fP the publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms r Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023 `3 r rnI no. 38281/83 free press t INDORE t BHOPAL t UJJAIN t MUMBAI t PUNE Quality at Value - WEAtHER 38.80c. 23.20c Sunrise : 06.08 Sunset : 06.46 tHougHt foR tHE dAy vol. XXXvII no. 303 | Indore | tuesday | aPrIl 13, 2021 | Pages 12 www.freePressJournal.in FoR 24x7 uPdAteS Russian Revolution Panel okays Covid vaccine Sputnik V for emergency use in India Our Bureau New Delhi An expert panel of India's central drug authority has recommended granting approval to Russian vaccine Sputnik V for emergency use in the country with certain conditions, sources said. Sputnik V has demonstrated an efficacy rate of 91.6 per cent in the phase 3 clinical trial, which included data on 19,866 volunteers in Russia. The expert committee on Monday took up the application of Dr Reddy's Laboratories seeking emergency use authorisation for Sputnik V If approved by the . Drug Controller, this will be the third vaccine to be used in India after Serum Institute of India's Covishield developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca - and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin The DCGI will take a final call on the recommendation. If approved, it will be the third vaccine to be available in India. Contd. on P8 Edit FIghtIng CoRonA: StAteS, CentRe MISStePS woRSen SItuAtIon Pg- 6 ‘It’S tIRIng to Meet beAuty StAndARdS At ALL tIMeS’ Pg-12 1,552 C-Cases, 6 Deaths shoCk inDoRe lHighest single day jump of 600+ Covid cases on Monday lRate of positivity @ 18.15pc Our Staff repOrter Indore Condition of increasing Covid cases has become scary in the city with each passing day City saw the . highest jump of cases in a single day as over 600 cases were increased on Monday and the city recorded the highest number of cases i.e. 1552. It is for the first time when the city crossed such a mark which also raised the positivity rate in the city As . many as 1552 patients were tested positive on Monday out of 8,553 samples tested which is the highest since the outbreak of the disease. Rate of positive patients was recorded at 18.15%. Total number of positive patients reached 80,986. Six deaths were reported taking the toll to 1011, so far. According to the bulletin released by CMHO, reports of total samples received till Monday was 10,01,860. As many as 6791 samples were tested negative on Monday . Department took 8657 more samples for testing--5206 RTPCR and 3451 RAT. As many as 8384 patients are under treatment in various hospitals of the city Total 71591 pa. tients have been discharged so far. Contd. on P8 MP Board exam likely to be held in June CHOUHAN TO take the final call Our Staff repOrter BHOPAL Considering abnormal second wave of corona pandemic, school education department has prepared a proposal to defer board exams. The proposal has been sent to chief minister's office for final approval. School education minister Inder Singh Parmar had earlier hinted by say- ing that big decision had been taken but needs nod from the highest level. Till then lockdown was imposed only in a dozen districts. After lockdown in several districts and failure to control over spread of corona, school education department finally sent the proposal to Chief Minister's office recommending postponing the board exams. 'The second wave of corona is very severe. It is spreading at a fast pace. Several towns have been placed under corona curfew. It is almost impossible to conduct exams in such difficult situation,' said the official from school education department. Board exams for class 10 were to begin from April 30 and class 12 from May 1. Practical exams for board exams were scheduled from April 17. The state educa- 9-day lockdown in bhopal BHOPAL: Complete lockdown was clamped in the state capital on Monday night making Bhopal twelfth city of the state to be shut down till April 19. The decision was taken following rising number of corona cases. Earlier, Kolar area of the city was put under nine-day lockdown along with 11 other cities on Saturday.  Social and religious organisations of Bhopal had been clamouring for lockdown.  The matter was discussed in District Crisis Management Committee after which it was decided to clamp total lockdown within the limits of Bhopal Municipal Corporation and Berasia Nagar Palika till 6 AM of April 19. Later, collector Avinash Lavania issued order. On April 10, government A crowded market in Bhopal where social distancing and masks were ignored with impunity on Monday had placed 11 districts under complete lockdown till April 19, after corona blast. Lockdown has been extended in Indore, Ujjain, Rau, Mhow and Shajapur to April 19. Barwani, Vidisha and Rajgarh districts too are under complete lockdown till April 19.  Chhindwara, Betul, Khargone and Ratlam  have already been placed under lockdown. Jabalpur, Balaghat, Seoni and Narsinghpur will be under lockdown from April 12 to the morning of April 22.  Goyal proves 'Ranchhor Das' in fight against corona REQUESTS TO be divested of health dept, govt puts him out of work nitenDra SHarMa BHOPAL Chief Minister, chief secretary and officers of the health and other departments have swung into action to fight down the coronavirus. Health commissioner Sanjay Goyal has, however, become Ranchhor Das (one who runs away from the battlefield). On Monday, Goyal desired to get rid of the health department because of pressure of work. The government was so angry about such desire of Goyal in the time of corona that it immediately removed him from the post. Besides being removed, Goyal was not given any post. He was appointed as secretary to Mantralaya. Managing Director of MP Power Management Company, Akash Tripathi, was appointed as health commissioner. Tripathi will have additional charge of the Power Management Company . Despite being a doctor, Goyal's demand for trans- fer from the health department reportedly