RNI NO.: WBENG/2015/65962

VOL. 7, ISSUE 161 | Monday, 14 June 2021 | Kolkata | Pages 12 | Rs 3.00PUBLISHED FROM DELHI | KOLKATA

MILLENNIUMPOST.IN

No Half Truths

India logs 80,834 fresh COVID-19 cases; 3,303 fatalities in 24 hours

Compared to three metropolises, petrol cheaper in Kolkata

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The petrol price in Kolkata is comparatively cheaper compared to that of three other metropolises in the country.

The reason being with-drawal of Re 1 cess by the Bengal government and at the same time the state tax is also comparatively lesser.

When the petrol price sky-rocketed to Rs 102.30 a litre, the same in Kolkata was Rs 96.06 per litre.

In Delhi petrol has hit an all-time high of Rs 96.12 a litre on Sunday, while the same in Kolkata was Rs 96.06 a litre. The same in Mumbai and Chennai was Rs 102.30 a litre and Rs. 97.43 per Litre respectively.

While the Diesel price in Kolkata was Rs 89.83 a litre which is lesser than that of Mumbai (Rs 94.39 a litre) and Chennai (Rs 91.64 a litre). But, the diesel price in Kolk-ata is more than that of Delhi on Sunday. In Delhi, the diesel was Rs 86.98 a litre on Sunday.

This comes when the base price of petrol and diesel was Rs 38.07 per litre and Rs 40.68 per litre respectively. At the

central excise tax is Rs 32.90 a litre and Rs 31.80 a litre on petrol and diesel respectively.

In Bengal the state tax on petrol and diesel is 25 percent and 18 percent respectively. The price of petrol and diesel is lesser in Kolkata with such a low percentage of state tax, according to the experts.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: A trawler capsized in the Haldi river in West Bengal’s Purba Medi-nipur district, killing a fisherman, while three others were missing, an official said on Sunday.

The incident happened on Saturday night near Nandigram when the trawler with 14 fishermen on board was anchored at the mouth of a canal where it meets the Haldi river, he said.

The fishermen had anchored the trawler as they wanted to have dinner before setting out for fishing, he added.

The trawler toppled due to high tide, and the fishermen fell into the river.

Ten of them either managed to swim to safety or were rescued, while four oth-ers went missing, the official said.

A body was fished out in the early hours of Sunday, he said.

A search is underway for those miss-ing, the official said.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: India reported 80,834 fresh COVID-19 cases, the lowest after 71 days, while the daily positivity rate fur-ther dropped to 4.25 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

With the fresh cases, the country’s tally of cases has climbed to 2,94,39,989.

The COVID-19 death toll climbed to 3,70,384 with 3,303 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The active cases further declined to 10,26,159 compris-ing 3.49 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 95.26 per cent.

A net decline of 54,531 cases has been recorded in the COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

Also 19,20,477 tests were conducted on Saturday tak-ing the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the coun-

try to 37,62,32,162 while the daily positivity rate has further dropped to 4.25 per cent.

It has been less than 10 per cent for 20 consecutive days, the ministry said, adding the weekly positivity rate fell below 5 per cent and was recorded 4.74 per cent.

Recoveries continue to out-

number daily new cases for the 31st consecutive day.

The number of people who have recuperated from the dis-ease surged to 2,80,43,446, while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.26 per cent, the data stated.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu permitted more activities

from Monday as the eas-ing of restrictions by states gained momentum following a continuous decline in active COVID-19 cases in the coun-try where most parts were under a lockdown or similar curbs for over a month.

Karnataka will also begin the unlock process, barring

in 11 districts, from Monday, with the opening of parks and industrial units with riders, besides other relaxations.

Tamil Nadu Chief Min-ister M K Stalin announced more relaxations in as many as 27 districts of the state which includes permission for the ubiquitous tea shops to reopen from June 14.

However, there will be no easing of curbs in 11 districts, seven in western and four in

Cauvery delta regions.Restaurants and bakeries

have already been allowed to function. Salons, parks and state-run liquor outlets in 27 districts in Tamil Nadu would reopen on June 14.

Places of worship and tour-ist locations will continue to remain closed and there would be no public or private bus ser-vices during the extended spell of lockdown.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration also announced further easing of restrictions in eight districts showing sig-nificant improvement in the COVID-19 situation.

The decision to grant relax-ations in Shopian, Kulgam, Ganderbal and Bandipora in Kashmir division and Poonch, Reasi, Ramban and Doda in Jammu division was taken at a meeting which focussed on total weekly new cases (per mil-lion), positivity rate, bed occu-pancy, case fatality rate and vaccination coverage of the targeted population, an official order said. Continued on P4

‘UNLOCK’ PROCESS GAINS MOMENTUM ACROSS STATES

Trawler capsizes in river near Nandigram, 1 dead, 3 missing

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The Regional Mete-orological Centre in Alipore has predicted heavy rainfall in vari-ous south Bengal districts in some north Bengal districts in the next 72 hours. The MeT office also issued an alert to different dis-tricts as thunderstorms and light-ning may hit various parts.

Monsoon has already entered south Bengal with the low pres-sure that had formed over North Bay of Bengal. A gusty wind would be sweeping through the city and other south Bengal dis-tricts in the next couple of days particularly in the evening hours.

“There is a prediction of heavy rainfall in various districts which include West Midnapore, Jhar-

gram, Purulia, West Burdwan in South Bengal and Darjeeling, Jal-paiguri, Coochbehar, Alipurd-uar and Kalimpong. People in the coastal districts may witness high

tidal waves due to a low pressure along the Bengal-Odisha coast line. Alert has been issued in var-ious south Bengal districts about lightning and thundershowers in

the next couple of days,” a weather official said.

Fishermen have also been urged not to venture into the sea in the next 24 hours as the sea may remain turbulent. The city today registered its highest temperature at 34 degree Cel-sius while the lowest temperature remained at 29 degree Celsius. Several districts in South Bengal including Kolkata, North 24-Par-ganas, South 24-Parganas, Nadia received rainfall on Sunday after-noon. Rainfall brought down the mercury by a few notches giv-ing a respite to the people from the scorching heat. The weather office said that high humidity levels will continue to affect peo-ple despite scattered rainfall in various parts.

MeT predicts heavy rainfall for South Bengal, fishermen urged not to venture into sea

Dark clouds hover over Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, on Sunday MPOST

Beneficiaries receive a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital, in Navi Mumbai, on Sunday PTI

Highlights » Death toll climbed to 3,70,384 » A net decline of 54,531 cases has been recorded in 24 hours » Daily positivity rate has further dropped to 4.25 per cent » Recoveries continue to outnumber daily new cases for the 31st consecutive day

Highlights » The reason being withdrawal of Re 1 cess by the Bengal government and at the same time the state tax is also comparatively lesser

» This comes when the base price of petrol and diesel was Rs 38.07 per litre and Rs 40.68 per litre respectively

» In Bengal the state tax on petrol and diesel is 25 percent and 18 percent respectively

City

KMC TO START WALK-IN VAX DRIVE 2

NationMILKHA SINGH’S WIFE DIES 5

Edit

LATE BUT WELCOME 7

International

12 KILLED IN CHINA GAS EXPLOSION 8

Business

4 IPOS TO HIT MARKETS NEXT WEEK 10

Sport

ENGLAND WIN AT EURO 2020 11

In today’s paper

...

City: Pg 2After gap of 64 days, fresh cases drop below 4,000 mark

Nation: Pg 6Rajnath okays budgetary support for innovations in defence sector

Film: Pg 12Urvashi Rautela is training hard for her next film

Withdrawal of Re 1 cess by the Bengal government

City Petrol (in Rs) Diesel (in Rs)

Mumbai 102.30 94.39

Chennai 97.43 91.64

Delhi 96.12 86.98

Kolkata 96.06 89.83

MPOST BUREAU

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal has slammed the civic authorities in Rajas-than’s Bikaner over a report on a sewage treatment plant, saying a plea of budget can-not be taken to justify contin-ued violation of the Water Act and the citizens’ right to clean environment.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said the officer who has filed the affidavit does not have the requisite knowledge of law and responsibilities of the state pollution control board.

In view of binding judg-ment of the Supreme Court, the

plea of budget cannot be taken to justify continued violation of

the Water Act and the citizens’ right to clean environment.

In absence of any other source of funds, funds are to be raised from the citizens in the area as directed by the Supreme Court, and for fail-ure concerned erring officers are to be proceeded against, the bench said.

The executive officer of the municipal board in Nokha had told the tribunal that the exist-ing Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) could not be repaired and operated due to non-avail-ability of sufficient budget.

The NGT gave one last opportunity for compliance, failing which the secretary of the departments concerned i.e. local bodies/urban devel-opment/local self department

and the member secretary of the state PCB will be held per-sonally accountable, by way of coercive measures laid down under sections 25 and 26 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (NGT Act).

Under section 26 of the NGT Act, violation of order of this tribunal is a crimi-nal offence punishable with imprisonment up to three years and fine up to Rs 10 crores. Under section 25 of the NGT Act, 2010, the order is execut-able at the decree of the civil court.

Under section 51 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, there is provision for civil imprisonment or any other

order. Any other order can include stopping of salary of the erring officers. The tribunal will accordingly take such coer-cive measures as found appro-priate, if the failure continued, the bench said.

The NGT directed the member secretary of the state PCB and the secretary of the department concerned to be present in person by video con-ferencing with a compliance status on September 21.

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by Rajasthan res-ident Bhanwar Lal Bhargava over discharge of untreated sewage and industrial effluent on agriculture land in Bikaner’s Nokha village.

Budget constraint cannot justify violation of citizens’ right to clean environment, says Green Tribunal

‘In absence of any other source of funds, they are to be raised from the citizens in the area as directed by SC’

A boat is anchored on a bank as toxic foam float in the polluted Yamuna river, on World Environment Day, in New Delhi PTI

UNMATCHED

Novak Djokovic kisses the cup after defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece in their final match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium on Sunday, in Paris See P11

The trawler toppled due to high tide, and the fishermen fell into the river. Ten of them either managed to swim to safety or were rescued

JERUSALEM: Naftali Ben-nett was on Sunday sworn in as Israel’s new Prime Minis-ter, ousting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from power after an uninterrupted 12 years at the helm of affairs.

Bennett, the 49-year-old leader of the right-wing Yamina party, took oath of office after the Knesset (Parliament) elected him as the 13th Prime Minister of Israel by a 60-59 vote in the 120-member house. One lawmaker abstained.

His government has 27 ministers, nine of them women. The new govern-ment - an unprecedented coalition of ideologically divergent political parties drawn from the Right, the Left and the Centre, along with an Arab party - has a razor-thin majority in a 120-member house.

Mickey Levy of Yesh Atid party was elected as the speaker of Parliament with the support of 67 lawmakers.

Earlier, Bennett pre-sented his new govern-ment’s ministers in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) in a speech constantly inter-rupted by supporters of 71-year-old Netanyahu.

Amid incessant heckling from rival bloc’s lawmakers, Bennett said that he is proud “of the ability to sit with peo-ple of different opinions”.

“At the decisive moment we took responsibility,” he said. “The alternative to this government was more

elections, more hate, which would have broken up the country.” “It is time for responsible leaders from different parts of the nation to stop this madness, he asserted.

Agitated Likud, ultra-orthodox and ultra-nation-alist lawmakers constantly jeered at Bennett during his speech calling him “a criminal” and a “liar”. In his speech, Bennett also said that Israel “will not allow Iran to arm itself with nuclear weapons.”

“Israel will not be a party to the agreement and will continue to preserve full freedom of action, he said, opposing the US efforts to revive Iran’s nuclear deal.

Bennett, a former ally turned rival of Netanyahu, is leading a fragile coalition of eight parties - Yamina, Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid, New Hope, Labor, Meretz, United Arab List, Kahol Lavan and Yisrael Beiteinu. The alli-ance contains parties that have vast ideological differ-ences, and perhaps most sig-nificantly includes the first independent Arab party to be part of a potential ruling coalition, Ra’am. AGENCIES

Ending Netanyahu’s 12-yr rule, Bennett sworn

in as Israel’s new PM

Naftali Bennett

Three ex-students of South Point High School— Rajib Mohan Chatterjee, Soumik Mandal and Arjun Mukherjee—who have launched a Covid kitchen and distributed over 2000 plates of free meals among the needy, donated meals and supplies to inmates of Sneha Children’s Centre in Mukundapur PIC/MPOST

After gap of about 64 days, fresh cases drop below 4,000 mark

Covid management: State to install 7 ECMO devices at

Sambhunath Pandit Hospital

OUR CORRESPONDENT

BALURGHAT: International trade through the Hili bor-der resumed on Sunday after the Bangladeshi traders with-drew their demand to vacci-nate all Indian truck drivers and cleaners who are asso-ciated with the trade fol-lowing the second wave of pandemic in India. On Satur-day, the International traders of both countries met at the zero point of Hili border to talk about the matter and look for a solution.

Sources said the traders of both countries had consented to resume the trade as usual from the Hili land port by removing all confusions.

It has been decided to run the export and import business through the area from 10 am to 4.30 pm every day.

Meanwhile, the Indian traders had also threatened their Bangladeshi counterpart to stop export-import trade

if the latter stood rigid to vaccinate the truck drivers and cleaners in such a short time.

Following the stalemate of International trade, both trad-ers had agreed to discuss and look for a solution.

Amit Agarwal, on behalf of Indian traders said: “The Ban-gladeshi traders had demanded to vaccinate all the truck driv-ers and cleaners of our side which we opposed. We had also delivered our message to them that it could have been impossible to vaccinate all of them within a short time. We told the Bangladeshi traders to

withdraw their decision imme-diately otherwise we would be forced to stop the export and import business through Hili land port.”

According to him, the Ban-gladeshi traders had responded positively in order to take back their demand.

“We are happy following the removal of all confusions. We had promised our Bangla-deshi counterpart to vaccinate all the truck drivers and clean-ers as early as possible which they agreed. Now, the use of masks, hand-gloves and sani-tizers of both drivers and help-ers are mandatory to restrict the spread of the deadly virus. Medical screening tests are also compulsory for them each time while crossing the border. We are adhering to all social distancing rules,” he added. It may be noted that both drivers and helpers have to stay in home quarantine for 14 days each time crossing the border.

Indo-Bangladesh trade resumes at Hili border

14-day isolation must for drivers crossing border

PRADIP CHATTERJEE

KOLKATA: As a part of its attempt to enhance health infrastructure in the state ahead of a possible third wave of Covid, the Health depart-ment has decided to set up an Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) hub at the Sambhunath Pandit Hos-pital for the better manage-ment of the critical patients and also strengthening pediat-ric infrastructure.

Sources in the health department said as many as 7 ECMO machines would be installed at Sambhunath Pan-dit hospital soon. This is for the first time any government run hospital is going to get such facilities.

The hospital is being uti-lised for treating Covid patients. Four new buildings have come up. The number of beds is being increased by the health department before the possible third wave.

A team of doctors from the SSKM Hospital would handle the proposed ECMO set up at the Sambhunath Pandit Hos-pital. Two ECMO machines were installed at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) during the first wave of Covid. Once the new set up

is ready, many critical patients can be treated under ECMO support at Sambhunath Pandit hospital. Critical patients from the other government hospi-tals who would be requiring ECMO support can be brought to this hospital for better treat-ment. A special team of doctors would be set up to operate the ECMO hub while SSKM senior officials would supervise the progress of works.

ECMO is also known as extracorporeal life support, a technique of providing pro-longed cardiac and respira-tory support to the people. For patients suffering from respi-ratory failure, ECMO sys-

tems can completely support the lungs for months. It gives critical patients a chance to overcome life threatening ill-ness. ECMO machines are run by perfusionists. An ECMO unit also requires cardiotho-racic vascular surgeons, car-diologists, pulmonologists and intensivists. Senior health department officials on Satur-day supervised the health infra-structure at the SSKM Hospital mainly the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and Neona-tal intensive care unit (NICU). They also reviewed how many beds can be increased at the SSKM.

The Health department has also laid stress on the pediatric infrastructure as the experts have expressed their apprehen-sion that more children may get infected with Covid during the third wave. PICUs would be set up at different district hospitals.

According to a senior health official, the district hos-pitals in Jalpaiguri, Coochbe-har, North Dinajpur, Purulia, Rampurhat, Diamond Harbour would get PICU soon. Even the overall pediatric beds would also be increased in various hospitals. Around 254 pediat-ric beds would be made ready in these districts.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Three persons were killed in a tragic road accident on National Highway (NH) 2 in Asansol on Sunday morning.

An LPG tanker collided with a truck full of medicines. As soon as the collision took place, fire broke out in the LPG tanker.

Three fire tenders doused the flames within a short period of time.

According to sources, on Sunday morning around 6 am, the LPG tanker was going towards Raniganj from Asan-sol while the truck was coming from Kolkata.

At the Kalla more on NH 2, both the drivers spotted two persons crossing the road with bicycles.

To save the persons cross-ing the road, both the truck and tanker drivers tried to bypass them.

While trying to do so, the tanker and the truck came in front of each other and collided head on. Before the collision the LPG tanker hit the bicyclist duo as well.

Due to the impact of the collision, a massive fire broke out in the LPG tanker which spread to the truck as well.

Though the driver and helper of the LPG tanker man-aged to escape, the truck driver got stuck inside the cabin and burnt to death.

The two bicyclists were res-cued with burn injuries and were rushed to a nearby hos-pital where they were declared brought dead.

Deputy Commissioner, Traffic of Asansol Durgapur Commissionerate, Ananda Roy said: “Initially we came to know that the accident took place while trying to save two persons crossing the road. However the exact cause of the accident and fire can be ascertained after a thorough investigation.”

KOLKATA: Kolkata Police along with SSKM hospital and Kolkata Municipal Corpora-tion ( KMC) will organise a free vaccination camp for people in the age group of 18 to 44 years on Monday.

The camp will be held at the Bhowanipore Education Society College campus on Elgin Road from 10.30am.

The first dose of Covaxin will be given at the camp, which is the first of its kind organised by the Kolkata Police. Soumen Mitra, Commission of Police along with Dr Manimoy Ban-dyopadhyay, director SSKM hospital, Asim Bose, coordi-nation of ward 70 and Miraj D Shah, vice-chairman, the Bhowanipore Education Soci-ety College will be present at the camp during the inaugural ceremony. Akash Magharia, DC South and Sumit Das Gupta, OC, Bhowanipore will be present at the camp. MPOST

Kolkata Police to hold free

vaccination camp

3 dead after LPG tanker

collides with truck

Murder accused who fled from hospital

nabbed at Petrapole

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: After a gap of more than 64 days, daily Covid infection in Bengal dropped below 4,000 on Sunday which gives a psychological boost to the health officials. The number of fresh cases dropped to 3,984 on Sunday from what remained at 4,286 on Saturday.

Bengal had seen 3,648 fresh cases on April 9 while on the very next day the number stood at 4,043. Bengal has so far

seen 14,61,257 Covid cases till Sunday. Around 2,497 Covid patients have been released from various hospitals in the past 24 hours. Around 14,26,710 patients have so far been discharged from the hos-pitals after being cured. Num-ber of fatalities stood at 84 on Sunday.

The total tally of fatalities in the state reached 16,896. The number of active cases remained at 17,651 on Sunday.

The state has so far vacci-

nated 1,76,55,118 people out of which around 53,232 people were vaccinated in the past 24 hours. No adverse effects fol-lowing immunization (AEFI) were reported on Sunday.

The Bengal government has already conducted vac-cinations on 19,21,654 peo-ple so far in the state which include those belonging in the age group 18-45 years and also those who have been identi-fied as super-spreaders by the state government. On Saturday,

around 2,14,034 people were vaccinated across the state.

Covid recovery rate stood at 97.64 percent. The percent-age of positive cases out of the sample tested remained at 6.63 on Sunday.

The percentage of occu-pancy of Covid beds in the State stood at 16.82.

Bengal has so far conducted 1,32,95,856 Covid sample tests so far with around 60,113 sam-ples being tested in the past 24 hours.Kolkata has registered 15 Covid deaths on Sunday while North 24-Parganas has seen 20 Covid deaths. South 24-Par-ganas has reported 9 deaths, Howrah 9, Hooghly 4, West Burdwan 1, East Midnapore 1, West Midnapore 4, Bankura 2, Birbhum 1, Nadia 4, Mur-shidabad 3, South Dinajpur 2,

North Dinajpur 2, Jalpaiguri 2, Darjeeling 5. Kolkata in the past 24 hours has registered 426 fresh cases and North 24-Par-ganas 597.

The total death toll in Kol-kata has so far reached 4,756 whereas North 24-Parganas has lost 4,276 people so far.

According to the health department’s figure, the total number of mucormycosis infected cases has far reached 49 in the state. No new mucor-mycosis case has been reported in the state on Sunday. No death among confirmed cases was reported on Sunday. Cumula-tive deaths among confirmed cases went up to 12. Around 4 new suspected cases had been reported on Sunday and the total suspected cases have reached 118 in the state so far.

Highlights » Critical patients from the other government hospitals who would be requiring ECMO support can be brought to this hospital for better treatment » A special team of doctors would be set up to operate the ECMO hub » ECMO is also known as extracorporeal life support

2 millenniumpostCitympMONDAY, 14 JUNE, 2021 | KOLKATA

Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors, publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only.

“MILLENNIUM POST”, Printed & Published by Jaiyendra Kumar Sharma on behalf of Front Row Media Pvt. Ltd. and printed at Saraswati Printfactory Pvt. Ltd., 789, West Choubhaga Kolkata - 7000105 and published from Tivoli Court 1A, Ballygunge Circular Road, Block–A, Flat–94, 1st Floor, Kolkata–700 019. Editor: Durbar Ganguly. Email: editor@millenniumpost.in, mpostcal@gmail.com. For marketing, contact: 9836292306, 9830532306. For editorial, call: 9836072100

Covid-19 Stats » Number of deaths in past 24 hours 84 » Total death toll so far 16,896 » Tested COVID positive in the past 24 hours 3,984 » Total COVID positive cases so far 14,61,257 » Total patients recovered from COVID so far 14,26,710 » Discharged from hospitals in a day 2,497 » Total sample tested so far 1,32,95,856

ABOUT 84 DEATHS REPORTED IN A DAY

These machines can support lungs and heart for months

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The undertrial prisoner, accused of mur-der , who had fled from the SSKM Hospital on May 31, was arrested on Sunday from Petrapole near Indo-Bangla border.

On May 31, the accused Md Sajid alias Rohet alias Rohit had fled from the SSKM hos-pital while he was being taken there for treatment by the Pres-idency Correctional home authority.

Sajid had complained of abdominal pain and he was taken to the SSKM hos-pital along with a few other prisoners.

After necessary treatment at the hospital outdoor, when Sajid was being taken to the van, he reportedly told the guard that he forgot to take the prescription.

When the guard asked other guards to look after Sajid and went inside to fetch the prescription, he suddenly

ran away. A case was registered and

police started searching for Sajid.

On Sunday morning around 11 am, acting on a tip off, police conducted a raid at Jayantipur Bazar area in Petrapole.

From there, cops nabbed Sajid who was planning to flee to Bangladesh soon.

It may be mentioned that Sajid along with his wife Anjum Begum were arrested during November last year for allegedly murdering a woman identified as Saba Khatoon alias Naina.

Sajid allegedly had an illicit relationship with Khatoon and she was reportedly blackmail-ing him.

During February police filed the chargesheet against Sajid and Begum at the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court in Alipore.

Since then, he has been staying at the Presidency cor-rectional home.

Murder accused BJP leader beaten to death; five arrested

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: A BJP leader, who was accused of murder, had been beaten to death at Khayrasole in Birbhum on Saturday night. Police have arrested five accused persons in connection with the incident till Sunday night.

