Narendra Modi@narendramodi

CM K. Chandrashekar Rao hasexpressed deep shock overthe Visakhapatnam gas leakage

incident. Terming it as unfortunate, Hon'ble CM offeredcondolences to the bereaved families. CM wished forthe speedy recovery of those fell sick due to the gas leak.

K Chandrasekhar Rao@TelanganaCMO

I’m shocked to hear about the#VizagGasLeak . I urge our

Congress workers & leaders inthe area to provide all necessarysupport & assistance to thoseaffected. My condolences to thefamilies of those who haveperished. I pray that thosehospitalised make a speedyrecovery.

Rahul Gandhi@RahulGandhi

@TheDailyPioneer facebook.com/dailypioneerFollow us on:

MONEY 8‘EXODUS OF MIGRANT WORKERS TOIMPACT INDUSTRY, FARM SECTORS'

ANALYSIS 7WHAT OF RIGHT TO

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EVERYONE ELSE: DHONI

HYDERABAD, FRIDAY MAY 8, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

www.dailypioneer.com

Spoke to officials of MHA andNDMA regarding the situation inVisakhapatnam, which is beingmonitored closely. I pray foreveryone’s safety and well-beingin Visakhapatnam.

}{

RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

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*LATE CITY VOL. 2 ISSUE 207*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

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Current Weather ConditionsUpdated May 7, 2020 5:00 PM

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Month & Paksham:Paush & Shukla PakshaPanchangamTithi : Pratipada: 01:01 pmNakshatram: Vishakha: 08:38 amTime to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 10:37 am – 12:12 pmYamagandam: 03:23 pm – 04:59 pmVarjyam: 12:17 pm – 01:44 pmGulika: 07:25 am - 09:01 amGood Time: (to start any important work)Amritakalam: 09:03 pm – 10:31 pmAbhijit Muhurtham: 11:47 am – 12:38 pm

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President of India@rashtrapatibhvn

Spoke to officials of MHA andNDMA regarding the situation inVisakhapatnam, which is beingmonitored closely. I pray foreveryone’s safety and well-beingin Visakhapatnam.

The incident in Vizag isdisturbing.Have spoken to theNDMA officials and concernedauthorities. We are continuouslyand closely monitoring thesituation.I pray for the well-being of the people ofVisakhapatnam.

Amit Shah@AmitShah

# VizagGasLeak

Tragedy in red zone area leaves doctors worriedPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

As if the Coronavirus pandem-ic was not enough, the toxic gasthat leaked from the LGPolymer plant in Vizag, theindustrial and financial hub ofAndhra Pradesh, has createdeven more troubles for a peo-ple that has been struggling tocope with the lockdown overthe last 43 days.

However, what worries doctorstreating the victims is the areawhere the incident was most

intense — Gopalpatnam —which is a containment zone as

it has been affected by Covid-19positive cases. “We don’t know

if any of the victims here isinfected. This morning, like anavalanche, victims were beingrushed to various wards here inambulances, cars and even ontwo-wheelers. We did not havetime to put on protective gear.

We do not have PPEs availablehere because we don’t treatCovid-19 patients here. Wesimply had to jump in to savethe victims,” said Dr Adarsh atKGH’s Rajendra Prasad Ward.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Chief Minister Y S JaganmohanReddy on Thursday announcedan ex- gratia payment of Rs 1crore each to the kin of thosekilled in the styrene gas leakincident at LG PolymersLimited near here.

The NDRF had put thedeath toll from the leak at 11.He later told the media thatcompensation of Rs 1 crorewould be given to the kin ofthe deceased.

Wondering why the alarmbell did not go off when the

gas leaked from the tank at thecompany, which is an MNCfrom South Korea, the ChiefMinister said all those whoundergoing treatment withthe help of ventilators will begiven Rs 10 lakh compensa-

tion, for those who are hospi-talised an amount of Rs 1 lakhwould be given and for thosewho are given primary treat-ment will get compensation ofRs 25,000.

CM announces Rs 1 cr ex gratia

Victims recallharrowing experiencePNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The survivors of LGPolymers Chemical unit gasleak recalled their harrowingexperience on the events thatunfolded during the weehours of Thursday.

The poisonous gas leakedfrom the chemical unit andenveloped the people in deepslumber. Inhaling the toxicgas, many became indisposedwhile others, who were in a

state of utter confusion, camerunning onto roads while oth-ers still dropped unconsciouson the streets. The officialsrushed all the indisposed dueto inhaling the gas from theunit to KGH. A woman whois recovering in the KGHsaid, “I thought I was going todie. I do not understand howI survived the leak. In fact,nobody is able to comprehendwhat is going on around them.

No permission givento LG Polymers,says Industries GMPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The general manager ofDistrict Industries Centre onThursday stated that no per-mission was accorded to LGPolymers to resume produc-tion, which was stopped withthe commencement of lock-down. It may be noted here thatthe industries must take per-mission from the AndhraIndustries department toreopen the plants after thelockdown was eased keeping inview the collapsing economy.

The plant officials, howev-er, claimed that the prepara-tion to reopen was underwayand not manufacturing.

General manager, MRamalinga Reddy told mediaon Thursday soon after theincident that the managementhad applied for permission forresuming the operation but itwas turned down.

The DIC allowed a bareminimum of staff for mainte-nance work. The managementagain made a second attemptafter lockdown was eased afterMay 4 but not granted.

The AP Pollution ControlBoard official said they gave

NOC in 2017 and 2019 for twoproducts and they were stillvalid. However, VisakhapatnamWest TDP MLA PVGR Naidu,under whose constituency thefactory runs, told this corre-spondent that the manage-ment submitted a letter to thedistrict collector intimatinghim that the company wasstarting its production.

“It was only intimation andnot permission to start the fac-tory,’’ the MLA pointed out.

Police book case Jagan wonders whyalarms did not ringPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Officials of LG Polymers metChief Minister YSJaganmohan Reddy onThursday at the Visakhapa-tnam airport lounge andappraised him of the factorsthat led to the gas leak at thefactory in RR Venkatapuramin Vizag. While stating that theincident was most unfortu-nate, the Chief Minister toldthe LG Polymers officials thatthe state government hasordered a probe and that strin-gent action would be initiatedfor failure or lapses in takingsafety measures.

He also informed the com-

pany officials that a high-level committee was constitut-ed to investigate the factorsthat led to the gas leak. Thefuture course of action willdepend on the outcome of thereport, CM told the company’sofficials.

SUMIT ONKA n VISAKHAPATNAM

Horrors of the Bhopal gastragedy returned onThursday with death takingpeople in their sleep andsome fainting due to leakageof toxic gas styrene fromSouth Korean giant, LGPolymers India PrivateLimited’s plant at RRVenkatapuram inGopalpatnam, just 8-kmfrom Vizag airport.

Recounting the horror, thevictims say the incidentoccurred around 2.30 am whenthey were in deep slumber.

At least 11 people diedand 318 of those affectedare undergoing treatment atvarious hospitals till the lastofficial report came in. Theactual number of thoseaffected is yet to be ascer-tained. LG Polymer manu-factures polystyrene. APPollution Control Boardofficials confirmed that thegas leaked was Styrene. InBhopal tragedy, the leakedgas was methyl isocyanate(MIC) while it isEthenylbenzene (C8H8) inVizag which comes undercategory 4 given the risk.

After the lockdown in

view of the pandemic wasrelaxed partially to restartthe economy, preparation toreopen the plant was under-way after 40 days of closure.The city woke up to seehundreds of residents faint-ing at random within aradius of 5 km from theplant.As the gas spread,those residents who couldmake sense of the goings-on ran out of their homesin panic. Distressing imagesof people fainting and drop-ping unconscious on thestreets started being sharedon social media.

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

The Telangana governmentshould allow industrial unitsthat use toxic gases for theiroperations to reopen in the statepost lockdown only after thor-ough inspection by the author-ities and certification by thede-partment of factories that theconditions relating to the fac-tories, machinery andsafetymeasures are satisfactory.

The gas leak in LG's plant onThursday in Vizag took placereportedly when the factorywas being restarted followingrelaxation of lockdown. Thisfact comes as a wake-up call forTS, considering that hundredsof such units are functioningacross the state almost undersimilar conditions.

Vizag gas tragedya wake-up call n Aren't there 'ticking bombs'in TS too?

n Hundreds of polymer units,especially in MSME sector,areoperating in GHMC limits

n Many of them are located indensely populated areas

n The need of the hour isassessment of the condition ofmachinery and safety measuresin place in all such units to avertVizag-type tragedies in TS

PNS n HYDERABAD

A total of 15 fresh Covid-19positive cases were report-ed in TelanganaonThursday. This comprises12 persons from areasfalling under GHMC limitsand three cases pertainingto migrants.With this, thetotal number of positivecases in Telangana till datehas increasedto 1,122.

TS reports 15 newcorona cases

n The US Agency for ToxicSubstances and DiseaseRegistry records that workersexposed for four hours to 800parts per million – 1,80,000times higher than background– experienced nasal irritation.The levels required to killadults and buffaloes outsidethe fence-line is bound to beincredibly high.

n The Hazardous ChemicalsRules, 1989, stipulate exactingconditions for storage ofchemicals like styrene. Clearly,laws without enforcers are asgood as no laws

CM told the LG Polymersofficials that the stategovernment has ordered aprobe and that string-entaction would be initiatedfor failure or lapses intaking safety measures.

Chief Minister said all those who undergoingtreatment with the help of ventilators will be givenRs 10 lakh compensation, for those who arehospitalised an amount of Rs 1 lakh would be givenand for those who are given primary treatment willget compensation of Rs 25,000.

However, what worries doctors treating the victimsis the area where the incident was most intense —Gopalpatnam — which is a containment zone as ithas been affected by Covid-19 positive cases.

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Gopalapatnam police onThursday booked cases underrelevant Sections of the IPCagainst LG Polymers for leak-age of Styrene gas that result-ed in death of 11 persons andleft hundreds of people ill.Based on the complaint filedby MV Subba Rao, the VillageRevenue Officer ofVenkatapuram, Gopalapat-nam police registered a caseagainst LG Polymers.

The police said cases havebeen registered under Sections278, 284, 285 of IPC (dealswith the negligent act ofrelease gas obnoxious to air)Section 337 and 338 of IPC(rash and negligent act lead-ing to injuries) and Section304(2) culpable homicide notamounting to murder.

Major gas leak at LG Polymers leaves 11 dead 20 critical, 360 hospitalised in port city

Toxic sstyrene ggas lleaks ffrom tthe LLG PPolymers llocated iin RRR VVenkatapuram vvillage, iin VVisakhapatnam oon TThursday.

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SAM TAKES ACTING LESSONS

FROM HELENMIRREN

Children who fell victim to the gas leak are shifted to hospital in an ambulance inVizag city on Thursday.

Gas leak victims fall down on afootpath as passersby attempt to helpthem in Vizag on Thursday.

Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy consoles an elderly man undergoing treatment at the KGH in Vizag on Thursday.

Citizens carry gas leak victims on their shoulders in an attempt to reach ahospital instead of waiting for ambulance in Vizag on Thursday.

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HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | MAY 8, 2020 hyderabad 02

PV KONDAL RAOn WARANGAL

With no fresh Corona positivecase reported from the districtsacross the state, life in the ruralareas limped back to normal-cy. Business activity hasresumed in major towns andcities.

Except in Warangal urbandistrict, Suryapet and Gadwaldistricts, almost all the districtsin the south and northTelangana witnessed a nearnormal life from Wednesday.The absence of public trans-port system and the operationof eateries was certainly visible,but since the three wheelersand auto rickshaws started toply on the roads again, the hec-tic movements of public is evi-dent in the towns like Jangaon,Karimnagar, coal belt cities andmining areas of the region.

There is an almost normalactivity in Nalgonda,Mahbubnagar, Medak,Siddipet and Khammam townson Thursday and the farm sec-tor in particular in these areasis taking part in their normalactivities on a large scale. Themigrant labour stranded in the

towns like Warangal have beenfound abuzz enrolling theirnames with the police sta-tions in their respective partsin order to secure berths inKarmik Express trains relayingthem to their native places.

The normalcy of course istermed eerie silence by themedical professionals and theyare observing the present sea-son of relaxation as a testingtime for many. The govern-ment might have announcedthis relaxation in order to testthe herd immunity of the pub-lic but if any outbreak occurs

all of a sudden, no one can bein a position to stop the occur-rence of positive cases,observed a senior Pediatricianin Warangal city.

'The reopening of liquorshops may ultimately prove theturning point. It may prove aboon or a bane in the next fewdays and if the cases increase,there would not be any scopeto overcome the challenge.That's why the scare is stilllooming large on the faces ofmiddle class people, who con-tinue to follow lockdownrestrictions.

Normalcy returnsacross districts

PNS n HYDERABAD

Finance Minister T HarishRao has released Rs 1,200crore for crop loan waiverscheme. He directed the offi-cials concerned to deposit thesame in the accounts of thefarmers immediately. On theother hand, the FinanceDepartment also releasedRythu Bandhu amount for'Vanakalam' season.

Finance and AgricultureDepartments' joint reviewmeeting was held on Thursdayat Aranya Bhavan. FinanceMinister T Harish Rao andAgriculture MinisterSingireddy Niranjan Reddyparticipated in the meetingalong with the officials of boththe departments.

On the occasion, HarishRao and Niranjan Reddy

directed the officials concernedto deposit Rs 1,200 crore in theaccounts of 6.10 lakh farmers,whose loans are under Rs25,000. The Ministers said thatthe loans of the farmers, whohave more than Rs 25000 andless than Rs 1lakh, would becleared in four phases. Theysaid that they took all necessary

steps in this regard.While conducting review

meeting on Vanakalam RythuBandhu help, Finance MinisterHarish Rao said that hisdepartment released Rs 7,000crore for the Vanakalam RythuBandhu. Harish Rao asked theofficials to see that the amountswill be deposited in theaccounts of the farmers beforethe start of the season.Agriculture Minister said thatthe amounts will be depositedin the accounts of all eligiblefarmers under Rythu Bandhuscheme. Both the Ministersasked the officials of the

Finance and AgricultureDepartments to work in coor-dination till the process isover.

The Ministers asked thebank officials participated inthe meeting to make sure thatthe amounts of loan waiverscheme will be deposited in theaccounts of the farmers with-out any delay. FinanceDepartment principal secretaryK Ramakrishna Rao,Agriculture department prin-cipal secretary JanardhanReddy and other officials fromboth departments participatedin the meeting.

Harish directed the officials concernedto deposit Rs 1,200 crore in theaccounts of 6.10 lakh farmers, whose loans are under Rs 25,000

Govt releases Rs 1,200 cr for crop loan waiverCollector,Gajwel RDOappearbefore HCPNS n HYDERABAD

The Siddipet district collectorP Venkatrama Reddy andGajwel RDO VijayenderReddy appeared before theTelangana High Court onThursday in the cases filed bythe Konda pochamma Sagarproject displaced families ofBahilampur and Mamidyalavillages in the district throughvideo conference. The twoofficials appeared before theHC in compliance of theorders of a division bench ofthe court. They told the divi-sion bench that they needmore time to provide twobed room houses and otherfacilities to the affected fam-ilies.

Following this, the HCdecided to hold a compre-hensive hearing of the case onthe next date of hearing andadjourned the case till May13, 2020 . The petitionersfiled their petitions allegingforceful eviction of themeand their families underKondapochamma Sagarreservoir which is part ofKaleshwaram lift irrigationproject.

Cong slamsgovt forhiking PGmedical feesPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Congress leaderson Thursday alleged that thestate government colludedwith private medical collegesand increased the fees ofmedical and dental post grad-uate courses in the state. Theparty demanded the stategovernment to with withdrawGO No 20.

AICC secretary ChallaVamshichand Reddyaddressed a letter to the ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao in this regard. In the let-ter, he termed the increase inmedical fees as an atrociousact. He said that he is address-ing the letter with no politi-cal intention but as a son ofa middle class governmentemployee who struggled topay for medical course.

Financialassistanceto advocatesPNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana state advo-cates welfare trust under theguidance of High Court chiefjustice has resolved to extendfinancial assistance to all theneedy advocates who areunable to meet their day today expenses due to lock-down.

The trust decided toreceive applications upto May12 , 2020 from those who ful-fill the conditions specified bythe trust. It has asked theadvocates with up to 7 yearsstanding with All India BarExamination pass certificateto send in their applicationsonline through their respec-tive bar associations totsawtrust@gmail.com aftertheir scrutiny. The trust hasasked the advocates to logonto the websitewww.hc.ts.nic.in for moredetails.

Five lakh quintals of maize tobe supplied to poultry sectorPNS n HYDERABAD

Animal Husbandry MinisterTalasani Srinivas Yadav onThursday said that 5 lakhquintals of maize will be sup-plied to poultry sector and theexpenses will be borne by thepoultries. Addressing a meet-ing of sub-committee on poul-try at his office in MasabTank, the Minister recalledhow the poultry sector, whichwas in dire straits initiallybecause of Covid-19 threat,revived with the initiative ofChief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao and thestate government, which gavewide publicity to consumptionof chicken and eggs to increaseimmunity.

Once the lockdown periodends, he said the sub-commit-tee on poultry would tour var-ious states and frame a com-prehensive policy. The state

government seeks to provideemployment to thousands ofpersons by reviving the poul-try sector. Agriculture MinisterS Niranjan Reddy, who is amember of the sub-committee,has hinted at the governmentprocuring maize through theMarkfed in future and supplythe same to poultry units.

The area under various

crops would increase to 1.35crore acres as against 1.22crore acres with the availabil-ity of irrigation facility throughKaleswaram project. ExciseMinister Srinivas Goud saidthat the state governmentwould draw up plans on mar-keting of crops procured byfarmers. If any sector is in cri-sis, the government and offi-cials would respond and takesteps for its development.

Telangana PoultryFederation president PradeepKumar and members J RamReddy, V Bhaskar Rao, KMohan Reddy, Sneha ChickenRam Reddy, NECC chairmanChandrasekhar Reddy, PoultryBreeders' association memberRaghava Rao, Chevella MPRanjit Reddy, Animal hus-bandry secretary AnitaRajendra, Director LaxmaReddy and others took part inthe meeting.

CM announcesRs 1cr ex-gratiaContinued from page 1

Livestock will also be com-pensated and for those livingin the most affected areas Rs20,000 would be given foreach person, the ChiefMinister said.

A committee comprisingSpecial Chief Secretary ofEnvironment and Forests,Industr ies Secretar y,Pollution Control BoardSecretary, District Collect,City Commissioner of Policeas members will conduct anintensive study and submitits report suggesting precau-tionary measures as well.

Chief Secretary NilamSawhney would stay put fortwo days along with minis-ters Kannababu, AvantiSrinivas, Krishna Das, AllaKalikrishna Nani and BotsaSatyanarayana to monitorthe situation.

Depending on the inquiryreport, efforts would bemade to provide employ-ment to the affected familiesin the LG Polymers compa-ny, the Chief Minister said.

He complimented thehigher officials for takingimmediate action and evac-uating over 300 people fromthe place of the accident. Heexpressed condolences to thefamilies of the victims wholost their life in the tragedy.

Speaking to reporters afterconducting a review meeting,Jagan also announced Rs 10lakh each to those undergo-ing treatment on ventilatorsupport and Rs 25,000 tothose who took treatment asout-patients after developinghealth complications due to

inhalation of the styrenevapour.

Earlier, he held a reviewmeeting at the AndhraMedical College with DistrictCollector Vinay Chand andothers. The gas leak victimsundergoing treatment in var-ious hospitals would be paidRs 1 lakh each. The 15,000-odd population in the fivevillages that were affected bythe gas leak would be paid Rs10,000 each, the ChiefMinister added.

Accompanied by hisDeputy holding the healthportfolio A K K Srinivas andChief Secretar y NilamSawhney, Jagan flew down tothe port city and wentstraight to the KGH.

He met the gas leak vic-tims undergoing treatmentand enquired about theirwell-being.

At the review meeting, theCollector informed the ChiefMinister that the gas spreadwas limited to a 1.5 to 2 kmarea from the epicentre of theleak and that the locals wereevacuated to safety.

Of the two styrene tanks inthe plant, the leak occurredfrom one that was holdingabout 1,800 kilo litres of thechemical.

