No schools, public events till May 15 - SPLessons

c m y k c m y k

Max: 37.7OCMin: 24.0OC RH: 40%Rain: Nil

Forecast: Cloudy sky. Rainor thundershowers likely Max/Min temp. 36/24ºC

WEATHER

ASTROGUIDESarvari; Uttarayana

Tithi: Chaitra Shuddha Pournamitill 8.05 pm and Padyami till 4.13

am (Thursday)Star: Chitta till 3.02 am

Varjyam: 1.05 pm to 2.29 pmDurmuhurtam: 11.53 am to

12.42 pmRahukalam: 12 noon to 1.30 pm

HIJRI CALENDARShabaan 13,1441 AH

PRAYERSFajar: 5.04 am

Zohar: 12.28 pmAsar: 4.38 pm

Maghrib: 6.36 pmIsha: 7.44 pm

SUNSET TODAY 6.30 PMSUNRISE TOMORROW 6.05 AM

MOONRISE TODAY 6.56 PMMOONSET TOMORROW 6.17 AM

Gold price nears`45,000

Chennai: Gold prices in theIndian futures market

touched a new high, cross-ing `45,000 per 10 gm as

increased liquidity support-ed investments in the

metal. In the MultiCommodity Ex-change

(MCX), gold futurestouched an intra-day high

of `45,724 per 10 gm,almost `2000 up from the

previous close. The markethowever closed at `44,950,

still higher by `1,233. Thespot markets were shut due

to the lockdown. — DC

COUNTER POINT

Vol. 83 No. 98 Established 1938 | 16 PAGES | `6.00deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle, google.com/+deccanchronicle

TABLOIDFrom FIT to FAT in 21 days!

NATION|4Delhi to conduct 1 lakh

random tests at hotspots

WORLD|5Leaders wish Boris

speedy recovery

Interim powerbills for April

Hyderabad: Electricity con-sumers will get ‘interimbills’ for April based on

their previous power con-sumption patterns, said theTelangana State Electricity

Regulatory Commission.Since distribution compa-

nies have not been able torecord meter readings of

consumers due to the ongo-ing lockdown, interim bills

will be issued for April. Theadjusted bills based on

actual consumption will beissued after the lockdown

was lifted. — DC

■ Full report on Page 3

IN BRIEF

13,62,200WORLD CONFIRMED CASES

STATE GOVERNMENT BULLETINS

CASES

(+434)

5,212

(+40)

(+10)TS: 404

DEATHS

(+16)

150

AP: 314

11

04

76,344209

DEATHS

COUNTRIES,AREAS WITH

CASES

CORONA C UNT

worldometers.info

covid19india.org

Eighty-two-year-old Manmohan Singh, in a wheelchair, comes out from the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LJNP)Hospital in New Delhi on Tueday amid cheers from doctors and medical staff after he fully recovered from Covid-19.The elderly are among the most vulnerable groups. — PTI

ANIMESH SINGH | DCNEW DELHI, APRIL 7

The Centre is learnt to beconsidering extending thenationwide lockdownbeyond April 14 to containthe spread of Covid-19after requests from sever-al state chief ministersand health experts, but itwill take a final call onlyafter a review meetingchaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, whichcould take place on April11 or 12.

Top government sourcessaid the Prime Minister’sOffice (PMO) is now work-ing on a graded plan to liftthe lockdown in a phasedmanner. If no fresh caseshave been detected in anyhotspot in the 75 identifieddistricts, it could ease thelockdown in those areas.

A Group of Ministers(GoM) on Covid-19 headedby defence ministerRajnath Singh, which metearlier on Tuesday, rec-ommended the extensionof the closure of all educa-tional institutions andrestricting all religiousactivities with public par-ticipation till May 15 irre-spective of the govern-ment’s final decision onthe lockdown, officialsources said.

It was decided at themeeting, also attended byhome minister Amit Shahand finance ministerNirmala Sitharaman,among others, that reli-gious centres, shoppingmalls and educationalinstitutions must not beallowed to resume normalworking for at least fourweeks from April 14, whenthe current lockdown isdue to end, till aroundMay 15. Sources said itwas felt within the GoMthat a partial relaxationcould be effected in thelockdown, but it was up tothe PM to decide.

The PMO got inputsfrom almost all chief min-isters on easing of thelockdown after April 14,with almost all unani-mous about easing it in aphased way. With MrModi set to discuss thematter with all politicalparties on Wednesday, areview meeting could beheld on April 11 or 12,where would take a finalcall after seeking a politi-cal consensus.

Sources told this news-paper that the governmentwill start random testingacross India fromWednesday (April 8) tocheck the intensity of thevirus spread and identifymore hotspots to imple-ment the graded plan. Thegovernment has alreadyidentified hotspots.

■ Page 4: Rural bordersmay be sealed

No schools, public events till May 15GoM for curbs on religious, social activity; most states want lockdown extended; decision on April 11-12

DC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, APRIL 7

Softening its ban on theexport of anti-malarialdrug, India on Tuesdaysaid hydroxychloroquine(HCQ) will be exported “tosome nations who havebeen particularly badlyaffected by the coron-avirus pandemic” and willalso be “licensed to neigh-bouring countries” whichare dependent on India tofight the pandemic.

Though the US was notspecifically named in thegovernment’s statement,it is understood that thedrug will be exported tothe country which hasbeen ravaged by the pan-demic.

The government, howev-er, said HCQ and paraceta-mol will be kept in thelicensed category andtheir demand positionwould be continuouslymonitored”. It also saidthat “the current stockposition could allow ourcompanies to meet theexport commitments thatthey had contracted”.

Pointing out that “likeany responsible govern-

ment, our first obligationis to ensure that there areadequate stocks of medi-cines for the requirementof our own people,” offi-cials cautioned against an“unnecessary controver-sy” and attempts to“politicise” the matter.

Reacting to India’s banon anti-malaria drug, USPresident Donald Trumpon Monday threatened totake retaliatory stepsagainst India, if curbsagainst the drug exportwas not lifted.

The drug is seen to offera viable therapeutic solu-tion to coronavirus thathas so far taken the livesof more than 10,000Americans and infectedover 3.6 lakhs, just in amatter of weeks.

Curbs on malariadrug to be eased

BALU PULIPAKA | DCHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

The number of Covid-19cases continued theirrelentless upward marchin Telangana, with thestate reporting 40 morenew cases on Tuesday, tak-ing the total number ofCoronavirus cases so farto 404.

The state health depart-ment, in its daily bulletin,said that currently 348Covid-19 positive patientswere being treated in vari-ous hospitals.

Seventeen of the 40 newcases reported on Tuesdaywere from Hyderabad,while 10 others were fromNizamabad district, withJogulamba-Gadwal dis-trict reporting nine newcases. The new cases inHyderabad took the num-ber of active cases inHyderabad up to 150, high-est in any district in thestate.

Health minister EtalaRajendar said on Tuesdaythat almost every singlecase that Telangana wasfinding were either of peo-

ple who attended three-day Markaz organised bythe Tablighi Jamaat inNizamuddin in New Delhibetween March 13 andMarch 15, or their contactsand touchpoints.

“It is either those whowent to Markaz or con-tacts of these people, suchas members of their fami-lies,” the minister told aTV channel.

Telangana, Mr Rajendarsaid, was prepared for anyeventuality. The state hasreadied isolation beds in22 private medical colleges

across the state, whichbetween them, have madearrangements to accom-modate 12,000 patients, ifneed arises.

Mr Rajendar, along withmunicipal administrationminister K.T. Rama Raoon Tuesday inspected aquarantine facility set upin the residential quartersof Gachibowli stadium,and also visited a privatemedical college to inspectfacilities set up there.

■ Page 2: Etala gives creditto KTR for funds

Telangana’s Covid tally at 404State witnesses 40 new cases in a day; 17 from Hyderabad

YUSUF JAMEEL I DCSRINAGAR, APRIL 7

The authorities inJammu and Kashmir onTuesday shifted incar-cerated former chiefminister and leader ofPeople’s DemocraticParty (PDP) MehboobaMufti to her residence inSrinagar’s Gupkar areafrom a makeshift jail.However, she would con-tinue to remain in deten-tion under Public SafetyAct (PSA).

Only her place of lodge-ment has been changedthrough a fresh orderissued by Shaleen Kabra,principal secretary(home) to the J&K gov-ernment, under the pro-visions of a stringentlaw. ‘Fairview’, her offi-cial residence on thefoothills of Zabarwanhere, has been declared a‘subsidiary jail’.

Ms Iltija Mufti whoruns her Twitter accountsaid that her mother ishome but still bookedunder the PSA. “Thisisn’t a release...the househas been declared as asubsidiary jail,” she said.

■ Page 4: Not enough,says Omar Abdullah

MEHBOOBA ISNOW UNDERHOUSE ARREST

New Delhi, April 7:Social media platformWhatsApp will allowusers to send frequentlyforwarded messages toonly one chat at a time aspart of efforts to curbspreading of misinforma-tion amid the coronaviruspandemic. This limit willbe in place once a messagehas been previously for-warded five times ormore.

The latest move comesas countries, includingIndia, are initiating mea-sures to tackle the spreadof rumours, fake news andmisinformation on socialmedia platforms.

“We are now introduc-ing a limit so that thesemessages can only be for-warded to one chat at a

time... we’ve seen a signif-icant increase in theamount of forwardingwhich users have told uscan feel overwhelmingand can contribute to thespread of misinforma-tion,” said the Facebook-owned WhatsApp, , whichhas over 400 million usersin India, in its blog onTuesday.

Platforms like Whats-App are being increasing-ly used by people amidlockdowns and social dis-tancing measures to pre-vent the spreading ofcoronavirus infections.The company said itbelieves it is important toslow the spread of thesemessages to keep Whats-App a place for personalconversation. — PTI

WhatsApp limitsforward option


A day ahead of the all-party meeting onCovid19, Congress presi-dent Sonia Gandhi gavefive suggestions to PrimeMinister Narendra Modion austerity measures.

Mrs Gandhi suggesteda ban on media adver-tisements by the govern-ment and PSUs for twoyears. The only excep-tions should be advi-sories for Covid-19 orpublic health,” she said.

She called for suspen-sion of the `20,000-crore‘Central Vista’ beautifi-cation project, cancella-tion of foreign visits fortwo years and a 30% cutin the governmentexpenditure budget.

SONIA GIVES 5IDEAS TO CUTGOVT. SPEND

KANIZA GARARI | DCHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

The state government’sdecision to supply Person-al Protection Equipment(PPE), sanitisers andmasks to junior doctors ingovernment hospitals trea-ting Coronavirus patientsand testing Covid-19 sus-pects has remained onpaper only.

Despite Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao’s per-sonal commitment, it is not

materialising on theground.

On Tuesday, theTelangana Junior DoctorsAssociation (T-Juda), hav-ing not received PPE,masks or sanitisers, wasforced to opt for crowdfunding and donationsfrom senior doctors as theyhave not yet received anyprecautionary suppliesfrom the TRS government.

“About five lakh PPE andmasks were promised to usbut they are nowhere to be

seen. Some junior doctorsin Gandhi Hospital mighthave got some PPE andmasks, but rest of us arestruggling at the forefrontof this battle,” said a mem-ber of the T-Juda.

A senior resident doctorsat the Osmania GeneralHospital, said, “We are see-ing patients who are notrevealing their travel his-tory or contact footprintmaps. Some of them arenot even aware that theyhave come in contact with

those who travelled toCovid-19 affected coun-tries. In such a scenario,we doctors and other med-ical staff are exposed. Webadly need protection. Thegovernment made anannouncement but nothinghas reached us.”

“We do not know wherethe gap lies? Is it superin-tendents of hospitals havenot given right require-ment or is medical depart-ment not releasing them?”the OGH doctor said.

Since junior doctors haveto face patients directlyevery day, they have req-uested senior doctors andalumni to donate money orprocure PPE and masks forthem.

President of T-Juda, DrK.U.N. Vishnu, said, “Weare not getting safety gearon time. With number ofcases rising, frontlineworkers have to be protect-ed. If they fall ill or arequarantined, there will beshortage of manpower,

which will lead to troublein Covid management. Weare appealing to people tosupport us and provide uswith funds to procure safe-ty equipment.”

The target is to get 5,000N-95 masks and at least1,000 PPE to begin with, MrVishnu said. PPE can beworn only for six to eighthours and has to be dis-carded properly. So thereare protocols to be fol-lowed, which are impor-tant for medical fraternity.

Doctors opt for crowd-funding to buy masksDespite KCR’s assurance, junior doctors fail to get protective equipmentHIGH | RISK

Mehbooba Mufti

It has been decidedIndia would license

paracetamol and HCQ to allour neighbouring countries...We will also supply theseessential drugs to somenations who were badlyaffected by the pandemic.

— EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTRY

THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIAHYDERABAD I WEDNESDAY I 8 APRIL 2020

India Covid totalcrosses 5k-mark

VINEETA PANDEY | DCNEW DELHI, APRIL 7

India on Tuesday report-ed 4,789 positive cases ofco-ronavirus, of which4,312 are active, 353 cured,and 124 deaths. In the past24 hours, 508 new casesand 13 deaths were report-ed. However,covid19india.org said 434new cases were reportedin the last 24 hours, takingthe total number of casesto 5,212. It said 150 peoplehave died of viral infec-tion, while 421 werecured.

With Covid-19 cases fastmultiplying, the healthministry on Tuesdayasked states to keep readythree types of Covid facili-ties for suspect and con-firmed cases. The avail-able data suggests nearly70 per cent of Covid-19cases either exhibit mildor very mild symptoms.Such cases may notrequire admission to dedi-cated hospitals.

States were asked to pre-pare Covid care centres(CCC), dedicated Covidhealth centres (DCHC)and dedicated covid hospi-tals (DCH). The DCH willbe hospitals offering com-prehensive care primarilyfor those clinically

assigned as severe. Thesehospitals will have fullyequipped intensive careunits (ICUs), ventilatorsand beds with oxygen sup-port. DCHCs are hospitalsused for cases showingmoderate symptomswhile CCCs should beused for mild, very mildor suspect cases.

The incubation periodranges from two to 14days.

Officials said studieshave indicated lockdownand social distancing arethe most effective ways tocontain infection. Theyquoted a “R-naught”study by ICMR — whichindicated one Covid-19patient can infect 406 peo-ple in 30 days if he/shedoes not follow the lock-down.

However, if social expo-sure is reduced by 75 percent, the same infectedperson can spread it tojust 2.5 people. The dataanalysis shows eventhough mortality is highamong senior citizens, it’syounger males who arethe most infected.

Officials said the clustercontainment strategy isshowing positive resultsin Noida, Agra, Patha-namthitta, Bhilwara andEast Delhi.

Centre tells states to ready3 types of Covid hospitals

● ● RELIGIOUS CENTRES,shopping malls and educa-tional institutions must notbe allowed to reopen forfour weeks from April 14,when the current lock-down is due to end, apanel headed by defenceminister Rajnath Singh hasstated. A final decision willbe taken after the PM’smeeting, likely on April 11

c m y k c m y k

Max: 37.7OCMin: 24.0OC RH: 40%Rain: Nil

Forecast: Cloudy sky. Rainor thundershowers likely Max/Min temp. 36/24ºC

WEATHER

ASTROGUIDESarvari; Uttarayana

Tithi: Chaitra Shuddha Pournamitill 8.05 pm and Padyami till 4.13

am (Thursday)Star: Chitta till 3.02 am

Varjyam: 1.05 pm to 2.29 pmDurmuhurtam: 11.53 am to

12.42 pmRahukalam: 12 noon to 1.30 pm

HIJRI CALENDARShabaan 13,1441 AH

PRAYERSFajar: 5.04 am

Zohar: 12.28 pmAsar: 4.38 pm

Maghrib: 6.36 pmIsha: 7.44 pm

SUNSET TODAY 6.30 PMSUNRISE TOMORROW 6.05 AM

MOONRISE TODAY 6.56 PMMOONSET TOMORROW 6.17 AM

Gold price nears`45,000

Chennai: Gold prices in theIndian futures market

touched a new high, cross-ing `45,000 per 10 gm as

increased liquidity support-ed investments in the

metal. In the MultiCommodity Ex-change

(MCX), gold futurestouched an intra-day high

of `45,724 per 10 gm,almost `2000 up from the

previous close. The markethowever closed at `44,950,

still higher by `1,233. Thespot markets were shut due

to the lockdown. — DC

COUNTER POINT

Vol. 83 No. 98 Established 1938 | 16 PAGES | `6.00deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle, google.com/+deccanchronicle

TABLOIDFrom FIT to FAT in 21 days!

NATION|4Delhi to conduct 1 lakh

random tests at hotspots

WORLD|5Leaders wish Boris

speedy recovery

Interim powerbills for April

Hyderabad: Electricity con-sumers will get ‘interimbills’ for April based on

their previous power con-sumption patterns, said theTelangana State Electricity

Regulatory Commission.Since distribution compa-

nies have not been able torecord meter readings of

consumers due to the ongo-ing lockdown, interim bills

will be issued for April. Theadjusted bills based on

actual consumption will beissued after the lockdown

was lifted. — DC

■ Full report on Page 3

IN BRIEF

13,62,200WORLD CONFIRMED CASES

STATE GOVERNMENT BULLETINS

CASES

(+434)

5,212

(+40)

(+10)TS: 404

DEATHS

(+16)

150

AP: 314

11

04

76,344209

DEATHS

COUNTRIES,AREAS WITH

CASES

CORONA C UNT

worldometers.info

covid19india.org

Eighty-two-year-old Manmohan Singh, in a wheelchair, comes out from the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LJNP)Hospital in New Delhi on Tueday amid cheers from doctors and medical staff after he fully recovered from Covid-19.The elderly are among the most vulnerable groups. — PTI

ANIMESH SINGH | DCNEW DELHI, APRIL 7

The Centre is learnt to beconsidering extending thenationwide lockdownbeyond April 14 to containthe spread of Covid-19after requests from sever-al state chief ministersand health experts, but itwill take a final call onlyafter a review meetingchaired by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, whichcould take place on April11 or 12.

Top government sourcessaid the Prime Minister’sOffice (PMO) is now work-ing on a graded plan to liftthe lockdown in a phasedmanner. If no fresh caseshave been detected in anyhotspot in the 75 identifieddistricts, it could ease thelockdown in those areas.

A Group of Ministers(GoM) on Covid-19 headedby defence ministerRajnath Singh, which metearlier on Tuesday, rec-ommended the extensionof the closure of all educa-tional institutions andrestricting all religiousactivities with public par-ticipation till May 15 irre-spective of the govern-ment’s final decision onthe lockdown, officialsources said.

