NATION 5

DECCAN
AN HERA
RALD
Monday
July 13, 2020

SOG notice, the last straw that hit Gehlot-Pilot arrangement
elections virtually pushed the
Someministers, Congress government in the
state to the brink.
MLASalsoserved Pilot, who is also the Rajast-
han Congress chief, took of-
similarnotice fence to the notice and left for
Delhi on Saturday along with
▼ someMLAssupportinghimto
plead his case before the partyty
SAGAR KULKARNI high command.
NEW DELHI, DHNS The notice given on July 10
byAdditionalSP,SOGsaidthat
chiefwhip torecordtheirstate-
ments on the complaint filed
by the Congress against the
BJP, accusing the saffron par-
ttyy of trying to lure MLAs with
money.
Gehlot on Saturday main-
tained that he will abide by the
noticesgivenbytheagency. Pi-
lotclaimedtohavethesupport
ofatleasttw twodozenMLAswho
werelodgedindifferenthotels
Govt in talks with
Japan to reduce
THERAJASTHANCONGRESSSAGA Pilotbeing‘sidelined’:Scindia cost of bullet
July 10 : Special Operations Group serves notice on train project
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Deputy CM Sachin Pilot to
record statements in the Congress complaint of horse-
NEW DELHI, PTI: With faction-
alism hitting the Congress
bility find little
credence in AJITH ATHRADY
trading against the BJP. governmentinRajasthan,BJP the Congress,” NEW DELHI, DHNS
July 11 : Gehlot addresses press conference, accuses leader Jyotiraditya Scindia Scindia tweet-
BJP of trying to buy MLAs by offering Rs 10-15 crore. took a swipe at his former par- ed. Aimed at reducing the cost
Pilot leaves for Delhi to meet AICC leaders. ttyy, saying talent and capability
ty Scindia had ofMumbai-Ah Ahmedabadbul-
find “little credence”there. Jyotiraditya left the Con- let train project and giving
July 12 : Pilot remains incommunicado, triggers buzz HeclaimedthatRajasthan’s Scindia gress a few it aMake-in-Indiatouch,the
of joining the BJP along with his supporters Deputy ty Chief Minister Sachin months ago Centre is in talks with Japan

N
otices sent by the Spe-
cial Operations Group
(SOG) to Rajasthan
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot,
his deputy Sachin Pilot to re-
cord statements in the case
of allegations of horse-trad-
ing ahead of the Rajya Sabha
theywanttorecordstatements
of Pilot under 160 CrPC and a
similar notice was given to Ge-
hlot. As the notice led to a full-
blowncontroversy,Gehlotclar-
ified that similar notices were
served on some ministers and
MLAs,includingtheCongress’
in Delhi and Gurugram.
A section of the party be-
lieves that the controversy
was an attempt of posturing
by Pilot, who wants to contin-
ue as the Rajasthan Congress
president,aposthehasheldfor
more than six years.
Gehlot parades 3 ‘Pilot supporting’ MLAs and summons Pilot was being “sidelined and
meeting of Congress MLAs, Independent MLAs persecuted” by Chief Minister
supporting government in Jaipur. Ashok Gehlot.
“Sadtoseemyerstw twhilecol-
Congress Legislature Party meeting at 10:30 am on league Sachin Pilot, too, being
Monday in Jaipur. sidelined and persecuted by
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot.
Shows that talent and capa-
and joined the BJP as he be-
lieved that he was being mar-
ginalised by senior party ty lead-
ers in Madhya Pradesh.
There has been speculation
thatSachinPilot,too,hasbeen
facing similar issues in Rajast-
han.
to explore the possibility ty of
Indian companies taking
some of the highly special-
ised engineering jobs.
With the government
gauging that post-Covid-19
period economic situation
may force it to cut down the
cost on several big-ticket
projects,theIndianRailways
is working on reducing the

Covi
vid-19
costofanambitiousproject.
IN BRIEF OFF TO SAFE SANCTUARY Railway Minister Piyush
Goyal speaking at India
Global Week on Saturday
hinted the government’s
Airtel, Vodafone

cases rise in
plan to review the financial
told to withhold aspect of the project.
While insisting that the
premium plans government’s commitment

Karnataka,
► NEW DELHI, DHNS: Tele- to implement the project,
com Regulatory Authority ty the minister said: “Certain-
of India (Trai) has blocked ly Covid-19 has been a little
Bharti Airtel’s Platinum bit of spanner in terms of
and Vodafone Idea’s RedX the ambitions that we had

