FREE PRESS Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023 INDORE BHOPAL UJJAIN MUMBAI RNI No. 38281/83 PUNE - VOL. XXXVII NO. 225 | INDORE | FRIDAY | JANUARY 22, 2021 | PAGES 12 YEDI RESHUFFLES K'TAKA CABINET Pg-7 EDIT A NEW BEGINNING FOR THE US -- AND ALL ELSE Pg- 6 PM Modi, CMs in next phase of vaccination News Brief 9.99L healthcare workers receive Covid-19 shots NEW DELHI: The number of healthcare workers who have received Covid-19 vaccine jabs in the country till the evening of the sixth day of the nationwide immunisation drive has reached 9,99,065 as per provisional reports, Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. It also said on Thursday, 1,92,581 beneficiaries were vaccinated till 6 pm through vaccination sessions held across 27 states and UTs, while adding the final report would be completed by late in night. HC says 'no' to stay 'The White Tiger' NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Thursday refused to stay release of film 'The White Tiger' tonight on OTT platform Netflix on a plea by Hollywood producer John Hart Jr alleging copyright violation. In an urgent hearing, Justice C Hari Shankar dismissed the stay application by the producer Bombings rock Baghdad, 32 dead BAGHDAD: Twin suicide bombings ripped through a busy market in the Iraqi capital Thursday, killing at least 32 and wounding dozens, officials said. US rejoins Paris climate pact NEW YORK: Getting to work soon after the inauguration festivities, President Joe Biden has signed orders for the US to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and the WHO in the first set of actions to undo the policies of Donald Trump. Major explosion kills 6 in K’taka BENGALURU: An explosion of a truckload of explosives, suspected to be meant for mining, killed at least six people in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district on Thursday night and sent shockwaves in neighbouring areas, police said. OUR BUREAU NEW DELHI accination will VCOVID-19against lead to people not A survey conducted by India Today has found that a majority of the respondents (76%) are willing to take the Covid jab. However, an exceedingly high number,92%, want vacine to be free of cost. 23% of the respondents also said Modi’s handling of the pandemic has been outstanding while 50% said it’s good. Another 18% said it’s average, while 7% said it’s poor and only 2% responded with ‘very poor’. Vardhan assures safety, efficacy of vax transmitting the disease and its eradication in some time, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday as he unveiled IEC posters to address the emerging issue of vaccine hesitancy in some sections of the population. Commenting on the safety and efficacy of the vaccines, he said, "The paradox is that countries across the globe are asking us for access to the vaccines, while a section of our own is fomenting misinformation and doubt for narrow political ends." More than eight lakh healthcare workers were vaccinated against COVID-19 in the country till 7 am on Thursday, according to the health ministry. Vardhan reminded everyone of the achievements of India, the second-most populous country in the world, which is seeing a steady decline in the number of active coronavirus cases. in the second phase when senior citizens are to be vaccinated. They said no date is fixed for the Prime Minister and the chief ministers to get vaccinated, but the optics of the PM and the CMs getting the jab could go a long way in soothing the sceptics. It is unclear whether the Prime Minister will take the Covishield vaccine or the indigenously developed Covaxin. CONTD. ON P8 COVISHIELD unit unaffected Smoke billows out after a massive fire broke out at Serum Institute All five were contract labourers and involved in electrical work at the building, according to fire brigade officials. The fire has not affected the production of the Covid-19 vaccine, authorities said. CM Thackeray spoke to SII CEO Adar Poonwalla and will visit the institute and take stock of the situation on Friday afternoon. Deputy Chief Minister is who Pawar, Ajit guardian minister of Pune district, reached the institute on Thursday evening. He has ordered an inquiry and a fire audit. Pawar told The Free Press Journal, ‘‘I spoke to the Pune Municipal Commissioner and gathered the details. I have directed him to conduct a Hawk-i test fires smart anti-airfield weapon OUR STAFF REPORTER BHOPAL A leopard has killed a girl at popular picnic spot Mahadev Pani located about 30 kms from Bhopal. The girl, Poonam (12), had gone to collect woods from jungle. Poonam was collecting woods in the jungle area of Nayapura forest beat. She was from Nai Dilli Majra in village Gopisur falling in Raisen district and had gone to collect woods along with other women of her village when the leopard attacked her. The animal dragged her into the forest. Other women accompanying her ran away fearing their lives. They reached the village and called people for help. Men from the village immediately rushed to the place where the incident took place and searched for the girl. Later they found body of Poonam close to the spot of attack. 