NAVEENA KAVI n HYDERABAD

Families in Telangana thesedays are unable to give a decentfuneral to their loved oneswho die of causes other thanCovid-19. Grieving familiesnow have the agonizing, addedtask of appealing to the author-ities for permissions to performlast rites, pay their last respects,and offer condolences in per-son.

The father of a Kukatpallyresident Muralidhar Raoexpired in Srikakulam.Muralidhar Rao knocked onthe doors of police station and

government wings to obtain apermission letter to performthe last rites. As if his grief was

not enough, getting the per-mission letter proved to be aherculean task.

With nowhere to go, manyon Twitter are seeking optionsto get help in times of despair.The numbers of requests pour-ing in from bereaved peopleseeking permission to visittheir native places withinTelangana, Andhra Pradesh orelsewhere are only increasing.

Suresh Kumar's grandfather

expired at Jangoan district. Allthe 4 bereaved families are res-idents of Lalapet. They reachedout to KTR seeking permissionand would travel by auto.Sometimes even these permis-sions are getting delayed. Forinstance, Sunny, whose father-in-law passed away inLuxettipet mandal, couldn't get

travel pass quickly and soughtassistance repeatedly.

People are suggesting thatthe authorities should create aspecial cell to quickly processtravel requests of bereavedfamilies.

Prasad, whose uncle expiredin Karimnagar, said, "We man-aged to get the location, but Ithink there should be a cen-tralised phone number orprocess so that grief-strickenfamilies can quickly get theirrequest processed. As alreadythey are sad and the procedur-al delays only increase thegrief ".

PNS n HYDERABAD

Four government officials,including a Tahsildar and adoctor, were booked forallegedly violating the ongo-ing lockdown and throwing aliquor party in Khammamdistrict of Telangana, policesaid. Following allegationsthat some government offi-

cials organised the party bynot adhering to social distanc-ing norms, police raided aguest house in Madhira townof the district on Monday andreportedly found the officialsconsuming liquor.

According to the police, thedoctor was caught while otherofficials fled.

PNS n AMARAVATI

In a setback to JaganmohanReddy government, AndhraPradesh High Court onWednesday set aside itsorders to make English medi-um compulsory in all state-run schools.

While striking down theGovernment Orders (GOs),the court ruled that mediumof instruction should be thechoice of the children andtheir parents.

The state government hasissued two GOs for conver-sion of all governmentschools into English mediumschools from academic year2020-21 academic year.

PNS n NEW DELHI

The army has directed its per-sonnel not to use AarogyaSethu mobile app, designed tohelp control spread of coro-navirus, in office premises,operation areas and sensitivelocations.

Also, the personnel usingthis app should not to dis-close service identity, includ-ing rank and appointment.The force hasb e e ni s s u e ddirectionsto adhereto the cybersecurity poli-cies on the usageof mobile phones.

However, it has allowed alldefence force personnel, vet-erans and their families anddependents to install AarogyaSethu app.

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

The state government is likelyto increase the working hoursfor employees across all sectorsand establishments post lock-down to compensate for the lossof working days until then.

Should the lockdown belifted on May 3, the total lossof working days until thenwould be 40 days.

The Labour Act presentlylimits normal working hours to8 hours per day. This is likelyto be raised to 10 hours foremployees working in officesand 12 hours for those work-ing in industries and factories.

The State government willnotify the new working hoursafter Centre passes an ordi-nance to this effect. The ordi-nance is expected to be broughtany time before lifting of lock-down on May 3. Official sourcessaid the Centre is planning tobring an ordinance to give state

governments the flexibilityrequired to increase the workhours of employees across estab-lishments up to 12 hours per dayfrom the present eight hours.

Apart from addressing theissue of loss of working days in

government and private sectors,the ordinance is expected toaddress labour shortage andfacilitate companies to maintainsocial distancing upon resump-tion of operations post lockdown.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Central government hascategorised 11 districts inAndhra Pradesh and nine dis-tricts in Telangana as “RedZones with large outbreak”.

Within the Red Zone dis-tricts across the country, 123districts have been classified as“hotspot districts with largeoutbreaks” and 47 districts as“hotspot districts with clusters”.

Telangana has eight suchhotspot districts with largeoutbreaks while AndhraPradesh has 11.

Barring Vizianagaram andSrikakulam, the remaining 11districts in Andhra Pradeshhave been classified as “RedZone with large outbreak”.

Telangana’s Nalgonda hasbeen identified as hotspot clus-ter while 19 districts in the

state have been identified asnon-hotspot reporting zones.

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Published FromVIJAYAWADA DELHI LUCKNOW BHOPALRAIPUR CHANDIGARH BHUBANESWAR

RANCHI DEHRADUNHYDERABAD

}VENKY URGES PEOPLE NOT TO ABANDON THEIR PETS{Page 11

INDIA TO RECEIVE NORMALMONSOON THIS SEASON, SAYS IMD

For the first time plasma enrichment technique will be used to treatseverely-ill COVID-19 patients on trial basis in a

Delhi government hospital, officials said onWednesday. According to an official, clinical trialof the plasma enrichment technique will beconducted at Institute of Liver & BiliarySciences (ILBS). Under the technique,transfusion of plasma from recovered patientsto severely-ill COVID-19 patients is conducted.Convalescent plasma is an experimentalprocedure for COVID-19 patients.

17 FOREIGN TOURISTS BOOKED FOR‘BATHING IN SEA' DURING LOCKDOWN Seventeen foreign tourists have been booked for allegedly bathing in the

sea off the famous Kovalam Beach here in violation of COVID-19lockdown regulations, police said on Wednesday. Cases have also beenregistered against the owners and managers of five hotels where thetouristsare staying since March 22 due to the lockdown, they said. The touristswho hailed from various countries, including UK, Canada and France, hadtaken bath in the sea on Tuesday despite orders banning suchactivities.Cases have been registered againstthemunder the Kerala Epidemic Act and Indian PenalCode IPC section 188 and sect 269 (negligentact likely to spread infection of disease).

Standard Chartered Plc is the first major global bank to tell employees notto use Zoom Video Communications Inc during the coronavirus

pandemic due to cybersecurity concerns, according to a memo seen byReuters. The message, sent by Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters tomanagers last week, also warned against using Alphabet Inc'sGoogle Hangouts platform for virtual gatherings.Neitherservice offers the level of encryption of conversations thatrivals like Cisco System Inc's Webex, Microsoft Corp'sTeams or Blue Jeans Network Inc do, industry experts said.A Standard Chartered spokeswoman declined to commenton a Reuters query on the memo.

STAY OFF ZOOM, GOOGLE HANGOUTS,STANDARD CHARTERED CHIEF TELLS STAFF

PLASMA ENRICHMENT TECHNIQUE TO BEUSED ON TRIAL BASIS IN DELHI HOSPITAL

India will receive normal monsoon this season, country'smeteorological deprtament said on Wednesday in its forecast for the

Southwest monsoon that covers 75 per cent of the country, andthereby may bring much-needed respite to theeconomy, which is reeling under the catastrophiceffect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressingan online briefing, IMD Director General MMohapatra said quantitatively, the rainfall islikely to be 100 per cent of the Long PeriodAverage (LPA) in the monsoon season (June-September) with a model error of 5 per cent.

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4 Agricultural and relatedactivities

4 Select industrial activities

4 Digital economy

4 Transportation of goods, bothessential and non-essential

4 Agriculture marketing

4 Manufacture, distribution, retailof fertilizers, pesticides, seeds

4 Fisheries; supply of milk, milkproducts, poultry, live-stockfarming

4 Tea, coffee and rubberplantations

4 Food processing industries inrural areas

4 Construction of roads,irrigation projects, buildings,industrial projects in rural areas

4 Works under MNREGA,especially irrigation and waterconservation works

4 Manufacturing, other industrialestablishments with accesscontrol in SEZs, EoUs, industrialestates and industrial townships

4 Manufacture of IT hardware, ofessential goods and packaging

4 Coal, mineral, oil production

4 RBI, banks, ATMs, capital anddebt markets as notified by SEBIand insurance companies

4 E-commerce, IT and IT-enabledservices, data and call centres

4 Online teaching and distancelearning

4 Health services and socialsector

4 Central, state governments,local bodies to remain open

6 Travel by air, rail and road

6 Educational and traininginstitutions

6 Industrial and commercialactivities

6 Hospitality services

6 Cinema halls, theatres

6 Shopping complexes

6 Social, political and other events

6 Religious places, congregations

NOT ALLOWED

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated April 15, 2020 5:00 PM

ALMANACTODAY

Month & Paksham:Chaitra & Shukla PakshaPanchangam:Tithi: Navami: 06:10 pm Nakshatram: Shravana: 11:05 pm, Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)Rahukalam: 01:49 pm - 03:22 pmYamagandam: 06:02 am – 07:36 amVarjyam: 03:30 am - 05:16 amGulika: 09:09 pm - 10:42 pmGood Time: (to start any important

work)Amritakalam: 11:49 am - 01:33 pmAbhijit Muhurtham: 11:51 am - 12:40 pm

HYDERABADWEATHERForecast: Partly cloudyTemp: 39/24Humidity: 72%Sunrise: 05.59Sunset: 06.32

What will be allowedAfter April 20

IN NON-HOT ZONES

4 govt officials booked forthrowing liquor party: Police

TS govt to increaseworking hours

‘Lockdown to continue, exemptionswill be considered after April 20’PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao declaredon Wednesday that lockdownin the state will continue as itis till April 20. Any decision onexempting a few sectors fromthe lockdown will be takenonly after April 20, dependingon the circumstances prevail-ing then and in tune with theCentre's guidelines for lock-down relaxations issued onWednesday.

The Chief Minister also stat-ed that the government wasready to conduct tests on anynumber of people and offertreatment to people down withcoronavirus. He wanted theinitiative shown by people'srepresentatives, cooperationextended by people for theimplementation of lockdown,and the assistance being givento the poor to continue.

The Chief Minister held ahigh-level review on the mea-sures taken to contain thespread of coronavirus, imple-mentation of the lockdown,

assistance given to the poor,procurement of the agricultureproduce, Central government'sguidelines, among other issues,

at Pragathi Bhavan onWednesday.

Health Minister EtelaRajender, Chief Secretary

Somesh Kumar, DGPMahender Reddy, Principalsecretary (Finance)Ramakrishna Rao and othersattended.

Etela Rajender explainedthe arrangements made forcoronavirus tests and the mea-sures taken to meet futurerequirements. He said thatthere were 514 active cases inthe hospitals, eight were dis-charged on Wednesday andanother 128 would be dis-charged on Thursday.

KCR observed that lock-down in the state had beenimplemented well. Peopleextended excellent coopera-tion and they should contin-ue their support in the days tocome.

"As per the guidelines givenby the Centre, lockdown in theState would continue till April20, as it is. Later, based on thecircumstances prevailing then,changes would be done. Peopleshould support the lockdownas they are doing now," theChief Minister said.

Bereaving families have to battle lockdown for final rites

COVID-19COVID-19

Telangana reportssingle digit casesPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana State onWednesday reported only sixmore Covid-19 cases in thestate, taking the total numberof reported cases to 650.

Almost after 15 days,fresh cases have beenreported in singledigit. Till date inApril, the number ofreported casesranged between ahigh of 75 cases (3April) to 16 (10 April).The last time cases werereported in single digit was onMarch 30.

One positive case inGHMC area, 2 in Medak and

3 in Vikarabad were reportedas of Wednesday.

Additionally, eight personswere discharged onWednesday, taking the totalnumber of patients cured to118. In all, 128 persons will

be discharged onThursday. There are

514 active cases inthe state.

The HealthDepartment onWednesday said, "In

case of any flu- likesymptoms, irrespective

of travel history or contacthistory, the public is request-ed to report to the nearest gov-ernment health facility."

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN APRILAP HC sets asideEnglish mediumcompulsory GOs

n Working hours to beraised from 8 hours to10 or 12 hours

n In line with centralordinance soon to

compensate for lockdown

Army cautionspersonnel on use ofAarogya Setu app

The father of a Kukatpally resident Muralidhar Rao expired inSrikakulam. Muralidhar Rao knocked on the doors of policestation and government wings to obtain a permission letterto perform the last rites. As if his grief was not enough,getting the permission letter proved to be a herculean task.

As per the guidelines given by the Centre, lockdown in theState would continue till April 20, as it is. Later, based on

the circumstances prevailing then, changes would be done. Peopleshould support the lockdown as they are doing now

— K CHANDRASEKHAR RAO, Chief Minister

9 districts in TS and 11 in AP classified as Red Zones

6 Indian companies working on COVID-19 vaccinePNS n NEW DELHI

Six Indian companies are work-ing on a vaccine for COVID-19,joining the global race againsttime to find a preventive for thedeadly infection spreadingrapidly across the world, says atop Indian scientist.

Nearly 70 vaccine candi-dates' are being tested and atleast three have moved to thehuman clinical trial stage, buta vaccine for the novel coron-

avirus is unlikely to be readyfor mass use before 2021.

As COVID-19 infects more

than 1.9 million in the worldand claims 1,26,000 lives,Indian scientists are also part

of the global fight against thedisease.

While Zydus Cadila is work-ing on two vaccines, SerumInstitute, Biological E, BharatBiotech, IndianImmunologicals, and Mynvaxare developing one vaccineeach, Gagandeep Kang, exec-utive director of theTranslational Health Scienceand Technology Institute,Faridabad, told PTI.

Nearly 70 vaccine candidates'are being tested and at leastthree have moved to the humanclinical trial stage, but a vaccinefor the novel coronavirus isunlikely to be ready for massuse before 2021.

Submit completereport: HCPNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Courton Wednesday directed thestate to submit a completereport explaining about thespecific measures taken tocontrol spread of deadlyCoronavirus in the state. Itissued these orders as it wasnot satisfied with the fullreport submitted by the stategovernment on the Covid-19issue.

A division bench of theHigh Court comprising ofthe Chief Justice of the stateJustice Raghavendra SinghChauhan and Justice TAmarnath Goud also direct-ed the director of Institute ofPreventive Medicine (IPM)to appear before it on April20 2020 to explain about theprevailing situation in thestate due to the impact of thecoronavirus. The divisionbench of the court passedthese orders while dealingwith a batch of PublicInterest Litigation filed onthe Covid-19 issue.

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‘TS will be Corona-freewith people's support’PNS n SIRCILLA

Sircilla MLA and Minister forMunicipal Administration KTRama Rao on Wednesdayasked the people to co-operatewith the government in thesame way for the next twoweeks, which are very crucialin the state government's fightagainst Coronavirus.

Addressing media in con-nection with his surprise visitto Rajanna-Sircilla district athis camp office, the Ministersaid that the Rajanna-Sircilla,compared to other districts isbetter positioned because ofofficials and people's cooper-ation.

If people confine to theirhomes and wear masks if at allthey have to go out, observesocial distance and extendcooperation to governmentobserving self regulation ascited by PM Narendra Modiand Chief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao, thenumber of Corona cases will belimited to just one in the dis-trict.

He inspected the arrange-ments made in the cordonedoff area and instructed thepolice to take more steps.Visiting each and every house,Rama Rao tried to get toknow the problems in the

locality by interacting with thepeople.

Compared to towns andcities, the lockdown is imple-mented better in villages, hesaid exhorting people of townsand cities to emulate villagers.Asking the police to get toughwith the violators of lockdownrules, he exhorted the people

to realise the gravity of the sit-uation and cooperate with theadministrative machinery.

The Minister exuded confi-dence that Telangana wouldemerge as Corona free statewith the people's cooperation.The district machinery wouldtake care of the needs ofmigrant workers in recognition

of their role in state's develop-ment, he said.

The current rabi paddy out-put would be 3.20 lakh tonnesas against 1.80 lakh tonnes dur-ing the last Kharif. Paddy yieldin Rajanna-Siricilla districtalmost doubled with improvedirrigation facilities, he said.The state government is readyto procure the entire paddyharvested in the districtthrough 212 paddy procure-ment centres to be set up in thedistrict. So far, 139 procure-ment centres have been set up.Three procurement centres topurchase maize have been setup so far.

The district machinery hasroped in 116 harvesters toseed up paddy harvesting. Thefarmers should observe socialdistance at the paddy pro-curement centres, he saidadvising the people to wearmasks compulsorily.

The polyster associationdonated Rs 18 lakh to KTRtowards welfare of the workers.KTR presented a cheque to dis-trict collector Krishna Bhaskarfor the sum and asked him tospend the money for welfare ofindustrial workers. ZP chair-person N Aruna, District SPRahul Hegde, municipal chair-person Jindam Kala and oth-ers took part.

Asking the police to get tough withthe violators of lockdown rules, KTRexhorted the people to realise thegravity of the situation and cooperatewith the administrative machinery

ON LOCKDOWN

Rangarajan: Growth mayslip into negative in Q1PNS n HYDERABAD

Predicting that the growthrate in the first quarter of thecurrent fiscal may slip intonegative, former RBI GovernorC Rangarajan on Wednesdayexpressed the view that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'slockdown extensionannouncement should haveincluded plans to address theissues of migrant labourersand daily wagers.

Rangarajan said thoughthere may be negative growthin the GDP during the firstquarter, if the situation recov-ers during the next three quar-ters, the growth rate may becloser to 3.5 per cent. "Themost important thing is thatthe hardship of the lockdownis being borne very severely bythe vulnerable sections."

Because of the closure of thefactories, the daily wage earn-er including the migrantlabourer has been severelyaffected, he said. "Therefore iflockdown is absolutely essen-tial, then I think somethingmust be done to take care ofthese people who have beenthrown out of employment.And therefore this announce-ment should have been accom-

panied by an announcementregarding what and how theywill take care of these people...Immediately in his (Modi)speech or elsewhere we shouldhave seen (measures forlabourers and daily wage earn-ers). Even today in the relax-ation norms, along with itperhaps some announcementson how the migrant labourerand others will be helped.It isalso necessary," Rangarajnasaid.

The former RBI Governorsaid the government has goneby medical advice to impose alockdown and by the sameadvice they expanded the lock-

down also which is essential tocombat the coronavirusspread. The lockdown hasbrought the economic activi-ty to "halt", he said.

"Perhaps in the first quarterof the year, the GDP growthmay even be negative. But thatcould be made up by the growthin the next three quarters. Somepeople have estimated thegrowth rate to be about 2 percent. But I think probably it willbe closer to 3.5 per cent for theyear as a whole. But that alldepends on how long this viruswill continue," he said whenasked about the lockdownimpact on economic growth.

Perhaps in thefirst quarter of theyear, the GDP

growth may even benegative. But that couldbe made up by thegrowth in the next threequarters. Some peoplehave estimated thegrowth rate to be about 2per cent.

—C RANGARAJANFormer RBI Governor

‘Animals donot spreadvirus'PNS n KHAMMAM

Dr V Lakshma Reddy,Director of Veterinary &Animal Husbandry onWednesday said that there isno need for pet owners topanic because there is no evi-dence of pet animals catchingthe novel Coronavirus orthat they get Covid -19 virusfrom human beings. He stat-ed that there are about 2 lakhof pets in GHMC area. Someof the pet owners out of fearof coronavirus infection fromtheir pets, they are letting outtheir pet on to the streets.Veterinary scientists say thatthe strains of dogs and cats donot cause respiratory prob-lems. Dogs and cats are nota risk in spreading the coro-navirus, he said. He said thatto be safe, pet owners washtheir hands after beingaround their animals andavoid direct contact. There isno evidence of pets becomingsick with Covid-19, he fur-ther said.

Protect wildlife, forest officials toldPNS n HYDERABAD

Union Secretary for Forestsand Environment CK Mishraon Wednesday asked theForest Department personnelto take precautions againstCoronavirus and take activepart in activities to safeguardthe forests.

Addressing the PrincipalChief Conservator of Forestsand other officials throughvideo conference, Mishraasked the forest personnel totake precautions to beobserved during summer likemaking available drinkingwater to wild animals and toprotect forests from wild fires.

He also sought the progresson Project Tiger, progress ofworks taken up with CAMPAfunds, latest position on releaseof funds, development of nurs-eries as part of Green Indiaproject and so on. ForestDepartment director GeneralSanjay Kumar and other offi-cials were present.

Principal Chief Conservator

of Forests R Sobha, told theUnion Secretary that thereports to seek permission toexecute CAMPA funds havebeen submitted within thetime stipulated. Similarly, theForest Department is also tak-ing part in the state's govern-ments efforts to rein the dead-ly virus. The ForestDepartment personnel havebeen deputed at inter-statecheck posts and district controlrooms.

The Forest Department hasbeen supplying essential com-modities free of cost to thetribals living in forests andthose who live in villages onthe fringes of forests. PCCF ofall states took part in the videoconference. Besides Sobhafrom Telangana, additionalPCCF Lokesh Jaiswal, RMDobriel, Swargam Srinivas,Siddanand and special officialsSankaran and Srinivasa Raotook part in the conference.

TSRTC bus turnedmobile grocery storePNS n KHAMMAM

An RTC bus has been convert-ed into a grocery store tosupply essential commoditiesto people living in contain-ment zone at Pedda thanda inKhammam rural mandalwhere a corona positive casewas reported few days ago.

Transport Minister P AjayKumar along with the DistrictCollector RV Karnan visitedthe thanda and interactedwith the locals on Wednesday.

The Minister told the residentsnot to move out of their homesand the area as it was declareda containment zone.