Tragedy in red zone area...Continued from page 1

“The situation unfolding can’tbe described. Our biggestfear is if any of the victimshas Coronavirus,” he said.

Another doctor, Divya,said there was no time to fol-low the guidelines issued totreat patient during pandem-ic.

“One after another, therewas a flood of victims. Somewere brought unconscious

and some of them were evenvomiting blood. You can onlyimagine the chaos. A goodnumber of them are fellingbetter now,” she said hopingfor the best. It was not onlydue to toxic gas, but headinjuries following sudden col-lapse had also taken some ofthe lives and other critical,said the doctors.

The COVID-19 contain-ment zones in Visakhapatnamdistrict are Gopalpatnam

where the incident occurredand Allipuram, Revidi(Padmanabham), ITIJunction, Muslim ThatichelaPalem, Santi Nagar (NAD),Railway New Colony, DanduBazaar, Maharanipeta,Rangireejuveedhi (PoornaMarket), KunchamambaColony (Gajuwaka), ChengalRao Peta, Madhavadhara,Chintalapalem (Kasimkota),Komativeedhi (Narsipatnam),Marripalem.

TS reports 15 newcorona cases, 12 ...Continued from page 1

The recovery rate of coronaviruspatients in Telangana remained-impressive, with the authoritiesdischarging 45 more patients onThursday. The three migrantswho tested positive reportedlyreturned fromMumbai. Theywere shifted to Gandhi Hospitalfor treatment. The number ofactive cases in Telangana till datestands at 400. As many as 693

patients were discharged fromhospitals upon recovery tilldate.

The death toll in Telanganaremains at 29. On Thursday 27patient from Hyderabad, 8 fromGadwal and 2 each fromRangaReddy and Suryapet districtswere discharged. One patienteach from Vikarabad, Adilabad,Medchal, Nalgonda,Nizamabad,Sangareddy were also dis-charged.

Vizag gas tragedy a wake-up call...Continued from page 1

The Covid-19-inducednationwide lockdown wasimposed on March 22 andsince then the governmenthas been extending it withoutgivingany scope for manage-ments of factories to takeadequate safeguardsby takingup overhauling, maintenanceof machinery. Now, suchfactoriespose the danger ofmalfunctioning and leakageof gases if they opened inhaste without following SOPs.

In March this year, theTelangana High Courtordered the state governmentto shut down 200 pollutingplastic units in Hyderabad'sKattedanindustrial area alone,

as they were set up in viola-tion ofthe rules. However, thestate government is yet toact.The court said that offi-cials of the GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation (GHMC) andPollution Control Board(PCB) remained 'mutespecta-tors' as illegal plastic unitsmushroomed in the area.

There are several industri-al areas in GHMC limits.Though industrialareas wereset up decades ago on theoutskirts of Hyderabad city,the rapidexpansion of thecity over the years has madethem part of residential-zones as several colonieshave come up around theseareas.Continued from page 1

Two men were found dead ina drain, apparently fallingdown while trying to escapethe toxic gas. Eyewitnessessay after vomiting continuous-ly and complaining of breath-lessness and burning sensationin eye and nose, some peopledied. Most of the victims saidthat they are completely clue-

less what happened after theyfainted. “I don’t know how Ireached here. I smelt somethingpungent and fainted after feel-ing uneasy,” recalls Lakshmi,undergoing treatment at theRajendra Prasad Ward of theKing George Hospital. Afterregaining her senses, shesobbed uncontrollably whenher relatives broke the news thather mother has passed away.

You may be surprised toknow, but there is astriking parallel between

the tapas of Vishwamitra beingspoiled by Menaka and themission of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to battleCovid-19 being spoiled by theeasing of liquor sales!

The great Rishi Vishwamitrahad resorted to prolongedyogic tapas in order to achievehis goals. But his mission gotdisrupted by the advent ofMenaka, a court dancer enter-taining Gods.

India is a country with 135crore population, where peoplebelonging to many religions,cultures and political partiesare unitedly fighting against theCovid-19 pandemic.

However, India is not likemost of the industrially devel-oped western countries. Some90 per cent of the wealth inIndia is concentrated in thehands of just one percent of itspeople. About 40-crore strongworking force is either migrantor engaged in the unorganisedsector.

Migrant workers do not

have jobs and do not havemoney to purchase food;hence, they are starving. Manyare living on footpaths. Theposition of tribals is even moremiserable.

Some 100-150 migrantworkers are pushed into shel-ters that have a single hall withone bath and one lavatory. TheCentral and State governmentshave promised to provide cashand 20 kg of grain to each fam-ily. There are bumper stocks ofgrains in our godowns, evenaccording to Modi.

Right now, 5.5 lakh tonnesof grains are lying in godownsand two more tonnes of grainsare expected in the Rabi sea-son. If 20 kg grains are distrib-uted to each family for threemonths in all states and unionterritories, three-fourths of thegrains will still remain ingodowns. If financial aid is alsogiven to each family, the total

burden on the national exche-quer will not be more than Rs7 lakh crore.

Today Kerala state aloneaccounts for half the shelterhomes arranged across thenation. It has allotted Rs 20lakh-crore for food and shelteras well as for controlling thespread of the disease. TheKerala government, led byCommunists, has sent 19 vari-eties of essential commoditiesand Rs 5,000/- to each family.In contrast, Modi has addressed

the nation five times, but neverspelt out any economic pack-age, except for the Rs 1,75,000crore packages, including thoseannounced prior to the out-break of Covid-19.

Modi, in his addresses to thenation, has suggested (1) to do“Yoga”, (2) clap (3) switch offthe lights and light the can-dles(4) conduct navagrahapooja (worshipping nine plan-ets) at nine minutes past 9 pm(5) by opening liquor shopsand asking people to receive

theertha (sacred water). The virus came to light in

China in December and sur-faced in other places in January.Even WHO warned about thedanger of the virus in Januaryitself.

But Modi was busy makingarrangements for tremendous

welcome to US PresidentDonald Trump. He was alsobusy in making attempts todestabilise the Congress gov-ernment in Madhya Pradeshtill 21st February. Hence, hedeclared lockdown only aftercompletion of his mission.

In Kerala, right in Januarypassengers at airports werescreened and the infected pas-sengers quarantined. TheCentral government did nottake any preventive steps.Knowingly permission wasgranted in March to Markazcongregation. Subsequently,the saffron squad targeted onereligion.

Modi is not eligible forPrime Ministership.

Sorry to say this. For, thoughseveral suggestions were madewith regard to migrant work-ers, he turned deaf ears. Dueto starvation and trudginglong distances to their native

places, nearly 60-70 migrantshave lost their lives. Migrantworkers walked 400-500 km,along with their kith and kin.Only after migrant workersrevolted in Surat, Mumbai andHyderabad, the governmentmoved to think about them.

CPI leader K Ramakrishnaknocked on the doors of thejudiciary, making Central andState governments respondentsin his plea to make transportarrangements for migrantworkers. The Court has givenverdict in favour of migrantworkers.

Once I questioned Telugufilm megastar Chiranjeevi as towhy he is appearing in ads ask-ing people to drink Coca Colaand Thums up etc. Next dayAllu Aravind replied to me,stating that the amount com-ing through advertisements isbeing invested in blood bank.

I then asked, why he should

promote soft drinks that arespoiling blood of youngergeneration and again ask peo-ple to donate blood. Withinsix months, Chiranjeevi with-drew from ads related to softdrinks.

After Modi allowed openingof liquor shops, immediatelyUttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradeshand Telangana governmentsissued orders to open liquorshops. That is, the Centre isnow asking liquor barons tosell alcoholic drinks for peopleto enjoy. It is like tigers pounc-ing on domestic cows.

If this continues, it will besimilar to Vishwamitra-Menaka episode. Governmentshave to think twice beforeasking people to maintainphysical distance while keepingliquor shops open.

(The author is NationalSecretary of CPI)

DR K NARAYANA

Today Kerala state alone accounts for half theshelter homes arranged across the nation. Ithas allotted Rs 20 lakh-crore for food andshelter as well as for controlling the spread ofthe disease. The Kerala government, led byCommunists, has sent 19 varieties of essentialcommodities and Rs 5,000/- to each family.

When public intoxication spoiled Modi’s tapas

Why alarms...Continued from page 1

Stating that the governmentwill thoroughly investigate thefactors that led to the gas leakin LG Polymers, Jagan won-dered why or how the gas andflame detectors installed insidethe company failed. “The gasand flame detectors installedin the company should haveraised an alarm when the gaswas leaking.” he said.

Tragedy at Vizag...

Depending on thereport, effortswould be made toprovideemployment to theaffected familiesin, the CM said

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | MAY 8, 2020 hyderabad 03

RIMEORNERC

2 fall victim tofake customerservice bait

Infant killed, 8injured as carrams into truck

Two persons who were victimsof fake customer care service

numbers, were duped of Rs90,000 and Rs 97,000 byfraudsters. One of the victims,looked up the customer carenumber of the State Bank ofIndia on Google and found anumber he thought to begenuine. He told them about thedelay in getting a debit card forwhich he had applied. Afterhearing his issue, the personwho claimed to be a customercare executive asked him to do atransaction of Rs 10 on GooglePay. The victim was then madeto transfer Rs 90,000 to theaccount before he realised hewas being cheated. In anothercase, a victim was trying to buya mobile phone and air cooleronline and was searching for thecustomer care number ofSymphony, police said, addingthat he also called on a fakenumber, with fraudsters trickinghim into transferring Rs 97,000via Google Pay.

A13-month-old boy died on thespot, while eight persons

sustained injuries in a roadaccident at BandameediChandupatla in Suryapet onWednesday night. The mishaptook place when a car in whichthe victims were traveling,collided with a truck, coming inopposite direction. "While infantdied on the spot, eight personsfrom same family receivedinjuries. They were natives ofRamapur thanda and residing inHyderabad. They started to theirnative place in a car to attendfinal rites of their relatives andmet the accident on the way,"sources said.

How long does it take torecover from Covid-19?NAVEEN KUMAR n HYDERABAD

With the pandemic situationextending lockdown and set-ting up new rules, all we hearis about death counts, terrify-ing symptoms and new infec-tions, and less about recovery.Medical professionals talkabout how long does it actual-ly takes for a person to com-pletely be cured of Covid19.

Those with 'mild' cases canexpect to start to recover afterabout 14 days, said a doctorfrom All India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS),New Delhi.

"In cases where you're ableto stay home, self isolate andnot need emergency medicalcare, this is considered 'mild'.Symptoms typically include afever, some shortness of breathand a cough. The Centers forDisease Control andPrevention also added a loss oftaste and smell, chills,headaches and a sore throat totheir list of possible symptoms.If this is the worst you get, youcan expect to start to recoverfrom the disease after about 14days, according to initial datafrom China published in areport by the World HealthOrganization," the medicalworker was quoted saying,

adding that however, it cantake longer to completely getrid of your symptoms.

"The data only notes that thetwo-week recovery time is anaverage, not a guarantee. Somereports also suggest that issueslike a cough may linger," headded.

Speaking further about thesame, Dr Sudarshan Rao, adoctor from a private hospitalin Hyderabad said that this isthe time frame from the onsetof your symptoms, the day

when you first start to feel sick.You could have been infectedor contagious before that, asexperts estimate it takes two to14 days for symptoms toappear.

"For those with a moresevere case of Covid-19, recov-ery could take a few weeks toover a month. For those whoare 'severe or critical,' the aver-age recovery time was aboutthree to six weeks. However, it'salso been reported that it couldtake as many as eight weeks to

months to feel somewhat nor-mal again, depending on howharsh your symptoms wereduring the illness," he said.

According to the WHO, it'sestimated that globally about 1in 20 people infected withCoronavirus may requireintensive care. In recovery sit-uations like this, it may take upto 12 to 18 months before oneis able to feel back to normal.

"Even after months now, thedisease is unpredictable, sorecovery signs can be confus-ing or different for everyone.Sometimes you may even startto feel better only to feel worsea few days later, which usual-ly happens around week two ofsymptoms.

Having said that, everyone'srecovery timeline and experi-ence is slightly different. Makesure you check in with yourdoctor regularly for the bestguidance on your condition.And once you do recover, keeppracticing social distancingand other protective measuresfor yourself and others. Whilemany experts believe you mayget some temporary immuni-ty after you've had Covid-19,it's unclear how long it lasts andthey can't say you're safe fromreinfection," concluded a doc-tor from Osmania GeneralHospital.

Those with 'mild' cases can expect tostart to recover after about 14 days,said a doctor from All India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi

‘Post Corona world toopen new investments’ PNS n HYDERABAD

IT and Industries Minister onThursday said Telangana wasa happening State, where thereal action was taking placein the country, and present-ed the best investment envi-ronment in the post Covid-19scenario.

The Minister was speakingwith the representatives of theEuropean Business Group(EBG) comprising ambas-sadors of various Europeancountries and industry hon-chos.

In a video conference, KTRaddressed them in the con-text of facilitating industriesseeking to relocate in thepost corona scenario toTelangana.

"With the impact of thepandemic, the time has cometo reconsider the way govern-

ments and industries havebeen doing business so far.Many realized that it is bet-ter to decentralize their unitsrather than concentratingthem in one country orprovince. This new thinkingwill help Telangana," KTRobserved.

The Minister urged theEBG representatives to assistTelangana to conduct a meet-ing at the earliest with all theinvestors to pitch for reloca-tion of the industries wishingto shift to safer places. Hewanted the EBG a not-for-profit company striving tooffer support and collectiverepresentation to theEuropean businesses in Indiato consider Telangana state asthe most suitable place toinvest in Pharma and LifeSciences, II, Defense andAerospace and Textiles.

32 Kenyan citizens airlifted from RGIAPNS n HYDERABAD

While the Covid-19 pandem-ic continues to grip the worldkeeping hundreds of coun-tries across the globe includingIndia under lock-down, GMRled Hyderabad InternationalAirport is operating round theclock in service of the nationand on the humanitariangrounds to help stranded for-eigners in Telangana reachtheir homes through seamlesshandling of relief and evacua-tion flights.

On Thursday, RGIA han-dled one special passengerrelief flight, which operated torepatriate the citizens of Kenyafrom Hyderabad.

An IndiGo flight, whichoperated as a purely domesticflight - 6E 9104 - arrived fromChennai via Bangalore landing

at Hyderabad InternationalAirport today at 9.20 am. Thisaircraft departed to Mumbai at11.02 am with 83 Kenyan

nationals, out which 32 passen-gers boarded from Hyderabadand 51 transit passengers hadjoined from Chennai and

Bangalore. As per the flightitinerary, the passengers wereto be further airlifted by theKenyan Airways from Mumbaito their home land in Kenya.

All these passengers wereserviced through a fully-sani-tised domestic terminal ofRGIA, which has been keptready for evacuation operati-ons. In coordination with theKenyan consulate, Hyderabadand the Telangana State gov-ernment, the Kenyan citizensstarted to arrive at the airportfrom 6 AM to 8 AM.

Screening and safety mea-sures were in place during theflight's handling as part ofCovid 19 precautionary stepsthat included thermal screen-ing, mandatory social distanc-ing enforced through specialqueuing arrangements at allpassenger processing points.

RGIA handled 12 evacuation flightsserving over 900 foreign nationals whowere repatriated by special relief flights

PNS n HYDERABAD

Principal Secretary ofMA&UD Arvind Kumar hasinstructed the GHMC officialsto continue to spray disinfec-tant in those areas where pos-itive cases are traced and theirsurrounding areas eventhough containment zone islifted.

Arvind Kumar organised areview meeting to discussabout the steps to be taken tocontain the spread of Covid-19. GHMC Commissioner DSLokesh Kumar, HyderabadDistrict Collector SwethaMohanty, AdditionalCommissioner B Santosh,Zonal Commissioners BSrinivas Reddy, V Mamatha,Praveenya, N Ravikiran,Upender Reddy, AshokSamarat and others were pre-

sent at the meeting. Arvind Kumar also

instructed the officials to con-tinue the norms pertaining tophysical distancing until fur-ther orders from the govern-ment. He has also directed theofficials to close down thosemarkets, rythu bazaars wherephysical distancing is not fol-lowed. On the hand he saidthere should not be any short-age of vegetables to public.

Van runs overpolice filmingaccident spot PNS n HYDERABAD

A police constable was runover by a DCM van whiletaking photographs of vehi-cles involved in a road acci-dent on the NH 65 at Yad-adri-Bhongir district onThursday. The victim wasidentified as Arupala Jaga-nadha Rao, a constable withChoutuppal police station.He is survived by his wife,two daughters and a son.

According to the police, atabout 4 am, a Dial-100 callwas received about an accide-nt. Rao went there and whenhe was taking photos andvideos of another road acci-dent at Borrelagudem stagewith his mobile phone forcase purpose, an over-speed-ing DCM hit him. He hadreceived serious injuries inthe incident and was shiftedto Bhongir area hospital in anambulance. Jagannadhamreceived head and internalinjuries and died at KamineniHospital during treatment.

He went to the place to col-lect the information on theaccident in which TATA Aceand DCM truck collided witheach other. Rachakonda CP,said that he would take careof the family.

The DCM driver and thevehicle are in custody, saidthe police who registered aca-se and began investigation.

Officials told to bemore strict, ensurephysical distancing

Firefighters spray water on burning waste material at Patancheru on Thursday

Fire breaks out at scrap yardPNS n HYDERABAD

A fire mishap was reported at awaste scrap yard in Patancheruon Thursday.

The fire call was received atabout 3 pm from N Janya,Station Fire Officer, Patancheru,that the fire was caught on wastematerials yard owned by Irfan,which was located at DyaraGrama Panchayat, NearBollaram, about 20 km away

from BHEL fire station. Nocausalities or injuries werereported.

"After an approval by theBHEL safety department, aCISF fire crew reached the spotat 3.15 pm. The state fire servicefrom Kukatpally andPatancheru had already engagedin fire fighting with two fire ten-ders being sent to the spot,"sources said.

The CISF fire crew joined

with state fire services in firefighting by spraying water andusing control branches con-nected from fire tender withthree length delivery hose oncontinuous fire fighting for onehour the fire was controlled.

Later, the SFO gave permis-sion for returning back to thefire station. The local police andstate fire service have appreci-ated CISF fire wing for extin-guishing uncontrolled fire.

‘Class X exams after HC nod’PNS n HYDERABAD

A schedule for conductingpending SSC Public Exams willbe announced after theHigh Court givespermission, Educ-ation Minister PSabitha IndraReddy said.

On Thursday,the Minister held areview meeting withofficials of educationdepartment on the conduct ofremaining SSC PublicExaminations and evaluationworks of intermediate publicexaminations.

Due to Coronavirus, on thedirections of the HC, the Stategovernment had halted theSSC Public Examinations from

March 23. The Minister said the

government has decid-ed to increase the nu-mber of SSC centresfrom the existing2,530. Arrangements

will be made to accom-modate one student per

bench during the examsbesides special halls organisedat centres for students who areill. The evaluation process forintermediate public examina-tions has commenced and

coding of answering scriptswill be done till May 11.

The answer scripts will beevaluated from May 12 to 30.Measures were being taken toannounce results of second-year in the second week of Juneand the ones of first-year in thethird week of June, she said.

The pending intermediatesecond-year geography andmodern language examina-tion will be held on May 18.This exam was scheduled onMarch 23 and it was postponeddue to the Covid-19 pandem-ic. A total of 17 centres for 861students are being constituted,she added.

Arvind Kumarorganised areview meeting todiscuss about thesteps to be takento contain thespread of Covid

PNS n HYDERABAD

In order to provide interna-tional roads to the residents ofHyderabad, the GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation (GHMC) hasallotted the maintenance ofcity roads of about 709 kmsconsisting of 401 stretches tothe agencies under 7 packagesfor a period of 5 years.

Utilising the Coronaviruslockdown, the agencies havetaken up the CRMP works andare completing them at briskpace.

A part from re-carpetingcity road with internationalstandards the maintenance ofsanitation, storm water drainsalso rests with them. Half ofthe re-carpeting works will becompleted by June 2020.

Out of re-carpeting works of331 kms target, 208 kms workswere completed. By the end ofMay, the target of 331 kms willbe completed, said CRMPChief Engineering Ziauddin.