Bengal & UP
premium plans which offer
faster data speeds and
priority
ty services to cus-
tomers. While asking twtwo
companies to withhold the
tw
two schemes until further
order, the Trai said such
schemes might harm the
around the bullet train pro-
ject and we are relooking at
all the projects in terms of
the post-Covid world that
will entail a lot of tightening
of the belt.”
NEW DELHI, DHNS numbersforWestBengalwere
1,334 and 1,560 respectively.

service quality
ty of mobile
users.
India-EU virtual
summiton
Wednesday
► NEW DELHI, DHNS: Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
will hold a virtual summit
with European Union (EU)
leaders on Wednesday. The
15th India-EU virtual sum-
mit will be co-chaired by
Modi, the President of the
European Council, Charles
Michel, and the President
of the European Commis-
sion, Ursula von der Leyen.
“The Summit will review
India-EU cooperation
covering political and se-
curity
ty relations, trade and
investment and economic
cooperation,”Anurag
Srivastava, spokesperson of
the MEA, said.
3 ultraskilled
inKashmir
encounter
► SRINAGAR, PTI: Three
militants were killed in an
encounter with security ty
K India to procure
arnataka,UttarPradesh,
Telangana,WestBengal
haveemergedasthenew
hotspots of Covid-19 as the
statescontinuedtoreportnew
infections at a greater pace,
while India crossed the 8.5
lakh mark of the fast-spread-
ing disease.
India added a record 28,637
cases of Covid-19 infection on
Sunday morning, pushing the
country’stallyto8,49,553. Ac-
cording to the DH Covid-19
Tracker, India had 8,78,474
total confirmed cases of the
disease, while the death toll
hadtouched23,152at8.30pm
on Sunday.
Karnatakaisreportingfresh
infectionsatafasterpacethan
Delhi, which had shown con-
sistentimprovementinrecent
days.
While Karnataka added
2,798 new cases on Saturday
and 2,627 cases on Sunday,
Delhi reported an increase of
1,781 and 1,573 cases on the re-
spective days.
Uttar Pradesh has reported
1,392 new cases on Saturday
and 1,384 on Sunday while the
Ahmedabad’s ‘multi-prong’ plan to rein in spread
Maharashtra had 8,139 new
cases on Saturday and 7,827
on Sunday.
“The recovery rate has im-
proved to 62.93%,” the Health
Ministry said as 5,344,621
persons had recovered from
the disease on Sunday. The
country at present has 1,370
dedicated Covid-19 hospitals,
3,062 Covid health centres,
and10,334Covidcarecentres.
Enablingfactorslikeremov-
ing all impediments to Cov-
id-19 testing and facilitating
widespread testing by states
and UTs continue to result in a
steady rise in the total number
of samples tested every day, it
said.
AccordingtoICMR,acumu-
lative total of 1,15,87,153 sam-
ples have been tested till July
11,with2,80,151samplestested
on Saturday.
Acrucialfactorinrisingtest-
ing numbers is a continuous
expansion of the countryw ywide
diagnostic lab netw twork, which
as on date, comprises 850 labs
in the government sector and
344 private labs (total of 1,194
labs), the ministry added.
72,000 assault
rifles from US
A wild deer crosses the National Highway-37 in search of a safer place near the flood-hit Kaziranga National Park in Naga- NEW DELHI, PTI: The Indian
on district of Assam, on Sunday. Flood situation in Assam turned grim again with nearly 13 lakh people in 24 districts Army is fast-tracking the
being affected and two more persons drowned on Sunday. PTI procurement of 72,000
Sig Sauer assault rifl
fles for
its troops from the United
States as part of infantry
Adayafterstir,localsaccordwelcometohealthworkers modernisation, people fa-
miliarwiththedevelopment
said on Sunday.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, thura were angry after facing Someofthemputtheirhead ing antigen tests on Sunday. The procurement is tak-
DHNS isolation from various quar- inside the car and coughed, Women and men showered ing place at a time when the
ters following media reports saying that if the people of flowers at the vehicles of Army is engaged in a tense
A day after attacking health- on rising virus cases in the re- Poonthura were infected, let the medical team and priest border row with Chinese
care workers, locals in Poon- gion. They also blamed poor it spread to everyone. Bebinson Anthoniadimai of PLA in eastern Ladakh.
thura, a coastal area of Thiru- Covidcarefacilitiesandinsuf- The incident was widely the local church received the The Army is implement-
vananthapuramcity ty accorded ficientsupplyofessentialcom- condemned and many social team with bouquets. ing a mega infantry mod-
fflloral reception to a medical modities in the locality
ty which workers and religious heads ernisation programme un-
team as an act of remorse. was declared a containment of the locality carried out a Spike in Kasaragod cases der whichalargenumberof
Of the 489 Covid-19 active zone for their problems. massive awareness campaign Kasaragodisagainwitnessing light machine guns, battle
cases in Thiruvananthapu- To protest against this, a among the people. Govern- serious concerns over Cov- carbines and assault riflfles
ram, a major chunk is from group of local people came ment agencies ensured an id-19 as 41 of the 56 people, are being purchased to re-
Poonthura. The locality outonthestreetsandstageda adequatesupply offooditems whotestedpositive,gotinfect- placeitsageingandobsolete
has been confirmed as su- protest on Friday. During the andbetterCovidcarefacilities. edthroughlocalcontacts.The weapons.
per-spread of Covid-19 and melee, a car in which a health Thesepromptedthepeople totalactivecasesinthedistrict
strict restrictions were im- teamcameforconductingrap- ofPoonthuratoaccordawarm reached 222. Of the 435 cases
posed. id antigen tests were blocked reception to the health team inthestate,206werethrough
India needs a
ThecoastalpeopleofPoon- by the agitated locals. that came down for conduct- local spread.
‘Manmohan
Singh’: Pawar
Aishwarya,daughtertobe MRITYUNJAY BOSE
MUMBAI, DHNS

