320c. 220c. Sunrise: 07:01 am Sunset: 06:43 pm ultra-rIch IndIans’ numbers to swell In 5 years Pg 11 baIl to dIsha: paranoId government loses face When people are ready, Truth is revealed piece by piece. ‘I am lookIng forward to beIng a super mom’ Pg 24 Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Vol. 64 No. 255 | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 25, 2021 | 16 Pages | ` 3 | EDITIONS: Mumbai*, Pune, Indore, Bhopal, E-Paper BETWEEN THE LINES PALGHAR DEATHS: SC POSER TO COPS The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Maharashtra Police to place on record within two weeks the second supplementary charge sheet filed in the case of alleged lynching of three persons, including two sadhus, in Palghar district last April and posted the matter for further hearing on March 12. The bench was responding to the Maharashtra Government's counsel referring to the second charge sheet filed in the case, in which 18 delinquent police persons have been punished for dereliction of duty following a probe, some of them dismissed and some compulsorily retired. The court was hearing petitions, including one filed by the seers of Hardwar and Varanasi belonging to Panch Dashban Juna Akhara and relatives of the killed seers, demanding a separate probe by the CBI and the NIA into the alleged lynching as they were not satisfied with the "biased" police investigation. The three victims from Kandivali were travelling in a car to attend a funeral in Surat in Gujarat amid the COVID-19-induced nationwide lockdown when their vehicle was stopped and they were attacked and killed by a mob. UP, PUNJAB SPAT OVER DON-NETA The Uttar Pradesh Government on Wednesday sought immediate transfer of gangster-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari (57) from Rupnagar district jail in Punjab to the Banda district jail to face trial in several cases, accusing the Punjab Government of "shamelessly" protecting him. In its affidavit, the Punjab government has referred to the medical condition of Ansari and the advice of the doctors, because of which he "could not be handed over to the Uttar Pradesh Police." It is claimed he is undergoing treatment in the jail hospital as well as in other hospitals since January 2019. Ansari runs his own regional party, Qaumi Ekta Dal. He has been elected to the UP Assembly from Mau for a record five times. SPECIAL DGP FACES HARASSMENT RAP A top police officer in Tamil Nadu, Rajesh Das, who was posted as Special Director General of Police – an exclusively created post -- was on Wednesday placed on “compulsory wait” by the State Government following sexual harassment charges levelled against him by a young woman IPS officer. Sources said the young Superintendent of Police had complained that Das misbehaved with her in his car QUOTE “A wounded tiger is more dangerous. We have 20 lakh workers and you can arrest us all. Once the BJP gets defeated in the West Bengal polls, they (BJP) will disappear from India. They call us ‘tolabaaz’ (extortionist), but they are ‘dangabaaz’ (rioters). Gujarat will not rule Bengal but Bengal will again take charge of Bengal. – Mamata Banerjee FOR SALE, HOPE FOR 60 & ABOVE YOUR PSUs EDIT Pg 21 Also prioritised for vaccination March 1 onwards are those above 45 with comorbidities 30 LAKH SENIORS IN CITY QUEUE WILL IT BE A WALK-IN JAB? SWAPNIL MISHRA / Mumbai FPJ NEWS SERVICE New Delhi The wait for vaccines is over for those above 60 years of age – the category that is disproportionately affected by COVID-19. They will be able to get the vaccine from March 1 for free at government facilities and for a charge at many private hospitals. (It is estimated that there are no less than 10 crore people in the country in this category). The government has also decided to prioritise ahead of other age groups those over 45 years with comorbidities. They too will be eligible for the jab from the aforesaid date, even though 1,000+ the government is yet to define comorbidity . The vaccine is likely to be on first-come, first serve basis; the vaccine price is likely to be capped at Rs 300 at private hospitals. The decision was taken by the Union Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said at a media briefing here. Asked whether ministers and the prime minister, who fall in the 60 plus category will , get inoculated, Javadekar said those who want to take the jab will get it at the place of their choosing from March 1. CONTD. ON P17 Despite the Central Government’s nod for the vaccination of senior citizens and those above 45 years of age with comorbidities, from March 1, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is yet to receive any guidelines for the third phase, in which they plan to inoculate 30 lakh senior citizens. The kickstarting of the third phase in the city depends on the registration process, whether the data will be uploaded on the centralised CoWin app or if citizens have to do it themselves. Another 15 days at least will be required to complete the registration process. “Currently we do not have any guidelines in place for the third phase of the vaccination drive, which includes registration, criteria of the comorbidities to be included in the guidelines. So, at this point, we are unsure how this will be done. The announcement has been made so quickly; it will be hard to gather information on senior citizens across the city said a senior ,” health official. CONTD. ON P17 T new cases for 1st time in SWAPNIL MISHRA Mumbai he number of Covid-19 cases reported within a 24-hour period in the city crossed the 1,000-mark, almost three months after the previous such occurrence, with 1,167 new cases and four deaths being reported on Wednesday taking the total , count to 3,21,698, with 11,453 fatalities till now. Mumbai had last reported 1,000-plus cases last year, on November 28. Maharashtra has also reported the highest single-day cases for this year. On Monday there were 8,807 new , cases and 80 deaths, pushing the statewide count to 21,21,119, with 51,937 fatalities. 