www.freepressjournal.in | twitter.com/fpjindia Reg. No. Mcs/048/2018-20; RNI No. 1541/1957 I M.p.c.s office Mumbai-400001 govt defers bsnl-Mtnl Merger on hIgh debt, salary structures Pg 9 border standoff: chIna wIll play rogue “I feel I have a balance when enterIng a role, lIvIng It and gettIng out of It” Pg 18 280c. 160c. Sunrise: 07:14 am Sunset: 06:28 pm Vol. 64 No. 230 | TUESDAY | JANUARY 26, 2021 | 15 Pages | EDITIONS: Mumbai*, Pune, Indore, Bhopal, E-Paper EDIT Pg 12 Loving Nature is the characteristic of a true devotee. The great souls who realized all this saw God in everything and everything in God. Sri Ma India, China faced off Farmers threaten to in Naku La last week march to Parliament Union Budget Day call, even as Capital gears up for tractor rally today Reaching out to movie buffs and niche audience, the Free Press Journal is introducing ‘Cinema Journal,’ adding to the glam quotient of the newspaper. See page 18 hoLIDAy NoTICE THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL offices will be closed on Tuesday, January 26th, on account of Republic Day and there will be no edition on January 27. VACCINE UPDATE DELHI CLOSE TO HERD IMMUNITY Delhi is moving towards herd immunity, with 50 to 60 per cent of people in one district having developed antibodies to the Coronavirus, the latest round of sero-survey has found, sources told NDTV. Herd immunity is what the authorities are trying to achieve with the vaccination programme, in which a critical mass of immune people can stop the spread of the virus by breaking the chain of transmission. Delhi has a population of more than two crore, spread across 11 districts. For the current survey -- conducted by the Delhi government in association with the National Centre for Disease Control -scientists had collected the samples of over 25,000 people from various districts across the city. In one district, the number of the infected people was around 60 per cent. In the rest of the city’s 10 districts, the average is above 50 per cent --- close to the magic figure required. TATA IN TALKS WITH MODERNA The Tata Group's healthcare venture is understood to be having discussions with Moderna Inc for launch of its COVID-19 vaccine in India, the Economic Times reported on Monday. As a part of this collaboration, Tata Medical & Diagnostics could team up with India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research to carry out clinical trials of Moderna's vaccine candidate in India, the report said. Moderna, however, did not respond to Reuters request for a comment. Unlike Pfizer's vaccine, which must be kept at minus 70 degrees Celsius or below, Moderna's can be stored at normal fridge temperature, making it more suited for poorer countries such as India where cold chains are limited. Data released in November from Moderna's latestage study showed it was 94.1% effective with no serious safety concerns, the wire agency Reuters adds. The vaccine was approved for use in the United States in December and in Europe earlier this month. But even if the vaccines are approved abroad, foreign companies must conduct phase-3 trials with volunteers in India. MERCK SCRAPS VACCINE PROJECT Drugmaker Merck and Co on Monday said it will end development of its two Covid-19 vaccines, and will focus pandemic research on an experimental oral antiviral expected by the end of March. In early trials, both vaccines generated immune responses that were inferior to those seen in people who had recovered from COVID-19 as well as those reported for other COVID19 vaccines, the company said. Merck was late in joining the race to develop a vaccine to protect against the coronavirus. A OUR BUREAU New Delhi s thousands of farmers on tractors converged on the periphery of the national capital, one of the unions threatened to march to Parliament on February one -- the day of presentation of the Union Budget. The decision at the eleventh hour to ‘mob’ the Parliament House has added a new dimension to a stir which was until now confined to the outskirts. "On February 1, we will march on foot towards Parliament in Delhi from all directions," said Darshan Pal of the Krantikari Kisan Union, one of the nearly 40 groups that are protesting on Delhi’t borders for the last two months.In hindsight, the Delhi Police is feeling cheated for hav- ing allowed the tractor parade on the outskirts of the national capital, two hours after the traditional and official Republic Day Parade is over on the Rajpath. Its officers said the threatened march on foot by the farmers is just not acceptable. They said there will be chaos if the farmers take off in all directions to reach Parliament House and they may be constrained to even impose a curfew. (There are invariably prohibitory orders in the area.)On Tuesday the farmers, who are , camping along three border points at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, and plan to fan out from five different locations. According to sources, they are adamant and won’t go back until the government rolls back the three laws. CONTD. ON P14 BMC going Yogi way, mulls ‘muni’ bonds DIPTI SINGH / Mumbai The cash-strapped Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is now considering issuing 'municipal bonds' to raise funds from the share market for its ongoing infrastructure projects. The