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Vol. 84 No. 64 Established 1938 | 24 PAGES PLUS A COPY OF 4-PAGE DC ESTATE | `6.00deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle

THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIAHYDERABAD I SATURDAY I 6 MARCH 2021

RAJIB CHOWDHURI | DCKOLKATA, MARCH 5

West Bengal Chief Mini-ster Mamata Banerjeefielded 291 Trinamul can-didates, while leaving therest three for her secretally — Gorkha JanmuktiMorcha (Bimal Gurungfaction) in the hills ofNorth Bengal.

Banerjee will contestonly from one seat —Nandigram. “I alwayskeep my words. I won asMLA from Bhowaniporetwice. If needed, I willfight from there again butlater. Bhowanipore inany case remains in mygrip. So it does not matterif I do not fight from herenow,” she said.

She challenged the BJPsaying: “Khela hobey,dekha hobey, jita hobey”(game is on: we will con-test, will fight, will win).

She gave out of an inter-esting list of candidatesthat includes actors,sport-spersons and a for-mer cop, The TMC hasdropped 27 MLAs mainlyover the age of 80 andthree ministers.

West Bengal CM MamataBanerjee flashes victorysign at a press meet inKolkata on Friday. — DC

MAMATA’S DARE:CONTESTS ONLYAT NANDIGRAM

L. VENKAT RAM REDDY I DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

TRS president and ChiefMinister K. Chandrashe-kar Rao has firmed up hisdecision to field a local can-didate from BackwardClasses, belonging to theYadava community, for theupcoming byelection to theNagarjunasagar Assemblyconstituency, according toTRS sources.

Rao is learnt to havetaken this decision ostensi-bly not to bank on any‘sympathy factor’, whichfailed to work in theDubbak Assembly byelec-tion last December.

This implies that NomulaBharat, son of Nagarjuna-sagar MLA Nomula Naras-imhaiah, will not get theticket as was widely specu-lated earlier as Bharathhails from Palem village ofNakrekal mandal in Nalgo-nda district. Narasimha-

iah’s death has necessitat-ed the bypoll. Rao report-edly assured Bharat of anominated post soon.

The Chief Minister islearnt to have consideredthree local candidates fromthe Yadava community:Peddaboyina SrinivasYadav (Tripuraram man-dal), Mannem RanjithYadav and KatteboyinaGuravaiah Yadav(Nidamanuru mandal).

Based on multiple surveyreports, he has zeroed in onGuravaiah Yadav, son-in-law of former MLA Ram-murthy Yadav and a close

relative of the party’sRajya Sabha memberBadugula Lingaiah Yadav.

An official announce-ment on Guravaiah’s can-didature is likely to bemade immediately afterthe Election Commissionannounces the schedule forthe bypoll.

The TRS chief gave a tick-et to Solipeta Sujatha,widow of Solipeta Rama-linga Reddy in Dubbak,relying on the ‘sympathyfactor’. However, the BJPdefeated the TRS by pro-jecting itself as the princi-pal opposition in the state.

In this backdrop, Rao isbeing extra cautious in theselection of the candidatewhere the Congress hasdecided to field its strong-man K. Jana Reddy, whohas won seven times fromthis seat but lost toNarasimhaiah in 2018.

■ Page 2: Surveys suggestvoters preferred a local

KCR won’t bank onsympathy for winTo field local BC candidate for N’Sagar seat

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

Despite the Covid-induced economic slow-down, Telangana statehas “outperformed” vari-ous and registered a 1.35per cent GSDP growth inthe current fiscal 2020-21.

The state also registered0.61 per cent growth inper capita income, accor-ding to data submitted tothe Centre by the stategovernment’s Directorateof Economics and Statis-tics. The growth rate isbetter than the nationalaverage.

The government has putthe GSDP (state’s GDP) at`9,78,373 crore and percapita income at `2,27,145.At the national level, theGDP was `203.51 lakhcrore last year. This year,in 2020-21, it fell to `195.86lakh crore, amounting toa decrease of 3.8 per cent.At the national level, theper capita income decrea-sed by 4.8 per cent.

■ Page 2: TS economygrew 12% since 2014

STATE ECONOMYOUTPERFORMSDESPITE COVID

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

Chief Secretary SomeshKumar has created arecord of sorts, though forthe wrong reasons, leadinga group of officers facingthe highest number of con-tempt of court cases in theTelangana High Court.

Recently, Chief JusticeHima Kohli categoricallysaid that contempt of court

is a reflection of the wilfuldisobedience exhibited bythe executive on the judi-ciary. Contempt cases drewattention following therecent three-month impris-onment slapped on a collec-tor while two other officerswere given the option ofdeciding between impris-onment and social service.

As many as 324 contemptcases have been filedagainst Somesh Kumar

since 2013. Rajeshwar Tiw-ari, former special CS, rev-enue, follows the CS withabout 120 cases. Some caseshave been dropped as theylater implemented thecourt orders, but mostcases are still pending.

Though he becomes thede-facto respondent onbehalf of the state govern-ment by virtue of his posi-tion as CS, Somesh Kumarhad faced or is still facing

many contempt charges for“wilful disobedience” inhis other capacities also.

Inquiries by DeccanChronicle revealed that thetop officials had to face con-tempt for not implementingorders relating to cases assmall as sanction of finan-cial assistance to patientsfrom the CM Relief Fund.

■ Page 5: Officials blamepolitical bosses for inaction

HC contempt verdicts worry babus

AS SYMPATHY factordid not work inDubbaka, KCR is beingextra cautious in theselection of the candi-date where theCongress has decidedto field its strongman K. Jana Reddy

CITY 2DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | 6 MARCH 2021

Local preferredby voters: SurveysFrom Page 1

Rao commissioned multi-ple surveys with variousagencies to get a feel ofthe pulse of the voters.TRS sources say that allthe survey reports indi-cated that most voters pre-ferred a ‘local’ candidatefrom the Yadava commu-nity which has a majorchunk of voters in theNagarjunasagar segment.

The surveys pointed outthat the community hadsacrificed the seat toNarasimhaiah, a non-

local, in the 2018Assembly electionsrespecting his vast politi-cal career and his ‘pro-poor attitude’ but they arenot keen to support hisson Bharat, a politicalnovice.

Despite the fact that TRSleaders from the Reddycommunity like GuttaSukhender Reddy, TeraChinnapa Reddy, KotiReddy are vying for theparty ticket,Chandrashekar Rao islearnt to have favoured aYadav candidate.

TS economy grew12% since 2014From Page 1

It came down from`1,34,186 in 2019-20 to`1,27,768 in 2020-21.Telangana’s per capitaincome on the other handincreased from ̀ 2,25,756 to`2,27,145.

Telangana has been reg-istering over 12 per centGSDP growth since its for-mation in 2014. This yet isthe lowest-ever GSDPgrowth in the state at 1.35per cent in 2020-21.

In 2014-15, the GSDPgrowth was 12.02 per cent,which shot up to 14.24 percent in 2015-16. It fellslightly to 13.92 per cent in2016-17, maintained steadygrowth at 13.93 per cent in2017-18, 13.41 per cent in2018-19 and 13.49 per centin 2019-20. Thanks to theCoronavirus pandemic,the subsequent lockdownsand the economic slow-down in 2020-21, the GSDPgrowth rate fell sharply to1.35 per cent.

2 Dubai returnees+ve to UK strain PULI SHARATH KUMAR I DCJAGTIAL, MARCH 5

Two Dubai returnees ofJagtial district were test-ed positive to the UKstrain of Covid-19. Onewas a native ofMuthyampet village ofMalyal mandal and theother a native ofVenkatapur village ofKorutla mandal.

When they landed at theRGI airport inShamshabad on February25, their samples weretested positive for Covid-

19 and they were asked toremain in home quaran-tine. District health offi-cials later shifted both tothe TIMS hospital inGachibowli.

On Friday, the healthofficials held a medicalcamp in Muthyampet vil-lage and did the rapidantigen tests on the fami-ly members and otherswho came in contact withthe Dubai returnee.

The medical tests wereconducted on 14 primarycontacts. Out of these, sixwere tested Covid positive.

TS RECORDS 166NEW COVID-19CASES, 2 DEATHSDC CORRESPONDENT HYDERABAD, MARCH 5

The state found 166 newcases of Covid-19 onThursday after testing40,443 samples, thehealth department saidon Friday. It said twopersons had succumbedto the disease onThursday,

The overall caseloadnow stands at 2,99,572.There are 1,963 activecases undergoing treat-ment at home and inhospitals, the bulletinsaid. The death tollstands at 1,639.

The GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation recordednew cases 27, MedchalMalkajgiri 14, RangaReddy 12 andKarimnagar nine.

23,149 SENIORCITIZENS TAKECOVID VACCINE DC CORRESPONDENT HYDERABAD, MARCH 5

As many as 23,149 seniorcitizens and those aged45 years and above withco-morbid conditionsgot vaccinated againstCovid-19 in governmentand private hospitals onFriday, the state healthdepartment said.

A total of 1,613 health-care and frontline work-ers took their first doseof the Covid vaccineduring the day and 6,491who took their seconddose.

The bulletin said so far71,588 senior citizensand those with co-mor-bid conditions had beenvaccinated.

The overall vaccina-tion in the state stood at5,35,472.

Sheer waste

Materials to construct a new bus stop are kept on the footpath for the past couple ofdays near a hotel in Secunderabad. The iron rods are gathering rust and also causinginconvenience to pedestrians. — DEEPAK DESHPANDE

MADDY DEEKSHITH I DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

While Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao isensuring 24/7 power sup-ply in the city, MayorGadwal R. Vijayalakshmihas written a letter to thebankrupt GHMC to installa 25 KVA generator cost-ing about `5 lakh at hercamp office at Road 12,Banjara Hills, where shesays there is frequent loadshedding.

The Mayor sent a note toGHMC commissioner D.S.Lokesh Kumar, saying,“Due to frequent powercuts, the work at my campoffice is being hamperedand this is causing incon-venience to me in the dis-charge of day-to-dayworks. Therefore, it isrequested of you toarrange a 25 KVA genera-tor at the camp officeimmediately.”

Vijayalakshmi com-plained that on a few occa-

sions, there have beenhours-long power cuts.She said the electricityauthorities have informedher that there has been aproblem pertaining to theelectrical lines.

However, when DeccanChronicle verified thematter with the electricitydepartment, officials rub-bished the claim and saidno power interruptionwas recorded in theBanjara Hills substation.Superintendent engineerAnand said the depart-ment had taken up main-tenance works on March1. The department staffconducted tree pruningfor about three hours toensure uninterruptedpower supply.

“The staff usually takesseveral hours for mainte-nance works, but in orderto avoid inconvenience,they took only three hoursthis time. We cannot tell alie on power interruptionsas everything is recorded

in the equipment setup atsubstations. Consumerscan check it,” Anand said.

After her request wentviral on social media, themayor clarified that shehas requested for a gener-ator only because of thetrouble she was facing atthe camp office.Electricity departmenthas been taking up dig-ging activities off and on,and there has been fre-quent power disruption inthe area, the mayor saidand expressed her dis-pleasure over the fuss inthe media over herrequest for a generator.

GHMC sources said thegenerator would costabout `5 lakh. They wouldinstall one at her G+2building where her fatherand Rajya Sabha memberK. Keshava Rao alsoresides. There,Vijayalakshmi has con-verted the ground floorinto her camp office.

City fa s pow rts says ayor

Vijayalakshmi seeks genset for her camp office

● ● A TOTAL of 1,613healthcare and frontlineworkers took their firstdose of the vaccine dur-ing the day and 6,491who took their seconddose.

CITYDECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | 6 MARCH 2021

IN BRIEF

CYBER FRAUDSCHEAT WOMAN

OF `11 LAKHDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

A woman from Hyderabad wasallegedly cheated of `11 lakhby inter-state cyber fraudsterswho claimed to be NRIs on amatrimonial site.

The Hyderabad cybercrimepolice said the the victim, adancer, had posted her personal details on a matrimo-nial site to seek a suitablealliance. She received a callfrom a man who expressedinterest and claimed to be anNRI from the United Kingdom,working with a leading carmanufacturer.

After a few weeks of being intouch, they decided to get mar-ried. The man then told herthat would send her gifts ofjewellery and costly gadgets.

Two days later, she received acall from another person claim-ing to be a Customs officialfrom the Delhi airport, whosaid she should pay customscharges, tax and other expenses. She ended up paying`11.7 lakh to the fraudstersbefore she realised she wascheated.

Mayor accused ofthreatening man

Hyderabad: City MayorGadwal R. Vijayalakshmi was

accused of threatening aperson on Friday. Greater

Hyderabad SC Cell presidentC. Ramchander alleged that

Vijayalakshmi threatenedhim over phone on a nala

encroachment issue. Heasked TRS working presidentK.T. Rama Rao for protection

as he was allegedly facingthreat from the city mayor.

When this paper tried toreach Vijayalakshmi she was

unavailable for the comment.

C ntr i nor s pro ts K R

EducationUSA centrelaunched for studentsDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

A new EducationUSAcentre that providesadvising to studentsintending to study inthe United States wasinaugurated in the cityon Friday. The centre,will provide US highereducational advising toprospective studentsfree of charge.

The US, is by far, thedestination of choicefor Indian students.Most of them comefrom this part of India,Telangana, AndhraPradesh and Odisha, USConsul General JoelReifman said after inau-gurating the centre inJubilee Hills.

Underscoring thenumbers of Teluguspeaking people goingto the US to study,Reifman said, “One infour Telugu families

has a US connection.”On the issue of granti-

ng student visas to theUS, Reifman, referringto the changes in educa-tion that were forced bythe Covid-19 pandemic,said, “Our visa policyhas remained constant.The US welcomes allqualified students. Weprioritise student visainterviews. One in fiveinternational studentsin the US is Indian.”

He said more US visa-seekers can be servicedeach day a year fromnow when the USConsulate Generalbuilding in the city willgo operational. The cur-rent facility in PaigahPalace in Begumpet,has 14 interview win-dows while the new con-sulate will have 54. “Thenew consulate reflectsthe US’ commitment toTelangana, AndhraPradesh, and Odisha,”

Reifman said. DavidKennedy, the ministercounsellor for publicaffairs from the USEmbassy in New Delhi,said the new advisingcentre, established inpartnership with YAxis Foundation, “isour clear commitmentto extend our services.”

The three-state regionthe consulate inHyderabad serves, “Isthe beating heart ofIndian students dema-nd (to study in the US),”he said. The centre, hesaid, has the ability toprovide accurate andunbiased informationto students about educa-tion opportunities inthe United States.

As many as 1,93,124students from India arepursuing education inthe US which has 4,700 accredited univer-sities and educationalinstitutions.

Minister K.T. Rama Rao poses for a selfie with people attending the CIITelangana conference on ‘T-Next: Reimagining and catalysing growth for asustainable tomorrow’, in Hyderabad on Friday. — DEEPAK DESHPANDE

Water supply to beaffected on March 8DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

Water supply will be affect-ed on Monday in severalareas as the HMWS&SBtakes up work on Phases I,II and III of the Krishnawater supply scheme.

The affected areas are:Santhoshnagar, Vinayna-gar, Saidabad, Asmangadh,Yakutpura, MahbubMansion, Narayanguda,Boggulakunta, Adikmet,Shivam, Chilkalguda,Riyasathnagar, Aliabad,Miralam, BN Reddy,Autonagar, Vanasthal-ipuram, Maruthinagar,

Elugutta, Habsiguda,Nacharam, Boduppal, Tar-naka, Lalapet, Marredp-ally, Cantonment, MES,Prakashnagar, Mekalam-andi, Balapur, Maisaram,Sahebnagar, Mailarde-vpally, Bandlaguda, PDP,Golden Heights, SulemanNagar, 9 No. Bhojagutta,Allabanda, Gandhamguda,Asifnagar, Prashsanagar,Madhapur and Shaikpetreservoirs.