3 months STATE RECORDS 8,807 highest one-day total of infections this year No entry from hotspot Vidarbha to Marathwada Strict curbs on inter-district, state movement SANJAY JOG Mumbai Taking a cue from the governments of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi governments, who have made negative RT-PCR test reports compulsory for those coming from Maharashtra, within the state itself, district collectors have prohibited inter-district and inter-state movement. Marathwada borders are off-limits for people from Vidarbha, where the spike has been drastic, especially in Yavatmal, Akola, Amravati, Buldana and Washim districts. Special checkposts have been set up to curb entry to avoid , spurt in infection. Similar checkposts have been set up at the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana borders. State transport bus services from Marathwada to Vidarbha have been suspended till further orders. Similarly the Solapur dis, trict administration has issued an advisory making negative RT-PCR test reports mandatory for those coming from Karnataka and other states. “Considering the increasing onslaught of the contagion in Vidarbha, the district borders in Marathwada have been sealed. On the Yavatmal border adjacent to Nanded district, the borders for neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been sealed, to curb the entry of people. Checkposts have been set up on the borders,’’ said a sen- ior official from the home department. He said the antigen tests have been made mandatory at the checkposts in the border areas of Yavatmal and Nanded districts. In Vidarbha, Parbhani District Collector Deepak Mugalikar has banned all private and public transport to and from Vidarbha. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has directed the Nagpur and Amravati divisional commissioners to increase vigil, step up tracing, tracking and testing to curb the spread of the virus. The district administration has been delegated powers to enforce stringent curbs under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. CONTD. ON P17 SHOULD AGED GET THE JAB Q. Are you too old to get vaccinated? A. You are never too old. Vaccination is lifelong protection. Q. Are vaccines as effective for the aged as in the young? A. As we get older, immune cells can become more difficult to activate; as a result, vaccines often don’t protect older people as well as the young. Q. Then, why take it? A. A potential vaccine is not only expected to prevent infection, it also reduces the severity of the disease. Q. What about comorbidities? A. Several conditions are peculiar to Indian patients – diabetes, chronic lung or heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer. So is obesity, which would comprise half of the adults eligible to be vaccinated. It is likely there will be segregation depending on the nature of the comorbidity, and each sub-group will have a separate timeline. Officials have attributed this surge to several factors - aggressive testing, public laxity in adhering to Covid norms and the increasing movement of people. Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said, for the second time, more than 20,000 tests were carried out in the city resulting in the , surge. Moreover, citizens are not following Covid norms, which is another factor for the rise in cases. “We have conducted 21,124 Covid tests, as compared to 17,499 on the day before. In the state too, 80,861 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, following which there has been a rise in cases both in the state and city he said. ,” Tiger Woods badly injured in a car crash  ONLINE REPORT / Los Angeles Tiger Woods was seriously injured when his SUV crashed into a median, rolled over and ended up on its side near a steep road in suburban Los Angeles known for wrecks, authorities said. The golf superstar had to be pulled out through the windshield, and his agent said he underwent multiple leg surgery. Sources said he was lucky to survive as his car rolled several times before coming to rest on an embankment. Whether he will play another tournament is a question that is irrelevant as of now. Sources said it was important that he should be able to walk again. His recent back surgery has also put a question mark over his comeback. His remarkable career has been defined by his unprecedented collection of trophies. Summons likely to Hrithik in email spat with Kangana LAST WORD Around 950 emails were sent from email IDs bearing 'Kangana Ranaut' in their address; 350 of these are under the scanner T SACHIN GAAD / Mumbai wo months after actor Hrithik Roshan's 2016 case against an unknown imposter was transferred to the Criminal Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the crime branch, the CIU is likely to summon Hrithik to record his statement. "We are in the process of issuing summons to him and he will be called for recording his statement this week," said an officer close to the investigation. "During the investigation so far, it has been revealed that some 950 emails had been sent to Hrithik, from two email IDs bearing the words Kangana Ranaut in the email address in combination with different numerals in the ids. The emails were sent between AprilJune 2014 and some were obscene in nature," alleged the officer. Of the 950 such emails, around 350 were under the scanner, he added. In December last year, Hrithik's counsel approached the Mumbai police commissioner regarding the pending investigation and days later, the case was transferred to the CIU. In 2016, Hrithik had filed a complaint against an imposter who had allegedly been emailing actress Kangana Ranaut through 'his' email ID. CONTD. ON P17 PM says government has no business to be in business, he is committed