c m y k c m y k

Max: 36.5OCMin: 25.5OC RH: 52%Rainfall: Nil

Forecast: Haze. Max/Min temp. 36/24ºC

WEATHER

ASTROGUIDESarvari; Uttarayana

Tithi: Chaitra Suddha Ashtami till3.38 am(Thursday)

Star: Arudra till 7.23 pmVarjyam: Nil

Durmuhurtam: 11.55 am to 12.44 pm

Rahukalam: 12 noon to 1.30 pmHIJRI CALENDAR

Shabaan 6,1441 AHPRAYERS(SHAHI MASJID)

Fajar: 5.02 amZohar: 12.17 pm

Asar: 4.48 pmMaghrib: 6.32 pm

Isha: 7.32 pmSUNSET TODAY 6.22PM

SUNRISE TOMORROW 6.05 AMMOONSET TOMORROW 12.13 AM

MOONRISE TODAY 12.44 PM

Only BS-6 fuelfrom today

Hyderabad: India will switchto cleaner BS-VI fuel from

April 1, joining select club ofcountries. The new fuel

contains just 10 part permillion (ppm) of sulphur

and reduce nitrogen oxideemissions considerably. The

switch to clearer fuel wasplanned in 2016 by the

Narendra Modi government.Though public sector oil

marketing companies meetApril 1, 2020 deadline, auto

companies got 10 dayextension to sell vehicles

that run on older BS-IVfuels.

Euro chief warnsEU’s break-up

Brussels: Eurogroup presi-dent Mario Centeno warned

the euro single currencycould break apart if feudinggovernments don’t bury thehatchet and agree on a res-

cue plan to help Italy andSpain. The warning came as

the 19 members of the sin-gle currency still cannot

agree on a rescue plan toreverse the impact of the

coronavirus. — PTI

Brokerages: Cut trading hours

Hyderabad: The Associationof National Exchanges

Members of India (Anmi),which represents nearly

900 brokerages, asked mar-ket regulator Sebi reduce

market hours four hoursfrom the current six hours

15 minutes. The brokeragesbody want the markets to

from function from 10 am to2 pm as against the present9.15 am to 3.30 pm in view

of national lockdown.

IN BRIEF

COUNTER POINT

8,00,000WORLD CONFIRMED CASES

CASES

1397DEATHS

35TS: 96AP: 44

0600

38,540+183

DEATHS

COUNTRIES,AREAS WITH

CASES

CORONA C UNT

Vol. 17 No. 266 Established 1938 | 18 pages | `6.00deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle, google.com/+deccanchronicle

TABLOIDBuying ventilators? Itis sheer stupidity

WORLD|8China may test Covid

vaccine abroad

THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIANELLORE I WEDNESDAY I 1 APRIL 2020

BUSINESS|9PSBs’ mega merger

comes into effect

MD ILYAS I DCVIJAYAWADA, MARCH 31

The Chalo Delhi religiouscall of the TablighiJamaat for the mashoora(convocation) conductedby the Markaz masjid atNizamuddin is turning isa disaster for AndhraPradesh too. Twentyonenew coronavirus (Covid-19) positive cases wreidentified in the state onTuesday, taking the totalto 44, out of whom 18 per-sons had returned fromthe meet.

Prakasam district topsthe list, with 11 new posi-tive cases, followed byVisakhapatnam (10),Guntur with nine positivecases, Krishna (five), EastGodavari (four), Ananta-pur (two), and one eachregistered in Chittoor,Kurnool and Nellore dis-tricts.

Adding to the crisis, peo-ple are falling forrumours wherein evennon-coronavirus deathsin the family of any Delhireturnee is being relatedto Covid. Besides this,people who met any of theDelhi returnees in vari-ous places in Guntur dis-trict are fearing commu-nity transmission andrushing to the GGH fortesting.

The mashoora was con-ducted by the TablighiJamaat from March 15 to17 and was presided byMoulana Saadh, head ofthe Markaz mosque.Tabligihi Jamaat leaderIkram Ali of Hyderabadsupervised the pro-gramme.

State officials found 711persons who attended themashoora from AndhraPradesh, in which offi-cials traced whereaboutsof 626 people and shiftedthem to quarantine Thesearch is on for informa-tion on the remaining 85.

The highest number ofpeople who went to attendthe Delhi meet are fromKurnool district (189), fol-lowed by districts ofGuntur (88), Anantapur(73), Nellore (68), Praka-sam (67), Kadapa (59),Krishna (43), Visakhapat-nam (42), Chittoor (36),East Godavari (27), WestGodavari (16) andVizianagaram (three).

Many of these returneestransmitted the virus totheir family members,including their wives, andthe officials have shiftedthem to quarantine.

Several religious leadersopined that TabligihiJamaat gives importanceto strict following ofIslamic norms, hencemajority of Tabligihi fol-lowers might not havewatched TV at home, pos-sibly the main cause ofabsence of general aware-ness.

Majority of these peoplereturned between March18 and but did not informabout their visit of Delhi,which led to officials nottaking any precautions ontheir front, even as thegovernment focussed onforeign returnees.

■ Page 2: Markaz visitorsmight be unaware of Covid

People, who came for a religious gathering at Nizamuddin mosque, are being taken to a hospital for Covid-19 test inNew Delhi on Tuesday. — PTI

Tablighi spreads Covid in APState adds 21 cases in one day; 711 people from AP visited Markaz; coronavirus risk rises

SHASHI BHUSHAN andBHASKAR HARISHARMA | DCNEW DELHI, MARCH 31

The Delhi police onTuesday registered a caseagainst Maulana Saadand others under varioussections of the IPC and theEpidemic Diseases Act forviolation of governmentdirectives given to themanagement of theMarkaz of Basti Nizamu-ddin. The governmentsaid so far 1,582 TablighiJamaat workers wereshifted to the Narela,Sultanpuri and Bakkar-wala quarantine facilitiesthat included 441 admit-ted in hospitals.

The police said an FIRwas filed against MaulanaSaad and others of Tabli-ghi Jamaat for violationof the directives issuedafter the coronavirus out-break.

Over 3,000 people hadgathered March 1 andMarch 18 at the Nizamu-ddin Markaz mosque for aTablighi Jamaat meet. Asenior police official saidthe FIR was filed underSection 269, 270, 271 and120B IPC at the Nizamu-ddin police station.

Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal hasappealed to religious lead-ers, irrespective of faith,to not organise any eventduring the lockdown.

Delhi health ministerSatyendar Jain said 24people had tested positive.

The Delhi police special

branch on Tuesday askedthe government to takeaction on at least 157 per-sons linked to the Tab-lighi Jamaat now stayingat various masjids andother places in Delhi.

These include 94 fromIndonesia, 13 from Kyrg-yzstan, nine from Bangla-desh, eight from Malay-sia, and some Indian nat-ionals. The police warnedno “social distancing” ispossible at these placesand there was a gravepublic health risk.

Delhi cops bookTablighi Jamaatmeet organiser

DC CORRESPONDENTSVIJAYAWADA, MARCH 31

Chief Minister Y.S. JaganMohan Reddy on Tuesdaydecided to pay half theMarch salary to state gov-ernment employees onApril 1, while deferringthe entire amount to peo-ples’ representatives to alater date.

The Chief Minister con-veyed his decision to makethe salary adjustment toAP Government Emplo-yees Association presidentK.R. Suryanarayana at ameeting held between thetwo at the former’s campoffice.

As reported in thesecolumns earlier, ChiefMinister Reddy decided tomake partial payments asrevenues were badly hitdue to lockdown. The gov-ernment will pay 40 percent salary to the All IndiaServices (AIS) officers, 90per cent salary to non-hazetted officers rankstaff, besides 50 per centsalary to state employeesof above NGO rank and 50per cent to pensioners.

Speaking to mediaper-sons, Mr Suryanarayanasaid that employees wouldalways support the govern-ment during a times of cri-sis. He, however, request-

ed the Chief Minister todeposit the remainingamount at the earliest andspecify the schedule for itin the GO itself.

Elsewhere, Mr Reddyasked all Delhi returneesand persons who havecome in contact with them(touchpoints) to voluntari-ly come forward for a quar-antine to restrain thespread of the Coronavirus(Covid-19) pandemic.

The Chief Minister, dur-ing a review meeting hereon Tuesday, directed med-ical and health, police andother departments to iden-tify all Delhi returnees andtheir touchpoints and to

provide them with treat-ment immediately.

He directed officials toinitiate measures to avoidcrowding in Rythu Baza-ars and market places dur-ing relaxation time of lock-down and directed them tostart janata markets.Officials informed theChief Minister that 17 newcases of Covid-19 positivehave a link to the MarkazNizamuddin meeting andthey were trying to trackdown all fellow travellersand other touchpoints.

■ Page 4: Jagan appealsto Nizamuddin returnees to

take treatment

State defers half pay to staff

DC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, MARCH 31

The Union health ministryon Tuesday said that citiesand states with the highestnumber of positive casesare being treated as majorhotspots of Covid-19 andthe government is makingall efforts to focus on themto contain the spread ofthe virus. But at the sametime it emerged that tillnow only 42,788 peoplehave been tested in thecountry so far for the dead-ly virus.

Since India recorded itsfirst confirmed positivecase in Kerala on January30, this means that anaverage of 713 tests havebeen conducted every dayin a country of 1.3 billion.

During the last 24 hours,121 new confirmed casesand three deaths havebeen reported in India,taking the total confirmedcases to 1,397, and thedeath toll to 35. By lateTuesday evening, there

were 1,238 active cases, 123people have been curedwhile one left India.

The sudden spurt incases in the last couple ofdays is being attributed tothe Delhi mosque gather-ing in Nizamuddin where24 have tested positive sofar and health agencieshave intensified contact

tracing of those whoattended the event.

The government is fac-ing severe criticism forhaving one of the lowesttesting rates in the world.Over 200 scientists andmembers of the Indianacademic community onTuesday asked the govern-ment to rapidly enhance

testing facilities to detectCovid-19 in every region.

Defending the govern-ment, ICMR scientist DrRaman Gangakhedkarsaid so far 42,788 sampleshave been tested for Covid-19 out of which 4,346 sam-ples were tested on Mon-day, while the private sec-tor screened 399 cases.

Centre to focus on urban areas

N. VAMSI SRINIVAS I DCVIJAYAWADA, MARCH 31

In a rare incident, the gov-ernment on Tuesdayinformed the AndhraPradesh High Court that ithad passed two contradic-tory orders on the sameday pertaining to therecent humanitarian crisisat the AP-Telangana bor-ders, where thousands ofpeople from Hyderabadtried to enter into the state.

While one order of the

division bench comprisingChief Justice J.K.Maheshwari and JusticeM. Satyanarayana Murthyinsisted that the state mustfollow the national proto-col issued by the Centre onthe lockdown and notallowing movement of peo-ple, the same bench passedanother order, a portion ofwhich was in contradictionto the protocol.

The government filed areview petition appealingto the High Court to with-

draw the second order.The Chief Justice repeat-

edly asked about the sec-ond order, and wonderedhow it was issued in con-trast to the first one. Hesaid he remembered issu-ing an order directing thestate to follow the nationalprotocol. The respondent’sadvocate mentioned thatJustice Murthy passed theorder later in the day.

Deccan Chronicle in thesecolumns carried the con-cerns expressed by the

health workers in imple-menting the second order.They preferred a commonfacility to monitor thosecrossing borders. Theypointed out that severalpeople were asymptomaticwhen they were put to ther-mal screening at airports,only to be tested positivelater.

In a first of its kind in thehistory of the High Court,the review petition was putto trial through video con-ference, in which the two

judges, Advocate-GeneralSriram and respondent’sadvocates took part fromtheir respective homes.

The AG explained thatthe HC took up the bordercrisis suo moto and direct-ed the government to allowpeople following thenational protocol. Thestate was willing to allowpeople to cross border onlyif they agreed to get quar-antined in a special facilityset up by the governmentfor 14 days.

Another case was filed onthe same day by BharatiyaJanata Party leaderVelagapudi Gopalakri-shna, in which the samebench passed orders thathealthy people should beallowed to go home, with-out 14 days quarantine atgovernment facility, andinstead follow home isola-tion under the supervisionof a doctor and policeman.

The High Court lateradjourned hearing on thematter.

HC gave contradictory orders, state saysBench tells AP to follow lockdown protocol; portion of another order is contrary LEGAL | TANGLE

DC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, MARCH 31

A day after the UttarPradesh administrationreceived flak for sprayingmigrant labourers withsome unspecified chemi-cals, the Centre told theSupreme Court onTuesday that there is apossibility that three outof 10 migrant workersheading towards their vil-lages are carrying thedeadly novel coronavirus.

The court was also toldby the Centre that nowthere are no migrantworkers on the road, asubmission contradictedby reports and imagescoming in on Tuesday.

In its daily briefing, theUnion home ministry saidover 6.6 lakh stranded anddestitute people havebeen housed in sheltercamps across the country.

■ Full report on Page 5

SC ASKS CENTRETO PREVENTMIGRATION

MADHUSUDAN SAHOO | DCNEW DELHI, MARCH 31

Several public sectorbanks on Tuesday infor-med their branch headsas well customers aboutRBI’s three-month mora-torium on all term loans,including home, autoand crop loans and creditcard dues. Private andforeign banks, however,haven’t begun the pro-cess by Tuesday evening.

The pause on equatedmonthly installments(EMIs) won’t come intoeffect automatically.“Customers need toinform their banks thatthey want to avail thebenefit of the moratori-um. If there is a standinginstruction, the cus-tomer has to inform thebank that he want todefer EMIs. Otherwise,instalments will bededucted,” a senior bankofficial added.

Another chief of a pub-lic sector bank said oncondition of anonymity,“Banks on its own unilat-erally cannot stop ECSpayment due to legalissue but the customerhas the option of request-ing bank to stop it.”

The borrowers of pri-vate banks and foreignbanks, however, havereceived text messages,alerting about the sched-uled EMIs. The bank offi-cial said customers aregetting such messagesbecause the moratoriumdecision has to beapproved by the board ofeach lender but in manycases the board meetingshave not taken place dueto the lockdown.

■ Full report on Page 9

WRITE TO BANKIF YOU WANT TO PAUSE EMIS

SRIDHARKUMARASWAMI | DCNEW DELHI, MARCH 31

Ending a controversy onalleged export of protec-tive medical equipmentto Serbia in contraven-tion of a ban, a govern-ment official said the con-signment did not containany item, whose exportwas prohibited.

The official said 90-tonne consignment waspurchased from vendors

in India by Serbia andwas flown from Kerala toSerbian capital Belgrade.

The consignment repor-tedly includes “35 lakhpairs of sterile latex sur-gical gloves”.

While the export oflatex gloves was banned,the government officialsaid the government hadbanned the export is onNitrile Rubber (NBR)gloves.

According to reportsfrom Europe on Tuesday,

“A second cargo Boeing747 landed at NikolaTesla Airport in Belgradefrom Kerala, with 90tonnes load of medicalprotective equipmentbought by Serbia to com-bat COVID-19”.

The reports said “thecost for the transport ofthe equipment was fullyfunded by the EuropeanUnion.

■ Page 7: Cochin Porttweeted about export

MEDICAL GEAR EXPORT TO SERBIA KICKS UP ROW

DC CORRESPONDENTHYDERABAD, MARCH 31

A senior Telangana stategovernment official is oneof the 1,030 people whohave been ascertained tohave attended the MarkazNizamuddin in Delhi. Ananimal husbandry depar-tment official, he is saidto have attended theevent that was held fromMarch 13 to 16. He is aresident of Masab Tank,with his house locatedclose to the GHMC munic-ipal office there.

An internal memo wassent to department dire-cts officials to look intothe matter and conductnecessary medical inves-tigations on the official.

TS OFFICIAL TOOATTENDED DELHIMOSQUE MEET

STATE pg 2DECCAN CHRONICLE | NELLORE | WEDNESDAY| 1 APRIL 2020

Sudden spurt in number of cases to 11 rings alarm bells in PrakasamThere are 71 people in the isolation ward, who have contacts of Chirala couple and their sonPATHRI RAJASEKHAR |DC NELLORE, MARCH 31

The sudden spurt in thenumber of Covid-19 posi-tive cases by eight, takingthe total number of posi-tive patients to 11 inPrakasam district, is caus-ing jitters to the residentsof the backward district.Incidentally, all the newcases are either those whoattended the religiousmeeting at Aami MarkazBaglewali Masijid, theheadquarters of the popu-lar Tablighi Jamaat atNizamuddin in New Delhiin the second week ofMarch or close contacts ofthe attendees.

Only exception is thefirst positive case of a stu-dent from London with hisroots to Ongole reportedon March 19. The son ofthe coronavirus positivecouple from Chirala alsotested positive for thevirus on Tuesday. Hisfather stayed with him forfew days after returningfrom the religious meetingat Delhi.

According to DistrictMedical and HealthOfficer of Prakasam, Dr S.Appala Naidu there are 71people in the isolationward, who are contacts ofChirala couple and theirson, at the GovernmentGeneral Hospital inOngole and swab samplesof 56 of them have beensent for lab tests.

The Chirala MunicipalCorporation sanitary staffand health officialslaunched sanitisationdrive 3 km area around thehouse of Delhi returnees’son at Indira Colonywhich is declared as con-tainment area. A team ofhealth workers has beendeployed for door-to-doorsurvey to identify peoplesuffering from symptomsof coronavirus.

“The first 300 metresfrom the house is a highrisk zone and we will alsocarry out the sanitisationdrive in the buffer zone,the 2 km area from thecontainment area,” DrAppala Naidu said.

In case of Nellore, thereare 11 people in isolationand 92 people in the quar-antine ward. A majority ofthem have either attendedthe religious meeting inDelhi or their primarycontacts. The swab sam-ples of 57 people have beensent to Virology Lab atSVIMS in Tirupati and theresults are awaited.Nellore MunicipalCorporation officials,along with health workers,launched a sanitisationdrive in the areas wherethe suspects have beenpicked up from Mondaynight.

SHORT TAKES

NIZAMUDDINRETURNEES SENT

TO QUARANTINEDC CORRESPONDENT

VISAKHAPATNAM, MARCH 31

Among 369 persons whoreturned from HazratNizamuddin in Delhi, afterattending Tablighi Jamaat, 14are from Visakhapatnam dis-trict and three fromVizianagram.

The persons from Vizag wereadmitted to the GovernmentHospital for Chest andCommunicable Diseases,while those fromVizianagaram were sent to theMR Government Hospital.Their swab samples were sentto the Virus Research andDiagnostic Laboratory atRangaraya Medical College inKakinada. The results areexpected in a day or two.

The members of TablighiJamaat attended mashoora, abi-annual convocation held atDelhi between March 15 and17.

About 1,500 to 2,000 TablighiJamaat members from twoTelugu states attended theevent.

Meanwhile, 85 fishermenwho reached Vizianagaramfrom Mangalore on Mondaynight were quarantined at theisolation facility at the JNTUcampus in Dwarapudi.

According to Vizianagaramdistrict medical and healthofficials, “No Covid-19 positivecases have been reported inthe district so far. There is acontinuous check on foreignreturnees entering from otherstates. The Centre sends thelist of foreign returnees to thedistrict on a daily basis. Ahouse-to-house survey wasdone by ward volunteers totrace them,” said officials.

Among these, symptomaticpeople are sent directly to iso-lation wards in a specialambulance and asymptomaticare issued notice for homequarantine for 28 days. Tillnow, 476 foreign returneeswere identified. Out of them,82 have completed 28 days ofobservation, while 392 areunder home isolation.

CURBS ON RELIGIOUS

GATHERINGS

HALF SALARY,PENSION UNFAIR,

SAY PARENTSHARLEEN MINOCHA | DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 31

The Telangana ParentsAssociation (TPA) vehement-ly opposed the state govern-ment order to pay half thes a l a r -ies and pensions of stateemployees and pensioners forMarch.

Nagati Narayana, state pres-ident, TPA in a letter to theChief Minister over the issuesaid that it was irresponsibleof the government to passsuch an order during the lock-down.

“In the situation that we seetoday, the expenditure beingincurred by the people isimmense. Most of the salaryand pension goes into payingrent and EMIs, stocking upbasic essentials and fulfillingmedical needs.

Families are facing financialproblems. This order willdefeat the spirit of the lock-down,” he said.

Mr. Narayana, on behalf ofthe Telangana ParentsAssociation, demanded thatthe government retire theorder and pay full salariesand pensions.

DC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, MARCH 31

The Minorities WelfareDepartment has asked the dis-trict authorities to restrict thegatherings at all the Waqf andreligious institutions.

Dr Mohammed Ilyas Rizvi,Principal Secretary to theMinorities WelfareDepartment, said in the orderissued through the AP StateWaqf Board that the minoritycommunity must offer five-time prayers in their homesand follow the guidelines ofthe health department. Onlythe Imam and Moazzin withMasjid staff should offerprayers in the mosques tillApril 14.

As some people who attendedthe congregation in TablighiJamat at Nizamuddin, NewDelhi, had tested positive,steps had been taken to identi-fy all of them. The Waqf andMinorities WelfareDepartments were assistingthe district administration inthis task.

He asked the unidentifiedpeople to inform the collectorsor call the helpline number 104immediately and undergotreatment.

DC CORRESPONDENTVISAKHAPATNAM, MARCH 31

The Andhra Pradeshprison department hasbegun releasing prisonerson interim bail and emer-gency parole following theSupreme Court’s sugges-tion on March 23 thatstates may consider releas-ing those facing jail termof seven years and belowto decongest jails in viewof spreading coronavirus.

In the first phase, 74 pris-oners, including sevenwomen, were releasedfrom the Central Jail inVisakhapatnam onTuesday evening. Of them53 were undertrial prison-ers and 21 convicts. All theseven women are undertri-al prisoners.

The central jail has 1,350inmates as on date. Giving

a break up, the jail author-ities said among theundertrial prisoners, 47were from Visakhapatnamdistrict, two each fromVizianagaram andSrikakulam and one fromEast Godavari. Of the con-victed prisoners, 15 werefrom Visakhapatnam, fivefrom Vizianagaram andone from Srikakulam.

The prisoners werereleased in the presence ofseventh additional metro-politan magistrateJagadish Kumar and cen-tral jail superintendent SRahul.

“Only petty offenderswere released as per thedirections of the judgewho went to the prison anddecided on who should bereleased,’’ said IG of pris-ons G. Jayavardhan.

However, no ganja smug-gler was considered

parole, he added. TheVizag jail has around 600ganja smugglers compris-ing half of the capacityand they hail from differ-ent parts of the country.

Andhra Pradesh has fourcentral prisons located atVizag, Rajahmundry,Nellore and Kadapa. Allcentral prisons hold over4,200 prisoners (both maleand female and convictsand under-trials).

These prisoners, howev-er, will be under constantwatch of jail authoritiesand will be tracked on adaily basis by special com-mittees to ensure that theydo not escape.

Telangana government isyet to form a committee torelease the prisoners.Maharashtra and UP haveannounced the release of11,000 prisoners each, WestBengal and Delhi have

announced the release of3,000 prisoners each.Punjab is set to releaseover 6,000 prisoners.

According to a reportfrom Kakinada, as manyas 73 remand prisonerswere granted bail in Eastand West Godavari dis-tricts, out of which 17were already released onMonday. The remaining 55will be released onWednesday. Central jail

superintendent ofRajahmundry Mr SriramaRajarao said that the pris-oners should again cometo jail, after the expiry oftheir bail.

He said that all arrange-ments were made torelease them on April 1.

Meanwhile, EastGodavari sub-jails officerMr Tirupal said thatalready 17 prisoners werereleased from Kakinada(2), Prathipadu (6) andTuni (2) jails. WestGodavari sub-jails officerMr S. Kishore Kumar saidthat seven prisoners werereleased from Tanuku (4)and Narsapuram (3) jails.

Three remand prisonerswalked out of the Nellorejail on Tuesday.Superintendent of theprison Mr Ravi Kiran saidthere are 25 more eligiblefor the release provided

they produce sureties.However many of themare from other districtsand they are wary oversecuring the release sinceit is a herculean task toreach their hometowns inthe backdrop of lockdown.Moreover they have to bein home isolation and alsounder the radar of police,Mr Ravi Kiran said point-ing the lukewarmresponse to release offer.

Thirty prisoners, includ-ing 16 convicted in variousoffences and 14 remandprisoners, were releasedon parole from the Kadapacentral prison on Tuesday.The prisoners have beenordered to return to thejail by 25 or 26 of April.

The Kadapa prison hasmore than 800 inmates,including 500 convicts andthe remaining are remandprisoners.

74 prisoners released from jails in state to stem Covid spread No ganja smuggler was considered parole; all central prisons hold over 4,200 inmates in stateFREE | BIRDS

DC CORRESPONDENTKURNOOL, MARCH 31

Kurnool is on the edgewith reports that some 400Muslims from the districthad attended theNizamuddin Markaz meet-ing in Delhi from wheremany people contractedthe coronavirus. Out ofthem, 258 were found byofficials and the remain-ing were yet to be tracedout. A total of 189 havebeen quarantined atRayalaseema Universitywhile 43 are still at home.

The whereabouts of 26people are yet to be ascer-

tained. The district admin-istration has been tryingto identify the attendeeswho had returned. Theyhad gone to Nizamuddinon March 12 by variousmodes of travel, includingtrain and buses, andreturned on March 18 and19.

They would have inter-

acted with several peopleduring the travel. Even onTuesday, three people werestaying in Delhi for addi-tional prayers.

Heart-rending sceneswere witnessed at thequarantine centre atRayalaseema University,said Kurnool MLA HafeezKhan. He has arrangedmedicines, food and otheramenities to the quaran-tined people.

Finance ministerBuggana RajendranathReddy visited the quaran-tine facility on Tuesday.

The largest contingent ofattendees at the meeting

was from Kurnool, themost popular Muslim cityin Andhra Pradesh. A 65-year-old man died in theKurnool GovernmentGeneral Hospital onMonday. But his samplestested negative afterdeath, officials said.

The district administra-tion has started a specialdrive to identify their pos-sible contacts, includingtheir family members, andtest their samples.

District Collector G.Veera Pandian said that202 have been quarantinedin various units arrangedby the government.

