PNS n HYDERABAD

National Testing Agency(NTA) on Tuesday released anofficial notification regard-ing the postponement of JointEntrance Examination (JEE)mains 2020. According to thenotice, the exam, that is sup-posed to be held from April 5to 11, has been postponed tothe last week of May 2020. k

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MONEY 8CENTRE ASKS STATES TO ENSURENORMAL FUNCTIONING OF BANKS

ANALYSIS 7THIS TOO,

SHALL PASS

SPORTS 12IPL IN OCT-NOV IF T20 WC

IS POSTPONED

HYDERABAD, WEDNESDAY APRIL 1, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHI DEHRADUNVIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 2 ISSUE 170*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

2

22

PNS n HYDERABAD

With reports of scores ofCovid-19 positive patients sur-facing in various states, includ-ing Telangana and AndhraPradesh, from among thosewho had attended the TablighiJamaat ijtema, (a religious con-gregation) in Nizamuddin ofNew Delhi from March 13 to15, there is now almost anationwide scare about theurgent need to trace and isolateor quarantine potential carri-ers of coronavirus. Over 2,000people from the two TeluguStates were present at the con-gregation, apart from severalthousands more from otherstates in India. Besides, over1,800 foreigners attended themeet.

The worst part is that,according to alarming reports,over 8,000 people from acrossthe globe attended the religiousgathering in different spellsover the last month. Some2,000 of these attendees choseto stay back at the venue andthey were the ones who were‘rescued’ in the last two daysafter the Telangana govern-ment alerted the Centre that sixof the recently notified Covid-19 patients from TS had attend-ed the ijtema.

In all, 1,830 people werefound by the Delhi police in thelast two days at the TablighiJamaat’s Markaz, which literal-ly means headquarters, inNizamuddin area of Delhi,where the religious congrega-tion was held. The attendeeshave since become a key sourceof Coronavirus spread in thecountry, officials confirmed.

The Telangana administra-tion has intensified its efforts totrace all contacts of the atten-dees, following the death of sixpersons who attended themeeting. "We estimate over1,000 persons might haveattended the congregation inDelhi. Respective district col-

lectors and police personnel areon the job to locate people whocame in contact with them aftertheir return. Family membersof the deceased have beenquarantined depending on thesymptoms they showed,” offi-cials said.

Two of the six died inGandhi Hospital and one eachin two different private hospi-

tals here and one each inNizamabad and Gadwal townssuccumbed, according to anofficial press release. TillMonday night, Telanganareported 77 Coronavirus pos-itive cases, of which 14 havebeen discharged upon suc-cessful treatment.

The government has urgedall those who participated in

the ijtema at Nizamuddin toinform the officials concerned.It also requested people withinformation about the atten-dees to alert the government.

When contacted,Nizamabad Collector NarayanaReddy said as of now morethan 200 people (either relatedto or came in contact with the53 people who attended thereligious congregation fromthe city) have been quaran-tined. "One person is still inDelhi and with one death now,all the 51 (who had been toDelhi) are under quarantine,"Reddy said.

NIZAMUDDIN CONGREGATION TRIGGERS

25-30 fromeach districtattended’"This year, there are

about 1,600 to 2,000Tablighi Jamaat memberswho attended thecongregation in Delhi fromAndhra Pradesh andTelangana. About 25 to 30members attended fromeach district," a pressrelease from the TablighiJamaat said. Most of theattendees left Delhi onMarch 17 and reachedtheir respective nativeplaces by March 18, therelease added.

16 new Covid-19positive cases in Statel All linked to Delhi congregation

l Barring 4 districts, people from 29 districts

of TS participated in the religious meet

HYDERABAD: In all, 16 more people tested Covid-19 positive inTelangana, taking the total to 77 cases as of Tuesday. According toHealth Minister Etela Rajender, 15 of these patients are either thosewho attended the Tabilghi Jamaat's meeting in Nizamuddin or theircontacts. All 77 patients are now being treated in various hospitals inthe state. A total of 1,030 people from TS participated in the religiousgathering. Six of them have since died due to coronavirus. Out of 80attendees from Nizamabad, one person died. Five from Gadwal hadparticipated, with one of them succumbing to coronavirus. Theremaining four deaths were reported from Hyderabad. A total of 603people from Hyderabad attended the congregation, in addition toattendees from 29 other districts of Telangana. There were noattendees from Kamareddy, Asifabad, Narayanpet and Siddipet to thecongregation. In all, there were 45 participants from Nalgonda, 38from Warangal Urban, 27 from Khammam; 25 each from Jagityal andNirmal and 22 from Sangareddy. Less than 20 turned up at themeeting from the other districts. The government has urged peoplewho attended the meeting to visit Gandhi Hospital and get themselvestested for coronavirus. The government has even asked their relativeswho may be having Covid-19 symptoms to visit the hospital.The Telangana government has launched a massive hunt to trace theparticipants and their primary contacts. Meanwhile, Etela said thatdialysis, thalassemia, sickle cell patients would need blood transfusionfor which the Health Department would be making transportarrangements. He instructed the police not to stop them.

A ticking bomb, on the moveThe surfacing of Covid-19 positive cases in various states following the religious congregation at the

Tablighi Jamaat Markaz in Delhi's Nizamuddin now sounds like a ticking bomb on the move. For, sixof the persons who attended the meeting and returned to Telangana have since died from the virus andpositive cases have emerged from at least five regions viz J&K, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and theAndaman & Nicobar Islands. According to reports, five of the seven fresh Covid-19 positive cases inTamil Nadu pertained to those who are among the 1,500 from the state who had attended the religiouscongregation. Seven people tested positive for Coronavirus in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, with the totalnumber rising to 74.A Srinagar-based businessman who attended the congregation in Nizamuddintravelled by air, train and road to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and back to Jammu and Kashmir before he died ofCOVID-19, raising fears he may have infected many others along the way. Among his possible victims isa doctor battling for life in a Jammu hospital. In Jammu, the businessman met up with his doctor friend and both addressed a religious meeting in a mosque in Samba on the outskirts of the city. Thedoctor, now in a Jammu hospital in a critical condition, belongs to Rajouri district of Jammu region,officials said.

NATIONWIDE SCAREn DEATHS OF 6 TELANGANA ATTENDEES JUST TIP OF THE ICEBERG?

Over 2,000 people from the two TeluguStates were present at the congregation,apart from several thousands more from otherstates in India. Besides, over 1,800 foreignersattended the meet.

Men wearing protective masks wait for a bus that will take them to a quarantine facility, amid concerns about the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), inNizamuddin area of New Delhi

TELANGANASI.No

Name ofthe District

No. ofSuspects

1 Adilabad 30 2 B Kothagudem 113 GHMC 603 4 Jagityal 25 5 Jangoan 4 6 J. Bhupalpally 1 7 J Gadwal 5 8 Karimnagar 17 9 Khammam 27

10 Mahabubabad 611 Mahabubnagar 1112 Mancheriyal 10 13 Medak 2 14 Medchal 315 Mulugu 2 16 Nagarkurnool 4 17 Nalgonda 45 18 Nirmal 25 19 Nizamabad 80 20 Peddapally 6 21 R Siricilla 9 22 Rangareddy 13 23 Sangareddy 22 24 Suryapet 10 25 Vikarabad 13 26 Wanaparthy 3 27 Warangal R 1 28 Warangal U 38 29 Yadadri 4

Total 1030

No. peopleattended from

ANDHRA PRADESHSI.No

Name ofthe District

No. ofSuspects

1 Srikakulam 02 Vizianagaram 33 Visakha R 14 Visakha C 415 E.G. Dist 66 Rajahmundry 217 W.G. Dist 168 Krishna 169 Vijayawada 27

10 Guntur U 4511 Guntur R 4312 Prakasam 6713 Nellore 6814 Kurnool 18915 Kadapha 5916 Ananthapur 7317 Chittor 2018 Tirupathi 16TOTAL 711

CORONAVIRUSOUTBREAK

828,306WORLD INDIA

ConfirmedCases

Recovered

Deaths

161640,735 47

174,454 148STATE-WISE CONFIRMED

CASES IN INDIA

Kerala 241Delhi 120Uttar Pradesh 101Gujarat 74Rajasthan 93Madhya Pradesh 66Haryana 43West Bengal 27Ladakh 13Chandigarh 15Uttarakhand 7Odisha 4Manipur 1Puducherry 1

Maharashtra 302Karnataka 101Telangana 92Tamil Nadu 124Jammu and Kashmir 55Punjab 41Andhra Pradesh 44Bihar 21Andaman and Nicobar Islands 10Chhattisgarh 8Goa 5Himachal Pradesh 3Mizoram 1Last updated: 31 March 2020 at 4:17 PM

140 of 603 attendees fromHyderabad yet to be tracedNAVEENA KAVIn HYDERABAD

Hyderabad is now in the eye ofthe Covid-19 storm that hasunnerved many states follow-ing the religious congregationat Nizamuddin in New Delhias 140 of the 603 people fromthe city who participated inmeeting remain untraced.

On Tuesday, 463 homeswere inspected by civic andhealth officials. CommissionerGHMC D S Lokesh Kumarsaid that the addresses ofuntracked people were "inad-equate" and efforts were beingmade to track these 140 peo-ple.

What is worrying theauthorities most is the futilityof all efforts to get potentialcarriers to voluntarily reportand thereafter isolate or quar-antine themselves. For, most of

the people who attend thecongregation are devout and sodisconnected from worldlyaffairs that they do not haveeven TVs in their homes. Nordo they read newspapers. Itappears that they do not carewhat is happening in theworld.

Officials have been busyidentifying the persons whoattended the gathering atNizamuddin in the secondweek of March and tracing alltheir contacts, particularlythose with whom they mighthave interacted.

JEE Mainspostponedto last weekof May

In sharpest spike yet,21 more test positivefor Covid-19 in APPNS n VIJAYAWADA

In an alarming increase in thenumber of COVID-19 cases inthe state, as many as 21 personswere tested positive for thevirus on Tuesday, taking thetotal number of infected peopleto 44.

According to a health bulletinreleased by the Director ofHealth and Family Welfare, AP,it was observed that of the 21persons who tested positive forthe infection, 18 had attendedthe Tablighi Jamaat ijtema inDelhi or was a contact of theperson who attended the reli-gious congregation. As per thehealth bulletin, Patient-24 is a10-year-old boy while Patient-25 is a 34-year-old female.

Both are from Lepakshi

town in Anantapur districtand are close contacts of aSaudi Arabia-returnee fromKarnataka. Patient-26 is a 31-year-old male from Chiralaaand a close contact of Patient-16 while Patient-27 is 32-year-old male, also fromChirala of Prakasam district.They all attended the ijtema.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Government ofTelangana has orderedan in-depth medicalinvestigation of a sectionofficer of the AnimalHusbandry Department,after it was found that theofficial participated in thereligious congregation atNizamuddin, where someof the attendees contract-ed Covid-19. The official,

MohdAyub Khan, waspresent in Delhi fromMarch 13 to March 16 forthe community meeting.Khan works as a sectionofficer at the AnimalHusbandry, DairyDevelopment and

Fisheries Department. The order was passed

on Tuesday in the wake ofreports that some of theattendees who returned tothe city were potentialcarriers of Covid-19.

At present, 77 coron-

avirus positive patientsare undergoing treatmentin various governmentfacilities. According tothe health wing, the con-dition of all the patients isstable and they are recov-ering.

Secretariat officer who attended Nizamuddin meet under watchThe official, MohdAyub Khan, was present in Delhi from March 13 to March 16for the community meeting. Khan works as a section officer at the AnimalHusbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries Departmen

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated March 31, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Chaitra & Shukla PakshaPanchangam:Tithi: Ashtami: 03:39 am (Next Day)Nakshatram: Ardra: 07:29 pmTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 12:19 pm – 01:51 pmYamagandam: 07:45 am – 09:16 amVarjyam: NILGulika: 10:48 am - 12:19 pmGood Time: (to start any important

work)Amritakalam: 09:10 am - 10:49 amAbhijit Muhurtham: NIL

HYDERABADWEATHERForecast: ClearTemp: 39/25Humidity: 71%Sunrise: 06.10Sunset: 06.29

2

PNS n SURYAPET

A group of 26 workers belong-ing to Pachya Thanda inSuryapet constituency, whowere stranded at the Andhra- Telangana border managedto reach their homes onMonday evening. Theyexpressed their gratitude toPower Minister G JagadishReddy for his interventionleading to their safe return.

The workers went toPulichintala Project in searchof work. Because of the lock-down, the project works havebeen affected. They werestranded in Andhra Pradeshand managed to reach the inter-state border onSunday.

The police at the border didnot allow them to crossover toTelangana citing rules. Thestranded labourers managedto find phone number ofJagadish Reddy and calledhim up, who not only ordereddistrict authorities to ensuretheir safe return to PachyaThanda. He kept on monitor-ing the situation till theyreached home safely.

Acting on directions fromJagadish Reddy, district

Collector Vinaykrishna Reddydeputed Kodad RDO to bringback the stranded workersgetting them duly medicallyexamined.

The RDO coordinated withthe police authorities and gotmedical examination con-ducted on the workers tillSunday evening. They made

arrangements to send them totheir village on Monday.

ZPTC of Chivvemla vil-lage Sanjeev Naik thankedthe Minister for ensuring the

safe return of the tribals. Healso called on the labourerswho returned to Pachya than-da to enquire about their wellbeing.

Printed and published by B Krishna Prasad for and on behalf of CMYK Printech Ltd., Phone: 040-23322341, Hyderabad Office: F-502, Diamond Block, Lumbini Rockdale, Somajiguda, Hyderabad - 500 082. Telangana. Printed at Sree Seshasai Enterprises, Plot No.19, IDA Balanagar , Hyderbad-500037, Medchal -Malkajgiri District, Telangana. Chief Editor: Chandan Mitra. Resident Editor: B Krishna Prasad, AIR SURCHARGE of Rs 2.00.

Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any

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responding to any contents published in this newspaper. The printer, publisher, editor and any employee of the Pioneer Group's will not be held responsible for any kind of claim made by the advertisers of the products & services and shall not be made responsible for any kind of loss, consequences and further product-related damages on such advertisements.

HYDERABAD | WEDENSDAY | APRIL 1, 2020 hyderabad 02

The workers went toPulichintala Project insearch of work.Because of thelockdown, the projectworks have beenaffected. They werestranded in AndhraPradesh and managed to reach the inter-state borderon Sunday

Untouchability appearsto no longer be a crimetoday as the concept of

social distancing, introduced tothe countrymen by PrimeMinister NarendraModi, has caught onlike wildfire in thewake ofCoronavirus.

The buzzwordthese days is ‘unityat a distance’, albeitwithout the customary hand-shake, as India battles thedreaded infection that hasenveloped the entire world,barring the Arctic andAntarctic regions.

While we do our bit in thisfight against Covid-19 byobserving the lockdown tillApril 14, we must rememberthat this ‘untouchability’ is anecessary evil in view of thelarger interests of the nationand safety of 1.3 billion peopleof the country.

Encouraging countrymennot to be ‘in touch' with fellowcitizens to break the chain ofpossible mass contact that canspread the dreaded

Coronavirus is considereda powerful weapon to defeatthe virus.

The entire country is ontenterhooks, facing thedreadful prospect that

we may slip into stage-3 — thecommunity transmission stage.

If this happens, the situationhas the potential to spiral outof control.

Covid-19 was brought to thecountry by foreign returneesand is now spreading to citi-zens with no travel historyabroad. Thus far, this set ofpeople with no travel historyhave been closely moving withthe foreign-returnees.

Strictly speaking, there is nospecific situation in recent his-tory that the government candraw experience from andstop the spread of the virus.Health experts are very clearabout one thing— the only wayto stop the spread of the virusis to stop getting infected. This

can only be done by avoidingcontact with those infected. Ifthis is not done, suffice to say,lakhs of people are at risk ofinfection.

That's why the Central gov-ernment seems to be solelydepending upon the concept ofsocial distancing.

Thus far, this conceptappears to be yielding results inplaces where the lockdown isbeing strictly implemented.

Unfortunately, governmentsof various States have had touse force to implement thelockdown, at the cost of the

reputation of their police forceswhich resorted to brutal lathi-charge on general public.

The penchant for the cops towield their lathis is leadingthem to lose respect; the gen-eral opinion is that the policeshould observe restrain.

The way police personnelhave been behaving with thepeople to the extent of usingfilthy language is highly objec-tionable and is being con-demned, even by family mem-bers of cops themselves.

Which Section of the CrPCallows police personnel to

severely cane the people?Which Section permits themto use such filthy and unprint-able language? Would thewomen members of families ofthose police personnel approvethat language and publiclysupport their dear ones forbehaving like this? Whatmorals do the police personnellearn in Police Academies and

Police Training Colleges? Had the faculty of those

institutions taught this? Whatwould be the reaction of thepolice if the public startsbehaving like them? Will theyreally be in a position to evenanswer such queries?

Knowingly or unknowingly,the police personnel of AP arepushing their bosses into anembarrassing position.

Naturally, the state govern-ments are cautious and not tak-ing a tough stand against theerring police personnel so asnot to weaken the 'moralstrength ' of the police.

“Police personnel shouldnot lose their cool under anyprovocation.

If they lose their cool, theythen cease to be the police” isthe message of country's firsthome minister VallabhbhaiPatel. These words areinscribed for the benefit of thetrainees at National Police

Academy in Hyderabad whichwas named after Patel.

The essence of these wordsof Patel needs to be brought tothe minds of trainees at lowerlevel institutions like state-level police academies andregional level PTCs.

Meanwhile, the people of APhave got a morale boosterfrom the news that the firstperson infected byCoronavirus in the state hasfull recovered. More remark-able and heartwarming news isthat this patient is a 65-year-oldand suffering from ailmentslike hypertension and diabetes.

Unfortunately, the migrantworkers in North India, morespecifically New Delhi, have nosuch morale booster nor aleader who would gather thecourage to take them to safe-ty, like Moses did to his peo-ple.

The government is puttingits entire faith, and risking

crores of lives, in effectiveimplementation of social dis-tancing.

This can be understoodfrom the heavy crackdown bythe police and paramilitaryforces to ensure 'social distanc-ing' across the country.

This is perhaps the onlymantra or the only way left forthe government to ensure peo-ple’s safety and not turn anoth-er Italy that miserably failed toforesee the situation and takecorrective measures.

One last thing to be men-tioned here is that Telugu lan-guage got international fame,being described as'Italian of theEast' by well-known poetPanuganti LakshmiNarasimham.

Ironically, everybody is hop-ing that this proud state ofTelugu people doesn’t becomeanother Italy that is devastat-ed by the havoc caused byCovid-19.

M D RATNA KUMAR Senior Journalist

The entire country is on tenterhooks,facing the dreadful prospect that wemay slip into stage-3 — thecommunity transmission stage. Ifthis happens, the situation has thepotential to spiral out of control

Unity, but at a distance is the buzzword these days

PINPOINT

Hurdles clearedfor seed producers PNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Seeds ProducersAssociation leaders on Tuesdaycalled on B Vinod Kumar,Vice-Chairman, TelanganaState Planning Board at hisquarters here and urged him toensure that there would be nohiccups in transportation ofseeds. They brought to thenotice of Vinod Kumar prob-lems being faced by them intransporting seeds not only inTelangana but also in otherstates because of the lock-down.

They told the vice chairmanof the state planning board thatthere are over 400 seed pro-cessing units in the state andover three lakh farmers pro-duce seeds.

The seed processing unitsprocess paddy, maize and cot-ton seeds and supply them toall over the country. Duringthe prevailing crop harvestingseason, police have beenobstructing movement of seedsto the processing units in spiteof the fact that Chief MinisterK Chandrasekhar Rao exempt-ed transporting of seeds from

the lockdown. Because of thepolice putting hurdles in trans-portation of seeds, even work-ers would not be able to reachthe processing units to processthe seeds, they told VinodKumar. In fact, 80 per cent ofthe country's seeds needs arebeing met by Telangana. But,the police have been posingproblems to internal move-ment of seeds in the state, theylamented.

Vinod Kumar contactedDGP on the issue immediate-ly. The latter appointed DIGsumati as the nodal officer. The

DIG immediately created aWhatApp group with thepolice, seed procuers andtransporers. She asked theseed producers to report theirproblem through theWhatsApp group.

On behalf of the seed pro-ducers GV Bhaskar Rao andASN Reddy thanked ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao, B Vinod Kumar andTelangana Seeds Federationdirector Kesavulu and toAgriculture Minister NiranjanReddy for solving their problem.