'She must be sitting to collect woods when the leopard pounced on her suspecting attack,' said district forest officer, Rajesh Khare. Her body was bruised but not eaten by the leopard, added Khare. Mahadev Pani is a popular picnic spot about 30kms from Bhopal. The spot where the incident took place is very close to the waterfall that is frequented by nature lovers. village of Residents Gopisur have demanded from forest officials that the leopard be caught and sent to other place in order to save lives of the local dwellers. Another incident of leopard attack was reported from Kharbai village close to Mahadev Pani about ten days ago. This pocket, though located amidst forest area has not witnessed incidents of human animal conflict, so far. The General Administration Department has sent E-office guidelines to collectors of all districts. Main objective of the scheme is to have paperless offices besides ensuring transparency, promptness in service and result oriented work. E-office will be started at commissioner and district-level very soon in a gradual manner. The guideline booklet teaches on gradual shift from manual to electron- Sunrise : 07.09 Sunset : 06.07 THOUGHT FOR THE DAY The soul develops by giving, not by accumulating! Master Choa Kok Sui BENGALURU: The Stateowned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited on Thursday achieved a major milestone by successfully test-firing a Airfield Anti Smart Weapon (SAAW) from the Hawk-i aircraft off the coast of Odisha. The indigenous stand-off weapon, developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation's Research Centre Imarat (RCI), is the first smart weapon fired from an Indian Hawk-Mk132, the HAL said in a statement. "This was the first test conducted from the Hawk-i.The results were on the expected line when it hit the target with precision," an official said. The aircraft flown by HAL test pilots Wing Commander (Retd) P Awasthi and Wg Cdr (Retd) M Patel executed the weapon release in a text book manner and all mission obThe weremet. jectives telemetry and tracking systems captured all the mission events confirming the success of the trials. The Company owned Hawk-i platform is being extensively used for certification of systems and weapons develby indigenously oped DRDO and CSIR labs. thorough inquiry into the incident,’’ he said. ‘‘The cause of the fire is yet to be Furniture, ascertained. wiring, cabins were gutted. No major machinery or instruments were stored on the floors where the fire broke out,’’ he added. A statement from Cyrus S. Poonawalla, Chairman & Managing Director, Serum Institute of India read: “Today is an extremely sorrowful day for all of us at Serum Institute of India. Regret, tably there were losses of lives in the fire that broke out in our under installation facility situated at the Special Economic Zone at Manjri. We are deeply saddened and offer our condolences to the families of the departed. In this regard, we will be offering a compensation of INR 25 lakhs to each of the families, in addition to the mandated amount as per the norms. We would like to extend our gratitude to everyone for their concerns and prayers in these distressing times.” Tripathi did dealings on Mantena's behalf, gave Rs 9.45-cr to Cong in state polls OUR STAFF REPORTER BHOPAL The arrest of Srinivas Raju Mantena by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has stirred up a hornet's nest in the state. Mantena has been the main contractor of the Water Resources Department. He is a contractor having links with the BJP as well as the Congress leaders. Mantena, the most-desired contractor of the previous BJP government, was given a lot of projects in the 15 months' rule of the Congress.Both the governments gave money to Mantena before completion of the projects, which kicked up a row ic means of work. The e-office registers all activities of staff members including file management, leaves, tours, knowledge management, service book, karmic information management and other regular orders and instructions for office employees. Collectors