"It is essential to stay hometo contain the spreadCoronavirus. The districtadministration has been mak-ing all arrangements for thesupply of vegetables, milk andessential commodities to thoseliving in containment zones,"the Minister said. He directedthe officials to ensure sprayingof disinfectant twice a day.

Minister asks peoplenot to venture outPNS n NIRMAL

Minister for Forests andEnvironment AllolaIndrakaran Reddy onWednesday asserted that boththe Union and State govern-ments were aiming at prevent-ing the spread of novelCoronavirus and help the pub-lic protect their health.

Addressing a media confer-ence here, the Minister urgedthe people to stay at home tillMay 3. He said Nirmal districthad recorded 19 positive casesof Coronavirus so far and as aconsequence, the State govern-ment had declared it as con-tainment area. A total of 418blood samples of people withCoronavirus symptoms weresent to labs and of them,reports of 378 persons wereout. Results of 43 reports areawaited, he stated

The Minister said that sixout of 46 Markaz returnees,

two out of three persons whoparticipated in a congregationat Deoband in Uttar Pradesh,six foreign travellers and sevenprimary contacts tested posi-tive for Cornoavirus. "Sixquarantine centres have beenset up with total capacity of450 beds in different parts ofthe district," he said, addingthat 19 mandal-level, 396 vil-lage level and 20 urban med-ical teams were formed tocarry out health surveys.

IT Minister KT Rama Rao interacting with an elderly woman during his tour toSircilla on Wednesday

Lockdown to continue, exemptions will ....Continued from Page 1

"Based on those who aresuffering with Corona, 259containment centres were noti-fied in the state and they aremanaged effectively. Stringentmeasures are taken so that thevirus does not spread. Wehave adequate test kits to con-duct tests on any number ofpeople in the State. There is noscarcity of the PPE kits in thestate. We have so far 2.25 lakhPPE kits. The number willincrease to 5 lakh shortly. Wehave placed orders for anoth-er 5 lakh kits. In all, the state

will have 10 lakh PPE kits. Ason date in the state we have3.25 lakh N95 masks. Thenumber will increase to 5 lakhvery soon. We have placedorders for another 5 lakh N95masks. With this, our state willhave 10 lakh N 95 masks.Besides this, ventilators, othermedical equipment, number ofdoctors, other medical staff,hospitals, beds and all areready. So far 20,000 beds areready. Even if the patientsincrease to one lakh, the gov-ernment made all arrange-ments for their treatment. TheTelangana government is ready

to wage a long-drawn battleagainst the Coronavirus," theChief Minister declared.

KCR said that public repre-sentatives had taken lot ofinitiative in monitoring theassistance given to the poor,procurement of the agricultureproduce. Sarpanches, munic-ipal chairpersons, mayors,counsellors, corporators,MLAs, ministers were workingwith commitment. "This workshould go on. Educate thepeople. Ensure that the gov-ernment policies and pro-grammes are reaching thepeople. Except health and

municipal administrationministers, the rest of ministers,MLAs should remain in theirdistricts, constituencies andmonitor the situation," theChief Minister said.

According to the ChiefMinister, the government hastaken several measures so thatno one in the state should suf-fer from hunger or starvation.The government announcedcash incentives for those whoare working very hard. Theseare all received by the benefi-ciaries. For every poor fami-ly, we have deposited Rs 1,500cash in the banks in their

accounts. The programme todistribute 12 kg rice has almostcompleted. The cash incentivesannounced by the govern-ment for the sanitary workers,municipal, gram panchayatstaff and 10 per cent addition-al pay to the medical staff hasreached them.

Since sanitation worksshould continue in the villagesand urban areas without anybreak, for all the gram pan-chayats in the state for Aprilmonth Rs 308 crore wasreleased and for all municipalcorporations and municipali-ties Rs 148 crore was released.

Continued from Page 1

The only option availableis to travel by road with anauthorisation pass issued bythe local police. While with-in the country, people are stillable to manage with travelpass, those who have expiredin other countries can't evenexpress their grief properly.

Kaitha Satish Yadav, nativeof Warangal district, suffereda heart stroke and died inUK. There is no way for himto return; his friends reachedout to Minister K T RamaRao for help. He said, "Ayoung man from Telangananamed Satish died of car-diac arrest in London. Canthe body be brought backin any of the cargo flightsso the family & friendscan bid a honourablefarewell?"

Bereaving...

Continued from Page 1

The GOs were challenged inthe High Court through var-ious Public InterestLitigations (PILs). Two BJPleaders had also challengedthe orders.

A division bench, com-prising Chief Justice J.K.Maheshwari and Justice N.Jayasurya had reserved theorders in February.

The government's move hadsparked a row over the issuewith a section of academicians,opposition parties and variouspeople's groups opposing theintroduction of English as themedium of instruction replac-ing Telugu or Urdu.

Vice-President M. Venkaiah

Naidu had also opposed theidea and favoured teaching inmother tongue at school level.Leader of opposition N.Chandrababu Naidu andactor-politician Pawan Kalyanhad also strongly opposed themove.

Chief Minister Y. S.Jaganmohan Reddy haddefended its move saying it isaimed at ensuring quality edu-cation to children from weak-er sections of the society andprepare them to compete withothers. He had asked VenkaiahNaidu, Chandrababu Naidu,Pawan Kalyan and other lead-ers to oppose the move only iftheir children or grandchil-dren did not go to Englishmedium schools.

4 govt officialsbooked forthrowing liquorparty: Police Continued from Page 1

Police on its own registered acase against the Tahsildar,sub-jailer, an ExtensionOfficer of the Panchayat Rajand Rural Development anda sub-jailer, an Investigatingofficial told PTI over phone.

The government officialswere booked under IPC sec-tions 188 (disobedience toorder duly promulgated bypublic servant) and 269(whoever willfully or negli-gently does any act which islikely to spread the infectionof any disease dangerous tolife) and under relevant sec-tions of the EpidemicDiseases Act, the police offi-cial said. "They have beenaccused of not maintainingsocial distancing norms. Weare verifying and investigat-ing," the official said.

In view of registration ofthe FIR, the sub-jailer wasplaced under suspension,police said.

TS Govt toincrease ....Continued from Page 1

Sources said the UnionLabour Ministry has readiedthe ordinance, which will bereferred to the cabinet forapproval and later sent forPresidential assent to enforcethe Code on OccupationalSafety, Health and WorkingConditions that empowersgovernments to increase andnotify working hours. Thereis a demand from privatefirms to increase the workhours as it would help themmeet the labour shortfall postlockdown as almost all of themigrant labour have goneback to their native places orstuck elsewhere on the wayand they may not return towork immediately.

Telanganareports singledigit casesContinued from Page 1

In view of lockdown, citi-zens are encouraged toensure adequate physicalactivity by yoga, medita-tion.

The Heath Departmentasked people to contact104 in case of any doubtsor queries pertaining tos igns and symptoms ,admission, diagnosis andtreatment.

9 in TS and 11 in APclassified as Red....Continued from Page 1`

The Union Health Ministry hasidentified 170 districts acrossthe country as Covid-19hotspots and 207 districts aspotential hotspots. As many as28 of Telangana’s 33 districts areeither in the Red Zone or in theOrange Zone.

These districts have beencategorised as Red Zone basedon inclusion criteria, that is, ifthey have reported highest caseload districts contributing tomore than 80 per cent of casesin lndia or the highest case loaddistricts contributing to morethan 80 per cent of cases foreach state or districts where therate of infection has been dou-

bling in less than four days.Strict containment measureswill be implemented in thesehotspots, the Centre said. Of the207 districts that have been clas-sified as non-hotspot districtshave been placed under theWhite Zone and 353 districtsthat have not been affected at allby the pandemic have beenplaced under the GreenZone.For a district to shift fromRed Zone to Orange Zone, nocase has to be reported 14 con-secutive days and from OrangeZone to Green Zone, no casehas to be reported in another 14consecutive days. A districtwhich is in hotspots can moveto green category if no new casesare reported in 28 days.

6 Indian companies...Continued from Page 1

Kang is also vice chair of theCoalition for EpidemicPreparedness Innovations(CEPI), which noted in arecent study that the globalvaccine R&D effort inresponse to the COVID-19pandemic is unprecedented interms of scale and speed .

But it is a complicatedprocess with many stages oftesting and many challenges,explained experts. A vaccinefor the new coronavirus,SARS-CoV-2, may not take 10years that other vaccines dobut it could be at least a yearbefore it is proven safe, effec-tive, and made widely avail-able, they said.

Vaccine development is alengthy process which oftentakes years, with many chal-

lenges, said E. Sreekumar,chief scientific officer at theRajiv Gandhi Centre forBiotechnology (RGCB) inKerala.

Generally, vaccines take sev-eral months to pass the differ-ent stages of testing, and thenapprovals also take time. ForCOVID-19, we don't expect avaccine to come in this year,agreed Rakesh Mishra, direc-tor of the CSIR-CCMB)inHyderabad.Vaccine testingtypically begins with animaland lab testing before going onto different stages of humantesting.

The human testing phase iscomposed of many phases,Sreekumar told PTI.

Phase one trials are small-scale, usually involving fewparticipants, to assess whetherthe vaccine is safe for humans.

Submit complete report: HCContinued from Page 1

On the other hand, whiledealing with a suo moto PIL, theHigh Court directed the govern-ment to respond to the pleamade in the petition seeking toprovide adequate security and

protection to medicare servicepersonnel who are dischargingcritical and essential services tocombat deadly Coronavirus epi-demic in the state. A City-based person by name KailashNath PSS brought the issue tothe notice of the HC.

AP HC sets aside Englishmedium compulsory GOs

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | APRIL 16, 2020 hyderabad 03

RIMEORNERC

Three arrested forattack on doctors

The Hyderabad City Policearrested three persons who

had attacked doctors at GandhiHospital and Osmania GeneralHospital on Wednesday. In thefirst case, the city police arrested23-year-old Abdul Khadeer, whoattacked a doctor at GandhiHospital on April 1. Khadeer hadassaulted a junior doctor in theCoronavirus isolation ward inGandhi Hospital holding the staffresponsible for the death of hisbrother. The Chilkalguda Policehad registered a case againsthim on the same day. In thesecond case reported onTuesday at the Osmania GeneralHospital, Mohd Ashfaq andMohd Arshad Ali were arrestedfor assaulting a PG medicalstudent. The police hadregistered the cases undersections 332, 188, 269, 270, 271of IPC, Section 3 of EpidemicDiseases Act 1897 and Section 4of the Telangana MedicareService Person and MedicareService Institution Act 2008."Hyderabad City Police iscommitted to take prompt actionagainst any person who assaultsa doctor or any medical staff inany of the hospital. Thecontribution of the medicalfraternity cannot be described inwords. The entire collection ofpolice officers of Hyderabad Cityare always ready to take promptaction in this regard," said AnjaniKumar, Commissioner of Police,Hyderabad. Abdul Khader wasproduced before a court throughvideo conference as he himself isa Coronavirus patient. Ashfaqand Arshad Ali were alsoarrested and produced before themagistrate. Police warned thatany person assaulting a doctorwould be arrested and sent to jailimmediately.

The Cyberabad Traffic Policebooked over 3.6 lakh cases

against motorists for variousviolations during the lockdownstarting from March 23. Officialshave also seized 5,370 vehicles.The police are conducting specialdrives round the clock andbooking cases against thoseviolating lockdown rules andcaught at various check posts.According to the officials, of the3,66,968 cases, non-contactcases which include e-challancases, speed guns and socialmedia were 3,58,497 and contactcases including spot cases,drunk driving, petty cases were8,471. While 3,736 two wheelerswere seized, 747 three-wheelers,777 cars and 110 other vehicleswere also seized till now.

Traffic cops book3.6 lakh violatorsduring lockdown

NAVEEN KUMAR n HYDERABAD

City police to tighten the noosearound those violating lock-down and will be focusingmore on the containmentzones to curb the spread ofCoronavirus.

Full force of technology,human policing and intelli-gence team are gearing up tomaintain a strict lockdown inthe extended period. Usage ofdrones to check the bylanes,timely patrolling are among thefew things which will be imple-mented now.

"The prime focus is to mon-itor and review the contain-ment areas in the city. We aredoing our best to contain thespread," said Shikha Goel,Additional Commissioner ofHyderabad Police.

Speaking about stricter vig-ilance in bylanes and peoplegatherings, an official fromHyderabad Police said, "Peopleshould have basic sense ofwhat is happening and why weare under the lockdown. Wecome across plenty of suchcases where the public is outroaming without a cause. I per-sonally fail to understand whatmakes them so bold to step outand risk their life. They arerisking the lives of their fami-lies and people around them aswell. We do have a strictpatrolling maintained butthere's only so much the policecan do. Public should knowwhat's better and act accord-ingly. We have to fight thistogether."

"Enforcement of lockdown isa major challenge. Despite

many attempts to create aware-ness, many people are notserious about it. We have beenbooking many cases. The safe-ty of our police officers is alsoimportant. We have distributedmasks, sanitisers and soaps toeach and every police station inHyderabad city. Besides, patrolvehicles and bikes are beingsanitised daily," said HyderabadPolice Commissioner AnjaniKumar.

Speaking about social dis-tancing measures, the officialsaid, "There are some places inHyderabad from where wereceived a few complaints ofpeople not maintaining socialdistancing including Ramnagarfish market and Bholakpur. Wehave booked action againstpeople violating norms in such

areas. As some hospitalsincluding Gandhi Hospitalhave been earmarked for thetreatment of Covid-19, patientsrush has increased in otherhospitals like OsmaniaGeneral Hospital."

The Rachakonda Policeintroduced the concept ofusing drones to track anddetect public gatherings insmall bylanes and terrace.Videos of people gathering onthe terraces to play cards andto hang out running at thesight of drone camera wereseen across the social media.

"The drones have a robustradiometric thermal imagingsensor for monitoring bodytemperature and sky speakermegaphone for publicannouncements.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Hours after the lockdownextension announcement wasmade by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Tuesdaymorning, migrant labourers inHyderabad tried marching totheir native places keeping theadministration busy overnight.

As per sources, around 50migrant workers of MadhyaPradesh, who work on a dailywage basis in Hyderabaddecided to go to their nativeplaces of Madhya Pradesh in atruck on Tuesday night.

The police stopped the truckat the Rethibowli area and aftercounselling, the workers wereshifted to their respective shel-ters in the city. The adminis-tration assured them all neces-sary financial help and supplyof ration.

Earlier, on Tuesday severalmigrant workers were headinghome in Srikakulam of AndhraPradesh. Telangana govern-ment has identified 34,000migrant workers in GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation area and distrib-uting them essential 12 kgrice and Rs 500 each.

"Many of the on foot voy-agers are carrying small chil-dren and luggage also and arewalking very dangerously onthe highways, being prone toaccidents and dehydration.The Administration is makingall arrangements to providethem food and shelter for theirsafe stay during the lockdownperiod. However, due to vari-ous misgivings about the lock-down, the people are decidingto take up this herculean taskof returning to their far away

native places by foot," said thePolice Commissioner ofCyberabad, VC Sajjanar.

The Cyberabad Police fur-ther appeal the public includ-ing migrant labour to not tohave any misgivings about thelockdown and stay whereverthey are and seek help of theadministration or police forany issues of food and shelter.

"In this background, all theCompanies including con-struction company manage-ments and labour supervisorsare instructed to counsel theirmigrant labour and take careof their stay.

Otherwise, legal action willbe taken against the concernedCompanies includingConstruction Company man-agement and labour supervi-sors for abetting the violationof lockdown orders," added theofficial. Meanwhile, TelanganaMunicipal and urban develop-

ment Minister KTR visitedthe temporary sheltersarranged for the migrant con-struction workers at a campsiteat Sumadura Developers inGachibowli of Hyderabad.

The Minister interacted withthe workers and enquired abouttheir food facilities and rationavailability. He also enquired theworkers about their health andasked them to take all the pre-cautionary measures to fightcoronavirus.

The temporary shelterpresently houses about 400migrant workers from Orissa,Bihar, Bengal and other states.

The Minister also requestedthe workers not to step out & bepatient for the coming twoweeks. The Minister instructedthe construction company own-ers and the GHMC officials toprovide all the necessary facil-ities for the workers during thissituation.

PNS n HYDERABAD

In the backdrop of the Bandraincident in Mumbai, the SouthCentral Railway (SCR) hasyet again clarified that there isno proposal to operate specialtrains for migrants stranded inthe railway division that pre-dominantly serves the states ofAndhra Pradesh, Telangana,Maharashtra and parts ofKarnataka, Tamil Nadu andMadhya Pradesh.

The SCR clarification onWednesday comes followingreports in certain quartersthat the particular zone ispreparing to start services formigrant labourers in its area ofoperations.

Taking to Twitter onWednesday, SCR stated:"CLARIFICATION: A com-munication related to internalplanning of SCR to assessdemand for train services is

being misinterpreted in somesections as decision to run spltrains for migrant labour.

"There is no such proposal& all passenger trains stands

cancelled till May 3, 2020"Late on Tuesday evening

too, SCR issued a mediarelease stating that all passen-ger trains remain suspended

till May 3, on account of theextended lockdown due toCovid-19. However withreports emerging that specialtrains are being operated for

migrants, SCR hastened toclarify and avert any law andorder situations.

On Tuesday, large crowds ofmigrants had gathered at theBandra railway station inMumbai, following rumours ofspecial trains being arranged totransport them to their homesin other states. The railwayshave been rushing to clarifythat no such moves are beinginitiated.

Police surveillance aidingfight against Coronavirus

Police officials introduced the concept ofusing drones to track and detect publicgatherings in small bylanes and terrace

All the construction companies areinstructed to counsel their migrantlabour and take care of their stay

Migrant workers set offon long journeys home

PNS n HYDERABAD

IT and Industry Minister KTRama Rao interacted with thecaptains of the IT industryover a video cal l . TheMinister gave an overview ofthe strategy being followed bythe state government to con-tain the spread ofCoronavirus in the state.

The industry captains haveexpressed satisfaction overthe steps initiated by thestate government.

They have come forward toaugment the government'srelief measures and haveassured all possible assis-tance from their end.

The Minister thanked therepresentatives of IT industryfor partnering with the state

government in the fightagainst Covid-19

KTR stated that the gov-ernment wil l prepare adetailed lockdown exit plan

soon and share with theindustry representatives.

IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjanalso participated in this inter-action.

TS to prepare lockdownexit plan soon: MinisterThe SCR

clarification comesfollowing reports incertain quarters thatthe particular zoneis preparing to startservices for migrantlabourers in its areaof operations

Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar expresses thanks to all the 950students from 10 schools who have made handmade greeting cards to expresstheir gratitude to police officials and medical officers.

City Police toissue e-pass tocity residents PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad Police has nowdeveloped a website to issuean essential service e-passfor those seeking passes forvehicles to travel within andoutside the state. TheRachakonda Police hadalready set up the service ear-lier last week.

The website for passes canbe accessed via HyderabadCity Police's official website.Organisations as well as indi-viduals can register to gettheir passes.

The website for e-pass willbe active from 14 April or thenext day likely in HyderabadPolice Commissionerate. Asof now, individuals are direct-ly approaching police sta-tions for the passes.

Explaining further, an offi-cial said "There are two typesof essential service passes, onefor vehicles and another forindividuals. Vehicles that areused for essential servicesare registered by their num-ber. Their pass will mentionthe vehicle number. The passfor individuals, will have theperson's photo."

In the newly-launchedwebsite, an individual willhave to fill in their personaldetails, vehicle number, thereason for travel and Aadharnumber.

Cops warn construction firms over migration of workers

Deoband returnees posea challenge to TS PolicePNS n HYDERABAD

The Adilabad police has takena tough stand against some peo-ple who returned from a con-gregation in Deoband of UttarPradesh. The local cops haveshifted three Covid-19 positivepatients to Gandhi Hospital inHyderabad and registered casesagainst them for hiding theirtravel history. As per sources,the trio had attended a congre-gation in Deoband.

Deoband in Uttar Pradeshhosted this congregation, sim-ilar to the one organised by theTablighi Jamaat in Delhi, justbefore the Centre imposed alockdown due to theCoronavirus outbreak in thecountry. The matter came tolight when it was revealed thata man from Kashmir, who

died of Covid-19, had attend-ed the Deoband event. The con-gregation was held from March9 to 11 at the MohammadiMasjid, adjacent to the Darul-Uloom.

The police officials inSaharanpur were immediatelyinformed of this and the entiremosque was sanitised andsealed.All those who had comeinto contact with the groupwere subjected to medicalscreening and all of them test-ed negative for the Coronavirus.

While many went toNizamuddin and then pro-ceeded to Deoband, some fol-lowed the path vice versa.Several people returned direct-ly from there, but some othersvisited the famous AjmerDargah in Rajasthan beforereturning home.

Minister flags off vehiclewith essential products PNS n HYDERABAD

Minister for Tourism andExcise Department V SrinivasGoud flagged off goods vehi-cles transporting essentialcommodities toMahabubnagar at the TouristPlaza Hotel in Kachiguda onWednesday.

To ensure that the peopledid not face problems inprocuring essential commodi-ties, essential commodities aresupplied to the people's doorstep, the Minister said advisingpeople against coming out ingroups and use mobile ATMsand Mobile Rytu Bazaars.

Migrant workers fromMahabubnagar in other statesare being turned away by otherstates, while Telangana govern-

ment is providing free rice andmoney to the migrant workersfrom other states.

