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chandigarh | gurugram | jalandhar | bathinda | jammu | srinagar | vol.140 no.148 | 12 pages | ~5.00 | regd.no.chd/0006/2018-2020 established in 1881
/thetribunechd /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com
SC orders free food, shelter, Forces thwart Pulwama 2.0
travel for migrant workers
C VID-19
PANDEMIC
Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 28
Amid heart-wrenching
reports highlighting the mis-
ery of migrant workers, the
Supreme Court today ordered
states to provide free food and
shelter to lakhs stranded in
various parts of the country
due to Covid-19 lockdown.
“No fare either by train or
bus shall be charged from
any migrant workers. The
railway fare shall be shared
by the states as per their
arrangement,” a three-judge
Bench headed by Justice
Ashok Bhushan ordered.
“Those migrant workers
who are found walking on
highways or roads shall be
immediately taken care of by
the state/UTs concerned and
they shall be provided trans-
port to the destination and all
facilities, including food and
water, be provided to them.
The receiving state shall pro-
vide transport, health screen-
ing and other facilities free of
cost,” it ordered.
The Bench, which also
included Justice SK Kaul
and Justice MR Shah, had on
Human trials of four No change, troops in Ladakh In HP, 15 Maha returnees test
Indian vaccines soon continue to hold positions positive after being sent home
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 28
India remains on the front-
lines of Covid-19 manage-
ment with four vaccine can-
didates expected to begin
human trials very soon.
Renu Swarup, Secretary,
Department of Biotechnology,
the country’s nodal agency
for Covid vaccine develop-
ment, said: “There are at pres-
ent 14 Indian vaccine candi-
dates at different stages of
progress. Four industry-led
initiatives are at advanced
stages of development and
will, hopefully, enter phase I
clinical trial stage in next
three to six months.”
Phase I clinical trials are
small-scale trials to see if the
vaccine is safe on humans and
what immune response it
evokes. Advanced industry-
led initiatives include those by
Bharat Biotech, Serum Insti-
tute of India, Biological E and
Gennova Pharmaceuticals.
Swarup said the industry
was trying a combination of
vaccine platforms, including
flu, anti-rabies and RNA plat-
forms. The academic vaccine
initiatives involve Transla-
tional Health Sciences Insti-
At 7K/acre, labour rates more than double in Punjab
Aman Sood
Tribune News Service
Patiala, May 28
From online payments in
their accounts back home to
permanent residences, Pun-
jab farmers are doing all to
lure farmhand. Finding it
hard to get labour for paddy,
they are offering liquor, ration
and mobile top-up to migrant
workers, who have opted to
stay back amid the lockdown.
The migrants are demand-
ing 25 per cent advance pay-
ment through phone-based
CHINA MIFFED OVER VERDICT
AGAINST HUAWEI CFO WORLD
Migrants arrive at the Chennai railway station to board a train for UP. PTI
HC PULLS UP AAP GOVT OVER NON-RESPONSIVE FOOD, DISASTER HELPLINE NUMBERS
Tuesday taken suo motu cog-
nisance of the plight of
migrant labourers and asked
the Centre, states and UTs to
spell out measures to deal
with the unfolding crisis.
Today, it issued a series of
directions after hearing Solici-
tor General Tushar Mehta, sen-
ior counsel Kapil Sibal, AM
Singhvi, Colin Gonsalves, Indi-
ra Jaising, PS Narsimha and
other advocates representing
various states and organisa-
tions “to redeem the immediate
COVID-19CASES INDIA
RECOVERED 67,691
COUNT
FRESH FATALITIES 194
TOTAL DEATHS 4,531
1,58,333
WORLD
TOTAL 58,39,904
RECOVERED 25,31,579
DEATHS 3,59,064
COVID-19COUNT
STATE +VE
Chandigarh 289
Punjab 2,158
Haryana 1,504
Himachal Pradesh 281
J&K 2,036
Ladakh 64
Delhi 15,257
tute, Faridabad; IISc, Ben-
galuru; National Institute of
Immunology; Indian Insti-
tutes of Science Education
and Research; and some IITs.
India is conducting trials to
test the efficacy of anti-viral
oral drug Favipiravir, plant-
based drug ACQH and anti-
arthritis medicine Itolizumab.