Meanwhile, MunicipalAdministration and UrbanDevelopment Minister KTRama Rao and Mayor Dr

Bonthu Rammohan are in-specting the works regularly.

The Minister also instruct-ed the agencies to utilise thelockdown period and expeditethe works. Accordingly theagencies taken up the workson war-footing basis withadvanced machinery and min-imum manpower while fol-lowing physical distance andsafety measures.

GHMC officials, zonal com-missioners, superintendentsare monitoring the works ondaily basis along with agenciesin co-ordination with theother departments.

The agencies are taking uppatch works, lane marking,footpath, central median, roadsafety lane marking paintingsworks.

CRMP works in full swing

PNSn HYDERABAD

Indian Institute of TechnologyHyderabad is supporting vil-lages adopted under UnnatBharat Abhiyan programmewith Covid-19-related activitiesand preparedness to prevent thespread of Covid-19 pandemic.The institute is also sharingawareness material in Telugulanguage to the communitystakeholders.

The institute has undertak-en relief programmes in the fivevillages it had adopted under'Unnat Bharat Abhiyan,' includ-ing Bujarampet, MohammedNagar, Knnavaram, Anthram

and Salabatpur in Medak dis-trict. The faculty is constantlyinteracting with local stakehold-ers to ascertain their needs.During these interactions, thevillagers informed that theyhave commenced work underMahatma Gandhi NationalRural Employment GuaranteeScheme (MGNREGS).

Speaking about the Instituteinitiatives in the local commu-nity, Director of IIT HyderabadProf BS Murty said, "IIT-H hasbeen conducting Covid-19awareness programmes alongwith supply of basic safetyneeds like sanitisers and masksin these adopted villages."

A view of IIT Hyderabad academic buildings

IIT-Hyderabad supportsvillages adopted under‘Unnat Bharat Abhiyan'

SHELTER HOMES

Telangana HCterms GHMCreport ‘vague’PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Courton Thursday termed thereport submitted by theGHMC commissioner inrespect of shelter homes setup during the ongoing lock-down period as vague andhazy. It directed the GHMCCommisoner to file a detailedreport before May 15 of thismonth informing it about thedifferent categories of personsshifted to the different shel-ter homes of the city, thedetails of the NGOs whichwere permitted to reach outto the needy people.

A division bench of the HCcomprising of the ChiefJustice of the state Justice RSChauhan and Justice

B Vijaysen Reddy passedthe orders while dealing withtwo taken up PILs. The HChad converted two lettersfiled by two concerned citi-zens from the state capitalregarding shelter homes andmigrant workers.

Strong winds, rainuproot 15 trees inHyderabad zoo PNS n HYDERABAD

Rainfall accompanied bystrong winds in parts of theold city on Wednesdaycaused damage at NehruZoological Park with 15 to 20trees uprooting and falling onanimal enclosures. However,no casualties were reported.Branches of around 50 treesfell in the zoo. After thestorm passed, the zoo author-ities pressed into service toclear the branches and treesthat were uprooted.

Cyb top copurges migrantlabourers toshow restraint PNS n HYDERABAD

The Cyberabad PoliceCommissioner VC Sajjanarurged migrant workers toshow restraint and remainpatient as the governmentmade arrangements for theirreturn. Since train serviceswere limited in number andconsent of their native stateswas needed, the process wastaking time, said the PoliceCommissioner. "In view ofthe larger demand of migrantworkers from various states,the government has madearrangements for their safetravel to their home states.But, as the train services arevery limited and the receiv-ing State governments alsohave to give consent to themovement, it will take sometime. Also, labour intensiveactivities like construction,industries have been startedin the State," said Sajjanar.

Sajjanar said their griev-ances would be addressedand requested them to stayback and start working.

Pocharam,Gutha donatesRs 5,26,500each to CMRF PNS n HYDERABAD

Legislative Council ChairmanGutha Sukhender Reddy andLegislative Assembly SpeakerPocharam Srinivas Reddycontributed Rs 5,26,500 eachto the CMRF to enable thestate government to continueits combat against the Covid-19. Both of them contributed75 per cent of their March andApril wages to the CMRF.State legislative assembly andcouncil secretary Dr VNarasimhacharyulu forward-ed the cheque to the specialsecretary in the CMORajasekhara Reddy.

Utilising thelockdown, theagencies havetaken up theworks and arecompleting themat brisk pace

AHMEDABAD: A specialised chemicalcalled PTBC, made only in Vapi townof Gujarat, will be sent toVisakhapatnam on an urgent basisto help in neutralising the effectsof gas leak at a polymer plantthere, a Gujarat governmentofficial said on Thursday. Amajor leak from a chemicalplant of LG Polymers nearVisakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh in the weehours of Thursday impacted villages within a five-km radius, leaving eight people dead and scoresof citizens complaining of breathlessness, nauseaand other problems. Para-tertiary butyl catecholor PTBC is currently being used in Visakhapatnamto neutralise the effect of the gas leak, saidAshwani Kumar, secretary in the Gujarat chiefminister's office. "This chemical, used forreducing the effects of gas in the air after a leak,is manufactured only in Vapi. The AndhraPradesh government requested Gujarat ChiefMinister Vijay Rupani to facilitate airlifting ofthe chemical from Vapi to be sent there assoon as possible," Kumar said. Asinstructed by Rupani, senior officialshave asked Valsad district collector tomake necessary arrangements toprocure 500 kg of the chemical. Thestock will soon be airlifted from Damanwhere it will be taken by road from Vapi,he said.

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | MAY 8, 2020 hyderabad 04

NHRC issues notices to Centre, AP govt over

deaths due to gas leakVISAKHAPATNAM The National Human RightsCommission on Thursday issued notices to the

Centre and the Andhra Pradesh government overdeaths and suffering of people due to gas leakage

from a chemical plant in Visakhapatnamdistrict, officials said.

Right to life of the victims has beengrossly violated.At a time when human

lives across the country are at stake dueto spread of COVID-19 virus and

everyone is forced to stay indoor, thegruesome tragedy has come as a boltfrom the blue for the people, the right

panel said in a statement.The NHRC said it has taken suo motu

cognizance of media reports about thedeath of eight persons and over five

thousand others falling sick due to leakageof styrene gas in the district early morning.

The leakage of the gas has reportedlyaffected people within a radius of about 3

kilometers. Many people could be seenlying on roads while some complainedof difficulty in breathing and rashes on

their bodies, it said.

Guj govt sends PTBCchemical to neutraliserstyrene gas

Chilling scenes bring backmemories of Bhopal gas tragedyPNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

Unconscious children beingcarried by parents in theirarms, people laying on roads,health workers scrambling toattend to those affected by thestyrene vapour leak and resi-dents fleeing were some of thescenes that played out nearhere on Thursday, bringingback grim memories of the1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.

The leak of styrene, a chem-ical used to make syntheticrubber and resins, among oth-ers, occurred in the wee hoursof Thursday while people werestill fast asleep.

Women and children wereseen lying on roads strugglingto breath, reminiscent of theinfamous Bhopal gas tragedywhen a leak from the UnionCarbide plant left around 3,500dead and many maimed.

The worst-hitGopalapatnam village rever-berated with cries of people forhelp.

Many people fell uncon-scious during their sleep, a vil-lager said.

Affected people, sufferingwrit large on their faces, wererushed to hospitals in autorick-

shaws and on two wheelers.Visakhapatnam Collector

Vinay Chand said 20 ambu-lances were pressed into ser-vice as soon informationabout the gas leak was

received.Exposure to styrene, also

known as ethenylbenzene,vinylbenzene can affect thecentral nervous system (CNS),causing headache, fatigue,weakness, and depression.

It is primarily used in theproduction of polystyrene plas-tics and resins. The gas leaktook place at LG Polymerschemical plant.

LG Polymers was estab-lished in 1961 as "HindustanPolymers" for manufacturing

Polystyrene and its co-polymers atVisakhapatnam. Itmerged with McDowell& Co. Ltd of UB Groupin 1978, according tothe company's web-site. Taken over byLG Chem (SouthKorea), HindustanPolymers wasrenamed LGPolymers IndiaPrivate Limited(LGPI) in July, 1997.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Principal Secretary to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, P.K.Mishra on Thursday held a meet-ing with Cabinet Secretary, HomeSecretary, NDRF, NDMA,Director AIIMS and medicalexperts on the incident of gas leakin Andhra Pradesh'sVisakhapatnam inwhich 11 people losttheir lives and alsodirected to send ateam of experts andmeasures for reliefand rescue work.

According to theMinistry of Home Affairsofficials, Mishra held a high levelmeeting with Cabinet Secretary,Home Secretary, National Disaster

Management Authority(NDMA), National DisasterRelief Force (NDRF), DirectorAll India Institute of MedicalScience (AIIMS), and medicalexperts on Vishakhapatnam gasleak situation. The official said thatMishra directed sending of teamof experts to Visakha-ptanam

and also short term asalso long term

medical impact.The high-levelmeeting byMishra cameshortly after Prime

Minister Narendra Modicalled a meeting with the

NDMA officials in the wake ofthe gas leak incident inVisakhapatnam on Thursdaymorning.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The gas leak from a chemical plantin Visakhapatnam in which atleast 11 people were killed and1,000 affected on Thursday is onein a long list of industrial accidentsresulting from poisonous gasesseeping into the air.

The December 1984 Bhopaltragedy in which more than than3,000 people were killed whenmethyl isocyanate leaked out is theworld's worst industrial disaster.Here are other gas leaks that madeheadlines in the last few years:

Bhilai, Chhattisgarh: On June12, 2014, there was a leak in amethane gas pipeline at the Bhilaiplant of Steel Authority Of IndiaLimited (SAIL). Six people, includ-

ing two deputy general managersof the company, were killed andover 50 injured.

Nagaram, Andhra Pradesh: OnJune 27, 2014, a massive fire brokeout following a blast in Gas

Authority of India Limited's plant,killing 29 people and injuring 10.The 18-inch underground pipeline,designed to supply gas to the Lancopower plant, was used for transport-ing wet gas having

condensate/water. This corrodedthe pipe and led to a gas leak. Anignition triggered the explosion andthe subsequent fire. Mangaluru,Karnataka: On November 17, 2016,a gas leak in an HPCL runningbetween Mangaluru-Hassan-Mysuruand Solur created panic in villages inthe area. Several people were report-edly hospitalised after they inhaledthe gas. The leak was spotted early onand was contained before muchdamage.

Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh: At leastfive people were killed and sever-al injured in an explosion causedby an ammonia gas leak in theKatiyar cold storage in Kanpur onMarch 15, 2017. The explosioncaused the roof of the building tocollapse, trapping several people.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The leak of styrene gas at a polymerplant in Visakhapatnam killed 11 peo-ple and led to evacuation of thousandsof people in a 3-kilometre radius.Experts reckon gas leaks usuallyoccur due to poor maintenance,and human habitation in theclose vicinity of industrieshandling hazardous chem-icals doubles the adverseimpact.

The leakage ofstyrene gas, whichcauses nausea anddizziness, occurredfrom LG PolymersIndia Pvt Ltd whenthe plant was prepar-ing to resume production after eas-ing of COVID-19 lockdown restric-tions.

Nivit Kumar Yadav, senior pro-gramme manager in the industrialpollution unit at Centre for Scienceand Environment (CSE), said "Therewas a temporary partial shutdown ofthe plant owing to the COVID pan-demic, excluding maintenance activ-

ities in the plant, which were beingcarried out as per a pre-deter-

mined schedule. The problembegan as a result of styrene gas

not being stored at the appro-priate temperature. This

caused pressure to buildup in the storage chamberand led the valve to break,resulting in the gas leak-age."

After the Bhopal disaster,much legislation was enact-

ed beginning with the Environment(Protection) Act, 1986 to the PublicLiability Insurance Act, 1991.

According to the Manufacture,Storage and Import of HazardousChemical Rules, 1989, styrene is clas-sified as a hazardous and toxicchemical.He added that the con-tainer which stored styrene gas wasold and not properly maintained."However, what seems to be thecase is that the plant manage-ment, in its haste to restart theplant, ignored the protocol ofdoing maintenance of theplant before resuming oper-ations. This combined withthe lack of proper storage ofthe gas - not maintained atthe temperature required- and faulty fixturescould have resulted in theaccident",s a i dYadav.

NEW DELHI: The CentralGovernment has constituted a

special committeeto probe into the gas leak

tragedy, which happened atVisakhapatnam in Andhra

Pradesh on Thursdaymorning.The committee

was formed with theCabinet Secretary,

Home Secretaryand the Secretary

of the from theChemicals and

Fertilizersdepartment as

members.

Centre formsSpecial

Probe Panel‘Hazardous plants shouldbe away from habitations’

PNS n VISAKHAPATNAM

The gas leakage that occurred earlyThursday at LG Polymers plant hereleading to death of 11 people mayhave been caused by initiation ofpolymerisation of styrene in liquidform due to prolonged storage dur-ing the lockdown period, officialssaid.

While a final report is awaited onwhat actually caused the disaster, thepreliminary investigations indicatethat polymerisation was initiated inone of the two tanks due to pro-longed storage.

The disaster happened as theplant was re-starting its operationsafter more than 40 days due to thelockdown.

Officials also believe that the safe-ty system failed to prevent gasifica-tion of styrene, resulting in its leak-age and spread of the gas to the sur-rounding villages on the outskirts ofVisakhapatnam.

Eleven people were killed as aresult of the leakage which happenedaround 3.45 a.m. Officials said 340people had to be admitted to hospi-tals. The condition of 15 of them iscritical. According to VisakhapatnamDistrict Collector V. Vinay Chand,the company had stored styrene inliquid form in two tanks of 2,500 kland 3,500 kl capacity. The leakagehappened from a 2,500 kl tank,which had 1,800 kl styrene in liquidform.

"Styrene in liquid form is safewhen stored at below 20 degrees butdue some technical problem, therefrigeration was not effective lead-ing to rise of temperature and Styrenestarted gasifying and the leakage hap-pened," he said

The Collector explained whatcould have caused the leakage toChief Minister Y. S. Jagan MohanReddy, who air-dashed to the city tocall on the affected people at KingGeorge Hospital.

Did prolonged storage of styrene during lockdown led to leakage?

PK Mishra holds high-level meeting

9 Shramiktrains affectedPNS n NEW DELHI

The gas leak incident in Andhra Pradesh'sVisakhapatnam on Thursday has affectedmovement of trains from the SimhachalamNorth railway station, including at least nineShramik Special Trains ferrying strandedmigrant workers to their home states, therailways said. Eleven people have died and1,000 others exposed to styrene vapour thatleaked from a chemical plant inVishakhapatnam in the early hours ofThursday and quickly spread to villages in afive-kilometre radius. Staff at theSimhachalam north railway station, which isnear the chemical plant LG Polymers startedfeeling suffocated and burning sensation inthe eyes soon after the leak.Trains crossing the railway station stoppedfrom 8:35 am to 12 noon. This affectedmovement of a number of trains, including24 goods trains in 'Up' direction and 12trains in the 'Down' direction.

Gas leak accidents that made headline

Styrene in liquid form issafe when stored at

below 20 degrees but due sometechnical problem, therefrigeration was not effectiveleading to rise of temperatureand Styrene started gasifyingand the leakage happened

— V. VINAY CHANDDistrict Collector,Vijsakhapatnam

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | MAY 8, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

Liquor not a vaccinefor COVID-19: SenaMUMBAI: The Shiv Sena onThursday took a dim view oflarge crowds outside liquorshops in Mumbai earlier thisweek, and said people shouldunderstand that liquor is "not avaccine" for COVID-19. It is "notworth buying 65,000 COVID-19infection cases" for earning arevenue of Rs 65 crore throughliquor sale, a editorial in ShivSena mouthpiece 'Saamana'said, noting that people defiedphysical distancing norms whilegathering at wine shops. Afterthe Maharashtra government onSunday announced to openstandalone shops, including ofliquor, in COVID-19 non-containment zones, long queueswere seen outside shops onMonday and Tuesday. Mumbaicivic commissioner issued anorder on Tuesday night directingclosure of all non-essentialservices, including liquor shops,in the city.

Lockdown: Mumbaipolice's 'safety tunes'top Twitter charts

UP govt lifts ban onsale of 'paan masala'LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradeshgovernment has lifted its banon 'paan masala' which doesnot contain nicotine andtobacco, according to anofficial order issued here. "Theban on manufacturing and saleof 'paan masala' imposed onMarch 25 has been lifted,"Commissioner Food Securityand Drug administration AnitaSingh said in the order issuedon Wednesday. The order,however, clarified that the banon manufacture, storage andsale of 'gutka/paan masala' withnicotine and tobacco willcontinue. The sale of theseproducts will be in accordancewith the guidelines of the HomeDepartment. The YogiAdityanath government hadbanned manufacture and saleof 'paan masala', saying themove would help stop thespread of coronavirus in thestate. "Manufacturing, sale andstorage of 'paan masala' isbeing banned in the state tillfurther orders," Food SecurityCommissioner Ministhy S hadsaid in an order issued onMarch 25. "Spitting 'paanmasala' can help in spreadingCOVID-19," the order had said.

MUMBAI: After heart-warmingvideos and messages, theMumbai police on Thursdayposted memes of popular rockbands, termed as 'safety tunes',urging citizens to stay indoorsduring the COVID-19 lockdown.The city police, in the past, haveadopted unique ways to appealto citizens to follow the lock-down, which has been in placesince March. "Stay indoors, forwe are on the streets, playingyour favourite safety tunes withour Band-o-bast," the tweetposted on @MumbaiPolicereads, with memes of popularrock bands such as U2,Backstreet Boys, Oasis andLinkin Park. Using names ofthese bands cleverly, the policeadvised citizens to "U2" stayhome, not loiter in "backstreetboys", home is an "oasis" anddon't visit "Linkin park".

First two flights take off from Keralato repatriate stranded Indians in UAEPNS n KOCHI/KOZHIKODE

Two Air India Express flights leftKerala for the United ArabEmirates on Thursday as Indiaset in motion the exercise to evac-uate its citizens stranded in theGulf region due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

At least 340 passengers, most-ly Keralites, including pregnantwomen, infants and those withmedical emergencies, willbeamong those to be brought backfrom Abu Dhabi and Dubai onboard the two flights, expected toreturn to Kochi and Kozhikodeairports in the state late Thursdaynight.

The flight to Kochi will take offfrom Abu Dhabi at 4.15 pm andreachthe destination at 9.40 pm,while the other to Kozhikode isscheduled for departure fromDubai at5 pm and arrive at 10.40pm, official sources said.

In addition to the air evacua-tion, three naval ships, left forMaldives and UAE on Tuesdayto bring back Indian citizens.

State Chief Secretary TomJose said only COVID-19 nega-tive patients will be boarding

the flights and still the returnees,barring pregnant women andchildren and elders, will be underinstitutional quarantine for sevendays.

Those under quarantinearranged by the government atvarious places, including hotels,would be screened after sevendays and will be allowed to go forhome quarantine if they did nottest positive, he told reporters in

Thiruvananthapuram."We have clarified everything

with the Ministry of HomeAffairs. The MHA asked for 14days quarantine.Only those whohave tested negative for COVID-19 will be allowed to boardtheflight and reach the state," he said.

In the first five days, at least2,000 odd people from variousGulf nations, home to lakhs ofexpatriates from Kerala, will

arrive at the four internationalair-ports at Kannur, Kozhikode,Kochi and Thiruvananthapuramon board 13 flights.

All arrangements, includingaccommodation for quarantineand thermal screening at airports,have been made.

Eight aircraft, 60 pilots and 120cabin crew would be utilised forthe first phase of the evacuation,official sources said.

Twelve airline staff, includingfour pilots, have been given train-ing by doctors and nurseson thesteps to be taken while donningand doffing personal protectiveequipment (PPE) suits, infectioncontrol practices to be followedin-flight and also the manage-ment of anticipated health emer-gencies during the journey.Arrangements have been madewith the central warehousing cor-poration for disinfecting the air-craft and its employees given spe-cial pass for access to the airports.

ICMR to undertakestudy of Ganga waterfor treating COVID-19PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian Council forMedical Research (ICMR) hasdecided not to go ahead withJal Shakti Ministry's proposalto undertake clinical studiesfor treatment of COVID-19patients with Ganga water,saying it needs more scientif-ic data.

