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 EXPANDS UPPER, LOWER CAP ON AIRFARES BY UP TO 30% Pg 7 WELCOME CHINESE PULLBACK TO INDIA’S SATISFACTION ‘I DON’T HAVE THE SLIGHTEST THOUGHT OF GIVING PRABHAS COMPETITION’ Pg 28 Vol. 64 No. 244 | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 12, 2021 | 13 Pages | EDITIONS: Mumbai*, Pune, Indore, Bhopal, E-Paper Grounded unceremoniously EDIT Pg 10 ONCE AGAIN, MVA AND GOVERNOR NOT ON SAME PAGE T SANJAY JOG Mumbai he logjam over the delay in the nomination of 12 members to the state legislative council seemingly manifested itself in the form of air turbulence on Thursday with the Shiv Sena, led Maha Vikas Aghadi government and Governor BS Koshyari locked in a fresh battle over the latter being denied the use of state government aircraft. The Raj Bhavan alleged that Koshyari was de-boarded from the Cessna Citation XLS eight-seater jet, on which he was to fly to Uttarakhand. Koshyari had to disembark and wait for over two hours at the Mumbai airport in the morning, and finally forced to take a commercial flight to Dehradun. He was scheduled to preside over and address the 122nd induction training programme of IAS officers at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie on Friday . The governor was to take the flight to his home state, Uttarakhand, at 10am. “Accordingly a , Governor has to disembark from aircraft on which he was to fly after being told permission had been denied state government plane had been booked earlier. But, the permission did not come till the last moment. Raj Bhavan clarified that the governor was only informed after he had boarded the plane, that the permission for the use of government aircraft had not been received. ‘’Today on 11th February 2021, , the Hon’ble Governor reached the CSIM Airport at 1000 hrs and boarded the government plane. However, the Hon’ble Governor was informed that the permission for the use of Government Aircraft had not been received,’’ said the statement by Raj Bhavan. “ As Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). According to officials this at present will be the only train in this sector (and the LucknowDelhi Tejas in the north) to serve cooked food, as it is privately operated and fares are dynamic in nature, depending on the demand. As on Thursday evening, there were 256 seats available on the chair car and 52 in the executive chair car, for February 14. The officials said that the demand is not all that encouraging in the days to come with bookings being in the range of 45-50 per cent of the total capacity This is apparently . because people try to avoid the RT-PCR test that happens at various terminating stations for Covid-19. The total seating capacity in the 10-car Tejas Express is 736 seats, which comprises 56 seats each in two EC coaches and 78 seats in eight CC coaches. CONTD. ON P13 AGENCIES New Delhi taking them back beyond Sirijap and Moldo garrison. "The disengagement is to be completed within seven days," a source told ANI. After the first phase of disengagement is complete, the two sides would start discussing the other friction points, including the Patrolling Point-17 and PP-15, they said. To finalise the modalities, sources said the two sides had held extensive Army to Army discussions through hotlines as directed by the Hon’ble Governor, tickets for Dehradun were booked for the Governor on a Commercial Aircraft leaving Mumbai at 1215 hrs immediately and accordingly , he left for Dehradun,” the statement added. However, the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, in its clarification said the Raj Bhavan secretariat should have made sure that the governor was allowed to use the Maharashtra government's aircraft before his visit to Dehradun on Thursday ‘’As the Raj Bhavan . Secretariat failed to do so, it led to a delay in the travel of an 'eminent' person like the Governor, the statement added. Raj Bhavan had requested to allow the governor to travel by a state aircraft. "As per the rules, permission is sought before boarding a government aircraft and the aircraft is made available only after approval," the statement said. "According to this, the Chief Minister's Secretariat had, on Wednesday February 10, sent a message , that the use of aircraft had not been approved yet," it added. CONTD. ON P13 No more pantry cars on Tanks retreat in Lake area; trains unless it is Tejas focus on other points, now SHASHANK RAO Mumbai The only long-distance train on the Indian Railways that will be serving food cooked on board in this pandemic, is the privately operated Mumbai-Ahmedabad Tejas Express, that will resume services from February 14. And this is how it will be for a long time to come, as according to railway officials, chances of pantries serving cooked food to passengers on long-distance trains, will not be on the menu at any time soon. On February 11, the Indian Railways Mobile