Jagadish comes to the rescue of stranded labourers

The workers belonging to the Pachya Thanda who were stranded at the Andhra-Telangana border

JAMAAT ATTENDEES UNDER QUARANTINE: JAGADISH Power Minister Jagadish Reddy on Tuesday spoke to Collectors of Nalgonda, Bhongir-Yadadri and Suryapet districts and told them that all the

persons who took part in Tablighi Jamaat, a religious meeting in Delhi, are in quarantine and described them as safe. He appealed to thepeople not to give credence to rumours. In all, 31 from Nalgonda district, 12 from Yadadri district and 11 from Suryapet district took part inprayers at a place of worship in Delhi. All of them are under the strict monitoring of the Medical and Health Department, he said. Thegovernment officials also confirmed this. Therefore, the Minister appealed to the people not to get carried away by rumours being circulatedabout them. He exhorted the people to partner with the government's fight against coronavirus. The police and doctors, besides the sanitationworkers have been putting strenuous efforts to rein in the virus as part of the state government's initiative. Under such circumstances, theMinister exhorted people to remain clam and not get carried away rumours.

Harish Rao assuresall help to migrants PNS n SIDIDPET

Telangana State FinanceMinister T Harish Rao assuredthat all the 10,300 migrantlabourers from other Stateswho are working in irrigationprojects across Siddipet dis-trict, will be provided 12 kg ofrice free besides Rs 500 perhead.

The Minister was speakingafter launching the distribu-tion of rice and cash onTuesday. On the occasion, theMinister said that the govern-ment will treat all the migrantworkers in the State as part ofTelangana family.

Harish supervised the dis-tribution of the rice and cashto 360 migrant labourers

housed at DXN Industries atMandapall, 320 in double bed-room houses at Narsapur, 680members at Mutrajpally R&RColony near Gajwel, 300members at Markook Camp,600 people at Tunki BollaramR&R Colony. Similar distrib-ution has been taken up invarious other places too.

The Minister assured thelabourers that the govern-ment would take care of theirwell being during the lock-down period. He urged themto approach the officials if any-one among them showedsymptoms of Coronavirussuch as cold, cough, fever andthroat infection. The Ministersaid they will be providedmedical treatment free of cost.

COVID-19

84% Indians feel recovery will take up to 1 yearPNS n NEW DELHI

Nearly 84 per cent Indiansfeel that recovery from coron-avirus epidemic will take 6months to one year time, a newsurvey said on Tuesday. Out of94 per cent respondents whoare aware about the Covid-19disease, 75 per cent areextremely concerned about thedisease while only 52 per centare aware of the virus typespreading the disease, said thesurvey from market research

and analysis firm Velocity MR.The survey involving 2,100

people was conducted in citiesincluding Delhi, Mumbai,Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai,Hyderabad, Pune, Lucknow,Ahmedabad and Jaipur. While70 per cent respondents feelolder people and also peoplewith pre-existing conditionsare more vulnerable to beinfected by the virus. However,63 per cent said this can betackled with if proper hygieneand necessary precautions are

taken."The survey shows that as a

precautionary measure, 81 percent people have started wash-ing their hands more frequent-ly than before and 78 per centhave started avoiding crowdedplaces as and when possible,"said Jasal Shah, ManagingDirector and CEO, VelocityMR.

Another important high-light is that 72 per cent of thosesurveyed said they will bemore cautious and responsible

while travelling abroad infuture. The survey also foundthat many could not makechanges in their day-to-dayactivities even if they wantedto. While 58 per cent men-tioned that they could notbuy groceries and daily essen-tials during non-peak hours,46 per cent could not avoidtravelling for work-related pur-poses and 25 per cent were notgiven the provision to workfrom home by their organisa-tions.

Continued from Page 1

Over 200 teams, compris-ing personnel drawn fromPolice, GHMC, Revenue,Medical and HealthDepartments, have beendeployed to track them andcheck their status. In all, 74people were showing symp-toms of coronavirus andhealth issues; they wererushed to Gandhi and Feverhospitals.

In all, 348 people are nowunder home quarantine,while 41 others have beenmoved to government centresfor quarantine due to lack offacilities at home.

It may be mentioned herethat six of those who attend-ed the congregation from TSsuccumbed after contractingcoronavirus. Four of thesedeaths were reported fromHyderabad.

The authorities are tryingto identify persons from TSwho were part of the congre-

gation with help from Amirsappointed at state and districtlevels as they are expected tohave lists of the attendees.

The Telangana governmenthas urged people to informofficials about persons whomight have attended the gath-ering by calling to 104 or 100.The government also urgedattendees from the state tovoluntarily come forward andreport to the officials.

140 of 603 attendeesfrom Hyderabad...

Continued from Page 1

A senior official of Gadwaldistrict said the immediatecontacts of the deceasedwere also being identifiedand quarantined. "His(deceased's) son and daugh-ter-in-law and two grand-children were shifted toGandhi Hospital after theyreported to the districtadministration with fever.The son and daughter-in-lawhave tested positive and areunder treatment," the officialsaid.

In a sudden spike inAndhra Pradesh, 17 personstested positive since Mondaynight. A majority of themhad also attended the ijtemain Delhi. With this the num-ber of total cases in the AProse to 40.

The Andhra Pradesh gov-ernment has identified 711people who returned fromthe ijtema. Out of this,around 140 are yet to betraced. Most of the attendeesfrom the state hail fromPrakasam district, in theareas around Chirala,Ongole, and Nawabpet.

Nizamuddincongregationtriggers...

It may be mentionedhere that six ofthose who attendedthe congregationfrom TS succumbedafter contractingcoronavirus. Four ofthese deaths werereported fromHyderabad

JEE Mainspostponedto last weekof MayContinued from Page 1

According to the notice, theexam, that is supposed to beheld from April 5 to 11, hasbeen postponed to the lastweek of May 2020. Theadmit card for the same willbe released after April 15,2020. Earlier, on March 18,2020, NTA had released anofficial notice regarding thepostponement of the JEEmains exam scheduled to beheld on 5, 7, 9 and 11 April2020. Union HRD Minister,Ramesh Pokhriyalannounced the same onTwitter.

"Taking into account var-ious hardships of parentsand students to travel to var-ious examination centres, Ihave advised @DG_NTA topostpone JEE (Main) April-2020," Dr Ramesh Pokhriyaltweeted.

Liquor shops, bars and pubsto remains closed till April 14PNSn HYDERABAD

The Prohibition and ExciseDepartment has issuedan order extendingthe date of closureof all the bars,clubs, tourism bars,liquor shops andtoddy shops up toApril 14 from March31 in view of theCOVID-19 virus impact.

The director of the depart-ment, Sarfraz Ahmad, has

directed all the deputy com-missioners of prohibition andexcise, asst. commissioners of

prohibition and exciseand district prohibi-

tion and excise offi-cers of Telanganastate to close all thebars, clubs, tourismbards, liquor shops

and toddy shops uptoApril 14. He warned

that any deviation in thematter would be viewed seri-ously.

In sharpest spike yet,21 more test...Continued from Page 1

The health bulletin says thatPatient-28 is a 28-year-oldmale and a close contact ofPatient-14 who attended theDelhi meeting, while Patient-29 is a 28-year-old female anda close contact of Patient 28.Patient-30 is a 39-year-oldmale who attended the Delhimeeting; all the three are fromKarampudi of Guntur District.

Patient-31 is a 65-year-oldfemale from Krishna districtand a close contact of a personwho attended the Delhi meet-ing. Patients 32 and 33 are 42-

year-old and 39-year-oldrespectively from Guntur townand contacts of Patient-10 whoattended the Delhi meeting.

According to the health bul-letin, Patient-34 is 32-year-old, Patient-35 is 59-year-old,Patient-36 is 44-year-old,Patient-37 is 28-year-old,Patient-38 is 46-year-old,Patient-39 a 35-year-old andthey all are from Prakasam dis-trict who attended the Delhimeeting. A 65-year-old Patient-40 is a Madina returnee. Asmany as 147 samples havebeen tested of which 21 wereCOVID-19 positive.

Health officials tracing thosewho visited Markaz, CM toldVIJAYAWADA: Most of the 17 persons who tested positive forCOVID-19 on Tuesday, have a link to the Tablighi Jamaat ijtema(congregation) at Nizamuddin area in Delhi. Health officials are nowtracking down the people these members of the Tablighi Jamaatcame in contact with. This was disclosed by officials during areview meeting chaired by CM YS Jaganmohan Reddy. Of the newlydetected cases in the state, most had participated in the TablighiJamaat meeting. The State health officials are gathering informationfrom the event organisers, police and railways officials (as thepatients had travelled by train), and from various other sources.

K VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

The lockdown has forcedeveryone across the nation toconfine to their residences dueto coronavirus outbreak.Educational institutions includ-ing the state-run colleges andschools were also shut tem-porarily. While this is the caseacross the country, the studentspursuing professional coursesincluding Engineering, MCAand Pharmacy were using thisfree time during the lockdownto pursue online certificatecourses which would benefitthem in their future.

The University GrantsCommission (UGC) and AllIndia Council for TechnicalEducation (AICTE) directedthe universities to help the stu-dents in this regard. Followingthe directions of the UGC and

AICTE, most of the varsities inTelangana including JawaharlalNehru TechnologicalUniversity and OsmaniaUniversity advised their stu-dents to pursue online cours-es to upskill themselves tocompete at global arena.

As part of it, all the princi-

pals of all the constituent andaffiliated colleges offering pro-fessional courses in Telanganastate to sign-up to online learn-ing platforms to provide freeaccess to their students tomore than 3,800 courses and400 specialisations from topuniversities.

Speaking to The Pioneer,rector and registrar of JNTUHyderabad Prof. A Govardhansaid that the University initiat-ed this programme to provideaccess to various courses andupskill their knowledge. All thestudents under the universitywere advised to learn theonline courses and utilise thefree time during the lockdownperiod.

He said that the Universitymade an MoU with a globalonline training platformnamed Coursera, which is pro-viding online classes accordingto students requirements andproviding certificates.

JNTUH planning directorDr BN Bhandari said that theefforts are taking place tostream line the track of acad-emic calendar to ensure thatnot to be affected the lives ofstudents. As per the universi-ty norms, the JNTUH willadopt the methods to benefitstudents at this time, he said.

A III year engineering stu-dent A Vamshi enrolled withan online learning platformsaid that it will help him devel-op skills in research as it is anadvanced course. He said thatit is a three-month coursewhich can help him pass thetime by improving knowledge.

HYDERABAD | WEDENSDAY | APRIL 1, 2020 hyderabad 03

Residents purchase vegetables and fruits at mobile rytu bazaar on Tuesday. Government arranged 254 mobile vehicles forpeople in twin cities in 504 areas.

MAKING IIT EEASY

RIMEORNERC

NAVEEN KUMAR n HYDERABAD

Online dating apps and plat-forms have spiked up activityin the last few weeks both interms of download and time-spent-on, as people are seekingout company during shutdownperiod and are stuck at homequarantine.

People are perhaps lookingfor things that make them feelgood and happy in these diffi-cult times and online datingcould be one of the ways toachieve that, said Dr ShwetaRakesh, a psychiatrist fromHyderabad.

"People have certainly comeout of the woodwork. I havenoticed how my matches wantto talk more. The conversationis no longer surface level, withgeneric questions about workand what we got up to over theweekend, but has shifted slight-ly deeper: reflections on howwe're feeling, how we're spend-ing our time and what theplans are for the year," saidSteve Abraham, a techie fromMadhapur who actively usesthe online dating applications.

"Conversation on the appsoscillate between the latestcoronavirus news, the ups anddowns of working from home,and what they've been watch-ing on Netflix," he said.

Meanwhile, social mediapoints to another interestingtrend where people are chang-ing their interaction patterns in

dating apps, or dating app dis-cussions are becoming corona-centric.

"My friends have forwardedme essay-length messages frommen on dating apps and socialmedia and others have noticedtheir exes getting back intouch. More people want tocall, we've all downloaded

Houseparty to play games,"said Soniya Bisht, another user.

"I can now have first meetson video and build an emo-tional connection with a manover the physical. Three weeksno-contact means you will beable to drop the fakes andengage with the ones that aretruly wanting to have some-thing more," she added.

Dating apps are evolving tocope with the shifting demandand habits. Bumble, which hasseen a 35 per cent increase inmessages, has launched in-app video calling, while Hingesays 70 percent of its users areup for a digital date.

There has been a 188 percent increased mentions ofcoronavirus on OkCupid pro-files in March. Indian Tinderusers described a rise in longerconversations.

"Tinder understands thatour members are oftentimesmeeting new people in-person,and, given the current environ-ment, we wanted to remindthem of the precautions theyshould take," the companysaid, citing the World HealthOrganization.

Social media points to anotherinteresting trend where discussions in dating apps and platforms arebecoming coronavirus-centric

German nationals stranded incity evacuated by relief flightPNS n HYDERABAD

A group of 39 German nation-als stranded in Hyderabadwere evacuated by a specialrelief flight operated by AirIndia from Rajiv GandhiInternational Airport here onTuesday.

The group of Germans com-prising 19 females, 17 malesand two infants reachedHyderabad InternationalAirport from various places inthe city and left for Mumbai fortheir onward journey toFrankfurt.

A spokesman of GMR-ledAirport said all passengerswere serviced through thefully-sanitized InterimInternational DeparturesTerminal (IIDT), which waskept ready for the evacuation.

Earlier, the special flight, aBoeing B787-8 aircraft, land-ed at Hyderabad InternationalAirport from Chennai, wheresome German nationals board-ed it.

The aircraft will leave forFrankfurt from Mumbai,where some more Germanswill board the relief flight.

To meet this emergencyrequirement, a select group ofpersonnel from GHIAL

Terminal Operations, AirsideOperations, AirportOperations & Control Center(AOCC), Air Traffic Control(ATC), Central IndustrialSecurity Force (CISF),Immigration, Customs andothers were deployed.

Special screening and safe-ty measures were in place dur-ing the flight's handling to pro-tect against the Covid-19 threatincluding thermal screeningprior to terminal entry,mandatory social distancingenforced through special queu-ing arrangements at all passen-ger processing points.

The Hyderabad Airport is

handling Covid-19 relief andevacuation flights. Earlier, ithandled IndiGo medical evac-uation flight on March 28. AIndiGo, through this flight,evacuated its crew stuck inHyderabad.

Meanwhile, RGIA's cargoterminal is fully operational tokeep the vital link of essentialsupplies completely alive. Thecargo is working round theclock in close coordinationwith various agencies to keeprolling the critical chain ofessential supplies like medi-cines, vaccines, medical equip-ment, pharma raw materialand defense goods.

Minister inspects shifting ofLB Nagar vegetable marketPNS n HYDERABAD

Minister for Agriculture SNiranjan Reddy on Tuesdayinspected the arrangementsto shift the LB Nagar vegetablemarket near Saroor NagarStadium on Tuesday. The shift-ing of the market is proposedto ensure people buy vegetablesobserving social distance.

Addressing a gathering, theMinister said that the govern-ment took measures to supplyvegetables to people throughmobile rytu bazaars at afford-able prices. Apartmentdwellers can contact themobile rytu bazaars on mobile:7330733212 to find out tim-ings of the mobile rytu bazaarvisiting their area, he said.

Unemployed youth whowish to set up mobile rytubazaars should also contact the

number, the Minister added. Niranjan appealed to the

people to lend their support tothe government's efforts torein in the virus. ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao is constantly monitoringthe situation to rule out anyproblem to the people. It may

be recalled that the CM is gen-erous to provide relief to themigrant labourers too.

The Chief Minister is takingmeasures with fore sight to reinin the virus. Therefore, hesought complete support of thepeople to the Chief Minister'sefforts.

MAN DETAINED FORSPREADING FAKENEWS ONCORONAVIRUS

The Detective Department ofthe Cyber Crime Police of

Hyderabad apprehended a manand issued a notice to him forcirculation of an audio clipwhich is depicted to be atelephonic conversationbetween a reporter and adoctor of Apollo hospital inwhich the doctor warned thatCovid-19 would show its powerand would infect lakhs ofpopulation if precautions arenot taken and ten lakhpopulation may die. Officialsreceived a complaint from thePRO of Apollo Hospitals,Jubilee Hills about the audioclipping being circulatedthrough WhatsApp groups andother social media. This audioclipping is depicted to be atelephonic conversationbetween a reporter and adoctor of Apollo hospital inwhich they are spreading falsenews which is causing a greatfear in the general public andthereby affecting the reputationof their hospital.

ONE ARRESTED FORCREATING FAKE GOON OPENING WINES

The Detective Department ofthe Cyber Crime Police of

Hyderabad on Tuesday, arresteda person for circulating a fakegovernment order with thesignature of Director ofprohibition and excisedepartment claiming that wineshops would be open from29th March. The arrestedperson has been identified as38-year-old K Sanish Kumar,aka Sunny, a resident of Uppal.Due to the sudden impositionof the lockdown, wine shopswere shut suddenly and eagertipplers spread this news likewildfire on social mediaplatforms. Based on acomplaint from the DeputySuperintendent of Police, StateTask Force, Excise Department,a complaint was registered.Investigation revealed thatKumar started the circulation ofthe fake order with signature ofDirector of prohibition andexcise department in the socialmedia which specifies thatstatewide all the wine shopswill remain open from29/03/2020, from 14:00 hrs to17:30 hrs. Police said thatnotices were also given to fiveothers who further circulatedthe fake order to others.

PROPERTYOFFENDERS HELD,BOOTY WORTH RS 8L RECOVERED

The Nacharam Police arrestedfive automobile offenders on

Tuesday. The gang was involvedin five cases, said the Police,adding that six bikes wereseized so far. The arrestedpersons have been identified asMohd. Mosin Shareef, 20, ZakiKhan, 20, Sarfaraz Khan, 21,Mohd. Amair Khan, 24 andAsan bin Mohemmed, 22.According to the NacharamPolice, the five accused personswere apprehended based oncredible Information atMusheerabad. They confessedto their involvement in fivecases. The value of the bikesrecovered is approximatelyworth Rs 8,00,000, saidofficials, adding that three morebikes were yet to be recovered.The arrested persons are beingproduced before a court forjudicial remand.

Traffic surges on online learning platformsVarsities advise students to pursue online courses during lockdown

Principals of all the colleges were toldto sign-up to learning apps to provideaccess to their students to more than3,800 courses and 400 specialisations

Online dating apps findingmore love amid lockdown

Niranjan appealedto the people tolend their supportto the state'sefforts to rein inthe virus. CM isconstantlymonitoring thesituation to ruleout any issues

KTR comes tothe rescue ofcloth vendorsPNS n HYDERABAD

A group of six cloth vendorshailing from Tamil Nadu werestranded in Balakonda ofNizamabad district withoutproper food or shelter. Thefamilies of the traders reachedout to DMK President MKStalin who in a tweet toMunicipal AdministrationMinister KT Rama Rao andTelangana Chief Minister said,"Vendors from TN are stuckin Kisan Nagar, Balakonda(Nizama bad District) withoutproper food or shelter. Requestyour intervention. Please con-tact Rasamurugesan Presidentof TN Small Vendors Development Association." (sic) WhileStalin referred the issue toKTR at around 10.14 am whoresponded by 10.21 am saying,"We will take care Stalin Sir".

PNS n HYDERABAD

Soon after the announcementfrom the Chief Minister KChandrasekhar that no oneshould be hungry, Mayor DrBonthu Rammohan, CivilSupplies chairman M SrinivasReddy and MLA Muta Gopalhas distributed 12 kg rice andRs 500 to each migrant work-er in MusheerabadConstituency on Tuesday incoordination with the CivilSupplies Department andGHMC.

Speaking on the occasion,the Mayor said that Telanganais the first state to announcelockdown in the country, thisshows how the Chief Minister'sforesight in respect of theintensity of Covid-19 effect.The Chief Minister announcedlock down in order to safeguard the people of Telanganato control the spread of coro-navirus in the state.

Further, he said due to lock-down the activities of most ofthe sectors close down, partic-

ularly the construction sectorare the worst hit, due to whichthe migrant workers are suffer-ing. Since they are part andparcel in economic develop-ment of state the ChiefMinister has announced thatthe government will come torescue them.

The total number of

migrant workers in theGHMC limits is 34,283 andquantity of rice to be distrib-uted is 411.396 metric tons atRs 32.73 per kg and total costcomes to Rs 1,34,64,991inaddition to this Rs 500 is to begiven to each migrant workerand total amount comes Rs1,71,41,500.

GHMC distributes relief among migrant workers

The number of migrant workers in theGHMC are 34,283 and quantity of riceis 411.396 metric tons

OP wings in hospitalswear a deserted look PNS n HYDERABAD

Out patient departments ofnot only government hospitalsbut also corporate hospitalsreceive fewer patients thesedays due to coronavirus out-break. However, some corpo-rate hospitals have been reach-ing out to patients through telemedicine and e-consultancyservices. e-consultancy ser-vices. e-consultancy services.

Serpentine queues in frontof Osmania Hospital OPdepartment have been absent.On an average, at least 2,000to 2,500 patients visit the OPdepartment per a day asagainst the present which isless than 200. There was noguarantee that a patient stand-ing in queue is likely to get anOP slip generally.

The condition was more orless the same earlier. Onecannot hardly step anywherenear the NIMS out patientdepartment during normaldays. Only 40 to 50 patientsvisit the OP in the post Covid-19 scenario. A corporate hos-pital in Hitec City used to

draw at least 500 to 600patients a day. Currently, theirnumber does not cross 30 perday.