Dr Y K Gupta, who is chair-ing the committee forEvaluation of ResearchProposals at ICMR, said theevidence and data available atthe moment is not strongenough to start the clinicalstudies by differentroutes/forms of Ganga waterfor treatment of coronavirus.

The National Mission forClean Ganga (NMCG), anarm of the Jal Shakti Ministrythat deal with the rejuvenationprogramme for the river, hadreceived a number of propos-als, including from peopleand NGOs working on Ganga,to undertake clinical studiesfor treatment of coronaviruspatients with the water, offi-cials said. The proposals wereaccordingly sent to the ICMR.

Gupta, who is also a formerdean of the AIIMS, said, "Atpresent the proposals needsmuch scientific data, proof ofconcept and a strong back-ground hypothesis. This hasbeen conveyed to them(NMCG)."

PNS n INDORE

Amid the ongoing debate in themedical fraternity about the effi-cacy of the plasma therapy onCOVID-19 patients, a privatehospital in Indore has claimedthat four such persons recoveredfrom the infection after under-going this therapy.

A district health official con-firmed that plasma therapy wasused on some coronavirus pos-itive persons at the privately-runSri Aurobindo Institute ofMedical Sciences (SAIMS), andsaid that as per the doctors at thathospital it helped these patientsin their recovery.

Talking to PTI on Thursday,head of the Chest DiseaseDepartment at SAIMS, Dr RaviDosi, said that one of these fourpatients is a 26-year-old woman.

"According to the protocol setby the Indian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR) for the plasma

therapy, we had started clinicaltrial on the woman and threemale patients aged 23, 40 and 55years from April 26. Now all fourpatients are free of COVID-19infection," he said.

Consent was obtained from allfour patients prior to the clinicaltrial of plasma therapy, he added.

Indore district's Chief Medicaland Health Officer (CMHO),

Praveen Jadia, said, "At SAIMS,the use of plasma therapy wasdone on some COVID-19patients and according to the doc-tors there, it helped them in therecovery." He said that plasmatherapy would also be used onsome coronavirus positivepatients at a government-runhospital in Indore soon. "We hopethat it would help the patients in

their recovery," Jadia added.Convalescent plasma therapy

involves injecting patients withplasma from people who haverecovered from COVID-19infection. The theory is that theplasma will have the antibodiesrequired to boost a sick person'simmunity response to the coro-navirus.

4 COVID patients ‘recover'after plasma therapy in Indore

PNS n MUMBAI

Maharashtra Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray on Thursdaymet opposition leaders throughvideo conference to discuss thecoronavirus situation in thestate.

While some of the leadersgathered at Mantralaya (statesecretariat) here, others, includ-ing Uddhav Thackeray himself,took part in the meeting throughvideo conference, an official inthe Chief Minister's Office said.

Deputy Chief Minister AjitPawar, Revenue MinisterBalasaheb Thorat and PWDMinister Ashok chavan werepresent at the meeting from thegovernment's side.

From the opposition's side,BJP's Devendra Fadnavis andPravin Darekar,MNS chief RajThackeray, VBA leader PrakashAmbedkar, PRP leader JogendraKawade, JSS leader Vinay Kore,

PWP's Jayant Patil, RSP'sMahadeo Jankar, AIMIM leaderImtiaz Jaleel, Kapil Patil, AshokDhavle and Rajendra Gawaiparticipated, among others.

Raj Thackeray told reportersafterwards that he suggesteddeployment of the State ReservePolice Force to assist the policein the enforcement of lock-down.

"More force is needed wherepeople are taking the adminis-tration for granted. In contain-ment zones, police force shouldbeincreased. Muslims shouldbe asked to celebrate Ramzanindoors," he said.

"E-learning is not always pos-sible, not just in rural areas butalso in cities. The governmentneeds to tell people how it willensure that academic year iscompleted," he said.

He also demanded that thegovernment explain its lock-down exit plan well in advance.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian Railways onThursday said it has operated163 Shramik Special trainssince May 1 and ferried homeover 1.60 lakh migrants strand-ed in various parts of the coun-try due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown. Railwayssaid it ran 56 Shramik specialtrains on Wednesday and 14 sofar on Thursday, taking the totaltally to 163. Till May 7, 50 trainswere still on their journeyswhile 113 have reached theirdestinations. "We are planningto run some more trains by theend of the day," a railway spo-kesperson said. Every specialtrain has 24 coaches, each witha capacity of 72 seats. But thenational transporter is allowingonly 54 people in a coach tomaintain social distancingnorms by not allotting themiddle berth to any passenger.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The National Green Tribunalhas granted more time toYamuna MonitoringCommittee (YMC) for submit-ting its report on cleaning ofthe river as the stakeholderswere unable to submit theirresponse due to corona viruslockdown.

A bench headed by NGTChairperson Justice A K Goelnoted that in view of lock-down due to Covid-19, theparties including the DelhiDevelopment Authority andthe Chief Secretaries of Delhi,Haryana and Uttar Pradeshhave not been able to give theirrespective response to thecommittee.

The Yamuna monitoringcommittee, which comprisesretired NGT expert member BS Sajwan and former Delhichief secretary ShailajaChandra, sought more time tosubmit report.

"We are of the opinion thattime needs to be extended. Theconcerned parties may nowfurnish their response to theYMC expeditiously but posi-tively on or before May 31,2020. The Committee maygive its report thereafter at theearliest and but latest by June30, 2020 by e-mail even ifresponse of concerned partiesis not received as expected. Thereport may indicate in tabularform the progress achieved, the

issues which still remain pend-ing and the roadmap for fur-ther course of action withtimelines," the bench said.

The water quality in theYamuna here has "improvedsignificantly" during the lock-down due to an increase infresh water availability andabsence of industrial effluent,the Central Pollution ControlBoard (CPCB) and the DelhiPollution Control Committee(DPCC) had earlier said.

Dalai Lama calls for coordinated, global effortPNS n DHARAMSHALA (HP)

In a reference to the coronaviruscrises in his Buddha Purnimamessage, the Dalai LamaThursday said the world mustfocus on what unites it as “onehuman family” and meet chal-lenges through a global, coordi-nated effort.

The Tibetan spiritual urgedpromoting inter-religious under-standing, underlining that all reli-gions promote happiness of allpeople.

“Also, in this time of seriouscrisis confronting the world,when we face threats to ourhealth and we feel saddened forthe family and friends we havelost, we must focus on whatunites us as members of onehuman family,” he said, in anapparent reference to the pan-demic.

“Accordingly, we need to reachout to each other with compas-sion, for it is only by comingtogether in a coordinated, glob-al effort that we will meet theunprecedented challenges weface,” he said.

In the message released fromhis home here, the Dalai Lamasaid in an increasingly interde-pendent world, “our own welfare

and happiness depend on manyother people”. “Today, the chal-lenges we face require us toaccept the oneness of humanity.Despite superficial differencesbetween us, people are equal intheir basic wish for peace andhappiness,” he said.

He said Buddha's teachingsremain relevant even today,2,600 years after his time.

The Dalai Lama said he con-sidered himself an heir to the“Nalanda tradition”.

“The way Buddhism wastaught and studied at NalandaUniversity, rooted in reason andlogic, represents the zenith of itsdevelopment in India.”

“If we are to be 21st centuryBuddhists, it is important that weengage in the study and analy-sis of Buddha's teachings, as somany did there, instead of sim-ply relying on faith,” he said.

Nearly 3 lakh peopleregistered to return to J’khandPNS n NEW DELHI

Nearly three lakh people fromJharkhand, mostly labourers,stranded in various states dueto the lockdown have regis-tered to return home, ChiefMinister Hemant Soren saidon Thursday, and asserted thatthey will be brought backwithout any "ifs and buts".

Jharkhand is the only statewhich has made advance pay-ments for receiving its peoplecoming from other statesthrough 'Shramik Special'trains, according to railwaysources.

Soren also slammed theCentre for charging 15 percentof the rail travel cost from the

state, saying no relief was givento Jharkhand despite it beinga source of high revenue forthe railways.

In an interview to PTI, thechief minister said about20,000 migrant labourers andstudents stranded in otherstates due to the coronavirus-

induced lockdown havealready returned to the statesince the Centre allowed themovement.

An online registrationprocess has also been startedby the Jharkhand governmentfor stranded migrants wantingto return home.

PNS n NEW DELHI

BJP president J P Nadda onThursday expressed deep painover the gas leak tragedy inVisakhapatnam and asked partyworkers to provide all possiblehelp to victims. "Deeply painedto hear about the tragic gas leakin Visakhapatnam. My deepestcondolences to the families ofthe deceased, I pray for the well-being of all. I urge party work-ers to provide all possible reliefin coordination with theadministration, following allhealth protocols," he tweeted.At least six people have died andnearly 100 hospitalised after agas leak at a chemical plant inAP Visakhapatnam in the earlyhours of Thursday.

Gas leak incidentBJP chief Naddaexpresses pain

PNS n NEW DELHI

Rajya Sabha Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu and LokSabha Speaker Om Birla onThursday asked secretary gen-erals of both Houses to exploreif parliamentary committeemeetings can be held throughvideo conference.

This comes in view ofdemands from various mem-bers of Parliament (MP) forholding such meetings throughvideo conference amid theCOVID-19-induced lock-down. The secretary generalshave been asked by Naidu andBirla to submit a report on thematter soon.

The Rajya Sabha chairmanand the speaker met at theUparashtrapati Niwas onThursday and discussed therole being played by MPs dur-ing the COVID-19 pandemicand the feasibility of holdingcommittee meetings.

In view of the prevailing sit-

uation and in the context ofrestrictions on travel across thecountry, the two felt that if thesituation does not allow regu-lar conventional meetings ofthe committees in the nearfuture, alternative means ofenabling such meetings can beexplored.

"They have directed the sec-retary generals of both theHouses to examine in detailthe pros and cons ofParliamentary Committeesholding meetings by videoconferencing by taking into

considerations the presentRules of Business of both theHouses of Parliament, thepractices and experiences ofvarious countries in respect ofsuch virtual meetings and thetime required to enable securetechnology platforms requiredfor such mode of meetings," astatement from the chairman'soffice said.

The report of the two topofficials of Parliament willform the basis for a considereddecision by both the presidingofficers in the matter, it said.

Parl officials to explore if committeemeetings can be held via video con

Three killed, 24injured in truckcollisionPNS n SAGAR (MP)

Three persons were killedand 24 injured, when a trucktransporting migrantlabourers suffered a head-oncollision with a goods vehi-cle on Sagar- ChhatarpurRoad in Madhya Pradesh onThursday, police said.

A pickup truck headingtowards Uttar Pradesh withmigrant workers f romBhiwandi in Mumbai col-lided with a goods trucktravel l ing f rom UttarPradesh, Banda police sta-tion in- charge Kamal Singhsaid.

At least three persons diedon the spot and 24 were ain-jured in the accident thattook place near Chhapri vil-lage on Sagar-ChhatarpurRoad, he said.

The migrants travelling inthe pickup truck belong toFaizabad, Ambedkar Nagarand adjoining areas in UttarPradesh, he added.

Maha CM discussespandemic situation withopposition leaders

163 ShramikSpecial Trainsferried 1.60lakh migrants

PNS n BHUBANESWAR

Odisha on Thursday report-ed the highest number ofCOVID-19 cases in a day as21 people, who recentlyreturned from Surat, testedpositive for coronavirus, anofficial said. With these newcases, the total number ofpeople afflicted with thedisease has climbed to 206,he said.

Of the 21 new patients, 17are from Ganjam districtand four from Mayurbhanj,a new one in the list of dis-tricts where coronaviruscases have been reported, anoff icial from theInformation and PublicRelations department said.

21 people fromSurat test positivefor COVID-19

Indore district'sChief Medical andHealth Officer,Praveen Jadia, said,"At SAIMS, the useof plasma therapywas done on someCOVID-19 patientsand according tothe doctors there, ithelped them in therecovery"

NGT grants more time to committeeto submit report on Yamuna

The flight to Kochiwill take off fromAbu Dhabi at 4.15pm and reachthedestination at 9.40pm, while the otherto Kozhikode isscheduled for de-parture from Dubaiat5 pm and arriveat 10.40 pm, offi-cial sources said

Ariane Passenger PayloadExperiment (APPLE), a productof India’s first geostationaryexperimental communicationSatellite Project during 1977-83,

was successfully launched by Ariane-1,from Kourou, French Guyana, on June 19,1981. The journey to its successful launchwas tricky though. In 1981, the Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO) did not havemainframe computers and the satellite’santenna needed to be tested as problemswere detected in certain links, specificallythe telemetry, tracking and control links thatwere crucial to ensure regular communica-tion with the satellite in space. It was, there-fore, crucial to ensure that these links werefunctional before the launch.

But it could only have been done in aproper antenna range, with the satellite struc-ture placed under a thermal blanket and theISRO did not possess such infrastructure atthat time. The satellite needed a non-metallic structure where it could be placedand where testing could be carried out. Sincetime was of the essence, such a structurecould not be developed. So, there came aningenious idea of placing the satellite on abullock cart so that the test could be car-ried out. The bullock cart, which was hiredat a nominal cost ̀ 150, provided a non-mag-netic environment and enabled ISRO tocarry out the antenna test in an open field.

The great thing about this story is thatit underlines Indian ingenuity and ambitionat its finest. The ancillary benefit, of course,is that it provides a lovely story behind anincredible Indian organisation and providescolour to the country’s impressive spaceadventure. However, this is just an ancillarybenefit. ISRO did not set out with puttinga satellite on a bullock cart and then hap-pened to successfully ensure proper testingof the satellite. The publicity that this storygenerated was a byproduct of what ISROwanted to achieve, not a motivator.

Political parties today, especially the BJPGovernment at the Centre, would do wellto remember this story. The clearest exam-ple of how “publicity” and “politics” is theprimary motivation and the end result forthis Government is that of the recentmigrant crisis. As everyone is aware, millionsof labourers from States across the countrywere suddenly left stranded after the nation-wide lockdown came into force. Withoutpay, they were barred from returning to thecomfort of their homes. Their families, too,had to face this emergency. This forced themigrant workers to walk thousands ofkilometres under the sweltering summersun. Some even hid inside cement mixersto try and reach their homes. However, ourinternational evacuees did not have toendure such indignity when the lockdownstarted.

There have been no stories of individ-uals swimming across the English Channelto the shores of India but our migrants have

had to suffer that indignity.Then the Centre asked theStates to look after the migrantlabourers even as no provisionswere made for their travel andreturn. This was further exacer-bated by the fact that States suchas Delhi did not receive anyfund from the Centre to aidtheir fight against Corona. In theend, they were largely left ontheir own to ensure that themigrants are not adverselyaffected, even though the prima-ry plea of the labourers has con-sistently been to return to theirrespective homes. Since inter-State transport falls under theUnion list, the expectation wasthat the BJP Government at theCentre would take care of thisconcern.

However, in reality, whathappened was that though cer-tain special trains were madeoperational, the migrants werecharged thousands of rupees. Ifany worker had that kind ofmoney, would he/she be hidingin cement mixers or evenattempt to walk home? It wasthis action that promptedSubramaniam Swamy, a BJPleader, to call the Government’sidea to charge poor migrants fortheir journey home as “moron-ic.” I hardly ever find myself inagreement with Swamy butthese are strange times.

Thereafter, a political rivalof the BJP said that the Stateunits of the Congress would pay

for the tickets of the migrants.This generated negative public-ity for the BJP and, therefore, theGovernment cleared that therailways would pay 85 per centof the ticket prices with theStates footing the remaining 15per cent.

However, this face-savingmove by the BJP did not comewith any intention to help themigrants but to score politicalpoints or to rather prevent los-ing more political points. Howdo we know this? Well forstarters, the Centre is not pay-ing 85 per cent of the farebeing charged to the migrants.

Moreover, there is no orderto that effect anywhere as on thedate of writing this article.Instead, what the BJP is doingis media manoeuvring. TheIndian Railways has always sub-sidised in general to keep theticket prices low. The BJP wantsus to believe that this sub-sidised fare amounts to cover-ing 85 per cent of the cost andin asking the States to bear theremaining 15 per cent of the costis actually asking them to paythe entire cost of the ticket.

Even in the Supreme Court,where the question cropped upbefore the Solicitor-General ifthe Centre was actually bearing85 per cent of the fare, he saidthat he had “no instructions” toreveal what proportion wouldbe shared by the Railways andthe States. Why this uncertain-

ty to a rather straight forwardquestion?

In fact, in Karnataka, theBJP went one step further andcancelled all the trains formigrants to relegate them tobonded labourers. BJP MPTejasvi Surya even went on totweet that such a move will helpthe migrants “restart theirdreams.” The moral flexibilityon the show is almost admirable.However, after all the uproarand noise, the Karnataka BJPhas apparently now reversed itsdecision, much like how it cameout and said that it would “bear”85 per cent of the ticket fare formigrants after it was pushed toa corner.

The question is: Why doesit always take bad Press for thisGovernment to be forced intogood governance? It’s because alarge part of what it does isimage management. Questions(when taken) are either refusedon technicalities or obfuscatedas in the present case of themigrant trains. The need of thehour instead is to focus onproblem-solving by includingthe States and Opposition par-ties and being honest with thecitizens. In doing so, the BJPwould finally put the “bull”before the cart. It can learn athing or two about it fromISRO.

(The writer is a former IPSofficer, a former MP and current-ly a member of the AAP)

The uncertain nature of the Coronaviruspandemic has flummoxed governmentsacross the world as they are faced with

the unenviable task of opening up their gasp-ing economies and keeping infections anddeaths under check at the same time. Just howunpredictable this maverick virus is can begauged from the fact that a study of cases inTaiwan, published in The Journal of AmericanMedical Association, found household trans-mission to be the main source of infection,while The Lancet study of the US found that

healthcare transmission was more than household transmission. So where doesthis leave us where our lockdown strategy is concerned? Well, if findings of 14studies on the virus’ transmission patterns across China, Iran, South Korea,Singapore, Iceland, France, Taiwan, Japan and the US are anything to go by, pub-lic enclosed spaces, too, can become a super-spreading environment. While somestudies found that household contacts account for 10-20 per cent of the trans-mission, five to 10 per cent were traced to transportation, dining and entertain-ment. At the same time, the studies found that schools are not prominent trans-mission centres and children are unlikely to be the source of any household infec-tion, unlike the bird flu where 54 per cent of transmission clusters identified kidsas the source of infection. In the end, it all boils down to the fact that the Coronavirusis largely transmitted by close contact in densely populated spaces over a pro-longed period. This basically means that enclosed public and mass living spacesmake for a high-risk environment. This more than ever highlights the importanceof social distancing and operating in ventilated open spaces.

So, maybe as we go ahead and start living our lives again along with theever-present threat of the COVID-19, these two factors will be the guiding prin-ciples of our strategies and future architecture. They will forever change the waywe watch movies, dine out, travel, shop, socialise, work in our offices and fac-tories and so on. Some sectors like entertainment and dining out will suffer, trav-el will, too, as fewer seats on airplanes and trains will make the costs of ticketsprohibitive. Maybe we will have to rethink our public transport-related strategies.The automobile sector will boom as will e-commerce, real estate might sufferas more firms encourage the work from home model while services will becomemore expensive. One thing is for sure, we can’t hunker down forever as the tinyvirus destroys economies, jobs and lives across the world. We just have to copewith preventive and adaptive strategies.