Caterers Association (IRMCA) had a meeting with the Railway Board officials, to discuss the future of pantry catering. Starting this Sunday the Tejas , Express, connecting the two cities will resume operations, with pantry offerings from the Indian Railway Catering and CAA implementation after vaccination: HM TAILPIECE OUR CORRESPONDENT / Kolkata The controversial citizenship law is back on the menu. The government will start implementing the CAA and the NRC once everyone in the country is vaccinated, said Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while addressing a public rally in poll-bound West Bengal. The assurance was held out to the Matua community of West Bengal. Originally from erstwhile East Pakistan, they are among the Hindus who migrated to India during partition and after the creation of Bangladesh. Many of them have been given Indian citizenship but a sizeable section still awaits the same. With an estimated population of 30 lakh in the state, the community can tilt the scales in at least four Lok Sabha seats or over 30 assembly constituencies in Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas districts. It once stood solidly behind the Trinamool Congress but had supported the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, media reports said. A section of the state BJP leadership is apprehensive that the delay and confusion over the implementation of the CAA could make them turn against the party . It can be recalled that ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2019, the main poll plank of the BJP was ‘ ssured citizenship’ to the minorities. MatA uas known to be close to the ruling Trinamool Congress had voted for the BJP making Shantanu Thakur the BJP MP from the Bongaon constituency . After the thinning of troops, tanks and infantry combat vehicles of India and China started disengaging on both banks of the Pangong Lake, as part of the disengagement process between the two countries along the Line of Actual Control. Sources said in the first phase, Indian tanks are being moved back towards Nyoma and adjoining areas, while the Chinese are well as the two physical meetings in the Chushul sector on February 8 and 9. The strategic heights on the southern bank of Pangong Lake - Rezang La and Rechen La -which were captured by the Indian troops in a pre-emptive operation in late August, are also witnessing disengagement. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday told Parliament that India and China have reached an agreement for disengagement on the north and south bank of Pangong Lake and the country will not allow anyone to take an inch of its land. While India has to move to the Dhan Singh Thapa post near Finger 3, the Chinese will be moving to the east of Finger 8. The two countries have over 50,000 troops eyeball to eyeball in the eastern Ladakh area ever since the Chinese tried to alter the status quo. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Told they must abide by law of the land; ground rules being drafted OUR BUREAU / New Delhi Strict action would be taken against social media platforms that are found violating the law of the land, spreading fake news and stoking violence, Law and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asserted in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday . "You will have to follow the Constitution, you will have to abide by the laws,’’ the minister said, singling out Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and WhatsApp. He said these platforms have millions of followers in India and they are free to do business and make money but they can, not be allowed to circumvent the provisions of the Indian Constitution and the laws. It is understood that the government has readied draft rules to regulate social media, OTT platforms and news-related websites. This will entail creation of a self-regulatory mechanism involving filing of regular compliance reports. CONTD. ON P13 China takes BBC off air BEIJING: China's broadcasting regulator announced on Thursday it has pulled BBC World News from the air, saying the channel's content had "seriously" violated guidelines for reporting in the country In a statement, Chi. na's State Film, TV and Radio Administration said BBC World News reports about China were found to "seriously violate" broadcast guidelines, including "the requirement that news should be truthful and fair" and not "harm China's national interests." "The State Film, TV and Radio Administration does not permit the BBC to continue broadcasting in China, and does not accept its new annual application for broadcast," it said. Priyanka Passengers will have to spend more on air travel as the Civil Aviation Ministry has enhanced the lower and upper caps on domestic airfares by 10 to 30 per cent. The original caps were put in place on May 25 when domestic flights were restarted in a calibrated manner. The