It was decided at themeeting, also attended byhome minister Amit Shahand finance ministerNirmala Sitharaman,among others, that reli-gious centres, shoppingmalls and educationalinstitutions must not beallowed to resume normalworking for at least fourweeks from April 14, whenthe current lockdown isdue to end, till aroundMay 15. Sources said itwas felt within the GoMthat a partial relaxationcould be effected in thelockdown, but it was up tothe PM to decide.

The PMO got inputsfrom almost all chief min-isters on easing of thelockdown after April 14,with almost all unani-mous about easing it in aphased way. With MrModi set to discuss thematter with all politicalparties on Wednesday, areview meeting could beheld on April 11 or 12,where would take a finalcall after seeking a politi-cal consensus.

Sources told this news-paper that the governmentwill start random testingacross India fromWednesday (April 8) tocheck the intensity of thevirus spread and identifymore hotspots to imple-ment the graded plan. Thegovernment has alreadyidentified hotspots.

■ Page 4: Rural bordersmay be sealed

No schools, public events till May 15GoM for curbs on religious, social activity; most states want lockdown extended; decision on April 11-12


Softening its ban on theexport of anti-malarialdrug, India on Tuesdaysaid hydroxychloroquine(HCQ) will be exported “tosome nations who havebeen particularly badlyaffected by the coron-avirus pandemic” and willalso be “licensed to neigh-bouring countries” whichare dependent on India tofight the pandemic.

Though the US was notspecifically named in thegovernment’s statement,it is understood that thedrug will be exported tothe country which hasbeen ravaged by the pan-demic.

The government, howev-er, said HCQ and paraceta-mol will be kept in thelicensed category andtheir demand positionwould be continuouslymonitored”. It also saidthat “the current stockposition could allow ourcompanies to meet theexport commitments thatthey had contracted”.

Pointing out that “likeany responsible govern-

ment, our first obligationis to ensure that there areadequate stocks of medi-cines for the requirementof our own people,” offi-cials cautioned against an“unnecessary controver-sy” and attempts to“politicise” the matter.

Reacting to India’s banon anti-malaria drug, USPresident Donald Trumpon Monday threatened totake retaliatory stepsagainst India, if curbsagainst the drug exportwas not lifted.

The drug is seen to offera viable therapeutic solu-tion to coronavirus thathas so far taken the livesof more than 10,000Americans and infectedover 3.6 lakhs, just in amatter of weeks.

Curbs on malariadrug to be eased

BALU PULIPAKA | DCHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

The number of Covid-19cases continued theirrelentless upward marchin Telangana, with thestate reporting 40 morenew cases on Tuesday, tak-ing the total number ofCoronavirus cases so farto 404.

The state health depart-ment, in its daily bulletin,said that currently 348Covid-19 positive patientswere being treated in vari-ous hospitals.

Seventeen of the 40 newcases reported on Tuesdaywere from Hyderabad,while 10 others were fromNizamabad district, withJogulamba-Gadwal dis-trict reporting nine newcases. The new cases inHyderabad took the num-ber of active cases inHyderabad up to 150, high-est in any district in thestate.

Health minister EtalaRajendar said on Tuesdaythat almost every singlecase that Telangana wasfinding were either of peo-

ple who attended three-day Markaz organised bythe Tablighi Jamaat inNizamuddin in New Delhibetween March 13 andMarch 15, or their contactsand touchpoints.

“It is either those whowent to Markaz or con-tacts of these people, suchas members of their fami-lies,” the minister told aTV channel.

Telangana, Mr Rajendarsaid, was prepared for anyeventuality. The state hasreadied isolation beds in22 private medical colleges

across the state, whichbetween them, have madearrangements to accom-modate 12,000 patients, ifneed arises.

Mr Rajendar, along withmunicipal administrationminister K.T. Rama Raoon Tuesday inspected aquarantine facility set upin the residential quartersof Gachibowli stadium,and also visited a privatemedical college to inspectfacilities set up there.

■ : Etala gives creditto KTR for funds

Telangana’s Covid tally at 404State witnesses 40 new cases in a day; 17 from Hyderabad

YUSUF JAMEEL I DCSRINAGAR, APRIL 7

The authorities inJammu and Kashmir onTuesday shifted incar-cerated former chiefminister and leader ofPeople’s DemocraticParty (PDP) MehboobaMufti to her residence inSrinagar’s Gupkar areafrom a makeshift jail.However, she would con-tinue to remain in deten-tion under Public SafetyAct (PSA).

Only her place of lodge-ment has been changedthrough a fresh orderissued by Shaleen Kabra,principal secretary(home) to the J&K gov-ernment, under the pro-visions of a stringentlaw. ‘Fairview’, her offi-cial residence on thefoothills of Zabarwanhere, has been declared a‘subsidiary jail’.

Ms Iltija Mufti whoruns her Twitter accountsaid that her mother ishome but still bookedunder the PSA. “Thisisn’t a release...the househas been declared as asubsidiary jail,” she said.

■ Page 4: Not enough,says Omar Abdullah

MEHBOOBA ISNOW UNDERHOUSE ARREST

New Delhi, April 7:Social media platformWhatsApp will allowusers to send frequentlyforwarded messages toonly one chat at a time aspart of efforts to curbspreading of misinforma-tion amid the coronaviruspandemic. This limit willbe in place once a messagehas been previously for-warded five times ormore.

The latest move comesas countries, includingIndia, are initiating mea-sures to tackle the spreadof rumours, fake news andmisinformation on socialmedia platforms.

“We are now introduc-ing a limit so that thesemessages can only be for-warded to one chat at a

time... we’ve seen a signif-icant increase in theamount of forwardingwhich users have told uscan feel overwhelmingand can contribute to thespread of misinforma-tion,” said the Facebook-owned WhatsApp, , whichhas over 400 million usersin India, in its blog onTuesday.

Platforms like Whats-App are being increasing-ly used by people amidlockdowns and social dis-tancing measures to pre-vent the spreading ofcoronavirus infections.The company said itbelieves it is important toslow the spread of thesemessages to keep Whats-App a place for personalconversation. — PTI

WhatsApp limitsforward option


A day ahead of the all-party meeting onCovid19, Congress presi-dent Sonia Gandhi gavefive suggestions to PrimeMinister Narendra Modion austerity measures.

Mrs Gandhi suggesteda ban on media adver-tisements by the govern-ment and PSUs for twoyears. The only excep-tions should be advi-sories for Covid-19 orpublic health,” she said.

She called for suspen-sion of the `20,000-crore‘Central Vista’ beautifi-cation project, cancella-tion of foreign visits fortwo years and a 30% cutin the governmentexpenditure budget.

SONIA GIVES 5IDEAS TO CUTGOVT. SPEND

KANIZA GARARI | DCHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

The state government’sdecision to supply Person-al Protection Equipment(PPE), sanitisers andmasks to junior doctors ingovernment hospitals trea-ting Coronavirus patientsand testing Covid-19 sus-pects has remained onpaper only.

Despite Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao’s per-sonal commitment, it is not

materialising on theground.

On Tuesday, theTelangana Junior DoctorsAssociation (T-Juda), hav-ing not received PPE,masks or sanitisers, wasforced to opt for crowdfunding and donationsfrom senior doctors as theyhave not yet received anyprecautionary suppliesfrom the TRS government.

“About five lakh PPE andmasks were promised to usbut they are nowhere to be

seen. Some junior doctorsin Gandhi Hospital mighthave got some PPE andmasks, but rest of us arestruggling at the forefrontof this battle,” said a mem-ber of the T-Juda.

A senior resident doctorsat the Osmania GeneralHospital, said, “We are see-ing patients who are notrevealing their travel his-tory or contact footprintmaps. Some of them arenot even aware that theyhave come in contact with

those who travelled toCovid-19 affected coun-tries. In such a scenario,we doctors and other med-ical staff are exposed. Webadly need protection. Thegovernment made anannouncement but nothinghas reached us.”

“We do not know wherethe gap lies? Is it superin-tendents of hospitals havenot given right require-ment or is medical depart-ment not releasing them?”the OGH doctor said.

Since junior doctors haveto face patients directlyevery day, they have req-uested senior doctors andalumni to donate money orprocure PPE and masks forthem.

President of T-Juda, DrK.U.N. Vishnu, said, “Weare not getting safety gearon time. With number ofcases rising, frontlineworkers have to be protect-ed. If they fall ill or arequarantined, there will beshortage of manpower,

which will lead to troublein Covid management. Weare appealing to people tosupport us and provide uswith funds to procure safe-ty equipment.”

The target is to get 5,000N-95 masks and at least1,000 PPE to begin with, MrVishnu said. PPE can beworn only for six to eighthours and has to be dis-carded properly. So thereare protocols to be fol-lowed, which are impor-tant for medical fraternity.

Doctors opt for crowd-funding to buy masksDespite KCR’s assurance, junior doctors fail to get protective equipmentHIGH | RISK

Mehbooba Mufti

It has been decidedIndia would license

paracetamol and HCQ to allour neighbouring countries...We will also supply theseessential drugs to somenations who were badlyaffected by the pandemic.

— EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTRY

THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIAHYDERABAD I WEDNESDAY I 8 APRIL 2020

India Covid totalcrosses 5k-mark

VINEETA PANDEY | DCNEW DELHI, APRIL 7

India on Tuesday report-ed 4,789 positive cases ofco-ronavirus, of which4,312 are active, 353 cured,and 124 deaths. In the past24 hours, 508 new casesand 13 deaths were report-ed. However,covid19india.org said 434new cases were reportedin the last 24 hours, takingthe total number of casesto 5,212. It said 150 peoplehave died of viral infec-tion, while 421 werecured.

With Covid-19 cases fastmultiplying, the healthministry on Tuesdayasked states to keep readythree types of Covid facili-ties for suspect and con-firmed cases. The avail-able data suggests nearly70 per cent of Covid-19cases either exhibit mildor very mild symptoms.Such cases may notrequire admission to dedi-cated hospitals.

States were asked to pre-pare Covid care centres(CCC), dedicated Covidhealth centres (DCHC)and dedicated covid hospi-tals (DCH). The DCH willbe hospitals offering com-prehensive care primarilyfor those clinically

assigned as severe. Thesehospitals will have fullyequipped intensive careunits (ICUs), ventilatorsand beds with oxygen sup-port. DCHCs are hospitalsused for cases showingmoderate symptomswhile CCCs should beused for mild, very mildor suspect cases.

The incubation periodranges from two to 14days.

Officials said studieshave indicated lockdownand social distancing arethe most effective ways tocontain infection. Theyquoted a “R-naught”study by ICMR — whichindicated one Covid-19patient can infect 406 peo-ple in 30 days if he/shedoes not follow the lock-down.

However, if social expo-sure is reduced by 75 percent, the same infectedperson can spread it tojust 2.5 people. The dataanalysis shows eventhough mortality is highamong senior citizens, it’syounger males who arethe most infected.

Officials said the clustercontainment strategy isshowing positive resultsin Noida, Agra, Patha-namthitta, Bhilwara andEast Delhi.

Centre tells states to ready3 types of Covid hospitals

● ● RELIGIOUS CENTRES,shopping malls and educa-tional institutions must notbe allowed to reopen forfour weeks from April 14,when the current lock-down is due to end, apanel headed by defenceminister Rajnath Singh hasstated. A final decision willbe taken after the PM’smeeting, likely on April 11

CITY pg 2DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | 8 APRIL 2020

SHORT TAKES

SAIFABAD PSSANITISED AFTER

COP TESTS +VEJAYENDRA CHAITHANYA T. I DCHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

A day after a Saifabad headconstable tested positive forCovid-19, the police stationpremises was disinfected onTuesday and 29 personsincluding 12 family membersand 17 police officers workingin the Hyderabad police com-missionerate limits were sentto quarantine and samples collected from them for testing.

The 55-year-old head consta-ble, a resident of Punjagutta,tested positive on Monday.“The policeman was not veryinteractive and kept to him-self. Even during his regularduties, he maintained a dis-tance from others. It isbelieved that he picked up theinfection at a congregation,”said a senior police official onTuesday.

The head constable who alsosuffers from diabetes did notshow any signs of Covid-19.

He was a regular visitor toprayer congregations at threedifferent locations in the city.

“On Saturday, he felt giddyand visited NIMS, where itwas found that his blood sugarlevels were high and medica-tion was provided. The nextday, he complained of short-ness of breath to his son whorushed the policeman toGandhi Hospital,” said theofficial.

When asked if the incidenthad shaken the police, JointCommissioner, Central Zone,P. Viswa Prasad said, “Themorale of police never goesdown. It is unfortunate that apolice official contracted thevirus. The police is alwaysmotivated and strive for soci-ety’s betterment.”

Hyderabad police commis-sioner Anjani Kumar made asurprise visit to several placesin the city and said about 95per cent of people are follow-ing social distancing normsand appealed to all others toensure maintaining distancefrom each other.

The top police officialwarned people not to ventureout unnecessarily and not tospread rumours on socialmedia.

Home minister MohammedMahmood Ali also appealed tothe public to follow isolationnorms at homes.

“Every small effort on ourpart will leave a big impact,”the minister said. About 1,400vehicles have been seized inthe three commissionerates inthe last fortnight for lockdownviolations, the state home min-ister added.

Wait for essentials

Women practise social distancing while standing in a long queue for free vegetables near RTC crossroads inHyderabad on Tuesday. — S. SURENDER REDDY

BALU PULIPAKA I DCHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

Unfounded fears that atiger which died in thePench reserve in MadhyaPradesh last Saturdayfrom possible exposure tocoronavirus have beenlaid to rest with officialsfrom the reserve makingit clear that the animalhad succumbed to animpacted intestine causedby a large hair ball lodgedin the digestive tract ofthe animal.

Reports about coron-avirus infection in a tigerat Bronx Zoo only addedfuel to the speculationabout the death of T-31,the designated number ofthe Pench tiger that diedon Saturday, according toofficials.

“Upon receiving infor-mation about the tiger indistress, we observed it foreight hours on Friday. Wealso used our elephants tocoax it out of the water-hole as it was nodding offand slipping into thewater. Not once was itobserved coughing andreports that it had nasaldischarges were wrong. Itwas the water thatdripped off its face when-ever it nodded off and its

face started going underwater and it again liftingits face up,” an officialfrom the reserve toldDeccan Chronicle.

The tiger passed awayaround 9 am on Saturdayat the water hole and somemedia reports said thatthe tiger could have diedfrom a mysterious virusinfection with somereporting that it died ofpossible coronavirusinfection.

“The post-mortem find-

ings were clear. There wasa large hairball inside itsgut and part of its stom-ach was filled with muddywater sludge. Because ofthe hairball impacting theintestines, the animalcould not feed and was indeep distress and suc-cumbed because of this,”a source said.

Cats, both domestic andin the wild, lick them-selves and some of theirfur enters their gut andforms hair balls. If they

are small and the animalmanages to regurgitate it,then it usually stays fine.For some reason if theanimal is unable to coughit out, the hairball growsin size over a period oftime and blocks the diges-tive tract, forcing the ani-mal off food.

Tiger’s death not due to Covid: Official

The male tiger in Pench Tiger Reserve hours before itsdeath from an impacted intestine arising from a foot-ball-sized hairball blocking its gut.

S.N.C.N. ACHARYULUI DC HYDERABAD, APRIL 7

The suggestion mooted byChief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao onextending the nationwidelockdown by at least twoweeks after April 14, whenthe three-week deadlineends, found favour frommost sections, includingpolitical leaders acrossparty lines and a cross-section of people, who allfelt that in present cir-cumstances, an extensionof the lockdown is a must.

They opined that ChiefMinister Rao’s argumentthat the economy could berecovered on a later datebut lost human lives can-not be recovered was theclincher.

Though the end of the21-days lockdown is near,April 14, number ofCoronavirus positivecases are increasing, notonly in the two Telugustates but also inMaharashtra, TamilNadu, New Delhi, amongothers.

In another week, itwould be impossible toflatten the coronaviruscurve. In these circum-stances, if the lockdown islifted and people startmoving, gathering at pub-lic places and mingling inpublic transport modes, itis bound to furtherincrease the reach of thevirus and augment num-ber of coronavirus casesto unmanageable levels.

Responding to Mr Rao’sproposal, offered to PrimeMinister Narendra Modiwhen they spoke telephon-ically on Sunday, LokSabha MP and TelanganaBJP president BandiSanjay Kumar said, “wewelcome any decision tocontrol the deadlyCoronavirus. Everyonemust support the deci-sions taken by all govern-ment, be it centre orstate.”

Former MP andCongress leader,Vijayashanthi also wel-comed the proposal, say-ing, “KCR correctly saidloss of money can berecovered but we cannotrecover loss of humanlives.”

Mr D.V.N. Reddy, chair-man, Telangana chapter,Builder’s Association ofIndia, said, “we believewhat the CM opined is cor-rect. If lockdown is notextended, we can’t controlpeople and positive caseswill increase. We feel itshould be extended up toApril 30. We can trackcases and put them in hos-pitals by April 15 acrossthe country and use next15 days to cure them.”

Dr T. Dasaratha RamiReddy, Yashoda Hospitals,said “extension of lock-down is good as the num-ber of cases is rapidlyincreasing. But it shouldbe done only after anotherpractical assessment ofstock of the situationthen. I personally feel it isbetter to extend for twomore weeks to minimisethe spread.”

Telangana TeluguDesam president L.Ramana said that “ourparty welcomes the exten-sion of lockdown but itshould be done after tak-ing opinions from expertsand public.”

TPCC treasurer GudurNarayana Reddy also wel-comed the extension oflockdown.

Many takers for KCR’slockdown extension plan

The proposal isbased on local

feedback and globalreports, which clearlyindicate the curve inIndia is rising and will doso for a few more weeksbefore it comes down.The CM has beenmonitoring it veryclosely and understandsour country’s socialbehaviour best.

— K.R. SURESH REDDY, MP TRS

If coronavirus isnot

controlled byApril 15, thereis no otherway except toextend the lockdown.The public of Indiasupports this.

— N. RAMACHANDRARAO, MLC, BJP

People may suffer temporarilyduring the lockdown, but will

be all right once coronavirus iscontrolled. Extension of lockdownfor some more days is a must inpresent situation.

— P. MOUNIKA REDDY, Homemaker

TRANSPORT FORSTRANDED PEOPLEDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

The Rachakonda policehas started the ‘alyte’service, with 10 vehiclesto transport peoplestranded during the lock-down. Rachakondapolice commissionerMahesh Bhagwat inau-gurated the service incollaboration with anMNC, where the callsreceived through Dial100, Covid control roomand also the private com-pany would be attendedto on priority. The servic-es can be availed by sen-ior citizens, single moth-ers, specially-abled per-sons who need to visitgrocery stores, pharma-cies, banks and post offi-cers, volunteers requir-ing to transport food andmedicines, those visitinghospitals and dispen-saries for periodical vis-its, and for health work-ers attending their dutiesand returning home. “Ifambulance servicesthrough 108 are not avail-able, public can reach outto the Rachakondapolice,” he said.