Urges BJP govt to place economicsabove politics in interest of the countryDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

IT and industries minis-ter K.T. Rama Rao camedown heavily on theBJP-led government atthe Centre on Friday,saying it is meting outgrave injustice to thestate since its formationin 2014.

Addressing a conference, ‘T-Next:Reimagining andcatalysing growth for asustainable tomorrow’,organised by theTelangana chapter ofthe Confederation ofIndian Industry (CII)here, the minister saidseveral requests fromthe state governmentfor sanction of newprojects remained heldup in Delhi.

These included pro-posals on a dry port, theIT Investment Region(ITIR), the Kazipet railcoach factory, a textilemega cluster, a branchof the National TextileResearch Institute andExport PromotionCouncil, an IndianInstitute of Handlooms,technology institutes, adefence incubator, acentre of excellence, a

vaccine testing centre, amedical devices park, aplastics park and aleather park. All suchrequests have all fallenon deaf ears, he said.

The minister said theCentre was making a lotof money from Telan-gana state via collectionof various taxes but giv-ing nothing in return.

Rama Rao urged theBJP government to pla-ce economics above pol-itics in the interest ofthe country. “Politicalconsiderations shouldnot come in the way ofsanctioning strategicprojects. I would like totell the central govern-ment that talks aboutTeam India to makesure that they deliver onthis promise and helpstates like Telangana togrow with the supportof the industry,” hesaid. The minister alsotook a dig at the Cen-tre’s Atmanirbhar Bh-arat and Make in Indiainitiatives, saying mereslogans will not work

unless concrete stepsare taken to achieve thedesired goals. No com-pany would like to inve-st under the Make inIndia programme unl-ess the import duties onmachinery are relaxed,he said.

“We sought strength-ening of the existingrailway network, butthere has been noresponse. While con-struction of eight rail-way lines and survey ofthree more lines arepending, the proposalsfrom the state for sanc-tion of four new railwaylines have been ignored.While the Centre hassanctioned a bullettrain project for Guj-arat, it has not allocatedeven a single corridor tothe southern states. IsTelangana not eligiblefor bullet train project,”Rama Rao asked.

“Rather than support-ing the Hyderabad Pha-rma City, the Centre br-ought the new bulk dr-ugs parks scheme whichled to unnecessary co-mpetition between ma-jor states, delaying est-ablishment of pharmaindustries here,” healleged.

SANJAY SAMUEL PAUL I DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

With economic activitiesback in full force, TSRTC isnow plying 80 per cent ofits buses in rural areas and75 per cent in urban areas,compared to pre-Covid-19times, Corporation officialshave said.

The footfall too has risenin urban areas after col-leges and schools reopened,they said. It may berecalled that after the jana-ta curfew on March 22,2020, TSRTC stopped itsservices for 58 days. Whenit resumed services across

32 districts on May 19 lastyear, it operated 6,000 bus-es. With the lockdown andclosure of nearly all publicservices for a long time,RTC launched cargo servic-es to shore up its revenues.This service has fetched`16 lakh a day on an average.

After all lockdown restric-tions were lifted, RTC beg-an services by allowing 50per cent occupancy in itsbuses, a restriction that hasnow been removed. In urb-an areas, the passenger nu-mber currently variesbetween 50% and 60 percent of pre-Covid times.

More people opt for RTC busesMore people in rural areas take state buses POST | LOCKDOWN

COUNTER POINT

Max: 36OCMin: 17.4OC RH: 22%Rainfall: Nil

Forecast: Partly cloudy sky.Hazy morning. Max/Min

temp. 37/18ºC

WEATHER

ASTROGUIDESarvari; Uttarayana

Tithi: Magha Bahula Ashtami till6.13 pm

Star: Jyeshta till 9.39 pmVarjyam: Nil

Durmuhurtam: 6.34 am to 8.08 amRahukalam: 9 am to 10.30 am

HIJRI CALENDARRajab 21, 1442 AH

PRAYERSFajar: 5.31 am

Zohar: 12.37 pmAsar: 4.43 pm

Maghrib: 6.30 pmIsha: 7.36 pm

SUNSET TODAY 6.23 PMSUNRISE TOMORROW 6.30 AM

MOONRISE TODAY 12:32 PMMOONSET TODAY 11.57 AM

● ● K.T. RAMA RAO also took a dig at theCentre’s AtmanirbharBharat and Make inIndia initiatives.

● ● IT WOULD be hit asHMWS&SB takes up workon Phases I, II and III ofthe Krishna water supplyscheme.

TSRTC recoversincome, deposits PFDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

The TSRTC on Fridayreported that after the loss-making period during theCovid-19 lockdown, it isslowly earning an averageof `11 crore every day asrevenue.

During the lockdown, theRTC earned about `2 crore

by providing bare mini-mum essential services.The financial turnaroundfor TSRTC also enabled it to deposit around `32 crore into theProvident Fund accountsof its employees, the corporation said, addingthat salaries for Februarywere paid on Friday to theemployees.

CITY pgDECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | 6 MARCH 2021

TAKES

CONGRESS: TRS, BJP HAVE RUINED

HYD BRAND IMAGEDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

Sameer Waliullah, head of theHyderabad City CongressCommittee (HCCC) minoritieswing, on Friday blamed both TRS and BJP for ruiningthe brand image ofHyderabad, which is gettingreflected in the way its nation-al ranking has nosedivedacross sectors.

“Most of the time, it is thecitizen’s perception that playsa major role in a city earning arank. The TRS governmenthas failed in consolidating thebrand image of Hyderabad.Consequently, this haschanged people's perceptionabout the city,” he said. He saidthat the earlier Congress gov-ernments worked hard intransforming Hyderabad andmade it a global brand. It was on top in Mercer’sQuality of Living Index inIndia in 2015. However, theincumbent government’s mis-management in the last sevenyears, has destroyed the city’simage and also its branding,”he said.

SRILAKSHMI ASKSHC TO QUASH

CBI CASES DC CORRESPONDENT HYDERABAD, MARCH 5

Y. Srilakshmi, principal secre-tary in the AP government,has filed an additional affi-davit before the TelanganaHigh Court seeking to quashthe CBI cases registeredagainst her in relation togranting of mining licence toObulapuram Mining Company (OMC) and others inAnantapur district when shewas secretary, industries andcommerce, in the erstwhileAndhra Pradesh government.

This adds to her earlier application for quashing ofCBI cases which has beenpending before the court since2015.

In the additional application,Srilakshmi said the allega-tions against her were withregard to the exercise beforegrant of licence to OMC. TheCBI hadn’t raised any con-tentions in its report aboutgranting of licence to theOMC. This shows the allegations of quid pro quoagainst here were not maintainable.

Protest for salaries

Police detain BJYM activists who were protesting at the Intermediate Board Office in Nampallydemanding salaries for college lecturers and to cancel the licence of colleges that are collecting extratuition fee from students, in Hyderabad on Friday. — P. SURENDRA

Con r ss promot sso ia sti ttam

BJP: KTR not keen onimplementing schemesDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

Senior BJP leader G.Vivek Venkataswamy,on Friday accused ITminister K.T. RamaRao of lying withregard to developmentof the state and mak-ing baseless allega-tions against theUnion government.

Addressing a pressconference, the formerMP alleged that RamaRao’s accusationsagainst the Centre onissues like ITIR andKazipet railway coachfactory were ridiculous andunfounded.

Pulling up the minis-ter for his accusationthat the Centre had notgranted Mudra loans,the BJP leader saidthat on the contrary,the Centre had allocat-ed `4,705 crore under

the Mudra loan sche-me. Stating that theyhad received 11 lakhMudra loan applicatio-ns, he asked Rama Rao to visit the Mudrawebsite to get the datathat is in publicdomain.

He alleged that ChiefMinister K. Chand-rashekar Rao andRama Rao were notkeen on implementingCentral schemes asthey feared the creditwould go to PrimeMinister NarendraModi and the BJP gove-rnment at the Centre.

He said that due tothe non-implementa-tion of AayusmanBharath scheme inTelangana, people ofthe State had lostaround `300 croreCentral funds.

He attributedHyderabad’s low No. 24rank according to thelatest national data tothe greed of the fatherand his son, who, hesaid, were spendingtime in the farm houseand attending to theirpersonal businessesrather than developingHyderabad.

BJP MLA deniedpermission to visitaffected villages DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

Dubbak MLA M.Raghunandan Rao is unhappy that SiddipetPolice have prevented himfrom touring Yeti GaddaKistapur and Vemulaghatvillages which are going tobe submerged followingconstruction ofMallannasagar.

The MLA tried to visit theaffected villages on Fridayto be with people protestingagainst the government andcontractors for forcing themto vacate their villageswithout paying any compensation. Before hecould do so, police took Raghunandan into pre-ventive custody and shiftedhim to Cheriyal police sta-tion. Several BJP activistswere arrested along withhim.

While being arrested, the

MLA told media that dis-trict administration has notyet sanctioned compensa-tion. Despite this, villagersof Yeti Gadda Kistapur andVemulaghat were beingforced to vacate their homesand lands by revenue andpolice authorities who, he alleged, were workingunder the direction of ChiefMinister K. ChandrashekarRao, minister T. Harish Rao, and contractors whoare constructing the project.

The MLA recalled thejudgement about an RDOand tahasildar being sentenced to jail over non-payment of compensa-tion. He made it clear thatas MLA of Dubbaka, he would stand by people ofthe affected villages. He said he would announcethe next course of action in the next two to threedays.

Rising unemployment, fuel prices will help Cong win MLC pollsDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

Telangana PradeshCongress Committee(TPCC) president N.Uttam Kumar Reddy onFriday said Congresshas shown its commit-ment to social justice bynominating SabavathRamulu Naik, a Girijan,as its candidate in MLCelections fromWarangal-Khammam-Nalgonda graduates’constituency.

He claimed that the noparty has ever made anSC or ST leader as itscandidate from gradu-ates’ constituencies sofar. He pointed out thatall parties have nomi-nated Reddy communi-ty leaders as their can-didates for Warangal-Khammam-Nalgondaconstituency. To ensuresocial justice, RamuluNaik was nominated by

Congress presidentSonia Gandhi for a gen-eral category seat.Therefore, he said, itbecomes the duty ofentire Congress cadreto work hard for the vic-tory of Ramulu Naik inMLC elections.

Uttam Kumar Reddyslammed the BJP gov-ernment at the centreand state government inthe state for the hugerise in prices of petrol,diesel and cooking gas.He maintained that thisitself will majorly con-tribute for the defeat ofBJP and TRS candi-dates.The Congress MPaccused Chief MinisterK. Chandrashekar Raoof doing nothing for thenearly 30 lakh unemplo-yed youth in Telangana,19 lakh of whom haveregistered with theTelangana State PublicService Commission(TSPSC). He demanded

that the state govern-ment immediately fillall the 1.91 lakh vacan-cies identified by thePay RevisionCommission (PRC),besides taking meas-ures to generateemployment opportuni-ties for the remaining 28lakh jobless persons. Inthe interim, the stategovernment should pro-vide the promisedallowance of `3,016 toall unemployed youthwith retrospective effectfrom December 2018.

The TPCC chief saidPrime Minister Naren-dra Modi too hadpromised to give twocrore jobs every year.Instead of providing 14crore new jobs since2014, BJP government’swrong policies haveresulted in 18 crore peo-ple losing employment.

The Nalgonda MP saidTRS MLC Palla

Rajeshwar Reddy hasno moral right to seekvotes in the MLC elec-tions as he has donenothing for unemployedgraduates or youth dur-ing the past six years asMLC. He charged thatTRS leaders are nowtrying to win electionsby spending their ill-gotten money and supplying liquor to voters.

The TPCC chiefasserted that the maincontest in the MLC elec-tion from Warangal-Khammam-Nalgondaconstituency is betweenCongress and TRS. Hesaid voting forTelangana JanaSamithi (TJS) presidentProf. M. Kodandaramwill be a waste as he isnot a strong contender.He said all graduatesshould unite for victoryof the Congress candi-date.

DC CORRESPONDENTKURNOOL, MARCH 5

The All India MajlisIttehadul Mussalman(AIMIM) president andHyderabad MP Asadud-uin Owaisi has slam-med the YSRC and TDPfor failing to achieve theSpecial Category Status(SCS) for Andhra Prad-esh even as they hadwon a huge mandate in successive polls.

“These parties are

having an unholy rela-tionship with the BJP atthe cost of people’sinterests,” he said onFriday.

Owaisi was address-

ing a meeting hereahead of the municipalpolls. MIM is contesting9 wards in Adoni and 6wards in Kurnool wheresizeable chunks ofMuslim populationreside.

Dismissing the criti-cism over his outreachto Andhra Pradesh,Owaisi said “the MIM is the face and voice ofMuslims”. WhereverMuslim populationexisted, he would go and

stand in support ofthem, he said.

Owaisi said, “I have nocompany, no contractwork, no pecuniaryinterest. My mission isto enlighten Muslims oftheir rights and standfor them against allodds.” He said privatiza-tion of the Vizag Steelwas not in the interestsof the people. He would raise the issuein the Parliament, hesaid.

Owaisi says YSRC, TDhave unholy ties with BJP

●●ADDRESSING Apress conference, theformer MP allegedthat Rama Rao’saccusations againstthe Centre on issueslike ITIR and Kazipetrailway coach factorywere ridiculous andunfounded.

●● HE SAID that dueto the non-implemen-tation of AayusmanBharath scheme inTelangana, people ofthe State had lostaround `300 croreCentral funds.

●●OWAISI SAID, “I haveno company, no con-tract work, no pecu-niary interest. My mis-sion is to enlightenMuslims of their rightsand stand for themagainst all odds.”

TRS INFLUENCINGVOTERS IN MLCPOLLS, BJP TELLS SECDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

The BJP has told the StateElection Commission that theTRS was influencing voters inthe upcoming MLC elections,and Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao’s visit toYadadri on Thursday was apart of this.

A BJP delegation led by for-mer legislator N.V.S.S.Prabhakar met State ElectionCommissioner ShashankGoyal on the matter on Fridayand complained against theChief Minister, and ministersNiranjan Reddy and SabitaIndra Reddy.

Prabhakar alleged that theTRS was violating the electioncode and abusing power. Hesaid that the CM’s visit toYadadri was meant to get votesfrom a section of people. Thetemple visit only exposed thatthe CM is scared of the BJP, hesaid. Prabhakar claimed thatminister Niranjan Reddy had“terrorised” teachers at ameeting and Sabita IndraReddy had allegedly threat-ened private school owners.He alleged that the TRS lead-ers were distributing moneyto voters.

TOP COP ATTENDS WOMEN’s DAYCELEBRATIONDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

Hyderabad police SheTeams organised wom-en’s day celebrations atthe Begumpet airportauditorium on Friday.

Hyderabad police com-missioner Anjani Kumar,Vasundhara Sinha, ChiefCommissioner of IncomeTax, Hyderabad, and toppolice officials and DrTejaswini Manogna,Miss Earth India, attend-ed the programme.

“It is our tradition torespect women and theyare equally empoweredin all fields. The represe-ntation of women in thepolice department hasincreased. 30 per cent,”Anjani Kumar said.

Dr Manogna said, “Sheteams are doing a greatjob. Every day iswomen’s day,” she said,adding, “We can changethe world if we take any-thing as a challenge.”

●● A BJP delegation led byformer legislator N.V.S.S.Prabhakar met State Elec-tion Commissioner ShashankGoyal on the matter on Frid-ay and complained againstthe Chief Minister, and min-isters Niranjan Reddy andSabita Indra Reddy.