Because of Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao the stategovernment achieved self-reliance in food grain produc-tion. The Kaleswaram projecthelped irrigate crops in 50 lakhacres during rabi, the Minister

said. The food grain produc-tion in the state is surplus sothat the state would be able toexport to at least two or threeother states, he said.

The Minister exhorted thephilanthropic public andNGOs to come forward to sup-ply essential commodities dur-ing the lockdown period.

Arvind distributesessential productsto gardening staff PNS n HYDERABAD

Hyderabad MetropolitanDevelopment AuthorityCommissioner Arvind Kumaron Wednesday distributedessential commodities amongthe gardening workers andsecurity staff working inBuddha Purnima Project.

Arvind appreciated theirefforts to safeguard greeneryin Lumbini Park, NTRGardens, Necklace Road,Sanjivaiah Park and otherareas during the current lock-down period.

Each of the were givenessential commodities worthRs 1,000. These include rice,dal, oil packet, wheat flour,chilli powder and soon.

Buddha Pournima Projectofficer on special duty Santoshand the project personnelwere present on the occasion.

Gandhi nurses launch strike,demand to regularise servicesPNS n HYDERABAD

Gandhi Hospital's outsourcednursing staff have launched astrike in support of their long-standing demand that the stategovernment should either reg-ularise their services or hirethem on contract basis. Theywant the state government toconsider their present efforts inthe face of challenges posed bythe Covid-19 pandemic.

"We demanded that they beimmediately regularised orcontracted. The strike noticewas issued on Tuesday at theGandhi Hospital A ward", said

a spokesman for the Union ofOutsourced Staffers.

About 200 staffers and 150regular staffers are working atGandhi Hospital. Most of theoutsourced staff have beenworking for the past 13 yearsat the Secunderabad GandhiHospital. They are sore thatthat their work is being belit-tled by governments, adminis-trators and authorities.

Nurses alleged that they arefacing severe difficulties due toirregular payment of salaries.According to the nursing staff,they are being paid only Rs17,500. The government,

which announced an incentiveof Rs 7,500 incentive for san-itation workers, gave only a 10per cent incentive to them.

Outsourced staffers have tobe paid Rs 23,000, though itapplies only to those workingunder the National HealthMission. Join duty or losejobs, warns official

When contacted, an officialof the hospital said that thenurses could not boycott dutiesat the time of crisis, especial-ly when their services havebeen requisitioned under theEpidemic Diseases Act. Theyhave to join or forgo their job.

Sanitising tunnels do more harm than goodPNS n HYDERABAD

Disinfectant tunnels set up inseveral locations across thestate over the past few days arebeing removed following anadvisory by the WHO that thetunnels do more harm thangood in the fight against theCoronavirus.

These tunnels spray sodiumhypochlorite, a chlorine com-pound often used as a disinfec-tant or a bleaching agent.Initially, it was believed that thistunnel of sodium hypochlorite

spray would work like a massdisinfectant, thereby disinfect-

ing a large number of people.These disinfecting tunnels

or chambers, have become verypopular across the state withmost public offices, includingthe DGP's office andRachakonda PoliceCommissionerate officeinstalling one.

The Telangana Police also setup a mobile disinfectant vehi-cle for use by policemen on dutyat various check posts in the city.A tunnel was also donated tothe Cyberabad PoliceCommissionerate office inGachibowli but was notinstalled following an advisory

by the World Health Organisa-tion (WHO).

The World HealthOrganisation says that suchattempts to sanitise or disinfectpeople using SodiumHypochlorite can be unhealthyand actually do little to killCoronavirus or other viruses.The chemical works only oninanimate surfaces and cancause serious irritations andreactions among peopleexposed to the chemical, theWHO said, in one of its myth-buster posts on its website.

File photo of migrant workers outside Bandra West Railway Station.

No special trains for stranded migrants: Railways

PNS n HYDERABAD

All opposition parties onWednesday demanded thatChief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao call forall party meeting to discuss theCoronavirus and lockdownsituation in Telangana State.

Led by Telangana PradeshCongress Committee (TPCC)president N Uttam KumarReddy, leaders of differentopposition parties met atExhibition Society Office,Nampally on Wednesday anddiscussed the current situationin the State. Telangana TDPpresident L Ramana, TJS pres-ident Prof M Kodandaram,CPI State Secretary ChadaVenkatreddy and other leadersattended the meeting.

They discussed variousissues, especially the problemsbeing faced by poor people,middle class, workers of unor-ganised sectors, migrant work-ers, etc., They prepared a longlist of demands and gave sev-eral suggestions to the govern-ment. The opposition partiesalso praised the services beingrendered by medical staff, san-itation workers, police person-nel and other departmentswho are actively working to

stop the spread of Coronavirus.They also appealed to the peo-ple to support and cooperatewith the authorities.

Uttam said that theCoronavirus has caused vastdevastation across the worldand its implications could bemore serious than the damagecaused during first and secondWorld Wards. He said expertshave feared that Coronaviruscould cause more damage thanthe devastation caused duringSpanish Flu of 1918. He said

the ongoing nationwide lock-down was highly essential tocontrol the spread ofCoronavirus. He said all oppo-sition parties have been sup-porting the lockdown andappealing the general public tostay indoors. Telangana TDPpresident L Ramana said thatthe daily wage earners, migrantworkers and other sectionswere badly hit due to the lock-down and therefore, StateGovernment should immedi-ately come to their rescue.

PV KONDAL RAOn WARANGAL

Just about one-third of the leg-islators and a couple of minis-ters among public representa-tives in Telangana have adopt-ed a positive attitude in dealingwith the enormous challengesposed by Covid-19, particular-ly in handling migrant labourand other marginalised sec-tions in their respective con-stituencies. This is best reflect-ed in the disturbances thatmarred ration distributionactivity and other forms of ser-vice delivery in some of the con-stituencies where daily-wageearners and other workers havebeen rendered jobless due to theprolonged lockdown.

Ground reports from ruralareas of Telangana suggest thatmost of the MLAs in varioussegments have not respondedpositively to Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao's instruc-tions to carry forward govern-ment activities. Many of theMLAs have taken the opportu-

nity only to publicise their ownactivities without getting deeplyinvolved in service delivery.

In the erstwhileMahbubnagar district, the char-ity-oriented MLA ofNagarkurnool, Marri JanardhanReddy, is leading from the frontto provide essential items to theneedy and migrant workersrendered jobless due to theoutbreak of Covid-19. TheMLA and his followers have col-lected the lists of families thatdo not possess ration cards.They are distributing ration,groceries and essentials to slum-dwellers. Two ministers of the

district, Srinivas Goud andNiranjan Reddy, are helmingservice activities and rationdistribution in their respectiveconstituencies of Mahbubnagarand Wanaparthy respectively,besides reviewing measures forthe establishment of paddy andmaize purchasing centres inthe rural parts.

The Mahbubnagar segmentlimits are among the few areasthat have been identified ascontainment zones, along withGadwal town. Poor families inthese segments are being sup-ported by the legislators andministers. In this south

Telangana district, eight legisla-tors of the ruling party, alongwith two ministers, are activelytaking part in service activities.

These legislators are lending allkinds of support to the needy.Some 30 odd Covid-19 positivecases have been reported in theerstwhile Mahbubnagar district.In Karimnagar district, consid-ered a politically conscious zone,the services of public representa-tives are observed keenly. As thetwo district ministers KT RamaRao and Etela Rajender are pre-occupied with reviews at the statecapital, two other ministers,Gangula Kamalakar and Koppula

Eeshwar, are taking part in serviceactivities in their respective seg-ments. Chief Whip DasyamVinaya Bhaskar is another legis-lator who is deeply involved inservice delivery to people duringthe current phase. Althoughalmost all legislators are trying toshow their presence on one pre-text or the other, the role of aboutsix to seven legislators in the erst-while Warangal is not even on parwith that of local body represen-tatives who are leading from thefront to serve people. In theNizamabad district, not even asingle legislator is meeting peo-ple. Except for two occasions,almost all the MLAs have stayedput in the State capital. All told,only 30-40 legislators of ruralTelangana are active in meetingthe challenges posed by Covid-19 and their service delivery isbeing closely observed by localsin their respective segments.

(With inputs from AvinashDeepak, Bakka Tennyson,Ramakrishna Perala and TAmarender Reddy)

hyderabad 04HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | APRIL 16, 2020

Ryots struggle to sell their cropK VENKATESHWARLUn HYDERABAD

Telangana has recorded abumper harvest of paddy thisyasangi, according toAgriculture Minister SNiranjan Reddy. However, thenovel Coronavirus, which trig-gered the nation-wide lock-down, has seriously impactedthe lives of farmers in the state.

Though the governmentannounced that it would pro-cure each and every grainfrom the farmers, the latterhave another story to tell,which they are facing at thePrimary AgriculturalCooperatives (PACs) andIndira Kranthi Patham (IKP)centres. Due to the prevailingconditions, there is a severeshortage of labour not only inthe state but across the coun-try. Fearing contacting thedeadly virus, people are notstepping out of their homes.Due to this, there are no farmlabourers to harvest the crop.

However, facing all the odds,the farmers are taking theirpaddy produce to the IKP andPACS centres. But the officialsconcerned are allegedly creat-ing troubles to the farmers bystating that the millers wereexpressing objections in the

name of wastage (emptygrains) in the paddy produce.In general, officials concernedwill purchase the paddy, if ithad wastage, considering it asa B-category paddy. Due to themillers' objections, the IKPcenter organisers (Self HelpGroups) are not purchasing thepaddy.

The IKP centres are report-edly asking the farmers toclear the empty grains by usingthe farm fans at the centresitself. Each farmer is spendingRs 2,000 additionally at theIKP centre to clear emptygrains. However, the wastagecoming out after fanning the

paddy is worth less than Rs400. The farmers are losingalmost Rs 1,500 additionallyon their paddy instead of Rs400.

"We would have not lost thatmuch of amount if the millersconsidered our paddy as B-cat-egory type. According to IKPcentre officials, the millers arenot accepting to purchase thepaddy considering it as B-cat-egory.

I brought 1001 and 1010type paddy to the IKP centre.The A-category price is Rs1,835 per quintal and B-cate-gory price is Rs 1,815. Themillers have to consider the

paddy as B-category if they feelthe paddy has empty grains.This move will not lead to loss-es to anyone," Bikya Naik, afarmer from Suryapet district,told to 'The Pioneer'.

The shortage of gunny bagsin the state is adding to thewoes of farmers. At someplaces, paddy procurementcame to a halt due to non-availability of gunny bags. Insome places, the millers aresending destroyed bags to thecenters.

Also, it is alleged that someofficials concerned are taking20 kg of paddy from eachfarmer. Hamalies are also tak-

ing 20 kg from each farmerbesides weighing machineproblems.

Irritated with all these, afarmer named Anjaiah hassold his paddy to a privatebusinessman at Rs 1,540 perquintal. He said that he hadreceived the money immedi-ately. "I have to wait for onemonth for my money if I soldmy paddy at IKP or PACS cen-tre besides facing all theseissues," he lamented.

A TRS leader on conditionof anonymity said that thesecentres are creating enmityagainst the governmentthough the government start-ed purchasing paddy at thesecentres with good intentionand to help the farmers.

Fearing contactingthe virus, peopleare not steppingout of their homes.Due to this, thereis shortage oflabourers toharvest the cropnot only in TS butacross the country

Opposition parties prepared a long listof demands and gave severalsuggestions to the state government

Satyavathi asks people tofollow lockdown rulesPNS n BHADRACHALAM

Women and Child WelfareMinister Satyavati Rathod onWednesday said that theAgency environment helpedprevent spread of Coronavirusand hence of the four whotested positive for the virus,three were discharged fromhospital while the other per-sons was also fully cured butyet to be discharged from thehospital.

She also praised the districtadministration's measures forthe recovery of those affectedby the virus. She exhorted themigrant workers not to worryas the state government is dis-tributing essential commodi-ties among them.

She exhorted the districtauthorities to pass on thebenefits announced by thestate government during thelockdown period to the peo-ple like supply vegetables andother commodities at the peo-

ple's door step. Stating that theBhadrachalam has much trib-al population, the govern-ment assistance meant forthem should not halt underany circumstances, she said.

She asked them to come out

of their houses only if it isabsolutely essential and followlockdown rules in letter andspirit. ZP Chairman KoramKanakaiah, ITDA ProjectOfficer Gautam and otherswere present at the meeting.

Social distancegoes for a tossnear banks PNS n SHAD NAGAR

Banks in Shadnagar of RangaReddy district witnessed hugerush of customers to with-draw the Rs 1,500 financialrelief deposited by State gov-ernment in their bankaccounts in the wake of thelockdown. The same sce-nario was witnessed in frontof almost all banks in thetown.

When police tried to reg-ulate the queue, the peopleobserved social distance fora while but later congregateas usual . There arerumours being floated thatthe amount deposited inbank accounts will be with-drawn by the government ifthe people fail to withdrawit on the same day. In Alwalalso the same situation pre-vailed.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Roads and Buildings MinisterVemula Prashant Reddy hasasked the officials of hisdepartment to take up worksin the camps where migrantworkers have been lodged.The minister wanted the offi-cials to sensitise the workerson the Covid-19 and providethem with masks and makearrangements for their food.

Reviewing progress of hisdepartments with officials hereon Wednesday, the ministerwanted the officials to ensurethe workers follow social dis-tance while execution ofworks. He asked the officialsto constitute an enforcementteam with the quality controlofficials in districts so that theywould undertake field visitsand take steps to ensure work-ers adhere to the Covid-19

rules.He asked officials to inspect

the Yadadri developmentworks and works under theGHMC limits on April 18.Earlier, the officials told theminister that barricades up toa distance of 3.5 km have beenerected in containment centresat a cost of Rs 30 lakh.Similarly, in districts barri-cades up to a distance of 25 kmhave been erected at a totalcost of Rs 1.2 crore.

Doing everything to helpmigrant workers, says CongPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana Pradesh CongressCommittee (TPCC) MinoritiesDepartment chairman ShaikAbdullah Sohail said that thevast organisational network ofCongress party was proving tobe highly useful in providingrequired help during lockdownto various sections of the soci-ety, especially migrant workers.

Speaking to media after dis-tributing ration kits amongfreelance camera persons athis office on Wednesday,Abdullah Sohail said that var-ious teams have been workingin a well-coordinated mannerto provide help to needy per-sons, especially those areapproaching theControl Roomsof Congress party established allacross the country.

"Lok Sabha MP from WestBengal AH Khan Chowdhuryhad approached the TPCCreferring the calls he hadreceived from migrant workersof West Bengal stranded inHyderabad. The details wereimmediately shared with the

Congress teams who immedi-ately contacted the migrantworkers located at Madhapur,Gachibowli, Hafizpet and otherareas in and aroundHyderabad. They were sup-plied rice, oil, vegetables andother essential commodities,"he informed.

Similarly, Abdullah Sohailsaid food material was also pro-vided to hundreds of migrantworkers from others States likeBihar, Jharkhand, UttarPradesh and other northernStates. Originally, he said the

stranded migrant workers con-tacted the relatives in theirnatives who then approachedthe local Congress leaders seek-ing help. The information wasimmediately passed on to theTelangana Congress leaders toact upon.

"Since all Congress leadersare actively involved in therelief works in local areas, spe-cial attention was paid to therequests being received fromother States. So far, there is nota single request which waskept unattended," he said.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Minister for Panchayat RajErrabelli Dayakar Rao onWednesday thanked ChiefMinister K ChandrasekharRao for releasing Rs 307 croreto village panchayats towardsgrant for the month of March.He said that the Chief Ministerreleased the funds in spite ofthe grim situation in the statefollowing outbreak ofCoronavirus. He warned oftaking stern action againstthose who misuse the sanc-tioned funds.

The funds should be spentto maintain sanitation andworks related to mitigating thecorona virus threat. Thereshould not be any deficiencyin sanitation in villages.Cleaning roads and drainagesproperly, the villagers shouldbe sensitised on the virusthreat, he told he sarpanches.

He asked the panchayats topay the pending power bills

out of the funds sanctioned toensure round the clock powersupply to agriculture sector.Sanitation works should beimplemented as detailed inPalle Pragati programme.Moreover, the sanitation work-ers should observe social dis-tance, he said asking them totie towel across their faces ifthey did not have masks.

He wanted the sarpanchesand village officials to takeproper care about health of thesanitation workers.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Incentives announced by ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Raofor the municipal sanitationworkers have been credited intotheir bank accounts. The CMannounced gift to the municipalworkers in recognition of theirservices to rein in theCoronavirus risking their lives.

Over 20,496 sanitation work-ers, both regular and outsourced,in 139 municipalities andmunicipal corporations acrossthe state and over 26,368 sani-tation workers under theGHMC limits received the ben-efit into the bank accounts.

Families of sanitation work-

ers thanked the Chief Ministerfor his gesture to them. Underthe GHMC limits, total amountcredited in the bank accounts ofsanitation workers was Rs19,77,60,000, while the amountcredited in the bank accounts ofcivic body workers elsewhere inthe state was Rs 10,24,80,000.

The GHMC entomologywing employed over 2,077,transport section employed2,288 and veterinary sectionemployed 306 sanitation work-ers besides 20,718 in the sanita-tion wing. Of the 20,496 thatwere benefited elsewhere in thestate, the Rangareddy district hasthe maximum number of 4,031employees.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Indian Oil Corporation exec-utive director Sravan S Rao onWednesday said that thedemand for LPG cylinders inTelugu states reverted to nor-mal after initial spurt in thedemand in early lockdownperiod. Indane gas distribu-tors have been working hardto match the demand andsupply in Telugu states.

Personnel engaged in trans-porting LPG cylinders havebeen sensitised on the precau-tions to be taken to checkCoronavirus, he said addingthat the IOC management isimplementing many moremeasures at gas filling units.

Utmost priority is being

given to sanitise trucks frombringing empty cylinders tothe filling plant to transport-ing the loaded LPG cylinders,

he said. Instead of receiving cash

from consumers, the IOCprefers digital payment for the

LPG cylinders supplied.Under Pradhan MantriUjjwala Yojana, arrangementshave been made by the IOC to

supply one LPG cylinder freeof cost to consumers in April,May and June.

Since June 1, under thescheme, 73,000 LPG cylinders,each weighing 14.2 kg weregiven free of cost in Telugustates. Also, 468 beneficiariesreceived 5 kg cylinders free ofcost.

At a time only essentialservices are allowed to func-tion in the state, the IOCmanagement is taking steps toensure that there is no hiccupsin supply of petroleum prod-ucts and to render services toconsumers in Telugu states totheir satisfaction. Moreover,the IOCL employees are wear-ing full protective gear whiledischarging duties, he said.

All arrangements have beenmade at IOCL regional officesand distributors' offices torein in Coronavirus.

Moreover, the IOCL is dis-tributing food, milk, waterand other essential commodi-ties free of cost to the migrantworkers. The company givesLPG, essential commodities,vegetables free of cost toenable vehicle drivers cookfood.

In case of loss of life to theIOCL employees and workers,insurance cover for Rs 5 lakhhas been arranged.

The IOCL staff donatedfrom their wages to the PMCares fund and to other char-itable organisations to sustainrelief operations.

‘Supplying LPG cylinders in tune with demand’

Opposition leaders ask KCRto convene all party meeting

When leaders make themselves scarce

Niranjan Reddy Gangula Kamalakar Dasyam Vinaya Bhaskar Srinivas GoudKoppula Eshwar

Inspect Yadadriworks: Vemula

Sanitation workers jubilant on receiving gift from CM

She exhorted the officials to pass onthe benefits announced by the stategovernment during the lockdown period

Errabelli thanks CM forreleasing funds for GPs

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | APRIL 16, 2020 nation 05SHORT READS

Govt asks states, unionterritories to maintainzoo, nurseriesNEW DELHI: The stategovernments and UnionTerritories have been asked tomaintain zoos, wildlife andnurseries, according to freshlockdown-related guidelinesissued on Wednesday by theHome Ministry. They have alsobeen asked to ensure wateringof plantation and patrolling, itsaid. The Home Ministry hasissued revised guidelines, a dayafter Prime Minister NarendraModi announced extension ofthe nationwide lockdown tillMay 3. "Staff/workers requiredto operate and maintain zoos,nurseries, wildlife, fire-fightingin forests, watering plantations,patrolling and their necessarytransport movement" to work inthe states and Union Territories,the guidelines said. Reacting tothese guidelines, wildlifeactivist Ajay Dubey said theCentre has taken a veryimportant decision by allowingmaintenance of zoos andwildlife. "Lockdown hasdisrupted the normal life. Thereis a need to ensure that wildlifein zoos, national park andsurrounding forest does notface any problem," Dubey said.

Panel to suggest waysto revive economypost lockdown

Property dealer shotdead over old enmityBAREILLY: A 40-year-oldproperty dealer was shot deadhere apparently over an oldenmity, police said onWednesday. A case has beenregistered against three peopleincluding an ex-serviceman andtwo of them are in policecustody, they said. SeniorSuperintendent of PoliceShailesh Pandey said, "Owingto old enmity, property dealerYunus Ahmed Dumpy was shotdead on Tuesday night. A casewas registered against three ofwhich Isamuddin and Asif havebeen arrested."

DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhandgovernment on Wednesday setup a high-level committee tostudy the impact of thelockdown on the state'seconomy and suggest ways torevive it. Headed by retired IASofficer Indu Kumar Pandey, thepanel will recommend ways topool in the state's resourcesand put its economy back ontrack through employmentgeneration once the lockdownends, an official statement said.Principal secretary (industry)Manisha Panwar, secretary(finance) Saujanya, additionalsecretary (finance) BhupeshTiwari and additional secretaryplanning Yogendra Yadav havebeen appointed as membersof the committee, it said.

PNS n MUMBAI

A 29-year-old woman, whohad tested positive forCOVID-19, allegedly com-mitted suicide at the civic-runNair Hospital in CentralMumbai on Wednesday, policesaid. The incident took placein the early hours of the day,when the woman allegedlyhanged herself using a scarf inthe bathroom of ward no 25,an official said.

A resident of Worli inCentral Mumbai, the womanhad recently tested positive forthe infection, he said.

The woman was foundhanging in the bathroom byother patients and hospitalstaff, he said, adding that a caseof accidental death was regis-tered at Agripada police sta-tion in this regard.

COVID-19 patient commits

suicide in Mumbai

Mumbai: 25 migrant workers heldfor travelling during lockdownPNS n MUMBAI

A total of 25 migrant workerswere arrested early Wednesdayfrom Santacruz in Mumbaiwhile they were trying to moveout of the city to Uttar Pradeshby hiding in a mini truck, a dayafter the national coronaviruslockdown was extended tillMay 3, police said.

On Tuesday, hundreds ofmigrant workers, who havebeen stuck in Mumbai since thefirst phase of the lockdownkicked in on March 24, gath-ered outside Bandra railway sta-tion hoping for special trains totake them to their native states.

A police official said apatrolling team intercepted thevehicle in Meera Baugh area ofSantacruz on suspicion in earlymorning. "Police found 25 men,all migrant workers, crammedinside the mini truck and broughtthem to police station," he said.

The migrants, all residentsof 'Bhaiyya Wadi' in Santacruz,were upset over the extensionof the lockdown by another 19days.

These people are daily wageworkers who earn their livingin Mumbai by doing odd jobs,the official said, adding thatthey are desperate to go to theirhomes in other states.

"We have arrested 25 labour-ers and the tempo driverPralhad Yadav. All of them hailfrom Uttar Pradesh. We arelooking for the tempo owner,"said Santacruz police stationsenior inspector ShriramKoregaonkar.

He said each of the labour-er had paid Rs 1500 for thejourney.

"We have booked them

under various sections includ-ing 188 (Disobeying the orderpromulgated by public ser-vant) of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) and sections of theEpidemic Diseases Act," hesaid, adding that all the 25 peo-ple are released on bail.

The inspector said themigrants were getting food,but are anxious to go theirhomes. In his address onTuesday evening, MaharashtraChief Minister UddhavThackeray tried to reach out tomigrant workers stuck inMaharashtra and appealedthem to stay put.

PNS n MUMBAI

A Navi Mumbai resident wasarrested early Wednesday forposting messages on hissocial media accounts whichallegedly led to hundreds ofmigrant workers, stuck inMumbai due to the lock-down, gathering near subur-ban Bandra station onTuesday, police said.

The accused, Vinay Dubey,was produced in a courtwhich remanded him inpolice custody April 21, apolice official said.

Dubey had uploaded avideo on social media inwhich he demanded that theMaharashtra governmentmake travel arrangements formigrants, who are strandeddue to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown and wantto go back to their nativeplaces, he said.

He had also tweeted aboutthe issue and called for anational-level protest iftrains are not arranged tillApril 18 to ferry migrantsworkers to their nativeplaces, he said.

Dubey was initially detainedby Navi Mumbai police andlater handed over to the policein suburban Bandra.

He has been booked underIPC Sections 153 A (promot-ing disharmony, enmity orfeelings of hatred betweendifferent groups), 117 (abet-ting commission of offence),188 (disobedience of orderby public servant), 269, 270(negligent and malignant actlikely to spread infection ofdisease danger to life) andprovisions of the EpidemicDiseases Act, he said.

His interrogation wasunderway at the Bandra policestation, the official said.

COVID-19 IMPACT:

GMAT to be conducted online from Apr 20PNS n NEW DELHI

The Graduate ManagementAdmission Test (GMAT),accepted as admission criteri-on by over 2,000 businessschools across the globe, will beconducted online from April20 due to the COVID-19 pan-demic.

The Global ManagementAdmission Council (GMAC)which conducts the test, saidthe registrations were openedon Tuesday.

"Supporting candidates intheir pursuit of business school

and helping schools evaluatetalent has always been our

highest priority. As COVID-19evolved, and quickly changed

how we have traditionallyadministered the GMATexam, we transitioned focus todeveloping an online testingsolution that empowers busi-ness schools and candidates todiscover and evaluate eachother during this interim peri-od," said GMAT head VineetChabra.

"GMAT Online will main-tain the standard of offering avalid and rigorous assessment,with critical security practicesand protocols tailored for anonline proctored environ-ment," he added.

LOCKDOWN 2.0:

MIGRANTS' PROTEST:

Man held for offensivesocial media posts

PNS n NEW DELHI

Migrant labourers who leavetheir villages in search of workduring non-agricultural monthsare stranded in cities acrossIndia, leaving their familiesfearful that their harvest-readycrops will wither and die on thestalks and push them deeperinto debt.

With three weeks gone andmaybe another three to gobefore they can even contem-plate returning to their villages,the days ahead stretch inter-minably for the thousands ofmigrant labourers who decidedto not take the long walk homebut wait for the lockdown to end.

And now, with the lockdownextended till May 3 to stem thespread of the coronavirus, thelittle money they had is mostlygone and so is hope it will endanytime soon.

Anil Yadav, a daily wager withthe parcel department of therailways who was ready to rushback to his village inMaharajganj in Uttar Pradesh toharvest the wheat crop, is stillstunned by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's announce-ment on Tuesday extending the

pan India shutdown by 19 days. “I have already lost the entire

sugarcane crop sown in my one'bigha' land. It could havebrought my family some money.But I can't go back and no onecan harvest the wheat on theremaining two 'bighas',,” said the28-year-old.

“My wife, two children (agedone and three) and old parentshave no support. They can't stepout even to buy necessary items.They don't have money andnow I am stuck here,” he toldPTI.

Sitting under a tree in thecomplex, dispiritedly eating his‘dal-rice' lunch, Yadav added

that his family is staring at ahuge financial crisis and pleadwith him everyday to returnhome.

“But how can I?” he asked. Heearned Rs 7,000-8,000 a monthin his job but the money and thejob have both gone.

With all of India under lock-down, there are no train or inter-state bus services.

Yadav is one of the 330 peo-ple, including the homeless andmigrants, staying at the YamunaSports Complex camp that hasbeen turned into a shelter homeby the Delhi government.

On April 1, a week after thefirst phase of the lockdown

came into effect, Yadav was oneof the many thousands whowent to the Anand ViharInterstate Bus Terminal hopingto manage a seat. Instead, he waspacked into a bus by police andsent to the Yamuna SportsComplex.

Asha Devi, a mother of four,tries hard to fight back her tearsas she talks about her two sons,one 14 and the other only six,alone at their village in UttarPradesh's Banda district.

“My two sons are all alone athome. The older one works asa daily wage labourer and looksafter his younger brother. I amso scared,” the 36-year-old said.

Money and jobs gone, strandedmigrants desperate to return home

Tablighi Jamaat leader booked forculpable homicide after attendees diePNS n NEW DELHI

Tablighi Jamaat leader MaulanaSaad Kandhalvi has beenbooked for culpable homicideafter some of the attendees ofthe religious congregation dieddue to coronavirus, police saidon Wednesday. Kandhalvi hadorganised the religious gather-ing at Nizamuddin Markaz lastmonth against the social dis-tancing protocol imposed by theCentre to curb the spread of thedeadly disease.

An FIR was registered against

the cleric on March 31 at CrimeBranch police station on a com-plaint of the Station HouseOfficer of Nizamuddin.

He was earlier booked forholding the event, police said.

“After several attendees of theTablighi Jamaat event suc-cumbed to coronavirus, weadded IPC section 304 (culpa-ble homicide not amounting tomurder) in the FIR against theleader,” a police official said.

Some foreigners who attend-ed the event have also beenbooked for violation of visa

norms. In an audio message,Kandhalvi had said that he wasexercising self-quarantine afterseveral hundreds who visitedthe Tablighi Jamaat congrega-tion at Nizamudddin Markaztested positive for coronavirus.

The FIR registered against theTablighi Jamaat event says thatthe Delhi Police contacted theauthorities of NizamuddinMarkaz on March 21 andreminded them of the govern-ment order which prohibitedany political or religious gath-ering of more than 50 people.

PNS n JALANDHAR

On a visit to connect with fam-ily and friends in Punjab, NRIssettled in the US, UK, Canadaand Europe are finding it diffi-cult to cope with the unplannedstay necessitated due to coron-avirus travel restrictions world-wide. Thousands of NonResident Indians usually visitPunjab during winters

London-based NRI SatnamSingh Birring, who came tomeet his parents in Jalandhar onJanuary 23, was all set to returnon March 25 but a spike in coro-navirus cases and restrictions ontravel put a brake on his plans.

“My wife was also planning tocome to India on March 16 as wehad plans to go back together.Neither could she come, nor wasI able to go back to London. Ieven approached the BritishHigh Commission in India andthe Indian High Commission inUK for a ticket in the charteredflights arranged by the UK gov-ernment but all the tickets weresold out within 15-minutes! I ameagerly waiting for some solu-tion”, he said.

US-based Avtar SinghDhillon, who came on a 28- dayleave to attend a wedding inPunjab in February, is amongthose stuck.

“My family is stuck in Traceycity in California while I am stay-ing with my parents. Thankfully,I didn't come on a return ticketas my father was unwell but I hadplans to go back by April end butnow I am stuck here. Even myfamily is living under lockdownin the US due to COVID-19cases”, he added.

US-based Sukhvir Singh saidthat his mother had travelled toSan Francisco to attend his wed-ding and was planning to goback to India in April but wasstuck now.

“My brother back home inJalandhar is eagerly awaitingmy mother's return”, he saidthrough email.

NRI from Greece RamLubhaya, who is in Jalandhar tomeet his family, said, “I came to

India on January 28 and myreturn flight was on March 21but by that time the Indian gov-ernment imposed a ban oninternational flights".

"The Greece government hasannounced some measures toassist its work force and I couldnot even avail that,” he said.

Another Jalandhar-basedfamily, Rakesh Mahi, the fatherof Punjabi singer Ginni Mahi hasbeen stuck in Rome since March4. Mahi said that he was accom-panying his daughter on a musi-cal tour in Europe, when the sit-uation turned bad.

“We would have landed inIndia by April 13 but all planswere changed due to COVID-19pandemic...We are eagerly wait-ing for the situation to improve”,he shared through email.

COVID travel curbs: NRIs stuckin Punjab long to return home

PNS n JAIPUR

Rajasthan recorded 41 freshcases of novel coronavirus onWednesday, taking the state'stally to 1,046, an official said.

The virus has so farclaimed 11 lives in the state.

"As many as 41 new caseshave come up today -- 23 inJaipur and seven each inJodhpur and Kota. A caseeach of COVID-19 wasrecorded in Dausa, Nagaur,Tonk and Jhunjhunu dis-tricts," Additional ChiefSecretary Rohit Kumar Singhsaid.

He said the total number ofconfirmed coronavirus casesin the state has risen to 1,046.

Among the coronaviruscases in Rajasthan are twoItalian citizens and 54 peoplewho were brought back fromIran and admitted to Armyhealth centres in Jodhpurand Jaisalmer.

Jaipur has reported thehighest number of 476 casesin the state, followed by 102in Jodhpur, 64 in Kota and 59in Banswara.

National Geographic toair ‘One World: Togetherat Home' on April 19PNS n MUMBAI

National Geographic India is allset to air virtual concert special"One World: Together at Home",which will feature stars like ShahRukh Khan and PriyankaChopra Jonas, among others. Thetwo-hour concert will be aired onthe channel on April 19. It isbeing organised to supporthealthcare workers all over theworld who are at the frontline inthe battle against the coronaviruspandemic. The special will behosted by a trio of network late-night hosts -Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy

Kimmel, and Stephen Colbert.Apart from appearances by

Shah Rukh and Priyanka, theconcert will also have perfor-mances by a host internationalartistes like Andrea Bocelli, BillieEilish, Celine Dion, Elton John,Eddie Vedder, John Legend,Stevie Wonder, Ellie Goulding,Taylor Swift and others. The liveevent, curated by Global Citizenand the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) in collab-oration with pop star Lady Gaga,will feature real experiencesfrom doctors, nurses and fami-lies around the world.

PNS n AHMEDABAD

Gujarat Chief Minister VijayRupani has decided to run thestate administration withoutmeeting anyone for next oneweek after a Congress MLAwhom he met on Tuesday test-ed positive for coronavirus.

Rupani's health is fine and hewill run the state administra-tion through technologicalfacilities like video conference,video-calling and tele-calling,Chief Minister's Office (CMO)secretary Ashwani Kumar saidon Wednesday.

"No visitor will be allowed atthe chief minister's residencefor the next one week," Kumarsaid. Reputed doctors R KPatel and Atul Patel checkedRupani, he said in a statement.

"The chief minister is fine

and all his parameters are nor-mal, Kumar said.

Congress MLA ImranKhedawala, who met Rupanialong with other party legislatorsat the chief minister's official res-idence in Gandhinagar onTuesday morning, tested positive

for coronavirus in the evening.After the meeting with Rupani,Khedawala also addressed medi-apersons in Gandhinagar. TheMLA was admitted to SardarVallabhbhai Hospital, which is adesignated COVID-19 medicalfacility, Ahmedabad Deputy

Municipal Commissioner OmPrakash Machra said.

Kumar said Khedawala, whorepresents Khadia-JamalpurAssembly segment inAhmedabad, committed a bigmistake by not staying at homeand coming out to meet Rupaniwhen he had given his samplesfor coronavirus testing. He saidKhedawala was sitting 15 to 20feet away from the chief min-ister during the meeting.

Besides Khedawala, two

other Congress MLAs from thecity - Gyasuddin Shaikh andShailesh Parmar - were alsopresent in the meeting.

Deputy Chief Minister NitinPatel and Minister of State forHome Pradeepsinh Jadeja alsoattended the meeting, after whichRupani had announced imposi-tion of curfew in someAhmedabad areas falling underthe Assembly constituencies ofthese Congress MLAs, to curbthe spread of coronavirus.

Guj CM isolates self after MLAhe met tests coronavirus +ve

The lockdownextended till May3 to stem thespread of thecoronavirus, thelittle money theyhad is mostlygone and so ishope it will endanytime soon

Congress MLA Imran Khedawala, whomet Rupani along with other partylegislators at the chief minister'sofficial residence in Gandhinagar onTuesday morning, tested positive forcoronavirus in the evening

41 new casesin Rajasthan

"GMAT Online willmaintain the standardof offering a valid andrigorous assessment,with critical securitypractices andprotocols tailored foran online proctoredenvironment," VineetChabra said

As India fights COVID-19,businesses are under pressure.News reports have coveredhow energy companies havereceived force majeure notices

from customers. With lockdown in fullforce, demand for fuel and electricity hassuffered. Gas distributors are invoking theforce majeure clause in their respectiveagreements with marketers like ONGCand GAIL, among others, in turn servingforce majeure notices to their domesticand overseas suppliers. An industryexpert has termed it a “chain reaction.” Itremains to be seen where the buck willstop. There are similar stories of panic anddesperation in almost all sectors, incon-sequential of the strata.

Post the lockdown, there is a likeli-hood of force majeure litigations floodingthe Indian courts. Some of these partiesmay be genuinely affected by the currentsituation while for others, it could be tac-tical litigation as a way out of bad con-tracts/deals. Quite naturally then, forcemajeure has become one of the mostsearched legal terms in times whenCOVID-19 deepens its impact over thebusiness world and uncertainty loomslarge over the performance of contractu-al obligation of parties under variousarrangements.

The logical question to be asked iswhether “force majeure,” a panacea forcontracts, has gone haywire due toCOVID-19 or otherwise? Let’s look atsome of the judgments to analyse how ourcourts have viewed this clause qua the lia-bilities of the contracting parties in thepast. In legal parlance, unplanned,unimagined and unanticipated chal-lenges are populated under the forcemajeure clause in contracts. In someinstances it may be implied if notexpressed. This standard clause is rarelyinvoked but always present. This is a well-recognised legal principle and exempts aparty from performing her/his/their con-tractual obligations or terminate the per-formance of its obligations when certaincircumstances, which are beyond theircontrol, arise, thus making performanceinadvisable, commercially impractica-ble, illegal or impossible. These circum-stances are typically an event or effect,which the parties could not have foreseenor controlled. Therefore, the standard def-inition of force majeure clause is inclusiveof the likes of natural calamities, war orsudden change of Government policies.Over the last few decades, it has come toinclude terms like terrorism and nuclearradio activity, wherever relevant.

Force majeure is a French phrase,which means a “superior force.” This prin-ciple is well-recognised and accepted bythe Indian courts as well. Sections 32 and56 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, are

relevant to understand the scopeof force majeure besides case lawsdeveloped around it. In some ofthe statutes there is direct refer-ence to force majeure circum-stances. Take the example of theReal Estate (Regulation andDevelopment) Act, 2016,(RERA), which provides forextension of registration of theprojects in force majeure situationeven without payment of fee. Inthe present COVID-19 situation,RERA has already given exten-sion to real estate projects thatwere expiring and that, too,without filing of any application,keeping with the spirit of social-distancing.

Similarly, the Mines andMinerals (Development andRegulation) Act has force majeureas a shield to the lessee against thenon-performance of its obliga-tions under the mining licence.However, in certain circum-stances, the force majeure isexpressly rejected. A case inpoint could be DocumentaryCredit, which does not getextended beyond the expiry dateby any force majeure circum-stances.

As regards availing reliefunder the force majeure clause, itmust be noted that it’s a questionof fact and needs to be proved ineach case in order to successful-ly plead it in the court of law. Itis, therefore, important to exam-ine some of the crucial issues atthe outset when an entity/indi-vidual is contemplating legaloptions based on force majeure,both as a strategy as well as theultimate goal.

First, does the COVID-19disruption constitute a forcemajeure event under the contract

in question? This is less likely asthe history of the virus itself is notmore than three months old.Second, will COVID-19 fallunder some other events referredin force majeure clauses in thecontract such as an “act of god,”a “natural disaster,” “epidemic”,“Government regulations” orjust something beyond the con-tractor’s control? This wouldagain be a question of fact thatneeds to be examined on thebasis of the context of the contractand the scope of its perfor-mance. Third, it needs to be eval-uated as to what the given con-tract provides for under the forcemajeure clause. Does it allow forextension of time for the perfor-mance of the contracts? Or is theprovision for extension with orwithout compensation? Onceagain, it needs to be seen if theentity would rather give noticeand seek extension or compen-sation. Does the force majeureclause allow one or both partiesto terminate the contract? Arethere any other terms in the con-tract that could be read orreferred in connection with theliability arising out of non-perfor-mance? Are there mechanismswithin the contract that providerelief to the party? Or does it pro-vide for modification if the con-tract? If the contract is of inter-national nature, it is also advis-able to look at the law thatwould be applicable and thenconsider the factual conspectusin that scenario and how that lawdeals with the force majeure sit-uation.

It is only after a carefulexamination of the contract andexpected outcome that a callshould be taken about invoking

the force majeure clause andengage with the counter party. Itis useful to remember that courtsplace the burden on the partyasserting force majeure defence todemonstrate its existence and thatsuch clauses are construed strict-ly by the courts.

The Supreme Court ofIndia in the case of EnergyWatchdog vs CERC, (2017) 14SCC 80 (Adani power case)dealt at length the claim of theAdanis that the change in theprice of coal in Indonesiaamounted to force majeure andrejected the same after examin-ing the contract document inquestion. The landmark caseson the subject being AlopiPrasad & Satyabrata Ghose, thecourt held that “force majeure”is governed by the Contract Act,1872. “Insofar as it is relatableto an express or implied clausein a contract, such as the PPAsbefore us, it is governed byChapter III dealing with thecontingent contracts and moreparticularly, Section 32 thereof.Insofar as a force majeure eventoccurs dehors the contract, it isdealt with by a rule of positivelaw under Section 56 of theContract Act.”

On another place in thejudgment the findings ofSatyabrata Ghose vs MugneeramBangur & Co is reiterated:“…The performance of an actmay not be literally impossiblebut it may be impracticable anduseless from the point of view ofthe object and purpose of theparties. If an untoward event orchange of circumstance totallyupsets the very foundation uponwhich the parties entered theiragreement, it can be said that the

promisor finds it impossible todo the act which he hadpromised to do.”

It was further held thatwhere the court finds that thecontract itself, either implied orexpressly contains a term, accord-ing to which performance wouldstand discharged under certaincircumstances, the dissolution ofthe contract would take placeunder the terms of the contractitself and such cases would bedealt with under Section 32 of theAct. If, however, frustration is totake place dehors the contract, itwill be governed by Section 56.