CONDUCT COVIDTEST FOR ANIMAL KEEPERS: MINISTER DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

Forests and environmentminister A. IndrakaranReddy instructed the for-est department to haveanimal keepers in thezoos, including those atthe Nehru ZoologicalPark, tested for coron-avirus. The instructionswere issued during areview with principalchief conservator offorests R. Shobha, on pre-cautions to be taken up toensure the safety of ani-mals in the wake of a tigerat New York’s Bronx Zootesting positive for Covid-19 disease.

SIX MALAYSIANSVIOLATE VISANORMS, BOOKED

Pay sanitation staff, Uttam tells govt Help orange farmers: BandiDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

Telangana BJP presidentand MP Bandi SanjayKumar demanded that thestate government helporange and lemon farmersas they have been unableto market their producedue to the nationwide lock-down.

He said that farmers arestruggling to transport

their product to Nagpur inMaharashtra, the biggestmarket. Provision oftransport facilities willhelp the state’s farmers geta good price. The state BJPchief said because of thelockdown farmers wereunable to even sell theirproducts locally. If trans-port cannot be arranged,the government shouldtake immediate steps topurchase orange and

lemon crops from the dis-tressed farmers, he under-lined. Mr Sanjay appreci-ated Chief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao forbringing to the notice ofPrime Minister NarendraModi the scarcity ofgunny bags. Procuringthese bags is essential asthe state has recordedgood paddy productionduring the kharif season,the he added.

IREDDY SRINIVAS REDDY | DCHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

Telangana PradeshCongress CommitteePresident N. Uttam KumarReddy demanded that thestate government immedi-ately release pendingsalaries to municipal sani-tation staff and ensuresupply of personal protec-tion equipment for med-ical professionals.

Mr Reddy was speakingafter felicitated the sanita-tion staff of Miryaguda

municipality on Tuesdayalong with Congress lead-ers by showering flowerspetals and washing theirfeet. Congress leaders alsoprovided them with cashincentives, masks, fooditems and other equip-ment. Mr Reddy applaud-ed the services being ren-dered by the sanitationstaff, medical profession-als and police personneland said it was a privilegefor him to felicitate thesanitation staff on theoccasion of World HealthDay. He expressed shock

after learning that thesanitation staff ofMiryalguda municipalityhad not been paid salariesfor two months.

He said they were notbeing supplied with safetyequipment. He spoke tothe municipal commis-sioner and urged him torelease the salaries.

The TPCC chief said thatthe statement made byChief Minister K.Chandrashekar Rao onMonday that the state'srevenues in the last weekof March had dropped

from estimated `2,400crore to just `6 crore waspuzzling. What happenedto the revenues collectedbefore the imposition oflockdown on March 22, heasked.

Stating that the govern-ment must have collectedover `7,000 crore in thefirst three weeks ofMarch, he asked the ChiefMinister to clarify ontheir utilisation as thegovernment had so far notspent a huge amount onanti-coronavirus opera-tions.

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

Six Malaysian nationalswho violated visa condi-tions and concealedtheir travel history to areligious congregationheld recently at Delhiwere booked by theBanjara Hills police,along with the personwho sheltered them.

According to thepolice, the nationalscame to India on a visitvisa but attended thereligious congregationwhich is a violation ofvisa norms.

The Malaysian nation-als travelled toHyderabad and werestaying at Hakimpet.

Despite the govern-ment appealing to thepeople to come forwardif they had attended theTablighi Jamaat event atNizamuddin Markaz inDelhi, they failed to doso.

They were shifted to agovernment quarantinecentre. Their sampleswere tested for Covid-19and the results are notyet known, said thepolice.

We welcome theproposal

to extend thelockdown.Whateverdecision istaken by Chief Ministerfor welfare of people ofTelangana, we willextend our fullestsupport.

— PADMA CHARY,President, Telangana

Employee’s Union

Prevention isbetter

than cure. Itis easier tostopsomethinghappening in first placethan to repair damageafterwards. To preventdeadly coronavirus,extension of lockdown isthe only way.

— PELLURU KRISHNAJYOTHI, Homemaker

The Telanganagovernment’s

proposal toextendlockdown byanother twoweeks is,without a doubt, correct.But government shouldbe more stringent inaction in case ofviolations.

— K. SOWRY, Retiredbank employee

We areexperiencing

lockdownsince last 15days. It isbetter toextendlockdown to protectlives of people. Nothingis more important thanthat.

— KANDADAI PAVANKUMAR, Software

professional

Lockdown hitsdialysis patientsMany private hosps turn into isolation unitsKANIZA GARARI I DCHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

Getting dialysis care isproving to be a big chal-lenge for patients duringthe lockdown.

Around 40 Aarogyasricenters across Telanganastate are running at fullcapacity, creating fearsamongst hospital staffthat there might be anoverloading on dialysismachines and they mustnot break down. The facil-ity is being used round-the-clock by patients com-ing to Aaroyasri centres,as private centers are nottaking new cases due toCovid-19.

The new cases of dialy-sis are a challenge as theirtravel history, tempera-tures for fever and symp-toms have to be checkedbefore they can use theunit. The protocols ofcare have to be main-tained as an infection canbe a disaster for the unit.Hence, doctors are ensur-

ing that only those caseswith no symptoms andtravel history are admit-ted.

Dr Manisha Sahay, sen-ior nephrologist, OsmaniaGeneral Hospital, said,“we are operating in fullcapacity at the OGH as allpatients from GandhiHospital are now cominghere. Initially, there werechallenges due to non-availability of transporta-tion, but after issuing cer-tificates, patients are com-ing regularly.”

The biggest challenge isfor patients who canafford these services,because private sectorfacilities are shut down

due to lockdown. They donot want to go to govern-ment centers even asother private centers arescreening them before giv-ing services, adding totheir problems.

Mr Vikram Vuppala,founder, NephroPlus,said, “with private hospi-tals becoming isolationcenters for Covid-19, dial-ysis patients have been hitbadly. Adjusting them inother centres means theyhave to travel some dis-tance, which is more thanusual. Our data estimatesshow that 20 per cent ofthem are not able to cometo centers. Some of themare skipping a round ofdialysis due to cash con-strains. This will not begood for their health.”

Dialysis patients need tovisit hospitals once inthree days. Those who areon peritoneal dialysishave to visit only once in amonth but these are veryfew patients in that cate-gory.

● ● DIALYSIS PATIENTSneed to visit hospitalsonce in three days. Thosewho are on peritonealdialysis have to visit onlyonce in a month but theseare very few patients inthat category.

Imams, muezzinsget remuneration

Hyderabad: The Wakf Boardhas released `10 crore

towards the remuneration ofimams and muezzins for

November and December.Wakf Board Chairman

Mohammed Saleem said thiswas done considering the

lockdown. The governmenthas not released the amount

from January. The WakfBoard pays `5,000 to each

of the 9,995 imams andmuezzins every month in

compliance with a SupremeCourt verdict.

7,600 pharmadocs offer services

Hyderabad: TelanganaPlanning Board vice-chair-

man B. Vinod Kumar saidover 7,600 pharma doctorshad offered join in the fight

against Covid-19. PharmDDoctors Association state

president Dr BanothChandrashekar Naik and

other office bearers met MrKumar on Tuesday and

offered to extend their serv-ices. They said PharmD

degree holders had beenrecognised as doctors by an

Act of Parliament.

Depressed techiecommits suicide

Hyderabad: Depressed thathis live-in partner left him, asoftware engineer commit-

ted suicide at a flat in KPHBColony on Tuesday. He left a

note mentioning that hecould not live without her.

KPHB inspector K. LamxmiNarayana said the victim,

Chandra Kiran, 32, stayed ata rented house in Begumpetwith his girlfriend and shift-

ed to KPHB about eightmonths ago. While taking

the house on rent, they toldthe house owner that they

were married. Around 25days back, the woman leftKiran and was living sepa-

rately. On Tuesday morning,a friend of the techie visited

the flat where he foundKiran dead.

Delhi returneealleges harassmentATHER MOIN I DCHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

An elderly person wastaken into quarantineunder government super-vision just because he vis-ited Delhi and stayedthere between April 14and April 17.

Mohammed Moinuddinsaid he visited Delhi tomeet his lawyer, practic-ing in the Supreme Court,in connection with a legalmatter.

He said after returningfrom Delhi on April 18, hewas receiving phone callsfrom police personnelseeking informationabout his Delhi visit.

He said on April 4,police personnel camewith an ambulance andrequested him to undergoa Covid-19 test andassured him that hewould be allowed toreturn home later. Theytook him to Sarojini Devieye hospital, took the testand kept him in quaran-tine. He said he and otherinmates of quarantinewere not informed aboutthe results so far. MrMoinuddin said he is not

able to understand whyhe and others were kepthere without intimatingthem about their healthconditions.

“We are being projectedas suspect cases, while Idid not attend theTablighi Jamaat ijtemanor did I meet any personwho attended the ijtema.If I was being quaran-tined just because I visit-ed Delhi and am aMuslim, then it willincrease the suspect tolland will create panicamong the common peo-ple,” he said.

●● MOHAMMEDMOINUDDIN said onApril 4, police person-nel came with anambulance andrequested him toundergo a Covid-19test and assured himthat he would beallowed to return homelater. They took him toSarojini Devi eye hospi-tal, took the test andkept him in quarantine.

CITY pg 3DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | 8 APRIL 2020

IN BRIEF Centre releases app totrack Covid-19 patients‘Aarogya Setu’ will record movements of users on their phonesADITYA CHUNDURU I DCHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

A week ago, the Centrereleased a contract tracingapplication. The appnamed ‘Aarogya Setu’,upon being downloaded ina user’s smartphone, willrecord all his movementsusing Bluetooth and GPS.During this time, if theuser is found to have comeacross a Covid-19 positivepatient whose locationdata is also recorded inthis app, he/she will bealerted about it.

Contact tracing apps arenot new and have recentlybeen used in countriessuch as Singapore andChina, albeit eliciting crit-icism from some quarters.Privacy experts in Indianote that when it comes toAargoya Setu, there isvery little information onhow the app will be oper-ated and how it will col-lect, store, and share userdata.

How the app works:Upon downloading, usersare asked to register usingtheir mobile numbers.They are also asked toenter their name, gender,age and medical conditionbased on a set of fur-nished options. Mostimportantly, it asks usersto keep their Bluetoothand location services(GPS-based in mostphones) on at all times.The app will use both tech-nologies to pin-point a per-son’s location with reason-able precision. The appalso has a “self-assess-ment” tool which allows

you to assess your riskusing an automated chat-bot.

Documentation in theapp notes that personalinformation of userswould be stored locally inthe user’s device. The gov-ernment will get access tothe same data in“anonymised, aggregateddatasets for the purpose ofgenerating reports [...]”. Ifa user tests positive, how-ever, this personal infor-mation could be given tothe government.

Within a week of goinglive on Google Playstore(it is also available on theiOS store), the app hasbeen downloaded by morethan one crore people, giv-ing the government awealth of information.There is very little clarityon who will have access tothis data, and if it will beshared with the state gov-ernments in any form.

There is such a dearth ofinformation that it isn’tclear how the main objec-tive — of alerting peopleabout positive cases —will work. The app itself

doesn’t allow users to self-report as positive, so howis it supposed to know ofthe person’s Covid-19 testresult?

A senior bureaucratfrom the Telangana stategovernment speculatedthat it could be donethrough data furnished bythe Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR),the Central institutionthat is running the Covid-19 testing operation in thecountry. “ICMR has alldetails of all people whohave tested positive so far,along with their mobilenumbers. Perhaps, oncesomeone is tested positive,his mobile number is fedinto the Aarogya Setuapp,” he said.

So far, the state govern-ment hasn’t received anycommunication about thesharing of Aarogya Setudata from Union ministryof electronics and infor-mation technology or thehealth ministry. “Rightnow, the app seems to betargeted only for individ-ual-citizen usage,” he said.

Mr Sidharth Deb, policyand parliamentary coun-sel for the InternetFreedom Foundation(IFF), a digital rights advo-cacy group, pointed outthat the legal/legislativegrounds on which the appis functioning remainsunknown. “Our surveil-lance architecture is notaligned with the right toprivacy. Firstly, the gov-ernment needs to eluci-date the value of contacttracing and location sur-veillance in this situation.

They also need to be trans-parent about how the datawill be stored, the extentto which it is collected, thepurpose for which it willbe processed and by whenit will be deleted,” he said.He added that the govern-ment must clarify whichgovernment departmentswill have access to thedata.

Additionally, Mr Debsaid the app’s claim of“anonymised aggrega-tion” also require scruti-ny. “There are caseswherein anonymiseddatasets remain informa-tion security risks and canstill be vulnerable to re-identification of personal-ly identifiable informa-tion,” he said.

Mr Srinivas Kodali, anindependent researcherand privacy rightsactivist, noted that thatmass adoption of AargoyaSetu would be an essentialfactor in its success.“Almost everyone needs tohave the app installed ontheir phones. We don’tknow if this is feasible inIndia where internet andmobile connectivity is justpicking up,” he said.Additionally, he arguedthat whatever insights theapp is able to provideneeds to be given to thestate governments as well,since it is they who are atthe forefront of the pan-demic response activities.“In any case, an app won’tsolve everything. We needvaccines, medical andsafety equipment toaddress the situation,” headded.

A child seen selling watermelons to financially help his family in Khairtabad onTuesday. — R. PAVAN

Essential commodities being packed on Tuesday by volunteers for Deputy speaker T. Padma Rao who will be distributing them to middle class families in his constituency in Secunderabad. — S. SURENDER REDDY

Farmers sent to 600 areasas 12 rythu bazaars shutMADDY DEEKSHITH I DCHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

The Telangana state gov-ernment decided onTuesday to set up 3V safetunnels, a disinfectanttunnel, at major marketslike Monda and LB Nagarin the city to contain thespread of coronavirus.The TRS government alsodecided to close down 12rythu bazaars in the cityand send the farmers to600 different locations.

The government decidedto continue this modeleven after the lockdownsince it has been receivinggood response from veg-etable buyers. The govern-ment is conducting a sur-vey currently, in partner-ship with the NationalRemote Sensing Agency(NRSA), to find out theconsumption pattern ingated communities, slumsand different colonies tosupply vegetables at thepeople’s doorsteps to av-oid congestion at markets.

Despite the closure ofhotels, restaurants andfunction halls, the averageconsumption of vegeta-bles has increased by 1, 300 quintals per day inthe city. The price of veg-etables has decreased bysix per cent in average.

The retail price of per kgof tomato on Tuesday was`15, brinjal `27, ladies’ fin-ger `33, green chillies `31,

bitter gourd `31, ribbedgourd `33, cauliflower `17,cabbage `20, carrot `34,potato `35, onions `28 andall others commodities ataround `15.

Similar pricing will bemaintained during lock-down to benefit farmersand consumers. The mar-keting department offi-cials said there will be noshortage of vegetablesand people need not worryabout price hikes.

Principal secretary(agriculture) B. Janard-han Reddy told DeccanChronicle that 3V safe tun-nels would be installed attwo major market yards atBowenpally and LBNagar, where commodi-ties come from all dis-tricts, and even neigh-bouring states. He saidthat disinfection tunnelswould be installed at bothmarkets to contain spreadof virus.

Mr Reddy said that 12rythu bazaars in the city

have been shut duringlockdown. Vegetableswere being supplied to6,000 locations across thecity to avoid congestion atmarkets.

“Though the departmenthas increased per kg priceof each commodity by `5,we have been receivingoverwhelming responsefrom public since they canavoid congestion at mar-ket places, maintainsocial distance, and getvegetables at doorstops.They save on travel andfuel cost. Since there isgood response for mobilerythu bazaars from con-sumers, we would imple-ment the same even afterlockdown,” Mr Reddysaid.

He said the departmenthas been coordinatingwith NRSA to geo-fencelocalities to check demandof vegetables across thecity and rationalise it.Based on density anddemand, the departmentwill supply requiredquantity of vegetables.

“To eradicate public con-gestion, we would eventu-ally shut weekly marketsand supply vegetables todoorsteps. The idea ofdecentralisation of rythubazaars have impressedthe Centre and it hasasked state governmentshare the model to imple-ment it across the coun-try,” Mr Reddy added.

ETALA GIVESCREDIT TO KTRFOR FUNDS

Cong questionsKCR over virusIREDDY SRINIVAS REDDY | DC HYDERABAD, APRIL 7

TPCC working presidentand Malkajgiri MP A.Revanth Reddy onTuesday questioned ChiefMinister K. Chandrash-ekar Rao why he was notconsulting with Oppos-ition leaders in the statewhen Prime MinisterNarendra Modi was doingso, with regard to takingpreventive measures tocontain Covid-19.

Speaking with the med-ia after distributing rati-on to the poor in his cons-tituency, he asked why MrRao had not consultedwith medical experts oncontaining the spread ofthe disease. “It appearsthat KCR and his son KTRare alone having expert-ise and the rest are use-less,” Mr Revanth Reddysaid

He said it is strange thatMr Rao was wishing thatCovid effect uponOpposition leaders whopointed out the flaws ofthe government.

Elsewhere, CongressLegislature Party leaderBhatti Vikramarka on Tu-

esday took serious except-ion to the language usedby CM K. ChandrashekarRao against Oppositionleaders during Monday’spress conference.

He said Mr Rao’s langu-age had pained him. “Wecould also use such wordsagainst him but we haverespect for KCR’s age,”Mr Bhatti said. It wasunfortunate that the CMwas targeting the Oppo-sition though they were s-upporting the measuresbeing taken by the gov-ernment.

He said that the Opposi-tion would support the ex-tension of the lockdown,precautions have to be ta-ken to ensure that the po-or do not suffer. He saidthose with white rationcards.

Meanwhile, in a letter toMr Rao, senior Congressleader and Bhongir MPKomatireddy Venkat Reddy expressed dissatis-faction with the policiesof TRS in the wake of thelockdown. He appealed tothe government to addr-ess the problems ofthe poor people in thestate and address theirconcerns.

CIVIC WORKSIN OLD CITYINSPECTED

HC TO CANCELITS SUMMER

VACATION


Officials of the municipaladministration and urbandevelopment including ArvindKumar visited the Old City onTuesday and took stock of theStrategic Road DevelopmentPlan (SRDP) works beingtaken up. They inspected con-struction of multi-level gradeseparator works near OwaisiHospital junction flyover andinstructed GHMC engineers tospeed up foundation works.

They told officers to makeuse of lockdown and expediteworks as there is minimalvehicular movement. Engin-eers briefed the officials aboutprogress of work.