FOREST DEPT GETS5,488 FIRE ALERTS

ACROSS STATEDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

The forest departmentreceived 410 fire alerts onFriday, 76 of them comingfrom the Komaram Bheem-Asifabad district. Thestate has so far received 5,488fire alerts of which all 3,726fires were attended to. Thesefires destroyed 4,167.41hectares of forests,Nagarkurnool district wasworst affected where the firerazed 666.88 hectares.

A total of 314 fires occurredrelating to forestry works and364 relating to the Recognitionof Forest Rights (ROFR) Actand encroachments.

In view of the rising numberof fires, the forest departmenton Friday organised an aware-ness program which saw village sarpanches and othersfrom the Pocharam section inthe Medak district in atten-dance. Officials said that theyhave planned similar aware-ness camps in other parts ofthe state.

REMEMBRANCEBIRTHDAY AND WEDDING

ANNIVERSARY OF

Smt. DASARI LEELAW/o Dasari Gopala Krishna

D/o. Late Sri Vinnakota GajapathiRamiah and Smt. Ratna Manikyam

Your memories will last forever.With lots of love from

Family Members & FriendsMobile: 9885439509, 8886396588.

(S/2021/D01296)

OBITUARYWith profound grief and sorrow

we regret the demise of

Shri J. MUNUSWAMY(RTO Agent)

DOB: 08-12-1943 DOD: 05-03-2021Funeral on 6-3-2021 between 3 - 4 pm atSeethaphalmandi Cremation Ground.

Inserted by: FAMILY MEMBERSPh: 8978798181, 7702304680

(CA-3541)

KOTHAPALLY STEVEN ROBERTSRetired Professor of Physical EducationThanksgiving service on 6 March2021 at 6 PM Centenary MethodistChurch, Chapel Road, Nampally.

Inserted by:MONDOL & KOTHAPALLY FAMILY

Mob: 9885081911

MEMORIAL SERVICE

11th DEATH ANNIVERSARY(In Loving Memory)

ADI SUBBA RAO RAM PRASADDOB: 17.09.1924 DOD: 06.03.2010

Controller of Stores APRTC 1977-79, Hyderabad-20.

Devine justice awaitedGelaboina Inder Karan and FamilyMano Vikas Nagar, ecunderabad-9.

Mob: 9949841984

CITYDECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | 6 MARCH 2021

TAKES 78% women faced violence inpublic spaces, reports survey HARLEEN MINOCHA ANDNAVEEN KUMAR | DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

Ahead of InternationalWomen’s Day on March 8,a study on women safetyin India by Breakthrough,a Delhi-based NGO, statedthat 78.4 per cent respon-dents (female or others)had experienced violencein public spaces. This didnot include violence thatwomen experienced whileusing public transport.

Importantly, 38.5 per centof the respondents saidthat they did not intervenebecause they did not knowwhat to do, said the study,‘Decoding bystanderbehaviour’, that was car-ried out in associationwith Uber and IKEA.

It covered 721 respon-dents in Hyderabad,Delhi, Mumbai, KolkataHazaribagh district(Jharkhand), Gaya district(Bihar) and Jhajjar dis-trict (Haryana).

Most participants, par-ticularly women, identi-fied violence as a broadterm, consisting of physi-cal, mental, verbal andsexual abuse. The studyhighlighted how patriar-chal practices were cultur-ally embedded in societyand its correlationbetween deterioratingmental health and every-day misogyny and patri-archy.

The study said that 54.6

per cent respondents hadintervened in an incidentof violence againstwomen in a public space,55.3 observed discomfortof the woman facing vio-lence, while 67.7 per centrespondents said thattheir intervention result-ed in the violence stop-ping.

The study found that theurge to do the “rightthing” often drivesbystanders to intervene. Ahandful of respondentsrevealed that they werevictims of child sexualabuse and domestic vio-lence. But they could notresist their perpetrators atthat time. It was this unre-solved rage at their ownhelplessness that pushedthem to intervene later intheir lives. The respon-dents said that betterknowledge and awarenessabout gender issues alsohelped them intervene.

Explaining thebystander effect, DrRachel Nandi, clinicalpsychologist with ManasaNursing Home,Secunderabad, said thatthe reluctance of people tooffer help in case of vio-lence or crisis is due tovarious reasons, but par-ticularly due to diffusionof responsibility.

“People in a crowd oftentend to observe the reac-tion of others to deter-mine whether or not tohelp and tell themselves

that someone else couldhelp in the situation,” DrNandi said. In case ofdomestic violence, peopleconsider it to be a familyissue where others should-n’t interfere.

According to the study,respondents in Hyderabadsaid that even though thepolice had promoted theuse of safety apps, thesemethods tend to functionmore as reactionaryresponses to incidents ofviolence after they haveoccurred. Moreover, theyput the onus of safety onwomen and girls.

The Hyderabad respon-dents said that in somecases, like in the case ofsafety applications, theyexclude a large section ofthe population which doesnot have access to smart-phones. Further, suchinterventions do notinvest in altering mind-sets that condone violenceagainst women.

Promoting the need tooffer help in case of vio-lence or crisis, DCP East

Zone, M. Ramesh said thatbystanders should insteadof posting videos and pho-tos of a crime and creat-ing a scare among the citi-zens, use the same as evi-dence and help the cops bysharing it with them.

“The public can call foran ambulance or the copsbut they get scared to getinvolved. What the publicshould know is that wehave a witness protectionscheme if they want tohelp as a samaritan. Wealready have CC cameraswhich help in curbing thecrime rate and if the pub-lic start becoming moreresponsible and call dial100 if they sense danger,we can really control thesituation before it getsworse. Sharing posts onsocial media will also cre-ate a sense of fear amongthe victim's community asthey feel that they arebeing targeted," said theofficial.

Everyone has a right tointervene and stop a crimeunder the Good SamaritanAct, or at least call thepolice by calling 100, a sen-ior police official said. Incase a bystander doesagree to be an eye-witness,the interrogation will beconducted with respect, ata time and place of the vol-unteer's choice. They cangive their statement in anaffidavit, and if requiredto come to the police sta-tion, the official said.

MERCURY MAYRISE IN TS BYSUNDAY: IMD

T.S.S. SIDDHARTH I DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

The Indian MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) has predict-ed that the heat would intensi-fy by March 7. It has kept tem-peratures under watch for thenext 48 hours.

“North-easterly and souther-ly winds are blowing over thestate. So, we will have to moni-tor the changes in the tempera-ture,” Dr Nagaratna, director,IMD Hyderabad, told DeccanChronicle. “We are also follow-ing an anti-cyclonic circulationover central India. This systemcould increase the temperatureof the northern districts in thestate by 2º to 4ºC Celsius,” shesaid. On Friday, Hyderabadrecorded its highest tempera-ture of 37ºC at Trimulgherry,followed by 36.9ºC atMaitrivanam in Ameerpet.Kusumanchi at Pedapalli dis-trict recorded 38.8ºC.

DEFENCE MEETCALLS TO FOCUSON CAPABILITIES

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

The need for a shift fromthreat-based force structuringto one based on capability wasemphasised during the secondday of the national webinar,‘Transformation: Imperativesfor Indian Armed Forces” atthe College of DefenceManagement in Secunderabadon Friday.

Air Marshal S.P. Wagle fromthe Headquarters, IDS, saidthis should be done to fulfil thenational military objectives.Lt Gen. Rajinder Dewan fromIHQ of MoD (Army) coveredissues related to preparationfor conventional / hybrid chal-lenges, Commodore SusheelMenon from IHQ of MoD(Navy) on force projectionbased on India's security con-cerns in Indian Ocean Region(IOR). Air Vice MarshalNarmdeshwar Tiwari fromAir HQ, who delivered a talkon ‘Aerospace force structuresfor the future - Prospects forthe IAF’.

Felicitation

yberabad police co issioner . . Sa anar felicitates para bad inton world chapion Manasi oshi during the nternational o en s ay celebrations organised by

yberabad police and Society for yberabad Security ouncil at Tech Mahindra onriday. ad inton coach ullella opichand also attended the event.

— R. PAVAN

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

Days before theInternational Women’sDay, two rape cases werereported in the city, one inRein Bazaar and oneinvolving a minor girl inBowenpally.

In the Bowenpally case,a 16-year-old girl wasallegedly kidnapped andraped by one Imran, 25, aworker at a nearbymasjid, police said. Imranhad lured her in the nameof love and took her awayfrom her house on March2. As the girl was a minor,the police booked a kid-nap case traced her beforenabbing Imran.

“Though they claimedthat the act was consensu-al, it will be consideredrape as the victim is aminor,” said BegumpetACP Naresh Reddy. TheRein Bazar police arrestedan optical shop owner,

Ahmed Khan, 39, forallegedly sexually assault-ing a woman from theneighbourhood.

Police said Khan gotacquainted with the vic-tim during a sale of prop-erty. Police said Khan

claimed that he would begiving a commission of`50,000 for the mediator ofthe land deal, followingwhich the victim showedinterest. He called herhome when he was aloneand assaulted her.

City r ports tworap as s h Optical shop owner, worker at masjid arrested

● ● THE STUDY found thatthe urge to do the “rightthing” often drivesbystanders to intervene.A handful of respondentsrevealed that they werevictims of child sexualabuse and domestic vio-lence. But they could notresist their perpetratorsat that time.

Officials blame political bosses From Page 1

While some cases pertainto demolitions againstcourt orders, others relateto inaction against courtdirectives to demolish.

“The root-cause for con-tempt cases getting piledup is a lack of fear of get-ting punished,” says sen-ior advocate R.N.Hemendranath Reddy.

Unfortunately, nowadaysimplementation (of court

orders) has become anexception and violation isthe rule of law, he saidadding that the courts alsoshould introspect on whythey are losing respect.

Hemendranath Reddy, ina contempt case he filedon behalf of former bad-minton internationalChetan Anand, secured adirection from Justice S.V.Bhatt to a tahsildar and asub-inspector to rebuildthe player’s sports com-

plex spending `45 lakhfrom their pockets.

Analysing the final out-come of contempt cases,Reddy said the appellatecourts very rarely upholdsingle judges’ toughorders and either suspendor dilute the punishment.Data available with theTelangana High Courtalso revealed that evencontempt cases have beenpending for almost adecade now.

Senior officials on condi-tion of anonymity howev-er rue that they fall victimdue to inaction of theirpolitical bosses or pres-sure from them.

“In several cases, thedecision has to be taken bythe highest politicalauthority and due to inac-cessibility and lack ofproper mechanism toaddress these issues, weare facing the music,” asenior official pointed out.

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

A child marriage wasaverted by theRachakonda police SheTeams of Bhongir divi-sion who rescued a minorgirl on Friday.

According to the police,the parents of a 13-year-old girl of Masaipet inYadadri had fixed herwedding with a 22-year-old man from the neigh-bouring village. “Uponreceiving information, we

went to their houses andcounselled them followingwhich they called offtheir wedding,” policesaid. Rachakonda policecommissioner Mahesh M.Bhagwat, appreciatingthe good work of the SheTeams, requested citizensnot to encourage childmarriages as it is a crime.“Priests, wedding invita-tion printers, elders andsupporters of the mar-riage and parents of thechild would be heldresponsible,” he said.

RACHAKONDA POLICE AVERT CHILDMARRIAGE, RESCUE 13-YEAR-OLD GIRL

SHAHAB ANSARI | DCMUMBAI, MARCH 5

Amid the demand of theopposition BJP to handover the investigationinto the case of explo-sives planted nearMukesh Ambani’s houseAntilia on February 25 toNational InvestigationAgency (NIA), the MahaVikas Aghadi govern-ment on Friday handedover the enquiry to thestate Anti-TerrorismSquad (ATS).

Meanwhile, MansukhHiren, whose car wasfound outside MukeshAmbani’s residence inMumbai, was found deadat Retibunder creek inThane district. He wasmissing since Thursdayand his kin had regis-tered a missing com-plaint.

An official of Thanepolice informed “Thebody of one MansukhHiren whose car wasfound outside MukeshAmbani’s residence (withgelatin inside it), died bysuicide by jumping intoKalwa creek. AccidentalDeath Report (ADR) reg-istered.”

News of his death camewithin hours after BJPleader DevendraFadnavis demanded thatHiren be provided policeprotection. Later, thestate home ministerinformed in the legisla-tive Assembly that Hirenwas not the actual ownerof the car. “Car's ownerwas Sam Muten who hadgiven it to Mansukh

Hiren for maintenance ofits interior. Hiren hadkept the car in his cus-tody when Sam didn't payfor it," he said.

Mr Fadnavis demandedNIA investigation intothe case of explosivesplanted near RelianceIndustries chairman’shouse. However, statehome minister AnilDeshmukh rejected thedemand saying the statepolice are competent toinvestigate it and subse-quently in evening, heinformed the stateAssembly thatMaharashtra ATS hasbeen entrusted theresponsibility to investi-gate the case.

Speaking with thereporters on Friday, MrDeshmukh said that thegovernment has decidedto hand over the investi-gation to the ATS in con-nection with the case ofexplosives planted inscorpio near MukeshAmbani’s house Antiliaon February 25.

Earlier in the afternoon,Mr. Fadnavis expressedhis suspicion over APISachin Vaze's role in theAntilia bomb scare caseand therefore, he demand-ed the probe into it by theNIA. He also raised aquestion over the severalco-incidences pertainingto the presence of MrVaze at several places inconnection with this case.

He said, “Mr Vaze wasthe first police officer toreach the spot even beforelocal police. Mr. Vaze alsospotted the threat letter.”

IN BRIEFRAPE SURVIVOR

SET ABLAZE INRAJASTHAN

Jaipur, Mar 5: A 33-year-oldrape survivor was set afire inRajasthan’s Hanumangarh dis-trict, police said on Friday.

The woman has been admit-ted to a hospital in Bikanerwith serious burn injuries,Golupura Station HouseOfficer (SHO) Omprakashsaid, adding that PradeepVishnoi, who was accused bythe woman of raping her in2018, has been detained forquestioning. The incidentoccurred in the early hours ofThursday.

The victim, who has a daugh-ter, was living with her mater-nal grandmother following adispute with her husband, thepolice said.

A man entered their housepremises in the early hours ofThursday, sprinkled keroseneon the floor, knocked on thedoor and called the woman byher name. As she opened thedoor, the man dropped a burn-ing stick on the floor, resultingin serious injuries to her, theSHO said.

He said the victim’s maternalgrandmother has accusedVishnoi of committing thecrime and the latter has beendetained for questioning.

AKSHAYA AKUMAR SAHOO |DCBHUBANESWAR, MARCH 5

Marriage celebrations turnedinto mourning in Odisha’sSonepur district on Fridaymorning as a newlywed bridecollapsed and died after suffer-ing a massive heart attack dur-ing the ‘bidaai’ ceremony.

The bride Gupteswari Sahoo(Rosy), daughter of MuraliSahoo and Menaka of Julundavillage, was declared dead bythe doctors at the DunguripalliCommunity Health Centrebefore admission.

Rosy tied the knot withBisikesan Pradhan of Tentuluvillage in a simple ceremonyat the bride’s parental houseon Thursday evening.

On Friday morning when thefamily members were prepar-ing for the ‘bidaai’ (bride leav-ing father’s house for in-law’splace) ceremony, Rosy who wascrying inconsolably, suddenlyfainted and collapsed on theground.

Family members and rela-tives of the newlywed couplepresent at the spot tried towake up Gupteswari by sprin-kling water on her face.However, she did not gain con-sciousness. Subsequently, thebride was rushed to theDunguripalli CHC in a vehiclebut the doctors declared herbrought dead. The doctorslater confirmed that Rosy haddied due to cardiac failure.

