this year

which the visitors rallied towin.

Soon Paine was trolled onTwitter by Indian fans.

“I did say that they simplyoutplayed us and that theydeserved to win but they leftthat one out. The Indian fanshave been slamming me onsocial media. They say that I’mmaking excuses again but it’s allgood fun,” Paine said.

“I certainly wasn’t makingany excuses. I was asked aboutsome of the challenges of thesummer, and I said that wasone of them for me,” he added.

Paine clarifies on India comments after being slammed

Roger Federer in action during atraining session prior to the start ofGeneva Open tournament on Friday AP