“Trials are also on to see if anti-
tuberculosis BCG vaccine can
grant immunity against
Covid-19,” said VK Paul,
Member, Health, NITI Aayog.
apps as security. Also, the
labour rates have more than
doubled from Rs 3,200 per
acre (last season) to Rs 7,000
per acre.
The Punjab Government
having sent back 3.89 lakh
migrants so far, the farmers
are desperately searching for
farm labour, especially since
the window to finish paddy
transplantation has been
reduced to a month.
Jai Parkash, a Bihar native,
says he is willing to work for
anyone willing to pay him Rs
■ Migrant workers on roads
■ States to arrange for food,
■ States to give food, water at
■ States to speed up registra-
■ Receiving state to provide
difficulties of the migrant work-
ers.” It heard Sibal and Singhvi
as “officers of the court”.
“The migrant workers who
are stranded at different
places shall be provided food
free of cost by states/UTs con-
cerned at different places,
which shall be publicised
and notified to them during
the period they are waiting
for their turn to board the
train or bus,” it said.
The top court also directed
states to “simplify and speed
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 28
A day after China spoke of
diplomacy to resolve the flare-
up along specific sites on the
Line of Actual Control (LAC) in
eastern Ladakh, there is no
change on the ground. Troops
of both sides are holding posi-
tions as before.
The Chinese continue mak-
ing military-style bunkers
DEATHS
and trenches. Military trucks
04
are there by dozens. Even a
42 warehouse is coming up.
19 Indian agencies have picked
05 up movement of Chinese
27 tanks less than 10 km away.
00 Large parts of Ladakh are flat
303 plateau where tanks can be
used. India has T-72 tanks at
those heights.
The Chinese have unilater-
ally stopped Indian troops
from patrolling crucial areas
along the north bank of Pan-
gong Tso (a 135-km glacial
melt lake). Eight mountain
spurs of the Chang Chenmo
range end at the north bank
of this lake. Each spur or
ridgeline is identified as ‘fin-
ger’ in military parlance and
each ridgeline is separated
by 2-5 km. On the night inter-
vening May 5-6, troops of
Farmers woo migrants
with ration, liquor &
mobile top-up
SBI CUTS INTEREST RATES
ON FDS BUSINESS
Centre, states to
file detailed reply
by June 5
KEY DIRECTIVES
be taken to shelters, provid-
ed food, other basic facilities
shelter, water for those wait-
ing for buses or trains
rly stations; Railways to give
meals, water during journey
tion process, provide help
desk where workers stranded
transport, health screening,
other facilities free of cost
up the process of registration
of migrant workers and also
provide help desk for regis-
tration at the places where
they are stranded”.
Directing the Centre and
states to file their response in a
week with “all necessary
details regarding the number
of migrant workers, the plan to
transport them to their desti-
nation, the mechanism of reg-
istration and other details”,
the court posted the matter for
further hearing on June 5.
THE STANDOFF
■ The Chinese continue mak-
ing bunkers & trenches;
military trucks spotted; a
warehouse too coming up
■ The Chinese have stopped
Indian troops from patrolling
crucial areas along the north
bank of lake Pangong Tso
■ India assumes LAC to be at ‘Fin-
ger 4’. China is trying to push
Indian troops back to ‘Finger 2’,
which is more than 10 km away
both sides had clashed,
resulting in injuries to many.
India assumes the LAC to be
at ‘Finger 4’. China is trying to
push Indian troops back to
‘ Finger 2’, which is a distance
of more than 10 km. India was
patrolling till ‘Finger 4’ but the
Chinese are not allowing
patrols to pass. In a carefully
crafted move, the Chinese
continued on back page
5,500 per acre. “There are
only a few of us still in Pun-
jab,” he points out.
Farmer Jasdeep Singh Gar-
cha of Doraha says he will be
providing homemade liquor,
CDs of Bhojpuri movies and
television sets to his workers.
“Earlier, we would provide
bhang too. But fearing police
action, we have stopped that
now,” he says. Farmers say if
it rains during transplanta-
tion, the rates could go even
higher. The price of short-
duration paddy seed, used for
Intercept car with 45 kg IED | Hizb, JeM planned repeat of 2019 bombing
Suhail A Shah
Anantnag, May 28
Security forces have foiled a
repeat of the 2019 Pulwama
bombing by intercepting a
car with 45 kg explosives at
Rajpora in Pulwama district
of south Kashmir.