angered Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The government was not happy with Goyal because of his style of working. It is Goyal who is responsible for the chinks in the health department's armour because of the corona pandemic. Although a number of corona cases increased in Maharashtra, Goyal did not pay any attention to improve the health facilities in the state. His failure to take any decisions on important matters spawned a lot of difficulties in the health department. Because of his attitude towards work, that Goyal was removed from the post of drug controller three days ago. In place of Goyal, P Narhari has been given the charge. Immediately after Narhari took over, the situation arising out of shortage of Remdesivir jabs and oxygen improved. SC urgent hearing EC bans Mamata from on Rafale PIL campaigning for 24 hrs JR DOCTORS CALL OFF STRIKE Report on p-2 Only the Divine can convert the worst enemy into a best friend. Sri Ma Our Bureau NEW DELHI Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde on Monday agreed to give an urgent hearing, but without immediately fixing a date, on a petition seeking a fresh investigation into the alleged corruption in the Rafale deal. As per the latest allegations reported by French news portal Mediapart last week, one million Euros were paid to Indian middleman Sushen Gupta. In his petition, advocate Manohar Sharma has made PM as respondent No 1, Union of India as No 2 and the CBI as respondent No 3. Last week, Dassault Aviation, the manufacturer of Rafale, had rejected the allegations of corruption in the Rs 59,000-crore deal signed by Modi in 2016 for supply of 36 jets, 15 of which have been already delivered. fp neWS SerVice KOLKATA BJP has already hit a century in first 4 phases in Bengal: Modi It was outgoing Election Commissioner Sunil Arora’s parting shot. Half-way through the election, the EC has clamped a 24-hour campaign ban on Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee for inciting voters to gherao the central forces during polling and seeking votes on communal lines. The ban will be effective from 8 PM Monday till• 8 pm on Tuesday – it has come half-way through the election, with four more rounds of voting left in an intense campaign that has pitted Mamata against PM Modi. In its order, the EC noted that Mamata Banerjee made "highly insinuating and provocative remarks laden with serious potential of breakdown of Kolkata: PM Narendra Modi from a public rally claimed that the BJP had already made a century during the first four phases of the election.  "Didi's bitterness, her anger, her fury continues to grow. Do you know why? I will tell you. The BJP is forming the next government in West Bengal as BJP has crossed 100 marks already in the first four phases of the polls. Ashol Parivartan (real change) will come on May 2," claimed the PM.  law and order and thereby adversely affecting the election process". Banerjee's TMC blasted the EC, dubbing it "Extremely Compromised" not for the first time. Mamata seized the adversity, hoping to turn it into political advantage. ‘‘To protest against the undemocratic and unconstitutional decision of the Election Commission of India, I will sit on dharna on Tuesday at Gandhi Murti, Kolkata, from 12 noon,” Mamata said in a tweet. The EC has taken cognizance of a speech delivered in Cooch Behar on April 7, wherein Mamata had said: "If CAPF create disturbances, I tell you ladies, a group of you go and restrain [gherao] them while another group will go and cast their votes. Don't waste your vote. If you engage yourself only in restraining them they will be happy that you did not cast your vote. This is their plan. It is the plan of the BJP ." Contd. on P8 PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE AT GOD’S MERCY agencieS Ahmedabad The Gujarat High Court pulled up the state government on Monday over the COVID-19 situation in the state and problems being faced by citizens, saying the reality is contrary to what the government claims. "People now think that they are at God's mercy," a division bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Bhargav Karia said while hearing a PIL, taken up suo motu (on its own), on the situa- tion in the state. Advocate General Kamal Trivedi informed the court about various steps taken by the Gujarat government, but the bench refused to accept most of the explanations, be it on the availability of beds or Remdesivir-the key anti-viral drug currently in high demand. "The situation is quite different than what you are claiming. You are saying that everything is alright. But, the reality is contrary to that," the high court said. There is a "trust deficit" among people, the HC observed during the hearing held via video conference. "People are cursing the government and the government is cursing the people. This will not help. We need to break this chain of infection," the court said. On some media reports claiming there was a shortage of Remdesivir injections and long queues outside a hospital to get it, Trivedi told the court that people who do not need the drug were also trying to buy it as a precautionary measure. Remdesivir is not required if the patient is under home treatment or is asymptomatic and is not critical. The supply is also less from companies, he informed. "Only seven companies make it. The production is just 1.75 lakh vials per day. We are procuring around 25,000 injections every day for Gujarat," Trivedi said. However, the court asked why the government was controlling the supply of Remdesivir when people were running here and there to get it and even designated hospitals were saying they do not have it. Contd. on P8 tion board has decided to relax the dates for holding practical exams. Now practical exams could be held till May 15. Considering the seriousness of situation, school education department has also decided to close the hostels. Schools up to class 8 that were shut till April 15 will also not open. School education department has