According to sources, a few days ago the BJP leader Mithun Bagdi of Nabasan village in Khayrasole was arrested for allegedly murdering a youth identi-fied as Raju Bagdi a few months back.

Raju’s body was found near the village. After the incident, Raju’s family members lodged a complaint against Mithun and the BJP leader was arrested. Since then, he was in the judicial custody.

On Saturday, Mithun returned home after he was granted bail by the local court. It had been alleged that on Saturday night, Raju’s family members came to know that Mithu was granted bail. Later, they went to his house and dragged him out of his home. Mithun was assaulted by Raju’s relatives. Local peo-ple intervened and rushed Mithun to Nakrabanda primary health centre where doctor declared him brought dead.

After a case was registered on charges of murder, cops started a massive manhunt from Saturday night. Till Sunday night, five accused were apprehended. Cops are probing to find out if any more persons were involved in the murder of Mithun. Though BJP claimed that Mithun was killed for being a saffron party leader, Trinamool Congress leadership has dis-missed the allegations and claimed that the incident has no political angle.

Cops rescue abuducted trader in barely 24 hours

OUR CORRESPONDENT

BALURGHAT: A trader, identified as Ashim Pramanick—who resides in Tapan’s Kardah—was rescued by police in barely 24 hours after being abducted from his residence.

According to a police source, Pra-manick deals in grocery items. On Thursday night, he was abducted by a group of miscreants from his res-idence. The goons had also looted valuables and cash from the house.

After receiving the complaint, police started an investigation and rescued him from Malda. Police also arrested four goons Parimal Sarkar, Rejaul Haque, Erajul Haque and Ashiq Sheikh from Malda’s Kaliachak. Parimal is Ashim’s cousin and the mastermind of the incident, police said. Rejaul, Erajul and Ashiq reside in Kaliachak’s Sujapur.

Being rescued from the clutches of death, the Pramanick thanked the policemen.

“I could have been murdered after the incident became public. Police have saved my life. I want stringent action against the culprits,” Praman-ick said. District police chief Rahul De said the police had sprung into action after receiving the complaints within 24 hours of the incident.

Following the police’s success,

cops from Tapan police station were felicitated by South Dinajpur district Trinamool Congress on Saturday eve-ning for their heroic task.

District TMC president Goutam Das and Tapan Panchayat Samiti sabhapati Raju Das felicitated the Inspector-in-Charge of Tapan police station Dipajwal Bhowmik and other police personnel by offering flower-bouquets.

“They have done a great job to rescue the abducted trader from the clutches of the culprits and arrested them the culprits within 24 hours. We on behalf of district Trinamool Con-gress have felicitated them to salute their task,” Goutam Das said.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Kolkata Municipal Corporation is starting walk-in inoculation at all its urban pri-mary health centres from Mon-day for persons above 45 years.

“Covishield first dose will be given in the first half and second dose in second half.The two doses of covaxin will also be available at the designated covaxin centres,” a senior KMC official said.

Meanwhile, KMC has informed that WhatsApp chatbot for vaccination regis-tration and slot booking has crossed the milestone of nearly 73000 users since its launch on May 15. The chatbot has nearly 81,00,000 conversations gener-ated from users across Kolkata. The chatbot started off by pro-viding vaccine slots at 3 cen-tres in the city and has scaled up to 90 centres in Kolkata and across the 6 districts of Cooch Behar, Burdwan, Kalimpong,

Darjeeling, Alipurduar and South 24 Parganas. After a suc-cessful vaccination drive for the second dose through its WhatsApp chatbot, the slots were opened for first dose vac-cination for people above 45. KMC’s WhatsApp chatbot has helped smoothen the vaccine appointment booking process and reduced waiting time for citizens at vaccination centres. Drive-In Vaccination was also introduced through this What-sApp Bot to facilitate vaccina-tion in four-wheeler only.

Binod Kumar, Munici-pal Commissioner said, “The response from people of Kolk-ata to the vaccine drives across the city has been very posi-tive and encouraging. As we scale up the vaccine drives, it is important for us to stream-line the process to avoid crowd-ing at vaccination centres. ” A person can book slot through whats app by entering his/her details at 8335999000. MPOST

KMC to start walk-in vaccination drive for 45 plus people from today

AT URBAN HEALTH CENTRES TMC organises blood donation camp at Behala

KOLKATA: Abhishek Baner-jee, Trinamool Congress all India general secretary, vis-ited a blood donation camp at Behala on Sunday.

TMC has taken up an ini-tiative to hold blood dona-tion camps to cope with the shortage of blood in blood

banks. Dr Shashi Panja, min-ister for Women and Child Development and Social Wel-fare attended a blood donation camp organised by Aheritola Sarbojonin Durgotsav Samity on Sunday. Durga puja organis-ers have come forward to orga-nize such camps. MPOST

It has been decided to run the export and import business through the area from 10 am to 4.30 pm every day Cops from Tapan police station were

felicitated by South Dinajpur district Trinamool Congress for their heroic task

Representative Image

3millenniumpost

MONSOON WOES

A tree fell in front of B R Singh Hospital in Sealdah on sunday when a gusty wind was sweeping through the city. Police cordoned of the area. Traffic movement was disrupted for sometime. The employees of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation rushed to the spot and cut the branches to clear the road. The city also received rainfall on sunday due to the impact of monsoon. The city partially remained cloudy on Sunday. Monsoon has already entered south Bengal with the low pressure that had formed over North Bay of Bengal. The MeT said that a gusty wind would be sweeping through the city and other south Bengal districts in the next couple of days particularly in the evening hours

City mpKOLKATA | MONDAY, 14 JUNE, 2021

To identify dereliction of duty: State to assess report today

KMC seeks nod for offering 10% FAR to commercial

buildings beside wide roads

Duare Tran drive: State initiates process of verification a week before the set date

Mamata to hold meet on Khadya Sathi scheme today

Tathagata’s tweet to induct Vijayvargiya

in TMC ruffles many feathers in BJP

Partha Chattopadhyay’s mother passes away, Abhishek visits Min’s house to pay respect

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: During the ongoing probe into the gunning down of dreaded crim-inals from Punjab— Jaipal Bhuller and Jaspreet Singh—at the Sapoorji Sukho-brishti housing complex in New Town, police have learnt that the slain gang-sters were apparently using Bengal as a corridor for drug and arms smuggling. The two criminals, who were wanted in several cases, were killed in an encoun-ter with the Special Task Force (STF) of the state police

On Saturday Sumit Kumar, who had taken the flat at the Sapoorji Sukho-brishti housing from the broker on rent, was arrested from Mohali in Punjab by the Punjab Police. A team from the Bid-hannagar Police will go to Punjab soon to interrogate Sumit as well as Bharat Kumar, who was also arrested in Pun-jab before the gangsters were shot dead by the cops.

Police sources informed that Sumit and Bharat were the persons who could reveal their motives and what plan they had made and why Jaipal and Jaspreet were kept in New Town.

Meanwhile, on Sunday Punjab Police detained a cop there who had allegedly helped Sumit and his associ-

ates to cross toll plazas and police naka checking points.

The police Constable Amarjit Singh had allegedly handed over his identity card to Sumit which was used to cre-ate fake identity documents for their ill motives. Cops have come to know

that Amarjit is a friend of Sumit. Police in Punjab are also probing to find out if there are more police personnel involved in the matter, who had helped Sumit and his associates.

According to sources, the investigat-ing officials have come to know that the

gangsters had entered Bengal a few days before May 23. Before settling down in the Sapoorji flat, they had stayed at a guest house in New Town. On Sun-day, the information was revealed that the STF personnel had fired around 39 rounds.

According to a report submitted by the forensic experts, six bullet injuries were found on Jaipal’s body while four bullet injuries were present on Jaspre-et’s body. Also it has been made clear that on Wednesday the firing had taken place inside the flat only as no sign of bullet hits were found anywhere out-side of the flat.

Sources informed that from 201 flat of B block in Sukhobrishti — where the criminals were residing — cops found a packet with an address of Karachi written on it. Police also found several SIM cards, used for making interna-tional calls.

The duo and their other accom-plices were known international drug smugglers. The information was report-edly confirmed by the Punjab Police as well. The investigation conducted by the police so far revealed that Jai-pal and Jaspreet had used the SIM card which was picked up from Pingla in West Midnapore.

New Town case: Slain gangsters used state as corridor for smuggling, reveals probe

Punjab Police detained a cop who had helped the criminals

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The Kolk-ata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has sent a proposal to the Urban Development department, seeking its nod for offering 10 per cent FAR (Floor Area Ratio) for fully commercial buildings located by the side of wide roads in the city.

“We have sent a proposal to the Urban Development department seeking a nod for offering 10 percent FAR (Floor Area Ratio) for fully commer-cial buildings beside wide roads in the city,” Firhad Hakim, Chairman Board of Adminis-trators, KMC said.

Meanwhile, KMC will also conduct a survey of the residential-cum-commercial buildings in the city to assess whether any hotel or restaurant is running in such buildings. The civic body will not renew trade licenses of such eateries as

it may pose serious fire hazards to the residents.

“We have come out with an Act that was passed in the state Assembly a few years ago that 21 types of commer-cial activities can be allowed in residential buildings. Hotels or restaurants are not in the ambit of these activities. So, if any such restaurant is running, we have to take action,” Hakim added.

Earlier, Hakim had received

a call at the Talk to KMC pro-gramme on Saturday from a lady of Bosepara By-Lane in Behala Sakherbazar. She had complained of inadequate supply of drinking water. Dur-ing the conversation, Hakim learnt that a restaurant was running at the ground floor of the apartment where she lives. “We will conduct a joint raid with Kolkata Police to check whether the restaurant is run-ning with proper licenses,” he added.

In many residential build-ings, there is only one exit path in case of any emergency. How-ever, in commercial buildings, there is more than one path for quick evacuation in case of an emergency, said a senior official of KMC’s Building department.

He maintained that KMC is encouraging fully commer-cial buildings beside roads in the city that have a minimum 40 feet of road space.

PRITESH BASU

KOLKATA: The Mamata Banerjee government has ini-tiated the task of needed veri-fication to compensate damages under—Duare Tran outreach programme— caused due to Cyclone Yaas a week before its set date.

The move is taken to ensure no delay in transferring the ben-efits in bank accounts of genu-inely affected people.

The set date of initiating ver-ification was June 19 that is a day after the closing date of receiving applications by holding camps in every affected gram Panchay-ats. But the verification process by engaging teams of field offi-cers has begun from June 12. “Separate teams of officers have been engaged to carry out the verification. We have already received more than 2 lakh appli-cations. So its no point waiting for completion of receiving of all applications till June 18,” said a senior state government officer.

According to the sources,

the state government has set up 974 camps in five cyclone affected districts and two oth-ers where tornado had hit on the same day and received 2.49 lakh applications, apart from those received in drop boxes at Duare Tran camps. North and South 24-Parganas, East and West Midnapore and Howrah are the cyclone Yaas affected districts while tor-nado caused havoc at Hooghly’s Chinsurah and one at Birbhum’s Murarui.

The officers in the verifi-cation team have an applica-tion installed in their mobile

phones. They are receiving the details, as per their applications, of affected people through the app and visiting the locations to verify whether the claim of damage caused by the cyclone is true. They also need to geo-tag the damaged property and even upload its photographs men-tioning latitude and longitude of the location through the same app. It is being done to ensure a full proof verification process before giving out the compensa-tion and this comes when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has clearly stated that none of the genuinely affected people get

deprived of their state govern-ment’s assistance for which she already made a primary allot-ment of Rs 1,000 crore.

“Each team will carry out verification for all concerned departments. For example, if an applicant incurs loss for dam-ages in crops, house and live-stock. Then the verification for all will be carried out in one single visit by the same team,” the officer said. The field offi-cers have undergone a train-ing programme on the use of the mobile phone app and other related aspects on Friday. “There training programme was extremely crucial as timely and errorless execution of the veri-fication process is the founda-tion of the Duare Tran outreach programme,” the officer said.

The collection of application that started on June 3 will, how-ever, continue for all 15 days till June 18. The state government will complete giving the com-pensation by directly transfer-ring it to beneficiaries’ bank accounts in between July 1 to 8.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: After Shibani Chat-topadhyay, mother of Trinamool Congress (TMC) secretary general Partha Chattopadhyay, passed away in the city on Sunday, the party’s all India general secre-tary Abhishek Banerjee visited the minister’s house at Naktala to express his condolences.

Later in the day, Abhishek also called on senior party leader and MP Sukhendu Shekhar Roy at the latter’s house in Jodhpur Park to seek his blessings. After his elevation, Abhishek has been visiting senior party leaders to seek their blessings.

Meanwhile, Shibani Chatto-

padhyay, who was 91-year-old, is survived by her son, daughters and grandchildren. She was suf-

fering from age related ailments for quite some time. She used to stay with Chattopadhyay at his

Naktala residence.TMC leaders Subrata Bakshi

and Firhad Hakim also went to Chattopadhyay’s residence and expressed their condolences. She will be cremated at Keoratala crematorium where Mamata Banerjee is likely to be present.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Chief Minis-ter Mamata Banerjee to hold a meeting on Monday over Khadya Sathi scheme when the state government is taking all initiatives to roll out Duare Ration programme under which food grains will be pro-vided at the doorsteps of every citizen.

District Magistrates and district food officers will be attending the meeting virtu-

ally. The state Food minister Rathin Ghosh will also be pres-ent along with senior officers of the state government.

This comes when the Mamata Banerjee government has been giving free-of-cost ration to the entire 10 crore people in the state since the first wave of the Covid pandemic.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced Duare Ration program while releasing her party’s manifesto ahead of the Assembly polls. It has been initiated as pilot proj-ect at certain places. Now, all steps have been taken to roll out the same across the state.

KOLKATA: Tathagata Roy’s post on social media, mock-ing saffron party leader Kailash Vijayvargiya—whom Roy attrib-uted as Mukul Roy’s friend—has sparked controversy. Taking a sarcastic dig at Vijayvargiya on social media, Tathagata appealed Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee to take Vijay-vargiya—into her party fold.

Roy’s post, which accom-panies an old picture of Mukul Roy with Kailash Vijayvargiya, has created furore in the BJP. Reposting another twitter user’s post, Roy tweeted a translated version of the original post. “Aun-tie (Buaji) Mamata, please take this stupid cat into Trinamool. He may be heartbroken missing his friend! They used to remain closeted together for the whole day,” Roy’s post read. The orig-inal tweet in Bengal was com-posed by Debakar Debnath, a BJP supporter.

State BJP leaders said Roy had been attacking Vijayvargiya since the Assembly election results had been announced and held the latter responsible for the party’s

poll debacle. Vijayvargiya had played a crucial role in joining the Trinamool turncoats into the BJP.

Earlier, the central BJP lead-ership had asked Roy to meet them in Delhi. But, Roy—who was the former state president of BJP— did not go as he was not well then. Sources said cen-tral leadership of the saffron party had alleged that as Dilip Ghosh might be inducted into the Central ministry and would have to quit the state president’s post, Roy was trying to use the situation in his favour.

Meanwhile, Ratan Ghosh and Firoz Kalam Gazi, two of Mukul Roy’s close associates, left BJP on Sunday and expressed their willingness to rejoin Trinamool. Many TMC turncoats, who had joined BJP before the election, have expressed their desire to come back to TMC and work under Mamata Banerjee. How-ever, Trinamool leaders includ-ing Jyotipriya Mullick and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said the final call regarding the turncoats would be taken by Banerjee. MPOST

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: Residents of Muchipara area in Behala were in for a shock after bul-lets were fired due to a clash between two groups on Sunday morning.

According to sources, on Sunday morning two groups got involved in a clash following which three rounds of bullets were fired in the air.

The group which fired the bullets fled the spot immedi-ate after the firing.

Sources informed that the clash reportedly broke out owning to the rivalry of real estate materials supply in the area.

It is alleged that after a few hours again another clash broke out and this time in front of the police.

When police intervened, again a few rounds of bullets were allegedly fire by the mis-creants before fleeing from the spot.

Cops have started an inves-tigation to find out the accused persons, as well as the cause of the clash.

Shootout in Behala, none

injured

OUR CORRESPONDENT

KOLKATA: The state Irriga-tion and Waterways depart-ment to identify on Monday whose dereliction of duty led to damages of embankments constructed only a few months ago after cyclone Amphan in May 2020.

The identification will be done by assessing the reports received in this regard. “We will be holding the report assess-ment meeting on Monday to identify those whose derelic-tion of duty led to damage of newly constructed embank-ments. If needed, show cause notice would also be issued to the same,” said a top brass of the department.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had expressed her annoyance finding that many embankments reconstructed after super cyclone Amphan

in May 2020 damaged almost within a year during cyclone Yaas leaving vast agricultural land inundated with saline water.

Subsequently, the depart-ment had initiated an inquiry to identify the loopholes that

led to damage of embankments within such a short period of its reconstruction.

It needs mention that detailed report on utilisation of fund, quality control along with the present condition of embankments - whose “pallia-

tive restoration” was carried out after super cyclone Amphan in East Midnapore, North and South 24-Parganas.

Meanwhile, the ongoing reconstruction work at Digha coast had received a minor jolt with boulder-laden trucks not allowed to enter Bengal from Odisha. This comes when a high tide threatened to hit the state on June 26 and the reconstruction work is going

on in full swing in cyclone Yaas affected coastal and riv-erine areas. Sources said that finally the state Irrigation minister Saumen Mahapa-tra resolved the impasse tak-ing up the issue with the higher level of the Odisha administration.

“Now the work has resumed and is expected to be com-pleted before the set deadline,” the officer said.

DAMAGED EMBANKMENTS

File picture of cops standing guard at Sapoorji Sukhobrishti housing complex in New Town

Highlights » ‘We will be holding the report assessment meeting on Monday to identify those whose dereliction of duty led to damage of newly constructed embankments..’ » ‘If needed, show cause notice would also be issued to the concerned persons...’ » Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had expressed her annoyance finding that many embankments reconstructed after super cyclone Amphan in May 2020 were damaged almost within a year during Cyclone Yaas

Key Points » The move is taken to ensure no delay in transferring the benefits in bank accounts of genuinely affected people » The set date of initiating verification was June 19 But the verification process by engaging teams of field officers has begun from June 12 » ‘We have already received more than 2 lakh applications. So its no point waiting for completion of receiving of all applications till June 18’

File photo

Abhishek Banerjee at Partha Chattopadhyay’s residence on Sunday

KMC will also conduct a survey of the residential-cum-commercial buildings in the city to assess whether any hotel or restaurant is running in such buildings

Later in the day, Abhishek also called on senior party leader and MP Sukhendu Shekhar Roy at the latter’s house

The state Food minister Rathin Ghosh will also be present along with senior officers of the state government

Maha reports 10,442 COVID cases; death toll rises by 483

500 black fungus cases in Bihar so far; 76 have died

THERE ARE 1,55,588 ACTIVE CASES IN THE STATE AT PRESENT

4 millenniumpostNationmpMONDAY, 14 JUNE, 2021 | KOLKATA

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI: Maharashtra reported 10,442 coronavirus positive cases on Sunday, tak-ing the state's infection tally to 59,08,992, while 483 deaths pushed the toll to 1,11,104, the health department said.

A total of 7,504 patients were discharged during the day, which took the recovery count to 56,39, 271.

The state's recovery rate is 95.44 per cent and case fatality rate is 1.88 per cent now, it said.

As many as 2,12,536 tests were conducted on Sunday, taking the total number of tests done so far to 3,80,46,590.

There are 1,55,588 active cases in the state at present.

Mumbai reported 695 cases and 19 deaths during the day, which took its tally to 7,15,660 and death toll to 15,183.

Mumbai division reported 2,056 cases and 91 deaths. The number of cases in this region is now 15,63,322 and fatality count 30,520.

Nashik division reported

1,336 cases, including 595 in Ahmednagar district and 427 in Nashik district.

Pune division recorded 2,463 cases, including 823 in Satara district and 767 in Pune district. Kolhapur division logged 3,568 cases, including 1,133 in Kolhapur district and 764 in Sangli district.

Aurangabad division had

202 cases on Sunday, Latur division 284 cases, Akola divi-sion 311 cases, Nagpur division 222 cases.

Maharashtra's corona-virus figures are as follows: Positive 59,08,992; death toll 1,11,104; recoveries 56,39,271; active cases 1,55,588; total tests 3,80,46,590, tests on Sunday 2,12,536.

LUCKNOW/AYODHYA: Shriram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust general secre-tary Champat Rai was on Sun-day accused by two opposition leaders of buying a piece of land worth Rs 2 crore at an inflated price of Rs 18.5 crore for the Ram temple premises with help from Trust's member Anil Mishra.

The allegation, strongly refuted by Rai, was made by two opposition leaders –AAP's Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh and a former minister in the Samajwadi government, Pawan Pandey.

Terming it a case of money laundering, Singh and Pandey both sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Director-ate into the land purchase for

the temple premises.Both the leaders alleged

that Rai purchased the land, measuring 1.208 hectares and located in Bag Bjaisi village under Sadar tehsil of Ayodhya district for a price of Rs 18.50 crore from the first purchaser, who had bought it minutes ear-lier on March 18 this year from its original owners for a sum of Rs two crores.

"Champat Rai, the general secretary of Shriram Janmab-hoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust with the help of Trust's member Anil Mishra bought the land worth Rs 2 crore at Rs 18.5 crore. This is a case of money laundering and the govern-ment should get it probed by the ED and CBI," Singh told reporters in Lucknow.

SP's former Ayodhya MLA

Pandey reiterated the same allegation in the temple town.

Quoting entries of the reg-istered sale deed of the land, Singh explained that the land was first purchased by Sultan Ansari on March 18 this year from its original owner Kusum

Pathak, wife of Harish Kumar Pathak alias Baba Hardas for a sum of Rs 2 crore.

Minutes later, the same land was purchased by Trust's general secretary Rai for a sum of Rs 18.50 crore from Ansari, Singh said, again quot-ing entries of the second sale deed showing the transaction between Ansari and Rai.

Trust member Anil Mishra and Ayodhya mayor Hri-shikesh Upadhyay testified the land sale deed as witnesses and were witnesses to the pur-chase of the land by Rai as the Trust's general secretary, Singh alleged.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government must initiate a thorough probe by the CBI and ED, and the cor-rupt persons should be sent to

jail, as it is the question of faith of crore devotees of Lord Ram, who have given their hard-earned money for the con-struction of the Ram temple," Singh said.

He also said in any trust, the board makes a proposal for the purchase of land.

"How come in five minutes, this proposal was passed and the land was immediately pur-chased?" he asked.

Though Mishra could not be contacted for his comments over the allegations, Rai refuted them in a statement.

"Allegations of even assas-sinating Mahatma Gandhi were levelled on us. We do not fear allegations. I will study the allegations levelled on us, and probe them," he said, in a statement.

AAP’s Sanjay Singh, ex-SP MLA accuse corruption in land purchase for Ayodhya’s Ram temple

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu on Sunday recorded 14,016 new COVID-19 infections and 267 deaths thereby pushing the total so far to 23,53,721 and 29,547 respectively, the Health Department said.

Among the infected were two returnees - one from Bahrain and the other from Andhra Pradesh.

Recoveries continued to eclipse new infections with 25,895 people getting dis-charged from various hospitals.

Till date, the total dis-charged were 21,74,247 leaving 1,49,927 active cases, a medical bulletin said.

Coimbatore and Erode con-stituted the majority of new infections with 1,895 and 1,323. Chengalpet, Salem, Thanja-vur and Tiruppur clocked the

infections in excess of 500.Chennai reported fresh

cases below 1,000 in number for the second consecutive day, with 935.

