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SILCHAR (ASSAM),APRIL 22: Over 300 pas-sengers, who landed at theSilchar airport onWednesday, created disor-der and fled the facility toescape mandatory COVID-19 testing, officials said onThursday, and assertedcriminal action will be ini-tiated against them.
Cachar district Addi-tional Deputy Commis-sioner Sumit Sattawansaid a total of 690 passen-gers arrived at the airportfrom various parts of thecountry aboard six air-craft.
He said they were sup-posed to undergo swabtests at the airport and thenearby Tikol Model Hospi-
tal.“Around 300 people cre-
ated chaos at both places,mainly over payment of Rs500 for the tests,” he said.
The Assam governmenthas made it mandatory forall air passengers arrivingin the state to undergo freeRapid Antigen Test fol-lowed by an RT-PCR test
for Rs 500, even if the re-port of the RAT comesnegative.
Asserting that the pas-sengers had violated therules, the officer said, “Wehave their database andwe will track them. We willinitiate criminal action un-der Section 188 of the IPC(Disobedience to order
duly promulgated by pub-lic servant) and other rel-evant provisions.”
Of the 690 passengers,189 were tested and sixwere found infected withthe virus. Many were ex-empted from testing asthey were transit passen-gers on way to neighbour-ing states like Manipur,Mizoram and Tripura, Sat-tawan said.
The Assam governmenthad on Wednesday nightannounced that all peoplecoming from outside willhave to undergo sevendays of compulsory homequarantine, as the state’sCOVID-19 tally shot up to2,29,138 with 1,150 fatali-ties.
300 passengers skip mandatory Covid test,flee Silchar airport after creating ruckus
NEW DELHI, APRIL22: The Supreme Court onThursday took suo motucognisance of issues relat-ing to Covid managementand issued notice to theCentre on issues such assupply of oxygen and es-sential drugs, method ofvaccination and judicialpower to impose lock-downs.
A Bench led by CJI SABobde said it intended totransfer to itself some of theissues pending in varioushigh courts.
Noting that high courts ofDelhi, Bombay, Sikkim,Madhya Pradesh, Calcuttaand Allahabad were deal-ing with issues related toCovid, the top court askedthe Centre to present a na-tional plan to face thehealth crisis.
"They are exercising ju-risdiction in best interest.But it is creating confusionand diversion of re-sources," it said, adding"We are almost in a na-tional emergency."
Appointing senior advo-cate Harish Salve as amicuscuriae to assist it, the Benchposted the matter for Fri-day. The top court said itbroadly wanted to take upfour issues - supply of oxy-gen, supply of essentialdrugs, method and mannerof vaccination and thepower to declare lockdown.
"We want the power toclear lockdown to be withstates and it should not bea judicial decision," the CJIsaid while issuing notice tothe Centre.
The development comesa day after the Delhi High
Court pulled up the Centreand Delhi Governmentover lack of adequate sup-ply of oxygen to hospitals inthe national capital.
While asking the govern-ment to ensure supply ofoxygen to hospitals "forth-with", the high court hadposted the matter forThursday.
"Do we respond to highcourts now or we respondhere?" Solicitor GeneralTushar Mehta sought toknow from the Bench.
"We will issue notice tothe Centre and then we willissue notice to highcourts...eventually we willbring some issues here,"the CJI said.
Mehta said, "In themeanwhile, we will informthe high courts that you(SC) have taken suo motu
cognisance."The Bench told Mehta
that it didn't intend to su-persede any order of highcourts for now.
In a related development,the Centre and Vedantamoved the top court seek-ing permission to reopenthe company's Tamil Naduplant - shut down since2018 over alleged violationof environmental norms -only for the purpose of pro-ducing and supplying ofmedical oxygen to Covidpatients.
On behalf of Vedanta,Salve sought permission toreopen the company's Tu-ticorin plant, saying itcould produce 1,000tonnes of oxygen thereevery day and it was readyto supply all 1,000 tonnesfree of cost.
Supreme Court takes suo motu notice ofCovid situation, issues notice to Centre LONDON, APRIL 22:
Heathrow Airport in Lon-don, the UK’s largest andbusiest airport, has de-clined requests from atleast four international air-craft carriers to land eightextra flights from India onThursday, ahead of thecoronavirus pandemic “redlist” travel ban whichcomes into force from Fri-day.
The airport said the deci-sion to decline requests foradditional flights was takento ensure that the existingpressures on the border arenot “exacerbated”, result-ing in long queues andcrowds at passport controlon arrival.
India’s addition to thetravel “red list” was an-nounced in the House ofCommons earlier this weekamid 103 cases recorded inthe UK of a new variant ofcoronavirus first detectedin India. Health SecretaryMatt Hancock told MPsthat the decision had beenmade after studying thedata and on a “precaution-ary basis”.
“That means that anyonewho is not a UK or Irishresident or a British citizencannot enter the UK if theyhave been in India in theprevious 10 days. UK andIrish residents and Britishcitizens who have been inIndia in the 10 days beforetheir arrival will need tocomplete hotel quarantinefor 10 days from the time ofarrival,” said Hancock.
It has since triggeredconsiderable confusionand panic as hundreds ofIndian students and otherUK-based British Indiansscramble for return flightsahead of the Friday dead-line. London-based family-owned travel agency, Tick-ets to India, is among theagents who have beenworking round the clock totry and sort out charter
flights to carry Indian-ori-gin passengers back to theUK.