G BABU JAYAKUMAR &D SEKAR | DCCHENNAI, MARCH 5

The CPI signed a pact tocontest in six constituen-cies for the April 6 StateAssembly elections evenas the DMK’s tough bar-gaining continued onFriday with the otherallies who are keepingtheir fingers crossedwhile remaining out ofthe negotiating table.

Hopes were expressedthat all the allies willcome around bySaturday as the coalitionpartners would beannounced at a grandpublic meeting that theDMK is holding nearTiruchy on March 7,when functionaries at alllevels would congregateto devise the strategy forthe elections, but indica-tions are there that theCongress was not happywith the low number ofseats offered to them.

Even the MDMK andthe CPM would be con-sidering the proposals ofthe DMK only after hold-ing meetings with theirfunctionaries and cadre

on Saturday. The seriesof meeting at the TNCCheadquarters remainedinconclusive with a tugof war between twogroups.

One group in theCongress did not mindthe party making a com-promise and settlingdown for a smaller num-ber of seats, while theother group took a bel-ligerent stand, sayingthat self-respect and hon-our were more impor-tant that winning a fewAssembly seats in theelections.

The disenchantedcadre wanted their partyto go it alone rather thanaccept the crumbsthrown at them by theDMK, though they wereconscious of the resultsif the party went alone.

However, TNCC presi-dent K S Alagiri and also MDMK general sec-retary Vaiko put up abrave front saying thatthe coalition was intactand that the hitcheswould be ironed out,though many Congressmembers felt short-changed by the offer of

the DMK.Soon after signing the

pact with the DMK, CPIState secretary RMutharasan told themedia that ideology wasmore important for hisparty than the number ofseats and hence theyagreed to contest in sixconstituencies.

As of now, the DMK hasallotted two seats to theManithaneya MakkalKatchi, three to theIUML, six to the VCKand another six to theCPI.

The Kongu MakkalKatchi, the CPM and theCongress are yet tofinalise the alliance.

K C a onoth r a i s wait

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.S. Alagiri (L), party’s election campaign management observerM. Veerappa Moily and AICC in-charge of Tamil Nadu Dinesh Gundu Rao, during the executive committeemeeting, at Sathyamurthy Bhavan in Chennai on Friday. - PTI

Coalition partners to be announced at a grand meeting

PARMOD KUMAR | DCNEW DELHI, MARCH 5

A day after emphasizing onthe need to screen the pro-grammes telecast on OTT(Over-The-Top) platforms,the Supreme Court onFriday made light of therecent regulations broughtby the government to dealwith the OTT and socialmedia platforms, sayingthat they have “no teeth”but only guidelines and nomechanism to ensure no“objectionable contents”are screened online.

Having chided the govern-ment for bringing toothless

regulation to deal withsocial media and OTT plat-forms, the top court howev-er, in a breather, grantedprotection from arrest toOTT platform AmazonPrime India head AparnaPurohit. “We direct that thepetitioner (AparnaPurohit) shall not be arrest-ed in FIR No. 14/2021 sub-ject to her co-operationwith the investigation. Sheshall appear before theInvestigating Officer as andwhen required,” the courtordered. .

Purohit had approachedthe top court for anticipato-ry bail in connection with

the FIRs registered againsther over the controversial9-part web series Tandavthat was released on theinternet in January.

Earlier her plea for antici-patory bail was rejected byAllahabad High Court.

A bench comprisingJustice Ashok Bhushanand Justice R SubhashReddy, which had soughtthe regulations framed onFebruary 25, for its perusal,said, “We went through theTechnology intermediaryguidelines. But there is noteeth. No power of prosecu-tion. These are just guide-lines. No mechanism to

control it. Without legisla-tion you cannot control it.”

Taking a dim view of theeffectiveness of the regula-tions brought to regulatesocial media and OTT plat-forms, the court asked thegovernment to considerbringing some law that reg-ulate the platforms.

Noting that one of theissues that have cropped upbefore the court was that of“control and regulation ofplatform on which web-series are released”, thecourt in its order today saidthat the perusal ofInformation Technology(Intermediary Guidelines

and Digital Media EthicsCode) Rules, 2021, that werebrought by the governmenton February 25 2021, indi-cate that “the Rules aremore and more in the formof guidelines and have noeffective mechanism foreither screening or takingappropriate action forthose who violates theguidelines.”

Put on defensive, SolicitorGeneral said that the gov-ernment will “consider andtake appropriate steps forregulation or legislation asmay be found fit” and thesame shall be placed beforethe Court.

‘Owner’ of car inAmbani case founddead in Thane

GILVESTER ASSARY |DC THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,MAR. 5

The statement filed byCustoms PreventiveCommissionerate inKerala High Court dis-closing that gold smug-gling accused SwapnaSuresh has given a confi-dential statement alleg-ing chief ministerPinarayi Vijayan’sinvolvement in dollarsmuggling, has triggereda political storm in thepoll bound state.

Sumit Kumar,Commissioner ofCustoms, informed thecourt that in the state-ments recorded undersection 164 CrPC and 108of the Customs Act,Swapna revealed aboutthe involvement of chiefminister, speaker ofKerala and three minis-ters. She alleged that

smuggling of foreigncurrency was done at theinstance of Mr Vijayanand Assembly Speaker PSreeramakrishnan withthe help of the UAEConsulate.

Swapna also revealedMr Vijayan’s close con-nections with the previ-ous Consul General ofUAE and the ‘illegal’monetary transactions,Kumar added.

The statement wasfiled in response to apetition filed by the DGPrisons Kerala, againstcertain remarks in theorder of the AdditionalCJM (Economic

Offences) Court’s on pro-viding security toSwapna who is lodged inWomen’s Prison,Thiruvananthapuram.The observation in theorder will affect the cred-ibility and bonafide ofthe jail department,argued the state.

The Customs officersaid Swapna’s statementexposed highly illegal,improper and immoralactivities by those occu-pying high offices. Thecustoms was prepared toproduce the copies of thestatements before thecourt in a sealed cover.

The statement saidSwapna’s apprehensionsregarding her safety in jail were totally justi-fied.

“They being high pro-file politicians and hold-ing high positions in thegovernment are capableof hitting back by allmeans,” it added.

Swapna’s ‘revelations’put Kerala CM in dock

BRIDE DIES OFHEART ATTACKDURING BIDAAI

SRIDHARKUMARASWAMI | DCNEW DELHI, MARCH 5

Just days ahead of anexpected discussion inthe British Parliamenton Monday over theongoing farmers’protests in India, thenew British HighCommissioner to IndiaAlex Ellis on Fridaytermed these protestsagainst the recently-enacted three Indianfarm laws as an “inter-nal issue of India”,even as New Delhi onFriday said Indiandiplomats in the UK areapprising the BritishGovernment as well asMembers ofParliament and mem-bers of the civil societythere about the con-cerned three farm lawsand also about theIndian Government’sefforts to resolve theissue.

FARMERS’ STIRINTERNAL ISSUEOF INDIA: UK

FLIGHT TEST OFSFDR TECHNOLOGYSUCCESSFUL AKSHAYA KUMAR SAHOO |DCBALASORE, MARCH 5

India’s Defence Researchand DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) onFriday successfully carriedout a flight demonstrationbased on Solid Fuel DuctedRamjet (SFDR) technologyfrom Integrated Test Range(ITR) at Chandipur off thecoast of Odisha.

The SFDR was fired ataround 10. 30 am.

“All the subsystems, includ-ing the booster motor andnozzle-less motor, performedas expected. During the test,many new technologies wereproven, including Solid Fuelbased Ducted Ramjet tech-nology,” an official release ofDRDO said.

Successful demonstrationof Solid Fuel based DuctedRamjet technology has pro-vided DRDO with a techno-logical advantage which willenable it to develop longrange air-to-air missiles. Atpresent, such technology isavailable only with a handfulof countries in the world.

Amazon Prime India head Aparna Purohit not to be arrestedSUPREME | ORDER

OTT rules have no teeth, bring law: SC

MANOJ ANAND | DCGUWAHATI, MAR. 6

The Bharatiya JanataParty on Fridayannounced that it willcontest the ensuingassembly polls inalliance with AsomGana Parishad (AGP),and United People’sParty (Liberal).

The BJP will contest atotal of 92 seats out of126 seats. AGP will con-test from 26 constituen-cies, UPPL will contestfrom eight constituen-cies, and one seat hasgone to Rabha Joutho

Mancha but they wouldbe fielding their candi-date on BJP’s party sym-bol.

Assam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowalwill contest the assemblyelection from Majauliseat, the BJP said whilereleasing a list of candi-dates for two phases of the three-phase elec-tion.

Assam health ministerHimanta Biswa Sarma, akey BJP strategist forthe north-east, will con-test from Jalukbari, aseat that he currentlyholds.

BJP ANNOUNCES TO CONTEST 92OUT OF 126 SEATS IN ASSAM

● ● THE PRIME accusedin gold smuggling caserevealed Mr Vijayan’sclose connections withthe previous ConsulGeneral of UAE and the‘illegal’ monetary trans-actions.

DC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, MARCH 5

India has registered a cumula-tive figure of more than 1.9crore Covid-19 vaccinationdoses so far and on Fridayalone 10.34 lakh vaccine doseswere administered.

Out of this, 8.25 lakh benefi-ciaries were given the firstdose while 2.09 lakh health-care and frontline workersreceived the second dose of thevaccines.

Six states, Maharashtra,Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat,Madhya Pradesh and Delhi,have reported high daily newcases in the last 24 hours, with84.44% of the new cases com-ing from these. India on Fridayhad 16,838 fresh cases and 113new deaths.

OVER 16,000 NEWCOVID CASES REGISTERED

NATIONDECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | 6 MARCH 2021

c m y k c m y k

DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | 6 MARCH 2021

WORLDDECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | SATURDAY| 6 MARCH 2021

CINEMA

San Diego: More than260 refugees who werevetted, approved andbooked to come to theUnited States have hadtheir flights cancelledby the State Depa-

rtment over the pasttwo weeks because th-ey do not qualify underrestrictions imposedby Donald Trump,refugee resettlementagencies say. — AP

ISRAEL BOOSTSPLANS FOR IRAN ATTACKTel Aviv: Israel’sdefense minister saidhis country is upgradingcontingency plans tostrike Iranian targets ifTehran shows signs ofnuclear escalation, thelatest sign of rising ten-sions between the twoarchenemies.

Benny Gantz told theAmerican cable networkFox News that Israel isstill working on itsplans, but that “we havethem in our hands ofcourse.” His commentscame as President JoeBiden considers re-join-ing a 2015 nuclear dealbetween Iran and worldpowers to limit Iran'snuclear program, withsome changes to tough-en curbs on Tehran'sactivities. FormerPresident DonaldTrump pulled the UnitedStates out of the atomicaccord in 2018 andimposed a so-called cam-paign of maximum pres-sure, including sanc-tions, on Tehran.

Since then, Iran hasstepped up uraniumenrichment. The U.N.atomic watchdog agencysaid earlier this weekthat Iran nearly tripledits stockpile of enricheduranium sinceNovember in violationof its deal with worldpowers. Iran and theBiden administrationare deadlocked over howto revive the deal, withTehran demanding animmediate lifting ofsanctions and the U.S.calling on Iran to firstreturn to full compli-ance with the restricti-ons of the nuclear agree-ment. Israel has vehe-mently opposed thenuclear deal. At thesame time, tensionshave been risingbetween arch foes Israeland Iran. Last week, anIsraeli-owned cargoship, the MS Helios Ray,was damaged by a mys-terious explosion in thestrategically importantStrait of Hormuz.Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahuaccused Iran of attack-ing the vessel. — AP

CHINA HIKESDEFENCE BUDGET TO$209 BILLIONBeijing: China onFriday hiked its defencebudget for the first timeto more than $200 bil-lion, over three timeshigher than that ofIndia, maintaining asingle-digit growth forthe sixth consecutiveyear with a 6.8 per centincrease in 2021.

The hike in defencespending wasannounced by ChinesePremier Li Keqiang onthe opening day of theNational People’sCongress, China’s Par-liament, amidst a mili-tary standoff with Indiain eastern Ladakh andgrowing political andmilitary tensions withthe United States.

This year’s planneddefence spending will beabout 1.35 trillion yuan(about $209 billion),state-run Xinhua newsagency reported, addingthat the annual defencebudget maintains a sin-gle-digit growth for a sixth consecutiveyear.

China’s defence budgetis about one quarter ofthe US figure, which is$740.5 billion for the 2021fiscal year, it said.Friday's increase is overthree times higher thanIndia’s defence budget ofabout $65.7 billion(including pensions).Last year, China allocat-ed 1.268 trillion yuan(about $196.44 billion),according to the state-run Global Times.

In his 35-page workreport outlining China'sachievements in 2020and tasks for 2021, pre-mier Li described lastyear as a “major suc-cess” for the armedforces without mention-ing China moving over60,000 well-armed troopswho were mobilised forannual exercises, to con-tentious areas likePangong Tso in easternLadakh, prompting In-dia to match the People’sLiberation Army’s(PLA) mobilisationwhich led to an overeight-month long stand-off. — PTI

REFUGEES’ FLIGHTS CANCELLED

WORLDDECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | 6 MARCH 2021

Washington, March 5:Indian-Americans are“taking over the country”,US President Joe Bidensaid on Thursday, refer-ring to the large numberof “incredible” profes-sionals from the commu-nity holding key positionsin his administration.

In less than 50 days ofhis presidency, Biden hasappointed at least 55Indian-Americans to keyleadership positions in hisadministration rangingfrom his speech writer tothe Nasa, to almost everywing of the government.

“Indian ofdescent Americans aretaking over the country:you Dr Swati Mohan); myVice President (KamalaHarris); my speech writer,Vinay (Reddy). I tell youwhat. But thank you. Youguys are incredible,”President Biden said dur-ing a virtual interactionwith scientists at Nasawho were involved in thehistoric landing ofPerseverance rover onMars on February 18.

Indian-American scien-tist Swati Mohan leads theguidance, navigation, andcontrol operations ofNasa’s Mars 2020 mission.

Biden, who was sworn inas the 46th president ofthe United States onJanuary 20, has createdhistory by appointing atleast 55 Indian-Americansto key positions in hisadministration.

This does not includeVice President Harris,which is an elected posi-tion, and Neera Tanden,who a day earlier with-drew her nomination fromthe position of Director ofWhite House Office ofManagement and Budget.

Nearly half of them arewomen and a sizable num-ber of them are workingin the White House. So far,the Obama-Biden admin-istration (2009-2017) hasthe distinction of appoint-ing the largest number ofIndian-Americans in anyadministration, the previ-ous Donald Trump admin-istration was not laggingfar behind as it appointed

the first ever Indian-Am-erican with a cabinet rankand inside the NationalSecurity Council.

The Biden administra-tion has for the first timeappointed such a largenumber of Indian-Amer-icans in the first 50 days ofhis administration. Thispast week, Dr. VivekMurthy testified before aSenate Committee for USSurgeon General andVanita Gupta is all set toappear for her confirma-tion hearing for AssociateAttorney GeneralDepartment of Justice.

“It is impressive to seehow many Indian-Ame-ricans were ready to gointo public service. Therehave been so many addi-tions since we launchedour Government Leaderslist last month on Pre-sidents’ Day. I am so proudto see our community isgoing from strength tostrength!,” eminent Indi-an-American philanthr-opist and Indiaspora fou-nder M. Rangaswami said.

While the community is

disappointed that Tandenhad to withdraw her nom-ination because of stiffopposition from the Re-publicans, Indian-Amer-ican women have reacheda new height in the Bidenadministration. Bidensought to speak with Sw-ati Mohan, Guidance andControls Operations Lead,Mars 2020. She is not a pol-itical appointee though.