Further, the court reliedupon the finding in AlopiParshad & Sons Ltd vs Union ofIndia: “Parties to an executablecontract are often faced, in thecourse of carrying it out, with aturn of events which they did notat all anticipate. For example, awholly abnormal rise or fall inprices which is an unexpectedobstacle to execution. This doesnot in itself get rid of the bargainthey have made. It is only whena consideration of the terms ofthe contract, in the light of the cir-cumstances existing when it wasmade, showed that they neveragreed to be bound in a funda-mentally different situation whichhad unexpectedly emerged, thatthe contract ceases to bind. It wasfurther held that the perfor-mance of a contract is never dis-charged merely because it maybecome onerous to one of theparties.”

Therefore, the facts of a caseas they play out before the courtof law is an interplay of manydimensions and caution isrequired to be exercised whiledealing with situations arising outof COVID-19 pandemic. TheWorld Health Organisation(WHO) declared it as the publichealth crisis on January 30 andon March 11, it revised its standand said it is a “pandemic.” DrTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,WHO director-general, rightlysaid, “This is not just a publichealth crisis, it is a crisis that willtouch every sector, so every sec-tor and every individual must beinvolved in the fights.” This dis-ease was unknown till the end ofthe December 2019 when it wasreported by China to WHO andthe world is grappling with thechallenge it poses. In that sense,COVID-19 is a force majeure ina manner of speaking andunprecedented; still it would beimprudent to conclude that thiswould provide a blanket relief forall contracts and under all situ-ations. The need, therefore, is forcareful planning, strategic think-ing along with an open mind tofind amicable solutions and ahuman heart to respond to thecurrent challenge.

(The writers are partners atTRS Law Offices)

As the world’s largest oil-producing countriesagreed to somewhat reduce production afteran intense price war last month between

Russia and Saudi Arabia saw rates drop to theirlowest level in almost two decades, crude oil priceshave started to climb once again. But the spike,and this, using the one of North Sea Brent Crudewhich is a global benchmark, has found it diffi-cult to pierce the $30 a barrel mark. Analystsbelieve that after the International Monetary Fund(IMF) report, which said that the world economywill shrink by almost three per cent this year, oil

prices cannot rise to offset that much of a fall in demand. Even with countries suchas India using the opportunity to fill their strategic reserves of oil to the brim, theadditional demand this will produce will not offset the overall fall. This is a goodthing for India, although not necessarily for the consumer. The Central Governmentrecently used the fall in the crude price to increase existing excise duties on pricespaid at the pump and passed a law to be able to increase the excise rates later on.Therefore, the fall in prices at the pump may be negligible. That said, the Governmentwill be desperate to raise additional revenues after the six-week lockdown wouldhave devastated the economy. The additional revenues that these potential exciseduty enhancements will produce though will be tempered by a reduction in demandas the informal sector remains effectively shut and the formal sector is expected tooperate at a mere fraction of its pre-COVID-19 ability.

The reduction in crude prices might also have a medium-term impact on demandand the technology progress of alternative environmentally-friendly mobility solu-tions. Electric vehicles, already expensive, might see a fall in demand as consumerswill switch to more affordable petrol-engined cars. Handing out subsidies for buy-ing such vehicles will be seen as an avoidable extravagance by Governments dur-ing a public health crisis. This may be one of the unintended consequences of thepandemic but we feel that the work in this space must continue. One of the posi-tives of the past four weeks has been the cleaner and more breathable air acrossthe world. We should not see that as an aberration but as the new normal. Crudeprices may never recover from that shift.

Nothing much has changed for the about 20lakh migrant labourers, who have been dis-placed by the lockdown to contain COVID-

19, driven out of their site shacks following stop-page of economic activity and left to fend for them-selves with little or no savings. Turfed out of anexistence as they knew it, they began the long walkhome, fleeing a disease that they had not askedfor but were exposed to, and returning to their sub-sistence livelihoods in the village. At least, therethey would eat whatever the land would yield andthey would be safe. And then they were held in

camps by different State authorities, sometimes subjected to disinfectant jet spraysand at other times treated like pests and looked at with suspicion even if they offeredthemselves up for any job at hand. Although the lockdown is now being opened ina staggered manner to enable farm activity and construction, the flight has meantthat a chunk of these labourers would rather avail these income openings in theirown villages and States than staying on in cramped camps. There is a reason why1,500 labourers virtually revolted and gathered at a bus stand in Mumbai’s Bandraon Tuesday afternoon, demanding transport arrangements to go back to their nativeplaces. Their reasons are common to all inmates huddled at makeshift camps thatcame up in various States in fits and starts, rather than as part of a unified policy.For all tall claims by authorities, they have no food. The Food Corporation of Indiagodowns may be full and we may have many times more reserves than are requiredbut with the supply and distribution chain broken down and disproportionately func-tional in places, no rations have reached these camps. Most labourers do not getmore than one meal a day at a time when body resistance and immunity are pri-mary concerns. Media reports indicate some of them are surviving on just rice, starchand salt. Except for private charitable organisations and trusts, there is no directivethat makes Government community kitchens mandatory and keeps them running.Makeshift common toilet facilities are another problem, causing hygiene related defi-ciencies and compounding the risk factor for contracting the disease. Besides, thereare no work opportunities or any kind of stipend. Apart from spraying disinfectants,there is no medical camp that assesses their health condition, leave alone testingfor the virus. So the impatience and frustration are just getting over the tipping point.And that anger is manifesting in furious ways, sometimes as an assault on police-men enforcing the lockdown, at other times looting and damaging trucks full of sup-plies or simply staging sit-ins, demanding that they be allowed to travel. A recentsurvey has shown that four out of 10 labourers did not have ration left even for oneday and 90 per cent had lost their only source of income in three weeks.

There is also a latent emotional reason. Rejected overnight by cities that theyhave serviced over the years and their residents who went into self-protection mode,they now are angry and want life on their terms. And they want to be home, a basichuman instinct when battling a threat to survival itself. Yes, the Government did toutthe Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana, that would ensure that each one wouldget an additional five kg rice or wheat per month. The problem with migrants is theydo not have ration cards here but in their villages. Those who do cannot use themeither, simply because they do not guarantee portability like an Aadhaar and can beused only at the address registered on them. Besides, clustered in unknown sites,they do not know how to access fair price shops. Perhaps food coupons wouldhave been better. As it is, the mass exodus has affected the economy badly withagriculture and small industrial units lacking enough staff. Perhaps the States hous-ing camps should prepare a roster of units going empty, farms in need of manpow-er and send labourers there for work after a health check-up and an assurance ofa clean accommodation, howsoever temporary. If we want to keep them back, thenthere has to be a reason and incentive solid enough for them to do so. Factory andfarm owners need to restore confidence like clearing their dues, something that mostMSMEs cannot as the Government is yet to repay them. Different State Governmentsmay have to issue several work permits to get them back and keep them safe in apost-Covid work environment. It would be prudent to let those, who have been allowedto drift away too far out, to return and let them avail of MGNREGA schemes in theirnative villages. It is time to revive the village economy and set up import substitu-tion units to decentralise the growth engine and get small wheels moving and pickup speed. If a solution is not worked out soon, protests and clashes will becomethe new normal as the in-betweeners could fuel a social uprising. We have no rightto decide for them from a position of privilege but must guarantee their productiveworth instead.

Task cut out

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Dear PM, we need more”(April 15). The extension of thenationwide lockdown till May 3is a welcome reprieve. The movecomes amid fears of furtherspread and increasing number ofhotspots across various locations.The lockdown extension willnow be a testing time for healthexperts who are otherwise contin-uously engaged in monitoringCOVID-19 cases consistently.

Further, the Governmentshould make necessary arrange-ments for supply of medicalequipment, including PPE, med-icines and advanced infrastruc-ture, among other things. The cat-astrophe is now an opportunity toramp up healthcare infrastructure.The Government should surgeahead in implementing necessarypolicies to further improve health-care infrastructure, including pro-curement of medical devices,review of import/export of life-saving drugs, upgrading of hospi-tals and improvement of basicinfrastructure at primary health-care facilities.

Varun DambalBengaluru

Reach the grassroots

Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Dear PM, we need more”(April 15). In the wake of theescalating number of positive

Coronavirus cases, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s deci-sion to extend the lockdown iswelcome.

For the obliteration of thepandemic COVID-19, it is cru-cial to break the chain of trans-

mission. This can be done effec-tively only when the people arecompletely physically confined totheir homes.

Inarguably, the ongoing lock-down has been severely affectingthe economic conditions of sev-

eral daily wage workers and peas-ants but the rapid surge in themortality rate of the NovelCoronavirus made it quite imper-ative to extend the lockdown.

Although the Governmenthas been taking all obligatorymeasures to provide basic meansof livelihood among the people,it should also ensure that benefitspercolate to the grassroot level.

Tushar AnandPatna

A struggling economy

Sir — How long can we isolateourselves? The need is for theeconomy to be run. Finding a vac-cine for Coronavirus is the onlyway to restore normalcy in a trau-matised world. Clinical trialswith different drugs and medi-cines must be conducted. Side byside, in an age of digitisation anddata analysis, universal sharing ofdata among global medical per-sonnel must be undertaken sothat nations come to learn fromeach other’s experiences.

ShambhaviVia email

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

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

op nionHYDERABAD | THURSDAY | APRIL 16, 2020

06

Legal wrangle amid Corona

SUNIETAOJHA

TALISHRAY

With COVID-19 causing disruption in businesses, it would be imprudent to conclude thatforce majeure can provide a blanket relief for all contracts and under all situations

PM Modi must reconsiderdirectives to industry and commercial establishments topay full wages to their workersduring the lockdown. It maypush them into bankruptcy.

Punjab Chief Minister—Capt Amarinder Singh

It is a situation which none ofus has ever witnessed before.Any kid is going to be moody,impatient and cannot handlehimself/herself. It’s time tomake them feel safe, be honest.

Actor—Sameera Reddy

Now is the time for unityand for the internationalcommunity to worktogether in solidarity tostop this virus and itsshattering consequences.

UN Secretary-General—Antonio Guterres

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

The impoverished need a solution

This refers to the editorial, “Dear PM, we need more”(April 15). The extension of the nationwide lockdownfor three more weeks was a foregone conclusion.

Obviously, we could not have done without “lockdown2.0” to contain the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.Given the gravity of the existential threat posed by thecontagion, there was unanimous support for the exten-sion of the lockdown. By reiterating the need to main-tain social distancing, Prime Minister Narendra Modicounselled the citizenry to behave responsibly. While thebattle is to be fought on all fronts, he neglected to men-tion that we did not pay enough heed to the World HealthOrganisation (WHO)’s “Test, Test, Test” prescription torespond better with accurate data of cases. Modi madethe easing of restrictions conditional on the successachieved in “flattening the curves” by April 20. But heshould not make it a test of people’s resilience to copewith the economic fallout of the lockdown, like loss oflivelihoods and descent into destitution.

The announcement of a “special financial package”was eagerly awaited to allay the fears of the poor thathunger might kill them before the virus does. But weheard little on that front. Modi needs to do more thanjust acknowledge the hardships people are facing. The

handling of the Coronavirus by the Government is hand-icapped by its stinginess in supporting the impoverishedpeople to survive the lockdown and the pandemic.

The resumption of industrial production can waitbut feeding the socially and economically deprived can-not. The Prime Minister must appeal to the “affluent”to lend a helping hand to the poor and needy. But thelives of the poor cannot be left solely to the compas-sion or altruism of the well-to-do. The Government hasto intervene to ensure that they don’t suffer want andwither away. Food security must be high priority.

G David MiltonMaruthancode

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Climbing again Iran expects India and the restof the world community willstand against the unjust USsanctions that are hurting millions of Iranians amid theCovid-19 crisis.

Iranian ambassador— Ali Chegeni

If we want them back, there has to be a solid reason andincentive for them to do so. Confinement without food won’t do

After a production cut agreed upon by oil producers, crudeprices are rising again. But demand will continue to be weak

Migrants revolt

Disaster waiting to strike

THE AUTHORITY OF THE PRESIDENT ON THE SUBJECT(REOPENING OF STATES) IS TOTAL. THEY CAN'T DOANYTHING WITHOUT THE PRESIDENT’S APPROVAL.

—US PRESIDENTDONALD TRUMP

WE DON'T HAVE A KING IN THIS COUNTRY, WEDIDN'T WANT A KING SO WE HAVE A CONSTITUTIONAND WE ELECT THE US PRESIDENT.—NEW YORK GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

With the number of COVID-19 cases risingglobally, India’s neighbour Nepal is alsogoing through a critical phase in its fight

against the pandemic. A country located next toChina, the nation where the COVID-19 outbreakbegan, its immediate vulnerabilities lie in address-ing the epidemic with an existing poor healthcareinfrastructure and ensuring the safety of its people.The very first case of COVID-19 was reported onJanuary 23 in Nepal. A student who had returnedfrom Wuhan on January 9 was admitted to a hos-pital in Kathmandu. With no expertise and lab infra-structure to examine such cases then, the swab testsof the student were sent to Hong Kong and had con-firmed the Nepal Government’s worst fears.

Loose end: Nepal’s first COVID-19 case hadrecovered in the second week of February. With nonew cases reported until the third week of March,overzealous Government officials went on todeclare Nepal a “COVID-19 free” country. While itwas the time for the Government to deploy extrameasures to prepare for the outbreak, declaring thecountry as “COVID-19 free” without any consul-tation with medical experts was indeed a short-sight-ed and irresponsible step. The Government was veryclear that it did not wish to stop the arrival of touristsin Nepal because 2020 had been declared as atourism year and the Government had spent a lotof time and money in making its ‘Visit Nepal 2020’campaign a household initiative. However, in theend, with the appearance of the Coronavirus, Nepalhad to suspend the campaign officially, eventhough till today it has a total of 16 confirmed casesand no reported deaths. In 2018, tourism had con-tributed more than seven per cent revenue to theNepalese Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which wasexpected to double this year. With the suspensionof tourism for this year, the economy will have tobear the brunt.

Logistic shortage: Compared to its neighboursIndia and China, which have reported a huge num-ber of cases, Nepal has seen just 16 positive casestill now. The country has conducted a total of 6,299tests, with a little over 80 people in isolation. Amidthe ongoing lockdown, Nepal is facing an acuteshortage of trained human resources, requiredhealthcare infrastructure, including speciality hos-pitals, safety gear and testing kits. In several cases,healthcare staff have refused to attend to their dutiesdue to lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).In the present circumstances, testing is key to con-tain and control the spread of the epidemic.However, with just one specialised testing lab forCOVID-19 cases in the capital city for a populationof more than 29 million people, Nepal is wide opento any major surge in the pandemic. While ninemore temporary testing labs have been establishedin the last 15 days, logistical support and their test-ing capacity are yet to be seen. Meanwhile, Nepalhas requested several countries, including India,China, Singapore, South Korea and Israel to supplymedical equipment and medicines needed to com-bat the disease.

Missing preparedness: Over the last twodecades, the Government has not paid any heed toimproving the quality and quantity of healthcarefacilities in the country. Against this backdrop, Nepalhas faced several emergencies such as the presentoutbreak. A decade-long civil war from 1996-2006was followed by a major earthquake in 2015 whichclaimed over 20,000 lives and destroyed 1,500 healthfacilities, creating an immediate need for investing

in the public healthcare system.Meanwhile, no lessons were learnt fromthese two important events and nothingwas done to better the basic healthcareinfrastructure. While conflict and natur-al calamities have both direct and indirecteffects on people’s health and the overallhealth system in the immediate andpost-shock phase, the missing healthcareinfrastructure in Nepal is a matter of majorconcern, particularly in the present crisis.

India extends help: As Nepal awaitsreplies from other countries, India hasbegun to send new consignments ofmedical supplies, including the much-needed hydroxychloroquine sulphate.During an official conversation betweenPrime Minister Modi and his Nepalesecounterpart on April 10, the two PrimeMinisters agreed “to look after the welfareand medical care of the people of the twocountries currently living in each other’sterritory.”

The multi-dimensional friendly rela-tions between India and Nepal are testi-mony to shared socio-cultural and peo-ple-to-people contacts that have stood thetest of time and various disasters. The cre-ation of the South Asian Association forRegional Cooperation (SAARC) COVID-19 Emergency Fund is a collective effortinitiated by Prime Minister NarendraModi to bring SAARC countries onboardto fight COVID-19. Nepal has actively par-ticipated in the initiative and the initiativeshall work as an additional effectivemechanism in Nepal’s fight againstCOVID-19.

China banks on the crisis: China, onthe other hand, is banking on the ongo-ing crisis in Nepal. China’s online supplychain Alibaba along with the local admin-istration of its Sichuan province havedonated PPE and portable shelters toNepal. However, a significant deal to a pri-vate Chinese company to procure equip-ment worth more than $10 million was

cancelled amid criticism. The Governmentof Nepal faced criticism for defying therules in granting the contract to a privatecompany, which has been involved in sup-plying low-quality products in the past.Giving in to public pressure, the Ministryof Health and Population decided to annulthe tender. At this critical juncture, it is theresponsibility of the Government ofNepal to ensure that logistics are procuredwith caution, rather than appease Chinawith multi-million-dollar deals. On April10, the Tibet Autonomous Region alsodonated medical equipment to Nepal andChina and Chinese officials conducted a“handing over ceremony.” With Nepal fac-ing a critical shortage of supplies, Chineseassistance is not free from an attempt towin over public sentiments. Somethingthat India needs to watch out for.

Poor governance: An acute shortageof medical equipment exhibits poor gov-ernance and the inability of theGovernment of Nepal to safeguard theinterests of its citizens who have been acardinal factor in sustaining the economy.Notably, one-fourth of Nepal’s GDPcomes from the remittances sent home bythe Nepalese workforce abroad. Followingthe initial fears of lockdowns in host coun-tries, thousands of Nepalese migrantworkers attempted to travel back to theirhome country. While the closure of inter-national flights stopped millions of work-ers from returning to Nepal from theMiddle-East, Malaysia and Australia,thousands of them are stuck at the Indo-Nepal border.

This is after they undertook long andarduous journeys through land routes tocross the border checkposts. With noquarantine wards and healthcare person-nel deployed at the check-posts, theseworkers have been desperately waiting toget back to their homes.

By stopping the returnees at the bor-der, Nepal might have chosen to contain

the spread of the COVID-19 but it is acruel, irresponsible and inadequate atti-tude towards its citizens. They have beenleft in the open without food, shelter andexposed to Coronavirus contaminationdue to lack of social distancing at sever-al places. It was as late as April 10 thatNepalese Prime Minister KP Oli request-ed his Indian counterpart to look after thewelfare and medical needs of those stuckat the Indo-Nepal border. As India doesits bit to provide food and shelter to thesuffering Nepalese workforce, theGovernment of Nepal should have hadmechanisms in place in advance for itsreturning expatriates. It must have in allhonesty anticipated the return of its peo-ple from the neighbouring nation giventhe long open border. That it chose not todo anything about it and let its people suf-fer knowingly is something that willalways be remembered by the people ofthe little Himalayan nation.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nepal may be low but it is notdue to precautions taken by theGovernment. It is less because of the lowrate of tests being carried out per day. OnApril 11, Nepal recorded the highest num-ber of COVID-19 tests and the same day,three new cases were reported. For all weknow, it might be the next hotspot of theworld. But that will only be revealed oncemore testing is done.

It is time for the Government of Nepalto provide proper healthcare to its peopleto contain the spread of COVID-19 in thecountry. The present Government won alarge public mandate in the 2017 electionsdue to Oli’s promises of a stableGovernment and improved economicconditions. However, poor governance,flawed economic policies and imbal-anced foreign relations have endangeredthe lives of citizens.

(The writer is doctoral candidate,Centre for South Asian Studies, JNU)

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nepal may be low but it is not dueto precautions taken by the Govt but because of the low rate of testing

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

Resilience in aVUCA world

HIMA BINDU KOTA

The Novel Coronavirus has presented us with novelchallenges and an uncertain business environment,

the response to which has to be focussed

RISHI GUPTA

IT IS TIME FORTHE GOVERNMENT

OF NEPAL TOPROVIDE PROPER

HEALTHCARE TOITS PEOPLE TO

CONTAIN THESPREAD OF

COVID-19 IN THECOUNTRY. THE

PRESENTGOVERNMENTWON A LARGE

PUBLIC MANDATEIN THE 2017

ELECTIONS DUE TOOLI’S PROMISES

OF A STABLEGOVERNMENT AND

IMPROVEDECONOMIC

CONDITIONS.HOWEVER, POOR

GOVERNANCE,FLAWED

ECONOMICPOLICIES ANDIMBALANCED

FOREIGNRELATIONS HAVE

ENDANGERED THELIVES OF CITIZENS

The unprecedented Coronavirus pandemic has driven home the factthat the world is a very volatile, uncertain, complex and ambigu-ous (VUCA) place. Hence, survival and growth strategies have to

be revisited and revised accordingly. Although the term VUCA was coinedby the US Army, it is now widely used by business leaders to portraythe unpredictable nature of the environment in which they operate. Overthe decades, business models have changed dramatically, so have thethings that businesses value, leading to a sea change in how they oper-ate. And since situations are so uncertain and can change quickly, busi-nesses also need to be agile and adapt quickly. Here are some of thestrategies that business leaders can look at to keep their corporationsafloat now.