“Hundreds of British na-tionals are still requestingseats but there is very littletime to arrange a secondcharter before Friday,” saidthe company, which wasworking on getting clear-ance for one Qatar AirwaysA350 to bring 300 passen-gers back before the cut-offtime (4am local time) onFriday.
The UK Civil AviationAuthority said it had re-ceived several applicationsfor charter flight permitsfrom India to the UK, butmany have been declinedor withdrawn as they didnot meet the qualifying cri-teria.
“We are in a global healthpandemic – people shouldnot be travelling unless ab-solutely necessary,” a UKgovernment spokespersonsaid.
“Every essential checkhelps avoid the risk of im-porting dangerous variantsof coronavirus which couldput our vaccine rollout atrisk,” the spokespersonsaid.
Prime Minister Boris
Johnson, who was forcedto cancel his India visit dueto the surging coronaviruscases in India, told a Down-ing Street briefing earlierthis week that the so-called“Indian variant” is still avariant under investiga-tion, not a “variant of con-cern” as Public Health Eng-land (PHE) and otherauthorities continue to in-vestigate its transmissibilityand any vaccine resistance.
A briefing documentdrawn up by PHE officialsshows that between March25 and April 7, a total of3,345 arrivals from Indiawere registered in UK bor-der travel data, being col-lected through compulsorypassenger locator forms atthe airport. Of the arrivalsso far 161 – or 4.8 per cent –tested positive for COVID-19 after a PCR test.
The travel ban meansthat those with valid resi-dency rights returning tothe UK after the deadlineon Friday face the addi-tional financial burden ofcompulsory hotel quaran-tine and tests costs, esti-mated at around 2,000pounds per person.
The National Indian Stu-
dents and Alumni UnionUK (NISAU-UK), a repre-sentative group for Indianstudents in the UK, hasbeen working on trying toseek some reprieve for In-dian students from the ad-ditional and unforeseen fi-nancial burden.
“Significant concern isbeing raised about the costof quarantine as well ashow the new restrictionsimpact student eligibilityfor the Graduate visa routefor which they need to be inthe country by particulardates,” said NISAU UKchair Sanam Arora.
The Home Office had al-ready extended the dead-line period for the physicalcampus presence require-ments for students to beable to apply for the newGraduate or post-studywork visa until June-endand a further extension isreportedly being consid-ered.
Meanwhile, the govern-ment has indicated thatstudents with valid visasbut yet to collect their bio-metric residence permits(BRPs) would qualify forentry, subject to all the ad-ditional quarantine rules.
UK’s Heathrow Airport refuses to allow extraflights from India ahead of ‘red list’ ban
NEW DELHI, APRIL22: The Centre on Thurs-day issued an order direct-ing all the state govern-ments and the UnionTerritories (UT) adminis-trations to ensure the unin-terrupted supply of med-ical oxygen across thecountry for management ofCOVID-19 patients, as itmade the district level ad-ministrative and policeheads “personally liable” inthis regard.
The order, which was is-sued by Union Home Sec-retary Ajay Bhalla in the ca-pacity of the chairperson ofthe National ExecutiveCommittee under the Dis-aster Management Act, hasgiven direction to ensurethat “no restriction shall beimposed on the movementof medical oxygen betweenthe states” and has askedthem that transport au-
thorities “shall be in-structed accordingly to al-low free inter-state move-ment of such vehicles”.
“No authority shall at-tach the oxygen carryingvehicles passing throughthe districts or areas formaking supplies specific toany particular district orarea,” it said.
In the order, Bhalla also
directed the authorities toensure that “no restrictionshall be imposed on oxygenmanufacturers and suppli-ers to limit the oxygen sup-ply only to the hospitals ofthe states and UTs in whichthey are located”.
It has also asked thestates and UTs to ensurethat there shall be freemovement of oxygen carry-
ing vehicles passing intothe cities without any re-striction of timing, whilealso enabling inter-citysupply without any restric-tion.
For uninterrupted andsmooth supply of medicaloxygen in the order theHome Secretary has said,“The DistrictMagistrates/Deputy Com-missioners and Senior Su-perintendent of Police/Su-perintendent of Police/Deputy Commissioner ofPolice will be personally li-able for the implementa-tion of the directions is-sued.”
It also reiterated its ear-lier order saying supply ofoxygen for industrial pur-poses, except those ex-empted by the govern-ment, “is prohibited witheffect from April 22, 2021and till further orders”.
District administrative and police heads ‘personallyliable’ for oxygen supply to hospitals: MHA order
NEW DELHI, APRIL22: Sant NirankariGround At Burari DelhiSoon Converted Into A1000 Bedded Covid Treat-ment Center.
The Sant NirankariMandal in association WithGovernment of Delhisooner going to open a1000 bedded Covid treat-ment centre at Sant Ni-rankari Ground, burari,Delhi.
Honble Sh SatyendarJain Health Minister Govt.of Delhi visited the site andthanked the Sant NirankariMission for providing thevenue with all the Infra-structure and Food supportto the patients.
The Medical Fraternity
and Medical equipmentswill be arranged by theDelhi Govt. Sant nirankari
Mission has already of-fered its satsang bhawansfor vaccination and quar-
antine centre's. Mission isalways ready to serve theHumankind.
Sant Nirankari Ground at Burari converted into 1000 bedded Covid treatment Center
12 JAMMU FRIDAY APRIL23, 2021 B A C K P A G E
CMYK CMYK CMYK CMYK
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