Just when the nation is struggling to breatheas COVID-19 tightens its grip, the preven-tive lockdown because of it extracted a

heavy price as gas leaked out of a shut chem-ical plant in Visakhapatnam and choked peo-ple in their homes. It seemed the ghosts ofthe Bhopal gas tragedy of 1984 revisited usas the leak affected over 5,000 people whilethey lay asleep in the wee hours atGopalapatnam village. At last count, 11 haddied but thousands are gasping for survivalin hospitals. Toxic styrene escaped from an

LG Polymers facility when its owners tried restarting the plant at midnight fol-lowing the easing of lockdown restrictions for business and an alarm malfunc-tioned. Clearly no safety protocol or a cautionary approach was followed in therush for reopening the unit. The gas came from two 5,000-tonne tanks that hadbeen lying unattended and unmonitored during the 40-day lockdown. In suchan uncalibrated scenario, gases do not remain inert, they react, cause a chem-ical reaction and generate heat that might have triggered the leak. An official fromthe owner firm himself accepted that there were 1,800 tonnes of styrene in thestorage tank and that stagnation and changes in temperature might have result-ed in auto polymerisation, which could have caused the sudden vapourisationof the gas. So negligence certainly cannot be ruled out. The Manufacture, Storageand Import of Hazardous Chemical (Amendment) Rules, 2000, list a numberof chemicals that call for safe handling, including styrene. Even mild exposureto it results in irritation of mucous membrane and eyes and affects the gastroin-testinal system. Long-term exposure impacts the central nervous system andleads to headache, fatigue and weakness. Therefore, a safety audit ought to havebeen conducted before resuming operations, considering that the plant was oldand had considerable wear and tear. In fact, a no-objection certificate from thepollution control board should have been made mandatory before even attempt-ing a re-opening. Though the scale of the leak was lesser than that of Bhopal,this was no less a serious industrial tragedy. It also showed that we still havenot learnt lessons from our past. Although the industrial unit was located in theoutskirts of the city, 20 villages thrived in a radius of five kilometres. It is too lateto ask questions about why zoning separation wasn’t done all these years. Atleast, given the risks opening an unmaintained facility entailed, authorities oughtto have warned or evacuated residents. As a result of this negligence, we wit-nessed apocalyptic scenes of villagers rushing out of their homes as they werebeing asphyxiated and literally falling unconscious on the roads. Some were trappedin their houses, some tried jumping into the well and out of their balconies.

This too, like Bhopal, will remain in the news for a while and then be quick-ly forgotten. For the corporate owners and multinational giants, despite protract-ed legal battles, always manage to wriggle out of reparations or culpability, usu-ally using their proximity to Governments of the day or negotiating new invest-ment prospects. And chemical unit accidents keep happening with astonishingregularity. According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA),130 chemical accidents had been reported around the country in the last decadealone, causing 259 deaths and 563 serious injuries. The GAIL pipeline blast of2014 claimed 15 lives while injuring over 40 others. The same year, at Bhilaisteel plant, a gas leak killed six people and injured over 40. And in 2017, morethan 470 school children were hospitalised in Delhi’s Tughlaqabad area after theyinhaled toxic fumes emanating from a factory nearby. It is because the law nevertakes its course that industrial safety standards in the country keep getting short-changed or flouted. The Environment Protection Act (EPA) came up in 1986 inthe aftermath of Bhopal. The following year, soon after the oleum gas leak inNew Delhi, a new chapter was added to the Factories Act, 1948, widening thescope of what constitutes risk. Further, the Public Liability Insurance Act (PLIA),too, came into effect to provide interim compensation to the victims in the eventof an industrial disaster. Forty years on, pertinent questions arise today: Are theselaws still relevant? Have they been used appropriately? Is there any need formore stringent laws? In the absence of an active regulatory regime, all the lawsto tackle chemical disasters will mean nothing.

Memories of Bhopal

Rahul takes the lead

Sir — Last week, Congress leaderRahul Gandhi discussed theCoronavirus pandemic and itseconomic implications with for-mer Reserve Bank of India (RBI)Governor Raghuram Rajan. Now,Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjeehas spoken to the Congress scionas part of a series of video conver-sations with experts on economyand health. Indeed, when life isbecoming monotonous, Gandhihas brought some fresh air andconstructive ideas. While Rajansaid that `65,000 crore should bespent to support the poor hit hardby the crisis, Banerjee was of theopinion that India should take acue from the US and pump moremoney into the hands of people torevive demand. He stressed on theneed for a bigger stimulus.

Comparing India, which isthe fifth largest economy in theworld with a GDP of $2.94 tril-lion, with the world’s richestcountry is not justified. Afterholding discussions with twogreat economists Rajan andBanerjee, Rahul Gandhi musthold discussions with formerPrime Minister ManmohanSingh, who brought about an eco-

nomic revolution in the countryin 1991, and former deputy chair-man of the planning commissionMontek Singh Ahluwalia. Bothhave practical understanding ofthe Indian economy.

Bidyut Kumar ChatterjeeFaridabad

Out of service

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Creation to preservation”(May 7). It is shocking that withIndia’s unemployment rate stand-ing at a record high of 27.1 per

cent for the month of April, theunemployment rate is four timeshigher than that of the US. Giventhe current situation with Coronacases crossing the 50,000 mark,there may be more pain in store.Just in case the lockdown isextended further, businesses will

have to either stay shut for alonger time or may have to oper-ate on very low capacity. In bothscenarios, demand would be low,which may worsen the job crisisscenario. The economy cannotany longer stay without big bangreforms. The Government needsto reopen more of such industri-al units although with strict safe-ty protocols.

ManishaVia email

Liquor conundrum

Sir — It’s intriguing that despitethe Delhi Government levying a70 per cent tax on the sale of alco-hol, serpentine queues were seenoutside liquor shops. In Mumbai,the Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) closed liquorshops after people failed to main-tain social distancing norms. Itwill be worth watching if Delhi,too, would emulate the BMC.Sure liquor brings revenue butonline deliveries should beencouraged now.

SunitaVia email

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

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op nionHYDERABAD | FRIDAY | MAY 8, 2020

06

Does anyone care?

AJOY KUMAR

The BJP will do well to remember ISRO’s journey, which started from launching a satellite on abullock cart. Instead of being focussed on image management, it must solve people’s problems

I have been warning theworld about India’s continuing efforts to find a pretext for a false flagoperation targettingPakistan.

Pakistan Prime Minister—Imran Khan

We didn’t realise that ‘Stayhome, stay safe’ would be aluxury. But the irony of itshould not be lost on us asmany women battle the situ-ation in their homes.

Actor—Nandita Das

We went through the worstattack we have ever in our country. This is worsethan Pearl Harbour. This is worse than the WorldTrade Center.

US President—Donald Trump

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

Armed forces must stick to ethics

This refers to the article, “Maintain the fine line” byBhopinder Singh (May 4). In a rare show, the Army,the Navy and the Air Force in consort saluted the

Corona warriors by showering petals from the skies andsounding bugles from the seas. Undisputably true, themedical fraternity deserved unqualified appreciation andsupport because their unflagging pursuit is unparalleledin history. However, this flower and bugle show of thearmed forces seemed to be a modified version of theclanging of plates and lighting of lamps, a continuum.

Steven Wilkinson, in his book, Army and Nation:The Military and Indian Democracy sinceIndependence, had remarked that India had inheriteda conservative Army, dominated by officers and troops,drawn disproportionately from a few “martial” groups.In his view, the structure of the Army, with castes andreligions holding sway, was incompatible with the hopesfor a new secular nation. This posed a threat to democ-racy as well. India averted this danger in the decadesafter independence. However, recent statements by themen in fatigues, such as “Indian Army is fully ready fora two-and-a-half front war” to intimidate China and thesuggestion of shipping off Kashmiris to “deradicalisa-tion camps,” which was seen as an open threat to the

Indian Muslims, has created ripples. If made to pleasethe political masters or to exhibit the prowess of the mil-itary, these unsolicited rants breached a carefully culti-vated tradition. Interpretations of the words uttered andcomments thereupon, even extreme, are unavoidable.The “fine” dividing “line” gets blurred when the rulingdispensation keeps enlisting the military for politicalmileage and/or the generals dare to exceed the brief, con-stantly.

Haridasan RajanKozhikode

WHY DOES ITALWAYS TAKE BAD

PRESS FOR THISGOVERNMENT TO

BE FORCED INTO GOOD

GOVERNANCE? IT’SBECAUSE A LARGE

PART OF WHAT IT DOES

IS IMAGEMANAGEMENT.

QUESTIONS (WHENTAKEN) ARE

EITHERREFUSED ON

TECHNICALITIESOR OBFUSCATED

AS IN THEPRESENT CASE OF

THE MIGRANTTRAINS

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

No enclosed spaces

In India, I feel there is still abig issue of accepting thatthere is some weaknesswhen it comes to the men-tal aspects, but we generallyterm it as mental illness.

Indian cricketer—MS Dhoni

The gas leak at a chemical unit in Visakhapatnam shows whywe never learn lessons and our laws mean nothing

Confined and conditioned environment of public offices andfacilities can become the biggest super-spreaders of the virus

What of right to health?

11 OF THE 15 SLOTS IN THE MORTUARY ARE FULL.RELATIVES OF THOSE WHO DIED OF COVID-19 WERE

RELUCTANT TO TAKE THEIR BODIES.—SION HOSPITAL DEAN

PRAMOD INGALE

PUBLIC HOSPITAL STAFF ARE DOING THEIR BESTWITH LIMITED RESOURCES AT HAND. MUMBAI'SADMINISTRATION NEEDS TO STEP UP NOW.—CONGRESS LEADERMILIND DEORA

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

The COVID-19 pandemic is one of thebiggest challenges India has faced inrecent times and is, in fact, a test of the

resilience of our democracy. There is a collectiverealisation in Indian society that the world welive in has changed forever. This shift is not lim-ited to social interactions or healthcare infrastruc-ture but permeates all aspects of our socio-polit-ical lives, including the criminal justice system.

In several countries, police powers have beenexpanded and are being used in a repressive andeven brutal manner in what has been referred toas a “toxic lockdown culture” by the UN HighCommissioner for Human Rights, MichelleBachelet.

While we have fortunately not faced such abroad misuse of emergency powers in India, con-cerns have nonetheless been raised about the con-duct of the police and the operation of the jus-tice system as a whole. The judiciary’s deferenceto the executive, the abuse of power by police offi-cers in dealing with ostensible lockdown viola-tions and prison overcrowding are just some ofthe issues that have come to light.

A particularly complex issue is the contin-ued arrests of individuals in connection with theFebruary riots in North-East Delhi. The man-ner in which these arrests have been made by thepolice has been the centre of much controversy.Numerous instances have been reported ofindividuals allegedly being arrested without anyclear information regarding the charges againstthem. The prohibition on visits to jails means thatfamily members are unable to ascertain the well-being and sometimes even the location of thearrestees. In some cases, it is even unclearwhether the individual in question has beendetained for questioning or has, in fact, been for-mally arrested.

There have allegedly also been instanceswhere family members have been detained by thepolice when the intended arrestee could not beimmediately located. Advocates representing sus-pects or individuals charged in connection withthe riots have also expressed their frustration atnot being able to meet their clients to ensure thatthere is no violation of their constitutional rights.In many cases, lawyers have alleged that they wereunaware that their clients had been arrested orof the precise charges against them.

The issue of arrests in the unrest, thus, sitsat the crossroads of many different concerns —whether legal representation should be consid-ered as an essential service, possible politicalmotivations behind the arrests, how pursuing jus-tice in a particular case should be balancedagainst broader public concerns and how policepowers should be exercised in emergency situ-ations.

However, a particularly important concernis safeguarding the arrestees’ right to health,which is guaranteed under the broader right tolife under Article 21 of the Constitution of Indiaand determining the extent to which this rightshould be protected against the police’s power toarrest.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, arrest-ing and placing individuals in jails can serious-ly jeopardise their health. One especially poignantexample is that of Safoora Zargar, a Jamia MiliaIslamia scholar, who was 14-weeks pregnant

when she was arrested in relation to theFebruary riots and has allegedly beenfacing difficulties with medical carewhile in custody. Zargar is just one ofthe cases that provoked the recent state-ment of protest by feminist activists andscholars and brings to light the way inwhich factors such as gender furthercomplicate the impact of such arrestson arrestees’ right to health.

This danger to prisoners’ health wasrecognised by the Supreme Courtwhen it issued directions addressing theproblem of overcrowding in prisons. Aclose reading of the apex court’s ordershows that the court addresses theCOVID-19 pandemic both as a publichealth issue as well as a serious threatto the health of prisoners.

The Supreme Court clearly recog-nises that prisoners are particularly sus-ceptible to infections due to their closeliving quarters and emphasises the needto ensure that they, as well as prisonstaff and anyone else who may come incontact with them, are protected fromthis pandemic.

The Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind relied onthese directions in its petition before theDelhi High Court against the arrest ofindividuals in connection with theNorth-East Delhi riots. In response tothis petition, the Delhi High Court, inits order issued on April 28, directedthat all arrests in connection with thiscase have to be made in accordancewith the Supreme Court’s directions. Itfurther stated that all such arrested indi-viduals are free to individually apply forbail. The High Court’s order is problem-atic in that it gives primacy to bail as aremedy without recognising the diffi-culty that arrestees may face in avail-ing it without adequate legal assistance.

In fact, the lockdown itself can beused as a reason to deny bail. SharjeelImam’s bail was denied on the ground

that the period of investigation in hiscase had been extended. This extension,in turn, had been requested by thepolice on the ground that the probe hadbeen slowed down by the ongoing lock-down. If, for a moment, we set aside thequestion of bail in sedition cases, it can-not be denied that the threat to Imam’shealth caused by the COVID-19 pan-demic is being further exacerbated bythe pressures put on the police infra-structure.

Nevertheless, the High Court’sengagement with this issue reflects theSupreme Court’s concern with prisonovercrowding and the resultant healthhazards for arrestees and prisoners.Several other High Courts, mostnotably the Kerala High Court, havealso attempted to limit arrests to caseswhere they are absolutely unavoidable.

Thus, the continued arrests ofindividuals in the North-East Delhiriots cases fly in the face of the judicia-ry’s concern with protecting arrestees’and prisoners’ Article 21 rights. This isparticularly egregious in light of thelarge number of arrests in this case,which progressively compounds therisk to the health of both individualsand the public. Even prior to this case,the susceptibility of the police toarrests, abuse and arbitrariness has longbeen recognised in Indian and interna-tional legal discourse.

The Supreme Court, too, in land-mark cases such as DK Basu vs. Stateof West Bengal, has recognised the needto regulate the arrest powers of thepolice in order to prevent their rampantabuse. In a time of public crisis such asthe present pandemic, it is particular-ly important for agents of the State, suchas the police, to exercise their power ina rational and ethical manner that bothprotects the rights of the individual andthe safety of the public. While the

Government has said that these arrestsare necessary in light of the seriousnessof the offences, it has failed to justifywhy arrests in the cases of particularpeople are unavoidable. It has notprovided any evidence that these indi-viduals may flee, tamper with evidenceor engage in further offences. Inessence, the Government fails to pro-vide an explanation strong enough tojustify endangering the right to life ofthese individuals as well as the threatposed to public health. Ironically, whilediscussions of arrest powers have usu-ally focussed on balancing the rights ofthe individual with the safety of thecommunity, in this case the rights of theindividual coincide with the safety ofthe community. Arbitrary and unnec-essary arrests, thus, damage both.

Globally, where individual coun-tries have responded to the COVID-19epidemic with forceful and repressivemeasures, international bodies havecalled for a renewed respect for humanrights. As Indian society adapts to thechanges brought by this crisis we, too,are faced with choices about the func-tioning of our legal and political insti-tutions, including the police. As the UNSecretary General has said, “Humanrights cannot be an afterthought.” It isnecessary to ensure that police powersare not abused, especially when theyjeopardise a right as crucial as the rightto life as well as public safety. It has longbeen understood that the State isexpected to exercise its power in aresponsible and ethical manner. It isnecessary that we make a renewed com-mitment to this principle in presenttimes.

(Bajpai is Professor andChairperson, Centre for Criminologyand Victimology at National LawUniversity, Delhi and Gera is a ResearchAssociate.)

The danger to prisoners’ health was recognised by the Supreme Court when it issued directionsaddressing the problem of overcrowding in prisons, particularly during the Corona contagion

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

Some reasonsto hope

GWYNNE DYER

There are many clever people working on all theproblems that threaten our future and for some

of them at least, solutions will arrive in time

GSBAJPAI

MONALGERA

IT IS NECESSARY TO ENSURE

THAT POLICEPOWERSARE NOT ABUSED,

ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY

JEOPARDISE ARIGHT AS

CRUCIAL AS THERIGHT TO LIFE ASWELL AS PUBLIC

SAFETY. IT HASLONG BEEN

UNDERSTOODTHAT THE STATE IS

EXPECTED TOEXERCISE ITS

POWER IN ARESPONSIBLEAND ETHICAL

MANNER.IT IS NECESSARY

THAT WE MAKE A

RENEWEDCOMMITMENT

TO THIS PRINCIPLE IN

PRESENTTIMES

You don’t feel like reading about the pandemic today? Good. Idon’t feel like writing about it again either. So here are somereasons to hope, none of which are even remotely related to

the Coronavirus. First, they have found not one but three new waysto combat malaria, just as the problem of growing resistance toexisting drugs and insecticides was getting out of hand. In BurkinaFaso, a collaboration last year between the local Institut de Rechercheen Sciences de la Santé and the University of Maryland showedthe effectiveness of modifying a fungus that normally infests mos-quitoes. The fungus was genetically engineered to produce lethalspider toxin and 99 per cent of the mosquito population in the trialarea died within 45 days.

Scientists at the Kenya Medical Research Institute have foundthat an existing drug, Ivermectin, which is used against parasiticaldiseases like river blindness and elephantiasis, is also effective againstmalaria. It kills both the plasmodium falciparum parasite in the bloodand the mosquito whose bite put it there. (But you’ll still get bittenfirst).

And best of all, a cure that doesn’t kill the mosquitoes, whoare an important source of food for many bird species. TheInternational Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Nairobi hasdiscovered that around five per cent of the mosquito population onthe shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya carries a microbe calledMicrosporidia MB that completely blocks the plasmodium parasite.The microbe lives in the mosquitoes’ gut and genitals without doingthem any harm and mothers pass it on to most of their offspring.So if you could spread that microbe to the rest of the mosquitopopulation.... Microsporidia form spores that could be released enmasse to infect mosquitoes, or male mosquitoes could be infect-ed in the lab and released into the wild to infect the females whenthey mate. It’s early days but this could actually solve the malariaproblem for good.

Now, the second piece of happy news: Researchers at theUniversity of Groningen in the Netherlands are having some suc-cess in blocking the growth of bacterial resistance to antibiotics.This is the most urgent medical issue of our time because if theantibiotics don’t work, then the old infections that they have longsuppressed will come back and make even the simplest operationlife-threatening. Bacteria share and spread their resistance by swap-ping genes and to do that they secrete a protein called CSP. TheGroningen team worked through more than 1,300 existing drugs,and found 46 candidates that disrupt the ability of the bacteria toproduce CSP. It’s a first step but a very promising one.

And now, for something completely different. Environmentalistshate plastics because half of the megatons produced each year endup in landfills or the oceans. However, plastic is a strong, lightweightmaterial that is very useful in many different roles. The trick is torecycle it all properly, so it doesn’t end up damaging the environ-ment. Enter a French start-up company called Carbios, which beganby screening 1,00,000 micro-organisms for promising candidatesthat could decompose plastics quickly and cheaply into chemicalbuilding blocks that can be recycled into new plastics. They foundwhat they were seeking in a leaf compost heap: A bacteria that pro-duces an enzyme that will do that job.

It took a little work to mutate the enzyme so that it enthusias-tically consumes the PET plastic from which plastic bottles are made.Carbios predicts that it will be operating at an industrial scale by2024 — and in March, German researchers found a different bac-teria that will eat up polyurethane.

Now for the big one. There is a company called Solar Foods,in Helsinki, which is growing bacteria (just add hydrogen) to makean organic soup from which you can make flour. Tweak the bac-terial formula a bit and you can create the right proteins and fatsfor lab-grown meat, fish, milk and eggs. There are many other com-panies just a bit behind Solar Foods (which will open its first com-mercial factory next year). The prospect glimmering on the hori-zon is that we might be able to feed the world from a relatively smallamount of land and give the rest back to nature.

We would then have to figure out what to do with the half ofmankind that currently makes its living from farming but we canassume that this would be a change that takes decades to workits way through the very large and extremely complex global soci-ety we live in today.

What all this tells us is that there are many clever people work-ing on all the problems that threaten our future and that for someof them at least, solutions will arrive in time. It is still heroically opti-mistic to believe that all of them will, or even enough of them willarrive in time. There is hope but there is also great danger.

(Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘Growing Pains: The Future ofDemocracy and Work’)

The Indian economy was alreadystruggling before the pandem-ic struck the world. Now, India’s

fiscal woes have been further exacer-bate by the Corona-enforced shut-downs that began on March 25 andwere subsequently extended till May17. The 53-day-long work disruptionhas seriously impacted small andmedium enterprises (SMEs) that covera wide range of sectors and provideemployment to 120 million people.The pandemic has hit most of thelabour-intensive industries, includ-ing the automobile sector, smartphone manufacturers, the solar indus-

try, textile and steel manufacturing toname a few. SMEs are usually hard-pressed to meet production and deliv-ery deadlines. Operational inefficien-cies are thus overlooked most of thetime, leading to high consumption ofresources like energy, raw materials,water and so on. This results in a highcost of production, thereby squeezingprofit margins.

However, adoption of Resource-Efficient Cleaner Production (RECP)strategies that optimise use of resourcescan help SMEs cut production costswhile reducing the environmentalfootprint through lesser waste gener-ation for the same product output. Thecurrent situation could thus be anopportunity to move towards moreefficient operations and enhance over-all productivity and profitability inSMEs around the nation.

During the shutdown period,enterprises can focus on capacity-building of human capital and plan-ning for operations post the lockdown.Given the widespread access to smartphones and internet penetration in

India, suitable virtual meeting plat-forms and the wide range of materi-als available online can be used to trainmanagers and supervisors in energymanagement, water management andgood housekeeping practices.

These learnings can be utilisedsubsequently to make workers awaredown the chain to enhance theirknowledge and skills. Keeping intouch with the workforce during thischallenging time would also helpreduce their anxieties. Further, duringthis period, suitable norms could bedeveloped for proper sanitation of thepremises and for practising social dis-tancing once the lockdown is lifted.

Once enterprises are allowed tocommence operations, the focus wouldbe on productivity while taking careof workers’ safety. To maintain socialdistancing, enterprises may need tooperate in smaller and multiple shifts.It is important to stress the need forgood housekeeping measures such asmarking man-machine pathways,implementing international best prac-tices for sorting and setting-in-order

by providing separate bins for differ-ent categories of wastes, designatinglocations for storage of raw materials,semi-finished and finished goods aswell as tools and inventories.

Additionally, inspection of variousmachines for oiling, dusting, eliminat-ing any external objects and for secur-ing wiring connections should beperformed to reduce unexpectedbreakdowns.

Worker safety can be addressed bynon-contact thermal screening usinginfrared thermometer on a daily basis,access to alcohol-based hand sanitis-ers and sanitation tunnel combinedwith an updated Aarogya Setu app onmobile phones for checking theCorona status of the persons enteringthe factory premises. It is equally essen-tial to acquire and allocate the requiredPersonal Protective Equipment (PPE),ensure workers wear them and provideclean changing and washroom facili-ties to the staff. While improvinghousekeeping, low cost or no-costRECP measures can be implementedto achieve resource savings.

Electricity savings can be realisedthrough lighting optimisation bycleaning fixtures and windows, by pro-viding lighting at the point of use,avoiding lighting at ceiling heightand switching off unnecessary lightsduring lunch and tea breaks.

Savings can also be accrued by fix-ing leaks in compressed air systems,water and steam pipelines. Forinstance, one bar reduction in deliv-ery air will result in six to ten per centreduction in power consumption inthe compressor. Additional opportu-nities for energy savings include powerfactor improvement (by capacitoroptimisation for reduced penalty inelectricity bills); motor optimisation(by providing well-ventilated, dust-freesurroundings with proper belt tensionand replacement of flat belts withcogged belts and checking electricalconnections to avoid heating of termi-nals); fan and blower optimisation (byensuring clean and unrestricted inletair, checking for unwanted noise andvibrations, cleaning filters and fanblades of motors, ensuring adequate

belt tension and ensuring leakage-freeair distribution network in the ducts);cooling tower optimisation (by routinecleaning of motors, blades and water,replacing metallic fan blades with light-weight fibre-reinforced plastic blades,controlling fan speed as per weatherconditions and reducing the algaedepositions); compressor optimisation(by providing clean and cool surround-ings, reducing the distance betweencompressor and point of use, installinga closed-loop, low-friction and mini-mum bending pipeline, conductingfree air delivery and leakage test,installing air guns and using com-pressed air only for high pressurerequirements) and heat loss optimisa-tion in boilers and furnaces (by pro-viding adequate insulation, tight doorclosing and adjusting air to fuel ratio).

Water savings, including reducingwastewater generation, can be achievedby installation of aerators and sensorsfor flow reduction, placing water-filledbottles in high-volume toilet tanks toreduce amount of water per flush, recy-cling and reusing of reverse osmosis

reject for floor cleaning, washing andother applications should be encour-aged. Developing energy and waterconservation strategies with periodicreduction targets will further boostresource saving initiatives.

Effective pandemic control fol-lowed by a suitable policy drive wouldbe needed to provide enabling condi-tions for the economy to rebound.SMEs must position themselves forstarting sustainable production prac-tices after the lockdown. To deal withthe economic slowdown caused by thepandemic and to be on track toachieve the Nationally DeterminedContributions to meet SustainableDevelopment Goals 2030, SMEs needto remain competitive in a sustainablemanner. Adoption of RECP strategieswould help enterprises reduce costsand enhance their profitability whilecontributing to economic growth in anenvironmentally-sustainable manner.

(Tewari is Fellow and Srivastava isResearch Associate, TERI. Inputs fromMalini Balakrishnan and Vidya Batra,Senior Fellows, TERI)

SMEs must enhance resource efficiency, profitabilityEffective pandemic control followed by a suitable policy drive would be needed to provide enabling

conditions for the economy to revive after the nationwide lockdown is lifted

PRAHLADTEWARI

NILAYSRIVASTAVA

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | MAY 8, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | MAY 8, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

BMW resumesoperations atChennai plant

Swiggy co-founderRahul Jaimini quits,to join Pesto Tech

NEW DELHI: German luxurycarmaker BMW on Thursdaysaid it has resumed operationson a single shift basis at itsmanufacturing plant inChennai. BMW Group Indiastarted operations at itsChennai plant on May 7 inaccordance with guidelinesissued by local authorities, thecompany said in a statement.Local production at the plantwill be started with less than50 per cent of the regularworkforce, it added. All otheremployees will continue towork from home, theautomaker said. Themanufacturing plant hasresumed operations in singleshift and depending on thepandemic situation andgovernment advisories,deployment of staff will beadjusted steadily, it added.Several precautionarymeasures have beenimplemented to ensure safeworking environment at thefacility, BMW said.

NEW DELHI: Food ordering anddelivery platform Swiggy onThursday said its co-founder andCTO Rahul Jaimini will moveaway from active role in thecompany during the month topursue another entrepreneurialventure. Jaimini will be joiningPesto Tech, a career acceleratorstart-up, as their co-founder,Swiggy said in a statement. Hewill continue to be a shareholderand board member of Swiggy, itadded. Functions currently ledby Rahul, including platformengineering, analytics, IT andlabs, will be realigned to DaleVaz, Head of Engineering andData Science, who has been withthe company for close to 2years, the statement said.

Govt working onfinancial packagesays officialNEW DELHI: The governmentis working on a comprehensivefinancial package not only forMSMEs but for all sectors ofthe economy, a top official saidon Thursday. "Government ofIndia, Prime Minister's Officeand the Department ofEconomic Affairs are alreadyworking on a package, whichincludes not only the MSMEbut also the entire industry. Allsectors of the economy beingtaken care of by a comprehen-sive package, being workedout in the government," saidGiridhar Aramane, Secretary inthe Ministry of Road Transportand Highways. He was speak-ing during an interaction withmembers of SIAM (Society ofIndian Automobile Manufac-turers) Institute via videoconferencing. Participating inthe same meeting, UnionMinister for MSME and RoadTransport and Highways NitinGadkari also said "a package isgoing to be declared".

ITC Hotels launches‘WeAssure'NEW DELHI: Hospitality majorITC Hotels on Thursday said ithas launched an initiative toassure guests of stringentcleanliness and disinfectionprocess across all its hotels,amid the coronaviruspandemic. Under the initiative‘WeAssure', ITC guests will bereassured of visibly stringentcleanliness and disinfectionprocesses which benchmarkclinically hygienic standards,the company said in astatement. The reassurancewill be given by sanitation,hygiene, safety and infectioncontrol practice organisationNational Accreditation Boardfor Hospitals & HealthcareProviders (NABH), it said.

‘Exodus of migrant workers toimpact industry, farm sectors'PNS n LUDHIANA

The exodus of migrant labour-ers from Punjab to their nativestates will adversely impactthe state's industrial and farmsectors, fear industry represen-tatives and farmers.

Their apprehensionsemerged after more than 8 lakhmigrant workers got them-selves registered for going backto their home states.

The Centre is running'Shramik' trains to ferrymigrants to their respectivehome states as they werestranded in other statesbecause of the lockdown.

Onkar Singh Pahwa, thepresident of All India CycleManufacturers Association onThursday said the availabilityof minimum workforce is aprerequisite for the purpose ofresumption of industry.

He said the Centre hasallowed only strandedmigrants to be sent back home.But now even those labourerswho are not stranded are get-ting tempted for registration toreturn to their home states

because of the availability offree rail travel, he further said.

It is inexplicable that thegovernments did not foreseethe current exodus, triggeredby the desperation of the work-force, which is not stranded,Pahwa said.

"If bulk migration of workersis not stopped then Punjab willbe ruined economically," saidRahul Ahuja, the chairman of thePunjab unit of industry body CII.

Gurmeet Singh Kular, thepresident of Federation ofIndustrial and CommercialOrganisations, said the migra-tion of workers will prove to be

a death knell for industrialactivities in the state.

"There was not even a singledeath in the state due tohunger. Thus, the propagandaof non-supply of the ration isfalse and motivated," he said onThursday.

D S Chawla, the President ofthe United Cycle and PartsManufacturers Association,said the bulk migration ofworkers will turn out to becounterproductive for theindustry as it will not allowindustrial activities to restart.

Representatives of All IndiaCycle Manufacturers Associa-

tion, Chamber of Industrial &Commercial Undertakings,Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII) and FICO onThursday appealed to the Centreand state governments to stopthe exodus of workers.

They also said the state gov-ernment should reach out tomigrant workers to providewhatever assistance theyrequire. Majority of migrantlabourers who work in Punjabare from Bihar, Uttar Pradeshand Jharkhand.Meanwhile,farmers are equally worriedover the fate of paddy sowingwhich will start next month.

Bank of England: UK economyto shrink by most since 1706PNS n LONDON

The Bank of England warnedThursday that the British econ-omy could suffer its deepestannual contraction in morethan three centuries as a resultof the coronavirus pandemic,before bouncing back next year.

In what it describes as a“plausible” scenario, the banksaid the British economy willbe 30 per cent smaller at theend of the first half of the yearthan it was at the start of it, withthe second quarter seeing a 25per cent slump alone followinga 3 per cent decline in the first.

Unemployment is projectedto more than double to around9 per cent, but that figure doesnot include the 6 million work-ers who have been retained byfirms as part of a scheme thatsees the government pay up to80 per cent of salaries.

The central bank said theeconomy should start to recov-er during the second half of theyear as the lockdown restric-tions start to be lifted and“materially so” in the latter partof the period.

It noted that the timeliestindicators of UK demand havestabilised in recent weeks,

albeit at very low levels, afterunprecedented falls during lateMarch and early April.

As a result, it anticipates thatthe economy will end up 2020with a 14per cent contraction.

According to bank statistics,that would be the biggestannual rate of decline since1706, and markedly more thananything seen in the aftermathof World War I when theeconomy was also laid low bythe Spanish flu pandemic.

The projected fall is alsothree times more than therecession of 2008-9 during theglobal financial crisis.

Over the longer term, thebank thinks that the Britisheconomy could revive quickly

if the pandemic comes undercontrol globally.

It thinks that the economycould pick up by 15 per cent nextyear, which would be the biggestannual increase since 1704.

In fact, the bank expects theeconomy to be more or lessback to where it was before theoutbreak within three years,with the financial sector help-ing the corporate sector getthrough the strain.

“We expect the recovery ofthe economy to happen overtime, although much morerapidly than the pull-back fromthe global financial crisis," saidAndrew Bailey, the bank's newgovernor, who has only been atthe helm since March.

Micro enterprises best placed to help economycome out of COVID-19 crisis: ReportPNS n MUMBAI

Micro enterprises, with borrow-ings of less than Rs 1 crore, arebest placed to help the economycome out of the COVID-19 cri-sis, Small IndustriesDevelopment Bank of India (SIDBI) and Trans Union CIBILsaid on Thursday.

In a joint report, the two enti-ties said leverage ratios and non-performing assets (NPAs) ofmicro enterprises are the lowestin the commercial segment. Theyalso did an impact analysis on thesector's response to two of thebiggest business shocks in recenttimes — drying up of NBFCcredit following the IL&FS crisis,and GST implementation.

As per the report, micro enter-prises have been classified asthose with borrowings of less than

Rs 1 crore. The economy has beenseverely impacted due to theCOVID-19 pandemic but thegovernment and policymakers arelooking for segments that are inthe best position to help revive theeconomic activity the quickest.

"The micro segment can bethe next growth driver for theeconomy and credit institutions

must capitalise on this opportu-nity by identifying the micro seg-ment entities that have stoodstrong through the past disrup-tions and fund them duringthese times," SIDBI Chairmanand Managing DirectorMohammad Mustafa said.

From the NPA perspective,bad loans in the very small

(under Rs 10 lakh exposure) seg-ment stood at 11.3 per cent as ofDecember 2019, as compared tostress of 17.3 per cent in the over-all commercial lending segment,18.7 per cent for the medium cor-porate segment and 19.1 per centfor the large corporate segment.

In the report, both the entitiesanalysed the response from aloan delinquency perspectiveafter both the GST implementa-tion and the drying up of financ-ing by the non-bank lenders fol-

lowing the IL&FS crisis to showthat the NPA accretion by microenterprises was low.

In January 2020, 63 per centof the active MSMEs (micro,small and medium enterprises)were in the structurally strongrisk segment having a CIBILMSME Rank (CMR) between 1and 5, while 37 per cent MSMEsare in CMR 6 to 10, the reportsaid, speaking of the current liq-uidity and leverage positions ofthe small businesses.

Sensex drops 242 pts;Nifty gives up 9,200-markPNS n MUMBAI

Equity benchmark Sensex fellover 242 points on Thursday,dragged by losses in index-heavyweights HDFC twinsand Kotak Bank amid risingcoronavirus cases in the coun-try.

After touching a low of31,362.87, the 30-share indexsettled 242.37 points or 0.76per cent lower at 31,443.38.

Similarly, the broader NSENifty slipped 71.85 points, or0.78 per cent, to end at9,199.05.

ONGC was the top loser inthe Sensex pack, slumpingover 4 per cent, followed byNTPC, Kotak Bank, Titan,Bharti Airtel and PowerGrid.

On the other hand,IndusInd Bank rallied over 6per cent. M&M, RelianceIndustries, Axis Bank andTech Mahindra were the othergainers.

Market tried to cut losses inthe morning session but failedas selling resumed in con-sumer durables and bankingsectors, keeping benchmarksbelow Wednesday's levels, saidNarendra Solanki, Head-Equity Research(Fundamental), Anand Rathi.

In the afternoon session,volatility intensified amid fearsthat the peak of fresh COVID-19 cases was nowhere nearafter the case count surgedpast 50,000, he added.

PNS n NEW DELHI

L u x e m b o u r g - b a s e dArcelorMittal on Thursdayreported a net loss of USD 1.1billion for the first quarterended March 31, 2020 amidcoronavirus pandemic.

The world's largest steel-maker had posted a netincome of USD 0.4 billion inthe year-ago quarter, the com-pany said in a statement.

"ArcelorMittal recorded anet loss for quarter 1, 2020 ofUSD 1.1 billion... as comparedto a net loss for quarter 4, 2019of USD 1.9 billion and a netincome for quarter 1, 2019 ofUSD 0.4 billion," the compa-ny said.

The world's leading integrat-ed steel and mining companyfollows January-December fis-cal year.

"The improved operatingperformance in the first quar-

ter has been considerably over-shadowed by the COVID-19crisis. Faced with a significanthumanitarian challenge, thecompany's first priority hasbeen to take all the necessaryactions to safeguard the well-being of our people and to pro-vide support to the extentrequired in the communities inwhich we operate,"ArcelorMittal Chairman and

CEO Lakshmi N Mittal said.Mittal further said: "We

have also moved decisively toprotect the business in the faceof completely unprecedentedscenario we are facing wheresocial and economic lock-down has contributed to asignificant decline in demand."

The company also had toreduce production due toreduced demand, he said.

PNS n BANGKOK

Huawei launched ten all-newAirEngine Wi-Fi 6 series mod-els for the Asia Pacific region,which will provide better servicesfor enterprises and are ideal forlaying a high-quality fully-wire-less campus as the new corner-stone for enterprises' digitaltransformation.

Huawei AirEngine Wi-Fi 6series products stand out withtechnological innovations suchas industry-unique dual-bandSmart Antennas, lossless roam-ing, and Dynamic Turbo (anintelligent application accelera-tion technology). Among thenew models, the flagshipAirEngine Wi-Fi 6 8760 seriesboasts 16 spatial streams -- themost in the industry -- deliver-ing 10 Gbps wireless throughputand beyond.

According to Huawei's fore-casts, Wi-Fi 6 will be deployed

by 90 percent of enterprises by2023, making Wi-Fi the under-lying network technologyrequired for efficient enterpriseproduction and service digital-ization.

Li Xing, President of theCampus Network Domain,Huawei's Data CommunicationProduct Line, said: "As newdigital services are constantlyemerging in enterprises, existingWi-Fi 5 networks have alreadyencountered bottlenecks thatprevent them from meeting

these new services."He continued: "For example,

in fully-wireless office campus-es, new applications representedby AR, VR, and 4K are strainingthe capacity and speeds of exist-ing networks. Fully-wireless pub-lic campuses, in contrast, tend tohave large open spaces andhighly mobile users, but existingwireless networks cannot deliv-er continuous signal coverageand bandwidth stability neededfor continuously optimal userexperience."

Huawei Launches New 5G-PoweredWi-Fi 6 Products in Asia Pacific

ArcelorMittal reports USD 1.1 bnnet loss in Jan-Mar quarter

Staff in customer care should optfor ‘contactless' experience: AirtelPNS n NEW DELHI

Airtel on Thursday sought toassure subscribers that anyemployee visiting customers tosolve issues with existing con-nections or for a new installa-tion will maintain "highestlevel of hygiene", and that itsentire staff has been trained toensure a "contactless" experi-ence.

Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal, ina note to customers, said thatthe next phase of the journeyhas begun as the world slow-ly starts to open up.

"We have now been in lock-down for over 40 days andhave entered a new normal.Our 45,000 strong workforcecontinues to be on the field toserve you and we are gratefulthat all of them are safe. We arenow in the next phase of thisjourney as the world slowlystarts to open up," Vittal said.

He said that over the last few

weeks, the company has deliv-ered several initiatives toaddress user queries or con-cerns.

This includes new capabili-ties of SIM delivery to homes,doorstep KYC (Know YourCustomer), work from homesolutions, conferencing andsecurity services, he said,adding that the company hadreceived support from cus-tomers on these initiatives.

"Yet, we know we are notperfect and given reduced

capacities at our call centers,some of you may have facedchallenges. So, if there is any-thing else that we can help youwith, please do let us know.

"We have enabled severalchannels for you to reach us.Digitally, you can raise yourqueries/complaints throughthe Airtel website or theAirtel Thanks App. You canalso drop in a request on ourIVR by calling 121 fromyour registered mobile num-ber," Vittal said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Engine and auto parts makersSwaraj Engines and Federal-Mogul Goetze India onThursday said they haveresumed operations at theirrespective plants in Punjab fol-lowing relaxation in lockdownby the Centre.

In a regulatory filing, SwarajEngines said it has receivedpermission from authorities toresume operations at its plantlocated at SAS Nagar (Mohali),Punjab.