Some other private and cor-porate hospitals completelydid away with the OP depart-ment services. But some otherhospitals have been runningthe OP along with theEmergency Medical ServicesDepartment.

In the wake of the coron-avirus threat, many peoplehave postponed their non-essential surgical treatmentsand other treatments whichare not life threatening. Peopleare not visiting hospitals unlessit is absolutely necessary.However, prior to the Covid-19, the hospitals used to burstat the seams. During the past10 days, there was complete-ly turnaround in the situation.Many hospitals for want ofpatients have been wearingdeserted look.

During the normal days,Gandhi and OsmaniaHospitals used to handle 5000to 6000 OP patients and atleast 500 to 600 surgeries.

Cyberabadcops extendvalidity ofservice passesPNS n HYDERABAD

The Cyberabad Police haveextended the validity of thepasses of essential servicesand individuals up to April15. Earlier, the Telanganagovernment had in its orderdated March 28, extended theCovid-19 lockdown relatedorders till April 14, on parwith the central governmentdirectives.

Hence, Cyberabad PoliceCommissioner VC Sajjanarrequested pass holders ofessential services in thepolice commissionerate tonote that the validity hasbeen extended.

The passes issued by theCyberabad Police are valid inCyberabad Hyderabad andRachakonda police commis-sionerates.

‘IPM gavenecessarytraining todoctors’PNS n HYDERABAD

Institute of PreventiveMedicine Director DrShankar has said that the stategovernment has been imple-menting all measures tocheck the virus and felt thatthe spread of the virus can bechecked provided people takeadequate precautions.

The lockdown declared onthe state will help break thevirus chain, he said layingemphasis on precautions likewashing hands with soap orcleaning them with sanitiseras frequently as possible in aday. The transmission of thedisease can be arrested bypeople having symptoms.

Laying emphasis on havingbalanced diet, the IPM direc-tor suggested people to doregular workouts. The symp-toms of the virus are charac-terized by fever, throat painand difficulty in breathing.

“IPM gave necessary train-ing to doctors treating thevirus affected,” he said.

Cops book 50,000cases in one weekPNS n HYDERABAD

The Hyderabad Traffic Policehas booked a record numberof cases, 50,000, in one weekfor violating the lockdownregulations.

The highest number of46,100 cases booked werethrough CCTV camerafootages. Apart from theCCTV cameras installed atdifferent junctions, cases werealso booked through handheldcameras and surveillance cam-eras installed at different loca-tions.

Apart from cases bookedthrough different cameras,around 4700 cases werebooked by the traffic copsdeputed on service at differentjunctions in the city.

The department will uploadthe photos along with the fineamount on the website andalso a message will be sent tothe violators and they will haveto cough up the penalties.Moreover, if someone's vehi-cle is seized then they will haveto get is released after appear-ing before the court, said thepolice.

Man sets hishome on fire,attempts suicide PNS n HYDERABAD

A 60-year-old man attempt-ed suicide by setting his flaton fire at Attapur inRajendranagar on Tuesdaymorning.

The man was identified asMd Adam Shafi, formerlyknown as C MrutyunjayaRao. Rao is always paranoidand suspects that his familyalso turned against him.

Police tried to counsel him,but in vain as he even refusedto seek help from specialists.

In a bid to kill himself, Raotried slitting his throat. Hethen opened the valve of thecylinder and set the homeablaze. Neighbours informedpolice and fire department.

Fire officials broke downthe door and found Rao lyingon the floor. He sustained noinjuries and was unconsciousdue to suffocation.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The index of panic as per theIANS-CVoter Covid Trackerhas shot up in the week end-ing March 29 with more peo-ple, around 22 per cent, afraidthat they or someone in thefamily can catch the coron-avirus.

The index of panic hasgone up sharply as comparedto the tracker results for theweek ending March 23. Thesurvey is based on a samplesize of 1,187 respondents.The field work for the surveywas done on March 26-27.

The responses and trendscome in a week after thenational lockdownannounced by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, cases inIndia crossing 1,000 andUSA, Italy, Spain reelingunder the crisis caused by thepandemic. All round, coron-avirus is the single largest

variable looming over peo-ple's lives across the world.

To a question on whetherpeople are afraid that theywill get the virus, 48.3 percent agreed, a sharp increaseof 9.2 per cent over last week.In turn, the number of peo-ple who disagree went downto 46.5 per cent from 59.5 percent last week, a fall of 13 percent which implies that lesspeople now disagree with thisformulation.

In the net effect, there is a22 per cent shift towardspeople who agree that theyare afraid they well get coro-navirus. Despite the index ofpanic going up, the trust inthe government remains veryhigh. The approval ratings ofthe Narendra Modi govern-ment's handling of the Covid-19 crisis have actually gone upto 74.1 per cent in this weekcompared to 70 per cent inthe previous week.

As many as 83.5 per centrespondents agreed that theIndian government is han-dling the coronavirus crisiswell while only 9.4 per centdisagreed which is down 4.3per cent from last week. Incorrelation to the index ofpanic going up, the index ofcomplacency among the pub-lic has gone down.

The number of people nowwho agree that the fear ofcoronavirus is exaggerated isdown by a massive 25.7 percent compared to last week.

In the current week, the num-ber of people who agree withthis proposition is down by15.4 per cent compared to lastweek to 44.3 per cent whilethose who disagree has goneup by 10.3 per cent to 45.8 percent clearly indicating thatfewer people think that thefear is hyped.

However, with several lifealtering events happeningover the last week includingthe national lockdown, theindex of optimism is down by3.3 per cent to 39.9 per centrespondents who think thatthe situation will get betterover the next month.57.5 percent of the respondents thinkthe situation will get betterwhile 17.6 per cent think it

will get worse.On becoming more aware

about cleanliness, 87.2 percent of the respondents saidthey yes, up by 15.7 per centfrom last week. The index ofpreparedness measures byhow much rations/medicinesor money for these essentialsand for how many days isavailable in the house.

According to IANS CVoterCovid Tracker, 68.7 per centhave made stoked up for lessthan 3 weeks while 31.4 percent are already storing essen-tials for more than threeweeks. On being asked if youare getting essentials at ahigher price now, 60.9 percent said yes while 28.7 percent respondents said no.

HYDERABAD | TUESDAY | MARCH 31, 2020 hyderabad 04

It’s pertinent to note thatno other issue or inci-dent created such a panic

the world over after the SecondWorld War than theCoronavirus pandemic.

The Government, on a day-to-day basis, has been moni-toring, assessing, studying thesituation carefully and givingall the necessary guidelines,instructions to the administra-tion at all levels.

To begin with, theGovernment sought to knowthe reasons behind the out-break and spread based on thevirus timeline from its epicen-tre, Wuhan in China.

Telangana’s dedicated scien-tists, medical professionals,specialists in the field of virol-ogy and officials concerned,did remarkable research andspadework on the matter andcame up with many validobservations.

Telangana was the first statethat constituted special taskforce teams to identify thosewho came from abroad to theState after March 1, 2020 andalso identifying people withinthe state, those with whom

these foreign returnees inter-acted.

The state governmentauthorities were able to iden-tify 25,937 such people, andput them under quarantine.They have been under surveil-lance by 5,746 teams and theirquarantine period would startending from March 30 and byApril 7.

The Telangana governmentwas the first to request PrimeMinister Narendra Modi toban the arrival and taking offof the international flights toprevent people coming fromabroad to the country, some ofwhom might carry the virus.It was also the first State to talkabout the sealing of the inter-state borders and ban publictransport both intra and inter-state.

The PM readily agreed toKCR’s proposal to allow theCentre for Cellular andMolecular Biology (CCMB)labs in Hyderabad conduct

COVID-19 tests. The CCMBlabs can test about 800 samplesa day. CM made this requestmany days before anyonerealised the danger of thisepidemic.

To create more awarenessbut not fear or panic amongthe people, periodical mediabriefings are taking place bythe Chief Minister. Theattempt is to infuse confi-dence in the people.

In the case of a major pan-demic like Corona, the mostaffected are the poor, margin-alised and migrant workers.Besides providing 12 kg rice

per person and Rs 1,500 incash, the state governmenthad ensured that no one in thestate, including the migrantworkers, the marginalised,orphans, old age persons, des-titute are starved. Over 3.5 lakhmigrant labourers inTelangana would also get 12 kgof rice free, shelter, medical aidand Rs 500 per person to tideover the crisis.

As part of austerity mea-sures to meet the urgent needsof the people, the Governmenthas imposed cut in the salariesof public servants right fromChief Minister down to an

attender ranging from 75% to10%.

The government is fortunateto have wonderful, committedand dedicated official machin-ery in the state. Employees,staff of the Medical andHealth, Electricity, Waterworks, Sanitation, Police, para-medics, hospital watch andward staff, Ministers, officials,elected representatives, SHGs,

farmers, Rythu Bandhu Samititeams, media and a host ofother agencies are workinground the clock to preventCoronavirus spread.

The government is preparedfor any eventuality, even if it’sa full-blown crisis.

However, people shouldcomplement and supplementthe government efforts byensuring that they stayindoors, maintain social dis-tancing and avoid gathering ingroups and not panic. Anydeviation from these normswould only result in diversionof government energy fromother more important matters.

People of the State shouldnot take the situation lightlywith a ‘nothing-will-happen-to-me’ attitude.

The State is fully geared upto combat the deadly virus andit would facilitate treatment of60,000 patients, if the needarises.

A total of 11,000 beds are

ready in isolation wards ofhospitals for coronaviruspatients besides another 1,400beds in ICUs. The GachibowliStadium will be converted, inthe next two to three days, intoan exclusive isolation facilityfor Covid-19 patients. TheGandhi and King KotiHospitals are also kept ready.

The government had placedorder for 500 new ventilators;a pool of 11,000 doctors wasbeing prepared that includesthe 8,000 existing doctors.The remaining comprisingretired doctors, PG medicalstudents and medical interns.A financial package for theseprofessionals is also beingworked.

All private hospitals, sportsstadia, multiplex complexes,malls would also be kept readyto be temporary hospitals ifneed be.

This is not time to complainor indulge in blame game. Thisis the time to maintain bal-

ance, to be vigilant and alert.This is the time to explore thealternative and time-testedsystems of medicine and try tofind out whether they have anysolution to offer which can betested and verified. This is thetime for all of us to act unit-edly and decisively. In theweeks and months to come, weshould show our resilience,commitment, dedication andour united efforts to eradicateCoronavirus not only from oursoil but also from the world.

World Health Organization(WHO) Executive DirectorMichael Ryan has rightly saidthat India has tremendouscapacity to deal with the coro-navirus outbreak and, as thesecond most populous coun-try; it would have enormousimpact on the world's ability todeal with it. India will dealwith it successfully. As Indians,we have been taught genera-tion after generation thatwhole world is one family.

VANAM JWALA NARASIMHA RAOCPRO to Chief Minister

Telangana was the first state that constituted special task force teams toidentify those who came from abroad to theState after March 1, 2020 and also identifyingpeople within the state, those with whomthese foreign returnees interacted

Infusing confidence in people, the Telangana example

Tipplers defy curbs to score a pegIn view of lockdown, some wine shop and bar owners selling liquor in black marketPNS n NIZAMABAD

Taking advantage of the weak-ness of tipplers, wine shopand bar owners are allegedlydiverting liquor stocks intothe black market and makinga killing by selling liquor atexorbitant rates, nearly at threeor four times the MRP.

Meanwhile, there werereports of habitual tipplersdeveloping severe withdrawalsymptoms. Tipplers have beenpurchasing liquor at prohibitivecost and emptying their pock-ets. Indiscriminate sale ofliquor is taking places at manyplaces across the city, it isalleged.

In the city, liquor traders areruling the roost as the exciseofficials look the other way.Some of the tipplers underunavoidable circumstances,forced by addiction, are pur-chasing liquor at exorbitant

rates. This apart, adulterated toddy

is being sold rampantly at

many places in the wake ofclose of toddy shops, toddydepots. A bottle of toddy which

normally sells between Rs 10-20 is now being sold at Rs 50a bottle.

When ExciseSuperintendent Dr NaveenChandra was approached forhis response, he said that hewould cancel licence of shopsand bars if they are found sell-ing liquor illegally. The depart-ment has constituted threeteams to check this. Heappealed against selling liquorand adulterated toddy unau-thorisedly.

It may be recalled that morethan 2,400 liquor retail outletsand over 700 bars in Telanganahave been closed eversince theChief Minister KChandrashekhar Raoannounced the lockdown tocontain the spread of coron-avirus.

Two instances of desperateliquor addicts making vainattempts to break into liquor

shops were reported fromHyderabad, while one personwho could not get liquorjumped from fourth floor of abuilding in Jubilee Hills area onFriday night. Elsewhere, anoth-er man who escaped from hishouse in search of toddy wasrun over by an unidentifiedvehicle in Sangareddy district.He was tied to a pole by hisfamily members as he wasbehaving strangely.

Also, a fake governmentorder purportedly issued in thename of Director ofProhibition and Excise depart-ment allowing liquor shops tobe opened for two and halfhours a day from Sunday, ledto much confusion among theliquor traders as well as theliquor consumers in the State,on Saturday. However, the winedealers said that it is a fakeorder that is being circulatedon WhatsApp.

Apart from liquor, adulterated toddy isbeing sold rampantly in Nizamabad.Over 2,400 liquor retail outlets and over700 bars in TS have been closed in viewof lockdown

The survey is based on a sample size of1,187 respondents. The field work forthe survey was done on March 26-27

SALARY CUTS

KCR taking advantage ofpandemic, alleges CongressPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee (TPCC) TreasurerGudur Narayana Reddystrongly opposed the decisionof State government to cut thesalaries of employees, includ-ing Class IV, outsourcing andcontract employees anddescribed it as 'hasty' and 'ill-timed'.

"Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao iswrongly trying to take advan-tage of an epidemic to cutdown the salaries of employeesand pensions. He should firstdisclose the figures of fundsspent by the State Governmentto deal with the Coronavirusand the estimated revenue lossto the State's exchequer due tolockdown. While expenditureto deal with the Coronavirussituation should be the top pri-ority, it cannot be used as anexcuse to cut salaries of gov-ernment employees," NarayanaReddy said.

He welcomed the decisionfor a cut by 75% in thesalaries of CM, State cabinet,MLCs, MLAs, StateCorporation Chairpersons,Local Bodies representativesand said they cut could be of100% as most of them arerich. Further, 60% cut insalaries of IAS, IPS IFS andother such Central servicesOfficer might be approved.However, he said 50% cut inthe salaries of all other cate-gories of employees was notacceptable.

The Congress leader saidthat the Class IV, outsourcingand contract employees werealready drawing less salariesand they were not revisedever since the formation ofTelangana State. Now a cut by10 per cent will have a nega-tive impact on their person-al finances.

All-partiescondemn movePNS n HYDERABAD

All-party meeting held hereon Tuesday demanded the stategovernment to withdraw theimposition of cuts on salaries ofgovernment employees. Allparty leaders Chada VenkatReddy (CPI), ThammineniVeerabhadram (CPM), MKodandaram (TJF), L Ramana(TTDP), P Rangarao (CPIMLNew Democracy), SVenkateshwararao (CPIMLNew Democracy), ThandraKumar (MCPIU), Janakiramulu(RSP), Prasad (CPIML), MRajesh (CPIML-Liberation), BSurender Reddy (ForwardBlock) demanded the state gov-ernment to convene a meetingwith all-party leaders to discusson various issues in view of pre-vailed conditions.

Bandi Sanjayasks KCR torethink decision

PNS | HyderabadTelangana BJP chief BandiSanjay Kumar on Tuesdayurged Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao todeposit the funds allocatedinto the bank accounts of 14lakh construction labourersthrough Direc t B enef itTransfer (DBT). He said that the CentralLabour Department gaveclear directions to transferthe amounts to the accountsof building constructionlabourers while allowing thestate government to spendRs 2,300 crore CESS for thesame. B andi Sanjayaddressed a letter to theChief Minister in this regardon Tuesday.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Former MinisterMohammed AliShabbir stronglycondemned thedecision of Stategovernment to cutsalaries of governmentemployees and slash pay-ment for pensioners. He alsodemanded a White Paper onState finances explaining thesudden economic crisis thatgripped the Telangana.

Shabbir Ali, in a statementon Tuesday, said that the movewould demoralise the govern-ment staff which has been

working relentlesslyfor the last 10 daysto prevent thespread ofCoronavirus inthe State. "Almostall departments are

involved in anti-Coronavirus opera-

tions. While the Health,Police, energy and municipaladministrations departmentsare working on 24-hour basisto provide essential services tocommon people during lock-down period, employees ofother departments are takingcare of logistics and othermanagerial asks.

Index of panic up but trust in Modi govt intactCOVID TRACKER

Jithenderslams KCR forsalary cutsPNS n HYDERABAD

BJP leader and former MP APJithender Reddy on Tuesdayslammed Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao forimposing cuts in the salaries ofgovernment employees by 50-60 per cent.

"Telangana is the only statein the country to take suchstringent and extreme mea-sures. This is despiteGovernment of India request-ing all the private and publicemployers to not cut salary ofany employee. At a time, whenall government officials, espe-cially the police force is work-ing round-the-clock to combatthe Covid-19 pandemic, thissalary cut will be highly dis-couraging and demotivating,"he said. Chief Minister's salarycut decision clearly shows themismanagement of state funds.The state government has inef-ficiently managed the statefinances, due to which it isunable to fight the coronavirusmenace.

PNS n KAMAREDDY

Traders of essential com-modities on Tuesdayannounced to observe bandhfrom Wednesday in the townto register their protestagainst 'police excesses'.President of the Kirana mer-chants association YellankiSrinivas alleged that thepolice were harassing themerchants. He alleged thatthe police have caned manymembers of the associationand made a special mentionof the CI Jagadish and foundfault with his attitude. He saidthat the merchants wouldnot reopen their shops till aperceptible change in thepolice behaviour is noticed.

Kiranamerchants toobserve bandh

PNS n WARANGAL

In view of the lockdownimposed for containment ofthe spread of coronavirus, theWarangal East MLANannapuneni Narenderalong with several other phil-anthropists set up 15 foodcentres for the hungry andneedy in the city.

Minister for Women andChild Welfare SatyavathiRathod, who inaugurated thefood centres near PochammaMaidan on Tuesday, appreci-ated the efforts of the MLA inproviding food for the poorin these trying times.

Speaking on the occasion,MLA Narender said about150 persons would be fed ateach center every day. “Thepeople who are working inthe frontline of fighting withthe coronavirus like the san-itation workers, doctors andthe policemen are also wel-come to these centers. We aretaking all measures to preventthe spread of the disease inthe district. The vegetablemarket has been shifted andset up in 32 acre area atAzamjahi Mills ground toensure the people maintainphysical distancing,” he said.

15 foodcentres toserve lunch

Cancel tenders invited forKaleshwaram: RevanthPNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC working president andMalkajgiri MP Revanth Reddyon Tuesday demanded ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao to rereview the decisionstaken in regard to servingnotices to the farmers ofMedipally Nanakram Gudavillage in Rangareddy districtfor referendum on April 3and calling tenders for waterpumping works forKaleswaram Project andimposing cuts in the salaries ofthe employees.

Revanth Reddy on Tuesdaywrote a letter to the ChiefMinister in this regard. In hisletter, Revanth slammed theChief Minister for violating hisown decisions.

The Chief Minister askedthe people to maintain socialdistance, but at the same timehe made the revenue officialsto serve notices to the farmersunder Nanakramguda villageasking the farmers to attend forreferendum for land acquisi-

tion for the sake of PharmaCity, he alleged in his letter.

He said that the act is noth-ing but playing games with thelives of the people. He termedthe government's decision toconducting referendum onApril 3 as 'foolish act'. Hereminded the Chief Ministerthat the Centre had announcedlockdown till April 14. Hesaid that tension prevailedamong the people on landacquisition. He demanded thegovernment to cancel the pro-posed referendum on April 3.

He also found fault with theChief Minister for invitingtenders for water pumping

works for Kaleswaram project.He said that the contract com-panies had announced holi-days on account of lockdown.

"It is not possible for thecontract companies to pre-pare estimates by sending theirfield-level staff to the spot? hepointed out. He demandedthe state government to cancelthe tenders immediately orelse one can understand thatthe government has motivesbehind calling tenders.

The MP also found fault withthe Chief Minister for cuttingthe salariesof governmentemployees. The MP remindedthe Chief Minister of his state-ments made a few days ago ask-ing the private companies togive full salaries to theiremployees. Welcoming theimposition of cuts in salaries ofpublic representatives, IAS offi-cers and other higher officials,the MP however found faultwith the government for impos-ing cuts in salaries of fourthclass employees, out sourcingand contract employees.

Officials intensifyprecautionarymessagesAVINASH DEEPAK PULIn MAHBUBNAGAR

District administrations in theerstwhile Mahabubnagar dis-trict have intensified the pre-cautionary measures as theyfound the occurrence of freshCovid-19 cases in the region.