Kurnool on edge as 400 Muslimsfrom district attended religious fete

SAMPAT G. SAMRITAN/K.M.P PATNAIK/VADREVU SRINIVAS/HOSKOTENAGABHSHANAM | DC VIJAYAWADA/VISAKHAPATNAM/KAKINADA/ANANTAPUR, MARCH 31

AP witnessed a suddensurge in the number ofCovid-19 cases as 21 per-sons tested positive, takingthe total number of Covid-19 cases to 44.

According to a releasefrom the director of healthand family welfare onTuesday, a majority werethose who attended a reli-gious programme in Delhiand those who had con-tacted them. Some othersare those who were in con-tact with pilgrims whoreturned from Macca.

Prakasam topped the listwith 11 cases, followed byVisakhapatnam (10),Guntur (nine), Krishna(five), East Godavari (four)Anantapur (two) and onecase each in Chittoor,

Kurnool and Nellore.A total of 164 samples

were tested since Mondaynight and 147 are found tobe negative. As many as30,693 persons are underhome quarantine while262 are admitted in thehospitals. A total of 256samples were tested from 9pm on March 30, of whom21 tested positive.

All the four persons whotested Covid-positive fromVisakhapatnam hadreturned from theTablighi Jamaat event atthe Markaz Masjid inNizamuddin. Health offi-cials traced 14 personswho had returned fromthe event and 17 personsthey had come in contactwith, and admitted themin government hospitals.Four of them were foundto have the disease.

The 65-year-old patient,who was the second to testpositive to Covid-19 onMarch 19, was dischargedfrom GovernmentHospital for Chest andCommunicable Diseases

on Tuesday. Doctors saidhis latest tests on March 27and March 29 were nega-tive. His wife who testedpositive is still undergoingtreatment.

The patient, hailing fromAllipuram of the old city,visited Macca and Madinaand returned after spend-ing some time with hisdaughter in Hyderabad.He went to three privatehospitals for severe coughand cold and the privatedoctors admitted him intothe Chest Hospital. Hisdaughter has tested Covid-negative.

Collector V. Vinay Chandsaid 90 suspected patientshave been isolated in thehospital and one in VIMSHospital. So far, 215 wereadmitted and of them 124were discharged.

At Kakinada, anotherCovid-19 positive case wasdetected in Peddapuram ofEast Godavari, taking thetotal to four in the district.The three positive caseswere shifted to a privatehospital near

Rajanagaram which wasdeclared as a Covid-dedi-cated hospital.

A 72-year-old man fromRajahmundry was shiftedto a dedicated hospital inVisakhapatnam. A 62-year-old man hailing fromKonthamuru village diedof cardiac arrest in thequarantine ward inGovernment GeneralHospital in Rajahmundry.He had returned fromDelhi.

Samples were collectedfrom 101 foreign returneesof whom one tested posi-tive. The youth is recover-ing in a private hospital.Samples were collectedfrom 108 Delhi returneesof whom three were posi-tive. Health personnel col-lected blood samples from31 primary contacts ofpositive cases but no posi-tive case is reported so far.Joint Collector-2 G.Rajakumari said that thecontacts of Delhireturnees have beentracked and all precau-tions taken.

At Anantapur district,two persons of a familyincluding a 10-year-old boyand 45-year-old woman ofLepakshi mandal head-quarters were confirmedCovid-positive. A 74-year-old woman from the fami-ly of six Macca-returneesdied of Covid-19 atBengaluru and her mortalremains were reportedlycremated at a village inGowribidnur taluka inChikkaballapur district inKarnataka closer toHindupur town. Sourcesrevealed the old womanwas confirmed Covid-posi-tive after her death.

Many of her relativesfrom Hindupur andGowribidnur attended herfuneral. The Karnatakaauthorities were unable toidentify who had attendedthe funeral.

The family was among 46pilgrims, 15 fromGowribidnur and 31 fromHindupur, who went toMacca. They landed inHyderabad and returnedin the same bus.

From Page 1

Several religious leadersopined that TablighiJamaat gives importanceto strict following ofIslamic norms, hencemajority of Tabligihi fol-lowers might not havewatched TV at home, pos-sibly the main cause ofabsence of general aware-ness.

Majority of these peoplereturned between March18 and but did not informabout their visit of Delhi,which led to officials nottaking any precautions ontheir front, even as thegovernment focussed onforeign returnees.

Now, after news hasspread of the Delhi visitas a cause of rapid spreadof coronavirus, Delhireturnees and their touch-points, including familymembers, are rushing tohospitals for testing.

In a tragic incident onMonday, the parents of aDelhi returnee died with-in a few hours inVidyadharapuram inVijayawada due to long ill-ness related to breathingproblems. Their son hadreturned from the Delhicongregation and wasunder home isolation.

Locals living on thestreet where the duo diedsuspected these could bec o r o n av i r u s - r e l a t e ddeaths and rushed to theGGH for testing. Officialsinformed the people thatthe couple was tested ear-lier and found to be Covid-negative, while their sonis under isolation.Officials shifted all 35 peo-ple to quarantine.

The officials, who wereshocked to learn thatmajority of new Covid-19positive cases connectedto Delhi visit, startedshifting the travellers,their family members andother touchpoints to vari-ous quarantine centres.

Since these Delhireturnees attended localmosques and met severalpeople for the past 10 daysit has created a scareamongst locals in Gunturcity, Macherla, Chirala,Ongole, Jaggaiahpeta,R a j a h m u n d r y ,Visakhapatnam and otherareas.

Health minister AllaKali Krishna Srinivas saidthat officials have startedshifting Delhi returneesand persons who werecame into contact withthem to quarantine cen-tres in all districts.

Mr Srinivas said thatpeople need of worryabout dying from coron-avirus as early diagnosiscan lead to successfultreatment of victims. Heappealed to the Delhireturnees and those theywere in touch with tocooperate with the govern-ment.

Markaz visitorsmight be unawareof Covid-19

DC CORRESPONDENTANANTAPUR, MARCH 31

About 73 persons fromAnantapur district andsurrounding areas attend-ed the Tablighi Jamatmeeting in New Delhifrom March 13 to 15. Butofficials identified 49 ofthem as hailing fromAnantapur district.

Police said an 11-mem-ber team from Kadiri gotstranded at Nahi villagein Haryana while theywere returning. “Theyare in quarantine inHaryana and no need forpanic for the residents ofKadiri,” said MLA SiddaReddy.

73 ATTENDED DELHIEVENT FROMANANTAPUR DISTRICT

Majority positive cases Delhi visitors

People sit on chairs in a queue maintaining physical distance to collect ration from a fair price store at Visalakshinagar in Visakhapatnam onTuesday, in an attempt to avoid the spread of Covid-19. — K. MURALIKRISHNA

● ● Telangana governmentis yet to form a committeeto release the prisoners.Maharashtra and UP haveannounced the release of11,000 prisoners each,West Bengal and Delhihave announced therelease of 3,000 prisonerseach. Punjab is set to

release over 6,000 prison-ers.

● ● Thirty prisoners,including 16 convicted invarious offences and 14remand prisoners, werereleased on parole fromthe Kadapa central prisonon Tuesday. The prisonershave been ordered to

return to the jail by 25 or26 of April.

● ● The prisoners werereleased in the presenceof seventh additional met-ropolitan magistrateJagadish Kumar and cen-tral jail superintendent SRahul.

● ● The officials, who wereshocked to learn thatmajority of new Covid-19positive cases connectedto Delhi visit.

● ● More than 100 swabsamples of Delhi returneesand their contacts sent forlab tests from Nellore andOngole

● ● Sanitisation drive incontacts living area inNellore and Ongole

● ● The swab samples of 57people have been sent toVirology Lab at SVIMS inTirupati and the results areawaited

● ● 258 were found by offi-cials and the remainingwere yet to be traced out.A total of 189 have beenquarantined at Rayala-seema University

CITY pg 3DECCAN CHRONICLE | NELLORE | WEDNESDAY | 1 APRIL 2020

SHORT TAKESNO NEED FOR

PENSIONERS TOGIVE FINGER PRINT

SRI CITY TO GIVEAMBULANCE

HELP FOR PEOPLE DC CORRESPONDENTTIRUPATI, MAR. 31

Sri City positioned two ambu-lances, one each at Satyaveduand Varadaiahpalem underthe respective tahsildars tohelp Covid patients.

Ramesh Kumar, vice-presi-dent (customer relations),handed over the ambulancesto Koneti Adimulam, MLA,Satyavedu. About 2,000 maskswere also handed over for dis-tribution to public.

Appreciating Sri City’s con-cern for the welfare of people,Mr Adimulam conveyed sin-cere thanks to RavindraSannareddy, MD of Sri City forthe immediate action taken inresponse to the appeal madeby the District Collector.

DC CORRESPONDENTTIRUPATI, MARCH 31

As part of the measures beingtaken to prevent the spread ofcoronavirus, the Chittoor dis-trict administration hasresolved to cancel the biomet-ric process in distribution ofsocial security pensions and`1,000 as aid to people belowthe poverty line.

The statement released onTuesday by district collectorNarayan Bharat Gupta statesthat the collection of fingerprints and digital signaturesis cancelled in view of theoutbreak of the deadly virus.

The collector said that thevolunteers can make use ofnewly developed 1.3 versionapp to retrieve details of pen-sioners and assess the statusbefore distribution.

DC CORRESPONDENTTIRUPATI, MARCH 31

The Chittoor district collec-tor Dr Narayan BharatGupta on Tuesday directedthe officials of horticulture,agricultural and marketingdepartments to chalk out aroute map for arrangingmobile rythu bazaars at var-ious mandals across the dis-trict.

Addressing the officials atdistrict secretariat inChittoor, the collector

instructed the agricultureand horticulture depart-ments to coordinate witheach other and set up at leasttwo mobile rythu bazaars foreach mandal across the dis-trict.

Maintaining that mobilerythu bazaars set up aturban areas proved to beworking effectively, the col-lector said that there is aneed to introduce the samesystem in rural areas for theconvenience of public in vil-lages.

He instructed the villageassistants of agriculturedepartment to provide mar-keting facility for the farm-ers to sell their produce and

extend all possible supportto them at these tough times.The collector alsoannounced that there wouldbe no restrictions on trans-portation of vegetables andother produce from farmers.

He asked the officials totake measures to ensure sup-ply of feed and eggs to thepoultry sector. Besides, theagriculture department offi-cials were directed to createawareness among farmers toenrol themselves for paddyprocurement process.

Adding that farmers in ser-iculture would be done withtheir reeling activity withlimited workers present, thecollector appealed farmersto contact the local agricul-ture and horticulturedepartment officials andalso dial to 08572– 242734, ifthey face any issues in trans-portation of their produce.The Joint CollectorMarkandeyulu, J C-2Chandramouli and otherswere present.

Mobile Rythu outlets to be set up in rural areasAgriculture and horticulture officials asked to initiate moves for thatPUBLIC | SUPPORT

Medical staff wantprotective gearDC CORRESPONDENTNELLORE, MARCH 31

Medical officers dealingwith Covid-19 patients andsuspects at theGovernment GeneralHospital in Nellore areworried over their safetydue to lack of SpecialPersonal ProtectionEquipment (SPPE) to dealwith patients in ICU.

Majority of them areunwilling to deal with thepatients in ICU withoutthe 3-layer suit (SPPE).For instance, doctors onduty allegedly declined toput a suspected patient ofcoronavirus on ventilatordue to non-availability ofthe special personal pro-tection wquipment late onMonday night.

Sources in the hospitalsaid the doctors havearranged non-invasiveventilation to the patientwearing normal PPE andsaved the man who is a TBpatient and also a primarycontact of one of the per-sons who attended the reli-gious meeting in Delhi.

A medical officer allegedthat the crew members ofprivate ambulance vanswere not willing to shiftthe coronavirus patientsunder the plea that theirsafety was at stake andhave not been coming toduty for the last 5 days.

“There is lot of resist-ance from 108 ambulancecrew also but we are man-aging the situation bypleading them” he said.

He added that medical offi-cers were also trying to goon leave on one pretext orthe other and only one ortwo doctors were comingto duty though they postfive doctors at the Covid-19ward.

In fact, most of the med-ical professionals areunhappy with the decisionof converting the GGH asCovid-19 RegionalHospital as the hospitallacks sufficient manpowerand even equipment tohandle the patients of thedreaded virus.

The information thatcoronavirus patients fromPrakasam, Kadapa andAnantapur were beingshifted to Nellore has beencausing jitters.

“We are in need of 80more doctors and doublethe number of paramed-ical staff to handle the 400beds earmarked for coron-avirus patients. There is ashortage of sanitary andsecurity staff too. A requi-sition has been sent to thehigher authorities to shiftmedical officers, paramed-ical staff, security andsanitary workers fromKadapa, Prakasam andAnantapur.

Nellore hospital staff reluctant to work without SPPE

DC CORRESPONDENTKADAPA, MARCH 31

In its humble bid to con-tribute to a national cause,Dalmia Bharat Group commit-ted Rs25 crore to PM-CaresFund as part of its endeavourto assist the government in itsefforts o contain Covid- 19.

"Both the Centre and stategovernments have been doingan exceptional job to containthe outbreak," said Mr PuneetDalmia, MD.

DALMIA BHARATGROUP OFFERS`25L SUPPORT

DC CORRESPONDENT ANANTAPUR, MARCH. 31

Satysai Central Trustannounced the supply of med-ical kits worth `1.80 cr to quar-antine centres of Anantapurdistrict. Trustee R.J. Ratnakarsaid Anantapur collectorGandham Chandrudu askedthe Satya Sai Central Trust tosupport quarantine centresand isolation wards.

"Trust will supply necessarymedical kits in Anantapur dis-trict", he said. The Satyasaitrust already set up quaran-tine centre at Puttaparthi.

The trust will assist districtadministration in every wayto fight against covid 19 virus.

SATYASAI TRUSTTO SUPPLY

MEDICAL KITS

DC CORRESPONDENTKADAPA, MARCH 31

District officials are now deal-ing with the disaster causeddue to spread of corona virusand lockdown. Deputy CM S.B.Amjad Basha and in-chargeminister Adimulapu Sureshdirected the officials con-cerned to monitor the lock-down situation, with eagleeyes, without any hassle.

LOCKDOWN EFFECTBEING OBSERVED

CLOSELY

1,472 complete home isolationDC CORRESPONDENTTIRUPATI, MARCH 31

Out of the 1,816 people,who have returned toChittoor district fromother countries, 1,472 peo-ple have completed thehome isolation period,under the constant watchby the medical and healthdepartment teams,according to the healthbulletin released by theChittoor district adminis-tration on Tuesday.

However, 344 are stillunder home isolation asper the recommendationsby the health departmentto self-quarantine them-selves for at least 14 daysto prevent the spread ofthe novel Coronavirus.

About 180 people were

under hospitalised andare being observed con-stantly. The district rapidresponse team has beencontacting these passen-gers over the phone forsurveillance and medicalteams are also conductingdoor to door survey tocheck their health condi-tions. About 86 peoplehave shown symptoms ofCovid-19 disease as ofnow, of which one wastested positive and 55 weretested negative, whileresults of 30 people are yetto come out.

Apart from this, 303 peo-ple were kept under isola-tion at nine quarantinefacilities, out of the 14facilities across the dis-trict. The break-up of peo-ple quarantined at vari-

ous facilities as onTuesday was eight peoplein Srikalahasti, followedby 21 in Varadaiahpalem,52 in Punganur, 39 inPalamaner, 48 in Tirupati,98 in JNTU, Kalikiri, tenin Puttur, four inThambalapalli and 21 inKuppam.

Meanwhile, the districtadministration has foundthat 46 people havereturned to the districtafter attending theTablighi Jamaat meetingorganised at the HazratNizamuddin Dargah inNew Delhi. About 28 peo-ple were placed in quaran-tine, while two people areyet to be traced and 15were found to have movedto other states and one toanother district.

Nizamuddin religious meetingadds to the worries of officialsDC CORRESPONDENTTIRUPATI, MARCH 31

The religious congrega-tion - Tablighi Jamaat—held at the HazratNizamuddin Dargah inNew Delhi from March 15to 17 has added to theworry of the officialmachinery in its bid tocontain the COVID-19 out-break.

Six persons fromTelangana, who attendedthe conference, died of thevirus on Monday, and 13from Andhra Pradeshtested positive on Tuesday.The AP government hasissued a high alert to

locate those who returnedfrom the Jamaat meeting,and move them to quaran-tine facilities.

The Chittoor districtadministration, whichhas collected a list of 46people from the district, ischecking for virus symp-toms among those presentin and around the hotspot

near Nizamuddin Dargah.Out of the 46 identified,

28 have been kept underquarantine, two are yet tobe traced, 15 have movedto other states and one hasleft for another district.

Eight of the 28 werequarantined atSrikalahasti, eight atPiler, six at SriPadmavathi Nilayam nearTirupati, three atKurabalakota, two at thedistrict hospital and oneat Punganur facility.

The district medical andhealth department hascollected the samples ofthe 28 people and sentthem for test.

TRIBALS OPPOSEISOLATIONCENTREDC CORRESPONDENTKURNOOL, MARCH 31

Tribals of GorumanuThanda in Betamcherlaresisted setting up aquarantine facility therefearing of contagion,

Police officials alongwith the officials con-cerned in Revenue andMandal Parishads, visit-ed Thanda on Tuesday toset up an isolation wardat a local model school.On learning about theirvisit, the residents inlarge numbers came tothe road and took to agi-tation, opposing thedecision of the officialsconcerned.

SANITATIONDRIVE IN WARDNOS. 43, 47DC CORRESPONDENTNELLORE, MARCH 31

Nellore MunicipalCorporation sanitationstaff led by theCommissioner P.V.V.S.Murthy launched a sani-tation drive at wardnumbers 47 and 43 inNellore city followingthe five suspected Covid-19 cases sent to the isola-tion ward atGovernment GeneralHospital (GGH) onTuesday. They travelledto Delhi to attend thereligious meeting atNizamuddeen in March.

Mr P.V.V.S. Murthy saidthat 3 km from the hous-es of the suspects wasdeclared “containmentzone.” Sodium hypochlo-rite is being sprayed allover the two wards todestroy the virus.

He said that the rev-enue officials arearranging door deliveryof essential commodi-ties, milk and vegetablesto the residents. The res-idents can contact therevenue officials MrMohammad Ishak9492490396, G. Ashok8639243896, Mr JanaAjay 6305966215, SaiNaveen 9030114116, K.Masthan Babu9010490604 and G.C.V.Jagadeesh 8919824489 fordoor delivery.

■ ■ The collector instructedthe village assistants of agri-culture department to pro-vide marketing facility forfarmers to sell their produceand extend all possible sup-port to them in these toughtimes.

215 foreign travellerssneak into PrakasamDC CORRESPONDENTNELLORE, MARCH 31

As many as 215 personswith foreign travel histo-ry sneaked intoPrakasam district,according to intelligencereports. They are not inthe list of 1080 persons,provided by theGovernment of India,retuned to Prakasamafter a visit to differentcountries. InspectorGeneral of Police,Mahesh Chandra Laddha,special police officer forPrakasam District onCorona (COVID-19) hasdisclosed this during areview on steps to containCorona Virus inPrakasam district held atOngole on Tuesday.

The IG has underlinedthe need for efforts totrace the 215 persons andincrease the surveillanceon people returned fromother countries. He hasalso stressed the need foreffective implementationof lockdown.

Speaking on the occa-sion, District CollectorPola Bhaskar said theyhave declared Ongole,Chirala, Kandukuru,Karamchedu andKanigiri as containmentzones and high risk zonesfollowing Covid-19 viruspositive cases identifiedin the areas. He said they

have drafted 400 PhysicalEducation Trainingteachers, 884 VillageRevenue Officers, 894Village Surveyors, 250hostel wardens and 1000science teachers apartfrom RTC conductors forcontrol surveillancebecause of lack of policeforce.

He said they have pro-vided relief centres in 56mandals for 7,500 personsreturned from differentdistricts and states toPrakasam district. MrBhaskar added that theyhave kept 134 personsreturned from Delhiunder the supervision ofmedical officers.

E a r l i e r, P r i n c i p a lSecretary for LabourDepartment andPrakasam DistrictSpecial Officer B. UdayaLakshmi called upon theofficials to put all theirefforts to contain theCorona virus while point-ing to the threat to thehumanity.

Officials told notto ignore dutiesDC CORRESPONDENTNELLORE, MARCH 31

Shortcomings in theworks of some senior offi-cials, including medicalofficers, got exposed dur-ing a review held byCovid-19 TaskforceCommittee, led byMinisters MekapatiGoutham Reddy and Dr.Anil Kumar Yadav, onTuesday. The Ministerstold the Collector not tospare anyone in case ofdereliction of duties atthis hour of crisis.

Taking serious viewover some doctors ignor-ing the instructions givenby the Assistant Collector,Goutham Reddy soughtaction against them whilestressing that no one,including himself, isindispensable if they fail,especially when the futureof humanity is in danger.

He suggested to use theservices of Joint CollectorDr. V. Vinod Kumar tosupervise medical servic-es apart from supplyingessential commodities.Pointing to the ChiefMinister’s statement thatno one should be allowedto suffer, he said thatTaskforce officials should

take necessary steps toprovide food to needy andprevent them from roam-ing on the roads.

He instructed the vil-lage/ward volunteers andANMs to examine thoseon home isolation, on adaily basis, while stress-ing that the coming twoweeks are very crucialbecause of the possibilityof Corona virus spread.He directed the officialsconcerned to keep a tab onthe rates of essential com-modities, including veg-etables.

Goutham Reddy directedDistrict Revenue OfficerMallikarjun to display thedetails and cost of thematerial being purchasedto contain Covid-19 virusat the ZP office.

Speaking to mediaper-sons after the review, Dr.Anilkumar Yadav saidthat they have fixedresponsibilities andaccountability for all theofficials concerned whileadvising them to dis-charge their duties reli-giously.

He said that in-chargeofficers will be taken totask in case of any lapseon the part of their subor-dinates.

Vital discussion

Industries minister M. Gowtham Reddy, Agriculture Minister P. Anilkumar Yadav, district collector M.V. SeshagiriBabu hold a matting with district officials on corona virus in Nellore on Tuesday.

DC CORRESPONDENTKURNOOL MARCH 31

A police sub-inspector ofPeapully painted a whitehorse with the motifs ofcoronavirus and gallopingon the streets of the town.He said he was stridinghorse with a special coro-na decoration to createawareness on lethalspread of coronavirus inhis jurisdiction.

The three-year-old whitehorse with pink designson the skin gallops in thestreets of Peapully andsurrounding villages saidthe rider SI G. MarathiShankar.

The sub-inspector saidhe was fond of horse rac-ing and thought it to be aneffective object to createawareness on coron-avirus. He said the horsebelongs to a villager inRamapuram and he hasbeen taming it for the pastseveral days.

He said he gives it rum,whiskey along with regu-lar diet prescribed forhorses. It can trot at astretch for a 10 km rideand then cools off.

Asked why he was notwearing a helmet, thepolice officer said whyhelmet on a horse. But he,

however, said he wasgoing slowly in the town,therefore, the probabilityof falling from the horsewas very low, he said.

On the other hand,police in Dhone broughtdrama artistes to play theroles of Lord Yama andChitragupta and theirentourage on the streets

and warning people not tocome out of houses.

Yama warns " don't comeout of your homes. else Iwill take you toYamalokam".

Kurnool three townpolice brought a bunch oftransgenders to createawareness on coron-avirus.

SI on horse gives corona warning

● ● Doctors on dutyallegedly declined to put asuspected patient of coro-navirus on ventilator dueto non-availability of thespecial personal protec-tion wquipment late onMonday night

● ● Chittoor districtadministration, which isnow in possession of a listof 46 persons from thedistrict, is in the processof checking out forCoronavirus infectionsymptoms.

Temple authorities asked tosuspend darshan till April 14DC CORRESPONDENTTIRUPATI, MAR. 31

As a preventive measureaimed to stop the spreadof the novel coronavirus,the Joint Commissioner ofthe endowments depart-ment, Chittoor has direct-ed all the temple authori-ties managing the affairsof over 88 small, mediumand big temples across thedistrict to continue thesuspension of darshan forpilgrims till April 14.

The department earlierdirected those templemanagements to suspenddarshan for pilgrims attheir respective temples

till March 31. However,with the central and stategovernments extended thelock down period till April14, the endowmentsdepartment in turn issuedfresh orders on Tuesdayfor the closure of all the 88temples.

In a press release by the

Joint Commissioner J.Ekambaram, he statedthat apart from the sus-pension of darshan forpilgrims, the templeauthorities were alsodirected to cancel the SriRama Navami celebra-tion, which is held in a bigway across the district.

He said all the 88 templedevasthanams across thedistrict had received Rs5,000 each under DoopaDeepa Naivedyam schemeon March 26 andArchakas at their respec-tive temples have beenconstantly performingdaily rituals to the presid-ing deities at the temples.

● ● The suspension wasearlier announced tillMarch 31 but with a lock-down imposed till April14, devotees will have tobe asked to follow theinstructions on social dis-tancing till April 14.

● ● The authorities havedeclared Ongole, Chirala,Kandukuru, Karamcheduand Kanigiri as contain-ment zones and high riskzones following Covid-19virus positive cases iden-tified in the areas in therecent past.

The police officer says he loves horses and this wouldbe an ideal way of passing the message.

POLITICS pg 4DECCAN CHRONICLE | NELLORE | WEDNESDAY | 1 APRIL 2020

Daily labourers from Odisha started on foot from Hanumantawaka in Visakhapatnam to reach their villages in Odisha, despite the Centre’s direction to stop migrants fromcrossing state borders, on Tuesday. — P. NARASIMHA MURTHY

Minister asked the people to go for Covid-19 test voluntarily and stay in self isolation at homePATHRI RAJASEKHAR |DC NELLORE, MARCH 31

The number of coron-avirus cases in the statehas increased to 44 onTuesday from 23 onMonday. Health ministerAlla Kali Krishna Srinivas(Nani) said that this wasdue to the spread of thevirus among those whohad attended a religiousmeeting held atNizamuddin in Delhi inthe second week of March.

He asked the people con-cerned to go for Covid-19test voluntarily and stay inself isolation. They cancall the helplines and giveinformation about them-selves and those who cameinto contact with them, hetold the media after areview meeting held inSPSR Nellore district. Asper the central govern-ment data, 30,990 peoplehad come to the state fromother countries.