Indian-American womenappointed by Bideninclude Uzra Zeya, UnderSecretary of State forCivilian Security, Dem-ocracy, and Human Rights,State Department; MalaAdiga: Policy Director toDr Jill Biden; Aisha Shah:Partnership Manager,White House Office ofDigital Strategy; SameeraFazili, Deputy Director,US National Economic Co-uncil (NEC); SumonaGuha: Senior Director forSouth Asia at the NationalSecurity Council, WhiteHouse; and Sabrina Singh:Deputy Press Secretary,Vice President WhiteHouse. — PTI

Indo-Americans takeover US, says BidenAppoints over 55 to key leadership positions in his admin

An Iraqi girl in a traditional dress offers Pope Francis a bouquet of flowers at Baghdad airport upon his arrival onFriday. Pope Francis is honouring the victims of one of Iraq's most brutal massacres of Christians by Islamic mili-tants by saying their deaths are a reminder that violence is incompatible with religious teaching. — AFP

Pope’s historic Iraq trip

Yangon, March 5: Aprotester was shot dead inMyanmar on Friday, in thelatest round of bloodlet-ting at anti-coup demon-strations as the UNSecurity Council preparedto meet on the escalatingcrisis.

Despite an increasinglybrutal crackdown by themilitary authorities thathas seen more than 50 peo-ple killed, protesters tookto the streets again intowns around the countryto denounce the February 1coup.

The violence has broughtcondemnation fromaround the world, with theUN rights chief demand-

ing the junta “stop murder-ing and jailing protesters”,and the Security Council isset to discuss the crisislater Friday.

But despite the mountinginternational pressure, thegenerals have shown nosigns of heeding calls forrestraint.

In Mandalay, Myanmar’ssecond largest city, hun-dreds of engineers took tothe streets crying “Freeour leader” in reference toousted State CounsellorAung San Suu Kyi,detained by the militarysince the first night of thecoup.

A 26-year-old man help-ing at barriers set up in the

city to slow security forcesdied after being shot in theneck, medical officialssaid.

The killing follows thedeadliest day of the crack-down so far on Wednesday,when the UN said at least38 people were killed asgraphic images showedsecurity forces firing intocrowds and bloodied bod-ies dragged away.

There were also protestsFriday in the central townof Bago and the SanChaung district of thecommercial capital Yangon— a hotspot for rallies —where groups of demon-strators sang a song ofdefiance. — AFP

One shot dead in Myanmar

HUGE QUAKE SPARKSPACIFIC-WIDETSUNAMI ALERTWellington, March 5: Tensof thousands of coastal resi-dents in New Zealand, NewCaledonia and Vanuatu fledfor higher ground on Fridayas a cluster of powerful earth-quakes sparked a Pacific-widetsunami alert.

Warning sirens soundedacross Noumea as authoritiesordered evacuations amidfears that waves of up threemetres (10 feet) were headedtowards the French territory.

“People must leave beachareas and stop all water activ-ities, and should not picktheir children up at schools toavoid creating traffic jams,”emergency servicesspokesman AlexandreRosignol told public radio.

In New Zealand, communi-ties along stretches of theNorth Island were warned toflee as tsunami alert sirenswailed after an 8.1-magnitudequake, which followed earliertremors in the same regionmeasuring 7.4 and 7.3. “Do notstay at home,” the NationalEmergency ManagementAgency (NEMA) said.

“People near the coast...must move immediately to thenearest high ground, out ofall tsunami evacuation zones,or as far inland as possible.”The largest of the quakesstruck around 1,000 kilome-tres (640 miles) off the NewZealand coast at 8:28 am (1928Thursday GMT), the USGeological Survey said.

It was preceded by two seis-mic jolts that were also enor-mously powerful, in anunusually strong cluster evenfor the Pacific ring of fire,where the Earth’s tectonicplates collide. New Zealand’sNEMA said the remoteness ofthe quakes did not minimisetheir potential impact.

— AFP

US SEES FEWER COVID CASES

TAKESTURKEY BLAMES

WEATHER FORCHOPPER CRASH

Istanbul: Turkey’s defenceminister on Friday blamedbad weather for a military hel-icopter crash that killed 10 sol-diers and a senior commanderin the country’s restive south-east.

Lieutenant General OsmanErbas, who headed the army’s8th Corps based in the easternElazig province, was amongthose killed in Thursday’saccident. The crash was thedeadliest since 13 soldiers diedin the southeastern Sirnakprovince near Turkey’s borderwith Syria and Iraq in 2017.

CAPITOL POLICE CHIEF APPEALS FOR NATIONAL GUARD TO STAYWashington, March5: Worried about con-tinuing threats, the act-ing chief of the USCapitol Police hasappealed to congres-sional leaders to usetheir influence to keepNational Guard troops

at the Capitol, twomonths after the lawenforcement break-downs of the deadly January 6 insur-rection. YoganandaPittman told the lead-ers on Thursday thatthe board that oversees

her department has sofar declined to extendan emergency declara-tion required by thePentagon to keepGuardsmen who haveassisted Capitol offi-cers since the riot.

— AFP

Beijing, March. 5: Chinamoved on Friday to grantitself veto powers overselecting Hong Kong’s law-makers, part of a campaignto eliminate dissent andensure a “patriotic” gov-ernment in the city follow-ing huge democracy ralliesin 2019. Legislation to allowChina’s communist rulersto vet all election candi-dates in Hong Kong wastabled at the opening of thenation’s rubber-stamp par-liament in Beijing.

It came a day after dozensof democracy campaignersin the financial hub —including former law-makers — were jailedunder a security law thatwas passed during lastyear’s parliamentary ses-sion. The new legislationincludes a “qualificationvetting system” that willpromote “orderly politicalparticipation”, parliamen-tary spokesman Wang Chentold reporters.

China had committed togiving Hong Kong a degreeof autonomy when itreverted from British colo-

nial rule in 1997.But it began moving

quickly to dismantle thefinancial hub’s democraticpillars in response to hugeand sometimes violentdemocracy rallies thatparalysed the city through-out 2019.

The introduction of thevetting legislation —expected to be approvednext week — was quicklyinterpreted as one of thefinal nails in the coffin ofHong Kong’s democracymovement. “If the meas-ures are passed, as I’m surethey will be, then the voiceof the opposition will beeffectively silenced,” saidWillie Lam, China analystat the Chinese University ofHong Kong.

“This will effectively wipeout any remaining opposi-tion.”The measure hadbeen widely expected withBeijing officials stating inthe lead-up that only“staunch patriots” —thoseloyal to the CommunistParty —should be involvedin governing Hong Kong.

— AFP

China claims vetoover HK lawmakers

SUPARNA SHARMA | DCNEW DELHI, MARCH 5

Berlinale, or the BerlinInternational Film Fes-tival, is considered themost political of Europe’sBig 3 (Cannes, Venice andBerlin), and on Friday itagain burnished its repu-tation by handing over thefestival’s top award, theGolden Bear, to Romanianwriter-director RaduJude’s film, Bad LuckBanging or Loony Porn.The film, which opens witha naughty, kinky porno-graphic scene, is a dark,funny, disturbing autopsyof a nation that is living inhaughty denial of its pastwhile embracing prejudiceand bigotry with smugsanctimony.

Celebrating the film’s“rare and essential qualityof a lasting art work,” thesix-member jury said in astatement that Loony Porn“captures on screen thevery content and essence,the mind and body, the val-ues and the raw flesh ofour present moment intime. Of this very momentof human existence.”

The Silver Bear for BestDirector went to DénesNagy for the HungarianWorld War II drama,Natural Light. Calling it“appalling and beautifullyshot”, the jury said the filmwas “a portrait of war inwhich the observant gazeof the director reminds us

again of the need to choosebetween passivity and tak-ing individual responsibil-ity.”

German actor MarenEggert won the first evergender-neutral Silver BearBest Performance award(replacing best actor andactress prizes) for her lead-ing role in MariaSchrader’s I’m Your Man.

In the film Eggert playsAlma, a scientist at thefamous PergamonMuseum in Berlin. To get aresearch fund, she acceptsan offer to participate in abizarre experiment. Forthree weeks Alma has tolive with a rather hand-some humanoid robot,Tom (Dan Stevens), who isprogrammed as her perfectlife partner.

If she has a shot at a suc-

cessful, happy relation-ship, she is told that it iswith Tom, a sum total ofAlma-specific algorithms.He can romance, do the di-shes, and will always be av-ailable for exhilirating sex.Shot in beautiful Berlin,I’m Your Man is about thepursuit of happiness andexplores how far humanswill go to find love.

Every year the Goldenand Silver Bears are hand-ed out at a glitzy ceremonyat the 1,600-seaterBerlinale Palast theatre.But for this year's 71st edi-tion of the festival, whichwas truncated and online-only, the trophies will bepresented in person, inJune, when organisershope to invite stars for redcarpet events and screenfilms for the public.

‘Bad Luck Banging or LoonyPorn’ takes the Golden Bear

A movie still from I’m Your Man.

Washington, March 5:The United States reco-rded fewer than 40,000new daily cases ofCovid-19 for the firsttime in five months, apiece of promising newsas countries across the

globe struggle to holdoff another infectionsurge before inocula-tions become wide-spread. With frustrationover restrictions havinglong weighed on popula-tions worldwide. — AFP

HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | 6 MARCH 2021

New Delhi, March 5:Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday said pro-duction-linked incentive(PLI) scheme, which isaimed at boosting domes-tic manufacturing andexports, is expected toincrease the country's pro-duction by $520 billion inthe next five years.

Addressing a webinar onthe PLI scheme, organisedby the Department ofIndustry and Internation-al Trade and Niti Aayog,through video conference,Modi said the governmentis continuously carryingout reforms to boostdomestic manufacturing.

In this year's budget,about Rs 2 lakh crore wasearmarked for the PLIscheme for the next fiveyears and "there is anexpectation that thescheme would result inincreasing the productionby about $520 billion inthe next five years", hesaid.

He added that there isalso an expectation thatthe current workforce inthe sectors which willavail of the PLI scheme

benefits will be doubledand job creation will alsoincrease.

The Prime Minister saidthe government is work-ing to reduce complianceburden, further improveease of doing businessand cut down logisticscosts for the industry.

"An average of 5 per centof production is given asincentive. This means thatPLI schemes will lead toproduction worth $520 bil-lion in India in the nextfive years," he said.

Modi said that over thepast six-seven years, sev-eral successful effortshave been made to encour-age 'Make in India' at dif-ferent levels.

He stressed on the needto take a big leap, as wellas increase the speed andscale to boost manufactur-ing as it would increaseemployment generation inthe country.

The Prime Minister saidthe government is work-ing at every level to pro-mote the industry throughmeasures like ease ofdoing business, reducingthe compliance burden,creating multi-modalinfrastructure to reducelogistics costs, and con-structing district-levelexport hubs.

"Our effort is to reduceover 6,000 compliance bur-den (for industry)," hesaid.

The government, hesaid, believes that itsinterference in everythingcreates more problemsthan solutions and "there-fore, self-regulation, self-attesting, self-certificationare being emphasised".

"We have to attract cut-ting-edge technology andmaximum investment inthe sectors related to ourcore competency," headded. — PTI

GURDIP SINGHSINGAPORE, MARCH 5

Around 580,000 privilegefliers, KrisFlyer and PPSmembers, have been affect-ed by a data breach,Singapore Airlines (SIA)has said.

The data breach involvesthe passenger service sys-tem servers of SITA, an air

transport infotech compa-ny, according to a ChannelNews Asia report.

"While SIA is not a cus-tomer of the SITA PSS,this breach of the SITAPSS server has affectedsome KrisFlyer and PPSmembers," the nationalcarrier said on Thursday.

SIA added that this databreach specifically does

not involve KrisFlyer andPPS member passwords,credit card informationand other customer datasuch as itineraries, reser-vations, ticketing, pass-port numbers and emailaddresses.

Such information is notshared with other StarAlliance member airlinesfor this data transfer, the

airline said."The information invol-

ved is limited to the mem-bership number and tierstatus and, in some cases,membership name, as thisis the full extent of the fre-quent flyer data thatSingapore Airlines shareswith other Star Alliancemember airlines,” saidSIA. —PTI

PLI could raise productionby $520 bn in 5 years: PM

ARYS ADITYA & CLAIRE JIAOMARCH 5

Indonesia laid down itsplans to have a completebattery production lineonshore, with a state-owned holding firm to beset up by June.

The country has draftedan "end-to-end develop-ment" plan that would seefour state firms supplyingnickel ore, processingnickel sulfate and cobaltsulfate, and then produc-ing cathodes and batteries,Agus Tjahajana, whoheads the task force onelectric-vehicle develop-ment, said in a Thursdayseminar.

Resource-rich Indonesia,home to a quarter of theworld's nickel reserves,has set its sights on mov-ing up the supply chain tobecome a global hub forbattery-making. The surgein demand for batteries,used to power everythingfrom mobile phones toelectric vehicles, hasbecome a tailwind forSoutheast Asia's largesteconomy as it seeks a wayout of a recession.

"Indonesia will holdeverything from upstreamto downstream involvingnickel and electric batter-ies in the battery holdingcompany," Ministry ofState-Owned Enterprisesspokesperson AryaSinulingga said. "We haveto proceed quickly."

Miner PT AnekaTambang will focus onnickel ore, while PTIndonesia Asahan Alumi-nium, known as Inalum,and energy holding com-pany PT Pertamina willoversee the production ofbattery and cell compo-nents. Pertamina andpower producer PT Peru-sahaan Listrik Negara willlook after electricity sup-ply and infrastructure.Each of the state firmswill hold a 25 per centstake in the IndonesianBattery Industry holdingfirm, which will be set upby June. The potentialprojects include a 195GW/hour factory withcapacity to produce 150,000tonnes of nickel ore a year,he said. — Bloomberg

About 580,000 frequent fliers’ data breached: SIA Indonesiaplans batteryproduction inpublic sector

PRIM CHUWIRUCHMARCH 5

Thai households can nowgrow six pots of cannabiseach to supplement theirincome, the nation'shealth minister said, asthe first country in theregion to legalise medicalmarijuana further easedrules to promote thecrop's commercial use.

Families may form com-munities to grow mari-juana and supply the cropto public hospitals andstate facilities, or usethem to make food andcosmetic products as afresh revenue source,Thailand's deputy pre-mier and health ministerAnutin Charnvirakulsaid in a statement onFriday.

"Marijuana and hemp

are both economic cropsand it provides a newoption for locals to gener-ate revenue," Anutin saidat a marijuana education-al expo at Buriram, 400kilometres northeast ofBangkok. "We are tryingto ease restrictions toallow the public easieraccess to the plant, butplease cooperate and useit correctly."

While Thailand becamethe first country inSoutheast Asia to legalisemedical marijuana in2018, its use for recre-ational purpose is stillbanned. Any flowers andseeds yielded from thecrop grown at homesmust be sent to state med-ical facilities as theyremain in the country'scriminal code due to theirhigh levels of psychoac-

tive compounds, the min-ister said.

The rest of the marijua-na, including leaves,branches and fibre aswell as hemp plants havebeen decriminalised andallowed to be used in foodand cosmetic products

since December last year.Anutin became a minis-ter in 2019 after an elec-tion in which the centre-piece of his politicalparty's campaign wasmarijuana legalisation.

Though some restric-tions remain, allowinghouseholds to grow mari-juana is another step tounshackle the industryand is similar to SriLanka which allows lim-ited growth of the plantby state-licensed growersand only for medical pur-poses. The Philippines isconsidering allowing useof the plant for epilepsytreatment, but marijuanain most other nations inSoutheast Asia remainsforbidden and in some,punishable with deathsentences.