Three families of Patel Roadin Shadnagar town attendedthe Markaz Tabligi meeting inDelhi. Following this,Collector Amoy Kumar direct-ed the officials concerned toshift those three families to theHyderabad for isolation.

A total of eight membersfrom these three families werein the list of visitors at theMarkaz congregation and ofthese, three persons belong toShadnagar. Two fromNandigama and three fromKoththur were also identi-fied.

ACP Surender and DeputyDM and HO Chandu naik vis-ited the Patel Road on Tuesdayand traced the suspects beforesending them to the isolation.These eight members werequarantined and sent to the

Rajendranagar quarantinecentre in a special vehicle.Also, the Nagarkurnool offi-cials traced 11 persons, whoattended Nizamuddin con-gregation. DMHO SudhakarLal said that one among thesewas tested positive for Coronawhile the report of one moreperson is still awaited. Theremaining nine persons weretested negative, he said.

Meanwhile, Minister VSrinivas Goud on Tuesdaydistributed ration and fivehundred rupees each to the4,141 identified migrant work-ers of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan,Chhattisgarh and Kolkata.

ACP Surender andDeputy DM Chandunaik visited thePatel Road andtraced thesuspects beforesending them tothe isolation

Shabbir: Move willdemoralise the staff

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 1, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

MP: Army man, threeothers held for robberyJABALPUR: Four persons,including an Army personneland a minor, were arrested forallegedly robbing a man duringthe COVID-19 lockdown inMadhya Pradesh's Jabalpur city,police said on Tuesday. TheMadhotal police arrested Armyman Amit Raikwar, SumitRaikwar (24), Rakesh Burman(21) and a 17-year-old boy,police station in-charge AnilGupta said. On March 29, JaiRam Sahu was driving home,when the accused interceptedhis car and Amit Raikwar, whowas in his Army uniform, askedhim to furnish a pass permittinghim to drive during the lock-down, he said. Amit Raikwarwielded a knife, while otherswere armed with lathis, theofficial said.

Barred to go to M'lurufor treatment, onemore Keralite dies

2 booked for sharingobjectionable videoTHANE: An FIR was registeredagainst two persons,including a Shiv Sena leader,for allegedly sharing a video ofthe local police assaulting aman during the COVID-19lockdown in Ulhasnagar townof Maharashtra, police said onTuesday. The Ulhasnagar policeon Monday registered a caseagainst former corporator andSena leader Vijay Sawant andRaju Idani, while no arrestshave been made so far, seniorinspector Rajendra Kadam said.The duo had shared a videoshowing the police beating upaman during the lockdown onseveral WhatsApp groups, hesaid, adding that posting suchcontents on social media isbanned during the lockdown.

KASARAGOD: A 49-year-oldcritically ill patient died onTuesday after Karnataka policeallegedly denied permission toallow his ambulance to crossthe border at Thalpadi on theKasaragod-Mangaluru nationalhighway, police said. Accordingto police, Sekhar of Manjeswa-ram near here died of cardiacarrest. He was being taken toMangaluru for follow-uptreatment. Critically ill patientsfrom Kasaragod have since longbeing thronging the multi-speciality and high-techhospitals in the neighbouringstate as it is closer than thefacilities in the neighbouringdistricts of Kerala. 4 seriously illpatients have died since Karna-taka closed the borders follow-ing the lockdown. A pregnantwoman was delivered of a babyin the ambulance as its entrywas blocked at Thalapadi.

CM asks pvt doctors to do chestX-ray of COVID-19 suspectsPNS n THANE

Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray has askedprivate doctors in the state tocarry out the chest X-rays andhemogram of coronavirus sus-pects. This can arrest the ailmentat the initial stage and wouldhelp the patient, Thackeray saidduring a discussion on Mondaywith a Thane-based private doc-tor, who is part of the team pro-viding medical assistance topeople for coronavirus. He also

enquired about the facilities,including masks, available to

doctors and asked them to washtheir hands repeatedly and takecare of their health.

State Cabinet minister andNCP Leader Jitendra Awhadsaid he has facilitated setting upof eight community clinics inthe city which will cater to theneeds of citizens.

Thhe Thane MunicipalCorporation and the local IMAChapter have jointly prepared apanel of doctors to provideassistance to citizens duringthis critical time.

B'luru cops told to shift strandedmigrant labourers to marriage hallsPNS n BENGALURU

The Bengaluru policeCommissioner Bhaskar Rao onTuesday instructed his subor-dinates to shift migrant labour-ers stuck on the highways tomarriage and community hallsin the city.

In a wireless message to hissubordinates whose video heshared with the media too, Raosaid these halls have beenbooked on the directions of theState government.

The police commissionerasked the joint commissionersto shift these labourers tothese halls where arrange-

ments have been made fortheir stay, food and medicalfacilities. The direction cameamid mounting problems ofthe migrant labourers from dif-ferent parts of the country whoare stuck in the city withoutany job, shelter, food and med-

ical aid. Many of them opted togo to their home towns bywalk.

Amid reports of police high-handedness and misbehaviourwith media personnel, Raodirected the men in khaki notto pester them and demandany passes issued by thedepartment as the identitycards issued by their respectiveoffices were sufficient.

Similarly, the policemenshould not ask the state gov-ernment, central governmentand the high court officers andemployees to display passesand said their identity cardswere enough to let them go.

PNS n MANGALURU

People in Dakshina Kannadadistrict thronged supermar-kets and shops selling gro-ceries and vegetables duringthe nine-hour relaxation inthe lockdown on Tuesday,even as repeated requests formaintaining social distancingwent unheeded.

In the city, people resort-ed to panic buying after threedays of total lockdown andthe news being spread thatshops would be asked to shutfor another three days fromWednesday.

The shops were crowdedand long queues were seenright from the morning.

Though the district admin-istration had asked the peo-ple to wear masks while goingout for purchases, the advicewas taken only by a few. Theauthorities have expressedtheir concern over the behav-iour of the public and areconsidering a change of strat-egy to manage the situation.

People throngshops aslockdown isrelaxed

PNS n KOLKATA

She walks briskly into a crowd-ed marketplace, admonishespeople for the unnecessary hub-bub, picks up a broken brick anddraws a circle around her. Onemore circle and then the other,and brusquely asks people howto exercise social distancing inthe trying times coronavirus hasbrought in its wake.

Nobody takes umbrage at hercurtness, and all quietly step intothe circles in front of a depart-mental store in the bustlingPosta Bazaar, many drawingtheir own circles and patientlywaiting for their turn to buyessential supplies.

She nonchalantly wipes thedirt on her hand with her spot-

less white saree and nimblywalks through the multitude toboard her car on way to inspecthospitals, sirens of the pilot carblaring.

For the last three weeks WestBengal Chief Minister Mamata

Banerjee has been following thisroutine apart from holding offi-cial meetings to review the situ-ation and addressing press con-ferences, deftly concealing hersisterly concern under a sterncountenance, as coronaviruscontinues to ravage the world.West Bengal has had 26 afflic-tions so far of whom three died.

The BJP, which has emergedas the main challenger toBanerjees ruling TMC after the

Lok Sabha polls, clinching 18 ofthe states 42 seats, has called it apublicity stunt, but Didi (eldersister) is unfazed, and is doingwhat she loves to do mostbeingamong people, distributing foodand giving a pep talk to doctorsand paramedical staff. Closewatchers of Bengals politicalscene feel that Banerjees outreachin times of distress will indeedendear her to the masses. TMCmeans Mamata Banerjee.

Mamata blooms amid corona gloom

AAP MLA Atishiseeks strong actionagainst Nizamuddin PNS n NEW DELHI

AAP MLA Atishi on Tuesdaysought strong action againstthe Nizamuddin Markazauthorities for organising athree-day congregation, whichlater led to a spurt in coron-avirus cases in the area, andasked why the Delhi Police didnot take any step despite thegovernment prohibiting suchgathering to check the spreadof the virus.

Delhi's Nizamuddin areahas been identified as one ofthe hotspots of COVID-19 inIndia after several people test-ed positive for the virus in thepast few days.

More than 2,000 delegatesfrom countries such asIndonesia and Malaysiaattended the Tablighi Jamaatcongregation in NizamuddinWest from March 13-15.

At least 24 people who wereat the headquarters of theTablighi Jamaat have beendiagnosed with COVID-19,prompting the authorities tocordon off the area andincrease testing.

Tagging a Delhi govern-ment order which prohibitedassembly of over 200 people,Atishi sought strong actionagainst the administrators ofthe Nizamuddin Markaz (cen-tre).

"Strong action should betaken against the administra-tors of the NizamuddinMarkaz who organised a 3-dayreligious gathering, with 1000s

of people from March 13-15,when Delhi governmentorders had expressly forbiddengatherings or more than 200persons on 13th March itself,"the Kalkaji MLA said in atweet.

"Moreover, notification byDelhi government on March12 stated that anyone with atravel history from COVID-19affected countries have to self-isolate, then why did theadministrators of the Markaznot ensure isolation of resi-dents coming from thosecountries?" she said in anoth-er tweet.

Atishi also targeted theDelhi Police, asking why noaction was taken by it.

"What action did DelhiPolice take against the largereligious gathering at theNizamuddin Markaz fromMarch 13-15, when there wereorders from Delhi Govt pro-hibiting gatherings of morethan 200 people? Strong actionneeds to be taken by MHAagainst concerned police offi-cers," she said.

PNS n CHANDIGARH

Police on Tuesday asked res-idents in the city's southernSectors to stay indoors afterthere were reports of a leop-ard being sighted in the area.

"We received informationthat a leopard was seen in thearea. Some pug marks hadalso been noticed. However,we intimated the wildlifeofficials and a search was on,"Inspector Baldev Kumar,Station House Officer (SHO)of Sector 34 police stationhere, said.

He said that residents havebeen asked to stay indoors asa search is being conducted.

"Residents have been askedto check their lawns andbackyards or other suchplaces where the wild animalcould be hiding," the SHOsaid.

Police were also usingdrone-fitted with camera toconduct the search.

On Monday, a leopard-like animal was spotted inChandigarh's upscale Sector5 residential area on Mondaymorning, following which itwas rescued by forest andwildlife officials.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A Srinagar-based businessmantravelled by air, train and roadto Delhi, Uttar Pradesh andback to Jammu and Kashmirbefore he died of COVID-19,and may have infected manyothers, including a doctor bat-tling for life in a Jammu hos-pital, officials said on Tuesday.

The businessman, who trav-elled to Delhi to attend aTablighi Jamaat congregation,died on March 26 in a Srinagarhospital, 19 days after he set offfor the national capital.

He could have infectedscores of people during his trav-els and about 300 people havebeen put under quarantinebecause of him, officials said.

Recapping his movements,they said he left by air fromSrinagar to Delhi on March 7to attend the congregation ofthe Tablighi Jamaat, an ortho-dox Muslim organisation at thecentre of the coronavirusspread with 24 of the 2,000 oddparticipants testing positive.

Six people in Telangana whoattended the meeting in the

city's Nizamuddin West areadied on Monday.

Being referred to as a "superspreader" by some, officialssaid the Kashmiri businessmanleft Delhi on March 9 and tooka sleeper coach of a train forDeoband, where he attended ameeting at the Darul Uloomseminary. Two days later, onMarch 11, he took anothertrain to Jammu.

Tracking the travel history ofthe man, who was in his mid-60s, officials said many of thepassengers travelling with himin the trains have been put

under quarantine after author-ities dug out their details.

In Jammu, the businessmanmet up with his doctor friendand both addressed a religiouscongregation in a mosque inSamba on the outskirts of the city.

The two were together tillMarch 16 and stayed at a lodge,since sealed, in Bari Bramhmanaoutside Jammu city.

The doctor, now in a Jammuhospital in a critical condition,belongs to Rajouri district ofJammu region, officials said. Atleast 45 people from his areahave been quarantined.

On March 16, the business-man, little suspecting that hemight be a full blown case ofCOVID-19 and a carrier of thevirus, took a flight to Srinagarfrom where he drove to Soporein north Kashmir, about 54 kmaway. Two days later, hereturned to his home inSrinagar, again by road.

"He complained of chestpain and normal flu on March21 and was taken to a nearbyhospital and later to the superspecialty SKIMS hospital inSoura on the outskirts ofSrinagar," an official said.

Doctors were initially of theopinion that he had a pollenallergy, common in Kashmirduring spring. The next day,however, his condition deteri-orated and he was shifted to theChest and Disease Hospital inthe city where he died onMarch 26.

The elderly gentleman wasthe first coronavirus fatality inJammu and Kashmir, whichhas reported 55 cases. As newsspread about the death, officialsbegan tracking his movementsclosely.

Tracking COVID-19 ‘super spreader':From J-K to Tablighi event to UP

PNS n NEW DELHI

Amid the lockdown imposed tohelp curb the spread of coron-avirus, domestic airlines andcargo operators along with theIndian Air Force have transport-ed 15.4 tons of medical suppliesin 62 flights between March 26and March 30, said CivilAviation Minister HardeepSingh Puri on Tuesday.

"The cargo essentially includ-ed COVID-19 related reagents,enzymes, medical equipment,testing kits & personal protectiveequipment (PPE), masks, gloves& other accessories of HLL &

cargo requisitioned byState/union territories govern-ments & postal packets," Purisaid. The Civil aviation ministryhas formed a committee tofacilitate movement of cargoacross the country during the 21day-lockdown period. The min-istry is facilitating the cargomovement using hub and spokemodel. "Cargo hubs have beencreated at Delhi, Mumbai,Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata.Hubs feed to spokes atGuwahati, Dibrugarh, Agartala,Aizwal, Imphal, Coimbatore,Thiruvananthapuram," it said ina press release.

Domestic airlines,transport over 15 tonsof medical supplies

PNS n NEW DELHI

Union Health Minister HarshVardhan on Tuesday reviewedthe COVID-19 sampling andtesting strategy and said allefforts should be made to pro-cure testing kits immediatelyfor supply to laboratories. Theminister directed officials toensure states have all the requiredfacilities and do not face short-age of testing kits, reagents orequipment.

Extra support will be given tostates and union territories thatdo not have laboratories and test-ing facilities as well as to North

Eastern states and the UT ofLadakh, the health ministrysaid in a statement. There shouldbe no comprise in the quality oftesting kits procured by the

government or private labs,Vardhan directed and said qual-ity assessment of the kits will bedone regularly.

He said for this a clear quali-

ty control mechanism and pro-tocol needs to be developed andimplemented by the IndianCouncil of Medical Research(ICMR) immediately.

The health minister held thereview meeting with senior offi-cials of the ICMR, Departmentof Science and Technology, Bio-technology and Council ofScientific and IndustrialResearch (CSIR). There was anelaborate discussion on issueslike procurement of reagents,website integration, data man-agement and analysis, dash-boards, research studies bothplanned and done so far.

CORONAVIRUS:

Nationals of UK, France among281 foreigners found at MarkazPNS n NEW DELHI

Nationals from the UK andFrance are among 281 foreign-ers out of 1,830 people who werefound by the Delhi police in lasttwo days at Nizamuddin'sMarkaz Masjid, where a reli-gious congregation, held in mid-March, has become a key sourceof coronavirus spread in thecountry, officials said.

Most of those who werefound at the facility have beenshifted to different quarantinecentres and isolation wards ofhospitals.

A total of 1,830, includingthese foreigners from 16 coun-tries, continued to stay at theTablighi Jamaat's Markaj even asa 21-day nationwide lockdownwas imposed on March 24,according to officials.

The foreigners were fromIndonesia (72), Sri Lanka (34),Myanmar (33), Kyrgystan (28),Malaysia (20), Nepal andBangladesh (9 each),Thailand(7), Fiji (4), England (3), oneeach from Afghanistan, Algeria,Djibouti, Singapore, Franceand Kuwait.

Remaining 1,549 people werefrom Tamil Nadu (501), Assam(216), Uttar Pradesh (156),Maharashtra (109), fromMadhya Pradesh (107), Bihar(86), West Bengal (73),Telangana (55), Jharkhand (46),Karnataka (45), Uttarakhand(34), Haryana (22), Andaman

Nicobar Islands (21), Rajasthan(19), 15 each from HimachalPradesh, Kerala and Odisha,Punjab (9) and Meghalaya (5).

In last one month, at least8,000 people, including foreign-ers have visited the premises,and most of them have eitherreturned to their respectiveplaces or currently in otherMarkaz facilities in differentparts of the country, therebyhaving a link in some positivecases in those states.

Apart from six Indonesians,who tested positive inHyderabad, one person eachfrom Jammu and Kashmir and

Telangana, who succumbed tothe infection, had also attendedthe congregation.

Officials said Markaz officebearers informed police aboutthe presence of about 1,200people on March 25 after thelockdown was announced.Some of these people wereescorted out of Delhi by police.On March 26, again about 2,000people gathered at the Markazfacility. Even though the Markazoffice bearers sought the help ofpolice and civil authorities tosend these people out of the city,the road, rail and air traffic werecompletely shut by then.

Markaz Nizamuddinsays it has not violatedany provisions of lawPNS n NEW DELHI

Markaz Nizamuddin, the placewhere a religious congregationleft several people affected withcoronavirus, on Tuesday said ithas not violated any provisionof the law and offered its premis-es for setting up a quarantinefacility. Markaz Nizamuddin,which is the international head-quarters of Tabilghi Jamaat forclose to 100 years, will cooper-ate with the authorities, it saidin a statement.

Delhi government onTuesday said twenty-four peo-ple, who took part in a religiouscongregation at MarkazNizamuddin earlier this month,have tested positive for thenovel coronavirus.

Delhi Health MinisterSatyendar Jain said 700 peoplewho attended this congregationhave been quarantined whilearound 335 people have beenadmitted to hospitals."

Besides, participants fromacross India, the congregationwas attended by people from

different countries, includingIndonesia and Thailand.

The Markaz statementreferred to the directive of theDelhi government to take legalaction against the Markazadministration. "During thisentire episode, MarkazNizamuddin never violated anyprovision of law, and alwaystried to act with compassionand reason towards the visitorswho came to Delhi from differ-ent states. It did not let themviolate the medical guidelinesby thronging ISBTs or roamingon streets," the statement said.

The statement said theMarkaz would like to humblyoffer the entire premises as aquarantine facility to help theauthorities tide-over the chal-lenge of current pandemic.

"Visitors/guests/devotees/worshippers from across the globethrong the place for pre-sched-uled programmes and all theprogrammes are decided a yearin advance in order to facilitatevisitors from far-off places toplan their participation," it said.

She nonchalantly wipes the dirt on herhand with her spotless white saree andnimbly walks through the multitude toboard her car on way to inspecthospitals, sirens of the pilot car blaring

Another leopardspotted inChandigarh

Minister reviews COVID-19 sampling, testing strategy

A total of 1,830, including these foreignersfrom 16 countries, continued to stay at theTablighi Jamaat's Markaj even as a 21-daynationwide lockdown was imposed onMarch 24, according to officials

In Kerala, god’s own lush green coun-try, it is as real as it can be. Some stu-dents belonging to this State, study-ing in Hyderabad, were stranded atthe Karnataka-Kerala border last

week. They wanted to come back to theirState but were stuck and in dire straits.One of them google “searched” for KeralaChief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s number.This was at 1 am, post midnight. This stu-dent was desperate and was just trying herluck. The phone rang and guess whoreceived the call? The Chief Minister him-self. It is reported that Vijayan told the stu-dent not to worry (don’t worry child…)and that he would find a solution. Inmoments, she got the number of the topadministrative functionaries in Wayanadand when they reached the slated spot,another official was waiting for the stu-dents with a vehicle to transport themsafely back to their homes. Once theyreached their destinations, the girl studentcalled the Chief Minister back to thankhim. Vijayan said that he was happy thatthey had reached safely and asked themto quarantine themselves.

Real-time stories, bordering on myths,have been circulating about Vijayan andhis no-nonsense, simple and hard-work-ing Health Minister, KK Shailja, the“teacher” who has openly said that heractions are determined by the advice ofexperts and scientists and practical andlong-term solutions. The manner inwhich the issue of migrants and visitors,both inside and outside the State, has beenaddressed reflects just this. Thousands ofKeralites work abroad, especially in theGulf, and the State is a tourist hub withforeigners enjoying its dense green pic-turesque landscapes, its endless backwa-ters and safe scenic towns as also its vastcoastal regions and sunny beaches.

As tens and thousands of migrantworkers and the poor thronged the high-ways in Delhi and its neighbourhood,mostly heading towards Uttar Pradesh andBihar, the 21-day lockdown announced byPrime Minister Modi has all but collapsedin the capital and the Hindi heartland.There are now genuine fears that theseworkers, having travelled in congestedspaces, without any healthcare safety,often hungry and penniless, might lead toa major medical crisis in the rural hinter-land, which apparently has remainedinsulated from the epidemic/pandemic.