While 30,693 among themare in home isolation, 262remain in the isolationwards in hospitals.

He promised to provide

150 ventilators and person-al protection equipmentfor the doctors and para-medical staff in Nellore.He also told the districtadministration to makeuse of the services of pri-vate doctors and hospitalsto handle the situation.

MLC VitapuBalasubhramanyam saidmost private hospitals hadclosed down as the staffcould not attend duty inview of the lockdown hit-ting the medical care ofeven other patients in gov-ernment hospitals whichwere concentrating on the

virus cases. He also under-lined the need to increasethe testing capacity oflabs.

MLC Vakati NarayanaReddy urged the govern-ment to take care of aquaand citrus farmers andsaid paddy growers werein a fix because of lack ofMSP and exploitation bymiddlemen and millers.

The paddy growerswould be affected if thegovernment fails to pro-cure the harvested paddyand offer minimum sup-port price. The lemonfarmers also were worriedbecause of lack of trans-portation facility to mar-ket the produce, he said.

Water resources minis-ter Dr Anilkumar Yadavsaid a meeting would beheld with the hatcheriesand cold storage manage-ments to help the aquafarmers store or dispose ofthe harvested shrimp.

Industries ministerMekapati Goutham Reddy,collector M.V. SeshagiriBabu, SP BhaskarBhushan and joint collec-tor Dr V. Vinod Kumarwere among those present.

State is facingfinancial crisisV.K.L. GAYATRI | DC VISAKHAPATNAM, MARCH 31

The coronavirus out-break has increased thefinancial burden of thestate exchequer whichhas already been understress after the YSRCongress governmentassumed power.

Finance ministerBuggana RajendranathReddy has asked Unionfinance minister NirmalaSitharaman to rescheduleall the loans taken duringthe past three years andrelease the pending dues.

The previous TeluguDesam government hadavailed of huge loansfrom every source. TheYSR Congress govern-ment faced trouble due tothe big gap betweenreceipt and expenditureduring its first quarter inthe present fiscal.

However, ChiefMinister Y.S. JaganMohan Reddy has giventop priority to implement-ing his pre-election prom-

ises on “Navaratnalu.”The state finance min-

istry had alerted the chiefminister’s office aboutthe mismatch betweenreceipt and expenditureand urged the govern-ment to seek centralfunds.

The state finance minis-ter met NirmalaSitharaman in Delhi andexplained the situation toher.

The disbursal ofsalaries and pensions forMarch will be a difficulttask for the state govern-ment as the exchequer isvirtually dry.

“The Centre has to clearvarious funds, includingthe GST share of almost`1,000 crore. For thePolavaram project, it hasto give `3,500 crore. Thedues pending include the14th finance commissionfunds, additional develop-ment funds for backwarddistricts and otheraccounts totalling `18,000crore,” said a senior offi-cial in the finance depart-ment.

JAGAN APPEALSTO NIZAMUDDINRETURNEESFROM PAGE 1

Officials explained toChief Minister Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy thatamongst the latestdetected cases in thestate, most of them haveparticipated in theTablighi Jamaat event inDelhi.

State officials are gath-ering information fromevent organisers, policeofficials and railwaydepartment as to who allhave travelled in thetrain and from variousother sources and tryingto track down everytouchpoint.

Chief Minister Reddyappealed to Nizamuddintravellers and theirtouchpoints to voluntar-ily come, enter quaran-tine and undertaketreatment. He instructedhealth and police depart-ments to coordinate andidentify fellow trav-ellers, test them, andshift them to quarantinecentres in case of anysymptoms.

Mr Reddy also orderedofficials to ensure thatthere should be no pub-lic gatherings in thestate. He told them tostrictly implementrelaxation time in urbanand rural areas. Heasked officials to con-duct a survey in everyhouse in urban areas.The urban areas shouldbe more concentrated asthey are more prone tovirus infection.

He sought details onthe work of task force indistricts and instructedofficials to make use ofmarket yards’ chairmanand fill all vacant chair-man posts. He instructedthat price lists must bedisplayed from April 1.He also ordered officialsto buy banana and toma-to crops from farmers.

Farmers are facingproblems with cropsthat cannot be stored, hesaid. He affirmed thatthe government is keenon providing MSP tofarmers. Officialsbriefed the ChiefMinister that fruit ven-dors are being allowed tosell fruits and farmerswill benefit by this asretail business is func-tional even during lock-down.

Mr Reddy instructedofficials to set up a dis-tribution network thatcoordinates from vil-lage-level to city-leveland supply goods basedon demand in respectivevillages and cities. Hesought details on aquaand agriculture-relatedsectors. Officials saidthat of 69 processingunits in state, 41 arefunctional.

Fisheries departmentofficials are coordinat-ing with control roomsin districts to issue pass-es to workers working inprocessing units.Products are beingexported to America andChina; 13 containersfrom Visakhapatnamand four containersfrom Kakinada have leftport on Monday.

The CM said all billsunder Aarogyasri serv-ices have been clearedand instructed officialsto deliver quality treat-ment for everyone.

SHORT TAKES

DGP PROMISESTO BRING BACK

UK STRANDEDDC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, MARCH 31

AP Director General of PoliceDamodar Goutam Sawang hasassured stranded Telugu stu-dents from AP in London thatthey would get all requisitesupport from both the Centreand the State Governments tocome back to their home state.

Addressing the stranded stu-dents in London, through avideo conference arrangedunder the joint aegis of APCID (NRI Cell) and APNRTfrom here on Tuesday, the DGadvised the students to bebrave and confident.Responding to him, the stu-dents expressed their concernby saying that as Covid-19 isspreading rapidly, it wouldaffect education, health andemployment sectors in Londonand appealed for interventionof the AP Government tobring them back to India.

DC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, MARCH 31

AP power utilities donate `7.87crore to AP Chief Minister’sRelief Fund to fight Covid-19pandemic.

Employees of power utilitiesincluding AP Transco, APGenco, AP Discoms, NRED-CAP and APSECM donatedtheir one day basic pay to thetune of `7.87 crore to APCMRF to help the state govern-ment to initiate measures tocontain spread of Covid-19.

Minister for energy BalineniSrinivasa Reddy, energy secre-tary Nagulapalli Srikanth andAP Transco joint managingdirector K.V.N. ChakradharBabu handed over cheque tothe Chief Minister Y.S.Jaganmohan Reddy onTuesday.

DC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, MARCH 31

State government has set up astate level control room to co-ordinate with all the hospitalsto take steps to contain spreadof Covid-19.

The department of health,medical and family welfarehas set up the control room atfifth floor in R and B buildingin the city under the control ofdirector of medical education.The control room will co-ordi-nate with four state Covid hos-pitals, all district hospitalsand also 435 private hospitalsto initiate measures to tacklethe spread of the virus.

DC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, MARCH 31

Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray hasassured to take care of around500 migrant labourer families,hailing from parts of Kurnool,stranded on the outskirts ofMumbai due to Covid-19 lock-down based on a plea fromJana Sena chief Pawan Kalyanon Tuesday.

The Jana Sena chief tweetedto Maharashtra CM UddhavThackeray, explaining aboutthe hardships being faced bythe stranded labourers. Hesaid that the labourers areunable to find work and nothaving food and water whilewomen and children too facehardships with no milk to feedthe kids. The Jana Sena Chiefsaid that as they all belong toBelow Poverty Line category,they have sought the interven-tion of the Maharashtra CMand shared the details of theirlocation through GPS and alsotheir mobile numbers and alsothe plight of the labourers inthe form of a video.

POWER STAFFDONATE `7.87

CR TO CMRF

AP SETS UPCONTROL ROOM

FOR COVID-19

UDDHAV VOWSTO HELP APLABOURERS

1 AMBULANCEFOR EACH

ASSEMBLYDC CORRESPONDENTVISAKHAPATNAM, MARCH 31

Minister for tourism and cul-ture Muttamsetti Srinivasasked the deputy commission-er of road transport authorityK. Raja Ratnam to organiseambulances for eachAssembly constituency so asto rush the suspected cases ofcoronavirus to the concernedhospital or quarantine centreswithout much loss of time.

In a review meeting with thetop officials here on Tuesdaythe minister discussed on theprogress of the measures.

30,990 foreign returnees in state

S.N.C.N. ACHARYULU I DCHYDERABAD, MARCH 31

With funds promised byCentre to the states forfighting Covid-19 not beingreleased yet, the Telugustates are facing a severecash crunch with virtuallyno collection of tax andnon-tax revenues due tothe ongoing lockdown. Thetwo governments were

waiting for release offunds by the Centre forfighting the virus crises.

While terming Covid-19“a notified disaster along-side earthquakes andfloods”, the Central gov-ernment had said it wouldprovide the states immedi-ate funds and other reliefto fight the crisis arisingdue to coronavirus. TheCentre also assured states

of aid under the StateDisaster Response Fund(SDRF).

As no Central funds wereforthcoming, officials ofboth the state govern-ments contacted the cen-tral authorities concernedonly to be informed thatno funds could be releasednow. They advised the twostates to go for overdraft iffunds are required andassured necessary permis-sions for the same. Theresponse shocked the offi-

cials of the Telugu states.The Centre reportedly

took the stance thatexpenses for hospitalisa-tion of the sick wouldcome under the NationalHealth Mission and costsfor setting up additionaltesting laboratories andmoney spent on buyingthermal scanners, ventila-tors, air purifiers and con-sumables for government

hospitals can be incurredthrough the SDRF. InSDRF, the Centre’s share is75 per cent while the statepays the rest. However, ifCovid-19 is treated as anational disaster, it wouldinvolve 100 per cent cen-tral funds.

In the given situation, APand TS have been left withno choice but go for over-draft for funds. This will,

however, mean the stategovernments will have topay additional interest forthese funds. As is, both thegovernments are alreadyburdened by debts andinterest payments.

Officials of the statefinance department haveexpressed the hope thatheeding to their request,the Centre would releaseCovid-19 funds soon.

Central authorities advised the two states to go for overdraft if funds are requiredTOUGH | TIME

AP, TS face uphill task with Covid funds pending■ ■ The centre hadannounced that it will pro-vide funds for fighting theoutbreak of coronavirus.Both AP and TS govern-ments have not yetreceived any central fundsso far.

Homebound

Naidu demands more virus testsDC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, MARCH 31

Telugu Desam supremo N.Chandrababu Naidu hasdemanded an increase inthe number of coron-avirus tests, supply ofpersonal protective equip-ment to frontline war-riors, identifying the par-ticipants of the HazratNizamuddin meeting andtheir touchpoints and con-ducting an online meetingof all political parties todiscuss steps to cope withCovid-19 in the state.

In a letter sent to ChiefMinister Y.S. JaganMohan Reddy, he askedhim to identify and seg-regate the infected peoplein the state andexpressed concern overthe fate of those whoattended the TablighiJamaat’s convocationand their contacts.

“Over 700 people fromAndhra Pradesh attendedthe convocation (Mash-oora) from March 15 to 17and returned to AndhraPradesh. The governmentmust trace all the partici-pants and test them,” hesaid.

If the government does

not act promptly, the num-ber of cases wouldincrease and the statewould face a catastrophe,

he said.Protective equipment

like body masks and facemasks should be given to

doctors, nurses, wardboys, paramedical staff,safai karamcharis andpolice, he said.

TD chief suggests use of digital media platforms DC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, MARCH 31

Telugu Desam supremo N.Chandrababu Naidu onTuesday called for effec-tive use of digital mediaplatforms like Zoom cloudconferences to practisephysical distancing as perthe call of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

Mr Naidu, who held apress conference on Zoomcloud on Tuesday, askedCM Jagan Mohan Reddyto use digital technologiesto communicate with thepeople about his govern-ment's response to theCovid-19 threat. He want-ed the CM to talk online tointellectuals, experts, doc-tors and social activistsand seek their suggestions

to help the people.He asked the ruling

party to set aside politicaldisputes and work togeth-er to face the pandemic. “Ihave been discussing withexperts ways to preventthe virus spread. The gov-ernment should also doit,” he said.

Listing out some do’sand don’ts, he said that

hot vapour exposure tonose and throat would killthe virus.

The daily gurgling of hotsaltwater will increaseresistance. Small quanti-ties of food should betaken at frequent inter-vals. More water intakeand hot cooked food wouldalso help fight the virus,he said.

Covid-19 panel chief testsnegative at home isolation N. VAMSI SRINIVAS | DC VIJAYAWADA, MARCH 31

The top brass of the Stateadministration heaved asigh of relief when seniorbureaucrat M.T. KrishnaBabu, principal secretaryTransport, Roads andBuildings, tested negativefor Covid-19.

Mr Krishna Babu, who isholding the crucial job ofheading the state levelcoordination committeeon Covid-19, took part inseveral meetings held byChief Minister Y. S. JaganMohan Reddy and chiefsecretary Nilam Sawhneyin the recent past. He hadno idea that he cameunder category of personsexposed to the virusbecause of a flight journeyhe undertook from NewDelhi to Vijayawada.However, he went into

home isolation immediate-ly on knowing that a per-son who travelled withhim was tested positive.

Official sources toldDeccan Chronicle that MrKrishna Babu attended ameeting in New Delhi andtook a flight to Vijayawadaon March 19 and attendedoffice normally. He wasasked by the ChiefMinister to oversee thecrucial coordination fol-lowing the announcementof lockdown. A centralcontrol room was set up inVijayawada from where

the bureaucrat was dis-charging his duties.

The Air India authori-ties as well as Krishna dis-trict officials dropped abombshell on March 27morning that a persontravelled in the same flightwas tested positive forCovid-19. He took thedomestic flight after com-ing from Europe. MrKrishna Babu cancelledhis scheduled meetingsincluding a presentationto the state cabinet on thepreparedness to meet exi-gencies and address theproblem of supplyingessential commoditiesduring the lockdown.

When contacted, MrKrishna Babu said the testresult was negative but heis continuing his selfquarantine till the stipu-lated time and workingfrom home.

● ● Health minister AllaKali Krishna Srinivas(Nani) said that this wasdue to the spread of thevirus among those whohad attended a religiousmeeting held atNizamuddin in Delhi in thesecond week of March

● ● He promised to provide150 ventilators and per-sonal protection equip-ment for the doctors andparamedical staff

● ● Krishna Babu attendeda meeting in New Delhiand took a flight toVijayawada on March 19.He was asked by the CMto oversee the crucialcoordination

● ● Naidu wanted the CMto talk online to intellec-tuals, experts, doctorsand social activists andseek their suggestions tohelp the people

● ● He asked the rulingparty to set aside politicaldisputes and work togeth-er to face the pandemic BENEFICIARIES

WILL GETRATION: NANIDC CORRESPONDENTVIJAYAWADA, MARCH 31

Minister for civil sup-plies Kodali Venkates-wara Rao alias Nani onTuesday said the govern-ment will ensure supplyof free ration to all thebeneficiaries. He refutedthe allegation of theopposition TD leaders.

N. Chandrababu Naidu

NATION pg 5DECCAN CHRONICLE | NELLORE | WEDNESDAY | 1 APRIL 2020

SHORT TAKES

MAHA ANNOUNCES8% CUT IN POWERTARIFF FOR 5 YRS

DC CORRESPONDENTMUMBAI, MARCH 31

The Maharashtra governmenton Monday announced anaverage of eight per cent elec-tricity tariff cut for the nextfive years to help business andpeople tide over the Covid-19crisis. While the industry hasbeen given the highest bene-fits, farmers will have to con-tend with one per cent reduc-tion in electricity costs,according to an official state-ment.

According to an officialstatement, the MaharashtraElectricity RegulatoryCommission has approved amove to cut tariffs by an aver-age of seven to eight per cent,which is first such measure inthe past 10-15 years. New tariffwill be implemented fromApril 1.

Meanwhile, the Mahara-shtra government on Tuesdayhas decided to pay the salariesof the elected representativesand government employees in‘two installments’ to combatfinancial crisis owing to theoutbreak of coronavirus. Thegovernment alleged that thedecision was taken as theCentre failed to pay its dues of`16,654 crore of the financialyear 2019-20.

A Government Resolution(GR) issued later said thatelected representativesincluding the chief minister,ministers and MLAs will gettheir salaries for March with60 per cent deduction. Thesalaries of group A and B willbe deducted by 50 per cent.

Aurangabad, March 31:Aurangabad Lok Sabha MPand Maharashtra AIMIM chiefImtiyaz Jaleel on Tuesday saidhis local area developmentfunds were meant for his con-stituency and he would nothand it over to the PrimeMinister’s Relief Fund in viewof the novel coronavirus out-break.

He said there were manyproblems in his area that needto be tackled and he would usethe funds, also called theMember of Parliament LocalArea Development fund, forthis purpose.

“I had got a call from theUnion Urban Developmentministry on Tuesday abouthanding over funds to the PMRelief Fund. I welcome thesteps taken by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to fight thenovel coronavirus outbreak.But the MP fund is for con-stituency development,” hesaid.

He said he would hand over aletter about his funds to thedistrict and state administra-tion in a day or two.

WON’T GIVE MPFUNDS, SAYS

AIMIM MP

RAJIB CHOWDHURI | DCKOLKATA, MARCH 31

An MLA in West Bengal hasbeen allegedly threatened bythe police to stay home or faceaction after he was found dis-tributing food among peoplenear his residence at CE Blockin Salt Lake for the past threedays amidst nation-wide lock-down due to Covid-19 pandem-ic as the death toll rose to 3with the total number of con-firmed cases at 27 in the state.

On Monday evening a seniorofficer of the BidhannagarNorth police station knockedthe door Sabyasachi Dutta, theNew Town legislator whorecently defected from theTrinamul Congress to the BJP.

He told him that he wouldnot be allowed to step out ofhome further due to the lock-down.

Mr Dutta, who was also theBidhannagar Mayor duringhis stint with the Trinamul,wondered, “Why can’t I helpthe people in their need if theruling party’s leaders aredoing the same?”

On Tuesday morning whenhe was about to go out of hisresidence, another cop visitedand cautioned him that hewould be booked in a casewhich may lead to his arrest.

Undeterred, Mr Dutta how-ever vowed to go out to helpthe people.

“The threat and warning bythe police reflect the state gov-ernment’s excesses,” heclaimed.

State BJP president andMidnapore MP Dilip Ghosh,also a resident of Salt Lake,rushed to Mr Dutta who latermet a senior officer of theBidhannagar PoliceCommissionerate to allow hissocial work.

COPS ASK BJPMLA IN WB TOSTAY AT HOME

The house of a person who attended the religious congregation at a mosque in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area being sanitised at Velladichivila nearNagercoil on Tuesday. - PTI

GILVESTER ASSARY |DC THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,MARCH 31

The death of a few dueto Covid–19 who attend-ed the Tablighi Jamaatreligious congregationin Nizamuddin hasprompted Keralaauthorities to sound analert in the state tolocate people whoreturned from the Delhievent.

What is of concern forKerala is the death of aretired professor whobelongs to Melevetti-puram in Pathanam-thitta who died whiletaking part in theNizamuddin event. MSalim died of cardiacarrest on March 24.

As the results of hissamples are awaited, itcannot be said conclu-sively that he died due toCovid–19.

The funeral of thepatient took place inDelhi as the body couldnot be brought to hisnative place because ofthe nation-wide lock-down.

After reports came inthat ten persons whotook part in the eventdied of Covid–19, 25 par-ticipants were testedpositive and 700 havebeen quarantined, thePathamathitta districtadministration is nottaking any chances.

Six persons whoreturned from Delhiafter attending the eventand two persons withwhom he stayed in Delhihave already been puton home quarantine.

The district adminis-tration is preparing alist of people with whomSalim came into contactrecently. All will be putunder quarantine.

TABLIGHI EVENTRINGS ALARMBELLS IN KERALA TOO

MANOJ ANAND | DC GUWAHATI, MARCH 31

Assam health ministerHimanta Biswa Sarmahere on Tuesday said thata 52-years old person whotravelled to New Delhirecently was detected posi-tive for coronavirus.

In a social media post,the minister said thatcoronavirus positivepatient was undergoingtreatment at SilcharMedical College and hiscondition was stable. Theminister, however, refusedto divulge more details inthis regard as detection ofa positive case involves aseries of exercise to iden-

tify and trace the personswho came in contact withthe patient and quarantinethem to check the spread.

The hospital sources saidthat patient is resident ofKarimganj and had trav-elled to new Delhi recently.

He was first tested onMarch 18 and thereafterhis sample was sent toNIV, Pune which onTuesday confirmed thatpatient was suffering fromCovid-19.

In related developmentAssam government onTuesday launched asearch operation andsought help of citizens intracing the whereabouts of299 persons who attended

the religious congregationat Nizamuddin in Delhi.

Asking the citizens tovoluntarily report them-selves to health authority,Assam health ministerHimanta Biswa Sarma inan appeal through variousmeans including socialmedia also asked people inneighbourhood either topersuade or report aboutthe presence of such peo-ple on helpline number104.

He said, “"If there is any-one from Assam whoattended the religious con-gregation of TablighiJamaat at HazratNizamuddin in Delhi,please IMMEDIATELY

report voluntarily to thenearest government hospi-tal or by calling Helplineno # 104. Please treat thisas very important."

Pointing out that Assamgovernment is now in pos-session of a list of per-sons, who were present inand around the hotspotnear Nizamuddin Dargahthe health minister said,“We’ve alerted districtadministrations to findout if these people havereturned to Assam. Wehave also issued strictinstructions to quarantinethem if they are in thestate.”

The minister of statehealth Pijush Hazarika

told reporters, “We havereceived information that216 persons from Assamhad attended the religiouscongregation and out ofthem, 28 are from Nagaondistrict. The Nagaon dis-trict Deputy Commi-ssion-er and Superintendent ofPolice told me that none ofthe 28 persons havereturned to the district sofar. But we are alert. Thefigure may go up. I appealto the people who attendedthe Nizamuddin event andreturned to the state toimmediately voluntarilyreport to the nearest gov-ernment hospital.”

Meanwhile, Assam gov-ernment on Tuesday

decided to ease lockdownnorm and said that con-struction of embankmentsand work in tea gardensand agricultural farmswould be exempted fromthe ambit of the lockdownfrom April 1, that will freelakhs of people from therestrictions of social dis-tancing.

The cabinet meeting alsodecided to allow all truckscarrying food items andother essentials stuck atSri Rampur gate along theAssam-West Bengal bor-der from April 1. Besides,the state government alsoallowed to open all facto-ries producing rice, flourand biscuits.

Lens on 299 from Assam who went to Delhi event

New Delhi, March 31: ASrinagar-based business-man who attended theTablighi Jamaat congre-gation in Nizamuddintravelled by air, train androad to Delhi, UttarPradesh and back toJammu and Kashmirbefore he died of Covid-19,raising fears he may haveinfected many othersalong the way, officialssaid on Tuesday.

Among his possible vic-tims is a doctor battlingfor life in a Jammu hospi-tal.

The businessman diedon March 26 in a Srinagarhospital, 19 days after heset off for the nationalcapital.

He could have infectedscores of people duringhis travels and about 300people have been putunder quarantine becauseof him, officials said.

Recapping his move-ments, they said he left byair from Srinagar to Delhion March 7 to attend thecongregation of theTablighi Jamaat, an ortho-dox Muslim organisationat the centre of the coron-avirus spread with 24 ofthe 2,000 odd participantstesting positive.

Being referred to as a“super spreader” by some,officials said the Kashmiribusinessman left Delhi onMarch 9 and took a sleepercoach of a train forDeoband, where he attend-ed a meeting at the DarulUloom seminary.

Two days later, on March11, he took another trainto Jammu.

Tracking the travel his-tory of the man, who wasin his mid-60s, officialssaid many of the passen-gers travelling with himin the trains have been putunder quarantine afterauthorities dug out theirdetails.

In Jammu, the business-man met up with his doc-tor friend and bothaddressed a religious con-gregation in a mosque inSamba on the outskirts ofthe city.

The two were togethertill March 16 and stayed ata lodge, since sealed, inBari Bramhmana outsideJammu city.

The doctor, now in aJammu hospital in a criti-cal condition, belongs toRajouri district of Jammuregion, officials said. Atleast 45 people from hisarea have been quaran-

tined. On March 16, thebusinessman, little sus-pecting that he might be afull blown case of Covid-19and a carrier of the virus,took a flight to Srinagarfrom where he drove toSopore in north Kashmir,about 54 km away.

Two days later, hereturned to his home inSrinagar, again by road.

“He complained of chestpain and normal flu onMarch 21 and was taken toa nearby hospital andlater to the super specialtySKIMS hospital in Souraon the outskirts ofSrinagar,” an official said.

Doctors were initially ofthe opinion that he had apollen allergy, common inKashmir during spring.

The next day, however,his condition deterioratedand he was shifted to theChest and DiseaseHospital in the city wherehe died on March 26.

The elderly gentlemanwas the first coronavirusfatality in Jammu andKashmir, which hasreported 55 cases.

As news spread aboutthe death, officials begantracking his movementsclosely. He is believed tohave spread the virus to at

least four people fromBandipora district whohad attended his Soporecongregation and maybemore as well.

The passenger lists ofthe flights on which hetravelled were also pulledout and every individualwas picked up and putunder necessary quaran-tine, they said, adding thetwo doctors who hadexamined him were alsotaken for quarantine.

Authorities across thecountry have swung intoaction to trace the con-tacts of those who attend-ed the Tablighi Jamaatcongregation, attended byhundreds of people,including from Malaysia,Saudi Arabia andIndonesia.

Delhi Health MinisterSatyendar Jain said 1,033people in NizamuddinWest have been shifted tovarious places.

“An estimated 700 peoplewho attended this congre-gation have been quaran-tined while around 335people have been admittedto hospitals,” he toldreporters.

Besides, all those whoparticipated in the eventare being screened.

J&K bizman feared tobe ‘super spreader’Man travelled by air, train and road; attended Delhi event DC CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI, MARCH 31

A day after the UttarPradesh administrationreceived flack for spray-ing migrant labourerswith some unspecifiedchemicals, the Centre toldthe Supreme Court onTuesday that there is apossibility that three outof 10 migrant workersheading towards their vil-lages are carrying thedeadly novel coronavirus.

