VOL. 32 NO. 42| MUMBAI, PUNE, INDORE, BHOPAL SUNDAY| FEBRUARY 21, 2021| 13 PAGES India, China hold 10th round of military-level talks NEW DELHI/JAMMU: India and China on Saturday held another round of military talks with a focus on taking forward the disengagement process in Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang in eastern Ladakh and bring down the tensions in region. (Report on Pg 5) Coronavirus Cases 111,405,147 Osaka tops Brady at Australian Open for 4th Grand Slam title Quality at Value MELBOURNE: Naomi Osaka won her fourth title in her past eight appearances at a Grand Slam, emerging from what initially was a tight Australian Open final and pulling away by grabbing six consecutive games to beat Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday. (Report on Pg 10) BMC ON A SEALING DRIVE Deaths 2,466,945 Source - Worldometer Surge in COVID-19 cases across Maharashtra has vexed authorities As many as 1,305 buildings have been sealed till Friday and the number is expected to rise With citizens flouting norms, State mulls imposing night curfew SANJAY JOG Mumbai Amid a sudden spurt in COVID-19 cases in almost 21 of the total 36 districts in Maharashtra, the state government is contemplating the imposition of night curfew in major cities. The restrictions - between 6 pm and 9 am - are to curb the movement of people and control crowding, announced the Minister of Relief and Rehabilitation Vijay Wadettiwar on Saturday He said the state . government has already directed the district collectors to take steps to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. As far as Mumbai is concerned, city mayor Kishori Pednekar said there is a possibility of imposition of night curfew if the rise in cases remains unabated. On holding online or offline examinations of class PM Modi bats for PLI schemes to increase production FPJ BUREAU New Delhi Advancing his call of "vocal for local," Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged the states to promote the production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes to increase production in the country and cut down dependence on imports. In his opening remarks at the sixth governing council meeting of NITI Aayog through video conference, he said the states should take full advantage of the scheme to reap the benefits. He pointed out that the PLI scheme offers incentives to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in production of various types of equipment. He laid stress on the need to strengthen businesses, MSMEs and startups. Modi also stressed the importance of a better coordination and policy framework between the Centre and the states. On the increase in funds allocation for infrastructure in Budget 2020-21, the Prime Minister said this would help the country's economy advance on many levels. He also urged the states to increase the exports. CONTD. ON P6 Number of districts in Maharashtra that have seen a spurt in COVID-19 cases 10 and 12, Wadettiwar said the government will soon take a decision. “There has been a surge in COVID-19 cases from February 1. However, people are not taking due care as many of them are moving without masks. This is despite repeated calls by the state government to observe self discipline. However, if the cases will continue to rise and people do not adhere to COVID 19 norms, the state government will take a call on the imposition of night curfew,’’ said Wadettiwar. Civic and district administration have been directed to impose fines on people not wearing masks and also for crowding in weddings and other ceremonies. CONTD. ON P6 DIPTI SINGH Mumbai Two days after the BMC reissued norms for sealing of buildings and floors in the city the civic body has launched a stringent drive. As the numbers were on the decline, the civic body was only sealing a building if it had 10 patients. However, now even if there are 5 cases the entire building will be sealed. So far the civic body has sealed as many as 984 buildings/ floors in a day . According to the data shared by the BMC on Saturday the number of sealed , buildings/floors has gone up from 321 on February 18 to 1,305 on February 19, recording an increase of almost 75 per cent. Meanwhile, the number of containment zones (congested areas/ Can’t enter state without a negative RT-PCR report slums) have increased to 93 on Feb 19 from 57 on Feb 18. According to Civic officials earlier only the data of completely sealed buildings was being maintained primarily as positive cases in the city were on the decline. However, now, even data of shall produce negative RTPCR certificate, which is not older than 72 hours. District authorities may take suitable preventive measures as and when necessary with intimation to state.’’ The negative RT-PCR report shall be verified at the time of boarding by airline staff. For those travelling by bus, tickets shall be issued on production of negative RT- PCR report or shall be checked by the bus conductor while boarding those who have booked a ticket online. In the trains the travelling ticket examiners shall check the negative RT-PCR test report. A random check of the testing reports from the persons arriving at the tollgates/point of entry shall be made for those coming by personal transport.CONTD. ON P6 Karnataka dictates to Maharashtra SANJAY JOG / Mumbai The BJP-led government in Karnataka has issued a circular making the coronavirus negative test report mandatory to enter the state. In a four-page circular issued by Karnataka additional chief secretary (health and family welfare) Jawaid Akhtar said, “All the returnees from Maharashtra Petrol touches all-time high of ` 97 in Mumbai Highest number of Sealed buildings/ floors T ward (Mulund) - 233 N ward (Ghatkopar) - 125 P South (Goregaon) - 125 D ward (Malabar hill, Napean Sea Road, Grant Road) - 110 R central ward (Borivali) - 106 Highest number of Containment Zones S ward (Bhandup, - 12 Powai) N ward (Ghatkopar) - 10 H east (Bandra) - 09 T ward (Mulund) - 09 L ward (Kurla) - 08 Stringent conditions Negative RT-PCR report to be verified by airline staff c Bus tickets shall be issued on production of negative RT-PCR report c Bus conductor to check reports