This would be disastrous and lead toa total failure of the laxman rekha drawnby the Prime Minister in his 8 pm televi-sion address to the nation or his doctrineof “stay at home” to maintain“physical/social” distancing in a bid to stopthe pandemic from entering Stage-IIIand, thus, become viral and fatal. Thiswould also jeopardise the efforts of Stateslike Kerala and West Bengal, which havecountered the crisis with effective, all-round

social security, healthcare andadministrative measures.

So how did Kerala tackle themigration crisis? First, muchbefore the country took notice,as early as in March, it had putup health desks at airports toscreen passengers coming fromabroad. Foreigners cooperated,no one was harassed. Testingand quarantine became a musteven as hospitals and isolationcentres were kept ready. Evenwhile doctors and nurses andother hospital staff were given all the facilities atGovernment hospitals, privateones were sounded off by thedistrict administration to beready for patients and that, too,free of cost.

If one person tested positive,all his/her contacts were tested,too. All domestic travellers wereasked to follow self-quarantine,which they dutifully followed.Concerted counselling over thephone and through inter-person-al contact was given to peopleunder isolation or those under-going treatment. Indeed, it wasbecause of organised testing thatKerala, a State with one of the besthealthcare infrastructure, couldeffectively treat the patientsinfected with the virus. As theirnumbers grew, they were quick-ly identified, given treatmentand quarantined. None likeBollywood actor Kanika Kapoorhid their travel history either inKerala or in West Bengal.

All entry points for railwaysand buses were thoroughly

checked. This was an arduoustask but medical teams and vol-unteers went from compart-ment to compartment checkingpassengers and testing them. Allthose travellers taking a bus wentthrough a similar process. All ofthis was done with immensedignity, patience and efficiencyand as fast as it could be done.

There are around 5,000 fully-equipped shelters in Kerala,which are now catering to aroundtwo lakh migrant workers. Not asingle labour has been allowed tomove out. They all seem to becontent to stay at their new“homes.” Significantly, theGovernment prefers to termthem “guest workers,” givingthem the due dignity and respectthey deserve.

Rations for three monthshave been provided. Their shel-ters are clean and sanitised.There is running water, soap,sanitisers and proper sanitationsystems. Medical centres andcounselling are available 24X7.Volunteers and State officials arealways at hand. No wonder, the“guest workers” are happy andgrateful. Apart from other mea-sures, one of the most significantsteps taken by the StateGovernment is to announcesocial security schemes andfinancial package for them. Thefollowing steps are significant:

A special package of ̀ 20,000crore has been announced toovercome the COVID-19 threat.(Compare this with the ̀ 15,000crore package announced by the

Prime Minister for the entirecountry). The financial packageincludes ̀ 1,320 crore to disbursetwo-months welfare pension inadvance; `1,000 to families noteligible for other social welfarepensions; `100 crore for freefoodgrains to families in need;`50 crore for subsidised meals at`20 and a `500 crore healthpackage. Loans worth `2,000crore will be made availablethrough the Kudumbashreescheme, a highly successful pro-ject accessible to the remotestregion. A sum of `2,000 crorehas been earmarked for employ-ment guarantee programmes.Further, all arrears will be clearedby the State Government byApril, amounting to `14,000crore. Cinema hall owners havebeen given an entertainment taxreprieve.

The food issue was nipped inthe bud with 1,000 food centres,restaurants and hotels offeringfree food to those in need andcommunity kitchens were oper-ational everywhere. Door-to-door food, too, was distributed.Significantly, as the ChiefMinister reiterated in one of hiscandid press conferences (unlikethe one held by Prime Minister)where he took all questions by themedia and explained the finestdetails of the relief operationsundertaken by his Government,those who are embarrassed or shyto ask for food, too, have beenprovided with the “secret” phonenumbers. Food and other ameni-ties will be delivered to them and

they need not disclose theiridentity. This is truly democrat-ic governance where the citizenis given the utmost dignity by theGovernment.

Free prepaid recharge hasbeen provided to those underobservation. The students’ wingof the Communist Party of India(Marxist) has been manufactur-ing sanitisers and distributingthem to the public. Civil societyand women’s groups have beenroped in to provide relief. Districtadministrations are working withward and local level representa-tives, including the panchayats.Hence, even in a centralised sys-tem, the process of implementa-tion is totally decentralised, eas-ily accessible and efficient.

The current mission is tocreate a huge volunteer force.Former doctors have been askedto join the healthcare systemagain. Be it healthcare or dras-tic measures taken during nat-ural catastrophes like massivefloods or even during the spreadof Nipah virus, the people ofKerala and its Government havegalvanised resources, communi-ties, religious institutions, theyouth, women and studentsrepeatedly and successively tocollectively combat the crisis atthe most invisible grassrootsterrain. That is why, yet again,the State seems to be on astrong and solid footing, even asthe virus seeks to damage andravage the world.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Just when we were reading about Patient 31in South Korea, who had infected thousandsby interacting at a church congregation and

sparked a swirling spiral of COVID-19 cases inthat nation in just a couple of weeks, we have asuper-spreader, actually spreaders, in Delhi. Whatis most worrying is that there could be manyPatient 31s, not one, and as they moved to dif-ferent parts of the country, they have carried thevirus even to distant Andaman and NicobarIslands. Faith is meant to give us courage, wis-dom and hope and not lead us to irresponsible

destruction in the time of a global pestilence. Faith is about the sincerity of prayerand creating hope, not a mindless pursuit of rituals codified by humans. Most sig-nificantly, no supreme being would reward human error. So ignoring all social dis-tancing rules to avoid the Coronavirus, hundreds of pilgrims had been staying atNizamuddin’s 100-year-old mosque complex, which has a six-floor dormitory, sincea two-day gathering of the Tablighi Jamaat from March 13 to March 15. Some 280were foreigners and had not been quarantined. The gathering, which featured ser-mons, was attended by Tablighi members from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal,Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan and Saudi Arabia. Members had also come from hotspotslike England and France. Not only that, some of the top missionaries from Indonesia,with which we share easier visa rules, entered the country on a tourist visa, avoid-ing disclosure on the purpose or nature of their visit. Many of those who attendedthen travelled to other parts of the country, making contact-tracing an almost impos-sible job as they had bled into communities, families and society in general. Forexample, the Srinagar preacher, who died last week, had visited the Deoband sem-inary in Uttar Pradesh and on his return to Kashmir, held multiple gatherings. Morethan 100 people from Kashmir attended the gathering and a massive exercise ison to track them down. Some pilgrims who attended died in Hyderabad. To be fairto the police, they had information about a congregation on March 24, when around1,200 people were inside the mosque complex, and had escorted them to the air-port the following day. But on March 26, two days into the national lockdown, peo-ple started gathering at the mosque again without informing. When the police foundout, already 2,000 people had assembled inside.

Of course, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has a tough job containing the entireNizamuddin cluster, a rather crowded area of Delhi. For starters, he ordered a policecase against the mosque administration over gross negligence. One shudders tothink not how many are out there but how many they met and greeted. This cost-ly human error means that the Government should crack down on all faith-basedand any social congregations with an iron hand and maintain a strict vigil at all suchpotential convergence zones, social or religious, with military precision. This shouldinclude markets, too, given the overcrowding at Mangalore today. Massive surveil-lance and community testing along the lines of what South Korea carried out willnow take place at Nizamuddin. In South Korea, they had tested all church mem-bers for the virus. So, even though the number of cases rose after the tests, it didmanage to slow the rate of new cases. We may have identified the Nizamuddincluster but what of the many returnees who have met people socially and in theirfamilies, blissfully unaware of being vectors and carriers? Despite more than 1,000active cases and signs of local transmission, the Government claims there has beenno community spread in the country. But it is no rocket science to understand thatgiven India’s population density, this has happened already. Undoubtedly, the ris-ing toll and confirmed cases on the tracker every day are causing large scale fearand panic. So what India needs now is an effective communication strategy like inSouth Korea and Japan, one which should say why the figures are climbing becauseof more testing and why protocols need to be followed to save lives. We must under-stand that we need test kits, protective gear and apparatus on a large scale to counterthe monster that has swamped us. With economy in the doldrums, layoffs, StateGovernments halving salaries and the Centre expected to roll out welfare measuresfor mass treatment and care, we are already up to the gills. We have to ride the arcwith patience and by doing the right thing. For God won’t forgive us either for doingthe wrong one. Faith leaders should be used to propagate this message instead.

Costly human error

Be kind to the poor

Sir — It was shocking to hearthat police personnel are addingto the plight of migrant workers.The latter, rendered jobless bythe sudden imposition of anational lockdown, were forcedto jump like frogs and take thelong journey home on foot.Reports of brutality against thelabourers have emerged fromacross the country. The policehave also reportedly beaten upessential service providers andordinary people for steppingout of their homes to purchasenecessary items. In theiroverzealousness to implementthe curfew, it seems that lawenforcers themselves are violat-ing what they swear by.

However, it was hearteningto hear that Kerala ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan wasquick to condemn the inhumanetreatment of the labourers and istaking steps to accommodatethem in the State. He followed uphis announcement of a mammotheconomic package with the assur-ance that all basic facilities will beprovided to the migrant workers.One hopes that other politicians,police personnel, landlords and

hotel owners will follow his exam-ple and act with kindness towardsthe poor and the helpless in thishour of crisis.

Kajal Chatterjee Kolkata

Donate wholeheartedly

Sir — There’s no doubt that theworst-affected due to the spreadof Coronavirus are the migrant

workers. Left stranded, huge sumsof money are needed to providethem with food, shelter and otherbasic needs. In a welcome gesturemany people, including celebri-ties, sports personalities and even

the corporates have donated forthe cause. It’s shocking that polit-ical parties, who call themselvesthe champions of the poor, havenot made donations from theirown funds. This despite the factthat some of them have their cof-fers overflowing. Are funds meantonly to secure power?

Shruti JainVia email

All Fools' day

Sir — The first day of the monthApril is called All Fools’ Day orApril Fool’s Day. On this day,people take delight in playingpractical jokes on each other. Thecustom started in Rome whenking Leopold of Belgium, whowas married in Rome, was madea fool of by his sister-in-law whenhe went to his father-in-law’spalace on the first of April bymistake as he had been invitedthere on first of May. Today, cen-turies later, April Fool is playedon people on a large scale. Ofcourse, this year is too sombre.

Jubel D’CruzMumbai

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

www.dailypioneer.comfacebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 1, 2020

06

Hope in Kerala model

AMIT SENGUPTA

It was because of organised testing that Kerala, a State with one of the besthealthcare infrastructure, could effectively treat the patients infected with Coronavirus

People should limit theamount of their food. Itis already summer andthey should not be confined to the kitchenall the time.

Odisha CM—Naveen Patnaik

I always spotted that there wassomething about her (AliaBhatt) but didn’t use her talentat all. I actually don’t feel I full-fledgedly ever directed herthe way I would like to do.

Film-maker—Karan Johar

The Government must liberallyhelp States tide over the crisis.We do not know how long this[lockdown] will continue. A lotdepends on whether the pandemic will be contained.

Chhattisgarh CM—Bhupesh Baghel

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O R

Grieving in Corona times

The outbreak of Coronavirus has changed the waywe live. It’s almost like we are waging a war againstan invisible enemy. It’s like we hear of a new telluric

shock every day. The virus, which has claimed more than25,000 people worldwide, is reshaping many aspects ofdeath, from the practicalities of handling infected bod-ies to meeting the spiritual and emotional needs of thoseleft behind. Churches have become makeshift mortuar-ies. Disturbing images of military vehicles transportingbodies of Coronavirus victims to the crematorium in Italyhave shocked the world. Most people passed away ina hospital room without a relative or friend to hold theirhand or share their fear.

Corona has had its own playbook. One is that deathcaused by the virus cannot be dealt with as a matter ofeveryday life. Another is that the bereaved must remainalone with their loss. Funerals are currently taking placein northern Italy with unprecedented speed and in theabsence of mourners. Waiting lists are long and by law,people are still not allowed to meet. Because people can-not visit one another, friends and relatives cannot gath-er in person to share memories of the deceased. No com-forting embrace can take place and there is no funeralceremony to participate in together. The bereaved must,it seems, find support from within themselves and with

phone and video calls to the family. It seems as if thevirus is determining not only our everyday lives but eventhe rules by which we live life, or mourn.

In his study, History of Death, French historianPhilippe Ariès demonstrated that the relationshipbetween Western man and death changed dramatical-ly in the 19th century. Until then, death had been a famil-iar companion for the millennia, an accepted part of life.But modern man, according to Ariès, has suppressedthe idea of death, pushing it aside out of fear.

Javvadi Lakshmana RaoVisakhapatnam

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Disinfectant spray. Time tosanitise our politics, notmigrant workers reachingBareilly to go home. Theybuild India, treat them with dignity.

Congress leader— Kapil Sibal

Nizamuddin shrine turns Delhi into a COVID-19 cluster. TheGovt must ban congregations altogether, monitor markets

op nion

As the viral scourge of Coronavirus swept acrossthe world, national, provincial and localGovernments found themselves scrambling to

deal with the spread of the deadly infection. However,sporting authorities — from the Board of Controlfor Cricket in India (BCCI) to the International OlympicCommittee (IOC) — were found with their headsburied in the sand, refusing to accept the impact ofthe virus on their schedules. While the BCCI relent-ed and postponed the Indian Premier League (IPL)season to mid-April, though it is yet to call off the

tournament, the IOC alongside the Tokyo Games organising committee and theJapanese Government persisted with the notion that the games would not be delayeduntil last week. It was the infection of some athletes at a qualifying tournament inLondon and the outcry that followed that forced the IOC’s hand. Now, the sport-ing body and the Japanese Government have announced a year’s delay of the SummerOlympics, which would start July 23, 2021.

While we are living in times, where it is impossible to forecast what will hap-pen by July 2021, one can hope that a cure for the condition is found. Hopefully,a preventive vaccine as well. The postponement of the Games is tragic for athletes,many of whom have spent virtually every waking minute of their lives ever sincethe flame was extinguished at Rio De Janeiro preparing for the games in Japan.The health and safety of these athletes and the thousands of officials, volunteersand spectators is the overriding concern. This must be at the top of authorities con-cerned. So a year’s delay gives the authorities enough wiggle room to plan for almostevery contingency. The Olympics might be delayed by a year, but it increasinglyseems that the BCCI will very shortly have to call off the IPL. Football leagues inEurope will have to plan around how to crown their champions. There is talk ofgames being played in closed door environment but playing any contact sport wouldbe irresponsible right now. Many fans, particularly of Liverpool Football Club, mightbe mighty disappointed but the fairest solution right now would be to declare allleagues for all spring and summer sports in 2020 null and void. That may not befair to clubs like Liverpool but a uniform solution will have to be found as condi-tions in Europe and the US are not conducive to sports being played at the currenttime. Thankfully, there are a lot of classic sporting moments available online andsome great sports movies and documentaries available to stream in the meantime.Athletes might be disappointed, particularly Indian athletes, who expected to dowell in Tokyo, but this is as good a time as any to prepare even harder to win glorynext summer, if not this one.

A year laterMany international sporting bodies were in denial about theimpact of the Corona epidemic; they have finally woken up

This too, shall pass

HARRY AND MEGHAN HAVE LEFT CANADA FOR THEUS. HOWEVER, THE US WILL NOT PAY FOR THEIR

SECURITY PROTECTION. THEY MUST PAY. —US PRESIDENT

DONALD TRUMP

NO PLANS TO ASK THE US GOVERNMENT FORSECURITY RESOURCES. PRIVATELY FUNDEDSECURITY ARRANGEMENTS HAVE BEEN MADE.—DUKE OF SUSSEX PRINCE HARRY

Sometimes one wonders whether it is evenreal or has a Robin Cook medical thrillercome to life? What used to be in the pages

of a novel has now become a part of our lives,with medical teams walking around in protec-tive suits, huge isolation wards covered in milesof plastic, people dying in huge numbers, sani-tisers being sprayed everywhere. It’s like a baddream. And what of the economic impact of theCoronavirus outbreak on the world? Suddenly,there are no flights, trains or buses. The mallsand market places are closed, so are other placesof entertainment. It is the same story with edu-cational institutions and amid the nationwidelockdown all one can see are deserted roads andservice lanes, social distancing and the accom-panying silence. Though these are necessarymeasures to prevent the spread of theCoronavirus. Ultimately, at the personal level, itmeans one thing and that is isolation.

The present situation takes me back to theyear 1992. I was a young Major, just out from theDefence Services Staff College and instead ofgoing on a staff appointment as is generally thepolicy after the course, I went back to my bat-talion, as it was going for a tenure in the Siachenglacier. I was to command a Company in the glac-ier in one of the most challenging picquets. Thealtitude was around 19,000 feet and recordedtemperature around minus 45°C, with a windchill effect going to around minus 65 °C. The pic-quet was on top of an ice wall and due to vari-ous factors, it was impossible for helicopters tocome there. This, therefore, led to a big challenge,that of getting our daily survival rations from theclosest helipad.

It was the month of February and a few daysafter taking over from the relieving Unit, theweather got nasty. Once the weather packs upthere, it is a completely white-out condition.Visibility becomes so limited that if you stretchyour hand, you can’t see your fingers. The snowblizzards are so strong that if you are not wellgrounded, you can just be blown off. Under suchconditions, movement from one place to anoth-er means certain death. Therefore, it’s total iso-lation.

The challenge was further accentuatedbecause the poor weather conditions continuedfor a long period, nearly 45 days. With no move-ment of men possible, rations started diminish-ing steadily and I had to severely restrict ourmeals so that we could last longer. We came downto one meal a day which consisted of only oneor two tablespoons of rice and nothing else.

Our survival depended entirely on keroseneoil because, not only was it required for cook-ing, we needed it most for melting blue ice intowater, without which we would have got com-pletely dehydrated. The stocks of kerosene oil andother items were at a critical stage which wouldlast only a few days, even with rationing. Andnobody could predict when the weather wouldclear up.

At this stage, another tragedy befell us, whenone of our colleagues, a Sepoy, attained martyr-dom, falling to one of the extreme high-altitudecomplications. With the weather still nasty, wecould not even send his mortal remains downto the Base Camp. Hence, his remains were keptwith us in our tent.

Now, you can imagine the situation — bliz-zard outside, no movement possible, rationsdown to a bare minimum, the mortal remainsof our colleague with us in the tent and most

importantly, we were completely cut offnot only from the battalion at BaseCamp but also from our families andloved ones. In those days, we had nomobile phones or SAT phones to stayconnected with our families or enter-tain ourselves to while long hours ofboredome away. We knew that if any-thing happened to us, nobody couldhelp because it was just not physicallypossible to do that. And we still hadabout two months more of our sched-uled tenure to complete. We, therefore,had to be at our mental and physicalbest.

Can there be any greater form ofisolation than what we went through in1992? However, we overcame all chal-lenges and came out successful. At theend of our tenure, my men and I de-inducted without another casualty.

So, what kept us going?As I look back, first, it was our will

to overcome all challenges. We knewthe gravity of the situation but never letit affect us adversely. It only strength-ened our will-power and our cama-raderie grew as our difficultiesincreased.

Second, our strong belief that ourorganisation was firmly with us. Iused to talk to my CommandingOfficer once a day (who was in theBattalion headquarters at the Base) andwe both knew that, physically, it wasimpossible to help us in that situation.But his reassurances were enough forme and my men to know that whenev-er it would be possible, they would doanything to help us.

Third was planning for the even-tuality. Though I never expected the sit-uation to turn out the way it did, I didexpect disruptions due to the weather.Accordingly, we had prepared mental-ly and I had controlled the rations. Itwas because of this planning that we

could last out with our “one-tablespoonrice meal a day.”

Fourth, resolute leadership.Personal example had to be set by doingexactly what everyone else was expect-ed to do, including having the samerations, irrespective of rank. Also, suchextreme conditions needed certainprecautions, otherwise, within hoursone could lose a limb or one’s life. Onesuch example was that after you wentout (even to relieve yourself, even if fora few seconds), it was mandatory towash your feet in warm water oncoming back. Not doing so would resultin frost-bite. I observed the initial signsof frost-bite on one soldier who was notadhering to the directions. When Inoticed his lackadaisical attitude on thesecond day, I had to literally kick him.It saved his limb and life in the end.

Lastly, one had to find inner peace.Once a day we would collectively prayand sing hymns — out of tune, rusticbut from the heart. My lifeline was myWalkman and a cassette of AnupJalota’s bhajans. The batteries of theWalkman were the most precious andI used to keep them in the inner pock-et of my down-feather jacket which weused to wear 24x7. The body temper-ature kept the batteries alive, otherwisewithin hours they would have got dis-charged in such weather conditions.There is one thing I still have to do —to thank Anup Jalota for my life.

All the soldiers of my Companyhave since retired but even now, thesebrave soldiers enquire about my welfareover a phone call and that makes myday.

Old soldiers are supposed to “fadeaway.” I was happy doing that afterretirement — participating in some vol-untary events and diligently listeningto my wife. However, today, the coun-try is facing an extraordinary situation

and I thought I must share my storywith my countrymen/women, especial-ly in relation to isolation.