have been entrusted with responsibility of implementing the eoffice system in their districts. Additional/ joint collector will be the chief while controller administrative deputy collectors will act as nodal officers for the e-system. The collectors will form a Project A ED ISSUES NOTICE TO GOPAL REDDY ccording to sources in the ED, a notice was issued to former chief secretary Gopal Reddy for quizzing him along with Raju Mantena and Aditya Tripathi. Sources further said that Reddy got rid of being questioned by submitting a certificate that he was suffering from corona. The ED will call Reddy again for questioning. The ED sleuths also had searched residential and official premises of Reddy on January 6 along with those of Mantena and Tripathi. After that, the ED summoned them for quizzing and arrested Tripathi and Mantena. Reddy was the additional chief secretary of the Water Resources Department and Narmada Valley Development Corporation during the Congress rule. The ED came to know of the links Reddy had with Tripathi and Mantena at that time. Now, the probe agency is questioning them on the basis of that connection. after the BJP came to power for the second time. The issue was swept under the carpet. Another person, Aditya Tripathi, was arrested along with Mantena. Tripathi set , up a company Arni Infra. Mantena used to sublet work to this company whose duty was to generate cases and distribute money among officers. CONTD. ON P8 People rejoice in Bhopal as Sensex hits 5,000 mark 44 new cases, NO NOD FOR R-DAY one death TRACTOR RALLY in city Positive percentage drops below 1.13 OUR STAFF REPORTER Indore As many as 44 patients tested positive out of 3,880 sample reports received on . Thursday Rate of positive patients was recorded at 1.13 percent and the total number patients positive of reached 57229. One death was reported taking death toll to 924 so far. According to the bulletin released by CMHO, reports of total samples received till Thursday was 7,51,266. As many as 3832 samples were tested negative on Thursday. Department has taken 3894 more samples for testing including 946 for RTPCR. As many as 1205 patients are under treatment in var. ious hospitals of the city Total 55100 patients have been discharged so far. start in all dists across the state Leopard kills girl E-office toDIGITAL signature of employees to be generated E-ACCOUNT, at Mahadev Pani OUR STAFF REPORTER BHOPAL 27.70c. 10.60c JUVENTUS LIFT ITALIAN CUP Pg-12 5 dead in Serum Institute fire SANJAY JOG & DIPTI SINGH Mumbai Five labourers were killed while six others were evacuated after a major fire broke out at the Serum Institute of India's SEZ 3 building, Manjri plant, in Pune, on Thursday afternoon. The cause of fire is being investigated, Pune fire brigade officials said. It was doused three hours later, following a quick response from the Pune police and the fire brigade. A National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team was rushed to the spot. The five deceased, whose charred bodies were recovered from inside the building have been identified as Rama Shankar Harijan and Bipin Saroj from Uttar Pradesh, Sushil Kumar Pandey from Bihar and Mahendra Ingale and Pratik Pashte from Pune. WEATHER www.freepressjournal.in Elected reps of over 50 yrs to get vax in Rd-II The Union Health Ministry is worried over the slow pace of Covid-19 vaccination, as those inoculated in the last six days are still short of 10 lakh, or to be exact, 9,99,065 at 6 PM on Thursday, with 1.93 lakh more taking the jab during . the day Only health and frontline workers are being vaccinated. Odisha recorded the highest tally of 26,558 on by followed Thursday, Telangana 26,441, Karnataka 16,103, Bihar 15,798, Andhra Pradesh 15,507 and Haryana 15,491. Sensing the hesitation apprehension the and , about the vaccines' efficacy PM Modi has decided to take the Covid-19 jab in the second phase of vaccination and asked the chief ministers who are over 50 to join him in then endeavour to mobilise the people. Officials in the Prime Minister's office (PMO), however, said there was nothing new in this regard, since the PM had himself told the chief ministers -just before the launch of the vaccination drive on January 16 -- that politicians would get their turn `3 Quality at Value Implementation Committee to fix the problems while implementing e-office system. General rules and instructions that will become redundant with e-system coming into force . will be annulled gradually Correspondence in hard form will be converted into e-form. Paper application or correspondence should only be done