The IED-laden Santro car
was intercepted by the secu-
rity forces late last night
around 30 km from the site of
the deadly Lethpora attack
along the Srinagar-Jammu
highway that left 40 CRPF
personnel dead and brought
India and Pakistan to the
brink of war. The car bore a
fake registration plate, the
police said. “The registration
number belongs to a two-
wheeler in Kathua district,”
DGP Dilbagh Singh said.
IGP (Kashmir) Vijay
Kumar said they had been
receiving inputs that Hizbul
Mujahideen and Jaish-e-
Mohammed were planning a
suicide car bombing.
“When the input matured
yesterday, we set up joint
checkpoints. In the evening,
when the suspected car
reached a checkpoint, the
security forces fired warning
shots, prompting the occu-
pants to turn around and flee.
“They jumped another
checkpoint before leaving
the car behind in Ayengund
area of Pulwama. The forces
cordoned off the area and
continued on back page
New Delhi prefers
bilateralism to
mediation by US
New Delhi, May 28
India today said it was diplo-
matically engaged with Chi-
na in both Beijing and New
Delhi to resolve the troop
stand-off in eastern Ladakh.
India also underlined the
importance of bilateralism in
resolving the problem at the
Line of Actual Control (LAC)
with China, thus sidestepping
the offer for mediation made
by US President Donald
Trump. The Indian response
came shortly after a confer-
ence by Chinese Premier Li
Keqiang during which he did
not touch the border flare-up.
Ministry of External Affairs
spokesperson Anurag Shri-
vastav refuted an earlier claim
by the Chinese Foreign Office
that Indian troops had intrud-
ed into its territory. “India is
committed to maintaining
peace.… At the same time, we
remain firm in our resolve to
ensuring our sovereignty,” he
said. India and China are also
utilising military mechanisms
to “peacefully resolve” the sit-
uation. — TNS
direct seeding, has zoomed to
Rs 150 per kg compared to Rs
55 last year, they say.
“Paddy was grown across
29.30 lakh hectares in Punjab
last year. This year, the state
has decided to grow other
crops on 2.50 lakh hectares.
Also, PAU, Ludhiana, has
recommended direct seed-
ing. The government propos-
es to bring 5 lakh hectares
under this system that does
not require intensive labour,”
Kahan Singh Pannu, Secre-
tary, Agriculture, said.
CONG LAUNCHES ‘SPEAK UP
INDIA’ DRIVE BACK PAGE
BEFORE
An aerial view of the car laden with 45 kg explosives
that was abandoned by militants at Rajpora, Pulwama.
HOW IT UNFOLDED
WEDNESDAY NIGHT
PLACE: RAJPORA, PULWAMA
■ Forces fire warning shots
on seeing a car at check-
point, militants speed away
■ Car jumps another check-
point, militants flee in the
dark, leave car behind
■ Forces examine vehicle
from a distance, cordon off
area, wait for daybreak
THURSDAY MORNING
■ Police, Army, CRPF defuse
IED in a technical way
Intel picked up JeM chatter this week
New Delhi, May 28
Grade-A intelligence input
and seamless coordination
allowed security forces to
thwart a repeat of Pulwama.
Sources in the Intelligence
Bureau (IB) said they had
picked up Jaish-e-Moham-
mad (JeM) chatter earlier this
week and shared it with J&K
Dinesh Kanwar
Hamirpur, May 28
Throwing norms to the wind,
the district administration
sent home 43 Maharashtra
returnees without waiting for
their second Covid report
only to discover later that 15
of them were Covid-positive.
All these persons had
recently returned via a special
train to their native places in
the district from parts of
Mumbai and Thane. Deputy
Commissioner Harikesh
Meena ordered an inquiry as
soon as the issue came to
light. “This happened due to
miscommunication,” he said.
The moment their reports
Law school grads hire
plane to ferry migrants
Ranchi/Mumbai, May 28
Over 165 migrant workers
were ferried back home to
Jharkhand from Mumbai in
a chartered flight, arranged
by the alumni network of a
Bengaluru-based law school,
making it the first such
instance in the country amid
the Covid-19 lockdown, an
official statement said.