Later, they inspected pro-posed extension of existinggrade separator atChadrayanagutta to Barkasroad junction, where workscould not be taken up as shift-ing of pipelines was not takenup.

The MA&UD officials urgedwater board officials to initi-ate steps to shift pipelines.

Tough times

Helping the needy

After lifting of lockdown, actual consumption will be recorded, bills adjusted thereafterELECTRICITY | CRISIS

‘Interim bills’ for power consumers due to Covid-19BALU PULIPAKA I DCHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

Electricity consumers inthe state will get ‘interimbills’ for April based ontheir previous power con-sumption patterns, as pera decision taken by theTelangana StateElectricity RegulatoryCommission (TSERC).

According to ordersreleased by the commis-

sion on Tuesday, distribu-tion companies have notbeen able to record meterreadings of consumersdue to the ongoing lock-down following the out-break of coronavirus.Because of this, only inter-im bills will be issued for April.

Immediately after liftingof the lockdown by thestate government, theactual consumption will

be recorded and billsadjusted thereafter.

The TSERC said for LT-Idomestic connections

existing since March 2019or earlier, the bill to beissued this April will beequal to the bill amount

for April 2019. Consumerswho have received connec-tion between April 1, 2019and February 29, 2020, thebill generated this Aprilwill be equal to the billthey received in March2020. For consumers whoreceived a new connectionthis March, the bill will befor minimum powerdemand for each of suchconnections.

For all other LT cate-

gories except agriculture,the new bills will be 50 percent of the bill amount forApril 2019 if they havebeen consumers beforeMarch 2019, with similartimelines for active powerconnections, TSERC clari-fied. It said consumers willbe intimated about estimated bills throughdigital channels, such asSMS, mobile apps, web-sites and so on.

The commission further said transmissionand distribution compa-nies will be exempt from making payments togenerating stations for three months becauseof the lockdown impac-ting revenues. It main-tained that these relax-ations are as per theCentral ElectricityRegulatory Commissionguidelines.

●● THE RETAIL price ofper kg of tomato onTuesday was `15, brinjal`27, ladies’ finger `33,green chillies `31, bittergourd `31, ribbed gourd`33, cauliflower `17, cab-bage `20, carrot `34,potato `35, onions `28and all others commodi-ties at around `15.

●● HOW THE APP WORKS:Upon downloading, usersare asked to registerusing their mobile num-bers. They are also askedto enter their name, gen-der, age and medical con-dition based on a set offurnished options. Mostimportantly, it asks usersto keep their Bluetoothand location services onat all times.

●● DISTRIBUTION companies have not beenable to record meter readings of consumersdue to the ongoing lockdown following theoutbreak of coronavirus

Tech company sacks 80 workersDC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

Small IT companies arestruggling with the ongo-ing Covid-19 crisis. AcrossHyderabad, employees ofmultiple such companiesare either being laid off orface salary cuts.

Selectsys India PrivateLimited, a company withan office in Jubilee Hills,with around 300 employ-ees, has sent emails to sev-eral employees tellingthem they have been fired.An employee who hadreceived the mail said atleast 80 others received it.The employee said thatthe company had beenunable to offer them a

work-from-home optionand work had come to astandstill since the lock-down began. “Like mostothers, I got the email onSunday, a non-workingday. Some others receivedit on Monday,” he said.

He rued that he was una-ble to speak to the manag-ement to negotiate a sever-ance package or even col-lect a relieving letter. “Itwill be at last 5-6 monthsbefore we can look for ajob again. I have no ideawhat to expect until then,”he said. The email, sent bya HR professional, blamedthe Covid-19 crisis for thelayoffs. “As we all knowCovid-19 has impacted thewhole world and our busi-

ness too is not an excep-tion [...] we have no choicebut to lay off someemployees by April 6 [...]So you have been laid off[...] We could hopefully re-hire you at a later dateonce everything comes tonormal,” it read.

Phone calls to the compa-ny’s landline went unans-wered. Emails to the com-pany’s director, Vijaya La-kshmi, and CEO, Kalyan,are yet to be answered.

Another city-based com-pany is facing issues beca-use of the pandemic. ThePanjagutta-based compa-ny, which has less than 50employees, has sentemails to its employeesthat they would be paid

only 20 per cent of the‘basic’ component of theirsalaries.

Mr Vinay KumarPyaraka, head of theInformation TechnologyEmployees Association(ITEA), said his organisa-tion has been receiving aflood of emails in the pastfew days from IT employ-ees, not just in Hyderabadbut all over the country.“Almost all companies arelooking to cut costs. Infact, it is not just the smallones, even the big MNCsare doing it,” he said.

He said ITEA was look-ing into the legalities ofwhat could be done to pro-vide relief to the laid-offemployees.

VUJJINI VAMSHIDHARA I DCHYDERABAD, APRIL 7

The Telangana High Court onTuesday decided to cancel thesummer vacation to the courts,were which scheduled fromfirst week of May to June 5.The decision was taken by afull court meeting on Tuesdaythrough a videoconference.

Since March 23, when the loc-kdown was imposed by the sta-te government, all courts werehearing only urgent mattersthrough videoconferencing.

The court decided that irre-spective of the decision on theextension or lifting of the lock-down, all courts in the statewill conduct proceedings onlyin the virtual mode like video-conferencing April 30.

451 bottles ofliquor seized

Techie injured inroad accident

Police trace missing youth

LVPEI developslow-cost visor

Hyderabad: The KPHB policearrested a man who was sell-ing liquor illegally at his hou-

se on Tuesday and seized451 bottles of liquor of vari-ous brands from the prem-

ises. On a tip-off, KPHB pol-ice and the Madhapur Spe-

cial Operations Team appre-hended G. Vittal Rao, 45, aresident of Hydernagar. He

was found selling IMF liquorbottles for higher prices.

Hyderabad: A software engi-neer who broke the lock-

down rules and was drivingaround in his car and met

with a road accident at NTRMarg. Raunak Agarwal, 29, asoftware an employee from

Himayathnagar, escapedwith minor injuries as the

airbags opened. Police saidhe was speeding in his car(TS 29 FA 0990) towards

Khairatabad when it rammedinto a median and over-

turned. It was found that hewas going to meet his wife.

The police said the breathal-yser test was negative.

Hyderabad: Police traced asoftware engineer within 24

hours of his having gone‘missing.” The police foundthe techie, C. Nagadharani

Dutt, 23, at his friend’s place.Addicted to online gambling,Dutt had lost `80,000 which

he had borrowed from hismother in an online game.

On Monday, Dutt had left amessage on WhatsApp to his

mother, stating that he hadlost his job and money and

wanted to end his life. His fa-ther, a businessman, complai-

ned to the police. Rachako-nda police commissioner Ma-hesh Bhagwat congratulated

the team for tracing Dutt.

Hyderabad: The LV PrasadEye Institute’s (LVPEI) Centerfor Innovation has developeda low-cost visor for clinicians

and frontline staff. The full-face protective gear is a

transparent visor that is wornover a surgical mask, and

protects the face. The design,which is open-sourced, isexpected to be useful for

medical staff during theongoing Covid-19 crisis. The

cost of making on visor isestimated at `50 and it is

being used by LVPEI doctorsand staffers.

From Page 1

“We are arranging forlakhs of PPE kits and N-95 masks. Thanks to MrRama Rao’s initiatives,many donors are comingforward to contribute toour efforts to containfurther spread of thevirus,” Rajendar said.

Meanwhile, in severalother districts, local ad-ministrations continuedimposing severe restric-tions and setting up ‘nomovement’ zones. Addit-ional such zones wereset up in Nizamabad dis-trict on Tuesday.

“Even if there is justone case, but with con-tacts of primary patient,we are imposing such re-strictions in the distri-cts. No one living insuch a zone can either le-ave nor can any outsiderenter it,” Rajendar said.

He called on people tostrictly follow ‘social dis-tancing’ and maintaindistance between eachother. “The only way tostop the disease is bystaying put at home. Ifone has to go out, thenensure social distance ismaintained,” he said.

NATION pg 4DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | 8 APRIL 2020

SHORT TAKESBJP MLA, SENA

LEADER BOOKEDFOR HOLDING PUJA DC CORRESPONDENTMUMBAI, APRIL 6

In Maharashtra, not just thecommon people, but even thepoliticians are violating thelockdown rules. Police hasfiled a complaint againstBharatiya Janata Party MLASurjit Singh Thakur and ShivSena leader Sambhaji Shindefor performing puja at theVitthal-Rukmini Mandir atPandharpur.

According to sources, MrThakur and Mr Shinde, bothmembers of the Shri VitthalRukmini Mandir Samiti, per-formed puja at the temple onthe occasion of ChaitraEkadashi on April 4.

Though the Samiti had can-celled the annual fair this year,the puja of Shri Vitthal andRukmini was carried out atthe hands of both the leaders,who were present with theirwives.

The Pandharpur city policefiled complaints against MrThakur and Mr Shinde andtheir wives accusing them ofviolating the lockdown. In thecomplaint, it has been men-tioned that Mr Thakur, despitethe lockdown, reached Pandh-arpur without any legal perm-ission and performed the puja.

However, Mr Thakur hasdenied charges saying it’s apolitical vendetta against him.“The decision to perform pujaat the temple was taken by theMandir Samiti well in advanceon January 7. During the puja,only me, my wife and one moreperson was present. It can beverified by checking the CCTVfootage,” he said.

TAKE CARE, BANERJEE TELLS DIDI

RAJIB CHOWDHURI | DCKOLKATA, APRIL 7

Nobel laureate AbhijitVinayak Banerjee on Tuesdayexpressed concern over WestBengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee’s frequentvisits to public places acrossthe city amidst lockdown dueto Covid-19 pandemic after sheput the statewide death toll atfive in wake of the BJP’s alle-gation of cover-up by her gov-ernment.

Advising the Trinamul Cong-ress supremo to be “careful”Prof. Banerjee, who has beenroped in by her government tohead a high-level panel ofexperts to tackle the economiccrisis, also prescribed a list of measures to be taken as thestate government is going toease the restrictions further by allowing thereopening of markets forflower and agricultural pro-duces despite identification ofseven hotspots of the infec-tion.

At a video conference, theNobel Laureate told Banerjee,“You take care of yourself. Iam already confined at home.You are however going aroundeverywhere. I am concernedabout you.”

He also wondered about vari-ous types of markets in thestate being thrown open to thepublic while referring to theChief Minister’s announce-ment.

JAMAAT MEMBERSDEFECATE OUTSIDEQUARANTINE ROOM

BHASKAR HARI SHARMA | DCNEW DELHI, APRIL 7

The Delhi Police on Tuesdayhas registered an FIR againsttwo members of TablighiJamaat for allegedly defecat-ing in front of a room at aquarantine centre in OuterDelhi’s Narela.

The police said that the duoaccused have been identifiedas Mohammad Fahd (25) andAdnam Zahir (18). They areresidents of Barabanki inUttar Pradesh and had attend-ed the religious congregationheld last month at Markaz.

According to a senior policeofficial, after a few memberswho attended it were testedpositive for coronavirus inMarch, several others wereshifted to different quarantinecentres across the city.

“The case was registered onSaturday, after the policereceived information from thesanitation staff at the quaran-tine centre about the men defe-cating in front of their rooms,”said the senior police official.

“The incident took place infront of Room No. 212 on thesecond floor of the centre. Asanitation worker and thehouse keeping supervisorreported the incident. The sus-pects didn’t follow the instruc-tions of the health departmentand government to prevent thespread of the virus,” read theFIR registered at NarelaIndustrial Area police station.

From Page 1

Under the graded plan,the Centre will scan alldistricts in India to find ifthere are any new pan-demic cases or if there isa slowdown in theirspread.

Based on this, those dis-tricts where cases haveincreased or morehotspots are identified,will remain in lockdown.

If it is found districtsare seeing a slowdown interms of infection spread,people in such areaswould be allowed to moveout, but the borders of“improving districts”would be sealed so thatpeople from neighbour-ing districts cannot enterthem.

Also, sources said rural(or tribal) belts which

have largely remainedunaffected by the Covidvirus would be isolatedfrom urban areas by seal-ing their borders to pre-vent the movement ofcity people to such areas.

The movement of essen-tial commodities will,however, be eased.

A large number ofstates, includingMaharashtra, Telangana,Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh,Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Punjab and Karnatakaare not keen on endingthe lockdown soon andhave indicated it shouldbe eased gradually.

It may be noted thatmany have indicated theywould take a call afterreviewing the situationprevailing at the end ofthe ongoing lockdownperiod.

From Page 1

In a series of tweets, shesaid that media was notgiven access to her moth-er at all despite waitingfor hours. “Is Govern-ment of India scared thatshe’ll articulate herviews on illegal abroga-tion of Article 370?”, sheasked and asserted “Timedoesn’t change facts orerase a betrayal etched inmemory”.

She said that whenrestrictions are finallylifted on Ms. Mufti, shewill approach all stake-holders for a joint strate-gy to move forward. “Shewill also speak to thepress about her views onwhat transpired postAugust 5,” she saidadding that the formerchief minister has urgedthe Centre to immediate-ly release all detaineesincluding political lead-ership jailed in and out-side J&K.

She said, “AllKashmiris illegallydetained since August 5deserve freedom. Theircontinued incarcerationeven in times of a pan-demic undermines ourdemocratic credentials.Nevertheless, I’d like tothank everyone for theirsupport & good wishes.”

Reacting to Ms. Mufti’scontinued incarceration,National Conferenceleader and former chiefminister Omar Abdullahtweeted, “@Mehbooba-Mufti must be set free.Shifting her home whilecontinuing to keep herdetained is a cop out”.

J&K People’s Confe-rence chief spokespersonand Srinagar’s MayorJunaid Azim Mattu saidthe continued detentionof Ms. Mufti and othermainstream politicians is“authoritarian”. He said,“They’ve been underdetention for more thaneight months now- notallowed access to themedia, to their colleaguesand their relatives.”

Ms. Mufti is among sev-eral politicians who weretaken into custody aheador immediately afterArticle 370 was scrapped.

SANJAY KAW & SUNILTHAPLIYAL | DC NEW DELHI, APRIL 7

Delhi chief ministerArvind Kejriwal, onTuesday, unveiled a ‘5T’action plan to combat thenovel coronavirus andsaid that the administra-tion will conduct 1 lakhrandom tests for thedeadly disease in thecity’s hotspot areas.

The five-point plan con-sists of rapid randomtesting at hotspots, trac-ing patients, scaling-uptreatment for up to 30,000active patients, team-work with Central andstate governments, andtracking.

Delhi is the first statein the country to go forrandom testing to detectCovid-19 carriers.

The chief ministerstressed that there wasan urgent need to learn

from other countries onhow to tackle the deadlyvirus and that oneshould be three stepsahead of the disease.Elaborating on theaction plan, he said,“The first ‘T’ is testing. Ifyou don’t test, you won’tbe able to find out whichhouses have been affect-ed. It’ll go on spreading.South Korea identifiedevery single individualthrough large scale test-ing. We are now going todo large scale testing likeSouth Korea.”

Mr Kejriwal said thatthe government hasstarted receiving 50,000testing kits.

“We have also placedorders for 1,00,000 testingkits. From Friday, wewill be equipped to holdrapid tests. Wherever wehave hotspots likeMarkaz (Nizamuddin)and Dilshad Garden, we

will hold random tests.”Mr Kejriwal said that

the second step is trac-ing.

He said, “We have alsostarted taking the help ofthe police. We have giventhem the phone numbersof 27,702 people to findout if the people, underself-quarantine, areindeed staying at homes.Today we are going togive 2,000 phone num-bers of people who werebrought out of Markaz tofind out if they roamedin the area. The areas

they went out to, will besealed and monitored.”

The state governmenthas declared Lok NayakHospital, GB PantHospital, and RajivGandhi Super SpecialityHospital for treatment ofCovid-19 patients only.

Mr Kejriwal said 2,950beds have been keptready only for coron-avirus patients. Of these,400 beds are in privatehospitals — Max (Saket),Apollo, and Ganga Ram.

The chief minister saidif Delhi has 30,000 activepatients, the governmentwill take over 8,000 bedsin hospitals, 12,000 hotelrooms, and 10,000patients will be in ban-quets and dharamshalas.

He said, “We have alsoplanned at what stage wewill need it. We are alsoprepping for ventilatorsand PPE (personal place-ment equipment) kits

and what are the num-bers we will need.”

Mr Kejriwal said it washis responsibility tomonitor 24x7 whetherthe administration wasdoing its job as assignedto them. He, however,praised both the stateand the Central govern-ments for rising abovepolitical interests to fightthe Covid-19 battle.

He said, “I am happythat all governments —state and Central — andagencies are also work-ing together. We need toensure team work andlearn from other statesand their best practices.We need to ensure that ifthe lockdown is lifted inone state, patients fromother states don’t go andinfect there. If we staythree steps ahead ofcoronavirus, we will beable to defeat it.”

People maintain social distance as they stand in queues to collect drinking water in Chennai on Tuesday during the nationwide lockdown,imposed as a preventive measure against the coronavirus pandemic. — PTI

In a first, Delhi to conduct1L random tests at hotspots

ALLOWANCES OFMPs TOO CUT BY30 PER CENTDC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, APRIL 7

A day after the 30 percent pay cut for mem-bers of Parliament, theCentre on Tuesdayissued notifications say-ing there will also be a30 per cent cut in theMPs’ constituency andoffice allowances.

The MPs get `70,000 asconstituency allowanceand `60,000 for officeexpenses, in addition totheir salary, which is `1lakh.

Their salary has beenreduced to `70,000 andnow they will get `49,000as constituencyallowance and `54,000for office expenses.

The office expenseshas two components —salary of staff (`40,000)and stationaryallowance (`20,000).

While the staff salarycomponent has not beentouched, the amount forstationary has been cutby 30 per cent.

The Cabinet had onMonday also suspendedthe Member ofParliament Local AreaDevelopment fund fortwo years, and themoney will go to theConsolidated Fund ofIndia.

MOB ATTACKS COPSFOR ENFORCINGLOCKDOWNRABINDRA NATHCHOUDHURY | DCBHOPAL, APRIL 7

A mob here late on Mondayattacked a patrolling partywith sharp weapons for enfor-cing lockdown, leaving twocops injured. The assailantsopposed the move by the poli-cemen to enforce lockdownand then attacked them withknives, causing stabbing inju-ries to two cops.

The injured policemen wererushed to the local govern-ment hospital.

Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan took seriousnote of the incident and orde-red to book the assailants und-er NSA. The key accused,Shaheed, was arrested afterbeing booked under NSA.

