340c. 250c. Sunrise: 06:33 am Sunset: 06:52 pm VISTARA TO ROLL BACK SALARY CUTS, BUT WILL CONTINUE WITH THEM FOR MANAGEMENT Pg 7 BONDS BETTER THAN OPAQUE DONATIONS BOLLYWOOD HAS ALWAYS WELCOMED MARRIED WOMEN: ESHA DEOL Pg 20 Competition is another form of warfare. It is just more civilized. Master Choa Kok Sui Vol. 64 No. 283 | WEDNESDAY | MARCH 31, 2021 | 15 Pages | ` 4 | EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Indore, Bhopal, E-Paper PETROL ` 96.98 In 29 days, 4% rise in statewide deaths EDIT Pg 15 Per litre DIESEL ` 87.96 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 The case fatality rate in Mumbai is 2.88%, while in the rest of Maharashtra, it is 1.98% SWAPNIL MISHRA / Mumbai There has been an almost four per cent rise in the number of Covid deaths reported across Maharashtra in the last 29 days. Statistics show that 52,184 people had succumbed to SARS-CoV-2 virus until March 1 and this number increased to 54,283 by March 29 -- 2,099 deaths were reported, of which 1,075 fatalities have occurred in the last 10 days. However, health experts say unlike the previ, ous year, the case fatality rate (CFR) in the state is low, with more asymptomatic patients who do not need hospitalisation. But officials say they are concerned about controlling the Covid fatality rate, cur- rently at 1.98 per cent. Accordingly they have directed , all the district health officers to follow strict protocol in curbing Covid deaths and to analyse the medical history of patients from the day of admission. “We are mainly focusing on controlling mortality rate over the rising number of cases. CONTD. ON P14 The Covid situation is going from "bad to worse over the last few weeks," the Centre said on Tuesday. "Trends show the virus is still very active; just when we think we can control it, it sparks back," said VK Paul, chairman of the National Expert Committee on Vaccine Administration. He, however, denied that the mutated strains have a role to play in this surge. States are being told to enforce Covid-appropriate behaviour -- "Use the law, use fine... people need to wear a mask," he said. BETWEEN NOW, TDS ON PO WITHDRAWALS The Department of Posts has issued new rules for deduction of TDS, if the aggregate withdrawal from all post office schemes is more than Rs 20 lakh. The provision includes withdrawals from PPF. As per the new provisions under Section 194N of Income Tax Act 1961, if an investor has not filed income tax returns (ITR) for the previous three assessment years then tax deducted at source (TDS) will be deducted from the withdrawal amount. The new rule is applicable from July 1, 2020. As per the provisions, if aggregate cash withdrawal by an investor exceeds Rs 20 lakh but does not exceed Rs 1 crore during a financial year and he is a non-ITR filer, then TDS at the rate of 2 per cent will be deducted from the amount exceeding Rs 20 lakh. In case total cash withdrawal from all post office accounts exceeds Rs 1 crore in one financial year then TDS at 5 per cent will be payable on the amount exceeding Rs 1 crore. If you are an ITR filer and cash withdrawal exceeds Rs 1 crore by an ITR filer in a financial year the income tax payable will 2 per cent of the amount above Rs 1 crore. FAROOQ: COVID ON DAY OF 2ND DOSE Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah (83), also a Lok Sabha member from Srinagar, was down with Covid-19 Tuesday - the day he should have gone for the second dose, after completing 28 days of the first inoculation on March 2. His son Omar Abdullah, also a former CM, broke the news of his father isolating himself at home in Srinagar after testing positive for Covid-19. PM Modi was the first to tweet extending his best wishes for a speedy recovery. PREZ IS STABLE AFTER BYPASS President Ram Nath Kovind is stable after undergoing a cardiac bypass surgery on Tuesday morning at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi. CM'S WIFE RASHMI IS HOSPITALISED Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's wife Rashmi Thackeray was on Tuesday admitted in a hospital for COVID-19 treatment, sources close to the family said. Since her COVID-19 test came out positive on March 22 night, Rashmi had remained home quarantined. 24 INSPECTORS POSTED IN CRIME BRANCH: After 86 Mumbai police officers, including 65 from the Crime Branch alone, were transferred to different posts in the city on March 23, amid a raging storm over an intelligence report that alleged middlemen were influencing transfers, 24 officers of the rank of police inspector were posted in various units of the Crime Branch on Tuesday. — Staff Reporter TOOTHLESS PANEL TO EXTRACT TRUTH SANJAY JOG / Mumbai Facing flak from the BJP the Maharashtra , government on Tuesday appointed a onemember high level committee headed by retired Judge Kailas Chandiwal to probe the corruption charges levelled by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh against Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. The committee will have to submit a report within six months. Interestingly the probe com, mittee has not been set up under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, but by an order issued by the General Administration Department. Consequently the committee lacks pow, ers to summon and enforce the attendance of any person and examine them on oath, which Pawar rushed: Endoscopy & surgery today SANJAY JOG / Mumbai National Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar was hospitalised in Mumbai a day ahead of his scheduled surgery after he complained of abdominal pain. The 80year-old former Union minister was to undergo an endoscopy and a surgery on March 31. “ Attention please, our party president Sharad Pawar Saaheb was supposed to be admitted in hospital for endoscopy and surgery procedure tomorrow, but since he again complained of pain in the abdomen, he is admitted to Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai today NCP ,” leader Nawab Malik tweeted on Tuesday . Pawar had been diagnosed with a gallbladder disease and needed surgery his , party had said on Monday . Malik said the NCP chief had suffered pain in his abdomen on Sunday evening and had undergone a checkup, following which the doctors found gallstones. “He is on blood-thinning medication which has now been stopped due to this issue. He will be admitted in hospital on March 31, 2021 and an endoscopy and surgery will be conducted. Hence, all his programmes stand cancelled until further notice,” Malik had earlier said. CONTD. ON P14 is done under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952. Further, a judicial commission appointed under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, is entitled to receive evidence on affidavit. However, the one-member panel will inquire into corruption charges made by Singh in his letter dated March 20, 2021, addressed to the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray . Singh had alleged that Deshmukh had told suspended assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze, now arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the Antilia bomb scare case, that he had a target of collecting Rs 100 crore a month from bars, restaurants and other establishments. CONTD. ON P14 WAIT UNTIL DARK... PIC: BL SONI THE LINES One-man panel of retired judge, which can’t summon and examine witnesses on oath, to look into Param Bir charges against HM Deshsmukh QUOTE/ DOOR-TO-DOOR JAB The Centre on Tuesday denied having received any request to conduct door-to-door Covid-19 vaccination in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra. "Till date, we haven't received any specific request from Maharashtra government [to conduct door-to-door vaccination]. In India, we do universal immunisation but even there we have not done door-to-door vaccination," Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Tuesday. ‘Free pass’ for Classes 1-9,11 Option of assigning grades on basis of internal assessments also on the cards SANJAY JOG / Mumbai With Covid-19 continuing to wreak havoc on school attendance, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government is mulling mass promotion for all students except those in Classes 10 and 12. A senior government official told The Free Press Journal, “This option is under the government’s active consideration especially when district collectors either have imposed a lockdown or curfew for a limited MIDC server hacked Crackdown on builders proposed SOMENDRA SHARMA / Mumbai The server of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation was hacked recently: The ransomware ‘SYNack’ impacted the applications and database servers hosted at the MIDC headquarters in Mumbai by encrypting the data stored in these servers. The malware also infected some desktop PCs across different office locations of the MIDC. The attackers had attached a ransom note giving details of the attack and the steps needed to be taken to approach them for decryption of data. However, no amount was directly mentioned in the ransom note, a statement issued by the MIDC stated. The MIDC approached the police after which the Cyber Crime Police initiated their probe into the hacking incident," joint commissioner of police, crime, Milind Bharambe confirmed to the FPJ. CONTD. ON P14 The traffic on Western Express Highway in evening hours. Sale of same flat to multiple buyers SANJAY JOG / Mumbai In a significant move, the state government proposes to amend the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) Act to crack down against builders who sell a flat to multiple buyers by tweaking the provisions of the Act. Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad told The Free Press Mamata Banerjee wound up her campaign for Nandigram on a fitting note: by standing up on the dais despite her leg injury during the national anthem. Until now, she had campaigned across the state on wheelchair. Journal, “It has come to the government’s notice in several cases across the state wherein the builder has sold a flat to multiple buyers, causing severe hardship to the latter. The government plans to amend the MahaRERA Act whereby an offence can be registered against such builders and they can be arrested for cheating the flat buyers.” He said, after the proposed amendment, the original buyer would have a claim on the flat. Awhad said the matter was serious and therefore, in a bid to bring in more lying injured on his bed before he (Ahuja) learnt about Jhanvi’s death. He, as well as other friends and witnesses present in the room have said in their statements that Diya said she did not remember how she had sustained facial injuries and she had appeared very scared. Similarly Param Mogal, , Shree’s friend who was not at the party said in his state, ment that Shree had called him at 2.23am on January 1 and asked for a ride. When Mogal reached the spot, he saw