"Accordingly, the companyis starting its operations grad-ually and all activities wouldbe carried out in accordancewith the government regula-tions and guidelines in thisrespect and by maintainingsocial distancing, sanitationand hygiene standards," it

added.Similarly, Federal-Mogul

Goetze India has partiallyresumed its operations at itsplant situated at Patiala(Punjab) by adhering to direc-tions, guidelines and permis-sions issued by authoritieswith respect to COVID-19.

"The financial impact is notascertainable at this stage. Thecompany is closely monitoringthe situation and will take nec-essary steps," it said.

Swaraj Engines, GoetzeIndia resume operationsat Punjab plants

InterContinental Hotelssees sales collapsePNS n LONDON

InterContinental Hotels Groupexpects sales to have plunged bya record 80 per cent in April asthe coronavirus outbreak shutsits chains, including CrownePlaza and Holiday Inn.

IHG, the world's largest hoteloperator by number of rooms,added that global revenue peravailable room — a key indus-try measure — tanked 55 per-cent in March, when the worldimplemented mass lockdowns tocontain the deadly COVID-19outbreak. RevPAR slumped 25percent over the first quarterfrom a year earlier, it added in aresults statement. "COVID-19represents the most significantchallenge both IHG and ourindustry have ever faced," saidchief executive Keith Barr.

With around 15 percent of itshotels currently shut, includingInterContinental sites, London-listed IHG has offered facilitiesto frontline health workers andthe homeless. "I would like to sin-cerely thank everyone at IHG...for the way they have respond-ed to this challenge," Barr addedin Thursday's release.

"This includes protecting thehealth and safety of guests andcolleagues... and repurposinghotels to provide essential activ-

ities including accommodation tofrontline workers, military per-sonnel and vulnerable membersof society." The group franchis-es, leases, manages or owns about5,900 hotels, which together com-prise almost 882,000 rooms inmore than 100 countries.

But owing to the pandemic,around 1,000 hotels or 15 percentof its estate, were shut at the endof April. The least affected areawas China, where only ten hotelsremained closed, as the countrygets back to work after being thefirst country into lockdown.

"Following a solid perfor-mance in the first two months of2020, occupancy levels droppedto historic lows in March andApril, as social distancing mea-sures and travel restrictionscame into effect around theworld," Barr said Thursday.

It is inexplicablethat the govern-ments did notforesee thecurrent exodus,triggered by thedesperation of theworkforce, whichis not stranded,Pahwa said

The economy has been severelyimpacted due to the COVID-19 pandemicbut the government and policymakersare looking for segments that are in thebest position to help revive theeconomic activity the quickest

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

FridayMay 8, 2020

rained in Kathak,Eshan Hilal hasbeen a part of top10 modelling iconsof India by IndiaToday and won

international laurels in bellydancing while performing inChina. Besides that, he hadalso featured in Indian realityshows such as Dance+, HighFever, etc., along with gainingspotlight from BBC in a docu-mentary and being felicitatedby Member of ParliamentShashi Tharoor.

He delivered his first everTEDx talk in BITS Pilani,Hyderabad recently. He hasalso been a part of BigCelebrity Challenge hosted byZee Telugu and conducted aworkshop at Madhapur, trig-gering a passion for bellydance amongst the youth ofHyderabad.

A fashion designer by pro-fession, Eshan belongs to aconservative Muslim family,which is unhappy about thefact that he chose the exoticcareer of belly dancing.“Despite having enormousrecognition all over the coun-try for my pious work, theydon’t care. They are strongbelievers of our religiousnorms and believe that I willultimately be answerable to theAlmighty for the deeds I amdoing. I am not hurting any-one, I’m only pursuing mydream with utmost dignity,” hetells us.

Considering belly dance hisescapism, this fashion commu-nication graduate has also suf-fered experiences of stereotyp-ing, name-calling, mockery forparticipating in a feminine art,called up for hook-ups, forcedto perform on item numbers,etc. Despite all of this, he hasn’tleft his fight towards being a

positive role model to many inthe country. Eshan continuesto conduct workshops all overthe country, gives TED talks tomotivate youngsters, performsat corporate events and walksthe ramps as a gender fluidmodel, inspiring a hugecrowds at diverse events.

He is making sure bellydancing is breaking genderboundaries. Eshan says thatthough India, earlier, was anation where many didn’t pos-sess basic human rights andbelonged to a patriarchal soci-ety, things have changed andthe craft of belly dancing hasevolved for the better today.“Previously, belly dancing wasconsidered vulgar, but manyIndians are ignorant of the factthat this dance form originatedin Rajasthan. The scene is get-ting better now. Recently, Iperformed in Bengaluru for ashow called Gender Benderand received overwhelmingresponse from elderly whowere taken aback by my tech-niques to yesteryear’s songs.They just couldn’t believe theireyes,” he shares.

Belly dancing is his oxygen,the blood to his veins andmeditation to his soul, he says.He considers this art form tobe very elegant and nevershyed away from wearing fem-inine costumes without com-ing across as a cross-dresser.He loves the sexuality he bearsand strives to be an outstand-ing performer of the craft.When he dances, everyonemakes a loud cheer. He advisesthe budding dancers to not bea replica of him and have anddevelop a unique sense ofstyle. Acquiring his confidenceover the years through societalpressure and orthodox family,he finds that's nothing is capa-ble of shaking it now.

‘To be abelly dancer

you don’trequire

femininity,all you need

is selfacceptance,’says Eshan

Hilal,India’s firstmale belly

dancer and agender fluidmodel, in an

exclusivechat with

ThePioneer'sSHIKHA

DUGGAL

KALAHAS NO GENDER!

T

How social mediafuelled charity work

ho knew that anaccount on the Heloapp, a regional socialmedia platform inIndia, could help boostcharity today?

Kavya Sree, an IT-professional,goes live every day on the app toconnect with her followers, butmore importantly to inspire themto come forward and help the poorand needy. Founder of ‘Feed theHunger’, Kavya, and two of herfriends, Krishna and Srikanth,have been traveling to remotestparts of Hyderabad, amid the lock-down, to ensure that those on theroads don’t go hungry.

“I started charity work five yearsago when I saw the sick and thedesolate losing lives as they could-n’t feed themselves atleast onemeal per day. I decided to help theneedy with food, once a week sincethen. Two of my colleagues, whenthey learned of this initiative,wanted to join the cause. Althoughwe no longer work for the samecompany, we’re still going strong asa team,” informs Kavya Sree.

The three members of Feed TheHunger didn’t initially think ofcarrying out their weekly plan ofdistributing food during the lock-down. Kavya says, “During thefirst three days of the lockdown, Iwas bombarded with scary infor-mation everywhere. I didn’t wantto pose a risk to anybody due to alack of awareness. It was onlywhen a follower of mine on myHelo account sent me a video ofpeople going hungry at GandhiHospital that I decided to continuedistributing food during the lock-down.” But this time, Kavya decid-ed upon distributing food not oncea week, but every day.

“I did not want to risk the livesof my friends Krishna andSrikanth. I will be answerable totheir families if anything goeswrong. Hence I went and servedfood all by myself. It was days laterthat they told me, ‘How can youthink of doing it without us? Weare with you, we’re a team. We’re inthis together.’ There was no stop-ping us since then,” she adds.

The team distributes variouskinds of food including buns,

bread, water packets, biscuits,lemon rice, etc. to people that areleft to die on the roads.Sometimes, they even pick upnewspapers for these people. “Thepolice know us, and have helped ustoo,” says Kavya Sree.

Feed The Hunger spends overRs 6,000-7,000 per day to distrib-ute food. Asked how they managefunds, Kavya replies, “Over 85% ofthe money is from our own pock-ets, the remaining 15% are fundsthat are received by donors. Werecently had one of my followersfrom Tirupati send in Rs 10,000after he saw our work.” Kavya hasover 1,680 followers on her Heloapp, who include people of all sec-tions of the society like doctors,engineers, lawyers, social workers,teachers, teenagers, IT profession-als, and even leaders.

At a time when we hear sadden-ing stories by people on the inter-net, Kavya and her team are anexample of how social media canbe used the right way to help thosein need.

A city-based IT professional, founder of ‘Feed the Hunger’and her team are defying all odds to help the destitute inthe city with able donations, reports RACHEL DAMMALA

W

During the first three days ofthe lockdown, I wasbombarded with scaryinformation everywhere. Ididn’t want to pose a risk toanybody due to a lack ofawareness. It was only whena follower of mine on myHelo account sent me a videoof people going hungry atGandhi Hospital that Idecided to continuedistributing food during thelockdown

— Kavya Sree

Covid -19 heroes

10

Hyderabad Friday May 8 2020 what’s brewing?

Cara Delevingne,

Ashley Bensonpart ways

odel CaraDelevingne andactress AshleyBenson have splitafter dating foralmost two years.

The two broke up in early

April, sources told.One source said that

Delevingne and Benson

ended their relationship in

April, and that Delevingne

has been spending time with

friends including Margaret

Qualley and her sister

Rainey Qualley, as well as

Kaia Gerber, while self-quar-

antining. “Cara and Ashley always

had their ups and down

before but it’s over now,” the

source said. “Their relationship just

ran its course.” Delevingne

and Benson were first spot-

ted together when they were

photographed kissing at

London’s Heathrow Airport

in August 2018.Delevingne confirmed

their relationship in June

2019.

M

Lockdown may force top actors to take pay cutshe coronaviruslockdown will like-ly result in a $330million (Rs 2,500crore) loss for theIndian film indus-

try, and force top actors totake pay-cuts once operationsresume.

A CNN report quotes tradeanalyst Komal Nahta as sayingthat even if theatres were toopen back up, they won’t

operate at capacity, with socialdistancing norms in place.Citing the example of Chinesetheatres, he said, “If you’reselling tickets based on socialdistancing, you’re reducingyour capacity because forevery seat you sell, you keepone vacant. If your capacity is50 per cent, it will not supportthe huge film budgets.”

The Indian film industryrelies on domestic box office,

but also on its stars’ globalappeal. Some of the top actorsin the industry, such as ShahRukh Khan, Akshay Kumarand Deepika Padukone, ‘helpthe industry rake in revenuefrom audiences around theworld’, the report said. “WithIndia, the problems are mani-fold because all the cinemasacross the world will have toopen,” Nahta said. “Overseasrevenues for big Hindi films

form a huge component of thetotal revenue.”

According to the trade ana-lyst, top names — both infront of and behind the cam-era — will have to take pay-cuts. He noted that in India,the majority of movie budgetsare allocated to the stars.

The coronavirus lockdownhas forced major films such asSooryavanshi and ’83 to beindefinitely delayed. Actor

IrrfanKhan’sfinalfilm,AngreziMedium,was hurtat the boxoffice,where itsrun was cutshort by thelockdown order.

T

Disney,Marvelmovies notto resumeshootinganytimesoon

roduction of manyhighly anticipatedDisney as well asMarvel movies wassuspended due tothe COVID-19 pan-

demic, and the studio hasrevealed that one cant expectthe movies to get back on trackin the near future.

“No projections,” saidDisney’s CEO Bob Chapek,when asked about tentpoles

projects resuming production.According to reports,

Chapek said that they would“be very responsible in termsof masks when we proceed” onthe productions.

“In terms of large-scale pro-duction, we’re going to gothrough the same process withour productions as we do ourtheme parks in terms ofabsolutely guaranteeing thatwe’re going to be responsible in

terms of how we put both ourown employees and other film-makers that are partners withus as they do these produc-tions,” said Chapek, stressingthat they won’t reopen untilthey get a green signal from“public health officials andstrict safety procedures are inplace”.

Due to the pandemic,Disney hit pause on produc-tions like Shang-Chi, Ridley

Scott’s The Last Duel, The LittleMermaid, Nightmare Alley,Shrunk and Peter Pan &Wendy. The studio also pushedits theatrical release to newdates, and put Artemis Fowl forrelease on its streaming serviceDisney+ later this month.

“We very much believe in the value of the theatrical experience overall to launchblockbuster movies,” Chapeksaid.

P

Dia Mirza's tenure as UNenviroment emissary extended

ctress-producer DiaMirza’s term as UnitedNations EnvironmentProgram (UNEP)Goodwill Ambassador

has been extended. Shewill now be serving

till the end of 2022.Dia, who is also

a United NationsSustainabilityDevelopmentGoals Advocate,feels the exten-sion is another

opportunity towork towards

changing things fornature.

“I am grateful for the oppor-tunity to continue to serve asUNEP ambassador. My associ-ation with the United NationsEnvironment Programme hasbeen an extraordinary learningcurve,” she said, adding, “It hasdefined my purpose and I hopeto continue to learn and make adifference towards improvingenvironmental consciousness.Now more than ever before weneed to make every effort pos-sible to act on climate, protectwildlife, biodiversity, andsecure our natural resources.”

Underlining the role Dia hasplayed, Dechen Tsering,Regional Director and

Representative for Asia and thePacific, UNEP, said, “Your sup-port to UNEP as our GoodwillAmbassador since 2017 hasbeen greatly valued. Your con-tributions to WorldEnvironment Day, Beat PlasticPollution, Circular Fashion andother UNEP campaigns andinitiatives have helped broadenthe scope and impact of ouroutreach. We look to you tocontinue to assist us in ouradvocacy efforts and communi-cate to the public the visionand values that guide ourwork.”

A

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

elebrities have oftenfaced the trouble ofimposters on socialmedia and Swathiseems to have finallyhad enough of a

Twitter account@SwathiReddyOffl, whichmany believed is her ownaccount. Clarifying that shedoesn’t possess a Twitteraccount at all, she asserted thatshe never will have one in thefuture as well. Taking to herpopular Instagram page, shenoted that she quit Facebookway back in 2011 and herpage is dormant as well.Slamming the imposteron Twitter, she wrote,“This account keepsreturning and comingto my notice. ( who areyou boss? #Darr) Ifyou have Twitter andthe energy, then pleaseflag it, I have not hadmuch power over what’swritten and said about mein the past. I know thisshouldn’t matter, it’s not abig deal, am not sorelevant alsocurrently blahblah buthome girl isjust tired offake. Idon’tunder-stand thepatienceto be afake mewhenthe realme isnotableto beher-

self completely online (sic).”Swathi added that she wants

to travel back to the ’90s whereshe had candid conversationwith a landline phone. “Takeme back to the 90s where alandline ensured more qualityconversations, power cutsbecause of a drizzle and not aquarantine meant bonding,softy ice cream and egg puffswas standard socialisingand Doordarshan wasenough stimulation

(sic),” sheposted.

11

Hyderabad Friday May 8 2020tollywood

T’WOOD ASKS

VIZAG TOstay safe and strong

oted personalitiesfrom the industrytook to Twitter toexpress shock anddeep anguish overthe gas leak

tragedy in Visakhapatnamon Thursday.

Multiple deaths were

reported, while nearly 300got admitted in various hos-pitals of the city with healthproblems that surfaced dueto the incident.

The gas leak at the LGPolymers chemical plant inRR Venkatapuram started inthe wee hours of Thursday

before spreading into theneighbouring areas, for upto 4 kms from the plant,police said. Telugu film fra-ternity offered their condo-lences to the bereaved fami-lies and is praying for thespeedy recovery of thoseadmitted in the hospitals.

N

Stating that the incident deeplymoved him, megastarChiranjeevi offered his

condolences to the families ofdead, while praying for the

recovery of the hospitalized atthe earliest. “Request all

concerned authorities to takeutmost care while opening

Industries post lockdown,” heposted on Twitter.

Extending his sympathies to thefamilies who have lost their lovedones, Pawan Kalyan appealed to

the government to offer necessarymedical facilities and extend

financial assistance to the familiesof the bereaved.

Jr NTR said the news disturbedhim deeply and offered his

condolences to bereaved families.He appealed Vizag to stay strong.

Filmmaker SS Rajamouli wrote:“Deeply disturbed by the visuals from

the #VizagGasLeak. Praying for therecovery of those admitted to the

hospital. Heartfelt condolences to thosewho lost their near and dear ones.”

Tamannaah Bhatia wrote: “Woke upto the horrific news of the

#VizagGasLeak. My condolences toeveryone who lost their families

and wishing a speedy recovery tothose hospitalized (sic).”

Rakul Preet Singh posted, “So sad toabout the #VizagGasLeak ! My heart

goes to all the people affected bythis. I hope measures are taken really

soon to get things under control.Stay safe my vizag people (sic).”

Ravi Teja posted, “Deeply disturbedby the #VizagGasLeak news. Theyear is worsening by the day. My

deepest condolences to the familyand loved ones of the deceased..

and wishing a speedy recovery tothose injured. I hope that you all

remain safe (sic).”

Mahesh Babu wrote: “Heartwrenchingto hear the news of #VizagGasLeak,

more so during these challengingtimes... Heartfelt condolences and

strength to the bereaved families inthis hour of need. Wishing a speedy

recovery to those affected. Myprayers for you... (sic).”

Allu Arjun tweeted: “It’s really heartbreaking to see Vizag which one of

the most special places in my life insuch a state. I am deeply saddened

by this horrific accident.Condolences to families who have

lost their lives and hoping for aspeedy recovery for the rest (sic)”.

Venkatesh posted, “I amdeeply saddened by the

news about Vizag Gas Leak,especially during a time of

the ongoing crisis. Mycondolences to those

families who have lost livesand my sincere prayers for

the speedy recovery ofthose affected.

#StaySafeVizag (sic).”

undeep Kishan, who turned 33 onThursday, will be collaborating withGemini Kiran of Anandhi Arts for anew feature. This would be the actor’sthird collaboration with the producerafter the successful Venkatadri Express

and the average flick Beeruva in the past. The unti-tled film, a romantic-family entertainer, will be adirectorial effort of Ram Abbaraju, who debutedwith Rahul Ravindran-starrer thriller Drishti lastyear. Bhanu Bhogavarapu has penned the film’sstory.

Meanwhile, Sundeep’s next release would be A1Express. Having gone to floors last November, thefilm’s shooting is over except for a two-weekschedule in Yanam and Hyderabad. A new-agesports entertainer, the film tells the story of an

international hockey player (SundeepKishan) who has chosen to leave

the sport, staging a comebackto save the ground of a

local team. Short film-maker Dennis JeevanKanukolanu is makinghis debut as a featurefilm director with thefilm, which seesLavanya Tripathi along-side Sundeep.

Sundeep will beginshooting for Abbaraju’s

film after he wraps up AExpress.

SUNDEEP ANDGEMINI KIRANTEAM-UP AGAIN

Shey say the biggest room inthe world is the room forimprovement. AndSamantha Akkineni seemsto truly believe in the wisesaying. One of the best

female actors of the current genera-tion, the actor, with free time byher side due to lockdown, is takingacting lessons online in a bid toperk up her skills further. Andguess who her teacher is? It is noneother than the celebrated HelenMirren, who is one of the few per-formers who have achieved theTriple Crown of Acting in the US.

“When you literally had oneproductive hour in a 1000and must show itoff .. (I am agoing to be amuch bet-ter actornow justyou waitand see ...if not.......... Iwill justbe delet-ing thispost),”Samjokinglywroteon

Instagram along with a shot of TheQueen actress Mirren giving theclass online.

On the work front, Sam, last seenin Jaanu, is said to have signedGame Over director AshwinSaravanan’s Telugu-Tamil bilingualas her next but there is no officialword yet on the project. She is also

rumoured to be intalks with

SonyPictures

for a newfilm,whichwill behelmedby adebu-tant. It

will

beanother

Telugu-Tamil bilin-

gual, accordingto the buzz. Her

next release, how-ever, will be The

Family Man 2, whichmarks her Hindi

and digitaldebut.

T

Sam takes acting lessonsfrom HELEN MIRREN

‘I’m not on Twitterand never will be’

C

arlier thisFebruary, direc-tor Teja’s new setof projects —Rakshasa RajuRavanasurudu

and Alimelu MangaVenkata Ramana— wereannouncedwithout muchtrumpet blast.While therewas no nameattached tofeature in boththe projects,we’ve informedyou that Ranawill be

spearheading RakshasaRaju Ravanasurudu, whileGopichand will star inAlimelu Manga VenkataRamana. Which one of thetwo will take precedence

was shrouded inmystery but nowwe’ve learnt thatTeja will bestarting Gopi’sfilm first. Thelanky hasn’tcommitted to

any other direc-tor after

Seetimaar, so itmade Teja’s

job

easier. We’ve also been toldthat TG Vishwa Prasadwill be producing thefilm, a family drama,under his People MediaFactory.