forces in Baramulla district
of Jammu and Kashmir on
Sunday, police said. Securi-
ttyy forces launched a cordon
and search operation
underhomeisolation
NCP supremo Sharad Pawar
SATISH JHA the note. has said India needs another
AHMEDABAD, DHNS COVID-19 Tracker Under the Epidemic Act MUMBAI, DHNS: A day after saidassistantmunicipalcom- Manmohan Singh to pull the
1897,thelocalbodydesignated Bollywood actor Amitabh missioner Vishwas Mote. country
ry out of the current fi-

around midnight in Reban
area of Sopore town follow-
ing information about the
presence of militants there,
a police official said.
Devotee offers
2 kggold in
Tirumala
► TIRUPATI, PTI: An
unidentified devotee has
offered 20 gold biscuits
to the shrine of Lord Ven-
kateswara at Tirumala Hills
a top official of the temple
said on Sunday. The gold
biscuits totally weighing
tw
two kg were found in the
‘hundi’on Saturday when
the day’s collection was
being counted.
T
he Ahmedabad Munici- States/UT Infected Death States/UT Infected Death 62privatehospitalswithanag- Bachchan and his actor-son While the Bachchan fa- nancialcrisis.
pal Corporation (AMC) Maharashtra 254,42710289 9 Bihar 16,305 125 gregate capacity ty of over 3,150 Abhishek Bachchan tested ther-son duo is admitted to “We knew we were going
claimed that its “mul- Tamil Nadu 138,470 1966 Assam 16,071 35 bedsfortreatingpatients.This positive for Covid-19, other the Nanavati Super Specialtyty through a financial crisis...
ti-prong strategy” has worked Delhi 112,494 3371 Odisha 13,121 64 is in addition to 3,000 beds in members of his family were Hospital in Vile Parle, Aish- Singh (as finance minister)
in containing the spread of Gujarat 41,897 2047 J&K 10,513 179 government-run hospitals also tested positive. warya and Aaradhya are un- gave a new direction to the
the virus, which was running Karnataka 38,843 684 Kerala 7,873 31 which doubled the inventory While Amitabh’s wife Jaya der home isolation. country... He pulled India
rampant. Uttar Pradesh 36,476 934 Punjab 7,821 199 to over 6,000. As on Friday, tested negative, their daugh- In the morning, state out from the financial crisis,”
A note written by AMC Telangana 34,671 356 Others 24,023 148 the number of active patients ter-in-law Aishwarya Rai health minister Rajesh Tope Pawar said in an interv
rview to
commissioner Mukesh Ku- West Bengal in the city
ty was less than 4,000. Bachchan and granddaugh- said both Amitabh Bachchan the Shiv Sena mouthpiece
30,013 932
mar gives a glimpse into the Andhra Pradesh 29,168 328
Unassigned 3,024
The other strategy focused ter Aaradhya got tested pos- andAbhishekBachchanwere Saamana.
civic body’s fight. According Rajasthan 24,392 510 23,152 45 on symptomatic patients and itive. tested with rapid antigen PawarcreditedbothSingh
to the note, the civic body Haryana 21,240 301 TOTAL COVID NON-COVID those falling in the high-risk The BrihanMumbai Mu- method.“Bothtestedpositive and former PM Narasimha
used “various strategies from Madhya Pradesh 17,632 653 DEATH DEATHS* groupsuchaselderly,children, nicipal Corporation (BMC), and are having an old cough Raowithtriggeringeconom-
testing symptomatic patients, patients with comorbidities meanwhile,sanitisedthebun- and fever. Bachchan-ji has ic reforms in the country.
enhancing treatment capacity ty for their early treatment. The galows of the Bachchans— specifically said in his tweet “They (Singh and Rao) took
by roping in private hospitals 301,461 553,816 878,474 local body preferred treating Jalsa, Pratiksha, Janak and that all people who came in thevehicletoanewdirection
anddesignatingthemasCovid TOTAL ACTIVE TOTAL TOTAL patientswhowereindireneed Vatsa, in Juhu area, falling contact with him past five to andtheeconomywasbackon
hospitals”to reininthespread. CASES RECOVERED INFECTED ofmedicalattentionthanthose under K/West ward, and seven days should get tested the road,”said Pawar. Asked
Officials also focused on the DHNS/PTI (10 PM, JULY 12) *PATIENTS DEAD DUE TO NON-COVID REASONS who were asymptomatic. sealed them to declare them and quarantine themselves,” ifIndianeedsanotherSingh,
treatment of “non-Covid pa- AMC officials said they de- as containment zones. he said. hesaid:“100%...”
tients suffering from diabetes, to open their establishments overall comorbidity ty in the city
ty ployed 128 Dhanvantri Rath Around30-plusstaffmem- Veteran actor Anupam When pointed out that
blood pressure, heart ailment for providing health services”, resulting in reducing the mor- mobile clinics, which conduct- bers, who work here, have Kher’s mother Dulari and Modiconsidershimhisguru ru,
etc. by insisting private hospi- Kumar’s note states. bidity
ty risk to high-risk groups ed over 4.54 lakh OPD consul- been put in isolation. “The other family members too Pawar said: “By saying so he
tals,nursinghomesandclinics “Thishashelpedinreducing over 60 years of age,” states tations. contact-tracingisunderway,” tested positive. putsmeintrouble.”

