www.freepressjournal.in | twitter.com/fpjindia Reg. No. Mcs/048/2018-20; RNI No. 1541/1957 I M.p.c.s office Mumbai-400001 Jalan group: Jet to reStart in 4-6 monthS after nClt nod Pg 7 fdi: govt muSt Stop Being Step-motherly Breaking: Jimmy Sheirgill’S ‘Chuna’ on netflix? Pg 16 340c. 240c. Sunrise: 07:03 am Sunset: 06:42 pm Vol. 64 No. 252 | MONDAY | FEBRUARY 22, 2021 | 13 Pages | EDITIONS: Mumbai*, Pune, Indore, Bhopal, E-Paper BETWEEN THE LINES US DEATHS MORE THAN IN 3 BATTLES E ven as the US is administering vaccines and deaths are slowing, the sheer loss of a half a million people -- 500,000 – has the Americans wallowing in misery. No other country has counted so many fatalities on account of the pandemic. More Americans have perished from Covid-19 than on the battlefields of World War I, World War II and the Vietnam War combined, says the New York Times. DEEP CRISIS AS TWO MORE QUIT IN PONDY T wo more MLAs – one each from the ruling Congress and its ally DMK – resigned on Sunday ahead of the trust vote in Puducherry Assembly, reducing the Narayansamy Government to a minority. In all, six MLAs – five from the Congress, including two ministers – have quit in under a month and one Congress legislator was disqualified last year. Consequently, the strength of the House has dminished to 26. Hours before Narayansamy moves the Motion of Confidence in the Assembly to take a floor test on Monday, as mandated by Lieutenant Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, the Congress (9), DMK (2) and Independent (1) were two short of the combined Opposition numbers of 14. While the AINRC had seven legislators, the AIADMK had four and BJP had three nominated legislators. From the Congress camp, the effective number of legislators who would vote would be 11 as the Speaker can vote only in case of a tie. While the possibility of the Narayanasamy Government surviving is almost nil, the Congress has questioned the classification of the three nominated legislators as belonging to the BJP. “They never signed any papers after their election to say that they belonged to BJP. Therefore, they cannot be classified as BJP members,” the Chief Minister has argued. But with numbers stacked up against him, it is unlikely Narayanasamy may continue. At a time the ruling TMC is planning to take out protest rallies across the state demanding immediate reduction of fuel prices during PM Modi’s visit to the state on February 22, the TMC government has decided to deduct rupee one from the tax charged by the state government from February 22 midnight. Addressing a press conference, West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra said that from February 22 midnight, the ruling Trinamool Congress will reduce rupee one from the tax charged by the state government. “The price of petrol in Kolkata is Rs 91.77 per litre. The TMC government will reduce one rupee to give some respite to the people from the price hike on petroleum products each day,” mentioned Mitra. EDIT Countdown to lockdown Pg 13 ‘BEHAVE, IF YOU DON'T WANT ONE; WILL KNOW IN A FORTNIGHT IF THERE’S A SECOND WAVE’•LAUNCHES ‘MI JABABDAR’ CAMPAIGN•ANNOUNCES BAN ON SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS EVENTS FROM MONDAY SANJAY JOG Mumbai Taking errant citizens to task for rampant violations of Covid-19 norms, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday sternly warned of a fresh lockdown if people failed to wear masks, use sanitisers and maintain social distancing. Terming the situation ‘serious’, he said, "Now, my question to you is: Should we impose a lockdown? I will seek this answer from you in the coming eight days. Those who do not want a lockdown will observe protocols like using masks, washing hands and keeping physical distance." In a web address, Thackeray said, "People who want a lockdown again will flout these rules. Let us see who wants a lockdown, and who doesn’t. I am very clear about this. Wear a mask - prevent a lockdown. Observe discipline prevent a lockdown." His admonition came hours after a week-long lockdown was announced in Amravati while stringent restrictions have been imposed in Akola, Yavatmal, Buldana, Washim, Pune and Nashik. He announced the ‘Mi Jababdar’ (I am responsible) campaign. "Here, everyone will take upon themselves the responsibility to mask up in public, sanitise and maintain physical distance," he said. "The ‘My Family My Respon, sibility’ campaign was launched when you were at home, but it will be difficult to do so now and will strain the system,’’ he added. CONTD. ON P10 IS MUMBAI LISTENING? To arrest the surge in coronavirus cases in the state in the past few days, stringent restrictions, including lockdown and night curfew, closure of schools and colleges and a ban on religious, social ACE UP MY SLEEVE and political gatherings has been imposed in Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Amravati, Akola, Yavatmal, Buldana, Washim and Mumbai districts. The administration has put in place fresh curbs under the provisions of Disaster Management Act, 2005. Amravati district in Vidarbha region will be placed under a week-long lockdown from 8pm on February 22 until 8am on March 1, said the district guardian minister Yashomati Thakur. There have been 7,470 Covid-19 cases and 43 deaths since February 1, including a record single-day addition of 727 cases. CONTD. ON P10 20% of MMR coast is at risk of flooding DIPTI SINGH Mumbai About 20 per cent of Mumbai Metropolitan Region’s (MMR) coastline is highly vulnerable to flooding during natural disasters such as cyclonic storms and from a gradual rise in the sea level, a recent study by researchers has revealed. Researchers have pointed out that unsustainable development, along with changes in land use and land cover, combined with the destruction of mangroves, wetlands and water bodies between 1976 and 2015, has made the low-lying topography of the MMR highly susceptible to sea level-induced flooding and coastal erosion. CONTD. ON P10 AREAS MOST PRONE TO FLOODING Eastern suburbs: Kurla, Deonar, Shivaji