The court was also toldby the Centre that nowthere are no migrantworkers on the road, asubmission contradictedby reports and imagescoming in on Tuesday ofthousands of migrantworkers stuck at borders,sleeping under flyovers,on footpaths, bus stands.

“We are trying to ensurethat no migration is per-mitted. It would be riskyfor them and for the vil-lage populations. So far,rural India is unaffectedby coronavirus but thereis possibility of three outof 10 moving from citiesto rural areas carryingthe virus,” solicitor gen-eral Tushar Mehta toldthe court, without speci-fying how this figure wasarrived at, or what steps

were being taken to testand segregate positivecases from others.

Separately, the Unionhome ministry said in itsdaily briefing on Tuesdaythat over 6.6 lakh strand-ed and destitute peoplehave been housed in21,000 shelter campsacross the country andover 23 lakh people arebeing provided with foodat these camps.

The Supreme Court,hearing petitions seekingdirections to provide foodand shelter to migrantworkers, told the Centrethat with summer knock-ing there should be ade-quate water, includingdrinking water, food,beds, medicine and peo-ple should not face anyforce or intimidation atthe camps.

“You will ensure that allthose whose migrationyou have stopped aretaken care of in terms offood, shelter, nourish-ment and medical aid,”Chief Justice Sharad A.Bobde told the Centralgovernment, representedby Mr Mehta.

CJI Bobde, heading thebench, also emphasisedthat shelters should befree from the use of forceor intimidation.

Migrants maybe virus carriers,Centre tells SC

AKSHAYA KUMARSAHOO | DCBHUBANESWAR, MARCH31

Odisha government hasidentified three personswho attended the reli-gious congregation atHazrat Nizamuddin inDelhi. The identifiedpersons have been keptunder hospital quaran-tine while efforts wereon to find if more per-sons had attended theevent.

“So far we have identi-fied three persons whoattended the religiouscongregation andHazart Nizamuddin andthey are currently underhospital quarantine.Our surveillance teamsare working to find out ifany more persons hadattended the event.Family members of theidentified persons havebeen kept under homeisolation,” Odisha gov-ernment’s Covid-19 chiefspokesperson SubratoBagchi said on Tuesday.

Mr Bagchi said theCovid-19 situation inOdisha was quite undercontrol as there has notbeen any addition to theaffected persons sinceMarch 26 and attributedthe credit to the over-whelming support of thepeople to the lockdowncall by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.

“So far, 473 sampleshave been examined outof which three testedpositive. However, weare not complacent nordo we think it’s anachievement. We aretaking all precautions toensure that the diseasedoes not assume seriousproportions. Many ofour cities and towns likeBhubaneswar, Cuttack,Puri, Bargarh andJeypore have equal ormore per-square-kmpopulation than Rome,New York and SanFrancisco,” said MrBagchi.

Stating that 57 personswere kept under hospi-tal quarantine, he said11,575 people with for-eign and domestic travelhistory were advisedhome isolation.

On Odisha’s migrantworkers stranded inother states, Odishahome secretary SanjivChopra said senior offi-cers were in touch withtheir counterparts inother states to ensureshelter and food to them.

In Jharsuguda, healthminister Naba KishoreDas said the state gov-ernment would set upCovid-19 hospital in all30 districts.

3 FROM ODISHAWHO ATTENDEDDELHI EVENT IN ISOLATION

DC CORRESPONDENTSNEW DELHI, MARCH 31

Over 20,000 houses havebeen marked as “homequarantine” by the Delhigovernment in the wake ofthe novel coronavirus out-break, LieutenantGovernor Anil Baijal saidon Tuesday.

Taking to Twitter, the L-G said the number of fooddistribution centres willalso be increased toensure social distancingin the national capital.

Baijal held a meetingwith Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal, ChiefSecretary Vijay KumarDev and PoliceCommissioner throughvideo conference to dis-cuss measures to combatCovid-19. ‘

“It has been decided to

increase the number offood distribution centresfrom the present 500 to2,500 so that social distanc-ing is adhered to effective-ly. Home quarantine has tobe strictly monitored.More than 20,000 homeshave been identified byGNCTD for home quaran-tine,” he tweeted.

In another tweet, theLieutenant Governor saidthat the decision toincrease food distributioncentres was taken afterreports that social distanc-ing norms were violated atsome centres.

“My advice to adminis-tration & police is to keepvery strict watch on socialdistancing & home quar-antine. Take deterrentactions for any violation &widely publicise.Separately, action to ramp

up medical facilities to beexpedited,” LieutenantGovernor tweeted.

Another doctor testspositive

Another doctor from amohalla clinic in Delhihas tested positive forcoronavirus.

A notice outside a com-munity clinic in Delhi’sBabarpur asked patientswho visited the clinicbetween March 12 and 20to quarantine themselvesat their homes for the nexttwo weeks.

This is the second suchincident at a Delhi mohal-la clinic in one week.

The clinic in Mohanpuriarea of Maujpur wasclosed and sanitised.

The doctor’s wife anddaughter also tested posi-tive for coronavirus. Soon

after the doctor was testedpositive, a similar noticewas put outside theMaujpur clinic asking peo-ple who came in contactwith the doctor to quaran-tine themselves.

The first doctor had con-tracted the coronavirusinfection on March 21from a 38-year-old womanfrom Dilshad Garden, whohad visited the doctor’sprivate clinic on March 12,with symptoms such ascough and fever.

It may be noted thatDelhi has recorded nearly50 cases in the last twodays as the Covid-19 countcrossed the 100-mark; twodeaths have been reportedfrom the city so far.

The chain of infection atMaujpur started with awoman who returnedfrom Saudi Arabia on

March 10, and visited theclinic with symptoms ofCovid-19. The doctor wasexposed to the virus whenthe 38-year-old woman vis-ited the clinic on March12, according to Delhi Health MinisterSatyendar Jain.

Five days later, she testedpositive. That day, the doc-tor was also admitted tothe hospital.

According to informa-tion available, five morepersons had tested posi-tive for the virus fromdirect contact with thewoman – her mother,brother and two daugh-ters, and a relative whopicked her up from theDelhi airport on herarrival.

Some 74 persons in herneighbourhood are alsounder watch.

20,000 houses marked home quarantineNew Delhi, March 31:Amid apprehensions ofsubstantial spread ofCovid-19 after a religionscongregation inNizamuddin in thenational capital left manyinfected with the virus,the Health Ministry onTuesday said it was notthe time to find faults.

The Delhi Police hascordoned off a major areain Nizamuddin Westwhere many peopleshowed symptoms ofcoronavirus and 24 havetested positive after tak-ing part in a religiouscongregation that wasattended by over 2,000people.

“With respect to theNizamuddin area, we all

need to understand andappreciate that this is notthe time to do any faultfinding. What is impor-tant for us is to takeaction as per our contain-ment process in any areawhere a positive case getsreported,”Agarwal saidin response to a questionon whether there was an“intelligence failure” onthe administration's partto prevent the religiousmass gathering.

Meanwhile, Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwalon Tuesday said 1,548 peo-ple have been evacuatedfrom Nizamudddinmarkaz (centre) here ofwhich, 441 were hospi-talised after they showedcoronavirus symptoms.

Not the time tofind faults: Centre

EDIT pg 6DECCAN CHRONICLE | NELLORE | WEDNESDAY | 1 APRIL 2020

The sudden outbreak and detection of a large number of coron-avirus cases that can be traced back to a thousands-strong reli-gious congregation held in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin area, that hasalready caused the deaths of at least 10 Indians and one foreigner

in different parts of the country (including six in Telangana), is a warningon the perils of not taking “social distancing” seriously. At least 250 for-eign nationals — including from virus-hit Malaysia and Indonesia — hadcome to attend the congregation hosted by the Tablighi Jamaat at itsMarkaz facility in the first half of March, many of whom were among the1,500-odd people still there on Monday, when the city’s health authoritiesswung into action and took at least 300 of them to hospitals. At least 24 ofthem have tested positive. True, the event was held before the lockdownwent into effect in Delhi and the rest of India, but given the flurry of advi-sories early on cautioning people against gatherings of large numbers ofpeople due to the virus threat, the actions of both the Tablighi Jamaat andthe governmental authorities in allowing it to carry on was irresponsible,to say the least. The area was finally cleared on Tuesday morning, withthe police moving 700-plus people to quarantine in different parts of thecity, and a police case lodged against the mosque administration, but thedamage has largely been done.

While the Talbighi incident is a wake-up call on the consequences ofslackness in the face of a health emergency, the callous actions of those inauthority in the face of the grave humanitarian crisis that we face — par-ticularly the plight of migrants with no food or shelter who feel compelledto make the long trek homewards — is also a cause of great alarm. Theshocking action of the municipal authorities in Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh— in hosing down a large group of migrants on the move with a chemicalsolution described by some as “insecticide” — was brutal and inhuman, tosay the very least. In the face of outrage in the social media after a videoof the spraying went viral, and vociferous protests by Opposition leaders,the district magistrate of the area was forced to admit that the municipalauthorities had “gone too far”, but who will be held responsible for thishorror? This was one more example, if any was needed, that the rights andprotections that our middle classes take for granted — even in extraordi-nary times — do not seem to apply to the poor in India.

There was no real alternative to the nationwide lockdown that wasannounced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi a week ago. Those whobelieve that it could have been avoided just need to look at the plight ofNew York — a shining symbol of the richest and most powerful country inthe world — which now threatens to be the epicentre of the coronaviruspandemic — to see what could have happened had India delayed any fur-ther. But our government failed to realistically assess the impact this measure would have on the most vulnerable sections of our population,and plan accordingly. Some steps are now being taken, but much moreneeds to be done.

1 APRIL 2020

Sri Lanka refuses to be accountable to the world for the war crimescommitted in the course of winning the war against the LiberationTigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The decision of its president Gotabaya

Rajapaksa to pardon the solider R.M. Sunil Ratnayake is not only deeplydisappointing but also sends quite the wrong signal to the UN and theworld that the island nation will not bow to international opinion onrespecting the law against war crimes.

The hand of the Rajapaksas, who returned to power last year, is behindthis decision to exonerate the only soldier of five who had been sentencedto death for a war crime in the village of Mirusuvil in December 2000where the Sri Lankan Army had killed Tamil civilians who had returnedhome to the Jaffna Peninsula to see the state of their village. The decisionis seen to be linked to the parliamentary polls that were to be held on April25, but which were postponed due to the global pandemic.

How exceedingly political the brothers — President Gotabaya and PrimeMinister and former President Mahinda — can be is signified in theirchauvinistic support for Sinhalese soldiers and their disregard of theHuman Rights Council of the United Nations that has been fighting foraccountability in war crimes. The island’s history was punctuated withextreme violence in the three decade war against the Tamil rebels of theequally brutal guerrilla force of the Velupillai Prabhkaran-led LTTE. Hisown death, as well as that of his elderly father and his minor son, arethought to have been engineered in possible war crimes generally attrib-uted to the command of Lt General Shavendra Silva, who was the ArmyCommander at the time of the final battle. If the soldier had not been par-doned, he would simply have stayed in jail as the nation has suspendedexecutions, making it clear that the Rajapaksas are using him to make astatement of political intent in this selective exoneration.

A political pardon

More vigilance neededto keep Covid-19 at bay

There is nothing quite like aglobal pandemic to remindyou of your own mortality, isthere? All day long, we are

subjected to an ever-increasing tallyof infections and deaths, as if thewhole world were glued to the score-boards of a morbid, seemingly never-ending Olympics. At some point, youhave to wonder if you too will end upas a statistic on a government chart.

But, as singer Hank Williamslamented, “No matter how I struggleand strive, I’ll never get out of thisworld alive,” and while we will, as aspecies, survive this latest plague, itis also certain that, at some point,our individual lives will come to anend. After all, only two things arecertain: Death and (depending onwhere you live) Taxes.

Still, trying to forestall theinevitable has always been a humanobsession, and it is no different whenit comes to trying to outwit or dodgedeath itself. Over 2,000 years ago, QinShi Huang, the first emperor of unit-ed China, proclaimed a dynasty that“would last 10,000 generations”. He

also expressed the desire to bearound long enough to see itthrough. Seeing as the Qin state wasalso arguably the world’s first properpolice state, he simply ordered hisgovernors to search for the elixir ofimmortality, and newly discoveredrecords show a fascinating series ofexchanges between an increasinglyimpatient emperor and “assortedawkward replies from regional gov-ernments who had failed to find thekey to eternal life”.

Qin Shi Huang died at the age of 49,but the quest continued for millen-nia, with subsequent emperors andnoblemen remaining wedded to theidea of discovering the elixir ofimmortality, often with deadlyresults. Ironically, the elixirs brewedby Chinese alchemists were bettersuited to ending lives rather thanprolonging them, containing as theydid toxic metals and minerals suchas mercury, lead and arsenic.

An even greater irony perhaps isthat the experiments of onealchemist, who was using saltpetrein his concoctions, ended up blowing

up in his face, burning him and hisentire house: he had not found thesecret of immortality, but had in factdiscovered gunpowder, which hasplayed a major part in ending somany lives since then.

Of course, the quest did not startwith the Chinese. The ancient Epic ofGilgamesh revolves around themythical king’s search for the plantthat confers immortality, and millen-nia later we have the apocryphalquest of Ponce de Leon for theFountain of Youth.

And today, we have medicinereplacing sagas and superstition,and we have scientists looking tosucceed where heroes and kingsfailed. The end-goal, however,remains the same: to defeat or atleast delay death.

That is not to say some of thesetechniques are not inspired by leg-end and history. Bram Stoker’sDracula believed that “the blood isthe life” and so did the real-life ‘bloodcountess’ Elizabeth Bathory, whoreportedly bathed in the blood ofyoung women to preserve her youth

and beauty.In the modern iteration of this tech-

nique, a company called Ambrosia,led not by count Dracula, but by a DrKarmazian, is infusing the blood ofthe young into the veins of the old, aprocess it claims can rejuvenate therecipient at the trifling cost of up to$12,000 for two litres of a young per-son’s plasma. While the US Food andDrug Administration has warnedthat this treatment has “no provenclinical benefit”, effectively shuttingdown Dr Karamazian’s business, theoverall anti-aging industry is consid-ered to be a safe investment bet,given that, according to MerrillLynch, it is expected to reach a valueof at least $600 billion by 2025.

That is a lot of money, and so youcan expect that a lot of different tech-niques are being tried right aboutnow, such as organ replacementtechnologies, in which the mostpromising is currently the prospectof 3-D printing working humanorgans to replace failing ones.Nanotechnology offers another life-line with two potential applications:

one is to use these microscopicmachines to cure life-threateningdiseases like cancer, delivering theirpayload directly to malignant cells.Similarly, custom-built nanobots arebeing designed that could activelywork to remove the plaque thatbuilds up in arteries leading to heartattacks and disease. Extend that con-cept and you could, sooner than youthink, have armies of nanobots inyour body repairing cellular damagein real time.

The most promising frontier forlife-extending technology lies in thefield of genetic research, where sci-entists are studying the geneticstructures of long-lived species likewhales, turtles and tortoises in aneffort to unlock their secrets. Ascreatures age, their DNA strandsbecome increasingly prone to dam-age and breakage, and learning tocontrol that may prove to be a key tolongevity. This is what the futureholds, let us see if we live longenough to see it.

By arrangement with Dawn

Since millennia,man has strivedto either defeator delay death

Overcoming effects ofill-conceived policies

It has been threeweeks since theWorld HealthOrganisation dec-lared a Covid-19

pandemic. It’s not theworld’s first coron-avirus. We have hadSars, Mers, H1N1, swineflu and the like, somewith much higher ratesof fatality. But this isunique in its sweepingvirulence. America’sCentres for DiseaseControl (CDC) says theannual percentage of theUS population infectedwith the flu is abouteight per cent, whichtranslates to 26 millionpeople a year. Of these,the CDC estimates up to60,000 persons die. Itstands to reason thatmany more in India getafflicted by flus andinfluenzas each year,possibly with largerfatalities.

Given this knowledgeand some very recenthindsight, it’s time to sitback and objectivelyreconsider the draconianpolicy measures unleash-ed in India. The fourhours to midnight orderfor a nationwide “cur-few” to enforce social dis-tancing has caught ourpublic and administra-tion woefully unpre-pared. The consequencesof Covid-19 to the Indianeconomy and consequentloss of lives and longevityseems likely to exceedthe loss due to any massspread of the virus.

Epidemiological stud-ies by several well-regarded institutionslike MIT and the GlobalVirus Network (GVN)seem to suggest that thisparticular coronavirus isendemic in populatedareas falling in the tem-perature band of 3-17Cwith a humidity between51-79 per cent. Thesefindings suggesting acorrelation between lati-tude and incidence havethe powerful endorse-ment of Dr Robert Gallo,famed virologist andGVN head.

Mind you, it’s been justa few months that Covid-19 jumped species by

finding a home in humanbeings. Covid-19’s natur-al reservoir seems to bebats, like the earliercoronaviruses Sars andMers. But the factremains the spread ofCovid-19 has been fasterin areas with colderclimes.

The essential factsabout Covid-19 is thatwhile it is virulent, itsfatality is around one percent, and this is princi-pally concentratedamong the elderly andalready ailing. Its symp-toms are mostly akin tocommon seasonal flusoften attributed to achange of season, etc.Covid-19 can only be con-firmed by testing and thecheapest test costs about`5,000 each. Clearly, wecannot afford to testenough, which means wewon’t ever know howmanya r et r u l yafflicted by the virus.

The average lifeexpectancy of Indians is68.7 years. The above-65years cohort accounts foronly about six per cent ofIndia, which suggeststhat the incidence offatality here will belower. Bubonic plaguehas a mortality of over 80per cent, while evendiphtheria has a mortali-ty rate of 32 per cent.Covid-19 is not a killervirus. In developed coun-tries like the UnitedStates, Italy and else-where with substantiallyhigher life expectancy,the 70-plus cohorts aremuch bigger. The mor-tality rate has been thehighest in Italy, withabout nine per cent.Almost 86 per cent ofItalians who died wereover 70. Italy has the sec-ond oldest population inthe world after Japan,with over 23 per centover 65. Experts believethis was the determiningfactor in its high fatality rate.

The goal of social dis-tancing is a hugely unful-filled aspiration. Thepoor in India live cheekby jowl, with densities

often exceeding 60,000per square mile. Indiahas over 410 millionworkers in the unorgan-ised sector, the vastmajority of whom aredaily wagers making alittle more than the pre-scribed official wage andoften much below that.This working age cohortis mostly made up ofyounger Indians. Theyouthful age group (14-35years) accounts for about34 per cent of India’s pop-ulation. This cohort isabout as much as the 35-65 years cohorts. Thus,even if the pandemic isreal for India, the fatalitydue to it will be very low.The vast majority ofIndians who might getinfected by Covid-19won’t even know it.

Now assume that theCovid-19 pandemic willoverwhelm India, andconsider India’s abysmalhealthcare scene. Wehave six physicians; ninehospital beds and 13nurses per 10,000 people.Nationwide, we have lessthan 40,000 ventilatorsand only 70,000 intensivecare beds. This calls for apolicy that will help stag-ger the load and allow

immu-nity tob u i l d

up without overwhelm-ing the critical care sys-tem.

Harvard’s YonatanGrad, professor ofimmunology and infec-tious diseases, and col-leagues conductedresearch on how to pre-vent overwhelming theUS healthcare systemduring the pandemic.This indicates the onlypossible method for deal-ing with the epidemicmay be multiple “inter-mittent” social-distanc-ing periods that ease upwhen cases fall to a cer-tain level, and reimposedwhen they rise past a keythreshold. As time pass-es, and more of the popu-lation gains immunity,

they said, the restrictiveepisodes may be shorter,with longer intervalsbetween them. Clearly,the nationwide simulta-neous social distancingnorms’ imposition wasill-conceived.

The IMF has nowannounced a globalrecession due to disrupt-ed supply chains andcontraction of consump-tion. In India, consump-tion (C) accounts for 63per cent of GDP. GivenGDP is = C + I + G + (X –M), or GDP = private con-sumption (C) + grossinvestment (I)+ govern-ment investment + gov-ernment spending (G) +(exports – imports), theimpact of the collapse ofprivate consumption inthe economy can be easi-ly understood. Manyrespected analysts areagreed that it will be noless than 20-30 per cent inQ1. The governmentpledged to step up itsspending by `1.7 lakhcrores. We won’t go intohow this was arrived atnow, but just considerhow inadequate it iscompared to the hittaken by consumption.The government clearlyneeds to do more. Itneeds to pull out all thestops to do this.

The question is: whereis the money? Even if itsequestered 20 per centof the cash reserves withour 100 top corporations,it will be substantial. Thetop 10 corporations alonehave a hoard of over `10lakh crores. (Reliancehas cash reserves of`398,000 crores. TCS hasalmost `100,000 crores,ITC has `60,000 crores.)Our government’s wageand pensions billaccounts for 11.4 per centof GDP. Holding backonly 10 per cent of this,or just the annual LTC,will fetch the Central andstate governments over`2 lakh crores. It onlycalls for will and visionto accumulate the cash tobegin reconstruction of adevastated economy. Thepain cannot and mustnot be borne by the poor-est alone. PM NarendraModi has formidablecommunication skills,and he must use it now.

The writer, a policy ana-lyst studying economic

and security issues, heldsenior positions in gov-ernment and industry.

He also specialises in theChinese economy.

The only possiblemethod for dealingwith the epidemic

may be multiple‘intermittent’

social-distancingperiods that ease

up when cases fallto a certain level,

and reimposedwhen they rise past

a key threshold

TACKLING COVID-19

Subhani

ZarrarKhuhro

MohanGuruswamy

DECCAN CHRONICLE

ADITYA SINHA T. VENKATESWARLUEditor Printer & Publisher

DECCAN CHRONICLE offices are located at:

Hyderabad: 36, Sarojini Devi Road, Secunderabad - 500 003, Ph: 040-27803930-4; Fax : 040-27805256Vijayawada: No.C-3 & 4 Patamata, Industrial Estate, Auto Nagar, Vijayawada (A.P.), Ph: 0866-2555284/2555287; Telefax: 0866-2555234Visakhapatnam: Survey No.1/3A Beach Road, Near Kailasagiri Ropeway, Sector-9 MVP Colony,Visakhapatnam - 530 017 (A.P), Ph: 0891-2552333/2552334; Fax: 0891-2755285Rajahmundry: Vemagiri, Dhawaleswaram Rd, Rajahmundry, Ph: 0883-2417618/2417208; Telefax: 0883-2417208Anantapur: Thapovan colony, Bangalore By-Pass Road, Anantapur - 515004, Ph: 08554-276903; Fax:08554-276904Karimnagar: Survey No.1341, Vavilalapally Colony, Jagityala Road, Karimnagar - 505 001, Ph: 0878-2228908; Telefax: 0878-2220433Nellore: Survey No.527/2, Burranpur Village, Venkatachalam (M), Chemmudugunta Panchayat, Nellore,Ph: 0861-2348581/82; Telefax: 0861-2348580Chennai: SP-3 Developed Plot, Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai - 600 032, Ph: 044-22254747/48/50/51; Advt Fax: 22254765/22254766/42305325Bengaluru: 5th Floor, BMTC Commercial Complex, 80 Feet Road, Koramangala, Bengaluru-560 095 Ph:080-43460500; Fax: 080-22960552. Coimbatore: 77, Vivekananda Road, Ramnagar, Coimbatore - 641 009, Ph : 0422 2231255Kochi: No.3-B, 3rd Floor of DD TRADE TOWER, Kaloor-Kadavanthara Road, Ernakulam, Ph: 0484-4039408Thiruvananthapuram: St Joseph�s Press, TC 15/1040, Cotton Hill, Thycaud (PO), Thiruvananthapuram695 014 Kozhikode: Door No 6/1002 E, First Floor of City Mall, Opp. YMCA, Kannur Road, Kozhikode - 673001, Fax : 0495 4019 018Gram: CHRONICLE Postal registration no: No. H/SD-348/2006-08

LETTERSINTEREST RATESPublic deposit their sav-ings with banks in goodfaith that their money issafe and they can withdrawmoney any time they wantand earn interest too. Butnow, the interest rate hasfallen to all-time low.Senior citizens whodepend on the bank inter-est for their livelihood arestruggling. Low incomeduring inflation troublesthem. I appeal to the RBIto rethink and enhance theinterest rates on depositsand also to monitor banksmore vigilantly to safe-guard depositors.

K. Lakshman RaoVisakhaptnam

CARE FOR MIGRANTSThe daily wage earners migrated tocities for odd jobs. With the lock-down, they are deprived of theirlivelihood. Further they are notable to return to their native vil-lages. They are sandwichedbetween the devil and deep sea.They are on the verge of starvation.The state government should takeutmost care in providing food, med-ical and shelter. They are worst hitby caronavirus.

E. Sreerama MurtyYellamanchili

EXODUS TRAGICThe exodus of migrant workers totheir home states has added a tragicdimension to the Covid-19 relatedlockdown. The dread of starvationand the urge to seek refuge in thesafety of home has overwhelmedtheir fear of catching the infectionin the midst of their desperate jour-ney. Would they have embarkedupon this journey had the statestaken care of them when they hadno income to meet their needs?

G. ThirupathaiahKothapet

Attempt on Basu’slife: One held

PATNA, March 31Mr Jyoti Basu, Marxist formerDeputy Chief Minister of WestBengal, escaped unhurt after anunknown assailant had fired ashot at him at Patna railway junc-tion this morning. But an officerof the Life InsuranceCorporation, Mr Ali Imam, washit by the bullet and was killed.

The assailant who Mr Basupointed out made his escape inthe largecrowd gath-ered togreet theM a r x i s tleader as hearrived from Calcutta.

Police later took into custodyone man on suspicion. They alsotook possession of a car parkedoutside the staircase as also thecar of Mr Ali Imam.

50 YEARS AGO IN

NATION pg 7DECCAN CHRONICLE | NELLORE | WEDNESDAY | 1 APRIL 2020

SHORT TAKESARMYMEN TOLD

NOT TO SHAREVIDEOS IN UNIFORMDC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, MARCH 31

Indian Army on Tuesdayissued an advisory asking itspersonnel not to share videosin uniform on social mediasites as it can reveal their per-sonal identities.