Optimise costs: Since this pandemic has hit the entire world, allbusinesses will find it extremely difficult to match historic levels of prof-itability. With factories shutting down due to lockdowns ordered by theGovernment and lower sales turnover, the resources available with thecompanies will be very limited. Therefore, proper utilisation of the sameis a must. Review various costs, both fixed and variable, to carefullydetermine what is in fact required to run your business. After this, review,strategise any cost-reduction initiatives, whether it is making your busi-ness lean by introducing a downsizing process, holding off any upcom-ing capital investment or introducing companywide innovative techniquesto drive down costs. Employees can be motivated to join this cam-paign and suitably rewarded for any innovative ideas that help the firm.Although reduction in expenditure is a must, cost-cutting should be avoid-ed in areas that have the potential for revenue generation in the future.However, caution has to be exercised to make sure that the cost-cut-ting does not cause any reputation loss.

Liquidity rules: The pandemic and the lockdown strategies adopt-ed by nations will most definitely lead the global economies into reces-sion. During such slow times, it is crucial to understand that cash isthe lifeline of any business and follow strategies to maintain cash flows.Run sensitivity and scenario analysis to understand the impact of changesin one or all variables relevant to your business, whether the impactwould be more short-term or long-term in nature and what manage-ment approach needs to be taken. Build cash reserves like there is notomorrow. That will become the lifeline of your business till things set-tle down and there is an upward trend in growth. Managing of work-ing capital is another significant aspect of managing cash. Strategiseto increase all inflows and reduce all outflows and stretch the time frameof payables. Try and reduce the days for any receivables and delay allnon-essential capital expenditure. Another fastest way of adding liq-uidity to a business is the existing banker. Communicate with your bankerto explore the extension of any credit facility. If you have a long asso-ciation with your bank and it understands the value of your business,discuss the current situation and your plans to tackle the same. Clarityand openness in your conversation will be the key here. Try and re-negotiate the terms of your debt repayments or consider the optionsof refinancing or recapitalisation. Therefore, engaging with your key stake-holders and lenders early on will help you stay on top of your chal-lenges.

Renegotiate terms with stakeholders: Customers and suppliersare the important external stakeholders for any business. In these eco-nomically difficult times it is vital to carefully nurture important and cred-it-worthy customers and weed out economic drags on your business.During normal times, businesses are under pressure to increase thenumber of customers or suppliers and to attain them firms sometimesgive out more favourable terms. Now is a good time to carefully mon-itor accounts, re-evaluate the supplier base and re-negotiate favourableterms with some of your suppliers.

Be more responsive: You should aim at developing and trans-forming your organisation’s culture to be more responsive. The val-ues of integrity, trust and empowerment will be the main features ofthis new business environment. Leaders have to set the right tone ofthe culture of the business, hire the correct staff and empower themto perform. All the organisational systems and processes have to bealigned with the company culture and become more responsive as astrategy for this new normal situation.

Invest in your people: Organisational response and agility will onlydevelop if values are communicated correctly to your staff as they arethe ones to steer your business through these difficult times. Businessesshould invest in training people in skills and attributes that will help setup the corporate culture they are trying to build. In addition, leadershipdevelopment programmes, coaching and mentoring are also a neces-sity. Innovate and find cost-effective and impactful ways of training staff.The Novel Coronavirus has presented us with novel challenges andan uncertain business environment, the response to which has to befocussed and swift. All these strategies, if adopted in time, will makeit easier for businesses to emerge bruised but certainly alive.

(The writer is Associate Professor, Amity University, Noida)

COVID-19 has emerged as thesingle-most dangerous enemy ofhumanity in this century. Most

of the fatalities have occurred indeveloped and developing countries,including the US, Italy, Spain, France,China and Iran. Looking at the scopeand scale of emergency preparedness,the containment and mitigation mea-sures undertaken by these countries todefeat COVID-19, one immediatelybegins worrying about a lack ofresources, a severe shortage of essen-tial commodities and services, as wellas widespread human vulnerabilitiesin the countries of the “bottom billion.”There, State institutions remain weak,healthcare systems are non-existent or

dysfunctional, demographicsunchecked, coping mechanismsseverely eroded and economies stag-nating or in a state of gradual collapse.

This grim situation is furtherexacerbated by protracted and oftenimposed conflicts, which continue tobe fuelled by geopolitical tensions andrivalries in regions such as the MiddleEast and South Asia where Stateactors exploit impoverished youth bybrainwashing them ideologically andmilitarily arming them to advanceState-specific geostrategic goals.

These intertwined and ever-grow-ing vulnerabilities of the least-devel-oped and war-ravaged societies remaina cause for grave global concern, asexpressed by the United Nations (UN)Secretary-General Antonio Guterres,who urged warring parties across theworld to lay down their weapons insupport of the bigger battle againstCOVID-19. Indeed, no country needsan immediate cessation of conflict asmuch as Afghanistan. Even before theadvent of the many and sometimesoverlapping conflicts of the past fourdecades, Afghanistan had been a least

developed country with meagreresources to address its dismal socio-economic indicators and abject pover-ty. The following decades, includingthe past 19 years, have hardly beenkind to the suffering people ofAfghanistan. Last year alone saw thekilling and maiming of over 10,000civilians while “conflict-related civil-ian casualties with more than 100killed and many more injured” wererecorded in March, says the UNAssistance Mission to Afghanistan(UNAMA). On March 27, the UNSecurity Council condemned the“heinous and cowardly terrorist attackthat took place at the DharamshalaSikh Temple in Kabul” when 25 citi-zens, including children, were killedand wounded.

In addition to these attacks, theimprovised explosive devices (IEDs),planted in urban and ruralAfghanistan, indiscriminately kill andcripple citizens. This tragedy is furthercompounded by the adverse effects ofclimate change, including droughts,floods, landslides and avalanches. TheUN Office for Coordination of

Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA)says that, “More than 14,000 peoplehave been affected by floods, landslidesand avalanches in more than 12provinces across Afghanistan.” Plushumanitarian efforts have been hin-dered by attacks on aid workers.

Moreover, the destruction of crit-ical service-delivery infrastructureremains a tactic often used to furthervictimise people. Millions have beendeprived of electricity as transmissionlines, importing electricity fromUzbekistan, have been cut in northernAfghanistan where such attacks recuroften. Extended power cuts disable thefew hospitals and clinics that respondto the basic medical needs of the pop-ulation. Indeed, this is killing andmaiming Afghans by other means thandirect acts of violence, which areoften overlooked for holding toaccount those UN member-State/s thatdirectly cause or indirectly contributeto such complex humanitarian crises.

It is clear and well-documentedthat the Taliban are responsible for thefrequent and largescale civilian deathsdue to direct and indirect acts of vio-

lence and destruction of critical infra-structure. But they are not alone incommitting these war crimes. Sincetheir creation as an instrument ofexternal strategic influence in 1994, theTaliban have enjoyed safe havens, anoperational infrastructure, diplomat-ic support, as well as medical treatmentfor their wounded fighters in ourneighborhood — from where theycontinue to run a terror campaignacross Afghanistan.

At the same time, their killingmachine has enabled other regionaland transnational terrorist networks—such as the Al Qaeda and the IslamicState (IS) — to destabilise Afghanistan.In turn, this has enabled the Talibanto run a multi-billion-dollar illicit drugbusiness that has not only addictedjobless young Afghans but has also feddrug demand in the wider regionwhere millions are dying of addiction.

In the face of the rapid spread ofthe Coronavirus, the Taliban mustreconsider their efforts to maintain sta-tus quo: To keep killing Afghans anddestroying critical service-deliveryinfrastructure, whose extended dys-

function will cause further death,pain and destruction. Indeed, as theyknow all too well, this stands againstthe core teachings of Islam. This alsoviolates the basic principles of inter-national human rights and humanitar-ian laws, which uphold the right of allAfghans —including those in theTaliban-controlled areas — to unfet-tered access to COVID-19 tests andtreatment.

As of now, 784 Afghans in over 20provinces across the country have con-tracted the deadly virus and 25 peo-ple have died. These figures hardlyreflect the ground reality, consideringthat thousands of Afghans have recent-ly returned from Iran and Pakistanwhich are also battling COVID-19.Indeed, attacks on the Afghan securi-ty forces, who remain in active defenceposture; targetted suicide and IEDattacks and wartime criminality —including kidnapping and armed rob-beries — have hampered the rapidimplementation of the AfghanGovernment’s COVID strategy, includ-ing containment, mitigation and socio-economic relief and recovery mea-

sures. To avert a COVID-19 catastro-phe in Afghanistan, the Taliban mustrespond positively to calls by theinternational Ulema, the Organisationof Islamic Cooperation (OIC), theAfghan people and the internationalcommunity, to cease violence imme-diately across Afghanistan.

Cessation of violence during thisnational hour of acute need for ahumanitarian response to the globalpandemic will automatically buildconfidence on all sides, allowing therecently-announced inclusive negoti-ation team and the Taliban to beginmaking progress towards peace, whichall Afghans desire, demand anddeserve. In the eyes of the Afghan peo-ple, choosing the path to peace overcontinued bloodshed will undoubted-ly demonstrate the Taliban’s indepen-dence of any foreign influence whileestablishing their Islamic credentialsbased on the key tenets of a peaceful,tolerant, compassionate and mercifulfaith as enshrined in the Constitutionof Afghanistan.

(The writer is the Ambassador ofAfghanistan to Sri Lanka)

War against COVID must be fuelled by peaceAttacks on the Afghan security forces, who remain in active defence posture, targetted suicide and IED attacks and wartime criminality —

including kidnapping and armed robberies — have hampered the rapid implementation of the Government’s Coronavirus strategy

ASHRAF HAIDARI

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | APRIL 16, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

PNS n NEW DELHI

GP Global, a leading globalenergy-to-agriculture conglom-erate, on Wednesdayannounced the acquisition ofthe lubricants assets of GrandPetroleum in Nigeria as it looksto expand and strengthen itspresence in the African nationand the western part of the con-tinent.

Grand Petroleum is part ofthe Nigerian conglomerate TheNosak Group.

"The acquisition includesassets such as - lubricants brand- HiSpeed and a state-of-the-artblending plant with an annualcapacity of about 50,000 met-ric tonnes in Lagos, whichincludes storage tanks with acapacity of 6,000 kilolitres,"the company said in a state-ment.

The acquisition, whichincludes the distributor net-work, further strengthens GPGlobal's presence in Nigeriaand West Africa.

"Nigeria is one of the core

markets for our lubricants andbase oil business with a signif-icant opportunity now openingup to expand our presence inAfrica. We have already built astrong lubricant market share inIndia and the Middle East.

"Through local manufactur-ing and a strong distributionnetwork in Nigeria, the acqui-sition will position us one of thefastest-growing global lubri-cants and base oil businesses,"said Sudip Shyam, Global Head

- Lubricants & Base Oil, GPGlobal.

He said GP Global is fullycommitted to supporting thelocal economy and will focus onunlocking the true potential ofthe lubricants and base oilbusiness in the continentthrough this strategic acquisi-tion. It will also strengthen thebase oil market of GP Global byleveraging on the storage andability to import premium baseoils for distribution.

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | APRIL 16, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Hyundai donatesmedical equipmentto fight Corona in TN

Toyota Kirloskarhelps springmanufacturer rampup face shield

Chennai: Korean automajorHyundai Motor India onWednesday donated medicalequipment to the districtadministration ofKancheepuram to help fightagainst coronavirus pandemic.Senior executives of theHyundai Motor IndiaFoundation handed overPersonal Protective Equipmentand dry rations to districtcollector P Ponniah. The dryrations were meant fordistribution to those in need inthe district, surrounding themanufacturing facilities ofHyundai Motor India atneighbouring Sriperumbudur.Also, the company said itwould hand over 10,000 kitsof PPEs and dry rations todistrict administrations ofTiruvallur and Chennai incoming days.

New Delhi: Toyota KirloskarMotor (TKM) on Wednesdaysaid it has helped a springmanufacturing firm to ramp upproduction of face shields tohelp contain the spread of thecoronavirus pandemic. Theautomaker said it has providedits expertise to Bangalore-based Stumpp Schuele &Somappa Springs tosignificantly enhance thecapacity to manufacture theface shields for the publichealth workforce and lawenforcement agencies in thestate. Initially, Stumpp Schuelewas producing 275 units offace shields per day, but withthe support of TKM, thecompany has managed toramp up the production andhas successfully startedmanufacturing over 5,500 unitseach day. Stumpp is nowfocusing on scaling up theproduction to much beyond10,000 units per day, in thecoming days, TKM said in astatement.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Strictly adhering to precautionsto prevent any further spread ofCOVID-19 while handling cargoat India's ports, the governmenthas not issued shore passes tomore than 50,000 crew and pas-sengers, an official said onWednesday.

Maintaining smooth opera-tions across its ports and initiat-ing several steps, including waiv-ing rentals, ports have donethermal scanning of over 50,000crew and passengers postJanuary 27.

"A total of 50,902 passengershave been scanned betweenJanuary 27 and April 12 usingthermal scanners at Indian ports,

including 43,925 people scannedat major ports," a ShippingMinistry official told PTI.

The official said these crewand passengers were on board1,558 ships including 1,990 ves-sels which arrived at ports postJanuary 27.

The government has askedeach major port to ensure thatno penalties, demurrage,charges, fee, rentals are levied onany port user (traders, shippinglines, concessionaires, licenseesetc) for any delay in berthing orloading/unloading operations

or evacuation of cargo caused bythe reasons attributable to lock-down measures from March22.

The government has saideach major port shall exempt orremit demurrage, ground rentover and above the free period,penal anchorage/berth hirecharges and any other perfor-mance-related penalties thatmay be levied on port-relatedactivities including minimumperformance guarantee, wherev-

er applicable.Besides for existing and oper-

ational PPP projects, major portscan permit waiver of all penalconsequences on a case-to-casebasis along with deferment ofcertain performance obligations.

The official said that hospitalsacross the major port trustshave been supplied with person-al protective equipment (PPEs)and the arrangement of sufficientstaff round the clock has beenmade.

A total of 50,902 passengers havebeen scanned between January 27and April 12, said an official

Petrol, diesel demand to pickup as govt allows trucks to plyPNS n NEW DELHI

Petrol and diesel consumption,which saw its biggest everdecline in the aftermath of anationwide lockdown, is like-ly to pick up in the second halfof the month as the govern-ment has allowed trucks to plyas well as farmers and indus-tries in rural areas to resumeoperations after April 20.

Petrol and diesel sales hadfallen by over 66 per cent andaviation turbine fuel (ATF)consumption collapsed by 90per cent as the unprecedentednationwide lockdown shut fac-tories, stopped road and railtransportation and suspendedflights.

"The government hasallowed inter and intra-statemovement of goods traffic byroad as well as rail. Also,farming operations, as well asindustries outside municipallimits, have also been allowedto operate from April 20. Allthese will involve fuel con-sumption," a top industry offi-cial said.

Trucks are the biggest userof diesel. Diesel is also used as

fuel in the harvester and otheragri equipment. Some goodstrain also run on diesel.

All these activities, the offi-cial said, will allow dieseldemand to pick up in the lat-ter part of the month.

Also, vehicles used by e-commerce operators will beallowed to ply. These vehicleswould largely use petrol.

"There isn't much hope forATF but petrol and diesel

demand certainly will lookup if all the industries andactivities permitted by thegovernment resume opera-tions from April 20," the offi-cial said.

The government hasn't yetallowed resumption of domes-tic and international flights.

Also, road construction andresuming on work on projectsin industrial clusters has beenallowed, which too would con-

sume fuel, he said.As part of a plan to exit the

world's biggest lockdown andrevive stalled economic activ-ity, the government onWednesday allowed makersof information technologyhardware, farmers and indus-tries in rural areas to resumeoperations after April 20.

This came a day after PrimeMinister Narendra Modiextended a nationwide lock-down to May 3 to prevent thespread of coronavirus. Thelockdown was first imposed onMarch 25 for 21 days.

From April 20, the govern-ment will lift restrictions on e-commerce companies, goodsmovement by roads and restartport and air cargo operations.

Factories beyond municipallimits including those in thefood processing industry, min-ing, packaging material, oiland gas exploration andrefineries will be allowed tooperate. Road construction,irrigation projects, construc-tion work and projects inindustrial areas such as SEZand EoUs will be allowed tooperate.

Trucks are the biggest user of diesel.Diesel is also used as fuel in theharvester and other agri equipment

PNS n NEW DELHI

Transporters' body AIMTChas welcomed the revisedguidelines for enforcing thelockdown extension, saying ifimplemented properly theywill take some pressure off thesector and ensure safe returnof stranded truck drivers.

The All India MotorTransport Congress(AIMTC), the umbrella bodyof transporters that representabout 95 lakh truckers andentities, however, expressedconcerns over loss of liveli-hoods for truckers, loadersand drivers in view of lock-down extension.

Apprehending challengesin movement of stranded dri-vers in view of no publictransport in place, the truck-ers' apex body has soughtgovernment intervention inensuring safe return of drivers.

It has also demanded thatrevised guidelines by the gov-ernment concerning thetransport fraternity mustreach to authorities at districtand other lower levels for abetter clarity.

Fearing that extension of

lockdown may further wors-en the plight of about onecrore truckers, the AIMTChas already expressed appre-hensions over livelihood loss-es citing example of how aMaharashtra PSU wasrescinding work contracts andrendering hundreds of poortruckers jobless.

"The staff, drivers andlabour movement is stillunder question as no publictransport system is in placeand there is no clarity onopening of booking offices,godowns, factories and ware-houses. Unless the clarity isnot there the loaded goodscan not be unloaded or goodscannot be booked," AIMTC

National President KultaranSingh Atwal told PTI.

Welcoming the fresh guide-lines, Atwal said if imple-mented properly they willallow the movement of allgoods carriers which in turnwill ease some pressure on thesector, especially for thosewhose vehicles are loadedwith non-essential goods orare stranded elsewhere.

Fresh guidelines wereissued by the government onWednesday for enforcing thesecond phase of the coron-avirus lockdown, with theUnion home ministry barringall kinds of public transportand prohibiting opening ofpublic places till May 3.

AIMTC seeks proper implementationof revised guidelines for truckers

‘No safety compromise in cargo handling’

Sensex tumbles 310 pts;Nifty finishes below 9kPNS n MUMBAI

The Sensex dropped over 310points on Wednesday, trackinglosses in index-heavyweightsHDFC twins, RelianceIndustries and Kotak Bank, asglobal markets tanked on bleakeconomic outlook due to theCovid-19 pandemic. Aftergyrating over 1,346 points dur-ing the day, the 30-share indexended 310.21 points or 1.01 percent lower at 30,379.81. It hit anintra-day high of 31,568.36and a low of 30,222.07.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty set-tled 68.55 points, or 0.76 percent, down at 8,925.30.

Kotak Bank was the toploser in the Sensex pack, crack-ing around 6 per cent, followedby Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj

Finance, Maruti and HDFCtwins. On the other hand,HUL, HCL Tech, ITC andNestle India were among thegainers.

Despite opening on a posi-tive note, domestic stocks gaveup all gains in a highly volatilesession following negative sen-timent in global equities amidprojections of major slump ineconomic growth, traders said.

The IMF on Tuesday slashedIndia's projected GDP growthto 1.9 per cent in 2020 from 5.8per cent in January, as the glob-al economy is seen hitting theworst recession since the GreatDepression in the 1930s due tothe raging coronavirus pan-demic that has nearly stalled alleconomic activities across theworld.

Sebi bans Voltaire Leasing, 22 othersfrom mkts for fraudulent tradePNS n NEW DELHI

Regulator Sebi has barredVoltaire Leasing and FinanceLtd and 22 other entities,including former directors,from capital markets for up totwo years for indulging infraudulent trade.

The company, its ex-chair-man and managing directors-- Amlesh Sadhu and DilipPatodia, and former executivedirector Harivallabh Mundrahave been prohibited for twoyears, while the remain-ing 19 entities havebeen restrained for aperiod rangingfrom six monthsto one year, Sebisaid in an order.

The regulatorconducted aninvestigation intotrading and deal-ings in the scrip ofVoltaire Leasing &Finance Limited(VLFL) after receivinga reference from

Department of Income Tax,Chandigarh, for possible vio-lation of provisions of Sebinorms.

The Sebi probe, which wasconducted in the scrip ofVLFL for August 2014 to July2015 period, found that threeentities (off-market transfer-ors) transferred shares of thecompany through off-markettransfers to 16 connected enti-ties. Further, these 16 entitiescontributed to an increase inthe net and positive last trad-

ing price of the compa-ny's shares.Besides,

the company and itsthree former

directors werepart of thisscheme byvirtue of a con-nection betweenthe firm andone of the off-

market transfer-ors.

"All the noticeesi.e. the group of off-market transferors,

the group of sellers and thecompany and its directors incharge of its affairs at the timeof the violations, have manip-ulated the price of the scrip ofVLFL during the periodAugust 12, 2014 to July 31,2015," Sebi said in its order onMonday.

By indulging in such trades,they violated the provision ofPFUTP (Prohibition ofFraudulent and UnfairTrading Practices), it added.

In case these entities haveany open positions in anyexchange traded derivativecontracts, they can close outor square off such open posi-tions within 3 months fromthe date of order or at theexpiry of such contracts,whichever is earlier, the reg-ulator noted.

It has been clarified thatthese entities can settle thepay-in and pay-out obliga-tions in respect of transac-tions, if any, which have takenplace before the close of April13, this year, it added.