AK unveils 5-point plan, says testing, tracking, treatment to go up

Rural bordersmay be sealed

IT IS COP OUT,SAYS OMARON SHIFTINGMEHBOOBA

One patient can infect406 people: ICMRNew Delhi, April 7:An ICMR study hasfound that a Covid-19patient can infect 406people in 30 days if pre-ventive measures suchas lockdown and socialdistancing are notimplemented, theUnion health ministrysaid on Tuesday.

With preventive meas-ures in place, the possi-bility of the infectioncan be reduced to anaverage of just two-and-a-half persons perpatient in the sameperiod, joint secretaryin the ministry ofhealth Lav Agarwalsaid.

Citing the IndianCouncil of MedicalResearch (ICMR) study,Agarwal said that thecurrent 'R0' or R naughtfor the coronavirus

infection is somewherebetween 1.5 and 4.

'R0' is a mathematicalterm that indicates howcontagious an infec-tious disease is.

It tells the averagenumber of people whowill catch a diseasefrom one infected per-son.

“If we take the 'R0' tobe 2.5 then one positiveperson can infect 406people in 30 days, if thelockdown and social

distancing measuresare not in place, but ifsocial exposure isreduced by 75 per centthen that one sick per-son will only be able toinfect only 2.5 persons,”Agarwal said, high-lighting the importanceof the ongoing 21-daylockdown and socialdistancing.

He appealed to thepeople to adopt socialdistancing and followthe lockdown order, say-ing this is a very impor-tant intervention interms of managementof Covid-19.

The death toll due tonovel coronavirus roseto 114 and the numberof cases in the countryclimbed to 4,421 onTuesday, according tothe Union HealthMinistry. - PTI

BIRTHDAY REMEMBRANCE OFOUR DEAR FRIEND

IGNATIUS JOSEPH ABRAHAMDOB: 08-04-1952 DOD: 26-03-2019Your loving memories will remain in our

thoughts & hearts forever.Inserted by:

ANIL MEHTA & FAMILY MEMBERSMEHTA LIGHTS

(S/2021/D00005)

BIRTHDAY REMEMBRANCE

IGNATIUS JOSEPH ABRAHAMDOB: 08-04-1952 DOD: 26-03-2019“Your passing away leaves an emptinessthat will never be filled. We miss you in

every moment of our lifes.”Wife: Barbara Abraham,

Daughter & Son-in-law: Judith & Pravin,Son & Daughter-in-law: Keith & SarenaGrand Children: Avia, Sheliya & Aria

(S/2021/D00004)

MANOJ ANAND | DC GUWAHATI, APRIL 7

Taking a tough standagainst those engaged inrumour mongering, Ass-am Police on Tuesdayarrested a legislator onsedition charges and rem-anded him to judicial cus-tody for making provoca-tive and communal rem-arks besides posting falsefabricated posts in socialmedia on coronavirusdisease and the treatmentof patients at isolationcenters in the state.

Assam Director General

of Police, Bhaskar JyotiMahanta said that MrAminul Islam, the DhingMLA from the All IndiaUnited Democratic Front(AIUDF), has beenbooked under relevantIndian Penal Code sec-tions and arrested oncharges of criminal con-spiracy and spreadingdisaffection among com-munities, among others.

In an audio clip that hasgone viral, Mr Islamclaimed that a conspiracyis being hatched to killthe people who are keptin quarantine. Mr Islam

who represents Dhingconstituency in centralAssam’s Nagaon district,had also claimed that thequarantine centres inAssam were worse thandetention camps for ille-gal immigrants.

The AIUDF legislatorwas also trying to propa-gate that nobody from theNizamuddin Markazevent has tested positivefor coronavirus.

Mr Islam, who is notori-ous for inflammatoryspeeches, also came downheavily on media andsaid that both national

and regional media havebeen trying to malign theimage of the Muslim co-mmunity in the country.“See the name of the firstinfected patient in India.See the names of all otherpatients. Are they allMuslims?” he argued.

Accusing Assam healthminister Himanta BiswaSarma of trying to politi-cise the issue, Mr Islamhad also alleged that theminority people havebeen targeted and tor-tured in various campsset up by the state govern-ment to offer quarantine

facilities.Assam police picked up

Mr Islam from his resi-dence in Dhing onMonday night and arrest-ed him on Tuesday morn-ing after interrogation.

“He was produced incourt on Tuesday whichremanded him to judicialcustody. We have seizedhis personal digital acces-sories and processing the-m as per law. We have fou-nd several clippings inhis mobile, which we willhave to test digitally,” sai-d the senior police officer.

The police claimed that

during interrogation, theMLA confessed that thevoice in the purportedaudio clip is his and thathe circulated the audioclip on WhatsApp. Thepolice have taken awayhis mobile phone forforensic examination. Po-lice said that the stateAssembly speaker hasbeen informed about thearrest of the MLA.

Meanwhile, contrary toMr Islam’s statement,Assam MP Maulana Bad-ruddin Ajmal has urgedall who returned to Ass-am to undergo testing.

Assam MLA booked for spreading rumours

● ● Lav Agarwalappealed to the peopleto adopt social distanc-ing and follow the lock-down order, saying thisis a very importantintervention in terms ofmanagement of Covid-19.

● ● The chief ministersaid if Delhi has 30,000active patients, the gov-ernment will take over8,000 beds in hospitals,12,000 hotel rooms, and10,000 patients will be inbanquets anddharamshalas

WORLD pg 5DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | 8 APRIL 2020

Prince Harry, Meghan name body after 11-month son ArchieLAUNCH || SOON

London, April 7: Britai-n’s Prince Harry and Meg-han Markle, who steppeddown as frontline royalsand set up base in the US,have unveiled the name oftheir new non-profit chari-table organisation as Arc-hewell — based on thename of their 11-month-old son Archie. The coup-le, now living in Los Ang-eles, said they look forwa-rd to formally launchingthe new foundation “whenthe time is right”, whichwill replace their erstwhi-le Sussex Royal brand.

They also revealed thatthe Greek word in the proj-ect, Arche, was the inspir-

ation behind the name oftheir son, Archie HarrisonMountbatten-Windsor.“Like you, our focus is onsupporting efforts to tack-le the global Covid-19 pan-demic but faced with thisinformation coming to lig-ht, we felt compelled to sh-are the story of how thiscame to be,” the Duke andDuchess of Sussex said.

The couple had not plan-ned to launch details ofthe non-profit organisati-on yet due to the focus onthe Covid-19 pandemic.But after paperwork, incl-uding the name was filedin the public domain inthe US, they confirmed

that they will be launchingit under the name Archew-ell. “Before Sussex Royal,came the idea of ‘Arche’ —the Greek word meaning‘source of action’. We con-nected to this concept forthe charitable organisati-on we hoped to build oneday, and it became the ins-

piration for our son’sname. To do something ofmeaning, to do somethingthat matters,” the stateme-nt said.

“Archewell is a namethat combines an ancientword for strength and acti-on, and another that evok-es the deep resources weeach must draw upon. Welook forward to launchingArchewell when the timeis right,” it said. Accordi-ng to the paperwork filed,plans now under consider-ation for Archewell inclu-de “organising and condu-cting support groups forpersons in need”, includi-ng “emotional counselli-

ng” and “coordinating soc-ial, personal care, and psy-chological services”.

It will include a wide-ra-nging website to share “ed-ucation and training mate-rials” via films, podcastsand books, the report said.Harry, 35, and Meghan, 38,started their new financia-lly independent lives thismonth and are said to bebased at a home close toHollywood in Los Angeles.

They have delayed anno-uncing their new brandingand profiles as theirspokesperson said the cou-ple wanted the focus to re-main on the global respon-se to the virus. — PTI

Archewell: Ex-Royals’ new charity nameCyclone battersVanuatu townPort Vila, April 7: A de-adly cyclone destroyedmuch of Vanuatu’s seco-nd-largest town but earlywarnings appeared tohave prevented mass cas-ualties in the Pacific nati-on, with some residentssheltered in caves to staysafe, aid workers.

Tropical Cyclone Haro-ld, which claimed 27 liveswhen it swept through theSolomon Islands lastweek, lashed Vanuatu’snorthern provinces over-night as a scale-toppingcategory five superstorm.The town of Luganville,population 16,500, took adirect hit as winds of 235

kilometres per hour bro-ught down buildings andcaused flash flooding.

World Vision’s Vanuatudirector Kendra GatesDerousseau said the char-ity’s local manager toldher the damage was com-parable to the last catego-ry five monster, CyclonePam, in 2015. “I managedto speak to her on a satell-ite phone and she estimat-ed 50 percent dwellingshave been significantlydamaged, the World Visi-on office has lost its roof,”she said. “She heard noreports of casualties,” thePort Vila-based aid work-er added. — AFP

● ● TTHHEEYY HHAAVVEE delayedannouncing their newsocial media brandingand profiles as theirspokesperson said thecouple wanted the focusto remain on the globalresponse to the virus.

IN BRIEF

Indian appointedjudge in S’pore

SSiinnggaappoorree:: An Indian-originjudicial commissioner and

intellectual property expertin Singapore has been appo-inted as a judge of the city-state’s high court by Presi-

dent Halimah Yacob. JudicialCommissioner Dedar SinghGill will join the high court

bench from August 1, 2020,said the Prime Minister’s Off-

ice on Monday. Judge Gill,61, was appointed judicial

commissioner of the Supre-me Court in August 2018.

Earlier, he was the managingdirector of the intellectual

property department atDrew and Napier. After assu-ming his Supreme Court role,

he was appointed by ChiefJustice Sundaresh Menon tomanage the intellectual pro-

perty list of the high court.

Child sex abuse:Cardinal set freeMMeellbboouurrnnee:: Australia’s most

senior Catholic CardinalGeorge Pell on Tuesday

walked out of prison afterthe country’s highest courtunanimously acquitted himof child sex offences, over-

turning a lower court’sjudgement against the 78-

year-old former Vaticantreasurer. Once the Vatican’s

third-ranking official, Pellwas released from BarwonPrison outside Melbourne

and reached a church afterserving 13 months of a six-

year sentence. He was drivenfrom the prison in a convoy.Pell was sentenced in March

last year to six years inprison with a non-parole

period of three years andeight months. The High

Court ruled in its judgementthat there is a “significant

possibility that an innocentperson has been convicted

because the evidence didnot establish guilt to the

requisite standard of proof”.

Missing Kennedykin’s body found

WWaasshhiinnggttoonn:: The body ofJohn F. Kennedy’s grand-nie-ce who disappeared during a

canoe trip with her youngson was recovered Monday,US media reported. MaeveKennedy McKean, 40, and

her eight-year-old son Gide-on went missing Thursdaywhile canoeing in the vast

Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.The search for Gideon will

resume Tuesday. The familysaid Saturday that mother

and son were presumeddead. It is the latest chapter

of heartbreak for theKennedy political dynastythat has suffered multipletragedies since President

Kennedy was assassinated inDallas in 1963.

Mujibur killing:Ex-Armyman heldDDhhaakkaa:: A former Bangladeshimilitary captain, who was co-nvicted for killing the count-

ry’s founder BangabandhuSheikh Mujibur Rahman, wasarrested by the police in Dh-aka on Tuesday. Home Minis-ter Asaduzzaman Khan Kam-al confirmed ex-captain Abd-ul Majed’s arrest and said he

had been sent to court to“exhaust legal options”. He

was one of the six abscondi-ng ex-Army officers handed

down capital punishmentafter their trial in absentia.

Washington, April 7: Boeingwill relaunch an uncrewed testflight of its Starliner spacesh-ip, the company said Monday,after an earlier mission faileddue to multiple glitches.

The aim of Starliner is totake US astronauts to theInternational Space Station. Atest run in December wasended early when the space-craft failed to engage itsthrusters on time.

Another problem was inter-mittent space-to-ground com-munications, impeding the fli-ght control team’s ability to co-mmand and control the vehic-le. “We have chosen to refly ourOrbital Flight Test to demonst-rate the quality of the Starli-ner system,” Boeing said.

“Flying another uncrewed fl-ight will allow us to completeall flight test objectives and ev-aluate the performance of thesecond Starliner vehicle at nocost to the taxpayer.

“We will then proceed to thetremendous responsibility andprivilege of flying astronautsto the International SpaceStation.”

A Boeing spokeswoman wasquoted by CBS News as sayingthe company hopes to fly themission “in the fall of 2020”.

BOEING TO DOSPACESHIP TEST

WITH NO CREW

JAPAN PM ABEDECLARES STATEOF EMERGENCYTokyo, April 7: Japane-se Prime Minister Shin-zo Abe declared a mont-hlong state of emergen-cy for Tokyo and six ot-her prefectures on Tues-day to ramp up defensesagainst the spread of theCovid-19 as the numberof infections surges.

But the move came inthe form of a stay-at-home request — not anorder — and violatorswill not be penalised.The Covid-19 outbreak isnow rampant and rapid-ly spreading, threateni-ng people’s health, theirdaily lives and the econ-omy, Abe said.

The state of emergen-cy, which is until May 6,will only permit TokyoGovernor Yuriko Koikeand heads of the six oth-er prefectures to domore to reinforce callsfor social distancing.“The most importantthing is for each one ofus to change our activi-ty,” Abe told a govern-ment task force.

He urged everyone tocut contacts with othersby 70-80% for one month,calling the pandemic“the biggest postwar cri-sis.” The announcementfollows surges in newcases in Tokyo, includi-ng consecutive rises exc-eeding 100 over the wee-kend. By Tuesday therewere 1,196 confirmed ca-ses in the metropolitanregion of 14 million peo-ple. Nationwide, Japanhas reported 91 deathsfrom Covid-19 and 3,906confirmed cases. — AP

HK PANDAS USEPRIVACY TOCONJUGATEHong Kong, April 7:Stuck at home with novisitors and not muchelse to do, a pair of pan-das in Hong Kong finallydecided to give mating ago after a decade ofdodging the issue.

Like half the planet,Ying Ying and Le Lehave only really hadeach other for companysince Covid-19-causedlockdowns shut off theflow of guests to theirthemepark pad. And likecouples everywhere,they’ve been making thebest of the time on theirown. “Since Ying Yingand Le Le’s arrival inHong Kong in 2007 andattempts at natural mati-ng since 2010, they unfo-rtunately have yet to su-cceed until this yearupon years of trial andlearning,” said OceanPark conservation offi-cial Michael Boos.

Vets had their hopes upwhen the monochromat-ic lovers started showi-ng an interest in each ot-her during the short sp-ring mating season. Thepark said confirmationof pregnancy can onlybe detected by an ultras-ound scan 14 to 17 daysbefore birth. — AFP

London, April 7: Bo-ris Johnson who washospitalised with per-sistent Covid-19 symp-toms is stable in theintensive care unit(ICU) of a London hos-pital and has not req-uired ventilator supp-ort for breathing, Do-wning Street said in ahealth update on theBritish Prime Minist-er on Tuesday.

Johnson, who hadbeen shifted to the ICUon Monday night, rem-ains in “good spirits”and has not been diag-nosed with pneumon-ia — one of the fallou-ts afflicting criticalpatients of the deadlyCovid-19 pandemic.

“The Prime Ministerhas been stable ove-rnight and remains ingood spirits. He isreceiving standardoxygen treatment andis breathing withoutany other assistance,”a Downing Streetspokesperson said.“He has not requiredmechanical ventilati-on or non-invasive res-piratory support,” thespokesperson said.

Hang in there: ModiIndian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi wasamong the world lead-ers who sent out theirmessages of supportto the UK PM. “Hangin there, Prime Minis-ter Boris Johnson!Hope to see you out ofhospital and in perfecthealth very soon,” hetweeted. US PresidentDonald Trump saidAmericans “are all pr-aying for his recove-ry” as he described Jo-hnson as “a very goodfriend of mine and afriend to our nation”who is “strong” and“doesn’t give up”.

Russian PresidentVladimir Putin wish-ed him a speedy recov-ery, saying his “optim-ism and sense of hum-our” would help himget better. — Agencies

Police officers hold a minute of silence for the Covid-19 victims as the lockdown to combat its spread continues in Madrid,on Tuesday. — AP

In ICU, stable Boris in ‘good spirits’World leaders send their messages of support while wishing UK PM’s early recovery

London, April 7: UKCabinet Office minis-ter Michael Gove onTuesday became thelatest senior governm-ent figure to go intoself-isolation after amember of his familydisplayed symptomsof Covid-19. Gove, whohad just hours earliergiven an update onBritish PM Boris Joh-nson’s health in hospi-tal, said he will contin-ue to work from homein line with UK gove-rnment advice, whichcalls for 14 days ofself-isolation should arelative develop Cov-id-19 symptoms.

“In accordance withthe guidance, I am iso-

lating at home after amember of my familystarted to display mild

symptoms of theCovid-19 on Sunday. Ihave not displayed any

symptoms and amcontinuing to work asnormal,” he said.

UK Health SecretaryMatt Hancock wasanother senior Cabin-et minister who hadtested positive hassince returned towork after his seven-day self-isolation.

Johnson’s Chief Str-ategy Adviser at Dow-ning Street, DominicCummings, continuesto remain in isolation.

— PTI

INDIAN-ORIGINCARDIAC SURGEON DIESLondon, April 7: AnIndian-origin cardiacsurgeon who had test-ed positive for thenovel Covid-19 hasdied at a hospital inCardiff in the UK,where a number ofmedics have lost theirlives on the frontlinesof the pandemic.

Jitendra Kumar Rat-hod, Associate Specia-list in cardio-thoracicsurgery at the Univer-sity Hospital of Wales(UHW), was describedas an “incredibly ded-icated surgeon” by hisNational Health Serv-ice (NHS) workplace.

Cardiff and Vale Un-iversity Health Boardposted a tribute to themedic, who had studi-ed for his medical de-gree in India, and saidthe 58-year-old “Jitu”will be missed greatlyafter he passed awayon Monday. — PTI

EASTER TREATS:‘EGGCESSIVE’HIKE IN PRICES Milan, April 7: Theprice of Easter choco-lates and cakes havespiked online in Italy,a consumer protecti-on group Federconsu-matori said and calledon the government tocrack down after pr-ice hikes of up to 168percent were seen.

The price of a “Colo-mba di Pasqua”, a Pa-nettone-like cake inthe form of a dove co-sts 9.69 euros but canreach 19.99 euros onli-ne. The same has beenseen with chocolateeggs, rising 37 percentonline. — AFP

Now, minister Gove in self-isolation

New York, April 7: NewYork Governor AndrewCuomo said an effectivelyflat death toll for two daysand a drop in the numberof hospitalisations andICU admissions could be“good signs” of a “possib-le flattening” of the Covid-19 curve in the state butwarned that becoming co-mplacent will be a mista-ke. The state, the epicent-re of the US, has a total of130,689 Covid-19 cases and4,758 people have diedfrom the virus.