All the factors that made us comeout successful from our tenure in theglacier, exist in our country today. Ourstrong will-power, which we have dis-played many times under different cir-cumstances and during wars, exemplaryleadership and the organising capabil-ity of our country and our deep spiri-tual understanding, irrespective ofwhichever religion or faith we follow.

The isolation that we will face nowis much simpler as compared to whatwe experienced in the glacier. Today,with so many facilities available, this isan opportunity to spend quality timewith family, to read, to catch up on var-ious hobbies, to contemplate and tomeditate.

We also need to care about thoseaffected by the virus and their families,within the permitted rules. We need nothug them physically but can show themour sympathy in any feasible mannerso that we can share their trauma.

As I understand, the challenge isnot going to end soon and therefore, wehave to bank entirely on our capabili-ties to see us through — our examplewill be followed by the world.

As the situation improves, which,with our engaged commitment I’m cer-tain it will, we, of course, need to lookinwards. There could be many, but Iwould like to focus on two aspects —first, nature versus virtual world andsecond, “The world has enough foreveryone’s need but not enough foreveryone’s greed.”

Does that sound familiar? It isgoing to be a longish battle.....and wewill win.

(The writer is a retired militaryveteran and former Director-

General of the National Cadet Corps)

A blizzard that lasted 45 days, depleting rations for the soldiers and the remains of acolleague in the same tent. This is what it means to be isolated in the Siachen Glacier

analysis 07F I R S T C O L U M N

Out-of-the-boxsolutions needed

SHRUTIBHUSHAN

BASUCHANDOLA

The current crisis has somewhat highlighted theneed to incorporate edutech within the

mainstream education system

ANIRUDDHA CHAKRAVARTY

THE ISOLATIONTHAT WE

WILL FACENOW DUE

TO THECORONAVIRUS

OUTBREAKAND THE

RESULTANTLOCKDOWN

IS MUCHSIMPLER AND

EASIER ASCOMPARED TO

WHAT WEEXPERIENCED IN

THE GLACIER.TODAY, WITH SO

MANYFACILITIES

AVAILABLE, THIS IS AN

OPPORTUNITY TO SPEND

QUALITYTIME WITH

FAMILY, TO READ, TO

CATCH UP ONVARIOUS

HOBBIES, TOCONTEMPLATE

AND TO MEDITATE

In a desperate bid to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandem-ic, Governments across the world have taken many drastic steps.Several countries, including India, have opted for a complete lock-

down, mandating the closure of schools, offices and universities alike.In India, even prior to the countrywide lockdown, several StateGovernments had issued notifications for the closure of universitiesto prevent the spread of the virus among students. As all the univer-sities and colleges across the country are closed, a significant ques-tion arises regarding the continuation of education. A large number ofstudents are being affected in the midst of the semester with uncer-tainty about the time of re-opening of these institutions of higher edu-cation.

However, it is essential to minimise educational disruptions as theimpact of the same is long-lasting. Difficult times like these requireinnovative solutions. Even the Central Government has acknowledgedthe same and issued a “COVID-19 Solution Challenge” wherein peo-ple have been asked to share technology-driven resolutions for the prob-lems thrown up by the outbreak. Thousands of firms across the coun-try are also adopting technology to enable their staff to work from home.A similar approach has been taken by schools and universities, whichare using technology to facilitate the learning process of the studentsfrom the safety and comfort of their homes/hostels.

While institutions like Delhi University, Jamia Millia Islamia and theIndian Institute of Mass Communication are taking classes online andalso making study material available to students on a weekly basis tomaintain continuity in the learning process, some universities are try-ing to conduct online classes and to replace in-class assessmentswith online ones. Others, like the Amity University have also shiftedthe entire post-graduate curriculum online while others are using microgroups on WhatsApp and e-mails to send materials to the students.Many universities including the OP Jindal Global University have madethe remote access of their e-resources available, thereby allowing theirstudents to undertake research from home. Several other universitiesare also under the process of developing mechanisms to offer remotelearning opportunities, alternative assessments and extensions.

Despite the initiatives being undertaken by the universities to pro-mote online classes, there are several issues which need immediateattention. The success rate of conducting such classes is contingenton openness to new technology and the availability of infrastructureacross the country. Online classes require persistent connectivity whichmay also be an area of concern. Furthermore, not all courses can betaught completely online and subjects involving practical pedagogy mayinvolve fieldwork which cannot be completed at home. Furthermore,apps and tools such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom have experiencedoutage across Europe due to an increased number of users.

Technology has the potential to completely alter the education sec-tor. According to a report by KPMG, the Indian online education indus-try will grow from 1.6 million users in 2016 to 9.6 million users by2021. The importance of the online education industry has grown mul-tifold in the past few months and innovative education solutions arethe need of the hour. However, online education and edutech in Indiaare still not a part of the mainstream education system for the mostpart. It is necessary to introduce capital and investments in this sec-tor to integrate edutech with mainstream education.

In the recent years, esteemed universities like Harvard, Stanford,Yale and Oxford have been providing online courses accessible all overthe world through platforms such as EdX, Coursera and Udemy. Similarly,in India, the Department of Higher Education has undertaken the NationalMission on Education through Information and CommunicationTechnology to leverage the potential of ICT in providing the best infor-mation accessible to all learners in the country, free of cost. Underthis mission, initiatives such as the National Online Education PlatformSWAYAM and the National Digital Library have been developed. SWAYAMoffers interactive online courses for students, which are prepared bythe best teachers in the country and are available, free of cost to anylearner. The National Digital Library, on the other hand, is designed tohold content of any language and provides interface support for lead-ing Indian languages. The access to SWAYAM and other Digital Initiativeshas tripled in the last one week.

It is in adverse times like these, the mettle of a nation is tested.The Indian Government should be applauded for its hard work in keep-ings its citizens safe. However, once the situation is under control, thefocus must be shifted to develop overall infrastructural capacities tofacilitate edutech.

The digital initiatives, which were always considered secondaryto the traditional education systems, are now at least being consid-ered as an alternative. The current crisis has somewhat highlightedthe need to incorporate edutech within the mainstream education sys-tem.

(Bhushan is a Senior Research Assistant and Chandola is ResearchAssistant at OP Jindal Global University. The views expressed are per-sonal)

Is the Opposition supporting theNarendra Modi Government’sefforts to contain the

Coronavirus pandemic in the coun-try? Is the Government doingenough?

One should not raise eyebrowsif the Opposition parties in thecountry do not praise the UnionGovernment’s efforts though theyare forced to give support reluctant-ly. Even in the United States (US)despite the pandemic outbreak andthe Government’s efforts to combat

it, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hasaccused President Donald Trumpof “playing politics” with the virusoutbreak to which the latterresponded by calling her “incompe-tent.” The Speaker hit back saying,“Lives are at stake. This is not a timefor name-calling or playing politics.”What both said applies to Indianpoliticians also.

While Prime Minister Modihas shown his leadership qualitiesby persuading the people to observea one-day “Janta (people) curfew”and has successfully taken it forwardby putting the entire country undera 21-day official lockdown, theOpposition thinks that theGovernment is not doing enough.

This was evident during the cur-tailed Parliament session when theOpposition raised questions on theGovernment’s tackling of the pan-demic. In fact, even running thesession became difficult as theOpposition wanted it to be curtailed

in view of the outbreak and thesocial distancing that theGovernment was advocating forthe public. The Opposition accusedthe Modi Government of ignoringthe threat that the Coronavirusposed to the health of the Membersof Parliament and running theHouse in order to install a BJPGovernment in Madhya Pradesh.

How has the Congress, themain Opposition party dealt withthe issue? While the party has beencareful to avoid any antagonisticpublic posture at a time when thenation faces a war- like situation, ithas stressed certain key issues.Though delayed, Congress chiefSonia Gandhi wrote to PrimeMinister Modi, pledging her party’ssupport to the national lockdown,adding that she also had certain sug-gestions.

In her letter, Gandhi had urgedthe Centre to consider announcingsector-wise relief packages, includ-

ing tax breaks, interest subvention,deferment of liability, extra measuresfor migrant labourers and the unor-ganised sector workers.

Sonia has also asked theCongress chief ministers to gear upfor the situation and the Congresshas activated its All India CongressCommittee (AICC) general secre-taries, Pradesh Congress Committee(PCC) presidents, legislature partyleaders and heads of frontal organ-isations to help people.

Former Congress chief RahulGandhi, who was critical Modi’s wayof handling the pandemic, on March28 pledged his personal support tothe Prime Minister in a letter butalso appealed for a nuancedapproach. He urged the PM tocome up with a safety net for thepoor and a road map with a time-frame.

Congress leaders, who spoke ina shriller voice earlier, now speak ina muted tone. They are saying, “We

are with you but…!” Within hoursof Rahul Gandhi declaring his sup-port, party spokesman AbhishekManu Singhvi came out with ascathing criticism of the lockdownand the plight of about one croremigrant workers. “You have height-ened the nerves of the people of thisnation because of your unprepared-ness,” he said. It is the same withother Opposition leaders, be itMamata Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan,Sitaram Yechuri, Mayawati or DRaja. The BJP, however, has gearedup its machinery along with the fullsupport of the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

What is heartening is that theState Governments and the Centreare working in tandem in tacklingthe pandemic. Cooperation betweenthe Centre and the States fortunate-ly continues at the official level andhealth is one such area where Stateshave never withheld their cooper-ation. Interestingly, it is the region-

al parties and leaders who havetaken the lead in the fight against theCoronavirus. Most non–BJP ruledStates supported the “Janta curfew.”Chief Ministers like Naveen Patnaik,KC Rao, Jagan Mohan Reddy, EPalaniswami and Arvind Kejriwalhave responded positively to Modi’sinitiatives. These regional satrapshave come up with their own reliefmeasures. While, West Bengal ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeeannounced a `200-crore fund totackle the disease, Kerala’s Vijayanhas announced a ̀ 2,000 crore finan-cial aid plan. At the State level, too,the Opposition parties in theirrespective regions have offered towork with the Government, exceptfor a few States like Tamil Nadu.

All this goes to show that thecollective political will that is need-ed to deal with a critical stage in thetransmission of the virus, is by andlarge there in the country. India isfacing an unprecedented challenge,

which affects each State, each eco-nomic sector, each business and thehealth of each family. What do thepeople of India want? They are look-ing to a genuine leadership bothfrom the Government and theOpposition. The Opposition, too,has the responsibility to come upwith policy options and theGovernment must also listen to it.Together, they should be able tocope with the unprecedented pan-demic. Both should not fail the peo-ple at a time like this. Indeed theOpposition is within its rights to askquestions about the Government’sreadiness and its response and theGovernment, too, is duty-bound toremain accountable. Both shouldkeep aside their political agenda asthe priority is dealing with thepandemic. Therefore the responseshould be reflected in politicalunity.

(The writer is a senior journalist)

Time for the Govt and the Opp to work unitedlyThe Opposition is within its rights to ask questions about the Government’s readiness and the Government, too, is duty-bound to remain

accountable. Both should keep aside their political agenda as the priority is dealing with the pandemic

KALYANI SHANKAR

HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 1, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

HYDERABAD | WEDENSDAY | APRIL 1, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

CIL arm SECLstriving relentlesslyto produce coal tomeet power

Europe sendsmedical gear to Iranthrough firstsanction-bypassBERLIN: European nationshave delivered medical goodsto Iran in the first transactionunder the Instex mechanismset up to evade Americansanctions on Tehran, theGerman foreign ministry saidTuesday. "France, Germanyand the United Kingdomconfirm that INSTEX hassuccessfully concluded its firsttransaction, facilitating theexport of medical goods fromEurope to Iran. These goodsare now in Iran," the ministrysaid in a statement.

REC contributes Rs150 cr to PM CARESfundNEW DELHI: State-run REC onTuesday pledged Rs 150 croreunder PM CARES fund to fightagainst COVID-19. "RECLimited... has pledged todonate Rs 150 crore to thePrime Minister's CitizenAssistance and Relief inEmergency Situations (PMCARES) Fund to supportIndia's fight againstcoronavirus", a PFC statementsaid. Besides, the one-timecontribution to the newly-formed emergency fund,REC's employees willvoluntarily contribute oneday's salary to the PMNRF.REC is committed toparticipating in corporateIndia's response to COVID-19through funds, communitywelfare plans and throughleveraging its expertise to offerassistance, the company said.

Centre asks states to ensurenormal functioning of banksPNS n NEW DELHI

The Centre has asked all statesand Union Territories to ensurenormal functioning of banksand ATMs during the lock-down period as the Rs 27,500-crore financial packageannounced under the PrimeMinister Garib Kalyan Yojanawill be disbursed in comingdays.

In a communication to chiefsecretaries of all states andUnion Territories, UnionHome Secretary Ajay Bhallasaid many state governmentshave issued instructions forreduced working hours ofbanks, functioning of limitednumber of branches, restric-tion on movement of person-nel related to filling cash inATMs and their maintenanceamong others.

He however, said smoothbanking operations and relat-ed activities across the countryare essential.

Further, the central govern-ment has announced a finan-

cial package under the PrimeMinister Garib Kalyan Yojanaunder which approximatelyRs 27,500 crores are going to bedisbursed during this weekand in the coming weeks to thetargeted public through bank

branches, ATMs and businesscorrespondents (BCS), Bhallasaid.

In view of these facts, thehome secretary said, necessaryinstructions may please beissued by the state govern-

ments and Union Territoryadministrations to their fieldfunctionaries to ensure thatbank branches remain func-tional.

"Cash management andmaintenance agencies of ATMsare allowed, banks are permit-ted to remain open and func-tional for extended workinghours, if necessary, on March30 and 31 for their annual clo-sure and government busi-ness.

"Local district/state/policeadministrations are in pre-paredness to coordinate withbanks during the disburse-ment of money to the peoplecovered under PM GaribKalyan Yojana," he said in theletter sent on Monday.

Banks, ATMs including ITvendors for banking opera-tions, bank correspondent andATM operation, and cashmanagement services havebeen exempted under theguidelines on the lockdownmeasures issued under theDisaster Management Act.

Banks, ATMs including IT vendors forbanking ops, bank correspondent andATM op, and cash management havebeen exempted from lockdown

PNS n MUMBAI

With many getting paymentreminders, confusion prevailsamong borrowers, term-planinvestors and credit cardhold-ers over the implementation ofthe three-month moratoriumon all loan repayments amiddisruptions caused by the coro-navirus outbreak.

As part of measures to alle-viate hardships faced by peo-ple, the Reserve Bank, onMarch 27, announced a slew ofsteps, including a three-monthmoratorium on loan repay-ments.

Many borrowers, creditcardholders and mutual fundinvestors have received SMSesfrom their lenders remindingthem that they need to main-tain sufficient balance on thedue date. Among others, suchmessages have been receivedby people who have takenpersonal, auto and home loans.

An SBI Cards customerfrom the city received an SMSon Sunday asking him to paythe minimum balance for pay-ment on the annual charge

even though the person is yetto activate his credit card.

On Saturday, a NaviMumbai homemaker whohas a monthly investmentplan from ICICI Lombardreceived a message askingher to maintain the EMIamount in the bank account.

On Sunday, her husband gota call from his insurancebroker regarding paymenttowards a plan taken fromHDFC Ergo.

An American Expresscredit card customer from thecity also received a paymentreminder on Monday.

Future GeneraliIndia announcesrelief grant for‘active' agentsPNS n MUMBAI

Non-life insurance companyFuture Generali IndiaInsurance on Tuesday said itwill give a relief grant of Rs50,000 each to its 'active'agents, if they or their imme-diate family members aretested positive for COVID-19. The company said themove is aimed at supporting'active' agents who are work-ing amid the coronavirusoutbreak.

"While the world is dealingwith the COVID-19 pan-demic, our agents have beeninstrumental in creatingawareness and getting somany people insured so thatin the time of need, they aretaken care off. So it's our turnnow to take care of them," thecompany's managing directorand CEO Anup Rau said ina statement.

Many borrowers, credit cardholders andmutual fund investors have receivedSMSes from their lenders remindingthem that they need to maintainsufficient balance on the due date

PNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensexsurged over 1,028 points on thelast day of the 2019-20 fiscal onTuesday, led by gains in ener-gy, financial and FMCG stocksamid recovery in global peerseven as the number of Covid-19 cases continued to mount.

The 30-share BSE barome-ter settled 1,028.17 points or3.62 per cent higher at29,468.49.

Similarly, the NSE Niftyrose 316.65 points, or 3.82 percent, to close at 8,597.75.

ITC was the top gainer inthe Sensex pack, rallying over7 per cent, followed byReliance Industries, ONGC,Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra,Sun Pharma and SBI.

On the other hand,IndusInd Bank plunged near-ly 15 per cent. Maruti, BajajFinance and Titan were theother laggards.

According to traders,

domestic investors turned pos-itive amid rebound in globalpeers as most Asian bench-marks ended higher on recov-ery in China's manufacturingduring March as authoritiesrelaxed anti-disease controlsand allowed factories toreopen.

Bourses in Shanghai, HongKong and Seoul ended up to 2per cent higher, while Tokyo

closed in the red.Stocks in Europe were also

trading on a positive note inearly deals.

International oil benchmarkBrent crude rose 3.60 per centto USD 27.37 per barrel infutures trade.

On the currency front, therupee appreciated marginallyto 75.54 against the US dollarin intra-day trade.

Coronavirus:Pak approvesRs 1,200 bnrelief package PNS n ISLAMABAD

Pakistan has approved a Rs1,200-billion relief package todeal with the growing coro-navirus crisis in the countryas COVID-19 cases rosesharply, claiming the lives of25 people and infecting over1,800.

The package was approvedby the EconomicCoordination Committee(ECC) in a meeting chairedby Adviser to the PrimeMinister on Finance DrAbdul Hafeez Sheikh onMonday.

It now awaits a formal nodfrom the Cabinet led byPrime Minister Imran Khan.

Radio Pakistan reportedthat the meeting of theCabinet, chaired by PrimeMinister Khan, was inprogress here.

Samsung, LG to provide kits to hospitalsPNS n NEW DELHI

To help authorities and peopleincrease preparedness againstCovid-19, electronic majorsSamsung and LG have pledgedto offer products and protectiveequipment like surgeon gown,face masks, glove, refrigerators,water purifiers, among others,to hospitals.

LG Electronics India onTuesday said it has also part-nered with Akshaya PatraFoundation to sponsor onemillion meals to migrantlabourers and daily wage work-ers, who are struggling amidthe 21-day lockdown in thecountry.

"With the rise in confirmedcases of COVID-19, LG hastaken a pledge to supportIndia's fight against the pan-demic. LG is committed tooffer active support to peoplein need in this current situa-tion," it said in a statement.

LG Electronics India willdonate products like waterpurifiers, air conditioners,

refrigerators and TVs to thehospitals for theirquarantine/isolation wards,covering 50 state and districthospitals across the country.

Samsung India, on the otherhand, will provide preventivekits to hospitals, which includesa surgeon gown, face mask,gloves, preventive eye wear,hood cap and shoe cover.

It will also provide infra-redthermometers and publicaddressal systems that can beused by the authorities at hos-

pitals and other facilities, alongwith air purifiers in medicalfacilities.

The India unit of Samsungsaid it will also support localpolice by providing cookedfood packets to local commu-nities around its manufactur-ing facility.

"Samsung is committed towork together with the peopleof India in this hour of difficul-ty. Over the last few days, ourteams have engaged round-the-clock with various govern-

ments, local authorities, andhealthcare professionals to pre-pare a broad and meaningfulstrategy to win this battletogether,” Samsung India in astatement.

COVID-19 infection, whichoriginated in Wuhan in China,has spread across the worldand claimed around 34,000lives. Countries like SouthKorea, Spain, Italy, Iran and theUS have been badly hit.

In India, the total number ofCOVID-19 cases has risen to1,251, while the death tolltouched 32. To combat thespread, the government hadannounced a 21-day lockdownthat ends on April 14.

Corporate India has beenrushing in to help the govern-

ment and citizens fight thecovid-19 pandemic in India.Tata Trusts & Tata grouptogether have pledged Rs 1,500crore - by far the highest byany corporate. RelianceIndustries chief MukeshAmbani has also committed afurther Rs 500 crore to thePrime Minister's COVID-19fund, topping up over themulti-crore initiative of India'sfirst coronavirus hospital,meals to the needy, and fuel toemergency vehicles.

Infosys Foundation, thephilanthropic arm of Infosys,has committed Rs 100 crore,while a number of other com-panies are also extending sup-port efforts towards fightingCOVID-19 in India.

LG Electronics India on Tuesday said ithas also partnered with Akshaya PatraFoundation to sponsor one millionmeals to migrant labourers and dailywage workers

‘Completeallocatedexports of redsanders’PNS n NEW DELHI

The Commerce ministry haspermitted the Andhra Pradeshgovernment and Directorate ofRevenue Intelligence to com-plete exports of allocatedquantities of red sanders woodby December 31.

"Government of AndhraPradesh and the Directorate ofRevenue Intelligence havebeen allowed up to December31, to complete the process ofexport of respective allocatedquantities of red sanderswood," Director General ofForeign Trade (DGFT) hassaid in a notification.