new caps would remain "in force up to March 31, 2021, or until further orders", the ministry said in its order on Thursday Emphasising that capping . of airfares was an "extraordinary measure", Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri recently said the price bands are expected to be done away with once flight services reach preCOVID-19 levels. See Page 7 The Covid-19 variant, which was first detected in the UK's Kent province last year, is set to become the dominant strain and is going to sweep the world, the head of the UK's genetic surveillance programme has said. "The new variant has 'swept the country' and 'it's going to sweep the world, in all probability'," Sharon Peacock, Director of Covid-19 Genomics UK (Cog-UK) told the BBC. "Once we get on top of it or it mutates itself out of being virulent -- causing disease -- then we can stop worrying about it. But I think, looking in the future, we're going to be doing this for years. We're still going to be doing this 10 years down the line, in my view," Peacock added. Data shows the most common symptoms of the Kent strain dif- fer from other variants dominant in the UK. The most common symptom, reported by 35 per cent of people who tested positive, was a cough. Close behind was fatigue and muscle weakness, affecting 32 per cent of cases, and headache with 31 per cent. A recent study has also revealed that the Kent strain has acquired a mutation similar to the South When, inside you, an innocence dawns, it shows on your face then you become beautiful. giants warned UK Kent variant will ‘sweep the world’ ONLINE REPORT London Sunrise: 07:08 am Sunset: 06:37 pm Social media Domestic flight fares will go up OUR BUREAU New Delhi 340c. 210c. African variant - making it more likely to resist vaccines. This means the antibodies produced by the immune system to fight the older version of the coronavirus may fail to recognise it in its new mutated form. The UK variant is believed to have spread rapidly This week, . the World Health Organization has announced that the Covid-19 variant, known as B.1.1.7, has been reported in 86 countries. In its weekly epidemiological update, WHO says the variant B.1.1.7 has shown an increase in transmissibility and some evi, dence of increase in disease severity based on preliminary findings. As of February 7, an additional six countries have reported cases of this variant. A new study also suggested the UK variant is spreading rapidly across the US, raising concerns over another resurgence in the hardest-hit country . takes dip at Sangam OUR CORRESPONDENT / Lucknow In keeping with her soft Hindutva demeanour, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday took a holy dip along with her son and daughter in Sangam (Prayagraj)  the auspicious on occasion of Mauni Amavasya at the ongoing 57-day-long Magh Mela. Accompanied by son Rehan and 18-year-old daughter Miraya, Priyanka landed at Bamrauli Airport in Prayagraj on Thursday morning and drove straight to her ancestral house Anand Bhawan. She was welcomed by senior party leaders, including Pramod Tiwari, party MLA Aradhana Mishra and a large number of Congress workers. She offered floral tributes to her grandfather Jawahar Lal Nehru and great grandfather Moti Lal Nehru at a memorial on the sprawling campus. Priyanka also spent some time with children of an orphanage, run by the Anand Bhawan Trust. CONTD. ON P13 Lord Ram fast becoming richest God in country LAST WORD L OUR CORRESPONDENT Lucknow ord Ram Lala in Ayodhya is fast becoming the richest God in the country The Ram temple trust has . added over Rs 500 crores in just ten days to swell the Lord’s three bank accounts. Sri Ramjanambhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust General Secretary Champat Rai claimed that over Rs 1,000 crores have so far been deposited in the three bank accounts of the Ram temple trust. “People from different walks of life made donations from their heart during the collection drive. Though banks are yet to furnish the final figure but it is estimated to be well over Rs 1,000 crore,” he said. In the first 15 days, when the drive was launched on January 15, the trust had collected Rs 500 crore. The balance -- Rs 500 crore -- was added in just 10 days. Going by the pace of donations, which are pouring in from all parts of the country and the world, the trust is likely to collect Rs 2,000 crore by February 27 when the drive concludes. The trust has deployed over 1.5 lakh VHP and other volunteers for nationwide door to door donation collections. About 37,000 volunteers have been assigned the job of depositing donation cheques into accounts of Lord Rama in three banks – the State Bank of India, the Bank of Baroda and the Punjab National Bank. The trust has already released RTGS details of the bank accounts in public domain for the convenience of people wanting to make donations directly . CONTD. ON P13