Food servicesector to beseverelyimpactedPNS n NEW DELHI

Food services firm Elior Indiaon Wednesday said the foodservice sector is expecting upto 70 per cent drop in revenuewhich will have a cascadingeffect on various other thingsamid lockdown extension.

"The food service sectoressentially faces the samechallenges as the hospitalitysector and even somewhatlike the aviation sector. Beinga USD 7 billion industry inIndia, it is going to see themost severe impact imagin-able," Elior India CEO andMD Sanjay Kumar told PTI.

The sector expects a rev-enue drop of not less than 60to 70 per cent, which is goingto leave a cascading impacton a host of different things,he added.

Businesses will not be ableto afford such large wage bills,he added.

CadilaHealthcare getsnod to marketgeneric BP drugPNS n NEW DELHI

Cadila Healthcare onWednesday said its subsidiaryhas received approval from theUS health regulator to marketMacitentan tablets, used totreat high blood pressure, in theAmerican market.

Zydus Worldwide DMCC, awholly owned subsidiary of thecompany, has received tentativeapproval from the US Food andDrug Administration (USFDA)to market Macitentan tablets,Cadila Healtcare said in a state-ment. The tablets are indicatedfor treatment of pulmonaryarterial hypertension and will bemanufactured at Vapi-basedCMO Umedica Laboratories, itadded. The Zydus Cadila groupnow has 287 approvals and hasso far filed over 386 abbreviat-ed new drug applications sincethe commencement of the fil-ing process in 2003-04, thecompany said.

Mondelez India to donate 71tonnes of biscuits, chocolatePNS n NEW DELHI

Mondelez India Foods PvtLtd, manufacturer of Cadburychocolates, on Wednesdaycommitted to donate 71 tonnesof biscuits and chocolates fordistribution in 12 major citiesin the country amid the coro-navirus pandemic.

The company has decided tocontribute 3,60,000 units ofbiscuits and 23 lakh units ofchocolate to IndiaFoodBanking Network, of theFood Security FoundationIndia, in 12 major cities in thecountry, it said.

"Mondelez India commits todonate 71 tonnes of biscuitsand chocolates as the first steptowards extending support tocommunities during theCOVID-19 crisis," the compa-ny said in a statement.

Since food security hasbecome a major concern in thecurrent COVID-19 situation,this association will aid in

strengthening various feed-ing programmes through thecompany's products which areeasy to share and consume.

Mondelez India also saidabout 1 lakh meals were pro-vided by employees through acompany association withAkshaya Patra Foundationand will continue to do sothrough the month of April2020.

The company has alsodonated 1 lakh masks andabout 225 litres of sanitisers inMumbai to support the front-line members, including hos-pital staff and the police.

GP Global acquires lubricantsassets of Grand Petroleum

Aviation stocks tumbleup to 6.5 per centPNSnNEW DELHI

Airline stocks on Wednesdaytumbled up to 6.5 per cent afterthe government extended thelockdown to May 3 leading tothe subsequent suspension of allcommercial passenger servicestill then.

InterGlobe Aviation sharesplunged 6.55 per cent to Rs998.25 on the BSE. SpiceJet alsodeclined 4.92 per cent to Rs46.30 -- its lower circuit.

India had imposed a 21-daylockdown from March 25 tocurb the spread of the coron-avirus pandemic. Consequently,all domestic and internationalcommercial passenger flightswere suspended for this timeperiod. After the announce-ment of extension of lockdown

till May 3, aviation regulatorDGCA issued a circular statingall international as well asdomestic flights will remainsuspended during the lock-down. Within hours of the gov-ernment extending lockdown toMay 3, budget carrier IndiGosaid it will resume flight servicesin a phased manner from May4. Announcing that all its flightsare cancelled till May 3, IndiGosaid it is in the process of can-celling the reservations.

"Your ticket amount is pro-tected in the form of credit shellin the PNR, which can beutilised within one year of theissued date."

Gurugram-based SpiceJetalso said the amount from thecancelled ticket will be main-tained in a credit shell.

Vikram Solar bags 300MW project worth Rs1,750 cr from NTPCPNSnNEW DELHI

Clean energy solutionsprovider Vikram Solar onWednesday said it has beenawarded a 300 MW projectworth Rs 1,750 crore fromNTPC.

The project was secured bythe company in a reverse bid-ding auction, and the solarplant will be spread across1,500 acres of land inRajasthan. The project isexpected to be complete in 18months, a statement by VikramSolar said.

“Vikram Solar has had along standing business relationwith NTPC. Previously, wehave executed 50 MW solarplant project in Mandsaur,Madhya Pradesh and 130 MW

solar project in Bhadla,Rajasthan for NTPC," saidVenkat Muvvala, Head of EPCand O&M, Vikram Solar.

Vikram Solar is a leadingsolar energy solutions provider,specializing in efficient PVmodule manufacturing andcomprehensive EPC solutions.

Its annual PV module pro-duction capacity stands at 1.2GW. The company's productscomply with the internationalstandards of quality, reliabili-ty and performance, the state-ment said.

Rupee slides17 paise to hitall-time low of 76.44 PNSnMUMBAI

The Indian rupee pared earlygains and settled for the day 17paise lower at an all-time lowof 76.44 (provisional) againstthe US dollar on Wednesday,tracking weak domestic equi-ties and strengthening of theAmerican currency overseas.

Forex traders said firm USdollar index weighed on thelocal unit. Besides, investorsentiments remain fragileamid concerns over the impactof coronavirus outbreak on thedomestic as well as globaleconomy. At the interbankforeign exchange, the rupeeopened strong at 76.07, butsoon lost ground and finallysettled at 76.44, registering afall of 17 paise over its previ-ous close.

stablished in 1981,MadhuranagarColony WelfareAssociation wasnamed by the thenCLP leader late P

Janardhan Reddy. It isformed with just 33 smallprivate layouts with nearly1,050 plots and now hasabout 35,000 residents.

The Association was thefirst to introduce garbage col-lection rickshaws in the twincities — the rickshaws werelater replaced with auto trol-leys. The Welfare Associationcollects nominal garbage ser-vice charges from eachhousehold to pay the autotrolley drivers their salaries.Madhuranagar Colony is alsothe first colony in the twincities to be designated a dust-bin-free colony.

Speaking to The Pioneer,Kode Sambasiva Rao,General Secretary of theAssociation, says, “Sincemany years, we are conduct-ing various activities includ-ing charitable programmes,cultural programmes, med-ical camps, games, sports andtournaments. All our mem-bers actively participate inour social activities to showunity. Our colony was thefirst in Hyderabad to intro-duce self assessment of prop-erty for tax payment. At pre-sent, our residents pay nearlyRs 5 crore as property taxevery year.”

The Association has con-structed three buildings toconduct its social and com-munity service activities,including MadhuranagarWelfare Office, Sri Sagi RamaKrishnam Raju CommunityHall and SN Raju IndoorStadium and Gym.

Sambasiva Rao says, “Theindoor stadium has a well-equipped gym that men andwomen can utilise separatelyand the two wooden floorbadminton courts are alsomaintained by the MWA.

We also conduct state-leveland district-level badmintontournaments with the sup-port of HyderabadBadminton Association twicein a year. We have a librarywith free access for the resi-dents of the colony and alsofor the residents of neigh-bouring colony in the firstfloor of the welfare officebuilding to help them toinculcate reading habits.”

The Association has con-structed a hall for senior citi-zens that has been designedkeeping in mind the conve-nience of the elderly.

Sambasiva Rao says, “It isimportant to provide a spe-cial place for our senior citi-zens. We have also set up aspecial Mahila Vibhagam toinvolve women in variousactivities and to empowerthem. Apart from otheractivities, we regularly con-duct yoga classes for our resi-dents at our SRK RajuCommunity Hall in theevenings. More than 200people are using these ser-vices. We believe that yogahelps people lead a happy,healthy and peaceful life.”

Sambasiva Rao informedthat the Association organis-es various cultural activitieslike staging plays, danceevents and others in thecolony premises regularly.

He says, “We give top priority to the health of our residents and conduct medical camps free of costwith doctors from reputedhospitals with the coopera-tion of Lions Club wings.Health is important for

everyone and we are trying tohelp our residents by organi-sation lectures on varioushealth issues and conductingregular health camps.”

Not only helping their resi-dents in maintaining goodhealth, the colony membersare also helping the GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation by giving themrequired place to conducttheir meetings for pro-grammes like Mukha Mukhi,Haritha Haaram and more.

About social activities forneedy people, Sambasiva Rao says, “We have intro-duced Sri Alluri SitaramaRaju Akshara Jyothi schemeto provide financial assis-tance to the poor studentswho are studying in govern-ment schools aroundMadhuranagar Colony tohelp them. Under thescheme, more than 100 stu-dents benefit every year inthe form of scholarships.Along with helping students,we also distribute clothes,food items and books to theneedy and also perform mar-riages for orphan girls.”

Now, with the world fight-ing to contain theCoronavirus, the questionnaturally was about the pre-cautions being taken by theAssociation to stop its spreadin the colony. Sambasiva Raosaid:"We are sprayingSodiumhypochloride withbleaching powder to preventthe virus spread in colony.We are distributing mealspackets and fruits to theGHMC sweeping staff andpolice personnel.”

Follow us on@TheDailyPioneerfacebook.com/dailypioneer

ThursdayApril 16, 2020

Madhuranagar Colony Welfare Association has many firsts to its name,including introducing garbage collection at home, self assessment ofproperties for taxation and others. Members of the Association are at

the forefront of social service and helping out the needy whilemaintaining unity and camaraderie, writes V SATEESH REDDY

Madhuranagar

E

A COLONY OF MANY FIRSTS THE ASSOCIATION CONSTRUCTED

THREE BUILDINGS TO CONDUCTITS SOCIAL AND COMMUNITYSERVICE ACTIVITIES, INCLUDINGA WELFARE OFFICE,COMMUNITY HALL AND ANINDOOR STADIUM AND GYM

t is said that childrenare the greatestresource/asset of anycountry. Ridhi, 11,from Hyderabad isthe perfect example

of this. She has managed to raisenearly Rs 9.4 lakh through herinitiative, ‘Care-ona’, which aimsto help underprivileged familiesaffected by the 21-day lockdown.

After watching the news, the6th grader saw that there weremany who were struggling tomake ends meet. This spurredher into action and sheinformed her parents that shewanted to help such people.Thus, Care-ona was born.

Speaking to The Pioneer,Ridhi’s mother, Shilpa Vangapally,said, “She initially came to us andtold she wanted to help. We askedher to pen down what she wantedto donate and why. She thenpenned a heartfelt note and gaveus a list and used her pocketmoney to buy the items. Later,she started sourcing funds fromour relatives by talking to themand sharing her letter across allour family groups.”

When her parents went to dis-tribute kits to the underprivi-leged for the first time, therewere some people who stood inthe queue but, unfortunately,couldn’t avail the kits.

“When we came back, Ridhi

was curious and asked us how itwent and what was the reactionof the people who took the kits.When we told her that therewere a few people who couldn’tget the kits, she was very upset,”adds Shilpa. They thenapproached Milaap.org to reachout to more people.

NGO TEA Cares Foundationalso came forward to help herraise funds, procure suppliesand help package the items.Cyberabad police helped Ridhiidentify the most vulnerable

people who did not even haveration cards. So far they havebeen able to raise Rs 9.4 lakh.Over the last week, they havedistributed 526 kits and areplanning to distribute the kits toanother 800 people.

The 11-year-old is also ayouth member of TEA CaresFoundation. Ridhi’s letter high-lights how a single thoughtabout these families made herinconveniences seem smallwhile helping these people.

She first planned to distribute

ration kits to 200 families fromher own pocket money. But,when she ran out of money, shepenned down the heart-warm-ing letter to gather support fromher friends and family. Theappeal and Ridhi’s initiative havebeen a huge hit!

The kits have been distributedso far to people of NadigadaTanda of Miyapur and ChandaNaik Thanda in Madhapur. Eachkit consists of 5 kg rice, 1 kglentils, 200 gms chilli powder, 1litre cooking oil, 2 soap bars.

Coronavirus hasbrought the worldto its knees and issomething peopleare determined tofight these days.

So it doesn't comeas a surprise when

one hears thatdonations were

received towardsfighting thepandemic.

However, when akid comes forward

and helps, it isheart-warming andencourages othersto fight with equal

vigour, finds K RAMYA SREE

IA letter to win them all

Ridhi initially came to usand told she wanted tohelp. We asked her topen down what shewanted to donate andwhy. She then penned aheartfelt note and gaveus a list and used herpocket money to buy theitems.

SHILPA VANGAPALLY

POOJA HEGDE

Pooja Hegde is making themost of her time in quaran-tine by taking up cooking.After cooking gajar ka halwaa week ago, the actress hasnow tried her hands at pizzaand by the looks of it; sheseems to have aced it. “Pizzasin my Pj’s. As a kid my momused to make my brother andI these simple pizzas and thatused to be a very specialoccasion in the Hegde house-hold... glad I could make itfor my mom today...here’s apicture of me hogging myown creation (sic),” theactress, who was recentlyseen in AlaVaikunthapuramlo, wrote onher Instagram page goingdown the memory lane.

KAJAL AGARWALThe South star has turned

into quite an expert chef dur-ing the lockdown quarantine.The actress recently showedoff her skills at baking a car-rot cake, and whipping upthe perfect Punjabi khastasamosa.

TAMANNAAH BHATIATamannah also tried her

hand at cooking recently, andshared a picture onInstagram in which she isseen whisking a batter tomake pancakes with toppingsplaced around the counter.

RITU VARMAActress Ritu Varma is

doing household chores,

looking after her parents andcooking. She tells us that shehas been cooking since a longtime. “I can whip up prettymuch anything. Cooking hasalways been a stress buster tome. Besides Indian food, Ican make pasta, grilled fishand grilled chicken. I reallyenjoy putting up an apronand cooking,” she informs.

NIHARIKA KONIDELANiharika is being very

active on social media plat-forms every since the lock-down was announced. Frompizza to pasta to deliciouscakes, she has been cookingpretty much everything andmaking the most of this lock-down.

NAVEEN CHANDRANaveen Chandra was busy

whipping up thotakura pappu(toor dal with amaranthleaves) when we reached outto him on phone to knowwhat he was up to during thelockdown. Politely excusingus for another 30 minutes tocomplete the recipe, he gotback to us, saying that heeven cooked bitter guardcurry in the interim. So,what’s he up to? “As soon asthe lockdown wasannounced, I’ve cleaned myhouse twice. You have tohave a lot of patience to cleanevery nook and corner of thehouse,” he tells us.

NANIThis time, Nani too tried

his hand at cooking, the actor

recently shared a video onInstagram where he was bak-ing a cake. The actor hastried to bake the cake for hisdad’s birthday. He captionedthe video, “Dad’s birthday,tried baking a cake.”

NIDHHI AGERWALApart from spending qual-

ity time with her pet, Nidhhihas tried her hand at cook-ing. Sharing a series ofimages on Intagram whereshe was seen baking a cake,the actress wrote, “Baked acake for the first time.” Shealso listed some tips whilebaking.

DULQUER SALMANThe actor who won every-

one’s heart after playingGemini Ganeshan inMahanati and is betterknown for the kind of roleshe choose has also took tocooking during the lock-

down. Dulquer shared animage on Instagram where hewas seen cooking somehealthy food.

NAGA SHAURYALockdown is helping many

people to learn many things.One of those is cooking.Recently, actor Naga Shaurya,who was last seen inAswathama, was seen helpinghis mom in making mangopickle.

KANGANA RANAUTKangana is also using her

free time to bake, and madesome delicious cupcakesrecently. Her moments in thekitchen were posted onInstagram by Kangana'sInstagram handle 'TeamKangana Ranaut'.

KRITI SANONKriti is using all the free

time during the lockdown tobrush up her cooking skills.She showed the proof by post-ing pictures of chia puddingand quinoa oats banana cake.

ALIA BHATTAlia Bhatt seems to have

developed a culinary knackto pass her lockdown hours.Recently, the actress baked agrain free paleo bananabread, and was again cap-tured in casual pajamas mak-ing pudding for her sisterShaheen.

10

Hyderabad Thursday April 16 2020 what’s brewing

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

rom whipping outdelicious treats todocumenting their kitchen

struggles, cinema stars arechanneling their inner chefs andtaking up cooking to keepthemselves busy in thelockdown period. — PNS

Here's a low-downon what's cookingin their lives:

F T-town’s KITCHEN

capers

ctress SobhitaDhulipala wants tocontinue her jour-ney as a risk-takerand does not wantto live a predictable

life.“I am committed to taking

risk in career and in life. Whatscares me is what if Ilose out on theconfidence totake new chal-lenges.Hopefully,thatneverhap-pens. Ido notwant to

live a pre-dictable life.Perhapsthat iswhy

change does not worry me,stagnancy does. Every changethat is happening now is teach-ing us something. For us actors,vanity, popularity, beauty — allthese things at times hold usback to take risks. That’s theonly thing I do not want. I donot want vanity to take awaymy enthusiasm to take risk andthat joy of acting, the joy of

performing!” Sobhita said.Starting her Bollywood

career with AnuragKashyap’s Raman Raghav2.0, she has acted in filmssuch as Kaalakaandi,Goodachari, and

Moothon. On OTT plat-forms, she has been seen

in the shows Made InHeaven and Bard Of Blood

and the digital film, GhostStories.

Recalling her first-everaudition, she said, “That wasmy first audition and I

bagged the role. That wasthe moment I realise that

I actually love acting!This is my true call-

ing! I did not knowit before.Otherwise, Iwould have direct-

ly looked for suchan opportunityinstead of partici-pating in beautypageants and mod-elling. I always hada love for story-

telling, it is asacred thingto me. But Ithink all is apart of myjourneyand Ilearnt a lot

about make-up, camera andmany thingsduring my mod-

elling days.”

egastar Chiranjeeviis pleased with themembers ofCorona CrisisCharity distribut-ing groceries to

1,000 daily wage employees ofthe industry on Tuesday.Raving their efforts, Chirusaid, “Regardless of how muchwe donate, our help shouldreach the disadvantaged andyou members did the needfullike soldiers. The whole indus-try was shocked to see us dis-

tributing to1,000 peopleon a singleday andthey appre-ciated yourefforts.EvenAmitabhBachchanspoke to mepersonally andlauded your efforts. Icongratulate Meher Baba trustvolunteers and Srinivas for

their toil in this hotsun. I also express

my happinesswith the effortsofThammareddyBharadwaj, NShankar and

Meher Ramesh.”Staying with the

industry’s aid,Srikanth organised

lunch to 500 poor people atYousufguda, Hyderabad onWednesday. Srimitra

Chowdary and city policeforce also distributed the foodpackets. Likewise, leading pro-ducer Dil Raju distributedsanitizers and masks to theemployees of GHMC at theGHMC office in Hyderabadon Wednesday. Expressing hishappiness on Raju’s gesture,City Mayor BonthuRammohan tweeted,“Appreciate @SVC_officialProducer Dil Raju garu for hisconcern for our sanitationforce who has come forward

to sponsor sanitizersand protective facemasks. Distributedfew along with@PDUCD_GHMC.Happy that he’s ready toarrange more if needed.@KTRTRS @arvind-kumar_ias (sic).”

agapathi Babu, who is one ofthe busiest supporting actorsin the industry right now, isutilizing the lockdown time tointrospect his work. “I barelywatch my films but now with

ample time by my side, I’vebeen watching my recent per-formances and analyzingthem. I’m generally a moodyperson and I need to bebrought into a certain zoneto get the right perfor-mance. I watched AravindaSametha Veera Raghavaand could spot not giving100 per cent to some shots.I later realised that it hadsomething to do with mymood that day. Moving for-ward, I don’t want to be amoody person,” the actorsaid in a video posted onhis YouTube Channel.

On the work front, theactor has interesting

line-up of films for theremainder of the year. He

has agreed to be a part ofVarun Tej’s boxing drama, AlluArjun-starrer Pushpa, Sriram

Adittya’s next with Ashok Gallaand Naga Shaurya’s next with

Subrahmanyapuram directorSanthossh Jagarlapudi.

fter shooting theIndian leg ofPalana AbbaiPalana Ammai(Papa), starringNaga Shaurya

and Malavika Nair, lastyear itself, actor-filmmakerAvasarala Srinivas madeplans to proceed with thenext leg of filming in theUS this summer. But withthe lockdown here and

travel restrictions to US,his schedule plan hasbeen thwarted. Thefact that the US is alsoregistering a signifi-

cant surge in the num-ber of coronaviruspatients daily, the direc-

tor is planning to shiftthe setting.

“The film is on pausemode right now. Wewere supposed to

visit the US embassy lastmonth for interviews but itwas shut on March 15.Once the current uncer-tainty is over, we will take acall on whether to shift thesetting to UK or someother country. I under-stand UK is also affectedby Covid-19 but it’s not sosevere to that of the US.Irrespective of a dip in thenumber of Coronoviruscases moving forward, I’malso sure that travel restric-tions will continue forsome more time,”Avasarala tells exclusively.

Before shifting attentionto Papa, an intense lovestory which has beeninspired from the lives ofhis friends, Avasaralawants to wrap up his actinggig Nootokka JillalaAndagaadu, which he had

written.Produced jointlyby SriVenkateswaraCreations andFirst FrameEntertainments,the film marksthe directorialdebut ofRachakondaVidyasagar, whoearlier assistedAvasarala for JoAchyutanananda.“Except for aweek’s shoot, thefilm’s shoot is over.Plus, I’m using thefree time to penscript for my nextdirectorial. I wantto be ready withanother story by thetime I wrap up Papa,”he signs off.

