FREE PRESS Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023 INDORE BHOPAL UJJAIN MUMBAI - PUNE VOL. 10 NO. 219 | BHOPAL | FRIDAY | JANUARY 22, 2021 | PAGES 12 BSY ALLOCATES PORTFOLIOS, SOME MINISTERS UNHAPPY Pg-7 EDIT A NEW BEGINNING FOR THE US -- AND ALL ELSE Pg- 6 Elected reps over 50 yrs to get vax in Round II 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 Union Territories, while adding the final report would be completed by late in the night. HC refused to stay release of '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 conducted late evening, Justice C Hari Shankar dismissed the stay application by the producer saying not a single reason was shown to approach the court less than 24 hours before release of the film. Telcos' gross revenue rise 14 per cent NEW DELHI: Telcos recorded a 13.73 per cent increase in gross revenue at Rs 68,228 crore on a yearon-year basis in the quarter ended September 30, 2020, according to a report released by regulator Trai on Thursday. The gross revenue of Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) was at Rs 59,992 crore in the same quarter a year ago. The Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR), from which the government takes its revenue share, increased by 22.41 per cent to Rs 45,707 crore during the September quarter from Rs 37,338 crore in the year-ago period, as per Trai's performance indicator report. 30 CRORE to get vaccine AGENCIES NEW DELHI representatives Elected above 50 years of age are likely to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in the second round of the ongoing inoculation drive after over three crore healthcare and frontline workers are vaccinated in the first round. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, most of his Cabinet ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Nitin Gadkari, a majority of chief ministers accination against transmitting Vlead to people notCOVID-19 will the disease and its eradication in 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 out of the vaccination programme had asked the politicians not to jump queue as the first round of inoculation is meant for healthcare and frontline workers. Modi had also said that the turn of those over 50 years of age besides those younger but living with comorbidities will come after that, sources noted. Though the government has given no timeline, Modi had said on January 11 that 30 crore people, including those above 50 years of age, will be vaccinated in the next few months. The vaccination programme was launched by him on January 16. Vardhan assures safety, efficacy of vax 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. "The elimination of polio and small pox was made possible by largescale immunisation. Once immunised, not only that person is not capable of catching the disease, he or she is also unable to transmit the disease to others, thus passing on the social benefit to the larger society he or she interacts with. This was also the logic of undertaking mass immunisation of women and children against 12 diseases under Mission Indradhanush. COVISHIELD unit unaffected PUNE Five persons died and nine were evacuated from a building in the Serum Institute of India's Manjari premises here after a fire broke out at the facility on Thursday, police said. Covishield vaccine production won't be hit due to the fire, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said. The Manjari facility is where the Covishield vaccine used in the nationwide inoculation drive against the pandemic is made. The building where the fire broke out is part of the under-construction site of the Serum facility and is one km from the Covishield unit, manufacturing sources said. "I would like to reassure all governments & the public that there would be 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, Mahadev added Khare. 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 nature by frequented 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. Smoke billows out after a massive fire broke out at Serum Institute in Pune, on Thursday no loss of #COVISHIELD production due to multiple production buildings that I had kept in reserve to deal with such contingencies at @SerumInstIndia," Poonawalla tweeted. "We have just received some distressing updates; upon further investigation we have learnt that there has unfortunately been some loss of life at the incident. We are deeply saddened and offer our deepest condolences to the family members of the departed," Poonawalla added. OUR STAFF REPORTER BHOPAL 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 commis- 27.70c. 10.60c 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. Mayor Murlidhar Mohol said it appears the five persons who died in the fire were working on the building floor. Fire officials recovered the bodies during an inspection, he said. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said the state government has ordered a probe into the blaze. The fire, which broke out at 2.45 pm on the fourth and fifth floors of the SEZ 3 building in the Serum Institute premises, was brought under control in two hours, police said. Deputy Commissioner of Police Namrata Patil told PTI that nine people were evacuated from the spot after the fire broke out. Viral visuals from the site showed smoke billowing out from the Serum Insti. tute facility Chief Fire Officer Prashant Ranpise said cooling work has commenced at the spot. Fifteen water tankers were pressed into action and the fire was brought under control . 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 sioner and district-level very soon in a gradual manner. The guideline booklet teaches on gradual shift from manual to electronic 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 of- ED ISSUES NOTICE TO GOPAL REDDY to former ccording to sources the ED, notice Achief secretary GopalinReddy foraquizzingwas issued ReddyRaju him along with got Mantena and Aditya Tripathi. Sources further said that 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 Sensex touches 50K mark Bombings rock Baghdad, 32 dead AGENCIES Baghdad Twin suicide bombings ripped through a busy market in the Iraqi capital , Thursday killing at least 32 wounding and people dozens, officials said. The rare suicide bombing attack hit the Bab al-Sharqi commercial area in central Baghdad amid heightened political tensions over planned early elections and a severe economic crisis. Blood smeared the floors of the busy market amid piles of clothes and shoes as survivors took stock of the disarray in the aftermath. No one immediately took responsibility for the attack, but Iraqi military officials said it was the work of the Islamic State group. Iraq's health minister Hassan Mohammed alTamimi said at least 32 people were killed and 110 others were wounded in the attack. He said some of the wounded were in serious condition. CONTD. ON P8 E-office to start in all dists across the state E-accounts and digital signature of employees to be generated WEATHER ARBAAZ KHAN OUT, MALLIKA SHERAWAT IN! Pg-10 5 dead in Serum Institute fire Leopard kills girl at Mahadev Pani OUR STAFF REPORTER BHOPAL and top-rung leaders of all political parties besides MPs and MLAs fall in this category. A government source, however, insisted that there is no specific timeline for the vaccination of top politicians. The prime minister in his interaction with chief ministers before the nationwide roll- Quality at Value www.freepressjournal.in PM, cabinet ministers, CMs to get the jabs Hawk-i test fires smart anti-airfield weapon News Brief `3 RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 ficers for the e-system. The collectors will form a Project 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. NO NOD FOR R-DAY TRACTOR RALLY FARMERS REJECT hold back 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. SC-appointed panel interacts with farm bodies from 8 states he Supreme CourtTappointed panel on the new agri laws on Thursday started its consultation process and interacted 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 fourmember 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. The farmer union leaders said their 10 meetings with the government have yieldtangible; nothing ed nonetheless, they would continue to hold talks while continuing with their peaceful agitation which completes 60 days on . Sunday 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 8 from organisations states, including Uttar Pradesh. 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