There have been certaincases in recent times wherepersonnel from defence forceshave been honey-trap by thePakistan’s spies on social med-ia like Facebook. Last year,Indian Army was able to iden-tify around 150 social mediaprofiles of Pakistani spies wh-ich were using various modusoperandi to try to trap its men.

“It has been noticed thatserving Indian Army person-nel are creating or sharingvideos on social media givingtheir identity as also inUniform. All personnel areadvised to follow existingguidelines and refrain fromsuch activities,” said the advi-sory on Tuesday.

An army dossier last yearhad warned its men againsthoney-trap by Pakistan spieswho create fake female pro-files on social media likeFacebook, Twitter or Instagr-am. It had asked its personnelto avoid accepting friend requ-ests from unknown people,avoid suspicious websites andnot to take calls from or chatwith unidentified people. Ithad advised its men to changethe privacy settings on Face-book and other apps to “onlyfriends.”

U.P. AMBULANCEWORKERS GO ON

STRIKEDC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, MARCH 31

Demanding immediate releaseof pending salary and protec-tive gear, the association ofambulance employees in UttarPradesh has stopped workfrom Tuesday afternoon. Theassociation of 19,221 workerswhich includes pilots (drivers)and emergency techniciansalso alleged that their are notprovided with basic protectiveequipment.

General secretary of ambu-lance employees association,Brajesh Kumar told this news-paper that employees are notpaid salary since January andworkers working on ambu-lance are exposed to infectiondue to lack of protective gear.

“102 and 108 emergencyambulance services in UttarPradesh are managed andoperated by a private operatorGVK — under contract withthe state government. Thereare a total of about 4,500 suchambulances deployed acrossthe state. 19,221 workers —drivers and emergency techni-cians — are posted to theseambulances are on contractwith the private firm,” Kumaradded.

According to Kumar, ambu-lance workers do not havesanitisers, gloves or propermasks. “We have not receivedsalaries for three months.When we go to fill oxygen, peo-ple don’t allow us inside. Wetold the local chief medicalofficer to arrange better sup-plies but got no response. Ourvehicles have not been sani-tised either,” said an ambu-lance driver.

CONG ASKS GOVTTO SCALE UP

COVID-19 TESTINGDC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, MARCH 31

Expressing apprehensionsthat India might soon enterthe phase 3 of the Coronavirusoutbreak, the Congress onTuesday asked the govern-ment to scale up testing asadvised by the World HealthOrganisation. It also demand-ed that a consolidated amountof `10,000 be put into JanDhan accounts of all vulnera-ble sections.

According experts in thefield of medicine, the situationon Tuesday points towards thecountry entering stage 3 ofCoronavirus transmission,Congress SpokespersonManish Tewari said address-ing the media through video-conferencing.

“The only antidote to Covid-19 spreading is test, test andmore test,” he said adding thatthis is what has been advisedby the WHO.

He noted that India was pos-sibly one of the countrieswhich has tested the least. “Wehave tested only 32 out of 10lakh people. Compared to this,in England, 1,921 out of each10 lakh have been tested, whilein America the number is2,600,” he said.

Tewari also sought govern-ment intervention on theplight of migrant workers andlandless labourers.

RABINDRA NATHCHOUDHURY | DCBHOPAL, MARCH 31

Indore, known as ‘mini-Mumbai’ of India, hasturned new hotspot ofcoronavirus outbreakwith the city witnessing arecord 25 new Covid posi-tive cases in the last 24hours.

As many as 17 new coro-navirus positive caseswere reported in one dayon Tuesday in Indore, tak-ing the tally of confirmedcases in the city to 44.

On Monday, eight newCovid positive cases werereported in Indore.

“It is a matter of graveconcern. We will enforcelockdown in the city strin-gently to bring Indore outof red zone of coronavirus

outbreak”, a senior Indoredistrict officer told thisnewspaper.

Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan alsoexpressed serious concernover the spike in con-firmed cases in Indorewhile reviewing the situa-tion at a high level officialmeeting held here onTuesday.

With this, the total num-ber of coronavirus posi-tive cases in MP rose to 64

Of the five deaths due tothe virus reported in MP,Indore accounted for threedeaths.

Meanwhile, one moreCovid patient in the statesuccumbed to the virus onTuesday taking the deathtoll to five in the state.

The patient died inAIIMS, Bhopal.

Meanwhile, at least 31people who attended theTabligh Jamaat religiousevent in Delhi recentlyhave taken shelter in tworeligious places of minori-ties in Bhopal, intelligencehas alerted the MP govern-ment.

According toIntelligence sources, atleast 107 devotees whoattended the religious con-ference in Delhi have fledto MP after nationwidelockdown was declared onMarch 22. Out of them, 31are currently staying intwo religious places ofminorities in Bhopal.

The alert by intelligencewas issued in the wake ofsix devotees who attendedthe conference in Delhisuccumbing to coron-avirus in Telanganarecently.

Chief Minister ShivrajSingh Chouhan onTuesday convened a highlevel official meeting hereto take stock of the situa-tion in the wake of thedevelopment.

He ordered to identify

each of the devotees whoattended the conference inMP and quarantine them.

Sources said some of thedevotees have fled to a vil-lage on the outskirt ofBhopal following the moveto quarantine them.

In another development,the state government hasinitiated a probe to findout if any devotees whoattended the religious con-ference held in Tablighatin east Pakistan in themiddle of March this yearhave visited MP recently.

Meanwhile, the stategovernment asked policeto book the violators oflockdown under appropri-ate sections of IndianPenal Code, indicating toenforce the lockdownstrictly.

Indore records 25 new cases in 24 hours

Kerala records second Covid-19 deathHealth officials on high alert as the deceased had no travel history; efforts on to trace origin of infectionDC CORRESPONDENTTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,MARCH 31

Kerala recorded seconddeath due to Covid-19 onTuesday after a 68-year-oldman, who had no travelhistory, succumbed to theinfection at theTrivandrum MedicalCollege Hospital.

The death of the Covid-19patient Abdul Azeez hastroubled the healthauthorities as he had notreported any travel histo-ry. Efforts are now beingmade to trace the origin ofinfection.

The state had reportedits first Covid- 19 death onMarch 28 when a 69-yearold-man died at theErnakulam MedicalCollege.

The health officials havebegun a detailed exerciseto locate the primary andsecondary contacts of thepatient who was a retiredadditional sub inspector ofpolice.

Azeez was admitted tothe Trivandrum MedicalCollege on March 23 afterhe developed symptoms ofCovid-19.

He was in a highly criti-cal condition since pastfive days and remained on

ventilator support tilldeath.

During the course of histreatment in ICU, the mansuffered paralytic strokeand cardiac arrest.

What is bothering theauthorities now is the lackof clarity on his traveldetails.

Before being admitted tomedical college hospital,the patient had visited sev-eral places attended mar-riages, funeral ceremony,went to governmentoffices to collect pension,took part in prayers inmosques.

The authorities suspectthat he might have comeinto contact with peoplewith infection duringthese events.

The authorities could nottake much details abouthis travel because of criti-cal condition.

His native villagePothencode and adjoiningareas have been put undertotal lockdown and sur-veillance has been steppedup in areas borderingother panchayats.

Meanwhile, health min-ister K.K. Shailaja said thebody of the patient wouldbe buried complying withthe World HealthOrganisation protocol.

Oldest patients instate recover fullyDC CORRESPONDENTTHIRUVANANTHPURAM,MARCH 31

Kerala’s oldest Covid-19patients Thomas, 93 andhis wife Mariyamma, 88,have fully recovered fromthe infection.

The couple who contract-ed the infection from theirson, daughter-in-law andgrandson who returnedfrom Italy on February 29,were successfully treatedat the Kottayam MedicalCollege.

Health minister K.K.Shailaja hailed the recov-ery of the elderly patientswho had developed severecomplications warrantingICU support during thetreatment. Apart from car-diac problems, the elderlypersons had blood pres-sure, hypertension andurinary tract infection.During the treatmentThomas had also reacheda critical stage and waseven put on ventilator sup-port, however, due to the

deft handling by doctorsand nursing staff, theycould be brought back tolife. One of the nurses whotreated the couple con-tracted the infection. Shehas been extended all sup-port from the governmentfor treatment.

Meanwhile, Keralapolice on Tuesday warnedof arrest and cases again-st persons sending Aprilfool messages pertainingto Covid-19 and lockdown.

Those found to be send-ing such messages will bearrested instantly.

In a statement here, statepolice chief LokanathBehara said such fakemessages intended tomake fool of people, willbe viewed seriously. Caseswill be registered underrelevant IPC sections asfake messages could causedistress and fear amongthe people . The people cre-ating such messages, shar-ing and forwarding theseon the social media wouldbe taken into custody.

NAYEAR AZAD | DCwith agency inputsPATNA, MARCH 31

A person was allegedlykilled by a group of menin Bihar’s Sitamarhi dis-trict for informing thehealth authorities regard-ing two migrants whoreturned from Mahar-ashtra following the coro-navirus lockdown.

The incident occurredin Madhaul village underRunnisaidpur block onMonday.

According to reports,Bablu Kumar, 24, hadinformed the local healthauthorities that themigrants fromMaharashtra could beinfected with the deadlycoronavirus.

Based on the informa-tion provided by theyouth the health officialscarried out extensivescreening of both the sus-pects who were laterreleased with the adviceof home quarantine.

Sources said that theentire exercise angeredboth the migrants whoalong with their otherfriends attacked Babluwhile he was on his wayback home on Mondayevening. He was laterrushed to Sri KrishnaMedical College andHospital in Muzaffarpurwhere he was declared“brought dead.”

According to SitamarhiSP Anil Kumar, the caseagainst six persons wasregistered inMuzaffarpur under rele-vant sections of theIndian Penal Code andfurther investigation intothe matter is underway.

“Case has beenregistered on the basis ofthe statement given bythe deceased’s brother.Two persons have beenarrested and a manhunthas been launched to nabothers. The case is beinginvestigated from allangles as the matter couldalso be related to somelocal dispute”, Sitamarhi

SP Anil Kumar said. Thousands of migrants

who work in other stateshave been returning totheir homes after theunion governmentimposed a 21-day nationallockdown to prevent thespread of deadly coron-avirus.

Fearing that migrantsreturning in large num-ber may pose a threat ofcommunity spread thestate government has setup isolation camps nearthe border to quarantinepeople who are reachingBihar.

Reports, however, sug-gest that hundreds ofsuch migrants havedefied restrictionsimposed on their move-ment and are trying toreach their villages onfoot in the absence of anypublic transport.

Meanwhile, on Tuesdaya person from Gopalganjdistrict with a travel his-tory to Dubai has beenfound infected with thecoronavirus.

Pradip Das, Director ofICMR Rajendra MemorialResearch Institute, whichis conducting the bulk ofcoronavirus tests in thestate, said the latest casewas that of a resident ofGopalganj district whohad returned from Dubaibefore the lockdown cameinto force.

According to healthdepartment reports, 1051samples of suspectedcoronavirus cases havebeen tested in the state ofwhich 16 have been foundpositive.

Migrants beatyouth to death

COCHIN PORTTWEETEDABOUT EXPORTFrom Page 1

The European Unionhad announced the 93million euro package forSerbia, which providesimmediate as well asshort and medium termassistance to help Serbiato fight Covid-19.

According to the Indi-an government notific-ations in the past fewweeks, the items that areprohibited for export in-clude N-95 masks, surgi-cal masks, disposablemasks, all ventilators,textile raw materials formasks and coveralls,NBR gloves and medicalgoggles. However, theitems that can still beexported include gloves(except NBR gloves),surgical blades, PVCconveyor belt, plastictarpaulin and certainkinds of breathing appli-ances as well as well asophthalmic instrumentsand appliances.

On March 28, theCochin Customs hadtweeted, “Cochin Cust-oms in action to clear aconsignment of 35 lakhpairs of sterile latex sur-gical gloves to Serbia tosupport the global waragainst Covid-19”.

It may be recalled thatin a video-conference onMonday evening with all130 Indian envoys postedabroad, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi hadasked the Indian envoys“whether we can sourcemedicine, and otheritems” from abroad totackle the situation. Allenvoys were directed byPM Modi “to identify intheir countries of accr-editation ... sources toprocure medical equip-ment, for India’s fightagainst Covid-19”. Allthe Missions shared thesituation in their coun-tries of accreditationsand had also apparentlyhighlighted the itemswhich are available inthat country which cou-ld be imported by India.

Centre to ensuremovement of trucksDC CORRESPONDENTNEW DELHI, MARCH 31

After managing to con-tain the large-scale move-ment of migrant labour-ers/workers, the homeministry is working withstates to ensure that thou-sands of trucks strandedon national and statehighways with essentialcommodities are allowedto move.

A special team has beendeployed in the cen-tralised control room setup in the home ministry.

After tackling the issueof thousands of strandedworkers walking back totheir villages, next on theMHA’s priority list is toensure the smooth move-ment of trucks. State offi-cials were asked to imme-

diately do a detailed sur-vey of all trucks parkedon highways and roads intheir areas and identifythose with importantitems.

“The issue now is toensure supply chains ofall essential commoditiesare fully functional andthe raw material for themshould reach the facto-ries, else the productiontoo will be hampered,” asenior official said. TheMHA is also working withthe surface transportministry to ensure thatthe toll for these trucks iswaived.

7 persons test +ve for virus,1.63 lakh under surveillance DC CORRESPONDENT THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,MARCH 31

Seven more persons testedpositive for Covid–19 inKerala on Tuesday takingthe total number of infect-ed persons in the state 215.

Of the seven cases, twoeach were reported fromKasargod and Thiruvan-anthapuram, one eachfrom Kollam, Thrissurand Kannur respectively.Baring one person, all con-tracted the infectionthrough contact.

As on Tuesday 1.63 lakhpeople are under surveil-lance including 1.62 lakhunder home quarantine,658 persons admitted tohospitals including 150 onTuesday.

Kasargod has the highestnumber of people in hos-pitals — 163 followed byKannur 108 andMalappuram 102.

Of the 7455 samples sentfor testing 6,380 have been

found negative. This wasdisclosed by ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayanat a press conference aftera high level review meet-ing. He said as of nowthere is no indication ofcommunity spread at themoment.

He said laboratories inthe state had started col-lecting more samples withimprovement in testingfacilities. More samplesare being collected andsent, reports being pro-cured in time.

The Chief Minister saida special action planwould be implemented inKasargod which is the epi-center of the infection.Panchayat level data willbe collected of personswith fever, cough and res-

piratory problems . Thesamples of such personswill be taken and set fortesting.

The facilities ofKasargod medical collegehas been improved byturning it into CovidHospital. Kasargod centraluniversity has receivedthe nod from ICMR forstarting testing facilities.

Vijayan said the state isfacing a problem in con-nection with the peoplewho have returned fromNizamuddin in Delhi andMalaysia after attendingthe Tabligi conference. Itneeds to be examinedwhether such people havecontracted the infection.

The police has conducteda detailed inquiry andwith the help of districtcollectors have preparedlist of people who partici-pated in these confer-ences.

Required preventivemeasures will be taken atthe district level.

● ● KASARGOD HAS thehighest number of peoplein hospitals 163 followedby Kannur 108 andMalappuram 102.

● ● A CASE against sixpersons was registered inMuzaffarpur under rele-vant sections of the IPC,further investigation intothe matter is underway.

● ● HUNDREDS OF suchmigrants have defiedrestrictions imposed ontheir movement andare trying to reach theirvillages on foot

● ● AT LEAST 31 peoplewho attended the TablighJamaat religious event inDelhi recently have takenshelter in two religiousplaces of minorities inBhopal.

● ● THE ALERT byIntelligence was issued inthe wake of six devoteeswho attended theconference in Delhisuccumbing to Covid-19in Telangana recently.

● ● A SPECIAL team hasbeen deployed in the cen-tralised control room setup in the home ministry

Taking Covid head on

Railway employees make sanitisers during a nation-wide lockdown in the wake of coronavirus pandemic in Prayagrajon Tuesday. — PTI

Jail inmates stitchmasks at Mathuradistrict jail inMathura onTuesday. — PTI

MP Chief Minister expresses concern over spike in casesSCARE | CONTINUES

WORLD pg 8DECCAN CHRONICLE | NELLORE | WEDNESDAY | 1 APRIL 2020

New York hospital docprepares for the worst

Hungary govt’s sweepingpowers sends alarm bells

Europe sendsmedical gear

WHO WARNS‘FAR FROMOVER’ IN ASIAAND PACIFICJakarta, March 31:The World Health Organ-isation warns that whileattention has shifted toepicenters in WesternEurope and North Am-erica, Covid-19 epidemicsare “far from over” inAsia and the Pacific.

Urging governments atall levels in the region tostay engaged in efforts tocombat the virus, WHORegional Director for theWestern Pacific, DrTakeshi Kasai says,“This is going to be along-term battle and wecannot let down ourguard. We need everycountry to keep respond-ing according to theirlocal situation.” He saidthe WHO realizes there isno one-size-fits-allapproach but there arecommon tactics. “Thoseare: finding, isolatingand testing case early, tr-acing and quarantiningcontact quickly, and put-ting in place multiple pu-blic health interventionsto place physical distanc-e between people to slowand stop transmission.”

Takeshi also cautionedthat countries still needto prepare for large-scalecommunity transmis-sion. — AP

Russia’s doctor whomet Putin tests +veMoscow, March 31: Thehead of Moscow’s maincoronavirus hospital whomet with PresidentVladimir Putin a weekago has tested positive, hesaid on Tuesday, as theKremlin announced theRussian leader’s healthwas fine.

Last Tuesday DenisProtsenko met with theRussian leader whoinspected theKommunarka hospitalwhile wearing a brightyellow hazmat suit. Butthe 67-year-old Putin wasalso seen talking toProtsenko without anyprotective gear.

Kremlin spokesmanDmitry Peskov swiftlytold Russian news agen-cies that Putin took regu-lar tests and there was noreason to worry about his

health. “Everything isfine,” Peskov said.Protsenko said he testedpositive but “felt quitewell”.

Posting a picture ofhimself wearing a maskand green scrubs onFacebook, he said he self-isolated in his office andwould continue to work.Protsenko has become ahigh-profile figure on thefrontlines of Russia’sfight against Covid-19,posting daily on Facebookto inform Russians abouthis hospital’s work andpatients.

Over the past 24 hoursRussian authorities havereported 500 new cases —the biggest daily increaseso far — bringing thetotal tally to 2,337 casesand 17 fatalities.

— AFP

Berlin, March 31:European nations havedelivered medical goodsto Iran in the first trans-action under the Instexmechanism set up toevade American sanc-tions on Tehran, theGerman foreign ministrysaid Tuesday.

“France, Germany andthe United Kingdom con-firm that Instex has suc-cessfully concluded itsfirst transaction, facilitat-ing the export of medicalgoods from Europe toIran. These goods are nowin Iran,” the ministrysaid in a statement.

The first successfultransaction comes over ayear after Britain, Franceand Germany announcedthe creation of Instex,months that have beenmarked by Iranian chaf-ing against Europeandelay.

“Now the first transac-tion is complete, Instexand its Iranian counter-part STFI will work on

more transactions andenhancing the mecha-nism,” Berlin said.

Britain, France andGermany were among alist of countries that Iranreported receiving med-ical aid from earlier thismonth as it battles a seri-ous outbreak of the novelcoronavirus.

On Monday, the numberof cases in the countrypassed 40,000, and thegovernment warned theepidemic could run forseveral more months andcost over 10,000 lives.Tehran’s struggle to bringthe virus’ spread undercontrol has been mademore difficult by US sanc-tions.

— AFP

Brussels, March 31: Eu-ropean Commission chiefUrsula von der Leyenwarned on Tuesday thatcoronavirus emergencymeasures taken by EUcountries must be “limit-ed”, after Hungary’snationalist leader ViktorOrban took on sweepingpowers.

Brussels’ top official didnot single out Orban orHungary by name in herstatement, but it came aday after he adopted ruleby decree, claimingextraordinary powersostensibly to combat theCovid-19 pandemic.

“The EuropeanCommission will closelymonitor, in a spirit ofcooperation, the applica-tion of emergency meas-ures in all memberstates,” she tweeted. “Weall need to work togetherto master this crisis. Onthis path, we’ll uphold ourEuropean values andhuman rights. This is whowe are and what we standfor.”

Orban’s spokesman forinternational relationsresponded to the EU state-ment directly, also onTwitter, saying: “We com-

pletely agree”. “That’swhy the Hungarian stateof emergency and extra-ordinary measures arecongruent with the tre-aties and Hungarian con-stitution and targetedexclusively at fighting thecoronavirus,” he insisted.

“It upholds EU values,rule of law, press free-dom.” In a separate state-ment read out by herspokesman, Von derLeyen admitted: “Over thepast weeks, several EUgovernments took emer-gency measures toaddress the health crisiscaused by the outbreak ofthe coronavirus”. “We areliving in extraordinarytimes, and governments,in principle, need to havethe necessary tools to actrapidly and effectively to

protect the public healthof our citizens,” sheadded.

But, in a clear butunstated reference toevents in Hungary, sheinsisted: “Any emergencymeasures must be limitedto what is necessary andstrictly proportionate.They must not last indefi-nitely.” “Democracy can-not work without free andindependent media,” shesaid.

Hungary is threateningprison sentences for jour-nalists who publish whatit deems “falsehoods”about the virus or themeasures against it.Critics at home andabroad have condemnedHungary’s “anti-coron-avirus defence law”, say-ing it gives Orban unnec-essary and unlimitedpower and is a means ofcementing his positionrather than battling thevirus.

After declaring a state ofemergency on March 11,the new law passed onMonday gives Orban thepower to indefinitely ruleby decree until his gov-ernment decides theemergency is over. — AFP

This is going to be a long and drawn out battle says Patel New York, March 31:With the rapid rise of hos-pitalisations and a healthsystem nearly at capacity,New York doctor ShamitPatel is preparing for theworst over the next fewdays, all while hoping hewon’t have to start choos-ing which coronaviruspatients to treat.

Just 10 days ago, onlyhalf of the 46-year-oldinternist’s patients atBeth Israel — one of theMount Sinai hospitals inManhattan — were suffer-ing from Covid-19. “We’renot over capacity yet, butwe're planning for it to goover capacity,” he said,adding he thinks the hos-pital has “planned well.”

The wave of viruspatients at Beth Israel cor-responds to the one inun-dating New York City,which shot from 463 con-firmed cases two weeksago to 36,000 on Monday.“At the rate that I’m see-ing, the peak could be any-where from end of thisweek to sometime next

week,” said Patel. Under extreme pressure

for the past two weeks, heis preparing for the worst,even if “it’s somethingthat we hope we don’t haveto see.” For Patel, theworst would be a situationsimilar to that in certainregions of Italy, where thehealth system is so over-whelmed that it can nolonger take care of allpatients.

“You’re gonna have to be

a little quicker in seeingand assessing and gettingthe treatment plan foreach patient,” Patel pre-dicted, noting they “mayhave to double or triple thenumber of patients you'reseeing.”

But, he added worriedly,“you can’t really go morethan triple the number ofpatients you’re seeing in aday and provide effectivetreatment.”

In addition to the limita-tions of healthcare per-sonnel, Patel is worriedabout a potential shortageof equipment, particular-ly of ventilators.

New York governorAndrew Cuomo and NewYork City mayor Bill deBlasio talk daily about theneed for the mchines. “Ifyou get a surge of patientscoming in, and you onlyhave a limited number ofventilators, you can’t nec-essarily ventilatepatients,” Patel said.

“And then you have tostart picking and choos-ing.” Outside of the hospi-

tal, Patel is also worriedabout transmitting thevirus to his family.

He lives with his 80-year-old father, who suffersfrom Parkinson’s, and hisaunt, who has cancer. “Idon’t want to come backhere and actually give it tothem because I don’t thinkthey would do well at all,”he said.

He maintains the mini-mum two meter (six-foot)distance and uses antibac-terial wipes generously,while ensuring his rela-tives have enough food. “Istay pretty much in myroom,” Patel explained,“and then I’ll go out thereand periodically check onthem.”

“If it’s something thatkicks in, then it goes downafter it peaks, then we cansustain it for a littlewhile,” Patel said. “But allhands on deck for monthson end is something that'shard to sustain.” “This isgoing to be a long anddrawn out battle.”

— AFP

Global death toll crosses 40,000Madrid, March 31: Spainrecorded its highest sin-gle-day death toll from thecoronavirus Monday intoTuesday as 849 peopledied.

Spain’s Health Ministryreported on Tuesday thatit diagnosed 9,222 newcases of the virus and saw849 deaths in a single day.

The country has report-ed more than 94,400 casesof Covid-19 and nearly8,200 deaths since the coro-navirus pandemic began.Spain has the third mostcases behind the US andItaly and has the secondmost deaths behind Italy,which has seen nearly11,600 people die from thevirus.

Globally, cases of thecoronavirus top 800,000and death toll tops 40,000.

Spain, as well as Italy,held a moment of silenceTuesday to honor thosewho have died from thecoronavirus. The twocountries now account formore than half of theworld’s total death toll.

Britain reported a

record daily coronavirustoll of 381 on Tuesday,more than double thenumber of deaths postedin the previous 24 hours.

“As of 5pm (1600 GMT)on 30 March, of those hos-pitalised in the UK, 1,789have sadly died,” thehealth ministry said on itsTwitter page, up from1,408 on Monday

The patients were agedbetween 19 and 98, and allbut 28 had underlyinghealth conditions, NHSEngland said in a state-ment.

The country’s previoushighest daily toll was 260,recorded on Saturday,with the number droppingto 180 on Monday.

Some 25,150 people havenow tested positive for thevirus in Britain, includingPrime Minister BorisJohnson, a daily increaseof 3,009. Data published bythe Office for NationalStatistics (ONS) forEngland and Wales onTuesday revealed that thetrue toll could be 24 per-cent higher.

The government figurescover those who have beentaken to hospital and test-ed for the virus whereasthe ONS data is for deathsin the community whereCOVID-19 is suspected.

Sierra Leone hasrecorded its first case ofthe new coronavirus, thegovernment said onTuesday, making it the lat-est African country to reg-ister an infection.