DECODING LOCKDOWN

68%ofIndiansbelieveweekend 48 test positive

in Telangana
curbsaremeaningless:Survey Raj Bhavan
HYDERABAD, DHNS: Forty
ty-
SHEMIN JOY negligible or minor impact on containing eight people, including
NEW DELHI, DHNS the spread of Covid-19,” the survey said. 20 policemen, have tested
“Over ttwo-thirds of the citizens in positive for the Covid-19

T
wo-third people who were part of
a survey believe that the week-end
lockdowns imposed in several cities
and states are either “meaningless”or
have “minor”impact on tackling Covid-19
pandemic.
At the same time, 69% citizens of those
surveyed by LocalCircles felt that a strin-
gent lockdown in 49 districts which have
India’s 80% caseload is needed to contain
the spread of the pandemic.
To a question on whether they found
the weekend lockdown useful, 28% of the
around 16,000 surveyed answered in af-
firmative while 44% were of the view that it
was “meaningless” while 24% said that the
impact would be “minor”. “This means 68%
of citizens believe weekend lockdowns have
the survey believe that these weekend after tests were conduct-
lockdowns have no or little effectivity
t and ed at the Telangana Raj
instead a targeted 3-4 week lockdown in all Bhavan.
districts that make up 80% of India’s case- Telangana governor Dr
load is the best way forward,”it said. Tamilisai Soundararajan
Asked about the strategy for 49 districts who also took the test is
with the high caseload, 46% supported negative. While a total
a complete lockdown for three weeks or 395 samples were tested
more while 23% said a lockdown should in Raj Bhavan, 347 came
be implemented like it was done betw t een negative.
March 25 and May 3. “Rapid antigen tests
Only 9% said weekend lockdowns should were carried out since few
be implemented for the next three months special police battalion
in these districts while 13% were of the view personnel had tested
that no action is needed and the govern- positive in RT-PCR tests.
ment should just continue with Unlock 2.0. The 28 police personnel
Eight per cent of the respondents said we tested positive were sent
should learn to live with the virus. for isolation immediately,”
officials said.