The State capital, however, leads in the number of total infections among districts with 5,25,009 cases.

The number of deceased, too, remains high in Chennai with 7,826 fatalities till date.

The number of RT-PCR samples tested on Sunday was at 1,77,295 pushing the cumu-lative number of specimens examined so far to 2,99,68,038.

Among the 267 deceased, 69 succumbed to the virus without any comorbidity or pre-existing illness.

With co-morbidity, a 12-year-old girl from Coim-batore with 'Type 2 diabetes

mellitus' died at district med-ical college hospital due to COVID-19 pneumonia.

Earlier in the day, Medi-cal Minister M Subramanian inspected the vaccination camps being held in northern districts of the State. He said the State has crossed a 'milestone' by vaccinating over 1 crore people as of Saturday.

"Yesterday (Saturday) was the highest in terms of vacci-nation of 3.26 lakh people. We crossed the milestone of vacci-nating more than 1 crore peo-ple till date," he told reporters.

On the availability of vac-cines, he said the State has till now received 1.10 crore vac-cines from the Centre, includ-ing those for which the State government had paid Rs 100 crore. AGENCIES

PATNA: Bihar seemed to be in control of COVID-19 on Sunday with only 487 fresh cases and eight fatalities being reported, though a high inci-dence of black fungus cases has emerged as a fresh challenge.

The state health department came out with a statement that till date 562 cases of mucor-mycosis, notified by the Nitish Kumar government as an epi-demic last month, have been reported across the state.

The post-COVID compli-cation has so far claimed 76 lives while only 153 have, so far, been fully cured.

A majority of "black fungus" patients in the state are being treated at two hospitals based in the state capital - the AIIMS, Patna and the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS).

While AIIMS, Patna has so far admitted 148 patients, of whom 102 are still admitted, the 187 black fungus cases have been till date handled by the IGIMS and 114 of them are still undergoing treatment.

According to IGIMS super-intendent Dr Manish Mandal, "our team of neurosurgeons led by Dr Brajesh Kumar success-fully operated upon a 60-year-old patient and extracted a

black fungus larger in size than an average cricket ball from his brain". "The patient, Anil Kumar, is a resident of Jamui, who was rushed here after he suffered fits a number of times. The surgery continued for three hours and nearly 100 ml of pus was also removed from the brain", Dr Mandal said.

"Performing the surgery without causing any damage to the eyes was a big challenge. We take satisfaction in the fact that

after the operation, the patient can see normally", he added.

The department also said total number of COVID 19 cases in the state, so far, stood at 7,17,215 of whom 7,02,411 have recovered while 9,492 have died. Number of active cases is 5,312 and the recov-ery rate is 97.94 per cent. More than 1.21 crore people of the state, which has a population of about 13 crore, have been vaccinated so far. MPOST

BENGALURU: Karnataka on Sunday recorded 7,810 fresh cases and 125 deaths taking the total infection count and toll to 27.65 lakh and 32,913 respectively.

The state has 1,80,835 active cases whereas the total dis-charges stood at 25,51,365 with the recovery of 18,648 people.

The COVID infections in Bengaluru Urban district remained the highest with 1,348 infections and 23 deaths but showing significant decline in cases compared to June 1 when there were 3,418 cases and 276 deaths. The city has so far reported 11,96,688 infec-tions and 15,307 deaths.

There were 85,995 active cases.

Mysuru district remained the second major COVID hotspot with 1,251 and 25

fatalities.According to the health bul-

letin, there were 581 infections in Hassan, 467 in Mandya, 434 in Dakshina Kannada, 393 in Shivamogga, 391 in Davangere and 352 in Tumakuru.

Fresh cases were reported in other districts as well includ-ing Ballari, Belagavi, Benga-luru Rural, Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu, Kolar, Udupi and Uttara Kannada.

The department said there were nine deaths each in Bel-agavi and Dharwad, seven deaths each in Ballari, Davan-gere, Hassan and four each in Chikkamagaluru and Udupi.

Deaths were reported in 13 other districts as well.

There were zero fatalities in Bagalkote, Bidar, Chikka-ballapura, Kalaburagi, Mandya, Ramanagara and Yadgir.

Beneficiaries receive a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital, in Navi Mumbai, on Sunday

COVID-19 tests of RT-PCR samples near three crore in TN

OUR CORRESPONDENT

AHMEDABAD: The Food and Drugs Control Adminis-tration (FDCA) in Gujarat has seized 24,363 pregnancy ter-mination kits worth over Rs 1.5 crore along with narcotic and psychotropic drugs that were being sold illegally, and eight persons have been arrested in this connection, officials said on Sunday.

The accused were appre-hended by the FDCA from multiple locations in the state, including Ahmedabad and Surat, as part of an operation carried out on Friday and Sat-urday, they said.

While seven accused have been charged under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, another one has been arrested by the Gujarat police under the Nar-

cotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act after drugs, including three lakh vials of oxytocin, were found in his possession, FDCA Com-missioner Hemant Koshia said.

He said that such abortion kits could be sold only on the prescription of gynaecologists as per the provisions of the Medical Termination of Preg-nancy Act.

Ahmedabad-based Pintu Shah, one of the accused, was procuring pregnancy termina-tion kits illegally from accused Vinod Maheshwari and Lokesh Maheshwari, owners of a dis-tributing unit in Banaskantha's Deesa, and selling them online without prescription. Shah had sold around 800 such kits through an online platform in the last one-and-half years, the FDCA said in a release.

Deesa-based Maheshwaris had got the kits on the basis of forged medical prescriptions from Javeri Sangala of Surat, who had procured them from accused Rajesh Yadav, a Guja-rat region sales manager of a Mumbai-based marketing company.

Among the other accused are Nilay Vora, a marketing representative of Mumbai-based firm, Vipul Patel and Monish Panchal, with whom 700 kits were found, the release said.

One of the accused, Tushar Thakkar, was found with nar-cotic and psychotropic drugs and has been handed over to the police.

An official said that three lakh vials of oxytocin injec-tions, several other injections without labels, as well as other

drugs and narcotics were seized from Thakkar, an offi-cial said.

"The oxytocin injections have been sent to the FDCA laboratory in Vadodara for exmaination. Other items seized from Thakkar include Alpracan 0.5 tablets, (contain-ing Alprazolam), Editax N-2 tablets (containing Buprenor-phine and Naloxone) and SPAS-Trancan Tablets (con-taining Tramadol), all of which he was selling without licence," the release said.

The drugs seized from Thakkar were being brought from neighbouring Rajas-than, and this angle is being probed, the FDCA said, add-ing that he had been handed over to the narcotics cell of the police which had taken him into custody.

Guj: Over 24,000 abortion kits worth Rs 1.5 cr seized along with 3 lakh oxytocin vials; 8 held

GEARING UP

Labourers work to prepare a chariot ahead of the annual Rath Yatra festival, in Puri, on Sunday. Ahead of Rath Yatra on July 12, the Odisha government has announced that this year, too, devotees will be barred from participating in the festival, which will only be held in Puri amid strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols

AAP’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh

India logs 80,834 fresh COVID-19 cases; 3,303 fatalities in 24 hours

The Assam government asked all its employees who have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine to join offices from Monday even as a partial lockdown across the state will be in force.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said a decision on further relaxations, including opening of gymnasi-ums, will be made on the basis of sugges-tions before June 15, as he announced that now 40 people can participate in a wedding instead of earlier 20.

While Bihar lifted lockdown on June 9 with some restrictions like night curfew continuing, Uttar Pradesh had last Tuesday extended relaxations in curbs to all 75 dis-tricts of the state as active cases had come down the 600-mark in each of them.

The night curfew from 7 PM to 7 AM and weekend curfew (for the entire day) was continuing throughout UP.

Over the week, Maharashtra also started a five-tier unlock process based on the weekly positivity rate and occupancy of oxygen beds in districts.

The Odisha government is also likely to start the unlock process from June 17 in a phased manner

The Punjab government gave relax-ations including allowing shops to open till 6 pm while adopting a graded approach to reopening.

Telangana and Jharkhand have extended COVID-related lockdown-like restrictions with some relaxations.

The Nagaland government too had announced an extension of the ongoing Covid-related lockdown till June 18, but with the easing of some restrictions.

The coronavirus-induced curfew in Goa was on Sunday extended till June 21 as the positivity rate in the state stood at 14 per cent, an official said.

From Page 1

A majority of ‘black fungus’ patients in the state are being treated at two hospitals based in the state capital - the AIIMS, Patna and IGIMS

Karnataka logs 7,810 infections, 125 deaths

NEW DELHI: A three-mem-ber AICC panel set up to end factionalism in the Punjab Congress on Sunday met Con-gress leader Rahul Gandhi and held deliberations with him.

Sources said the panel chaired by Leader of Opposi-tion in Rajya Sabha Mallikar-jun Kharge and AICC general secretary in-charge of Pun-jab affairs of the party Har-ish Rawat and former MP J P Aggarwal held discussions with the former Congress president.

The panel has already sub-mitted its report to Congress president Sonia Gandhi with its suggestions of suitably accom-modating Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Ahead of a possible rejig in the Punjab Congress, the panel may meet up with the Congress president soon, the sources said.

Sunday's discussions at the Congress leader's residence lasted over an hour, where issues pertaining to ending fac-tionalism in the state, which goes to polls early next year, were also discussed, the sources said.

Sidhu is at loggerheads with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and both have publicly given statements against each other in the media, with Sidhu criticising the chief minister for not bringing the guilty to book in the Kotkapura sacri-lege incident.

Top Congress leaders are engaged actively to end the fac-tionalism in Punjab unit and present a united face in 2022 assembly elections. AGENCIES

Cong panel members

meet Rahul over Punjab factionalism

Panel may meet Congress prez soon

NEW DELHI: Several pri-vate hospitals across the coun-try said they have no clarity on procuring COVID-19 vac-cines under the new policy announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that it has led to the vaccination being put on hold at their centres.

The hospitals have sought a proper mechanism and a sin-gle-window system to be put in place for procurement of vac-cine doses. They also claimed that they had approached the vaccine manufacturers -- Bharat Biotech and Serum Institute of India (SII) -- and also state governments, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, in a recent

communication to the Union health ministry, Prakash Kumar Singh, director, Gov-ernment and Regulatory Affairs at SII, is learnt to have written, As per your direction, we are not accepting any fur-ther orders/payment from any private hospital in the country. We await your further direc-tion with regard to roadmap for future supplies to private hospitals.

Elaborating the problems faced by private hospitals, S C L Gupta, medical director, Batra Hospital said, "The problem is that there is no clarity on how we will be procuring the vac-cines. When we ask the state government officials, they say

wait till June 21 stating that the policy is not yet clear.

The central government also has asked us to wait. We have approached the compa-nies too, but they are also not clear on the methodology of procurement, he said.

In the whole process, Gupta said, vaccination of people is getting delayed. "With fear of a possible third wave hitting India, we want to vaccinate as many people as possible. Also several people and many of our healthcare workers who have taken the first dose are waiting for their second dose," he said.

P K Bhardwaj, Chief Exec-utive Director and Head of Department of Surgery, Saroj

Hospital also said that noth-ing has been clearly spelt about procurement by private hospi-tals and how much vaccines will be given to each private hospital.

The vaccinations at most of the private hospitals are on hold and the public, espe-cially those patients who need to get the second doses, are at the receiving end. "The gov-ernment should soon come out with transparent and clear guidelines so as to avoid any further delay in this crucial exercise of inoculating peo-ple against the deadly virus," Bhardwaj, who is also secretary of the Delhi Voluntary Hospital Forum, said. AGENCIES

No clarity on COVID-19 vaccine procurement, say pvt hospitals

The hospitals have sought proper guidelines

5millenniumpost Nation mpKOLKATA | MONDAY, 14 JUNE, 2021

India, SA’s proposal for patent waiver on vaccines gets support

Roll back fuel price hike, demand Left parties

OXYGEN EXPRESS: OVER 30,000 TONNES OF LMO DELIVERED NEW DELHI: Oxygen Express trains have crossed the milestone of delivering 30,000 tonnes of liquid medi-cal oxygen across the country, the railways said on Sunday. The service was started in the wake of a se-vere second Covid wave and these trains had started deliveries on April 24 in Maharashtra with a load of 126 tonnes. So far, the Indian Railways has delivered nearly 30,182 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) in more than 1,734 tankers to various states, it said.

UP ATS ARRESTS SIX SUSPECTED ARMS SMUGGLERS LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested six people in Pratapgarh district and claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of arms smugglers. In a statement issued here on Sunday, the ATS said it got a tip-off that some members of the gang were to meet arms suppliers from Munger in Bihar. A joint team of the ATS and the district police arrested six members of the gang from Asrahi village in the Lalganj police station area.

VHP DEMANDS NIA PROBE IN MADRASSA BLAST IN NDA-RULED BIHAR NEW DELHI: The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Sunday demanded an investigation by the terror probe agency NIA in the recent blast in a madrassa in Bihar’s Banka district which tore down the building and left one dead. The saffron outfit also raised questions on the investigations done so far by the state police and targeted the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in Bihar, asking as to why no arrest has been made yet in the June 8 incident. “After the blast in Banka, where did those running the madrassa and the mosque go? What type of explosion it was? Who were the targets?” VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal asked in a tweet, tagging CM Kumar. He also asked as to why the state government was “running away from the questions” being raised about the incident and the police investigation.

G7 SUMMIT IN THE UK

Nation BriefsCHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday mooted the idea of having a central-ized water monitoring sys-tem in Haryana. The system would help in making available the groundwater, river water and treated water to farmers smoothly at the district, block and village levels.

While presiding over the first meeting of the Haryana Water Resources Authority on Sunday, he also directed offi-cials to formulate an action plan to set up the system within

two years.He said to raise the deplet-

ing groundwater level in the state, there is a need for a customized plan for water

recharge and utilization so that people can get adequate water supply for agriculture and domestic use. The plan should be extended to the village level with the participation of peo-ple and public representatives so that future generations do not face the water shortage, the chief minister quoted as saying in an official statement.

He directed officials to for-mulate plans based on different areas of the state and prepare a water availability index for each village so that the people can get information regarding the

availability of water in future.Expressing concern over

the depleting water level in the state, Khattar said it has gone down to 80 feet in some dis-tricts including Kurukshetra, Karnal, Kaithal and Panipat in the last five decades.

He pointed out that despite the depleting groundwater level, farmers' dependence on it and its exploitation by them is consistently increasing.

He said scientific methods have to be adopted for ratio-nal use of water and supply of water to the areas with water

scarcity.The chief minister alleged

that the previous governments did nothing to increase the availability of water for agri-cultural use and this led to a larger dependence of people on groundwater.

"This has badly affected the financial condition of farmers and the agricultural economy due to the expenditure on the installation of tube wells. Farm-ers should therefore give prior-ity to micro-irrigation in areas where the groundwater has gone down," he said. MPOST

OUR CORRESPONDENT

DEHRADUN/NEW DELHI: Leader of Opposition in the Uttarakhand Assembly Indira Hridayesh passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest in New Delhi on Sunday.

The 80-year-old senior Congress died at the Uttara-khand Sadan in New Delhi where she had gone to attend a party meeting, Uttara-khand Congress vice presi-dent Suryakant Dhasmana said quoting her son Sumit Hridayesh.

Hridayesh was a Congress MLA from Haldwani and one of the senior-most Congress leaders from the state.

She had tested positive for COVID-19 in April this year and had undergone a heart sur-gery after her recovery.

Hridayesh had attended a party meeting chaired by party in-charge for Uttarakhand Devendra Yadav in New Delhi on Saturday.

Hridayesh's officer on spe-

cial duty Abhinav Mishra said her last rites will be held in her hometown Haldwani on Monday.

Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi and Congress pres-ident Sonia Gandhi condoled her demise and lauded her contributions.

"Dr. Indira Hridayesh Ji was at the forefront of several community service efforts. She made a mark as an effective leg-islator and also had rich admin-istrative experience. Saddened by her demise. Condolences to her family and supporters. Om

Shanti," the prime minister said in a tweet.

Indira Hridayesh leaves behind a legacy of public ser-vice as an MLA, MLC, min-ister and leader of Opposition in Uttarakhand, the Congress chief said, adding that "above all, she was a dedicated lifelong Congressperson".

"She was particularly pop-ular amongst her colleagues for her knowledge of legisla-tive processes and procedure as also her performance as an able administrator. Her contribu-tion to the Congress party will be treasured and cherished by all," Sonia Gandhi said.

In a tweet in Hindi, Con-gress leader Rahul Gandhi said, "Received the sad news about the demise of Dr Indira Hridayesh, a strong link of the Congress party in Uttarakhand. She worked till the end for pub-lic service and the Congress family. Her social and political contributions are an inspira-tion. Condolences to her loves ones".

Senior Congress leader Indira Hridayesh passes away

OUR CORRESPONDENT

SHIMLA: With pandemic reg-istering a notable decline and restrictions having been eased, it’s “Shimla Chalo” once again for the weekend tourists trying to escape the heat in Chandi-garh and neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana.

The state government has waived off mandatory RT-PCR test reports and markets have been allowed to function till 5 pm.

Sunday traffic from Chan-digarh broke all previous records of three months as Par-wanoo–the main entry point to Shimla, state’s capital, wit-nessed a long queue of vehicles driving up to the hills.

“It’s really unprecedented as one can see an aerial view of vehicles lined up on the Hima-layan Express between Pinjore crossing to Parwanoo state bar-rier,” said a police head consta-

ble posted at Parwanoo.As some people are just

coming to breathe fresh air in the hills after a long spell of Covid, others are keen for a weekend drive to Kasauli, Chail and Shimla, and their return home.

Though the state govern-ment has not yet lifted the condition of registering on the

Entry e-portal, the waiving off RTPCR condition has given an opportunity to the locked-up people in UT, Haryana and Punjab to come out of their houses for a Himalayan trip.

Reports said around 5,000 tourists vehicles and private cars having registered num-bers with Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, apart from some percentage with Delhi numbers entered at Parwanoo on Satur-day and Sunday.

The government staff posted at Parwanoo barrier had a tough time in handling the increased influx of the vehi-cles. Later additional staff were rushed to manage an over-crowded barrier as a lot of tour-ists were heard shouting at the staff for delays and hold-ups.

Director General of police Sanjay Kundu confirmed that the rush was not unexpected following the lifting up of the conditions on entry of the tour-

ists. The facility has now been regulated as the rush was def-initely sudden for the week-end trips.

Congress state president Kuldeep Rathore has objected to the state government’s deci-sion to remove the RTPCR test condition alleging that this will be an invitation to infection as all kinds of people, includ-ing those with symptoms, will make a free ‘in and out’ travels.

The hotel industry, how-ever, feels that arrivals will help them to revive the busi-ness already hit by the Covid lockdown.

Meanwhile, the state on Sunday witnessed a sharp decline in the number of cases and deaths. Total number of deaths reported on Sunday were seven of which five were in Kangra, one each in Hamir-pur and Mandi. There were only 237 new cases while 855 got cured also.

Covid-19 cases decline, weekend tourists’ traffic for Shimla swells up

OUR CORRESPONDENT

RAIPUR: The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and NITI Aayog have appreciated the malaria-free Bastar campaign run by the National Health Mission, Chhattisgarh for the eradica-tion of malaria in the Bastar division of the state. UNDP in its report said to NITI Aayog that the campaign result out-put is very good in aspira-tional districts of Bijapur and Dantewada. There has been a reduction of 71 percent in malaria cases in Bijapur district and 54 percent in Dantewada. UNDP has described this campaign as one of the best campaigns conducted in aspi-rational districts.

UNDP has said in its report that such a campaign should be

conducted in other aspirational districts of the country to elim-inate malaria.

It is appreciable that the malaria-free Bastar campaign launched by the state govern-ment to make Bastar division free from malaria has seen a huge positive impact. After seeing its best results in Bastar region, this campaign was also implemented in Surguja divi-sion at the end of last year as malaria-free Chhattisgarh cam-paign. Because of the campaign conducted by the National Health Mission Chhattisgarh, the cases of malaria are con-tinuously decreasing in both the devision. There has been a 60 percent reduction in malaria cases in Surguja division and 45 percent in Bastar division in April-2021 as compared to April-2020.

UNDP, NITI Aayog praised malaria-free

Bastar campaignNEW DELHI: Underlin-ing that there is a direct link between malnutrition and dis-eases, India country director of UN World Food Programme Bishow Parajuli suggested safeguarding and promoting access to nutritious, safe, and affordable diets and investing in improving maternal and child nutrition to protect chil-dren's right to nutrition in the COVID-19 pandemic.

India has been battling high prevalence of malnu-trition among its popula-tion, especially children, with National Family Health Sur-vey (NFHS)-4 (2015-16) data showing that 35.7 per cent children below five years are underweight, 38.4 per cent are stunted and 21 per cent are

wasted in the country. Even NFHS-5 which was conducted in 22 states and union terri-tories presented a grim sce-nario and showed a rise in malnutrition.

The World Food Pro-gramme India's country

director said malnutrition is particularly lethal in combi-nation with infectious diseases such as ARI, malaria, mea-sles, diarrhoeal diseases –the major killer diseases affecting children.

Responding to a question if malnutrition can become a comorbidity for children infected with COVID-19, he said in general, there is a direct link between malnutri-tion and diseases like corona-virus disease.

"Malnutrition can make a person more susceptible to infection through a low-ered immune response, and infection further contributes to malnutrition resulting in a vicious cycle of repeated infec-tions, reduced immunity, and

deteriorating nutritional sta-tus. It is known that malnu-trition magnifies the effect of disease and a malnourished person has more severe dis-ease episodes, more compli-cations, and spends more time ill for each episode," he said.

There have been specu-lations that the third wave of COVID-19 may impact children more. However, the available evidence show that children are as much affected as adults.

"It is, however, important that parents and caregivers of children get vaccinated so that they act as a protective ring around the children till such time vaccination is not opened up to young children," he further said. AGENCIES

Direct link between malnutrition, diseases: UN’s WFP India official

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Left parties in a joint statement on Sun-day demanded the rollback of hike in petroleum products and urged the government to control prices of essential com-modities and drugs.

The joint statement has been signed by Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxist); D Raja, General Secretary, Communist Party of India; Debabrata Biswas, General Secretary, All India Forward Bloc; Manoj Bhat-tacharya, General Secretary, Revolutionary Socialist Party and Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Lenin-ist)Liberation.

Alleging that the govern-ment, instead of helping peo-ple to combat the ravages of the Covid health catastrophe, hiked the prices of petroleum products by at least 21 times after the announcement of results of the recent assem-bly elections on May 2, the parties said that this is lead-ing to a "cascading inflation-ary spiral with the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) rising to an

11-year high.""The prices of food articles

have risen by nearly 5 per cent in April. Primary commodities saw a rise of 10.16 per cent and manufactured products have risen by 9.01 per cent. By the time these commodities reach the retail markets, the consum-ers are charged much more.

"This is happening while the economy is witnessing a deep recession, galloping unemployment, collapsing purchasing power and ris-ing levels of hunger. Clearly, unscrupulous black-marketing and hoarding is taking place under state patronage. The

Modi government must strictly crackdown on such black-mar-keting especially of essential drugs, vital for people's sur-vival," the statement said.

The parties demanded that the government must immedi-ately give direct cash transfers of Rs 7,500 per month for six months to all families not fall-ing in the income tax paying bracket .

The statement further said the provisions announced by PM Modi regarding extension of PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) till Diwali of 5 kg foodgrains is "com-pletely inadequate and does not cover the most needy."

The parties demanded 10 kg foodgrains per month to all individuals including a food kit with pulses, edible oil, sugar, spices, tea and other essentials which they said should be dis-tributed free.