But in a slight glimmerof hope, Cuomo said thedeath toll in the state hasbeen “effectively flat fortwo days”. In the 24 hourssince April 4, the deathtoll grew to “all-time incr-ease” of 630. On Sunday,fewer than 600 deathswere reported in NewYork — 594. However, thecity registered 731 deaths ,its highest in 24 hours onMonday. The number ofcases reached 68,766 andthe death toll was 2,738.

He said while the deathtoll is not good news, “thepossible flattening of thecurve is better than the in-creases we have seen”. Healso said that there hadbeen a drop in number ofhospitalisations, ICU ad-missions and daily intub-ations. — PTI

Hospitalisation drop, flatdeath toll ‘good’: NY Gov.

Ex-staffer of DCsuccumbs to virusWashington, April 7: Sc-ores of Indian-Americanshave tested positive withthe novel Covid-19 in theUS and several of them,including a journalist of anews agency, have died,according to multiplenews reports from comm-unity organisations anddiaspora leaders fromacross the country.

While there is no officialor unofficial count of Ind-ian-Americans infectedwith the virus in the coun-try, information availableon various private socialmedia groups indicatethat a significant numberof them are in New Yorkand New Jersey.

The two States, whichhave the highest concen-tration of Indian-Americ-ans in the US, are also theworst hit by the Covid-19.By Monday, over 170,000people tested positive inthese two States and fatal-ities crossed 5,700.

Veteran Indian-Americ-an journalist Brahm Kuc-hibhotla, a former contri-butor to United News of

India news agency and aDeccan Chronicle staffer,breathed his last at a NewYork hospital on Mondaynight. “Really shockingthat this is happening tothe community. Cannotbelieve that this is hap-pening to us and the peo-ple we know,” said IndianAmerican RajendraDichpally. Communityleaders said that everyday they have been receiv-ing reports of their nearand dear ones and othertesting positive. — PTI

Beijing/Wuhan, April 7:China will open-up the ep-icentre of its Covid-19 pa-ndemic Wuhan on Wedne-sday for outbound travelfor the first time since theJanuary 23 lockdown, asthe country reported nonew deaths, attaining anew milestone in the batt-le against the disease.

Just as China startedopening-up the epicentre,concerns of rebound ofCovid-19 was on the rise inthe country as importedinfections increased to 983with 32 new confirmedcases, the National HealthCommission said.

Also, 30 new asymptom-atic Covid-19 cases werereported on the mainlandon Monday. The NHC said1,033 asymptomatic caseswere still under medicalobservation. — PTI

1st time, no deaths: China

‘Covid’ tiger, Mexico zoo’s ray of hopeCordoba, April 7: He issmall and ferocious witha deadly name, but a Ben-gal tiger called Covid hasgiven hope to a zoo inMexico as the pandemicravages the world. Thecub was born last monthat Bio Zoo in the easternstate of Veracruz as thevirus that causes Covid-19 spread like wildfire,

forcing half the world’spopulation to stay homeand devastating millionsof businesses — includ-ing the privately-run zoo.

“The birth of Covidwas a gift for us, an incr-edible gift for both BioZoo and us as a family —it was a bit of hope in thecurrent situation,” saidKitzia Rodriguez, a vet at

the zoo run by her family.“It is a name of hope, of avirus that came to teachus to look after ourselv-es.” Though he still stru-ggles to stand up and con-stantly sticks out his ton-gue demanding milk,Covid is already showinghis Bengal tiger rootswith energetic roars.

“Covid was born very

strong, he was born big,although no one knewthat his mother was preg-nant,” Rodriguez added.

His eight-year-old moth-er was rescued from a ci-rcus and had problemswith her hips, making itdifficult for her to get pr-egnant. But a younger, li-ghter male succeeded wh-ere others failed. — AFP

Madrid, April 7: Spain’sdaily Covid-19 death tollshot up to 743 on Tuesdayafter falling for four stra-ight days, lifting the totalto 13,798, the health min-istry said.

However, it emphasisedthat the rise was due toweekend deaths being tal-

lied and that the overall“downward trend” is con-tinuing. The new figurerepresents a 5.7 percentincrease over the 637 dea-ths recorded on Monday,the lowest number of fat-alities since March 24 inthe world’s second harde-st-hit country. — AFP

Berlin, April 7: A 101-year-old woman crept outof an old people’s home ina bid to get to visit herdaughter on her birthday,German police said Tues-day. Officers interceptedher after she had escapedvia an emergency exit atthe home in northern Ge-

rmany. Brunswick policesaid they were called outafter the enterprising sen-ior lost her way in hersearch for her daughter’shouse in a suburb.

Although she claimedthat she lived with herdaughter, officers suspect-ed the truth. — AFP

SPAIN DEATHS HIT 743 AFTER DROP

101-YR-OLD FLEES SENIOR HOME, HELD

Paris, April 7: Brita-in could see as manyas 66,000 Covid-19 dea-ths during the firstwave of the currentpandemic, new resear-ch showed Tuesday,making the outbreakthere by far the dead-liest in Europe.

Modelling conductedby the Institute for He-alth Metrics and Eval-uation (IHME) at theUniversity of Washin-

gton’s School of Medi-cine showed that appr-oximately 151,680 peo-ple were likely to dieacross the continent.

More than 5,000 peo-ple have died in Brita-in, fewer than in Spa-in, Italy and France.But Britain’s epidem-ic lags behind the restof the continent by se-veral days, and its dea-th toll trajectory is st-eeper than others.

Using data on casenumbers, as well asage mortality breakd-owns from Italy, Chinaand the US, the IHMEteam modelled the ex-pected death toll on acountry-by-countrybasis. A key consider-ation was an individu-al nation’s intensivecare bed capacity. Itfound that Britain co-uld experience 66,000deaths by July. — AFP

66k may die in UK: Study

● ● VVOOTTEERRSS LLIINNEEDD up tocast ballots acrossWisconsin on Tuesday inthe state’s presidentialprimary election. TheNational Guard — andsome Republican officia-ls who resisted efforts topostpone the election —were forced to help runvoting sites after thou-sands of election work-ers stepped down fear-ing for their safety.

● ● BBRRIITTAAIINN OONNTuesday reported arecord 786 newCovid-19 deaths inits daily update, fol-lowing two days offalling figures.

EDIT pg 6DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | 8 APRIL 2020

The whole of India will, in times to come, look back at Telanganastate Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao’s clarion call to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi — two days after the PM himself had avideo conference with all CMs — to extend the nationwide lock-

down to combat the coronavirus pandemic by at least two weeks.Chief Minister Rao was extremely intrepid in raising the issue — first to

bell the cat, first to address the elephant in the virtual room. And charac-teristically wise in advocating the simplest and wisest course of actionavailable to India — if we must win against Covid-19, we must exercise amaximum of social distancing, the only first weapon available to eachindividual — and to ensure that for a nation of 1.3 billion people, extendthe lockdown.

Mr Rao weighed the issue well for all Indians — there is a medical emer-gency that cannot be wished away or bent around on, and an economicstagnation building up in dead mass through inactivity of productiveassets — people, factories, fields, offices, entire cities, states and the entirecountry — but we must get to addressing it later. In Mr Rao’s own words,we can grow back the economy, but cannot get back those whose lives willbe needlessly lost if we hasten to lift the lockdown even one hour beforewe are ready.

The crucial statement found great resonance. Chief Ministers of AndhraPradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala, andWest Bengal have given indications that they would rather have an exten-sion of the lockdown than risk a flare-up of the virus.

The BJP Chief Ministers ranging from Karnataka, MP, UP, HP,Uttarakhand to NDA CMs from Bihar and Tamil Nadu, too, have in theirown tacit ways, conveyed their view. Significantly, there is not one polit-ical leader who spoke to the contrary and advocated the lifting of the lock-down. The national political consensus is significant in our polarisedtimes. The threat of mass killings by the virus has brought leaders acrossparties to realise that we cannot let down our guard in this existential bat-tle. Citizens too, by and large, have rallied around and will continue totake suffering with stoicism till the curve if flattened.

Yes, everyone is not equal during a lockdown. Daily wage earners,migrant workers, homeless and those below the poverty line are hit worst,and for them each day is a fight to exist on a different plane too.Governments have started working and must augment relief to the subal-tern without let-up and with greater efficiency. A death by starvation maynot be contagious but no less a national shame.

The lockdown, by most projected scenarios, from Boston ConsultingGroup report to calculations of epidemiologists like RamananLaxminarayan, should and will stretch across April, perhaps the whole ofMay too. But it does not matter. Till the last patient is in hospital, quar-antined and cured, till there are no new Covid cases reported beyonddoubt, India must stay at home, safe.

We must win the battle and the war at any cost. If the lockdown stays, we will.

8 APRIL 2020

The Union government’s decision to suspend the Members ofParliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme and effect acut of 30 per cent in the salaries of the MPs for two years to raise

money to fight pandemic Covid-19 is rich in symbolism but poor in sub-stance. The MPLAD scheme authorises each member of the Lok Sabhaand the Rajya Sabha to allocate `5 crore a year for development pro-grammes in their constituencies. The money is often spent on infrastruc-ture development though the scheme faces charges such as lack of inter-est on the part of the MPs and money being spent on unworthy projects.The decision to cut MPs salaries may satiate the middle class appetite forneta-bashing but the government would not tell them how much money itwill save through the measure. Information minister Prakash Javadekarhas contended that it’s not about the amount but about the message itsends to the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made his countrymen perform twotasks — of clapping the hands and lighting lamps — to send a message tothe nation on its resolve to fight the virus. The government must now stopsending messages and instead start sending more testing kits to hotspots,money to states, personal protection equipment to healthcare workers,ventilators and medicines to hospitals and medicines for patients. It mustalso come up with an action plan on using the remaining period of thelockdown and its staggered lifting. It is also time the governmentaddressed the issues plaguing the economy, which is at a standstill. Theefficacy of the MPLAD scheme may be suspect but it would have provedan effective channel to ensure that every part of the nation gets somefunds to fight the virus by restricting the use to this specific purpose. Thecentral takeover of the scheme has nipped that option. It’s time for sub-stantive action; tokenism can wait.

Just tokenism, no substance

KCR bells the cat onextending lockdown

For many babus, rules areonly for others not for theheaven-born. An IAS offi-cer in Kerala skipped home

quarantine after returning fromabroad. He was later traced inKanpur, Uttar Pradesh, his home-town. A case has been lodgedagainst him for going AWOL.

Anupam Mishra, sub-collector ofKollum, had returned from Singa-pore and was advised to remainunder home quarantine as statedin the protocol for overseasreturnees in the backdrop of thenovel coronavirus outbreak.However, he did not follow theorder, which the government hastaken as “a serious lapse on thepart of an IAS officer”. Once hisdisappearance came to light, theKollam authorities immediatelyplaced Mishra’s driver, personalsecurity guard and secretary inisolation.

Kerala is one of the worst-affect-ed states due to the Covid-19 out-

break in the country and is alreadyunder lockdown. The Kerala gov-ernment is reportedly in touchwith the UP government in thisregard and Mishra will have toface proceedings for defying hissuperior’s orders.

IPS OFFICER SHOWS THE WAY

A police officer in Tamil Nadu R.Rohith Nathan and his doctor wifeKaveri Subbiah have proposed tothe ministry of home affairs to usehigh technology to effectively con-trol the spread of the Covid-19virus. The technology wouldinvolve analysis of technical data,artificial intelligence and geo-fenc-ing. Sources say, the IPS officerand his wife recently made a pre-sentation to a panel of joint secre-taries in the ministry.

It is learnt that the panel agreedin principle to implement the IPSofficer’s proposal across the coun-try. Nathan is currently superin-

tendent of police at Sivaganga.Having got the green signal, the

SP is reportedly now formulatingthe standard operating procedureto launch this digital surveillancesystem in Tamil Nadu to controlthe coronavirus outbreak. The aimis to use advanced technology totrace persons who may have comein contact with infected personsand also to assess their health con-dition for appropriate medicaltreatment.

KERALA BABU REINSTATED

The Kerala IAS officer who hadcome under a cloud after the policeaccused him of being involved in adrunken-driving accident andcausing the death of a journalisthas been reinstated into the ser-vice. after the incident in the statecapital in August last year, IASofficer Sriram Venkitaraman wasplaced under suspension by thestate government.

However, sources say, repeatedattempts were made to get thebabu to reinstated despite criti-cism from opposition parties andthe public. Earlier, this January, acommittee headed by chief secre-tary Tom Jose decided to reinstateVenkitaraman into service, butthe government kept the decisionon hold. Until now.

It is being said that the Keralagovernment which is fighting theCovid-19 outbreak is keen to get allhands on board, and the decisionto reinstate the tainted babushould be seen in this context.However, it is unlikely that thebabu’s reinstatement will pass offquietly.

TAILPIECE

Buzz says that Gujarat revenueminister Kaushikbhai Patel’s per-sonal assistant Chirag Panchal hasbeen appointed as undersecretaryat the Prime Minister’s Office. He

will be on deputation for twoyears. At present, Mr Panchal is anassistant manager in the AmdavadMunicipal Corporation.

Given the importance of the PMOthese days, the requisitioning of ababu of relatively modest stationfor the PMO seems strange, unlessthe PM has some definite task ear-marked for Mr Panchal.

Share a babu experience! [email protected]. Let’s

multiply the effect.

Babu bookedfor breaking

quarantine

Was thereany alter-native tothe sud-den and

complete lockdown? AsIndia faces one of itsmost serious crises,there is little point ineven asking this ques-tion. But if an answer isneeded, that’s easy: yes,the lockdown was theonly option.

But the question onemust ponder: could wenot have given a fewdays’ advance warningto the migrants, mostlydaily wage earners, toplan the return to theirvillages or hometowns,if they so wished, beforethe total shutdown wasin force? Should not thegovernment have madeplans for meeting thedaily needs of themigrants and otherswhose daily earningswould come to a com-plete standstill?

One may argue thatthe whole purpose of thelockdown would havebeen defeated if peoplewere given a few days toreturn to their nativeplaces as large numberswould have rushed totheir villages andhomes — in overloadedbuses and trains — andeffectively negating the“social distancing”. Butwhat we saw a few daysafter the total lockdownannouncement wasmuch worse — lakhs ofpoor people walking onfoot, trying to take anyvehicle they could toreturn to their villages.In their desperation,some of them even trav-elled inside watertankers and milk vans.If the governmentannounced a temporaryrehabilitation plan forthese migrant workers,there was a possibilityof many of them notpanicking and trying toreturn to their nativeplaces, and maybe thesituation wouldn’t havebeen so bad.

There are a mix of sev-eral factors that createdthis panic amongmigrant workers toreturn to their villages.One can’t discount the

role of rumours of vari-ous kinds in creatingthis uneasy situation oflakhs of migrants on theroad, which the admin-istration found extreme-ly difficult to handle. Itis obvious that many ofthose rushing home totheir native places weredaily wage-earners. Anearlier study by theCentre for the Study ofDeveloping Societies(CSDS) had found that29 per cent of the earn-ing population in bigcities get paid dailywages, while their num-bers are 36 per cent insmall and medium-sizedtowns, while in villagesit is very large — 47 percent — most of thembeing agriculturallabourers. The estimate

of such daily wage-earn-ers is about 27 per centin the city of Delhi.These 27 per cent consti-tute a very large num-ber, given that the popu-lation of the greaterDelhi area is almost 20million. Many of thesemigrant workers havehardly any funds leftafter not being able toget any gainful work forthe past several dayssince the lockdownbegan, and wanted to gohome to their villageshoping that they wouldsomehow manage bettergiven the greater socialbonds and communityliving in villages, com-pared to the big cities.

But besides these dailywage-earners, who haveno savings to meet sucha situation, Indianslargely don’t have a very

good saving capacityfrom whatever theyearn. In a study conduct-ed by CSDS, only 15 percent of adult Indiansaccepted being able tosave from their earningsafter meeting all theirhousehold needs, whileanother 32 per centagreed that they earnedwell, and were able tomeet all theirfamily/household needs,but were unable to save,though overall theydon’t face any difficultyin life. But a very largeproportion (50 per cent)of Indians accepted hav-ing varying degrees ofdifficulties in meetingtheir family/household

needs from whateverthey were able to earn.Even if we accept someunder-reporting in theseresponses, these figuresindicate daily wageearners don’t have anysavings which wouldallow them to buy foodand other necessitiesbeyond a few days iftheir daily wages getstopped.

Despite the Centre andvarious state govern-ments giving assur-ances on arranging fortheir food and accom-modation, large num-bers of the poormigrants still want to go“home” — largely due tothe uncertainty aroundthe lockdown — with noone quite sure whenthings might improve.The government did agood job of sending outa clear message throughan official statementthat the lockdownwould not be extendedbeyond April 14. Whilethe government maystill extend it if the situ-ation so requires, thisassurance did help sendout a clear message,which led to a slowingdown of the exodus.

No one will reallydeny that a lockdownwas the only effective

option for creating“social distancing”,which is possibly thebest way of handling thecoronavirus crisis. Andwhile the closure ofmarkets, schools, col-leges and universities,public transport, officesand similar such publicplaces has helped toimplement the policy ofsocial distancing, it isalso true that in manyIndian homes “socialdistancing” is easiersaid than done. Datafrom Census 2011 sug-gests that 37 per cent ofIndians live in a one-room house/dwelling,while another 32 percent live in a two-roomhouse/dwelling. Whileby definition thesecould be categorised asone-room or two-roomdwellings, a glimpse ofsome of these in our big-ger cities or small townswould show that a largemajority of them couldbe better described ashuts or jhuggis. With anaverage family size offive or six members perdwelling, especiallyamong the poor andlower income families,living in one of themwould leave “social dis-tancing” only on paperand not in practicalreality. The Census 2011had also highlightedthat four per cent ofIndians do not have anyhouse or dwelling at all,and live under the opensky. In a complete lock-down situation, wheneveryone has beenasked to remainindoors, the big ques-tion remains for thesehomeless: Where to finda roof to live under?

The answers to someof these questions arenot easy, and there arevery few options to beexercised while han-dling such emergencies.Often, one does notknow which one to exer-cise and which one notto implement. But theseexperiences give us anopportunity to thinkand plan ahead forhanding any major cri-sis in the future. At themoment, though, wemust all come togetherin this fight against thecoronavirus.

The writer is a politi-cal analyst and com-

mentator, and a profes-sor at the Centre for the

Study of DevelopingSocieties (CSDS). The

views expressed here arepersonal.

Despite the Centreand various stategovernments givingassurances onarranging for theirfood and accommodation,large numbers ofthe poor migrantsstill want to go‘home’

Should not the government have

made plans formeeting the daily

needs of themigrants and

others whose dailyearnings would

come to a complete

standstill?