civic administration is currently working out details of the plan with various committee heads and public representatives. Already the country's richest municipal corporation has suffered more than 41 per cent loss in revenue in the first six months of the financial year 2020-21. Trying to bail itself out of this financial crisis, in September 2020, the civic body decided to dip into its reserves (in fixed deposits) to withdraw Rs 5,000 crore. But now, it is considering alternatives to raise funds for some infra projects, like sewage treatment plants and for the Mithi river rejuvenation project, among others. Once a decision is finalised in the civic body a proposal will be sub, mitted to the state government, Mayor Kishori Pednekar said. The BMC’s income has taken a hit because of Covid-19 related expenditure, and also because earnings under several heads, such as property and water taxes, development charge etc; have dipped because of the viral outbreak. In February 2020, former Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi had presented a budget of Rs 33,441 crore for 202021, of which Rs 14,647 crore was for development projects. However, as the pandemic hit the city the , BMC suffered a huge revenue loss and had estimated that this would go up to Rs 12,000 crore -14,000 crore by the end of financial year. CONTD. ON P14 Guv has time for Kangana but not farmers: Pawar SANJAY JOG Mumbai Former Union Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar lashed out at the BJP-led Government at the Centre for being insensitive towards the agitating farmers at the Delhi border, demanding a repeal of the farm laws and legal cover for minimum support price. "Is Punjab Pakistan?" Pawar asked farmers affiliated with the All India Kisan Sabha and other organisations, whose members had travelled 180 km on foot and in vehicles, all the way from Nashik to Mumbai's Azad Maidan. Pawar hailed the farmers' gesture of coming all the way to Mumbai to show solidarity with their ilk gathered at the national capital and gearing up for a massive tractor rally However, he . strongly condemned the Centre’s view of the agitators. "We have been seeing, for the past 60 days, without bothering about the cold, sun, or rain, farmers from UP Haryana, and , Punjab have been protesting. They (Centre) say these are Punjab farmers. Is Punjab Pakistan? These are our own," said Pawar. CONTD. ON P14 AGENCIES New Delhi Amid their tense standoff in eastern Ladakh, Indian and Chinese troops were involved in a clash in the high-altitude Naku La region in North Sikkim on January 20, an incident described by the Indian Army on Monday as a "minor face-off". In a statement, the Indian Army said the face-off was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols. The incident at Naku La became public on Monday hours after senior commanders of both the armies concluded a nearly 16-hourlong meeting in an attempt to defuse tension in eastern Ladakh. It is learnt that troops from both sides sustained minor injuries in the physical brawl in Naku La. People familiar with the developments along the Line of Actual T FPJ ONLINE he unveiling of a portrait of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by President Kovind in the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday became a subject of mindless mirth. The controversy erupted when several Twitter users claimed that the portrait was not of Netaji. Rather, it was a rendition of actor Prosenjit Chatterjee who essayed the role of Bose in a Bengali movie called ‘Gumnaami’ -- the Ayodhya-based sadhu who many believed was Netaji living under an assumed name after his purported death. The ghost of Gumnaami was again resurrected on Bose’s 125th birth anniver- Mahavir Chakra for Galwan hero G alwan clash martyr Colonel Santosh Babu, who sacrificed his life during the hand-tohand combat with Chinese troops in May last year, will be decorated with Mahavir Chakra - the secondhighest war-time award in India. Col Santosh Babu was the Commanding Officer of the 16 Bihar infantry battalion of the Indian Army. He was tasked to ensure that the Chinese troops moved back beyond Point 14 in the Galwan Valley and personally verify these details. On the fateful night of June 15, when Indian and Chinese troops had a violent face-off, Colonel Santosh Babu was leading the Indian troops from the front. Despite suffering grievous injuries from stones that were pelted by Chinese troops, he refused to leave and instead thwarted the enemy in its designs. Crowding of trains big worry Decision on resumption of local trains for all soon  SANJAY JOG Mumbai Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday said a decision on the resumption of suburban local train services for all in Mumbai would be taken very soon. A number of options were discussed, including allowing only essential service providers to travel during peak hours from 7am to 9.30am and 4.30pm to 7pm, while allowing the public to commute strictly during non-rush hours. The government will also suggest that private offices tweak their timings or curtail working hours, to avoid crowding in trains. Thackeray also asked the railway officials to review the Chennai pattern and how it was working. The Southern Railway has designated 7am to 9.30am and 4.30pm to 7pm as