to privatising all PSUs barring those in four strategic sectors OUR BUREAU New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday made his strongest pitch for privatisation of non-strategic PSUs, saying the government has no business to be in business. He reasoned that sustaining loss-making units was a drain on the exchequer and the tax payers' money should rather be spent on public welfare schemes. He said about 100 underutilised or unutilised assets with public sector units (PSUs), such as those in the oil and gas and power sectors, will be monetised, creating Rs 2.5 lakh crore of investment opportunities. "It is the government's duty to support enterprises and businesses. But it is not essential that it should own and run enterprises," the Prime Minister said at a webinar on the privatisation approach in the Budget for 2021-22. The private sector brings in investment, the best global practices, top quality managers, changes in work ethic and modernisation, he said, adding the money generated from the stake sales will be routed to public welfare schemes in areas like water and sanitation, education and healthcare. Modi said his government is committed to privatising all PSUs, barring those in four strategic sectors -- atomic energy space and defence; , transport and telecommunications; power, petroleum, coal and other minerals; and banking, insurance and financial services, where the government will retain a bare minimum presence. CONTD. ON P17 DIESEL PETROL ` 97.34 ` 88.44 Per litre Per litre www.freepressjournal.in twitter.com/fpjindia Reg. No. Mcs/048/2018-20; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai-400001 Facebook VP asserts ‘right to silence in noisy times’ FPJ NEWS SERVICE New Delhi Facebook India Vice President and MD Ajit Mohan on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that the Delhi Assembly has no legislative power to set up a panel to examine the issue of peace and harmony . Senior advocate Harish Salve, representing Mohan, submitted that his client has right to silence, that law and order in Delhi falls under the domain of the Centre, and setting up panel on peace and harmony was not the core function of the Delhi Assembly . A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy reserved the judgment in the matter after counsel representing the Centre, the Facebook official and the Assembly panel completed their arguments. Mohan had moved the top court challenging the summonses issued by Assembly's Peace and Harmony Committee in connection with Delhi riots last year. Salve argued that there are two broad silos, one is existence of powers in compulsion of appearance and second is competence, and that the Delhi Assembly is wrong on both. CONTD. ON P17 Stadium renaming stirs row OUR BUREAU New Delhi No stadium is named after a living person, not even after a living player. President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday set a precedent by inaugurating the Narendra Modi Stadium at Motera in Ahmedabad, which was hitherto known as Sardar Patel Cricket Stadium. Lest the renaming sends a wrong signal, President Kovind also laid the foundation stone of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave at the stadium which is spread over 63 acres of land with three entrances and has an Olympic-size swimming pool. ‘‘This stadium was conceptualised by PM Modi when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat. He was president of the Gujarat Cricket Association at that time," President Kovind said in his address after the inauguration, putting the renaming in perspective. The Congress, however, responded to the renaming by criticising the BJP Tak. England were bowled out for a miserable 112 as India dominated in Ahmedabad. Hometown boy Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin had a field day as the former scalped six wickets while Ashwin returned with three on Day 1 of the 3rd Test at Narendra Modi Stadium. At stumps, India's score read 99/3, with Rohit and Ajinkya Rahane unbeaten on 57 and 1 runs, respectively. The hosts are trailing by 13 runs in the first innings with seven wickets in the bag. ing a swipe, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet, "Beautiful how the truth reveals itself." Hailed by Home Minister Amit Shah as the world's biggest cricket ground, the stadium has a seating capacity of 1.32 lakh that can host two different games on the same day but only half , of it will be filled for the two Test matches against England because of the Covid pandemic. The stadium has 76 airconditioned corporate boxes with a seating capacity of 25 each. The stadium also has a club house with 55 rooms, gymnasium, indoor practice pitches and food courts. Instead of flood lights, LED lights have been installed on the roof of the stadium. CONTD. ON P17 Cases climb, sealed buildings dip! DIPTI SINGH Mumbai Even as the number of new cases reported daily continues to rise, in just a single day the number of sealed , buildings and containment zones is down, by 85 and 78 per cent respectively . According to civic officials, the number of sealed buildings and CZs keep fluctuating, depending on the number of cluster cases reported and it is a continu- ous process. As per the data shared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), there were 815 active sealed buildings in the city as of February 22, but on February 23, this number drastically dropped to 124, a decline of 84.90 per cent. As for containment zones, there were 51 on February 22, which dropped to 11 the following day a decline of , 78.43 per cent. CONTD. ON P17 SEALED BUILDINGS Date Sealed Population Buildings FEB 19 1,035 2,75,151 FEB 23 123 52,234 FEB 22 815 1,45,831 Number of Positive cases 2,749 1,656 1,042 CONTAINMENT ZONES Date Containment Population Number Zones of Positive cases FEB 19 93 7,08,407 247 FEB 23 11 63,606 119 FEB 22 51 3,03,486 123