The wood is an endan-gered species protected underthe Convention ofInternational Trade inEndangered Species of Floraand Fauna. It is illegal to pos-sess and sell the same.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Vodafone Idea on Tuesdayannounced extension of valid-ity on prepaid plans availed bylow income customers usingfeature phones till April 17,and Rs 10 talktime credit tohelp such users stay connect-ed during the lockdown tocontain coronavirus pandem-ic.

Telecom operator BhartiAirtel on Monday hadannounced an extension in thevalidity period of more than 8

crore pre-paid connectionsuntil April 17 as well as cred-ited talk time of Rs 10 in theseaccounts.

State-owned telecom oper-ators BSNL and MTNL toohave announced they willextend validity period of theirprepaid mobile services tillApril 20 and offered Rs 10additional talktime even afterzero balance, to enable users,especially poor and underpriv-ileged, to stay connected dur-ing the 21-day nationwidelockdown.

PNS n NEW DELHI

India's Youngest and fastestgrowing tractor brand,Sonalika Tractors has come upwith yet another measure inthe midst of the prevailingcoronavirus pandemic.Furthering its people-firstapproach and offering ser-vice delight to its customers,the company has announcedextension of warranty on itstractors by 3 months for thecustomers whose warranty isscheduled to lapse in the peri-od of March, April and May2020.

Speaking on the initiative,Mr. Raman Mittal, ExecutiveDirector, Sonalika Group, said,“At this crucial time, we standcommitted to support thefarming commu nity and havetaken optimal measures tostay responsive during these

tough situations. We shall behonouring extension of war-ranty by 3 months consideringthe circumstance of pandem-ic where customers are sup-posed to be homebound. Ourtoll free number is functionalwith limited resources."

It announcedextension ofwarranty on itstractors by 3months for theexisting customers

Sonalika Tractorsextends warranty

PNS n NEW DELHI

Employees of SBI havedonated Rs 100 crore to thePrime Minister's relief fundto fight the coronavirus pan-demic.

The countr y 's largestlender in a statement said itsaround 2,56,000 employeeshave decided to contributetwo days' salary to the PMCARES Fund.

With this collective effortand commitment of SBI

employees, Rs 100 crore willbe donated to the Fund, itadded.

"It is a matter of pride forState Bank of India that allour employees voluntarilycame forward to pledge theirtwo days' salary to the PMCARES Fund. We at SBIwould keep continuing oursupport to the government inall its endeavours to addressthe challenges of this pan-demic,” SBI ChairmanRajnish Kumar said.

SBI staff commits Rs 100 cr for PM fund

PNS n NEW DELHI

Realty firm Unity Group,which has four shoppingmalls in the national capital,will not charge rent for themonth of April worth Rs 10crore, to provide relief to itsretailers and other merchantsaffected by the nationwidelockdown.

Unity Group has exemptedall merchants at its ‘UnityOne' malls and ‘Vegas' mallfrom paying rent for a month,said Harsh Bansal, Director,Unity Group and PrathamGroup.

"The total rent waiver willbe about Rs 10 crore," he toldPTI.

Unity Group has more than300 retailers in various loca-tions of Delhi includingDwarka, Rohini, Janak Puriand CBD Shahdara.

"Due to this coronaviruspandemic, retail sales andfootfall of commercial prop-

erties are gravely impacted atthis initial stage itself, theretail sector became an instantvictim as soon as the intensi-ty of the coronavirus spreadbecame known.

"We will continue to doeverything we can to supportthe retailers and maintainbusiness continuity until thecrisis ends," Bansal said.

Since 1996, Unity Grouphas delivered more than 15Million Sq Ft across 150 realestate projects across Delhi-NCR. It is developing a lux-ury housing project at KarolBagh here.

Sensex rallies 1,028 pts; energy,FMCG stocks soar

PNS n NEW DELHI

The RBI is likely to cut bench-mark interest rate by another100 bps in 2020-21 fiscal andcontinue to employ all policytools at its disposal to supportgrowth and financial stabilityto contain the impact ofCovid-19 pandemic on theeconomy, Fith Solutions saidTuesday.

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) cut benchmark repur-chase (repo) rate by 75 basispoints and its reverse repur-chase rate by 90 basis pointsat an emergency meeting onMarch 27, bringing the ratesto 4.40 per cent and 4.00 percent, respectively, from 5.15per cent and 4.90 per cent,previously.

In an outlook for India'sinterest rates, Fitch Solutionssaid an easing of inflation

back within the RBI's 2-6 percent target range will provideroom for the RBI to easemonetary policy further overthe course of the year to sup-port the economy.

"We at Fitch Solutionsexpect the central bank to cut

its policy rates by another100 bps by end-FY2020/21(April-March) as well as con-tinue employing all policytools at its disposal to supportgrowth and financial stabilityas the economy gets severelyhit by the Covid-19 pandem-

RBI may cut interest rates by100 bps in FY21: Fitch Solutions

Confusion prevails overthree-month moratorium

NEW DELHI: Coal India armSECL on Tuesday said it isstriving relentlessly to producecoal to meet the powergeneration requirement of thenation grappling with thecoronavirus pandemic. AnSECL official said coalproduction is crucial at thistime when hospitals acrossthe country are being used totreat corona-affected people."SECL is striving relentlessly inproducing coal to meet thepower generation requirementof the country," the officialsaid. Moreover, manufacturersof face masks, sanitisers,ventilators, other medicalequipment, medicines requiredfor the treatment, needuninterrupted power supply,he added. "In its effort to meetthe energy requirement of thecountry, SECL has producedrecord one million tonne (MT)of coal in a single day onFriday, highest ever, by anycompany till date," the officialsaid. The company is alsosensitive in fighting againstcoronavirus. It is contributingfunds under CSR to variousdistricts, in its command area,he added. Coal India (CIL)accounts for over 80 per centof domestic coal output.

Unity Group exemptsmerchants at its malls

The RBI cut benchmark repurchase(repo) rate by 75 basis points and itsreverse repurchase rate by 90 basispoints at an emergency meeting

Vodafone, Idea offersprepaid validity extension

hile the Coronaviruspandemic hasforced people to stayindoors, it did bringout the artist, poet,

designer, musician and artistin a lot of people.

Capitalising on the freetime that most people have asa result of the quarantine,Inampudi Shreelaxmi, arenowned Telugu poetess andfounder of Telugu WomenWriters Forum, namedAksharayan, encouragedTelugu poets to make themost of this time to write,record and send in theirpoems centered around thetheme ‘Coronavirus’. She thencollated and put them up ona YouTube channel called‘Return Gift 2 Corona’.

As quirky as the namesounds, Shreelaxmi stum-bled open this idea afterTelangana Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao, duringone of his speeches, askedpoets to use art to createawareness among citizens. Itwas then that she formulatedit with help from HarikrishnaMamidi, director, depart-ment of language and culture,Telangana and started thechannel.

The YouTube channel haspoems by over 250 poetsfrom across the two Telugustates of Telangana andAndhra Pradesh. Thesepoems speak on variousissues concerning the virus,including precautions, calls toadhere to the lockdown, asense of gratitude that thevirus brought with it for thethings we have left,humourous take on COVID-19, among others.

The initiative is a first of itskind effort in the WorldLiterary Front, as it is a digi-tal dais, where poets from dif-ferent places come togetheron one platform to presenttheir work.

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

WednesdayApril 1, 2020

yderabad-based sculptor and home baker Radha Dhakais making the most of her expertise in sculpting to bakebeautiful bust cakes. She is better known for sculptingpeople on whichever cake is ordered. Apart from herwork being published in the International Cake Masters

Magazine, she has also managed to secure a place for herselfamong the top 10 cake artists of India.

Speaking to The Pioneer, Dhaka says, “I’ve been in this fieldfor more than 30 years now, but started making bust cakes only10 years ago. I decorated many cakes for my children, fami-ly and friends. As a sculptor I thought, why not make my art-work on cakes to make them more beautiful.”

When asked how she learnt the art of sculpting people oncakes, she replies, “I took no formal course, but taught myselfby watching videos on YouTube. I started baking cakes for

birthdays, wedding anniversaries and other functions forpeople.” Good reviews for Dhaka’s work began spreadingby word of mouth who, then, began receiving formal ordersfrom customers.

Speaking on why bust cakes have become a huge demandnow, she shares, “People are always intrigued by the newestwork in the market. I capitalised on that and went withflow.” But what about the competition from big cake mak-ers? Dhaka informs that most bakeries in Hyderabad havevery limited varieties of cakes. That’s when her creativity

comes in. “These bust cakes are a hit because they havea surprise element to them. Also, we use quality ingre-dients for our products and prepare them under hygien-

ic conditions, hence the good word about our work,”she adds.

Dhaka is also a hot favourite among celebrities in town.“These cakes take time to make given the perfection

they demand. For celebrities, I source their picturesfrom the internet, others send me their pictures. Ihave received tremendous response from celebritiestoo, for my work,” she gushes.

On her work being featured in the InternationalCake Masters Magazine, Dhaka credits social mediafor her work having reached the jury’s eye.

“I keep posting my work on various social mediaplatforms. Since I was connected to the bakingcommunity on social media, my works reachedto the International Cake Masters Magazinemembers,” she informs.

Dhaka has now taken up the task of teachingother women the art of baking to help them

become financially independent. She conducts var-ious workshops in the city when she finds time, to

help women hone their skills of baking.

Listed amongIndia's top 10 cake

artists, RadhaDhaka's work ofsculpting people

on cakes has madeher a name toreckon with,

amongHyderabadis,

especiallycelebrities. The

Pioneer's V SATEESH

REDDY, speaksto the star,

whose workrecently

featured in theInternational

Cake MastersMagazine

Telugu poets rise to the

occasion

Bhadrachalam Kavi

J Padmavathi

Jalaja Rani

Dr S Suvarna Devi

W

yderabad-based actressPranavi Manukondaentered the film indus-try as a child artistthrough movies like

Routine Love Story, UyyalaJampala, Tripura, andSavyasachi. She bagged theNandi award for Best ChildArtist in the film UyyalaJampala. It was only later thatshe began taking up roles in TVserials like Bharyamani andPasupu Kunkuma.

Pranavi’s first lead role camefor the serial Evare Nuvvu,Mohini in Zee Telugu. She iscurrently working for the seri-al Ganga Manga.

NANDI AWARDPUSHED ME TO DO BETTER...

The 28-year-old was alwaysinterested in acting ever sinceshe was a child. She says, “I lovecinema since my childhood anddecided what I want my careerto be right then. Fortunately, myparents were very supportiveand encour-aged me,”Pranavi informs.“I loved dancingand practicedand per-formed a lot.That’s how Igot noticedand wasoffered amovie. TheNandi awardpushed me todo better,” she adds.

TELEVISION ENTRY...After acting as a child artist in

a few films, she began gettingoffers to work in serials. Sheshares, “I worked for serialslike Bharyamani and PasupuKunkuma as a child artist. Formy lead role in Evare NuvvuMohini, I received a tremendousresponse for my acting skills.Right now I’m playing Ganga’scharacter in the serial GangaManga. Ganga belongs to atribal community who lives in awealthy house,” she reveals.

LOVE MY CHARACTERSO DEARLY...

She is also receiving positivereviews for her role from senioractors in the television fraterni-ty. She adds, “When I go out, theaudience ask me questions about

what’s going happen the next. I love it when they bless me and love my character so dearly.”

OPEN TO DO FILMS...Pranavi is also open to work-

ing in films. “I have been receiv-ing offers, but nothing concretehas taken shape because of mytight schedule. But I am definite-ly looking forward to them,once I’m done with my commit-ments,” she assures.

On being asked if she has afavourite, she replies, “I’vealways looked up to Savitri garu.I’m also a huge fan of SamanthaAkkineni’s acting. These two aremy inspiration.”

IMPACT OFSERIALS...

Pranavi also talks about theimpact her serials have on peo-ple because women are shown inpoor light, thanks to their neg-ative roes.

“Serials are not real stories andit’s all fiction. Yes, in most of theserials, women are the ones who

don negative roles, but Idon’t think it has any

impact on people,because they knowit’s not real,” shetells us. “Serialsare all about enter-taining the audi-ence and I per-sonally wouldwant to appeal to

people to not takeour roles seriously,” she adds.

AUDIENCE TRAVELWITH US...

On various serials competingagainst each other on OTT plat-forms, Pranavi says, “Audiencealways travel with serials. OTTplatforms create tough competi-tion in urban areas. But in ruralareas, people always love towatch serials on TV, as a family.”

LOVE FORHYDERABAD...

Not surprisingly, Pranavi lovesthe Hyderabadi biryani. Sheinforms, “My family belongs toTadepalligudem of WestGodavari district, but I was bornand brought up in Hyderabad. Ilove the culture and traditions ofthe city, especially the biryani,”she signs off.

In an exclusiveconversation with

V SATEESH REDDY,television actress PranaviManukonda talks abouther interest in acting

since childhood,receiving the Nandi

Award as a childartist, impact of

TV serials onpeople, love

for Hyderabadand more

‘DO NOTTAKE OUR ROLESSERIOUSLY'

‘DO NOTTAKE OUR ROLESSERIOUSLY'

‘DO NOTTAKE OUR ROLESSERIOUSLY'

‘DO NOTTAKE OUR ROLESSERIOUSLY'

‘DO NOTTAKE OUR ROLESSERIOUSLY'

H

out of the

BOX

Radha Dhaka

NOT JUST APIECE OF CAKE

H

10

Hyderabad Wednesday April 1, 2020 health

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

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

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

Yesterday’s solution

our stuck at home and ifyou havent figured out aroutine to keep you saneas yet, youre probablyturning to more ciga-rettes then you normally

do.But here’s what you should know,

smoking has many side effects oneof which is the impact on your throatand vocal cords, thus affecting yourvoice. At first you may notice some-thing is amiss when your normalvoice gets a little bit husky. Soon youmight find it develops a lot ofcroaking when you try to speak up.

Dr Atul Kumar Mittal, Director &Head of Department of ENT, Fortis,Memorial Research Institute,Gurugram reveals the details onSmoker’s Voice.

The hoarse raspiness you hear andfeel is what one calls as Smoker’sVoice. Smoker’s voice, typically,refers to a gradual reduction of thepitch of the voice, where the voicecan become masculinised. Theeffects are mostly perpetual becauseof changes in the structure of thevocal fold. The most significantway to protect your voice is to neversmoke or to stop smoking.

Everything we inhale passes rightacross the vocal cords. Our voice isa result of the vibrations caused bythe vocal cords. Ease in these vibra-tions result in a smooth, naturalvoice. These sensitive and delicatevocal cords can adversely react toirritants like allergens, dry air, dust,chemical odors, smoking, reflux, etc.

The burning end of a cigarettereaches a temperature of about9,000 C. The lighting of a cigarette

generates the energy for releasingconstituents such as nicotine, flavourand aroma compounds. However,the chemical reaction created by theheat along with the cigarette com-ponents gives rise to many harmfulsmoke constituents. The tar andother irritants in the smoke causesswelling and other reactions on thecover of the cords.

The most obvious effect of tobac-co consumption, through cigarettesmoking or otherwise, on the voiceis the transition to more severe tones.The human voice is formed by a suc-cession of vibratory cycles, and themore cycles per second a voice has,the sharper it is, and the fewer cycles,the more severe. The more cigarettesare smoked, the more the number ofcycles decreases. While nonsmokershave voices with an average of 206cycles per second, the voice of thosewho smoke half a daily package goesdown to 199 cycles, and reaches 183cycles in those who smoke morethan 10 cigarettes a day, valuesclose to the masculine ones.

Smoking causes irritation of thethroat. The chemical component ofsmoke exerts a continuous irritating

action on the vocal cords and itsadjacent structures. This causes theinner space of the vocal cordsknown as vocal folds to fill withphysiological fluid, leading toincrease in thickness. Hence, theyvibrate more slowly and irregularly,and produce a more severe andharsh voice. If the irritation contin-ues, what is a simple discomfort canturn into an edema or swelling,which in many cases requiressurgery.

Repeated, long-term smokingcauses tissue damage leading tocancer. Cancer can develop in thelarynx or voice box. Laryngeal can-cer can spread to other parts of thebody such as the back of the tongueand lungs. Smokers are more at riskof premature death caused by laryn-geal cancer than non-smokers. It hasbeen clinically proven that whendoctors referred their patients withhoarse voices (not caused by upperrespiratory infections) lasting morethan 2 weeks on to the E.N.T. spe-cialists for a look at the voice, thestage at which throat cancers werediscovered dropped significantlycompared to those who were notreferred on, and survival ratesincreased.

Quitting smoking is one of thebest decisions one can make for one’shealth. People who smoke are atgreater risk of having illnesses suchas cancer and heart disease.However, giving up smoking canreduce your risk and put you on apath to better health. Someone hasrightly said, “Smoking is an answerto the most existential question:How are you going to die.”

Y

THE TAR AND OTHERIRRITANTS IN THESMOKE CAUSESSWELLING AND OTHERREACTIONS ON THECOVER OF VOCAL CORDS

SMOKINGWAY TOO MANY

CIGARETTESDURING

LOCKDOWN?

reathing has direct relation toones mental health; and it can beeasily ascertained if a person isin anxiety or in peace just by fol-lowing their breathing pattern.

When in confined spaces ordealing with anxiety in lockdown, if youfocus on your breathing, it will help you man-age the anxiety. It starts right from our res-piratory system as we observe the sound ofour breathing while inhaling and exhaling.

Sudhanshu Rai Life Coach andMotivational Speaker shares some key tipsto keep you both physically and mentallyrelaxed. The following exercises can play animportant role in managing anxiety while athome during a lockdown:

ANULOM VILOMSit calmly and in a straight posture, balanc-

ing the shape of the spine. Make use of thethumb and ring finger to control the process.Use alternate breathing process, i.e. Inhalefrom one nose and exhale from the other.Breathing must be slow and steady. Follow theprocess for at least 10 minutes. While inhal-ing or exhaling, observe the air flowingthrough your nostrils and reaching organs.

BREATHING WITH THE WORD OM

Sit and take a deep breath. Make the voiceof om through the open mouth and pull airfrom the navel in the first phase. May thesound as long as possible. Repeat the processagain while pulling air from the chest andthen from the throat. This should be prac-tised thrice for each phase.

RELAXED BREATHINGSit or lie down and follow your breathing

normally. Just make the process normal withno sound of breathing. Keep the focus onyour breath while inhaling or exhaling.

COVID-19:Focus onbreathing formentalwellbeing

B

WHEN IN CONFINED SPACES ORDEALING WITH ANXIETY INLOCKDOWN, IF YOU FOCUS ONYOUR BREATHING, IT WILLHELP YOU MANAGE THEANXIETY

Hyderabad Wednesday April 1, 2020

11

tollywoodWas skeptical aboutplaying a bold role in Sin:

fter impressive out-ings in GeorgeReddy and therecently releasedPalasa 1978, actorThiruveer is now

receiving rave reviews for histurn in aha’s original Sin. Asocial drama about domesticviolence and marital rape, theshow, directed by Babu BagaBusy fame Naveen Medaram,also features Deepti Sati andJeniffer Piccinato. Thiru isnaturally on elated with thereception. “The role’s purposehas been achieved as people aredisgusted with me, so much sosome felt like assaulting andkilling me. I’m also happy forthe fact that we’ve discussedthe issue that we’ve set out toachieve, in a sensible way,” hetells us in an interview.

In the show, the actor playsAnand, an employee with thesocial welfare department whohas two faces. While he comesacross as a nice and innocentguy to his colleagues, the otherside shows him abusing hiswife and disrespecting herwishes. “Anand doesn’t evensee wrong in an affair outsidemarriage and his mother sideswith him. He is an educatedignorant,” he informs, addingthat the script helped him tounderstand pressing issues likedomestic violence and sexualabuse in depth. “In fact, assomeone who has a post-grad-uation degree, I got to know

about marital rape as I startedgoing through the script pageslast year. I still doubt if manypeople know a thing about it.At the risk of not making ageneralised statement, Anandrepresents many men out inthe society.”

Continuing in the samevein, he goes on, “After I gavea successful audition for therole, I was skeptical aboutplaying a bold role. Soon after,the makers handed over methe one-line order of the script.There is a fine line betweenboldness and vulgarity and Ifeared that if I associate withthe latter, I will get stereotypedand will be branded as cheap.Plus, these are my early days inthe industry. However, thescript cleared all my miscon-ceptions. The role was differ-ent to my previous turns andI felt I can enjoy while playingit. I placed my trust in thewhole team.”

A theatre arts student, Thirunever dreamt of acting aspira-tions begin with. Growing up,he just didn’t want to associatewith a mechanical life like

most people around him. “AsI started looking for otheravenues to make a career, Irealised my interest in actingbecause it offered me thechance to be a different man inevery second film. I used toread actors profiles in newspa-pers while pursuing studiesand understood that that thereis a theatre arts course. One ofmy friends suggested me toenroll in Telugu Universitytheatre programme and I didthat. The programme helpedme to overcome my inhibitionslike speaking with people.However, I’m still an introvert.If I don’t have work, I’d ratherbe at home. I don’t think I canmake an eye contact with a girlstill, which is why my friendswere shocked to see my boldturn in Sin. Some even won-dered whether it’s me,” helaughs wide.