In a televised press con-ference, President JuliusMaada Bio said that a 37-year-old man who arrivedin the country fromFrance on March 16 hadtested positive. The manhad been quarantined onarrival in the WestAfrican state, Bio said. “Itwas not a matter ofwhether, but when. Ladiesand gentlemen, the whenis here,” the presidentsaid. Sierra Leone hadbeen one of the few coun-tries in Africa to havereported zero cases, des-pite neighbouring Guineaand Liberia having detect-ed infections. — Agencies

London, March 31:Britain’s Prince Harryand wife Meghan Markleon Tuesday bid a formalgoodbye to their role asfrontline royals as theysettle down to their finan-cially independent roles inthe US.

Harry, who remainssixth in line to the Britishthrone, had announced theroyal split along with hisformer actress wifeMarkle earlier this yearand, as per the deal struckwith Buckingham Palace,they will now be in a 12-month transition periodwith the option for theprince to return to hisfrontline roles by March2021.

The Duke and Duchess ofSussex will hold on totheir titles but will not beactively using them or for-mally representing QueenElizabeth II from April 1.

“As we all find the partwe are to play in this glob-al shift and changing ofhabits, we are focusingthis new chapter to under-stand how we can best con-tribute,” they said in refer-ence to their new rolesaway from the UK as thecouple signed off as“Harry and Meghan” onsocial media.

“What’s most importantright now is the health andwellbeing of everyoneacross the globe and find-ing solutions for the many

issues that have presentedthemselves as a result ofthis pandemic,” the couplesaid in their final messageon their Sussex RoyalInstagram.

“While you may not seeus here, the work contin-ues. Thank you to thiscommunity — for the sup-port, the inspiration andthe shared commitment tothe good in the world. Welook forward to reconnect-ing with you soon. You’vebeen great! Until then,please take good care ofyourselves, and of oneanother,” read theirfarewell message, whichindicates their return tosocial media under a moreprivate capacity in the

future. On a more philo-sophical note, theyreferred to the “extraordi-narily fragile” world as itundergoes the coronaviruspandemic.

“Yet we are confidentthat every human beinghas the potential andopportunity to make a dif-ference — as seen nowacross the globe, in ourfamilies, our communitiesand those on the front line— together we can lift eachother up to realise the full-ness of that promise,”they add.

Alongside, BuckinghamPalace released a state-ment saying: “The Dukeand Duchess of Sussexwould prefer that in the

immediate weeks andmonths, the focus remainson the global response toCovid-19”. “However, werecognise there are out-standing questions relat-ing to their future beyondtheir household transitiondeadline.”

The statement reiteratedthat they would no longeruse the name Sussex Royalfor their charitable organi-sation, Instagram or web-site. — PTI

Harry, Meghan bid formal farewell as royalsThe Duke and Duchess of Sussex will hold on to their titles but will not be actively using themROYAL | SPLIT

The Italian flag flies at half-mast on the Altare della Patria, Vittorio Emanuele II monument in Rome on Tuesday asflags are being flown at half-mast in cities across Italy to commemorate the victims of the virus, during the coun-try’s lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the Covid-19 infection, caused by the novel coronavirus. — AFP

Picture of Prince Harry with Meghan Markle. — AP

The EuropeanCommission will

closely monitor, in a spirit ofcooperation, the applicationof emergency measures inall member states, We allneed to work together tomaster this crisis — URSULA VON DER LEYEN

European Commission chief

● ● IRAN ON TUESDAYsaid 141 more peoplehave died from the novelcoronavirus, raising theofficial toll in one of theworld's worst-affectedcountries to 2,898.

● ● INDIAN-AMERICAN for-mer Barack Obama cam-paign staffer, Suraj Patelwho is running in theDemocratic primary for aCongressional seat in NewYork’s 12th District, hasbeen tested positive forcoronavirus.

● ● TANZANIA ON Tuesdayrecorded its first deathfrom coronavirus, a 49-year-old man who hadunderlying health issues,the health ministry said.

● ● 12-YEAR-OLD girl con-firmed infected withCOVID-19 has died inBelgium, health officialssaid Tuesday. Fatality atsuch a young age "is a veryrare occurrence," said gov-ernment spokesman DrEmmanuel Andre, addingthat her death “shook us”.

● ● Country singer KalieShorr says she has con-tracted the novel coron-avirus despite being underquarantine.

IN BRIEF

AI tool can predictafter virus effects

New York: Scientists havedeveloped an artificial intelli-

gence (AI) tool that mayaccurately predict which pat-ients newly infected with the

virus that causes COVID-19would go on to develop

severe respiratory disease.The study, published in the

journal Computers, Materials& Continua, also revealed the

best indicators of futureseverity, and found that they

were not as expected. “Whilework remains to further vali-

date our model, it holdspromise as another tool to

predict the patients mostvulnerable to the virus, but

only in support of physicians’hard-won clinical experience

in treating viral infections,”said Megan Coffee, a clinical

assistant professor at NewYork University in the US.

After Bibi, Israel’sarmy chief isolated

Jerusalem: The IsraelDefence Forces (IDF) Chief

of Staff, Lt Gen Aviv Kochavi,along with two of his senior

commanders, went into isola-tion on Tuesday after a sen-

ior commander they came incontact with recently wastested positive for coron-avirus, the army said. Thedevelopment came a day

after PM Netanyahu and hisclose advisers were placed

under quarantine after anaide on Parliament affairs

tested positive for virus. LtGen Kochavi, along with

Home Front Command headMaj. Gen. Tamir Yadai and

Operations DirectorateCommander Gen. Aharon Ha-liva, had attended a meeting10 days ago in which a com-mander in the reserves, wholater tested positive for the

coronavirus, participated.

China’s vaccineto be tested abroad

Beijing: China, which isdeveloping a vaccine for the

deadly novel coronavirus,plans to conduct additional

trials in other countries seri-ously hit by the pandemic if

the ongoing trial in thecountry’s virus epicentre

Wuhan proves it is safe andeffective, a Chinese

researcher said. The firststage clinical trial for the

vaccine was started inWuhan on March 16 after

authorities approved. It hasbeen proceeding smoothly,and its results will be pub-

lished in April, said ChenWei, a member of the

Chinese Academy of Engine-ering.

Pastor held forignoring orders

Miami: An evangelical pastorin Florida was arrested on

Monday for “repeatedly”ignoring confinement ordersintended to slow the spread

of the coronavirus by holdingservices with hundreds of

people, police said. PastorRonald Howard-Browne, 58,

was arrested for unlawfulassembly and violating quar-

antine orders while holdingtwo services on Sunday inthe eastern Florida city of

Tampa, prison records show.The pastor "intentionally andrepeatedly disregarded state

and local public healthorders, which put his congre-gation and our community in

danger,” tweetedHillsborough County sheriff

Chad Chronister.

Cairo, March 31: Egypt’s fam-ed Great Pyramid was embla-zoned Monday evening withmessages of unity and solidari-ty with those battling the novelcoronavirus the world over.“Stay safe”, “Stay at home” and“Thank you to those keeping ussafe,” flashed in blue and greenlights across the toweringstructure at the Giza plateau,southwest of the capital Cairo.

Egypt has so far registered656 Covid-19 cases, including 41deaths. Of the total infected,150 reportedly recovered. “Thetourism sector is one of themost affected industry but ourpriority is health,” saidtourism and antiquities minis-ter Khaled al-Anani, speakingat the site.

Senior antiquities ministryofficial Mostafa al-Wazirithanked “all the medical staffwho help to keep us safe.”Egypt has carried out sweepingdisinfection operations atarchaeological sites, museumsand other sites across the coun-try. In tandem, strict social dis-tancing measures wereimposed to reduce the risk ofcontagion among the country’s100 million inhabitants.

GREAT PYRAMIDLIGHTS UP IN

SOLIDARITY

● ● THEY WILL now be ina 12-month transitionperiod with the optionfor the prince to returnto his frontline roles byMarch 2021.

●● THE WAVE of viruspatients at Beth Israelcorresponds to the oneinundating New York City,which shot from 463 con-firmed cases two weeksago to 36,000 on Monday.

●● FOR PATEL, the worstwould be a situation simi-lar to that in certainregions of Italy, where thehealth system is so over-whelmed that it can nolonger take care of allpatients.

CHINA REBOUNDSAS VIRUS CONTROLS EASEBeijing, March 31:China’s manufacturingrebounded in March asauthorities relaxed anti-disease controls and allo-wed factories to reopen,an official survey sho-wed, but an industry gr-oup warned the economyhas yet to fully recover.

The ruling CommunistParty is trying to revivethe world’s second-lar-gest economy after dec-laring victory over thecoronavirus even as theUS and other governm-ents shut down businesses. — AP

Flag at half-mast

Many public sector banks inform customers about relief

IndusInd depositsshrink by 10-11%

quickBITES

INDICATORS %Sensex 29,468.49 3.62Nifty 50 8,597.75 3.82S&P 500* 2,637.55 0.41Dollar (‘) 75.67 -0.06Pound Sterling (‘) 93.53 0.25Euro (‘) 82.78 0.92Gold (Oz)* ($) 1,611.30 -0.66Brent crude ($/bbl)* 22.64 -0.53IN 10-Yr bond yield 6.138 1.014US 10-Yr T-bill yield* 0.693 3.279

* As of 9:30 pm IST

Core growth up5.5%, highest in11 monthsEight core sector industriesrecorded a growth of 5.5 percent in February, highest in 11-months, mainly due to healthyexpansion in output of coal,refinery products and electrici-ty. The core sectors hadexpanded by 2.2 per cent inFebruary last year and by up to5.8 per cent in March 2019. InJanuary this year, these sectorsgrew by 1.4 per cent. The sec-tors have 40.27 per cent weightin the IIP.

Interest on smallsavings schemescut by up to 1.4%

The government slashed inter-est rates on small savingsschemes, including NationalSavings Certificate and PublicProvident Fund, by up to 1.4per cent for the first quarter of2020-21. Interest rates are noti-fied on a quarterly basis. Termdeposits of 1-3 years will nowbe fetching an interest rate of5.5 per cent against 6.9 percent while the five-year termdeposit will earn 6.7 per centagainst 7.7 per cent.

Banks asked togive doorstepservices to eldersThe Reserve Bank of India saidmany banks are not extendingdoorstep services for seniorcitizens above 70 years anddifferently abled persons evenafter three years of it issuingadvisories, and asked for "strictcompliance" on the same byApril 30. The directions assumesignificance as they come amidthe Covid-19 pandemic, wherethe senior citizens have beenmarked out as the most vulner-able.

Sebi fines 2 YesBank promoterentitiesThe Sebi imposed a penalty ofRs 50 lakh each on two pro-moter entities of Yes Bank fornot making requisite disclo-sures pertaining to encum-brance of shares. The two enti-ties are Yes Capital (India) andMorgan Credits. Yes Capitalhad raised Rs 630 crore fromFranklin Templeton MutualFund in Sept. 2017. MorganCredits had raised Rs 950 crorefrom Reliance Mutual Fund inApril 2018.

pg 9WEDNESDAY | NELLORE | 1 APRIL 2020

FALAKNAAZ SYEDMUMBAI, MARCH 31

Shares of private lenderIndusInd Bank crashed onTuesday after the lender, inan investor conference callon Monday, disclosed thatit saw an outflow of 10-11per cent of its deposits--around Rs 22,000 crore-post-the Yes Bank saga. Ofthe total fall in depositssince the December quar-ter (Q3FY20), 70 per centwas in state governmentdeposits and 30 per cent incorporate deposits.

"The total deposits arelower by approximately 10-11 per cent. Almost 2/3rd ofreduction is on account ofgovernment relatedaccounts-this is largelyrelated to general privatesector bank stance. Thiswill also result in lowerCASA ratio, but reduce ourdependency on this catego-ry for deposits in future.Some reduction is in thewholesale (deposits), possi-bly attributable to stockprice fall. The retail

deposit reduction is least ofthe above categories," saidIndusInd in the investorpresentation.

However, the bank saidthat it has replaced bulk ofthese deposit outflows vialonger duration refinance/ forex borrowingsswapped to rupee, bankcertificate of deposits,term money borrowings,repo of excess statutoryliquidity ratio/ non-SLRsecurities and call money.But analysts believe thisshould inch up fundingcost in the near-term,weighing in on its margins.

"Deposit traction willrebuild in April…We haveenhanced a deposit catego-

ry by 25 bps to acceleratethis," IndusInd Bank said.

The IndusInd stockclosed 14.68 per cent downat Rs 351 on the BSE. Thestock price has correctedsteeply in recent days,owing to concerns aboutasset quality and strengthof funding franchise. Inthe last five trading ses-sions, the stock hit 10upper and lower circuits.However brokerages gave abuy rating on the stock.

"Near-term asset qualitystress is inevitable due tolockdowns, mainly incards, personal loan, MFI,real estate, loan againstproperty, and vehiclefinance, but moratoriumshould help limit NPAs…We believe that the bank'snear-term performancewill track its ability tomanage Covid19-led dis-ruption on its growth/asset quality. However, wemaintain Buy with arevised target price of Rs630, mainly due to its lowervaluations, said AnandDama of Emkay Global.

YOSHITA SINGHUNITED NATIONS, MARCH 31

The world economy will go intorecession this year with a predict-ed loss of trillions of dollars ofglobal income due to the coron-avirus pandemic, spelling serioustrouble for developing countrieswith the likely exception of Indiaand China, according to a latestUN trade report.

With two-thirds of the world'spopulation living in developingcountries facing unprecedentedeconomic damage from the Covid-19 crisis, the UN is calling for a$2.5 trillion rescue package forthese nations.

According to the new analysisfrom United Nations Conferenceon Trade and Development(Unctad), the UN trade and devel-

opment body, titled 'The Covid-19Shock to Developing Countries:

Towards a 'whatever it takes' pro-gramme for the two-thirds of theworld's population being leftbehind', commodity-rich export-ing countries will face a $2 trillionto $3 trillion drop in investmentsfrom overseas in the next twoyears.

The Unctad said that in recentdays, advanced economies andChina have put together massivegovernment packages, which,according to the Group of 20 lead-ing economies (G20), will extend a$5 trillion lifeline to theireconomies.

It added that while the fulldetails of these stimulus pack-ages are yet to be unpacked, aninitial assessment by the Unctadestimates that they will translateto a $1 trillion to $2 trillion injec-tion of demand into the major

G20 economies and a two percent-age point turnaround in globaloutput.

"Even so, the world economywill go into recession this yearwith a predicted loss of globalincome in trillions of dollars.This will spell serious trouble fordeveloping countries, with thelikely exception of China and thepossible exception of India," theUnctad said.

The report, however, did notgive a detailed explanation as towhy and how India and China willbe the exceptions as the worldfaces a recession and loss in glob-al income that will impact devel-oping countries.

The Unctad estimates a $2 tril-lion to $3 trillion financing gapfacing developing countries overthe next two years. —PTI

RAVI RANJAN PRASADMUMBAI, MARCH 31

Financial year 2019-20 con-cluded on a happy notewith Sensex and Nifty-50recouping most ofMonday’s loss with over 3.5per cent gains but thebenchmarks posted biggestmonthly loss by 23 per centeach in March 2020.

Led by heavy buying bydomestic institutions onthe last day of the financialyear, the Sensex gained1028.17 points or 3.62 percent closing at 29,468.49while the Nifty-50 gained3.82 per cent or 316.65points closing at 8,597.75.

Domestic institutionswere net buyers by Rs3,576.23 crore while the for-eign portfolio investorsremained net sellers by Rs3,044.94 crore, the provi-

sional data showed.Shrikant Chouhan, exec-

utive vice president-Technical Research, KotakSecurities said, “ Niftycompletely reversed

Monday’s losses. We cancall it a yearly and quarter-ly NAV(net asset value)management day for themarket. Many large-capstocks closed at the day's

highest level.”For the fiscal year 2019-20,

the Sensex closed 23.80 percent down at 29,468.49(asagainst 38,672.91 on March29, 2019) while the Nifty-50closed 26.03 per cent lowerat against 11,623.90 onMarch 29, 2019).

For the fiscal year goneby BSE’s market capitalisa-tion was down by Rs 38.75lakh crore to Rs 113.48 lakhcrore as compared to Rs152.24 lakh crore on April 1,2019.

However, the financialyear closing saw big gainsin index heavy weights onTuesday led RelianceIndustries (7.76 per cent),ITC (7.84 per cent),Hindustan Unilever (5.08per cent), HDFC (4.34 percent), HDFC Bank (3.48 percent) and ICICI Bank (3.34per cent).

S Ranganathan, head ofResearch at LKP Securitiessaid, ''Markets were uptoday led by key heavy-weights and supported byTechnology stocks.

Auto stocks continued toplay the spoilsport aheadof the monthly numbers tobe released on Wednesdaywhich are expected to beweak. Today's trade wit-nessed spirited buyingacross sectors likePharma & FMCG as thestreet moved fundstowards defensives acrosscompanies who are likelyto navigate through thelockdown with minimumdamage.''

The market volatilityindicator India VIX indexfell 10.29 per cent to 64.49indicating significantreduction in daily marketvolatility in coming days.

India, China may escape global recession: UN

SANGEETHA GCHENNAI, MARCH 31

Retail trade has incurredlosses amounting to $30billion in the past 15days, says a traders' body.

The unorganised retailsector, comprising 70 mil-lion small, medium andbig traders and employ-ing 450 million people,does a monthly businessof about $70 billion, saidthe Confederation of AllIndia Traders.

Traders are likely topay a higher than expect-ed price for the lock-down, which has shut-tered stores across thecountry. "The ramifica-tions will reverberate fora longer time thanexpected," said Cait sec-retary general PraveenKhandelwal.

According to him, alarge percentage of theIndian traders are toosmall to have enoughsurplus to survive a pan-demic like this one. Butthey still have to paysalaries, rentals, taxesand other levies.

While 50 to 70 per centkirana stores selling gro-cery and other food sup-plies are allowed to oper-ate partially, a large por-tion of the unorganisedretailers selling non-essential items is closed,said Ashish Jhina, co-founder, Jumbotail, anonline wholesale market-place.

The recovery from the

economic stress will beslower as the demandfrom Indian consumersafter the lock-downmight be subdued. Alarge share of the con-suming class will be cashstrapped and hardpressed for disposableincome.

"Even after the epidem-ic, people will largelyspend on essential itemsand hence recovery ofstores selling non-essen-tial goods will take time,"said Jhina.

Further, the importcycle has been disruptedand traders may not haveenough goods to sell evenafter the lockdown is lift-ed. Imports of finishedgoods from countrieslike China will take moretime to normalise.Indian manufacturers,dependent on importedraw material and compo-nents, will take a longtime to resume theiroperations.

Resumption of serviceswill also take time due tomigration of labour fromcities to rural areas.

Unorganised retailerspeg loss at $30 bn

MADHUSUDAN SAHOONEW DELHI, MARCH 31

Amidst an unprecedent-ed financial crisis due tothe 21-days long lock-down in the country, thegovernment on Tuesdaysaid it would borrow Rs4.88 lakh crore duringthe first half of the newfiscal.

Announcing theaggressive borrowingplan, Depart-ment ofEconomic Affairs secre-tary Atanu Chakraborty,however, said, “The gov-ernment will borrow Rs4.88 lakh crore in thefirst half of fiscal 2020-21starting April 1 to shoreup resources amid a warit is waging to containeconomic fallout of coro-navirus pandemic.”

The government’sgross borrowing targetfor the first half of FY21is 62.56 per cent of theannual target. Financeminister NirmalaSitharaman had in herbudget for 2020-21 peggedgross borrowing in thenew financial year at Rs7.8 lakh crore, higher

than Rs 7.1 lakh croreestimated in the currentfiscal.

“The government hasfactored in higher spend-ing due to Covid-19 out-break and it will provideall necessary help for thehealth sector, for recov-ery of the industry andany stimulus needed forthe economy,” saidChakraborty.

Generally, the govern-ment raises funds fromthe market to fund its fis-cal deficit through datedsecurities and treasurybills. The budget hadpegged fiscal deficit at3.5 per cent for the nextfiscal, down from 3.8 percent of the GDP in thecurrent financial year.

“The loss of economicactivity is expected todampen tax collectionsin Q1 FY2021, whichwould constrain the cashflows of the central andstate governments.Additionally, expendi-ture may rise sharply inH1 FY2021, especially ifadditional stimulus pro-grammes are provided,”Aditi Nayar of Icra said.

New Delhi, March 31:The government onTuesday extended theexisting Foreign TradePolicy 2015-20, includingfiscal incentives for goods'exports for one year tillMarch 2021, amid the coro-navirus outbreak and thelockdown to contain thevirus spread.

The commerce ministrysaid that in view of the"unprecedented currentsituation" arising out ofthe Covid-19 pandemic, ithas decided to continuerelief under variousexport promotion schemesby granting extension ofthe existing policy byanother one year.

"The existing ForeignTrade Policy 2015-20,which is valid up to March31 this year, is extended upto March 31, 2021. Variousother changes are alsomade extending the date ofexemptions by one yearand extending validity ofDFIA and EPCG authori-sations for import purpos-es," the Directorate Gener-al of Foreign Trade said ina notification. —PTI

Centre to borrow‘4.88 L cr in H1

MADHUSUDAN SAHOONEW DELHI, MARCH 31

Even as borrowers gropedin the dark about therepayment moratoriumannounced by the ReserveBank last week, severalpublic sector banks (PSBs)on Tuesday informed theirbranch heads and cus-tomers about the three-month moratorium on allterm loans, includinghome, auto and crop loans.But private and foreignbanks are learnt to havenot begun the moratoriumprocess yet.

With many getting pay-ment reminders, confusionprevails among borrowers,term-plan investors andcredit cardholders overimplementation of themoratorium advised thecentral bank in view of thedisruptions caused by thenationwide lockdown overcoronavirus outbreak.

Many borrowers, creditcardholders and mutualfund investors have

received SMSes from theirlenders reminding themthat they need to maintainsufficient balance on thedue date.

A public sector bank offi-cial said such messages arebeing sent to customers asthe moratorium decisionhas to be approved by theboard of each lender but inmany cases, the boardmeetings have not takenplace due to the nationwidelockdown.

Moreover, the officialsaid, customers wouldhave to inform their banksthat they want to avail ofthe moratorium benefit.

"Wherever there is astanding instruction, thecustomer has to inform thebank that he or she wantsEMIs to be deferred.Otherwise, instalmentswill be deducted," a seniorpublic sector banker said.

However, over 13 publicsector banks, including

State Bank of India, havestarted messaging theircustomers individually ontheir mobile number aboutthe deferment of equatedmonthly installments(EMI) for the months ofMarch, April and May.

This comes at a timewhen many customers ofbanks, mostly rural farm-ers, are not being able to goto banks for payment oftheir loan dues on accountof restrictions imposeddue to the 21-day long lock-down.

A top public sector bankofficial said, "All thebranch heads have beeninformed with respect tomoratorium on all termloans. In case of those whohave opted for electronicfund transfer for EMIdeduction, they are giventhe option of availing thefacility by informing thebranch concerned throughmail or other digital medi-um. However, banks on itsown unilaterally cannotstop ECS payment.

FALAKNAAZ SYEDMUMBAI, MARCH 31

Ten public sector bankswill be amalgamated intofour banks effective April1.

The consolidation of theIndian public sector bank-ing space was a long over-due process and key meas-ure in improving trans-parency and accountabili-ty in banking operations.Apart from enhancing thelenders capabilities tomeet capital adequacynorms, the amalgamationis likely to streamlinebanking operations,improve customer serviceand build economies ofscale to build global com-petitiveness.

On August 30, 2019, theFinance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman hadannounced the merger of10 PSBs into four entities.From Wednesday, thenumber of public sector

banks in India will comedown to 12. There will besix merged banks--SBI,Bank of Baroda, PunjabNational Bank, CanaraBank, Union Bank ofIndia, Indian Bank inaddition to six independ-ent banks namely IndianOverseas Bank, Uco Bank,Bank of Maharashtra,Punjab and Sind Bank,Bank of India and CentralBank of India.

Anil Gupta vice-presi-dent and head financialsector ratings at ICRA Ltdsaid, “The merger of pub-lic sector banks is going tobe beneficial in the longterm as it will reduceredundancies within thepublic sector bankingspace. However, therecould be a near termimpact on the integration,credit growth and assetquality in the slowing eco-nomic growth and nearterm operational chal-lenges post by Covid 19.

The impact of integra-tion on asset quality, prof-itability and capital of themerging banks will be vis-ible upon the declarationof the merged balancesheet which is likely to bedisclosed by the end ofMay 2020.”

Oriental Bank ofCommerce (OBC) andUnited Bank of India willbe merged into PunjabNational Bank (PNB) toform the second-largestpublic sector bank in thecountry, after State Bankof India (SBI) with themerged entity having11,437 branches.Syndicate Bank will bemerged into Canara Bank,which will make it thefourth-largest public sec-tor lender.

Union Bank’s big amal-gamation withCorporation Bank andAndhra Bank will createthe fifth largest PSU bankin the country.

Indian Bank will bemerged with AllahabadBank.

In a statement, IndianBank assured customersof both lenders that theywill not face any disrup-tion in services. Similarly,In a statement, UnionBank of India said, “Postthe amalgamation, thecombined entity will havethe 4th largest bankingnetwork in the countrywith more than 75000employees, 9500+ branch-es and over 13,500+ATMs.”

Meanwhile post-enor-mous liquidity infusionand a steep 75 basis reporate cut from the ReserveBank of India, severalpublic sector lendersname PNB, IndianOverseas Bank, Bank ofIndia, Union Bankannounced a cut in theirMCLR and externalbenchmark linked lend-ing rate.

Foreign tradepolicy, exportsops extendedfor one year

Stocks bounce back, but indices lose 23% in March

Merger of 10 public sectorbanks takes effect today

Borrowers await clarityon EMI moratorium

GAMES pg 10DECCAN CHRONICLE | NELLORE | WEDNESDAY | 1 APRIL 2020

Athletes continueto donate moneyMumbai, March 31: StarIndia batsman RohitSharma has donated `80lakh to fight the rapidly-spreading Covid-19 pan-demic, saying the onus ison the citizens to help thecountry get back on itsfeet.

Rohit, who is the vice-captain of the Indian ODIteam, has donated `45 lakhand `25 lakh to the andCM’s Relief Fund(Maharashtra) respective-ly.