where e option is not available. File movements will be done electronically and files will be added in forms of documents etc along with the original file. FARMERS REJECT deferment of farm laws OUR BUREAU NEW DELHI The Delhi Police on Thursday denied permission to the agitating farmers to take out a tractor rally on Delhi's outer ring road on . the Republic Day The farmers, in turn, rejected the police suggestion to restrict the tractor rally to the peripheral roads around the national capital. On the Government's offer on Wednesday to put on hold the three contentious farm laws for one-and-ayears, until the half Supreme Court-appointed panel gives its report, the unions remained firm on their decision that "if there is no repeal of the farm laws, there will be no ghar wapsi." "We won't return without completing the task for which we have come to Delhi," the morcha announced while its leaders said the government has linked suspension of the laws with the Supreme panel Court-appointed which the farmers have refused to meet. So, the government's suggestion is not acceptable unless and until the three laws are repealed. The union leaders will meet Agriculture Minister Tomar on Friday and convey their decision rejecting his offer to hold back the farm laws pending the panel's recommendations. The farmer union leaders said their 10 meetings with the government have yieldtangible; nothing ed nonetheless, they would continue to hold talks while their with continuing peaceful agitation which completes 60 days on Sun. day They said farmers from Punjab, Haryana and some other states have set out with their tractors to join the rally on Jan 26. Meanwhile, the SC-appointed panel started its consultation process and interacted with 10 farmer organisations from 8 states, including Uttar Pradesh. SC-appointed panel interacts with farm bodies from eight states he Supreme Court-appointed panel on the new agri laws TThursday started its consultation process and interacted. on with 10 farmer organisations from eight states, including UP The SC had on January 11 stayed the implemen-tation of the three laws, against which farmers are protesting at Delhi borders for nearly two months now, till further orders and appointed a four-member panel to resolve the impasse. The panel, in a statement, said that the interaction was held through video conference with various farmer unions and associations on , Thursday. Ten farmer organisations from Karnataka, Kerala, MP Maharasthra, Odisha, Telangana, TN and UP participated in discussions with committee members, it said. Biden sends immigration reform bill to Congress WASHINGTON US President Joe Biden on the day one of his presidency sent a comprehensive immigration bill to Congress which proposes major overhauls to the system, including granting legal status and a path to citizenship to tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants and other groups and reduce the time that family members must wait outside the US for green cards. Called the US Citizenship Act of 2021, the legislation modernises the immigration system, and also proposes to eliminate the per country cap for employmentbased green cards, a move that would benefit thousands of Indian IT professionals whose current wait period for legal permanent residency runs into several decades. “Today President Biden sent an immigration bill to Congress. The US Citizenship Act modernises our immigration system. It provides hard-working people who have enriched our communities and lived here for decades an opportunity to earn citizen- ship,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at a news conference. "The president's priority reflected in the bill are to responsibly manage the border, keep families , together, grow our economy address the root causes of migration from Central America and ensure that America can remain a refuge for those fleeing prosecution,” Psaki said. The bill will stimulate America's economy while ensuring that every worker is protected. The bill creates an earned path to citizenship for immigrant neighbours, colleagues, parishioners, community leaders, friends, and loved ones — including Dreamers and the essential workers who have risked their lives to serve and protect American communities, the White House said. The term "Dreamers", which is used for the undocumented immigrants living in , the US illegally came from the DREAM Act, a bipartisan legislation that was first proposed in 2001 to provide citizenship to them under certain conditions. It is estimated that some 11 million undocumented people are living in the US. CONTD. ON P8