— Bloomberg

New revenue source opens for householdsMEDICAL | MARIJUANA

�Metal cheaper by `1,200/gm from Aug. high

C stom rs wait foro to bottom o t

RAVI RANJAN PRASADMUMBAI, MARCH 5

Hyderabad-based MTARTechnologies’ Rs 596-croreinitial public offeringreceived huge responsefrom all categories ofinvestors, especially highnet worth investors (650times) on the last day ofbidding and the issue gotsubscribed over 200 times.

MTAR Tech’s publicissue was priced at Rs 574to Rs 575 per share of Rs

10 face value. As per stock exchange

data, updated around 5pm, the IPO was sub-scribed 200.79 times.

High networth individu-als or non-institutionalinvestors bid for shares inlarge numbers on the finalday of bidding, leading tothe shares reserved forHNIs getting subscribed650.79 times.

The qualified institu-tional investors’ portionalso got big a response at

164.99 times subscription.Retail individual biddersapplied for 28.4 times theshares on offer, saidsources working close tothe merchant bankers,

The public issuereceived over 29.17 lakhapplications.

MTAR Technologiesraised Rs 178.92 crorefrom 15 anchor investors aday prior to its issue open-ing on Wednesday at theupper price band of Rs 575per share.

New Delhi, March 5:Finance ministerNirmala Sitharaman onFriday acknowledgedthat consumers have acase for petrol and dieselprices to be brought downbut said a reduction intaxes should be a jointcall of the central andstate governments.

As much as 60 per centof the retail price ofpetrol—which has shotabove the Rs 100-mark insome places in Raja-sthan, MP andMaharashtra—is madeup of central and statetaxes. Taxes make upabout 56 per cent of therecord high diesel rates.

Sitharaman, who hadincreased central exciseduty on petrol and dieselby a record margin lastyear to mop up gains aris-ing from two-decade lowinternational oil prices,remained non-committalon taking the first step tocut central taxes to giverelief to consumers.

For consumers, "there isenough case to say thatprices should be down,it’s a burden," she saidwhile interacting with

journalists at IWPC.While the burden on the

consumers is "under-stood", the pricing is avexatious issue, she said.

"That's where I use theword 'dharamsankat',"she said. "It is a questionwhich I would like statesand the Centre to talkabout because it's not justthe Centre which hasduties on petroleum prod-ucts, it also has the statescharging." —PTI

Fuel tax cut a joint callof Centre & states: FM

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, MARCH 5

With the gold price havingfallen Rs 12,000 per 10 gmfrom their record-highlevels in August, the bul-lion channel is stockingup physical gold for cus-tomers who are waitingfor some stability inprices to make purchases.

India had seen gold jew-ellery demand falling to amulti-year low of 315tonnes in 2020. The firstthree quarters of the cal-endar year was a wash-outin terms of gold demand.

However, the pent-updemand is likely to triggerbuying with the support-ive movement in prices.Gold prices have droppedto Rs 44,280 per 10 gm inthe Multi CommodityExchange from the highsof Rs 56,590 in August—losing more than Rs 12,000per 10 gm.

The correction has ledto some improvement indemand, but not yet at thecustomer level. The goldchannels have been stock-ing up the yellow metalexpecting the demand torise once the wedding sea-son starts and vaccinationpicks up. This has beenevident from the goldimport figures.

Gold imports had risen72 per cent in volumeterms and 154 per cent invalue terms in January.As per the latest trade fig-ures, gold imports are up124 per cent in valueterms in February as well.

“Gold imports in 2020had fallen substantially asthe channel was blocked

due to the lockdown. In thepast few months there hasbeen some re-stocking hap-pening within the channelfor replenishment purpos-es,” said Ashish Pethe,chairman of the All-IndiaGem and JewelleryDomestic Council.Further, the channel hadstayed away from replen-ishment of stocks at high-er price levels.

According to Pethe,investment demand is stillrobust while jewellerydemand is yet to pick up.Investment demand hadin fact started picking upin the fourth quarter of2020 when the consump-tion was up by 8 per centcompared to Q4 2019.

According to AmitBhandari, founder ofTezbid.com, for investorsthe recent downturn inprices offers a good entrypoint, preferably with along holding period.

“Inflation is expected tobe higher going forwardand gold offers a goodhedge against risingprices—the speculation

on bitcoin is a good exam-ple of the kind offroth/asset bubbles build-ing up in financial mar-kets. Some allocation togold is prudent,” saidBhandari.

However, jewellery buy-ers are still waiting for theright time. “Jewellery cus-tomers are still in a wait-and-watch mode and arelooking for stability inprices. Once prices sta-bilise, demand will pick-up. Further, festivals likeGudi Padwa and AkshayaTritiya are coming up andthe wedding season toowill start soon. This year,we might see more num-ber of weddings happen-ing. Hence the demand isexpected to recover to 2019levels,” said Pethe.

“The buoyancy in themarket is tangible. Peopleare waiting and watchingwith the intent to buy. Theduty cut and gold pricefall are favourable factorsfor buying,” saidSomasundaram P.R., man-aging director, World GoldCouncil India.

MTAR Tech subscribed 200 times

New Delhi, March 5:Investment trustIndiGrid on Fridayinked an agreement toacquire 100 per centequity stake in NER IITransmission fromSterlite Power for aboutRs 4,625 crore.

The completion ofacquisition woulddepend upon receipt ofunitholders' consent,regulatory and other rel-evant approvals, it said.

"India Grid Trust(IndiGrid) signed sharepurchase agreement onMarch 5, 2021 for acquisi-tion of 100 per centshareholding and eco-nomic interest, in one ormore tranches, in NER IITransmission Ltd fromSterlite Grid 4 Ltd," acompany statement said.

Sterlite Grid is a whollyowned subsidiary ofSterlite PowerTransmission Ltd, one ofthe sponsors of IndiGrid.

The acquisition wouldboost IndiGrid's assetunder management by 34per cent to over Rs 20,000crore ($2.8 billion).

NER-II is part of Inter-State TransmissionScheme network, andwas awarded on a build,own, operate, maintain(BOOM) basis with acontractual period of 35years. The project has 11elements including twosubstations of 1,260 MVAcapacity and four trans-mission lines over 830circuit kilometers. Theasset runs across Assam,Arunachal Pradesh andTripura. —PTI

IndiGrid toacquire NER IIfrom Sterlite

Power for`4,625 crore

MASUMI SUGAMARCH 5

Japan's oldest and largeststeelmaker is cuttingcapacity as it contendswith shrinking domesticdemand and pivots opera-tions to help meet thenation's ambitious targetof net-zero emissions by2050.

Nippon Steel Corpor-ation will shut one of itslargest domestic blast fur-naces near Tokyo as wellas production lines to trimits steelmaking capacity,according to a statementon Friday. That along withpreviously announcedmeasures will cut itscapacity by 20 per cent byMarch 2025. The company

also aims to lower carbondioxide emissions from itsoperations 30 per cent by2030 from 2013 levels, itadded.

President Eiji Hashi-moto is pushing throughstructural reforms to fendoff challenges from fastergrowing foreign rivals--

particularly top producerChina. Competition isnow spreading to thedevelopment of fossil fuel-free steel manufacturingafter governments inEurope, China and Japanpledged net-zero emis-sions in the comingdecades.

Innovations for decar-bonisation, including thedevelopment of hydrogenreduction steel produc-tion, will require researchand development costs ofabout 500 billion yen ($4.6billion) and as much as 5trillion yen in investmentin facilities, the companysaid, which could doublethe cost of steel over thenext 30 years.

— Bloomberg

New Delhi, March 5:Finance ministerNirmala Sitharamanon Friday indicatedthe government'sintent to appealagainst an arbitrationpanel asking India toreturn $1.4 billion toUK's Cairn EnergyPlc, saying it is her"duty" to appeal incases where thenation's sovereignauthority to tax isquestioned. —PTI

Appeal againstCairn award likely

FC BUREAUHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

Omron Healthcare India, aglobal major in digitalblood pressure monitoringproducts, on Friday, said itplans to expand its salesnetwork to smaller citiesin south India, such asWarangal, Gulbarga andRaichur, among others.

Speaking to reportershere, Masanori Matsu-bara, MD, Omron Health-care India, said the firm isplanning to consolidate itsmarket share in the home-care segment. South Indiacontributes nearly 30 percent of Omron's saleswhich it plans to increaseto 40 per cent in FY22.

OMRON EYES SMALLERSOUTHERN MARKETS

Narendra Modi

quickINDICATORS %Sensex 50405.32 -0.87Nifty 50 14938.10 -0.95S&P 500* 3,766.64 -0.05Dollar (`) 73.02 -0.24Pound Sterling (`) 101.00 0.44Euro (`) 87.00 0.71Gold (10gm)* (`) 43,887▲522 1.18Brent crude ($/bbl)* 68.79 3.07IN 10-Yr bond yield 6.232 0.00US 10-Yr T-bill yield* 1.608 0.058* As of 8:30 PM IST

IT sector salesup 5.2% in Q3:RBI dataThe IT sector remained in posi-tive terrain throughout thepandemic period and the sec-tor’s sales rose by 5.2 per centYoY in the December 2020-21quarter, according to RBI data,drawn from quarterly results of2,692 listed non-governmentnon-financial (NGNF) compa-nies. Sales of 1,685 manufactur-ing firms expanded by 7.4 percent YoY in the Decemberquarter after contracting in thepreceding six quarters.

Blackstone intalks for minoritystake in Sify

Blackstone Group Inc is inexclusive talks to acquire aminority stake in India's SifyTechnologies Ltd, Bloombergreported citing sources. Thecommunications infrastructurefirm has sought a valuation ofaround $1 billion to $1.2 billionfor the transaction. Sify, led bychairman Raju Vegesna andCEO Kamal Nath, owns datacentres and India's largest mul-tiprotocol label switching, orMLPS, network.

SBI Paymentsoffers contactlesstransactionsSBI Payments and the NationalPayments Corporation of India(NPCI) have joined hands tolaunch RuPay SoftPoS that willenable merchants to make con-tactless transactions of up toRs 5,000 through their smartphones. The solution has thecapability to transform NFC(near field communication)enabled smartphones into mer-chant Point-of-Sale (PoS) ter-minals for retailers, a jointrelease said.

Laurus dips 4%after promoterssell 1.3% holdingShares of Laurus Labs Ltd fellover 4 per cent after two pro-moters offloaded the compa-ny’s shares. On the BSE, thescrip ended at Rs 351.3, down4.63 per cent. In a regulatoryfiling on Thursday, Laurus Labssaid Dr Satyanarayana Chava,founder promoter, CEO & ED,sold 52 lakh equity sharesworth Rs 191.67 crore and MrsNagarani Chava, one of thepromoters, sold shares worthRs 66.04 crore.

MICHAEL GONSALVESPUNE, MARCH 5

Skoda, the Czech car man-ufacturer, which is all setfor the world premiere ofits new SUV Kushaq onMarch 18 and will go onsales in India thereafter,has released the first set ofthe Kushaq’s interior.

The Skoda Kushaq willtake on popular SUVs suchas Hyundai Creta, KiaSeltos, MG Hector and TataHarrier.

The new SUV, likely to bepriced in the Rs 10 lakh toRs 17 lakh bracket, is thefirst of four models spe-cially adapted for India bySkoda Auto from the Skodaand Volkswagen brands aspart of the India 2.0 prod-uct campaign of its turn-around strategy. The sec-ond model will be

Volkswagen Taigun.The technical develop-

ment is being carried outat Skoda Auto’s Techno-logy Centre in Pune.

The Kushaq will comewith a layered dashboardthat gets a thin chrome barto separate the top from thebottom. This chrome barspans the length of thedash and connects thelarge, chrome-lined ventsat each end.

Thai families allowed to grow cannabis

NIPPON STEEL TO SHUT 20% CAPACITY BY 2025

Skoda gives glimpseof Kushaq interiors

Printed & Published by K. Sudhakar on behalf of Deccan

Chronicle Holdings Limited, Printed atDeccan Chronicle Press at Deccan

Chronicle Holdings Ltd. #563/9/D&9/E,Behind Andhra Bank Pet Basheerbagh,

Kompally, Ranga Reddy Dist. Editor:T.Venkatram Reddy, RNI Reg

No.APENG/2008/24282. © All rightsreserved. Reproduction in whole or in

part without written permission of TheEditor, Financial Chronicle ® is

prohibited.

GAMES pg 11DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | 6 MARCH 2021

SHORT TAKES

BBaasseell:: Olympic silver medallistP. V. Sindhu advanced to thesemifinals of the Swiss Open

Super 300 tournament with astraight-game win over ThaiBusanan Ongbamrungphan.

World champion Sindhu took aminute less than an hour to seeoff a fighting Busanan, seeded

fifth, 21-16, 23-21 to set up aclash with fourth seed

Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt.However, it was a bad day in

office for other Indians in frayas none of them could reach

the last four. Olympic hopeful BSai Praneeth, who reached thefinal in the last edition, lost 14-

21, 17-21 to Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jiain 45 minutes.

Ajay Jayaram’s campaignended after a 9-21, 6-21 loss to

eighth seeded Thai KunlavutVitidsarn in another last eight

men’s singles match.Earlier, Satwiksairaj Rankireddyand Ashwini Ponnappa foughthard before going down 17-21,

21-16, 8-21 to fifth seeds TanKian Meng and Lai Pei Jing of

Malaysia in quarterfinals ofmixed doubles. — PTI

HHyyddeerraabbaadd:: Following are theHyderabad district throwball

sub-junior and handballwomen’s teams for the inter-

district tournaments to be heldfrom Saturday:

TTHHRROOWWBBAALLLLBBooyyss:: Balaji (captain),

Manideep, Harshith Varma,Vishnu, Karthik, Shaik Abbas,Omkar, Siddarth, Rahul, Tarun

Teja, Mayank, Prashanth,Harshith, Akshith, Satwik

Reddy, Pranay. CCooaacchh::Siddeshwar Reddy. MMaannaaggeerr::

Kiran Chary.GGiirrllss:: Harika (captain), SaiShruthi, Jahnavi, Annaya,

Amuktha, Sneha Reddy, Shailu,Shobha Rani, Vidya, Snigdha,

Mahima Rani, Lakshmi. CCooaacchh::Suchetana. MMaannaaggeerr:: G Raju.

HHAANNDDBBAALLLLRishika (captain), M. S.

Gayatri, Aishwarya, Hemalatha,Nanditha, Likhitha, Haritha,

Divya Rani, Tanisha, PriyaDarshini, Ashwini, Siddi Patil,

Uma Rajender, Haindavi,Madhavi, Srihitha Reddy.

CCooaacchh--ccuumm--mmaannaaggeerr:: SivaKumar.

Sindhu in semisas Indians sink

Hyd sides forthrow, handball

Laxmi, Chandan are champs

Ahmedabad, March 5:Rishabh Pant changed hisgame-plan and in turnIndia’s fortunes with amagnificent century, help-ing the side snatch controlfrom England’s grip to fin-ish the second day at arobust 294 for 7 in the finalTest here on Friday.

England dominated thefirst two sessions andIndia looked in all sorts oftrouble before Pant (101off 118 balls) suddenlydecided to catch the oppo-sition by the scruff oftheir necks, effortlesslychanging gears in compa-ny of Washington Sundar(60, 117 balls, 8x4).

The duo added 113 runsin 26 overs but moreimportantly, landed anexquisite ‘left-hook’ onEngland’s hopes of turn-ing party-poopers, havingalready conceded a firstinnings lead of 89 runs.

At stumps, Washingtonwas still at the crease withAxar Patel (11).