He has given `5 lakh to‘Zomato Feeding India’,which is helping familiesaffected by the ongoingnational lockdown, andanother `5 lakh to help aidthe welfare of stray dogs.

“We need our countryback on feet & the onus ison us. I’ve done my bit todonate `45lakhs to#PMCaresFunds, `25lakhsto #CMReliefFundMaharashtra, `5lakhs to@FeedingIndia and`5lakhs to#Welf areOfStrayDo gs.Let’s get behind our lead-ers and support them@ n a r e n d r a m o d i@ C M O M a h a r a s h t r a , ”tweeted the elegant righthanded batsman onTuesday morning.

NNEEEERRAAJJ GGIIVVEESS `̀33 LLAAKKHH

Asian Games gold medal-winning javelin throwerNeeraj Chopra on Tuesdaydonated a total of `3 lakhto the central and Haryanastate relief funds to com-bat the Covid-19 pandemicin the country.

Chopra is currently inself-isolation at theNational Institute ofSports (NIS) in Patialaafter flying back from atraining trip in Turkey.

“I have donated a sum of`2 Lakh to #PMCARESfund and `1 Lakh to theHaryana Covid ReliefFund. I hope we all cancome together in our ownindividual capacities tobring relief during thistime and help our nation

overcome this pandemic,”the Commonwealth Gamesgold-medallist tweeted.

Chopra, who hails fromPanipat, has qualified forthe Tokyo Olympics and isconsidered a strong medalcontender.TTTT BBOODDYY CCHHIIPPSS IINN `̀55 LLAAKKHH

The Table TennisFederation of India (TTFI)on Tuesday pledged `5lakh to the PrimeMinister’s Relief Fund forthe battle against the fast-spreading Covid-19 pan-demic.

“The TTFI, as a part of itssocial responsibility, decid-ed to contribute in its ownsmall way a sum of `5 lakhto the Prime Minister’sRelief Fund,” TTFI said ina statement.

“A cheque for the amountwas sent to the IndianOlympic Association(IOA), which had requestedall National SportsFederations (NSFs) tomake contributions to theFund,” it added.

AAUUGGUUSSTTAA PPLLEEDDGGEESS $$22mm

Augusta National GolfClub, which in most yearswould be preparing to hostthe Masters, announced onMonday it will give $2 mil-lion to help fight the coron-avirus pandemic in itsregion.

This year’s Masters,which was to have luredgolfers and fans fromaround the world to thefamed Georgia layout nextweek, was postponed indef-initely due to the globaloutbreak of the deadlyvirus.

“It is our hope these giftswill help address the manychallenges brought aboutby the coronavirusthroughout the city ofAugusta and the greaterregion. We believe AugustaNational has an importantresponsibility to supportand protect the communi-ty,” Augusta Nationalchairman Fred Ridleysaid. — Agencies

Flushing Meadowsturns Corona ParkNew York, March 31: Thesite of the US Open tennistournament here will beused to build a 350-bedfacility in an effort to pro-vide additional medicalinfrastructure to the cityas it battles the growingcoronavirus outbreak.

A report in The WallStreet Journal said thatNew York city’s emergencymanagement office plansto build a 350-bed facility atthe Billie Jean KingNational Tennis Centre inFlushing Meadows-CoronaPark.

The report said construc-tion could begin as early asTuesday at an indoor train-ing center at the facility,which has multiple courtsand wide spaces, accordingto a spokesman for the USTennis Association.

The beds will likely be forpatients who do not haveCovid-19, the illness causedby the novel coronavirus.

Additionally, the tenniscentre’s Louis ArmstrongStadium will become acommissary that will pack-age 25,000 meals per day formedical professionals andothers. Construction maybegin as early as Tuesday, areport in NPR media said.

As public and privatehospitals across the statecome under immense

strain from the growingCovid-19 cases, officials arepermitting setting up oftemporary medical infra-structure at varioussprawling spaces in NewYork.

A 68-bed field hospital isbeing constructed in thecity’s Central Park to helpenhance medical capacity.

LLOORRDD’’SS OOPPEENNSS UUPP FFOORRHHEEAALLTTHHCCAARREE WWOORRKKEERRSS

Custodian of cricket laws,the Marylebone CricketClub (MCC), has decided toprovide parking and stor-age spaces available at theiconic Lord’s cricketground to the NationalHealth Services (NHS) staffwho are fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The close proximity of anumber of hospitals toLord’s gives the Club theopportunity to assist med-ical staff so they can con-centrate on their ongoingbattle against the virus,”the MCC said in mediarelease.

The club has provided 75car parking spaces for NHSstaff at the nearbyWellington Hospital,University CollegeHospital, and the Hospitalof St John and StElizabeth.

— AFP

New Delhi, March 31: The Sports of Authority ofIndia (SAI) said it is handing over the JawaharlalNehru Stadium here to the Delhi government for usingit as a quarantine facility for patients infected with thenovel coronavirus.

SAI handed over the stadium after the DistrictMagistrate had on Monday day asked if it could beused for the purpose of quarantine.

The Sports Ministry had on March 22 announcedthat facilities under SAI across the country will bemade available for usage as quarantine facilities.

More than 1,250 positive cases for the novel coron-avirus have so far been reported across the countrybesides 36 deaths. — PTI

NEHRU STADIUM IS NOWA QUARANTINE FACILITY

FREEZE FRAMEBadminton body blocks rankings amid suspensionNew Delhi, March 31:The Badminton WorldFederation (BWF) onTuesday decided to freezethe world rankings, say-ing standings as on March17 will be the basis forentry and seedings whenit restarts the internation-al calender that has beenthrown haywire owing tothe Covid-19 pandemic.

There was a clamour forfreezing the world rank-ings with Indian shuttlersSaina Nehwal, B. SaiPraneeth, ParupalliKashyap and H. S.Prannoy leading the wayin expressing their con-cerns.

“The Badminton WorldFederation (BWF) canannounce it will freezeWorld Rankings andWorld Junior Rankingsuntil further notice. Thefreezing of rankings willbe backdated to Week 12,which is the week follow-ing the last internationaltournament that wasplayed the YONEX AllEngland Open 2020,” BWFsaid in a release.

“The ranking listsissued on 17 March 2020will serve as a basis forentry and seeding into thenext international tourna-ments dalthough it is diffi-cult to say at this stagewhen this may be.”

Shuttlers in the singlescompetition have to beinside top-16 of worldrankings to qualify for theOlympics. The cut-off fordoubles is also top-16.

The BWF had suspendedall tournaments post theAll EnglandChampionships untilApril 12 due to the pan-demic.

These tournamentsinclude big-ticket eventslike India Open (Super500), Malaysia Open(Super 750) and SingaporeOpen (Super 500), apartfrom the threeContinental Confeder-ation championships.

“Due to the Covid-19 out-break, the badmintoncommunity has experi-enced an unprecedentedsuspension to internation-al tournaments from mid-march 2020 to the end ofApril 2020.

The world body said itwill take time to decide onthe process of unfreezingthe world rankings as itwill depend on how theinternational calenderlooks once thingsimprove.

“Following theannouncement to resched-ule the Tokyo 2020Olympic Games to 23 Julyto 8 August 2021, BWF willnow also initiate a reviewprocess to confirm anyimpacts on the Olympicqualification system,”BWF said.

— AFP

We want to train, Hima tells RijijuNew Delhi, March 31:Confined to their hostelrooms at NIS Patiala amidthe coronavirus-forcedlockdown, some athletes,led by star sprinter HimaDas, have requested thesports ministry to allowthem to train outdoorswithin the campus, whichis out of bounds for out-siders right now.

Deputy chief nationalathletics coachRadhakrishnan Nair, whois supporting the move,said that the Hima-ledcampers at the NationalInstitute of Sports (NIS)

are expecting a reply fromthe ministry in a day ortwo.

“Hima and some otherathletes have written tothe Sports Minister thatthey be allowed to trainone or two hours a day insmall groups at differenttimes so that they can alsopractice social distancingwhile training at the sametime,” Nair confirmedfrom Patiala.

“They have written toRijiju that they be senthome if no training isallowed. (But) going homeis not feasible as the coun-

try is in a lockdown andPrime Minister has saideverybody should bewhere they are.

“So, the ministry willnot allow them to go backhome but this outdoortraining idea is feasible.

We will know about it in aday or two,” he added.

Nair said he and othercoaches have supportedthe idea as there is no riskof any camper contract-ing the dreaded coron-avirus as nobody is com-ing in and going out of thefacility. “We have 41 ath-letes at NIS and the trackand field area is just 50mfrom the hostels. We canhave small groups sayeight athletes each andonly one group will trainat a time for one or twohours. All the athletes of agroup will not do running

or throwing together, onewill run alone and finishit and then another willrun after him or her. Thisway we can practice socialdistancing and be safe,”the top athletics coachsaid.

“Athletics is different. Inmany sports, the athletesutilise a small space but arunner or a thrower or ajumper covers a lot of dis-tance and their cardiovas-cular system and physicalstrength has to be builtcontinuously over a peri-od of time,” he added.

— PTI

People wearing masks walk past a countdown clock showing the adjusted time remaining for the postponedTokyo Olympic Games, outside the Tokyo station on Monday. — AFP

SHORT

MMuummbbaaii:: Sony PicturesNetworks (SPN) India Private

Limited and WWE on Tuesdayannounced a five-year exten-

sion with an expanded broad-cast agreement that will deliver

WWE’s weekly flagship pro-gramming and localised con-

tent in India and the Indian sub-continent, making SPN the

exclusive home to WWE in-ringcontent across its television

and digital platforms.As part of the agreement,

SPN will have the rights to airRaw, SmackDown, NXT as wellas WWE pay-per-view specials

live on its sports and digitalplatforms in English, Hindi and

regional languages.The expanded partnership

also provides SPN the rights toWWE Network which hosts

thousands of hours of contentto be made available to audi-

ences in India exclusivelythrough SonyLIV, SPN’s OTTplatform. In addition and for

the first time, SPN will curatecontent from WWE’s extensive

video library which includes liveevents, iconic matches, inter-

views with Legends, realityshows, documentaries and

more, on its own platforms.WWE will also return to India

with even bigger live eventsand Superstars will visit the

region for promotional tours toengage with fans.

— Agencies

SONY EXTENDSDEAL TO BEAM

WWE SHOWS

TAKES

Red Bull wanteddrivers infected!

Lancashire chiefdies of corona

Paine’s walletstolen from car

VViieennnnaa:: Red Bull motorsportconsultant Helmut Marko hasadmitted that he wanted the

team’s Formula One drivers todeliberately contract coron-

avirus before the potential startof the new season.

The 76-year-old said his ideawas to bring the team’s senior

drivers, Max Verstappen andAlexander Albon, together with

the junior drivers in a trainingcamp.

“The idea was that we couldorganise a camp where we

could mentally and physicallyfill this dead time,” Marko told

Austrian television channelORF.

“Then of course it would’vebeen ideal for the infection tocome,” the 76-year-old added.

“They are all young, strongmen in good health. Then you

would be prepared for whenev-er you start, and you would be

ready for a very tough worldchampionship,” Marko futher

stated. Marko also admitted that hisplan was “not well received”.

— AFP

LLoonnddoonn:: Lancashire countycricket club chairman David

Hodgkiss has died after beinginfected by the dreaded coron-

avirus. He was 71.Although Lancashire did notgive the exact reason of his

death in their official statement,a club spokesperson told the

‘Press Association’ thatHodgkiss’ death was “coron-

avirus-related.”“Further to the announcementfrom his family, it is with great

sadness that Lancashire Cricketannounces the passing of its

Chairman, David HodgkissOBE,” the club said in a state-

ment.According to reports,

Hodgkiss had some prior healthissues as well.

Hodgkiss had been on theboard at Emirate Old Trafford

for 22 years, serving as a mem-ber, treasurer and vice-chair-

man before becoming thechairman, succeeding Michael

Cairns in 2017. — AFP

MMeellbboouurrnnee:: Australia Test cap-tain Tim Paine’s wallet was

stolen from his car on Tuesdayafter he parked the vehicle onthe street outside his home inHobart to convert his garage

into a gym. His makeshift prac-tice area was just a day old

when Paine woke up this morn-ing to realise that his car had

been broken into. “I’ve actuallyjust turned the garage into a bit

of a home gym and I want tohang the (stocking) off the bit

where the garage door opens,”he told ‘SEN Breakfast’.

“I figured if I can, I can workon my cover drive while I’m at

it, but I’ve actually hit a bit of asnag today because I moved

the car out onto the street onlyto wake up this morning to a

text from NAB saying my creditcard has been used. I went out

and the (car) door was openand my wallet and a few other

things had gone,” Paine added.— AFP

Task cut out for TokyoTokyo, March 31: Thecountdown clocks havebeen reset and are tickingagain for the TokyoOlympics.

The model outsideTokyo Station, and othersacross the Japanese capi-tal were switched onalmost immediately afterorganisers announced thenew dates — July 23 toAugust 8, 2021.

The clocks read 479 daysto go. This seems a longway away, but also smalland insignificant com-pared with the worldwidefallout from the coron-avirus.

Then again, it’s notmuch time to reassemblethe first Olympics to bepostponed since the mod-ern games began 124years ago; not for 11,000Olympic athletes, 4,400Paralympic athletes —and not for sponsors,broadcasters, the fansthat have already boughttickets, and Japaneseorganisers and taxpayerswho have spent billions,and will have to come upwith billions more to payfor the setback.

“I believe that theseOlympics are going tohave great historical sig-

nificance,” Yoshiro Mori,the president of the TokyoorganiSing committee,said after confirming thenew dates.

Mori, an 82-year-old for-mer Japanese prime min-ister, also recalled there’sno guarantee that thecoronavirus pandemicwill be under control ayear from now. That

includes the new dates forthe Paralympics now setfor Aug. 24 to September 5.“This is a prayer that wehave and I do believe thatsomeone is going to listento our prayers,” Mori said.

After cursory talk aboutan Olympics in the spring,the new summer datesoverlap perfectly with thesame time slot that was

picked for 2020.Organisers are hoping tooverlay the old plans withnew plans, keeping ven-ues in place, securingthousands of rooms in theAthletes Village, deploy-ing the same volunteers,and letting people whobought tickets keep them.

The summer date alsoavoids conflicts with thecrowded North Americanand European sportsschedules. But summer inTokyo also means grap-pling with intense heatand humidity, the majorworry for games organiz-ers before the pandemic.

“Obviously in the sum-mer there might betyphoons and the heatproblems. However, thissituation is the same. Wealways had those prob-lems so we will be pre-pared for those issues,”Mori said.

Though the internation-al sports federations wentalong with the new dates,some like theInternational TriathlonUnion preferred the cool-er spring during Japan’scherry blossom season.But that was overriddenby the easiest route to lin-ing up venues. — AP

P. V. Sindhu in this file photo.

CORONA || CONTRIBUTION

BWF eyeing newdates for WorldsNew Delhi, March 31:The Badminton WorldFederation (BWF) is intalks with hosts Spain toreschedule the 2021 WorldChampionships after theTokyo Olympics werepushed to next year due tothe Covid-19 pandemic.

Huelva, a city in south-west Spain, is scheduledto host the 2021Badminton WorldChampionships in Augustbut with the Tokyo Gamesnow rescheduled to July23 to August 8, BWF islooking for alternatives.

“BWF is aware of the

need to reschedule theWorld Championships2021 normally staged inAugust with suitablealternatives being dis-cussed with hosts Spain,”the governing body saidin a statement.

World Championships isa annual event with theexception of the Olympicyear. P. V. Sindhu had wonthe World Championshipstitle at Basel, Switzerlandin 2019.

The BWF has suspendedall tournaments untilApril 12 due to the pan-demic. — PTI

Hima DDas

Paris, March 31: The 2021 World AthleticsChampionships in Eugene, Oregon (USA) will beshifted to 2022 to accommodate the re-arrangedTokyo Olympics, World Athletics said.

The announcement came immediately afterOlympics organisers said the 2020 Tokyo Games willnow take place on July 23-August 8, 2021.

That means the World Athletics Championshipsthat were scheduled to take place in Eugene onAugust 6-15, 2021, can no longer be held on thosedates. “We support the new 2021 dates for the Tokyo2020 Olympic Games announced by the Japaneseorganisers and the IOC,” World Athletics said in astatement.

“This gives our athletes the time they need to getback into training and competition. Everyone needsto be flexible and compromise and to that end we arenow working with organisers of the World AthleticsChampionships on new dates in 2022 for our WorldAthletics Championships,” it said. — AFP

NEXT YEAR’S ATHLETICSWORLDS MOVED TO 2022

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 Plot No. 9 Alwal Village, Vallabh Nagar Taluk, MedchalMalkajgiri Dist. Telangana and Published at 36, S.D. Road,

Secunderabad-3.RNI Registration No. 3081/1957. Editor: Aditya Sinha

the buzz

4 >>

‘Watching old,classic films’

t’wood

5 >>

WEDNESDAY | 1 APRIL 2020

c m y k c m y k

nelloreCHRONICLE

Humour in times of distress

Forget sanitisers, masks, gloves and essentials; the latest COVID-19 reality is that the richie richfolks are buying ventilators for personal use at home, should the need arise. However, expertssay it is a dangerous and foolish move because using a ventilator needs expert supervision

SWATI SHARMA

DECCAN CHRONICLE

Billionaire technologyentrepreneur Elon Muskhad recently taken to the

microblogging site to tweet,“Yes. Just as with gro-

ceries, the panic is alsocausing hoarding of

ventilators, pre-venting them

from reachingthe hospitalswhere theyare needed.”Even thought h e

Gover nmentof India,

recently, prohib-ited the export of

surgical masks andventilators because of its

shortage in hospitals, the uber-rich arepanic-buying and hoarding ventilatorsat home at the cost of `10 lakh.Ventilators are used for patients suffer-ing from coronavirus to keep them aliveif they struggle to breathe.

But is this a sensible move? Expertsincluding Dr Sundeep Lakhtakia, who isa senior consultant at Asian Institute ofGastroenterology, feel otherwise. “Thisis sheer stupidity and waste ofresources. It’s like buying a fighter jetfor whenever we may have a war evenwhen one does not know how to fire amissile, let alone fly a plane,” he says.

To begin with, those buying/hoardinga ventilator tend to forget that they willstill need someone to manage themachine at home. Moreover, where willthey find the necessary therapist or doc-tor to run the ventilator if it comes tothat? For those wondering if it is, in thefirst place, possible to run a critical carepatient privately at home especially in

the Indian scenario, Dr Khizar Raoof,Consultant Urologist, Olive Hospital,shares his thoughts. “Unless they havean intensivist — a specialist doctor han-dling ICUs — at home, it’s of no use. Wejust don’t have enough staff to run hos-pitals, let alone home ventilators,” hecautions. Adding to the above thought,Dr Sunil Kapoor, senior InterventionalCardiologist, Apollo Hospitals, says, “Itneeds to be connected to a high-pressureoxygen line, which is available only inthe ICCU of hospitals.”

PROCEDURE AND INFRASTRUCTURE In addition to the above, ventilator set-

tings also must be monitored andchanged as per the patient’s need,depending on the patient’s condition.What’s more, the patient must be appro-priately sedated to tolerate the ventila-tor. So essentially, the issue here is abouthow to set it up.

TURN TO PAGE 2

“This is sheerstupidity andwaste ofresources. It’slike buying afighter jet forwhenever wemay have a wareven when onedoes not know

how to fire a missile, let alonefly a plane” Dr Sundeep Lakhtakia, senior consultant, AsianInstitute of Gastroenterology

“Buying an oxy-gen concentra-tor at home isacceptable, buta ventilator athome is not fea-sible.Ventilators alsoneed an oxygen

supply and compressed air,which is again not possible athome”Dr Chaitanya Challa, Challa Nursing Home

“Unless theyhave an inten-sivist — a spe-cialist doctorhandling ICUs— at home, it’sof no use. Wejust don’t haveenough staff to

run hospitals, let alone homeventilators” Dr Khizar Raoof, Consultant Urologist, OliveHospital

Buying ventilators? It issheer stupidity, say experts

WORD OF THE WISEConsidering possiblecomplications at this point, it isessential to use ventilatorsonly in hospital ICUs for

patient safety and better chances oftheir survival. It’s a scary thought touse ventilators at home, and itis a bad practice to hoard themat home. I believe it is somethingthat needs to be reported toGovernment agencies so that suchhoarders are taken to task,” warnsSanjay Waghray, CEO, SS Associates.

2Wednesday 1 April 2020

Deccan Chroniclein focusTHE SCORE KEEPERS SAY...

‘Ours is a thankless job’Cricket scorers are an integral part of the game but are usually

unknown. We speak with some, who articulate the challenges andneglect they face

BIPIN DANI

ICC has panels for umpires andmatch referees, who declarethousands of boundaries and

verdicts on “outs” and “not out” deci-sions. However, there are no ICC pan-els for scorers yet, who record players’runs and wickets and are an integralpart of the game.

“Yes, scorers should be recognisedby the ICC. If one wants to improveperfection in the game, this systemshould be introduced,” says SejalDave from Rajkot, one of the womenscorers in the country.

Another woman scorer is HemaliDesai, who has been in the job since1994, handling the pile of runs scoredby legends in the middle. Sejal andHemali, members of the BCCI panel,made history when both officiated inthe Ranji Trophy finals (betweenSaurashtra and Bengal). While Sejalwas the official scorer, Hemali wasdesignated in the press box. Butwomen scorers are a rarity in thecountry.

“Scorers perform the most impor-tant duties of maintaining all detailsof a given match. Unfortunately, thisfaculty is most neglected,” chimes inSharmila Thakur, another BCCIwoman scorer.

UNRECORDED RECORDERS

Besides the women scorers, even a fewcricket statisticians favour due recog-nition by the highest governing bodyof the game. “Cricket statisticiansform the backbone of commentatorsand cricket websites, but they areoften the most neglected lot,” says C.Keshav Murthy, a renowned cricketstatistician.

When asked for his opinion on whythey are not a part of any panel,Keshav says, “Scorers are in largernumbers, which may have promptedthe ICC to not form a panel. However,this suggestion should be welcome.BCCI and other cricket associationsshould step in and fight for it.”

Gopal Krishna, another cricket sta-tistician who has officiated in morethan 100 international matches for theradio tells us that the BCCI has a grad-ed panel for scorers. “But the ICCshould have its own panel. It would bethe best thing to happen for thegame,” he adds.

UNSUNG BUT NOT DONE

M. Nagaraj, another scorer-cum-sta-tistician, feels a panel for umpires isnecessary because they officiate inneutral countries. “Scorers are notrequired to be neutral as their mainduty is only to record the happeningsof the game, but yes, it is a thanklessjob,” adds Nagaraj. “Scorers and sta-tisticians working behind the scenesand their names hardly appear on TV

or media.”Another Mumbai scorer, Vivek

Gupte, adds to the sentiment. “Ours is a thankless job! If Sachin

Tendulkar has scored thousands ofruns and Muralitharan and ShaneWarne have grabbed hundreds ofwickets. It is because we have record-

ed themall correctly,” shares Vivek, adding,“The BCCI has given us an iPad andan app. We record the matches, whichgets instantly uploaded on the BCCIwebsite. General public can view thelive scores but nowhere are our effortsbeing recognised.”

Buying ventilators?It is sheer stupidity,say expertsCONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“Adjustment of a ventilator is an hourlyissue,” explains Dr Chaitanya Challa, ChallaNursing Home. “A doctor has to be constantlypresent to adjust it. Buying an oxygen concen-trator at home is acceptable, but a ventilator athome is not feasible. Ventilators also need anoxygen supply and compressed air, which isagain not possible at home.”

According to Dr K. Subba Reddy, SrConsultant Critical Care, Apollo Health City,ventilating a patient requires the entire inten-sive care infrastructure. “Just buying ventila-tors and keeping them ready outside ICU set-tings is not advisable. Sometimes, they mayrequire prolonged ventilator support,” he adds.“Further, they require good doctors and nursesto take care of them. They may also require

other organsupport suchas dialysisand multipleother consul-tants’ involve-ment. Addedto it all, theywill requirevery closemonitoring towean off theventilator. So,it is not possi-ble to createefficient ICUsat home.”

OTHER VALIDCONCERNS

In govern-ment-run hos-pitals, it isvery difficultto get vacantventilators. Inprivate hospi-tals, ventila-tors are avail-able but arehighly priced.So also,experts thinkit unwise andwarn againstanyone get-ting into anunnecessarypanic-buyingof ventilatorsduring thistime.

“In theIndian sce-nario, ifthings go

worse, the government will take over all theventilators. Even the ones in private hospitals,”warns Dr Khizar Raoof. “They’re already get-ting private medical colleges ready, and if theneed arises, private hospitals will also become apart of the war against corona.”

Dr Sunil Kapoor also reminds people that veryfew of the corona patients need ventilators inthe first place.

“COVID-19 infection results in respiratory dis-tress syndrome in only 2-4 per cent of people.For instance, as of now, there are 40 patientsadmitted in the COVID-19 ward of the GandhiHospital and not a single patient is on ventila-tor,” elaborates Dr Sunil Kapoor.

“Just buyingventilators and

keeping themready outside

ICU settings isnot advisable.

Sometimes,they may

require prolonged ventilatorsupport. They require gooddoctors and nurses to take

care of them. They may alsorequire other organ support

such as dialysis and multipleother consultants’ involve-

ment. Dr K. Subba Reddy,

Sr Consultant Critical Care,Apollo Health City

“COVID-19infection

results in res-piratory dis-

tress syn-drome in only

2–4 per centof people. For

instance, as ofnow, there are 40 patientsadmitted in the COVID-19

ward of the Gandhi Hospitaland not a single patient is on

ventilator”Dr Sunil Kapoor,

Senior InterventionalCardiologist, Apollo Hospitals

Score keepers on the job

“Cricket statisticiansform the backbone of

commentators and cricketwebsites, but they areoften the most neglectedlot” C. Keshav Murthy, a renowned cricket statisti-cian

“Scorers perform themost important duties

of maintaining all details ofa given match.Unfortunately, this facultyis most neglected” Sharmila Thakur, a BCCI woman scorer

If Sachin Tendulkar hasscored thousands of runsand Muralitharan andShane Warne have grabbedhundreds of wickets, it isbecause these score keep-ers have recorded them allcorrectly

(above) Sejal Dave and HemaliDesai

(L-R) Gopal Krishna and M.Nagaraj

3Wednesday 1 April 2020

Deccan Chronicleglam sham

Disconnected from reality?