Buzz says that Gujarat revenue minister

Kaushikbhai Patel’s personal assistant

Chirag Panchal has been appointed as

undersecretary at the Prime Minister’s Office. He

will be on deputation fortwo years.

Subhani

TACKLING COVID-19

As we fight virus, think& plan for crises ahead

Sanjay Kumar

DilipCherianDilli Ka Babu

DECCAN CHRONICLE

ADITYA SINHA T. VENKATESWARLUEditor Printer & Publisher

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LETTERSLIGHTING LAMPSPeople from all walks oflife like scientists, lawyers,doctors, politicians, sportspersons and thespians par-ticipated in the call givenby Prime Minister NarendraModi to light lamps onApril 5 at 9 pm. How dareyou call us all sheep? Andhow can you interpret that it was a call to celebratemini-Diwali? Do you thinkpeople are foolish enoughto take it as a celebration?Whatever political schoolyou belong, this was anoffensive editorial. I won-der if calling ceasefire andlosing one-thirds ofKashmir to Pakistan orcompromising by way ofArticle 370 in Kashmir wasof sound Nehruvian scien-tific philosophy as statedin the editorial.

SSrreeeekkaanntthhNallakunta, Hyderabad

PANDEMIC, PENURYThe picture of girls runningtowards a vehicle to beg for fooddepicts penury and total destitu-tion. (Street children beg for sur-vival amid lockdown, DC, April 7).Pavement and street vendors usedto lead a precarious and hand-to-mouth life. Prompt and timely helpis needed for them. The TS govern-ment must speed up ration deliveryand pecuniary aid to them.

Zubair Khan Tolichowki, Hyderabad

MAINTAIN DIGNITYGovernments as also NGOs haveannounced a relief package for thepoor during the ongoing coron-avirus crisis. Unfortunately, thereis a downside. It is disheartening tosee people receiving assistancebeing shown in the social media.Such thoughtless actions preventmany from accepting charity.Dignity of the less fortunate mustbe maintained as respect is theright of every citizen.

Md Rustam ParwezEFL University, Hyderabad

BOMBAY, April 7UNION Minister of State forFood and Agriculture A.P.Shinde today advised the StateGovernments to give high priori-ty for aerial spraying of pesti-cides intheir plantprotectionp r o -grammes.

The Minister who was sched-uled to inaugurate the All-IndiaPlant Protection Conferencecould not come down to Bombay.HIs speech was read out by MissAnna George, Secretary of theTamil Nadu AgriculturalDepartment.

50 YEARS AGO IN

Shinde on need for aerialspraying of pesticides

Buying frenzy makes investors richer by `8 L cr

Sensex soars above 30K,clocks best gain post-’09

quickBITES

INDICATORS %Sensex 30,067.21 8.97Nifty 50 8,792.20 8.76S&P 500* 2,725.09 2.31Dollar (‘) 75.63 0.72Pound Sterling (‘) 93.32 0.25Euro (‘) 82.22 -0.21Gold (Oz)* ($) 1,670.80 -0.37Brent crude ($/bbl)* 32.87 -0.54IN 10-Yr bond yield 6.414 -0.062US 10-Yr T-bill yield* 0.739 8.997

* As of 9.30pm IST

Salary paid todirectors subjectto GST: AARFirms will have to pay GST onthe remuneration they give todirectors, the Authority for Adva-nce Ruling has said. In an appli-cation filed before the Rajasthanbench of the AAR, Clay CraftIndia had sought a clarification ifsalaries paid to directors on therolls would attract GST. The AARsaid director is the supplier ofservices and the company is therecipient of the services. It saidthe Central Tax (Rate) notifica-tion states the same clearly.

SBI cuts savingsrate by 25 bpsto 2.75 per cent

State Bank of India has cut sav-ings rate by 0.25 per cent to2.75 per cent on all deposits,with effect from April 15. SBIhas also cut the marginal costof funds based lending rate(MCLR) by 35 bps across alltenors. The one-year MCLR is7.40 per cent per annum, from7.75 per cent, from April 10.Consequently, the EMIs onhome loans linked to MCLR willget cheaper by Rs 24 per Rs 1lakh on a 30-year loan.

Workers facingworst crisis sinceWW-II: ILOSome 1.25 billion workers areseeing their livelihoods threat-ened by the pandemic, the UNsaid. In a study, the InternationalLabour Organization warnedthat the steps taken to rein inthe disease would, during thesecond quarter of 2020 alone,wipe out 6.7 per cent of workinghours globally, equivalent to 195million full-time workers. It saidthe crisis could potentially push40 crore informal sector workersin India deeper into poverty.

Total invests`3,707 cr in solarventure of AdaniTotal SA will invest Rs 3,707crore in a solar energy jointventure with Adani GreenEnergy Ltd (AGEL), the thirdinvestment the French gianthas made in India along withthe Adani Group. Total willinvest Rs 3,707 crore for a 50per cent partnership with AGELin a joint venture that houses2,148 MW of operating solarprojects across 11 states inIndia, the Adani Group firmsaid in a statement.

pg 7WEDNESDAY | HYDERABAD | 8 APRIL 2020

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, APRIL 7

Despite government assur-ing free movement ofessential products, FMCGcompanies are finding ittough to transport rawmaterials to productionunits and finished prod-ucts to stores. This, cou-pled with labour shortage,has hindered availability ofseveral daily-use goods.

After the panic buyingprior to the lock-down,retail shelves are not get-ting fully replenished,especially packaged fooditems, including milk prod-ucts. The products absentfrom the shelves are mostlythose which need to crossinter-state borders.According to WalmartIndia, its cash and carrybusiness is facing chal-

lenges in securing suffi-cient supplies due to eitherproduction shortages frommanufacturers or trans-portation hurdles in reach-ing its locations.

Production is limited toselect items which the gov-ernment thinks are essen-tial. Fast moving consumergoods (FMCG) companieshave to secure approvalsfrom state governmentauthorities to producethem.

"The company hasreceived approvals from anumber of state authori-ties for the manufacturingof essential commodities.These factories have beenoperating with restrictednumber of hours andreduced workforce in linewith the approvalsreceived from the localauthorities," said an ITC

spokesperson."We have got the permis-

sions and have commencedin-house production of keyessential products, includ-ing hand sanitisers, andintend to expand it to mul-tiple factories going for-ward," said Dabur India'sexecutive director-opera-tions Shahrukh Khan.

FMCG companies alsoare facing transportationhurdles, though the gov-ernment has promisedsmooth movement ofessential productsthroughout the country.

"Even for producing theseessentials goods, we arefacing issues around freemovement of incomingraw materials and packinggoods, and outgoing fin-ished products, acrossstates. While the Centrehas permitted movementof trucks, there is still agap in coordination withstates, which is impactingseamless movement of rawmaterials and finishedgoods across state bor-ders," said Khan.

The supply chain for anysingle FMCG product typi-cally involves 20-30 compo-nents and their seamless

movement is essential toensure continued produc-tion and uninterruptedsupply of finished prod-ucts to consumers. "It isextremely important thatthe guidelines issued bythe Centre are properlycommunicated to authori-ties across states and to thelocal police as well. Properimplementation of theseguidelines on the groundwould ensure seamlessmovement across statesand enable timely deliveryof these essential productsto end-consumer house-holds across India," Khanadded.

Manpower shortage isanother big challengeFMCG companies are fac-ing across their differentfunctions. "During myinteractions with FMCGcompanies, I have found

that labour shortage is abig issue. They need labourin their production units,for loading and unloadingat the units as well as at thedistribution centres," saidPinakiranjan Misra, part-ner and national leader,consumer products andretail, EY India.Availability of drivers whocan carry goods in heavy-duty trucks also is a chal-lenge.

Meanwhile, in a bid toensure supplies to the endconsumer, some FMCGcompanies have partneredwith delivery platformslike Dunzo, Swiggy andDomino's Pizza for lastmile delivery. Britannia,ITC and Marico haveannounced such partner-ships. But that solves onlyone part of the supplychain problem.

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, APRIL 7

Gold prices in the futuresmarket touched a newhigh, crossing Rs 45,000per 10 gm as increasedliquidity in the marketssupported in-vestmentsin the yellow metal.

In the Multi Commo-dity Exchange, goldfutures touched an intra-day high of Rs 45,724 per10 gm, almost Rs 2,000 upfrom the previous close.The market, however,closed at Rs 44,950, stillhigher by Rs 1,233. Thespot markets were shutdue to the lockdown.

The price movementgot support from inter-national rates. While theinternational spot mar-ket had on Tuesday seengold moving up to $1,678an ounce, in US futuresmarket it zoomed past$1,700.

ASHWIN J PUNNENMUMBAI, APRIL 7

The coronavirus out-break has come to hauntdomestic hospital chains,as players like ApolloHospitals, Fortis, AsterDM and NarayanaHrudayalay are seeing asharp fall in occupancyamidst restrictions onpeople movement andpostponement of electiveprocedure.

With adverse inboundtravel advisories and thenational lockdown med-ical tourists have alsostopped coming.

Over the past month,the hospital stocks havecorrected in the range of20-50 per cent.

Hospitals are seeinglower inflows of people inboth their in-patient andout-patient departmentsas social distancingnorms have come intoplay.

In a recent investor con-ference call, FortisHealthcare Ltd said therehas been a 35-50 per centdecline in admissions tothe in-patient depart-ment, while out-patientdepartment visits havedropped by 60-80 per cent.While emergency medicalservices continue, socialdistancing norms havemeant that people arechoosing to postponesome elective medicalprocedures.

According to industryexperts, players likeApollo Hospitals haveseen a significant drop inoccupancy levels, to 40per cent from 69 per cent,while Fortis is seeing adecline in the number ofelective surgeries.

Fortis has indicated to

analysts that the businessis impacted in a majorway, as occupancy levelshave fallen to 45 per centfrom 68 per cent inQ3FY20 and OPD and IPDvolumes have come downdrastically.

Similarly, NarayanaHrudayalay's domesticvolumes have fallen byabout 40 per cent due totravel restrictions anddeferred surgeries.

Many hospitals havesuspended operationsafter Covid-19 cases repo-rted among their staff.

According to analysts,medical tourism, whichaccounts for about 10 to 15per cent of the revenuemix of these hospitalchains, have been badlyhit because of the travelrestrictions.

Hospitals with diagnos-tic chains have seen asimilar fall in volumes attheir diagnostic arms,which will also impactconsolidated operatingleverage.

"There is no accurateway to guess timelines onthat, but suffice to saythat business as usual forhospitals may be a distantscenario. With outpatient

occupancies, particularlyfor elective surgeries,now at an all-time low, webelieve procedurepipelines are likely toremain dry throughH1FY21 and earnings willremain subdued throughFY21," said analysts atEdelweiss in a note.

Analysts said impact onprivate hospitals' operat-ing profit (Ebitda) will be10 per cent in Q1 FY21 and3-4 per cent for FY20.

"With fixed cost forming60-80 per cent of costs inhospitals, the reducedoccupancy numbers…arelikely to impact the per-formances of hospitalsector for Q4FY20 andQ1FY 21," said ICICISecurities in a report.

"Overall, we expect hin-drances to persist for thenext two to three monthswith full normalcy fromH2FY21 onwards," thereport said.

The firm said it remainspositive on the hospitalspace as a structurallyevolving story with mod-erating capex andimprovement in profitmargins and return ratioin most cases lookingfavourable.

Hospitals see sharpdrop in occupancy

RAVI RANJAN PRASADMUMBAI, APRIL 7

Signs of coronavirus containment inthe worst-hit regions of the world ledto the best ever absolute gain for theIndian stock market, with the Sensexmoving up by nearly 2500 points andbattered investors getting richer byRs 8 lakh crore on Tuesday, whichsaw market participants rushing tobuy heavily oversold blue chips.

The short covering rally in the glob-al market on Monday, with the USmarket gaining over 7 per cent, andAsia and European markets rallyingfor the second consecutive day led tofrenzied broad based buying in large-cap stocks.

The Sensex closed above the 30,000-mark, gaining 2476 points, or 8.97 percent. The Nifty-50 gained 8.76 percent, or 708 points, closing at 8,792.20.The BSE's market capitalisationsoared to Rs 116.38 lakh crore from Rs108.66 lakh crore on Friday.

However, the rally may not last forlong since investors are still cautious;the provisional data showed foreignportfolio investors were net buyersby Rs 741.77 crore while the domestic

institutions were buyers by just Rs422.51 crore.

The market opened extremely bull-ish on overnight US market gains.Deepak Jasani, head-retail research,HDFC Securities, said, "Marketsbegan the shortened week on a deci-sive note, staging their biggest one-day gain since May 2009. Global stock

markets on Tuesday followed up onWall Street's Monday rally amid con-tinued signs that the coronavirus out-break may be peaking in a number ofhard-hit places. European marketstraded sharply higher on Tuesday asinvestors hoped that the region couldbe seeking a plateau in the virus out-break. Asian stock markets ralliedfor a second day on Tuesday, andriskier currencies rose, buoyed bytentative signs the coronavirus crisismay be levelling off in New York andreceding in Europe."

He said, "In India volumes on theNSE flared up as traders rushed tocover shorts and/or square up theiroption positions. Defensive and oldeconomy stocks were in demand.”

Expectation of higher foreigninvestor allocation to Indian bluechips from May due to portfolio rebal-ancing also led to buying in the indexheavy weights, said analysts.

Siddhartha Khemka, head-retailresearch, MoSL, said, "Marketexpects MSCI to rebalance MSCIIndia weight in the emerging marketindex after India moved into a newregime that increased sector-wiselimits for the FPIs.

Gold crosses`45,000 infutures mkt

MICHAEL GONSALVESPUNE, APRIL 7

Harley-Davidson onTuesday introduced itsnew Harley-Davidson LowRider S model, a cruiser, inIndia priced at Rs 14.69lakh at Delhi showroom.The closest rival to theLow Rider S in India is theIndian Scout Bobber Sixty.The Low Rider S is part ofthe firm’s ‘Softail' series ofmotorcycles.

Harley rides inLow Rider S

FALAKNAAZ SYEDMUMBAI, APRIL 7

Non-life insurance compa-nies continue to competeamongst themselves forchunky corporate busi-nesses, offering insuranceat unviable rates to expa-nd market share, therebyreporting underwritinglosses. This is despite thefact that it's been morethan a decade since theindustry was freed ofprice controls in 2007.

Contrary to the globaltrend, domestic non-lifecompanies remain depen-dent on their investmentportfolio for profitability,since they have beenreporting underwritinglosses in competitive seg-ments, but not in seg-ments where pricing ismandated by regulationssuch as motor third partyinsurance.

Over the years, theinvestment portfolio ofthe non-life insuranceindustry has swelled fromRs 48,891 crore in FY10 toRs 2.55 lakh crore in FY19,a compound annual grow-th rate of 20.2 per cent.Investment earnings havebeen helping insurers toreport an overall profit.

Experts say insurers

have to offer a better serv-ice experience along withproduct innovation totheir clients to have a sus-tainable business model.

It has been noticed thatthe combined ratio of thepublic sector players isgenerally more than thecombined ratio of theirprivate sector peers. Thecombined ratio--which isthe aggregation of the lossratio (claims relative topremiums written) andthe expense ratio (opera-tional and commissionsexpenses incurred rela-tive to premiums written)-- remained over 100 percent for most companies.

Combined ratio meas-ures the money flowingout of an insurance com-pany in the form of claimspaid, expenses, and losses

and compares the sameagainst money flowing in,that is, net premiums. Aratio below 100 per centindicates underwritingprofit, while a ratio above100 shows that moremoney in claims is beingpaid out than is beingreceived from premiums.

According to a study byCare Ratings, the com-bined ratios for all the 33non-life insurance andhealth insurance compa-nies for the first half ofFY20 showed that only twoinsurers, namely ShriramGeneral and SBI GeneralInsurance, reported acombined ratio below 100per cent while ReligareHealth Insurance, ICICILombard General Insur-ance, ECGC and BajajAllianz General managed

to keep it at 100 per cent.However, OrientalInsurance, United India,National Insurance,Aditya Birla Health,Raheja QBE, EdelweissGeneral Insurance hadcombined ratios as highas 120 to 150 per cent.

In the first 11 months ofFY20, Gross DirectPremium Underwrittenwas Rs 1.73 lakh crore, ayear-on-year growth of 14per cent compared withRs 1.52 lakh crore of grossdirect premium under-written for the first 11months of FY19. Theshare of public insurersin this has furtherdeclined to 44 per cent inthese 11 months.

Sanjay Agarwal, direc-tor at Care Ratings,lamented that, "even asthe insurance premiumhas increased manifold,the profitability has wit-nessed a substantialdecline. Furthermore, theindustry is dependent onits investment portfoliofor profitability."

He said, "the industrywould have to rein in thetariff collapse and insteadoffer a better service expe-rience along with productinnovation to grow themarket.”

Non-life insurers still relyon investment for a profit

FALAKNAAZ SYEDMUMBAI, APRIL 7

Tracking gains in thedomestic equity market,the rupee on Tuesdaygained 53 paise to close at75.63 against the dollar.Traders said that risksentiments improvedglobally, as Italy andSpain saw a fall in thenumber of deaths due toCovid 19, igniting hopes

that the coronavirusspread might have peaked

in these key global cen-tres.

During the day, therupee traded in the rangeof 75.61 and 75.92. Most ofthe Asian currenciesappreciated against thedollar tracking gains inthe yuan, which appreci-ated by 0.5 per cent. Thedollar index weakenedglobally by 0.921 per centand all emerging marketand developed market

currencies appreciatedagainst the US dollar.

The Reserve Bank ofIndia reduced the timingof market hours from 10am to 2 pm for bond andcurrency market startingfrom April 7 to April 17.

The news that the gov-ernment could lift thenational lockdown inphases also helpedimprove the domestic risksentiment.

Re gains 53p on improved risk sentiment

FMCG availability hit by labour, logistics issues

Aurobindo facesclass action suit Hyderabad, April 7: Aclass action suit has beenfiled against some drugmanufacturers, includingAurobindo Pharma andEmcure Pharma-ceuti-cals, in a USA court forallegedly concealing factsabout cancer-causingagent, N-nitrosodimethy-lamine (NDMA) presencein the metformin medi-cine.

MSP Recovery Claimsfiled the petition on April 3in the US District Court forthe Southern District ofFlorida on behalf of simi-larly situated healthcareinsurers to recover pay-ments unlawfully inducedby the drug makers—Aurobindo Pharma, Auro-life Pharma and HeritagePharmaceuticals.

Metformin is the mostprescribed oral pharma-ceutical drug for patientswith type-2 diabetes. Thepetition was based ontests done by Valisure, anonline pharmacy.

Valisures tests revealedthat the metformin pro-duced by Aurobindo andHeritage were contami-nated with NDMA withlevels between 37 and 266ng per tablet.