"Given the Covid con-ditions and the necessity to strictly adhere to the precau-tions and protocol, the Left parties call upon their state units to conduct these pro-tests in the concrete condi-tions obtained in their states during this fortnight," the statement said.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: A proposal by India and South Africa to temporarily waive patents on COVID-19 vaccines to ensure their equitable access received widespread support at the G7 summit in the UK, the Minis-try of External Affairs said on Sunday.

In a virtual address at an inaugural outreach session of the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought the sup-port of the grouping to lift pat-ent protections for COVID-19 vaccines.

The MEA said Modi's call was supported by South Afri-can President Cyril Rama-phosa, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, WTO Director-General Okonjo Iweala and UN Secretary-Gen-eral Antonio Guterres.

"I can confirm that there was widespread support in deliber-ations for text-based negotia-tions on the India-South Africa proposal for TRIPS waiver at the World Trade Organisation (WTO)," P Harish, additional secretary (economic relations)

in the MEA, said at a press conference.

The TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) council of the WTO is likely to start text-based nego-tiations on the proposal.

Calling on the G7 to dem-onstrate leadership, Modi sought the grouping's strong support for the proposal for a TRIPS waiver at the WTO, Harish said about the prime minister's remarks on Saturday at the session titled 'Building Back Stronger-Health'

"His call was echoed by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Referring to his conversation with the prime minister earlier, PM Morrison expressed his strong support for the TRIPS waiver, as did the Director-General of the WTO, Okonjo Iweala, and the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, who identified the TRIPS waiver as an important ele-ment of his 'Global Vaccination Plan'- a roadmap to vaccinate the entire global population by doubling vaccine production," Harish said.

He said French President

Emmanuel Macron also high-lighted the need to focus on ramping up production capac-ity in Africa and called on India to lend its expertise as an important production hub globally.

The Group of Seven (G7) comprises the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.

As chair of G7, the UK invited India, Australia, South Korea, South Africa to the summit as Guest countries.

The G7 has pledged to

donate an additional one bil-lion doses of COVID-19 vac-cines within the next year.

Asked about G7's views on making available finances to boost vaccine production, the additional secretary said there was a general agreement to increase capacity in various regional manufacturing hubs and provide financing, tech-nology transfer and skilling in these regions.

On whether the sum-mit deliberated on how the COVID-19 originated in

China, Harish did not give a direct reply.

"The leaders of the G7 and guest countries had a very intense and detailed discus-sion on the need for reforming the global health governance," he said.

"I would like to emphasise in this regard that India has been actively engaged with the international community at the levels of the G20, the G7 and the World Health Assembly on various aspects related to deal-ing with the current pandemic, learning lessons and prepar-ing for future pandemics," he added.

Harish said Prime Minis-ter Modi thanked the G7 and guest countries for the support shown to India during the dif-ficult second wave of the pan-demic and urged caution and vigilance even as things were getting better.

Modi also highlighted India's 'Whole of Government, Whole of Society' approach to the pandemic, with the efforts of governments at all levels, civil society and industry syn-ergized for best results.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi participates in the first Outreach Session of the G7 Summit virtually, in New Delhi

Indira Hridayesh

Urge govt to control prices of essential commodities

Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxist)

CM favours centralized water monitoring system in Hry

OUR CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH: Former Indian women volleyball team captain Nirmal Kaur, who is the wife of sprint legend Milkha Singh, died at a Mohali hospi-tal due to complications related to COVID-19 infection she had contracted last month.

She was 85 and is survived by his husband, one son and three daughters.

"We are deeply saddened to inform you that Mrs Nirmal Milkha Singh passed away after a valiant battle against COVID at 4 PM today," a statement from the spokesperson of the Milkha family said.

"A back bone of the Milkha Family, she was 85 years old. It is tragic that the Flying Sikh Milkha Singh ji could not attend the cremation which was conducted this evening itself as he is still in the ICU (of PGIMER in Chandigarh) himself."

Nirmal was brought to For-tis Hospital at Mohali on May 26, two days after Milkha was admitted to the same facility due to COVID-pneumonia.

Milkha was discharged on the request of the family a week later but Nirmal remained at the hospital, batting the dreaded infection. Milkha was later admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of PGIMER here and he is currently "stable and continues to improve".

A former Director of Sports for Women in the Punjab Gov-ernment and ex captain of the Indian national volleyball team, Nirmal had fought a val-iant battle till the very end, the family spokesperson said.

Milkha Singh's wife dies due to Covid-19

complications

‘Malnutrition is lethal in combination with infectious diseases’

The state government has waived off mandatory RT-PCR test reports

Bishow Parajuli

HARASSED BY FINANCIERS, WOMAN ENDS LIFE IN PUNJAB HOSHIARPUR (PB): A 22-year-old woman commit-ted suicide by consuming some poisonous substance at Mohalla Bhagat Nagar area here over alleged ha-rassment by two financiers demanding return of their money, police said on Sunday. The incident took place Saturday evening. The victim, Manisha Kumari, had allegedly borrowed Rs 70,000 at an interest rate of 10 per cent per month last year from financiers, Jatin-der Kalyan and Mohit Chadha, police said. Though she had paid back Rs 1 lakh to the financiers, she was still being harassed by them, they said. Upset over the ill treatment, the woman consumed some poisonous substance at her residence on Saturday.

MAHARASHTRA: ILLEGAL LOTTERY RACKET BUSTED, SEVEN ARRESTED MUMBAI: Seven people were arrested after an ille-gal online lottery racket was busted in Mumbai’s Kurla area, police said on Sunday. Acting on a tip off, a Social Service Branch team of Mumbai police raided a shop on Barve Road in Kurla West after decoy-based confirmation was obtained that the owner was operating two illegal lottery systems, an official said. “In these lottery systems, winners are declared in 15 minutes and no tax is paid to state or Central authorities. All seven have been handed over to Nehru Nagar police, which registered a case under IPC, Lottery Regulation Act and Gambling Act provisions,” he added.

Nation Briefs

6 millenniumpostNationmpMONDAY, 14 JUNE, 2021 | KOLKATA

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to issue notifica-tion specifying the Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary boundary within six months.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel noted that a status report has been filed on behalf of Uttar Pradesh to the effect

that steps have been taken and proposal was pending consider-ation before the National Board for Wildlife.

"It is stated by the counsel for the State that delay has taken place due to pandemic and the Rationalisation Committee is now likely to complete its work within three months and there-after the State Government will issue final notification within three months.

We direct the Commis-

sioner, Meerut to ensure that the rationalisation process is completed within three months and report submitted to the State Government and there-after, the Additional Chief Sec-retary, Forest and Environment, UP, may ensure that further action is completed within next three months, the bench said.

The NGT made clear that in case of failure, it will be open to either party to move the tribu-nal after six months, seeking

coercive measures against the erring officers.

The counsel appearing for the State of UP submitted that after approval of the proposal by the Environment Ministry, a committee for rationalisa-tion with the Commissioner, Meerut as Nodal Officer has been appointed on November 17, 2020.

The counsel for the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Cli-mate Change (MoEF) confirms

that the proposal received from the State was duly approved in 59th meeting of the National Board for Wildlife.

Protection of wildlife spe-cies in Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary is not possible unless it is kept free of human inter-ference, NGT had said in 2019 and directed the central and the Uttar Pradesh governments to issue notification specifying the habitat's boundary within six months.

RANCHI: Concerned over "exploitation" of Jharkhand migrant workers in various parts of the country, especially in difficult terrains, Chief Min-ister Hemant Soren has voiced the need to put in place a robust mechanism to check such prac-tices and said he would hold necessary discussions with his counterparts from other states.

Soren also claimed that sev-eral central government agen-cies have failed to protect the rights of the workers after hir-ing them for development proj-ects, while underlining that a "nexus between recruiting bodies and contractors" makes such unfair treatment possible.

"It pains me to see their plight...The workers are denied their legitimate dues even when organisations such as NTPC and BRO engage them through contractors or middlemen.

Policies to protect their rights do exist, but they are usually not implemented," Soren told.

The CM further stated that he had been raising the issue on different platforms but to avail.

"Once we tide over the COVID-19 crisis, I will per-sonally hold meetings with chief ministers and administra-tors of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh among other states and UTs and pitch for a robust mechanism to check workers' exploitation," Soren said.

He lamented that the state had to use its own resources during catastrophes to evacu-ate workers or in some cases bring their mortal remains home, having received no help from the stakeholders. MPOST

LUCKNOW: Justice Sanjay Yadav took oath as the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court on Sunday.

Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel administered the oath of office and secrecy to Justice Yadav at the Gandhi Hall of the Raj Bhavan here.

Justice Yadav would, how-ever, demit the office on June 25 this year when he turns 62. Chief Justices and judges of high courts retire at the age of 62.

According to a Raj Bha-van statement, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Law Minister Brajesh Pathak, UP Chief Sec-retary RK Tiwari, Additional Chief Secretary to Governor Mahesh Kumar Gupta, fam-ily members of the Chief Jus-tice, senior judges of the High Court, Registrar and other senior officials were pres-ent during the swearing-in ceremony.

Justice Yadav, acting Chief Justice of the Allahabad HC, was appointed as the Chief Jus-tice of the court on June 10, the Union Law Ministry had said.

Last month, the Supreme Court collegium had recom-mended his name for elevation as the Chief Justice of the Alla-habad High Court. MPOST

CHANDIGARH: Former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has been sum-moned by the special investi-gation team probing the 2015 Kotkapura police firing inci-dent to appear before it on June 16.

Badal was the chief minis-ter when the sacrilege and sub-sequent police firing incidents took place in Faridkot in 2015.

According to the summons, the nonagenarian leader has been asked “to appear in per-son with the relevant record before the Special Investiga-tion Team on date 16.06.2021 at 10:30 am at PSPCL, Rest House, Phase-8 SAS Nagar (Mohali)” for investigation of the cases.

Reacting to the summons, Harcharan Bains, principal advisor to the Shiromani Akali Dal president, said, We will fully cooperate with the SIT.”

Badal had been questioned in 2018 by the previous SIT probing the matter. He had then said the SIT probe was politically motivated and an attempt to defame him.

The Punjab government

had formed the new SIT led by Additional Director General of Police L K Yadav to probe the Kotkapura police firing inci-dent following the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The new SIT is investigat-ing the two FIRs registered on October 14, 2015 and August 7, 2018 in connection with the Kotkapura incident.

The high court on April 9 this year had quashed a report by an earlier Punjab Police SIT into the 2015 firing at people protesting in Kotkapura over the alleged desecration of the Guru Granth Sahib in Farid-kot district.

The court had then directed the state government to set up a new SIT, without Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, the Indian Police Service officer who was part of the earlier team. Singh later took voluntary retirement after the court order.

Police had also opened fire at a similar demonstration in Behbal Kalan, also in Faridkot, where two people were killed. A separate probe is underway in that case. MPOST

Yadav sworn in as Chief Justice

of Allahabad HC

‘Need robust mechanism to check migrant

workers' exploitation’

‘Specify Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary boundary soon’

Ex-Punjab CM Badal summoned by SIT in 2015 police firing case

UP CM Yogi felicitates new Chief Justice of the Allahabad HC, Justice Sanjay Yadav at Raj Bhavan in Lucknow PIC/PTI

Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren

KOLKATA: A fake e-mail id (vicechancellormailoffice.in@gmail.com) was created in the name of Rabindra Bharati Uni-versity Vice-Chancellor Sabya-sachi Basu Ray Chaudhury on Sunday.

The fraud came to light when one of the Vice-Chan-cellor’s colleagues called him up in the morning asking him whether he had sent any e-mail requesting him to drop a line, if

he is free. “I realised that there may be some wrongdoing and I immediately asked him to send a screenshot of that e-mail. He immediately responded and I have already lodged a com-plaint with the Cyber Crime cell of Kolkata Police,” Ray Chaudhury said.

He immediately alerted all his contacts that an email account (vicechancellormail-office.in@gmail.com) has been

opened in his name by frauds and nobody should respond to any e-mail sent from this e-mail id.

This is the second time when a fake e-mail id has been cre-ated in Ray Chaudhary’s name. Last year, during the lockdown a similar incident had happened.

A number of vice-chancel-lors of universities across the country had faced a similar problem last year. MPOST

Fake e-mail ID created in name of Rabindra Bharati varsity's V-C

OUR CORRESPONDENT

JAMMU: Union Minis-ter of State for Home G Kis-han Reddy on Sunday said the security scenario in the coun-try has witnessed a lot of posi-tive changes over the past two years with improved law and order situation and declining violence by terrorists and left wing extremists.

He also said the renewed focus would be shifted towards the development of Jammu and Kashmir to fulfil the aspirations of the people after the ongoing fight against COVID-19 is won by the country.

"There are a lot of changes in the country over the last two years and barring one or two incidents, nothing had hap-pened anywhere in the coun-try," Reddy told reporters here after taking part in the 'Bhoomi Pooja' in connection with the

foundation stone-laying cer-emony of Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple at Majeen here.

On April 1, Jammu and Kashmir administrative coun-cil headed by Lieutenant Gov-ernor Manoj Sinha approved a proposal to allot land to the Tirumala Tirupati Devast-hanams (TTD) for building a temple and its allied infrastruc-

ture on lease basis for a period of 40 years.

Subsequently, a land mea-suring 62.02 acres at village Majeen was given to the TTD for building the temple and its allied infrastructures, pil-grim amenities complex, veda patasala, spiritual and medita-tion centre, office, residential quarters and parking.

Responding to a question about the changing security scenario in Jammu and Kash-mir due to the efforts of the Centre, the minister said the situation has improved across the country.

"Take any issue - an inci-dent, infiltration and all other angles - internal, hinterland, insurgency and left wing extremism - the terrorist inci-dents are not happening except along the border.

"A lot of changes have taken place in the country with the improvement in law and order, declining terrorism and no bomb blast over the past two years. Leave aside one or two incidents, nothing had hap-pened," Reddy said.

Referring to Jammu and Kashmir post abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the erstwhile state into two union territories in August

2019, the minister said the Centre had planned a lot of things but unfortunately the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic gave a setback.

"Under the orders of the prime minister, 36 central min-isters visited every nook and corner of Jammu and Kashmir to get the feedback and know the developmental needs of the people," he said.

Reddy said the Centre had already made a lot of alloca-tions to Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh but COVID-19 caused a lot of problems and the integrated development as planned could not happen.

"But with the blessings of God, the fight against the virus will be won and a renewed focus will be made towards development and fulfilling the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir," the minister said.

‘Security scenario saw positive changes over past 2 yrs in India’‘Renewed focus would be shifted towards the development of J&K’

‘The terrorist incidents are not happening except along the border’

AMETHI (UP): A woman here has alleged that her 40-year-old mother was beaten up and raped by doctors and medical staff at a Lucknow hospital from where she was discharged a day before her death. Family members of the deceased said she died on the night of June 12 while being taken to another hospital in the state capital.

The daughter alleged she approached Union minis-ter Smriti Irani, who was on a visit to Amethi, on Saturday as the police refused to pay any heed to her. Amethi Dis-trict Magistrate Arun Kumar has constituted a team on Ira-ni's instructions to probe the allegations.

The woman said her mother was admitted to the Amethi Joint District Hospital, Gaurig-anj, on June 6 as she was unwell, but her condition deteriorated, and she was referred to the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow the next day.

She alleged that her mother was initially kept in the emer-

gency ward of the Lucknow hospital and then shifted to a bed on the fourth floor but no family members were allowed to visit her.

The daughter claimed that when she finally was allowed to meet her mother after repeated requests, she found out her con-dition was critical. She alleged that her mother told her she was beaten up and raped by doc-tors and staff. A spokesperson of the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Sansthan, however, refuted the allegations.

"No such allegation of rape of a woman has been reported and no complaint has been received. If there is a complaint, an inquiry will be conducted, he said.

UP: Minor girl found dead; rape suspected

An 11-year-old girl was found dead in the district with police on Sunday suspecting that she was raped before being murdered. Senior Superinten-dent of Police (SSP) Rohit Singh Sajawan said that the girl, a stu-dent of class 6, had on Satur-

day around 8.00 am gone to the family’s fields on a cycle to look after crops.

In the evening, her cycle and clothes were found around 800 metres from her house, he said.

Police suspect that she was killed with a sharp-edged weapon after being raped. Late on Saturday night, police took six persons in custody in this connection and are interrogat-ing them. Family members of the girl said that she used to go

the fields to look after the crops as her father is no more.

The farm from where her body was recovered was filled with water, as a result her clothes were smeared with mud, and there was a head injury.

Superintendent of Police (Rural) Rajkumar Agarwal suspected that some acquain-tance might have committed the crime and in order to hide her identity she must have been killed after being raped. MPOST

KANNAUJ (UP): Three bodies, including that of a woman, were found floating in the Ganga on the Kannauj-Hardoi border, police said on Sunday. The bodies, found on Saturday, have been handed over to the Hardoi police, they said.

Kannauj SP Prashant

Verma said the bodies were found floating in the river near the Badnapur Ghat on Saturday. Since the bod-ies were spotted in the area under the Hardoi district, the Hardoi police was informed, and they were handed over to the Hardoi police, Verma said. MPOST

Woman accuses Lucknow hospital doctors, staff of raping her mother; victim dies later

Three bodies found floating in Ganga

NEW DELHI: Losing a loved one is never easy but if one were to compare, there would not be a loss that could quite match the severity of losing one's parents, especially for dependent children.

The death of a parent strips away the child of not just the emotional blanket of comfort, but also in several cases takes away the financial support, leaving their futures in a lurch.

According to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), 3,621 children have been orphaned during the pandemic, and over 26,000 children have lost one parent. Ten-year-old Deepika is one of them.

She lost her father to COVID-19 less than a month back and is trying to get her life back to normal, but her mother Kalpana said "nothing will ever be normal again", and who could argue?

The sole breadwinner of the family, her 57-year old-hus-band -- an editor at a Hindi publishing house -- was gone almost in a night's span, with-

out even getting a chance at proper treatment, and now she is at a loss for ideas to secure her daughter's future.

"He had low grade fever and a slight cough, which actually got better in a few days, but one morning he suddenly col-lapsed. Although we managed to revive him then after scram-bling for an ambulance and a bed for hours, by the time we reached the hospital, we had lost him," Kalpana said.

"I remember my little

daughter running after the ambulance, pleading with me to take her along," she added, barely managing to keep it together.

The challenge with Deepi-ka's situation now is that even though she still has a mother to take care of her, the financial support has gone.

"I have always been a housewife. How am I suddenly supposed to start working? Honestly, I don't even know what I can do. And even if I do

find a job, where will I keep my daughter while I am away. We live in times where no one can be trusted," Kalpana said.

However, she has filled in a form seeking free education at her daughter's school under the Delhi government's scheme instructing schools to waive the fees for children who have lost their parents to COVID-19, but she hasn't heard anything yet.

The story of Gaurav (13) and Rohan (6), who live in Uttam Nagar, is not very different.

Their father, again the only earning member in the fam-ily, was an e-rickshaw driver making a living one day at a time, but his death has pushed the family to the depths of hopelessness.

Life was already a challenge with dipping incomes due to the lockdown. The boys' par-ents had decided to take the younger son out of school, and shift the older one to a gov-ernment one to make manag-ing finances a little easier, but before anything could happen, tragedy struck. AGENCIES

Children orphaned in pandemic stare at uncertain future, scramble for aid

3,621 children orphaned during pandemic, over 26K lost 1 parent

Three siblings show photographs of their parents who died during pandemic in New Delhi PIC/PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Defence Minis-ter Rajnath Singh has approved budgetary support of nearly Rs 499 crore for research and inno-vation in the defence sector for the next five years.

The Defence Ministry on Sunday said the funds will be used to provide financial sup-port to nearly 300 start-ups, micro, small and medium enter-prises (MSMEs) and individual innovators with a larger goal of ensuring self-reliance in the defence sector. The scheme is in sync with the government's push to cut imports of military hardware and weapons and make India a hub for defence manufacturing.

"Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved the budget-ary support of Rs 498.8 crore to Innovations for Defence Excel-lence (iDEX)-Defence Innova-tion Organisation (DIO) for the next five years," the ministry said in a statement.

It said the iDEX DIO has the primary objective of self-reli-ance and indigenisation in the defence and aerospace sector.

The ministry said the set-ting up of the iDEX framework and establishment of the DIO by the Department of Defence Production (DDP) is aimed at creating an ecosystem to fos-ter innovation and technology development in the defence and aerospace sector. "The scheme, with budgetary support of Rs 498.8 crore for the next five years, is aimed at providing financial support to nearly 300 start-ups/MSMEs/individual

innovators and 20 partner incu-bators under the DIO frame-work," the ministry said.

It said the DIO will enable the creation of channels for innovators to engage and inter-act with the Indian defence pro-duction industry. "The scheme aims to facilitate rapid develop-ment of new, indigenised and innovative technologies for the Indian defence and aerospace sector to meet their needs in shorter timelines," it said.

In the last couple of years, the government has unveiled a series of reform measures and initiatives to make India a hub of defence manufacturing.

Last August, Defence Min-ister Singh had announced that India will stop the import of 101 weapons and military platforms like transport aircraft, light com-bat helicopters, conventional submarines, cruise missiles and sonar systems by 2024.

A second negative list, put-ting import restrictions on 108 military weapons and systems such as next-generation cor-vettes, airborne early warn-ing systems, tank engines and radars, was issued this week.

Rajnath okays budgetary support for innovations in defence sector

Defence Minister addresses the gathering at the launch ‘Centre of Excellence for Road Safety & Awareness’, ‘Centre of Excellence for Roads, Bridges, Air Fields and Tunnels’ in New Delhi PIC/PTI

7millenniumpost Editorial mpKOLKATA | MONDAY, 14 JUNE, 2021

Time for reckoning

Unabated service

A series of Congress defectors to BJP have been rewarded for their political utility; it’s time for Prasada to prove his worth

The government has been persistent and meticulous in its pandemic response to serving even those at the margins — irrespective of finger-pointing

There are varied per-ceptions on Jitin Prasada’s defection to BJP — some see it

as a sign of Congress’ weak-ened authority while others as showing the door to the young leaders who could pose any challenge to Rahul or Priyan-ka’s authority. But amid all this, the important aspect of BJP’s politics has missed media and public scrutiny.

Why BJP is keen on allow-ing young leaders into its fold when it already has a litany of young emerging leaders in all age brackets? How new entrants are being treated and how they blend within BJP?

To understand this, one will have to go back to August 2015 when Himanta Biswa Sarma resigned from Congress to join BJP. Sarma had been a powerful politician in the state and ‘go-to-man’ for all kinds of politi-cal or other issues in Assam. He resigned after realising that Tarun Gogoi, his mentor, was keen to promote his son ahead of him. For BJP, it was a prized catch. Gogoi called it a ‘storm in a tea cup’ and Central leadership didn’t even react. Then came the jolt by Jyotira-ditya Scindia. Gandhi’s again treated it as good riddance to bad rubbish. Scindia helped bring BJP government in Mad-hya Pradesh. Finally, in the case of Sachin Pilot, some sense prevailed on both sides due to constraints faced by Pilot and Ashok Gehlot as well as due to internal dynamics of the party. The rebellion was doused with some helping hand of the old guard of the party. The latest in the list is Jitin Prasada, son of late Jitendra Prasada — a tall leader of UP and Rajiv Gan-dhi’s loyalist who later con-tested against Sonia Gandhi for the post of Congress Presi-dent. Jitin joined Congress to become IYC General Secretary, two-time MP and a Central

minister in UPA-1 & UPA-2 governments, spokesperson of the party, CWC member and in-charge Secretary of party’s Bengal unit.