SHALKIE

The ongoing coronaviruspandemic has opened aPandora’s box of chal-

lenges for those trying to curbits spread. ‘Stay Home, StaySafe’ is the message en voguebeing endorsed by almosteveryone, including ourfavourite celebrities who havebeen posting videos and pic-tures on social media that most-ly include their workouts, sun-kissed happy faces and dailychores of cooking and moppingin the absence of their househelp and maids.

Probably as an aftermath ofsuch images and videos, thechoreographer-tur ned-film-maker Farah Khan recentlytook to social media to high-light the privilege of her fit-ness-video-posting colleaguesfrom Bollywood. In the video,which has gone viral on theInternet, the Om Shanti Omdirector says, “It’s my humblerequest to all the ‘celebrities’and ‘stars’ that please stop mak-

ing your workout videos andbombarding us with it. I canunderstand that you all areprivileged and you don’t haveany other worries in this globalpandemic except for lookingafter your figures. But some ofus, most of us have bigger con-cerns during this crisis.”Echoing the same, in what is aphotoshopped image, DiljitDosanjh superimposed his faceon the popular Instagramcelebrity Dude With Sign’simage, in which he is carryinga sign board that says: ‘StopPosting Your Home Workouts’.

At a time when film releasesand film shootings have come toa halt, our B-towners, whileunder a lockdown, have beenposting videos of them exercis-ing at home as a means to stay-ing relevant among their fansand followers. According to theimage consultant ChhayaMomaya, “Celebrities are glam-our-based, and the best way toshow glamour is through yourbody. To remind their fans thatthey are still glamorous, andthat they are still looking good,posting fitness video is a fantas-tic idea.” Jacqueline

Fernandez, Katrina Kaif, SaraAli Khan and Vicky Kaushalamong others are some of theactors that have shared theirslice of fitness routine on theirsocial media. However, thequestion arises whether such ablatant display of cushionedprivilege is the need of thehour.

According to the social mediastrategist Mayank Jain, thesevideos are not a display of priv-ilege, as it encourages fans tostay indoors, which is the actu-al need of the moment. “Withthe deep penetration of the

Internet in our country, almosteverybody, intentionally orunintentionally, follows theirfavourite celebrities. Now,because of the lockdown whenpeople are asked to stay inside,it’s right on part of the celebri-ties to upload workout videos orof them doing home choresbecause it influences people tostay back home,” he says.

First one to react, DeepikaPadukone, in a Hangout video,defended putting up exercisevideos on social media. “I knowa lot of people have a problemwith exercise videos that aregoing up. But to be honest,putting up exercise videos —rather, exercising, not puttingup videos — it’s more abouthow you feel. It’s not reallyabout how you look.” Whilethere is a gaping gap betweenthe privileged and the under-privileged in this country, thecrisis has dawned on everybody.But it’s the disproportionateeffect of the crisis that’sfuelling this debate.

Social media may havebecome a medium to find a sem-blance of normalcy for thecelebrities, but they should alsonot ignore the harsh reality anddo whatever they can to unbur-den the burdened, says imageconsultant Chetna Mehrotra.“One side is definitely to letpeople know that they too areequally a part of this entirelockdown. And the other part isthat when you are an influ-encer, you need to validate andendorse what’s happening withthose who are less privileged.Now is the time when thesecelebrities can break the barri-er and show that even thoughthey are privileged, they arealso not that privileged,” sheconcludes.

With Bollywoodcelebs going allout with their

workout videos inthe face of thepandemic, it’s

debatablewhether it’s a

way to connectwith fans or beingtoo self-indulgent

at these times I can understandthat you all areprivileged and youdon’t have anyother worriesexcept for lookingafter your figures,but most of us havebigger concernsduring this crisis.

—FARAH KHAN

Deepika missesthe Padukones

DC CORRESPONDENT

The ongoing lockdown has beenhard on Deepika Padukone, who has

been in Mumbai with her husbandwhile her parents and sister are faraway in Bangalore. The Chhapaakactress, who is extremely close with herfamily, says that the first thing she willdo when the coronavirus pandemic endsis visit her family.

She said in a recent interview, “I wasactually scheduled to travel to Bangaloreto see them (family) and then leave forour schedule (Shakun Batra’s film) — wewere going to be out for like two months.I think that’s probably the first thing I’lldo, which is just go and see them in fleshand blood.”While most of us are seeingthis difficult time through with our fam-ilies in real life, Deepika has to rely ontechnology to see her family.

Hrithik Roshan:Textbook hero

DC CORRESPONDENT

Hrithik Roshan’s life hasnot always been easy.

Despite being born into theaffluent Roshan family, he grewup with a stammer and an extrafinger on his right hand, whichothers made fun of. He has alsoovercome scoliosis just beforebecoming an actor.

His story is now being told tostudents of Class 6 under thechapter of ‘self confidence’ inthe textbook Life and Valuesimprinted by S. ChandPublications. The book is fol-lowed in the matric schools ofTamil Nadu as part of value

education for students.While this news is lesser-

known, a Twitter user shared:“Felt bored, so I was reading atextbook of my niece. I was sur-prised to see this page. This isfrom the value education text-book of class 6. Who else canteach self-confidence betterthan him? Proud of you@iHrithik sir @HrfcTamilnadu@ H r i t h i k R u l e s@HrithikInspires (sic).”

The WAR actor’s life storyhas also been immortalised ininternational author BenBrooks' book titled Stories ForBoys Who Dare To BeDifferent.

Isabelle KaifKatrina Kaif

Sara Ali Khan

NAYARE ALI

DECCAN CHRONICLE

Saloni’s twitter accounthas 98.3k followers andthis charming college

student’s impersonation ofKangana Ranaut who shewickedly calls Kangana‘'Runnout’, has earned her 34.7klikes on Twitter. “I hope shelikes it too. I have seen Queenmultiple times and I believe

Kangana is ag r e a t

actress,” she quickly adds. It is Kangana, who by default

paved the way for Saloni’s forayinto comic videos. “I used tomimic her in school and myfriends loved it,” she concedes.This youngster straddles dualworlds. She studies economicsand political science by day ather university and recedes intoher hostel, to make comicvideos. “Initially I only didvoiceovers but one day a ran-dom video I made went viraland my friends suggested that Ishould show my face. So Ibought this wig from Amazonas a part of my get up andeverybody loved it. Everyonewas making videos. When Ijoined insta I noticed thatMallika Dua was makingvideos. I did not know how tochannel my thoughts into avideo. My brother Shubham,who has appeared in AmazonPrime’s Hostel Days and he’s aYoutuber, guided me.”

And that is how the demurehousewife with fierce viewsbecame an instant hit. And thebiggest high for her was, “WhenKusha Kapila messaged meafter seeing my video. I was oncloud nine that day,” she says.

Nazma Aapi airs her viewsnonchalantly on every-

thing from panic buyingpost corona virus to a

desi mother-in-law’s views

post lock-

down. Like actress Sonam, whoSaloni recently impersonatedand even got an appreciatedresponse back, the young sensa-

tion has the ability to laugh atherself. Recounting an oldervideo on Delhi’s air pollution,she laughingly admits, “I lookvery poor in that video. I stay ata hostel in Delhi. I opened thedoor, it was so hazy, I just wokeup, did not wash my face, usedmy phone camera and startedshooting. I look so pathetic.”

You’ve got to hand it to Saloni.She exudes remarkable self con-fidence when she says, “Peopleask me why I don’t apply makeup? So when I mimicked SonamI put on the best kurta I had, todo justice to Sonam as she is afashion icon. But Nazmi aapidoes not require a makeover,”asserts the girl who also doublesup as the background guy whocomments in her videos. I amthe guy in the background, I canimitate Jimmy Shergil too, sodecided to do the male voiceover.”

Saloni who hails from UP mod-estly states she is not famous inher hometown but wickedlyadds that her relatives are waryof her as she might just mimicthem. “My nani refuses to speakin front of me as she is afraidthat I will imitate her also,” shelaughs.

Saloni happily admits thatnone of her videos have gener-ated any hate mails or com-ments. “I am very balanced andtake care not to offend anyonein my social commentary.”

The future looks bright asSaloni is currently doing collab-orative videos and ads and willbe venturing into radio soon.Speaking about the process ofcreating, Saloni says that work-ing on filmi impersonationsdoes not take time but when shedons the garb of Nazma Aapi, ittakes her 2.5 hours to work onthe script and shoot. “My par-ents are supportive. They toldme to not target anybody andthat is something that I am cau-tious about. My brother too wasvery supportive.”

This youngster straddles dual worlds. She studies economics and politi-cal science by day at her university and recedes into her hostel, to

make comic videos. “Initially I only did voiceovers but one day arandom video I made went viral and my friends suggested thatI should show my face. So I bought this wig from Amazon as apart of my get up and everybody loved it,” says Saloni.

Move overMallika Dua.

There’s a newYoutuber in

town. The burqaclad Nazma

Aapi’s politicalcommentary has

made SaloniGaur a national

sensation

4Wednesday 1 April 2020

Deccan Chroniclethe buzzHumour in timesof distress

Screenshots of Saloni’s hilari-ous videos. Saloni’s latestvideo where she imperson-ates Sonam Kapoor will leaveyou rolling with laughter

Born on All Fools Day

BIPIN DANI

The right-handedbatsman was born on

April 1, 1984. Over thepast several years he hasbeen busy with IPLmatches during this time,but the Coronavirusthreat this year has dis-rupted all such schedules.“It (April 1 — All Fools’Day) is a special day andis celebrated throughoutthe world with laughter,”

the cricketer’s father, R.Murali, said. He wasspeaking exclusively toDC from Chennai.“Usually, we all go to anearby temple, butbecause of theC o r o n av i r u scrisis, thetemples areclosed,” hes a i d ,a d d i n g ,“we willhave a

very sim-ple cele-b r a t i o n

at hishome.” “ V i j a y

stays half akm awayfrom us.

Whenever he is inChennai on his birthday,he comes to us for bless-ings. This year, we don’texpect him to come to uswith his three children.Instead, my wife and I willgo to his house,” he said.The family plans to spendquality time together.“April 1 is the FinancialNew Year in India and itwill be a fresh start forboth Vijay and the econo-my, said Murali. The cricketer with his wife and kids

This year, for the first time in many years, cricketer Murali Vijay willget to celebrate his birthday with his entire family around him. His

parents are looking forward to it

The Malayalam filmA y y a p p a n u m

Koshiyum has been a bighit. Now, word has it thatour very own Balakrishnais showing interest in doinga Telugu remake of the film.The story revolves around theego problems of a retired andinfluential military person anda police officer. In the Malayalamfilm, Biju Menon and Prithvirajplayed the two characters. We hearthat Balakrishna looks interestedin playing the retired military offi-cer’s role for the Telugu remake.

“Actually, Balakrishna wants towork with veteran director B.Gopal who was looking for a goodsubject. The former suggested thisMalayalam film to Gopal.However, Sitara Entertainmenthad actually bought the remakerights of the film, and it is up tothem whether they produce thefilm with Balakrishna,” a sourcetells us. The film also needs anoth-er popular actor to play the cop’srole, and Balakrishna apparentlyhopes for Rana Daggubati to do it.“Rana has also shown interest indoing the film, but he wants fullclarity regarding the directorand producer,” adds the source.So, as we have it for the moment,if everything goes well, Balayyaand Rana may soon act together intwo powerful roles.

Actor Balakrishna hopes toremake the Malayalam hit,Ayyappanum Koshiyum

Samantha Akkineni,one of the top actresses

in South Indian cinematoday, has been approachedfor a biopic, which is to bedirected by none otherthan senior directorSingeetham Srinivasa Raoof the PushpakaVimanamu fame.

A source tells us thatSingeetham has planned todo a biopic on BangaloreNagarathnamma, aCarnatic singer, culturalactivist, social reformer,freedom fighter and cour-tesan. “The director hasapproached Samantha forthe biopic, and Samanthahas shown positive signsabout taking up this film,and once the director givesa complete narration of

the story, she would like tofinalise it,” adds thesource.

This is indeed a goodopportunity for Samanthato be working with a leg-endary director such asSingeetham. We havelearnt that the script of thefilm is ready, and once theindustry is back to normal,the details of the film willbe announced.

5Wednesday 1 April 2020

Deccan Chronicle

‘Watching old,classic films’

Actor AdiviSesh, like

everyone else,is in self

isolation. Hetalks about

how he’sspending his

time, beingalone

SUBHASH K JHA

QHow have you been cop-ing with the lockdown?

Initially, one was worried, butslowly you realise the best thingyou can do is to isolate yourself.So, doing my best by isolatingmyself.

QHow are you spendingyour time?

Watching some scenes of whatwe shot for my next releaseMajor, reading books I neverwould have read otherwise, anddoing lots of exercise! Oh yes,forgot the movie binging part.Been on a classic spree — TheGodfather, Roja, Dalapathi andmany more. I have been watch-ing all the old classics.

QAre you eating and sleep-ing more than usual?

I keep falling asleep and it alsomakes me realise my adrenalinelevels. Working on Major hasbeen most satisfying, lookingforward to getting back on set.About eating, as a kid I wouldeat more if bored, not now. Justdon’t do it.

QYour advise to your fans...

It is important for all to under-stand that this is unprece-dented in our lifetime. Manypeople still think of it assomething “someone some-where” is getting. Guys, stay

in, be hygienic and please bevigilant specially about theyoung and the elderly. Monitorthem but keep your distance.You never know, you could be acarrier and your body is fight-ing it just fine. Their bodiescan’t. Take this opportunity todo personal things you neverwould’ve done. We are all guiltyof saying ‘If only, I had the time’Well... you have the time now!

QTell us about your nextrelease.

It’s strange to put a halt tothings right in the middle ofMajor’s shoot. But the wholeworld is on pause. Can’t wait toget back to working on thisamazing story. Recently, forMarch 15, the birthday of MajorSandeep Unnikrishnan, we hadsome massive updates plannedbut postponed for obvious rea-sons. Will do them once the lock-down ends.

It is important for all to understand thatthis is unprecedented in our lifetime.Many people still think of it as something“someone somewhere” is getting. Guys,stay in, be hygienic and please bevigilant specially about the young andthe elderly — Adivi Sesh

tollywoodSamantha todo a biopic

Balayya and Rana up for a remake

55 years ofa Tollywoodlegend

He was called Andhra’sJames Bond, destined to

become a superstar. Krishna hasnow completed 55 years in theTelugu film industry. His debutfilm Tene Manasulu, directed byAdurti Subba Rao, had releasedon March 31, 1965. The film,which was the first social film tobe made in colour and had intro-duced Krishna and many otheractors, was a huge hit back then.Tene Manasulu was also a hugemusical hit, all of whichensured that it was a great debutvehicle for Krishna.

Krishna never looked back andbecame a huge star and one ofthe pillars of Telugu film indus-try, who is known to have intro-duced many techniques into theindustry, too. The legendaryactor’s superstar son MaheshBabu also recognised hisfather’s journey and milestonevia a post on Instagram. “My alltime favourite #timelessclassic# Tene Manasulu (sic),” saysMahesh Babu.

The actress will soon be workingon an interesting project

Director SingeethamSrinivasa Rao hasapproached Samanthafor the biopic, and theactress has shownpositive signs abouttaking up this film

Balakrishna

Rana Daggubati

—Snippets by Suresh Kavirayani

6

Deccan Chronicle

Wednesday 1 April 2020

coffee-break

Taurus: Freedom to be creativemay result in your best output.Express your feelings in a love let-ter so your partner realises how

eager you’re to rekindle the love life.

Gemini: Avoid lavish expenditurestoday. Ensure your romantic part-ner doesn’t feel insecure.Professionally, you’d explore new,

untried opportunities.

Leo: Love may be difficult to find.Expect happiness around you. Yourperformance at work will be strict-ly monitored. Relatives may offer

valuable advice regarding personal life.

Virgo: You’d be disappointed ifdepending only on subordinatesfor completing work. You mightnot express your true feelings to

your dream person. Take care of yourhealth, especially your skin.

Cancer: Love is the most importantthing in your life at present. Yourbusiness will increase, with a possi-ble assignment. Manage your diet

for good health.

Capricorn: A small company picnicchanges your mood. Self-startersmay find work productive.Maintain a distance from negative

emotions.

Aquarius: Expect an opportunity toprove your mettle on the profes-sional front. Spending time withseniors would upgrade your pro-

fessional knowledge and skills.

Pisces: Be tactful when conveyinga message to your beloved. Afinancial deal improves yourmonetary condition. Some might

make jogging a daily routine. Clarify misun-derstandings with loved ones. Domestic lifemay be disturbed; be cool and careful.

Scorpio: Keep business interests inmind while hiring professionals.Avoid bringing tension home. Trynot to find faults in your partner.

Travelling is on the cards.

Libra: Family appreciates changesin and around the house. Yourself-confidence enables you toenhance your prospects. Enjoy

your holiday with your loved ones. Expectdesired results in matters of the heart.

Sagittarius: Travel with colleaguemight begin a new relationship.Friends/family will encourage youto work harder. Plan a nice roman-

tic meeting with your partner.

Aries: Trying to accomplish toomany things together mightadversely affect your health. Tellyour partner you want to reconnect

romantically. Stay away from negativity.

Your day today

By Dr C.V.B. Subrahmanyam

Mackenzie Davis,Canadian actress. Shein best known for her

roles in Terminator:Dark Fate, Tully, Blade

Runner 2049, TheMartian, That

Awkward Moment, ACountry Called Home

and Breathe Inamongst others.

You share your b’day with

scrabble brand | G2 R1 As Ms S1

DIRECTIONS: Make a 2 to 7-letter word fromthe letters in each row. Add points of eachword, using scoring directions at right. 7-letter words get 50-point bonus. “Blanks”used as any letter have no point value. AllJudd’s words are in the Official ScrabblePlayers Dictionary (Merriam-Webster) andOSW Official Scrabble words (Chambers).JUDD’S Solution Tomorrow

TODAY’S RATINGS: 25 AVERAGE; 27 GOOD; 2 OUTSTANDING

Word Mine

How many words of four or more letterscan you make from the letters shown intoday’s puzzle? In making a word, each

letter may be used once only. Each wordmust contain the letter at the top of thepyramid. There should be at least one

nine letter word. Plurals, foreign wordsand proper names are not allowed.

LR U D

N E N I E

ANSWERS: deli, duel, elder, elude, idle, idler, leer, lend, lender, lied,lien, lieu, line, lined, linen, liner, lire, lure, lured, lurid, reel, relied,rile, rule, ruled, underlie, UNDERLINE, unlined, unreel

WHAT TO DO

Fill in the gridso that every

row, everycolumn, and

every 3x3 boxcontains thedigits 1 to 9.Every puzzlehas only one

correctsolution.

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

SU◆DO◆KU

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

SU◆DO◆KU 2

Did you think the

SU◆DO◆KUon the left was easy?

Try this. Check the solution tomorrow.

Tips available at www.sudoku-xls.com

DC-AGE SU DO KUFORUM: Discuss theSU DO KU puzzlesprinted and con-

tribute mind teasersof your own at

www.sudexel.com/forum

Hermann Hessewrote, "Eternity isa mere moment,

just long enough for ajoke."

I doubt today will lastfor an eternity, but if youknow a funny, clean joke,please email it to me atphillip@bridgeforevery-one.com.

This deal features adeclarer-play techniquethat is almost sure to beright. How should Southplan the play in fourspades after West leadsthe club seven to the six,king and ace?

When the opener has 5-4-3-1 shape and 12 to 14high-card points, opens inhis five-card suit andhears partner respond inhis three-card major, heshould raise to two ofthat major. Even if open-er has 4=3=5=1 or4=3=1=5, rebidding two

hearts will usually workbetter than one spade.Note also that if South'sspade two were in eitherminor suit, he wouldrebid three no-trump, notfour spades, to offer hispartner a choice ofgames. In four spades,South saw four potentiallosers: one heart, one dia-mond and two clubs.However, declarer knewthat any time he couldruff a loser in the shortertrump hand, it would bethe right line of play.

So, he ruffed a club attrick two, played a heartto his ace and ruffed hislast club. Then he cashedthe spade ace, getting thesurprising news aboutthe 5-0 split. After check-ing that West wasn't hav-ing a little joke, momen-tarily reneging, declarerplayed a diamond to hisjack. West won with his

ace and gave his partner adiamond ruff, but thatcost East one of his nat-ural trump tricks. Southtook five spades, twohearts, one club and thetwo club ruffs on theboard.’

Copyright United Feature Syndicate

(Asia Features)

bridge

PHILLIP ALDER

IT’S NO JOKE; SIMPLE ISOFTEN BEST

Across

1. Contagious disease

(9)

6. Bamboo-eater (5)

7. Boxer’s blow (5)

9. Spanish painter (4)

10.Petrified relic (6)

12.Lace hole (6)

14.Laze about (4)

17.Slight colouring (5)

18.Mannequin (5)

19.Ignore (9)

Down

2. Nursemaid (5)

3. Ooze out (4)

4. Hire (6)

5. Beltlike divisions (5)

6. Tamping (anag) (7)

8. Advantageous (7)

11.Thin covering (6)

13.Tedium (5)

15.Directive (5)

16.Self-satisfied (4)

QUICK CROSSWORD

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

Across: 1. Newlywed, 7. Mural, 8. Wrath,9. Apexes, 10. Feel, 12. Tape, 14. Relief,17. Actor, 18. Hades, 19. Hysteria.Down: 1. Nurse, 2. Wolves, 3. Yawn, 4. Elate, 5. Impartial, 6. Shellfish, 11. Zephyr, 13. Petty, 15. India, 16.Fret.

hocus focus

C A L V I N A N D H O B B E S | B i l l W a t t e r s o n

25

coffee-break7Wednesday 1 April 2020

Deccan Chronicle

jumble

Dennis the Menace

B L O N D I E | D e a n Y o u n g a n d J o h n M a r s h a l l

A N D Y C A P P | R e g S m y t h e

T A R Z A N | E d g a r R i c e B u r r o u g h s

T H E W I Z A R D O F I D | P a r k e r a n d H a r t s d

A R C H I E | B i l l H e n r y S c a r p e l l i & c r a i g b o l d m a n

8Wednesday 1 April 2020

Deccan Chroniclematinee

Alia Bhatt is not just puttingup videos of workouts and

washing hands during the lock-down but is spending it betteringher craft. The actress is actuallydoing an online certificationcourse on creative writing from aninternational institute.

“Alia comes from a very creativefamily and it is but evident that theactress — who was goaded intodoing her own lines for her filmSadak 2 by her father and directorMahesh Bhatt — has been takingthe course. Alia is not really awriter, but she has also beenputting together essays and otherstuff, and will be writing a detailedscript at the completion of thecourse. Her sister Shaheen is also agood writer, her half-sister Pooja isalso a director like her father, andso it won’t be long before we seeher name in the credit list of filmswhich does not fall under the star-ring category,” says an industrysource.

Alia was slated to start shootingTakht with Karan Johar, but it hasnow been put on hold as the filmwas to have its schedules in Italyand Spain — two countries thathave been heavily affected byCOVID-19. Alia was to also do aphoto shoot with the other womenin the film, which got cancelled asthe schedule has been indefinitelypostponed till things normalise.

The actress was about to beginshooting for Rajamouli’s film RRRas well, which has also been can-celled for the time being.

— Sanskriti Media

Alia’s writingaspirations

ApparentlyEkta, who is

not used to beingturned down, has

not taken thissnub very well

Kartik snubs

Ekta? The two were unable to agree on

Kartik’s fee, which is reportedly higherthan Shahid Kapoor’s fee

Hera Pheri two decades laterWith the cult classic filmHera Pheri completing 20

years after its release inMarch 2000, the buzz about aseries revival is stronger thanever before. Starring PareshRawal as Baburao withAkshay Kumar and SunielShetty as Raju and Shyam,the film got two action heroesinto comic roles, doing every-thing unheroic on screen andyet managing to entertain theaudience.

“I cannot fathom the kind ofresponse I still get about thefilm,” reminisces SunielShetty, who confirms that aremake is in the works. “Thefilm is happening for sure. Iwon’t know when,” he hadtold us recently.

“The first part had both ofus, action heroes, doing come-dy for the first time. We wereshooting for the film inChennai and we wrapped the

film in a single location in alockdown kind of situation —that is how directorPriyadarshan works,” theactor further reveals.

If one recalls, the secondpart never came close tobeing as funny as the originalas most of the actors in thefilm tried to get loud and getthe plaudits that onlyBaburao got in the film.

Producer Firoz Nadiadwala

— who last made WelcomeBack — was last speaking toboth Priyadarshan as well asAhmed Khan to see whocould direct the third part.Priyadarshan had directedthe first part while NeerajVora directed the second part.Neeraj was to direct the thirdpart of the film, but heexpired. Earlier in 2015, theyhad planned the film with apartial change in cast with

Dostana duo John Abrahamand Abhishek Bachchan step-ping in along with Sunielplaying Ghanshyam, andParesh retaining his Baburaoslot. However, that did nothappen.

—Sanskriti Media

I cannotfathom the

kind of response Istill get about thefilm. The film ishappening forsure

SUBHASH K JHA

Rumour has it that Ekta Kapooroffered Kartik Aaryan a featurefilm, but he turned the lady tycoon

down. Apparently the Queen of Soaps,who is not used to being turned down, hasnot taken this snub very well.

Some investigation into the royal snub reveals further details — “Kartik firstoffered her the age-old ghisa-pita excuse ofdates nahin hai, shrugging his shouldershelplessly. But it seems Kartik and Ektacouldn’t agree on the payment,” aninformed source shares.

Ekta is known to not pay her actorsunreasonable amounts of money. After astring of hits, Kartik’s fee has shot up skyhigh. Apparently, goaded by his over-enthusiastic team, the Luka Chuppi star isasking for a fee higher than VarunDhawan and Shahid Kapoor.

Maybe Ekta should approach him againnow that the miserable failure of Love AajKal is known to us all. If Kartik hiked hisprice after the hits, we would ascertainthat he must have lowered it after the flop.