The Air Asia flight carrying
169 migrant workers and five
children left Mumbai at 6.25
am and reached Ranchi
around 8.25 am. An airline
spokesperson said the Nation-
al Law School (NLS) Alumni
Association had taken on lease
a 180-seater A320 plane, a first
such operation by the budget
carrier since passenger servic-
es resumed in the country.
“We have been working
closely with the organisers,
who we understand have inde-
pendently crowd-funded their
efforts to assist migrants,” the
official said in a statement.
At Ranchi’s Birsa Munda
AFTER
The police, CRPF and Army defuse the IED through
in-situ explosion on Thursday morning. PTI
The wreckage of the car after a
controlled explosion. AMIN WAR
Police and other agencies.
“It was clear from the inter-
cepted chatter that the JeM was
planning something very big in
the Valley. The intelligence was
found to be Grade-A (high pre-
cision) in nature and hence the
operation was so meticulous,” a
senior IB official explained.
While there were clear inputs
HAMIRPUR FAUX PAS
■ Despite their first report being
negative, the 15 persons
could have been sent home
only after second report
■ All were shifted to a quaran-
tine centre from their homes
in a haste between 10 pm
and 3 am
■ Majority of them being from
Barsar, Nadaun and Bho-
ranj, Hamirpur residents are
in panic after the incident
were received late last night,
the administration went into
a tizzy to bring back the 15
persons from their homes to a
quarantine centre. It was
between 10 pm and 3 am that
Crowd-fund to
repatriate 169 workers 8 MORE CASES IN HP
from Mumbai to Ranchi
APPRECIATE IT: SOREN
❝ This is the first time in
the country that a plane
brought mazdoorback
during the lockdown. I
appreciate the effort.
Hemant Soren, JHARKHAND CM
Airport, the migrant workers
underwent a medical screen-
ing and the administration
provided them with food pack-
ets, before sending them off to
quarantine centres. Shyel Tre-
han, one of those behind the
initiative, said: “We are happy
to have made this very small
contribution to addressing a
massive travesty.” — PTI
friday, may 29,2020
LoC
Srinagar LETHPORA
2019 BOMBING
RAJPORA PULWAMA
J&K
2 SUSPECTS IDENTIFIED
❝
We suspect Adil, a
Hizb militant also working
with JeM, and Fauji Bhai, a
Pak militant and JeM
commander, are involved.
Vijay Kumar, IGP, KASHMIR
about a major attack, it was
unclear which route the driver
would take, the official said.
“But the J&K Police, Army and
the CRPF formed separate
teams, spread out and covered
all possible routes and when the
car was first spotted, they
opened fire in coordinated man-
ner,” said the official. — TNS
these persons — 11 men and
four women — were brought
back in a haste. A majority of
them belonged to Barsar,
Nadaun and Bhoranj areas.
Of the more than 270 posi-
tive cases in Himachal, the
highest — 93, of which 85 are
active — have been reported
from Hamirpur. Kangra, Una
and Chamba districts are the
other major contributors.
The undue haste shown by
the administration in send-
ing these 15 persons, initially
quarantined at Navodaya
Vidyalaya in Dungri, home
without waiting for their sec-
ond confirmation report
could put to risk not just
their families but all others.
REGION COMBATS VIRUS
PUNJAB REPORTS 2 DEATHS
Chandigarh: A 60-year-old
woman from Amritsar and a
head constable of the RPF
posted in Ludhiana suc-
cumbed to Covid on
Thursday. Both had underly-
ing diseases. TNS
Shimla: With eight new Covid
cases, the count in Himachal
Pradesh has reached 281. Of
these, 199 are active cases
while 73 have been dis-
charged. The state has seen
five corona deaths so far. TNS
HRY SEALS BORDER AGAIN
Chandigarh: Home Minister
Anil Vij has again ordered
sealing of borders with Delhi
as for past few days a num-
ber of cases were reported
from Guurgram, Sonepat,
Jhajjar and Faridabad. TNS
ANOTHER DEATH IN J&K
Srinagar: With 115 new cases
and one more death, Covid
count in J&K reached 2,036,
while toll touched 27. Ladakh
reported 20 new cases. TNS