that Shree’s shirt was blood-soaked and he had head and back injuries. When Mogal asked him what had happened, Shree had told him he did not remember. The chargesheet also contained the statement of Parnika Narola, who had received a call from Jhanvi at 1.32am that day Narola says . that though speaking normally initially Jhanvi had , suddenly started crying. She recalls Jhanvi telling her, “Tumhe pata hai main aur Shree ek dusre ke bahut hi close friends hain, lekin party me Diya Shree ke sath kuch zyada hi physically close ho rahi hai, yeh sab kuch mujhe acha nahi lag raha hai. Main un dono ko khona nahi chahti hoon.” Narola says she had tried to placate Jhanvi, but the latter had disconnected the call. Another witness, Gobind Arora, also called Gabba, has CONTD. ON P14 In a 508-page chargesheet filed by the Khar police before a Bandra magistrate court in the Jhanvi Kukreja murder case, a witness, the host of the party, has said that he had contacted Shree Jogdhankar on learning about Jhanvi’s death as Jogdhankar was her good friend and had found it strange that Shree had no reaction, as though he was already aware of it (the death). The same witness, Yash Ahuja, also recounted in his statement how he had found Diya Padalkar, co-accused with Jogdhankar in the case, Mutations could render most vaccines ineffective in a year M utations could render current Covid19 vaccines ineffective in a year or less, according to twothirds of 77 epidemiologists, virologists and infectious disease specialists from 28 countries surveyed by People's Vaccine Alliance. The results published on Tuesday deliver a stark warning of the risk the world is taking by failing to ensure all countries have sufficient vaccines to protect people from Covid-19. Of those surveyed, almost a third gave a timeframe of nine months or less. Fewer than one in eight said they believed that mutations would never render the current vaccines ineffective. The overwhelming majority - 88 per cent -- said that persistent low vaccine coverage in many countries would make it more likely for vaccine resistant mutations to appear. The People's Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of over 50 organisations transparency in such transactions and avoid cheating of flat buyers, the government plans to amend the Act. “There have been several cases in which a builder sells a flat to one person and then sells the same flat to several people by adapting the provisions of the MahaRERA Act. After the amendment, there will be provision for the arrest of builders who commit such offences,” he noted. CONTD. ON P14 508-page chargesheet filed YOUR AUTO PAYMENTS NEW YEAR EVE MURDER/JHANVI KUKREJA CASE BHAVNA UCHIL & PRIYANKA NAVALKAR Mumbai LAST WORD NEW YORK period or imposed strict restrictions in areas, to break the virus transmission. Schools, colleges and coaching classes have been shut and online instruction is the norm. However, considering internet connectivity issues, especially in mofussil areas, online exams cannot be held. So mass promotion of students in Classes 1-9 is being considered.” He said that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had also asked the relief and rehabilitation secretary to prepare a plan for a limited lockdown. “On the other hand, there is also the option of assigning grades to students based on internal assessments to promote them to the next grade,” he added. CONTD. ON P14 including African Alliance, Oxfam and UNAIDS, warned that at the current rate it was likely that only 10 per cent of people in the majority of poor countries will be vaccinated in the next year. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed - who included epidemiologists, virologists and infectious disease specialists from institutions including Johns Hopkins, Yale, Imperial College, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Cambridge University , the University of Edinburgh and The University of Cape Town -- said that open sharing of technology and intellectual property could increase global vaccine coverage. "The more the virus circulates, the more likely it is that mutations and variants will emerge, which could make our current vaccines ineffective. At the same time, poor countries are being left behind without vaccines and basic medical supplies like oxygen," Devi Sridhar, Professor of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh in Britain, said in a statement. CONTD. ON P14 MAY BE HIT FROM OUR BUREAU New Delhi Automatic payment of electricity water and phone , bills, loan instalments, insurance premia and many other payments like Google, Zee-5, Netflix and other OTT platforms from your bank's debit or credit cards may stop from April 1 because of the tweaking of the Reserve Bank of India’s Electronic Clearing Service (ECS). A circular issued by the RBI on August 21, 2019, prescribes additional authentication norms effective from April 1 for customers’ recurring payments that are directly debited to their bank accounts. The ECS facility had ended the hassles of standing in queue for making payments in cash or by cheque; one also was no longer required to remember the last date of payment of so many services one avails of. Many banks and service providers have not updated their systems to comply with the new rules and the RBI has refused to further extend the deadline on the ground that they had been already given more than 18 months to comply with. CONTD. ON P14