Himanta Biswa Sarma (HBS to his admirers) proved his political astuteness by bringing all North-East rul-ing regional parties under the umbrella of NDA. After serving as finance minister in Assam and being persuaded against contesting Lok Sabha polls, Sarma worked hard to bring back the BJP government in Assam in 2021. Sarma was awarded the CM’s chair and is now well entrenched within the BJP.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, the scion of the erstwhile royal family of Gwalior, promised to bring an adequate number of MLAs into the BJP fold to bring down the Kamal Nath government. He had a loyal band of MLAs who were will-ing to risk their politics at his command. He also promised to make these MLAs win, as and when by-election caused by defection ensued. Scindia

delivered on his promise and helped BJP win maximum seats from Gwalior-Chambal and Malwa region by-elections held for 28 assembly constitu-encies. He was rewarded with a Rajya Sabha seat and is a con-tender for ministership in the Modi cabinet.

Sachin Pilot failed to mus-ter enough support from MLAs; his supporters were mainly disgruntled elements who were against Gehlot. In effect, Sachin Pilot and most of the MLAs were trying to achieve their own goals. BJP wasn’t ready to buy a half-baked cake! Sachin Pilot wasn’t an asset for BJP if he couldn’t bring down the Gehlot gov-ernment. A crestfallen Pilot returned to the party fold with some face-saving provided by the old guard and a phone call from Priyanka Gandhi after Rahul refused to engage. He was promised that his support-ers would be accommodated in the government and the party but nothing has happened in the last 10 months and resent-ment is building up again.

The defection by Jitin Prasada is in the backdrop of Congress taking prompt action on the complaints of compar-atively new entrant Navjot Singh Sidhu about his grouses against Caption Amarinder Singh and the party organisa-tion in Punjab. Jitin had been treated persona non grata in the party hierarchy. Now, BJP has hyped the issue as a big Brah-min leader joining its ranks. The brahmins seem to be turn-ing against the present UP gov-ernment. The BJP’s in-house community leaders were fail-ing and Yogi refused to mend ways. As Jitin’s supporters had been deserting him, he had earlier tried to stem the rot by creating and running a paral-lel organisation called ‘Brah-man Chetna Parishad’. It did help him. Jitin tried every trick in his book to remain relevant — from supporting Brah-min reservations on the eco-nomic ground to welcoming the Supreme Court decision on the Ayodhya Mandir-Mas-jid dispute. He even raised issues pertaining to individ-

ual victims of crimes, where Brahmins were at the receiv-ing end. The Congress leader-ship became circumspect and wary of Brahmin Chetna Pari-shad. He was first asked to tone down his association with the Parishad, and eventually to dis-band the same.

BJP is now presenting him as Brahmin leader – both in Uttar Pradesh and in Uttara-khand, electing a new legis-lative assembly in less than a year. He has to perform better or at least scale to the record set by those who have crossed over to BJP from Congress before him. Those who have shown some mettle in elec-tions, have been rewarded. In 2014, Choudhary Biren-der Singh was made a Rajya Sabha member and was also inducted into Union Cabinet, a feat he couldn’t achieve in four decades while in Con-gress. There is a high bar set by Prasada’s peers who pre-ceded him into BJP. His join-ing with Delhi is a message to Uttar Pradesh that he is impor-tant for Central leadership. He has to prove his utility in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections to command some respect, earn and enjoy politi-cal eminence, and rise in stat-ure in the saffron party. If he fails, he has a bleak future because Modi-led and Amit Shah-administered BJP doesn’t allow failure or non-perfor-mance. This is time for Jitin Prasada to perform not only to justify his anointment by the BJP but also to prove to his erstwhile colleagues that he is a leader of grassroots and not a mere dynast. It’s time for him to validate that he deserved the positions given to him in Con-gress; that he wasn’t politically pampered or mollycoddled for being close to Rahul Gan-dhi. Time of reckoning for the young politician.

Views expressed are personal

AVINASH DIXIT

RATTAN LAL KATARIA

Log on to write letters to the editor or send them to letter2editor.mp@gmail.com. You can also send your comments to The Editor,

Millennium Post, Pratap Bhawan, 5 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002

DearEditorThe passing away of veteran filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta creates a vacuum in Indian films, nay west Bengal. His films have established a new horizon of cinematic languages in Bengali as well as Hindi filmmaking after eminent filmmakers like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Tapan Sinha. Bengali poetic and cultural filmmaking river seems to be dried with his demise. His dexterity in filmmaking was exceptional. Out of his 21 films and 13 documentaries, almost all have touched the hearts of audiences. His films like ‘Samayer Kachhe’, ‘Durotto, Grihajuddha’, ‘Lal Darja’, ‘Phera’, ‘Bag Bahadur’, ‘Charachar’, ‘Tahader Katha’, ‘Uttara’ and ‘Kalpurush’ have blossomed the poetic languages of narrating films. His film career was decorated with seven national awards, an award of Golden Athena at Athens International film festival, Lifetime Achievement Award at Spain International Film Festival along with several best film, best direction and best screenplay awards. Critically acclaimed film director Buddhdev Dasgupta always viewed people’s discontent in its entirety. His mind, dejected with the deprived and oppressed, dragged him to the back of beyond and these have been drawn in some of his films. His films are the redolent of struggles of life, mostly in the lower strata, and of listless silence of the oppressed. His thoughts, reflected on celluloid, had an eye for the people who never give up the sangfroid. A symbiosis of nature and film drawing in his poetic rhythm of celluloid reached the pinnacle of glory and fame globally. Starting a hare, he used to draw the panoptic view of sequences of his stories — certainly, he had not jumped on to bandwagon commercial filmmaking. His characters in films have always left their mark, and stories were designed in such a manner that interaction with sequence becomes elastic with thoughts. His death creates a void in Bengali films.

The past month has seen a canard of lies, coordinated media campaign to dis-

credit the efforts of the Modi government to serve the most affected sections of society. The second wave of COVID-19 has undoubtedly caused great loss to many families and has brought immense pain in its aftermath. The Central Gov-ernment under the leadership of Hon’ble PM Narendra Modi feels the pain of people and has been working swiftly to address the needs of all, espe-cially those of weaker sections of society and other vulner-able groups. Serving the elderly

There is undeniable sci-entific evidence that senior citizens are generally the worst-effected by COVID-19. Based on this knowledge, Govt of India prioritised our elderly population in its vacci-nation program. The first leg of the world’s largest vaccination drive focussed on covering frontline workers and senior citizens. It is a result of this foresighted policy that almost 50 per cent of our elderly pop-ulation has received the first dose and are able to protect themselves from COVID-19.

To further ease up the process of vaccination, Govt allowed the setting up of ‘near to home’ vaccination centres for our elderly and divyang-jan. These centres are aimed at facilitating the entire vacci-nation process for our vulner-able population and safeguard them from this deadly virus.

In these series of steps, the Indian Government has recently started state-wise call centres (Toll-free number: 14567) in major states under the ELDERLINE project. The helpline has been doing a tremendous job during the ongoing COVID pandemic. For instance, in the Kasganj

district, a hungry and home-less 70-year-old elderly woman was provided with the comfort of an Old Age Home through the helpline. ‘Elderline’ also helped a 70-year-old ex-ser-viceman stranded and stuck at the Chandausi Bus stand for almost one and a half months, to reach his home. ‘Elderline’ is touching hundreds of lives daily.

Most recently, the Govern-ment has launched the SAGE (Seniorcare Ageing Growth Engine) initiative to give impe-tus to the silver economy and serve as “one-stop access” of elderly care products and ser-vices by credible start-ups. An amount of Rs 100 crores has been earmarked to promote these start-ups and create a more robust eldercare ecosys-tem in India.Taking care of orphaned children

Fulfiling our duty towards the children who have been orphaned by this pan-demic, the Modi government

launched the ‘PM CARES for Children’ scheme which offers support in terms of finance, health, and education. The monthly stipend from a cor-pus of 10 lakhs will enable the person to sustain herself from 18 years of age onwards. On reaching the age of 23 years, he or she will get the corpus amount as one lump sum for personal and professional use.

Support for primary educa-tion has been provided through Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sainik School, Navodaya Vidyalaya etc under the overall frame-work of the Right to Education Act. As far as higher education is concerned, the child will be assisted in obtaining an edu-cation loan for professional courses/Higher Education in India and the interest on this loan will be paid from the PM CARES. Moreover, as an alter-native, scholarship equivalent to the tuition fees/course fees for undergraduate/ vocational courses as per the Government norms will be provided to such

children under Central or state government schemes. For children who are not eligible under the existing scholarship schemes, PM CARES will pro-vide an equivalent scholarship.Ensuring dignity to transgenders

As the nation grapples with COVID-19, members of the Transgender community have been critically affected by the pandemic majorly because of serious disruption of liveli-hoods. The current situation in the country is compelling this marginalized community into extreme distress with an acute shortage of basic needs like food and health. Our gov-ernment took no time to pro-vide a subsistence allowance of Rs 1,500 to each Transgender person as immediate sup-port to meet their basic requirements.

Also, as transgenders facing mental health problems do not feel comfortable about seeking help due to the stigma around it, a free helpline (Helpline

Number 8882133897) for dis-tressed Transgender Persons for psychological support and mental health care has also been made functional by our government to provide coun-selling services.

Clear directions have also been issued to state govern-ments asking them to ensure that there is no discrimination against Transgender persons in existing Covid vaccination centres. They have also been requested to conduct aware-ness drives especially reach-ing out to the Transgender community in different ver-naculars to ensure they are informed and aware of the vac-cination process. A request has also been made to the states to organize separate mobile vaccination centres or booths for vaccination of Transgender persons such as those taken up in the states of Haryana & Assam.

The above are just a few of the various steps taken by the Government to ameliorate the condition of our people. It con-firms our commitment to serv-ing all sections of society and especially those who are at the margins and are worst affected by the pandemic. Contrary to the orchestrated false cam-paign to attack the Modi gov-ernment, we have been at the forefront of this fight and have taken decisive, timely inter-ventions to offer required support to people. Recently, the Prime Minister has taken another step in this direction by extending the Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana till Diwali. Our actions have always been guided by Gandhiji’s talisman and are aimed at healing the wounds of weak, poor, vulner-able and marginalized sections of society.The writer is Minister of State,

Social Justice & Empower-ment and Jal Shakti. Views

expressed are personal

Jitin Prasada is now seen as a Brahmin vote mobiliser for the BJP

— SAMIR CHAKRABORTY, HOWRAH via email

Almost 50 per cent of the elderly population has received the first dose

EDITORIALLate but welcome

The 44th GST council meeting has finally come up with tax reductions for Covid essentials — a good step that could have been better had it come ear-lier. The tax reductions, once they come into force,

will certainly add to the relief of people who are coming out of the worst days of the pandemic. After the 43rd meeting of GST Council on May 28, there had been apprehensive voices as, apart from the constitution of the Group of Ministers (GoM) to come up with its recommendation within a stipu-lated time (June 8), there was not much tangible provisioning on the Covid front. Now, as the Council has agreed to most of the suggestions made by the GoM, apprehensions must be largely addressed. The tax reductions in Covid-related essen-tials are clubbed in four categories — medicines; oxygen, oxygen generation equipment and related medical devices; testing kits and machines and other COVID-19 relief materi-als. The tax rates on most of the total of 18 essentials covered under these categories have been slashed to five per cent. Tax rates for ambulances have been cut from 28 per cent to 12 per cent and that of black fungus medicines — Tocilizumab and Amphotericin B have been slashed to nil. Earlier these rates were in the range of five per cent to 28 per cent. The rate on vaccines will be retained at five per cent. However, hushed tones of acrimony and discontentment still persist in political circles. Opposition states leaders have put forward reservations that their suggestion of zero-rating or exemp-tion for Covid essentials have not been taken into account. While the Congress leaders expressed publicly their dissatis-faction on the ‘exclusion’ of ministers from Congress-ruled states in the GoM, the West Bengal Finance Minister com-plained of his voice being muzzled. These leaders are well within their rights to express their reservations. But, at the same time, there is a need to distinguish between critical opposition and acrimonious opposition. Acrimony is well-suited in political battles but, when it comes to policymaking, the critical aspect has to take precedence — needless to say, it becomes more so important in this tough time. There are two ill effects of an acrimonious approach: one, it may pres-ent unnecessary hindrance for the ruling party (hindrance resulting from criticism is welcome but not from acrimony) and, two, it also diverts the opposition itself from the act of criticism. The role of opposition becomes equally important with that of the government when the entire nation is linger-ing under the dark phase like the present. The strength of opposition doesn’t come from mud-slinging. This is nowhere to suggest that the GST Council provisions are not without drawbacks and there is always a scope of something better. In response to the allegation of ‘muzzling of voice’, the Min-ister of State for Finance said that leader apparently did not have a stable VC connection. Further, the decision to not go for a zero-rating has been justified as the absolute exemption might disrupt the input tax credit chain which could hinder the production process. A demand for a more extended time-line for the provisions was reiterated by the opposition. Given the situation at hand, it seemed a viable option. The present timeline is up to September 30 against the GoM recommen-dation of August. Apart from the justifications provided for the provisions, the government should further allay the con-cerns raised by opposition leaders to the extent of their satis-faction — a more representative composition of groups and committees be made in. Though coming quite late, the provi-sions still hold great significance given that the third wave is expected. The proper implementation of tax reduction pro-visions could incentivize producers and help put forward a resilient structure in place which will not break India’s bone it did in the second wave. Of course, the provisions will provide immediate respite to people at large — the greatest benefit. On the front of taxation of Covid essentials, the government has made a start; the opposition should now play its part by having a critical eye on the implementation process.

Tweet of the day

HARSHA BHOGLE@Bhogleharsha

Bumrah, Shami, Ishant, Siraj. Boult, Southee, Jamieson, Wagner, Henry. Irrespective of how many of those end up playing, the #WTCFinal2021 is going to be a feast of quality seam and swing.

If Prasada fails, he has a bleak future because Modi-led and Amit Shah-administered BJP doesn’t allow failure or non-performance

Contrary to the orchestrated false campaign, we have been at the forefront of this fight and have taken decisive, timely interventions to offer required support to people

millenniumpost.in

A SIGNIFICANT VOID

8 millenniumpostWorldmpMONDAY, 14 JUNE, 2021 | KOLKATA

1 billion vaccine doses only a start: IMF chiefFALMOUTH: The Interna-tional Monetary Fund man-aging director says there's a moral imperative for the world's richest countries to back programmes to end the COVID-19 pandemic but the donation of excess vaccines is only the first step.

Kristalina Georgieva's comments in a virtual press conference at the Group of Seven summit Sunday came after UK Prime Min-ister Boris Johnson said he hoped G-7 leaders would agree to provide at least 1 bil-lion vaccine doses for poorer countries.

Humanitarian groups have welcomed the dona-tions, but are calling for money, increased produc-tion and logistical support to help developing coun-tries where the virus is still raging.

Georgieva said the dona-tions are a good step but more needs to be done to overcome the hurdles needed to deliver shots into arms.

This is a moral impera-tive, but it is a necessity for the economic recovery to stick, because we can't have the world split into two tracks without negative conse-quences,'' Georgieva said.

While almost half of the combined population of the

G-7 nations has received at least one dose of vaccine, the worldwide figure is less than 13%.

In Africa, it's just 2.2%.The war is not yet won,''

she said.British Prime Minister

Boris Johnson, the summit's host, has said the group would pledge at least 1 billion doses, with half that number coming from the United States and 100 million from Britain over the next year.

Tedros reiterated his target of vaccinating 30% of the pop-ulation of every country by the end of 2021.

He said that reaching the goal requires 100 mil-lion doses in June and July, and 250 million more by September. AGENCIES

Coronavirus variants can evade antibodies by spreading via super-cells: New research

BIRMINGHAM (UK): The antibodies we create after we're infected with a virus or vac-cinated against it can be very powerful.

A virus typically spreads within our bodies by entering a cell and using it as a factory to create copies of itself, which then burst out and find new cells to infect.

Our antibodies work by binding to the virus and this can block it from attaching to and entering our cells in the first place.

But what happens if a virus does not need to exit the cell in order to spread to neighbour-ing cells? Can our antibodies be

effective against it?Scientists recently asked

this question for SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. This highly infectious Coronavirus

can change human cells, mak-ing them fuse with two or more nearby cells. These super-cells, with large merged cell bodies, are excellent viral factories.

The super-cells, known as syncytia, share multiple nuclei (the part of the cell that con-tains the genetic material) and abundant cytoplasm (the jelly-like substance that surrounds the nucleus).

Having more of these com-ponents in one giant cell helps the virus replicate more effi-ciently. And by fusing cells, SARS-CoV-2 increases its resources without being exposed to the neutralising antibodies that slosh around outside our cells.

The study by Alex Sigal and colleagues tested two Corona-virus variants (alpha and beta) for their ability to transmit

from cell to cell and investi-gated whether this mode of transmission was sensitive to antibody neutralisation. The alpha variant (first identi-fied in the UK) is sensitive to antibodies, and the beta vari-ant (first identified in South Africa) is less sensitive to these antibodies.

The Sigal study, which is yet to be published in a scien-tific journal, revealed that cell-to-cell transmission with both variants successfully evaded antibody neutralisation. This shows that when the virus takes hold, it will be more difficult to eliminate in cells that can fuse with each other. AGENCIES

A virus typically spreads within our bodies by entering a cell and using it as a factory to create copies of itself, which then burst out and find new cells to infect

While almost half of the combined population of the G-7 nations has received at least one dose of vaccine, the worldwide figure is less than 13%. In Africa, it's just 2.2%

13 killed in hospital attack in opposition-held Syria town

BEIRUT: Missiles have hit a hospital in a northern Syrian town controlled by Turkey-backed fighters, killing at least 13 people, including two medi-cal staff, and putting the facility out of service, activists and an aid group said.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the shelling, which came from areas where government troops and Kurd-ish-led fighters are deployed.

The governor of Turkey's Hatay's province, across the border from Afrin, also said the attack on Saturday killed 13 civilians and injured 27, add-ing that it involved rocket and artillery shelling of the hospital.

The governor's office blamed the attack on Syrian Kurdish groups.

A war monitor, the Brit-ain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, put the death toll at 18. The discrep-

ancy could not be immediately reconciled.

The Syrian American Medi-cal Society, or SAMS, an aid group that assists health cen-ters in opposition areas, said al-Shifaa Hospital in the town of Afrin was targeted by two missiles.

The attack destroyed the polyclinic department, the

emergency and the delivery rooms, the group said.

Two of the 13 people killed were hospital staff and two were ambulance drivers, said SAMS, which supports the hos-pital. Eleven of its staff were injured.

The hospital has been put out of service and patients were evacuated, the group

Rash of mass shootings stirs US fears

heading into summerCHICAGO: Two people were killed and at least 30 others wounded in mass shootings overnight in three states, author-ities said Saturday, stoking con-cerns that a spike in U.S. gun violence could continue into summer as Coronavirus restric-tions ease and more people are free to socialise.

The attacks took place late Friday or early Saturday in the Texas capital of Austin, Chicago and Savannah, Georgia.

In Austin, authorities said they arrested one of two male suspects and were searching for the other after a shooting early Saturday on a crowded pedes-trian-only street packed with bars and restaurants.

Fourteen people were wounded, including two criti-cally, in the gunfire, which the city's interim police chief said is believed to have started as a dispute between two parties.

No arrests were reported by late Saturday in the two other shootings. In Chicago, a woman was killed and nine other people were wounded when two men opened fire on a group stand-ing on a sidewalk in the Cha-tham neighborhood on the city's South Side. The shooters also got away and hadn't been identi-fied by mid-afternoon Saturday.

In the south Georgia city of Savannah, police said one man was killed and seven other people were wounded in a mass shooting Friday evening, police said. Two of the wounded are children an 18-month-old and a 13-year-old.

Savannah's police chief, Roy Minter, Jr., said the shooting may be linked to an ongoing dis-pute between two groups, citing reports of gunshots being fired

at the same apartment complex earlier in the week.

It's very disturbing what we're seeing across the coun-try and the level of gun vio-lence that we're seeing across the country," he told reporters Saturday. "It's disturbing and it's senseless. The attacks come amid an easing of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in much of the country, including Chi-cago, which lifted many of its remaining safeguards on Friday.

Many hoped that a spike in U.S. shootings and homi-cides last year was an aberration perhaps caused by pandemic-related stress amid a rise in gun ownership and debate over policing.

But those rates are still higher than they were in pre-pandemic times, including in cities that refused to slash police spending following the death of George Floyd and those that made modest cuts.

There was a hope this might simply be a statistical blip that would start to come down," said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum.

That hasn't happened. And that's what really makes chiefs worry that we may be entering a new period where we will see a reversal of 20 years of declines in these crimes. AGENCIES

Philippines: Militant

wanted for beheadings, 3 others killed

DHAKA: The Bangladesh government has extended the closure of all schools and colleges till June 30, in view of a surge in Corona-virus cases, according to a media report.

On March 17 last year, Bangladesh had closed all schools to contain the spread of Coronavirus. All exami-nations were cancelled.

In a notification on Saturday, the Ministry of Education said all primary, secondary, higher sec-ondary and college-level institutions, including Ebt-edayee and Qawmi madra-sas, would remain closed till June 30, The Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.

Last month, Education Minister Dipu Moni said in-class teaching could be reopened on June 13, based on a review of the virus outbreak.

"The COVID-19 situa-tion worsened in some dis-tricts and many areas have been locked down. Consid-ering the safety of students, teachers, staff and guard-ians, and upon the advice of COVID-19 technical com-mittee, the shutdown has been extended," the newspa-per quoted the notification.

Health experts said Ban-gladesh would experience a fresh wave of COVID-19 later in the month, fuelled by the virus variant B1.617.2, which was first identified in India. AGENCIES

MANILA: Philippine troops killed four Abu Sayyaf mili-tants in a gunbattle Sunday in the country's south, including a commander blamed for behead-ings and a suspected would-be suicide bomber, military offi-cials said. Army troops backed by police were to serve a warrant for the arrest of Injam Yadah at his home after midnight in Alat village in Jolo town in Sulu province, when he and his men opened fire.

That sparked a gunbattle that killed the militants, said regional military commander Lt. Gen. Corleto Vinluan, Jr.

Yadah had been accused by the military of involvement in the kidnappings for ransom of Filipinos and foreigners, includ-ing eight Indonesian fishermen who were abducted at sea off Malaysia in early 2020 and brought to the southern Phil-ippines. Three of the Indone-sians were freed, one was shot and killed while attempting to escape and four were rescued by Filipino troops in March.

He had a reputation for being extremely violent, behead-ing captured innocent civilians and security forces alike, a mili-tary commander, Maj. Gen. Wil-liam Gonzales, said of Yadah.

Yadah had also been linked to the 2015 kidnappings of four people, including two Canadian tourists. The Canadians were separately beheaded by their Abu Sayyaf captors, including Mujir Yadah, a brother of Injam, after a deadline for ransom pay-ment lapsed, a military officer said. Another Abu Sayyaf mili-tant killed in Sunday's firefight was al-Al Sawadjaan, a bomb-maker and would-be suicide bomber, according to Lt Col. Wilfredo Borgonia, an army infantry battalion commander.

Troops seized a rifle, a pistol, bomb parts and 15 cellphones.