11

Hyderabad Thursday April 16 2020

A

AVASARALACONSIDERINGREPLACINGUS WITH UK

The fact thatthe US is also

registering asignificant

surge in thenumber of

Coronaviruspatients daily,the director is

planning toshift the

setting of thefilm starring

NagaShaurya,

findsNAGARAJ

GOUD

ictory Venkatesh hasappealed to pet ownersnot to abandon theirpets, insisting that ani-mals don’t spread coro-navirus. In a fervent

plea, the actor, an animal lover,reminded everyone that these aretough times not just forhumankind but all living beings.“It is heartbreaking to read reportsof people abandoning their petswith the fear that they spread thecontagion. There have been morethan enough reports publishedthat prove this myth wrong,” heposted on Twitter.

The actor, who will be next seenin Naarappa, added, “Let us notresort to losing our humanity inthis process. Shower love on ouranimal companions as well! They

must be having aball of a time withour constant pres-

ence at home duringthis lockdown.”

Vith nationwidelockdown in thewake of coron-avirus, Varun Tej ismaking use of thefree time to mix

business with pleasure.Besides prepping with hisboxing trainer for his nextwith Kiran Korrapati andtaking guitar lessonsonline, the actor is alsoconsuming a lot of showson OTT platforms.

“Dark and ozark! (Sic),”the actor told a fan whoasked him about the shows

he completed duringthe lockdown.

The actor, aBreakingBad fan,partici-pated ina

#AskVarun session withfans on Tuesday evening.

Replying to a questionon the best purchase hemade recently, the actorwrote, “Got a snooker tablein my house! Feels superworthy specially duringthis lockdown! (Sic).”

On whether he is inter-ested to take up horse rid-ing lessons, he quipped, “Idid practice for a whilewith charan anna! Fell off ahorse and never got backonto it till date..(sic).”

When a fan asked hisbusiness card so that hecan send his scripts, Varunstated: “I’ve been wantingto create a email id for this!Will put it up in my bio ina few days! (sic).”

He also had a piece ofadvice for his fans duringthe current period. “Stayput! We usually don’t get

this time in our busyschedules!! Utilise it

for the good!Spend loads of

time with yourloved ones at

home! (sic).”

Varun balanceswork and play

W

Jagapathiuses time toreflect onhis work

J

MBig B lauds CCC; Srikanth extends helping hand

Sobhita Dhulipala: I am committed totaking risk in career

A

VENKYurgespeoplenot toabandontheir pets

tollywood

sport 12HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | APRIL 16, 2020

PARIS: The Tour de France willbe raced from August 29 toSeptember 20, organisersannounced on Wednesday,postponing cycling’s flagshipevent originally slated to start onJune 27 due to the coronaviruslockdown.

The news comes as a reliefto professional cycling teamsand fans with four-times Tourwinner Chris Froome welcom-ing ‘light at the end of the tun-nel’ for those suffering underCOVID-19 lockdown.

The decision moves thethree-week race out of its tra-ditional slot in the summer hol-idays where roadside crowds ofaround 12 million would be

expected to gather in festivespirit.

It will now finish on thesame day the postponed FrenchOpen championships starts,September 20, giving a worry-ing indication of a potentialautumn fixture pile-up as more

sports seek to reschedule sus-pended events.

Tour director ChristianPrudhomme said the new startwas based on a double rationale.

“We wanted to be as faraway from the pandemic aspossible,” he said.

“The president put a July 14date on public gatherings, butit seemed more reasonable to usto allow the riders time to getinto peak condition.”

While the dates havechanged the original routeremains intact, starting in Niceand finishing in Paris.

“The Tour is still the Tour.All the challenges we set remainintact,” he said of the hotlyanticipated climb-laden routethat rarely strays far from themountains.

The new date solves a seriesof problems after organisersfaced up to the reality that therace could never take place onthe original dates. AFP

AFP n BERLIN

Leroy Sane’s new agent says the ManchesterCity winger is still in the running for a trans-

fer to Bayern Munich, after a potential switchwas put on hold due to a serious knee injury.

“FC Bayern is the only club in Germany thatLeroy can see as the next step in his career,” Sane’sagent Damir Smoljan told magazine Sport Bildon Wednesday.

“He believes the conditions are right therefor him to achieve his ultimate goal: winning the

Champions League.”The 24-year-old Sane is viewed as

one of Germany’s brightest talents andhas scored five goals in 21 appearancesfor his country. He won the PremierLeague title with City in 2017/18 and2018/19.

Bayern want Sane after wingersArjen Robben and Franck Riberyboth retired at the end of last sea-

son.“The interest of FC Bayern

is no secret, but other verybig European teams have

already contacted usabout Leroy,” Smoljan

added, with Barcelona and RealMadrid also said to be interested.

PTI n KARACHI

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman EhsanMani has asserted that the PCB will not

agree to cancelling the Asia Cup, scheduledin the UAE in September, to make room forthe Indian Premier League, which has beenpostponed due to the COVID-19 pandem-ic.

The IPL was to be held from March 29to May 24 but has been postponed indefi-nitely because of a extended lockdown.

“I have read and heard about these spec-ulations but right now just remember thathaving or not having the Asia Cup is not adecision between Pakistan and India itinvolves other countries as well,” assertedMani on Tuesday.

Pakistan were to host the event but itwas shifted to Dubai and Abu Dhabi afterIndia expressed reluctance to visit Pakistanowing to security concerns and the straineddiplomatic ties between the two countries.

“...It is important to have the Asia Cupif cricket activities resume by then becausedevelopment of Asian cricket depends onfunding from the tournament. It is impor-tant for many countries who are membersof the Asian Cricket Council,” he added ina podcast released by the PCB.

However, he also conceded that hold-ing the Asia Cup this year is a big challengebecause right now “we don’t know if it canbe held or not.”

“But if the conditions change and wecan have the Asia Cup, it must be held asearnings from it are distributed as develop-ment funds to member countries for nexttwo years,” he said.

He said reports about the Asia Cupbeing hosted by Bangladesh or UAE weremere speculation at this stage.

NEW DELHI: England batsman JosButtler was effusive in his praise forRohit Sharma, describing the Indiaopener as an awesome player,who can ‘effortlessly’ take downany opposition by scoring bighundreds.

“Rohit Sharma I think is anawesome player,” Buttler said dur-ing an Instagram Live session onRajasthan Royals page. “Effortless.Quite a lot of Indian players havethat awesome style.

“He has been fantastic for along time and I just like the wayhe bats and the effortless nature inwhich he takes people down.”

Rohit is currently regarded asone of the greatest ODI players,ranked only behind India skipperVirat Kohli at the top of the ICCrankings. The Mumbaikar is theonly batsman to have scored threedouble hundreds in the format.

The 32-year-old had equalledSachin Tendulkar’s record formost centuries in World Cupmatches when he scored five hun-dreds at the 2019 World Cup toend up as the highest-scorer with648 runs.

“One of the things I have seen

with Rohit is that if he gets in, hescores big runs and really affectsthe game. He must have scored 4-5 hundreds in the World Cup lastyear,” said Buttler, who had sharedthe dressing room with Rohit atMumbai Indians in the 2016 and2017 seasons.

Buttler feels the Indian play-ers now have become better innegotiating short balls.

“I think a few years ago peo-ple used to attack Indian playerswith the short ball but Rohitsmashes them. Then you go fullerand he smashes them right downthe ground.” PTI

PTI n LONDON

The great Michael Holdinghas picked South African

Dale Steyn among his top-fourfast bowlers across generationsand his list includes fellow WestIndians Malcolm Marshall andAndy Roberts besides AustralianDenis Lillee.

In a Sky Sports podcast, the66-year-old said he would pay towatch Steyn, who retired fromTests last year.

“I have experience withthose three guys (Marshall,Roberts and Lillee, but justwatching, you can’t go DaleSteyn outside of photography.He has been one of the great fastbowlers in an era. You’d pay tosee it,” said Holding, who picked249 wickets in 60 Tests at 23.68.

Steyn picked 439 Test wick-ets at a stellar average of 22.95and has one of the smoothestactions in the game.

Talking about Lillee,Holding said he was a completepackage.

“Lillee had it all: rhythm,aggression control. He was

extremely fast when he started,but he had to completely reshapehis action after a back injury andfind different ways to get hittersout after losing a lot of rhythm.

“When you see that some-one can adapt in that way, youhave to rate him highly, as manyplayers are not as effective when

they miss a beat,” said Holding,who was nicknamed WhisperingDeath for his smooth and silentrun-up.

On fellow West IndiansMarshall and Roberts, Holdingsaid: “Malcolm started with agood rhythm, but as time wenton he learned a lot about fastbowling. He could evaluateopposition hitters so quickly andso easily.

“In those days you didn’thave many tapes or computers,it was all in his head. He under-stood how to deal with hitters.”

On Roberts, he added:“Andy was someone I learned alot from. He hardly ever spoke,he used to walk around the fieldwith a sullen face and peoplethought he looked aggressive

and must be a miserable guy.But that wasn’t Andy.

“He was my roommate formost of my career and we used

to talk about cricket almostevery night. A lot of times, wewould order food, we would stayin our room and talk aboutcricket. You would never believehow much this guy knows.”

AFP n LONDON

England all-rounder SamCurran on Tuesday said he

still hoped to play under Indiagreat MS Dhoni in the IndianPremier League — and get oneover older brother Tom —despite the coronavirus pan-demic.

The 21-year old was themost expensive England play-er in November’s initial IPLauction, being sold to theChennai Super Kings, cap-tained by Dhoni, for £590,000after a succesful 2019 stint withthe Kings XI Punjab.

Meanwhile the 25-year-old Tom, also of Surrey andEngland, was signed by theRajasthan Royals.

This year’s IPL was meantto start on March 29 beforebeing delayed due to Indiangovernment lockdown andnow with it extended to May3, there is no certainty aboutwhen, or indeed if, the 2020edition will take place.

“No-one knows,” SamCurran told reporters in aconference call with Tom onTuesday.

“It (the IPL) might happenthis year, it might be cancelled,but we have to follow the gov-ernment guidelines.”

Chennai are one of theIPL’s most successful teams,having won the tournamentthree times.

“I was very excited to

move franchises,” said Sam.“Chennai is a great franchisewith all the big names and Ican’t wait to play under MSDhoni.

“Hopefully I will playagainst Tom, hit him every-

where and then hit his stumps.“Dhoni exudes calm,”

added Sam, who said onlyVirat Kohli, Dhoni’s successoras India captain, could rivalhim in terms of superstar sta-tus in cricket crazy India.

“Chennai is quite an oldersquad so there are quite a fewlegends who have made it inthe game,” said Sam.

“Hopefully they will belooking to give tips to theyounger players, so that’s

something I’m really lookingforward to.”

Sam had been preparingfor a ‘massive’ three-monthstint in Asia after being select-ed for England’s tour of SriLanka, which was abandonedbefore the start of the Testseries.

Tom insisted, however,the lack of cricket was “noth-ing in the grand scheme ofthings” even though it was a“shock to the system”.

‘HUGE TTEST AAMBITIONS’The England all-rounder

Tom hasn’t played red-ballcricket in over a year but sayshe has huge Test ambitions andis developing his skills to makea comeback.

“I’ve definitely got hugeTest ambitions still.

“It’s a tough one becauseI’ve been playing so muchwhite-ball over the last fewyears. Without playingChampionship cricket it ishard,” said the 25-year-old.

Tom, who has played twoTests for England — both inthe 2017-18 Ashes in Australia,hopes to feature in a five-daygame alongside Sam.

“Over the last couple ofyears there was a huge focus onwhite-ball cricket with theICC Men’s Cricket World Cup2019 and rightly so,” he said.

“Now it’s trying to getthat balance between whiteand red-ball cricket and devel-

oping my skills and awaitingmy chance. I’ll keep traininghard and try to take mychances when I can. It wouldbe amazing to play Tests withSam. That’s definitely a hugeambition of ours.”

Sam added: “As Tom said,it’s a dream. Any game youplay for England is obviouslya great privilege but I thinkplaying with your brother or amember of your family givesit that extra special feeling.”

PTI nMUMBAI

Former India batsman VVSLaxman took a jibe at Michael

Clarke for his recent claims thatAustralian cricketers “sucked up”to India captain Virat Kohli forprotecting their IPL contracts,saying just being nice to someonedoesn’t guarantee a spot in thecash-rich tournament.

“Just by being nice to someonedoesn’t get you a place in IPL,”Laxman, who also mentors IPLteam Sunrisers Hyderabad toldStar Sports on its show CricketConnected.

“Any franchise will look at theplayer’s caliber and value add to theteam, which gives them desiredresults by winning matches/tour-naments. These are the kind ofplayers who get IPL contracts. Sojust being nice to someone will notearn you a spot in the IPL.”

Laxman said as a mentorwhen he is on the auction table,those players are looked at who doexceptionally well for their coun-

try.“If you’re friendly with any

Indian player it doesn’t mean thatyou are getting IPL contract. As amentor, I’m on the auction tableand we select players, those inter-national players that have playedexceptionally well for their coun-try and can add value to the fran-chise.

“Friendship with any Indianplayer doesn’t ensure entry into theIPL,” Laxman, who amassed 8,781

Test runs, said without mincingany words.

Former India openerKrishnamachari Srikkanth alsoshot back at Clarke, terming hiscomments as ‘ridiculous’.

Srikkanth, who was part of the1983 World Cup winning Indianteam, said matches are not won bysledging.

“You do not win matches justby sledging. Aussie’s loss is a loss,his statement was ridiculous Iwould say,” said 60-year-oldSrikkanth.

Srikkanth, himself an aggres-sive player, said that sledging can-not help in any way.

“If you ask Nasser Hussain orSir Vivian Richards who are expe-rienced players, you can neverscore runs or get wickets throughsledging. You need to play goodcricket and showcase determina-tion; you need to bowl well to getwickets and bat well to achieve tar-gets. Sledging cannot help in anyway according to my opinion,” hesaid.

PTI n DUBAI

India on Wednesday sealed their qualifi-cation for the 2021 Women’s World Cup

following the cancellation of their ODIChampionship round against Pakistan withthe BCCI not getting government clearanceto play the arch-rivals.

The India-Pakistan round was scheduledto take place between July and November lastyear but was always subject to governmentclearance. Both teams will share points forthe cancelled three-match series.

“With respect to the India v Pakistanseries, the TC concluded that the series couldnot be played because of a Force Majeureevent after the BCCI demonstrated that itwas unable to obtain the necessary govern-ment clearances to allow India to participatein the bilateral series against Pakistan,which forms a part of the ICC Women’sChampionship,” said the ICC in a statement.

“The India-Pakistan series was origi-nally scheduled in the sixth round of thecompetition, between July and November2019, but despite the best efforts of boththe boards, it was unable to take place,” itsaid.

The development also means thatIndia, who finished runners-up in the 2017edition, have secured their berth for the2021 World Cup in New Zealand.

All eight teams in the 2017-2020 editionof the ICC Women’s Championship playeach other in a three-match series. HostsNew Zealand and the next four highest-placed teams on the points table qualifydirectly for one-day international cricket’sshowpiece.

“Australia (37 points), England (29),South Africa (25) and now India (23) havequalified by virtue of being the top four.Pakistan (19), New Zealand (17), West Indies(13) and Sri Lanka (5) complete the table,”the statement added.

PTI nMELBOURNE

Former Australian spinner Brad Hoggfeels his country should go all out to

ensure that the T20 World Cup is held asscheduled this year even if it means bring-ing in teams a month in advance in char-tered flights and testing all participatingplayers for COVID-19.

Hogg said he is against the idea of a can-cellation or postponement, and the organ-isers will have to take some proactive deci-sions to ensure the event’s smooth conduct.

“There is a lot of talk that the T20World Cup in Australia could be cancelledor rescheduled to a later date. I don’t likethat...But there are a few issues whichwe got to address,” the 49-year-old saidin a video posted on his Twitter han-dle. “A lot of players have been in lock-down. They haven’t been able to go out,train and prepare for a tournament suchas the T20 World Cup. So we got to getthem here a month, a month-in-a-halfearlier that what we would do in a nor-mal situation,” he said. He suggested thatplayers be tested before they board char-tered flights to enter Australia.

“There is no commercial flights, so wehave to have chartered flights...Before theplayers get on to the chartered flightsthey all get tested.

“When they get to Australia they gointo lockdown for two weeks. After the twoweek quarantine period they are testedagain and if they pass the test they are freeto go out, prepare and train,” he added.

Hogg said maintaining social distanc-ing won’t be a problem in cricket.

“Social distancing is not an issue incricket because all the time the players aremore than a metre and half away from inthe middle.

“The only issue probably could be theslip cordon but let’s put a rule — you needto be two metres apart in the slip cordon,”he said.

He doesn’t see any rationale behinddenying cricket-starved fans the oppor-tunity to watch the action on TV, say-ing postponing the World Cup will bea ‘weird’ idea.

“Why cancelling the tournament?There are so many viewers out therewho are starved for these great games.They want to have live cricket on theirTV screens and now will be licking theirlips to see the best in action,” Hogg said.

“We have also got another T20World Cup in India the following yearin October and November, so you don’twant 2 T20 tournaments played in a space

of less than a year because that wouldbe weird and unauthentic,” he added.

AFP n LONDON

West Ham manager David Moyes fearsa rash of injuries to players should

there be a desperate rush to complete thePremier League season if the coronavirusrelents sufficiently to allow the resump-tion of football.

The Premier League has nowditched plans to get back under-way at the start of May and a fur-ther complication is that a numberof players will be out of contract inJune.

It has been suggested that clubsmay need to play up to three gamesa week in order to finish this seasonbefore the 2020/21 campaign getsgoing. Moyes would prefer a four-weekbuild-up on the training ground before

the current Premier League seasonresumes, should lockdown restrictions berelaxed and the Hammers boss fears the

consequences if, as seems likely, clubshave less preparation time.

“I think that four weeks would beideal. But I think three weeks will be

the maximum we get,” Moyes toldbeIN Sports.

“Everybody’s now talking aboutthe injuries we’re liable to pick upeither during the three-week prepa-ration time or during the periodwhere it looks like we’ll have toplay an awful lot of games in ashort period of time.”West Ham are only above the rel-

egation zone on goal difference inMoyes second spell in charge of theeast London club.

WASHINGTON: US PresidentDonald Trump is hankering fora return of live sports action, butUS league supremos are taking acautious approach to competitionamid the coronavirus pandemic.

“We have to get our sportsback,” Trump said Tuesday. “I’mtired of watching baseball gamesthat are 14 years old.” Sports inAmerica, like the rest of theworld, have been brought to a vir-tual standstill by COVID-19.

The NBA shut down onMarch 11 after Utah Jazz centerRudy Gobert tested positive forthe virus, and the NHL, MajorLeague Soccer and the US PGATour quickly followed suit.

Major League Baseball’s 2020season, due to start March 26, ison hold, as is the LPGA tour andmotor racing, while the NFL isjust hoping it will be able to startits season on time in September.

The dearth of sports has ledto a wealth of speculation as towhen and how competition couldresume.

The NBA and NHL arewrestling with how they mightfashion credible ends to cam-paigns that were heading intotheir final stages.

Baseball, meanwhile, wasreported to be consideringsequestering 30 teams in Arizona— or perhaps Arizona andFlorida — to open the seasonplaying games in empty ball-parks.

The NHL was reportedlymulling a single-venue re-startin North Dakota, while DanaWhite, head of the UltimateFighting Championship, indicat-ed he was considering holdingmixed martial arts cards on a pri-vate island. AFP

PCB won’t agree tocancel Asia Cup toaccommodate IPL

Curran ‘can't wait’ to play under DhoniVijay dubs CSK as special sidePTI n CHENNAI

Veteran opening batsmanMurali Vijay on

Wednesday described his IPLfranchise Chennai SuperKings as a special team in theT20 league with “legends ofworld cricket” forming a partof it.

“CSK is a very very spe-cial team. The kind of play-ers, who came aboard rightfrom the first auction, youname it, they are legends ofworld cricket,” Vijay, whospent five seasons with theteam from 2009-13 in his firststint before re-joining it in2018, was quoted as saying bythe CSK website.

“It was a great honour forus youngsters to step into thedressing room and rub shoul-ders with some of the leg-ends. You get to learn a lot ofthings by watching them andbeing around them,” theright- hander said about hisearly days in the franchise.

The 36-year-old, whohas played for India in 61

Tests, the last being in 2018,was a part of all the three IPL-winning campaigns of CSK.

“Twenty20 was a newformat in 2008/09, and Iguess my game was suited forwhite ball cricket when Istarted. I kind of enjoyed itwhen the opportunity cameto me. I was ready up andgoing,” he said.

“The team atmospherewas such that you want tocontribute because everyoneplays with such energy andintensity. The competitionwas very high.”

Buttler in awe of Rohit’s effortless batting Friendship with Indian player doesn’tensure IPL entry: Laxman

Bring teams in chartered flights for WT20: Hogg

Indian women qualifyfor 2021 World Cup

Holding picks Steyn in his ‘fab 4’ pacersSane Bayern movestill possible

Trump eager to‘get sports back’

Tour de France postponed to Aug 29-Sept 20 Moyes fears injury pile-up if PL resumes