Things are looking bright forthe actor up next. “Whatworked in my favour is that Ihad George Reddy, Palasa 1978and Sin release with in a spaceof five months. People andindustry personalities havestarted taking a notice of me.My next is with PriyadarshiniRam. It’s a mystery thriller andI play a key role in it. I’m alsoin the process of singing somemore films,” he states, addingthat as long as a role engageshim-even its duration is fiveminutes-language is not a bar-rier to him.

The GeorgeReddy actorspeaks toNAGARAJGOUD aboutaha’s originalSin, his role thatrepresentsmany men outin the society an more

A CCC receives more donations

ctor Nara Rohith, whohas been missing inaction for nearly twoyears, will be donatingRs 10 lakh each toCMRF of both Telugu

states in their battle against coron-avirus. That’s not all. The actor hasalso announced Rs 10 lakh toCorona Crisis Charity (CCC),which is aimed at providing reliefto daily wage employees of theindustry.

Sundeep Kishan too announceda contrinution of Rs 3 lakh to CCC,while simultaneously assuring thathe will take care of 500 plus employ-ees working at his VivahaBhojanambu chain of restaurants inHyderabad. Actors Saptagiri and CVenkata Govindara pledged todonate Rs 2 lakh each respectivelyto CCC. Majili producers Sahu andHarish Peddi announced a contri-bution of Rs 5 lakh. Actor Nikhilwho recently donated masks andsanitary kits to doctors has now

come forwardto donate

hand sani-tizers toc o p sdeployed atv a r i o u sparts ofHyderabad.

A

SUNDEEP KISHANANNOUNCED ACONTRINUTION OFRS 3 LAKH TO CCC,AMONG OTHERACTORS LIKE NIKHILAND NARA ROHITH

fter Shilpa Shetty recreated Allu Arjun’shook-line step from Buttabommarecently impressed by its choreography,its Disha Patani who is now floored bythe stylish star’s dancing prowess.Taking to her Instagram account, the

Bollywood bombshell posted a video of the viralhit song Buttabomma from AlaVaikunthapurramuloo and tagged Allu Arjunasking him, “@alluarjun how do you do it”.Prompt in his response, the actor replied, “I lovemusic. Good music makes me dance. Thankyou for the compliment.” Awestruck, Dishareposted it with her reply, “Thank you for inspiring all ofus”.

This is not the first time Disha has expressed her fond-ness for the Allu boy who is her favourite Telugu star. Fiveyears ago, she said she would not miss an opportunity towork with him, even if it means special appearance along-side him in a special song in his film. “I am a huge fanof Arjun. I admire him so much that I would not mindsharing screen space with him in a song. I am sure theexperience of working with him even in a song willbe amazing because he is a great dancer, too,” Dishahad said back then.

Wonder if they would come together for a film inthe future.

Disha flooredby Bunny'sdance moves

A

ays after we’ve reportedthat Awe fame PrasanthVarma is making a film onCovid-19, comes newsabout another film on thepandemic and the damage

it caused and is continuing to do so.Titled Vishwak, the film, directed bydebutant Venu, will examine whyIndians studying abroad are transport-ed back to the country in aircrafts andwhy labour force who migrated to met-ropolitan cities for a better future aremade to walk on roads to reach theirvillages. “Indian daily wage workerswho help to build India have opted towalk hundreds to miles to reach theirdestinations, with some still strugglingto cross the state borders. The film willexamine these two different sections of

the society in a dramatic fashion,” themakers said. T Anandam and Balakrishan are joint-ly producing the film under GoldenDuck Productions, while P Satya Sagaris composing the music. The teaser ofthe film will be released on April 3.

avi Chavali, who directed filmslike Samanyudu, Victory andDaggaraga Dooranga amongothers, is staging a comebackwith a web show. While detailsabout the show are sketchy, we

hear it’s a thriller and is being produced bySri Sathyasai Arts chief KK Radhamohan,who produced Chavali’s last notable filmPyaar Mein Padipoyane.

A source said, “The show is being madefor web platform aha which is looking toincrease its original content. Allu Aravindentrusted the production responsibilities toRadhamohan after coming to know that theproducer shoots the film in budgets. Theshow was in the final stages of completionwhen Covid1-19 outbreak hit it.”

R

Ravi Chavali and Radhamohanteam up again

D

Another film onCoronavirus damage

THE FILM WILL EXAMINE WHYINDIANS STUDYING ABROADARE TRANSPORTED BACK INAIRCRAFTS AND WHY LABOURFORCE WHO MIGRATED TOCITIES ARE MADE TO WALKON ROADS TO REACH THEIRVILLAGES

THE SCRIPT HELPEDHIM TO UNDERSTANDPRESSING ISSUES LIKEDOMESTIC VIOLENCEAND SEXUAL ABUSE INDEPTH

THIRUVEER

sport 12HYDERABAD | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 1, 2020

PTI n HOBART

The experience of 15,000Test runs between Steve

Smith and David Warnerwill certainly giveAustralian batting unit aformidable look when theytake on India in a four-match series at the end ofthe year, feels skipper TimPaine.

Under Paine, Australiafor the first time in 71 yearslost a home Test seriesagainst India 1-2 in the2018-19 bilateral contest.However, Smith andWarner were then in themidst of their ball-tam-pering suspension and theteam was in a transitionphase.

“This is a differentteam, no doubt their teamwill be slightly different aswell, but it’s two high qual-ity teams, a really anticipat-ed series purely because ofthe quality of cricket, notfor what’s happened before.India and Australia as arivalry, it’s a series a bit likethe Ashes that we all lookforward to,” Paine wasquoted as saying byCricbuzz.

Not only the seasonedduo but the extremely tal-ented Marnus Labuschagnealso adds the necessarydepth that the batting unitdidn’t have last timearound.

“I think you put in15,000 Test runs with twoguys alone, Steve Smithand David Warner, MarnusLabuschagne’s come on inleaps and bounds and he’snow a top three or fourbatsman in the world him-self.

“You put that amountof runs into a cricket side,last time we didn’t have ...We know how good India’sbowling line-up is and lasttime we just weren’t quitegood enough if we’re total-ly honest against thatattack, whereas this time Ithink we’ll be a differentkettle of fish. We’ve got

three of the best batsmen inthe world in our top six,”the captain said.

Matthew Wade playingpurely as a batsman also isan advantage, opinedPaine, who will continue tokeep wickets. “MatthewWade back firing adds areal toughness to it, TravisHead improved a lot sincehe played India last time.So I think it’s going to be anexciting series, there’s nodoubt about it.

“The batting line-upson show are going to be asgood as you will see, it’sgoing to be exciting for fansand it’s going to be whohandles (the pressure), weknow the conditions overhere are going to offer thequicks something and Ithink it’s going to be awe-some to watch, so I can’twait to play in it,” he said.

AFP n JOHANNESBURG

The South African team will require six weeks ofpreparation before embarking on any tours,

Cricket South Africa’s acting director of cricket,Graeme Smith, said on Tuesday.

With South Africa in official lockdown until April16, Smith said in a video media conference that theplayers needed to take responsibility for maintain-ing their fitness while at home but would also needto work on cricket skills as a group before touring.

“We have to review the situation every week,” hesaid, “but we estimate we would need around sixweeks before any tour.”

South Africa are due to tour Sri Lanka in earlyJune for three one-day internationals and three T20Is.

Smith’s timetable would appear to make the tourunlikely to happen. It would mean a lifting of trav-el bans as well as the current lockdown ending asscheduled for the tour to take place.

South Africa’s next engagement is aTest and T20 tour of the West Indies,scheduled to start on July 15, whichwould require a return to normalactivity in South Africa by the end ofMay.

Former Test captainSmith seems set to beappointed to a perma-nent role.

“We are in finalnegotiations and hopeto make an announce-ment next week,” saidacting chief executiveJacques Faul.

Faul said it wasimpossible to estimatewhen normal cricketactivities wouldresume but said CSAhad budgeted for andhad the capacity topay nationally-con-tracted and franchiseplayers through the2020/21 season.

KARACHI: Pakistan head coach andchief selector Misbah-ul-Haq has sug-gested extending the time span of theICC World Test Championship withthe COVID-19 pandemic bringing allcricketing activities to a halt andpotentially throwing the interna-tional schedule haywire.

“I just think that all teams mustget equal opportunities in the cham-pionship even if matches are resched-uled,” he said during a video confer-ence with the media on Tuesday.

“Whenever cricket resumes allteams should get equal opportunityin the ICC World Test Championshipto try to play in the final. The tour-nament can be extended beyond2021,” he said.

According to the original sched-ule, the inaugural competition runsfrom 2019-2021.

Misbah also said that if teamsdidn’t get equal opportunity to playin the championship, results wouldnot be fair.

The ICC has indicated that itwould talk to member boards to finda solution to the matches of the cham-

pionship which will be hit by the pan-demic and one option which will bediscussed would be awarding pointsfor cancelled matches.

“The tournament should beextended that is my view. That is theonly way we can find and end theevent in a balanced way. Matches canbe rescheduled if the event is extend-ed,” he said.

After the Test against Bangladesh,Pakistan’s next assignment of C’shipis a Test series in England in July.

Misbah said since that series wasvery important, he had already askedall the players who are in isolation tokeep working on their fitness and alsostudy the strengths and weaknessesof the England team.

“I have been in touch with mostof the players including centrally con-tracted players…even trainer is intouch with them…we are givingthem and sending them plans accord-ing to their equipment at home toremain in shape as a team.

“I want the physical condition ofplayers to be what is required in Testwhenever cricket resumes,” he said.

Misbah said this was the besttime for Pakistan to do its homeworkfor the series in England and analysetheir players. PTI

IANS n NEW DELHI

With the coronavirusoutbreak bringing theworld to a standstill,

sporting events across the worldhave either been postponed orcancelled and the Board ofControl for Cricket in India(BCCI) is now looking at theOctober-November window tohost the 13th edition of theIndian Premier League (IPL).But the move can only be pos-sible if the ICC decides to post-pone the mens T20 World Cupthat is to be held later in theyear.

Speaking about the possibil-ity, a BCCI official said thatwhile there have been talkswith regards to hosting the IPLin the October-November win-dow, it will only be possible ifthe World T20 to be played inAustralia from October 18 toNovember 15 is postponed.

“At present, there is a lock-down of borders and whileAustralia has said it is a poten-tial six-month lockdown, thingscan change with an improve-ment in the scenario. UK couldfollow the same pattern consid-ering the spread of the pandem-ic. We are still to understandwhat the Indian governmentwill decide with regards to clos-ing the international borders. Insuch a scenario, the only win-dow that looks safe is theOctober-November one. Butagain, that collides with the T20World Cup.

“So, if the ICC does goahead and decides to postponethe T20 World Cup due to thecurrent scenario, only then wecan look at the October-November window becauseeven if a six-month borderclosedown is ordered by every

country from say now, it endsby the start of October. Butagain, for that, the spread of thecoronavirus needs to be stoppedand things must come underhuman control. In short, therewill have to be a lot of maths,”the official said.

“Again, it would be the laststep for the ICC to push the T20World Cup from 2020 to 2022because there is no window in

2021. So, at the moment, it is alla bit too far-fetched to be hon-est. But yes, the October-November window has beenspoken about for the IPL, but alot of external factors need tofall into place for that to becomea reality.”

However an ICC officialmade it clear that the T20World Cup is still on as plannedand there have been no talks of

a postponement. “There havebeen no talks of any postpone-ment to the World T20 that isto be held in October andNovember this year,” the officialsaid.

Cricket Australia chiefKevin Roberts had earlier saidthat he was hoping that the T20World Cup could be played asper schedule in normal circum-stances.

PTI n NEW DELHI

The Badminton WorldFederation (BWF) on

Tuesday decided to freeze theworld rankings, saying stand-ings as on March 17 will be thebasis for entry and seedingswhen it restarts the internation-al calender that has beenthrown haywire owing to theCOVID-19 pandemic.

There was a clamour forfreezing the world rankingswith Indian shuttlers SainaNehwal, B Sai Praneeth,Parupalli Kashyap and H SPrannoy leading the way inexpressing their concerns.

“The Badminton WorldFederation (BWF) canannounce it will freeze WorldRankings and World JuniorRankings until further notice.The freezing of rankings will bebackdated to Week 12, which is

the week following the lastinternational tournament thatwas played — the YONEX AllEngland Open 2020,” BWFsaid in a release.

“The ranking lists issued on17 March 2020 will serve as a

basis for entry and seedinginto the next international tour-naments — although it is diffi-cult to say at this stage whenthis may be.”

Shuttlers in the singlescompetition have to be inside

top-16 of world rankings toqualify for the Olympics. Thecut-off for doubles is also top-16.

The BWF had suspendedall tournaments post the AllEngland Championships untilApril 12 due to the pandemicand said due to the current sce-nario the next set of tourna-ments will also be suspended.

Many international stars,including Saina and Kashyap,had suggested that the qualifi-cation period for the TokyoOlympics be extended in lightof tournaments getting can-celled.

The governing body said itwill start reviewing the Olympicqualification system but a deci-sion will take several weeks.

NEW DELHI: The All India FootballFederation (AIFF) remains hope-ful of organising the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup inNovember despite the COVID-19pandemic causing cancellation andpostponement of sporting events.

The optimism stems from theseven months’ time that the organ-ising committee has at its disposalto prepare for the top age-grouptournament.

Everything, though,depends on world football gov-

erning body, FIFA, AIFF gener-al secretary Kushal Das said.

“FIFA will take a call on this,they are keeping a track of all the

developments and we will see howit goes,” Das said.

He agreed that there is quite abit of time left for the tournament.

“Yes, there is still a lot of timeleft and we will wait and watch thedevelopments in the coming time,”he said.

The World Cup is scheduled tobe held from November 2 to 21with matches to be played in NaviMumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad,Bhubaneswar and Guwahati.

Das is aware that the Europeanand African qualifiers for the tour-nament are yet to take place.

FIFA is also working with rep-resentatives of all confederations

regarding dates for their respectivequalifying tournaments.

Last week, FIFA said it is mon-itoring the developments arising outof the COVID-19 pandemic in

India, while also exploring “alter-native solutions”.

Sixteen teams will take part inthe World Cup, of which only threehave sealed berths so far. PTI

AFP n LONDON

England Test captain JoeRoot has said watching the

first few episodes of a docu-mentary about the Australiancricket team has been a “moti-vator” ahead of the 2021/22Ashes Down Under.

The Test charts Australia’sprogress from the low of the2018 ball-tampering scandalin South Africa through to thehigh of retaining the Ashes ina drawn series in England lastyear after the hosts and even-

tual champions beat them inthe World Cup semi-finals.

The largely well-receiveddocumentary has also beenaccused of being a publicrelations exercise givenCricket Australia had editor-ial control.

But with cricket suspend-ed worldwide because of thecoronavirus pandemic, Rootdecided to take a look.

“I’ve only got to the startof the World Cup, so we’ll seehow the rest of it unfolds,” hetold reporters in a conference

call on Monday.Root, while acknowledg-

ing the importance of theWorld Test Championship,made clear an Ashes series inAustralia remains the acid testfor an England cricketer.

Under his leadership,England were beaten 4-0 inthe 2017/18 Ashes.

But Root said the threatposed by the likes of fastbowler Mark Wood, man-of-the match in the fourth Testvictory against South Africa,added an X-factor toEngland’s attack.

“We’ve seen in SouthAfrica that has played a part,it has found us a way to take20 wickets in foreign condi-tions.”

Turning to top-order ris-ing stars Dom Sibley & OlliePope, Root added: “If we cankeep putting experience intoa number of the young battersas well, give them game time,then we’re starting to build ateam that has confidence,experience, is ready and hard-ened for the challengesAustralia will throw at us.”

NEW DELHI: The Indian women’sU-17 football team’s Swedishcoach Thomas Dennerby willleave for home on Wednesday asthe training has been stoppeddue to the 21-day lockdown.

Dennerby and compatriotfitness coach Per Karlsson willfly back home on a flightarranged by the Swedish govern-ment for their citizens in India.

“Yes, head coach Dennerbyis leaving for his home inSweden tomorrow. There is notraining now and the playershave left for their homes,” AllIndia Football Federation

General Secretary Kushal Dassaid Tuesday.

The experienced 60-year-old Dennerby was appointed asthe head coach of the Indianwomen’s U-17 team inNovember last year. He hadguided the Swedish women’snational team to a third-placefinish in the FIFA Women’sWorld Cup in Germany in 2011and a quarterfinal spot in the2012 London Olympics.

Asked when Dennerby islikely to return, Das said, “Hewill come back once he is ableto train the players.” PTI

NEW DELHI: Confined to their hostelrooms at NIS Patiala amid the coron-avirus-forced lockdown, some ath-letes, led by Hima Das, have request-ed the sports ministry to allow them totrain outdoors within campus, whichis out of bounds for outsiders right now.

Deputy chief national athleticscoach Radhakrishnan Nair, who is sup-porting the move, said that the Hima-led campers at the National Institute ofSports (NIS) are expecting a reply fromthe ministry in a day or two.

“Hima and some other athleteshave written to the Sports Minister thatthey be allowed to train one or twohours a day in small groups at differ-ent times so that they can also practicesocial distancing while training at thesame time,” Nair said from Patiala.

“They have asked Rijiju that they

be sent home if no training is allowed. “The ministry will not allow them

to go back home but this outdoor train-ing idea is feasible. We will know aboutit in a day or two,” he added.

Nair said he and other coaches havesupported the idea as there is no riskof any camper contracting the dread-ed coronavirus as nobody is coming inand going out of the facility.

“We have 41 athletes at NIS and thetrack and field area is just 50m from thehostels. We can have small groups sayeight athletes each and only one groupwill train at a time for one or two hours.

“All the athletes of a group will notdo running or throwing together, onewill run alone and finish it and thenanother will run after him. This way wecan practice social distancing and besafe,” the top athletics coach said. PTI

Smith not lone optionfor Test captaincyIANS n SYDNEY

Australias Test skipperTim Paine isn’t get-

ting any younger at 35,but the captain has madeit clear that former skip-per Steve Smith isn’t theonly guy in fray to takeover when the wicket-keeper calls it a day.

“We’ve got a numberof guys to choose fromwho can put their handup. There’s Steve Smith,who’s done it before, orthe people who are devel-oping underneath like aTravis Head or an AlexCarey — MarnusLabuschagne and PatCummins are other ones.

“We’re starting tobuild some real depth sothat when my time’s upwe’ve got a number ofoptions,” Paine toldreporters.

Smith is free to cap-tain the national teamagain after his captaincyban came to an end onSunday.

IPL IN OCT-NOV IF T20 WC IS POSTPONEDNo IPL, no salaryconcerns for franchisesNEW DELHI: No play, no pay.This could well be the fate of play-ers, who have signed up for thisyear’s IPL, which has been post-poned and seems unlikely to goahead unless BCCI figures analternate window.

“The system of IPL pay-ments is that 15 per cent is paida week before the tournamentstarts. 65 per cent more is paidduring the tournament. Theremaining 20 percent is paidwithin a stipulated time after thetournament ends,” a senior offi-cial of an IPL franchise said.

“The BCCI has specificguidelines. Obviously, no playerwill be paid as of now,” he added.

Another franchise officialclarified that salaries of players arenot insured for a pandemic.

“We willnot get anymoney frominsurance com-pany as pandem-ic is not coveredin the clause.Each franchisehas salary

overheads ranging between `75to 85 crore.

How can we pay if there’s noaction,” he asked. “From PremierLeague, La Liga, players are tak-ing pay cuts. Also there is no cer-tainty anywhere as to whenthings will get normal,” the offi-cial, who has been part of at leastIPL 10 editions, added.

Both of them said in unisonthat BCCI needs to see what canbe done even though they under-stand that the parent body standsto lose close to `3000 crore.

“It’s not just the Dhonis andthe Kohlis who will be affected.Surely they would feel the pinchbut for many first-timers, the ̀ 20,40 or 60 lakh is serious life-chang-ing money after all the hard work.Hope BCCI has a plan in place,”he said.

BCCI treasurer ArunDhumal, however, said

that at present,there hasn’t

been any dis-cussion aboutpay cuts. PTI

World Test C’ship durationshould be extended: Misbah

Pakistan coach Misbah-ul-Haq PCB/Twitter

The Test motivates Root for Ashes

Proteas set deadlines for tours Hima writes to Rijiju foraccess to outdoor training BWF freeze rankings

AIFF hopeful of organising FIFA women’s U-17 WC in Nov Swedish Govt arranged flightto take Dennerby home

David Warner and Steve Smith train during Aus practice session AP

Smith, Warner presence will giveAus edge: Paine on India series