peak hours every day . During peak hours, the trains are only used by essential service providers, as permitted in the first phase of resumption of serv- NOCs for street parking TAILPIECE / No parking slots in your bldg? SOMENDRA SHARMA Mumbai In a major relief to motorists who reside in old buildings and do not have individual parking spots, traffic police have agreed to provide no objection certificates (NOCs) to allow vehicle owners to park their vehicles in the street near their residence. Whenever such a request is received by traffic police from a vehicle owner, the former will inspect the place and based on feasibility will grant the NOC. , "Nowadays, all newly constructed housing societies have dedicated parking spots. However, there are several old housing societies without parking space and the owners would park their vehicles either outside their building or elsewhere," said Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Yashasvi Yadav. "Taking note of the parking is- Gumnam hai koi: Netaji portrait mystery, now LAST WoRD Control said the Chinese troops attempted to transgress into the Indian side of the frontier in Naku La but were stopped by the Indian military personnel. They said both sides brought in additional troops to Naku La following the brawl and the situation was under control thus far. It is also learnt that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the top military brass were apprised about the incident. Naku La, located at an altitude of 16,000 feet, was the same site where Indian and Chinese troops had engaged in a fierce clash in May last year days after a violent face-off between the two sides in Pangong lake area in eastern Ladakh. The incident in the Pangong lake area triggered the nearly nine-month-long military standoff in eastern Ladakh. CONTD. ON P14 sary celebrations, by none other than the President's official handle which also tweeted pictures of the unveiling of the portrait. But what began with a few innocuous tweets soon snowballed into a major controversy Sample the now delet. ed post of TMC MP Mahua Moitra: She hit out at the CONTD. ON P14 sues of such motorists, we have decided that if a motorist resides in an old building without dedicated parking space and there is no public parking lot near their residence, we will give them temporary street parking permission, near their building," Yadav said. "Vehicle owners can submit applications to us, after which we will make merit-wise and needbased assessments and after a surveym, we can give them an NOC to park on the streets. However, societies which have been given NOCs will have to appoint a warden to ensure no other vehicles are using those parking places. Also, the factors which we will take into consideration before giving NOCs would be the number of vehicles that can be parked, the spots. Not more than one line in the street will be given for NOC street parking." CONTD. ON P14 ices. In the second phase, women passengers were allowed to travel by train. Only in the third phase, were suburban services opened to the general public. During nonpeak hours, the rest of the public is permitted to travel. These options were discussed at the meeting Thackeray held with the general managers of the Central and Western Railways, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Commissioner, the Mumbai Police Commissioner and the Director of the State Disaster Management Cell. Thackeray however, insisted that local train services could be resumed by exploring these options, while taking due care to avoid crowding. CONTD. ON P14 Green tax proposed on polluting vehicles FROM OUR BUREAU / New Delhi Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday gave his nod to a "green tax" on old vehicles polluting the environment, on the principle that polluter pays. It will be formally notified after consultations with the states, his ministry said. Private vehicles like cars and two-wheelers will have to pay a higher green tax @50% of the road tax for vehicles registered in highly polluted cities like Delhi and Mumbai. The private vehicle owners will have to pay it at the time of registration certificate renewal after 15 years. The minister also approved the policy of de-registration and scrapping of vehicles owned by Government department and PSUs, which are above 15 years in age, but it will come into force only from April 1, 2022. CONTD. ON P14 Abe, Paswan, Gogoi get P-awards OUR BUREAU / New Delhi Former Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is among the seven dignitaries who will be presented the highest Padma Vibhushan award, while former Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan, former Congress Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi of Assam, former Gujarat CM Keshubhai Patel and Shia leader Kalbe Sadiq from Lucknow are the four who have been awarded the Padma Bhushan posthumous; besides, six others have been chosen, including Prime Minister Modi's principal secretary Nripendra Misra, head of the committee for construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, and former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan from Indore.A host of Bollywood personalities would earlier corner the Padma awards, but they are missing from the list announced on Monday night. CONTD. ON P14