For someone, who hasalways been panned forhis lack of game aware-ness, it was Pant 2.0 atplay where he defendedwhen it was necessary butunlocked his brutalattacking instincts whenrequired.

The first 50 came off 82balls and the next off 33balls with Washingtonbeing the ideal foil, hold-ing one end well en routeto his half century.

Just like playing a singlespinner in the third Testwas a blunder, Englandpaid the price for playinga bowler short as theirmain four got tired duringthe final session.

Pant deposited DomBess into the ‘cow corner’of the stands against theturn, to complete his thirdTest hundred, first athome, having missed atleast five in recent years.

When he finally got out,Root’s frustrated expres-sion was a dead giveawaythat the match was nowout of hand for England.

— PTI

PANTHER ATTACKPant’s splendid ton puts England under the pump

KKOOHHLLII’’SS SSEECCOONNDD DDUUCCKK::● England’s right-arm fast-medium bowler, Ben Stokesdismissed Virat Kohli for duckin India’s first innings on thesecond day of the fourth andfinal Test match atAhmedabad on Friday.● It was second duck in theseries for Indian skipper ViratKohli.The first one was in thefirst innings of the second Testmatch at Chennai. It was sec-ond time when Virat Kohlireceived two ducks in a series.The first occasion when Indianskipper received two ducks ina series was also againstEngland in the five Test seriesin England in 2014.● Virat Kohli also equalledMahendra Singh Dhoni’srecord of most ducks as Indianskipper by getting eighth duckin 98 innings of 50 Tests.Mahendra Singh Dhonireceived same number ofducks in 96 innings of 60 Testsas skipper.● The 113-run stand betweenRishabh Pant/WashingtonSundar was the ninth seventhwicket century stand for Indiaagainst England. Syed Kirmaniand Ravi Shastri’s 235-runstand is the best for seventhwicket for India againstEngland in Tests.● Rishabh Pant made hismaiden century at home ineighth innings of sixth Testmatch by making 101 off 118with 13 fours and two sixes. Itwas his third century in 33innings of 20 Test matches.● Rishabh Pant also becamethe third Indian wicket-keeperto score three or more hun-dreds in Tests. Mahendra SinghDhoni holds the record ofscoring the highest number ofhundreds as wicket-keeper. Hescored six hundreds in 144innings of 90 Tests.Wriddhiman Saha made threehundreds in 50 innings of 37Tests.

—— SS.. PPEERRVVEEZZ QQAAIISSEERR

NUMBERS GAME

Neeraj sets natljavelin record

India’s Rishabh Pant celebrates his century against England during the second day ofthe fourth Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday. — PTI

Live on TVBBAADDMMIINNTTOONN

SSwwiissss OOppeenn:: Semifinals from 3.30 pmon Star Sports 2 HD, 3

FFOOOOTTBBAALLLLIInnddiiaann SSuuppeerr LLeeaagguuee:: Second

Semifinal, 1st leg — North EastUnited vs Mohun Bagan from7.20 pm on Star Sports 2, HD

IIttaalliiaann LLeeaagguuee:: Juventus vsLazio from 1.15 am (Sunday)

on Sony Ten 2, HD

UUFFCCFFiigghhtt NNiigghhtt:: Jan Blachowicz vs IsraelAdesanya and other bouts from 8.30

am (Sunday) on Sony Ten 2

EEnnggllaanndd 11sstt iinnnniinnggss:: 220055IInnddiiaa 11sstt iinnnniinnggss ((oovveerrnniigghhtt 2244//11)):: R.Sharma lbw b Stokes 49, C. Pujaralbw b Leach 17, V. Kohli c Foakes bStokes 0, A. Rahane c Stokes bAnderson 27, R. Pant c Root bAnderson 101, R. Ashwin c Pope bLeach 13, W. Sundar (batting) 60, A.Patel (batting) 11. Extras (B-8, LB-5,NB-3) 16. TToottaall ((ffoorr 77 wwiicckkeettss iinn 9944oovveerrss)) 229944..FFooWW:: 1-0, 2-40, 3-41, 4-80, 5-121, 6-146, 7-259.BBoowwlliinngg:: Anderson 20-11-40-3,Stokes 22-6-73-2, Leach 23-5-66-2,Bess 15-1-56-0, Root 14-1-46-0.

SCORECARDPatiala, March 5:Olympic-bound star javelinthrower Neeraj Choprasmashed his own nationalrecord with a throw of88.07m, which is also thebest of the year so far, in asensational return toaction during the thirdIndian Grand Prix meethere on Friday.

Competing for the firsttime in more than a yearafter the Covid-19 pandem-ic wiped out the whole of2020 calendar, Choprahurled the spear to a dis-tance of 88.07m in his fifthattempt to obliterate hisearlier national record of88.06m, sealed during thegold-winning effort at the2018 Asian Games.

The 24-year-old Chopraopened the competition

with an effort of 83.03mbefore having two foulthrows. After a fourththrow of 83.36m, Choprasent the javelin to 88.07mamid loud cheers from asizeable audience at theNIS Patiala. His finalthrow was 82.24m.

“I was prepared andtoday it was windy. I usedmy favourite javelin whichhelped me. Pandemic didaffect training and prepa-ration but we managed tohold on,” Chopra said,adding, “On the world levelI would need to performeven better as current stan-dard is quite high.”

Chopra qualified for theupcoming Tokyo Olympicsin January last year in anevent in South Africa.

— PTI

London, March 5: Mason Mount fired Chelsea intofourth place in the Premier League as the midfielder’ssuperb strike clinched a 1-0 win against troubledLiverpool, while Everton boosted their top four bid witha 1-0 victory at West Brom on Thursday.

Mount’s first half goal was enough to see off lacklustreLiverpool and extended Chelsea’s impressive renais-sance under new boss Thomas Tuchel.

Chelsea are unbeaten in 10 games in all competitionssince Tuchel replaced the sacked Frank Lampard inJanuary.

The Blues sit one point clear of fifth placed Everton,who have a game in hand on the west Londoners.

While Chelsea are on the up, injury-hit Liverpoolcrashed to a fifth successive home defeat for the first timein their illustrious history, leaving the spluttering cham-pions without a win at Anfield since before Christmas.

Reds are languishing in seventh place, four pointsbehind Chelsea after losing five of their last six leaguematches. — AFP

LIVERPOOL CRASH TO YETANOTHER HOME DEFEAT

Patiala, March 5: India’smiddle and long distancecoach Nikolai Snesarev ofBelarus was on Fridayfound dead in his hostelroom at the NationalInstitute of Sports here,the Athletics Federation ofIndia said.

The dead body of the 72-year-old Snesarev, whoreturned to India after agap of two years to be atthe helm till the end ofSeptember, has been sentto a government hospitalfor post mortem.

“He had come to NIS forthe Indian Grand Prix 3(from his Bengaluru base)held today. But when he didnot turn up for the meet,the coaches checked forhim in the evening and hisroom was found lockedfrom inside,” AFIPresident AdilleSumariwalla said.

“When the door was bro-ken, he was found lying onhis bed. The SportsAuthority of India doctorat the NIS declared himdead and the ED (team) ofthe SAI has referred thebody to the governmenthospital for post mortem.

“We don’t know the causeof death. We will know itlater after post mortem.”

Snesarev was coaching3000m steeplechaserAvinash Sable, who hasqualified for the Olympics,and other middle and long-distance runners in theirbid to qualify for the Tokyo

Games. He had quit asIndian athletics’ long andmiddle distance coach inFebruary 2019 after Sableopted to leave him andtrain under Army coachAmrish Kumar. His con-tract then was till the endof the Olympics, postponedby a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. — PTI

National athleticscoach found dead

Nikolai SSnesarev

He had come to NIS forthe Indian Grand Prix 3(from his Bengalurubase) held today. Butwhen he did not turn upfor the meet, the coach-es checked for him inthe evening and hisroom was found lockedfrom inside. When thedoor was broken, hewas found lying on hisbed.

— ADILLESUMARIWALLA

Athletics Federationof India president

DC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

Preetesh Rawani cracked atriple century in theHyderabad CricketAssociation’s one-dayleague while S. Kotesh tooksix wickets in the two-daygrade to emerge top per-formers on Friday.

Preetesh slammed 366which contained 40 foursand 24 sixes to propelRoshanara to 608 for 9 in 50overs against Starlets, forwhom Karthik took 6 for115. Starlets were all out for258 in 46 overs, thanks toOm Prakash’s 5 for 24.

In another one-day match,Nagaraju’s 107 poweredGunrock to a four-wicketwin over Ranga Reddy.

In the two-day games,Kotesh bowled CheerfulChums to a big win overRakesh XI with fine figuresof 6 for 20 in nine overs.

Shanti XI’s VenkateshSheshadharan (5/26),CCOB’s Syed Azizuddin(5/66) and AdilabadDistrict’s Mahesh (125 n.o)were the other performersin the two-day section.BBrriieeff ssccoorreess::

TTWWOO--DDAAYY LLEEAAGGUUEE

■ Cheerful Chums 260 in 73 overs btRakesh XI 70 in 30.3 overs (KKootteesshh66//2200 —— 99--11--2200--66). PPooiinnttss:: CheerfulChums 5, Rakesh XI 0.■ Shanti XI 357 in 89 overs btHyderabad Panthers 80 in 39.1 overs(VVeennkkaatteesshh SShheesshhaaddhhaarraann 55//2266,,Venkat Chandra 3/27). PPooiinnttss::Shanti 5, Panthers 0.■ CCOB 339 in 66.4 overs bt Ours

238 in 70.1 overs (V. Gowtham 55, K.R. Dhanush 53, D. Manish 37, AbdulKhaliq Khan 3/37, SSyyeedd AAzziizzuuddddiinn55//6666 —— 1177..11--22--6666--55)).. PPooiinnttss:: CCOB 5,Ours 0.■ Elegant 258 in 51.1 overs lost toAdilabad District 264/4 in 42.1 overs(MMaahheesshh 112255 nn..oo —— 112266bb,, 2211xx44,, 33xx66,Srinivas 87). PPooiinnttss:: AdilabadDistrict 5, Elegant 0.■ Team Speed 236 in 67.3 overs vsNizamabad District 193/7 in 46.4overs (Y. Murali Krishna 55 n.o, RohitKumar 31, D. Manish Goud 5/55).PPooiinnttss:: Speed 2, Nizamabad 2.■ PKMCC 242/9 in 90 overs lost toVenus Cybertech 246/7 in 59.2overs (Rishit Reddy 57, M. S.Karthikeya 45, Chaitanya Charan 35,K. Naveen 52, B. Sujan Kumar 3/41,T. Sourabh 3/56). PPooiinnttss:: VenusCybertech 5, PKMCC 0.■ Crown 220 in 65.2 overs lost toHBCC 222/5 in 44 overs (VaraPrasad 73, Yash Dubey 40 n.o).PPooiinnttss:: HBCC 5, Crown 0.

■ Shalimar 317 in 62.5 overs bt HUCC302 in 83.4 overs (Prudhvi Naik 30,Sree Madhav 56, Pranav Chandra50). PPooiinnttss:: Shalimar 5, HUCC 0.■ Brothers XI 167 in 60.3 overs(Likith 30, Ajay 51, Ershad Pasha3/32, Shyam Reddy 4/30) lost toVijay CC 168/4 in 25 overs (B. Shiva74 n.o, Badal 62). PPooiinnttss:: Vijay CC 5,Brothers XI 0.■ Adams XI 362 in 54.4 overs btBharat 277 in 61.4 overs (B. Bhargav77, Aditya Varma 40, Suraj Rao 31n.o, M. Balaji 3/3, Khaled Khan4/72). PPooiinnttss:: Adams 5, Bharat 0.

■ Hyderabad Cricket Academy 277 in70.5 overs bt SK Blues 152 in 32 overs(Mohd Afzal Ali 38, Siddharth Rao 35,Zaheer Abbas 4/33, G Gunavith4/59). PPooiinnttss:: Academy 5, Blues 0.■ Secunderabad Gymkhana 525/7in 90 overs bt Mayura 61 in 30.5overs (Vignesh 3/7). PPooiinnttss::Gymkhana 5, Mayura 0.■ Warangal District 281 in 69.4overs bt Vijaypuri Willowmen 197 in75.5 overs (Aashlesh Vaman 54, N.Pavan Reddy 4/20). PPooiinnttss::Warangal 5, Willowmen 0.

OONNEE--DDAAYY LLEEAAGGUUEE

■ Roshanara 608/9 in 50 overs(Deeapk Tak 80, Preetesh Rawani366 — 40x4, 24x6, KKaarrtthhiikk 66//111155) btStarlets CC 258 in 46 overs (Venkat49, Praneeth 54, Shashank 41,Lokesh 3/54, OOmm PPrraakkaasshh 55//2244).■ Ranga Reddy 247/9 in 50 overs(Nimal Reddy 94, Neeraj 33, Arijit3/37, Aryan Reddy 4/27) lost toGunrock 252/6 in 36.2 overs(Shubham Sahu 30, NNaaggaarraajjuu 110077,,Utkarsh 3/61).■ Team Kun 160 in 47.3 overs(Navaneeth Reddy 30, Sai Charan3/28, Raj Suryansh 3/34) lost toLNCC 161/5 in 23.2 overs (Gopi 38.Pranav 58 n.o, Palash 3/43).■ Consult CC 199 in 34 overs(Abhinav 37, Vamsi 3/7) lost toSafilguda 120/1 in 23.2 overs(Lokesh 71 n.o, Ayush 39).■ Satya CC 104 in 39.5 overs (Nanda39, Pavan Sai 3/10) lost to Golconda105/3 in 19.4 overs (Chatrapathi40).

DC CCORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 5

Mushtaq Hussain,Himanshu Jain, BrandonMarcel and Syed Ahmedreached the semifinalswith contrasting wins inthe senior snooker catego-ry at the Telangana StateRanking Snooker &Billiards Championshipbeing played at theTelangana Cue SportsAssociation premises atKhajaguda on Friday.

Mushtaq was the mostdominant of them all,blanking Bharath Reddy 4-0 in the quarterfinals. Thescoreline read 64-39, 60-47,73-48, 76-0 which includedbreaks of 53 and 61 in thefirst and fourth frames.

Himanshu was next best.He beat MohammedNazeeruddin 4-1, recordingthe highest breaks, of 96and 70 in the second and

fourth frames. Brandon got68 on way to taking thefourth frame 69-11 as hecame out a winner with a35-63, 110-5, 66-24, 75-8, 66-53verdict.

Brandon and Ahmedscored identical 4-3 wins.Brandon beat Ajay Bushan50-26, 43-44, 45-54, 69-11, 70-24, 30-57, 72-39 whileAhmed got past P. ArvindGoud 46-56, 47-71, 65-46, 76-32, 52-43, 6-70, 57-46.

TTHHEE RREESSUULLTTSS■■ SSeenniioorr SSnnooookkeerr qquuaarrtteerrffii--nnaallss:: Mushtaq Hussain btBharath Reddy 4-0 (64[53]-39, 60-47, 73-48, 76[61]-0);Himanshu Jain bt MDNazeeruddin 4-1 (35-63,110[96]-5, 66-24, 75[70]-8,66-53); Brandon Marcel btAjay Bushan 4-3 (50-26, 43-44, 45-54, 69[68]-11, 70-24,30-57, 72[50]-39); SyedAhmed bt P Arvind Goud 4-3 (46-56, 47-71, 65-46, 76-32, 52-43, 6-70, 57-46).

Regd. No. HQ/SD/509/2021-23Printed and Published by K. Sudhakar on behalf of Deccan ChronicleHoldings Limited. Printed at Deccan Chronicle Press situated at Plot

No. 9 Alwal Village, Vallabh Nagar Taluk, Medchal Malkajgiri Dist.Telangana and Published at 36, S.D. Road, Secunderabad-3.