Teja has previouslydirected Gopichand inJayam and Nijam andin many ways wasinstrumental in giv-ing the actor’s careera proper direction,

before he success-fully branched outto a leading manfrom playing sup-porting roles.

ETeja to start off with Gopi

sport 12HYDERABAD | FRIDAY | MAY 8, 2020

AFP n BERLIN

Bundesliga clubs were racing onThursday to get ready for therestart of the season in nine days’

time, amid concerns about whetherthe players will stick to the stricthygiene guidelines implemented toensure the campaign is completed.

Twenty-four hours afterChancellor Angela Merkel’sGovernment gave the GermanFootball League the green light toreturn, the league said it will resumethe season on Saturday, May 16.

The Bundesliga will be the firsttop European football league to restartmatches since the outbreak of thecoronavirus forced lockdown mea-sures to be imposed across the conti-nent.

All games will be played withoutspectators.

The opening day’s key game isbetween second-placed BorussiaDortmund and arch-rivals Schalke inthe Ruhr derby at Dortmund’s SignalIduna Park — but instead of beingroared on by an 81,000 crowd, theteams will play in an empty stadium.

France has already ended theLigue 1 season, with football inEngland, Spain and Italy still suspend-ed.

The situation gives “German foot-ball a huge head start”, according toEintracht Frankfurt sporting directorFredi Bobic.

FRENCH OOPEN TTICKET BBUYERS TTO GGET RREFUNDSParis: The French Tennis Federation says it will refundtickets purchased for the French Open because ofuncertainty related to the coronavirus pandemic. Theclay-court tournament at Roland Garros was initiallyslated to be held May 24-June 7 but has beenrescheduled for Sept 20-Oct 4. The FFT says it “hastaken the decision to cancel and refund all ticketspurchased for the original dates of Roland Garros.” TheFFT is also working closely with French authorities “toestablish the necessary measures which will ensure thehealth and security of all guests attending thetournament.”

RICHARDSON UUNDERGOES SSHOULDER SSURGERYSydney: Aussie pacer Jhye Richardson has undergoneanother surgery to stabilise the shoulder he dislocatedlast year and doctors are hopeful that with no cricketaround at this time of the year due to the Covid-19pandemic, it would help him in the recovery. Richardsonhad an operation on his right shoulder late last month,the same shoulder he dislocated during a match againstPakistan more than a year ago that sidelined him for sixmonths. The 23-year old already missed the World Cupand Ashes tour due to his dislocated shoulder.

MAHARAJ WWANTS TTO CCAPTAIN PPROTEASJoburg: Proteas spinner Keshav Maharaj admitted thathe is interested in captaining South Africa in all formatsone day. Maharaj has not been among the frontrunnersfor the position but he led the Dolphins to the domesticOne Day title. “I really want to captain the Proteas. It'sbeen my dream. Maharaj even said that he would liketo captain South Africa in all formats and lift trophieswith the team. “I'd like to captain the South African teamacross all three formats and I want to raise a World Cuptrophy with my own hands, as the leader of the side,” hesaid. “I didn't merely want to play for the Proteas. Liftingthat silverware has always been my childhood dream.”

‘MBAPPE WWILL FFIT IIN VVERY WWELL AAT RREAL’Monaco: Despite having close links with Barcelona,Spanish footballer Cesc Fabregas believes Frenchsuperstar Kylian Mbappe will fit in very well at RealMadrid because of his playing style. Mbappe, whocurrently plies his trade at Paris Saint-Germain, hasbeen linked with a move away from Parc des Princes inrecent times and Fabregas believes he could end upjoining compatriot Zinedine Zidane at SantiagoBernabeu. “He is a very hungry boy who wants to be thebest,” Fabregas told the Estudio Estadio programme asper Daily Mail. “Because of his style of play, he wouldfit in very well at a team like Real Madrid.”

TKR RRETAIN 88 WWINDIES PPLAYERS FFOR CCPL 22020Barbados: Caribbean Premier League side TrinbagoKnight Riders have retained eight of their West Indianplayers from the last year's squad, including skipperKieron Pollard for the upcoming season. Apart fromPollard, the Riders have retained Dawyne Bravo, DarrenBravo, Sunil Narine, Lendl Simmons, Khary Pierre, TionWebster and Akeal Hossain. They have also signedJayden Seales and Tion Webster ahead of the CPL 2020draft. Meanwhile, Riders let go of their regularwicketkeeper, Denesh Ramdin, who was transferred tothe St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.

MATCH-FFIXING MMAFIA LLINKED TTO IINDIA: JJAVEDLahore: Former Pakistan fast-bowler Aaqib Javed hasalleged that the match-fixing mafia is linked to India. Inan interview to a Pakistan-based news channel, Javedalso claimed that fixing questions have been raised overthe IPL in the past but no one has the courage to doanything against the mafia, who runs the business whileremaining in the background. “Questions have beenraised over IPL in the past. Match-fixing mafia is linkedto India,” Javed told Geo News. “There is no way outonce you decide to get yourself into it (fixing). Nobodyhas the courage to take any sort of action against themafia yet” he added. AGENCIES

SINGLES

TURIN: Juventus star Paulo Dybalarevealed on Wednesday that hehas been given the all-clear sixweeks after contracting coron-avirus, but Serie A rivals Torinoconfirmed that one of their play-ers had tested positive.

“Many people talked in thepast weeks ... but I can finallyconfirm that I am healed. Thankyou once again for your supportand my thoughts on all who arestill suffering from it. Take care,”tweeted the 26-year-oldArgentina forward.

Dybala was diagnosed onMarch 22, along with his girl-friend Oriana, who recoveredsooner from the disease.

Dybala on Wednesday alsoposted a picture of himself onInstagram with his arms out-stretched looking at the sky: “Myface says it all, I’m finally curedfrom Covid-19.”

But city rivals Torinorevealed that an unnamed play-er had been diagnosed withCovid-19 during testing of play-ers and staff as Serie A teamsreturn to individual training thisweek.

“During the first medicaltests carried out on the Torino FCplayers, a positivity to Covid-19emerged,” the northern club saidin a statement. AFP

PTI n CHENNAI

His ice cool demeanour is thestuff of legends but former

India skipper Mahendra SinghDhoni has no qualms conced-ing that he is not immune topressure and fear.

Dhoni, lending support toMFORE — an initiative offeringmind conditioning programs toachieve peak performance insports — offered his perspectiveon the issue of mental health.

“In India, I feel there is stilla big issue of accepting thatthere is some weak-ness when it comes tothe mental aspects, butwe generally term it asmental illness,”Dhoni was quot-ed saying in apress release.

“Nobodyreally saysthat, when Igo to bat, thefirst 5 to 10deliveriesmy heartrate is elevat-ed, I feel thepressure, I feela bit scaredbecause that’show everybodyfeels — how to copewith that?” theWorld Cup-winningicon asked.

“This is asmall problem buta lot of times we

hesitateto say it

to ac o a c ha n dt h a t ’ swhy the

relationship betweena player and coach isvery important be itany sport,” saidDhoni, who hasn’tplayed any interna-tional cricket sinceIndia’s WorldCup semifinalexit last July.

Highlighting the impor-tance of a mental conditioningcoach, Dhoni said: “Mentalconditioning coach should notbe the one who comes for 15days, because when you comefor 15 days you are only shar-ing the experience.

“If the mental conditioningcoach is constantly with theplayer, he can understand whatare the areas which are affect-ing his sport,” Dhoni, who ledChennai Super Kings captain tothree IPL titles, said.

MFORE has been foundedby former Indian batsman SBadrinath and Saravana Kumar.

SYDNEY: Tennis Australia conceded onThursday that January’s Australian Openfaces cancellation under a worst-case scenario,but said it was looking at a range of optionsin hope the Covid-19 crisis eases.

The season-opening Grand Slam is sched-uled to take place in Melbourne from January18-31, more than eight months away, andTennis Australia said it would abide by what-ever restrictions were in place at that time.

“We’ve certainly made no secret about thenumber of scenarios that we’re looking at,” aspokeswoman said.

“We’re hoping for the best but planning foreverything.”

Possibilities range fromcancellation to imposing quar-antine on overseas playersand allowing only Australianfans into the event.

“We have to lookat all the anglesbecause a lot of thedecisions will bebeyond our controland related toGovernment guide-lines and restrictions,”she said.

“We do need to haveall the protocols in placeto ensure everyone’s safe-ty.” AFP

AFP n LAUSANNE

Football’s lawmakers this week areset to announce a “temporary”

change to the laws of the sportallowing teams to make up to fivesubstitutions in games when thesport resumes after the coron-avirus-induced suspension.

The proposal to help teamscope with likely fixture congestionin a packed calendar was made byworld governing body FIFA and isexpected to be validated by theInternational Football AssociationBoard (IFAB) this Friday.

The IFAB said last week that itwas working with FIFA on a “tem-

porary dispensation of Law 3 (ThePlayers) allowing competitions togive teams the option to use a max-imum of five substitutes on up tothree occasions during the match,plus at half-time.”

Limiting the number of occa-sions on which teams can makechanges would remove the incen-tive to do so purely for time-wast-ing purposes.

A sixth change may also be per-mitted in matches that go to extratime.

Currently teams can make threesubstitutions during games,although since 2018 teams havebeen allowed to make a fourth sub-

stitution in extra time.Leagues will not be obliged to

implement the change, a sourcesaid, but they will be free to do soas soon as they restart.

The IFAB’s objective is to “pro-tect players’ health” when matchesdo resume, with a fixture schedulethat could be even more packedthan usual potentially leading to an“increased risk of injuries”.

While the measure is intendedto be temporary, it could be main-tained for the whole of the 2020-21season and right through to thenext European Championship,which was postponed by a yearuntil June and July 2021.

MELBOURNE: Australian openerJoe Burns on Thursday said thathis team’s much-awaited homeTest series against India later thisyear is primarily set to be a bat-tle between “two incrediblystrong bowling attacks”.

Virat Kohli and Co Arescheduled to play four Tests inAustralia in December-January.

“I look at Australia andIndia as having two incrediblystrong bowling attacks and that’swhat’s going to be so excitingwatching the two teams go at it,”Burns told reporters in a videoconference on Thursday.

India’s attack would bespearheaded by Jasprit Bumrahand Mohammed Shami, whileAustralia’s pace attack would be

led by world No1 Pat Cummins.Burns view is in sharp con-

trast to the focus of the overallhype, which is the batting of the

two sides. India boast of thepeerless Virat Kohli and amarauding Rohit Sharma, whileAustralia have been bolstered by

the return of Steve Smith andDavid Warner.

“I think both teams aregoing to have a lot to play forwith the number one rankingand their positions in the worldTest championships,” he said.

In the latest ICC Test rank-ings, Australia regained theworld’s No1 status after overtak-ing India. However, they areplaced second in the ICC WorldTest Championships pointstable, behind leaders India.

“That’s what’s motivatingus at the moment in terms of allthe training we’re doing with aneye looking forward to a hugesummer against the Indiancricket team,” he explained.

As a specialist opener, Burns

said his role will be to negate thenew ball Indian bowlers early inthe Test.

“I guess as an opening bat-ter, that’s why its so exciting formyself. There’s going to be ahuge challenge this summerand a big role to play in nullify-ing the Indian bowlers, especial-ly early in a Test match, themorning of day one with thenew ball.”

“They are obviously worldclass team. You look at theworld ranking, they were num-ber one and now we have got tonumber one, so I know thatseries will be anticipated byeveryone and as a player this isa sort of series you want to playin and do well in.” PTI

PTI n NEW DELHI

All-rounder Dwayne Bravo is in awe ofthe current West Indies T20 team’s bat-

ting depth, saying it is better than the 2016World Cup-winning side and can intimi-date any opposition.

“In the last series in Sri Lanka, we hada team meeting, and coach Phil (Simmons)put the team down, the list, and he put itdown in batting order, and he had my namedown at No 9,” Bravo told ESPNcricinfo.

“And I said to the guys, I said listen, Idon’t think I was ever involved in a T20team when I am down to bat at No 9.

“I’m just in awe of our batting line-up,and I said to the guys, I said listen, I thinkthis team is actually better than our World-Cup-winning team, and that is no joke,because at the end of the day, you have bat-ting all the way down to No 10.”

Bravo, who returned from internation-al T20 retirement in December last year tostrengthen West Indies’ title defence, saidthe batting resources of this “intimidating”team has reduced his role to a specialistbowler.

“It’s an intimidating team, it’s a team tointimidate the opposition, and that excitesme. So I will just do my part as a bowler,try to control the back end of the innings,especially closing off the innings with deathbowling, which has been, in the past, a bitof a concern for us,” said Bravo, who madehis international comeback in Januaryagainst Ireland.

“You saw how Oshane Thomas didwith his pace in Sri Lanka. Then you haveSheldon Cottrell, now a leader of the attack,Kesrick Williams on the bench, so thingsstarting to look bright again, things start-ing to look good again.”

Bravo also was effusive in his praise forskipper Kieron Pollard, who had taken overthe reins of limited over teams last year.

“He loves to win (Pollard). That’s themost important thing, and as a captain, he’ll

do anything to win, in the right way andthe right spirit, and he’s very determinedto win, to make a difference,” he said.

“I remember when they approachedhim to take over, I said to him, it’s going tobe a good challenge, a big one, a tough one,but now is the best time. You get both teamsat the bottom of the table. There’s only oneway you can go, which is up, right?

“I said now is the right time, you builda team and you create a dressing-room envi-ronment where everyone is on the samepage.”

Pollard has represented West Indies in113 ODIs and 73 T20Is, scoring 3619 runsand taken 88 wickets. The 32-year-old all-rounder remains a huge figure in limitedover cricket, having played in severalleagues across the globe, including the IPL.

Bravo described Pollard as a “figure-

head” and someone who commands respectacross the globe for his achievements.

“I think what Pollard has is his hon-esty, which is the most important thing.You have leaders in the past sometimes thatsaid, okay, well, I don’t get involved in selec-tion, I had no say, you know, they give alltypes of excuses and stuff, and the systemwill be able to manoeuvre them and con-trol them, but Pollard, you can’t controlhim,” Bravo said.

“... The players also respect him,because of whatever he has done andachieved in the white-ball format, especial-ly in T20 cricket. So if someone like Pollardis speaking in the dressing room about T20cricket, we all have to listen, because he’splayed the most games, he’s had success,and he’s highly respected around theworld.”

IANS n NEW DELHI

Former India pacer Ashish Nehra hassaid that MS Dhoni was always open

to a chat with his players after a matchand his hotel room would always beopen for them after the games.

“People think that Dhoni doesn’ttalk much. That is not the case. Hisroom would remain open in the nightafter matches. Anyone could walk in,order food and discuss cricket,” Nehrasaid while speaking to former Indiaopener Aakash Chopra on his showAakash Vani.

“Be it in CSK or in the Indian team,Dhoni would pass on the message onwhat he thinks a player needs to do dur-ing a conversation and that would beenough for the players to get the drift,”added Nehra who played a lot of crick-et under Dhoni’s captaincy both forIndia and at Chennai Super Kings in theIndian Premier League (IPL).

Nehra also spoke on SouravGanguly, saying he was a leader whoused to back his players to the hilt.

“Dhoni had senior players aroundhim when he took over and the chal-lenge was how to manage them. Dadahad a team of juniors and he backedthem to the hilt. He would go all out toback his players,” said the former left-arm pacer.

DFL confirm May16 as return datefor Bundesliga

Until Merkel gave the go-ahead, clubshad still been training in small groups.

On Thursday, Dortmund, who were fourpoints behind leaders Bayern Munich whenthe league was halted in mid-March, held fullteam training for the first time in sevenweeks.

“We have had very constructive talkswith the local health authority about it,” aclub spokesman said.

Borussia Moenchengladbach also

resumed team training, despite announcingon Thursday that one of their backroom staffhad “a very weak” positive test of the coro-navirus and had been quarantined.

“The coaches and the team have workedunder unusual conditions over the past fewweeks. Everyone is happy team training ispermitted again,” said Borussia’s sportingdirector Max Eberl.

The Bundesliga wants to complete thelast nine rounds of matches before June 30

to secure around 300 million euros ($325 mil-lion) in television money.

‘STARTING FFROM ZZERO’However, it is a step into the

unknown.“One must not forget, we are now

in a situation that we do not know,” admit-ted Bayern Munich chairman Karl-HeinzRummenigge.

“We’re all starting a bit from zero. Onecannot rule out that there are one or two sur-prises.”

The worry is that an outbreak of the coro-navirus in the league could again halt theresumed season, this time for good.

There were 10 positive cases from 1,724tests of players and staff at the top 36 clubs inthe first wave of testing.

The onus is firmly on the players to fol-low the hygiene guidelines, including avoid-ing contact at all times.

Hertha Berlin striker Salomon Kalou, 34,was suspended earlier this week by his clubfor posting a video on social media where heshook hands with team-mates.

Kalou issued an apology, but politicianspointed to the Ivory Coast forward as anexample of how not to behave during a pan-demic which has so far claimed over 7,000 livesin Germany.

Germany captain Manuel Neuer has saidBundesliga footballers have a “enormousresponsibility” to be role models.

To drum home the point, German dailyBild translated “Follow The Rules!” into 28 lan-guages for the 278 foreign players in the league.

‘WARNING’“I was horrified,” Dortmund CEO Hans-

Joachim Watzke told Bild when asked aboutthe Kalou video.

“I will tell our players again that we havea big responsibility.

“Hertha did the right thing. Such individ-ual cases have to be sanctioned harshly.”

A similar message will be the mantra atBayern.

“I hope that the Kalou video remains anisolated case and we have received a bit ofwarning with it,” added Rummenigge.

Bayern will also have a tough fixture asthey resume their search for an eighth con-secutive title.

Bayern travel to Berlin on Sunday, May17, where Union will not be able to rely onthe usual cauldron-like atmosphere of theirhome ground.

Dybala getscorona all-clear

I also feel pressure like everyone else: DhoniI wasn’t unlucky, Dhoni made it count:Parthiv on playing in MSD eraNEW DELHI: Out-of-favourwicketkeeper-batsman ParthivPatel does not consider himselfunlucky to have played in thesame era as Mahendra SinghDhoni as he knows that the for-mer captain grabbed his oppor-tunities way better than him.

Patel led Gujarat to the2016 Ranji Trophy title. His lastTest appearance for India wasin 2018, while the last time heplayed an ODI for the countrywas way back in 2012.

“I don’t see myself asunlucky to be playing in the

Dhoni era. I started mycareer before

him, and Ihad the

opportunity to perform beforehim,” the 35-year-old Patelsaid during an interaction withFever Network’s 100 hours 100stars.

“Dhoni came in to theteam because I did not have acouple of good series and I wasdropped. I know people can sayit just to gain sympathies thatI was born in the wrong era.But I don’t believe that,” headded.

“Whatever Dhoni hasachieved was something very,very special and he achievedbecause he made sure of theopportunities he received. Idon’t feel unlucky at all,” Patelasserted. PTI

Football set to allow five substitutions

Battle b/w two strong bowling attacks: Burns on Ind-Oz Test series

MS was always open tochat with players: Nehra

Windies T20 skipper Kieron Pollard at nets WI/Twitter

Current WI team better than 2016 WT20 winners: BravoHolder wants to contribute in all formatsPTI n KINGSTON

Star West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder

says he might be leading theTest side but doesn’t want tobe “pigeonholed” in justone format and is deter-mined to make a name forhimself in all the threeforms.

“I don’t want to just

segregate myself andpigeon-hole myself to oneparticular format,” Holder,who has been the captain ofthe Test side for the last fiveyears besides leading theside in 86 ODIs, was quot-ed as saying by windi-escricket.com.

“Yes I’m the captain forthe Test team but as I’vecrossed formats for a num-

ber of years, I think my solefocus has been on WestIndies cricket, ideally in allthree formats not only inTest cricket.

“I think West Indiescricket is so diverse in manydifferent ways and for us asplayers, we've got to under-stand each and everyone ofus has a part to play in thiswhole puzzle,” he added.

Aus Open admitscancellation possible

Football’scoming back

Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski trains during team’s training session FC Bayern/Twitter