proposed to close these schools till June 15. Shop sealed for selling Remdesivir at higher price Jabalpur: A medical store here was sealed for selling Remdesivir at Rs 18,000 per vial, much higher than its MRP. In the wake of a rise in Covid-19 cases, the key antiviral drug is in high demand as it is used especially in adult patients with severe complications. Jabalpur administration sealed the medical shop on Sunday night after receiving a complaint against it, food inspector R L Patel said. A district administration team went to the shop and found that the Remdesivir injections were being sold there at Rs 18,000 per vial, a much higher cost than its MRP, he said. CBI summons Deshmukh SOMenDra SHarMa & SanJaY JOg Mumbai In a major development, the enquiry team of the CBI on Monday issued summons to former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, to record his statement in connection with the corruption charges levelled against him by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. The move comes a day after the agency had summoned two personal assistants of Deshmukh, Kundan Shinde and Sanjeev Palande, for questioning. “We have issued summons to Anil Deshmukh in connection with ongoing enquiry and his statement will be recorded on April 14,” confirmed a CBI official. On Monday, the CBI team once again questioned Assistant Commissioner of Police Sanjay Patil in connection with the matter, sources said. Singh, in his letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray last month, had claimed that Sachin Vaze, who was heading the CIU of the Crime Branch of the Mumbai police, had been called by Deshmukh, to his official residence Dnyaneshwari several times in the last few months and repeatedly instructed to assist in collection of funds for the home minister. K Rahul of Punjab Kings bats during the IPL match between Raj Royals and Punjab Kings at Wankhede Stadium mumbai, on Monday. 1456 test Covid +ve in Bhopal left shell-shocked after the Bhopal administration was state capital reported 1,456 corona positive cases, highest single day cases, on Monday. The city also reported 64 deaths.   With this the corona positive rate zoomed up to 28%.  According to reports, 5,200 samples were sent for testing during the state. This forced the administration to clamp 9-day lockdown in Bhopal Meanwhile, state reported 6,489 new cases during the day taking corona positive rate to 16.9%. The tally of active cases stood at 38,651 and day’s toll was 37. Around 38,306 samples were sent for testing in the state and 541 of them rejected. Indore reported 923 corona cases taking its infection tally to 79,434 and toll to 1,005. Bhopal tally went to 58,951.  Adjacent districts of state capital like Vidisha reported 140 new cases, Sehore 77 and Raisen 99 cases. Jabalpur reported 469 cases, Gwalior 497, Ujjain 212, Ratlam 130, Sagar 165 and Betul 128 cases. Narsingpur reported 138, Barwani 118 and Balaghat 145 cases. Rajgarh reported 118 corona cases, Jhabua 117 cases, and Katni 188 cases. Rewa reported 107 corona cases. Chhindwara and Seoni reported 96 corna cases each while Chhattarpur reported 95 corona cases and their active cases are 712, 425 and 192 respectively.  Dhar reported 93 and Shahdol 92 cases respectively and their active cases are 385 and 528. SALKANPUR, DATIA TEMPLES TO REMAIN CLOSED IN NAVARATRI Our Staff repOrter BHOPAL The administration has banned worship at the temples of Goddess in Datia and Salkanpur because of the rise in number of corona patients. BJP office also closed for ten days The management of those temples has also issued a notice that the temples will be closed during Navaratri. Thousands of devotees flock to these temples during the Navaratri every year. Keeping in view the possibilities of spreading the disease because of gathering of a large number of people at the temples, the administration closed them. Navaratri is beginning from Tuesday . In several districts, the decision to close the religious places had already been taken, but it was not being implemented. Contd. on P8 Plum post for judge who gave Babri verdict State cOrreSpOnDent Lucknow Surendra Yadav, a retired Judge, who had acquitted top BJP leaders, including L.K. Advani, Kalyan Singh, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and 29 others, in the Babri mosque demolition conspiracy case, has taken oath as Deputy Lokayukta in Uttar Pradesh. He was appointed Deputy Lokyukta by the Yogi Adityanath government in consultation with Governor Anandiben Patel for a term of six years. The Governor signed the notification appointing him as the Dy Lokayukta (III) on April 6. The Supreme Court had extended the tenure of Special CBI Court Judge Surendra Yadav in 2019 for holding day-to-day hearing in the Babri case and deliver the judgment within two years after concluding arguments. On Sept 30, 2020, the Special CBI Judge had passed an order acquitting all the 32 accused, including BJP top leaders, in the Babri mosque demolition case (no 198/92). The Babri mosque was demolished on December 6, 1992, by several lakhs of kar sevaks in Ayodhya. The police had registered two cases – case no 197/92 against several lakhs of unidentified kar sevaks and case no 198/92 against top BJP, RSS, Shiv Sena and other saffron leaders for hatching a conspiracy to provoke kar sevaks into demolishing the disputed mosque, believed to be the birthplace of Lord Ram. Out of total 48 accused, many had died during the course of trial. Among them were Rajmata Vijairaje Scindia and Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray. Finally, 32 remained against whom the trial began afresh in 2018. During the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime an attempt was made to dilute the case by withdrawing Section 120-B against the accused in 2001. However, the Supreme courtC rejected the CBI supplementary chargesheet and gave a go-ahead to the CBI Special Court to resume time-bound trial and pronounce the judgment.