Nagar, Trombay-Koliwada, western section of Thane creek. North Mumbai: Gorai, Mira-Bhayandar, some sections of Andheri (west) South Mumbai: Colaba, BPT Colony, Cuffe Parade, Worli, Dadar Chowpatty, Girgaum Other areas in MMR: Parts of Navi Mumbai, Mira-Bhayandar, Uttan, Uran, Alibaug, Murud CBI’s call: Mamata kin unfazed OUR CORRESPONDENT / Kolkata A CBI team descended on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek’s residence on Sunday morning and summoned his wife Rujira Narula and sister-in-law Menaka Gambhir in connection with investiga- tions into a coal scam. The allegation is that the coal mafia had paid regular kickbacks to leaders of Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress. The money was allegedly channelled through Vinay Mishra, who is the general secretary of the Trinamool's youth wing, which is headed by Abhishek Banerjee. On December 31, the CBI had raided the home of Vinay Mishra, who is now on the run. The agency has already issued an NBW against him. Also under the CBI scanner are alleged huge transfers of foreign currency in two bank accounts of TMC MP Abhishek’s wife -- one in London and the other in Thailand. CONTD. ON P10 Surviving sky fall on the ground LAST WORD D GILLIAN FLACCUS AND DAVID ZALUBOWSKI Broomfield (Colorado) avid Delucia was settling back into his airplane seat and starting to relax on his way to a longawaited vacation when a huge explosion and flash of light interrupted an in-flight announcement and put him in survival mode. The Boeing 777-200, headed from Denver to Honolulu on Saturday with 231 passengers and 10 crew aboard, suffered a catastrophic failure in its right engine and flames erupted under the wing as the plane began to lose altitude. As Delucia and his wife prepared for the worst, people in this Denver suburb reacted in horror as huge pieces of the engine casing and chunks of fiberglass rained down on a sports fields and on streets and lawns, just FINES VIOLATORS, mops up Rs 32.30 lakh – the highest single day recovery accruing from Covid protocols PRATIP ACHARYA AND PRIYANKA NAVALKAR Mumbai In a major crackdown on Saturday night, the BMC penalised several popular restaurant chains and pubs for flouting COVID-19 protocols in Mumbai. Among the errant eateries is '145 Bandra Restaurant and Bar.' It has been asked to cough up Rs 50,000 fine for allowing more than 200 PRIYANKA NAVALKAR Mumbai South Mumbai, eastern suburbs highly vulnerable to sea-level rise & storm surge because of unplanned development Novak Djokovic's Australian Open dominance is intact — nine finals, nine championships. And he keeps gaining on Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the Grand Slam standings, now up to 18 overall, two away from the men's record shared by his two rivals. The math looks good for Djokovic, too. He is about a year younger than Nadal and 6 1/2 younger than Federer, BMC Covid swoopdown on Bandra-Khar eateries 16,154 Master Choa Kok Sui people on the premises. Besides, the civic body has lodged an FIR against the establishment for disobeying an order duly promulgated by public servant (IPC section 188) and engaging in a negligent act that is likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life (Section 269). While no arrests were made, the party attendees, who were violating the prohibitory COVID norms, were released with a warning," said a police officer. The BMC also penalised other popular restaurants and pubs in the stretch between Khar and Bandra -Irish House, U Turn Sports Bar and Quarter Pillar Bar. Civic officials stated each of these establishments has been asked to fork out an amount between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000 for flouting the norms. CONTD. ON P10 sengers, who had arrived from Dubai on February 10, were asked to undergo the mandatory seven-day institutional quarantine, as has been mentioned in the guidelines issued by the state government. The four passengers, identified as Sushil Sabnees, Jubeir Ghalte, Nikita Chander and Swapan Chandradas, were lodged in the Andheribased Golden Nest Hotel for quarantine purposes. The following day on Feb, ruary 11, when a civic official visited the hotel to check on the passengers, they found the four of them missing from their rooms. CONTD. ON P10 AGENCIES / New Delhi Search for 4 from Dubai Sino-India who flew out of lock-in joint voice 7-day house arrest in Amravati SANJAY JOG Mumbai Truth is dynamic. It is not static. missing one home and crushing a truck. The explosion, visible from the ground, left a trail of black smoke in the sky and tiny pieces of insulation , filled the air like ash. The plane landed safely at Denver International Airport, and no one on board or on the ground was hurt, authorities said. But both those in the air and on the ground were deeply shaken. “When it initially happened, I thought we were done. I thought we were going down,” said Delucia, who stuffed his wallet in his pocket so he could be easily identified if the plane did go down. “The pilot did an amazing job. It was pretty unnerving.” CONTD. ON P10 Four people, who had arrived at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) from Dubai on February 10 and allegedly skipped the mandatory quarantine at a hotel, were booked at Andheri police station. When civic officials learned about the truancy they approached police , and lodged a complaint, following which the four people were booked. Efforts to trace them are underway and they will be put into institutional quarantine immediately upon , being found. Police said that the four pas- The disengagement of troops in Pangong Lake area in Eastern Ladakh is a significant step forward for resolution of other remaining issues along the LAC in the western sector, India and China said in a joint statement on Sunday after their 10th round of military talks. The two sides also agreed to follow the important consensus of their state leaders, continue their communication and dialogue, stabilise and control the situation on the ground and push for a mutually acceptable resolution of CONTD. ON P10