RNI Registration No. 3081/1957. Editor: Kaushik Mitter

Preetesh cracks tripleton in one-day leagueKotesh, Venkatesh, Azizuddin, Mahesh, Karthik, Om, Nagaraju shine

Preetesh RRawani Venkatesh Syed AAzizuddin

AUSSIES PACKOFF KIWIS TOFORCE DECIDERWellington, March 5:Australia crushed NewZealand by 50 runs in alow-scoring fourthTwenty20 internationalin Wellington Friday tolevel the series at 2-2.

The result sets up a win-ner-takes-all blockbusterin the final match onSunday, with Australia inred-hot form after strug-gling early in the series.

Australia scored 156 for6 in 20 overs after win-ning the toss. In reply,New Zealand were all outfor 106.

Captain Aaron Finchanchored the tourists’innings with a gritty 79,making him Australia’smost prolific T20 interna-tional run scorer on 2,310,ahead of David Warner’s2,265.BBrriieeff ssccoorreess:: AAuussttrraalliiaa 115566//66in 20 overs (Finch 79; I. Sodhi3/32) bt NNeeww ZZeeaallaanndd 110066 in18.5 overs (K. Jamieson 30; K.Richardson 3/19).

Hyderabad: Laxmi Siri Dandu and Chandan Shivrajwon the girls and boys titles respectively in the Under-16AITA Championship series played at Sania Mirza TennisAcademy in Murtuzaguda.

In Friday’s finals, sixth seeded Laxmi defeated M.Manognya 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 while Chandan Shivraj, also a sixthseed, saw off G. Chaitra Reddy in straight sets at 6-2, 6-2.

Mushtaq makes itto snooker semis

c m y k c m y k

pg 12DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | SATURDAY | 6 MARCH 2021

Pg III | >> APR sells homes, hopes to leave good memoriesPg II | > City offers wide range to invest

S. UMAMAHESHWAR

You might have oftenstumbled uponcolumns of ants busymoving around inthe summer months.

They are busy because theyare investing their time andeffort for a comfortable time inthe rainy and winter months.Our elders often tell us to savefor the rainy days — thatimplies saving or ratherinvesting your surplus to takecare of your needs in a difficulttime.

During the olden days, thegoal of investment was — as inthe case of ants — confined tosecuring food stocks. Ashuman beings evolved andtheir needs got more complex,their investment horizon toowidened.

They have products to securetheir future — be it debtinstruments like fixeddeposits, equity, bullion (goldand silver), precious collec-tables and, of course, good oldreal estate.

While all other categories ofinvestment could be made inbits and pieces over a period oftime, investment in real estatealways required a single hugechunk of money — whetherfrom savings or financedthrough a bank loan.

A single mistake could erodethe lifetime savings or leave aperson with debt-laden for adead investment. Caution,therefore, should be thebyword for real estate invest-ment.

You will obviously conduct

due diligence of the propertyin terms of legal status andphysical attributes (such asconstruction quality if you arebuying a house and the qualityof soil if you are buying a plotof land apart from other fea-tures).

Apart from these two issues,there is a critical factor thatyou must address beforeinvesting in property and thatis what kind ofproperty is idealfor you — a plotof land, a villaor a flat.

Understanding which prop-erty is ideal for you requiresan assessment of your currentsocial requirements as well asfuture monetary needs. So youneed to have the followingchecklist:

The answers to these threebasic questions could help youevaluate your risk appetiteand requirement.

Now, let’s look at how each ofthe three categories of the realestate fare.

FLAT

Purchasing a flat is ideal ifyou want a place to stay in, atan affordable price. The flatcould also free you of the has-sles of maintenance. While anindividual house wouldrequire you to pay personalattention to every problemthat arises from time to timesuch as plumbing, cleaning,etc, the apartments associationwill take care of such mundaneworks if you are staying in aflat. The flat could also be moresecure because of private secu-rity. Most of the apartments inlarge gated communities alsoprovide an additional securitylayer to their residentsthrough CCTV cameras.

VILLAIf you have no constraint for

money, a villa could be anideal choice. You could buy avilla in the neighbourhood of

your choice.

Turn to page 2

3 Qs to help you decideThere is a critical factor that you must address before investing inproperty, and that is what kind of property is ideal for you meets yourrequirement — a plot of land, a villa or independent house or a flat.

1WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OFPURCHASING PROPERTY?

a. Residential purpose foryourselfb. To generate monthly rentalincomec. Long-term capital apprecia-tion

2WHAT IS YOUR INVEST-MENT

HORIZON?a. Short-termb. Medium-termc. Long-term

3WHAT IS THE RETURN EXPECTED?

a. Lowb. Mediumc. High Pudami plots

light on purse Projects like Jewel City in Shankarpalli andSunray Township in Kadthal are built into aserene green landscape, offering open plots atprices of not more than `4,999 per sq. yd.

HARLEEN MINOCHA

The booming real estatesector in Telanganastate has given oppor-tunities to severalfirms and businesses

in this field to grow. Amongthese is Pudami Developers inAndhra Pradesh and Telanganastate that has been providingaffordable land through its pro-jects in Shankarpally andKadthal for about four yearsnow.

Projects like Jewel City inShankarpalli and SunrayTownship in Kadthal are builtinto a serene green landscape,offering open plots at prices ofnot more than `4,999 per squareyardd.

These plots are available forhome construction, rangingfrom a single-storey buildingsto a duplex homes, saidChanikya Gupta, executivedirector at Pudami Developers.

Turn to page 3

c m y k c m y k

DECCAN CHRONICLE, HYDERABADSATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2021DCESTATE

Continued from page 1

Your money could getyou all the facilitiesthat a flat in an apart-ment complex can pro-vide. The advantage ofthe villa is its higherresale value as landcomes at a premium ina highly populatedcountry like India. Thevillas in gated commu-nities could provide theadvantages of both anindependent bungalowand also a flat.

N

If you already have ahouse or if you don'tmind staying in a rent-ed house; not expectingany immediate rentalincome and ready for alonger game, a purchas-ing a plot in a develop-ing area would be idealfor investment. Thelogic behind this adviceis that land comes at ahigher premium.Buying a plot in a devel-oping area would getyou the property at anaffordable price. In thelong run, the develop-ing area would trans-form itself into a prime property. For example, proper-ties in prime localities of today were available forpeanuts about 30 years ago. However, you must be verycareful about the land title and the security of the plot.If you can't ensure this, it is advisable that you do notopt for buying the plot.

DCESTATE DECCAN CHRONICLE, HYDERABADSATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2021 II

3 Qs to helpyou decide

Open plots are forthose who don’tmind paying rent.But do take careof the securityaspects of theland.If you want conve-nience, then a flatin an apartmentcomplex is a goodidea.An independenthouse or villacomes with theadded benefit ofincrease in landvalue over theyears.

T.S.S. SIDDHARTH

It was just last year thatthe city dominated thecharts when it came to

the launch of new residen-tial housing projects.According to studies con-ducted by JLL, the cityhas the most affordableresidential market.

The latest hotspots forhomes are Manikonda,Kukatpally, Gachibowli,Miyapur, Bachupally,Kompally, Kondapur,Dammaiguda, Chanda-nagar and Nizampet.

A few might now ques-tion, what ensures thepersistent preference forthese localities?

“One is the proximityfrom these areas to areaswhere IT companies arelocated. The prices arealso on the lower end ofthe spectrum, when com-pared to other metros,”said a real estate resea-rcher, Jandhyala Vijay.

According tohousing.com: “Except fornew and evolving locali-ties like Dammaiguda, allother localities have reg-istered a sizeable upwardmovement in prices.While prices have beenclimbing reasonably, it

remains stable enough, toavoid disrupting one'sfinances. This indicatesthat the real estate marketin the city is healthy andthere is enough momen-tum, to beat any capitalvalue erosion.”

On matters of affordabil-ity, areas like Kompallyand Kondapur have wonthe top spot, since theyhost a sizeable number ofsmall units. Conversely,areas like Gachibowlicommand a premium,when it comes to 2BHKand 3BHK units.

“At `1.30 crore, 3BHKunits in Gachibowli arethe costliest of the lot. Onthe other hand, Dammai-guda offers the mostaffordable 3BHKs, withthe average price being`60 lakh. Dammaiguda isfollowed by Chandanagarand Bachupally,” it read.

City offers widerange to invest

On matters ofaffordability,Kompally andKondapur win thetop spot due to theavailability of small-size units

The latest hotspots are Manikonda,Kukatpally, Gachibowli, Miyapur,Bachupally, Kompally, Kondapur,Dammaiguda and Chandanagar.

DCESTATE

DECCAN CHRONICLE, HYDERABADSATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2021 III

SANJAY SAMUEL PAUL

The APR Group, whichbegan its operations justa few years ago with tworesidential projects —APR Praveen’s Luxuria,

and APR Praveen’s Nature, thethree- and four-bedroom duplexvilla complexes — nearPatancheru, did not take long toearn the trust of people who madetheir homes here and also becameambassadors for APR Group.

Avula Praveen Reddy, director,who joined the family-run APRGroup soon after completing hisMaster's degree from UnitedKingdom, said, “When I took upthe responsibility, the market wasfacing the crisis arising fromCovid-19. However, because of thetrust our APR Group earned, wenever lacked customers. Our clien-tele mostly comprises people andfamilies that come to us throughreferrals from those who havealready purchased their homesfrom us.”

He added, “Our philosophy is tooffer best prices to families, alongwith quality construction, so that

they remember us throughouttheir lives.”

So far, the company has 1,200 vil-las that were specially designed formid- and high-income group fami-lies in APR Nagar. It is not justhomes, but also constructed weretwo schools, a hospital building,and two commercial complexes.This colony is, in many ways, aworld within itself.

Along with villas, the companyalso builds residential apartments,an example being APR Praveen’sPrime, at Patancheru.

Among the ongoing projects thatwill be ready for occupation in afew months are APR Praveen’sGrandio that consists of 433 villasspread over 30 acres. As with thecompany’s some other projects,this venture is also nearPatancheru and close to the OuterRing Road. APR Praveen’sHigheria, another high-rise resi-dential complex with six towers,will have a total of 730 apartmentswith all amenities and comforts.

On the other side of Hyderabad,near Vanasthalipuram, the APRGroup is constructing a 150-villaresidential complex that is nestledamidst greenery and will offer aworld-class club house. This pro-ject is already witnessing enor-mous interest with many inquiriescoming in, the company said.

DC CORRESPONDENT

Despite being impacted severelyby the Covid-19 pandemic, theresidential housing sector hasbeen able to find its feet amidsta challenging

environment in the coun-try. However, the recoveryfrom the pandemicimpacts varies betweenlarge listed players in therealty sector who aredoing better than smallerunorganised players.

In its findings on how therealty industry has beendoing in the 2020-21 finan-cial year, ICRA Limited, inan analysis found thatwhile the broader marketremained 24 per centbelow pre-Covid levels ona year-to-year basis in thethird quarter of of 2020-21,and 39 per cent below pre-Covid levels in the firstnine months of the year,the top 10 listed realtycompanies witnessed a 61per cent year-to-year in thethird quarter, and 13 percent growth in the year’sfirst nine months.

This disparity in salesgrowth rates is resultingin accelerated consolidation in the after-math of Covid-19, and the market share ofthe top 10 listed realty companies playershas nearly doubled in the current year,ICRA said. The larger developers, it rea-soned, were benefiting from demand con-solidation and better credit availability. Interms of launches as well, their marketshare has increased from 11 per cent inFY2019-20 to 22 per cent in 2020-21.

According to Shubham Jain, senior vice-president and group head at ICRA: “Forthe broader market, Covid-19 triggeredone of the worst demand crashes inrecorded history, with housing sales vol-umes witnessing a 62 per cent decline thisyear compared to the last across the top

eight cities of the country.”Home-buyers, he said, are leaning

towards developers with an establishedtrack record of on-time and quality projectcompletion even prior to the onset of thepandemic.

“This resulted in large, listed playersreporting healthy sales and collections inrecent years, despite the prevailing liquid-ity crisis and unfavourable supply-demand dynamics. Post Covid-19, betterdemand prospects, strong balance sheetsand adequate liquidity have enabled larg-er developers to weather the storm betterthan smaller players, who have been find-ing it difficult to cope with the prevailingmarket conditions,” he said.

A gradual unlocking of the economy andpent-up demand has been supportinghousing sales. Moreover, the repo-linkedlending rate (RLLR) for home loans hastouched a historical low. This has resultedin improved affordability and has beenstimulating house purchases, at least fromlarger, reputed developers with a strong

track-record of timelyproject completion andquality construction.

A t t r a c t i v ed i s c o u n t s / p a y m e n tschemes have providedfurther stimulus. Withthe onset of the pandemic,home/holiday-home own-ership has also becomemore important.

Overall operating cashflows for most developers,including the listed play-ers, are expected to wit-ness moderation in thecurrent financial year,resulting in increasedreliance on available liq-uidity and/or refinancingto meet committed out-flows. However, the larg-er, organised playershave maintained consid-erable liquidity buffers,and have low levels ofleverage, together withhigh financial flexibility.

These aspects have pro-vided significant support

in managing event-related shocks. Thus,most large organised players with estab-lished brands, low leveraged balancesheets and adequate liquidity are benefit-ing from the acceleration in consolidationin the residential real estate segment.Range-bound prices and low loan rates arealso expected to further support sales forthese players.

Though the current situation in the mar-ket appears to be favour big realty compa-nies with strong financials and trackrecords, with smaller companies in thesector making up nearly 80 per cent of thissector, the slow pace of recovery from thislarge section of companies will weighheavily on the sector as a whole.

A gradual unlocking of theeconomy and pent-up

demand are supporting hous-ing sales. The repo-linked

lending rate for home loans isat a historic low. Attractive dis-counts and payment schemes

have provided further stimu-lus, says rating agency ICRA

APR sells homes, hopes toleave good memories

Our clientele mostly comprises families thatcome to us through referrals from those whohave purchased their homes from us. Our

philosophy is to offer best prices to families, along withquality construction, so that they remember us.

— Avula Praveen Reddy, APR Group director

Home-buyers areleaning towards

developers with anestablished trackrecord of on-time

and quality projectcompletion. Thisresulted in large,

listed playersreporting healthy

sales and collectionsin recent years

Shubham JainSenior V-P, ICRA

CONTINUED FROMPAGE 1

The projects have aclubhouse, CCTV cam-eras, well-establishedunderground drainagesystem, current lineswith separate transform-ers, avenue plantation,play area for children,among other facilities.The vision is to give con-sumers a chance to live ina serene environment,with all facilities avail-able at the doorstep, andyet not having to burn ahole in their pocket, saidGupta.

“Both projects are locat-ed in such areas that haveeasy connectivity frommost places. For example,Jewel City is located nearmost engineering col-leges. IIT Hyderabad isjust a 20-minute drivefrom this township, a 40-minute drive to ISBGachibowli, and a 25-minute drive to the OuterRing Road. Similar is thecase with the Sunray pro-ject in Kadthal,” saidGupta. Both projects aresurrounded by developedindustries, he added.

He said that so far 60 percent of plots have alreadybeen sold from both pro-jects in Shankarpalli andKadthal. "While I cannotdisclose the number yet,the sales have been greatin the past few months forboth the projects and wehope to expand further,"said Gupta.

Pudamiplots lighton purse

Both projects,Jewel City and

Sunray, are locatedin areas that haveeasy connectivityfrom most places,

said ChanikyaGupta, executive

director at PudamiDevelopers.

Realty firms see biggrowth after Covid

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c m y k c m y k

DCESTATE DECCAN CHRONICLE, HYDERABADSATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2021 IV