They also took into cus-tody Yadah's wife and three children, the military said in a statement, adding the children were rescued. Sawadjaan was a younger brother of Abu Sayyaf commander Mundi Sawadjaan, the main suspect in a num-ber of deadly suicide attacks in recent years in Sulu, a pre-dominantly Muslim province where the militants have been the target of yearslong military offensives. AGENCIES

Evidence in Mexico serial killer's house suggests 17 victims after probe

MEXICO CITY: Investiga-tors digging under the house of a suspected serial killer on the outskirts of Mexico City have said they have found 3,787 bone fragments so far, appar-ently belonging to 17 differ-ent victims. Prosecutors in the State of Mexico, which borders Mexico City, suggested the grisly finds may not end there. In exca-vations carried out since May 17, authorities have dug up the floors of the house where the suspect lived. They now plan to extend the search to the soil beneath several other rooms he

rented out on the same property.ID cards and other posses-

sions from people who disap-peared years ago were found at the junk-filled home, suggest-ing the trail of killings may go back years. The number of bone fragments found underneath concrete floors at the suspect's home would imply the corpses may have been hacked into tiny pieces. That could make sense: the suspect, identified by pros-ecutors only as "Andr s," was formerly a butcher and in fact sectioned and filleted his last victim. AGENCIES

The attacks took place late Friday or early Saturday in the Texas capital of Austin, Chicago and Savannah, Georgia

G-7 leaders agree on vaccines, China and taxing corporations

CARBIS BAY (England): Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy nations on Sunday pledged more than 1 billion Coronavirus vaccine doses to poorer nations, vowed to help developing countries grow their economies while fighting cli-mate change and agreed to challenge China's non-market economic practices and call out Beijing for rights abuses in Xin-jiang and Hong Kong.

Speaking at the end of a G-7 leaders' summit in southwest England, British Prime Minis-ter Boris Johnson praised the fantastic degree of harmony among the reenergised group, which met in person for the first time in two years.

The leaders wanted to show that international cooperation is back after the upheavals caused by the pandemic and the unpre-dictability of former U.S. Presi-dent Donald Trump. And they wanted to convey that the club of wealthy democracies Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the

United States is a better friend to poorer nations than authoritar-ian rivals such as China.

Johnson said the G-7 would demonstrate the value of democracy and human rights to the rest of the world and help the world's poorest countries to develop themselves in a way

that is clean and green and sustainable. Despite Johnson's call to "vaccinate the world" by the end of 2022 the promise of 1 billion doses for vaccine-hungry countries coming both directly and through the inter-national COVAX program falls far short of the 11 billion doses,

the World Health Organiza-tion said is needed to vacci-nate at least 70% of the world's population and truly end the pandemic.

The G-7 also backed a mini-mum tax of at least 15% on large multinational companies to stop corporations from using tax

havens to avoid taxes.Biden also wanted to per-

suade fellow democratic leaders to present a more uni-fied front to compete eco-nomically with Beijing and strongly call out China's non-market policies and human rights abuses. AGENCIES

Leaders wanted to show that int’l cooperation is back after upheavals caused by pandemic and the unpredictability of former US Prez Trump

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, center, with from left, Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, South Korea's President Moon Jae-in, US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the G7 summit in Cornwall, England PTI

A man walks through a heavily damaged hospital in the city of Afrin, Syria PTI

New Israeli govt to be sworn in, ending Netanyahu's twelve-year premiership

JERUSALEM: Israel's parlia-ment is set to vote on Sunday on a new government led by Yamina head Naftali Bennett, ousting Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu from power after an uninterrupted 12 years at the helm of affairs.

The prospective govern-ment - an unprecedented coali-tion of ideologically divergent political parties drawn from the Right, the Left and the Centre, along with an Arab party - has a razor-thin majority of one seat.

The Knesset (Israeli par-liament) is scheduled to meet at 4 PM local time and sans last-minute grand surprises, Bennett, an old-time associ-ate of Netanyahu and leader of the right-wing Yamina party, would take over the mantle from his one time mentor lead-ing a fragile government with a razor-thin majority of 61 law-

makers in a 120 member house.Ahead of the vote in Par-

liament, heads of the eight factions constituting the new coalition met to confirm the government.

Informed sources said that "they all re-affirmed their com-mitment and it was all set to go ahead .

The approval by the Knes-set would bring to an end 12 years of uninterrupted rule by Netanyahu, 71, who holds the record of being the longest-serving Prime Minister in the country's history.

Having served in the posi-tion earlier between 1996 and 1999, Netanyahu last year sur-passed the record held by one of the Jewish state's founding leaders, David Ben-Gurion.

The formation of the new government would end the political impasse in the coun-

try that saw four elections in less than two years leading to inconclusive results.

But opinion polls suggest that majority of the Israelis do not look too hopeful regard-ing the longevity of the coali-tion of eight disparate parties who do not see eye-to-eye on most of the critical issues fac-ing the country.

Bennett, 49, has entered

into a power-sharing agree-ment with Centrist leader Yair Lapid, the head of the Yesh Atid party, under which the latter would take over Premiership in September 2023, serving for two years till the end of the term.

Lapid, the leader of the sec-ond-largest faction in the Knes-set with 17 seats was invited by President Reuven Rivlin to form a coalition after Netan-yahu, leading the Likud party with 30 seats, expressed his inability to put together a gov-ernment backed by a majority of the lawmakers.

The unstable coalition that Lapid has managed to put together faces severe challenges and the glue that seems to hold them together is the 'unity of purpose' cre-ated by the agenda of ousting Netanyahu. AGENCIES

Israel's designated new prime minister, Naftali Bennett speaks during a Knesset session in Jerusalem Sunday PTI

Schools, colleges to

remain closed till June 30 in Bangladesh

12 killed, 150 injured in powerful gas explosion in central China

BEIJING: A powerful gas line explosion ripped through a resi-dential neighbourhood in cen-tral China’s Hubei Province on Sunday early morning, killing at least 12 people and injuring 150 others, including 39 critically.

The blast took place at about 6:30 am local time in the Zhang-wan district of Shiyan city in Hubei province, killing 12 peo-ple and trapping a large num-ber of people under the rubble of their homes.

Authorities have rescued nearly 150 people from the area, including 39 with serious inju-ries and rushed them to hos-pitals, state-run Xinhua news

agency reported. Chinese Presi-dent Xi Jinping called for a thor-ough probe into the cause of the blast and ordered all-out efforts to rescue the injured.

In light of numerous acci-dents at companies and on cam-puses, all must work together to shoulder their responsibilities, strengthen their political com-prehension and root out the

causes of such hazards,” Xi said.Images and video footages

circulating on social media platform Weibo showed res-cue workers pulling out people from the wreckage of flattened houses.

The explosion, which took place at a two-story building built in the early 1990s that includes pharmacies, restau-rants and other businesses, destroyed and affected residents in nearby buildings, state-run Global Times reported.

People from 913 households close to the explosion site have been evacuated, according to the local government. AGENCIES

ICA- T6756(3)/2021

ICA- T6759(3)/2021

KMDA TENDER NOTICE e-NIT No : SE(GRWW)/2W-01/2021-

22/30 Online e-Tender is invited by the Superintending Engineer, GRWW, W&S Sector, KMDA, Bidhangarh, Kolkata-700066, from eligible and resourceful contactors for the work, Name of Work, Estimated Amount, Earnest Money, Time of Completion, Repairing, Renovation, Rising & Delivery connections of 02 (Two) Nos. ESR’s and exterior painting of Existing 08(eight) nos. ESR’s and Laying of 250 mm, 300 mm and 350 mm dia D.I (K7) pipe from Cosmo Bazar to Rajani Babu and Old Municipality E.S.R at Ward No. 16 & 06 respectively and allied works within the jurisdiction of Kanchrapara Municipality under AMRUT., Rs.99,71,691/-, Rs.1,99,434/-, 45 days, Tender No. SE(GRWW)/T-01 of 2021-22, Last date & time of Online Bid submission: 07.07.2021 upto 17.30 hrs. For details contact the above office or visit KMDA website. www.kmdaonline.org (KMDA-106) www.wbtenders.gov.in

ICA- T6762(3)/2021

KMDA TENDER NOTICE e-NIT No. SE(E/M)-II/T-02 of 2021-

22 (2nd Call) Online e-Tender is invited by The Superintending Engineer (E/M)-II, KMDA, Unnayan Bhawan, 6th Floor, Salt Lake City, Kolkata-700091, from reliable, resourceful, bonafide and experienced agency for the work, Name of Work, Estimated Amount, Earnest Money, Time of Completion, Round the clock Operation and minor maintenance of clear water pumping station under 4.1 MGD water treatment plant at Garulia for 3 years., Rs.58,89,454/-(Part-I: Rs.55,37,612/- + Part-II: Rs.3,51,842/-), Rs.1,17,790/- (Balanced amount to reach @ 2% of contract/accepted amount is to be deposited before issuing of order), 36 calendar months, Last date & time of Online Tender submission: 28.06.2021 upto 12:00 hrs., For details contact the above office or visit KMDA website. (KMDA-118) www.kmdaonline.org www.wbtenders.gov.in

ICA- T6764(3)/2021

KMDA TENDER NOTICE e-NIT No : SE(GRWW)/2W-02/2020-

21/28 Online e-Tender is invited by the Superintending Engineer, GRWW Circle, Garden Reach Water Works, W&S Sector, KMDA, Bidhangarh, Kolkata-700066, from reliable, resourceful, bonafied and experienced firms / companies / individual contractors for the work, Sl. No., Tender No., Name of Work, Estimated Amount, Earnest Money, Time of Completion, (i) SE(GRWW)/T-02(R) of 2020-21 (2nd Call), Design, Construction, Commissioning & Testing of 02 (Two) nos. of Under Ground Reservoirs within Maheshtala Municipality one of Capacity 0.70 MG with Electro- Mechanical Work at Kalinagar, Ward No.10. under Maheshtala Municipality and another of Capacity 0.75 MG with Electro-Mechanical Work at Ward No.28 near Hanuman Mandir, Nungi Station Road under Maheshtala Municipality with Sub-station buildings, internal roads, drainage, illumination etc. all complete along with 03 (Three) months' trial run and Complete Operation & Maintenance of 02 (Two) UGRs for 60 months on turnkey basis., Rate to be Quoted by the tenderer, Rs.10.00 lakhs, 12 months, (ii) SE(GRWW)/T-03 (R) of 2020-21 (2nd Call), Supplying, Laying and Connections of 1200 mm Diameter SWMS Clear water Rising Main with Permanent Road Restoration at 02 (Two) nos. of Stretches a) from 5.00 MG Capacity UGR within WTP Premises towards 0.70 MG Capacity UGR at Ward No.10, Maheshtala Municipality upto about 4.0 KM length near Santoshpur railway Station More along with 02 (Two) Nos. of Pipe carrying Steel Bridge all Complete b) from 5.00 MG Capacity UGR within WTP Premises towards 0.75 MG Capacity UGR at Ward No.28, Maheshtala Municipality upto about 3.0 KM length at Chakmir More on BBT Road along with 01 (One) No. of Pipe carrying Steel Bridge all Complete along with complete Defect Liability Period (DLP) for both the Stretches for 60 months after completion of work on Turnkey Basis, Rate to be Quoted by the tenderer, Rs.90.00 lakhs, 12 months, Last date & time of Online Tender submission: 07.07.2021 upto 05.30 p.m. For details contact the above office or visit KMDA website. www.kmdaonline.org (KMDA-104) www.wbtenders.gov.in

ICA- T6769(2)/2021ICA- T6772(2)/2021

ICA- T6774(2)/2021

ICA- T6776(2)/2021

ICA- T6778(2)/2021

ICA- 848(4)/2021

ICA- T6779(2)/2021

9millenniumpost Business mpKOLKATA | MONDAY, 14 JUNE, 2021

KOLKATA: Amid COVID-19 pandemic and slump in the hospitality industry owing to lockdown and travel restric-tions, ITC Hotels is optimistic about domestic tourism pros-pects and planning to increase the number of properties under the brand Welcomhotel.

The Rs 45,000 crore hos-pitality arm of ITC, said it was planning to increase the number of properties under the brand Welcomhotel to 25 in a year’s time from 19 now.

“ITC Welcomhotel will be a 25 property brand over next 12 months,” an ITC offi-cial said.

The brand opened two properties in a span of six months. Welcomhotel Tav-leen Chail was unveiled on Thursday and Welcomhotel Shimla about six months ago. And Welcomhotel Ahmed-abad and Welcomhotel Port Blair were relaunched in March quarter.

“Collaborating with like-

minded partners who bring unique hospitality experi-ences has further strengthened ITC Hotels footprint across the length and breadth of the country,” ITC executive direc-tor Nakul Anand said.

The pandemic induced lockdowns had blown hard on the hospitality sector and not all were able to sail through.

Hyatt Hotels Corporation has suspended operations at Hyatt Regency hotel in Mum-bai, and said the property will remain closed till further notice.

“With no funds forth-

coming from Asian Hotels (West) Ltd, the owner of Hyatt Regency Mumbai, to sustain the operations of the hotel, a decision has been taken to temporarily suspend all opera-tions for Hyatt Regency Mum-bai,” the hotel had said.

With the addition of the premier mountain resort at Chail, a managed property of Welcomhotel brand, the brand currently boasts a portfolio of around 19 properties across India, officials said.

ITC said its hotel busi-ness segment EBITDA was in March quarter at Rs 25 crore

against breakeven in previous quarter and extreme focus on cost reduction and control-lable cash fixed costs down 41 per cent in FY21.

Analysts speaking about the future said hotel majors are gearing for the rush with vaccination going on steadily and economy opening up gradually, demand will spurt after the long lull. The rail-way reservations have already jumped 230 per cent. Airlines also expect a similar spurt in demand.

“Vocal for locals is gain-ing more ground as people prefer to travel motorable dis-tances post pandemic. Hence, domestic tourism is on the rise. At ITC Hotels we have always showcased destination India and this is the appropri-ate opportunity to cater to the public demand for experien-tial stays,” an ITC official said.

ITC Hotels has 100 prop-erties across four brands in over 70 locations. PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Total outstand-ing dues owed by electricity dis-tribution utilities or discoms to power producers fell 11.2 per cent to Rs 81,628 crore in April 2021 from a year ago.

Distribution companies (discoms) owed a total Rs 91,915 crore to power gen-eration firms in April 2020, according to portal PRAAPTI (Payment Ratification And Analysis in Power procurement for bringing Transparency in Invoicing of generators).

However, outstanding dues of discoms towards electricity producers have been increasing year-on-year as well as month-on-month for years showing perennial stress in the power sector till February this year. It has started tapering off from March 2021.

Total dues in April increased sequentially compared to Rs 78,841 crore in March this year.

Total outstanding dues of discoms had dipped 3.4 per cent in March this year from Rs 81,687 crore in the same month last year.

The PRAAPTI portal was launched in May 2018 to bring in transparency in power pur-chase transactions between gen-erators and discoms.

In April 2021, the total

overdue amount, which was not cleared even after 45 days of grace period offered by gen-erators, stood at Rs 68,732 crore as against Rs 76,117 crore in the same month a year ago. The overdue amount stood at Rs 67,656 crore in March this year.

Power producers give 45 days to discoms to pay bills for electricity supply. After that, outstanding dues become overdue and generators charge penal interest on that in most cases. To give relief to power generation companies (gen-

cos), the Centre enforced a pay-ment security mechanism from August 1, 2019.

Under this mechanism, dis-coms are required to open let-ters of credit for getting power supply. The Centre had also given some breathers to dis-coms for paying dues to gencos in view of the COVID-19-in-duced lockdown. The govern-ment had also waived penal charges for late payment of dues.

In May, the government announced Rs 90,000 crore

liquidity infusion for discoms under which these utilities would get loans at economical rates from Power Finance Cor-poration (PFC) and REC Ltd.

This was a government ini-tiative to help gencos remain afloat. Later, the liquidity infu-sion package was increased to Rs 1.2 lakh crore and fur-ther to Rs 1.35 lakh crore. Under the liquidity package, over Rs 80,000 crore has been

disbursed.Discoms in Rajasthan, Uttar

Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu account for the major portion of dues to gencos, the data showed.

Overdue of independent power producers amounted to 53.04 per cent of the total overdue of Rs 68,732 crore of discoms in April 2021. The pro-portion of central PSU gencos in the overdue was 30.52 per cent.

Among the central pub-lic sector gencos, NTPC alone has an overdue amount of Rs 5,167.11 crore on discoms, fol-lowed by Damodar Valley Cor-poration at Rs 5,156.34 crore, NLC India at Rs 3,416.18 crore, NHPC at Rs 2,261.05 crore and THDC India at Rs 1,134.17 crore in April 2021.

Among private genera-tors, discoms owe the high-est overdue of Rs 18,608.11 crore to Adani Power followed by Bajaj Group-owned Lalit-pur Power Generation Com-pany at Rs 4,817.12 crore and SEMB (Sembcorp) at Rs 2,364.56 crore in the month under review.

The overdue of non-con-ventional energy producers like solar and wind stood at Rs 11,296.24 crore in April, 2021.

NEW DELHI: State-owned NBCC, which is in the race to acquire Jaypee Infratech Ltd (JIL), on Sunday assured stuck homebuyers that its bid is concrete, fully backed by the government and the PSU will complete over 20,000 pending flats on time as per the schedule.

A day before the start of the voting process, the two contend-ers NBCC and Suraksha held separate webinars on Sunday with hundreds of homebuy-ers to explain their resolution plans and address doubts of flat owners. In the webinar, NBCC expressed confidence that it will get approval from Yamuna Expressway Industrial Devel-opment Authority (YEIDA) to hive off Yamuna Expressway to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and the transfer of 90 per cent stake to bankers.

NBCC CMD P K Gupta said the company has improved its plan compared with its 2019 bid, by making provisions of 100 acre land for delayed penalty.

Gupta said there is no ques-tion of failure in case of the NBCC, which he said has the support from the government.

“Our plan is very concrete and everything is very clear. We cannot hide anything. We have tried to improve the plan from the last time,” Gupta said. “We get support from the govern-ment and we are responsible to the government,” he asserted.

The NBCC CMD said that tower-wise delivery schedules have been provided in the bid.

Stating that NBCC has a major presence in the Delhi-NCR market, Gupta said: “In no time we can mobilise tech-

nical and financial resources to start the projects.” He said there is no additional burden on the homebuyers in its resolution plans. “If we are not able to sell the land, we will still be able to complete their projects.”

NBCC’s Senior Execu-tive Director (Project) Yogesh Sharma said the NBCC has put a bid to acquire JIL, with “full backing of the government.” He said the 70 per cent of the pend-ing flats will be completed over the next two and a half years.

Sharma expressed confi-dence that bankers will support its bid as they did in 2019. He said the company is offering Rs 8,700 crore to banks as against the claim of Rs 9,782 crore.

“Jaypee infra will become a subsidiary. There is no ques-tion that NBCC will not come in with resources,” he said while answering a query whether

NBCC would infuse funds in case of shortfall.

On concerns raised by homebuyers that NBCC bid is non-compliant because of lack of approval of YEIDA for trans-fer of Expressway to bankers, Sharma said: “We are 2000 per cent confirmed that YEIDA will give the permission.”

“I don’t know why every-one is worried,” he said, add-ing that the company would seek approval of YEIDA after it wins in the bidding process.

NBCC’s Chief General Man-ager (Finance) V K Choudhary also addressed various concerns of the homebuyers and urged them to vote for its bid. In its final bid, NBCC has offered 1,903 acre land to bankers and 90 per cent stake in Yamuna Expressway but will also take a debt of around Rs 2,000 crore against the road project. PTI

Outstanding dues of discoms to gencos fall 11.2% in April

Total outstanding dues of discoms had dipped 3.4 per cent in March this year from Rs 81,687 crore in the same month last year

Highlights » Discoms in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu account for the major portion of dues to gencos »Overdue of independent power producers amounted to 53.04 per cent of the total overdue of Rs 68,732 crore of discoms in April 2021. The proportion of central PSU gencos in the overdue was 30.52 per cent

The overdue of non-conventional energy producers like solar and wind stood at Rs 11,296.24 crore in April, 2021

NEW DELHI: NTPC, India’s largest integrated power gen-erating company has floated a global Expression of Inter-est (EOI) to set up two pilot projects, Standalone Fuel-Cell based backup power system and a standalone fuel-cell based microgrid system with hydro-gen production using electroly-ser at NTPC premises. Through the projects, NTPC is looking to further strengthen its footprint in green and clean fuel. NTPC will collaborate for implemen-tation and further commercial-ization of the projects.

This is in line with NTPC’s initiatives towards adopting Hydrogen technologies. It has already started a pilot for mak-ing methanol integrating car-bon captured from power plant flue gas and hydrogen from electrolysis. This is a potential solution towards “Aatmanirb-har Bharat” in field of carbon capture and green hydrocarbon

synthesis. Taking the initiative forward, NTPC is exploring use of Hydrogen based Fuel Cells-Electrolyser systems for backup power requirement. Currently, the backup power requirement

and micro grid applications are being met from diesel-based power generators.

Looking at these as early adopter use case of Hydrogen based technologies, NTPC is

working towards creating solu-tions which are a green alterna-tive to Diesel Generators. NTPC is geared up to play a pivotal role in India’s adoption of the hydrogen economy. MPOST

NTPC invites Expression of Interest for Hydrogen Fuel Cell based pilot projects

ITC to expand Welcomhotel to 25 hotels

Welcomhotel Shimla

MUMBAI: The country’s total merchandise exports are pro-jected to grow 70.1 per cent to $87.2 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2021-22 from $51.3 bil-lion in the year, Export-Import Bank of India (India Exim Bank) said.

The non-oil exports may jump 68.5 per cent to $78.26 billion in the April-June period as compared with $46.4 billion in the corresponding period of fiscal 2020-21, it said.

“The sharp rise in India’s exports could be attributed largely to the low base effect, pick up in global oil prices, and strong growth in advanced economies,” according to a quarterly forecast by India Exim Bank. While the peak of the second wave of infections of the COVID-19 pandemic wit-nessed in the country during

the end April-May 2021 could have subdued exports during the quarter to some extent, out-bound shipments from India have nevertheless been rela-tively resilient, it said.

The forecasts are based on India Exim Bank’s Export Leading Index (ELI) model, which has shown an upward movement during the same quarter, it said. PTI

India’s Q1 merchandise exports may grow to $87.2 bn: Exim Bank

The non-oil exports may jump 68.5 per cent to $78.26 billion in the April-June period as compared with $46.4 billion in the corresponding period of FY2020-21

MUMBAI: State-run Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) is look-ing to raise up to Rs 2,000 crore through qualified institutional placement (QIP) route before July-end, its Managing Direc-tor and CEO A S Rajeev said.

In April this year, the Pune-based lender had received board approval to raise Rs 5,000 crore by way of QIP/rights issue/ preferential issue

or by issuing Basel III bonds.“We are planning to raise

around Rs 2,000 crore equity through QIP immediately. The process has already started and we will raise it before July-end, Rajeev said.

The base size of the issue is Rs 1,000 crore and it has a greenshoe option of another Rs 1,000 crore, he said.

Following this equity raise,

the government’s holding in the bank will reduce to below 85 per cent from 94 per cent currently, and the capital ade-quacy ratio will improve to 17-18 per cent from around 14.49 per cent as of March 31, 2021, Rajeev said.

This fund will be deployed for expansion of the loan book, which the bank is looking to grow by 16-18 per cent to

around Rs 1.25 lakh crore in this fiscal from Rs 1.08 lakh crore as of March 31, 2021, he said. Of the total loan book of the bank at present, the share of corporate loans is 37 per cent and of retail, agriculture and MSME (RAM) segment is 63 per cent, he said adding, “We want the ratio of RAM to the corporate segment to be 65:35 during the current fiscal.” PTI

DUBAI: Abu Dhabi sover-eign fund ADQ is in talks to invest about $500 million in India’s Flipkart, according to people familiar with the mat-ter, as the Walmart Inc.-backed e-commerce firm raises funds ahead of a potential initial pub-lic offering next year.