As for Heritage's met-formin products, theNDMA presence was upto 8.6 times the FDA'sinterim daily limit.

Valisure, while postingthe results on its website,however, indicated Aurob-indo passed the FDA testfor the NDMA presence.

Officials of Aurobindocould not be reached forcomments.

The petition claimedthat the defendants havemanufactured and distrib-uted metformin drugsthroughout the US, forwhich the litigants assig-nors paid about $124 mil-lion on behalf of theirmembers.

The drug makersbreached their expresswarranties with respectto their metformin drugsbecause the drugs did notcomply with cGMPs(Current Good Manufac-turing Practices), wereadulterated and contami-nated, were not bioequiv-alent to branded drugs,and could not lawfully besold, the petitioneralleged.

The defendants with anintent to defraud, con-cealed from plaintiff andclass members the materi-al facts concerning theirpervasive cGMP viola-tions "...made express andimplied representations...that their metformindrugs conformed to appli-cable standards of quali-ty,” the petition said.

—PTI

Regd. No. H/SD/509/2018-20Printed and Published by

T. Venkateswarlu on behalf of DeccanChronicle Holdings Limited. Printed at

Deccan Chronicle Press situated at PlotNo. 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: Aditya Sinha

GAMES pg 8DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | 8 APRIL 2020

Oz go down underClarke says players bent backwards for IPL favoursSydney, April 7:Australian cricketers“sucked up” to India andVirat Kohli by holdingback on verbal sledging toprotect lucrative IndianPremier League deals,according to formerAustralia captain MichaelClarke.

Clarke said players were“too scared” to play a nor-mal game against Indiabecause of the influenceof the world’s wealthiestcricket tournament.

“Everybody knows howpowerful India are inregards to the financialpart of the game, interna-tionally or domesticallywith the IPL,” Clarke saidon Sky Racing television.

“I feel that Australiancricket, and probablyevery other team over alittle period, went theopposite and actuallysucked up to India.

“They were too scared tosledge Kohli or the otherIndian players,” he said,referring to the verbalsparring that often takesplace on the pitch.

Australian players haveattracted big money sincethe IPL started in 2008.Paceman Pat Cummins isthe most expensive over-seas star this year withKolkata Knight Riderspaying $2.17 million.

The contest has beendelayed because of thecoronavirus pandemicand the league mustannounce soon whether itwill be held at all.

The league was due tofeature top internationalsincluding England's BenStokes and David Warnerof Australia.

Clarke, who played forthe now-defunct PuneWarriors in 2012, saidAustralian players covet-ed the million-dollar dealson offer.

“The players were like:‘I’m not going to sledgeKohli, I want him to pickme for Bangalore so I canmake my $1 million formy six weeks,”’ the for-mer Australian skippersaid.

“I feel like that’s whereAustralia went throughthat little phase where ourcricket become a little bitsofter or not as hard aswe're accustomed to see-ing,” Clarke added.

The league is a huge rev-enue earner for the Boardof Control for Cricket inIndia (BCCI) and is esti-mated to generate morethan $11 billion for theIndian economy. — AFP

English clubs face the heat

Bhajji backs IPL without fansMumbai, April 7:Veteran off-spinnerHarbhajan Singh says hewon’t mind an IPL playedin empty stadiums but theevent should go aheadwhen the Covid-19 pan-demic is brought undercontrol as several liveli-hoods are dependent onthe it.

“Spectators are impor-tant, but if the situationarises, I don’t mind play-ing without them. Yes, asa player I won’t get thevibe, but this will ensurethat every fan will get towatch IPL on their TV,”Harbhajan, who plays forChennai Super Kings, toldStar Sports’ CricketConnected.

“We will have to be cau-tious about everythingand should prioritise thesafety of the players byensuring that the matchvenues, team hotels,flights are properly sani-tised. A lot of lives are online so we should organiseIPL when everything isfine,” he added.

The BCCI has suspendedthe IPLtill April 15 but thetournament is increasing-ly looking unlikely.

“I miss matches themost, was hoping that Iwould get to play 17matches (including finals)after a year’s gap. I miss

our visits to the ground,the hordes of fans waitingto greet us, the bikes thatused to ride along our busand am sure that every

fan is missing this aswell,” Harbhajan said.

Harbhajan said he iskeeping himself fit for theleague if happens.

“I hope that IPL happenssoon, till then I will keepmyself fit,” quipped the39-year-old veteran of 103Tests. — PTI

London, April 6:Premier League clubs arefacing a backlash afterLiverpool tapped intopublic funds during thecoronavirus pandemicwhile Fifa on Mondayurged players and clubsto reach agreement overwage reductions.

English top-flight clubs,among the wealthiest inthe world, have comeunder intense scrutiny,with government minis-ters warning bosses andplayers they should“think carefully” overtheir next moves.

The highest-paidPremier League playerssuch as ManchesterUnited goalkeeper Davidde Gea and ManchesterCity midfielder Kevin DeBruyne command eye-watering salaries, report-edly nearing 20 millionpound ($25 million, 23million euros) a year.

Even the average salaryfor a Premier League foot-baller is more than 3 mil-lion pound a year.

European championsLiverpool, who recordedpre-tax profits of 42 mil-lion pound in February,announced their decisionto furlough some non-playing staff on Saturday,becoming the fifthPremier League club todo so. “Clubs, players andowners should be think-ing very carefully abouttheir next steps. Leavingthe public purse to pickup the cost of furloughinglow-paid workers, whilstplayers earn millions andbillionaire owners gountouched is something Iknow the public willrightly take a very dimview of,” Oliver Dowden,a culture and sports min-ister said. — AFP

Australia’s One-Day International captain Aaron Finch (left) and David Warner (right) listen as Indian captain ViratKohli speaks during the recent series in Australia.

Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk (left) vies for the ball with Manchester City’s SergioAguero during their English Premier League match in this file photo.

SHORT

NNeeww DDeellhhii:: The job losses andpay cuts are “bitter pills” to

swallow but common man stillneeds to figure out ways to

stay physically and mentally fiteven as Covid-19 pandemic

wreaks havoc, feels chiefnational badminton coach

Pullela Gopichand.Gopichand, who recently com-pleted his three-week isolationafter coming from All England

Championships in UK, saidsports will be a part of thisglobal meltdown but urged

people to fight it. “I think worldis going through a lot and

everybody’s careers are impor-tant for them, whether you are

a student, a journalist or asportsperson. But this lock-

down is in place for a specificreason and I think we should

follow it. It definitely going tohurt every segment of the pop-

ulation not sports alone. Weneed to stay positive and keep

ourselves mentally fit,”Gopichand said. — PTI

FIGHT CORONAWITH POSITIVEMINDSET: GOPI

TAKES

Japan shelvesOly flame display

British Open off,first since WW 2

TT Worlds fromSeptember 27

TTookkyyoo:: The Olympic flame willbe removed from display in

Japan, officials said Tuesday, asthe country braces for a state

of emergency due to the coron-avirus that also forced the his-

toric postponement of Tokyo2020.

It had been on public displayin the northeastern Fukushima

region since last week, butJapanese Olympic organisersdecided to shelve it as coron-

avirus cases climb in the coun-try.

The ill-fated flame, lit inGreece, arrived in Japan on

March 20 for a torch relay origi-nally scheduled to start six days

later and climax at theOlympics opening ceremony on

July 24. But the raging pan-demic prompted the first post-

ponement of the Games inpeace-time, with the openingceremony now slated to take

place on July 23, 2021. To keepthe Olympic spirit alive in

Japan, local organisers decidedto maintain the flame in a

lantern and display it inFukushima. — AFP

LLoonnddoonn:: The British Open hasbeen cancelled for the first time

since World War II due to thecoronavirus. The 149th Open

was scheduled to take place atRoyal St George’s Golf Club in

Kent in July.But with the pandemic rippingthe 2020 sporting schedule toshreds, the event has became

the first of the sport's fourmajors to be cancelled this

year. Golf’s oldest major willnow be hosted at the same

Sandwich venue in July 2021.“The Open was due to be

played in Kent from 12-19 Julybut it has been necessary to

cancel the championship basedon guidance from the UK

Government, the health authori-ties, public services and theR&A's advisers,” organisersR&A said in a statement on

Monday.St Andrews will still host the

150th British Open, but a yearlater than scheduled in 2022.

— AFP

LLaauussaannnnee:: The world champi-onships of table tennis, origi-

nally scheduled for March 2020,will now he held from

September 27 to October 4, theworld governing body of the

sport ITTF announced onTuesday.

Originally due to take placebetween March 22-29 in Busan,

an emergency ITTF ExecutiveCommittee meeting had pro-

posed provisional dates of June21-28 while maintaining that

further back-up plans may berequired if the pandemic per-

sisted. “On 29 March 2020, theITTF Executive Committee helda follow-up meeting to confirm

that new dates would beannounced for the Hana Bank

2020 World Team Table TennisChampionships, in light of thefact that all currently plannedITTF events and activities are

suspended until 30 June 2020,”said the ITTF in a statement.

— PTI

Gavaskar, Pujaraplay their partsNew Delhi, April 7: Thelegendary Sunil Gavaskaron Tuesday donated `59lakh, while Test regularCheteshwar Pujara alsomade an unspecified con-tribution to the-CARESfund, joining the fightagainst the Covid-19 pan-demic which has claimedover 100 lives in India.

Gavaskar, who is now asought after commentatorand analyst of the game,did not reveal the contribu-tion himself but a sourceclose to him confirmedafter former Mumbai skip-per Amol Mujumdar tweet-ed the same.

“Just heard that SMG hasdonated 59 lakhs towardscovid relief fund. 35 to@PMCaresFunds n 24lakhs to@ C M O M a h a r a s h t r a .Thumbs up superb gestureSir,” Mujumdar said.

Pujara, on his part,thanked all the front-linewarriors including doc-tors, para medical staff,and police, who are doingselfless service at this criti-cal juncture.

“My family & I have con-tributed our bit to the-CARES Fund and theGujarat CM Relief Fund,and hope that you will to.

“Every single contribu-tion counts, so let us all doour bit and together wewill certainly overcome.We would like to conveyour deepest gratitude to allthe front line warriors,”Pujara stated. — PTI

McLaren’s Ron todrive NHS home

Spanish league not toresume before JuneMadrid, April 7: Thepresident of the Spanishfootball league says he isnot contemplatingreturning to action beforethe end of May.

The country is expectedto remain under lock-down until April 26.

Javier Tebas says otherscenarios are also beingstudied. They includehaving the Europeancompetitions restartingonly by the end of Juneand not conflicting withthe domestic leagues.

Tebas says it is verylikely the league will

restart with games inempty stadiums and thatmatches in venues withreduced capacity will alsoeventually be an option.

The league presidentsays it has been “impossi-ble” to reach a deal withplayers on the salaryreductions needed toreduce the financialimpact of the crisis buthe expects the majority ofthe clubs to reach agree-ments with players.

Meanwhile, SouthKorea’s professionalbaseball league says ithopes to start practice

games between teams onApril 21 before possiblyopening the season inearly May.

The Korea BaseballOrganisation says theplans are contingent onthe country's coronaviruscaseload continuing toslow.

The KBO will adviseplayers to wear facemasks in locker roomsand require them todownload smartphoneapps to report their dailyhealth status to leagueofficials.

— AP

London, April 7: FormerMcLaren supremo RonDennis has created ascheme to supply a millionfree meals to workers inBritain’s National HealthService during the coron-avirus outbreak.

Dennis said Monday hisfoundation would providea budget of 1.5 millionpounds ($1.8 million, 1.7million euros) after linkingup with other organisa-tions with the aim of sup-plying 1,000 meals a day tohealth workers.

“I wanted a big solutionto a big problem,” Dennistold the BBC.

“It is an amazing effort,which I think is reflectiveof my reputation. If I sayI'm going to do something Ido it,” he added.

The 72-year-old wasinspired to act after a meet-ing with his family.

His daughter, DrCharlotte Hall, added: “Wewere talking about how, weas a charity, could helpeveryone in the currentcoronavirus crisis.

“We can't help medicallybut we could perhaps makethe situation just a bitmore bearable — being inthe hospital, taking awaythe stress of getting food,having something hot andnutritious to eat or havingsomething to look forwardto when you get home,” sheadded.

KKYYRRGGIIOOSS SSEETT TTOO SSEERRVVEE FFOOOODD FFOORR TTHHEE HHUUNNGGRRYY

Controversial tennis starNick Kyrgios has offered todeliver food to people find-ing themselves hungryduring the coronaviruslockdown, his latest chari-table effort after spear-heading sporting dona-

tions to help Australia'sbushfire crisis.

The Canberra-basedKyrgios, infamously out-spoken and known for hisfiery on-court antics, saidhe would personally dropfood on doorsteps afterCovid-19 restrictionsclosed down entire indus-tries, forcing huge num-bers of people out of workacross Australia.

“Please don’t go to sleepwith an empty stomach,”Kyrgios, the world number40, posted on Instagramlate Monday.

“Don’t be afraid orembarrassed to send me aprivate message. I will bemore than happy to sharewhatever I have.

“Even just for a box ofnoodles, a loaf of bread ormilk. I will drop it off atyour doorstep, no ques-tions asked!” he added inthe post. — Agencies

London, April 7: Indian PremierLeague is “massive” in terms of statureand it is a “big shame” that it cannot beheld at the moment due to the Covid-19pandemic, said star England batsmanJos Buttler, who is expecting the cash-rich event to be slotted later in the year.

Buttler, who plays for RajasthanRoyals, underlined the importance of atournament like IPL.

“I don’t know any more than youknow about when IPL would be playedor people talking about whether it canbe pushed back. At the moment, every-thing is quite indefinite as no oneknows how long it will last. So it can’tbe decided at the moment when it couldor could not happen,” Buttler was quot-ed as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

Buttler, who made massive strides as

a white ball player after a few seasonsof IPL, spoke about the impact of nothaving an IPL and the effect it couldhave on revenue.

“As for the stature of the tournament,it’s a massive, massive tournament.Revenue that is involved in IPL is mas-sive. It is a very important competitionto cricket and it's a big shame that it’snot going ahead or whether it does havethe way to push it in the schedule andallow it,” he said.

However, IPL pushed back later in theyear could well mean that some of thetop players could miss the tournamentdue to their bilateral commitments.

“Of course, that might mean certainplayers might be unavailable. They willhave to work through as the situationunfolds,” he concluded. — PTI

INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE IS BIG, HOPEIT CAN BE HELD THIS YEAR: BUTTLER

United Nations, April 7: India’s two leading footballclubs Mohun Bagan and East Bengal will join a globalcampaign by the United Nations and the World HealthOrganisation to encourage people to remain “active”as millions across the world stay home due to theCovid-19 pandemic.

The football clubs are among several from across theworld that will join the '#BeActive' campaign launchedon the UN International Day of Sport for Developmentand Peace to “encourage people to be#HealthyAtHome as the world comes together in thefight against Covid-19, today and every day.”

FIFA has joined forces with the two organisations inthis campaign, which kicks off with Real Madrid CF,FC Barcelona, Liverpool FC and Manchester UnitedFC asking football fans to set aside their rivalries andto come together to #BeActive in order to defeat thecoronavirus. Other clubs, including Club Amrica, CDGuadalajara, Beijing Guoan FC, Shanghai ShenhuaFC, Mohun Bagan AC, East Bengal FC, MelbourneCity FC, Sydney FC, Auckland City FC, TeamWellington FC, CA River Plate, Olympique deMarseille, TP Mazembe, CR Flamengo and SEPalmeiras will also join the initiative in the comingdays. — PTI

BAGAN, EAST BENGAL JOINFORCES WITH WORLD BODY

I miss matches the most, was hoping that I would get to play 17 matches(including finals) after a year’s gap. I miss our visits to the ground, the hordesof fans waiting to greet us, the bikes that used to ride along our bus and amsure that every fan is missing this as well. I hope that IPL happens soon, tillthen I will keep myself fit.

— HARBHAJAN SINGHChennai Super King player

FRESH BRIBERYCHARGES ON FIFA2018, 2022 WCs

Sportswomengive groceriesto the needy

New York, April 7: Twoformer executives withUS media giant Fox werecharged with corruption,bank fraud and money-laundering on Monday asUS federal prosecutorsshed fresh light on thescandal-tainted biddingwar for the 2018 and 2022World Cups.

Former 21st CenturyFox employees HernanLopez, 49, and CarlosMartinez, 41, face chargesalong with 65-year-oldGerard Romy, whoworked for Spanish mediaconglomerate Imagina.

The three men areaccused of paying mil-lions in bribes to officialsfrom CONMEBOL andCONCACAF.

The charges allege thebribes were paid inexchange for lucrative tel-evision rights contractsfor regional competitions,the Copa America andqualifying games for the2018 and 2022 World Cups.

The case forms part ofthe wide-ranging 2015 cor-ruption scandal that leftworld governing bodyFIFA in turmoil and led tothe downfall of presidentSepp Blatter. — AFP


Sportswomen of the Stategot together to distributegroceries to the needy atthe Lal Bahadur Stadiumon Tuesday.

Tennis player SaniaMirza’s social serviceorganisation Youth FeedIndia and shooter EshaSingh gave away items suf-ficient for one week to over300 women from the slumsat the Lal BahadurStadium Gate No.6, from 11am to 12 noon.

Telangana SportsMinister V. Srinivas Goudand Sports Authority ofTelangana State chairmanAllipuram VenkateshwarReddy also took part in thedistribution programme.

Mr Reddy said the pro-gram will continue for thenext five days, over whichother sports personalitieswill take part in the distri-bution as follows: April 8:Budha Aruna (gymnas-tics); April 9: Sikki Reddy(badminton); April 10:Erra Dixitha (weightlift-ing); April 11: Mithali Raj(cricket); April 12: SainaNehwal (badminton) andApril 13: P. V. Sindu (bad-minton).

●● Two formerexecutives with USmedia giant Foxwere charged withcorruption, bankfraud and money-laundering for thescandal-taintedbidding war for2018 and 2022World Cups.

CORONA || CONTRIBUTION

Please don’t go to sleepwith an empty stomach.Don’t be afraid orembarrassed to sendme a private message. Iwill be more than happyto share whatever Ihave.

— NICK KYRGIOSAustralian

tennis player

Regd. No. H/SD/509/2018-20Printed and Published by T.

Venkateswarlu on behalf of DeccanChronicle Holdings Limited. Printedat Deccan Chronicle Press situatedat Plot No. 9 Alwal Village, VallabhNagar Taluk, Medchal Malkajgiri

Dist. Telangana and Published at 36,S.D. Road, Secunderabad-3.

RNI Registration No. 3081/1957.Editor: Aditya Sinha

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