of online tickets c TCs will check the RT-PCR reports on trains c Checks will be done at the tollgates/point of entry for those driving own cars c Security beefed up outside Jalsa as RPI vows protection to Bachchan PRIYANKA NAVALKAR Mumbai Security outside Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan's Juhu residence, Jalsa, was beefed up on Saturday close on the heels of , Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole's comments slamming Bachchan and actor Akshay Kumar for keeping mum on the issues like fuel price hike, claiming that party workers will show black flags to them and their films, when released, in protest. The Mumbai Police, however, clarified that the additional security was prompted after the Republican Party of India (RPI) activists claimed that they would support the actors, protect them if the need arose, and would reportedly march towards Jalsa. An official said that the security was beefed up for the RPI activists showing support and not due to the Congress leader's threats. CONTD. ON P6 FM shifts blame on states for high fuel prices FPJ BUREAU / New Delhi Fuel prices continued to rise across the country for the 12th straight day on Saturday . Petrol prices on Saturday touched an all-time high of Rs 97 per litre in Mumbai while diesel crossed Rs 88-mark. Petrol price was hiked by 39 paise per litre and diesel by 37 paise a litre, according to the state-owned oil marketing companies. The increase pushed the petrol prices in Delhi and Mumbai to Rs 90.58 and Rs 97 per litre respectively Diesel . was sold at Rs 80.97 a litre in the national capital and Rs 88.06 in Mumbai on Saturday . The increase follows a spurt in oil prices in the international market, on which India is dependent to meet its 85 per cent of the needs. Brent oil crossed USD 65 a barrel this week as a worsening US sealed floors are being recorded owing to the rising number of Covid-19 cases. Off the 1,305 sealed buildings/floors, T Ward (Mulund, Nahur) has the maximum numbers of sealed buildings/floors (233), followed by N Ward (Ghatkopar, Vikhroli west) and P South (Goregaon) having 125 sealed buildings/ floors each and D ward (Malabar Hill, Napean Sea Road, Grant Road) with 110 sealed buildings and floors. "Cases were on a decline and we were only sealing floors and hence the number of sealed buildings reflected was low. Now, it has been decided to seal the entire building once again and we are recording both data like earlier," said a senior BMC official. Another official said that earlier, there had to be 10 positive cases in a building to get it sealed but now, even if there are five cases the building has to be sealed. This according to BMC officials too is leading to a rise in the number of sealed buildings. CONTD. ON P6 FPJ BUREAU / New Delhi energy crisis took out almost 40 per cent of the nation's crude production. In 12 days, retail petrol prices have risen by Rs 3.63 a litre, a record since the pricing was deregulated in 2010, and diesel rates have gone up by Rs 3.84. Petrol price has already surged past the Rs 100-mark in some places in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, which levy the highest VAT on the fuel. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman batted for a cut in the petrol prices, putting the blame on the states for the high petrol prices because of the taxes they levy. “Yes, the Centre can also help by cutting down the Central Excise Duty,” she said but added the Centre has no control over the prices of petrol and diesel fixed by the oil marketing companies. She described the continuous hike in the petrol and diesel prices as a "dharma sankat," saying the Centre and states need to figure out a way so that the end price to the consumer or the retail price of fuel is at a reasonable level. Toolkit case: Order on Disha Ravi’s bail plea on Tuesday FPJ BUREAU / New Delhi An additional sessions judge in Delhi on Saturday reserved its order for pronouncement on next Tuesday on the bail plea of Disha Ravi, a 22-year-old climate activist from Karnataka accused by Delhi Police of creating a toolkit to help the farmers protesting against the Centre's controversial farm laws. She was arrested from Bengaluru on February 13 by a cyber cell team of Delhi Police, brought here and booked for sedition and other charges. A trial court on Friday sent her to a 3-day judicial lockup after her 5-day police custody expired. The judge, Dharmendra Rana, had his own doubts on the case built by police as he pointedly asked: "Is there any evidence or are we acting on the basis of surmises and conjectures?" He sought evidence linking the toolkit used by her with the violence in Delhi on the Republic Day when additional solicitor general SV Raju claimed on behalf of police that the document by her has to be read with hashtags and links to show all were meant to "instigate people to come on street and create a public disorder." CONTD. ON P6 NASA rover sends images of Mars and a selfie WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SEND A MILLENNIAL TO THE RED PLANET AGENCIES Washington NASA Perseverance rover safely touching down on the Red Planet. (Pic: NASA) NASA's Perseverance rover has sent some stunning photos of the Red Planet, including a high-resolution colour selfie taken during its landing. The selfie is part of a video taken by several cameras as NASA's Perseverance rover touched down on Mars on February 18. "While NASA's Mars Cu- riosity rover sent back a stop-motion movie of its descent, Perseverance's cameras are intended to capture video of its touchdown and this new still image was taken from that footage, which is still being relayed to Earth and processed," the US space agency said in a statement on Friday A cam. era aboard the descent stage captured the shot. Unlike with past rovers, the majority of Perseverance's cameras capture images in colour. After landing, two of the Hazard Cameras (Hazcams) captured views from the front and rear of the rover, showing one of its wheels in the Martian dirt. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology including , the search for signs of ancient microbial life. CONTD. ON P6 DGIPR 2020-21/2494