The oil-rich emirate’s new-est state investment company is discussing an injection of funds that would value Flipkart between $35 billion and $40 billion, the people said, ask-ing not to be identified as the information is private. The fun-draising would come ahead of a planned IPO that could take place as soon as 2022, they said.

Flipkart is seeking to raise at least $3 billion and could decide to increase the amount to as much as $3.75 billion, as investors have shown signifi-cant interest, the people said.

Considerations are ongoing and the talks could fall apart, the people said. Representa-tives for Flipkart didn’t imme-diately respond to a request for comment made outside busi-ness hours in India.

Flipkart is seeking to raise at least $3 billion from a group of investors including SoftBank Group Corp., Singapore’s GIC Pte and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Bloom-berg News reported June 7 citing people familiar with the matter. The group also includes the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the emirate’s largest sovereign wealth funds, the people said at the time. ADQ, formerly known as Abu Dhabi Devel-opment Holding Co., has been one of the most active inves-tors in the Middle East since its inception in 2018. AGENCIES

ADQ in talks to invest $500 million in Flipkart

BoM plans to raise up to `2,000 cr via QIP

‘Our bid to acquire JIL compliant, govt backed’

NBCC CMD P K Gupta said the company has improved its plan compared with its 2019 bid, by making provisions of 100 acre land for delayed penalty

STOPPAGE OF SALE OF PLATFORM TICKETS BY RAILWAYS

10 millenniumpostBusinessmpMONDAY, 14 JUNE, 2021 | KOLKATA

MUMBAI: With RBI-mandated loan restructuring and mora-toriums ebbing the tide of bad loans among corporates, ARCs have been banking on retail loans to drive business in the pandemic-hit FY21 and player like Edelweiss ARC expects the industry-wide retail assets under management to hit nearly half of the overall pie.

The Rs 1.5-lakh-crore asset reconstruction market com-prises over a dozen players led by Edelweiss ARC that controls over 30 per cent of the market, and the soon-to-be operation-alised national bad bank, to be funded mostly by public sec-tor banks and guaranteed by the government, will add to the

clutter of the market and has private players fearing the gov-ernment guarantee unlevelling their fields.

The pandemic-hit FY21 has seen tepid overall growth for asset reconstruction companies (ARCs), but retail loan portfolio grew faster adding at least 25 per cent more to the assets under management (AUM).

According to industry play-ers, lenders like HDFC Bank, Indusind Bank, IDBI Bank, Federal Bank and non-banks like Bajaj Finance among oth-ers have been aggressively sell-ing their stressed retail books — auto, home and personal loans as well credit cards dues to ARCs like Edelweiss, Phoenix

ARC owned by Kotak Mahindra Bank, JN Financial and Reliance ARC among others since the past few years. While Reliance ARC snaps up only retail loans, for Phoenix ARC comprises 20 per cent of its Rs 8,500-crore total book/AUM.

Rashesh Shah, chairman and chief executive of Edelweiss Financial Services Group whose ARC arm sits over an AUM of Rs 40,8000 crore, and has made a recovery of Rs 5,400 crore in FY21 from 179 accounts, sees over the next two years around 50 per cent of overall ARC assets coming in from retail loans.

The retail portfolio of Edel-weiss ARC is around 10 per cent now, but it will be “deleverag-

ing the corporate portfolio and focusing on retail going for-ward, while at the industry level it’s about 20 per cent. But I see this touching almost half of the market over the next two years”, Shah said. Going forward, focus will be more on snapping up retail loans as it gives higher margins and better recovery rates, Shah added.

“For the past two years retail NPAs have been rising, while corporate NPAs coming down due to the moratorium and restructuring allowed by the Reserve Bank. This has seen interest rising among ARCs for retail assets,” Sanjay Tibrewala, the chief executive of Phoenix ARC, said on Sunday. PTI

NEW DELHI: Realty major DLF aims a 30 per cent jump in its sales bookings to Rs 4,000 crore this fiscal, as the com-pany expects a rise in housing demand despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company will launch various projects, comprising 8 million square feet of sale-able area, to tap this growing demand for residential prop-erties, especially those built by trusted developers. In a confer-ence call with analysts, DLF’s new CEO Ashok Kumar Tyagi gave sales bookings guidance of Rs 1,000 crore per quarter dur-ing the current financial year.

During the financial year

2020-21, DLF sold residential properties worth Rs 3,084 crore, up 24 per cent from the previ-ous year, despite muted sales in April-June 2020 due to a nation-wide lockdown. DLF’s Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Vivek Anand said the company is committed to delivering on sales bookings guidance.

“Internally, we are gearing for even higher number,” Anand said adding that sales would be slow in the current quarter due to the second wave.

On supply, DLF’s CFO high-lighted that the company targets to launch eight million square feet area in the current fiscal.

It is set to launch project in

the national capital being devel-oped in joint venture with Singa-pore sovereign wealth fund GIC.

After receiving good cus-tomer response for independent floors in Gurugram, DLF said it will launch more such products in the market for sale.

DLF Senior Executive Direc-tor (Business Development) Aakash Ohri said the demand is there is all the housing segments — mid-income and luxury.

He highlighted that monthly rentals in DLF’s luxury apart-ments are also high, generat-ing good return for investors.

In its analyst presentation, DLF said: “Residential demand had exhibited strong rebound

during the later part of FY21. Q1FY22 may be impacted due to the lockdown restrictions.”

The company noted that growth drivers like affordabil-ity, consumer sentiments and desire to own a home remain fundamentally in place and these would continue to aid in demand recovery in the housing segment. DLF said the real estate industry witnessed a structural positive shift in housing demand in 2020-21. “Consolidation and increase in market share for larger and credible develop-ers were witnessed and may continue to gather momen-tum in the future,” the com-pany observed. PTI

NEW DELHI: Former RBI Gover-nor D Subbarao has expressed con-cerns over “extreme unevenness” in economic recovery and “sharpening inequalities” between upper income segments and lower income house-holds in the country, cautioning that the trend will hit growth prospects going forward.

Terming the uneven recovery “morally wrong and politically corro-sive”, he said liquidity in the domestic market and foreign fund inflows are leading to soaring of prices of stocks and other assets despite disruptions due to Covid pandemic. The ex-cen-tral bank governor further said that earlier expectations of a sharp eco-nomic recovery this year have been dashed by the new pandemic wave.

“The economy contracted last year, for the first time in four decades, by as much as 7.3 per cent. That was less deep than we had first feared but still deep enough to have caused distress to millions of fami-lies in the informal sector. There was expectation of a sharp recovery this year but those expectations are now tempered by the impact of the sec-ond wave,” Subbarao said. The RBI too reduced its growth forecast for the current fiscal by one percentage point, from 10.5 per cent to 9.5 per cent, he said adding that even 9.5 per cent growth might seem impressive but note that this is coming on a very low base of last year.

“Even if we clock this growth rate, the output during this fiscal 2021/22

will still be less than the output two years ago before the pandemic hit us. Compare that with China which never fell below its pre-pandemic level and the US which is expected to recover to its pre-pandemic level this year,” the former RBI chief said. Expressing concerns, Subbarao said that while the majority of people have lost jobs and saw reduction in their income, the wealth of some rich individuals have increased dur-ing the pandemic period.

“The positive wealth effect of the upper income segments juxtaposed with the negative income effects of the lower income households tells a story of a very uneven recovery and sharpening inequalities. This is mor-ally wrong and politically corrosive,”

he said adding that it will also have a big impact on growth prospects going forward.

Explaining further, he said the booming stock market is in fact “symptomatic of the extreme unevenness of this recovery”.

The domestic liquidity coupled with foreign inflows is fuelling stock prices as also prices of other assets, he said. “Who benefits from this? Peo-ple who have investable surpluses.”

“Contrast that with the findings of a study by the Azim Premji Uni-versity that the one year of Covid-19 pandemic has pushed 230 million people into poverty with a 15 per cent increase in poverty rate in rural India and a 20 per cent surge in urban India,” he said citing the find-ings of a study. “Add to that CMIE data showing that the unemploy-ment rate has gone up as high as

12 per cent in May, 10 million jobs have been lost just on account of the second wave and 97 per cent of the households in the country have experienced declines in incomes,” Subbarao added.

To a query on urban-rural divide, he said the second COVID-19 wave has hit villages and “we are hearing grim tales of loss of lives and live-lihoods”. “Poor households have run down their savings for medi-cal expenses, and given the weak medical infrastructure in the vil-lages, rural households are also much more uncertain and anxious about the impact of a possible third wave,” Subbarao said.

He added that the forecast of a normal monsoon should act to coun-

terbalance some of these fears and anxieties. On being asked about the fiscal measures necessary to support households in distress, Subbarao said the government is under intense fis-cal pressures.

“Even so, it is absolutely neces-sary to provide some safety-nets to households in distress,” he said.

Noting that MNREGA proved to be a very effective stabiliser last year, Subbarao said the finance minister can make an open-ended commit-ment to finance MNREGA to the full extent of demand.

“If it turns out that there is no uptake for MNREGA because of fear of the virus, direct cash trans-fers may become necessary but that should be the last resort,” he said. PTI

OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The railways’ earnings from platform tick-ets took a severe hit in 2020-21 with revenue from sale dip-ping by about 94 per cent as compared to the previous year due to restrictions imposed on entry into stations because of the coronavirus crisis, a RTI has found.

In a reply to a RTI query from Madhya Pradesh-based Chandra Shekhar Gaur, the railways said it earned Rs 10 crore till February in 2020-21 through sale of platform tickets.

In 2019-2020, the railways netted Rs 160.87 crore which was the highest earning from platform tickets for the national transporter in the last five years, the RTI has found.

The railways took the step to restrict overcrowding at railway stations even before the nation-wide lockdown was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2020.

With the divisional railway managers empowered to decide on the rate of platform tickets and the decision on whether to restrict entry, several railway zones completely denied entry and allowed only valid ticket

holders entrance for most of the year. Later, a decision was also taken to increase the prices of platform tickets from Rs 10 to Rs 30 and even Rs 50 in certain zones in an effort to dissuade people from entering stations.

The railways, however, maintained that the rise in prices of tickets was tempo-rary and a measure to counter the pandemic.

Revenue from platform tickets has lingered around

the Rs 131 crore mark except 2018-2019 when it shot up to Rs 139.20 crore.

In 2019-20, it touched the Rs 160 crore mark, but dipped severely to Rs 10 crore in 2020-21 until February this year.

With the easing of restric-tions, the Northern Railways -- the largest zone of railways -- on Saturday announced that they have decided to restart the sale of platform tickets at eight major stations in the Delhi

Division.The rates of the platform

ticket have been enhanced to Rs 30 per ticket in order to pre-vent unnecessary crowding at the station, it said.

The eight stations where passengers can avail of the plat-form ticket facility include New Delhi, Delhi Junction, Hazrat Nizamuddin, Anand Vihar Ter-minal, Meerut City, Ghaziabad, Delhi Sarai Rohilla and Delhi Cantt railway stations.

NEW DELHI: The IPO market is getting back on track after a lull of two months, with four companies launching their ini-tial share-sales next week to raise Rs 9,123 crore collectively.

The last initial public offer-ing (IPO) was that of Macrotech Developers (erstwhile Lodha Developers), which opened dur-ing April 7-9.

Shyam Metalics and Energy Ltd and Sona BLW Precision Forgings (Sona Comstar) will launch their IPOs on Monday, while Krishna Institute of Med-ical Sciences and Dodla Dairy will be open for public subscrip-tion on Wednesday, information with exchanges showed.

In addition, Clean Science & Technology expects to hit the primary markets in the first week of July 2021 with IPO size of Rs 1,500 crore, while India Pesticides is likey to come out with its public issue this month or July, Yash Gupta, Equity Research Associate at Angel Broking, said.

“The equity markets are flushed with liquidity and retail participation is at an all-time high. It is difficult to imagine a better time frame for small and mid cap companies to raise pub-lic money. So, it is quite natural for companies to tap the IPO market,” Naveen Kulkarni, Chief Investment Officer, Axis Secu-rities, said.

The companies are raising funds to retire their debt, fund-ing capital expenditure require-ment and for general corporate purposes.

Auto component maker Sona Comstar’s Rs 5,550-crore

IPO comprises fresh issue of shares amounting to Rs 300 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) aggregating up to Rs 5,250 crore by selling shareholder Singapore VII Topco III Pte Ltd, an affili-ate of the Blackstone Group Inc.

The issue, with a price band of Rs 285-291 a share, will open on June 14 and close on June 16.

The Rs 909-crore IPO of Shyam Metalics and Energy Ltd, leading integrated metal producing company, consists of fresh issuance of equity shares worth up to Rs 657 crore and an OFS to the tune of Rs 252 crore by existing shareholders.

The price band has been fixed at Rs 303-306 per share for the IPO, which will open for public subscription during June 14-16.

Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences’ IPO comprises fresh issue of shares aggregating up to Rs 200 crore and an OFS of up to 2,35,60,538 equity shares from promoters and existing shareholders.

Those offering shares in the OFS include General Atlantic Singapore KH Pte Ltd, Dr Bhas-kara Rao Bollineni, Rajyasri Bol-lineni and Bollineni Ramanaiah

Memorial Hospitals.The company has set a price

band of Rs 815-825 a share for its three-day initial share-sale, which will conclude on June 18.

At the upper end of the price band, the IPO is expected to fetch Rs 2,144 crore.

The IPO of Dodla Dairy comprises fresh issuance of shares worth up to Rs 50 crore besides an OFS of up to 1,09,85,444 equity shares by TPG Dodla Dairy Holdings Pte Ltd, Dodla Sunil Reddy, Dodla Deepa Reddy and Dodla Fam-ily Trust.

The leading dairy company in South India has fixed a price a band of Rs 421-428 a share for its initial share-sale, which will open for public subscription on June 16 and conclude on June 18. At the upper end of the issue price, the IPO is expected to garner Rs 520 crore.

Shares of these companies will be listed on BSE and NSE.

According to Angel Broking’s Gupta, this will be a very good opportunity for the retail investors to make money due to listing gains in a very short time of period.

So far this year, 17 firms have come out with IPOs to raise Rs 17,503 crore.

Apart from this, compa-nies including Utkarsh Small Finance Bank, Glenmark Life Sciences, Rolex Rings and Seven Islands Shipping have received Sebi’s go-ahead to float the IPO.

Moreover, around 26 com-panies are awaiting Sebi’s approval to launch the ini-tial share-sale, data with Sebi showed. PTI

Earnings from platform tickets fall by 94% in FY21Replying to a RTI query railways said it earned Rs 10 crore

till February in 2020-21 through sale of platform tickets

In 2019-2020, the railways netted Rs 160.87 crore which was the highest earning from platform tickets for the national transporter in the last five years, the RTI has found

Highlights » Railways took the step to restrict overcrowding at railway stations even before the nationwide lockdown was announced by Prime Minister in March 2020

» Later, a decision was also taken to increase the prices of platform tickets from Rs 10 to Rs 30 and even Rs 50 in certain zones in an effort to dissuade people from entering stations

Four IPOs to hit mkts next week; cos eye `9,123 crore

The companies are raising funds to retire their debt, funding capital expenditure requirement and for general corporate purposes

NEW DELHI: Overseas investors pumped in a net Rs 13,424 crore so far in June as risk-on sentiment improved with declin-ing Coronavirus cases and hopes of early opening of economy.

Depositories data showed that foreign port-folio investors (FPIs) invested Rs 15,520 crore in equities during June 1-11.

At the same time, for-eign portfolio investors withdrew Rs 2,096 crore from the debt segment dur-ing the period under review.

The total net inflow stood at Rs 13,424 crore.

This comes following a net withdrawal of Rs 2,666 crore in May and Rs 9,435 crore in April.

Other emerging mar-kets like Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia and Phil-ippines saw month to date FPI inflows of $188 mil-lion, $140 million, $138 million and $125 million, respectively.

On the contrary, Taiwan saw month to date foreign portfolio investor outflows of $829 million. PTI

Pvt asset reconstruction cos moving to retail loans as national bad bank nearing reality

NEW DELHI: Domestic equity markets would track inflation data, the pace of Coronavirus vaccination and reopening of the economy this week, say analysts.

Market participants are also awaiting the US central bank’s monetary policy meeting for its stance on continuing stimulus measures, they said.

“This week, India’s infla-tion data for May will be the key economic driver in the domestic market. On the global front, the Fed’s monetary pol-icy meeting will be in focus as the market awaits its stance on continuing stimulus mea-sures,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Nirali Shah, Head of Equity Research, Samco Securities said the US FOMC meet would keep markets volatile.

During the last week, the 30-share BSE benchmark jumped 374.71 points or 0.71 per cent. The 30-share benchmark touched a life-time high of 52,641.53 points on Friday.

“Investors will con-tinue to monitor economic data and COVID-19 related updates,” said Sumeet Baga-dia, Executive Director, Choice Broking.

“The key factors to watch out remains the pace of vac-cination and the re-opening of the economy. We would also be watchful of trends in global liquidity and the policy stance of central bankers,” Shibani Sircar Kurian, Senior EVP & Head- Equity Research, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company said.

Besides, movement of Brent crude, rupee and for-eign institutional investors (FIIs) would also be watched by investors. PTI

‘Stock markets to follow Federal interest rate decision, inflation data’

NEW DELHI: Leading exchanges BSE and NSE will suspend trading in the shares of Dewan Housing Finance Cor-poration Ltd (DHFL) with effect from Monday. The move, aimed at avoiding “market complica-tions”, comes against the back-drop of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approv-ing Piramal Group’s resolution plan for the bankrupt-DHFL.

The resolution plan under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) was approved by the tribunal on June 7. In separate but similarly-worded circulars issued on Friday, BSE and NSE said they would suspend trad-ing in the shares of DHFL with effect from June 14.

The approved resolution plan provides for delisting of equity shares of the company.

As per the circulars, the company made an announce-ment on June 9, saying that “no value was attributable to the equity shares as per the liqui-dation value of the company estimated by registered valuers appointed under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regula-tions, 2016”.

According to the circular issued by BSE, “to avoid mar-ket complications, trading in the securities of Dewan Hous-ing Finance Corporation Lim-ited will be suspended w.e.f June 14, 2021”. PTI

Exchanges to suspend trading in

DHFL shares from Monday

‘Income inequalities telling story of ‘uneven’ economic recovery’He said liquidity in domestic market & foreign fund inflows are leading to soaring of prices of stocks despite disruptions

Former RBI Governor D Subbarao

DLF targets 30% growth in sales bookings to `4k cr during FY22; to launch 8 mn sq ft area

NEW DELHI: Five of the 10 most valued companies together added Rs 1,01,389.44 crore in market valuation last week, with IT majors Tata Con-sultancy Services and Infosys grabbing the limelight.

While Reliance Industries Limited, Tata Consultancy Ser-vices, Infosys, Hindustan Uni-lever Limited and Bajaj Finance were the gainers, HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and Kotak Mahindra Bank witnessed erosion in their market valuation.

The valuation of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) jumped by Rs 47,551.31 crore to reach Rs 12,10,218.64 crore,

becoming the biggest gainer among the top-10 companies.

Infosys added Rs 26,227.28 crore to take its valuation to Rs 6,16,479.55 crore.

The market capitalisa-tion of Reliance Industries gained Rs 14,200.35 crore to Rs 14,02,918.76 crore and that of Bajaj Finance rose by Rs 7,560.02 crore to Rs 3,69,327.31 crore.

The valuation of Hindu-stan Unilever Limited went higher by Rs 5,850.48 crore to Rs 5,56,041.95 crore.

In contrast, HDFC’s valua-tion declined by Rs 10,968.39 crore to Rs 4,61,972.21 crore and that of HDFC Bank dipped Rs 8,249.47 crore to Rs 8,20,091.77 crore.

ICICI Bank’s market cap-italisation diminished by Rs 4,927.52 crore to Rs 4,40,035.66 crore and that of State Bank of India witnessed an ero-sion of Rs 3,614.47 crore to Rs 3,83,356.69 crore. The valua-tion of Kotak Mahindra Bank dipped Rs 2,924.02 crore to Rs 3,55,927.86 crore. PTI

Five of top-10 valued companies add more than `1 lakh cr in mcap

FPIs invest `13,424 cr in markets in June so far

11millenniumpost Sport mpKOLKATA | MONDAY, 14 JUNE, 2021

Sterling gives England 1-0 win over Croatia at Euro 2020

LONDON: Raheem Sterling grew up in the shadow of Wem-bley Stadium as it was being rebuilt, even getting a tattoo of its famous arch on his left forearm.

Now playing for his country at the iconic venue, he used his right foot to give England the start it had been longing for at the European Championship.

The winger's goal his first in a tournament in his 13th match through four competitions gave England a 1-0 win over Croatia on Sunday in its opening Euro 2020 game.

"I always said to myself ... growing up two minutes down the road, I've got to score," Ster-ling said.

"It's a great feeling doing it."Never before had England

made a winning start to the con-tinental tournament in nine pre-vious tries.

Far more comfortable than in the loss to Croatia in the 2018

World Cup semifinals, this was an England side packed with youthful debutants and with Sterling, still only 26, the team's most experienced tournament

player. Sterling, who has strug-gled for game time at Manches-ter City in recent months, found the breakthrough for England in the 57th minute. It was the

vision of Kalvin Phillips, one of five England starters making their tournament debut, that created the opening.

The Leeds midfielder shook

of challenges before releasing Sterling, who slipped a shot into the net via a touch off Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.

The sparkling moment for Sterling came two days after he was named in the queen's birth-day honours list for his cam-paigning against racial injustice.

But at the first England game at Wembley with fans since 2019, there was a sour start when players taking a knee were jeered by their own fans. That was despite pleas from the England team to respect the anti-racism gesture.

There was a more unified atmosphere among the crowd of about 20,000 at the end as fans sang the team's "Three Lions" anthem while the play-ers applauded them.

England's next game in Group D is against Scotland on Friday at Wembley. Croatia will play the Czech Republic in Glasgow. AGENCIES

There was a more unified atmosphere among the crowd of about 20,000 at the end as fans sang the team's ‘Three Lions’ anthem

New Zealand secure rare away Test series win against England

BIRMINGHAM: England endured its first Test series defeat at home since 2014 after meekly surrendering to New Zealand in less than an hour of play on the fourth day of the second Test at Edgbaston on Sunday.

The result was almost a cer-tainty when the teams arrived at the ground after the home side's batting collapse a day ear-lier all but assured the touring side of a decisive victory. And it did not take long to confirm the result.

Resuming on 122-9, Eng-

land lost its final wicket to the very first ball of the morning when Olly Stone poked Trent Boult timidly to wicketkeeper Tom Blundell.

That left a paltry target of 38 to take the two-match series 1-0 and the Black Caps became the first away side since Sri Lanka seven years ago to win in England with an eight-wicket victory.

Stuart Broad and Stone took a wicket apiece as Devon Conway nicked behind and Will Young dragged down his own stumps, but there was little

more than ironic cheering from the stands.

Tom Latham, captaining what was a weakened side in the absence of top-ranked bats-man Kane Williamson, levelled the scores by nudging Mark Wood for four and won it with a steer to the third-man bound-ary. He finished 23 not out, with Ross Taylor not facing a ball at the non-striker's end.

In total there had been just under an hour of play, with a total of 11 overs, which meant that full refunds were due for those in attendance. AGENCIES

NZ dislodge India from top

spot in ICC Test rankings

DUBAI: New Zealand on Sun-day dislodged India from the top spot in the ICC Test team rank-ings after their series-clinching win over England in Birming-ham. The Kiwis beat England by eight wickets to win the two-match Test series 1-0 ahead of the World Test Championships final against India in Southamp-ton from June 18.

New Zealand, who were sec-ond behind India in the previ-ous ICC team rankings update, jumped to top spot by gaining three rating points. The Kane Williamson-led side now have 123 rating points against India's 121 in the latest rankings. New Zealand, however, have lesser overall points of 2593 from 21 matches as compared to India's 2914 from 24 matches. Australia are third with 108 rating points while England (107) and Paki-stan (94) are fourth and fifth respectively. AGENCIES

Son penalty helps S Korea advance in Asian World Cup qualifying

SEOUL: Son Heung-min sent a message of support to former Tottenham Hotspur teammate Christian Eriksen on Sunday after his second-half penalty gave South Korea a 2-1 win over Lebanon in Asia's second round of World Cup qualifying.

Sonny Saad gave Leba-non a surprise lead in Goyang after just 12 minutes but it was erased early in the second half by a Song Min-kyu header.

Son converted a penalty in the 66th minute and appeared to say "Chris, stay strong, I love you," to television cameras in a message of support for Erik-sen who collapsed on the field while playing for Denmark in a European championship game against Finland on Saturday.

Son's goal, his first for his country since 2019, means that South Korea is one of the eight group winners who will prog-ress automatically to the third round, scheduled to start in September. Lebanon will have to wait until the second round ends on Tuesday to find out if it goes into the next stage as one of the best four runners-up.

Advancing a one of the top runners-up is also the only way China can add to its sole World Cup appearance in 2002. A win over Group A leader Syria on

Tuesday will be enough but a draw will leave the team need-ing results in other groups to go its way.

"We know what we have to do," said China coach Li Tie after his team's 5-0 thrashing of the Maldives on Friday, its third successive win.

"We know that Syria is a strong team but the players are looking forward to the chal-lenge. Everything is going as

planned."Iran, seeking a third succes-

sive World Cup appearance, is also in second place and needs a win over Group C leader Iraq in Bahrain to be sure of advanc-ing. After losing to Iraq and Bahrain in November 2019, Iran has returned to form with three comfortable wins this month, the most recent a 10-0 beatdown of Cambodia on Friday.

"I enjoyed that performance but the game is over and now we focus on Iraq, said Dragan Skocic, Iran's Croatian coach.

"We respect Iraq and I hope my team play as they played against Hong Kong, Bahrain and Cambodia in their previ-ous matches."

Bert van Marwijk led his native Netherlands to the final of the 2010 World Cup, where the Dutch lost 1-0 to Spain, and exited at the group stage with Australia in 2018. To be sure of a place in the next stage of Asian qualifying, his United Arab Emirates team needs to defeat Group G leader Vietnam in Dubai.

"For me, Vietnam together with Thailand are our stron-gest opponents. Vietnam plays a different system; we know that," Van Marwijk said.

"The players already know what to do when you play against a system like that but Vietnam have also good results, so it will be a tough game and we need to keep fighting."

Australia and Japan have both won all seven games so far in the second round to seal progress early and will extend their perfect records if they defeat Jordan and Kyrgyzstan, respectively. AGENCIES

Son's goal, his first for his country since 2019, means that South Korea is one of the eight group winners who will progress automatically to the third round

NEW DELHI: Selected in FC Bayern's world squad (U-19), Sudeva FC captain Shubho Paul was a bit sur-prised but the young Indian footballer is determined to make the country proud when he goes to Germany for training.

The 17-year-old forward was selected from U-19 play-ers from around the world through video footage anal-ysis by FC Bayern legend and 1990 World Cup winner Klaus Augenthaler.

"I was surprised to see my name there. But it's really an amazing feeling. I need to make my nation proud, once I go there (in Germany)," Paul told the official AIFF website.

"I want to play in such a manner that they should look at my game and think that a good player has come out of India. Ultimately, I would love to make it to both the Bayern and India senior teams." Paul will now travel to Mexico, where the squad of 15 will train for 13 days, before flying off to Germany. The world squad (U-19) will play matches against local teams, including the FC Bay-ern U-19 side. AGENCIES

Oz swimmer breaks

100-meter backstroke

world recordADELAIDE: Swimmer Kay-lee McKeown says the death of her father 10 months ago inspired her to break the 100-meter backstroke world record on Sunday at the Australian Olympic trials.

The 19-year-old McKeown had a time of 57.45 seconds at the South Australian Aquatic Centre to improve on the previ-ous mark of 57.57 set by Ameri-can Regan Smith in 2019.

McKeown's father Sholto died last August from brain can-cer. "With COVID and the pass-ing of my dad in August last year, it has been a huge, huge build-up to these trials," she said. "And I have turned it into a bit of a hunger and motiva-tion behind me. I use it every day that I wake up. I know it's a privilege to be on this earth and walk and talk. So to get up and do that tonight is not really for me but my family." McKeown last month set a then-Common-wealth and Australian record of 57.63. Just before Sunday's final, her coach Chris Mooney signaled the world record was a target. AGENCIES

England's Raheem Sterling, center, celebrates after scoring his side's opening goal during the Euro 2020 soccer championship group D match between England and Croatia at Wembley stadium in London, Sunday PTI

New Zealand players celebrate with the winners trophy after their win in the second cricket test match between England and New Zealand at Edgbaston in Birmingham, England, Sunday PTI

Krejcikova completes titles sweep in Paris with Siniakova

PARIS: French Open cham-pion Barbora Krejcikova com-pleted a rare sweep of titles at Roland Garros as she won a third women's doubles major trophy with fellow Czech team-mate Katerina Siniakova on Sunday.

Less than 24 hours after she claimed her maiden sin-gles slam title, Krejcikova became the first woman since Mary Pierce in 2000 to lift both trophies at the clay-court major. Only seven women have completed the titles sweep at Roland Garros.

"Right now after all of this happened, this last two weeks, last two days, I feel really relieved and relaxed," Kre-jcikova said.

"I just know from now on I can really enjoy because I have pretty much achieved every-thing I really wanted. Now I can just improve, that's the only thing I can do, just improving."

In addition to her pair of trophies, Krejcikova will reclaim the No. 1 spot in the doubles rankings next week.

"We will have a little bit glass of champagne," Kre-jcikova said. I already said I don't really drink but I think it's a time to actually celebrate it. I think we going to really enjoy."

Krejcikova, who defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for the women's singles title on Saturday, also became the first player to sweep both titles at any Grand Slam tournament since Serena Williams at Wim-bledon in 2016.

Krejcikova and Siniakova are both 25 but have extensive experience playing together, having started their partner-ship in the juniors back in 2013. It clearly showed in their 6-4, 6-2 win over Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Iga Swiatek in Sun-day's final as they converted

five of their seven break points.After racing to a 4-0 lead in

the opening set, they resisted a late comeback from their rivals with an efficient display at the net. Krejcikova served out the set at love as Mattek-Sands missed a tough back-hand volley.

The Czech pair won the last four games and sealed the match with Siniakova's final backhand winner. Siniakova and Krejcikova had already won in Paris in 2018 and claimed the Wimbledon tro-phy the same year. AGENCIES

Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova, right, and compatriot Katerina Siniakova hold the cup after defeating USA's Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Poland's Iga Swiatek in their women's doubles final match of the French Open tennis tournament Sunday, in Paris PTI

Djokovic tops Tsitsipas in 5 at French Open for 19th major

PARIS: Novak Djokovic came all the way back after dropping the first two sets to beat Stefa-nos Tsitsipas 6-7 (6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in the French Open final Sunday for his 19th Grand Slam title.

Djokovic's second trophy at Roland Garros moves him one major championship away from tying the men's record of 20 shared by Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

It also puts reigning Austra-lian Open champion Djokovic halfway to a calendar-year Grand Slam, something no man has accomplished since Rod Laver in 1969.

The 34-year-old Djokovic eliminated 13-time French Open champion Nadal in a semifinal that lasted more than four hours Friday night.

That might be why the 22-year-old Tsitsipas had the upper hand early, and Djokovic looked drained for two sets.

Eventually, though, he started making fewer mistakes, got his best-in-the-game return-ing on track, served almost flaw-lessly down the stretch and was able to complete his sixth career comeback from two sets down and second of the past week.

Indeed, the International

Tennis Federation said Djokovic who trailed 19-year-old Lorenzo Musetti two sets to none in the fourth round is the first man in the professional era to win a Grand Slam tournament after twice facing a 2-0 deficit in sets.

Experience could have been a factor, too.

This was the first major final for Tsitsipas and 29th for Djokovic, who also won the French Open in 2016, along with nine titles at the Australian Open, five at Wimbledon and three at the U.S. Open.

Of just as much, if not more,

significance to the ultimate out-come Sunday: Djokovic entered the day with a 34-10 record in five-setters including a men's-record 31 wins in Grand Slam matches of that length while Tsitsipas was 5-4.

On a sunny and breezy afternoon, with the tempera-ture approaching 80 degrees Fahrenheit (over 25 degrees Cel-sius), Tsitsipas needed just over 100 minutes to grab a big lead Sunday. But the tenacious and talented Djokovic did not quit, grabbing early breaks in each of the last three sets. AGENCIES

Mankad among 10 ICC Hall of Fame special inductees

AHEAD OF WTC FINAL

DUBAI: The ICC on Sun-day inducted 10 icons of the game, including India's Vinoo Mankad, into its illustrious Hall of Fame with two players each from five eras, dating back to cricket's early days, making it to the list.

The announcement has been coincided with the inau-gural World Test Champion-ship final, to be played between India and New Zealand from June 18 in Southampton.

"The 10 legends of the game to be inducted have all made a significant contribution to the history of Test cricket, and join an illustrious list of ICC Hall of Famers, taking the total number to 103 as a result of this intake," the ICC said in a statement.

The inductees are Aubrey Faulkner of South Africa and Monty Noble of Australia for the early era (pre-1918), Sir Learie Constantine of West Indies and Stan McCabe of Australia for the inter-war Era (1918-1945), Ted Dexter of England and Vinoo Mankad of India for the post-war Era (1946-1970).

Desmond Haynes of the West Indies and Bob Wil-lis of England were inducted from the ODI era (1971-1995) while Andy Flower of Zimba-bwe and Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka were from the mod-ern era (1996-2016).

Considered one of India's greatest-ever all-rounders, Mankad played 44 Tests, scored 2,109 runs at 31.47, took 162 wickets at 32.32.

He was an opening bats-man and slow left-arm ortho-dox bowler. His most famous feat was against England at Lord's in 1952 when he scored 72 and 184 and bowled 97 overs in the match.

He is one of only three cricketers to have batted in every position during his Test career. Later, he also coached another legendary cricketer and fellow ICC Hall of Fame member from his country, Sunil Gavaskar in Mumbai.

On Mankad's induction, Gavaskar said: Vinoo Mankad's legacy has been to tell the aspir-ing Indian cricketer to believe in oneself. He was a great pro-

ponent of self-belief.""He was the one who kept

saying to me that you need to keep scoring runs and keep at it. When you get a 100, let that be the knock on the selector's door. If it is unheard, then score that double hundred and let that knock be even louder."

"You can have the best tech-nique, but if you do not have the temperament to support it you will not succeed, you have to keep hanging in there and have that self-belief. That was the greatest lesson I learnt from him."

One of the greatest wick-etkeeper-batsmen and astute captains of the modern era, Sangakkara played 134 Tests, scored 12,400 runs at 57.40, took 182 catches and effected 20 stumpings, and was grace personified at the crease. He ended his career as the most prolific run-scorer of his country.

An era earlier, Haynes was one half of the most prolific opening batting partnership in Test history alongside Gor-don Greenidge. He played 116 Tests, scored 7,487 runs at 42.29. He featured in four ICC World Cups in the ODI era.

Willis spearheaded the English bowling attack during some of their most memorable moments.

He played 90 Tests, taking 325 wickets at 25.20. AGENCIES

Serbia's Novak Djokovic reacts after winning a point against Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece during their final match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium Sunday, in Paris PTI

The announcement has been coincided with the inaugural World Test Championship final, to be played between India and New Zealand from June 18 in Southampton

Paul: I was surprised to

get selected in Bayern U-19 world squad

12 millenniumpostLeisurempMONDAY, 14 JUNE, 2021 | KOLKATA

LOS ANGELES: Veteran actor-comedian Billy Crystal has said that he found the 2021 edition of the Academy Awards to be “disappointing”.

The Oscars, which were held in April this year after being delayed by two months due to the corona-virus pandemic, turned out to be a dull affair. The ceremony ended up being the least-viewed Academy Awards telecast on record in the United States.

Crystal, who previously hosted the Oscars nine times, was asked whether he would emcee the cere-mony again during his appearance on ‘The Jess Cagle Show’.

The actor, however, did not seem too enthused.

“One of the last times I hosted the show, the economy was just in shambles. And I said, ‘That’s what people want to see: millionaires giving each other gold statues.’ It made no sense... It’s very problematic,” Crystal said, drawing a comparison

between that ceremony and the most recent Academy Awards.

Critically-acclaimed features ‘Nomadland’, ‘The Father’, ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’,and ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ were nomi-nated in the best picture category this year, but Crystal believes they were not “audience-friendly”.

“(They) were not audience-friendly in a way beautiful films; they needed to be celebrated more,” the 73-year-old actor added.

All in all, the ceremony lacked entertainment, Crystal noted.

“You have to give (viewers) some entertainment, and there wasn’t any. And that was disap-pointing,” he said. PTI

LONDON: Oscar-nominated actor Riz Ahmed has called out Hollywood for the stereo-typical and “toxic” portrayal of Muslim community in its films.

Ahmed, who became the first Muslim to get a best actor Oscar nomina-tion, recently launched the initiative, the Blueprint for Muslim Inclusion, to increase the community’s representation in cinema.

In a video posted on his social media handles, Ahmed said, “The problem with Muslim misrepresen-tation is one that can’t be ignored any more.”

The 38-year-old British-Pakistani actor said it was a “bittersweet” moment for him when he was nominated

at the 2021 Oscars for his per-formance in ‘Sound of Metal’.

“I simultaneously wore that slightly dubious accolade with a sense of gratitude personally... I also felt tremendous sadness. How was it that out of 1.6 bil-lion people - a quarter of the world’s population - none of us had ever been in this position until now?

“I asked myself, if I’m the

exception to the rule, what must the rule be about people like me?” Ahmed said.

The actor asserted that the problematic portrayal of Mus-lims in cinema is something that cannot be fixed by a “hand-ful of prominent Muslims in the business”.

“The progress that’s being

made by a few of us doesn’t paint an overall picture of prog-ress if most of the portrayals of Muslims on screen are either nonexistent or entrenched in those stereotypical, toxic, two-dimensional portrayals,” he added.

Ahmed singled out Oscar-winning movies – ‘American Sniper’, ‘The Hurt Locker’ and ‘Argo’ - as ‘frankly racist’.

“(These) films dehumanise and demonise Muslim char-acters, insofar as they are the perpetrators or victims of vio-lence, unworthy of empathy or incapable of empathy,” the actor said.

Similarly, he criticised Amazon’s smash hit series ‘The Boys’.

“(It is) a show that I loved and binged. (But) I can’t tell you how gutted I was when halfway through that show Mus-lim’s turn up, the first and only time, to hijack a plane. PTI

Riz Ahmed slams H’wood for ‘toxic’

portrayal of Muslims

Bengal and Punjab have a long shared history and inter-twined destiny. One small

thread of this beautiful bond has not been spoken about much - the innate love for food.

Having been married to a true blue Punjabi and settled in Kolkata, I have often heard from my husband, “This is not authentic Punjabi Dhaba food”. He would often repeat this in the famous eateries and even the fine dining restaurants of the city of joy. But recently, he found a place that according to him, serves authen-

tic Punjabi cuisine. The place that

recreated nostalgia for him is ‘The Ballygunge Dhaba’ - a quaint old spot, running since 1938. Without any garish paints or the stereotypi-cal Punjabi decoration, this simple-looking family-run Dhaba on the Ballygunge Phari serves very authen-tic food, he opined. To verify his tall claims, I ordered from this place and within half an hour, a packet full of food and intoxicating aroma arrived home. The breads and dry items were wrapped in aluminum foil whilst the gravies were in white plastic containers.

THE ORDERChicken Lasooni Kebab (Rs 265

per plate), Chicken Tikka But-ter Masala (Rs 310

per plate), Mutton

Rogan Josh (Rs 280 per plate), Cream Peas Masala (Rs 150 per plate), Dal Makhani (Rs 150 per plate), Tan-doori Roti (Rs 18 per piece), Butter Naan (Rs 60 per piece), Masala Kul-cha (Rs 75 per piece).

FIRST IMPRESSION The food was hot and I was quite

impressed with the quantity. Some dishes seemed a little oily, but then that is common in Dhaba food. Off

the bat, what I particularly liked at the first glance was that the Roti was still soft and hot. A cold Roti loses its flavour and texture, so this was a sure plus point.

AFTER TASTEThe Dhaba had both North

Indian and Chinese dishes on its menu, but we stuck to the former. For starters, I ordered the Chicken Lasooni Kebab. Gladly, there were 6 good-sized pieces of chicken enveloped seemingly in a thick

curd-based paste of ginger, garlic and other spices, grilled to perfec-tion. However, the flip side was that the other spices had overpowered the flavour of garlic and it was not ‘lasooni’ enough for a kebab.

The Chicken Tikka Butter Masala had bite-sized succulent chicken pieces in a tomato-based spicy and tangy thick gravy laden with butter. Though it tasted good, the chicken pieces had not been char-grilled before being cooked in the

gravy. Hence, the dish was not really authentic.

Hailing from Kashmir, I was mighty excited to see Mutton Rogan Josh on the menu. The base of the Rogan josh curry was fried tomato and onion ground to a paste and then cooked with the fried mutton pieces with a lot of oil and spices and a dash of rose water. The mut-ton dish tasted divine and had good 4 pieces in one plate. But it’s not the way Kashmiri Pandits make it. Nei-ther tomato nor rose water is tradi-tionally used in the dish.

Being a hard-core non-vegetarian, I rarely find the vegetarian part of a meal highly impressive but the Cream Peas Masala was unexpectedly yummy with the sweetness of cream and undertones of spiciness. The peas used were fro-zen and sweet. The star of the order was good old Dal Makhani. It was the way it should be - creamy, thick, and spicy. The Dal was authentic and is much recommended. Make sure you consume it fresh.

As for the bread basket, all the breads were well-cooked. The best thing about Tandoori Roti was that it was made of atta (whole wheat flour) and not maida, making it a healthier and more rustic authentic Punjabi option. The Butter Naan was garnished with a generous amount of caraway seeds and butter. The Masala Kulcha was stuffed with mashed potatoes, crushed corian-der leaves and a lot of chilli powder. The size of the breads was rather big and one bread was sufficient for a person. I did not order any dessert.

WHAT I LOVEDI loved that all gravies had a

unique flavour and the food was fresh. Many times, various dishes

have the same gravy base which is quite annoying but luckily, this wasn’t the case with this order. The Cream Peas Masala, Dal Makhani and Tandoori Rotis were out of the world but I didn’t like Lasooni Tikka and Chicken Tikka Butter Masala for the reasons mentioned above.

VERDICTOverall, my experience was

good. The North Indian fare was a bit Mughlai-inspired rather than truly authentic Punjabi or Kashmiri cooking. They even serve Biryani, Rolls and Chinese and have two des-sert options (Kesar Kulfi and Kaju Firni). And lastly, whenever you have a craving for authentic, Dhaba-style Dal Makhani and Tandoori Roti, this is your go-to place.

(The columnist is a food con-noisseur who loves experimenting

with culinary delights and a career bureaucrat in the IRS Income Tax)

Mini Punjab in the heart of CalcuttaAUTHOR

PRIYANKA DHAR KAPUR

Ballygunge Dhaba, a quaint old spot, run-ning since 1938 in Kolkata, serves authen-tic Dhaba-style Punjabi cuisine. Read on to know what to order from the menu to treat yourself this week

Apart from starters and main course, the place serves different kinds of bread including Tandoori Roti, Butter Naan and Masala Kulcha

Billy criticises Oscars for lacklustre ceremony

The award ceremony held in 2021 ended up being the least-viewed Academy Awards telecast on record in the United States

Comedian-actor Mallika Dua took to her social media account to

share the news of the demise of her mother, Padmavati Dua, also known to many as Chinna Dua.

Chinna Dua breathed her last on Friday night after fighting a long battle against Covid-19.

Mallika Dua shared a heartbreak-ing note as she posted about her moth-er’s untimely death, “I was born to god and she chose me to be her child. That’s how incredibly lucky I am. It aches way too much right now but my brave friends who hold similar grief tell me it gets better. Thank you ma for choos-ing to be my mother. You are my god. Thank you my ma.”

Her caption along with this note read, “Love of my life. My first and greatest love. Thank you for choos-ing me.”

Celebrities paid their tribute to Chinna Dua. Mira Kapoor posted in the comment section of Mallika Dua’s post, “It feels like a personal loss.. Will fondly remember Chinna Ji.” She

added, “Sending you love, strength & prayers .”

Mini Mathur wrote, “I’m so so sorry for your colossal loss, Mal-lika. Wishing you all the strength to bear this grief. And Moms never really leave their kids .. I hope you know that.”

Padmavati Dua was a well-known radiologist and wife of journalist Vinod Dua. She and her husband had both been admitted to Gurgaon’s Medanta Hospital on May 14. AGENCIES

Bollywood’s young-est superstar Urvashi Rautela is going

through strenuous training for her upcoming action film. The actress recently uploaded a video on her social media where she is being punched on her belly by her trainer con-tinuously as a part of the training.

She captioned iy, “NO PAIN NO GAIN.

He clocks me right in the gut. Getting walloped is part of my action film absorbing his blows ”.

Getting punched in the belly is considered to be a prime part of the training for boxers, MMA fighters and other martial arts athletes.

Moreover, Urvashi Rautela will be flying Sweden especially to be trained by the Sweden-

based trainer Magnus Lygdback who trained Gal Gadot in the film ‘Wonder Woman’.

Urvashi Rautela is not only versatile in acting but also con-sistent when it comes to putting hard work in the gym, the actress even does hardcore pilates.

On the work front, Urvashi Rautela will be making her Tamil debut with a big-budget sci-fi Tamil film in which she will be playing the role of a microbi-ologist and an IITian. She will also be seen in a bilingual thriller ‘Black Rose’ along with the Hindi remake of ‘Thirutu Payale 2’. PTI

Urvashi Rautela is training hard

for her next filmShe uploaded a video where she is continuously being punched on her belly by her trainer

MUMBAI: As somebody who dreamt of becoming a quintessen-tial “hero” as a child, ‘The Family Man’ star Sharib Hashmi’s journey in the film industry has been noth-ing short of a real-life success story, full of “ups and downs”.

Hashmi is currently enjoying the fruits of his hard work with the overwhelming response towards the second season of ‘The Fam-ily Man’.

The 45-year-old actor, who plays the happy-go-lucky intel-

ligence officer JK Talpade on the Amazon Prime Video series, said he is inundated with congratula-tory calls, messages from the audi-ence, as well as industry peers, since the June 4 premiere of sea-son two.

“The first season had set a

benchmark for itself and it was an advantage for all of us. Person-ally, for season one I received a lot of love but this time the reaction has been crazy. This is happening for the first time in my career. I am on cloud nine. Things are out of control.”

“I didn’t expect it to surpass my expectations and I am feeling very emotional about it. For years I was craving for recognition and I am glad I got it from JK, Hashmi said in an interview.

It has been a long road for the actor. PTI

‘Was craving for recognition for years’

In a video posted on his social media handles, Ahmed said, ‘The problem with Muslim misrepresentation is one that can’t be ignored any more’

He also launched an initiative to increase community’s representation in cinema

He is currently enjoying the overwhelming response towards his show ‘The Family Man 2’

Mallika Dua’s mother passes away due to Covid